#happy birthday green oak

[nastronde]

instead of drawing anything for silver's birthday i drew the senior citizens sorry silv

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I've been dreaming of the Knight of Dreams.

He pledged to see his father off with a smile. That last wish, he could not fulfill.

This isn’t the happy ending he wanted—open your eyes.

How does a moment last forever? How can a story never die?

He wakes to the woods.

Silver automatically recognizes his surroundings. He'd laid out at the base of a great oak, planted right in the center of a lush forest glen. Sunlight filters through the leaves, granting the place an ethereal glow.

A stream threads around a cottage with a roof of straw, shuttered windows open and smiling at him. Where the water rounds at a bend, there's an arched bridge that leads to a path winding up to the cottage. It's picturesque and cozy, an illustration right out of a fairy tale.

It's home.

Silver rubs at his eyes, dispelling the remaining shreds of his drowsiness.

I must have dozed off again. Father must be worried.

He stands, dusting himself off. There's a few blades of grass clinging to his clothes, some petals coming loose. As he runs his hands over fabric, they snag upon something small and hard in the pocket of his pants.

"Huh? What is this...?"

Silver's voice trails off as he fishes out the object. It's a chunky ring in the shape of a crown, which hangs off of a golden chain. Embedded into the ring are many small, clear jewels. In the center is a large gemstone--and when it catches the sunlight, it refracts the colors of the rainbow.

A dull pain starts in the back of his head. He frowns, gently rubbing at the spot to soothe it.

Strange. I don't recall owning something like this. Did I find it lost in the forest?

For reasons unknown to him, the vague image of a smiling man is conjured. The owner? He gropes around in his foggy memories, but comes up with no answer.

Even so, his fingers close protectively around the bauble.

"Silver!"

He looks up, finding his father in the doorway. Lilia wears a shamelessly frilled apron, KISS THE COOK emblazoned upon his chest. The fae happily waves for his son to approach, and his heart melts.

Silver jogs up the path, barely breaking a sweat when he arrives on the porch. "Father."

"Silly boy, you're going to be late for your own birthday party," Lilia teases, lightly booping him on the nose. "Well, come on in! Everything's just about ready."

Silver curiously peers inside. The cottage is clean and neat--a rarity when left alone with his father, though Silver suspects he must have enchanted a broom to do the tidying.

It seems that his father has been hard at work in the kitchen, whipping up many of his... signature dishes which radiate a noxious aura. The most edible looking thing on their tiny dining table is a tiered vanilla cake with 18 candles stabbed into it. It's leaning over, blue frosting dribbling down its sides.

Tucked in one corner of the room is a fine suit on a mannequin, stitched together in shades of pink, blue, and green. Silver raises a brow at his father, who shrugs.

"I couldn't decide on just one color!" Lilia admits.

"You didn't have to go out of your way for all of this."

"Oh, but I wanted to," his father insists, giving him a quick hug. He pulls back, but keeps his hands on Silver's shoulders. "After all, this birthday is a very special one: you're finally considered an adult."

An... adult?

There it is again, that throbbing pain. It comes stronger this time, blinking in and out like a warning light.

Silver grimaces, bringing a hand to his forehead.

Lilia frowns. "Oh dear, are you still half asleep? Maybe you ought to sit down. We can't have you feeling unwell, especially before Malleus and Sebek get here."

"Yes, I think I'll do that," Silver agrees. "I apologize for the trouble. I feel like I haven't been myself lately. Like something is... wrong."

"I didn't realize you were so anxious about aging!" Lilia jokes, steering him over to an open chair. As soon as Silver is safely seated, Lilia goes in for an aggressive ruffle of his hair. "Chin up, m'boy! There is no shame in maturing. Why, I've raised you to be an upstanding young man if I do say so myself! You've got nothing to worry about."

Silver attempts a smile. "Of course."

His clutch on the ring and its chain instinctively tightens.

Lilia notices. "What's that you've got there? You're clenching your fist rather hard."

"Oh, this..." Silver unfurls his fingers. As soon as Lilia lays his eyes upon the piece of jewelry, a shadow passes over his expression, clouding it.

"Where did you find that?" he asks softly. Lilia leans over, a hand hovering, as if preparing to snatch it up. "You weren't supposed to receive this yet. Here, give it back to--"

"NO!!"

Silver says it louder than he means to, startling his father. His body turns from him and toward the ring, intent on guarding it. He doesn't know why--but everything in him is screaming that he must not let it be taken away.

Lilia stops, then shakes his head. "... It's fine. You were going to be gifted it sooner or later."

"You know what it is?" Silver remains alert, still shielding the ring.

"It's your birthday present, from me to you. I've been saving up for quite a while to afford it for you--I wanted it to be a big surprise," Lilia pouts. "Ah, but in the end... I suppose it doesn't matter what the method of delivery is, so long as you're still happy with it."

Silver's brows crease. Something about the comfortable narrative does not quite roll of the tongue smoothly.

A present from his father...

He stares down at the large gem laid in the center of the ring. It's facets twinkle, pink and blue and purple. Just like his eyes.

My... eyes?

A buzzing sound rings in his ears. His father's deep voice rises up through the white noise.

"It must be what your parents wished for. That their child's eyes may remain like this jewel, clear and unclouded... It suits you, Silver."

That is...

Silver sits up straight.

All at once, everything looks different. The world, shifted, and the glowing filter over his lens, gone. This house is not his home, and this man is not his father.

"Hm? Why are you staring at me like that, Silver?" Lilia giggles. "Don't tell me you're daydreaming again."

"... No. No, it's not that."

Silver's eyes flick to the door. It seems so far away.

"I... just remembered something. I forgot to greet the bluebirds." His stomach sinks as he speaks the lie into existence.

"Oh? That's not like you. You're becoming forgetful at age 18!"

Silver nods. "I won't have the time to speak with them once the party begins. May I quickly go to them?"

"Oh my, you're heading out already? So eager to leave the nest."

"... Yes. But please don't worry about me." Silver closes a hand around Lilia's and squeezes. Even if this is all fake, a facsimile, it's still very much the face of his father he is gazing into. He offers reassurance. "I'll be back soon."

"Kufufu. Alright." Lilia squeezes in return. "I'll be waiting then. Don't be late now."

Silver heads for the door.

At the threshold, he looks back one last time. At this, the happy ending crafted for him. A quaint little cottage in the woods, where he would spend the rest of his days with his beloved family.

But it's not what Lilia would have wanted for him. For everyone.

Silver painfully looks away. "Farewell, father. I promise... I will see you again."

Out there. In the real world.

He shuts the door, putting the dream behind him. Silver takes a deep breath.

"Those I've met and will someday... Meet in a Dream."

And then he is gone.

[saltylotus]

happy birthday blue/green oak you will always be the champion of my heart 🥺

[starlightkun]

❧ word count: 8.7k ❧ warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking (new year’s eve party) ❧ genre: fluff, new year’s themed, attorney kun, wedding planner reader (i know next to nothing abt wedding planning, sorry!), aged up kun (he’s like mid/late 30s and reader is implied to also be around that age) ❧ extra info: this is the last of my impromptu series of three (and a half) hallmark-esque fics starring kun for the 2023 holiday season. i've made a mini masterlist here for fun ❧ author’s note: i once again wrote this in like 48 hours and had even less time to proof it bc i wanted to get it out before new year’s so im sorry abt any errors! also a happy early birthday to the loml

“Hopeless for the Holidays?” You snorted, reading the email flyer your friend had just forwarded to you. “You told me you had something fun for us to do for New Year’s.”

“This will be!” She pleaded with you. “It’s a mixer for single professionals who, you know, have no other plans on New Year’s Eve. Like us.”

“Hopeless for the Holidays?” You snorted, reading the email flyer your friend had just forwarded to you. “You told me you had something fun for us to do for New Year’s.”

“This will be!” Eunji pleaded with you. “It’s a mixer for single professionals who, you know, have no other plans on New Year’s Eve. Like us.”

“So, an excuse to get drunk and mack on a stranger at midnight. Did that enough in my twenties. Pass.”

“Nooo, it’s going to be super classy; I swear! It’s happening at the old courthouse downtown. It’s so nice there. The dress code is literally festive black tie—”

“What does that even mean? Is it festive or is it black tie? And how did you even get invited to this?” You read the domain name of the original sender, then zoomed in on the details of flyer to double, triple check. “It’s being held by the Bar Association?”

“Attorneys aren’t that bad,” she replied, clearly miffed.

“Yeah, you aren’t,” you said pointedly. “Former debate bros are.”

“There’s going to be so many mature, serious, single professionals there for you, I promise.”

“It’s literally called Hopeless for the Holidays.”

“So it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek.”

“If its tongue were any more in its cheek, it would bite it off.”

“See? You’re so witty, these guys are going to be falling over themselves trying to have intellectual conversations with you.”

“If a single one calls my job cute, I’m out of there.”

“That’s a yes! Thank you thank you thank you!”

On December 31st, you stepped into the old courthouse downtown with Eunji, out of the freezing cold and into a bright, glamorous venue. The main entry had been converted into a ballroom of sorts for the occasion, all the original marble flooring and walls, and oak and gold detailing preserved. Round, standing cocktail tables had been set up all around, a bar to the back and the side, waiters coming around with hors d’oeuvres, and even a live band set up on the landing of the grand staircase at the back. It was decorated in festive, New Year’s appropriate gold, silver, and black decorations, tinsel, baubles, stars, miscellaneous firework-adjacent shapes.

“Okay… not bad,” you muttered to Eunji as you took it all in.

“Told you it would be classy!” She whispered victoriously to you. Latching onto your arm, she pulled you into the crowd. “Come on!”

She diverted your course towards a table, and you saw a dark-haired man standing there in a neutral grey suit with a red-and-green plaid tie.

“Y/N, you remember my coworker, Kim Doyoung.” Your friend gestured between the two of you.

“Of course, it’s good to see you again, Doyoung.” You greeted the man brightly.

The few lawyer activities that Eunji had dragged you to before—more casual affairs—you had been introduced to many of her coworkers, but Doyoung must have been the only one that fit the criteria for tonight: single and hopeless on New Year’s Eve.

“You too, Y/N.” He nodded to you politely.

You liked Doyoung and all, he was a nice man, but you could already tell from the few times you’d met him before that he was a workaholic. Now, you were aware that most lawyers were, but Doyoung seemed beyond that. Eunji brought you to their firm’s Holiday Party last year, where he was recognized for putting in the most billable hours out of dozens of attorneys—and he was only a junior partner. You doubted he went anywhere but work, the courthouse, and home, where he presumably did even more work.

“Eunji, I’m so glad you’re here, actually,” Doyoung pulled out his phone, opening up his email app. “I was at the office right before I came here and—”

“No, Doyoung.” Eunji snatched his phone from hands, turned it off, and tucked it inside his jacket pocket. “No work. Don’t make any work calls, take any work calls, check your email, none of that.”

“But we’re surrounded by other lawyers.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, you can talk about some law stuff, informally. But I want you to actually talk to human people not for the purposes of a file tonight, okay? Sound good?”

“I suppose I can do that for a night.”

“And I want you to find someone to kiss at midnight.”

“What?!”

“That isn’t me or Y/N.”

Doyoung seemed like he was about to pass out. “Eunji, this is very unprofessional—”

“I just said I’m off-limits.”

“Yes, but—”

“I’m going to get Eunji and I drinks,” you interrupted their typical bickering.

“Negroni!” She chirped, squeezing your arm before going right back into with her coworker.

With the sounds of their squabbling fading into the din of the crowd, you slowly meandered to the bar on the opposite side of the room. Putting in Eunji’s negroni and your own cocktail order with the bartender, you watched as he got caught by a very insistent older man who clearly thought himself to be very important as he put in what seemed like seven different drink orders as he ticked them off on his fingers as he spoke.

The bartender stopped by you to grab a glass, and you offered, “You can take care of him first, if you need. Seems like he’s in a rush. I don’t mind waiting.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go for it.”

And he moved off to do that, you were happy to turn around and people watch for the moment. You’d always known that law was a boys’ club, but this was just… sad. The few women who were here were interspersed, but you were definitely outnumbered at least 10 to 1. That left a lot of the men to group off and chat among themselves. If Eunji didn’t find somebody tonight after dragging you out here, you’d kill her.

A movement in the corner of your eye caught your attention, and you saw three men coming towards you through the crowd on your left, at least one of them already visibly tipsy. You shifted your eyes forward, trying to gauge if you should just abandon your drinks and find Eunji and Doyoung again wherever they ended up.

Then, someone was sliding up to the bar on your right, a pretty, smooth voice, “Hi. Do you have a moment to talk?”

You turned to your right, the voice matched to a rather handsome man, face framed by chestnut brown hair, and lips pulled into a charming, dimpled smile. He wasn’t too close to you that you felt like he was invading your personal space, a polite distance, just near enough so that you knew he was talking to you. Well that, and his piercing, dark eyes focused entirely on you as if there were nothing else he could possibly be looking at in the room. Not unblinking, but not distracted. He was the only man that you’d seen so far who had figured out the festive black-tie dress code, in a traditional tuxedo except in a deep midnight blue color, with several glittering brooches of fine materials on one lapel. Not overdone, and definitely not Christmas, which was a week ago. He already had a drink in his hand, some kind of dark liquor, neat. Whiskey, scotch, or bourbon, presumably.

“Sure.” You offered a small smile in return. “I’m waiting on my drink.”

The man set his drink down on the bar then, and offered his hand that hadn’t been holding it out to you.

“Qian Kun.” He introduced himself. “I haven’t seen you at a Bar Association event before.”

You shook his hand. It was warm. “That’s probably because I’m not a member. I’m a plus-one.”

“Ah, well that makes sense.”

“Y/L/N Y/N, by the way.”

“So what do you do then, Y/N?”

“I’m a wedding planner.”

“Wow, I’ve heard that’s pretty high-stress.” He actually seemed impressed, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair for a moment.

“I’ve heard the same about being an attorney,” you pointed out coyly.

“I don’t have bridezillas or in-laws to deal with on a daily basis.”

“I’ll take talking down a bridezilla over why she can’t have those specific orchids she saw on Pinterest because they won’t survive the two-hour outdoor ceremony and four-hour reception at her summer wedding due to how sensitive to heat they are over having to argue with my whole chest some position that I don’t even believe in just because I’m being paid to.”

“You think trial lawyers are sleazy?” He asked, the corner of his lip quirking up as if he found this amusing.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend,” you apologized flatly.

He sipped his drink. “Not all attorneys are trial lawyers, you know.”

“You aren’t?”

“Corporate. General counsel for businesses, contracts, that sort of thing.”

“Paper pusher.”

“You were brought here by a litigator,” he said knowingly.

“How’d you know?”

“Us paper pushers don’t really call each other that.”

“Right. She does insurance defense.” You were interrupted by the bartender finally returning with your two drinks, and you thanked him, opening your clutch for whatever cash was in there to hand him as a tip. Turning back to Kun, feeling the need to clarify something. “I don’t think she’s sleazy, exactly. You know, in criminal proceedings, the defendant is entitled to an attorney, right? And the state provides one if they can’t afford it. I think normal people should have competent representation in civil proceedings, too, just to help navigate the legal system. I think she does something good overall. I just… couldn’t do it myself.”

“A lot of time, it’s not about the facts, or what you believe, it’s about the law. Making the better argument.”

“Yeah, which is kind of what I hate about it.”

“That’s more than fair,” Kun agreed. “So what do you like about wedding planning then?”

“The moment that everything finally comes together, and I get to be the one who delivers the couple’s perfect day to them,” you sighed happily. “Every single meltdown, canceled vendor, whatever, is worth it when I get to see it all come together.”

“You love love?”

“Well, that, and I’ve also been told that I’m a bit of a control freak.”

“Playing to your strengths with your choice of career.”

“I’ve long embraced the control freak,” you declared genuinely. “What do you like about corporate law?”

“I’m not a trial attorney, first of all,” he started, making you chuckle. “And I really like contracts. Reviewing them, drafting them, refining them. I’ve been told I have an eye for detail.”

“Isn’t that a nice way of saying of saying control freak?”

“I suppose it is, yes.”

“And you know why that is, right?” You asked pointedly. “Why you ‘have an eye for detail’ and I’m a ‘control freak?’”

Kun didn’t miss a beat. “Of course. You’re a woman, so the same traits that are desirable in men are things that you get shamed for.”

“Huh.” You hid a pleasantly surprised smile behind your glass as you went to take a sip. So far, he had passed every level on your mental flowchart that you used to quickly weed out men who weren’t worth your time. “So you’re responsible for the Terms and Conditions nobody reads?”

“Possibly.”

“And you’ve definitely heard that one before.”

“Would it make you feel better if I said I hadn’t?”

“No,” you shook your head with a smile.

“It was worth a shot.”

You gathered up both of the drinks you’d been given. “It was nice chatting, Kun, but I do have to get this back to my friend before the ice melts and waters down her drink, unfortunately.”

“By all means; I’m grateful for your time that I did get.” He nodded to you graciously. “It was lovely meeting you, Y/N. I hope we’ll talk again later.”

Taking the two drinks back over to the table that Eunji was standing at, she looked at you with wide eyes and a knowing smirk. Doyoung had disappeared at some point, presumably to get on with his assignment from Eunji.

“Your drink, ma’am.” You handed it to her with mock fanfare.

“So who was that?” She asked lightly.

“Hm?”

“The guy you were talking to at the bar for so long.”

“Oh, uhm, Qian Kun? Have you heard of him?”

“No, I haven’t. He say what firm he works for?”

“Didn’t think to ask. But it makes sense you don’t know him, he’s a paper pusher.”

“Ohh… corporate?”

“Yep. General counsel for businesses, contracts. Guy really loves contracts.”

“Oh boring.” She wrinkled her nose with distaste, then took a sip of her drink. “Ack. Y/N, seriously? You let my cocktail get watered down for a contracts guy?”

“I thought I had excused myself before it got watered down, sorry,” you apologized, rolling your eyes at her dramatics. “But he wasn’t talking about contracts the whole time I was over there, really. He was asking me about my job.”

You opted to not mention the part of your conversation about trial attorneys such as your friend.

This detail piqued her interest again. “Oh, okay. You didn’t walk out, so I assume he behaved accordingly?”

“He… was nice.” You conceded.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard you say about a guy!”

“Eunji, hon, I didn’t come out here expecting to find my soulmate, alright?” You patted her shoulder. “A couple free drinks, hanging out with you, chatting with some nice people, and I’ll consider it a success, alright?”

“Why can’t you be open to something?” She sighed.

“I am. If it happens to find me. I’m just not exactly looking for it right now, okay?”

“Fine.”

“How about we worry about you in the meantime, alright? Since you definitely are searching,” you suggested, looking around the large room with intent. “What about those guys over there? By the Christmas tree?”

“God, no.” She coughed and turned her head, very conspicuously covering her face with her hair. “You see the tall one?”

“Yeah, he’s really good-looking.”

“And we’re going to be avoiding him all night. Johnny Suh.”

“Wait, as in—”

“Yeah.”

“—your ex from law school.”

“That one.”

“Well. I definitely get it now.”

“Could you be more obvious that you’re staring, Y/N? Christ.”

You casually moved around the table so that both of your backs were to that group as you continued talking. “How have you been attending like any Bar Association functions then? If you’re like this?”

“He just moved here. I heard rumors but didn’t want to believe it until I saw him with my own two eyes. Which ended up being tonight.”

“Okay, well…” You looked around again, spotting another group at a nearby table. “How about them? The guys that Doyoung is talking to.”

Eunji peered over at where you were looking. “I mean, one of them is Yuta, which, ew. He works in international law at my firm but the other three… yes, sure, yeah. I think I did my clerkship with one of those guys, actually. Let’s go.”

After being introduced by Doyoung to the three men with him—Jungwoo, Sicheng, and Taeil—you found out that Eunji had in fact done her summer clerkship under a federal judge with Jungwoo during law school. As they got to chatting, and the others talked about some recent fascinating court ruling, you slowly sipped on your drink, zoning in and out of conversations. You loved your friend, really, but there was a reason that you had met at yoga and not in law school. Hearing lawyers talk about law was going to make your brain bleed out of your ears. Your thoughts drifted back to Qian Kun, and your eyes briefly flitted around the room, wondering where he had ended up.

“And what do you do, Y/N?” Yuta suddenly yanked you back into the conversation.

“Hm?” You blinked. “Oh, I’m a wedding planner.”

“Cool. Sounds fun.”

You immediately looked over at Eunji, and she flashed you the quickest lift of her eyes in an eye roll that would be imperceptible to anybody else.

“So how’s your mission coming along, Doyoung?” You decided to entertain yourself.

Sicheng and Taeil immediately stopped their conversation to look over, confused.

“I’m talking to people not directly about cases at work.” He looked at you with wide eyes, obviously hoping you wouldn’t divulge the other half of it. “I’ve done it.”

“Okay, and who are you kissing at midnight?”

“Huh?!” Yuta let out a comically bewildered noise.

Doyoung groaned, then pointed an accusatory finger at your friend. “Eunji… ordered me to not work tonight and find somebody to… kiss at midnight…”

You shrugged. “I’m checking in on his progress.”

“Are you offering, Y/N?” Yuta questioned teasingly.

“No,” you snorted. “I’m ineligible. Sorry.”

“You came to a singles event and you’re… not single?” Jungwoo cocked his head.

“I am. I’m just not letting some stranger put their tongue down my throat at midnight because of it.” You finished off your drink. “Sorry.”

“And there’s no way I’d let either of you do anything to my friend,” Eunji grabbed your arm protectively, pointing between Doyoung and Yuta. “I know how you live. And I’m not impressed.”

“Gee, thanks,” Doyoung scoffed.

“Yeah, understandable,” Yuta shrugged.

After a bit more mingling, you and Eunji once again ended up by yourselves at a table. She had her cheek dejectedly in hand, visible pout on her face.

“So? Have you liked anybody so far?” You asked her. “Felt a connection? Seemed like you and Jungwoo were getting along… Or that environmental attorney, uhm, Taeyong?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think so,” she sighed, straightening up. “I’m going to use the bathroom. Come with?”

“I can, or I can get us drinks again. Which do you want?”

“Mm, drinks. Thanks.”

“Of course, hon.”

On your way back to the bar, you spotted a familiar blue suit jacket in the crowd and decided to make a short detour.

“Kun.” You approached, stopping behind him at a table.

The attorney turned around, a wide smile coming to his face as he recognized you. “Y/N, hello again.”

“Yeah, hey,” you beamed. “Mind if I chat with you for a second?”

“Please do.”

“I was on the way to the bar to grab another round for my friend and I while she freshens up, then I saw you,” you explained, settling in to lean beside him at his table. “But she’ll be a while…”

“Lucky me then.” A dimple appeared in his cheek. “And honestly, you might want to hold off on the drinks. They’re going to start bringing out champagne at eleven.”

“What time is it?”

He checked his silver, analog watch. “Ten fifty-four.”

“I think I will hold off, then. Eunji loves champagne. Thanks for the tip.”

“Of course.”

“You here all alone?” You indicated the empty table he was standing at. “I mean, I know it’s a singles event or whatever, but people have at least been talking to friends or colleagues too.”

“I was with some others a few minutes ago, we were celebrating a recent promotion, but they all seemed to have left me.”

“Promotion? Whose?”

“Ah, mine,” he admitted, hand habitually smoothing over the lapels of his suit.

“Congrats. And what have you been promoted to?”

“Senior partner. Non-equity.”

“Celebrating your promotion at an event for lonely singles? Bit sad.”

“If I’m being honest, I’m only here because my friend pressured me.” He nodded towards a dark-haired man in an emerald green velvet jacket, who you had seen darting about the event the whole night. “Ten helped organize it.”

“I was forced here by my friend too, Eunji,” you laughed. “She just about dragged me in kicking and screaming.”

“I didn’t put up that much resistance myself, admittedly,” Kun chuckled.

“Oh? You secretly wanted to come?” You half-joked and half-asked.

“Something like that.”

“Really? Do tell.”

“When Ten was first telling me his plans for the event, I thought, knowing him, it was just a convoluted way to get wasted and make out with a stranger,” he shook his head. “But the promotion sort of put some… things into perspective. And I feel like the New Year always makes me reflect more than others.”

“Why is that? You feel like you reflect on New Year more than other people?”

“My birthday is January 1st.”

“Oh…” You nodded in understanding. “Time marches on.”

“Yes, it does. I get the hit of a New Year and getting older on the same day.”

“I know we just met, but I feel like you’re already sharing something pretty personal, so I’ll ask: How old will you be? At midnight?”

“Thirty-six,” he said it like he was in a confessional, quietly, dipping his head down to looking down at his feet, then straight up at the ceiling, tilting his head back.

“Kun… You know that’s not even half your life, right? Statistically?” You arched an eyebrow.

“I’m aware. I’m not ashamed of my age, really. I’m quite happy to be out of my twenties. But now, about to be closer to forty than thirty… there’s things about my life that twenty-year-old me thought would’ve been quite different than they actually are.”

“Is this connected to your new perspective from your promotion?”

“Yes. A lot of people take their promotion as an incentive to work harder but… I think I’m going to cut back.”

“Does your firm know about this?”

“My new position comes with a certain amount of security.”

“You’re a damn good lawyer, Kun,” you chuckled.

Kun seemed caught off-guard for the first time in your conversation. “Well, I mean, yes, I suppose—”

“You’ve been talking around your point for the past five minutes. Now that you’re at a certain place in your career, you want a family. When you were twenty, you promised yourself you would do it all, career and family, then along the way you slowly started conceding more and more in order to get ahead, and now you’re looking back and realizing you wanted to have more in your life than just work by now. So you let Ten talk you into coming out to this singles mixer hoping that maybe you’d luck into your future spouse in one go.” You poked him on the chest. “Sound about right?”

He raised his gaze from your finger on his dress shirt to your face, a wonder-filled smile on his lips that turned into a knowing smirk as he challenged, “Seems as though you’re… familiar with similar circumstances.”

You took your hand back before giving a casual shrug. “Maybe. How close was I?”

“Scarily accurate. Did my mother put you up to this?”

“No. But, let me guess, she’s been not-so-subtly asking for grandchildren?”

“Only for the past decade.”

“Ouch.”

A waiter then came by carrying a plate of champagne, offering some out. Kun grabbed two flutes off the tray and offered one to you. You accepted it graciously.

“Thank you.” Tilting the golden liquid back and forth contemplatively, you asked, “Do you happen to know if Ten got real champagne or sparkling wine?”

“Whatever real champagne is, he probably did not splurge on it, no,” Kun chuckled.

“Nobody actually knows the difference, I was just curious.” You took a sip. “Good quality wine.”

“What is the difference?”

“Technically, real champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France,” you explained. “Whenever a couple comes in insisting on real champagne, but without the budget for it, I have tell them that they’ve probably never had real champagne in their lives anyway, and their guests will not know the difference between real champagne and a good sparkling wine.”

“Your job must require you to be knowledgeable about a lot of different things, doesn’t it? Wine, flowers, food, logistics.”

“Money, budgeting, color theory, weather, you name it, I probably have to know at least the basics, maybe more.”

Kun’s admiration and interest once again seemed genuine. “And what sort of degree do you get to be a wedding planner? Is there a degree for it? Certification program? I mean, it’s not as linear of a path as being an attorney…”

“There’s some event planning associate and bachelor programs. I have a degree in hospitality, and then mentored under a wedding planner to learn the ropes before going off on my own.”

“So you own your own business?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Wow…” He trailed off, eyes focused on you, beholding you.

You laughed self-consciously. “I don’t think I’ve ever made anybody speechless with that information. You alright, Kun? How much have you had to drink?”

“I’m quite sober, this will only be drink number two.” He lifted the champagne.

“Really?”

“I do need to drive myself home tonight.”

“I’m DD as well. And I’m also past my ‘getting shitfaced in public’ days,” you chuckled, lifting your drink to your lips again, looking out over how many of the other partygoers were more than tipsy.

“You’re beautiful, by the way.” Kun’s voice brought your eyes back to him, his eyes twinkling under the lights as he looked at you.

Your skin felt warm, and your heart jumped a bit. “Thank you.”

“That’s what I was thinking about, when I trailed off a moment ago.”

“You didn’t open with that. Earlier, by the bar,” you commented. “Why not?”

“I needed to know if you even wanted to talk to some random man first.”

“But after that.”

“I didn’t want you to think I was walking up to every woman here tonight and telling her that.”

“You’re not?” You teased, the corner of your lip quirking up.

He shook his head. “I’m not.”

“Well, you’re a paper pusher… so I suppose I can take your word for it.”

“I appreciate that.”

Checking the time on your phone, you then got up on your tiptoes, peering around for Eunji.

“Looking for your friend?” Kun asked.

“Yes, she should’ve been out by now.” You frowned.

“Do you need to go look for her?”

“Let me shoot her a text first. She might just be taking a while fixing her makeup…”

[you: jiji, you fall in? everything okay?]

Thankfully, but much to your surprise, she texted back almost immediately.

[jiji: i’m okkkk! chatting with taeyong from earlier! sorry for leaving you!]

[jiji: GREAT champagne btw 🍾🍾🥂🥂]

[you: that’s fine. you two have fun! call me if you need anything]

“She’s alright,” you chuckled, turning off your phone. “Found a friend. And the champagne.”

“Does that mean you’re free right now then?”

“Why yes, yes it does.”

“Lucky me.” He grinned. “So have you ever been in the old courthouse before this?”

“No, I haven’t. Never been to an event here, and it closed before I was born.”

“Well, we have…” He looked at his watch again. “Fifty-three minutes until midnight. How would you like a personal tour?”

“Can you do that?” You raised an eyebrow. “There’s ropes blocking off the hallways.”

“Ten’s part of the event committee for the Bar Association, and I’m part of the historical committee. We’re in charge of the preservation and restoration of the courthouse. I know which parts we can go in and which ones we can’t. Besides, if we were caught, the person they would report us to would be me.”

You couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, sure. Sounds fun.”

“I will have to ask that you leave the champagne. No liquids.”

“Of course.” You nodded, stepping away from your drink.

Kun cordially offered you his elbow, and you took it, well aware that the giddy, warm buzz in your body wasn’t from the few sips of champagne you’d just had. He led you through the crowd, and as you approached the black velvet ropes cordoning off the hallways, he looked around to make sure nobody was watching, then stepped over it. He offered his hand out to you, and you placed yours atop for him to steady you as you also stepped over the rope. You took one more look over your shoulder before you two quickly ducked around the marble column and out of sight.

The darkened hallway you entered was much smaller than the grand foyer you had been in for most of the night. In the dim light being let in through the windows, you could make out the multitude of frames along the walls, sconces clearly meant for oil lamps, and a few pieces of furniture—mainly chairs and tables pushed against the wall.

“This is where the clerk’s office was,” Kun explained. “The door at the end of the hall. But first—”

He stopped at a frame, and with your eyes adjusted to the low light, you could see the art that was in it. It was of the courthouse itself, but a whimsical interpretation, with flying chariots in the sky above it, and mermaids swimming in a river in front of it that certainly had never been there.

“It’s a beautiful etching,” you commented. “Do you know who did it?”

“We think a local artist, but they didn’t sign it,” he sighed, gesturing to the four corners, all blank. “And there’s nothing on the back. It’s something we’ve been working with local art curators and historians to try to track down.”

“That’s… sad.” You couldn’t find a better word. “I mean, it’s incredible that their work survived all these years and is still being seen and people are working to find out who created it… but it’s still sad that their identity was lost in the first place.”

“One of the experts we had look at it believes it’s a first or second state that the artist never intended to actually be the final piece, so that’s why they didn’t sign it.”

“It makes you wonder if they never made the finished piece or if the finished piece didn’t survive.”

“Also makes you imagine that artist all those years ago looking at this and thinking that it wasn’t good enough to put their name on, and now we’re looking at it wishing we knew who made it because we think it’s so beautiful.”

Your eyes scanned over the chariots and puffy clouds and mermaids swimming among the waves, then drifted over to Kun. “What was your undergrad degree in, Kun?”

“History, why?” He looked over at you inquisitively.

“Just curious.” You shrugged. “I know you can do anything before going to law school, so I thought I’d ask.”

“A lot of my peers did Political Science or Criminal Justice, but you don’t actually learn much about the law in those programs like people think you will. Everybody starts on a pretty even playing field when it comes to stuff that’ll be on the tests. But as for practical skills... majors that give you good research, writing, and critical thinking skills were really the best ones to go with. So the humanities majors were honestly running laps around everyone else the first semester or so.”

“You’re on the historical committee, so you just like history, too. Right?”

“Yes, I do.” He nodded, slowly guiding you further down the hallway. “I like knowing how we ended up here. The people that came before us, how they’re still influencing us even today. I think we have a duty to remember them, learn as much as we can, and preserve that knowledge and pass it down. Because I would want somebody to do that for us as well. I know we have cameras, and phones, and can document things so much better now, but that’s probably also what they thought a hundred years ago. But things still get destroyed, and lost, and people pass, and stuff gets forgotten. So I hope we never stop being curious about where we came from.”

“I like that, Kun.” You squeezed his arm. “I really do.”

He smiled almost bashfully, looking down at his feet, then back up as he stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway, gesturing in. “This is the clerk’s office. We can’t go in since it is very much still pre-restoration and I’m afraid you may get injured.”

“That’s fine, I’ll peer in from here,” you chuckled, looking around from the threshold. There were floorboards haphazardly strewn about, but you could see one main desk, in the same dark oak color as everything else, multitudes of filing cabinets, and several different large, old manual machines that you weren’t quite sure what they did but you were sure there were probably an electric version of most, if not all, at any office building in the city.

“So this is where all the court documents were filed?” You clarified your knowledge that you had picked up from knowing a few attorneys in your life.

“Yes. Court documents were filed, real estate documents, and notary applications. They also did a few other things in this building that weren’t just trials, but weren’t handled by the clerk. I’ll show you in a second.”

Around the corner, Kun showed you where business licenses used to be processed, and where motor vehicle and driver’s licenses were taken care of before they got their own office long before this courthouse closed. In between all of these rooms, there were various pieces of art, painting, photographs, drawings, maps, or historical documents to look at on the walls as well.

The next room was a bit larger, and you were able to actually walk into this one, the first out of all of them. It had higher ceilings and a skylight, but not quite the infrastructure and grandeur to make you think that you were in the courtroom yet.

“The historical committee has been focused on getting this one ready sooner, with some pressure from the event committee. They think it’ll bring some outside business in,” he explained, guiding you towards the front, where there was what looked like a wood countertop of some sort. The windows on the far wall had a funny sort of tint to them, and you realized they were stained glass in various colors. They didn’t depict any specific religious imagery, but they were the only ones you had seen in the entire courthouse, almost giving the impression of a chapel.

“Why is that?” You asked Kun curiously. “Also, why is this the only room with stained glass windows?”

“This was where all the marriages in this jurisdiction were performed for hundreds of years. At least the legal part, the signing of the certificate. The actual wedding ceremonies were obviously up to the couples.” He said, then gestured to the wood countertop. “That’s where the certificate was signed. The stained glass was to emulate a religious setting without directly referencing any one religion. The event committee thinks people will want to hold their actual weddings here.”

You looked around at the room, already thinking about how many people would fit in here, how you would set up a possible wedding ceremony in here.

“So what do you think, wedding planner?” Kun prompted you.

“You want my advice for free?” You teased.

He held his hands up. “I’m humbly making conversation.”

“As a favor for taking me on this lovely tour, I’ll tell you what I think,” you giggled. “It’s pretty small. This area attracts a lot of big money weddings. It might work for a couple who wants an intimate ceremony but a bigger reception, if they can also use the foyer for the reception. Especially couples who aren’t necessarily religious, but don’t want to completely go off-book by not having a church wedding, since it feels similar to a chapel, and a courthouse is still formal like a church. You’ll also attract the kind of couples who are looking for unique venues: old bank vaults, railroad stations, cemeteries, that kind of thing. But again, the size of the room for the ceremony is really going to be a limiting factor for booking.”

Kun looked at you with wide eyes. “You can get married at a cemetery?”

“Uh-huh.” You nodded, unfazed by that factoid at this point in your life. “Halloween weddings are pretty popular in a certain crowd.”

“I don’t think I’d want to get married on a holiday.” He shook his head. “Christmas, Valentine’s Day, anything. Or one of our birthdays. It’s…”

“Tacky?”

“There we go.”

“I agree. I think the only special date that I can make an exception for would be an anniversary. Anniversary of getting engaged, anniversary of our first date, anniversary of when we met, that kind of thing.”

Kun had the same look in his eyes as when you told him that you owned your own business, like you were the most incredible thing he had ever witnessed, and he couldn’t imagine ever looking at anything else for the rest of his life. “What if one of those is on a holiday?”

“Then we’d just have to pick a different date. Can’t be tacky.”

“Oh God, of course not,” Kun chuckled jokingly. “My worst nightmare.”

Still gazing around the non-denominational not-chapel, you were overcome with a feeling of unease, suddenly being overwhelmed with memories that you hadn’t thought of in a very long time. You glanced down at your empty left hand, then wrapped it back around Kun’s arm, looking up at the stained glass windows again.

“I was almost engaged once. In my twenties,” you stated into the stillness.

Kun took this pivot in conversational tone in stride. “And how do you almost get engaged?”

“He had me pick my ring and then… never proposed with it.”

“Oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry,” he said softly.

“Mm, could’ve been worse. I could’ve married him,” you laughed. “You know what’s funny?”

“Tell me.”

You turned to him still with a grin on your face. “He was a lawyer.”

“What kind?” Kun asked, then immediately followed up with, “Don’t say a trial attorney.”

“Nope.”

“Family law.”

“A wedding planner and a divorce lawyer getting married? That sounds like a pretty savvy business model. Or a really great rom-com.”

“You like rom-coms?”

“I’d call it a guilty pleasure, but I’m at the point in my life where I can’t be ashamed of the things I like.” You confirmed your love of the movie genre. “I just can’t watch any that are about wedding planners.”

“Too inaccurate?”

“Yes! It’s always about falling in love with the best man or brother of the groom or something. I’m way too busy to find my soulmate on the job.”

“So was I right? Family law?”

“Nope.”

“IP. Intellectual property.”

“No.”

“I can keep going, there’s practically infinite areas of civil practice that are non-trial.”

“I’m not the one who turned this into a guessing game!” You guffawed incredulously.

“Wait, was he… a corporate attorney?” He let out a fake gasp. “Do you have a type?”

“And who says I’m attracted to you?” You fired back immediately.

“That’s fair, I shouldn’t have assumed.” Kun laughed, smoothing down his lapels. “So what kind of attorney was he?”

“He wasn’t.”

“Wait—”

“He went to law school, so he’s a lawyer, but he never took the bar in order to practice law, so he’s not an attorney,” you declared victoriously through chuckles, much to Kun’s disbelief.

“I can’t believe you got me with that.”

“Don’t contracts require precise language or something?” You feigned cluelessness, making him snort as he knew that you weren’t that dumb.

“Yeah, they do.” He was shaking his head at himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You really got me with that one, goddamn.”

That was the first time you’d heard him curse all night, you realized, despite the fact that you’d already done so multiple times.

“I do… think you’re attractive, by the way, Kun,” you admitted. “And you’ve been great company tonight. I’ve had a wonderful time on this little impromptu tour.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry about hurting my feelings, attorneys need their egos checked every once in a while. I’m honored to have such a stunning woman checking mine this time.”

“Well, any time you need me to lie to your face and say you’re not one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen, I’m there.”

Kun patted down the front of his tuxedo jacket almost self-consciously, a pleased smile coming to his face and both of his dimples making reappearances. “Really? Well…”

“And I haven’t been walking up to every man tonight saying that, by the way.”

He laughed with his whole chest, eyes and nose scrunching up as he leaned forward, hair getting knocked out of place with his sudden movement. You smiled fondly as you watched him laugh so genuinely, so unrestrained, not in the practiced, manicured way as before. You didn’t think that they were necessarily forced laughs earlier in the night, you were sure that he did genuinely think what you said was funny, but he presumably had a laugh for these formal types of scenarios. And you’d been right, as the sort of laughing he was doing now was far different, warm, joyous, mirthful. It made your heart full to know that it was because of you.

As he caught his breath, the thought occurred to you of how much time you’d spent on your tour already.

“What time is it?” You questioned.

He checked his watch once more. “Eleven thirty-five. I should hurry this tour up to get you back in time for the countdown.”

“Lead the way.”

You and Kun slipped back into the main party with five minutes to spare, and grabbed a couple more glasses of champagne off a waiter as he walked by. You looked around to see if you could spot Eunji now that you were on the opposite side of the room as before. Funny enough, you saw Taeyong and his colleagues that you had met earlier, but not your friend.

“Is something wrong, Y/N?” Kun asked.

“I’m sorry, do you mind if we go talk to someone?” You couldn’t shake the feeling of something being off, despite the large screen set up behind the band displaying the timer now at less than four minutes.

“Of course not.”

Pulling Kun through the crowd by the arm, you landed in front of Lee Taeyong out of breath, offering him a wide smile. “Hi, Taeyong. I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Y/N, we met earlier.”

“Of course, yes, you’re… an event planner, right?” He offered you a bright smile.

“Yeah, yeah.” You didn’t have the time to correct him. “My friend Eunji that was with me, have you seen her? Is she with you?”

The man’s features immediately turned confused. “No, she’s not with me. But I have seen her.”

“Oh, good. Where?”

“Over there,” he nodded behind you. “With Johnny.”

You turned around, eyes zeroing in on a corner of the foyer where Eunji was in fact pressed up into Johnny Suh’s side, giggling and laughing, his arm around her shoulders. He looked about as tipsy as she was, pink-cheeked and giggling too.

Looking back to Taeyong, you smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Taeyong, one more thing: To the best of your knowledge, she’s been with him for the past hour or so?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” He nodded. “They look like they’ve been having a, uhm, pretty good time together. Not to be indecent...”

“Cool, thanks.” You walked off, taking Kun with you.

“So what was that about?” Kun questioned.

“Johnny Suh is Eunji’s ex from law school,” you explained the gravity of the situation. “Not a pretty breakup. Or second breakup. Or third breakup. From what I heard, I didn’t know her then.”

“Are we going to do anything?” Kun questioned as you were very clearly not walking over to Eunji and Johnny.

“I only got Eunji two drinks spread across two hours, so unless she has been chugging champagne at superhuman rates for the past hour, she’s probably only had one or two glasses, which with her alcohol tolerance would put her at mildly tipsy,” you responded with a shrug. “I’m not going to let her leave with him. But otherwise… she can deal with her choices in the morning. It would be way more trouble than it’s worth if I went over there and tried to remove her right now.”

“Gotcha.” He nodded.

“Besides…” You looked over at the countdown, which was now at 1:30. “It’s almost midnight.”

Kun tapped the side of his glass, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Y/N, I don’t want to be presumptive. Just being able to enjoy your company tonight has been more than enough—”

“Kun, I would be offended if you didn’t want to kiss me at midnight.”

“I do, I do,” he chuckled, clearly relieved. “I’m just aware that you had your reservations about coming here tonight, and about the entire premise of the event.”

“Well I said I didn’t want to get drunk and mack on a stranger. I’m not drunk, and I wouldn’t exactly call you a stranger. I feel like I know you a little bit.”

“Yes, I feel like I know you as well.”

A bauble nearby refracted the light into Kun’s eye just right and turned it a rich honey brown color, and the crowd around you began chanting the final countdown from ten. You and Kun both set your champagne flutes down on a nearby table, and you happily stepped into his personal space.

On one, you leaned forward to slot your lips with his, the cheers of the crowd fading out to silence. Kun’s mouth was gentle against yours, even as you curled your fingers in the hair at the back of his neck, resting your other hand on his lapel, fingers mindlessly messing with his brooches. His arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

You squeaked into his mouth as that arm around your waist was suddenly used as leverage to dip you, the other supporting your back. You laughed against his lips as you wrapped your entire arm around his neck instead of just one hand, before kissing him again.

“Happy New Year, Y/N,” he murmured.

“Happy New Year, Kun,” you stole another kiss. “And, Happy Birthday.”

“You remembered.”

“Of course.”

When he pulled you back up to stand on your own two feet, you were still grinning like a madwoman, and stayed pressed against his side. “I have to say… I’ve never been dipped before.”

“Seriously?” Kun seemed dumbfounded.

“Seriously.”

“Every man in your life has been dropping the ball, Y/N. Absolutely unacceptable that you hadn’t been dipped before that.”

“I’ll keep that it mind,” you giggled. “Find a guy who’ll dip me when he kisses me more often.”

“Y/N…” He sighed taking both of your hands in his.

“Yes, Kun, I would love to see you again. Specifically, to go on a date.”

“Wedding planner and a mind reader.”

You laughed, cupping his cheek to kiss him again, letting him slowly, tenderly move his mouth against yours. Just as he went to deepen the kiss, you heard a throat get cleared much too close for it to be coincidental, and you damn near jumped out of your skin.

Breaking the kiss, you dropped your hand down to his shoulder and turned towards the source. Eunji was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and an eyebrow raised. Except she wasn’t alone, as Johnny Suh towered behind her.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying about getting wasted and letting a stranger stick their tongue down your throat?” Eunji cocked her head to the side, eyes flicking back and forth between you and Kun.

“I’m sorry, and what were you saying about Johnny Suh?” You snorted, pointing to the man with her.

Johnny looked down at her, surprised. “Yeah, what were you saying about Johnny Suh?”

“Nothing you didn’t deserve. Good or bad,” Eunji replied dismissively.

“Okay, that’s probably fair.”

“Anyway, I think it’s JiJi and I’s bedtime, so, goodnight, guys.” You took Eunji’s arm and backed away from both Johnny and Kun. Eunji went willingly on both hers and Johnny’s parts, which you were relieved for.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Kun immediately offered.

“We’ll walk you to your car,” Johnny tacked on, flashing you a million-dollar smile that you were sure had done a lot for him in life.

And so you and Eunji headed out, Kun and Johnny on either side of you. As you were heading for the front doors, you saw a familiar face though, and just had to stop.

“Hey, Doyoung!” You called out to him. “How’d your mission go?”

He stopped, and despite the fact that it was you who asked the question, it was your friend that he focused his stern gaze on. “It’s done, Eunji. Happy?”

Her jaw dropped. “Who was it?!”

“It would be improper of me to say.”

“Oh come on. I’m just supposed to believe you?”

“The deal had no clause for supplying proof. Only that I find someone.” He straightened his tie. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“I’m going to kill you, Kim Doyoung!” Eunji lunged forward, but Johnny easily caught her and kept her from her intentions of presumably ripping Doyoung limb from limb.

“Maybe you should’ve had a paper pusher like Kun there, Eunji,” you snickered, squeezing Kun’s arm.

The four of you continued your journey outside, Kun holding the door open for the other three of you, as Johnny was still restraining Eunji, just in case. Once the doors had closed behind you all and Doyoung was contained on the other side of them, he let her go.

“God, you get corporate dick one time and you’re brainwashed,” she complained. “Y/N, come back from the boring side! Please!”

“You’re drunk and dramatic,” you deadpanned, leading the way in the direction of your car. “Stop embarrassing yourself more than you already have at your big age.”

She immediately became more serious, but with a slight pout to her bottom lip. “Fine.”

Approaching your car, you slowed to a stop.

“This is us. Thanks for all your…” you paused, looking at Johnny, “…help, guys.”

Johnny flashed you that same million-dollar smile. “Anytime. It was nice meeting you, Y/N. Eunji talked a lot about you.”

“Yeah, sounds like you two were doing a lot of talking from what I heard,” you replied lightly, opening your passenger door for her.

“You’re not subtle, Y/N,” Eunji grumbled, willingly getting in.

You handed her the seatbelt buckle. “I wasn’t trying to be.”

After she had gotten herself situated and you gave her the keys to start the car and the heating, you walked around to the driver’s side, where Kun was waiting for you. Eunji had rolled down her window, and Johnny was bent over, leaning his elbows on the open window to talk to her.

“I have to say, I did not expect to meet someone like you tonight, Y/N,” Kun chuckled, his laughter coming out as fog in the winter air. “You’re… amazing. More than amazing.”

“I think I made it more than obvious that I wasn’t expecting to meet you either,” you laughed. “But thank you, for making this night not only tolerable but incredible. Unforgettable.”

“We uhm, got interrupted earlier, but if we want to see each other, we’ll need to contact each other…?”

“Right, right.” You brought out your phone, handing it to him with a new contact open. “Here.”

He quickly typed in his number, then handed it back to you. “I’ll let you go, since it’s cold and late and you have to get Eunji home.”

“Thanks. I have your number now, so I will definitely be using that.”

“I’ll patiently be awaiting that time then.”

“Goodnight, Kun.” You went to hug him. “And Happy New Year and Happy Birthday one more time.”

“Thank you.” He squeezed you back. “Happy New Year, goodnight, and drive safe.”

“Will do.” You pulled back, giving him a final peck on the cheek. “See you.”

“Bye.” He was beaming, and you took in the beautiful sight of his dimples one last time before turning around to get in your car.

As Eunji took over the Bluetooth in your car to change it to her own phone so she could play her music, you did one more thing on your phone, going into Kun’s contact that he had just created. Qian Kun, and his number. You had one slight correction to make.

Qian Kun 💍

Putting your phone away, you drove away from the curb, looking at Kun waving to you out the rear window. Yeah, you had a good feeling about this one.

⤷ 2023 hallmark movie marathon | blog masterlist

[little-peril-stories]

🌈 ROYGBIV Tag Game

Rules: Search your your writing for the colours of the rainbow and post the excerpt.

I wasn't tagged in this. But I wanted to do it. :) so I’m posting it for my bday. Happy birthday to me 🎉🍰🌈

open tag ✨

RED - The Court of Rogues

I’m standing now, drawing a blade down her perfect skin, watching redness well up where the knife slices into her flesh.

ORANGE - The Prince of Thieves

Gusting wind, stronger than before, kicks up a tornado of leaves, recently fallen and vibrant against the slowly dying grass. I watch them swirl, frantically at first and then lazily, like orange and yellow snowflakes, until they fall and coat the ground again.

YELLOW - The Queen of Lies

Of course it was worth it, the thief told the voice, even though there was nobody in the world who would believe him if he said those words out loud. But he had gifted Hatchett a bloody nose when he tried to run, and that was something. There was still an ugly bruise on the constable’s ugly face, yellow like rancid butter, and the thief seized a tiny piece of glee and satisfaction every time he saw it.

GREEN - The Queen of Lies

Hazel eyes, red-rimmed and heavy-lidded and watery and glazed, locked onto hers, and Breanna’s heart shuddered and stopped. What a peculiar colour were those eyes—a mix of green and gold, staring at her from a dirt-streaked face dusted with freckles. As his eyes closed again and his head fell forward, a shock of red-brown hair tumbled over his face, and she could see nothing but the sickening crimson canvas of his back.

BLUE - The Court of Rogues

It’s the sunset over the lake, painted in blues and purples and reds and pinks and oranges, forming a gentle gradient of looming night to the sun’s farewell glow. Deep greens for the trees along the shore, laden with leaves in the height of summer. The very rocks, it seems, upon which we now sit.

INDIGO DARK BLUE - The Prince of Thieves

A ragged breath catches in my chest. They’re dragging someone in. A girl—a girl? Good god, it’s her—that girl. They’re leading her down the corridor, the pale cotton of her dress blinding against the dark blue of their uniforms as she stumbles along.

VIOLET - The Prince of Thieves

I never had much chance to go walking around in the woods, but the more I imagine it, the more he seems to belong in the picture. He walks easily, unhurried and unhurt, reaching curious hands to brush the bark of an oak, the silk of a fern, the blush of a violet. Intact clothes, unspoiled by blood and grime, skin clean and free of a single bruise. I bet that hair practically glows red when the sun hits it just right. Especially in the light of sunset, when the sky turns to pink and orange flame.

[haerinz]

hold on

PAIRING: best friend heeseung x gn reader SYNOPSIS: Heeseung has always been enchanted by you. Since the day of your first meeting in kindergarten, he knew that you were destined for each other. He's always imagined spending forever with you, even going so far as to apply to each and every college that you did, so that you wouldn't have to leave his side. However, as graduation draws near, fate reveals its own differing plans for the both of you. GENRE: angst, best friends to lovers au, high school au, kind of a star-crossed lovers au, right person wrong time au WARNINGS: unedited, major character death, frequent pov changes, please lmk if you feel that there are any other warnings that should be added WORD COUNT: 3.4K NOTE: this has been in my drafts for so long, so i'm rlly happy to finally publish it !! and thank you to my lovely esther bae @urszn for the beautiful header which was the perfect motivation to finish writing ♡ MASTERLIST | NAVI

Heeseung couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief at the sight of you, an invisible weight falling off his shoulders.

“I thought I’d find you here.” Heeseung said, hoping his voice doesn’t reveal his previous state of panic. Despite his casual comment, he had actually spent the last forty-five minutes frantically searching for you. Your room was the last place he’d expected to find you. Yet there you were, silently sitting on your bed, bundled up in every fluffy blanket you owned, completely unaware of the outside world and the mental breakdown that had just been cut short by your appearance.

It’s otherwise dark except for the messily placed star stickers strewn across your ceiling, illuminating the room in a pale green light. Knowing of your fear of the dark, Heeseung had gifted you the stickers for a past birthday, but you had always refused to use them. worried that they would eventually die out, opting for a regular lamp instead.

"Don’t make me laugh, Hee. I saw the hundred missed calls you left." You couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him. He was leaning against the door frame in his favorite matching gray hoodie and sweats. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed in worry, but he looked absolutely gorgeous. You had always thought he looked as if he came straight out of a cringey teen romantic series. With his sweet doe eyes and all his other pretty features, it wouldn’t be hard at all to fall for your best friend. He would be one of those sweet best friend types that was always there for the protagonist. They’d be high school sweethearts, joyfully spending the rest of their lives together in each other’s arms. Maybe they’d settle down in the countryside after one too many years spent in the chaos of a big city. They'd eventually have two kids and maybe even a cat or —

"So you were ignoring me, huh?" Heeseung questioned, interrupting you from continuing your delusions. His lips were jutting out in a joking pout, and he was standing with his hands on his hips, giving the impression of an upset little kid. You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the sight of the unserious glare he directed towards you. You patted the spot across from you, welcoming him to join you in your latest coping mechanism. At your invitation, he finally entered the room, carefully stepping over the numerous clothes and stuffed animals littering your floor to make his way next to you.

The bed dipped a little, creaking as Heeseung sat on the bed, scooting next to you. You adjusted the pile of blankets so that they enveloped both of you. Leaning your head against his shoulder, you could smell the notes of tangerine and oak from his favorite cologne. You both stayed there for a while, relishing in the presence of the other. You both enjoyed the respite the other provided, neither making a move or attempting to break the silence.

For the past week, both of you had been so busy preparing for the upcoming exam season that your only chance to see each other was in passing while hurriedly rushing through the halls to the next class. You had also started using lunches as a free period to study for your respective classes, so it had certainly been a while since you had last been this close in proximity. Heeseung found himself immediately comforted in your presence. Heeseung looked down at you finally up-close and his heart ached at the sight of the remnants of tears trailing from your puffy eyes. He didn’t know what to say, but his every nerve yearned to know the reason behind your current misery and eradicate its existence. 

The dark circles under your eyes had also grown significantly, almost at an exponential rate compared to his memory, and you looked so fatigued that he vaguely remembered hearing one of your shared teachers expressing concern about you to another teacher when passing her classroom on his way to a different class.

Heeseung had known you long enough to recognize that this type of behavior wasn’t uncommon for you. As a professional procrastinator, you were a proud night owl, and both of you often stayed up together. But your appearance made it seem like you had hit a new extreme of sleep deprivation. The fact that you had obviously been crying before he found you just made him feel worse. He didn’t know the reality of whatever you had been dealing with, but he was confident something was wrong. He just wished he could do more to help you, that you would rely on him more, that you would realize he’d always be there for you.

"Why now? I thought you said you were never going to use the stickers," Heeseung asked in a desperate attempt to fill the silence. He had said the first thing that came to mind, but he couldn’t deny his eagerness to hear your answer. With the stars bathing his vision in an unfamiliar green hue, feelings of uncertainty spread through his body. Maybe it was just the fact that college decisions would soon be arriving, but nothing felt right anymore. The only thing he would always have complete confidence in was his relationship with you. You had stuck together through thick and thin, and he had no doubt you would always have his back.

"I thought it might help me come to terms with everything. You know, since we don’t have that much time left together either. It’s kind of healing, being one with the darkness. Besides, shouldn't you be glad I’m finally putting your gift to good use?" You had also come to the realization that the stickers' lifespan had nothing to do with your use of them, but you preferred leaving that out. You would rather not draw attention to a fact that he had no previous idea of, knowing Heeseung would tease you relentlessly about it otherwise. He was very similar to you in that you both often shared equally stupid sentiments. It was one of the reasons you both got along so well.

"What do you mean?" Heeseung's voice was firm, despite being puzzled by your statement. You had spoken of separating as if it was something guaranteed in your future. He was offended that you had even considered parting ways with him, but even more hurt by how sure you were about it. "YN, we’re always going to be together even after graduation. You’ll forever be my number one, and I better be yours."

While you had been more focused on avoiding his teasing, it seemed your previous sentence had taken all his attention. The sudden seriousness of his tone took you aback, making you wonder if you had somehow angered your best friend.

"Hee, you know I don’t mean it like that. I love you so much, but it’s inevitable that we’ll eventually reach a point in time where we can’t be together 24/7." You sat up, adjusting your position so that you were both face to face. He frowned and avoided your eyes. Cradling his face in both your hands, you tilted his head up, but he continued looking away from you. He looked upset, but you knew that you had only spoken the truth.

"Hee?" You smiled at him, hoping to find some sort of confirmation or consolation in his reactions. You didn’t like seeing him unhappy; it didn’t suit him at all.

"Have we already reached that point then? I know you’ve been avoiding me, and it’s not just a phase. We haven't had a single decent conversation with each other in the past month. You can’t even deny it. You’re not answering my calls or texts. You’re not even talking to me anymore." Heeseung tried not to lose his composure, but he was sure that his voice must have betrayed his true feelings because he could feel the tears starting to gather.

Heeseung wished that you would just reach out to him. You were such a precious person to him, and he absolutely adored you. To everyone who had ever known Heeseung, it was obvious just how much he loved you, shown through his actions alone. His every thought revolved around you, and he had no doubt that he would do anything for you.

Heeseung had known you long enough to easily recognize all your emotions. It was almost like he had a spidey-sense solely dedicated to you. Whenever he heard even the slightest hint of sadness in your voice during a call, he was immediately on his way to you with your favorite foods in hand.

Heeseung could spend all the time in the world by your side and never get bored of his best friend. He had pulled more all-nighters than he could count just to keep you company as you hurriedly crammed to finish a project for school. Even if he had already finished the same assignment weeks in advance, he was always there to help you. In fact, it was only after learning of your dangerous tendency to procrastinate that he had taken it upon himself to do the exact opposite.

Everything Heeseung did was with you in mind. In fact, he had been determined to stay by your side even after graduation, so he made sure to apply to all the same colleges as you. He had never considered leaving your side, so it stung hearing you talk as if you had already accepted the idea.

The sight of your best friend with tears brimming in his eyes was too much to handle, and you felt as if you were on the verge of crying as well. You immediately reached out to hug him, hoping to comfort him and bring him back to his usually happy self. Heeseung remained silent even as he hugged you back.

“Hee, I’m so sorry. Please don’t cry.” You do your best to assure him with your words, but you couldn’t help but feel out of place trying to comfort your best friend. It had always been him in your current position; he had always taken care of you. It made you feel incredibly guilty that your friend had done so much for you that it would never be possible to pay it forward to him in this lifetime. 

“You’re right. I was avoiding you and I’m so sorry, Hee. I haven’t been completely open with you either. I know you’re probably also anxious about college and life after graduation so I didn’t want to trouble you.” Hearing your confession, Heeseung stilled. Breaking away from the hug, he wiped his tears and looked directly at you as if telling you to continue on.

“I really didn’t want to tell you about it, but I realize now that it’s probably best that you hear it from me first.” As the first tears started to fall, you dropped your head to rest on his chest. You were full-on sobbing now, afraid of his reaction, but you continued on, finally whispering the truth to the person you had been most determined to hide it from. 

Heeseung had always hated goodbyes. As a child, whenever family came to visit, he was always the odd one out at the end of the trip, the only one who had shed no tears. The dramatics associated with partings just didn’t come naturally to him. He didn’t like how everyone else would break down in tears or how the hugs seemed to never end. It all felt awkward to him. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t sad or that he wouldn’t miss spending time with his family; it was just that he had never been the type to openly show his vulnerabilities. It was only in complete solitude in the peace and quiet of his room that Heeseung would allow himself to mourn. 

This wasn’t like that though. No, not at all. He had been completely confident that his family would visit him again, but Heeseung wasn’t sure that he would ever see you again. The love of his life was about to disappear out of his life before he could even confess his feelings. It wasn’t even the feeling of a forever unreciprocated love. Heeseung knew that you loved him in the same way that he felt about you. He had originally planned a big confession to take place in the coming weeks as graduation approached, but it seemed as if fate had alternate plans for the both of you. 

Heeseung felt like a ship lost at sea, tossed and tormented by relentless waves of grief. The weight of your eventual absence was a heavy burden on his heart, engulfing him in a whirlwind of memories and regrets, unable to escape the torment.

It was with great reluctance that Heeseung forced himself to enter the Hospital. The stark, white walls and dreary interior echoed with the sounds of crying, likely from families experiencing their own goodbyes. It was all so overwhelming and just made him more nauseated at the thought of finding you here. He was right outside your door now, but he found himself still in place, his knees growing weak. As much as he hated the idea of ever having to part ways with you, he knew he would regret not seeing you in your final moments. A violent cough erupted from behind the door, echoing through the hallway, serving as a painful reminder of the finality of your current state. He choked up as his hand reached for the handle; the pounding of his heart growing in frequency upon touching the cold metal. 

It took a moment for Heeseung to gain the courage to open the door, but he was absolutely floored at the sight of you when he finally entered. Upon his arrival, your parents stepped out into the hall, deciding to give you both some privacy. It completely broke him to see you look so much more fragile than he remembered you ever being. He approached your bedside with a lump in his throat, struggling to find the words he’d wanted to tell you. 

It’s obvious to see from his appearance that your best friend had been taking the news of your sickness very hard. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were swollen but he still looked as beautiful as ever in the dull light of the hospital room.

“I missed you, Hee.” You mustered out a weak smile at your best friend. Despite being bedridden, your smile remained bright, but Heeseung couldn’t help but feel that as if it looked out of place compared to your dull appearance. The eyes that he often found himself lost in were now almost entirely devoid of their previous shine. 

“I love you.” Heeseung blurted out, hoping you could hear the sincerity in his voice. He wished he could say more, but he couldn’t speak. The longer he looked at you in your delicate state, the harder it was for him to maintain his composure. He had imagined the two of you spending your lives together, side by side. He had already planned everything out. He knew where he wanted to propose and how he was going to do it. You might not have realized it, but you were the object of all of Heeseung’s affection. The persistence of your image in his mind was the only thing that relentlessly haunted him, and it terrified him just how much he loved you. 

“Hee, you know I love you too.” You had spent the entire day saying goodbyes to loved ones, but it was only after seeing Heeseung that you felt completely disheartened. Tears were pooling in the corners of his eyes and with it, your guilt continued to grow. 

“I’m going to miss you so much, Hee. You were the best best friend and first love that anyone could have asked for. You’ve always done so much for me. That’s why I need you to promise me something.” You held his hands tightly in yours, wanting to ingrain the feeling in your memory forever. 

“I’m wishing you all the best. You’re such a lovely person and I know that anyone would be lucky to be the recipient of your friendship and love. Promise me that you’ll start living for yourself. I’ve held you back for so long and I’m so sorry that I didn’t realize it earlier.” You paused to look at Heeseung for confirmation. He hesitantly nodded his head in agreement.

“Do everything that makes you happy, okay? I might not be able to stay by your side, but I’ll always be there for you. I’ll be your guardian angel, so trust that I’ll be watching over you. You’ve spent your whole life looking after me, so now it's my turn to return the favor.” You smiled up at him, gesturing for him to lean down towards you.  Heeseung’s eyes welled up with tears as he obeyed your request. He was determined to stay strong for you even as his cheeks grew wet, biting his lip in an effort to suppress the sobs from spilling out his chest.

“Don’t miss me too much, yeah?” Your voice broke a little seeing your best friend look so defeated. You wiped the tears from his face and pressed a kiss to both of his cheeks, resting your forehead against his. 

“Don’t cry. You’re too pretty to be crying over me.” Your comment only made him cry harder, though, and you couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the sight. 

“I love you so much, Hee.” Heeseung took you by surprise when he cradled your face in his hands. Time seemed to slow down as he pressed the gentlest of kisses to your lips. You wished  it could have lasted forever; you wished that you could have spent forever by Heeseung’s side. You were so grateful to have met Heeseung, for him to have been your first and last love.

After your passing, Heeseung often found solace in the stars, the same stars that had once adorned your ceiling. He would gaze up at the vast night sky, eagerly searching for your light among the countless others, hoping to feel your presence and know that you were watching over him.

While he had long been stressed about what to expect from life after graduation, Heeseung knew that nothing could possibly go wrong, not with you watching over him. Just as you had expected of him, it didn’t take long for Heeseung to get acclimated to college life. He had already befriended quite a few people in the same major as him. They all shared similar personalities, and he knew that he would quickly grow close to them. He lucked out with his courses, somehow managing to get his ideal schedule. With everything just as perfect as he had always dreamed, he knew he had nothing to worry about.

While the ache of your absence never ceased to disappear, Heeseung didn’t want to erase you from his life or pretend as if you had never existed. He was adamant about never forgetting you. He continued to keep you in his memory, proudly referring to you as his "best friend" and "soulmate." He wrote heartfelt letters to you, pouring out his every thought and emotion onto the page, imagining that you were still there to read them. He still had your number saved in his phone, often calling it just to hear your voice on your voicemail. Whenever he came home for a break, he visited your parents without fail, who continued to treat him as their own son. He made sure to stop by each and every one of the beloved hangouts you had once frequented together, where your laughter and smiles had once, allowing himself to be reminisce in the cherished memories you had shared.

Heeseung carried you with him always as he continued to live his life just as you had wished for him to do. And just as promised to you, he lived each and every day to the fullest. The pain of your loss never quite left him, but Heeseung's heart swelled with gratitude for the time he spent with you, for the memories you shared together. Heeseung would be forever grateful for the serendipitous intertwining of his life with yours, a testament to the power of fate. You might not be his last, but you would always be his first love, remaining foremost in his mind and heart, etched and woven into the tapestry of his life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING !! and a million thanks to my lovely moots @kimsohn @chiyuv & @luvhyun3 for helping me with proofreading ILYSM 💗

networks : @kflixnet @k-labels @enhanet

permanent taglist : @ilynaevis @yeongwonie @gfksn @luvhyun3 @esc6pism

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Pretend

Summary: You were asked to sit into a disciplinary hearing for the DEA, not knowing it was about Javier who you hadn’t seen in years

Pairing: Javier Peña x fem. Reader

Wordcount: 2.3k

Rating: E

Warnings: old lovers to.... new lovers?, smut (Public sex, protected sex), some clothes ripping, feelings

Masterlist

Washington wasn’t how you thought you would end up at this point in your life. At least not for such a long time.

It was supposed to be a stop in your career. 

Not that you really had a plan. You went to police school because.. That had always been the plan. Your father had been an important FBI Agent until his very last breath and you followed in his footsteps.

Okay you were not in the FBI but the CIA but…. It was close.

Earlier today you had been asked to sit into a disciplinary hearing of a DEA Agent for one of your colleagues who had been called away. 

You had sat in on a couple of hearings so it wasn’t unusual.

No.

Unusual was the name on the file you were given about the DEA Agent. 

Javier Peña.

You read through the file, checking his birthdate and place to make sure it was really him. 

Javier and you had met in Quantico.

Both there on training.

And one thing had lead to another which ended in a… eight month fuck buddy relationship. Okay enough time had passed to acknowledge it probably had been a real relationship but you both would have never admitted that. 

He was there for you when your mother got sick. Driving with you to every appointment you could make it to. 

The whole thing between the two of you had an expiry date from the beginning with him going back to Texas and you going to Washington. 

So you… made most of it.

And no man since then had really been able to compare to him. 

Not that you did plan to compare the men. It just… happened. 

You made your way to the headquarters until you were pushing open the big oak door to the hearing room, making your way to your seat. 

You smiled at the men taking their seats in their designated seats, before the door opened for one last time and he walked in.

Javier. 

His eyes were downcast. 

He was wearing a suit and you wondered if he still hated wearing them like he did back then. 

He made his way to the desk, sitting down and looking up. 

The chairman welcomed everyone and then read out why everyone was here but you weren’t listening. 

You were looking into the brown eyes that had found yours. 

Considering what he did Javier came out of it all with two black eyes. 

That couldn’t be said for you. 

Your boss had wanted to talk to you after the hearing, giving Javier and you no chance to even say hello as you followed him to his office. 

While you were happy to finally get out of Washington, you did not know if you were happy about being sent to Colombia to work alongside Javier. 

Enough time had passed to realise that you had been in love with him. And maybe he had been with you, you didn’t know. 

But the way he was with you back then…

You sighed, packing your stuff on your desk together to leave for the weekend.

A weekend you would spend doing absolutely nothing but reading the three books you haven’t been able to finish and drink wine. 

“You promised!”

You groaned, letting your head fall back theatrically closing your eyes. 

You had forgotten about Daniel’s birthday and him inviting all the junior agents and you as their superior for drinks. 

“Do I have to?” you whined, already knowing you couldn’t get out of it again. 

“Yep,” he grinned, holding out his elbow for you to take. You chuckled, shaking your head as you threw your stuff into your car and locked it, hooking your arm around Daniel’s as he walked you across the street towards the bar. 

Daniel was like the little brother you never had. His wife and him quickly having become your family while you were here. 

“Guess that could also count as a goodbye,” you said as you waited for the light to turn green.

“Huh?” Daniel asked. 

“I got promoted,” you sighed.

“That’s great?” he asked and you huffed a laugh.

“I’m going to lead the Colombia team.”

He blinked twice at you.

“In Colombia?” he asked you snorted.

“Guess we really need that drink huh?” he asked and led you over the street.

You were two drinks in when you saw Javier sitting at the bar. 

Your colleagues were in a very animated discussion about cars which gave you the excuse to slip out of the booth and make your way over to him.

He had lost his suit jacket, the sleeve of his shirt rolled over his elbows. His tie laid abandoned on the bar counter in front of him. His fingers were wrapped around a glass. Probably whiskey.

“Didn’t think I would see you when I woke up this morning,” you said and his head turned around to look at you. He looked exhausted, following your frame as you sat down on the seat next to him. 

“Could say the same thing,” the left corner of his mouth lifted into what could be described as a smile. Maybe.

He nodded at the barman, ordered himself a new drink and surprising you by ordering your favourite, looking at you to confirm it to which you only nodded. 

“So,” you said.

“So,” he sighed. 

“Colombia has been really kicking your ass huh?” 

“You have no fucking idea.”

“Saw that he’s dead on the news yesterday,” you said and you saw how he nodded, closing his eyes. His hand reached for the package of cigarettes in front of him. 

“Want one?” he asked. You shook your head. 

The barman sat down your drink in front of you and you thanked him, before you looked at Javi again. You sat in silence for a while, nursing your drinks as he smoked his cigarette.

“How’s your mom?” he asked. 

“She died a year ago,” you said. Javier reached for your hand on the counter, squeezing it. 

“I’m sorry. She… She was a great woman.”

“Yeah,” you breathed in deeply. 

“How about your family? Anything new?”

Javier shook his head. 

“Pops is still back in Laredo. Saw him yesterday. Thought I would go back tomorrow but I guess I’m not.”

“Yeah. They tell you when you have to leave?”

“Monday.” 

You nodded. It was friday and you were meant to leave monday too.

“Well I guess we’re on the same flight then,” you said, emptying your drink. Javier raised his eyebrow at you. 

“You’re looking at the new FBI Team Leader in colombia.”

You were… pleasantly buzzed.

You had ditched the agents you came with, getting closer and closer to Javier until you were sitting thigh against thigh at the bar. 

You had told him about Washington. He had told you about Colombia.

“Anyone special in your life?” you tried to ask nonchalant, and Javier looked down, shaking his head. 

“No. Not since… No. There’s no one.”

“Really?”

“I mean there were some… women but… Nothing special. What about you?”

You shook your head. 

“Nada. Can’t even remember the last time…” you tried to remember then, the last time you had sex. 

“If you have to think that long, it’s been too long,” Javier chuckled.

“Well when was the last time you had sex?”

“Two weeks ago. Though it wasn’t as good as…” he stopped himself and you grinned. 

“I’m a changed man now. The next time I have sex I want it to mean something.”

You looked at him before you sighed and got up from your seat.

“That’s a shame,” you said, stepping closer towards him, your nose running over the back of his ear.

“Cause I really wanted you to fuck me in the restroom,” you whispered, hearing him gulp before you walked towards the restrooms. 

You heard the door open before you flushed the toilet, stepping out, seeing Javier standing with his hip resting against the sink. You walked past him, washing your hands and drying them on one of the towels provided.

You looked at him then, leaning with your back against the tiled wall next to the sink. Slowly he walked towards you and you bit your lip, your eyes only leaving his to check if he had indeed locked the door behind him. 

“I’m a changed man,” he said, his voice deep as he towered over you, his hand on the wall behind you. You looked up into his eyes, those damn brown eyes you had woken up to more all the way back then.

Back when he wasn’t Javier Peña, back when he was just Javi, a shy good looking young man who could make you laugh even on the darkest day. 

“I don’t think you are,” you whispered before you tilted your face up, crossing the distance to kiss him. 

Kissing Javi was just as you remembered. 

You let your hands run through his hair as you parted your lips for him, his tongue dipping into your mouth as his hand already pushed under your skirt. 

“I want to eat your pussy. Been thinking about it since I saw you sitting in that room,” he hummed, kissing down your jaw. 

You shook your head. 

“Want you inside me. It’s been too long… Please…” you pulled at his hair when one of his hands cupped your pussy. 

“So wet already,” he grinned and you let your head fall back. Somehow he had opened the first buttons of your blouse, his lips now kissing and licking the valley of your breast. 

You were dripping with arousal. 

You pulled at his hair, making him look up at you. 

“Do to me whatever you want. But please please just fuck me Javier,” you hated how desperate you sounded but you didn’t care. 

“You gonna regret saying that,” he smirked.

“Turn around, hands on the wall,” he stood to his full height and you turned around immediately. You heard him unbuckle his belt, pulling at his zipper before he groaned. You risked a glance over your shoulder to see him pump his cock behind you, a condom in his other hand. 

Biting your lip he caught your eyes, cocking his head to the side.

“Eyes up front, baby,” he nodded and you sucked your bottom lip in, turning your head to face the tiles. 

You heard him rip the package, probably making quick work on putting it on before his hands were running up your thighs, pushing your skirt up. 

His fingers dug into the pantyhose you were wearing before you heard the ripping of fabric, feeling his warm hands on your skin, no fabric in between anymore. 

If you hadn’t been wet before, you sure as fuck were be now. 

His fingers pulled your panties to the side, cold air hitting your skin.

“Fuck you’re dripping,” he said, pushing two fingers inside of you and you moaned. 

“Gotta keep quiet, baby. Don’t want headquarters to hear you,” he hummed and you huffed a laugh but then he moved his fingers and you sighed. 

“I wonder if I can still make you cum on my fingers within minutes…” he teased and you whined. He angled his fingers, finding that spot inside of you that no one had after him with ease. Your knees almost buckled and your eyes rolled back into your head as your orgasm surprised you.

Not only by how quickly you came but how hard. 

“Fuck,” you heard Javi curse, his arm shooting around you to keep you upright. 

“That was… the sexiest fucking thing I have ever seen,” he whispered with a smile against your ear and you grinned.

“Glad to be of service,” you said dreamily, still in the blissful aftermath of your peak. Turning your head you kissed his lips. 

“Fuck me now Javi. I don’t wanna beg,” you mumbled against his lips.

“But you’re so pretty on your knees,” he teased with a grin. 

You pouted and he laughed. 

“Okay, okay. Gonna be quick though. I’m ready to fucking burst.”

“I don’t care. Just want you inside of me,” you said.

“Fuck okay,” you faced the front again, bending down, his hand now on your hip before you felt his cock push inside of you. 

“Shit…” you moaned quietly, letting him stretch you slowly until his hips were flush against your ass.

“Missed this,” he whispered. 

He stayed like that for a moment and you wiggled against him. He groaned.

“Stop that.” he grabbed your hip, taking a deep breath before he began to move. His thrusts slow but deep, his hands pulling your asscheeks apart. You risked a glance over your shoulder, seeing him as he watched his cock fuck you from behind. 

“You can take a pic later. Fuck me,” you said out of breath and his eyes found yours. 

“Touch yourself. Want you to come with me. And I’m…” he huffed, “so fucking close.”

You brought one of your hands between your legs, feeling his cock as he fucked into you and Javier moaned. You used your finger to rub your clit, not thinking you’d be able to cum like that again but then Javier changed the angle of how he was fucking you and his cock hit that fucking spot all over again, his thrusts faster and harder. 

“Fuck…” you moaned your head falling against your own shoulder as you sighed, the slapping of skin filling the room.

“Shit… Fuck… Gonna cum…” Javier moaned just before he pulsed inside of you and you groaned, taken back to all those times he came inside of you, the feeling driving you over the edge again. 

“Fuck you get so fucking right…” he whimpered, Javier whimpered.

“So fucking good,” you hummed, feeling him thrust lazily into you until he stopped. He pulled you against his chest, kissing your shoulder and then your lips when yout turned his head to him. 

“I still wanna eat your pussy,” he hummed and you laughed. 

“Come home with me then.”

[palettepainter]

Happy early birthday!

Do you have any headcanons on Floyd and Janice’s relationship! Would love to read it!

Thanks!! Just five days away now...and I am nervous-

As for Floyd and Janice I am always ready to talk about these sweethearts!

-They met each other when Teeth, Floyd and baby Animal where on the road and came across a small band of travelling hipsters, the first one they met was Janice, who offered the two a space to rest and refuel from their travels on the road. Floyd instantly had a soft spot for her because of how quickly she took to Animal and vice verse. Animal usually growled or tried to bite anyone new, but it seemed Janice was simply magic cuz Animal melted at her attention

-I hc Floyd was the one to first develop feelings. Janice was sweet but is a little oblivious, so she just assumed the really strong feelings she gradually developed for Floyd was just because she cared for him as a friend a lot. Despite Floyd having a crush on her first it was actually Janice beat him to the punch and confessed, while also simultaneously asking him out. It was a warm summer evening and the band where camping out in their van on some old country lane. They had all finished dinner when Janice took Floyd off into the fields to sit under a single oak tree, where they spent a few hours just chatting and Janice weaving flowers into Floyd's hair and her own. It was all very cliche: the flowers, the warm summer breeze, the setting sun colouring the sky. Floyd, feeling brave, sends a teasing look to Janice and goes "Ha, this is all sorta romantic like...this the part where I hear some sweet love confession?"

To which Janice calmly replied "Actually like, yeah. That's exactly what I'm gonna do"

And Floyd totally lost his cool and sat there with his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide. It's all good tho Janice was fine with waiting for him to process (she may or may have called him handsome and complimented his moustache, which might have caused a system shutdown that led to Floyd sputtering and blushing harder-)

-Janice loves to play with Floyd's hair. Generally she'll play with everybodys hair if they're sitting next to her, but she does it with Floyd the most. When Floyd started to develop feelings for Janice he'd tense up from nerves whenever she'd start weaving her hands through his hair, but now he finds it quite a relaxing experience. Janice is always patient to comb out stubborn knots and sometimes massages Floyd's scalp which is an instant way to get him to melt

-With them being so different they are prone to occasionally fighting, as any couple does. Floyd has a stubborn streak and Janice, in her own way, can also be a bit stubborn. When this happens Floyd is often the one to leave in a huff and as the two end up leaving to go get some air. That being said, Janice and Floyd do genuinely love each other, and any disagreement they have is quickly resolved and they make up

-I know the band in Muppets Mayhem travel a lot in their van in a never ending tour, so it's implied they're not really the types to lay their roots and settle anywhere. BUT I still love the idea of Janice, Floyd and Animal all sharing a little apartment together somewhere and forming a family domestic family unit. If they did share an apartment together, Floyd would be the one to do the cooking. Floyd does not trust Animal with an oven so he's banned from using it without supervision, and Janice...Floyd loves her, really, but she cannot cook to save her own life. Janice likes to try and make all natural, healthy, organic foods and drinks. All of which taste like she wrung it through an old sock and water it down with sewer water. First time Floyd tried her homemade natural green tea he had to restrain himself from spitting it out. Floyd is often the unwilling sacrifice to try Janice's food, Floyd tried to warn the band about it in the beginning but he wasn't fast enough to save them. Animal is the only one who can stomach her foods and drinks

-Neither are against PDA, but neither feel the need to show more affection for the other then needed. Floyd has called her nicknames before in Muppets Mayhem and in the OG show (baby/mama), and Janice likes to stick with honey (from the OG show). Floyd will also sometimes have his arm over Janice's shoulder or hip, and Janice likes to hold hands and lean on Floyd. When they're a little tipsy they become a lot more cuddly and affectionate - Janice isn't as big of a fan as alcohol as Floyd is so he's the more likely one to get drunk, and when he does get drunk Janice always finds it rather adorable. They're literally that quote from that one video:

Floyd, drunk: Uh- my wife, she'll be upset if she sees you touchin' my chest like that

Janice: I am your wife

Floyd:!!!-.......*blushes* Sup?~

-I don't know if any of the band would be the type for marriage/wedding, since they're not really their scene. Janice believes there is no way to truly display the love in which she and Floyd share, but I feel like Janice would like the idea of a small little wedding like ceremony with just her, Floyd, the band, and a few other guests from the muppets they'd invite. It'd be super casual, with an obvious floral theme, perhaps Floyd would wear his military uniform. Floyd isn't all the fussed about marriage, he knows that Janice is his and she knows that he is hers, but if she really wanted it he'd go along with it (If they had to invite guests I imagine the band would invite a couple of their friends, such as Rowlf, Kermit and Scooter. And Janice would invite Camilla and Piggy - to Floyd's dismay with the latter)

[cosmicallyhadlee]

The Deets

Name: Hadlee Van der Zee Birthday: February 29, 1996 Birthplace: Amsterdam Neighborhood: Starlight Cove Gender: Nonbinary Pronouns: She/they Sexuality: Still figuring it out Occupation: Library technician at Light Year Library

The Background

Hadlee was born in Amsterdam but moved to Starlight Oaks with her mom when she was less than a year old and her mom got a teaching job at the university. She's never met her biological father but has a sneaking suspicion their mom never lost contact with him. Their mom remarried when they were 16 and they now have an annoyance of an 11 year old brother.

They weren't unpopular in school and they managed to have lots of friends growing up; they even still speak to some of them. Most of their friends come from their post-secondary days or from work.

Her first love was the ocean. To this day it's one of her favorite places to go because, well, you can't be mad staring at the water. Her second love was the stars. They love staring up at space on a clear night, the ocean lapping at their toes.

After high school, the plan was to go to university and major in marine biology with a minor in astronomy, but that ultimately didn't happen. Their mom, as an academic, pushed them to work hard and get high grades which just wasn't happening. Combined with the cost and their desire to be independent, she dropped out after the first year. After a couple years of not knowing what to do and working odd jobs, she went to college to be a library technician.

Now, they're renting an apartment in Starlight Cove with plans to buy a house in the next year or so. She's happy at the library, but thinking about going back to school for information studies. They're happy on their own, but ready for anything to happen.

The Vibes

They've been learning to surf for the last couple years. They've gotten better, but could definitely use a coach.

They love a more feminine aesthetic with pastels and natural tones.

Look no further for a green thumb! Her apartment is covered in all kinds of plants.

She reads a lot and always has at least 2 books nearby.

She dresses like it's summer, regardless of the weather.

[cosmicgalaxies]

*     ◟    :    〔   bie thassapak hsu  ,      cis male    +   he/him    〕      "bank" supachai    shinawatra ,      some say you’re a  thirty-three-year-old  lost soul among the neon lights.      known for being both  dutiful  and  destructive,  one can’t help but think of  nobody  by   mitski  when you walk by.    are you still a    CIO  at    NEWS CORPORATION LIMITED / SOLDIER FOR THE BURNING GODS,     even with your reputation as the broken crown?     i think we’ll be seeing more of you and    expensive watches, ruined paintings, and late nights,    although we can’t help but think of kendall roy, sisyphus, the green knight gawain    whenever we see you down these rainy streets.      (      kit  ,      25  ,      she/her  ,     cst  .     )

Name: Bank Supachai Shinawatra Age: Thirty-three Birthday: April 27th Zodiac: Taurus

Hobbies: Art collecting, watch collecting, casual drug use Habits: Staying up until the sun rises, no social life outside of work, watching only old movies, never wears the same clothes twice. Family: Mongkut Shinawatra ( father ) Li Hua Tsai ( mother ), Anchali Shinawatra ( half-sister ) Orientation: Bisexual, biromantic

Inspirations: Kendall Roy, Sisyphus, The Green Knight, Icarus, Jay Gatsby Aesthetics: Newly pressed shirts, aging oak barrels, vintage cologne bottles, an open endless ocean, walking alone in the snow, glowing office lights at night. Headcanons:

Bank loves cats. His penthouse always has at least three or four cats running around. If Bank had a will, he would probably leave some of his money to them.

Mongkut and Bank's mother, Li Hua, was perhaps the shortest of his fathers' marriages, lasting less than six months. Bank's birth was a surprise to them all, with Li Hua believing herself unable to have children. Between the two, Bank has always spent more time with his father. Once he started making enough money of his own, Bank made sure to give his mother a nice home to reside in, and he has a standing dinner with her monthly.

College is perhaps the only time Bank had a genuine social life. Coding languages came to him naturally. And for his other classes, he had no trouble paying off others to do the work for him so he could party or drink.

History: ( prison mention tw )

Born into the prestigious Shinawatra family, Bank was raised in the face of his father's company. Born just months after his father, Mongkut Shinawatra, and his mother, Li Hua Tsai were divorced, Bank was taken under his father's wing and given anything a young boy could ask for. He was surrounded by wealth, privilege, and experienced a life of pure opulence.

The empire belonging to the Shinawatra family grew with each passing year, and from the time he was a young boy, Bank was promised it all, the name, the glory, the respect that comes with leading people to victory, success, and riches. With any agreement, Bank had his own promise to uphold - to prove himself, to mold his young soul into his father's image of what should and should not be. A prince is simply gifted a crown, Bank was expected to earn it.

News Corporation Limited was not the only growing empire. Bank had watched technology grow alongside each asset his father purchased, and in that, Bank saw an opening. He had no passion for computers and languages, but an innate talent seemed etched inside of him. With the desire to inherit his family's business, Bank saw it to make himself integral to the company's support system. Coding, websites and programs and filters, Bank saw to it that he would learn them all in order to keep his corporate world as up to date with their competitors.

A talent initially meant to attract the attention of his father brought about the attention of more than what Bank could have expected. The Burning Gods, responsible for Mongkut's corporate success naturally had an interest in what services his son could offer to them. Eager to prove himself, Bank was more than happy to oblige. Social Security numbers, banking information, credit cards, and more. Any information uploaded online, Bank could get his hands on. He was untouchable, with a goose chase covering up his tracks.

— Or so he wished. A long-standing operation to take down a serial identity thief eventually led investigators to Bank himself. His father's influence could only save him from so much. From Mongkut's perspective, it was time his son learned his actions still had their consequences. Money could do a lot, but wouldn't save everyone. Bank sat through a lengthy trial, and even with the best lawyers, too many signs pointed back to him. Sentenced for five years in prison, Bank only served three, and was then released for good behavior.

For so much of his life, Bank's name meant one of respect, even fear of how far their influence reached. To Bank, it now feels like a collar chained around his neck, an inescapable shadow, and the fear that lurks around every corner. Bank still retains his position at his father's company, but expects every e-mail to be his last. And his position within The Burning Gods has been burned to the point of no return. Bank still recalls what he was promised as a young boy, and remains acutely aware of his own talents. His father, his family, his associates, may not believe in his ability to rise to the top, but he intends on showing them all just how cutthroat he can be.

[rothjuje]

It is insane to me how one week everything is grey and dead and the next week everything is green? Everything grows insanely fast here, maybe because the humidity? A bunch of flowers sprang up immediately after the Irises did, there are scilla, daffodils, and hyacinth everywhere. There are so many daffodils in Georgetown you’d think they were weeds.

It’s weird to be here during this time, the last season we haven’t experienced. The hostas and daylillies that were in bloom all over our yard when we moved in popped up two weeks ago, but won’t bloom for a while. The peonies (which were apparently in bloom when we saw the house in May) have popped up as well, the only flower left on our property I haven’t seen in bloom.

I love Massachusetts but sometimes I feel Massachusetts doesn’t love me back. The utter madness that has happened our past 9 months here.. the incredibly painful cellulitis that I thought was necrotizing, breaking a crown and needing a bone graft which then got infected and was weeks of pain and antibiotics, the kids falling ill mid October and being so sick for 4 months straight (multiple sinus infections, croup, flu A, strep, multiple rounds of stomach bugs). I lost count of the times the kids coughed so hard they threw up. There were a handful of nights the girls were coughing so bad I stayed up all night to make sure they were still breathing. I will probably freak out next October, the sick season out here is something else. Strep, stomach bugs, and gnarly colds are STILL making their rounds. Alyssa’s classroom has been taken out by strep twice now, once in February and again in April. Oy. My birthday weekend included two separate ER trips (neither for me and both patients are fine now), poison oak in my left eye which promptly swelled shut, prednisone was a nightmare, and then I pulled a muscle in my neck and couldn’t function for a week, and then I got a sinus infection. Just. Why. Sigh.

Anyway. We are good. We are on the other side now. It is bright and sunny and warm and green and Spring.

And….I got chickens. Nine of them! Perfect, sweet little babies. Two bantams, two Rhode Island reds, three Starlight eggers, a black sexlink, and a leghorn. I’m dying to add a Jersey giant, two olive eggers, and another bantam to my flock (in stock at tractor supply) but Justin might murder me. I’m so excited for tiny bantam eggs. And just to have ladies again. I’m just really, really happy.

What else? I gutted a garden bed that was overtaken by vines and weeds and large rocks. It was a ton of work but looks great now. I got poison oak again. I was clearing it out, so I knew I came in contact with the oil, but I scrubbed myself with Dawn in a freezing shower almost immediately and my body is still covered. Whyyy. Daffodils went on clearance because it’s late in the season for them so I got 7 plants, mostly so I can anticipate them popping up next year.

I wasn’t going to do a garden this year because it would need a fence and we’re pushing the retaining wall back so don’t want to install a permanent structure. But. I am obsessed. I think my impulses lied dormant all winter and now I just want to do everything right this second. I think I’m going to push my section of retaining wall back now and get the garden set up. Plant babies give me life.

[moondancer71]

Now all our memories, they're haunted

A In the Land of Gods and Monsters birthday drabble!

AN: Happy birthday @evax3​! 🥳 Thank you for being such a kind, fun, and supportive friend in this fandom, along with sharing all of your wonderful fics and art! I’m so very glad to know you! I hope you have a wonderful day! This is just a little gift and I hope you enjoy it! ❤️

I made the edits in the MB 🤭🙈. Thanks to @youwerenevermine​ for helping me with finding a suitable Kit pic for the edit and also to @arielchelby​ for the quick beta read!

“Come on,” Jon said as he tugged on her hand, pulling her behind him as they made their way up the driveway leading to Winterfell. Jon had insisted that they leave his car at the gate and walk so that Dany could experience the sprawling ancient castle. So well preserved that you could imagine it looked the same centuries before. 

It was early autumn and the light breeze was tinged with the last wisps of summer’s warmth. Dany paired her light blue linen dress with a denim jacket and brown ankle boots, her silver locks in a simple ponytail. Jon was dressed in a light pink button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up his toned forearms and the top three buttons left undone; he paired it with dark denim and black boots. 

The golden sun streamed through the large oak, soldier pine, and sentinel trees that lined the path leading into the Wolfswood. The leaves that filled the trees and those that sprinkled the ground were an array of deep yellows, greens, and browns. 

Dany stilled when she saw the castle come into view. The cold, deep grey of the stones that comprised the structure were a contrast to the warmth of the surrounding landscape. The direwolf statues that framed the door, their mouths opened in a fearsome snarl, served as a warning to those who passed the threshold of the power of House Stark. 

Jon stopped and turned to face her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as he gently squeezed her hand. 

“I’m nervous,” Dany whispered, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. 

“You have no reason to be. Arya and Robb are excited to see you again. In fact, I should be worried about what they’ll say to you about me,” he laughed.

Her eyes flitted between Jon and the door. “It’s meeting Ned and Cat that worries me.” Dany never had much of a family growing up. Her mother, Rhaella, died in childbirth and in the years that followed, Dany lost her father Aerys, and brothers Rhaegar and Viserys. She was the last Targaryen in the world. However, being with Jon offered the hope that she might not only build a family with him, but also with the Starks. 

At the mention of their names, Jon’s smile fell and he averted his gaze toward the Wolfswood. 

“They do know I’m coming, right?” Dany queried, trying to keep her tone calm. 

“No. I didn’t tell them,” he replied, his eyes still trained on the trees. 

“What do you mean you didn’t tell them?” she growled, pulling her hand from his. 

Jon turned to her, his brows knitted in a frown. “I’ve told you before, my relationship with my family, especially Ned and Cat, is complicated. They are wary of new people and outsiders.” 

“Jon,” she sighed. “This is not how I wanted to meet your family, showing up at their front door unannounced like this.” 

“Trust me, Dany. It’s better this way,” his eyes soft, pleading. 

She huffed, exasperated. “Well, nothing can be done about it now. But… what if they don’t like me?” 

Jon grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against him, their chests flushed, his arms wrapped around her waist while hers moved to his shoulders. “Impossible. You are beautiful, kind, intelligent, and have a good heart,” each word punctuated by a kiss on her cheeks and mouth. “You’re one of the best people I’ve ever met, Dany, and they’ll come to see you for who you are.” 

“Thank you,” she said as she tucked an errant curl behind his ear. The way the sunlight danced across his face, his eyes slightly crinkling from the bright rays, he looked so light and carefree. “This is just so important. Meeting your family in this context– the context of you being someone I love and want to spend the rest of my life with and if they don’t like me then–” 

He silenced her with a kiss, his tongue softly stroking against her own. When he pulled away, he rested her forehead against hers. “Darling, I got you,” he whispered, his warm breath fanned across her lips. 

Suddenly, she heard a tapping against her window. The memory faded before her eyes like the frayed edges of old photographs, the images only a faint silhouette in her mind. 

Dany turned to find Jon standing beside her car, dressed in a grey polo and black slacks, likely having come from a lecture. At first glance he looked much the same as he did three months ago, yet she could see a sense of heaviness in his eyes. 

She took a deep breath, to ground herself in the present, before she rolled her window down. 

“Daenerys. Have you been here long?” 

“Uh no. I’ve only arrived a few minutes ago.” 

“I spoke with Ned before I left campus. He’s waiting for us in the library.” 

“Well, we wouldn’t want to keep him waiting, would we?” she said with a roll of her eyes. 

Jon didn’t reply, only turned and entered the code on the keypad. “Ladies first,” he said with an upturned hand as the gate opened.  

As Dany made her way up the path, she pushed past the memories still haunting and lingering about the grounds.

[luciusaelius]

Memories

a kiss could be a powerful connection

Happy Valentine!

this is a Valentine gift in Minekura's Valentine gift exchange.

Dear Crowoxy, I hope you like this story as much as I liked writing it!

This large Saiyuki fan group acts positively on me as a real sanzogroupfamily and I was glad to have this occasion even if I was really afraid at the beginning for I never made a Valentine’s gift like this. Love from Luciusaelius

Also special thanks and happy birthday to Alex.

hope you all enjoy it!

MEMORIES

1. Family dinner

Gojyo finished his cigarette and pushed the stub on the grey stone jamb.

"Where the fuck have those two gone?"

He cast a glance at the set table where a tray filled with meatballs lay waiting for Goku. They smelled wonderful, but he would not pay Hakkai any compliment. He peeked under a covered pot and a delicious smell came up from there too.

Hakkai was bustling about in the small kitchen moving an amazing number of courses to the dining room - definitely out of proportion for any normal family's dinner.

The crew had asked for lodging in town but the rooms of the only inn were sold out; the owner had proposed that they stay in his small country house, next to the oak forest where he used to chop wood.

'This place is not so bad', thought Gojyo; he was just annoyed by the fact that the two nice girls at the reception would not be at hand.

There was some peace there and in case of an attack the fight would be less dangerous and harmful than it would have been in the middle of a town. He could still go back and stroll around after dinner to check what was in the air.

He looked at the table again, then through the large window toward the trees, whose leaves were passing from bright green to dark violet as the light changed soon after sunset.

A memory from long ago punched his chest: he used to live with Hakkai at  the time. He had come back late - he had spent the night fooling around and drinking hard. When he got in he saw all the nice food Hakkai had prepared for dinner still on the table. Hakkai had covered everything with cellophane not knowing at what time he would come back.

Hakkai was like that. He would never complain, like a silent guest. This made him angry: he'd have rather been mistreated, to have an excuse to tell him something hideous, and he was sure anyway that it wouldn't had worked and he would have felt even more guilty.

He took a serving spoon, determined to taste that tempting mush of lentils and curry in which chops of pork meat happily floated; it was calling him like a witch’s potion; but as soon as he raised the pot lid, trying carefully without succeeding not to make any noise, he was reached by Hakkai's voice as he came out of the kitchen with another large tray.

"Put down that spoon, guy. We should wait for the others"

The same old tone, apparently kind, imperative in substance.

He huffed, annoyed.

"Who knows where the fuck those two are right now. Sanzo was looking for a pack of cigarettes, but if Goku catches the scent of food from restaurants downtown he will never come back until his stomach is full. Meanwhile here our food is getting cold!"

Hakkai began to laugh.

"Don't worry: Sanzo will keep him in line. I've been cooking enough for an army and that should be enough to feed even Goku"

"Ok, ok"

Gojyo lifted both hands in a sign of surrender; he turned the spoon between his fingers like a skilled card player would do with an ace and put it back upon the table.

Hakkai was a bit surprised that he didn’t insist; he smiled at him. He went into the kitchen again and came back with another dish, an enormous one piled with reddish rice balls on top of a multicolour spread of tempura vegetables.

"These rice balls are made in the style of the far west lands, I learnt the recipe in a correspondence course. Would you like to try one?" he asked, kindly.

"Is it worth creating works of art that will last only for a few seconds?" asked Gojyo, raising his eyebrows. Colors and geometric shapes made the tray a joy to behold.

"Is it a waste of time going to look at the cherry blossoms?" said Hakkai, squinting as a smile curved his lips.

2. A shot

While he was leaning on the table to put the new course down a bullet pierced the window glass. Hakkai got out of the way just in time. He dropped the tray and ran together with Gojyo to escape from other hits and to check outside. Goijo had got out his blades.

There were just three rough Yokais in front of them, badly armed but determined: it was a matter of seconds to get rid of them. They had expected a quiet human family preparing for dinner and not someone who would fight back.

"I guess they saw the smoke of the chimney and came by looking for prey; they were not aiming at Sanzo's group, let alone the sutra. They just wanted us for dinner."

"What a hassle" added Gojyo, and lit another cigarette, moving outside just to check if  there were really only three.

He turned inside. Hakkai was cleaning up; fortunately only some of the rice balls had rolled on the table when he had dropped the plate.

Hakkai was so immersed in the task that he didn't even notice that he had been slightly hit.

His green headband was soaked with blood that dripped through onto his cheek.

"Hey man, wait a minute or you'll transform that white cloth into a polka-dot one"

"Oh, it's nothing serious" answered Hakkai bringing his hand to his temple. "Yes, now I see I stained the tablecloth" he added, frowning.

Gojyo put out the cigarette, took a clean towel and approached him to clean away blood and check the wound. "Yes, of course. Nothing", he mumbled. He did not trust Hakkai: when he talked about his health he had a tendency to underestimate the severity.

Hakkai blocked his wrist. Gojyo had the feeling he didn't want him to get nearer. He looked into his eyes.

Gojyo had a worried look on his face and behind, hidden in the dark of the pupil there was still the anxiety of a frightened child. In the days when he had found him and cured him, every now and then that look emerged but he was quick to hide it behind his sarcastic jokes.

Hakkai was annoyed about the wound made by three stupid hungry Yokais and he would not take any ironic comment at that very moment. He maintained the grip. Gojyo's lips were near, and to provoke him he rested his lips on his.

Gojyo jumped back.

"What the hell!"

Hakkai flashed an embarassed smile.

"Sorry, I.." he raised his right hand hiding his look. "please give me a cigarette"

Gojyo searched for his packet. He was annoyed for he felt something had turned on at that touch; he would have wanted to punch him in the face. He went toward him, slammed the packet on the table and caught a glove in Hakkai's left eye. Gojyo took his face with both hands and kissed him, at first angrily, with a demonstrative rage that passed into a physical involvement.

When he detatched from him, Hakkai stared. His dialectic skills had abandoned him. He felt his heart beating in his temple while a first blurred, then increasingly clear image composed itself in his head.

"Here, when you decide to do something, do it properly, at least"

said Gojyo responding to the look.

He took the packet back and passed him a cigarette; he took another one and lit it, then passed him the lighter.

"Gojyo"

"Hm?"

"I've remembered something.."

"What a serious tone! did you forget something in the oven and burned it?"

Gojyo let out a wisp of smoke and stared defiantly at him with the cigarette between his lips. After a few seconds he opened his eyes wide, and the lit cigarette almost didn't roll onto his shirt.

Hakkai continued. His look had changed; it had become harder.

"It happened to you too...didn't it, Kenren?"

"Field marshall!" Gojyo dropped on a chair "I think I need a drink. Something strong"

Hakkai laid down two cups, poured sake for himself as well, and lit the cigarette. His hand trembled slightly.

They plunged into silence separated by two thin threads of smoke.

The others came back after a few minutes. Goku had a large packet in his arms; it smelled like chocolate and fresh bread. Hakuryu hovered on his shoulder smelling it.

"Why did it take you so long?" asked Hakkai

"The ravenous monkey's fault?" added Gojyo.

"He wanted to eat and I prevented him. I told him you were making dinner especially for him. " said Sanzo addressing Hakkai. "So he grabbed half of the desserts on display in the bakery and ate more than half of those on his way here"

Hakkai laughed.

"Will he have enough room left in his stomach for the dinner?"

 "I'm staaaarving" screamed Goku.

"Do you have any doubts? I don't think he will leave us any leftovers for tomorrow" said Gojyo.

"Who are those lying out there?" asked Sanzo.

"Three louts who wanted us for dinner" replied Gojyo.

"Hm," commented Sanzo. "On their plates, I guess. Yokai won't get off their backs here either"

“we weren’t expecting any attack and could not feel them coming near” added Hakkai.

"Hakkai! the smell is spectacular. Let's eat huh? let's eat? Enjoooy!" Goku had dumped the bag in Hakkai's arms and started uncovering platters and tureens.

"Wait for the others, you idiot monkey. I had to wait a century for you to come back"

"Hurry up, rather, you retarded kappa, or else you'll complain to me if I then eat more meatballs than you"

Sanzo peered at Hakkai. His eyes were curiously shiny and alive, as if he had a fever, and he had a wound on his left temple.

"What happened? Have you been trying to gamble with your good eye?"

"Nothing serious, rather we will have to reimburse the damage they did to the window and wall."

"Right then. I'll go back to the owner later so we can pay him, tell him to dispose of these bodies and we'll leave directly without going through the village. These people out here won't go back to their cronies and maybe someone else might come looking for them. At this point it is better to leave as soon as possible, tonight or tomorrow at dawn. What time did this happen?"

"Just twenty minutes before you arrived"

Sanzo mulled over the fact that he had had a curious sense of estrangement half an hour before arriving at the oak wood, as if he did not recognize the place where he was; it happened while he was dragging Goku away from the bakery; he had attributed it to hunger and fatigue and had not given it too much thought. Out of the corner of his eye he had seen Goku looking repeatedly at his wrists.

Dinner was as expected. Hakkai passed bits of meat to Hakuryu. Goku busied himself cleaning up the tureen before moving back to the desserts, grabbing a colorful cookie that Hakuryu sniffed diffidently. Hakkai poured sake again and Gojyo pulled his cup next to him, taking the opportunity to peer at him as he filled it. His hunger had passed and he had no desire to argue with Goku.

Sanzo noticed this and it seemed strange to him. He got up from the table and lit a cigarette while Goku  moved on to the candied fruit.

"You go and pay the lodging guy. Remember to tell him we need a mortician," he said; he grabbed the newspaper and plopped down on a couch near the fireplace.

"I'll dematerialize them if you wish" Hakkai said.

"No, you look pretty tired already and it's better if they realize in the village themselves where they might end up as game. Sometimes if they don't get scared they don't realize how close the problem can get."

"Hakkai?" asked Gojyo, nodding toward the door. "Let's go ourselves. Goku is still stuffing his face and when I go out with him women tend to think he's my son. If it suits me I'll stay in the village and see you all in the morning"

"Do whatever the hell you want but mind if you come back late we’ll leave you here" said Sanzo, uttering a quick farewell while casting a glance from under his glasses at Goku who continued to rummage through the bag of sweets.

3. Memoirs expand

They reached the town walls by jeep. After a band of vegetable gardens and shacks, the urban fabric became more compact. Winery signs lit by torches swayed in the wind, casting strange glows. They parked a few steps from the inn; they paid and told the keeper about the assault. They went out, closing the door behind them. The wind had risen up.

"The poor guy got so scared that he didn't even want to get his window glass refunded" Hakkai said. "I don't know if he's going to go back to chop wood over there. But at least he promised to send someone in the morning to remove the corpses" They walked toward the walls even though neither of them felt like going right back.

"Shouldn't we tell them? The facts we remembered involve them too"

Gojyo did not respond; he stopped and lit a cigarette, sheltering it from the wind with his hand. The wind increased again so much that they struggled to walk. They took shelter in an alley. Gojyo put Hakkai with his back against the wall and kissed him without any preamble. Hakkai stared at him bashfully.

 "I just wanted to see if I could remember anything else"

"I know that you like women, you don't need to justify yourself to me" Hakkai answered.

 Gojyo smiled.

"OK, you are the exception. I mean, I don't mind kissing you, at least. For now, though, I don't want to have any further experiences. Can we stay friends?"

Hakkai laughed.

"All right, I'll buy you a drink without asking for a room"

"The girls at the counter were two: we can go up together if you want" Hakkai shook his head."Together in separate rooms?" Gojyo added.

"No, I'd rather go back to the base."

"You're boring, mate, you know?" he crossed his arms. "Please don't tell them about what we remembered without me"

Sanzo took off his glasses and laid the newspaper beside him; he stood up and lit a cigarette. Had he closed his eyes while reading? Perhaps fatigue had caused him to lose consciousness for a moment and he had fallen asleep. The vivid dream he had had, however, made his heart hammer in his chest. Goku came out of the bedroom, approached him and looked at him bewildered. "Konzen" he said. He grabbed his sleeve and began to cry.

"Stop it, Goku, get it over with"

Sanzo wondered what was going on. Goku had called him Konzen. So it was not a dream They had had the same vision and in the vision his name was Konzen. Goku threw himself at his knees.

"Get up, you fool"

"Konzen. Konzen. Konzen."

"Shut up, cut it out if you don't want a bump on the head. You're not a kid anymore"

He had him pulled up holding him by the scruff of his neck but he was moved too. After a moment's hesitation he hugged him to calm him down.

“Why did this come back to us, why so suddenly?” he asked himself without saying a word. Instinctively he touched his chest where the door had squeezed him until it took his breath away, until he had vanished in a golden haze.

He remembered the pain he had felt looking into Goku’s eyes, a golden flash and utter black, soon after.

Hakkai and Gojyo re-entered the inn. The innkeeper looked at them worriedly.

"Quiet, no bad Yokais. There’s just a cursed wind outside” said Gojyo.

“would you kindly bring us a bottle?" added Hakkai.

They chose a table in the least rowdy spot. The sake bottle arrived along with two small cups decorated with leaves. Hakkai filled them both. They downed them at the same time. "We must tell the others" said Hakkai after a while.

 "Tell what? about the Celestial Kingdom? About how they took us out? Sanzo will think we've gone crazy"

"It concerns them too"

"There’s also the fact that it's not a good memory. It's painful. Maybe we can spare them that, what would change anyway?"

A man dressed in white, his hood pulled down over his shaggy hair, approached. Without waiting for an invitation he grabbed a chair and sat at their table.

"you two were kissing"

Hakkai and Gojyo looked at each other puzzled.

"What?" they replied in chorus. They were uncertain of what to say; he looked strangely familiar.

“That would be none of your business, anyway” Gojyo added.

The stranger continued, with his deep voice.

"I'm not sure I can turn into a jeep again. Buy me something to drink in the meantime" "what the hell..." said Gojyo.

The two stared at him in disbelief as the memory became clearer.

"Commander" said Hakkai.

"Shall we walk back home?" suggested Gojyo.

"That would be better. The place where you parked me was damn cold; I tried to transform into my usual small dragon form to move and saw you in the alley. When it happened I found myself in the shape you see here"

"And remembered who you were" said Hakkai.

Goujun downed his sake and nodded.

4. A pending promise

They knocked and opened the door. Goku started shouting and Sanzo could not stop him: the room echoed with ‘Tenpou chan, Ken-niichan, Tenpou-chan, Ken-niichan...’. His calls resounded like a mantra from wall to wall.

"You guys kissed, huh, you and the brat?" Gojyo asked Sanzo with a raised eyebrow.

 Sanzo stared at him puzzled.

"You remembered too" Hakkai said with an uncertain smile.He was relieved to no longer have to wonder whether to tell him or not.

Sanzo's gaze was fixed, as if he was chasing a memory that was not yet complete and comprehensible. He came back to life frowning when he saw Goujun behind the two.

"And where does that one come out of?"

"Sorry. I'm not sure I can turn into a jeep again" said Goujun.

Sanzo crossed his arms.

"Well, dragon, you better get busy because I'm not going to go deal with a car-seller, much less continue the journey on foot" Sanzo turned to Hakkai. "How would you explain this?"

"Um, an energy discharge? We - Gojyo and I - had a vision just before the attack... then again just a few minutes ago" Hakkai said.

Sanzo noticed the slight blush that had appeared on his face but asked no further questions. Gojyo lit a cigarette pretending indifference while staring at the dark trees beyond the window. Goujun shook his head.

Sanzo realised the strange feeling of deja-vu had started when he had taken Goku by the hand to drag him out of the bakery.

Goku was jumping and running from one side of the house to the other.

"If you go on like that you'll soon run out of fuel and the pantry thanks to you is empty already" Gojyo shouted at him, showing him a paper bag where only crumbs were left.

"We have to reach the hills we have seen from the highest part of town. It is the flowering season. You promised"

"What hills, you fool: have you forgotten that we have urgent work to do in the west?"

"It's April, we just need one day off. Just one. It is you that have forgotten. You promised it. You all promised".

They felt they somewhat needed a bit of time to cope with that memories and agreed to detour, just for one day. They asked around and were told that what Goku had seen in the distance was actually a sheltered hillside at the foot of the mountains, not far away, where plum and cherry trees grew.

Cherry trees were in full bloom. In a few days the petals would begin to fall, one after another. They ignored what else to expect in that life. They did not remember everything of the past, only random precise scenes and feelings. But they all felt it was right to keep that promise. A silent way to claim they were still togheter, despite everything.

Goku had fallen asleep on the bright green grass, his head on Sanzo's lap. Sanzo smoked while looking at the clouds of flowers that filled the sky with white and pink.

Gojyo was drinking sake sitting on a branch; he had asked Goujun to join him but he had replied that since that certain day he could not stand heights in that apterous form; he leaned against the trunk slowly sipping from his small cup.

"it's true. These are much more beautiful," Sanzo said, breaking the silence.

Gojyo jumped down. He had seen a shadow pass over Hakkai's face. "Well, what's with this funeral face? You used to like cherry blossoms"

"We left the heavenly realm on a heavy charge"

"And for a good cause, right?" Gojyo added.

Goujun sat down on the grass, wrapped his cloak upon his shoulders and looked at them.

"When you disappeared, the cherry trees up there suddenly lost their flowers and leaves. The memoirs I wrote and my witness rehabilitated you. Your choice was a brave one. Perhaps you’ll come out of the cycle of rebirths one day. And hopefully I will come out too. I'm pretty tired of carting you around"

Before long they all fell asleep, perhaps from sake or the early spring sun.

"It's not still time you thugs. We'll talk about it in a while" yawned Kanzeon Bosatsu; white petals falling and dancing through her silvery haze path."I enjoyed that spicy spark, anyway" she added looking at Hakkai with a sly grin.

They woke up covered in petals; Hakuryu laid curled in the grass at the bottom of a giant cherry tree. The only thing they remembered was that they had changed their route because Goku had strangely insisted on seeing the cherry trees blossom.

[au-wannabe-the-very-best]

His name is Kubo. It wasn’t before, but it is now and that is all that matters. The Before wasn’t something worth remembering. If anything, he wish he could forget it altogether. After all, the only joy he found in the Before was from fiction and special interests he could never pursue. 

The Before ended earlier than it should have, so he never truly made it to where he wanted to be. He finished his high school diploma early, and had begun his certification process before his existence was unfortunately cut short by a wayward glass bottle thrown by his father. Previous father, that is. If anything, being murdered wasn’t nearly as irritating as it was to lose years worth of his hard work. He had been on a path towards something that would possibly make him truly happy. Having his tracks derailed in such a permanent way was deeply upsetting, especially when considering the idea that he would have to do it all again.

He is Kubo now. Not who he was previously. He is young, and now has two identical siblings, both who are a lot like him. They like trains. They are intense. They have special quirks and interests.

Unlike him, they are both horrible at masking. That is not a bad thing. They shouldn’t need to mask. They shouldn’t feel the need for it. Kubo only ever learned in the Before due to fear. It’s difficult to unlearn, he doesn’t know exactly how to stop doing it because he spent a majority of his formative years in the Before doing it. He wants to be more like his brothers.

His parents from the Now do not want him to be more like his brothers. He is certain of that.

For their fifth birthday, his brothers got train sets. Rather than getting one himself, he was given a puzzle, some books a few grades above his age’s typical reading level, and a Reuniclus doll the same size as his body. Notably, he had more gifts than his brothers. Also notably, none of these gifts pertained to his interests. Reuniclus was not his favorite Pokémon. The books he was given were science fiction. He does not like these sorts of puzzles. 

He read the message. He’s done this song and dance before. 

“Act normal, and we’ll shower you with love.” 

He did not want it. His brothers were old enough to see their parents’ show of favoritism, but not old enough to see how Kubo himself feels about it. In their eyes, Kubo is everything they are not. He is Normal. He is Sociable. He is Perfect. 

Meanwhile, they are Weird. They are Unapproachable. They are Flawed. 

Eventually, Kubo found himself alone. His parents would only ever love a fake, idealized version of him. His brothers would rather ignore his existence. Their red, blue, and green color coding eventually turned into black, white, and green. 

His brothers left home early to start their journey at age eight, together. They did not invite Kubo. His brothers were content to see themselves as twins, and his parents were content to view Kubo as their only child. 

He did not love his parents. His parents believed they loved him. He loved his brothers. They could not say the same about him. 

Nearly a year later, he runs into the forest, leaves his shoes beside a tree stump, throws his backpack into a river, and fakes his death. He becomes a stowaway, leaves Unova, and endeavors to start his journey in Kanto. His newly minted trainer’s license, distributed by Professor Oak himself, says that he is ten years old, an orphan, and legally capable of taking care of himself. He is nine years old, has parents in another region altogether, and he has no idea what he is doing. 

He is still Kubo. He just isn’t Kubo Conway anymore. He is Kubo Nobara. 

He prefers life this way. Really. He does.

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You

The Most Iconic & Loveable Blonde Haired 👱‍♀️❤ American Actress Of The 90's & The Best NBC TV 📺 Show Sitcom Of All Times. 

Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles to Greek-born actor John Aniston and actress Nancy Dow.

She is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards. Since her career progressed in the 1990s, Aniston has become one of the world's highest-paid actresses.

The daughter of actors John Aniston and Nancy Dow, she began working as an actress at an early age with an uncredited role in the 1988 film Mac and Me. Her first major film role came in the 1993 horror comedy Leprechaun. She has since starred in a string of successful comedy films such as Office Space (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Marley & Me (2008), Just Go with It (2011), Horrible Bosses (2011), We're the Millers (2013), Dumplin' (2018), and Murder Mystery (2019). Aniston also starred in the acclaimed independent films The Good Girl (2002), Friends with Money (2006), and Cake (2014). She returned to television in 2019, producing and starring in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Aniston has been included in numerous magazines' lists of the world's most beautiful women. Her net worth is estimated as $300 million, and her box office gross is over $1.6 billion worldwide. She is the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is the co-founder of the production company Echo Films, established in 2008.

PLEASE WISH THIS ICONIC & LOVEABLE BLONDE HAIRED 👱‍♀️❤AMERICAN ACTRESS OF THE 90'S & THE BEST NBC TV SHOW 📺 SITCOM OF ALL TIMES, FRIENDS.  A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 ��� 🎁 🎊 TO YOU

YOU KNOW HER

YOU SEEN HER ON THE TV 📺 SCREEN & ON THE BIG SCREEN 📽

& YOU HAVE TO LOVE HER SENSE OF STYLE OF HUMOR IN ROMCOMS & COMEDIES 😆 🤣

THE 1 & ONLY

MS. JENNIFER JOANNA ANISTON👱‍♀️❤ AKA RACHEL GREEN OF NBC'S FRIENDS ❤

HAPPY 55TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 TO YOU MS.  ANISTON👱‍♀️❤ & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME 

#JenniferAnniston #Leprechaun #Friends #TheIronGiant #BruceAlmighty #MothersDay2016 #TheMorningShow #RachelGreen

[an1d10t]

Okay okay okay,

I added some more to the treomann

There were silly humans, these humans really liked plants and trees and were very connected to the nature. One day a new goblin baby was born. It didn’t look like either of the parents. The child had brownish skin, the colour of the bark of the oaks, an oakleaf marking on it’s head and arms and fiery red and orange hair, the colours of the leafs since it was fall.

From that day on the ‘tree children’ (treomann) were born. Of course there remained normal humans, humans who lived in the cities and villages.

There are different kinds of ‘tree children’.

-Their skin colour is the colour of the bark of the tree they were born closest to. (Oak tree kids have brown, greyish skin colour, ironbarks kids have dark brown, blackish skin colour, ect.)

-Their markings get ‘chosen’ by the way the exit the uterus. Feet first? The leafs of the tree they were closest to are on their legs. Head first? Head marks!

-The hair colour matches with the season.

Born in fall: orange, red or medium brown hair

Born in spring: light nature colours (like light green and light yellow), light brown or blonde

Born in summer: more vivid nature colours (like just not neon green), blonde or strawberry blonde

Winter: white, black, dark brown, frosty colours or darker nature-ish colours

The summer and spring ones have some sort of healing magic

The fall ones can grow mushrooms wherever they go and can make fey circles disappear. (They typically are a big fan of insects, spiders, snails and other ‘creepy’/fall related animals.)

The ones from winter normally have cold hands and are able to withstand very cold temperatures. If it doesn’t snow enough in the forest they can help with that by preforming some sort of ritual

Also I think it’d be a fun idea to give them different types of ears because yea. Why not

All the treomann help with different stuff and most of the time they’re very peaceful. Yet the fall and winter treomann can fight well. Summer and spring ones mainly help with healing the injured. But there are some exceptions.

They respect other animals and humans and I have a very big urge to give them an own religion but idk if I should

That’s all I have for now

Have a great day:)

Also don’t be shy to give me your birthday

I wanna tell you happy birthday