#he likes to be sparkly and who is Jo to say no?

[roachemoji]

GOD i love gay people

[0shewrites0]

A FINE LINE BETWEEN HATE AND LOVE

When her gaze grew dull and her smile faded, Lucas began to realise what his previous actions might have cost him

S2 | Lucas/MC | 7.800+ words | @0shewrites0

summary | What if there was a girl so much like Lucas that everyone automatically assumed they were a match made in heaven? What if that girl trusted Lucas so much, only for him to betray her, bring Blake back from Casa Amor and break her heart?

Samantha hasn't forgiven Lucas, she can't. The pain is still way too raw and her wounds are still fresh. She is back together with Lucas, but things between them aren't what they used to be. And when Elisa shows up and shit hits the fan - what will happen to Samantha and Lucas? Can they find their way back to each other or will they drift apart forever?

genre(s) | Angst. A lot of swearing. Smut (nsfw). A little fluff.

note | Day 20 (Double Trouble) always upsets me a lot, and along with the heartbreak I have to go through because Lucas brings Blake back after Casa Amor, I wanted to have the chance to throw all that frustration and pain at him. Because we never got to do that in the game, and that's a shame.

Read here or on AO3

“Who’s that?”

“No way! New people!”

“Are they boys? Tell me they’re boys!”

Samantha looked up from her scrambled eggs as a tall, glamorous woman walked out of the villa towards the group of islanders gathered in the kitchen. She had flawless skin, shiny hair and even a damn nose ring and was wearing a gold sparkly dress.

“Queens in the Villa! Heeey, everyone! I’m Elisa!”

She gave everyone a perfect, radiant smile and Samantha thought to herself, Wow! She's so stunning!

Another new girl quickly followed behind her and grinned. She was wearing a blood red strapless dress and ridiculously high high heels that showed off her immensely well-shaped legs.

Damn, she looks so fit!

“This is like doing the walk of shame in reverse! I swear I’ve woken up here before. Morning! I’m Jo.”

Both were beautiful in their own right, but the producers couldn't have sent in two more different girls - they were the exact opposite of each other.

Graham and Gary exchanged a look and made a dash over to the girls with Lucas and Bobby following them in hot pursuit.

Samantha raised an eyebrow, Desperate much?

She rolled her eyes, turned back to her scrambled eggs, took a mouthful and closed her eyes, trying to enjoy her breakfast. I'm not going to chase after him, I'm nobody's puppy...

But the boy’s voices were too loud.

“Welcome to the Villa, girls. I’m Graham!”

“And I’m Gary, easy to remember. Graham - average. Gary - hot stuff.”

Elisa's bright voice rang out as she giggled flirtatiously, “Check you lot out! This is what I call a welcome.”

Samantha couldn’t prevent a strange shiver from creeping up her neck. That Elisa was radiating danger somehow, she could sense it. She didn't know what it was yet, but she knew instinctively that Elisa wasn't going to fool around.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the boys leading the girls into the kitchen as Lucas winked at Elisa, “At your service, ladies. Nice to see some new faces.”

Samantha almost choked on her scrambled eggs and quickly disguised it as a cough, but she couldn't believe what she had heard. At your service? Seriously?

She shuddered in disgust. Why are boys always so desperate? I don't remember him saying that to me...ever.

She tilted her head and watched Elisa fix Lucas with a hungry gaze. “You lot are way fitter in person.”

Elisa raised her hand and suddenly Samantha knew why she had had that intuition. She knew exactly what Elisa was up to and the fact that she couldn't do anything about it made her grit her teeth involuntarily. She forced herself to breathe calmly, but inside she was screaming, Please, Lucas, please don't fall for it, you idiot!

Elisa ran her perfectly manicured nail along his jawline and cooed, “Your skin looks amazing!”

As Lucas froze, he fucking froze, Samantha felt anger and disappointment wash over her like a tsunami. She watched as his cheeks flushed about ten shades of crimson and she could hear the blood pumping violently through her ears.

“Even cuter with a bit of colour in your cheeks.”

Elisa just couldn’t stop, could she?

What a fucking bitch to pull a dominatrix when she probably knows exactly how hard it was for Lucas to let go of control with me. And what a fucking idiot for falling for it, I can't believe it.

Lottie glanced at her, her bright green eyes pleading with her to calm down, because apparently everyone could see the angry fumes erupting from Samantha's ears. Everyone except Lucas, of course. Even Gary had torn his gaze away from the newcomers and was now staring at Samantha in bewilderment.

Samantha took a deep breath and struggled to put on an unfazed expression, raising her eyebrow slightly and grinning lopsidedly. Then she completely sugar-coated her voice and turned her gaze to Lucas, who was still standing there completely frozen in time, and asked, “Cat got your tongue?”

When her voice rang out, Lucas snapped out of it and tilted his head in her direction. When his eyes met hers, something happened that she would have never dreamed of. She was aware that her eyes were basically murdering him, and apparently he had seen it too, because he immediately averted his eyes.

But Samantha only waved her hand dismissively and clicked her tongue. “Oh wait! No, I know the answer! If by tongue you mean dick and by cat you mean Elisa, then yes. Right?”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but the best part was how Lucas' cheeks flushed again. So violently that she thought he was going to explode into a trillion little pieces, and when he looked up briefly she could see the embarrassment in his eyes. He had understood her, he knew what she was insinuating, and she could see it in his eyes - he was ashamed. Terribly so, in fact. It gave her the satisfaction she needed at that moment.

Samantha just continued to stare at him without blinking once. She wanted him to feel like the asshole he was at that moment. And a wicked grin spread across her face when she noticed Elisa blushing as well.

I knew it! Damn it, I knew it!

Of course Elisa knew what she was talking about. The other islanders around them had gone quiet, watching the drama with bated breath, and in their faces Samantha could see the confusion. But she didn't care at the moment. The right people had picked up on her innuendo and they felt like shit for it. Just as they deserved it.

Scoffing, Samantha turned, sending her long curls flying, and strutted away. But as soon as she entered the cool villa, confidence and satisfaction left her, and what was left was pain.

So much pain.

She thought back to the morning before the girls had been sent to Casa Amor, and how vulnerable Lucas had been towards her. How he had somehow not wanted to let her go. How he had buried his face in her hair and murmured, "Just a little longer." And she remembered how she had tried to relieve the unfamiliar, unaccustomed emotional tension by joking, “Cat got your tongue?” But what he had said was still ringing in her ears, “If by tongue you mean heart and by cat you mean you, then yes.”

She let herself sink to the floor and leaned back against the cold wall. It hurt like hell how much had changed since then. She couldn't forget how it had broken her heart to see him come back with Blake in tow. And nothing had been the same since. The trust was gone. And as much as she didn't want to hurt him, knowing how awful he still felt about ditching her for Blake, today with Elisa had stabbed her in the heart all over again.

Maybe she had overreacted, but judging by the look on his face, she knew she hadn't. Lucas had needed to hear that. Samantha felt tears prick her eyes, almost threatening to roll down her face, but she wouldn’t let herself cry. She had already cried enough because of him. Abruptly, she got up and went into the bathroom to quickly wash her face before heading back out.

By now, everyone had gathered on the lawn by the beanbags, talking, laughing and having fun, and Samantha felt she had to play along. If only to show her face and make her point.

“Right, now we only know how you like your eggs, but what about how you like your men?” She heard Bobby's voice echoing across the lawn.

Even from a distance, she could see Elisa frowning and smiling wryly. And when she said, "There's more to us than the men we fancy, you know?" Samantha had to suppress the urge to laugh out loud.

“I’ll bet there is. So what’s your story?” Lucas asked her and as he was sitting with his back to Samantha, he couldn’t see her walking towards him. Gary, who had noticed her approach, tried to signal Lucas to stop being so overly attentive, but he either didn't seem to take the hint or clearly didn't care. Samantha didn't know which was worse.

“I’ll bet it’s something creative. You’ve got that vibe about you,” he added, oblivious to his surroundings.

When Samantha glanced at Lottie, she could hear her inhale sharply, as if she was afraid of what Sam was about to do. But Sam didn't want to do anything. She didn't want to cause any more drama. She just wanted to show everyone - and especially Elisa - that Lucas was with her. So she squeezed through the islanders chilling on beanbags and made her way to Lucas, where she sat demonstratively on his lap and immediately felt his hands wrapping around her waist. It felt so familiar and comforting that tears came to her eyes again. But she blinked quickly and swallowed them down.

“I’m actually a social media influencer. I’ve got my own makeup vlog.” As Elisa spoke, she watched Samantha's every move, and when her eyes fell on Lucas' hands resting on Sam's hips, Elisa's eyes narrowed with envy.

Well, take that, babe. I'm with him. And he'll never give you what he gave me.

Glancing at Lucas, she noticed he was looking at her with raised eyebrows, as if silently asking her if she was okay. But no, no, she wasn't fine. And he could probably tell by how tense her whole body was. Normally she would snuggle against his chest and let him embrace her, wrap her up in his big arms, but not this time. She just couldn't. She wanted to make her point, but she couldn't pretend nothing had happened.

Eventually there was a lull in the conversation and Samantha felt Lucas lightly tap her bare hip. "Can I fill up my water bottle?" he asked, and Samantha heard the question echoing between the lines, "Can we have a chat?"

But she wasn't ready for that yet. So she just shrugged and stood up. Lucas picked up his water bottle and made his way to the kitchen, turning his head once to look at her expectantly, but Samantha was having none of it. She ignored him, dropped back into the beanbag and began examining her nails as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. She felt Elisa's gaze on her, but she was in no mood to talk to her. Ever to talk to her, if she was being completely honest.

Just as Lucas returned from the kitchen with an annoyed look on his face, a phone beeped and Jo called out excitedly, “I’ve got a text!”

“Jo and Elisa, you’ve got some catching up to do. Pick your two favourite boys and get ready for your first dates. #singleandreadytomingle #doubledates”

“Well, this is easy.” Elisa giggled and cocked her head, winking at Lucas. “I pick Lucas and Noah.”

Lucas smiled at her, and for a moment Samantha foolishly wished he would refuse to go. But then he nodded and said, “I’d feel honoured.”

It went straight to her heart - through her heart, actually - and made her bleed inside, and she knew he had done it because he was pissed at her. Even though he had no fucking reason. Even though he was the one who had acted like a total asshole.

Samantha got to her feet, scoffed sarcastically and made her way to the swing bed. She could feel all eyes following her, but she couldn't take it any longer.

Everything had gone so horribly wrong, and it had all started with that bloody Blake. She was so angry with him, so furious that she would have loved to go back and punch him in his stupid fucking handsome face for hurting her so much. She didn't know if he didn't realise what he was doing or if he enjoyed making her jealous, but at this point it wasn't even pure jealousy anymore.

Of course she was jealous. In that she was so much like Lucas. The other islanders even made fun of the fact that Samantha was basically Lucas, just in a female body. That's why they should have been such a good match. And at some point they had! But then it all went wrong, and now they just made out and had sex without ever talking about the freaking elephant in the room.

She knew she was afraid to trust him again, to be so vulnerable again, to be hurt again. Only God knew how afraid she was to admit to herself that she still had feelings for him. Even after everything he had done. He was like a drug she couldn't stop taking. She needed to be near him, needed to feel him touching her, holding her or kissing her to make the voices in her head shut up. She knew it was toxic, but she didn't want to let him go.

Maybe some stupid, irrational, naive part of her still believed there was hope. That they could find what they had lost when they were separated. Because the truth was that they had had something so good. And that realisation brought hot tears to her eyes. Angry tears because she hated how much control he still had over her and how she just let him hurt her like that. And sad tears because she missed how they had been before everything had gone to hell. She missed him and how vulnerable he had once been, and she missed herself. She missed how much she had trusted him and how safe she had felt with him.

Now, whenever she tried to talk to him, he blocked it out by kissing her, because every time he did that, God, did he make her head spin. And he knew it too. And then there were so many moments when she just couldn't muster the courage to open her mouth and tell him how hurt she still was. How many doubts were still floating around in her head and how much she needed that reassurance from him. Because yes, he had apologised, but something still stood between them. It prevented them from going back to the way things had once been.

What if he simply decided to take the easy way out now? What if he chose Elisa and just left everything - including her - behind and moved on? The thought of it choked her throat, made it physically impossible for her to draw in a breath, and panic rose inside her. She fucking needed him. And she couldn't lose him.

But what if it was too late?

_______________________

Samantha had strategically avoided anyone who would have wanted to talk to her, because the truth was she didn't want to talk. Not with them. This was between her and Lucas, and even though Elisa was a huge bitch for ambushing him like that and playing with Sam's feelings that she obviously knew so well, this wasn't even about her. It had just shown all the cracks that were still there. All the fresh wounds that hadn't yet turned into scars.

And how were they supposed to heal if she kept touching them? If she kept replaying the events of that night? If she just couldn't let go? And how was she going to be able to let go if she didn't find the closure she so desperately needed? All the sex and all his kisses couldn't make up for how much he had become a stranger to her. Their hearts were both closed, she could feel it. They were both afraid to open up again.

As Elisa's rich voice filled the air and her giggles almost deafened Samantha, she looked up to see that everyone had returned from their dates.

“It’s not the first time I got semi-naked and sweaty on a first date”, Jo laughed.

Sighing in exhaustion, Samantha made her way back to the others. She could see Ibrahim smiling at Jo, “It was great. I feel so much more relaxed now.”

Well, at least someone is happy…

“Ours was more like a rom-com. Lucas couldn’t stop laughing…”, Elisa interfered and burst into fits of giggles again.

Samantha just rolled her eyes.

“Because it tickled! I’m not used to people touching me there.” Lucas shrugged and grinned wryly.

Elisa laughed, “And I rolled off the table.”

"What are you talking about?" Hope interrupted Elisa's annoying voice.

“The dates were a couples spa. We all got bubbly and massages,” Lucas explained to her.

Samantha frowned. “A couples spa? That sounds awkward.”

Lucas just raised an eyebrow and sat down next to her on the sun lounger.

It feels so strange between us...

Samantha sighed and murmured, “Sounds like you guys really got along.”

Lucas shrugged, staring down at his shoes. “It was a fun day. Made a nice change from here.”

He looked up and glanced at her, smirking smoulderingly. “The only thing that would’ve made it better was if I had been there with you.”

Samantha wanted to roll her eyes, she really did, but she couldn't. Looking into his eyes was like being hypnotised. And maybe it had something to do with the fact that she wanted him back. Like, really back. The way it had been before Casa Amor. But she couldn't help thinking, Does he really mean that, or is he just saying that? Am I really that important to him?

Lucas put an arm around her waist and Samantha winced. Frowning, he narrowed his eyes, but when she didn't say anything, he just shook his head and pulled his arm away. Then he cleared his throat, “I gotta say, though, I've never met a girl like Elisa..."

“Yeah, she’s super hot,” Samantha nodded, but bit her cheek so hard she felt the metallic taste of blood on her tongue.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Not just that, she’s deep. I could talk to her for hours.”

It hit her deeply, like a slap in the face or like a truck just rolling over her. There she was, keeping her mouth shut because she wanted everything to be okay again, and what did he do? Did he not think about what was coming out of his mouth? She gave him a quick glance, but he wasn’t even looking at her.

I could talk to her for hours.

He had no idea how much that hurt.

And to make it worse, he didn't stop. He continued to gush about her, completely ignoring the fact that he was sitting next to his partner. Next to her. She who had saved him from being fucking dumped, and this was how he thanked her? By fawning over another woman who had come in with a fucking evil agenda?

“She’s really smart and driven. She built up her brand from scratch, you know?”

AND WHAT ABOUT ME?! Am I a joke to you?

Samantha shook her head, bit her cheek harder and tried not to cry, but it was like Lucas was stomping all over her. She remembered how much he had admired her when she had told him weeks ago how she had built her brand from scratch, too. And now it was as if he had forgotten all about it. How could he sit there and talk to Samantha about Elisa as if she were just a mate of his? How could he not see how much it affected her?

She noticed how her hand began to tremble and quickly stood up. Lucas looked up in surprise. "Where are you going?"

Samantha took a deep breath and lowered her voice, "If you think Elisa is so deep and smart, why don't you go and talk to her? Why don't you come and see me in a few hours when you don't feel like talking to her anymore?"

The corners of Lucas' mouth twitched and slowly a mischievous grin spread across his lips. He sat back, lazily folded his arms and just watched her with raised eyebrows. "You're jealous," he stated the obvious. But it wasn't just that, and his behaviour was driving Samantha mad, so mad!

Angrily, she put her hands on her hips and snarled, "You know what, Lucas? You can go fuck yourself because this is not funny to me!"

She turned to walk away when he suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and spun her around so fast she collided with his chest and her breath caught.

"What did you just say to me?" he asked her, his voice dark and dangerous, his eyes narrowed, but his stupid grin still hadn't budged an inch.

Samantha looked him straight in the eye and repeated, "I said, fuck you."

His eyes darkened and she knew how much that turned him on. And she hated it. In the split second he paid no attention to her, she wrenched her wrist from his grip and stomped away towards the villa. She felt like this was the part where they could finally talk about everything, but she didn't want everyone else listening in too. So she made her way to the bedroom when she heard Lucas chasing after her.

As soon as he reached the bedroom, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it, shoving his hands into the pockets of his ridiculously tight jeans, and she almost started to drool as her eyes wandered over his thick thighs and the huge bulge that was already starting to show. "Do you have something to say, love?" He chuckled, his voice dripping with amusement. He knew she was jealous and that clearly turned him on, but what he didn't know was that she was all the more hurt.

"Of course, it's easy for you to laugh at me now. It's not like you had to watch your girl fawning over two new islanders like they were the only thing in the world, for fuck's sake!"

Lucas' grin widened even more and he continued to stare at her without saying anything.

"You practically tripped over your own feet to welcome her into the villa while I was basically standing right next to you. Do you know how that feels?" Samantha literally spat the words at him, anger and rage coursing through her veins, intensifying the pain that had been surging through her all fucking day. And the fact that he was just standing there, grinning and enjoying the show - it almost drove her out of her mind.

"Stop fucking smirking! I am serious about this right now!"

His tongue darted out of his mouth and moistened his lips before he bit down on them. Then he pushed himself off the wall and crossed his arms. "I know you are, love. But it's fucking hot."

"No! Stop calling me that! UGH..."

Lucas raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What's wrong with you?"

At that moment, Samantha felt her blood boil over, and she finally - and rightfully so - could no longer hold back her anger. "You’re asking me what's wrong? Are you serious, Lucas?"

He shrugged, seemingly as impassive as ever, but Samantha had had enough.

"I hate you so much right now, you have no idea..." she spat out between clenched teeth, and almost instantly she could see Lucas' nostrils flare and his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.

"You ... hate me?" He asked incredulously. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Samantha scoffed, though she would have preferred to break down and bawl her eyes out. The pressure inside her threatened to overwhelm her, her eyes were burning and she suddenly felt so weak. She suppressed a sob, mustered all her remaining strength and snapped, "Well, so far I feel like you hardly care about me anymore. And how am I supposed to know if you haven't just taken advantage of my feelings to avoid being dumped? I..."

Lucas' loud voice suddenly interrupted her. The stupid grin was wiped off his face and his eyes began to sparkle dangerously. "Stop, right there! Are you seriously accusing me of taking advantage of your feelings? Are you fucking with me right now? Because if this is supposed to be a fucking joke that I don't get, then it's not funny."

Samantha shook her head violently. "It's NOT a joke, Lucas. But I," she pointed to herself and glared at him, "I feel like a fucking joke lately. Like I only saved you so you could then give a shit about me! You seem to care about everyone else BUT me! Saying to my fucking face that you've never met a girl like Elisa shows exactly how highly you think of me!

What happened to us? What happened to everything you told me? I HATE what you've turned me into. This isn't me!"

He took a step towards her and yelled, "What I've turned you into? WHAT I'VE FUCKING TURNED YOU INTO?"

But Samantha did not back away. She was so sick of it, she wanted him to know how hurt she was and how much of it was his fault.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she forced her voice not to tremble as she yelled back, "I don't know what to think or feel anymore! All we do is fuck and then pretend nothing happened. But something did happen, didn't it? But we never talked about it and every time I tried to tell you, you cut me off. It hurts me, Lucas. I've been suffering for days and as far as I know, you don't notice. Or you don't care. But how the fuck am I supposed to know what's going through your head if you never fucking talk to me?"

For a moment Lucas just stared at her, mouth open and an expression of utter shock and confusion on his face. Then he quickly shook his head and swallowed. When he spoke again, his voice sounded composed and calm, but Samantha knew better. She could hear the storm raging inside him, just waiting to burst out of him.

"Pretend nothing happened? Maybe you do, but I sure as hell don't. I lie awake every night thinking about this whole mess and how I caused it, while you sleep soundly next to me, seemingly without a care in the world. And you seriously accuse me of pretending that everything is fine? That's fucking hypocritical, Samantha."

She laughed sarcastically. "Hypocritical, huh? And what would you call what you did today? 'Harmless banter', perhaps? 'Being friendly to the newbies’? ‘Making conversation'? You can shove that up your ass, seriously. I had to sit next to you and listen to you gush about Elisa, how deep and gorgeous she is and how you could talk to her for hours, and you didn't think about how that must have felt to me? Not even for a second? How does that add up? And if you were overthinking so much, how come you never opened your fucking mouth? How come you never asked me how I felt? How come it was okay for you to fuck me without knowing how I really was?"

At this point Samantha could hear her voice breaking and she could have screamed in frustration because now she was about to ugly cry. And she knew how much he hated that, how much he couldn't handle a crying woman.

Lucas clenched his hands into fists and walked straight towards her, his head lowered and his eyes blazing with anger. "I only agreed to fuck you because you basically begged for it. You should have heard yourself whimpering and moaning and being so impatient. Yeah, like a fucking drug addict or something. This is not on me, Samantha. This is you not being able to let go."

Tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her face. A sob escaped her throat and her voice quavered as she screamed, "I know I can't let go. Because I don't fucking want to! I know this is toxic, but don't act like you haven’t done the same!"

He shook his head, his jaw tightening. "I haven’t. I'd have no problem letting you go and moving on."

His voice sounded so menacing and cold that her heart contracted painfully. "Are you for real?" she whispered.

When he didn't answer, she added in a choked voice, "Is that what you want from me? To let you go and give up on us? And just move on?"

The way he shrugged so nonchalantly made the anger flare up again.

"No!" she barked, "hell no, I won't do that. Because that's what you want, isn't it? The easy way out, to never have to deal with all the shit you put me through, but you know what? It's not going to happen!"

She laughed and it sent a shiver down her own spine because it sounded so emotionless and cold. "Alright then, go and have fun with Elisa. But you know you have to spend the night in my bed, coupled up with me."

His jaw clenched so tightly that the vein on his temple popped out, and he hissed, "What the hell is your problem with Elisa? Why are you dragging her into all this anyway, she has got nothing to do with this."

Samantha turned around, held her hand up in the air, gave him the middle finger and headed for the door. "I don't give a shit what you do. If you don't want me, that's your loss. But you seem to be getting on so well with Elisa! After all, she built her brand from scratch! So fucking great, right?”

"Do NOT turn your back on me when I'm talking to you," he roared, and the hairs on her body bristled, but she just shrugged it off.

"Talk? You're talking to me? All I hear is excuses," she replied, not even dreaming of turning around or slowing her steps.

Her hand was just touching the handle when Lucas reached her, grabbed her wrist again, walked her to the wall, caged her in with his broad frame and forced her to face him. Samantha didn't even want to know how pathetic she probably looked at that moment, she just wanted to get away from him. To find a quiet corner and cry alone. But he - obviously - wasn't going to let that happen.

"Look at me," he snarled, but she refused. So he took her wrists in one hand and pressed them against the wall, forcing her to shift to avoid the pain that seared through her shoulders so that her chest pressed up against his. With his other hand he forcibly lifted her chin and hissed, staring into her eyes, "I don't want Elisa. I have always wanted you and that will never change. How can you not see that?"

Samantha laughed hysterically. "You don't mean that, do you? If that's how you show me you want me, then fuck you. Because you're hurting me on purpose, and it has nothing to do with wanting me."

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers, "You're right. I am messed up and I do hurt people. But I would never do it on purpose. Not to you."

She rolled her eyes. "Cut the crap, I don't want to hear it." Staring him in the eye, she added, "You said you had no problem moving on, right? Well, then do it!" She forced herself to make her voice sound steady, but she couldn't quite hide her fear because she obviously didn't want him to move on. Just the thought of it terrified her.

"Shut up," he ordered, "you’re talking so much bullshit. We both know you could never stand to see me with anyone else."

Samantha shrugged her shoulders as hard as she could, ignoring the pain that surged through her shoulders again. "But this isn't about me, is it? It's about you not wanting to admit that you fucked up and that you're pushing me away - again!"

Lucas growled angrily and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her and forcing her to swallow any more words she wanted to hurl at him. Against Samantha's will, her lips began to move against his and it wasn't until he was smirking at her that she realised what she was doing, shoving him hard in the chest and tilting her head to the side.

"See? That's exactly what I mean. Instead of talking, the only thing you're good at is kissing me." She hissed at him.

But that only made him laugh. "Your body speaks volumes, though, and I know you want me just as much."

And goddammit, he was right. But this wasn't the time for that. She was still so angry.

"Stop it and stop trying to find a way out of this conversation. It's not going to happen."

"Yeah? Watch me!" He let go of her and headed straight for the door.

Samantha gritted her teeth and forced herself to take a deep breath for a moment.

"Get your ass back here, Koh, I mean it."

Lucas tilted his head and grinned, "Make me."

She stared him in the eye and said, "The fact that we can't even have a normal conversation anymore says it all. We had such a good thing going on before you destroyed it all. You don't know how much it broke my heart when you came back with her. And how much I still hate you for it. I trusted you and you threw that in the fucking bin. How do you think I'm supposed to feel, huh? Please, tell me!"

Lucas turned back around and hissed, "I already apologised, didn't I? I really don't know what more you want from me."

That made the tears well up again. Was he really that stupid or just insanely stubborn?

"What I want from you is reassurance. I need to know that something like this won't happen again. Because earlier I thought you were going to dump me again. And I don't want to feel like that. I can't do that, I'm not going to let you trample all over my worth like that forever."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm trampling all over your worth? What the fuck, Samantha? You keep talking about how much I hurt you, but all you're doing right now is hurting me too, and you don't even realise it. You claim you hate me and that I turned you into whatever you are now, and you accuse me of playing with your feelings. Seriously? Just because I don't have a meltdown and fucking cry in front of you doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. You always think the whole fucking world revolves around you, but newsflash - it doesn't! There are other people here too. And just because I hurt you doesn't give you the right to hurt me back. Not if you want to go back to the way things were."

"Yes!” She screamed. “I am hurting you, and do you want to know why? Because I want you to feel what I've been feeling these past few days. I want you to go through the same hell I went through. Because I don't think you understand how much this has fucked me up."

______________________

Lucas//

She was crying now, sobbing. All her make-up was smeared and that made him so furious. Why were they even in here, arguing? They were going round in circles and throwing nasty things at each other and he didn't get it. None of it.

But he knew Samantha was right. They had had something good before he went and ruined everything. Before he messed up and brought Blake back. He hated himself for doing that to her, but at the same time he couldn't undo what had happened. And when Elisa had pulled a fucking dominatrix on him and he'd completely frozen, the look in Samantha's eyes had almost killed him. Even though she had hidden her jealousy by practically stabbing him in the heart, he knew it was more than jealousy. He could see it in her eyes, how hurt she was. But the fucking idiot that he was, he couldn't go and apologise to her, no. He had had to stay with Elisa, digging himself a deep hole that he now couldn't get out of.

Lucas was scared. He was so afraid that Samantha would never trust him again, and he had come to the conclusion that the only way to keep him sane was to suppress his feelings for her. Not to talk about them. Not to talk at all.

He knew he had behaved impossibly when he had started talking about how great Elisa was, and he knew that was no excuse, but in this situation he had somehow completely switched off his mind. He had let his mouth do the talking without thinking about what was coming out of it, and only when it was too late did he realise his mistake.

He didn't want to lose her. God, just the thought of it made him fall into a black hole of pure panic. But he didn't know how to make it better either. And damn it, he would never be able to let go and move on. It was his pride and ego that made him talk like that, not his heart. The thought of letting her go felt like someone pressing down on his lungs and slowly suffocating him.

"I need you to fight for us, Lucas," her voice rang out again. Quieter. And so exhausted. "I feel like you're throwing us all out the window, and that hurts. Because I thought we really liked each other. That it went beyond physical attraction."

At that, he got angry again. Of course it had been more than that! It had always been so much more than that. The old feelings he had buried deep inside were coming back up to the surface, but with them came anger.

"And you think I don't know that? You think I don't know what an idiot I've been lately? You think I don't fight for us? I'm sorry I can't show you, but I do. I've tried so hard, but no matter what I do, it's never enough. NOT FOR YOU!"

She gritted her teeth and heat crept up her cheeks again. "You did NOT fight for us, Lucas! You've done anything but that! What kind of self-image do you have that you can even think that? How can you call today 'fighting for us'?"

Anger poured out of his mouth before he could hold back. "I'm fucking trying, Samantha. This isn't just about you! You can't even begin to imagine how much I've hated myself for hurting you like this, and how much I wish every day I could undo my mistakes, but the truth is I can't! And I'm scared shitless, okay? I'm so scared of losing you again that I've been trying to suppress all my feelings for you so that it won't hurt so much when you leave. And I know that's no excuse and I know I'm an asshole, but it's not just you that's hurting. I'm hurting too, for fuck’s sake. And I want to go back to the way it was too, but I was so afraid to say it out loud. I was afraid you'd turn your back on me. And you of all people should get that because you have been doing the same thing!"

Samantha was staring at him now, mouth open and eyes wide, and the next thing Lucas knew he was pressing her body back against the wall behind her, running his fingers through her thick curls and devouring her in an all-consuming, burning kiss. He was desperate and scared. And so damn lonely inside. Whenever he could touch her and kiss her, he felt so alive. Like it wasn't a mistake that he was still here. That she really wanted him here, even if he could never be quite sure of that.

He groaned in relief when he felt her return the kiss with the same need and urgency. Her hands found their way to his lower abs and he winced at the touch of her fingertips on his skin. Her hands began to fumble with his belt and zip, and when she finally managed to slip her hand inside and grab his cock, he moaned into her mouth. With one hand he clasped her breast urgently, massaging it and immediately feeling her hardened nipple through the thin fabric of her top, with the other hand he cupped her face and tilted her head back slightly. He was so hard for her, his cock was throbbing bloody hard in her hand and when she began to stroke it, it almost drove him mad. He roughly pulled her shirt over her head, dipped down and sucked on her beautiful nipples and bit into the soft skin of her full breasts, relishing her scent and the feel of her fingers pumping him. When he looked up at her briefly, she had closed her eyes and was moaning, and he almost choked when he saw where her other hand had wandered - under her skirt and between her folds.

He let go of her face and slid his hand between her thighs. He gasped when he noticed she wasn’t wearing any underwear. "You are so fucking naughty," he growled, moaning in pleasure as he felt how wet she was. Looking down at her, he saw a small glistening trail on the inside of her right thigh and he crouched down, forcing her to let go of his shaft, running his tongue over the trail and growling as he tasted her neediness. Fuck, she was going to kill him one day.

He pushed her skirt up further, brought his mouth to her pussy and pressed his lips to her clit, sucking on it and letting his tongue flick it. She cried out and ran her fingers through his hair. He almost smirked as he realised she was the only woman he had ever allowed to mess up his hair like that, but instead he concentrated on bringing her closer to her climax. Her thighs began to tremble, goosebumps spreading across her skin and she shivered with arousal. "Fuck, yes, babe," she moaned and he felt his cock twitch at hearing her call him "babe". He couldn't even remember the last time he'd heard that come out of her mouth, and it sent a shiver down his back. He straightened up again, pushed his trousers down along with his boxers and Samantha immediately dropped down, taking him all the way into her beautiful, hot mouth and sucking him off. She teased the underside of his cock with her tongue and hummed contentedly, sending delicious shock waves through him. Lucas threw his head back and began thrusting into her mouth, deeper and deeper until he could hear her gagging. She felt so tight, so fucking tight. And when her hand started pumping his base too, he almost went crazy. He thrust into her hard and fast, enjoying the feeling of her opening her throat wider for him. But before he reached his breaking point, he pulled out and pulled her up again. He pushed her skirt all the way up so that she was naked below her hips and lifted her onto his waist.

"Can I fuck you?" he growled darkly, and something about his question made her go completely berserk - in the best way possible. "Fuck, yes," she demanded, hungrily lunging her mouth at his and slipping her tongue into his mouth. With his hands resting on her perfectly round ass cheeks, Lucas lifted her a little and used one hand to press his tip against her entrance and tease her. She moaned into his mouth and bit down on his lip. Pain ripped through him and he couldn't hold back any longer and thrust into her as hard as he could. She cried out immediately and began to roll her hips against him, matching the pace of his thrusts and clenching her pussy so tightly that he felt himself approaching his climax, and fast.

"Fuck, Sam, I'm gonna come..." he moaned and in response she squeezed harder, milking him in a way that felt like fucking heaven. "Fuck me so hard," she moaned and he did. He increased the pace, pressing her back against the wall, holding her in place with his hands and pumping his cock into her so hard and fast that her whole body began to shake uncontrollably. All his anger and pain poured out of him and he channeled it by upping the tempo even more.

"Oh God, I...," her voice faltered as her eyes rolled back and her walls clamped around his cock, making him come right there with her. So vigorously that he began to see stars. A low, raspy growl escaped his throat and he gripped her ass for dear life, thrusting further into her, feeling her tight, pulsing walls around him, basking in the afterglow of his orgasm. Then he finally slowed his thrusts until he withdrew completely and lowered her back down.

Samantha was breathing heavily, her face looked like shit and her hair looked like she had been through a fierce battle, but looking at her, he thought she had never looked so beautiful.

Catching his breath he whispered, "Sam," and immediately she looked up at him.

"Yes?" she breathed.

"I'm really sorry. About everything. I want to be with you, only you. I always wanted it to be you, and I'm sorry I let my fear get in the way."

She opened her mouth to say something, but he gently pressed a finger to her lips and shook his head. "You wanted me to talk, now I'm talking. I never wanted to hurt you, Sam, you have to believe that. And if I could, I'd go back right now and do everything differently. I have fallen so hard for you and the reality of it has scared the hell out of me. So I acted like a complete idiot and sabotaged not only myself, but us. And I'm sorry for that. I really am."

Samantha's eyes glossed over and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know you're sorry, babe. And I'm sorry I hurt you too. I just want to be happy again. With you."

Lucas felt a stupid but happy grin creep onto his face and he nodded, "I want that too. With you."

He leaned down and captured her lips in a long, meaningful kiss, trying to make her feel all that he felt for her. When she broke away, her eyes were lit up again, a small smile was tugging at her lips and she whispered, "I've fallen for you too."

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

jo, aged 13, removes nail polish behind a locked bathroom door

1000 words. read on my ao3

One afternoon she sneaks into her mother’s room and can’t help looking over her shoulder as she slides nail polish out of the bag in the dresser, making sure to cover her tracks completely when she shuts the drawer with barely a bump and leaves the door the same angle of ajar Ellen had.

She hurries back to her own room on quiet feet, hunter feet, padding fleetingly down the rug on the hallway in pink spotted socks, nail polish bottle feeling clunky in her hand the whole way.

For some reason she can’t quite place, she feels like she’s doing something wrong.

Her bedroom door clicks shut behind her and her heart feels like a bird caught in a net in her chest. Cross legged, she sits herself down on her bedroom floor, unscrews the cap of the bottle while telling herself to take deep breaths.

How can she ever be a hunter if she can’t even steady her breath when painting her stupid nails? The girls at school have them painted all the time; it’s not like it can be that hard.

The brush feels foreign in her hands, the plastic warming against the fleshy insides of fingers which expect the cool smooth of a knife hilt. But she tries to forget about metal and monsters and men for a moment and thinks instead about cheap plastic and smelly nail polish and boys at school, like she’s sure the other girls do.

She decides to think very hard about the things other girls do.

Her thumb goes alright, she pictures the boy who sits next to her in math, the one who always avoids her eyes. But that’s okay, if she unfocuses her eyes when she looks over at him sat there in his leather jacket he looks a little bit like a picture her mom once showed her of her dad when he was young.

Or maybe her dad looked like the boy and it’s the other way around. She’s not so sure these days.

She’s trying very hard to think about things other girls do. Other girls don’t think about their dead dad, but that’s mostly because other girls’ dads are alive. They think about their alive dads.

Whatever, she’s just painting her nails.

She’s on her index finger now, streaking pink across it like it’ll get all these things in her out of her system. And she does the next finger after that too; she does all of them, one coat each. One after the other, like a runaway train, her brain making the screeching sound of wheels breaking against the track.

All the while her hands, so steady when she shoots rows of cans off the fence, won’t stop shaking. Fingers that can nock an arrow in a bow before the last has even hit the target aren’t nimble enough to keep the paint on the nail.

Why is she even trying?

She blanches and runs to the bathroom before they even get the chance to dry, washing her hands with soap in the sink and washing her hands with soap in the sink and washing her hands with soap in the sink to try to make the nail polish - and damn if it’s not a bitch to remove - come back off.

There’s a part of her, hazy quiet and floating above the whole scene, that flinches at the idea of the girl scrubbing sparkly nail polish off in the bathroom sink using the word bitch .

And there it is again, the rough hand squeezing her gut feeling, like she’s doing something wrong.

She ends up sat on the toilet, squirting soap onto loo roll and scrubbing it against her nails. The polish keeps sticking to the paper and there’s heat all over her cheeks and she wonders what her dad would say.

There are far more men in her life than women. All her uncles at the Roadhouse; she talks to them loads, would never ask them about makeup. But she feels, and she doesn’t understand it at all, that if her dad was here she’d know how to paint her nails.

By the time only an acceptably small amount of nail polish remains she’s remembered they probably have nail polish remover somewhere. Too late to find it now.

Her nails are weak and splintering as she flushes the clumps of wet toilet roll down the toilet, watching them all the way to make sure they go down. And then waits another minute to make sure they don’t come back up. It would be bad enough if her mom caught her painting her nails, but worse if she caught her removing the paint and removing it wrong.

She catches herself in the bathroom mirror before she unlocks the door again, holds her own gaze back until she figures her cheeks look normal coloured. She knows how much blotchiness she can get away with, feels like somewhat of an expert about how much red her mother won’t notice.

She nods at herself and strolls out of the door with her shoulders back in case her mom is coming up the stairs. She isn’t, so Jo hurries back to her room again, feet skittish over the creaky floorboards she knows to avoid (good practice for when she starts hunting in haunted houses, she always thinks); grabs the nail polish and places it exactly back where it was in her mother’s drawer.

She spends the rest of the day glancing down at her hands and feeling guilty. Her nails had looked fine before and now they’re cracked and fragile.

What kind of a girl even is she?

Some of her uncles drop in that evening, though, and while she’s serving them their beers she watches their leather scarred hands and oddly angled fingers wrap around the glasses. Their nails are short and cracked and battered too. She has nails like a hunter. Hunter nails.

And she figures some girls are built different than others.

Some girls can paint their nails in perfect pink on the first try.

Other girls have dead dads.

[shemarmooresfedora]

Rebuilding Family

Summary: Y/N and Spencer were college sweethearts at Cal-Tech but once Spencer got accepted to the FBI Academy, he ended things deciding it was not fair to make Y/N wait for him. When they meet again years later, he discovers something unexpected.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Content/Warnings: pure fluff and a happy ending as promised :)

A/N: the final chapter 😭❤️ see my full note at the end

Masterlist

Chapter 37

“What’s your location? Over,” the walkie talkie on the kitchen counter crackled.

“Dino chicken nuggets are coming out of the oven as we speak. Over,” you replied back.

“Roger that. Over and out,” Jo stated and the walkie talkie went back to static.

Spencer got them as a gift for her and she would constantly have one with her, giving the other to someone before leaving the room so they could talk through it.

You headed out to the back porch and down the steps into the yard with a big plate of nuggets and dipping sauces as well as some juice boxes and applesauce for the twins.

“Coast is clear. Do you copy? Over,” you spoke into the walkie talkie.

“Affirmative. Bring ‘em up,” Jo exited the main part of the treehouse and you saw her on its little porch.

Spencer had built her a little pulley system with a basket and rope so she could lower or raise items up into the treehouse instead of carrying them up the ladder.

You placed the food and drinks inside and then made your way up the wooden ladder.

“Thank you, Mommy,” Jo smiled as she bit into a nugget.

“No problem, Cadet Jo,” you ruffled her hair up a little as she giggled.

You ducked to get through the door of the treehouse and sat down on a cushion on the floor next to Spencer who had both the twins in his lap.

“What are we watching?” you asked as you clipped the twins’ bibs on.

“Cars!” Jo cheered.

“I wanted to watch a subtitled Russian film but I was ‘boo’ed when I made that suggestion,” Spencer grinned as he grabbed the spoon to start feeding the babies.

“Hm I wonder why,” you teased.

Once Jo got the movie playing on the laptop, she took a seat in your lap with the plate of nuggets and took turns eating one, then handing one to you, then Spencer.

Once all the kids were fast asleep in your laps and the credits were rolling, you turned to Spencer.

“You and Derek really did a good job building this treehouse, love,” you complimented him.

“Anything for my family,” he smiled, then leaned over to kiss you.

-

It was the morning of Jo’s 8th birthday party. You wanted to make it extra special in light of what happened at her 7th birthday party.

Spencer kept reminding you that it wasn’t your fault a psychopath shot you and sent you to the hospital but you just wanted to give Jo the party she deserves.

You rented a bouncy house and an inflatable water slide. Spencer was doing a magic show and Penelope was doing face paintings. You baked a huge stegosaurus-shaped cake from scratch. No kid would be bored and Jo would have an amazing time.

You settled for having it in your backyard instead of the park now that you had plenty of room. The whole team came over earlier to help set up.

Penelope got all her paints organized on the porch table as Spencer set up his mini stage for the performance. Hotch and Derek filled the slide with water while you and Emily carefully brought the massive cake to the table outside.

Jo came running outside already in her swimsuit, eager to get the first splash in the water slide.

“You have to come with me, Uncle Derek,” she insisted.

“Jo, I don’t have my swimsuit on,” he replied.

“You’re in athletic shorts. They’ll dry quick,” Savannah, his girlfriend, yelled from where she was setting up the food table.

Derek looked to Hotch to help him out. Hotch pointed back to Jo who was giving him puppy dog eyes.

“Fine,” he groaned, taking off his shirt which elicited a holler from Penelope.

Jo made her way up the steps with Derek right behind her.

Jo sat down in Derek’s lap and then turned around to face him.

“Okay, ready?” she asked him.

Derek nodded and then pushed off, sending them both down the slippery slide.

“Weee!” Jo exclaimed as they slid down.

“Again,” she demanded, “Where’s Daddy?”

“He went to put his swimsuit on, Baby J, so he can go with you,” you told her as you set Ollie down next to Ophelia in the playpen outside.

“Coming, Princess!” Spencer ran outside and scooped the little girl up in his arms as he trekked up the steps.

“How about we go down like a penguin this time?” he suggested.

Jo nodded enthusiastically as Spencer got onto his belly and Jo laid on top of him and wrapped her hands around his neck.

“1…2…3!” Spencer pushed off and they raced down the slide again, Jo giggling the whole time.

“Again!” Jo said.

“I think we are going to have to buy one of these, love,” Spencer called over to you, laughing and running up the stairs right behind Jo again.

-

“Please welcome my lovely assistant to the stage,” Spencer spoke in his magician tuxedo.

You waved as the audience clapped. You were wearing a sparkly red sequin dress to compliment Spencer’s bow tie.

“I am going to make my assistant…disappear,” he stated.

The kids in the audience gasped.

Spencer took your hand and guided you to the big black box in the center of the stage.

“Just like we practiced,” he whispered to you as you stepped inside.

You winked and he kissed your hand as he let go and closed the door.

Spencer knocked on the door a few times and wiggled his hands for some showmanship.

“Okay, on the count of 3. We’re all going to yell ‘Abracadabra’,” Spencer explained, “1…2…3!”

“Abracadabra!” all the kids yelled.

Spencer set off a small smoke bomb and quickly opened the door, revealing an empty box.

The kids all screamed in wonder.

“Bring Mommy back!” Jo yelled.

You had to stifle your laughter from behind the fake wall in the box you were hiding behind.

“Your wish is my command, Princess,” Spencer closed the door again.

“To reverse the spell, we need to say the exact same word,” Spencer stated.

“Abracadabra!” the kids yelled once again.

This time, you opened the door and the kids clapped enthusiastically.

“For this next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience,” Spencer smiled.

All the kids’ hands shot up in the air.

“I’m going to have to go with the wonderful birthday girl right in the front row,” you took Jo’s hand and escorted her up onto the stage.

“Jo, I need you to pick a card, any card. Show the audience but not me,” Spencer fanned the cards out in his hands and closed his eyes.

Jo picked the ace of hearts and showed the audience.

“Now, put it back in the pile,” he said.

“Alright,” Spencer opened his eyes and began to shuffle the cards, “Is this your card?” he asked, holding the eight of spades.

“No, Daddy. Try again,” Jo said.

“Is this it?” he questioned, holding the queen of diamonds.

“No, Daddy.”

“Oh,” Spencer smacked his forehead, “I know where I put it,” he pulled off his top hat.

Spencer then proceeded to pull a bouquet of flowers, an endless handkerchief, a rubber chicken, and many other silly things out of his hat that had the kids in tears from laughing.

Finally, he pulled out the ace of hearts, “Is this your card, Princess?”

“Yes, Daddy!” she beamed, hugging him.

-

Jo’s birthday was a complete success. She was completely worn out by the end of it and slept in late the next morning.

But when she did finally wake, she was eager to try out her gift that you and Spencer had gotten her: a big kid bike with no training wheels. It was purple which was her favorite color with a white basket on the front and a little bell on the handlebars.

You and Spencer were going to teach her how to ride it today. She padded up with some knee pads and elbow pads and her helmet.

You had the twins in their double stroller with mini bucket hats on to protect them from the sun.

“Okay, Jo. Me and Daddy will run with you for a little but then we’re going to let go but you’re going to keep pedaling,” you explained to her.

“I’m scared,” she replied, looking at the street in front of her.

You were practicing in the street in front of your house because it wasn’t very busy and it was flat. Plus, you could leave the twins in the stroller in the driveway.

“It’s okay, Baby J. You’ve got all your padding on so even if you fall, it won’t hurt at all, I promise,” you assured her.

“I believe in you, Princess,” Spencer kissed her helmet-covered head.

“I’m ready,” she nodded, moving her feet to the pedals.

“That’s my girl,” you smiled.

You and Spencer began to jog alongside her as she pedaled.

Spencer looked at you, “Okay, Princess. We’re letting go.”

You and Spencer both removed your hands from her bike and she continued to speed forward.

“Yes, Jo! You’re doing it! ” you encouraged her.

“Princess, can you turn around and come back to me and Mommy?” Spencer asked.

Jo carefully steered her bike and headed back to you both with a massive smile on her face. You and Spencer were loudly cheering her on.

“Okay, try to brake,” you said.

Jo slowly came to a stop right in between you both.

“You’re a pro!” you grinned as you both knelt down to hug her.

-

Jo had been biking for the past hour and she was still having a blast.

You and Spencer were laying in the front yard with the twins in your laps.

“Mommy, Daddy! Look!” Jo exclaimed as she did donuts on the bike.

“We’re looking, Baby J,” you laughed, “Great job!”

You leaned your head on Spencer’s shoulder.

“Y/N…” Spencer began.

“Yes, Spence?”

“Thank you,” he replied.

“For what?” you looked up at him.

“All this,” he motioned to Jo, the twins, the house, the yard, the chalk drawings on the driveway, the rocking chairs on the front porch, the doormat that said ‘The Reids’, everything he ever dreamed of, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” you kissed him, “I’d give you the world if I could.”

“You already have,” he smiled.

A/N: thank you everyone so so so much for reading, commenting, reblogging, etc.! i love you all so much. i’m probably going to miss this too much and do one-shots of this series in the future. also, this series hit 14,000 on ao3! that’s crazy that that many people read my work. thank you, just thank you! -dory <3

main taglist (just ask to be added/removed!): @samuel-de-champagne-problems @g0lden-cth @spencerreid9 @averyhotchner @coldlilheart @k-k0129 @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @harrystylesandthegoobs @cmily @jswessie187 @rem-ariiana @hoodpankow @mochionly @spencerreid-187 @babymetaldoll @fics4arainyday @ssavanessa22 @all-tings-diego @idonotexiste @beepbooptoop @tvandfanfic @mggsprettygirl @big-galaxy-chaos @navs-bhat

series taglist: @doctorreiding @reidsfish

[bteezxyewriter12]

Show Me/ 4

Pairing- Yunho x Named Reader

Genre/Au- Smut

Word Count- 5k

Includes- Longing, confessing feelings, oral, pussy eating, deep throat, blow job, cum eating, sex, missionary, riding, multiple orgasms

Masterlists- check out for more fics

📝Masterlists 📝ATEEZ Masterlist

📝Yunho Masterlist

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3

3 months later

"Yunnie hi", Joanne smiles, coming right over to me

My breath catches in my throat seeing her. The last time I saw her was when we...

We've been so busy with the new album and come back, I didn't have time to hang out with her. I barely had time to text her. She changed her hair color. Dark and light blue mixed together.

She looks so pretty in the jeans, boot and the black plaid button down shirt. She left the top buttons open, her cleavage showing. And I realized I never saw her boobs or touched them. She always kept her shirt on

"Hi Jo", I answer, as she hugs me

I wrap my arms around her, images of her holding on to me while we were having sex bombard my mind. Her saying my name when she came. Her looking down at me and smiling while she rode me

"Yunnie", she giggles, "You can let go now"

Right, shit. I let go, hating her moving away from me

"Wow Yunnie, that outfit looks great on you. So sexy", laughs

"Oh uh thanks", I answer blushing and feeling good

"All black always looks good"

She flicks the chains on the shoulder of the shirt, "Sparkly."

I just smile

"Love the music video too. You look good dancing with wet hair. Reminds me when I tripped you and you took a nose dive into the pool", she teases

Yeah I remember that. She was such a little shit when we were younger

"Hi Jo", Hyejin greets

"Hi", she smiles, hugging her too

"Who did you bring?", Hyejin asks, her eyebrows raising

Bring? What? She brought someone? Who?

"Oh yeah", she answers turning around and waving at a guy to come closer. A guy. And he's really good looking

"This is Jae. My co-worker. He loves ATEEZ and I asked Hongjoong if I could bring him with me"

And he said yes apparently. I try not to glower at the guy but I don't think it's working

"Jae, this is my best friend Yunho. Yunnie, Jae"

I shake his hand forcing myself not to crush it, "Hi"

"Hi. I'm a huge fan", he smiles

I force a smile, "Thanks. It's always great to meet an ATINY"

Jae turns to Joanne after the handshake, "This is Hyejin, Yunnie's girlfriend. Hyejin this is Jae"

"Hi Jae. So nice of you to come with Jo", Hyejin smirks

"Of course. After I told her I'm a huge fan of ATEEZ and she said her best friend is Yunho, I jumped at the chance to come and actually meet him and the other members"

"Speaking of, you still have to meet Sannie, Sangie and Woo", Joanne comments. He nods.

"Ok let's go. See you guys later. We're gonna be right in the front so look for us", she informs, waving as they turn and walk towards the guys. I clench my jaw, watching them

"You ok sweetie?", Hyejin asks me

"Yeah fine", I lie

I'm not ok. I'm angry that he's here with her. But I have no reason to be angry. She's free to hang out with whoever she wants. I don't know why it bothers me though. It shouldn't

I feel a hand slide in mine, making me look at Hyejin. "You sure?", she asks

I nod, "Yup". I feel bad lying to her but I don't know what else to say?That I'm upset for no reason? I can't tell her that

"Ok well c'mon, I have to do your makeup ok?"

I nod, following her to a chair

----------------------------------------------------

I watch Joanne and Jae through the mirror, scowling. They're sitting on chairs, talking to Hongjoong, San and Wooyoung

Joanne giggles, touching Hongjoong's hair and saying something. Anger runs in my veins. Why is she touching Hongjoong? Has she always done that? Why do I care?

Then I look at Jae and I get furious. He's looking at her and Hongjoong talking, jealousy on his face. He's jealous. That means he likes her, he wants her and it pisses me off

"Yunho!", Hyejin scolds

"Huh?", I say looking at Hyejin

"Close your eyes"

Oh yeah right. Closing my eyes, Hyejin says,

"You're acting so weird today"

I know I am. Every since Joanne came I've been acting weird

"Just nervous", I answer

"Well don't be. You guys practiced so much for this comeback. You'll do amazing like always"

"Thanks"

As she does my makeup, my mind goes back to Joanne. I've been thinking about her a lot lately. She's always in my head. I took her advice and talked to Hyejin about sex. She agreed to try and everything happened just like Joanne said

Hyejin got used to all of me, so I can bottom out now when we're fucking without it hurting her. And I found her spot, getting it easier. It hurt her at first but after a few thrusts it started to feel good. And I make her cum. Multiple times. She's told me she's never has such pleasurable orgasms as she does with me

At first it made me happy. We still use condoms but I can still feel her coming on me. It's not as pleasurable as when I was with Joanne. Lately it's taking me longer and longer to cum

And memories of being with Joanne keep invading my head. All the time. While I'm fucking Hyejin, while I'm alone, while I'm trying to practice or work. I find that thinking about Joanne while I'm with Hyejin makes me cum almost immediately and I feel guilty

I shouldn't be thinking about another girl while I'm with my girlfriend. But the thoughts, they just come. I try to push them away but I can't. And I realizes with horror that sex with Joanne is so much better than with Hyejin. That she tastes so much better than Hyejin does

No time with Hyejin compares to the one time I was with my best friend

Even with making Hyejin cum, it's not as good. I don't know why I'm feeling like this and it's driving me crazy

"Ok Yunnie, open"

I open my eyes, to the sight of Jae kissing Joanne's cheek, the guys no where to be found. Jealousy fills my blood and I glare at the mirror. Why the fuck is he kissing her and why is she blushing? Mother fuck

"Yunho!", Hyejin yells

"What?", I snap

Hyejin's eyes widen and I feel like such an ass

"Sorry. I'm sorry", I apologize

"Yeah uh, you're done. You just need your hair to be fixed ok?"

I nod, "Ok"

She nods too, turning from me

"Hyejin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you"

"It's ok Yunnie. I know you're stressed ok. Don't worry about it", she says, not turning around

I sigh, standing up and kissing the top of her hair. I'm fucking up all over today. I need to relax and just get through this performance. And keep Joanne out of my head

----------------------------------------------------

I walk off the stage exhausted, sweating and pissed off. I saw Joanne during the performance. She was right at the edge of the stage, smiling and cheering

With Jae next to her

I decide I need to talk to her, to find out if she's dating Jae, so I can get over this jealousy I'm feeling. That I shouldn't be feeling

Hyejin is off the side, coming to me immediately with water. "You did so good Yunnie", she praises as I down the whole bottle of water

"Thanks", I answer, looking around for Joanne

She should of come backstage by now. She was right in the front with security. Security knows her and should of brought her and her.....friend....back here

"Where's Jo?", I ask, looking around

"She's not here", Hyejin answers

I snap my gaze to hers, "What? Why?"

"Weren't you listening? She said that right after the show she has to drop off Jae because he has to work early tomorrow. He couldn't take off tomorrow like she did"

I take this all in. She left. With Jae. I don't even know what I'm feeling right this second

Utter sadness?

Extreme jealousy?

Hurt?

Blazing rage?

I just know the thought of them....together...... is breaking me

"Yunnie, can I talk to you for a second?", Hyejin asks

"Uh yeah. Sure", I answer

I follow her to a more quiet section of the dressing room. "Yeah?", I ask

"Yunnie ..I'm...I think we need to break up"

That wakes me up, "What? Why?"

She didn't give me any indication that she was unhappy or that something was wrong

"Because Yunnie, you love her"

Huh? Her? Who's her?

"Who?", I ask, totally confused

"Joanne", she answers

"What no", I say shaking my head

I don't....no.....it's just jealousy that's all. Right?. That's all it is. I can't... love her. How can I love her without knowing? I can't...right?

"Yunho you looked completely devastated when you saw she brought another guy here. And I saw you watching her in the mirror, clenching your jaw when she even touched Hongjoong. You were never like that before."

Fuck she saw that? I wasn't paying attention, so consumed in my feelings. I didn't take in consideration Hyejin might notice and how it might make her feel. I'm such an ass

"I also saw when Jae kissed her. You looked like you were going to tear him apart. You wouldn't react like that if you didn't love her"

Yeah I love her but as my best friend. How I always loved her. I can't be in love with her...

"Hyejin I-"

"Stop Yunho. Just stop for a second. I know you probably don't even realize how you feel for her. But just stop and think about it for a second"

Fine. I think about her and pay attention to how I feel. I think about her smile, her eyes, her laugh, how I feel when I'm around her. How hanging out with her is the easy and so much fun. How sweet, kind and caring she is. How she makes me laugh

Then I think about the look on her face when she held me to her, the way her hand felt in mine, the way she touched my face. The way I felt like I was right where I was suppose to be when we were together

Oh shit

I...I love her

"See? You love her. More than a friend", Hyejin says

"I...when....I ....I'm sorry", I apologize. God I'm such an asshole. I didn't mean to hurt Hyejin. Everything I did was for her, to be the perfect boyfriend for her. And instead I fall for my best friend

"Don't be. You can't help who you love. And I kinda knew this would happen"

She knew? How? How when I didn't know?

"What?"

"I just saw how close you two were when we first started dating. I remember thinking why didn't you two just date? With her feelings for you, I thought you'd guys be perfect together"

With her what? Her what?

"What feelings?", I ask, surprised

"You really didn't see it?", Hyejin asks, shocked

"See what?", I press

What didn't I see that she saw?

"That she's so in love with you"

WHAT? No. It's not possible. We always were just friends

"You really had no clue?", Hyejin asks. I shake my head. No I didn't

"Look I don't know when it happened but you fell in love with her too. You should be with her. She really is you're perfect match in every way"

Why is she saying this? Shouldn't she be angry? Upset? Pissed off?

"You....you're not mad?"

She sighs, "No, not really. I can't fight this. And we haven't been together that long either. I like you, hell even love you as a friend but we're not in love. And you love someone else. I can't stay with you"

"I'm sorry", I apologize

I feel so bad for hurting her. It's not what I wanted. When I first got with her, I thought this would last for awhile. I didn't forsee myself falling in love with my best friend

"It's ok. We can still be friends". I nod, hoping that's true. "So go to her. You don't want to lose her to that dumbass Jae"

"You didn't like him either?"

She snorts, "No. The way he desperately looked at her all the time? The way he just kissed her cheek and made her uncomfortable? The way he glares at Hongjoong? Pathetic. If she dates him, I'm going to kick her ass"

I laugh, agreeing with her one hundred percent

"But seriously. Go. Who knows what move he's trying on her."

Just think about that angers me

"Thanks Hyejin"

"Sure Yunnie. See you tomorrow"

I nod, say bye to her and hurry to a car, texting Hongjoong that I'm leaving

----------------------------------------------------

Pressing the doorbell, I anxiously wait for her to open the door. Hoping she's here and not with Jae. I press the bell again, getting antsy. Finally the lock turns and the door opens

"Yunnie?", she questions, "What's up?"

Love for her just hits me so hard. How was I that blind that I didn't see it?

"I need to talk to you"

"Oh uh yeah sure. Come in"

She steps aside as I go in, immediately going to her living room

"What's so important that you didn't even change from your performance outfit?", she asks, sitting down. I sit closely next to her with her giving me a weird look

"Are you dating Jae?"

Her eyebrow flies up, "What?"

"You and Jae. Are you dating?"

She shakes her head, "No Yunnie. I would have told you if I'm dating anyone. I'm not. Jae is just a coworker who happens to like ATEEZ. That's all"

"He kissed you", I say trying not to get angry

"Yeah and I told him to cut it out. I told him I just want to be friends"

Nodding, I breathe, calming down

"You could of just texted me you know. You didn't have to come here."

"Yeah I did"

She looks so confused, "Yunho what's wrong? You're being really weird. You're not gonna go all crazy murdery on me or anything right?"

I shake my head, "No. But I'm going to tell you something"

"Ok...so tell"

"I love you"

"Uh ok. I love you too. That's what you wanted to say? You could of texted that too", she answers, not getting it at all

"No Joanne. I love you. In love. With you"

Shock takes over her face, "But you're with Hyejin. How can you love me?"

"I...I don't know. I don't. It killed me to watch you with Jae. I wanted to kill him. Seeing him kiss you, fuck I was ready to get up and throw him across the room. Even seeing you touch Hongjoong enraged me. I just know I love you"

She doesn't say anything, just staring at me. My heart beats faster as I wait for her to say anything. Was I wrong? Does she not feel like that for me? Shouldn't I have not said anything?

"Do...do you love me?", I ask quietly, terrified of her answer

She looks down, "Yes"

"Like I love you?"

"Yes"

Ok, she doesn't sound happy about it though

"Do you want to uh be with me?", I ask. Why is this so awkward? This isn't how I imagined telling someone I love them and asking them to be with me

"Yes but....", she trails off

But? There's a but? Why is there a but?

"Www...what's wrong?", I ask, staying calm for now

"You....you cheated on Hyejin. How do I know you're not going to do the same with me?"

She's crazy if she thinks I'll ever hurt her but I get why she's asking

"I won't-", I start

"But you probably thought that about Hyejin. You didn't think you'd cheat on her either. But you did. I..I love you so much Yunnie and you're my best friend. I can't handle it if you hurt me. I can't handle it if I lose you. I need you whether it's just as friends or more"

That will never happen and I need to make her understand, "Jo, I swear I'll never hurt you. Everything with Hyejin was a completely different situation. I made mistakes and I was dumb. And I also didn't love her. I love you." I take her hand, then gently move her face towards me.

"I love you. I will never make those mistakes with you. Just thinking about hurting you...no I can't. I swear I won't."

I can't think about it or it'll tear me apart. I'll never make her cry or hurt her. I'll do anything to make her happy

"I want you. Please, let me prove it to you. I...I....want to make you happy. I want to make you smile. I want to be around you all the time. I know everything about you, you know everything about me. You're...you're my perfect everything"

I hear her breath catch, her eyes widening

"Perfect? Me? No-", she starts

"Yes jagi you are", I assure her, "You are."

Her cheeks turn pink in an adorable blush, her eyes lowering shyly

"Please jagi be mine"

Her gaze slowly moves to mine, her hand on my neck, pulling me closer

Her perfect soft lips press against mine, igniting a fire inside me that I didn't know was there. My arms move right around her body, holding her against me

I never felt a kiss like this before, never been so happy from just a kiss. The kiss gets heated, our tongues against each other's. Her hands slide in my hair from the back, kissing me hard

I can't get enough of kissing her. All those times she was showing me what to do....I never kissed her. And I was so stupid not to. I'm going to make up for all the kisses I should have given her

She pulls away standing up and tugging on my hand. When I stand her hands immediately go to my pants and starts undoing them.bI feel them and my boxers fall to my feet and I kick them with my shoes off

I'm about to undress her when she looks up at me as she goes on her knees. Oh fuck me, she's gonna.....She licks along my length and everything leaves my mind

"You have no clue how long I wanted to suck your cock", she says, licking the underside of my head

"I...what? You..did?", I splutter

"Yeah Yunnie. And goddamn your cock is such a huge turn on"

"Shit", I murmur

I can't believe my best friend is saying this to me. That she wants me like this. Like I want her

"You didn't let me last time Yunnie, so I'm gonna make you feel so good"

I whimper, already in pleasure from her constant licking, "Ready baby?"

I nod rapidly and watch her take my cock in her mouth. God it's so wet, just like her pussy. She starts sucking and I moan loudly. Fuck, it feels so good. Her hand wraps around the rest of me and jerks me off in time to her sucking

My eyes are locked on her, watching my cock go in and out of her mouth, watching her mouth work, feeling her hard, fast sucks. I'm in so much pleasure it's insane. It's so much better than Hyejin

I'm so close when she drops her hand, grabs my hips and takes all of me in her mouth, my cock sliding in her throat. I'm completely shocked. Hyejin couldn't do this. How is she doing this? She moves back and forth, taking me in and out of her tight throat, swallowing over on me. I can't...I can't it feels so good

"Jjj...jagi I'm gonna..."

She just goes harder, pleasure increasing and I fucking snap. Burying my hand in her hair, I hold her on me, coming down her throat, moaning her name. And all the while she keeps sucking on me, making the pleasure last longer

"Mmm you taste so good Yunnie", she says after she moved off me, making my brain explode

"I...do?"

She looks up at me with those big brown eyes, nodding, "Yeah Yunnie"

Well fuck me. She doesn't know how good she tastes. I never told her. But I so will now. I help her stand up, then I drop to my knees

"Uh Yunnie?", she says confused, while I pull her pj pants and panties off. Putting her leg on my shoulder, I bury my tongue in her pussy, licking rapidly right away. My face is immediately drenched and I fucking love how messy it is

"Yunho fuck", she cries, her hand sliding in my hair, holding on.

Her other leg buckles but I wrap my arm around it, helping her stand straight. My tongue flies everywhere, in between her pretty lips, all over her clit and plunging inside her. She yells in pleasure from every move, her cries like music

And her saying my name over and over is something I will never get tired of hearing

"YUNHO fuck, YUNHO!", she cries as she cums in my mouth

My favorite taste hits me and I can't help moan while I swallow. Holding her waist, I turn, slamming her on the couch, my tongue not stopping. I need more. Moving her other leg on my shoulder too, I move my mouth on her clit and suck

"Yes Yunnie", she shouts, soaking my face in more juice

Both her hands are in my hair, pulling hard, her legs shaking. Changing from sucking her clit, I shove my tongue inside her, then lick up, sucking on her clit again. She screams loudly begging me not to stop

I don't

Keeping up with sucking on her, I move inside her every so often to make it feel better from her. Her hands get tighter in my hair, her cries louder

"I'm gonna cum! Yunnie!", She screams, "YUNHO!"

Her whole body shakes and I plunge my tongue in her cunt, making her cum all over it

"Good girl. Fuck good girl", I moan, her taste the sweetest thing I've ever eaten

Getting all of it, I stand up immediately, picking her up

"Yunnie", she giggles

"Bed baby. Gonna fuck you all night"

"Don't make promises you can't keep"

I snort, "I won't break it. You can be sure about that"

Getting to her room, I throw her on the bed, watching her bounce before landing on her back. Then I climb on top of her, kissing her wildly. She responds the same, her tongue right against mine

At the same time, I pull up her pj shirt up, wanting it off her so badly so I can finally see her body. She stops kissing me so I can get the shirt off but then her mouth is instantly against mine again

"Please baby", I say between kisses, "Let me see you"

She relunctently lets me go and I sit up, finally seeing her. And oh my fucking God she's perfect. Absolutely everything I could dream of and more

"Baby", I whisper, slowly touching her body, starting from her stomach up to her boobs that I squeeze over and over, "You're fucking beautiful"

A blush crawling on her cheeks, neck and chest, "Stop Yunnie"

"You are baby. I promise. Don't argue ok. I'm always right about these things". She bursts out laughing, the sound music

"My turn to see you Yunnie", she says, pulling up my shirt. I don't want to stop touching her but I do so she can get my shirt off

"Fucking hell Yunnie"

"Huh?", I ask, hands back on her boobs and I'm mesmerized

"You're perfect"

That registers. Perfect? I can't be. I don't have abs like Seonghwa or San. I'm fit but no hard muscles that girls like. There's no way I'm perfect

I feel her hand on my cheek, my gaze going to hers, "You are. My perfect everything Yunho."

I just smile before crashing my lips against hers. Her arms move around my body, holding me against her, her hands touching my back all over. Moving her legs around me, I tell her, "I want to be inside"

God I want to so much. I missed her

"Then go in baby", she whispers

Pushing inside her, I feel her cunt take me in, "Yes baby, fuck, open your pretty pussy for me"

"Push Yunnie. Hard baby."

Thrusting hard, I bury my cock in her in one hit. "Yes oh god", she cries, her body arching into mine. I immediately start moving, pounding in and out of her, feeling her soak my cock with each movement

"Fuck, so wet for me baby"

"Yes Yunnie. Only for you"

"That's my good girl", I groan, moving faster

She sucks me back inside her so fucking well, over and over. The pleasure is incredible. Only with her do I feel this way. Completely happy, full of pleasure

"I love you", I tell her

"I love you Yunnie", she answers, kissing me again. Her hands keep running up and down my back, her fingers leaving trails of fire all over

Thrusting into her spot she shouts loudly, "More Yunnie. More. Please baby"

I move even faster than I thought I can, smashing her spot with every hit

"Yunnie...Yunho! Oh god YUNHO", she yells, shaking under me, her fingers pressing hard against my back while she cums. I have to close my eyes from the sheer pleasure running through me

"Fuck baby", I groan, "Again baby"

I keep going, mercilessly fucking her into her bed. Her hand plunges in my sweaty hair, pulling hard

"Fuck Yunnie, you're so hot", she whimpers. What? Huh? What?

"I am?"

"Are you kidding Yunnie", she moans, holding me against her, kissing my neck, "You're so fucking sexy baby. All the time. And when you perform? Fuck. The way you fucking dance."

She watches me when I dance? She thinks....I'm sexy when I dance?

"Yeah baby?", I smirk in her neck before I kiss her

"Yes Yunnie. Fuck, that fucking move in the Deja Vu choreo where your arms are up and you do a body roll. God I wanted to jump you right on stage"

(I love this move. In my opinion it's the sexiest part of the video. I will never stop talking about it)

My god, I never thought she'd ever say these things to me. I can't believe she finds me sexy. She saw me when I was a big dumb nerd. I embarrassed myself in front of her so many times. It's hard to wrap my head around that she thinks I'm hot

"Fuck baby, if you did, I'd let you", I tell her, continuing to thrust inside, "I wouldn't be able to stop myself"

"Mmm", she moans, gripping my biceps hard, "You'd like that huh bad boy? Fucking me on the stage in front of your members. If front of your fans"

I have to admit that thinking about it turns me on. Having her scream my name for everyone to hear, have everyone watch how good I fuck her. How good I make her cum. Jesus, I had no idea public sex would turn me on

"Mmm you do like that. You just started fucking me harder", she teases, kissing my cheek

"Sssss...sorry", I get out

"Don't be sorry baby. I like your public kink."

"You do?"

"Yeah. And maybe, if you're a good boy, I'll let you fuck me when we go out. Wherever you want"

Oh god. I feel myself getting harder, my hips smashing into her, fucking her cunt so deeply

"God baby, you like that huh?"

"Yes baby. I wanna fuck you anywhere, everywhere.", I moan

"You can baby."

"Fuck"

Hitting her spot hard, she yelps with every smash, clinging on to me. Her cunt pulses harder on me and she's almost there. So am I

"Baby wait for me. Please", I ask

"Yyyy...yes baby", she whimpers

I feel her unclench me length with difficulty. Her hips move up, meeting my thrusts, going hard too. The pleasure spikes and I'm done

"Baby", I groan

"Yeah?", she whispers

"Yeah baby"

We both cum at the same time screaming each other's names and holding each other hard. Her pussy squeezes me while I cum, sucking all of it into her. She pulls my head down, her lips against mine in a passionate kiss. I kiss her back, pulling out and trying to move next to her

"No Yunnie", she whispers, kissing my cheek, "Just kiss me. Please baby. I just want your kisses"

Oh god. My kisses. She wants my kisses. Those words are music to my ears

I kiss her soft perfect lips, gently slipping my tongue in her mouth. Her arms wrap around my neck, fingers in my hair, my hands touching her body softly. I'm completely happy

"Stay with me Yunnie. I want you here"

Is she kidding? Of course I'm gonna stay. Sleeping next to her, hugging her tightly? Definitely

"Yes jagi. Anything for you baby girl. I love you so much", I agree, kissing her lips

"I love you Yunho. More than anything"

I can't help but smile like a fucking idiot hearing her say that. It'll never get old

Leaning my forehead against hers, she looks into my eyes, her arms around my neck, fingers playing with the back of my hair. And in her eyes, I see her love for me. And it takes my breath away. She lifts her head slightly, her lips softly pressing against mine

"Can you hold me baby?", she asks softly after the kiss

I nod, "Always jagi"

Pulling her against me, I settle her in my arms, kissing her forehead. She holds onto me tightly and I run my fingers in her hair

"I love you", she says

"I love you jagi", I answer

Her eyes close, snuggling into me.

Holding her, I close my eyes so happy we're together

@hijirikaww @http-lovelyknow

[sweetkingdomstarlight-blog]

Happy Sunday my love!!! For drabbles what about this prompt: “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.” With Andy or Steve- whatever you like better please❤️ and thank you so much! ❤️

Pairings - Steve Rogers x Female Reader

Words - 830

Warnings - none

a/n - Jo thankyou so much for your prompt, ILY. I chose Steve, I really hope I do him justice because he’s not normally a main character for me. I just realised I didn’t directly quote your prompt but I took inspiration from it. 

It had been a long day, a very long day. You were helping to train the new recruits along with helping with debriefing on the last few missions so you could present the files to the authorities. Your brain was scrambled and all you wanted to do was relax, eat popcorn, drink wine and watch a film or three. Your friends however wanted to go out, even Bucky who was usually your sofa sidekick wanted to go out and have some fun. 

You were outvoted and so you dragged yourself to your room and threw on your best dress and your sparkly flats because after todays training you shouldn’t be expected to wear heels that would just make your feet even more sore than they already were. Throwing on some lipstick and mascara before fluffing up your hair you were ready, it took you less than a song and meant you were back in the common room before everyone else.

Sitting with a gin and tonic, you flip through your phone checking who else was out that you could meet up with later when he walked in. Steve Rogers was the most ridiculous man you ever met, he was funny and smart and talented then someone decided to wrap that up in the prettiest face you’d ever seen. However his biggest weakness, in your opinion anyway, was that he was absolutely oblivious to anyone flirting with him. Men and women would absolutely throw themselves at him and he would just smile, take a selfie with them and send them on their way.

It became a running joke between you and Sam, you wouldn't humiliate yourself by flirting with Steve, just to be knocked back and bruise your ego, so you happily took your place as a work colleague and friend. He pulled you up from your seat, asking Friday to put some music on and danced with you, deliberatly dancing stupidly so you would smile and laugh “I know you’re tired but once you’re out and everyone is together you’ll be glad you came” you smiled up and him and nodded in agreement before teaching him the dance to Gangnam Style just so you could record it for the Avengers TikTok page. 

He shook his head when he realised what you were doing and tried to wrestle your phone off you to delete it. You quickly managed to lock it with a loud aha in his face before bursting into giggles at how ridiculous the whole thing was. He held his hands up in defeat waiting for you to relax before stealing the phone off you and running away, you screamed after him and chased him down the hallway, almost crashing into him entirely when he stopped suddenly. 

He quickly spun around and held your phone up confused, your stomach felt like it was in your feet as he asked you why there was a photo of him on your phone. You had no real way of explaining it, he was asleep in the photo laying down on the sofa with his shirt off, you couldn’t resist taking a photo and had been so careful to not let anyone touch your phone since. He looked in your eyes smiling “cmon when did you take this?” He says, almost giggling at how mortified you looked. Grabbing the phone off him you walk off back to the safety of your seat and your gin and tonic, of course he follows you asking you to talk to him. You ignore him and change it back to a cute photo of you and Torres on the way home from your last mission.

Steve kneels between your legs and looks up at you, pulling a silly face to make you smile, “talk to me, come on I thought we were friends” you groan and look at him, pleading for him to just leave it but he’s Steve, when has he ever just let something go?

“I like you ok, I always have done. There are you happy?” He looks up at you smiling and leans forward to softly kiss your lips “thank god, I thought you’d never tell me.” You straighten up and look down at him confused asking him what he means “I’ve known for ages, Bucky told me but I thought you weren’t interested because you never said anything.” 

You look at him and giggle at how ridiculous the whole situation is before leaning forward and rubbing your nose against his “okay lets go out, dance and talk about this tomorrow when the whole team isn’t hiding round the corner pretending not to listen to us?” You say, peering around him and making eye contact with a very guilty bunch of people, shaking your head and drinking the rest of your gin in one go “lets go people, lets have some fun.” You hold out your hand for Steve and walk out together, followed closely behind by a lot of whistles and cheers.

[ncko-art]

ep 27 of bakugan battle brawlers

- nobody is more exasperated than the subtitle provider lmao

- what kind of store are they even in?? thought at first it was a jewelry store but there’s all kinds of random stuff in the bg

- i like how julie just casually assumes that dan is buying something cute for runo, where did your previously established possessiveness go girl

- marucho and julie are the two ppl who love to sneak around, they were out here hypothesizing that shun could be masquerade and now they think dan is buying runo a gift, and they’re never right on the money

- jo appears *sparkly pan up*

- can’t believe dan and jo are endgame, wow

- you see alice sending dan those telepathic waves and telling him to sit properly

- literally all the guys in the store are looking at alice, sTOP

- jo is really cute tho 😭

- dan: jo being out of the hospital needs to be celebrated! old man, bring us your finest juice!

- omg stop i actually felt really bad when he lost siren 😂😂😂

- bro that’s your problem this is why you and drago both get sent to the shadow realm

- iS SHUN ABOUT TO AVENGE MY BOI KOMBA?? ;w;

- dan bought a frog phone accessory and they really think there’s someone he likes, mAYBE HE JUST LIKES FROGS???

- i love how every time dan talks shit about marmelade boi, he’s just gotta respond. you want to get in touch with him, use dan as a mouthpiece.

- also i didn’t expect this to be the ep where he actually gets sent to the shadow realm but i called it lmao

- you’re right and you should say it

- dan bends the rules one way, shun bends the rules this way

- having an ability called ‘devil’s judgment’ when you were the one to send the devil to the shadow realm is a p big power move, ngl

- i can’t get over how cool masquerade’s voice is, he might be an asshole but he’s got a cool voice

- yeah drago’s your partner now but yesterday you were throwing his ass against windows so like. what’s the truth

- reaper really died so the hydra and drago could have a dragon fight, that’s so mean. either that or reaper was too damn op with his nullifying abilities lmao it’s one or the other

- masquerade: the stage has been set, but the actor’s have yet to arrive. the curtain has risen. your play ends in a tragedy. . .eternally.

- masquerade is a theater kid confirmed but we all knew that

- lowkey dan got a lucky hit in and we’re supposed to be like, ooooh. . .but maskerade was using ability after ability with the other higher ranked brawlers and he was caught slipping now?? when hydra has barely done anything?? because it’s dan??

- i mean, i know dan and masquerade have their rEAL fight later but still

- oh no, dan’s power boosting strategy didn’t work. . .what a shocker lmao

- watching drago get pummelled tho was. . .p hard ngl

- omg sTOP 😂😂😂

- assdfwkjwehj so am i  😂😂😂

- they look so sHOOK and tbh if i hadn’t watched the show as a kid and if this wasn’t dAN and DRAGO, i might have thought omg???? myself but here i am, knowing that this kid is still the mc in the next four installments of bakugan

- i love how we didn’t see shun cry at the end with dan’s ‘confirmed’ death, even though he’s the only one in the group who’s experienced loss before so he would probably take this harder than any of them. especially when you consider that dan was there to help him get through it. but no :))

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

FFT: If I Loved You Less I Could Talk About It More

Hey haii. Soooo.. This is kind of a follow up to the one I answered last night - I know right, it’s about goddamn time. Again, I’m so, so so so so sorry. I really am. -  which can be found [ here] if you want to backtrack and read that so this one maaaybe makes sense bc I cannot entirely vouch that it does in fact make sense without the one I just linked above.

I had such a blast writing this and I am kinda v. happy with the way it came out even if it’s just a little weird? I’m starting to dig first person.

TAGGING:

@kyleoreillysknee | @chasingeverybreakingwave | @xwicker-manx  | @rampagewriting | @wrestlingismyguiltypleasure | @writertoo18 | @dietwrestling | @cowboyshit | @cabotcoves | @heelsamizayn | @adampage | @unabashedwrestlefics | @missjenniferb | - if anyone else wants to be tagged in my wrestling fics, go here and add yourself. 

Jon Moxley isn’t a talker by any stretch of the word. He’s more of a doer. The words, without actions behind them, are hollow and meaningless to him. 

I’ve known this for a while now. It’s not hard to figure out about him at all. It’s actually kind of obvious and definitely something one can appreciate about the man, when he’s not driving them to the goddamn brink of insanity.

What I can’t figure out is why in the seven blue hells he’s suddenly being so nice to me. Up to our encounter in the elevator a few weeks back? Guy hated me.

I was nothing to him, just some poor little princess trapped in an ivory tower. Or a toy, only meant to be played with. He’s openly said as much on numerous occasions.

Lately, it seems as if everywhere I am, he’s there. Arms crossed, all brooding and angry in some back corner, tapping his foot impatiently or holding up his wrist to indicate passage of time, kind of like some grumpy bodyguard or god forbid, a chaperone... Or sitting ringside, watching whatever match I happen to be in, a smirk on his face the entire time.

Literally no one can get me to themselves because of this... Especially not Maxwell, which believe me, the pathetic prick has actually been dumb enough to try and do, on more than one occasion. You’d think me, throwing the shit he left at my place into the pool below my balcony would’ve been a really clear hint I was absolutely fucking done being his late night booty call. Nope, apparently not.

But back to Mox, though. Mox is the reason I’m torn between anger and sheer unbridled sexual frustration as of late, and here’s why...

I don’t know what bothers me more… the fact that I can’t figure out why he gives a damn, - or if he even does, who knows with that guy? -  or the fact that deep down, it secretly turns me on. I’ve never really had someone just… attach themselves to me willingly, for lack of a better term.

But then, tonight… Tonight, Maxwell managed to get me to myself, corner me up backstage.

His eyes darted around the hallway. “Look at this. You drove away your self appointed guard dog. Are you ready to admit you miss all of this, kitten?”

“Did hell freeze over in the last ten minutes, Maxwell?”

“I’m the best you’re gonna have. This bizarre thing you and Mox have going on is just you, passing time. C’mon, kitten. Think about it. Do you really think he’s capable of half the things I could give you?”

“He’s got a cock, so I mean… yeah. Pretty much the only thing you were good for was sex when the batteries to my vibrator died.”

He eyed me. For a split second I smirked because it almost seemed as if I hurt him with my words. I know better than that, but I needed my moment of victory. Then he stepped closer, a hand ghosting down my side. “You know you want me back. You need me, princess.”

“I don’t need anybody, actually.” I corrected, feigning a yawn and rolling my eyes at Maxwell.

“Right, that’s why you’re letting Mox follow you around.” the sour expression on his face as he looked at me was worth a million words. But I rolled my eyes and reminded myself that the only reason he’s even choosing this hill to die on is because I ditched him first and in Maxwell’s mind? That’s a no go.

I know his type well. I was brought up with them. Bunch of mouth breathing elitist bitch boys. I’ve realized since our thing ended that Maxwell -and pretty much any man of his type, they aren’t what I want anymore. I don’t know what I do want, true but… I have a very clearly defined idea of what I don’t want and won’t fuck with or tolerate now.

“No, I’m not letting him do anything, everybody knows Mox does exactly what Mox wants. However, I’m not stopping him, either. Maybe he has me curious. Maybe, Maxwell,” I leaned in a little, lowering my voice and laughing softly as I continued, “Maybe I’m tired of being goddamn bored to death by prissy little bitch ass pretty boys. Besides, in the end, guys like you always leave. Your type are dogs. Always looking to get your dick wet and moving on once you find a sparkly new bitch you can wrap around your finger and bend to your will... Maybe I want more. Something real. Maybe Mox could be that. Maybe, Maxwell.. Maybe I want him. That’s really what burns you up, isn’t it?” I hoped he’d get the point, or get bored, and fuck off and away.

Naturally, he didn’t. And he started to talk himself up all over again. Tried reminding me of his version of our ‘good times.’

I gave an annoyed snort and butted in. “Says the man who refused to take me anywhere. Who insisted we couldn’t be seen together. Why the hell do you think I’d even begin to want you back? Sex was all you could offer and frankly? I’ve had better.”

He swore and glared at me angrily.

“You’re a fucking bitch.”

“May be. But I’m not a dumb bitch anymore, now am I?” I said it in a mock sweet tone, laughing at him as I turned and prepared to walk away. 

“I was done with you anyway. I just wanted to give you one last chance to see reason.”

I held up my middle finger at him as I walked away, backwards. When I crashed into someone, I turned around, a glare at the ready.

Mox was smirking down at me. As his eyes roamed my body slowly, I felt something shifting in the dynamic between us. And it hit me then… That stuff I said to Maxwell?

I wasn’t just saying it.

I actually fucking meant it. With every single fibre of my being.

I gulped under his intense round of eye-fucking and i did my best to stay calm. To not be so obvious at the way my thighs clenched and god forbid, remember to breathe. He stepped closer, rough hand grasping at my hip, hauling me against him.

“Did I not tell ya to stay in the fuckin locker room? He only gets to ya because ya fuckin let him, woman. Then again,” Mox muttered in a dry tone, “You’d argue with a fuckin brick wall, I think. Stay here.”

His firm tone didn’t do anything to help out the situation I found myself in currently, dripping wet and so frustrated by what I’d just figured out that I honestly just wanted to shove him against a wall and rip off his clothes.

He eyed me, a brow raised. “The fuck is that little smirk for, huh?”

“Oh, nothing.” I shrugged, giggling. 

“Stay here.” he repeated, even more firmly this time, stepping so close to me that he towered over me and our bodies brushed against each other lightly.

Jesus, the way it felt, lightly pressed against him.

He spent a second or two grumbling and glaring, then he turned and stormed off, right through the curtains separating the back of the arena from the front.

It hit me then, MJF had just gone down. Literally just. As in he was still walking down the runway.

Curious, I made my way over to the curtains, pulling them just so that I could peek through a little and when I saw it, I barely restrained a whimper… I could hear every single word Mox said as he lunged at Maxwell from behind.

And it had me fidgeting, pacing the hallway and trying to puzzle out just what the hell was going on the entire time Mox was down in the ring, beating Maxwell’s ass all around it.

Mox stormed back through the curtains and I didn’t think, I just ran. Climbing the man like a tree, dragging my fingers over his close shaven scalp and wrapping my legs around him tight. He growled, nearly dropped me, but I felt his fingertips digging into my body and he staggered back a little, putting my back against the wall.

“This mean you’re ready for a real man, princess?” his voice a low husky growl against my lips as I smirked against his mouth and nodded my head, pressing my forehead against his. 

“It took me a while to figure you out, Mox… But now, I think I know exactly what you’re all about. So yes.. to answer your question, maybe I am ready for a real man, Mox.”

“Oh you do, huh? Gonna explain or do I gotta guess?” he smirked back.

“I like it better this way. Actions are better than words. Less talking, Mox. More kissing.” I breathed against his mouth, rubbing myself against him as he carried me towards the door leading out into the arena parking lot...

[frank-hauptman]

when: early eveningish where: somewhere island-y, near the east beach likely who: @sybilsylvie​

"Look! Footprint!" Jo exclaims, crouched low on the ground, nearly nose to nose to the dirt. It's not a footprint so much as an indent where a rock once was, but he follows her obediently. They walk further, until their shelter is a distant dream behind them. "I don't know if someone took your shell, Petal. Are you sure you didn't leave it?" He questions finally, head shaking. His hands come up in surrender as she shoots him a look so like Rose he can't help laughing. "Alright, alright. There's someone up ahead we can ask."

With that, Frank and Jo speed up the incline to the top of a small hill. He vaguely recognizes the woman. "Sylvie, yes?" He says at the same time that Jo says, "Shell thief" with all the scorn a small can say for someone who took a precious toy.

Frank sighs, hand on her shoulder and holding her back. "Sorry. Have you seen a shell? About this big, and blue?" He pinches his fingers together to show her the size of it, and his brows raise, as if to tell her he doesn't expect a genuine answer, but she's along for the ride now, too. "It's swirly. And sparkly," Jo pipes up.

[fightevilandthengetblownup]

FIC: Tis The Damn Season IV

—

The crowds that moved steadily through the glamourous and well-known department store parted like the sea before her, the sound of her sparkling heels clicking on the tile floor bouncing around the somehow perfectly filled space, the determined and confident sound of a seasoned shopper and her entourage behind her as the path cleared before her. The Madison Avenue department store was the perfect little treat after such a perfect start to the day, or at least it was in Shada's mind.

"Brother knows nothing," she chirped over her shoulder as she led the pair of gawking blondes behind her past the decorative fountain filled with crystal balls hung from the tall ceilings in a mimic of water and up the marble tiles stairs before her. Shada glanced behind her as she had to tug each of the other women's hands to get them moving rather than looking at the glistening splendour around them. "He would freak at the idea we've just popped over here for a spot of shopping, he's so worried all the time that he doesn't have enough fun with what he can do."

Jo made a noise that Shada didn't like the sound of, somewhere between disapproval and agreement in equal measure, that got a perfectly groomed brow risen in response to it as the brunette looked over her shoulder at the pair behind her.

“You disagree, cupcake?” “...Yes.” “So he doesn’t think that we shouldn’t use powers for fun?” “I… Didn’t say that.” “That’s what I thought.”

Shada smirked to herself as she turned back to the path she was leading through past the counters of perfume and make-up that they could go through on their way out, and instead to the elegant double rows of circling stairs that lead up through the centre of the building to each floor. She loved looking up at the sparkling chandelier that dripped down through the centre and sent rainbows of refracted light dancing about the space. It was so beautiful, and she loved being at the centre of such a beautiful thing.

“Where are we going first, big sister?” Ombre asked quietly, her voice softer than if they were somewhere the blonde was familiar with. It was almost as quiet as their natural voices would be, and Shada paused at the base of the stairs to reach out and squeeze her little sister’s hand. The younger shadow was still clearly uncomfortable in such busy and clearly human spaces, but they’d work on that until she was as into the whole experience as Shada was herself. Ombre’s eyes were big, wide and blue looking up into the sparkling light and taking in just how many floors the stairs spiraled up through. “Oh it’s so big!”

“It has to be big, Ombre, cause there are so many designers!” Shada couldn’t help the high pitch of excitement that ran through her words, and blushed slightly at the bemused look she could see coming from the other blonde at her clear enjoyment. “We’re going up a few floors now, and maybe we’ll have lunch on the sixth floor for big si- for Jo, and we can go to the salon on the top floor too?”

“I am so going to have to use one of my other cards for this, aren’t I?” The resigned but amused grin on Jo’s lips made Shada feel better about her slip and the casual informality of her plans for the day, before she laughed along with both other blondes as they all started up the stairs.

Shada gestured them off as they reached the third floor and let out a giggle as she spotted so many beautiful things all around. There was anything and everything gorgeous all around them - the women’s designer department was just like a candy store for her. And seemingly for her younger sister, as the youngest let out an extremely high pitched noise and ran straight towards a display of soft pastel pinks in lace, tulle and silk that displayed three very beautiful dresses; ranging from a sun dress with ruffles but nothing too extravagant, to a full on ball gown all tiered together. Shada smiled before grinning wider when she found her hand being grabbed by the other blonde and tugging her towards their little sister who was staring in wonder. This was exactly how the day should go.

As a store clerk came towards the trio, Shada smirked widely and declared to the snooty looking woman who was looking at the group in confusion. She could hear the woman’s thoughts easily - wondering at the odd assortment the three of them made. Shada herself was clearly dressed and suited to the occasion in her elegant Prada dress from that very season and the very obviously Burberry fitted black coat she had on all the way down to her pop of colorful sparkly red-bottomed shoes. The store clerk could see in her exactly the kind of shopped the woman would love to follow around as personal-shopper and the commission it would come with. Though the clerk was clearly thinking that she could making a killing off of Shada, the uncertain glances that took in the two blondes - one in a frilly, lacey and ruffled skirt and white lacey top paired and exaggerated by the layers of petticoats beneath, the bows tied around both her pigtail-plaits and the white tights and Mary Janes; the other in a pair of sturdy black cowboy boots that had clearly been worn in with her dark wash jeans tucked in, with a black t-shirt that looked quite a few sizes too large and swimming in a navy hoodie that definitely wasn’t from the women’s department and was clearly dressed for function and warmth over fashion. The three of them made a confusing contradiction for the lady, and Shada smirked even wider as she shifted her bag higher on her shoulder. Berkin bag, bingo! The woman’s thoughts were so easy to see run across her face as an indulgent look crossed her face.

“Ladies, welcome! How can I help you today?” The clerk’s voice was equal measures friendly and condescending - exactly the type of tone rich old ladies liked to hear so that they could put the ‘little upstart’ into her place before dropping thousands of dollars and enjoying making the assistant feel small, when really all they were doing was paying for her own shopping spree later. “Were we looking for anything in particular?”

“Oh no, we’re here for anything and everything.” Shada took over the interaction, her own voice sliding carefully into a snooty tone as she looked about the space. Glancing towards her sister, she smiled slightly to see how still enamoured the younger was staring at the sundress. “First off, we want that dress in a dressing room out back in my sister’s size. We’ll want three rooms together, I’m sure that will be easy to accommodate?”

“Of course! I’ll get that set up right for you while you ladies peruse. I’ll be right back.” The clerk quickly nodded, taking a quick glance at the still staring blonde before dashing away to get started - like candy from a baby! The thought was the last thing Shada bothered to pick up from her as she ran off through the racks of clothes.

Turning back to the two of them, Shada smiled shyly at Jo’s raised brow at her antics and tone, before moving to Ombre’s side. “Hey, they’re getting that dress out back for you to try on. Want to go see what else they have?”

The blonde pigtails bounced rapidly as Ombre smiled widely and nodded repeatedly, before she started wandering down the nearest aisle that had a very predominant pastel color theme to it.

“So… We’ll get her sorted with some first, then look for you?” Jo asked quietly coming up and threading her arm through Shada’s and tugging her to follow behind the bounding and excitable movements of the other.

Shada nodded, smiling widely as another clerk popped out of no where and started following the perky blonde around the few rows. “Yep! And then we look for you!”

“Me? Oh no, nothing here is my style.” “That’s a downright lie, cupcake-” “No no, I really don’t need anything.” “Where do you think I managed to find that dress last year? I’m sure we’ll find something for you too.”

The blush on the other’s face brought a bigger grin to her own face; before both their attention was pulled to where Ombre was holding up a sugarysweet looking strapless dress for their review. The pair equally exclaimed over the prettiness, and continued moving through the racks showing off a whole array of interesting designs and pieces for the other.

After a good half an hour and the two clerks running back and forth from them to the dressing room about ten times laddened with clothes, Shada couldn’t help but direct them towards the rows of black, grey, purple and shiny choices that suited her style more. And afterwards they slowly circled the full floor with a more eclectic array of clothes being pulled out and chosen by the final member of their group to try on. It was well into the late morning by the time the trio, full of giggles and exclamations and more than a few cups of coffee brought to them from the cafe a few stores up, were ushered back to the dressing room area to try on their various choices.

It was easier for them each to try on an outfit and emerge to gush over each other’s choices than for one girl to go through her selection at a time - and far more exciting, Shada found, to come out and hear gasps of happiness and praise of how lovely she looked while getting to do the same for her sister’s.

The first to exhaust her pile of clothes to try was Jo, but that was unsurprising. Shada had noted just how particular the other was as they’d moved through the racks that she was discerning and only let items she truly thought strongly about to be sent back to the dressing room. Shada had known less than half of what she’d picked out for herself would be something she genuinely wanted, where as Jo’d practically glowed with happiness and excitement over each outfit she’d tried on that radiated that happiness out to the other two in giddy waves. It was intoxicating to be near someone so honestly and innocently happy - over a pair of jeans that looked like they were poured on, or a black leather jacket with embroidery on the back, or a black lacey dress that revealed almost the entire back of the blonde when she’d spun about - and it definitely rubbed off.

Emerging from her change room in a sleek purple blouse and tight black pencil skirt with a grey supple leather jacket over the top that cut off right at her waist, Shada grinned widely at the look she got from the other woman sitting on the sette sipping her coffee. “Oh Shada, that looks so fabulous with those shoes!”

“Oh?” The brunette blinked in surprise, turning to look in the mirror and smiling to herself all over again as she noticed twisting here and there that her whole ensemble looked so well put together. “Oh! I am so wearing this out.”

“You aren’t goin’ to look at the tags?” “Why would I?”

There was a pause before the blonde let out a hearty laugh, shaking her head. “You’re right, your brother doesn’t have fun with his powers if this is what you mean.”

Shada flushed slightly pink before giggling at the wicked grin on the other’s face.

“Big sis, big sis’es!” Ombre chirped from behind her curtain before rushing out in a flurry of fluffy pink skirts to cuddle up against her older sister. “This is so pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Ombre, very pretty!” “Absolutely gorgeous, Ombre.”

The perky blonde bounced a few times, before moving to talk about and energetically about how suitable and lovely Shada’s outfit looked together as well. Both shadows smiled widely at their other sister as Jo started gushing as well. And the gushing continued on from there - as each of the two shadows kept trying on their clothes over again until they’d finally exhausted all the luxurious outfits they’d put together. Shada emerged finally back in that pretty ensemble she’d put together, and Ombre wearing a new pastel blue top with her original skirt, while Jo got together their bags and looked concernedly at the pile of clothes both other’s had chosen as well as her small selection of items.

“Are we-”

“Ladies, can we please bag these up? We’re going for lunch and to get our nails done and want these packaged when we get back.” Shada cut over the other’s comments as the two sales clerks reappeared around the corner, her tone back into the same snooty, superior tone she had first off as the two women looked back and forth between one another. “My sister and I are wearing these choices - and our big sister will be taking that jacket with us now. That is all alright, correct?”

There was a moment before one of them ran over with a pair of scissors and snipped off gently the tags from Shada’s ensemble, Ombre’s top and also the black swing jacket Jo had fallen in love with and had had thrown over her lap as she waited. The other assistant quickly moved to pick up all the other chosen clothes and hang them up upon a cleared clothes rack to be properly packed and prepared for when they returned. There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation or query for any kind of payment from either woman as the trio headed from the change room towards the spiral staircase and the blonde pair followed Shada up the next three flights to the cafe overlooking the busy spring streets outside.

Shada smiled widely as all three found themselves settling in and as they slowly made their choices for lunch and laughed together talking over the experience and promised to do more later. There was their nails in the salon one floor up to be done; and shoes and handbags; and all kinds of accessories; and an entire section of lacey intimates that Jo had sneakily pointed out on their way up to lunch. It was exactly the kind of day that she’d been craving for, and splitting a thin crust pizza covered in healthy vegetables with very little cheesy grease like any lesser pizza would and a bright spring salad, she couldn’t help but hope they’d get to enjoy many more like it in future.

Looking over the bright smiles on both her sisters’ faces as Jo teased Ombre over her confusion that asparagus wasn’t some kind of utensil poking out of the salad - she knew this would definitely happen again, and more regularly if she had her way. And Shada always got her way, after all.

—

[madamescarlette]

💜

Debut: Teardrops on My Guitar (the forthright, sparkly, youthfully-wise spirit of this song felt very right for you, Elli! truthfully, the almost blunt nature of this song about unrequited love reminds me so much of august in a post-folklore world. There’s something incredibly pure about the way she just- wishes him well, wishes him happiness, wishes him love. It’s all so wide-eyed in the best way.)

Fearless: The Way I Loved You (the DRAMA, the EMOTION of this!!! the gravity in her voice when she says I never knew I could feel that much! It’s all A Lot for me, personally. Even though I think this is very much what a teenager would think that a relationship should be, I still think there’s a truth there that still makes it charming and endearing to listen to even now, which is the core of the storm she’s describing for us. It’s Jo telling Mr. Laurence that she couldn’t fall in love with Laurie, even if she tried, and Laurie’s grandfather thinking to himself that you can’t force anything as important as love itself. Yet again, that’s a big part of the reason why I’m giving you this song- where she is holding to her own emotions, even when everything about her situation tells her she should feel differently.)

Speak Now: Haunted (it’s getting DARK and it’s all so QUIET and I can’ttrustanythingnow! Maybe I’m too easily influenced by the cover art but I still picture her dodging in and out of the trees whenever I listen to this song. The way she used orchestral themes to describe the feeling of walking on a thin line with someone at all times- love it SO much. I love the hesitant, spooked feeling of this song, the kind of specific heartbreak of feeling someone’s idea of you change right before your eyes without you being able to do anything- that is such a SPECIFIC hurt and I love her for pointing it out, and there’s a kind of power to it exactly because it’s so specific.)

RED: The Moment I Knew (I know this is an incredibly depressing song but at the same time I love how cutting it is- you SHOULD’ve been there, shOULD’VE BURST through the door with that baby-I’m-right-here-smile- I’m not even any part of this situation and I feel dragged by that. The way that she’s so, again, forthright and straight up says to him “no you SHOULD have showed up, you should have done so much more, but you’re not trying anymore and it breaks my heart that you don’t even value me at all now” is just,,,,so much and I want to send her love but also admire that courageousness which is the same as yours!)

1989: I Know Places (the hand-in-hand let’s-run-away the-rest-of-the-world-is-just-noise-and-doesn’t-matter-as-long-as-we-understand-each-other kinda feeling of this song...I can’t describe it very well but das you, Elli!)

reputation: …Ready For It? (the bombastic confidence of this one....she just says I don’t even KNOW if you’re ready for me but I never want this to end and I don’t think it will....I love her SO much! There’s a feeling to this song that is honestly like a held breath in anticipation of all that is to come, which then comes to this beautiful release of the dreamy chorus- there’s almost this dichotomy to the difference between the chorus and the verses that makes this such an irreplaceable song to me. It has such a clear idea of Who It Is and Who It’s Singing About and its overall identity that just. fit you!)

Lover: Cruel Summer (I WILL TRULY NEVER GET OVER THIS SONG....it was #5 on my top songs of last year and I Completely understand why. Everything about it is like catharsis to me- the way she describes falling in love during the harshest, lowest time in her life, the way that falling felt like she was dying at times because she was simultaneously in so much pain while still being reached out to by her person, the sweet, sweet relief of her screeching that she’s IN LOVE ISN’T IT TERRIBLE and him grinning at her like it’s silly that he should be surprised when he’s obviously in love TOO. The kind of gritted-teeth I’m-going-to-get-through-this-if-it-kills-me spirit of this song felt right for you, Elli!)

folklore: illicit affairs (this is purely for the bridge, a bridge that will never ever ever leave my heart....don’t call me KID, don’t call me BAAAybey, look at this godforsaken mess that you made me, you showed me cOlOrS you know I can’t see with anyone eeeelse. The heartbreak of this song is so real that even we as listeners, even those of us who don’t have any kind of relationship with the story of this song can feel pulled in by the truth of that forthright emotion, which is basically just. The pain of loving somebody who can’t love you back in the way that you should be loved, but at the same time you know you will never be able to care for someone else in the same way. The pureness of that emotion is something that thrives beyond this song, at least for me.)

evermore: closure (I COULDN’T choose something else.....the spite of it, the way that she goes I Don’t Have To Speak To You, and she’s going to revel in that, the way that she says I will find my own way to forgiveness for you in my own time, and you will simply have to wait....I love her so dearly.)

[new-sandrafilter]

True Romance: Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet on reuniting for Little Women

They may be posing in an airy lower Manhattan studio, but Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan have a way of making you feel right at home. “I made a little playlist this morning,” Chalamet announces to the room. He syncs up his cell phone to the sound system, his boyish grin widening as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” starts blaring. He returns to the camera, which snaps him and Ronan at a furious pace.

It’s their first joint cover shoot. He’s wearing a shimmery striped shirt with high-waist trousers; she’s rocking a shirtdress, fishnet stockings, and clear stilettos. He keeps cracking her up; she musses his hair with doting affection. During a break that follows, he wanders, gripping a paper bag stuffed with assorted bagels — from Tompkins Square Bagels, which Chalamet, a lifelong New Yorker, insists are the best in the city — and offering one to anyone in his path. He sings and dances — very Elio-in-the-town-square-like — to Bob Dylan’s “Tombstone Blues.” He creeps behind a distracted Ronan before spooking her with a yelp. “I didn’t even know you were there!” she exclaims, reddening from the fright but with a smile so lovingly at ease, you sense she’s used to the prank.

They’ve known each other, after all, for some time. About three years ago, Ronan, now 25, and Chalamet, 23, met filming Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut, in which Ronan’s irrepressible heroine (briefly) romances Chalamet’s douchey amateur musician. They reunited with Gerwig last year, on the heels of Lady Bird’s Oscar-nominated success, for a bigger undertaking: a remake of the oft-remade Little Women (Dec. 25). Ronan and Chalamet slipped into the roles of tomboyish Jo March and buoyant Theodore “Laurie” Laurence, best friends who ultimately break each other’s hearts. Their courtship ranks among American culture’s oldest tales of unrequited love — made indelible by Katharine Hepburn and Douglass Montgomery, Winona Ryder and Christian Bale, and so many others — yet finds, in the hands of two of the most compelling actors of their generation, galvanizing new life.

That goes, in fact, for the whole of Gerwig’s Little Women. Her version certainly contains the snow-globe coziness of treasured adaptations past, but also carries a fizzy emotional authenticity and attention to detail. The film is remarkably lived-in, too: This take on Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, which follows Jo and her three sisters pre– and post–American Civil War, feels plucked straight from the text in the best way, with siblings fighting like siblings, love and loss and hope and pain vividly experienced on screen.

Ronan and Chalamet’s charming big sister–little brother dynamic is not unlike the one that Jo and Laurie share in Little Women. Watch the actors play off one another, and the film’s tender realism clarifies itself: Their on-camera intimacy is just as palpable behind the scenes. Indeed, after shooting Lady Bird for a few weeks, the pair hung out regularly over the next year, making the awards-circuit rounds and scoring lead-acting Oscar nominations — Ronan for Lady Bird, Chalamet for Call Me by Your Name — before swiftly signing on to Little Women. In advance of filming in Concord, Mass. (the actual setting of the book), Gerwig and producer Amy Pascal gathered the large production’s cast and crew for rehearsals at a house just outside the town. For Ronan and Chalamet, the contrast between this and their early Lady Bird days was immense. “I felt very prideful… about how big it had gotten, how many people were there,” Chalamet recounts. “On Lady Bird it was, like, 25 people hanging out in a house!”

They fell back into each other’s rhythms instantly. “He keeps me on my toes — I’m never quite sure what he’s going to do next,” Ronan says. “That only progressed more and grew more. It helped that we do have a very natural rapport with each other…. These two characters physically need to be very comfortable with one another. They’re literally intertwined for half the film.” Chalamet adds: “In the least clichéd way possible, it really doesn’t feel like [I’m] acting sometimes [with her].”

Chalamet credits Gerwig, too, for establishing a playful, comfortable atmosphere. He thinks back to his first day of rehearsal: He reunited with Ronan. He introduced himself to Emma Watson (who plays the eldest March sister, Meg). He was guided into a third-floor conference room of a “random building” where, “all of a sudden, there was a full dance class going on.” He recalls fondly: “Everyone breaks down and becomes a little kid. This job is so trippy in that regard — you want to be serious, you want to be professional, and then it’s almost best when you’re able to be 12 years old. When it’s someone you’re actually friends with, it makes it easier.”

Ronan smirks, gearing up for a jab: “We’re not friends!” Delighted, Chalamet keeps the bit going. “We’re not friends,” he says, solemnly. For once, they’re not very convincing.

Greta Gerwig doesn’t remember a time before she knew Jo March. “[Little Women] was very much part of who I always was,” the writer-director, 36, says. “It was something my mother read to me when I was growing up. It’s been with me for a very long time.”

She joined Sony Pictures’ new Little Women adaptation when she was hired to write the script in 2016. Once Lady Bird bowed the next year, she emerged as a candidate to direct the film. “Greta had a very specific, energized, kind of punk-rock, Shakespearean take on this story,” Pascal says. “She came in and had a meeting with all of us and said, ‘I know this has been done before, but nobody can do it but me.’” She got the gig.

In her approach, Gerwig drew on her lifelong relationship with Little Women; beyond childhood, she discovered new, complex layers to the novel, and in turn to Alcott’s legacy. “As a girl, my heroine was Jo March, and as a grown lady, my heroine is Louisa May Alcott,” she says. It’s perhaps why Gerwig’s Little Women feels like the most adult — and modern — version of the story that’s reached the screen to date. The movie begins with the March sisters in adulthood — typically where the narrative’s second half begins — and unfolds like a memory play, shifting back and forth between that present-day frame and extended flashbacks to the childhood scenes etched in the American literary canon.

In that, Gerwig finds fascinating, fresh areas of exploration regarding women’s lives: the choices society forces them to make, the beauty and struggles of artistic pursuit, the consequences of rebellion. Jo’s journey as a writer anchors Gerwig’s direction; tempestuous Amy (Florence Pugh) gets more of a spotlight as she matures as a painter (and Laurie’s eventual wife); and Meg is realized with newfound nuance: “We felt it was important to show Meg juggling all her roles — a mother, a wife, a sister — whilst also celebrating her dreams, despite them being different to those of her sisters,” says Watson. But Gerwig doesn’t see herself as reinventing the wheel. “A lot of the lines in the film are taken right from the book,” she explains. “When Amy says, ‘I want to be great or nothing’ — she says that in the book! I don’t think we remember that, but she does say it.” Gerwig also loves one line spoken by the sisters’ mother, Marmee (Laura Dern), also revived in this version: “I’m angry almost every single day.”

Gerwig compiled a “bible” filled with cultural references: to Whistler tableaux of family life, to David Bowie–Jean Seberg hairdos that inspire the look of Jo’s mid-film cut, to Alcott family letters. “I wanted it to be footnote-able,” Gerwig says. “I wanted to point to it and say, ‘This is where this is from.’” She considers Alcott’s text sacred: “I wanted to treat the text as something that could be made fresh by great acting.”

Beyond those charged but less quoted Little Women lines are its famous ones — throw-pillow staples like Jo’s “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” that no adaptation is complete without. The actors rehearsed these “almost like a song,” pushing to move through them with a rapid musicality. “We [read] the book out loud,” says Dern. Gerwig expected the script’s words to be memorized precisely. “I knew I wanted them to get this cadence that felt sparkly and slightly irreverent,” she says. “I wanted to make them move at the speed of light.”

She poured the same love into iconic scenes, like Jo and Laurie’s ebullient dance that follows their first meeting. Here it goes on longer — and more vibrantly — than in any previous iteration. (Ronan says they filmed it at 3 a.m., to boot, adding, “We must have done it, like, 30 times.”) Then there’s the devastating moment when Laurie asks Jo to marry him and she rejects his proposal. Gerwig tasked the two actors to unleash here. “Emotions just bubble over,” Ronan says. “[Greta] just let us go with it, wherever it went, from take to take. What I loved about that scene is that every take would be different emotionally. It didn’t have the same trajectory.

“The two of us, it’s a relationship I have with no other director,” Ronan continues. “She makes me feel like I can try anything.”

As Ronan and Chalamet emerge from their photo-studio dressing area in impossibly chic new ensembles — she donning a form-fitting knit sweater, he a silky, ruffled top — their creative energy fills the space. They try out different poses, debating concepts and ideas with each other on the fly; at one point he wraps his arms around her waist, and she quips to no one in particular, “We’re expecting our first.” Camera snap.

They’re modeling a new brand of movie stardom — pursuing projects with a point of view, adamantly being themselves in the public eye, subverting gender norms. Their androgynous fashion performance here reflects their wardrobe shake-ups in Little Women: Gerwig and Oscar-winning costumer Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina) had the two actors swapping clothes throughout filming, to reinforce the masculine-feminine fluidity between Jo and Laurie. “They are two halves,” as Pascal puts it. “These are really bold characters that are really different than you’ve seen them before.”

And just as Gerwig expressed a need to direct Little Women, Ronan knew in her bones she needed to play Jo. She’d first encountered the story via the 1994 film when she was 11, and later read the book, feeling an immediate kinship with the young woman she’d come to portray. “When Louisa describes Jo, it felt like someone describing me physically: sort of gangly and stubborn and very straightforward, and went for what she wanted.” At an event for Lady Bird, she — in a very Jo kind of way — just “went at it” by approaching Gerwig. “I said, ‘So I want to be in Little Women, but only if I’m playing Jo.’” (Chalamet, for his part, was asked by Gerwig, “Hey, want to do another movie?” He responded: “Yes. Yes, please.”)

Over months of living in Concord with her castmates, Ronan discovered new depths within herself: “Jo’s ethos is ‘Everything everyone else is doing, I’m going to do the opposite.’ [I had] to try things that I’d never tried before. Be a bit messier with a performance.” Gerwig set up etiquette lessons for the cast; whatever the instructor said (“Don’t shake hands! Don’t gesticulate with your arms!”), Ronan made sure to ignore it. She speaks now of this as freeing, even transformative. “I felt like I had tapped into something I’d never gotten the opportunity to tap into before, or I just didn’t have the guts to tap into myself,” she says. “Finding that was just amazing.”

Shortly after wrapping Little Women, she filmed Wes Anderson’s next film, The French Dispatch — marking her third time costarring with Chalamet, who plays a central role. As for now? Ronan is taking a little break. “I’ll wait for the right thing to come along,” she says. “It’s lovely to be in a position at this moment where I can wait for the absolute right thing.” Same goes for Chalamet — he shot Netflix’s The King (out Oct. 11) right before Little Women and just completed production on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune adaptation. “It’s the first time in almost two years I’ve gotten a breath, so I’m savoring it.”

It’s been a long day. They’re back in comfy clothes; Ronan is taking a late lunch. It feels like both actors — as another whirlwind of acclaim and press and romance-shipping awaits — are at a kind of peace, exhausted but satisfyingly so. Little Women is the biggest movie either has done to date; more attention, as they inhabit such revered characters, is sure to follow. “I just haven’t thought about it that way,” Ronan admits. “Maybe because it’s just Greta — even though it’s on a much bigger scale, she wanted it to feel like Lady Bird.”

Ronan understands the timeless power of Little Women, of course: “It’s as important to tell Little Women right now as it would be at any point in our lifetime.” She points to this pop culture climate of “celebrating female friendships and sisterhood,” and continues, “It’s a story that’s full of love. That will always be relevant.”

She turns toward Chalamet, and you realize the love they brought to Alcott’s classic is what first blossomed between them on Lady Bird. “I love that in Lady Bird, you broke my heart,” she says to him softly. “In Little Women, I got to break your heart.” (Chalamet, ever the goofball, finds an obvious opening: “Yes, that’s true. Then I married your sister. Ha, ha, ha!”)

If this all sounds a little idyllic, well, neither actor — nor Gerwig, nor Pascal, nor the rest of the cast — can do much to convince you otherwise. Shifting back to Little Women’s timelessness, and reflecting on Ronan’s comments about it, Chalamet says, “I don’t know how to add to that.” Instead he turns back to his costar, his expression suddenly sincere, filled with gratitude. “But if I can add one little dose of information,” he says with a nervous laugh. “And not just because she’s sitting next to me.” He credits Ronan with bringing that “timeless energy.” He says “thank God” they were able to make the movie. “It’s so rare with Saoirse — I’m so f—ing grateful to get to work with her,” he says. “Whatever book I write for myself when I’m older, to look back on —” He stops himself. “Well, this is a bigger conversation.”

But Ronan, chuckling, doesn’t let him off the hook. “Will I have, like, a chapter?” And Chalamet laughs — another opening, another chance to act with his greatest scene partner, to see what journey of creation and discovery they’ll go on next. “A chapter of Saoirse,” he says.

At this rate, one chapter won’t suffice.

[justlookfrightened]

Emergency room meet-cute, Jack/Bitty or Ransom/Holster

Sorry this took so long!

“Please,” the small blond man said, gasping.

The child in the man’s arms was nearly half his size, Jack thought, hustling up a wheelchair for the … girl, it looked like, once she unburied her face from the man’s shoulder.

She was dressed in leggings and a sparkly shirt, her dark hair falling out of a ponytail and across her tear-stained face. One foot was covered in a sneaker and sock; the other was bare, and she was holding a towel that used to be green against the bottom of it.

“Thank you,” the man said, gently depositing the child in the chair. “You sit right there, sugar pie, and these nice people will get you fixed up in just a minute. You doing so good, baby girl. Just a little longer. Keep that towel on there, all right?”

The man turned back to the desk, digging a slim wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“I’m sorry, you need her insurance card, right?”

“Euh,” Jack interrupted, before the clerk could say anything, “why don’t we get this one into triage while you do that? Can I take her just over there?”

He nodded to the alcove to the side of the ED waiting room.

“Of course,” the man said. “You go right ahead. You’ll be alright with Mr. —”

“Jack,” Jack said, nodding towards the badge clipped to his scrub shirt. He turned to the little girl.  “I’ll be your nurse tonight, milady.”

The girl, who had been sniffling with her face down, concentrating on holding her towel, glanced up, almost smiled, and put her face back down.

“You’ll be alright with Mr. Jack, Jo-bear, and I’ll be right here, and then I’ll be there with you,” the man said. “I promise. Okay?”

The girl, who was maybe seven, nodded without looking up.

Jack looked to the man – her father? They didn’t look much alike, but that didn’t mean they weren’t family – and he nodded.

“Thanks, Mr. Jack,” he said. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.”

Jack wheeled the chair the few feet it took to get to the alcove.

“Can you tell me your name, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Jo,” she said.

“Yeah? Is that short for something?”

“Josephine,” she said. “Josephine Bittle.”

“Well, Josephine Bittle, can you tell me what happened to your foot there?”

“I cut it,” she said. “It’s bleeding.”

Then she looked like she was going to cry again.

“I’m pretty sure we can fix it up,” Jack said. “Can I see?”

At her nod, he peeled the bloody towel away from the sole of her foot and saw a cut, about an inch long, curved, and close to a centimeter deep. At least the edges were clean. No wonder the poor kid was crying.

“Yeah, you’re going to be just fine,” he said. “Let’s put something clean on there, yeah?”

He applied a sterile gauze pad and wrapped it loosely.

“Do I need to press on it?” she said. “My daddy told me to keep pressing on it in the car.”

The cut was probably a good thirty to forty minutes old at least, and her foot was up on the rest that was part of the chair. It was seeping, but not too much.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m going to use this to take your temperature, okay?”

That was normal. Her blood pressure was also in the normal range, despite the traumatic evening.

Her father was there by then, holding her hand and whispering encouragement.

“So, Miss Jo,” Jack said. “How did your foot get cut?”

She looked at her father, who nodded and said, “Tell Mr. Jack.”

“I wasn’t supposed to pour the milk,” she said. “‘Cause the carton was full and it was heavy. But I didn’t want to wait for Daddy.”

“And the milk cut your foot?” Jack asked, face and voice serious.

“Not the milk,” she said, and there was that almost-smile again. “But I spilled it and I was trying to clean it up before Daddy saw and the glass fell off the table and broke and I stepped on it.”

Jack made notes on the computer, which already had a chart started by the admissions staff. She was eight, not seven.

He looked at the father — blond, small, worried — and said, “Anything to add, Mr. Bittle?”

“Eric,” the man said, although Jack knew that from her chart. “Eric Bittle. Um, no, that’s pretty much what happened. I knew she had the milk out — I was finishing the lattice on a pie crust not eight feet away — but I figured it would be good for her to try — develop independence and all that? But the next thing I know, there’s milk all over the counter and glass on the floor and she’s bleeding and crying.”

The guy looked near tears himself.

“Maybe I should have done it for her?” he said. “Or at least been paying more attention.”

“It was an important pie,” Jo said.

“Not more important than you, Jo-bear,” her father said.

“Mr. Bittle?”

The admitting clerk had matching wristbands for father and daughter and a clipboard forms to sign.

“Was the pie important because it was for you?” Jack asked, hoping to keep Jo distracted until they were ready to move back to a room.

“No,” Jo said. “It was for a job.”

Before Jack could ask more, the clerk was fixing bracelets on wrists and shuffling the papers away.

“You guys are lucky it’s so quiet right now,” Jack said, getting up to push Jo’s chair. “It’ll probably get busy later.”

“Sh- shoot,” Eric Bittle said. “I left the car in the loading zone.”

“Come with us to the room so you can see where we’re hiding her,” Jack said, ducking his head to whisper to Jo, “It’s the room where we put all our most important patients.”

He looked back at her father and said, “Then you can go move the car. I can sit with her for a few minutes.”

Once they got to an exam room, Jack lifted Jo onto the table, and her dad set the unicorn backpack he’d slung over one shoulder on a chair. “There’s a book and some paper and markers,” he said. “I’ll be right back. You’ll be okay, I promise.”

“I know,” Jo sniffled. “Come right back?”

“As fast as I can,” Bittle said.

As soon as he rounded the corner and couldn’t be seen from the open doorway, Jo looked at Jack, chin quivering.

“You want your book?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “Hurts.”

“I know it does,” he said. “But you’re being very brave.”

“My daddy said the more I cried, the more it would bleed,” Jo said.

“Well, getting upset does raise your blood pressure,” Jack said.

“Can we talk instead?” Jo asked. “Daddy said I’d probably need stitches, like sewing up my foot.”

“Well, probably, yes,” Jack said. “But we can give you medicine so it doesn’t hurt. We just have to wait for the doctor. Then you can go home and have some of that pie.”

At that, Jo started sobbing.

“Wait, no, what’s wrong?” Jack said.

“There is no pie,” Jo said. “Daddy never finished it because I cut my stupid foot. And I don’t know if he has enough ingredients to make a new one when we get home. And it was an important pie.”

“You said,” Jack said. “For a job? Does your daddy make pies and sell them?”

Making pies one at a time in his kitchen didn’t seem very profitable to Jack, but what did he know?“No,” Jo said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “He used to, before my other father went away. He worked at a bakery and made pies and cakes and cookies. But his pies are the best.”

“Is he trying to get another job in a bakery?” Jack asked. He hadn’t looked at the financial part of Jo’s medical record. If her father was unemployed, did he have insurance? Maybe someone should tell him about the children’s health insurance program? He clearly loved his daughter, who was just as clearly well taken care of, but Jack would hate for a minor mishap like this to send their little family into a tailspin. Especially if there was no other parent involved.

“No,” Jo said. “After my other dad went away, Daddy got a job in a office. He says the hours are better and there’s more money. But now he doesn’t work there anymore either. And he wants to get another job, and he was making the pie so they would like him.”

She looked up, and Jack followed her gaze to see Bittle hurrying back into the room.

“Right, Daddy?” she said.

Jack knew he didn’t imagine the blush on her father’s face. He could feel his own cheeks coloring at having been caught gossiping. With an eight-year-old.

“Uh, close enough, Jo-bear,” Bittle said, a little breathless from jogging back from the parking garage. “But I doubt Mr. Jack here wants to know all that.”

He turned to Jack and said, “I’m sorry. Lord knows what you think of me. Letting my little girl cut her foot open like that because I’m worried about a job.”

Jack shrugged. “Accidents happen,” he said. “Really, she’ll be fine. Lots of kids get talkative when they’re stressed. It’s actually easier than when they clam up and won’t tell you how they’re feeling.”

Ransom came in then, ignoring both Jack and Eric in favor of pretending to search the room, saying, “Josephine? Josephine Bittle? Has anyone seen a Josephine Bittle?”

He did a double-take when his eyes lit on the child on the exam table. “Excuse me, but do you know what a Josephine Bittle looks like?”

That got an actual giggle, and Jo said, “Me. I’m Josephine Bittle.”

“Well, then. I’m Dr. Oluransi, and I’m going to take a look at your foot.”

Ransom sat on the rolling stool, peeled back the dressing, prodding a bit at the edges of the cut, and then using a syringe of sterile water to clean it.

“How did this happen?”

This time, her father told the story of the spilled milk and the broken glass, using even more words than his daughter and sounding so apologetic that this had happened on his watch.

“We’re going to have to get an a quick X-ray just to make sure there’s no glass left inside,” Ransom said. “I don’t think there is, but better to be sure.”

“That means another ride in the wheelchair,” Jack told Jo. “You can come too,” he said to her father.

So they went down the hall for an X-ray. Jo holding tightly to her father’s hand the whole way. When they got there, he rooted around in the backpack and pulled out a tattered stuffed rabbit.

“I think I’m going to have to go over there while they take the picture,” he said. “But you can hold Senor Bun if Mr. Jack says it’s okay.”

Jack looked to Dex, the radiology tech, who nodded. “As long as she keeps it away from her foot.”

Dex was quiet as usual as he positioned Jo’s foot and the camera, spreading a lead-line apron over Jo’s lap (and Senor Bun).

“Now you’re gonna have to hold real still, then I’ll be right back,” Jo’s father told her, before stepping behind the wall.

Dex, who rarely commented at all, threw a “Cute kid,” over his shoulder at Bittle.

“Thanks,” Bittle said, his eyes never leaving his daughter.

That gave Jack a moment to look at her father, who had struck him initially as small and flustered and worried. As they went through triage and her exam, Jack had somehow decided that Jo wasn’t the only one who was cute in the family. And she had said her other father left, which implied that Bittle was a) attracted to men and b) single.

And unemployed, and worried about his daughter, and Jack knew better than to even be thinking about a patient like this.

But Bittle wasn’t the patient.

He was the parent of a pediatric patient. Was that really any better?

“All done,” Dex said. “I don’t see anything in the cut, but we’ll have a radiologist take a look to make sure.”

Jack picked up Jo to put her back in her chair, suddenly self-conscious. It was hardly any effort at all to lift her – she was a child after all – but was he imagining the way Bittle was looking at him?

Back in the exam room, Jack said, “It’s going to be just a little while. I know you didn’t get any pie for dessert, Miss Jo. Would you like a popsicle?”

“Yes, please,” Jo answered.

Jack swore he was just being nice by bringing two popsicles back to the room. He wanted to give her a choice.

“Do you want cherry or grape?” he asked, after opening both packages.

“Grape,” Jo said. “It makes my tongue purple.”

Jack handed it over, then held the cherry one out to her father. “Do you want this? I’ll just have to throw it away otherwise.”

“Sure,” Bittle said, then put it in his mouth and began to suck on the tip.

“Um, I’ll be right back,” Jack said.

“Of course,” Bittle said. “I’m sure you’ve got other things to see to.”

Jack didn’t return until Ransom told him the X-ray was clear and they were ready to put in the stitches. He had Holster with him, which Jack knew was probably a good idea. It would be good to have two of them to hold Jo’s foot still while they administered the lidocaine, and Holster was a big guy; he could block Jo’s line of vision so she wouldn’t see the syringe and needle.

Still, Holster had a way of sucking all the attention in the room to himself. Jack shouldn’t be jealous, not if it would make this easier on Jo. But he felt like he’d built a little bit of relationship with the two of them, delicate and fleeting though it was. Maybe it was silly, but he didn’t want Holster to take that over.

Jack entered the room first, and went right to Jo.

“How was that popsicle?” he asked. “Did your tongue turn purple?”

Jo stuck out her tongue to show him, then said, “Now look at Daddy’s!”

So he did, probably feeling just as silly as Bittle did sticking his tongue out.

“Now that we have the important things taken care of, Dr. Oluransi is going to stitch up your foot,” he said. “We’re going to give you some medicine so it doesn’t hurt while we do it.”

“Are you gonna give me a shot?”

“Well, yes,” Jack said. “But it will only hurt for a minute. Then your foot won’t hurt at all for a while.”

“Hold my hand?” she said.

“Your daddy’s right here,” he said. “He can hold your hand.”

“You hold my other hand,” Jo demanded.

Jack looked at Ransom and Holster, who nodded and said, “I think we got this.”

Jack and Holster moved to block Jo’s view, and Jack took one hand while Blttle took the other. Jack could tell when the first injection went in by the way her whole body moved and her small hand gripped his tighter. Her reaction was less with the next two injections, and by the time Ransom started suturing, she was calm, if not quite relaxed.

It was only a couple of minutes before Ransom was straightening up and saying, “All done.”

“I’ll just get your paperwork, and then be back to go over care instructions,” Jack said. “Then you two can be on your way.”

When Jack returned with the sheaf of papers, Bittle was in the chair next to the exam table, leaning down to listen to Jo.

“Yes, Mr. Jack is very nice,” he was saying when his eyes lit on Jack in the doorway. He blushed again. “Sorry to be talking behind your back. All good, of course.”

Jack couldn’t help but smile at his earnestness.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Let’s go over these. Because the stitches are on the sole of the foot, they’re going to need to stay in twelve to fourteen days. You can make an appointment with her pediatrician to have them taken out.”

“But Daddy,” Jo said. “Aren’t we going to see Moomaw and Pepaw? I don’t want to stay home!”

“Of course we can still go,” Bittle said.

At Jack’s inquiring look, he said, “My parents. In Georgia. We were taking advantage if me being between jobs to make a longer visit. But they have doctors there too. I bet Moomaw can get the doctor she used to work for to do it.”

“You didn’t sound like you were from around here,” Jack said. “And as long as there are no complications, it shouldn’t be a problem to have a doctor in Georgia take them out.”

“You don’t sound like you’re from around here, either,” Bittle said.

“No, uh, Montreal,” Jack said.

“Surprised you didn’t stay in Canada,” Bittle said. “Seems the medical system there is a little less crazy.”

“Maybe,” Jack said, not wanting to explain how difficult it would be to be the son of a national hero and work as a nurse. “But I went to school here and it became home.”

“Well, that certainly worked out well for Jo and I tonight,” Bittle said. “I wish I could do something to thank you.”

“No thanks necessary,” Jack said. “It’s was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Jo.”

Bittle was bent over, digging through the backpack. Jack knew he was wearing whatever he had on when Jo got hurt, but the jeans – now stained with blood on the thigh – fit him well enough to highlight a little round behind. Even though Jack also knew he shouldn’t be looking. He looked back at the discharge papers.

“You know to call your doctor if it shows signs of infection,” he said.

“I know,” Bittle said, coming up with an extra sock and shoe for the foot that now had stitches. “Ready to try walking on this, Jo-bear?”

“I can wait with her while you get the car,” Jack offered. It was probably against policy, but it didn’t matter. They were dead so far tonight.

“You’re sure?” Bittle said. “You can do that?”

Jack shrugged and walked them out to the waiting room.

“Right back, Jo,” Bittle said, and jogged off toward the parking garage.

Jo watched him go, then looked up at Jack.

“What’s your favorite pie?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Jack said. “Maybe apple?”

“Do you work here tomorrow night?” she asked.

“I do,” he said. “But your daddy doesn’t have to bring me a pie.”

Jo shrugged.

“I bet he’ll want to,” Jo said.

**************************************

When Jack put his jacket in his locker in the staff room, the table held not one but two pies, an apple and a peach. A card was propped in front of them, thanking the whole staff, but especially Jack, Ransom, Holster and Dex for their help with Jo, who had contributed a drawing of herself as a mermaid.

Lardo, the nurse-manager, came in while he was reading the card. “Better get a piece a now,” she said. “Those are some good pies.”

“Okay,” Jack said, cutting a sliver of the apple.

“And I saved this for you,” she said, pulling another card from her pocket. The front of the envelope said “Mr. Jack.”

Dear Jack, I am so sorry I don’t know your last name. I’m sure it was on your nametag, but my mind wasn’t all there last night. But I did notice how kind you are – you were very sweet with Jo. And it would have been awkward to say this then, and you don’t have to ever respond if you don’t want to, but I’d like to see you outside of the emergency room if you want to. Call me or text me or whatever. I never do things like this, but Jo said I should.

It was signed “Eric Bittle,” with his phone number underneath.

Then, PS: The apple pie is a new recipe for me. It has maple syrup in honor of your Canadian roots.

“Seriously, bro,” Lardo said. “You should eat that pie. And if that note says what I think it says, call the guy. For all our sakes.”

[queen-mischief-fanfiction]

Cats Trailer redesign

AN: Hello loyal readers, now I know that the second Cats trailer has dropped and it doesn’t look promising but the plot of the story is definitely a unique take on the original, that makes it seem like fanfiction. So as a fanfic writer I am assigning myself the task of writing the movie in a better way, which means when I’m writing this story I’m imagining the original ‘98 cast of Cats with some exceptions, Ian Mckellen is still gonna be Gus the Theatre Cat because he is an amazing actor and secondly Dame Judi Dench will still be here but as a new character. Also some small details for this im using my own headcanons so if you don’t agree with them then you probably won’t like this, So this is my attempt at writing a first trailer to the Cats movie.

Trailer #1

Orchestral version of Beautiful Ghosts play as the screen opens on a dark street with the silhouettes of an adult cat being followed by three kittens “come along kittens”, a full grown Victoria with a pink bow turns around to look at her surroundings.

*One Night*

“Memory all alone in the moonlight”

A fully black cat runs after Quaxo and ALonzo when Bustopher Jones jumps into her lane and she freezes, ears turn down as she feels intimidated by the fat cat. Scene changes to Plato hiding behind a stone wall and watching Victoria dance, her fur glowing the moonlight entrancing him till he gets up and nuzzles her side and she steps back in fright not expecting him and he shies away slightly in response. 

*one chance*

“I remember the time I knew what happiness was”

A queen White Russian circles around Victoria staring at her with almost recognition “have I seen you before?” Scenes shows a fully black kitten with blue eyes popping out of a trash can.

*can change*

“Come along the shows about to start” she says. Grizabella is seen watching from afar the kittens enter the junkyard and Victoria looks back almost seeing her but enters last.

“Meow!”

*everything*

Orchestral version of memory plays as Tugger struts across the yard as the kittens pulls Victoria with them fawning after him. Munkustrap rolls his head and eyes exhausted at the other Jellicles.

“Tootle Pip”

Bustopher Jones and the unnamed Queen strut down the street and the kittens follow all but Victoria dancing along. Old Deuteronomy is being escorted by Quaxo and the other cats bow as he walks past while the kittens go up and nuzzle him as he smiles lovingly at them. Demeter and Bombalurina are seen dancing saucily beside each other. Mistoffelees is sat between the psychic twins before the Old Deuteronomy number. Victoria blows her paw and using her magic makes sparkles blow in Mistoffelees’s face.

“Touch me!

It''s so easy to leave me

All alone with the memory

Of my days in the sun

If you touch me, you''ll understand what happiness is”

*Elaine Paige as Grizabella the Glamour Cat*

Grizabella is seen wandering in the shadows and behind curtains. Then dancing in pain in front of the jellicles. Smiling softly at Munkustrap and Tugger who smiles back at her.

*Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy*

Old Deuteronomy walks beside Skimbleshanks, then dances as much as he can. Tugger is seen with his hand on Deuteronomy’s shoulder as they watch the dancing, scene changes to show Old Deuteronomy on his tire throne and his sons are standing on the same level as him.

*Ian McKellen*

Gus the Theatre cat shakily walks with the help of his nurse Jellyorum and son Asparagus Jr, he shakily waves to the kittens who applaud him. Munkustrap nuzzles the tom cat affectionately as he sits in a hat.

*Michael Gruber*

Munkustrap is being greeted and fawned lovingly by the kittens, Queens and Alonzo. Munkustrap is trying to narrate the story and getting frustrated. Finally pushing Mitoffelees away from grizabella.

*John Partridge*

Rum Tum Tugger dances his way to the front of the yard, Winks at the Kittens, and bumps Bomba on the floor. Changes scene to him cheering on Mistoffelees and flirting with the tom. Etcetera screams loudly and Tugger shuts her up with his tail before blowing her a kiss making her fall over and faint.

*Rosemarie Ford and Aeva May*

Demeter sings Macavity. Bombalurina is dancing in front of the young tom cats. Both Queens then pose after the Macavity song.

*James Barron*

Bustopher Jones inspects his Mustache in his spoon can. He walks down a line up of the Toms as Quaxo walks behind him with his head bowed down.

*Jo Gibb and Drew Varley*

Mungojerrie puts the pearl necklace on Rumpleteazer making her giggle as he smirked to himself. They do their famous double cartwheel while Victoria and the kittens watch amazed by their teamwork

*Susie McKenna*

Jennyanydots grooms Victoria and puts the pink bow around her neck. Jenny waves sweetly at Bustopher who waves back. Jennyanydots and skimbleshanks tap dances beside each other.

*Jacob Brent*

“The magical and marvelous, Mr Mistoffelees” Tugger introduces as Quaxo turns and turns as sparkles overtake his form and he poses having transformed into Mr Mistoffelees, the original conjuring cat. Mr Mistoffelees pulls out a long, sparkly, rainbow veil out of a cup.

*Phyllida Crowley Smith*

Victoria dances among the kittens showing off the fact that she can dance to them. Performs a solo dance in the moonlight of the yard alone, or thinking she’s alone.

*Bryn Walters*

Macavity leers at the Jellicles without their notice. Plato is hovering over Victoria and jemima to Protect them.

*Veerle Casteleyn*

Jemima is held Protectively by Munkustrap as Grizabella leaves the yard. Jemima is smiling innocently as she does her wiggle dancing with her friends new and old beside her. Jemima stands up and the moon shines in her eyes as she sings.

*And Judi Dench as Duchess*

“Look, a new day has begun.”

“What’s your name little one?” Duchess asked Victoria as they walk to the junkyard for the Jellicle Ball. “Victoria” she says smiling at the old Queen.

*Cats*

[subasekabang]

Past Nova - Chapter 03

Title: Past Nova - Chapter 03

Rating: T

Word Count: 12,665 [Ch 03: 4990]

Pairings/Characters: Neku Sakuraba. Beat. Shiki Misaki. Rhyme. Sota Honjo. Nao. Joshua Kiryu. Sota/Nao. 

Warnings: Past Character Death mentions. 

Summary: Neku and his new friends find that they’ve been brought back to life, time wound back as if the three weeks had never happened. It’s something that they don’t have time to adjust to though, as Neku realises that Sota and Nao are still alive, with no guarantee that the two won’t end up back in the UG. Even without a timer on his hand, time is ticking down - but Neku isn’t going to let Sota and Nao disappear without a fight. Not again.

Partner: @licobleps & HB Kit

Author’s Note: Here is the last chapter I made for Bang! Unfortunately, I, once again, have overestimated my time management skills and have not made it to the end of what I had planned to do for this Bang, sadly. However I’m proud of what I did manage to finish so far and hope you enjoy! I’ll definitely aim to write more super soon~

“If a star fell, what would it look like?”

The questions kept on coming from Nao and Sota didn’t mind.

“Maybe it would look like you, Nao.”

She was always brightening things in his life.

“Like me? No way! They’ve got to be, like, a lot more sparkly!” She put her hands on her hips. “And I don’t, like, really wear sparkles.”

“You think?”

Despite not having anything physical on her that ‘sparkled’, he could see that her eyes were glittering.

“Not sure. But I think I had a dream about a star that fell once.” The memory seemed to come by suddenly, almost like a shooting star itself. “It fell out of the sky and landed in the clouds. I tried to pick it up but then I woke up in my room. Then I realised the start was in my room. So I didn’t actually wake up. It was another dream!”

Sota paid attention to every single word.

Whatever dreams lay behind her those eyes, he wanted to be a part of them.

Chapter 03 - Casper Star

I don’t understand why you’re like this. Why can’t you be more like your sister?

When Beat woke up, light was streaming into the room and he could hear an alarm blaring by his bedside.

It was a good thing that Rhyme reminded him to put on an alarm because he would have slept through it. That would have sucked since they had things to get to do today. He jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes off the floor, sniffed it - smells okay - and then changed into them. His room was messier than usual. He would probably get shouted at later but he didn’t really give a damn.

He was halfway out of his room when he stopped and looked back. He almost left his skateboard behind. He felt like he should have that with him today.

Rhyme was sitting at the dining table, all dressed up and ready to go.

“Les’ go.”

After yesterday, he couldn’t leave the others waiting for him.

xxxxx

“Yeah, c’mon. What’s going on that you had the balls to come back here, huh ‘Beat’? Or should I still be calling you - ‘Mad Boar’?”

Beat didn’t have anything to say to Yamazaki. He was here for the other two - he guessed now that their names were Sota and Nao. He hadn’t known that those were their other names before this. That wasn’t completely true, they probably mentioned it before but he had forgotten.

You couldn’t forget Yamazaki, though. No one was allowed to forget that name.

“I’m here to talk to Jo-san and Hoshi. Ain’t want nothin’ to do with you.”

“Some big talk from such a little punk.”

Beat was pretty tall himself, for his age but Yamazaki was not only taller but he was also stacked. He could tell, especially with Yamazaki getting right up in his face.

“Aniki, he’s, like, just a kid.” Hoshi tried to pull him back. He shook her off but he did step back.

“Ain’t much fun to square up with Mad Boar when he’s got a bunch of twigs with him.” Yamazaki flashed his brown eyes towards the others. “Don’t let me catch you around this ‘side of the park again. If I see you again, you’d better be here to join us or - ” he pointed his thumb downwards “ - be prepared to be buried here.” He brushed back his wild mess of blond hair, so light it was almost white. “Alright, Jo. Hoshi. Enjoy your little chit-chat with these brats.”

As the man started to walk down the steps, the others followed him, without a single instruction. That’s just the way things worked around here.

“Beat, what the hell was that about?”

He looked at Neku and he seemed angry.

“What?”

Then he realised that Shiki was practically hiding behind Neku. Rhyme, too, had moved closer the older two, grabbing onto Shiki’s wrist.

“Sorry,” he said immediately. “I didn’t wanna come here in the first place. But when you guys said to split up, I panicked, yo. I couldn’t let you guys jus’ come here on your own.” He messed up, again. “When I realised we were lookin’ for Jo-san and Hoshi, I just…I knew where they were gonna be an’ I knew Yamazaki was goin’ to be here an’ I didn’t want him seeing you first.”

“Okay? So if we were going to be running in with some shady people, you could’ve at least warned us,” Neku argued.

“Shady? Who’s is this kid, Beat?” Jo-san’s guard was up.

“No, I didn’t mean you Sota, I just meant - ”

“And how come you know my name? Pretty rude for a kid, aren’t you? How come you were looking for me?” Jo-san wanted answers but Neku wasn’t talking back.

“They’re my friends and sister, Jo-san,” Beat cut in. “They uh…” Guess he had to lie. “I told ‘em about you and they wanted to meet you.”

“Oh, are you, like, Beat Junior then? You’re totally adorbs.” Hoshi was probably the only person they met in those last few minutes that wasn’t intimidating.

Rhyme dropped her hold on Shiki’s wrist and extended her hand out. “I’m Rhyme.”

“Oh em gee, Beat and Rhyme? You two’ve got a twin look going on, aw!”

“Yeah, so it’s more like Skulls Junior.”

“That’s, like, totes precious!” She smiled broadly. “You can call me Nao. Or Nao Nao, for short.”

Leave it to Rhyme to get someone to like her within a few words.

“Hmph. Well if Nao likes you, then you guys can call me Sota.” That seemed to take the edge off Jo-san slightly. “So whaddya want? We got somewhere to be so we can’t hang around. And I know you didn’t bring them to where Yamazaki was at if it ain’t important.”

“Yeah we - gotta.” His mind was drawing a blank of what excuse they were supposed to use to pry info for Sunday out of him. “We gotta talk. I jus’ gotta talk to you, aight?”

“…Alright, man. But me an’ Nao seriously gotta go somewhere. I’ve got time tomorrow, so I’ll text you later.”

They left real quick after that.

“Beat.” Neku took Shiki by the arm. “I’m walking Shiki home for now. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, man. I get it. I’ll see you guys.”

Xxxxx

Beat felt guilty, thinking about how spooked Shiki was. He asked if Rhyme had been scared too but she said it was fine. He still felt bad, though. That was the last kind of situation that he wanted Rhyme to see him in. He was just glad as hell that he never had accepted one of those white bands from Yamazaki…

He felt guiltier when they met up at their spot by Hachiko again and Shiki’s first words were all to try and make him feel better. “Sorry for worrying you guys. I think I just freaked out a bit, ‘cause…you know I can’t exactly use Mr. Mew in a fight in the RG. And those guys definitely wanted to pick a fight.”

“Who were they?” Neku asked the question, directed at Beat.

“They’re…” He glanced at Rhyme. She didn’t know about them yet.

“The Shirotora,” Rhyme filled in the words that Beat didn’t want to say. “They’re a gang.”

“Those are The Shirotora?” Shiki covered her mouth. “Oh god, you’re right! They were all wearing those white bands around their arms.”

“Never heard of ‘em,” said Neku.

“No offence but you’re not exactly up to date on a lot of things, Neku,” said Shiki, “but the White Tigers are getting pretty infamous around Shibuya. Especially ‘cause of who their leader is rumoured to be. I mean, not rumoured, anymore, I guess since we met him yesterday.”

“Yeah, Yamazaki’s their leader.” Beat was still trying to avoid eye contact with Rhyme, already feeling worse about the whole situation, since she already knew who the gang was.

“It’s the talk of the town because he’s rumoured to be Tora Ana Yamazaki’s brother.” The way Shiki said it, it seemed like it was supposed to cause some kinda reaction.

“…And who’s that supposed to be?”

“Neku, come on. She’s only the designer for Tigre Punks!” She put her hands up in the air. “She’s one of my role models!” Shiki cleared her throat. “Anyway, rumour has it that they’re siblings because - well, Shirotora - White Tigers - Tigre Punks. And also, statements from people who managed have run-ins with the leader have said there’s a resemblance. It’s a bit of a publicity crisis for her, ‘cause people like the ‘punk’ look but they don’t want to support any real gangs, of course. I mean, I didn’t think they were actually related but if they’re both Yamazaki….they’ve gotta be, right?”

Beat could only shrug. “I dunno, really.” He really didn’t.

“So, how do you know Yamazaki?”

It was gonna come out anyway.

He knew Neku didn’t want to force him to say anything. If he really didn’t want to say anything he knew he didn’t have to. But he had put them in danger by bringing them there, even right after he had promised to himself to make sure Rhyme was kept safe after the Game.

“I met Jo-san and Hoshi first. Phones, I told ya that I didn’t really get along with my parents, right? Well, after a while, since I didn’t care anymore…I just got into a bad mood. A lot. But I ain’t someone who just wants to punch someone when I’m angry. Some punks, though, they don’t like the way I look. Say I’m lookin’ at them funny. So they start fights.”

“And you fought, back?”

“Yeah, man? I wasn’t gonna just let ‘em treat me like a punchin’ bag. I had a big repitation after that.” By the way Neku was looking at him, he said pronounced something wrong, again but he continued, “So more of ‘em started coming and I just kept fighting. I dunno when but later I kept hearing people call me the ‘Mad Boar’.”

He hadn’t heard that nickname for a while. The bruises he got from fighting had all healed up by the time he entered the Game, but while talking about it, he could feel the phantom sting of pain on his knuckles.

“An’ one day I was fightin’ and there were like…ten of ‘em, I swear. I was losin’. But I guess Jo-san thought that wasn’t fair and he stepped in and helped me out. He doesn’t look like it but he’s really strong. Hoshi was there too, she helped to patch me up a bit.”

“We haven’t really actually hung out much but I have their number in ‘case I got in trouble again. And Jo-san and Hoshi would always show up. I didn’t know that they were with The Shiratora. Until Jo-san told me Yamazaki wanted to meet me. And turns out he wanted me to join them, as ‘payment’ for takin’ up Jo-san and Hoshi’s time. I said no, ‘course. I might get in fights my I ain’t bein’ a part of no gang.” He wanted to make this absolutely clear to all of them. “Yamazaki ain’t happy when people say no, so I’ve been tryna’ stay clear of ‘em.”

He finished there and took a breath, waiting to hear their reactions.

“Well, Beat.” Neku crossed his arms. “I’m surprisingly unsurprised.”

“Huh?”

“It just sounds…very like you.”

“Huh?”

“As in, I always thought you were a wannabe delinquent. But you’re a softie at heart so I knew you couldn’t be a real one.”

“Bwaaaah!?” A softie?! “I’m no softie - wait, is that a good thing? I ain’t no delinquent, either!”

“Ah, I get it.” Shiki snapped her fingers. “I bet the other times you got into fights would be something like…if there were older kids ganging on younger kids or something.”

“How’d you know that?”

“Or if someone was trying to steal someone’s wallet.”

“HUH? Were you guys watching me?”

The hell? How did they know all of that?

Then he heard a giggle.

“Yup! That’s my big brother.” Rhyme addressed him sternly, “but you really shouldn’t fight. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Rhyme didn’t look disappointed in him. Neither did his friends.

He didn’t know the words to describe how relieved he was.

“Hey, Beat, sorry for being really touchy with you yesterday and just now,” Neku said. “I just…I just don’t like the thought of any of you guys in danger. Especially when we’re on a mission to save people.”

Yeah, he got that.

“It’s cool, Phones.”

There was a buzz in his pocket. He flipped open his phone. Jo-san was going to be here in ten minutes. Beat told the others what the message was and they agreed on their plan of action. Hoshi was the friendlier one on first meeting, so they would try to make better friends with her first. Heck, she already liked Rhyme so this was going to be a piece of cake.

“Sup, guys.”

Ten minutes later, it was just Sota on his own.

“Why you all starin’ at me like that?”

“Where’s Nao?” Neku asked.

That seemed to be the wrong question because Jo-san pushed his shades higher up on his head. “I ain’t always with her, you know.”

“That’s a problem,” Neku muttered this and Beat was the only one who could hear it.

“Oh, so what’s Nao up to, then?” Shiki tried, putting on a cheerful voice.

“Somethin’. What’s with all the questions about Nao? You guys need somethin’ from her?”

Uh oh, this could be bad, Jo-san got really touchy about Hoshi.

“I thought she was really nice, yesterday,” said Rhyme. “Beat wanted us all to go skateboarding and I’m sad that she didn’t show up. The more the merrier, ya know?”

“You’re right, she is really nice.” All of a sudden, Jo-san was all smiles. “Skulls Junior, you’ve got a great sense for people.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Let’s go then, where are we heading off to board anyway?”

“Back to Miyashita Park,” said Beat. “S’long we don’t go over to the other side, it’d be fine.”

“Cool, let’s go, then.”

xxxxx

Beat hung around Miyashita Park a lot. Yeah, he was more likely to get into fights around here but since there were fewer people around, there was a lot more space for Beat to just stretch his legs and skate. Neku had whispered frantically to Beat, asking how exactly were they supposed to get other skateboards. They stopped by the Cosmic Corner shop and Beat asked the Iwata brother if he had any spare boards they could borrow. His Partner seemed shocked that the shopkeeper would just lend them the boards so easily. Beat didn’t know what the big deal was, he’d been here tons of times since forever ago and he could always buy stuff just fine?

After that detour, they ended up in the park again.

There weren’t exactly any concrete bowls in the park but there were steps and railings that Beat liked to practice on. He warmed up with a few lengths before realising that Neku and Shiki were having some trouble with it. Shiki hadn’t exactly come prepared for the activity (‘no one told me we were going to be skateboarding!’) and Neku was dressed fine but was struggling.

Neku got two feet onto his borrowed board for about a second before he somehow managed to slip back, sending the board rolling away from him.

Beat ran over to grab the board and help him.

“Phones, you alright?” He pulled Neku up, with ease. He was a bit taken aback by how light Neku was. “What happened to your balance, man?” He was pretty sure Neku had been fine when they were doing Fusions in the UG.

“Thanks, I’m good.” Neku tugged the pointed spike of his hair. “And I don’t know. Guess I can’t move as well in the RG.” He started just…staring at Beat.

“Why you lookin’ at me like that, Phones?” It made Beat feel a bit jittery when Neku stared him down like that.

“I just figured, maybe you were stupidly strong as a Reaper because you’re already stupid strong anyway.” Neku tapped at Beat’s arm. “I mean look at this, your arm’s like twice the size of mine.”

“And me too! Is this all muscle from fighting?” Now Shiki started prodding at his arm. “Or do you work out?”

Beat could feel his face flare up from all the sudden attention. Usually, people only crowded around him when they were, y’know, ready for a beat-down. This was an entirely foreign situation to him. “Y-yeah, I’ve got weights at home.”

“Yo, Beat.” Jo-san, who had been doing a few up and downs of his own, had come back to them. “Your friends going to skate, or what?”

They both stopped man-handling Beat, which he breathed a sigh of relief to.

“Sota, I was actually wondering if you could give me a few pointers,” Neku said. “Beat’s not that great of a teacher.”

“Say wha -! “

Before he could protest further, Rhyme was shushing him. When did she get here? He swore she was also doing her own thing since she wasn’t a novice either.

“You want me to teach you, Phones?” Jo-san sounded a mixture of both surprised and flattered. “Sure, man. Come over here. And you too, Glasses.”

The three went off to a little distance away and Jo-san started showing them how to hop on and off their boards. It looked like asking him for help was the thing that finally made him relax around them. He did seem to have a thing for helping people.

Neku said that Jo-san helped him out too during their second week. That was when Beat was still trying to attack Neku, so that must have meant a lot to him. And now Jo-san didn’t recognise him. It was the same as with him and Rhyme.

If she wasn’t the person she was, Beat probably would have had a lot more trouble trying to get her to be his Partner, especially since she didn’t remember he was her brother. She was trusting like that.

He glanced back at Rhyme who was back at practising her small tricks.

She was always the one that was quick on the uptake. Neku had said that he wasn’t good at teaching as an excuse, but he really wasn’t. Rhyme learnt all these tricks by herself, just from simply watching Beat. Not only did she always work hard but she also had a natural talent for things that he didn’t.

‘I don’t understand why you’re like this. Why can’t you be more like your sister?’

He almost forgot that he dreamt that last night but it suddenly came back to him. His parents hadn’t exactly said it outright like that but it was close enough to what they meant.

No need to keep thinking about the dream.

Beat distracted himself by practising some of his more advanced tricks. It had been a while and he was a bit rusty. He had lied to Rhyme when he said that being a pro skater was his dream. But as he kept saying it, it didn’t seem like too bad of an idea. His moves were pretty good and he enjoyed it. It was something that let him move around and expend all the extra energy he had; a way better way to do it, too, then getting into fights.

This session, he managed to pull off four out of the ten attempts he made at a Casper flip, so he thought he pretty much had it dialled.

He went to check in on how the others were doing, thinking that it had been a while.

Neku and Shiki looked wiped, they were covered in sweat and he thought he spotted a skinned knee.

“Oh hey, Beat.” Neku was panting, only just about propping himself up on his elbows while the rest of him lay on the floor. Shiki had given up entirely with her whole body splayed out.

“No…more…”

“Bwahaha, you guys are a mess!” He was laughing but he was impressed that they stuck to it for that long. Jo-san was actually a pretty good skater too.

“Need…water…” Shiki looked up at Beat from the ground. “Did we bring any?”

“Nope, totally forgot.” He rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.

“Don’t sweat, we’ll get some for you,” Jo-san assured them.

“We’re already sweating, that’s the whole problem,” Neku mumbled.

“Hey Junior, stay with these two. Me an’ your bro are gonna get some drinks.”

“Haha, sit tight Phones, we’ll be right back!”

Rhyme trotted past them as they headed out of the park. The vending machines were close to the park entrance. Unfortunately, they were broken so Beat and Jo-san had to travel a bit further out. They found more vending machines on the corner of a nearby street. He was about to put some coins in when Jo-san stopped him. “Hey let’s sit down for a bit.”

The corner they were on was at the top of a set of stairs, winding down to a path lined with panels on one side and walls on the other. He didn’t recognise this route. Shibuya was changing all the time and he swore that they were building new things everywhere. There were a bunch of colourful ads under the panels for the latest hot products and they probably changed often too. Jo-san ended up mid-way down before finally sitting on the steps. Beat remained standing.

“How come you brought your board with you?” Jo-san questioned.

“Oh, I dunno.” Despite nearly forgetting it this morning, Beat hadn’t even realised that he was holding it under his arm until it was pointed out just then. He shifted his stance so that his board was standing vertically against the ground, allowing him to lean a bit into it.

“Interesting friends you got there.” Jo-san settled into a more comfortable position. “Didn’t think ya had friends. I mean, other than me an’ Nao.”

“Didn’t really know if you were my friend, Jo-san.” Really, he didn’t know if Jo-san considered him a friend. “But I owe you and Hoshi a lot and I respected you guys.”

“That so?”

It really made him wonder how he never ran into them in the second week. Maybe he was too busy trying to save Rhyme and concentrating on just taking out Neku like Shades had asked for. But he didn’t know what he would have done if Shades had asked him to attack Jo-san and Hoshi. Maybe he would have done it. He felt terrible for even thinking that but he really might have. He could only think of saving Rhyme.

“Didn’t know you had a sister either. You never mentioned.” With that timing, Beat had a brief thought that maybe Jo-san could scan him. Nah, of course not.

“Yeah, when I met you Jo-san, I wasn’t really talkin’ to Rhyme much.” He averted his gaze from Jo-san to the reflective panels next to them.

“How come?”

“I mean, she didn’t do anything. I was jus’ angry at my folks and took it out on her. I know it’s stupid.”

“You got strict parents?” Jo-san asked.

“Yeah.”

“Same here. I kinda guessed that before, though. You kinda remind me of me.” Jo-san looked up. “When I was a kid I got into so many more fights than you if you can believe it. My parents hated it. But I only did it ‘cause I didn’t want to follow their ‘path’.”

Yeah, that sounded familiar.

“I’m working part-time jobs right now but three days a week I’m working doing the thing I love.”

“What’s that?” Beat asked, actually never having thought about what kind of work Sota would be doing.

“I want to be a barber. Ya know, do haircuts for a living. Bet you didn’t expect that, huh?”

“Forreal?”

“Hell yeah. Nothin’ better than seeing the smile on a customer’s face when I save ‘em from a bad hair day. My dream is to be the best barber out there.”

Huh. What had Neku said earlier? ‘I’m surprisingly not surprised.’ That sounded about right for this too.

“That’s cool, dude.” Beat grinned. “You’re like Rhyme. She’s got a dream too.”

“You don’t?”

“Nah, not really. That’s kinda why me and my parents fought. ‘Cause they want me to ‘focus’ and have a ‘goal’ but I just…don’t.” He looked down at his skateboard. “I mean, I like boarding but it’s not my ‘dream’. Maybe I’ll keep doin’ it ‘cause I’m good at it but it’s not somethin’ I have to do.”

“I mean, you don’t have ‘ta have a dream, Beat.” Jo-san said. “You sound like you’re feeling down because you don’t have one. But it doesn’t matter. You can take it at your own pace. A dream isn’t everything.”

A dream isn’t everything.

He needed to be reminded that.

“Thanks, Jo-san. You’re a good friend.”

“No problem, man. And like I said, you can call me Sota.”

“Do you not like being called ‘Jo-san’?” It didn’t occur to Beat to ask. He had always just done it.

“I don’t hate it, and I don’t mind it from you but…it’s the name I use for The Shirotora. Nao also only uses Hoshi when we’re with Yamazaki and the others. So since we’re friends, I want you to call us by our real names.” His expression shifted from carefree to serious swiftly. “I’m glad you didn’t join us Beat. You already know this but Nao’s Yamazaki’s cousin. And I’m actually only with The Shirotora because I wouldn’t be able to date Nao if I wasn’t. There’s keepin’ family safe and then there’s bein’ crazy overprotective.”

Beat knew Sota wasn’t talking about him but he felt that it could apply to him. He was glad he snapped out of it and ended up helping Neku in the third week. He was sure Rhyme wouldn’t be proud of him if he continued as a Reaper.

“Then again, I dunno if I could talk. Being Yamazaki’s cousin means Nao can get in a lotta danger. An’ I’d do anything to keep Nao safe, even if I had to die to do it.”

His hand slipped at that, as he recalled jumping to save Rhyme from the car…jumping in front of Neku to save him from a brainwashed-Shiki. His skateboard clattered down a few steps and Sota only just about caught it.

Beat really hoped that trying to save Nao wasn’t the reason Sota and Nao died. That would be too similar to him…wouldn’t it?

Catching the skateboard had forced Sota off his feet. “Oh, that poster reminds me! I do have one more dream, actually. And that’s to marry Nao.” He grinned. “But enough about that, we’ve been talkin’ for a while. We were supposed to get drinks for your friends, right?”

He handed Beat his skateboard and announced he was heading back up to the vending machines first.

Beat took a look at the poster Sota was talking about. They had been standing near it the whole time but he had really clocked what was on it.

Oh, it was a poster of a plushie that Rhyme had mentioned wanting a while back.

He already got her the necklace but maybe he could get this for her next birthday.

“Is that supposed to be a cat or a dog? And it’s called a - how the hell are you supposed to read this - dori…dorimu…ita? Dream Eater?”

What a weird name for a toy.

xxxxx

Not only did Sota and Beat come back late but they apparently got the drinks Neku and Shiki wanted mixed up. They were too thirsty to complain too much about it, luckily for Beat. He was happy to have the cool soda wash down his throat himself, he was tired out already. They skipped out on lunch so he was hungry too. Hopefully, they could grab something on the way back.

“Sota’s on the phone,” Rhyme said, voice hushed. Oh yeah, he was. “I think he’s heading somewhere after work. The person told him to come without Nao.”

“She’s got good hearing,” Beat said when Neku and Shiki asked how she knew that.

“Should we try and follow him, tomorrow?” Neku asked. “I think we’ve made friends but if this has to do with those Shirotora people I think he’d want us to stay out of it.”

“If you and Beat do that, me and Rhyme could try talking to Nao.” Shiki suggested this between peeks at Sota’s ongoing phone call. “Sota gave me her number earlier when I mentioned that I’d like to ask her where she got her clothes from.”

“Okay, that sounds like a plan.”

Sota finished with his call and walked back over to the group. Beat tossed Sota his unopened can of Aquarius.

“Think we’re done for today, man,” Beat said. “These guys can’t skate no more.”

“Haha, that’s fine by me.”

Dragging the more tired members of their party along, they went back to Cosmic Corner to return their skateboards. Sota was going in a different direction to the rest of them so he said his goodbyes for the day then.

“Was fun hangin’ with you guys. We should do this again sometime.” He patted the top of Rhyme’s head, high-fived both Neku and Shiki and then held out a fist to Beat. “See you around.”

Beat bumped his own against Sota’s.

“Yeah, see you…Sota.”

As Sota got lost in the crowds, Beat turned to the others.

“Hey, we’re savin’ him. Him and Nao.”

They all nodded.

Beat may not have a dream but he had something else: the resolve to protect the ones that mattered.

“If a star fell, what would it look like?”

The questions kept on coming from Nao and Sota didn’t mind.

“Maybe it would look like you, Nao.”

She was always brightening things in his life.

“Like me? No way! They’ve got to be, like, a lot more sparkly!” She put her hands on her hips. “And I don’t, like, really wear sparkles.”

“You think?”

Despite not having anything physical on her that ‘sparkled’, he could see that her eyes were glittering.

“Not sure. But I think I had a dream about a star that fell once.” The memory seemed to come by suddenly, almost like a shooting star itself. “It fell out of the sky and landed in the clouds. I tried to pick it up but then I woke up in my room. Then I realised the start was in my room. So I didn’t actually wake up. It was another dream!”

Sota paid attention to every single word.

Whatever dreams lay behind her those eyes, he wanted to be a part of them.

Chapter 03 - Casper Star

I don’t understand why you’re like this. Why can’t you be more like your sister?

When Beat woke up, light was streaming into the room and he could hear an alarm blaring by his bedside.

It was a good thing that Rhyme reminded him to put on an alarm because he would have slept through it. That would have sucked since they had things to get to do today. He jumped out of bed, grabbed some clothes off the floor, sniffed it - smells okay - and then changed into them. His room was messier than usual. He would probably get shouted at later but he didn’t really give a damn.

He was halfway out of his room when he stopped and looked back. He almost left his skateboard behind. He felt like he should have that with him today.

Rhyme was sitting at the dining table, all dressed up and ready to go.

“Les’ go.”

After yesterday, he couldn’t leave the others waiting for him.

xxxxx

“Yeah, c’mon. What’s going on that you had the balls to come back here, huh ‘Beat’? Or should I still be calling you - ‘Mad Boar’?”

Beat didn’t have anything to say to Yamazaki. He was here for the other two - he guessed now that their names were Sota and Nao. He hadn’t known that those were their other names before this. That wasn’t completely true, they probably mentioned it before but he had forgotten.

You couldn’t forget Yamazaki, though. No one was allowed to forget that name.

“I’m here to talk to Jo-san and Hoshi. Ain’t want nothin’ to do with you.”

“Some big talk from such a little punk.”

Beat was pretty tall himself, for his age but Yamazaki was not only taller but he was also stacked. He could tell, especially with Yamazaki getting right up in his face.

“Aniki, he’s, like, just a kid.” Hoshi tried to pull him back. He shook her off but he did step back.

“Ain’t much fun to square up with Mad Boar when he’s got a bunch of twigs with him.” Yamazaki flashed his brown eyes towards the others. “Don’t let me catch you around this ‘side of the park again. If I see you again, you’d better be here to join us or - ” he pointed his thumb downwards “ - be prepared to be buried here.” He brushed back his wild mess of blond hair, so light it was almost white. “Alright, Jo. Hoshi. Enjoy your little chit-chat with these brats.”

As the man started to walk down the steps, the others followed him, without a single instruction. That’s just the way things worked around here.

“Beat, what the hell was that about?”

He looked at Neku and he seemed angry.

“What?”

Then he realised that Shiki was practically hiding behind Neku. Rhyme, too, had moved closer the older two, grabbing onto Shiki’s wrist.

“Sorry,” he said immediately. “I didn’t wanna come here in the first place. But when you guys said to split up, I panicked, yo. I couldn’t let you guys jus’ come here on your own.” He messed up, again. “When I realised we were lookin’ for Jo-san and Hoshi, I just…I knew where they were gonna be an’ I knew Yamazaki was goin’ to be here an’ I didn’t want him seeing you first.”

“Okay? So if we were going to be running in with some shady people, you could’ve at least warned us,” Neku argued.

“Shady? Who’s is this kid, Beat?” Jo-san’s guard was up.

“No, I didn’t mean you Sota, I just meant - ”

“And how come you know my name? Pretty rude for a kid, aren’t you? How come you were looking for me?” Jo-san wanted answers but Neku wasn’t talking back.

“They’re my friends and sister, Jo-san,” Beat cut in. “They uh…” Guess he had to lie. “I told ‘em about you and they wanted to meet you.”

“Oh, are you, like, Beat Junior then? You’re totally adorbs.” Hoshi was probably the only person they met in those last few minutes that wasn’t intimidating.

Rhyme dropped her hold on Shiki’s wrist and extended her hand out. “I’m Rhyme.”

“Oh em gee, Beat and Rhyme? You two’ve got a twin look going on, aw!”

“Yeah, so it’s more like Skulls Junior.”

“That’s, like, totes precious!” She smiled broadly. “You can call me Nao. Or Nao Nao, for short.”

Leave it to Rhyme to get someone to like her within a few words.

“Hmph. Well if Nao likes you, then you guys can call me Sota.” That seemed to take the edge off Jo-san slightly. “So whaddya want? We got somewhere to be so we can’t hang around. And I know you didn’t bring them to where Yamazaki was at if it ain’t important.”

“Yeah we - gotta.” His mind was drawing a blank of what excuse they were supposed to use to pry info for Sunday out of him. “We gotta talk. I jus’ gotta talk to you, aight?”

“…Alright, man. But me an’ Nao seriously gotta go somewhere. I’ve got time tomorrow, so I’ll text you later.”

They left real quick after that.

“Beat.” Neku took Shiki by the arm. “I’m walking Shiki home for now. We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, man. I get it. I’ll see you guys.”

Xxxxx

Beat felt guilty, thinking about how spooked Shiki was. He asked if Rhyme had been scared too but she said it was fine. He still felt bad, though. That was the last kind of situation that he wanted Rhyme to see him in. He was just glad as hell that he never had accepted one of those white bands from Yamazaki…

He felt guiltier when they met up at their spot by Hachiko again and Shiki’s first words were all to try and make him feel better. “Sorry for worrying you guys. I think I just freaked out a bit, ‘cause…you know I can’t exactly use Mr. Mew in a fight in the RG. And those guys definitely wanted to pick a fight.”

“Who were they?” Neku asked the question, directed at Beat.

“They’re…” He glanced at Rhyme. She didn’t know about them yet.

“The Shirotora,” Rhyme filled in the words that Beat didn’t want to say. “They’re a gang.”

“Those are The Shirotora?” Shiki covered her mouth. “Oh god, you’re right! They were all wearing those white bands around their arms.”

“Never heard of ‘em,” said Neku.

“No offence but you’re not exactly up to date on a lot of things, Neku,” said Shiki, “but the White Tigers are getting pretty infamous around Shibuya. Especially ‘cause of who their leader is rumoured to be. I mean, not rumoured, anymore, I guess since we met him yesterday.”

“Yeah, Yamazaki’s their leader.” Beat was still trying to avoid eye contact with Rhyme, already feeling worse about the whole situation, since she already knew who the gang was.

“It’s the talk of the town because he’s rumoured to be Tora Ana Yamazaki’s brother.” The way Shiki said it, it seemed like it was supposed to cause some kinda reaction.

“…And who’s that supposed to be?”

“Neku, come on. She’s only the designer for Tigre Punks!” She put her hands up in the air. “She’s one of my role models!” Shiki cleared her throat. “Anyway, rumour has it that they’re siblings because - well, Shirotora - White Tigers - Tigre Punks. And also, statements from people who managed have run-ins with the leader have said there’s a resemblance. It’s a bit of a publicity crisis for her, ‘cause people like the ‘punk’ look but they don’t want to support any real gangs, of course. I mean, I didn’t think they were actually related but if they’re both Yamazaki….they’ve gotta be, right?”

Beat could only shrug. “I dunno, really.” He really didn’t.

“So, how do you know Yamazaki?”

It was gonna come out anyway.

He knew Neku didn’t want to force him to say anything. If he really didn’t want to say anything he knew he didn’t have to. But he had put them in danger by bringing them there, even right after he had promised to himself to make sure Rhyme was kept safe after the Game.

“I met Jo-san and Hoshi first. Phones, I told ya that I didn’t really get along with my parents, right? Well, after a while, since I didn’t care anymore…I just got into a bad mood. A lot. But I ain’t someone who just wants to punch someone when I’m angry. Some punks, though, they don’t like the way I look. Say I’m lookin’ at them funny. So they start fights.”

“And you fought, back?”

“Yeah, man? I wasn’t gonna just let ‘em treat me like a punchin’ bag. I had a big repitation after that.” By the way Neku was looking at him, he said pronounced something wrong, again but he continued, “So more of ‘em started coming and I just kept fighting. I dunno when but later I kept hearing people call me the ‘Mad Boar’.”

He hadn’t heard that nickname for a while. The bruises he got from fighting had all healed up by the time he entered the Game, but while talking about it, he could feel the phantom sting of pain on his knuckles.

“An’ one day I was fightin’ and there were like…ten of ‘em, I swear. I was losin’. But I guess Jo-san thought that wasn’t fair and he stepped in and helped me out. He doesn’t look like it but he’s really strong. Hoshi was there too, she helped to patch me up a bit.”

“We haven’t really actually hung out much but I have their number in ‘case I got in trouble again. And Jo-san and Hoshi would always show up. I didn’t know that they were with The Shiratora. Until Jo-san told me Yamazaki wanted to meet me. And turns out he wanted me to join them, as ‘payment’ for takin’ up Jo-san and Hoshi’s time. I said no, ‘course. I might get in fights my I ain’t bein’ a part of no gang.” He wanted to make this absolutely clear to all of them. “Yamazaki ain’t happy when people say no, so I’ve been tryna’ stay clear of ‘em.”

He finished there and took a breath, waiting to hear their reactions.

“Well, Beat.” Neku crossed his arms. “I’m surprisingly unsurprised.”

“Huh?”

“It just sounds…very like you.”

“Huh?”

“As in, I always thought you were a wannabe delinquent. But you’re a softie at heart so I knew you couldn’t be a real one.”

“Bwaaaah!?” A softie?! “I’m no softie - wait, is that a good thing? I ain’t no delinquent, either!”

“Ah, I get it.” Shiki snapped her fingers. “I bet the other times you got into fights would be something like…if there were older kids ganging on younger kids or something.”

“How’d you know that?”

“Or if someone was trying to steal someone’s wallet.”

“HUH? Were you guys watching me?”

The hell? How did they know all of that?

Then he heard a giggle.

“Yup! That’s my big brother.” Rhyme addressed him sternly, “but you really shouldn’t fight. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Rhyme didn’t look disappointed in him. Neither did his friends.

He didn’t know the words to describe how relieved he was.

“Hey, Beat, sorry for being really touchy with you yesterday and just now,” Neku said. “I just…I just don’t like the thought of any of you guys in danger. Especially when we’re on a mission to save people.”

Yeah, he got that.

“It’s cool, Phones.”

There was a buzz in his pocket. He flipped open his phone. Jo-san was going to be here in ten minutes. Beat told the others what the message was and they agreed on their plan of action. Hoshi was the friendlier one on first meeting, so they would try to make better friends with her first. Heck, she already liked Rhyme so this was going to be a piece of cake.

“Sup, guys.”

Ten minutes later, it was just Sota on his own.

“Why you all starin’ at me like that?”

“Where’s Nao?” Neku asked.

That seemed to be the wrong question because Jo-san pushed his shades higher up on his head. “I ain’t always with her, you know.”

“That’s a problem,” Neku muttered this and Beat was the only one who could hear it.

“Oh, so what’s Nao up to, then?” Shiki tried, putting on a cheerful voice.

“Somethin’. What’s with all the questions about Nao? You guys need somethin’ from her?”

Uh oh, this could be bad, Jo-san got really touchy about Hoshi.

“I thought she was really nice, yesterday,” said Rhyme. “Beat wanted us all to go skateboarding and I’m sad that she didn’t show up. The more the merrier, ya know?”

“You’re right, she is really nice.” All of a sudden, Jo-san was all smiles. “Skulls Junior, you’ve got a great sense for people.” He put his hands in his pockets. “Let’s go then, where are we heading off to board anyway?”

“Back to Miyashita Park,” said Beat. “S’long we don’t go over to the other side, it’d be fine.”

“Cool, let’s go, then.”

xxxxx

Beat hung around Miyashita Park a lot. Yeah, he was more likely to get into fights around here but since there were fewer people around, there was a lot more space for Beat to just stretch his legs and skate. Neku had whispered frantically to Beat, asking how exactly were they supposed to get other skateboards. They stopped by the Cosmic Corner shop and Beat asked the Iwata brother if he had any spare boards they could borrow. His Partner seemed shocked that the shopkeeper would just lend them the boards so easily. Beat didn’t know what the big deal was, he’d been here tons of times since forever ago and he could always buy stuff just fine?

After that detour, they ended up in the park again.

There weren’t exactly any concrete bowls in the park but there were steps and railings that Beat liked to practice on. He warmed up with a few lengths before realising that Neku and Shiki were having some trouble with it. Shiki hadn’t exactly come prepared for the activity (‘no one told me we were going to be skateboarding!’) and Neku was dressed fine but was struggling.

Neku got two feet onto his borrowed board for about a second before he somehow managed to slip back, sending the board rolling away from him.

Beat ran over to grab the board and help him.

“Phones, you alright?” He pulled Neku up, with ease. He was a bit taken aback by how light Neku was. “What happened to your balance, man?” He was pretty sure Neku had been fine when they were doing Fusions in the UG.

“Thanks, I’m good.” Neku tugged the pointed spike of his hair. “And I don’t know. Guess I can’t move as well in the RG.” He started just…staring at Beat.

“Why you lookin’ at me like that, Phones?” It made Beat feel a bit jittery when Neku stared him down like that.

“I just figured, maybe you were stupidly strong as a Reaper because you’re already stupid strong anyway.” Neku tapped at Beat’s arm. “I mean look at this, your arm’s like twice the size of mine.”

“And me too! Is this all muscle from fighting?” Now Shiki started prodding at his arm. “Or do you work out?”

Beat could feel his face flare up from all the sudden attention. Usually, people only crowded around him when they were, y’know, ready for a beat-down. This was an entirely foreign situation to him. “Y-yeah, I’ve got weights at home.”

“Yo, Beat.” Jo-san, who had been doing a few up and downs of his own, had come back to them. “Your friends going to skate, or what?”

They both stopped man-handling Beat, which he breathed a sigh of relief to.

“Sota, I was actually wondering if you could give me a few pointers,” Neku said. “Beat’s not that great of a teacher.”

“Say wha -! “

Before he could protest further, Rhyme was shushing him. When did she get here? He swore she was also doing her own thing since she wasn’t a novice either.

“You want me to teach you, Phones?” Jo-san sounded a mixture of both surprised and flattered. “Sure, man. Come over here. And you too, Glasses.”

The three went off to a little distance away and Jo-san started showing them how to hop on and off their boards. It looked like asking him for help was the thing that finally made him relax around them. He did seem to have a thing for helping people.

Neku said that Jo-san helped him out too during their second week. That was when Beat was still trying to attack Neku, so that must have meant a lot to him. And now Jo-san didn’t recognise him. It was the same as with him and Rhyme.

If she wasn’t the person she was, Beat probably would have had a lot more trouble trying to get her to be his Partner, especially since she didn’t remember he was her brother. She was trusting like that.

He glanced back at Rhyme who was back at practising her small tricks.

She was always the one that was quick on the uptake. Neku had said that he wasn’t good at teaching as an excuse, but he really wasn’t. Rhyme learnt all these tricks by herself, just from simply watching Beat. Not only did she always work hard but she also had a natural talent for things that he didn’t.

‘I don’t understand why you’re like this. Why can’t you be more like your sister?’

He almost forgot that he dreamt that last night but it suddenly came back to him. His parents hadn’t exactly said it outright like that but it was close enough to what they meant.

No need to keep thinking about the dream.

Beat distracted himself by practising some of his more advanced tricks. It had been a while and he was a bit rusty. He had lied to Rhyme when he said that being a pro skater was his dream. But as he kept saying it, it didn’t seem like too bad of an idea. His moves were pretty good and he enjoyed it. It was something that let him move around and expend all the extra energy he had; a way better way to do it, too, then getting into fights.

This session, he managed to pull off four out of the ten attempts he made at a Casper flip, so he thought he pretty much had it dialled.

He went to check in on how the others were doing, thinking that it had been a while.

Neku and Shiki looked wiped, they were covered in sweat and he thought he spotted a skinned knee.

“Oh hey, Beat.” Neku was panting, only just about propping himself up on his elbows while the rest of him lay on the floor. Shiki had given up entirely with her whole body splayed out.

“No…more…”

“Bwahaha, you guys are a mess!” He was laughing but he was impressed that they stuck to it for that long. Jo-san was actually a pretty good skater too.

“Need…water…” Shiki looked up at Beat from the ground. “Did we bring any?”

“Nope, totally forgot.” He rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly.

“Don’t sweat, we’ll get some for you,” Jo-san assured them.

“We’re already sweating, that’s the whole problem,” Neku mumbled.

“Hey Junior, stay with these two. Me an’ your bro are gonna get some drinks.”

“Haha, sit tight Phones, we’ll be right back!”

Rhyme trotted past them as they headed out of the park. The vending machines were close to the park entrance. Unfortunately, they were broken so Beat and Jo-san had to travel a bit further out. They found more vending machines on the corner of a nearby street. He was about to put some coins in when Jo-san stopped him. “Hey let’s sit down for a bit.”

The corner they were on was at the top of a set of stairs, winding down to a path lined with panels on one side and walls on the other. He didn’t recognise this route. Shibuya was changing all the time and he swore that they were building new things everywhere. There were a bunch of colourful ads under the panels for the latest hot products and they probably changed often too. Jo-san ended up mid-way down before finally sitting on the steps. Beat remained standing.

“How come you brought your board with you?” Jo-san questioned.

“Oh, I dunno.” Despite nearly forgetting it this morning, Beat hadn’t even realised that he was holding it under his arm until it was pointed out just then. He shifted his stance so that his board was standing vertically against the ground, allowing him to lean a bit into it.

“Interesting friends you got there.” Jo-san settled into a more comfortable position. “Didn’t think ya had friends. I mean, other than me an’ Nao.”

“Didn’t really know if you were my friend, Jo-san.” Really, he didn’t know if Jo-san considered him a friend. “But I owe you and Hoshi a lot and I respected you guys.”

“That so?”

It really made him wonder how he never ran into them in the second week. Maybe he was too busy trying to save Rhyme and concentrating on just taking out Neku like Shades had asked for. But he didn’t know what he would have done if Shades had asked him to attack Jo-san and Hoshi. Maybe he would have done it. He felt terrible for even thinking that but he really might have. He could only think of saving Rhyme.

“Didn’t know you had a sister either. You never mentioned.” With that timing, Beat had a brief thought that maybe Jo-san could scan him. Nah, of course not.

“Yeah, when I met you Jo-san, I wasn’t really talkin’ to Rhyme much.” He averted his gaze from Jo-san to the reflective panels next to them.

“How come?”

“I mean, she didn’t do anything. I was jus’ angry at my folks and took it out on her. I know it’s stupid.”

“You got strict parents?” Jo-san asked.

“Yeah.”

“Same here. I kinda guessed that before, though. You kinda remind me of me.” Jo-san looked up. “When I was a kid I got into so many more fights than you if you can believe it. My parents hated it. But I only did it ‘cause I didn’t want to follow their ‘path’.”

Yeah, that sounded familiar.

“I’m working part-time jobs right now but three days a week I’m working doing the thing I love.”

“What’s that?” Beat asked, actually never having thought about what kind of work Sota would be doing.

“I want to be a barber. Ya know, do haircuts for a living. Bet you didn’t expect that, huh?”

“Forreal?”

“Hell yeah. Nothin’ better than seeing the smile on a customer’s face when I save ‘em from a bad hair day. My dream is to be the best barber out there.”

Huh. What had Neku said earlier? ‘I’m surprisingly not surprised.’ That sounded about right for this too.

“That’s cool, dude.” Beat grinned. “You’re like Rhyme. She’s got a dream too.”

“You don’t?”

“Nah, not really. That’s kinda why me and my parents fought. ‘Cause they want me to ‘focus’ and have a ‘goal’ but I just…don’t.” He looked down at his skateboard. “I mean, I like boarding but it’s not my ‘dream’. Maybe I’ll keep doin’ it ‘cause I’m good at it but it’s not somethin’ I have to do.”

“I mean, you don’t have ‘ta have a dream, Beat.” Jo-san said. “You sound like you’re feeling down because you don’t have one. But it doesn’t matter. You can take it at your own pace. A dream isn’t everything.”

A dream isn’t everything.

He needed to be reminded that.

“Thanks, Jo-san. You’re a good friend.”

“No problem, man. And like I said, you can call me Sota.”

“Do you not like being called ‘Jo-san’?” It didn’t occur to Beat to ask. He had always just done it.

“I don’t hate it, and I don’t mind it from you but…it’s the name I use for The Shirotora. Nao also only uses Hoshi when we’re with Yamazaki and the others. So since we’re friends, I want you to call us by our real names.” His expression shifted from carefree to serious swiftly. “I’m glad you didn’t join us Beat. You already know this but Nao’s Yamazaki’s cousin. And I’m actually only with The Shirotora because I wouldn’t be able to date Nao if I wasn’t. There’s keepin’ family safe and then there’s bein’ crazy overprotective.”

Beat knew Sota wasn’t talking about him but he felt that it could apply to him. He was glad he snapped out of it and ended up helping Neku in the third week. He was sure Rhyme wouldn’t be proud of him if he continued as a Reaper.

“Then again, I dunno if I could talk. Being Yamazaki’s cousin means Nao can get in a lotta danger. An’ I’d do anything to keep Nao safe, even if I had to die to do it.”

His hand slipped at that, as he recalled jumping to save Rhyme from the car…jumping in front of Neku to save him from a brainwashed-Shiki. His skateboard clattered down a few steps and Sota only just about caught it.

Beat really hoped that trying to save Nao wasn’t the reason Sota and Nao died. That would be too similar to him…wouldn’t it?

Catching the skateboard had forced Sota off his feet. “Oh, that poster reminds me! I do have one more dream, actually. And that’s to marry Nao.” He grinned. “But enough about that, we’ve been talkin’ for a while. We were supposed to get drinks for your friends, right?”

He handed Beat his skateboard and announced he was heading back up to the vending machines first.

Beat took a look at the poster Sota was talking about. They had been standing near it the whole time but he had really clocked what was on it.

Oh, it was a poster of a plushie that Rhyme had mentioned wanting a while back.

He already got her the necklace but maybe he could get this for her next birthday.

“Is that supposed to be a cat or a dog? And it’s called a - how the hell are you supposed to read this - dori…dorimu…ita? Dream Eater?”

What a weird name for a toy.

xxxxx

Not only did Sota and Beat come back late but they apparently got the drinks Neku and Shiki wanted mixed up. They were too thirsty to complain too much about it, luckily for Beat. He was happy to have the cool soda wash down his throat himself, he was tired out already. They skipped out on lunch so he was hungry too. Hopefully, they could grab something on the way back.

“Sota’s on the phone,” Rhyme said, voice hushed. Oh yeah, he was. “I think he’s heading somewhere after work. The person told him to come without Nao.”

“She’s got good hearing,” Beat said when Neku and Shiki asked how she knew that.

“Should we try and follow him, tomorrow?” Neku asked. “I think we’ve made friends but if this has to do with those Shirotora people I think he’d want us to stay out of it.”

“If you and Beat do that, me and Rhyme could try talking to Nao.” Shiki suggested this between peeks at Sota’s ongoing phone call. “Sota gave me her number earlier when I mentioned that I’d like to ask her where she got her clothes from.”

“Okay, that sounds like a plan.”

Sota finished with his call and walked back over to the group. Beat tossed Sota his unopened can of Aquarius.

“Think we’re done for today, man,” Beat said. “These guys can’t skate no more.”

“Haha, that’s fine by me.”

Dragging the more tired members of their party along, they went back to Cosmic Corner to return their skateboards. Sota was going in a different direction to the rest of them so he said his goodbyes for the day then.

“Was fun hangin’ with you guys. We should do this again sometime.” He patted the top of Rhyme’s head, high-fived both Neku and Shiki and then held out a fist to Beat. “See you around.”

Beat bumped his own against Sota’s.

“Yeah, see you…Sota.”

As Sota got lost in the crowds, Beat turned to the others.

“Hey, we’re savin’ him. Him and Nao.”

They all nodded.

Beat may not have a dream but he had something else: the resolve to protect the ones that mattered.

[chimtaesty]

BH8 episode two

paring: bts ot7 x reader | 3.4k words

warning: none, fluff

plot: You're big hits first ever artist and only solo artist. And since bts are your only label mates (we are not including txt yet pls) bighit decided to built up a reality show called “BH8”

The happenings will be written normally but the commentary and the editing on the episodes will be written in cursive

A/N: HI THERE. my life has been all over the place lately but I hope you can enjoy this thing here a little.

(a collab song between Y/N and BTS plays for the intro while the artists laugh and have fun)

BigHit’s 7+1 makes BH8 slides across the screen as you sit there with the MC’s and the boys next to you.

A show combining the most successful artists of this century. A legendary solo artist who debut 12 years ago and the superstars bts combined in one show. Does that make you as happy as it does us?

episode two

Jin appears first, struggling to get into the shirt his stylist tries to wrap around his shoulders. “It doesn't fit!” he hisses as his stylist laughs and nods. “That's Jimin's” she breathlessly admits. You laugh so loud that Jo Kwon almost falls off his chair.

Jin frowns and takes the shirt off. Jimin comes into frame and waves to the camera. “Army!” he smiles and gives kisses to the camera. “We are trying our stage outfits for the mama performance on. Y/N is changing over there” he points at the small spaced off place you're changing at.

The next frame is you almost dying because of a pair of jeans “I CAN'T FIT IN THOSE PANTS” you almost scream. Your stylist laughs and nods. “Did you perhaps gain weight?” you look at her with your eyes squinted. “Let's try this” she hands you a sparkly two piece. You nod and put it on without any problems. She closes the zipper for you and you leave your dressing spot.

“Y/N-noona. Is that your final outfit?” you whip around and the frame slows down Look at our princess flies across the screen. “I don't know yet, I still have a dress I want to try on” you smile. Jungkook comes closer and shows you his jacket. Jimin is left alone in front of the camera “Looks like we are leftover” just in time Hoseok comes out with a big smile. “BH8 is trending on twitter!” you leave your stylists grip and walk over to Hoseok who shows you his phone. “Yeah! Army & Y/F/N are the best. I love you!!” you shoot kisses towards the camera. We love you too, Y/N.

“That's a outcome! You haven't even performed and you're already trending. Army & Y/F/N are really working hand in hand! Y/N, how do you feel about both of your fandoms understanding each other so good?” Jae Suk asks. Your head snaps up at Jae Suk. You are placed in front of BTS on a lower stool. “I think it's really important for fans to understand and like each other. We are all artists and wars between artists don't exist so fanwars shouldn't be a thing. And my fans always supported BTS, from day one I forced them to support my juniors” you laugh and nod as Jae Suk is satisfied with your answer. Namjoon pats your shoulder in approval.

“I'll go and put the dress on real quick” you say as you leave to your dressing spot again. the camera stays with boys as you dress. “It's such an honor to perform with Y/N- noona. We visited her concerts since our trainee days, so it gives off such a nice feeling!” Hoseok tells the camera. “I always stayed up late to watch her performances on TV.” Taehyung smiles, remembering. The camera pants as Taehyung's face lights up in your direction. Huh? Something caught V’s attention There you stand in a big sparkly white dress. It's massive and absolutely stunning, bur nothing for dancing.

“I'll stay with the two piece” you say almost pouting.

“The dress is so pretty, why didn't you chose it?” Jo Kwon asks. You nod “First, it's not convenient for the performance. I can't dance and the boys would have to take too much caution to not step onto the dress and secondly, I don't wear dresses on stage anyways. They are inconvenient and uncomfortable.” Jo Kwon nods. “And you guys? Did you prefer the first or second outfit?” Yoongi speaks up first. “The first one was better in my opinion because the sparkling jacket fits Y/N’s outfit better” you nod.

“Next thing is the studio! You guys need to work on your mama performance” Your manager-unnie interrupts your discussions on the stage outfits. “I'll just change back” The boys go their changing spot to get changed.

There they go the cameraman stands there lonely waiting for someone to return. You come back out waiting a pair of jeans and a big yellow hoodie. You approach the camera with a smile Look, the sun is so close and a lighting effect adds to it. “Look! This is from Hoseok's merch” you point at your beanie. The camerawoman nods lightly and you give him a thumbs up.

The boys gather too and their manager escorts you all to the studios. Hoseok slings an arm around your shoulder and talks to you about his hoodie while the camera focuses on Namjoon and Jungkook testing their english skills.

a joyful mess

Taehyung opens the big door which leads up to the studios and you all pass through. “Let's go into mine” you announce and Jungkook gets excited. Not a lot of people spend time in your studio since you like to work alone.

You fish out your key and unlock the door. You stay back and let them go inside to make sure to hold the door for the cameraman She's so lovely

“Please, seat yourself” the boys follow your instructions. You pull two spare chairs forward so that the cameraman is able to sit down. “Is this the new sound system?” Yoongi asks as he inspects the new speakers gracing your table. “Yes, I got them about two weeks ago” he nods and sits himself down on the second chair. “I'll just log myself in and then we can start to work on the remix” you update the others. Yoongi then opens the program and sets everything up as he offered you to do so. You turn around and leave on your small fridge A small fridge? What could be inside? You squat down and take a bottle of orange juice out. The boys follow your movements and you chuckle “You can take something to drink as well!” Jungkook is fast to charge towards the fridge. Who wouldn't like a drink from Y/N’s fridge?

“That's so cute, a small fridge. Do you really need a fridge in your studio or is just some kind of luxury?” Jae Suk asks and you shake your head “It's a necessity, i spend most of my time in the studio so having a fridge in there to store some food is very important to me” Jo Kwon turns to you with a questioning look “Really? How much time do you spend in your studio?” you nod with a small chuckle. “I spend almost all of the time I'm not somewhere else in my studio. The average work time is about 40 hours a week, right? Mh, so i would come up to I don't know 60 or 70 when I have a lazy week. A week where I have performances or TV show appearances would be around 40 and I would sleep in the studio, the couch is actually able to be made into a bed! But to my defence, I'm not the only one who practically lives at the studio!” you laugh. “But 70 hours are almost 3 days. That's a lot!” Jae Suk gasps. “Who spends as much time as you?” you halt for a second but laugh slightly “Min Yoongi does” Yoongi chuckles behind you. “That's true, sometimes we leave the studio together at like very very early in the morning” he explains.

You sit back down and Yoongi explains how he wants the remix to be. The frame moves to Jungkook and Jimin who inspect your trophies. “Y/N, the last time I was in here you had two grammys, you won more?” you turn around and laugh “Yeah, some months ago!” he looks at you unbelieving. The cameraman comes closer to the boys and films them a little. “Look! A American music award and a Bambi!” Jimin points at the awards. Then Jungkook reads out a paper which laid next to a picture of them with you on The Show. “This spot goes to my brother group bts who had their first win and won against me on The Show. Let this relationship be strong and filled with love.” You always loved your juniors. The moment they announcement a new group was going to debut you felt like a mother. You took them out for food, bought them gifts and took them to your practices and studio sessions.

The frame shifts to you, Yoongi and Namjoon discussing the remix. “Let me add something. Maybe some vocals can make it better” You leave your seat and get a mic you quickly connect to your system. The remix connects several songs from the both of you. “Let it play and I'll find my way in” you tell Yoongi and he nods. sea starts to play and you know the lyrics, it's written into your soul. You add runs and highlight lines. You even add a high note at the end, it's not to loud and not to silent, it fits in perfectly. Such angelic sounds

“That was mesmerising” Namjoon says silently. You smile and thank him in the same volume.

“Y/N! That was so pretty. The harmonies!” Jo Kwon nudges you and you laugh “How do you guys feel about Y/N adding her touch to your song?” Jin answers faster than anyone “I was taken aback to be honest. Y/N-ah has this ability to make any piece of music she touches a great song. I thought I was a great singer but Y/N is something else” he rants his mind. You are close to tears. You stand up and turn around to give Jin a hug. “That's one of the nicest things someone ever said to me” he takes your hug with a wide smile. “Ah, Y/N. Were you that touched?” you smile ad Jae Suk “I get a lot of complements but I know that they mean it.”

Yoongi puts the song together and a fifteen minute remix is the end product. “That's it! It's great!” you smile and Yoongi nods. “Let's send it to the ceo-office” you tell Yoongi and he's on it.

Then you text your manager-unnie that you're finished and a text back comes almost immediately. Good, come to the head office. You need to sign stuff and take photos for your fansign the frame shifts to you as you text Who is Y/N texting so concentrated?

“My manager-unnie just texted me that I have to take some photos and sign some stuff. You can stay here until I come back!” Jungkook says yes and sits himself down on your spot “Can we listen to some music?” you turn back around and nod “But don't spoil my album!” he chuckles and denies “Never”

The frame stays on the boys as you leave. Jungkook sits at the computer experimenting with the sound system. He logs into youtube and plays some of you older songs jamming to them. Namjoon, Jin and Hoseok are now looking at your awards. “Jin-Hyung, look at this” he points at the little spot a photo and a piece of paper are placed. This spot goes to my brother group bts who won had their first win and won against me on The Show. Let this relationship be strong and filled with love. "That's the cutest thing ever” Hoseok smiles at Namjoon.

The next frame is you strolling towards the signing spot. Look at the beauty arriving floats across the screen as the scene slows down.

“With what should I start?” you ask and a woman gives you cards to sign. Then your phone vibrates and Namjoons name graces your display “Namjoon-ah! What's up?” you hold your phone to your ear. “We have to leave for a short while, but we don't have a key” you chuckle “Just use the electric lock on the outside. Yoongi should know the code” he laughs too and you end the call. “This is going to be very boring for you! I'm just signing this stuff” the cameraman slightly shakes the camera.

“Signing seems very boring, how often do you have to do something like that?” you think or a moment. “All the time actually, when I'm having promotions, fansigns, special events, tours. I'm signing all the time” you laugh. “But the boys actually have a lot more to do. They don't stop their tours actually. They just finished their love yourself tour and soon they are going to start their map of persona tour so, I shouldn't be complaining” you chuckle. “Actually Y/N is lying. She stays in the studio and the dance practice rooms all the time. She finished her world tour last year and has performances almost every day ever since.” You almost scream “Shut Up! You've been working harder” Namjoon laughs and grasps your shoulder “Y/N-noona, YOU WORK HARDER” you grit your teeth “If you don't shut your mouth I will show you what hard work is. I hate you” you whisper after you laugh out loud. “Does this normally happen?” Jo Kwon asks the other boys and you chuckle. “All the time, it's a continuous fight over affection” Jin explains.

The frame switches to the boys leaving your studio and Yoongi typing in the code. The door closes with a small click and they leave. “What are you going to do now?” The cameraman asks the leaving group of young men. “We are going to have dinner at a good restaurant.” Jin smiles. Dinner sounds about right at the moment.

The camera focuses on Yoongi and Hoseok who are strolling next to each other. “I'm so hungry! I'm so excited for the food” Hoseok encourages Yoongi to talk as well. He just nods “We’ll bring Y/N something” is all he says. Such a healthy friendship

“Getting food for each other is a common thing, right?” Jae Suk asks. You nod “Especially with us, we usually take food with us in case someone needs something or gets hungry while we work. Or we take something with us when we know that someone stays late. I always take something with me in case they stay late for practice otherwise I can eat it the next day” Jae Suk nods “Looking after one another is very important, so we buy each other a lot to eat” Namjoon adds.

You are now standing on a little podium in a jumpsuit, heels and your album in your hands posing for the fansign posters. In the back your title track is playing to not make the shoot as boring as it may could be. “Now squad down for me” the photographer instructs you and you follow suit. “That's it! Great!” he shouts and a smile makes its way onto your face “Any song requests?” you head snaps towards the staff and you raise your hand “euphoria by jungkook please” in your opinion it's the perfect song. It has the exact vibe you want right now. The song fills the room and you couldn't be more happy.

The frame switches to bts arriving at the restaurant. They get a table at the back of the restaurant to prevent the place of getting mobbed. As they give up their orders Jimin proceeds to check the social medias. “kook, look” he gives Jungkook his phone to show him a article which was released about ten minutes ago.

Solo artist Y/N enjoying photoshoot with her juniors music

About twenty minutes ago the grammy winning solo artist Y/N, the heart of korea, posted a rather cute video of herself enjoying the photoshoot for her fansign in two weeks. The song ‘Euphoria by BTS’s Jungkook’ made her so happy that she eagerly requested it in the first place. Such a friendship is something to be jealous about.

Jungkook smiles from ear to ear. He watches you shooting your arm in the air and asking for his song. And then happy dancing around, hitting poses to the beat. He gives Jimin his phone back and proceeds to eat his food.

They finish eating and get your favourite food packed up.

“Great! That's a wrap! good work everyone” the photographer announces. You clap once and jump down from the podium leaving to a spot you can change at. The cameraman waits in front of the spacer. “Let's get going” you smile at the cameraman and he follows you silently. As you step into the elevator your encourage a conversation “Lately I've really been into riverdale, which shows do you like to watch?” the man points his camera at you leaving his face covered, still you can tell he's thinking of an answer. “Goblin Slayer” you think for a second “That's a anime, right? I've heard of that?” he nods and you smile “I think Jungkook told me about it. It's supposed to be very good” he nods.

The door opens with a ding and you leave to the main entrance as your phone vibrates. “Yoongi-ah!” he hums “We are at the company, are you home yet?” “Nope, I was about to leave. Let me give you a ride home” he hums “That would be nice, we’ll meet you in the parking lot”

You take the left door to enter the parking lot. With fast steps you walk to the group of seven men standing in front of your car.

“Noona” Jungkook sees you first and rips a plastic bag out of Yoongi’s grip. “We had dinner and brought you something” your face lights up and you give him a hug “Thank you”

You turn around and thank the cameraman for his work because there won't be any need for him anymore. “Let's get going” you say as you unlock the car.

You start the car as soon as everyone is settled. “So where did you go eat?” you ask as you pull out of the parking lot. “The Lucky Charms in downtown seoul” Yoongi answers and you nod “Thank you for bringing me something, I wouldn't have been able to make myself something, knowing how lazy I am” the radio is very quiet as you talk “How was your photoshoot?” Hoseok asks and you smile widely knowing they must've seen the post. “Oh it wa-YAHH” You stop the car abruptly. The camera captures your pissed off face. What is happening outside of the car.

In your anger you stop the car and get out to shout at the other driver. The only thing there is able to be seen or heard is the other boys getting out of the car as well to bring you back in. There you sit, pissed off starting the car again.

“What happened there, Y/N?” you think back “Well I wanted to change lanes to leave the main street to their dormitory but there was a person who decided to change onto my lane without flashing. I got really angry and was about to let it out on the other driver but they got me back into the car” Jae Suk nods “That can be very annoying right?” Namjoon continues “Especially when you can't shout at someone because they might know you. It could damage your image”

"What I wanted to say was, I liked my shoot very much. The photographer was great and tell posters cake out amazing. How was your dinner?" Hoseok on your right nods as he turns his face to you again "We had a blast. The food is always so good there" you smile and nod. "Thanks again for taking some with you. I didn't know I graved their food" He nods and takes out his phone.

The car ride is silent, just Taehyung and Jungkook chatting a little, as you pull into the apartment complex their penthouse is located at you wake Jin and Namjoon. "Here we are sleepy heads" you laugh. "Thank you for driving us home" Namjoon pats your shoulder as he leaves the car. "No big deal, go to sleep and rest!" you smile. The boys leave and you pull out of their drive in.

With a cute filter and boy in luv playing in the back the end of the episode emerges. Check out next week's episode to see Y/N and BTS master a vlive collaboration and don't forget to tune in for the "the boss is watching" special episode! Until then, bye army & y/f/n. Take care