#hi we have opinions. this took A Bit to answer

[telomeke]

WANDEE GOODDAY EPISODE 4

We're one third of the way through now, and in my opinion Wandee Goodday is continuing to stay one step ahead of fan expectations, feinting in one direction before swiftly jabbing toward another. The erstwhile romantic sex comedy has since left its PWOP (porn without plot) novel origins far, far behind and is now confidently punching above its weight class in the ring (yes, boxing metaphor to start things off in honor of the Phadetseuk gym 🤣).

So WDGD Ep.4 was brought to us via the kind sponsorship of the emotion jealousy – we had Yak getting the baby green-eyes at Dee's antics around Ter, so unsubtly that even clumsy Dee could suss it out:

(above) Wandee Goodday Ep.4 [1‌/4] 10.25 – Dee asks Yak point-blank at the breakfast table "Are you jealous?"

But WDGD then sprang nimbly in a different direction, shifting its emotional center of gravity when Dee started feeling the pangs of jealousy around Yak's pre-existing crush on Taem (after getting hit on the head with Kwan and Ter):

(above) Wandee Goodday Ep.4 [1‌/4] 15.42 – In answering Yak as to whether Taem would have liked Yak's declaration of love on the balcony, we see that Dee – perhaps surprising himself here – was personally moved by it too (and also a little bit crushed to feel Yak's affections directed away from him, ostensibly toward Taem)

I really wasn't expecting this change of tack – like a lot of people I'd thought WDGD would make Yak's pining after Dee the main emotional trackway for the series, but now it looks like we have Yak aching over Dee and Ter, balanced out by Dee aching over Yak and Taem. These two! 😍

Given the complexity of emotions expected of him, Great doing a Mary MacGregor in Ep.4 was a fair bit shakier and less grounded compared to his heartfelt and clear-cut yearning for Dee in weeks past. In my opinion, Yak came across as a little too carefree and unaffected for someone who should have been struggling in the cross-currents between Dee and Taem.

Maybe that's just me. Or maybe Yak is just playing things out with Taem when his heart's true calling is for Dee, and getting Dee's help to woo Taem is all part of a bigger plan to win him over? 🤔

Anyway – surprise, surprise! WDGD then began showing us Ter feeling the stirrings of something rather like jealousy when he realized (like everyone else, except for the oblivious pair themselves) that YakDee was a thing:

(above) Wandee Goodday Ep.4 [1‌/4] 7.38 – Dee and Yak bump into Ter and Kwan on their way back from buying a Thai-Chinese breakfast

Ter has been painted as very much a self-serving individual, the devil incarnate possibly (and yes, the vast majority of us clocked the number of the beast as his apartment unit):

(above) Wandee Goodday Ep.4 [1‌/4] 9.36 – Ter outside his apartment number 666, contemplating the breakfast sandwich Kwan had given him

But looking at things again – Ter's apartment number really is just a sign placed on the wall of his apartment, and part of me is wondering if we're meant to read it as a metaphor for how we can sometimes have a label on the outside, that has very little to do with the real person residing within.

As an aside, I dug around some Thai websites to see if the triple six is all that ominous in Thailand – and the findings are mixed. There are plenty of Thai language articles that actually have to inform readers about the negative connotations of the number (suggesting that its bad reputation isn't quite as entrenched in Thailand, and its Biblical sense of menace is perhaps diluted). And there are more than a couple of sources attesting that it can also be viewed positively depending on the cultural framing – see these links here and here. 🤷‍♂️

WDGD also took pains to humanize Ter in showing us how happy he was at discovering Dee had left him a food gift in the past (remembering that food = love in Thai BL shorthand), and how much he seemed to miss it compared to Kwan's gift of a breakfast sandwich.

In case you didn't notice (I didn't either the first time around) Dee's food gift of congee with pa thong ko (ปาท่องโก๋/Thai-style Chinese crullers/youtiao), that he hung on Ter's doorhandle at Ep.4 [1‌/4] 9.11, was actually the same breakfast food that Ter saw YY and Dee walking hand-in-hand back with to Dee's apartment.

This was a clear a signal as any, from Ter's point-of-view, that Dee's loving affections were now trained toward Yak instead – and you can knock me down with a feather if that isn't pain we're seeing on Ter's face at the realization of what he's lost.

So I'm not quite ready to paint Ter as the über-villain just yet (though we may have to do so later, depending on where the narrative takes us). We're being shown a character who – at least in the beginning – was living more for himself, who's possibly closeted (remembering his Ep.1 [3‌/4] 3.26 "I like girls" comment) but also going through some sort of personal awakening even as YY's presence in Dee's life stirs up feelings he might not have known he had for the latter.

Here's to hoping Ter gets a better story arc out of this, but we'll see if WDGD really has the time or inclination to go there, or will take the lazy route and dish up Ter as nothing more than a flatly-painted, unvarnished villain (not an alien concept among the less ambitious BLs).

‌

Now, I was originally going to post a bit more about WDGD's loftier thematic ambitions (there are some signs flashing, and they point to this BL having a social conscience) but I think I'll give the series more time to flesh things out to see what the final message is. But the following disparate elements coming together do seem to be telegraphing a message with an underlying, socially-driven impetus:

Director Golf's name doubling as the hospital's one;

The orthopedics and Dee's care for little Namphu;

The doctors and nurses;

The supporters on either side of the scholarship divide;

The found families.

I will probably write more on this later – unless WDGD decides not to follow through with it! But for now, I think at least part of what WDGD seems to be saying on a socio-political level is this – that those in positions of influence/authority also have a duty to serve the community under their charge.

This is the message (I think) behind Director Golf's cameo at the Café for All, in which they were both proprietor and/or manager as well as server to the customers, emphasizing how this duality of leadership and service can (and perhaps should) also go hand-in-hand:

(top) The Eclipse – Ep.4 [3‌/4] 4.31; (bottom) Wandee Goodday Ep.2 [3‌/4] 7.28

It's a particularly pointed comment, given how many politicians have been accused of using their time in government to further their own interests rather than those of the people who put them there. (And especially since Director Golf has also spent time in politics, and may well have come up against this firsthand.) Of course it's not just in Thailand where these accusations are flung about – they also get tossed around in the broader Southeast Asian context and indeed in the rest of the world as well. But perhaps it's not entirely without reason that WDGD is messaging this, at this time (see these posts/articles linked here, here, here and here – you may need to read between the lines a bit 😉).

So putting their money where their mouth is, Director Golf ended Wandee Goodday Ep.4 with a pretty groundbreaking act of service – that PSA on the importance of HPV vaccination. 👀

And aligned with Director Golf's clarion call on inclusivity (that was sounded especially loudly during their time as a politician in Parliament), we're also shown that the would-be vaccination recipients include people who look like (to me at least) a non-binary individual, a gay couple, a straight couple and a lesbian couple: 😊👍

(above) Various people at the HPV Vaccination Center – Wandee Goodday Ep.4 [4/4] 11.37

We've been spared the usual embarrassment of clunky product placements (much like The Eclipse was) that seems to plague many a GMMTV series, not that I'd really been bothered by it all that much (they're an intrinsic part of the BL cultural landscape at this point).

But Director Golf really seems to be saying: it's not just about the money anymore. BL does have influence in the wider sphere, and it should (and should be allowed to) wield that influence as a force for the public good as well. 🤩

I may be reading too much into things again (like I've done before) but at the very least, Wandee Goodday imbued with a social conscience makes me feel even better watching this already feel-good vehicle! 😍

‌

[mantisgodsdomain]

For the choose violence ask game: 5, 24, and... 16.

(Choosing Violence)

5. worst discord server and why

Listen we have a VERY SOLID answer for this one specifically for BF but we have been in some Very Bad Discord servers over the years. Fandomless, it would have to be [server we were in that gradually devolved into something that counted as a cult by BITE model] or [pokemon server we were in once where a guy called us a faggot for saying that he was getting way too worked up over random NPCs blocking the path]. For current-fandom servers... we're like 70% sure that it we name it it'll get back to the One Specific Guy that made it so very miserable to Be There but uhh

We were once in a BF server which was actively hostile to human life in a way that slowly crept fingers into your skin until it hampered your capacity to communicate with other people and it may have had lasting impact in making us significantly more reactive to people having certain takes on The Hive because we got used to not being able to bring it up in any even remotely negative context without One Specific Guy appearing to tell us not to slander the hive like that.

We are still working on undoing that particular damage but The Hive is one of those places where we find it VERY hard to be even remotely charitable about them because they Suck Very Hard in a way we're personally familiar with so it's likely that the best we're going to get there is, like, "comfortable enough to write a very long essay on how the structures seen present in the hive would harm its inhabitants".

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

...we're pretty sure that having any opinion at all in the Rain World fandom opens you up to being shot on sight? Like, we're not affiliated with the fandom as a whole anymore, but we're WAY too familiar with their Attitude towards takes. Part of the reason we don't participate anymore, actually.

In all seriousness, this is one we've posted about Recently, actually! Every time someone brings up Vi's age and how it's handled in-game, it tends to kick up the WORST discourse. Like, every time, it tends to devolve into a lot of, like... people who have Strong Opinions on What A Child Should Be and a lot of arguing about, like. "if you think she's Not A Kid then it's because you're a creep" and whatever.

We're well aware we've contributed to this, as we have strong feelings on the matter, but we may not be The Best at cohering them into speech - we don't really have the proper tools vocabulary-wise to fully cohere how we feel on the matter, so we tend to just stay away, even if it sucks to see people being Wrong On The Internet.

For our opinion... we've said this before, but we don't really think that a Discord post from 2019 should be taken as gospel for this, and we REALLY don't think that being 17 should mean she should be, like, treated the same as a twelve-year-old or something similar.. A lot of people, to be quite honest, act REALLY WEIRD about this, and we have VERY little patience for the infantilization that crops up constantly in these conversations for reasons we've mostly already stated in aforementioned Recent Post.

It's the sort of thing where, were it any other situation, referring to Vi as A Child would just vaguely annoy us with the modern internet's complete and total lack of any categories between "cute innocent child" and "totally 100% responsible adult" and make us mark someone as a sort of guy we're Very Much not interested in engaging with, as she's Very Obviously aged out of the bracket where she SHOULD be being called a kid, but with the situation as is it makes us lose our mind because Holy Shit, Have You Not Seen The Same Scenes As Us, There Is Baggage Attached To That Word You Have Clearly Not Thought Through.

We wish that this territory of fandom sucked Less. Unfortunately, we occasionally click on works that make us feel like we've just reached into a Get Attacked By Monkeys Box. That is a young adult who commits tax evasion. Please don't treat a woman who worked at a factory for years and was a known patron of an underground bar like she's an eight-year-old who doesn't know what sex is. We've been through this with Papyrus and we really don't want to do it again.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

WHAT is the appeal of Modern Without Magic??? Why the fuck would we ever want a Human AU of anything??? Why is this a genre??? Why are normal human high school AUs a thing why is it so appealing to reduce characters that used to be something Interesting down to Human High School Guy #627482 we don't understand

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

for whom good omens is being written

Hey maggots and the rest of the fandom, it's the Good Omens Mascot here. Today I read a post about this tweet:

The accompanying video genuinely made me cry. And I've been thinking about this for a long while, as far back as February, when I saw a lot of conflicting opinions on what people wanted from the third season. It really is true that no matter what you do, some people will be dissatisfied. But what matters is that Neil is writing this for Terry.

And I was reminded of some paragraphs from the Good Omens TV Companion, which I'd read in Amazon's sample excerpt of the book. I know this is a long post, but I really truly do think you all need to read these, I've done my best to select only the most important parts. Here you go:

'His Alzheimer's started progressing harder and faster than either of us had expected,' says Neil, referring to a period in which Terry recognized that despite everything he could no longer write. 'We had been friends for over thirty years, and during that time he had never asked me for anything. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from him with a special request. It read: “Listen, I know how busy you are. I know you don't have time to do this, but I want you to write the script for Good Omens. You are the only human being on this planet who has the passion, love and understanding for the old girl that I do. You have to do this for me so that I can see it." And I thought, “OK, if you put it like that then I'll do it."

'I had adapted my own work in the past, writing scripts for Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman, but not a lot else was seen. I'd also written two episodes of Doctor Who, and so I felt like I knew what I was doing. Usually, having written something once I'd rather start something new, but having a very sick co-author saying I had to do this?' Neil spreads his hands as if the answer is clear to see. 'I had to step up to the plate.' A pause, then: 'All this took place in autumn 2014, around the time that the BBC radio adaptation of Good Omens was happening,' he continues, referring to the production scripted and co-directed by Dirk Maggs and starring Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap. ‘Terry had talked me into writing the TV adaptation, and I thought OK, I have a few years. Only I didn't have a few years,' he says. 'Terry was unconscious by December and dead by March.'

He pauses again. 'His passing took all of us by surprise,' Neil remembers. 'About a week later, I started writing, and it was very sad. The moments Terry felt closest to me were the moments I would get stuck during the writing process. In the old days, when we wrote the novel, I would send him what I'd done or phone him up. And he would say, "Aahh, the problem, Grasshopper, is in the way you phrase the question," and I would reply, "Just tell me what to do!" which somehow always started a conversation. 'In writing the script, there were times I'd really want to talk to Terry, and also places where I'd figure something out and do something really clever, and I would want to share it with him. So, instead, I would text Terry's former personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, now his representative on Earth. It was the nearest thing I had.'

(...) As Neil himself recognizes, this is an adaptation built upon the confidence that comes from three decades of writing for page and screen. But for all the wisdom of experience, he found that above all one factor guided him throughout the process. 'Terry isn't here, which leaves me as the guardian of the soul of the story,' he explains. 'It's funny because sometimes I found myself defending Terry's bits harder or more passionately than I would defend my own bits. Take Agnes Nutter,' he says, referring to what has become a key scene in the adaptation in which the seventeenth-century author of the book of prophecies foretelling the coming of the Antichrist is burned at the stake. ‘It was a huge, complicated and incredibly expensive shoot, with bonfires built and primed to explode as well as huge crowds in costume. It had to feel just like an English village in the 1640s, and of course everyone asked if there was a cheap way of doing it. 'One suggestion was that we could tell the story using old-fashioned woodcuts and have the narrator take us through what happened, but I just thought, “No”. Because I had brought aspects of the story like Crowley and the baby swap along to the mix, and Terry created Agnes Nutter. So, if I had cut out Agnes then I wouldn't be doing right by the person who gave me this job. Terry would've rolled over in his grave.'

And, finally, this paragraph:

"Once again, Neil cites the absence of his co-writer as his drive to ensure that Good Omens translated to the screen and remained true to the original vision. 'Terry's last request to me was to make this something he would be proud of. And so that has been my job.'"

I think that's so heartwrenchingly beautiful, and so I wanted you all to read this, too, just in case you (like me) don't have the Good Omens TV Companion. It adds another layer of depth and emotion to this already complex and amazing story that we all know and love.

Share this post, if you can, please, so that more people can read these excerpts :")

Tagging @neil-gaiman, @fuckyeahgoodomens and @orpiknight, even if you've definitely read these before :)

[houseofceline]

My Pretty Girl - T.N.

Stupid Potions Exam

Pairing: Ravenclaw and sort of ditzy but talented Reader x Slytherin notorious playboy Theodore Nott

Warnings: None (yet ;))

Summary: Theo's not the one to tutor anyone but maybe he'll make an exception for a certain pretty girl?

< 3

__________________

“Damn mate you starving?” Mattheo teased as Theo scarfed down a muffin that Lorenzo found in his backpack. 

Theo rolled his eyes as he finished chewing, “Hannah wouldn’t fucking leave my room this morning and made me miss breakfast.” 

“You still seeing her?” Lorenzo questioned with his eyebrows raised. 

“Seeing her is a bit of a stretch,” Theo replied, wanting to throw up at the mention of the girl. Sure she was a good fuck and all but he never understood why she had to throw a fit every morning after. It wasn’t the first time he threw her out in the morning, matter of fact it was everytime they slept together and yet the Slytherin girl still wanted to make a scene. 

“Should’ve seen the look on Malfoy’s face when she cried and looked towards him for help,” Theo laughed, recalling the frightened yet disgusted expression his roommate made at her cries. 

“You’re a gentleman for sure,” Mattheo spoke sarcastically as Theo chuckled at the statement. 

“Yeah definitely,” Theo replied back in the same tone. 

“Mate I’m definitely flunking tomorrow’s potions exam,” Lorenzo sighed as the trio approached the library. 

Theo knew that studying with these two idiots nothing would actually be done, but what else was there to do on a Thursday night? 

“Speak for yourself I’m ready to pass,” Mattheo boasted knowing that they had about the same grade in the class. 

The three Slytherins looked for a place to sit. 

The library was packed, it seemed like everyone in the damn castle was here preparing for some sort of exam tomorrow. 

“Found a spot,” Mattheo spoke up as Theo and Lorenzo followed behind him. 

“Mind if we sit here princess?” Mattheo asked as Theo moved beside him to see who he was talking to. 

Pretty girl from potions. What the fuck was he doing calling her princess?

“Princess? You two dating or something?” Theo teased even though this was the last thing he ever wanted to picture in his head. 

You looked away blushing while shaking your head. 

This was one of the worst ways you could’ve responded to his answer in his opinion. Theo wanted to drown Riddle first and then himself at the thought of you blushing over him. 

You didn’t think much of it. You knew that there were no actual romantic feelings between the two of you. You didn’t have any friends in history of magic and after meeting the two Slytherins they became your only friends in that class. 

Despite not giving Mattheo an actual answer to the question the three boys took seats at your table. 

Theo was quick to take a seat in front of you while Mattheo settled down beside you. 

“Oh we’re all studying for potions?” Lorenzo took a peak at your books. 

You sighed before pouting and nodding. 

“It’s the worst subject to ever exist.” 

Lorenzo nodded in agreement while Theo gasped. 

“Worst? It’s one of the easiest subjects,” Theo scoffed while you and Lorenzo gaped at him. 

“Tutor us then Nott,” Mattheo rolled his eyes as he took out his books as well. 

“No, go ask Malfoy.” 

You giggled at their interaction. 

If your laugh was the first thing you hear when you get to heaven Theo decided he was going to start being a better person. 

“No, Malfoy calls us stupid fucks everytime we get an answer wrong,” Lorenzo pretend to cry while the table next to us shushed him very loudly. 

“Damn okay.” 

“Open your damn book mate, you're the one that’s most likely to fail,” Mattheo said as he started to take notes. 

“Actually that might be me,” you mumbled quietly as you tried focusing on the same paragraph for the thousandth time. You had read it over and over again but it felt as if it was impossible to retain the actual information. 

“You good?” Theo whispered as he watched you stare blanking at the textbook. 

He was doing charms homework. He didn’t think he needed to study for potions as he felt comfortable in his naturally gifted abilities. It was like relying on common sense for him. 

You nodded hesitantly. Truth be told, you were so far from good. 

You were positive that you were not going to pass the exam tomorrow. Your Ravenclaw was not Ravenclawing. 

You couldn’t afford to get another bad mark since the exam would pretty much break or make your passing grade. 

Another lecture about grades from your parents was the last thing you needed when you were still trying to earn their support for your chosen career. 

Theo could tell you didn’t mean it. 

He looked over to Mattheo and pleaded for him to leave. 

He smirked before kicking Lorenzo’s leg motioning towards the two of you and then the doors. 

Thank merlin he got the hint and began packing his things up. 

“I’m feeling pretty tired, I need a nap break,” Lorenzo let out an award winning fake yawn as Mattheo nodded in agreement. 

“We’ll see you guys later,” Mattheo waved before nodding to Theo for good luck. 

Theo definitely owes them one. 

“Here I’ll help you,” Theo offered as he got up and took Mattheo’s seat. 

He scooted your chair closer and placed his arm around the back of your chair. 

You started to feel your face heat up at his close proximity and hoped he didn’t notice. 

He shifted the textbook towards the middle of you two before grabbing parchment and a quill from his backpack. 

“Here take some notes,” he handed them to you as you nodded obediently. 

“Wound-cleaning potion,” Theo began to read out loud to you as you started writing.

“Characteristics are as follows: purple, smoke and stung upon contact.” He listed and waited for you to finish writing before continuing. 

You mentally thanked him for putting everything into simpler terms for notes as you wrote down everything he said. 

Reading through the textbook it was hard to understand what the potion exactly was because it had so many words. 

He continued to read and stop every time he wanted you to write something down. 

In between your writings you couldn’t help but admire his face as his attention was fixated on the book. The dim lighting in the library made his jawline and face features stand out and appear sharper than normal. He looked so pretty. 

“Stir counterclockwise for five minutes,” Theo finished as he turned his head catching you looking at him. 

You immediately looked away and tried to hide your rosy cheeks as you wrote down what he had said. 

It didn’t go unnoticed by Theo as he chuckled seeing your shy state before turning his attention back to the book. 

Maybe another time he would tease you for getting so nervous around him, but tonight his goal was to make sure you passed the exam tomorrow. 

[loupy-mongoose]

Lil speech guide: Randy's speech Jamie's speech (Pokespeak will be in parentheses.)

It got pretty long, so under the Bar it goes!

PREVIOUS NEXT

~~~~~~

Jamie, the Gardevoir, and the three Lindens stood locked in tense silence. Randy fought to string together an explanation that wouldn't give away too much, while also trying to gauge Akoya's stance.

Jamie was the first to break the silence. Her expression hardened, her eyes displaying a sharp fury. Well? I'm not letting you a step further until I know it's not a threat.

The pointed stick in her hand lowered to point toward the family, and her authoritative tone chilled Randy. She meant business, which didn't help ease the man's racing mind.

Akoya answered before Randy could, her voice a bit too defensive in his opinion. It's none of your business what's in our bag. It's stuff for travel! What's wrong with that?!

Jamie clearly didn't believe her for a second. Her icy eyes bore into the white haired visitor. I won't tolerate a threat at my home. Tell me what's in there, or you WILL leave. Her eyes flashed ominously. Or worse.

Feeling a wave of protectiveness, Randy shuffled to stand in front of Akoya and Lavender. He hoped they couldn't feel the surge of utter dread that coursed through his body.

Listen, Jamie. He tried to keep his voice low, level, and non-threatening. What's in that bag is very precious to us, and we can't show you out here where others might see it. If we can go somewhere private, then maybe we can work something out.

He felt the sharp jab of Akoya's disapproval from behind him. Between her and the protesting red-head in front of them, he felt his resolve being wringed out of him.

Jamie stood still, her glare unwavering. After a moment, her head lifted slightly as she addressed their Pokemon company in an strong bark. (Darren, Sheila, Percy, please hide us with your wings.)

Percy and Darren gave startled, bewildered looks, while Sheila tilted her head and chuffed questioningly. But they did as she asked, reaching out to their widest wingspans, touching tip-to-tip with each other.

The Lindens hesitantly shuffled to adjust their positions as their space shrank.

There. Jamie eyed them all closely You wanted somewhere private; this is it. If you still won't show me, you'll have to leave.

Randy and Akoya glanced nervously at each other.

What could be done?

They came to a silent agreement.

Akoya turned back to Jamie, giving her a glare that verged on desperation. We're showing you because you forced our hand. NOT because we trust you. If you try anything...

To Randy's surprise, he caught a falter in Jamie's resolve, and something changed. A new expression slipped into her demeanor, if only barely.

Curiosity.

The look on Jamie's face turned from shock to determination.

Swiftly she addressed her three winged Pokemon. (Spread the word; we need to find a little pink Mew with blue accents. It is to be brought back to these three safely and secretly.)

The three beasts nodded in sincerity and took off.

Persim poked his head of of the bag, his face etched in horror, while Momo was shrieking. Stay in there for now, Perzi. Randy's voice was shaky, but reassuring. We'll handle it. Could you please try to calm Momo down?

The orange feline nodded uncertainly and ducked back into the bag. Randy saw a green bubble form in it as he zipped it shut. Momo's screams went quiet, but he knew it was just contained by the bubble. Poor Persim...

The red-headed girl looked solemnly at the devastated family, her expression softer than any of them had seen from her yet. I'm truly sorry about that... I promise you all, this is the best place for a Pokemon like them to be lost at. There will be lots of good Pokemon looking for them, and any humans will be curious at worst. It might scare them, but nobody will hurt them.

I would've done things differently if I'd known they were in there...

Akoya gave up looking nearby for her son and took a breath. She turned to Jamie, for once without venom. Listen, Jamie, with all due respect, we'll be able to find him easier than your little... network, or whatever you have here. He's gotta be terrified! He might just keep teleporting away if strangers find him, human or Pokemon...

Jamie folded her arms with a hesitant nod. You're free to search too, if you think so. Maybe you're right, and he'll only show for you guys. But if anyone spots him, I'll hear of it, so I'd best stick with you.

Akoya gave an uncertain look and opened her mouth to speak. But, feeling her about to protest, Randy interrupted her. We can talk later. Let's go find Midas.

~~~~~~

PREVIOUS NEXT

New skill acquired~

And just for the fun of it, I'm uh... gonna share some of the (very) rough sketches I did for this part, because I find them hilarious.

Luna (my cat) randomly decided to leave the comfort of her cat tower to come lay on my arm. The trouble was, it was my drawing arm. So I made due. XD

[samandcolbyownme]

Summary: Anon request - "Could you pleaseeeee make a Colby Brock smut based off of the new picture that he posted on Instagram"

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, flirting, friends to lovers, slight insecurity talk, unprotected sex, slight choking, hair pulling, fingering, oral (f rec), biting, scratching, filth

Word count: 3.1k | not edited

╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗

"I'm coming, I'm coming." You say to yourself as you rush to your constantly dinging phone. You pick it up, smiling as you see a few texts from your friend, Colby.

What are you doing?

Come over

I need help with something

Hello???

Y/n

It's me, Colby.

Colby Brock.

Did you forget about me?

You laugh as you text him back, Sorry, who is this Colby person you're referring to?

You roll your eyes at his response, Not funny. I seriously need your help with something.

You sigh, plopping down onto your couch, what do you need help with?

Your eyes read over his text a few times, Just come over and I'll tell you.

That could mean anything. That's how you got roped into going on that creepy investigation with him and Sam.

You purse your lips, fine, I don't have anything better to do tonight anyway.

You get up, getting your stuff around as you hear your phone go off again. You walk over picking it up, Bring your fancy camera please.

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

As you pull up to Sam and Colby's house, you lean your head back. You didn't know what Colby was bringing you in to.

You were kinda nervous because as said, it could be anything and when it comes to not only Colby, but Sam, too, you could never guess.

You get out, walking up to the door. You knock and twist the knob, pushing the door open, "Hello? I'm here."

"I'm upstairs." Colby yells from far away.

"Okay." You yell back as you close the door. You look around and it's quiet.

No sign of Sam, must be just Colby.

"Where ya at?" You yell as you make your way up the stairs.

"My room." He answers loudly. You make your way up to his room and round the corner, slightly caught off guard by a shirtless Colby, "What- ah. Whatcha doin' Colbs?"

He turns towards you and laughs, "I'm trying to take a new picture for Instagram and I can't get it the way I want it."

"Oh so that's why you told me to bring my fancy camera." You let out a sigh, "I thought we were going to some abandoned building."

"No, that's tomorrow." He laughs as your face drops, "I'm kidding, y/n."

"Don't do that." You point to him as you lift the camera strap from across your shoulder, lifting it over your head to set it down on the bed, "So.. do you want me to set up the tripod or.."

You look up at him and he shakes his head, "Can you take them for me?"

You're kind of surprised, "Um, yeah. Yeah I can."

"Your pictures always turn out great." Colby walks over, bringing his phone up, "This is what I have, but I need your professional opinion."

You laugh slightly as you take his phone, swiping through the pictures.

The truth is, you liked Colby - correction.

You were in love with Colby, so no matter what he showed you, you knew you were going to like it anyway.

"Colby." You look up at him, "These are good." You hand him his phone back, "Really good."

He smiles as he takes his phone, "Yeah, but-"

"Get against the wall." You cut him off as you laugh.

He looks at you confused, "What?" He laughs slightly as he looks at the wall you're pointing at, "Go, stand there."

You bring your camera up, taking off the lenses cap before turning it on. You click through the settings, pointing it up at him to make sure it looks right.

"Hey, wait. I'm not ready." He says shyly with a laugh.

"I'm just getting the settings right, Colbs. Relax." You look up at him and smile before looking back down at your camera.

"Okay. I'm ready." You look up, "Are you?"

He moves around slightly, "Yeah, I think so. What do you want me to do?"

"You know what to do." You move over in front of him, bending down a little bit, "Remember when you took me to that place and I about fell through the floor."

Colby laughs and you snap some pictures, "Yeah. I do remember that. Sorry for laughing."

"No it's okay." You smile, "Look to your left."

Colby looks to his right and you laugh, "Your other left, Colby." He laughs and shakes his head, "Fuck. Okay. Sorry."

"No, you're doing great." You bite your lip as you focus. You stand up, "This might be a little weird, but tuck your thumb into the bands of your pants and boxers."

He gives you a weird look, but he obliges, "Oh..Kay.." he slips his thumb into the bands and you move back, "Now drop your other hand."

You snap a few pictures and think about what will make him laugh, "Think of something funny."

He instantly starts laughing and looks down, shaking his head.

"Got it." You whisper to yourself, "What did you think about?" You bring your camera down as you stand up and Colby laughs again, "You almost falling through the floor."

"You're a jerk." You laugh, "But that's why we're friends."

You hated calling him a friend. You wanted more, but you didn't want to risk the friendship because your friendship with Colby was like no other.

"Exactly." He walks over, sitting down on the bed. He grabs the back of your sweatshirt and pulls you back to sit next to him, "Let's see 'em"

You swallow, trying to compose yourself becaus what he just did turned you on.

"Okay." You shift around, clicking through your camera. He leans over and nods at each one, "See, these are better already."

"So. The weird pose I had you do.." You click through, finding that picture, "Take a look."

You hand him your camera and he presses his lips together as he nods "Yep. That's the one." He looks over at you, "That's.. wow."

He smiles and you shrug, "I'm good at my job, what can I say?" You smile and lean in, "I can get these right to my phone so you can look through and send yourself the ones you want."

You pull your phone out of your back pocket and start to load them up, "You know, you have a really beautiful smile."

He tries not to smile so he bites his cheek, "Really?"

You nod, "Really."

You can see his cheeks turning red and he bats the air, "Oh stop it. Making me blush."

You laugh and hold out your phone to him, "Here. Just hit select and then yeah. You know what to do from there." You stand up, "I'm going to go get a drink."

He nods and lays back as he scrolls through.

You leave the room, making your way downstairs and into the kitchen. You lean against the counter for a second because everything about Colby is racing through your mind right now.

You're just friends, you tell yourself over and over again, but a part of you feels like you should be more.

You've come to the painful standstill of just waiting until he makes a move or gives you any hints about him liking you back.

But, sometimes he's just so hard to read because your brain is going frantic with trying to depict whether or not that was a signal.

You take a slow, deep breath before grabbing a drink and heading back towards the stairs. You walk up, making your way to Colby's room.

"Did you pick a picture yet?" You say before taking a sip and he mumbles a quiet, "No."

You tilt your head, studying how his mood changed in the little time you were gone, "Hey." You walk over to him, "What's wrong?"

He shakes his head, pushing your phone away from him, "I just.."

You knew where he was going, but you decided to try and let him talk first.

"Colby." You lay your hand on his arm, "You can talk to me."

"I'm just nervous to post.." he sits up, turning to face you, "Something in me is just finding little things to knit pick at, not post. You know?"

You nod, "I know what you mean, but what I do know is.." you smile, trying not to laugh, "The hoes are going to loooove this."

"Did.. you just.." he laughs, "Did you just quotes a TikTok sound to me?"

You nod your head a few times, "I sure did, but it's true. You could post a candid picture of yourself, when you're mid blink and body wonky because you're walking and the people that absolutely adore you are still going to find it adorable."

He runs his bottom lip between his teeth as he stares at the floor, "You know.." he sighs, lifting his head to look at the wall, "You're right."

"I know I'm right." You smirk slightly, "You want to know how I'm right?"

He looks at you, leaning back to hold his weight up on his arms, "How?" He tilts his head and you lean in, "Because you're-" you poking his chest with every word, "Colby. Fucking. Brock."

His eyes move to your hand before looking up at you.

"Everyone loves you, Colbs." You lower your voice, "Including me."

He swallows, "You love me?"

"As a friend. Yes. In a more than friend's way, also yes." Your heart was racing.

It felt like it was going to rip a hole in your chest.

"It's about time you tell me." He pulls you over, connecting your lips to his. Your hand moves to the side of his neck, moving closer to him.

He pulls you over, causing you to straddle him as he lays back, lips still on his.

"Mm. Wait." He pushes you back slightly, "Let me post that picture." He smirks and grabs his phone and you smile.

You bite your lip trying not to laugh. Colby moves his phone out of the way and furrows his brows, "What's so funny?"

You laugh slightly, "Nothing.. I was just thinking about, you know, stirring the pot."

He smirks, "How so?"

You sigh, "after you post it, I thought about commenting something like hey, I took that picture."

Colby stares at you for a few seconds, a smile growing wider by the second, "Okay."

"Okay? What?" You look at him as he starts laughing, "What did you do?"

Your eyes move to your phone lighting up with an Instagram notification, "Oh no. Colby." You laugh as you reach over, grabbing your phone to see.

[yourusername]: colbybrock tagged you in a post.

Your mouth drops and you look at him. He smirks and shrugs, "Said you wanted to stir the pot, right?" He grabs your phone, that's about to blow up any second, and tosses it to the side, "Ignore that for right now."

You look back down at him and you nod, "Distract me."

"That I can do." He pulls you back down, connecting your lips to his. His hands slide down your body, gripping your waist before he rolls you over.

His body, now hovering over yours as your legs wrap around his waist.

He moves his head to kiss down your neck, his other hand moving your shirt out of the way. He moves down, your legs falling to the bed as he kisses down your stomach.

He looks up at you and you nod at him. He slips his fingers into the band of your sweats, pulling them down your legs and discarding them to the floor.

You bite your lip as you watch him kiss up your leg, moving to your inner thigh.You let out a gasp as his lips attach to your skin, leaving a bruise to where only you'll be able to find it.

His hands slide up, hooking into your panties as he tugs on them. He leans up, watching as you lift your hips for him to pull them off.

He drops them down on the bed, moving up to kiss up your opposite thigh, sucking a matching bruise into your skin.

You tilt your head back, letting out a moan, "Colby." A louder moan is ripped from your lips as you feel his tongue slip upward between your folds.

He moves to your clit, circling a few times before attaching his lips to suck.

Your eyes roll back, hand moving to the back of his head to tangle your fingers into his hair. You arch your back, feeling his tongue slip down to push into you.

"C-Colby." You whine, looking down at him as your face scrunches up. He tilts his head up, locking eyes with yours as he brings a hand up, sliding two fingers into you.

Your jaw goes slack, arching your back slowly as he curls his fingers up, "You feel so wet." His voice is low, cut by his lips attaching to your clit.

You let out a loud moan, tangling your fingers in his hair as his fingers move in and out of you at a slow and teasing pace.

He lifts his head, looking up at you as you whine, "D-don't stop."

His lips go back to your clit, speeding up the pace of his fingers a little bit, driving you more crazy, "Y-yes." You buck your hips slowly, moaning as Colby brings you close to the edge of orgasm, "F-fuck. Fuck."

You squeeze his fingers, closing your thighs slightly as you cum. A string of moans continuously leaves your mouth as he guides you through your high, pulling his fingers out to get up so he can take the rest of his clothes off.

You take off your top, watching as he crawls up the bed, keeping his eyes on yours as he positions himself between your knees.

"I love you." Colby whispers as he brushes hair from your face.

You smile, "You do?"

He nods, "Yes. I just thought you wanted to be friends, so I didn't say anything."

You laugh slightly, "I promise you, that wasn't the case at all." You lift your head up to kiss him. He slides a hand down, pushing your thigh up as he slips the head of his cock in.

You gasp against his lips, sliding your hand around to tangle your fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck.

You sling your leg over his waist, pushing him into you, "Please."

He rests his forehead against yours, a groan leaving his lips as he pushes all the way into you. You moan, laying your arm over his neck. He lays his hand on your cheek as he slowly pulls out, thrusting back in.

"F-fuck." He kisses your face, "You feel so good." He kisses down your neck, sucking marks into your shoulder.

You moan, eyes rolling back at the pleasure between your legs and the bruises forming on your skin.

He lifts his head and you kiss back his jaw, down to his neck. You bite down on his neck, earning a deep throaty moan from him as you suck a hicky into his neck.

You tilt your head back, moaning out as he thrusts all the way in and stops. You look up at him, “You’re mine.. and only mine.”

“Always have been, babe.” He smirks, continuing to thrust again, “We just didn’t know it.”

He slides his hand up to your neck, gently closing it as he rests his head against yours, “I’m so close.”

You nod once, “Mhm.” You whimper as he tightens his hand on your neck, “M-me too.”

He kisses your forehead as he slides his hand down to interlock his fingers with yours. He pins your hand by your head, moaning as his thrusts grow sloppy.

You clench his cock, rolling your hips as your chest presses against his, “Fuck, fuck.” You lay your head back, moaning loudly as you cum around him.

Colby is quick to follow, pulling out to cum onto your waist.

He presses a kiss to your lips, “Hang tight.” He gets up and goes to grab a towel, “Okay.” He wipes your waist off and helps you sit up.

You smile up at him, “About time right?”

“About time for what?” He tilts his head and tries not to crack a smile, “I can’t.” He laughs and leans down, his hands on either side of you, “I know what you mean.”

He presses a few kisses to your lips and smirks, “Should we check and see how much damage stirring the pot did?”

You bite your lip, “Oh yeah.” You move back up his bed, getting under the covers as he grabs both phones.

He hands you yours before climbing into bed behind you. You cuddle back into his chest and take a deep breath, “Ready?”

He nods, “No, but I’m curious.” He chuckles as you click on to Instagram, smiling as Colby’s post is the first one that pops up.

Your eyes go wide, “over thirteen thousand comments. Holy fuck.” You heart it and you can tell he smiles, “I had to heart it. I mean, I’m tagging in it, right?”

He chuckles and nods, “Would be rude if you didn’t.”

You click onto the comments and you immediately laugh when you see Sam’s comment.

samgolbach bros tryna break the internet

User1 petition for Colby to be a Calvin Klein ad

User2 dont you dare touch that delete button

zachjustice My mom wants your number

User3 im suing if you delete

User4 thank you

User5 OH MY LANTA

solhardymusic It’s working

User6 he’s so pretty I want to cry

You bite down on your lip as you move to tap the comment bar. You giggle slightly as you hit send.

Yourusername whoever took this is lucky

Colby shakes his head as he laughs and brings his phone over in front of your face, “Well see about that.”

Since you’re lying on his other arm, you see what he’s typing in reply to your comment.

colbybrock my good luck charm

You shake your head, setting your phone down before you turn to face him, “Aren’t you sweet.”

“When I want to be.” He drops his phone and pulls you onto him, “Ready to go again?”

You smile and nod your head, “Again.” You lean down to kiss him, “And again.” You smile against his lips, “And again.”

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

Thanks for reading! Let me know how you liked it, and yes.. those are actual comments from Colby’s actual Instagram post.

Love you all! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

[urfavoriteitalian]

“someone older”

summary: in which Charles can’t satisfy your sexual needs and you and Lewis share a little secret

warning: SMUT! (mdi), age gap, unprotected sex (wrap before u tap!), cheating, oral f, fingering,slapping, p in v, dirty talk, praise, degrading, that’s all i think.. :)

note: i’m sorry that y/n will cheat on Charles, but i needed a victim 🥲

I was in the bed, the night before US GP, Charles was in the shower trying to calm down for the next day. I was scrolling through Tiktok when he came out of the bathroom. I took a look of him, wet hair, visible v-shape, towel resting on the hips. I squeezed my things together at the sight.

“Babe” I called him, he turned, after wearing his boxer, “Yeah?” he said while looking himself in the mirror, adjusting his hair, “Why don’t you come here?” I asked patting the empty space next to me on the bed.

He didn’t answer, he get on the bed, and left a quick kiss on my temple, before picking up his phone. I took his face in my hands, and lead his lips on mine. At first he followed the movement of my lips, but when I tried to deepen it, he moved away “Baby, I have the Gran Prix tomorrow, you know the rules” he told me.

The rules. In my opinion, lately, Charles has found all the excuses of this world for not touching me, and when he did, he couldn’t satisfy my needs. I took his hand on my thing “Charles please” i begged “I need you”. He scoffed, taking his hand off my thing “Stop acting like a needy teenager” he said, turning to the side.

The next day, in the Ferrari garage, Charles was talking with the engineer about the car, and I was talking with Carlos about some good place to go eat. “Hey guys, can I get in?”

I freeze, that voice, his voice. Lewis entered the garage, after Carlos told him he could, my eyes locked with his, and he wicked me, before go talking with Charles. “I just wanted to wish you a good luck for the race, since yesterday i couldn’t” he said, talking with Charles and Carlos.

They talked for a while, and it was embarrassing how i couldn’t keep my eyes off him for the whole time. “Now I really need to go, or my teammates will kill me” he said laughing. After saying goodbye to the two pilots, he come towards me. He placed his tattooed hand on my lower back and left a sweet kiss on my cheek, way to close to my mouth, but Charles didn’t notice since he was busy talking with some engineers, “I hope i see you later” he whispered in my ear, and then left the garage.

Before I started dating Charles, I had a sort of relationship with Lewis. Relationship is actually a big word. We would just hang up a couple of times, and then find ourselves rolling in the bed sheets of one of the two. More then a couple actually. But when I stared seeing Charles i completely cut off all the relationships with Lewis, and I asked him to keep this secret between us.

So every time I saw him, I tried to act my best, but Lewis didn’t help me at all. Always putting his hand on my lower back, almost kiss me on the lips, and whisper things to my ear in that strong english accent.

after the race.

Lewis and Charles has been disqualified, and for the whole trip to the hotel, Charles hasn’t said a word. When we arrived to our room, Charles quick changed and made his way towards the door. “Where are you going?” i asked him, and he stopped at my words “I just want to be alone for a bit”. I jumped off the bed and go towards him, “Stay here.” I said putting my hand on his. One thing I’ve always knew about Charles was that in situations like this he likes to be alone, but he’d much rather be in the hotel room that God knows where, so i decided to give him his space. “I can go far a walk with Heidi” I reassured him, sweetly smiling.

He just nod and go again towards the bathroom for change. I get out the room, closing the door behind me, not knowing at all where to go, until a name crossed my mind. Lewis. Ha has been disqualified too, and maybe he need someone to talk to. Just talk. I repeated to my self. Talk and nothing more. Before I could realize, I was in front of Lewis’ room, 404. I knocked, but he didn’t open the door, so I thought that maybe he wanted to be alone too. What a stupid idea.

Before I could turn my self completely and go away, I heard the door open, and my name being called. I turned again, and I find Lewis leaning on the door frame, half naked, grey pants only, braids in a little bun, but two behind his ear, and a damn smirk on his face “Need something?” ha asked

I gulped a bit, realizing in what situation i was putting my self into, “I..”, he didn’t gave me the time to talk “Come on, get in” he said moving from the door frame. It was like my brain wasn’t working and my feet was walking by themselves. I entered the room, and Lewis locked the door behind him.

“So” he started indicating me to sit on the bed, and I did, “Need something?” he asked again crossing his arms, knowing damn well he looks hot in that moment. “I just wanted to tell that i’m sorry for your disqualification” i said looking at my shoes.

“Look at me darling” he said getting close to me, and I did, “I just wanted to tell that i’m sorry for your disqualification” I said again. “Does Charles know that you’re here?” he asked and I didn’t answered. He got way more close to me, picking up my chin in his tattooed fingers

“Do you want tell me why you’re really here, or you want keep acting like the innocent girl we both know you aren’t?” ha started caress my cheek. “I told you, i just wanted to tell you that i’m sorry” I said, most like a whisper.

He get on his knees in front of me “Does he touch you like a do?” he asked caressing my knee, I gulped “Because I think that’s why you’re here” he started caressing my bare thighs. “You’re here because no boy, can touch you like a man” I sighed, and squeezed my thighs together, and he smirked “Tell me, does he make you feel the way that I did?”

I looked away from him “No..” I said, he started kiss my thigh “Look at me darling”. He put his hands around my neck and without said nothing he harshly kissed me. It wasn’t a love, sweet kiss, like the one that Charles would give to me, it was a needy, lust kiss. I gasped and he took a chance for put he tongue in my mouth. He moved the hand off my neck and put it again on my thighs, squeezing them possessively, I moan. He bite my lower lip, and moved his face between my legs. He started kiss my legs, then my thighs “Always around with this squeezy outfit” he got closer to my wet core “I bet he doesn’t even fuck you in them”

My skirt was not rolled on my hips, he smiled when he noticed how wet I was. He quickly removed my thong, and attached his lips to my wet core. I tried not to moan and I put my hand on this beautiful braids, squeezing them for pleasure. Without warning he put two fingers inside of me and I almost screamed.

“God you’re so tight, baby” his thumb stared made circular movements on my clit, the other hand put my thighs on his shoulders, while his fingers continued working inside of me. I bite my lower lip, trying not to moan, but Lewis slapped my cheek, “I want hear you”

The more Lewis’ fingers worked inside of me, the more I got louder. My legs stared shaking, and now I was practically chocking him with my legs “Lewis..” I called him between my moans. My walls started cleched around his fingers, and my mouth was spilling his name no stop. I came with a loud moan and Lewis kissed me and I savoured my taste from before.

Before I could recover from my early cum, that Lewis took my clothes off, i got closer to him, and removed his grey pants. I touched his now hard cock from the boxer, but he stopped me by kissing me again, and whispered to my ear “Get on your hands and knees”.

I did as told getting on my hands and knees and arching my back for him. He slapped my ass harsly “I bet he doesn’t know what a slut you’re”, he caressed my ass cheek and then slapped it again. I turned my head to look at him. Lewis took his boxer off, and jerked a bounce of times, that sight of him made my cunt clench around nothing. Lewis laughed at that and shook his head, “Such a slut” he said getting his cock closer to my cunt “Clenching because i’m jerking off”.

His cock was now running up and down my wet folds. I arched my back more, to get more friction “Lewis.. Please” I begged him, but it looked more like a desperate whine. Lewis chuckled, and after harsly grabbed my hips, he entered me. I grabbed the sheets of the bed and moaned loudly his name.

“Look at you” he groaned “Getting finally fuck like the whore you are”. I moaned without replying, Lewis put his hand in my hair and with a strong grip he makes my back stick to his chest. “God you’re so tight” he whispered in my ear “Needed someone older mh? Someone who knows how to fuck whores like you” he told and started leaving open mouth kiss on my neck. I clenched at his words and he groaned in response “I missed this cunt” he said, and put his hand around my neck.

At this point I was moaning mess, I put my head on his shoulder, and I almost yelled when he puts his thumb on my clint and played with it. All that came out of my mouth were moans and begs, I didn’t even know what I was begging him for, but my brain couldn’t think straight in that moment. “Tell me” Lewis slightly chocked me “Tell me how good I make you feel”

I didn’t answer, and he slapped my ass, for sure leaving a mark. I moaned again “So good” I shutter “You make me feel so good” and he groaned. The room was filled by our moans, mostly mine, and the sound of our skin meeting each other. I was getting close, I could feel by the nod in my stomach and my legs shaking “Lewis” I called him for the million time “I’m close” I said.

“Come baby” he said, while his movements were getting sloppier and he was losing his rhythm “Make a mess on my cock”. It was all I needed to cum, I repeated his name like a prayer, and i left myself lay on the bed, not able to stand alone. Lewis came right after me, filling me up with his cum. He took his cock out of me and I whined for the loss of contact.

He laid next to me, and took my hair of my face. He left a sweet kiss on my lips “Did I hurt you?” he asked worried. Sometimes, it looked like the person who fucked me, and Lewis were two different persons. I shook my hand with a smile, and I kissed him again “It was great, thank you” I put my head on his bare chest, and Lewis caressed my back.

Another secret that we would share..

note: hi!! this is my first post here, I hope that you guys liked :), I read it a couple of times, but maybe there’s still some mistakes. sorry but english isn’t my first language.

love ya,

Carla 💋

[fluffyartbl0g]

Redraw of the panels that SHATTERED MY HEART o(；△；)o!!! OG panels + Opinions on the Luffy separation arc under read more

Okay let me just go on a tangent about my feelings about the post-series Luffy separation arc, cause I think it gets way too much hate when it’s such a heartbreaking and well executed deviation from oda’s standard formula!!! I know that we all love monkey d. luffy and he’s LITERALLY the main character of the series, but it was also really nice to get more time to focus on the rest of the crew. But here’s the thing, even when Luffy wasn’t here, he was still here. And I’m not talking about the so called ‘blessings’ or whatever that kept SUSPICIOUSLY popping up around the crew when Luffy disappeared, I’m talking about the consequences that arised from him disappearing. We truly got to see how grand the effect luffy has had on the world around him, and how many lives he was able to touch ; - ; So even though luffy physically wasn’t present (I mean KIND OF but you know what I mean), this was still VERY MUCH a luffy arc imo. 

Oh man but I think Oda wrote luffy’s disappearance so well,,, I was sobbing for like 80 percent of this arc. Like just gradually seeing the crew’s deterioration as time passes by,,, but everyone has such unwavering faith in their captain, he HAS to come back cause Luffy always comes back. But here’s the thing, Luffy didn’t know what was happening to him when he started disappearing. But what he DID know is that he wasn’t sure if he was gonna be able to come back or not. And Luffy hates breaking promises- he’d never make a promise if he didn’t plan to keep it, and he’s not an idiot either, so when he just felt himself disappearing and saw zoro nearby... Instead of saying something like “I’ll be back!” and potentially making his crewmates wait for him forever, he tells zoro to “take care of the crew”... SOBBING AND CRYING T - T. So YES. the crew has unwavering faith in their captain. But. Luffy didnt say that he’d be coming back or anything. So what are they supposed to do really.

And it’s really hard to read at some parts, like it never loses the goofy tone that has been there throughout all of one piece and it’s really sweet to see everyone rely on each other to keep one another afloat, but the slight tension that keeps building up over the months while they keep looking for clues and answers... And how each lead keeps becoming a dead end... When it builds up and Usopp finally voices the thing that’s on everyone’s mind.

Oh man. I started crying so hard. It took 6 month for any one of them to say something. Like this is One piece. Of course Luffy is gonna come back eventually, it would be waay too dark otherwise... But Idk man, even I started to doubt that :((( But luckily. THIS IS ONE PIECE. So right after everyone started,,, well not exactly losing hope or anything (maybe a bit)? but going BATSHIT INSANE FROM THE REALITY THAT THEIR CAPTAIN MIGHT BE GONE FOR GOOD, they finally got a solid actual clue of what might’ve happened to luffy!!! And I’m SO GLADDDD!!!!

Omg and when they tracked down the pray-pray no mi user and finally got some answers out of him. OMG WAIT A MOMENT I REALLY LIKED IS WHEN PRIEST GUY IS LIKE “urerheg without luffy up there as a god the entire world may very well be destroyed cause the sun has been super unstable for centuries blah blah” and then Nami freaking PUMMELED THE GUY AND SHOVED HIM DOWN WITH HER STAFF AND

SOBBING CRYING SOBBING. THEY WOULD POTENTIALLY BLOW UP THE ENTIRE WORLD IF IT MEANT THAT THEIR CAPTAIN WOULDNT HAVE TO BE LONELY ; - ; KILL ME.

URGH I was really hoping that Luffy would return right once they beat him up cause I really really missed my boy, but honestly I think the final method of getting Luffy to return was super clever and absolutely worth the extra 3 weeks of waiting!!! I know that it was foreshadowed across the whole West Blue Saga and everything but I honestly had no clue it would end like that, DONT MAKE FUN OF ME :(((

When the crew finally got their captain back after 8 months of waiting... I mean they’ve been separated before for even longer periods of time, but they always knew that they’d be back together. This time they didn’t know. BUT AREHAHRGE ALL THE PAIN AND SUFFERING WAS SO WORTHIT WHEN THEY ALL FINALLY REUNITED T - T!!!!!! UWAHHWHAHWUAAGGHA!!! AND SEEING ALL THEIR ALLIES AND FRIENDS THEYVE MADE JUST CHEER AND CRY WHEN THEY HEAR THE NEWS!!!! I WOULD CHUCK ALL THE PANELS HERE IF I COULD BUT ID JUS T REACH THE IMAGE LIMIT BECAUSE ALL OF THEM MADE ME CRY ; - ;!!! Literally just read those 5 chapters in the arc finale cause,,,, man so good T - T

Anyways TLDR: The post-series luffy seperation arc is NOT BAD and you guys are JUST COWARDS AND LIARS!!!!

[multifariousqueer]

omg omg omg can you write smth ab e!42 miles being with a girl who’s super affectionate and girly. he’s like okokok and she’s like lalalala you know?? and one day they get into an argument and it looks like she’s gonna leave but he handles it?

tyilykisses🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

Ofc Love!!!!

A/n: AHHHH keep requesting and lmk what else I should do

Warnings: Miles being a nonchalant ngga, fluff, angst, possessiveness

You lived a pretty good life. Your parent(s) were active in your life, you had a wonderful boyfriend that would burn the universe to the ground for you, and you got whatever you wanted. Miles kept his job pretty under wraps so you didn’t know what he did, all you knew was that he was buying the newest miu miu jacket and he funded your bath and body works addiction. Everyone knew you loved Miles but they questioned whether or not he actually loved you.

It was no secret that Miles wasn’t as affectionate as you; everyone around you noticed it, your parent(s), your friends and even other family members mentioned it to you:

“You could do so much better, y/n"

“I mean, it seems like he doesn’t even want to date you fr” your cousin remarked

“Yeah are you holding him against his will?” Your aunt chimed in

“I am not!!! He’s just like that” you defended

You were very open with your affection; kissing, hugging and cuddling him a lot. Miles on the other hand, showed his love differently by buying you stuff and spending time with you. He was often very cold and closed off towards other people and they assumed it was that way for you but it wasn’t. Miles was affectionate but he didn’t show it at all for fear of people using you as a weapon against him.

When you got to your room, you felt yourself tear up. I mean sure, miles was nonchalant but that didn’t mean he didn’t love you. Plus Miles would tell you if he didn’t want you, right?

You couldn’t stand with the idea that Miles was doing this out of pity and not out genuine love for you so you texted Miles:

You: Hey can we talk?

seen

this didn’t help the aching in your chest so you tried to fall asleep and forget about it but it haunted your dreams that night. Usually, your dreams are pretty calm but in this one, you were running from Miles and when he caught up to you, he said:

“I DON'T LOVE YOU, Y/N. WHY CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT??? I wish it could’ve been different” Miles pulled out what looked like a claw but before anything could happen, you woke yourself up.

You woke up in a cold sweat and saw a message from Miles:

3:02 AM

Miles: what’s up, Mami?

4:45 AM

You: Do you love me?

seen

Miles: What?

Miles: What happened?

You: You didn’t answer my question

Miles: yeah, why?

You: You don’t have to lie to me, yk?

Miles: Let’s talk about this tomorrow.

Miles: Did You’re family say some shit again?

You: yeah...

seen

The next day came and you met Miles after school:

“So what’d they say?” Miles questioned

“They said I’m forcing you into a relationship” you admitted, feeling defeated

“Oh give me a break, y/n. Fuck them and their opinions, they don’t know us” Miles said, rolling his eyes

“Miles, they’re my family. And honestly I can see why they believe that” you spoke up

Miles took a deep breath:

“Why? Because I’m not jumping you 24/7? That’s not who I am and you knew that when you decided to date me. As for the family thing, they just jealous of what we have.” Miles said, stoically

“It wouldn’t kill you to show me a bit of affection, Miles” you replied quickly

“no. But it could kill you” he muttered

“excuse me???” you said

“Just know that I do love you, Y/n. I’m sorry that you don’t feel the same” Miles said

“And why are you speaking so cryptically lately?? If you got something to say, speak.” You argued, a sudden burst of masculine energy and ferocity flowing through your veins

“Watch it, y/n. Stay in your place, it’s easier.” Miles said dangerously, he spoke a warning to you

You ran away and went to your room, rushing past your concerned parent as you heard them talk on the phone:

“Yeah, she’s still mad about Sunday hahaha” your parent laughed

“Yeah well we were just joking, you know how we do” The person on the other end spoke, you assumed it was your aunt.

“You know kids y/a/n(your aunts name), especially Y/n. She’s so soft and I don’t want her to get hurt.” Your parent said

“Well at the end of the day, she’ll be okay. And it will be a lesson to her, everyones first love is heartbreaking” your aunt said

“yeah, I guess. Well I gotta go. Love you” your parent departed

“Love you too” Your aunt said

You played crying in your pillow because of what they said and because of your argument. Soon, you heard a knock on the door:

“Oh Heyyyy Miles” your parent greeted

“Hi. Is Y/n here?” Miles asked

“Yeah she’s in her room” Your parent said, opening the door for him

“okay” Miles said, walking in and knocking on your door

“a thank you would’ve been nice’ your parent muttered under their breath. Miles full well heard this but he chose to ignore it because he would have a few choice words with your parent and none of them would be nice

You heard three knocks on your door.

“Y/n? Baby, let me in” he said

“Go away, Miles” you sniffled

“Mami, imma get in one way or another so you may as well just open the door.” Miles threatened

You opened the door with watery eyes and tear stained cheeks. Miles’ heart broke immediately.

“I’m sorry for not giving you the love you deserve. I know I’ll never be good enough for you and you deserve better than me. Your family is right but I need you to know that I am so in love with you, it scares me. When we aren’t together, my chest hurts; I can’t be without you, y/n. I love you so much and I’m sorry I treat you like shit. I can change, mi amor."

“Oh Miles” You hugged him as tight as you could

“I love you"

“I love you too, Mami"

[aliensupastar]

not wrong, but not right

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Carmy Berzatto/GN!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Summary: You do your best to keep your head down at your job. When that doesn't work, Carmy's there for you anyways.

Part II Part III

Warnings: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, depiction of an eating disorder, vent fic, fainting, hospitals, slightly one-sided romantic feelings?

A/N: PLEASE mind the warnings! as mentioned, this is a vent fic with a reader that has an eating disorder. mostly made for my own comfort/self-indulgence, but i thought i’d post it anyways. title inspired by "ode to the mets" by the strokes, gif by heardchef <3

All things considered, your job could be worse. Honestly, you feel like you lucked out a bit, your hiring process being expedited due to Marcus being the one to recommend you to his boss, given that they needed new workers for their newly opened restaurant — you knew it was a good idea to stay in touch with that guy after high school. 

Working front-of-house with Richie could get overwhelming, to say the least. Dealing with him your first few weeks took a lot of adjustment, and a lot of holding back from calling him every foul name in the book. But it all smoothened out eventually. Your coworkers were nice, the pay was decent, the train ride was short. And your boss… well, it didn’t hurt that your boss was nice to look at. 

You’re a little embarrassed by it. You spend a little too much time looking at him when you’re supposed to be focused on your prep, and you always stop by the back office to say goodnight before you clock out, but you think you’ve kept it subtle enough to go unnoticed. You’ve gotten a little too good at that, going unnoticed. 

“Need me to do anything else before I head out?” You lean against the doorway of the tiny office as you say it, backpack already on and your jacket draped over your arms. Carmy’s sitting in his desk chair, bent over some paperwork and looking a little surprised at your question.

“Uh, no, we’re good here. But if you wanna stick around for a bit, Syd and I are makin’ something out of the food we were gonna have to throw out tonight, you could take some of it home with you. Save time on dinner.” He offers with a small smile. You hate the temptation that immediately springs up in you, because you want so badly to take him up on it. The smell of food in the kitchen is always mouthwatering, and when Carmy’s making dishes instead of being on expo, it somehow smells even better. 

You’ve never even tried Carmy’s cooking. You work for one of the most excellent chefs in the country, and you can’t even answer with an honest opinion when people ask you if the food at the restaurant is good. 

Despite all that, you shake your head, using the excuse of wanting to catch your train before it gets dark out, and he takes that easily. 

“Heard.” He nods, looking like he might want to say more. “Well, thank you, for showin’ up today. You were great.”

“Thank you, chef.” You reply, unable to stop yourself from smiling at the praise. “Goodnight, Carm.” 

Before you can change your mind, you turn and walk away, clocking out quickly, but you still hear him say “Night!” from behind you. 

When you make it onto a train car, safely on your way back to your apartment, you finally let out a breath you hadn’t realized you were holding. Maybe some other day, you think to yourself. It’ll be worth it to try the food some other day.

It had been one incident. That’s what you swore to yourself: one incident, one slip up, and it would never happen again. Besides, you think — or rather, hoped — Carmy’s forgotten about it. It was months ago, and things moved quickly in the restaurant, no time to dwell on things, especially not for the guy who has to run it. 

You’d gone out to the back alley of The Bear for a short break. You’d seen the others do it a million times, mostly for smoke breaks, but you didn’t need a cigarette. You needed to sit down, give yourself a chance to catch your breath as your vision started to swim and your ears felt like they had been filled with cotton. And, well, usually you didn’t need breaks like that, usually you didn’t allow yourself to take them like the others did, but there was a lull between the lunch and dinner rush and Richie didn’t need your help in the front, so you quietly slipped out the back door while hastily putting your coat on. Just this once, you let yourself slump against the wall, sliding down until you were sat on the pavement. You don’t even remember your consciousness fading, just your heartbeat thrumming in your ears while your eyes slipped shut. 

Carmy found you like that. He had barely noticed your extended absence, too busy catching up on more paperwork in his office before the dinner crowd poured in, and he decided he needed a smoke. It had almost startled him when he finally did notice you sitting there, your presence so quiet it took him a few seconds, before he also noticed you were asleep. He couldn’t blame you for that. He could use a fuckin’ nap these days. 

Still, he walked over and leaned down, nudging your shoulder with his hand to rouse you, muttering a quiet “hey.” But you didn’t wake, not even after a couple more pokes. And then he started to worry. 

When you came to, it was because of Carmy’s hands on both your cheeks, gently patting your face, his blue eyes wide with panic. You flinched a bit, startling at the realisation of what you'd done, swearing under your breath, and that was enough for Carmy to step back. 

“You okay?” He asked, and you nodded quickly on instinct. 

“I’m- fine. Yeah, I’m okay.” You stumbled over your assurance, knowing he didn’t quite believe you from the way he raised his eyebrows questioningly. 

“What are you doing out here? You’re freezin’.” You bite your lip, embarrassed at being caught a bit red-handed, unconscious with your body temperature dropping. You’re usually better than that. Better at hiding behind smiles, concealer over your dark under-eyes, and excuses of being more of a big breakfast person to get out of eating family meals with the rest of your coworkers every afternoon. 

“Just tired. I’m fine.” You reply, hoping that’d be enough of an excuse, because everyone here is a little exhausted all the time. You pull yourself to your feet once he stands up from crouching in front of you, trying to convince him to just brush it off. “I'm good to keep going.”

You almost think that he buys that, before he stares at you a little bit longer, and you try not to shrink under his gaze. 

“People who are fine usually don’t take five minutes to wake up.” He says. You don’t have a comeback. 

“Yes, chef,” is the only thing you can say as you turn and walk back into the kitchen quickly, avoiding eye contact with him and making it through the rest of the day without needing another break, and without giving him a chance to talk to you again before you clock out that day. You don’t even stop by the office to say goodnight.

It was months ago, one time, and it wasn’t supposed to happen again. Not at work, not in the middle of a rush. That was just your luck, you guess, that you would get caught up working front-of-house, running between taking orders with Richie and handing out plates whenever you heard somebody yelling “Hands!” in the back, all while you hadn’t had anything more than water and a coffee in the morning in… fuck, you lost count of the days again. 

You pause to take deep breaths and sips of water when you can, but you guess it wasn’t often enough, because one second you’re picking up plates from the expo station and the next you’re collapsing, taking the dishes with you. 

When you wake up in a hospital bed afterwards, Carmy’s there. Slumped over in a plastic chair that can’t be comfortable, clad in a familiar checkered wool jacket. He’s asleep, but he’s here, and you don’t have the heart to wake him. You have no idea how long you’ve been out, but your heart fills with equal parts guilt and gratitude at the fact that he’s likely been sat by your side for hours. 

You turn your attention away from Carmy for a second, taking in the rest of your surroundings. The cotton hospital gown, the uncomfortably firm mattress beneath you, the beeping of an EKG to your left, and to your right- 

Your breath catches when you see it. An IV bag, steadily dripping fluid into you through the needle in your arm, innocuous but sinister. 

“Shit.” You breathe out. Now you’re panicking. Now you’re cursing yourself for not being able to hold it together long enough to get through a busy hour, and reaching for the bag to get a better look at the text that you hope and pray details it’s nutritional information, but you quickly snatch your hand back when the privacy curtain is peeled away by a nurse checking up on you. 

The sound of the curtain rings scraping against metal wakes Carmy, and the nurse smiles apologetically before turning to you and explaining what you already guessed: you're in ketosis, you fainted due to low blood sugar levels and a high-stress environment, you should take it easy and eat when you get home. You’ll be discharged as soon as your IV bag is finished. Fuck. You nod and smile along with everything she says, lying through your teeth about merely skipping breakfast that morning and thanking her for her time until you can get her to leave you alone again. 

Well, alone with your boss, who’s silent through the whole conversation.

You wait for a minute after the nurse leaves, before turning to your right and carefully lifting yourself onto your knees to tug the IV bag off its hook and flip it over, desperately scanning the printed text. You can’t even bring yourself to care that Carmy’s there anymore, even when you can feel his eyes on you, witnessing your silent panic. You can’t help it. 

You swear under your breath once you find what you’re looking for. When you do the math in your head, it’s- fuck- it’s hundreds of calories that they’re pumping into you. You hang the bag up and sit back, defeated, unable to do anything but fiddle with the thin blanket draped over your legs and curse yourself for not being more careful. 

“You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?” Carmy asks gently after a few minutes, breaking the silence. You don’t know why that question makes your eyes fill with tears, even as you shake your head vehemently. 

“Nothing’s going on, Carm. I’m okay.” You tell him, trying to keep your voice neutral. He pauses for a moment, making you think that maybe, just maybe, he’ll drop it. 

“I know what ketosis means, chef.” You hate him a little bit for catching on. You were so sure you were flying under the radar, you could’ve kept your habits unnoticed if you had just not fainted again.

“Well, like I said, I skipped breakfast. I didn’t have time this morning.” 

“Then why didn’t you eat family with us instead?” He insists.

“Because-“ 

“Why aren’t you eating, chef?” 

You know he’s just concerned, as your boss, he can’t have you passing out at work so much. But you also can’t help the irritation that rises in you at his persistence. 

“Fuck you, Carmen,” is all you can come back with, and he scoffs. “I felt weird intruding on family when I never eat with you guys normally. There. I’m sorry me not eating this one time got in the way of my job, it won’t happen again.” You try to explain, but you already know he’ll see through that.  

“One time, along with the other time you fainted out back, and all the times you’ve refused to even taste a new dish we’re tryin’ out.” Your head snaps up, and you finally take a real look at him, taken aback by the fact that he would even be bothered to remember all that. He meets your irritation with nothing but softness in his eyes. “Talk to me.” He pleads. 

You can’t take it. You tear up again, wanting, needing to fight against the temptation to tell him everything because, God, you don’t know how much more you can take. 

“I can’t.” There’s no hiding your emotion anymore, your voice thick with tears. “Carmy- I- I can’t take it.” 

“Take what?” He asks, his voice still gentle.

“Any of it!” You’re full on sobbing now, desperately trying to wipe away your tears with the back of your hand. 

“Hey,” He almost coos, standing to move closer to your bed and wrapping his arms around you, bringing your head to rest on his firm chest, and you let him. You don’t object when his hand moves to pet the back of your head while you gasp for breath through your sobs, and he doesn’t object when your hands land on his back, clinging to the white t-shirt under his coat and relishing in the warmth radiating from him. 

He doesn’t push you to say more. He holds you while you calm down, your breath evening out eventually, enough to speak straight. 

“I can’t tell you, Carmy.” You finally say, practically whimpering. “I can’t get the help you’ll want me to get, because- I can’t stop. I don’t know how, I- I don’t know another way anymore.” 

He doesn’t reply, at first, taking in a deep breath while he lets your words hang in the air. 

“Okay.” He says quietly. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.” You’re relieved at his acquiescence. You don’t think you can take fighting with your boss on top of everything else you have going on. 

“Thank you.” You whisper. 

“Can I ask you to promise me something?” He continues, making you pause, before nodding hesitantly. “Let me look out for you. You don’t have to tell me anything, just- don’t keep going at it alone. You’ll just end up back here again. Or, y’know, half-breathing and unconscious in the back alley of my restaurant. Trust me, I know.” 

You contemplate his words for a bit. You know he’s right, and you know you don’t want to end up in the hospital again. And maybe you owe him this one thing, for being here, for not pushing you like you expected him to, for not firing you after you interrupted his whole day with your bullshit. 

“Okay,” You say. “I promise.” He breathes what you think is a sigh of relief, before leaning down and pressing his lips to the top of your head. You stay like that for a little while longer, silent except for the beeping EKG machine and your occasional sniffle. 

“You’re freezing, you know that?” He says suddenly, and it makes you giggle; you haven’t held anyone close in a while, not long enough for them to notice you’re always cold to the touch. You know he’s smiling too, feeling his lips against your hair. 

“Lookin’ out for me might mean letting me borrow this jacket every once in a while.” 

“I’m okay with that.”

[fallingdownhell]

Genshin men react to the 'Do I look fat?' question.

Oh boi.. Good luck to them..

Characters Included: Cyno; Kaeya; Wanderer

Content: gender neutral reader; slight cursing; comfort; but overall good feelings and vibes; insecurities mentioned; Wanderer is a bit of an ass, but he makes up for it (a little bit)

Word count: 1,6k words

Have fun!

Cyno

You were nervous. Really, really nervous.

What the reason is, you ask?

Well, picture this.. your relationship with the General Mahamatra is relatively new. You have only been dating him for about two months, keeping a low profile in public since the both of you didn't want it to be known quite yet.

You were content with that, but now, suddenly, Cyno told you that he wanted to introduce you to his best friend, Tighnari.

Which, to you, was a big fucking deal!

Obviously, you planned to show the best side of you, wanting to impress and convince his best friend that you weren't with Cyno for any sort of benefits, but that you really liked him and were serious about him.

You were standing in front of the mirror in your bedroom for hours now, trying on every possible outfit at your disposal, yet nothing seemed to satisfy you enough.

There have been a few pieces where you thought they might be okay, but just okay simply wasn't good enough.

Cyno was already done, waiting for you in the living room so you could leave, but you weren't nearly done. A complete bundle of nerves, to be exact.

Now, you finally had an outift on that you were more satisfied with then the others before. You spun around in front of the mirror, looking at yourself from every possible angle, trying to decide wether this was good enough or not. But you soon came to the conclusion that you just couldn't decide for yourself.

You needed a second opinion...

"Cyno?", you called, and from the approaching footsteps, you knew he had heard you.

Soon after, he entered the room, looking at you questioningly.

"Yes, my love? What is it?"

"Do I look fat in this?", you asked, hoping for some kind of positive affirmation that you so desperately needed right now.

Obviously taken aback by the question, Cyno took a few seconds before he hesitantly answered.

"Not really? You look like you usually do, it's fine."

Your expression quickly sank at his answer, and Cyno could immediately tell that this was the wrong answer.

"Babe..", but before he could say anything further, you were yelling at him, shoving him out of the room.

"Get out! I have to change again! I can't wear this!"

You threw the bedroom door closed as soon as he was outside, and for a few moments, Cyno stood there, dumbfounded. He had absolutely no idea what just happened there, but he knew that he said the wrong thing.

"(Name), I'm sorry. You don't need to change out of anything. You look positively breathtaking.", he said through the closed wooden door.

He kept quiet and listened. Judging by the lack of movement coming from inside, he thought his words might have some effect on you.

".... sure?"

"What was that, my love?"

"...Are you sure? I wanna look good when I meet your best friend."

"(Name), I can absolutely assure you that Tighnari is not going to care about what you're wearing. And besides, you look good in anything to me."

He waited for a few more seconds, then the door slowly opened again, revealing you to him, still wearing the same outfit as before.

"Are you really sure about that? One hundred percent?"

"Yes, I am.", he smiled at you, grabbing you by the wrist and pulling you out of the bedroom.

"Now, we have to get moving, or we'll be late. And that, I can guarantee you, would piss him off."

Kaeya

Kaeya has had his fair share of relationships in his time, so he knows that once this question leaves your lips, there are only two possible outcomes for him.

One, you simply ask him this dreaded question because you're bored and just want to see his reaction to it. In which case, he would walk away relatively unscathed, but he still had to be careful to not tick you off.

Or two, you were being absolutely serious and genuine. Which would definitely mean his demise as no matter what he was going to say, you would most likely spin it around in another direction so he would be the blamed party no matter what.

And right now, with the way you were looking at him from your spot, laying on his lap, it seems like the second option was the most likely one.

"Kaeya?", you asked, looking up at him. At the lack of response, you turn onto your stomach, now looking at him intently.

The man in question was still thinking about a possible answer, not wanting to upset you in any way since in his eyes, you were absolutely adorable and beautiful, but that didn't mean that this was what you wanted to hear from him.

However, as he kept silent, you thought this to be his answer, and you started to feel dejected.

"I see..", you say as you start to get up from his lap, which caused Kaeya to pull you back, confused and also in a slight panic.

"Hey, wait. Where do you think you're going, gorgeous?"

You scoff at that nickname. "You don't have to lie to me, you know. Your lack of response was loud and clear."

You refuse to look at him as your mood got even more sour the more you thought about it.

"I'm sorry babe, but my silence wasn't for that reason. I was merely trying to find the right words to tell you how beautiful I think you are."

You scoff again, but this time, it's not as snarky as before, and he thinks he can hear a faint glimmer of hope in there.

"...you really mean that?"

"Of course! Would I ever lie to you, darling?"

You finally look at him, even if it was only to shoot him an obvious glare.

He smirks at that. "Okay, okay. But I would never lie to you about something important, I promise you that. And you, (name), are the most important person in this world to me. So, please believe me when I say that you're absolutely perfect."

At that, your cheeks suddenly feel warm as you lay down with him again, the doubts that had previously filled your mind starting to grow weaker and weaker in his presence and thanks to his reassuring words.

Wanderer

Oh boy, is he not good with relationships. He does not know how to take a hint or how to sugarcoat his words. Even if he means good for you, his words sometimes come out as harsh.

You usually just ignore it, knowing that he's just watching out for you in his own, weird way. But there are days, where you're not able to just brush past his words, especially when they were touching on a subject you were particularly sensitive about.

It wasn't a common occurance for your boyfriend to take you out to eat like today. Usually, the two of you always cook at home, rather enjoying the process and the fun you manage to make during it.

Today however, he said he wanted to treat you for a nice meal out, and how were you to refuse such an invitation. On top of that, you haven't really had a proper meal for the past two days thanks to your workload, so you were absolutely hungry.

You ended up ordering more than you would normally eat, but since you had been neglecting your stomach for quite some time, you were able to eat all of that, no problem.

The Wanderer watched you silently as you were eating, but you could tell that he wanted to say something. It was practically written all over his face.

"What?", you decided to say between bites, curiously looking at him.

He seemed to think for a few seconds before he spoke up. "Don't you think you're eating a bit too much?"

At his question, you stop for a second, swallowing down the bite you had in your mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you should tone it down and not make this a habit. You don't want to gain any more weight, right?"

Suddenly, your appetite was all gone. The food that had been looking so delicious in front of you now made you want to throw up just by looking at it.

"So... you think I'm fat?"

At that question, he looked up again to face you, and as he saw you, he immediately knew he just fucked up.

Big time.

The way you looked so sad at him, so defeated, made him feel like his nonexistant heart just shattered inside him.

"No! That's not... Fuck!"

You just silently nod, pushing the plate in front of you away, falling back against your comfortable chair.

The Wanderer sighed next to you, pulling his chair closer to yours as he pushed the plate back towards you.

"I'm.... sorry. That came out totally wrong. I fucked that up.

No, I don't think you're fat, you're most definitely not. I shouldn't have commented on that."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have."

You agree with him, but the fact that you were responding at all to him, meant that you weren't that mad with him. At most, annoyed. But not utterly mad. That was a good thing.

"Can you forgive me?", he asked as he pushed the plate closer yet again, urging you to continue with your meal.

You rolled your eyes at him as you reluctantly leaned forwards, picking up your utensils again.

"I'll think about it."

That's enough for him. He smiles as he leans back again, continuing to watch you again.

He still has much to learn about this whole relationship and communication thing...

[mochidolls]

I HAVE ANOTHER idea… grins super wide.. (could also possibly be a prologue to the mom ellie rq I Sent a few days back) but but yk how Jackson has a daycare right.. and and.. ellie meeting reader there for.. idk maybe she signed up too late for patrols so she had to take on some other duty!! And she needs reader at the daycare and at first she’s so annoyed cuz she’d much rather do patrol but seeing u be so nice and motherly makes her time there a bit less annoying n after a while she starts to genuinely enjoy spending time with reader there n having fun with Al the kids and makes jokes abt u n her having ur own kids one day (little does she know that h did) DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE. This is so long Ivy I’m sorry. Tldr ellie and reader meeting at Jackson daycare! I just think that’s so adorable

n : i’m so sorry this took so long ml but this prompt is so cute and i am eternally grateful for u for it!!<33

please read (important!!) / please read! / how you can help palestine

ellie tried to stifle the sigh that was bubbling up within her chest, ready to escape. the scene before her was almost guaranteed to give her a headache in the next few moments. the garishly bright rainbow-coloured walls, the unnecessarily loud squeals, and the chatter of sticky, snotty-nosed toddlers running amok—oh, and there we go, one just bumped into her.

“sorry,” the little girl apologised with a timid smile, revealing a gap between her teeth. ellie’s lips twitched—just smile, be nice. be. nice. like she promised. this should be a breeze. she almost managed an "it’s okay" before noticing the girl sniffle, dragging her hand over her snotty nose, leaving a trail of mucus on her hand as she walked away.

in that very moment, ellie knew she would never have kids.

she’d have to keep that thought to herself, though. she couldn’t voice her opinions and risk making a group of kids cry, followed by you giving her that disapproving look. god, she hated that look. c

all her a bit of a sap, but she’d rather face a pack of wolves than see you look at her like that.

ellie’s thoughts paused as she heard the melody of your voice, gently calling the children’s attention. your voice, so sweet and soft, captivated them, drawing them close and silencing their chatter. it never ceased to amaze ellie how you did it.

but it wasn’t as if your voice hadn’t had the same effect on her—making her stumble over her words and her stomach do somersaults like a nervous schoolgirl. embarrassing, really.

the room grew quiet as the children listened to your instructions for a colouring activity. how fun! you handed each of them paper and coloured pencils, and once they were settled, you noticed ellie leaning against the doorframe, a sight you’d grown quite familiar with since she started helping out at the daycare. not that she helped much, but having her around kept you sane.

you waved at her with your sweet smile, and she waved back, trying hard not to crumble under that smile. it got even harder when you approached her, the rose and vanilla perfume you wore (not that she noticed or anything) making her knees weak. get it together, ellie.

“hi,” you spoke softly, a gentle smile gracing your lips. god, kill her now.

“hey,” ellie replied, trying to act nonchalant, though she was struggling.

“you’re not joining in?” you teased, playfully nudging her arm.

“do i look six?” ellie huffed, meeting your gaze as a cheeky grin spread across your face.

“don’t answer that, it was rhetorical,” ellie quickly added before a chuckle escaped your lips.

“oof, looks like one of them got to you,” you pointed at the smear of snot on her jeans.

“oh, fuck me,” ellie muttered with an exasperated sigh, earning a playful punch to her arm. she looked at you with a ‘what was that for?’ expression.

“what happened to the no swearing rule?”

“that rule is dumb.” ellie grumbled in response, rubbing her arm where you’d punched her.

“i truly wonder how you’ll cope when you have your own kids.” you crossed your arms, shaking your head in mock disappointment.

“one, don’t wish that on me, and two, our kids would be well-behaved, not snotty brats running around.” ellie grumbled, then stopped herself, realising what she’d just said. our kids? really? way to make it obvious, williams.

“i meant… my, uh, my kids! not ours. not that there’s anything wrong with you! i just—” ellie stumbled over her words, a pink blush creeping up her cheeks as another chuckle escaped your lips.

“something you want to tell me, williams?” you asked with a smile. before she could respond, a little boy ran up to you, patting your leg eagerly. “look! look!”

“hm? let’s see your drawing, mason.” you crouched down to his height, looking at the colourful stick figures he’d drawn. “this one is me,” the little boy pointed at one figure kicking a ball. “this one is you, and this one is ellie.” at the mention of her name, ellie snapped her attention back to the drawing.

“why does ellie look so grumpy, mase?” you asked with a small smile, pointing at the stick figure with a comically grumpy expression.

“ellie’s always grumpy!” the boy chirped, meeting her gaze.

“i’m not always grumpy,” ellie scoffed, looking away.

“yes, you are!”

“i’m not.”

“are too!”

“am not.”

“are.too.”

“am.not.”

“all right, that’s enough. mase, you can go back to colouring, okay?” you gently patted the boy’s back before ruffling his hair.

“okay!” mason nodded with a smile and ran off.

you turned back to ellie, still smiling. “we’re arguing with kids now?”

“he started it. and look how you handled that. natural. see? our kids will be fine.” ellie emphasised ‘our’ to tease you.

“uou’re already thinking about our future kids?” you asked, raising an eyebrow, playing along. the two of you couldn’t help but smile at the thought of having a family together one day. spoiler alert: you did.

“is that a problem?” ellie retorted, raising an eyebrow, and for a moment, the two of you just stared at each other.

“we’ll talk later.”

[seospicybin]

TOO HOT TO HANDLE.

PART III

I.N x reader. (s)

Too Hot To Handle Masterlist

Synopsis: You and Jeongin become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle. (17,7k words)

Author's note: 7/8 completed! Let me know if you enjoyed it and I'd appreciate it if you guys leave a feedback x

The sun feels hot on your skin even though it's only ten in the morning.

You stay cool by soaking yourself in the swimming pool with Jeongin next to you, you're facing the sea view from the edge of the pool while Jeongin faces the other way. You put your hand on his stomach, running your wet hand down his abs and it slips down to the waistband of his swimming trunks. Mischievous, you pull it open and peek inside.

Jeongin pushes his sunglasses down his nose to look at you.

"Lana didn't say we couldn't look," you say, slyly smiling as you look back to see the view.

"Are you happy with what you saw?" He asks, pushing the sunglasses higher on the bridge of her nose.

"Mmh, yeah," you answer with a low giggle.

Jeongin repeatedly nods, "All right."

You turn to face him and cling to his side, your hand splashes water on the muscles on his abdomen, then lean close to his ear.

"Happy with what I felt," you whisper.

Last night, things happened.

You both wanted it and decided to just do it, kissing each other while trying not to get caught while everyone else was sleeping in the room.

In the heat of the moment, your hand went inside his boxer and without thinking, you wrapped your hand around his semi-hard cock. Maybe it's curiosity, you often wonder about his size and you went to find out, feeling every inch of that glorious thing with your hand.

If it wasn't him pulling your hand out, you would have continued stroking it and more things could have happened. Jeongin even took a serious precaution by keeping your hands down the whole night.

"Oh, wait. That was in my dreams," you playfully add with a low laugh.

Jeongin quietly chuckles next to you, putting his arm around you and resting his hand on the small of your back.

"Yeah, that wasn't real. That didn't happen," He jokingly says.

-

YOU: I just wanted to say hello so I was just, like... waving back down there [laughs]

-

Nearing the middle of the day, it gets too hot to stay in the pool and you both decide to get inside.

Jeongin dries himself and puts on swimming trunks, joining you in the dressing room to borrow your hairdryer for his hair.

In the middle of drying his hair, you come out of the changing room dressed in a pair of red bikini. You walk to the full-length mirror to see yourself and then come up to him.

"Do I look good?" You ask.

He turns off the hairdryer to hear you better and puts it down. He takes a look at you and regardless of what you're wearing, you look attractive to him, both sexually and non-sexually.

"Good," he replies, keeping the rest of the answer to him.

You keep fixing your strapless bikini top, looking uncomfortable wearing and he sees that it keeps

"It keeps riding up," you mumble as you keep pulling it down and pushing your breasts to the middle to make them stay but failing.

"If it's uncomfortable, maybe you should change into a different one," he suggests.

Without saying anything, you open your closet and ask for his opinions on which bikini you should wear from the ones you packed with you to the retreat.

"This one or this one?" You show him two options, a white one-piece or brown two-piece bikini.

Jeongin thinks for a second and points at the one on your left hand.

"Okay," you put the other one back into the closet and head for the changing room.

While he waits for you, he fixes his hair in front of the mirror and brushes it with his fingers to tidy it. Not long after, he sees you coming to his side while tying the straps on your back.

"So, how do we feel?" You ask for his opinion again.

Jeongin has to step away and lean against the vanity table to look at you, the bikini is so small that it only covers the private bits and the straps are so thin that he believes he can snap it off.

But he likes what he sees, his eyes traveling down your body as lust grows the more he sees of you.

"I like it," he simply comments.

You check yourself one more time in the mirror then come up to him, smiling as you slip your arms under and around him.

Jeongin wastes no time putting his arms around you too, he watches his hand touch your warm skin and trail down the back of your body on the mirror. He resists the urge to go lower to fondle your ass cheeks by keeping his hands on your hips.

He fiddles with the thin strap of your bikini and tugs at it, "This is not a bikini. This is just a piece of string," he jokingly says.

Your body quakes as you let out a laugh and look up at him, giving him the eyes that weaken him, "I want a kiss," you say.

He brings one hand to the nape of your neck and gently scratches the tendrils of hair there with his fingers, "We can't," he reminds you.

You softly kiss his jaw and bob your head as you say, "Uh-huh, yes, we can."

Jeongin knows that he should get out of this situation but you have him caged between your arms and putting him under your spell with your enchanting eyes that longingly stare into his eyes.

"We broke the rules last night," he tries to put some sense into you.

"And it wouldn't make any difference if we break another one," You casually say with a smirk on your face.

He lets out a sigh with his head thrown to the back, a part of him wants to stay good but another part of him just wants to ruin you, and he's afraid, the latter part is the most dominant.

You tilt your head to the side and kiss his neck, you continue the trail of kisses to his jaw. You take your hand from around his waist to grab his chin and tilt it down so you can lean in and capture his lips in yours.

Too good. You're just too good at this that Jeongin stops resisting and lets himself loose. You triumphantly smile against his lips as he kisses you back.

He tightens the hold around you, drawing you impossibly close to him, and lets his hand drop to your ass cheek, have himself a squeeze at it.

Gosh, it feels so good to have his desires fulfilled!

After a while, you pull away just a little, tugging his lower lip between your teeth and playfully pull at it. Knowing that you successfully make him fold, you slyly smile in satisfaction at him, and then you start giggling as he's still reeling himself back from the kiss.

"Oh, you're going to be the death of me," he says, allowing himself to place a peck on your lips for the last time.

To avoid temptations to kiss you again, he then turns you around but keeps you close to him, he's liking what he sees in the mirror of him hugging you from the back.

It's in a time like this that he can't believe he gets to be with you, the finest girl in the retreat.

You turn his head to the side and lean in again but this time, Jeongin is quick enough to dodge away.

"No, no, no," he repeatedly says, successfully avoiding danger for this once.

You're laughing as he crosses your hands together in front of your chest and keeps them there, making you unable to move.

"Let's go. It's getting dangerous in here," he says, not waiting for your answer but dragging himself out of there with you.

-

JEONGIN: Lana, I'd appreciate it if you keep it as a secret [chuckles]

-

The girls are heading out of the villa for a workshop at the beach which leaves the boys unsupervised. It's a good thing for Jeongin because he wouldn't have to worry about being tempted to break rules with you but he doesn't quite enjoy either the childish conversation or immature act that is going to ensue soon.

"Is it healthy for us to not, like, getting it out for... how long now?" Damon turns his head for someone to finish his sentence.

"Two weeks or more," Kurt mindlessly answers, losing track of time in this retreat.

"Every morning, I wake up shivering, my body needs sex," Damon says, wiping the sheen of sweat on his forehead with a towel.

"I don't think that's how..." Lou sighs, giving up on finishing his words and scratching his head in confusion instead.

The others are laughing at him and Jeongin only joins in on the laughter to be a part of the conversation. The next thing he knows, it turns into a whole session of learning how to do strip dance from Mick while Jeongin watching them on the sideline with Keith.

The whole day, Jeongin is counting down the time that Lana will finally reveal his indiscretions.

His previous strategy of telling everyone in advance about his rule break may have worked but it's definitely not going to work this time, not when he broke so many rules in one day.

"Hey, man," Lou beams.

Jeongin is deep in thought when he enters the bathroom, it takes him a moment to reply to him, "Hey."

Lou chuckles at the way he catches him thinking out loud, "You good?"

He sheepishly smiles at him and brushes his hair as he sits on the edge of the tub, "Not really."

Lou lets out another chuckle while spraying some hairspray into his hair in front of the bathroom mirror, "What’s going on?"

Jeongin is torn whether to tell him or not but out of the boys, Lou is the one he can talk about it with so he decides to tell him.

"Basically, last night, we kissed under the covers and then another thing happened," he blurts out everything in one sentence.

Lou stops moving and turns around to face him, "Bro, you what?"

Looking at Lou's reaction makes Jeongin hesitate to tell him the rest of it but since half of it is already out, he may as well.

"And we kissed again this morning," he blurts again.

Lou chuckles but in a mix of shock and awe, he has nothing to say but put the can of hairspray away.

"First of all, everyone is going to be so pissed," he says.

Jeongin doesn't need the reminder of that but... "Yeah, I know," he meekly says.

Then Lou sucks air through his teeth, looking as distressed as him after gaining the information, "I am still new here so I can't say much about the money," he says.

Jeongin nods at that, understanding that he's not yet fully grasped the whole idea of the retreat.

"But as someone who entered the retreat a bit late, it was hard to catch up to you guys. I mean, it's still impossible for me to grow a connection with someone without being physical," he explains.

And Jeongin should understand you too.

He always thought that you were the one who kept tempting him to rule break when in fact, it's not. You both wanted it, therefore the two of you are responsible for it.

"Please don't tell anyone though," Jeongin adds

"I got you. Don't worry," Lou coyly says, then continues styling his hair.

Telling someone about it makes him feel a bit lighter but he's dreading it still and at the same time, he wants to get it over with.

-

JEONGIN: To be honest, I don't regret any of it, like, I know I like her better now.

-

The cone chimes at the same time you're about to leave the dressing room. You stop moving and breathing altogether to hear what Lana has to say.

"Please gather the rest of the guests in the cabana immediately."

"Oh, snap!" Francoise gasps and next to her, Bianca is too focused on putting on her a fake eyelash to care.

Without waiting for the others, you head out of the villa and quietly mutter curses to yourself. The dirty little secret you have with Jeongin is going to catch everyone off guard and you don't have time to find him to discuss the game plan.

"Holy shit," you continuously mutter as you head to the cabana.

Thankfully, Jeongin is already there when you get to the cabana, you waste no time but sit next to him and hold his hand.

You smile at him as you fix the collar of his shirt, "You look good, babe."

He looks so nervous that he loses the radiance in his smile, you lean into his side to ask, "Are you nervous?"

He lets out a low sigh and stifles a nod, "Just a little."

But looking at his slightly clenched jaws and the knitted brows, it seems to you that he's not "just a little" nervous. You rub your hand up and down his arm and squeeze his hand to comfort him.

A while later, Lana chimes in and startles everyone, "Good evening."

"What's up, baby girl?" Courtney asks, being the only one with enthusiasm.

You have a little secret and it does make you anxious but you try to keep calm, if you are both nervous, it'll only make it obvious.

"I have some news," Lana informs.

"Okay, let's hear it," Mick says, looking hopeful that it's going to be good news.

"Last night, there was an incident of sexual contact," Lana reveals.

The sheer hope on Mick's face vanishes in a second and is replaced by a displeased one. He puts on his detective hat and does his job of taking the guilty ones out.

"Who is lying right now?"

You're so apprehensive as to what is about to come out of that little cone's mouth but the more you calm yourself, the more you can't contain your laugh, somehow the way you cope with anxiety is by laughing. You try to suppress it by putting your lips together into a line.

"Girl, you're smiling," Linda catches you being suspicious.

Oh, shit, you quietly curse to yourself again and since everyone is alarmed, you may as well confess everything.

"It was me and Jeongin, we kissed last night," you bravely spill everything.

"Oh, my God!" Courtney groans out loud, her enthusiasm surely has turned into disappointment right now.

"But Lana said sexual contact so...?" Linda cleverly points out.

You glance at Jeongin and he's looking terrified, you feel bad if you have to make him talk about it. You draw a deep breath and remind yourself to keep calm.

"I touched his willy and before more things could happen, he pulled my hand out," you explain as best as you could.

"What?" Linda is flabbergasted and disgusted at the same time.

"Oh, come on, guys. It's not a big deal," you try to lighten them up but it goes the wrong way.

"No, you're being selfish here," Mick argues.

"What she was trying to say is things could have gone worse if we didn't stop there," Jeongin finally comes to your aid and defends you.

"These multiple rule breaks have cost the group $20,000," Lana announces.

-

YOU: You can't get away with anything in here, eh?

-

You let out a sigh and stop talking because it's pointless to do so when they don't even want to hear you in the first place.

"We're sorry," Jeongin sincerely says but not pleased with how everyone is attacking you all at once.

Then Lana calls both of your names and your heart sinks, you know it's bad when she starts calling you by names.

"To show me you are committed to the process, I am putting you both to the ultimate test," Lana says.

The announcement gets greeted by a series of groans from everyone. Not going to lie, you're not good at tests and you fear that this time wouldn't be that different.

"In order to pass, you need to demonstrate self-control and show you can form a real emotional connection without breaking my rules," Lana continues.

Mick's hand flies to his forehead and slaps it hard, "Oh, no..."

"Therefore, you will spend the night alone in the private suite."

"There's no way. It's game over," Kurt remarks with a nervous smile.

You don't expect them to believe in you because honestly, you don't even believe yourself.

-

YOU: Lana, what is she thinking putting me and Jeongin in a room alone together?

-

It seems like Lana sets you and him up for failure and everyone has been anything but supportive.

Jeongin expects nothing less than that but now he has a reason to pass this test. He wants to prove them wrong.

"If you refrain from breaking the rules, I will put $20,000 back in the prize fund," Lana appeals.

Everyone instantly cheers at the mention of money and for a split second, forgets what he and you have to do to earn that.

"Just don't do anything. That's it," Keith makes it sound that simple.

Saying it easy but putting it into practice? Jeongin can't promise anyone anything but it gives him one more reason to pass the test.

"I have no faith in you two," Mick openly shares while rubbing his chin in doubt.

"Do you honestly believe you would be able to control yourself?" Courtney asks, representing everyone who doubts him and you.

He looks at you and you look back at him, trying to find the answer in each other but the silence that lasts for a few seconds is the answer to it.

"This is why we don't have faith in you," Courtney says.

"Just know that at the end of it, we'll be waiting for you," Lou says, reminding him that he has to think of the group too.

"We will not do anything," Jeongin promises but he hopes no one notices how his voice quivers at the end of the sentence.

"Please make your way to the suite," Lana orders.

-

JEONGIN: No one has any faith in us. Everyone is shitting it, myself included.

-

"Oh, my God. I think we're going to fail!"

That's the first thing you say when you enter the bedroom and see everything, the bed with rose petals on it, the scented candles being lit around the room, the various sex toys on one side of the bed, and a bowl of condoms on the other.

You get on the bed and crawl over to the other side to check the row of bottles, taking one to observe it.

"Natural lubricant," you read it out loud.

Then you pick the other one and read the label, "Massage oil."

Jeongin's mind is going places and it's hard not to think about sex when this room is designed for that. The worst part is you look so ravishing, lying on the bed in your white dress and seductively smiling at him.

He joins you on the bed and throws himself at you, making you both collapse onto the bed.

"It's so sexy, isn't it?" You say.

A moan slips out of your mouth as he kisses your neck, "You're sexy," he whispers.

You chuckle and put your legs around his legs, using them to draw him closer to you, "It's going to be a sexy night, yeah?"

Spotting the chilled wine in a bucket of ice, Jeongin collects it from the end of the bed and wastes no time to pop it open. You hold the champagne flutes as he fills it with the fizzy wine.

"To a sexy night?" You ask with your drink raised in the air.

"To a sexy night," he repeated your words and clinked his glass with yours.

You hold your glass close to your lips but your other hand is on his thigh, poking the skin exposed on his ripped jeans. You don't have to say anything, he can see what you're thinking at this moment just by looking at your eyes.

"I can't wait to see more of you tonight," you say with your teeth faintly biting your lower lip.

Jeongin only nods and fills his mouth with more wine to prevent himself from fueling your words.

"Can't wait to feel more of you too," you add, tugging at the hole in his jeans.

"$20,000 is a lot, you know," he says to remind you how much is at stake here.

"Yeah but I'm sure Lana takes credit cards," you jokingly say.

"$20,000 for a night? I think Lana overcharges us," Jeongin jokes back.

You put away your drink and get on his lap, sitting straddling him with your hands around his neck. You tilt his head upward to make him look at you.

"We should make the most of it then," you say then leans in for a kiss.

-

JEONGIN: [deeply sighs] It's going to be a long night.

-

So far so good.

As much as you want to rip his clothes off at any given moment, no rules have been broken. He's not the only one wanting to prove these people wrong, you try to behave as best as you can so you can show them that your connection is more than just physical.

Despite his physical is so... oh, he's just so perfect.

You're watching him standing against the sink with only a white towel wrapped around his waist, removing the rings cladding his slender fingers. You quietly admire his perfect figure of strong legs and muscular arms wrapped in milky skin that glows under the low light of the bathroom.

"Hurry! Get in the tub!" You tell him while banging the side of the tub with your wet hand.

He's chuckling hearing your impatient whine and continues fixing his hair even though it's pointless to do so. Your heart is pitter-pattering inside your chest as he makes his way to the tub.

He stops right in front of you and without warning, unties his towel and lets it drop onto the floor.

Your eyes dart at the thing hanging between his legs and you automatically scream at the sight of it, overwhelmed and in awe at the same time.

"Oh, my gosh!" You excitedly squeal.

You have touched it but seeing it is a whole different thing and you can't seem to stop looking at it until he gets into the water.

You carefully move inside the tub to sit on his lap, not wanting to let the water slosh out of the tub. You put your legs and arms around him, smiling as you feel him skin to skin.

He holds you close but keeping his hand not lower than the arch of your back, he stares back into your eyes as you look down into his.

He feels so warm and soft against you, you let your hand slide down his shoulder blade and feel his firm biceps but it's his fierce eyes that make you feel the slightest bit aroused.

"You are like chocolate Maltesers," you tell him.

The moment Jeongin smiles, all of his facial features soften and make him look cute, making you want to smooch his lips.

"Why is that?" He asks.

"I just want to put you in my mouth and let you melt on my tongue," you answer with a shy smile.

That answer amuses him so much that he lets out a laugh, he takes the strand of hair escaping your messy bun and endearingly tucks it behind your ear for you.

"How about me? If I were chocolate what would I be?" You ask, genuinely curious about his answer.

Jeongin licks his lips and it only makes them wetter, inviting you to kiss. You feel his knuckle lightly caressing the skin on your back as he reclines against the tub.

"If you weren't chocolate, I'd still eat you," he gives you an unexpected answer.

"Oh, I'd love for you to eat me," you tell him, melting into his hold and burying your face in his neck.

It doesn't take a genius to know that it's not the temperature that caused you to feel hot all over, it's him.

-

YOU: I want to pounce on him but I want to feel him out and see how far I can push him [smirks]

-

"Oh."

"Mmh..."

"Is this how we're going to do it?"

You make all those noises as he cuffs your hands together and puts them above your head, making you unable to move.

"Yes, 'cause you're a bad girl," he keeps pining your hands above your head, not letting it go.

"Mmh... okay," you delightfully sigh, not minding it at all.

Jeongin reaches for the tray of sex toys and picks one to use on you. He lays on his side and taunts you with the thing he holds in his hand.

"Try not to laugh," he dares you.

"Okay," you nod at him while keeping your hands above your head.

Jeongin takes a moment to adore you and your heavenly body. The matching silk underwear you're wearing does nothing but make his head close to short-circuit.

He uses the feather tickler he chose to touch you. He starts from your neck, running it down the column of your neck and down to your chest.

You let out low giggles as he drags it across your chest, you manage to maintain eye contact with him as he brings it down to your abdomen, tickling the sensitive skin around your belly button.

"Oh..." you breathlessly moan with your hips held mid-air.

Starting to enjoy what he's doing to you, Jeongin drags the tickler down your legs, slowly rubbing it up and down your inner thighs.

"Mmh..." you moan again with your chest heaving and your legs shut.

"What if I use my hands?" He asks.

"Mmh, yes, please," you eagerly answer, repeatedly bobbing your head at him.

Jeongin doesn't bother to put it back where it belongs, he throws it onto the floor and impatiently uses his hand to touch you.

"Ah..." you lowly gasp as he wraps his hand around your neck.

He intensely stares into your eyes as he swipes his thumb across your lips and pulls the lower lip down. He feels tempted to kiss you so he leans in and you reflexively close your eyes only for him to kiss you on your eyelid.

Before you can open your eyes, he kisses the other one and places another kiss on the skin behind your ear, making you softly gasp again.

As he keeps kissing your neck, his hand continues its exploration down the curves of your body and eventually lands on your thighs.

He touches you there, caressing the skin with his knuckle, and drags it close enough to where you want him the most, making you shut your legs together and clamping his hand in between.

Even with all these teasings, you manage to keep your hands there just as he asked. Seeing that you're all hot and flustered, he takes your hands down and takes the handcuffs off.

"Did I pass the good girl test?" You jokingly ask.

"Flying colors," he shortly replies.

-

JEONGIN: Teasing her makes me horny [exhales air] I hope none of us fold tonight.

-

"This is how we should do it," you say as you sit straddling him on the bed.

Jeongin lays back on the bed, stacking his hands behind his head and enjoying the view, silently lusting over your body.

"You on top?"

"Uh-huh," you say, coyly taking a sip of your wine.

"Do you have any problems with that?" You ask once you swallowed your drink.

He purses his lips and shakes his head. He then places his hand on your thigh and glides it up to your waist, "I have no problems with that."

At once, he gets up from the bed and catches your body by wrapping his arms around you tightly.

That little maneuver sends your wine spills down your chest and you grumble at him, "Look what you did!"

It's a problem that could be easily solved by wiping it but Jeongin chooses to tease you more by burying his face in between your breasts to lick the droplets with his hot tongue.

You're giggling at how ticklish it feels and at the same time, feeling so aroused inside. You drain your wine empty and get help from him to put the glass away for you.

This way, you can put all of your attention on him and tries not to fuck him.

You hold his face with both hands and lean in close enough until the tip of your noses meet in the middle.

"I want you so much," you shamelessly mutter with eyes closed.

He responds with a hot kiss on your cheek and makes a trail of kisses down the column of your neck while tightening the hold around you.

Without warning, he turns you over and has you pinned under him. He brings his mouth close to your ear, nibbling on your ear with his body pressed on top of you.

"This is how I want to do it," he whispers, then pulls the duvet to cover both of you.

-

YOU: Let's say... we didn't get much sleep last night [smirks]

-

Jeongin knows morning has come without having to see it.

He tries to get a few more minutes of sleep when you snuggle to him, pulling his arm open to rest your head on it and then kiss his cheek.

"Morning," you croak while putting your hand across his chest.

He tangles his hand in your hair, letting your soft hair slip between his fingers and making him feel at ease. You seem to have fallen back to sleep from how you lying still close to him.

Jeongin slightly opens his eyes to check and sees how adorable you look sleeping next to him, he can't help but kiss your forehead as his fingers continuously play with your hair.

"Let's not go back to the villa," you mumble at him.

He lets out a sleepy chuckle and holds the hand lying on his chest as he closes his eyes again, "Let's do that."

After a few minutes, you kick the duvet away and put your leg over his body, clinging to him like he is your lifesaver.

"Last night..." you start.

He stops playing with your hair to hear what you're going to say, "Yeah?"

"You made me feel good last night," you share with your sleepy eyes looking at him.

He lets out a breath of relief, happy with what he hears, and continues brushing your hair with his fingers.

"Last night was amazing," he agrees with you.

Despite the money, the rules, the group, and Lana, he didn't let anything ruin last night for him. He wanted to focus on you and he did exactly that last night.

-

JEONGIN: To be honest, money was the last thing that was on my mind last night.

-

Instead of dreading the time until you have to leave the suite, you choose to make the most of it.

After having breakfast without leaving the bed, you decide to have Jeongin spoil you one more time before your time in the suite is over.

You take off your bra and cup your breasts with your hands aware of all the cameras that may film you half-naked. Slowly, you lay down on your stomach and let yourself relax.

"Ooh..." you moan as Jeongin lathers massage oil on your back.

It always feels good having his hands on you, it doesn't matter what he's doing with them, touching, massaging, squeezing, pinching... you simply like seeing his hands on you.

He applies gentle pressures on the right places and you find yourself enjoying it, moaning in satisfaction as he works on your tensed muscles.

"You know your spots," you comment with your voice muffled by the pillow under you.

"Yeah, I'm generally quite good at finding the spots," he responds, sending you both into chuckles.

He drags his hands to your shoulders and starts massaging you there.

"One spot in particular, I'm pretty good at finding," he adds.

You turn your head to the side to say, "I trust you on that."

As much as you want to stay in the suite with him, the good time has come to an end.

A little before leaving the suite, you both make a plan about how you're going to deliver the news to the group and after that, you both get changed and finally leave the suite.

"Thank you for a great night, Lana!" You say to the nearest camera you can find and blow a kiss.

You're carrying the sweet memories of last night with you and walking hand-in-hand to the cabana. You can see that everyone is already there and probably, anticipating your arrival.

"Remember the plan!" You remind him.

-

YOU: Just know that... we owe Lana so much after last night [smiles]

-

Jeongin is not even there yet but he can feel everyone's stare on him.

As he's about to step into the cabana, he puts on a calm yet serious face as planned. He sits on the empty sofa that is meant for him and you.

All the eyes are on both of you as you sit next to each other and he keeps holding your hand on his lap.

"How was last night?" Francoise asks, being the first to break the deafening silence.

Then Linda joins in, "What happened?

Jeongin glances your way and he gets the cue from how you deliberately blink your eyes at him, letting him answer it for both of you.

"We uh... we couldn't successfully complete," he answers, not forgetting to look devastated as he says it.

Justine rakes his blonde hair to the back and groans, "Shit man..."

"You had one job!" Mick aggressively tells him

Kurt slumps down on the sofa then leers at him, "There was so much at stake, the money, our respect, your own respect," he says with brows knitted and forehead wrinkled.

All kinds of disappointed remarks are being thrown around the room while you and Jeongin can only look at each other with a knowing look on your faces, things are going exactly as planned.

"Are you being serious or not?" Courtney asks in such distress.

You both exchange another knowing look and this time, he lets you have the fun. You keep your serious face then turn your head to face them.

"Hell no! We're not!" You shout out loud.

It takes a moment for everyone to try and process the information, then again, everyone believes nothing until they hear it from Lana herself.

Thankfully, she comes at the right time and it's the first time you feel relaxed facing Lana knowing that you did not break any rules.

As expected, she calls for both of your names right after she chimes.

"Last night, you faced the ultimate test in the suite."

You look at Jeongin and he looks calm as well, unlike last night when Lana revealed the rule breaks.

"I can confirm that..."

For a robot, Lana knows how to build suspense. Everyone is holding their breath to hear the rest of the announcement.

"...no rules were broken."

Now everyone can wholeheartedly celebrate the two of you not having sex in the suite and you get overwhelmed by all the hugs you get from everyone.

"The prize fund now stands at $122,000," Lana informs.

"We love to hear it!" Courtney exclaims in excitement.

-

JEONGIN: It feels so good to achieve this together and we have proved to everybody that we indeed have a genuine connection.

-

At first, you doubt Lana's way of bringing you closer together by putting you and him alone in the private suite. Spending the night with him without being physical was rather hard, but it indeed helped you grow a deeper connection with him.

One thing that you feel differently now is that you're more sure of your feelings towards him. Frankly, you initially thought you were just physically attracted to him but now you know that you you genuinely like him.

For the first time in years, you want something more than just a fling with him.

"Am I doing it right?" Jeongin asks, holding the hair straightener away from your head to avoid accidents.

He offered his help to help you straighten your hair for tonight and of course, you let him do it for you, you wouldn't skip the chance to get spoiled by him.

"Yep, keep going, babe," you encourage.

Without having to look, you know everyone else in the room is jealous of what you both have. Bianca in particular can't help herself smiling at the sight of you two.

"You guys are so cute," she says while putting some colors to her cheeks.

You smile in response to her but you see Jeongin is concentrating hard on straightening your hair and not burning your scalp in the process.

As usual, you let Jeongin have his space while you, Francoise, Linda, and Justine choose the terrace as a place to hang out and talk.

"Do you feel like you connected with Jeongin even more?" Francoise suddenly asks out of the blue, probably wondering how things significantly changed after that night in the private suite.

"Definitely," you shortly answer, "I do feel like it brought us closer together."

Francoise stifles a no as if it's a hard thing to comprehend how being left alone in a private suite without having sex brings two people closer.

"Really?"

"I don't know why but it feels different," you vaguely explain.

"But I can see that you guys progressed a lot together," Justine says.

It's the first time you see her being genuinely nice to you that you get taken aback by it. Maybe she's not as bad as you think, so you smile and sincerely mutter, "Thanks."

Francoise clinks her glass with yours and says, "Bravo to you, girl!"

Bravo to you indeed for being brave and letting your guard down, allowing you to experience this feeling again, it's scary yet so exciting.

-

YOU: I really like him [smiles] and I haven't liked someone like this in so long so I hope that he feels the same way too.

-

Jeongin doesn't see you for the rest of the night until it's bedtime. Funny that he misses you even though you're always around him, it seems like staying in a villa with you isn't enough for him.

You're already in bed when he gets there, talking to Courtney on the next bed while playing with the cushion on your lap.

He removes the cushion and replaces it with his head, resting it on your lap. Without breaking the conversation you're having with Courtney, you slip your hand into his hair and softly scratch his scalp with your fingertips.

It's nice and calming, this moment and just the entirety of the day. It's probably one of the best days he's ever had here in the retreat.

He can feel himself getting drowsy but he keeps his eyes open, looking around the room since the lights are still on. Everything is going so well, everyone is—

It suddenly turns quiet in the bedroom and he wonders why. He looks up at you to find out, then you turn his head in the direction of Damon's bed.

Damon and Bianca huddle their heads together, it seems like he's talking privately to her and she's nodding to whatever it is he's saying.

There's nothing wrong with it until Damon gets up from his bed and gets onto the bed next to his which is Justine's bed. It turns eerily quiet in the room as every one notices what is happening at this moment: Damon has just jumped ship right in front of everyone.

All eyes are on those two beds, one bed is of Bianca trying to keep a straight face and the other bed is of Justine not hesitating to cuddle Damon right next to Bianca.

It comes as a shock to everyone since Damon and Bianca have been together since day one and they've been through a lot as a couple so everyone assumed that things are going well with them.

Apparently, things are not what they seem.

-

JEONGIN: I do not see this coming. How long has this been going on?

-

Everyone has woken up from their sleep but no one says anything, not even a sleepy morning greeting from Kurt.

"This is awkward," Jeongin lowly mutters to you.

It is awkward but you can't avoid it too since it all happened when everyone was in the room. Your eyes are glancing around the room, seeking any sort of signs from anyone or just anything, anything but this suffocating silence.

"How do you feel, Bianca?" Courtney's question cuts through the building tension in the room.

Bianca avoids looking at anyone, especially the two people on the next bed. She pouts and nervously picks at her nails.

"I don't know how to feel if I'm being honest," she weakly answers, "I just... at this point, I just want to get through the day."

Courtney lets out a sigh, she seems to have a lot to say to Damon but at the same time, she keeps biting her tongue. Eventually, she stops holding herself back and lets it all out, "Damon, you can't just jump into the bed and say 'I'm sleeping with Justine tonight' then jump out. That's foul," she tells him.

"Yeah, you could have explained it a bit more," Linda adds, keeping her tone soft.

Instead of Damon, Justine is the one speaking up. She sits on the bed and puts a hand on Damon's lap.

"It's not like we break a bunch of rules, okay? I've been through the same thing and no one gave a fuck when it happened to me," Justine defends herself.

You feel slightly called out for that since you've been through a similar situation and it's true, no one said anything when Jeongin chose to sleep with you.

Then again, they're not seeking an answer from her, they want an answer from the guy who's in the middle of this whirlwind.

"Damon?" Courtney demands his answer.

Damon scratches his chin and then innocently answers, "I'm good."

This situation may be similar to yours but now you see that it's not the same, the number one difference Jeongin is not a prick. Damon could have used the opportunity to sincerely apologize to Bianca but he shrugs it all away.

"What?" Courtney can't believe what he just heard.

You can feel her stress from looking at the way her chest heaves as she keeps inhaling air but as much as she tries to calm herself down, she can't stop.

"Talk to her. Communicate with her. You can't just tell her that a moment before you jump ship. Be a real man!" Courtney scolds her while everyone else can only watch it unfold.

"Would it kill you to try and be sensitive?"

Damon with his half-shut eyes is unfazed by Courtney's words, "I personally didn't feel like I was leading anyone on. I didn't think it was going to be this dramatic," he coyly says.

Even Mick who is always vocal about everything seems at a loss for words, he opens his mouth and then closes it again, deciding not to say anything. However, from this exchange, everyone knows what kind of guy Damon really is.

The silence resides in the room again and you rest your head against Jeongin's shoulder to seek comfort against the animosity that fills the air.

Lana's chime breaks the tension in the room and for the first time, you feel thankful that she comes.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Morning, Lana," you reply to her while clinging to Jeongin's arm.

"Damon and Justine, it is up to you to prove that your relationship is more than just skin deep," Lana directly assesses the matter of the moment.

"But it is encouraging to see the couples continuing to develop and grow as couples."

Oh, hearing that makes your heart flutter because it means that Lana sees the growth in you and Jeongin as a couple. You look at Jeongin and smile at him, feeling proud of what you both have achieved together.

"Keep focused as new tests are on the horizon."

Then you hear the word 'test' and you immediately feel a little traumatized, everyone knows that Lana's tests are not something you can take lightly.

Especially after seeing what happened between Bianca, Damon, and Justine, you never know what's going to happen.

-

YOU: I'm happy with Jeongin and things are going well. There's this fear that he's going to bring the old him out. Honestly, I just hope he's fully committed to me.

-

After a very tense morning, Jeongin couldn't be happier to get out of the villa and take his mind off things by working out.

He takes a long shower as he's not ready to engage in any human interactions yet and spends a long time in the bathroom afterward.

"Hey, gorgeous," you beam as you enter the bathroom.

It's a good thing that the first human interaction he's having of the day is with you. He smiles as you place a sweet kiss on his cheek.

"You smell good," you softly mutter.

Jeongin returns the compliment with a kiss and a gentle pat on your head afterward.

"Lana wants everyone in the cabana," you inform him.

Lana doesn't give anyone a minute to recover from the dramatic morning. He lets out a sigh and puts his things back inside the drawer.

"What now?"

You place your hand on his back and look at him through the mirror, "I don't know but please be good news," you say.

It sounds naive coming from you when Lana had put you two on the hot seat a handful of times. It may be going to be good news but Jeongin wouldn't be so hopeful.

In the cabana, everyone has been restlessly waiting for Lana to come online but mostly, hoping that she brings good news this time.

"My belly is turning," you cutely say to him while nuzzling your head into the crook of his neck.

He puts his hand in your hand, softly scratching your scalp to help you relax.

Not long after, the cone finally chimes, "Hello, everyone."

"Hello, Lana!" Everyone replies at the same time.

"Today, we will find out if you have what it takes to thrive in the outside world. I want to see how you cope when put under pressure," Lana shares.

He's not really in the mood to be tested but he has nothing against Lana, she is the ruler of this retreat after all.

"Being able to survive adversity will indicate that you have what it takes to last. Buckle under it and perhaps you are not as good a fit as you think."

It sounds like something he once heard before but he could be wrong.

"Therefore, I have invited two new guests to the retreat and they have selected one person each to take on a date," Lana announces.

So Jeongin is right. Lana brings another new guests to the house and they get to pick anyone on a date. The only difference is that he's not only worried for himself, he's also worried for you.

"The new guests are arriving by boat, you must now head to the beach to greet them."

-

JEONGIN: I'm excited to see this but if somebody takes her on a date, I will be fuming.

-

Everyone complies without saying anything, heading to the beach per Lana's instruction to welcome the new guests. After about a few minutes of waiting by the shore, Kurt notices the boat coming into sight and everyone starts hollering.

There's always going to be a twist and you're feeling nervous as to what sinister plan Lana is cooking this time.

When the boat finally stops, everyone suddenly turns quiet and puts all of their attention on the two people coming down from the boat. One is a tall guy with tattoos all over his chest and the other is a girl with long dark hair and a pair of stunning light brown eyes.

"Hi, everyone," The girl says with a raspy voice, "We come to fuck shit up!"

You know she meant it as a joke but it takes one to know one, this girl is going to be a problem.

"Welcome!" Courtney says in excitement with her eyes locked on the male.

"Welcome, guys!" Linda adds, fully delighted by their arrival.

As someone who has been the new girl in the retreat, you came here all hot and ready, and these new arrivals won't be much different too. You know they won't hesitate to go after someone they like just like you did and you worry that Jeongin's head will turn, again.

The new arrivals start introducing themselves to the group and then come up to everyone, giving friendly hugs and handshakes. You intently watch Jeongin's reaction to the presence of the new girl, Anne and he looks rather calm.

When it comes to your turn, this new guy gives you a quick cheek-to-cheek kiss and makes you feel a little taken aback.

"I'm Paul," he introduces his name with a bright smile.

"Oh, hello, Paul," you politely say in response to his enthusiasm.

He stares at you for a moment before taking a few steps back to see everyone with the new girl standing next to him.

"You guys look amazing," Paul says once again but his eyes are never straying away from yours.

"I don't know if you guys know but I've selected someone to go on a date with me," Anne says.

"No, we know," Bianca says, sounding excited since she recently became single.

Anne's eyes are glancing between the boys and your heart feels like it's about to jump out of your chest when her eyes hover in the direction of the guy standing next to you.

"I chose..."

If she picks Jeongin, just know that you and she won't be good friends in this retreat.

"Keith," Anne has made her pick.

And you feel like letting out a big sigh of relief, instead, you flash a smile at Anne for making the right choice.

"And I picked..." Paul takes his turn to pick now.

When you look back, you see the other girls putting their best smiles on and hoping to get picked by him for the date.

Paul is stalling by looking at everyone, especially the girls and you don't want to get ahead of yourself here but his eyes keep glancing your way.

You look away and pretend to not care, you hold Jeongin's arm by the elbow to let him know that you're with him so he better pick someone else.

Then Paul calls your name and you know you said there's going to be a twist but what you didn't know is that this will be the twist.

-

YOU: On second thought, I'm more worried for myself [laughs] But I hope this kicks Jeongin into gear, I need him to open up to me emotionally.

-

Maybe it's what people call karma because Jeongin has been in your position before and now he gets to feel being on the opposite side of things. He wouldn't be surprised if Justine is silently laughing at his pain now.

The boys are assembling in the firepit and Jeongin is half-heartedly listening to them talking, he can't help but think about you and the possibilities that may come after that date. What happens if your head turns? What happens if you decide not to be with him anymore? What is he going to do? What he knows for sure is he's going to hate it if you choose to be with this new guy.

The boys suddenly burst out with excitement and Jeongin notices that Keith has come back from the date, carrying the new girl in his arms. She chooses to sit next to him as the boys start asking so many questions to her but as much as he wants to be distracted, he just can't seem to stop thinking about you and whether you think about him too when you're on a date with another guy.

Lou elbows him on the side, snapping him away from his head, "They're here," he says.

"Huh?" He's been too oblivious to his surroundings to notice anything.

Lou gestures his head in the direction of the terrace and Jeongin turns his head to see you have returned from the date as well. Instead of feeling relieved, he feels even more nervous after you come back.

A moment later, he sees you're making your way to the firepit, already changed into a dress and you wave your hand once you notice him looking.

Jeongin unconsciously lets out a chuckle, "That little wave," he mutters.

When you arrive at the firepit, you smile at everyone and say, "Can I borrow my man for a minute?"

Damon fixes his shirt and then gets up from the sofa, "Yes, of course," he jokingly says.

While everyone is laughing at that, Jeongin gets up from the sofa and gently pushes Damon back until he plops onto the sofa again.

He ignores all the coos from the boys and takes you by the hand to get somewhere private to talk. He chooses the beach and it somehow brings back the memory of how you both had your first kiss here.

"Hey, how's your night going?" You ask with a sly smile.

Jeongin smiles back at you and coyly replies, "It's alright."

He doesn't know how to talk about it without being so forthright but he needs to know as soon as possible.

"So, how was the date?"

You tuck away a strand of hair behind your head, "It was nice. Paul is nice and the date went well," you answer.

The answer doesn't quite satisfy him and you seem to notice that from his facial expression.

"He is my type, you know," you tell him.

The smile on his vanishes in a second and Jeongin can no longer pretend that he's fine hearing that.

"But all the time I was on that date, I kept thinking of you," you immediately add with a bright smile.

He doesn't know why but he lets out a snort, but thankfully, you're laughing in response to that. Then you place your hand on his knee, playing with the lint on his ripped jeans.

"Going on that date made me realize how much I like you," you honestly admit.

This time, Jeongin can't stop himself from smiling and his hand goes to his ear, he can sense that it's reddening.

"You're the one I want," you further confess, "Ever since I saw a photo of you that day, I just knew you're the one I want."

You seem nervous from the way your hand keeps looking for something to fiddle with and this time is the hem of his shirt, it only tells him that you meant every word you said.

"I feel comfortable around you. Way too comfortable that I burped in front of you three times this morning," you add a crisp laugh at the end of the sentence.

Then you look at him with your eyes wide and open, glimmering under the starry night. You keep looking at him as you seek a response from him.

Jeongin doesn't know how to open up emotionally because he's never done this before. He never stayed in a relationship long enough to get to that.

"I like you too," he mutters at you.

If there's one thing that he knows for sure about this is that he likes you, he feels a connection with you and with time, the connection only grows deeper.

You immediately squeal hearing his answer and throw your arms around him, then rest your head on his shoulder.

"I didn't think you liked me that much," you whine with an adorable pout while putting your hand across his chest.

"I do," he affirms, putting his arm around you and pulling you closer.

You tilt your head to smile at him then place a soft kiss on his cheek before nuzzling your head in his neck again.

The truth is, it's difficult for Jeongin to get his emotions across because he usually jumps ship when he starts feeling emotions.

-

JEONGIN: I'm feeling relieved and ready to move forward with her but commitment... [exhales] it just kind of scares me.

-

Today, you woke up feeling exceptionally good and you believe it's because of last night. You finally got an affirmation from Jeongin that he feels the same way about you.

There's nothing more bountiful than having your feelings reciprocated.

"Morning," you croak.

Jeongin looks so cute with his morning look of bare face with blushed cheeks. He stretches his arm out and then rests it around you so he can play with your hair after.

"How was your sleep?" You ask.

"Good," he answers with his deep, morning voice.

"Did you dream of me?" You jokingly ask while nuzzling his cheek with your nose.

Jeongin only responds with a light chuckle and then rubs the sleep off his eyes. You share a few cuddles until the lights are on and everyone starts to rise on their beds.

"Good morning, fam!" Keith cheerily greets which is very unusual of him.

You believe it's because he's sharing the bed with the new girl, Anne and you wouldn't be surprised if they broke rules already.

"Do you have anything to confess, Keith?" Mick asks, noticing that he's quite chipper this morning.

Keith scrunches his nose and then glances at Anne, he seems to be considering whether to fess up or not.

"Actually, yeah..." he meekly admits, "Anne and I kissed on the date.

"I guessed right," Mick mumbles. His reaction is underwhelming compared to his reactions to the previous rule breaks.

Well, it seems like that girl shouldn't be your concern anymore. Also, Jeongin said he likes you so anything else doesn't matter to you anymore.

You turn your head to look at Jeongin and the sight of his blushed cheeks triggers a cute aggression out of you that you can't help but kiss him on the cheek again.

-

YOU: I've never felt so comfortable being myself around a guy before so this feels like paradise.

-

Jeongin feels like he's having a deja vu with this new girl who keeps making eyes at him.

He tries not to entertain that idea and decides to put all of his focus on you, especially after the talk you both had last night.

Just like the universe wants to test him, he keeps bumping into this new girl. She comes into the bathroom when he's brushing her teeth and Jeongin has to share the sink with her. Even without words, Jeongin can tell what she wants from the way she keeps making these eyes at him. He hurriedly finishes and then leaves the room.

After breakfast, Jeongin chooses to sunbathe by lying on one of the sun loungers by the pool, and again, the new girl decides to also do the same.

"Hey," she greets him.

Jeongin only nods in response and looks straight ahead. Thankfully, Keith comes and he takes this as a sign to exit this situation.

He ends up hanging out in the bedroom by himself until you come with your hair still damp. You seem to be surprised to see him there.

"Hey, cutie," you softly say, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey," he replies with a thin smile.

"I've been looking for you," you tell him with a pout, then climb onto the bed.

You put away the cushion to sit close to him on the bed and take his arm, putting it around you so you can rest your head on his chest.

"Have you decided what kind of chocolate would I be?" You playfully ask.

Jeongin lets out a low chuckle, "I need more time for that."

You place a gentle kiss on his neck then nestle your head in the crook of his neck, staying like that for a moment just cuddling on your shared bed.

"I miss you," you suddenly blurt out.

You take his hand and intertwine it together with yours, "I even miss you in my sleep," you murmur.

"Yeah?" He softly asks, watching how your thumb caresses the back of his hand.

"I just want to be with you all the time," you sweetly say with your warm breath fanning his neck.

Jeongin smiles at that and don't get him wrong, hearing that makes him happy but he doesn't know how to respond to that. He only feels bad for not being able to say the same thing to you.

You lowly inhale air and bring your hands to his chest, putting it close to his heart, "I really feel like we're going to be something after this," you tell him.

Not getting an answer from him, you tilt your head to look at him and ask, "What do you think?"

And honestly, Jeongin has no answer for that but still, he smiles for you because that's the only way he can put you at ease.

-

JEONGIN: It's great that she opened up to me but at the same time, it's very scary and now, she's talking like we're going to get married. I'm honestly freaking out because I usually run to the next thing.

-

To welcome the new arrivals, Lana is throwing a party in the villa tonight.

It's about time Lana lets us blow some steam off. The staff provides a selection of costumes for everyone to wear and you pick one with a white sheer bodysuit with feathered wings.

You're so excited to have some fun tonight and have a lot more fun with Jeongin, maybe you can tease him a little bit tonight.

Everyone starts the party with a big toast and you take a big gulp to get you revved up.

Jeongin doesn't seem to be in the mood tonight so instead of forcing him to dance with you, you keep him close by putting his arms around you as you sway your body to the fast tempo of the music.

Then he brings his mouth close to your ear and whispers it loud enough against the blasting music, "Can we get somewhere private?"

You slyly smile at him, thinking that he has the same thing in mind. You nod instead of answering, letting him guide you to the terrace where you can hear each other.

"You okay?" You ask as you sit on the wooden chair.

"Yeah, I'm good," he answers with a smile, "Just wanted to have a chat with you."

"Oh, yeah?" You nervously ask because he chooses this time, in the middle of a party, to talk to you.

"I feel like we haven't spoken about things and you've probably noticed I've been like quiet, a bit not myself," he tells you.

If there's anything you learned from the time you've spent with Jeongin is that he likes being alone, in a way that he needs time for himself and you always respect those boundaries, you only come to him when you feel welcome to. Lately, he's indeed been quiet and you thought that's just his usual self.

Now that he makes it clear, you start to get nervous about what he wants to say to you.

"Um... I was having..." He clears his throat while his fingers are playing with the rings on his fingers, "just having doubts about this."

It feels like your heart just dropped into your stomach and you feel sick, you feel faint. Yet you keep a calm face and intently listen to what he has to say to you.

"I'm retracting from you and I don't mean to, I do it automatically. It happens all the time. It's just... me," He explains, pointing at himself when he says the last word.

"Ehm... it's the classic yeah, it's not you, it's me," you jokingly say with a weak laugh.

"Yeah," Jeongin meekly responds.

Hearing this has taken you aback, you didn't expect him to feel this way with how well things are going between you and him, and honestly, you feel mugged off.

"It's quite a shock to know how you're feeling. I had no idea you were feeling this way," you manage to deliver a full sentence even though you're on the verge of tears and your voice is trembling.

"Like I said, it's my problem. I don't want to keep this thing going if I think I'm going to hurt you or the other way around," he explains.

But you don't see how that makes sense especially after you told him how you really feel about him.

"Why would I hurt you? You know how I feel about you. Isn't it obvious enough? I'm so into you," you tell him again, just in case he needs reassurance.

"I don't understand why you're not scared, you're like, so calm about this," he says in disbelief while nervously touching his ear.

"Because I know within myself that I like you and I decide to go with it," You stare into his eyes as you talk to him, "If I was to back away from my feelings and act how you're acting, then how's that going to be of any benefit to either of us?"

You let that sink into him for a moment before continuing to talk, "And you.. You're just doing what you usually do. As soon as you get feelings for someone, you jump ship."

Jeongin seems to feel offended by it that his eyebrow perks up and he stops touching his ear, "Out there, I wouldn't even try to have this conversation, I just leave," he makes a weak argument to defend himself.

"But I want to have this conversation and let you know what I truly feel about all this but I'm trying to work through them. Just want to be honest with you," he tells you his real intentions on why you both are having this conversation.

What you can draw from this is that he's struggling with his old self and not ready to leave the retreat as a different man who's not afraid to commit. As much as you want this to work, you don't want to force him to do anything he doesn't want.

"You know it's all in your head, right?" You ask, making sure that he's scaring things that he makes up in his head.

Jeongin stays silent, he's clasping his hands together in front of him and playing with his rings again.

You take a low breath and try to be patient, you're willing to give him more time and space to think about it. You place a hand on his knee and do not start talking until he looks at you.

"Just know that I'm here for you no matter what and I really, really like you. I'm excited for our future together. I really am," you sincerely tell him, hoping that he can see how genuine your feelings for him are even though telling him that makes your heart aches.

-

YOU: I may put a brave face on but I'm genuinely upset. This is exactly why I don't put my guard down because I always end up being the one hurting [sniffles]

-

Just like the night couldn't be anymore suck, Lana abruptly stops the party and calls everyone to the cabana.

You still need time to recover from what you just heard from Jeongin and now you have to hear Lana too? You slump on the sofa in between Linda and Kurt.

"Why are we here?" Courtney asks.

"It must be about Keith's rule break right?" Kurt asks around while turning his head side-to-side.

You can't be bothered with how much money have lost to a kiss, you don't care even if someone drained the prize money to zero.

Lana chimes and skips her usual greeting, "We all know Keith and Anne broke a rule last night."

Keith holds both hands up in the air in defeat and apologizes again, "I'm sorry, everyone."

"This rule break has cost the group $6,000," Lana immediately announces.

"Well, that's it right?" Linda innocently asks.

"But that's not the only reason for summoning you all," Lana is not letting anyone breathe yet, "There's another rule break."

From the way you keep a bitter expression on your face and sitting far away from Jeongin, everyone knows something is going on and that's enough to tell them that you're not the ones breaking the rules.

The suspicion is on the recently became partners, Damon and Justine. With all the glares they get from everyone, they fold almost immediately.

"Yeah, okay, we kissed," Damon blatantly admits, always taking everything lightly.

"Another $6,000 has been deducted from the prize fund." Everyone groans in response because not only Damon has messed up the group's dynamic, but he seems to not care about everything, not even Lana.

"The prize fund now stands at $110,000," Lana updates.

Everyone gets up from their seats thinking that's the end of it when Lana speaks again.

"That's not all."

"Oh, no," Linda weakly gasps next to you.

"I observed that some of you were not rising to the level that I expect at this stage of my retreat."

Not going to lie, this time you feel groggy not knowing what Lana going to announce next.

"There are two people in particular who are clearly falling short of their potential and I'm about to send them home."

Kurt slaps his forehead and reclines on the sofa as he sighs, "This is fucked up."

Given the situation of the relationship, it's possible that either you or Jeongin could go home tonight for not being able to show the growth that Lana wanted.

"The guests leaving the retreat are..."

You regret it now for not sitting next to him because it probably would be the last time you are able to.

"...Damon and Justine."

"Fuck off," Francoise lowly curses and massages her temple in distress.

Linda grabs your hand in reflex, "I'm in shock."

You let out a shaky breath of relief after hearing the names and they're not yours. As much as you hate being in this situation, you want to get to the end of this retreat, moreover, you're not ready to part with Jeongin yet.

"Damon and Justine, you must now leave my retreat."

You follow everyone else, getting up from the sofa to bid farewell to both Justine and Damon. You give each one of them a quick hug and well wishes.

"Goodbye," Lana closes the session.

"Goodbye, Lana," Justine says for the last time, blowing a kiss at the cone sitting on the table.

-

YOU: Justine is just trying to fill a void with Damon and that's not the kind of growth Lana is looking for so can't say I'm surprised [shrugs]

-

Jeongin feels bad now for choosing the wrong time to tell you about his doubts. He's not ready to face you without feeling guilty so he ends up just wasting time in the bathroom after a quick shower.

He reminds himself that it's with good intentions that he decided to tell you about it, he wants to be open and honest with you because you deserve nothing less than that.

But still, it feels like he's the bad guy here.

"Hi," a voice says.

Jeongin staggers against the sink to see who it is, it's the new girl, Anne.

"How are you?" She asks.

Thinking that she needs to use the sink, he hurriedly steps back and decides to sit on the edge of the tub, "Alright, I guess."

Instead of using it, Anne leans against the sink and crosses her arms together in front of her chest, "Uhm... so... where's your head at? Are you two good?"

It's obvious to everyone that something is going on between you and him. Jeongin doesn't want to confirm it and gives her the satisfaction of letting her know that.

"We're alright," he tells her.

"Are you going to marry each other?" She suddenly asks with a playful smile.

That gets Jeongin scratching his head because the question comes out of the blue, "Nah, no, I wouldn't say that. Marry is not—"

"Because you seem quite committed already," she cuts him off with a well-known fact.

Hearing that from someone else only confirms his fear of commitment and worsening it. He remains firm and chooses not to answer her.

"When I came to the retreat did anything change for you?"

Jeongin stifles a nod when he means to shake his head, an error on his behalf.

"Do you think you'll ever change?" Anne asks a rather profound question.

"I like to say yeah, but I still have a lot to go," he honestly answers because that's the truth, he has a lot to learn still but he's getting there.

"If I was here from the beginning who knows what would happen," Anne suddenly says with a flirty smile and eyes that intensely gaze into his.

Jeongin looks away to not let them affect him, "Might be different, yeah," he half-heartedly says.

Anne takes a towel from the pile on the shelf and puts it on her shoulder, "Do you like risk?"

He chuckles because the questions she asks him are rather random yet provoking.

"I think I am," he answers.

Anne puts her hand on the handle of the shower door, "Want to take a risk?"

Now that's not a question but a dare and it comes at the time when Jeongin has the least trust in himself.

Anne opens the shower door and lingers there as she asks, "Do you want to have a shower with me?"

-

JEONGIN: I'm having doubts about her then Anne came looking me straight in the eyes and asked me to join her in the shower [hisses] This is not what I need right now.

-

You can't remember anything from yesterday except for the painful part. You can't even remember what time Jeongin got onto the bed, all you knew it was late and you were already too drowsy to care.

You shift on the bed to see if he's already awake and see that his eyes are still closed, soundly sleeping with his lower lip slightly jutting out.

Today, you're going to give him what he wants, space and time to think but you're still going to be you who cares and adores him.

A while later, the lights are on and everyone is rising on their beds, yawning and stretching their arms out with eyes half shut.

You sit on the bed and tie your hair into a messy bun, taking your water tumbler to take a sip of water, catching Courtney getting up on the next bed.

"Good morning, Courtney baby," You cutely greet.

She groans as she hoists herself to sit on the bed and flips her hair to the back, "I feel like shit," she groans.

Jeongin shifts on the bed and your head turns to see if he's awake, "Morning," you softly mutter with a gentle ruffle on his tousled hair.

He smiles with his eyes closed and roughly brushes his hair to the back to get it away from his eyes.

"It's cute that your cheeks are flushed in the morning," you sweetly say, pressing the back of your hand to his cheek.

He takes your hand and holds it close to his chest as he closes his eyes again to get a few minutes of extra sleep.

This feels good, this feels nice and you wonder why Jeongin has doubts about it. He might have said it's him, yet you can't help but think that it's maybe you.

-

YOU: We've worked so hard on getting to know each other and growing this connection that it'd be stupid to throw it all away because he's having these doubts about us.

-

It's clear that a lot of people have progressed and Jeongin hopes that he has progressed too. However, he needs a bit more space and time to make sure that he makes the right decision.

"You good, mate?" Lou asks, derailing Jeongin's train of thought.

"I'm all right," he answers, "Just thinking out loud."

He then lets out a sigh and watches Lou takes a seat on the empty chair next to him while drying his body with a towel. He considers for a moment whether he wants to tell him about what happened to him last night and Lou seems trustworthy so...

"You're the first person I told about this but Anne came in when I was in the bathroom and she got very flirty and she asked me to get in the shower with her," he shares in one intake of breath.

Lou raises his eyebrow and then lets out a chuckle, a chuckle that says 'Here we go again'.

"Honestly man, I wanted to so badly cause I'm always chasing the next thing cause it's exciting. It's like... I'm never content," Jeongin doesn't know why he can openly share something like that with him but it feels good to get it off his chest.

Lou takes a moment to finish drying his hair, then hangs the wet towel behind his chair, "You know what? It's lonelier having someone different every night than it is having just that one consistent figure," he tells him.

He talks to him to try to lessen the weight on his chest but damn, he didn't expect Lou to be this wise, and maybe this is why he's comfortable sharing things with him.

"But it's easy," Jeongin meekly says.

"It's easy but lonelier," Lou corrects him.

That shut him up and Jeongin realizes that that's the reason why he's never content, because he never finds a consistent figure by his side.

"If you cut things off with her can you really leave the retreat and say that you've changed?" Lou asks.

"Probably not, no," Jeongin meekly answers.

That makes Jeongin think that all these things he's been going through in this retreat, would mean nothing if he left as the same person.

Lou takes a swig of his water tumbler and gasps when he swallows it, then allows himself to continue talking.

"In my opinion, you have a great thing with her, and very rarely does a connection like yours happen. You should be so content with her and if you're not, then you don't need to string her along any longer."

That's true, Jeongin should come up with a decision soon because he doesn't want to keep leading you on to nothing. But the fear of commitment, oh, he can't seem to shake it off.

-

JEONGIN: Last night, I said no to Anne and I think that shows how much I've grown but I'm still struggling to commit because I don't know whether it's going to work or not.

-

This is what Jeongin wants, space and time to think and you're merely giving him exactly that. You haven't seen him since you woke up next to him this morning.

You spend most of the morning with the girls, gossiping in the dressing room and it helps you get your mind off things, but only for a minute or two before you get reminded of how somber your situation is.

Out of nowhere, the cone chimes in the corner of the room. Francoise abruptly stops talking to hear what Lana is about to say.

"Ladies, please gather everyone in the cabana."

Without saying anything, everyone obeys Lana, going around to inform everyone while you and Courtney are heading straight there, telling anyone you meet on the way.

You're completely relaxed as you sit on the sofa facing the cone and you believe, no one is stupid enough to break rules when the retreat is nearing its end.

A thought crosses your head because what if someone did?

The cone chimes and lights up in the middle of the big wooden table.

"Hello, everyone."

"Hello, Lana!" Anne replies with her raspy voice as she sits next to you.

"I have an announcement," Lana informs.

An announcement so it's probably not a rule break, maybe this time it's good news.

"All romantic connections matter and must be nourished with time apart from the group. This is why I'm sending all partnered guests on a final date."

All the couples are cheering in response and you would have too if only you weren't upset about something. You glance toward Jeongin and notice that he looks not that delighted either.

Francoise and Kurt will be the first to go on a date, then Keith and Anne will go in the late afternoon, and you take the last turn with Jeongin which is later at night.

You have time to get ready but it's a date so you make the most of it with the reminder that this probably going to be the last date you'll ever have with him.

Jeongin is changing his clothes near his closet when you're doing your make-up, you turn to look at him and meekly ask.

"Are you excited for our dates?"

He probably doesn't hear your question because he doesn't say anything. You need any signs that he gets rid of his doubts but it seems like all that you're getting is the opposite of it.

You put on a red dress with thin straps and cinched around the waist, you let your hair down knowing he likes it that way.

"I look too good to get dumped tonight," you mutter as you see your reflection in the mirror.

Courtney must have caught you saying that, she hugs you from the back and puts her chin on your shoulder, "No, no one is getting dumped," she tells you with a gentle squeeze on your shoulder.

You can't seem to summon any good thoughts when your head is all over the place. Will we work out? Will we not work out? One thing for sure is you'll be gutted if it's not.

-

YOU: I've given Jeongin space and time. I've been patient. I've been supportive. But no matter how much I like him, this isn't a game and he can't just play with my feelings.

-

The date takes place in the front yard of the villa, the place usually being used for workshops but tonight, they turn it into a romantic dinner date with food and wine already served on the table.

The night, this date, it's all too nice for you to get dumped tonight.

Jeongin pops open the cork and fills your glass with red wine, the aphrodisiac smell wafting around you. You allow yourself to have a small sip as he fills his glass.

It's when the silence resides in the space between you and him, making you anxious.

"I appreciate you being patient with me and allowing me to come to certain decisions," Jeongin begins.

You nod and take another sip of wine, you really need it to help you relax.

"There is one thing that I have to tell you and it's better if you hear it from me than anyone else," he says.

You take your hand under the table to wipe your damp hand against the hem of your dress and have another sip of wine again, "Yeah?"

Jeongin is playing with the rings on his fingers again, he spins it around his finger as he hesitates to say something.

"There was an incident with uhm... Anne. She got a bit flirty with me last night and asked me to get in the shower with her."

If there's anything worse he can say to start the date, that is it. Being told that he almost showered with another girl is even worse than getting dumped.

"You probably gave her a reason to think you'd get in the shower with her," you tell her with your eyebrows knitted in displease.

He bites his lower lip and carefully picks his words, "Well, she's an attractive girl and I think we both can agree to that."

What makes him that her attractiveness can justify this? You glare at him to let your silence answer the question for him.

"No?" He asks with a nervous smile.

"That hurts my feelings to know that was happening behind my back," you let yourself have a go at it but keep your emotions under control.

"But I didn't—" he stops himself there, "Just want to be honest with you."

"Yeah and I appreciate your honesty but it's shit to hear," you tell him.

Feeling more pessimistic that this date will end on a nice note, you have some more wine.

-

YOU: Yeah, I do feel like being played right now.

-

Jeongin knows he shouldn't have said what he said so he tries again.

"With you, I didn't want to do the exact same thing like I always do and I always wanted to be honest with you, letting you know I was having doubts," he explains.

You keep yourself calm and give him the chance to explain himself, sipping your wine once in a while to keep your nerves in check.

"I couldn't figure things out in my own head until I had a bit of time to think," he adds.

"Yeah..." you mumble, playing with the stem of your wine glass.

"I think you are my best mate in here, I like cuddling with you, I'm comfortable around you and you're the only one I want to do dirty things with," he says with a low chuckle.

You smile at that even though your hands are shaking on your lap.

"And that's why I panic, 'cause it's like, you came in a situation I didn't expect. And I'm pretty sure you didn't expect this too," he says.

You lick your lips and gulp air, "Mmm-hmm."

You're quietly counting down the time until he says something you have expected him to say and by the time he says it, you'll be ready.

Jeongin inhales air and his eyes stare straight into your eyes, "And for once, I'm just going to go with my gut," he says.

You've seen this look, everything feels not right and that's that. It's time,

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

It takes a minute for you to process his words and when it registers to your head, you can't comprehend it still.

"What?"

He repeatedly nods at you, "Yeah."

"Are you serious?" You ask again just to be sure.

Jeongin is amused with how in disbelief you are, "I'm genuinely asking you to be my girlfriend," he convinces you.

You feel a little faint so you hold out your hand at him, needing something to hold on to.

"I thought you were going to dump me," you whine at him.

He grabs your hand and holds it tightly, "No, you're the one I want."

-

YOU: I am... over the moon and for once, I'm just so speechless [smiles]

-

You both forget about the watches until they chime and turn green, allowing you to properly embrace each other.

Jeongin gets up from his chair and comes up to you, offering his hand to get you up. He wastes no time leaning in, showing you how much he craves your lips by kissing you so passionately.

He makes the most of the green light by kissing you until his lungs are screaming for oxygen, and he gasps for air the second he lets go.

With his hand tenderly holding your jaw, he allows himself to give you a quick peck on the lips, as soft as the sea breeze that blows your way.

"Oh, my God! We're boyfriend and girlfriend!" You squeal in disbelief.

He likes it whenever you squeal like that, it makes him feel the excitement you have for something.

"And we haven't even had sex," Jeongin jokingly adds.

"I know!" You say, resting your hands on his chest as he holds you close.

"What if the sex is shit?" You ask with eyes squinted.

"No, it won't be," he confidently answers.

Jeongin knows for sure sex with you would be anything but shit but if you need more convincing, you can trust him to not make that happen.

You both get back to your seats to continue with the date but keep your hands on each other on the table.

"The other night when you were cuddling me and saying nice things to me, I got a semi," he shares out of the blue.

You both burst out laughing at the same time and it feels nice to finally get rid of the doubts and worries that chained him lately, he can safely say that things are finally going well.

"What do you think after this retreat?" He curiously asks you.

"When I look at my future, I see you in there by my side," you answer.

You look so darn cute with a shy smile on your face, too bad that the watches are no longer green because he so badly wanted to kiss you.

He can see you in his future as well, by his side and looking this cute. Now that he's thinking about it, it makes him excited for his future with you.

"Well, I want you to be a part of my life," he tells you, "I want you to know everything about me, want you to meet my friends and family."

"I'd love that," you tell him with that adorable head tilt.

And the fond gaze you're giving him makes him flutter on the inside.

-

JEONGIN: I feel happy. I feel very happy... I do. And I think I've fallen in love with the girl but I haven't told her that yet so please shh... [hushes]

-

What he's going to miss the most of this retreat is waking up next to you. Not that it will never happen again in the near future, it's just that he knows it's going to feel somewhat different.

"Morning," you softly murmur with your hand across his chest.

And he's definitely going to miss this sleepy, affectionate morning greeting from you.

"Morning," he says back, then presses a kiss on the top of your head.

He tangles his hand in your soft locks, playing with it while you're both cuddling on the bed to wait until the lights are on.

When it's finally on, Kurt loudly shouts into the room and wakes everybody up, "Morning, everyone! It's the last day of the retreat!"

Jeongin puts his arm around you, pulling you close so you can rest your head on his shoulder. It's obvious to everyone in the room that you both are in love.

"So, how does it feel to wake up as a girlfriend?" Courtney asks you.

You let out a low chuckle and glance at him before answering, "It feels so good."

Courtney shifts her attention to him, demanding an answer from Jeongin next.

"It's nice to have more clarity," he honestly answers.

"Wish we had some privacy, actually," you add to his words while linking your arm around him.

Linda adorably coos at the two of you, "Oh, that's so cute."

You and him are not the only ones having the first day of a relationship, Francoise and Kurt also made it official on their date yesterday, except for Keith and Anne.

Well, not everyone can get their happy ending but Jeongin feels grateful to be one of the lucky ones.

"Good morning," Lana chimes for her morning greeting.

"Good morning, Lana!" Everyone replies in unison.

"Welcome to your final day in the retreat!"

"Oh, yeah!" Kurt cheers with his hand fisting the air.

Everyone is just as enthusiastic for today and Kurt represents everyone vocally for that, they're used to his peculiar antics.

"The winner or winners of the $110,000 prize has not been selected yet. Therefore, I encourage you all to use the remaining time to show me and your fellow guests why you deserve to win," Lana informs.

Jeongin almost forgot about the prize money, he even forgot that there's prize money to win in the first place. Oh well, he earns something more valuable than that so even if he didn't win it, he still gained a lot of things from this retreat.

Then he looks at you and feels like a winner already.

-

JEONGIN: It was only yesterday that I was having these doubts about her and now [exhales] I've gone a bit soft head in the head [grins]

-

Everyone is spending their last hours in the retreat soaking up the sun including you and him.

Under the shade of the three, you share a lounger with him, resting your back on his chest while he has his arms wrapped around you and enjoying the breathtaking view while cuddling.

Your fingers lightly rub the forearm resting on your stomach and for the first time you feel like things are going to be okay.

"Can't believe I'll be going home with a boyfriend," you delightfully sigh.

You turn your head to look at him, catching him smiling at your words. You take the hand resting on your waist and hold it, lacing it together with yours.

"I haven't been kind of so sure about someone ever but with you, I just allowed myself to let go," you tell him.

Jeongin tilts his head down to face you and he probably sees hearts in your eyes as you look at him. He places his hand in your hair, endearingly brushing it like he always does.

"I'm glad I took that chance. I just..." you pause to let out a sigh because it hurts in a good way to let your emotions out, "I feel really lucky."

He smiles again and draws you closer to him, holding you tightly like you would float away if he didn't.

"How about you stay with me for a while?" He suddenly asks.

You lift your head in response to an unexpected offer, "Do you want me to?"

"Of course, I told you I want you to meet my family and friends," he answers.

He puts your hair to the side and holds it there, "And obviously, I want to spend more time with you."

You melt into his arms again as you imagine what it would be like to know him more and be a bigger part of his life, also can't help to think about being with him.

All these times, you've been casually dating someone knowing that they'll leave at some point but now, finally having that someone who will always be there for you makes you realize that this is what you've been looking for all along.

"And we'll finally be alone together," you sigh in content.

"And do dirty things with you," Jeongin continues with a sly smirk that makes his dimples appear on his cheek.

You bury your head in his neck, suddenly feeling a little worked up just thinking of doing dirty things with him.

"Mmh, can't wait for it," you hum close to his ear.

Jeongin lets his hand wander down to the nape of your neck and then trails the side of your body only to squeeze on the flesh of your waist. You can hear his low breathing as he feels you under his touch.

You look at him and let your hand touch his beautiful face, your fingers eventually swipe over his plump lips and that gets you tempted to kiss it.

"Mmh... want to kiss you," you whisper to him.

Not for the sake that your desire tells you to, you want to kiss him to show how much you like him.

Instead of saying no, Jeongin compensates for not being able to do it by placing a soft kiss on your nose. He holds you tightly as he lands another kiss on your forehead, longer than the previous, a kiss that makes your heart burst open, overflowing with love.

-

YOU: Before coming to this retreat, I didn't realize how lonely I was and how lonely I've been. It's only now that I feel like I'm not lonely and I feel like I've allowed myself to really love someone.

-

Everyone is here on the final day of the retreat and about to have, possibly, the last session with Lana in the cabana.

Looking around, he sees that everyone is very much relaxed, in contrast to the previous times they got called to the cabana, tensed and nervous.

Lana shortly chimes in and everyone gasps in delight.

"Hello, everyone."

"Hi, Lana!"

Even the replies are louder and more cheerful than usual. He feels your hand on his and then you place it on your lap, holding it with both hands.

"I have been collecting data since you arrived and have now conducted my final analysis."

"It's coming," Kurt says, rubbing in hands together in anticipation.

He looks around and everyone starts to get nervous again, a different kind where they anticipate getting their names called as one of the finalists.

"While I acknowledge you have all shown great progress, three people in particular stand out for the transformational journey they've been on and one of them will take home the prize."

He can't tell which one going to make it because so many of them have shown so much growth throughout the process so whoever wins, he knows that person deserves it.

"The first finalist is..."

This is the horrible part, just waiting for Lana to announce the names. Jeongin isn't that hopeful that he'll make it but he can't help but feel nervous as well.

"... Bianca"

Everyone gives her a round of applause as Lana makes her stand as a finalist.

"The second finalist is... Francoise."

Another round of applause is also given to Francoise who covers her mouth with both hands, still in disbelief that she got chosen as a finalist.

"The third finalist is..."

You squeeze his hand even harder than before as Lana is about to announce the last finalist.

"...Jeongin."

-

JEONGIN: A bit surprised but I'm so happy to know that my progress was recognized. I'm proud of myself.

-

The second you hear his name, you squeal out of reflex and press a kiss on his cheek, then you hurriedly wipe the lipstick mark as he has to get up as a finalist.

"That's my boy," you proudly queal behind him, watching him stand with the other two finalists and feeling proud of him.

"Bianca, Francoise, and Jeongin, one of you will be leaving the retreat with the prize fund," Lana says.

It's a win for you too despite Lana only calling his name. You both went through so much and you both grew from facing them together, especially him, you see how much he's changed.

"To the rest of you, while you have not been selected as finalists, you have been on a journey of self-discovery and growth. Throughout your time at the retreat, you have got to know your fellow guests deeply and meaningfully. The decision for who will win lies with all of you."

It would be nice for him to win the money too but even if he didn't, you'll still be proud that Jeongin shows so much growth that Lana thinks he deserves to be in that position.

"Bianca, Francoise, and Jeongin, please leave the cabana while the voting takes place."

Jeongin bends down to give you a quick hug before leaving with the other two to leave the cabana per Lana's instruction.

-

YOU: It's a no-brainer, my vote goes to my man [smiles]  Even though I didn't get to be with him from day one, I'm watching him leave as a man [whispers] which I helped to mold [chuckles]

-

Jeongin gets to see you for a bit before you have to leave for the beach for the final party in the retreat.

He gives you a tight hug and gives you a quick kiss on the neck, "I'll see you there."

You nod and return the kiss with a peck on the cheek, "Good luck," you say with a soft scratch on the nape of his neck.

Jeongin has to wait with Bianca and Francoise in the dressing until they get a cue from the staff.

"Wow! One of us is going to win that 110k!" Bianca says with a shocked smile.

"It could have been 200k," Francoise playfully adds.

Jeongin laughs, feeling called out because he took part in the money deduction.

"Oh, well..." he embarrassingly adds with a touch to his ear.

When it's time to go, Jeongin repeatedly takes deep breaths to keep calm and struts his way down to the beach with the cameras filming every move he makes.

Everyone is cheering when the three finalists enter the party but Jeongin just can't wait to be with you again. You smile as he sits next to you, immediately fixing the collar of his shirt for him.

"Looking like a million bucks," you praise with admiration in your eyes.

This is why he needs you, you know how to make him feel comfortable without trying too hard. You link your arm around him as Lana lights up in the center.

"Good evening, everyone," Lana opens.

"Good evening, Lana," you both reply at the same time with smiles on your faces.

"During your time at the retreat, you have broken my rules 16 times," Lana informs.

"Oopsie!" Francoise responds.

"Sorry, Lana," you adorably shout at the cone with a grin.

"However, over the course of your stay, I have observed you all commit to the process, acknowledge your failings, and show your significant change."

Jeongin is not that hopeful that he'd win the money but the closer he gets to the winner reveal, the more he can't calm down.

"The time has come to announce the winner of the $110,000 prize."

-

JEONGIN: Whatever happens, I had the best time of my life here and I've found a girl that I want to be with, and that's more than I could ask [smiles]

-

"Finalists, please stand up," Lana instructs.

Jeongin looks nervous so you give his hand a squeeze before he gets up from his seat and keeps holding it for a moment to let him know that you're there for him.

"Your fellow retreat guests have voted and I have the results. The person in third place is..."

Tension is building in the space as everyone is anticipating the result of who the winner is. On your lap, you have all of your fingers crossed for Jeongin.

"... Francoise."

Even though she ended up in third place, she deserves another round of applause for having the most growth out of everyone in the retreat.

"Thank you, guys," she sweetly says while blowing kisses to everyone.

"Bianca and Jeongin, one of you have been chosen to check out of the retreat with the prize fund."

Your chest is tightening and your heart is beating so fast that you can hear it in your ears.

"The person leaving with $110,000 is..."

It gets quiet in here except for the sound of the waves lapping in the background. You clasp your hands together on your lap waiting for Lana to call out the name of the winner but you can almost feel that Jeongin is going—

"... Bianca."

 -

YOU: I'm a little disappointed that Jeongin didn't win but I couldn't be happier for Bianca. She is the true winner [applauds]

-

Jeongin goes to Bianca to congratulate her first before coming up to you and embracing each other. He didn't win but he doesn't feel disappointed, not even a bit.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you," you mutter as you hold him tight and place a long kiss on his cheek.

He has so much to thank you and mostly for helping him become who he is today, a changed man.

"Thank you," he mutters to you with a kiss on your jaw.

You both join everyone as they celebrate Bianca's win, letting her pop open a bottle of champagne only to spray it at everyone.

He quickly shields you with his body and ends up getting his shirt stuck to his back while you're laughing into his chest.

Lana chimes once again to deliver one last announcement, "Your time at the retreat is over and the rules no longer apply."

Jeongin wastes no time to put his hands around your head and leans in, placing his lips on you. He tries to convey his gratitude with a slow, intimate kiss that successfully makes you sigh against his lips.

"I'm so thankful for you," he tells you because that's all he can say to you for now.

You coo and peck his lips, "And I'm thankful for you."

Jeongin kisses you again and this time, he lets himself go. He pours all of his feelings into the kiss, ignoring the celebration happening around him and even the fireworks that go off in the night sky, for Jeongin doesn't need anything else but you.

-

YOU: [Sighs] It's a happy ending!

JEONGIN: [Looks at you] Ready to have some chocolate Maltesers tonight?

YOU: [Squeals]

-

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[rosezza]

࿐ Cocaine and Roses

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

-r

warnings: dark!rafe, choking, age gap! reader is 19 and rafe is 28, strong language, use of drugs, violence, force

"get off me." Rafe sneered as he pushed you away from him. dipping his head back down to the table. sniffing up the remains of white substance he had even tho you didnt want him to, your opinion didnt matter to him when it came to his cocaine use.

"Rafe please– i dont like you doing that when im around.." you mumbled quietly, careful not to get on his nerves. "dont care." he sniffled as he wiped his nose, grabbing the small bag filled with white substance, ready to sniff more.

but before he could, you stepped in the way. snatching the bag from his hand and taking a step back, probably not the best idea at all. but you didnt wanna stand there and watch when your unhinged boyfriend kept sniffing coke up his nose.

Rafe immediately popped up from his chair, his big veiny hands clasping the edge of the table to get him up faster. "y/n." his eyes narrowed as he glared at you. he stepped closer, getting up in your face. the air tense.

you swallowed "yea?.." you said quietly, acting calm. he scoffed and bit the inside of his cheek "easy or hard way?" he said firmly, his voice deep as he got closer.

"im not giving it back to you" you shook your head. he didnt answer as his hand moved to your throat, his cold fingers gently caressing your skin as he pushed you up against the table behind you. "actin so fuckin smart, huh?" he tilted his head slightly as his fingers tightened slightly around your throat. causing your lips to part.

you swallowed your own spit, letting go of the coke. he noticed, but he didnt let go. "Rafe.." you said quietly "i gave it back" you added. but instead of letting you go, he only increased the pressure around your throat, slightly cutting off your airways. your lips parted more, your breathing started to be heard.

"i like seeing you squirm." Rafe said calmly as he held you in place. his eyes searching yours, noticing the fear in them. he enjoyed it, a wave of pleasure went through his body as his own hand kept you from breathing normally. it felt good to hurt you. he was sick. but you still loved him, in hopes of one day fixing him. even tho deep down you knew that wasnt possible. not at all

"R-Rafe-.." you gasped for air. your hands moved to his veiny ones. trying to peel him off your throat. but he was too strong. his grip only tightened. he kept you pushed against the table, his other hand on the table beside you, keeping you in place as he continued choking you.

he snapped back to reality when he noticed tears welling up in your eyes, he immediately pulled his hand back. you took a deep breath as he let go, your breathing shaky. a tear ran down your cheek. he sighed and snaked his arm around your waist, pulling you against him gently. "im sorry." he cleared his throat as he held you close to him, he felt guilty. he hated that he lost control sometimes. especially to those he loved. you stayed quiet, but tears kept slowly running down your face as you hid your face in his shoulder, your tears staining his shirt. but he didnt mind. he caused this anyways.

he kissed your neck softly, his warm lips touching your skin before picking you up, your legs wrapping around him, he made sure to be gentle with you. "how about we go get something to drink and then we can watch a movie or something princess, hm?" Rafe said softly as he brought you out of the room. carrying you in his arms

you knew he was nowhere near good. he was the devil, he just didnt have a red tail and horns. but you couldnt help but love him. atleast he treated you well after hurting you. most people called you crazy for dating him, but who cares? you loved him anyways. and he wouldnt let you stop loving him either

౨ৎ

taglist: @necroflame @rafeownsriley

[kiefbowl]

I was reading an opinion piece on Kate Middleton's cancer diagnosis on CNN by Jamal Baig about the increasing rates of cancer in patients under 50. As far as 5 minutes of googling and JSTORing can lend me to believe, there's nothing illegitimate about Dr. Baig. However, I found this bit in his opinion interesting:

Now, I'm always dubious when reading anything that attributes a very broad generalized idea that changes in diets have caused an increased in cancer, because more often than not it's not pointing to an exploration of, say, increased pesticide use, but the author's personal bias against the quote unquote "unhealthy", especially those who are deemed "fat" by the medical industry.

That being said, I was curious what source he linked, half expecting it to lead to just another op-ed from some other doctor from who knows when, but I was pleasantly surprised! Written by a man named Michael Donaldson, it was an evidentiary review published in a scientific journal called "Nutrition and cancer: A review of the evidence for an anti-cancer diet."

Now I wasn't going to give the whole thing a read, but I stopped in each section, gave a quick skim to get a general vibe, moved on to the next section, etc. I was immediately suspicious that the very first line in the abstract was "It has been estimated that 30–40 percent of all cancers can be prevented by lifestyle and dietary measures alone" as that seems to be a bananas statistic to just posit, but it still had the air of scientific integrity, so I did my skim.

The first handful of sections had things that gave me some moments of pause, that this article was in fact another doctor simply cherry picking data to confirm his own biases, but nothing so egregious as to do a spit take. That comes in a few minutes. The first section that made really go hold the phone was when we got to his Flax Seed section.

Compare how he writes about Red Meat...:

(that's all he wrote, btw)

...with how he starts writing about Flax Seed:

Did I just enter a Flax Seed commercial? Does this guy work for BIG FLAX SEED? on and on he writes about Flax Seed, and I start getting a sense that perhaps this man has a Flax Seed Agenda. In any case, he eventually moves on and I quickly skim to get to the end (because it's boring among other things).

So, who exactly is Michael Donaldson?

Girl are you kidding me

The Hallelujah Acres Foundation is a FOR PROFIT company that sells a """biblical""" based diet program called the hallelujah diet and also sells supplements on said site.

Now, in case you forgot where I started with this, this was the link provided as a "source" to a legitimate doctor's claim in an op-ed about cancer that "at least part of the answer" of why cancer is increasing in under 50 patients are the "changes to nutrition and lifestyle that took hold in middle of the last century." Dr. Baig did not read this article, or if he did was not concerned that it was written by the employee of a company that profits from unscientific research it uses to sell supplements and diets. Which is worse, I don't know.

The point I'm making is that you absolutely need to be vigilant all the time. You need to understand that doctors can not only have biases, but agendas. Researchers can have biases and agendas. Scientists can have biases and agendas. And that magical thinking about real health issues that can affect your future can permeate the scientific community because weirdos write convincing enough evidence that support their already determined world view.

This kind of shit is the reason why women go into doctor offices complaining about pain in their abdomen and get told to go lose weight and come back in 6 months. This is why ideas like moralizing eating have huge effects on women's health and influence medical misogyny, and why it's a feminist issue.

[ghostbsuter]

Magicians way

A Zatara meets a Drake before the Young Justice-fication of Danny!

1/4 previous interactions

.・゜-: ✧ :-

The portal closes, and waddling in comes a teen in his PJ's, a space themed blanket thrown around his shoulders and hair dishevelled.

In all honesty, he looks like he'd just worked up and dragged himself here.

Probably what happened.

"Oh, so you get to call me at 4 am on a Friday night and when I do it it's suddenly a crime?" The teen scowls, glaring daggers at Constantine, who'd had told the big Bat he was going to call in reinforcement.

He didn't expect a child.

"Get over her shrimp," the man waves the teen over, throwing an arm around the blanked clad shoulders.

"Batsy, meet Danny. He's my kid."

Ah.

"Nice to meet ya," the kid yawns, literally dozing off on John's side. "'m gonna sleep."

At least the man seems somewhat regretting for pulling the kids from his impromptu nap?

"Sorry, kiddo, need some help here. Did Zee go hard on you during the day?"

Danny whines, but answers despite the disturbance. "Mom had to leave for a show, I didn't go along, ended up on an adventure that took a bit too much out of me."

John snorts, ruffling unruly black hair.

"One of the bat's birds will join us shortly. I needed a second opinion, minx helping?"

Interested, Danny peered up at his dad, raising a brow in question.

"There is a powerful entity currently free, I'm having difficulties identifying it." He explains. "Did anyone mess with Pandoras box? This feels like something not supposed to be on our side of existence."

Brows knitting together, he thinks. "No, I was the last and most recent one to have accidentally messed with her box." He admits. "But every monster has been contained. There shouldn't be one free, we would have noticed."

John hums, picking through his well used brown leather bag, grabbing a sack of ash.

"It doesn't feel like a demon, lest a fallen angel. It's unique in its own kind that I had to get you for help, it shares the same feeling as the curses inside of pandoras box."

Catching on, Danny stares. "You think one of her curses got away and formed a humanoid form, not much different from city spirits."

Nodding, golden glow follows the words the laughing magician speaks, answering his question with the usage of ash.

Danny looks away, knowing the spell already and meets the whites of a domino mask.

That's not batman.

Squinting, he recognises the vigilante.

That's Red Robin!

"Red Robin, right?" He asks, just to make sure.

Red Robin nods.

"Nice to meet you, heard some stuff, pretty cool in my opinion."

"What exactly did you hear."

"Stuff here and there." Is the vague answer, the bird only continued to watch him, slightly unnervingly.

"Well—"

"Kid! Got an answer!"

"Let's talk again, okay?"

He couldn't answer before danny left to go to constantine.

That was... weird.

"B, what just happened?"

Batman only shakes his head. Huh.