#i better be spoiled with bts

[katlandry]

season three filming is officially underway!!! she’s so cute 🥺

[mononijikayu]

love means everything — ryomen sukuna.

“So, hey.” he said, voice dropping into that mellow drawl he only really used with you. “You always ask me what I’m doing in the off–season. You know, working out less, spoiling you more, trying to figure out the difference between a flat white and a cortado…” You laughed softly on the other end, and he smiled just hearing it. “But I never asked you. What about you, huh? What does your off-season look like, Starstuff–sensei?” You let out a breath, half a sigh, half a smile. “Off–season? You mean the mythical time when I’m not being held hostage by quantum models and satellite firmware?” He chuckled. “Yeah. That one. If it ever existed.”

Genre: Alternate Universe — Volleyball! AU;

Warning/s: General Rating, AFAB! Reader, Use of She/Her, Use of Female Centered Identification, Pet Names (Babe, My Love, Baby, Etc), Romance, Fluff, Humour, Love, Comfort/No Hurt, Established Relationship, Lovers, Dating, Feeling, Light-Hearted, Slice of Life, Idiots In Love, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Teasing, Healthy Relationship, Friendships, Profanity, Volleyball Pro! Sukuna, Astrophysicist! Reader, Fiancee! Sukuna, Fiancee! Reader;

Words: 8k words.

Note: this was inspired by some clips ive seen from people talking about their spouses. and then you have me listening to coffee by bts??? yeah, it works out. anyway, i got home (after a disasterous time in the airport) and am able to write again!!! i hope you enjoy this one!!! i love you all <3

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if you want to, tip! <3

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OFF SEASON WAS ALSO A TIME TO WORK ON OTHER THINGS REGARDING HIS EVER GROWING FAME. That’s why he was told to come here, since people wanted to ask to interview him and want to know more about him, especially now since he just won a gold medal with his team in the Olympics. 

The studio was sun drenched, sleek and minimalist, dotted with tasteful awards and blown up stills from the magazine’s latest photoshoot. Ryomen Sukuna, Olympic gold medalist and captain of Japan’s national volleyball team, was dressed in a relaxed open-collar shirt and slacks. 

He was more toned down from the striking editorial wear he'd posed in just an hour ago, which he liked better than anything else. It’s not that the editorial wear was bad. He was just more comfortable with this sort of fit. He should take a picture, though. You’d enjoy it more than he does. 

Though the cameras continued to roll silently from then and now as he went and sat there, waiting for the interview to begin. The interviewer, who was smiling behind the camera, flipped to a page in their notes.

“Alright, Sukuna–san.” The interviewer began, voice gentle and curious. “You’ve spoken about your post season training, your comeback for this upcoming national season, and your Olympic gold medal win on the international stage. But tell us a little about your off–season. What do you do when you’re not spiking balls into orbit?”

Sukuna chuckled, a lowly amused sound, one hand dragging lazily through his pink-tinted hair. “Honestly? Not much... At least, nothing glamorous. I like to be at home. I’m a homebody, more than people think. Just love being at home with my fiance and our dog Marin.”

“And what does home look like for you now? You recently got engaged, right?”

He smiled, really smiled this time and the camera caught the softening in his expression. “Yeah. I did. She’s a really smart astrophysicist.” he said, pride lacing his voice. “Which basically means her brain runs at the speed of light even when I’m still trying to find where I put my protein shaker in the morning.”

“She must be something then! But you must spend a lot with her during the off–season.” The interviewer laughed, prompting Sukuna to go on. 

“I mean, we both try to make sure we have time.” Sukuna retorts, smiling wider. “But of course, she also has work. I mean, off–season’s really when she gets busier. Her field doesn’t break, and they’ve got a pretty vital role where they work. So while I’m off the court, I’ve kind of made it my job to take care of everything at home. Make her comfortable when she gets home, y’know?”

“Oh? In what ways does an Olympic champion do that?”

“I got my barista license this past season. I just figured if I can read plays mid-air, I can learn how to make coffee right.”

The crew echoed quietly in awe behind the scenes. Ryomen Sukuna leaned forward a little, face warming at his revelation to all of them. The interviewer raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by Sukuna’s revelation. 

“A barista license, huh? That’s impressive! But I’ve got to ask, Sukuna–san. What else do you do to take care of her when she’s so busy?”

Sukuna chuckled, leaning back slightly in his chair, his demeanor relaxed but there was an underlying warmth in his eyes that couldn’t be overlooked. He was surely thinking about you right now with all he could.

“Well, like I said, she’s got this crazy demanding job.” Sukuna starts to say. “I know how it feels to be locked into something you love, where you don’t even notice the hours passing. So when she gets home, I try to make it feel like a break. I keep the house cozy, cook meals, set things up so she can just unwind without having to think about anything else.”

The interviewer nodded, clearly impressed by his thoughtfulness. “That sounds so sweet. You really seem to know what she needs.”

Sukuna smiled wider, a rare, genuine expression that softened his usual fierce persona. “I do. I pay attention. She doesn’t ask for much. Just a quiet space, a hot meal, and good coffee.” He grinned mischievously. “Oh, and sometimes I throw in a bit of flirting to remind her I’m still the same guy who makes her laugh.”

The interviewer chuckled, but there was a twinkle of curiosity. “So, back to this coffee thing. Is it just a way to spoil her, or do you have a deeper connection to it?”

“Honestly?” Sukuna leaned in a little, his voice dropping a touch lower. “It’s a way for me to make sure she’s taking care of herself. The first time I made her coffee when we were teenagers, I realized how much she needed it.”

“Oh, wow! It’s been that long?”

“Yeah, we’ve been together for so long. And at that time, I realized that she didn’t just need it.” He continues to say, a smile on his face. “It’s not just about the caffeine for her or for me. It’s this small moment of peace in her day. And I don’t want her to go without that, even if it’s just for a few minutes. So I got serious about learning how to make it perfect.”

“That’s actually such dedication, Sukuna–san!” The interviewer reiterated back in awe of him. “Some courses take quite a long time and by your words, it must have taken some time. You did it during the off season? Shouldn’t you be taking care of your health then, since you have to be training soon after that?”

He nodded. “Yeah. But that wasn’t anything too big of a big deal. There was a training course a few blocks away from home. I did it after my run and my training sessions. It wasn’t too bad. Just a few weeks.”

The interviewer’s eyes widened, clearly taken by how deeply Sukuna had thought about this. “That’s really thoughtful.”

“So now, every morning, no matter how early, I make breakfast. And coffee.” Sukuna laughs. "I don’t let my baby go without it. Even if it’s 4 a.m. and she’s still running numbers or checking satellite data or whatever astrophysicists do.” 

He grinned again, eyes glinting with something boyish. “She’ll say she doesn't need it, but she’ll always finish the whole cup. Then she’ll ask for more. I know how she likes it. No measurements anymore. I just know it by memory.”

“That’s a bold statement to make, Sukuna–san. It’s hard to cook by memory most of the time, without measurements.” The interviewer teased. 

There was a pause, the room a little quieter as his words settled. Sukuna shrugged, a playful glint in his eye. “It was a challenge, but I liked it. She does so much for me and the world. I really should pull my weight as a man, you know?”

“I bet she loves that. To have someone to rely on like that, with such a busy lifestyle.”

“She does! Even if she pouts, and never admits it. I can see it in her face.” He lets out a hearty laugh. “It’s the best part of my day, everyday. Where I can just love her right with the ways that I can do it. She’s always worth it.”

The interviewer gave a dreamy sigh, clearly smitten with the answer. “That’s… kind of perfect. Wish all men were like that.”

“I wish the same for all women out there, wait, cut that. Everyone deserves to be loved like that.” Sukuna says, scarlet eyes narrowing slightly serious. “If your partners refuse to love you like that, leave them! They’re not worth your love!”

“Yeah, I agree with that!”

Sukuna shrugged, but there was no hiding the fond curve at the corner of his mouth. “I don’t play about my girl, you know? I just love her so much.” he said simply. “Even in the off-season, love shouldn’t stop for my baby.”

The camera zoomed in a little towards the man with eyes full of love. The camera in this moment was capturing the gold medalist not as the usual overconfident towering champion.

Instead, he was a man quietly in love, tending to his morning ritual and waiting for his favorite person to take their first sip. The interviewer leaned in, clearly enchanted by the quiet domesticity wrapped around the Olympic athlete’s words.

“Aside from becoming a full-fledged barista for your fiancé.” they said with a light chuckle. “What else do you like to do during your off-season?”

Ryomen Sukuna tilted his head for a moment, as if considering the question seriously, then answered with that casual confidence of his. “There’s quite a bit, actually. I mean, I play around with games and stuff like that. But I think that’s boring compared to what I do with my fiancé.”

“Your world revolves around your fiancé, no?”

“Happily so! We’ve been together since we were kids. I always do everything to make her smile. Like, I try to make date nights happen. Or, well, date moments.” he said, lifting two fingers in air quotes. “As I said, her schedule’s kind of brutal. Astrophysics isn’t exactly a nine-to-five thing.” 

The interviewer nodded, intrigued. “There are weeks where the only time she’s home is for like what?—an hour around lunch, since her office is near our home too. So I started planning what I call ‘thirty-minute date lunches.’”

A soft chorus of awws rippled through the crew. Sukuna grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. He talks about it as much as he doesn't. Yet when it comes to you, everything is love. Your love is everything, his love is everything. Showing it to you was no problem to him.

“I’ll cook something quick but good. Set the balcony table. Nothing fancy, just… nice. I’ll make her laugh, get her to forget orbital calculations or whatever hell equations she’s still wrangling about. We’ll eat, talk, and they’ll be gone again. But I think those little pockets of time matter.”

There was a pause. At least just enough to let that picture settle. “And on the rare days they do get time off?” he continued, voice a little quieter now. “I'll go all in. Reservations, walks, bookstores, rooftop stargazing. Whatever makes my baby smile.”

“That probably eases her feelings a lot, helps ground her back to earth.”  The interviewer points out. “With such a demanding job, its meaningful to do something like this.”

Sukuna grins as he nods. “Yeah, it means a lot. But sometimes, space works too. She loves that stuff. Sometimes I’ll rent out this tiny planetarium near the research institute if it’s really been a rough week. Just for us. She’ll get to look up and talk about stars without worrying about the math behind it.”

The room fell silent, even the assistant with the clipboard frozen mid-scribble. The interviewer blinked, mouth parted like they’d briefly forgotten how to speak. “That’s… that’s unbelievably romantic.”

Sukuna smirked, unapologetically smug. “I told you. I’m off–season. I’ve got time to love my baby right.”

A crew member actually clutched their chest. The interviewer gave a sheepish, breathless laugh. “You’re setting the bar high, Sukuna–san.”

He leaned back in his chair with a shrug that somehow managed to be both cocky and affectionate. “Well, what can I say? I might be captain on court but she’s the gravity I orbit.”

The interview was still rolling, the room thick with soft lights and focused silence, when Ryomen Sukuna’s phone vibrated on the table just beside him.

He glanced at it briefly, just a flick of his scarlet eyes but the moment he saw your name on the screen, his whole posture changed. He smiled, subtle and immediate, the kind of smile that didn’t need to be big to be completely disarming.

“Ah—sorry, one sec.” he said, raising a hand toward the crew, already reaching for the phone. “It’s [name], my baby. It’s her only break window today.”

The interviewer blinked, then gave a quick nod. “Of course, yeah—go ahead.”

Ryomen Sukuna didn’t wait for the official pause. He stood up from the interview chair, walking a few steps away with the phone to his ear, voice already softening as he answered. He smiles as your breath echoes through the phone.

“My love, hi!”

“Hey, babe.” he murmured, leaning against a nearby counter. “You good? Just got a ten-minute break?”

Your voice continued to crack through the line, laced with fatigue and static from the lab but still bright enough to make his expression soften even more. He could see it fully in his head as he waits for you to reply.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry about me.” you said, sighing through what sounded like the background hum of machines. “We’re calibrating the prototype’s rotation module again. I’ve been staring at solar panels and trajectory mapping for six hours. I needed to hear your voice.”

Sukuna chuckled, low and warm, and ran a hand through his hair. “You're insane, you know that? Designing satellites while half running mission control on caffeine and half a protein bar.”

“You made me that protein bar, so whose fault is it, really?” you teased.

He laughed, eyes flicking up briefly at the camera crew still waiting politely across the room. “Hey, babe.” he said, gently, “I’m mid-interview, but I told them to wait. You’re more important. I’m all yours for the next ten minutes.”

You exhaled softly on the line. “You really didn’t have to—”

“Yes I did.” he cut in, voice firm but fond. “You never stop working. I’ll always make time when you finally stop.”

There was a beat of silence between you. There was nothing awkward, just weighted with how much the two of you knew without saying it. You know that he was not going to care, no matter what you say. You were going to be his priority, no matter what he’s doing. 

“So, babe.” he continued, grinning now. “You want the espresso rundown for today? I’ve got a new blend waiting for you when you get home. The new coffee beans just arrived!”

“You spoil me so much.” you whispered.

“You build satellites without rest. Let me have this.”

From across the room, the crew watched quietly. The interviewer, still seated, whispered to someone off-camera, “He’s totally gone for her..”

Sukuna didn’t even seem to notice. He was still leaning against the wall, smiling as he nodded at your words and replied back to him. He happily replies to you once again.

The crew was quietly resetting for the next segment when Ryomen Sukuna walked and leaned further against the counter, still on the phone with you. One hand tucked into his pocket, the other holding the phone a little tighter now, like it grounded him.

“So, hey.” he said, voice dropping into that mellow drawl he only really used with you. “You always ask me what I’m doing in the off–season. You know, working out less, spoiling you more, trying to figure out the difference between a flat white and a cortado…”

You laughed softly on the other end, and he smiled just hearing it. “But I never asked you. What about you, huh? What does your off-season look like, Starstuff–sensei?”

You let out a breath, half a sigh, half a smile. “Off–season? You mean the mythical time when I’m not being held hostage by quantum models and satellite firmware?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. That one. If it ever existed.”

There was a pause, like you had to actually think about the idea. Because rest didn’t come easy when your work literally reached the edges of space. But you know that if you could, if you had the chance to do it, then you know what you wanted to do.

“Honestly?” you said. “If I get downtime... I just want to be around you. Take care of you even more. That’s it. No labs, no screens, no math. Just... you. Even if it’s quiet. Especially if it’s quiet.”

Sukuna’s fingers curled a little around the edge of the counter, his heart doing that annoying little thing where it picked up speed without permission. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, my love.” you retorted, gleefully swooning about your fantasy. “You’re the only person I can sit next to in silence and feel like I’m actually resting. I don’t want a beach, or a trip, or some grand thing. Just the balcony with you. Or the kitchen. Or even the gym if you’re doing those dumb push–up challenges again. We can bring Marin too!”

He laughed, rich and warm, and tilted his head back to hide how much that meant. “Dumb push-up challenges.” he repeated, grinning. “Okay, that one’s on you for watching every rep like it was the Olympics all over again.”

“You make it hard not to stare, my love.” you said, and the flirt in your voice was clear enough that Sukuna had to bite back a smug little noise. “I’m crazy about you. You know that.”

“Stop, babe.” he said, eyes glinting. “I’m still mic’d up. I’ll short out the camera guy’s equipment if you keep that up.”

You giggled again, softer now. “I should get back to the lab in a minute.”

“I know, babe.” he murmured, glancing at the timer on the wall, already counting down the seconds you had left.

“Thirty seconds, my love.” you said before he could, reading his mind. “Guess it’s your turn to say something cheesy.”

He looked down for a beat, then spoke low. “Come home safe. Your coffee’s waiting. And I miss you, even in ten–minute pieces.”

Silence, again. But the kind that held a smile inside it. “Love you, my golden love.” you whispered.

“Love you more, my genius baby.” he replied, and the line clicked off.

Ryomen Sukuna turned back toward the crew, slipping his phone into his pocket like he hadn’t just been pulled halfway into orbit by your voice. “Sorry, you guys.” he said, settling back into the chair. “Where were we?”

The interviewer, still recovering, just blinked. “Right. Uh. You were saying something about cortados…”

But all anyone could think about was how the gold medalist, the fierce, untouchable captain had stars in his scarlet eyes for someone who charted galaxies for a living on the other side of town. And he never fell back to earth.

YOU WERE HAPPY AND NERVOUS ALL AT ONCE. The atmosphere was electric in the room filled with bright lights and excited reporters. The Japan Prize ceremony had wrapped up in a whirlwind of accolades, handshakes, and applause. 

You and your colleague, Dr. Maryu Hana, stood side by side, both holding your newly awarded prize with pride.  It had been a long, intense journey to get here, you both know that.

It was so many countless nights in the lab, endless calculations, and years of dedication to your groundbreaking research in astrophysics. But today, it had all paid off.

As the camera crew prepared to capture you and your partner, a bright eyed reporter turned toward you, eager to ask the questions that everyone was dying to hear. The reporter smiled brightly as they began to speak.

"Congratulations, [last name] – sensei, and of course, to you as well, Maryu–sensei. What an achievement! You've made such an impact with your work.”

You smiled, nodding at them. “Thank you so much.”

“But there’s one question that’s been on everyone’s mind: you’ve been very public about your relationship with someone who’s quite famous himself—Ryomen Sukuna, the Olympic gold medalist and national volleyball team captain. Could you tell us a little about how you balance such a high–profile relationship with your demanding career?"

Your heart warmed at the mention of Sukuna’s name, the very thought of him always bringing a soft smile to your face. You glanced at Hana, who was grinning knowingly. She had been there for quite some time now, watching the bond between you and Sukuna grow. She knows how you feel, how overwhelming love has consumed your heart.

“Well…..it’s a lot." you began, your voice steady but warm. "But I think it’s all about mutual support. Both of us have incredibly demanding careers, but we’ve learned to make time for each other, even if it's just small moments. When he's off–season, he's incredibly present, and when he's in the thick of competition, I try to be there in whatever way I can."

The reporter’s eyes widened, clearly intrigued. "It sounds like you and Sukuna–san really understand each other. What’s it like to have such a public figure as a partner?"

You smiled, your fingers absentmindedly brushing the edge of your award. “I don’t really think about him as ‘Ryomen Sukuna, the volleyball captain’. But at home, I just think of him as Sukuna."

"He's just your beloved Sukuna." The reporter supplies to you.

You nodded at them, smiling. "Exactly. He's just him. He's my fiancé. And Marin's cheerful energetic dad. He’s… the one who makes sure I’m well-fed with good coffee when I’m buried in research. He makes me laugh even when I’m on my hundredth sleepless night.”

The interviewer’s smile deepened as they jotted down a few notes. “You mentioned coffee, [last name] – sensei. We’ve heard rumors that Ryomen Sukuna’s barista skills have become legendary. Is that true?”

You laughed softly, unable to hide the fondness that bloomed in your chest at the thought of him. "He got his barista license during the off – season, yeah. He learned how to make the perfect cup of coffee just for me. "

"Which takes a lot, I heard he did at least twenty sessions cause he wanted to make it perfect!"

Well, he said he wanted to be able to spoil me during those rare moments when I can take a break. So, he did what he thinks he could for me. That's just love, you know?" You laugh softly, eyes full of tenderness. "Yes, I do get spoiled with the best coffee. Best in the country, best in the world, even.”

A soft chuckle passed through the crew, but the interviewer’s curiosity hadn’t been fully sated. “That sounds like a perfect balance. But what about the challenges? How do you two navigate the pressures of your individual careers?”

You took a deep breath, considering the question. “It’s not always easy. Both of us have high expectations for ourselves, and we’re driven by the work we do. But we’ve learned that we don’t always have to be together physically to support each other. Sometimes it’s just sending a text during a long day, making sure the other knows you’re thinking of them. When you’re in a partnership like that, it’s the small gestures that matter the most.”

Hana, who had been quietly listening with a knowing smile, nodded beside you. "I've seen the two of them quite a lot when Sukuna visits the lab. There’s a quiet understanding there. They both give a lot, and they both understand what the other needs, whether it’s space to work or moments of rest.”

The reporter’s expression softened, clearly moved by the connection between you and Sukuna. “It’s clear that you two have something special. And now, with such a significant achievement under your belt, what’s next for you both?”

You looked at the interviewer, then at Hana, and finally allowed your mind to wander toward Sukuna. You could almost picture him in the back of your mind. Sitting on the couch with your beloved dog son and waiting at home, the hum of the coffee machine brewing. He would stand up, your loving dog barking and asking you if you want coffee.

“Well…..” you said with a twinkle in your eyes. “I think we’ll both take some time to celebrate this. I mean, national title in the bag and a Japan Prize? It’s massive. But of course, the work never really stops for either of us. I’ll be back in the lab tomorrow, and he’ll be gearing up for his next season. But... I think we’ve got a good thing going. And no matter what comes next, we’ll continue supporting each other, no matter the stars we’re chasing."

The reporter grinned, a little mischievously this time. “Alright, you’ve painted such a sweet picture of life with Sukuna. But let’s be honest—no one’s perfect. What’s something he does that ticks you off a little… but you also can’t help being fond of?”

You laughed, the kind that comes from years of endearment wrapped in mild exasperation. “Oh, there’s definitely something.”

The reporter leaned in, intrigued. “Oh, please tell, sensei!”

“He has this thing, my love.” you began, eyes already gleaming with affection. “It’s where he refuses to fall asleep unless he’s holding my hand. Every single night. Doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of summer and we’re both melting into the mattress. So, he’ll lie there, completely still, not even pretending to sleep, just... waiting. Silently. Until I give in and reach over.”

You shook your head with a fond sigh. “It used to drive me crazy. I’d be tossing and turning, trying to stay cool, and he’s just lying there like some stubborn heat source, hand outstretched like I’m the one being difficult.”

The reporter chuckled, clearly loving every bit of it. “And now?”

“Now?” you smiled softly. “Now I can’t fall asleep either unless I know he’s holding my hand. I guess it just became our thing. I grumble about it every summer, but honestly… It's one of the little things that remind me how much he loves me. That quiet, constant presence. It’s annoying, it’s ridiculous, and it’s so him. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

The reporter scribbled something quickly, then looked up with a smile. “Sounds like the best kind of trouble.”

You nodded. “Yeah. He’s exactly that.”

The reporter’s smile lingered, soft and a little dreamy now. “That’s such a vivid image. I think everyone just collectively sighed at the thought of the Demon King refusing to sleep without holding your hand.”

You laughed again, this time covering your face briefly in mock embarrassment. “He’s going to kill me when he goes and watches this.”

“Worth it, isn’t it?” the reporter grinned. “It’s those tiny rituals that make a relationship feel real, y’know? Oh, but one last thing before we wrap. When you think about everything, the early mornings, the wins, the stress, the quiet nights with your hand in his….what do you think makes your love last?”

You paused, the question settling over you like a blanket. And for a moment, your expression softened into something raw and honest. You become flustered, but there was a smile on your face. “Gosh, that’s quite a big question.”

Hana smiles at you, tugging at your shoulder tenderly. “Just be honest about it. He’ll love that.”

“I think… it’s the choice, always has been.” you said quietly. “Every day, we choose each other. Even when we’re exhausted. Even when we argue. Even when it’s easier to turn away. He waits for me to hold his hand like it’s the most natural thing in the world, like he knows I’ll always reach back. And I do. That kind of trust? That’s what keeps us going.”

The room seemed still, like the story between the two of you had settled into the space, warm and undeniable. You smiled, already picturing the moment you’d get home. Everything about going home just makes you feel like life is beautiful, more beautiful than any utopia.

You imagine Sukuna on the couch, probably pretending he wasn’t waiting up. Your beloved dog wagging his tail, your favorite mug set beside the couch. And later, when the lights go out and the room is still, that familiar hand reaches for yours in the dark. You’d reach back. Always.

The interviewer smiled, clearly touched. "You’ve both certainly reached for the stars, and now you're holding them in your hands. Congratulations again, [last name] – sensei, and Maryu–sensei. And best wishes to both of you and your incredible futures."

The drive home was filled with a quiet kind of anticipation. The adrenaline of the ceremony still buzzed in your veins, and the weight of the Japan Prize still felt surreal, but all you could think about was the warm, steady presence of Ryomen Sukuna. 

But it was a stark contrast to the academic whirlwind you had just stepped out of, the cameras and interviews a distant echo now, replaced by thoughts of him. You wanted nothing more than to be home in his arms and feel his warmth only. 

When you walked through the door of your shared apartment, you were greeted by the familiar scent of something delicious wafting from the kitchen. The soft clink of pots and pans suggested that Sukuna was already hard at work. 

As you set down your bag, you caught sight of him in the kitchen. There was no longer the Olympian hero, but simply your beloved fiancé, who had rolled up his sleeves and was cooking with his usual focused intensity.

You smiled softly, the day’s chaos fading with every step toward him. He turned, sensing your presence, and when his eyes landed on you, there was no mistaking the pride and tenderness that filled them.

“Well, look who decided to grace me with her regal science genius presence, my baby.” Sukuna teased, a playful grin curling at the corners of his lips. He stepped forward, setting down the ladle he had been stirring with. “You deserve a victory lap, you know.”

You rolled your eyes, but your heart was already swelling at how normal this felt. In the midst of all the fame, the interviews, and the flashing lights, this was the real joy. It was just being together. This was more than anything, the best of your life.

“Victory lap?” you said with a soft laugh. “I think I’ve had enough of those for today. Besides, I know I’ll be back in the lab tomorrow. No time to rest on my laurels.”

Sukuna's expression softened, and he crossed the room in a few long strides to pull you into a gentle hug. His warmth seeped through your clothes, grounding you in the present. “You’ve earned it, babe. You and Hana both. You’re brilliant, and I’m proud of you.”

You chuckled against his chest, a lightness in your voice. “I’m just doing my job, my love.”

He pulled back slightly, his hands still on your shoulders. “Don’t downplay it. What you’re doing is incredible. The world’s got to catch up with you, genius.” His smile widened, as though that was a challenge he was ready to take on.

You shook your head fondly, your hand brushing over the front of his shirt before resting on his chest. “I think the world’s already caught up with me. Or maybe they’ve caught up with us.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, a low chuckle rumbling in his chest. “Oh? And why’s that?”

“Because, my love,” you replied, lifting your head to meet his gaze with a smile of your own, “I’ve got an Olympic gold medalist, cook and barista at home. All in one. What more could I need?”

Sukuna’s scarlet eyes gleamed with pride. “I’d like to think that’s a pretty good package.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of your head before leading you over to the dining table, where a meal fit for a celebration awaited. The table was set simply but thoughtfully. The candles flickered in the center, casting a warm glow on the beautifully prepared dishes. 

You could tell he’d put in the effort, carefully selecting ingredients to make something you’d enjoy. It wasn’t the grandest of celebrations, but to you, it felt like everything you needed. He was everything you needed.

He pulled out your chair for you with a flourish, and you sat down, already anticipating the warmth of his homemade cooking. As he began serving the meal, he made sure to tell you all about his day, how he had been following the interview, how much he was cheering for you, how proud he was.

“Tell me about the next step for your project, babe.” Sukuna said, leaning forward with an almost childlike curiosity. “What comes after the prize? What’s next for you?”

You took a moment, considering the future. It was easy to get lost in the immediate tasks ahead, but the truth was, you had dreamed about this moment for so long. The recognition was important, of course, but it was the journey you shared with him that meant the most.

“I’m still figuring that out, all that, my love.” you admitted, taking a sip of the wine he’d poured for you. “But honestly? I think it’s time to start looking beyond just the work. Maybe we’ll finally take that trip we’ve been talking about for years.”

He gave a sly grin. “You mean the one where we actually relax for once?”

You nodded, leaning back in your chair, feeling the weight of the day finally lifting from your shoulders. “Yeah, I think it’s about time.”

He raised his glass in a silent toast, his eyes soft as they met yours. “To that wish!” he said, his voice steady and filled with promise. “And to you, my baby for life. For everything.”

You clink your glass against his, smiling wider. “And to us, for making it all work.”

He smiles back at you, slyly as it was gentle. “Always, to us.”

As the evening drew on, the two of you found yourselves nestled together on the couch, the quiet hum of the city outside filling the silence. The warm glow of the candles lingered, and the soft music played in the background, setting a mood that was calm and content. 

Ryomen Sukuna’s arm was draped around your shoulders, his long fingers absentmindedly tracing circles on your warm, tender skin as you leaned into his side, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

“So, babe.” Sukuna said, his voice low but playful. “When are we packing our bags for that trip? Off–season still has time for us. You can ask for a break, hopefully. You know the one where we actually relax.”

You smiled, nuzzling into his shoulder as you thought about it. “I’m still not sure where I want to go. I’ve been so caught up in the work, I haven’t even had a chance to really think about it.”

“C’mon, babe.” he teased, pressing a soft kiss to your temple. “We could go anywhere. Let’s pick a place that’s got nothing to do with astrophysics. No satellites, no stars, no quantum models. Just us.”

You chuckled softly. “You mean… no coffee? No espresso machines?”

Sukuna’s smirk deepened. “Well, I’m not giving up my barista status. But maybe I’ll take a break from making it and just let you enjoy it for once.”

You laughed at that, your hand resting on his chest. “Alright, deal. But what about you? You’re always so busy with your training. You never take a break either.”

He looked down at you, his gaze softening. “You’ve got a point. Maybe it’s time I take a break from everything too, you know? Even volleyball. No gym, no courts, just time for us. I’ll spend the whole trip just making sure you have everything you need.”

Your heart swelled at the thought, and you lifted your head to meet his gaze. “You know, you already do that every day. I don’t need a trip to feel special. Just being here with you is more than enough.”

Sukuna’s smirk softened into something tender. He pulled you closer, his lips brushing against the top of your head. “You’re the only one who thinks like that. But that’s why I love you, babe.”

For a moment, everything else faded almost suddenly. The world outside, the interviews, the awards. It was just you and Sukuna, a quiet evening shared between two people who had built something deeper than any career or recognition.

“I’m serious, my love.” you murmured, your voice quiet but firm. “I don’t need anything else. You’re all I need.”

His arms tightened around you, and for a moment, the only sound in the room was the soft beat of your hearts in sync. The weight of the world, the prize, and the noise of the outside world all faded into nothingness.

“I’ll keep that in mind, babe.” he whispered. “But I’m still taking you on that trip. Call your boss. We deserve it.”

You leaned into him again, your eyes fluttering closed. “Alright, alright. I’ll make it happen.”

“Good.” He says, placing a kiss against your hair. 

The room fell into a comfortable silence, the kind that spoke volumes without needing words. Sukuna didn’t ask for more than you were willing to give, and you didn’t ask for anything beyond the quiet, shared moments that were somehow the most significant.

You could already picture the trip in your mind. It was a place with no distractions, no deadlines, just time to breathe and be with each other. It wasn’t about where you went, but about the peace that came with being together. A perfect escape from the chaos.

As the night wore on, you both lingered in that peaceful space. The gentle rise and fall of Sukuna’s chest beneath your head was enough to lull you into a sense of comfort and safety. And when you finally stood up to get ready for bed, Sukuna’s hand slid into yours like it had always belonged there.

“I’ll make you coffee tomorrow morning, babe.” he said with a grin as you both walked to your bedroom. “But only if you let me spoil you with breakfast again.”

You smiled, nodding. “I think I can manage that.”

And with that, the night unfolded like any other peaceful evening at home with your beloved Sukuna. Just as always, it was quiet, comforting, and full of love. And it was everything you could ever want. 

epilogue

The sound of the roaring crowd reverberated through the television speakers, the tension in the air almost palpable as the game neared its final moments. The scoreboard flashed, Ryomen Sukuna’s team was trailing by just one point, the energy in the stadium crackling with anticipation. 

The ball soared through the air like a comet, heading straight toward the opposing team’s side. You leaned forward in your seat, your fingers tightening around the mug of coffee made by your love still in your hands.

You were back in the office once again, still doing calculations for the newest improvements on the satellite. From your quiet corner of the laboratory office, you could see it all unfolding on the screen: the powerful serves, the flawless blocks, the high-flying spikes. And there, amidst all the chaos, was Sukuna. 

His toned and tanned body, glowing from the vacation sun, flexed with the way he moved. His hair slightly tousled, his face set in that familiar determined expression, and his movements. It was fluid, almost effortless. It showed exactly why he was a gold medalist.

"You’ve got this, my love. Come on!" you whispered under your breath, even though you knew he couldn’t hear you. Still, it felt right to say it, to be part of this moment, even from afar.

The camera zoomed in on Sukuna as he took position for the game-deciding moment. The opposing team was ready for the block, but there was something in the way Sukuna stood, his eyes locked onto the ball. The quiet confidence he wore was contagious, even through the screen.

The ball came soaring toward him. He didn’t hesitate whatsoever. With a powerful, fluid motion, he leapt into the air. His spike cut through the tension like a blade through silk.

The crowd held its collective breath as hope continued to pounce against the heaviness of the unknown. Time seemed to slow as the ball collided with the perfect angle and flew past the blockers.

The stadium exploded with sound. Cheers, clapping, the echo of voices screaming his name. You grinned, watching his team members rush toward him in celebration.

Yet, your heart swelled most when Sukuna’s scarlet eyes locked onto the screen. It was brief, but in that moment, it felt like he was looking right at you.

“You did it, my love!” you whispered to yourself, a soft laugh escaping your lips as you clutched the coffee mug a little tighter. “I knew you would.”

The post-game interviews began, and you took a sip of your coffee, settling in to watch the typical frenzy of reporters bombarding him with questions. You were about to scroll through your phone when a new message popped up on your screen. You smiled when you saw the name.

“Victory’s ours. Now it’s your turn. Don’t think I forgot.”

It was a text from Sukuna. You quickly typed your response.

“I’ll be home in a bit. I’ll see you soon, my love! Same rules as before, right? No satellites, just us.”

A few moments passed before his reply came through.

“Exactly. I’ll be waiting for you, babe. With some hot milk this time.”

You put your phone down and watched as Ryomen Sukuna was handed the microphone. The interviewer was grinning, clearly excited by the energy surrounding him. He pushes away his wet fuschia hair back from falling against his eyes.

“So, Sukuna–san.” the reporter began to say. “You’ve just clinched the game with that impressive spike. Your team has been on fire this season, and you’re back with a vengeance after your Olympic gold medal. How does it feel to be on top once again?”

Sukuna’s usual smirk curled into his lips, but this time it softened, just slightly, when he spoke. “It feels good!” he said, his voice smooth and steady. “But you know, every win is just another step forward. It’s never enough to just get there. You keep pushing for more.”

“Of course, of course.” the reporter continued. “I know you’re planning to go home after this. But please do tell, because we’ve heard a lot about your off–season routine. How do you balance being one of the top athletes in the country with your personal life? Especially with someone like [last name] — sensei, the brilliant astrophysicist who just won the Japan Prize?”

Sukuna leaned back slightly, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips as he considered the question. His fingers drummed idly against the armrest.

But his eyes. They were sharp, steady, and glowing with quiet determination—remained locked on the interviewer.

“Well....lots of work. And devotion. In the mess, you always choose each other!” he began, voice low and sure. “Just as I hope for another hope for the gold, there should be hunger for love. Do everything for love. Make sure that hunger never really fades. You put in the hours, the blood, the sweat, just to sit back. And.........”

He paused for a beat, then let his eyes drift toward you across the city through the screen, something undeniably soft slipping into his gaze.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more long-term. I’ve got medals, trophies, records. But the real win? It’s being able to come home to peace. To her. And having life with her."

"So yeah, I’m still chasing the top. In love, in life, in work. But I’m also building something steady outside of the spotlight. Learning how to show up in all the quiet ways that matter most. That’s how it goes.”

The whole work room was quiet for a heartbeat, like everyone had collectively forgotten to breathe. Then, you found that Hana was on the verge of singing praises all the sudden.

“God, he’s so sweet!” Hana groaned, dramatically flopping onto the couch. “I wish my boyfriend was just like that!”

Kenji wheeled around to her with a laugh. “Good luck with that!”

Haruki raised his hands in surrender, eyes wide. More flustered than he had ever looked in his life. “Hey, I’m trying my best here!”

Kenji shot him a wicked grin. “Oh? Doesn’t sound like it’s enough!”

You stifled a laugh behind your hand as Hana groaned, “Don’t start, you two! this is why I need a Sukuna in my life.”

The interviewer chuckled at the chaos unfolding in the background before turning their attention back to Sukuna. “Well, it sounds like you’re more than just an athlete, you know? You’re the backbone of something really special. A perfect team, indeed. So what’s next? Another championship? Or something new entirely?”

Sukuna cracked his knuckles, that usual glint of fire returning to his expression. “Definitely another championship, for sure.” he said, voice low and certain. “But more than that? I want to set an example. Not just on the field, but off it too. Show that you can be relentless in your goals and soft where it counts. I’ve already got the most important win. The rest? That’s just icing.”

Your heart gave a little flutter, even after all this time. “God….”

And beside you, Hana whispered, “Seriously. Where do I order one of him?”

The room burst into laughter at Hana’s dramatic whisper, even the interviewer chuckling as they scribbled something into their notes. Sukuna glanced over, amused, one brow squirming up in that smug way of his.

The audience laughed, the room buzzing with energy from the live segment. Sukuna’s words continued to become a viral moment once again. You watched through it all.

You saw his smug grin, the teasing glint in his eye as he proudly declared his engagement once again. Even through the screen, his confidence was magnetic, almost obnoxiously charming.

Kenji was still whooping in the background. “Man, that was bold! You better be ready, he just threw you under the spotlight now!”

Hana looked at you with starry eyes. “Seriously! Do you know how many people just fell in love with him after that clip? You better keep a close grip on that ring!”

You smirked, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Trust me. If anyone tried, they’d find out real quick, he’s not the only one who fights professionally.”

Everyone laughed, especially Haruki, who was now clinging to the armrest of the couch like it was a life preserver. “I’m just trying to live up to the standard, okay? Can we lower the bar back to human levels?”

“Nope, nope!” Hana said sweetly. “Not when that guy just announced he’s engaged and is a one woman man like a heartthrob lead in a drama.”

You laughed again, but there was a subtle softness in your gaze now as you looked at the ecstatic and eccentric form of Ryomen Sukuna’s image moving on screen.

Still gesturing and continuing with the interview, but still the corner of his mouth pulled into that familiar cocky grin. You couldn't help but let your eyes sparkle with intrigue and entertainment.

“Yeah, yeah.” you said, waving a hand dismissively, though your voice was warm. “And he comes with a whole lot of maintenance too you know. He takes care of me and loves me. You all hear the charming part, but you don’t see the sulking when I hide the junk food or when he loses one sock and swears the washing machine’s out to get him.”

Haruki blinked. “Wait—he loses socks?”

You nodded solemnly. “Like it’s a personal betrayal every single time.”

Hana gasped. “Even his flaws are adorable!”

Kenji clapped a hand over his heart. “That man is living on final boss energy and soft boy romance tropes. Unreal.”

The interviewer, still recovering from the wave of chaos, leaned forward with a knowing smile. “So, wedding soon?”

Ryomen Sukuna looked at the interviewer, smiling back. “Maybe.”

“Oh, so maybe….it means soon, right?” Hana asks you.

You paused, your voice dropping just a touch. “And I’ll take it. Every time.”

You smiled to yourself, the image already so clear in your mind. “Yeah. When the season’s over and this new paper’s out. We’ve got plans. Just really quiet ones. It’ll be something simple, something ours. But I already know… he’ll be waiting at the altar with that same stupid grin, holding out his hand like always.”

The room settled for a moment, the laughter and teasing softening into a warm hum of something quieter. You were sure it was something close to awe.

The screen behind you still showed Sukuna, his expression full of affection for you even as he continues to talk about his plans this season.

Maryu Hana leaned her head on your shoulder with a theatrical sigh, the kind only she could pull off with just the right amount of over the top flair. You like to think that she was truly ready to go and cry her eyes out.

“That’s it, wah. I believe in love again.” Her voice was touched with mock despair and genuine wonder, like she’d just witnessed a fairytale unfold in real time. 

Kenji, never one to be outdone in the dramatics department, wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye with a shaky breath. This was all the sudden.

“I’m gonna cry and I don’t even like romance.” he sniffled, clutching at his chest as if Sukuna’s off-screen declaration had personally wounded him with its sweetness. “This is emotional damage, I wasn’t prepared!”

Laughter rippled through the room, light and affectionate. It was somewhat of a thing here whenever you and Sukuna were brought up.

This was just something people didn’t expect, seeing all his tattoos and all that. Yet the more they knew him, the more they all fell in love with his devotion for you. They were as hooked as you were. 

Haruki, still visibly flustered from being compared to Sukuna for the third time in ten minutes, finally dropped the act and threw up his hands in defeat. “Okay, but even I want to be invited to this wedding now, senpai.” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed pink.

Hana snapped her head toward him, lifting her head off your shoulder just long enough to squint suspiciously. “Figure out how you’ll propose to me first!” she huffed, jabbing a finger into his side with faux annoyance.

He winced and held up his hands like a man under interrogation. “I—I’m working on it!”

“You’ve had two years and not even a hint of a ring!” Hana grumbled, arms crossed as she pouted dramatically. “Meanwhile, Ryomen Sukuna is out here declaring eternal love on national TV like some legendary shojo manga lead.”

“Do you want me to compete with The Ryomen Sukuna?” Haruki squeaked, clearly panicking now. “Because that’s a losing game and you know it!”

Kenji leaned over with a smug grin, patting Haruki’s shoulder like a disappointed older brother. “He’s right. That man’s got cheat codes. You? You’re just trying not to burn pasta.”

The group burst into another wave of laughter as Haruki buried his face in his hands and groaned. It was another lovely day in the research lab. You sighed contently as you nodded to yourself. Life was indeed good.

You smiled as you watched your friends bicker and banter, your heart full. Even with Sukuna miles away, his presence had lit up the room like he was sitting right there beside you. And somewhere in all the laughter, the teasing, and the warmth.

For a moment, you knew felt it again. It was that familiar, steady pull. The quiet certainty that no matter how big the world got, no matter how loud the applause or how bright the spotlight.

It was your love, at its core, that remained soft and tender and at the center of it all. And most of all, you knew that man was entirely, irrevocably, yours.

[lascvitae]

♯┆ynselle forgetting to keep their relationship secret .ᐟ

genre fluff pairing giselle x 5th member of aespa!reader warnings cursing

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝ katty ᥫ᭡: old draft, fun af

masterlist.

video start: HEY YALLLLL WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER VIDEO AFTER… six months… *vine boom*

i’ve put together a compilation of clips where giselle and y/n are practically throwing their relationship in our faces 😭😭

LETS GET RIGHT INTO ITTT

*technical difficulties screen*

clip 1!… 🎬 whiplash bts

the camera is focused on y/n as she drinks water during a break from their shooting.

“this is aeri-unnie’s killing part.” y/n beamed, mocking the choreo of her bandmate. the bandmate who she had no idea was behind her.

“the way she moves her hips is like this.” she demonstrated, fully in character. “move fast~” she giggled at the camera.

giselle had successfully sneaked up behind her, coming to grab her sides and eliciting a squeal from the younger.

“you’re making fun of me?” she caught the girl in her arms and she giggled to protest.

“no! no! i wasn’t!” y/n shook her head, holding giselle closer instead of fighting her grip.

“good. you better not be.” giselle leaned forward, turning her head to make eye contact with y/n.

[their hair colors remind me sm of my melody & kuromi… they had to coordinate it]

*technical difficulties screen*

clip 2!… 🎬 y/n’s first livestream after her mini-hiatus

“hello MYs! i missed you all so much.” she waved excitedly with her right hand.

she read the comments to see what everyone was saying, moving her hair out of her face and swaying side to side.

lascvitae: y/n has a ring on her finger… did she get married on hiatus 😳

[BYEEE THATS ME]

“i didn’t get married!” y/n laughed nervously, holding up her right hand again. “aeri-unnie gave me this ring.”

the ring had diamonds all around it with one big diamond in the middle.

overiem: bye that looks so expensive

“she didn’t tell me how much it cost at first.” y/n continued, running a hand through her hair. “she said i wouldn’t accept it.” she covered her mouth to laugh as she recalled the events.

[giselle spoiling her girlfriend… per usual]

aerichandesu ✓: don’t tell them how much it costs

aerichandesu ✓: that’s between me and you

“unnie said i can’t tell anyone! so next topic.” y/n clasped her hands together while fighting back a smile, sitting up to the camera and fixing her posture.

[not y/n tryna look good for giselle]

*techical difficulties screen*

clip 3!… 🎬 aespa at inkigayo while y/n is the mc

y/n is standing next to han yujin as they cover aespa and y/n can be seen blushing slightly.

cheers could be heard and y/n covered her face from embarrassment, coming together as giselle gave her an encouraging hand on the shoulder.

“today’s first place nominees… aespa!” y/n accounces and they both move out of the way to clap for the girls.

as karina counts down y/n almost does the greeting before stopping herself, laughing nervously and earning a quiet laugh from giselle. “cute.” she mouthed.

“nice to meet you! how does it feel?” yujin asked and y/n turned around to find giselle’s gaze burning holes through her head.

[did giselle even blink… LMAO]

“it’s such an honor to be nominated alongside with other amazing artists! please look forward to our performances and thank you for the support!” even though winter was speaking into the camera and everyone was focused on her, giselle only focused on y/n.

“for whiplash… the choreo was very captivating. the charisma is off the charts!” yujin exclaimed before looking back at all of the girls.

“we worked really hard for this comeback so we hope you guys enjoy it!” ningning clapped, nodding as yeonjun continued to speak after she finished.

“we’re enjoying it! lastly, should we hear about what you guys will do if you get first place?” he asked.

“if we get first place…” giselle started, looking at the camera. “we’ll perform an encore of whiplash and two other songs that you all choose.” she held up the number two and the fans cheered.

“then i’ll go shopping with my favorite person in the world.” giselle looked directly at y/n and blew a kiss.

the crowd cheered and y/n covered her face, blushing again. “oh!” yujin stifled a laugh before clapping and y/n regained her composure before catching the kiss with a flirty smile.

[tf they got going on?]

“we’ll look at the results in a bit. shall we introduce the next stage?” y/n asked, turning to look at aespa.

“let’s meet purple kiss’ stage. music cue!”

*technical difficulties screen*

obviously there’s a lot more but that’s all for todayyy

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!!! sub && like or you’ll be bald by the age of 30 🙏🏽🙏🏽

taglist — @saysirhc

[werezmastarbucks]

you give me a dog, i ask no questions

pic credit

masterlist - part 3 of 6

in which yoongi drives six hours to make you fall in love with him

yoongi x reader

word count: 4291

warnings: Yoongi's pov present in this chapter

music: spring attitude by sunwoojunga, lmly by jackson wang

Namjoon wasn't lying when he said you're stuck with them for the time being. After the party, you were officially welcomed into the Kim sibling company if not family; their parents lived outside Seoul so you saw them two mainly. You had no idea what insane tales of your hardship and bravery Minji kept telling her brother, but he started treating you even better, offering to send his driver to take you to nearby towns you hadn't visited yet. He then extended several personal favors to you, including but not limited by, providing food and medicine when you caught Covid in December. You feared Minji told Namjoon you were into him since she has forced it out of you. But so far, there were thankfully no advances. Your heart had no capacity for love now; the drama that this kind of relationship would bring deterred you greatly. Again, you preferred your relatively stable and peaceful life. You were immensely grateful that not many things changed after you met - gasp! - BTS. You heard they went on mini-tour in Asia, then returned; Minji shared some news with you and you even followed Namjoon on Instagram.

You asked Minji once about her affair with Yoongi:

"How's your rebound going?"

Minji looked quite happy.

"Ha, so good".

Then she was sad.

"I haven't told Nam yet. I don't know how he'll react... he is his hyung, you know... I'm afraid he'll break his beautiful face if he finds out".

"You said they were brothers..."

She tragically waved her hand and thus, the conversation was over. She found it too hard to talk about, for some reason. Her sleeping with one of her brother's bestest friends, what can go wrong? You shrugged internally and let it go.

In February Hoseok had his birthday and he inconveniently recalled your name, so you got an invitation card. He was the guy who danced all the time, you remembered. By then, you learned a little more about all the guys, of course, but not too much, not to spoil your relation to them in reality. You knew he clapped furiously when he laughed, that he laughed a lot, that he was one of the best dancers in South Korea, and that he adored brands, and brands adored him. You found you enjoyed some of his songs, specifically, Blue Side. It was very fitting for a spring. And spring was almost upon Seoul.

Visiting his birthday was very similar to the September celebration, only it was held on land. Large studio equipped with musical instruments turned that party into an improvised show. Namjoon was being classy and mature again, you brought a piece of art as a present again, Taehyung pecked you with his 'no worries' again, Jimin was gentle again, and so on. Yoongi started that party a little happier than on the boat which you attributed to his hatred of water although he never proclaimed having it. The party was alright. All danced, Minji sang as they played instruments, and Hoseok was showing off his new choreo. A year ago you'd think it all sounded like a fever dream, but they were, in fact, normal actual people, and drank the same way.

You found yourself tucked in the corner of the room as usual, a party hater label bright and neon on your forehead. Yoongi would join you once in a while, a similar label highlighting his high royal cheekbones, and you'd chat peacefully about music, and work, and weather. Then he'd set off and return: have you eaten? He was a good guy, actually. Another stupid thing, you realized he is not actually unattractive. God knows what's gotten into you earlier, when you just met him. Maybe he opened up a little and you found how gentle he is with all things around him. The feature you took for aloofness was caution, probably. You kept remembering Minji's words. They had to be careful with new people.

February came and went, and spring jolted the city with life. Breathing was sweet and easy, and you were in good mood almost every day, which was a new thing. Minji helped a lot. You got to see each other every week at least once, and this groundedness set you on the right course for healing.

One day in late March you got a call from her, and her voice was soaking with that sound that always made the hair on the back of your neck stand.

"You like animals, right?" she asked.

"Of course. I love animals".

"Dogs?" it wasn't Minji's voice anymore. You listened.

"I love dogs?" you half-questioned. It was a statement, but you were a little taken aback.

"Yoongi wants to ask you for a favor", her voice, giggling, got literally slapped away from the phone, and you could hear it.

"Yoongi?"

"Hi".

You settled on the couch and observed your living room.

"Minji said you really love animals and currently don't have a pet, and I", he sighed deeply, like a poet that's staring down the rocky waterfall he's about to jump, "have a problem. I don't have anybody to stay with my dog, and we're leaving for a... mini-tour".

"A dog?!" was all you heard. The thought of dog swept all other thoughts from your head, puff, they're gone. A dog, for yourself?

"Yes!" you yelled, while Yoongi was trying to say something else. You heard Minji's laughter next to him.

"I told you she'd agree with no questions asked".

"Listen lady, when someone offers me a dog, I say yes", you stated firmly, "it's a dog. How long do you need?"

"Well", Yoongi was now laughing as well, his voice like low vibration in your phone, "we're away for three weeks, if that's okay with you..."

"Can you make it longer?"

Another chuckle.

"How many dogs?"

"Just one".

"Do you have more?"

You gave them something to laugh about. It was a good day for you. You loved dogs, end of story. They, of course, clarified that Minji herself was allergic, so she couldn't babysit the angel named Holly. Yoongi's parents were three hours away from Seoul, and his best friend was leaving the city for a holiday. You didn't need all this information, but accepted it.

"We should probably meet up", you suggested after a little thought. "The dog has to see the sitter and the owner together to get used to me".

"Yes", Yoongi sounded impressed, "you've done this before?"

"Once. I am great with dogs. I will protect her with my life and let her sleep in my bed".

"It's a boy though".

"Holly is a boy?"

He sighed,

"Yes, why? It's a unisex name".

You didn't think it was, but let it go. You started thinking out loud about the logistics of it. You decided to meet up a couple of times before Yoongi turns into SUGA and retreats into the world of touring.

"That's a big favor, thank you", he said again. You retorted,

"I am not trying to be funny, I really love animals".

"Thank you", his voice was smiling.

As Yoongi hung up, he threw himself back on his chair, and the chair moaned with pleasure.

Minji was clutching her fists, eyebrows high on her forehead.

"I told you. Easy! High five!"

Yoongi felt too drained psychologically to high five her.

"Don't you find her a little too eager?"

"That means what? That she might want to see you? Shouldn't it be a good sign?"

As she usually did, Minji suddenly got up and started looking for her bag. Yoongi pointed to it with his finger, it lay on the sofa next to his broken guitar. The studio felt completely deoxygenated when this girl was in; he wanted to open a window but there was none.

"I gotta go", she clutched her bag in her sharp nails and hopped in place.

Yoongi narrowed his eyes.

"Blushing. Where are you going?"

"Pfft. None of your business, hyung. If more than one brother starts bossing me around, I'll jump off a roof".

"You got a boyfriend?" he guessed, just slightly alarmed.

"And if I do, then what?"

Minji got caught into the trap of his serious, attentive eyes.

"Is he normal?"

"He is great, actually. You'll love him..."

As he heard what he needed, he raised his hand and started shaking it in the air.

"No more. I got it. None of my business".

Minji smiled happily.

"I hope she can stand your hundred year old grandpa attitude. Try to tone it down with her".

He pressed his finger against his lips, begging her to be quiet.

"Discharged".

"Thank you, Jagi Minji, for helping me to come up with a plan to get with my crush", she said in a tiny voice. Yoongi gave her a death stare but did say:

"Thank you. Now please leave, Minji-ah".

He then fell forwards again, onto his keyboard.

It was almost exactly a year since you met Minji, and you ruminated about it while waiting for Yoongi and Holly next to a coffeeshop. He was running a little late, but it didn't matter; your mind was far away, at the beginning of this friend-love story, on a day like this when cherries didn't start losing their petals yet, and the whole city cleaned itself, or seemed to be cleaner, just for a while, for this magical period of spring. You breathed with full chest, blinking in the sunlight, feeling absolutely lucky standing next to these trees, your feet firm on the dark gray asphalt with the types of symbols you understood now, and you looked at the city which you also understood now, and you loved it.

You noticed Yoongi's broad frame in a white tee with jean jacket on top, with a black cap sitting on his head and hiding half of his face. He had a little milk chocolate toy poodle on a leash, the dog was not just running, it was hopping every other step, clearly just exactly as happy about spring as you were. The second you made sure it was really them, you stepped forward and then watched the dog, while Yoongi watched you.

"Hey. Sorry we're late. He pooped on a maejanamu next to our house, and I had to..." Yoongi changed his hand that held the leash as Holly started hopping to and fro, following your hands that played with his snoot. "Get it off the leaves".

You chuckled as imagination painted a picture for you.

"That's okay. Look at the weather. I am absolutely in love with your dog".

"I guess it's not that hard for a dog to enfatuate you".

His overly careful pronunciation contrasted with his advanced vocabulary.

You stood up and and faced him, seeing his weekend face, hair tucked behind the ears and under the cap, the brim of it shielding the eyes that were too recognizable for a busy street.

"Are you okay here? Should we go somewhere?" you asked. He nodded gratefully, but his reply didn't match:

"No, it's okay. Do you want coffee? I need an Americano".

You entered the coffeeshop together and he pulled the leash gently, asking Holly to stay closer. You noticed the dog was relatively well-behaved. He didn't really want to adhere to Yoongi's tugs, but had a habit of doing so. Holly was really busy sniffing your whole leg.

"Is it tiring?" you pressed, curious and a little sorrowful about his bowed head. He probably didn't notice anymore? His shoulders were down, shrunken into him like he was trying to seem smaller. And his chin was down, even when he smiled.

"Hiding your face?"

"I think..." he paused to look at the menu and raised his head a little. "The world sees my face too often. I'd prefer to be seen less", ironic smile was curving his lips. This shade of pink, and their plumpness reminded you of Minji and you stopped staring.

"What do you want?" he asked in his usual low, indifferent voice. Without the glamour of black wavy strands of hair falling on his face he seemed more manly, and way more comfortable to be around.

"Do you want to take the leash?" he asked as you walked down the street. The route led you into the square and he passed the leash to you, securing the subtle heaviness of Holly's body into your care. He watched you and the dog carefully, saying nothing, just walking next to you.

"You like spring?" he asked simply, in his funny accent, making a slight pause before 'spring', putting there an invisible comma with his teeth.

"I've never seen such a beautiful spring anywhere else. Last year I was already here for it. It just feels like waking up from a coma", you confessed. Then you remembered:

"You had a birthday recently, right?"

He closed his eyes shortly, like it was something embarrassing.

"Yeah".

"Why didn't you invite me? I've only collected Hoseok and Namjoon so far".

He chuckled dryly.

"I don't celebrate?"

"Why not?"

Yoongi sucked the air through his teeth and you understood he didn't want this to be spoken about.

"You don't have to say", you added quickly. Holly tugged on the leash, and, to spare him of the need of being nice, you asked,

"How lenient should I be with him?"

"He is very spoiled", Yoongi responded, and then smiled to himself. "Don't let him sit on your head".

So you talked a little about his habits, and how he eats, and what he doesn't like eating, and what he needs to eat but will pretend like it's poison to avoid eating.

"He is six", Yoongi was explaining, "so at this point he needs a good diet. So, only the food I'll bring, and maybe a piece of sausage from the table once a week".

Holly was running in front of you carefree, constantly getting distracted and trying to get you to break the route. His fluffy butt was very funny, you almost couldn't see it without laughing because of how he moved his slim tail. Twice to the left, once to the right.

"I should've taken him to groomer"", Yoongi sighed, "but I forgot".

"It's okay. I'll brush him".

"You really like dogs unconditionally, don't you?" he grinned.

"All animals. Hate humans. Will never do humansitting".

Yoongi nodded the same way he did when he was memorizing. Like an AI, updating memory.

"I'll ask Minji to babysit my pet human then. If she's not allergic".

There was about a fraction of annoyance to what he said, and you instantly felt put off by the idea of their entanglements.

"So, idols do have humans as pets then", you concluded darkly. Like before, Yoongi caught on your joke and supported it effortlessly.

"People wanna call them slaves for some reason. I feed them, so what's the problem, you know?"

You nodded solemnly.

You made a circle around the square, breathing the air deeply, like it was therapy. By the end of it Yoongi was even humming something under his breath. Then you passed him the leash. Your coffee cup was empty, so you threw it into the bin; he had vacuumed his the minute after you left the coffeeshop. And thus, the first assimilation procedure was over. You gave each other a respectful bow, he took Holly and left. You looked at the pair as they were crossing the road, from under the pink canopy, and thought, how swell that Minji has him. Because if she didn't, you'd fall for him, and that would've been a whole lot of drama.

It's a good thing Yoongi drank iced Americano because they were late again, and this time, around ten minutes. He apologized profusely, while cars sped up parallel to you, and the evening city hummed and grumbled like a giant waking up. The tip of pink shone like a lonely star on top of Seoul Tower. Yoongi bowed almost ninety degrees and you had to grab him by the shoulder.

"Sorry", he said again, and your hands got interlocked, exchanging things, him, pushing the leash into your palm and you, trying to hand him a coffee.

He asked you about four times if it was okay to meet later because he was at the studio, or whatever they called that huge building in the center, all day. You had nothing better to do after work, and it wasn't night yet. People were getting off work and heading to Itaewon. You went into the opposite direction, searching for quiet parks.

"Where's yours?" he asked.

"You bought me coffee last time", you noted from the ground, where you squatted, letting Holly sniff your face.

"You don't owe me anything", he said simply.

He had his black cap on, but the T-shirt changed. Otherwise, Yoongi was the same. Quiet, polite and with double bottom. Relieved of Holly's insignificant pull, he massaged his right shoulder.

"Training too much?" you chuckled.

He dropped his hand like a spell was broken, his face blank.

"Dammit. I had an surgery on this shoulder like a century ago. It hasn't hurt in years, and I still have the habit of fixing it. I don't know why".

"Oh, sorry. Maybe it's phantom pain? It stays sometimes".

You know yours did. He shook his head,

"No, not really".

He then went silent for a minute.

"When I was nineteen, I got hit by a car. One second I'm on my bike, and the next, I am under the wheel, and it's, how do you say, squeezing my shoulder out".

"Oh, shit", you said quickly. His face stayed unaffected, clearly, he wasn't torn about it anymore.

You guided Holly closer to yourself, where the light reflected from the river was making the path lighter.

"I think it tore off a little, so it did hurt for many years. But after operation it's very strong. I lift eighty".

You made the face you learnt here, from the locals: Ö.

Yoongi chuckled, as his hand flew up to his face, then, to the temple.

"Yes, I'm very strong".

"You look strong, but lifting eighty with one shoulder..."

He threw his hands up and squeezed his eyes shut:

"No, with both, with both".

"Oh. That's still cool. I lift... papers at the university, and groceries".

He grinned, showing his gums.

"You should come over", you switched, "for Holly to see you in my house".

It sounded a little awkward. You meant exactly what you said, no undertones, but still, it sounded out of the blue, and out of place. It was true though.

"Take Minji with you if you want".

"No, why", he protested, "I'll just come over when I bring Holly before I leave. I'll help you unpack his things and stuff".

"Yes, good thinking".

You turned to look at the river, gorgeous in blue and golden light of the tall buildings on the other side. You shut close and didn't speak about anything personal for the rest of the short walk. It wasn't longer than twenty minutes as you circled one section of the park, but it felt like hours, in some celestial type of way. You've never gone to parks after dark because you didn't have a male friend before. Now, the familiar paths and ponds looked different, like you crossed into the shadow realm, and the cherry petals shone blue in the unlit thickets. Yoongi rolled his eyes tiredly and looked at the ascending moon, his twin, in the sky. Your friendly instinct was to ask, tired? like he always asked you if you've eaten, but you bit your tongue. You gave the leash to him and he thanked you for the coffee.

"You live far? I should call you a taxi", he offered.

"No, it's not far away and not that late", you shook your head. Your hands formed a protective shield between you two, and he caved in.

"Okay. Be careful".

His short words, delicate like the petals, were simple and transparent, and it made you mad for some reason.

The good news were that he'd leave soon and you won't have to see him for three weeks. You also might hallucinate things sometimes so you cleared your head before he visited you with the dog.

You watched him kick off his shoes at the door and give no indication he thinks anything at all about your, frankly, cute apartment. You had no shame about it. The space was used well, the living room leading into the kitchen on one side and bedroom, on the other. Bedroom even looked like it belonged to a different dwelling, and you liked it. The wallpaper wasn't dark green, but beige-yellow, uninvasive, and the big window gave view of overhead train rails. That was the only downside: the sound of trains.

"Let's wash him", Yoongi suggested, quite joyfully.

As you strode into the bathroom, Holly kicking in his arms, you asked,

"Ready for the tour?"

"Uh-huh. Jimin- ah, Holly!"

The dog tried to jump out of the bath tub, and he pointed his finger at him. Poodle sat down immediately.

"You'll have to listen to noona Y/N. We're washing".

You turned on the water and you brushed shoulders, cosying up to the tub.

"Jimin?"

"Jimin strained his ankle, as always. If he doesn't, we know there will be trouble during one of the shows. Once he didn't injure himself before a world tour, and the stage collapsed under us on the first night".

You didn't know where to gasp. Although it was perfectly in line with all the amusing lore you knew about them.

"Did you get hurt?"

"Taehyung went under, but he's very nimble. He didn't even get hit. It was alright. But now, if the last training is done and Jimin is not injured, we hold him down and I take out the hammer".

You couldn't tell if he was completely joking or not. He soaped Holly up to his neck, and you helped with the head. After being corrected, the dog behaved angelically. His beady dark eyes followed your hands with no blinking.

"Is he afraid of water?"

"No, he's just aware that something is up".

"He'll be sad", you murmured.

"He knows I always come back. Just cuddle him. You'll do well. Speak Korean to him, of course, if you can".

A smile flashed. Yoongi tried to groom his hair with the clean hand, but the hair fell right back. You hated youself for noticing that one small strand that was close to his ear like the crescent.

Once out of the bathroom, he took one glimpse at your bookcase and said,

"Namjoon said you like Japanese literature?"

You were holding Holly in his towel on the floor, squeezing and rubbing him. Yoongi contentedly straightened his back and even stretched his arms.

"Yes".

No more comments about it. The tip of his tongue traveled to the corner of his lips, then he stepped to the door where all Holly's things were.

"Can I ask you something?"

It's been bothering you for a while.

He turned around, standing on one knee, his fingers tearing off the packaging from Holly's food.

"Yeah?"

"After the car accident, uh, do you, or did you have PTSD? I mean, you probably did, but for how long?"

You inhaled a lot of air into your lungs and stopped breathing. His face changed just a little. The memory update. The wolfcut, you realized. His hair, it had a name.

"I still have it, not so bad, though", he said simply. "It goes away little by little, but it takes time".

He paused, his hands working, but his head was still turned to you. He probably barely saw you, sitting against the window which let intense golden light into the living room.

"Why do you ask?"

You still weren't breathing and you figured you could go on like this because you didn't want to breathe in his scent lingering in your apartment. Woody, like one perfume you used to have when you were in school. Also, you didn't want to breathe, period.

"I was in an accident, too", you finally replied and turned back to Holly.

"Just wondering when I can sleep".

Yoongi was quiet for a while and you wondered if you went too far, but he was the only person who could probably understand you. To the full. Understand the intensity of horror when you're stuck against the unyielding machine.

"It will pass", he said simply. "Seems long, but every day it gets a little bit easier. You just have to let yourself twitch sometimes, if something scares you".

You released half-dry dog, and he shook off the water, tiny droplets exploding from him, flying away, pierced through with the golden sunlight. You felt like you'd just witnessed once in a lifetime event. You widened your eyes:

"Did you see this? So pretty! Did you see?"

Yoongi laughed with his shoulders, and there was some relief in his voice,

"Yes, I saw. Spring is pretty".

When he was finally leaving, Yoongi suddenly turned as if he remembered something.

"Do you want to go to our Seoul show? It will be the last one, at the end of April".

You were caught in your tracks.

"I... do?"

He nodded.

"Of course you do. You've never seen us live, have you? You will be blown away".

You chuckled at his sudden enthusiasm. His eyes even gleamed a little.

"I will ask them to take you backstage, the view is fine from there".

"Oh, backstage is..."

"No worries, no worries", Yoongi grinned, but didn't show the gums. Instead, he curved his lips like he knew something you didn't.

[1343401]

captive desires - prologue

pairing: bts x reader

status: ongoing

word count: 2.3 k

warnings: depictions of violence, death, family trauma, insecurities, mentions of blood,

prev | next | m.list

“i wish i were a cat,” myah said softly, her chin resting on her hands as she stared into the flickering flames of the hearth. the fire crackled and popped, casting dancing shadows across the room. the smell of freshly baked bread still lingered in the air, mixing with the earthy scent of wood smoke. it was a feeling of warmth, of comfort, and myah had always loved these quiet moments. with her grandmother sitting beside her, sewing a blanket, and her grandfather curled up in his favorite chair, reading, she felt safe. the mansion was her world, and everything felt perfect in it.

her grandmother looked up from her work, her eyes soft with affection. "a cat, huh?" she chuckled, the sound like a gentle breeze. "you’d be spoiled rotten, little one. cats don’t do anything but sleep all day, eat when they’re hungry, and let everyone adore them. that sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?"

myah smiled at the thought. “it does! they get to do whatever they want.” she sighed, a little wistfully, imagining the luxury of a life with no responsibilities, no worries. "i’d love to just curl up and nap by the fire whenever i felt like it."

her grandmother laughed, the warm sound filling the room. but her grandfather, who had been quiet for most of the evening, suddenly lowered his book, the movement slow and deliberate. myah didn't notice at first, too absorbed in the fire and the cozy atmosphere of the room. but then, she felt a shift, like the air had changed in some subtle way. her grandfather’s sharp gaze was on her now, his dark eyes studying her with a coldness she wasn’t used to.

“being a cat’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he said, his voice low and deliberate. “they’re independent. mysterious. but you should know... not everyone would trust you if you were one.”

myah blinked, confused. she had been half-joking, lost in the idea of being a lazy, carefree creature. her mind had been filled with thoughts of soft fur and lazy afternoons. but now, the tone in her grandfather’s voice had a strange edge to it. something that made her spine tingle, just a little.

“trust?” she echoed, frowning. “why would a cat need to trust anyone?”

her grandfather set his book down completely, now fully turned toward her. his movements were deliberate, and there was something unsettling in the way his eyes lingered on her. “because, darling, there’s always someone who wants to control you,” he said slowly, his voice strangely calm. “and not all creatures are as harmless as they seem. some are much more dangerous.”

myah furrowed her brow, not understanding. she was just a child, her thoughts wrapped around the fantasy of what it would be like to be a cat. she didn’t think about danger, or control. she only thought about the freedom, the warmth of the sun, the carefreeness of the life she imagined. she opened her mouth to respond, but her grandmother quickly intervened, her soft voice cutting through the tension in the air.

“oh, now, dear, your grandfather’s just being silly,” she said with a laugh that was just a bit too bright, as if to distract myah from her grandfather’s words. “you’re too sweet and innocent to ever be anything other than a darling little girl.”

myah hesitated, sensing the sudden shift in the room. her grandmother’s smile was a little too forced, and her grandfather's gaze never left her. something in the way he watched her made her feel small, like she was being weighed and measured, as if he were seeing something in her that she couldn't see in herself.

“but you’re right about one thing,” her grandfather continued, his voice taking on a deeper, darker tone. “the world can be dangerous, myah. people can hide their true nature. and not everyone who seems kind is. sometimes, it’s better to stay hidden, to keep to yourself.”

myah felt a shiver run down her spine. the words, while soft, were heavy, each one loaded with a meaning she couldn’t fully grasp. she didn’t want to think about such things, didn’t want to feel the weight of her grandfather’s words pressing down on her. she wanted to believe that everything was safe, that her world was just as it seemed. but his stare, cold and calculating, made her feel like there was more to his words than just simple advice.

“grandfather?” she asked hesitantly, her voice small. “what do you mean? what kind of things are dangerous?”

her grandfather’s lips curled into a small, knowing smile. “you’ll understand when you’re older,” he said cryptically, turning his gaze back to his book. but his eyes flickered to her grandmother for just a moment, and the look that passed between them was not one of love or understanding, but something far colder. something that made myah’s skin prickle.

her grandmother, still smiling, turned back to her sewing, but her eyes were distant, as if she too was hiding something. myah didn’t know what to make of it, so she let the conversation drop, letting the strange tension fade away.

but that night, as she lay in bed, her thoughts kept drifting back to her grandfather’s words, to the strange way he had looked at her, the way her grandmother had avoided the subject altogether. myah tried to push it all away, tried to tell herself it was just her imagination, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

the basement was quieter than usual, the only sound the soft rustle of shifting bodies and the occasional low growl that escaped from namjoon. the air was thick with the stench of damp stone and iron, and the flickering of the single bulb above cast strange shadows across the cages.

“who’s this?” jungkook’s voice cut through the silence. his dark eyes narrowed as he watched the young boy, another hybrid, being shoved into the cage next to his. the boy was a deer hybrid, his legs shaky, eyes wide with fear. his limbs were thin, frail from months of neglect, but his eyes, his eyes were wild.

“don’t bother with him,” taehyung’s deep voice rumbled from across the room, his eyes not leaving the boy but the muscles in his shoulders tensing, like a tiger preparing to pounce. “they’ll break him like the rest of us.”

“he looks different,” hoseok mused, his voice light and teasing, but there was a bite beneath it. “smaller, younger... guess they’re going for something new.”

“won’t last long,” yoongi murmured from the shadows of his cage, his voice cold, but the flicker of something dark in his eyes suggested he was already calculating the new boy’s fate. “they’ll make him hunt, or they’ll make him... entertain.”

the new boy flinched at yoongi’s words, his body shrinking back into the corner of the cage, eyes darting nervously between the older hybrids.

“shut it, yoongi,” seokjin said softly, though his gaze lingered on the newcomer. his pale fur shimmered under the dim light as he shifted in his cage, clearly uncomfortable with the boy’s arrival. “they’ll break him fast enough. no need to make him scared.”

“too late for that,” namjoon growled, his eyes hard and unwavering as he watched the boy. his voice held an edge of bitterness, a reminder of his own capture at such a young age. “this place is made to break us.”

the deer hybrid trembled as he slowly sank to the floor of his cage, clearly overwhelmed. he opened his mouth to speak, but the only sound that came out was a soft whimper.

“it’s okay,” jimin said gently, his voice soft but firm. he leaned forward, his clouded leopard fur rippling slightly as he moved. his eyes were filled with sympathy, though there was a hardened edge to his expression. “you’re not alone, kid. we’ve all been here longer than you think.”

“don’t tell him that,” taehyung muttered, his voice low and tense. “don’t make him think he has a chance.”

“he’s just a kid,” jimin shot back, his eyes flickering with a mixture of pity and something more complicated. “he’s not like us.”

the deer hybrid’s head snapped up at that, his eyes wide with confusion and disbelief. he opened his mouth again, but no words came out.

“you’ll get used to it,” jungkook said, his voice carrying a bitter, hollow quality. “not like you’ll have a choice.”

“don’t listen to him,” seokjin whispered, though there was no real hope in his voice. he lowered his gaze, as if ashamed of his attempt to comfort the boy. “they don’t break everyone. some of us... some of us still have our minds.”

“barely,” hoseok added with a sharp laugh, the sound hollow and mocking. “barely.”

there was a brief silence as the newcomers’ quiet sobs filled the room, but the hybrids didn’t move to comfort him again. they’d all learned long ago that emotions didn’t help. sympathy only made it worse. their captors had a way of punishing any act of kindness, twisting it into something cruel.

the flickering bulb above cast long shadows, its dull light casting strange shapes on the walls. the new boy, small, trembling, barely more than a child, was curled up in the corner of his cage, eyes wide with fear.

he hadn’t said anything since the last exchange. not that anyone expected him to. in fact, none of them were sure he could even speak anymore.

“he won’t last,” taehyung’s voice was low, but it cut through the thick silence of the basement like a whip. his tiger eyes glinted in the darkness, watching the boy with something close to disdain.

seokjin’s gaze was softer, but the weight of his words still held truth. “they always think they can survive. they always think they’re different.”

jungkook leaned forward, his jaguar eyes narrowing. “the thing is… none of us ever were. different.”

hoseok stretched in his cage, cracking his knuckles. “nah. that kid? he’s too soft. they’ll take him by morning.”

yoongi didn’t even blink as he spoke, his voice as cold and detached as ever. “if he makes it that long.”

the boy flinched at their words but said nothing. his eyes darted nervously between them, his chest rising and falling with shallow, uneven breaths.

“don’t waste your sympathy,” jimin murmured, his eyes trained on the boy. “they want him to suffer.”

the air was thick with tension, suffocating in its silence. none of them spoke again. time seemed to crawl as the hours passed, but none of them had any illusions about what was happening.

they knew what happened when the sun set in this place. they’d seen it too many times.

the new boy curled into himself, his tiny body trembling. “please…,” he whispered, but the sound was drowned in the oppressive stillness of the room.

the rest of them, silent, watched, their faces hardened masks. they’d seen this play before, had played their parts, and they had no intention of making the same mistake.

the night dragged on, until it was nothing but endless darkness.

then, just as the first light of dawn began to creep into the basement, they heard it.

a loud slam. the sound of a door being ripped open, the unmistakable sound of someone being dragged across the cold stone floor.

the boy’s pitiful scream echoed in the night, though it didn’t last long. it was quickly muffled, a brief cry lost in the sound of something heavier being dragged.

“it’s time,” yoongi said softly, almost too softly, as if it didn’t matter anymore.

taehyung cracked his neck, eyes flicking toward the door where the sounds of struggling were still faintly heard. “the kid didn’t even make it until morning.”

hoseok snorted. “surprise surprise. they always come here with hope. that’s what makes it so much easier.”

seokjin shifted uncomfortably in his cage, his gaze flickering toward the door, then quickly away. “doesn’t matter. no one gets out. not us. not him.”

the dragging sounds stopped, followed by a heavy, sickening thud.

the room was deathly quiet again.

“he’s gone,” jungkook said, his voice flat, but his gaze dark. his jaguar eyes glinted, almost like a distant echo of something untamable. something that, like the rest of them, had long been buried.

“it doesn’t matter,” hoseok muttered. “they always die before the sun comes up. they either break or they... get taken.”

the others said nothing in response. there was no need.

they’d seen this happen too many times.

jimin let out a breath, his eyes flickering to the corner where the boy had once been. “you think he’ll even remember who he was?”

“does it matter?” taehyung’s voice was sharp. “they don’t care. we don’t care.”

but the silence was heavy. unsettling, like a weight pressing down on them all. even yoongi’s eyes, dark as ever, held something, a flicker of something ancient and knowing.

“it’s always the same,” namjoon said quietly, his voice rough, like he hadn’t spoken in ages. “they come in thinking they’re different. they never are.”

the basement was cold. too cold. they were alone again. but this time, it was different. the absence of the boy, his fate sealed before dawn, sat in the air like an unspoken truth. they knew what came next.

more would come, just like him.

and they would never make it either.

the sound of the heavy door creaking closed echoed through the basement, sealing them once again in their dark cages.

and in the dead of night, only the faintest whisper of the boy’s cry remained.

authors note: here is the first partish of captive desires !! part one will be up in a little bit, i just have to edit a few things. also spring semester did just start for me so uploads may be slightly slower (i'm hoping not too much but i am a stem student so we will see) thank you guys for reading,

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[willbyersmikewheeler]

Thoughts on the trailer:

I’ve been in shock so I haven’t actually said my thoughts on the trailer. So let me speak my truth now:

Ok, Joyce and Will, that opening man - that really got me screaming quietly because it was 3am. It was so healing to see them finally talk about it, we haven’t see that yet and I better see more conversations like that in s5 - them being able to talk about their trauma and start healing from it hopefully.. I’m happy to get that Joyce being a mother dynamic again with honestly, everyone not just will. Since, no shade to Joyce she was going through a lot but, I feel as though that mother dynamic was neglected due to her other story lines so I’m very happy to return to MOTHER JOYCE. Her with that axe? OH….LORD. Powerful. She’s gonna be so mother this season I know it.

THE WILL VOICE OVER, OH ITS SO HIS SEASON. SO HAPPY. LOVED THAT.

OK,,,, now wasn’t the biggest fan of half of the trailer being flashback scenes - BUT, we have already worked out a lot from leaks and stuff, so it’s just to not spoil the plot. So, sad but meh it’s fine - we got content, that’s all I need.

BARN SCENE - OK,,, what’s banging down the damn door? Joyce w axe!! From left to right in the background we have : Will, Erica, Derek, and Robin. Will and Robin interaction officially confirmed !! I’m aware we all knew already but I’m happy asf with Will and Robin interacting. Derek is either on the second floor, or floating to which HUH?? Hella confused.

HOLLY AND KAREN: Been knew that this was gonna happen, but still confused of what they are shocked at - ted isn’t in the shot so…. Maybe something is happening to him? I’m excited too see where they’ll go with this new storyline and exploring these characters more.

LUMAX, the only ship *cough cough* Byler was technically shown together *cough cough* that was shown in the teaser! We’ve seen this shot in bts before twice now, so easy shot to include. I’m happy that max is out of that full body cast but, how they are gonna wake her up and she plays a part in this season is a question mark for me right now.

DUSTIN & STEVE SHOT: Them looking up at something, we’ve seen this in leaks before - not sure what they’re doing but you can’t really tell much of anything from this shot. Other than a beaten up Dustin to which, been knew. The bullies obviously beat him up, confused on the timeline of these events though…hmmmmm.

HOPPER & EL: Ok, first off the duos are so clear by this teaser trailer! And I’m so happy for the hopper and el dynamic to come back full swing. We see alarms blasting as El screams and hopper comforts her, I’m not to sure where they are? Maybe the lab? Definitely somewhere that’s high security. And then, the edge of the wall - and hopper and el standing there looking at it, I’m very interested as to what this is and what the hell that brain like stuff is on the wall. The edge of the upside down because it only exists in Hawkins?? Are they in someone’s mind?? Hmmm interesting!

LEADER MIKE LEADER MIKE: OH, I LOVE THIS SHOT. OK LOADS TO UNPACK,,,

Mike is wet in this shot??? what?? And don’t think I forgot about that will byers wet bts pic too, byler is see you.

Mike protecting kids + Will & Joyce, I knew Derek was being added but I didn’t know about the other kids - I saw multiple people say that, they are Holly’s friends and … Mike sees himself in one of them and realises his feelings for Will were romantic. ABSOLUTE CINEMA. While I love Mike being a protector to those kids, I really hope they aren’t paired up with those kids for the entire season. I need Byler to have some solo moments.

Will in Joyce’s arms in the background,,, oh I feel ILL. Why is my poor boy exhausted / nearly unconscious?? From powers usage or injury…? I just want him to be happy guys.

MILITARY SHOT: NOW WHAT THE HELLY. Ok, the upsidedown ,saw someone say dragon from the painting and I do need that now, breaking the concrete.. SICK AS HELL.

WILL ONCE AGAIN PASSED OUT IN THE BACKGROUND WITH JOYCE BY HIM (?), NOT AS SICK AS HELL. IM SCARED FOR HIM, DESPITE ME KNOWING HES GONNA LIVE. STILL WANT HIM TO BE OK.

WILL SCREAMING - SO, we have our answers it was will screaming at Mike to run!! VERY TERRIFYING. AMAZING SHOT / SCENE. HORRIFYING SCREAM. EXCITED BUT SCARED. Not sure, why he’s screaming duh, But two main running theories are Will and something to do with possession or powers or both?.. I’m sat you guys.

I’M HAPPY THE TEASER TRAILER IS OUT, NOT SO HAPPY ABOUT THE GA BUT SIGHS GUESS ILL PUT UP WITH IT.

[shintaru]

Hummingbird crew | dating head canons

Sabbath crew, light Calvary, league of street, Kazuma, windbreaker

m.list ♡ taglist

Jay Jo ~

♡ Would get a little jealous if someone else shows interest in you

♡ Would gift you wasabi flavored candies

♡ Restaurant dates

♡ Spends time alone or goes to you when he’s struggling emotionally

♡ At first he doesn’t show his feelings for you but after you’re together he allows you to see a New Romantic side to him

♡ Will work hard make you something cute for a gift

♡ Will cook for you

♡ Would let you try his wasabi flavored concoctions

♡ Would make sure you got home safe by calling you

♡ His mother doesn’t like him being with you but he doesn’t care

♡ You help him sneak back into his house sometimes when he’s not in good terms with his mother

♡ A little shy when it comes to pda or showing affection but if you’re alone or he is jealous he doesn’t care about showing affection

♡ Occasionally looks up fun things couples do together, so you both have something to do

Minu ~

♡ Emotional roller coaster

♡ If he doesn’t feel good enough for you or he’s struggling with his own problems you won’t hear from him for a while

♡ Would want as much alone time with you as possible

♡ Would be jealous of anyone you previously liked or someone who currently likes you

♡ Has some anger issues and you’d get caught up in the middle of those, but when it’s over he appreciates you staying with him and he feels sorry for not being better

♡ Will get you both matching promise rings

♡ Would spoil you 100%. If you’re thinking about it he’s already pressed order and it’s otw he doesn’t mind spending money on you.

♡ Makes no sense at all. One minute he wants to date the next he doesn’t then he wants to date again. Mostly because he doesn’t want to bring you down with his issues but it’s confusing.

♡ Would always make sure you’re safe even if he’s busy and can’t be by your side at all times.

♡ he’s not the best at communicating sometimes and it will leave you feeling like he doesn’t care about you but once he realizes this he makes it up to you.

♡ I feel like he’s into double dates so if Shelly & Jay wanted to join your date he’d be down.

♡ I’m sorry but he keeps embarrassing pictures of you in his phone. He thinks they’re cute and he shows them to everyone it will drive you crazy but it makes him happy.

♡ will tease you over small things on occasion. If you accidentally run into a door and he sees it you’re never living it down.

Dom Kang ~

♡ Spends time alone or goes to you when he’s struggling emotionally

♡ Would try his best not to fight if you’re against it but if you or his friends are in danger he will fight and try to keep it a secret from you

♡ He doesn’t like making you worry or cry

♡ Would probably make you laugh a lot with the random shit he does 🤣🤣

♡ Loves when you comfort him after he lost a race

♡ Will need help getting you a gift, probably asks Shelly and Mia for help

♡ Loves being able to comfort you when you’re feeling down

♡ Would walk you home but if he can’t he will have his dad’s men follow you to make sure you get home safely

♡ Probably would buy you matching Jordan’s

♡ Will let you walk Jordan with him

♡ Will do dumb shit that pisses you off ex: getting scammed

♡ Will disappear when he feels sad and insecure about his abilities making you worry about him

♡ he’s kind of like a puppy 🤣 would follow you around everywhere.

Junsu lee ~

♡ Buys you flowers and replaces them when they die

♡ Visits you at work if he’s allowed

♡ Acts like things are fine when they really aren’t

♡ Doesn’t like you worrying about him

♡ Likes that you care about him but he doesn’t want you involved in any dangerous things that the crew may get involved in

♡ Would know exactly what to get you. Probably a necklace, or bracelet.

♡Would carry you around sometimes

♡ makes as much time for you as he can

♡ begs you to attend his races he swears your presence brings him good luck

Shelly Scott ~

♡ Will support and be there for you during hard times

♡ Doesn’t want you around or talking to other girls/guys outside humming bird crew

♡ Will worry a lot about you

♡ she’s a great listener and gives good advice and moral support.

♡ gifts you things that relate to your interests

Yuna ~

♡ Will be there for you during hard times

♡ Will kill you for talking to or about other girls/guys

♡ she’s afraid of losing you so at times she may act as if she’s angry at you after you’ve done something reckless

♡ Gifts you lots of food. She’ll claim that she made too much but if you know her well enough you know she just doesn’t want to admit she made the food for you.

Mia ~

♡ Very supportive and understanding

♡ Will be there with you during hard times

♡ Like Jay will be jealous if she sees you with another girl/guy but she’d probably hide her feelings, until you mention her behavior changing then she’ll confront you about how she feels

♡ Likes giving you flowers

♡ You may have to take the initiative in the relationship

♡ Supports you no matter what you’re going though

I know some characters have more head canons than others but some of the characters I have a better understanding for than the rest so that’s why. I just didn’t want to exclude them out of the post.

dedicated to @dzvelinaskebiyars

I got stung by a wasp for the first time today… funny thing is @dzvelinaskebiyars just got done telling me to go back inside when it happened 😭😭 I didn’t listen and got stung🗿

[back2bluesidex]

Monitoring Duty - JJK

Pairing: Idol!Jungkook X Managerial staff!Reader

Theme: Fluff, f2l (kinda), coworkers to lovers (kinda)

Summary: You are tasked with monitoring Jungkook's weverse live tonight, which starts with you trying to shove ramyeon down your throat and ends with Jungkook confessing that he likes you too.

Wordcount: 1.7k+

Warnings: None.

A/N: trust me, I had no plans of writing this one but couldn't really get this idea out of my head... so, please suffer with me. thank you very much. and it's really stupid so please forgive me.

Weverse: 🌟JK started a LIVE  - I am tired..

Your phone dinged with the notification. You know what it can be and you are prepared but currently you are struggling to chew and swallow the last bit of cup ramyeon, so that you can finally get into your monitoring duty. 

Drinking the water in a breath and debunking choking possibilities, you reach for your work laptop. Opening the application while putting down the password doesn't take you more than 10 seconds. 

And finally you are in. Now all you have to do is to monitor Jungkook and take appropriate actions when there is an inappropriate situation such as, he falls asleep, or he spoils his upcoming schedule, or he gets repetitive calls from a sasaeng etc. 

You melt on the hotel couch. Your limbs feel like jelly due to all the workload you have been through since 4 am in the morning. Being a managerial staff of a Kpop idol is neither fancy nor pleasant. While thousands of fans dream of being at your place, you want nothing more than a year long break. But then again, the pay is good and you are in need of money as well as a strong professional profile. 

And another reason for you pursuing this gruesome job is, the man you are currently monitoring. 

It has been more than two years since you joined Hybe. For the first year you worked with the entire team and for the last one year, you have been appointed as one of the managerial staff of the maknae.

You don’t know when in this last one year, you started to grow and harbor some kind of fondness towards Jungkook. Not that you don’t know the rules and regulations of the company (most of which don’t apply in terms of BTS), you can recite those better than your phone number, but still… staying immune to Jungkook’s charms, and especially the way he treats you with all the kindness of the world (which makes you wonder at times whether feelings are mutual or not), wasn’t possible for you. 

You know it’s foolish, you know there will be no return to your affection but you still like to enjoy this feeling of liking him, adoring him from afar, praying for him in silence. You will move on someday, but as of now, your focus is trained on him and only on him. 

“Oh the festival? The festival was crazy! You know it’s the first time I have performed in a festival all alone without the members, so it was scary and I was nervous. But seeing the other artists enjoying themselves and watching you guys cheering for me helped me a lot. Hope you guys liked it.” Jungkook giggles. You mirror his actions while watching him through your laptop screen. 

If you put your ear on the wall, you could probably hear his mellow voice piercing through the thin cement of the overpriced hotel room. You are given the room beside him for handling emergencies quickly and he doesn’t even know that. He doesn’t even care, does he? 

You shake off your thoughts as you try to focus on the live.

Jungkook restlessly talks and tries to interact with the fans despite being dead tired. You have been with him all day long and you know how hectic things were. He has hardly got any sleep since the day he landed in the US. Interviews, performances, event invitations, everything was lined up one after another. It all ended with the Summerfest performance today. Just this one live and after that he will get to rest for a couple of days before catching a flight back to Korea.   

You roll your eyes as Jungkook starts to sing to comply with the request of a fan. 

“He just performed for an hour and twelve minutes! And you people still want him to sing? Even when he is clearly tired?” you groan at the screen. Most of the time you respect fans’ love for Bangtan but sometimes their nonchalant demands really piss you off.  

Jungkook finishes signing and starts coughing immediately. You follow the live stream as he leaves his chair and starts looking for water in the refrigerator. 

He coughs some more and then with a very choked voice, says, “ah! Guys! I’m running out of water. Should I drink water from the faucet then?” 

You grab two bottles from the nightstand as soon as possible and run towards his room. 

Within a few moments of ringing the bell, Jungkook appears at the door. At first his eyes go wide seeing you standing there wearing an oversized tshirt and a pair of sweats, then his eyes fall on the bottles you have in your hold. He coughs again and you hastily open the cap of one of the bottles and thrust it towards his lips. He grabs it immediately and drinks until he is satisfied.  

You try not to stare at the way his adam’s apple bobs when he chugs water down or the way he wipes his lips to get rid of the remnants of water, but fail miserably and you guess Jungkook notices that too, otherwise there is no apparent reason for him to smile sheepishly. 

“Thanks” he says, closing the bottle, “so… you are on monitoring duty tonight?” 

“Yeah. Are you okay though? You have been coughing since morning.” You reply, neglecting the way your skin heats up because of Jungkook’s intense stare at your smaller form. 

“I am fine, Y/N. Much better now that you are here…” Jungkook pauses, your eyes widen at his statement, “with the water I mean.” both of you chuckle nervously. 

“Umm.. I will wrap it up quickly okay? I don’t want to overwork you. Just give me ten more minutes.” 

“Jungkook, it’s alright. Take your time. I like to watch you doing silly stuff anyway.” you smile and he giggles. 

“It felt nice… hearing you say that.” Jungkook gives you one of his bunny smiles as his dark orbs find yours. You two stay there staring at each other, without giving a damn about the 10 million people that are currently staring at a chair, until reality finally seeps into your veins again. 

“Bye. Good night.” you murmur as Jungkook nods. 

He is already back at his seat when you come back to your room and sit on the couch. 

“Jungkook-ah, I wish I had a better word than love to explain how much I love you.”

Jungkook reads a comment. 

“Umm… better word than love? Is there anything like this?” He thinks for a moment, squirting his eyes, placing his index finger on his chin and pretending to think hard, “I watched a drama where the male lead confesses his love for the girl he likes saying something like ‘the moon is beautiful’ and I think that was really romantic. So, from now on if you want to say that you love me beyond explanation, use ‘the moon is beautiful’ and I will understand right away. Okay?” 

You see as the comment section goes wild with “moon is beautiful” comments rapidly. Fans really love him a lot and he too, is so dedicated to his fans that sometimes you get jealous. 

Within five more minutes, Jungkook is saying bye and turning the live stream off. You leave a sigh of relief, nothing went wrong under your watch and now you can finally sleep. 

You hit the bed with a thud, wrap the duvet around your body and close your eyes only to be startled by the vibration of your phone that is kept on the nightstand. 

You grab your phone with an annoyed huff, which vanishes when you see it’s a text from Jungkook. 

“Do you wanna grab a beer? If you are not asleep yet?” 

And the next moment you are bolting towards Jungkook’s room, fucking your sleep and nighttime rest. 

You two settle comfortably at the balcony, talking about nothing and everything at the same time, while staring at the night sky. Gradually you forget that you are tired and you haven’t got any sleep for almost 20 hours now. But who cares. If having no sleep exchanges a bit of quality time alone with Jungkook then you would gladly stay awake night after night. 

“Jimin hyung texted me earlier, saying I did a great job.” Jungkook says, sipping on his beer. 

“See, you were panicking for nothing. You always do a great job.” You reply, he chuckles and then for a minute or so, you two fall into a comfortable silence. Until Jungkook decides to break it.

“The moon is beautiful.” Jungkook whispers and you hear it loud and clear. Your heart stops beating for a moment. You stare at the said moon blankly. You don’t know if it is what you think it is. Maybe you are wrong, the moon is really beautiful tonight and that pact he made, is between him and his fans, it has nothing to do with you. On the top of that there is no way he feels something for you. You are just a nobody, nothing in front of him and his grandiose life. 

So you reply, “yes, it is.” 

“Y/N… You have been watching the live and you know what I mean right?” Jungkook’s voice suddenly feels closer to your body. You don’t know if it’s really happening or is it just a fragment of your dream, so you stay silent. 

Jungkook grabs your arms and turns your body to face him. 

And then within a moment you are caged between his muscular body and the balcony railing. 

“Don’t I deserve an answer?” Jungkook breathes on your lips. 

“Do- do you really..?”

“Yes, I do. And I wonder why you didn't notice it when I am always giving you heart eyes, when I am trying to be as close to you as possible, when I am always looking for chances to converse with you, to spend a little bit of time with you.” 

“But- Jungkook..”

“What’s your answer, Y/N?” 

“Jungkook, my answer doesn’t matter. Not when I am one of your employees. It’s prohibited for me.” you try to make him understand. 

“You just need to say yes, Y/N. I can manage the rest.”

“I will get fired.” 

“You won’t. Don’t you trust me?” 

“I do.” “Then let me take care of things okay?”

“Okay.” You smile at him, as he connects his forehead with yours. You breathe in him, his scent, his warmth and his affection for you. You don’t know about the future, you don’t have a clue about the struggles you are about to face. But you know you love him and he loves you back. So maybe things will be alright. You will let Jungkook take care of things as he wants, as for now, when he reaches down to lock his lips with yours, you taste euphoria on him.  

A/N: The idea of "Moon is beautiful" instead of "I love you" is derived from the KDrama "Romance is a bonus book.

Taglist:

@phenomenalgirl9 @soraviie @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @sukunabitch

[the--last-great-american-dynasty]

what do the ST season 5 episode titles mean?

(or, my interpretation/analysis of what they are referencing for that episode)

THE CRAWL

currently, our biggest clue is the translations they posted for the title because they don’t translate exactly. the french and portugese translations both roughly translate to ‘rescue mission’ while the german translation translates better to ‘the search’. i think this will most likely be referencing the party’s continued search for Vecna. however, based on the opening lines of the script we’ve seen, i think this episode may also focus heavily on Will’s rescue from the Upside Down in season one, but from Will’s pov

THE VANISHING OF….

this one is interesting because they’re clearly keeping the name of who vanishes because they think it spoils something too early. however, i’m still 80% sure that the full title will end up being The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler. based on the bts we’ve seen, this feels like the most logical conclusion

THE TURNBOW TRAP

this one feels the most self explanatory of all the titles. in bts we’ve seen a billboard for Turnbow Land Development & Realty. this episode title is almost definitely referring to a trap the party is setting on Turnbow property. i have a feeling this episode may end up being comparable to The Sauna Test

SORCERER

if this episode isn’t focused on Will, i’ll eat my shoes. i’ve seen arguments saying that this could be referencing El, but when have we ever heard sorcery mentioned in context with her? we have, however, seen Will referenced as a cleric/wizard multiple times during the show thus far. something big will be happening with Will this episode. whether he gets powers or becomes a spy again or gets Vecna’d, this episode will be Will-centric

SHOCK JOCK

according to merriam-webster, a shock jock is “a radio personality noted for provocative or inflammatory commentary”. we’ve all seen stuff about the involvement of the WSQK radio station in bts by now. we’ve also seen and heard lots of stuff in reference to Robin working at WSQK, plus official photos of Dustin wearing a WSQK sweatshirt. there’s a very high chance that the radio station will be playing a large part during this episode. based on the shock jock definition, i think they will be using it as a distraction of some sorts, likely from the government that will be hunting El or even everyone due to their involvement with El. it could also be referencing propaganda from Hawkins and the military about Hellfire and the ‘earthquake’ but that feels less likely

ESCAPE FROM CAMAZOTZ

this feels like a big one. there are two big theories surrounding this one. the first stems from Mayan mythology, where Camazotz roughly translates to ‘death bat’ and is a god associated with death, depicted with the head and wings of a bat. based on this, people believe Camazotz to be the creature in Nancy’s Vecna vision, which will be one of the main monsters the party will be fighting. the second theory, and the one i personally think makes the most sense, references the Madeleine L’Engle book A Wrinkle in Time.

(spoilers for A Wrinkle in Time) in the book, Camazotz is a dark planet that has been consumed by The Black Thing and is now under the control of IT. the people of Camazotz now operate under a hive-mind, as IT uses it’s telepathic abilities to hypnotize and control the inhabitants of Camazotz. in A Wrinkle in Time, one of the characters, Charles Wallace, allows himself to be hypnotized by IT in order to find his missing father. they are successful in freeing his father, however Charles Wallace is stuck on Camazotz until his sister Meg is able to free him at the end of the book.

i have a feeling that this episode will heavily parallel A Wrinkle in Time. in fact, this whole season might. Max is currently stuck somewhere, likely trapped by Vecna, and i think this will be the episode where she is freed from him, possibly at the expense of Will (who will not die, but allow himself to be taken by Vecna, only to be freed later). Max will be ‘escaping IT and Camazotz’… or, rather, escaping Vecna and his mind trap.

further evidence pointing to this theory lies in the importance of time. in A Wrinkle in Time, the characters are able to ‘tesser’ which is explained as traveling the universe by “folding the fabric of space and time”. when they return to Earth after their travels, only a moment has passed. in season 4, we find out that the Upside Down is currently stuck in time on the day Will went missing. i don’t see this just being a coincidence. not to mention that Ross Duffer also posted a picture of a copy of the book on instagram in his Weeks 3-4 filming post for season 5. AND we’ve seen bts photos of poster boards referencing A Wrinkle in Time likely hanging in Hawkins High. there’s just too much evidence for there not to be parallels this season

THE BRIDGE

ok, here me out on this one. Dimension X and the Upside Down are not the same place. to be clear, i have not watched The First Shadow, so i am working with more limited info. however, from what we’ve seen, Dimension X and the Upside Down do not look similar. my theory is that El sent Henry/Vecna/001 into Dimension X back in 1979. when we see his perspective of falling into this dimension, it looks incredibly different from the Upside Down we know. odd as this seems, the biggest thing that sticks out to me is the lighting of the realm. the Upside Down is depicted with very dark bluish-gray lighting. however, when Vecna explores this new dimension he has fallen into, the lighting is a yellow-orange and much brighter. he has also fallen into a very rocky terrain, only inhabited by the monsters of the realm, while the Upside Down is a frozen-in-time depiction of Hawkins. so what i believe the title The Bridge will referencing is that the Upside Down is a bridge between Dimension X and the real world. theories have been thrown around that El created the Upside Down when she opened the gate in season 1, or that Will created it as a sort of refuge when he was taken by Vecna. (that’s right, Vecna, NOT the demogorgon. i firmly believe that we will find out that is was Vecna who took Will in the first place this season.) i think that our party is going to find out the Upside Down is the bridge between these two dimensions, and, in order to end the war, they have to destroy the bridge. which leads me to the next episode

THE RIGHTSIDE UP

this episode title is 100% made to parallel the last episode of season 1—The Upside Down. i don’t think anyone will disagree with that. and, of course, this episode will be the end of the Upside Down. Vecna will be killed and the Upside Down be destroyed, breaking the bridge between Dimension X and the real world and ending its connection with Hawkins. the war will end and everything will be corrected, or rather, rightside up.

[m-jelly]

Sleep

Levi experienced love like never before with you. Every little thing you did just set his heart fluttering and a warmth spread through him. The love he felt for you was so deep and so pure. If you were to ask him if he'd die for you, he'd so no because dying is easy. He would say he would live for you because life can be terribly hard, but you made it a joy.

It was well known that Levi struggled with sleep. After meeting you and spending nights together, he got a lot better but sometimes he would stay awake at night. He wouldn't dare leave your side, so he would sit nicely in bed and watch over you. He would work on things and check on you now and then.

One night he was working on some papers as he sat next to you. He was in his comfy clothes just in case he decided to slip into bed and rest. You were lying next to him on your side facing him while lightly clutching part of his shirt in your sleep.

He paused his work a moment and admired how cute you were. He placed his papers down, reached over and began playing with your hair. Levi tried to tell you how much he loved you, but sometimes words can fail people. His heart and soul yearned for you all the time.

Levi had seen many things in the world, but you truly were the most beautiful thing ever. He was certain that nothing could ever keep you two apart. He would do everything within his power to keep you as his. You were meant to be together like a teacup needed a saucer.

He needed to hold you, it was burning inside him how much he needed to hold you. With his mind made up, he carefully took your hand and tried to pull you off his shirt, but you weren't having it. The little whining noises coming from you made him smile. Now you were being just too adorable.

After carefully removing your hand from gripping him, he shifted in bed a bit but you woke up. "Sorry, love."

You rubbed your eyes a little. "Mm."

"I wanted to lie with you, forgive me."

"Mm. Okay."

He slipped down under the covers before pulling you onto his chest. "There, isn't that better?"

You wiggled on him to get comfy before smiling. "Mm, yes."

He chuckled at how cute you were when you were sleepy. "Such a spoiled cute brat."

You leaned up and looked down at him, now you looked like a goddess to him. "Spoiled brat?"

He smiled up at you and tucked your messy bed hair behind your ear. "Yes."

You pouted, which made him want to tease you more. "I'm not."

"You are." He pinched your cheek making you close one eye and pout. "It's cute."

You pulled from him and lay on your side with your back to him. "I'm not spoiled."

Levi rolled over and wrapped you up in his arms as you wiggled. "Don't you try and resist me, I know you can't."

You turned your head to the pillow. "Mean."

"I love you." He kissed the back of your neck. "I was teasing, my cute brat. You're not spoiled. You demand nothing from me and yet I willingly give you everything. I want to spoil you, but you stop me." He squeezed you. "You're just fun to tease."

You rolled over and faced him. "You can be naughty sometimes." You patted his cheek. "Naughty grumpy."

He turned his head and bit your hand a moment before releasing it. "Oh, I'm very naughty, but only for you."

Tags under the cut

@ladycheesington @levisbrat25 @nyxiieluna @li-anne @galactict3a

@youre-ackermine @thebobaprincess @2moth-anon2 @cypidity

@nbinairyn @bts-spnlvr12 @darkstarlight82 @emilyyyy-08

@levistealeaf @pelicanpizza @hideandgopeep @notgoodforlife

@demonic-bird @searriously

[buddieisgoingcanon25]

In reply to that ask:

Tim has not implied Tommy will stick around, he has implied the exact opposite over and over again. He directly said Buck was just using him to get over Eddie.

The Texas scenes are not filmed at Fox Studios, they are filmed in Thousand Oaks and Santa Clarita.

Oliver does not like that man LMAO.

Buck said that he has feelings for Eddie and not Tommy. He told Maddie he was just using Tommy. There is no BT.

Every single friends to lovers ship has a scene where they deny their feelings. I have not seen a friends to lovers ship that didn't do that scene. It would be weird if they accepted it immediately. I've also never seen a "What nooo we're just friends!" scene where it was actually true. Lmao can you imagine a scene in Psych where Juliet says she broke up with Shawn because she saw Gus as competition? That is not how you write platonic friendships. Which is clear from Buck already accidentally admitting to having feelings for Eddie earlier in the episode.

"There is no reason to bring Tommy back" 1. They brought Taylor and Abby back. 2. His purpose is to move the Buck and Eddie story along as it always has been. Like Tim said he has his "function."

Plot device characters are not there to be liked. The audience wasn't supposed to particularly enjoy Teddy in B99 or Emily in Friends or Zach in The OC or Louis in Gossip Girl etc. They are there to move the story along. If the audience is screaming in disgust over Buck hooking up with his racist ex and then cheering and relieved when Buck says he has feelings for Eddie and not him, that's all the better.

Ryan has talked about Eddie having a personal journey in Texas and it has been set up since 8A. He is not going to spoil the show. He also said Marisol and Eddie were going to last immediately before they broke up.

Tim just said he loves Buddie fans and we've been right to view Buddie as romantic all along. Why would he be saying fuck you to Buddie fans? That man is a Buddie fan.

TLDR plot device gonna plot device Buddie canon

👆 👏 to all of this…

[iphyslitterator]

https://www.tumblr.com/iphyslitterator/781529944758091776/fascinating-phenomenon-that-the-buddie-fandom-is?source=share

My theory: the buddie fandom members are more inclined to reject (and even to rebel) against something that they don't agree with (or causes them pain) and are willing to believe in any sign that may indicate that what they want is in fact happening, even if it's against all logic; while the BT fandom members seem more grounded in reality, recognizing what's happening and being able to accept it (which doesn't mean they can't manifest their disagreement), despite the pain said reality may cause.

is this an age thing (buddies skewing younger and BTs skewing older)? a cultural thing (religious background / education / literacy levels)?

I'm intrigued by this.

Yeah, I've been thinking along these lines, i.e. that it's about the dominant modes of reading in each fandom.

The most prominent Buddie shippers believe Buddie's going canon, and that involves a lot of reading between the lines: the show is sending you subtle messages, the signs are obvious to the skilled ("media literate") interpreter, of course they wouldn't spoil things in interviews. The gifset of alleged season 8 foreshadowing for Bobby's return fits right into that - attention and close reading are supposed to reveal the hidden truth.

I love the point about the tendency to reject/rebel against canon, which is linked to an investment in canon: this thing that you want isn't happening onscreen, and that's unacceptable, so therefore it will, it has to (and it's so important for it to happen, there may be no way to convince you that it won't).

Whereas the Bucktommy fandom did the exact opposite in the wake of the breakup: we both accepted canon and distanced ourselves from it. Even as more people got more hopeful for a reconciliation, our main project in the hiatus was to solidify into a fandom that could survive without the show. At the same time - and it wasn't immediately clear this would happen - we started heavily incorporating 8x06 material into our readings. The prevailing characterization of Tommy shifted significantly. We dive deep into their communication issues. We hated the episode, but we decided to take a lot of it at face value and turn it into a "better" story.

To avoid the "grounded in reality" value judgment for a minute, I'd say the Bucktommy fandom leans more pessimistic. Believing in the Buddie long game requires optimism, faith that the show is intentional and patient. Bucktommy fans are more likely to express cynicism about Tim Minear and distrust in the show; taking the text at face value/arguing that the show "isn't subtle," even if accurate, is related to the general post-breakup wariness. (It's also related to having a canon ship - we never had to excavate it, it was happening onscreen.)

Of course the Bucktommy fandom has also already coped with the sudden loss of a beloved character; a lot of us were processing a lot of grief in November, and I think even the people who were clowning early reconciled themselves to the possibility he wouldn't come back. The irony is that we were wrong, and Tommy did return! But the experience still primed a lot of us to start grieving Bobby and coming to terms with his death quickly. (It's also ironic that we're taking the press at face value, but the Peter farewell tour is so much more extensive than the Lou "exit interviews" that believing it seems like the smart/realistic/pessimistic thing to do.)

I'm unwilling to generalize about demographics without hard data, and I think we overinterpret the age thing. There are plenty of younger Bucktommy fans, and plenty of older fans with the reactions or behavior people sneer at as juvenile. I'd tentatively say the fact that many of our most prominent writers are late 30s or older has shaped the fic landscape, and the unusually high percentage of queer men has influenced the culture. But whether this has any bearing on the Bobby alive vs. dead debate, I couldn't say.

[karebear923]

Ok I see what they’re doing with season 2 of The Last of Us, and I’m slightly disappointed but not really too upset about it, cause I understand the choices they made with the storytelling.

First of all the game was spoiled before it even came out and people were pissed. Then when it was released even more people hated it. There was a lot of hate for both Abby and Ellie and it felt very divisive.

I think what they’re trying to do here is avoid that. Besides the fact that a lot of people already know the plot, they don’t want the new audiences who don’t know to feel that resentment and “miss the point’’ in a way. Cause the point of the story (and what they say in the BTS of S2 Ep 1) is that what seems right and fair changes depending on your perspective. We’re supposed to feel conflicted, we’re supposed to like and dislike both Ellie and Abby.

Instead of having the big reveal of who Abby is and what her motive is, they told us up front.

Instead of having the complicated relationship between Joel and Ellie slowly unfold over the story, they already kinda set the scene in ep 1.

So everyone is going into this kinda already knowing what to expect, and I guess the writers are hoping that it leads to a better understanding of the characters, or at least a bigger willingness to understand them. Not the immediate hate towards either protagonist and refusal to see differently.

I personally liked having things slowly revealed throughout the game, but I also get that TV is a different medium and they have to change things around to better fit it. Also that this is gonna be split into 2 seasons so they can’t really leave us without key knowledge for however long the break in between seasons will be.

In conclusion: I get what they’re trying to do, I hope it works, and I’ll be here to watch it with an open mind 😬👍🏽

[jmdbjk]

The year that was 2024:

But first...

Standing at the threshold of 2025 I look back far past 2024 to that day in June 2022 and the grief, disbelief... the shock and trauma those of us experienced while watching the Festa Dinner video. That dinner had been pre-recorded a few weeks prior and they released it on June 14. The members had to be scared of what our reactions would be when we watched it. 

At that time we still had no idea how military enlistment would unfold, that news was still months away for us after the October concert in Busan. All we knew was BTS was going to pause but we did not really know what that meant. And it wasn't just the fans who went into a tailspin, Hybe stock took a dip, the secretary of Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism begged BTS to come back. The news of a BTS hiatus began to hit international news media across the globe. The emotional devastation was real.

That day and following days, it seemed like 2025 was forever in the future. What would we be like in 2025? What would the members of BTS be like? What would the music industry landscape be like? What would the world be like? It was two and a half years away from that day. Back in June 2022, 2025 seemed like a lifetime away in the future, a bleak, dark unknown.

We attempted to pull ourselves together and look for the positives... "we'll save so much money!” and "we'll have time to learn Korean!" HAH! The real winner: “I can catch up on content!” LMAO!

Here we are now, two and a half years later. My god the shit that's transpired since. A lot of it was not on anyone's radar.

2024, the year of fighting...

Throughout the year and as the year wore on, we fought boycotters, haters, mantis and solos. We fought the media, each other, other fandoms... it was a constant battle to clear the mess. Our main weapon? Our love for BTS and the members and our commitment and determination.

We should be better at recognizing bad actors, at recognizing organized hate. I hope you all are blocking it, muting it because it is an energy drain to dwell on it and it exists. Some people are compelled to lash back at it. I'm not one of those. I prefer blocking/muting. Do what is right for you.

So here's a recap of 2024...the first quarter of the year started out calmly.

January: We were basking in the BTS documentary series Beyond the Star and waiting for a sign of our men completing their basic training. We were hoping to find out where they would be stationed for the rest of their military service.

February was relatively quiet. Except for this.

Tae's song "Fri(end)s", released mid-March.

Hope on the Street Vol. 1 released end of March with the six episode docu-series running through April.

We were hitting our stride, understanding that they'd prepared so much for us while they were away. Even k-media reported on the unusual amount of content produced by BTS to span their enlistment time. It was reassuring and we were spoiled. Looking back, it was the quiet before the storm...

This "quiet before the storm" has never quieted before the storm like this quiet before the storm quieted the first quarter of 2024.

In April we witnessed a real eclipse in the sky and then while we were having the best time unraveling the mystery of the Monochrome merch popups, the shit hit the fan with the Min Hee Jin revelations. And that circus was just beginning. Maybe I'm just naive or too much of a positive person but I never fathomed that there were people out there this demented, this twisted, this delusional, controlling and narcissistic that they thought they could single-handedly bring down a huge company like Hybe via public opinion. And as time went on and continues to go on we learned she was not alone. That woman is sick and evil.

I recalled back in 2021 seeing people be paranoid about the young company, Hybe, hiring ex-SM employees. I wanted to believe these former SM employees they hired saw the opportunity to escape a toxic workplace and therefore defected to Hybe. Now we know the paranoia was justified.

The end of April and into May I watched Begins ≠ Youth, the drama series based on the BTS Universe. It took years for that series to finally see the light of day. It was very intriguing. There was a lot of controversy about Xclusive, the platform it was delivered on. My theory is it was an experiment to see how fans would react to a blockchain/NFT product. I have a huge post in my drafts about it but we moved on from it quickly, so I did too. The series was great though.

The rest of May was a month where we were trying to remain calm, trying to remain positive. We as a fandom felt very beat up. Anticipation was through the roof for Jin's military discharge and Festa.

But first, Namjoon released Right Place, Wrong Person, the studio album and subsequently, the accompanying documentary, Right People, Wrong Place. Both the album and documentary are critically acclaimed, winning awards and landing on "best of" lists across the globe.

Finally, it's June. Jin's discharge was so emotional for everyone. We were able to see everyone except Yoongi greet him outside the gates. But it was amazing seeing all 7 together in still photos afterward. It was a collective sigh of relief that we truly are beginning the downhill side of their military enlistment. Jin has been working his ass off since that day, his album Happy and its title song Running Wild doing well.

I know we've got our opinions about the South Korean government but that day, for me, seeing Jimin and Jungkook in their uniforms, as soldiers, just hit a spot in me that I can't describe. I felt proud of them. And I hope after their discharge they can tuck away that sense of accomplishment in a safe space and flip the bird at the bureaucrats running their country.

Jimin dropped his second album, Muse, in July, the mystery solved of what all those other producers were doing with Jimin the second half of 2022. The title song Who continues to chart. His songs are wonderful. I'm so proud of how far he's come during this solo era. I miss him.

And then Are You Sure?! happened. Even though we KNEW it was coming, I can't believe we got that show. I can't believe they did all of that. Naked Jimin except for a small pair of black shorts... naked Jungkook. Just so much naked after years of Victorian era artist protection CG over every square inch of bare skin. Watching that show, so much of what I knew in my mind of how they are together was mostly confirmed.

I said this months ago: After Jungkook’s 2023 Weverse lives, the Are You Sure?! series, their companion military enlistment and his documentary I Am Still the theatrical release and the Disney+ docu-series, it is clear that Jimin is Jungkook’s touchstone, a significant presence through at least this part of his life. We can’t know what the future holds, I would never dare to assume what their own personal desires or goals are for themselves, but I do know that Jimin will play a big part in it and I hope we still get to see some of that play out when it happens.

I'm still processing. I digressed. It happens when it comes to me, Jimin and Jungkook. Moving on.

August... my god. My dear Yoongi. We are still waiting to see him again, to see with our own eyes that he is actually ok and to figuratively take his hand in ours, to reassure each other and keep moving forward to leave this year far behind. I know he knows we are here. I can't stand the wall though, of not being able to see him. Does that make sense? I mostly keep my thoughts to myself about him because it really hurts my heart to think about him having to suffer through all that. August and into September were hard, hard… so hard.

Fast forward to October when Hobi stepped out of those doors on the day of his discharge, it seemed like time had flown by as if we just watched him leaving for training camp, even though it was sooooooo long ago.

And now he's lived in LA for almost a month, been in Japan and seen with more people... A possible fashion collab? Songs/album in February? We don't know anything for sure yet but info has leaked. A tour in spring? I'll be there if I can snag tickets.

We've seen glimpses of Tae and his buff self. His collab with Bing Crosby was ground breaking and hopefully will become a holiday classic just like the original. Also, happy birthday, Tae!

[Photo shared by Taehyung on his Instagram stories.]

December began shockingly with South Korea's President Yoon attempting to impose martial law. My heart dropped. Our guys were on red alert, scrambling. It lasted a few hours before being overturned by their national assembly.

Mid-December, while on a vacation leave, Jungkook surprised us with a 2 and a half hour live just like he used to do. He looked so good. He sounded good. From what I saw, he's still the same Jungkook.

Do you realize, if martial law had remained in effect, we would not have seen Jungkook? There would be no celebrating. We would all be in limbo. Who knows what that crazy shithead (now impeached-president Yoon) would have done if martial law was still in place. The slow reveal of information about the planning of it is chilling and should be a reminder to us all to not take things for granted. Their National Assembly are still trying to get everything under control, the turmoil is not over yet.

Somehow, the Universe is working overtime to get BTS through their service and I hope it continues to do so because we still have just under six months left. At this point, I believe anything could happen.

Counting down the hours to 2025

We are about to enter the holy Borayear of our Lord Min Yoongi 2025. Bestie and I talked a lot about what the possibilities might be for 2025.

Of course, like everyone else, we know nothing for sure, only what we've gleaned from the member's themselves, official announcements, news releases and hints here and there. What we DO know for sure is there will not be a void. We have two Tannies back with us. Music will be released, content produced:

January 4 is Jin's OST.

Not directly BTS related but we as a fandom would like some closure and satisfaction surrounding the MHJ drama because trials will begin in January.

Hobi has something coming. Certainly Hobi will have another EP, perhaps HOTS Vol. 2? which would be supported with a tour. There's been a leak of info. We are on high alert.

For the others, perhaps a few one-off singles before June. Between us, we don't think Tae has another album's worth of music. Jungkook either.

A Yoongi collab perhaps?

Namjoon, probably nothing. Poor baby is so ready to be discharged.

The Jimin x Benny Blanco music, whatever that may be.

Maybe that rumored JK x Tae subunit song. Or maybe it's not a song?

Jin mentioned another album but the timing is tight to squeeze it in before June.

Then the HYYH 10th Anniversary in April, whatever that may entail. A retrospective perhaps?

Attempting to predict how their discharge days will play out is difficult. Jin and Hobi splitting up to meet Namjoon and Tae at their respective bases? And then all four of them head to Jimin and Jungkook the next day to greet them as they exit their base? We wait with anticipation.

After the Boraholy month of June 2025, we expect group activities to ramp up. What those will be is anyone's guess. Weverse lives for sure. Also, dance practice videos. We expect new music. We also expect performances. Perhaps a one-off "we're baaAAAaack!" type concert? Or not. But performances of some sort. They've been looking forward so much to performing I can't see them waiting any longer than they have to for at least one performance somewhere, somehow.

And toward the end of 2025, a comeback album and the world tour announcement. May the odds be ever in your favor. Just kidding. I'm getting those tickets.

Our speculation continues... could new music consist of more subunits?

I could be wrong but I do not think they will revisit a Bon Voyage or In The Soop format. They might pick up Run BTS but it won’t be like it was before. I can’t even see them doing what Jin’s doing in many Run Jin episodes. Not as a group.

I think (I hope) that Yoongi picks up Suchwita again. I hope he does not change one iota of the format. He can address his incident again if he chooses, reiterate he apologized, paid his fine and now we’re moving on to live our big life. That’s it. I hope if this happens his first guest is BTS as a group. 

Maybe that last thing is really wishful thinking on my part but even considering Yoongi might ditch Suchwita or change it just doesn’t align with who he is. He is a “fuck you” type of guy. 

Anyway. 2025 has a promise of hope and happiness and relief and closure. But now, I think we all know to be wary, that anything can happen. 

Bottomline to all of this, to wrap up the year and look forward to the new year is that BTS is COMING BACK. SEVEN MEMBERS STRONG.

The reality is, it will be three years from that day back in 2022, when we finally see them as a group again. The members are slowly becoming more active. We have less than six months to wait and we know how fast that can go. 163 days left for Jimin and Jungkook, 162 for Namjoon and Tae, 173 left for Yoongi.

We must enjoy every moment we can until June 2025 and hope for the best! FIGHTING.

[vamp1reheart]

Cacophony

Synopsis: Your life has never been easy. Your everyday problems and constant anxiety have always made you someone people don't want to be around. But everything changes when you save a cute boy from a bully, And now he and his brothers are devoted to you. And now he and his brothers swear extreme loyalty to you, And only to you.

Notices: Violent and sexual content! Reverse harem! Bullying, depression and anxiety! Ot7 x reader! Supernatural au. I do not own BTS! This fanfic is my own! English is not my first language, so sorry for the mistakes! Yandere Themes! :)

Chapter: 01, 02, 03

CHAPTER: 01(One)

Studies can seem 100x worse for those who don't have friends.That's a fact.and I can say it with absolute certainty.

For me, school was never a pleasant environment. You trust people, you create bonds with them, and then they throw you away like spoiled milk.not to mention the cruel people. They always outnumber you. If you are even slightly different, they will do everything they can to make your life hell.

Even so, teachers insist on saying that this is the best time of their lives, that school is an incredible place, all these lies that we already know.

But I've given up. I gave up on my school reputation a long time ago. I've tried so hard to please everyone and fit in, but they still insist on being cruel to me.

My thoughts are cut off by a loud crash of a book onto the table.

is my teacher.

"___ are you there again, traveling in your head?! I've been calling you for hours..."

He mumbles a few more things that I don't even care to hear.

"____ you're traveling again!"

"sorry" I say in a whisper.

Sometimes it's better to accept the scolding without fighting, than to have to argue with it for the rest of the day.

Apparently he thinks I have some kind of concentration problem, but it's better this way, at least that way he goes easy on the scolding.

At the end of classes, I'm collecting my materials, most of my classmates have already left, but I don't care.

"___ can I talk to you?"

My teacher says, I pick up my backpack and put it on my shoulder, heading towards his desk.He was nervous, again. I already know what he wants.

"___ você sabe que eu me importo muito com você. Você é um aluno com grande potencial, você era o mais inteligente da sua turma. Eu não vou te perguntar o que aconteceu, você não precisa me responder, mas eu separei algumas atividades diferentes para você. Você pode achar ruim, mas quem sabe, com métodos diferentes você consegue fazer."

He mumbles his words, afraid of offending me.

"It's okay..." I say so as not to hurt him, I know he's trying, and I know that unlike me, he won't give up.

I'm going back home now. The extra activities are in my hands.I don't see any need for them, I don't even do the mandatory ones.

I stop in my tracks when I hear a loud bang.

The noise comes from the alley right in front of me.

Obviously I'm not going to look. I'm not a stupid movie protagonist. I just go on with my life.

"Where are your brothers to protect you now?! You freak!"

The voice came from the alley. And more and more loud noises and insults.

It's obvious that this is nothing more than idiots bullying each other.

I get close to the alley wall and stop to observe.

As I suspected.

There are four boys in total, but one of them is on the ground, being kicked by the other three who are surrounding him.

I should leave, I can't get into a fight where I'm sure I'll get beaten up.

That's none of my business.

They're all men, and I barely have the strength to hold a few bags.

But he seems to be suffering.

Humans take desperate measures to try to protect themselves.

And that's my justification for what I'm going to do.

I grab a pen from my backpack and grip it tightly in my hands. Before I can even think about why I'm doing this, I'm already in the middle of the alley.

"Hey! Stop this shit!"

The three men stop and stare into my eyes without blinking.I'm starting to think I shouldn't have intruded.

"Who do you think you are? You slut?"Oh no, they're coming my way.

They are talking to me, but my fear doesn't allow me to hear. But when one of them pushes my shoulder, I can't feel anything anymore.

Grabbing the pen I shove it into one of the boys' neck with all my strength.

He screams in pain and agony. It's as if everything has frozen, the two boys next to him are in complete shock as they see their friend holding his bleeding neck.I can't move, I'm paralyzed with fear, I don't even have the strength to tremble in this situation.

I know they thought about killing me, but how could they? Their friend's throat was open, so they had other priorities.

They leave the alley, carrying their bloodied friend who cries for help.

When my eyes go towards the boy my heart weighs in my chest.

It's not because he's so handsome, but because he's already staring back at me.

His eyes stare at me in a way I can't identify. It's deep, as if he's looking into my soul.

Then he smiles, his bunny smile snaps me out of my trance. I quickly turn around and walk out of the alley.

I'm not crazy enough to go check on him. Not when he was looking at me like that.

Without even realizing it, I'm already in front of my house.I go in and lock the door tightly. Yes I am scared, not just of that kid with the bunny smile, but I stuck a pen in a bully's neck.

If they decide to take revenge I'm pretty much dead.

I don't know why I did that, nothing went through my head at that moment. All I felt was anger and disgust.

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

The next day I get up early. Completely exhausted.

Last night I couldn't sleep thinking about the moment in the alley.

As I look at my desk, I notice the extra activities the teacher gave me.Shit, I didn't do them. He's going to yell at me so much.

I get ready quickly, putting on my uniform and leaving it to tidy up later.I don't consider myself a sloppy girl, but I have a certain difficulty waking up on time.

With no time to eat, I grab my keys and activities, lock the front door and stuff the sheets into my backpack.

I run quickly through the city streets. It's small so I don't have much of a problem with speeding cars.

When suddenly the law of inertia sets in. Who am I kidding, it's just a non-embarrassing way of saying I slammed my face into someone's back.

I look up to see who I hit and apologize, but the words die in my mouth.

I don't know if it's great luck or great bad luck. They were beautiful, their eyes stared deep into my soul, as if they wanted to kill me. But one of them is extremely familiar, It's the boy with the bunny smile!"

He looks at me with great surprise, quickly coming closer to me and asking if I'm okay.Did he seem distressed, nervous, worried? I can't tell.

He notices me looking at the other two boys behind him, he smiles shyly and says.

"Of course." He walks away and goes next to the other two boys.

"hyngs this is the girl I told you about. She's the one who saved me yesterday."

He says pointing at me, then comes to my side. "___ these are my brothers, Jimin and Taehyung and I'm Jungkook"

He says, pointing to each one. Wait, how does he know my name?Apparently I asked that question out loud, because he answers me."It's written on your uniform."

There is, of course. I tell them it was nice to meet them but I was late for school. Their eyes light up.

"Look, we're going to the same campus as you. We can go together!"The boy, whose name is Taehyung if I'm not mistaken, says with a beautiful square smile.

I don't bother answering them and keep walking. But suddenly they seem to remember something.

They exchange distressed glances, walk in front of me and bow slightly. What are they doing?

"Thank you so much for saving Jungkook!"

They say it a little louder than they should, you can tell they feel bad for not thanking me sooner. God, how embarrassing.

"We are eternally grateful!" They said, raising their heads and coming closer, they looked desperate. What is happening?

"Yes! I owe you my life!" He says in a strange way.

"Hey hey! Oh my God, it was nothing, no need to exaggerate. Let's go to school soon, I'm already really late."

I walk ahead of them, not noticing the looks they give me, and their satisfied smiles."Hyngs, we found her."

Continued...

Not reviewed! Sorry for any mistakes!

[dxwjj]

enhypen dr ⸒⸒ 露 intro ﹗

No one can do it for me.

Can I be better now?

Taps on the mic — is this on?? yes? ok, here we go...

"Isn't she lovely."

Rosée, or may known profesionally as Iseul, born in Argentina, summer 2005. The sweetest smile. Soft eyes, the kind of gaze that could bring you comfort or kill a man depending on the day. Previously known for being the coldest during the I-LAND competition... yeah, that was survival mode. Owner of the softest heart —oh! did she... she wrote this herself, right? ... Okay— Ummh and a quiet voice having to mask her kind nature behind the toughest expression to calculate survival odds in a testosterone battle dome at the young age of fifteen.

"What's is this little girl doing in a boy competition??" People were asking the same question— and by people I mean everyone. Contestants, audience, judges, janitors. She looked twelve and walked in like she owned the place. Quiet, polite, alone, determinated. Even she was confused. Everyone expected her to cry and give up, go home. But Bang Sihyuk, he had a vision... he SAW potential —or trauma, honestly hard to tell with that guy—

Raking #5 in the final lineup by public vote, she showed a huge versatility, diverse facets that helped her position herself on the top after almost every performance, along with a dicipline and iciness that scared some of the contestants. She knew kindness would get her eaten alive so she shut it off. Smiled less, spoke less. Nobody could tell if she hated everyone or was just realy, really tired. Turns out it was both, and low iron.

Fortunately, someone else also found her lovely back then. It was Jungkook, when BTS made a visit— he thought she was the cutest thing ever and spiritually adopted her on the spot ! Claimed himself as her "cool older brother", which granted her full permission to borrow his stuff —the girl doesn't return anything—

UPDATE! He just wanted free babysitting for Bam, that's it. So clever of him to pick a cat person... right? With the build of someone you can easily presume would get dragged around by that big-ass dog, and be proven right — but the dog is happy, she is too. Kind of—

Now? Curly hair, rosy cheeks, cotton candy scent, giggles machine. One of the strongest vocalists in the industry, adored for her warmth, praised for her hard work, iconic we could say, the idol of idols —and occasionally caught pleading and crawling on her knees for a girl group sub-unit just to escape men's chaos for a day— Who said that? not me.

"Aloof? Coldhearted? Who are you talking about??"

The "i-land cold one"? Not a newflash but she does not domain that behaviour anymore. Debut day came, the cameras turned on and suddenly... she wasn't cold anymore. No, now she was clinging to Heeseung her members like she'd grown out of their ribcage. Shy, awkward, koala-coded. Again, everyone was confused.

No one saw that coming. One second she's cold and mysterious, next second she's practically suction-cupped to the members like a human leech. With the exception that Hee clings back, so now it's mutual parasitic friendship. Jay's also one of the main victims, trying to drag her off his arm. And that's the key word: he tries... and fails everytime.

"she's not a brat! ... Just a little spoiled."

Nepo baby?? Wait— an heiress! : well, kinda. Grandpa's a CEO, dad's a michelin star's collector, mom's Miuccia's favorite. So yeah, she might have a vault of archival Prada, one-of-one heels made just for her alone. Even her own rolls-royce, at 17, we gotta say thanks to grandpa for that one¡! With two bodyguard who she still thinks are just "family friends who really like driving".

I'm positive you might wonder if she's an ungrateful brat! Well —let me tell you something that is not in the script— she's spoiled... a little rotten, but-but WAIT! Is she evil? Nah, she's a sweatheart. Bakes cookies with love, cries over baby animals, just... don't ask her to carry her own bag.

"Moonwalking since diapers."

Here's the thing— she didn't train for long. BELIFT saw her and said "yeah, she's cooked enough." But why? Apparently it starts with being God's favorite, and obviously, her parents being obsessed with MJ helped (along with a few ballet years). Full dischography, full interview archive, tour dvds. Even that moonwalker movie she squints at now that she grew up. And baby Rosée? She ate it all UP. Copying everything, his dancing, his singing, his talking. She didn't know she was learning— she was just vibing in her living room while using footie pajamas, still not able to spell 'hee-hee'.

"Who's using JK's studio??"

And then she started producing, at 17. The company saw the potential, sure— but even they were like "not yet." Plot twist: yes yet! She got mentored by Slow Rabbit, one of HYBE's best. And while other teens were crying over finals, Rosée was in the studio absorbing knowledge like a sponge wearing Dior's lipgloss. She learned directly, fast, smart. Took notes, made beats. Everyone blinked and suddenly she was in Jungkook's a "borrowed" studio adjustig vocal layers like she wasn't also trying to steal Jungwon's hoodie 5 mintes ago.

Now she's 18 with credits. Producer credits. Making the most of her poetry to create heart-wrenching lyrics and make everyone obsessed. While still being enhypen's certified baby, the dorm's gremlin, and that one boy's soulmate— you know the one. Yes, him. Don't ask me more.

"Face card: never declined. BUT ... at what cost?"

Let's get this straight. She's shy, introverted— used to hide behind her members during interviews, considers "standing near a staff" a social event and is terrified of that MC offer.

YET! global fashion darling, ads princess. MiuMiu and Dior's precious muse. Like be for real, who scripted this? (spoiler: she did. And inmediately regretted it). The girl is emotionally attached to everyone, scared of solo cameras and still got booked for every high-end brand deal in existence. —teehee she's just twee smol >.< shy lil hug baby and NARRATOR WANTS A RAISE¡!—

Why would a literal awkward-hug parasite ask the universe to make her the face of half global fashion scene?? No one knows, not even her.

So she begged HYBE to leave her alone. Threatened to delete her demos, would've sabotaged the comeback for real if her mom hadn't shown up. Like "You're my daughter, you're flawless. Get in the car".

After all she was born as Bellucci's daughter. A genetically blessed, shy luxury gremlin with no escape due her mom being the brand's co-founder. So now she's crying in MiuMiu and serving face in silence— and yes, she's her mom's muse, and somehow poster girl of the year. Somebody help her.

Narrator didn't get the raise, so he quit. That's it, we're wrapping up here. This was Rosée's intro, attempt of.

Final note¡! I've been frying my brain for days, but this might have grammar mistakes anyway... i'm not a pro at english (yet, at least). And if you find this cringe —cuz I do, self awareness speaking— , i'm letting you know the original draft without the narrator was worse. pls be kind to Rosée.