#i have a lot of plotting to do and its like :) bc lord how long the last plot took me to bring into some semblance of coherence

[ruairy]

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[lynn-tged-posting]

tged webtoon ep 168 spoilers and thoughts that IM NOT LATE WITH FOR ONCE! KIND OF! YAY! and more below the cut

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OKAY. OKAY CAN WE TALK ABOUT THESE TWO PANELS WITH LLOYD AND JAVIER REALLY REALLY QUICK. i would save this for the end of the post since its closer to the end but im super impatient okay what else can i say. LOOK AT THE WAY JAVIER IS LOOKING AT HIM

HE IS LOOKING AT HIM SO DAMN FONDLY. WHAT THE FUCK. THERE IS WARMTH IN THAT GAZE I SWEAR TO GOD IM NOT CRAZY. "you're such a terrible person" AND HES LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT. WHAT. WHAT. WHAT. crazy. CRAZY.

the adaptor knew what they were doing . i swear it . like "yeah thats MY evil boyf. he's back to being evil and lively and his perfect bastard self." I SWEAR IT I SWEAR IM NOT CRAZY

this is proof of llovier. im so serious dont even joke lads

back to the top!

not much to say here lloyds expression is just so real sobs yeah . yeah,,, older gens having goofy ass back and forths over things that really arent the main issue here is universal

like i dont quite remember what season theyre in now but its past winter by this point and based on the two panels showing the time of day they had to have been arguing about this for AT LEAST FOUR HOURS 😭 LIKE WHAT THE FUCK (idk how accurate that estimate is im notoriously bad at time but still. a long fucking time) these BUFFOONS

also lloyd being dramatic as hell is so fucking silly HAHAHAHAHHAA

AND THEN THE LORDS FUCKING STARING AT HIM WHEN HE BRINGS UP THAT HE HAS AN IDEA. HELPPP all eyes on lloyd now !!! what brilliant idea do u have next thats absolutely totally not secured through lowkey social engineering!

so so SO happy w how confident he looks here heehee :3 whats with the pose tho lol is that a reference? maybe?

anyway they plan to make a train thru the pantara mountains? vantara? pan,,, idk what the correct translation is ive seen vantara and pantara

also lloyd just knowing exactly how to talk to those old ass political lords and understanding how to string them along idk what it is but i really really like that, it makes sense to me personally

i figure that thats probably something suho just Had to pay attention to back in korea, idk how korean politics works exactly but i imagine the principle of "person in charge can make or break a lot of things" still stands

so like it'd make sense that he pays attention to whoevers in charge of the finance stuff, which political figures care about money, and where that money goes, bc if they fuck with the funds for education thatll directly screw him over. idk if korea has financial aid but whatever equivalent that is that allows suho to get scholarships n stuff so he can stay afloat, if someone comes into power that will negatively affect his odds of getting that funding, he'll need to know and prepare! though maybe this is reaching a little too deep it might not be That Serious lmfao

again i really like how many of these confident / plotting expressions have been showing up IM SOO SO SO HAPPYYYY my schemer my little scheming guy he's BACK HES BACK

the two of them also look really really nice here in these two panels for some reason. i think im going crazy. i dont know why i like these panels its just. !??!?!?!?!??! like javiers hair is completely messy but idk i just ?!?!?!?!? im completely aro so its not like an attraction or anything but idk!?!??!?!?!

finally our first look at the overworld demons!!! these two kiddos seem super cute i really hope they dont . misunderstand or anything and that lloyd and javier can have some fun and heartwarming moments with them,,,, more sillies and soft fluff please!!!!! thats all i ask!!!!

okay that's all! not much to say this episode is just really really cozy to me. ok well as cozy as "lloyd frontera making evil expressions" can get LMFAO it feels like build up into the next section and im really excited to see what he's gonna do with this train idea and with the overworld demons...!!!!!

there was a notice at the end of the ep that the artist is taking a small break for their health so no ep next week, but there'll be one the week after i believe. we must be patient!!! rest well artist!!!!

that's it ill see yall in. two weeks? ill probably have some other yap post for the hiatus week idk, it depends on how my schoolwork goes. see yall then!!!!

[itwdoris]

WAWA!!!!!! I was spacing out during class and I can’t help but share this idea 😭😭😭🙏

I was fantasizing abt choso but it could be anyone else of ur choice!!! Thinkin bout reader and choso hanging out in the beach shade doing devious things 😛 choso making reader piss themselves in the process but the thrill is there bc nobody has no idea the stain in their bathing suit is piss bc they’re in the beach!!!! How fun!!! 🏖️

That was quite long but thank you always for the quick response and delivery for our gang orders 🔥 Unbeatable service frfr 🔥🔥

kamo choso x afab reader.

tw; peeing in public, mentions of sex, beach ( is a warning in itself.

★

it was a sunny day so you ended up going to the beach, nothing too much, and just taking the things you needed, ridiculously matching because choso wanted to. you both wanted to have fun!

but it was difficult for him, because he couldn't bear to see you coming out of the water wet, shining against the strong sun, coming towards him like a true deity. he could barely wipe the drool from his mouth.

it got harder every time.

and now to have you standing right in front of him with that desperate face because you needed to pee...

"please cho!" you asked him to go with you to the water, holding his hand and pulling him slightly. he was a little pink because of the sun, well, catching the first light after so long.

"why in the water?" he asked, looking at your cute pout. of course, he knew no one would notice in the water, but what was wrong with doing it right there on the sand? where he could see it.

"t-to disguise..." you looked away a little embarrassed to admit it, feeling something leak out and begging again before you had an accident. "please choso, its almost leaking..."

choso felt something burn, a lot of things, looking down at your bikini bottom and sighing.

he got on his knees, making you sit on the sand and spreading your legs. he looked around just to make sure he was safe, listening you whimper without being able to hold on much longer.

you moaned softly, looking at him while pressing your lips together, you squeezed as much as you could, and still kept leaking.

"do it here." he said, approaching to kiss your face, taking his hand to your pussy to stroke it lightly over the wet fabric. "let me see..."

you let out a relieved and needy sigh, then releasing your full bladder, lifting your hips slightly as the stream of piss gushed out, wetting the sand in front of you. your head hung back as you let go, receiving a single kiss from the man next to you, looking forward again.

and choso loved watching you pee so much, smiling with satisfaction as he watched the continuous stream, so concentrated. even though he couldn't see it on the fabric, he knew it was so wet, soaked, now with your piss.

he wanted to touch it, his cock throbbed in his pants because of it, amazed at the sight, he just couldn't help himself.

knowing that you would continue to be drenched in piss at least until you entered the water again, that no one would know that you had pissed yourself in front of him.

and they wouldn't even know that he'd stuck his long fingers inside your bikini to finger you while you finished peeing, no one would hear you moaning against his mouth, needing more and more, cumming for him.

no one would know that he took you to the water just to get to fuck your wet needy hole, to get to bury his cock inside it, no one would see how tightly he holds you by the hips, how he pulls you against him until he's as deep as he can go, how his seed filled you up.

no one would notice. that's why he was enjoying the beach so much.

im sleepy but im posting! oh it is very short, honestly didn't have many ideas, i apologize lord. ( but i found the plot so fun! ( ...think i did it mediocrely and now i feel bad... =[

BUT, anyway, hope you like it <3 love love u!

also, loved the wawa!! oh thank thank thanku!! <3 <3 <3

[makimacult]

assorted stuff i read — jan-may 2025

been planning to make a recap post like this if just for my own reference for a while. anyways, this has been kind of a weird reading year for me... i've read a lot of danmei, finished very little manga (apart from serialised stuff i'm following) and reread a couple of faves. mostly i've just been reading stuff that appeals to my id (i dont mean that as a diss. i love a book that will match my freak) but i hope i'll be able to get through more non-fiction as the year continues.

the list till now:

americano exodus — park ji-eun

the winter prince — elizabeth wein

lady midnight — cassandra clare

thousand autumns — meng xi shi

devil venerable also wants to know — cyan wings

married thrice to a salted fish — bi ka bi

i can do it — jiang zi bei

immoral sex — anthology

captive prince & prince's gambit — cs pacat (reread)

the game of kings — dorothy dunnett (reread)

1. americano exodus — it's a pretty long webtoon about a magical girl boy who has to pretend to be a girl because of convoluted fantasy politics reasons and also presumably the author's own kink. messy storytelling at parts, but the abusive dynamic between the protagonist and his mother was very well-executed. the art and fight scenes are great, it's got well-developed female characters and lots of whump for our main guy. im ngl towards the end it felt obvious the author wanted to wrap it up quickly; the plot got messy but the emotional threads were satisfactory. it'll be catnip to people who like sexy evil moms and forcefem.

2. the winter prince — i came into this expecting one thing and got something else entirely. so i've been an arthuriana head since i was... 9? and read roger lancelyn's greene's king arthur. and i knew the winter prince was about mordred, but it also melds together elements from welsh myths (specifically the mabinogion iirc). it takes all these influences and does its own, very remarkable thing. it's about mordred and it's about familial abuse (in general, and also specifically incestuous abuse) and trying to be better than the monster everyone thinks you are/is trying to make you into. excellent prose, some of my favourite first person pov, a very well done creeping sense of dread.

3. lady midnight — i would not have read this if it was not for @iridescentscarecrow 🤧 (take responsibility!) and im grateful they told me about the dark artifices, bc i haven't read cass clare since i was in middle school and ended up pleasantly surprised by lady midnight. i think it helps that the emotional core of the book — to me, at least — is about the blackthorn family. it's very indulgently ya, but it's good at what it does, i liked all the tropes and the way they came together. it's like a comforting predictable meal, still delicious and kind of nostalgic.

4. thousand autumns — i literally inhaled all the volumes one after another. i'm kind of surprised by thousand autumns' rep for being... boring? too heavy on politics? because precisely my favourite thing is how connected both yan wushi and shen qiao are to the world around them, how their ideologies form their personalities and therefore result in their clashes against each other. this was just such satisfying wuxia — great fights, heartpounding descriptions, aura farming off the charts, and to cap it all off, a tense enemies to strangers to friends to estranged to ??? to everyone-thinks-we're-lovers relationship. i'm so fond of this book, it really is a treat. with that said, there were some plot points i kind of eyerolled at, even tho i did get what they were aiming to build towards... so while i do love thousand autumns, i guess i have minor quibbles with it. i'm excited to see how meng xi shi's writing develops in peerless.

5. devil venerable also wants to know — this book is a comedy and a clever metanarrative poking holes at narrative conventions and tropes (specifically found in web novels) and it's also freak4freak liege lord/his right-hand man yaoi. and it's got such charming side characters. dvawtk is fun and funny and at 81 chapters, pretty short! i liked it a lot and binge read it in one afternoon.

6. married thrice to a salted fish — i wanted to like mtsf so bad, and i actually do love a lot of elements in it. i like how ruthless the main ship is, i love our petty protagonist, the kind of guy who'll take a life for an eye, i think its a creative take on transmigration tropes, but something i did not like was how... unthreatening the antagonists felt. i think its to showcase the appeal of the main ship being a power couple? but i like to see my power couples struggle. mtsf felt flat to me; i'll try to revisit it when the official tl comes out and see if my opinion changes.

7. i can do it — it's an e-sports danmei, about professional league of legends players. the author is so good at writing interpersonal interactions that are funny, awkward and feel so real. im ngl it feels like... a sports anime with a canon yaoi main storyline built into it? i have never played league of legends in my life and do not plan to it, but the author writes the matches so interestingly... and putting aside the structure, the romance sidesteps all annoying senpai/kouhai, idol/fan cliches by making the protagonist have friends, interests and a life apart from his admiration of the love interest; and their romance ended up just being really sweet with enough umm... brat taming? to keep things interesting.

8. immoral sex — yeah this is a yaoi anthology with three dark short stories; i specifically loved doku to sex by harada (if you've read harada before you know her mixture of psychological horror and unrepentant filth), but the other two stories were pretty fun too. cw for noncon, incest and monsterfucking.

9. captive prince & prince's gambit — i actually have reread the whole capri trilogy before, i think this might actually be my third reread? literally have nothing to say except maybe a nuclear fujoshi event happened inside my mind. i feel like capri gets an outsized rep for debauchery bc a lot of people outside the... 2010s slash idfic sphere read it? anyways. gotta love fiction where the author is just unapologetically constructing scenarios to explore their kinks with their barbie dolls.

10. the game of kings — honestly reread this because i was pushing @ciaran into reading it and wanted to refresh my memory... i feel like this has to be one of my fave books ever. i ended up rereading the whole thing over a day and a half and it felt like i had a comfortable warm bath. i love how unapologetic dorothy dunnett is with her style. i feel like i could be given a paragraph of her writing mixed in with dozens of other snippets and still be able to identify her. love the ensemble cast, the incisive multiple perspectives, the shenanigans, the politics and plotting, the family issues, and of course... the legend himself. i'm probably gonna reread it and gush about it again in a year lbr.

[vacantgodling]

i am back to do another round of (mostly) answering all the questions of an ask game and this time it is @ink-flavored's fantasy ask game! i’m gonna be doing this for my GIANT fantasy wip the chronicles of lathsbury (tcol) bc uh this story is just fucking massive and i never give myself excuses to talk about it so i’m gonna. as per usual, i'm not gonna answer ALL the questions; if i don't have a good answer or it doesn't apply i'm just gonna skip the question :)

if you’re curious of tcol’s actual plot (becuase there is one, surprisingly) have a little blurblet here:

Piper Fairwind (she/her), Deux Undershield (she/her), Sandra “San” Dearborn (they/she), Clear Brightendale (he/him), and Forte Symphonia (he/him) are the newest contingent in The Aegean Guild of Explorers. They all are chosen for various reasons, and begin their hopefully promising career at literally the same time that The Labyrinth is beginning to grow more restless than it ever has been before. Why? The Demon King, Lord Evondra — unbeknownst to anyone yet, is beginning to awaken from her 300 year long slumber and she’s out for blood. Her very presence amplifies the power of monsters and beasts within as her hatred of all Terraneans seeps into The Labyrinth’s very core. The five of them get swept up in the mix, because destiny’s knocking and they have no choice but to answer the call.

but without further ado:

📚What “type” of fantasy is your WIP? High, low, urban, historical etc.?

high fantasy through and through lmao. i really don't usually tend to dabble too hard in other types of fantasy ig? i should at some point but high fantasy just has my whole kokoro tbh.

🌍Does it take place on a fantasy planet, or somewhere on Earth (hidden or not-so-hidden)?

it takes place on a separate planet, technically, though i'm thinking of planet more in the fantastical way and not planet in a sci fi sense. its got a lot of 'western fantasy' / tolkien esque elements yknow. like in lotr, arda is a planet but you don't really think about it in that way, yknow what i mean?

💭If your WIP doesn’t take place on Earth, where did you draw inspiration from to create your new fantasy world?

a lot of it is lotr not even gonna hold you. technically the two largest inspirations for tcol are lotr & the jrpg game etrian odyssey bc that's when i first created the characters, and that's why there's a labyrinth mechanism that holds monsters in this wip at bay.

when it comes to the actual locations... good question. it kind of is very generic 'western fantasy' vibes which again kinda comes a lot from tolkien (i still have a documentary i have to watch regarding what fantasy was like before lotr kinda shaped the entire genre, and maybe whenever i do it'll influence how i go about writing and shaping my fantasy wips.

i guess the other inspiration i can say would be my desire to have a black-centered fantasy story. all the characters in tcol are black (as with many of my wips unless i specify otherwise)--but when it comes to adding blackness to my stories, the jury's still out on the best ways to do that. i'm not gonna fully delve into my racial issues in this post cuz that literally has nothing to do with anything but just know that everyone in tcol is black LMAO (theres another word i wanna say but i never use aave online unless im talking to other black people whoops)

🧝Do other fantasy species exist in your WIP? Describe them! & 🤓Are there any intelligent magical creatures, ones that can communicate with language? How do they interact with wider society? & 👹Are there monsters or other dangerous beasts in your WIP? How are they differentiated from standard wild animals, or other magical creatures?

the main breakdown of "beings "species" or "beings" in this wip are:

terraneans -> they're what i call humans to the left. they are humanoid and mortal, but they have differing features and slightly different biological characteristics than humans generally speaking (ie: terraneans have a lifespan of 150-200 years, they have pointed ears, and their whole sana/cava/ars thing. basically, terraneans are very similar to the half-elf dnd class with more words PFF. also they can't be pale unless they're dead or have died for a certain amount of time. everyone is tan or darker :>). terraneans are what most of the main cast are and most of the varying stories of this wip center around terraneans and their connection to the land and the gods. and speaking of gods

gods -> deities play a huge role in tcol because i think pantheons are interesting. they're more of the greek-mythos variety of deity in the sense that they are imperfect beings; they simply hold a lot of power and the ability to create and destory the cosmos as we know it. there's a lot of messy drama among some of them and the main deity of this world, IISIDIA has unintentionally caused many MANY issues but she pretends to not see it. cough. there have also been instances of terraneans being venerated to being gods (beings such as MARTH, The Lady of the Mists, and EFFE, for instance), and some deities have alters or basically, parts of themselves that are still them but have split off into different beings with different roles (ie: IISIDIA has a known alter, IDMIR; MIRANKA has a known alter to kisks called RANKIMA, etc).

guardians & oracles -> because deities cannot directly interact with terraneans, there are 'in betweeen' beings, or (kinda) essentially "demigods" if i were to put it in laymans terms. guardians can only be venerated once every age (and when the main story starts we're in the fourth age, and then the second book goes into the fifth age, and each age's ending is marked when a guardian is venerated. so far the guardians are lath (who if you know anything about me, i'm insane about him), immordia, and arian :> when it comes to oracles, that's a bit more complex; they're not fully demigod-esque, but they do have divine inspiration basically. there's 3 major kinds of oracles and i won't fully get into all the weeds of them but there are oracles of the deities: MUINENS, MIRANKA and YLENE, called OOMs, OOMIs, and COHs/Champions.

monsters -> monsters are essentially flora and fauna that have been touched by The Hands of Qhozion (aka chaos magic which is a corrupted form of the deep magic, cantillo). most people just call it chaos bc for many plot reasons, no one but MIZDARR knows that QHOZION exists. and this basically corrupts them into corrupted and twisted creatures of rage, fury, and power. all monsters (now) reside within The Labyrinth, which was the feat that got lath venerated to the first guardian. but again this is so many weeds so i'll cut it here. basically they're fucked up with no rhyme or reason lmao.

beasts -> are different than monsters; sort of a Next Stage in evolution to monsters: they are creatures who were touched by chaos, but they have ars which is magic and/or sentience. meaning that they are stronger, more cunning, and are able to speak etc. the strongest of all beasts is called The Demon King and they rule over monsters and beasts alike from within the Labyrinth. the current demon king and main antagonist of the first story is Lord Evondra; who ate her father after he was killed in The War of the Seven Sons to ascend his position.

🤝Are the different fantasy species all living together, or does everybody keep to themselves?

pretty much separately though there are certain junctions where the they can cross paths.

there are 3 major continents on terrae (the world) where terraneans reside: mainland terrae (where the kingdom of lathsbury and all of her constituents reside in city-states loyal to the crown), diisai (a large island that lays to the west of the eastern sea, where the federation of diisai resides; they do not have a major empire/kingdom in the same way mainland terrae does, but they do have a close relationship with the kingdom and are essentially considered a vassel state), and kiskkaddon (which is a northern badland desert peninsula that sticks out from mainland terrae but is wholly cut off from the mainland's culture by the desert and mountains that separate the two regions).

within terrae exists The Labyrinth; there is one large opening in the capital city of Lathsbury, but there are hidden entrances throughout mainland terrae. this is where all the monsters and beasts on the continent reside including The Demon King; as they were corralled by the gods (mainly MUINENS) and the first guardian lath and his sword/companion, ensio. the labyrinth is only able to be traversed back and forth by terraneans; gods are unable to enter (though their power can penetrate through it in certain instances and one exception technically, MIZDARR for... reasons cough), and monsters aren't able to leave the labyrinth's walls. beasts are also an exception to this and can travel back and forth but that's not really known knowledge--it really depends on how much ars/power they have tm.

related to The Labyrinth the three exceptions where beasts and monsters live are Diisai/Kiskkaddon -- because those landmasses were never corraled into the labyrinth proper however only monsters exist in those areas and they are SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than the monsters/beasts of mainland terrae due to being further away from The Hands of Qhozion. the origin of chaos in terrae actually lies in MIZDARR's domain, The Thicket, which is an island in the middle of a saltwater lake. the other origin point is the fallen city of Argos, for reasons in the first age. technically monsters and beasts exist in another place too, Lapsundi, the hidden world, but like again this is already so long so i'm not gonna get too into that.

gods exist outside of the realm of terrae--the sky, in the hidden places, or the bowels of the earth (or characters like MIZDARR who do have specific areas associated with them). they are unable to interact with terraneans or the world directly, except through prayer and divine inspiration and most of their work is carried out through guardians--who actually don't usually interact with terraneans either, though they can. oracles are usually the main go between. and because gods can change shape, sometimes they hide in plain sight to observe terraneans.

☮️What are the different fantasy species’ customs and cultures? How well do they get along with each other, if at all?

this is too long of a conversation to get in depth and the cultural aspect of things is something i'm still working on because each individual city-state has their own culture LOL. i have a city building questionnaire saved to do for all of the cities that i literally just haven't gotten around to bc its SO MUCH. cough.

either way though, to answer the second question monsters and beasts don't get along with terraneans at all and vice versa; monsters are fueled by chaos and kill each other and terraneans virtually indiscriminately, which is why The Labyrinth was created--terraneans were basically on the verge of extinction due to them in the first age, which then lead to the rise of The Demon King. when terraneans learned about beasts and The Demon King and their sentience, they did try to come about creating a peace treaty... but that led to the War of Seven Sons so.... you can see how well that went LMAO.

the gods in general have mixed views about chaos--there are those like IISIDIA and MUINENS who outright detest it and find it to be an abombination (and MUINENS specifically has made it her misson over the past thousands of years to try and figure out where chaos is coming from, why, and how to curb it) meanwhile there are others such as YLENE, YUTARA, and MIZDARR that are more neutral/benevolent about it. chaos is apart of the world so much as chaos is, so we cannot fully stop it from existing but instead learn to live with it. this is a big plot thread within book 2 of this series, so i won't go into much further depth but YEAH.

terraneans amongst themselves is a mixed bag as any human esque society is. there hasn't been a grand scale war among terraneans since the War of Lathsburian Succession in the second age, and this is mainly because IISIDIA, in a rare showing, possessed an OOM and basically said "if y'all mfs ever war with each other again i'm blowing this bitch UP" and no one wants to test the literal most powerful deity in the universe to see if she's joking or not LMAO-- this doesn't mean that there isn't strife and tensions and that war hasn't come close before. ie: before the 7 sons incident, terrae almost went to war due to a coup, if it wasn't stopped by a mentally unwell duchess in a murder-suicide. so uh. yeah. and even in the fourth age now, there's whispers of another coup forming up but this one is very very much unchecked and has been in the works for several decades so hashtag yikes :D

⏳Are there any dramatic lifespan differences between your fantasy species and humans? How does that influence their societies and relationships with each other?

taking out the second half of that question bc humans don't exist on terrae LMAO. but yeah. to be very general:

terraneans -> 150-200 year lifespan. basically double that of a regular human tm. the one exception is guilders tend to have shorter lifespans and usually die around 30s-40s bc traversing the labyrinth is not a fucking game LMAO

monsters -> too varied to put a number to it, but they're essentially immortal, but mortal (as in they can be killed)

beasts -> same hat, immortal as in they can live forever, however are killable. same thing goes with The Demon King, its the only "mortal" deity.

gods -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

guardians -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

oracles -> same lifespan as terraneans bc they're the same thing basically

👑What’s the political configuration of your WIP? Kingdoms, nations, something else?

one major kingdom (The Kingdom of Lathsbury) comprised of city-states and two vassel states that are technically independent but like are they really lmao. so each city is ruled by a duke/duchess that are either appointed by the king, or are handed down through bloodline (which is easiest) unless they decide to abdicate. the king (all rulers of lathsbury, regardless of gender, are called kings) is chosen by an OOM and they have to be 30 years old before they can take the throne. there has only been (1) exception to this, and that was king mitica the nomad of the first age, but that was also when terraneans were on the verge of extinction so desperate times call for desperate measures. anyway, he was chosen at 18 instead of 30, and had the longest reign of any terranean king, dying at the ripe old age of 148 LMAO, so 130 years lmao.

diisai and kiskkaddon operate a bit differently; diisai has a council of elders who make decisions jointly and they all have to be unanimous to make decisions though there does tend to be one "speaker" who speaks for the entire nation. kiskkaddon is more similar to how kings of lathsbury are chosen, and is done so by oracle however it is done by oracle of RANKIMA (aka MIRANKA) instead of an oracle of MUINENS like lathsbury. RANKIMA is also all about partnerships, so technically kiskkaddon always has 2 rulers at once and they have to work together to rule.

and very very technically snake's canyon is a bit different because they don't really have specific duke or duchess that rules anything but everyone just kind of. exists. there. cough.

⚠️What’s the political climate of your WIP? Are nations on the brink of conflict, or enjoying many years of peace?

conflict has mostly always been between beasts/monsters and terraneans, and while things since the labyrinth was constructed have been like. relatively okay, realistically only the second and third ages were truly peaceful. at the end of the third age with the veneration of arian to guardian status, that's very much the major catalyst to the war of the 7 sons, so the fourth age started off with a BANG. but after that was over for the most part, its been 300 years of "relative peace".... but all that's about to change LOL.

✊What’s the social climate of your WIP? Are people struggling against inequality or war?

generally speaking terraneans have always kind of been a struggling sort and its only been in the past few hundred years that everyone has FULLY begun to prosper. there's more trade and innovation than ever; more and more people are leaving their homes to continue to build the guild system and cultivate fame and riches from it, and guilds are becoming the backbone of the kingdom in terms of generating wealth, commerce, trade, and general wellbeing--despite the usual short life expectancy of guilders tm.

things are brewing underneath the surface however. just before the beginning of book one, the oracle chosen king luther, was killed in a freak accident, and the OOM did not choose a new king yet--in his stead his youngest brother, aran, is ruling as the duke of lathsbury, and this is the first time something like this has ever happened. because of that, there are murmurs among nobles to try and depose aran from the throne (which makes me mad LEAVE HIM ALONEEEE). theres also concern regarding the growing power of guilds in general--elites don't like them LMAO. so. there's some tension, but it hasn't reached its peak yet. BUT OH IT WILL.

🏰Are there royals and/or nobility in your WIP? How do they treat the common people? What do the common people think of them?

there are! it varies from area to area, however, because of how the kingdom's king is chosen there's actually more of a 'lax' cooperative nature between many people and those of a higher ranking (if they are good rulers but there's always bad eggs). the reasoning is because oracles choose kings, anyone that you speak to could at any point be chosen to be king, so it makes sense to respect everyone. PLUS comraderie in terraneans is one of their biggest tenants; as they came into the world of terrae having to rely on themselves and the gods to survive, so there's a deep generational disposition to help others. most nobles are very respectful of the common folk and use their leadership and positions to help others; a good example is duchess aria lathsbury of wish of palanthia, who is beloved and adored by all of those under her.

however, with the growing wealth and prosperity that the labyrinth is beginning to afford, it is causing larger gaps between the upper and middle class, and so cracks are slowly beginning to form. greed is the source of all evil as you know. so, things haven't fully gotten to that point yet by the time of the first book but things are beginning to slowly shift.

💎What are the hallmarks of a higher-class person in your WIP? What marks someone as lower-class?

ummm honestly its hard to say as each noble is different. some nobles are down to earth and hardly distinguishable from their common class peers (such as lord kiba; most people forget his status because he doesn't carry himself in that way), meanwhile others make it their personality that they're noble (such as lady illiana, his stepsister). as society is generally prosperous, its not necessarily about what they wear or how they dress though those can be indicators; as well as their weaponry, or homes, which can also be indicators. but a lot of people say that those who are nobility (if they are or otherwise) is their leadership abilties. characters such as sir keevan are generally thought to be nobility, though he actually isn't at all--but his gregariousness, leadership and prowess make him appear noble-like to others.

i think the best way to explain it is that people view nobility as people who are leaders, and not people who have money or material wealth. and even though some people can be nobilitiy solely through material wealth, they won't be respected or thought of as someone of noble ranking if they don't have those leadership qualities.

🙇Are the common people expected to serve the higher class in some way, explicitly or implicitly? Are some kinds of service more respectable than others?

societally, they aren't 'expected' to serve the higher class in a sort of reverent or 'because they're better than you' kind of way. there's a lot of "respect is earned" vibes throughout the entire wip and just because you're born into high class, if you want people to listen to you or respect you, you do have to earn their trust. this is why there's a lot of cooperative society vibes around class and class in general in terrae is much more fluid-its much easier to learn a trade or interact with people if you're earnest about it; and things like schooling and housing don't cost money in a traditional sense. most people aren't extremely bad off (nowadays) so honestly, the court of public opinion determined by what you do for your constituents is more important than actually having wealth. that's what the current underbelly coup against duke aran has been taking so long; its not about using money or force to depose him, its about turning the tide of the public against him.

generally speaking though, there aren't really any like, jobs that are "more respectable" than others. while individual opinion will obviously differ, as a whole, terranean society is of the mindset that every sort of occupation is necessary for the betterment of society. a knight, a duke, a guilder, a prostitute, a doctor, and a farmer are all the same level of valuable to society. what matters is if you use your role for betterment or to be a piece of shit lol. i suppose the one exception to this is oracles, as they have divine inspiration and they speak directly to the gods which is extremely important. so they are held in a slightly higher regard than other occupations tm.

🪖How are wars fought in your WIP? Swords and spells, firearms, war machines?

*whispering so IISIDIA can't hear me* swords and spells mostly. firearms are a newer invention of the past like ~50 years or so into the 4th age and theres a LOT of discourse around them. but there hasn't been any wars or whatever (yet cough) for them to be used. so mostly swords and magic tm.

🏢What kind of unique or magical architecture exists in your WIP?

so the most important magical structure is The Labyrinth. bc i've talked about it ad nauseum, i'll try to be brief, but basically it operates pretty much the exact same way you think it might based on the name. its a maze like entity that has a mind of its own (to an extent) and is greatly influenced by magic in both its construction but also internally. things move and shift, mirages and illusions will make you lose your way, and its absolutely teeming with monsters and beasts alike :) the structure itself was created with cantillo and by IISIDIA herself so the thought is that its basically unbreakable... but that is technically not the case. tm. book 2 spoilers cough.

💰How does trade function in your WIP? Merchant caravans, local markets, dragon drop-shipping?

merchant caravans, local markets, and by sea is pretty much the major ways that trade happens. bc mainland terrae is mostly land though so mostly through caravans and beasts of burden does trade happen if its not on a local level.

📦Are there any specialized or magical imports/exports that your fantasy societies rely on? Why are they so important?

getting into this delves more into the weeds of things i don't fully have the brain for yet, HOWEVER, the biggest thing that i do know is there is high demand for monster hair and hide in order to make clothes and especially, most interestingly, weaves, wigs and so on. its very similar how black people use synthetic or human/horse hair to create elaborate hairstyles, same can be said for terrae however their hair parts all come from monster hair :>. there's certain species (that i haven't developed yet bc flora and fauna is genuinely my LEAST FAVORITE part of worldbuilding holy shit) that are better for these material than others, and when i figure it out y'all are gonna be so cooked lol.

💵What kinds of currency exist in your WIP? Do people use gold coins, barter and trade, or something else?

sooo technically currency exists. i don't know much about what it is yet bc economics makes my head hurt. however, i do know that a higher prized form of currency (and what is more common among the common folk) is bartering and trading; not just items and resources but favors, skills, and even introductions to other people. its not uncommon for people to offer their service or time in exchange for something else--and the bartering system is HUGE within guild culture. when you need any type of monster part or something from the labyrinth, you can usually go to any kind of bar and they'll have a notice board where you can put up requests and rewards for services or other goodies.

thinking about it i want to say that they use coins for everything because mining is a pretty big thing esp in towns like Kingsburrow. and i imagine they just have different sizes and styles of coins to denote different things. and i don't think their money is made of silver or gold, i wanna say its made of a completely different fantastical mineral that is in abundance in terrae. i just haven't figured it out yet. LMAO. i'll come back to this eventually.

👚What kinds of clothes do people wear in your WIP? What accommodations are made for any fantasy body parts?

i can't answer this in full bc culture varies across different city states, however i will briefly mention that different guild classes tend to wear different kinds of clothes: ie, hunters of eros tend to wear a lot of furs and hides and are generally more exposed with light armor bc they're about speed. meanwhile, protectors are heavily armored in a style more similar to medieval knights. there's much more to this but again, we'd be here all day and i haven't fully decided yet so like, hit me up like several years from now when i finally stop freaking out over the timeline and start filling in details.

🏙️Are there any especially famous cities or nations in your WIP? What are they known for? & 🚩Are there any especially infamous cities or nations in your WIP? What earned them the sour reputation?

figure i would do these two together lol. all the major city states are pretty much known for something, so let's have a brief overview of the major cities (i'm literally just gonna copy and paste from my large worldbuilding doc lmao)

LATHSBURY (Lathsburian): Lathsbury is the capital of The Kingdom of Lathsbury and is named after the first Guardian of Terrae, Lath. It’s known for its entrance to The Labyrinth, it’s bustling and diverse culture as it’s a huge traveling and trading hub, for its Guilds, and being the base of all government operations. 

KINGSBURROW (Lathsburian): As Kingsburrow was established near the same time, and has close proximity to Lathsbury, most people who live in Kingsburrow consider themselves to be Lathsburian. It’s known for its rich mineral deposits and mining culture. 

EROS / ARGOS (Aegean): The swampy, dense Eros is a converted fortress city that stands in the shadow of the crumbling and foreboding Argos—the first capital and city of Terrae thousands of years ago. Eros is known for its hunters and dark hunters, and their seemingly never ending devotion to culling the vast chaos that lies beneath Argos’s dilapidated streets, in hopes of one day reclaiming the city and restoring it to its former glory. 

MARTHVEIL (Veilian): Marthveil is the birthplace of alchemy and a hub of innovation, and is the most technologically advanced city in all of Terrae, with electric lighting being one of its main highlights. It’s named after the god of alchemy MARTH who was born in the region. 

HYTRÖTH (Püerthian): Hytröth lies at the foot of the sacred Mt. Hytröth, which is also known as MUINENS’s home. It’s no surprise that the Protector’s Academy and the largest OOM Temple are located here. They call themselves Püerthian because they are sheltered under the towering Mt. Hytröth from the worst of the north’s pain. 

SILVERKEEP (Silvian or Lathsburian): The hub of medicinal research in Terrae due to the incredible and sheer vast biodiversity of plants that can be found nowhere else in Terrae. They call themselves Silvian however, implants from Lathsbury are extremely common so it’s more of a blended culture. 

MORDIGA (Diisaian): The capital of Diisai, and the hub of harvest, food and drink. It’s known for its beautiful rolling hills and it’s residents are known to be quite superstitious.

SNAKE’S CANYON (Illumese): On the Eastern edge of the continent lies the dark badlands of Snake’s Canyon. They are known for their canyon built homes and the guild class, Illuminators or Hexers.

WISH OF PALANTHIA (Palanthian): The residents of Wish of Palanthia are known for their kindness, generosity, and agreeable nature. The city is famous for being the site where a peace treaty was signed after the first and last Terranean civil war. Etched in stone in the center of the city is the grim promise the city stands to uphold: Should Terraneans ever war amongst themselves again, IISIDIA will destroy all life on Terrae. 

BASS LANDING (Canterian): Taken from cantatio, the Canterian people of Bass Landing are famous for their music and arts.

EASTHOLLOW (n/a): Easthollow lies close to Eros and the Western bank and is nicknamed “The Guild City” as any willing adventurer must travel to Easthollow to pass the Guilder’s exams and be chosen in the guild bid before they can become a guild hand proper. The city is called “hollow” because there are no permanent residents that reside here; and as such it has no significant cultural heritage. 

KOSS (Koskans) -> A seafaring city, named after the god of the seas himself KOST and located at the major junction between Mainland Terrae and the Eastern Sea. All major trade sea trading routes pass through here and its floating markets are famous throughout Terrae.

UBWYN (THE CITY OF SORROWS) (n/a): Ubwyn is mostly a ruin now, but it was the first place the Nomads that would eventually become The Lathsburians established after they fled from Eros after The Day of Fissures. It’s mostly remembered as a cultural site, and some say they do occasionally see what seems to be a tall, pale, ghostly woman floating among the ruins at night.

🥪What kind of unique and/or popular foods exist in your WIP? Magical foods?

haven't got too in the weeds of food yet, but if you wanna read a funny incident about food in this wip, how about you read The Quest for the Perfect Labyrinth Honey Loaf and lemme know what you think lmao

🚗How do people travel over land in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) just horse or beast of burden. perhaps deer and moose or other cloven animals are tameable i just haven't decided yet bc fuck flora and fauna PFF

⛵How do people sail over oceans and seas in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) by boat! however, before you travel across the ocean its always good to pray to the sea god KOST, as he invented boats and seafaring and you may as well get his blessing before you start venturing into his domain.

✈️Is air travel possible in your WIP? Through magic, technology, or a mix of both?

nope, though the first place to discover such a thing will be marthveil, they just haven't gotten that far yet lol.

🪄Is there magic in your WIP? Where does it come from? & 🎆How does magic work in your WIP? How can it do all those fantastic things?

OO BOY IS THERE MAGIC. so there's actually a LOT of different kinds of magic in terrae so to make my life simpler i'm just gonna do more copy and pasting from one of my NUMEROUS worldbuilding docs.

but very very basically, all Terraneans’s souls are made of sana (health and vitality), cava (chaos energy), and ars (magic potential). None of these are perfect percentages (they don’t have to equal 100 basically). Your soul needs to have at least 30% ars in order to use any kind of magic whatsoever. so if you're rocking a 50-29-15 set up for instance, y'aint using magic lmao. while most people don't know their exact thresholds, medics specifically tend to know their breakdown due to the growing technology in Silverkeep to measure this, as well as they need to know what their sana limits are so they don't kill themselves tm. and speaking of that, here are the kinds of magic:

Sana Inanem — is the practice of using excess sana in order to heal the wounds of others. This is strictly used by the medic class. Wounds can be surface level or internal and the only limit is the amount of 'excess' sana you have (essentially, how much sana can you give away without killing yourself). Usually a base threshold sana of 55% or more is needed.

Subortus — is an offshoot of sana, but is one of the “extraction” magics. It is the practice of utilizing the sana properties of plants and the ars of beast/monster parts in order to create potions, remedies or salves that have a variety of functions. It is the only magic that you do not personally need the base threshold of ars to use it. 

Diruam — a protective, fire based magic used solely by medics. In order to use diraum, like any sana based magic, you must have an excess of sana. While it is not particularly powerful offensively, it is a quite useful defensive last resort

Vis — is the magic of the force of your own will and is extremely versatile. It is the most common magic used by magic users in Terrae. 

Muram — is a magic only used by alchemists and involves using the scientific and biological understanding of the world around you, in order to break down and transmute the components of things around you into other things, such as plants to steel or dirt to gold. It allows you to change the state, composition, and properties of essentially any matter. 

Lumine — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. Lumine is only used by illuminators and allows a user to draw the ars out of other beings or rocks/minerals (which are rich in ars) to channel energy. Illuminators can also be called hexers as they can do darker things with lumine unto others. 

Tenom — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. By drawing out the cava of beasts and monsters you can turn yourself into a brute force powerhouse. Tenom however has extreme drawbacks, as its over usage can lead to death or insanity. 

Chaos Touched — Isn't necessarily a magic in the traditional way, but it is a blessing from the god MIZDARR, most usually to rangers, gifting them the ability to see and sense chaos (or corrupted cantillo) in the world around them, appearing like an aura around beings and beasts affected by it. it is also a skill that is developed by dark hunters (though not as proficently as rangers) as they are in close connection with cava thanks to usage of Tenom.

Cantatio — Is the second oldest form of magic and literally brought the universe into being as it is the magic of creation through music. It is very rare that Terraneans are able to grasp this ancient and complex magic, but some very skilled bards have been able to dabble in it on occasion.

Cantillo — is the oldest form of magic and what contains the fabric of the universe, only able to be wielded by IISIDIA. It's also known as "deeper magic" and its too much for any mortal or god outside of her to comprehend.

🚫What CAN’T magic do in your WIP? Where does the mystical power fall short?

the only thing magic can't do, essentially, is create immortality (though you can be risen from the dead) or deify someone unless the gods will it. the great thing about vis especially, is the sky is the limit on what you can do and the only determining factor is your own power and discipline. the other thing is control time--time is always moving forward at its own pace and you can't change that. you also can't dimension hop; time and space are apart of cantillo's jurisdiction and only IISIDIA can control that.

🤕What are the drawbacks to using magic in your WIP? Do they improve or get worse depending on how powerful you are?

Tenom has the most disasterous side affects of its usage so tl;dr the more you use tenom the more your sana will be consumed by cava to the point that you can eventually be overcome and overrun by it and become a monster yourself. :D

🔮Who can wield magic in your WIP? Everyone, a select group, or basically nobody?

people who use magic are called artisans (bc it comes from ars), and as aforementioned, you need 30% ars to be able to do magic in any capacity; if you don't have that then you can't use magic at all. there isn't any way to increase this either, though subortus doesn't require the usage of one's internal magic to do, so basically if you don't have ars you can always try subortus.

💪How do people wield magic in your WIP? Are magic users able to bend it to their will, or merely guide it?

do whatever you want baybeee you got free will LMAO

🔨Is magic considered useful or dangerous in your WIP? Do different cultures or species view magic differently?

generally considered useful! magic is entertaining and awe inspiring, or its useful and practical. bc as i said before most terraneans are community oriented, they tend to use their magic (most of the time) to help others. obvs again theres people who do use it for bad and evil but fuck those people LMAO.

tenom & lumine specifically are definitely more side eyed however, because they are more deadly than other forms of magic and can either cause severe harm to yourself (tenom) or to others (lumine). lumine itself does have its practical uses, as in Snake's Canyon artisans who can use lumine are vital to ensuring that the area is lit and traversable. tenom does have practical uses to aegeans (people who live in eros) because only dark hunters (aka people who use tenom) are able to traverse argos to try and clear it of the monsters within it HOWEVER it is so extremely dangerous that many people are against its usage. eros has no interest in entertaining outsider's opinions on the matter though.

🤷Is there a way someone could lose their ability to use magic? Has it ever happened before?

not really. essentially, its apart of your 'genetic' make up, and there's really no way to 'change' those percentage numbers... unless you use tenom enough and then you become a monster, but then basically you just cease having sentience?? so like ig you can count that but in general magic is just sorta something you're born with the ability to do or not.

⚙️How has magic influenced the level and complexity of technology in your WIP? & 🧪How does magic interact with scientific advancements in your WIP? Are they considered the same?

magic has allowed society to progress in interesting ways and the way that people have come to the conclusions that we have in our world. while science has been a major inovator for us, for terraneans magic is at the heart of innovation because magic itself (especially when you get into things like subortus and muram) is a science! while they haven't fully escaped the equivalent of the medieval period, in some ways they have very much advanced in ways that we hadn't in similar circumstances due to the proximity to magic. firearms (not automatic ones), as well as electrict are the two current biggest innovations that are equivalent to our world that have been discovered in the hub of innovation, Marthveil. and silverkeep is constantly improving and advancing their medicinal techniques as more and more about the composition of the soul and the relationship between sana, cava, and ars is discovered. but because magic itself is so prevalent, things that we use in our society aren't really things that i feel like will ever occur to them to use in theirs. i can't really think of any examples rn bc basically i don't really like making modern magic wips too often LOL so that's why tcol is like this but yeah i'm sure when i think more about what tech they do and don't have i'll get more into the weeds of this.

i do know they definitely have plumbing though. i refuse to allow chamber pots and throwing shit in the street to be a thing LMAO.

⚔️Are there any special magical objects in your WIP? What do they do? Who owns them?

telus weapons and objects are rare; they're basically magic imbued weaponry or trinkets, which allows people who don't have ars to bypass the usual requirements of being able to do magic (having ars) but limits the usage because usually the object or weapon only has a few specific abilities and doesn't have a mind of its own so it can't be as versatile. its very hard to create such a weapon; usually they're blessed in some manner by a god. there aren't really any that show up in any of the stories (unless you count guardian weapons as telus weapons but those are Very Very different) that i have for this wip, but perhaps i should and can make a side story about one. i think i would have it take place in diisai.... but i'll ponder that later lol.

🧐Do people research magic in your WIP? What’s the most popular or prestigious topic of study? The least popular?

technically people only research magic when they're trying to become a certain class of some kind. i'll just list out the "specialty" magics real fast ->

MEDICS study sana inanem, diruam and subortus

ALCHEMISTS AND GUNNERS study muram

HEXERS/ILLUMINATORS study lumine

BARDS study cantatio

DARK HUNTERS study tenom

all other classes use some form of vis, if they use magic at all as its not a requirement (ie: MBAs, rangers, protectors, hunters)

because not everyone can do magic, its not really a requirement of standard education and you usually only seek it out if you're trying to do shit in guilds or if you're trying to be in a particular field of sorts. (and as an aside, there isn't really a difference between engineers and alchemists in tcol simply because muram is also very good for construction and those types of things)

the most popular would be sana inanaem and subortus because everyone needs a medic or doctor at some point in their life, and silverkeep university is the most prestigious institution in terrae for study.

the least popular is lumine because it is very niche and mostly only those from snake's canyon use it. and even then its not a structured sort of study, its more field-learned.

⚕️How has magic changed the landscape of medicine and healing in your WIP?

sana inanem allows for a sort of catch all healing. you don't necessarily need the specifics like how we do in scientific healing; the magic itself will smooth out whatever ails you from internal bleeding, to coughs or fevers, to broken bones. i will say that generally speaking sana inanem because it is more intensive on the healer themselves, tends to be saved for physical ailments like injuries and the like; subortus tends to be the go to for other like infections and things because it is less taxing if it needs to be used over a period of time. sana inanem in the case of illness is a sort of 'last resort'

the other thing is that very extremely powerful medics are able to do things that are virtually impossible for us to do which is bring someone or something fully back from the dead. the phoenix maneuver is what it's called and its been studied for generations, however there has only ever been one medic on record ever able to do such a thing and that is Karenza Hawkins. she has been studied extensively to determine why she is able to do this and its because she has the rare condition (that i have to name) where sana is practically spilling out of her, she has an 80-20 sana to ars ratio. though this should disqualify her from being able to do magic bc she doesn't have the magic 30% because she literally has so much sana it literally spills out of her and she is able to heal irregardless. this unfortunately means though that any other magic outside of sana inanem is completely inaccessible to her. but still, its a marvel to behold and seeing her perform the phoenix manuever on a deer is the way she's introduced in book 1 :)

🏬What kind of magical professions can a magic-user pursue in your WIP? Is it considered especially prestigious, normal, or below respect?

like i said somewhere before all careers are basically considered important to upholding society so none of them are looked down upon in anyway really. magic users also aren't really beholden to one specific path unless you want to learn a specific kind of magic--however, if you want to learn vis, then you're essentially able to do anything you want without barriers. be free <3

🎭Has magic brought about social good in your WIP? Social ills?

generally i'd say magic has brought social good; but just like any tool it can be used for negative things. tenom is the only magic with a sordid history because it did not develop naturally and was not blessed by the gods. after vis came into being during The Day of Fissures, the Chieftain of Argos, Whisper of the Fire along with her head researcher Tenoma began to fervently study the limits of vis to try and find a way to combat the horrors that seeped out of Argos. this led to the creation of the Hunters With Magic research facility which basically conducted horrifying experiments of increasing cava on dissenters to Whisper's rule, and eventually led to the first 'true' dark hunter's creation, Twilightsorrow Idanly. it was horrific, and even now the history and methods are closely guarded secrets in eros; a lot of the general research itself even being destroyed from that time period. its a Hot fucking mess lemme tell you.

🙅Are there any kinds of forbidden magic? What kinds, and why?

not necessarily? there are certain magics that you simply cannot learn, essentially cantillo. like. its literally and physically impossible. but pretty much everything else is fair game.

🤔Are there any kinds of “forgotten” or ancient magic that nobody remembers anymore? How was the knowledge lost?

not really. some origins of certain magic (like tenom) have been lost, but not the know how.

🫥Are there any kinds of magic that are intentionally hidden from the general population? Who’s hiding this knowledge, and why?

The Hands of Qhozion and the origins of chaos are intentionally hidden. any of those who have discovered its power have been drawn to ruin. this is because QHOZION does not want anyone or anything to know that he exists; at least not until he's ready to reveal himself and take revenge of his own kinda against his own self. the only character that knows the full extent of what it is is MIZDARR; but he cannot speak on this for various plot reasons, and MUINENS has always been suspicious of him because he knows much more than he's letting on. he may in fact (and kinda does) know more than IISIDIA herself... which is worrying lmao. and its really just because IISIDIA chooses not to acknowledge this and has split herself in various ways. so.

all of this is book 2 plot stuff so i'm not gonna get too into the weeds about it but yahhhh.

⛪What are the popular religions in your WIP? Where is each belief more prominent?

so weird scenario; there isn't really an popular or major organized religion in tcol. the gods exist as a fact, and many different people have many different practices and have different gods that they favor more than others but like there's no like. majorly approved/state sponsored/populist belief. even oracle temples differ from temple to temple in how they practice and the gods themselves are quite benevolent in it. many of the gods feel as though they exist to aid terraneans and the world of terrae itself; and not the other way around (which would be that the world exists for them and their pleasure) so like while it can be appreciated to have terraneans worship or reach out, to a lot of the gods terraneans are simply children that they look after and nurture with or without thanks. its simply part of being a deity, its their duty if you will.

to kind of give a quick run down of places where there is an obvious preference:

MARTHVEIL -> as is in the name, they are very partial to MARTH

EROS/ARGOS -> YLENE, BRULENE and LENEYUBR (the combination of YLENE and BRULENE)

HYTROTH -> MUINENS

KISKKADDON -> RANKIMA, which is an alter of MIRANKA

KOSS -> KOST

SILVERKEEP -> YUTARA

MORDIGA (and Diisai generally) -> KIBARUM

BASS LANDING -> The Musicians of Creation, which include Nitarr, Tuara, Rana, Ranae, Wanao, and Waname

WISH OF PALANTHIA -> as the name suggests, Palanthia

THE LABYRINTH ITSELF -> The Demon King, obviously lol

📢Are there any particularly influential religious institutions in your WIP?

time for more copy paste <3

The Frosted Arches -> The largest Oracle House for MUINENS is located in Hytroth (up north) and it is considered the sacred homeland of the goddess. Oracle Houses for MUINENS don’t have standardized names the same way that MIRANKA’n oracles do, and that is specifically because they’re so old and for a long while, there was only One place (really) that oracles were and the rest were offshoots and only local Things. the large institutions we see for MUINENS don’t crop up until after the War of Lathsburian Succession.

House of Carnations -> where Oomi’s study and become the oracles. break off temples and for MIRANKA are named after different plants and flowers that have lovely scents. The House of Carnations is the largest and is in Wish of Palanthia where MIRANKA was born. Flower Houses (as they’re called generally) can pop up anywhere in Terrae and usually every town has at least one to help with relationship disputes. As of the year _(haven't decided)_ they were made mandatory for every township or city to have one per a certain population size. 

The Arena -> the only place where Oracles of YLENE practice and it is only located in Eros. it is exactly what it sounds like — a giant arena where the Champion lives their day to day life. they hold strategy meetings, sacrifices and prayers, and battle to the death for anyone who wants the honor of becoming the next champion can challenge them. they also tend to host extreme sporting events. Occasionally Champions will have a right hand man (or two) called Tacticians, who serve the symbolic role of Brulene as she is to YLENE. However, only the Champion has direct contact with the goddess.

🙏Is devotion to a particular religion expected of people? What happens to non-believers?

being a non-believer isn't really a thing? this is sort of a universe wherein it is a fact that the gods exist; however they don't demand that you serve them and there are no consequences for being apathetic or neutral to their existence. some people are definitely more religious than others, but honestly for many people the gods are just sort of a thing that exist and they just continue on with their lives about. hell, even though oracles are divinely inspired, a lot of times especially when people go to OOMIs, do so out of the help they can provide and not necessarily because they are religious. so tldr devotion and more zealot practices do exist, but like you also don't have to give a shit if you don't want to lmao.

🫵Can the deities in your WIP grant people special powers? When do they choose to do so?

sort of? deities can bestow favor upon you in certain ways-or certain deities can. the ones that are more likely to provide blessings are YUTARA, as both the deity of medicine and gender expression, their gift is towards genderqueer people who pray to them in desire of their body to match their inner self. this isn't really a 'special power' but people with all sorts of anatomy can exist if they pray to YUTARA fervently enough and they hear your prayer. 2 characters who have been blessed by them are Jagoda Arthea (a trans man who has top surgery and what we would consider working phalloplasty - as in he can have kids) & Charissa Goodwyn (a trans woman who has breast augmentation but still has her dick and is sterile), though many more exist tm.

MIZDARR can grant the Chaos Touch to those he decides but it is very unclear why he decides to do so? there's not much rhyme or reason, but more often than not these people do tend to become or already are rangers. one character who is especially unique is Eryn Arcus, who is Chaos Touched since birth but it has left her completely blind outside of the chaos she can sense. the other character is a spoiler :P

finally, guardians are ALWAYS venerated from especially noteworthy or prophecy fulfilling terraneans. MUINENS has venerated the most guardians (3 to be exact- 2 known and 1 spoiler) however, MIRANKA venerated Arian in the third age :). this is slightly different than granting powers because basically its giving you one step under a god status lol.

🗣️Can anyone commune with the deities in your WIP, or do they only answer to special devotees?

nope, you gotta be an oracle or a guardian to directly communicate with the gods and even then theres only certain gods that do communicating through them. a lot of it has to do with the power that gods have. i'm quite a fan of the whole if you look at a deity you will simply vaporize type shit so unless you're some sort of divine... good luck with that.

📞Is it rare to be contacted by higher beings, or does it happen all the time?

super rare bc its literally impossible for gods to speak with terraneans unless they're oracles lmao. and with oracles they don't necessarily speak with the god themself... its a bit confusing to explain but basically the god's energy/will manifests within them bc they're divinely inspired/a conduit for their word. the reason why they tend to be so vague is that the inherent inability for gods and terraneans to connect means that it is difficult for oracles to decipher and explain the will of the gods in a way that can be understood by the common people. some more powerful oracles are better at it but its still difficult and taxing.

🧩Are there prophecies in your WIP? Do people believe in them? & 🌟Have any prophecies ever come true in your WIP’s history? How important are they to your WIP in the present?

yuh LMAO. many if not most prophecies come true in some way shape or fashion, however prophecies tend to be more individual focused; its really very rare that an oracle gets a prophecy for an entire event or anything like that--though it has happened that multiple oracles have recieved visions and prophecies regarding a string of individuals that are all connected to an eventual large event; however its very rare for those connections to be made until after the fact unless it is alarming enough to get brought before The Frosted Arches.

there's currently a prophecy in progress for one of our main characters though i won't tell you which :D (it'll be obious who if you know anything about tcol tbh)

👂Can anyone hear prophecies in your WIP, or do they only appear to certain people, like oracles? & 🤐Are prophecies kept secret, or told to everyone who wants to hear? Why?

only to oracles (specifically OOMs because MUINENS is a goddess of fate and destiny). they don't tend to have large scale prophecies that are told aloud to the public; if they recieve a vision that great then they usually have to take that information all the way to The Frosted Arches and then among the high council they will decide what next steps should be taken to ensure that MUINENS's will is achieved.

on the flip side, usually whenever babies are born, parents will take them to the nearest OOM to have them receive their oracle's blessing. this is basically a prophecy about how their life is going to go and while sometimes vague, or nondescript, there are times when it is quite... pronounced and alarming. usually in those rare instances, the parents are advised by the best course of action for their little one.

🗡️Is killing monsters or magical creatures a viable profession in your WIP? Is it lauded work or scorned?

yup that's what guilds are for! that's not their only purpose, but what modern (as in start of book 1) guilds do a lot of is killing monsters within the labyrinth lol.

😢Are monsters legitimately dangerous, or are they simply misunderstood?

DANGEROUS ITS NOT A FUCKING JOKE THEY CANNOT BE REASONED WITH DEADASS

beasts are misunderstood but also legitimately dangerous and unpredictable and while they are similar to monsters they are very much not the same thing.

💀Can people commune with spirits of the dead in your WIP? How? & 👻Do spirits wander freely in your WIP? Why? Is there a way to help them pass on?

you can't really, but it isn't uncommon to see them in certain places. tl;dr terraneans cannot pass on unless they are properly buried, and their spirit will wander aimlessly throughout terrae unless their body is buried OR unless The Lady of the Mists finds them and guides them to Cerullius; which is essentially a "heaven" of sorts. its a reuniting with IIARAN. you can't really speak to them if you see them but occasionally travellers have seen spirits wandering and have been able to guide them back to their bodies so they can be buried and pass on.

😱Is it considered normal or taboo to speak with the dead in your WIP? Does it vary from culture to culture?

its seen as a good deed, if you can. again something something terrae is basically socialist/communist or whatever but its seen as something you should do because no one should be forced to wander forever. also, its usually not speaking to them as y'all are on different planes of existence and more like following the ghost to its body and giving it burial rites.

⚰️Is it possible to completely resurrect someone in your WIP? How? If not, has anybody ever tried?

yup! phoenix manuever i talked about before lol. only Karenza has ever been able to do it.

🗺️Is your WIP a globe-trotting adventure, or is all the adventure contained in one place?

technically book 1 and book 2 kind of all take place between the labyrinth and lathsbury but bc tcol is a huge world and i have a lot of side stories in it you can argue its a bit gloe-trotty. but characters do travel often.

🧚Is adventuring common in your WIP, or something only for fairytales?

common!

🪙When people go on adventures in your WIP, what are they looking for? Fame, fortune, power?

all of the above :)

🦸Are there any legendary heroes or adventurers in your WIP’s history? What are they famous for?

YEAHHH so time for some more lists tm

lath of argos (aka Lath, Guardian of Valor) & ensio montero (aka Ensio, Sword of Valor) -> famously helped the goddess MUINENS among 33 other warriors corral monsters and beasts from across the lands of terrae into The Labyrinth, slaughtering many stragglers so they would no longer pose a threat to terraneans and giving their lives in the process. Lath became the first guardian, and also gave the people of Terrae who left Eros after the day of fissures their eventual name Lathsburians

immordia gallant (aka Immordia, Guardian of Exploration) & her son, gawain gallant -> famously helped the first Lathsburian ship make the journey across the treacherous eastern sea, holding the boat afloat long enough to allow the first lathsburians to make it to shore before giving her life in the process. if it weren’t for her contributions, the Diisaians would never have been discovered and the Diisaians would never know their distant Lathsburian cousins existed which both are grateful for.

king mitică the nomad -> tl;dr made sure the lathsburians didn’t go extinct and is regarded as the greatest king who ever lived; humble, modest, wise, and measured.

karlan of the sea -> the first leader of the diisaians who helped them journey across the great eastern sea and was favored by the god, KOST

i haven’t named this guy yet but he’s the leader of the kisks and basically he’s the one who helped them travel from the mountains of ubwyn to where kiskkaddon is today.

king savon the evergolden -> the principle force in the war of the seven sons who held back the depouring of the labyrinth that his brother ziri the windless caused. if it weren’t for his tactile prowess and leadership it’s very likely that the lathsburians would’ve all perished tm <3

a lot of these heroes are very lathsbury focused but it’s bc i haven’t really started branching out into the other city states and what’s going on with the timelines and whatnot! but fear not! there will be So Many More LMAO.

🦹Are there any infamous villains in your WIP? How were they defeated?

listtsssss

whisper of the fire, first chieftain of argos -> she’s a villain to ME so that’s why she’s going on this list idc. anyway after her horrifying and tyrannical also short ass reign, she was killed by the first COH, hyla at the behest of YLENE. her death caused the beginnings of the aegean civil war which eventually ended with the creation of the nightwillow clan.

prince ziri the windless -> fuck this guy specifically. anyway lord evondra personally kills him because Fuck this guy specifically.

lord evondra -> that’s spoilers <3

QHOZION -> that’s also spoilers <3

🌄How much has the landscape and environment of your WIP been shaped by magic? Have entire mountains been wiped off the map, or is everything the same as if magic didn’t exist?

well, the entire world came into being via musical magic—

jkjk (but it did) but to answer the question, the best example is the kiskkaddon desert, which is a sentient entity. i haven’t fully decided if its sentient because it is RANKIMA herself, or if its a completely separate entity, but basically kiskkaddon itself is a word that means “swallowing” and thus its the all swallowing desert. conditions are harsh and its all magically related lol. it could alllllso potentially have something to do with Phyddione which could be a cool tie in so i may explore that a bit 🤔

🌥️Are there any magical places in your WIP that are kept hidden from outsiders? Why?

The Thicket, where MIZDARR resides, is hidden because it is the birthplace of chaos and to go in there is to risk being touched by The Hands of Qhozion. MIZDARR can somewhat control how much chaos seeps through the thicket into Terrae, but as he warned MUINENS thousands of years ago, there’s only so long that he can hold chaos back before it is fully unleashed :>

[starlightkun]

sorry if you've gotten this ask before aljrksjd

you don't have to answer this, but I just wanted to know how you write longform fics or just long pieces in general. it's one of the things I've struggled with as a writer, and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how I could go about it or do it.

I'd be so grateful if you could provide some advice or suggestions 🥹🥹

i want u to know that i saw this ask when u sent it, but i had a 5hr drive today and wanted to make sure i had time to answer this!! it's under the cut bc i yapped a bit <33

so one thing that i feel the need to say up top is that i never go into pieces with a "goal" length/word count (often times my fics end up being longer than i expected/intended). because i never really write with the goal of a specific length in mind, these are things that i think have helped me write more cohesive and narratively fulfilling pieces in general, which tends to make my fics longer

my first thing is planning/outlining!! i used to just write my fics start to finish in one go with little to no planning, and since i've started slowing down and taking my time outlining/planning beforehand (and even during the drafting process i continue adding to my outline), i've seen the average lengths of my fics go up a lot. you don't have to have every single scene, moment, and piece of dialogue planned out before start writing (lord knows i never do), but you should have a pretty good idea of the major story beats, character dynamics, and any important conflicts, and make sure it's written down in a way that's easy for you to refer back to while you write. never think you're gonna keep it all in your head

build out your characters' lives!! i love introducing a good b-plot involving the main character's friends (see: strawberry sunday) that doesn't take too much attention away from the main plot that it seems out of place, but instead complements the main plot and allows there to be space in between those major plot beats for the readers and the characters to breathe. it also helps make your characters feel more well-rounded and real to the readers if you throw in a scene of their daily life at school or work or with their friends/family both to add texture to them but also to your world. it can also be good to use an establishing scene towards the beginning of their daily life, then a similar one towards to the end that shows any character development, or some other impactful change that happened during your story. instead of just telling us that everything in your character's life changed, show us how it did (or didn't! or maybe it only changed a little, but the little change was important, too)

in a similar vein, build out your world!! im not saying to spend ten pages describing an intricate magic system to us that has little bearing on the plot itself, but feel free to weave in extra details about where/when we are and how the characters interact (or dont!) with the world around them (even if its our normal old world in the modern day)

and i mean i guess my last thing that's really helped me is just sort of getting out my head when it comes to writing? like, not forcing myself to write everyday, not having any sort of word count goals, no posting schedule, etc. just letting myself sit with my ideas for a while and really play around and have fun with them. it's made writing fic something that i look forward to doing when i come from work, or when the weekend is approaching, and i genuinely am making probably my favorite things that i've ever made right now. and they happen to be pretty long!!

i've talked some more about my writing process in some other asks (x, x, x, x, x, x) and i have a writing tag where i post about more general writing stuff if you want to hear me yap some more

[1800duckhotline]

im new here and missed your bg3 phase entirely can i hear what makes the game so sucks for you (or ill go look in the tag! fine too). i love to hear people bitchin about games everybody else doesnt wanna criticize

omg hello... first of all welcome to my twisted mind etc. my blog is an array of a completely random agglomeration of interests so im sorry if i shift from posting from x to y at the speed of light LMFAO. my bg3 obsession phase was definitely a strange exception but i guess it is what it is

and def i can give u the sparknotes version of my criticisms for the game, which are both rational and not and you're free not to agree and so forth, i'm just one guy expressing an opinion which i think i'm entitled to since i've played this game for over 200 hours almost i am fairly sure. i was not okay.

obviously i'll be mentioning spoilers fyi. i got long here but i promise this is just the Resume of my actual opinions

i hate the fact everyone sounds british except minsc or jaheira. i just dont like it. like a few characters here and there its nothing that bothers me but i'm tired of british accents in fantasy media. it makes things more of a snoozefest

for a game that prides itself on characters being reactive and interactable (esp companions) more often than not the companions reactions have been disappointingly lackluster and straight up Sad because they're so Nothing. i.e. durge reveal

i think not having tav/durge voiced was stupid. my onion!

the game is not as revolutionary as people make it out to be when it comes to character design and good lord the character creator to me is offensive. the companions are all EXTREMELY SAFE when it comes to 'conventional beauty standards', and while i'm not surprised nor did i expect any less, the lack of body diversity to me is just so... boring. it's so nothingburger. like i love projecting hcs and shit but i wish i didn't have to do that

wyll having so little in terms of content and writing and reactions in the game compared to astarion (and let's also say shadowheart bc on a technical level she's the second favorite of larian) is genuinely the worst thing to me because his concept is charming and interesting and larian just decided to do nothing with him. players that are black and/or poc obviously have said this a trillion times, i'm just echoing the sentiment because i also hate how blatant it is, esp when i read up and watched how he used to be in EA. like not to say the writing there was stellar but he had dimension. larian just does not give a fuck abt him and it is irritating lmao, esp since astarion has tangentially 0 actual involvement with the game's main plot in his arc WHILE WYLL LITERALLY GETS HIS ARC SIDELINED BY THE EMPEROR I FUCKING HATE THAT STUPID TURN OF EVENTS SO MUCH

act 1 is probably the best optimized out of all the acts, with the optimization being probably up to midway of act 2. then it alllllll goes downhill. i said it so much but i never get tired of saying it: act 3 is so poorly organized, so many good ideas all smushed together in an indigestible slog of an act with too many quests flattened in one single serving making it so fucking hard to want to get it done. which is awful, because a lot of poignant plot events and fights happen in act 3. i'm still of the firm belief they should've made an act 4. considering this ties in with the aforementioned issue where wyll was supposed to get more content... and it got cut out 'for time'.

i fucking hate astarion fans. i trust like 2 people that do like him. i genuinely was so indifferent to him in the game. like he's fine as a character. i just dont like him much because of the fans. Again ties in with the wyll issues too because people love to pretend astarion would be in wyll's place in the dancing scene when astarion would call you slurs and kill you if he could

also like think what you will of minthara but i think it's criminal that she's a companion and alongside wyll is left to rot at the bottom of the game's code. it's definitely more egregious for wyll imo but like. idk i also am not a fan of this esp since i discovered halsin was added as a companion because THE FANS begged them to. seething

again, there's people more well equipped to discuss this and i did reblog and share posts abt this before on my main account but the embarrassing fantasy racism is there and it's an innate problem of dnd. i think it should be mentioned and kept in mind regardless if it's done well or not (which i don't think it was).

this is less abt the game itself and more abt the fandom but i genuinely cannot fucking stand people who are so aggressive at users who have sexuality headcanons for some of the characters of the game. i've seen people have SO much fucking vitriol towards lesbians having lesbian hcs, specifically, gee i wonder why. this hasn't happened to Me but i have witnessed it.

i think that's more or less the Issues i have with bg3. you're free to ask anything in specific but like... i dont hate the game. or i wouldnt have played it so much. but it should not have been GOTY to me. sorry. like there's so much i just think is wrong... but im just one guy.

i usually prefer completely different types and genres of games, so obviously i'll be more dissecting towards a game i tried out of curiosity and Liked, but with many grievances. the type of stuff i usually like is also far from perfect but i judge a lot of those things in bg3 because of how the game presents itself as in advertisement and social media posts, as well as just like, the steam page. i have plans in the future to try similar games to bg3 to see if it's a common problem within that genre or if it's the black sheep (for me) but for now it is how it is

anyways i did also like a lot of parts of the game, it's just, i can't really reccomend it without mentioning what i didn't like you know?

[ace-malarky]

Happy wubwub! Can you tell us about the Fair Folk in your stories?

OH BOY CAN I

(happy wubwub)

so we're going to focus specifically on the So the Bran Rhi Sings Fair Folk because they're more relevant right now on account of actually having a story

(also this gets. disjointed! I will perhaps clean it into something more legible but whomst tf knows. Here are the thoughts as I think them because my world building folder has fucking nothing except the following note; "often simply referred to as 'the Fair'" thanks past me, the trouts will be hearing about this)

basic rundown;

Welsh!

Names have as much power as you give them

glamour as suggestion and seeming

their home is in The Mist and they can traverse worlds at will

the Wild Hunt is here for those Fair who can't be bothered with politics and just want to run wild and free

Welsh!

Currently the Welsh-Inspired runs as far as all their names and things like Gwyn being lord of the Fair and leader of the Hunt, but I do want to bring in more once I get my hands back on the Mabinogion (hey you'll never guess where my copy is-) because fun things like Blodeuwedd being in the background of the plot would just be neat, you get me? Gwen has a lot of travelling to do, she can run into people

Although that... hm, will be fun considering it's Arianrhod that is. sort of the antagonist here. We'll work that one out later <3

BUT Arianrhod potentially being. Gwyn's aunt? Tasty. I could make this a family feud

Nominally ruled by Gwyn ap Nudd, who has been Missing for a number of years/since the dragons were sealed etc but also ruling is just a careful game of dangerously polite politics here. They can't lie for shit but Oh Boy will they misdirect and omit

Names

So the Fair themselves have but One Name (ish) and sometimes those are titles (see; the Bran Sidhe, the Bran Rhi) and they're still leery about giving them out to mortals bc then they start to get ideas about controlling the Fair

Though it takes A Lot to control the Fair and also that's just. Thats a bad idea, man, they'll get loose and then you're Fucked

I think i was going to have them all with hidden names bc there's a whole bit of Arianrhod attempting to Use Brandi's name against her and Oh Boy it does not go according to keikaku (the prophecy is spoken for the second? time and now all of Fair knows it was you) But also Gwen has to claim hers so no one can use it against her and announces it in front of the Wild Hunt but to be fair they are her father's and also I think Red goads her into it

Anyway we're scrapped the hidden name thing for this particular set of Fair fairly early on in the "planning" of this wip/world

But the Strength of one's Name also ties into glamour and how much each Fair has bc relative strength in the battle of will etc etc

Glamour

They are, of course, stupid long lived! and look mostly human-shaped but also that's a glamour thing which is partially an "I'm going to look as good as I possibly can how I imagine that" and partially a "I need to look fucking awesome by everyone's standards".

Glamour is all about seeming and suggestion and Will. Gwen is stupid powerful without realising it, which is great because that's how she stays hidden amongst the humans for so long because she sure as shit does not look like Red. The Hunt member who managed to sneak out with her was on his last legs. Colour blind. grasping at straws. something? either way, she doesn't get found out by anyone except Brandi until she ends up in Fair Lands, which is its own kettle of fish

And then there are also the raven siblings who just. they're ravens but they're children but they're adults but they're whatever the fuck they want to be in the moment. Brandi is the Bran Rhi and likes being a kid because she gets overlooked and then gets second guessed and then wham you got prophesied. Doesn't actually like making everyone dance to Fate's tune. would rather be telling stories. Locked off a world because if she makes all the prophecies stories there then surely they don't count? (they do)

Bran, her brother, is the Bran Sidhe and possibly? the oldest Fair of them all. He can tell when mortals are going to die before their time. occasionally intercedes, but this is how he ends up with his adopted child so like. now he's a little more careful about how he gets involved

Their Home

They live "beyond the hawthorn" in their own little. pocket? world? in the Mist because they can also traverse that at will, so to say they're really only found on a couple of worlds is a Lie, but they definitely have their favourites

(someone is responsible for Llinos' family having that whole Welsh bent when the rest of the feral mages don't so far, and the Bran Rhi and Bran Sidhe are responsible for the wyvern world being locked away from the Mist)

but standard Fair home; don't eat the food, unnervingly homely and welcoming and don't look too closely behind the curtain, just the wrong side of the perfect day provided the Fair are in agreement about what that looks like

The Wild Hunt

AKA the Cwn Annwn

They're here! of course they're here. led by Gwyn, currently languishing. Here are a bunch of Fair who are very wolf-and-dog coded and really just want to run. They're not paying attention to politics, but they need a leader. Red Scarlet takes the reigns purely because she's bitey and feral and doesn't take shit from anyone

The wild hunt are dogs and wolves and coyotes in the same way that the raven siblings are ravens; they have the idea of it and they can sure look like them but have you asked to pet the dog. I mean I'm sure some of them are into it, but.

They've also been kinda aimless since Gwyn was locked away. The main part may have been locked away with him and those that are left are like. The youngest, the slowest sort of thing. Still a force to be reckoned with, but not what they were. There's a lot of loafing around Fair lands, nearer to the raven camp than anywhere else, not that they're drawing alliance lines.

Red kinda whips them into shape because she wants to be one and she's not going to let a silly little thing like being a mortal stop her (this is useful for later, not just because mortal girl on the back of a red deer and leading a pack of canids is a killer image)

[altruistic-meme]

oh you KNOW i gotta ask 10

and also 11 cause maybe talking about it would help

you are one cruel, cruel fiend, milo. why would you do this to me.

10. 🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

alexa play "oh my dear lord" by the unlikely candidates

okay. okay. so in the interest of trying to limit what we consider ACTIVELY working on, i'm going to exclude fics that i'm not really sure if i'll ever finish and fics that i haven't actually STARTED writing, but i'm still going to include fics i know i'm going to return to even if i haven't touched them in a while. so let's check the WIP list...

3 for All for the Game (why is there) joy in this poison, Figurative Ghosts, go low

2 for Young Royals Dare(d) To Do It, Not Supposed to Know*

1 for Captive Prince laurent stabs damen

9 for Bungo Stray Dogs blackhole time fuckery, will you be mine? (no sir), The Port Mafia Boss's Most Loyal Dog, me-ow, dazai's job, abo au, outsider POV of corruption, who tf is slug????, not really a college au,

so that is... 15 TOTAL, most of which are currently bsd fics bc i have been bouncing between all of the WIPs there with incredible frequency cus my brain refuses to just STAY PUT ON ONE.

*techinically i haven't actually written anything for NSTK, but because it is one half of the Parallels AU and i have written for Dare(d), which is its partner fic, i'm still counting that as having worked on it. especially since they're 2 POVs of the same story, which means some of the events in Dare(d) will be shown in NSTK as well, so the same dialogue will be used in both for scenes they share.

11. 🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

oh this is about to be so long im so sorry

i think there's something im struggling with with all of my bsd WIPs right now, which is probably part of why there are just so many that i'm actively working on bc if i get stuck on one i can just move to something else for a while ;;;;

largely, i feel like im struggling a lot with figuring out Dazai and Chuuya's characters which obviously affects all of the WIPs since they're all skk-centric!! but they're both such complex characters with a super complex relationship with each other and i really love that about them and i want to be able to get that across, even in the shorter fics!! (this was also a struggle with the torturing kunikida fic, though since it was from Kunikida's POV it was a little easier bc i could show the contrast to what he expected of skk vs. what he saw that day to help get that across)

but just. characterization is ALWAYS an issue for me, especially when i first start writing characters. and i know that it'll be fine bc it always is, i think my anxiety about it causes me to put in the effort to really make the characters work and people usually really seem to enjoy them?? it is one of the things about my writing that people mention most often (and i will never tire of that, see: lots of anxiety about it) so i know i should calm down about it but HHHHHH

on the brightside(?) i do have a WIP that's still very much in the planning stages that will allow me to look at and play with a lot of the more toxic/codependent/generally unhealthy aspects of the two of them + their relationship while also giving me some more wiggle room in their characterization, which i think will be a fun way to help curb some of that anxiety when i actually start writing it.

and outside of that, looking at a specific WIP for an issue im facing currently: Loyal Dog is giving me SO MUCH TROUBLE bc i know what needs to happen and i know overall how the story is going to go and what the main points in it are. but actually figuring out how to write what i need to get down is. a struggle.

like it's just. i know the main plot and the main points and some of what needs to be done to get there. but the finer details are tripping me up. this time i think the outsider POV is working against me here, but also having it from an outsider POV is necessary to the story as i want it told!! idk. it's a LOT stupid little details that i need to plan and decide on while trying to make it plausible that's stressing me out more and hhhhhhhhhh

[ writer WIP asks to help me procrastinate writing ]

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

still think its extremely clever (despite my qualms bc im a professional hater) the ways the interactions the elves have w the rest of the world mirror the dynamics in the nakamoto household. Theres this fantasy element of the elves being more in touch w nature (and the plant motif the nakamotos got going on) long lived magical beings w spider armor who think they know better than everyone else so they treat others like children. N with the nakamoto house, everyones considered part of this family. W the idealization of the lord vassal relationship being one of informal mutual agreement (tho ofc the idea of it being entirely voluntary cannot be like. Materially true. But theres ways the relationship of a knight n his king, the king n his subjects r romanticized n theres elements of this in dm for sure so who knows where dm falls on this ) Which makes the head of the house a father of sort to everyone in the house (tho i imagine the exact distinction to like paternalism of a household and like being someones father in the modern sense is not completely translatable). Like the plot w the canaries is so long reaching, of this army sailing to the other side of the world to conquer this dungeon but their parallels w the nakamotos and the close, familial violence that is happening just in this snapshot of this rando house (tho part of its focus on just them is probs bc the japanese audience is more familiar w what ideas its drawing from. ) really shows like. The banal shittiness of it. The elves arent even exceptional in their brutality this is just what ppl w outsized power over others do.

+ in feudal japan everything is viewed as being collectively owned by the house itself rather than individuals + the individuals having to act for the good of the house rather than for themselves vis a vis how both nobles and prisoners are conscripted into the canaries for what is seen as for da good of the world. The connection of family n how degals father adopted thistle as his own son even tho he was taken from his home to be a servant (and at this point i can feel ms kui going dont think too hard abt the ethics of this. The love was real #feudalism). + the connection w the toudens (closest we get to like a “nuclear family “) and how their father could send falin away against the shock of every other member of the family (tho falin eventually understood i think..?) in the ways his flaws as a human being become bigger bc of the outsized amt of power he had in his own family. that his relatively banal flaw of not explaining himself could break the family apart. As an aside, do u think maybe laios was able to understand the actions of his father just a little more when seeing chilchucks relationship w his family? Probably not enough to forgive his own father. But maybe a first step to understanding it and also himself.

Just like how the entire fall of the golden kingdom rests upon the interpersonal failures between the melinis and the ways they viewed each other as family and held each other to it even as their roles changed. W the complications of falin n marcilles relationship as falin started to outrun her. Kabru n milsirils relationship as a smaller version of whats happening w the elves and the rest of the world.

Like the relationship of a parent and child n all it reflects w ppl w power and those who do not in dungeon meshis really interesting. That having power is a difficult thing interpersonally, which is why holding it requires extra sensitivity to others bc all ur flaws will get magnified in the harms it causes. Like i respect how the internal logic of it. checks out. i think dm has sufficiently justified its ending even tho im personally like after all that… u still think there should be a king…? Like i respect the scope of the work n what its trying to convey. tho more than that i respect the most how it conveys it (bc i dont think a lot of the themes themselves are particularly groundbreaking)

[voidsumbrella]

rotating elden ring endings...

(under a cut because it got long lol)

i did most of my liveposting on twitter, so if you saw that you'll know that i:

tried/am trying to do¹ as much of the content as possible in my first run of the game

savescummed to see all 4 endings i had unlocked (fracture/duskborn/despair/stars)

Did Not Like Most Of Them.

im sure this is a common take, but going through this amazing intensive journey just for a 20 second cutscene was a huge letdown; im so glad i savescummed for the elden lord endings back to back, bc if i had fully replayed a longass game to see the same thing reskinned with almost no dialogue changes i would have been fucking furious. im a little less mad now- having fun in the dlc cemented the journey > destination aspect- but im still spending a lot of time analyzing the missed potential there.

from a purely technical perspective i guess it kind of makes sense that they had to be vague and brief. 90% of the story and worldbuilding is up to the player to find and interpret, and the 10% that's directly conveyed by the mandatory plot is nearly always colored by what perspective it's coming from- it would be hard to go into any detail about the repercussions of your actions without telling you information you're supposed to find on your own³. still, they could have at least shown more of the world than just leyendell. it's not like we don't do any mainline exploring.

the main wobbly bit for me is, obviously, the content of the endings. it fully makes sense that age of fracture is bland as shit. it's the ending you get if you, the player, don't engage with the world: you speak to who you have to and no one else, do what is asked of you and no more, accept what you are told without examining it or questioning it- and are rewarded with the cycle continuing. the ambiguous power of your rule has nothing to do with you, and the world remains suspended in its decay. same as it ever was. i didn't get the age of order ending⁴ but from what i can tell from external resources it also makes sense for that to be Off as well. the basis is that the cycle is perpetuated not just by marika and the golden order, but as an extension of the greater will itself, and things are only screwed up now because everyone up to now just didn't do it right. but, y'know, you're special, you're chosen, you understand it all- surely you'll be the one to succeed! and then you don't, because the world is like this by design.

blessing of despair being an elden lord ending makes substantially more sense in light of the dlc. granted, i had a lot of detail comprehension issues on this one, bc it didn't click for me that the curse was omen related⁵ until someone pointed it out way later and i checked the wiki. even then, it was still confusing as to how that existed within the existing power framework, because fucking with the rebirth cycle seems like it's going if not directly against the greater will's hold on things, then at least yanking it off course. but! the introduction of the hornsent makes it crystal clear that the notion of horns being a curse at all is a cultural thing⁶ specifically because marika has personal beef with them. spreading omen-ness as a ~horrifyingly evil defilement~ only works within the existing framework, and by itself doesn't require any significant structural changes. same shit as always, but more people have horns now.

that being said: this being an elden lord ending is boring as hell. like it works, it lines up lore-wise, but it's got a lot of missed potential. without retrofitting the dlc lore the closest tie the omens have is to the crucible itself, which is totally powerful enough to exist in opposition to the greater will, we could have had a total return to the primordial ending, that would have been really cool!! the tree could have sprouted horns!! dlc could imply the hornsent being revived as a culture in the way that age of stars implies the nox coming back!!!! it would be coooooool-

anyway. im bitter that the duskborn was an elden lord ending. im still sorting through the specifics of death/destined death/death getting split in half, so i don't have a concrete argument for why it's bullshit or what the alternative would be, i just think that quest was way too involved for it to get the same 20 seconds of nothing that the other 3 got. if you're going to kill off 3 of the best characters in the game you could at least have the decency to give some sort of payoff <- objective sentence written by someone with no biases. (¬_¬).

i completely get why people are Like That about ranni- she wasn't even my favorite character while i was playing, but my affection towards her skyrocketed because the age of stars ending is so blatantly The Good One!! that and lord of frenzied flame⁷ are the only two that are anything!!! it didn't have to be like this!!!!

this has completely devolved into bitching. oops. anyway. i don't really have a closing statement for this or anything, im just halfway through compiling a timeline/lore dump and wanted to jot down my thoughts, and then make them everyone else's problem lmao.

-----

¹ not done with the dlc yet, my save got corrupted² partway through shadow keep and i had to restart from the backup i used to savescum. ² fun fact: if your computer crashes/shuts down unexpectedly while the save file is loading it irreparably fucks your data ³ a bitch can dream about what it would have been like if they filtered the ending dialogue by tracking exactly what you found and who you spoke to but that's a MASSIVE undertaking development wise, they were never gonna fucking do that. ⁴ corhyn left the hold and i forgot he existed lol. i tried to find him when i realized he was Actually Relevant, but i didn't immediately spot him and didn't care enough to try harder. sorry goldmask, im sure you're chill. or something. ⁵ i didn't visually parse the seedbeds as having horns, and since i didn't do seluvius's subquest or reload the area after getting the rune, i never got his armor, which tells you directly what was up. i kinda thought he was covered in teeth. ⁶ the game actually does a pretty decent job pointing out that the human vs nonhuman dichotomy is more like... tribalistic? there's probably a better word for it- than anything else. the misbegotten aren't attacking everyone on sight because they're animalistic ane inherently evil, they're violently rebelling because humans have been keeping them as slaves. the "not saints, just on the losing side of a war" comment leda makes applies to pretty much all sides, including the ones we relate to. ⁷ i'm actively avoiding looking into that one too much, because im planning on getting it my second playthrough and i want to go in with clean eyes. which is surprisingly easy to do, it's super split off from the stuff im trying to dissect.

[findyourflame]

okay nobody cares about my opinions specifically but im going to go into them anyways. warning, im going to critique Sonic Prime bc its a piece of media by a huge company. this is going to be a biiiiig post too, under the cut.

TL;DR: Sonic Prime was a disappointing experience, but not the worst. It was enjoyable enough, mostly the first two seasons, rather than the last one. I have many thoughts and feelings on the characterization of the gang, some good, some bad, but overall it was a middling experience, just like most Sonic media is. and the kicker, it was not a sonadow show, I'm sorry sonadow shippers but you're just starved for Sonic and Shadow interacting, it's okay to ship them but some of the things y'all are saying is just silly.

okay now for the real post

For the sake of understanding, I will call each 'season' a season, even tho we all know that Netflix fucked with those episodes and when they were released even though some of them should have been bundled together.

So season one? I looooved it. Setting up the premise, the comedy, the flashy graphics and camera work, it was very fun! Overall, the characters and plot lines of each shatterspace were great....but.

Big and Rouge were shafted extremely hard. Both were given very little variety in their alternate versions archetypes. Big just felt like they went 'he's big and dumb and scared.' And with Rouge it felt like all of them had to be mature and in control and pretty. Boscage Rouge was a little teensy bit feral but overall still more similar to the others rather than different. Big just felt very...inconsequential? Which sucks! I adore Big! But in Prime he just wasn't given enough justice, and what was up with No Place Big just?? Turning British??? What was up with that. Never addressed again, purely existed for comedic value to try and keep your attention during over an hour of fighting the same robots.

Season two was pretty fun, applying more stakes by the urge to collect the prism shards, hinting that with them all back together, the rest of the shatterverses may cease to exist. The beginning conflict of interests and miscommunication between Sonic and Tails (which I'm going to talk about more later)

My main gripe with S2 was that Prismatic Sonic wasn't...interesting enough design wise. Giving a guy some chromatic aberration is always going to make my eyes go wide, but just airbrushing pink on and making his eyes pink doesn't make me think he's Prismatic. Especially considering the lore we know that Sonic has the remaining Prism energy? Like he should be more fucked up looking. More gems, more sparkle. What happened to the days of Sonic getting new insane looking forms just for funsies, which happened even back during the classic era because of Hyper Sonic. Prismatic Sonic deserved to look cooler even if it was a fight against an extremely silly looking Eggman, it would have felt right for Sonic the Hedgehog. Yes this gripe got a lot of explanation I'm an artist I'm not sorry

Season three. Good lord where do I begin. I guess with the things I liked like how I did the others. Once again most of the characters were on point, I liked seeing a reality where Tails is a villain (I know Nine isn't Tails, but lbr it's an exploration on what if Tails was alone, what if he had nobody, and the world was just awful). I liked the very ending sequence where Sonic changes his actions, even if it's in a sentimental manner, so that he avoids breaking the crystal again, he avoids restarting the whole process. I liked Sonic and Shadow's interactions through the entire show, it's nice to see them interacting again after so long of just...not, due to Sega ignoring anyone who wasn't Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Eggman.

The dislikes however are very egregious. The pacing was horrendous, why was there over an hour of near constant fighting with cycles of Sonic just stopping petty arguments between the Chaos Council and the shatterverse counterparts. The visuals became less flashy and interesting, it definitely looked rushed and it really shouldn't have been for something overseen by Sega. That sprite sequence was literally the most affronting thing to my eyes as a former Sonic sprite artist, they didn't even try to make it make sense to anything and again, the quality was horrible for something overseen by Sega. The layoffs, the strikes, the direction Netflix has been taking, the direction Man of Action has been taking, it was very clear that the final season was rushed and just shoveled out to us.

Overall, I was disappointed with how they finished off Sonic Prime.

Now onto something very specific about Sonic Prime that I wanna talk about: The characterization of Sonic in specific in this show.

For the most part, he's played pretty well, the voice acting is phenomenal, he's animated with so much expression, he's goofy, he's casual, he's affectionate which is something I believe is an inherent trait of Sonic based on many things in past media...and he's manipulative.

Let me explain what I mean by that

Sonic has always had a very good way of using words to sway people's thoughts and feelings. He's very good at getting under his enemy's skin, at making them pause, at making opportunities to strike as a result or to shift the fight into them just...not fighting anymore. I like this aspect of Sonic's personality because it's an extremely interesting thing to have a heroic character be able to do, and helps with banter, with teaching people.

Because he's a hero, this way of using his words isn't best described as manipulative, because of the connotations of that word being very negative. An exploration of Sonic where he's not a hero, not even an antihero, would be very interesting because of this skill of his.

Sonic Prime doesn't make Sonic evil. But he's certainly not a hero. He's very wishy washy, very stand offish....which is very unlike Sonic compared to most iterations of him where he will fight someone physically even if he doesn't want to, simply because he knows it will at the very least stop them from doing something more dangerous. The worst part of this wishy washy attitude from Prime Sonic is with regards to Nine in specific.

Now I mention the manipulative tactics Sonic uses in other media because he uses them with Nine too. To the point of consistently talking to Nine as if he is Tails, ignoring that Nine is his own person, that he's a real person, and it hurts Sonic to hear Nine defy him because of how much of an individual he is and how he's NOT Tails. He chased the kid into his home, which he broke into, yelled at him, got him arrested by the Chaos Council, and over and over ignored what Nine wanted in favor of what Sonic himself wants. And then when faced with a power hungry Nine he stood back and fought robots instead of rushing up there, with his super sonic speed, to stop the kid. He didn't let Shadow do anything either. Renegade Knuckles punching Nine in the face literally was the best thing that happened on that damn tower bc it showed that at least SOMEONE was willing to try to put a stop to this by any means necessary.

Nine was allowed to keep pushing the prism over and over, further breaking realities, and what did Sonic do?

Continue to try to reason with him.

Just spin dash the fox instead of gaslighting him, Sonic.

Someone probably drew the "I think we're going to have to kill this guy" meme with Sonic and Shadow but it's actually painful how real that shitpost is for the show, and how annoying it is that it's what the show is.

[feathers-in-the-night]

reading through the story so far was a good idea. Im definitely realizing a lot of the dialogue is a bit stilted. This mightve been bc i was reading a Lord of the rings fic while writing some of the sections, so the formality of the language rubbed off on me. But yeah, they not always talking like young, 21st century people! Need to fix that.

Also I'm realizing HOW OFTEN i use shrugging when describing bodylanguage lmaooo. Need to go back and edit that.

I'm doing that same thing that i did in Feathers where the first three chapters are like.. Almost entirely comprised of small expository scenes, meant to catch the reader up to speed from when we last left them. Not so much the first chapter, but definitely the second and third. I'm also setting up stuff for the future plot at a break-neck speed. Like theyre not BAD scenes or chapters, but the excitement definitely doesnt pick up fully until chapter 4. I'm thinking about merging a few chapters together, because some of them aren't that long. Maybe if i combined chapter 2 and 3, it wouldn't feel as bad because it would get all of the exposition over with in a single chapter, instead of it being stretched out?

Anyway.. The development of their strained relationship seems to be at a good balance. Very early on in the story, due to some circumstances, theyre forced to work together in isolation for a few days and its a pretty angsty time bc theyre both still hurting a lot and theyre having a hard time getting along for a big part of it. But then they get better as time goes on, and that carries over pretty effectively into the rest of the story (that i read so far). I think the chapters where this goes down, I may merge. Not all of them, but some. We'll see. I dont mind the flow as it is, but some of the chapters seem a bit shorter than some of the later stuff. Like, this stuff all takes place over 5 chapters, which is a LOT. Thats 25% of the chapters so far. And some of the chapters seem a lot shorter than necessary

I've read through about half of the story so far and i'm hoping as i read further, i see that i've manage to bridge the gap between "I'm still in love and i think i made a mistake" Morgan and "I'm fine, he's just a good friend" Morgan (Who, to be clear, is in Denial). Bc at the beginning shes VERY conflicted, and by chapter 20, shes fully keeping him at an arms length because shes absolutely sure that shes over him and shes desperately clinging to her "we're friends" mantra.

Anyway those were jsut some thoughts i had. This is mostly something i wrote down for my own benefit so i can remember it for later when i finish the story and go through my rewrites and edits!

[besidesitstoowarm]

"Journey's End" thoughts

doctor you suck shit

okay again i'm gonna blow through the plot stuff bc i don't care it's not the part that matters. the doctor avoids regeneration by channeling the energy into his hand. mickey and jackie are here now! martha goes to germany and the daleks are speaking german lmfao. the daleks have an instrument called the crucible and taught the doctor by dropped the tardis into an incinerator...

bitch you THOUGHT!!! the hand is calling out to donna and she touches it and gets slammed w regen energy and then the hand grows into naked david tennant. tentoo has arrived! a dalek shoots jack but he's fine. we learn tentoo has one heart bc he's half human! his singular heartbeat "rippled back" which is what donna was hearing that drew her to the hand and he says "we were always heading for this" HAVE I NOT BEEN SAYING?? THIS WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN SHE'S BEEN DEAD SINCE THE BEGINNING

martha tries to use the world-exploding key and gets teleported to the dalek ship and they explain they made a "reality bomb" using the aligned planets as a scope. like the planets aligning in hercules to release the titans. davros gets on his bullshit "you take ordinary people and you turn them into weapons" he's not wrong actually. the doctor does very much do that. "always running and never looking back because you dare not, out of shame" again got it in one

donna's powers activate bc she got turned part time lord by the regen energy! regenergy. sure. she's the doctordonna and ten remembers the ood foretold such. always listen to the ood. so now there's three doctors! jack says "i can't tell you what i'm thinking right now" bc he's narsty. dalek caan has betrayed the daleks by letting all this shit happen "i saw what we did, creator, and i said no more". tentoo explodes every dalek. i'm fine with that who cares

k9 is here! everyone teams up to drag the earth back home to its proper place. the tardis is functioning appropriately bc it finally has enough drivers and it's sweet to see everyone get along. rose, jackie, and tentoo get dropped off in their parallel universe bc she needs to babysit him?? "he's me, when we first met" so she gets a project man. i'm glad rose gets her very own tenth doctor to fuck but this is kind of a copout ending for her sorry. that said "how was that sentence going to end" "does it need saying?" and then tentoo DOES finish it and kisskiss. good for her genuinely

everyone else goes back home and donna starts glitching out bc a time lord brain can't live in a human body and it's going to kill her. he takes all her memories, wipes her brain, as she's crying and begging him not to. it's hard to watch, it's very violating, and it's a bullshit copout for her too. i know rtd has said he does not like the way the episode ended but honestly couldn't untangle the knot in a satisfying way and i do get that, there were a LOT of pieces in play. still bullshit to me tho

he drops her at home and warns wilf and sylvia that they can't ever tell her the truth or it'll kill her. he gets wet in the rain pathetically and the episode is over. as i said last time, this story makes no fucking sense but the fanservice really does work for me and everyone is so charming, all the pieces falling into place from the season-long foreshadowing, it really is a great story. not my fave finale, i'm too much of a sucker for s3, but i think it was probably the best possible way to get all these characters involved in a way that felt natural for them and useful for the story

up next i'll do a series retrospective! i'll probably let the specials sit as their own mini-series and do another after the regeneration. farewell for now to donna noble

[vacantgodling]

Trick or treat!!! - @magic-is-something-we-create

hey pax :’) you have received a treat!

it took me a bit to figure out what to show, but i mentioned tcol earlier so let’s go down that route :) i’ve been trying to plan out the actual Novel Writing for tcol for ages but i haven’t gotten very far, despite the fact that i know the plot beats like the back of my own hand since they changed very little since i first made these characters at 12… the world’s just gotten more depth and i’ve become a better writer lol. but the plot ITSELF hasn’t changed too much so idk why it’s so difficult. anyway: i have the outline for the first two chapters written out so i will treat you with them under the cut: (sorry in advance they’re long)

CHAPTER 1

PIPER FAIRWIND, SIR KEEVAN GUERRA, and SAITH PRALINE discuss how piper’s finally passed her guild aptitude test and now she’s waiting to be chosen to join a guild during the guild bid.

keevan reminds her that she could always forgo guilds and fast-track to knight training so she could spend more time with the two of them, however saith reminds him that bc pipes doesn’t have a prominent background she’ll need to establish herself in guilds before she’ll be considered/able to apply for knight training.

keevan however, insists he can put in a good word for her (the two of them flirt a little as they do of “oh you don’t have to do anything for me i’m not a damsel” and he’s like :DDDD ily tho).

as they’re walking through EASTHOLLOW they run into LORD KIBA LATHSBURY, son of the grand duke of lathsbury and its immediately noted that he and piper look a LOT alike. the two are formally introduced and they take an immediate shine to each other.

when asked what he’s doing in easthollow he excitedly tells the three of them that he’s waiting for his last friend to pass her aptitude test so they can all enter the guilds together.

from the shadows/crowd a voice begins to chide that’s childish. LADY ILLIANA AEGOS joins their small group and piper immediately dislikes her and vice versa. when pipes asks why she’s even in easthollow if she has such a hatred for guilds, she informs them that she has news from DUCHESS PRIMROSE AEGOS (her mother, kiba’s stepmother) that keevan is required back in lathsbury and that his current teaching arrangements will be ending. she bats her eyes at him and he’s polite towards her making pipes even more annoyed. a different guard approaches illiana and kiba with some royal bs and the two of them go off leaving pipes with saith and keevan.

keevan says he’ll need to discuss this sudden news with the heads of easthollow but promises that he will try to stay long enough to see piper get selected through the guild bid, having full confidence that she will be chosen within a few days.

this leaves saith and piper and she’s royally irritated at this turn of events (saith, teasing her about why that is and she tells him to playfully can it) and saith suggests that they spar so she can blow off some steam. the two head to the training arena, passing those in varying styles of dress and saith points out some of the different classes to piper and gives a very loose overview of what kinds of people she could potentially be working with are. pipes asks if saith has worked with these types of people before and he admits he hasn’t worked with anyone other than other knights closely, especially due to his background. however, he encourages her and tells her how envious he is that she has a chance for the guilds; the labyrinth is difficult but rewarding, and hones your skills in ways that are hard to fathom and imagine to those who have never experienced it before. saith makes pipes promise him stories for when she finally enters guilds.

in the arena its shown that pipes is a skilled but reckless axe weilder, an unusual weapon choice for her especially since she grew up in KINGSBURROW, an area known for its mines and less for its forests.

sensing pipes getting the upperhand, saith uses magic (VIS) to parry her, and piper protests.

saith only laughs and says he’s only good with defensive magic, and she’ll have to get used to battling “overpowered” foes if she’s really going to swing this labyrinth thing. maybe in time, her own magical aptitude will improve and she’ll move from nmba to a mba (*explain what those are*). she scoffs and says she doesn’t need any fancy maneuvers to lay him flat, and they keep sparring.

CHAPTER 2

the final section of the medic examination is beginning and CLEAR BRIGHTENDALE is more nervous than most. he had passed with flying colors through the written examination, and did decently well among the SUBORTUS trials (his most preferred method of healing), but the SANA trials have him shaking in his boots.

each medic is to be tested one at a time in front of the collegiate medical council of easthollow to put their sana to the test and heal an injured creature with their sana application. how well they are able to heal the creature will determine their medic ranking, and that, combined with their scores from the other two trials, will determine their eligibility for the guild bid.

clear has been quiet for most of the trails, unable to really find it in himself to speak with the other medics as they talk and laugh and study with one another; he keeps reminding himself that he’s just here to pass—this is what he wanted to do and he would do it, just like he’d done everything else. a commotion startles him out of his thoughts as many of the medics he’s been around begin to leave the camp, and when he asks, he’s been informed that KARENZA HAWKINS is up for her sana trial and he should hurry if he wants a good seat. the other medic scurries off before he can ask them why this karenza person is so revered, but he resigns himself to take a look anyway.

at the observation hall, thousands of not only medics, but other people from other parts of easthollow were in the observation wing. clear manages to snag a spot near what appears to be a young couple, not necessarily paying attention to what’s going on in the observation.

clear, awkwardly asks if they know why this is such a huge spectacle. he learns that the two he’s speaking with are MOIRA DEARBORN and JAGODA ARTHEA, and surprisingly, are close friends of the medic about to be trialed. moira does most of the talking, and after getting clear’s name, she remarks that she’s surprised he’s never heard of her since she’s one of the strongest medics on record right now. clear raises an eyebrow and sneaks closer (in a way very unmedic like) to really get a good look at what’s going on.

when the trial finally begins, karenza introduces herself to the collegiate and is presented with the corpse of a dead animal. clear gasps softly, and murmurs around him speak about how this is quite a lot for a first trail and “no worries! this is hawkins! she created this technique! we’re so lucky to see it up close!” a great gust of wind blows through the arena and the observation deck and through a barrage of smoke and movement, clear notices green wings emerge from karenza’s back. once everything settles, the creature is back to life. the crowd goes wild and clear is in awe of an obvious master of the field. and while, he knows he’ll never be able to get to that point of literally reviving the dead, he does want to become a stronger medic.

after people begin to file out of the observation room, giving karenza their congratulations, praise and awe. clear hangs back to see if he can speak with her for a moment, seamlessly blending into the shadows (which is also suspicious for a medic). he notices that when people finally file out that the couple from earlier- moira and jagoda -approach her, followed by another person wearing an eyepatch. they all seem close, though clear cannot make out what they’re saying. the three of them whisk karenza away with laughter and high spirits. after returning to his tent, clear resolves to try and send a letter to karenza instead to see if he can ask her a few questions about her prolific success or to just tell her how awed he was. it feels too awkward so after he writes the letter, he crumples it up and tosses it away. a guard summons him for his test and clear goes, palms sweating

[echotoyou]

AICLUHBOE HARROWWWW

LEMME JUST *AGGRESSIVE FOREHEAD KISSES*

and here I thought the burlesque jimin brainrot was just a fun lil thought exercise nadtjkfnljfneubnue 😅😂🥰🤪😍 

(I've never been gifted writing before NOT TO MENTION smut and oh my LORD what on earth could top [lol] this in the future I don't even kNOW thank you thank you I love you 🥰)

ANYHOO HOLY SHIT harROW the TEASING, THE HEADER IAJDASINOSAUDBSAO, the JOINT FRIEND ENABLING to keep yoongi in the dark but also ensure that he had the opportunity to catch Jimin's eye, the clearly communicated desires (the deSIRE 😮‍💨😮‍💨), the lil baby jealousy (the comments of the other group and that one person being objectify-y was so real and I really appreciate you including it), THE FILTER OUTFIT, the ENTIRE show (plus the SECOND PRIVATE SHOW), the hair tugging, the fluffy needy jimin who knows what he wants but then gets SHY, THE GIFT !?!?!!?!?!?!?!?, THE LINGERIE, the praising, the sweetness, the softness, THE NUMBER OF ROUNDS HOLY SHIT, did I already mention the teasing bc I thought I was going to die multiple times, the whining, the aftercare, the communication of boundaries and expectations, I could keep going and going and going.

PURE SIN WRAPPED IN INVITING PINK INDEED

Wow this might be one of my favorite pieces you've ever written (sun seeker and this sordid place, watch out babes, denim yoongi and strawberry jimin are coming for you) (but also I can't pick favoritesssss I love everything you write AH)

I love how you write porn without plot but also then put the most delicious plot in anyway -- I want to know more about this friend group!! the yoongi/taehyung friendship is absolutely precious and I love how tae is so intent on making this night perfect for both yoongi and jimin. I want to know more about this hobi!!! and the dance studio they work at!! not to mention namjoon and jin and jeonguuk!!!! how long have they ALL known that yoongi is smitten (A SMITTEN SMITTEN KITTEN) with jimin ajkfnlduofehu it's absolute perfection

I love caring about your characters and you make it SO EASY. The Jimin/Yoongi relationship in this is INCREDIBLE I love the slow burn which then is flipped on its head by a VERY confident jimin who then turns to jello in the bedroom. it's so obvious how much they trust each other and want the best for each other (I loved the part when they switched positions and yoongi was like "I was wholly focused on Jimin's pleasure but ok this is also niiiiiice" 😂). they're funny and flirty and sweet and adorable. I'm so excited for whatever comes next for them 🥰🥰

on my first read through I pulled out so many lines that made me squeal and yell and stutter

here is a sampling of them below and my in the moment reactions um it's a LOT so be warned

But of course, Yoongi did everything in his power to make it. This is Jimin, after all.  

hdjjwksnwj AFTER ALL

"Don't let them make you feel self-conscious." "I don't," Yoongi responds softly, feeling incredibly self-conscious. 

🥹 🥹 🥹 (this is so real and SO HIM HAHAHA)

Without asking, he grabs Yoongi's right arm and pulls at the black hair tie that he always keeps on his wrist, then begins separating the top half of Yoongi's hair and making a bun on the top. "Jimin goes on third or fourth." "What is he doing tonight, again?" Yoongi asks, throwing in the again to make it seem like he may have been privy to information in the past, in case it makes one of them divulge even a crumb of information. 

I sputtered here, one I love hoseok's casual maintenance "let's make you pretty" AND Yoongi's attempts to figure out what's going on 😂😂 trying SO hard

"Alright, grumpy cat," Namjoon teases

I SCREAMED jfjwisksns the teasing and group support of yoongi and jimin is ADORABLE

“Hyung is so unobservant when he’s nervous,” Jeongguk teases, and Taehyung chuckles along with him.  “I’m not nervous,” Yoongi grumbles.

I love him

To say Yoongi is smitten would be the understatement of the century.

dowisisjwjsksknjdjwjdjjwkksnwuwjns OF THE CENTURYYYY

Clearly, his friends are determined to be completely useless. 

I'm obsessed with this and their friendship HAHAHA

Yoongi imagines Jimin with the bright, exaggerated makeup on and smiles to himself; he bets Jimin would look really pretty. 

!!!!!! SMILES TO HIMSELF !!!!! THINKING ABOUT JIMIN LOOKING PRETTY !!!!!! EEEEEE 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

Yoongi's heart goes wild in his chest

OHHHHHH WHAT A SMITTEN SMITTEN SMITTEN KITTEN

this teasing is unbelievable i love it

OH MY GOSH IS THAT A REFERENCE TO THE TIKTOK SOUND

this description is unREAL i feel like i can see it all

oh my my my

but this is the first time Yoongi has really allowed himself to look.

🥹🥹🥹

With a gentle tug at his hair, Yoongi practically whimpers, watching as Jimin's lips pull into a sweet, devious smile. Jimin holds onto Yoongi while swaying side to side, knees spreading wide as he dips low and closing as he sits a little higher.

I choked on my saliva WHAT

 "Unexpected," he finally says, lips involuntarily tugging to a smile

hehehehehehehehehhehehehehehehehhehehehheheheheheheheheh

THE KITTY GANG OUTFIT IS DEVASTATING AFTER ALL OF THAT

"Hey, pretty," Yoongi responds, feeling self-conscious about his choice of words until he sees the way they make Jimin blush. Pretty, indeed. 

the amount of shooting their shot is incredible wow I love when people KNOW what they WANT

adkjnaueohfu my heart is skipping MANY beats

yoongi GOING FOR IT i love i love i love i love

CLEAR COMMUNICATION 

And when Jimin takes his hand again, everything blurs and slows down, drowned out by the thrumming of blood in Yoongi’s veins, every sense acutely aware of only Jimin’s proximity – soft and strawberry-tender.

akmcjndfubeunae

Taehyung and Jeongguk tend to be pretty clingy and weaponize pouts that even Yoongi struggles to defend against, while Hoseok is always eager to keep their hangouts going well into the early morning. 

HAHAHAHAHA

Yoongi smiles, letting his mouth fall open to respond – to tell Jimin he does admire him, so much, in fact, that it makes him dizzy.

I love them to pieces oh my gosh oh my gosh

SO SHOW ME

I'LL SHOW YOU

joking aside that is 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

heheheh the TEASING

he turns on his heels to make his way through the dark bedroom, determined to be a good boy, indeed

HAHAHAH

lmao and then I stopped taking notes uhhhhhhhh

their dynamic made me laugh and coo and smile -- this is the yoonmin fic to end all yoonmin fics I love love love love loved it. wow wow wow harrow you outdid yourself (and dw I absolutely caught the 'something blooming in his chest' line hehe) I screamed I yelled I had a fantastic time EEEE!

Denim & Strawberry

When Yoongi gets invited to watch his crush perform, he has no idea what to expect. Jimin stripping on stage and singing a sultry little number while tugging on his hair is definitely not what Yoongi had in mind, but who is he to complain?

"You could have just asked me out," Yoongi teases, raising his drink to his lips before adding, "no need to put on a whole show." Jimin's mouth falls open again, and he steps close, leaning to speak into Yoongi's ear. "Ah, but you liked the show, didn't you hyung?"

🍓 Yoongi x Jimin

🍓 word count: 19.6k 🙈

🍓 friends to lovers, burlesque au, porn without plot, tooth-rotting fluff, slash, nsfw, 18+

🍓 warnings: top yoongi, bottom jimin. jimin has pink hair and yoongi has a half-up top-knot. this is more or less porn with very little plot. jimin performing burlesque and singing while being a flirt. light hair pulling. the burgundy suit from jimin's filter performance, and his kitty gang jacket, and cute lingerie. a hint of jealous/possessive behavior. bickering as a form of flirting. the tiniest hint of sub/dom vibes. safe word establishment. teasing & light humiliation. a little begging. use of good boy and slutty. jimin is shy at times but also a brat and yoongi fights the urge to tame him. a lot of drool, spit, lube, and cum. dirty talk. so much god damn praising. anal (plug, play, eating, fingering, sex.) messy blow job. multiple orgasms. overstimulation. yoongi loves to discuss boundaries & check in. lots of heaven/angel comparisons but only because yoongi is a sucker for how ethereal jimin is (it's not that deep.) too many positions (what was i thinking???) subspace. mating press. cock-warming. after care. tooth-rotting fluff.

🍓 note: a yoonmin fic + jimin doing burlesque was some brainrot shared between @echotoyou and i that i decided to write when their birthday was approaching. but then the big day came and went, and i lost control of this beast for a very long time. she is finally ready hehe. i hope you all (but especially mg!) enjoy!!! finally my years of being a photographer for a burlesque troupe and dating a performer have come in handy for my writing lolol.

🍓 listen along: 🎵 streets by doja cat & yeah, i said it by rhianna (thank you to @sailoryooons for these song choices!!!)

🍓 beta read by @neoneunnajimin!

🍓 posted august 2023 | read on ao3

Yoongi pats his pockets down one last time, fingertips tentatively grazing lumps beneath denim. Phone…wallet…keys. That's everything. He presses the lock button on his open car door, then closes it. In his pocket, his phone buzzes. 

Namjoon Hyung, are you close?

Yoongi Just parked.

Namjoon  Okay, good. Just making sure you don’t miss anything. 

Yoongi rolls his eyes but smiles. He has no idea what to expect – nobody has told him much – but Jimin did say, over and over again, that it was fine if he could not make it. That he would be thrilled if Yoongi could come but understood if he could not. That there would be other shows. 

But of course, Yoongi did everything in his power to make it. This is Jimin, after all.  

He slides his hands into the pockets of his black denim jacket and moseys from the small parking lot to the sidewalk and around the corner. There is a small congregation of people smoking and loitering outside, under a bright red neon sign that reads Paradise. Yoongi has never been to this bar before – tends to avoid spots on this side of town because it is more popular with college kids, and therefore, the drinks are overpriced. 

Everyone outside is done up in some flashy way, wearing sequins and fishnets, glittering eye makeup, and patent leather. Yoongi feels underdressed, wearing a black band tee tucked into black skinny jeans, with a black jacket and black work boots, and he awkwardly runs a hand through his dark, wavy, unstyled, and overgrown hair. 

"Yoongi!" a familiar voice shouts, and he looks up in time to find his friend Jeongguk waving him over, past the closest group of smokers. 

Even his friends are all dressed up, with sparkly eye glitter and tight, colorful clothing. Hoseok and Jeongguk are in mesh, Taehyung has a burgundy feather boa, and Seokjin and Namjoon are both wearing leather pants. Since when did the two of them own leather pants?

"Ya, you're dressed like a scrub!" Seokjin shouts, making Yoongi's cheeks warm in an instant.

"Nobody told you a single thing about the event tonight, did they?" Namjoon asks sympathetically.

Yoongi shrugs, mutters, "No," and digs his hands further into his pockets. 

Taehyung approaches, using his pinkies to brush the hair away from Yoongi's face, cradling a pot of light blue glitter between his fingers. "He probably wanted it to be a surprise," he mutters lowly, unscrewing the pot. "Don't let them make you feel self-conscious."

"I don't," Yoongi responds softly, feeling incredibly self-conscious. He stands still while Taehyung dabs his fingertip into the glitter and allows him to smudge it around his eyes. In the early days of their friendship, Yoongi probably would have fussed, but these days, he lets the youngest two – Taehyung and Jeongguk – do whatever they want.

Jeongguk approaches, unscrewing a stick of pink, shiny lip gloss, and Yoongi huffs out a sigh but stands as still as he can while Jeongguk applies it. "Should put your hair into a bun or something," he mutters before he and Taehyung trade places so Taehyung can smudge blue glitter onto his other eye. 

"Your hair is really pretty, hyung," Taehyung adds, screwing the top of the glitter pot back on and sliding it into his very tight white slacks. "You should let me style it."

"Don't we have to go inside?" Yoongi asks.

"We'll head in when the emcee comes on," Hoseok responds, approaching with a mischievous smile. Without asking, he grabs Yoongi's right arm and pulls at the black hair tie that he always keeps on his wrist, then begins separating the top half of Yoongi's hair and making a bun on the top. "Jimin goes on third or fourth."

"What is he doing tonight, again?" Yoongi asks, throwing in the again to make it seem like he may have been privy to information in the past, in case it makes one of them divulge even a crumb of information. 

"A little singing," Hoseok mutters, grinning. "You know how it is."

"I literally do not know how it is," Yoongi responds, finally becoming impatient with his friends touching and fixing him. 

"You'll see, hyung," Hoseok says as he takes a step back, inspects his handy work, and nods.

Taehyung returns with a knit brow and reaches up to fix Yoongi's glittery makeup, which he allows for a moment before swatting him away, grumbling, "Okay, enough."

"Alright, grumpy cat," Namjoon teases, then passes him a freshly lit joint. "Here."

Yoongi reaches for the joint and takes a hit, letting the smoke fill his lungs before tilting his head upward and releasing it. Then he holds out his hand for the next person to take it, and rolls his shoulders back. 

"What kind of song is Jimin singing?" Yoongi half-mutters, expecting next to nothing in response. 

Taehyung simply says, "You'll see, hyung,"  with a wink. 

“Is it an original song?” Yoongi tries. He can’t remember Jimin ever talking about songwriting, but he wouldn’t put it past him; Jimin is full of surprises. 

The sound of someone shouting into a microphone can be heard, and Yoongi stands at attention, ready to go inside. He can hear people cheering and loud pop music playing. 

“Shall we?” Taehyung asks as he takes one last drag at the diminishing joint and hands it to Yoongi. 

Yoongi nods and takes another hit, cradling the tiny roached joint between his thumb and forefinger, then holds it out for the others, all of whom hold their hands up and shake their heads. With one last puff, Yoongi flicks it into the street, then shoves his hands back into his jacket pockets. 

“Is Jimin part of the opening act?” Yoongi asks, and Seokjin snickers. 

“He’s one of the main acts,” Namjoon supplies unhelpfully. 

So he must be headlining, Yoongi assumes. 

“Hyung is so unobservant when he’s nervous,” Jeongguk teases, and Taehyung chuckles along with him. 

“I’m not nervous,” Yoongi grumbles.

He glances around and sees flyers for various events taped to the windows for drag and burlesque shows, and a few for various bands, none of which shows any images of Jimin, or any other performers he has ever seen before. In his pockets, his hands prickle with sweat, and he imagines what kind of instrument Jimin might play. Or maybe he only sings. 

Jimin is a somewhat new addition to their friend group, brought in by Taehyung and Hoseok; they all work together. To say Yoongi is smitten would be the understatement of the century. And although Yoongi thinks Jimin may also be interested in him, they have not spoken too much about anything outside of college and work, only seeing one another as part of the larger friend group.

As a major in theater arts with a minor in dance, Jimin works at a local studio teaching children tap and ballet as an assistant to Hoseok. Occasionally, Taehyung substitutes for the older lady who plays piano for the classes. It was natural for them to come together, all close in age, with Hoseok only a year older than the other two.

When Jimin invited Yoongi to come watch him perform, they were all tipsy from one too many bottles of soju. Jeongguk was the last in their friend group to graduate college, and they were all celebrating with drinks and fried chicken. 

Even then, when Yoongi asked what kind of show it was, everyone was giggly and secretive. From that moment, he got the feeling that Jimin was definitely flirting with him, with the way his gaze lingered, lips curled into a smile long after Yoongi made him laugh. The more Jimin insisted Yoongi needed to just go and experience the event first-hand, nibbling on his pillowy lip with a somewhat shy, rosy-cheeked grin, Yoongi felt eager to do anything he wanted him to. 

“Of course, I’ll be there,” Yoongi promised, and he meant it. 

The cheers inside grow louder, and Taehyung takes up the lead, stepping into the bar. Namjoon slings an arm over Yoongi’s shoulder and gently shoves him along with the group. Yoongi reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet, but Taehyung mutters something to the door guy, who looks at a list of names and then waves the six of them inside. 

Taehyung leads them down a short hallway, into the bar. A long counter lines the left wall, with patrons leaning against it both to order drinks, and to chat with one another. Past the bar top, at the end of the venue, is a stage, and on stage is a woman lip-synching to some upbeat pop song while waving big white feather fans in front of her, enticing the audience to want to see what the fans are covering. 

Yoongi has seen clips of performances like this but has never attended this type of show before, and his gaze lingers on the woman, who winks and blows kisses to cheering audience members before Namjoon leads him over to get a drink. 

The music is loud and a little tackier than Yoongi’s usual taste, but the bass line thrums through the speakers straight into his bloodstream, building his nervousness to see Jimin, egged on by feeling somewhat high. He wonders what kind of performance Jimin might put on at an event like this, and he cannot imagine what it could be. 

“Hyung?” Taehyung asks, tilting his head toward the waiting tender. “First one is on me.”

What he would like is a nice scotch neat, but since Taehyung is paying, he finds a mid-tier whiskey and gets it with a spritz of soda water. The others order, and by the time they step away from the bar, the woman’s song is at its climax, and she is topless, wearing lacy red underwear and bouncing in a way that spins the red tassel pasties on her breasts in a circle. The action makes him chuckle, and when she bows and leaves the stage, he claps his fingers against the back of the hand holding his drink. 

“Burlesque, huh?” Yoongi asks, turning to Namjoon while a man in drag takes the stage. 

Namjoon waggles his eyebrows while taking a sip from the bright blue concoction in his hands. 

“Is Jimin also doing burlesque?” Yoongi asks, earning him a shrug. 

Yoongi decides to just stop asking. Clearly, his friends are determined to be completely useless. 

Although there is a decent crowd in the bar, most people are mingling about, watching the stage from a distance, or whispering amongst themselves. The emcee introduces another act and leaves the stage, replaced by a person with a very nicely manicured mustache and beard wearing a big orange wig and vintage blue dress. They prance around the stage, lip-synching to a silly pop song that Yoongi has never heard before, winning cheers and applause from the crowd.

Yoongi wonders if Jimin will also come out in drag, and what kind of a gimmick he might have. Would he wear a dress? High heels? A wig? Yoongi imagines Jimin with the bright, exaggerated makeup on and smiles to himself; he bets Jimin would look really pretty. 

Taehyung leads the group toward the stage, taking his place just left of the center. The others file in behind him, with Yoongi keeping some distance from the very front. The performer comes by, lip-synching to Taehyung, who pulls some money from his pocket and holds it up while the performer bends and offers their cleavage for him to slide the notes into. 

"I don't have any cash," Yoongi grumbles toward Taehyung when the song ends and the performer exits. "Will I need any for Jimin?"

"I got you," Taehyung responds, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wad of notes, shoving them into Yoongi's empty hand before he has a chance to protest. 

Yoongi attempts to straighten out the notes while holding onto his drink. Meanwhile, the emcee returns to the stage. 

"Our next performer is a fan favorite," the emcee says with an exaggerated waggle of their eyebrows. Around them, the crowd becomes dense, with someone bumping shoulders and elbows into Yoongi as they get close to the stage. The emcee continues, "A man who needs no introduction because, let's be honest, you're all here to see him…Jimin."

The stage lights go out, and there is some movement – a person carrying items, as well as the light clacking of heels on the wooden stage. Yoongi's heart goes wild in his chest, and he lifts his drink to his lips, watching ahead for more movement in the dark, eager to not miss a thing when the lights come back on.

A red glow illuminates the back edge of the stage, showing the silhouette of Jimin sitting on what looks like a standard black folding chair. He is sideways on the chair with one leg crossed over the other, his arm draped over the back of the chair, and his head tilted back. He appears to be wearing a jacket and slacks, but it is hard to tell. 

Also on the stage is a tall, wooden coat rack, and hanging from it appears to be a short mesh robe with fur trim along the sleeves and bottom hem. 

Beside Yoongi, a man loudly whispers, "I fucking love Jimin; just wait," to someone else, and Yoongi shifts a little on his feet with anticipation and something like envy stirring in his guts. 

A yellow spotlight comes on, shining on Jimin. He wears a fitted burgundy suit and black leather boots with a heel and pointed toe. His light pink hair is styled off his forehead, and he appears to be wearing makeup around his eyes, but it is hard to clearly see. In his hand, which is draped over his knee, is a burgundy wide-brimmed hat. 

A familiar oldie comes on, a pop track from the 1950s, and Jimin slowly uncrosses his legs and places both feet on the floor. Female voices sing sweetly before Paul Anka's voice croons, "Put your head on my shoulder."

Only, before the sentence is finished, the song abruptly changes to a sexy R&B track with a trap beat. In that moment, the yellow spotlights turn red, the hat is dropped to the floor, and Jimin's hands are on the chair, supporting his weight as his body bows upward. Briefly, Yoongi thinks he recognizes the song from a bunch of tiktoks Hoseok has made him watch. 

The crowd cheers as Jimin rolls his body, then sits and rotates, facing the audience and spreading his legs. A woman's voice comes through, singing, "Like you…like you…like you…I find it hard to find someone like you," while Jimin rolls his shoulders and hips to the song, leaning forward and then back, holding onto this chair as he lifts his hips and lolls his head.

Yoongi is stunned, gripping onto his drink while he watches Jimin stand, spin the chair around and sit once more with his back to the audience and head tipped back while his hands rove over his body. His fingertips lift and fall to the rhythm of the song while they work their way down, down, down Jimin's body, difficult to clearly see and stirring up so many mental images. 

Jimin's shoulders and hips sway while his hands disappear, and then he pulls open the burgundy jacket. Everyone around him roars excitedly, cheering and applauding. Jimin holds onto the lapels and turns his head, teasing the audience with his opened jacket before he stands and lets the garment slip down past his shoulders, revealing a matching burgundy button-up that is tucked into his matching slacks and clings tightly to his arms and waist.

With a slow, deep swish of his hips, Jimin faces the audience and begins to rip the dress shirt open from the collar, sending buttons skittering across the stage, earning him whoops and shouts. With a strip of skin exposed, he walks over to the coat rack, turns it in a circle, and dips it as if he were dancing with a person, causing the mesh robe hanging from it to sway.

Each movement of Jimin's body is fluid, clothing clinging to his torso and thighs in a way that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. He wears tighter clothing sometimes when they all hang out, but this is the first time Yoongi has really allowed himself to look.

For just a split second, while Jimin is holding the coat rack as if he is cradling the back and neck of a person and lip-synching to the song, it seems like he makes eye contact with Yoongi, causing Yoongi to hold his breath and heavy-blink through the well of excitement and shyness that he feels. It almost looks as if the edges of Jimin's lips lift ever so slightly, but then he releases the rack and spins away from it, swishing his hips as he dips down low and continues to rip open and untuck the button-up shirt with his eyelids fluttering closed. 

Yoongi practically forgets there is a song playing, focused so intently on Jimin, that when the singer begins to rap – quick and raspy – matched by Jimin's movements of tearing away the garment and revealing a bare torso with little light-colored heart pasties on his nipples, Yoongi sucks in a gasp that gets caught in his throat, nearly making him choke. Jimin’s bare chest and abdominals are chiseled – carved from the finest clay with careful hands. Yoongi lifts his drink quickly, taking a gulp of bitter whiskey and soda water while the crowd goes wild. 

In a swift movement, the pants are torn away from Jimin's waist, revealing long, muscular legs and shiny briefs that match the pasties. Jimin sinks into a squat, rubbing his hands over his legs. Then he sits and lifts one of his legs into a high split, giving Yoongi a very clear eyeful of a bulge and taut thigh muscle, making his mouth fall open. 

Jimin unzips the boot from the foot suspended in the air and tosses it aside, then drops his leg down and sweeps his other leg out in a half-squat, half-split while he drags his hands down the length of his leg to the other boot, unzips it, and tosses it near the other one. 

He spins, gets onto his knees, which are spread, and rolls his hips, lifting and dropping his ass while his hands rove up to his neck and hair, and his head lolls back. All he wears is shiny briefs and pasties, making Yoongi feel more intoxicated than the glass of whiskey ever could. 

The group to Yoongi's right is particularly loud, cheering for Jimin and shouting things like, "That's it, baby, show us how you ride it!" making a shiver run along Yoongi's spine. The objectification makes him feel uncomfortable, but he wonders whether Jimin cares, considering he clearly enjoys stripping for an audience; maybe that is all part of the thrill. Yoongi can't say he blames him. 

The song fades out as Jimin gets onto his hands and knees and crawls over to the coat rack, then slowly gets to his feet. As the music ends, the red lights fade to regular spotlights, revealing the briefs, pasties, and mesh robe – which Jimin pulls from the rack and begins to put on – are all a light pink color that matches his hair. 

Jimin ties the robe with a cord around his waist, standing barefoot while looking out at the crowd with a soft smile. The audience roars with applause and praise, and Yoongi expects Jimin's performance to be over, but then a stagehand in all black runs out, collects the discarded clothing while another sweeps a large broom across the floor to kick away loose buttons, and he hands Jimin a microphone that has been covered in light pink rhinestones. 

Once the men wearing black disappear behind tall curtains, a new song begins, also a slow R&B track, and Jimin lifts the microphone and starts singing, slowly swaying his hips and approaching the front of the stage. 

Yeah, yeah…yeah, yeah… I ain't tryna think about it, no

Taehyung takes a step back, wraps his arm around Yoongi's waist, and pulls him closer to the stage, causing Yoongi to fumble as Jimin approaches. He stands still as a statue with his hands in front of his chest – wad of notes that Taehyung gave him wedged between two fingers while both hands grip tight to his cold, condensation-covered glass of whiskey and soda water. 

Jimin's eyes find Yoongi, and he smiles, tilting his head sweetly to the side. To his right, the guys who had been cheering loudly try to close in and reach forward, but Jimin ignores them, looming over Yoongi while he sings in a soft, sweet voice, delivering lyrics that have Yoongi's cheeks absolutely burning. 

Yeah, I said it, boy, get up inside itI want you to homicide it

As Jimin lifts a hand and reaches out, Yoongi steps forward instinctively, knocking the toe of his boot into the front of the wooden stage, head tilted upward with his eyes never leaving Jimin's face. Around him, hands reach out with money, and some even toss notes to the stage, but Jimin ignores all of it. 

Go in slow, but I want you to pipe it And I think I kinda like ya Up against the wall, we don't need a title

But Jimin does take the wad of notes that stick out from between Yoongi's fingers, tugging them right out of his weak grasp, and he snakes his hand under the robe and tucks it into the side of his little pink briefs, making Yoongi breathe out a soft chuckle. 

Beside him, the guy who seems intent on getting Jimin's attention mutters, "Who the fuck is this guy?" just loud enough that Yoongi can hear him, and pride begins to burn behind his ribs. 

Yeah, I said it…Yeah, I said it, bae Yeah, I said it, man, fuck a title

Gently, Jimin reaches out toward Yoongi's head, eyes widening and brows slightly lifting as if asking for permission, and Yoongi nods while letting out a shaky breath. Fingers delicately push into his hair, tugging on strands as Jimin takes a handful and releases it, pulling away while dragging his fingertips against Yoongi's cheek. Even the gentlest touch feels electric, and Yoongi sways slightly forward when Jimin's hand drops away. 

Boy, I always like to show Get a little bit, come a little close, now

Arousal builds, and Yoongi feels a bit ashamed considering he and Jimin are friends, and Jimin is hardly touching him in a way that should warrant blood rushing to his dick. But Jimin looks like pure sin wrapped in inviting pink, and the way he stares at Yoongi is playful in a way he has never seen him look. 

Take it home on your camera phone Get a little bad, watch me blow it down

Jimin sinks to his knees, still taller than Yoongi but closer to eye level. With one hand, Jimin reaches for Yoongi's drink, then he has a sip of it and sets it down on the stage. Yoongi's hand stays in the same shape as if the glass had never been removed, and he is not sure what is sexier, the fact that Jimin takes the glass straight from his hand, or that he doesn't even flinch after essentially drinking carbonated whiskey.

Yeah, I said it…Yeah, I said it, bae Yeah, I said it… Ooh

With a smirk, Jimin slinks to the very edge of the stage, knees practically bumping into Yoongi's hips. He slips his microphone into Yoongi's hand and lifts it until Yoongi has it in front of his face, as if he is supposed to sing the next line, and then he drapes his arms over Yoongi's shoulders, leans in, and continues. 

Yeah, I said it… Yeah, I said it, bae Yeah, I said it… Ooh 

From this close, Yoongi can see a dusting of shimmery pink on Jimin's eyelids, which are lined in black. His lips are glossy, he smells like strawberries, and Yoongi feels stunned in place, questioning whether or not all of this is a dream. Could his friends have slipped something in the weed? Could he be hallucinating?

Jimin sings higher, each word more inviting than the last. 

You can be rough, boy, but you won't

One of Jimin's hands slides into Yoongi's hair, and starting from the nape of his neck, he takes a handful. Everyone in the bar fades away; as far as Yoongi is concerned, the only two people in the room are himself and the beauty before him. 

Yoongi wonders if this is how Jimin's performances typically go. Does he always pick someone from the audience to tease? Is he always this handsy?

Give me some love, boy, give it to me 'til the morn'

With a gentle tug at his hair, Yoongi practically whimpers, watching as Jimin's lips pull into a sweet, devious smile. Jimin holds onto Yoongi while swaying side to side, knees spreading wide as he dips low and closing as he sits a little higher. 

Jimin continues singing—

Yeah, I said it…Yeah, I said it, bae Yeah, I said it…

—but he seems less focused on sounding good for the audience and more interested in gently tugging Yoongi's hair and making him gradually fall apart. Soon, he is no longer singing at all, and he releases Yoongi's hair and drags his hand around his neck, past his throat and chin, then up and away, making Yoongi lean forward as if pulled by an invisible string. 

Yoongi wets his lips with the tip of his tongue, and Jimin seems to follow the movement before gently tugging his microphone out of Yoongi's tight, sweaty grasp and getting to his feet. Only then, does Yoongi realize the music is fading out. Jimin does a cute little twirl and opens his arms wide, bowing as the audience erupts into cheers, leaving Yoongi too stunned to clap. 

The emcee returns to the stage to announce an intermission, and the house lights come on, brightening the space. The crowd thins, and Yoongi heavy-blinks as he takes in his surroundings and allows his soul to return to his body while Jimin prances away, glancing over his shoulder to wink at Yoongi before slipping behind the black curtain. 

Two large, warm hands crash into Yoongi's shoulders, and he jumps, sucks in a gasp, and turns to find Namjoon staring at him with a wide smile. 

"So?" he has the audacity to ask, and all Yoongi can do is scoff and shake his head incredulously. 

"So, what?" Yoongi responds, attempting to play it cool despite the way his heart hammers in his chest. 

"Was it life-changing?" Taehyung asks, and Yoongi turns to regard him before remembering his drink is still on the stage and spinning around to retrieve it. When he turns back to his friends, he finds five sets of eager eyes watching him, as well as the stares of strangers, and he ducks his head and gulps down half of his drink. 

"It was…" Yoongi begins, trailing off as he attempts to summarize what he just witnessed, blinking through mental image after mental image. "Unexpected," he finally says, lips involuntarily tugging to a smile, which he covers by slamming back the rest of his drink. 

"It sure was!" Hoseok says with wide eyes. "Jimin never comes to the edge of the stage like that. People always try to entice him, but he always plays hard to get."

"Oh," Yoongi mutters, letting the words sink in. 

"Another?" Jeongguk calls, holding an empty glass, and everyone nods. Hoseok and Taehyung finish their drinks in a gulp while they all turn and make their way to the end of the bar. 

As they stand and wait, Yoongi takes a look around the space. Everything is black and chrome and nothing too remarkable, but the place seems to have a chill vibe. And he is grateful to not be the only person wearing denim and a band tee – dressed like a scrub, as Seokjin so elegantly put it.

Taehyung and Jeongguk get drinks, then slink away from the bar to stand off to the side. Then Hoseok and Seokjin order, and finally, Namjoon. Yoongi steps up to the counter and decides to order the same thing he had before – whiskey and soda water. 

From beside him, a sweet, familiar voice shouts, "Make that two, please!"

The smell of strawberry perfume hits Yoongi's nose, and he turns to his left to find Jimin smiling widely at him. He wears a white tee tucked into tight, black leather pants, and a black leather bomber jacket with a feathery design embroidered in red and silver beads on the shoulders. 

Now that Jimin has touched him – tugged at his hair while looming over like a salacious little threat – Yoongi allows himself to stare a little without feeling the nervous urge to flit his gaze away. The longer he looks at Jimin, the wider Jimin's smile grows. 

"Hi, hyung," Jimin says, taking a step closer. 

"Hey, pretty," Yoongi responds, feeling self-conscious about his choice of words until he sees the way they make Jimin blush. Pretty, indeed. 

Two glasses thunk against the bar top, and Yoongi turns with a gasp, fishing for his wallet. 

"On the house," the bartender says, nodding at Jimin. 

"Oh," Yoongi mutters, "okay."

"I got the tip," Jimin says beside him, leaning into his personal space to hand a folded wad of notes to the bartender. Jimin adds, "Though, technically, you are paying for it, hyung," close to Yoongi's ear. 

"Taehyung is paying for it, actually," Yoongi responds with a smirk, turning to Jimin whose mouth falls agape, scandalized. Yoongi feels the need to defend himself, adding, "Hey, I didn't know what was going on, otherwise I would have come prepared!"

Yoongi picks up both drinks and hands one to Jimin, who responds, "Fair," through laughter as he grabs Yoongi by the bicep and pulls him away from the bar. 

Even through his denim sleeve, Yoongi feels a spark of electricity where Jimin touches him. He notices that Jimin has pulled him in the opposite direction of the rest of their friends and decides not to question it. When they find themselves against the wall in a somewhat dimly lit corner, Jimin's hand stays on Yoongi's arm, giving him a tentative squeeze, and Yoongi looks down at Jimin's hand and smiles before meeting his eye. 

"You could have just asked me out," Yoongi teases, raising his drink to his lips before adding, "no need to put on a whole show."

Jimin's mouth falls open again, and he steps close, leaning to speak into Yoongi's ear. "Ah, but you liked the show, didn't you hyung?"

Yoongi has a sip of his drink, then he hums as he nods and says, "I did like the show. Your voice is really beautiful."

"Just my voice?" Jimin asks, stepping so close, their shoulders touch. 

A chuckle rocks through Yoongi, and he tips his head toward Jimin, who takes a drink with wide, curious eyes. "Not just your voice, no. Everything about you is beautiful."

"Awe, hyung!" Jimin shouts, shoving playfully at Yoongi's shoulder and sending him crashing lightly into the wall. 

"Wow," Yoongi responds, snickering. "Last time I compliment a guy."

Jimin places his hand over the spot he shoved and rubs over it, radiating warmth through denim and cotton. He opens his mouth to respond when a small group of men approaches to tell Jimin he did a great job, and Yoongi recognizes one of their voices as the guy who stood beside him during the performance. Yoongi cocks an eyebrow as the man makes eye contact with him, lifting his free hand to place over Jimin's hand, which continues to mindlessly rub over his chest, just below his clavicle. 

"Thanks for coming to the show," Jimin mutters politely, turning back to Yoongi. 

The group hovers behind Jimin and Yoongi does his best to ignore them, but it feels awkward to have an audience now that Jimin is no longer performing. 

"We should finish these drinks and get out of here," Yoongi suggests loud enough for the others to hear him, letting his gaze lift to the group to see if they have. 

Jimin chuckles. "Hyung, are you being possessive right now?"

"Maybe," Yoongi responds, tonguing the inside of his cheek. "But if you want to stay while that desperate pack ogles you, by all means—"

Jimin slides his hand from Yoongi's weak grasp to give him another smack, this time on the arm. 

"God, you're hot when you're jealous," Jimin says, making Yoongi blush, "but I should stay until the end to support the other performers. There are only four more."

Yoongi nods and accepts Jimin's terms. He wants to clarify that his offer for Jimin to leave with him afterwards is genuine, but the house lights dim, and music plays through the speakers, signaling the return of the show. 

Jimin takes Yoongi's hand and pulls him toward the front of the stage, to where the rest of their friends have congregated. Namjoon looks down at their linked hands, then to Yoongi, and he winks, making Yoongi roll his eyes despite how nice it feels to be holding Jimin's hand in public. 

The rest of the show goes by in a haze. Yoongi is hardly aware of the performers, hearing a hint of a song here and seeing a whoosh of brightly colored fabric there. All he can focus on is Jimin’s hand in his, Jimin’s voice singing and cheering, Jimin's warmth emitting in welcoming bursts beside him. 

Whenever Jimin slips his hand away to clap for each performer, Yoongi follows suit, robotically tapping his fingertips to his glass. And when Jimin takes his hand again, everything blurs and slows down, drowned out by the thrumming of blood in Yoongi’s veins, every sense acutely aware of only Jimin’s proximity – soft and strawberry-tender.

Once the house lights come on again, signaling the end of the show, Yoongi downs the rest of his drink. He feels sluggish and heavy, stumbling slightly when Jimin yanks him over to their friends. He wonders if they will want to keep drinking, whether they will want to go to a new bar. He thinks he would be alright with going to another bar; he parked his car somewhere it can be left overnight. 

“Wanna get out of here, hyung?” Jimin asks sweetly in his ear, and Yoongi decides all at once that another bar is out of the question. 

“Yes,” Yoongi responds, turning to Jimin with a wide smile that may very well look too eager for his own good. 

Jimin chuckles, finishes his drink, and says, “Good,” before leading the way to the bar where their friends are gathering with empty glasses. 

Yoongi considers how to break the news; Taehyung and Jeongguk tend to be pretty clingy and weaponize pouts that even Yoongi struggles to defend against, while Hoseok is always eager to keep their hangouts going well into the early morning. 

“We’re gonna get out of here!” Jimin announces, gracefully stealing the words from his mouth before he can even begin to formulate them. 

Jimin begins to hug everyone before they have a chance to oppose, smacking kisses against their cheeks and thanking them for coming to watch him perform. Most of them seem too dazed to argue.

Yoongi waves to everyone, noticing as they all make some sort of wink or eyebrow waggle at him, then he turns wordlessly and allows himself to get dragged by the wrist through the space, past patrons who attempt to talk to Jimin, and out into the cool night air. 

Jimin slides his arm into the crook of Yoongi’s elbow and pulls him along the sidewalk. “I live close,” he says before Yoongi has a chance to ask where they are going. Not that he would protest against being taken anywhere Jimin wanted. 

“Did you like the performance?” Jimin asks, bumping his hip against Yoongi as they walk. 

“I told you I did,” Yoongi teases, turning to find Jimin smiling while looking ahead. 

Jimin’s side profile is all firm lines and glitter, softened when he turns to Yoongi with wide, round eyes and pillow lips. He is stunning, and Yoongi is relieved to be able to stare unabashedly. 

“You told me I was beautiful,” Jimin clarifies, raising his eyebrows before looking ahead. 

“You are,” Yoongi mutters, remembering the performance. “And your singing was really beautiful. And the…stripping…” he trails off, feeling nervous about his choice of words. 

But Jimin does not miss a beat. “You liked watching me strip, hmm?”

“Of course I did,” Yoongi mutters, blushing. 

He is tugged around a corner to the right where the streetlights are fewer and the world feels darker, quieter. 

“And my dancing?” Jimin asks, walking impossibly closer – the two of them somehow managing to not trip over one another. 

“I liked your dancing,” Yoongi responds softly, clearing his throat to speak louder. “Hoseok mentioned you never come to the edge of the stage like that.”

Jimin chuckles, and Yoongi glances to the side, catching his eye before they both look ahead. 

“I don’t. That was just for you. I had a couple surprises just for you.”

Yoongi hums questionably, and Jimin says, "There's still one more surprise, in fact."

“Wow,” Yoongi rasps, smiling, “guess I’m pretty special.”

Jimin stops in his tracks and turns, pulling Yoongi gently away from the sidewalk, onto a grassy area near where tall bushes line the outside of an apartment building. It is even darker, and even quieter, without another soul around as far as Yoongi can tell, and he allows Jimin to wrap his arms around his shoulders and pull him close enough that their lips nearly touch. 

“You are special,” Jimin responds with a smile, fingertips playing with Yoongi’s hair. “And you look so cute with your hair half up and your eyes covered in Taehyung’s favorite blue glitter. How could I keep my hands off you?”

“Your admirers seemed pretty jealous,” Yoongi teases as he wraps his arms around Jimin’s waist, holding him close. 

“Let them be,” Jimin mutters softly, ghosting warm breath over Yoongi’s lips, which he wets with the tip of his tongue in anticipation. “The only admirer I care about is you.”

Yoongi smiles, letting his mouth fall open to respond – to tell Jimin he does admire him, so much, in fact, that it makes him dizzy. But Jimin slots their lips together tentatively, hands cradling Yoongi’s neck and back, and Yoongi sinks into the feeling with a sigh, then gently sucks Jimin’s bottom lip into his mouth as his pulse quickens. 

Jimin’s mouth is warm and soft beyond Yoongi’s wildest dreams. Yoongi rubs his hands over Jimin’s lower back and tilts his head just enough to deepen the kiss, licking over Jimin’s bottom lip until it falls open with a gasp, granting Yoongi entrance. 

With a slow graze of his tongue over Jimin’s, he feels Jimin tense and shiver in his hold, letting out a soft whine that has arousal crashing through Yoongi. Jimin whimpers, and all Yoongi can think about is the man on stage in his tight little briefs, and his trim, flexible body grinding and swaying so invitingly. 

Jimin breaks from the kiss, panting as he tips his mouth away but presses their foreheads together. Yoongi opens his eyes just enough to see Jimin smiling. 

“Let’s go inside,” Jimin mutters, sounding breathless, and he releases Yoongi from his hold and leads him up the short set of steps into the building they were just in front of. 

“Couldn’t wait two more minutes to get me inside?” Yoongi chides as Jimin tugs him by the wrist down a short hallway, to a door on the right. 

Jimin punches in the door code and steps inside the apartment, switching on a bright overhead light that makes the two of them squint. When Yoongi steps in and closes the door, Jimin has his hands on him, pressing him against the wall. 

“Are you always such a brat?” Jimin groans, crowding Yoongi’s space. 

Yoongi assists Jimin in being close by wrapping his arms around his waist. “I like to tease you,” he rasps, chuckling as Jimin rolls his eyes. 

“You were teasing me earlier,” Yoongi adds, sliding one hand up, over the scratchy embroidery of Jimin’s jacket until his hand is on the back of Jimin’s neck. “With your dancing…and your singing…and your hair-pulling.”

“I was being extra sexy once I saw you standing there,” Jimin says sweetly as he slots a leg between Yoongi’s thighs.

“Is that so?” Yoongi asks, tipping his head back against the wall so he can actually see the beauty before him. 

Jimin nibbles on his bottom lip and nods his head. “I don’t usually grind on the floor as much. And the little splits I did to take off my shoes was improvised.”

“I might need to see those moves again,” Yoongi mutters, closing the gap between their lips with a soft, chaste kiss.

Jimin sighs and sinks into Yoongi, stomach and chest flush with his. “I have a lot of moves I can show you, hyung,” he responds as he sucks Yoongi’s lip into his mouth hard enough to make Yoongi whimper. 

“So show me,” Yoongi practically whines as he licks eagerly over Jimin’s lips. 

Jimin heaves a breath and takes a step back, grabbing Yoongi’s hands as they slowly slide from their grasp, walking backward through his tidy apartment, smiling as he mutters, “I’ll show you.”

Abruptly, Jimin stops and shouts, “Wait!” shoving Yoongi backward. Yoongi is confused and cocks his head, allowing himself to be moved, fingers still laced with Jimin’s. 

“We have to take our boots off, silly,” Jimin says, unlinking their hands and pressing Yoongi against the wall once more. He leans against Yoongi's chest as he lifts each foot to slide out of his black Chelsea boots and socks, stepping a bit shorter than before. 

Once Jimin’s feet are free, he prances away with a giggle, and Yoongi opens his mouth to call after him, but shakes his head and chuckles instead as he bends and unties his boots, toeing out of each one. The sound of a faucet running cues Yoongi to where to go, and he walks through the living room, to the right, and finds Jimin standing in a small kitchen, drinking from a glass of water. 

“Thirsty, hyung?” Jimin asks, holding out the glass. 

Yoongi takes it and has a drink, then sets it on the counter, and says, “I’m not too thirsty…but I am quite hungry,” watching as Jimin begins to look around with a frown. 

“I don’t have much,” he says, “what are you hungry for?”

Yoongi wraps his hands around Jimin’s waist, rubbing both palms over his leather-clad ass. 

“You,” he rasps, earning him a groan and a weak smack on the arm. He pouts and adds, “Pretty please?” while batting his eyelashes, and Jimin takes his hand, leading him away. 

“Are we leaving every light in your apartment on?” Yoongi asks while Jimin drags him into a short hallway. 

With a huff, Jimin turns on the hallway light, then reaches into a semi-open door right in front of them and turns the light on, revealing a bathroom. 

“There!” Jimin says with an incredulous glare. “Are you happy, hyung?”

“No,” Yoongi grumbles. “Feels like a waste of electricity.”

“You’re infuriating,” Jimin complains as he shuts off the bathroom and hallway lights. He playfully shoves Yoongi away to storm off to the kitchen and living room, and Yoongi laughs to himself, over the moon with how easy Jimin is to rile up. 

When Jimin returns, he grips onto the sleeve of Yoongi's jacket and yanks him roughly down to the end of the short hallway, into a dark room. Yoongi is still laughing, muttering, "Whoa, easy, tiger," as he is pressed into another wall, body against body, with warm breath wafting over his face. 

"You'll just have to fuck me in the dark since you're so god damn annoying," Jimin huffs as two hands slide up Yoongi's neck, into his hair and grip tightly.

Yoongi reaches into Jimin's jacket, pushing material away as he grabs him by the waist. Then he twists the two of them, grinning to himself when Jimin huffs out a surprised, "Oof," from the impact of his back being pressed into the wall. 

He leans forward, grazing his nose against Jimin's nose as he says, "So you want me to fuck you, hmm?"

"I thought that was a given," Jimin responds, voice less confident than before – trembling, even.

Yoongi hums and noses at Jimin some more, flicking his tongue out and pleased when it grazes over soft lips. "Didn't want to assume," he responds lowly, licking over Jimin's lips once more. "I'm down for anything you want, pretty."

It feels almost frantic the way Jimin's lips crash into his, mouth kissing and nipping while hands shove away Yoongi's denim jacket, sending it to the floor in a heavy lump of fabric. Jimin's hands yank at Yoongi's shirt, pulling it untucked from his jeans, and Yoongi reaches down, gently taking him by the wrists to stop him. 

"Wanna see you," Yoongi says. "I take back what I said about the lights; turn them all on so I don't miss anything."

Jimin chuckles and pulls his hands away, then a rustling of fabric is followed by the bright flashlight of Jimin's phone coming on. 

"Compromise?" he suggests with a smile that Yoongi barely sees behind the bright white glow. "There's a lamp beside my bed. Be a good boy and turn it on for me?"

Despite the somewhat indignant scoff that rolls through Yoongi's chest and throat, he turns on his heels to make his way through the dark bedroom, determined to be a good boy, indeed. He watches his step, maneuvering around discarded clothing items in the white glow before reaching the bed and finding the lamp. 

It takes a few moments of him rubbing his hand over the post and then down to where a cord sticks out, but he finds the little plastic switch and presses it on. A soft, golden light fills the space, and when he spins back around, Jimin is in the center of the room with his jacket draped down past his shoulders. 

Jimin begins to saunter over, and Yoongi's brain kicks into gear, going haywire over what he should do – join Jimin and undress him, or sit down and find out whether Jimin feels like putting on another show for him. He opts to sit, but when he turns to make sure the bed is close enough, his knees bump into it, knocking him off balance, and he more or less crashes onto his butt against the mattress. 

"So eager," Jimin teases as he rubs his hands over his neck, up into his light pink hair, and back down. 

"For you?" Yoongi responds, raising his eyebrows and nodding toward Jimin, feeling zero embarrassment over his floundering. "Absolutely."

"What are you so eager for?" Jimin asks with a grin that grows into something as beautiful as it is dangerous. 

"You," Yoongi responds without thinking. "All of you."

Jimin giggles. "Be more specific, hyung."

"I want to watch you strip again," Yoongi says, swallowing a lump of excitement that builds and builds in his throat, threatening to suffocate. "I want to worship you."

With another giggle, Jimin begins to thumb through his phone. The sound of a bluetooth speaker connecting somewhere to the right chimes through the room, and Yoongi turns to glance around, noticing a desk, a dresser, and an open closet door. Garments are strewn about – mostly shirts, it seems – and the dresser appears to be covered in various makeup items, beauty tools, and accessories. 

Over the speaker, a sexy R&B track begins to play, and Yoongi turns his attention back to Jimin, who tosses his phone over to the bed, to the right of Yoongi, and begins to sway his hips. Earlier, when Jimin was on stage, Yoongi was awestruck and struggled to fully comprehend what was happening. Especially with others around him cheering and shouting for Jimin, it took time for everything to settle over him.

But sitting in this dim room, just the two of them, knowing the type of body that Jimin has under all that leather and cotton, Yoongi's desire and anticipation reach new heights, and he leans back with his palms spread against Jimin's pink and orange floral comforter while butterflies kick up in his stomach. He almost feels the urge to pinch himself, worried once more that he might be dreaming.

Jimin lets the jacket fall to his wrists, then he lifts one hand slowly, dragging the material upward with his wrist until it slides free and falls. He lifts his other hand straight out and tilts his wrist until the material slides and crumples to the floor, and although it is just outerwear and Jimin is still fully clothed, the seductive movements have Yoongi sitting wide-eyed and mouth agape – entranced.

Yoongi barely registers the song that is playing, but he does not need to. Jimin's shoulders and hips amplify its tune, turning it into something tangible – something he could reach out and feel. Slowly, Jimin turns, and, with his fingertips dancing over the material of his t-shirt, he begins to untuck it little by little. 

White cotton drags over muscular shoulders with every movement, while black leather hugs his ass and thighs tightly. Then Jimin does a cute turn and sways down, bending his knees before swishing back up while lifting his shirt over his tummy and up, up, almost to his chest before spinning again and looking over his shoulder, pretending to be shy. 

Yoongi scoffs and shakes his head, absolutely charmed by Jimin's little show, still toeing the line between playful and sexy as the shirt lifts over his head completely and Jimin tosses it over his shoulder, straight at Yoongi's face. Yoongi barely lifts his hands, allowing the fabric to gently clobber him in a wave of warm strawberry, and when it falls to his lap, he lazily takes it in one hand and holds onto it. 

"Still wearing those cute hearts?" Yoongi asks, and when Jimin mock-pouts and says, "Sorry, hyung, I took them off," he feels the tiniest tinge of sadness. 

"What a shame," Yoongi responds, wetting his lips as Jimin turns and saunters closer, hands rubbing over his nipples, keeping them covered. "They were cute."

"You're cute, hyung. But no touching unless I say you can," Jimin instructs softly but firmly, nibbling his bottom lip while slotting one leg between Yoongi's thighs and lifting his other knee to the bed. 

Yoongi tips his head back, leaning to give Jimin space as he rolls and grinds his hips, rubbing his hands up, over his neck, and into his hair, and then down, over his nipples and abdominals. Jimin is delicate hills and valleys of taut muscle and soft skin, and all Yoongi can do is stare at the beauty before him while swallowing the saliva that has pooled beneath his tongue, threatening to drool past his lips. 

"Like what you see, hyung?" Jimin asks, making Yoongi chuckle. 

Yoongi has to find his voice, softly clearing his throat. "You know I do."

With a deep, inviting hum, Jimin presses his thigh between Yoongi's legs, applying just enough pressure to make the air get trapped in his lungs. Arousal simmers through Yoongi, and he gasps, which becomes a soft chuckle when he notices the playful look on Jimin's face. 

"Evil," Yoongi groans when Jimin's leg grazes over him again, feeling blood rush straight to his dick. 

"What's the matter, hyung?" Jimin sing-songs as he takes a step back, spins around, and lowers his ass to Yoongi's lap. 

With both hands planted on Yoongi's knees, Jimin rolls his hips in circles and grinds them forward and back, and Yoongi squeezes the comforter in both palms as he groans from the pressure, fighting how badly he wants to touch. 

The song switches to something else sultry and unfamiliar, and Jimin reaches back with one arm that drapes over Yoongi's shoulder, resting his head on his other shoulder while his hips lift and fall in quick but soft movements that graze over Yoongi's crotch. 

"You're good at this," Yoongi mutters, dazed, hardly sounding like himself. 

Jimin hums in agreement and says, "I'm good at a lot of things."

A particularly firm press of Jimin's ass against Yoongi's constricted dick has his eyes fluttering closed, and he practically whines, "Show me everything."

Jimin sits up, taking away the arm around Yoongi's shoulder, then glances back with a mischievous smile, still moving his hips in inviting circles. Yoongi can hear the slow drag of a zipper, each tooth releasing as Jimin's arms make small movements in front of him. And then he lifts his hands to the waistband of his pants, hooks his thumbs under the black leather to slowly push the garment down.

The movement is agonizingly slow, only revealing an inch before he pulls back up and begins to drag down little by little, exposing pinkish-white satin briefs. Yoongi wants to grab onto the pockets and yank the material to the floor, losing all sense of sitting like a good boy. 

"You're killing me," he grumbles, fisting the blanket tight. 

With a giggle, Jimin stands, pushes the pants all the way to his thighs, and then sits again, grinding down on Yoongi's lap. The delicate curve of Jimin's waist into soft hips and a round, perfect ass has Yoongi reeling; the fact that he has Jimin all alone, and he is teasing him like this, is still a bit hard to comprehend. And, to make matters worse – or better – sticking out from under Jimin's satin panties are white lace garters connected to white mesh thigh-high stockings. 

Yoongi groans, eager to show his appreciation while feeling at a loss for words, earning a light giggle in response. 

"How badly do you want to touch me?" Jimin teases, glancing over his shoulder. 

Yoongi tongues the inside of his mouth, raising his eyebrows while Jimin continues to watch him. "Oh, I'm going to fucking ruin you the second you give me permission to."

It is subtle the way Jimin's eyes widen and all mirth melts from his features – it only lasts a split second. But Yoongi clocks it, and he smirks, feeling victorious. 

Jimin turns and stands, bending himself in half while pushing his pants down to his ankles, and Yoongi watches as more drool pools under his tongue, gaze drifting down to where Jimin peeks from around his ankles to smile before slowly standing back up. He steps from the crumpled leather and then kicks the garment away before turning to Yoongi with his cock straining hard in those tight little briefs as he straddles his lap. 

"How was this performance, hyung?" Jimin asks, wrapping his arms around Yoongi's shoulders to play with his hair. 

At some point, the song had changed, but Yoongi barely registers the downtempo beat, staring at Jimin, who giggles and wiggles his hips back and forth in a quick, playful movement. He lifts his right hand and then drops it back to the blanket with a groan, rolling his head back and taking a quick moment to close his eyes. 

"It was more of a tease than the first one," Yoongi grumbles, tracing the soft lines of Jimin's neck and shoulders with his eyes before looking at his face. "But it was great, all the same; I thoroughly enjoyed it."

Jimin reaches down and palms over Yoongi's dick, which sits bunched up at an uncomfortable angle under restrictive denim, making him gasp from the pressure-ache that tears through him. 

"I can tell how thoroughly you enjoyed it, hyung."

At this, Yoongi chuckles, biting the inside of his mouth and biding his time for when it is his turn to be a menace.

"Did you notice my final surprise?" Jimin asks.

"The garters and stockings?" Yoongi asks, eyes drifting downward. 

"Not that," Jimin responds, and Yoongi cocks his head, unsure what he means.

"No…" he mutters. 

Jimin stares incredulously, heavy-blinking in disbelief. "What, really?" he practically shouts. "My ass was right in your face, how did you miss it?"

"I mean…your ass is…surprisingly perfect," Yoongi tries.

With a playful huff, Jimin rolls his eyes, grabs Yoongi's right hand, and wraps it around him, making Yoongi cup one of his cheeks. 

"You can touch only with this hand," Jimin says with an insistent gaze, "and only on my butt."

The material of these briefs is thin and smooth, gliding softly under Yoongi's palm. It takes Yoongi a moment of rubbing over the soft flesh, squeezing gently, and mapping its shape before his fingertips brush over something hard, making Jimin suck in a sudden gasp of air. 

"Oh?" Yoongi asks, grazing his fingertips against the spot with more purpose, making Jimin squirm. "What have we here?"

Jimin whimpers as Yoongi presses against the hard, round surprise before taking a handful to squeeze and spread, turning his sounds into soft moans. 

"Were you wearing this plug during the performance?" Yoongi asks, head tipped back to watch as Jimin's lips tremble and search for what to say.

"Yes," he finally sighs, lolling his head back with a moan when Yoongi passes his fingers firmly over it again. 

"You performed wearing an anal plug?" Yoongi asks again, watching as Jimin's cheeks flush and his eyes widen.

Jimin leans forward and presses his forehead against Yoongi's, nodding while whimpering a broken, "Uh-huh."

"While dancing and singing and tugging on my hair?" Yoongi continues, "While those eager boys stood and watched you flirt with me, you wore this, hoping I would bring you back here and find it."

"Yes, hyung," Jimin moans, and god if Yoongi had not already been fighting back the urge to absolutely destroy this pretty man in the most delicious ways possible, he would be now.

"You wanted me to find this plug, hmm?" Yoongi presses and rubs over it, squeezing and spanking while his other hand grips onto the blanket for dear life. "Wanted me to bend you over and pull it out…stretch you further on my cock…didn't you?"

"Hyung," Jimin whines, hips rolling lazily into Yoongi's touch.

Without another word, Yoongi slides his hand away and anchors himself back against the bed. Jimin scrambles, sitting back with his eyes bulging wide, making Yoongi chuckle.

"So naughty," Yoongi teases, voice full of mirth and sparking a petulant fire in Jimin's eyes.

"Hyung!" Jimin shouts, lifting a hand to smack Yoongi on the chest, which Yoongi catches despite not being given instruction to touch, just yet. Jimin looks incensed and gasps, eyes going between Yoongi's hand and his face.

"It's my turn," Yoongi rasps, biting back a grin. "Let me touch you."

Jimin blinks at him, clearly still processing the teasing, and Yoongi raises his eyebrows, impatient. 

"Fine," Jimin huffs brattily, yanking his hand from Yoongi's grasp and sliding from Yoongi's lap to take his place beside him on the bed. "It's your turn to strip, hyung. Give me a good show."

Yoongi stands, walks a couple paces into the room, and turns, letting the movement flow with the beat of whatever song is playing – something a little quicker-paced but still sexy enough to dance to. He rubs his hands over his neck, down his pecs, and over his tummy, watching as Jimin rests back on his palms with his thighs slightly spread, intently following every movement. 

Then Yoongi grips onto the bottom hem of his shirt and pulls it quickly over his head, messing up his hair in the process. He flings the garment at Jimin with maybe just a little too much force, and it hits him in the chest, falling to his lap.

"Wh—hyung!" Jimin shouts, tossing the shirt aside as Yoongi quickly undoes his belt and fly and shoves his jeans to the floor, stepping out of one side and then the other, and then reaching down to yank away his socks. 

"This is the worst strip tease I have ever seen!" Jimin shouts despite his eyes roving over Yoongi's body with a hunger that says otherwise. 

Yoongi approaches in two swift strides and bends to take Jimin by the backs of his knees. He lifts and spreads Jimin's legs, sending his back crashing against the bed, scrambling and squealing while Yoongi leans forward, legs draped over his hips, and grins. 

"What did I tell you I was going to do, Jiminah?" Yoongi asks sternly, caging Jimin in with his hands against the bed while Jimin's frantic movements cause their clothed cocks to rub against one another in an addictive jolt of energy. 

"R-ruin me," Jimin pants as his flailing slows to a stop.

Yoongi grins. "That's right. I am going to absolutely ruin you. Now be good for me and get on your hands and knees."

It appears to take about two seconds for Jimin to process Yoongi's words before he crawls back on his elbows, getting fully onto the bed, and turning to position himself on his hands and knees while Yoongi sinks down to the floor. Jimin moves toward the center of the bed when Yoongi stops him.

"Ah, ah, come back here, pretty." He pats the mattress as if calling over a puppy. "Want you right here."

Jimin crawls backward with a somewhat dazed, borderline humiliated look on his face, and Yoongi waits patiently until Jimin is settled on the edge of the bed with his ankles hanging near Yoongi's head. 

"Perfect," Yoongi groans as he sits high, reaches for the waistline of Jimin's pretty satin briefs, and pulls, uncovering his prize in all its soft yet muscular glory. 

Yoongi practically moans at the sight of Jimin stretched around a metal toy with a light pink rhinestone in the center, and he wastes no time reaching two handfuls of soft flesh to squeeze firmly in his palms. He spreads his hands wide to graze his thumbs over the toy, then uses one hand to begin slowly tugging on it while keeping Jimin spread. 

"God, look at you," Yoongi groans as Jimin's pucker tenses and relaxes with each movement. "Is this what you wanted? When you invited me to come watch you perform, did you picture me bending you over and playing with your ass afterward?"

"Yes," Jimin whines, sending a shiver down Yoongi's spine.

Yoongi uses his palm to gently strike Jimin's ass. The sound cracks through the room, punctuated by a moan, and Jimin shutters as he relaxes. 

"What did you imagine, exactly?" Yoongi asks, hearing a dazed, "What?" come from Jimin. 

"When you nestled this pretty little toy inside yourself tonight," Yoongi clarifies, rubbing over the reddened mark of his hand. "What were you imagining I would do to you?"

"I thought you would want to f-fuck me," Jimin says, sounding somewhat bashful. How cute. 

Yoongi rubs over Jimin's ass with both hands, then taps the tip of his index finger over the end of the toy, making Jimin tremble. "Is that all?"

"N-no," Jimin whimpers.

"Awe, is pretty Jimin too shy to dirty talk to his hyung now that he has me right where he wants me?"

All he hears in response is a low whine, and Yoongi chuckles, smacking and squeezing Jimin's ass just enough to make his legs quake. He wonders if Jimin likes becoming pliant and malleable in someone else's hands. 

"I can tell you what I imagine," Yoongi offers, sitting back before getting onto his feet to rub over Jimin's back and bend over him, draping himself to speak low into Jimin's ear. 

Jimin nods. 

"What I've imagined since the day we met—" Yoongi reaches with one hand to Jimin's chin and lifts his head up, then presses two fingers into his warm, wet mouth, "—is watching these sinful fucking lips wrap around my cock."

Jimin sucks on Yoongi's fingers, stirring a fire in his belly, and Yoongi nuzzles their cheeks together, pulling away as Jimin releases him with a pop. 

"And what I've imagined since that little performance of yours tonight—" Yoongi gently grips Jimin's chin and pulls him so that he is held in place, back arched and neck craned, looking him in the eye, "—is the sight of you riding me…using me to make yourself cum…squeezing me so nice and tight…all while tugging on my hair."

Jimin's eyes blow wide, and he gasps, staring at Yoongi as if he has just personally hung every star in the night sky. Reverent. 

"Would you like that, pretty?" Yoongi asks, and Jimin nods.

Yoongi grins. "Use your words, baby."

Brighter and wider, Jimin's eyes turn to heavenly disks, and Yoongi makes a mental note to call him baby a lot more. 

"Yes, hyung," Jimin mutters sweetly.

"Say my name. Tell me what you need."

"Yes, Yoongi," Jimin responds. "I need…you. Anything you want, please."

With a soft kiss against Jimin's cheek, Yoongi lowers Jimin down, continuing to drape himself over his body, keeping his weight from pressing on him too much. 

"Do you like to be more in control," Yoongi asks, dancing fingertips in Jimin's pink hair, "or do you like to submit?"

Jimin's voice has a slight tremble when he says, "Submit."

"Do you like it rough or soft?"

"Both."

Yoongi groans, pleased with that answer. "Do you have a safe word, baby?"

"S-strawberry."

"Strawberry, of course," Yoongi says, grinning. "Good. I'm going to make you feel so good, baby."

Yoongi feels Jimin's body relax beneath him as he sighs, "Please, Yoongi," in a voice fit for an angel.

Eager to learn all the pretty ways Jimin can sing, Yoongi gets back onto his feet, running his fingertips over the length of Jimin's back before dropping to his knees. He spreads Jimin wide, leans forward, and licks from just beneath the end of the plug to just above it, tasting cold metal and zirconia with a sticky-sweet hint of lube. 

Jimin moans low and arches his back, pressing his ass against Yoongi's face, and Yoongi chuckles as he grips tightly to both cheeks and licks again and again, straight lines and rounded ones, tasting and teasing.

"Do you get really sensitive?" Yoongi asks as he rests his cheek against the soft curve of Jimin's ass and takes the end of the toy between his fingers, tugging it ever so slightly – just enough to make Jimin whine. 

Jimin mutters a pitchy, "Uh-huh."

"Words, baby," Yoongi instructs with a somewhat stronger tug. 

Jimin sobs as he says, "Yes, Yoongi!"

"Good," Yoongi groans as he nuzzles against Jimin and nips gently at his skin. "We're gonna have a lot of fun together."

With a firm tug, Yoongi begins to pull the toy, taking it nice and slow while Jimin's hole stretches around the bulb. Jimin sobs with shaking legs, and Yoongi lifts his head and drops a dab of spit as he pushes the toy back in and gives it another tug. 

Back and forth, he tugs and presses, with more spit and kisses against Jimin's soft skin, again and again, until finally Jimin opens wide and releases the plug with a soft wail. 

"That's it, baby," Yoongi praises, licking over Jimin's rim with a firm twist of his tongue, making him moan. "So good for me."

Yoongi stands on somewhat shaky legs – knees, and calves tired from being bunched up on the floor – and he moves to the bedside table, grabs a tissue from a small box, and places it down to rest the plug onto. "You got lube in here?" he asks, tapping his fingernails against the small door on the front of the table. 

"No, on top," Jimin responds, and Yoongi glances around, then finds the bottle wedged behind the tissue box. 

"Is this the lube you used earlier?" Yoongi asks as he returns and takes in the sight of Jimin on his knees with his face pressed against his floral comforter.

"Don't pick on me," Jimin pouts, frowning, making Yoongi chuckle fondly.

"Not picking on you, baby," Yoongi responds, patting the center of the bed, closer to the pillow. "Come up here."

With a whimper and even deeper pout, Jimin anchors himself on his hands, and – like a doe learning to walk for the first time – fumbles and sways with forward momentum until he slams his chest down onto a pillow and wraps his arms around it. 

Yoongi gets onto the bed and crawls on his knees behind Jimin. The satin briefs are still around Jimin's legs, keeping him from spreading his knees too far, and Yoongi leaves them in place, curious how Jimin might enjoy a little movement restriction.

With his thumb, Yoongi flips open the lid of the lube bottle, then he squirts a generous amount onto his index and middle fingers and rubs the pad of his thumb through the sticky substance to warm it just a little. Then he rubs the slicked tips of his fingers over Jimin's hole, watching the way he trembles from even the slightest of touches. 

Slowly, Yoongi presses the tip of his middle finger in, testing how far the toy has stretched him. Although Jimin moans, his voice is steady as Yoongi pushes all the way to his knuckle and twists. The muscle does not squeeze too tight, so he pulls out and gently slides in another.

With his index finger added, Jimin squeezes him with a deep whimper and then relaxes. Yoongi takes it slow, rubbing his palm soothingly over Jimin's ass and thigh, pulling his fingers back and pressing them forward little by little. 

"Let me know if you need me to slow down or stop, pretty," Yoongi says as he watches his fingertips get swallowed. 

"Don't stop," Jimin whimpers, "give me more."

"More?" Yoongi teases, drawing the word out nice and long. 

"Please, Yoongi."

Yoongi twists his fingers as he pushes and pulls, listening to Jimin's deep voice become high-pitched and raspy. Satisfied with how Jimin feels around him – swallowing eagerly but not with a death grip – Yoongi adds his ring finger. 

Jimin trembles and bleats broken syllables as Yoongi presses three fingers into him. He twists slowly and dribbles spit onto Jimin's rim, giving himself a little more slide, working himself a little deeper. And Jimin takes him so well until he gets to his knuckles and the stretch feels too tight.

"Fuck," Jimin gasps, legs quaking. "Feels s-so good, but it—'s too much."

"I got you, baby," Yoongi says softly, planting kisses over Jimin's ass and upper thigh as he slides his fingers out and pauses. "Call your safe word if you want a break."

"No," Jimin pants. "I don't want a break, your fingers are just…they're too good."

Yoongi chuckles, slowly pressing his fingers back in, stopping before the knuckles, as he says, "Just breathe for me," with his lips dragging over Jimin's soft skin. 

Labored, panicked breaths make Yoongi smile and shake his head, and he slowly pulls out as he clarifies, "Breathe slowly, Jiminah. Don't make yourself dizzy; I don't need you passing out on me."

An impatient groan muffled by a blanket makes Yoongi sit up high on his knees and angle his body to get a look at Jimin, whose face is squished cutely into the bed with flushed cheeks and a frown in his brow. 

"Ya, what is it?" Yoongi teases, using his lubed fingers to give Jimin's ass a little smack, smiling at how the man cries and quakes. 

"Wanna ride you," Jimin groans indignantly. 

Yoongi wants to rile Jimin up so badly. He considers tickling the man until he crashes to the bed laughing – and probably throwing a tantrum. He wants to threaten not to let Jimin do anything he wants, just so he can be pouty and bratty and make Yoongi put him in his place a little – gently and sweetly, of course. He has to hold his tongue to not chide the poor guy for how grumpy and impatient he is, even as Yoongi stretches him. 

But he does not. Instead, Yoongi rubs both hands over Jimin's ass, spreading and squeezing while settling back down again. "I thought you wanted to be submissive," he asks, with only a hint of mirth.

"I do," Jimin responds, pout still evident in his tone. "I want to do both. I can't make up my mind."

"You can do both," Yoongi insists with a smirk, reaching for the lube bottle to slick his fingers back up. "I would love it if you rode me, baby. But if you can't take three knuckles, you sure as hell can't take my cock. So why don't you be a good boy and breathe nice and slow while I stretch you open, yeah?"

The breathy way in which Jimin mutters, "Yeah," tells Yoongi his message has been received loud and clear. The prospect alone of Jimin riding him has him very eager to get the other nice and ready. 

Yoongi slathers his three fingers in lube and begins to press them in. Jimin still huffs his exhales, but he is breathing less like a man who might be dying, for which Yoongi is grateful. It takes plenty of twisting and coaxing to slowly get the muscles to open for him, but Yoongi is patient, kissing and sucking on Jimin's skin while watching his fingers get swallowed. 

When Yoongi finally does finger Jimin past the knuckle – accompanied by a pitchy squeal and Jimin begging, "Fuck, fuck, don't stop, please don't fucking stop," – he stops, letting Jimin adjust to the stretch. 

"That's it," Yoongi praises, rubbing his palm over Jimin's ass and thigh while his fingers stay nestled deep inside him. "I knew you could take me. Just had to be a little patient."

"I've fantasized about how your knobby knuckles would feel but fuck, they are so big," Jimin whines, making Yoongi laugh. 

He squeezes Jimin's ass in his palm, then slowly begins to pull his fingers out, watching as Jimin opens wide to accommodate him once more. "You've fantasized about my fingers, huh?"

"H-hyung," Jimin groans, sounding embarrassed.

"Say my name, pretty," Yoongi sweetly commands as he twists his fingers out and begins to plunge them back in, meeting far less resistance. 

"Y-Yoongi," Jimin sobs, trembling as Yoongi twists – pulling out and pushing back in. 

The sight of his fingers getting swallowed whole has Yoongi's jaw hanging slack, drool pooling beneath his tongue. Jimin is an absolute vision, and the more his light-dusky pucker becomes flushed and reddened with pleasure, the hungrier Yoongi is to give and give and give. Anything to paint him prettily with bliss. Anything to hear the sweet, broken sounds he makes. 

"What is it, baby," Yoongi asks, twist-pulling and plunging deep. 

Jimin hiccups and Yoongi rotates his torso to lean just enough to see Jimin's fist grasping at the comforter. "N-need you."

"I'm here," Yoongi coos while rubbing his palm over Jimin's ass and lower back, fingertips mapping and memorizing. "You're almost ready for me."

Yoongi pulls out, then uses the index fingers of both hands hooked into Jimin's rim to open him nice and wide. Jimin sobs as Yoongi stretches him, slowly plunging his fingers in and out in a push and pull, watching as the welcoming rings of muscle tense and relax. 

"Wh-what are you doing to me?" Jimin groans, as he sinks a little further forward, pushing his ass ever so slightly higher. 

"Admiring you, baby," Yoongi says, sitting high on his knees to dribble a dollop of spit into Jimin's hole to squelch between his two fingers. "You have no idea how fucking perfect you are."  

Jimin hiccups as he moans, and Yoongi slowly pulls out, one finger and then the other, watching as his pucker tightens and tightens.

"Alright, baby," Yoongi says as he sits back on his knees and open-palm kneads at Jimin's fleshy thighs, feeling supple skin, rough lace, and soft mesh against his palms. "Wanna be a good boy and show hyung how you ride cock?"

A pitchy, garbled, "Uh-huh," leaves Jimin's mouth in a rush as he pushes himself on shaking limbs until he is seated on his knees. Yoongi slides off the bed and walks toward the head, moving pillows and the comforter out of the way, revealing a pretty green floral sheet. He pushes his dark briefs down to the floor, stepping out of each side as he places his knees onto the bed, knee-walks the center, and then sits, spreading his thighs while Jimin grabs the bottle of lube and hobbles close. 

Without preamble, Jimin cages Yoongi's hips between his arms and licks a slow stripe up the underside of his aching, neglected cock, sending a thrill of pleasure shooting through him that has a moan storming from his lungs. Yoongi's head thumps against the headboard as he sinks against the cool, wooden surface, and he lifts his hands to gently take Jimin by the hair and chin. 

"Hyung tastes so good," Jimin coos sweetly, glancing up through his eyelashes while poking out his pretty pink tongue to lap at the dribble of precum at his tip. 

Yoongi was not planning on getting his dick sucked – he was dead set on Jimin's pleasure first and foremost, eager to give absolutely anything to him that he wants. But if what Jimin wants is to put those pretty lips to use, Yoongi would not dare say no. 

"Is that so?" Yoongi urges, eager to press Jimin to say more – hopeful that he will turn shy and sweet like before.

Jimin nods, blinking with a lust-drunk haze in his eyes before looking down into Yoongi's trimmed dark pubes as he says, "Salty-sweet…so yummy…"

"It's all yours, baby," Yoongi says as he drags his trimmed, blunt fingernails along the sharp lines of Jimin's jaw. "Anything you want, it's yours."

Jimin lets his tongue hang long, blinking upward while drool pools and dribbles onto Yoongi's tip, dripping down to disappear from view. "Want to make a mess," he slurs, barely pulling his tongue back enough to speak clearly. 

"Yeah?" Yoongi urges, "you wanna make a mess of me, baby?"

Jimin nods, curving his lips upward, saliva pooling and dripping. Yoongi fights the urge to beg him to do more – wants Jimin to go at his own pace and enjoy himself, even if it means Yoongi vibrates with nerves and anticipation, bordering on impatience and flat-out desperation. 

Luckily, Jimin does not make him wait long. With a deep, eager groan, Jimin sucks Yoongi's tip into his mouth without using his hands, then curves his back and neck, doing his best to swallow him down. Pleasure quakes through Yoongi, and he sinks further into the bed, dragging his head back against the headboard while he moans deep and appreciative. 

He tips his head to the side to watch Jimin's spit-slick petal lips drag along his length. Jimin hums and moans, which vibrates just enough to make Yoongi shiver, sucking his cheeks and swishing his tongue in a hypnotic dance. 

Slowly, Yoongi climbs to the precipice of bliss, further each time Jimin takes him a little deeper and swallows a little harder. Then Jimin changes position, sitting higher on his knees, and he takes Yoongi into his throat and swallows hard, sending a heavy wave of euphoria crashing inside him. Yoongi's fingers, which had been loosely holding onto Jimin's hair and face, grip onto Jimin's hair, and he tugs gently without pulling too hard. 

"Shit, baby, that's it," Yoongi whines, voice coming out pitchy and breathy. "Won't last if you keep swallowing me like that."

Jimin hums and swallows harder, holding Yoongi in his throat long enough to make Yoongi begin to spiral; long enough for Jimin to come up for air with a heavy gasp. Spit hangs from Jimin's lips and tongue in thick strings, and when he blinks, mascara leaves little black streaks on his face. 

"Pretty, messy baby," Yoongi praises with a smile that feels crooked and heavy. He knows he must look absolutely fucked out, and the way Jimin's eyes shimmer has affection blooming deep behind his ribs. 

Jimin grins, then sinks back down, sucking and swallowing eagerly while setting a quick pace bobbing his head. The faint pass of Jimin's teeth along Yoongi's length sends a tickle up his spine that has his back arching, and with each upward stroke of his lips, spit collects and trickles, coating his balls and dribbling over his asshole. 

Yoongi is close, and he grips Jimin's hair a little tighter, guiding his head a little deeper. He whimpers broken pleas for Jimin to keep going that hardly sound like words – whisps of sounds flitting into the air as he struggles to keep his bearings. Jimin's mouth is better than Yoongi could have possibly anticipated, and he submits fully to letting Jimin send him straight into the clouds. He wants to cum down that pretty throat so badly. 

"Fuck," Yoongi mutters, finally finding his voice. "Gonna cum, baby. Will you swallow for me?"

Jimin seems to try to nod, muttering some kind of response that amounts to consonants and sputtered drool, and Yoongi loosens his grip on Jimin's hair, letting his hands slide and fall away to fist at the sheet, instead. It only takes three more passes of those perfect fucking lips to make Yoongi absolutely dissolve.

"Gonna c—" is all he chokes out before painting Jimin's tongue and throat. 

Jimin gags slightly but continues to suck and swallow, humming and moaning between Yoongi's sharp, raspy sounds of pleasure. His orgasm flows through him hot and quick, erupting and intoxicating. Only once he is trembling from overstimulation does Jimin release his cock, licking once more from base to tip with his mouth hanging agape. 

Streaks of viscous white streak Jimin's tongue, and Yoongi takes him by the jaw and gently lifts, urging Jimin to sit up and crash into him. Yoongi licks into Jimin's mouth, tasting his own heady release, and Jimin melts forward, laying his torso heavily against Yoongi while very slowly crawling up into a seated position on his lap. 

"Was that what you were imagining, hyung?" Jimin asks against his mouth, making Yoongi chuckle.

"Better," he rasps. "I could never have imagined anything feeling that good, Jiminah."

Jimin blushes as he asks, "Did you like how my lips looked?" and Yoongi raises an eyebrow, tilting his head back to get a better look at him. "Wrapped around you," Jimin continues, nibbling on his plush, kiss-swollen bottom lip. 

"You know I did." Yoongi leans in to place a soft kiss against Jimin's lips, deciding instead to suck them into his mouth, one after the other, making him giggle. "You looked and felt like heaven, baby."

Jimin leans back into Yoongi, wrapping his arms around his neck and gently tugging at his hair. They kiss, lick, suck, and nip in unhurried movements, tasting and teasing while Yoongi's dick recovers and begins to harden once more. Sticky-cool saliva transfers from Jimin's chin to Yoongi's, aiding in the mess that was promised, and Yoongi slowly sucks at Jimin's tongue tip, making him drool even more. 

Time grinds to a halt, suspended and of no use to them. Yoongi passes his hands over Jimin's shoulders, down the slopes of his back and hips and ass – anywhere he can reach. Occasionally, Jimin shivers and sighs, and Yoongi cannot help but smile, endeared and eager to know every single sensitive spot he may have. 

One of Jimin's hands leaves Yoongi's hair and travels down, tickling as his fingernails delicately scrape down his pec, across his ribs, to his hip. When Jimin wraps his hand around Yoongi's growing erection, engulfing him in pleasure and warmth, Yoongi gasps, rolling his eyes back and nodding as he mutters, "Almost ready for you."

Jimin releases Yoongi and reaches for the lube before using both hands to slick him up. Yoongi is grateful that Jimin does not warm it in his hands, hissing with delight at the cold touch. Jimin giggles deviously, chewing on his lip, and Yoongi gazes down at his cock between two slender, pretty hands before returning his attention to Jimin's face. 

"Now are you ready, hyung?" Jimin asks as he sits high on his knees and positions himself over Yoongi's tip. 

Yoongi uses both hands to steady Jimin's thighs, dancing his fingertips over the stockings, then gripping gently while Jimin reaches up to the top of the headboard and leans his chest close to Yoongi's face. 

"I don't think I could ever fully be ready for someone as perfect as you fucking me, Jiminah," Yoongi confesses with a smile, tilting his head until his tongue is able to flit out and drag over a dusky, pert nipple. "You'll just have to give it to me; force me to be ready. Don't hold back."

"As you wish, hyung," Jimin responds sweetly as he begins to sink down. 

The tip of Yoongi's cock breaches Jimin's hole with a shutter and whimper from both men in tandem. Yoongi grips Jimin's hips bruisingly, expecting Jimin to stop and adjust, but Jimin keeps lowering, down, down, down until he is fully seated and choking pretty, broken sobs. 

Yoongi is overwhelmed with pleasure, squeezed with blissful tight warmth, and he quakes with each gentle squeeze of muscle around him. His breath feels heavy in his lungs, and as he lets out a groaned exhale, he releases his grip on Jimin's thighs and rests his head back in a desperate attempt to get his bearings, teetering on the brink of total mental collapse.

"Hol—" is all Yoongi manages to moan as Jimin lifts and drops, slamming his ass against Yoongi's thighs, letting out a dulcet whimper that is rivaled by Jimin's pitchier one. 

"Big," Jimin mutters as he picks up a dizzying pace of slowly lifting before forcefully dropping, spearing himself so nice and deep, Yoongi feels like he may be carving the poor guy open. 

Jimin is magnificent with his head tilted back and lips hung wide, whimpering as he rises and drops and rises and drops. Somehow exactly as Yoongi imagined, yet so much more. His cock glistens hard against his tummy, dribbling with precum and so neglected, bouncing against his abs with each drop, leaving a little splatter behind.

"I won't last," Yoongi admits, feeling the blissful, agonizing squeeze that is only intensified as Jimin's muscles flutter with pleasure. "I usually have more—ahh—s-stamina, but you feel so g-good."

"Awe, hyungie," Jimin purrs, tilting his head forward and opening his dreamy, lust-lidded eyes. "That's ok. I just hope you can keep going…ruin me like you promised."

"I can," Yoongi croaks. It will be much easier to stave off his orgasm when he is in full control; like this, he doesn't stand a chance. 

"There's always tomorrow, too," Jimin mutters half-dazed, and Yoongi smirks at the prospect of Jimin wanting him after tonight. 

Yoongi rubs his hands up Jimin's hips, along the delicate curve of his waist and the white lace garter, and further, palming over pecs. As Jimin lifts and drops, Yoongi almost feels overwhelmed by the arousal that pools and pools, warm and aching in his center, tingling to his limbs, filling him with desire. He wants to grab Jimin tight and fuck up into him, but Jimin feels and looks so amazing he lets him take his time. 

With a grin that morphs into a bite of his lower lip, Jimin lifts his hips and swivels them, whorling around Yoongi's tip and tugging up, making him gasp and groan. Yoongi rubs his hands down to Jimin's waist and gently holds, helping keep him steady while the dancer twists and swishes, creating dizzying patterns to the song Yoongi barely hears over the pounding of his heart. 

"God, your body…" Yoongi mutters, eyes heavy as he watches muscle tense and soften. 

"You like how I feel, hyung?" Jimin mutters as he swirls up. 

Before Yoongi can respond, Jimin begins to bounce his ass up and down to the beat of the background song, just fucking himself on Yoongi's tip – teasing in a most delightful way. 

"How you feel…" Yoongi mutters, head rolling back against the headboard, looking down his nose at the beauty above him. "How you look, how you sound…you're fucking perfect, baby."

Jimin smiles and runs his hands over Yoongi's neck, then uses one hand to leverage himself on Yoongi's shoulder while the other takes a handful of hair and grips tight. 

"You're just saying that because I'm fucking you," Jimin teases through gasps and whimpers, gaze turning sharp while he begins to drop his hips back down and spear himself deep.

Even with a cock buried inside him, Jimin is a brat. Yoongi finds it way too endearing, though he is eager to flip the pretty dancer over and fuck him so good he can no longer talk back. He rolls his eyes, moaning as Jimin rides him a little steadier, trying to ignore how rapidly his pleasure builds.

"True," Yoongi mutters, playing along. If Jimin wants to be petulant, two can play this game.

"Ah—" Jimin moans, "I knew it. Just using me for my perfect ass."

Yoongi's hands slide over the soft, inviting curves of Jimin's hips and ass, and he takes two splayed handfuls and gives him a squeeze, moaning, "Exactly."

With his palms gripping tight, Yoongi assists Jimin in his movements, lifting and dropping him in a nice steady rhythm. Rather than attempt to stave his high, he chases it now, eager to change positions and give Jimin more. 

Jimin whimpers and sobs, breath coming out punchy and ragged while his tip leaks precum. 

"Are you close, baby?" Yoongi asks, receiving only a whimpered, "Uh-huh," in response. 

"What did I say about using your words?" Yoongi insists through grit teeth, finding it harder to steady his breathing and speak clearly. 

"Yes, Yoongi," Jimin moans, sending a chill down Yoongi's spine at the sound of his name. "I'm so close."

Yoongi pulls one hand away, lifts it to his mouth, and spits into his palm. He stares up at Jimin as he wraps his hand around Jimin's cock head and squeezes just enough to elicit a moan and shiver from him, then he begins to stroke nice and slow, collecting dribbled precum on his palm.

"Hyung," Jimin whimpers, body tensing and relaxing over and over. 

"Say my name, baby," Yoongi instructs with a smirk, watching Jimin's lips tremble and form unvoiced syllables. 

Jimin leans forward and takes two handfuls of Yoongi's hair as he lifts and slams his ass with purpose. Each breath Yoongi pants hits Jimin's chest, creating a pocket of sticky warmth between them. 

"Yoongi," Jimin whines as his grip tightens, tugging on Yoongi's scalp and making him hiss. 

"Yes, baby?"

Jimin's voice cracks, barely croaking out the words, "I'm gonna cum."

"Cum for me, Jiminah," Yoongi moans, feeling his own high reach its peak. "Cum all over this cock, baby, let me feel you."

Jimin's muscles squeeze and release– frenzied and dizzying as his rhythm falters. Rather than lift, he grinds, burying Yoongi so deep, the air feels trapped in Yoongi's chest. 

"That's it, baby," Yoongi wheezes through grit teeth, stroking Jimin at an angle that has him gently punching his fist against both their tummies. "Use my cock to get yourself off. Fuck, you feel so good."

Jimin's back arches and his body quakes as he cums. Yoongi squeezes at his tip, urging more and more release to coat his fist sticky-white, digging his heels into the mattress as he fucks his hips upward, just enough to get Jimin bouncing and moaning. Jimin squeezes him so tight, pushing him right over the edge. 

"Gonna cum, baby," Yoongi groans as every nerve prickles tingly and hot, ready to burst. 

"Fill me, Yoongi," Jimin sobs as he bounces in quick, shallow movements. "Make me messy."

The squeeze of Jimin's muscles, and fucked out, eager sound of his voice has Yoongi's orgasm hitting hard. He releases Jimin's cock, gripping onto his thighs with both hands as his body trembles roughly with pleasure. Yoongi barely makes a sound, rasping around heaving breaths as his eyes squeeze momentarily tight, attempting to relax as his orgasm pulses through him in tremendous bursts, making him see stars. 

"That's it, hyung," Jimin whimpers, leaning all the way forward, draping himself over Yoongi's shoulders. "Feels so good."

Yoongi sits back, catching his breath as his cock softens, running his clean palm up Jimin's back while the cum-covered hand falls to the side. Jimin's muscles continue to flutter, and he nuzzles his face against Yoongi's neck, leaving lazy, wet kisses against the skin and filling Yoongi with butterflies. 

The music continues to play, changing from one sexy beat to another. A female artist sings, but Yoongi is unable to make out what she is saying. His pulse thumps in his ears and throat, forcing each breath out in a lively beat of his own. 

"It feels nice to just…sit here and hold you," Jimin mutters against Yoongi's skin. 

"I would hug you back but one of my hands is covered in your cum."

Jimin hums in understanding, adding, "You got it on my thigh," with a familiar bratty tone. 

"You wanted to be messy," Yoongi grumbles with a smile, feeling absolutely smitten. 

Jimin groans, "I did," as he slowly begins to sit up, taking the warmth of his body away. 

Yoongi shivers as the sweat that covers him turns cold. He tips his head back and looks up as Jimin settles on his lap, cock-warming him while sitting tall, smiling sweetly. 

"I guess since you got what you wanted, you don't need me anymore," Jimin teases with a smirk and a lift of one eyebrow as he reaches out and undoes what is left of the bun in Yoongi's hair, tossing his trusty hair tie aside. 

Yoongi rolls his eyes and lolls his head back, trying not to smile as he mutters, "Really, Jiminah?"

With wide, playful eyes, Jimin nods, sliding his ass up, up, up until Yoongi's soft, cum-covered cock falls away, making him shudder. 

"You had a taste of my perfect ass, so—"

"Oh, I had a taste, alright," Yoongi interrupts with a grin, sitting up and causing Jimin to move slightly backward. "You think I'm gonna just leave now? Never to see you again?"

Jimin's playful demeanor begins to crumble as Yoongi lifts his soiled hand and begins to lick at what is left of Jimin's heady, salty-sweet release. 

"Uh, I—" Jimin says, lips forming around syllables he never voices. 

"What about promising me tomorrow? Hmm?" Yoongi asks before dragging his tongue over his knuckles, cleaning the remnants of Jimin's cum.

Now that his hand is far less messy, Yoongi grips onto Jimin's waist nice and tight and lift-pushes the dancer onto his back. Jimin yelps as he hits the pretty green sheet, pink hair sweat-stuck together in little spikes, fanning messily around his beautiful face. 

"I'm not finished with you yet," Yoongi says as he gets onto his knees and towers over Jimin. "Weren't you just whining about me ruining you moments ago?"

Jimin giggles softly, reaching his arms to wrap around Yoongi's neck. Yoongi gently takes Jimin by the wrists and pushes his arms to the mattress, pressing his weight down, watching with delight as Jimin gasps and shivers beneath him. 

"You really think I could only do this once?" Yoongi teases as he leans forward, crowding Jimin's space. "Now that I've had a taste of you, I'll be craving you, Jiminah."

"I-is that so?" Jimin breathes, head tilting as if offering the expanse of his neck to Yoongi – an invitation Yoongi takes as he drags his lips over salt-slick skin. 

"That is so."

"Are you sure you can keep going?" Jimin asks sweetly. "You just came twice."

"I could fuck you all night, baby," Yoongi insists, licking and nipping until Jimin gasps. "Just need a moment to get hard again. Why? Can you keep going?"

Each breath that puffs from Jimin's lips sounds heavy. "I can, but…I might get overstimulated."

"I know," Yoongi groans with a smile. "I watched you fall apart on my fingers, remember?"

"I might get…really…lost," Jimin admits.

Yoongi releases Jimin's hands and moves them to the mattress so he can press more weight down and angle himself upward just enough to look Jimin in the eyes. 

"Like, subspace?" Yoongi asks, watching Jimin's eyes widen. 

"Maybe," Jimin mutters. "I just get really…floaty. Like my soul and body are disconnected…held together by pleasure."

Yoongi nods in understanding. "Do you want to hold off, then? Wait until we're more comfortable with each other before you go there with me?"

The smile that tugs on Jimin's lips is sweet, and his eyes sparkle as he says, "I have a feeling you will take good care of me, hyung."

Affection bursts warm in Yoongi's chest. "Of course, I will. But I still understand if that's something you want to build up to."

Jimin shakes his head and nibbles on his lip. "I trust you. I'll call my safe word if I need to."

"You don't go non-verbal at all?"

Jimin pinches his brow and shakes his head. "No."

"Alright," Yoongi agrees, eager to keep going as long as Jimin feels safe. 

Jimin leans forward, groaning as his chin juts out, puckering for a kiss, making Yoongi chuckle softly. Yoongi closes the gap and presses further, allowing Jimin to lie comfortably, and he licks and sucks at Jimin's soft, sinful mouth. 

"Sorry for ruining the mood with talking," Jimin mutters against Yoongi's lips.

Yoongi hums as he licks into Jimin's warm, petal mouth, opening him wide; making space. Jimin tastes so delicately sweet yet heady, and Yoongi has no choice but to chase every nuanced flavor, eager to discover more. Jimin's hums and groans are music to Yoongi's ears, and he swallows each sound with ease. 

Rather than lifting his head, Yoongi simply stops kissing, letting his lips rest on Jimin, who smiles. Yoongi wishes he could adequately communicate just how important every little thing Jimin thinks, feels, and needs is, to him. 

"Discussing boundaries is never a mood killer," Yoongi insists against his lips. "I never want you to hold anything back."

"Thank you, hyung," Jimin mutters, leaving pecks of soft kisses along Yoongi's mouth and chin.

"Don't thank me for doing the bare minimum, Jiminah. You deserve to be cared for."

The way Jimin squeals and wiggles beneath him makes his smile go lopsided. Yoongi lifts his head just enough to watch Jimin's cheeks flush, taking in the beauty of his shimmery and black makeup smudged around his eyes. 

"Shut up," Jimin groans.

"Shut me up," Yoongi challenges with a waggle of his eyebrows. 

Jimin tilts his chin up once more, chasing a kiss. As Yoongi leans down, giving into his desire, one warm hand wraps around his half-hard cock, making him shiver and groan; this certainly is one way to get him to stop talking. 

"Want you again, Yoongi," Jimin pleads into Yoongi's open mouth, tugging on his cock. "Need you."

"You have me, baby," Yoongi practically moans, licking against Jimin's lips as his arousal simmers and warms him. "Turn over, on your stomach."

Jimin nods as he deepens the kiss, licking eagerly into Yoongi's mouth, sighing as Yoongi pushes and pulls with his tongue. When Jimin breaks the kiss, fingertips dig into Yoongi's neck and shoulder, and both men are panting, thickening the air between them with moist warmth. 

Jimin begins to wiggle around onto his side, then his stomach, and Yoongi stays where he is, caging him in with his arms and lifting his knees one after the other to accommodate Jimin's legs. Once Jimin is settled, Yoongi leans forward and presses his lips to the back of Jimin's neck, nipping and swirling his tongue as Jimin moans, back bowing delicately – trembling.

Yoongi kisses down the curve of Jimin's spine, crawling backward onto his knees. He sucks marks at the top of Jimin's ass, nipping and licking over dewy-smooth skin and lifting his hands to cup and squeeze. As he sits up, he kneads gently into Jimin's perfect, pillowy flesh, spreading him wide. Jimin's puffy rim glistens with leaked cum, and Yoongi wets his lips as he runs two fingertips over the mess before pressing deep inside. 

Jimin moans loudly, broken and debauched, as Yoongi fingers his tight asshole, feeling his own cum squelch, icky and enticing. He looks around for the bottle of lube and leans back, allowing his fingers to be slowly released as he reaches for it with his free hand. 

"You sure you can keep going?" Yoongi asks as he flicks the lube bottle open with his thumb, caressing the soft swell of Jimin's ass and thigh. 

"I'm not fragile, hyung," Jimin whimpers with his hands beside his head, clutching onto the comforter that has been bunched up and pushed out of the way. 

"Never said you were," Yoongi smiles fondly, squirting lube into his palm and working it over his cock, hissing from the sensation on his tender skin. "Just don't want to push you too far."

Jimin groans a pitchy sound that Yoongi assumes is impatience. "We already discussed this. My safe word is strawberry, hyung. Please fuck me."

Yoongi rubs his lubed hand sloppily over Jimin's hole, nibbling his lip as Jimin bucks and trembles against him. "Say that last part again."

There is a second of hesitation, followed by a soft sigh that makes Yoongi grin. He opens his mouth to ask again nicely, but Jimin beats him to it, muttering, "Please fuck me, Yoongi."

Jimin spreads his thighs flat against the bed and extends his legs straight, laying in a perfect split, and Yoongi gasps at the sight of him. He leans forward to accommodate the new height, gripping onto his length with one hand and Jimin's hip with the other. With a devious giggle, Jimin begins to bounce his ass, clapping his cheeks softly in a show that has Yoongi absolutely reeling. 

Without a moment more to spare, Yoongi leans forward on his knees and lines himself up with Jimin's rim, using his non-sticky hand to guide one of Jimin's hips. "You're a fucking menace," he groans as he presses in, in, in, spearing Jimin open as they whine and moan in tandem, feeling pleasure burst through his limbs like rays of warm, alluring light. 

"Squeezing me, baby," Yoongi rasps as he slowly slides out, giving Jimin no time to adjust. He places both hands on Jimin's hips and begins to rock his body, fucking into Jimin without moving his own hips. The delicate, elongated stretch of Jimin's mesh clad legs, right down to the tips of his pretty little toes has Yoongi torn between wanting to cherish him like something delicate or completely wreck him. 

"Such a slutty little dancer and you're all mine," Yoongi teases as he continues to rock Jimin's hips against him, watching his puffy rim swallow him whole. "What would your admirers think if they knew you wore a plug on stage while you were doing the splits to tease me?"

"Hyung," Jimin whines, burying his face down into the comforter. 

Yoongi slides his hands to the bed and leans forward, slowly thrusting his hips up and down while walking his hands up to Jimin's armpits, hovering nice and close. The scent of strawberry mixed with a faint, sweaty musk is sticky-sweet enticing, and Yoongi lets his eyes flutter closed as he takes a deep breath in. 

"You even performed for all of our friends wearing a toy," Yoongi rasps beside Jimin's ear. "What would they think of you?"

"Stop," Jimin whines, dragging the word long and whiny. 

Yoongi nuzzles his face against Jimin's nape, nipping at short pink hairs. "Alright, I'll stop teasing you, baby," he mutters sweetly, smiling at the sound of Jimin cooing happily. 

"Mmm, I like it," Jimin admits with a groan, making Yoongi nuzzle harder, grinning at the thought of Jimin feeling shy.

The smacking of skin is heard in lewd, rhythmic bursts. Yoongi fucks Jimin nice and steady, listening for the strained "Ah!" that punctuates each thrust, huffing small sounds of his own. 

Yoongi begins to sit back, careful not to let his hips lose too much rhythm. Once on his knees, Yoongi spreads Jimin wide with both hands and leans his weight into him, fucking him much faster. Jimin jiggles hypnotically, and Yoongi gives him light spanks to each cheek, unable to resist playing with him; delighted by the sound of him squealing. 

"Hyung, I want to cum again," Jimin cries, gripping the floral blanket tight. 

Yoongi wants to watch him cum – wants to touch and tease his cock while praising him and making him sob. As he slowly pulls out, Jimin trembles and groans in protest. Yoongi gives his ass a couple of light taps and mutters, "On your back." 

"Hyung" Jimin complains, elongating the word, making Yoongi smirk. 

Jimin crawls slightly forward and bends at the knees, then flops onto his side, huffing dramatically as if he cannot be bothered to move a single inch more. 

"I know, I know," Yoongi mutters, grabbing Jimin by the hips and pulling him the rest of the way onto his back. Jimin squeals and laughs, spreading his legs wide while watching with eager, mascara-smudged eyes as Yoongi continues to position him right where he wants him. 

"Sorry I can't choose between wanting to see your ass and wanting to see your face," Yoongi grumbles defensively while pumping his cock and reaching for the bottle of lube. He squirts some directly onto his shaft – cool liquid on warm skin – and he smears it in one stroke.

"Wow, and they say chivalry is dead," Jimin teases, lifting his eyebrows playfully with a grin. 

Yoongi slides his length into Jimin's tight warmth in one swift movement, and Jimin's grin falls agape as his back arches. He lets out a deep, pleased moan that Yoongi mirrors with a slow intake of air, filling his lungs. The curve of Jimin's neck, along his chest, and down to his tummy bows delicately taut, and Yoongi maps each inch with his eyes, stunned by his beauty. 

When Jimin settles slowly onto his back, Yoongi reaches forward and slots two fingers into Jimin's mouth. Jimin clamps his lips closed and gently sucks as Yoongi begins to set a steady pace with his hips. 

"Good boy," he praises, and Jimin's eyes blow wide. "So fucking good for me. So pretty and tight and perfect."

Jimin anchors himself onto his elbows, muttering something that sounds like a question, and Yoongi nods, smiling sweetly down at Jimin, watching his hard, leaking cock slap his tummy with each thrust. 

"Perfect, pretty Jiminah. And you're all mine."

More sounds are uttered around Yoongi's fingers as Jimin's eyes roll and his head bobs with the rocking of their bodies. Yoongi reaches between them and rolls his palm over the tip of Jimin's cock, eliciting his eyes to open big and round. 

Already, Jimin looks dazed, back draped slightly with his head held up only enough to suck on Yoongi's fingertips, supported against his elbows. Jimin's fingers slowly dance over the material of his green floral sheet, legs flayed lazily around Yoongi's hips. 

Yoongi slowly tugs at Jimin's length, making him whimper and sputter incoherently. Jimin rocks his hips and squeezes around Yoongi in a rhythm matching Yoongi's thrusts – must be chasing his own high. Seeing Jimin looking dazed and eager to cum again, stuffed with fingers and cock, Yoongi's mind races as he attempts to sort out how he got so fucking lucky.

"'S good," Jimin whines, dropping his head back and letting Yoongi's drool-slick fingers drag over his chin. 

Yoongi continues his pace – a deliberate roll of hips – letting his fingers slowly fall past Jimin's chin, to his chest, tracing curves and dips until finally taking hold of him around the ribs. Gradually, Jimin's arms give way, and he lies back – head first, then shoulders, sinking deeper against green flowers with his eyes hazy and wide. 

"Are you floaty, Jiminah?" Yoongi asks sweetly, wetting his salty-dry lips. 

Jimin hums and crooks a lazy smile, lifting his hands slowly to rub over his pecs and tummy. Yoongi follows the movements, feeling affection swirl and swell behind his ribs. At this pace, he thinks he could fuck Jimin for an eternity if he tried; his pleasure simmers just below the surface nice and steady, with no risk of boiling over too soon. 

"Ah—Yoongi," Jimin gasps, chest heaving and falling. "I'm—"

Yoongi rolls his palm over Jimin's tip and gives him a firm enough squeeze to make him sob. 

"Gonna cum, pretty?" he asks. 

Wide-eyed and mouth droopy-round, Jimin nods. His lips form shapes unvoiced, and Yoongi continues to roll and squeeze, languidly syncopating his quicker thrusts. 

"Cum for me, baby. Get nice and messy."

Jimin's eyes flutter, and his back arches slowly, head and heels digging into the mattress. "Please, please, please," he mutters softly like a prayer, palms flaying and squeezing above his ribs. 

"Relax and let go," Yoongi urges sweetly. "Let yourself float."

As if reacting on command, Jimin's body goes rigid and taut before quaking and sinking – thunder growling from his depths and dispersing out. He spurts tiny piles of cum onto Yoongi's fingers and palm, mouth forming softly-uttered stormy sounds. Even in the throes of incomprehensible bliss, every little thing Jimin does is eloquent; a performer and a muse. 

"Harder," Jimin groans, taking Yoongi by surprise. "P-please, Yoongi, need you."

Yoongi grips Jimin's hips with both hands, smearing cum on his sweat-slick, goosebumped skin. He picks up a pace that has Jimin's legs lifting and stretching, and Yoongi slings both calves against his shoulders before leaning in and taking hold of his hips once more. 

Jimin wails, eyes squeezed as if pained, licking and biting at his reddened lower lip. His arms lift and fall around his head, and he grips onto the bunched-up pink and orange comforter.

"This how you want it?" Yoongi asks, feeling his high build and build, impossible to hold at bay.

"Mmm, 's good," Jimin slurs, opening his eyes wide and smiling before his face falls back into a state of lazy bliss. 

Yoongi would love for Jimin to cum once more but has no idea whether he can. His cock is limp and resting against his patch of cutely trimmed pubic hair, jostling with each slam of Yoongi's hips against his thighs. 

"Not gonna last at this pace," Yoongi warns through grit teeth, his high climbing fast toward its breaking point. 

"Fill me," Jimin mutters dazedly. "Make me messy."

"Say my name," Yoongi rasps as he fights the urge to squeeze his eyes closed, gripping harshly to Jimin's soft hips. 

"Yoo—" Jimin sighs, bowing his back. "Yoongi. Please, Yoongi."

Pleasure courses through Yoongi, flowing like lava in his bloodstream. He keeps his pace steady, holding back from slamming too fast or too deep. Cum and lube squelch around his cock, and the thought of watching it drip from Jimin's used, puffy hole is just the push he needs to reach orgasm. 

"Fuck, Jiminah," Yoongi groans, dragging blunt fingernails in streaks along Jimin's sides. "I'm—ahh, fuck!"

Yoongi's body tenses and releases in waves of pleasure – white-hot and overwhelming. He quakes as he spurts his cum into Jimin's begging, fluttering hole, babbling nonsense, attempting to praise, failing around each syllable. Jimin sobs and squeezes, trying but failing to reach for Yoongi. 

With a chuckle, Yoongi leans forward, hands slipping and crashing into the mattress, dripping sweat from his forehead to Jimin's chest. Now that he is within reach, Jimin reaches and clings, grabbing Yoongi's shoulders and yanking down until Yoongi gives in and falls forward. Pleasure continues to tremble through him – chest heaving and jumpy as he does his best to settle and relax. 

"Holy shit," he mutters into Jimin's clavicle, covering his face in sweat. "That was—"

"Amazing," Jimin coos. 

Yoongi smiles and nods, kissing anywhere his lips reach in slow movements. "Amazing."

Where they lay in the center of the bed, Yoongi is unable to stretch his legs far before hitting the headboard, so they stay in a ball while he catches his breath and litters Jimin's shoulder, neck, and chin with affection. It takes time, but Jimin begins to come back to earth, clinging a little more purposefully. 

"You made me messy," he mutters with more clarity than Yoongi has heard for a while. 

"Lemme see," Yoongi says as he sits up, groaning from his soft cock sliding from where it was nestled nice and warm. 

Jimin groans shyly, covering his face with his hands as Yoongi sits up and lifts his spread legs. He puts up a tiny amount of resistance, but Yoongi holds firmly, nibbling his lip, trusting Jimin to use his safe word if he really does not want to be teased. 

Dropping a leg to the side, Yoongi uses his thumb to press pearly liquid back into Jimin's puckered hole, grinning like an idiot when Jimin whimpers, legs shaking. 

"Messy baby," Yoongi teases, earning his arm a light smack from Jimin's foot. 

Yoongi pulls his fingers away and watches as Jimin tenses, causing the cum to dribble back out. He rubs his hands over Jimin's shins and calves, watching as Jimin heavy-blinks at the ceiling. 

"Shower?"

Jimin's gaze finds Yoongi's, and he smiles, then nods. "Carry me?" he asks with a cute bat of his lashes that makes Yoongi's heart go haywire.

And although Yoongi makes a show of rolling his eyes and being indignant, he gets up and stretches, then turns his back to Jimin and taps his shoulder. 

"Get on."

"Ooh, piggyback?" Jimin shouts, and Yoongi turns his head in time to see Jimin sit high on his knees and fling himself over Yoongi's shoulders. 

Yoongi links his arms around sweaty thighs and has to bend and hop a few times to get Jimin in place – a mildly humiliating task while nude – then he is off, kicking discarded clothing items along the way. 

"We should take a bath," Jimin mutters into Yoongi's shoulder. 

Yoongi hums and nods, turning left into the hallway and again into the bathroom. "Anything you want."

Although Yoongi would love to dote on Jimin hand and foot, he is grateful when Jimin slides off his back and begins the bath, finding sweetly-scented bubble products to squeeze into the stream and controlling the temperature. Jimin slides out of the lace garter and mesh stockings, and sinks into the tub when the water is barely a few inches high. Yoongi presses a kiss on his forehead before leaving to fetch a glass of cool water from the kitchen, lingering just a moment to take in the sunflower pan holders and mismatched cooking utensils. 

Yoongi returns with the glass to his lips, taking slow, steady sips and smiling over the rim. 

"Sit up and drink this," he instructs a sleepy Jimin, whose cheeks are pinkened from the warm water. 

Once the bath is full, Yoongi slots himself behind Jimin, fitting perfectly with his legs outstretched. He rubs Jimin's shoulders and litters him with kisses. And when the water cools, he insists they shower off, helping Jimin finger the cum from his ass while licking deep into his mouth. 

"I could get used to this," Jimin groans as Yoongi wraps a towel tightly around his hips and uses another to squeeze the remaining water from his hair. 

"Good," Yoongi responds against his lips, finding it impossible to spend too many minutes without touching and kissing. "Want you to get used to this."

"Stay the night," Jimin whines, wrapping his arms around Yoongi's middle and walking him backward out of the bathroom. 

Yoongi smiles and nips at petal lips. "That was the plan."

"Stay tomorrow night, too," Jimin groans as they hobble out into the hallway, bumping Yoongi's elbow against the doorframe enough to make him hiss. 

"Won't you get tired of me?" Yoongi barely utters slightly pained against Jimin's soft, greedy mouth.

Jimin releases their hug and pulls Yoongi by the hand back to bed. He has a pep in his step as he gathers his phone – shutting off the music, finally – and finds the lube bottle tangled in the blanket. 

"Doubtful," Jimin finally says as he crawls into bed and plops down, yanking Yoongi's hand until he sits and lays beside him. 

"Alright," Yoongi grins, wrapping himself around Jimin and pulling him close, chest to chest, on their sides. His hair is still damp, but he is unconcerned when Jimin beckons so adamantly. With a gentle teasing tone, he says, "I'll cancel all my foreseeable plans and live only to serve you."

Jimin smiles and hums, saying, "Good," into Yoongi's mouth. 

In a tangle of tongues and limbs, Yoongi sighs and sinks, unable to hold back the affection that overflows from him. He thinks he could also get used to this. 

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