#i made a menu and outfits too to match the vibes

[miss-celestial-being]

i made a diner im really proud of on the sims 4 today and i was hoping yall could check it out

i use console so i dont have any pictures or anything but its called "50s American Diner" and my ID is @/misscelestialsim

i worked on it off and on for like a week and i think it looks pretty cool

it does use a couple packs but not nearly as many as i normally use and most only use like one item so its not really needed

i hope this was enough to encourage someone to check it out even though restaurants are really buggy

[tommydarlings]

Save a horse, ride a cowboy | a.b

pairing: dom!cowboy!austin x sub!reader

warnings: smut, chocking, mirror sex

w/c: 1.1k

summary: 'Save a horse, ride a cowboy' is a saying that’s been in your mind for quite a long time already and you were always able to resist your wild fantasy… until now.

check this out: my masterlist <3 // my ko-fi to support me! <3 // my PayPal to support me! <3 // my Patreon to become a member! (get access to +20 works) // Save a Life carrd made by me! <3 

As soon as you saw your boyfriend, Austin, wearing his light brown cowboy hat that he was allowed to keep after a photo shot, you knew that it was over for you.

You talked about the term 'roleplaying' with your friends before, but never with Austin. It’s not that you are ashamed of admitting that you want to try it with him, but you just didn’t know how to bring this kind of conversation up…

Hey baby, could you please pretend to be a cowboy from Texas and fuck me?

Hey sweetheart, why don’t you let me ride you in that nice little cowboy hat that you got?

To be honest — the saying 'save a horse, ride a cowboy, doesn’t exist for no reason… right?

You dreamed of it, fantasised of it, even thought about while he was fucking you — but you just never knew how to approach him and tell him your biggest wish.

Until today.

“I really like this place.” You told your boyfriend of about only 5 months while you let your eyes explore the fancy place that Austin picked out for tonight’s date night.

An old, rather small, restaurant that carries the perfect Texas/Cowboy vibe.

The perfect occasion for Austin to wear his shirt covered in blue and white flowers, paired with a normal black jeans and dark brown cowboy boots.

You were literally about to scream.

“Yeah, me too, I love this cowboy vibe, they really designed all of that, perfectly.” Austin explained with a tiny grin on his oh so soft lips.

You smiled at your boyfriend who’s sitting right at the opposite site of the small wooden table, gently putting your menu card back down after you decided to go for the classic, chicken wings with the good old barbecue sauce.

“Chicken wings with barbecue sauce?” The handsome man in the cowboy outfit, which is by the way making you feel feral, asked you.

You nodded, “yep.”

“Me too.” The waiter quickly then came and wrote your orders down before he left your table again.

“Have I already told you that you look drop dead gorgeous, my love?” He asked you, leaning his chin on your palm as he admired you with those ocean blue eyes.

You giggled, “Yes, like a thousand times already, sweetheart.” You replied.

For today’s date night, you picked a cute summer dress paired with a brown leather jacket and brown cowboy boots, basically matching with your handsome boyfriend who’s eyes just can’t seem to leave your figure.

“Good, because you really do look stunning, my pretty girl.” Austin whispered, hand reaching up to brush a piece of hair behind your ear as you smiled and bit your lip.

His smile slightly dropped, “Don’t do that.”

You furrowed your brows at his sudden change, “Don’t do what?” You curiously asked him.

“Don’t bite your lip, not here.” He muttered before you saw in the corner of your eye that the waiter already made his way over to your table.

“Sorry.” You mumbled with a smile before he nodded winked at you, making you blush before you two started to enjoy your chicken wings.

- - -

“Are you sure that you're okay? You looked a bit tensed up tonight, suga.” Your sweet (and unimaginable hot, handsome and sexy) boyfriend asked you as soon as he started the engine of his black Cadillac and drove you two home.

You gulped, squeezing your thighs together before you briefly glanced over into the direction of your boyfriend.

“Yeah, no, I-I mean, yes, I am o-okay.” You said as you slowly brushed your hands over your dress right above your panties, desperately trying to hide the fact that your are unbelievably horny right now.

Austin smirked and bit his lip as he noticed how your hands clutched onto your pretty dress that he bought you a few days ago.

After he caught your starring up at his brown cowboy hat, he started to speed through the noisy streets of California like a mad man, hands having the thin wheel in a tight grip as you gulped and furrowed your brows.

You waited in your seat as soon as you arrived at home, knowing that Austin gets a bit mad every time when you open the car door by yourself since he always says that a real gentleman always opens the car door for his beautiful women.

“Here you go, sweetness.” He mumbled after opening your door and offering you his hand to take it and intertwining your fingers with his.

You smiled up at your man, “thank you, baby.”

“No problem, my love.” He said before he fished his key out of the pocket of his black jeans and swiftly opened the big door, letting you enter first.

While Austin helped you out of your jacket, you though about only one thing.

Save a horse, ride a cowboy.

And which moment would be better than this one now? Exactly, none. You’ll never know when he’s gonna wear this outfit ever again.

Austin came up behind you and pulled your back further onto his chest as his long arms slung themselves around your waist, thumb slowly caressing your skin.

“Austin?” You shyly spoke up, eyes now looking at him through the mirror.

“Yes, pretty girl.”

“Do you know the saying, 'save a horse, ride a cowboy'?”

Austin’s thumb suddenly stopped caressing your skin, arms now falling off of your waist before his big palms grabbed your hips, squeezing them while he gazed at you through the big mirror.

He gulped as you saw how his eyes got darker, “Of course I do, baby.” He answered. You nodded as you heard his raspy voice answering your question, not daring to say anything else as you started to blush.

Suddenly, Austin walked backwards, pulling your standing figure with him until the two of you landed onto the small red couch that’s placed right in front of the mirror.

Oh, that’s why he placed the mirror right in front of the couch.

His hands were still gently placed on your hips before you felt his mouth hovering above your ear, nose running along your red cheek.

“You wanna ride me while I’m dressed as a cowboy?” He asked you softly, hand now slowly making its way down to his belt, slowly opening it.

You couldn’t form a sentence right now, so you nodded.

“I wanna hear words out of that pretty and useful mouth, suga, words.” He replied to your nod, making you gasp as soon as he slid his jeans and boxers down and revealed his big erection.

Your hands had a rather tight grip onto your boyfriends jeans, “Yes, I w-wanna ride you.” You quietly told him.

“Go on, sweetheart.” Hips giving you a tiny thrust, making you aware of his erection as his hands slowly lifted your dress.

“dressed as a cowboy.” You finished the sentence in a soft and quiet tone. Austin proudly nodded,

“Then let’s save a horse and ride a cowboy, huh?” He mumbled into your ear before he gave the side of your neck a tiny peck and removed your already wet panties.

[acepalindrome]

SDV Aesthetic Mod Recommendations (1.6 Edition!)

I’m back with more mod recommendations that work with 1.6! This time, we’re gonna focus on stuff that mainly just changes how things look: recolors, portraits, animal skins, etc. No major gameplay changes, but the visual changes can really enhance the experience or make the game feel totally different! Again, links will be in a reblog. And you can check my ‘sdv mods’ tag for my other recommendation post!

So starting off, recolors. I have three that I really love: Vibrant Pastoral Recolor, DaisyNiko’s Earthy Recolor, and Starblue Valley.

They all tone down the saturation and give everything a softer, more natural look. Vibrant Pastoral is probably my favorite because it makes the scythe-able grass look like it’s full of wildflowers! Also of note, Starblue Valley’s 1.6 update is a work in progress, so some parts might not be properly recolored. It’s such a pretty recolor, but you might want to just track the mod for now while they’re hammering out the kinks.

Next up, portraits! First, I wanna talk about Seasonal Outfits.

I love that vanilla has beach and winter outfits now, and this mod takes that ten times further! Not only are there outfits for every season (with matching sprites), there are also unique outfits for festivals! I love all the Halloween costumes for Spirits Eve! There are seasonal mods for Stardew Valley Expanded and Ridgeside Village too!

Next, Nyapu’s Portraits.

I love the cute, old school Harvest Moon vibe these have, but one of the really great things is that Nyapu has made portraits for almost every modded character in existence. I’m fussy about getting my portraits to match, because it’s just weird when you’ve got totally different art styles for different characters, and that is a non-issue with this collection! If there’s a character mod, there is probably a Nyapu portrait. SVE and RSV are just the tip of the iceberg! Also Nyapu is a real life farmer when they aren’t making adorable portraits, which I think is just cool!

I made a post earlier about Elle’s Cuter Coop Animals/Barn Animals/Cats/Dogs/Horses, but it’s worth mentioning again because they’re just too cute and the huge variety of different colors and species is unmatched.

And I mean. Highland cows. Just look at them. Elle also has mods for seasonal farm buildings and farmhouse kitchens with lots of different options! You really can’t go wrong with any of Elle’s mods.

And speaking of farm buildings, one of my absolute favorites is Gwen’s Medieval Buildings, and matching mod, Gwen’s Medieval Craftables.

The antique, overgrown vibes are just gorgeous.

If I do UI recolors, I usually just pick one that matches my recolor (Vibrant Pastoral, Earthy Recolor, etc) but I recently discovered Lavender Dreams UI Recolor and I adore it.

The colors are just so nice and soft, and the accents of moss and leaves in the menu is just delightful.

I’m on mobile and running out of pictures, so I’ll just talk about the next three that change your character. First is Female Farmer Overhaul. Despite the name, everything is available to any gender, although the style is definitely more feminine. It adds a lot of new hairstyles, clothes, hats, and has the option of short or long sleeves so you’re dressed appropriately for the season!

Next is Animated Hair. It makes your hair move as you run, use tools and so on. There are lots of hairstyles and it just looks so nice!

And one last one, Expressive Elf Ears. Like Animated Hair, they move around with your character! They are so floppy! If you want a little fantasy flavor to your character, they’re a must.

And that’s all for now! I might do content adding mods next time!

[fruitymocha]

A Cottagecore Picnic with The Butlers Part 1: First Floor Edition

That time when the First Floor butlers took you on a cottagecore picnic

Featuring: Berrien Cliane, Bastien Kelly, Lono Fontaine (separate) x gn!Reader (you/your pronouns) (can be read as platonic, romantic, whatever you want)

Warnings: none :)

A/N: oh my goodness FINALLY, something Akuneko related! I had this idea for a while, but debated on whether I should actually use it for Akuneko or some other fandom, but I figured “this is a good topic to start with for them” so here we are. I was supposed to post this forever ago but lost motivation/passion for this for months. But now I’ve come back to the fandom with a fresh dedication (and also I have the game on my phone now, despite not knowing very much Japanese). But anyway, without further ado:

Let me restore your memory…

Is he making the food and drinks for the picnic? Of course he is! He can’t have the Master doing work, silly!

Obviously, you’d feel a little guilty for not doing anything (or at least I would-) so maybe you secretly made madeleines and snuck them into the basket because you know he loves them

I’m 99.999% sure Berrien planned everything weeks in advance, from the menu to the location, maybe even the specific outfits to wear (though he probably consulted Flure for that last part)

Obviously, this means that Berrien has the perfect spot for the two of you as well as the time

He brought bug spray, sunscreen, lip balm, the works! Also, he brought an umbrella just in case it rains. Can’t have the Master getting soaked to the bone and getting sick, right?

I can see him choosing a lovely open space with green grass as the location, and you’re absolutely under a giant tree for the purpose of staying in the shade (bonus points if there’s a body of water close by, like a river or lake)

You’re going there maybe a little too early for lunch (you arrive at 11:30 sharp because punctuality), but you start eating at around noon so it’s fine

Oh, and like the title says, this is a cottagecore picnic. It’s not cottagecore if there are no flowers, so you get your favorite flowers because you’re the Master and you deserve flowers.

Also, that means your outfits are very light colored and give off that fresh spring vibe

And perhaps you did a thing behind Berrien’s back again and decided to wear something that matches his outfit’s colors, even though he’s technically lower in social standing, but you cannot be stopped (and matching outfits does seem like a proper thing to do when it’s just the two of you and you’re in public)

So besides the madeleines you made as an attempt to contribute, what are you having on that picnic?

For savory food, he’s got various types of finger sandwiches, he’s got a charcuterie board (you know, those assortments of cheese and cured meats, probably with crackers too) unless you’re vegetarian/vegan, a platter of some assorted fruit slices and berries, and the “main” thing is two baguette sandwiches (if you follow a diet just imagine what’s in it is okay for you to eat)

For the drink of choice, he obviously brought his own tea blends as well as some classic teas for you, because this is Berrien we’re talking about here

Are we sure this is a picnic and not just a tea party on the ground?

Anyways, now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for: dessert

Berrien packed some fruit tartlets, some with strawberries, some with blueberries, some with kiwi, and some were just mixed fruit

And then of course he’d notice the madeleines as he’s unpacking everything, which leads to you awkwardly explaining how you felt bad for not doing anything to help so you made them to try and contribute

Which leads to a mini spiel about your position and how you not doing anything while the butlers do everything is what’s supposed to happen

But he’ll let it slide this once since you went through all the trouble and you had him in mind when you made the madeleines

Let’s just pretend you’re decent at baking here, and say the madeleines were pretty good

Good times for all :)

Except the fact that there are leftovers, and then you two stare at each other like “we’re gonna have to bring all of this back to the manor…”

But it’s fine, you’ll just eat the leftovers for dinner (even if some obscure etiquette book says it’s weird for nobles to do that or something)

So you pack up the leftovers and just sit and chat for a while after

Maybe if you’re up for it you even take a little stroll in the park

But obviously with the town’s canonically negative sentiments towards you and the butlers, you really can’t stay too long, so soon enough you have to go back to the manor

It’s okay though, you had the time of your life and you’d definitely want to do something like this again

Let’s be honest, it’s going to take a lot of convincing before he actually agrees for you to plan this cottagecore picnic

I mean really, he has the skills and attitude of a proper knight, of course your safety is top priority

But let’s say you use your brain and convince him by saying if he chooses a secluded spot and stays with you the whole time, it’s very unlikely you’ll be hurt

And if he brings up the Angel problem, just promise you’ll bring the book and tell him he’ll be coming along to protect you

In that case, he’ll say he’s coming with only for the sake of your safety, and it’s not exactly a lie, it’s just not the whole truth

To assume he’s not curious about this picnic of yours would be naïve. Of course he wants to see what kinds of food you bring (and maybe taste test a little)

So obviously you tried to make food behind his back but he caught you so he made you sit back down and tried his hand at it

It wasn’t too bad of an experience, actually, since he’s helped Lono in the kitchen before

There were no sweets made, but the menu was satisfying nonetheless

The location was atop a grassy hill where you could oversee the village nearby, and occasionally there were some clumps of weeds and wildflowers around.

You two got there at around 11:00 am, and planned to only be there for about an hour and a half

On the menu, there was meat stew (if you’re vegetarian/vegan, then it’s only for Bastien), crackers and hummus, multigrain bread, vegan herb quiche, and lemon tea

Being the Master you are though, you snuck behind his back and made yourself some apple hand pies

It’s still spring, so obviously you wanna wear something nice, and I think in this case Bastien will wear mid tone blues or greens

Meanwhile you’d probably wear whatever, since it never occurred to Bastien that you might want to coordinate outfits

There were no leftovers. None. I can guarantee it at least on Bastien’s end

He’ll never say it out loud, but he appreciated this quiet little picnic, and with some convincing, he may consider doing it again at some point

Needless to say, it was a success :)

Absolutely on board

He immediately starts planning the menu, and of course since he makes the food, it’s guaranteed to be bomb af

Of course you also tried to help but you weren’t even able to sneak behind his back and make stuff this time

He’s real serious about not having you lift a finger

As long as you promise to bring the book just in case of angels, he’s all for it

He probably chose a more wooded area so as not to risk any passersby finding you two (for safety reasons obviously)

You two went out at noon and brought basics like sunscreen, bug spray, and extra water, setting up in a small clearing in the woods

At some point Lono probably picks some wildflowers and gives them to you, which is such a sweet gesture

Are your outfits matching? Not at first glance, but the color palette is similar enough that you could make the argument

For the food, Lono decided to get real serious about it and made French onion soup, veggie pot pie, a vegetable focaccia, wild garlic pasta, and a mixed berry galette

As for the drinks, he brought white tea and violet lemonade

Obviously you being you, you gotta compliment the chef

And naturally Lono is happy about it, even if he does say it’s just part of the job

Another case of leftovers but instead of letting it go to waste, Muu gets to try some of it

Of course you aren’t allowed the leftovers because health reasons (I hear that leftovers, especially ones you have to reheat, aren’t the best for you)

But anyway you had a great time out there and Lono would be glad to go again if he also didn’t have to worry about making more food than normal

A lovely ending to a lovely event with these First Floor Butlers

~memory restored~

[safetycar-restart]

Oh those fabio thought, i need sleep so bad but all i can think of is bestest boy himbo fabio.

Like theres so many pictures of him on having like hotgirlsummer vibes, just him on a boat with you and wearing nothing but his collar and sunscreen. Lying in the shade on the warmest and sunniest parts of the day as you edge him, getting dressed to go to dinner and him not having to think even out around people,just chilling and folöowing you.

Also re clothes would ds au Fabio be into lingerie? Weve established hes got several collars to mixand match with his outfits, but does he like wear your panties or more like lingerie made for men? Cause fitting issues. Hed look very pretty in lace. And painted nails.

Cheers and soon zzzz🏍 anon

After the fucking chaos of today’s sprint, I think we all need some soft smutty Fabio thoughts (also I’ve been in such a Fabio mood lately lads please keep indulging by sub!fabio obsession).

Firstly, Fabio THRIVES on holiday with you. He insists on getting at least a few days with you alone, so that he can be shamelessly horny with you on a boat. He must be horny with you on a boat for at least 4 days during every break. Yes this is a requirement.

Absolutely adore the idea that he’s naked except for his collar. Honestly I think that’s fabio’s standard outfit at home with you? Or at least, it would be if Andorra wasnt so fucking cold all the time.

So when it’s just you two in a boat somewhere sunny and warm? Clothes are absolutely optional. Bonus points if you decide to sunbathe topless because Fabio will lose his fucking mind.

And of course he must have sunscreen on!! You carefully monitor how much time he spends in the sun and how much sunscreen he wears, never letting him spend too long in the sun when the sun is at its peak and making sure he waits for the sunscreen to settle before he goes in the water, etc.

If you weren’t there this would never get done. But because you’re there and you’re his Dom and you’re telling him what to do and putting on sunscreen for him and praising him for listening…. Yeah he’ll do it. He’ll do literally whatever you say.

(Sidenote: you keep this up when all his friends join and this has the absolutely hilarious consequence of you accidentally ending up managing Tony’s sun exposure too because he just does whatever Fabio does)

But anyway, he’s very happy. He gets so much time in the sun and so much attention and it’s the best. You edge him throughout the day and even though it drives him insane, he absolutely loves it.

I also think he gives you head all the time? Just you and Fabio on the deck, Fabio eating you out and grinding against the couch you’re laying on. He’s completely naked and he’s got your swimsuit pulled to the side for access. You’ve got your hand in his hair and your leg over his shoulder and he’s in absolute heaven. Absolutely zero thoughts.

And then going for dinner!! He’s smiles all round the entire evening. He doesn’t even look at the menu because you make all the decisions and he just hands over the card at the end of the meal like the good boy he is.

And ok ok we need to talk about lingerie for a second:

I think it’s the one aspect of fashion that Fabio is actually insecure about? He’ll wear the most outrageous outfits that truly make your eyes hurt without a care in the world, but he can’t even hold a pair of panties without crying.

That being said, he wants to wear them!! So badly!! Specifically he wants to wear them for you!! He wants to match lingerie with his collar and present himself you like a pretty present for you to unwrap and play with.

But there’s something so… vulnerable about that fantasy of his? It’s not the same as wearing a ridiculous outfit because he thinks it looks good. This is…. This is about being pretty for his Dom. And he’s so scared.

I think you’d have to bring it up? Like one day you’re going over kink lists because you like to do that every couple of months to make sure you’re both on the same page. And to your surprise, Fabio stutters when you say feminisation. He’s never shown any interest before and he’s certainly never liked humiliation so you’re a little confused.

But slowly but surely he begins to open up about his fantasy and well… he’d look so pretty.

[omgitssodamaniac]

Strawberry Cheesecake (Erwin x Female!Reader)

»»——⍟——«« Author’s notes: Erwin x Female Reader (Modern AU) Erwin is a history teacher for a local high school, the best in the area. (Y/N) is a substitute teacher for the same prestigious school. »»——⍟——««

“Ah, I see that you’ve finally made it.”

The door to the café closes behind you, causing the bell to rattle and signal that someone had arrived. The smell of coffee and sweets consume you almost immediately. The day was drawing near a close, making the lighting that much better inside. Not only were there lights hanging from the ceiling to provide such a warm glow, but there were candles set on each table, all lit and flowing furiously in the breeze from the air conditioning. The ambience was enough to set anyone into a peaceful slumber.

Erwin Smith sits at a table a stone’s throw away to the door. A book is cracked open in front of him, to which he bookmarks and gently closes shut. His outfit matches the vibe of the café. He wears a long-sleeved white button up with a light brown vest overtop. His pants are khakis (when does he ever not wear khakis?) with dark brown dress shoes. His blond hair is perfectly swept to the side of his head – not a single hair is out of place.

“Am I late?” you ask, heading over to his table. He gestures to the open seat across from him for you to sit, to which you obliged and sat down. You tucked your dress beneath you to avoid sitting in the chair with your bare bum.

“Not at all,” he reassures you with a cheerful smile. A blush settles on his cheeks as he clears his throat. “You dressed lovely today, (Y/N). The dress matches perfectly with your eyes. I must say I am impressed with your style.”

You can feel your cheeks heating up from such a compliment. Erwin was never shy with his words and he always meant each one when it came to you. Sure, he could slip a lie with ease to others to get his way, however when you were the subject, he could never lie. He found it more difficult than scrubbing out a wine stain from a white shirt. Something about you made it hard for him to be untruthful toward you.

“Thank you!” you exclaim and set your hands in your lap. “You look handsome today, too. I’m not saying that because you just complimented me. You actually beat me to it. You correspond with the café in terms of colors! Like you were just meant to be here.”

Erwin lowers his head, although a smile spreads across his lips barely visible for you to see. “Your words are appreciated, (Y/N),” he says, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “Now, what would you like to order? I hadn’t yet, as I wished to wait for you to arrive. This is what they have to offer.”

He hands you the menu to the café, which is only one page front and back. You were surprised that they listed so many items. They offer all sorts of things, such as different kinds of tea, coffee, sandwiches, and desserts. Images coincide with the most famous items every now and then. By title alone all of them sounded delicious.

A waiter comes over with a notepad and pen in hand. He wears a white dress shirt with a black apron. A name tag occupies the right corner of the apron reading ���Walter”. He has his light brown hair in a mess but his emerald green eyes sparkle with delight. He’s happy to work there! It serves as a breath of fresh air to see a worker who is not grumpy or counting down the minutes to go home.

“How may I serve you two today?” he asks, his voice as sweet as honey. He held up the pad and clicked the pen to take our order.

“I would like to get a green tea and strawberry cheesecake, please,” says Erwin while intertwining his fingers together and crossing his legs. It seems like he just proposed a big idea during a business meeting.

Walter nods along and scribbles his order onto the pad. “Yes, sir,” he answers. He lifts his head up to look at me. “And you, miss?”

“Ah, may I please get a. . .coffee? Sweetened, and I’d like to have a strawberry cheesecake slice, as well.” You smile up at him and slid the menu to the edge of the table for him to pick up.

The young boy writes the order beneath Erwin’s in shorthand you couldn’t possibly decipher. “Of course,” he hums. “Right away.” With that, he walks off to the bar to get to work. His hands move diligently throughout the surface, weaving in and out of machinery and dining ware.

“That boy there, the one who waited on us,” starts Erwin, his gaze fixated on Walter, “he’s a student of mine at the institution I teach. He is the hardest of workers and comes out at the top of the class every time. Not once have I not been amazed by his incredible talents.”

You take another look at Walter and hope he doesn’t catch the two of you gawking at him. He appears to not have a care in the world of who was watching him. His attention is consumed by his work and his work only. You, too, are impressed by this. No wonder Erwin provides him so big of praise.

“That’s fantastic,” you respond to Erwin, your gaze shifting to him. His smile is warming like a nice fireplace lit up in beautiful flames. His smile floored you every time you were granted the opportunity to see it. “I’m glad you have such a star pupil. I’m sure he reminds you of when you were younger, no? Weren’t you quite academically gifted, Erwin?”

He lets out a small chuckle. “Oh, you are spot-on as always,” he coos. “Yes, back in my day, I was at the top of the class. My grades were damn near perfect for every course, for each test and quiz and homework assignment. I made it my goal to come out at the top. Achieving that goal, I learned that my place was in the education department, and enrolled in university to become a professor. Now I teach history to high school students, my goal now extending to light that same passion, that same desire I possessed in my years in the students.”

This is the first time you hear about this. You had pondered before what drove him to be an educator, however didn’t push for such information to be brought to you. After all, it wasn’t your place to ask. He was your superior, meaning his life did not have to be spilled to you. The more you two got close, however, the more he began to tell you bits and pieces of his life. Hearing him talk so passionately about his career sparked a flame in your heart. No one cared that much about such a job, but then there is Erwin Smith.

“Dear, I’m sorry, was that too boring?” questions Erwin, resting his chin into his palm. “I humbly apologize, I tend to go on small tangents like that, and I’m afraid I end up going on for far too long.”

You shake your head and straighten your posture. “No, no! Not at all, I was just processing it all and taking it in. Thank you for telling me. I think it’s amazing what you’re doing and your reasoning makes it all the better. There needs to be more people like you, Erwin.”

A smile spreads across his face once more. He reaches out and takes your hand gently in his. He raises it up to his lips, kissing your knuckles. “Thank you,” he whispers. “Hearing that truly made my day.”

“One coffee for the mistress, one tea for the gentleman, and two strawberry cheesecakes!” Walter interrupts the moment, causing Erwin to let go of your hand, as the waiter sets down the two mugs and plates. “Enjoy!”

The both of you thank Walter as he leaves you to be. The aroma of the sweets and drinks are heavenly. Is this truly Heaven? Everything is far too perfect – the ambience, the aromas, Erwin, the- Nevermind. Continuing.

“How has the school system been treating you, (Y/N)?” Erwin questions you as he brings the cup to his lips. He takes a long sip as his eyes gaze into yours.

You wrap your fingers around the white mug you had been given that held your coffee. “The administration has been treating me well,” you explain to him. “I have yet to have any issues, so that’s good. The students aren’t that bad, either. They don’t act out when I take over and I can’t have any complaints about that.”

“Magnificent,” replies Erwin. He sets the cup down gently on the table. “If you do run into anything, please make sure to alert me immediately. I will take care of it right away.”

“I do appreciate it, Erwin,” you say. “But how about we move away from the school talk? How about something like. . .hobbies? What are your hobbies?”

The cake sitting in front of you is too enticing. The urge to resist finally whittled down and you picked up the fork. You dug into the dessert as Erwin began speaking, to which you tried to pay attention to but goddamn was this cake amazing.

“Traveling,” he begins. “ I have been to many countries before all over the world. My ultimate goal in life is to have explored every square inch of the Earth. I yearn to live in different areas to see the landscapes and to learn about the culture there.”

Erwin pulls his plate of strawberry cheesecake closer to him. He digs his fork into the sweet and takes it into his mouth. Humming, he covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he chews. His eyebrows furrowed together at the bridge of his nose as a smile returned to his lips.

You tell him about your hobbies while gesturing with your hands. Erwin listens to you speak and takes in each word you spill. He consumes his cake and drinks his green tea while doing so. He enjoys listening to your little monologues of your special interests. Whatever you are interested in, so is he, despite not completely understanding all the time. However, that was not going to stop him from learning about what makes you happy.

The two of you discuss similar things to hobbies, such as what one does in their free time and what is an ideal day for them. The conversation on no account dwindles in excitement. You both are able to keep it going with follow-up questions and what-if scenarios. Not long after did the pair of you finish your desserts and drinks. This café certainly made you to keep a mental note to revisit at a later date.

Suddenly, Erwin’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. He pulls it out and reads the interface, a swear soon leaving his lips. “It’s a colleague,” he announces. “It seems that there are a handful of students facing detention and no one can supervise them. I am the only one in the vicinity. I hate to leave you at a time like this, but someone must look after the kids.”

You rise to your feet and shake your head. “It’s alright,” you tell him. “It’s about time I get going home, anyway. It’s getting late. Thank you so much for this experience, I had a pleasant time.” Erwin arises and tucks in his chair to the table. He places his finger beneath your chin to lift up your head, Your gaze meets his when he presses his lips against yours. For a second, you could believe this was Heaven. That you had passed and this is the afterlife. He takes a step back and smiles warmly at you.

“I had a fantastic time, (Y/N),” he admits, holding his hand out for you to take. “I hope to do this again with you. Perhaps we can come again next week. I would love to have the strawberry cheesecake again. How about I walk you home before I go?”

[thedatingproject]

Date #3 - Dallas

Honestly I had a very good vibe about Dallas. I really, really thought I'd like this guy. But...I'm getting ahead of myself.

_

A little bit of facts about Dallas:

He is only a couple of days older than me. 8 days to be exact. We are both October babies.

He is very cute

He brings forth this happy "golden retriever" energy

He is committed to his work and loves what he does as a Data Analyst

Doesn't believe in star signs or MBTI kinda personality tests, and didn't let me analyze him beforehand...which I actually found interesting

He told me straight up that he wasn't looking to date casually. That he was serious about meeting someone who wants to build a life with him etc. I found that very attractive too.

He texted me everyday since we matched up (that's 10 days until the first date) sending cute voice notes and just catching up about our day-to-day stuff. I loved the energy he brought to each interaction

We have a couple of mutual friends so of course I asked one of the closest ones if he was a decent guy. She said she knew him when they were 19 and that he's really nice.

He loves to travel a lot

We both share a common love for food. We bonded over our love for Asian cuisine! It was something I found myself liking a lot about him

He's lived alone since he was 19 years old, since his parents split. He has one older brother. He loves his family, but isn't particularly close to them.

So those are the facts. None of them gave off major red flags or anything. Actually, all of them made me like him. Genuinely.

It's safe to say, I wanted this date to go well. I'm not really sure if it did.

--

The day of, he changed our venue from a Chinese restaurant that we both wanted to try to a fusion Asian restaurant that was fancier and in a different part of town (that had me rethinking my whole outfit in the last minute). At the time, I thought of it as effort, but now I realize it was because it was closer to his office. Still okay. All good.

He asked and confirmed the time with me as 6pm so that he could make a reservation. I'll admit. That literally gave me heart eyes. A guy who takes charge and makes a plan is something that is really attractive. You know, when the venue change happened, I thought I should tell him that maybe a reservation should be made but that would be me leading with my masculine energy - something I'm trying to avoid in my dating life. I don't want to be the one who controls everything. I'm glad I let it be so he could show more of himself.

Then at 5.45pm he texted me and asked if we could push it to 6.30pm as he was caught up with some work. If I had already left home, planning to be there at 6pm, and had no other plans in between, that last minute time change would have been inconvenient. I know myself. It would have annoyed me. Fortunately, I was already in the city and visiting my grandmother so it all worked out.

When I was booking the Uber, he asked if he could pick me from the office. Also fine. Why waste energy if it is already on the way? And it allowed us to arrive at the restaurant together without one of us having to wait awkwardly. Still good.

While we are walking to the restaurant through the car park, this guy was walking pretty fast and ahead of him. I'm a short girl. He is 5'10. To keep up with his stride, I'd have to run. I called out to him and told him so. I tried to be real cute about it too. "Please don't make me run on our first date. Will you slow down a bit?" I expected him to listen, not ignore me and keep walking at his pace, making me walk behind him like a puppy trailing after him. I think that was my first turn off.

The restaurant was nice. The vibe and the food was really good. He was familiar with the menu and thought we should order two shareable dishes. I agreed and let him make the decision for me, claiming I had decision fatigue from a long day but in reality I wanted to see how he would react to having to take charge. I think he did it well. He wasn't hard and fast about it. He gave me a few options and let me make the final decision.

He ordered me a really nice cocktail and one for him. While I was sipping that one cocktail, he ordered more. Throughout the night, I think he polished off 4 cocktails and 2 beers in total. For a first date on a Thursday, I felt that was a bit of a red flag. Or at least, it didn't match up with the values I was looking for.

The conversation flowed easily. He was unconventional, didn't beat around the bush with small talk about travel aspirations or what we liked to eat, and got down to the real stuff. The moment I said that I don't eat beef, he questioned it. Why? What is the religious reasoning? He wanted me to question myself and I kinda liked that. We talked about our standards for relationships and expectations in such a way that got deep and intellectual. This part, I actually liked.

When it came time to settle the bill, I offered to split. I ended up paying for all his drinks and I found that a little annoying. I could afford to pay but that's not the point. The man had 6 times what I had and we split equally. I found that disrespectful on a first date.

We both decided to part ways at 8.30pm. Me, because my friends were leaving and I hoped to share a ride with them. Him, because he had to go back to work to finish some stuff off.

His office was on the other side, a bit far from where my friends were going to pick me up. I swear to God. The man would have up and left me if I hadn't spoken up. Major red flag, for sure. At that moment, I thought to myself, screw going with the flow. I needed to prioritize my safety and therefore I flat out asked him to stay till my friends arrived.

I texted him a couple of hours later saying I had a good time. I didn't lie! At that time, I had not processed the date as a whole and was only focusing on how good the conversation felt not to be stuck on asking someone "what's your favorite color?" He said he felt the same.

Then after that, until the next morning, nothing. Nothing about if I got home safely. Nothing about whether he got home safely. I mean...I always thought that is like common courtesy. Isn't it? In the morning, he was like "Sorry I crashed last night." I still haven't really replied.

Should I go on a second date with this guy? What if this was all first date awkwardness?

I am still undecided.

[sugar-petals]

can you give us more thoughts about domestic yoongles? the taemin's one (wich I love) just made me miss the cat boy so much ;o;

i have a phd in househusband yoongi so let me fire out some ideas for ya.

myg at home headcanon

🐱 word count. 1.9k | fluff, slice of life, slight nsfw mentions, x reader, bullet points

The doorbell sound is a recording of Yoongi imitating a doorbell. He’s such a meme. Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

Seemingly, he teaches himself a new recipe every week. To perfection. Yoongi is very particular about sticking to the recipe and wielding his kitchen tools in the right way. He collects knives, olive oil, and still hates cutting onions.

He separates sleep time, work time, and couple time as the holy trinity. For each, he switches his mood.

Blushes easily no matter for how long you’ve been together.

Establishes his own radio show where he DJs at one point.

Yoongi keeps an extreme track on the garbage schedule. He knows exactly what is due when. Separating the trash is a must. That includes sorting out fake friends trying to get between your relationship. Your social circle as a couple is extremely deliberate.

Yoongi deems himself a terrible host for guests. Unless Hoseok is there to drag him out, it's true he rather stays in the kitchen or at the barbecue preparing the menu courses rather than making small talk. He leaves the hospitality bits to you, however you want to go about it.

What he lacks in conversing with guests, he makes up in bed, God is absolutely fair.

He sings and hums pretty often and has his own vernacular of extraterrestrial uwu noises. It's an alphabet that you have to yet decipher but it's incredibly cute.

Self-made paintings everywhere around his house. 

Yoongi hasn't gone clubbing since grammar school. The most he does is going to a restaurant at lunch with very close friends. And always in a work context. His private life is so secluded from everything else and paparazzi just don't spot him anywhere, Dispatch thinks he must live abroad.

Very well, he does consider his big ole house a separate country. It's a living organism with a studio, gym, trophy room, small-size basketball court, and vastly equipped kitchen. A home theater as well, he likes American movies (like Inception) and Korean action genres, and you can stream whatever you fancy in there whenever you like. 

Yes, he has underwear with cute little bears on.

There's even a little pond in the backyard. Yoongi, Pisces he is, likes fishes after all. Sometimes he sits at the edge of the 'Little Ole Min Lake (LOML)' and stares into the water for literal hours with his chin parked on his palm.

His fridge is so high-tech and futuristic, even Yoongi is rendered clueless by its AI sometimes. The washing machine, too.

Yoongi watches RuPaul’s drag race. What did you expect? He finds it so humorous.

Owns lord knows how many comic collections.

Favorite holiday destination: New York.

Christmas is basically 50% you unveiling new music equipment to him in the garage and Yoongi almost fainting at the sexiness of it. The other 50% is spent holding hands and orgasm after orgasm until the new year since you loose track of time.

Goes on long rants why he’d marry you again every weekend.

Making you presents is his specialty. Always accompanied with a hand-written note. He writes a lot of things by hand for you in general. Texting, basically never. Always on paper.

No sex without a blanket and socks on. Yoongi gets cold very very easily and just doesn’t like showing skin. You buy him a heated blanket for his birthday, he even uses it in his studio chair.

Chronically addicted to making out.

Matching black outfits and glasses.

Laughs at even your worst jokes or phrases you didn’t expect you even uttered.

Yoongi owns the phoniest, most secretive-looking black car ever and nobody knows about it. Even he forgets he owns it, in fact he genuinely acts like it just doesn’t exist. Hilarious. And that guy has a level 1 Korean driver's license. Which allows him to drive trailers and busses and fucking trucks, and construction machines, let that sink in.

It's really a genius curse. Yoongi being put to the test will always deliver but he won't choose to execute his full skillset if he doesn't have to. Well, pragmatic. He's not as phony as he thinks he is, which is even more hilarious.

He uses that behemoth of a car so scarcely because he'd rather have things delivered to his doorstep and he's stingy with gas. Also, he doesn't like traffic and driving because of the traumatic shoulder accident and his tendency to space out. Translation: You drive that thing... that monster... it really is an impressive, fast, and scary machine. 

If someone devious ever even remotely manages to invade his privacy and get past the doubly-installed security system, he has enough money to deal with it no matter what.

If it concerns your privacy, he's a red belt. And owns Jin's number if a taekwondo master is required. Jimin's if it needs someone with kendo skills.

If Yoongi needs someone to go on a complete rampage, Jungkook lives just down the block. He can sprint to Yoongi's bunker I mean mansion within 45 seconds. 30 if it's very urgent. 20 if the reward is an instant ramen splurge with Yoongi's black card.

He has a sexy, glamorous sword collection hanging on the living room wall anyways, so. Who the hell is dumb enough to mess with him and his expensive lawyer in the first place.

But just in case, who knows... Yoongi settles matters shruggingly, anonymously, and with cash and he's too exhausted for violence, but don't underestimate his deter-min-ation and network for emergencies. Also, he is Agust D after all.

He will bonk a naughty burglar or kidnapper across the head with a wooden cooking spoon or take him down by throwing a basketball if the situation requires it. Damn, his reflexes are so fast, a feral cat in motion. So, lean back and sip on your drink of choice. Things are cared for.

If Yoongi is the one being kidnapped or a highly skilled stalker invades the property at night when he's fast asleep (nothing can wake this man during certain hours, strong REM right here): Don't forget that honeyboy is a Dodgers fan. There are signed baseball bats everywhere in this damn house.

In that sense, your parents visiting you here for the first time thought you were an undercover thug couple. Not to worry mom and dad, you both just like sports very much okay.

Yoongi walks around in all black clothes and the rooms are all seemingly dark. Even if you live together, you don't know his skin care routine. It's clear to you he's some sort of vampire.

Since Yoongi always forgets to remove his makeup, you made it a habit to wipe it down when he's about to pass out. He won't lie, he enjoys that kind of affection.

Holly is your resident child. You're essentially a family.

He insists to tackle this by himself, Yoongi sees his therapist monthly. Not shifting responsibility is something he's stubborn about and he pours his emotions into writing. You will do conversation about deeper stuff, but he says it's mostly up to him and his own mind. He dislikes burdening you or opening up too much and it's something to respect rather than force him about. If he wants to share a thought, he will. It doesn’t mean he can’t trust you or sucks at communicating (we know that he’s direct). Yoongi simply can’t put that much pain in such few words nor should you alleviate it for him.

Calls from the manager faze Yoongi as much as Jimin is bothered by gravity. If he’s busy kissing your body slow mo, who the hell dares to disturb his worship. 

This man had so many let-downs and interpersonal catastrophes in his life, he's super discerning with people. Because he rolls that way, during their first meeting Yoongi uses his psychology certificate on your friends. You see him squint at them, he listens very closely. After they pass the vibe check aka meow radar, he befriends them, too.

Yoongi doodles Grammy trophies everywhere to manifest them.

Yoongi shaves his legs.

All the sex toys he’s ever bought are black. Gotta vibe in style.

He spends ridiculous amounts of time in the studio but he's yours for the remainder of the night, breakfast, and he makes a lavish lunch and dinner.

Um, consider his head parked between your legs. The Hongkong line was not a joke.

Doesn’t mind you squishing his cheeks whenever and for how long you like. 

Every other weekend he gets flowers, vouchers, and gifts — not because of fans, they don’t know where his house is, but because he donates so much.

Namjoon often drops by and cleanses the area with his crystals.

Yoongi is a photography major so you can ask him to take professional, ceiling-high black and white shots of you.

Feeding each other food lovingly. Man, this guy got lips.

He set up a library just for you, in the exact historical aesthetic you like the most. Send him the link to any book you want, it's basically in the online shopping cart already. As I said, he wants to make you presents like every week.

Sometimes he sits on the other end studying English videos and vocab while you read. And yes, he's already 95% fluent but pretends being merely intermediate. He knows technical terms even native speakers have never heard of.

He collects pajamas and earrings.

Swears on the phone.

Namjoon being the horniest member is a cover-up story. Yoongi masturbates almost unreasonable amounts of times, by himself and in your arms when going to bed. Not gonna lie, it’s a sight to see his hands at work. He’s almost equally obsessed with fingering you once you ask him.

Yoongi was the one asking you to move in and almost had a nervous meltdown before meeting up with you to tell you just that. 

He’s the little spoon and of course a sleeping burrito to hold tight.

Finds you equally attractive in any state or styling. Yoongi practices what he preaches, he always reacts the same and says the same. 

Jams out to outrageous beats Namjoon sends him by dancing in the studio. You walk in on him every time. Was embarrassed at first, now you dance along.

Has bought you a life-sized Yoongi pillow and customized you a giant Shooky to hug when he’s not at home over night.

Owned a wine cellar until he quit drinking. Turned it into a piano room instead.

Only you know Yoongi has a serpent and dagger tattoo.

Scrubs the bathroom religiously.

The house smells like restaurant food and his extravagant perfumes half of the time.

Sometimes he has to remind himself he’s married to you and not his coffee machine. He shall be forgiven. You can’t complain that he doesn’t love you enough, nor is he ever not adorable when drinking his latte.

Never wears short sleeves. It can be scorching and he’ll wear a jacket. 

Tell him and the cap stays on during sex.

He grows his hair out and puts it in a low bun. The bangs remain.

Yoongi has installed the most fire-proof building in the entire city it seems. That he wanted to be a firefighter when he was young definitely shows. Figures the house has to be protected from heat: His blasting studio music and Yoongi himself are just way too sizzling.

Still melts into a puddle when you kiss his nose.

Couple sunrise watching. 

© submissive-bangtan 2017-2021. all rights reserved. do not repost or translate. all depictions fictional.

[tsukishimas-shortcake]

your date doesn’t go as planned

↦ Character(s): Bakugou Katsuki X fem!reader

↦ Warnings: Some insecure Bakugou because your date doesn’t go as he planned it.

↦ Word Count: 1.3k

↦ Your Momo’s Receipt: Hello! This is my first post on this blog! I hope you guys enjoy it and give feedback! Feel free to make a request!

- Is the type to plan out dates, I don’t mean just picking a place to go and a time to be home by either

- When I say plans I mean basically a minute by minute schedule

- You never just do one thing on dates either so he gets really invested in it

- Checks the weather, picks out three outfits and gets the Bakusquad to vote on them, if you go eat then he searches the menu so he can pretend to ‘recommend you something’, has a time to leave and get back home by and plans to be there and everything on the dot

- But he’s not uptight about it though don’t worry, he just wants everything to go smoothly its not like he’ll throw a major fit if something goes a bit different than planned

- He does get a bit frustrated though and when he does he gets a bit sulky instead of portraying anger

- Expect him to be looking down and frowning more than usual if that’s the case

- Oh and don’t forget the sighing, the slouching as he walks, and the repeated “tsk” that you hear

- The reason he gets frustrated and portrays it the way he does is because he blames it on himself

- Definitely has the “I should’ve planned more dammit” mentality, like boy... you can’t control the weather

⸻

“I’m sorry... I didn’t know the restaurant would be closed today,” Bakugou said as he looked down, his face covered as he dug his face down into his scarf. You looked over a bit confused, normally when his plans go wrong he just denies that that was the plan to begin with. “That’s fine, I don’t mind going somewhere else” You said softly before you look over again, his hands in his coat pockets and his feet sort of dragging on the ground in defeat.

The silence between the two of you began to grow again, luckily it was a comfortable one that you were used to. Your ears perk up a bit when you hear a few “tsk” noises coming from the boy beside you. At this point a few thoughts as to why Bakugou would be so frustrated begin to form in your mind, the most likely being that this was one of the only days Bakugou had off from his internship that matched up with yours, in fact it was the first day in almost a month that you two had the opportunity to go on a ‘real’ date as he would say.

You reached your hand over without fully thinking, slipping it into his coat pocket and tangling your fingers with his. The shock on his face was almost funny, before you hear another “tsk” and he turns his head away from you. A small pout formed on your lips before you lean over just a bit in order to see him, you realized the light blush that dusted the tips of his ears. The both of you stop quickly as you feel cold water hitting your heads, of course it would rain at a moment like this. It quickly went from thin droplets to heavy rain that almost seemed like it was just pouring from the sky, the both of you quickly pick up your speed and try to find some shelter.

Finding refuge under a ledge outside of a closed store Bakugou shakes off his hair slightly, sighing louder than normal before groaning and getting out his phone. You hit the sides of your coat in order to get some of the water off of it before getting closer to him, it was freezing outside and now you’re both almost soaked from the rain so of course you’re cold. “What are you looking for?” You asked softly trying to peak over at his phone “A taxi...” He said softly and shut his phone off before placing it back in his pocket and leaned against the wall

“and of course, my luck, the two services that are open at this time of night don’t come out this way...” he said and just shook his head. “Then lets not look for a taxi” You said as you took out your phone before looking up a few things. He stared over at you, watching your fingers swipe across the screen and tapping a few times before you looked around, up and down the seemingly empty street. You smiled before putting your phone away and grabbing his hand and walking quickly in what to him was a random direction.

“What are you doing?!” He said barely below a yell, obviously confused as to why you had pulled him back out into the rain, which thankfully was much lighter than earlier. “Let’s go!” was all you said before you grabbed his hand with the both of yours and began to pull him harder in the direction you were going. You both get into a slight jog before you get to a building, you open the door and start heading up the stairs. “What are we doing here?” He asked, his voice laced with annoyance that he was soaked again, but now less frustrated since you were both inside somewhere that was warm. “We’re going to eat.” You said as you continued to walk up the flight of stairs that led to a small restaurant. You both took off your coats, leaving them at the door since they were soaked, and knocked your shoes on the side as to not get the floor wet.

While Bakugou was still taking off his coat you went and asked one of the servers about a table. You smiled before waving him over and Bakugou headed to the table, following a bit behind you. You both sat down, him next to you since the table was against the wall, resembling a bar. “I’ve actually wanted to try this place for a while, they stay open later at night because their main customer base is made up of college students, so if we have to we can wait out the rain until another taxi service opens.” You said softly as you looked through the menu, Bakugou just looked at you, his stare while it was obviously warm it was also holding a hint of guilt.

“Okay Sparky, what is wrong?” You said as you shut the menu and turned to face him, his vibe ever since you found out that the restaurant he wanted to go to was close has been gloomy and you were getting frustrated since he normally opens up about small inconveniences immediately. “Don’t call me that.” He said in his normal tone with a slight snap, before he turned towards you, he placed his hand on his leg, his palm up before looking back at the wall. You took it as an invitation to hold his hand, when you grabbed it he just looked at you before looking down at your hands.

“I planned our date today...” He said as he began to play with your fingers, you hummed in response, trying to drag out more from him “...The restaurant was nice, normally you have to make reservations but every few weeks they’ll take walk in customers...” He said softly and slouched even more in his seat “I thought it would be open but it turns out the owners were going out of town so they closed early today. I also planned on going to this little cafe after... they have nice desserts there, but since we didn’t even eat dinner I didn’t want to go... and then it just had to fucking rain.” He said with a scowl as he rolled his eyes.

“Baby you can’t control the weather it’s okay.” You said softly as you began to play with his fingers too “I know but... we haven’t been able to meet up recently and, I don’t know I just wanted it to be nice you know?” He said softly, almost showing that he was actually upset. You grabbed his face in both of your hands and made him look at you.

“Here’s what’s going to happen blast boy, the date isn’t ruined and neither of us have to study or work until late tomorrow anyway.” You said before making him look at you, moving to be in his sight as he tries to look away rather than move his whole head “We’re going to eat here, then we’ll hope that the rain dies down and even if it doesn’t we’re going to sprint to the nearest subway station, catch a ride to the stop closest to home, we’ll stop by the convenience store on the way home and buy some of that ice cream we like, and then we’ll head home and I’ll just spend the night in your room and we can watch movies or something.” You said softly, before smiling wide “Dinner, dessert, and I even added in me sleeping over” You said and he smirked slightly before just turning to look through the menu his hand never leaving yours.

“I guess that doesn’t sound too bad...” He mumbled, the small smirk staying on his lips for the rest of the night.

⸻

© This writing is owned by tsukishimas-shortcake. Do not share on other sites without permission and do not plagiarize!

[heartbrokenct]

without you - jjh

pairing idol!jung jaehyun x reader

genre fluff + the slightest bit of angst

word count 5.7k (i know)

warnings get ur tish ready b, this is-...

summary Jaehyun is sent to the US for a music study, but what he doesn’t expect is to leave with a lot more than just music theory. 

a/n i was going to make this a multi-part thing just so i could keep it short but i figured why not make it one huge fic. anyway, pls lmk if you enjoy this!

    “Oh, come on, loser. It���ll be great! Besides, what is one small blind date going to do? Nothing, exactly! So get dressed and do whatever, and be ready to go at 7.” Your friend rambled on the other side of the phone, and you rolled your eyes. 

     “How in the hell do you always manage to convince me to make the dumbest decisions?” You say, slightly annoyed. Apparently one of your cousin's friends was “on the market” and of course your cousin decided to make plans for you and this friend of theirs without even asking you beforehand. Hell, you didn’t even know what this "friend" looked like. After a few more minutes of your cousin desperately getting you to agree, you laughed and hung up, realising the time was just past 4pm, and the date was in only 3 hours. 

    Quickly jumping into the shower, you heard your phone ringing again, and assuming it was your cousin, back to bother, you ignored it and got busy getting clean and fresh. After the shower came the skincare routine, as usual, and after that the terrifying choice of “what to wear on a first date with a stranger” loomed over you as you stared at the numerous possible outfits in your closet. Sighing, you start to yank things off hangers and try them on, twirling in the mirror and doing a few greeting motions, trying to gauge what you’d look like. You caught sight of yourself as you were taking off a top, and noticed just how great you looked, instantly getting  a boost of confidence. 

   You checked your phone quickly and noticed a missed call and a few texts from an unknown number, so you unlocked it and took a closer look. 

  #### : Hey, this is Jaehyun. I got your number from your cousin, they mentioned that we should probably decide on where to go but if you don’t mind, I made some reservations at this restaurant.

  #### : Address. 

  #### : Does 7pm sound okay?

You checked the time stamp on the message, and gasp. He’d messaged you almost an hour and a half ago, so you quickly typed a few messages in response, and hoped that he wouldn’t be too upset. And you hadn’t even gotten the chance to set your phone down when it dinged again, and another message popped up on the screen. 

   Blind-date guy : Oh wow, I was beginning to think you were standing me up before the date even began. 

   Blind-date guy : I’m just joking! Please don’t stand me up again, I truly can’t go through the night again with 5 waiters giving me sympathy pats on the back. 

   At that, you let out a small laugh, and wonder suddenly if he was some creep who just emanated those vibes. Honestly, leave it up to your family to prank you like that. They mentioned he was some sort of celebrity in Korea, but was here in the states studying music. 

   Blind-date guy : Was that too much info? That was definitely too much info… Hopefully I’ll see you tonight! 

     A smile graced your features, and you gave him an affirmative response before frantically turning towards the closet with a rather worried look. The address he had sent you was of a pretty upscale restaurant, and you weren’t sure if you had anything nice enough to wear. Plus, it was almost 40 minutes away from your place, which meant almost an hour and a half with the traffic in your city. You sighed, and double checked the time. Almost 6pm. Screaming, you decided on something elegant but also pretty casual, and grabbed your favorite pair of shoes to match. After one last look over in the mirror, you snapped a pic and sent it to your cousin, who called you while you were rushing to your car to tell you just how great you looked. 

  “Jaehyun’s going to be drooling all over you. He loves that fashion style, and the fact that you just look so exquisite… yeah hopefully you wore something nice underneath too!” They quipped, and you gasped, laughing and telling them off, before thanking them quickly and hanging up. 

     Almost 75 minutes later, you got to the address Jaehyun had sent you and you marveled at the exterior of the building. It looked so wonderful, and the smell of the food emanating from inside only reminded you of how hungry you were. Rushing inside, you went up to the hostess, and said you were here under a reservation for Jaehyun. She smiled, giving you a knowing look before leading you to a table near the back where it was more quiet. 

   You knew who he was even before the hostess motioned you to the right table. He just looked kingly, and his presence seemed to draw everyone’s attention all at once. His face looked a bit nervous, but as soon as he looked at you, it seemed to drain from his face and was quickly replaced with awe. His eyes looked up and down your body and suddenly you felt the need to hide from his piercing gaze. He stood, and nodded a thank you to the hostess, then came around the table and took out your chair, allowing you to sit before tucking it in slightly. 

    “Hi-ello...Hello.” He said, his voice coming out a bit softer than he expected, and you stifled a laugh. 

    “Hi, I’m Y/n. It’s really lovely to meet you Jaehyun.” You said, and sent him a warm smile. His face seemed to go a bit red and he cleared his throat, trying a greeting again.

    “Hello Y/n. You look amazing; it’s likewise very lovely to meet you.” A short pause, and he continued, “My friend told me a lot about you, but they didn’t mention just how attractive you are. Well, not attractive- I mean yes attractive but- Like- Y'know-” He stammered, and lifted a hand to run through his hair, and somehow managed to poke his eye slightly. He let his hand drop to the table and he laughed. You let out the laugh you’d been holding and joined his, reaching over the table to grab his nervous hands softly. 

    “Thank you, please don’t hurt yourself trying to compliment me.” You joked, and paused to check out the menu as the waiter came to take your drink order. After getting over the original awkwardness and choosing a meal, the both of you fell into a comfortable conversation ranging from your careers to deep philosophical questions. You picked up on the fact that he seemed to be really proud about his career as an idol in Korea, and how he had always wanted to become a singer. His eyes lit up as he described a bit of what it was like, before he asked you about your job, and passions.

 You barely noticed when the food was placed in front of you, or when the other patrons all looked at you both talking with knowing looks in their eyes, or even when the water came by with the bill. You could only focus on this wonderfully interesting man in front of you, who was surprisingly deeper than his very apparent good looks. The waiter came by to see if the bill was ready, and the both of you stopped your conversation, and then half argued about who would foot the bill. He refused to even let you see the total cost, so in the end, you had let him win. He went to reach for his wallet before asking you another question which again distracted you from the bill and as the waiter made his second appearance, Jaehyun quickly (and rather proudly) tucked his card into the leather folder all while giving the waiter an apologetic smile. You watched him, your head tilted to one side and a soft smile played on your lips as his dimples made their comeback on his face. He turned to you and then grabbed a hold of his drink, making eye contact with you over the rim. 

   “Why are you looking at me like that?” He asked, and you cleared your throat, shaking your head. 

   “Oh… Just admiring from afar.” You said, and he seemed to get a tad flustered. You let out a laugh through your nose, and the waiter came by with Jaehyun’s card. 

   “How much was the dinner? It wasn’t too much was it?” You ask again, and he shakes his head. 

   “I’m the one who made the reservation so I gladly paid for it. Don’t worry about it at all, okay?” He said, in a soft tone, and stood coming around to your side of the table and holding out his hand. 

   “Shall we?” He said, and you raised your eyebrows while putting your hand into his. He gripped it as he led you out of the restaurant and then stopped outside, looking up at the sky. You checked your phone, and saw the time read 11:17pm. 

   “Already?” You mumbled out loud subconsciously, but Jaehyun caught it. 

   “Already what?” He said, and looked at you, peering down at the screen of your phone. He noted the time, and sighed. 

   “Ah, did I keep you too long? If you’re taking public transit or a cab home, let me drive you. Since it’s late.” He said, and raised his eyebrows waiting for a response. You smirked, and rummaged around your belongings before producing your keys, and you jangled them in front of his face. 

   “I’ve got a ride, but thank you. It’s been a wonderful evening. Everything and more.” You said, a smile plastered on your face. He gave you one of his own, dimples and all, and you melted. 

   “Well good. If you’d like… maybe we could do this again? I’ll be in the states for another few months, for my music study.” He said, and you nodded, suddenly hit with the fact that he was some celebrity, but you hadn't seen a single crazed fan anywhere tonight. Nonetheless, you said your goodbyes, and gave him a hug before walking to your car. You missed the way he stared at you as you walked away and smiled to himself. He missed your creased brow as you wondered if it was even worth pursuing him. 

-

     A few dates and three months later, you were sprawled out on Jaehyun’s couch after a long day at your job. He was currently in the shower, leaving your eyes to roam around. The last time you’d been here you hadn’t really stopped to look around, and as those thoughts flooded to the front of your mind, you felt your face heating up. Suddenly the shower turned off, and you straightened up, trying to push the memories out of your mind, as a half clothed Jaehyun walked around into the living area. 

   “Hey, stranger, long time no see.” He said, walking over and leaving a soft but chaste kiss on your lips. You smiled at him and stood, using one finger to push him away by his chest. 

   “Hey yourself, stranger, I suggest you get dressed before we get really well acquainted with one another.” You said, and your eyes flicked down to the edge of the towel that was currently the only thing wrapped around him. He smirked and tried to pull you closer to him, and just as your lips were about to connect, his phone rang. He sighs and lets his head drop, and apologises before quickly picking up the phone. 

   “Yes, Hello?” He said into the phone, and suddenly his back tensed. You frowned, looking at his suddenly stiff muscles, and wanted to reach out to comfort him but something in your gut told you to hold off. He huffed angrily into the phone and let his head fall back, looking up at the ceiling. He finished his call, and turned to you with an upset look on his face. You pouted and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

   “An emergency came up. I have to fly back to Korea early.” He said, dejectedly. 

   “How much earlier?” You ask, afraid to ask. Truthfully, you knew this time was coming. The time when this weird three month long fling would come to an end, but you had decided to pursue it anyway. You knew that you’d end up hurt and he’d move on to whoever in Korea while you’d be left back here picking up the pieces of your heart. But his face twisted into one of empathy and he swallowed down his tears. 

   “A few weeks early. My manager said my flight is… next Thursday.” He said, and you gasped. He came up to you, and enveloped you into a huge hug, just holding you tightly against him. The smell of your shampoo invaded his senses and the only thing he wanted was to hold you like that forever. He suddenly remembered everything that he left back in Korea. His career, the rest of the members, his family. Everything was there, but you were here. You had changed his life in these past few weeks more than all his 23 years of experience had. More than his music study could ever teach him. And now, with just a few days left to be here with you, he found himself dreading going back. 

   “Jae?” You mumbled into his bare chest. 

   “Hm?” He answered, still holding on to you. 

   “Can you go put on some clothes and let’s just chill at home?” You responded and shifted your gaze so that you were looking at him. He peered at you and smiled, before leaving a kiss on your forehead and going to quickly change into some loungewear. 

   About 5 minutes later, he strode back into the living are where you’d made yourself comfortable on one of the couches. He smiled and threw himself next to you with a grunt, and grabbed you close to him as you cuddled up together. 

-

     Jaehyun had asked you to accompany him to the airport and see him off, but as you woke up on the day, you dreaded having to see him off. He texted you, and you responded that you’d be there. After all, you were in love with the guy. 

   You rolled out of bed and took a super fast shower, then got ready and jumped in the car. His flight was in just a few hours, but you wanted to make sure that he was there on time. As you pulled up to his apartment and went up to his door, you tried to hold back your emotions. He seemed intent on going back the past few days, and even mentioned that he was excited to leave and see his family and work again. Little did you know he was just trying to convince himself that it was the right choice. 

 You couldn’t help but think that some of the moments you shared weren’t as special for him than they were for you as you took the elevator up to his apartment. Before you even had the chance to knock on the door, he swung it open and you were greeted with a red eyed, puffy faced Jaehyun. You instantly could tell he had been crying, and you stepped in, pulling him into the biggest hug, which he returned with such ferocity it almost knocked you over. He let out a muffled sob and your heart broke into a million pieces. You gently pried him off of you, and calmed him long enough for him to tell you what was wrong but in between his breathy crying and staggered breathing, you could barely understand, so you just held him as he let it out. 

   The one part of his ramblings that you did catch however made your heart skip a beat. 

   “A-and you...these months-” A few sniffles, “So good, -nd I don't wanna go-” A soft ragged breath, “b-cause you are my everything…” He said, and then stopped. You felt his heartbeat quicken at what he just confessed, and you tried to steel your emotions 

   “Jae, I know. We grew close and these past few months have been fun, but that’s it. You have a career and your whole life in Korea, and you deserve to go and live it out and follow your dreams, like you told me you always wanted to do.” You said, tears pricking your own eyes. He suddenly shifted off of you and gave you an incredulous look. 

   “Just fun? Just fun?” He said, his voice rising a little. “So all this time, this was just a fling for you. You made me fall in love with you and now you’re telling me it was just fun? You’re saying that if I asked you to come with me you’d say no and tell me this is what? One sided? That you don't feel like this is the worst mistake?” He said, and you folded your arms over your chest. There was no way that you’d stand in the way of his career, no matter how much of a bad guy it would make you. He would get over it soon, and continue and be a world famous singer… Right? 

  You thought that is what he wanted, but as his words wash over you and you understand the depth of the relationship between the two of you. Something clicks in your mind but you don’t speak. You just stand there and look  down at the floor. 

   His breath catches in his throat and he mutters a quiet but forceful, “get out.” And you follow suit. Sighing and holding back tears of your own, you step out of his apartment and head out to the car, knowing that at some point he’d have to come down since you were his ride to the airport. As awkward as that one hour car ride was going to be, you didn’t have much of a choice, as before everything went down, he made sure that you were the only one to see him off. 

   A couple of minutes later, a puffy faced angry Jaehyun appeared at your passenger side door, and he knocked aggressively on the window, jutting his thumb to the back of the car. 

   “Open the trunk.” He mouthed, and the already thick tension only grew as you nervously opened the trunk and waited for him to climb in the car. He opened the door, and then slammed it with such force you thought the door was going to snap off. The two of you sat in silence for a few minutes as you drove, and when you pulled into the freeway, you decided to speak. 

   “Listen-” You started, and he interrupted you with a raised hand. You heard him take a loud breath, and then he began to speak. 

   “I know you’re driving and your attention has to be on the road but please, hear me out.” He pleaded with you, and the desperate tone in his voice sent the waterworks your way again. 

“It's true. Without you, I can’t live. I can’t eat or sleep, or breathe without thinking about you. Everything that you did to me was so ethereal. You changed my life so much in these three months. I can’t begin to describe how hard it is for me to go. Honestly, when my company suggested that I come to the states for the music study I was skeptical because I already know music theory and production. But it was the best decision of my life. And now you’re sitting here telling me that this isn't-” He said and the tears began to spill on his face again. You gripped the steering wheel tighter and tried to keep your eyes focused on the road ahead, but the emotion in Jaehyun’s voice was getting to you as well, and a few rogue tears slid down your cheeks. 

   “I know you can’t just leave your life behind here, but I really really want you to. I want you to come to Korea and live with me, and we can be happy. I can introduce you to my family and the other members, and it’ll be so good. I can ask the company to find you an apartment and we can-” he continued, but you stopped him. 

   “Jaehyun. You and I both know that as soon as you get back, you’ll be so busy that we won’t have time to see each other. You’re about to have a major comeback and I don’t even know Korean so it’ll be hard for me to even assimilate there. I really really want to put my whole life on hold but… How can I?” You say, and the hurt is clearly evident on your face as the both of you have tears streaked faces. The rest of the ride is relatively quiet, but at some point, Jaehyun reaches over and rests his hand on your thigh as a signal for a truce. 

   He sniffles and leans his head back on the headrest, eyes squeezed shut as you pull into the airport parking lot. After finding a space, and getting his luggage out of the trunk, he takes your hand and you both go inside. He checks in, and you start to head over to the security checkpoint, which you were not allowed to pass.

   “Please, promise me that you’ll stay in touch and we won’t be like those couples who promise and then never do and they grow apart. I seriously cannot live without you.” he said, while pulling you to face him. A couple of people were starting to gather, and by the looks of it they recognized Jaehyun, so you sent him a sad smile and gave him a huge hug, never wanting to let go. The both of you pulled away, and he grudgingly went to the passport check. Just before he disappeared behind the security checkpoint, he turned and locked eyes with you, and even from this far you knew he was sending you a soft, sad smile. Not a “goodbye”, but rather a “see you soon.”

Four Months Later

   You rushed to shove on your shoes and grab all of your luggage as you heard your cousin impatiently honking outside of your apartment building. You had been planning to surprise Jaehyun for a few weeks, and asked them to come and take you to the airport. You left your apartment and quickly went over to a neighbor's where you asked them to take care of some plants and to pick up your mail each day. The middle aged woman agreed, and happily took your keys, wishing you a safe flight and travels. 

  You thanked her as you flew down the hallway, and heard her chuckling just before you rounded the corner and smashed the call button for the elevator. You knew it wouldn’t come any faster if you kept pressing the button, but you did it anyway. The nerves kicked in as you descended in the metal box, and ran out to your cousin’s car. They flung the door open for you, and you threw your bag into the backseat before hopping in. The drive was filled with some laughs and the memories from your last trip to the airport came suddenly flooding back. It had been only a few months ago that you had driven Jaehyun to the airport and had your first teary-eyed farewell. 

   Since then, you both called at least once a week, but texted every day. You slowly became more interested in NCT, his group, and even started talking to a few of his other English-speaking members, who all welcomed you with excited messages. You had been learning Korean with Mark and Johnny, to surprise Jaehyun, and not to toot your own horn, but you’d been getting pretty good! You could now communicate at it’s most basic sense of the word, and at least order food and ask for traveling directions. You smiled as you pulled up your conversation with Jaehyun, and read some of the new messages.. 

   Jaehyun : Babe! Have you had the chance to watch our m/v yet? It came out like a few hours ago! 

   Jaehyun : You really should watch it and let me know what you think. I wrote the lyrics with Johnny-hyung this time. I think you’d be proud.

   Jaehyun : Yo babyyyy….? 

   Jaehyun : Babe? Ah you’re probably busy. Ok call me when you watch it so i can see your reaction!

You smiled at all the messages, and sent him a quick “I’m at work, call you later, love you.” and then thought about how you’d explain away being inactive for your 13+ hour flight. You sighed, and locked your phone, then leaned your head back. 

   Your cousin pulled into the drop-off lane at the airport. You looked at them with a grateful smile, and gave them an awkward hug over the center console which they returned. As soon as you grabbed all of your belongings and double checked for your wallet and passport, you waved them goodbye, and they sped off. You turned and walked into the airport, and after a tiring 45 minute ordeal through check-ins and security, you finally made it to your gate. You took out your phone while you waited for the flight to board, and saw a few messages from Mark who was also in on the surprise. He said that him and Johnny managed to get you a company car to pick you up from the airport, but that you’d have to find your own housing. 

   “Shouldn’t be too hard…” You mumbled, and replied to him before searching for hotels in the Seoul area. There were a few upscale locations, but you decided to also check Airbnb for any long-term residence options. You came upon a sweet little apartment near Itaewon , which was about a 45 minute drive from the SM campus. You searched for anything cheaper or closer, but after not finding anything, you quickly booked the location for a 2 week period. You smiled happily, having one less thing to worry about on your flight, and then heard the “All-Passengers Now Boarding” message, so you grabbed all of your things again, and huddled in the line. You had been lucky to find a good deal on a seat in the economy class, so you took your seat near the front of the plane, having a rather great view out the window. You smiled and relaxed as a kind looking lady sat down next to you, and you fell into a comfortable conversation as the rest of the passengers were seated and the plane took off. She told you a few stories about how her family was all in Korea but she visited the US to see her daughter who just had a baby. You smiled at her story, and she patted your hand. 

   “You go to Korea? What do you have in Korea?” She asked tentatively, and you told her your love story. You left out the part about him being a singer, thinking she might not believe you, and she smiled warmly, and recounted a few stories from her youth about her and her now late husband. You smiled, and upon checking your phone, saw that you’d managed to pass a few hours of your time swapping stories. A steward announced that passengers could now use their in-flight wifi, and you quickly took out your phone to see a few missed calls from your cousin (who probably just wanted an update) and a few tests from none other than Jaehyun himself. 

   Jaehyun : Baby, I have the night off… are you still at work? We should call. 

   Jaehyun :  Please? I really want to see your pretty face, I miss you.

   Jaehyun :  Ahhh, come on, I know you’re not busy because we usually call at this time… 

You stifled a laugh, and rolled your eyes softly at his antics. He was always begging to see you, and now you didn’t know how to remedy the situation and not expose your location. You got an idea and ran to the lavatory, which was thankfully unlocked. After fishing your headphones from your pocket, you plugged them in and asked if he was free at the moment, and before you were even able to respond he was already video calling you. You laughed and hit the accept button, and smiled at the camera. 

   “Hi! Oh- I missed your face so much, you beautiful work of art…” His voice rang into your headphones, and you saw his eyebrows furrow as he drew the phone close to his face to see the screen. 

   “Where are you?” He said, brows still furrowed, and you smiled, trying to look as genuine as you could, 

   “I’m in the restroom at this little place, I wanted to take some time out and just treat myself, you know?” You said, and technically you were vague enough to not lie, and somehow he didn't press for any more information. 

   “Oh, baby that's good that you get to do something nice for yourself… Have you watched the m/v yet?” He asked, impatiently and you already knew he just wanted you to stroke his already inflated ego. You laughed, and he smiled widely, and shook your head. 

   “ I haven't but I swear I will as soon as I get home tonight? I know it’ll be late but you have to promise to wait for me!” You say, and he tiredly laughs. 

   “I promise to wait for your call tonight babe, I don’t think I’ll even sleep peacefully until I hear your opinion on the m/v.” He said, and you laughed. After a few more minutes of talking, you told him that there were others waiting to use the restroom, and after an insurmountable nu be of "I love you"s and "Yes, I'll call you later"s, you hung up just before you exited the lavatory. You spent the rest of the time napping and sometimes chatting with the lady seated next to you, who had a multitude of interesting things to tell you. You’d lost track of time, and only noticed when the stewards and stewardesses came by with lunch trays. 

  After that, you fell into a deep sleep, and only woke when the “Please Fasten your seatbelts for landing” messages were being played on the intercom. You hastily buckled it, and the nervousness started to kick in once again. The lady next to you must have sensed it because she reached over and gave your hand a sympathetic squeeze, and reassured you that “He will be excited to see you. I promise”. 

  After the landing and a rough battle through customs, you finally made it to the gates where onlookers waited for their friends and family to walk out. You spotted a man holding a paper with your name on it, and went over, greeting him formally and returning his polite smile. He took your things and led you to a nondescript car, where he put your things in the trunk and held the back door open for you to get in. Once settled, he asked if you would give him an address, or if he should take you to the SM building. 

   “SM building, please.” You say, hoping that you were using the correct verbage and honorifics. The driver’s eyebrows raised, and he made eye contact with you in the mirror. In a soft broken English he complimented your Korean, and said he was surprised that you knew pronunciation so well. You smiled and thanked him, and explained that some friends had helped you study it before coming. He nods, and the rest of the ride is spent in a comfortable silence.

    An hour and a half-ish later, the car pulled into the parking lot of the SM building, and you almost burst out of the car in excitement. You’d been texting with Mark and Johnny in a private group chat, and they said Jaehyun had fallen asleep waiting for you to call him somewhere in a waiting room. You were shown into a side entrance, so as to avoid any prying eyes, and you quickly met up with the aforementioned boys, who greeted you with wide smiles and big hugs. They led you around the building and showed you a few of the locations that you’d seen before in videos and on call with Jaehyun. 

  You smiled fondly as you followed them around and they led you into a small room with couches lining the sides, and a few tables thrown in the middle. And you saw him. Him. 

  He was slouched against one of the couches, chin to shoulder and out cold. An innocent look was on his face as he slept and as you admired him, Johnny and Mark said they'd wait for you guys downstairs and left. 

  You gently set down your small bag on a table and silently made your way over to your sleeping boy. Smiling, you sat on his lap, legs straddling his thighs and he stirred from his sleep with a sharp intake of breath. His eyes fluttered open and he made eye contact with you, staring into your eyes with a confused glare. You put your hands on his shoulders, and then moved them up to his face, cupping his cheeks as you sent him a smile. 

  "Y/n…? I-Is this… Am I still dreaming?" He whispered and you laughed, answering, 

  "No, you're not dreaming. I'm here… kiss me." You said, and he immediately obliged, closing the distance between your lips. His hands finally made their way around your waist, and he pulled you closer to his chest, and smiled into the kiss. 

  "What? How? How did you even find me?" He said, breathlessly and you explained to him the whole story from beginning to end. He listened with a marveling look on his face, and let his head drop as he smiled shyly. 

  "Well I am so glad you're here. I missed you so much, you've got no idea. Korea isn't half as fun without you." He said, and you sat and caught up for a few minutes, before you remembered the other two who were waiting. 

  "Johnny and Mark are waiting for us! They said we should go out to get some late-night food." You quickly said and climbed off of Jaehyun's lap as he stood and stretched. He gathered his things and you yours and just before you two set out the door, he took your hand in his and placed a gentle kiss to your knuckles. 

 "Have I ever told you how much I love you, Y/n?" 

 "Everyday."

[patovpran]

Celebratory night (Ohm x Fong)

Here it is, as promised, an Sarawattine, Earnpear and Ohmfong fic. There's more of the last two but oh well. I also tried mentioning Man and Boss cus i felt bad I was excluding them from this.

The group aka Sarawat, Tine, Pear, Ohm and Fong gathered in front of the architecture building, waiting for Earn to check the grades of her final exams. The boys were sat on the stairs while Pear chose to sit at the end of the concrete fence next to them. The plan was that if everyone passed, they'd go out drinking tonight and now it was only Earn who was left to find out if she passed or failed.

"Pass!" She screamed as soon as she came through the door, other students immediately turning to see who it was while the group cheered. Pear immediately jumped off of the fence and run to hug her meanwhile the rest got up.

"Proud of you!" She gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and Earn's smile got even bigger.

"I knew you'd do great." Sarawat smiled and put an arm around her shoulders before turning to the group. "We can drink!"

Another cheer erupted from them before they laughed. Earn and Sarawat high fived before Sarawat walked down to Tine's side.

"We need to go grocery shopping so we'll meet you later at the usual spot."

"Sounds good." Pear said and took Earn's hand. "Do you have any plans or do you want to go to the new cafe with us? I heard they have amazing coffee and cakes."

The pair she was referring to was Ohm and Fong who stood next to each other, unnecessary close but no one commented and neither seemed to mind. Tine smirked to himself when he had noticed. He wondered how long was it possible for them to stay oblivious of the other's crush. There was also a bet going on between the group that started about three months ago when they all realized the rest also noticed that the two were overly friendly with each other. Even Man picked up on it and he hasn't spent as much time with the two as the rest.

"I could go for it." Fong nodded.

"Sure. Why not?" Ohm shrugged, seemingly nonchalant but they knew he was happy to get a chance to spend more time with Fong.

"Awesome!" Pear jumped once in her spot before waving at Sarawat and Tine. "Bye."

They said quick goodbyes before they went two separate directions. The cafe was only a five minute walk away from the architecture building but with the hot weather outside, they all let out a breath of relief as soon as the cool air from the AC hit them. Even though the cafe was new it was buzzing with people but they managed to find a table to fit them all.

"Oh, look! The strawberry one is on sale today." Pear turned the menu to Earn for a glance before putting it down, her mind quickly made up. She took the rest of the time to watch Ohm and Fong. They had they heads leaned into each other, almost touching while they debated what should they try.

"Triple chocolate one is a classic." Ohm said, pointing at the picture if it.

"Yeah but it's really hot out and you might feel nauseous later. It's hard on the stomach." Fong looked up at him for a moment, slightly moving back as the blush appeared on his face. He probably didn't even realize how close they sat. "There's one with a chocolate pudding if you want chocolate. That shouldn't be too bad."

"That sounds good too." Ohm nodded as he flipped the page. "They have raspberry cheesecake!"

He said with a smile, happy because he knows Fong loves that. Fong hummed in approval and they leaned back in their chairs, turning their attention to Earn and Pear.

"All set?" Ohm asked before calling for the waiter after everyone confirmed they have their order. They chatted about their finals and the results for a while before their cakes and drinks came to the table.

"Want a bite?" Earn asked as she held a piece of her red velvet to Pear.

"Noup, just you eat." She said before taking a bite of her cake. "How are yours?"

"Really good." Fong responded while Ohm finished his bite.

"Fong was right." Ohm nodded to himself before looking up. "This one is not as heavy."

"I'm brilliant." Fong joked.

"You are." Ohm said seriously, focusing on his cake that they weren't even sure he realised he had said it. Fong stared at him for a moment while Earn and Pear exchanged a knowing look, smirking.

"I'll win." Earn leaned in to whisper to Pear who just rolled her eyes.

The four of them sat and talked for about an hour and a half before they decided they should go home and get ready for their night out. Their dorm buildings were in different places so they had to say goodbye when they left the cafe.

"Ohm will confess first." Earn said as soon as they were far enough so that the two couldn't hear them.

"Additional bet?" Pear raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend, stopping and holding a hand out to her.

"Additional bet. Winner gets one wish." She added before they shook their hands. Earn was confident she'd win this one if not the one with the group. It was just a matter of time before Ohm slipped.

Two hours later Earn was getting ready to do her make up when her phone rang. She was sure it was her girlfriend and got surprised when she saw Ohm's name written on the screen. Curious, she was quick to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey, uhm…do you have time?" Ohm sounded nervous, she noticed. She got up from the floor amd sat on the edge of her bed.

"Is everything ok?"

"No, i mean yeah, everything's fine. I just, uhm, I need an advice." She raised her eyebrow, leaning back on her arm waiting for him to continue. "So I've thought about trying something different…fashion-wise."

"Ohh..I'm listening." Ohm wasn't a much of a fashionista. She only saw him wearing very casual clothes and their university uniform and that's about it.

"Could you maybe come over? It'd be easier and you can go through my closest too and match something I didn't even think of." She smiled at how adorably nervous he sounded.

"Of course. I'll be there in 20 minutes." She had already got up and went to pick up her make up bag. That is getting postponed until she helps Ohm. After getting everything she needed, she texted Pear she'll meet her in the club before walking over to Ohm's dorm building. When she got there, Ohm was leaning against the wall and scrolling on his phone. He immediately turned his attention to her when he noticed she came.

"Hi." He pulled the door open for her and they continued to his room. Earn wasn't sure what to expect but his room wasn't necessarily clean and orderly but it wasn't overall too bad either. Probably the messiest room she ever entered was Boss' but he was quick to somewhat clean it so she and Pear could comfortably walk around if they wanted.

"So what were you thinking?" She dropped her purse on the table before walking over to Ohm who stood by the closet.

"I have some dress shirts that I never wore. I mean, they're not that fancy but still…I'm not sure I'd suit them." He answered truthful, already reaching to take them out.

"Everyone suits a button up." She said as he looked at them. "Let me rummage through your clothes a bit and I'll give you few outfits and you can see if you like any."

"Sure." Ohm what down and watched and Earn picked out clothes, throwing them on the bed and occasionally saying something to herself. "Ohh?! Why did you hide this one from me?"

Ohm looked up as she took out a one side black, other side white button up and hold it up with an amazed face. He shrugged as he touched it gently.

"I honestly forgot I have it." He brought it once when he had sudden urge to try something different but never actually got around to wear it.

"You're wearing it." She said firmly. "Freedom of choice revoked. I'm sorry."

He barely had time to react when she threw the shirt at his face and turned around to find long black jeans plus shoes that match.

"Go dress." She pointed at the bathroom while going to grab her make up bag. When she still saw him in the same place when she turned, she shook her head. "Well?"

"Oh, yeah. Ok." He quickly checked if he was holding everything Earn had thrown at him before leaving and letting Earn to do her make up. Some time later he got out and she turned, mascara in hand, and smiled.

"You look great!" She closed the tube and rushed to him.

"Isn't it a bit too much?" He asked, checking himself out in the mirror. "Maybe I should just change. Yeah, I'll do that."

He tried to escape back into the bathroom but Earn was faster to push him and he fell on the bed. After that she disappeared into the bathroom before waking out with hair gel in her hands.

"Today you're dressing to impress and I can promise you, Fong will be impressed." She sat next to him and turned him to face her. "Besides, I can be seen as overly dressed too but who cares? Sometimes you feel the need to."

"F-Fong? That's not…I'm not.." Ohm shook his head and blinked way too many times for it to be necessary.

"Don't ever try to fool me." She said casually, opening the packaging and scooping a bit of gel. "Now sit properly so I can help you look even hotter."

Ohm done as he was told and they sat quietly as she styled his hair. In the end, his hair was slicked back with just one strand falling over his forehead. She checked him out completely, nodding proudly before moving out of the way so that he could see himself.

"Oh shit…" His eye went once he saw himself. For finishing touches she tucked only one side of his shirt in, rolled up his sleeves and gave him other earrings that better matched the vibe.

"See? You look stunning. Everyone in the club will be drooling over you." She joined him by his side abd they looked together at his reflection in the mirror. "Fong might get a heart attack."

"He doesn't like me like that." She watched as his mood instantly dropped and she wanted to scream that Fong most definitely felt the same as him but she didn't want to overstep.

"You never know." She smiled up at him. "Don't give up just yet."

"Thank you." He gave her a side hug while giving himself one last look in the mirror.

"You're very welcome." She smiled before sitting down on the floor. "Now just let me finish my make up and we're ready to go."

"Sure thing."

~

"Don't be dramatic, you'll be fine." Tine said as he watched Fong panic over a video call.

"You know how I am drunk." Fong pointed out. "The chances of me accidentally confessing or worse, kissing him, while intoxicated are high."

"If it happened, I'm sure the outcome wouldn't turn out to be so bad." Tine said just as Sarawat exited the bathroom.

"What's going on?" He asked, dropping next to Tine on the bed.

"He's worried that he'd drunk confess." Tine filled him in.

"It's not too bad." Sarawat shrugged. "I mean I did it."

"Shut up." Tine laughed before focusing back on Fong. "I mean you can also not drink."

"Yeah right...as if any of you would let me get away with not drinking." Tine rolled his eyes while Sarawat made a face, showing that Fong was not in the wrong.

"Don't stress over it. You'll be fine." Tine reassured. "Now go get dressed and don't forget to meet up with Pear first."

"Mhm, I know." He nodded, muffled shuffling coming from the speakers as he got up from the bed. "By the way, how come Earn and Ohm are coming together?"

"No clue." Tine turned to Sarawat for an answer but he shrugged, also not having a reason.

"She didn't say anything to me besides the message in the group chat."

"Hm...well, anyway, I'll see you guys later. Bye!" They said their goodbyes and both Fong and Tine went to get dressed before leaving to meet up at their usual place before going together to the club. The club was 15 minutes with car and the four agreed to take one taxi and find a table for everyone while Earn and Ohm took another one, notifying them they'll be a bit later than usual.

"Did she tell you anything?" Tine asked Pear as they sat down. Sarawat and Fong disappeared to get the usual starting drinks.

"Nothing much. She just said she had to help him with something." Earn and Ohm didn't usually hang out alone so she was very curious what the thing was but didn't want to pry.

"Appetizers are served." Sarawat and Fong placed them around and sat down. Tine checked the messages and noticed one new in the group chat.

"Just in time. They're here." Tine said and pocketed his phone just as the two walked into their field of vision. It was little to say that everyone was shocked. The two were a sight to see.

Earn's hair was curled and she wore a short red dress along with heels and finished her statement with blood red lipstick. Next to her was Ohm who never looked as styled and the two were quick to catch attention.

"Holy shit." Fong said with his mouth wide open, very obviously checking out Ohm. The latter sat down casually next to him seemingly oblivious of everyone's dazed expressions. Earn joined her girlfriend's side, very proudly smirking as he looked around and, more specifically, at Fong's expressions.

"I feel very underdressed right now." Tine spoke up, staring at him for moment longer before turning to Earn. "Your doing I'm guessing."

"He asked, I delivered." She shrugged, pulling the drink closer to her. "What do you think, Fong?"

Everyone immediately turned to him who still stated at Ohm dazed. They locked eyes and Fong felt as if he could pass out any time soon, his heart was beating fast and he felt a little weak. If he had panicked before, he sure as hell isn't holding up well now. Not knowing what to say, he quickly grabbed the glass of tequila and downed it before giving Ohm a times up.

"...-look great." He swallowed the 'you' but Ohm seemed satisfied with the answer. Earn and Pear, Sarawat and Tine exchanged looks before smiling and following Fong's lead. Soon enough, Ohm being last, everyone's first round was quickly gone.

It was safe to say that that night was a wild night. After few drinks, Fong got very confident and started openly flirting with Ohm, his new look apparently tugging his last string that was holding Fong back from doing so. Ohm wasn't sure how to react at first, thinking Fong was messing with him, but as the night went on, he started flirting back. The group found the whole ordeal very entertaining and most importantly, they were sure that now both knew the other liked him which meant the bet was done.

"And as expected…I'm right." Pear grinned, her pride even bigger drunk. She slammed her hand on the table before gesturing to everyone to pay up while the duo disappeared somewhere, doing who knows what but most likely the very obvious thing. The group groaned but reached for their wallets and threw bills into her hand. "And you…" She pointed at Earn. "...that is yet to be seen."

Pear put the money in her bag just as the two returned to the table. Everyone noticed the messy state they were in but instead of commenting, Sarawat held up his glassed and yelled.

"Celebratory drink!"

"Cheers!" The group added after him and slammed their glasses together. Their group officially had another couple.

[stretchjournalemerson]

We Are, We Aren't

By Connor Gibson

02:51 PM

Dirty piles of slush litter the ground of the Public Garden. The ice on the pond is melting in the sun. Kids scoop up the last traces of snow, melted and hardened and melted into chunks of ice, to throw at each other. The Garden is full of people, tourists and natives alike taking advantage of the 42-degree weather— which, for a Boston February, is “warm”. I’m bundled in my wool coat and hat; others’ Patriots tees show under unzipped hoodies. The blindingly white neck of my Tatte shirt peeks out above my scarf. As always, I’m running early, but I speed-walk anyway.

Google tells me that Back Bay, the neighborhood home to the Tatte where I work, is one of the wealthiest places in the Boston area. It tells me that the bay on which the neighborhood sits was drained in the 1800s, uncovering foul-smelling fens and swamps. Developers poured cement on top of it and chopped it up into rectangles. There’s something there, some cute metaphor comparing designer stores atop a concrete-covered swamp to glossing over the issue of gentrification in favor of a new Sweetgreen.

I’ll write about that later, I think. I exit the Garden at Newbury and Arlington and cross the street. A high-cheekboned model, face blown up to the size of my entire body, peers down at me from the Burberry store window. Her eyelashes are lowered seductively under her huge sunglasses. Excuse me, I hear in my head. A posh British accent. Excuse me, why are you looking at me? I look away.

Letters barrage me as I turn onto Boylston. MK MK MK MK on clutches and purses. Chanel on a storefront. HOMELESS VETERAN PLEASE HELP GOD BLESS, scrawled on torn cardboard with a marker.

I walk into Tatte and take off my coat. VIBE CHECKER blares at me from the temperature gun, neon pink Sharpie on white.

Sarah, the mid manager, points the VIBE CHECKER at my forehead.

How’s my vibe? I ask.

She chuckles. Fine. Symptoms?

All of ‘em, at once.

Go grab an apron and we can talk about the new dinner menu. Her sweatshirt says BREAKFAST SANDWICH. I know that our BREAKFAST SANDWICH sweatshirts retail for $35. I wonder which Michael Kors clutch goes best with a BREAKFAST SANDWICH sweatshirt.

I step into Tatte Connor with his pristine white shirt and bandana and sickly sweet voice— a voice both Connor and not Connor, a voice that is mine and isn’t. Tatte Connor doesn’t create witty metaphors about systemic problems, he fires off meaningless platitudes: I like your outfit, cold out there, isn’t it? I know, I don’t know how I don’t eat them all. He grabs an apron, clocks in, and listens intently as Sarah explains chraimeh sauce.

03:14 PM

I’m at the register today, standing in one place for over five hours. It means hi, welcome in! to everyone who enters. It means my voice will stay in its customer service pitch for long after I leave, and when I walk around a person at Target while picking up yogurt that night, I will automatically announce BEHIND! and scare the shit out of them.

A woman walks in, several shopping bags swinging from her arms. Hi, welcome in! She nods acknowledgement. She wants a medium latte, almond milk and vanilla. We only have a small and a large. She asks to see the large. She’s fine with a large.

I take her phone number. All right! Will that be all for you? And would you like to leave a tip today?

She would not. She announces this so happily that I’m forced to match her tone. All right! I hope it sounds authentic. She takes her card.

I do NOT need a receipt, she proclaims, and walks out the door, bags bumping against the doorframe. The bags are massive, stiff, and glossy. They look expensive, down to the heavy serif font. My stained apron feels incredibly out of place. I wonder if it would be stupid to go get a new apron.

Caleb, the barista, waves his hand. He’s made my drink— it’s on the bar. I nod and ring up three more people before I get enough of a break to go grab it. He’s written my name on the cup and drawn little hearts for the O’s. My heart swells. I take half a sip, and then someone else walks in the door. Hi, welcome in!

03:32 PM

It’s a full-on late-lunch rush. The morning shift has just left, and the crowd hits us in the middle of a change. I’ve been moved off register and over to expo, where I’m doing three people’s jobs at once. Picking up? Todd? Would you mind waiting outside for a few minutes? Hi, Doordash? Do you need a menu? Take care! Thank you so much. Hi, welcome in!

A couple enters. They wear matching black puffy jackets with faux fur hoods and matching black sunglasses, similar in size and shape to the glasses on the Burberry model. They don’t remove their hoods or their sunglasses when they step inside. Picking up? Favio? I hand them their drinks. They are not happy.

You should be more thoughtful of your customers, I am told. It’s cold outside, and you shouldn’t keep people waiting. You need to be thinking about that.

I’m so sorry, sir.

I am reprimanded.

You need to move faster,

I’m sorry, sir. We’re doing our best.

I am told that maybe, that is not good enough, eh? And Favio and his girlfriend leave.

Have a good one! Take care! I imagine labels on their backs, as bold and shiny as the ones on their jackets and sunglasses: ASSHOLES.

03:42 PM

I am back on the register. The late-lunch rush has died down. In eighteen minutes, dinner will open up, and we’ll get slammed again— but for now I get to rest. I stack pistachio croissants in a delicate, buttery pyramid, coating my gloves with green dust and oil. Once I’m pretty sure they won’t fall, I head back to the register to count my tips.

Most people tip, but off-handedly, trying not to sound eager or generous. Sure, throw a dollar on there— “there” being a $12 sandwich. I wonder what kind of life they lead where dollars are something they throw. I notice that those thrown dollars never fall into the HOMELESS VETERAN’s plastic cup.

05:08 PM

An older woman enters and beelines for the Grab-and-Go case. She wears a brightly patterned scarf over her hair and carries an enormous H&M bag, full to bursting. She swings the bag onto one shoulder and holds up a small container of chicken salad. How much is it?, she asks. Maybe six or seven dollars, I reply.

She is surprised that I don’t know the exact price. She asks, don’t you work here? She asks, again, how much it is.

Give me one minute to check. It is seven dollars.

She complains that nobody here ever knows anything. She explains to me that it’s just one item, and you should know how much it costs. She tells me, I asked a girl a similar question, just the other day, and she didn’t know either.

I’m sorry about that. Will that be all?

She doesn’t want anything else, and pays with cash. She counts what I give back to her. She drops the chicken salad in her H&M bag, and then she leaves.

Have a great day! In my mind, I replace the H&M on her bag with BOOMER.

I remind myself that I am not an idiot, and that I deal with a lot, all day, and that I am good at my job. I remind myself that I am a human who makes mistakes. I remind myself to smile.

Another woman walks into the store. Hi, welcome in!

06:26 PM

I’m back from break, during which I inhaled a breakfast sandwich and submitted two

discussion posts on my phone. Apparently we have only made $96 so far from the dinner menu. The store is dark. Half of the patio is empty, and the people walking by, bundled up in winter coats, lean against the wind.

I’m sent over to the pass to bag food while my coworker Ayad takes his break. The dinner items come with a side salad and a little bag of pistachio cranberry cookies. Between orders, I stuff napkins into sandwich bags and draw hearts with a Sharpie on the cookie bags. I think of the people receiving them, in brownstones around Boston, living alone, living with girlfriends, living with husbands, living with tiny yappy dogs.

A woman comes in. I walk over to the register. Her hair is dark, curly, and pulled back in a tight ponytail. She carries a WHOLE FOODS canvas bag. She reminds me of my mother. She’s been thinking about getting a challah all day, but now she’s not so sure about the challah versus the pain de mie, and do I have a suggestion for her?

I bake challah at home, I say, but our challah is delicious.

She asks excitedly what recipe I use— I use Smitten Kitchen’s fig and sea salt challah, without the figs. I can’t find another good recipe for just one challah. She uses the New York Times recipe, makes two and freezes one. Smart, I say.

She decides on the pain de mie. She asks how long I’ve been making challah.

When I was at home, I made it every Friday since the start of the pandemic. I wanted to do that here, but I live alone and I can’t eat that much bread.

She’s sure my friends would be glad to eat it, and I agree. I ring up the pain de mie and an orange juice, and she tucks them into her WHOLE FOODS bag. Happy baking, she tells me, and leaves, pulling her hood up to block the wind.

08:32 PM

The close went quickly. Caleb, Ayad, and I walk out the door. Our manager stays behind, counting money, shutting everything down for the night. Lights flick off one by one. The wind bites my skin and whips my hair off my forehead. I button up my coat. Caleb and Ayad walk down the steps of the Arlington stop, waving goodbye, and I start the cold walk home.

Google tells me that the drought of the summer of 2016 brought many Back Bay buildings dangerously close to rotting and crumbling. Their foundations sit on man-made land, supported by wooden pilings. The drought brought the water table close to the pilings, putting them at risk for decay.

There’s something there, something about how the tiniest bit of stress can expose the problems lurking below a neighborhood so put-together and pristine on the surface. I’ll write about that later, I think.

It’s hard to put how I feel right now into words. I feel homesick. I feel happy. I feel tired. I want to collapse onto my sofa and pass out. I want to eat way too much cheesecake. I want to feel, just for a few minutes, like the people I welcome into Tatte.

I want to roll out dough on the dining room table, showing my mother how much it’s risen when she walks through the door with a WHOLE FOODS canvas bag full of groceries. I want to keep talking about bread. I want to work at a job where everyone who comes in asks me about recipes; where nobody plops their Chanel bags on the counter, knocking dinner menus left and right while digging in their MK MK MK clutch for their platinum VISA; where Favio and his girlfriend realize that the people bringing them their soy macchiatos are people; where older women understand that I have to remember three thousand things a day and sometimes none of those things are the price of chicken salad. I want to thank the New York Times Challah Lady for making my day a little less shit and reminding me why I even.

I could work at Starbucks, or Caffe Nero, or JAHO Coffee Roaster & Wine Bar. Sometimes, when people take their masks off inside to snap pictures of them biting into donuts for their Instagrams, I think about working at Target.

Then I bring home a whole cake, or I get handed a free iced latte with my name written on the top and little hearts drawn around it, or I talk about Boston winters with a customer excited to learn I’ve also moved from the Bay Area. I strike up a conversation with a man waiting for the restroom— he wants to know about the history of Tatte in Boston, and I tell him what I can.

I pet a very small dog. I hand the last almond croissant to a woman who tells me she is overjoyed that we have one left. She tells me that she stops by after work every day to try and buy an almond croissant. More often than not, we’re sold out.

I’m happy I could get you one today, I say, and I mean it.

I want to think that Back Bay is this woman— Almond Croissant Woman— or the New York Times Challah Lady. At times I think Back Bay is Favio and his girlfriend, MK MK MK clutches, $7 chicken salads, the Burberry model’s poster-sized glare. I want to think these things, but I know that Back Bay is none of them.

I know that Tatte Back Bay is just a coffee shop. I want to call it a microcosm of humanity, a shiny white petri dish for me to peer into. I want to claim that I know these people, that Favio and his girlfriend are selfish assholes, that the boomer really does value chicken salad over basic kindness and gratitude. I want to slap labels on them, thick-serif RICH KID, glossy embossed DADDY’S MONEY, CHALLAH LADY (GOOD PERSON?) in cursive scrawl. The truth is that I don’t know them, and I will never know them. Maybe Favio and his girlfriend were fighting that day. Maybe the boomer’s husband had just died. Maybe Challah Lady ran over a cat with her Subaru on the way home. Maybe maybe maybe.

Google tells me that Back Bay has a population of 16,427. The median age of those people is 35.3 years. Over nine thousand of them are white-collar workers. Their average household income is over $127k. Most of them are women. Most of them walk to work.

Google doesn’t tell me what challah recipe they use. It doesn’t tell me whether they feed the cookies that come with their cod in chraimeh sauce to their small, yappy dogs. It doesn’t tell me whether they notice the hearts I drew on their bags, or whether they smile before throwing those bags away.

We are what we say to customer service workers, and we aren’t. We are our jobs, our genders, our hobbies, our incomes, and we aren’t. We are the hi, welcome in and the thanks, take care and all the other facades we present to people, and we aren’t.

I walk up the steps of my apartment building, unlock and open the door, then close it behind me. Tatte Connor— the Connor I am and am not— stays out in the cold, perched on a wooden patio chair, shivering in his perfectly white work shirt: ready for me to step into him tomorrow.

Acknowledgements:

My inspiration for this essay came from working at Tatte and getting to know, through the lens of customer service, the people of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. As anybody who has ever worked in customer service will know, working with people is the best and worst part of the job. I’ve had some truly frustrating interactions, and I’ve also met some people that brightened up the rest of my day. When I’ve been on my feet for five hours, maintaining a customer service persona, and dealing with everything else that customer service entails, it’s easy to assign labels to people and make snap judgements about them based on a one-minute interaction.

My goal for this essay was to go deeper than that. The assignment that prompted this essay was to compose a profile, creating— in the words of my WR 121 E47 professor Stephen Shane— a “dominant impression that captures the complexity of your subject”. While I wanted to profile the people of Back Bay, I’m aware that I will never be able to understand their complexity through these tiny snapshots, and I tried to convey that struggle in this essay. I’d like to thank Prof. Shane for assigning this essay, and I’d like to thank the customers of Tatte Back Bay for their inspiration.

[londonspirit]

Occasionally, Dan Levy will pick up his phone and send a text: “Can you believe it?” These messages are sent to Annie Murphy or Noah Reid or Emily Hampshire or Karen Robinson, former inhabitants of Schitt’s Creek, titular town of the series Levy co-created with his identically-browed father, Eugene. What Levy can’t quite believe is that a CBC and Pop network show that aired in the U.S. after reruns of The Young and the Restless became a no-shit international phenomenon and won every major 2020 comedy Emmy from Outstanding Series to Outstanding Contemporary Costumes, plus awards for the show’s four main cast members: Levy, Levy the elder, Murphy, and Catherine O’Hara.

Not that Levy has any qualms about the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Or, more accurately, the best thing he’s ever made happen: In addition to creating, writing, and starring as skeptical scion David Rose on Schitt's Creek, Levy occasionally directed episodes and sourced many of the award-winning costumes. But the endless wretchedness of 2020 is perhaps an inopportune time to publicly garner good fortune.

“What this year has done has opened so many people's eyes to so much of the social unrest that is happening in America and really forced people to learn more,” Levy says, sitting in the bland Toronto apartment the 37-year-old is temporarily renting until he can head back to LA. “Read more. Educate themselves more. Check their privilege more. And yet…” Levy’s magnificent eyebrows unfold from a furrow of probity to an arch of delight, and his mouth into a crooked tilde of a smile. “There are moments when I think it is important for your sense of self to also be OK to say, ‘Something good happened to me this year, and I worked really hard for it.’ And so did a group of really talented people that I love. You're kind of caught in this place where only you can talk about it amongst yourselves.” Levy’s conversations with his co-stars are couched in language familiar to anyone who doesn’t want to give off the vibe of an Instagram caption on a pandemic birthday trip to a private island: "Well, obviously, you know, this is not of much significance" compared to everything else that’s going on. Still, Levy has to acknowledge that, yes, a good thing did happen; after all, he says, “You're talking about breaking records at the Emmys!”

Since he began social distancing, Levy has engaged in something like a fame-offset program, matching his good fortune by taking, publicizing, and raising money for University of Alberta’s online Indigenous Canada course. Levy’s queasiness about his success happening with a 2020 backdrop seems to stem from goodness so pervasive he’s caught himself thinking, Am I going to seem too, like, sincere? (When I ask if he believes he’s a good person, Levy frets, “Is being a good person something you can proclaim? Or is being a good person something that someone has to observe about you?”)

And Schitt’s Creek itself is an oasis of kindness — it doesn’t seem coincidental that after a slow five-season ascent, the show’s viewership exploded in its final year as we quarantined with our own bad thoughts. Levy has said that the arc of the Rose family — a “Balenciaga” to “consignment Balenciaga” to “back to current season Balenciaga” story — is based on the question, “Would the Kardashians still be the Kardashians without their money?” To Levy, the answer is obvious: Yes, and they would be better for it because, he says, “There is a love to that family.” So of course when the Roses lose the fortune amassed from a video rental empire and are forced to move to a Canadian town purchased as a novelty gift, they learn what truly matters.

Levy’s father and collaborator, Eugene, who co-wrote Christopher Guest films Best In Show and A Mighty Wind, says, “There are people who work in the world of comedy where they like to push envelopes in terms of what they can get away with, but that may come at the expense of other people. If it's at all important to you to avoid then you, you know, avoid it.” With the notable exception of programs like The Great British Bake Off — Levy, naturally, used to host the Canadian iteration — it is quite a bit more difficult to be entertaining and kind than entertaining and cruel. But Dan Levy attributes some of Schitt’s Creek’s success to what he calls “a purity to the storytelling and the show that caught people off guard because it was so unexpectedly sincere.” “There was something badass about the fact that it didn't have the kind of edge that people had often equated with cable comedies,” he says.

Making Schitt’s Creek a source of goodness and light was an unrelenting crush for Levy. “How much anger and rage do I have to repress in order to get the light out?” he says, laughing and stroking his elderly dog, Redmond, so vigorously I worry about ginger fur getting on Levy’s David Rose-appropriate black and white JW Anderson T-shirt. “Um, at times a lot.”

When Levy was working on Schitt’s Creek, he was picked up every morning at 5 a.m. and driven to set, where he would rehearse and rewrite scenes. Next was making decisions about sets and wardrobe fittings for cast members like O’Hara. Moira Rose, the actor mother of Levy’s character with a grandeur as flamboyant as her choice of syllable emphasis, might have to go to meet someone who makes her feel exposed. Levy would supervise an outfit selection that functioned as a billboard for her emotional state. “How do you express vulnerability?” Levy asks. “Well, you put more clothes on, and more aggressive clothes on, so as to armor yourself.” Levy needed to approve budgets, which didn’t increase even as the show gained more attention. He would act and sometimes direct, and then be back in wardrobe picking out the right statement necklaces for O’Hara to wear to buy a used car.

After filming ended, Levy went to the writers’ room to work for a couple more hours. He’d get home at 8 p.m., quickly eat dinner, and write until 2 a.m. on some nights. Then he’d sleep for two hours and get in the car to go back to work at 5 a.m. When shooting wrapped for the year, Levy went into post-production, spending months in windowless rooms. Once a season was finally completed, preparation would begin for the next one. Levy charged himself with making sure every detail connected to each other and tracked with the personal histories he and Eugene had written for each character before the series began. Eugene can remember only one deviation from those bios during the entire run of the show. Originally, the father of motel employee Stevie had been a roadie for Fleetwood Mac before receiving a restraining order from the band; the detail was later transferred to the father of diner waitress Twyla, who was played by Levy’s sister, Sarah. Several times during the run of the series, Levy developed anxiety so literally paralyzing that his neck would seize up, forcing him to wear a brace and receive chiropractic treatments between scenes.

“Through every phase of Schitt's Creek,” Eugene says, “Dan had a very strong sense as to what it was he wanted the show to look like and what he wanted it to sound like and what the tone of the show was going to be and what the message of the show would be. He certainly makes himself responsible to make these things happen. He doesn't go with the flow at all.”

Total control let Levy create a perfectly realized world, from the menu size in the Café Tropical to the caws in Moira’s comeback film The Crows Have Eyes III: The Crowening. But it’s perhaps not the healthiest arrangement when the confines of quarantine feel normal to you. “Over the past six years,” Levy says, “I really haven't been outside that much.”

When he was a boy, Levy became so anxious that he did not want to attend birthday parties. He did not want to go to summer camp. He did not, in fact, want to engage in any social situations. Levy’s anxiety physically manifested as iritis, an inflammation of the eye which doctors feared would eventually take his vision. It was as if the anxiety that drove Levy indoors had then decided to draw all the curtains.

“I think that came from a deep-rooted fear of knowing that I was gay and not being able to be free,” Levy says now. “By the time I got to high school, when your brain is starting to catch up to your physical impulses, it led to a very confusing time. Because on the one hand, you are now being introduced to things like self-awareness and anxiety. At the same time, you’re becoming more and more savvy when it comes to hiding it.”

The escape was theater. Levy began writing, directing, and performing in school plays, including a student-run stage adaptation of Clue produced during a teacher’s strike. “I was starting to develop a sense of confidence by way of being able to entertain people,” Levy says. “It was like a decoy version of myself that I was putting out there to not have to live with the reality that when the bullying was happening — if someone was calling me a f----t or whatever it was — they were speaking the truth.” What a cursed blessing to discover you have a gift but to understand it as a distraction from who you really are and not as a true part of yourself. No wonder that Levy says of creating a persona — naturally, in the self-distancing second person — “Your sense of self gets chipped away. You lose sight of your own value.”

Levy had a ticker of fears scrolling through his mind broadcasting what might happen if people knew who he really was: “Fear of being ridiculed. Fear of being othered. Fear of exposing something that I think a lot of high school students at the time didn't have the tools to process properly, to make it comfortable for me.”

Then, when he was 18, Levy came out. Actually, his mother, Deborah Divine, invited Levy to come out, over lunch. Levy accepted, and was accepted in return. It was one version of an inflection point that Levy has explored in some of his most impactful work. In Happiest Season, Hulu’s lesbian Christmas rom-com, Levy delivers the film’s high point in a monologue; filmmaker Clea DuVall tells me, “I cried during every take.”

“Everybody’s story is different,” Levy’s John says to Kristen Stewart’s Abby, who is planning to propose to a woman whose family doesn’t know she’s queer. “But the one thing that all of those stories have in common is that moment right before you say those words, when your heart is racing and you don’t know what’s coming next,” John goes on. “That moment’s really terrifying. And then once you say those words, you can’t unsay them. A chapter has ended and a new one’s begun, and you have to be ready for that.”

On the Schitt’s Creek episode “Meet the Parents,” David’s future in-laws discover their son Patrick is gay before he can come out to them. “Did we do something wrong, David?” Patrick’s father asks, inadvertently head-faking homophobia before saying, “The thought that Patrick was feeling like he couldn't come and talk to us about this…”

Obviously not everyone who comes out gets the response they’re hoping for. But like Patrick, Levy had a happy ending sitting in front of him: accepting and caring parents wondering when their son was going to tell them he was gay and trying to respect his timeline for doing so. When I ask Eugene if it’s painful knowing that he could have potentially alleviated the anxiety Levy was feeling by approaching him sooner, he concurs. “I would have done things so much differently, you know?” Eugene says slowly. “I would have gotten more involved in talking about what was going on.” But he doesn’t know that it would have changed anything — after all, the flow goes with Levy. “Not necessarily that we would have gotten any direct answers,” Eugene says. “You can only get back what you get back.” (Levy confirms he was not ready to discuss his sexuality before he was; despite his parents’ openness and love, he had created Schrödinger’s Eugene and Deb in his head, simultaneously welcoming him and rejecting him at the news.)

Newly out, Levy went to college and began dating. However, he says, “I was not in any place to be of great value in a relationship.” Like David Rose, Levy’s pitch tends to ascend on the back half of sentences, making him sound like he’s interrogating his own thought process. “You then get into these habits where you're dating people who are totally wrong for you because they're seeking out people who are a bit damaged,” Levy says, “and you're seeking out people who have one foot out the door so that you don't actually give yourself over in any kind of way.” (After I mention that while watching Happiest Season, I wanted Stewart’s character to dump her semi-emotionally damaging girlfriend and leave with Levy, he says, “In this conversation, I'm brought back to many a relationship [where] ‘RUN’ was just, like, the subtitle flashing for about a year and a half of my life.”)

Dating, then, became another way to keep people out. “I really got to a point where I felt like if I didn't make an active choice to pull myself out of this shell that was becoming such a comfort,” Levy says, “I would not be the adult that I want to be.” He spent a summer in England, answering phones at the ICM talent agency as exposure therapy for speaking, unscripted, to strangers. A month and a half later, he auditioned to be a host on MTV Canada. Levy says it was “the ultimate exercise in pushing myself and getting myself out there. If I could get a job on television asking other people questions — which had previously been on the top five things that I would never want to do — this could be the final kind of exercise in changing myself for the better.”

Like Levy’s high school theater work, his success as a host was a gnarled little monkey’s paw of unfortunate wish fulfillment. He was charismatic on screen and became famous enough to travel to New York on the weekends and get into the clubs he wanted to get into. Levy also pioneered the now-prevalent televised after-show with his The Hills discussion series, which exists in the same tonal universe as Schitt’s Creek: sharp enough to make you feel smart for laughing at it, but warm enough that Lauren Conrad herself was a guest.

But much of the work felt limiting. The questions he had to ask celebrities were pre-negotiated with publicists and written by producers — as Levy notes, “No one wants to sit down with someone from MTV Canada and have a revelatory chat about life.” One of his last appearances before quitting was the MTV Movie Awards red carpet. “You could see a kind of judgment in the people you're interviewing,” he says. “They're not rolling their eyes, but you can feel them thinking about rolling their eyes. And I know that a lot of the times they were questions I didn't necessarily want to be asked if I were in that situation.” Pretending to be the version of himself he thought people would accept, Levy says, “kind of just didn't feel worth it anymore.”

You know the next part. Levy realized he could keep the traits people had responded to when he performed — his charisma, his humor — add sincerity, and still be compelling. He spent half a decade grinding out something that was truly of himself. And through Schitt’s Creek Levy became, his father points out, “one of the top showrunners in the entertainment business right now.” Eugene says, “After the [Emmys] broadcast I think there were probably some executives who — if they even remember us going in to pitch the show — are probably kicking themselves.”

Based on what he does next, Levy is now in the unique position of being able to calibrate how famous he becomes. It’s evening in Toronto, and Levy mulls the question over what simply cannot be good wine; when I ask what kind it is, he says, “Red?” Levy knows he could choose to stay behind the scenes and work on the ABC Studios projects he has in development. But Levy is also in the early stages of a romantic comedy he would star in. He worries that he wouldn’t be able to handle uber-fame with the aplomb his co-star Kristen Stewart does. When they went out to a dive bar while filming in Pittsburgh, he says, “I was just so kind of in awe of her confidence and comfort in herself. She's so at ease — [I say that] as someone who I think will always be on their journey to have that for myself.”

“Dan’s assessment is actually incorrect,” Stewart says later. “But what I have done is try to keep that experience [of fame] fairly insular, not make other people I’m with take on the weight of my own self-consciousness — or, God forbid, have someone think I’m up my own ass and loving the attention. It’s easier for me to pretend [people noticing me] is not happening, even though on the inside I still feel like the world is a big school yard of giggling onlookers. Are they laughing at me? Yes, no… Who cares.”

If Levy ever does find himself in the position of being Stewart-famous, she thinks he’ll be fine. “What I did notice was how absolutely wonderful Dan is with everyone,” she says. “He is so loving and gracious towards people that recognize him. The positive force he puts out into the world is clearly reflected in how people come back at him.”

What Levy is putting out into the world next: “I would like to date more,” he says, shoulders bashfully rising ceilingward. “Circumstance plays such a huge part in what we accept for ourselves. When you're doing something that you love it’s like, ‘I have a full plate.’ Even though [Schitt’s Creek was] super intense and even though at times I need a neck brace, it was never not inspiring, and it was never not thrilling and exciting and totally satisfying. So to [want to] make space for someone else…in a way, it is the ultimate filter. You’re basically saying, do I want to carve out the space in an already full and fulfilled life for this person? And a lot of the time, the answer is no. But it only makes it that much better when the right person comes along.”

For now, Levy’s plate is full of his multiple simultaneous projects. (He says there are more than three but few enough that you could count them on both hands, though he doesn’t want to talk about them in detail until there’s actually something to talk about — if Levy follows the Schitt’s Creek model, he jokes, he’ll “get five seasons on television before anybody sees them.”) Before he begins writing, Levy must make sure his entire house is immaculate. Even today, months after the series finale of Schitt’s Creek aired, Levy is negotiating the length of the “fuck”-blocking bleeps of syndication. But as we have all learned this year, not everything is under our control, even if we are Dan Levy. Stewart remembers him panicking as he tried to decorate a new home and realized none of the furniture he bought made any sense together. “The idea of him left and right showrunning and developing and acting and writing — and then his sweater closet confounding him — was very cute,” she says.

A certain amount of acceptance will be useful as Levy figures out how to follow up a beloved hit show. “The goal was to make sure that the first season was exactly what we wanted it to be,” Levy says of his Schitt’s Creek thought process. “To use the resources that we have as best as we can to get that season out there, so that we can go to sleep at night knowing that if people don't respond to it and it gets pulled off the air, there was nothing more we could have done.” Levy leans forward with a sincerity he’d surely second-guess if he were writing this scene and explains the daunting task of living up to yourself. “That’s the goal of anything I'm gonna do from here on out. It's just, try and do the best job you can. Try to make sure that you're loving it.”

[lokissceptres]

A simple date?

A/N: I keep getting weekly reminders from Grammarly that I haven’t written anything lolol, sorry about that I’m in a very important year in my life and it is equally stressful 

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Fem!Reader

Summary: You’re not being treated right so Tom takes you out to show you how you deserve to be treated

Warnings: Fluff

-

A/N: he/him in the first para refers to your partner whom you have a strained relationship with

He had just canceled on you again. And this time with an even worse excuse than the last. It seemed to you like you weren’t his top priority and with all the stress that you had recently, you didn’t know how much longer you could keep going. You were seriously going to crack under all this pressure. Maybe you should end it before it gets worse?

“What wrong Y/N?” A sweet voice said from across the room. Tom. He was probably the only one you hadn’t told about your relationship problems, simply because you knew he would be instantaneously concerned and you didn’t want to worry him. 

Tom was one of your dearest friends that you had met surprisingly one day. You two were close and you knew that he would do almost anything for you, as you would for him. However, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him anything about your current situation, it made you feel ever so guilty...

“Y/N?” he repeated, staring at you with soft, concerned eyes.

“It’s nothing!” You said half-heartedly, releasing a sigh, attempting to cover up the disappointment you felt. He sat next to you on the sofa, a gentleman's distance away. It seemed funny as Tom’s outfit today matched the gentleman aura he always exuded. A white shirt with a few buttons undone and neat black formal trousers. Dashing, as always. He leaned towards you, reaching out to touch your arm in a comforting manner.

“I know when somethings wrong.” He whispered sternly. You knew he wouldn’t stop asking so you thought that you might as well tell him, considering that he would probably just give you some advice which was well needed.  

...

“I don't know what to do” you concluded, finishing the short rant that you had given Tom, “I’m sorry for bombarding you like this...” you said sadly. As predicted, you felt slightly guilty for sharing this problem with him. 

“It’s more than ok, Y/N.” he said gently, “I feel like you’ve heard a lot of advice, and since you’re free today we should go out instead” he concluded, standing in front of you, bowing slightly with an outstretched hand, urging you to take it, “Let me show you how a man should treat a lady”

The kind smile he had made it almost impossible to not give in. You nodded in agreement taking his hand as he pulled you from the sofa you were seated on.

After Tom had taken you home to get changed you re-emerged from your house in your favourite semi-formal outfit, Tom hadn’t told you where you were going but knowing him it might be somewhere fancy so you didn’t want to take the risk of being underdressed. The sun was shining brightly and there was a cool sping breeze drifing through the air. This was the great kind of weather...

“Where would you like to go?” he said cheerfully after complimenting your outfit

“Suprise me” you said mischeviously, you were looking forward to today with Tom

“As you wish” he smiled, motioning to hail a taxi.

...

When you arrived at the destination Tom decided, you weren’t surprised it was fancy. It was a restaurant that gave off a very antique but modern vibe, you weren’t quite sure how to describe it. It was large and homely and you were sure they served alot of great food. Very british, you chuckled to yourself.

After being seated at a small booth inside, you peered at the menu. It wasn’t incredibly expensive but it was a large amount compared to the regular food you usually ate.

“Do you like the menu? If nothing piques your interest we can go to another place” he said warmly, admiring the masked wander on your face. You noticed that he hadn’t even picked up the menu and had been watching you the whole time. Maybe he comes here regularly?

“No this is great! It even has my fabvourite dish... But I’m not sure I can afford this...” you chuckled sheepishly. Tom chuckled.

“If you dont mind, this is my treat. A gentleman always pays for their lady.” he smiled. A wave of guilt washed over you briefly but you were happy, you liked this kind of treatment as you rarely got it. It made you happy that there were still men who would be true gentlemen, even if they were just your friends. Besides, you liked the way Tom kept reffering to you as ‘his lady’. Something about it made you feel warm inside.

After ordering food and eating it you sat satisfied, grinning at Tom who was glad he had cheered you up. The food really was exquisite but you weren’t sure if it was because of the cafe or because of the look Tom kept giving you.

“Thank you so much. You really didn’t have to do this. I’ll do something to repay you” You said after he had payed.

“If you’re saying that now, I wonder what you’ll be willing to do by the end of tonight...” he chuckled again. That sounded weirdly mischevious and made you excited for whats to come. 

Next, Tom had taken you for a walk around Hyde Park and you had even gone to Trafalgar square. Somewhere along the journey you had walked through a small market and Tom had secretly bought flowers which he suprised you with. They were a stunning colour and smelt amazing. It seemed like everything Tom did was impressive and was done with true enthusiasm, it didn’t seem like it was out of pity.

Tom was truly enjoying his time with you.

By the end of it you had spent the whole afternoon, wandering around London admiring all of the history which Tom so enjoyed. It made you feel connected with him, he had even taken you to all of your favourite shops and attractions. You had spoken to him about almost everything imaginable, it felt like your friendship had sky rocketed, you felt closer to him than ever before.

 As you came to rest on a park bench, admiring the fountain infront of you, Tom did something unsual and put his arm around you. His eyes locked with yours asking for consent. You didn’t react and instead moved closer to him, confirming that it was okay. Tom was always so careful which made you respect him and want to spend more time with him.

The cold breeze of the oncoming evening didn’t bother you as Tom had made you feel warm inside where it counted.

“If I’m honest...” Tom whispered, looking into the distance as if nervous.

“mhmm” you said, resting your head on his shoulder, looking up at his eyes. Tom removed his arm from around you and you sat up straight, still staring at his distant eyes.

“I think you should be with me instead” he said, locking eyes with yours. This was rather unusal for him to say but you were glad that he had said it. You were speechless. Because you agreed. Tom had given you more today than anyone had given you in your entire life, and you knew that he would continue to give you more and that you had alot to offer him too.

Tom leant in, his hand brushing aganist your face. You too leant in, sealing a kiss between the two of you. It was gentle and soft, innocent almost. Filled with newfound love.

“Is that a yes?” he smiled sweetly as he pulled back, hand tucking your hair behind your ear. You smiled back, nodding and pecking him again. Nothing could ruin this moment, the moment that you had been waiting for your entire life. You were in pure bliss.

[thotwonu]

happy anniversary - e.h.

i decided i wanted to write and put on some music and this was born. - rei

edwin was always kind of understated, a go with the flow kinda guy. he fed off the energy around him. he got carried away when the energy was vibrant and could vibe with almost anyone willing to bounce energy back and forth. when he met you things were no different. you bounced energy off of each other and matched each other’s intensity or calmness.

today was your 6 month anniversary. you didn’t really think it needed to be a big deal, but you still wanted to celebrate. edwin felt the same. neither of you thought it was some serious thing, but you both wanted to celebrate the love between you no matter what it was for.

“ED!” you yelled from your bedroom where you were getting ready for your day. edwin had come over early so you could have breakfast together and plan your day out. he jogged into your room and laughed at the small pout on your face and the mess around you. “babygirl, what happened?” he laughed walking over to you, careful not to step on anything, and wrapping you up in his arms. he was just a bit taller than you so his chin rested on the top of your head.

you whined and buried your face in his chest. “i don’t like my clothes,” you looked up at him and pouted. he grinned and pecked your nose, “mkay, let’s see what we’re workin’ with here.” he started going through all the clothes that you had tossed around your room in the time it had taken him to wash the dishes from breakfast. you sat on your bed in your nightshirt with your knees pulled to your chest still pouting excessively as you watched him move around your room.

he organized the clothes into piles you didn’t understand and kept holding pieces next to each other or up towards your body. your eyebrows scrunched up and your pout deepened as he started mumbling stuff to himself and going through your closet. “edwin, papito, what are you doing?” his hand waved you off from the closet and you sighed flopping back on your pillows.

when he finally emerged he laid out a full outfit next to you and grinned. you sat up and looked at what he had picked out. a light grey tank top, some faded black torn demin jeans, and a camo jacket. you turned to look at him, “how the hell did you do that?” he just laughed and jumped on your bed. “change! we got adventures to have!” you laughed and went to the bathroom the change quickly and put on a little makeup. when you came back edwin had dozed off in your bed.

the sunlight streaming through the window was at the perfect angle to make his skin almost glow. you smiled and snapped a picture before quietly creeping over to the bed. you jumped up next to him and leaned your head over his face. he blinked up and you and groaned, “oh my god, you were taking forever.” you stuck your tongue out at him and moved to get up off the bed. he was too fast for you though because he wrapped his arms around your waist and flipped you both on the bed to where he could rest his head on your stomach and he pretended to go back to sleep.

“edwinnnnnnn,” you laughed carding your fingers through his curls. “mmm,” he said from his comfy spot. “adventure rememberrrrrr,” you sang playfully wiggling to try and get out of his grip. he scrunched up his face and tightened his hold on you. “but cuddles?” you giggled at the pout forming on his face and booped his nose. “adventure during the day, cuddles tonight!” he opened one eye and grinned at you, “well, when you put it that way.” he got up out of bed and dragged you with him. you laughed following him and slipping on your shoes as the two of you ran out the door.

you spent the day hitting up various thrift shops and craft stores, before getting lunch at the Grove Farmer’s Market, so he could get Asian food and you could get Hispanic food. on your way home, you managed to find a cute little ice cream shop and you stopped there. by the time you made it back to your apartment you were both exhausted.

“happy anniversary baby,” you said as the two of you collapsed on the couch. edwin smiled and pulled you into his chest. “happy anniversary mamas,” he said kissing your forehead. you hummed in satisfaction cuddling into him more. “i’m thinking pizza for dinner and then we watch something on netflix.” you laughed, “edwin, we just had ice cream like 15 minutes ago.” “yes and?” he grinned at you.

you just shook your head and pulled up postmates on your phone, “how about this place?” edwin looked over the menu and nodded, “i can respect a man from new york settin’ up roots in LA.” you rolled your eyes and placed to order yawning. “oh my god that’s the cutest shit i have ever seen,” edwin’s eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped a little. you looked at him confused. “i don’t ever think i’ve seen you yawn before.” you busted out laughing, “oh my god i love you so much.” he sat up and pulled you into his lap and pressed a kiss to your lips. you happily reciprocated and that led to a full-fledged make-out session until you were interrupted by postmates. “PIZZA!” edwin yelled jumping up from the couch and leaving you giggling in his wake.

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

You will be mine - Chapter 22. Unforeseen circumstances [Park Jimin x Reader]

Title: You will be mine - Chapter 22. Unforeseen circumstances ➔ Chapter 23. Here! Pairing: Park Jimin x Female!Reader Published: 25 June, 2020 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore

You will be mine Masterlist | Masterlists

As days passed by, Jimin kept a safe distance from me. He barely talked to me, let alone look at me when we were hanging out together. He rather disappeared most of the times, than to be around me and it hit me hard. I didn't think I had done anything to him to distance himself so badly, but it seemed he thought otherwise. I tried talking to him, asking him if I have done anything, but he just said it'd better if we stayed away from each other. I felt useless against his request, not knowing what I had done to him to deserve to be treated like that.

I was trying hard to forget about him and his behaviour and Joongki was a safe option. He was always around me, making me smile even when I felt myself sinking deep into my negative feelings. He was joking around with the dumbest pick up lines or simply watched me with a smile on his face which let's be honest, made me awkwardly blush.

After days of hanging out and enjoying his company, he decided to ask me out again and I knew it would help me to try to forget Jimin. He was safe. He was comfortable. I said yes. In the back of my mind, I remembered Jimin asking me to be careful, but it seemed so irrelevant and I was certain that I knew Joongki enough to know that he was a good guy.

It was already Friday and our date was scheduled to be at 6pm sharp. I took my time to get ready, peppering myself in a hot, soapy bath with face mask on my cheeks, sipping on my wine. I felt like a million dollar housewife.

Yojin was both excited and reluctant. She asked me to go to her house after the date, wanting to know each and every detail of the date. She was almost begging me for it, making me give in at the end. I told her that I would be by her house around 9pm, knowing that I didn't plan on staying out all night on a first date. That just wasn't me after all. Man have a tendency of wanting something more when they can't get it.

I was getting ready, standing in front of my wardrobe with a completely defeated look on my face. I did not know what to wear and I felt shallow for having such problems while others were battling bigger issues than mine. I heaved a deep sigh and started throwing cloths onto the floor and bed, making a mess out of my usually tidy room.

After about an hour of searching and matching competition with my wardrobe, I found 4 possible outfits that I didn't find utterly disgusting.

As a first option, I was holding onto a black cropped jacket and white long sleeved cropped top, along with black leather trousers and high-heels. I liked the outfit, but it had more of a party theme, rather than a date style.

For the second outfit, I tried going for a less revealing choice. It consisted of a black leather jacket, leather trousers and a pair of boots with a grey loose shirt.

I also had a combination for a third outfit which was my personal favourite. An off shoulder black wool shirt and leather trousers a pair of black combat boots.

The last option was the simplest of them all. A plain black shirt with a v-neck line and a pair of leather trousers and high heels.

I have messaged Yojin as I was incapable of deciding on what I should be wearing, especially as I wasn't sure where we were going. I sent the photos over to ask for her opinion, since she had a much better style and understanding of fashion. Seconds later she already replied "Third."

I put on the chosen outfit, used some mascara and sat down in the living room. I barely waited 5 minutes when I heard the doorbell ring. I opened it and found a happily grinning Joongki standing in the doorway with a bouquet of red roses in his hands. I took it from him with a 'Thank you.' and placed into a vase in the living room while picking up my bag.

We headed to his car which was a very elegant, black Hyundai Sonata. The same car my dad was driving, it was hard to miss. He opened the door for me and waited to close it until I got myself comfortable. I walked to the driver's side, took his seat and started the car.

It took us about 20-30 minutes until we got there, but I didn't feel the time. He was joking around about how he wasn't sure what to wear, because he wanted to impress me, but he didn't want to over dress. I found it comical that boys could have the same silly issues like girls.

As we stepped into the restaurant, my jaw dropped at the sight. It was beautiful even if it was borderline cringey. The dark warm lights gave a romantic vibe to the restaurant, while the dark brown oak tables and furnitures made it more elegant. There were no seats, only booths, separating the couple from each other.

A man, who I assumed to be a waiter, lead us to our table, which Joongki had reserved previously. I took a seat and Joongki sat down on my left side, his gaze not leaving my profile as we received the menus.

"Do you like it?" He asked with a cheerful smile.

"It is very pretty. Although it is quite obvious from the setup and the whole design that it was specifically created for couples" I replied.

"I might have had ulterior motives." He grinned, making me chuckle at him as I shook my head.

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked rhetorically. I looked at the menu in my hands, flipping through the pages. The restaurant was serving English and American dishes. Looking at the pictures, right next to the meals, a burger caught my eyes and the melting cheese on its side forced my mind to set on it. As the waiter came back, I gave my order to him with iced water on the side, while Joongki ordered a piece of rare steak with mashed potatoes and a can of coke. As we were waiting for our food, we started talking casually.

"You know, I always see you hanging out with those guys that half the school worships." He scoffed and I could tell he was not a big fan of them.

"Yeah, we are friends. My best friend is dating one of them so it got us closer to each other." I explained with a soft smile.

"And how is it that you are still single." He asked and for a second I wasn't sure how to reply.

"I guess I seem to chose the wrong guys." I replied with a deep sigh, Jimin's face appearing in my mind.

"That's a shame. You deserve to be treated well." He smiled softly and I gladly returned his expression. "I hope I will be an exception." He placed an arm around my waist as he looked into my eyes.

"So far you are on the right path." I chuckled which caused a smirk to appear across his face. He slowly leaned closer, but just about an inch away, I placed my index finger on his lip. "Patience, darling." I smiled lightly. However he didn't take it badly, an even bigger smile appeared on his face.

"Very well then." He replied leaning back.

As we received our meals and started eating, the conversation turned comical. I had promised myself never to order burger or pasta when on a date again. I had sauce around my lips which I tried desperately wiping off, making Joongki laugh at my struggles. Then I decided to cut my burger instead of trying to shove it into my mouth, which ended up falling into pieces. I huffed with an annoyed look on my face, but I could see that Joongki enjoyed my clumsiness.

"Adorable." He chuckled, but I just shook my head as my mouth was full. He kept reassuring me that he didn't mind the mess I created and it made him feel more at ease too. I was glad, even though I was losing my remaining dignity faster than I could have predicted.

As we finished our food I went to the toilet to freshen up, while I sent a photo to Yojin of the restaurant, that I took when Joongki left for the restroom. It took her a couple of seconds to send me back an emoticon with a middle finger. I chuckled at her supporting behaviour, before I exited the loo and placed my phone in the pocket of my trousers.

We walked to the front of the restaurant, where I tried to pay for my part, but he didn't let me, taking my card out of my hand as he paid with his, before returning it to me. Although I didn't mind paying as I was the one eating my own food, it did feel good to be treated like a lady. I couldn't find any fault in him which made my ever growing smile glued to my face as we walked out.

But then Jimin appeared in my mind unexpectedly. I huffed in annoyance, before I hid my displeased expression, not wanting to explain to Joongki my strangest thoughts of the boy I liked while I was on a date with a boy that liked me. It would have been ridiculous.

"What would you say about going to the playground near by?" He asked with a cheerful smile and I looked at my watch, which showed 8pm. I had time before I had to go over to Yojin's so I nodded and followed him as he got hold on my hand, linking our fingers. Walking through the park, with its warm, dim lights, making it a romantic and comforting sight. I felt the evening breeze coming through the trees, sending a chill through my body as the coldness hit my exposed skin.

"It's here." He said pointing at the entrance of the playground. It took us about 10 minutes to get there, but I didn't even realise the time until I looked at my watch.

"It's cute." I spoke with a grin. "Although it's quite dark. If I didn't know you I could have thought that you wanted to kidnap me." I chuckled as the playground barely benefited from the lights of the park, giving it a darker shade.

We walked around the playground and I sat down in one of the swings. He stood behind me and started pushing me higher and higher. I felt like an excited little child. I felt nostalgic and careless. I hadn't been able to enjoy such childish activities for so long, I even forgot how refreshing it felt. I started slowing down and I could feel that Joongki wasn't pushing me anymore. I put my feet down on the ground and looked behind me. Joongki stepped back, making me frown at his strange behaviour.

"Is everything okay?" I asked with a suspicious look in my eyes. I heard footsteps from the entrance of the playground and my head quickly snapped towards the unexpected noise. I couldn't see the person's face, but I could clearly make out his silhouette. I had a very bad feeling all of a sudden and Jimin's warning tone and worried expression came into my thoughts. I swallowed hard at the negative aura I sensed and I felt dumb for not listening to his cautions.

"Well... well... well... what a cute couple we have here." I froze at the familiar voice as I recognised his identity without a doubt.

Notes: If you enjoyed it, don't forget to like the chapter. Thank you :)