#if i die. it was for hot butches. remember me that way

[moonshynecybin]

transvering the literal curviest road in america over state lines and a mountain rangeeee for a date with a hot butch. i feel like odysseus

[outermaybanks]

just a kiss - jj x bi!reader x kie aka 3 times you were oblivious and the one time you knew exactly what you wanted a/n: wrote this entire thing high af, no proofreading we die like men. this is part one bc it ended up too long

part two here

June - the first time.

“We gotta ration it, okay?” JJ said as he shook the baggie of weed. “Ricky’s gonna be M.I.A. this month, he’s going up to Raleigh for pride.” “That actually sounds so fun,” Sarah spoke up from where she sat, John B’s lap. “Too bad all of us are straight,” Pope said. “Yeah… too bad,” Kie replied, her chin in her hand as her eyes moved to her boyfriend’s, who was already watching her with a focused look. Your eyebrows screwed together in confusion. Sure, you were still relatively new to this friend group, but surely you’d told them? “Um… I’m not straight. I’m bi,” you corrected.

Pope’s jaw hung slightly agape. Sarah’s eyelashes fluttered. Kie sat up straight. “Oh… cool,” John B said. “See? We could totally go, show our support for y/n,” Sarah said, you giggled, slightly relieved they were all fine. “I still think it’d be inappropriate for us to go, we’re almost all straight,” Pope corrected. “Everyone can celebrate love, Pope,” Sarah huffed. “If you really want to celebrate the fact that I eat pussy, Sarah, I’d settle for a bonfire,” you joked, but John B smiled. “Sounds like a good thing to celebrate. C’mon, JJ,” John B said, carefully lifting Sarah off his lap, placing her beside him before he stood up.

JJ’s eyes finally left his girlfriend’s and quickly moved to you, before he followed behind John B. Pope looked around the room, both Sarah and Kie were watching you, meanwhile, you were trying to avoid both of their gazes. “I’m gonna go help,” he said as he jumped up, following behind the two boys.

You were used to people having questions, and you could tell both girls had some, so you decided to get yours out of the way. “I thought you guys knew… you’re not gonna get all weird on me now, right?” “Oh my god, of course not, babes. It’s like, none of our business, right Kie?” “Totally,” Kie agreed. You smiled, awkwardly if nothing else. “Do you guys… have any questions?” “Does your family know or is this, like, a secret?” Sarah asked. “No, my family knows. My dad has a gay brother, so I lucked out, my family’s always been super supportive.” “How… How did you know?” your head turned to look at Kie, who was sitting on the other side of the room. A smile slowly worked your way onto your lips, remembering something a butch woman had said to you once: only two types of girls asked that question: homophobes, and closeted girls. Something told you Kie wasn’t homophobic. “Uhhh… I just did. I always just liked whoever I liked, boy or girl. I had my first girlfriend in 8th grade, and that pretty much solidified it,” you answer with a chuckle. “So what’s your type?” “Hot… funny.”

I’m hot, Kie couldn’t help but think. And funny. JJ’s hot and funny. “So you don’t have a preference? Like… girl more than guys, guys more than girls?” Sarah asked, and Kie was grateful. “Um… Hypothetically no, I have dated more girls than guys though. It’s just hard for me to find a guy I can vibe with, who’s like… actually cool with me being bi. Most guys turn it into a weird fetish thing.”

Kie’s eyes widened and she looked down at her feet. She was no better. What the hell was she thinking? You were her friend, and worse, you were the daughter of JJ’s boss at the auto shop. 

Later, as the sun began to set and the boys got the fire going, you were standing a few feet away from the fire, when you suddenly felt something cold on your arm, making you jump. JJ let out a giggle as he held the beer out for you. You rolled your eyes, but smiled as you took it from him. “So… how come I never knew you liked girls?” JJ had known you the longest, well, technically Pope had chemistry with you sophomore year, but JJ was the first one to really know you. “You never asked. And unlike some people, I don’t go after anything with a pulse,” you jab your finger into his arm. He lets out a small laugh, inching away but then settling right back beside you. “Nah,” he said softly. “I’m not like that anymore. I only go after girls I really like.” You smiled. “Kie’s really cool, I’m glad you introduced us.” As if on cue, Kie’s voice came from the hammock. “Come sit with me, Jayj” “Yeah, she seems to really like you,” JJ said before walking over to get in the hammock with Kie. You furrowed your eyebrows and stared into your beer can, trying to figure out why it felt like you and JJ were speaking in riddles.

Fourth of July - the second time.

“John B put me down!” Sarah’s voice shouted as her boyfriend carried her closer to the water. You used your hand to shield your eyes from the sun as you let out a giggle, watching them. “Did you put on sunscreen, y/n?” Kie’s voice stole your attention. “Hm? Oh, no, not yet.” “Here let me help you,” Kie said, scooting closer. “Oh, thank you,” you replied, moving your hair out of the way for her. Kie hesitated, but then you felt her soft touch trail from one shoulder to the other. When you felt the coolness of the sunscreen against your warm skin, you let out a soft sound, a sound Kie should’ve ignored, but couldn’t. 

“Thanks, Kie,” you said with a smile, standing up. If your back hadn’t been turned, you would have caught the look JJ and Kie exchanged. “Hey, y/n, wait up!” JJ called, quickly getting to his feet to follow you towards the water. “Mind if I join you?” “It’s a free country, Maybank,” you replied. JJ seemed unsure, still learning to read you. You decide to give him a break, and with a competitive raise of your eyebrows, almost like a dare, you give him exactly one second before you take off running towards the water. JJ is instantly chasing after you, and just as your toes feel the cold of the water, arms wrap around you, spinning you around. At first you laugh, but then you quickly remember, someone could take this the wrong way.

JJ puts you back on the ground, instantly noticing the difference in the way your body tensed at his touch. “What’s up? Did I go too far?” JJ asked. “I just… I wouldn’t want Kie to get the wrong idea and think I’m trying to come between you guys or something, y’know?” “You don’t have to worry about that,” JJ chuckled. “What?” “Me and Kie trust each other, besides, if she saw something she didn’t like, you would know,” JJ gestured to where Kie was, still sitting on the blanket. She gave a wave, which meant she had clearly been watching you and JJ. You looked back to JJ, and his words seemed like the answer to a riddle you didn’t know yet: if she saw something she didn’t like… 

JJ got in the water, once it was up to his ankles he splashed some water towards you, egging you to join him. You looked between him and Kie once more before getting in the water, pushing the thoughts from your head.

That night, you all went to the Chateau to shoot off some fireworks, have another bonfire, drink, the usual, but what was unusual was Kie and JJ.

“Do you need another drink, y/n?” JJ would ask. “Come do sparklers with me, y/n/n,” Kie would say. No matter what was happening, it seemed at least 1/2 of the couple would always be beside you.

When you guys ran out of fireworks, you all sat around the bonfire and settled for a game of truth or dare. For a while, that was normal too; Sarah dared John B to skinny dip, Pope confessed to cheating on a test in math last year, John B dared JJ to do a wheelie on his bike, but then it was JJ’s turn. “Y/n, truth or dare?” You bit your lip, normally, you liked to play it safe, but while JJ worked for your dad, you found yourself building a genuine friendship with him, and one thing you know about JJ is he never turns down a dare, so how could you? “Dare.” “I dare you… to…. kiss Kie.” Your eyebrows raised, that was hardly a challenge to you. Kie was pretty, funny, down to earth, and already becoming a good friend. All the guys, and Sarah, got an excited look on their face; Kie had an unreadable expression. “Oh please-” You practically taunt. “That’s hardly a dare.” “Oh yeah? Then by all means,” JJ put his hand out, gesturing to Kie as if to tell you to get on with it. “You should be more worried,” you said as you got up from your spot to move and sit beside Kie, her eyes following you the entire way. 

“I should be worried? Why’s that, cupcake?” JJ asked, leaning in to get a better view. “Because I’m a really good kisser,” you reply before turning your full attention to Kie. Now you can read her expression; she was excited. “Is this okay?” you ask softly and she nods, slowly closing her eyes. You shoot one more look to JJ before bringing your hands up to cup Kie’s face before leaning in and pressing your lips to hers. She was still, but then she kissed back, her hands coming up to touch your arms. The soft touch left goosebumps in their trail; you had to pull away. Kie’s eyes were big and lost when she opened them, almost like she didn’t understand why you had pulled away. You don’t know what came over you, but you pulled her in for a second kiss, which resulted in a round of cheers and wolf whistles from your friends while Kie’s hands balled in the front of your shirt, pulling you in closer. She looked much less lost when you pulled away the second time.

The game ended after that due to JJ’s insistence that it was time for a round of shots, so you all went inside. Pope was the first to clonk out shortly after taking his shot. JJ and Kie stepped out onto the back porch, leaving you with John B and Sarah.

“So, y/n, how are you liking the group?” Sarah asked, practically in a ball while sitting on John B’s lap. You had only been hanging out with them for a couple months, three at the most, but every second with them has been fun. “I really love your guys’ vibes, yknow? Very grateful JJ brought me along,” you answer, a small smile on your face.

“Where is JJ? And Kie?” “I think they’re on the porch talking,” you answer. “Boo!” Sarah whined, making you giggle. “I’ll go get them,” you offer, standing up from your spot. 

You go out to the mudroom, and through the screen of the back door, you can hear them talking.

“JJ, I know, but I-” “Kie… I love you, I want to do this with you, and-and y’know, maybe I kinda like her too, but… Kie. It’s not like she’s a rando or-or a touron!” “I know!” Whatever they were talking about seemed intense, and eavesdropping made you feel guilty, so you reacted to your first instinct. “Hey guys, John B and Sarah miss you,” you say quickly as you swing the door open, catching both of them by surprise. Both of them look like they were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, but Kie quickly walked past you, going back inside. JJ sighed, leaning against the railing. Your eyebrows furrow, and you hesitantly step forward, letting the door shut behind you.

“You okay, J?” You asked, moving to be closer to him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” JJ brushed off with a small chuckle, one that seemed forced. You bite your lip before fully committing to standing beside him, leaning on the railing.

“I-I know I’m still new to the friend group… and I know it might be weird to tell your boss’ daughter what’s going on… but I am your friend too.” JJ sighed, biting his lip. “I just… I’m in between a rock and a hard place.” “Oh yeah? Wanna tell me about it?”

JJ chewed on the inside of his lip as he thought it over, then he smiled. “Nah, how ‘bout we go find Kie, smoke a j.” You force a smile. JJ took a while to warm up, he didn’t like to talk about his feelings, but that just meant the few times he confided in you were that much more special. 

You and JJ went inside, only to find Kie alone, sitting on the couch which has now been pulled out into a bed. “John B and Sarah went to ‘sleep’,” she explained, putting sleep in suggestive air quotes. You chuckled as you sat back in your chair, JJ sat beside Kie on the bed, leaning over to the side table for his rolling tray.

“Did you have a good Fourth, y/n?” Kie asked. You smiled. “Yeah, I did. I usually just spend it with my dad.” “Booooo!” JJ spoke up, making you chuckle again. Kie smiled.

“What about you, Kie? How was your first girl kiss?” You ask, almost teasingly.

“Um,” Kie said, then turned her head to look to JJ. This time, facing them, you saw the look they exchanged. “It was fine. Just a kiss, right?” She tried to laugh it off, but something was gnawing at you, but that was the exact moment JJ finished rolling the joint. “Ta-da!” He displayed his work proudly. You quickly leaned over, putting a hand on the bed for balance as you snatched it from his hand. “Yoink!” 

JJ chuckled as he let you take it, leaning over to light it for you after you put it between your lips. 

“Y’know… I um-” Kie cleared her throat, you watched her carefully as you took your hit. “I was thinking about it, and I feel a little guilty.” You held the smoke in for a beat, then exhaled, blowing the smoke up, and getting up to sit on the bed so it’d be easier to pass the joint. You held it out, JJ was the first to take it. “Guilty?” you asked. “Yeah… I mean… It doesn’t really seem fair, does it? JJ’s my boyfriend, if I get to kiss someone else, he should too.” She said softly, taking the joint from JJ after he took his hit. “Should I wake Pope up?” you teased, making JJ chuckle. Kie held in her smoke, but then was silent even after she exhaled. “Y'know, I always thought we’d make a lovely couple,” JJ added, making you giggle. “Well, I mean… the most fair thing would be if JJ kissed you too,” Kie explained, holding the joint out for you. At first, you thought she was joking, so you laughed, but she didn’t. Her face was very serious. “Wait, seriously?” you asked as you took the joint from her. “Yeah, I mean… not if you don’t want to, but-” Kie looked between JJ and you. “I-I think it’d make me feel better.”

You were at a lack of words, and looked to JJ as you took your hit. He glared at Kie, but when he turned to face you, his face softened. You held the joint out for him, he took it and looked back to Kie once more, this time also softer.

“I mean, is that- would you-” Kie was a bit flustered for words.  “I’m gonna be honest, this kinda feels like a trap,” you said, putting your hands up in surrender. “What? No, no, not at all! I just… want things to be equal for JJ and I… and like I said, it’s just a kiss, right?”

Out of your peripheral vision, you see JJ turn to look at you, so you look at him. You saw a flash of pink as his tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. “Fuck it. I’m down if you are, y/n,” JJ said quickly. Your eyes quickly glanced back to Kie, she had a hint of a smile on her face as she stared back at you. “Okay… it’s just a kiss,” you say softly. JJ turns his body slightly to face you more, so you follow his actions. You’re nervous, but you don’t know why, you’ve kissed boys before.

“You look a little worried there, y/n. What, do I look like a good kisser or something?” JJ asked in a soft voice as he leaned in closer. You swallowed before closing your eyes and practically lurching forward to press your lips to his. JJ was surprised, but wasted no time kissing you back, his hand moving to your waist to pull you closer. JJ smiled against your lips before a small chuckle escaped him, and you took that as your cue to pull away, but JJ quickly pulled you back to him. 

“She got two,” was his only explanation when you two pulled away for good. Your first instinct was to look at Kie, and you were surprised to see a smile on her face. She looked so pretty when she smiled. “Who has the joint?” You ask, trying to push the thoughts of both Kie and JJ out of your mind. Kie quickly leaned over to hand it to you, and you took a hit as the three of you exchanged looks, none of you sure how to move on from what just happened. 

“Okay, I think it’s past my bedtime,” you say, getting up and stretching. “Where are you going?” Kie asked worriedly. “Mud room. Couch,” you answer, like it should have been obvious. “No way, that couch feels like a brick and it gets super hot in there. You can sleep here, with us,” Kie said it like it was nothing, but to you it very much felt like something.

“Yeah, can’t have you bitchin’ and moanin’ about a sore back tomorrow when we go surfing,” JJ added with a smirk. You bit your lip. Nothing wrong with sleeping in the same bed as your friends…

Kie offered you the spot in the middle, but you insisted on the edge, JJ taking the other. You tried to sleep, but found yourself staring at the ceiling in the darkness, replaying the events of the day. You didn’t expect kissing Kie to feel like that, and you definitely didn’t expect kissing JJ to feel like that. 

“Y/n?” Kie’s soft voice asked in a whisper. You turned your head, and once your eyes adjusted, you could make out her face. “Yeah?” “I really enjoyed today…” “... I did too.” In the darkness you still managed to see her smile.

©ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳᵐᵃʸᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ²⁰²⁴

[solsticethebatearedfox]

The map is so cool!

The tabletop is so fucking cool i'm so happy it looks sick as hell

Sad that Adaine hasn't taken Jawbone's last name

I love her dog Moggy the Doggy

Omg mini of Moggy and Boggy aaaaaaaaaa

the production quality is insane

okay i was hoping for Fabian/Riz or even fabian/Aelwyn but i think it's just gonna be Fabian/Ecaf

Lou why the heck have you kept the bad die what the hell

???????

Fabian????? Is already prone????? oh no

Ecaf is iconic, going "Jesus Christ" and "This fucking kid" absolute icon

"Sire! Oh shit you're under there!" From the hangman also iconic

How many times has that bike saved the day because it's way more than it should be I think

I agree with Siobhan the die is cursed

geniunely curious how many minis rick perry made for this season

This yorbie sounds like a brennan self-insert

Lolololololol the hymn in the background

Again, production quality is off the charts

I just noticed the background of the dome. very immersive. i do hope it's just regular colours in non-battle scenes tho, that's too iconic to lose

but the art is so gorgeous

Ally pulling out the first nat 20 makes so much sense

Omg the smoke so cool

Woooooooo nat 20 off Fig! "I fear not darkness. I am from hell." So sick i might add that to my jacket

I should make a fantasy high jacket ngl that'd be so sick. Dimension 20 battle jacket

Riz is so hot. I'm ace and so is he but man

Ooooo art of Cassandra looks like sophomore year Kristen!!!! as above so below ig. she looks hot. i love her

"I'm just gonna go ahead and Eldritch Blast the Night Yorb" epic line

Squeem nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ngl teary eyed over that

Geniunely think the sig figs could tank yorbie's popularity by writing a diss track

Oooooo Adaine can cast 5th level spells??? hell yeah

Brennan rolling a handful of dice scares me

Kristen is such a butch lesbian I love her

Nooooooo Adaine is done

"lemony yellow" "sickening gurgling"???? is gilear a fucking demon/devil now??????? i can never remember the difference but what the hell????????

the theme song at the end is sick as hell, feels like an episode of a cool drama series

[that-strange-vault-lady]

Entry: 002

Date: Sat, 08.17.2277

I’m alone. She, she was here and now she’s gone, did I do something? Why? Why would she leave, was I just that much of a dead weight. We, got out of the vault, we left I mean, when we got outside the vault door we where in a cave and then we left and it was, god, it was so bright and then, I can’t remember after that, when I woke up, Amanda was, she was gone.

If there where tracks in the dirt I didn’t see any so I just, well, I retreated back into the cave. I, I haven't really been able to bring myself to leave the cave since, I just find myself pacing up and down this same 20 30 or so feet of cave feeling, lost. First it was dad, now, Amanda, I mean what do I even do now? Hell I don’t even know if it’s safe out there, I wasn’t built for this, I mean sure I can swing a bat, but I was never physically fit, running a single lap around the baseball court would have me in sweats. I’m not exactly an environmentalist ether, I have no idea what to expect up there, leaving this cave with Amanda felt, safe, because I had her there with me but now.

Plus I mean we where always told that the surface was radioactively contaminated, fuck, what if my clothes are already contaminated? Shit shit shit, *takes a deep breath* calm Bella, calm, just breath *breathes deeply* I can’t understand why dad would want to leave the vault in the first place, we are born in the vault, we die in the vault, that’s always been the way. Sure things where not always great down there but we where safe, we had food and water and structure, *sighs* it’s too late now though, hell even if I was to bang on the door they wouldn’t let me back in. To be honest it doesn’t look like I would be the first person to try ether.

The cave is littered with the skeletal remains of people, how terrified they must have been. To even contemplate what it must have been like, the world behind them burning to ash in the white hot flash of nuclear hellfire, and the path to there salvation, bared by a four yards thick door of lead lined tungsten, trapped between life and death. There desperate scratches still marring the outside of the vault door, the bones of what appear to be both adults and children, It’s a horrifying image, especially when I find myself feeling not unlike them now.

Outside, out there, on the surface. I know Amanda and dad are out there somewhere, but the idea of being out there alone, by myself, I will admit I’m really scared. Not to mention all of the logistical questions, where do I get food from now? What about clean water? Is there even any clean water on the surface? In the vault we had processors and filters, out there you may have what? A puddle? Not to mention I have no idea where out there even is, america is a big place, we learned all about it in school growing up, for all I know vault 101 could be located in the middle of a desert, not a drop of water contaminated or not for miles.

Then there is medicine, what about my hormones? My implant will only last so long. What if I get sick? What if I cut myself on something by accident or sprain my ankle? It’s, it’s not as simple aswell dad and Amanda went out there so should I. I’m not like them, Amanda is tech smart, dad was a doctor of course, but I was what? A therapist? How is that useful out here? What am I suppose to counsel the soil into growing food and providing water? *sighs deeply*

Maybe I’m over thinking all of this, maybe, maybe things will be ok. There has to be a reason why dad came up here right? Or why else would he leave. Amanda must have known and that’s why she left too, maybe she has already caught up with Dad and, and maybe they just expected me to nock on the vault door and ask to be let back in, but no, I won’t do that, I’m not going back, I can’t I can’t go back, not now. *sighs* I wish Amata left too, she wouldn’t have left me alone. Even when she got with Butch she always took my side, honestly she is the best friend a girl like me could ask for, I, I will miss her.

I can see the light from outside is starting to fade, and according to my pip-boy it’s getting late so I guess, maybe I will just stay put for tonight, maybe by the morning I can work up the courage to leave, formulate some sort of plan. It just worries me though, every day, hell every minute that I waste sitting here, well, it takes dad and Amanda further away from me. We always had our differences, especially when mom came up in conversation, and I know it’s only been a day, but, I miss them.

[cowbutch-chastity]

FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

"FANFIC APPRECIATION MEME

Post recommendations for your ten favourite fanfics and tag the authors if possible. Tell us what you like about their work.

Tag five people of your choice to do the meme too."

I was tagged by both @heroinejinx and @ghostofyaz 

Since I like so many ships I’m going to separate them by ship and do a few for each one (ending up with 12 fics total), tagging the authors mentioned if I can find their Tumblr (If anyone knows the ones I couldn’t find, lemme know)

Warning: a large portion of these are NSFW and general TWs on the appropriate ones

LIGHTCANNON 

- A Tasty Progress Day by @booking-and-blogging This fic is part of Elfen’s Growth not Pain series, and I unfortunately have not had the chance to read the other fics in the series, however you should also read Non Linear Growth, as this fic is part of that story. This is a great piece of smut that contains a lot of good humor and a very unique take on Lux that I greatly enjoy. Easily my favorite Lightcannon piece I’ve read. The prose is wonderful, the emotions are real, give this fic and it’s predecessors a read.

- The Saga of Lightcannon by @cannibalelf This fic by Cannibal is a monster of a wonderful AU, I remember the day on the Lightcannon discord when the idea for a Norse mythology AU was proposed, and Cannibal delivered it guns blazing. The prose is beautiful, the action is thrilling, this interesting take on Lightcannon is a must read if you want to see Jinx beat the shit out of some monsters with a big ol Axe while Valkyrie Lux watches her very gayly. (TW for extreme violence)

MOICY 

- Biological Imperative by @redundantharpoons I believe that this piece is THE quintessential Moicy work. It follows a slight AU that allows Moira and Angela to interact without world ending dangerous and being on opposite sides, and features a wonderful story exploring the way these two interact, and how the prepare to raise a child together. A fantastic work with some lovely sex scenes that made me cry more than once. (TW for many upsetting things in general)

- Ethical Healing by @idle-lark Lark just gets Moira as a character I think, and even though this fic is from the perspective of Angela, it does a wonderful job exploring her and the gray morality that comes with her. Lark’s dialogue is to die for, and watching Angela and Moira slowly struggle with their mutual attraction and what their relationship would mean for their work is wonderful, I’m constantly gripping my chair waiting for the next chapter. Also Moira has a dog named Darwin, and I would die for him.

GRIDDLEHARK

- sting of a wasp by @griddleshark and @thalergetic I’m a sucker for modern AU’s and this fic is probably one of the best in terms of Griddlehark. Gideon and Harrow are very believable characters, they struggle with communication despite their intense want for each other, and the way this fic is written allows you to really experience that. It’s hot, it’s fun, it has jealous and stone butch Gideon and lamp shopping and I love it.

-  Holy Cross, Alaska by softieghost This series is another interesting look at Modern AU Griddlehark, but with the fun kick of putting the two together in a cabin for three months and seeing what happens, and then exploring the depths of their new kinship afterwards in a cross country road trip. The first fic is very emotionally impactful, and does a good job of depicting a character who’s experiencing a psychotic break, as well how Gideon does her best to support Harrow and get her the help she needs. (TW for many upsetting things in general)

CAMPAL

- this time we're done for by @darlingofdots This fic changed my brain chemistry 8 times over, the AU takes Camilla and Palamedes and puts them in the Cohort together as Captain and Physician, and lets the inherent eroticism of nursing someone’s wounds do the rest. Seriously this is some of the best sexual tension I’ve ever read, the little flirts the two give each other while Camilla is fucking bleeding out is fantastic, and then navigating their relationship after finally coming together is utterly stunning. PLEASE read this fic. (TW for extreme violence)

- insatiable is what she is by @palamedes-sextus Honestly it was kind of hard to choose from Necropal’s wonderful selection of works, but I believe this one is my favorite. It’s a post Nona AU where Cam and Pal finally get a bit of domestic bliss, enjoy it, and the have wonderful sex. The smut is lovely, the feelings are very well written, the prose and dialogue are lovely, go give this fic a read. And while you’re at it check out the rest of Necropal’s works.

SYLVAINA

- Last Resort by @sniperct Boy, this one is a fucking doozy. A political marriage AU for Jaina and Sylvanas that initially sets them as brutal enemies, and then explores how hatred and pain can blossom desire, which becomes a needy and strong love. It asks a lot of interesting and challenging questions regarding the ethics of undead in WOW, and how a relationship can change and grow overtime. I have not had the chance to read it’s sequel yet, but if the writing is anywhere near the same quality I’m sure sniperct did a wonderful job with it.

- Chainmaker by @calchexxis A lich queen Jaina AU that sets up a wonderful “Queen/Knight” aesthetic between Jaina and Sylvanas. This fic has an awesome plot with a lot of unique and fun side characters, wonderful fight scenes, great sex scenes, and a really interesting look again at Undead in wow. Cal’s prose is fantastic as is the case with all of their work, and you should certainly give this fic a read.

SHIARA 

- Resolve by Talaraine Resolve is probably my favorite post destroy ending fic in the Mass Effect fandom. It’s a really cool delve into Shepard and Liara when they are apart from each other, as well as their relationship to other members of the ME cast. It has some great action scene’s a lot of plot and mystery, and a lot of gay yearning/pining. (TW for some upsetting things)

- Death and the Healing by @thewriterinthebatcave with art by @shipsnthenight another awesome post destroy ending fic that takes a slightly different take on Shepard and Liara. What I really love about this fic is how they explore Shepard not as a war hero or a savior or a soldier, but as a person who has been absolutely broken by the awful things they have seen. The fic previous in the series, Comatose With Common Sense, has my favorite character study of Shepard from any fic I’ve read. And all of the art included is lovely. (TW for many upsetting things, mind the author’s TWs as well)

[fantasy-things-and-such]

Incorrect quote tag

Hehehe I'm very late but thanks @the-golden-comet for the tag

Let’s just- let’s just do a bunch of these. lol.

Sunset:

Tira

Tira: I keep a picture of all of us in my wallet. Whenever I face difficulties, I take it out and stare at the picture.

The Squad: Awwww-

Tira: And I tell myself "If I can deal with these idiots, then I can deal with anything."

The Squad: Oh.

Tira and Lilli

Tira: I like your new pants!

Lilli: Thanks, they were 50% off!

Tira: I’d like them better if they were 100% off. *winks*

Lilli: The store can’t just give away clothes for free.

Tia: Thats’s… not what I meant.

Lilli: That’s a terrible way to run a business, Tira.

Erain and camellia

Camellia : I'm going to get myself some soup.

Erain: Be careful not to burn yourself, it's hot.

Camellia : Pfft, I won't burn myself.

*30 seconds later*

Camellia , entering the room: I burned myself.

Tira and lilli(again)

Lilli: You look really stressed.

Tira: Haha, it’s the stress.

The squad(minus Tira)

Camellia : I have a bad feeling about this...

Erain: What do you mean?

Camellia : Don't you ever get that little voice in your head that tells you if you're going to get into trouble?

Erain: No?

Lilli: That actually explains so much.

————————————

White Candy

Chia and Matthew

Chia, playing a video game: This game is so frustrating! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!

Marie: Ok, I think it’s time to turn off the game for a little while.

Chia: But I’m having fun!

Chia and Marie

Marie: Why aren’t you sleeping?

Chia: I’m too busy plotting your murder to sleep, Marie.

Marie:

Chia: ...The nightmares.

Marie: *wrapping their arms around Chia* Awwww, sweetie-

(Side note: this could actually happen??? Chia has hella PTSD.)

Chia, Marie and Matthew

Marie: Comparing Chia and Matthew is like comparing apples and oranges.

Chia: We’re both unique in our own ways?

Marie: Apples are superior in every way and all oranges should be eliminated.

Matthew: Which one of us is the orange?

Chia, Marie and Matthew(pt2)

Matthew: What's your most controversial video game hot take?

Chia: The pursuit for photorealism in games is a fruitless endeavor that only results in bloated file sizes that take too much space.

Marie: Mario is a woman and just really butch.

———————————

Frontline:

Kestrel and Feilitet

Feilitet : I called you like ten times! Why didn’t you pick up?

Kestrel: *remembers dancing to the ringtone*

Kestrel: I didn’t hear it.

Kestrel and feilitet(pt2)

Kestrel, on the phone: What’s up, Feilitet ?

Feilitet : I’m sitting in a pool of blood.

Kestrel: …Um, is it YOUR blood?

Feilitet : I think so.

Kestrel: Do you know where the blood’s coming from?

Feilitet : Probably the stab wound.

Kestrel: YOU’VE BEEN STABBED?!

Feilitet : Oh, yeah, definitely.

Feilitet

Feilitet , looking at the squad: Okay, so I need to become a therapist faster.

Feilitet and kestrel(pt2)

Kestrel: Did you win? Or just not die?

Kestrel: Either way, hooray.

Feilitet : ...Is "no" a valid answer?

Kestrel: The hooray is redacted and you frighten me.

Feilitet and kestrel(pt3)

Kestrel: I’m so tired.

Feilitet : Did you get to bed late?

Kestrel: No.

Feilitet : Did you do something strenuous?

Kestrel: No.

Feilitet : Then why are you tired?

Kestrel: I’m alive.

Feilitet : Sounds exhausting.

Feilitet and Main

Main: Fellas, I gotta know for science. Is the opposite of red green or blue?

Feilitet : Technically a mix of green and blue?

Main: So blurple.

Feilitet : That's implying you're mixing blue and purple.

Main: Would you rather have fucking bleen? MOTHERFUCKING GRUE?

Feilitet : You were confusing before but now I'm scared.

idk this was so funny to me. tagging: @ominous-feychild @the-ellia-west @agirlandherquill @illarian-rambling @willtheweaver @the-letterbox-archives

sorry if u already did this~

[kissingmilfs]

what is yellowjackets actually about? because I’ve seen hot edits and stuff and the plot really interests me and i think it looks cool but i don’t wanna be freaked out if like they all start eating each other one episode

but i think it looks really interesting and i would love to give it a try so i’d love to know ur favourite stuff about it and stuff

i love the new fic! i missed ur writing so bad

-😊

my special interest here we go 😭 buckle in everyone!

there’s two timelines - the 1996 timeline & the 2021 timeline !

the 1996 timeline follows the yellowjackets hs girls soccer team — their plane crashes in the canadian wilderness on their way to nationals. people do die in the crash. they’re stuck out there for 19 months. the first episode does start off with someone being hunted, slaughtered and eaten asdjfbfjdb. we all call her pit girl. but the meat looks like bear meat (important to remember for 2x08 😔)

mm you don’t see them actually eating a body until 2x02 and the other cannibal scene happens in 2x08. that’s one rlly sad and just 😔

oh and 2x06 there’s one kinda but it’s one of the girls hallucinating.

then the 2021 timeline follows the core 6 (taissa turner, natalie scatorccio, misty quigely, shauna shipman, lottie matthews (s2) and van palmer (mid s2)! and it’s rlly about how trauma still impacts you years later.

“the wilderness” is the really big focal point in both timelines. it’s both physical and this big metaphysical idea. and the things they did out there really follows them. they don’t process anything out of fear of being shunned.

there’s a lot of homoerotism throughout both timelines. the only canon gay couple is taivan (taissa a black femme and van a ginger butch) and then tai is married in the 2021 timeline to a woman named simone. but the show doesn’t really deny any of the ships people claim, ya know? it’s definitely a bit of queerbaiting, but also not? like spending your last formative years of puberty surrounded by girls you share trauma with but also sportsmanship from playing together since who knows honestly!!

i can’t even pinpoint all my favorite things about the show. but i do love milfs and the milfs man…the milfs 😭 and taivan are really near and dear to my heart. i see a lot of myself in both of them but especially van!

s2 is little campy and kinda different from s1 but i still love it dearly. the show will make you laugh and cry and fall in love and hate people. it’s genuinely everything i love about horror 😭

my favorite ships are: taivan, lottienat, parkinglot, and mistynat!

i highly recommend watching it and if you need more cw for episodes if you watch im happy to do it!!

- @pocolottie (if u have anything else to add pls feel free )

[falsebooles123]

Well Fuck I Just Lost that last half hour of blogging and memes- Diary of a big ole gay 12/10/22

Hey whores guess who accidentaly pressed CRTL-Z on my computer and erased everything.

yeah so I'm a little pissed so your getting a fast and hot recap of what I;ve been watching.

Last night I watched Backstage and Bumping in Broadway both from 1919 added because someone somewhere felt there brief drag scenes made them important to queer cinema and when I made this list I was too stupid on the subject to disagree on there queer import. Everything else is as fallows

Hamlet(1922) - Asta Nielsen is a femboy hamlet its basically the worlds first bishonen comedy (I'm gonna have to sit down and add all the versions of Twelth Night to my plalist now.) it has a lot of queer energy but ultimately ends with the classic, "Hey babe I got tits so its totally cool that you were gay for me"

Manslaughter (1922) - Lietrich Joy, (remember that name) is a DANGER GIRL and shes having fun drinking and doing the pogo sticking, entil her daddy dom whos just honestly way to arosed by the fall of rome convincts her of manslaughter, tbf she did murder that cop but he didn't have to be a dick about it. This film actually does have two lesbains kissing in it. but its also in a fantasy sequence thats using lesbianism as a way of signeling the moral decay of the debached roman orgys so I mean we don't that. However this is the most explicet level of homosexual activity actually shown up to this point which is kinda sad.

Salome (1922) - this shit literally makes me want to be a drag queen because I don't see anybody on RPDR serving gibson girl realness. Salome is a film that was supposedly made my an entire cast of fags, dykes, and glitterqueens and it is the very definition of camp. This rumor comes from Kenneth Anger of all people and is based on a play by Oscar Wilde. So yeah this is peak gay culture but nobody actually kisses. (at least nobody gay Salome makes out with the head of John the Baptist but what else is new)

The Clinging Vine (1926) - Leatrice Joy is literally the most butch women I've ever seen and I would die for her. Lesbians please watch the first 20 minutes of this film. Then she has a fem makeover and the last 2/3 of this film are boring, and normyhet, and shes in love with the worlds most stupiest man. like he is so dumb.

Sex In Chains (1928) - credited as one of the "Gay-Themed Films of the German Silent Film Era" this film is basically a couple being so fucking horny all the time that they just fuck the newest hole they can find. one of those holes is a dude. You get more fade to black but in this one, (unfortunently not with the awful version I watched), his prison wife also shows up with flowers, then they just kill themselfs together in a joint suicide. Yeah the ending was a lot.

Laurel and Hardy in Liberty (1929) - This was from the 80s queer cinema article I found, (I need to blog about the resources at some point but tomorrow I'm taking a break from this and just watching netflix and working on my journals), basically they just keep trying to switch pants for plot reasons and people think there tyring to suck and fuck on the street.

Lot In Sodom (1933) - An experimental film based on the story of sodom and gomorah from the bible, honestly giving kenneth anger vibes.

Ok whores for some reason this entire article has now stressed me out so I'm gonna do a little bit more research and watch some short films on my watchlist to mellow out the night. Love you and thank you for helping me through this

[nightingaelic]

nightingaelic's definitive list of Fallout blorbos

(based on this post, thanks for the idea @ceilingcow)

Quick Guide

blorbo: My favorite character, the character I think about the most

scrunkly: My baby, the character that gives me cuteness aggression, friend-shaped

scrimblo bimblo: Underrated, unappreciated favorite

glup shitto: Obscure favorite, character that could pop up in the background for a millisecond and I won't shut up about it for weeks

poor little meow meow: Problematic favorite, unpopular favorite, controversial favorite, maybe even a pathetic favorite

horse plinko: The character I would torment for fun

eeby deeby: The character I would send to superhell

Fallout 3

blorbo: Sarah Lyons

I just want to give this girl a hug. She's so like the Lone Wanderer in that she didn't choose any of this. Dad up and makes a decision that drags you away from whatever future you might have made for yourself and forces you down another path... sound familiar? I doubly dwell on this woman because of Bethesda's baffling decision to kill her off-screen. Give me the messy in-between

scrunkly: Fawkes

I want to hole up in the Arlington Library with this guy and just read. Start a wasteland book club, wander around the Capital Wasteland as a traveling pair of librarians, teach wastelanders to read, lend out books and collect new ones as Aqua Pura starts to make its way outward and ease everyone's lives a little bit. I want Fawkes to find himself in the stories that survive. I want to give him a hug, too.

scrimblo bimblo: Nadine

Maybe this is just me, but there's something wonderful about the Point Lookout DLC focusing on a girl who voluntarily ran off to seek her fortune. Sure, maybe she wound up in some hot water along the way, but I still love her so much. And she got a boat out of the ordeal! Absolute tomboy queen. We need more Nadine content in general, Fallout fanscape

glup shitto: Sydney & Emaline

Hey, remember Sydney? The cute treasure hunter who got stuck in the National Archives while looking for the Declaration of Independence? The one with the missing dad who's sick of men hitting on her and who takes the caps from her contract to go open a weapons shop in Underworld? Remember her girlfriend, Emaline, who helps her kick your ass if you double-cross her? Does anybody remember? PLEASE

poor little meow meow: Clover

I want to put her in therapy. That's it, I just feel bad for her. I want her to work through everything she's seen and come out the other side. I know the world of Fallout sliding back into slavery makes sense, but it's just so painful to see.

horse plinko: Butch DeLoria

Butch spent ages being a dick in Vault 101, I'm not letting him off the hook just because he was nice one time when I saved his mom. I don't want him to bite the dust, I just want him to spend some time living in the cold and the rust and the radiation before he gets his redemption arc.

eeby deeby: Jericho

Justice for Jenny.

Fallout New Vegas

blorbo: Veronica Santangelo

I want the world for this woman. I want her to keep skipping around the Mojave making friends in odd places, looking for fashionable duds and punching anyone who dares intrude on her good day. I want her people to realize the error of their ways and welcome her home, change their whole Codex around, track down Christine and officiate a wedding where Veronica gets to wear the laciest, frilliest, whitest dress she can find and kiss the girl of her dreams. I want this so badly it hurts, and that makes it hurt all the more to know that it just can't happen.

scrunkly: ED-E

Squeeze him, squeeze the friendly orb

scrimblo bimblo: Ulysses

I could honestly drop this man into the "poor little meow meow" category because I know he's got a questionable past of his own, but I just don't see as many fan works and discussions about him as I do about Joshua Graham. Which is a DAMN SHAME, because he is just as ripe for thematic parallels, redemption stories and memes as the Burned Man, I will die on this hill

glup shitto: Roxie

She is NOT just a Rex knock-off, I want so badly to take her back to the Lucky 38 and just give her a room full of cushions to sleep on and all the dog bones in the world to gnaw through, such a good girl

poor little meow meow: Joshua Graham

Is he a Mormon bastard who ruined a shit ton of lives? Yes. Is he professedly repentant but practically unrepentant? Absolutely. Does his entire DLC reek of tropes I'd like to burn and toss into the Grand Canyon? You bet. Do I still want to throw him into circumstances that test his faith, twist his spine and turn him into something worthy of all the horny fan art I keep seeing of him? Please, God, take this man away from me before he rots my brain any further

horse plinko: Vulpes Inculta

Listen, is it too much to ask for all of Vulpes' best-laid plans to be completely wrecked by the courier and friends in the wasteland's most ridiculous comedy of errors? I just want to imagine him having to report to Caesar over and over with his tail between his legs while Caesar gets progressively more and more angry with him. What do you mean, the Omertas were overthrown by their own prostitutes and strippers

eeby deeby: Robert House

It's not that I dislike House as a character, I just hate him as a person. Suck my dick, Elon Howard Hughes Musk

Fallout 4

blorbo: Robert Joseph MacCready

Just look at his hat and his goatee and his eyes and his cheekbones and his dumbass coat with only one sleeve and his everything... stinky rat bastard men, why do I love you so

scrunkly: Dogmeat

Danse, Curie, Hancock, Preston, Piper, everyone, I'M SORRY, he's too cute, certified good boy (TM)

scrimblo bimblo: Isabel Cruz & Kasumi Nakano

This is a toss-up, and also I ship these two. Of all the fics I've never written, my most beloved is a story about Kasumi and Isabel meeting through radio contact and falling in love. I've worked it in here or there in my main fic series, but it's always at the back of my mind.

glup shitto: Chase

So you're telling me that there is only ONE (1) lady Courser in this game, and she doesn't have some amazing stories about being the only woman in a sea of men with the same face, or some bomb-ass dialogue with X6-88 about why she decided to run, or anything, ANYTHING, good god I want more of her so badly

poor little meow meow: Arthur Maxson

Heir to everything that's left of the Brotherhood, Mary Sue who went from accidentally shooting Sarah Lyons to killing a deathclaw singlehandedly in three years, egotist who decided it was a good idea to fly out to an area where he wasn't wanted, literal messiah figure among some shadowy sections of his order- the Arthur Maxson in my head is infinitely more interesting than the Arthur Maxson in this game, but that's enough to make me write a whole damn AO3 series about the man and fill in the gaps. Who's the real loser here? Still me? Fine

horse plinko: Proctor Quinlan

I just like imagining how this man's life is eternally being interrupted by Brotherhood jocks who don't get why they're being assigned to escort a Scribe instead of going to fight raiders, who keep stealing the latest holotape acquisitions because it's a new song or story to pass around, who give the head of the Order of the Quill so much shit but absolutely dote upon his cat- the possibilities are endless

eeby deeby: Father

Ugh, I take zero responsibility for this nightmare, who raised you

Fallout 76

blorbo: Sofia Daguerre

Commander, let me cuddle you in my CAMP when it's cold and read through the box of comic books I found for you- let me tell you all about the real Mistress of Mystery, all my cramped years I spent in the vault and how lost I felt when the door finally opened, how even if I was lost, I still finally felt free, and how beautiful your face looked in the light of that bunker's glowing mushrooms

scrunkly: Beckett

Yet another stinky rat bastard man, combining the sunglasses of Boone, the dialogue of Deacon, the leather jacket of Butch and the angst of all three. You're so awkward, Beckett, don't ever stop

scrimblo bimblo: Burke & Weasel

Another toss-up, I just love Burke's general presence and Weasel's callous covering for genuine concern about her friends. I want more of both. Also, nonbinary and AAC representation!

glup shitto: The Motherlode

MOMMY

poor little meow meow: Penny Hornwright

I realize that this is me being hypocritical because of how I treated House, and Penny is just another unfeeling industrialist who drove the world to destruction and somehow got away with it, but she's also, just, PROFOUNDLY sad. I can't get over how sad her story is at heart. She lost her father to his own mind before the bombs fell, she lost the love of her life and her child, she lost her beauty and her wealth and any semblance of a world where her name mattered, beyond angry and scared whispers. You DO NOT need to feel sorry for her, but I do. Just a little.

horse plinko: Johnny Weston

How did this man fail so spectacularly upward, how did he wind up on the Vault 79 heist team and think that his pre-war criminal record wouldn't matter, how did Meg actually fall for this jackass, and why aren't there more options to mess with him for the fun of it? I want to steal his tuxedos. I want to dig up old holotapes of his bad acting and screen them for Crater. I want to sic Ra-Ra and Gail on his bunk with a roll of toilet paper and a pack of sidewalk chalk.

eeby deeby: Doctor Edgar Blackburn

Give Keith Szarabajka a better role, next time. Or at least a better-written one.

[eddsworld-headies]

Main Four: Your specific looks for each.

(once again, kind of oc, aka me looking on Pinterest for character pics that I think compliments the boys well, maybe I'll just make these characters OC's/ other people's character reactions separate from the Headcanons)

Edd: y'all know skimson right? I love the hell out of Marina, or Maria (can't remember her name) and she is a perfect contrast to Edd so yeah. Sweet, soft, works at a flower shop. Long blonde hair and deep brown eyes. She's too cute not to use as inspo for Edd girlfriend insert. She's a very cottage core/ soft clothing style. Soo.. yeah that's you.

[ Little edit, just so I'm positive that the artist gets credit. This art is by @skimson and it's their character, this is just a loose basing and you can find their main account on insta and a second account called Witty.tsykitty on insta as well and I HIGH recommend checking them out cause they post some stuff pretty often and their bearfamily au is the cutest thing.]

Matt: Y'all have a black wolf mullet and you rock the hell out of it. And being one of the resident Bisexuals, your eyeliner is practically flawless. Your more on the alt / oddly 2000's side of fashion and (if you'd rather imagine a character) are Nicaraguan. You've only moved over to England when you were a teen.

Tord: Trans queen. Your parents were actually pretty with the times and allowed you to get gender reassignment surgery at a young age. It wasn't fun at all and the bottom surgery sucked ass but your who you need to be and it's amazing. And all that time in school, defending yourself from bullies mean you don't take shit from no one and Tord respects that religiously. Defiantly a baddie and maybe a little weebish but your cute as hell and witty. You probably have long hair and died it pink just as a but 'fuck you' to all the transphobic cuck out there. Hot girl summer all the way.

Tom: yes yes yes yes- so excited for this one— this one makes me wanna make all these girls separate begin from y'all readers. I have the perfect name for her and everything.

Butch girl supremacy y'all. You doesn't dress as nice as the picture all the time, but on certain occasions you will. Witty, fun, easy going, and really shit self-esteem and body dysphoria all wrapped up in clothes that make you look ACTUALLY homeless. (Or a twelve year old boy) You went to America for, like, a month for family stuff and COMPLETELY lost your accent you talk all weird now even though you were born and raised locally. Tomboy all the way and slightly alt. Plus you really want snake bits to add with your brow and nip peircing but Tom already has them and complains constantly so you don't know if you should or shouldn't. And to top it all off, you've had top surgery. Why? Cause tits don't feel right on you. You just said yolo one day and got it done. Congrats tit-less.

(really thinking about just fixing Marina's character and making these girls OC because I'd die over their interactions and the shenanigans they'd get into when not with the boys ™)

[girldirectionsource]

hey!! could you recommend any long wlw fics?? preferably more than 70k words. thanks:)

Hi! Unfortunately, there aren’t that many longer girl direction fics but I do have two amazing ones to rec you that are both over 100k:

You Make Lovin’ Fun by @homosociallyyours

Harry is a 28 year old travel writer at a gay magazine who gets the assignment to go a lesbian cruise. She figures it's a nice chance to have some fun in the sun, but she's not expecting much else-- even if her partner and best friend are both encouraging her to hook up with someone while she's there.

When she locks eyes with a gorgeous silver fox from across the room, she starts to think she could've been wrong. There are lots of things standing in the way of anything real happening with her and Louis, but that doesn't stop them from falling for one another. True love isn't always easy, but they do make lovin' fun.

Crazy and Infectious by @star55

“Y’know,” Louis starts. “While we’ve got our phones out, you should give me your number. In case they ask who referred them.” “Oh, they don’t do that,” Harry replies as she locks her phone. “They’re not the kind of company who keeps tabs on who refers who.” Louis raises her eyebrows and smiles at this beautiful girl. “Harry,” she says slowly. “I’m hitting on you.”

A Shades of Pink story in which we flash back to find out just how Louis and Harry actually got together.

(If you haven’t read it yet, the entire Shades of Pink (Crazy in Love) series is over 400k at this point and I highly recommend checking it out!)

more under the cut!

And then here are some recs between 50k and 70k:

I love your demons (like devils can) by ariadne_odair

"I am right here," she says loudly, and she can almost hear the crack when Louis' head whips around to stare at her.

"Why?" Louis asks, and Harry feels her insides shrivel up and die.

Harry didn’t plan to join the football team. She didn’t plan to sleep with the captain of the football team. She definitely didn’t plan to sleep with the closeted captain of the football team, who promptly acted as if nothing happened and left Harry a pathetic, pining mess.

The Changer and the Changed by @homosociallyyours

It’s the spring of 1977 and Harry Styles has just moved to New York City after graduating college. She knows she’s a lesbian. She just needs to figure out how to meet other lesbians.

Louis Tomlinson works at a popular women’s bookstore in the Lower East Side, Womon’s Direction, where she spends her days reading feminist literature, writing poetry, exchanging friendly barbs with her boss Niall, and dreaming of finding someone to love.

When Harry and Louis meet, their connection is instantaneous. Slowly but surely, Louis welcomes Harry into her community of women. Stonewall veteran and old school butch Niall; Liam, a land dyke who’s moved to the city for love; and Zayn, a lesbian musician who’s been ostracized by a vocal part of women’s community for being trans, welcome Harry with open arms, ready to help her find her place in New York City’s bustling lesbian scene.

It’s a time of growth for everyone involved.

If I Was Stronger by @haloeverlasting

Harry’s fingers find her lips, in a silent moment of wonder and reverie, and her knees wobble as she’s assaulted with the image of Louis, right here in her bedroom, with her light blue eyes, and her gentle hands, and Harry feels an overwhelming rush and longing to reach out and touch. She imagines Louis stepping towards her slowly, treading lightly with her fingers on her cheek, where Harry’s dimple may appear, and whether Harry would like it if Louis’ thin lips found hers.

With her eyes closed, she imagines Louis standing very close, and she finds the wait to be agonizing, but when she goes to close the distance, there’s no one besides herself in her bedroom.

Harry lets out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. She feels tingly, and hot, and absolutely terrified, but the next time she looks in the mirror, she sees someone she knows intimately. She sees that girl with bright green eyes, and unruly hair, and parted lips, and she loses her breath a moment, because while she knows that girl inside and out, she hasn’t been honest with herself until… well, now.

“I might be gay.”

A Girl Direction AU where Louis holds universes inside her, and Harry just wants to hold her.

That Smile and That Midnight Laugh by @uhoh-but-yeah-alright

Harry’s never noticed how lovely Louis really is. Maybe it’s just that she’s usually so guarded – a little tense, a little irritated, a little put out. At least when she’s at school, and also usually when she’s around Nick, which are the only times Harry has really seen her. Until tonight. Tonight Harry’s seen her with her guard completely down. Too busy laughing and enjoying herself to remember to be prickly, maybe. She seems different.

It feels different.

A Ferris Bueller's Day Off AU that picks up right where the movie leaves off, and imagines what might happen if Ferris' girlfriend and sister become friends. And maybe something more, too.

Sea Asunder by @cupcakentea 

It’s only then, as Anne elegantly sits at the other end of the table, that Louis realises there’s a third set of cutlery and plate laid out on the side between them. She feels something twist in her belly, right when the sound of small heels coming closer echoes from the drawing room. She looks at Anne’s side, where the door she came from remains ajar. But she realises, as the steps slow down, that the one on hers is wide open. She feels the hair on her neck standing up slightly with what feels like a shift in the very atmosphere of the room. A gravitational pull that passes right by her side with no words, no sound, just a disturbance of the air. There she is.

A Portrait of a Lady on Fire AU

i must admit i thought i’d like to make you mine by @disgruntledkittenface

Louis fell apart when her ex broke up with her and moved across the country. Just as she’s starting to move on, Zayn comes back to town for their mutual friends’ wedding – with a new girlfriend as her plus one.

Blindsided and scrambling to save face, Louis lets herself get talked into a fake relationship with her new friend Harry. Their arrangement makes Louis feel pathetic and embarrassed, but it’s only going to last a few weeks. She just has to get through the wedding – what could happen?

And here some fics I found while putting this together that I haven’t read yet but which look good!

into the great wide open by @ficshl

It only took a week or so for Harry to truly get into the routine of life on the road. They woke before dawn each morning, ate a small meal, packed up the tent and rounded up the livestock, all before setting out. On a good day, they could make it twenty miles. There hadn’t been many bad ones, but Louis confessed that on a previous trip there had been a solid week where they hadn’t made it more than five miles a day. Soon, Louis promised, animals would start going lame, and wheels would start breaking, and people would start going hungry. The beginning was the easiest, and the end was doable only because the hope of finishing the trek fueled everyone. It was the middle bit, with the tedious marching hundreds of miles from any settlement, that people succumbed to the journey.

Safe and warm in your coat of arms by frenchkiss

If she's being completely honest with herself, Louis didn't want a girlfriend. She had fully intended to head off to university, fuck around a bit, and be the lesbian that her hometown hadn't let her be.

Too bad fate wanted to throw a spanner in the works. A tall, curly haired cherub of a spanner who tends to answer to the name Harry, to be exact.

Me, Her, And The Moon by star55

All Louis wants to do is survive secondary school and her A Levels, be the best sister that she can possibly be to her five sisters, and train as hard as possible to be her family’s future alpha. She doesn’t expect to meet her mate on the first day of school and have her entire world changed.

[bre-meister]

8 greens if you would!!

“Saying I love you completely randomly”

This was really fun to write, hope you enjoy!

Buttercup found solace in routine. With her life being as hectic as it is - one could never know when a monster would decide to traipse over from monster island or if Fuzzy Lumpkins would suddenly decide that his property now included a large camping ground on the outskirts of town - it was nice to know that some things never changed. 

She woke up at the same time every day, went through her exercise with Butch at the same time every day. Afterward, they would always shower, usually, they would also do that together but sometimes Buttercup was in a rush and she didn’t need Butch to...distract her from getting ready for the next part of her day. They would eat breakfast together and then be on their separate ways.

Most people would look at her and Butch, the hot-headed, impulsive ones in their respective set of siblings, and assumed that the two thrived in chaos. That they loved that kind of spontaneous life. While Buttercup and her boyfriend did work well in chaotic situations, didn’t mean they liked to be in it twenty-four seven. In fact, Buttercup surmised that was the reason why she was secretly an orderly freak - only second to Blossom. Everything had a time and a place. Butch understood, he subscribed to the organized schedule and home life just as much as she did. There was only one thing in their life that wasn’t structured and organized outside of crime-fighting. And, as cliche as it sounds - and believe it, Buttercup hates cliches - that one thing, was their love. Or, more specifically, declarations of their love.

Buttercup wasn’t exactly sure how it started.  Well, maybe that was a lie, she did know how it started. Butch noticed how much BC would blush and stammer whenever he told her he loved her and eventually, he started saying it at the most random of times just to get a reaction out of her. At some point, it just became normal and BC would do the same in return. It was their thing. 

That had started back in high school. They’d graduated college by now and were beginning to settle into the rest of their lives together. By now, those random I love yous meant a thousand and one things. Of course, they truly did love each other and each admonition carried that knowledge with it but also always an undertone of something else.

“I love you” Butch would say before she flew off to handle the monster of the day. The unspoken, be safe, drifting in the air between them.

“I know,” She would give him a soft kiss before disappearing into a streak of lime green as she went off to do her job.

“I love you,” she whispered into the darkness as the two lay wrapped together in the dark. She’d gotten into a particularly bad fight with Blossom at dinner that night and was still reeling over what had happened. She couldn’t bring herself to say what she truly wanted to - “thank you for being here for me even though I make it really hard some days. But she knew he understood.

He whipped her silent tears before answering,

“I love you more,” he pulled her closer and she fell asleep knowing what that had meant as well - I’m not the easiest to love either; thank you.

Sometimes it more simple was that. One time Butch had brought her lunch at work without her having to ask when she’d left her own at home.

The breathless “I love you” that escaped her mouth between eager bites of the burger he had provided held no undertones except for a simple thank you. 

Butch’s answering chuckle caused a smile to spread across her face. She loved his laugh. She loved pretty much everything about this man.

Her sisters remarked on their thing a lot - the more random the cuter they thought it was. 

Buttercup distinctly remembered a time where she, Butch, Bubbles, and Boomer were headed to a fair for a double date. She’d been sitting in the front seat next to Butch who had been driving, Bubbles and Boomer talking quietly in the back. BC had been singing along quietly to the song on the radio, her hand over Butch’s on the gear shift when suddenly he’d taken his eyes off the road to look at her,

“I love you,” he said.

“Butch!” she’d screamed, “eyes on the road dipshit before you kill someone!”

“Not until you say it back,” a shit-eating grin had taken over his face.

At this point, Bubbles and Boomer had directed their attention to what was going on.

“Butch! Turn!” Boomer’s yell didn’t cause Butch to turn his eyes back to the road at all.

“ Oh my gosh, I love you, you idiot!” Despite the situation, Buttercup couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her.

Thankfully, the turn in the road that Boomer had warned about was far enough away that Butch had been able to make the turn safely. 

“Gosh, you two are just so cute!” Bubbles’ giggles filled the car along with Buttercup’s.

“Cute? He almost killed us!” Bommer’s own laughs were more of the I can’t believe I didn’t die sort.

“Calm down Boomie, even if we crashed and hit a tree it would barely leave a scratch on any of us. More importantly,” Bubbles turned to face Boomer fully in the backseat of the car, “ why don’t you do cute stuff like that with me?”

“Because I enjoy living in one peace!?”

Buttercup remembered her sister not accepting that as a good enough answer. 

However stupid or dangerous those types of antics were, Buttercup wouldn’t change them for the world. They were just the right amount of spontaneous to quell that nervous energy that buzzed just under her skin and allowed her to live that structured life she loves so much. And, more importantly, with the person, she loved more than anything. Who cares if their love was a little random or chaotic, it fits them perfectly.

[glassandmarigolds]

for the ask game, Drumbot Brian!! and i like the sound of assigning a dnd class instead of a hogwarts house 👀

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life 

hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang

d&d class: fighter | wizard | cleric | bard | rogue | paladin | barbarian | ranger | monk | druid | sorcerer | warlock | misc.

best quality: oohhhh so much to choose from !! i think it comes down to why i chose cleric for him: wisdom boy !! idk how to articulate it, but he has a vibe that is Very Separate from a bunch of the other mechs and he rounds them out really well. he understands kindness in a way the others don’t, as well as cruelty, and he applies both with intention. and i just think that’s neat

worst quality: he’s a pilot with no sense of direction <3

ship them with: i’m a firm believer in polymechs, but mostly raphaella, jonny, marius, tim, and TS. occasionally galahad as well, but i’m conflicted abt that one. also lady nimue and osiris bc why the fuck not

brotp them with: nastya !! and also aurora !! i think i can also ship them, but they drift in and out of relationships throughout the millennia, but generally default to close friends.

needs to stay away from: the sun

misc. thoughts: okay i feel like i need to explain the hotness level. he is beautiful he is lovely and elegant and amazing, but i am a lesbian so … if anyone hcs him as a butch lesbian then i am VERY attracted to that version of him specifically, but otherwise no thank you personally. ALSO !! i remember very little canon lore on brian, so this is mostly just from fics and my own hcs ‘:D. i don’t think i conveyed how much i love him, i have SO much affection for this man

[ddaenggtan]

as we go along | myj [m]

pairing | min yoonji x reader

wc | 10.4k

genre | NSFW; Fluff, Smut, a dash of Angst bc why not

Four years ago, the beautiful stunning attractive frustrating Min Yoonji came into your life. Ever since, it’s been a competition between the two of you to win the HOA’s Holiday Decorating Contest. The fiery looks she gives you paired with the pointed insults throw you off your game every year, but not this time. This holiday season, you’re determines to win; and along the way you might just find that Yoonji’s been trying to win something else.

;OR the queer hallmark movie of your dreams.

warnings/tags | idiots to lovers, enemies to lovers, Awkward Gays, Idiot/Oblivious Gays, very strong language i think this MC curses almost as much as i do, oral (female receiving) x2, fingering, wall sex, theres like....a hint of body worship in that MC loves eating pussy bc lbr. what else could possibly compare to that. uhh side jinkook, as well as some side namyoonmin and some vhope if u squint real hard. hwasa and chungha are a lesbian power couple. OH The Min Twins aka Yoongi and Yoonji are siblings uwu

a/n |  this is 100% every single lesbian fantasy of my dreams because i just really love the ladeez and also min yoonji needs more characterization outside of 'stone cold butch domme' so uh. here ya go. i love ladeez so this is v self indulgent and also Super Gay. 

this is part of the 25 Days of Christmas: A BTS Anthology 

[Today]

Red bleeds into green and glitters magnificently on the snow. Lights and tinsel are strewn all over the yard of your parents’ house, creating a rather pretty collage of sparkles and swirls against the white backdrop. You wish you could appreciate it more. 

As it stands, however, you’ve been outside for hours untangling the decorative strands so that you can hang them on the gutters, eaves, and railings of the two story house behind you. Your mother had insisted you work inside but you know better. The cats - Mochi and Pablo - are your favorite in the world and you love them dearly, but one of their favorite things in the world has always been holiday decorations. The number of times you’ve had to stop them from chewing on lights of knocking the tree down is frankly ridiculous. So instead you’re unravelling everything so you can get started on what you’re sure is going to be your best year yet.

You’ve always loved decorating, of course, especially for the holidays. Getting up before dawn to go pick out one of the giant fir trees to stand in their living room, picking out new figurines for the Winter Village that sits on the mantle, helping your parents put ornaments on the tree. You love holiday decorating nearly as much as you love the feeling of victory in your chest. 

“If you had an organizer that wouldn’t take nearly as long,” says a voice from behind you. It’s melodic and deceptively sweet in spite of the lower register, and you don’t turn. You don’t want to give her the satisfaction. You don’t even respond, instead settling your gloved hands on your hips and eyeing the front porch so you can decide where to start. 

“Really? Ignoring me now? Tsk tsk, and here I thought you were better than being a sore loser.”

Continuing on your mission to pretend she isn’t there, you heft several yards of lights over your shoulder and head toward the ladder you have against the porch roof. You may as well start up high. 

“Interesting choice,” Yoonji mutters as she watches you. The hair on the back of your neck bristles, and you take a deep breath to calm and center yourself. “I’d heard that icicle lights were a bit last season, but I’m excited for this vintage look you’re going for. If you need more, let me know. I think the ones I used last year are still in the garage.”

“What do you want, Yoonji?” You huff, turning over your shoulder to glare at her. She looks entirely too at home in your yard with a steaming thermos in her mittened hands. 

“Just wanted to say hi. Wasn’t sure you were coming this year, considering how late you got in.”

“My flight was delayed for weather reasons,” you snap. 

“Ah. That’s why I always drive up instead.” There’s a pregnant pause that’s filled only with the huffs of your breath as you focus on the lights in front of you. “Oh, but you never got your license, did you? Ah, you should call me next year, we can carpool.”

“I got my license this past year,” You bite out. She doesn’t need to know that it took a few tries. It’s not your fault it makes you anxious to be behind the wheel. “Seriously. I have work to do.”

“Obviously,” Yoonji mutters. You flash her a glare and she just smiles back. “Just wanted to see how you were, if you needed any…” She pauses, eyes trailing over the explosion of decorations on your lawn with thinly veiled judgement in her eyes. “Help.”

“If I needed your help, I wouldn’t be winning this year’s contest.”

“By the looks of it, you aren’t winning this year’s contest anyway.” Her mutter doesn’t escape your notice. But that’s the real problem you have with Min Yoonji.

She’s sarcastic and blunt and kind of intimidatingly hot, but you can handle that. You are a strong, independent queer woman in the modern age and you are not about to let some random lesbian intimidate you, no matter how much you kind of wanted to fuck her in the past. Yoonji is not a problem for you. 

It’s the way she’s constantly putting you down, giving you backhanded compliments, and generally acting like she’s better than you. While winning your parents’ neighborhood’s annual Holiday Decorating Contest that their local Homeowner’s Association runs. Everyone gets a kick out of the friendly competition, the winners get a gift certificate to a Korean BBQ place, and a good time is had by all. 

Except you. 

Because you’ve made it your mission to win - to beat the current reigning champion of the past three years who stands on your lawn sipping what smells like hot cocoa and silently judging your decor choices like she didn’t put a massive inflatable pumpkin on the roof for Halloween. 

She watches you the entire time you hang up the lights, carefully attaching them to the edge of the awning covering the front porch. It isn’t until your father pulls into the driveway and you’re done with the upper half completely - about to start the railing - and descending the ladder one careful step at a time that she speaks again. 

“Those are hanging too low,” She tells you. She doesn’t seem to mind when you ignore her in favor of wrapping lights around the stair banister. 

“Hey there, Yoonji!” Your father calls as he starts to unload the groceries. “What brings you to this part of town?” They both laugh at the joke and you force back a gag. 

“Just hanging out,” She calls back. “Making sure your daughter doesn’t break her neck for some silly competition. You need help with those?” Your dad waves her off. 

“I’m not that old, but thank you. Besides, it looks like you’re needed elsewhere.” He gestures with one bag-laden hand, and both you and Yoonji turn. 

A large SUV pulls into the driveway across the street; the passenger door swings open before the vehicle even stops, and a girl - woman, really - launches herself out of the car. She’s across the street in record time, nearly tackling Yoonji to the snow with the force of her hug. Both look excited to see each other, a rare smile on Yoonji’s face that makes you burn with something that doesn’t feel quite like the usual rage. 

The two are talking rapidly in your front lawn, too harried and chaotic for you to make out much of anything besides the fact that they missed each other. They look comfortable with each other in a way you’ve never been and you force yourself to remember that you don’t care . Even as you eye the way the newcomer’s hand sits just that little bit too low on Yoonji’s back. 

The sounds of car doors closing and snow crunching draws your attention and you’re shocked to see another gorgeous girl making her way over. She looks as excited as the first, yet more subdued about it. 

Likely because they’re on a lawn that decidedly does not belong to them, but you could be wrong there. 

Both of the women are absolutely gorgeous, though, easily model material. The first has artfully styled dark hair that falls in perfect waves down her shoulders, and is delightfully curvy in all the places the world loves. Her cheekbones are to die for, makeup flawless, and you resist the urge to pluck at your own outfit, chosen for warmth over style. 

The second woman is no different; not quite as thicc, as Jimin would say, but the figure suits her, as does the straight platinum hair that hangs down to her lower back. It’s stark against the black of her expensive-looking coat, and it only adds to the energy she carries that draws you in even as you wish it wouldn’t. 

“Oh, how rude of me! These are my neighbors,” Yoonji says after a minute. You don’t miss the way she hesitates saying your name, or the almost predatory smiles the other two women get. 

“So you’re the one,” The dark-haired one says. You don’t get a chance to question it before the blonde cuts her off. 

“I’m Chungha,” She says with a friendly smile. “And this is Hyejin.”

“My friends call me Hwasa, though,” The brunette adds. “We hate to tear her away but it’s been ages since we’ve seen our girl.”

“You saw me like two weeks ago,” Yoonji mutters. You’re too caught off-guard by anyone calling Yoonji their ‘girl’ to respond, but you don’t miss the way her cheeks tinge pink from something that isn’t the cold. 

“So we’re gonna steal her away now,” Hwasa continues, oblivious. You don’t protest, letting your father chat amicably while they say their goodbyes and you look between the girls. 

Hwasa’s hand is still lingering on Yoonji’s lower back, something neither of them seem bothered by. That’s something that friends do, though, right? Jimin squeezes your ass constantly and the two of you definitely aren’t together. 

You hear your name and a question but you can’t seem to really focus beyond a mumbled agreement to whatever you were asked. The way Chungha’s eyes glance over her companions feels like something more, but you can never really be sure. Not in this day and age.

But when they head back across the road to Yoonji’s house, Hwasa doesn’t hesitate to lace their fingers together. Yoonji lets her do it, and the glimpse of the grin and the flushed cheeks you see make your heart clench. 

Paired with the way Chungha eyes the pair as she follows behind - a decidedly more than friendly gaze - and every alarm in your brain is going off. She looks ready to jump them both the second they get in the door. 

“I’m impressed,” Your father says. 

“I’m not done yet,” You tell him, turning back to the decorations sprawled across the lawn. “I’ve still got to-”

“No, no,” He interrupts. “Not the decorations. That you’re finally making strides to be nicer to Yoonji.” You stare blankly at him, not understanding what part of your attitude towards her said anything about being nicer. 

And anyway, why shouldn’t she be nicer to you?

“The party…?” You blink at his words, looking in all respects like a startled rabbit. “The annual Min family holiday party? That they just invited you to? The one that you said you would attend?”

“I’m sorry, I did what. ”

“It just happened, sweetheart. I was standing right here for the entire thing.”

“No,” You tell him firmly. “No, because I would remember telling Min fucking Yoonji that I was going to her stupid holiday party.”

Your father just shakes his head. “Then perhaps we ought to get you a doctor’s appointment, sweetie, because I watched it all happen not five seconds ago.” He pats your shoulder, doing his best to show his solidarity for your sudden idiocy, and makes his way inside. 

You spin to watch him go, all the potential protests and complaints clogging together in your throat and leaving you silent. He gets to the bottom step before you’re storming angrily back to your decorations, because whatever , you’ll go to the stupid party. 

Yoonji can have her dumb holiday party with those overhyped cookies your father always raves about. She can have her caroling and her sing-a-long that your mother adores. She can even have her two super hot model girlfriends, because you’re a modern woman, and sometimes that’s what a relationship is. Whatever. It’s her prerogative. You don’t care. It is not going to affect you, or your decorating, at all. 

You scream a little when the icicle lights you so carefully hung knock against your father’s head on his way inside. 

[Three Years Ago]

“You look like you’re struggling,” a voice says behind you. 

They aren’t wrong, either. You’re balanced precariously atop the porch roof your parents’ new hours, hanging garland off the edges so your dad doesn’t have to do it himself. 

You turn to see who’s talking to you - especially since you don’t actually know anyone, this being your first visit to the neighborhood - and very nearly have to hold on to the edge beside you to stop yourself from falling off. 

The man that stands on your parents’ front walkway is easily the most beautiful you’ve seen - a casual elegance to his stance that you’ve not seen outside of celebrities. His leather jacket looks warm and comfortable while remaining stylish, and the all-black underneath suits him while highlighting the lithe form. All of it is perfectly complemented by the mop of jet-black hair tucked under a knitted beanie, and you can’t help but wonder what kind of neighborhood your parents have moved to, when models are just walking around the streets. 

“Uh…” You would kick yourself for sudden ineloquence if you thought you could without falling straight on your ass. The guy bites back and obvious smile, ducking his head for a moment to do so. 

“I haven’t seen you around before,” He calls as he looks back up at you. “Did you move in recently?”

“No, I don’t live here.” He raises a brow and you huff. “It’s my parents’ place. I’m just doing their decorating for them.” The guy nods and starts to say something else, but he’s cut off before he can. 

“Jimin-ah, what are you doing?” You look back to the garland as someone else walks up, some girl based on the quick glimpse you get while tugging on a strand that doesn’t want to untangle. You give them some semblance of privacy as the guy - Jimin - relays to her everything you’ve said so far. It only strikes you as a little odd that he’s being so detailed; she could be a jealous girlfriend, for all you know. 

“Oh,” the girl says, tone as dry as the dead leaves piled in the corner of the yard, “Is this supposed to beat me somehow?”

“Yoonji,” Jimin scolds under his breath. 

“Sorry,” You say, standing up to your full height. It’s a considerable distance considering you’re still on the porch roof. “But what is that supposed to mean? Is there some kind of competition I don’t know about?”

“Oh,” Yoonji repeats, surprise evident in her voice this time as she eyes you. You take the opportunity to do the same, and you’re glad the nip in the air already turned your cheeks pink because fuck. 

Yoonji’s god damn gorgeous. She’s slightly taller than the average girl, even in the winter boots she’s wearing, but she wears the height well; her shoulders are straight and her chin has a natural upward tilt to it, like she’s used to looking down at people in more ways than one. She’s not dressed fancy - just thick leggings and an oversized sweater - but she looks like she belongs in a commercial or something. Her hair is similar to Jimin’s - pitch black and soft - but hers is glossier, more like a cat’s coat; her cheeks are pink from the cold, her lips are slightly parted and invite too many thoughts about if they’re as soft as they look, Even in such casual circumstances, she’s radiant, even as she says-

“That explains a lot.”

It takes a second longer than you’d like to admit for your brain to resume function, but when it does, you huff with indignation. 

“Excuse me?” You hiss. “What, are my decor choices not good enough for whatever this competition is?”

“No,” Yoonji says slowly, cocking a brow, and you see red - and it isn’t the lights from the house across the street. You don’t even let her continue before you’re defending yourself.

“Well I’m sorry that not all of us can decorate like they just stepped out of...of…Better Homes And Gardens, or some shit like that. Some of us focus more on making sure we like our decorations and that they actually mean something instead of just doing things for the aesthetic .”

Yoonji mutters something under her breath but you can’t make it out; it’s lost among the breeze that kicks up and the soft sound of laughing that Jimin is trying desperately to muffle. You huff a little and return to your mission of dragging the garland up on top of the roof, a new determination filling your chest. 

“Shouldn’t your boyfriend be doing this?” Yoonji asks, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a brow. You freeze. You can hear Jimin’s quiet inhale, and when you look up, he’s got his lips puffed out like that meme of that guy doing the duckface. You let your hand rest on your hips and give this girl the best glare you can - which you have to admit is quite powerful when you need it to be. 

Like now, when this random super hot girl is judging you for being single and also assuming you’re interested in men. The nerve of her. 

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” You tell her firmly. She frowns a little, and you wish the expression wasn’t so cute. 

“Why not?” 

You scoff. “ Because,” You tell her firmly, “Not only am I happy by myself and don’t need someone else to be complete, I happen to prefer women. You may be happy with a member of the opposite sex,” You wave at where she and Jimin stand close together and return to trying to pull up the piece of garland that’s probably stuck on something, “But I tend to lean the other way.”

Yoonji just arches a perfect brow at you, but she at least doesn’t bust out laughing like Jimin does. 

“Oh man,” He says, wiping tears from his eyes as he stumbles forward, “Imagine looking at us and thinking we’re straight. Oh my god, imagine, can you believe-”

“So why don’t you have a girlfriend doing this then?” Yoonji asks. Her cheeks are a little redder, but you’re pretty sure it’s just from the cold. “Wouldn’t it be better?”

“Because I’m a strong,” You heave another string of garland up, “Independent,” heave, “Woman!” You give one last tug on the garland and it flies loose, sending you landing back on the flat of your ass atop the porch roof. It doesn’t hurt too bad other than the fact that you can see a smile playing on Yoonji’s lips and your pride has already taken a few hits. 

“Well then,” Yoonji says, patting Jimin’s arm and stepping back, “We’ll stop distracting you, Miss Independent.” She and Jimin walk across the street, and you pretend not to notice the way she looks back every so often. 

[Today]

“No, it needs to be taller.”

“Sweetheart if it’s any taller, it won’t fit in the house.”

You send your mother a frustrated glance and shake your head. “It will, it just needs to be the right height and shape.”

“Why can’t we just get a fake tree? They’re so much easier to move and put together, wouldn’t that be better?”

“No,” You hiss, scandalized. “Real trees are better overall for the environment, not to mention how you can’t manufacture the smell of pine trees that come with them that set the entire atmosphere. Plus this nursery uses the profits to plant more trees both here and in areas that suffer with deforestation. It’s for a good cause.”

“And that’s why we had to get here at five in the morning?” Your mother asks sarcastically. 

“Yes,” You reply firmly, “Because otherwise all the good trees will be gone and we’ll be forced to choose from the leftovers.” Your mother mumbles something else under her breath, but you don’t hear it. You’re distracted because there it is. The perfect tree.

You’re two steps away from your perfect tree - tall, evenly spaced, full branches, well balanced, with the perfect shade of evergreen - when you hear her. 

“It’s over here,” Yoonji’s voice echoes. “I need the perfect tree, and it’s the best one I’ve found in years.”

You ignore the way your mother lights up and shush her when she tries to call out to Yoonji. You listen closer; your nemesis is still talking, something about needing a tree for someone - which, who leaves tree shopping to the last minute? The only reason you’re here is that you got in late because of the weather - but her voice is definitely getting closer. 

Panicking, you look at your tree. If Yoonji sees it, it’s definitely over. It’s perfect, there’s no way she’ll want any other, and what Yoonji wants, she gets. 

The only real explanation for what happens next is that you’re running on four hours’ sleep and Yoonji tends to make you a little stupid. 

“Get the other side,” You whisper to your mom. She stares at you and doesn’t move. “Hurry up, before they get here!”

Your mother watches for a few seconds as you wrap your arms around the tree, getting pricked in the face with pine needles as you do, and start to tug. It’s a heavy tree, and it’s only just started to shift when the voices get closer. 

“Seriously?!” You exclaim in a harried whisper to your mom. “Not even a push?!”

“You’re trying to steal a tree,” Your mother says. “From a nursery that gives to charity. I’m not helping with that.”

“I’m gonna pay for it later!” Your mother sighs and starts pushing halfheartedly on the other side of the tree.   

“Shit, no, I meant-” Your words are cut off by a grunt as you manage to catch the tree before it falls entirely. It’s heavy against your shoulder, and of course that’s when Yoonji turns the corner, followed by the broadest man you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. Both stop in their tracks at the sight of you. 

“Hey Seokjin.” You say, faking a laugh. “How are you? Haven’t seen you this year. Business good?”

“Yeah,” He says, cocking a brow, “When people don’t try to run off with our trees.”

“Who? Me? I would never!” The tree starts digging into your shoulder and your legs tremble. “I just thought I’d load it up for you, y’know, save you the trouble.”

“Oh did you?” There’s amusement in Seokjin’s voice as he fiddles with his ring. “You know our policy, you have to pay before loading.”

You start to stammer out some bullshit about him being busy but you’re only halfway through the excuse when Yoonji says your name.

“It’s alright,” the woman says with a bored voice. “She was loading it up for me. That’s the tree I was coming to show you anyway.”

The weight finally overtakes you, and you crumble under it. You manage to twist so that nothing important is trapped under the trunk, but you get a faceful of needles for your efforts. 

“Maybe you should do it, though, Jin,” Yoonji says. “It looks a little much for the poor dear.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Seokjin huffs. He pulls the tree off of you with what looks like little effort, hefting it over his shoulder so the base drags the ground. “Where are you parked, Yoonji?”

“Load it onto their car,” Yoonji responds. Both you and your mother stare at her in shock. “Consider it an early Christmas present.”

“Oh, well isn’t that sweet of you,” Your mother coos. She points the way to Seokjin and the two head off, chatting amicably as they go. 

You narrow your eyes at Yoonji where she stands, not even offering to help you up from the snow where you still lay.

“What’s wrong with it?” You ask. All she does is quirk a brow. “The tree. Why are you giving it to me? You wouldn’t unless there was something wrong with it. So what is it? Termites? Leaking too much sap? What?”

Yoonji shrugs. “You wanted it,” She says simply. Your blood boils, and she steps back like she doesn’t even notice. 

“You aren’t even going to help me up?” You call as she starts to walk away.

“Good try, Miss Independent,” She calls back. “I think Jungkook’s still in the office if you need him.”

You half-scream a growl as you flop your head back into the snow. A pout forms as you watch the sky start to color with the sunrise. 

You’re going to have to throw away your perfect tree.

[Two Years Ago]

It’s the day of the contest. You’re confident in your decor choices this year, even if you couldn’t get every single thing you had in mind, you decide as you wander the neighborhood to scope out the competition. Last year you went simple and got second place, and you’ve switched it up this year. All out with the best decorations possible. 

You’re going to win. Losing isn’t an option, not again. Not when you were beat by her. 

It doesn’t matter, you remind yourself as you turn the corner onto your parents’ street. Your decorations are as good as they can be. 

Your mood sours a little when you see a figure in the yard across from yours, but the soft beanie and oversized hoodie cheer you up once you notice them. 

“Yoongi!” You call with a smile. The man turns and gives you a gummy grin. “I didn’t know you were in town!”

“Yeah, we got in late last night. Kinda crashed once we did. Then someone dragged us all out to the store early this morning.” He rolls his eyes and you laugh. 

“Well the house looks good. Not as good as mine, obviously,” You tease, “But good.”

“Yeah, you might win this year. Yoonji’s got some good competition.”

You sniffle a little, doing your best to contain your distaste for his twin. 

The Min twins, nearly identical save for the fact that they aren’t the same gender, are easily the best and worst things about the neighborhood. Worst because of that pompous priss Yoonji, obviously. 

Best because Min Yoongi is one of the sweetest people you’ve ever known even if he is a bit shy. You met him last year, when he’d carried in an obscene amount of groceries for your mother and you’d almost mistaken him for his sister. You’d made him coffee to say thanks, the two of you talked, and you’ve been friends ever since. 

“No Jimin?” You ask him. He gestures vaguely to the roof, where you can see a small blue hat bopping around. “Ah. I take it you aren’t finished yet, then.”

“Do you know any other reason my sister would have my boyfriend on the roof?” You share a grin with him as you both watch a strand of lights fly off somewhere. “Apparently she needed to make some last minute adjustments. That’s why she dragged us all out to the store, to hunt down some stuff for her.”

“Oh, did you happen to see one of those big dancing snowmen? The one that plays music, you can control it all from your phone? I looked everywhere and couldn’t find one, it’s the one thing I was missing. Had to use an inflatable yeti instead.” Yoongi frowns. 

“Huh, how weird. That’s what we were-”

“I got it all ready, it just needs to be plugged in.”

Yoonji strides out from the house - looking as good as ever in some plaid pants, how dare she - and stops dead when she looks up and sees you. 

“What are you doing here?” She snaps, and you scoff. 

“Visiting a friend,” You respond with a nod towards Yoongi. You take a glance at the phone in her hand, then up to where you can see Jimin standing up a snowman. “Did you seriously steal my idea?!”

“What? No.”

“Really. Because I distinctly remember telling Jungkook about this yesterday while I was picking up my tree and you were right beside him talking to Seokjin. I was even going to put it on the roof so everyone could watch it dance to Pentatonix covers.”

“Like I would listen when you talk,” Yoonji says. Yoongi sighs but you can barely hear it over the flood of rage. 

“Y’know what? Get fucked,” You tell her as you storm out of their yard and back to your parents’ house. 

“I guess you won’t be coming to the holiday party then?” She calls over the road. You send her a rather vulgar hand gesture in return that you hope your parents don’t see. By the time you get inside, the snowman is playing a Mariah Carey Christmas song and you kind of want to set it on fire. 

You do not win the competition that year. 

[Today]

Maybe you should have listened to your parents when they said not to drive today. Probably you should have taken the big ass truck that your father keeps in the garage specifically for when the weather is bad, because it’s got that fancy four wheel drive and traction control and all sorts of stuff meant to keep people safe in the middle of floods and monsoons and blizzards. You definitely should have remembered to charge your phone before you left the house.

Especially considering that your car isn’t great in the snow now falling gently from the sky to land on your hood, mixing with the smoke pouring out from under it. 

You’re lucky you managed to drift to the side of the road and get your hazard lights on, but that’s where said luck runs out. Your phone is dead, it’s several miles back to the house, even further than that to town, and the temperature is already dropping into dangerous territory. 

You’ve been sitting here for three hours, though, tucked inside the residual warmth of your car with spare blankets wrapped around you as you watched night fall. You’re not sure what else you can do. There aren’t any wild animals around here, or anything like that, but it’s definitely too dangerous to trek back to the house. 

“I should’ve just walked back earlier,” You groan as you bundle the blankets closer. “At least it was warmer then. Stupid car, stupid car, stupid me , didn’t charge your stupid phone, how dumb am I.”

Your tirade against yourself continues for several minutes and includes a few very crafty curses that would make your mother gasp. You’re in the middle of another when lights shine into your mirrors, nearly blinding you. 

The lights slow and come to a stop behind your car. A door shuts and you scramble to exit, ready to get on your knees and beg whoever it is to give you a ride to literally anywhere that has heat. 

It takes a second too long for you recognize the shiny purple jeep and the elegant black peacoat backlit by the headlights, and by the time you do, she’s already got an angry snarl on her face. 

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” She demands. You shiver in response and glare at her. 

“Oh, just hanging out, thought I’d take a little nap beside the road in the freezing cold, the usual y’know,” You bite back. She rolls her eyes and starts back towards her jeep. You frown, watching her, and she stops with one foot inside and her hand on the door. 

“What are you waiting for?” She asks. You shrug, and she huffs. “Get in the fucking car, I’m taking you home before you turn into an icicle.” You don’t move and her frown deepens. “Fine, but if you die out here, I’m not the one that’s going to tell your parents it was because you were too stubborn to accept a ride.”

Guilt gnaws at you, and with a frustrated huff, you stomp your way over to the passenger side of her jeep and climb inside. 

She’s careful as she drives, you notice. Long fingers wrapped tight around the wheel, jaw tensed so hard it could be stone, and one arm leaned against the window after she’s finished turning the heat up as high it will go. 

It’s not even been five minutes when she tosses a thick, fleece-lined blanket at you. You look at her, ready to be pissed off, and she cuts you off before you can complain. 

“Your teeth are chattering so loud that I can’t hear myself think. Try not to get hypothermia before we get there, okay?” You huff a disbelieving laugh but curl into the warmth of the blanket anyway. It feels almost too-warm, like when you pull clothes out of the dryer, but it’s a comfort against your freezing skin. 

“Why are you even here? You aren’t heading back from town, you’re not heading to town. Do you just drive around looking for lost girls?” 

“No,” She says carefully, hand tightening around the wheel. It’s all she says for a full minute before she sighs. “Your parents got worried.”

“What?! ”

“They said you went to town to pick up some salt for the sidewalk and drive, and that it had been hours, and that they hadn’t heard from you again even though you took your phone. They were scared that something had happened, so I…”

Your sarcastic response dies on your tongue when you look at her. Really look. 

Her shoulders are tense and set, in a way you haven’t seen before. Her brows are creased, and the pretty lips you refuse to acknowledge are set in a thin line and turned down at the corners. There’s something fizzling in the air between the two of you, something new and unknown.

“...Were you worried about me?” You ask quietly. She shoots you a look and then laughs, a second too late with not enough amusement. 

“Drink that,” She says, gesturing to a thermos. “It’s coffee, it’ll help you warm up a little.” You take the thermos, thoroughly enjoying the warmth it provides your hands, and take a sip. You don’t know why, but you’re surprised when it’s the exact way you like it. You shoot her a thoughtful look, wondering just how else she might surprise you. 

The rest of the ride is quiet, only the lull of the engine and the tires. Neither of you talk much; perhaps because she’s too angry, but you’re too distracted by your own thoughts to say much. 

There’s no way, right? The two of you hate each other, you have since you met. It tints all your interactions, colors every single conversation where either of you are even mentioned, it’s one of the basic facts of the universe. 

So why, as Yoonji pulls into your parent’s driveway and smiles at where they stand watching from the window, do you have a feeling like maybe you’re wrong?

[One Year Ago]

“Really? Inflatables?”

You scowl and turn, already prepared. There stands Yoonji, arms crossed. The weather is fairly mild for the season, and she’s taking advantage of that. High waisted shorts, an off-the-shoulder top, lace-up boots, leather jacket, she looks like every rebellious lesbian you’ve ever dreamt about, and it only makes you hate her more. 

“Yes, inflatables. Because some of us like a little fun. Besides, you stole my dancing snowman last year, and I wanted something you aren’t going to rip off.”

“I didn’t steal your-”

“Whatever,” You interrupt, not wanting to even bother to listen. “Don’t you have someone else to bother?”

She starts to say something else, but the slam of the front door cuts her off. You turn and grin, waving. 

“Tae! C’mon, put it over here!” 

Taehyung smiles and makes his way over, inflatable deer in his hands. Yoonji’s silent as he gets there and sets the animal where you direct. When he’s finished he turns to you, boxy smile and all, to make sure he’s good, and glances at Yoonji. 

“Oh, you didn’t say you had a friend over,” He whines. “Now I’m being rude. Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung.”

Yoonji doesn’t answer, merely eyes with distaste the hand he’s got extended. 

“Right. Well then, I’m gonna go get the fawn, alright? Be right back.” He smiles at you, and you watch as he jogs back into the house.

“I thought you only brought Namjoon with you this year.” You turn at Yoonji’s words. 

“No, Tae came as well. It’s a good thing, too, because Joon is utterly useless now since he met Yoongi and Jimin. Little punks stole my best friend.” You’re only mostly kidding. You’re happy for Namjoon - he’s been somewhat lonely these days, and now he’s got not one but two handsome men vying for his affection. 

It does reinforce your own loneliness, though. 

“I thought you liked girls.” You look back at Yoonji and notice she’s got a small pout on her face. It’s cute. 

“I do like girls.”

“Then why is Taehyung here?” The way she says his name is full of spite, and it makes you laugh. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize that I had to get your permission when I want to bring my friends and loved ones up to visit my parents for the holidays.” You adjust the inflatable deer, posing it so that it looks like it’s glaring at Yoonji’s house in anger. 

Taehyung comes back out before Yoonji can say anything. He’s got his jacket off now, and he does look good in the simple white shirt and the headband that makes his hair look even fluffier than usual. You just really can’t focus on anything but the inflatable fawn he’s got tucked under one arm and the matching rabbit tucked under the other. 

Yoonji’s eyes narrow ever so slightly, and you roll your eyes. 

“You need another deer,” She spits before she turns around and stomps back to her house. Taehyung shoots you a look. 

“I take it that’s Yoonji, then,” He says with a laugh. You make a puking sound and he tuts at you. “You’re supposed to be nice. That is not nice.”

“Yeah, well, she didn’t steal your dancing snowman, did she?”

Across the street, you can see Yoonji fuming as she stands on the porch, talking to Yoongi about something or other. They both look over and while your first instinct is to turn around like you haven’t been watching them, you resist. Instead, you give Yoongi a bright wave. He doesn’t return it but his frown lessens slightly, though that could be because Jimin stumbles, laughing, out of your parents’ house with Namjoon not far behind him. 

Both of them have hearts in their eyes, and it only gets worse when they look at Yoongi. 

“That’s disgusting,” Taehyung says with a wrinkle of his nose. “Eugh, they’re so couple-y and gross. Remind me not to come next year if Namjoon’s here.”

“Oh no,” You tell him with a grin as you wrap him in a hug. He’s warm and solid against you, as he always is, and you thoroughly enjoy it. “If I have to struggle, you do too.”

“Fine,” He whines dramatically. “But I’m bringing Hobi so he has to suffer, too.” You laugh and set him to work organizing the inflatable animals. There are eyes on your back the entire time, but you refuse to turn around and give Yoonji the satisfaction. 

Especially once you realize that you do need another deer to make it look balanced and perfect.

[Today]

The holiday party is well underway by the time you arrive at Yoonji’s, however reluctantly you do so. Your mother and father disappear almost immediately, sucked into conversations with people they’ve known for years now; Tae and Hobi are tucked into a corner, nursing glasses of cider while they look at the rather extensive Winter Village display on the Mins mantle; Namjoon has been here for hours already, and is no doubt locked away in Yoongi’s room with the man himself, and Jimin, and you choose to believe that they’re having some philosophical discussion and not doing anything else. 

You think you catch a glimpse of Jungkook amidst the people from the neighborhood, but by the time you get to where he was, there’s no sign of him, or the broad-shouldered man he’s usually with. Abandoned in the kitchen, you pour yourself some cider and spike it with a hint of rum, just to get you through the night. 

“Where’s your boyfriend?” A voice says. 

When you turn, you find Hwasa perched on the countertop, Chungha leaning back between her legs. Both are watching you curiously, and both look absolutely fantastic in figure-hugging dresses and tights and heeled boots. They look like they just stepped off a runway, but the look in their eyes feels more like a panther than a model. 

“What boyfriend?” You ask eventually. 

“Tall, great chest, soft hair,” Hwasa says. When you just stare at her, she smiles a little. “Boxy smile.”

“Oh, Tae?” You laugh a little. “He isn’t my boyfriend. I’m not even interested in him like that, he’s just my best friend.” The two women share a look and Chungha kisses her cheek before heading out of the room. Hwasa eyes you and you have the distinct feeling you’re being judged. 

You thought you looked okay when you picked out the simple but nicer outfit; black sweater, maroon skirt, tall black boots. It’s classy but casual. You’re sure of it. 

At least you were. 

“So tell me about this thing with Yoonji,” Hwasa eventually says. You nearly choke on your cider. 

“I mean...there’s not much to tell. We’ve hated each other ever since we met four years ago.”

“Oh?” Something lights up in her eyes that you don’t particularly like. 

“Look, no offense to you or your girlfriend, Yoonji’s just...kinda mean for my tastes. I guess some people are into that.”

“Elaborate.” Her tone leaves no room for argument, and you find yourself explaining before you can stop. You tell her nearly everything, about all the shit Yoonji’s done to you, and by the time you’re finished, she’s actually smiling.

“Like...I’m sure you love her and all, otherwise you wouldn’t be dating her, but-”

“What? ” She nearly falls off the counter, she’s laughing so hard, and when you start to help steady her, she just waves you off. “No, sweetie, I’m dating Chungha, not Yoonji.”

“I thought you were dating both of them? Did you all break up?”

“Oh my god , she wasn’t kidding,” Hwasa says breathlessly, still fighting back giggles. “Holy shit, this explains so much. Ha, oh my god, no, we never were dating Yoonji, she’s just our best friend. Like you and that Taehyung guy?”

“Oh.” You feel foolish; it makes sense, friends can be just as physically close as romantic partners. You and Taehyung are proof enough of that. “I...just assumed…”

“I know, but you’re definitely wrong. You drink more cider, stew on that, maybe rethink things from another perspective, I’ve got to tell Chungha about this, it’s too good.” Hwasa hops off the counter with ease and disappears out the door before you can ask her to explain what she means about other perspectives. You can hear giggles as they slowly drown in the chatter of the party and the soft carols playing over the speakers. 

You stay in the kitchen for a while, nursing your cider and thinking. If Yoonji doesn’t have two model-hot girlfriends, then could you have been onto something in the jeep that night? You’ve hated her for so long, and assumed that she hates you in return, but if you were wrong about the girlfriends, then maybe you’re wrong about that, too. 

Something enters your vision and you look up, nearly spitting out your drink as you do. 

Yoonji stands in front of you, in a slinky green velvet dress that she keeps tugging the bottom of. It doesn’t look like anything she usually wears, down to the floral lace tights and the wedge heels that make her even taller than she already is, and she looks slightly uncomfortable if the burn in her cheeks is any indication. 

The worst part is that she looks good. Like, good good. It suits her, even if it isn’t her usual style, and for once you can’t deny the attraction swirling within your stomach. 

“What are you wearing?” She asks angrily, glaring down at your clothes like they kicked her dog - whom you have not seen tonight, which is a travesty, because you adore Holly. A cough echoes from somewhere behind the two of you, and Yoonji wrinkles her nose. “I mean...I like...your outfit.”

You quirk a brow at her and set your cider down on the counter nearby. “Really? Because it looks like you want to tear it off and then set it on fire.” Something complicated happens with her expression and a spark ignites in your mind. 

“Are you sick?” She asks. Her face does something else complicated as a groan echoes from nearby, and something painful twists in your stomach. You really didn’t think you looked that bad. “I mean, after the other day. With the snow. And the cold. Are you sick?”

“Is...this your way of telling me I look ill?” You ask her. She frowns. “Because if wanted me to leave your party, all you had to do was say that, you don’t have to insult me.” You head toward the door of the kitchen and there’s a scrambling that sounds much too loud for just her friends. 

So your friends are also eavesdropping. Fantastic. Now everyone knows she’s insulted you. Just what you needed tonight. 

Her hand catches your wrist as you’re about to leave the kitchen. “I didn’t mean it like that,” She mumbles, not making eye contact. “I just...wanted to make sure you were feeling okay. It was really cold that night, and you were out there for a long time.” 

“So, what, you suddenly care? Why? Because you don’t want to win by default or something?”

“No, because I-” She cuts herself off with a groan, and you’re glad there are so many people around, because it seems like everyone’s distracted with something else. They’re too busy to notice this absolutely disastrous conversation. 

“Hey look,” Taehyung says, appearing from nowhere and pulling roughly on Yoonji’s arm until she’s standing beside you in the doorway. “Mistletoe! How random! Guess you have to kiss!”

“That’s a stupid tradition,” Yoonji spits, and you’re inclined to agree with her. “Forcing people to kiss just because of some plant? How is that okay? Besides, it’s got nothing to do with the actual myth behind it, and-” She sounds like she could go on forever, but you cut her off. 

“And it’s not like we want to kiss anyway.” Her grip on your wrist slackens, and you turn to look at her. Uncertainty fills you as you look at her expression, because the only word that comes to mind is crestfallen. “Right?”

“I...I mean…” Taehyung disappears as Yoonji searches for words, and you just know he’s hanging out somewhere nearby to watch it all happen. 

“Because we’re nemeses.” You say slowly. “We hate each other.”

“Do we?” Yoonji asks quietly, threading her fingers through yours. “Do you?”

“Don’t you? ” You ask her. “You’ve been nothing but rude to me since we met. You’ve insulted me, and stolen my decorating ideas, and-”

“No,” She says quickly. “No, I never meant any of it like that, you just never gave me a chance to explain. You’re...you’re so pretty, and I always get flustered around pretty people, and I say the wrong things.”

“You told me I wasn’t as good if I didn’t have a significant other the first time we met.”

“I was trying to figure out if you were interested in women, and when you said you were, I just...panicked, because I figured you had someone, because you’re…” She gives a wave to your general being. 

“You stole my dancing snowman.”

“I did not! I heard someone talking about a dancing snowman at the tree nursery, and I didn’t realize it was you, and I thought, since I couldn’t stop thinking about you, I’d get a dancing snowman that would play this cheesy playlist thing I made for you. I didn’t know you were looking for it, and I didn’t steal your idea. Not on purpose, anyway.”

“Okay, well...last year you were so rude! And you said you wouldn’t listen when I talked!”

“I thought…” She trails off, looking ashamed. “I thought you were dating Taehyung, and I got jealous. But the listening comment wasn’t like that! It’s because I always zone out because I like to listen to you talk, because your voice is so pretty, but I never hear what you actually say, and also you just...are really pretty. So I get distracted.”

“I…” You’re rather speechless; your entire world has shifted on its axis. “I thought you hated me.”

“Never.” Yoonji insists. “I just don’t know how to talk to pretty girls.”

“You hang out with Hwasa. And Chungha.”

“Yeah, and?” Her brows furrow. “What’s your point?” If you could, you would keysmash at her, but as it stands, you just gape. 

“Uh, they’re literally model gorgeous?”

“Oh, are they?” She looks down at where your fingers are still entwined with hers. “I hadn’t noticed.”

You blink at her, and she looks up at you. There’s a faint smile playing on her lips, and something bright in her eyes that you haven’t seen before. 

“I’m sorry,” You say, shaking your head. “I just still don’t-”

“Will you shut up?” Yoonji asks, free hand coming to gently glide across your cheek. “And let me kiss you?” Your jaw shuts with a snap and you nod. 

Her lips are soft against your own, and your breath catches in your throat as you return the kiss. Her hand moves to grip your jaw, tilting your head ever so slightly so the two of you fit together that little bit better, and your hands come to rest on her hips. 

Electricity sparks through you to her. She pulls back just a little and you’re distracted by the way her tongue darts out to wet her lips. 

“This might be moving a little fast, since we hated each other an hour ago-”

“You hated me an hour ago,” She corrects. 

“But I would be very, very happy taking this to a more private area so I can express to you just how apologetic I am that I thought you hated me.” You tear your gaze from her lips to look at her face. Her eyes are dark, pupils blown out at the mere thought. 

“Upstairs,” She growls, already pushing you in the direction of the staircase. You’re both speeding through the crowd of people as fast as you can without being obvious, and you have to help her every few feet because she’s wobbly in her heels, but by the time you make it up the stairs and into her room, you’re both desperate. 

Her mouth meets yours with a fire behind it that you’ve never felt before, and you hardly even get the door closed before she pushes you back against it. Your tongue darts along the seam of her lips and she grants you entrance, and you could moan at just the taste of her if you were just a little weaker. 

“Do you know how many times I’ve thought about this?” She whispers, moving to nip at your neck. Her hands are under your sweater and you don’t even remember them getting there, but you can’t complain as they move to cup your breasts and tweak your nipples through your bra. “Can you even imagine how many times I’ve dreamt of touching you? Tasting you? Hearing you moan?” 

She bites, hard and rough, and you can’t stop the moan that escapes you. How she possibly knows that you like that is something you don’t have the energy to ponder, nor the will to question. 

“Please,” You breathe, hands tangling in her hair as she sucks a mark into the skin of your throat. She’s slotted between your thighs and your hips are rutting against hers ever so slightly, desperate for some friction. You know you’ve already soaked through your panties, which is a feat considering all she’s done is play with your nipples a little and kiss you like you’ve never been kissed. 

“What is it, angel?” Her voice is deeper than usual, roughened by the desire coursing through your veins and hers, and it only makes you wetter. “What would you like me to do?”

“Anything,” You plead. “Please, just touch me.” 

“Anything?” Yoonji mutters. She chuckles, low and raspy and so unbearably attractive that you want to scream. You almost do scream, from frustration, when she pulls her hands away from your nipples, but she drops to her knees and you forgive her. 

Yoonji kisses up your thighs, from the edge of your boots all the way to where the hem of your skirt hits mid-thigh, and her hands are warm as they slide underneath. She doesn’t stop kissing you, not even as she lifts the fabric of your skirt and nips at the crease where your thighs meet your hips. Still, she’s so far away from where you need her, that you can’t help your whine. 

“Patience, angel,” She whispers as she glides one finger along your fabric-covered lips. Your hips rut forward on instinct, and she laughs a little. 

“You stole my dancing snowman, you could at least be quick about this,” You mutter. 

“What’s the fun in being rushed?” She leans forward to mouth at your pussy through your underwear and your legs tremble slightly. She’s gentle as her hands slide your underwear down to pool around your ankles, and even more gentle as they glide back up to rest on your thighs. “But I’ll be nice this time. Besides, I’ve been dreaming of what this pussy tastes like for years.”

Anything else you might say to her is cut off with a moan as her tongue starts to tease at your clit. One of your hands comes to rest on the back of her hair before you even realize you’ve moved, and she takes that as all the encouragement she needs. 

Yoonji eats pussy like it’s the last meal she’ll ever have, and you’re in absolute awe. The way her tongue moves against you is absolute bliss, no matter where it is; she teases at your entrance, sliding the very tip of her tongue inside to gather your wetness before she runs the flat of it up to your clit, where she circles and sucks mercilessly before moving back down to thrust it in and out and in and out relentlessly. She coaxes an orgasm out of you faster than anyone else ever has, and even as your writhing against the door with her head under your skirt, she doesn’t stop. 

Instead, she slides one long finger inside of you and keeps it there. She doesn’t move it, doesn’t even allow it to twitch, but it’s there and you can feel it as she wraps her lips around your clit and sucks, making your clench around her. She moans into your pussy, too, the entire time she’s at work between your legs, and it only turns you on more when you glance down to see her hand between her legs. 

“Yoonji, please, I want, please, I wanna taste you too, please,” You beg, tugging gently on her hair until she pulls back. Her chin is covered in your cum and the sight is so unbelievably unerotic that you could probably come just from that. 

“Take this off,” She growls, pulling on your skirt as she stands. You do as she says without hesitation, more than willing to get naked if it means getting your mouth on her, and by the time your boots are in the corner with the rest of your clothes, she’s just as naked as you are. 

And god, she’s beautiful. 

Your lips meet hers again as you push her towards the bed, and you can taste yourself on her tongue as it slides against yours. The two of you tumble onto the mattress and you situate yourself between her thighs. It isn’t until you’ve got her legs spread wide and your licking and sucking at her nipples that you register that her face is flushed with something new. 

“What is it?” You ask, panting, as you detach from her - beautiful, wonderful, adorable, perfect - tits. “Do you not want me to? I don’t have to, I just would really like to, it’s up to you.”

“No, it’s not that, I’ve just never…” She trails off, looking embarrassed, and realization smacks you in the face. 

“No one has ever gone down on you before?” You ask in disbelief. She shakes her head. 

“I’ve always been the one to do so, all the other girls have been kind of...well. I’m usually the dominant one, so…”

“Yoonji, sweetheart,” You say seriously, pressing a kiss to her cheek with each word. “Will you allow to me to eat you out? Because seriously, those other girls are trash, and I would absolutely cherish the experience if it’s something you want.”

Her face turns even more pink and she nods. You press a quick kiss to her lips and gently spread her thighs so you have better access. You mimic her actions from earlier, pressing kisses to her thighs and the crease of her hips. When you finally get a taste of her, you moan. 

She tastes like absolute fucking bliss, you decide as you glide your tongue through her folds. You could live off of nothing but the taste for her until the end of time itself, and the way she moves is amazing. Little jerks and thrusts, and her fingers tangle in your hair to push you closer even as her hips pull away slightly. 

Your tongue rubs circles around her clit, flicking and licking and coaxing her closer and closer to her high. You dip down to fuck your tongue into her for a second or two, and the way her back arches is art in motion. You reach one hand up to tweak one of her nipples while your other arm remains wrapped around her hip like a steel bar, keeping her in place even as she grinds against your mouth. 

You remember how it felt earlier when she wrapped her lips around your clit, so you mimic the action. Her bud fits perfectly between your lips, and when you suck on it, she tenses. Everything stops for a second, and you’re afraid maybe you ruined it, but then her whole body jerks, and she presses you hard against her. You lap up her essence as it comes, eager and more than willing, and when she finally stops spasming, you pull yourself away with a grin. 

“Holy shit,” She mutters, and you laugh. 

“I can’t believe no one’s ever eaten you out before,” You sigh, one hand sliding along her waist to massage her breasts. “Does that mean no one’s ever fucked you before either?”

“I mean…” You stop, staring at her with wide eyes. “I told you, I’m usually the dominant one, so most people don’t really...return the favor.”

“Can I please fuck you?” You ask in a rush. “Please, I promise I’ll be gentle.” She huffs a little, and you think it’s amused but you can’t be sure, because she’s spreading her legs again and your focus is elsewhere. 

“Yeah, angel, you can fuck me.”

You lower yourself to kiss her, lingering and deep, and you don’t miss the moan she gives as she tastes herself on your tongue. You wait until she’s thoroughly distracted by the way your mouths move, then glide your fingers over her. 

Her clit is still sensitive, based on the way she jumps as you ghost your fingers over it, so you avoid that. You don’t want to overwhelm her. She groans as you slide a single single finger inside her, and you moan. 

Her walls are softer than the velvet of her dress, and warm around you. She’s tight, too, so incredibly tight that you aren’t sure you’ll be able to fit another inside her. She moans as you slide your finger out and then back in, gathering more of her wetness as you do. 

You’re careful as you fuck her, gentle and slow, and you think you could get addicted to it. Her hips move in time with your hand, gaining speed as you do. “Fuck, angel, it’s so good,” She whimpers. You smile. 

“Let me know if it gets too much, okay?” She nods, and you start to slide a second finger in. Yoonji winces, just a little, so you slow until her hips rock against your hand. 

“More,” She breathes. “Please, more.”

“As you wish,” You tell her. You still are gentle as you thrust into her, feeling her walls contract around you. It’s heaven, absolute perfection, and you tell her so as she grips onto the sheets. 

You latch your mouth onto her nipple as you continue fucking her, biting and sucking as your fingers curl. 

“I need, ah, please, I need more, I need, holy fuck, to come, I need to come,” She moans desperately. You grin and curl your fingers more, sliding them against her walls. You finally find what you’re looking for, that small spongey spot that has her convulsing around you. 

“That’s right, baby,” You coo, “Come on, I know you want to.”

Her hands are in a death grip on your shoulders, and they only get tighter as you press harder against that spot inside her. She comes with a cry that you muffle with your own mouth, her body shaking as she lets go. 

You slide your fingers out when she’s relaxed a little more, licking the taste of her off as she pants. 

“Holy shit,” She breathes. You grin, peppering kisses along her stomach, up her chest, along her throat and over her cheeks. “Can we do that every day?”

“I dunno,” You tease. “Are you going to steal my dancing snowman again?”

She rolls her eyes and shoves at your shoulder, and you laugh. 

“I’m just saying, you’re supposed to be nice to the people you like.”

“I’m bad at that, though,” She mutters. “I always just...say the wrong thing. I’m more of a do-er.”

“I’m still caught up on how I was supposed to know you liked me based on the things you did.”

“Really?” She huffs, glaring at you playfully. “I went tree shopping at five in the morning for you.”

“Yeah,” You say softly, grinning. “You did.”

25 Days of Christmas: A BTS Christmas Anthology 

[thewritingstar]

Like Fallen Snow

ahhh im super excited because I was @empress-of-mischief secret Santa for the Powerpuff secret Santa! I hope that this fic fills you will joy my dear. I rarely write for the blues and wanted to give it my best. I hope you had a wonderful xmas too. 

Pairing: Boomubbles

Fandom: PPG

---

Christmas was an exciting time of the year. Even Boomer who would rather be alone in his room blasting rock music in his headphones could be found sitting in the living room with his brothers early in the morning. It would start with them racing out of their bedrooms at an ungodly hour and putting on a pot of coffee for their monkey of a father before summoning their demon dad for gifts.

Having super villains for dads had some perks like giant lasers, rocket ships and enough weapons to destroy entire cities as if they forgot that the boys themselves were better than any military grade weapon. So when it came time to open gifts, even Boomer could give enough to smile as he unwrapped a taser gun that he automatically shot at Butch and blue fuzzy socks that matched the red and green ones.

Making sure the superpowered boys were happy on the holiday was something that Mojo and Him had decided was the best, not to keep them entertained but also to keep the running feud of who the best father was. Even though Boomer was happy to accept anything wrapped up with a bow, he had always felt something missing. He had to give Him and Mojo credit because as they got older, the gifts actually became personal.

They were now in their junior year of high school. The boys ‘bad-boy’ vibe wasn’t really cutting it with them and giant machinery wasn’t going to be the hot ticket for the year. Instead Brick ended up with a ton of books and gourment coffee, Butch calling him a big ass nerd of course, which was to prove his point that he was smarter than all of them and may or may not have been to either aggravate or impress a certain puff. For Butch his collection of vinyl recorders, skateboard parts and sport equipment was enough to keep him satisfied and have enough to spark envy with Buttercup. Boomer appreciated the brand new wall of guitars that he had been begging for, drums and a flute that he didn’t remember knowing how to play but hey, how hard could it be?

“Boomer, my dear boy, you keep looking at your phone. Is there somewhere else you’d rather be?” Him asked as he narrowed his eyes in a way that made Boomer snap his phone off.

Embarrassment crawled through him as all eyes were on him and even Mojo who was in the kitchen making pancakes but more or less listening in.

“Oh um, it was just I had a present for a couple friends and was wondering if I could give it to them before it gets dark.” Boomer responded.

“It's eight in the morning, dumbass. It's not close to being dark yet.” Butch said as he threw a football at the blondes head and let out a scream when the rubber turned to dust from the blue laser beams.

“You can say Bubbles.” Brick snorted and Boomer shot him a glare. That was a secret!

“Oh? She is quite the cutie.” Him smirked and Butch barked out a laugh as he smacked Boomers side with a wag of the eyebrows.

“Forget it, you all are weird. I’ll see you for breakfast, I’ll be quick.” Boomer huffed and went up to his room to change before flying out the window.

“Tell your little girlfriend hi for us!” He heard Butch shout and he knew damn well the whole neighbor hood could probably hear him.

“Not my girlfriend.” He mumbled to himself as he found his way to the park.

--

Since the beginning of his life it had always been the ruffs vs the puffs. Destined by his fathers orders and demands, Boomer always followed in that direction no matter what. He didn’t waver from the line drawn in the sand. Even though his brothers began to tip toe around it when they got older, stupid hormones, and yet he never strayed.

He could maybe understand their reasoning. It would make sense to be drawn to the enemy in a way he rarely understood, but still his blood flowed with destruction and determination to rule the world and some girl with pigtails wasn’t going to change that. Or so he thought.

He would consider himself an introvert to his counterpart’s over the top bubbly personality, her name truly suited her. Unlike their siblings, they seemed to rival the most in the sharing of traits.

And yet they had become friends first. It was a bonding experience over milkshakes and a painstaking talk about how they don’t live up to their siblings' powers, how they felt like they were the weak ones. He thought about how Brick and Butch had more muscle power but to hear Bubbles have her own doubts made his stomach turn and for some reason, their friendship bloomed.

Boomer could say that she was his best friend. Not too many people had gained the title of being his friend compared to her, who had most of the school fawning over her charm even if she didn’t notice. But that's what he liked about her. She was like him and while he was confined to her and shared his fears, she could do the same because at the end of the day, they were counterparts. One half of the same coin that would understand the other without any words.

So maybe that's why he was extremely nervous right now. They had been besties, as she called it, for a while and even though gift giving wasn’t out of the ordinary, he wondered what it would be like to be more.

Tell your little girlfriend hi for us!

Much more.

His thoughts were interrupted when the blue puff landed at the foot of the gazebo and sat on the bench next to him.

“Hey Boomie.” She smiled brightly and at first the nickname bothered him but now it was stuck like honey. It was weird when she didn’t say it.

“Hey Bubs.” He returned the smile. “How was your morning?”

“The usual. Blossom with her books and magazines, Buttercup and her weights and well I now have a new spring wardrobe. How about you?”

“Exactly that but I got a new guitar to tune.”

“Oooo you’ll have to play for me sometime.” She gushed and he felt the heat rise to his cheeks. It was the cold's fault, not the pretty blonde, he swears! “Now it's time for the present!” She clapped and put a tin that smelled that vanilla and cinnamon on his lap.

He already knew what they were as he had been bugging her to make her signature holiday cookies for months. Worth the wait.

“So I made you all some cookies, without my sister's help of course and then this is for you.” She handed him a box. The box was black with a navy blue bow. It was so perfect that it was almost comical. Opening the box, he removed the sparkly blue tissue paper.

“Oh wow, guitar picks.” He smiled as he took one out. It was wooden and had a small B with a heart engraved on it. “It's almost like you knew.”

“I had a feeling. You had been talking non stop about wanting one and whether I’d admit it or not, Him makes sure his dear baby boy gets a good present.” She giggled as she poked his cheek.

He rubbed his thumb over it, examining it and thinking about how nice it's going to feel while strumming. “These are really nice quality.”

“I made one from each adventure we went on. That’s made from a pine tree from our first camping trip with our friends. And this one is from the beach last summer.” She held up a slightly white one and at a closer look he realized that it was probably made from sea glass.

“You made these?” He asked in disbelief. “Is this made of bamboo?” He gasped. “When we raced to China?”

“Yep! I know it’s kinda lame but those places meant a lot for us, as friends.” She stumbled over the last part.

“I don’t think it’s lame at all. Pretty cool.” And he meant it. It was probably the most thoughtful gift he had ever received because it took him back to those happy days they had spent together.

“Cooler than a rocket?” She giggled.

“Even cooler than a rocket. Thank you.” He said and fished out her present from his pocket. “Mines not homemade but, ya know.” He scratched the back of his neck and handed her the small poorly wrapped box. “Don’t even comment on the wrapping.”

She held in a laugh. “I’m not.” Liar.

Carefully she tore off the paper and opened the box. “Boomer.”

“I hope it's the right one.”

She stared at the silver chain that had a silver pendant of the moon. When they walked through the mall, it had caught her eye and she spent the next hour talking about astrology and the phases of the moon. The minute that she went into another store, he ran back to purchase it. In the middle of August mind you.

“It's beautiful.” He could hear the sincerity in her voice as she turned her back to him and he helped her with the clasp. “Thank you, I love it so much.”

They sat in a comfortable silence for a couple minutes, taking a few bites of the cookies. The peaceful morning in the park with no one around was perfect, he wasn’t a fan of crowds and maybe that's why she chose this spot because she knew they would be the only ones here.

“Oh look, it's snowing.” Bubbles gasped as she held out her hand to catch the small flakes coming in. “Isn’t it beautiful?” She asked and when he said yes, his eyes hadn’t come off of her.

She stood and walked a few feet out to twirl in the new snow and he shoved his hands in his pocket to keep them warm as he watched her with a smile. If she would have asked him to join her a couple years ago, he would have probably said no and told her to shove off, and now, he would have gone anywhere if she just asked.

Staring at her made him realize that he wanted something more with her. There had been a few occasions where the air around them shifted and for a single second, it was like she thought the same thing, but they would get interrupted and that moment would die and he would sit there and remember that he is her best friend, nothing more, nothing less. But what if he was?

He got to his fit and joined her, kicking around some snow with his shoe as his mind kept racing about every single possibility. Does he just tell her? Just ask? What if he read the signs wrong? What if he messes everything up?

“Isn’t it romantic?” His thoughts were ripped away as he turned towards her. She was looking up at the sky. “Like a Christmas movie. The first snow of the season is said to bring promise to a new love, funny huh?”

Boomers eyes widened suddenly. Was...was she wanting this to turn romantic? This entire time had he been pining from a far when she was ready to take the leap? No. they had talked about relationships before, well hers at least. She was probably just saying it because she was a hopeless romantic.

But then again, Bubbles had always been the bold type. Always telling him that she had been dropping hints for some guy and now come to think of it...had she been talking about him?

“Yeah, romantic.” He decided to finally respond.

He watched as her smile turned down slightly as she looked at him with a gaze he didn't recognize. “Well, I should probably be heading back home now.” She said somewhat sadly.

“Oh yeah, before the snow sets. Thank you by the way.” He held up the boxes and she gave him a better smile.

“Of course. And thank you for this.” She tugged on her necklace. “I’ll see you soon.” She said as she turned around and began to walk.

Something within him was yelling. An eternal battle now raging in his mind. What if he? No, he shouldn’t. But, imagine the positives.

He was hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Boomer ran up behind her, matching her speed as he grabbed her hand and turned her towards him before dropping it and rubbing his arm.

“Hey Bubbles?” Boomer asked nervously. His cheeks had decided to betray him and turn a pretty pink shade as Bubbles tilted her head.

“Yes?”

He sent his boxes down as her eyes remained on him. His hand shook nervously at his sides while her baby blue eyes looked at him. Butterflies were doing cartwheels in his stomach now but he was already here so...

“I have one last present but-” He gulped. “Y-you have to close your eyes.” He said as he took a step forward.

“Close my eyes?” She said with a small smile as he came even closer to her. His hands took hers softly as his thumb rubbed a slight circle on her hand.

“Yeah but if you don’t like it, you can return it.”

“Is that so?” She giggled as she stared into his eyes almost knowingly. “Well, I shouldn’t keep waiting then.” She said as her eyes closed and he felt like the world had disappeared around them, leaving them in the snowy park.

Boomer calmed his breathing as he stared at her. The soft pink of her cheeks from the bitter cold and how the smallest bit of snow landed on her lashes. Never before had his heart pounded as heavily as it did now as he closed the gap and kissed her with the gentleness of the first fallen snow.

He felt the sudden push against his lips. It was a beautiful sensation that he never thought would happen as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him further. It was an answer to a question he had been asking for months, hell, maybe even years. Wondering if he could step over this line in the sand and it would be okay. That their friendship, trust and loyalty wouldn’t be corrupted but instead, stronger. It was clear that the line had been stepped over, no, completely erased without a second thought.

Their lips pulled apart and he couldn’t tell if the redness up her neck was from the cold nipping at their skin or the intense blushing from what just happened. All he knew was that she was smiling at him, just like she always had before.

“Boomer?” Her voice was just loud enough for his ears.

“Yeah?” He said almost out of breath.

“I don’t need a gift receipt.”

That fluttering in his chest began again as his face broke out into the brightest smile she had ever seen.

“That's great news.” Boomer smirked as he spun her around and dipped her by the waist like he saw in all those cheesy romance movies. “Because the return date had just expired.” He said just as he kissed her again.

---

His hand was warm from the take out cup of hot chocolate while his other hand was laced with hers and it felt more natural than breathing. She took her own cup to her lips, tasting the sweet chocolate as it helped to heat up the rest of her body and he wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not because he was still in disbelief that he was here with her.

Bubbles caught him staring and instead of a playful scold, she inched closer to him and placed a quick peck on his cheek.

“Merry Christmas Bubbles.”

“Merry Christmas.”

---

I hope you liked it <3 

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 41 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Halloween

This Chapter: Things look up for Violet but turn iffy for Adore.

***

Pearl swayed a little in her heels as Adore’s lips trailed down her neck. They were half-dressed at this point, making their way to Adore’s bedroom. Adore’s jacket and shirt had been discarded, leaving her in just a thin undershirt, suspenders dangling around her waist. Pearl’s skirt was around her ankles, sweater somewhere on the floor.

She stepped out of the skirt, a sharp inhale leaving her as Adore shoved her roughly up against a wall. Her hands threaded into Adore’s hair, which was up in a tight bun, and immediately began pulling it apart. She loved the whole butch look that Adore was rocking tonight, but she loved it even more when she got to unravel it. Pearl’s hand traveled along the wall, reaching for the door handle, finally pushing it open and pulling Adore into the bedroom.

“God, you’re so fucking hot,” Adore breathed, pushing Pearl onto the bed.

Pearl smirked, enjoying the desperate edge in her voice as her hands groped for her bra clasp, the unrefined way she clawed at her panties to yank them down. She spread her thighs, head falling backward, hand tangled into Adore’s hair to guide her along.

“I love your pussy,” Adore continued, lapping her up vigorously, fingers digging into her thighs. “You’re perfect, so perfect…”

Adore kept lavishing praise on her, and Pearl could feel her muscles tense. She tried to squeeze her eyes shut, to close it out and focus on the way her body was responding, but it quickly became impossible. She took a deep breath and rolled Adore over onto her back, thighs straddling her face.

“Stop talking.”

Adore panted up at her, surprise all over her face as her eyes went dark. “Are you gonna punish me?”

The way she just immediately folded, immediately ceded all power to Pearl, was even more intoxicating than if she’d been submissive all along.

“I should,” Pearl said hoarsely. She ran a finger along Adore’s bottom lip. “I should show you who’s boss.”

“Do it.” Adore trembled beneath her, gripping her thighs for dear life.

Pearl took hold of the headboard and lowered herself until her pussy was pressed up against Adore’s face, riding her slowly, dictating the pressure and pace, all the while watching the blissed-out expression in Adore’s eyes. By the time Pearl came with a satisfied groan, Adore’s panties, her usual boy-cut cotton briefs, were soaked through.

It was hard not to laugh. This was the same girl who, just hours earlier, had been manhandling her on the dance floor as if she were the king of the world. And now, all it took was a few swipes of Pearl’s thumb to reduce her to a whimpering, shaking mess.

“You like that?”

“B-baby, please,” Adore begged, pupils fully dilated, hands clutching at Pearl’s hair and shoulders. “I need to come, I need-”

“Shh, shhhh…” Pearl silenced her with a kiss, finally plunging her fingers inside to give her what she so desperately wanted, stroking her g-spot until she cried out, then continuing to play with her until she was wrung out, too weak to even lift her head.

Afterwards, Pearl sucked her fingers into her mouth with a satisfied grin, letting Adore curl against her as usual, wrapping her warm body into a sweaty embrace.  

***

Sutan woke to the ever familiar scent of lavender, and the sensation of Violet’s hair up his nose.

He huffed, moving his face away, only to smile when Violet groaned, her hand coming up to grab his arm and pull him back down, forcing him to mold himself back against her back, the bed creaking underneath them.

Last night, they hadn’t returned to Sutan’s place as he had originally expected, instead, they had ended up in Violet’s apartment because Violet had insisted that she would die if she didn’t get pizza from a specific pizzeria near her building, and who was Sutan to argue with that?

“Morning gorgeous.” Sutan smiled, pressing a kiss against Violet’s shoulder, but the action only earned him another deep groan, Violet for once very clearly hungover. “Where is your bed frame?”

“Only rich people have bed frames.”

“Sure.” Sutan snorted, burrowing his face in Violet’s hair, pulling her against him.

It was strange to be in Violet’s bedroom, Sutan realizing last night with a flash of embarrassment that this was the first time he had been inside Violet’s apartment. He had picked her up from her building countless times, but they had always stayed at his, Sutan not even entertaining the idea that he should come up.

“Is there any leftover pizza?” Violet looked over her shoulder, a little bit of the mascara she hadn’t managed to get off smudged under her eye.

“You only had two slices.” Sutan had bought a pepperoni pizza for himself, Violet for some godforsaken reason going straight for pineapple and only pineapple. “I put it in your fridge.”

Sutan had never expected Violet to be someone who enjoyed cooking, but he had been shocked when he had opened her refrigerator last night, a bottle of carrot juice, a carton of almond milk and a half eaten takeaway salad all he had spotted in there.

“I’ll go get it.” Violet slipped out of bed, and Sutan couldn’t help but smile as she was wearing the tiniest pair of panties, her Hepburn jewels still around her neck since Sutan hadn’t been able to figure out the lock with a drunk and sleepy Violet in his arms.

Sutan sat up, running his hand through his hair as he looked around the bedroom, a tower of brown moving boxes in the corner. Violet’s clothes were all put away, two clothing racks holding dresses Sutan immediately recognized, but beyond the wardrobe, the room was strangely bare and devoid of personal touches.

“Huh.” Sutan bit his lip, getting out of bed. He grabbed his undershirt from the floor, cursing to himself when he realized that he didn’t have his reading glasses, using his phone without them a surefire way to feel like shit after a night out.

“Do you want coffee?” Sutan turned his head to see Violet standing in the door, now wrapped in a robe, a plate and a slice of pizza with missing bites in her hand. “I’m afraid I only have instant.”

“Instant is fine.” It wasn’t really, not when he was used to his top of the line espresso machine, but he wasn’t going to create a fuss. “Do you have anything that isn’t pineapple pizza?”

“I can make oatmeal?” Violet smiled, and he guessed that somewhat explained the strange lack of food in her fridge.

“How about I take us out for breakfast?”

***

“Raaaaaaaj,” Raven whispered, her lips right next to her fiancée's ear. “Wake up.”

They had come home from the party last night, Raja helping her out of her costume, the two of them falling into bed, drunk sex always a fucking treat, the feeling of Raja’s fake mustache against her inner thighs so strange they had both been hiccuping from laughter.

“Mmmh?”

“I’m hungry.” Raven smirked as she felt Raja’s hand travel up her back, the other woman finally awake.

“Make breakfast then.”

“I wanna go out.” Raven nuzzled her nose against Raja’s neck.

“You can starve for all that I care.”

Raven laughed. Grumpy Raja was one of her favorites, the whine in her voice one that never came out anywhere else, being allowed to see her like this, a treasure Raven guarded with her life.

“Please-” Raven nuzzled her face even closer against Raja’s neck, pressing kisses to the warm skin. “I want buttered croissants.”

“Mmh-” Raja hummed, her fingers finding the ends of her hair. Raven knew she wasn’t actually tempted by the promise of bread, Raja beyond annoying with how easy it was for her to not give in to culinary temptations.

“If you put some pants on, I can call for a car-”

“No can do buttercup.” Raja started petting her hair. “The moment I leave this bed, I have to work.”

“Seriously?” Raven sat up on her elbows, Raja actually opening her eyes now, a bit of glue still on her top lip. “Don’t look at my tits.”

“Sorry,” Raja smirked, her eyes still focused on Raven’s chest.

“You have to work? Again?” Raven wanted to throw a fit. It wasn’t a new thing that Raja worked on the weekends, it wasn't a new thing that she was constantly fighting for her attention, but this, this was a new low, both of them naked and hung over. “It’s Sunday?”

“The preparations for the Spring collection are right around the corner. You know people depend on me and Fame has unfortunately handed me a mug.”

Raven huffed, throwing herself back down on the bed, turning her back to Raja as she pulled the duvet under her chin.

“Princess-” Raven felt Raja curl around her back. “Don’t be upset.”

“And what about me? I depend on you too,” Raven grumbled, the words caught by the duvet, but Raja somehow still heard them.

“I know.” Raja peeled the duvet down, pressing a kiss against Raven’s shoulder blade. “How about we order in, eat in bed-”

“Hm?” Raven turned her head.

“And when I’m done with my very important job,” Raja smiled, her hand sneaking under the covers and settling on Raven’s hip. “I spend the very important money I make on buying very important things for our trip to Aspen?”

“Mmh,” Raven chewed her lip to keep the smile off of her face. “I guess that’s acceptable.”

***

“Ah, that hits the spot.”

Violet smiled to herself as she watched Sutan take the first sip of the double espresso he had ordered. They were sitting at a small cafe, Sutan actually cleaning up surprisingly nicely for the fact that he had only had his costume from last night at her place.

“Glad to see your craving could be satisfied.”

“Oh?” Sutan grinned, tapping his foot against hers underneath the table. “Do you really think you have room to be snarky, Miss Pineapple?”

Violet bit her lip, her cheeks heating up. She couldn’t exactly remember the entirety of last night after bumping into Courtney, Raven talking her into yet another round of shots, but she did remember Sutan’s hand on her back, did remember unlocking her door and whining when she couldn’t get her necklace off.

“Concentrate on your breakfast.”

Sutan laughed, trapping her foot between his own before he dug into his cinnamon French toast. Violet herself had opted for a sunnyside egg and a smoothie, the pizza slice she had devoured before Sutan was ready to leave sitting heavy in her stomach.

Sutan was chatting about last night, telling her a story about Detox, the two men surprisingly close for how different they were. Violet wasn’t truly listening, but it didn’t seem to matter, Sutan more than happy to just up the space.

“Lovely eyes-” Violet was pulled out of her thoughts, the man watching her with his brown eyes. “You’re tapping along with the music.”

Sutan was pointing with his fork, and Violet looked down at her fingers, her almond-shaped nails tapping on table.

“Huh…” Violet hadn’t even noticed, hadn’t even listened to the music, but now that she was aware, she could hear the notes of Waltz of the Flowers, the cafe for some reason playing Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. The music was such an ingrained part of who she was, the ballet one she had danced every December since she was 6 years old. “I’m sorry.”

“Bringing back memories?” Sutan smirked, a kind look in his eyes, but Violet felt her entire body run cold.

“Yes.” It did bring back memories, the sensation of leg warmers and sitting on hard dance floors, of chewy protein bars and being soaked in sweat, of the unbelievable satisfaction when a move was finally executed just right and she could collapse in exhaustion. “But how-”

“Did I know?” Sutan put his fork down, clearly beyond pleased with himself.

“Yes.”

Violet hadn’t told anyone in her new life that her first career had been as a dancer at the New York City Ballet, that she had been a soloist on the track for principal before her life had changed forever at 17.

“I’m a modeling agent, lovely eyes.” Sutan took his coffee cup. “I can spot a dancer from a mile away, and everything about your posture tells me that you have done ballet at some point.”

“Ah.” Violet nodded, a rush of relief coursing through her. Sutan didn’t know, hadn’t truly guessed who she used to be. “You got me.”

“What can I say,” Sutan grinned, putting his cup to his lips. “I’m the best.”

She’d tell him one day, tell him her entire story, but that day wasn’t going to be today.

***

When Violet had first started in design, she had wondered why they had several couches scattered around the room. It had started to make sense as she had seen just how social her new coworkers were, the furniture often taken up by people talking, working or even napping.

Violet had never used the couches before today, her desk and her desk chair all she needed, but while Trixie was upstairs for the  department head meeting discussing the Spring line, she had figured that it was time to test out if Trixie was actually serious about wanting them to relax.

Which was why she was on the couch, attempting to pass the time while she waited anxiously for Trixie to return.

It felt incredibly weird not to be in the boardroom, to not be standing against the wall taking notes as Fame and Raja presented the new concepts for the collections, Violet’s spine itching with annoyance over the fact that she wasn’t there.

She had considered texting Courtney, but she wasn’t sure Courtney could actually tell her anything interesting, the blonde incredibly talented at hearing but not listening, so instead, Violet had brought her backlog of magazines with her to work.

Violet had started collecting fashion magazines at 17. At first, she had only read American Vogue, but as she had started to get more and more into fashion, her monthly collection had started to grow.

Now, she bought American Vogue, British Vogue, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar and French and American Elle, her preferred newsstand knowing her by sight.

Violet knew that she could look online for fashion inspiration, knew that it was what everyone around her did, but she had always preferred either print or watching the real people of New York walk by.

Violet wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but as she flipped through the pages, she knew she’d find it sooner or later, at least one of the spots in the Spring collection belonging to her, even if she had to fight for it. Violet almost rolled her eyes as she revealed yet another page of british street style, the fabrics and cuts absolutely horrendous.

Every time the door opened, she would sit up straighter, thinking it was Trixie back with news. After 3 or 4 excruciating false alarms, he finally returned, smiling at the designers, knowing they were all on pins and needles at this point.

“Attention Team! This is not a drill!” Trixie joked. “Everyone meet me in the conference room in 5 minutes for an update on the Spring collection!”

Violet stood up immediately, hurrying directly to the conference room with her notebook, excited to hear the news. Trixie was busy sticking a handful of reference photos onto the whiteboard: A ceramic cup, an egret, a skyline of what looked to be a coastal village somewhere in Turkey, a wheat field at sunrise, a collection of fabric samples stapled together into little booklets the designers could take with them to their desks.

Apparently, this year, Fame wanted a light and breezy Spring collection. Functional and elegant with a touch of whimsy. The color palette was true Galactica: dove grey, cream, straw, ivory flecked with gold, very sparing accents of delicate pink and dusty lilac.

Violet’s mind raced with ideas of ways to manipulate silk so that it rustled and and fluttered beautifully on the runway. Of clean, beautiful lines: crisp linens and soft, feathery edges. Her fingers itched with excitement to get started as she carefully wrote down their deadlines: Thursday to turn in sketches for the in-store prêt-à-porter collection, and the following Thursday for the opening and closing runway pieces.

She knew, of course, that Alexis, Jovan, Gia, April and Maxwell had guaranteed spots in the collection, that group of designers the defining factors in the current Galactica style. She was also well aware that as a new designer, she would be doing foundation pieces.

She would be expected to pay her dues and make sure her collection pieces supported whatever final direction the senior staff chose, but Violet had never been a settler, and she was going to give being in the collection her best shot.

***

Adore sighed happily, swaying to the pounding bass of the house music, surrounded by a sea of sweaty club goers. She and her band had just played an electrifying late-night gig and she was still high on the adrenaline.

She loved being out, loved showing people why her and her band were the next big thing, but the best part of the night was that Pearl was there, had been right there in the front of the crowd cheering her on.

“Hey…” Aja came up to her, a look of concern creasing their brow, Aja’s outfit for the night a light blue latex number.

“What’s up, baby?” Adore asked, pressing a kiss to Aja’s cheek, wrapping her arms around their waist. They’d known each other since Adore first moved to New York to live with Bianca, almost 10 years ago, had been classmates at the performing arts high school along with the rest of her bandmates.

“Uh, it’s just… Dahlia is being a bit of a thot and Pearl looks… Into it…” Aja bit their lip.

Adore turned to look where Aja was gesturing, saw her friend and bass player sitting perched on a stool, back arched, plaid shirt almost entirely unbuttoned and slipping off one shoulder. Pearl stood close to her… Maybe a little closer than needed, a beer in her hand as she chatted her up. There was a bored, almost challenging look on Dahlia’s face as Pearl spoke, and the whole thing set Adore’s teeth on edge.

“Well…” Adore swallowed, fighting her impulse to march over and pull them apart, fixing a nonchalant expression on her face as she turned back to Aja, “They’re both big flirts. So what?”

“So, I don’t know if I’d be cool with it. I’m shocked you are.”

“There’s no reason for me to be a jealous bitch. I knew that Pearl was like that when we got together, so how could expect her to change? And anyway, she’s coming home with me, not Dahlia,” Adore said.

“You sure about that?” Aja asked.

Adore’s eyes narrowed, shooting a nasty look at her long-time friend, who laughed.

“Alright, alright. I didn’t realize that you were so chill.”

“I’m the chillest,” Adore said, taking a sip of her cocktail. But whether she was trying to convince herself or Aja, she wasn’t totally sure.

*

“So can I buy you a drink?”

“You can fuck off,” came the sneering reply.

“Oof,” Pearl smiled, resting her head on her hand, her elbow placed on the bar. “Kitty got claws. What got you in such a mood?”

“The company.”

There was something strangely familiar about Dahlia, but Pearl was 99% sure she hadn’t had sex with her before. She’d given up trying to place her, instead just enjoying her ice queen vibe. “I don’t think you mind my company all.”

“Don’t I?” Dahlia raised an eyebrow, her plump lips pursed, her beautiful face the picture of disinterest, but Pearl had caught her eyes flickering to her arm, had seen her notice exactly how strong Pearl was in the places where it was needed.

“I know women.”

Dahlia was hot as sin, everything about her soft and delicate, her dark hair styled in careful silky curls, the freckles on her shoulder the most delicious tease, the garterbelt that poked out from under her denim shorts promising Pearl that she’d find mouth-watering lingerie underneath Dahlia’s clothes if she ever got that far.

“I’m sure you do.”

“I could show you?”

“No.”

Pearl had to bite her lip to swallow a moan. There was something about her hyper femininity, something about how she was just a little bit mean, Dahlia radiating a promise of pink pillows, cherry chapstick and fruit scented shampoo that Pearl hadn’t even realized she was missing so fiercely it made her nipples tighten.

“Also,” Dahlia looked over her shoulder. “Your girlfriend is right over there.”

Shit.

***

Violet walked out of the elevator, a cup of steaming hot coffee and a banana in her hand. It was a little after 8--security had finally realized that her company card opened every door and locked her out, but she could still make her way to the design floor without a hitch.

Violet had come directly from the gym, her hair in a ponytail and still damp from her shower, the shoes on her feet running shoes instead of the heels she normally wore. She’d had this routine for awhile now--getting to the office early to do her makeup and hair in the big, clean Galactica bathrooms where, unlike the gym, she didn’t have to fight for mirror space, smile at strangers, or pretend to be interested in small talk. She’d have time to finish her routine and settle in to work just as the other designers began trickling in.

Today though, as she opened the big double doors to the design department, she was surprised at the sight that met her. It wasn’t one lone designer who’d arrived earlier than normal, or two people finishing a project, but rather, at least five of her colleagues sitting at their desks, busily working away already.

Violet had no idea why they were there, seeing so many of her coworkers this early honestly shocking. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they had noticed her, so she made a beeline for the bathroom, vowing to herself that she’d get fully ready before coming into the office from now on, the risk of her coworkers seeing her as anything less than perfectly put together not one she was willing to take yet.

***

Maxwell stood by the printer, waiting for the sketches he had done on his iPad to come out. For years now, he’d been almost solely responsible for all of the business separates in the Galactica line, and it suited him just fine.

Over the years, he’d perfected the kind of crisply tailored and yet graceful and feminine lines that Miss Fame preferred, which had earned him her favor again and again and again.

When he’d seen the inspiration for the Spring collection, he was immediately flooded with ideas, and after almost 2 days of working, he was quite pleased with the sheer volume and range of choices he was going to present at the meeting, already imagining the pleased nod he’d get from the head of the company.

Violet appeared in the little printing alcove, doing a jump of surprise when she saw someone else in there. “Max, hi-”

“Sorry to scare you,” Maxwell smiled. “My job’s almost done,”

“Thanks,” Violet said, taking a step in, their elbow almost bumping against each other as she snug a peak at the printer. “Wow,” Violet turned her head, looking at Maxwell. “Are these your sketches? There’s so many already.”

“Well, you know Fame and Raja. They like to have options. ” Maxwell grinned, knowing that if anyone did know, it’d be Violet. “My technique with prêt-à-porter is to give them as many choices as possible, with lots of variation. Kind of ‘throw all the spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks’ approach, you know?”

Violet nodded, a very serious expression on her face as she listened.

“I started with a bunch of different suit options, and then I’ll use these to whip up all the other coordinating separates.”

“I just can’t believe that you’ve done so many in only 2 days,” Violet said, looking quite uncertain.

“You’re pretty fast yourself, so I wouldn’t worry.” Maxwell picked his sketches up. “Are you working on any for this week, or straight for the couture spots?”

“Yes.” Violet moved up, pressing on the printer to make it spit out her own sketches before she apparently realized that just yes wasn’t actually an answer to his question. “Prêt-à-porter isn’t my strength-“ Violet bit her lip, “But I’m not a one trick pony, and I want to play ball.”

“My advice? Be ambitious. This isn’t the time to hold back,” Maxwell said, smiling kindly. In spite of his initial reservations, he’d found himself quite charmed by the newest designer. And if he could help her get a leg up, he definitely wanted to do that, adding, “Let me know if you want me to review anything before Thursday!”

“Thanks,” Violet smiled. “I appreciate that.”

***

Courtney rushed down the street in the chilly air, in a desperate hurry to get to Broadway Dance Center in time for her class to start.

She hadn’t really given her personal dreams much thought since beginning at Galactica. But recently, when Adore was telling her all about a series of gig she’d gotten--ones Courtney couldn’t attend because they were all super late at night, mid-week, and all the way in Brooklyn--a rush of envy over Adore’s ability to focus on her music completely had overtaken her, immediately followed by guilt over such an ugly emotion.

Just because Adore had someone supporting her didn’t give Courtney any excuse to be jealous of her friend’s good fortune. Maybe things would be harder for her--that didn’t mean that she shouldn’t try. Instead of worrying about what she didn’t have, she decided to instead look to Adore’s achievements as inspiration.

She’d found an 8 pm class, figuring that it was late enough not to interfere with her work responsibilities. After all, taking an hour for herself one evening a week seemed like the kind of thing she should be able to do without a problem, right?

However, today had been even crazier than usual, with the holiday collection now being finalized, the Spring collection underway, and Fame working on a deal to expand Galactica’s flagship stores in Europe. Fame herself hadn’t even left until just before 7.

Courtney had finally managed to get away, currently sprinting the 15 blocks to BDC--she’d even had the foresight to bring sneakers. If she was fast enough, there was a chance she’d make it in time for her class.

With less than 2 blocks to go, Courtney realized that her work phone was buzzing in her hand. She paused at the corner, trying to manifest some positive energy before she answered. This will be something small. Something I already took care of. This call will end with Miss Fame pleased and happy...

“Hello?”

“Why are the Berlin contracts not in my bag?” Fame demanded.

“You...wanted to take those home?” Courtney asked, though she already knew the answer. Why would Fame be calling her otherwise? She cringed at her own carelessness, stupidly assuming that she’d review them the next day at her meeting with Patrick.

Fame seemed to be just as annoyed with Courtney as she was with herself, sighing and saying, “Deliver them now. This stress is not good for my skin,” and then hanging up even before Courtney’s “Yes, Miss.”

Courtney stood on the corner for a few moments, catching her breath, before turning around and trudging back towards the Galactica offices, shoulders slumped in defeat.

So much for dance class.