#it has meow meows it has. ''enemies'' to lovers i GUESS

[shenzuns]

read sc.um vil.lain

[sarah-yyy]

what: period cdrama // 40 eps, roughly 55 mins each  where: youku (you can also dl the app) // youtube // coming up soon on viki (usual disclaimer that i do not use eng subs so i don’t speak to the quality of subs) why: do you love watching a poor little meow-meow get tortured in a variety of ways before he decides to go fuck it, i’ll be a demon lord and kill everyone who wronged me?? do you like enemies to fated to kill you lovers??? do you enjoy PAIN AND SUFFERING??? this is the show for you

meet tantai jin, the cdrama fandom’s newest obsession 

cursed prince of the Jing kingdom who was sent as a hostage to a neighbouring kingdom. he’s been unloved and bullied all his life - think, discarded and left to die by his own father, kicked around by servants, begging for scraps of food, abandoned and slowly betrayed by everyone around him... it’s NOT GOOD buddies, you will watch his life unfold and you will become attached and want to let him do whatever the fuck he wants 

surprise surprise this sad pathetic man will one day become

THE demon lord who destroys all of humanity etc etc. look at this wardrobe upgrade??? amazing. beautiful. bad for humanity but great for him. good job, bud, you did well.

ANYWAY this show opens with demon lord tantai jin (affectionate) going on his lil’ murder spree (understandable). the fate of humanity as we know it to be rests on the shoulders of one li susu

to defeat tantai jin, she will transmigrate to the past into the body of ye xiwu (tantai jin’s evil wife who whips him every night (not in the fun way sorry buds) and tortures/bullies him for because it pleases her) to try to kill him while he’s weak, before he turns evil and amasses power. this is for the good of humanity!!! but also he’s truly so pathetic in the past that she can’t quite seem to put her heart into it (there’s also this whole finding his evil bone and getting rid of that before she can kill him problem but HMMM) and decides that?? maybe if she shows him some care and love??? she’ll subvert his murdermurdermurder tendencies????

this is the gist of the show!! there are a few arcs that we go through like all good xianxia cdramas, so we get to see them live through a few different lives (think: ten miles of peach blossom, pillow book etc etc), and every single dynamic between them is SO GOOD!!!!! we have spicy enemies to lovers!! cutesy arranged marriage between strangers to lovers (who don’t communicate enough for them to be happy)!!! star-crossed lovers fated to kill one another!!! 

the show is so goddamn pretty!! the aesthetics!!! the cgi!!!! the costumes ohmygod, i have never wanted to buy so many headdresses before

LOOK AT THIS!!! HOW PRETTY WAS THIS!!!!

he’s got this whole demon look LOCKED IN who else does it as well as my boy tantai jin

this show is very PRETTY but make no mistake there will be a lot of angst!!! that’s part of what makes it so good!! luo yunxi does Tortured, Feral and Deranged™ SO WELL i weep every time i see him on screen, i have truly not been Okay since this show started airing, buddies please join me in till the end of the moon hell, you will not regret it, promise 😇✨

⚠❗ few post-finale thoughts so y’all go into it with full disclosure (and can’t yell at me for inflicting pain on y’all, just know what i am also Suffering™) - stop reading from here if you want no spoilers for the show at all. 

trigger warning: there is some dubcon in ep 14 (stretches between approx. the 25:00-27:25 min mark) between ming ye and sang jiu 

we were all hoping for a happy ending, but this ends on a bad-open scale, depending on how you look at it. @minmoyu​ has helpfully directed me to a happy audio-epilogue which was apparently shot but didn’t make its way into the episode?? we still dk if the footage will be released as an extra?? we can all form a prayer circle and HOPE i guess

the plot is HMM the further to the end we get, probably because they had to cut the eps down, so it’s a little choppy, esp the last few scenes??? idk idk. it’s a bit exhausting to watch towards the end, because you root for ttj so so much and he tries so so hard and SIGH. i need another few working days to digest this, i’m still a bit :/ about the ending

would i still rec the show, post-watch? yes! this show starts off really solid, and luo yunxi carried the show throughout. like. y’all thought lyx was good in ashes of love?? watch him in this. every single micro-expression was flawless. bai lu’s acting is always so dependable, and it’s the same with this show!  

this show has an a+++ ost (i mean it’s got the king and queen of cdrama osts liu yuning and zhang bichen, literally how could this be bad)!! and CERTAIN side characters are so so good (pian ran my baby girl, ye qingyu who grows on you, decidedly NOT bingchang/tian huan/mo nv although i will concede that chen duling’s acting in this show was Incredible). 

[lilmissnatcat24]

Turn Left Ch 30- Meow

Shepard puts two and two together.

Relationship: Femshep/Garrus Vakarian

Archive Warnings in author's note

Additional tags: enemies to friends to lovers, slow burn, slow build, alternate universe- canon divergence, detective noir, sex club, anonymous sex, canon temporary character death, murder mystery, drug use, dom garrus vakarian, whump, smut, heavy angst, alien sex, dual pov, an overly sexual elcor named candy, earthborn, ruthless, fake/pretend relationship, dead dove: do not eat, identity porn, minor character death

Detective AU mixed with identity porn mixed with so much whump my fingers are bleeding

(or, start from the beginning here)

lil text blurb:

“I-- well-- this wasn’t my choice necessarily. I never thought-- I mean-- I’ve done a very good job at keeping this part of my life secret from all of my coworkers-- which believe me, has not been easy at times, but I guess we do what we can--” 

“Garrus, what is it?” Shepard asked, her curiosity now peaked. And frankly, it brought her a small amount of joy to see Garrus squirm like that after all of the shit he’d been hiding from her lately. 

“I… um…” Garrus said, for some reason looking at the crack at the bottom of his door intently, as if it were about to get up and walk away. “I have a roommate.” 

“Oh,” Shepard said. That wasn’t so bad, was it? “Okay, well I guess it’s time to meet him--” 

“Her.” 

“Ah.” Now it was starting to make sense. “So, like a girlfriend or something?” 

“ No, she is not a girlfriend ,” Garrus said so quickly it sounded like one garbled, jumbled up mess. A sound came from the other side of Garrus’s door. It wasn’t speech or anything, it sounded almost like a whimper. 

“What, is she a vorcha or something? Why does she sound like that?” 

“Shep…” Garrus said, rubbing his eyes. With a resigned sigh, he pressed his omnitool to his door, unlocking it. 

At first, it seemed like just an empty apartment. A tiny little kitchen on the back wall, a couch on one side, a bed with perfectly made sheets on the other. A few spare rifle parts littering the table in the middle, one window the size of a basketball onto the street below. Shepard almost didn’t see anyone. That was, until she looked down, gasping loudly much to Garrus’s dismay. 

“Oh my God. You have a kitty !” Shepard squealed, bending down to pet the cat. It was a very pretty gray color with white markings on its face and belly, giving a very satisfied chirp to Shepard’s reaction to it. 

“That is not a kitty ,” Garrus said through gritted teeth. “That is a cat .” 

“ What a sweet little thing !” Shepard cooed, scratching its ears as its tail stuck up straight into the air.

“She’s not, trust me.” 

 “What’s her name?” Garrus mumbled something under his breath. Shepard glanced up at him, so blue in the face it almost covered up his colony tattoos. “What was that?” 

“Hmph,” Garrus muttered, crossing his arms in an incredibly bratty and snooty fashion. 

“I’m sorry, one more time?” 

“ Whiskers von Trapp .” Shepard stared up at Garrus incredibly blankly, blinking rapidly. He refused to look down at her, or his cat. Just as she was about to open her mouth to say something, he gave her a little kick. “Will you just get inside already?” 

Garrus locked his apartment door behind him, Whiskers von Trapp weaving in and out between his feet merrily. “Did-- did you name her--?” 

“ No, I did not name the fucking cat Whiskers von Trapp ,” Garrus all but yelled. “Look, it was my first week as a beat cop on the Presidium. I was called to do a wellness check on this old lady, she ended up dying earlier in the day. And this creature was inside. I was just going to leave her be, because it is explicitly not my job to care after cretins like this, but then she gave me these big eyes and this manipulative little mew, so I thought I would scoop her up and take her to a shelter. But as soon as I put her in my car, she slinked onto my lap and started making this Siren sound that was like subvocals, and now she’s wormed her way here .” 

“What a devastating tale that is,” Shepard said, a scandalized hand on her heart. “The Day Garrus Vakarian Found His Soul.” 

“I tried to just call her Cat. Because she is a cat,” Garrus continued. “But she wouldn’t respond to that. Or Whiskers. Or even Von. The only time she responds is when I call her Whiskers von Trapp. Like she lives to patronize me into calling her such a ridiculous name.” 

“Cats do tend to do that.” 

“Do not be fooled by her soft fur or her adorable little face. She is a vixen, an evil creature of the night. Did you know I need to steam my uniform every night? Do you know how hard it is to get the smell of cat out of everything? Did you know that no matter how many times I demand that she sleep on the little bed I bought that cost me five hundred creds , she just ends up sleeping under my carapace? Ignorant little beast she is, not to be trusted.” 

“Oh, what a horrid life you lead,” Shepard said patronizingly, finally stretching back up from her squat. “Should I get you a trophy? A shot? Drones of whores?” 

“All three, thank you very much.”

[chalabrun]

Hashirama’s political marriage to Mito was to strengthen Leaf as a new military village. I get it that the serious lovers of hashisaku pairing, who’re under the impression that this could actually work (’cause Sakura was robbed in Canon; she’s always duking robbed!), aren’t all that bright, but Hashirama tossing aside the wife he took in for political reasons for Sakura ... is one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard. What would Sakura offer to him compared to Mito? Nothing. And Tobirama? He was probably ... gay or completely asexual. Why would Sakura interest him? She’s completely ordinary, and she possesses no talent to invent nor any natural ability for him to study. She isn’t even remotely prodigious to even mildly interest him.

So, let me get this straight... You see fit to pick a fight with the shipper of a harmless rarepair, why, again? A ship that barely makes a blip on the Founders' side of the fandom's radar, just to bandwagon the same shit Sakura-anti's have been peddling for years? Aside from the fact that your argument is the most tired bullshit in existence, I'm going to state it over in case it's not getting through your thick skull:

The ship on places like tumblr or twitter are tagged. On Ao3, it's tagged. Instead of bitching and moaning about a ship you could easily avoid, you could block the tags and move on. It's not fucking rocket science. If you go out of your way to seek it, that's a you-issue, not that of us shippers.

Secondly, why is it the Founders' fandom only gets possessive of Hashirama when shipping him with Sakura is involved? From what I've seen, you all are happy to shit on Hashi's character for miles around, belittling him as a dumb idiot who can't function without his brother as if he wasn't the most powerful shinobi in the fucking series, who was a charismatic military leader capable of bringing even his clan's sworn and ancient enemies under the fold to unite in a revolutionary village that was his idea in the first place? But no, unless it's convenient, he's either dumb as a rock or people hamfist one-dimensional yandere tropes to make his brother or Madara look like poor little meow-meows.

And don't even get me started on how ya'll treat Hashimito, let alone Mito. 'Political marriage', where? Show me irrevocable proof that Hashimito was only a political marriage, that Hashirama didn't grow to love and cherish his wife with time. I mean, fuck's sake, this pairing was the blueprint for ships like Dantsu, Minakushi, and Naruhina, but instead your reductive take was that it was just for political gain? Or how she's the awful, bad lady who gets in the way of pairings like Hashimada (even if smart people polyship them, but I guess I'm not one of them, according to you).

Again with the headcanons. Show me complete and utter proof that a manga with heteronormative endgame ships that Tobirama was gay or asexual. (And don't bring SNS into the mix when Kishi literally based them off his relationship with his twin brother, you naughty incest shippers! /s)

Oh, but the horror of shipping him with Sakura! In a horrible, terrible ship that barely has 50 fics to its name! Won't someone think of the poor Hashimada shippers who have almost ~2k fics on Ao3? Or Tobimada that blitzes well past it when Tobisaku has barely 120? Goodness gracious, someone save them!

I mean, who can ever think of shipping the poor Senju bros with a woman who didn't even exist in their era, who is usually transplanted via Genswap or time travel AU's? In fanworks that absolutely affect canon! Wow, she's such a threat! I mean, gosh, she's just soooo useless with how she became the strongest kunoichi in the Leaf, the greatest med-nin in the world after her master's retirement, who was so gosh-darn useless as the heroine! I mean, it's not like she could mesh well with Hashirama who's stated to have healing abilities greater than Tsunade! Oh, they'd never get along. And I bet she'd never get her foot through the door with Tobirama, especially since Sakura's expertise with biomedical sciences would grate so much against his own expertise in similar fields! And the fact that they share similar values just wouldn't do! Y'know, since their shared morals and desire to protect humanity and the village just wouldn't work! Awful, just awful.

Also... why on earth do you assume Tobirama would want to boink a test subject? I don't know about you, but that sounds awfully belittling despite how high of an esteem you hold for you him, supposedly. So what if she isn't test subject-worthy? I don't know about you, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to fuck someone I'm about to cut into, but that's just me. (And for the love of gods, don't bring Tobimada into this. Saying that every Tobimada shipper sees this as the sole reason they ship it is, again, pretty damn insulting to them lmao--)

Besides that, Sakura has invented jutsu before, my dear, pea-brained friend. She created Cherry Blossom Impact, drastically expanded on chakra-enhanced strength in the novels, devised the Delicate Illness Extraction Technique, a chakra radar, among others. But, again, if you dilute your reasons for shipping a pairing based on how much jutsu they've invented, who's being shallow here, exactly? The way I see it, Tobirama would want to be with someone intelligent who is strong enough to protect the village and who shares similar values as him. Why would he care about arbitrary things like how much he could experiment on? He's not Dr. Frankenfurter, please.

And even if people ship them because they self-insert in Sakura and want to ship her because she's the heroine and some rando, Founder or otherwise, is hot, who cares? This is fucking fandom. Shipping isn't activism or a career, and sure as hell doesn't add anything to canon except enjoyment in the fanbase. It's 2022 and it's too late in Naruto's existence to care about intellectual quandaries surrounding shipping, of all things. If you do, then good lord--see a therapist. Get a different hobby outside of fandom, it sounds like you need it.

But, thanks for being an amusing waste of time. I'll be sure to reflect on this when I continue writing my Foundersaku stories, buh-bye!

[your-system-said-what]

Me: Hey, dad, are you gonna have a child-father dance with any of your kids on Valentine's Day?

Stray (has adopted over 25 people in the system, more are being added to his child horde by the day), tearing up: dont do this to me

---

(heres a bunch of quotes from when we watched Night Swim and the Poltergeist remake (most of the quote are Lego and Azzy fjkgkgk))

Lego: pool time for you, straight boy.

-

Azzy: What's a clown?

Lego: fuuuuck how do I explain a clown... imagine someone failing acting school but they still wanna pretend to be a different character

-

Lego: damn i wish i went to the asstral plane

-

Lego: DO NOT DRINK THE GHOST SAUCE

-

Azzy: can I shove those tree pines into my eyes?

Lego: no

Azzy: they look edible like spaghet

Lego: boy dont eat with your eyes

--- (back to our regularly scheduled quote programming)

Me: Lego holds the key to your heart! And your car.

---

Singlet friend: woah, Sandro, I know that guy

Sandro: omg I know that guy too

Kiwi (older Sandro in source): I also know that sandro guy

Me: WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU TWO GET HERE???

Kiwi: doin' it for the vine

---

Me: CAP QUICK A FRIEND NEEDS TO KNOW. YOUR A LESBIAN WHATS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF LESBIAN TROPES

Cap: Enemies to lovers and toxic yuri

Azzy: are you okay

---

Azzy: yall remember me from bibble?

---

Lego: back with my predictions on who we're getting next; guessing either CatNap Poppy Playtime or fucking SOMEONE from Baldur's Gate 3. I'm not ready for any of them

---

Our friend: can you hug stray for me 🥺

Azzy: FUCKING POUNCES ON HIM LIKE A WILD ANIMAL (important thing to keep in mind AZZY IS KINDA SCRAWNY /AFF AND LIKE 5'2" AND STRAY IS REALLY BULKY AND 7'4" SO LIKE...)

---

not a quote but a fun fact; we have a cat (out of headspace) and whenever she meows at us, Azzy takes mouth to meow back. they have full conversations. i dont know what theyre saying when they do it but its funny everytime. i adore my concerningly cat-like turtle sibling /aff

awesome.

[lemons-in-the-christmas-tree]

!!

Feeding Frenzy, my boy, my son, my blorbo, my enemy, my poor little meow meow, my soggy towel, my mr. war criminal. He's a cool guy... If you're willing to look past the crimes he's committed. Despite his not-so-clean track record he could actually make for quite a good friend! He'd go to hell and back for someone he trusts and is loyal to his besties 'till death do them part. Though if you'd want to advance on him romantically... I recommend you don't. Little lovebird(cat?) over here has got a silly little crush on his supposed #1 enemy, the local superhero Mantle! I guess Frenzy is just really into the enemies to lovers and forbidden love tropes...

[sketching-shark]

I think we should start a protection squad (although they don’t need it because they can protect themselves) for Sun Wukong and Guanyin

“Begone monkie kid fandom trying to down grade these really interesting characters with interesting personality’s and backstory ( the both of them like seriously Guanyin backstory is so cool) to a villain wile trying to justify your angsty backstory (that are no where near as cool as monkey who fights gods and Person who has 1000 arms and heads to help people in need) for the actual villain”

So who wants to join

Me:*raises my hand*

Ps: sorry if I got Guanyin backstory wrong am not an expert on it.

Haha okay so some critiques on the jttw & associated media western fandom & fandom in general coming up, so please skip this upcoming text wall if you don't want to encounter my undoubtedly ~devastating~ words (i.e. don't like don't read as people love to say, & if I have to be inundated with images of my notp every time I go into the sun wukong tag then I imagine people can be chill with me expressing my opinions & giving people fair warning that I WILL be critiquing common fandom trends, but no need for you to see that if you don’t want to. Cool? Cool.)

-----

PFFFFFTTT oh man there are many times when I feel like signing up for such a protection squad...when it comes to the current western jttw & Sun Wukong fandom I do feel like I'm often swinging at a rapid pace between "well it's fandom & people are allowed to make the stories they want" & "I am once again begging my fellow monkie kid enthusiasts (& sometimes creators) to do more research into the og classic/show it more respect so you can avoid any potentially offensive/off-the-mark misunderstandings of the status & cultural context of the characters in their country of origin (I promise it's super interesting & I can provide you with links to free pdf copies of the entire Yu translation, i.e. the best one ever created, so feel free to ask!) & maybe also stop constantly stripping away all the nuance of Sun Wukong's character for the sake of either making him an entire asshole so your little meow meow can look completely innocent in comparison and/or making the monkey king's entire life & character revolve around said meow meow."

Like I get that fandom's supposed to be a kind of anything-goes environment, but one thing that honestly seems to be true of a lot of fandoms--and the western one for Sun Wukong & co. is certainly not immune from this--is that there often seems to be a kind of monoculturalization at work in what stories are created & what character interpretations are made popular. Across a multitude of fandoms, you frequently see basically nothing but the exact same tropes being made popular & even being insisted on for the canonical work (especially hasty redemption arcs & enemies to lovers these days), the exact same one-dimensional character types that characters from an original work keep getting shoved into, the exact same story beats, etc. And I get it to an extent, as fandom is generally a space where people just make art and fic for fun & without thinking too hard about it & without any pressure. 

This seems to, however, often unfortunately lead to the mentality that it’s your god-given right to do literally whatever you want with literally any cultural figure without even the slightest bit of thought put into their cultural, historical, and even religious context, even (and sometimes especially) when it comes to figures that are really important in a culture outside your own. For such figures--even if you first encounter them in a children’s cartoon--you should be a little more careful with what you do with them than you would with your usual Saturday morning line-up. It of course has to be acknowledged that there exists a whole pile of absolutely ridiculous & cursed pieces of media that are based on Journey to the West & that were produced in mainland China, but for your own education if nothing else I consider it good practice for those of us (myself certainly included) who aren’t part of the culture that produced JTTW to put more thought into how we might want to portray these characters so that at the very least (to pull some things I’ve seen from the jttw western fandom) we’re not turning a goddess of mercy into an evil figure for the sake of Angst(TM), or relegating other important literary figures into the positions of offensive stereotypes, or making broad claims about the source text & original characterizations of various figures that are blatantly untrue, or mocking heavenly deities because of what’s actually your misunderstanding of how immortality works according to Daoist beliefs. Yet while a lot of this is often due to people not even trying to understand the context these figures are coming from, I do want to acknowledge that the journey (lol reference) to understand even a fraction of the original cultural context can be a daunting one, especially since, as I’ve mentioned before, it can be really hard & even next to impossible to find good, accessible, & legitimate explanations in English of how, for example, the relationship between Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China & according to the Buddhist beliefs that define the original work. 

That is to say, I do think it’s an unfortunate, if unavoidable, part of any introduction of an original text into a culture foreign to its own for there to be sometimes a significant amount of misinterpretation, mistranslations, and false assumptions. There is, however, a big difference between learning from your honest mistakes, & doubling down on them while dismissing all criticism of your misinterpretation into that abstract category of “fandom drama.” The latter attitude is kind of shitty at best and horrifically entitled at worst. 

Plus, as I’ve discovered, there is a great deal of interest and joy to be drawn from keeping yourself open to learning aspects of these texts & figures that you weren’t aware of! I can say from my own experience that I’ve always really enjoyed & appreciated it when individuals on this site who come from a Chinese background--and who know much more about the cultural context of JTTW than me--have taken the time to explain its various aspects. It often leaves me feeling like woooooaaaahhhhhHHH!!!! as to how amazingly full of nuanced meaning JTTW is like dang no wonder it’s one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels. 

And I guess that right there is the heart of a lot of my own personal frustration and disappointment with the ways that fandoms often approach a literary work or other piece of media...like don’t get me wrong, a lot of the original works a fandom may grow around are just straight-up goofy & everyone’s aware of it & has fun with it, yet the trend of approaching what are often nuanced and multi-layered works in terms of how well they fit and/or can be shoved into pretty cliche ideas of Redemption Arc or Enemies to Lovers or Hero Actually Bad, Villain Actually Good etc...well, it just seems to cheapen and even erase even the possibility of understanding the wonderful complexity or even endearing simplicity that made these works so beloved in the first place. Again, I feel like I need to make it clear that I’m not saying fandom should be a space where people are constantly trying to one-up each other with their hot takes in literary analysis, but it would be nice and even beneficial to allow room for commentary that strives to approach these works in a multi-faceted way, analysis & interpretations that go against the popular fandom beliefs, & criticism of the work or even of fandom trends (yes it is in fact possible to legitimately love something but still be critical of its aspects) instead of immediately attacking people who try to engage in such as just being haters who don’t want anyone to have fun ever (X_X).   

----

Anyway, I know I didn’t cover even half of the stuff you brought up in the first place anon, but I don’t want any interested parties to this post to suffer too long through my text wall lol. I was asked to try my hand at illustrating Guanyin, but as with you I’m nowhere near as informed as I should be about her, so I want to do more research on her history and religious importance before I attempt a portrait. I’ll try my best, and do plan to pair that illustration with my own outsider’s attempt to summarize her character. From what little I do know I am in full agreement that her backstory is so incredibly amazing...just the fact that she literally eschewed the bliss of Nirvana to help all beings reach it, and even split herself into pieces in the attempt to do so (with Buddha granting her eleven heads and a thousand arms as a result)...man, I can see why she’s such a beloved & respected deity. 

----

 As for what western fandom commonly does with everyone’s favorite god-fighting primate...I can talk about this at length if there’s interest, but for this post I’ll just say that I guess one lesson from all of this is that for all the centuries that have passed since Journey to the West was first completed, literally no one drawing inspiration from the original tale in the west (lol) has come even slightly close to being able to equal or even capture half the extent of the nuance, complexity, religious, historical, and cultural aspects, and humor that define Wu Cheng'en's story of an overpowered monkey who defied even Buddha.

So thank the heavens we'll always have the original.

[hiro-gari]

In the meantime of me running out of new ideas to write for, I'm gonna share this older headcanon that I have in my draft to you:

Do we have an AU where Garou and Badd are neighbours who hated eachother but eventually become friends or more because their pets are bonded first? Despite their houses are practically side-by-side, they're always get into petty fights over something silly. Zenko guessed it was just them having secret crush on eachother but totally in denial over their feelings.

Until each of their respective pet start getting along with eachother first.

Badd has a second cat, one of Tama's kitten which Badd still keep while the others had already adopted by his classmates, a tuxedo cat who likes to intrude into Garou's house through his window and steal his breakfast or napping on top of Garou's dog.

Garou has a big white fluffy malamute dog, a puppy he got from his father Bang as a birthday gift years ago so Garou wont feels lonely in his new home, who likes to jump over Badd's -unfortunately short- fence and playing with Badd's cat on his front porch.

Although the tuxedo cat somehow really looks alike and acting just like Badd, and the giant white malamute is basically Garou's doppelganger in a dog form, they're affectionate to eachother everytime they play together.

The tuxedo cat almost never shown his adorable side of him except for Badd's family, as he would be the crankiest cat ever with any strangers. But the kitty strangely becomes attached with the fluffy dog since their first met. He always trying to get outside to see his favorite puppy friend and spend more time with the doggo, no matter what and how. The kitty just likes to be near the warm presence of that fluffy and charming dog, 3rd place after Zenko's and Badd's. Thus the tuxedo cat often caught on loitering around Garou's house, making Badd must come to his -hated- neighbour to collect the cat back.

On the other hand, at the first time coming into Garou's house, the white malamute felt a bit lonely. He was happy to have such caring hooman butler who adores him, but he wanted more friend to play with. Until the dog saw an adorable tuxedo cat chilling out in the middle of small garden on the next house across the fence. He fell in love instantly and wanna knows more about this little kitty. Cue the malamute often caught on peeking from the fence or even jumping over it, ruining Badd's small garden after it got trampled on by the dog's big paws.

Surprisingly, the cat and the dog are becomes bestfurrends much faster than their hooman butlers, putting Garou and Badd in a big shame, courtesy by the exasperated Zenko. How come two animals who are supposed to be sworn enemies, cat and dog, could be more friendly to eachother than them??

If only Garou and Badd could be more honest for their hidden feelings, maybe their relationship would improved alot. Ironically, it was their pets who helped them out.

Since their look-alike animal counterparts love eachother so much, sometimes Garou and Badd went for a play date for them on the local park, or visiting eachother's house when their pets are playing in one's house. After many friendly interactions, slowly they developed new feelings and realizing they're not frenemies anymore.

On several occasions when Garou let Badd's tuxedo cat have sleepover on his house, he was witnessing how affectionate the "so-called crankiest cat in the world" towards his malamute dog could be.

The cat always grooming the dog's fluffy fur or his head not caring about their size difference, snuggling with the dog and trying to fit himself into the dog's space as close as possible asking for a cuddle time together, letting out those rare sweet meows everytime he tried to get attention from the dog, giving those slow-blinks kitty kisses whenever they're gazing on eachother or gentle headbutts whenever the dog feels sad, etc.

Garou often wished if it was Badd and him in those positions, feeling pathetic for getting so envious for their pets' lovey dovey moments. He admitted to himself that secretly he fell in love with Badd, especially after they're finally get along after spending more time with him nowadays.

But Garou still couldn't confess his feeling he has for Badd since he doesn't know if Badd likes him enough or not. It would be very awkward moment if Badd rejected him and they ended up back into square one, ruining whatever friendship they have built together before.

Unbeknown by Garou, Badd was also experiencing the same thing. Everytime Badd pet-sitting Garou's dog for awhile whenever Garou wasn't home to visit his father's house, or watching over his cat playing with the big white malamute at his front yard, he couldn't deny that the relationship their pets were having together was very sweet, actually.

The malamute always so playful and becomes such an attention seeker around his cat, also being all goof and adorkable despite most of the time the dog was just like his owner: chaotic cocky bastard (at least in Badd's eyes). Successfully turning his own grumpy cranky cat into a cuddly soft kitty.

Especially when they both were chilling out on the front porch, Badd would find them curling up together with his cat buried himself into the malamute's fluffy fur, sleeping between the dog's front paws, or peacefully loafing on his back.

One time the malamute also protecting his cat from a gang of neighbourhood feral cats, Badd totally didn't expect that goofy cloud of fur could be looking so terrifying like a wolf when he was in protective mode. Fortunately there's no actual fight happening between them and those feral cats, though. But Badd could see his kitty becomes much more affectionate than before towards Garou's dog as an appreciation.

Badd knows he shouldn't be envious for his own pet because the kitty has a better relationship than himself, yet he couldn't help but longing for Garou's love.

At that time, they have already managed to form a good friendship and Badd was glad they're not fighting out of pettiness anymore. It was just, Badd starting to see Garou as more than a friend. Since they become closer, he has discovered Garou's softer side and Badd was fallen so hard for him because of it.

The problem is only how to confess to Garou without ended up being awkward. He didn't want to misinterpreted Garou's flirty acts towards him during those "play date" time. Did Garou really means his flirtateous attempts as a serious thing or just a joke? If he misinterpret it, Badd was afraid he would be a laughing stock for Garou while he suffered a broken heart alone.

So, in the end, Garou and Badd were still being so oblivious to the other's very OBVIOUS feeling. Everyone around them could see the former hating neighbours slowly falling in love with eachother, yet never make a move. Very frustating to watch, honestly.

But at one night, when the exhausted-from-working Badd visiting Garou's house to retrieve his cat back home, he decided to take a brief nap on the living room. Garou asked if he wanna have sleepover over there since it was weekend, and he would let Zenko knows that her big brother was staying overnight at his home. Badd just nodded weakly, already feels the sleepiness coming for him.

Looking at how uncomfortable Badd's sleeping position on the couch, Garou carefully lifted Badd up in bridal style, before walking towards his bedroom so Badd could sleep on his cozy bed while Garou sleeps on the couch. But before he could leave, Badd grabbed Garou's hand to prevent him from leaving him alone. He told Garou that they could sleep together on the bed, since it was Garou's own bed and it's big enough for two people.

At first, Garou was hesitated because what if Badd just sleep-talking in half-sleep and would regret any of his words in the morning? But seeing Badd's reddened face yet still persistent on making Garou stay based on the strong grip of Badd's hand on his wrist, Garou was grinning happily. That means Badd was fully conscious of what he had said and taking it serious.

Hence Garou immediately scooting over beside Badd on the bed, taking a warm blanket and covered their bodies with it. Then Badd shifted closer until he was practically curling up against Garou's body like a cat, seeking warmth from the wolfy man. Even purring and snuggling on Garou's chest when Garou put his arm on Badd's back, embracing the smaller man which made Badd gets comfortable sleep. Soon enough Garou also followed Badd to the dreamland.

Meanwhile..

Both were oblivious that two pairs of eyes were watching them from the opened door. The kitty and the dog felt happy that their butlers finally having sweet moment of their own, too. They wished the hoomans would keep being lovey-dovey so the four of them could have double date together soon. Like, a real date and not the "play date" anymore.

It was so tiring to see the butlers' mutual pining, in which it took forever to make them realized their own feelings. But now that the mutual pining era was over, they feel relieved.

The malamute dog entered Garou's bedroom, then laid on a fluffy carpet beside the bed while staring at the cat, as if he was inviting the cat to join him. The tuxedo cat quietly following him and plopped on the dog's belly, curling up into a small ball of fur before closing his eyes.

The cat was purring in joy when the dog gave kisses to him (or more like muzzle nudging), before putting his front paw around kitty's body in a protective manner. The fluffy duo then also following their butlers into dreamland, too.

Now, both of the sleeping couples looked the same: Badd and the kitty were sleeping in their respective lover's warm embrace..

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

----- THE END ----

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

Notes:

Aaaah finally I can finish this! I was almost getting writer's block again but still struggling to fight against it, and here we are we got one writing finished so yayyy 😅💦

I hope this silly headcanon could entertain you all, but I apologized if this looks very low quality as always I'm so sorry please forgive me 🙇

@hiro-gari @the-goddessfighter @garous-nipple

Thank you so much for willing to write this lowly writing of mine, I always grateful for you.. 😭🙏💕💖 Have a nice weekend, everyone! 😉👍🌸🌺🌼🌻💐

-Little1993lamb-

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

THIS IS SO CUTE I CAN’T- 💗💕

First of all, I love their respective animal counterparts, they fit so well for both of them 🥰 Angery tuxedo cat for Badd, and a giant floofy malamute for Garou omggg

I love how, of all things, they gotta have their PETS lay it out for them before they finally start to Get It™️. Like everyone around them sees it but nope 😤 they’re wrong, they’re meant to hate each other.

But when their pets become bff’s despite the obvious size difference and being entirely different SPECIES... Oh ok maybe we can get along 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Ghhhhsksk the END SCENE is so sweeet I have cavities 😩💗 I rlly liked how Garou was like, oh no, he’s delusional :’) That’s so him oh my god, I love them sm, this is so precious!!

Thank you for putting so much work into writing these for us, it is so appreciated, we love to see it!! 😘💗

[lu-undy]

perle kneads spy's butt and sniper say "no, that butt's mine."

Here it is!

Sniper had been up for a while, with a smile on his lips.

For a few weeks now, his life had changed. He rarely slept in his van, alone, with the sound of distant wild creatures for a lullaby. No, not anymore. His bed now was large, the sheets made of satin, the last thing he would hear before falling asleep would be the air snapping under the sound of a kiss given by a white, purring panther.

White, his skin was paler than Sniper's own. Purring, his chuckle was velvet to Sniper's ear. And the panther, the silent assassin, like him, although contrary to him, Sniper's lover had to be dangerously close to his enemy to strike. 

"Mh…" 

"Mornin' gorgeous." 

The older man smiled and buried his head deeper on Sniper's chest. The Aussie pulled the blanket over his back. 

"Wanna sleep more?" 

One kiss landed on his chest.

"Is the one kiss yes?"

One kiss.

"If it's a yes, then come and gimme a real kiss." 

The panther clawed his way up to Sniper's neck, kissing, nipping, and-

"Oi! I said kiss, not bite!" 

The chuckle he received as an answer tickled his ears. 

"D'you want me to bite too?" 

"Perhaps." The voice with the French accent sang before kissing the shell of the Aussie's ear. 

Sniper turned to look at his lover better.

"Mornin', Spook." He smiled.

"Good morning to you too, Sniper." Spy closed his eyes and let the Aussie take his lips into a chaste kiss. He hummed in thanks. "Have you slept well?" 

"Yeah, you?" 

"Oui." 

"Dreamt of anythin'?"

Spy chuckled. 

"Why're you laughin'?" 

"Since the first night that we slept together, you have always asked me this question in the morning." Spy said.

"It's cause of my mum." Sniper wrapped his arms around Spy and kissed his brow. 

"What about her?" 

"She used to tell me what my dreams meant whenever I could remember them." 

"Oh, so you know how to interpret them too?"

"Only a few things. She knows best and it's always fairly funny 'cause stuff never means somethin' logical." 

"Dreams rarely are. But pray give me an example." Spy nuzzled in Sniper's neck. 

"Right, uh, let me remember… ah, yeah, if you dream that you're eatin' raw meat, Mum says it means you're gonna get sick." 

"Oh, curious."

"Yeah, it's quite weird."

"Let me tell you about my dream then." Spy said and closed his eyes. "I dreamt that I met a man."

"Mh-hm." 

"Oui, a man who was taller than me, wilder than me."

"Meow." Spy's white and long haired cat entered the room. 

"Oh, hey Pearl." 

"Perle…"

"Meow." She jumped on the bed and walked to Sniper, his scratching technique was unparalleled. The Aussie lazily brushed her long fluff before letting his fingers sink in the soft white cloud and gently scratching her. Both him and Spy heard her purrs.

"What happened with that guy?" Sniper asked. 

Spy slid a leg between Sniper's and started gently scratching his chest, through the short, dark hairs. He was resting his head on his chest too and was lying on his stomach. 

"I fell for his charms." 

"Oh-ho," Sniper smirked. "That's a surprise, eh?"

"Oui, it is. I did not know I could fall for a man with the roughest of skins, tanned by the sun and sideburns that are out of any kind of fashion. But I accepted them and now find them attractive even." 

"So what did you like about him?" Sniper asked as the cat turned to ask for scratches on different parts of her.

"His wild side, the hoarse voice, his large, calloused hands which, if I am in luck, leave hot prints on my body wherever they touch." 

Sniper's body temperature started rising.

"Y'like my voice, huh?" He spoke deliberately with a huskier voice than usual and felt Spy's embrace on his body tighten. His nails pressed on the Aussie's skin. "Oh, he does, doesn't he?"

One kiss on Sniper's neck. 

"Gentle with the teeth, or I'll bite ya twice as hard…" He added when he felt Spy's fangs grazing his skin. "Gettin' hot?" 

The teeth gently retracted and one kiss landed on Sniper's neck. He then pushed the blanket away from Spy, revealing the pyjamas of the man laying on him as if his life depended on it. Spy resumed his scratching of Sniper's chest with his head laying right under the Aussie's ear. Pearl lay on the Aussie's chest too and started kneading it as well.

"Look at both of you… Spook, I swear you're just a big cat." 

"Miaou." He answered with a smile. "And you? You are a wolf."

[Meow]

"A wolf?" 

"Oui."

"But wolves live in packs. I spend my time alone." 

"Are you?" Spy asked and Sniper looked down on his chest again. He saw both Spy gently grazing his skin with his nails and Perle purring and kneading her paws there.

"Eh, maybe you're right." He finally said. 

"Of course I am." The arrogant Frenchie said. "But please tell me." 

"Yeah?" 

"What do you like in me?" He asked.

"Pff, as if you hadn't heard it a billion times."

"Oh, I did, but never from you, with your own words, your voice." 

"Someone really has a thing for my voice, huh?" 

One kiss on his neck. 

"Does that work whatever I say?" He asked. 

"There is only one way to find out." Spy answered and the Aussie chuckled. 

"Right then, listen here…" Sniper let his voice be as hoarse as possible. "If you take some water and gently boil it in a saucepan, yeah? Add a pinch of salt to it all, mh, yeah, just like that, now drop a couple of eggs there, gently… Yeah, that's good… Now wait about six minutes and you get hard boiled eggs."

Sniper waited to get a reaction from Spy, an irritated "Bushman!" or anything similar, but it never came. Instead, Spy pushed his nails deeper in the Aussie's skin and stuck his pelvis to him before gently pushing his teeth against Sniper's neck.

"Oh, bugger…" Sniper could feel that the Frenchman was dealing with something else, something that prevented his blood from flowing all the way up to his head, and that's why he hadn't complained. "That much?" He asked and felt one long and lingering kiss down his neck. "I had no idea… I've only just told you how to boil an egg, bloody hell!"

Spy didn't answer other than just pushing his pelvis a bit more against Sniper. 

"Guess that's a yes then…" 

One other long kiss and Sniper chuckled. 

"You're weird, Spook…" 

"As if." The other one answered. 

"As if what?" 

"You too have some buttons that, if I press them right, would make you melt." 

"Yeah, but tellin' me how to boil an egg's not gonna do it for me, eh?" 

"It is not the recipe that got to me, but the voice." Spy explained.

"I know, it's just funny that it works for ridiculous stuff." 

One kiss on his neck and Sniper felt Spy's gentle, hot breath and his lips lingering there. He smiled. 

"Meow…" Perle moved away from Sniper's hand and lay on Spy's lower back. 

"Sniper?" 

"Yeah?"

Sniper waited for an answer and received three kisses below his ear. He blushed and his smile widened. 

"Me too." He answered, lacing both arms around his lover and kissing his brow. "Wanna get up and do somethin'?" 

"Non. I want to stay here." Spy buried his head deep in Sniper's neck. 

"Alright then, lazy mornin' it is…" The Aussie's hand gently brushed his lover's back. One was in pyjamas, the other had slept bare chested with a pair of boxer shorts. 

"Unless you had plans?" Spy asked. "Maybe there is some prey to hunt in the desert that calls for you louder than my affection." 

"Nah, don't worry. The more lovey you are, the more I want to stay with you here. Besides, we don't have to work today so that's nice."

Spy could feel the small weight of his fluffy cat on his back, and her tail along his spine. Soon, he felt her paws gently knead him. He let her do and smiled. 

He remembered asking Sniper about that strange behaviour a few days before. The Aussie had explained that the lady cat did that only to people she felt comfortable with. It was a gesture that kittens do very often to pressure their mother's milk out of them and make it easier to drink. Cats keep that gesture with them as they grow, as a comfort thing. 

And so Perle was kneading the Frenchman's backside and purring. 

"Pearl, what're you doin' over there?" Sniper asked and Spy raised his head and turned to see. If Sniper was asking, surely she was doing something different and he had been mistaken. But non, Spy was correct, she was just kneading his behind. "Don't knead Spy's arse." 

"Meow." 

"'Cause that's mine." Sniper answered. "I know you saw it before me but I can't have anyone else touch that, alright?" 

Spy bit his lip with a shy smile.

"Meow?"

"Why? You'll get it when you find yourself a Mister Pearl." Sniper answered. "Also, this isn't how you do it."

"Meow." Perle slithered out of the room and left the middle-aged lovebirds alone. 

"See, to do it right, you need a hand with five fingers, and it needs to be bigger than your little paw… You then gently slide it here…" Sniper's hand slipped under the Frenchman's pyjamas trousers. "See? Now you can grab it and it's the perfect size to just fit in my hand, hold on." Sniper slid his other hand in and grabbed the softness that he liked so much with two open palms. His fingers closed on it and Spy shifted to be lying completely on top of Sniper. That gave the Aussie easy and good access. 

"Now that you have it all in your hands, you wanna gently squeeze it."

Spy moaned under the touch that sent sparks along his legs, switching them off completely. 

"See? When you hear that, that means he likes it, a bit like a purr. Now sqwish it slow and good, yeah?" 

Spy's breath now followed the rhythm set by Sniper's hands grasping and releasing. He moaned with a clenched jaw.

"And if you feel like it, you can even…" Sniper slid his hands now underneath the Frenchman's underwear and on his bare skin. Spy's lips parted and he moaned with an open mouth, groaning and blushing in shame afterwards. "There we are… That's music to my ears…" 

He went on kneading, massaging, playing until the Frenchman's hips started waving on their own, as the Frenchman had his short and pristine nails deep in the tanned skin he liked so much. 

"Sweatin' already, eh?" 

Spy moaned for an answer and Sniper chuckled. 

"Right, I can stop if you wanna go back to a lazy mornin'?"

Two kisses landed on Sniper's neck and the Aussie pulled harder to make Spy's head jerk up to him. Their lips collided and the morning became much less lazy. 

[harunayuuka2060]

Whispers and Thorns

(MindReader!MC Part 3)

I have just realized that I made a grave mistake on part 2, so I might not write the whole captured MC thing.

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

Since you were classmates with Levi and Asmo, they got to see some of the peculiar things about you. You always have your headphones with you. You never listened to the lectures but always aced the exams and practicum. You always beat demons but you were quite popular with the succubi. And to top it all, you seemed to follow kittens when you see one even though in the middle of the class. Like just what you were doing now.

“MC! Where do you think you’re going?! We’re in the middle of the class!” The teacher yelled. You have seen a cute little kitten meowing at you and you were about to get out from the classroom when you were being confronted.

“Going out. Isn’t it obvious?” 

“You little-! Get back here!”

“Later.” You waved your hand and went off. The succubi giggled and whispered their admiration to you while the other lower demons were pissed. 

The classes for the whole day had ended and you didn’t even return to any of them. 

“Asmo, have you seen them?” Levi asked, as he was trying to search you and asked if you could tutor him again. Yes, actually you were a little it acquainted to him and he bought you your headphones as a payment. 

“Hm~ My succubus friend told me that they are taking a nap.~”

“Where?” 

“Student Council Room. Wanna go with me to check them out?” 

Levi sighed, “I guess I have no choice.”

When they arrived at the council room, they saw that you were having a heated discussion with Lucifer. 

“You skipped classes again.”

“So?” You yawned. “I passed my exams. Isn’t that enough?”

“You have to get along with the other demons in here, MC. Don’t you care about your safety at all?” Lucifer has already a vein that was popping on his forehead.

“Dad, if I did, I would’ve cared a long time ago.” You lazily stood up and saw Levi.  “You’re here to ask me to tutor you?”

“Y-Yeah... Are you free?” 

“Yep. Usual place. Make sure the room is sound-proof.” You said and left.

“Levi.” Lucifer called. “Y-Yes?” 

“Are they being friendly with you?” 

“No. But they are being helpful with some stuff.” 

“I see.” Asmo giggled. “What are you laughing about, Asmo?”

“Don’t they remind you of Satan and Belphie?” The eldest frowned. 

“Sure. If they hadn’t almost tried to kill them yesterday.”

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

“MC!~” Mammon called when he saw you walking in the corridor. He was running to hug you and when he almost grabbed you, you side-stepped and he ended up stumbling on to the floor.

“Getting energetic, are we?”

“Oh... You’re so cruel.” He half-complained. Though he immediately got up and smiled. “MC!”

“What?” He got something from his pocket and handed it to you. 

“Lovers’ Necklace.” And he grinned. You sighed. 

“I had rejected you a few times, no?” 

“I know! But-! Mmp!” His sentence was cut-off when you covered his mouth with your hand. 

“I cannot give up and I will try and try again until you accept me. Yes, yes. I know.” You continued. You didn’t actually have to read his mind to know what he was thinking. Mammon was pretty transparent when it comes to you. And you hated that side of him because he reminded you of someone that you wished to forget. 

You tossed back the necklace to him. “I don’t wear jewelries.”

“Come on!” He tossed it back to you. “I bought that with clean money.”

“Ha... Seriously.” 

“Just wear it!” 

“No.” 

He grabbed your hand this time. “If you don’t, I’m going to cry here! Until I’m dead.”

This is so annoying...

You pulled him close and he was startled by your sudden actions. “W-Wha-” You patted his head like a dog. He blushes and instinctively growls. 

“Sleep now... Doggie.”

And after that, the students have seen him sleeping in the corridor.

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

“Who does MC think about themselves?!” Satan said to himself while he was stroking the black cat you saw earlier in class. The others might thought that you were fond of cats, but not him. He had witnessed how you threw a kitten up in the air like a ball.

“Do they really think that it is proper to treat cats like calls?!”

“Meow.”

“I know right! I am lucky I was able to get you before they did.” 

“Satan.” He jumped scared when he suddenly heard  Belphie calling him. “You’re talking by yourself again.”

“I’m just upset.” 

“Sure.” He chuckled and sat next to him. “Have you seen MC today?”

“Yes.”

“They looked cool, no?” Satan glared at him. Sometimes, he couldn’t understand Belphie when he just almost killed MC yesterday too.

“Were you really that impressed to an enemy?”

“Not gonna lie, yes. I kind of see myself in them. They don’t give a fuck.”

[kpopfanfictrash]

Pride and Fidget Spinners (M)

Author: @kpopfanfictrash , as part of the You’ll Never Shop Alone (YNSA) collaboration with @underthejoon and @suga-kookiemonster

Creative Content Contributor: @underthejoon, for this amazing banner

Rating: 18+

Warnings: oral (female receiving), dirty talk, big dick (it’s seokjin, duh), everyone in this fic is a brat, seokjin talks about fair lending

Genre: Rom-Com / Smut / Enemies to Lovers

Word Count: 18,623

Summary:   Seokjin has always prided himself on being the top mall kiosk salesman. His turf, the spot nearest to the fountain, is due to him being the undisputed best in the game. At least, until you arrive and throw his world into chaos.

[ cross-posted to Wattpad here ]

I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN 

YOU ARE NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN

I GET KNO –

SLAP. Seokjin’s hand finds the buzzer, tuning off his alarm to burrow further under the covers. Sunlight streams through the open windows, pricking the back of his eyelids but Seokjin refuses to look. He can sleep for five more minutes. Five more minutes will not kill him.

Somewhere else in his apartment, a bedroom door slams. Wincing, Seokjin pulls his comforter higher. His roommate, Min Yoongi, spends most of his time annoyed with the world – but especially in the morning, and especially before having coffee. Loud banging continues, along with the sound of facial products hitting the sink. Groaning out loud, Seokjin pulls a pillow over his face.

Unfortunately, he is now awake and unable to slip back into his dream. It was a good one, too. Something about Iron Man and that hot barista at the mall Taehyung is crushing on. Squinting into his pillow, Seokjin abruptly sits up and tosses this on the floor.

“Fuck!” he yelps, throwing up a hand.

Every day, Seokjin somehow forgets to close his blinds before sleeping. Groping his way into the bathroom, Seokjin ruffles a hand through mussed morning hair. Turning on both taps in his shower, he waits for the water to warm and stares at himself in the mirror.

Clapping both hands to his face, Seokjin drags down the side of his cheeks. Getting older is weird.

Before he can get too hung up on this fact, Seokjin steps into the tub. “I GET KNOCKED DOWN,” he sings, lathering himself with soap. “BUT I GET UP AGAIN!”

Once out of the shower, dried and with a towel wrapped around his waist, Seokjin wanders into his closet. The sight dims his spirits a bit, seeing rows and rows of neatly pressed suits. Seokjin stares them each down in turn, knowing blinking is a weakness.

Reaching past them, he sighs.

The one at the front is navy, pin-striped and stares at him mockingly. Seokjin remembers wearing that one on his first day of work, nearly three years ago. He remembers how proud his parents were of him when he called them on his way home.

Seokjin’s heart sinks at the memory. That first phone call overlaps with another, less pleasant one. The one after his company decided to move their programming center out of his city. Seokjin was not one of the engineers selected to go. He was – rather unceremoniously – let go.

Let go. Seokjin snorts at the memory. Let go is such a nicer way to say fired. Fired has the ring of burnt smoke to it; it stinks of crumbling foundations and all hell breaking loose. If a company wants to yank one’s livelihood out from under them, Seokjin at least feels they should have the decency to call it what it is. Let go.

Shaking his head, Seokjin pushes past the suit to grab a white button-down. It has been nearly six months since that second call. Four months since his severance ran out and Seokjin realized he needed a job. Three months and three weeks since he began working at the Fidget Funk – even thinking the name makes Seokjin wince.

If someone had told him three years ago that he, Kim Seokjin, with his fancy degree and multiple years of experience, would ever be working a glorified mall job, Seokjin would have laughed in their face. He would have asked what they were smoking and if he could share – and yet. Here he is.

Frowning at himself in the mirror, Seokjin zips up his pants. Perhaps the worst part is that Seokjin was not upset when he was ‘let go.’ He was not actually disappointed by the firing, which disappointed his parents even more. When Bob and Karen from HR sat him down in that tiny, white room and handed him a tiny, white packet, Seokjin could not stop grinning.

His colleagues thought he had been kept when he left the room. That is how much Seokjin hated that company. His pure joy at finally leaving was enough to make up for the sucky way it happened.

Honestly, Seokjin was not surprised when he was fired. His entire last year he worked there, Seokjin spent most of his free time designing apps on his phone. No wonder they let him go, come to think of it. He was hardly their employee of the year.

Grabbing both wallet and keys, Seokjin shoves these into his pockets. Stepping into the hall, he glances at Yoongi’s room. “Yoongi!” he calls. No answer. “Hey! Min Yoongi!”

Continued silence, apart from the harsh thud of bass.

Leaning a shoulder against the wall, Seokjin tries again. “MIN YOONGI!”

The door at the end of the hall opens, hitting the wall. “What?” With a yawn, Yoongi drags a hand through his hair. Bleached blond strands fall about his face. “You said 10:00 AM. It’s 10:01.”

“Right.” Seokjin looks at him pointedly. “But I need to have the kiosk set up by 10:30, or else Bertha gets pissed.”

Yoongi walks past him and frowns. “Who’s Bertha? I don’t remember you working with anyone named Bertha.”

“I don’t.” Seokjin shrugs. Today is one of the rare days their work schedules lined up and – amazingly enough – Yoongi agreed to carpool. “Bertha is the name of my fidget spinner display. She’s temperamental.”

Yoongi groans, shutting the door. “Dude, you need to get a hobby.”

“I do have a hobby!”

“Then, get a girlfriend,” says Yoongi, sliding his keys from the lock. “You have way too much free time on your hands.”

“Do not,” Seokjin mutters, shoving both hands in his pockets as they walk to his car. “I’m working on loads of stuff.”

“Oh, really?” Yoongi flips his phone. “Which amazing app is it today? Let me guess. The one which meows every time a cat comes near? Or, the one which ranks all the apps in your phone from most to least used? Or, maybe –”

“Hey!” Cutting him off, Seokjin pulls open his car door. “You left out Alliterate! The handy app which suggests words which start with the same letter as yours – for casual alliteration.”

Yoongi stares over the roof of his car. “Dude, who would buy that?”

“English majors. Dramatic teenagers writing letters in the eighteenth century.”

“Seokjin.” Yoongi slides into the passenger seat. “You don’t give a fuck about any of these ideas, and therein lies your problem.”

“Oh, really?” Seokjin sticks his keys into the ignition. The car is sweltering, baking from having been left in the sun all morning. “Unlike you and your SoundCloud rapping?”

“Exactly unlike me and my SoundCloud rapping.” Grinning, Yoongi buckles his seatbelt and looks over at Seokjin. “Speaking of which – I have a new track to play.”

“No.”

Turning on the engine, Seokjin winces when a red warning light appears. He apparently needs an oil change soon but – with what money?

“Yes.” Yoongi reaches out, already hooking up his phone. “Just these two hooks, okay? Tell me which one you like more.”

Twelve minutes later, Seokjin pulls into his unofficial parking spot at the mall. “Will you look at that?” he says, turning off the engine. “We’re here! Time to go sell those fidgets!”

Rolling his eyes, Yoongi pushes open the door. Shoving his white Auntie Anne’s visor further up on his head, he glances around. “You’ll be sorry,” he says, slamming the door. “You’ll all be sorry!” Yoongi yells at the empty parking lot.

Patting him once on the back, Seokjin walks inside. “You know that I like your music.” Seokjin shivers when they both hit the AC. “More than like it, in fact. You’re too good and you know it – your head is inflated, and I have to take you down a peg.”

Yoongi scoffs. “Yeah, because all this pretzel rolling is inflating my ego. I’m basically Kanye, pre-Kim. Or Kanye, post-Kim. Say what you will about the guy, he’s remarkably consistent about how good he thinks he is.”

Snorting, Seokjin quiets when they pass by Kay Jewelers. Both men swerve to avoid eye contact, since they never know when what’s-her-name will be working. Seokjin makes a face. He always forgets her name, but the Kay Jewelers girl is usually after the dick of someone in the mall. Both he and Yoongi have been on the receiving end of that hunt before.

“Alright.” Coming to a stop at his kiosk, Seokjin lowers his gym bag to the ground. “Here is where I bid thee adieu.”

Yoongi continues walking. “Bye.”

“BYE, BEST FRIEND!” Seokjin yells, waving as Yoongi crosses the food court.

Several heads turn, and Seokjin continues waving until his roommate is gone. Grinning, Seokjin returns to his kiosk. Unlocking the metal grating, he pulls this up to reveal a brightly colored display. The morning routine is standard. Inventory, balancing the register, ensuring all displays are functional. Each time he passes the front, Seokjin sees his name on the register.

The kiosk’s top salesman, three months in a row.

It might seem like a silly thing to be proud of, but Seokjin is at a point in his life where everything has gone wrong. Everything he does seems to become a failure and even though he hates this job and hates these fidget spinners (okay, that’s harsh – no one hates fidget spinners), at least he can succeed at this one, small thing.

Selling shit to people they absolutely do not need.

Leaning against the counter, Seokjin crosses an ankle to wait. The mall opens on weekdays at 11:00 AM, prompt. Some places are open earlier – like Java Joe’s, the coffee shop, and maybe the gym – but Seokjin’s kiosk is standard mall hours. Rubbing his eyes, Seokjin glances longingly in the direction of Java Joe’s, but there are only five minutes until the mall opens. He needs to remain where he is.

Pulling his phone from his jacket, he shoots off a quick text.

Seokjin: yo [10:55 AM]

It takes a moment for Namjoon to respond.

Namjoon: what do you want? [10:56 AM]

Seokjin: nothing!!! [10:56 AM]

Namjoon: … [10:56 AM]

Seokjin: ok fine [10:56 AM]

Seokjin: I’ll come clean [10:56 AM]

Seokjin: are you doing the morning shift at T-Mobile [10:56 AM]

Namjoon: …. Yes [10:57 AM]

Namjoon: why? [10:57 AM]

Seokjin: do u think… on ur next break… u could bring me some coffee?? [10:57 AM]

Namjoon: get it yourself [10:58 AM]

Seokjin: pleaseeee Joon?? I never ask you for anything! [10:58 AM]

Seokjin: Chad called in sick, so I’m here all alone : ( [10:58 AM]

Namjoon: sigh. Fine – can you hang on until 1? [10:58 AM]

Seokjin: : ( [10:58 AM]

Namjoon: ur the worst but fine, I’ll try to get away sooner [10:59 AM]

Seokjin: THANKS JOON [10:59 AM]

Seokjin: grande iced Americano, no milk [10:59 AM]

Namjoon: u wouldn’t treat Yoongi like this [10:59 AM]

Seokjin snorts, shoving his phone in his pocket. He absolutely would treat Yoongi like this – problem is, Yoongi rarely responds. He usually spends his work breaks engrossed in his music. If anything, Seokjin is the one who brings coffee to him.

The first two hours pass by at a glacial pace. Seokjin regularly looks at his watch, wondering why the day is moving so slowly. True, it is a weekday but there is usually steady traffic. Stay at home parents and high school kids with nothing better to do than spend their summers at the mall, drinking Orange Julius’ next to the fountain.

It took Seokjin two months to convince his boss to put in for this spot. Next to the fountain is prime mall real estate, since you need to pass by it in order to reach anywhere else. Which is why it is strange that Seokjin has had zero customers.

He is still frowning when Namjoon appears at his workplace, iced coffee in hand. Namjoon wears his T-Mobile manager uniform, complete with a badge which declares his name and title. Kim Namjoon, Assistant Manager.

“Two?” Seokjin fake gasps, holding out a hand. “All for me?”

“Nope.” Namjoon only gives one to him. “One is for me.” 

“Rude.” Seokjin sniffs, turning to survey the mall.

“What is? The fact that I brought you coffee?”

“Sure.”

Namjoon laughs. “What’s up with you today? You seem super distracted.”

Squinting at the fountain, Seokjin shakes his head. “I don’t know. Things have been so quiet today. Is there something going on? A deal at Woodbury mall, or something?”

“Hm.” Namjoon’s brow furrows. “Not that I know of, I – oh, wait.” He straightens, glancing across the food court. “When I was walking over here, I did see a new kiosk. Maybe they’re taking some of your customers?”

“A new kiosk?” Seokjin looks up in alarm. “Where?”

“There.” Namjoon points behind a browning, potted plant.

Seokjin peers in the direction Namjoon is pointing. In his line of vision stands a brand-spanking-new kiosk. The sides are all pristine, gleaming and white, with the kind of bright-colored accents designed to draw people in. Neat boxes of toys line the shelves, almost as pretty as Seokjin’s own display.

Groaning, Seokjin sinks to his kiosk. “Drones?” He glances at Namjoon. “How are fidget spinners supposed to compete with fucking drones?”

“Dunno.” Namjoon takes a sip of his coffee. “I first saw them this morning, but they’re getting pretty good business. Nearly tripped over their salesgirl on my way here. She’s cute,” he adds, glancing at Seokjin.

Seokjin glowers. “Cuter than me?”

“Maybe.” Namjoon shrugs.

“Impossible.” Seokjin glares in the direction of the kiosk. On one side, he can barely make out the shape of a worker and based on what he sees, Seokjin begrudgingly thinks Namjoon might be right. You could be cute.

Namjoon drains the rest of his cup. “Well. Gotta go,” he says cheerfully, clapping Seokjin on the back. “Breaks don’t last forever. Hope the rest of your day picks up.”

“Thanks,” Seokjin mutters. “Hope so, too.”

Namjoon leaves, returning the same way he came towards the T-Mobile store. Seokjin continues to glance at the competing kiosk, staring with envy at its remote-controlled helicopters.

Up until now, the competitive landscape at the mall has been easy. There is a guy on the second floor selling Proactive but other than that, Seokjin has never had real competition. Until now, it would seem.

Rather than be turned off by this fact, Seokjin tilts his head. The only reason he lasted as long as he did at his prior company is because of how competitive he is. Even if Seokjin does not care about the product, he still works tirelessly to be called number one. He should stop by and check out the competition – just to be certain there is no real risk.

Seokjin’s phone buzzes, revealing a text from his boss. Lisa will be here at 5:00 PM, meaning Seokjin only must hold out a few hours before he can see the new kiosk.

Only a few more hours until he knows what he is up against.

Lisa’s arrival at five means Seokjin is afforded a half-hour break. He uses this to grab food, bothering Yoongi at Auntie Anne’s before moving on. Dinnertime at the mall is typically crowded and Yoongi tends to throw mustard if Seokjin overstays his welcome.

Not wanting to ruin his button-down, Seokjin wanders in the direction of your kiosk. He eyes this as he approaches, finding the reality of the situation to be worse than he feared. The drones you stock are cool and what is more – they are all beautifully displayed. The stand might even rival Bertha.

Crossing both arms over his chest, Seokjin examines the kiosk. The products are neat, all of them aligned in carefully placed rows. The fingers on his right hand twitch, really wanting to touch the remote- controlled helicopters, but before he can move –

“Can I help you?” you ask, bright and cheerful. Seokjin flinches, gaze darting to you.

Fuck – seeing you up close, Seokjin’s jaw nearly hits the ground. You are gorgeous. There is no other word for it. The smile you give is infections; it makes him want to smile back. More than that – Seokjin finds himself wanting to be the reason for that smile, but no! Straightening his spine, Seokjin reminds himself that you are the competition.

Looking at you, his scowl deepens.

Your own smile falters. “Did you want me to take that one out?” you ask, pointing at the drone. “Show you how it works?”

Seokjin shrugs, as though he could not care less. “I’m not here to buy, actually.”

Now, it is your turn to look confused. “I – uh, okay.” You squint. “Then, why are you here?”

Seokjin realizes how creepy he sounds. In your eyes, he has wandered over, stared at your merchandise for a prolonged period of time and then announced he was not here to buy. A grade-A creep rivaled only by that one flasher who lurks in female footwear.

“Uh…” Backtracking, Seokjin jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “I work at that kiosk, actually. I’m Seokjin.”

Unimpressed, you glance in this direction. “Y/N. And – uh, okay?”

“I stopped by to say hello. And to see what you’re selling.”

As he speaks, you read the name of his kiosk. Your upper lip twitches as slowly, you return to looking at him. Seokjin is unnerved by your smile. For some reason, he has the sinking suspicion he is the butt of your joke.

“Oh,” you say, tone entirely different. “That kiosk. Brandi mentioned you.”

“Brandi?”

“My boss.” You wave towards the middle-aged woman on the other side of the kiosk. Seokjin thinks he has seen her around before. “She said you’ve been selling pretty well the past couple of months. Great job.”

Seokjin tries not to seem smug – there is an undercurrent to your tone which screams subterfuge. “I mean, yeah,” he says carefully. “Things are going pretty well for us.”

“Strange, then.”

“What is?”

“Strange that we’re doing so much better than you.”

Someone could scrape Seokjin’s jaw off the dirty, child-scuffed floor. You smirk at him, tapping two fingers against the pretty, floral sleeve of your tunic. If Seokjin did not know better, he would think you were flirting with him.

Except you just fucking insulted him.

“I…” Shaking his head, Seokjin’s voice is strangled. “Mall traffic has been slow this morning. No big deal. I guess once you’ve been around longer, you’ll know that.”

“Hm.” You purse your lips. “I don’t know – things have been pretty crazy for us today. We already ran out of a product. Wild, right?”

Seokjin’s mouth dries, his ears starting to buzz – all evidence of his pure hatred of you. Obviously. It could not be anything else.

“You ran… out of something? Already?”

Seokjin’s voice squeaks on the last word, making him cringe.

“Not bad, huh? Although, I guess once we’ve ‘been around longer,’” you mock with a grin, “we’ll get more lulls. Must be nice.”

In the face of his clear disbelief, you have the nerve to wink.

Seokjin begins to see red. “Yeah,” he croaks, recovering himself. “Beginner’s luck is nice, too.”

Your smile disappears. “How long is your break? I don’t think my kiosk could afford to have me gone for so long.”

Not looking away, Seokjin shoves the rest of his pretzel in his mouth. Chewing exaggeratedly, he watches you wince. “Sorry,” he mumbles around cinnamon-sugar bread. “Thanks for the reminder. I do need to be getting back. Can’t have my kiosk without its top salesman.”

Nose wrinkled; you continue to stare. “If that’s your idea of finesse, I think they can manage without you.”

“Please.” Seokjin gives you a pointed look. “I’m literally dripping with finesse.”

Your lips twitch, suppressing the gesture. Seokjin is impressed by your stoicism, since he knows he is a good-looking guy. That much is a non-debatable fact. Even if it were not, he can see by the way your gaze lingers, that you like what you see. And still – when your gaze returns to his face, your expression is artfully composed.

Fuck, Seokjin realizes. You really are going to be competition.

“Is that all?” Blithely, you turn. “Did you just stop by to see how much better we’re doing?”

Seokjin scowls at your arguably perfect behind. “I came to see how much product you have left, yeah.”

Glancing over your shoulder, you grin. “Why? Worried we’ll sell out before you can buy?”

“No.” Undercutting his conviction, Seokjin glances again at the helicopter. “I’ve got my hands full, thanks.”

“Ri-ght.” You draw out the word. “Then, you should probably get back to the, uh – Fidget Funk.”

Seokjin’s ears turn red with embarrassment. “I will,” he blurts, spinning around on his heel. “You have fun at the Drone Dome – fuck,” he mutters, coming to a stop. “That’s actually such a cool name.”

Without waiting for a response, he stalks away. All the way across the food court, your laughter rings out behind him. Upon reaching his kiosk, Seokjin glances over his shoulder. You are not paying attention to him, already engaged with another customer and Seokjin’s stomach slowly sinks.

He might be in trouble – and in more ways than one.

Seokjin arrives the next day ready for battle.

Before, he was unprepared – caught off guard by your wily ways, but no longer! He is Kim Seokjin, crusader of goals and defender of the kiosk. The fact that Seokjin does not care about fidget spinners does not matter. They are his unfortunate chosen weapon and so, he will die upon this metaphorical sword.

Leaning against his kiosk, Seokjin spins a toy in one hand. Smiling and nodding at everyone who passes, he tries not to seem creepy or make eye contact for too long. This is the number one rule of kiosk sales – be deliberate, but approachable.

Most kiosk salespeople fail here, never ascending past the first stage of selling. They leer at shoppers, approaching women with earbuds in, or spraying perfume without asking. Not Seokjin. Seokjin is the very image of class, one ankle crossed over the other.

Seated at the food court is a large group of collegiate girls. At least, Seokjin assumes this based off one girl’s University sweatshirt. They sit clustered around Starbucks drinks (a slap in the face to Java Joe’s!), giggling every so often and glancing at Seokjin. Despite knowing they see him, Seokjin pretends not to care. Every so often, he pushes a hand through his hair and angles himself in the light.

Eventually, he knows one will come over and when they do, Seokjin will whip out the charm. A shadow steps into his path, blocking the sunlight.

Seokjin frowns. “Get out of the way,” he says, bored. “I almost have a sale.”

Arms crossed; you glance over a shoulder. The group of girls glare at you, clearly perturbed at having their view interrupted.

Snorting, you return to Seokjin. “Oh, please. So, what – you’re a pedophile, in addition to creep?”

Jerking upright, Seokjin scowls. “I am not a pedophile. I’m just trying to make a sale.”

“Of what kind?” you ask pleasantly.

“Fidget spinners.”

“Hm. Could’ve fooled me.”

Shrugging, you take a long sip of your coffee. Seokjin tries not to linger on the way your lips wrap around the straw.

I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he says stiffly. “Now, move. You’re blocking my light.”

“Whatever,” you yawn, leaving. As you enter the food court, you give Seokjin an excellent view of your backside walking away. “We’ll still beat your sales target today, anyways!” you call back.

Glaring at your retreating head, Seokjin holds out for as long as he can before dropping his gaze to your ass. Waggling fingers over your shoulder, you disappear behind the potted plant. The college girls resume looking at him but now, Seokjin finds he does not care.

Really, he should be thanking you. As soon as you are gone, three of the girls wander up to his kiosk. Seokjin sells five fidget spinners in one hour, thanks to the jealousy your presence provoked. Rather than be pleased by this fact though, Seokjin becomes even more agitated. He does not like feeling in your debt.

The next time your shifts overlap, determined to get even, Seokjin switches tactics. He parks on the opposite end of the mall, necessitating he should walk by your kiosk. Yoongi complains about this, but Seokjin merely ignores him.

Slowing as he passes your kiosk, Seokjin waits for you to look up.

Both elbows leaned to the counter, you scroll casually through your phone. When your gaze flicks up, taking him in – you blink.

“Oh, come on,” you groan.

Waving to Yoongi, Seokjin veers in your direction. “Oh, hey!” He stops at your display, nonchalantly stretching his arms overhead. “Having a good morning?”

Gaze darting to his pants and back up, you almost seem flustered. “I – how tight are those jeans?”

Seokjin’s grin widens. “What, these old things?”

Turning around, Seokjin checks out his own ass, as though surprised by its appearance. He is rather proud of his legs, actually. There is a reason Seokjin spends so much time in the gym with Jungkook. His newly bought skinny jeans show off his best assets. Not to mention how satisfying it is to see you rendered speechless.

Your gaze returns to his, smoldering. “There’s a tag still in the pocket, genius.”

“Oh.” Grandly, Seokjin plucks this off – fuck, that just cost him an entire week of spending allowance. “Well, there you go. Wouldn’t want to distract from the view.”

Jaw clenched, you seem as though you want to say more, but hold yourself back. “Great.”

Seokjin smirks. “Isn’t it?”

Whirling around, you pretend to be busy but Seokjin can tell your register has already been counted.

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to your kiosk?” You glower, glancing over your shoulder. “I’d hate to waste any more of your time standing here.”

Seokjin’s grin broadens. “You’re right,” he agrees. “That’d be a shame. See you around, Y/N!”

Happily, he turns and walks back the food court. With each step his grin widens, imagining you watching him leave. The rest of his day is spent in lazy self-satisfaction.

As it turns out, Seokjin should have been warier. Your silence was not acceptance of defeat, but a determined self-call to arms. The very next day, Seokjin walks past your kiosk and nearly spills his drink down his shirt.

You stand off to the side, bent to display a generous amount of cleavage. Seokjin’s jaw drops, unable to look away. He realizes how inappropriate he is being when you look up and see him.

“Seokjin!” Straightening, you wave.

The action makes your breasts bounce, causing Seokjin’s pants to feel tighter.

Yoongi snorts at his side. “Good luck, man,” he says, patting Seokjin once on the back before walking away.

Seokjin is left alone, facing the wiles of his enemy.

“Hey,” you say, raising both brows. “Seokjin? Are you okay?”

Forcing himself to move, Seokjin walks robotically forward. He does not allow himself to look below your collarbone – fuck, you must be wearing a push-up bra. There is no other way a single day could cause such a dramatic transformation.

Unable to help himself, Seokjin sneaks another peek.

When he looks up, you are smirking at him. “See something you like?”

The tips of Seokjin’s ears turn crimson. “I – what?”

“The merchandise,” you say sweetly, waving a hand. “We just got in a few new toys over the weekend.”

Seokjin has no response to this, having momentarily forgotten what words are.

Your lips twitch. “Is something wrong, Seokjin?”

Seeing the teasing look in your eyes, Seokjin fumes. “Nothing’s wrong,” he says, jaw snapping shut. “I’ll just be on my way, then. Lots of… fidgets to spin.”

Turning around, he dramatically walks off.

He cannot help but feel oddly unsettled, throat burning in a way which does not make sense. Anger, he tells himself. The emotion is merely annoyance. It is completely natural he would hate his competitor. Natural, for him to think about what their lips would look like shut up by his.

It takes two weeks for Seokjin to enact the next phase of his plan. Which is – dramatic entertainment. Basically, phase two involves Seokjin researching fidget spinner hand tricks for hours at a time on YouTube. It reaches to the point where Seokjin is in near hibernation. Jungkook sends him texts every so often, asking when he will return to the gym, but Seokjin is a man on a mission and cannot be stopped.

He starts off slowly, learning the simple fidget spinner hand transfer. Next is the hand twist, rated Difficulty Level Two by the most known YouTube star. From there, learning the around the back is easy. This maneuver is more complex – it involves Seokjin physically throwing the fidget spinner over his shoulder to catch in the other hand.

Once Seokjin can control two fidget spinners at once, he deems himself ready.

Phase two goes into action on a busy Saturday afternoon. Seokjin hijacks the Fidget Funk’s speakers, hooking up his iPhone to the horror of his co-worker, Lisa.

“Oh, no,” she groans. “Please tell me you aren’t doing what I think you’re doing.”

“Are you thinking I’m doing a fidget spinner trick show?” Seokjin adjusts the sweatband on his forehead. “Alright, then. I won’t tell you.”

“God, how embarrassing.” Lisa slumps low in her chair. “Well, at least do it before Chad gets here.”

“Noted. What song should I use?” Seokjin flips through his playlist. “Hero by Enrique Iglesias? Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo? The Cha Cha Slide?”

Lisa stares in disbelief. “What vibe are you going for, exactly?”

“None of those?” Seokjin frowns. “What about All Star by Smash Mouth?”

“How about Cotton Eyed Joe?” Lisa offers. “That seems more fitting with all of… this.”

Ignoring her sarcasm, Seokjin selects a song to press play. The first notes of Everybody by Backstreet Boys plays through the speakers. Lisa groans and slumps even lower.

At first, no one notices Seokjin at all. People sidestep him, focused solely on getting to the food court but then, Seokjin executes a perfect shoulder throw. A kid stops to watch. His mom stops too, trying to drag her kid forward but failing in her mission.

“Hey!” Seokjin beams, switching the spinner from one hand to the other. “Want to see more?”

The boy nods and before long, Seokjin has managed to gather a small crowd. Over the ooh’s and ahs of children, Seokjin converses with their moms.

“Fidget spinners are proven to help concentration in both kids and adults,” Seokjin says with a hand twist. “One of my friends was telling me a story the other day. He and this AVP at his office are both tactile people and remember better while doing something with their hands. So, they end up having this entire meeting while playing with fidget spinners from her office.”

The moms all laugh, moving forward to let their kids pick out a toy. By the time the day ends, Seokjin has beaten all previous sales records. He has also managed to capture the attention of most people in the mall – including you.

And Namjoon, who stops by before closing.

“Dude,” Namjoon laughs, leaning one arm to his kiosk. “Why are you being so extra lately? It’s just a temp job. Who cares?”

“I care, Namjoon.” Seokjin bristles. “Is it so wrong to want to do well at my work? To want to improve the sales of my peers. Frankly, Namjoon, I’m insulted you would –”

“Hey, Kim!” you yell, passing by. “Heard you’re trying to break into show business!”

Seokjin abruptly stops talking. “Trying?” he calls back. “I’m already there. Were you able to catch a performance?”

Rolling your eyes, you walk backwards. “Of course, I did! The whole fucking mall saw you, Seokjin. Your music was so loud, people physically moved in the food court.”

Seokjin’s grin widens. “What’d you think?”

“I think you should stick to sales.” Shaking your head, you try not to smile. “Anyways, just wait until you see what we’re doing this weekend. It’ll make your lame tricks look like nothing!”

“Can’t wait!” Seokjin cups both hands over his mouth. “I love to watch lofty dreams come crashing down!”

Shaking your head, you turn around and disappear into the mall. Once you are gone, Seokjin returns to Namjoon.

“What?” he blinks, seeing his friend’s smug expression.

Namjoon’s smile widens. “Oh, nothing.”

“What?”

Namjoon merely laughs, grabbing his smoothie and turning away. “Good luck with that, man!”

Seokjin stares after, not understanding but deciding it is not worth his while. Namjoon always thinks he knows so much – granted, he usually does, but that is not the point. The point is Seokjin does not and so, he should not worry about it now.

The next day is busy, which means Seokjin barely has time to consider the performance you mentioned. He is again covering for Lisa, who failed to show up. Chad and Seokjin are the only ones covering the kiosk, which Seokjin despises because Chad is his least favorite co-worker. Lisa may be flaky, but at least her presence is tolerable. Chad is always going off on tangents about who wronged him on Twitter that day, and why.

Chad is also terrible at customer service – no surprise – which means Seokjin must handle all returns and exchanges. A tedious task in itself, let alone with Chad’s monotonous voice in his ears. In fact, the morning is so busy, Seokjin barely remembers to eat, let alone visit you.

It is the sound of cheers over the food court which make him look up.

Midway through a transaction, Seokjin pauses to glance at your kiosk. You and your Manager – Brandi – stand before it, navigating two competing drones in the air. It seems several people are betting on which drone will win.

Rolling his eyes, Seokjin returns to his customer. Smiling blandly, he hands the woman her money and ignores the wild cheers growing steadily behind him. It makes Seokjin’s teeth grind, realizing you might be drawing a bigger crowd than he did.

Unable to stop himself, he peers over his shoulder. Seokjin’s eyes widen. Above the food court, a helicopter loops circles around a remote-controlled plane. They no longer seem to be racing, dive- bombing the crowd and swooping up at the last second. Kids squeal in excitement, running around underneath.

Seokjin scowls, slamming shut the register. His mind revolts at the knowledge that your show is better than his – also, there is the maddening fact that Seokjin wants a drone for himself. Huffing under his breath, Seokjin turns away.

Before he can tell Chad he is going on break, a scream pierces the crowd.

“MOVE!” Seokjin hears your voice above the rest. “KIDS, MOVE!”

Seokjin whirls around, spotting the helicopter spinning out of control. Kids duck from its path, their hands held overhead as the helicopter sputters, dips and sputters again. Steam curls from its top, clearly not responding to the remote you hold in one hand.

Worse than that, the drone is headed in their direction.

“Chad, move!” Seokjin yells, diving out of the way.

Chad looks up just in time to see the helicopter crash into their kiosk.

Fidget spinners fly every which way. From his spot on the floor, several hit Seokjin in the back of his legs – he winces, curling into himself. Chad’s sputtering continues above as the slow whir of helicopter blades begins to wind down.

Seokjin hesitantly looks up. The kiosk above him is chaos. Nothing seems to be broken, but his carefully placed display – Bertha! – is entirely out of whack. Brightly colored boxes lie on the floor, shelving hanging precariously off the sides of the kiosk.

You dash into view, skidding to a stop inches away from his nose. “I’m so sorry!” you cry, a useless remote held in one hand. “I don’t know what happened, I swear.”

Your gaze darts to Seokjin’s, still lying prostrate on the floor.

He slowly pushes himself to stand, staring in shock at the disastrous kiosk. Seokjin expects to feel angry. He should feel pissed, since all his hard work was erased and now, he will have to spend several hours cleaning it up, but – nothing.

Well, that is not entirely true.

Seokjin wishes he could wipe that look of distress from your face. “It’s alright,” he says, still looking at you.

Surprise flickers over your expression.

Chad steps out from behind the kiosk. “Oh… my… god,” he says, eyes wide.

“I’m really sorry,” you repeat, face twisted in agony.

Before you can continue, your manager appears. “Go back to the kiosk, Y/N,” she says, sighing. “There are a bunch of customers to take care of. I’ll handle this.”

It appears you wish to say more, but a stern look from Brandi is silencing. Giving Seokjin an apologetic look, you turn on your heel to walk across the food court.

Brandi waits until you are out of earshot before looking at Seokjin. “I’m sorry about the disruption,” she offers.

Seokjin tears his gaze away. “It’s okay.”

“What?!” Chad stomps out to point a finger at Brandi. “It is not okay! You and your dumb drones wrecked our display!”

Brandi looks at his finger, unimpressed. She glances at Seokjin. “You can throw that helicopter away. If anything of yours has been damaged, let me know. We’ll pay for it – just send me an itemized receipt by the end of the day, okay?”

Seokjin nods, a bit thrown by the interaction. “Yeah, alright. Sounds good.”

Brandi looks at him thankfully, turning around to return to her kiosk. Once she is gone, Chad whirls on Seokjin.

“Man, what the fuck?”

Bending, Seokjin picks up a lone fidget spinner. “What do you mean, what the fuck?”

“They should’ve…” Chad trails off, shaking his head. “Done more. I don’t know. They should’ve cleaned up the whole area, or something!”

Seokjin snorts, replacing the toy on the counter. “Relax,” he says. “It’s not like anything is seriously damaged. We just need to re-stock the display and besides, they don’t know how to do that. It’ll be faster if we do it.”

“Even so,” Chad mutters. He begins cleaning up, casting an angry glance in the direction of the Drone Dome. “They should still fucking pay.”

“They will, if anything’s broken,” Seokjin says simply.

He then tunes Chad out, putting himself to work. Re-stocking Bertha takes a while but, in the end, Seokjin is happier with its order. He keeps thinking you will stop by after your shift, but you do not. Perhaps you are too embarrassed to do so, or maybe Brandi warned you not to go near them again.

Whatever the reason, Seokjin cannot leave before closing. When he finally passes kiosk on his way to the gym, everything is closed, and you are nowhere in sight.

Seokjin lingers a moment before he moves on.

SLAM.

Seokjin drops his barbells, the sound echoing through the gym in a satisfying way. Several women on the elliptical look up in annoyance.

“Sorry!” Seokjin calls, wiping sweat from his neck.

Although the women continue to glare, they return to their workout. Jungkook snickers into the sleeve of his t-shirt, biceps bulging beneath the tight fit of his clothes. Pulling a power bar from his pocket, Jungkook waves at the weights Seokjin discarded.

“Give me ten more.”

Seokjin glares. “Go choke.”

“Can’t.” Unwrapping his snack, Jungkook takes a large bite. “Told my current hook-up that was just for her.”

“Gross.” Seokjin groans, bending to grab the weights. “I didn’t need to know that.”

Jungkook grins, displaying chocolate and teeth. “Ten more,” he repeats.

Despite several muttered curse words under his breath, Seokjin obeys. Dropping the weights again on the floor – in direct defiance of the no weight-dropping sign – Seokjin grabs his knees with both hands.

“Alright,” he huffs, squinting at Jungkook. “I don’t care anymore if I’m in shape. I care more about snacks. Snacks and alcohol.”

“I’m choosing to ignore that.” Jungkook takes another bite. “I’m using one of my free guest passes on you, so you better be worth it.”

Rolling his eyes, Seokjin takes a long swig from his water bottle. Despite this, he still follows Jungkook as they walk to the treadmills. Jungkook is right, he is doing Seokjin a favor by letting him work out for free. Truth be told, Seokjin hated Jungkook when he first began at the mall. Jungkook was young, good- looking and got tons of attention – male and female, alike.

He was the competition.

Over time though, this distrust dissolved and somehow, Jungkook is now one of Seokjin’s closest friends. When he is not annoying the hell out of him, that is.

Throwing his wrapper in the trash, Jungkook wipes both palms on his pants. “So.” Stepping onto a treadmill, he turns the speed to three. “How’s it going with drone girl?”

Seokjin follows suit. “She knocked over my display today.”

“Like, on purpose?”

“Nah.” Seokjin shakes his head. “On accident. She was doing a demo and one of the helicopter drones broke. Crashed into my kiosk.”

“Oh.” Jungkook’s brow furrows. “Still – annoying. Increase your speed.”

Seokjin obeys. “Eh,” he huffs, beginning to jog. “I don’t think it was on purpose. But still, she’s just so frustrating.”

“What’s frustrating? Increase your speed again to four.”

“I don’t know,” Seokjin says, following suit. “She’s frustrating. She has this way of looking at me, you know?”

“Looking at you in like, a creepy way?”

“No…” Seokjin’s feet pound the treadmill. “She’s a tease.”

“Sounds hot.”

“She keeps messing with me.”

“You keep messing with her.”

“She made fun of my fidget spinners!”

Jungkook bursts into laughter. To add insult to injury, he barely seems winded at all by their run and Seokjin is panting.

“Dude. Fidget spinners suck. I’ve heard you say that on multiple occasions.”

“Sure, but she doesn’t have to say that!”

“Whatever, bro.” Jungkook grins. “Sounds to me like you want to fuck her.”

Seokjin is so startled, he nearly trips on the treadmill. “I do not.”

“No judgement here! Do it once, get it out of your system.”

“I don’t want to fuck her, Jungkook.” Seokjin glares in his direction. “She hates me. And I hate her!”

“O-h,” Jungkook says knowingly. “So, you’re in love with her. I get it. Increase your speed to five.”

Seokjin obeys, face turning beet-red. “Jungkook,” he growls. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Make me.”

Reaching out, Seokjin turns the speed on Jungkook’s treadmill to eight.

“Hey!” Jungkook yelps, breaking into a sprint. He manages to keep up, pushing a hand through his hair. When Seokjin rolls his eyes, Jungkook grins. “Nailed it.”

Seokjin returns to his machine. “Besides, you’re one to talk,” he mutters. “Aren’t you in love with the juice girl, or something?”

On reflex, Jungkook glances over his shoulder. Seokjin can tell by his lovesick expression he is right. Juice girl only started working recently at the gym and from what Seokjin can tell, Jungkook is entirely smitten. He has never been subtle about the women he likes, but with juice girl, Jungkook seems to have met his match.

She is completely immune to his charms. Seokjin cannot help but feel sympathy for the guy. Or – at least, he does until Jungkook returns to him with a grin.

“So.” He wriggles his eyebrows. “How hot is kiosk girl, anyways?”

“No.” Seokjin reaches out to increase Jungkook’s incline. “You’re not going to fuck my mortal enemy.”

“Well, if you’re not going to.”

“Think about juice girl!” Seokjin yells – entirely unintentional, but he is running out of breath.

Jungkook retaliates by upping his speed. By the end of their sprint, Seokjin feels like collapsing. He steps off his treadmill with wobbly legs, feeling as though he has just run a marathon. Not that Seokjin would ever run a marathon, of course, but he can imagine. Jungkook follows suit, hopping down from his machine.

“Good workout.” Jungkook wipes his forehead with a towel. “Wanna come over and hang? Hoseok from Foot Locker is gonna come, too.”

Seokjin nods, taking a sip from his water bottle. “Yeah, okay.” He glances again at the door, but your kiosk is too far to see. “Sounds good to me.”

As they walk towards the locker rooms, Jungkook chatters aimlessly but Seokjin cannot stop thinking about you. While he showers and changes, Jungkook’s words replay in his mind. The idea of Seokjin having a crush on you is insane. The two of you have barely exchanged one nice word since you met.

Still. Snapping a towel free from his neck, Seokjin continues to wonder. He does think about you an awful lot. Usually, he is thinking of new ways to annoy you, but that is more than he thinks about anyone else. Chad, for instance – or Lisa.

Frowning, Seokjin slams shut his locker. He cannot ignore the initial attraction he had for you. If you had not been his competition, Seokjin would have probably asked you out.

The moment he thinks this, he freezes. Maybe this is why you annoy him so much – Seokjin is attracted to you and can do nothing about it.

Under any other set of circumstances, this fact would be enlightening but things being what they are though, nothing has changed. You still hate him. Seokjin still finds you his competition.

Staring at his locker, Seokjin’s lips twist.

“Seokjin!” Jungkook yells from the door. “You coming, or what?”

Jerking himself free from his thoughts, Seokjin picks up his bag. “Coming!” he yells, pushing you from his mind.

Seokjin has the next two days off work. He uses this mainly to work on his apps, pouring time and energy into working the kinks from his latest round of updates. In between each stroke of his keyboard, he is thinking of you.

Seokjin hates Jungkook a little, for pointing out the obvious fact that he likes you. Before that, Seokjin took his fixation with you at face value. He did not like you; he was just annoyed by you. Now, though.

He cannot help but wonder.

Exhaling loudly, Seokjin slumps against his kiosk. His manager is off once again – honestly, that dude never works – and Seokjin is stuck working with Chad. Absently, Seokjin twirls a spinner around his finger.

“You okay, man?” Chad breaks the silence.

Shaking his head, Seokjin stares into space. “Oh, yeah. Just a bit preoccupied, that’s all.”

“With what?”

Seokjin shrugs, not feeling like talking.

Chad is one of the few people capable of getting under his skin without saying a word. It is something about the way Chad stands – chest puffed, gaze lazy, as though the world owes him something. He always wears a backwards cap, even inside and Seokjin suspects a receding hairline to be the cause. Whatever the reason, Chad always has a chip on his shoulder.

He seems to be compensating for something. Although what he could be compensating for, as a white male in today’s economy, Seokjin has no idea.

“Hey.” Voice lowering, Chad nods towards the food court. “I know something which might cheer you up.”

Seokjin straightens when he realizes Chad is staring at you. Anything which cheers Chad up could only have the opposite effect upon Seokjin.

“What?” Seokjin asks, suspicious.

Chad leans in. “You know the bitch who ruined our display a few days ago?”

Seokjin’s jaw tightens, hearing you called a bitch. “What about it?”

“Ha.” Chad laughs, not hearing the clear warning in Seokjin’s tone. “Don’t worry about paying her back. I got this.”

Alarm bells go off in Seokjin’s mind. “What do you mean by, ‘I got this?’”

“Let’s just say it’s taken care of.”

“No.” Seokjin drops his phone, standing up from his chair. “Let’s say more. What the fuck did you do, Chad?”

Chad blinks at him in surprise. “Whoa – chill, dude. What’re you pissed about?”

Seokjin pauses, uncertain. It is not as though he knows you, not really. But still – Seokjin remembers how sincere you looked that day, apologizing for the display. You did not mean to injure their kiosk; he knows that much.

“Chad…” Seokjin mutters in warning.

He does not get further before screams erupt from the food court. Seokjin’s head whips sideways, spotting the source of the commotion. Once again, a drone is loose in the mall. Like two days prior, a rogue helicopter flies over the food court. It seems out of control, dive-bombing people at random and sending them running.

Seokjin’s mouth drop. Before he can move, the drone careens towards the ground. A girl stands alone next to the frozen yogurt place, holding her cone and staring at it in terror. Her eyes widen, fixed on the drone and Seokjin moves on instinct, darting into the crowd.

Before he can arrive, the girl’s mom appears to yank her to safety. Her cone spills in the process, mint chocolate chip on the ground, but at least the helicopter misses, swooping and diving again. Seokjin’s eyes narrow, realizing the drone moves much too fast to be out of control.

Glancing around, Seokjin realizes Chad is on his phone. When he sees Seokjin looking, Chad waves at him with a grin.

Seokjin’s stomach heaves. Before he can move, you are barreling towards him.

“YOU!” you yell, pointing a finger. Several people between you look up in surprise.

Seokjin blinks, also pointing at himself. “Me?”

“You!” you gasp, skidding to a stop. “What the hell did you do to my drone?”

You are holding several remotes in your fist, Seokjin realizes. Apparently, none of them are working. The helicopter swoops dangerously close to you both and Seokjin ducks out of the way.

“What did I do?” he blurts, staring upwards. “You think I’m the one behind this?”

“No, shit!” you yell, dodging the drone.

“Y/N, I –” The chopper dive-bombs again and Seokjin groans. This is not going to make you believe him, but he needs to do something before someone gets hurt. “Fuck it!” he yells and takes off.

Sprinting away, Seokjin hears you yelling behind him. Ignoring you, Seokjin leaps onto a table. He is not sure how Chad is controlling the helicopter – possibly from his phone, but Seokjin would not put it past him to have someone stationed elsewhere in the mall. Based on the depth of his vengeance on Twitter, Seokjin imagines Chad to be petty.

All Seokjin knows is he needs to stop the drone and a sure-fire way of doing that is getting the drone from the air.

Above, the drone does a loop before dive-bombing a cluster of girls exiting the lingerie store. The girls squeal, scatting in every direction as the helicopter pulls from its spiral. Leaping into the air, Seokjin’s fingers barely brush a wing before falling back to the ground.

“SEOKJIN, GET BACK HERE!”

Ignoring you, Seokjin continues pursuing the drone. “Sorry!” he yells, dodging a woman. “Y/N, this isn’t what it looks like!”

Your footsteps pound behind him, catching up. “It looks like you hijacked one of your drones!”

“See!” Seokjin glances over his shoulder. “I told you it wasn’t what it looks like!”

“Huh?”

“Aha!” Seokjin leaps into the air. Fuck – he barely misses. Crashing again to the ground, Seokjin takes off running. He uses his next jump to leap onto a table.

A guy looks up from his hot dog, mustard dribbled onto his chin. “What the f –”

Seokjin leaps into the air, fingers grazing the wing of the helicopter. Eyes narrowed, Seokjin swears as his heels hit the ground. A mother nearby covers the ears of her child.

“Sorry!” Seokjin yells in response.

A hand grabs his arm. “Kim Seokjin!” you blurt, whirling him sideways to face you.

Seokjin glances over your shoulder in distress. “It’s getting away!” he blurts, shaking free to sprint towards the fro-yo.

Your mouth drops, but you follow. “What are you doing?”

Not having the breath to answer, Seokjin runs faster. For the first time in his life, he is grateful Jungkook pushes him so hard at the gym. Jumping again in the air, Seokjin thinks he has done it – until you jump suddenly in front of him, swatting his hand.

“Hey!” Seokjin yelps, stumbling as he hands. “What the fuck, Y/N?”

“Mine!” you yell, darting forward.

“Wait – Y/N!”

Grumbling, he chases after you. The two of you must look ridiculous, racing around the food court. As you pass Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Seokjin swears he can hear Yoongi cracking up at the register.

One second, you are ahead of him and the next, Seokjin is. He runs faster, pumping his arms as he spots the drone by the fountain. Cutting you off, Seokjin puts on a sudden burst of speed and leaps into the air. His fingers wrap around metal, yanking the helicopter from the sky. As he descends, Seokjin cannot help but laugh – until your hand finds his elbow, pulling him sideways.

Seokjin yelps, stumbling when his feet hit the concrete.

There is a dangerous, teetering moment where you both hover at the edge of the fountain – and then he falls, taking you with. Seokjin yelps, soaked to the skin when a water jet hits his face. A second splash follows as your butt hits the water.

If feels like a scene from a movie; that moment when a song cuts at a party. One second, everything is happening and the next – nothing.

Slowly, Seokjin pushes himself to sit in the water. The trickling sound of the fountain fills his ears, one of his hands resting on something which is definitely not a penny.

“Gross,” Seokjin groans, seeing the wad of pink gum.

His pants are soaked, so is his shirt and Seokjin does not even want to imagine the state of his hair. Removing his hand from the water gum, Seokjin looks up.

You glare back at him, making Seokjin recoil.

At least the drone is down.

Seokjin can see its red wings submerged in the water, bobbing genteelly in the waves of the fountain. Slowly, the sounds of the mall filter back in. Someone nearby snickers and someone else starts to clap. In his peripheral, Seokjin can see a few teenagers recording and slowly, he closes his eyes. If he goes viral, there is no way his manager will keep him.

You seem to realize the same thing, glancing around you in panic. Seokjin realizes your situation is noticeably worse than his, since you were wearing a white t-shirt when you fell. The material sticks to your skin, making each curve of your body apparent.

Seokjin swallows, understanding crashing into him with all the subtlety of a lightning bolt.

He likes you.

Fuck. Seokjin likes you, and he is a giant idiot.

Snickering at the food court grabs Seokjin’s attention. It appears he is not the only one to have noticed your shirt. At least your bra is white, but this does not seem to matter to fifteen-year-old boys.

Glancing down, you inhale and cover your chest. Seokjin awkwardly tries to stand, rushing forward to help but slips in the process, nearly falling again. It does not seem as though you desire his help anyways, springing to your feet with tears in your eyes.

Teeth chattering, you hold one hand before you. “Stay away,” you blurt, wet strands of hair plastered against your face. As though unable to help yourself, your lower lip quivers. “I fucking mean it, Seokjin. Stay away from me.”

Seokjin’s feet falter beneath him. “I…” Staring at you, he slowly nods in defeat. “Okay.”

You bend, scooping the helicopter into your arms before turning away.

Giving him another scowl, you climb from the fountain. Your sneakers make squishing noises against the linoleum as you stalk through the food court. Seokjin continues to stand there, ignoring the water jets which repeatedly hit his kneecaps.

His stomach sinks, watching you disappear.

Logically, Seokjin should go and find mall security. He should explain to them what happened before they find him, or worse – before he goes viral on the web. Less logically, Seokjin wants to run after you. He cannot simply leave things between you like that.

At the very least, he should find you a dry t-shirt. Maybe Hoseok could get him one from Foot Locker.

Because this is partly his fault. Seokjin was not the one who took over the drone and he did not push you into the fountain, but you only reacted that way because of how Seokjin has treated you. It was not a wild leap of thought to assume Seokjin was the culprit.

Before he can think about this further, a laugh breaks through the crowd. Turning around, Seokjin sees Chad running towards him.

“Wow.” Chad skids to a stop at the fountain. “That was incredible. Did you see how wet she was? And guess who got it all on camera?” He winks, waving his phone.

“Did you?” Seokjin speaks pleasantly, although he is starting to see red. “Can I see that?”

“Sure.” Chad grins, handing over the phone.

Accepting the object, Seokjin promptly throws this into the fountain.

Chad’s mouth drops open. “What the fuck?” he blurts, watching the metal sink to the bottom.

Seokjin brushes off his hands. “You’re fired,” he says, stepping out of the fountain. Water drips from his shirt, splashing the ground at his feet.

Chad’s eyes bug. “You can’t fire me, asshole. You’re not my manager.”

“Maybe not.” Seokjin shrugs and walks past. His hands open and close, curling into fists. “But he likes me better than you and he’ll believe me when I say this was your fault.”

“You dick!”

“That’s right,” Seokjin mutters. He glances at your kiosk, only to find it empty – Brandi must be helping you to clean up. Something twinges in his chest, knowing this is partly his fault. “I guess I am.”

One week later, Seokjin cannot stop thinking about you.

He tries to forget. Truly, he does but this proves itself to be more difficult than he realized. Seokjin did not understand before, how deeply you integrated yourself in his life. He did not realize how much he looked forward each day to your banter, to hearing your laugh whenever he passed by your kiosk. The past month has been bearable only because of your presence.

Slumped at the counter of Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Seokjin stares forlornly across the food court.

“Either smile or move.”

Seokjin turns to Yoongi in confusion. “Huh?”

“Either smile,” Yoongi repeats. “Or move. You’re bumming out all my customers.”

Seokjin glances at the empty food court before him. It is 10:00 AM. “What customers?”

“Exactly. All my customers are scared off by how sad you are.”

Seokjin manages a weak chuckle. “Trust me, my face is not what’s driving your customers away. If anything, it’s your latest SoundCloud mix.”

Yoongi frowns, perturbed. “Take that back.”

Seokjin winces, seeing the genuine hurt on his face. “Sorry, man,” he mumbles. “I’m just not in a great mood today.”

“No shit.”

Seokjin cracks a smile. “That obvious, huh?”

“Much in the same way climate change is obvious to everyone but the Cheeto.”

Stifling a laugh, Seokjin quickly sobers. “I just… I don’t know. I thought she’d hear me out, at least.”

The entire past week, Seokjin has parked at the opposite end of the mall from your kiosk. It makes his morning walk shorter, but somehow lonelier.

“So, this is about her, huh?” Yoongi lowers his elbows to the counter. “She’s gone incommunicado.”

“Yeah, it’s about her. I guess I can’t really blame her for being mad at me.”

“No?”

Seokjin shakes his head. “I was kind of a dick.”

Yoongi snorts. “She was a dick, too.”

“Yeah, but I started it.” Seokjin takes a sip of his coffee. “I was the one who approached her all weird, called her the competition. That set a tone.”

“Okay.” Yoongi tilts his head, thinking. “So, what’re you gonna do about it?” 

“I’m going to do nothing about it.”

“Then stop complaining to me.”

“I’m not complaining!” Seokjin looks up and sighs. “Alright, maybe I’m complaining a little. I just… wish I’d realized I liked her sooner.”

“Who cares about that? Tell her now!”

“But she hates me.”

“She hated you then!”

Seokjin glares and takes another sip of his coffee – sputtering, he chokes, “Oh, shit – that’s hot.”

“Hey.” Yoongi gives him a look. “She thinks you messed with her job. That’s way different than wearing tight pants, or putting on a fidget show, or whatever.”

“Fidget spinner show, Yoongi. Fidget show sounds like something else.”

“Both are lame,” Yoongi says. “And my point still stands. She’s mad at you now because of something you didn’t do. Now, move your elbow – I need to clean that spot before lunch.”

Seokjin obliges, dutifully removing himself from the counter. Drinking his coffee, he stares out at the food court. Up until now, Seokjin thought he was doing the noble thing. He was respecting your wishes by giving you space. You said you did not wish to see him again.

Yoongi is right, though. You said all that laboring under a misconception. More than respecting the words said in anger, perhaps it is better for Seokjin to tell you the truth. Maybe pretending to be noble is just another way of chickening out.

Because if Seokjin explains everything to you and you still do not care, it means he is alone in all this. His feelings are one-sided and everything before now was merely a rivalry. The spark Seokjin feels when he looks at you, the burning desire to kiss you – if you knew all that and still hated him, then Seokjin would be alone.

Seokjin exhales and looks up. “Gotta go,” he says, slapping the counter. “See you after your shift?’

“Wait!” Yoongi catches his arm before Seokjin can leave. “Bracelet buddies?” he grins, holding up the pink cat charm wound around his wrist.

Seokjin groans, dutifully rolling up his sleeve to showcase the pale pink alpaca. “Bracelet buddies,” he says glumly.

Yoongi gave him the gift several days ago; payback, he said, for all the women Seokjin has sent his way with the promise of a free pretzel. That used to be Seokjin’s way of scoring dates at the mall. At least, before he met you. Seokjin is obligated to wear said bracelet for three months, or else Yoongi will send their friends pictures of him sleeping with his mouth open on the couch.

If he is being honest, Seokjin does not entirely hate the bracelet. The alpaca is kind of cute, but Yoongi cannot ever know that. Waving goodbye, he manages to scowl and keep up appearances when he heads towards his kiosk.

For the next several days, Seokjin continues to wimp out.

Kind of.

While he does not actually explain what happened, he tries to make up for it in other ways. On Monday, he overhears you telling the Kay Jewelers girl the legs of your stool are too short. As a result, Seokjin volunteers to work late and stays long after closing. Before he leaves, he goes to your kiosk and switches your stool for his.

On Thursday morning, your shifts overlap. Seokjin sees you yawn passing his kiosk, mentioning to Brandi you did not sleep well the night prior. Ducking behind his counter, Seokjin does not make eye contact.

Still, he stops by Java Joe’s on his break and begs Taehyung for coffee.

Taking the long way back through the mall, Seokjin visits your kiosk. It is the first time he has tried talking to you since the Great Fountain debacle. As you come into view, Seokjin swallows and forces the words from his lips.

“Hey.” He comes to a stop at the register.

You freeze when you see him. “Um. Hi?”

Seokjin holds the coffee tray out like a shield. “I was at Java Joe’s and Taehyung brewed too much espresso. Lisa doesn’t drink it, so I was wondering if you wanted it?”

Your lips part, staring at him for a moment.

When you do not immediately respond, Seokjin starts to sweat. “You don’t have to take it,” he says quickly. “I can give it to someone else. It’s too much for me though, and you were on the way back from the shop…”

Trailing off, Seokjin wonders if this entire endeavor is foolish. The tray he is holding is full – four, small cups of espresso which cost an hour of pay. Of course, you do not need to know that. You only need to know that he thought of you.

“I – yeah,” you say slowly, reaching out for a cup. “Thanks, Seokjin.”

Seokjin blinks, since your response was almost cordial. Before he can get too excited about this, Brandi appears.

“Wow, thanks!” she enthuses, grabbing a cup. “That was so nice of you to do this.”

“Right.” Seokjin deflates just a little. It is not as if he does not want Brandi to have espresso, but he was hoping for a shared moment with you. “Just spreading the love – or caffeine, as it were. Anyways…” His laughter trails off, gaze darting to you. “Guess I have one more cup to distribute. Enjoy!”

He turns around too fast for you to respond.

Each step he takes, Seokjin half-expects to hear you call out behind him. If this were pre-Fountain Incident, you probably would have. An insult, or horrible pun – something to let Seokjin know you were watching him walk away, but now there is only silence.

This goes on for a week. Seokjin continues to do nice things for you, passing by in the hopes you will say hi. He holds his breath and hopes you will speak first, but it seems you are determined to continue icing him out.

Seokjin supposes he cannot blame you for this. It is not as though you were friends, after all.

He has almost accepted the idea that you will continue being strangers when one day, Seokjin looks up and finds you at the register.

All words instantly die in his throat.

If he thought he was in the process of getting over you, Seokjin was sorely mistaken. The days of silence have not lessened his want, but only intensified it. It makes him swallow, uncertain, which must be a first. Out of all his friends, Seokjin is not the one to call shy.

Tentatively, you smile and Seokjin realizes he still has not spoken.

“H-hi,” he stammers.

Your shoulders seem to relax at his nervousness. “Hi. Is this a bad time?”

“No,” Seokjin says, slamming his register shut. “Lisa is on break, but it’s been a slow afternoon.”

“Yeah,” you exhale. “Same. Guess we finally found those lulls you were on about.”

Seokjin chuckles under his breath. The space between you falls silent again.

“I, uh…” Twisting your hands before you, you seem unsure what to say. “I haven’t seen you around, lately.”

Seokjin’s heart stutters. “Oh. I guess.”

“That’s kind of my fault,” you say. Seokjin’s gaze drops to your hands, which continue to twist. He finds the gesture oddly endearing. “I was the one who told you to stay away.”

Arching a brow, Seokjin turns towards the register. He does not know what to say without being rude. Yes, seems like the most obvious answer, but that could be construed as impolite. Casually, he sneaks a peek sideways. You are right, though – this is partly your fault, also. Even if the other fault is his own.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I don’t blame you for saying that, though.”

“You don’t?”

Curiosity laces your tone and Seokjin looks up, surprised to see a question mark in your gaze.

“Brandi told me Chad was fired,” you add.

Seokjin stills. “Yeah. He was.”

You pause, as though waiting for an explanation. When none comes, you narrow your eyes. “He was the one who messed with that drone, wasn’t he? Not you.”

“I – yeah, I guess so.”

Exasperation enters your gaze. “Well, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I did!” Seokjin protests. “I told you when we were chasing after the drone and you didn’t believe me!”

“Oh,” you say, wilting a bit. “Right.”

Seeing your face, Seokjin softens. “Look, it’s not a big deal.”

“Is it?” you ask in disbelief. “I yelled at you in front of the entire mall for something you didn’t do, and you’re saying its fine?”

Seokjin’s lips quirk. “Well, when you put it like that.”

When you roll your eyes at the ceiling, he laughs. Weirdly, it feels good to have you disparage him a little. It feels as though you are on even footing again.

“I mean, it’s not like we were friends,” Seokjin continues. “Why wouldn’t you think it was me?”

“Hm.” You blink, taken aback. “I guess you’re right.”

After another long moment, Seokjin adds, “We could try to be friends now, though. If you want.”

You bite down on your lip. “Are you giving me a formal offer, Seokjin? Should I sign on the dotted line somewhere?”

“I can make a contract if you want. All good peace treaties are in writing.”

“Is that what this is? A peace treaty?”

“Of a sort.” Seokjin raises a brow. “I can’t promise to stop kicking your ass in sales, though. I was born talented.”

“Or, maybe it’s Maybelline,” you shoot back. “I wouldn’t want you to stop, though. It’s been too quiet around here without you blasting Backstreet Boys.”

“Liked what you heard?”

“Who doesn’t like Backstreet Boys?”

“Monsters.”

“Agreed.”

“Wow.” Seokjin’s brow furrows. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever agreed with me.”

“I know.” After a moment, you frown. “It’s oddly unsettling.”

Seokjin laughs – a short, surprised burst which makes you smile. “Well...” Trailing off, he finds himself unsure what more to say. “Is that why you came over?”

“Let’s see.” You lift a hand, ticking things off on your fingers. “Tell you I know you didn’t sabotage my job. Check. Ask to be friends? Check. Oh,” you add, as though only remembering. “There was something else I wanted to say.

Seokjin waits, holding his breath as you start to lean in.

Angelic, you smile. “I lied before,” you say. “We aren’t having a lull. See you around!”

Dropping a wink, you turn to walk across the food court. Seokjin watches you go, legs having effectively turned to jelly in your presence. It is unfair that you have this effect on him. Slowly, he lowers himself onto his stool. It would seem the two of you are friends now.

Dragging a hand through his hair, Seokjin wonders what he has gotten himself into.

Over the next couple of weeks, Seokjin stops by your kiosk more often. He learns your usual morning coffee order – a grande iced Americano – and occasionally brings it along. You seem to have switched to the morning shift, he notices. Before, it was about fifty-fifty which time of the day you showed up.

At some point, Seokjin explains about his former job and current app development side projects. This turns into a running joke of him bouncing ideas off you.

“Okay,” you say, folding your hands across a wan food court table.

Seokjin takes a sip of his coffee. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, what’s today’s app idea?”

Seokjin snorts. It is 10:00 AM and neither of you must be at your shift yet but somehow, you both managed to arrive early.

“What about this?” Seokjin leans back in his chair. “Angry birds, but – instead of birds, its photos of friends that you upload yourself.”

“Pass.”

“Hm. A Bachelorette fantasy league app?”

“Hard no.”

“Okay, so this one is a kid’s game.”

“Go on.”

“A kid’s game where you change the oil of your dad’s car as fast as you can.” 

You snort, nearly spilling your drink. “Seokjin! That’s a terrible app idea.” 

“Bonus points if you spill no oil on the driveway!”

“Seokjin!”

He grins. “Yeah, Yoongi said it was bad, too. I don’t get it.”

“Please.” Shaking your head, your smile fades the longer you look at him. “I don’t believe any of those are your actual idea, though.”

“Huh?” Seokjin blinks. “What do you mean?”

“Those are just the ideas you tell people to make them laugh,” you observe. “It gets them off your back, so you don’t have to say your actual idea. You know, the one you really care about.”

Seokjin pauses, mouth suddenly dry. “I don’t know what you mean.”

You arch a brow. “I get it. That’s how I am with my writing. Freelance doesn’t exactly pay for dreams, does it? I tend to downplay my favorite ideas, so then if they don’t work out – hey, at least it wasn’t something I cared about. You know?”

Seokjin is not quite sure how to respond. In only a few sentences, you have looked inside him and summarized his thoughts. No one – not even Yoongi, whom Seokjin has known for years – is able to read him as well.

Inhaling gently, Seokjin leans back from the table. “Well,” he admits. “There is this one idea.”

“Oh?”

Nodding, Seokjin considers where to begin. “Do you know what fair lending is?”

“Not really, no.”

“It’s the unbiased treatment of customers by banks.” Seokjin pauses and, when you do not seem bored with the topic, begins to speak freely. “It ensures financial institutions provide uniform services, regardless of bias.”

“Gotcha. So, it’s like equal opportunity but for banks?”

“Kind of, yeah.” Seokjin exhales. “Basically, I want to create a fair lending app. There is a lot out there to help with credit decisions and stuff, but I want to put it all in one place. I want to break down the ‘non-biased metrics’ banks use and warn people how there could be bias involved.”

Your frown. “What do you mean?”

“Take income, for example.” Seokjin grips his cup tighter. “The vast majority of people below the poverty line are minorities. So, if a bank has a hard and fast income requirement for a loan, they inadvertently discriminate. It’s why a variety of factors are mandated to assist in … what?” Seokjin blinks, seeing you staring. “What is it?”

Hiding a smile, you shake your head. “Nothing, it’s just a cool idea. I think you should do it.”

“But then who will make bachelorette fantasy app?” Seokjin jokes, ducking his head.

“Someone else.” You wait until he looks up. “Do the fair lending app.”

Seokjin finds he cannot think of another joke. “Alright,” he says slowly. “It’s a plan.”

You nod, sipping your coffee as silence falls in between you. It is unnerving, how easy it is for Seokjin to talk to you. With most people, it takes him a while to show his true colors but with you, he finds he cannot be anyone else.

Glancing at his watch, Seokjin realizes how late it is. “Shit,” he mutters, jumping out of his seat. “It’s nearly 10:30.”

You wince, standing as well. “Damn, do you have to open today?”

“Unfortunately so.” Seokjin grabs his coffee. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay, Y/N?”

“Okay,” you say, waving when he turns out of sight.

Seokjin does not hesitate to walk away. He curses himself the entire way to his kiosk because he is becoming much too comfortable with being your friend. Enough that he keeps catching himself thinking about more.

It is hard not to think about his hands wrapped around yours on your coffee cup. Hard not to imagine carpooling with you in his car to work. Seokjin tries to be on his best behavior but still, the fantasies worm their way in.

It is why he has created several rules of conduct around you. First and foremost is never stay for too long. The second Seokjin feels himself becoming attached, he leaves. Like now, for instance. Seokjin does not really have to be at the kiosk before eleven but the way you were looking at him made his heart beat out of his chest.

Self-preservation, he reminds himself.

The rules are working until Taehyung throws a party.

“Saturday night,” Taehyung grunts, slamming Seokjin’s coffee order on the counter.

Seokjin blinks, reaching up to take both cups. Lately, Taehyung has been in the worst kind of mood. This mostly seems to stem from his hot co-worker who will not take him seriously. All the guys in the mall gave him shit about it before, but the kid really does seem to like her. Which sucks, since Taehyung has a reputation and the pretty barista clearly has heard of it.

“The party is at your place?” asks Seokjin, glancing up at the counter.

Taehyung nods. Loud enough for his co-worker to hear, he adds, “The party will be at my place this weekend! Can’t wait to see you there, Seokjin!”

Seokjin snorts, shaking his head. “You’re whipped, man,” he whispers. Then, loud enough for the female barista to hear, he adds, “I’ll be there! In fact, everyone should come!”

The girl does not react, busy at the register and Seokjin shrugs.

Sorry man, he mouths to Taehyung before pushing open the door. Making his way through the mall, Seokjin walks past your kiosk – only to see you deep in conversation with another guy. Seokjin does not recognize him as your co-worker, but he does recognize him from the gym.

Occasionally, Jungkook talks to him before they work out. Seokjin never found the guy threatening before.

Seeing him now though, the oddest sensation unfurls in his stomach. He does not want you talking to this guy – the desire flashes through Seokjin’s mind faster than he can stop it. Before he can turn around and leave though, before Seokjin can separate himself from the situation, you look up and smile.

“Hey, Seokjin!”

“Hey, Y/N.” Plastering a smile on his face, Seokjin forces himself to walk towards your kiosk. “And you are…?” he asks, looking at the stranger.

The guy grins, unconcerned. “Hey, I’m Josh.”

“Cool.” Seokjin returns to looking at you. “Are you coming to Taehyung’s party this weekend, Y/N?”

Everyone at the mall knows who Taehyung is. He is a staple for anyone who drinks coffee – and chances are, if you have stopped by Java Joe’s in the past three days, you are invited.

Your eyes widen. “I was thinking about it.”

“Cool.” Seokjin casually leans an elbow against your kiosk. He forgets about the wheels though, and as a result, the entire thing starts to move. Frantically attempting to right this, Seokjin nearly spills his coffee in the process.

“Anyways…” he mutters, ears turning scarlet.

You clamp your lips tightly together. “So, you’re going to be there?”

Seokjin nods. He has no idea what he is doing. He has no idea what Josh is doing, since he has not said a word since introducing himself.

Glancing at him now, Seokjin is reminded of Chad. Not because the two look anything alike, but because they both have that air about them. That condescending, could-bench-press-you-in-seconds look. Seokjin bets that, at some point in the past ten days, Josh has worn a snapback.

You are standing close very close to him, though. Seokjin cannot ignore this fact.

“Cool.” Your gaze lingers on his. “Then, I guess I’ll see you there?”

Seokjin nods. “Guess so. We’ll see!”

He turns, walking away and overhears Josh ask you details about the party. Gritting his teeth, Seokjin uncurls his hands from their fists. You are not his to be jealous of, he reminds himself. He has no right to be angry if you decide to date someone else. But still, Seokjin’s mood remains sour for the rest of the day.

You do not visit at the end of your shift. If could be because you are genuinely busy. Or, it could be something else. Or, someone.

Seokjin has the next two days off. He uses them to work on his fair lending app, getting a good bit of coding done in his apartment. Your voice plays in his mind as he works, telling him to go for what he wants.

Seokjin is tired of working at the Fidget Funk. He is tired of waking up every morning, going to a job he hates and feeling as though he is doing nothing with his life. What was supposed to be a temp job has stretched into months and Seokjin needs to act for anything about this to change.

There is only so long he can complain before doing something about it.

He wants to do what he loves; wants to do something he cares about – not this. Sometimes, making that decision is the hardest part.

The night of the party, Seokjin drives there with Yoongi. Yoongi, surprisingly agrees to come with little coercion. Usually, Seokjin needs to drag his taciturn roommate to social events. He was easily convinced tonight though, which results in Seokjin being more nervous than normal.

As they enter Taehyung’s apartment, he pauses on the threshold.

If he had your number, he would have texted to see if you were coming, but Seokjin does not and so, he could not. Wandering into the room, Seokjin winces when no one removes their shoes. Parties are always strangely barbaric in that regard.

Taehyung’s apartment with his roommate, Jimin, is much larger than his. Seokjin remembers Taehyung saying Jimin came from money but does not remember specifics. Jimin is a night nurse at NorthShore Medical center and often stops by Java Joe’s in the morning for coffee. Other than that, Seokjin does not know much about him.

Walking inside, Seokjin realizes Taehyung has downplayed Jimin’s wealth. There is no way they could afford this place on a nurse and barista salary. A bunch of people are outside – because there is an outside; a large balcony overlooking the city – chatting about nothing over the rims of their drinks.

Yoongi disappears as soon as they enter, heading off to god-knows-where. He leaves Seokjin alone, who shifts his weight about nervously. Glancing up, he spots Namjoon in the kitchen and hastily rushes towards him. Finally, a familiar face.

“Joon!” he calls out.

Namjoon waves, re-filling the cup in his hand. When Seokjin reaches his side, he hands another to Seokjin. “Hey,” Namjoon nods. “You just get here?”

“Yeah.” Seokjin scans the party again, red cup in one hand. “Is everything c –”

Cutting himself off mid-sentence, Seokjin stares when you walk into the room. Everything he wanted to say falls from his brain to the floor. It is not unlike that one scene in She’s All That, when Laney comes down the stairs and Freddie Prinze Jr. loses his mind. Seokjin cannot think, looking at you.

A red cup is in your hand, matching the red gloss on your lips and god, Seokjin cannot stop thinking about kissing it off.

He swallows, hard – and then notices the guy at your side.

You laugh, turning sideways to Josh. Because that is who it is, of course – the same muscle- bound jock you were talking to at the drone kiosk earlier.

Jungkook appears as well, clapping Josh on the shoulder. Seokjin scowls, swallowing a larger sip of his drink than intended. First, this guy tries to steal his girl and now, his best friend. Eyes widening, Seokjin straightens. Shit, you are not his girl. He needs to stop thinking that way.

“Seokjin?”

Seokjin realizes Namjoon is staring at him. “Uh, yeah?”

“You trailed off in the middle of a sentence and have been hard-core staring at that girl ever since. Is – oh!” Namjoon’s eyes light up. “That’s her, isn’t it?”

“That’s who?” Seokjin hastily swallows his drink.

“The girl! Fountain girl!” Namjoon shoves him. “The one you’re head over heels for!”

“Okay, fountain girl is a horrible way of describing her. And yeah, maybe that’s – shit, shut up,” Seokjin hisses. “She’s coming this way.”

Namjoon snorts into his drink. You are, indeed, waking towards them but Josh is no longer beside you. Craning his neck, Seokjin looks over your shoulder but does not see the guy anywhere.

“Hey.” You come to a stop right before them, glancing at Namjoon. “Namjoon, right?”

Namjoon sticks out a hand. “Yep. Y/N?”

You take this, stifling a smile as you shake. “Yeah.”

“And, of course, you know Seokjin.” Namjoon grins at Seokjin’s flustered expression.

“Uh-huh,” you say, offering him a tentative smile. “We go way back.”

Feeling somewhat nauseous, Seokjin takes another sip of his drink. “Y/N and I are friends.”

A flash of something – uncertainty? Annoyance? – crosses your features. “Right,” you say carefully. “Friends.”

Your expression remains stubborn though, and Seokjin wonders if he has done something wrong. Changing the subject, he glances around the apartment. “Have you been here before, Y/N?”

“No,” you confess. “But damn – which roommate won the lottery?”

Seokjin grins. “I know, right? I can show you around if you want.”

You blink, taken aback by his offer and Seokjin wonders if that was too forward. Well, fuck it – he is not getting anywhere by being subtle.

“Yeah,” you say, recovering yourself. “I’d like that.”

Pushing himself off the counter, Seokjin says goodbye to Namjoon and plunges into the party. He continues to look for hot gym guy, Josh, but does not see him anywhere. It is unlikely you came here together, but not impossible. Perhaps the two of you are dating. Perhaps you like him and want to date him in the future.

Seokjin is so busy running through what-if scenarios, he does not notice you looking at him.

“Right, so Taehyung and Jimin’s rooms are that way.” Seokjin leads through the crowd. “Aka, that hall is off limits. This is the living area and well, you already saw the balcony.” Steps faltering, Seokjin looks sideways at you. “Did you see the balcony?”

You shake your head. “Nope.”

“Scared of heights?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well, then you’re lucky.” Seokjin mutters, pushing open the sliding glass door. “Luck you never met that dick, Jared Karinsky.”

Laughing, you follow him out on the balcony. There are only a few other people outside and, once the door slides shut, it feels as though you are trapped in another world.

“Who’s Jared Karinksy?”

Glowering, Seokjin takes a sip of his drink. “Some dick who knew I didn’t like heights, but still brought me to the top of the jungle gym. Then, he left me there. It took two hours for my brother to find me and get me back down.”

Laughing, you lean against the railing. “I take it that didn’t help?”

“It did not,” says Seokjin. “If anything, my fear was worse after.”

You grin, draining the rest of your cup as the wind ruffles your hair. It makes Seokjin’s heart ache a bit to look at.

“Well, I have to say –”

The glass door slides open, interrupting whatever you were about to say. Josh’s head pops out. “Y/N!” he grins. “I was looking for you.”

You slowly turn towards the interruption. “I... oh. Hey, Josh.”

“Are you busy?” Josh glances between you and Seokjin.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Seokjin feels oddly foolish. It seems obvious now, that you came here with Josh. You must have been making a beeline for drinks when you ran into Seokjin in the kitchen. Seokjin assumed, then. He thought you were free. When he grabbed you, he was yanking you away from the guy you really wanted to be with.

“Not busy.” Seokjin drains the rest of his cup. “Not busy at all. Have fun,” he mutters, brushing your shoulder as he moves towards the door.

When he leaves, Seokjin does not look back and so, he does not see your lips part. He does not watch you stare after him with equal parts frustration and anger. All Seokjin sees is the kitchen before him, full of alcohol for him to consume. Alcohol he will need to get through the rest of this party.

He is almost to the kitchen when a hand grips his arm, yanking him around. “What the fuck was that?” you say, brows furrowed.

Seokjin stares at you, alarmed you are in such close proximity. “I – huh? What the fuck was what?”

You scowl, leaning in and Seokjin leans back. “That!” you demand, waving vaguely at the balcony. “Why did you run away?”

“Run away?” Seokjin’s gaze darts towards the offending location. “I thought you wanted to talk to that guy?”

“Why would you think that?” you ask, brows furrowing further.

“I…” Seokjin finds himself at a loss. “I don’t know. Didn’t you come here with him?”

“With Josh?” You wrinkle your nose. “You mean – my cousin, Josh?”

“…cousin?”

You nod, looking at him incredulously. “You thought I wanted to talk to my cousin, Josh, as opposed to you?”

A lightbulb clicks in Seokjin’s mind. “I – he’s your cousin?”

“Yes, he’s my cousin.” Scowling, you take a step closer. “But even if he weren’t, why would you just leave like that? We were in the middle of a conversation!”

“I don’t know!” he blurts, gaze narrowing at your tone.

Out of the two of you, Seokjin is the one with the right to be angry. You are the one looking so damn good tonight and currently yelling at him for something he does not understand.

Vaguely aware they should not have this argument in the middle of Taehyung and Jimin’s kitchen, Seokjin grabs your wrist and tugs you into the hall. The forbidden one, next to the bedrooms. Realizing this, Seokjin keeps going and decides to beg forgiveness later.

Dropping your arm, he whirls around to find you mere inches away.

“Why didn’t you ask me to stay?” he accuses, pointing a finger. “For that matter – why didn’t you ask if I was going to the party tonight? If my presence is so important to you.”

Glaring at him, you bat his finger away. “You asked me first! Besides, I thought it was obvious I wanted you here. You know… because of the… and…”

“Because of the what?”

Somehow, you have gotten very close to Seokjin. The tips of your toes are just brushing his. Electricity crackles between you, making Seokjin’s heartbeat oddly erratic.

Glowering, your gaze darts to his lips. “Oh – seriously? Shut up and kiss me, you ass!”

Grabbing your face, Seokjin does just that. His lips crash into yours, the kiss muffled and urgent as he backs you to the wall. You groan, hands fisting in the back of his t-shirt. Seokjin cannot think beyond his hand resting on your jaw, then sliding into your hair, then moving down to your ass.

He cups you against him, head reeling from the sudden warmth of your mouth, your body and the urgency of your touch. Seokjin has never wanted someone so badly. Each brush of your lips leaves him wanting more, an endless desire alight in his veins.

Your mouth opens, tongue flicking with his as Seokjin’s heart nearly explodes. He cannot breathe – each breath mingles with yours, leaving him dizzy and parched.

“Fuck,” he groans, breaking away to lean his arm to the wall.

You stare up at him, breathless and confused. Your chest continues to rise and fall, lips swollen from the wanton press of his mouth. Seokjin cannot look away.

“I…” He exhales, glancing towards the living room. “Do you wanna get out of here?”

You nod so fast, you nearly hit your head on his chin. “Yes.”

“Okay.” Seokjin reaches down, grabbing your hand. “You good with my place? It’s only a few minutes drive.”

“Yeah,” you answer, following him down the hall. “Roommate?”

“Here. At the party.”

“Good.”

Dragging you into the foyer, Seokjin digs his phone from his pocket. Letting go of your fingers, he shoots a text off to Yoongi, telling him not to come home. He can face the consequences of that later. Shoving his phone in his pocket, Seokjin opens the door.

“Do you have a coat?” he asks, looking at you.

“Nope. You?”

“Nope.” Seokjin shuts the door to the hall and the noise of the party fades. “This way?”

“Sounds good.”

When you move to walk past, Seokjin grabs your hand – he cannot help himself. Pushing you against the wall, he relishes your muffled exclamation of surprise and kisses you fiercely. Thoroughly. The way he has wanted to for so long.

Hands sliding into your hair, Seokjin feels you arch against him. Your hand is on his hip, pulling him closer and Seokjin cannot stop thinking about your hand on other places.

When he finally breaks away, you stare at his lips. “That’s…” You swallow, voice sounding strangled. “Fuck.”

Seokjin grins. “Come on.”

Grabbing you again, he pulls you into the elevator. The entire way down, the air between you is electric. Seokjin shifts his weight and you follow suit. Raising a hand, you rub the back of your neck. Seokjin’s skin prickles when he sees.

When the door dings, opening into the lobby, you suddenly come to life. Newly determined, your hand wraps around his and pulls Seokjin outside. He practically throws his keys at the valet, wondering how on earth he is going to survive the drive home without touching you. Thank god he only had that one drink tonight. It would have been torture to be so close to fucking you and then not.

Startled by the thought, Seokjin realizes the truth of the matter. He is going to see you naked. Whirling to face you, Seokjin blurts, “This isn’t some random thing. You know that, right?”

Surprised, you glance at him. “I – what?”

“This.” Seokjin steps closer and his peripheral, sees the valet hop out of his car. “I really like you, Y/N.”

Staring up at him, you blink. “You do?”

“Of course, I do! You thought I didn’t?”

“I thought you hated me.”

“Of course, not!” Grabbing his keys from the valet, Seokjin opens the passenger door. He waits until you sit before crossing to the driver’s side. “Why would you think that?” he asks, sliding into the seat.

You stare at him incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What?” Seokjin pulls out of the driveway. “I’ve liked you for so long! I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Uh! Could’ve fooled me.”

“Are you serious? I was such an idiot in front of you! What other explanation is there?”

“That you’re an idiot!” you answer, scowling. “Are you seriously saying that was your idea of flirting?”

“I mean… well, no, but…”

You snort, facing forward. “You’re so bad at this.”

“At what?”

“This!” you insist, gesturing between you.

“Oh, come on! Like you’re Juliet, or something.”

“Who?”

“Juliet! Of Romeo and Juliet!”

“They… Seokjin, they died in the end!” you say incredulously.

“Well, what do I know?” Seokjin makes a sharp right, pulling into his parking lot. “I never finished reading that play, actually – fell asleep a third of the way in. What I’m trying to say is that you’re also shit at this.”

“Oh, really?”

“You said you never wanted to speak to me again,” Seokjin reminds, throwing the car into park.

Hastily, you unbuckle your seatbelt. “I apologized for that.”

“You were the one who said you wanted to be friends!” Seokjin shoves open his door and exits the vehicle.

You exit as well, slamming the door shut. “Well, it seemed like the next logical step!”

“No.” Seokjin strides forward. Caging you against the car, he growls, “The next logical step would’ve been admitting you liked me, too.”

“Too?” You blink, stuck on the word. “So, you admit you like me?”

“Never said I didn’t.”

These last words are muttered against your lips, Seokjin cutting off further retorts with a kiss.

Arching upwards, your hands twine around his neck. Seokjin’s mind stutters, unsure what to think. His brain is a vague mess of swear words and exclamation points when his lips move against yours. It is hard to grasp the fact that you are here, with him and wanting him the same way he wants you.

Breaking apart, Seokjin rests his forehead to yours. “Okay,” he manages. “I know you said you wanted to leave with me. I know you got in my car and drove all the way here. But – because I want to be sure – do you want to come in?”

Breathlessly, you laugh. “Yes.”

“Okay.” Withdrawing, Seokjin takes your hand. “Then, let’s go.”

Climbing the outdoor stairs to reach his apartment, Seokjin pulls the keys from his pocket so he is prepared to enter. He does not check his phone, certain Yoongi has texted him multiple epithets about where he can stick his ass.

Bracing his hip against his door, Seokjin jiggles the key to shove it open. Once you are both inside, Seokjin half-expects you to wrinkle your nose. It is not as if his and Yoongi’s apartment can ever compete with Jimin and Taehyung’s.

You do none of this, though. Stepping inside, you place your purse on the counter and glance around curiously. “You live with that guy from the food court, right?” you ask, turning around. “Yoongi?”

Stepping forward, Seokjin crushes his mouth to yours.

You inhale, the noise caught by his lips when your hands slide up his back. One of your legs curls around his, rubbing your core against the meat of his thigh. Seokjin’s head spins, gripping your ass to push you against the counter. You make a muffled noise, gasping when Seokjin hardens into your crotch.

It is embarrassing how ready he is for you. All it took where a few whispered words about how badly you want him and here he is, rock-hard and on edge. Admittedly, the noises you make are not helping.

“Shit,” Seokjin breathes, kissing down the slope of your neck.

You arch your throat, allowing more access. Your skin tastes of berries and something else – probably a perfume Seokjin does not know the name of. The warm press of your core to his leg leaves Seokjin reeling.

“My room?” he gasps, hand dragging up your side.

Frantic, you nod. “Yes.”

Bending, Seokjin grips your legs and lifts you against him. He stumbles towards his bedroom, realizing too late you are heavier than he thought. Maybe Jungkook was right about adding weight to his reps. Kissing you again, Seokjin staggers into his bedroom and drops you on the bed.

Laughing, you grab your top to yank overhead. There is some skepticism to your gaze, as though you expected him to fall short in carrying you. Seokjin’s ego flames in response. Growling lowly, he rips off his shirt and descends on the bed. Parting your legs, he presses a kiss to your thigh.

“Take off your jeans.” Seokjin looks up.

You blink. “What?”

“I wanna eat you out.” Seokjin cocks a brow. “Or, is that too much?”

“No,” you glower, undoing your buttons. “Go for it.”

As you shimmy your jeans down your legs, Seokjin’s mouth dries at the sight of your panties. He did not imagine them to be lace. He did not imagine them to be quite as revealing as they are. Slowly, Seokjin reaches out to peel these aside. You inhale, arching on the bed. Seeing your pussy like that, laid out before him, he can hardly breathe.

You are wet for him. Theoretically, this makes sense, but Seokjin did not think he could make you wet. Did not think he would ever see you as drenched as you are, the lace in the middle much damper than the rest. Pressing another kiss to your knee, Seokjin inhales and makes his way higher.

Flicking your clit with his tongue, he teases at more. You mewl, curling inwards and Seokjin pushes your legs down. He sucks the length of your folds, getting you good and wet before he returns to your sex. You arch again, pussy clenching even through there is nothing inside you.

Smirking, Seokjin takes pleasure in this fact. Your folds are glistening, ready even though has not touched you yet. He has not even pushed a finger inside that tight, wet cunt of yours. Lowering his head, Seokjin’s tongue curls over your clit. He turns needy, licking until your hands fist in the sheets on either side of your body.

“Seokjin,” you groan. “Please.”

“Please what?”

Seokjin leisurely sucks on your clit, pulling it between his lips. His other hand drifts to your cunt, tracing in circles.

You moan beneath him on the bed, arching to try and push him inside. Seokjin memorizes the visual – the black lace of your bra barely hiding your nipples, hair splayed on his comforter with his hands on your thighs.

“I need more.”

“Yeah?” Seokjin lazily traces your pussy. “Want me to finger you?’

“Fuck, yes.”

“Mm.” Seokjin sucks your clit until you cry out from pleasure. Releasing you gently, he sits back on his heels to rub with his fingers. “I could probably make you come like this, though.”

Reaching underneath your body, you unhook your bra. Seokjin stares in awe at your chest, bared before him. “Probably,” you agree. “But wouldn’t it be more fun to come inside me?”

Seokjin’s teeth grit, the words going straight to his cock. Already, it pulses against the tight fit of his jeans – when he feels how wet you are, Seokjin cannot stop imagining himself inside you. Grabbing your wrist, he brings your hand to his crotch.

You inhale when you feel how hard he is. “You’re so… big,” you murmur. “Will you even fit?’

Seokjin smirks, bending until his lips cover yours. “Not yet,” he agrees, spreading your legs with one hand. Stroking your center, he wets himself with your arousal. “That’s why I gotta stretch you out first. Get you ready for this dick.”

“O-h,” you gasp, mouth a perfect o as Seokjin’s finger pushes inside.

It is a tight stretch. Seokjin feels a bit light-headed, imagining something so tight and wet wrapped around him. Withdrawing, he pushes a finger inside you again. Rolling your hips, you force Seokjin deeper and he clicks his tongue, hand grabbing your waist.

“You don’t get to be in control,” he instructs, finger sliding back out. Adding another one, he slowly fucks you again. “You just have to lie there and take it.”

“Good,” you breathe, two of his fingers inside you. “Finally. I’ve been wanting you to yank my panties down and fuck me for weeks now.”

Seokjin’s jaw clenches – shaking his head, he is certain he must have misheard. “What?”

A smile curls your lips. “You heard me,” you say sweetly, pussy squelching as Seokjin’s fingers slide in and out. “You’re so hot when you’re mad. Why do you think I teased you so much? Wanted your dick in my mouth to shut me up.”

Heat blazes through Seokjin’s veins. He has never been this turned on in his life – hearing such sinful things from your angelic lips. Sitting back on his heels, Seokjin frantically undoes his jeans.

“Fuck, Y/N,” he mutters, pushing them past his ass.

Yanking out his cock, Seokjin wraps a hand around his girth. He rubs himself roughly, ignoring the pre-cum dripping from his reddened tip. Already, he is steeling himself to not come inside you. Pushing yourself up on your elbows, you watch him touching himself, lips parted in awe. Seokjin stares back, realizing you are as tuned on by him as he is by you.

Your gaze darts to his face. “Condom?” you ask, voice unsteady. “I don’t think I’ll last long once you’re inside me.”

Nodding, Seokjin grabs one from his drawer. Ripping open the packet, he rolls this on. Lowering an arm to the bed, Seokjin positions his cock at your core. As badly as he wants to be inside you, there is something so tantalizing about teasing. Spreading your legs, Seokjin rubs his cock to your clit and watches you twitch in response.

“Seokjin,” you groan, arms sliding around his neck.

“Yeah?”

“Need you to fuck me so good,” you whine.

“Yeah?” Cock at your entrance, Seokjin slowly pushes inside. “Like that?”

“Mhmm.” You nod, breath hitching slightly. “Like that.”

“There?” Seokjin pushes in a bit more, moaning when your walls flutter around him.

You are squeezing him so fucking tight, Seokjin wonders how much more you can take. He is aware of the fact he is big. It would not be the first time a girl could not take him; would not be the first time he gave up and ate the girl out until she came.

“No!” Eyes flying open, you grab Seokjin’s wrist when he starts to withdraw. Lips parted, you stare at him in a daze. “Please keep going,” you beg. “Don’t wanna stop.”

Seokjin arches a brow. “You sure? Sure it feels good?”

“Good?” You stare at him with a fucked-out expression. “Oh my god.” Wrapping both legs around his waist, you push Seokjin in deeper. “You’re stretching me so good, baby. Can’t wait until you’re pounding this pussy.”

“Fuck,” Seokjin hisses, gaze darkening. “I think I somehow got harder.”

“I know,” you laugh, somewhat dreamily. “Felt your cock twitch inside me. So fucking hot.”

Seokjin continues to ease inside you, inch by inch until your eyes start to water. Biting down on your lip, you urge him on and before long, Seokjin bottoms out. He stops there, panting at the feeling of being so deep inside you. Glancing down, Seokjin sees your pussy split by his cock and cannot contain himself any longer. He slowly pulls out.

“What…” Grasping for his ass, you panic a bit. “Seokjin, don’t –”

Grabbing your knee, he slams back inside you. The two of you groan at the same time. Him, because he has never felt anything as tight and wet as your cunt and you because his dick is so large, your body is trembling.

“God.” You fall back on the bed, chest bouncing. “I fucking knew you were big. There was no other way you could be so annoying.”

Seokjin withdraws, reliving the sweet sensation of thrusting his cock in your tight pussy. You are so warm and so wet – now that you have been stretched, you mold easily to him.

“Fuck,” you gasp, lifting your hips to his.

Seokjin toys with you. Slowly sliding in and out, he brings his thumb to your clit and starts rubbing. “You thought I was annoying, huh?” he breathes, lips hot in your ear.

Nodding, your hands fist in the sheets. “Still do.”

Chuckling, Seokjin captures your lobe with his teeth. His hips roll against you, pressing you into the mattress. “Mm. Know what I think?”

“What?”

“You talk too much. Flip over.”

Your eyes widen. “W-what?”

“Thought you wanted me to shut you up?” Seokjin presses a sweet kiss to your mouth. “Now, flip over, so I can fuck you senseless.”

Withdrawing, he ignores every inch of him which screams to stay put. It is worth it though, when you finally flip onto your stomach and stick your ass in the air.

Inhaling, Seokjin runs a hand up your drenched pussy. Your lips are swollen, messy with slick from him eating you out. Lifting himself onto his knees, Seokjin grabs his dick and pushes against your center. Slapping your clit a few times, he hisses when he feels you tremble beneath him. Hands soft on your hips, he slides into your cunt.

“Ah!” you gasp, head thrown back from the motion.

Wrapping your hair around his wrist, Seokjin thrusts into you again. He can feel every inch of your cunt, feel the tight squeeze of your walls on his cock. God, you are driving him crazy. Thrusting harder, Seokjin cannot separate the sensations before him.

Your ass pushing back on him, the way your moans fall from your lips. The tight wetness of your heat, his cock disappearing in and out. Leaning down, Seokjin slides an arm around your ribcage and pulls you against him.

He continues to fuck you like that, cock entering your body at a punishing speed. You feel so good pressed against him, nipples hard as they peek through his palms. Seokjin’s lips find your neck, sucking a hickey into your skin.

“Fuck,” you groan, walls tightening around him. Your bodies bang together, his cock fucking you open in a way which barely seems decent. “Fuck – Seokjin – yes! Oh my god, yes.’

“Yeah?” His grip tightens around you. “You about to come on my dick, baby?”

“Yes!” you gasp. He is basically holding you up at this point, fucking you senseless. “Oh – oh! I thought… you – mmph – wanted! Me – fuck! Quiet!”

Chuckling, Seokjin slides a hand between your legs. Finding your clit, he begins to rub with his fingers. “Changed my mind,” he grunts. “Wanna hear you scream my name so loud, you wake all my neighbors.”

“S-Seokjin!”

Your legs start to shake, trembling with your impending orgasm and Seokjin is not doing much better. The only thing holding him back is the intense desire to feel you come wrapped around him.

“C’mon,” he groans, angling his hips even deeper. “Wanna feel this tight, little pussy come on my cock. Can you do that, baby? Can you?”

“Yes,” you gasp and then you are coming undone.

Seokjin groans, biting your shoulder when your pussy clamps down. Your orgasm is so intense, Seokjin is surprised he can keep you against him. Pushed over the edge, Seokjin shudders when he lets go and releases into the condom. It goes on for so long, his cock aching as you take every last bit of him.

Slowly, his hand falls and strokes down your side. Lips brushing your neck, Seokjin exhales and gently withdraws. Everything is over-sensitive, each inch of his body buzzing with satisfaction. Tying the condom into a knot, Seokjin tosses this in the garbage and sees you roll out of bed.

His stomach twists. “Where are you going?” he blurts, wincing at how needy he sounds.

It is only – you look so fucking beautiful. Hair messy and lips swollen, traces of arousal lingering on the inside of your thighs. You smile at him, as if sensing his nervousness.

“Where’s your bathroom?” you ask, sheepish.

Seokjin exhales, relief coursing through him. He points to the left. “Over there,” he says, collapsing on top of the sheets. His dick is limp, soft in his lap, but looking at you, Seokjin is already thinking about more. “Want me to show you?”

“That’s alright,” you laugh, turning around. “I think I can make it to the closet alone.”

Grinning, Seokjin falls back again. “Come back soon.”

“Okay.”

Glancing at him over your shoulder, you sneak another peek before disappearing.

Seokjin stares at his ceiling for a moment before he remembers his roommate. Wincing, he reaches down to fish his phone from his jeans. Unsurprisingly, there are several missed texts from Yoongi.

Yoongi: k lol [11:01 PM]

Yoongi doesn’t matter won’t be sleeping anyways [11:01 PM]

Yoongi: too busy eating dessert ; ) [11:01 PM]

Groaning, Seokjin plugs his phone into his charger. He guesses this means Yoongi found someone else to hook up with. Rolling over in bed, Seokjin starts when you open the door.

“Hey.” You smile, almost embarrassed. Walking towards him, you bend to scoop your underwear from the ground.

“Whoa!” Seokjin blurts, grabbing your wrist. He pulls you into the bed before you can get dressed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Putting on clothes,” you laugh, curling into his side. “Clearly, I was wrong.”

“Mhm.” Seokjin’s nose nuzzles your hair. He is not sure why, but something about this feels right. Having your limbs entwined in his, your hand resting soft on his chest. He feels warm, satisfied by the thought of being near you.

Sleepily, you smile. “I’m not allowed to get dressed tonight, is that it?”

“Nope,” he agrees, heart soaring the longer he looks at you. “Something that good needs repeating.”

Laughing a little, you curl tighter around him. “Does that mean you want to repeat it?” you ask, uncertainty to your voice.

Sliding two fingers under your chin, Seokjin tilts your head up. “Yeah,” he says, quiet. “I can’t think of anything I want more, to be honest.”

“I – same.”

Laying your head on his chest, you are quiet for a moment as Seokjin basks in the silence. Then, he exhales and adds, “I mean, aside from trouncing your sales targets, of course. I always want to do that.”

You snort, shoving his side. Seokjin pulls you in closer, grinning widely. It is a lie, of course – right now, there is nothing he wants more than to be with you.

[ COLLABORATION MASTERLIST FOUND HERE ]

© kpopfanfictrash, 2019. Do not copy or repost without permission.

[nonie-star]

6 or 10 enemies to lovers prompt!

Thank you so much for the ask! You gave me two of my favourite prompts, so it was pretty hard to choose, but I settled on 6.

6. "I saw you with them and I couldn't keep lying to myself. When a person is your enemy, you doing get jealous that someone else has their affection."

It was the morning of Nonie and Merula's two year anniversary. Or well... something like that. Counting their time at Hogwarts, they had been a couple for much longer. But seeing as they had broken up shortly after leaving Hogwarts, they weren't sure how to count it. So eventually, they had simply settled on celebrating today.

"Wake up Star... Staaaar..." Merula softly shook Nonie's arm. But Nonie shook her head and turned on her other side. "No... sleep..." Merula rolled her eyes and shook her harder. “Come on, I made you breakfast, you idiot! I even made you coffee... but too bad, if you don’t want it...” With a little smile Nonie sat up. “Fine... Happy anniversary Mer.”

Merula sat down on her own side of the bed and put a tray with breakfast between them. “Chocolate pancakes?” Nonie asked. “You sure know the way to my heart.” Merula shook her head, exclaiming that it wasn’t hard to tell how much of a chocoholic Nonie really was. But then she smiled. “Happy anniversary, Star.”

Nonie laughed. “You could really start calling me Nonie, you know? But I guess old habits die hard.“ “As long as you keep wearing that dirty old hair clip, I will continue to call you Star.” Merula argued.

After breakfast, Nonie offered to do the dishes. Usually she would attempt to weasel her way out of doing them, by reminding Merula of the “devil’s snare incident” as she called it, telling her that she owed her for life, so she had to do the dishes. But not today, after Merula had already made her breakfast.

“Why don’t you stay home today..?” Merula asked, lovingly wrapping her arms around Nonie. “It’s our anniversary after all... you can miss one day of work...” Nonie laughed, reminding her that her work was important. She had some really big missions coming up that she needed to prepare for. “Also, I’m always worried that if I’m not there, Tonks and Talbott will kill each other.”

Merula hugged her even tighter. “Are you certain you have to go? Your idiot friends will be fine without you for a day.” But Nonie wasn’t persuaded. She turned around and gave her girlfriend a kiss, promising her that they would celebrate in the evening. After all, Merula had work to do as well. “But I need to go now. If I’m late again, Talbott will get annoyed. I barely made it on time yesterday...”

“Why are you so smiley today?” Tonks asked Nonie, seeming very curious. Her friend had not stopped smiling since she had come into work this morning.

Continue to smile, Nonie explained that today was Merula and her anniversary, and that she had a surprise planned for her girlfriend. She had been planning this for a little while, yet Merula still had no clue.

“You know how much I suck at keeping secrets, so that makes it even more exciting...” Tonks laughed. “Well, good for you. And yes, you do indeed suck at keeping secrets.”

It was in the late afternoon that Nonie returned home. She knew that Merula wouldn’t be home for a little while, so she had some time to set up.

It was nothing extravagant, just a small dinner on their balcony. Nonie thought that it was pretty funny that Merula had a similar idea, since she had made her breakfast this morning. And well.. Nonie also had a little gift for her that she would surely like. 

Neither of them had wanted something major for their anniversary. They were used to keeping their relationship on the down low, at first because Merula, the “most powerful witch at Hogwarts” (that self-appointed nickname still made Nonie chuckle sometimes, and she used every opportunity she could to tease her girlfriend with it) had wanted to keep it secret while they were still attending school, as not to ruin her image. And now that they were adults... well, Merula was still an Ex-death eater... even if joining had not been her choice.

Even though she wasn’t well known, and her escape had been three years ago... she still preferred to keep a low profile. Nonie understood. They finally got to be happy now, if Merula was found out...  Joining the death eaters had never been her choice. She had been forced to join by some of her parents old friends... 

After her parents had been pretty good at what they were doing, Merula had been seen as a valuable recruit. Valuable enough to warrant taking desperate measures to get her to join. These desperate measures included hurting everyone she loved and cared about.  And... not seeing another way out, Merula had accepted, hating herself for being a death eater, having ended up like her parents, more and more every day. 

But eventually, she had seen her chance to run...

Nonie and Merula had been through quite a lot over the last few years.  Since that day Merula showed up at Nonie’s doorstep, over three years ago, bloody and panting, having deserted the death eaters... so much had happened... 

“Star, where are you?” Merula asked when she returned home. There was no sign of her girlfriend anywhere. “Helloooooo...”  She walked through their small flat, peeking into every room. There really wasn’t that many possibilities where she could be hiding.  “Gismo, have you seen Star?” she asked Nonie’s cat, that was sleeping on their bed. He just looked up, made a faint meowing sound, and went back to sleeping.  Merula shook her head. “Useless animal...” 

“What are you doing out here?” Merula asked, as she found Nonie on the balcony.  It was decorated quite beautiful, it somehow reminded her of the celestial ball...  Nonie had set up a small table and two chairs as well.  They rarely ever used their balcony. Nonie was afraid of heights, and Merula just didn’t care for the view. 

Nonie smirked. “You know, you laugh at me for talking to Gismo, but ever so often I hear you do it too.”  Then she told her to sit down, since she had already prepared dinner.  “How burned is it..?” Merula asked, cautious. Then she sat down on one of the chairs Nonie had set up.

Dinner was nice. While eating and having some wine, they reminisced about how they first got together.  “I was so stunned when you asked me to dance with you at the celestial ball.” Nonie said. “If I recall right, you rejected me rather harshly when I asked you to be my date to the ball.” Merula blushed and frowned, saying that of course she did. After all, she had asked her in front of her friends, like it was nothing.  “And to be honest... I told myself that I despised you, that you were my enemy. That I found you idiotic. For searching for the vaults, for mixing up words, for being so nice to me, for always being so... revoltingly happy. Hey, don’t laugh-” 

Nonie couldn’t hold back her laughter. “I never knew happiness could be revolting. Mer...”  Merula shook her head. “I saw you dancing with Khanna, at the celestial ball... and I tried to keep pretending, but...  I saw you with her and I couldn't keep lying to myself. When a person is your enemy, you doing get jealous that someone else has their affection. I know you never dated, but when I saw the two of you, I assumed that you were. That you asked her to the ball instead of me, since I said no.”  She was still quite embarrassed to admit things like this, even though it was so many years ago. 

Nonie shook her head, explaining that back then, Rowan had just wanted to cheer her up. “I was quite upset that you didn’t want to attend the ball with me, since even back then I liked you at lot. I’m still not sure why... but I did. Ever since that day in dark arts class, where you accidentally slammed me into a shelf with a spell, and afterwards actually came to see me in the hospital wing, because you were worried.” 

Now Merula was the one laughing. “Seriously?! That’s when you fell for me? Star, you’re so strange.” But then she smiled. “I think I started to like you very early, I just didn’t want to believe it. Remember when you found me crying, because of that letter I received from my parents..? After all I had done to you, I expected you to make fun of me, to tell everyone that the supposed most powerful witch at Hogwarts was bawling her eyes out, but you didn’t. Instead you comforted me, and never told a soul about what happened. I wasn’t used to that sort of kindness.” 

With a smile, Nonie said that she knew that. “I decided to be extra nice to you from then on. My friends thought I was nuts.”  Merula nodded. “I thought you were mad too. I still think that you are, for being with me. But I’m so glad you are, you weirdo.”  Nonie laughed, and lent over the table to give her a kiss.  “Wait, that reminds me!” she then said, and got up. “I still have a gift for you, wait here!”

Merula watched with an amused smile as her girlfriend dashed inside. She used to think that Nonie being disorganised was just her, but after meeting her family, she had realised that most of the Scheinert’s seemed to be that way.   With a smirk on her face, she waited for her to come back. 

“Close your eyes.” Nonie said, as she walked back onto the balcony.  Merula rolled her eyes, but did as she said. Suddenly, she felt something very small and fluffy in her hands.  “Okay, you can open your eyes now.” Merula looked at her hands. A small orange Puffskein stared back at her.  “It’s so tiny...” Merula said, carefully caressing it’s fur with one of her fingers.  Nonie explained that Barnaby and Rowan’s Puffskein had a litter, and they had offered that she could have one. “I thought you’d like it. After all, you’ve been wanting one ever since we’ve met.” Merula carefully put the Puffskein down, and went to hug Nonie. This was truly a great gift... 

It was much later in the evening that Nonie stood at the banister of the balcony, watching the stars through the small telescope she had owned since Hogwarts. Or... trying to. She couldn’t see very many of them, since they weren’t that visible in the city.  “I should come out here more.” she said. “The view is so incredible that I can look past how high up it is.” 

After not receiving an answer, Nonie turned around. Merula had been awfully quiet for a while now. She was standing a few steps behind her, the small Puffskein they had named Ernie sitting on her shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”  Merula just shrugged, so Nonie turned back to watching the stars. 

“Eleonore?” Merula suddenly asked.  Nonie lowered the telescope. “... Yes?” she asked, slightly confused and maybe even a little freaked out. Merula had never called her by her actual first name before. On occasion she would call her Nonie, but never Eleonore. 

“I love you.” Merula said. “I really do.”  Nonie smiled. “Well, I love you too. It’s always nice to hear you say that.”  Merula rarely ever did. She preferred to convey her affection through gestures rather than words. Just like she was doing now, walking over to Nonie and pulling her into a hug. 

“I still think you’re an idiot... for always sticking with me. After all that I’ve done..”  Nonie shook her head. “Believe me, sometimes I feel like an idiot too. But I’m glad to have you. You’re not a bad person, Merula. Your alliance with the death eaters, it was... unfortunate, but not your choice. I know that you had no other choice, everyone does. And you gave us so much information to track down death eaters and their hideouts after you escaped. I know you’re not on their side.”

Suddenly, Merula let go of her and cleared her throat. “You are getting to emotional, Star. Let’s go inside, I’m cold.”  And with that, she walked back inside.  Nonie grinned, and followed her. Merula would be Merula. That was one thing that would never change.  Emotions would never really be her thing, but Nonie could live with that. 

She knew that Merula loved her, even if she didn’t always show it. 

[connorandersons-blog]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Connor/Gavin Reed Characters: Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Gavin Reed, Jeffrey Fowler, Hank Anderson, Gavin Reed's Cat, Doa Gavin Reed's Cat Additional Tags: Injury, Stitches, Injury Recovery, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Enemies to Lovers, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Has a Vagina, Trans Character, Trans Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gay Disaster Gavin Reed, Masturbation, Cunnilingus, Blow Jobs, 69 (Sex Position), Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human) Summary:

Gavin Reed wasn't one to throw himself into danger unnecessary. That's actually a lie but don't tell him you know that. Its still a shock when he throws himself in front of danger for Connor, the android he supposedly hates with a passion.

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

"What?! Why me!" He looked out at the precinct, surely someone more qualified would be better for this job. Taking care of Reed, the resident asshole, who got shot and then stabbed? That wasn't Connor's job even if he felt guilty as hell. 

Fowler surely would have groaned in annoyance if it was acceptable, instead, the vein in his head seemed to grow larger to the point Connor was honestly worried. That man needed a vacation badly, maybe he should just go along with this terrible idea. "You were there when he got fucking injured and he needs to rest. The last time he got hurt he tried to come back the moment he could drag himself out of bed." 

Connor could see that Reed was stubborn to a fault and incredibly dedicated to his work. Not that he admired that stupid human. Nope. 

He still should have been able to protect Reed, he should be the one with the bullet yet… yet Gavin had pushed him out of the way and then took the knife wound as well. Why he did that Connor wasn't sure, but Reed had made him promise not to let anyone know what really happened. So Connor had simply said he outran Gavin and couldn't get back to him on time when the killer pulled a knife. 

"Alright, I need his address." He could see the surprise on Fowler's face when he gave in so easily, but he still rattled off Reed's address. Connor nodded, filing it away before waiting to be dismissed. 

"Let Hank know, but you're free to go for the rest of the week. You haven't taken a single day off and I'm tired of seeing your face." Fowler waved him off and Connor nodded. 

He'd still have Hank send him the files, he couldn't take a full week off. He just couldn't sit around and do nothing. Maybe Markus would have something for him to do too, he doubted Reed would even let him check in on him. 

He stopped by his desk, grabbing his jacket and informing Hank of his fate. He let out a long huff when Hank burst into laughter, and he flipped him the bird before leaving. Some help he was. 

He went by his place first, changing to more casual clothes that consisted of a forest green-tipped pique polo shirt, and a pair of distressed skinny jeans. He didn't have a pet to say hello and goodbye to, so he went straight to Reed's place, taking a cab. 

For some reason, he imagined Reed living in a shitty apartment, but instead, he found an adorable-looking Tudor-Style house. It had the normal features of one: steeply pitched roof, prominent cross gables, decorative half-timbering, and tall, narrow windows with small window panes. It was a small two-story, but from what he could tell it had a large backyard, and the front yard was nothing to scoff at either. 

He came up the walkway but stalled when he got to the door. He didn't want Reed to get up given his injuries, but he couldn't walk in unannounced. So he knocked on the door listening for any movement. "Detective Reed, it's Connor. I've been sent to help in your recovery." 

There was some shuffling and perhaps the sound of a cat meowing. "Fuck off Tincan!" Reed yelled before it went silent again. 

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. I must make sure you become fully recovered, and you getting up prematurely will hinder that." Why did he even have to be this stubborn? It wasn't like Connor would judge him, he had no right to given that it was his fault. 

"I said, FUCK. OFF." Reed screamed before starting to let out a terrible hacking cough. 

Connor only paused for a second longer before opening the door, a bit shocked that it was unlocked. He didn't focus on interior design, just on the figure laying on the couch convulsing slightly. 

He dropped into a crouch, scanning over Reed and grimacing at the sight. "Fucking hell Reed, you pulled your stitches." He wanted to swat at him, to tell him how he should be more careful but that would have to wait. 

He ignored Reed's squawks of protest as he lifted his shirt to expose the bloody gauze wrapped around him. "A bed would be better, and where is your first aid? I may need to restitch this." He hadn't moved the gauze yet, especially if he planned on moving Reed.  

"Fuck you, bedroom is upstairs and the first aid-" Gavin let out another cough, wincing when it pulled at his injuries, "-first aid is in the bathroom joining it." 

Connor nodded, only now seeing the very adorable cat that blinked at him with curious eyes. "I apologize in advance as this will hurt." He mumbled, putting an arm under Gavin's knees and the back. 

"Hey, hey, Tincan wait!" Gavin hissed as he was lifted up, Connor ignoring his protests again. "Fuck! Connor." His name came out like a whine as he made his way over to the staircase. 

The cat followed along behind, keeping pace but making sure not to trip Connor up. 

There were only two rooms upstairs, the bathroom and bedroom, and the bedroom was completely open, with no door to close it off from the stairs. 

The Abner upholstered sleigh bed looked soft enough so he placed Gavin on it carefully. The cat jumped up and laid down beside Gavin letting out a low purr. Connor went to the bathroom, and just like the bedroom, it was modern in style. 

There was a little built-in shelf that held different supplies along with a huge first aid kit. Connor grabbed it, making his way out to see Gavin cooing at his cat. "So good, you're my good girl." 

Connor set the kit down, opening it up and thankfully finding it fully stocked. It had more than enough supplies, he could stitch him up here without worrying. "She is very pretty, what's her name?" 

Gavin glared at him before he let out a sigh. "Doa, her name is Doa."

Connor nodded and helped him out of the shirt fully, gently pulling off the gauze. They both winced, but Connor bit down on his lip to stop from worrying out loud. 

He grabbed a swab and the alcohol, hovering over the bloody skin. "This is gonna hurt." He warned. 

"Nah dip." Gavin glared before tensing and letting out a long whine as Connor started to clean the area. Thankfully the bullet hole was alright, but he still made sure it was clean. 

"Sorry, sorry," Connor mumbled, throwing away the swab. "Alright, time to close it up again. You doing ok?" 

Gavin sagged back onto the bed, panting slightly. "No thanks to you." 

Connor nodded, glaring at the wounds. This was his fault, but now he was helping. "You are the one that jumped in front of me. You didn't have to." Not that he wasn't appreciative, he saved him a lot of trouble and pain. 

He applied some ointment to help numb the area before grabbing the needle. Gavin winced slightly but stayed still otherwise. "I did you ass. Can't have the DPD golden boy down for the count." 

Connor kept his eyes on his work but he wanted to look up at Gavin. "Humans are far more fragile, I could have taken it. Now you're suffering because of me." He could get repaired and be back the next day if he was lucky. It would hurt but he'd be fine and with minimal lasting damage. Gavin could be left with even more scars. 

His fingers brushed over one that was close to the wound, wondering how he got that one. Was he protecting someone else or himself? Gavin let out a small gasp and Connor pulled his hand back, biting down on his lip. 

He finished up the stitches in silence, ignoring how his hands wanted to linger on Gavin's warm skin. It was stupid to want to touch, he hated this stupid, reckless, foolish, good-hearted human. Fuck. 

"There," Connor said once finally done. He put on new gauze, content with his hard work. His hands didn't shake so the stitches were perfect, now Gavin had to not agitate them. 

"Thanks, I guess." Gavin didn't move except to keep petting Doa who hadn't moved from her spot either. "Not your fault, though." 

Connor rolled his eyes, closing the first aid and putting it right back where he found it. "I should have seen it coming and reacted accordingly, you shouldn't have even had to do that. I don't see how that's not my fault." 

Gavin let out a groan as he tried to sit up, but Connor was quick to help, putting pillows behind him. "Shit, that burns. Really though, and I'm not going to say this again so don't let it go to your head, ok? It ain't your fault, you don't gotta be perfect, and without you… without you, the DPD wouldn't be the same anymore." 

Gavin stared at his cat, cheeks getting a nice dusting of pink. Connor blinked, mouth falling open slightly. "Gavin…" he had no idea what to say. 

"Whatever. Just fuck off or whatever. Actually, since you're here can you make me some lunch? I uh, haven't been able to move since I got home." Gavin still couldn't look at him, but Connor couldn't seem to keep his eyes away. 

He hated how good Gavin looked, even with his injuries. His hair was ruffled, and his sweat pants looked a little too good on him hanging so lowly on his hips. The rings attached to Gavin's nipples, and he could see scars of where other piercings would be. Connor could see the v of his hips and he wanted to lick his way down, take Gavin's co–oh fuck. 

He nodded and all but ran back downstairs, glad that the inside was open-concept and modern in style so he didn't have to go searching for the kitchen. 

He went through the cabinets, finding some canned soup and grabbing it. Heating it up and making sure it wouldn't be too hot, along with getting a cup of water gave Connor enough time to get his body and mind under control. He still shifted, annoyed at how easily he got wet. 

He wanted to take more time, to reach down and rub at his cunt until he came but that would be highly inappropriate. He couldn't get off to Reed even if he was very attractive and had saved Connor. 

He took the bowl of soup and water up on a tray, placing it on Gavin's lap. "Here you go. Maybe I should look after you, you should have someone here given your injuries." If Gavin couldn't even move to get food then he'd need someone there. 

Gavin started eating his soup quickly, half-heartedly glaring at Connor. He didn't argue, though, but Connor just assumed that was because he was too focused on eating. 

Connor sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out towards Doa. She sniffed at his hand before pushing against it, her purr only getting louder. He ran a hand through his thick gray fur, letting out his own little hum at the softness. 

"Slow down, you don't wanna choke." He mumbled. 

"Screw you, I'm hungry. Maybe I like being choked." Gavin snickered, but he did eat a bit slower after. 

Connor's face felt like it was going to melt off with how hot it was, and he kept his head ducked to hide the blush. He did not need to start imagining things again, especially when he couldn't do anything about it. Even if he thought Gavin would reciprocate for a one-night stand or… or more, he couldn't with Gavin's injuries. He wasn't supposed to do any strenuous activity and Connor was absolutely certain sex counted as that. 

"You're cute when you blush," Gavin mumbled and set the bowl off to the side. "Fuck, wow these pain meds are strong." 

And that, Gavin, wasn't even in his right mind. The meds would keep it all foggy so the pain wouldn't become overbearing. That still didn't mean Connor didn't blush harder and put a hand over his face. "Gavin, maybe you should get some sleep?" 

"Can't. I feel dirty, haven't been able to take a shower. I can't though, and I can't take a bath. Don't know what the doctor expected me to do. Not like I can just get a sponge bath from my cat." Gavin started chuckling at the mental image of that but stopping when it became too much. 

"I'll do it," Connor said without thinking. He wanted to slap himself but he couldn't take it back now. 

Gavin raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "You know what? Fuck it, why not. Already took a bullet for you, might as well let you see it all. Not like I'm shy. Towels are in the bathroom too." 

Connor found what he needed easily, returning to the bed and laying out a towel on it so the sheets wouldn't get dirty. He helped Gavin onto the towel, laying on his side, and then stalled. "Um, I can do your top first? Or just your chest, if you want." 

Gavin huffed and started wiggling, trying to push his sweatpants down without bending. Connor grabbed his hips, keeping him still. "Hey, hey stop. I just fixed your stitches, don't make me do it again." 

Gavin was facing away from Connor, but he turned his head to glance back at him. "It's alright, really. I don't care if people see me naked, it's just a body, right?" 

Right, just a body. Just a very good-looking body that he was going to be rubbing and soaping up. He was careful pulling the sweats down, looking past Gavin before folding the pants. 

He took the wet rag and dragged it over Gavins back, completely ignoring Gavin's ass or anything lower for now. He was careful with the rag, grabbing the soaping one and working on that silently. Gavin's back was toned and he had a small tattoo of the word Alive that Connor brushed his fingers over. It seemed like a promise to himself somehow, but Connor didn't ask about it. It seemed a bit too personal as ironic as that was given their situation. 

"You still ok?" He asked as he started to wash the soap off his back. Gavin had been oddly quiet, but he didn't seem tense. 

Gavin gave a low hum, nodding his head. He still didn't make a noise, but perhaps he was just tired. He grabbed the rag for just water and hovered over Gavin's skin. He rubbed at the small of his back before going down to his ass, trying to make it quick. 

He switched to the soap and this time took more time. He really did try not to get caught up in it, but his thighs pressed together as he washed Gavin's ass. He dipped the cloth between his ass and froze when Gavin shivered, letting out a choked-off moan. 

Shit. Fucking hell. "I… Gavin." He didn't know what to say, he would stop but part of him wanted to keep going. 

"Sorry, sorry. Uh, you don't have to stop if you don't want to." Gavin bit out, voice sounding strange. Oh, that's why he wasn't talking. 

"Ok." He kept cleaning, taking his time even more now that he knew it was definitely alright. His own breathing became a little labored biting down on his tongue to keep his interested sounds at bay. 

He finished Gavin's back before helping him lay on his back. Gavin's hand covered his cock and Connor tried not to look. 

"Um, shit weird question…" Gavin trailed off, staring up at the ceiling. "Do you have a… um, you know." 

Connor started on his chest, specifically those pink nipples that had rings hanging from this deliciously, pausing at Gavin's question. "I do not have a penis if that's what you're wondering." 

"Huh. Nothing down there… isn't there like parts you can get?" 

"Oh, I never said I had nothing. I came with a vagina, and I haven't thought of changing it." He gave a small shrug, taking Gavin's right arm and cleaning it with gentle circular strokes. 

Gavin finally looked over at him, both of their faces flushed but with different colors. "Huh, wonder why they did that. Is it, like–uh, reactive? Or does it act like a human one?" 

God how he wanted to take Gavin's hand and show him how reactive he is. How dripping wet he can get, and how wet he already was just from this. "Yeah, sometimes I think it's more sensitive than humans." 

"Cool, yeah, yeah makes sense." Gavin looked away, and Connor took his other arm, fully exposing him but Connor did not look down. He kept his eyes on Gavin's chest and arms. 

"Should I… or maybe you should clean your penis?" Now he did glance at it and felt himself drool a little bit. It was nice and thick, not too long that would be uncomfortable though. It was hard and standing at attention, and Connor really wanted to wrap his lips around it. "Uh…" 

"You can? I'm sorry, I didn't know I'd react this way? It feels really good and I guess I just, I'm relaxed and, yeah." Gavin stumbled over his words, but he didn't try to cover himself again. 

Connor cleaned around first, not trying to tease the man but he was definitely stalling. Gavin let out a huff when Connor swiped over his hip again, reaching out to cover Connor's hand and guide it to cover his dick. He gasped, his hand tightening over Connor's and therefore Connor's hand tightened around his length. 

He swiped up then down before pulling his hand back. His hand dipped down, very briefly swiping over his balls and letting out a long exhale when Gavin outright moaned. 

"Sorry, sorry. Just gotta do your legs then you're good." Connor murmured, peeling his eyes away from the appealing sight. 

"Fuck, it's ok, I should be the one apologizing." Gavin subconsciously spread his legs and Connor took the opportunity to wash his thighs. Damn those thighs could crush his skull and he'd say thank you. 

Connor shook his head, even if he wasn't attracted to him he wouldn't blame him, bodies reacted even when you didn't want them to. "There's no need, I'd be a bit worried if you were stimulated and didn't achieve an erection." 

Gavin snorted, eyes falling closed as Connor all but massaged his legs. His erection still stood proud but Gavin didn't reach for it and Connor tried to ignore it. 

"Right. All finished. I'm going to put this away and maybe even clean myself up in your bathroom if that's alright?" He said once Gavin was cleaned off and patted dry. 

He didn't really wait for a response, escaping into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He tingled with want and after putting away the supplies he turned the shower on but didn't get in. Instead, he sat on the toilet and shoved his hands in his pants. If he did this fast then maybe he wouldn't feel so guilty. 

He rubbed his fingers in quick little circles, pressing down just enough to have his legs twitching to close around his hand. His whole stomach tensed as he sped up, already slick with want and he had to bite down on his knuckles to keep from crying out. 

He wouldn't finger himself, this would be the fastest and cleanest way, not that he wouldn't need to wash his hands anyway. He’s pulsing and wetter than he can ever remember being in his entire life, and he can't help but imagine the man in the next room. 

Would he eat him out? He probably would, Connor would lay back and Gavin would tease him endlessly with his tongue. Connor would want to touch everywhere, that tattoo, those soft but firm muscles, those fucking nipple piercings that he'll never be able to forget are there. 

He lets out a small gasp, head falling back as his hips trying to lift off the seat and into his own head desperately. He wants more, he wants Gavin's fingers inside him and he wants his cock to fill him up. 

He throbs, even more, fingers working faster as he lets out a suppressed moan. Fuck it felt good, and he was so close. He'd take Gavin into his mouth like he wanted. He'd let Gavin fuck his throat until his vocal box was completely destroyed. 

His thighs start to tighten and he can feel the pressure of his orgasm start to rip through him. He lets out a strained moan as he convulses and his thighs constrict around his hand. 

He has to pull his hand away when it gets too much and he's left panting. His eyes closed from pure bliss, but after a few seconds, they blink open. It hadn't taken long at all, he was pretty sure that was a personal record. 

He cleaned himself up and washed his hands before shutting the shower off and opening the door. He should have knocked, he should have not done what he just did but all he can think about is the hiss of pain. 

His eyes widen as he sees Gavin on the bed, his cock in his hand as he strokes himself quickly. His body is clenched tight, curling forward and Connor can see the stitches being pulled. 

He rushed over and without thinking covered Gavin's hand, using the other to push him flat against the bed. "Stop, you're gonna hurt yourself." He scolded. 

Gavin whined, hips bucking up into their hands. "Please, shit please I'm close, let me finish. I'm so sorry, I thought, shit you aren't wet. You didn't take a shower?" 

Now it was Connor's turn to flush, having forgotten to actually jump in to make it seem like he'd showered. "I–you can't, you're bending forward and agitating your wounds." 

"Either let me and stay, let me and leave, or do it your damn self but I need to, you fucker." Gavin growled, trying to move his hand but Connor swatted it away. This was his fault too and he'd take care of it. 

"Alright, lay flat and try not to move, I'll take care of you." Even after just coming he could already feel that tingly want for more. He truly was insatiable, but that wasn't anything new. 

Gavin nodded eagerly, hands going to grasp at the bedsheets under him as Connor slowly stroked up and down. It would be better if Connor did this, he knew that if he left Gavin would do it so that was the better of two options. He could make sure Gavin didn't strain himself, and an orgasm would be good for his pain. 

The hand that had pushed Gavin down trailed to his nipple, twirling the jewelry around before tugging ever so slightly. Gavin whimpered, dick twitching in Connor's hand so he did it again but harsher. 

His own hips sought out friction but he denied himself, he needed a hand to keep Gavin down and one to pleasure him. He licked his lips in thought before grinning widely. 

He leaned forward, licking over the head before taking it into his mouth and sucking. Connor's hand on his chest kept him from jolting him but he couldn't stop his hips from bucking up. Connor whimpered at the length in his mouth, sinking all the way down. 

"Fuck! Your mouth is so warm." Gavin said in awe, his voice husky and raw already. "Sit on me." 

Connor pulled back with a pop, licking over his lips again. "Sitting on your chest could injure you more." 

"No, sit on my face. It'll keep me down and I wanna taste you. I wanna get you off, please." He sounded so pretty begging like that, who could say no? 

He stood to push his pants off, tugging off his shirt and tossing it to the other side of the bed. He preened slightly as Gavin's eyes raked over him with clear lust. 

Connor carefully climbs onto the bed, positioning himself right above Gavin's face. He can feel the heat of his breath against his dripping cunt and Gavin kisses his thigh instead, making his shutter. He kisses his way down to Connor's wet slit. He pauses to breathe the scent of him in, before reaching up to spread his lips and lick him from cunt to clit. 

Connor dips his head down to take him back into his mouth, but instead gives the head kitten licks, his tongue dipping into the slit, and Gavin's moan spurs him on. 

Gavin wraps his lips around Connor's hard clit, and sucks, letting the vibrations seep into his skin. Connor's own whine is amplified when he takes him fully into his mouth, barely holding himself up. 

Gavin's hand comes up, and two fingers easily slide in. Gavin licks into him, tongue dipping into his labia, toying at the sensitive folds of skin surrounding his clit. 

Connor bobs his head desperately, licking and sucking and every inch of Gavin's length. He lets out tiny moans, the friction against his tongue absolutely delicious. His hips bounce slightly, the pleasure too much and not enough at the same time and if he needed air he'd be breathless. 

Gavin pushes in a third finger and curls them, pushing against that sweet spot. Connor pushes down hard against his mouth, swallowing around Gavin with a small cry. 

Gavin sucks on his slit hard and Connor can't stop himself from coming. He fucks his throat until he can feel Gavin tensing but the man hasn't stopped. His fingers only press in harder and the tongue brings him close to the edge again. 

Connor doesn't pull away, he swallows down every last drop as his own body convulses with his third orgasm. The taste of Gavin in his mouth is addicting but the man needs to breathe and Connor needs to make sure he's ok. 

He climbs off just as carefully as he got on, scanning Gavin. Other than what he expected, elevated heart rate, flushed body, pupils dilated, and the likes, Gavin seems perfectly fine. 

Around Gavin's mouth is a little messy with Connor's slick, so he takes it upon himself to lick it all up before finally kissing him. 

Gavin gasps, but it turns into a happy little sound so Connor doesn't pull away. The kiss is oddly sweet and tender, but they can both taste themselves and they like it a little too much. 

Connor only pulls away to let Gavin breathe, fingers dancing over the human's heated skin. "You're amazing at that." He says with a small giggle. 

"What, eating you out or kissing?" Gavin asks, looking at him with too fond eyes. Maybe Connor does know why Gavin jumped in front of the bullet. Connor would do the same if given the chance. 

"Both, but we can't do the first again until you're better." He waves a finger at him like he's a naughty child, and it gets a genuine laugh out of Gavin. It's truly a beautiful sound and Connor almost wants to beg for more of it. 

"I'm glad we can both agree there will be more. You know… you looking after me might not be a terrible thing." Gavin smirks up at him. 

"Well, I was given the week off. I'm sure we can find some creative things to pass the time that won't hurt you." He already had a few ideas and was dying to try it out. 

"I've never been so happy to have been shot and stabbed in my life," Gavin said before pulling him back down into a kiss.

Connor wished he wasn't in pain, but he honestly couldn't agree more.

[skyflyinginaction]

Shinhiro Aragaki Transulations from the Persona 3 Portable Fanbook

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[handwritten title at top] Gaki-san Cafeteria

Profile Name: Shinjiro Aragaki Sex: Male Birthday: 1991/8/11 [This profile uses year/month/day format.] Blood type: A Group: Gekkoukan Academy Upper Class Year 3 Class C (Suspended) Club: Unaffiliated

Ugh...  Me? Having a blog? So lame... Still, everyone's doing it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Dunno what's with the goofy title. I'm just gonna write whatever I want. So uh, maybe gimme some ideas for posts?

Well... Might as well pass the time while I'm here. Anyway... enjoy?

Favorite Sites: [banners] A Dog's Heart [in snail] Sea slug [to right] Umiushi Family Cooking [white text, bottom right] Official Site

[large white text below blog page] I'm keeping my eyes peeled. Because there's an unimaginable way back...

[main body]

Aragaki, the lone wolf who sticks out like a sore thumb at nightly meetings, is from the same orphanage as Sanada. Three years ago, Aragaki was a member of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, where Sanada awakened the power of Persona within him. However, he wasn't able to fully control his powers. One day, a horrible accident occurred and a number of people were driven mad. Aragaki's Persona went berserk and snatched away the life of an innocent bystander. Despondent, Aragaki dropped out of school and began aimlessly roaming the streets at night. In order to restrain his Persona ability, whenever Aragaki is faced with danger, he takes a suppressant drug - although it has its side effects. Aragaki only returned to the SEES to bear his past deeds. Aragaki gave his life as a final apology to those tied to the past and unable to move forward, saying: "I'm the only one who deserves to rot in hell."

[at bottom:]

Shinjiro Aragaki

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Like A Whole Nother World

Category: Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad 2009/9/3 (Thu) 23:18

People are taking my return to the SEES really nicely... What the hell happened. Back when it was just me and Aki and Kirijo, the lounge felt way too big... But with all the new members, it's stuffed. Girls, a little kid, and even a dog... Some real variety in this lineup. Did Aki and Kirijo just get swept up in all that?

And on top of that, they're all treating me real good, even though they barely know me. The 2nd years think I bailed their asses out at the meeting place, when really I was just chasing off some pests. Either way, they're being real nice to me.

I don't bother with school or club activities or whatever, so I can focus all my energy on battle. Hit me up whenever you're heading off to Tartarus. I mean, that's why I came back here in the first place.

COMMENT Comments (4) ・ Trackback (0)

2009/9/4 (Fri) 01:23 JUN☆P-

Never gonna forget the hero at the meeting spot, dude. You totally bailed us out. With Aragaki-san on our side, we're like a hundred-man army!

2009/9/4 (Fri) 18:51 Yukaricchi♥

So you helped found the club, Aragaki-senpai... Thank you so much for saving us. I think you might actually be a really good guy, deep down...?

2009/9/4 (Fri) 21:00 Aigis

Koromaru-san reports that you often give him treats. It seems you two have become fast friends. Aragaki-san, you are rather reserved.

2009/9/4 (Fri) 23:06 Gaki

Oh come on, are you guys really kicking things off with a bunch of embarrassing comments? Hundred-man army, good guy... Don't just make stuff up about me. Ugh, I dunno how to deal with this.

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Boy's & Girl's Event

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Escapade

Category: Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad 2009/9/6 (Sun) 21:55

Under the full moon, a Shadow appeared, as promised. I hang out at Escapade plenty, but this time everyone on the floor was complaining about the power being on the fritz. I guess that was an omen or something that a Shadow was about to appear. Can't let things like that slip you by.

But man, there were some real annoying tagalongs last night. Junpei thought he was gonna party his ass off, the poor guy. That chick from Strega was totally stringing him along, but Junpei still managed to be worried about her. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but pure-hearted guys like him are the ones that fall for that kind of thing.

But still, the chick's Persona was really something... Might be worth worrying about. I think I'll pop my head into the hospital too.

[screenshot:]

Junpei Iori

Hey, uh... I just wanna know one thing... Was that really all just an act?

COMMENT Comments (4) ・ Trackback (0)

2009/9/6 (Sun) 22:23 Yukaricchi♥

I mean, Junpei's so unsubtle about things like this... I bet he's going to visit at the hospital again today. Maybe if Junpei keeps talking to her, Chidori-san will start to open her heart... Or maybe I'm naive for even thinking that?  

Boy's & Girl's Event

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Passing the Persona Torch

Category: Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad 2009/9/15 (Tue) 22:36

Man, you guys are a real pain. Though I guess I can't be so quick to judge if Koro-chan hangs with you...

⬤ Questions From Persona Users ⬤

1. How did it feel when your Persona awakened?

I don't remember anything from back then...

2. What did you think when you saw your Persona?

Don't really care, that's just how he looks. He's Aki's Persona's brother. I mean, me and Aki go way back. You couldn't separate us even if you tried.

3. What's your favorite attacking strategy?

I'm not a big fan of whittling enemies down bit by bit. Better to give 'em one big hit and knock 'em dead, all in one go.

4. Any Shadows you have trouble with?

I don't got any weak points. I mean, if your Persona is weak, that just means your heart is weak.

5. What do you want to do when we're done fighting?

Hell if I know. I just want to take responsibility for what I've done. I think I'm just about there. After that... Aki, it's your turn.

COMMENT Comments (4) ・ Trackback (1)

2009/9/15 (Wed) 19:47 Aki

So it's my turn... Got it. Shinji, it may very well be because of my influence that the power of Persona was awakened within you...

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Boys & Girl's Event

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What Are You Weirdos, a Cosplay Group?

Category: Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad 2009/9/16 (Wed) 22:58

Come on... I am not gonna participate in your little cosplay thing. The bus stop was one thing, but this time you　want me to wear a tailcoat? What? Is that a butler costume? Like I'm gonna play some servant role.

Oh, and when we're going off to Tartarus, don't expect me to act like we're going on a picnic, or whatever. When a Shadow pops out, I want to look like a grown-up warrior. We didn't get this far by being stylish.

I mean, if you're fighting to win, then I'll quit whining. Just don't mess around too much. And don't forget that lives are on the line.

COMMENT Comments (4) ・ Trackback (0)

2009/9/17 (Thu) 19:48 Yukaricchi♥

Please don't call us all "weirdos"! Our leader is the one who's into dressing up. I'm a victim too.

2009/9/17 (Thu) 22:39 JUN☆P-

That's the first time I've seen you hatless, Aragaki-san. ...And your head looks totally normal. So disappointing...

2009/9/17 (Fri) 19:29 Aki

I've never brought this up, but... Junpei, what do YOU look like with your hat off? I mean, even when you went swimming at the beach, you refused to take it off.

2009/9/17 (Fri) 21:46 Gaki

What kind of weird ideas are you having about people's heads... Hey Aki, meet me at the strategy room for a tactical debriefing on stealing Junpei's hat.

[right column] Boy's & Girl's Event Public Post

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Haven't Seen a Movie In Ages

Category: Posts 2009/9/23 (Wed) 22:26

Man, I haven't been to the movies in ages. It's a lot nicer to go on your own, but... Well, if you're inviting me, you must be kind of a weirdo. I guess I don't mind coming along though, kills some time.

But like, did you pick that movie on purpose? "Woof-Meow Kingdom"... We were surrounded by family, made me weirdly sweaty. And the climactic scene where they got dragged in the river... That was... Well, whatever...

Right, I need to give Koro-chan the special dog food and assorted bones I got on the way home. The leash we use on walks is filthy, so maybe I should get a new one, too... Oh, and I'm going to give him a bath later tonight. Shoot, I forgot to get a massage brush...

Anyway, do you think Koro-chan's good at doggy paddling? Never know when something bad might happen around water...

[screenshot:]

> Somehow, Aragaki's eyes seem red...

COMMENT Comments (3) ・ Trackback (0)

2009/9/24 (Thu) 10:00 Aigis

Koromaru-san is profoundly moved by your exceptional treatment of him, Aragaki-san.

2009/9/24 (Thu) 19:13 Fuu＊ka

Aragaki-senpai, you're a real animal lover, aren't you? Nobody who likes animals is a bad person, or so they say. I'll have to cook up something nice for Koro-chan too!

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Boys & Girl's Event Public Post

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Evening Walk

Category: Posts 2009/9/26 (Sat) 23:14

You guys keep going off about how taking a walk at night soothes the soul, and I kinda have to agree. I used to kill time at night by hanging out in back alleys or clubs, but I guess it's not so bad doing something more healthy with my evenings. And this is so weird, but taking a nice walk makes me want to make dinner for Koro-chan.

It's fall and everything's being harvested, which makes it the season for eating. You guys need to remember to eat up and stay healthy. Or else you're gonna end up bedridden, like our leader was. What would you even do if a shadow popped out then? Well, I guess everything's going good on that front, so it's fine for now. Just remember to get a nice square meal in every day.

[screenshot]

Shinjiro Aragaki

You hungry? I'll fix you something when we get home.

Girl's Event Public Post

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The Trick to Cooking

Category: Cooking 2009/9/27 (Sun) 23:47

Fall's the season for eating, but I don't think that fancy kitchen we have is getting any use. The fridge is full of sports drinks and milk, the cupboards are crammed with protein shakes and cup noodles and junk food... It's messed up. Do you people seriously never cook? We didn't even have a good set of utensils, so I brought some in. Yamagishi's the only one who seems excited about cooking, but she doesn't have the basics down yet. Don't get me wrong, enthusiasm's great, but...

Well, if you've heard someone say that cooking is an act of love, it probably came from someone who's mastered their basics. Doesn't matter how much love you pour into your cooking, if you mess up some fundamental part, it's not gonna taste good. A super common mistake beginners make is ignoring what the recipe says and improvising instead. Get your basics down pat, then you can switch things up. Remember, you don't gotta rush it. Doesn't matter what you're doing, taking it one step at a time is key.

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2009/9/28 (Mon) 18:51 Fuu＊ka

Aragaki-senpai, thank you... You put it pretty bluntly, but you're trying to help, aren't you? I'll start working my way up with simple things like onigiri. If you'd like, feel free to come sample my work?

2009/9/28 (Mon) 19:52 Mitsuru

Aragaki, I'm rather surprised at how good you are at cooking. I wouldn't say you surpass my family's professional chef, but your food was indeed exquisite. Perhaps eating together with everyone isn't so bad, every once in a while.

[right column]

Girl's Event

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Making Things Right

Category: Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad 2009/10/3 (Sat) 02:45

[screenshot]

Shinjiro Aragaki

...They're in your hands now. I believe in you.

[post body]

So tomorrow's the long-awaited full moon, huh. And you know another huge Shadow's gonna pop out. But I never thought the full moon would fall on tomorrow's date, of all days... I can't bring myself to call it a coincidence.

It's not like I think I won't be coming back, but with what I have in the palm of my hand... Well, I can't tell if it's a coincidence or a cruel prank. And the whole time I sit here agonizing about it, the pocketwatch in my palm keeps on ticking. If I had to name the one thing I can never change, it'd be my past self. Who's bound by their past now? It's not just me... So, the only thing left for me to do is to make things right. Because no matter what I choose, I don't got much time left...

I'm not gonna write anything more here, I promise. You don't have to forgive me for my selfishness. And no matter what happens, don't you dare cry...

COMMENT Comments (5) ・ Trackback (0)

2009/10/7 (Wed) 18:36 Fuu＊ka

Aragaki-senpai, they said you wouldn't wake up... When I first read this post, I didn't get it at all, but... Looking back, I think you knew what you were about to do...

2009/10/7 (Wed) 20:28 Mitsuru

Of course I was aware of the situation between Aragaki and Amada. It was a failing on my part that it came to this. From hereafter, the Kirijo family will dedicate all available resources to his medical care. Perhaps Aragaki's strong spirit will grant us a sliver of hope...

2009/10/8 (Thu) 01:36 JUN☆P-

I know you were ready to give your life in this battle, but... Now that it's actually happened, it hurts like hell... Aragaki-san, please wake up...

2009/10/8 (Thu) 20:38 Aki

When I thought Shinji was all but gone, he whispered, "This is what I wanted." While some may dismiss his way of making things right, I would not count myself among them. Everyone, we need to face forward!

2009/10/9 (Fri) 18:46 Amadaman

I've decided to keep fighting here. Until Aragaki-san returns, I will protect his place.

[bubble at top left]

If You Get Into A Relationship...

Social links with Aragaki don't turn romantic until you max out your S. Link rank with him. But once you do get to max, if you call him one more time, you can have the protagonist confess to him. After a short period of heated questioning, you can enter Aragaki's room. Acting much unlike the Aragaki you've seen so far, he will embrace the protagonist and make an unexpectedly bold move. While it's quite the mushy event, if you do get in a relationship, he'll actually be quite assertive. By the way, the protagonist confesses to him in the dorm lounge. If you think about it, Yukari and Junpei and all the other members would be right next to them the whole time...

[screenshot:]

Shinjiro Aragaki

You're uh... not married, so don't get this wrong, but...

[bubbles at top right]

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Break

[center of circle:] Shinjiro Aragaki

[by tarot card:] Moon

[spiky bubble at bottom:] Shinjiro Aragaki

[to left of portrait, beneath "Persona capable to summon once Moon's commu rank reaches the max:]

Sandalphon, the Angel That Conveys Prayers

[tag labeled 27]

From the Iwatodoi Dormitory Lounge ......Edition 27

[junpei:] Man, Aragaki-san's cooking is the best. [koro:] Woof!! [aegis:] Koromaru-san says he enjoys it too. [aragaki:] H, hey. You guys suck at eating balanced meals. Try to take care of yourselves. [mitsuru:] I agree completely. Akihiko could stand to eat something aside from gyudon. [Rice with beef and vegetables.] [sanada:] I, I eat more than just gyudon! I get plenty of protein shakes in too!

[next column] [mitsuru:] Ugh... You're giving me a headache. [junpei:] Gyudon and protein shakes and nothing else... That's uh, really... [aragaki:] Don't act like you're any different. You basically live off cup ramen. Balance your diet. [junpei:] Uh, well... I uh, how do I put this, just like, think it's good... [fuuka:] Okay, I'll keep balance in mind and cook something up! [aragaki] How about you focus on learning how to cook, first. ...Although, you can go ahead and start practicing.

[vertical line of text in center:]

Brotherly Lines

[column on right]

S. Link Rank 3 Female Protagonist

Look at the balance in these meals... Do you guys live off this...?

S. Link Rank 4 Female Protagonist

...You're not going to leave those vegetables on your plate, are you?

S. Link Rank 7 Female Protagonist

Get some good sleep. ...'Night.

S. Link Rank 9 Female Protagonist

Feels like I got a place to come home to.

S. Link MAX Female Protagonist

Now that you're here, I don't have a care in the world...

[screenshot to left:] Shinjiro Aragaki

Does everyone here eat like crap...?

[block labeled Girl's Side] Like An Older Brother

Shinjiro Aragaki always makes sure his fellow club members make it home safe. While he comes off as rather blunt, he's actually deeply worried about everyone's unhealthy eating habits. Following the protagonist's advice, he throws a party. While putting everything together for the party, he teaches Fuuka (who is hopeless at cooking) how to cook. Drawn by the smell, their dormmates gather, and the lounge springs to life. While everyone enjoys the meal, Aragaki steps out for a bit, and asks the protagonist for a private chat. Then, gazing at the protagonist with a gentle smile, he says, "I'm leaving Sanada and everyone else in your hands."

[screenshot to right:]

Aegis

Koromaru-san is distraught.

[caption below screenshot:] Even Koromaru-san can tell how bad Fuuka's cooking is. But with Aragaki teaching her, she'll be able to make delicious food someday.

TRANSULATIONS NOT MINE THEY ALL BELONG TO THE LOVELY (https://kasael.tumblr.com) ALL CREDIT OF THIS ENTIRE TRANSULATION BELONGS TO THEM NOT ME DON’T REBLOG WITHOUT CREDITING THEM FIRST.

[luckbeabugaboo]

Sweet, Lonesome Creature

I said this AU would be back. I couldn’t just let it rest. So, this is the sequel to Misdirection that literally only I wanted! Oops!

October 10th(running late) entry in my “kiss a day” challenge (requests open).

56. Caught Off Guard Kiss  (Marichat; enemies to lovers soulmate AU)

Trouble landed on her balcony about half an hour past midnight, trouble dressed in black leather and a grin. For a moment, she was paranoid that perhaps he’d realized her true identity and was there to threaten her, but his eyes didn’t seem malicious. Chat Noir sat himself down beside her on the bench, peering over her work with genuine curiosity. “That’s a nice color, what’s the fabric texture you have in mind?” 

This man beside her had spent the entire afternoon trying to take her Miraculous and now, despite all logic, he was asking her design questions. Maybe something had shifted and the universe had found some way to tip the scales back to their proper alignment, or maybe Chat Noir only acted like a complete jerk around Ladybug. She couldn’t make a real guess because despite fighting him for years, she hadn’t ever shared a private conversation with Chat that didn’t involve demands and exchanged blows. 

“Something very sheer, soft. Maybe organza or chiffon. The paneling beneath would definitely be taffeta.” Letting her pen still, she cast her gaze sidelong in an attempt to study his profile. “Are you secretly a textiles expert when you’re not terrorizing Paris’ heroes?” 

The smirk that split his face was immediate, a gleam igniting in his eyes. “You wanna get to know me, purrrincess? I’m flattered.” 

“Marinette.” Her eyes could not have possibly rolled any further back into the depths of her skull. “My name is Marinette.”

“I know.” He gave a little wink and sent a frenzy of confused emotions to roil in her chest. “We just so happen to share a mutual friend.”

She felt her eyes blow wide. He knew. He had to know. He was taunting her, showing up to gloat that he knew who she was but she was still three steps behind and didn’t have even a hunch as to who he was behind the cat ears. Or at least that’s what she had thought until she looked up to find him watching her with eyes that were almost reverent. For a few seconds he almost looked like--

“Adrien Agreste.” Chat cut into her thoughts with the exact name she was on the verge of. “He’s always spoken very highly of you, so I thought I’d pay a visit to the girl I’ve heard so much about.” He collected her hand into his grasp and slowly lifted it to his lips, placing a small kiss against her knuckles. It shocked her just how tender the action seemed. Almost too earnest.

A weaker woman might have crumbled under the pressure stacking in her chest. Adrien’s voice flooded her system with hazy requests to stay the night, some eager and needy, others sad and broken, but all tied to memories of his fingers tucked against her stomach and her back pressed to his chest in the soft cradle of her mattress. They never did anything beyond sleep close, but she knew deep down they both had sometimes wished they would have. That was long over and past, the feelings he’d confessed to her in high school had been left there… And Chat Noir knew nothing of them. 

Marinette was too strong a will to give these treacherous thoughts any purchase and simply flashed him a slow smile. The candidness of his eyes and the explanation he gave completely erased any urge to push him away; a very very dangerous erasure. But a kiss on the hand couldn’t be the end of the world. Maybe he really was just seeking good company. 

“So you know Adrien? Maybe you really are a textiles expert.” In an attempt to keep aloof, she turned her focus back to her sketches the moment he set her hand free. “He’s a good friend, I’m shocked he’d be okay with the way you go about things. He is very kind and thoughtful, so I doubt he’d agree with you working for someone like Hawkmoth. Unless he’s a friend under the mask and doesn’t know.”

“Sometimes people don’t understand a motive because they’ve never been in that person’s position. Not everything is black and white. And just because someone has to do something doesn’t mean they’re proud of it.” Chat’s voice was vulnerable in a way she’d never heard before. “Do you trust Adrien?”

“Yes.” No hesitation stopped her, though she was sure given the circumstances it should have. “He is someone I’ve considered a close friend.” 

“Then trust that he wouldn’t let me near you if he thought I would ever hurt you.” Leaning over her sketchbook, he pointed a clawed finger to one of her sketches. “What’s the fabric you’re planning to use for this blazer?”

Processing the situation seemed impossible, so she opted to just accept it at face value. Adrien Agreste had sent Chat Noir to her rooftop because he was presumably lonely and was now going to give her unwarranted advice on her design work. This was a story she would most definitely not be sharing with Alya, Nino, and Luka. “Corduroy, because it needs to be very structured. The shoulders are exaggerated and I’m not planning to do any intricate top stitching.” 

“Any reason you’re not going for tweed?” She snuck a peek his way and found him tapping his chin lightly. She couldn’t remember the last time someone was this invested in her work. “Tweed is just as structured.”

“I like working with the texture of corduroy better. As someone who hand stitches all my pieces, for the time being, I like to use fabrics that I already feel confident working with.” Her free hand rubbed at the back of her neck. Somehow, she was feeling a little sheepish admitting that. “I know that haute couture isn’t born from a lack of taking risks, but not everything can be a gamble either.”

Chat hummed and nodded lightly, sagely. “It’s smart to play to your strengths. The color is beautiful and the lines are clean, so the piece will make a statement whether it’s tweed or not.” A smile broke over his face. “I’m no fashion expert, but I think your pieces look meow-volous, princess.”

Marinette nearly choked on a laugh. “You’re really going to claim you’re not an expert after arguing with me about fabric texture? You are something else, kitty.”

“I try.” He tossed her a wink and then took the sketchbook from her hands. 

He flipped through a few pages and she found herself just watching him. Everything about him seemed so much softer when he wasn’t at Hawkmoth’s beck and call. Seeing him this way gave her hope that maybe his intended fate wasn’t completely lost. Maybe someday he’d be able to fight at Ladybug’s side.

[theboondogglepub]

A Land of Gardens Black. Part 2.

Part 2: The Catte Army that Baps, Far and Away we Travel Still...

What ho, what is this?

You’ve returned to our play? I cannot say I’m surprised I took your breath away. Very well, I can see you thirst for more of this bard! I am not wont to deny audience hunger this hard. Let me restring my lute, and twine my guitar, figure simple words out I can rhythm very far. Yes of course! It is time, and I must not disappoint. I believe our next chapter begins where roads joint. Where was I? Oh yes! It is time we took notice of Cattes. Of stalwart brave fighters who oddly take naps. It is time, I do think, to appraise the Catte army of Baps.

Stare out if you will, and do not miss a thing. Complexities abound when I get ready to sing. You and I see a town, quite the normal seen sight! Though do you share my wonder why they lack any light? Streets awash with people in clutters and slums, nary a working street lamp just rows upon rows of bums? We see here two roads in the middle of town, and two groups on said roads, all sharing in frowns. A blockade on both ends, and two blockaders at that, one group for the Botanist queen, the other sworn to Catte. Let’s look in now, stay quiet! You don’t want them to hear! Perhaps a bit of eavesdropping with make things more clear.

“I demand passage!” He cried out in the direction of a conifer tree, tapping his cane on the cobbled path as he walked into town. “I have a message for her Lady of Cattes! It is quite important!” The blindfold he wore made seeing the blockade of Her Lady of Botanist Divinity hard to see, not that it mattered as he still was aways from the road yet. “I am Aster of Chants! A monk sent by our Lady of Divine Pure White! The Botanist Queen Herself!” He bumped into a light pole, and demanded audience with it. “It is imperative she hear this right away!” While Aster chats with a light pole, let us see what else is happening.

“What do you mean I cannot cross? I have friends over there! This is absurd!” At the borderline stood stalwart a woman of impressive strength and azure hair. On her person she hefted her shield, her sword, her backpack, her friends backpacks, a water heater, a steer, a baby carriage, half of a tree (the best half, if you were wondering), exactly three uneaten pies, and a loaf of pumpernickel bread, all tied together into a fashioned backpack of sorts made of rope. Her eyes glared at the men and women that guarded the border, their pristine white uniforms opposite the enemy border watch in black uniforms that guarded the other side of the street. An enemy watch that was… exactly 10 fulms away from them, facing the other direction.

“We are sorry Lady Braum the Azure Knight, but there is nothing we can do.”The pristine white uniformed man said. “It is the Botanist Queen’s orders that no one travel beyond this street. There are rumors and more than rumors that a war is about to break out, and we must be ready. It is for your own good that no one be allowed to cross.” The white uniformed person told the azure knight of absurd encumbrance.

“Hah! You would say that you white uniformed dog! I spit on your mother’s grave and speak to your father about your crass language! HMPH! It is the Queen of Botanists that sways and grows ever dangerous!” Exactly 10 fulms away from them, a black uniformed soldier turned ever so slightly to throw his insult. It wasn’t a very good one.

“How DARE you!” The white uniformed soldier replied. “I will see you to fisticuffs on the battlefield, you Catte soldier confederate! You, you, you… MEWLING!” That last insult drew an audible gasp from everyone present. Ashe, Azure Knight of impressible mettle and bizarre encumbrance, remained at her side and waited. She would be waiting a while.

Meanwhile on the other side of the blockade,  exactly 10 fulms away a small group of travelers sought passage. Most of these travelers were heavily cloaked, however one… “HURRR you cannot do this to me! Do you know who I am?” A beefy shirtless man stood staring down his side of the blockade, blond beard bristling. “I am the second greatest Dragoneer, second greatest lover, second greatest puncher, wine-taster, dead-lifter of weights, and skipper of stones and coins. Why, were I not a peaceful and negotiable man just trying to sell people on the fine art of shirtlessness! I would show you the strength that has been passed down my family line for gene-” Just then he was interrupted.

“Heeeeeey,” A singular voice clamored accusatory, surly, feminine and quite direct. It was a voice that echoed high in the streets, demanding attention and notice. It was Z’ylarix of Fire, and she strode upon a steed/chocobo/chair/bear/owl combination. For you see, Z’ylarix of fire used everything, and rode everything, all at once. “I see you there. Don’t deny it! You will come with me this instance! There is no escape, not any more for deserters like you!” Striding forward atop a, for the sake of convenience we’ll call it a ‘mount’, from the direction leading into town, Z’ylarix of Fire pointed her sword/dagger/staff/knife/other dagger weapon (To be fair, it is quite impressive despite its odd name) down on the well-cloaked crowd. She called someone in particular out, but whom it was not yet quite known. “It is time you came with me!” One of the cloaked figures broke out from the crowd, and began making a mad dash away, only to be caught in Z’ylarix’ patented net/ropes/trap/box/assortment of trinkets that was thrown by the dark rider herself. “There is no escape! The Admiral demands it!” From there, the netted body and Z’ylarix rode away.

After a travel, large and imposing black gates open and creak, and the room beyond requires much of me to speak. It is wide in its scope, and tall in its lift, and in threw Z’ylarix the man known as the agent of Grift. Still in a bag, and the bag in a net, you’d be wise to consider his death a safe bet. The Grifter did shuffle, did sway and crawl out, only to look on at his peers with a definitive pout. He wore an eyepatch, and another on top. Another and another which all shuffled with a hop. Let us hear in and see what this meeting does bring, perhaps more revelations upon which I will sing.

“SO,” She scowled, and we shall get into who she is quite quickly, for now her face is covered in a black mask. “The MAD PATCHER! Made any eyepatches lately?! Or perhaps… CONSPIRED WITH THE ENEMY?!” She, the Admiral of Cattes and Lord of the Gardens Black, stood up and slammed her rifle onto the table, letting it lay there as an object of imposing fear. Under her black mask, the Lady of Cattes twitched her cat ears, and flicked her cat tongue, and scratched her cat nails along the table. She wore red sewn with red stitching, red fangs on her black mask, and red draped on her cloak. She wasn’t grand, but imposing, commanding the room.

The Mad Patcher replied. “Oi don't nu waaat yer are blatherin' aboyt.” He spoke an eclectic… accent? Speech pattern? He.. did he even speak? Or was it some form of grunting? “Al' oi want is for peace among de people. dat is al', perhaps we can reach a resolushun? wud yer care for an mince pie patch?” The Mad Patcher was called so for his abundance of eyepatches. He wore an eyepatch on an eyepatch, and another on top. He wore patches on his shirts, on his pants and on his boots. He wore patches on his fluffy Catte ears, and it was rumored he was once a time ago a sailing Corsair of some type. Now he was just the Mad Patcher. If there was a thing that required a patch, the Mad Patcher was there, ready to patch.

The Black masked Queen of Cattes was having none of it. The Admiral of Cattes took out another gun (this one more a derringer), and shot the Mad Patcher in the shoulder, causing him to wince and bend. She laid that gun out on the table next to her first. “WHAT SAY YOU my COUNCIL? He has chosen his side. Shall we show what happens to those who do not choose correctly?!” The Admiral of Cattes looked on her council, and waited to hear their wisdom.

To the Admiral’s left was Kai Aries, the astoundingly cute. She wore pink sweaters and frills, and pink ribbons on the frills. Pink bows on her ribbons and pink tassels on her bows. She was small, but not tall, and had big eyes but no tail. She had cat ears, and wore a pair of cat ears behind her cat ears. Kai Aries was known for her resounding style, and also her battle precision. Kicker of groins, there was not a foe downed by her that didn’t wheeze for days after. Men feared her kicks, women feared how her kicks could hurt so bad, and her allies feared naught but being dressed up in pink on a whim. To deny Kai’s proclivities of dressing people outside of the Admiral in garb meant... well, you can guess it. Yup. A kick to the groin. She gave a thumbs down. “The Patcher did not let me patch his pants pink. I say punish him.”

Past Kai Aries sat Catherina of the Lynx, and in her shadows peered out from pure darkness the eyes of 1000 cattes. Not a simple thaumaturge, she was a black mage. More than a black mage, her every shadow was pitched in darkness, and in each shadow a pair of catte eyes glowered out from. In the curves of her form fitting gowns, in the crease of her bent knee, under the brim of her hat. Catte eyes. She sat bored, reading a book laid inside another book inside yet a third book. “Oh? Him? I suppose yes. He should be punished. Go ahead.” Each word Catherina spoke was echoed by meows coming from everywhere and nowhere, and as she finished speaking she returned to her book. Disinterested.

Beyond Catherina was the Mookie of Boolie, a large buxom creature of insectoid and feline nature and elusive dangerous beauty. Not quite a wasp, nor butterfly, nor a caterpillar, not a catte, the Mookie of Boolie was at once a little of many differing insects, and sat upon a tufted mushroom of multitude vibrant colors. She smoked a pipe, blowing out idly as she observed the Admiral’s rage. Hailing from the land of Boolie, Mookie was the ruler of the distant realm on the edge of the Garden’s Black. She ruled for she was the greatest of her species, the Queen of Boolie, and all respected her and the hard earned title. Mookie slowly piped out several circles, blowing an arrow through each expertly. “Not lewd enough for my taste. I vote punish him. Humble the egotistical fool.” Her words cut through the smoke rings, an air of dominance through them all.

Lastly to the Admiral of Catte’s right sat, or more so loomed, the shadow of Aifread. I say and emphasize shadow as Aifread did not speak, did not possess shape, did not do more than loom dangerously. Her shadow cast 15 fulms high behind her, but where the shadow originated from, nothing sat. Just a spectre with flickering cat ears. Long did rumors circulate that Aifread was nothing more than a simple Catte once, much like many of the denizens of the Garden’s Black. Other gossip placed her as a pool of liquid shadow that did the dark biddings of her dark Admiral of Cattes. Still others said Aifread was once a normal though affluently wealthy Catte, yet bought herself the right to cease to exist, thus becoming a shadow of ill-intent. Whichever was true was little known, what was known however, was she was easily distracted. Sitting to the Admiral’s right, the shadow of Aifread, again merely a shadow near 15 fulms tall, noticed a mouse and pounced. The Admiral of Catte’s regarded Aifread. “Well? Which way do you sway on the matter?” With the reminder given, Aifread, again a massive cast shadow of a creature, pointed down. Her vote was given.

“VERY WELL,” The Admiral of Catte announced her decision, laying yet a third gun on the table with a slam. This one a drum magazine style tommy-gun. “You, Mad Patcher shall be punished for your impunity! I declare the punishment as… DEATH!” Having said that, the Admiral of Catte’s leveled her fourth gun drawn from her coat, this one a sniper rifle with a solid oak stock, and fired. POOSH went the bullet, and the Mad Patcher fell over in a slump, shot right between the eyes. Dead.

Minutes passed, and a conversation about changing the curtains to a shade to match the new season began. They decided on paisley. Then, “UUUUUUHHHH” The Mad Patcher inhaled sharply. “T- Tanks me queen .” He said, barely understood.

“Now, think about why I killed you next time you go and do something stupid Mad Patcher. To the dungeon with him! I demand he be killed at least 5 times before breakfasts, and 15 more before dinner for the next two sennight!” With the Admiral’s declaration, black uniformed guards stepped up to, picked up, and carried the Mad Patcher away. “And no desert for him! The delinquent!”

Now we have seen a bit more of the cast, and yet the third still waits to be shown at last. We have met Aster of Chants and Ashe the encumbered, but what of the rest who are still as of yet unnumbered? What of Locke of the Tin, or Maeze of the paths, or Kayne the pure or of Lulu of Crafts? What of Naih the quite strange, or Anhashy the bold, what of all of the clans of Blacke who hail from the cold? We’ll meet them all soon, and more I do swear, I just have to muster the desire to care. What is that you say friend, there is story to tell you must hear? Yes, I believe we’ll begin again when the tune once again finds my ear. Just time to rest, that is all I do ask, soon once again in my tale you all will bask.