#let my mc give his damn stick

[hannie-dul-set]

the breakup soup — [y.jh].

SYNOPSIS. you and jeonghan get into an argument in the middle of the meeting. the rest of your organization’s officers slowly start to realize that this isn’t just about whether the mountains or the sea would be the better venue for your event.

PAIRING. yoon jeonghan x female! reader. GENRE. lovers to exes to lovers, humor, romance, tiny angst, orgmate! jeonghan, college! au, a whole lot of forced proximity, only one bed inn room, a bunch of nosy men. WARNINGS. written breakup (obviously), so much swearing, many many dumb inappropriate jokes (divorce, fucking, diarrhea, to name a few), parliamentary procedures jargon. WORD COUNT. 15k.

NOTE. after six, seven months, this this is finally out of hell (my gdocs). the soup is overcooked. holy shit. everything is written in the pov of a certain teener (excluding jeonghan and the mc. this fic is about them but no, you do not have access to their thoughts). this is super duper fun to write and i hope it’s fun to read as well HHAHAHAHA. please let me know what you think! enjoy!

“TODAY IS SEPTEMBER 7, 20XX. THE MEETING WILL NOW PLEASE COME TO ORDER. Mr. Secretary, please call the roll.”

The words robotically fall out of Seungcheol’s mouth as he turns over the pages of his clipboard, marking a precise, red dot next to the word ‘agenda’ on the page. Another day, another meeting. He can’t wait for the moment he can finally retire from this god damned position. Every single time he repeats his presiding officer script, it feels like a digit gets added to his age.

“Yes, Mr. Chair. Please say ‘present and voting’ once your name is called to be acknowledged.” 

Wonwoo starts the roll call, and Seungcheol is desperately trying to cover his yawn with the clipboard, else Seungkwan is gonna grate at him again for dozing off in his own meeting— the aforementioned straightening himself in his seat when his position is called.

“Public Information Officer 1?”

“Present and voting.”

“PIO 2?

“Present—” says Joshua, flicking a paper clip across the table and into Vernon’s nth latte of the day. “—and voting.”

“Next. Assistant Business Manager.”

“Prese—”

“Okay, got it.” Chan brandishes a look of offense when Wonwoo cuts him off. “Business Manager?”

“Present and voting. Do we really have to keep doing this one by one?” 

Mingyu has a point, Seungcheol mentally agrees. But his god damned seniors wrote in the damned constitution and bylaws that every meeting of SVT (Society of Virtuous Timetravellers. He’s in the process of renaming it because your organization that’s supposed to be for history and culture is attracting weirdos instead— and two of them are Soonyoung and Seokmin) must abide by strict parliamentary procedures, so he has no choice but to suck it up and listen as Wonwoo continues to read out the succeeding positions on the attendance list, and it’s starting to sound a lot like a lullaby.

“Secretary, yours truly, present and voting.” The scratch from Wonwoo’s throat signals Seungcheol that it’s to zone back in. “Vice Chairperson-External?”

“Present and voting.”

Your voice draws Seungcheol's attention. He turns his head towards you and he notices the sheets of binded up papers you have in your hands, straightened with a few taps on the table surface before you settle them back down, a swell of pride when he sees what’s printed on the topmost page. 

It’s impeccably organized, the task he assigned to you only three days prior. Hell, you even have page tabs sticking out of the sides of every page. Your work ethic never fails to impress him. On top of that, you’re always so professional— able to separate your personal and org life with strict barriers in between because even though you and Junhui have been friends for ten years, your sharp glare holds no reservations when you catch him folding paper turtles with sticky notes right next to you when inside the meeting room.

“Sorry,” Jun breathes out. You retract your leg from under the table after giving him a discreet kick.

Anyway, Seungcheol has high hopes for you, and he’s eyeing you to replace him as SVT’s Chairperson next year (he’s already in the process of manipulating you into taking the job: the compliments he gives away aren’t for free). You’re perfect. You’re flawless. There’s no one else fit for the position but you. 

Which is why the next course of events comes as nothing less than a shock to him.

“Vice Chairperson-Internal?” Wonwoo calls out but is met with silence. He looks around. “VCI?”

No answer. You scoff.

“Alright, moving on. Mr. Chair?” 

Seungcheol stiffens, second-guessing what he’d just heard, but the near-invisible crooked twitch of the corner of your mouth proves that no, that wasn’t just his imagination. You just scoffed. A sharp noise laced with derision and contempt. That should’ve been the first sign that something is off.

“Present,” he coughs out, resigning his attention back to the meeting he has to preside over. It must be nothing. Even you can get annoyed sometimes. Maybe Jun is fucking around again and you’ve just had about enough.

“There are thirteen out of fourteen officers present, Mr. Chair. We are in quorum.”

“Thank you. Seeing that we are in quorum, it is now legal for us to conduct business. Mr. Secretary, will you please read to us the agenda for today’s—”

The office door swings open. 

“Sorry, I’m late!”

And Mr. VCI rushes in with his white coat still hanging off his shoulders. The meeting is put to an abrupt pause as Jeonghan hastily walks up to his assigned seat, trying to explain the reason for his tardiness. “Our lab session took longer than expected,” Jeonghan huffs out, dragging out the chair next to him. “Dr. Han wouldn’t let us—”

“It’s common decency to enter the room and sit down quietly when you’re late so as to not disturb the ongoing meeting. Especially when you haven’t informed the body beforehand.”

Seungcheol flinches when he hears the interruption of your sharp tone. His head quickly snaps to your direction before gleaning Jeonghan’s reaction. His friend’s jaw tightens but he says nothing. That should’ve been the second sign.

“Mr. Chair, may we proceed with the reading of today’s agenda?”

He eyes you carefully and, with a hesitant drawl anchoring his tongue, proceeds with the meeting while Jeonghan quietly settles into his seat. “Mr. VCI, you may send your excuse letter later for record keeping. Anyhow, Mr. Secretary, please read to us the agenda for today’s meeting.” Wonwoo does as instructed. The problem is, Seungcheol can’t hear anything that he’s saying. Not when his seat is exceedingly uncomfortable at the moment.

It’s not his seat. It’s the two people cornering his seat that’s the problem.

Cold sweat breaks out from his forehead. The air is stuffy. You and Jeonghan lock eyes for zero-point-five seconds and there’s a chill in the atmosphere that only Seungcheol can feel. What the fuck is going on?

“Thank you Mr. Secretary. We’ll begin with the first agenda— SVT’s Orientation and Membership Training. Alright. As you all may know, this will be our organization’s first event for the academic year, thus I am expecting everyone’s undivided cooperation in making sure that this event will be a success. We have already discussed the initial details of the event during the previous meeting, and we also distributed the tasks to the officers and committees.” He flips through a page and clears his throat. “I believe our Vice Chair External was tasked to scout for the venue. Ms. VCE, have you prepared your presentation?”

You nod, rising from your seat. “Yes, Mr. Chair. I’ve prepared a comprehensive list of all our options.” Okay, Seungcheol breathes in through nose. You seem normal now. Maybe he was just overthinking things. “I ask for everyone’s assistance in distributing the copies.”

Seungcheol looks at the text written in bold when you pass a copy to him— SVT ORYE & MT 20XX: VENUE PROPOSAL. While everyone is passing the paperclip-bound photocopies to each other, you take the liberty to start speaking. “If you look at the second page, you can see the overview of the entire document. I’ve listed five possible venues and compiled their respective addresses, rates, inclusions, menus, and of course, pictures for your reference. We’ll look at each of them one by one, starting with—”

You pause. Jeonghan is raising his hand. Your eyebrow twitches. Seungcheol gets a bad feeling. “Yes, Mr. VCI?”

“Thank you for the acknowledgement,” he says. “I’d like to ask why exactly are all of these venues located in the mountains? Don’t we have other options? It would be fine if it were just us officers, but I believe holding the event in such terrains would be far too inconvenient for more or less a hundred people.”

A very bad feeling.

“I appreciate your insight,” you respond. Uh oh. Your smile is strained and Seungcheol knows it. That’s the smile you wear when you’re about to pulverize a representative for a disadvantageous partnership to the ground. “However, I’d like to bring to your recollection that the theme of this year’s Orye is traditional South Korean folklore. That considered, I came up with the judgment that the mountainous and forested areas would be the most appropriate and immersive venue if we wish to bring this concept to life. I hope that is clear, Mr. VCI. Anyway—”

“It’s still impractical, Ms. VCE.” 

Your face stiffens.

Jeonghan just cut you off. 

Shit, he just cut you off. 

He stands up, leveling you from across the table. “What about our members with asthma? Heart problems? What if it rains on the day of the event? Do you expect everyone to climb up a mountain trail in all these conditions?”

“If you read through my document before inadvertently interrupting me, Mr. VCI, you’d know that three out of the five venues offer uphill transportation in order to get to the accommodations. And although I understand your reservations about the possibility of inclement weather, may I remind you that it’s also the driest season of the year. You’re being unreasonable.”

Fuck. Seungcheol thinks he needs to butt in but he can’t find the timing when there’s literally an invisible fucking electric fence deterring him from reaching the both you. He catches a glimpse of Joshua’s concerned eyebrows. ‘Do something,’ his friend’s eyes say. He’s about to until you drop a sentence that shoots the tension off the roof.

“Furthermore, I’ve surveyed all of the officers through text if they agree with my venue proposal and I was met with no objections. You’d know if you opened any of my messages last night, Jeonghan.”

Holy fuck.

Holy fuck, you called him by his first name. 

You never call anyone by their first name. At least not during meetings and it’s very clear that this is a reason for alarm because everyone else’s eyes fly wide open. Except Jeonghan’s. He just looks pissed— mirroring your very own expression. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong and Seungcheol is slowly starting to realize that this argument isn’t just about the venue conflict.

“Ahem.” He clears his throat for the nth time, a wound might break open. “We will take our VCI’s concern into consideration. If you believe holding our Orye in the mountains is impractical, where do you suggest we should hold it instead?”

Jeonghan’s shoulders relax. He gives you a momentary look before settling back into his seat. “Thank you, Mr. Chair.” You do the same. Seungcheol breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’d like to suggest that we hold it by the beach and sea. Not only would it be more accessible, it would also be considerably cheaper considering there’d be no extra expenses for transportation up the hiking trail. There are also more options if we hold it on the beach. I already have contacts from last year’s set of events. We don’t have to worry about negotiations.”

Seungcheol nods in response. He’s about to say something but once again, he hears an unmistakable scoff from your direction. “Of course, you’d go for the low effort option.”

Oh no. Oh god, no.

Jeonghan’s eyes dart towards you. “What was that?”

Seungcheol doesn’t get paid enough for this shit.

“I’m just saying that it’s so like you to go for the easy way out.”

He doesn’t get paid for this at all.

“What are you trying to tell me here, Ms. VCE?” Jeonghan’s tone is getting more pointed, and the rest of the table are starting to pick up on what’s going on. Mingyu is slowly inching off of his seat and finding the right time to book it. Chan and Seokmin are nervously flitting their eyes back and forth between Jeonghan and you. Minghao hao stopped paying attention. He’s got his airpods on and scrolling through his phone. 

“The sea is not theme-appropriate for our event, Mr. VCI,” you firmly press on. “There are myths and folklore that reference the sea and ocean, however as an introductory event for our organization we should defer from making far too uncommon references since most of our members are beginners to our advocacy.”

Vernon is about to be swallowed by his chair. Seungkwan has his face in his hands. Seungcheol’s phone vibrates and it’s a message from Wonwoo. Should I include all of this in the minutes? he asks. Seungcheol isn’t even sure if this argument is still about the venue.

“May I also add that beach events are overused. Everyone holds acquaintance parties, Christmas parties, sensitivity trainings at beaches and beach resorts. Should we follow that template, I doubt our event would be memorable enough for our members to remember.”

“Then it’d be the obligation of the program committee to make it memorable.” The said committee flinches upon hearing Jeonghan’s words. Joshua and Junhui don’t look like they agree with the additional burden. Jihoon’s forehead is wrinkling from secondhand stress. “We don’t need to sacrifice the affordability and accessibility of our location in order to hold a note-worthy event. And, may I also reiterate that we should consider our members with health problems, Ms. VCE.”

This is enough. This is probably enough. Maybe it’s time for Seungcheol to intervene.

“However, I understand,” Jeonghan continues. “I understand that it’s not easy for you to be considerate.”

But how the fuck is he supposed to do that when you two fucks won’t stop provoking each other?

“Oh, for god’s sake!” It’s hopeless. It’s gone out of control. Your voice has bordered on yelling ang Seungcheol himself is afraid of being caught in between. “Are you still mad about the cat thing?!”

What is the cat thing? What in the hell is actually going on?

“This is not about the cat thing and you know that.” There’s a ruffle in Jeonghan’s voice. He lets out a groan and throws his head back with his fingers digging into his hair. “Fuck. Let’s talk later.”

Yes. Yes, please just talk later so we can move on with the meeting.

“Did you just swear at me?”

Nevermind.

There’s a second silence. One second— until the corner of Jeonghan’s mouth twitches and he expels a huff of incredulity. It’s ominous. It’s a harbinger of uncomfortable destruction. “So swearing is crossing the line, but refusing to let me meet your parents and forcing us to keep this relationship a secret is completely justifiable?”

Well shit.

This meeting is done for.

Silence washes over the office once again. Wide eyes are being exchanged and not even Wonwoo is filling the tension with his incessant typing on the laptop. Chair, I don’t think I should include this part in the minutes, Seungcheol receives another message from him. Of course he shouldn’t. A relationship reveal isn’t part of the agenda. Neither is a breakup but he fears it’s teetering to that outcome.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s suffocatingly uncomfortable and Seokmin looks like he’s about to cry at any moment.

“Well,” you simmer. “I guess it’s not much of a secret anymore, isn’t it?”

“Damn.” Soonyoung receives an elbow from Jihoon. He gets hushed down very quickly to make room for another agonizing exchange between you and Jeonghan. 

“Is that literally all you have to say? You’re so insensitive, it drives me fucking nuts. This is why it’s so hard to keep seeing you—”

“Oh, so you think I’m not having a hard time? If you can’t understand why I had to do that, then let’s just stop seeing each other!”

“Fine, I’m glad we’re on the same page this time.”

“Great!”

“Great.”

“Your clothes better be out of my closet by tomorrow.”

“Throw them away, I don’t need them.”

“I will! Thanks for the suggestion!”

Things have now gone beyond the point of salvation and he can’t even interject to formally end this disaster of a meeting.

“Mr. Chair, I apologize, but I’m afraid I will be leaving early today.” Oh, so now you remember his existence. You’re fuming, slinging over your shoulder bag and haphazardly collecting your things from the table, and Seungcheol simply massages his temples and nods in acknowledgement to your sudden leave. “Please go through the document at your discretion and I’ll be respecting whatever decision the body makes. Thank you and have a good day.”

Just like that, you’re gone. Jeonghan also starts collecting his things. “My phone lines are open in case you need anything. Goodbye.” With that, he also disappears with the harsh swing and slam of the door, leaving behind another blanket of uncomfortable silence for everyone else to drown in.

Seungcheol sighs. He feels a headache kicking in. 

“So...are we having the event in the mountains or by the sea?”

He groans.

Is it too late to file a resignation?

*‎

The following week has been nothing less than hell for SVT (Seungcheol has yet to change to the org name. He’s getting there. Slowly. Fuck university bureaucracies). The Orye is fast approaching, so there are still a lot of matters to be settled— printing documents, processing permits, making calls. The venue dispute is yet to be settled. Mr. Chair instructed a team to check out the mountain and sea accommodations you and Jeonghan forwarded within the weekend to get a better feel of both options.

There’s still so much work, which honestly doesn’t pose a problem with Boo Seungkwan, one of the org’s information officers. He’s used to it, being a member of SVT since his freshman year and all. This workload is nothing to SVT. Nothing to you.

It’s almost like you’re a machine. Printing documents? You’re a one-woman printing shop. Processing permits? You’ve befriended all the office heads and one word from you will get the event approved. It’s basic shit. Completely rudimentary. Seungkwan has always been at awe with how you operate. But right now, the problem is not the work. 

It’s the work environment that’s the problem.

“Can someone pass me the stapler?”

Your voice cracks into the tense silence in the office like a cold blade, causing Seungkwan to flinch and look up from his paperwork. The whirring of the printer fills in the void left behind by your voice, with Chan carefully organizing the freshly printed pages with tight lips. You’re met with no response. He locks eyes with Joshua. The stapler is beside Jeonghan, who’s running through the program for the event. They share a look of dread.

“Where is the stapler?” You look up from the table. The clear stiffening of your face upon noticing where the damned thing is forces knots into Seungkwan’s temples. Oh god. Here we go. “Nevermind.”

The stupid stapler skids across the table. It’s been transported from one end to your end. Jeonghan’s eyes are glued to his laptop when he slides it down. Jun is nervously hovering behind him. Seungkwan wants to throw up.

“Jun,” Jeonghan calls out. “How many steps does it take for you to get from one end of the meeting table to the other?”

“I—I’m sorry?”

“Can you try walking from here to the other end of the table?”

Jun is sweating. He hesitantly nods and slowly creaks away from his spot behind Jeonghan, cautious steps towards your end of the table. Three steps. All eyes are on him. Five steps. Seungkwan is not religious but he’s making the sign of the cross. Seven steps. 

“Wow. Ten steps is easier and faster than I thought! Anyway, you can come back now, Jun. I have some questions regarding—”

Swoosh!

Something rockets through the air, missing Jeonghan’s face by a mere inch from its trajectory. Holy shit. It hits the wall behind Jeonghan and crashes into the floor. “My bad,” you announce. “I wondered how quick it’d be if I threw something from here to there. It’s definitely faster than just walking.”

Assault. That must be assault. This is insane. This is getting out of hand. Seungkwan can’t deal with this shit anymore.

“I can’t fucking deal with this shit anymore!”

As he says, the moment you and Jeonghan leave the office to attend your respective classes. Jun takes a hefty intake of air and everyone relaxes almost immediately. “Seriously. Why should we suffer because they can’t hold their relationship together?!” he fumes. “If they wanted to break up, they could’ve done it in private. I’m sick and tired of walking on pins and needles whenever both of them are around!”

Murmurs of agreement break out. If their Chair was here, they would’ve been scolded. Thank fucking god he’s at the admin office processing their name change. “This reminds me of the time my parents got divorced,” Soonyoung offhandedly mentions while fiddling through their budget plan.

Wonwoo narrows his eyes at him. “Wasn’t that also the time you started perceiving yourself as a tiger as a coping mechanism?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus christ.”

“I agree with Seungkwan,” Minghao announces. He had just finished sweeping up the shattered stapler from the ground. “I can’t keep up with them anymore. Whenever I’m with our VCE I have to talk shit about the other. Why don’t we just lock them up in a closet so they can fuck and make up?”

A grimace creeps into Chan’s face. “I abhor the image you’ve just supplanted into my mind.”

Minghao furrows his brows. “Who told you to imagine them having sex in our dirty storage closet? Weirdo.” Chan is unable to say anything back. “Anyway, how do we fix this? I have to meet with Jeonghan hyung for dinner and I’m running out of bad things to say about his ex-girlfriend.”

“I thought the plan was to lock them up in the closet?” Seokmin tries to clarify. They’re all actually considering it. Seungkwan is sure they have a death wish.

“You guys can’t be serious. Didn’t you see Vice Chair’s face when hyung walked into the room earlier? She looked like she was considering murder, I had the fucking chills. We are not locking them in a closet unless you all want it to end with a dead body in our office.” Seungkwan pauses. “Thirteen. Thirteen dead bodies if she finds out we orchestrated it.”

“Then what should we do?” Vernon asks. “Get one of them to resign?”

“No!” Soonyoung interjects. “I can’t deal with another divorce!”

Jihoon’s face contorts. “They aren’t your parents. You didn’t even know they were together until they broke up.”

“Still,” Seokmin joins in. “I don’t want any of them to leave SVT.”

Jun presses his lips together. “I think I saw her drafting a resignation letter earlier.”

There is silence. Then the dawning of realization. Then chaos erupts.

“Oh no. Oh no no no no way.”

“We can’t let that happen!”

“Let’s burn her letter before she can submit it!”

“Nobody let her near the office!”

They’re all behaving like idiots, but Seungkwan has to agree. There is without a doubt that even though your breakup has recently put the organization into an uncomfortably tight spot— SVT would be done for if either of you leave. Seungcheol hyung can’t shoulder everything by himself. The both of you are the bedrock of SVT’s internal and external affairs respectively. Resignation is out of the question. 

“Heh. You’re all overlooking something.”

It’s a new voice. Seungkwan wondered when this fucker would speak up, and he’s making his entrance in a gratingly obnoxious way.

Mingyu is sitting on Seungcheol’s swivel chair in the latter’s absence. He slowly spins it around, facing the rest of the members with the pads of his fingers pressed together. “To fix a problem, we should find out the root cause first.” Seungkwan wants to hit him, but Mingyu looks like he’s onto something. “Nobody’s resigning. I have a plan.”

*‎

Jihoon didn’t want to have anything to do with this.

It’s not his business whoever from his orgmates are fucking around or have completely fucked their relationship. It’s not his business whether or not you and Jeonghan have the chance to get back together again.

“If your previous supplier didn’t scam us last summer, we wouldn’t even be out here right now.”

Yet that is exactly what he’s been tasked to do— to dig his nose into your business, on a hot day, while having to canvass printing shops in the district. But finding a replacement supplier for your org shirts is the least of his concerns at the moment because—

[Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Kim Mingyu: any update??? have you gotten through her yet?????]

How the hell is he supposed to fish out any information from you about your relationship with Jeonghan?!

“But these rates are seriously unreasonable. I’ll put this one on the table,” you say, ticking off a box from your checklist and Jihoon is sweating bullets. “What do you think, Hoon?”

Sure, you two work pretty well together and you praise his competence any single time you get the chance, but that’s the problem. You aren’t close. Your relationship is strictly professional. Hell, your text convo is nothing but org-related and Jihoon doesn’t fucking understand why he has to be the one doing this job when he can give less than two shits about the situation. 

“Let’s check out the next place on the list first,” he replies. “I think the quality for this one is still better than the previous.

Dealing with someone else’s relationship problems wasn’t part of the job description when he got elected as treasurer. He’s got his own love life (or lack thereof) to worry about.

“Alright,” you reply with a deep exhale. It’s hot, and you’re getting tired. He’s also getting tired. Can’t you all just go home? “We’ll take a break first. Let’s continue after getting a drink, but where’s Mingyu? Did he get diarrhea or something?”

[Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Kim Mingyu: hyung status report plz.] [Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Hoshi: wow we sound like actual secret agents.]

Jihoon feels his head starting to hurt. “I’ll text him.”

“Thanks.”

Mingyu isn’t coming back. Not until Jihoon manages to get something out of you. According to Jun, you’ve branded him as ‘Jeonghan-allied’ (whatever the fuck that means), so there’s no way you’d be talking if that street lamp is hanging around. “They went to the same high school! I can’t trust bastards from Hyangnam anymore,” Jun quoted from you personally, and they all started wondering what your conjectured alignment for each of them is. 

However, Mingyu is functionally obligated to tag along with your canvassing venture today because he’s SVT’s business manager and Jihoon has all your org money. You’re here because you can’t stay put unless you’re directly involved in the task. Mingyu asked permission to go to the bathroom earlier to give his comrade an opportunity. That was forty-five minutes ago. Jihoon still hasn’t gotten anything from you.

“It’s an emergency, he says. A big one. Gigantic.” Mingyu never said that. Jihoon’s phone is a black screen. “Public toilets aren’t trustworthy. He went to his apartment. He told us to continue without him.”

You grimace with the click of your tongue. “Gross. Those god damned Hyangnam bastards. Let’s go. I need something cold.”

Time is ticking, his phone keeps on buzzing, and Jihoon grows steadily more restless by the minute. You two finish ordering and pay for your two lemonades with SVT money. “It’s the least this damn org can do for us,” you say. He fears you might actually resign, and it doesn’t do his ever escalating nerves a favor. How does he do it? How does he bring up Yoon Jeonghan without invoking your fury?

“Jihoon,” you call out, and he flinches. “What’s wrong? You’ve been spacing out since this morning.”

You’re both sitting on the nice leather seats of the air-conditioned cafe. Being out of the heat seems to have bettered your mood. Maybe he can wiggle something out while you’re pacified by the lemonade and cool air.

“So, uh,” he clears his throat. His knees are shaking. Shit. This is harder than processing your cash advance for the fucking orientation. He needs to ease it in. To bring it up discreetly. “I never really suspected that you and Jeonghan hyung were dating.”

Regret comes instantaneously the moment the words fall out of his mouth. 

So much for being discreet. Your face stiffens. Jihoon knows he fucked up badly.

“I—I mean, I’m not trying to comment on anything, I was just surprised to find out.” Dammit. Wrong move. He might get blacklisted like you did with Mingyu. He’s not panicking because their stupid operation might fail. He’s panicking because he’s gonna lose the bragging right of being on good terms with SVT’s intimidatingly unapproachable Vice Chair.

The ice in your drink clinks around. Jihoon squeezes his eyes shut and prepares for the worst.

“God. I can’t believe I dated him in the first place.”

Then he opens one eye. He sees you swirling your lemonade with one hand, the other used as a resting place for your chin before you take a sip from the straw and continue complaining. “I can’t stand him. I shouldn’t have let him sweet talk me into that first fucking date, that venomous bastard. His face is a weapon. I should’ve known better than to trust that face.” 

Jihoon’s eyes are now fully opened. He discreetly pulls out his phone from his pocket— the device still constantly buzzing— and opens his recorder app all while his heart is nervously barrelling against his ribcage from the remnants of his fear. “Did he like—” Jihoon presses record, “—cheat on you or something?”

“What? No way. He’d never do that.”

“Then,” he continues prodding. “Why did you two break up?”

“Ugh,” you grunt, taking another long sip from your drink before slamming it down the table with a thunk. Jihoon flinches. He secures his phone underneath the table, checking if it’s still recording everything. “Don’t get me started. You don’t get it, Hoon. He’s just so—”

Jihoon never expected you to just lay down everything for him. You just continue pouring and pouring everything out like a fountain. A fountain of dirty laundry and too many swear words that his audio recording might get flagged if it gets uploaded online. This...was easier than expected.

*‎

Seokmin’s eyes are narrowed at his senior— zoomed in and in focus as the aforementioned finishes talking to a group of SVT’s new members. He’s taken a step back with a stack of flyers pressed to his chest. He can’t miss anything. He can’t miss a single thing.

“Thank you! I better be seeing your faces during the event, alright? Enjoy your lunch!”

Jeonghan is giving them the copy of the program for your upcoming Orye and MT. Freshmen. All women, as far as his eyes can tell, and they’re all giggling after his senior bids them off. He’s never seen Jeonghan hyung smile at you like that. In fact, he’s never even seen him wave at you goodbye like what he’s doing right now. Has he moved on? Oh no. This is bad. This plan might be ruined before they could even conduct an intervention. 

“Seokmin, what’s wrong?” asks Jeonghan, snapping him out from the brink of a spiral of despair. “You don’t look too good. Is the weather too hot? Should we take a break?”

“N—no, I’m alright! Let’s keep going!” Seokmin needs to know if his hyung’s unnaturally sweet behavior was an isolated case. There’s not enough information in the air to make a solid conclusion.

“Well, I’m not alright,” Jeonghan grimaces. “The heat is unbearable. Let’s have lunch first, then we’ll continue. Go find us a good place to eat.”

A lump grows in Seokmin’s throat and he nervously swallows, watching as Jeonghan pulls out his phone and starts typing a message, to the SVT group chat probably to give them an update. Or to one of the girls he was talking to earlier. Shit. “Hyung, who are you texting?” he asks. Jeonghan responds with a pause, a suspicious smile, and tells him that ‘it’s a secret, hehe,’ and that he should hurry and look for a nice restaurant because he’s starving.

That wasn’t a helpful answer at all. Seokmin’s anxiety grows by the second. “What...what do you want to eat, hyung?” He should ask more questions later.

“You pick,” is Jeonghan’s reply with yet another grin that puts him ill at ease. “I’m placing my faith in you Seokmin. It better be a good place.”

There’s another lump in his throat. Oh god. This guy sure knows how to pressure people in the weirdest ways. And now instead of prodding around to figure out if his senior has indeed moved on or still has lingering feelings for you, he’s scrolling through his phone trying to look up a good restaurant— panic-stricken because god forbid he make a disappointing choice— while Jeonghan starts talking to another SVT member who just happened to pass by.

“We’re having it next month,” he overhears Jeonghan speaking, momentarily taking away his eyes from his phone just to see his hyung yet again looking and smiling at the org member with an alarming amount of sweetness pouring out of his eyes. “I’ll see you there?”

“Y—yes…!”

His observation is cut short by the buzz of his phone. A message bar pops up, covering the top of the screen and preemptively stopping his resto search.

[Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Seungkwan: seok, do we have updates??? jihoon hyung hasn’t gotten back to use since thirty minutes ago!!] [Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Minghao: I told you all this plan was hopeless] [Operation We Are Never Ever Getting (Them) Back Together: Kim Mingyu: why is noona telling me to take herbal teas and drink lots of water?????]

“So, where are we eating?”

Seokmin’s bones rattle and the phone nearly jumps out of his hands like a live fish.

“Talking to people is tiring,” he hears his senior lament with a long sigh. “Seokmin-ah, you take over after lunch. Let’s go.”

Go where? He hasn’t picked a place yet! Why are there so many food places around campus?! Jeonghan quickly starts walking and, out of even more panic, Seokmin picks a random direction, robotically taking the lead, brain overheating and eyes spinning out of focus until muscle memory lands them across the street of a hotpot place he frequents, just a few blocks away from campus. “O—oh, haha! Hyung, we’re here! Let’s—let’s quickly get inside, yes—”

He stops upon the realization that Jeonghan isn’t following him along the crosswalk. When Seokmin turns his head back, he sees Jeonghan staring at the place with a dampened expression. His first thought is maybe Jeonghan hyung doesn’t like hotpot. His second thought is maybe he shouldn’t be stopping in the middle of the road, so he quickly pads back to the sidewalk. 

“Hyung…? Are— are you not in the mood for hotpot? Should we go somewhere else?” Seokmin’s gut churns, devastated because he had just betrayed his hyung’s trust in finding an acceptable restaurant. What’s wrong with hotpot at Red House? Did he have a bad experience here? But his place is so good! He and Soonyoung and Jun hyung have been eating here twice a week, Wednesday and Saturdays, ever since you recommended the place to them as your favorite, and— oh.

So, that’s the problem.

You’ve probably eaten here with him too.

“No, no. We’re not going anywhere.” Jeonghan’s demeanor suddenly switches gears. He brushes past him with a sudden determined look, not looking back even when Seokmin calls after him.

“Hyung, I know another place nearby. We don’t have to—”

“Let’s get inside.”

Seokmin has no freaking idea how to dissect or interpret this reaction. Nervous steps follow his senior inside the restaurant, and a server welcomes them both and leads them to a table by the window. “Oh, you’re not here with your girlfriend today,” says the waiting staff after they’ve made their orders, and he sees Jeonghan visibly flinch in the middle of passing back the menu. Jeonghan simply responds with a stiff smile. Seokmin is sure that he had just screwed up big time.

Why did the server have to mention you? Why?! Now, he can’t help but look at the server with an utter look of betrayal as he sets the ingredients on the table. “Is...is there something wrong, sir?” asks the server with uneasy concern. Seokmin’s bottom lip juts out, shaking his head with a sniffle, and thanks the server with a weak voice and tone.

Jeonghan doesn’t appear to be faring any better. While waiting for the broth to boil, all Seokmin could do is soak up the steadily deflating expression of his hyung and worry that it might affect the taste of the food somehow. He was pretty sure Jeonghan is already over you, considering he seemed to be mildly flirting with the org members earlier and all. But now he’s not so sure. Not when his hyung is poking his chopstick into a block of tofu with a gut wrenching look of longing.

“Hyung...” Seokin makes an attempt. “I’m—I’m sorry for bringing you here, I didn’t know it was—”

“Seokmin-ah.” Jeonghan speaks along with the crank of the stove. “A gente world of advice: don’t bring up sensitive topics when the person you’re talking to has a weapon on him. You’re going to get in trouble.”

The sunlight leaking through the window gives a dangerous glint to the scissors Jeonghan is holding. Seokmin bites his tongue. Jeonghan cuts up the noodles and the two start eating quietly.

Seokmin loves eating. He really does. But this time, every bite tastes like hot sand, and he’s pretty sure he’s going to get indigestion afterwards.

He swallows down another mouthful with the help of a glass of water, and as he’s trying to get the mix of meat and vegetables down his throat, the sound of utensils that were previously clattering suddenly stops. When Seokmin puts the glass down, he sees Jeonghan seasoning the warm broth with salt.

The natural salt that comes out of your eyes when you start crying.

Holy shit, his hyung is crying.

“Sorry, I just— haha, the soup’s a little spicy, right?”

No. No it’s not. They ordered chicken broth. The soup isn’t spicy at all.

“H—hyung…”

Seokmin’s eyes are now also starting to water. Oh no. Oh no, dear god, what has he done? He didn’t mean to bring him here and reawaken stashed away memories. All he wanted to do was find a good place to eat!

“Hyung, I’m so sorry.”

This was a mistake. They should’ve just had kimbap and ramyeon at the nearby 7-Eleven.

*‎

“So, let me get this straight. One of them did nothing but talk shit about the other for thirty minutes, and the other started crying because Seokmin brought him to her favorite restaurant.”

The SVT officers (minus their Chair and Vice Chars) have reconvened the next day at the office. Their upcoming event isn’t a priority right now. The only thing on the agenda is the problem with you and Yoon Jeonghan— to which Mingyu is trying to wrack his brains in coming up with something in light of their initial investigation. 

“After listening to the recording Hoon sent, I don’t think she hates Jeonghan. She sounded like was just nitpicking in the heat of the moment,” says Jun. “If she’s still angry at him...maybe she isn’t over him yet? Maybe there’s still a chance?”

All eyes are on Jihoon, who witnessed your rant firsthand. 

“I don’t know. All I can say is that she looked a little sad while talking about him. She didn’t add anything else beyond the recording.” It’s not like the recording was of any help. Most of it was just you calling Jeonghan a son of a bitch, a piece of shit, and so on, as well as a few tangents about Mingyu that he himself didn’t quite appreciate. He thought he was your favorite. Like, why are you assuming that he’s on Jeonghan’s side?! They weren’t even friends back in high school! 

He spins the office chair in annoyance. To think he gave you a higher score than Jeonghan on your quarterly evaluation. Maybe he should ask Cheol to take it back.

“Well, if one of them is still on the hook, then there’s still a possibility that they can still get back together,” Wonwoo conjectures, eliciting murmurs of agreement from the rest.

“Does this mean we can finally lock them inside a fucking closet?”

“We are not locking them in a closet,” Seungkwan says. Minghao rolls his eyes at the dismissal. “We can’t do that. But we can bring in some forced proximity in a different way.”

Mingyu stops swiveling the chair. Why is Seungkwan looking straight at him? Wait. Why are they all looking straight at him? His throat tightens. He forces down a swallow. What, what, what’s the matter, why are they all looking at him?

“Oh no!”

Suddenly, Seungkwan starts a one-man drama. He exclaims, an arm jutting into the air before he lets the back of the loose hand drop onto his forehead, stumbling into Vernon who’s standing next to him.

“I just remembered I have a doctor’s appointment this Saturday— the same day where I’m supposed to accompany our Vice Chairs and Business Manager in checking out the venues! Oh no! I don’t think I can make it!”

Right. He along with Seungkwan, Chan, Jeonghan, and you are scheduled to evaluate each of the places on your list so that you can finalize the event venue. Not long after, Chan also breaks into a gasp, catching Seungkwan’s signal. “Oh my! I forgot I also, uh, have a thing on Saturday! What a bummer!”

“Then, I also—”

“No!” 

Mingyu winces. He’s shocked. He’s appalled. He’s offended. Why is he being yelled at?! Wasn’t he supposed to go along with the other two? “You don’t have a thing on Saturday, Mingyu. You have to be there to make sure that things don’t go wrong!” Seungkwan tells him, and at first he understands. He’s goes ‘oh, right, of course, yeah, sure,” but the moment what that situation entails finally dawns upon him— the fact that he has to be stuck in between you and Yoon Jeonghan for at least ten hours, maybe more— his blood runs cold and his face pales. There’s no way in hell he’s dealing with that.

“Why me?! Why can’t Joshua hyung go?”

Joshua answers with an offended look of bewilderment. 

“Hey, it’s your assignment,” answers Jihoon. “And it was your idea to try and get them back together again. You have the moral obligation to make sure this shit actually works.”

There is no hope to get out of this. They adjourn the meeting and everyone starts filtering out the office— not without giving him looks of sympathy and pats on the back before leaving. “Good luck,” Wonwoo says in passing. Vernon sends him a salute before closing the door. Damn him and his meddling ass. He should’ve just let your relationship die out for good.

The day of reckoning comes. It’s five in the morning at the campus parking lot, you and Jeonghan on the opposite ends of his car, and Mingyu already wants to tuck himself in bed for the day. You’re tapping your feet in impatience, looking at your phone with a glare, while Jeonghan pockets his phone with a sigh and welcome’s himself into the front seat of Mingyu’s car with a distinct slam. You huff and do the same into the backseat. 

Shit. This might actually be his last day on earth. Mingyu hurries into the driver’s before either of you yell at him to get moving.

“Tell Boo Seungkwan and Lee Chan that they’re getting sanctioned for this,” grits Jeonghan. Mingyu closes the door and prepares himself for an inevitable six to eight hours of hell.

“The kids are sick and you want to penalize them?” you interject from the back. Mingyu notices Jeonghan’s jaw clench. He shuts his eyes tight and whispers a few prayers. “You’re abusing your authority, Mr. VCI. Cut them some slack.”

“Negligence of duty. Section one under General Prohibitions,” rebuts Jeonghan, making eye contact with you through the front view mirror. “Failure to inform ahead of time the inability to do a task or assignment delegated to them shall be considered an act of negligence on the part of the officer. I’m not abusing any authority, sweetheart. I am acting well within my functions. It’s too early for this kind of—”

Silence drops. So does the temperature in the car which at this point feels like negative fourteen degrees. Jeonghan stifles a cough and rolls down the window for air. You look down and flit through the pages of the document you brought. Mingyu’s grip on the steering wheel tightens and he wants to cry.

“Can we go now? Please? We have six places to visit and I really don’t want to be driving until midnight.”

“We can rotate,” you tell him. “Let’s switch drivers after every location.”

Something tells Mingyu that if he lets your explosive temper behind the wheel, this will not only be the last he’ll be seeing of his cherished car that his parents got him as a gift for his twenty-first birthday, but this will also be the last he’ll be seeing of this mortal realm as well.

“No, haha, it’s okay,” he answers, finally starting the engine. “You two have been working really hard for this event so the least I can do is drive.”

“Well, alright. But there better be no more emergencies like last time.”

Mingyu still doesn’t know what you mean by that. Nor does he know why you’ve been giving him herbal teas and digestive supplements. Anyway, the three of you finally hit the road and proceed to your first stop— all the way to Daecheon, which will take about an hour if traffic grants them kindness. Jeonghan rolls the windows back up at some point because besides the ice-cold tension between the both of you, it really is getting cold, and the sky has been cloudy since earlier, and the weather app is telling him that there’s a twenty percent chance of rain. Literally all odds are stacked against him today.

He does live long enough to get through three venues, thankfully. The first one, near Daecheon beach, you complained that the rooms were stuffy and Jeonghan told you to sleep by the ‘goddamned beach if you wanted to feel extra fresh.’ The second beach location couldn’t accommodate your amount of people. The third one— the hanok-style villa in Gyeongsang which you’ve just finished surveying and which Mingyu thought was really nice— Jeonghan said that there’s too many bugs for it to be conducive. You told him to wear a mosquito net ‘you fucking princess,’ while walking back to the car. At this point, it’s already past four in the afternoon. The eleven hours of being trapped in a car with your ex-boyfriend is probably finally getting to your head.

“You really could care less about your members’ well being as long as we do what you want, don’t you?”

“I wasn’t bitten by a single mosquito there. You’re just making problems up to discredit my—”

It’s getting to Mingyu’s head, too. One more minute in this enclosed space with the both of you and he’s jumping out the window.

“Anyway, let’s head to the next location,” you say with a sigh. “Woodland Springs Resort. Luckily, it’s only an hour away.”

Mingyu’s knuckles twitch on the steering wheel. “I can’t. I can’t do this anymore.”

He catches your face through the mirror, brows furrowed with a frown. “Mingyu, let me drive this time. You’ve been at it for hours.” 

“She’s right. Go sit in the back, we can take over.”

He has. He’s tired and annoyed and exhausted by the constant fear that you two might actually make a murder scene out of his precious car, that he’s pretty sure that him driving would soon become a road-risk. It would be fine, right? You two have probably expelled your energy, anyway. Or at least about to. Worst case scenario is that Jeonghan hyung pisses you off and you’d expertly crash the car in a way that would only kill him and leave you two alive.

“Okay,” Mingyu weakly breathes out. “I’m gonna rest my eyes for a bit.”

He opens the car and gets out. So do you. So does Jeonghan. The three of you are out of the car. The math isn’t mathing.

“What are you doing?” you ask Jeonghan.

“I’m taking the wheel,” he simply says, already making his way over to the other side of the car.

“What are you talking about, Mingyu was talking to me.” You’re fast. Fast enough to swat away Jeonghan’s hand from the door handle to the driver’s seat. Jeonghan tightly presses his lips together and releases a huff of air. You look at him with sharp eyes with no intention of moving. Mingyu is literally, physically, and positionally caught in between this shit and he wishes he should’ve just floored it.

“I’m driving,” Jeonghan asserts. “You look barely awake, yourself. Do you plan on crashing us or something?”

The worried undertone completely flies over your head. “Are you saying I’m a bad driver?” Mingyu really doesn’t want to witness this argument at this proximity right now. Jeonghan sighs and digs into his hair.

“No, I just want you to—”

Cr—ack! Boom!

Suddenly, there’s thunder.

And when there’s thunder, there’s rain.

Pshhhhhhh!

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”

“Hurry and get in, let’s go—”

Mingyu really wanted to yell at that moment. Thankfully, the sky beat him to it.

It starts pouring. The three of you scramble back into the car.

All things considered, you all decided that it’d be too dangerous to stay on the road, taking into account the weather and exhaustion and all, so you looked for a nearby inn through Google Maps and Jeonghan drove you there (yes, he won in the end and you’re still bitter in the backseat). 

Boom! Another round of thunder, and the rain just continues to pour harder and harder. At this rate, you guys won’t be able to check out the rest of the locations today. Meaning, his prison sentence is bound to be extended. God freaking dammit. Mingyu continues to bitterly lament while rushing into the cabin inn. The door jingles upon entry. He lets out a sigh of relief upon being saved from the rain.

“Hi, good evening! Do you still have any rooms available?”

You’re there at the front desk doing your thing, being the externals head and all, while he and Jeonghan wait behind, damp and uncomfortable. He can see his hyung getting more and more impatient by the second, tapping his wet soles against the wooden flooring with his arms crossed. Mingyu can only sigh and hope to take a meditative shower soon, once you’ve booked the three of your rooms.

“Ah, yes,” says the lady behind the front desk. She looks at you, then spares a glance at him and Jeonghan in all their soggy glory, before flitting her eyes back at you. Okay what the hell. He knows they look terrible right now, but that was just rude. “Will it be for the three of you? Unfortunately, we only have one room left available, ma’am, peak season and all, and it’s only good for two people.

“That’s fine, we’ll take—”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Judgemental Front Desk Lady interrupts. “I meant a maximum of two people can occupy the room. It’s our policy.”

Well that’s stupid. The hell were you guys supposed to do, then? Run back to the car, get even more wet in the process, and look for another place to stay in this stupid weather? Mingyu can practically see a vein throbbing on the back of your head. He catches your shoulders lift and drop along with an exhale, a momentary pause before you respond. “Can’t you make an exemption? The weather is terrible outside and we really need a place to stay for the time being.”

Mingyu decides to look over and see how the other ticking time bomb is faring, but when he leers over to the side, Jeonghan is no longer beside him. Wet footsteps against wooden floors can be heard. He snaps his head back to the front desk and sees his hyung walking up to you— placing his arm around your freaking waist when he lands next to you, and alarm bells suddenly go off in Mingyu’s head.

“Babe, what’s the problem?”

Goosebumps prick all over his body.

What. 

What the fuck? 

“What’s wrong?”

Mingyu rubs his eyes, thinking that he just saw (and heard) wrong, but no. Yoon Jeonghan has indeed reigned claim over your waist. The fuck? He refocuses into your expression, expecting you to look disgusted and send a kick to his hyung’s shin, but that doesn’t happen. Instead, you flash a look at Jeonghan, then back to the receptionist, peering down at the desk surface where her hand is resting, before looking back up at Jeonghan and nudging yourself closer to him with a sigh. What in the everloving fuck is going on?

“They’re saying that only two people can stay inside the room,” you lament. “This trip really isn’t working out for us. After our disaster of a honeymoon, the last thing I thought would happen was for us to get stranded in Gyeongsang in the middle of a storm.”

“Let’s just go look for another place to stay, sweetheart.” 

“But it’s pouring outside! I can’t let you drive in the weather. It’s too dangerous.”

Honeymoon? What? What the hell is this improv sketch? Why the fuck is his hyung giving you the lovestruck eyes and why are you letting him look at you with lovestruck eyes? Why are you lovestruck-eyeing him back?

“Oh, you’re newlyweds?” asks the receptionist, and Mingyu didn’t think his eyebrows could scrunch up any further until he heard Jeonghan agree.

“We just got married last week,” he says with a sickeningly sweet tone. 

“How lovely!”

“Actually, we just came back from our honeymoon at Geoje Island,” you add. “It’s a long trip, and we wanted to get home as soon as possible, but that...wasn’t exactly an option for us.” Suddenly, you turn your head back to look at him. Now, you’re all looking at him. Why are you all looking at him? This is fucking scary.

You lean into Jeonghan and whisper something into his ear. A look flashes on Jeonghan’s face. He doesn’t like this look.

“Brother, can you please give us a moment?”

There’s a pause. Mingyu’s mouth is hanging slightly ajar and he hesitantly points to himself. Brother? Me? Jeonghan nods and smiles and returns his attention back to you and the receptionist. The three of you are talking about something. In a significantly lower volume. While sending him looks of remorse in between. What the hell are you two bullshitting about now?

Not long after, Mingyu sees the lady drop a room key into your hands and sends you off with a smile. “Second floor. Thank you, and have a great evening!”

“Thanks!” 

Mingyu isn’t exactly sure what just happened or how it happened, but at least you have a place to stay for the night? When the three of you hike up the stairs and spot the room with 203 labeled on the door, Mingyu decides that he needs to know what you fuckers talked about. “How did you do it?” He blocks the door before you could open it. “I thought only two people could use this? How did you get us the room?” Jeonghan and you exchange a look before relenting.

“Your fiance called off your engagement and you were so depressed that you followed us all the way to our Geoje,” you blankly respond.

“Our parents are on vacation so you couldn’t go to them. We were kind enough to let you third wheel on our honeymoon,” adds Jeonghan. Mingyu blinks. “But on the way back it started raining, so we’re stuck here for the moment. We noticed a wedding ring on Soonja’s finger, so it was pretty easy to get her sympathy.

Soonja. You even know the lady’s name, holy fuck. At least that explains the pitiful looks sent his way. But Mingyu is still very much perturbed. The hairs on his arms are still standing. “You two are con artists,” is all he can say back.

You roll your eyes and toss the key to him. “Hey, it got us the room.”

“Right,” Mingyu grunts, catching it mid-air. “You’re both so good at lying, even I’m starting to think you’re still married.”

The doorknob clatters open. You and Jeonghan quickly jump away from each other, and Jeonghan loses the steady hold he had around your waist since earlier. Mingyu stifles a grin. The alarm and embarrassment on both of your faces makes this day’s worth of stress all worth it. 

“Hurry up and get in! I need a shower and a change of clothes, gosh.”

Fortunately, you three prepared extra articles of clothing for the trip, having anticipated sweat from the heat instead of getting pissed on by the rain clouds. Unfortunately, Mingyu lost at rock paper scissors so he gets to shower last. “There’s a drying rack in the bathroom,” you tell them upon exiting, a towel to your head before plopping down on the bed next to the window. 

When Mingyu finishes showering, he hears you and Jeonghan arguing over something again. Cheol’s voice can be heard somewhere too. Upon re-entering the room, he spots you two occupying the floor right by the bed, a laptop sitting on the mattress that’s showing a very tired Seungcheol trying to cut in between your yelling.

“In hindsight, I think the beach in Daecheon is our best option. The kids can run around more freely there.”

“No, you were right about the mountains. The hanok-style villa is better suited for our event theme. We can just add bug repellent to our budget plan.”

“Listen to me for a second—”

“You’re the one who’s not—”

“This could have been an email,” says Seungcheol’s choppy voice thanks to the shitty reception. Yeah. Mingyu isn’t dealing with this. Over twelve hours of being a third party to your arguments is already enough, thank you very much. He drops down the unoccupied bed, already getting comfortable, and uses the nonstop swearing next to him as a lullaby.

Weird enough, it’s an effective lullaby because Mingyu slept like a rock. He yawns, stretches out of bed thanks to the early morning light through the curtains waking him. It’s clear out. The windows have watery dots painting it from the aftermath of the rain.

It’s pretty outside, Mingyu notices, but there’s something more eye-catching than the pretty natural scenery of the mountainside.

The laptop is still on and laying on the bed, pushed further to the edge with a low battery notification obscuring the open document of the event’s program that he’d seen Jeonghan preparing in the car yesterday. But what’s occupying most of the mattress is the both of you— you and Jeonghan— with your printed documents scattered around, surrounding a sight that he probably isn’t meant to see.

You’re laying on Jeonghan’s arm as a pillow, face turned to the side and slightly tucked into chest. Jeonghan’s chin is buried into the top of your head, his legs tangled with yours and the blanket has been kicked off the side. The morning light is showering the both of you like a spotlight. Mingyu snaps a picture. The kids are gonna eat this shit up.

*‎

It’s the day of the event, and Choi Seungcheol has not slept a wink since last night.

There were some last minute things he needed to take care of. Game props, printouts, and powerpoint presentations he forgot to quality check until ten in the evening. Grocery shopping for snacks, and an error in the bus booking. The works. But none of that matters now. They’ve all been settled, everyone has made it to the hanok villa in Gyeongsang in one piece with no asthma attacks nor heart related concerns occurring, and not once had you and Yoon Jeonghan argued ever since last night.

To be honest, it’s freaking him out a little. He wasn’t the only one who had to pull an all-nighter. His two Vice Chairs had to suffer with him too and the both of you have been extremely civil to the point of unease. It’s weird. It’s eerie. Like right now, as you two are welcoming the lines and lines of members in hanboks and traditional attire with matching smiles and pleasantries. You run out of program printouts and ask Jeonghan if he has any left, he gives you a stack, and the exchange ends without even a scoff, a swear, a mock, or even a look of derision.

This is...ominous, to say the least. It’s like the calm before the storm. Choi Seungcheol cannot rest easy.

“What the fuck is going on with them?”

It seems like he isn’t the only one who’s noticed. Currently, it’s lunchtime. They’d just finished presenting the constitution, bylaws, and internal rules and regulations of the organization. Now, they’re queueing up the kids to the food table. 

Among the ushers are you and Jeonghan. Standing next to each other. You aren’t arguing but you aren’t talking to each other either. Joshua is the one who brings it up to the small group preparing the drinks right now— him, Soonyoung, and Vernon. If Joshua doesn’t know the reason for your sudden civility, then no one does. Junhui gets interrogated too, but he provides no answers, only confusion. “Wow. Wild,” is all Jun remarks. They have no idea if you two have made up, have settled your differences, have gotten back together, or all of the above.

It’s fucking with him, especially after weeks of being perpetually on the edge because of your cold war. Seungcheol calls Mingyu to a corner while everyone else is in the midst of preparing for the next part of the program. Mingyu jogs over, mildly scared and mildly confused.

“Hyung,” he calls out. “What’s up?”

“Our two Vice Chairs,” Seungcheol starts. He looks over at the center field where the members are sitting. Chan and the rest are still handing out the paper slips. He can still interrogate Mingyu. “You went with them for location scouting. Did something happen between them?”

Mingyu looks taken aback. “Uh.” He stiffens. Seungcheol narrows his eyes at him.

“Kim Mingyu.” 

“Define ‘something,’” Mingyu delays. 

Now, this is suspicious. He definitely knows what that something is. Choi Seungcheol isn’t gonna let him off without squeezing the information out of him. “I don’t know,” he huffs. “Anything that could explain why they’re acting like—” 

Seungcheol points in a direction. Mingyu’s eyes follow the trajectory, and his gaze lands on a very alarming scene: Yoon Jeonghan sitting on one of the monoblocks, Yoon Jeonghan seeing you pass by, Yoon Jeonghan standing up, Yoon Jeonghan stopping you with a tap on your shoulder, Yoon Jeonghan offering his seat to you, Yoon Jeonghan leaving the scene and busying himself with some other task, after you had taken his seat.

“Like that?”

Mingyu is now sweating. “Uhhhh,” he hesitantly drawls. Then his eyes dart around. Until he spots Seungkwan pass by with a stack of boxes. “Can I talk to my lawyer first?”

“Mingyu.”

“Let’s—let’s—let’s get back to work, hyung! I have to go—”

He attempts to chase Kim Mingyu down. Attempts. Because Mingyu suddenly has the speed of a track and fielder and drags Seungkwan away into the accommodation building, the hanok, and he’s suddenly pulled back by Chan, who’s holding a box containing two or three small pieces of folder up papers. “Hyung,” Chan starts. “It’s your turn to pick.”

Seungcheol furrows his brows. Drat. Kim Mingyu has escaped. “Pick what?”

“Your manito. Duh,” Chan answers. It’s the box he’s been passing out since earlier— a box filled with the names of all the attendees and whoever you pick out, you’re tasked to take care of them throughout the entire trip and pay them special attention. For relationship building, according to Jeonghan, when he pitched the idea. Seungcheol is aware of this mini activity, but he didn’t know he’d be participating. He stares at the remaining three papers. “Hurry up. I still have to give the rest to Seungkwan and Mingyu hyung.”

“Show me some respect,” he scolds, picking out a random name. “They ran inside. Storage, I think.”

Chan hums in acknowledgement and takes the box away. When he’s left, Seungcheol rolls open the piece of paper. Looking at the members gathered around the field right now (who are listening to the intermission number prepared by Seokmin and Jihoon) he notices that a few of the kids are already getting pretty chummy. He sighs, pretty sure that he picked out a new member that’s most probably three years younger than him. How is he supposed to overcome the generation gap? Won’t the kid find it weird if this old man suddenly starts acting close?

Much to his initial relief, a familiar name greets him. Yours, in big bold letters. That’s...that’s pretty doable. His favoritism for you is already blatant to the point that Soonyoung gets jealous. You’d been working hard since, well— the moment you’ve been a member of fucking SVT. He can just tell you to sit and rest and transfer your tasks over to the other guys.

“Hey.”

Seungcheol calls out to you, who’s sitting on the seat Jeonghan gave away earlier. Seokmin and Jihoon are hyping up the crowd (mostly Seokmin), but you’re hunched over in your seat, massaging your temples while looking over a document. “Chair,” you snap up, visibly tired and stressed (and unrested, by the way). “A few members are absent, so the number of members for each group for the team building later are mismatched. Should we keep it as is, or should we transfer some of them?”

A pang of guilt hits him. Christ, he’s been taking advantage of your competence and diligence. “Transfer, but leave that list with me. I’ll take care of it.” He lays a hand on your shoulder, urging you to go rest inside one of the hanoks for now. “You didn’t even nap on the bus. Go get some sleep. I’ll ask one of the guys to wake you before team building.”

You look up at him, smiling. Oh, his poor successor. He’s been overworking you to the bone. “Will do, Chair. Thanks.”

He mirrors your smile, watching fondly as you walk into one of the houses. It’s all warm and sweet. Until it’s not.

Seungcheol jolts. He feels a chill run down his spine. What the fuck? 

He whips his head around, startled by the sudden cold flash. Then, from a few feet away, he spots Jeonghan, preparing the multicolored handkerchiefs for the team building, but has stopped arranging them by color because he is glaring daggers at him. Hello? What in the world? He’s about to approach, but then he staggers in his steps upon seeing you pass by Jeonghan’s station. 

Jeonghan stops working, circling from behind the station to say something to you. You say something back— something that’s enough to tighten Jeonghan’s expression, and Seungcheol knits his brows. He can’t hear what you two are talking about, but he’s pretty sure it’s an argument. Oh god. It is an argument. You’ve got your angry face on and Jeonghan is raking his hair. Oh no. You two have been so well-behaved. You’ve been getting along so, so well lately. Is he at fault for ruining your peace?! How was he supposed to know your ex-boyfriend is a jealous bastard?! He was just doing his task and being nice to you!

“There goes all our progress.”

Seungcheol snaps his head back to see Jun. He’s sipping on a juice box, a leftover from lunch. There’s a good amount of disappointment in his face. “Pro—progress?” 

Junhui pulls down the juice from his mouth, shaking his head. “Hyung. You’ve ruined everything.”

Now, what the fuck is this cryptic bullshit? Jun just walks away, leaving even more crumples in Seungcheol’s brain. Seokmin and Jihoon’s performance is about to end, the mic screeches, and an applause breaks out, but he’s still debating on what to do. Should he pry information out of Jun? Or run after the both of you? However, he gets to do neither because at the end of the intermission, Seokmin does something off-course.

He’s supposed to pass the mic to Seungkwan by now, to announce the short break before team building. But Seungkwan isn’t here, and Seokmin is still holding the mic, and the crowd is still cheering. He meets eyes with Seokmin onstage. A bad feeling hits his gut. And since the breakup meeting that happened a few weeks ago, Seungcheol has learned that whatever his gut is feeling is unquestionably correct.

“The show isn’t over yet! Let’s give it up to our dependable, hot, and arguably aging Chairperson— Choi Seungcheol! Woohoo!”

This.

This was not part of the program that he remembers approving.

“Choi Seungcheol! Choi Seungcheol! Choi Seungcheol!”

This was definitely not part of it at all.

“Again, give it up for Mr. Chair!”

Illit’s Magnetic, Viviz’s Maniac, and KIOF’s Midas Touch later (with his face mimicking a red and ripe cherry), Seungcheol was finally allowed off the stage. “Wow! That’s our Chair, everybody! Who knew he was hiding this kind of charm?” Seungcheol wants to die. Seokmin’s voice is cheery in the microphone, but his officer suddenly turns his face away from the mic to whisper something to him. “Hyung,” Seokmin’s voice is suddenly grave. “I got a text from Seungkwan. He says he can’t find the VCs.”

Oh, fuck this. He’s going to kill himself.

“Tell—tell the kids we’re gonna have some free time first before proceeding to the team building.” Seokmin nods. Seungcheol’s face is still very very hot, but he swallows the embarrassment aside for now to deal with this problem. You and Yoon Jeonghan can’t just disappear. You��re both leading two teams for the games. Well. Maybe he can give you a pass, but Jeonghan is still needed out there. He feels unreasonably wronged by him too for that glare earlier. 

Seungcheol marches into the hanok. He spots an equally stressed looking Seungkwan inside the living area. Mingyu and Jihoon are there, too. So are Joshua, Vernon, and Chan. Why are they all here? They’re supposed to be preparing for the team building. These kids are slacking.

He’s gonna give them an earful later. For now, there’s a bigger issue to solve. “Where are the two?” 

“We don’t know!” Seungkwan exclaims. “We’ve been looking for them too.”

He hears a sniffle come from one of them. It’s from Soonyoung. “The last I’ve seen them, they were arguing.” Seungcheol gulps. Maybe…by any chance…that may have been his fault? “This happened with my parents too. And they came back with divorce papers.”

“Stop projecting your unresolved familial trauma onto them,” Jihoon sighs. “They aren’t your parents.”

“I’ve sent a text to Wonwoo and Minghao hyung,” Vernon brings up. “Maybe they’ve seen them.”

At that moment, Minghao enters the living area. Seven heads snap to his direction. Minghao stops in his tracks. “What?” He looks awfully relaxed, not looking as though he had just dealt with two ex-lovers who say they hate each other and that it’s over, but have too much sexual tension for their assertion to be believable. In fact, he looks quite at peace. Satisfied, even. Accomplished. This is fucking suspicious. “Isn’t it time for the team building activities?”

“Hao,” Seungcheol starts. “Have you seen the two Vice Chairs?”

Minghao looks at them. There’s a pause of anticipation. There’s literally no reason for this suspense build-up. “Oh,” Hao exhales. Why are they all waiting for the pin to drop? “I did.”

What they hear next, they never could have been prepared for. 

“I locked them in a closet.”

The pin has dropped. 

Seungcheol is the first to speak up. 

“You...you what?” he starts. “Come again?”

“They were arguing,” Minghao shrugs. “I got annoyed.”

Seungkwan’s mouth is hanging open. “You— you got annoyed,” he stammers. “So you…”

“Locked them in a closet,” Minghao finishes. “Yeah.”

It doesn’t hit them at first. Then it does. It hits them hard.

They all exchange looks. In a matter of soundless seconds, they immediately run to the direction Minghao just came from. What does he mean he locked you and Jeonghan in the closet, why would he lock you two in the closet, locking you two in the closet is a recipe for shit-eating disaster, does he want Yoon Jeonghan to fucking die?

“Shit, what if Jeonghan hyung is dead?”

At least they’re all on the same page. They come to a screeching halt upon reaching the room at the end of the hallway, but there is no sign of either of you. The only semblance of humanity within the vicinity is Wonwoo, who is sitting at a table, headphones on, laptop open, and typing without a care in the world. 

Seungcheol’s eyes dart around the room. Closet. Closet. There’s an indication of a sliding door at the opposite wall. He walks up to it, hesitantly with shaky steps, his heart hammering against his chest. The others inch behind him in caution. Sweat starts trailing down from his forehead. He reaches out for the handle, one hand outstretched, and then—

“I wouldn’t open that if I were you.”

Wonwoo’s voice cuts through the tension. He freezes. They all look back at the man by the desk, unaffectedly writing his documents, the sound of keyboard clicking filling the gaps in the air. “Why?” Seungcheol chokes out. Thunk. Their heads snap back to the closet. He feels Soonyoung clutch him from behind.

“There was yelling from in there until a moment ago,” is Wonwoo’s simple answer. “I think they’ve moved on to something else.”

Another tense pause fills the room. “Who...who was yelling?” Jihoon raises. “What kind of yelling? Why didn’t you check if anything was wrong?”

Wonwoo wrinkles his nose, momentarily taking his eyes off from the laptop to give their huddled group a look of disgust. “And risk walking in on them making out or something? No, thanks.” Then resumes what he’s doing. They all look at each other. Surely, that can’t be the case, right? You’ve got more pride on your shoulders than to fold for Yoon Jeonghan just because of some contrived forced proximity. It’s more likely that you’ve found an opportunity to strangle him. To kill him in cold blood. Which is why they’ve all run here out of concern right now.

“Why would there be yelling if they’re making out?!” Mingyu exclaims, concerned.

“I don’t know the kind things they’re into,” Wonwoo leers at them. “And frankly, I don’t want to know.”

“Then...what are you doing here, hyung?” Vernon prods. “Of all places.”

Once more, Wonwoo stops typing to grace them with an answer. “This is the only spot with good reception.” This feels like a fever dream. Seungcheol does not know what to do. His attention is directed back to the closed closet door, hearing another...thud coming from within. He locks eyes with Seungkwan. And then Mingyu. And then Jihoon. Holy shit. In his four years of Chairmanship over SVT, this, by far, has been his biggest obstacle yet.

The officers before him never warned him about this. What exactly is the best course of action here? What would result in the least amount of emotional, mental, and physical repercussions? Leave the door alone? Unlock it and witness horrors untold? There’s still an event they have to manage. Seokmin is probably freaking out outside right now. Yet here they are, watching the unmoving and locked closet door with uncertainty and caution, like it’s an oracle that will show them the way, that will give them a command to do something. Anything. And, much to their surprise and horror—

“Mr. Chair.”

It does.

“Would you please unlock the door?”

The oracle is wearing the sound of your voice? No, wait. It is your voice. From behind the door. “Holy shit,” he hears one of them hiss out from behind. Holy shit indeed. Seungcheol knows better than to test your temper. Quickly, he reaches out for the handle, clicks it open, and a force stronger than his slides the door gaping and completely open, revealing the dark and until interiors of the closet.

You emerge from the darkness. So does Jeonghan. Alive. Unstrangled. Maybe? That’s up for debate because there are some visible marks on his throat. Seungcheol pretends not to see. 

“W—welcome back…?” Soonyoung hesitantly drawls out. You walk out from the closet, Jeonghan trailing behind you slightly from behind. You’re both still wearing the in theme hanboks, but the fabrics are clearly disheveled. And loose. And Jeonghan is hooking his fingers on the hand lagging behind you. And looking at the back of your head with a concerning amount of heart eyes.

You don’t mention a thing about it. “I believe we are behind schedule,” you simply say. “Team building, right? Let’s head off to our posts now.”

They don’t say anything about it either. Seungcheol clears his throat, creaking his body back to the direction of escape. “Y—yes. Everyone is waiting.” The rest follow. You all exit the area except for Wonwoo, who’s still doing his work. When Seungcheol turns back to check on you two— you know, just in case— he immediately regrets it.

Jeonghan is still a step behind you. But he leans slightly forward, dipping his head down to reach your ears. His mouth moves, whispering something. A silent laugh cracks through your features. A laugh. Not once has laughter occurred since the beginning of this predicament. Not a. Single. Instance. You bump your elbow against Jeonghan’s chest. Jeonghan continues to move behind you with a thin smile on his face.

He sees nothing. They see nothing. They leave the house. They immediately scatter to inhale fresh, free air.

“Hyung! Oh my god where have you guys been?! The members are waiting!”

An unspoken agreement was formed. There will be no further mention about this occurrence. Not a single word. 

*‎

“TODAY IS SEPTEMBER 27, 20XX. THE MEETING WILL NOW PLEASE COME TO ORDER. Mr. Secretary, please call the roll.”

“Yes, Mr. Chair. Please say ‘present and voting’ once your name is called to be acknowledged.” 

It’s the first Executive Board meeting after SVT’s Orientation and Membership Training. The agenda for today is just a feedbacking session on the said event. Seungcheol yawns, not bothering to cover it up with the clipboard and Seungkwan sends him a dirty look for it. Wonwoo carries on with the roll call, one after the after stating their attendance for the meeting today. It’s the same routine for the most part. Seungcheol glances at the empty spaces on both his left and right. He taps on the table with a pen impatiently. 

“Secretary, yours truly, present and voting,” Wonwoo drones one. The two seats are still empty. Seungcheol digs his pen into the wooden surface. “Vice Chairperson-External?” 

No answer. Wonwoo continues.

“Vice Chairperson-Internal?

Still no answer. Wonwoo continues.

“Chairperson, Mr. Chair?”

“Present,” Seungcheol gruffs. God damn it, where the hell are you and Jeonghan? This feels like a rerun of their group traumatic experience last week. “Proceed.”

“Yes, Mr. Chair. There are twelve out of fourteen officers present. We are in quo—”

The door swings open.

You and Jeonghan enter in a hurry.

“We’re sorry we’re late!”

Again. Seungcheol feels the horrible, wrinkly slap of deja vu. His eyes follow while you and Jeonghan rush to your seats, out of breath and in a hurry. Joshua has stopped flicking origami frogs on the table. Seokmin and Mingyu pause in between chair spins. Junhui’s mouth is glued to the latte straw while darting his eyes wide back and forth, between you and Jeonghan. And Minghao cannot be bothered by any more relationship problems.

Wonwoo clears his throat. “Fourteen out of fourteen officers present, Mr. Chair,” he amends. 

“Yes, thank you,” Seungcheol sighs out. “Seeing that we are in quorum, it is now legal for us to conduct business. Mr. Secretary, will you please read to us the agenda for today’s meeting?”

Much to his surprise, the meeting proceeds quite...smoothly. Wonwoo reads out the agenda. No objections. They start the feedbacking session. No problems. The incident with the closet is not even mentioned. Not once. Not even a hint despite the shared knowing looks when Seungcheol asks if there are still more matters to discuss.

“No more, Mr. Chair,” Vernon confirms. Seungcheol nods. This is going awfully well. When’s the curveball going to hit him? When? “Thank you, Mr. Auditor. Since there is nothing else on the agenda, let’s proceed to announcements.” He looks at his clipboard. There’s only one thing scribbled under announcements. It’s not his handwriting. Seungcheol squints. “Lee Chan’s...pool…barbecue...dance party on the 29th?”

There’s a pause. Seungcheol looks up from the clipboard.

“What is this?”

All eyes are on Lee Chan. He looks like he enjoys the attention. “Lee Chan’s pool barbecue dance party on the 29th,” he answers, as a matter of fact. “You’re all invited.”

This is the curveball he’s been expecting. Seungcheol feels a knot in his temples. “How many times do I have to say this?” he releases a heavy breath. “Announcements on the order of business are reserved for org-related announcements. It is not an opportunity for you to invite everyone to your parties, nor to your outings, nor to your nephew’s baptismal shower, Soonyoung.”

The man in question swallows down a gulp. Seungcheol sighs for the nth time.

“I hope that is crystal clear.” He’s so done. He’s so tired. When is adjournment coming? Why can’t it come sooner? “Anyway, do we have any other announcements? Relevant announcements, rather.” Seungcheol sees you with your arm up. He feels a rush of relief. “Yes, Ms. VCE, you are raising your hand?”

You put your hand down, allowing it to rest gingerly on the table when you say, “Thank you for the acknowledgement, Mr. Chair.” You look like your usual self— in between smiling pleasantly and staring blankly. Seungcheol nods, prodding you to continue. You do. “I would like to put the matter of my resignation on today’s table, Mr. Chair.”

“Oh, yes, the matter of your—” 

A screeching halt. Seungcheol’s tongue stops working. He stares at you, wide-eyed.

“Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“My resignation.” You pull out a white, ghostly envelope from somewhere. His throat tightens. “I am filing it today and hoping for its immediate attention.”

It’s like time stops completely. The entire office is frozen. They wait for you to say it’s a joke. Any moment now. Please.

“Mr. Chair?” you call out. “Allow me to repeat. I will be resigning from my position as Vice Chairperson-External. What process do we need to undergo to finalize this?”

You don’t say it’s a joke. You are dead serious.

“No?!”

“Did—did I hear that right res—res—resigna—hiccup!”

“Breathe in, Seokmin. Breathe out. Yes that’s—”

“Why would you do this to us?! Why?!”

“Oh my god, it’s happening to me again, it’s happening to me again—”

“What do you mean resignation, what the hell are you talking about?” Seungkwan shoots up from his seat, slamming his palms against the table in distress. “Aren’t you two back together?! Why would you resign?!”

It’s a mess. It’s a room of hysteria and panic except for you, him and Jeonghan. Seungcheol is trying his best to...understand. To not throttle you and shake you violently because why? Where did he go wrong? Has he not been treating you well enough? Did he need to compliment you more? Do you need more compensation? 

Whatever the reason is, you’re looking awfully calm being the recipient of manic yells and hyperventilated cries of anguish. Jeonghan, too, is quiet. He’s just seated there, arms on the armrest, like he is in a completely different room altogether. Seungcheol narrows his eyes at him. Did he do this? Did he talk you into resigning? That bastard— how could he! Seungcheol’s heart is broken, not just once, but twice. First, from his dearest protege. Second, from his (formerly) trusted right hand man.

“Ahem.”

Before things could get worse (i.e. Soonyoung and Seokmin full-on sobbing and begging on their knees), you catch their attention. You look at them, calmly, and, with a carefully enunciated voice, begin your piece that brings all of them to silence. 

“I sincerely apologize for the trouble that our personal issues have caused to SVT,” you begin, a singular glance at Jeonghan. Seungcheol bites his tongue. Traitor. Evil man. Evil jealous man. “I am well aware that my recent behavior has led to some lapses in the organization’s operations, clearly seen in the management of our latest event. We have all heard the feedback, the concerns—where things went wrong. As you have witnessed, it is quite difficult for us to separate our personal feelings from our professional work here in the org, which was the root of most of our experienced problems.” 

That is not true! No one has the best work-life balance than you! Granted, there was an issue just earlier in the month, but Seungcheol can overlook that! He can overlook it as long as you take back your resignation, and take on his spot as Chairperson next semester!

“Which is exactly why I’m resigning,” you decisively say. Shit. “There were a lot of…ingredients that eventually led to the unforeseen outburst between Mr. VCI and I during one of our previous meetings. One of those ingredients was my affiliation with the organization. The rest of the details can be found in my resignation letter. Thank you for allowing me to serve thus far.” 

It’s like a needle pricked most everyone in the room and left them deflated. Chan looks sunken. Even Jihoon. Minghao just looks like he’d been expecting this. Kim Mingyu looks like he cannot accept this.

So he jerks out of his seat, springing to his feet, and points an accusatory finger at Yoon Jeonghan.

“You!” Mingyu shrieks. “Say something!”

“Hyung,” Seokmin adds onto the pile. He’s choked up and about to cry. “Are you just gonna let this happen?”

For the first time since, Jeonghan finally speaks up. But his tone is…sourer than expected. “What do you want me to say?” he starts. It makes everyone jolt. “That you’ve been overworking my girlfriend since freshman year to the point that we started arguing about it because she’s been skipping meals and sleep and taking care of herself just to manage the org?”

Even you flinch. There’s an apologetic look on your face, but there’s no denial. 

Jeonghan lets out a sigh. Oh, Seungcheol realizes. Oh. Oh, crap. Maybe. Maybe he and SVT had a lot more to do with your breakup that he initially thought. The workload. The shit you had to catch and bury with your bare hands whenever the org had problems, had too much to do, had one person in mind to fix up any messes made. Maybe they’ve been relying on you too much. Maybe he’s been relying on you too much and Yoon Jeonghan noticed that.

Of course Jeonghan would notice that. He’s been dating you under their nose for god knows how long. That explains why Jeonghan would suddenly act pissy towards him. It was whenever you’d been tossed in a sinkhole of work.

Once more, you clear your throat. “I have immense attachment to this organization. However, my priorities have shifted. I am sincerely grateful and sorry, but I hope all of you understand.”

It starts clicking inside each head, one-by-one. It’s slow. It’s hard to accept, but they eventually do. Seokmin eventually stops sniffling. Soonyoung stands up to give you a hug. This was a loss for all of them. All of them except you and Yoon Jeonghan. 

“Hyung, but why aren’t you resigning?” 

Jun pokes the bear one last time. It’s a question in all their heads, and Jeonghan’s expression alone isn’t enough to answer it.

“Jun-ah, do you want me gone?” Jeonghan replies, a little too seriously. They freeze. Then he laughs. “It’s going to be difficult to re-elect someone at this point, so I’ll be taking over some of her workload for the remainder of the semester. The rest of you should do the same as one last thank you to our now outgoing VCE. You owe her that much, at least.”

Before Jeonghan can start nagging, you quickly overtake his field of vision from his left. “Don’t worry, I’ll be finishing up my pending tasks, Mr. Chair. I will also be leaving some notes behind for everyone’s ease of—”

“What did I tell you about being more considerate to yourself?” the one from his rightbutts in. “These kids can handle it on their own. You don’t have to micromanage them. I’m begging you, stop overworking yourself.”

Okay, he sharply inhales through his nose. Seungcheol gets it. They all get it. No need to act all sweet in front of their faces and during org hours. It’s sending shivers down his spine. All of their spines. None of this spine shivering is healthy. “Please leave your resignation letter on the table. We will give some time for the other officers to read and consider it before making a final decision during the next meeting.”

You smile. “Thank you, Mr. Chair.”

“Thank you for your service, Ms. VCE.”

It hurts him to say this. It really does. You were the perfect successor. Now, who the hell from this pile of twelve men is he supposed to pick to be the next Chairperson? Does he have to— god forbid— retain his position?

Seungcheol lets out a sigh.

“Meeting adjourned. You are all dismissed.”

the breakup soup. © hannie-dul-set, 2024.

[astaroth1357]

My Incredibly Spoiler Heavy Thoughts on Nightbringer

TURN BACK IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST IN PLAYING THE GAME AT ALL. I MEAN IT.

Hello. I have completed all 10 lessons on the Normal difficulty. These are my thoughts:

First, a disclaimer. All of this is my opinion. If you feel differently about a character or plot point, that's fine. This is all just as I see it.

Holy hell, I love the setup here so damn much. The Nightbringer story so far is truly more than just a rehash of the OG plot, largely because of all the small stuff that keeps happening in background. Yes, we're befriending the brothers again, but we don't know WHY. Why are we in the past? Who sent us there? What do they want from us, or... what do they want out of somebody else?? 👀 I have to hand it to the writers for coming up with this premise, it's soild. Will they stick the landing...? We'll see.

The New! (Old) Cast

Lucifer:

Whelp, Luci is being colder to us than ever... But far more openly involved with his brothers than we saw previously. You can really tell that this is fresh off of the War and he's just trying his best to keep everybody corralled and (somewhat) comfortable.

He still holds onto his Celestial Realm prejudice against demons, so he doesn't trust MC at all which is an interesting turn on the dynamic from before. As a human, Lucifer saw us as weak and insignificant so he didn't give us much time of day. But as a "demon," and someone more knowledgeable about the Devildom than himself, he has to suck it up and rely on MC even if he wants them to stay away.

By the end of Lesson 10, it's safe to say whatever trust he had in MC is going to be shattered. MC has talked their way out of a lot, but even Dia looks shaken by their abilities this time... I'm curious to see if they can reestablish a relationship with him when he was already keeping them at arms length to start with.

Mammon:

Ah, Mammon... Once simp, forever a simp across time and space. Bless him. I guess he's just doomed to always fall first when it comes to MC. It DOES NOT take long for him to be down bad even if you don't romance him specifically (I would know because I'm trying to stay mono-Levi this go around).

Aside from his tsundere-ness, though, we do get a look into more of his insecurities. I find an interesting pattern developing in him where he just tends to latch onto a person and follow them unfailing. He did that with Lucifer before the Fall, he didn't even think about the consequences before going through with it. You could see him doing much the same with MC. I think it stems from a lack of confidence in himself and his own abilities, constantly relying on others to guide him through big decisions and provide him with validation. Add another poor thing to the list...

Leviathan:

I swear to God, the devs realized that Levi's charm lies in his pathos, so they went out of the way to make him EVEN MORE pathetic than normal. I still love him for it, of course. But seriously, Levi starts out practically afraid of his own shadow when the story starts. It makes sense, Levi would have probably one of the more negative impressions of demons of the seven, having fought them head on. He was a shut in before the War and now he's even more terrified to leave the house, let alone his room... (I can't be the only one who's wondering how the hell Dia's going to look at him and go, "Ah yes! I see Admiral material right there!" right?)

I do like that the writers took the time to show that he's one of the more empathetic brothers, right alongside Asmo and Beel, even if he's bad with people. Levi is quick to sympathize with beings and creatures who don't fit in and it's always very sweet to see. I also guess that Simeon wrote TSL in secret or after the War? You think he would know of it at least having lived so long with the author... Anyway. I digress.

There's a lot of... small things around Levi that I think hint at the inner feelings of the brothers, though (of all seven of them, he has the WORST poker face I swear). I may touch on those in another post because I need time to gather my thoughts on how it all connects there... Anyway, he's still my favorite and I'm going to try to see if there's any truth to this "you get a deeper connection if you stick to one brother" thing. Wish me luck.

Satan:

Okay, load your guns now because I think Satan is the real star of the show here. They're actually pulling way more than the "He's mad because he's seen like Lucifer" card. We're at a point where Satan doesn't even consider himself associated with the brothers AT ALL. That means something and has consequences on the story. He didn't even go with them to check on Beel, despite having enough fire power that he could have probably helped a lot.

Now before someone goes screaming at me that they've devolved him into comic relief, I'd first like to ask what did you think he was going to be? OG Satan told us himself that he used to feel nothing but anger. He's going to be pissed, irrational, and violent. He's Wrath.

What truly they're giving us under all of that is a look into a vulnerable guy who doesn't know anything about the world around him and is trying to pick it up on his own because his brothers can't (and maybe won't) teach him. They keep chaining him up (which I hate btw) and talk about him like he's a beast. But it's partially because they're such terrible communicators that he flies off the handle so often to begin with.

Satan is more alone than really anybody else is the Devildom. His brothers already have all this history together and memories shared during their time as angels, stuff he has no context for and could never experience himself. He's still an outcast among demons for his association with them, despite being a fully fledged demon in his own right, and he doesn't know why he has to be linked to them because he barely knows them anyway. He's taking baby steps to understand the world, but when he goes to his brothers to ask questions they lampshade him for even having clear thoughts. All they see him as is a roaring beast. This version of Satan is fascinating to me. How does he start here and end up the eloquent, emotionally-controlled bookworm with a planet's worth of connections? I gotta know!!

Asmodeus:

They FINALLY started giving Asmo his proper flowers! I still think it could have been more, but he's gotten way more depth than he had before. I know that Asmo part technically involved MC's input the least out of all of the brothers, but I think that was by design.

Asmo is a surprisingly introspective individual under his urge to perform. MC didn't have to give much input because he just didn't need as much. He knows himself very well (unlike some of the others). He's an emotionally intelligent guy who can sort out his own inner problems and remain empathetic enough to want to help his brothers in his own way. I wanted to hear more from this side of Asmo, honestly, but the game seems to make it clear that he's content with his spot of being the family's brightest smile. I hope it makes more appearances as we go on.

Beelzebub:

This one is tricky, because lesson 10 leaves off on a cliffhanger related to Beel... So I think Beel's feelings will have more consequences than the other brothers' on the story. Most of all that we see of Beel is, unfortunately, him being hungry or off being wholesome with Belphie but lesson 10 did give us some eye-openers regardless.

First, apparently if he flies off the handle, Beel is quite the challenge to handle. It takes Dia himself to restrain him, which is pretty insane for the sixthborn in the line-up. It's possible some outside magic is cranking up his power somehow, but we won't know until the next lessons are out.

Secondly, I find it very interesting that Beel's "heart-to-heart" moment with us is being saved for last... It was definitely the most surprising one of the secrets in the teasers (in my opinion). Beel and Belphie are glued to the hip and share everything together so for him to have a secret "not even Belphie" knows is pretty shocking. I hope it's not just that he saved Belphie instead of Lilith since we all already know that. It'd be a pretty cheap pay off to all this buildup... Not that I haven't been disappointed before or anything.

Belphegor:

Similar to Beel, Belphie doesn't get much attention until the end and it isn't much that we haven't heard before, unfortunately. You kind can't blame them, since plumbing out Belphie's inner trauma about the War was the entire climax of the first game. It's nothing we don't already know. That being said, I think there's some more interesting things that are being said about Belphie or left unsaid by the others that I find more fascinating to keep track of.

TLDR, I think there's some weird distancing going on between Belphie and the others. It doesn't seem super apparent, but Levi dropped some weird bombshells early on and I can't help but notice how he just never seems to be without Beel. Those two are close, yeah, but in this game they're practically a unit. I'm pretty sure Belphie is using Beel as a security blanket of sorts. He's also the ONLY one to mention Lilith in any great detail. Unsurprising, but it's worth noting that the others haven't really brought her up despite it (supposedly) starting the War.

Diavolo:

Somebody give this guy a vacation and a raise... So apparently, the brothers were cast down, the old King took one look at them and counted to seven, then conked out. Now our boy has to rule the kingdom. He's... the same really. As far as I can tell. You can really see how much he's taken to the brothers' antics though, which checks out in the other game too.

WAAAY more fascinating to me is apparently there's some kind of body called the House of Lords who think that Dia is too young for the job. What's the House of Lords?? Who are they? Are they like a council or advisory board...? Or is this a UK setup? Is there a Parliamentary board?? I dunno, could just be my Poli Sci talking but I'm now so lost on how the Devildom operates now...

Barbatos:

Oh my God, if there is any character I could live vicariously through, it was Barbs here. For whatever unnamed reason he is NOT having any of Solomon's shit right now and I'm living for it. Setting my delight aside, we don't get to see very much of him and what we do see doesn't really differ from the norm, which only makes his detest all the more shocking.

Through Barbs, we also see just how potent the power of the pacts can be when Solomon summons him and more or less forces him to do as he says. Nothing seems to stop him from retaliating after the fact, as he sent Solomon off who knows where, but seeing that kind of power wielded over a being who's almost unattainable to us is... Well. I feel bad for Asmo.

Simeon:

There's a lot to unpack with Simeon... and a lot of it is in the stuff that goes unsaid. First, I already found it strange that he didn't seem surprised to see Satan in the House. Or if he was, he didn't say it or bother introducing himself which is... telling for a guy like Simeon. He's back to being Luke's minder in front of demons, but I can't help but notice that he doesn't do much to counter Luke's tirades. He only indicates that it's impolite to say them, so he may still harbor the very same feelings.

Simeon and Lucifer have something of a heart to heart together that they never would in the OG title where Simeon admits his biggest regret. It isn't that he didn't follow Lucifer, as we might think, but that he doesn't feel like did enough to reach out to him before he made his decision. Lucifer dispells this, but I think it goes to show that Simeon stands behind his decision to stay and that it was the better option. Lucifer also confront Simeon on why he didn't take a high position (seraph) and instead settled for archangel. It's left open ended what his real motives for that would be, but I suspect that it has something to do with Simeon's troubling streak of going against the grain, even in subtle ways. Or he has too much anger about what happened to accept taking Lucifer's old position.

I found it interesting how easily these two seemed to talk about intimate topics together here where Lucifer barely even acknowledges Simeon's attempts to reach out in the OG story. I wonder what may have happened to sour their relationship so severely...?

Luke:

Luke the Racist Chihuahua returns!! Okay, I'm being a little mean but he's pretty much just self-righteous little kid the whole way through. I will admit, it is a little funny that the person who came up with the nickname was actually Lucifer. I think it's now retconned and confirmed that Luke and the brothers never knew each other before the Fall... though Luke seems to know OF their former selves in some capacity. I could be misinterpreting things though.

The Rat Bastard Solomon:

I swear to God this was me playing through the whole game tied to this guy.

He's lying. A lot. Constantly. And it pisses me off to no end. I was wondering why things he was saying and the stuff he was doing weren't lining up and OF COURSE it's because he's either working his own agenda or being outright deceitful. I hate him so much, y'all, you don't even know...

That aside, as an impartial observer Solomon is pulling a lot of work to support MC and you can TELL how down bad he is for them, which actually has significance for the plot I think. He's keeping them in the dark about something, but considering his feelings I say we can at least be charitable and assume it isn't to hurt them or cause them any suffering... intentionally. He's also as unscrupulous as ever, considering how he ordered a very angry Barbs around and more or less took advantage of a life or death situation to make a pact with Asmo.

So. At the end of the lessons, we're reintroduced to the mysterious Nightbringer. The character who actually sent us back in time at the start of the game. Yeah, it wasn't Barbatos... probably. At least not our reliable neighborhood butler anyway. They seem to be different entities but I THINK they might share some connection....

I have to wonder who disguised MC when they first arrived. The marketing made it seem like it would be Solomon but the marketing has been hit or miss on actual accuracy about the game we're seeing. If it was Solomon, then he had to have known where the MC was before he called. If it was Nightbringer then... well actually. We need to touch on that first.

Nightbringer:

Now, much of this is just me speculating so take things with a grain of salt. Nightbringer's name is blocked out, but it seems like it identified itself to us in the beginning before sending us to the past. It appears like it wants something from Solomon.... to fully corrupt him maybe? And it's using MC as leverage against him.

I suspect that all of the weird stuff that has been happening is tied to its meddling in some way, but to what end is unclear... Sending Levi and MC into TSL, tricking Asmo then trying to feed everyone to a spider, and, likely, whatever is going on with Beel. I can't tell if it's trying to push MC and the brother's closer together, or just making vaguely comical attempts at homicide by fictional characters, spider, and Gluttony incarnate.

The situation with Adam does give us a hint into its nature. It appears to be some kind of dark, trickster being that gives a person what they desire, but never the way they intended. A walking monkey's paw, if you will. Solomon says that Nightbringer made him what he is today, so perhaps he worked under it or is simply under the influence of one its "deals." Their relationship is adversarial, though. When they're speaking, they talk about the two supernatural sides, Angel and Demon, and Nightbringer seems to want to force Solomon to make a choice between them. Lose his humanity, maybe?

I'm not quite willing to say that Nightbringer is a demon just yet, at least not one of the ones we normally encounter. Something about it seems... older. More powerful than that. But we'll have to wait for more info.

My crackpot theory?

Solomon has made a deal with Nightbringer in order to go back in time and do... something. He's after something. Nightbringer agreed, but dragged MC along as collateral for Solomon to get it done within a certain amount of time or makes sure he honors his part of the bargin. Barbatos knows this, either because he is linked to in some way to Nightbringer or saw it happen in the doorway, and is disgusted by his actions but unable to speak about it due to the pact. Or, you know. That's our present Barbie also dragged along for the ride and he's pissed that he's been essentially hijacked and taken away from present Diavolo, but forbidden to speak about it.

[underthenightskydreamsneverdie]

Is That What You Want?

Summary: After a few drinks and a day full of teasing, Sebastian gives MC exactly what she wants.

Pairing: Sebastian x f!MC

Warnings: 18+, public sex, Sebastians breeding kink is coming to light y'all, once again overuse of the pet name Princess...I used it eleven times in this one🤦‍♀️

Word count: 1296

A/N: Once again thanking the lovely @pugsnotdrugs92 for this wonderful madness!

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

Sebastian sighed as MC rested her head against him, the Butterbeers starting to get to her, four empty mugs sitting in front of them, a half full one in her hand. The sigh quickly turned into a moan as she slid her free hand up his thigh, seeking out his cock. 

She’s insatiable today. 

They’d fucked twice already today, first skipping breakfast when he found her waiting for him outside the Slytherin dungeons, practically shoving him back through the door to the common room, then again this afternoon while they studied in the library, when she leaned over whispering “restricted section, now” before pulling him down into the deserted depths by his tie. Still, here she was begging for more.

“I think it’s time to get you home, Princess.” Throwing back the rest of his drink, he stood, pulling her with him, wrapping an arm around her waist as they left The Three Broomsticks. 

She was on him the second the door closed behind them, slipping out of his grasp, pulling him down a dark back alley. This time when she shoved him against the brick wall, he was ready. Thanks to her alcohol dulled reactions, he caught her before she could press her perfect body against him, growling as he stepped forward, forcing her against the opposite wall, arms coming out to trap her. “I’m in charge this time, Princess.” Raising her arms up above her head, using one large hand to pin her wrist in place, he dipped his head, kissing at her pulse, running his tongue over her as he nipped at her skin. “You want to act like a whore, teasing me, turning me on in public, then I’ll fuck you like one, right here where anyone could see. Is that what you want, Princess?” He let out a sharp laugh as she whimpered. “Of course it is. Let’s see if you’re ready for me, then.” Slipping his hand down her body, lifting her skirt, he ran a finger through her folds. “A little wet, but it could be better. If I eat your pussy in this alley, are you going to be quiet for me, Princess? Oh, you’ll be a good girl? We’ll see, won’t we.” 

Dropping to his knees in front of her, he pulled her skirt up, throwing it over his head, pulling her panties to the side, he lapped at her folds, groaning against her. She moaned loudly as he pushed two fingers into her, startling a cat further down the alley. Gripping at her skirt, fighting to find his way out, he managed to stick his head out, giving her a warning look. “What did I say about being quiet? Put your hand over your mouth if you can’t control yourself. Give me this hand, hold your skirt up for me and spread your legs more. Mmmm, there’s my good girl.”  Looking back at her pussy, he pulled out his wand, pointing it at her, softly saying the spell to vanish her panties into oblivion. “That’s better. Princess, didn’t I tell you to stop wearing those damn things when you know you want me to bend you over and fuck you in public. If you can’t stand to wait until we’re somewhere private then make it easier for me to get to you.” His lecture over, he dove back between her legs, sucking her clit as he pumped his hand in and out of her, smiling to himself as he listened to her muffled moans. 

Merlin, it’s so sexy when she can’t control herself like this. 

Moving his fingers as quickly as he could, he felt her walls begin to twitch around him. “Cum for me, Princess. Yes, come on, baby, I’m so ready to fuck you.”  Leaning back he watched her orgasm ripple through her, her eyes shut tight, her hand pressed over her mouth as she tried not to scream his name. 

Gods, she’s perfect. 

When she collapsed against the wall, he pulled his fingers from her, bringing them up to her mouth. She eagerly accepted them, sucking them clean as he whispered to her. “You’re so beautiful. Such a dirty girl for me. Is my naughty princess ready for me to fuck her? Turn around and bend over then.” Taking a few steps back, undoing his pants, he watched her do exactly as she was told, a low growl escaping him at the sight of her pulling her skirt up, flashing her bare ass at him, everything about this situation bringing out his possessiveness. 

Forgetting about being quiet he slapped her ass hard, the sound echoing in the still night air along with her needy whimper. Guiding his cock to her slit, he pushed inside her in one quick thrust, unable to hold back his groan at the softness of her. He tried to go slow, not wanting to actually get caught, but she felt too good around him. He railed into her, their thighs slapping together, the delicious wet sounds of her taking him, the feel of her soft flesh being squeezed under his hand, her muffled moaning all driving him to the edge of his orgasm.  

“Whatever’s gotten into you today, I fucking love it, Princess. It’s so sexy when you get this desperate for me. My needy little slut. Take your hand away from your mouth, I want to hear you moaning for me. Oh, fuck yes. I make you feel so good you can’t even wait to get back to my bed, can you? You love the way my cock fills you up, don’t you, Princess? That’s right, you love being a disgusting little whore for me. You’re so good at it, too. Now cum on my cock like a good girl.” With every word his voice grew louder, the rhythm of his hips less steady.  “That wasn’t a suggestion. Cum for me, right now, MC.” His release hit as he growled her name, his deep guttural groans mixing with her high whimpers, echoing around the quiet Hogsmeade streets as he once again marked her as his. 

She stepped close to the brick wall in front of her, pressing her body against it, breathing heavily. He tucked his cock back into his pants before doing the same, closing the gap between their bodies, gripping the bricks to steady him, his own heavy breath warm against her neck as he kissed at her skin. “You really are such a good girl for me, Princess. I love you beyond words, my sweet girl.” He kept her pressed against the wall, fingertips running over her exposed skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake, whispering his praise and devotion for her. 

“I don’t want this to end but we should probably get back to the castle, love.” She sighed longingly as he stepped away from her, giving her room to fix her clothes and lead the way out of the alley. As they passed Ceridwen’s Cauldrons she stopped suddenly, a sound of surprise leaving her. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” he watched her face turn red, visible even in the pale moonlight, before continuing. “Your seed just started dripping out of me, and honestly, it feels so good.” 

His eyes fluttered closed as they rolled back a little, his knees going weak, his cock twitching in his pants. “Fuck, Princess, keep talking like that and I swear I’ll have to fuck you again right here.” He took her hand, quickly leading her out of the village. When they reached the fork in the road that would take them either to the castle or to the lake, he pulled her towards the lake. “I’m not finished with you yet, Princess. I’m going to fuck my cum back into you before I fill you up again.” 

[valleydean]

Chapter 12 [Read Here]

CHAMPION Part III of Heavyweight a deancas boxing au by valleydean (emmbrancsxx0) read from the beginning | playlist

SUMMARY: Brooklyn, 1933. Dean Winchester, the number one contender, trains to become the next Heavyweight Champion of the World, and this time he won't let anything get in his way. Title holder Castiel Novak has second thoughts about retiring, especially when someone from his past arrives in New York and asks for his help. Meanwhile, a new contender rises to fame and threatens to complicate both of Dean and Cas' ambitions - and their relationship.

CHAPTER PREVIEW:

Dean shuffled his weight from foot to foot, his taped and gloved fists at his sides. He felt loose. He felt good as he stared down the black curtain in front of him, waiting for it to be pulled aside so he could enter the arena to a flurry of fans chanting his name.

He could already hear those fans roaring, warmed up from the undercard fights but still anticipating the main event. In the ring, the MC was giving the opening spiel.

Bobby was just behind Dean, and Victor was behind him. Benny stepped into place after he’d traveled down the curtain to peek outside.

“Full house,” he reported. “Standin’ room only. Looks like that tour’a Cas’ did us a favor.”

Dean’s gut tightened. He had to stop himself from saying that Cas wasn’t doing anybody but himself any favors. But that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to get into at the moment—or ever. He’d done a pretty good job at focusing on the fight ahead instead of the bout he’d had with Cas last night.

Cas was supposed to have his back. He wasn’t supposed to threaten to keep the belt just because he was pissed at Dean. As if it was something he could hold over Dean’s head like a carrot on a stick.

Well, tonight Dean would show him just how ready he was for the belt. He had his eyes on the prize.

He shook out again, his silk robe fluttering around his thighs.

Stay focused.

“Where the hell is Rufus?” Bobby complained. “We’re almost on.”

“Haven’t seen ‘im,” Victor said.

Benny added, “Got me.”

Dean didn’t turn around to look at them. He kept his eyes straight ahead on the curtain, ready and eager to step through it and into the ring.

That was until the other curtain to his right was swatted open and Rufus rushed through, breathing harried.

“Bobby, Bobby. We got a problem,” he panted.

Dean’s focus snapped to Rufus like a rubber band. He wheeled around.

“What problem?” Bobby demanded.

Rufus doubled over, hands on his knees to catch his breath. He shook his head and held one finger up to tell them to wait.

Dean’s tongue darted out to wet his lips. His eyes flashed to Bobby’s.

“Damn it, Rufus. Breathe faster,” Bobby ordered.

“The ref—Arty Nielson,” Rufus said, standing back up.

“Yeah, what about him?”

“He’s not here. Had some kind of family emergency. The NBA brought in a sub.”

Dean wasn’t even in the ring yet, but he felt like he’d just been punched in the sternum. He remembered what Cas had said about Luc finding a way to rig the fight. But Cas was wrong. He had to be. Dean was supposed to prove that to him.

This had to be a coincidence.

“Balls,” Bobby huffed. “With who?”

“Some new kid,” Rufus answered. “Name’s Mackey.”

“And they’re just telling us this now?” Bobby said, like he was accusing Rufus of something.

Rufus flung out his arms. “Don’t shoot the messenger! I ran my ass back here the second I heard.”

Bobby grumbled something under his breath before looking up at Dean. There was doubt in his eyes and Dean’s heart skipped a beat, thinking he was going to call off the fight.

No way Dean was letting that happen.

“Okay, fine. So, new ref. Doesn’t change anything,” Dean said firmly.

“Changes something. We haven’t vetted him yet!” Bobby argued.

The MC’s voice boomed over the microphone, “And now, ladies and gentlemen, entering the arena… From Brooklyn, New York…”

“Too late now. We just gotta roll with it,” Dean said. He ignored the ice forming in his gut. He could win this, no matter who the ref was. Lee had promised a fair fight. Dean wasn’t going to stop believing him now.

“Your King of King’s County,” the MC announced, “Dean Winchester!”

Dean faced forward again and slapped on his most charming smile just in time for the curtains to pull back. Whistles and roars lifted up from everyone in the audience, from the people pushing toward him behind the barriers to the ones in the boxes and nosebleeds. Cameras flashed. Horn music blared from the orchestra.

Dean pumped his gloves in the air as he walked toward the ring. Men reached over the barriers to clap him on the back. Women stroked their fingers across his jaw and shoulders. Hats and roses were tossed in his path.

As he got closer to the ring, he spotted Crowley among the NBA officials in their ringside seats. The judges’ table was directly next to them, and the commentator’s table next to that. The radio stations had their set-ups just behind, where more of the press was corralled.

Dean got to the front row of the ringside seats behind his corner. Cas looked around from his seat on the aisle, his expression neutral while he clapped, as if he was just going through the motions. Next to him, Jo and Charlie seemed a lot more enthusiastic. Charlie pumped her fist in the air. Jo whooped.

Dean saw Sam’s massive silhouette beside them. Sam stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled before he resumed clapping. Dean could just make out Eileen’s figure behind him at the end of the row.

Jack and Kelly weren’t anywhere in sight, which was annoying, even if Dean had expected it.

Dean shot Cas a wink as he passed, which made Cas’ lips tighten fractionally. Glee thrummed through Dean in response.

He bounded up the steps and ducked into the ring, then fired the crowd up a little more by shadowboxing. Predictably, the entire place ate it up.

Dean caught sight of Layla all by her lonesome on Lee’s side of the ring. It was too bad she couldn’t have sat with the rest of their group. He smiled at her, and she put her hand over her heart to silently wish him good luck.

Soon, the music died down. Dean settled into his corner beside Rufus, Victor, and Benny.

The MC took the mic again and said, “And his challenger tonight at Carnegie Hall… From Queens, New York… Lee Webb!”

Applause filled the arena again, this time with some boos mixed in. The orchestra played a different but no less jaunty tune as Lee came through the curtain to bask in the fanfare. A few members of his team walked behind him. The spotlights strobed over them, revealing their faces in white light before sending them back into shadows.

When the lights circled back around, Dean spotted a face at the back of the group—and all the breath in his lungs left him. Suddenly, the only thing he could hear was the ringing in his ears.

In the spotlight, Luc’s grin was self-satisfied. His chin was held high, like he was already celebrating a victory. Then the lights moved again, and his face plunged back into darkness, leaving only his silhouette.

Dean’s body went numb.

[completelyshatteredbrokenmschf]

A 40+ yo mom and her kids go to the Devildom PT 3

Back at the house of Lamentation, the brothers who took them were Satan, Leviathan, Mammon, and Beel. And the minute they were back in the house, Mammon decided to give them all a bit of advice.

"Look, best thing to do if a demon threatens you is to run. Run or die."

"You know who can die Mammon, you!"

MC just rolled her eyes and put her hands over Cynthia's ears, "Enough! Boys take that elsewhere away from my kids! Now!"

"He owes me money that I need and has for 200 years!"

"Levi, I will pay you back! I just need a bit more time. And it's been 260year by the way."

Ty broke, "Way not to help your case dude."

"I do not care, we do not tell our siblings to die! That is unacceptable behavior and I will not tolerate it around my children. Not will I tolerate it from my children, I understood Tybierious?"

"Yes mom." From three voices, causing Satan and Beel to both stop walking in shock. Their brothers just called that human Mom?!" They looked at each other and walked back to the small group.

"MC, may I show you to your room?"

"Satan was it? Thank you, I'd appreciate it, a tour to know the facilities would be nice as well."

"Do I have to share a room with my mom and little sister?"

"Ty, we will make do, we always do, I'll use blankets to turn one room into three if I have too. Promise."

"Um, MC.?"

"Yes Leviathan?"

"Ty can stay with me, I can get them a futon to sleep on, we Otaku should stick together. And, I'm sorry."

"I understand, Leviathan, sibling rivalry is a thing, and as for Ty, you okay with that Kiddo?"

"I don't have to share a room with the brat? Yes please!"

She smiled fondly at her son, "Alright then, same rules as home, homework first, chores first, and you will not make a mess of Leviathan's room."

"Sure thing mom, can you still be my personal tutor mom, ya know math n history?"

"Yeah, I got ya, I'm always here for ya bud, even if I gotta come back and haunt you."

The brothers watched the pain lance through Ty at that thought though he covered it with a groan of annoyance, "Mom, shut up! Don't fuckin talk about that okay."

She reached up and rubbed his shoulder, "Buddy, one cancer run taught us all that life isn't forever."

"Yeah, but you kicked it's ass!"

"That I did kid, that I did."

They laughed about it, and Satan showed them around, Levi took Ty to his room and Beel went into MC's room and set up a second bed for Cyn. By the time they reached MC and Cyn's room everything was done and MC smiled to see it.

"Thank you both very much."

"No problem MC. Lucifer is in charge of making dinner tonight, we'll let you know when it's ready. Welcome to the House of Lamentation."

They closed the door and MC flipped on the bed, just exhausted. She had gotten off a 16 hour shift, then, before they had even eaten she and the kids had ended up here. It had been an emotional upheaval, and she let the silent damn burst as Cyn jumped onto her bed in happiness. "One year, we have one year, then we go home. You okay Cyn?"

"Yeah mom, I'm great!"

"That's good. Love you Princess"

"Love you too Momma!"

@mepsratchild12

[supreme-burrito]

And it is right here where you can feel the stick being pulled out of his ass

I knew I related to Lucifer the most

But when he said this

It punched me in the gut. Sure the way the line is presented makes him sound like an angsty teen, but no- I personally relate to what is going through Lucifer’s head right now.

This man has major, MAJOR trust issues with a capital T. He can’t trust anyone with his secrets, his true self, and thus has slowly closed his heart off to the entire world. In turn, it caused him to just start making assumptions without confrontation because he was afraid and anxious of his expectations not being met (his expectation that his brothers would want to go back to the Celestial Realm and not accept Satan as their brother) and was all but dead set on taking the option of ‘meeting the needs of the many’.

It may come off as Pride, but it isn’t. This is Emotional Damage.

If people don’t realize what the hell is going on in your head, then people will perceive your intentions as the former and fucking hate your ass for it. Someone in this position, unless they have the ability to listen to what other people have to say and are capable of taking feedback well, will continue to act this way until an intervention happens because they will think everything is alright with how they’re acting and the decisions they are making, without even realizing the damage they are doing to the people around them.

I know this from personal experience. I have been in Lucifer’s position multiple times in my past.

We (MC) knew this wasn’t true due to the Banshee Incident from a couple of chapters ago.

The literal slap in the face to see the truth of what his brothers actually wanted to do, to meet his expectations, made him realize that perhaps he could have a little more faith when it came to serious issues such as these.

And right at the end of the previous section after all the brothers leave, MC tells Lucifer that it’s okay to cry. Let me tell you, yeah after the interventions I’ve had, I’ve bawled my eyes out.

As time goes on, he might shove that stick up his ass again, but he will probably do it with more attention to detail.

Accepting the truth and admitting that you were in the wrong is a hard pill to swallow. I’ve swallowed this damn pill multiple times. It fucking hurts but I would rather do it than isolate myself from the entire world for being an arrogant jackass.

And most of the time people do not want to swallow that pill. This is when the emotional damage turns into an actual sin. It’s why the world is why it is today because of people such as these who think that their way of thinking is the only right way and everyone else is wrong.

Needless to say the end results were very satisfying.

I’m also kind of glad the non-Lucifuckers got a third option to give Lucifer the cold shoulder after the events of Chapter 12 and you can also completely avoid interacting with Mammon as well.

[ashisgreedy]

Garreth Weasley x Male!MC

“I Don’t Want To Be Parted From You.” 

Oneshot

Tags: Smut 18+ | Male x Male | Mutual Masturbation | BJ’s, both giving and taking | Hook-up | Confession | All Chars are aged up 18+| With plot |

WC: 6,300

A|N: Male OC/MC’s name is Cole Knight, Slytherin House.

-18 Minors, do not interact with my blog or content.

Cole tapped his finger on the desk in time with his foot bouncing. It wasn’t that the class was particularly boring, it’s just… well there were far more exciting things to do outside the walls of the castle, and Divination class was the last place he wanted to be right now. More interesting things like meeting one particular redhead in Hogsmeade that he’d been trying to hang out with for weeks. 

Was it a date? Was it a friendly hang-out? Cole wasn’t entirely sure. If it wasn’t a date, he sure as hell would make it one, or die trying. Of course, any pushback from Garreth and he’d back off immediately. Cole chalked it up to nerves making him think more aggressively inward than he’d ever actually act out publicly. He had spent months pining after Garreth Weasley, teasing him, joking with him, hell… tempting him in his own way. He’d never taken the bait. 

He had no idea if Garreth was even into him like that or not. Garreth was always so friendly to him, but he was also friendly to everyone else. If he was into Cole, he sure knew how to keep his cool when Cole was around. It was month two of his super-mega-secret/not-so-secret crush on Garreth and everyone, including himself, was begging him to just make a damn move already. 

He’d be lying if he said he was 100% okay with being the one to make the first move. He really wanted Garreth to make the first move. It would be just that much sweeter if he did. But, Cole could pretend that Garreth asking him to hang out with him in Hogsmeade was the first move… He could be delusional, just for a moment. 

Once the class was dismissed, Cole shot from his seat and rushed to the ladder before anyone else could get to it first. He trotted down the steps of the tower and rushed through the courtyard. He got to the outside of the castle and hopped on his broom, angling himself straight toward Hogsmeade, and the ginger that awaited him. 

He pushed his nervous jitters away when he spotted Garreth in the square. He was wearing just his white button-down shirt and charcoal grey slacks today. His sleeves were pushed up, exposing his forearms. Of course his sleeves were rolled up… Cole groaned internally. Garreth’s forearms were what wet dreams were made of. 

He landed smoothly beside the redhead and greeted him. 

“Hello, Garreth.” Cole nodded in his direction, trying to sound as cool as a cucumber as if he hadn’t practically sprinted all the way here. 

Garreth smiled wide at Cole. “Hello! Ah, mate, I am so glad you’ve made it. You’re just in time.”

Cole’s brows rose while Garreth grabbed his arm and began to drag him toward the watermill. His heart skipped a beat at their sudden proximity. 

“What is it?” Cole asked, allowing Garreth to guide them through the crowd. Hell, he’d let Garreth guide him anywhere.

Cole noted the juxtaposition of their outfits. Cole’s button-down shirt was black, matching his leather belt, pants, and shoes. The only thing breaking up the colors were the golden straps that wrapped around his waist and shoulder. Cole's hair was straight, parted to the side with a swoop of his fringe. A swoop he spent several minutes extra each morning perfecting, thank you very much. His hair was a warm dark brown, and his complexion was freckle free, unlike the gingers next to him. Cole and Garreth couldn’t look more opposite if they tried. 

“Take a look!” Garreth spoke with wonder in his voice. “They’ve been setting up a ton of fireworks! I heard they are going to set them off tonight. Pretty cool, isn’t it!”

Cole nodded, “Yeah, it’s pretty cool. We should stick around to watch them.” 

Garreth smiled wide. “Definitely!” 

“Instead of staying in Hogsmeade, we could find a hill nearby where we can watch them comfortably,” Cole suggested. He had a specific hilltop in mind, next to a partially eroded home that had long since been abandoned. 

“Aw, that would be perfect!” Garreth agreed. “Though, sundown is still an hour or so away.” 

“I guess we will have to enjoy each other's company until then.” Cole gave him a soft smile,  watching Garreth’s expression carefully. 

“Alright then! Do you have anything you need to buy today? Or can we shop for pleasure?” Garreth began stepping away from the crowd and Cole followed suit. 

“I am happy to follow you wherever you’d like to go. I just have a few things to sell, but I can do that pretty much anywhere.” Cole spoke as they dodged people on the street.

Garreth bit the inside of his cheek and eyed the Three Broomsticks. “Okay, then let's make a choice. Butterbeers first OR Honeydukes for a sweets run.” 

Cole looked between the two buildings, placing his hands on his hips. “How about, we stock up on sweets first, then we grab some butterbeers while we wait for the sun to set. How does that sound?” 

“Brilliant. I couldn’t agree more.” Garreth chimed. 

Cole entered the sweets shop first, holding the door open for his crush. 

Garreth entered and immediately went to the “new” items section. Cole hovered just behind him and watched as Garreth took a small bean-sized treat labeled “sample”. 

“Honey and milk chocolate crunch.” Cole read the small sign. “That sounds delightful.” 

“It does,” Garreth said excitedly. He popped the sample into his mouth and his face lit up in delight. “It is!” He said after a couple of chews. 

Cole smiled at him and popped a sample in his mouth as well. The texture was like biting into a honeycomb covered in chocolate. “Wow,” He said before swallowing the bite he was chewing. “I think I’ll buy a bar of those.” 

“Yes! Let’s buy two then. One for me and one for you. I’ll pay! My treat.” Garreth grabbed two of the bars and went to the next section. Cole had been so pleasantly surprised that he forgot to thank him for paying before Garreth was off again. 

They stayed in the shop longer than Cole had anticipated. There had been a lot of displays that the two interacted with. Some of them were new but others he hadn’t tried before. After a while, they both had their hands full of treats. They made their way to the counter and Garreth pulled out his galleons as promised. 

“Thank you, Garreth. For paying for my treats. I mean it.” 

“Of course! No big deal.” He answered.

They both watched as the clerk put all their candy into a bag. 

“Butterbeer next?” Cole spoke up. 

“Yes, and possibly an appetizer. I just want something savory to snack on before we dig into our candy.” Garreth said as he took the full bag from the clerk. 

“M-maybe we could split the appetizer,” Cole suggested, not bothering to even ask exactly what appetizer it would be. He just figured it was a romantic thing to do on a date, to share food. Even if it really wasn’t a date at all, it could still have elements of a date. 

Garreth nodded, leading them out of the shop. “Fine by me. I usually get the salted potato wedges and cheezy garlic dipping sauce.” 

“Mmm,” Cole expressed. “That sounds divine. I didn’t even know they had anything like that. I think I always just forgo the menu and grab a butterbeer.” 

“Most do. Stick with me and I will be happy to show you even more cool stuff about Hogsmeade!” 

“I’ll stick with you then,” Cole smiled over at Garreth as they made their way to the bar. 

“You won’t be disappointed.” Garreth beamed, smiling at Cole. 

“No, I think not.” Cole responded. 

They were greeted by Sirona the moment they walked in the door. She left the rag on the table she was cleaning and walked to the bar. “What can I get you boys?” 

“Two butterbeers, please.” Cole answered. “Oh and,” he pointed at Garreth to continue. 

“The potato wedges, please.” 

“Coming right up. Feel free to find a table to sit at, I’ll bring out your potatoes when they are ready.” She wiped her hands on her apron and jotted their order down on a notepad. 

“Where to,” Cole asked him, not bothering to look around the place. His gaze was fixed on Garreth. 

“Let's sit near the fireplace, shall we?” 

The bar was practically empty, only hosting around 4 other patrons. They pretty much had the whole place to themselves. 

“Perfect.” Cole agreed. 

Garreth placed their bag of candy on the table and began to rifle through it. He pulled out a small deck-of-cards-sized box of candy. 

“Okay, let's see…” Garreth turned the box over to read the label. He focused his eyes on the large paragraph of text. 

“Are those the popping candies with a creamy center?” Cole asked, leaning in a bit to see what Garreth was reading. 

Garreth tilted the box so they both could see the words easily. “It is. I remember the sign saying not to open when it’s raining. I was just looking to see if it said why.” 

The large paragraph on the back described the story of how the candy came about in excruciating detail. Cole sat back in his seat halfway through, uninterested in the long-winded description. 

“Here you are.” Sirona sat two butterbeers down. “You’re food will be out shortly.” 

Garreth didn’t look up from the box but nodded his head and mumbled a ‘thank you.’ 

Cole took a large sip of his drink and studied the man beside him. Garreth’s face was serious as he read the text. His serious face was… so handsome. Cole licked his lips and then took another sip of his drink. 

“Ah!” Garreth exclaimed. “It’s because the humidity will ruin the rest of the popping candy you’re not eating.”

“A rainy day will?” 

“Yeah, it says that the popping part of the candy is very sensitive to moisture.” He tossed the box onto the table. “Well, that was anti-climactic. I thought it would be something cool like, ‘The candy will explode when exposed to rain water’ or something.” 

“Always seeking explosions, huh?” Cole teased, drinking another sip of his mug. 

Garreth noticed how much Cole had already drank compared to his untouched pint. 

“Sometimes they seek me,” Garreth responded, taking a big swig of butterbeer. 

“How unfortunate for you.” 

“Yes, well. Makes life more interesting, don’t you think?” Garreth grinned. 

Cole nodded, sending Garreth a grin in return. 

Sirona sat the Potato wedges between the two, taking them out of the moment. 

“Thank you!” Garreth shouted as Sirona walked away. She nodded a ‘You’re welcome’ in his direction before going back to buss another table.

“Those smell incredible.” Cole leaned in to take another deep inhale. 

“You can have the first bite!” Garreth nudged the basked of wedges toward Cole. 

Cole smiled, taking one of the larger wedges and popping it into his mouth. “Mmm…” he blinked to keep his eye roll unapparent. 

“Told ya,” Garreth tossed one into his mouth. “Very delicious.” His words were muffled. 

Cole finished chewing and stared at the basket of food. “You just can’t go wrong with potatoes, can you?”

“Nope! See, I knew you and I were alike.” Garreth teased.

They both grabbed their butterbeer at the same time and Garreth gestured for a cheers. Cole clinked his half-empty mug against Garreth’s. “Cheers.”

“Cheers!” Garreth exclaimed. 

Two butterbeers later and an empty basket of potato wedges, and they were ready to head out. The sun was almost set and Cole reckoned they had just enough time to get to their spot on the hill before the fireworks show would begin. 

“What do you think they’re celebrating?” Cole inquired, pushing open a gate in one of the crop fields just outside of Hogsmeade. 

Garreth hummed, “I think they are celebrating the opening of a new shop.” 

“Oh?” Cole slowed his steps to walk side by side with Garreth. “What shop do you think it is?” Cole wondered if it would be anything useful for his adventures outside of the castle. 

“I don’t know. But, I hope, whatever it is, it actually lasts this time.” 

“Lasts? What happened to the previous owners?” Cole wondered aloud.

“Skipped town, I think.” Garreth placed his hand under his chin as he thought. “Or was it something to do with them not paying their rent?” 

“Hm, well. Whatever it is, I’m glad they are celebrating with fireworks. I haven’t seen a fireworks show since I was small.” Cole reminisced. 

“I saw one last year for Christmas. They had a really cool MASSIVE gingerbread man firework that burst into a thousand tiny red and green confetti pieces. It was awesome!” As he spoke, Garreth used his hands to express his words. 

“Sounds incredible.” Cole agreed. “By the way, we're almost there. It’s just up this path.” He pointed down the road.

Garreth looked back from where they had just come. “Oh, Cole. This is going to be a perfect view!” 

They both made their way down the road and up the small hill. Cole sat against the eroded stone wall of the old house and Garreth joined him. He sat the bag of candy between them and rested his head back. 

“Perfect timing.” Garreth sighed. 

The fireworks hadn’t started yet despite the darkness that now shrouded the land. Cole picked at one of his chipped fingernails. 

Garreth pulled out some sweets from the bag and handed one to Cole. 

“Thank you.” Cole took the chocolate bar and ripped off the wrapping. 

“Lumos,” Garreth pointed his wand up, looking through the bag again. “Ah! Yes, I wanted to try this one first.” He showed Cole the honey and milk chocolate crunch bar.

Cole took a bite of his bar and chewed it quickly. “Let me know how it is. I’m curious how the honey and chocolate tastes go together in bar form.”

Garreth nodded and put out the light on his wand. The light from the moon and stars was enough to give the area a nice glow. Cole didn’t offer to make a fire since it would ruin the fireworks spectacle they were soon to see. He supposed that’s why Garreth hadn’t offered either. Garreth pushed his hair out of his face and took a large bite of his candy. Cole watched intently, staring at the crumb of chocolate that began to melt on Garreth’s bottom lip. 

BOOM

Cole jerked his eyes away from Garreth to watch the first firework glitter. 

“Awesome,” Garreth commented. 

Another two fireworks lit up the night sky, one shimmering cobalt blue and the other a cherry red. 

“It’s beautiful,” Cole rewrapped his chocolate bar and sat it back into the bag. 

“Stunning really.” Garreth agreed. He chomped down on another bite of his bar and noticed Cole’s stare. “Oh! Do you want a bite? You can give it a taste test.” 

Cole nodded, taking the bar Garreth offered. He bit the untouched corner and hummed. He chewed but the chocolate and honey bar melted on his tongue rapidly. “Wow, that is quite nice.” 

Garreth took the bar back and smiled playfully. “We’ll have to meet up again to finish our bag of sweets.” 

“I’m already saying 'yes'.” Cole smiled. 

Several more fireworks lit up the sky. Cole turned his gaze to Garreth and watched them pop in the reflection of his green eyes. If Garreth noticed, he didn’t say anything. 

Cole bit his lip before he spoke. “It’s all very romantic, isn’t it?” He held his breath. Cole decided he could play it off as a joke if Garreth wasn’t receptive to his advances. 

Garreth pressed his lips together into a tight line. “Yeah…” 

Cole let the word hang in the air for a long moment. “Does that make you uncomfortable for me to say?” He needed more than just a one-word answer. He needed proof, concrete evidence that Garreth was either into him or not. 

“No,” Garreth answered carefully. “I just really want to know why you said that. Why did you bring up romance?” 

Cole picked at his broken nail again absently. He took a deep breath, it was now or never. “I wasn’t trying to hide it…” 

Garreth sat quietly, listening to Cole.

Cole continued “...but I definitely want to be more than friends with you, Garreth.” He couldn’t even look over at the man he was confessing to. His eyes were glued to the fireworks still bursting in the sky. Garreth didn’t respond for a long moment and Cole added, “Just say the word, and I’ll never bring it up again.”

 “You like me? Like me like me? I mean, you have a romantic crush… on me?” Garreth looked deep in thought as if he were turning the concept over in his mind. 

Cole slid his hand into his pocket and held his wand, preparing to disapparate at a moment's notice. His heart hammered in his chest and he wanted so desperately to be invisible. 

“Yes, but…” Cole began. “Please know that if you don’t want me to bring it up, I shall not. We can just be friends. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me.” 

“No! No.” He put up his hands in surrender. “I am just surprised is all.” 

Cole wanted to shake it out of him, lovingly of course, and yell ‘And!? How do you feel? Do you feel the same?’ His internal monologue wrestled with his composure. 

Garreth turned to look at Cole. “You know… I’ve always felt different around you ever since you came to this school.” 

Cole perked up. “Different? How so?” 

Their faces were lit intermittently with flashes of light from the celebration. 

Garreth bit the inside of his cheek “It’s like, I have… what I can only describe as nerves? I’m nervous around you.” 

“Nervous? In a bad way?” Cole wondered if he was intimidating at all. He and Garreth were the same height and build. Neither one of them towered over the other. 

Garreth shook his head. “No. It's like there are butterflies in my stomach when I’m near you, or when I know you’re close by. I get this kind of jittery energy when I hear your voice or see you walk by in the halls. Sometimes I can’t eat or get a good night's rest when I know I’m about to see you…”

Cole sighed, scooting a bit closer to him. “That’s exactly how I’ve felt around you, Garreth. It’s been that way for a while now.” 

Garreth laughed. “Well, if that's how it feels then…” he trailed off, resting his head in his hands. “I’m way past crushing on you.” 

Cole’s heart stopped. The world around them disappeared in a flash. He smiled, he couldn’t help it, he smiled so wide he thought his cheeks would hurt. 

“I like you too, Garreth,” Cole reassured, comforting Garreth with a squeeze to his knee. 

Garreth looked over at Cole, a small smile tugging at his lips. Cole took in a deep breath and dug around for courage. 

He cupped Garreth’s face and waited. When Garreth didn’t flinch away Cole continued. “I’m going to kiss you now, Garreth Weasley.” 

Garreth nodded, eyes dropping to Cole’s lips. 

Cole suppressed the ‘Wah Hoo!’ in his mind and instead opted to pour his excitement into the kiss. Garreth tasted like honey, chocolate, and butterscotch. His lips were so so soft and everything Cole had ever dreamt of. 

Their kiss concluded and they both pulled away. Garreth remained close to Cole, face lighting up every few seconds with the flash of a new firework. “I’ve never kissed a guy before,” Garreth admitted. 

Cole rubbed his finger along Garreth’s reddening cheek. God, he was adorable. “Well, it's very simple. You just-” and he pressed his lips to Garreth’s again. They both smiled into the kiss and Garreth let out a little laugh. 

It was easy to fall into a rhythm. It felt so damn good to Cole to finally express his feelings. Their tongues touched and Cole slotted his head to the right to kiss Garreth deeper. Cole’s hands were in the redhead's hair, rubbing his scalp and tugging lightly at his waves.

Their kisses lasted so long, they hadn’t even noticed that the fireworks show already ended. 

Garreth was showing signs of getting just as worked up as Cole felt. He groaned every time Cole touched the back of his neck, panting a bit each time Cole dared to part the kiss. They’d dive back in after a brief moment of looking at one another, kissing frantically in the dark. 

Garreth tugged at Cole’s shirt, releasing the top button. Cole froze realizing where they were, and how anyone could walk by and spot them. They needed someplace more private for that kind of fun. An idea erupted in his mind.

“T-to much?” Garreth asked, brows pinched. He released Cole’s shirt and placed his hands on his lap. 

“Not at all,” Cole reassured, touching his cheek lightly. “Not enough.” Cole smiled getting Garreth to crack a smirk. “Let’s go somewhere more private.” 

He nodded. “Well, we can’t go to my dorm.” Garreth mulled the idea over. “Even if we could sneak you in, I have roommates. Same with your dorm.” He added. “Unless Slytherin house has a secret room I don’t know about.” 

“Don’t worry. I’ve got the perfect place. The room of requirement.” Cole reassured, pulling out his wand and teleporting them together. 

The world around him disappeared and was replaced by the familiar sight of his personal room in the hidden chamber. The bag of candy appeared with them, spilling out onto the floor. 

Garreth’s mouth dropped. “The room of requirement?! I’ve never gotten it to open for me!”

Cole grabbed Garreth’s hand and tugged him to the middle of the room. “Yes, I have a special room no one is privy to. I used it in my 5th year for my additional studies, I come here every now and then even still.” 

Garreth looked around the mostly empty room. “It doesn’t look, uh… too cozy?” 

He was right. Cole looked up at the dome and began to shout. “A bedroom! bed, mattress, couch!?” 

Garreth looked over at Cole in confusion. “Uh… Are you alright?”

Just then the wall to the left opened up and a door appeared. Garreth stared at it with wide eyes. A few loud noises came from behind the door before everything was finalized. The door cracked open and Cole grinned. 

“I am just dandy!” He took Garreth’s face into his hands and gave him a quick kiss. “Come on!” They locked hands and Garreth followed with a stunned expression on his face. 

“What… just happened?” 

Cole shut the door behind them and looked over the large bedroom. The bed was massive with overly gaudy trimmings. The windows behind the bed were floor-to-ceiling showing an underwater scene similar to the one in the Slytherin common room. The ambiance was the same as the main room, moonlit and cozy feeling. All the decorations were a mix of deep forest green and black.

“The room changes to accommodate what I want.” Cole kicked off his shoes at the door and Garreth did the same. 

“Anything?!” 

Cole laughed. “I have shouted your name before, but you never appeared.” He winked. “So maybe not anything.”

“Oh?” He took a step close to Cole. “And why exactly were you shouting my name?” Garreth pulled Cole into a heated kiss, smirking all the while. 

“Mmph!” Cole gasped at the sudden kiss. He began angling and pulling Garreth toward the bed as their lips met in a frenzy. 

Garreth felt around for the mattress and was the first to sit down. Cole followed suit, sitting right beside him. He pulled at Garreth’s shirt to reveal his pale freckled skin. His hands immediately slid over his soft skin and moved to grip his hips. 

“Is it..” Garreth stopped and looked down at his open shirt. “Do I look okay?” 

The look on Garreth’s face was sincere and Cole’s words rush out of his mouth. “What?! You-!” He eyed his chest and began pulling his shirt down over his shoulders. “You’re hot! Garreth…” Cole dropped his shirt to the ground and cupped Garreth’s face. “You’re so incredibly handsome I can’t even express it.”

Cole practically tackled the very smiley Garreth to the bed, laying them both down as his lips explored the man he’d been dying to taste. He kissed his adams apple down to his clavicle, licking the dip along the way to his shoulder. 

Garreth let him kiss any place he liked while sliding his hands up and down Cole’s sides. Cole kissed down his chest, licking his way down to Garreth’s belly button.

“I’m nervous.” Garreth blurted out. 

Cole popped his head up and nodded his understanding. “It’s alright. I didn’t mean to press you to do anything you aren’t ready to do.”

Garreth shook his head. “I’ve just never done this before… I want to keep going. I do.” 

Cole rolled to Garreth’s side, staying close to him. Garreth turned to face him and they wrapped their arms around one another. 

“It’s alright.” Cole took a few deep breaths to cool himself off. He didn’t want to pressure Garreth into anything. Hell, he was glad he got this far. “It’s no different than doing it by yourself… Well, it’s different, but the same concept.” 

Garreth nodded like he understood. 

Cole continued. “We can… touch ourselves first before we touch one another. Get an idea of how each other likes to be touched. How does that sound?” His heart pounded in his ears so loudly he was worried he wasn’t going to be able to hear the redhead's answer. 

“Okay,” Garreth smiled. “Okay, I can do that.” 

Cole wondered if he was having an out-of-body experience. He began undoing the buttons of his own shirt, and Garreth quickly helped him. Cole’s shirt was off in half the time and he allowed Garreth’s hands to roam his body. 

“So,” Cole began, already breathless. “Let’s sit against the headboard.” 

“Yeah, alright.” Garreth moved up the bed and sat on the right side. He adjusted the pillows so he was comfortable. 

Cole crawled up after him and sat down, hands already shaking. 

“Are you ready?” Cole asked, slowly undoing his belt. 

Garreth watched with wide eyes before rushing to undo his own belt. “I’m ready.” 

Cole’s mouth went dry. He took a deep breath and pushed his trousers down a few inches. He palmed himself for a moment before he finally slid out his cock. He stroked it a couple of times before daring to look over at Garreth. 

Garreth was a few steps behind and Cole’s stomach sank. He hoped he hadn’t just ruined things by suggesting this. Despite his worry, though, Garreth eventually followed suit. He pulled out his hard cock and started stroking it slowly. 

Cole licked his lips. “Fuck… Garreth... You’re so perfect. I…” Cole squeezed the tip of his cock. 

“Cole…” Garreth damn near moaned his name and Cole felt his dick throb. “You’re perfect too…” 

They both made eye contact for a moment. Garreth’s eyes dropped to his lips and Cole leaned in. Their kiss was sloppy and full of breathless pants. Cole didn’t stop stroking himself, opting to keep his ministrations slow and controlled. Otherwise, this would all be over way sooner than he wanted. 

Garreth spread his legs a bit, readjusting his seating. Cole pushed his leg against his and used his free hand to slide to the back of Garreth’s head. He wove his fingers into Garreth’s tangle of strands and held him in place for a more heated kiss. 

Cole kept a close watch on how Garreth was jerking himself off. He noted the way he often focused on just the tip, then would slide up and down his full length a couple of times before focusing on the tip again. 

Garreth broke the kiss and pressed his forehead into Cole’s “Can I touch you?” Garreth asked. 

Fuck YES you can. “Of course, Garreth. I want you to touch me so fucking bad.” 

Garreth released his cock and slid his hand up Cole’s thigh. 

“Garreth…” Cole’s breath hitched just before Garreth even touched him. “May I touch you as well?” 

“For a moment.” Garreth agreed, taking Cole’s cock into his fist and stroking him gently. 

Cole reached out and took Garreth’s cock in hand, their arms crisscrossing. “W-why only a moment.” He lost his breath every time Garreth’s soft hands slid over his slick head. 

Cole stroked Garreth the way he showed him how he liked to be touched. 

“Because… Oh, fuck Cole… That feels good…” Garreth moaned, pushing his hips up to fuck Cole’s fist. “Because I want to use my mouth. Would that be okay?” 

He froze. Cole’s mouth hung open, unable to speak. He managed a slight nod and watched a salacious smile wash over Garreth’s features.

Garreth pulled at Cole’s hips to get him to lie down on the bed. He pulled down Cole’s trousers and removed them from his body. 

Cole watched as Garreth brought his mouth to his cock. He kissed the tip and licked a long stripe along the underside. Cole tossed his head back into the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut. The pleasure hummed in his body, made even stronger by the fact that it was Garreth fucking Weasely’s mouth. 

Cole was in heaven, and he made it known. “Fuck, that feels so good. Oh… shit! Garreth!” He took Cole’s cock all the way in his mouth and squeezed the base with his hand. “Oh… yes, yes, yes. Like that…”

Cole’s hands dove into Garreth’s hair. He controlled the movements by pressing Garreth down every time he moved up. He did this a few times before feeling his cock get a tad too deep down Garreth’s throat. He didn’t want to get too aggressive for the first time, so he forced himself to let go and allow Garreth to set his own pace. 

“Ohh, oh, Garreth…” Cole began to squirm beneath him. “I’m literally so fucking close right now…” 

He looked down and Garreth made eye contact with him. Garreth set a pace, pumping the lower half of Cole’s cock with his hand and the top half with his mouth. Garreth was working him into a frenzy. 

“Gar…” Cole’s hips began to rock, desperately trying to fuck his cock into the redhead's mouth. “I’m really really close…. Holy fuck…” 

Garreth didn’t let up. He used his tongue to swirl around the tip of his cock before taking it again down his throat. His spit lubricated the entire thing and Cole felt the wetness slide down to his thighs. His head lolled back into the pillows. 

“I’m going to…. Garreth. I’m going to cum in your mouth if you don’t let up soon…” Cole warned him with enough time to make the switch to finish him off with his hand if that’s what he wanted. 

Garreth didn’t stop doing exactly what he was doing. Each time the head of Cole’s cock hit the back of Garreth’s throat, he felt his body tense. 

Cole became impossibly hard, he fisted the comforter while his back arched. “Fffffuck! I’m cuming! I’m-” 

His cock throbbed in Garreth’s mouth. Garreth took Cole farther into his mouth, allowing him to cum deep in his throat. Cole was beside himself with pleasure. Despite his orgasm, Garreth kept pumping his hand making Cole see stars. 

He took deep breaths, steadying himself. He reached down to Garreth and pushed a bit to indicate that he was feeling overstimulated. 

Garreth slid up Cole’s limp body and kissed him with fervor. His lips were plump and red and Cole sucked lightly on the bottom one. Their tongues melted together and Cole tasted the evidence of what he’d just done. He hugged Garreth’s body to his and felt his still very hard and very leaky cock press against his hip. 

“It’s only fair,” Cole pushed Garreth to the side and changed their position. Cole hovered overtop a very blushy Garreth and continued. “...that I return the favor.” 

“Cole, I’m…” Garreth looked at him apologetically. “I’m not going to last very long.” He let out a breathless chuckle. 

Cole sent him a brilliant smile. “Then I guess I’ll have to make the most of it.” 

Both of them helped with removing Garreth’s trousers. They were discarded like all their other clothes. They rest there for a moment, completely bare in one other's presence. 

“I love that every inch of your skin is absolutely covered in freckles.” Cole ran his hands over Garreth’s stomach down to his thighs. Cole parted Garreth’s legs so he can slot himself between them. 

“That’s good,” Garreth watched with heavily lidded eyes as Cole touched him all over his waist and thighs. “Because I’ve tried to scrub them off and they don’t budge. I think they’re permanent.” 

Cole cracked a smile. He began to leave precious kisses all along Garreth’s hipbone. “I could try licking them off?” Cole teased, laving his tongue over the ginger's skin. 

“Oh!” Garreth’s hips rocked. “You could try that, yeah. It’s worth a shot.” He spoke breathlessly. 

Cole’s lips finally met the base of Garreth’s cock. He licked and sucked lightly at the skin, making his way up slowly one side, lingering at the tip, before making his way down the other side. 

“Wow, I-” Garreth took in a sharp breath as Cole’s lips wrapped around his head, taking him in only an inch. 

Cole took his time licking Garreth’s cock, making sure every inch was wet with his saliva. He popped the head into his mouth and gave his tongue a spiral swirl. 

“Wow wow wow-” Garreth tossed his arm over his face, hiding his expression. 

Cole remembered how he had been jerking off earlier and began doing a slow version of that. He focused his hand on the tip for a couple of pumps before sliding down to encompass the rest of the shaft. When his hand wasn’t on the tip, his mouth was, licking and sucking slowly. Based on Garreth’s growing moans, this was working him up nicely. 

“Please!” Garreth whimpered his plea. 

Cole’s eyes darted up to see Garreth’s red face twisted in pleasure and desperation. 

“Please, what?” The words just slipped out of Cole’s mouth, but he refused to take them back. 

Garreth groaned, sliding his hand slowly onto Cole’s head. “More. Please, a bit more.” He whimpered as Cole licked a long path up his hard cock.

Cole obliged, taking Garreth’s cock into his mouth. There was no way Cole could ever deny this man. He took him deep before sliding back up. “Like this?” 

Garreth’s answer came in the form of several nods. He fixed his hand on Cole���s brown hair and pushed down. 

Cole took him faster as he requested, fueled by the little whimpers that fell from Garreth’s lips. Cole took him deeper down his throat and Garreth let out a loud whine. Again and again, Cole took him deeper until his nose almost touched Garreths pubic bone. 

Garreth’s hands slid along the comforter trying to find purchase as Cole’s throat swallowed around his length. Once he was used to the size, and when he needed air, he slid back up to the tip. 

“I can’t, I can’t-” Garreth moaned as Cole took him throat-deep again. “I can’t last like this, shit…shit!” 

Cole picked up the pace and allowed Garreth to buck his hips, fucking his face. Garreth’s heels dug into the bed as he thrust upwards. Cole held onto his hips while his cock plunged deep in his mouth over and over again. 

“I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum… Can I cum in your mouth!?” He explained, keeping his rhythm. 

Cole mumbled an “Mmhmm” just moments before Garreth erupted in his mouth. 

“Oh shiiit, oh shit, oh shit-” 

Cole felt Garreth throb in his mouth, tasting the ropes of cum that he tried to quickly swallow. When Garreth’s thrusting stopped, Cole squeezed the base of his dick, sucking lightly to make sure he was completely spent. 

“O-okay okay…” Garreth groaned. “Wow, holy shit.” 

Cole wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and slid over to lay beside Garreth. They both caught their breath and Cole took Garreth into his arms. They both lay there quietly, trying to regulate their breathing. 

“That was so hot.” Cole finally chirped up. “I could cum, untouched just from hearing your whimpering.”

Garreth smiled and shook his head. “I want to do that again.” He nuzzled into Cole’s neck. 

Cole held him close, sliding his hand up and down his back. “Give me a couple of minutes to recoup and we can most definitely do that again.” 

They both let out a laugh. Cole pulled back and looked over Garreth’s features. He was so attractive, especially in his after-glow. 

“So handsome.” Cole traced the edges of his face with a light fingertip. 

Garreth grinned and stole a kiss. Cole faked a gasp and stole a kiss right back. He cuddled close to Garreth’s warm body and let out a contented sigh. 

“Let’s just sleep here for the night.” Cole offered. “I don’t want to be parted from you yet…” 

“I don’t want to be parted from you either.” Garreth slotted his leg between Cole’s thighs. “Let’s stay like this until morning.” 

“Deal.” 

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

Thanks for reading!

All my other works are tagged as #my writing

[alitgblog]

season 9 vol 8 thoughts: my hype has died down from last week, now Stefan is just another man, and I'm again critical of the choice to paywall everything and spend so much time focused on Kat

first of all before I post screenshots (of which there are few btw bc it wasn't super eventful imo) I did have a moment looking at my mc and was like damn get her some brown contacts so she looks different that's why. and I think I may have accidentally switched her skin tone too, point being, as a result, I take back what I said last week about not going for Cassius bc he looks like my mc's cousin

but the lunch with Uma, I have mixed feelings on the concept in general. Like for story it's interesting bc the other person could lie, but if I think about it like it would actually happen on love island, maybe the other person downplays some stuff, but straight up lying? nah. and then it would in theory get the girls to stick (just bc usually it's the guys that are being messy and flirting it up with the casa girls), but in my head the postcard/video always does the opposite. it's like a sneak preview into what the guys are doing so it encourages the girls to get angry or get back at them

In fact, lunch with casa girl to spill secrets usually happens AFTER casa so having it here is weird.

in execution though, no doubt, kinda lame. I mean I like the insights into casa, but you could get that info next week when everyone's together or in movie night or like a mean tweets challenge or whatever. You have to pay for info so it's already awful but also MC doesn't get the option to lie/be vague to Uma, so she just tells Uma everything we the audience already know and then Uma doesn't really tell us anything. Like we don't even get to know the names of the other two casa girls and we told her about everyone.

Speaking of Uma, they couldn't have fixed her hair this season????

Finn's being flirty, sure, and I might be kicked off his route now (I'm not sure if rejecting him by the pool did that), so I don't know if he acts any different if you're on his route bc he claims to have changed???

Hamish how dare you say you've changed then actually change this is why everyone's on his route 😂😂

Jude's a mess who gives a fuck but also that observation may be apparent to the audience, but I wouldn't picture a casa girl saying it. LIUSA S6 has a perfect example: it's not the casa girls saying "oh he sucks because he's been egging on the other guys" but them saying "oh he's the sweetest, because he's encouraging the other guys to explore connections" and then in game it would be letting the reader figure out what that means. it's in part them always having such surface level writing (tell not show) but it gives all their "villains" this weird gameplayer vibe. like I don't think Uma and Jude are genuine and they are acutely aware of the public, but I don't think they should be written like that, I think they should just be written to be assholes. Uma's a liar and Jude's a bully. Not saying we can't have gameplayer characters, just don't make it so obvious.

Anyway, coming back into the Villa and then for some reason you have to pay gems to tell the other girls information?? I don't like the paying gems to receive information but this is more confusing bc it's the opposite lol. Actually, Kat, if you want to know what happened on the date you're gonna have to give ME 17 gems.

there's a chat here MC has with Stefan about how he didn't know what he was expecting before coming back but once he saw MC it was clear he wanted her. And just to repeat what I said last week, Stefan should've started casa a little upset with MC (instead of having it be Lyle) and then ask her for forgiveness midway through the volume and here is where that chat can go where he's like yeah I tried but they weren't you.

and then I decided to give Cassius a fighting chance bc Stefan has that advantage of being her ex and i think MC should explore her options and im still mad at Marshall breaking things off with S6 MC. Cassius seems sweet and he so is during the date. It's just a shame I don't like doing the cutesy loyal casa boy route ever. If he was an OG though? Goodbye Chen and Henri

there's a part he asks about MC's job which I've been begging for someone to bring up and this chat was really cute

Ice cream thing only reminds me that I'm kinda put off the Natasha route now. If she wasn't the go to character to give exposition about Stefan and MC, then maybe. But now, I'm so stuck always having to not choose her and it's a shame. It also feels like with how much she talks about him and knowing that she brings him back if you don't, plus the Hamish stuff pre casa, it just feels like MC is second choice to these other guys. it's not as bad as Kelly, who straight up does say she's here for Finn, but it's irritating. I know Claudia kinda ends up doing that too towards the end of casa when she decides to work things out with Theo, but idk it feels different this time.

Kat screaming about going exclusive with Lyle during the date was so on brand for her to draw all attention on her I don't even know if I can be annoyed bc it made sense, I just wish the ratio of time spent talking about Kat was less. Like it doesn't need to get cut down, I just think we deserved a few more scenes where MC gets to talk with the guys.

the casa guys' day wear outfits are very good imo, very stylish, except Marshall.. it feels unnatural to see him in those colors idk

omg the wild night thing. first off, once again annoyed at texts cutting people off, like how many times can you stand doing that, fusebox writing team???? but uh sure, Marshall hears about this wild night between Stefan and Chen. and you hear about it in the game

Which side note, I hate the game and I also could've sworn we've already played it in casa this season. but I guess it's just to show once again that Kat and Lyle are having problems. Could've been a chat instead. Only useful piece of information was that Cassius likes nerds and I'm like damn once again, in another life, would be my pick. Pretty much everything else about the LI's was information we've already learned (even the info about Cassius I'm sure if I romanced him earlier in casa it would've been obvious).

Also just once again, taking a backseat in the game. it's like they think the player doesn't wanna be wrong so they settle for just sitting around but that's much more fun to have the chance to be wrong. also bc it would influence people to replay I think so they can get the right answers.

anyway, wild night thing, I did fork over the gems to find out and i know this happens every gem scene for info but it was especially annoying to me this time that MC pulls him aside and is like "tell me the story" and hes like "i dont know... do you really wanna hear the full story?" im like YES she pulled you aside for this. MC confronts Stefan and I saw what yall posted about bruno so I went ahead and asked about Claudia and she was dancing with her partner from her season, and for me that's Theo and what a shame. sorry I'm a jealous ex I don't even know if my S8 mc is happy with Jin.

ANYWAY for a split second I thought the "wild night" was alluding to Stefan and Chen hooking up? which, I think wouldve been a great option. and if fusebox is so scared of making all the LI's bi, then I would've voted Stefan is bi and then Chen/Henri/Lyle/Jude maybe aren't but like hey they gave it a shot. But alas, no...

Then Stefan says he was crushing on a DJ and I know in this instance it makes less sense for them to pick a real person bc they say that the DJ tried to hook up with Chen, but I do miss some like random info about the characters and their type. like, I just remember being surprised S2 Lucas's celebrity crush was teyana taylor and I want stuff like that again

so not wild but I guess Stefan was ashamed he screwed over Chen. Then he was like "isn't that so cool of Chen to give up a hookup for you?" and idk I don't care about DJs so I was glad MC to be like oh boohoo whatever

Lyle's speech to Kat was cringe but I'm giving him benefit of the doubt bc I would actually like him and Kat to be happy so Kat can stop bothering Finn and stop bothering MC.

And Kat of course goes to flirt with whoever you went on a date with, and I guess luckily, I happened to pick Cassius who I wasn't gonna bring back anyway. Then you get like five lines of dialogue each with Marshall and with Stefan (who's hanging out with Natasha) which could've and should've been longer for final chats.

you can match with Kelly now fyi

(I wish I had a picture of Kelly's partywear I swear it's nearly the same dress)

Then stick or twist just feels so tacked onto the end of the episode, but it should be like a huge thing. They stretch that shit out SO LONG in the show. Like in the three episodes this volume, the second one should end with cliffhanger announcing the girls are going back to casa that night. then the next episode starts with final chats and the map opens up and you can talk to Stefan but maybe Natasha interrupts, then Cassius saying he understands you gotta do what you gotta do, then Marshall who gives you one last plea he's changed (similar to the actual game again it should be longer). Add on Lyle talking about how he feels he fucked up with Kat here instead of right before the firepit. Honestly also a chat with Kat and Kelly wouldn't hurt either, with Kat contemplating her options and then seeing what Kelly's thinking about Finn, just to remind you about the guys back in the villa.

Then pep talk in the dressing room where it's revealed/implied what each girl is gonna do (Natasha can be vague since if you pick Stefan then she picks Marshall, so just have her say she's not sticking with Hamish for sure) AND THEN stick or twist. And I think each couple should be revealed in order. I don't think we need to give Kat too much time in the spotlight, so Kat goes first, picks Lyle, then walks into the Villa and the girls and casa boys are waiting outside but can hear them yelling (bc I just assume there's gonna be yelling around kat). And then MC picks, walks in with her guy or single, and then sees Uma and Chen together, then cliffhanger.

and that being said, despite what I wrote about the date with Uma, I like the idea that MC spilled who the casa guys are and then she made the decision to go for someone insecure and easy so she could stay and then couple with the casa guy she really wants later, and it just happens to be the guy she wanted was the one MC chose. Or alternatively, she did actually want the villa boy she picked (and also was lying during the date about him being close with Jessica). Very snakey and calculated for love but not too gameplayer-y for my distaste.

but for predictions, I think Hamish sticks bc he said he was gonna try to be loyal. I think Finn sticks bc if you're on his route, it would throw another wrench if he had a new girl. Chen/who you're with obviously twists. I could see Jude twisting, but he gives off the vibe that he sticks to try to win the show. In that case, there are two single islanders so which I'm fine with but fusebox likes to dump single islanders post casa even though it doesn't make sense to, but maybe they get the other islanders to choose to save Hamish (or I'm wrong and Hamish twists). I could also see them saying if MC is single then she chooses a boy to couple with, and can save Hamish since clearly a route (and if this is the case then I would heavily consider replaying the last chapter to keep Hamish in the game).

overall, like I said up top, kinda back to my normal level of enjoyment for this season. I was really hopeful after last week, but I was distracted by pretty faces. also I started playing perfect match and the Stefan thing reminded me of the whole neighbor thing going on in perfect match and in both it's really such a shame they send in someone from MC's past to use the second chance romance trope to distract me from a drop dead gorgeous woman named Natasha.

oh other thing, with the way my game has been going, everyone is in a mixed race couple except for Kelly and Finn, which I think is fun bc then I can pretend the audience is tweeting some version of "why is this season giving shondaland right now?"

anyway so thth3 new episode tomorrow woooooooo

[sapphic-agent]

I still think in izuku's case, Hori should have built his backstory. There should have been an arc dedicated to his life before UA but that doesn't happen and the below two weren't addressed in a convincing way.

1. Why was izuku looking like stick. ? I feel there is no reason for this other than Hori's shitty thinking that an underdog has to look physically weak so let's draw him like shit. I heard some say he was depressed but to what extent was his depression that led him to be? Was he even eating his food? Also where was inko?. If he wasn't eating due to depression everyday wouldn't she have noticed on the 2nd or 3rd day and did something considering she is overprotective of izuku?. From when was he even like this? . Imo if anyone who should've been weak and skinny it should've been Uraraka because in canon she skips one of her meals or even eats less than sufficient due to her financial issues and before UA we don't know how far she went with this habit. But Instead she is drawn thick.

2. why did he not train before UA? Like seriously what stopped him from training his body ?. Is it because of age and he needed to be 14 like many in the fandom claim? Then the same needs to be there for all characters in the series. But when I compare him with other characters about his physique the fandom again says that all characters look better because they trained their bodies since they were little and that contradicts the previous statement about training at age 14. (Or) was it because it never struck him to train ?. That would make no sense since he's a hero nerd who analyzes quirks, heroes and he should've been able to deduce that Heroes also are physically fit. His own role model was a beast in physique. (Or) was it the society hindering him ? We don't see any discrimination against quirkless in the series except Bakugou and his Aledera class. Beyond what we saw in chapter 1, we don't see anything. (Or) Did inko prohibit him? It's never explained why he couldn't train his body or if there was hindrances for him to train. Sure UA allowed quirkless to participate in the exam but if he was waiting for this news then shouldn't he be preparing his knowledge and his physical strength. Another few said it's due to his self esteem issues but this the same guy before getting attacked by the sludge stated that he doesn't give crap about what others thought.

In my opinion these should have been addressed properly by having an entire arc about izuku's life before UA to not make mc look bad. I'm sure if the Todoroki family can have one then izuku being the MC should have one too..

I certainly agree that Izuku should have been given more backstory. We really only get vague glimpses. We barely know anything about how life was for him before UA excluding Bakugou. I really wish we got to see him develop without Bakugou being involved so damn much.

1. I actually don't think this is related to diet or depression or anything like that. I think it's way more to do with the fact that Izuku was just a teenage boy. Every kid grows differently, I think his metabolism just happens to be fast, plus it's also possible that he simply doesn't eat all that much without it being related to depression or an eating disorder. Nothing to be alarmed about. Same thing with Uraraka, even if she did skip meals it's possible that her family relied a lot on cheap fast food than actual nutritious meals (this is common in the US, I don't know about how it works in Japan) and her body held onto that fat (I'm not calling her fat).

2. This is a hard question to answer. I simply think that because quirkless heroes didn't exist, Izuku just didn't know where to start. There was no one for him to imitate (for example Kirishima could easily copy Red Riot) or learn from. Even if a hero fought using their quirk minimally like Eraserhead, it would more than likely be an underground hero who wouldn't have a lot of accessible footage. He also didn't have the resources or support that others would have had. I've said this before, but Bakugou had wealthy and supportive parents who could afford equipment and/or trainers and support at school to put him on the path for hero work. Izuku didn't have support from Inko and they more than likely didn't have the money for trainers or equipment, who knows if they even have money for him to go to the gym (again, I don't know how this works in Japan). The most he could do was run everyday and that would only go so far.

Yes, an introduction to Izuku's life pre-UA would have been optimal. Idk about anyone else, but it also sucks that we get to see both of Bakugou's parents and even know their dynamic with him and one another, but we know nothing about Hisashi. We don't even know what he looks like

[marshmallowprotection]

For you, what is the worst bad ending of RAE?

For me, personally?

To be honest, three endings in particular are horrible for me knowing my heavy emotional stake in Saeran Choi.

[Here's a masterpost where you can look at my reaction series all together from the time that it initially came out and I was playing through.]

Bad Ending 1:

Similar to Ray Route's BE3, you turn on Saeran and sell his soul to Rika and use him as a damned pawn because you valued your wants and desires over him. And this ending is so bad in my opinion because, unlike Savior Saeran, you know who Saeran is, you've had nearly two months to understand who he is as a person and what he wants and dreams of compared to the week and some change you knew Ray and Suit Saeran in Ray Route.

Now, the MC in Savior Saeran's timeline is on my shitlist, but you know? At least, the MC in that timeline has one thing the MC in BE1 of doesn't. BE3's MC pushed Saeran down into the mud without giving him a chance to be a free man and understand his wants. Savior Saeran doesn't know what it's like to be a free man but GE SAERAN, OUR AFTER ENDING BOY, HE SAW FREEDOM AND WANTED IT MORE THAN ANYTHING AFTER TASTING A FREE LIFE.

BE1's MC saw him without shackles and then put them right the fuck back on knowing he'd do it for them, even if it meant he wouldn't be truly happy again. I want to fight BE1's MC more than I want to fight the Savior Saeran MC. How could you see him have everything he ever wanted and then tell him to go back to hell?

Bad Ending 2:

I don't even like to talk about this ending because while it doesn't have a lot of content to it, it is one most people need to be warned about ahead of time.

Similar to the scene the game shows in Secret Ending part 2, Saeran decides to... end his existence, to phrase this without getting into how dark it is, and unlike the swift snap-reaction Saeyoung had that saved our boy SE Saeran, that doesn't happen here and I think that's the only thing I really need to say about why... this ending is so hard for me to stomach. Many people cite this ending as the one that they cannot do after they got it the first time.

I would not recommend anyone doing this particular ending if they have a hard time stomaching this kind of content, because even if you mentally prepare yourself, the dialogue in the scene is so emotionally heavy that it will stick with you forever. I try not to think about this one to this day.

Sad Ending 3:

You know, not a lot of people talk about this particular ending and I am happier for it. In this ending, you let him go to the apartment by himself, and eventually, his brother does escape from where he was being held, but... Saeran isn't with him.

Saeyoung is grief-stricken, pained, and you can tell whatever he's going to tell you in that instance is not going to be the best thing you've ever heard in your entire life. In fact, it is going to be the most painful thing you've ever heard in your entire life. He tells you that he's sorry, that even he couldn't do anything about it, because his brother gave up his life to protect the two of you and he promised his brother that he would relay a message to you, and that he would protect you for the rest of his life.

This particular ending hurts me just as much as the ending I listed just above this one. It is the way Saeyoung delivers these lines. I think this ending is so painful for me because I've been with these characters for years, and I... I'm sure I know what they want. Saeyoung is somebody who has only wanted one thing, for his brother to survive and have a happy life, and he doesn't get it. He doesn't have a happy life ahead of him. He's gone. He's gone because Saejoong is a monster.

Don't get me wrong, though, there are a lot of endings in the RAE, and each of them have their own little quirk about them that makes them painful. But, for me in particular, these are the ones that I just cannot think about for the sake of my sanity.

[hellcatinnc]

Toma - Second Times A Charm??

Some Spoilers Ahead.

So decided to randomly pick one of the love interests I hadn't done much with and the one that one out was Toma. I did his story in Amnesia Memories and was creeped out by his yandere bullshit. That being said I tried to do Later x Crowd and she was so nice to him that it sickened me so I left it after maybe a chapter and its taken me lik 6 months to come back to him now. I said fuck it I push through it I'm thinking its been enough time that even though I know what he did its not effecting me I think as much not to try..... TRY key word to see how he is romantically I mean come on compared to Yang's story I just did Toma is a freakin pussy cat. I took some screen shots of some moments I need to get off my chest so far though..

Exactly I agree with her so much what does Toma have Ikki don't have.... NOT A DAMN THING!! Ikki is life..... Thought was funny how she called Toma a stalker though.

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

I have alot to say about this... first off the fact that he admits he knew he was a bad guy to her and that he lost control says volumes about him. He is also giving her a way out that if she loses feelings for him or that she gets scared to just walk away and he will not harm her. He also wants to be punished for what he did he feels like he shouldn't be treated like nothing happened. He wants to be happy but understands he has to take consequences for his actions. However what the hell lately when these Japanese guys say good girl it just makes my heart beat much faster.. what are these men doing to me and now Toma joins that group sighs I hate to admit I liked it... but I did!

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

I just couldn't not bring this up I mean its like addressing the elephant in the room. Dude still has that damn cage on his balcony SMH. Then he talks about being strapped for cash yet at least he admits that cage was costly and unnecessary next time maybe he will think twice before impulsively buying stupid shit. However when she wanted him in bed with her snuggling he admitted to having no control around her and he wanted to be locked in the cage now too damn funny. Guess this means new kink sessions with Toma we will turn him into a submissive that bows down to the MC so he can get a taste of his own medicine. However I don't see him being submissive least be fun to put the cage to use then... (OMG what is wrong with me this man should not be someone I even thought about that with lmao)

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

Aww look at that he learned to stop smothering her and locking her away from the world. Maybe those 3 months away from her after did him some damn good, who knows maybe he saw counseling and is on meds now.

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

I love that he hasn't forgiven himself he knows what he did was fucked up and is determined to not let himself off so easy even though she acts like it didn't happen. I actually respect him for this think my heart warmed up a bit to him for this. I mean this is the man that I loved in him before the dark shit he did this was the best friend of hers talking. Anyways that he promises not to tie her up or anything again lets see if he sticks to his promise. Only time will tell.

[leastdatablebracket]

ROUND 2, MATCH 6

Propaganda under the cut!

Shuu Iwamine

Propaganda

This damn partridge kills you CONSTANTLY, regardless if you romance him or not. One of them is literally at the START of the school year, he beheads you then uses your head to pilot this grotesque horror movie android thing! Completely unprompted, you can just die immediately! Horrible school doctor material, even worse boyfriend material, but alas, he's my favorite character.

[hatobf spoilers and also gore / violence kind of ?] he literally kills the mc in both of his endings, and in the true route he uses her best friend to kill her . and chops her body up and puts them in boxes to his student . and he puts her brain in a strange scarecrow machine . its insane hes so undateable man <//3

Decapitates protagonist and puts her head in a jar. Kills multiple other characters. Just generally an unpleasant person . My favorite character btw

He hates your species, sees you more as a science experiment than a romantic partner, and also kills you in his ending. Plus he has just, the worst attitude about the whole thing.

Bad End with him the government takes you out. "Good" end with him he cuts off your head, sticks it in a jar, and talks to it while on the run from the government. (Spoilers for hatoful BBL) True End of the whole game that ties up all the characters' stories, he kills you again but this time sends your head to your childhood best friend and takes your brain out to make basically robo-frankenstein. Was also an adult when the MC was a young child, and is the school nurse at MC's high-school. He's also a partridge. 

Literal birderer (bird murderer) 

Sunder

Propaganda

He's extremely pushy and overly flirty. Even if you tell him that you just want to remain friends, he doesn't give up. He says he'll give you space but yeah no that is a horny man and he will continue to be horny whether you like it or not. Then that loser has the audacity to not even give you a good ending. Literally the devs will not let you have a good ending with Sunder. [Spoilers for the end of the game] You go through all the trouble, you date him, you give him gifts, he even says he likes you and then he had the absolute audacity to break up with you via text the next day. And he's also a vampire and gets all holier than thou, I've just been hurt too much, absolute man baby. This man does not deserve your time or affection. I love this game and I will die on this hill. He is the absolute worst.

Sunder is a level 1 creeper. He basically stalks the MC and doesn't take no for an answer. He will not respect boundaries and will continue to flirt after you say you want to be friends. If you do choose to date him, he breaks up with you over text.

[yukidragon]

Damn! The last user won me the question but not exactly how he would do it, I love the context where Jack and Shaun become good friends and they take care of MC a lot but Ian's part and his reaction didn't seem to me...weird

I mean, Ian gives off vibes of being someone who would go crazy just knowing that his ex (who he cheated on) is starting a family with another man, while reading that I imagined a scene where Ian accuses Shaun of getting MC pregnant and even trying to forcefully take MC to form his "happy ending with the woman of his life" I honestly know that it is his canon but if we can in the context that Iban can be someone jealous, possessive and manipulative I see him capable of trying to force MC into having a relationship with him, threatening her and pretend to be the father of the BB (although I think this would be torture for the bb)

In another scenario, in the death of MC during childbirth, Ian tries to kidnap the son of his beloved and a scenario is created in his head where it is his son.

I get the vibes you’re talking about. It’s why there’s a pretty popular theory that Ian is actually a yandere too, or is going to go yandere in the game. In fact, I suspect all the love interests are yandere for MC, as I went over in a previous theory.

Admittedly, I didn’t touch too much on Ian’s reaction in the previous pregnancy headcanon post since I was trying to stick with happy headcanons, and, well... Ian’s reaction is definitely going to be anything but happy.

But since you really want to go into those darker headcanons and touch on the Yandere!Ian AU... let’s go for it, shall we?

Buckle up, y’all. If you don’t want to dive into darker topics such as the ones Anon here came up with, you might want to give this post a skip. Don’t worry, I’m sure to make a happy headcanon post following this one as a pallet cleanser because hoooo... we’re in for a ride..

First let’s get the warnings out of the way. Something’s Wrong with Sunny Day Jack is an Adults Only game. There are mature themes in this story, and this topic no doubt is going to go into 18+ territory after the cut, if not just very disturbing territory.

Any and all pictures I might post for references are drawn by Sauce/Jambeebot and were publicly posted on their twitter before it went down. I’ve asked them if it’s okay for me to use them in these theories with credit.

As a reminder, what isn’t okay is posting private pictures from the SnaccPop Patreon. If you enjoy the lore of the game, then consider joining. It’s only $3 to get some lovely SDJ bonus content, including the very cozy Sleepy Time Jack virtual body pillow. While you’re at it, consider pledging to the kickstarter. There’s less than 2 weeks left to go, and there are lots of amazing rewards still left to get!

While I’m plugging links, why not check out my SDJ fanfics Sunshine in Hell and Sunshine in Another World? Sunshine in Hell is my interpretation of the game’s events, while Sunshine in Another World is where I intend to collect my AU short stories. With all these headcanons I’m making, I’m likely going to have more AU short fics appear sooner rather than later.

Lastly, it’s time to tag the lovely people who want to be alerted whenever I post some headcanons. If you want to be added to the list, please let me know!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars

Now, with all that said... let’s play with another “what if” scenario about one of the AUs on the art meme Sauce did: the Yandere Ian AU.

First of all, how Ian finds out and how much he knows about Jack will likely depend on how open MC is with him despite their falling out. Since there are a lot of possibilities, and the last post specifically centered around the headcanons of my personal version of the MC, Alice, I’m going to use her in these hypothetical scenarios. I’ll try to make note of where things apply to most MCs across the board, but with the specific scenarios you’ve given me, I’m going to need to narrow my focus, since otherwise there are way too many variables to consider. We are talking about a late-stage relationship with Jack after all, which is tricky enough to headcanon when we don’t know what’s going to happen in the game.

Sorry for giving you some more Bad End AUs to run through, Alice. I’ll make it up to you later with more smutty loving cuddle time with Jack.

Let’s start off with Ian accusing Shaun of getting Alice pregnant. This would be the most plausible explanation Ian would think of once he hears about the pregnancy. Alice(/MC) was his first relationship and puts a lot of stock into love and relationships. Unless she changed while he was gone (and of course she wouldn’t, since he would know her best), it’s unlikely she would get knocked up from a casual sexual encounter. If she did, it would be because she was in an emotionally compromised state and/or incredibly lonely, like what prompted Ian to cheat.

Alice does talk about Jack on her social media once they’re in a relationship, and had alluded to having a “new roommate” before that. She doesn’t give details about the whole supernatural situation, but Ian would have heard a little bit about Jack from stalking her socials.

I know this might not apply to all MCs, as some might just keep Jack entirely a secret even after getting pregnant. Again, there’s a lot of variables with a general MC at this point in the story, especially if they’re the vindictive type or just want to rip the band-aid off and tell Ian directly about the pregnancy to get it over with. An MC that carried a torch for Ian for a long time until finally learning to love Jack will react differently than a MC who still can’t forgive him for what he did, after all.

In any case, Ian has heard about Jack in this scenario. He’s even seen drawings Alice made of him, but no actual photos. It strikes him as suspicious, and the fact that no one he knows has ever met Jack or talked to him in person would make this seem like a “my girlfriend in Canada” situation. Without any evidence of this “Jack” person existing no matter how hard he scours the internet or their mutual social circles, it would be easy for Ian to assume that Jack is a fantasy, a husbando Alice made up to make herself feel better or to keep him away.

Ian is familiar with the concept of husbandos and waifus, having had many of his own before. Alice had some herself before they got together, which makes the possibility all the more likely in Ian’s mind.

In this scenario, Ian would not have encountered Jack before Alice was pregnant. If he did, well... he would’ve gotten the Nick treatment with those horrific nightmares... if not worse. We’re assuming Ian lucked out in this regard simply because Alice herself gained the strength to cut him off and block him completely, not allowing him to get near her again. As such, he didn’t become a threat that Jack needed to personally take care of.

While Ian could potentially ask Shaun about Jack to get answers about who Jack is and Jack’s relationship with Alice... Shaun and Ian, most likely, have a rough relationship due to the whole cheating thing. Shaun is protective of Alice, and he knows Ian hurt her very, very badly. With how manipulative Ian has been to try and get back into her life, Shaun would most likely cut him off and tried to encourage Alice to do the same until she finally did. I can totally imagine Ian getting in contact with Shaun after the cheating incident, only to get nothing but a “Fuck off.” in return.

Those who Alice trusts enough with the truth about Jack are unlikely to talk to Ian, as solidarity with her and what she went through when Ian cheated on her. Those who sided with Ian and tried to talk Alice into making up with him were similarly cut off unless they stopped trying to send messages from him to her. She wouldn’t be able to trust these friends completely even if she remained friends with them, as there’s that risk of them feeding Ian information, and the situation with Jack is too... supernatural to share with anyone but those she can truly trust with a secret.

Hearing about Alice being pregnant sends Ian into a spiral. Is this real, or is this made up like Jack? Some people who have imaginary spouses do have imaginary pregnancies. Alice has always been chubby, so you can’t tell she’s pregnant at a glance alone, so he still holds out hope that she’s deluding herself and tries even harder to figure out ways to reconnect with her.

It’s only when Alice posts a sonogram of the unborn baby and reverse image search turns up no matches does it really hit home for Ian that she really is pregnant... and it’s not his baby.

Ian is hit with similar sickly feelings that Alice experienced when he cheated, and he finds perverse irony in that. Is this karma for what he did?

...This makes them even now, doesn’t it? Ian slept with someone else, and so did Alice. The pain is even now. They can put it behind them. He’ll accept the baby as his own. He has the money to take care of all three of them, he has an acting and modeling career, acclaim and connections...

So Ian goes to further extremes. He can’t track Alice down, as she won’t let anyone who is still friendly with him know where she lives, and she’s blocked him everywhere electronically. Burner phones and new accounts are used, but never answered, but that’s to be expected - she never answers random numbers anyway and typically deletes messages from unknown numbers without even reading them.

Ian turns to other methods, going to Alice’s family and to closer friends like Shaun. Shaun can’t ignore Ian with an in person confrontation. The discussion gets heated quickly, as Ian is desperate and Shaun is disgusted by his insistence that he and Alice are meant to be together. Shaun puts his foot down, making it clear that Ian isn’t going to get anything about Alice from him and to fuck off and leave them alone.

Ian laser focuses on the use of “them” and jumps to the conclusion that Shaun is the father. Shaun is “Jack.” It all makes sense, right? Shaun likes to dress up in costumes with heavy makeup. Sure the drawings don’t look remotely the same, and, hell, are even the wrong race altogether, but that’s just a drawing! It’d be the perfect cover to hide their secret relationship, making him go crazy looking in all the wrong places.

Violence isn’t Ian’s first solution even when enraged and his sanity is fraying - he’s not very strong or tall after all; Shaun would snap him like a twig. Still, the argument gets heated and things escalate. Ian accuses Shaun of being the father of the baby, and Shaun snorts a bitter little, “I wish.” It only makes Ian more sure that he’s on the right track even after Shaun insists he’s not Jack. In fact, Shaun admits that he and Jack are friends. Sure, they butt heads sometimes, but ultimately Jack makes Alice happy, and she’s doing far better with Jack as a partner than she ever did with Ian.

That sets Ian off. It’s all but an admission of guilt, Shaun bragging about himself under the character of Jack, while at the same time insinuating that Alice was unhappy with Ian when they were meant to be together. Sure, Ian made a mistake, but so did Alice! He’s going to fix this!

Ian starts getting physical, adrenaline making his shove actually have enough force to it to shove Shaun back, but Shaun doesn’t just stand there and take it.

There’s a bit of a scuffle, but since they encountered each other in a public place, the fight would be broken up quickly. Ian still has his image to maintain, and too many eyes on him are judging him... judging what he did. He has to maintain that image if he wants Alice back.

Ian can’t let Jack win.

So, reluctantly, Ian is forced to retreat. For now.

Shaun is the primary target for Ian now. Word about the encounter with Ian gets back to Alice and Jack. Although Shaun wouldn’t want to worry Alice, especially since she’s pregnant and stress is bad for her and the baby, he would be worried about Ian acting so unhinged. It would make him fear Ian might do something to her and the baby.

Jack would take charge immediately, telling Alice gently not to worry about Ian. Ian doesn’t know where they live, otherwise he would have tried coming after her, not Shaun. Shaun won’t tell anyone.

Yes, Jack is trusting Shaun in this scenario. I did say I wanted them to be friends, remember? ;)

I will point out that doesn’t mean it’s a blind trust or that Jack fully lets down his guard around Shaun, but the two of them have formed a bond. Shaun accepts Jack makes Alice happiest, so Jack learned he’s not a threat to steal away his sunshine, essentially.

Naturally there’s a lot more to the relationship and trust building between them than that, but I’m keeping it short since this is about yandere Ian and this post is getting long enough as it is, so let’s get back on topic.

Jack’s focus would be on protecting Alice, both from Ian coming after her, and from the stress knowing about all this would put on her. Although Alice would feel like she should do something about this, Jack would remind her she already did - she told Ian it’s over and to never contact her again. She blocked him. Right now, she needs to focus first on herself and their little bundle of sunshine she’s carrying inside her. She shouldn’t be thinking about stressful things.

“Just leave Ian to me, okay, sunshine?”

Though reluctant, Alice allows Jack to talk things over with Shaun about the topic without her direct involvement. Even Shaun considers if Jack should use his spooky ghost powers to give Ian a little scare to make him back off... not thinking about the extremes Jack would be considering at this point. Shaun is thinking more along the lines of leaving spooky notes or making some stuff float, like he’s seen around the house. It’s more campy horror images.

However, Shaun would have some sense of Jack’s yandere side by this point, and caution Jack not to take it too far. After all, Alice would be hurt if she found out Ian got hurt. If nothing else, Jack needs to keep in mind how she hates to hear about even strangers getting hurt, never mind someone she grew up with and used to love.

Jack responds - via writing - that he’ll keep that in mind. Shaun goes after him for the ambiguous phrasing, and gets him to promise not to take things too far.

“Okay man... I’m trusting you not to lie about me about something like this. Keep the scares PG-13 max, okay?”

“Don’t worry, I know how to keep things kid friendly. The SunnyTime Crew Show had a Halloween special, you know. :o)”

Why not get a restraining order? Ian hasn’t done anything yet to require one. Besides, it would be up to Alice to jump through the legal hoops, which means stress for her and the baby.

Besides, how can a goth horror director resist setting up a good spooky scene?

Jack starts giving Ian nightmares... which does not help Ian’s fraying grasp on sanity. Now Ian has a face to go with the drawings, one covered in blood with putrid skin telling him how he is a burden to Alice, worthless, how she’s better off without him.

Ian knows it though. He knows he’s flawed and awful, but he and Alice are meant to be together.

They’re each other’s other half. There is no one else for Alice but Ian.

On normal Ian, Jack might break him with the nightmares. On yandere Ian, it only makes his obsession for Alice even more twisted.

Ian keeps up his outwardly shy, unassuming persona. He has an image he must maintain if he wants his happy life of stardom with Alice and their baby by his side.

Ian will accept that maybe Shaun donated the DNA, but that baby is his by right... and he’s going to take care of that issue.

Shaun, regrettably, gets caught in the crossfire. Again, Ian confronts him, but this time it’s several days later, after Ian has gotten his schedule from paying people for information. Ian knows Shaun works late at a certain studio, often alone to get extra work done. It’s the perfect time for them to have a chat.

The coffee is especially bitter that night, but Shaun chugs away at it anyway, trying to stay awake and get this one part of the editing done. It’s mid-sip that he hears a familiar voice, and he coughs.

“Careful, you might choke,” Ian says, and he seems genuinely concerned about that.

“What the hell do you want?” Shaun snaps once he finishes clearing his throat. His temper is short due to his lack of sleep coupled with too much caffeine. Now he has to deal with Ian’s shit on top of his deadlines? Fantastic. Looks like whatever Jack did wasn’t enough to make Ian take the hint.

Ian seems a lot calmer this time, more reasonable. He’s soft spoken as usual, but strangely more confident before, though still docile in appearance. He gives Shaun a heartfelt plea about how much he loves Alice, and how Alice loves him, but is just hurt and is hurting both of them in the process. He talks about moments that prove their love for each other, winding up with an impassioned statement about how they can only truly be happy together-

Which Shaun cuts off right at the climax of the speech. He’s in no mood for this nonsense, and listening to Ian talk about Alice like that is making his stomach churn. He’s going to need to buy a party sized bag of peanut butter cups after this.

Irritation flickers across Ian’s face at being interrupted after he went through all the effort to memorize what he wanted to say, but then he goes calm eerily quickly.

Ian had a feeling that this was how it was going to go. That’s why he spiked Shaun’s coffee - it was easy to bribe the intern to swap out the order for his own special blend before they left. The drug should be kicking in right about now.

Shaun gets hit with a spike of adrenaline, and getting worked up only makes the toxins in his systems activate faster. The world blurs and he staggers to remain upright, fear coursing through him.

“I have the antidote, you know,” Ian smiles, but it’s strained around the eyes, a tiny flaw in his act. “You have about 15 or 20 minutes left before it’s too late, and I don’t want Alice to be sad if she hears about your death on the news.”

Shaun tries to lunge at Ian, only to nearly fall over. He barely grabs onto the table to support his wobbly legs, knocking the laptop and other random items he was working with across the floor. Fear sinks in as he realizes that this is really happening, that Ian, crybaby Ian, constantly apologetic and pitiful Ian, has snapped. He tries to cling to the futile hope that this is just some sick joke to psyche him out, but the words no sooner leave his mouth before his stomach churns, and he winds up throwing up all over the floor.

Ian grimaces in disgust, stepping back. He fakes an apologetic look, saying that’s not going to help at this point. He did his research. Now, Shaun really better hurry up and tell him where to find Alice and his baby before it’s too late. Ian makes it clear with his deliberately chosen words that the baby is his, not Shaun’s, or Jack’s, or anyone else’s. His.

Shaun knows without a doubt that Ian has lost it now, but he’s not going down without a fight. He knows even if he gives Ian the information in exchange for the antidote, it would just be putting Alice in danger. His only chance is to take Ian down while he still can. He throws what’s left of the coffee at Ian, forcing the redhead to dodge or risk getting hit with the poisoned brew. It serves as a cover for Shaun to tackle Ian, intent on getting the antidote. Ian might be lying about it existing at all, but getting it is Shaun’s only hope if the poison works as fast as he says.

Unfortunately, Ian planned for this possibility too. A stun gun works wonders for a bigger attacker, and Shaun goes down hard.

Ian really didn’t want to do this, you know. Tears well up in his eyes, perhaps genuine ones. He didn’t want to take things this far, but Shaun forced him to do it. He’d never do this if he didn’t have to, but now... now...

Ian straightens up with a shuddering sigh, collecting himself. His acting coaches taught him how to shake off distractions and his personal feelings during a scene. He still has another act to perform.

Ian informs Shaun that this is Shaun’s last chance. He really doesn’t want to hurt anyone, really! He doesn’t want to make Alice sad, especially not over Shaun, but Shaun isn’t giving him a choice here. He asks for Shaun to please tell him where Alice is, then he’ll give Shaun the antidote. If not, well... Ian shrugs and gestures to the fallen laptop. He has the money to pay someone to hack into Shaun’s phone or computer.

Alive or dead, Ian will get the information from Shaun either way.

Does Shaun live or die? Feel free to headcanon that part for yourself at this point, but let’s move on. Ian knows where Alice lives after this encounter, and he’s not wasting anymore time.

Ian did rehearse what he was going to do when he finally saw Alice again face to face. He had done nothing but go over what he would say or do once he could finally reach out and touch her once again... but it’s a different thing seeing where she lives now. It’s a cozy little house in the suburbs, just like the one they talked about having someday. Sure it’s not exactly the same as the one he and Alice imagined back when they were together, but at this point he gaslights himself that every last detail is exactly what they planned out. It’s proof that Alice does still love him and has been waiting for him to come back home to her all this time.

Home. Their home.

Ian won’t leave her waiting a moment longer.

An unexpected late night visit isn’t out of the ordinary for Alice, not with a night owl friend like Shaun stopping by at odd hours. There are two ways it can go - either Alice happened to be closer to the door, and Jack was taking care of a chore, so she answered it... or Ian is surprised by the door opening to reveal nobody there.

It could go either way, really. Due to the late hour and Alice being pregnant, Jack would want to be the one to go to the door for her safety. However, if it’s not Shaun, a door opening with no one apparently there is a risk that can’t easily be explained away. Jack is limited in what he can do, after all. Shaun might be used to being invited in by a ghost(?) but a stranger is more unpredictable in how they’ll react.

Regardless of which way it goes, Jack is not going to be far away when Ian makes his grand entrance.

Since the scenario given is MC being directly threatened, let’s go with Alice answering the door while Jack is in the kitchen, preoccupied with making her food. Pregnancy cravings demand snacks at odd hours after all, even if they just had dinner a couple hours ago.

Ian is elated at the sight of Alice. Tears come to his eyes and he throws his arms around her, heedless of her shriek - obviously of joy - as he embraces her. He calls her name, gushing how he missed her so much. He loves her and is never going to let her go ever again.

Alice tries to push Ian back, but he’s not letting her. The hold is tight, too tight, and she yelps in pain. She demands he let go of her and cries out to Jack for help.

Or at least... Alice would have, if Ian didn’t silence her with an unwanted kiss just as she started to speak. He was just so happy to see her, and he needs to prove how much he loves her. She barely manages to pull back to breathe, and Ian gushes how everything is fine now, everything is fine. He’s here, he’s finally home. He forgives her for cheating on him, so now she can forgive him for his mistake, and they can be together, just like they always wanted. They can get married and have children. Oh, and don’t worry about Shaun or “Jack” or whoever knocked her up when she made her mistake, he’ll take full responsibility and love the baby as his own.

Fortunately, Ian isn’t going to get his way for long. An unseen force suddenly rips Alice out of his arms and holds her high in the air.

You best believe Jack dropped everything when he noticed something was wrong. He might not be able to touch Ian, but he can touch Alice. He’s much taller than Ian and is strong enough to hold her out of the intruder’s reach even at this late stage of her pregnancy.

Ian’s grasp on reality is tenuous at this point. Alice is... flying? Is this another nightmare? He chuckles, the sound cracking with this strange note to it as his sanity crumbles a little more, and he praises her on the trick. Did she set this up to surprise him? Aww, Alice, Ian already knew you were an angel, you don’t have to pretend to be able to fly now too.

Alice is terrified, clinging to Jack as best she can as her body shakes. She’s never seen Ian like this before. She barely even recognizes him as the man she once loved. She tells him to leave or she’ll call the police.

Ian chides Alice, saying she doesn’t have to pretend anymore. They’re even now. She paid him back for what he did, so now they can just forget everything and move on. Everything is fixed now, doesn’t she see? He said he can fix them, and he did. Now they can be together forever, just like they promised.

Ian tries to get closer, to grab Alice, assuring her that no one will get between them now. He can take care of it. He can take care of her. He won’t let anyone get between them ever again, not the police, not Shaun, not their mistakes. He took care of everything.

Jack doesn’t let Ian touch Alice, backing up every time Ian tries. The atmosphere is dangerous, chilling in fact despite the warmth of his sunshine protectively grasped in his arms.

The implication is not lost on Alice. She asks in a shaky, terrified voice what Ian did to Shaun.

Ian frowns, but quickly smiles again saying Alice can forget all about Shaun. Shaun’s gone now. Neither of them will make the same mistake again.

Fear grips Alice as she stares at this monster she can no longer recognize as her childhood friend grasping out for her with a gaze filled with desire that’s so sickeningly sweet.

Jack might not be able to speak directly to Ian, not in a way that the other man will consciously hear, but he can see that he went too easy on this threat that invaded their home.

The gloves are off now.

Figuratively of course. We all know how Jack likes to always keep the gloves on no matter what after all. ;)

(Yes I had to break up the tension for a moment to give a little roast about that. This situation is pretty dark even for me and I felt we could use a little levity. Anyway, back to the yandere vs yandere fight.)

Even though Alice is there in this moment, she’s scared and in danger. Jack uses his words, honeyed and like a devil whispering in her ear. He says that the police aren’t enough now. Ian isn’t going to listen to her, isn’t going to stop. He’s too dangerous. He did something to Shaun, probably killed Shaun. Jack won’t let Ian hurt her or the baby, but he can’t take care of Ian for good unless she lets him. Jack knows Alice doesn’t want to see anyone get hurt, and neither does he, but they need to think of their baby.

What will Ian do to their baby?

Alice turns away from Ian, shuddering, burying her face in the crook of Jack’s neck, as she nods, asking him in a tiny, terrified voice to make Ian go away.

Ian thinks Alice is speaking to him, until he hears a voice speak, not with his ears but like nails raking the words into his brain.

“As you wish, Alice.”

Alice doesn’t see what happens next. She blacks out. She wakes up the next day in their bed and everything is normal, sunny. Jack is cuddled up next to her like usual, and she buries her face into his chest, thinking it was all a nightmare.

It was all a nightmare, Alice keeps trying to convince herself, and Jack will let her believe it for as long as possible...

If Shaun survived the poisoning, Jack could possibly even cover up what happened to Ian with his help. Let Alice believe it was a nightmare. If he didn’t, well... Jack will do his best to comfort Alice and reassure her that getting rid of Ian was for the best. Ian was a murderer too dangerous to live. It’s not Alice’s fault or Jack’s for what happened. She should try her best to take it easy, if only for the baby’s sake.

Jack will do everything in his power to help his sunshine smile again. Alice deserves to feel nothing but joy at the birth of their child... and to never have to think about people like Ian ever again.

Jack slips back into his more unsavory habits to be more protective of Alice and their baby in the aftermath. Growth that came from his friendship with Shaun and the reassurance Alice gave him is backslid to some degree from this threat. If Shaun survived, it’s not as bad, but still...

Jack needs to convince himself that he’s still clean now, even after that night that Ian invaded their home and tried to take his sunshine away. He’s still clean... he has to be...

Personally, I prefer the option where Shaun survives, so I’m going with that. Maybe Ian left the antidote behind when he left, or maybe there was a miscalculation with the dosage and Shaun’s size. In any case, let’s not make Moon Pie an orphan on top of everything else, okay?

Besides, Jack would prefer it if Alice just thought that it was all nothing more than a bad dream...

That would be about where this specific scenario ends.

In the scenario of Ian trying to steal the baby away if MC(/Alice) died in childbirth... yeah, he’s not getting very far. Jack already snapped from the death of his sunshine. You think he’s going to let anyone touch their baby, let alone Ian?

Whatever happened to Ian that night in the earlier scenario, would pale in comparison to whatever Jack does to him if his sunshine was already gone.

Hoooo... that was sure a lot of dark headcanons, wasn’t it? I hope you liked this horrifying “what if” scenario. I’m probably going to go with a much happier headcanon post after this to counteract the bitterness with some sweetness.

Happy early Halloween, everybody! 🎃

[cxhleel108]

S7 Thots for this week: Oh god…

• I will in fact not be giving “us” a chance Vicky I’m so sorry.

• “There’s a him-shaped space in my bed and there’s a him-shaped space in my heart”…GIRRRLLLLL🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I already made a post about this quote alone but omg thinking about it again has got me crying. Someone please come get this bitch.

• I know I said my MC was gon keep it classy with Willow but both her AND I have had enough of Willow flapping her gums so best believe I chose to read her ass for filth when they let us.

• Gee I wonder what it is…

• *Gasp* REALLY??? YOU DONT SAY🫨🫨🫨

• Fusebox…CAN BITCHES JUST BE BISEXUAL TO BE BISEXUAL LIKE WTF??? They always pull this dumb shit like either you only want the boys or you only want the girls it’s never TRULY an option to choose both. Most of the time if I’m making my MCs bi it’s just for character building purposes so when I’m being forced to hear Bonnie declare her love for me 20 times each volume when I don’t want her you’d see why I’d be irritated.

• So apparently, after gathering info from other peoples posts, we coulda been having this convo with our original love interest and we coulda snuck out to the daybeds and did the nasty with them pulling our hair and shit if we chose the “Travis/Evan/OG LI” option. The way this makes no sense my god. This goes back to the point I just made like y’all don’t know what the fuck y’all doinnnnnnn!

• Omg she’s so embarrassing I can’t do this anymore😭😭😭

• While I’m mad I didn’t sneak down there with Bryson, seeing her lil pussy ass get absolutely nothing from him never fails to make me laugh.

• Uma getting all the girls to leave by pretending to gush about Alex…she ate that.

• I love Daphne (Sorry Raf romancers).

• Time to talk about outfits!🤩

• Fusebox let the stars go like good lord😭

• Ignoring that aspect, this is cute.

• Now THIS is what I want to see more of! Yes!

• Ok Willow being an embarrassing and obsessive ass bitch was funny at first but now it’s just annoying. Does she have any other hobby besides keeping MC’s nuts in her mouth?

• Now, onto this lame ass movie night.

• First of all, I guess I yet again need to clarify that I want nothing to do with Bonnie or her Ellen Degeneres haircut. Second of all, even if my character chose to give her the time of day…Vicky why the hell do you give a fuck??? You weren’t even here when these clips happened and once again I DID NOT CHOOSE YOU!

• Evan don't stick up for me like that baby I'm liable to put this thang on you😩

• In a shocking twist that nobody expected, Willow started talking shit and immediately shut up because her tea got clocked. I honestly gotta applaud her tenacity.

• Bryson’s confession over us uggghhh so cute😍

• Travis saying that Uma was hotter than Bonnie unprovoked was so rude😭😭😭 At the same time tho…did he lie?😶

• Alex is such a hypocrite. He knew damn well he was bout to fawk Estelle on that goddamn terrace before she left.

• Omg Uma said the casa girls needa make sure that they get to the villa😱😱😱 They grasping for straws tryna make up drama like obviously she’s gonna prioritize getting to the villa that’s literally the whole point.

• #Raphne lives on yesssss!

• Evan asking us on a date…WHY IS HE DOING THIS TO ME?????😫😫😫😫😫

• Outfit time again!🤩

• Ok I love love looooove all these options. The ONLY problem I have is with the choker necklace on the green dress like that needs to go. Other than that these are sooooooo cute.

• *Sigh* Why is Evan literally perfect lol🙃

• It’s not even the fact that he’s fine as hell and his personality is chef’s kiss but the way he’s not suffocating us with the fact that he likes us (Some other people should take notes😕). Lemme not speak too soon tho cuz they still have time to ruin him💔

• I am not kidding, when I replay this season I am grafting on him so hard with NO FUCKING HESITATION.

• I was so tempted to flirt with him just to piss off Vicky and Bonnie cuz why are y’all staring??? GET OUT OF MY BUSINESS!

• FINALLY! FUCKING FINALLY!

• I legit thought they were going to have us go through this entire volume without getting alone time with our OG LI and I was finna be so pissed.

• Not gonna lie tho…having sex in the middle of the living room where anyone could just walk in is kinda insane😭

• Where was I at Willow? Oh, I was just giving “your man” the time of his life😁

• Calling it now we’re not actually gonna get to sleep with who we want.

• Girl where tf did they get a whole curated bouquet of flowers?

(I’m not gonna lie guys I fell asleep before finishing this post cuz I was busy yesterday so I prolly forgot some things but yeah this volume was…ok)

[jerzwriter]

All I Want for Christmas

Book:                   Open Heart (Book 3 timeline) Pairing:                Tobias Carrick x F!MC (Casey MacTavish) Featuring:           The Roomies and Ethan Rating:                 Teen Category:            Holiday/Fluff Summary:           The friends host a Christmas party where they weigh in on a disagreement between the happy couple.  Then at the end of the night, Casey gives Tobias a gift he wasn’t expecting to receive. Words:                 2150 A/N:                     This is a bit of a follow-up to their first Christmas together found here and here. I'm glad these two idiots finally came around, and it looks like Tobias got his wish this year... but wait until next! @choicesdecember2022 -no Day 31 – You and I

            

“Ow!” Aurora’s pained voice carried out into the hallway, but it barely garnered attention in the chaotic kitchen. “That was my foot!”

Although she was the culprit, Jackie didn’t acknowledge her. According to the clock, they had exactly one hour until guests arrived, leaving no time to spare. So she rushed on to her next task.

A timer went off, and Elijah quickly moved across the room to retrieve his delicacy from the oven. But not without carnage…

“Ouch! That was my foot!” Sienna yelled. 

“Sorry, my bad! But you know what they say about too many cooks?”

“I don’t,” Jackie shrugged, “but I know there are too damn many in this kitchen.”

“Yeah,” Sienna agreed. “Someone needs to leave.”

Casey stood at the counter happily humming a Christmas tune, her hips swaying along in time as she completed the job assigned to her, stirring a bowl of icing. She was about to stick a finger in to steal a taste of the chocolate confection when she felt the weight of eight eyes upon her.

“What?” she asked, feeling guilty, but for what, she didn’t know.

“You need to leave the kitchen,” Sienna demanded.

“But… why?”

“Because there’s no room here,” Aurora replied. “And you’re the worst cook amongst us!”

“Gee, thanks for sugarcoating that!” Casey whined.

“We don’t have time to sugarcoat,” Jackie interjected. “Besides, this is your fault! We could have held our Christmas party at Tobias’s townhome… with all that space. He said we could, but no, you insisted it had to be here.”

“Yeah, what's the point of having a rich boyfriend if you’re not going to utilize the perks!” Elijah laughed.

“Can we please not encourage her?” Aurora said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s sleeping over here tonight. I’m sure we’ll all be treated to hearing her… ‘utilizing the perks.’”

“You’re all a bunch of comedians!” Casey exclaimed. “But Tobias’s townhome is not my place. It was nice of him to offer, but I don’t live there. And I don’t want to send the wrong message.”

A chorus of grumbling filled the tiny space.

“What?” Casey demanded.

“You’re there ninety percent of the time,” Jackie spat. “Just make it official, so I can take your room already!”

“No way! I’m getting that room when she leaves,” Aurora shot back.

“My name is the second one on the lease,” Elijah insisted. “I get it!”

“GUYS!” Casey yelled over them. “None of you are getting my room because I still live here! Right, Si?”

Sienna looked at her with a nervous smile. “Well,” she hesitated, “I do have to give you your mail at work. But, when you leave,” she angrily faced the others, “I found this place. I get her room.”

The cooking and baking were abandoned as the bickering continued, as Casey helplessly watched. When the doorbell rang, no one other than Casey seemed to notice.

Shaking her head, she dusted herself off and tossed her apron aside.   “Don’t worry,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll get it.”

“I’m coming!” she yelled as she raced through the festively decorated apartment. Then a bright smile spread on her face when she saw Tobias standing outside the door.

“You’re early!” She beamed, letting out a squeal of joy while jumping into his arms. Pleased with the greeting, Tobias surrendered with a little laugh as she peppered his neck and face with dozens of little kisses. 

“I missed you,” she breathed between pecks.

“I missed you, too,” he chuckled, “but, baby, it’s only been three hours.”

“Three of the longest hours of my life!” she purred as she kissed his icy nose. “You’re so cold!”   

“Well, then, you better warm me up.”

Lifting her head, she playfully licked his lips, then his teeth, as a grin spread on his face. “Like this?” She teased as they found themselves lost in an impassioned kiss. Until….

“Oh, for the love of God!” Aurora cringed. “Could you two take it to Casey’s room… it’s right down the hall….”

Casey slowly broke away, smirking in her friend’s direction as she placed her head lovingly on her boyfriend’s shoulder. 

“That’s right. My room. You were all so busy fighting over it that I assumed Tobias and I had a few moments alone.”

“Wait?” Tobias asked, “Why are they fighting over your room?”

“They insist I don’t live here anymore,” she pouted. 

Tobias cocked his head to the side. “Well…” he started. “There is a lot I could say about that….”

“I’m sure you could,” Casey deflected. “But we still have a party to prepare for,” taking his hand, she tugged him toward the kitchen. “Let’s go….”

~~~~~

Many hours later, the well-fed friends were spread out in every corner of the living room. Giftwrap from the gift exchange littered the floor under Jackie and Raf’s feet as they danced to Jingle Bell Rock, and those who hadn’t overindulged in Bryce’s “special punch” were relaxing, enjoying the soft lights flashing on the Christmas tree. But they had worked all, and all but a few were expected back tomorrow, and they were tuckered out.

Ethan was forcing his eyes to remain open as Elijah droned on about the new video game he received. Aurora was already snoring softly on the loveseat, insisting she was awake whenever anyone suggested she head to bed. Jackie was on the floor, rubbing her temples despite insisting she hadn’t had too much of Raf’s coquito. And Casey was on the couch, snuggled up against Tobias as she fought to keep her eyes open too. 

“I don’t know about you guys,” Tobias gave in. “But maybe we should hit the hay.”

Ethan’s ears perked at the opportunity to escape, and he quickly seconded the notion. 

“You are all poopers,” Aurora slurred. 

“Says the one who has been sleeping for the last hour!” Jackie chided.

Stretching his arms above his head with a yawn, Bryce sided with the guys. “As much as I don’t want the party to end, I’m just a few hours away from the start of my shift.”

“I supposed we should rap things up,” Sienna stated sadly. “But we have another Christmas in the books!”

“Chrismas is tomorrow, Si.” Jackie quipped.

“Well, tonight was our Christmas!”

“It sure was!” Casey yawned, then kissed Tobias’s cheek. “And now we’ve had our first together!”

Tobias looked at Casey quizzically. “What are you talking about? This isn’t our first Christmas. It’s our second.”

“Well, yeah, we’ve known each other for two, but this is the first as a couple. I wasn’t your girlfriend last year.”

His brows furrowed together, and he twisted his lips. “The hell you weren’t.”

“Tobias! We started dating in March.”

“A technicality,” Bryce said with closed eyes.

Tobias gestured in his friend’s direction. “Thank you!”

“It isn’t a technicality!” Casey insisted. “It’s when we started dating. Ethan, do you agree?”

“Oh, you’re not dragging me into this,” he deadpanned.

“I mean, you went on that romantic little Christmas trip to your hometowns,” Jackie shrugged. “I told Tobias he was in love with you when he came to pick you up… which he denied. But I’ve been proven right.”

“Yes, we went as friends. We had separate rooms! This is our first Christmas together.”

“So wait,” Bryce asked, suddenly waking up. “You guys didn’t do it on that trip?”

“No!” They said in unison.

“Shit,” he shrugged. “I’m a little disappointed in you, T.”

“It’s OK,” Tobias chortled. “We’ve made up for it.”

“But there, you have your answer!” Casey countered. “We didn’t ‘do it.’ We weren’t a couple, just the best of friends.”

She caught Ethan rolling his eyes from across the room.

“It’s our second Christmas, Casey,” Tobias insisted.

“Guys,” she said, “who is right?”

“You are,” Aurora yawned.

“Nope. T is.” Jackie nodded.

“Elijah?” Casey asked. 

“Oh, no! I’m not getting involved in this one!”

“OK, Raf?”

He tilted his head and looked between the two. “I don’t know. Did you love him?”

Casey opened her mouth but failed to produce any words.

Tobias nudged her with a grin. “Well, babe? We’re waiting.”

“I mean, I hadn’t admitted it yet, but….”

“You were awfully eager to kiss me on that carriage ride through Central Park.”

“Wait!” Sienna hollered. “You took a carriage ride in Central Park! And you kissed him! And you didn’t tell me?”

“But it wasn’t like that!”

Bryce stood up and grabbed his coat from the closet. “Was there tongue involved?”

“Oh, for Christ's sake!” Ethan grumbled.

“Was there?” Jackie seconded.

Tobias pulled Casey closer to his side with a pleased grin. “Answer them, princess,” he teased.

Flustered, Casey gave in. “Yes! There was. But we were just friends with kissing benefits….”

“Is that even a thing?” Elijah refuted.

“It’s not a thing,” Tobias responded.

“It was a thing! You were the one who came up with it when we kissed in Cambridge the month before!”

“Wait!” they all hollered.

“You kissed him a month before!” Sienna protested. “Am I even your best friend!?”

Tobias reached up and brushed his hands along Casey’s jawline. His blue eyes locked on hers so intensely that she momentarily forgot about the others in the room.

“Were you in love with me, Casey?” he whispered, and her heart skipped a beat.

“I…” He looked at her earnestly as he awaited her reply, a gentle smirk on his lips as her eyes and smile gave him all the answers he needed. 

“I was in love with you. I loved you so much.”

“Then, Merry Second Christmas together, baby.”

“He’s right,” Aurora yawned as she stood and stumbled off to bed.

Ethan stood up to leave as well. “I disagree,” he said, shooting a look in the happy couple’s direction. “If I thought this was your second Christmas together, I may have made you both work tomorrow.”  

“Wait,” Jackie scowled, “They’re are off?”

“Yep,” Tobias grinned. “My first Christmas off in over a decade… I finally have a reason to be.”

“So, then it is our first Christmas together,” Casey gleaned, taking his hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s go to bed.”

“Now, no making animalistic noises all night!” Jackie yelled after them.

“Nah, I’m too tired,” Casey winked. “I’ll wait until you’re all off to work in the morning.”

Elijah shook his head. “You know, if you can’t even be apart one night, you should move in with him, Case. After all, I want your room by next Christmas!”

Tobias’s hand settled on Casey’s hip as they stood at her bedroom door. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’ve been asking her to move in with me since April. Goodnight, guys.”

Casey turned the small Christmas tree in her room on before she collapsed into her bed where Tobias waited with a grin.   

“You’re going to get all the magic you can out of this holiday. Aren’t you?”

“I think it’s pretty,” she said softly, “but the magic… we make that ourselves.”

“We sure do.”

Casey rubbed the back of his head as his arms wrapped around her waist, his head nuzzled on her chest as he drifted off to sleep. She felt a warmth building inside her. The two of them together… it was just so comfortable, so pure, so right. She knew there was only one reason it wasn’t their second Christmas together, and that was her. Her fears had gotten the better of her, and she couldn’t admit what was right before her eyes. Yet, he didn’t push her. He waited patiently until she came around.

And he was still waiting. They probably spent a total of five nights apart since that fateful day in March. Her friends were right. He was right. The only thing holding her back was her own fears… fears she now saw were completely unfounded. With a tap of his shoulder, she whispered and pulled him from the hands of slumber.

“Tobias?”

“Yes?” He answered without opening his eyes.

“What do you say we spend tomorrow moving the rest of my stuff to your place? Let’s make this thing official.”

His eyes shot open an instant for someone so sleepy, suddenly wide awake.   

“Wait? You mean it?”

“I do. You should be sick of me dragging my feet on the obvious, and I don’t want to waste another moment.”

Without a word, his hand slid up to the back of her head and pulled her into a warm, tender kiss. One kiss led to another and then another. When he pulled away, the grin on his face was undeniable. 

“You know that any gift you give me tomorrow will pale in comparison to this, right? And that goes for my Mom, too.”

“So you’re happy,” she giggled.

“I’m so happy. But you’re going to have your work cut out for you to top this next year.”

“Don’t worry,” she smiled, nuzzling under his arm. “I’ll find a way.”

He kissed the top of her head with a content smile. “Of that, I have no doubt.”

A/N 2: So next Christmas, they're married and expecting a baby - so it's really the FOLLOWING year where Casey will have her work cut out for her. lol

Tagging separately.

[caitkaminski]

Can't believe I'm saying this but this season has been progressing nicely. It was kind of slow and somewhat lacking but the more I play, the more excited I get. I even look forward to new updates every week ugh this is such a struggle I'm torn between disliking fusebox and liking this season 😂💀

This CA is enjoyable so far! But maybe I set my standard too low after ex in the villa, that's why this season seems better LOL

Personally I like Hamish, he's so rude but kind of hilarious? What a dork 😂

Francis is sweet (ish) but he reminds me of a certain someone who owns a food truck named Cocktails and Cronuts lol

Marshall omg LOVE THE DESIGN but damn he is laying it THICK! Grace will definitely bring him into the main villa, if MC decides to stick or pick someone else. Also dude, siblings fight and hold grudges but I won't badmouth my own sibling to other people. He's definitely Bitter with Ozzy hmm very sus

Andy oh man Ryan who?? Elliot who?? I don't know them 🤷‍♀️ I actually like Marshall before but man I am a changed woman. He's hot, nice AND a vet????? I just hope fusebox won't ruin his character when he gets to the main villa 🥲

(If anyones judging me for doing Ryan route, dont worry I'm judging myself here LOL I actually like the character at first but HE IS SO CRINGY NOW UGHH I regret not choosing Lewie and now he's gone in my current playthrough 😭 will deffo play loyal Lewie route next time!)

Omg this rant ask turned out pretty long, soz didn't expect that 😂

After all this long ass rant, what's your thought on CA boys?

omg pls don’t apologise for a long rant, i love chats about pixel boys so you’re gonna get a long reply. If only we were doing it over brunch or something 😂

ok SO, the casa boys are really funny!

like I love the banter they all have with each other and they’ve all got different personalities?! I’m shocked!! it might end up being a Johnny/Nicolas situation where they completely change in the main villa, but we’ll see!

Im actually really enjoying the season too and I really love how everyone can make their mc’s so different both personality and looks wise

As for the casa boys. None have really caught my eye 😭 I thought for a minute hamish would because yeah he’s dorky and funny. But then we got the bacon kiss and it’s a firm no from me.

Francis surprised me. We guessed EXACTLY how he’d be. Like spot on. Gross with the pee comments. But he really just is there for vibes (and maybe a roof to sleep under bc he has no house)

Marshall, I’m undecided by. He’s hot as hell and the Marshall/ozzy dynamic gives me the Salvatore brothers a lil. But he does lay in on thick and I’m not a fan of that.

And then there’s Andy 🥰 what a sweetie. I’ve always said someone needs a job as a vet. I know I’m a Lewie Stan but something about Andy is too sweet for me. Not to mention he looks 15 and I feel icky.

So yes, I will be running back to the main villa single if they let me. Ready to be hurt by pixel boys already.