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violentdelightsandviolentends · 2 years

Text

For Eternity. (A Sequel to The Orange.)

You and Jake share an orange. He's never loved you more.

This is a sequel to The Orange, but can absolutely be read as a stand alone <3

Pairing - Jake Seresin x female reader

Age Rating - 18+

Warnings - Cursing, a little smooching

Word Count - 2614

Author's Note - hi, me again. I hope you enjoy this part 2 of The Orange. I loved that first fic so much, and whenever I go to write Jake, it seems to occur in that universe, so I thought why not make a sequel just as sweet as the first. as always, requests or thoughts, send them my way. all my love x

Masterlist. Requests.

Jake Seresin has always been an awful dancer. Like, seriously, genuinely, terrible. It was one of the main reasons, it turns out, that you fell in love with him.

Upon first glance, Jake seems perfect. Ken Doll perfect. Cover of Vogue perfect. Carved by the Gods perfect. He’s stunningly handsome, ridiculously charming, and one of the best fighter pilots the US Navy has ever seen. He seems almost too good to be true.

Then you see him dance. And you realise that maybe he isn’t quite as perfect as you first thought. It makes you love him 10 times more.

It hasn’t stopped him, though. The two of you have spent countless nights gliding around your kitchen in your socks, slipping this way and that, jumping to the beat of the 90’s R&B that Jake loves so much. On more than one occasion, he’s twirled you around like a ballerina in a music box, sending you both flying precariously into the counters. Strong arms come up to wrap around your middle, steadying you always. He’ll never let you fall.

You didn’t realise that it was possible to fall more in love with someone every day. You can’t help but ask yourself – when does it end? When will my cup finally be full? When will I reach the limit?

Jake pulls you back every time he can see you floating away.

He holds your hand, looks at you with those aquamarine eyes of his.

He says, “I love you,” but really, he means - love is not a finite resource.

He kisses your forehead, but he’s telling you - your cup can never be full. It’ll just keep spilling over.

His soft lips find yours, and he’s promising – our love will keep expanding forever. It’ll take over the universe and everything will be beautiful.

You’re convinced you must have been a saint in a previous life to be loved like this now. You didn’t know that a human being could love another human being so unconditionally, so completely, until you met Jake.

Sitting at the bar that day, all those years ago, your universe cracked and shifted. Juice from the orange still sticky on your fingers as you dug them into Jake’s cheeks, trying to pull him impossibly closer. Salt on your skin mixing with his as you pressed your foreheads together. Citrus on your lips where Jake had licked into your mouth. It was as if the Gods above had placed the blond man in front of you and said here. Have something good for once.

You knew, from that moment on, that you would never take him for granted. No one gets to love like this. No one gets to be loved like this. It’s rare, and it’s beautiful, and it’s a gift to be unwrapped and savoured every single day. Which exactly what the two of you have done.

The minute Jake had kissed you, sitting on those bar stools, orange peel filling the air with the scent of a promise, the two of you had become inseparable.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

After every late night shift at The Hard Deck, Jake would be waiting for you, leaning against the back door with a smirk on his face that said he knew something you didn’t. He’d pull you in to him, press his chest against yours, and inhale, as if it was the first breath he’d taken all day. Then he’d push you up against the side of the bar and kiss you stupid, until you both felt drunker on love than any alcohol could ever manage. He’d pull away and beam at you with that million dollar smile of his, before slipping his hand into yours and walking you the scenic route home, just so he could have an extra 10 minutes in your presence.

This routine was a daily occurrence, until one evening, you decided the fleeting kisses weren’t enough. He walks you home, right up to your front door, and presses his lips to yours in a goodbye. Just as he goes to turn on his heel, you grab him by his belt loops and pull him closer.

“Don’t go,” you whisper against his mouth. “Need you to love me a little more.”

His eyes blow wide, and for a split second he looks like a deer in headlights. Then, regaining his composure, he finds his confidence again.

“Yeah, honey?”

“Yeah, Jake,” you sigh, still millimetres from his lips. “Want to feel you.”

How can he say no to that, when you’re saying his name so pretty?

He shakes his head, grinning from ear to ear. Placing his hand gently on your throat, he murmurs,

“Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Been waiting my whole life for you.”

He opens the front door behind you and walks you backwards into your house. You don’t make it more than 3 steps inside before he has your shirt over your head, kicking his shoes off at the same time.

“Don’t know how I lived without this. Can’t get enough,” he tells you. He’s looking at you so intently, you feel the sudden urge to burst into tears. The love you have for each other is filling the room, making it hard to breathe. It surrounds you, fills your lungs, makes you feel like you’re both floating. He pulls you back to his lips as if you’re his oxygen, his life source, his sanity.

“Fuck,” he murmurs. “I want to tell you that I love you, but it doesn’t feel like enough.”

“Enough?” you question.

“Love isn’t a big enough word. It doesn’t even begin to describe whatever it is I’m feeling. I’m going crazy with it, sweetheart. I can’t breathe without you. I don’t want to.”

You exhale. It’s as if he’s read your mind.

“Love will have to do,” you tell him. “It’s the only word we have for now.”

He’s kissing you again, hands tangled in your hair, body pressing into yours. You’re vaguely aware that you’re both swaying, too in love to stand still. It’s thrumming though your veins, keeping you levitating above ground.

“It’s everything,” he says when he pulls back for air. “You’re everything.”

You figured that eventually, the electricity in your bones would calm down. That in time, the love would level out, and wouldn’t feel so all consuming.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

It’s been two years, and as you sit on the third floor balcony watching Jake dance with his nieces below you, you’re worried that you might spontaneously combust. The love has only got stronger with each passing day, lighting your world and guiding you through. Your body is alive with it – it’s like you’re invincible. Jake’s love is a shield, protecting you, like a forcefield.

He still can’t dance, though.

He’s picking up the youngest girl, Hailey, and spinning her around, throwing her up into the air as she squeals with delight. Of course, he then turns to Ava, and does the same to her, both of them revelling in being the centre of their Uncle Jake’s attention. He has that ability. When Jake’s focus is solely on you, it feels like you’re the only person in the world.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

That first day that Jake walked into The Hard Deck, he strolled over to the bar with the confidence of 10 men and ordered a beer from you. He gazed into your soul with those ocean blue eyes, and you could have sworn the rest of the room faded away. You’re still not sure if you were looking at each other for 5 seconds or 5 minutes. All you knew was that no one had ever been able to see you so transparently before. It was as if he was reading you like a book, with no judgment whatsoever. He saw you exactly as you were. And he loved you for it.

You’ve confessed to him the worst parts of yourself, your secrets, your desires, your worries, your shame, your hopes, your dreams – everything. And he listens. He watches you with those careful eyes, nods his head, asks all the right questions. He listens like there’s nowhere else in the world he’d rather be than talking to you. The rarity isn’t lost on you. This never happens to girls like you, you think. But that’s where you’re wrong. Because Jake Seresin loves you so much that sometimes it sweeps him off his feet. Sometimes, he has to hold onto something and steady himself because the force of his feelings for you sends him into a tailspin. The adrenaline of flying a plane is one thing, but that warmth he gets in his chest when you beam a smile at him is a complete other. No jet manoeuvre could ever give him the headrush that you do when you wink at him across a crowded room. Yes, Jake Seresin used to be a notorious ladies man – a player, a heartbreaker, a sneak out of bed before breakfast kind of guy.

But that’s because he was waiting for you. His whole life, he’s been waiting for you.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

You’re so lost in your thoughts that it takes you a moment to come back to reality. When you do, you look down and realise that Jake is no longer on the dance floor. Hailey and Ava are back with their parents, the four of them dancing and spinning to the beat, laughing as they go. The blond hair, the blue eyes, the cheeky grins – it almost feels like a vision of the future. Jake looks just like his sister, and her daughters look just like her. You know the Seresin genes are strong – yours wouldn’t stand a chance.

The evening is beginning to settle. The sun is setting, and a slight breeze blows the trees. Everyone is still dancing, singing and laughing, and the sound of it floats upwards towards where you’re sat smiling through the balcony railings. You wish you had a camera – but you also know no photograph could ever capture the joy that radiates around this beautiful setting. The lights on the barn twinkle as the dusk creeps in, illuminating the faces of the people you love the most. Bradley, Natasha and Bob are dancing, if you can call it that, while Javy, Reuben and Mickey are stood a short distance away, smiling at them like idiots. If you could freeze time, you would. You’re not sure any moment will ever be as perfect as this one.

You feel his presence before you hear him. Warmth appears in the doorway behind you, and you know without looking that it’s Jake. You can smell the familiar scent of salt, sunshine, and sandalwood. The smell of home.

“Hi, Mrs Seresin.”

He hasn’t come into your eyeline yet, but you can hear the grin on his face. He can’t see it, but you’re wearing a matching one.

“Hi, husband.”

He steps onto the balcony, and wraps his strong arms around your middle, pressing his nose into the junction of your shoulder and inhaling.

“Fuck, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you calling me that.”

He scatters kisses along your shoulder, up your neck, and onto your cheek, chuckling as he feels you giggle against him. He turns you in his arms so you’re facing each other.

“Got worried for a sec. Thought maybe you’d bolted.”

He nudges his nose against yours, megawatt smile still plastered on his face.

“After I’d married you? What would be the point in that? If I was gonna run, I’d have done it before we said I do.”

He pinches your sides lightly, making you yelp, both of you laughing. The sound of it echoes through the air, the soundtrack to your evening.

“You okay?” he asks genuinely, eyes scanning over your face. The softness of it makes you want to melt.

“Of course I am. Just wanted to take a minute. Savour the moment, you know.”

He nods back at you, and presses his lips to yours. No matter how many times you kiss Jake, you can never get enough. You’re always begging each other for just one more. You’d stay here with your mouth on his forever if you could. You can only hope that when your time comes, you take your last breath with your lips pressed to his – a last image of your love.

“I brought you a gift,” he says when he pulls away.

He retreats into the room, and comes back with an orange in his hand. A bright, beautiful, bold ball of light in his palm. A promise.

A tear escapes your eye at the gesture. Oranges became something sacred to the both of you after that first one you shared on the bar of The Hard Deck. Neither of you can eat them in everyday life anymore. They’re solely reserved for special occasions, momentous moments.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

When Jake proposed to you in the dim light of your kitchen on a random Friday evening, you knew your answer immediately. You’d been dancing around, swaying in each other’s arms, when all of a sudden, he stopped moving and looked you dead in the eyes.

“Marry me,” he said with so much assurance it made you dizzy. Like he’d never been surer of anything.

“You are the love of my goddamn life, honey. I always thought soulmates were a thing of fiction, and then I walked into The Hard Deck that night and I just knew. You started peeling that orange that day and I just knew. I am going to love you for eternity – there’s no doubt about that. So, marry me. Marry me, baby.”

You jumped into his arms and kissed him so hard that the both of you fell to the floor, laughing on the cold kitchen tiles.

“Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes,” you replied between kisses.

He beamed at you with a grin so bright you were worried the lightbulbs were going to shatter. You were sure yours was just as sparkling.

Jake rose from his place on the ground, reaching up for something on the counter. A part of you wonders if it’s a ring, but then he produces something better. An orange. The brightest, ripest, most promising piece of fruit you’ve ever seen.

You split it while sitting on the kitchen tiles, drunk off each other, leaning into Jake’s side like you can’t get close enough. You’re convinced it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted.

✵ ✵ ·　 ✵ 　　 * · ✵

Now, Jake starts to peel the orange, before pausing and shrugging off his suit jacket. God, he looks so handsome in his tuxedo. You think he looks beautiful no matter what he wears, but there’s something about that man in a suit that makes your knees want to give out.

He places the jacket over your lap.

“Don’t want you getting orange juice on that pretty white dress,” he smiles, resuming his place next you.

He peels the fruit and splits it in half with practised precision. Almost like he’s done this before.

You eat your halves in silence. No words are needed. You love Jake, and Jake loves you, and today all of the people you both love most in the world got to watch you declare that to each other. And now here you are, sharing an orange with the man you’re going to share oranges with for eternity.

Jake Seresin is in love with you. Nothing else matters.

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rosyjuly · 11 months

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approximately one million years ago you wrote a little 3 sentence fic about office workers George and Alex and I’m wondering how things are going for them IF you had any divine musings

Wolff finally takes mercy on them; hires three people for social media management. It’s only taken George half a year and two ppt-s to convince him that being under 30 doesn’t automatically qualify you as competent, and anyway his age is a depreciating asset. But they’re here now, and it’s great – they love to feature him, still, but at least it’s not him who has to edit the godforsaken TikTok videos to perfectly match the audio.

The only downside is that with the new colleagues, they desks no longer fit into the corner of the second floor where George has been withering away for the past two years. It wouldn’t make sense to separate the comms team, so Claire makes them move up to the third. It makes more sense to be with the marketing team, anyway, she says. But now they have got the sales department on the other side, and in the open-plan office there’s just a lot more calls George has to listen to while he drafts the copies for the latest campaign. It makes him miss the data analysts.

For the first few weeks, it’s not that bad. He either gets lunch with the new coworkers, trying to get to know the boys and girls in the marketing team, or has half a pack of crisps while trying to finish a press release, wiping his hand after every bite to avoid staining his laptop. Then the onboarding finally finishes and he doesn’t need to spend two hours each day to explain the ropes to Frederik.

All of a sudden, he looks around, watches everyone else type away or nod at their screens with their most faux-genuine face, and he feels deeply, excruciatingly alone. He picks up his phone, opening the WhatsApp thread with Alex. Instead of the steady flow of texts, he can see the date annotated after every message or two.

He’s told himself that the distance might do them good; that it’ll be healthy to stop looking over at Alex after every joke he cracks, that he shouldn’t be so attuned with Alex’s tea refills. A pint or two on Fridays would still be fine – hunched over a barrel in lieu of a table on the pavement, shoulders pressed together and complaining about the bloody ridiculous prices. But he didn’t expect this. The hollow, tender part in his ribcage that feels half-filled with regret as he thumbs through Alex’s texts about how he didn’t know Quality Assurance could be so bad, and maybe George should still be doing that much overtime if it meant that Alex didn’t have to listen to one more overzealous phone apology.

You think Sales is much better? he sends back. It’s just past noon. Wanna grab an early lunch?

YES. You won’t believe the bs Marko pulled this morning, Alex sends back almost immediately.

George shuts his laptop, doesn’t announce that he’s getting food for once, lest someone tries to join him. Walking back into data analysis should not make anyone feel fond, yet here he is; the philodendron on Patrick’s desk has a new leaf.

“Here to pick Alex up?” Patrick asks, pushing his headphones back. It makes George’s stomach warm, both with embarrassment and, mortifyingly, with pride.

“You know how he is,” he tells Patrick, “gets lost in those Excel sheets and I’ll starve to death.”

“I’m ready, shut up,” Alex says, saving his work with a few efficient motions. “First person to complain about me in the sheets, I’ll tell you that–”

“And how would I know?” George asks, trying to ignore the hot shiver that runs up his spine. Alex whips around and George almost walks into his chest; when he raises his eyes, Alex is looking at him with his head tilted, like he’s a pattern Alex needs to find in a set of corrupted data.

#i cannot find the old prompt for the LIFE OF ME #sorry i got carried away thinking about structures as usual #george/alex #little fic #rosy.ask #my fic

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likeadevils · 8 months

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I trust your opinion. If you were making bets about what TS11's themes, concepts and sound would be like.. What would you like& prefer? and what would you think Taylor would do?

thank you for trusting my opinion but i am god awful at predicting what taylor is going to do next. that being said:

i think something taylor learned with all too well, anti-hero, and cruel summer is to… trust her instincts, i guess? not that she hasn’t in the past, but she’s mentioned that those songs were her favorites of their respective albums, and she didn’t expect that the general public would enjoy them as much— at least, not to the degree that they have been. but they’ve all been #1s, and more impressively to me, they’ve all broken through into wider pop culture in a way that’s super hard to do nowadays. like can you tell me what’s #1 right now because i can’t. but anyways i think she’ll be following what she wants to hear a little bit more, and trusting that her and the general public’s taste is pretty aligned at the moment. so like, to boil it down into a bingo card prediction, the lead single is going to be taylor’s favorite song on the album

also, bingo square, the color will be white. no evidence just vibes

i think another thing taylor recently learned is trusting that not only her fanbase, but the wider pop landscape would accept complex ideas delivered with a complex vocabulary. in some ways i think she was really burned by me!— she had been taught that it’s the we are never ever getting back together and shake it offs that you send to pop radio, not the all too wells. and then me! got torn apart (deservedly or not), and then the world shut down and it’s not like she needs to find a tour off her next album so what the hell, let’s take out the immediate hooks and replace it with flowery language. and it was a massive hit! twice! but it’s not the kind of music she wants to make forever. so midnights was an added gamble— can you marry the hooks with the collegiate vocabulary? and you can! anti-hero was her biggest chart success ever! so i expect more dictionary/thesaurus starter pack memes in our future, no matter what genre it’ll end up in

that being said, i think she’ll be staying in pop. i maaaaybe could see a kind of pop rock thing happening— think like, the electric guitar she adds to don’t blame me when it’s preformed live.

regardless i do think she’ll be pulling in more rep influences— i’m not super in the buisness of trying to track down when exactly she’s been re-recording, so this is coming from swiftie brain rot not timeline brain rot, but if i had to guess i would say she was mostly recording rep over the summer and with the occasional ts11 track thrown in as well. but i could be wrong maybe she has three albums recorded. idk. i am very interested in what the rep sounds like though, i think that’ll be the biggest clue to what ts11 will sound like

i’m curious how auto-biographical it’ll be. honestly, i could see taylor creating a single character to inhabit and tracking their story throughout an album, which would parallel the emotions she’s going through, but not the exact situations. but that’s me projecting what i would need to do to process the fucking year she’s been through, and taylor has consistently been saying how much she gets from having people sing back the words thought she must be alone in thinking, so like maybe it’ll be intensely About Her, who knows

as for release, i’m a big post eras tour believer. like i know it’s been said a million times but god how impossible would it be to add another set to that thing. like we might get the announcement and lead single while still on tour, but not a full album

i’m also expecting a more talk-y rollout. i would bet we’re getting a couple of print interviews— not anywhere near 1989 or lover levels, but like, you know. rolling stone, vogue, maybe another time, that kind of thing. and in front of camera stuff too— zane lowe, a bbc live longe, some late night appearances, maybe going on kelly clarkson’s show. and maaaaybe a hot wings episode. maybe. i think taylor got a bit burned by the long roll out for lover, and regardless she had other priorities when it came to the midnights release, but it’s been a while and she does like to surprise people by doing something completely predictable. but also this is totally me being like pleaseeeee give interviews they help me with timeline research so much

i predict this every time but visual album!!! if i keep saying it one day it’ll be true!!! it just makes sense she’s been getting so into directing!!!

while we’re in the realm of things that would make me specifically go insane i just think it would be funny if she got paul mccartney to feature on a song. just to be petty. imagine your ex is releasing an album and she gets one of your favorite musicians to play on it. and after the sweet nothing debacle too. oh. so ouchie. also she would have paul fucking mccartney on an album that’s insane in its own right

while we’re throwing spaghetti at the wall. two word title. let’s get crazy maybe 3+ words why not (this is by far the least serious prediction if the title is more than one word i’ll lose my mind)

maybe some religious imagery for the visuals? i’m trying to think of aesthetics taylor hasn’t thoroughly explored. what’s coming to mind is stained glass windows and like, the wild west. this is not at all influenced by me being raised catholic in the american southwest what are you talking about

so to sum up i think i want a pop rock opera with a title along the lines of “the blank of firstname lastname” about a woman in the wild west that has climatic scenes in a cathedral?? i guess that’s the shape i want?? i was not aware that’s what i wanted when i started writing this post okay

#asks*#i’ve thought about this for like hours sorry to keep you so long

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elytrafemme · 3 months

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hi, mare!!!! i have no idea if u remember me, lmao, i sent an ask back in february i think! (also i am so incredibly sorry for sending this in general but… anyway…)

but, i just wanted to say that you write so incredibly beautifully i actually cannot. i was just like, pacing around in my kitchen doing my maladaptive daydreaming shit when cough syrup came into my mind . specifically that one scene from chapter 28, when cs!ranboo says the sunset is pretty and cs!tubbo tells him he’s also pretty. and i genuinely teared up. that scene is always in the back of my mind it’s so insane. i think it might be something ill think about for a long time, even though i read it for the first time so long ago. i think it’s mainly the way you wrote it. “beside him, the sun says, “so are you.””

something about that like genuinely drives me insane (in a good way, i promise!). i just. it is so small and niche and mundane and probably shouldn’t matter this much but i am crying over it. and i am far from a crier, so if you’ve gotten me to cry over a single sentence you’ve done something incredibly right.

i don’t know if you’ve heard it a million times, or not at all, but you seriously have a way with writing. just so you know! because you definitely have to know!!!!

anyway… sorry for sending a cs ask, (also that it was very long) but!

thank you, once again, for writing this amazing piece. even if it never gets updated again, it’ll always be in my heart, i guarantee it lmao

have a good day/night/afternoon <3 (and to anyone reading this)

hi there! i thought i recognized your url somehow, it's nice of you to stop by again! i'm really terrible with answering asks but honestly you are always welcome in my askbox, i like to visualize it as a cosy space

this is such an incredibly meaningful ask to me, my God. i'm so unspeakably glad that you liked that scene and the fact that it stuck with you this long really makes my entire week, honestly. it was a scene i poured a lot of heart into, as i did those two characters in general, and i'm really really grateful that it was received in such a caring way. thank you for giving that scene space in your heart.

i really really appreciate it, thank you. i've been struggling with prose writing lately so hearing that my writing can stick with people means a lot to me. cough syrup feels sacred, like an untouchable thing i've created that i now can't touch after so long of being estranged from its writing, but hearing kind words makes me feel like i can touch it again.

it's a fic i intend to finish, though i realized a few weeks ago it may take me several years to. i've sadly lost all love for that segment of content that became its source- -with no judgement to those who appreciate it, it's just no longer part of my heart (aside from my friends' artistic creations) but cough syrup is still meaningful to me. and honestly hearing that it is still thought fondly of even in 2024 is like earthshatteringly incredible. just a bit ago i remember freaking out over whether cough syrup meant anything and honestly, your kind words reminded me that it does, and it did. and the reason it mattered so much was because of the people like you who appreciated it.

so seriously, thank you. always feel free to send me cs asks -- again, i don't respond very timely but i always will see them. i appreciate you, and i hope you like the next upload, whenever it arrives.

have a delightful day/night/afternoon as well <3

#nightmare.ask #nightmare.cough-syrup #it's easy for me to get discouraged with CS but it's these kinds of comments that make me feel like. okay. i can face this #and in every fathomable way CS was nothing without all of the people who appreciated it #who sunk time into creating for it who commented on it who theorized about it #hopefully updates soon. hopefully soon.

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irishhorse-blog · 1 year

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Hi! always like your responses so just wanted to send this ask, but it’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it more because I know it’s #1 topic right now haha

Not sure how to feel on the video, at first it could’ve been anyone! Now add the dog in , similar layouts and then a later video that came out with tattoos.. it’s harder to say it’s 100% not real, there’s more doubt now

Regardless the nature of both “JK”and that woman and JK and JM is still unknown as of right now - but it’s like, have all these jikook “coincidences” been just that? we have no way of knowing for certain but it’ll just be a big surprise if things like the hickey, rose bowl, gcftokyo etc we’re just … bro things ?😂

seemed like everything between JK/JM was more than just a “ship” because things seemed real - clearly it could’ve been and they’ve broken up, but this video just adds confusion lol

(And in the end clearly Jimin is fine with jungkook because he’s also been very supportive this year)

So, I still haven't seen the video in question, and I suppose I should watch it so I can see for myself what the kerfuffle is all about. I don't know what it shows, whether it's believable in terms of being JK with some lady or other, or if the dog is Bam or not. Some things I know:

Furniture is mass produced. Chances are more than one couch has been sold that matches the couch in JK's apartment.

There are dobermans in Korea who are not Bam.

Nothing about Jikook tells me that they've ever been "just bros", that they've broken up, that they never were together, that they're on the outs, that they could possibly be seeing anyone else, that... anything the current narrative says is true.

Based on: hickeygate, Rose Bowl ear suckage, a hundred million moments of Jungkook looking at Jimin with the heartiest heart eyes ever, the inability of Jimin to have a live stream without mentioning JK, the absolute inability of JK to do ANYTHING without mentioning Jimin at least once, JK's hours-long JImin-a-thon, satellite Jeon, your are me I am you, shirtless birthday posts, semi-secret NY/CT vacations... based on all that, you cannot convince me that there's only broship there, or that there's anything less than total love and devotion, whatever form it takes. (And I still contend bros and buddies do NOT suck each other's necks and ears.)

I'm not worried. I'm not at all concerned about Jikook. I'm more than a little concerned about the so-called Jikookers who take the least little thing as a seismic event that shakes their whole world view.

Breathe. It's okay. The video is probably nothing. Think about the timing, too... JK just released "3D", which is seeing amazing success. Its loud, prosperous debut just drowned out the latest BP bragging point about YT views surpassing BTS or whatever they were on about yesterday. Suspicious that this sees the light of day on the very same weekend, no? Almost like someone is trying to distract certain sectors of a certain fandom from supporting JK and his single during this important chart-aiming time. It's just like all the sus "they broke up" horse shit shows up right when something new drops from the boys, or when some new Jikookery comes to light.

Don't worry. This is just someone being a troll and getting their little fifteen minutes of quasi-fame and shit stirring. Just wave them off like the gnats they are and trust that ten years of clear love and devotion don't vanish overnight.

Trust what your own eyes tell you. Trust Jikook.

#jikook

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youllallriseintheink · 1 year

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A Road Further, chapter one: New Journeys

The protagonist of Scarlet/Violet moves away, and the lives of the Paldea trio go on.

Nemona is ecstatic when Geeta decides to take her under her wing and groom her to be the next head champion of Paldea, and doubly so when it means competing against champions of other regions in a worldwide tounament. With Geeta’s very rigid ideas of how a champion should act, Nemona will have to find a balance between respecting authority and forging her own path.

Penny’s crimes begin to catch up with her as her parents send her to live with her uncle Looker in hopes that he’ll set her straight. But as Penny’s skills turn out to be quite useful for crime-solving, she might find out that her weird uncle Looker isn’t so lame after all.

Between the loss of his dad and his three friends moving away, Arven is crushed. When Clavell tries to cheer him up by introducing him to two Alolan exchange students including the tech-savvy Sophocles, Arven hatches a desperate and ill-advised plan to bring back his father.

I hope you all enjoy this.

---

The sky was grey and heavy as Arven walked Miraidon to what would be its new home in the Lighthouse Laboratory. Penny and Nemona followed behind, carrying supplies for the creature. Arven shifted the bags of Pokémon food he’d been carrying into one arm and stroked the creature with the other, trying to quiet its whining.

“I know,” he whispered. “I miss him, too.”

Not long after the annual treasure hunt, Florian’s mother had been transferred to a new location for work and they’d had to move away. They’d been forced to leave Miraidon behind, and Arven to try to find one of his father’s old lab techs to look after it. He wasn’t looking after it himself longer than he had to. It was just too much of a reminder.

There wasn’t much to be done at the Lighthouse Laboratory. The three students put down a giant pet bed for Miraidon, scattered its toys, fed and watered it, and they were done. Arven had called Penny and Nemona out for emotional support more than anything.

“Thanks for being here,” he said to the girls, sitting down on one of the old tables in the laboratory. “You know, I played it cool in front of Clavell, but losing my dad is... well, it’s a lot to process. I mean, apparently he did love me, but now I’ll never get to actually spend time with him. It kind of hurts knowing what could have been. But hey, at least now I have you two.” He gave them a smile. “Between that and all the schoolwork I have to catch up on, I won’t even have time to think about it!”

The two girls exchanged an awkward look.

Penny was the first to speak. “Actually, my parents are sending me away to live with my weird uncle Looker in Kalos. Probably for a whole year. They found out about the whole Team Star and stealing millions in LP thing and want to scare me straight.”

Arven got up, fists curled and teeth gritted. “Seriously?! But Geeta and Clavell let you off with community service for all of that! And you have a job lined up after graduation. How many 14-year-olds can say that?”

“Yeah, but they said that ‘it’s still a felony,’ and ‘I need to learn to respect the rules before I run into someone who won’t let me break them.’ It sucks.”

Nemona spoke up next. “...And Geeta wants to train me up to be the new head champion. Which means I’m leaving the Uva Academy, too. I’m really sorry, Arven.”

“Oh. Well, at least I’ll be able to reach you by flying taxi since you’ll be in Paldea.”

Nemona shared a pained look with Penny. “…She’s starting by taking me to a world championship event in Hoenn. It’ll only be for a few weeks!”

Arven felt like the lifeline he’d caught was disintegrating. He’d be all alone at school again, at the time he most needed not to be. It took him a second to blink back tears and figure out the right response. “Oh. Well, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you. Are you excited?”

Finally released from the expectation to act sympathetic, Nemona’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “So excited! You have no idea. I’m going to get to battle some of the strongest trainers in the whole world! Up until a while ago, even meeting them would have been a dream come true!”

“Great. You’ll finally have some people who can keep up to you. I’ll watch all your matches.”

“If you can find time while digging yourself out of the homework pit,” Penny quipped. “But yeah. We’ll be watching. ...Assuming uncle Looker lets me. Or I can find a way around his rules. Which I will.”

“You heard it. We’ll keep in touch,” Arven agreed, crossing his arms. “Assuming Penny can go a couple weeks without doing something stupid and getting her phone privileges revoked.”

Penny jabbed his arm. Arven jabbed her back.

Nemona smiled. “You guys are the best! Yeah, let’s keep in touch!”

---

Nemona squinted into the sunrise as she tried to make out whether the flying taxi on the horizon was La Primera’s or if she still had a while to wait. She’d shown up twenty minutes early. Some might call that overkill, but one couldn’t take this too seriously, and Nemona had read that Geeta liked to be early.

As the flying taxi neared, Nemona could see that it was Geeta. She stood up and ran to it, getting in before it even touched down.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve kept your passion for battling,” Geeta said. Even in the early morning, her image- the suit, the elaborate hair, her gentle smile- was just as flawless as she’d been every time Nemona had seen her. It almost hadn’t sunk in yet that she’d be working for her. She’d be spending the next few weeks learning to be just like her.

“Oh yeah! I’m not gonna let you down.” Nemona replied. “Oh my gosh. Do you think Cynthia does autographs? Do you think I could get a picture with Blue’s blastoise? Or maybe...” Nemona caught something vaguely disapproving in Geeta’s eyes. “Uh, sorry, I’ll calm down.”

“No, go ahead,” Geeta assured her. “It will be best for you to get your excitement out now. Once we’re at the airport and especially once we’re there, you’ll need to keep that excitement under wraps. You’re representing Paldea, after all. You have to act like you belong with the other champions, because you do.” Those last three words were a jolt of energy to Nemona’s heart. “No autographs. Pictures are fine so long as they look professional.”

“You got it!.”

As it turned out, they had plenty to talk about on the flying taxi ride and then the flight to Hoenn. Nemona already knew a good deal about the champions and the teams and strategies they used, and Geeta helped fill in the gaps of her information. After getting settled at the hotel, it was late and Nemona was tired, but her energy came right back when she told Nemona that some of the champions were already competing.

“I thought that the tounament didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“The brackets will be announced tomorrow,” Geeta explained, “but for now some of the champions are doing some unofficial one-on-one matches to warm up the audience. Would you like to watch them?”

“Watch them? I want to join them! Let’s get down there,” Nemona replied, already running for the door to their hotel room.

“No,” Geeta said gently, making Nemona stop dead. “I’d like us to watch them from here, where we can discuss what they’re doing. It will be an important lesson for you.”

“Okay.” Nemona sat back down on the bench next to Geeta.

The television displayed the tournament arena. On one side of it, Diantha strode in alongside her gardevoir, mega-evolving it to the audible delight of the crowd. On the other, Cynthia glided down from the bleachers on the back of her garchomp, sliding off of her at the last moment and landing nimbly on her feet as the dragon took her position in the ring.

“Begin!” shouted the referee.

“Garchomp, Poison jab!” Cynthia ordered. Her garchomp lunged, her claws coating themselves in purple fluid.

“Ice punch,” Diantha returned. Gardevoir’s fists covered themselves in ice, and she countered the first jab. Garchomp was darting in and out of Gardevoir’s range as Gardevoir stayed stationary, blocking only as many quick but relatively weak jabs as it took and clearly taking more damage than it was dealing.

“Wait, why's she doing that?” Nemona asked. Gardevoir didn’t have the attack or speed for this, but with her special attack, a good dazzling gleam would have-

“Because,” Geeta explained calmly, “This is what everyone came here to see.”

“Ah,” Nemona said as she watched the garchomp’s speed and footwork.

“Dazzling gleam!” Diantha ordered. Gardevoir gathered energy and blasted a powerful beam of pink energy from her outstretched hands.

“Dig,” Cynthia retunred. Garchomp quickly dug into the ground, only its tail getting grazed. Earthquake would have been more powerful and maneuverable, but this was more of a sight to see.

“Send it into the earth, Gardevoir,” Diantha ordered. The gardevoir ran over to the hole and sent dazzling gleam down into it, filling the hole completely and leaving pink light overflowing from its edges. A roar of pain emanated from it. And yet, Cynthia seemed unworried. She closed her eyes and smiled as the ground behind gardevoir opened up, releasing pink energy and a battered-but-still-fighting garchomp, her claws coated in poison. Gardevoir barely had time to look back before a powerful hit took her out.

“Cynthia and Garchomp are the winner!” the referee announced, pointing his flag to Cynthia. The TV screen showed a close-up of her smile before cutting out to sports commentators.

“Wow!” Nemona beamed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Man, it’s like they’re coordinating with each other in real time to give everyone the best show possible! Like, to show everything their Pokémon are capable of, while also trying to win as a second goal. That must be even more challenging than just winning!” Nemona gripped the pokéball at her belt, her body yelling at her to go and try out this new challenge.

“Yes, exactly,” Geeta stated. “You are a great trainer, Nemona. You will have no trouble at all upholding the Pokémon league standards, I’m sure. But I’ve brought you to this tournament so that we can work on your image and showmanship. Part of a champion’s job is representing their region, after all. There is much to attend to- we’ll need to design you a perfect outfit and figure out your trademark mannerisms and a team including a trademark Pokémon.”

“Oh, man, a trademark Pokémon!” The mere thought that one of her Pokémon could be as iconic as Cynthia’s garchomp or Diantha’s gardevoir... or Leon’s charizard or Steven’s metagross or... Nemona couldn’t help it. She let out some little squealing noises.

Nemona smiled. “Yes. I suggest you make a list of candidates for that role. We’ll go over them tomorrow morning and find just the right one.”

---

The heavy door that separated the prison from the outside world slammed shut, nearly making Penny jump. Looker walked in front of her and gestured for her to follow.

“This is what happens to people who break the rules,” Looker explained, stone-faced as they passed by cell after cell, each one containing two miserable, dead-eyed prisoners, two cots with thin mattresses and thin blankets, a metal toilet, and little else.

“People won’t keep giving you free passes forever! And there won’t be a warning for when they won’t. Every rule you break could be the one that puts you in here! Yes, even now. Stealing as much currency as you did could have given you more than two years, and once you’re sixteen, you would have been transferred to a place just like this! We don’t want that.”

Only if you get caught, Penny thought as she followed behind him, but she thought better of saying it. She settled for nodding along instead, with a face that she hoped said “I’m taking this seriously,” but might have been more along the lines of “how much longer until you shut up?”

“I love you, Penny! And that’s why I have to do this. You’re going to work here after school for the next semester. Maybe the next year if it’s necessary. I promised it to your parents, so to make sure it’s all the time you’ll spend there!”

The two ran into a gruff-looking security guard, who Looker handed Penny off to for a tour of the facility and explanation of her duties.

It was late by the time Penny was off work, done with dinner, and could escape to the room that Looker had her set up in. It matched the rest of the house in containing a functional amount of furniture- in this case, a bed, a desk and chair, a bedside table, and a closet with hangers- but nothing else. When one worked for the international police, one moved too frequently to make a house a home.

Penny sat down at the desk and pulled out her rotom phone, only to realize that its usual rotom had been replaced with a sharp-eyed parental control one. When exactly Looker had managed that was beyond her. Penny sighed. It was a good thing she’d prepared for just this situation. She opened the window and then dug into her eevee backpack and pulled out a plastic baggie of dead batteries interspersed with red and green loose wires.

“Want a snack?” she asked the rotom, firmly holding her phone in one hand and dangling the bag in the other.

The rotom nodded vigorously. Penny could feel it trying to get loose and float over, but she held the phone firmly. The rotom pulled until it popped out of the phone. Penny threw the baggie out the window, and the rotom chased it out. She closed the window, got up, and laid down on her bed, ignoring the creature as it tapped the glass. This should give her a few hours at least.

The phone’s screen was filled with new texts from Arven, Nemona, and the ex-members of Team Star. She could respond to them later. For now, she brought up the internet and typed “how to get fired from a prison job without getting killed.”

If Looker was going to give her a hard time, she’d give him a hard time right back.

—-

Late morning light filtered through the curtains as Arven laid in bed, phone in hand and Mabosstif curled up on top of him. He was missing second period and had missed his classes yesterday as well, but who cared? Clavell wouldn’t suspend him while he had nowhere else to go, and he was almost beyond caring if he took an extra year to graduate. He was scrolling through a some long-winded excited ramblings from Nemona when he heard a knock at the dorm room door.

“Arven?” came Clavell’s voice. Arven scrambled out of bed, almost kicking Mabosstif in the process. Thankfully he’d gone to bed in his clothes the night before, so he could pass as having been up for a while. He’d say he had to catch up on some important school project and had thought it was more important than a couple missed classes. Hopefully that would make Clavell go away.

Clavell opened the door and stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking like we wasn’t sure what to say. After pausing for a moment, he crossed the room, sat on Arven’s bed, and gestured for Arven to sit next to him. Arven obeyed. “How... how have you been handling the professor’s death, really?” Clavell asked.

“I’m fine,” Arven replied.

“...And your three friends being away?”

Arven closed his eyes and looked away from Clavell. “I’m fine, alright? I’m used to not having anyone around. It’s fine! Just punish me if you’re going to and go.”

Clavell took a deep breath. “I’m not going to punish you, I just thought...” Clavell shook his head as though reconsidering something. “Actually, very well. There is something you can do for me as punishment for the missed classes. Two exchange students are arriving today from Alola. If you could give them a tour and get them settled into their dorms, that would be wonderful.”

“Okay,” Aven replied. He had a strong sense that this was to get him moving or to cheer him up somehow. He would have thanked Clavell if it weren’t being framed as a punishment.

“Excellent. Stop by my office and I’ll give you the details. And let me know if you need anything.”

Hours later, the flying taxi touched down in front of the academy, containing a green-haired girl in her early twenties, a little boy playing on a gaming device, and their luggage.

“Hey,” Arven said to them. “Welcome to the Uva Academy. My name’s Arven. I’m going to be the one to show you around.”

“Mallow,” the green-haired woman replied, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. first thing’s first, let’s get you guys set up in your dorms. I’ll lead the way.”

Arven navigated the crowded halls, checking every so often to make sure that Mallow was still following.

“So, what brought you to the academy?” Arven asked.

“Well, I aged out of being a trial captain- that’s like our equivalent to gym leaders, and only people under twenty can be one- so I thought I’d try to figure out what I want to do next. I’m probably going to be a cook, though. Alola is just so good for growing ingredients. Berries are the obvious ones, but you wouldn’t believe how many medicinal plants grow there. Maybe I could be some kind of healer!”

Okay, Clavell had definitely put him up to this to cheer him up. “Wow, you’re into cooking, huh? Me, too. And as for medicinal plants, trust me, I know more about those than I ever wanted to. But at least the little collection I got out of it can make anything taste great.” Arven stopped in front of their dorm room doors and turned to Mallow. “The teachers let me use the home ec lab so long as I’m out and it’s clean by the time it’s needed. Want to show me what you’ve got?”

“Yeah! Oh boy, I knew I didn’t bring those dehydrated rawst berries for nothing!”

“You brought dehydrated rawst berries? Oh my God, we need to put those in a stew, right now! I swear, they’re like the only thing that’s better dehydrated. Or un-dehydrated, as they’ll be once we’re done with them.”

“Sounds good! But only if you show me which of those healing herbs we can add to it!”

“Oh, you bet.”

“Can I help?” the little boy asked. Arven realized that he hadn’t spoken until now. He didn’t look older than eight or nine, maybe ten, and between the short, round physique, the bad haircut, the quietness and the resting grouch face, Arven predicted that he’d be spending most of his free periods at the academy alone, and that was if he was lucky enough to fly under the radar of bullies.

“Of course you can join us, little buddy!” Arven replied, giving him a big smile.

Mallow smiled down at the younger boy. “This is Sophocles. He’s also a trial captain. He invented a machine that can summon totem Pokémon, and he’s made a lot of other really cool stuff, too! His parents wanted him to come here so he could expand his horizons and hopefully make some friends.”

“Oh. He’s good with tech, is he?” Arven’s brain had practically shut off once he’d heard that, and it was currently screaming at him not to do what he was about to do. “Do you like robots, little buddy? Have you worked on them? Ever programmed anything?” he asked, crouching to get down to Sophocles’ level. Hopefully his voice sounded less suspicious to Sophocles than it did to his own ears.

“Yeah,” Sophocles replied nervously.

Arven’s heart was beating hard, the way it did when one was about to do something that could get them in immense trouble. “Oh, well, in that case the academy might just have a special field trip for you. I’ll be leading you on it, alright?”

“Okay.”

Arven stood up straight again. “Pack for a couple nights. I’ll meet you right outside Mesagoza at eight tonight.” Arven started for his room to pack. Going back to Area Zero would be risky, even with a gym leader-strength trainer coming with him. And who knew what the distant future would be like once they got to it using the time machine. But maybe, just maybe, Sophocles would be able to reprogram his dad, get him to come home and act like a parent to him.

Arven looked back to Sophocles and Mallow, the latter of which had definitely realized something wasn’t right. “Uh, your room numbers are 309 and 310. See you guys for your tour later,” he called out before running off.

#Looker's speech patterns are so weird lol! I hope I did an okay job at copying them.#pokemon #arven #nemona #penny #chairwoman geeta #looker #director clavell #trial captain sophocles #trial captain mallow #my fanfiction

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blizzardfluffykpop · 2 years

Text

Halloween Night

Summary: Going trick or treating as an adult with… Kihyun.

Oneshot

Fluff, Fantasy au, Strangers to something more, and Humor.

Word Count: 3,176

Kihyun X Reader

[Features! The rest of OT7]

[A/n: This was only going to be 1,000 words– but after world building– here we are… And I still have 5+ pages of this that are unedited– this is the oneshot version… pls send help– ult bias brain rot].

------

Sunday morning breakfasts are the highlight of my week. When the doorbell rings, I go, “What do we have here,… it’s double trouble, I see. Is it just you two today?” I ask as I answer my door and welcome Minhyuk and Hyungwon in. “Yeah, it’s just us today.” I nod, and as the three of us settle in for breakfast, Hyungwon goes, “Well, today’s my last day up here.” I pout over at him, “You’re not going to be here for Halloween?” He shakes his head, “No! But his brother will be!” Minhyuk answers excitedly, “Oh?” And Hyungwon explains, “I get the uh summer house in fall and winter months. And he gets to spend fall up until early spring here.” I nod for one of them to go on, “But why?” Hyungwon smirks, “Business matters and such.” I exchange a look with Minhyuk, “That sounds criminal-like.” He shakes his head, “Quite the contrary, actually.” I nod, and we dig into our breakfast, “I have to say I’m going to miss our Sunday morning breakfasts.” Hyungwon tells the two of us, and we nod, “Us too.” Hyungwon looks at the ceiling, “I hope that groundhog calls for an early spring this year.” I pat my hand on his shoulder, “Hey, you have our phone numbers. You can always call us!” He nods, “Yeah, but it’s not the same.”

“What do you say we spend the rest of the day together?” Minhyuk asks, and I agree, and we both look over at Hyungwon with puppy dog eyes, “Yeah– Yeah, sure!”

“So? Are you going to tell me more about this brother of yours?” Hyungwon nods, “Well, he’s not my brother per se. Have you ever heard of blood brothers?” I nod, “So you guys like are pact brothers?” He nods, “Yeah, something like that.” Minhyuk grins, “I’ve met him a million times. You’re going to love him!” I squint, “Is that a threat?” He smirks, “Would you like it to be?” I shake my head, knowing I won’t win this one, “No thanks.” He laughs, which makes the two of us laugh. Before Hyungwon continues telling me more about Kihyun, “He’s rather uh, we'll say elusive, when you first meet him. But I promise he’s got a good heart, it’s just not always outward.” I nod, “Ah, it’s cool. I guess I’ll meet him when I meet him, then?” He nods, “Yeah.”

After that, we didn't talk much about him but rather enjoyed each other’s company. Watching movies, eating dinner at a diner, and anything else that would bring a smile to Hyungwon's face. When the clock strikes midnight, it's time to wish Hyungwon farewell. With tears in my eyes, I give him a huge hug, and Minhyuk joins in on it. “We’ll miss you!” The two of us cheer and watch him leave, “Well, I guess I’ll be taking my leave too.” I nod, knowing that tomorrow is Halloween and it’ll be rather busy for us.

Monday never felt sadder knowing that one of my friends was at his ‘summer house’ while we had to endure the winter. I finish getting set up for the trick-or-treaters and pull on a witch costume when I check the clock. It's time to set up the blanket and chair on my porch. I grab the biggest bowl of candy and sit down, covering myself in a blanket. When the clock strikes 6 pm, I start handing candy to kids that come up my steps.

It’s eight pm now. And I’m down to the last few pieces of candy left in the bowl. When a figure dressed in all leather with black hair and beautiful brown eyes approaches but lacks a trick-or-treat bag in hand, confuses me. I stare at him for a second, and if I had any less decorum, I would have let my jaw drop to the floor at the very sight of him. Before I can ask him what he’s doing, he goes, “Oh, excuse my manners! I’m Kihyun!” I smile and tell him my name while holding my hand for him to shake. And to my surprise, he gently holds it before placing a kiss on my knuckles. My brain starts screaming, ‘Holy fuck’ as I turn beat red and tell him in the best voice I can muster, “It’s nice to meet you, Kihyun. I’ve heard about you from your brother and Minhyuk.” His smile glints with a smirk for a moment, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, (Y/n). All good things, I hope?” I shrug, “If you count Hyungwon calling you elusive good, yeah?” He shakes his head and laughs, “I’ve heard a bit about you too.” I smile, and one of the last stragglers comes to my door and goes, “Trick or treat!” I grin as Kihyun turns around to smile at them. “Take the rest, kiddo!” I tell them, and they go, “Wicked!” Before taking the last piece in the bowl and rushing off to the next house.

“Well, looks like I’m out of candy. And since it's quite lonely to go trick or treating alone, would you like to go trick or treating with me?" He gives me a faint smile, “Sure, but uh, I’ve never tricked or treated before.” That leaves me flabbergasted, “What?! Oh, we must change that! It is a little different since we're fully grown adults and all. But I promise I know where the houses with the best candy are!” He nods, and with that, I remove my blanket, head down the stairs, and gesture for him to follow me, "Oh, do you have a costume?" I ask, and I turn back and notice the rather tall horns protruding from his head. And a red tail attached to his waist? He shakes his head, “I wouldn’t call it a costume per se, but yeah, show me the way, my dear.” I resist the blush that wishes to come over my cheeks.

He walks beside me as we make it to the first house. I tell him, “Okay when we make our way up to them, you say, ‘Trick or treat!’, easy enough?” He smirks, “Easy, and if they don't give us treats?” I smirk back, "We egg 'em." With a nod, we head up to the door together, and I ring the doorbell in unison, we say, “Trick or treat!” The older lady giggles and tells us, “Aren’t you two just so sweet? Here’s a huge candy bar for each of you, have a wonderful night!” I smile and thank her before we head away, “You didn’t say we needed to thank them.” He says with a slight pout, and I smile, “Well, sometimes, if they make conversation, it’s nice to say thank you.” He nods, “Huh, interesting.”

After we hit a few more houses that still are handing out candies, he asks, "I've been meaning to ask, are you a witch?" With a gesture towards my hat, “No, although I certainly wish I had magic some days.” He nods to himself, “That's reasonable." I shrug and turn the question back on him, “Well, what about you with your horns and tail? Does that make you 'the devil'?” The smirk he gives me doesn’t feel menacing, but something in the back of my brain goes. ‘For the love of everything holy will you recognize him’. “Well, it’s a kingly title. Isn’t it? To be the ruler and to keep those in line that are crude, rash, and mischievous?” I shake off the feeling and go, “It is, I suppose. Do you think the devil ever gets bored of his job?” He smiles, “I think so. It would be rather fun, although demanding, but lonely.” I nod, “Yeah, the devil himself rules alone, from what I heard.” He nods, “Yeah, sad, isn’t it? But at least he has friends.” I nod again, “I wonder if his friends are nicer?” He smiles, “I guess it would depend on the person they were dealing with” “I suppose you’re right…"

"Oh! Look! This house has the bowl out, so we don’t have to ask.” He nods, and we head up to the bowl, which lacks the sign to take one. So, with a devious smirk, the two of us each take a good handful. “There are no kids out anymore, it's too late, so we’re fine to take as much as we like.” I say to justify it as we walk to the next house, “We get one more hour than most blocks, but no one likes their kids out after nine around here.” He nods, and I continue, “But that’s when us, ‘big kids’ can get the rest!” He grins, "More candy for us then!"

It's getting darker as we walk along, almost too dark to see more than what the streetlamp illuminates. I see the next house on our stops doesn't have lights, so I warily step on what I think is the concrete. "Can't see?" Kihyun asks me, and I nod, and he gently places his hand behind my back to steady me. I'm so glad it's dark out now because he can't see my flaming red cheeks as he helps me up the stairs. With his free hand, he rings the doorbell, which causes the porch lights to come on, "A little late for that, huh?" I whisper, which makes him laugh as the elderly couple comes out. “Well, aren’t you two a lovely couple~ It’s so nice seeing you kids grow up!” I nod and don’t say anything because I’m still processing that they called us a couple. Kihyun lets out a thank you as they put a good handful into our bowl before closing the door. And as we make it down the steps with ease, the lights from their porch turn back off. The two of us laugh lightly, and he puts his hand back behind me, and I can't help but melt a little.

"Well, there's one last house we can visit. Since only one of our friends hands out candy." He pouts over at me, "Really? I never noticed that before." I nod with a pout, "Yeah, sadly, Hyunwoo, Minhyuk, Jooheon, and Changkyun like to have parties and not hand out candy. I'm not one for parties, so I hand out candy for the four of us!" He smiles, "That sounds like them, but I wish they would partake in those activities to spread the joy of Halloween a little more." I grin at him, "Eh, it meant I got to spend tonight trick-or-treating with you. So it's not all that bad." If I had any night vision, I could see his red cheeks, but alas, it sucks being mortal. "I've enjoyed trick or treating with you. None of the others would have wanted to do this with me. So, I guess it isn't all that bad." My heart flutters, but I keep it to myself. Minhyuk was right, I like him, but I don't think he meant this way.

"Here's our last stop!" I gesture to Hoseok's house, and he leads us up the walkway and to the door. I ring the doorbell, and as Hoseok opens the door, we go, “Trick or treat!” Hoseok smiles, “Oh! (Y/n)! It’s good to see you again–!” He pauses for a moment when he catches who I’m with, “And… Kihyun? What are you doing here with them?” He says with near venom in his voice, and Kihyun grins at him like he didn’t hear it, “Trick or treating, I’ve never done it before.” Hoseok glares at Kihyun as he hands us some candy, “They’re like family to me, so if I find out you hurt them. I don’t care how powerful you think you are down there. I'll punch you into next week if I can't punch you back down. I don’t mind Hyungwon with them, but you? You're a different subject.” Kihyun nods yet readjusts his posture. As if to square him up, “Did you forget tonight is Halloween? You’re supposed to be making something?” I tilt my head, “I thought you didn’t make beer on the holidays.” That draws them back to me, “Of course not. Beer is for these occasions, not made on these.” Kihyun nods, “Of course.” They glare at each other again before Hoseok wishes me a Happy Halloween, and I wish him one back.

We walk down the stairs carefully, and that's when I start to feel the weight of the bowl and complain a bit about it being heavy. And without a word, Kihyun picks it up and carries it like it’s air in his one hand. While keeping me close to him with the other. The silence starts to grow heavy before I ask, “What did Hoseok mean about you being powerful down there–. I have a feeling he isn’t referencing this quote-on-quote, ‘summer house’ you and Hyungwon have.” He gulps as he looks down at the bowl and over to me. We stop at the crossing, “Well, down there doesn’t reference below the equator, and the ‘summer house’ isn’t exactly a house. It’s uh, a kingdom. And I’m the ruler…” I nod for him to go on as he’s barely explained anything, “Down there is Hell. And Hyungwon is my 2nd hand man, well, demon.” I laugh, “You’ve got to be kidding me! Demons exist in biblical reactions and nightmare-filled tales. You haven’t given me any reasons to believe in either of those. So?” He nods with a grimace, “Yeah, that was my intent. All of ours, actually, you’re the only mortal that’s moved into our cul-de-sac in a millennia. And we’ve kind of been trying to keep you from learning. Hoseok and I slipped up there.” I shake my head, “Okay, this is like a lot to take in if it’s true. Which would mean all of my neighbors--our friends--are some kind of mythical creature?” He sighs, “Let’s start with Hoseok. He’s not just a brewmaster. He’s a witch.” I nod, “Hyun-woo, your friendly gardener neighbor? He’s an elf.” I guffaw, “And I’m a life-sized blueberry! You have to be kidding me.” He shakes his head, “I wish I were. It’s hard for my kind to be honest, but I am telling the truth.”

I shake my head back at him, “I get it, it’s Halloween–” Before I can continue, he says, “No, my dear, please touch the horns on my head.” I roll my eyes but follow along anyway. And they feel rather real, but costumes are more realistic nowadays. He suggests I tug on them, and he lets out a little noise. I realize no one would super glue horns to their head because of the damage that would cause. And I see his tail fidgeting behind him, “So that’s not a really good animatronic?” He shakes his head with a laugh before he raises it and places it in my hand, “This is wild.” I say as I trace my fingers over the point as it all starts to make sense, “You know how Minhyuk hates the sun? And always has to be invited in?” I gasp and drop his tail from my hand, “I always thought he was a vampire. But how can he come over for Sunday morning breakfast?” He smiles, “Hoseok is the greatest potion maker in the world. But it doesn't mean it saves Minhyuk from major burns if he stays outside too long.” I nod, “Ah, so since I’m just a fence away,…” He nods, “So you believe me?” I nod, “It’s not out of the realm of possibility and does make a few things make sense. But why does Hoseok have a problem with me hanging out with you but not with Hyungwon?” He sighs, “I knew that one was coming. As I kind of explained before, he’s my second in command. Although, my powers are slightly drained from being up here and lending him my authority to reign over Hell. It's nothing compared to his loss of power. He's way weaker than me here, making him no threat to a mortal.”

I nod and ask, “So if you’re the devil, why are you being fairly nice and honest?” Since we’re under the streetlamp, I can see all his reactions. And I see a faint blush come across his cheeks as he goes, “I uh… well, you have to be nice and honest to those you wish to court.” It’s my turn to blush as I ask, “Why me?” He smiles, “I’ve known you since you moved in and became friends with mine. They talk to me about you all the time, and I couldn’t help but grow more curious. And from the photos you guys have taken together that I've seen. I’ve found myself growing more enamored. You’re so sweet yet cool. And you never let someone get away with stupid shit. Like egging someone’s house or saving bunny rabbits from the ‘big bad wolf’ that was after them by capturing it. Which, Changkyun wasn’t very fond of, but I found it rather funny.” I gasp, “I wondered why he had cuts on his face for weeks!” He laughs, “That’s what you heard from what I said.” I smirk, “Well, I heard the rest, but I picked the most interesting one.”

He laughs, and I ask, “Still, if everyone is supernatural in our little cul-de-sac. What does that make Jooheon?” He smiles, “A shapeshifter.” I nod, “Oh, that makes sense.” We resume our walk back to my house when he goes, “So, would you let me court you?” “Huh?” “Please?” I smirk, “It’s not often you hear the devil beg. He didn’t even beg for his own life.” “That was my grandfather–” “Oh! Silly me.” He rolls his eyes and I go, “Only if you summon more candy into this bowl.” He squints, “I see how you are. Dirty tricks up your sleeve.” I nod, “Well, might as well ask if it’s possible to receive.” He grins, “Can’t complain with that logic.” And with a snap of his fingers, he summons another bundle of good candy on top. And with that, I go, “I would love for you to court me. I’ll see you tomorrow at 5 pm?” He smirks, “Hell yeah.”

--- Bonus ---

As I’m getting ready for my first date with Kihyun, I hear a quick set of rapping sounds of knocks at my door, and I open it to unveil Minhyuk. “When I said, ‘I know you are going to love him', I didn’t mean you had to go on dates with him!” I laugh, “Minnie– I know! But I think I like him.” He gasps, “Holy fuck.” With another laugh, “I don’t think there is anything holy about it.” His jaw drops at that, and before he can say another word, I go, “Goodbye, Minnie. I’ll see you Sunday for breakfast~.” [Bonus bonus: Hoseok is prepared to throw hands at any given moment if Kihyun hurts you in any way (So are the other five).]

------

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worksinprogress1 · 1 year

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“I know,” he whispered. “I miss him, too.”

The two girls exchanged an awkward look.

“Yeah, but they said that ‘it’s still a felony,’ and ‘I need to learn to respect the rules before I run into someone who won’t let me break them.’ It sucks.”

Nemona spoke up next. “...And Geeta wants to train me up to be the new head champion. Which means I’m leaving the Uva Academy, too. I’m really sorry, Arven.”

“Oh. Well, at least I’ll be able to reach you by flying taxi since you’ll be in Paldea.”

Nemona shared a pained look with Penny. “…She’s starting by taking me to a world championship event in Hoenn. It’ll only be for a few weeks!”

“Great. You’ll finally have some people who can keep up to you. I’ll watch all your matches.”

“You heard it. We’ll keep in touch,” Arven agreed, crossing his arms. “Assuming Penny can go a couple weeks without doing something stupid and getting her phone privileges revoked.”

Penny jabbed his arm. Arven jabbed her back.

Nemona smiled. “You guys are the best! Yeah, let’s keep in touch!”

---

As the flying taxi neared, Nemona could see that it was Geeta. She stood up and ran to it, getting in before it even touched down.

“You got it!.”

“I thought that the tounament didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“Watch them? I want to join them! Let’s get down there,” Nemona replied, already running for the door to their hotel room.

“No,” Geeta said gently, making Nemona stop dead. “I’d like us to watch them from here, where we can discuss what they’re doing. It will be an important lesson for you.”

“Okay.” Nemona sat back down on the bench next to Geeta.

The television displayed the tournament arena. On one side of it, Diantha strode in alongside her gardevoir, mega-evolving it to the audible delight of the crowd. On the other, Cyntha glided down from the bleachers on the back of her garchomp, sliding off of her at the last moment and landing nimbly on her feet as the creature took her position in the ring.