#means more money for food and karaoke. wins all around.

[equalseleventhirds]

with my graduation approaching, more and more ppl are learning that i'm gonna graduate and then asking if i'm gonna walk, and then, upon learning i will not, asking why.

and i was contemplating reasons but u kno what it boils down to?

there won't even be free food.

do u expect that i, very nearly 32 years old and terrified of my future, will actively wish to pay for a cap and gown, leave my house and go all the way to the graduation venue, sit through long speeches about the future and what it means to become an adult, and then have to join a long line of ppl walking across a stage to shake some guy's hand,

when there won't even be free food?

c'mon.

[kokujin-josei-simmer]

Been playing Judgment, I'm looking forward to playing the sequel, Lost Judgment.

One thing that bothers me about the game, the ages of some of the potential girlfriends the main character (Yagami, white t-shirt, leather jacket) can date. The first is a teenager, Sana. She's only 19, Yagami is 35 and my character ain't dating no teenager. Fortunately, you can decline a relationship with them, which I did. Later on in the game Yagami meets a new woman, Nanami, who is more age appropriate. Nanami (she's 29) is in the 3rd to last pic, meeting up with Yagami.

One cool (sometimes annoying though) aspect of the game is tailing people *4th and 5th pics are Yagami tailing someone involved with a married man*. Yagami is a former lawyer who now runs his own detective agency and some of the jobs involve a client tracking someone's movement (usually a wife/husband suspecting their spouse might be cheating), so you tail them from point A to point B. Sometimes disguised, but most of the time not. Whenever infidelity is a possibility, Yagami will take pics of the parties entering/leaving love hotels as proof to show his clients. At times it is annoying because a few are paranoid, some will backtrack and spot you so you have to find the nearest corner/sign/car to duck behind, but overall it's fun.

The city (Kamurocho) is interesting and entertaining as usual (if you played Yakuza and/or Like A Dragon then you already know the city) since you can walk around/take pics and/or selfies, eat at various restaurants/cafes, go drinking and/or play darts at a bar, shop at a Poppo conbini (convenience store) for bento/snacks/drinks/cigarettes/cat food, buy gifts for the woman you're dating from Le Marche, and/or play games at the Sega arcade locations or a more traditional game like Shogi (or go to the underground gambling den for poker and blackjack).

Yagami can take part in drone races, too, since part of his job as a detective is using a drone to track/find someone *or a cat lol*, so you can use your drone for fun as well *can customize it too*.

Unlike the Yakuza/LAD games, there seems to be no karaoke or hostess clubs Yagami can patronize. Hostess clubs seem more Yakuza anyway, but I'm a little disappointed that I can't have Yagami and Kaito spend some afternoons singing cheesy songs at the local karaoke joint 😂

The last pic is Yagami playing a VR game, you win prizes which are automatically converted into money. The Poppo conbini clerk is Dwayne Cruise (yeah, you can tell they just randomly came up with a name that sounded Western lol), one of many characters in the city you can befriend. I think I might be getting addicted to the VR game lol!

I also like the fact that your character has a home (similar to the Yakuza/LAD games), they can go and rest up/sleep, listen to music (which also heals you if you didn't eat/drink anything) and decorate the place too. Yagami's home is actually his office, so he'll bring/invite clients there to discuss any potential jobs they have or side jobs will automatically be posted on the board once Yagami meets the requirements to unlock them. The law office Yagami used to work at as a lawyer, Bar Tender and roaming around the city is where you'll come across more side jobs. I also like the fact that once you befriend the landlady, she'll occasionally leave meals in the fridge for Yagami.

The absolute worst part of this game though is the "Threat Level" meaning gang activity will be at an all-time high, with 2 gang leaders showing up in 2 spots (usually the same area) for a period of time. It goes down quickly if you defeat one or both of them.

It's annoying because it happens after about an hour in-game, you always get a text from Kim (Korean restaurant owner you helped protect from the gang earlier in the game) warning you about them right. You can ignore it, but Kim texts you trying to shame you for ignoring it. Also, you don't get any money and very little experience points (called SP in the game that you spend to gain new abilities/level up) so it's not worth it beyond the ingredients Kim mails to you after you defeat at least one of those leaders. Normally after I defeat one, the weaker one lol, threat level goes from 98%-100% to 45%-50% then I just run to a bar (that's part of the main story, someone was murdered there so it's empty) and just hang out there or in the back of the bar if I wanna hear music from a nearby club lol until the threat level disappears.

From what I've read there's no way to stop it, even after you beat the game it will continue popping up.

I'm assuming there were a lot of complaints about it because they didn't add it to the sequel.

[theasstour]

𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄 | 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 𝟐𝟎.𝟐𝐤 𝐍𝐁: 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐡𝐨𝐥, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭

A/N: Thank you so incredibly much to each one of you angels who voted for ST in the 1D Craft Awards 🥺 You continue to take my breath away with all your kindness, support and love 🐚🌊✨ ENJOYYY CHAPTER 7! x

Saturday, 25 July

The phone vibrated against the wooden table, jolting Y/N out of her focus. She blinked a few times, looking over at Fatima who turned the timer off and looked at Y/N with expectant eyes. Y/N shook her head and Fatima’s face visibly fell.

“What you mean?”

“I didn’t finish, did I?” Y/N groaned, running her hands over her face, hiding it from view for a few seconds before she sat back in her chair and looked at her laptop in front of her. The two were sitting at Olive’s Café on Island Square, seated on lime green chairs outside, the morning sun beating down on them as each of them tried to do work; Fatima looking through the curriculum she was going to teach this coming year, and Y/N doing her UCAT work. Fatima was a teacher for fourth graders, so she knew how to make things easy to understand, how to pull things apart and study properly. When Fatima had suggested that the two of them take a day together to just study, Y/N had jumped at the opportunity. Now, they had met to do exactly this a few days in a row and Y/N was really starting to feel the effects.

The thought of the UCAT exam coming closer and closer made her want to hurl. September 10th didn’t seem that far away anymore, something that absolutely terrified Y/N. Not only did she need to be out of St Ives by then, leaving her entire life and friends here behind, but she didn’t know where she’d even be. Would she even have enough money? Would she still be in Cornwall? Would she have crawled with her tail between her legs back to Winchester, asking for forgiveness for leaving them all behind?

Fatima pursed her lips, tapping her pen against the top of Y/N’s laptop. “Is it ‘cause you’re stressing too much?”

“Probs.”

“It’s hard not to when it’s important to you.”

Y/N sighed heavily, nodding her head in agreement. “This practice exam… well, it was hard.”

“They usually are, the practice exams,” Fatima explained. “Not necessarily so to scare you, more so that you’ll be aware that this will be hard, but the actual exam isn’t that bad. They never are.”

Y/N gave Fatima a little smile. “Taken the UCAT before?”

“Obvs, I’m the smartest bitch in all of the UK, if not Europe.”

Y/N laughed, quickly sighing again as she looked down at her laptop again. This was the first practice exam she had ever taken; Fatima had timed her to see if she’d make it in the estimated time it took to complete the UCAT, but Y/N hadn’t managed to. She supposed she still had a lot of time to study and prepare herself, but it still made her feel like all her studying had been for absolutely nothing. One failure, even if it didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, always seemed like the most important thing in the world. How had the world not shifted? How was not everyone around her crying like she felt she should be doing?

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Y/N. I promise you’ll be fine.”

She nodded, knowing deep down that Fatima was right. The universe would balance itself out eventually, everything would be alright in the end even if her current world was crumbling right before her eyes. Maybe she was just being dramatic, maybe it wasn’t that deep and she had just not been focused enough, but Y/N felt like giving up now.

“When I feel like I’m failing at life,” Fatima started, sitting up a bit straighter in her seat. “I pick up a pillow and I just scream into it.”

Y/N blinked.

Fatima grinned.

“You just scream? How?”

“Just like you’d normally scream,” Fatima chuckled, demonstrating by pretending to pick up a pillow, burying her face in it, and silently screaming. “And after that, I feel better.”

“Like a proper scream?”

“Like you’re being chased down the street by a man in a clown costume holding an axe.”

Y/N smiled, shaking her head some. “I’ll do that when I get back to the Inn. Immediately.”

Fatima laughed just as someone came up beside them, asking the man sitting beside them if the chair opposite him was taken. When the tiny, short-haired blonde sat down beside them, she beamed from ear to ear. There was something about Ellie’s presence that just made everything better. She was so round, so small, so joyous all the time that it felt wrong to be in a sulky mood when she was around.

“I heard you’re studying,” Ellie said, perching her yellow sunglasses on the top of her head. “And by the looks of it-“ Ellie mimicked what Fatima had just done with the scream. “-It’s not going so well.”

“Y/N’s studying for that dentist test and she tried one of them practice exams, didn’t go so well.”

“Aww.” Ellie pouted. “I’ll buy you a cupcake to cheer you up. I always eat tons when I’m sad, especially sweets. Especially, especially cupcakes.”

“Thanks for the offer, but-“

“-Ima, you want a cupcake as well?” Ellie put her purse down on her chair as she got up, holding onto her card. “Or a new iced latte?”

Fatima brought a hand to her chin, pretending to think about it, making exaggerated thinking noises till Ellie blurted a “today!” that made Fatima chuckle and say, “Both please, babe.”

Ellie smiled. “Girls, you know what I think we should do after this?” She waited for a few seconds for either of them to say something, but when they didn’t Ellie went on. “Go to the beach! You can’t be sad when you’re at the beach! We’ll sunbathe, have a bit of a swim, and then go for a Cheeky V at the pub after.”

Fatima smiled a little, looking at Y/N to see if she’d be into that.

Though all Y/N wanted to do was go back to the Inn and scream into her pillow, she smiled up at Ellie. “Yeah, why not? Have a bit of a girls day.”

“Oh, my gosh, that’s exactly what it is as well,” Ellie gasped, grinning from ear to ear. “BRB, ladies, I’m getting us something sweet.” Ellie was off into Olive’s Café greeting an acquaintance loudly before she went over to talk to them. Fatima only shook her head some, turning back to the book in front of her.

“You’ll figure it out, Y/N.”

“The UCAT?” she asked, looking at her laptop again, feeling her stomach drop at the sight of the practice exam again.

“Everything,” Fatima answered with so much conviction that for a moment, Y/N almost believed her.

“Alright, crew,” Dax called as they pulled into the farm, its lush and green landscape opening up around them. “Just warning you now, I’m gonna absolutely crush you tonight. I go for the title of champion even if it means I’m gonna have to lose some friends.”

“Sad, that,” Fatima sighed. “Seeing as you’ve never won before, what makes you think you’re gonna win this year?”

Amir turned to look at them from where he sat shotgun. “Dax, you may try to win, but we all know the former singer and frontman of Astronaut Lions will go home champion tonight.”

“You are a terrible singer, Amir. Dunno why we let you even sing,” Jo groaned.

“’Cause I’ve got a silky-smooth, delicious, fantastic-“

“-Shut up, mate!” Ellie groaned, making Jo laugh and give her a high five.

Harry stopped his van, killing the engine before Dax got up and opened the door for everything in the backseats. Y/N made sure no one could see her bum as she descended from the car, keeping her hands by her buttocks to keep her pleated lilac skirt from showing too much of her skin. She put her purse on her shoulder, letting it hang over her white crop cardigan. Music could be heard from the large barn, some awful singing streamed out from the open entrance as people walked out, laughing and carrying empty plates. The farm was just as beautiful as Y/N remembered it, now smelling of delicious barbeque and sounding of hens, chatter, and the occasional failed high-note. The karaoke night seemed to be under full way, the courtyard brimming with people, the same went for the inside of the barn it seemed.

Y/N, Fatima and Ellie fell into step beside one another as they walked over to the gate, Harry opening it for the rest, gesturing for them to walk in before him. When Y/N reached him last he gave her a little smile, eyes falling to the gravel under his feet.

“Harry!” Grace yelled, running from the grill where Uncle Tim, Jessa, and lolo stood looking at the food. “Harry, Harry, Harry!”

“There she is!” Harry bent down as Grace came running, wrapping his arms around her and spinning her around, her feet dangling in the air.

“Alright, Mr Flores?” Dax asked as he walked up to the grill, putting a hand on lolo’s shoulder. Lolo grinned up at Dax, saying something that Y/N didn’t catch as Amir let out a loud groan hitting his chest with both hands.

“Let’s go! Gonna belt Material Girl in approximately five minutes, everyone come watch to have your life changed!” Amir ran into the barn, shouting something as he met a few familiar faces inside.

“After a few pints he’ll try Gentleman,” Fatima sighed. “Someone should cover Gracie’s ears then.”

“That SL song?” Jo asked. “Nah, he better do Wiley Flow, or else I’m gonna have to challenge him to a rap battle.”

“Amir’s got no chance of keeping up with any of Stormzy’s songs,” Ellie pointed out matter-of-factly, scrunching up her nose. “Anyway,” Ellie stopped Jo before they started talking. “We’re doing Sugababes, yeah? About You Now?”

“Obvs!” Fatima exclaimed, offended that Ellie might’ve thought otherwise. “And Y/N’s joining us.”

“Oh!” Y/N raised her eyebrows, chuckling a little as Fatima wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard a Sugababes song.”

“They’re immense, aren’t they?” Ellie grinned. “I used to listen to Push The Button on repeat when I was like 12.”

“Was more of a Too Lost in You type of girl,” Y/N said, making Fatima gasp and Ellie bring a hand up to her chest.

“We’re doing Too Lost in You!” Ellie clapped her hands frantically. “Oh, my life! Legendary!”

“Of course,” Fatima smiled. “You wanna sing, yeah?”

“Let me down three ciders and I’ll be good to go.”

Jo laughed, gesturing for Y/N to follow them over to the main house where the four of them helped themselves to something to drink. Y/N glanced out of the kitchen window at the Styles-Flores family where they stood by the grill, sipping her cider. Grace sat on Harry’s shoulders, hands in his hair as she giggled at something. Harry had both his hands wrapped around his little sister’s ankles, holding her in place. Jessa was grinning at the two while Uncle Tim stood talking by the grill, asking lolo if what he was doing was alright, not having grilled this specific type of Filipino dish before. Dax stood chatting to one of Harry’s aunts, if it was Rachel or Abby, Y/N could not for the life of herself remember, but she noticed Harry’s aunt’s kids running around the grill, shouting at one another and laughing.

Y/N had never experienced a dynamic like this before. This family was so welcome, so big, so loving, and it made her happy to just watch them and know that, for a split second in time, she had been part of it. Maybe not a real part of it because this was not her family after all, but she had been touched by their warmth and been their guest for a time being. She would forever be grateful for that. Love tasted like Jessa’s lumpia, radiated like lolo’s approving smile, smelled like Grace’s hair after she had been out plucking wildflowers, and felt like Harry’s arms wrapped around her. Nothing would ever be quite like this.

“Let’s go to the barn,” Ellie said.

“I’ll just go say hi to Jessa,” Y/N announced, giving them all a smile before she walked outside and over to the grill where everyone was standing.

“Y/N!” Jessa exclaimed, opening her arms for her. Y/N grinned, walking over and doing the mano po on both Jessa and lolo. “How have you been? Don’t feel like I’ve seen you in ages.” Jessa swatted Harry’s arm, making him flinch away. “He’s keeping you all to himself, isn’t he?”

“I’ve been busy, nanay!” Harry said, furrowing his brows at his step-mum.

“Karaoke is huge in the Philippines,” Jessa explained, as she linked her arm with Y/N’s bringing her over to the grill where lolo and Tim were standing. “It is an understatement to say that Filipinos love karaoke, I daresay. Almost every Filipino home has a karaoke machine, Harry’s dad bought ours when we first moved here, but we put it out in the barn ‘cause we don’t really use it unless there’s a karaoke night, like tonight.”

“How nice, this is a tradition then? Each summer?”

“Yeah, we have a karaoke barbeque night every summer, everyone’s invited!” Jessa beamed. “It’s a fantastic way to just relax, forget about everything for a little while, belt your heart out to some of your favourite songs.”

Y/N smiled, eyes landing on the grill.

“Alright, Y/N?” Tim asked, smiling at her. “We made some tempeh for you, some Filipino barbeque sauce on it that’s out of this world. Not surprised, though, when Jessa made it.”

“Oh!” Jessa waved her hand as if to dismiss the compliment, but squeezed his shoulder. “I’m excited to see what you think. It was either tempeh or baos, thought you might like this a bit more.”

Y/N took a plate and a fork and watched as Tim put some food on her plate, thanking him once it was done. She picked up the tempeh and blew on it before she took a bite out of it, chewing it thoroughly and smiling at Jessa after swallowing.

“That’s brilliant.”

“Ahh! You think?” Jessa grinned, looking from Tim and back to Y/N, then at lolo. “Amá, Y/N liked the tempeh we made.”

Lolo smiled at Y/N and looked at her plate, nodding slowly. “You have to come and make some food with us once. You are part of the family now; we can show you our secret recipes.”

Y/N chuckled some before swallowing her bite of tempeh. “Wouldn’t say I’m part of the family, but thank you-“

“-Nonsense!” Jessa exclaimed, shaking her head furiously. “You are here, you’re making Harry happy, and since you’ve come to St Ives, the world’s been a brighter place. You’re where you need to be.”

For some reason, Y/N couldn’t quite believe what Jessa was saying. She knew it was coming from a good place, that she meant that it was nice to have Y/N there, but her family was in Winchester, she couldn’t possibly come into a new one and then ruin that one as well. This family she was visiting in St Ives would do just fine without her when she left in August. No one would miss her once she had been gone for a week, that was just a fact. Y/N was so bloody lost, she did not know what to do once her and Harry “broke up”, but she knew she would not disappoint and make any of the people around her sad, she refused.

Instead, Y/N smiled as she took the last bite of the tempeh, chewing and swallowing before she said. “Harry said something about an end of summer party.”

“Yes! I wanted to talk to you about that! Because, on the topic of food,” Jessa smiled back. “If you could give me some of your favourite vegetarian dishes, I’d love to make them for you! It would be amazing for many others to try something new as well.”

“I’d be more than happy to help out,” Y/N said, looking over at Grace as she sat on Dax’s back, the blonde man running around in circles as Harry ran after them, growling and acting like a disformed monster of sorts. She smiled a little at the sight, he looked absolutely ridiculous. How was he still cute? “I’ll bring the veggie food and I’ll show you how to make those, and then you show me how to make some Filipino dishes as well.”

Jessa placed a hand over her heart, beaming at Y/N. “You are an absolute treasure, me lover.”

Y/N smiled, eating some more of the tempeh. “When should I come and help out?”

“Are you free Tuesday?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any plans as of now.”

“Great! Harry will drive you here then. It’ll just be me, amá, Gracie, and Harry, and now you.” Jessa put her hand on Y/N’s arm, squeezing her lovingly before she turned to answer a question Tim asked her about the food he was currently grilling.

Y/N looked in the direction of Harry, Dax and Grace again, now walking towards the house. Jessa must have noticed Y/N staring in their direction because she linked her arm through Y/N’s and the two walked in the direction of the house as well.

“There’s more food inside,” she explained, grinning from ear to ear. “We do grill a lot, but Tim’s not really the best with the grill and he always insists on grilling at these gatherings, I don’t really have the heart to tell him no.” Jessa led Y/N into the dining room where she remembered all the food had been served at Grace’s birthday party. Again, casserole upon casserole stood spread over the dining table, covering it completely. Most of the dishes were all dug into, some almost completely wiped from the casseroles.

“Here,” Jessa said as she led Y/N over to the table. “I made your lumpia, there’s a few other vegetarian options as well.”

The fact that Jessa thought of this, thought of Y/N’s preference and made life a little easier for her, was so greatly appreciated that it nearly brought tears to Y/N’s eyes.

“This is biko,” Jessa explained, pointing to a casserole filled with banana leaves, a brown dish resting in it. “It’s a rice cake made from malagkit, or sticky rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar. Like other rice cakes, it is referred to as kakanin, taken from the word kanin which means rice, and is often eaten as a dessert or meryenda, meaning a mid-afternoon snack.”

“It looks lovely,” Y/N said, reaching for the spoon to get herself a slice before it was all eaten up. “Know we’re probably not set for dessert just yet, but I might just need some.”

Jessa laughed, smiling as Y/N took a bite of the biko. “What do you reckon, darling?”

“Heavenly, Jessa.”

Jessa clapped her hands together in delight, grinning from ear to ear as Y/N went in for another bite. “You have to try the buko pie next.”

“Which one’s that?”

Jessa pointed to a golden pie, not waiting for any sort of reply before cutting Y/N a small piece, placing it on Y/N’s plate. “It’s a sweet and rich pie made from young coconut meat.”

“Oh?”

“Buko pies are mostly sold in southern parts of Luzon in the Philippines. There’s this specific store down there called Collette’s that serves the best buko pie. I will never be able to replicate it, but I will try my hardest, every time I make a buko pie,” Jessa smiled. “We need to take you to Luzon, Y/N, you’d love it. Once we’ve saved up and all that.”

“This is the best buko pie I’ve ever tasted at least,” Y/N said, and Jessa laughed again looking out through the window only to sigh deeply.

“I need to go out there, it seems Tim is struggling and amá cannot be asked to help him out.” Jessa sprinted out, shouting something at Tim that Y/N didn’t catch but by the look on all the relatives standing around and Tim’s face, it couldn’t have been good. Y/N smiled a little, eating the rest of her pie before she realised she heard music. This wasn’t the type streaming out from the barn, this was coming from inside the house. And it was coming from the piano.

Y/N walked into the kitchen and placed her now empty plate on the kitchen counter before walking over to the dining room again, walking over to the doorway leading into the living room. With Grace on his lap, Harry was sitting by the piano, playing a tune Y/N had never heard before. It was both hopeful and very sad, unlike anything Y/N had ever heard before. There was no note sheet in front of him as he played, his eyes were only on the keys in front of him. Grace sometimes leaned forward and pressed a key she wasn’t supposed to, looking up at Harry while she giggled before leaning into him again, listening to the rest of the song.

“Can you play that other one?” Grace asked as Harry continued to play.

“What other one? There are quite a few, Gracie.”

“She means the one about me,” Dax grinned, standing beside the piano with his arms crossed, a massive grin on his face. “Go on, Hazza. Play that one inspired by Sexy Back.”

“Watch your mouth,” Harry hissed through gritted teeth, making his best friend laugh.

“Noooo!” Grace laughed. “The one you wrote after you, me and Y/N went to St Austell. The one about that trip.”

“Ahh, haven’t heard that one before,” Dax said, walking over to sit on the sofa beside the piano, watching the two siblings as they settled in again. Grace pressed one of the keys, looking up at Harry who smiled down at her and shook his head. He took her hand, bringing her finger over to the correct starting note, pressing it down for a long while so she’d get the feel of it. Then, he brought her to the next one, slowly playing the melody out before Grace motioned for Harry to take over for her.

What Harry produced just pressing a couple of keys at just the right moment was so breath-taking that Y/N almost felt dizzy. There was something to this melody that words weren’t ready to properly convey yet, something that was too powerful for a simple human brain to comprehend. Y/N understood why Harry wrote songs now. This melody captured that day perfectly. Her heart knew that melody. It had played that melody itself that day; it had been there with Harry while he came up with it as well.

She was thrown back to walking along St Austell, spending the day in the sunshine with two people that she had come to care so incredibly much for. Thrown back to standing side by side with Harry, talking about music, walking along the market, eating ice cream, laughing till her sides hurt. A lump suddenly appeared in her throat.

“What the fuc-“

“-Dax,” Harry said, stopping immediately. “No.”

“I’ve heard that word before, Harry,” Grace said.

“What, when?!”

“Harry, that was insane,” Dax said, grinning as he stood up from the sofa again. Before Y/N could be noticed, she stepped away from the doorway and walked outside again, feeling every inch of her chest hurting.

“Y/N!” Jo called. “Come in here!” They stood by the grill with a plate filled with food, waving her over so the two of them could walk in together.

She grinned over at Jo as she made her way over, them walking in the direction of the barn together. She waved at people she recognised – Florence from Bessie’s knitting club and Dax’s mum, was one of them. The inside of the barn was decorated with plenty of fairylights, giving the old interior a yellowish and homely glow resembling candlelight. There were small tables and chairs all around so people could sit down to eat, drink, and chat, while a huge screen was positioned by the furthest wall, two microphones attached to what looked to be a high quality karaoke machine of sorts. Jo showed the way and they sat down with the rest, it didn’t take long for Harry, Dax, and Grace to join them. Y/N got out of her chair and tapped Grace on the shoulder.

“Haven’t gotten a hug yet,” Y/N said and Grace jumped off the ground, throwing her arms around Y/N’s neck. She laughed, hugging the little girl to her for a few heavenly seconds before she stepped away. “You look nice today.”

“Nanay told me not to spill anything on it,” Grace said as she gestured at her pink, sparkly dress. “I told her I can’t promise that.”

Y/N chuckled. “You’re doing well so far, I’d say.”

“Thank you!” Grace beamed. “Anyway, Harry’s drinking that drink that makes his breath smell awful.”

“Gracie,” Harry warned from where he now sat beside Ellie, but the little girl did not appear to want to hear what he had to say.

“How can you kiss someone with bad breath, Y/N?” Grace asked and Y/N’s heart dropped at little as she thought about kissing Harry again. How they weren’t going to kiss again. How she wanted to kiss him, but not because they were fake dating. It took everything in Y/N not to look in Harry’s direction, because, judging by his little utterance of his sister’s name before, she knew he must’ve heard this as well.

“You don’t care if they’ve got bad breath if you really want to kiss them,” Y/N answered, giving Grace a smile.

Grace grimaced. “I would never kiss someone if their breath stank.”

“Don’t talk about kissing, you’re seven,” Harry said, sipping his pint.

Y/N raised her eyebrows at Grace and Grace did the same back. At Grace’s instructions, Y/N sat down in her seat so Grace could sit in her lap. Grace watched the people singing intently, sometimes singing along and nodding her head along to the music like she couldn’t help it. It was impossible not to smile at the sight of it, Y/N simply cared for this little creature so much it was hard for her to fully comprehend it. Grace, though young and Harry’s little sister, was the closest thing Y/N had ever come to a sister. They didn’t have a deep connection through thoughtful conversation, but they just understood and went along. There was an emotional and meaningful connection that, though not talked about, had appeared because they enjoyed and appreciated each other’s company.

Grace ran over to a nearby table to get herself some water, leaving Y/N sitting in the chair alone, her lap feeling oddly cold. On the other side of the table, Amir was talking loudly over the karaoke battle that had just begun.

“When I go back up to London for work in two weeks’ time, I feel like I’m just gonna make a right fool of myself, yeah? Normally takes a week for me to turn my weird off after I’ve been home.”

“Gonna be weird when you and Jo are off again,” Ellie said. “Why do you two have to work in London? Why can’t you just stay in St Ives?”

“Bit liberating to leave this place for another one every once in a while, not gonna lie,” Jo admitted, sipping their beer.

“Makes you realise all you’ve missed,” Fatima nodded. “Was the same when I came home for uni breaks, now I’m just really happy I ended up here. Might be underpaid as a teacher, but-“ Fatima shrugged her shoulders. “-I love living and working here, it’s home, after all.”

Y/N hated that she had never experienced that feeling; of coming back to something you had missed. Of coming home.

“Bum that,” Dax said. “I want my mates home at all times! I don’t care you’ve got a job!”

Y/N chuckled, the conversation around them commencing as she looked down at the table, picking at a stain on the table. Grace came back just then, but she didn’t get to sit down before Dax said her name.

“Wanna go up and sing your heart out?”

Grace squealed and took Harry’s hand. Harry downed the rest of his beer and stood up, walking with Grace, Dax, and Amir up to the karaoke machine. Y/N rested her chin in her hand, smiling as she watched the four of them discuss what song to do. It had to be an easy one that Grace already knew, it might be hard to find the correct one. They took some time to decide, but suddenly, the drums to a song Y/N recognised from Harry’s favourite’s playlist started playing. She remembered how Grace really loved that playlist.

“Uptown girl,” Grace sang into the microphone as she perched on Harry’s hip, sharing microphone’s with him. “She’s been living in her uptown world.”

Dax and Amir joined in as well, singing along with Grace who was still unsure of the lyrics but tried to read them as best she could on the screen in front of them. Harry moved them to the music, Dax throwing an arm around Amir’s shoulders as they started singing their hearts out. It was simply impossible not to smile as you watched the four of them, dancing and singing along to Billy Joel’s song.

“God,” Fatima sighed as she scooched her chair closer to Y/N’s. “I wish someone looked at me the way Harry looks at you.”

Y/N halted a little at Fatima’s words, looking in her direction as Amir, Dax, and Grace sang “And now she’s looking for her downtown man, that’s what I am”.

“Pardon?”

Fatima grinned. “Oh, you know-“ She placed her chin in her head, looking off into the distance with exaggerated doe eyes, a dreamy look on her face. For a split second, Y/N’s heart seemed to lurch out of her chest. Harry… Harry looked at her like that? He glanced at her? Surely, Fatima was not being serious and she had simply caught Harry smiling at Grace when she sat in Y/N’s lap.

Y/N laughed. “You’re taking the mick, that’s not how he looks at me.”

“Wouldn’t know, would you? Always happens when you’re not looking.”

“Harry,” Grace said, not even bothering to hold the microphone away as she spoke to him in the middle of the song. “You need to sing, the song’s for Y/N, remember?”

Y/N glanced beyond Fatima and at the group in front of the screen, a rush of adrenaline streaming through her veins. Laughter could be heard throughout the room at Grace’s words, many turning in Y/N’s direction to look at her, all with smiles and curious looks on their faces. At once, Y/N’s face seemed to be too hot for its own good. She bit her bottom lip, continued to watch the gang, ignoring the heat in her cheeks.

Harry seemed to take a deep breath before he started singing with Amir and Dax, both of them doing a miserable job of doing the song any sort of justice. Neither were impressive singers, but Y/N knew Harry was.

“Uptown girl, you know I can’t afford to buy her pearls,” Harry sang, voice so effortlessly breath-taking that Y/N felt like she was doing a pretty good job of imitating the dreamy look Fatima had demonstrated earlier. “But maybe someday when my ship comes in, she’ll understand what kind of guy I’ve been, and then I’ll win.”

Grace joined in then, wrapping her arm around Harry’s shoulder and leaning her head against his. They all continued to sing along to the song, Y/N not paying any sort of attention to the conversation between Fatima, Ellie, and Jo. She watched as the four of them cheered once they were done singing, bowing to the small applause they got before returning to the table.

“I need to go tell nanay!” Grace shouted, running off outside to Jessa and the rest of the family.

Y/N smiled at Harry as he came back, getting a tight-lipped smile back before he picked up his, Dax’s, Amir’s and Jo’s empty beer cans, walking over to get them all a new round. Grace came back with Halo Halo, placing herself on Y/N’s lap as the two ate, talking non-stop. The little one disappeared after a little while, Y/N suspected it was because it was getting rather late. As the night went on, Y/N realised that the only two that would be able to stand by the end of the night were her and Fatima. The others got very drunk, talking loudly about everything insignificant and nothing they would remember in the morning. Harry kept looking at the watch on his wrist, clearly making sure that they got back to his at a good hour so he could report at 3am. When Harry’s speech got a bit more slurred and his eyes a wee hooded, Y/N started looking out for him. Using the time on her phone, she kept an eye out, making sure that Harry returned to his cottage before then so he could sleep off most of his intoxication.

Talking amongst themselves as the rest chatted loudly, Fatima and Y/N agreed that Fatima would be the one to drive everyone home. It would be easier to drop Harry off last as this was his van, and Fatima didn’t live too far away from the lighthouse, the two then decided Y/N would sleep at her place that night, it would be nice just being the two of them. She loved how closed she was getting to Fatima and Ellie. There hadn’t really been a time before when she had made proper good friends, but everyone around that table were currently climbing very fast and very high up on her list of favourite people in the entire world. She genuinely appreciated Fatima’s help with the UCAT reading earlier that week, it had really helped her along, even though the result hadn’t been the best. That was Y/N’s fault though, not Fatima’s teaching skills.

At one point, Dax got all of them up from the table, bringing them over to the screen, telling them over and over again how they needed to do this. Y/N was unsure if they really did, but she didn’t bother telling a very drunk Dax that as he handed out microphones, telling people to share. Y/N scooted up next to Ellie, watching Harry as he put an arm around Jo’s shoulder, patting them as the two of them along with Amir watched Dax search for the song.

“We need to know what song we’re gonna embarrass ourselves to,” Amir exclaimed as Dax was taking his time typing.

“I’m not about to do a Union J song, mate,” Ellie said.

“Alright, I liked one of their songs ten years ago, Ellie!” Dax looked over his shoulder at her, a deep furrow to his brow. “Carry You is a belter!”

“It’s not.”

“Jo, back me up here,” Dax said, turning back to write something into the laptop standing there.

“Dax… don’t make us sing Union J or The Wanted or JLS or anything like that, we don’t need that,” Jo sighed.

“The fact you’re embarrassed about our boyband period in 2013 hurts.” Dax glared at Jo.

“Right, then, what’s the song we’re singing?” Harry shot in, nodding at the laptop again. “We’re just standing here lookin’ stupid now.”

“Looking stupid?” Amir tutted, shaking his head. “Couldn’t be me, mate. Model material, this is. Look like I’m straight off the runway.” He gestured at his body and Fatima feigned throwing up, making the five drunks howl with laughter.

“Ultraviolet, Stiff Dylans.”

Y/N gasped at Dax’s words, bringing her hand up to her chest as the others around just looked at her, afraid something had happened. She grinned at Dax. “That used to be my favourite song!”

This seemed to be shocking news to absolutely everyone.

“What?” Y/N raised her eyebrows. “Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging was revolutionary.”

“Too right,” Harry said. “But… were you…” He blinked a few times. “Were you even allowed to watch it? Not a film I reckon would’ve been allowed in your house.”

Y/N shrugged her shoulders. “What can I say, I used to be a rebel.”

“Yes, Y/N!” Dax grinned, giving Y/N a high five. “Now, bum God Save the Queen, this is Britain’s national anthem! Someone record this, history in the making!”

The familiar music started up and Y/N was taken back to a time when she had a massive crush on Aaron Taylor-Johnson, hiding her obsession with this film from her parents, and listening to this song on repeat. The whole gang started singing, Amir doing a horrible job of keeping up with everyone else, but it was fun to watch him get annoyed with himself for not getting it right. Involuntarily, Y/N’s eyes fell on Harry. He was singing his heart out, sounding better than everyone else, but in his drunken state he seemed to have forgotten some of the lyrics. However, everyone knew the song and it felt very good to be with people she adored, singing a song all of them knew and loved, together. She felt part of something bigger than herself in that moment.

Maybe that was why she did it. Because, looking back, Y/N did not quite know what came over her in that moment, but she loved herself for it. As the song started nearing the end, Y/N took the microphone out of Ellie’s hands and started singing at the top of her lungs, taking absolutely everyone by surprise but she did not care. Ellie started laughing and the rest joined in again towards the end, matching Y/N’s volume.

As she turned around after the song, grinning from ear to ear as she glanced at her friends, basking in their applause and cheers, she caught Harry’s eye. That crooked smile of his was on his face along with a look she wasn’t sure she had ever really seen before, maybe only once. Amusement tangled up with adoration, forming a sort of emotion that had yet to be given a word; someone on the cusp of surrendering themselves completely to the overpowering concept of love, yet still holding back in fear of the unrequited. As soon as their eyes met, Harry looked away, scratching at the back of his neck as he walked back over to their table, everyone following suit.

The time came for them all to leave and Harry gave Y/N the car keys, claiming that he was not fit to drive, though she had not needed him to tell her that. Y/N gave them over to Fatima and all of them made their way over to the van. The night sky was black, brimming with glinting stars and the moon hanging big and yellow over Cornwall, wishing them all a good night. Y/N walked over to Jessa and thanked her for her hospitality, asking her where lolo and Grace were. She explained they’d gone to bed a long time ago, lolo had probably read Grace a bedtime story and fallen asleep himself, he sometimes did that when he stayed the night at the farm.

Y/N ran over to the van, opening the passenger door to see Amir sitting there, a bag in front of him in case he should throw up on the way home. He gave Y/N a peace sign before she closed the door and opened the door into the backseats.

“There you are,” Jo said through a yawn. “Let’s go, Ima.”

“Y/N!” Harry called from further back in the van, making Dax groan and mumble a “shut up, mate” that Harry did not hear. “Y/N! My flower! Come back here, I saved us the whole back backseat!”

Y/N glanced in Fatima’s direction, only to see her friend raise her eyebrows at her, nodding her head. “He made a big fuss.”

“Y/N, come here, I want to tell you something,” Harry said, words slurring a bit. Y/N stepped into the van properly, closing the door behind her before she walked back to Harry, sitting down in the seat right beside him by the window, even though there were three seats in the far back of the car. The car jolted a little as Fatima started driving, steering the car up the gravel round and towards the centre of St Ives.

“What’d you wanna say?” Y/N asked Harry in a hushed voice, hoping he’d mimic her.

“I… I wanted to say something that’s been on my mind for a while now,” he said, whispering back to her, his face mere centimetres from her own. She felt hot all over, adoring their close proximity but also remembering the rule they had made some days ago. As they drove by the white fluorescent streetlights, Harry’s face lit up for a few seconds, making him appear almost angelic. “I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Okay.”

“It’s got to do with you.”

“Figured as much.”

Harry giggled, looking down at his hands where they rested between his legs, sliding his thumb along his other. “You’re very smart.”

“Thank you.”

“Smartest person I know.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the compliment. “I doubt that.”

He pursed his lips as he thought. “You do that a lot.”

“What?”

“Doubt yourself.” He stared back at her, moving a little closer so their sides were flush against one another. “I think you’re great. I’ve never doubted you.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say as the world around them seemed to disappear completely. For a single moment, it looked like he was going to tilt his head to the side, almost as if he were getting ready to study her like he had done at Porthgwidden. He stopped himself, staring back at his hands.

“I don’t have any cucumber left,” Harry mumbled, this made Y/N giggle a little. “This ain’t gonna end well for me tonight if I don’t get that cucumber.”

Y/N giggled some more, bringing her hand to her mouth as Harry looked at her again, his crooked smile appearing on his face, dimple showing.

“What?”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re talking about a cucumber when you say it like that,” she said.

“What then?”

“Well… what’s kind of shaped like a cucumber?”

Harry furrowed his brows, thinking hard.

“You have it, I don’t.”

“A cock?” Harry mouthed, looking absolutely gobsmacked that Y/N would suggest such a thing, which made Y/N laugh again.

“Yeah, dildo or summat.”

“Y/N Bernadette Angelica McKay,” Harry gasped, shaking his head as his eyes fell on the road through the window beyond Y/N. “Saucy git.”

“You started it.”

“Well, you made it sexual.” Harry crossed his arms, pretending to roll his eyes to make Y/N laugh, which worked effortlessly. “Wouldn’t mind a dildo, not gonna lie.”

“Harry!”

“What?! It’s the truth!”

Y/N laughed again, watching as Ellie and Jo jumped out of the car once Fatima stopped it, waving at everyone before they started walking in the same direction. Fatima started the car over again just as Jo stumbled and almost face planted, making everyone in the van – including the two outside – crack up. Y/N settled into her own seat, looking down at her thighs as they drove off again, giggling a little to herself as she replayed Jo’s near-death experience in her head.

“I…” Harry started, and when she glanced up at him, he was smiling that very small smile back at her. It was barely there, making his dimples show ever so slightly, and it made every single butterfly in Y/N’s tummy flutter their wings madly. “I love the sound of your laughter.”

Y/N felt her heart skip a beat.

“It makes me happy.”

She knew that if she continued to look at Harry and he continued to look at her, she would just start feeling more for him. Though she knew it was inevitable, she would fall in love with him sooner or later, she wanted to slow the process out so that she didn’t end up spending too much time with him while she loved him.

“When you said you watched Angus, Thongs earlier, it kinda shocked me a bit,” Harry admitted, talking as if it was all part of his stream of consciousness. “Not that I think you’re innocent or anything like that, you don’t seem innocent- and when I say it like that it sounds weird.”

Y/N bit her lips together, trying not to laugh.

“From what I’ve heard your parents were very strict so…” Harry shrugged his shoulder, looking away from her again. He tilted his head a little to the side as he caught eye of Amir in the front. “Amir! Oi! If you throw up in my van I’m gonna murder you!”

“Shut up, Haz,” Dax groaned. “Y/N, why the fuck is your boyfriend so loud when he’s plastered? Bloody hell.”

“I’m not loud, I’m passionate.”

“About Amir not throwing up in your car?” Dax rolled his eyes. “Brilliant.”

Fatima stopped the car, shouting at Dax to get out and help Amir home. Dax slowly walked around the car and took Amir’s arm over their shoulder, the two walking off as Amir started singing a song that had been sung right before they left the farm. Fatima sat there and watched the two walk up the street, making sure they got inside Amir’s place where Dax would kip before she started driving towards the lighthouse.

The three were quiet for the last part of the drive, Harry seemingly about to doze off all of a sudden, humming Ultraviolet under his breath as they started driving up the gravel path to the lighthouse. Y/N just barely saw the light of the lighthouse before it disappeared, but did not pay any more notice to it as Harry leaned over her, glancing out the window as if to see his house. Once Fatima stopped the car, Harry reached for the seat buckle, fumbling for it in the dark before he finally got free.

“Help me inside?” he asked Y/N, making her lose her words a bit at first in surprise, but she quickly loosened her own seatbelt as Fatima turned around, about to jump out of the van as well.

“Just gonna help him get to bed, it’ll take five minutes,” Y/N told Fatima as Harry slid the backdoor open, getting out of the car.

“Ten if can force a cuddle out of her,” Harry said, chuckling a little to himself as he watched Y/N get out of the car and close the door behind her. She only raised her eyebrows at him, holding her hand out for his keys, which he gave her eagerly. She wanted nothing more than to cuddle him for ten minutes, she’d take cuddles for one minute if that’s all she got, but she knew he was only saying it in front of Fatima to make her believe them even more. He took his time walking to the front door, as if to drag the time out, while Y/N walked on inside, turning the lights on for him. It took some time for him to get his shoes off and while he did that, Y/N looked through his fridge, not seeing any cucumbers but a few tomatoes could maybe do as post-party food.

Harry put his rucksack with his camera down by the sofa, strolling over to the bathroom to do whatever he needed to do. Y/N put the tomato on the counter, making Harry a glass of water like he had made her last time and putting that along with the tomato on the dining table. Once he walked out of the bathroom, he rubbed at his eyes, giving Y/N a smile as their eyes met.

“Are you staying?”

“No, I… I’m going home with Fatima.”

Harry nodded. “You two…?”

Y/N chuckled some, feeling her cheeks get a little hot as she shook her head. “No, we’re friends. I’m kipping at hers.”

“Okay, good.” Harry nodded, biting the corner of his upper lip as he said, “I don’t like it when you’re alone.”

“Why not?”

“Because of what you said about your dad, that he was a bad man and all that.”

Y/N felt a sort of panic rise in her chest and she looked out the still open door, seeing Fatima sit by the stone fence circling the lighthouse, watching its lights. Harry yawned, lying down in his bed and glancing over at Y/N, his eyes trailing down her body. She felt herself blushing, both because Harry was staring at her like that and she did not want to talk about her dad, especially not while Harry was drunk.

“Can you stay?” His voice was soft, speaking with a meaning that went beyond the cottage and tonight.

“I’m going with Fatima.”

“I want you to stay, flower.”

She wanted to lay down next to him, slide her hand through his hair and watch as he closed his eyes, smiling ever so slightly and humming in total and utter contentment. Fall asleep next to him, feel his breath on her skin again, know that he was there to protect her if anything were to happen. She suddenly remembered how safe she had felt waking up here, how she had never slept as good as she did that single night she spent at Harry’s cottage. Never again would she feel like that, Y/N realised. Once she left St Ives in a couple of weeks, all the safeness and the sense of belonging would be ripped away from her. It would surely be like someone ripping off her arm.

Harry sat up in his bed as if he sensed a shift in the air around them, looking up at Y/N with slight worry but also a sort of desperation, silently asking her to please consider his offer. God, in that very second, it was very hard to resist him. Because when he looked at her like that, so attentive, so devoted to everything she did, she simply wanted to do nothing but lay down next to him and do what he asked. But she couldn’t, and with each passing second where they just looked at one another, the tension between them grew and she felt goosebumps up her back. She cleared her throat some.

“You wanted to tell me something earlier, was that it?” Y/N asked, wanting to get them talking about something else.

“What?”

“In the van, when I entered it, you said you had something to say, what did you have to say?”

“Oh,” Harry said as if suddenly remembering. He glanced away suddenly, scratching at the back of his neck. “No, it was… I wanted to tell you that… I know we haven’t spent much time together since the whole… since Terraland… last Saturday- so like, a week ago…”

She nodded, encouraging him to keep going.

“I’m sorry for that. I don’t… The last thing I’d ever do is hurt your feelings or make you uncomfortable.”

“I know, Harry.”

“I just…” He watched her, taking in every single one of her movements as if he would forget what she looked like when she left. “You and me, you know… we were sitting there together and… you were so pretty when we sat there at Porthgwidden, I couldn’t… I had to kiss you. Spur of the moment kind thing, I suppose.”

Y/N did not want to look at him, did not want to hear him say anything else. Had all the nice things he had said at the beach also been just “spur of the moment” then? So nothing was real? Not that she had thought it was, but that kind of just underlined it, didn’t it? She didn’t know what to think anymore, everything was so blurry, nothing seemed to really make sense. Everything was for the fake relationship, it always was.

“Y/N!” Fatima called from outside, Y/N glanced at her. “Say goodbye so we can leave!”

When she glanced back at Harry, Harry seemed to get a little desperate, not wanting her to leave just yet. But Y/N couldn’t stay.

“Y/N,” Harry said, maybe realising that what he’d said might’ve been a bit much. “I-I didn’t mean it like that.”

She gave him a smile. “We’ll talk soon, yeah?”

Harry just nodded, and she walked out the door and toward Fatima who was smiling at her. With one last glance over her shoulder, she saw Harry in the window over his dining table, looking out after Y/N and Fatima as they walked along the gravel path toward town. His hand was resting by the tomato she had laid there for him, hoping that it could somehow be a good second to his usual cucumber tradition after nights out. Y/N crossed her arms over her chest as a slight cold breeze blew past them and Fatima audibly shivered.

“Yeah, would you look at that,” Fatima said as Y/N glanced her way. “Left me out in the wind, you did. Now I’m freezing.”

Y/N laughed, nudging Fatima’s shoulder with her own. The two friends went on back to Fatima’s place, acting as two old friends would.

Monday, 3 August

This was the first time Y/N had ever witnessed rain in St Ives since she arrived in June. It was not pouring down as one would assume after a long drought, a slight pitter-patter fell onto the grass around her as she walked along the gravel path, falling onto the hood of the yellow rain coat she was wearing. The sky was a dull grey, not something one should be worrying about, but there were a few darker clouds hovering somewhere in the horizon and she was sure that with this high of a temperature and the promise of pouring rain later on, lightning would occur as well.

Once she reached the lightkeeper residence, she knocked three times, waited a minute for Harry to open, then peeked her head in when he didn’t. Harry was sat by the dining table, looking through an instruction manual in front of him, frowning down at the pages as if he was reading a language he did not understand. At the sound of the door opening, he looked in Y/N’s direction, giving her a little smile.

“Saw you approach just now,” he said before looking down at the manual before him again.

“So you didn’t bother opening the door for me?” she asked, smiling over at him, but Harry did not answer. This was what she had been afraid of.

Ever since the karaoke and barbeque night at the farm, Harry had not met her gaze. Whenever she had come over to study, he wouldn’t spend too long in the cottage with her and he would rarely make her tea as he usually did. There was something not subtly cold, but different. He still welcomed her to sit in his windowsill and would still talk to her, but he wouldn’t look at her, wouldn’t stay around for long enough so they could talk properly. Y/N had tried, even suggested they go down to the Bakery to buy a pasty and walk around St Ives, go to the Candy Shoppe, or to the pub to have a few pints, but Harry had turned down all her offers, told her they could do it another time. He never really gave an explanation for why he didn’t want to hang out and Y/N was afraid of asking for one. But they had to talk. She didn’t want to go on like this, especially when Harry had come to mean so much to her.

“What’re you up to, then?” She took her coat and boots off, walking over to where Harry was seated by the dining table.

“I’m about to change the bulbs before it starts getting dark out and the lamp’s turned on,” he explained, furrowing his brows as he ran his finger over the page, concentrating on reading a specific line. Y/N stayed silent as not to disturb anything. He got up from the chair, sipping the last of his tea before he shoved the manual down in the back pocket of his denim shorts. He slipped his red knitted jumper over his Elton John tee shirt, the same one he had given to Y/N to wear after Dax’s birthday party when she slept over for the first time.

“Can I help?” she asked, giving him a smile she hoped he’d lay his eyes on her to see.

And he did, lips parting a little as if he was surprised by the suggestion. This puzzled Y/N as she had always expressed her willingness to help him, no matter what.

“Go on, then.” Harry nodded. “Just needed a cuppa before I started, it’s well past 6 after all.”

“You’re going to bed soon?”

“Yeah, and the lamp gets turned on in about an hour.”

Y/N smiled as he walked past her. “You’ve been procrastinating all day, have you?”

“Not all day.”

She laughed and she thought she saw the flicker of a smile on Harry’s lips at the sound.

“I’ve done other things as well, but I need this done now and quickly.”

Y/N nodded, putting her rain boots back on as Harry got his trainers on, the two then jogging in the direction of the lighthouse as not to get soaked in the rain that was starting to fall harder around them. Harry held the door open for her, then locked it once they were both inside. They started their ascent, Harry leading them past his little office floor, past the bedroom like room, up and up and up, till they finally reached the bell room. Even though Y/N was wearing a short white sundress with her green oversized boxy high-neck jumper along with her mid-calf black rain boots, she walked up the ladder leading to the bell room. She remembered how she had been reluctant to walk up wearing a dress that first time, but now she didn’t really care. Harry needed to change the bulbs and she said she was going to help.

Along the way, Harry had brought a toolbox with him, placing it up on the floor of the bell room before he walked up the ladder, letting Y/N go on up after him. For some reason it shocked Y/N when she came up to see that the lamp – the only thing inside the bell room – was not moving. She had imagined that the light in lighthouses moved around, and though Harry had explained what offshore and shore-based lighthouses were, the pattern of a lighthouse and the like, he hadn’t really explained how the lamp worked.

“It doesn’t rotate,” she said, walking up to the relatively small lamp in the middle of the room.

Harry was rummaging through his toolbox, stopping momentarily as he glanced over his shoulder at Y/N, unsure what she was referring to first, then let his eyes fall to the lens. “It flashes.”

Y/N furrowed her brows, walking around the lens to get a good look at it, studying the ridges and different colours of it, blank and red. “flashes?”

Harry pulled a screwdriver out of the toolbox and started working on the screws around the lamp. “It’s to identify it when it’s dark out, sailors can’t make out the white lighthouse when it’s night-time.”

“Makes sense.”

“Most lighthouses, especially shore-based ones like Clodgy, rhythmically flash or eclipse their lights to provide an identification signal. The particular pattern of flashes or eclipses is known as the character of the light, and the interval at which it repeats itself is called the period.” Harry tipped the plastic lens to reveal the five lightbulbs under it; Y/N was surprised to see it wasn’t made of glass. She supposed it was more convenient. “Essentially, a lighthouse may display a single flash, regularly repeated at perhaps 5-, 10-, or 15- seconds intervals. This is known as a flashing light. Clodgy is one of them.”

“What are these then?” Y/N asked, pointing to the red streaks.

“Basically, if someone is on sea and they are driving in the direction of sharp rocks or land, they’ll see a red light flashing instead of a normal, yellow one.”

“Danger, danger.”

Harry reached into his pocket, pulling out a box and putting it on the little space underneath the lamp.

“How many bulbs are there?” Y/N asked, looking at the different ones all attached to a round object in the middle of the lens.

“Five, they usually don’t have to be changed out. You gotta do so every 15-25 years, depending. This little thing-“ Harry pointed to the small bulb between them. “Lights up 15 miles using these lenses. It’s incredible.”

Y/N looked up at Harry, seeing a tiny and amused smile on his face as he talked. This was the most she had heard him talk in over a week; it made her heart do a silly fluttery thing.

“When one of these five bulbs go out, the apparatus knows that the bulb no longer works and it will rotate and-“ Harry placed his finger on the side of the bulb, rotating it to the right so that the apparatus turned, clicking as another bulb fit into place at the top. “-Click to a new bowl, it’s on automation and all that. So, we rarely change the bulbs.”

She bit her bottom lip as she watched him, not able to help herself. It was just so endearing to watch him like this, so amazing to hear him talking so unfiltered to her again. Right then, talking about bulbs and apparatuses and what not, he was so engulfed, so eager to tell her everything, that he did not care how he sounded. He was comfortable. She could tell.

He must’ve noticed how he rambled off, because he cleared his throat and stood up straight again, running a hand through his hair as a slight pink colour appeared in his cheeks. He quickly started to change the first bulb, putting a new on in its stead. Y/N just watched him, finding the sound of Harry working, the slight clicks, the quiet patter of the rain against the windows surrounding them, very relaxing. He seemed to be relaxed as well, so she thought this might be the best time as any.

Inhaling slowly, she leaned her hands on either side of the slight counter the lamp was standing on. She looked over it at Harry, his bottom lip between his teeth as he put the second bulb in its new place.

“Harry, we…” she started, swallowing thickly. “We need to talk about… things.”

Harry sighed. “Yes. Yes, we do.”

Knowing he felt the same way about that made it easier to breathe for a reason. At least she wasn’t going into this the same way she had been going into the Emilia situation after Dax’s birthday.

He started on the third bulb as he started talking, beating Y/N to it. “I, uhm… I want to tell you about my dad.”

This came as a shock to Y/N who was left raising her eyebrows at him for a second or two before saying, “Yeah, alright.”

He glanced up at her over the lightbulb. “You didn’t see it coming?”

“We’ll talk about your dad first,” Y/N gave him a reassuring smile. “We have time. We’ll always have time.”

“But that’s the thing…” Harry trailed off, switching out the fourth bulb, not meeting her eyes. “We don’t. If there’s one thing we won’t always have, it’s time. There won’t ever be enough time spent with your loved ones, there just won’t. No matter how much time you spend or how much time you spent with someone, you’ll always want more time. Always. What you got is never enough.”

The rain outside fell a little harder against the windows of the bell room, the wind a little harsher.

“Two years ago, my dad went on a fishing trip. He usually did this, took a few of his mates and then set off out wherever. They were never gone for more than a day tops, they always returned at night with tons of fish and I remember how Jessa would be so delighted and then invite our whole family over for barbecues and the like.” He paused as he started on the fifth and last bulb. “One day, September 4th to be exact, he didn’t return. Jessa and I sat up for hours waiting for signs of him. She started calling the spouses of the others on the boat, no one else had returned either.”

Y/N absolutely hated that she knew where this was going but she hadn’t told Harry that yet.

“Dax ended up sleeping at the lightkeeper house with me for a month and some after that, just didn’t want me to be alone, you know? He’s sound like that.” Once he was done putting the bulb in place, he reached for the lens and put it back where it belonged. “I think most of my mates and the people in my family’s life tried to keep our minds off it, ��cause the more days went by, the more likely it was that… you know… he was dead.”

Harry sighed, reaching for the screwdriver, taking a little pause in talking as he screwed everything back into place. Y/N took a few steps back, watching him do his job and make himself ready to talk again.

“The boat was found October 14th, no one and nothing was in it.” Harry still wouldn’t look at her, put the screwdriver back in the toolbox and kept his back to her for a few seconds before turning around again. The bell room was starting to get relatively dark; she supposed the light would turn on soon, and she could barely make out the slight glassy expression in Harry’s eyes.

“I went absolutely mad. There are big chunks of time that I don’t even remember from that time, my brain has just… erased it from my memory, it was the darkest period of my life. They didn’t find any of the passengers’ bodies, there were three of them as well. It had been a turbulent and stormy night, so a sea storm took them out, drowned them all. But I… I…” Harry inhaled hugely, breathing shakily. “I didn’t… I still kinda don’t want… want to believe it. My dad is laying somewhere, far away from me, far away from Jessa, Gracie, from… from home…” He looked down at the ground, blinking rapidly. “It doesn’t fucking feel real. It’s not supposed to happen. This… He was a good sailor; he didn’t drown at sea.”

Y/N felt something starting to sting behind her eyes, she bit her bottom lip to stop it from wobbling. The storm outside seemed to pick up, sounding rougher than a minute before.

“I took over after him because I thought… I thought that, if no one else could, I could help him find the way home. I could shine that light; I’d take care of the lighthouse till he came back home. I’d show him the way, I’d light up the path for him, and he’d come home to me again. Where he belonged, where he should’ve been all along.” He took a deep breath, slowly looking up again, eyes falling to the lamp in the middle of the room. “It was a way for me to ignore the fact that he was truly dead. He wouldn’t come back. I didn’t really… I didn’t realise how… I didn’t realise how true it was that my dad, my constant, was gone, until Emilia left as well.”

Y/N furrowed her brows, a sort of rage filling her again. She had never been this angry before. There was something burning inside her, a sort of desire to protect Harry from everything evil in the world. No one deserved to hurt, but Harry least of everyone.

“I met Emilia at one of Astronaut Lions’ gigs the year before. I remember standing at the bar and she came up to me, asked me if I was Amos’ son – that’s my dad’s name, by the way - to which I said yes, and she told me her dad used to lend my dad and his mates his fishing boat sometimes. My dad and hers knew each other. So, we got talking, and, I want to say it’s ‘cause our dads knew each other, we got pretty close, pretty fast.”

Talking about Emilia brought Y/N’s gagging reflex into full force, but she composed herself.

“When my dad died, she was around, but not as often as Dax, Amir, Jo, Fatima, Ellie, or my family. She visited and stuff, kept me occupied, but the gang spent a lot of time at my place, occasionally rotating. It was nice, I didn’t want to be alone. I love being alone, but I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts then.”

Harry leaned against the window, eyes falling to the floor. Y/N continued to stand where she had, watching Harry carefully.

“We had been together for a year and some then. We hadn’t really fought much, I don’t really like confrontation, it makes me very uncomfortable, so I usually just let her say what she wanted to say if she was annoyed with me and didn’t bother arguing. Fatima kept telling me how unfair it was on her and our relationship, and also on myself, that I never really stood up for myself when we fought. It’s, like… I wanted it to work out so much that I wanted to ignore the things that didn’t. I didn’t want to do something that might cause us to break up.” He sighed heavily. “We were good for each other, we did have some good times, and she was my first ever proper girlfriend that broke my heart, but… but these last few weeks I’ve come to realise that she never really wanted what was best for me the way all my mates did.”

Y/N wanted to walk over to him and hug him. She wanted to console him; tell him she was there if he needed anything.

“I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about that part of my life, you know? I’m aware that breaking up with someone ‘cause they’re bad for your mental health is valid, but what she did really affected me. It made the grieving process worse. I had never really felt truly alone till then.” He furrowed his brows some. “I didn’t have dad; I didn’t have Emilia… I knew I had my mates, but… Emilia and dad meant so much to me, losing them both in such a short period of time… broke me.”

Y/N swallowed a lump in her throat, hoping he couldn’t hear how sad his story made her. “Harry, you don’t have to elaborate if it’s hard for you.”

“No, you deserve to know. Emilia’s back, you’re my… my supposed girlfriend and you… I want you to know.”

Y/N nodded, clutching at the hem of her jumper.

“I know it was a naff move on my part when I went with her to get her that cup, I know I should have understood why you were rightfully upset right away, I know I shouldn’t have been too friendly when she came to Terraland…” Trailing off, he balled his hands into fists at his sides. “The reason why I’ve been so reluctant to push her out of my life is… I know it’s fucking mental; I know I sound right mad, yeah? But… I figured that if she could return, then maybe… then maybe dad…” Harry didn’t finish, but he didn’t have to.

Y/N shook her head as the only thing in the bell room that was audible was the sound of the rain and wind outside, sounding eerie and strong against the top of the lighthouse. “It’s not mental. It’s a very valid and normal reaction to grief, clinging onto the last shred you have of someone, hoping that one day they might come back to you.”

Harry looked at her feet, not ready to meet her eyes yet.

“My dad and I have never been close. I used to love being around him when I was little, I remember associating him with goodness and warmth. He would play with me and make me laugh, do things that my mum hated him for.”

“Like?”

“Throw me in the air, let me jump from a bunk bed and onto the mattress on the floor below, that sort of thing.” Y/N almost smiled at the memory. She hadn’t thought about that in ages. “However, as I grew up, my dad just got colder. He was still nice to me, was still protective and a dad, but he wasn’t the same.”

Y/N could tell by the slight breath Harry inhaled that he wanted to ask what changed but stopped himself. She was grateful he did. She could not go that far just yet.

“But… though it’s not the same as you, I respected my dad’s wishes to stay in Winchester and do as my mum; become a stay-at-home mum who didn’t need education or anything like that. He wanted me to marry well and learn how to be a mum; learn how to be safe at home and mostly indoors at all times.” She furrowed her brows some. “I believed him when he told me I wouldn’t be fit to become a dentist.” She paused for a moment. “You know when you’re scared, and you believe every word your parents say to you ‘cause you don’t know what else to do? They’re older, wiser, got more experience, so of course they know better than you, they know the best thing to do in any given situation.”

Harry nodded slightly.

“Before… Before I came to St Ives, I hadn’t really parted from my family at all. It wasn’t really like I had a choice. They were just always there, and I was expected to be there, too. I was terrified when I left; not only didn’t my parents know I was leaving, but I had just disappointed them in every way possible anyway, so I… I couldn’t stay there.” Her eyes fell on the lamp that yet hadn’t turned on.

Harry cleared his throat, eyes still on the lens in the middle of the room. “Your parents don’t know you’re here?”

“They do now.”

“You told them?”

Y/N felt her heart pick up its speed, she swallowed thickly, continuing to avoid Harry’s eyes. “What I’m trying to get at is that I haven’t, and probably won’t, tell them about the UCAT, or the fact that I’m trying to become a dentist. Part of me wishes that I did, but I know the reaction I’m gonna get… And the other part of me… That part is longing for that loving and warm father to return, the one that helped me fly when I was little.” She leaned against the window. “It’s not the same as you by any means, but it’s-“

“-It’s just as valid, Y/N.”

She shook her head some, looking out at the tall waves below. “You ever get the feeling that, no matter what, you won’t really be good enough, and you settle down with that thought? It’s not this hopeless feeling, but rather you’re just… content with that. You’re average so you’ll get average back.”

“You’re not average.”

She looked over at him, and for what seemed like the first time that day, their eyes met.

“Did your parents make you feel that horrible about yourself?”

Y/N crossed her arms. “In what way?”

“That you were average? Not destined for good things? That you didn’t deserve proper happiness?”

“I was satisfied with life in Winchester.”

“Satisfaction and happiness are two vastly different things.”

It seemed like he wanted to take a step forward but stopped himself, taking a deep breath before settling against the window again. Y/N pushed slightly away from the wall, standing closer to the light.

“It’s like the whole thing with me and Emilia again, innit? There were times when I was happy with her, but I think that’s more to do with the fact that I knew she was there. I could always rely on her. But bottom line is that being with her didn’t bring me instant and constant happiness like-“ He stopped himself, as if remembering there were things he wasn’t supposed to say. “She didn’t make me happy like she should’ve. I was satisfied.”

“Isn’t being at peace good? If someone or something brings you peace, isn’t that good?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders some. “There are different kinds, though. Your life and the people in it should be able to make you feel something, you know? Not being excited to see someone or to be somewhere or to do something, it does nothing. You don’t grow if you’re satisfied ‘cause you’re not moving, you’re not evolving.”

“Being happy isn’t a constant, though. You can’t always be happy, sometimes you’re just… not.”

“How boring would life be if you felt the same way, did the same things, saw the same people every single day? How boring would it be without change?”

Y/N felt herself smiling. “You’re a lighthouse keeper, you do the same things every single day.”

“I don’t, though,” he said. “I might be stuck here in St Ives most of the time, but I never do the same thing every single day. And besides…” He trailed off, biting his bottom lip some. “Besides life’s been anything but ordinary lately.”

Y/N glanced at her arms in front of her. “I… I hated change.”

“You don’t anymore?”

“To a degree,” she said. “I’m happy with the decision I made to leave my old life behind, but now… now I don’t really know what to do. I’m going to apply for University, but what if I’m too old? I’m 25, way older than everyone else there will be, and I… I dunno. I feel like I have to figure myself out all over again now that I don’t have my parents around me anymore, it’s like I don’t know who I am. Once this summer is over and I leave St Ives – ‘cause St Ives, you, and everyone here, are genuinely what’s keeping me together right now – I… I dunno how I’m going to survive. Will I have myself when I don’t even know who I am? Is it too late for me to get a fresh start? Who- Who will be there to help guide me in the right direction if I have no one in my life?”

There was no trace of hesitation as Harry said, voice deep and low, “You’ll always have someone.”

“Will I? I feel lost, Harry.” She blinked a few times, hoping to prevent possible tears from falling. “I’m so lost. Where do I even go from here? I don’t and can’t go back to how life used to be, where do I go?”

“Don’t go.”

She glanced up at him, the lamp beside them suddenly coming to life with a massive blink. Though the suddenness of the light had scared her, Harry’s words had been what got her heart racing. The light blinked in the direction of the sea, the other side from where they stood so Y/N couldn’t see it directly, only the dark back that was facing the mainland. However, she could not care less for the light as Harry stared back at her, right into her eyes, for the first time in what seemed like forever. She felt herself relax at the sight of him, but his words still reverberated through her head, making it spin slightly.

“What?”

“Don’t go,” he repeated, stepping away from the window. “Stay.”

Her arms fell to her sides. “You… You want me to stay in St Ives?”

It took a few seconds, as if he was building up the courage to say something he thought was obvious, but, seemingly, not so obvious to Y/N. “Yes.”

“But I…” She trailed off, blinking a few times as if she were trying to regain composure. “You’ve never said.”

“’Cause I’ve always been afraid of your reaction.”

“My… my reaction?”

“If it would scare you.”

“Why would that scare me?”

“’Cause someone telling you they care for you more than… more than they care for anyone else, and you not feeling the same way… I don’t want to scare you.”

Y/N was sure she had not heard him right. And if she had, she must have misinterpreted his statement, because surely he had not just said what she thought he said. The light blinked its usual pattern, lighting up the darkening bell room as the two just stood staring at one another.

“I thought you only felt like that for Emilia.”

Harry frowned, shaking his head as if what he’d just heard was absurd. “Emilia?”

“Well, then��� then that you used to feel like that for her, that you two used to be close. I’ve been jealous of that, after all.”

“You’ve been jealous?” Harry’s eyes were wide, intently staring at Y/N as she continued to explain. “How do you mean?”

“Dunno…” Y/N said, knowing that she probably sounded like an absolute plonker. “You’ve always seemed pretty caught up on her. That you still have feelings for her.”

He studied her, mouth falling shut as he let his eyes scan her face, saying a soft, “I don’t.”

“But- But why do you blush when she’s around, then?”

At the mention of him blushing, a red colour appeared in his cheeks and he glanced away for a few seconds, running his hands through his hair. Y/N could not help a small smile on her lips, biting at the corner of her mouth to stop herself from doing so.

“I get flustered, don’t I? It’s not like I can help it,” Harry explained, gesturing at his face as he took a few steps forward. “She’s my ex, it’s weird being around her.”

“You act so shy, though. Isn’t that how you are around people you’re nervous in front of?”

“I acted like that with you as well, did you notice?”

Y/N felt a breath hitch in her throat, something about Harry admitting this made her entire body hot. Part of her did not believe this could be true, it was just too good, while the other urged her to keep going, see what happened next. She shook her head slightly. “I-I dunno.”

“I was so bloody nervous,” Harry said, chuckling a little to himself. “It was genuinely hard for me to form sentences ‘cause I didn’t want to make a right twit of myself, yeah? I just… I wanted to impress you so bad, but it was so hard.”

She pressed her lips together, heart hammering hard, hands feeling clammy with anticipation.

“I’m not nervous around you anymore, though.”

“You’re not?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I feel safe with you now. I don’t care that I make a fool of myself ‘cause you won’t mind.”

She smiled a little. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” He gestured around him with a soft jerk of his chin. “You’re a light room.”

Y/N wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but stopped herself when their eyes met again. She wanted to walk to him, to be near him.

“It’s like…” Harry started, pausing for a few seconds before he went on. “It’s weird being around someone you thought meant a lot to you and you realise they didn’t. But with you… that’s…” He glanced at the ground again, tugging at the hem of his red jumper. “It’s different.”

She continued to just look at him, afraid that if she said anything he would stop.

“It’s… it’s like I… like-“ He cleared his throat, suddenly blushing uncontrollably, and it was as if he knew how ridiculous he must look because he let out a small laugh. “You were the prettiest woman I’d ever seen and I wanted to impress you, I didn’t want to embarrass myself and have you not want to be around me anymore.”

His eyes fell to her feet, moving up over her bare legs, landing on her tummy as he continued to find the words lost somewhere within him. He took a deep breath.

“I’m not good with words, so explaining how much you mean to me is hard, but I know that I… that you…” He drifted off again, meeting her eyes. “You were the person I wanted to be in the arms of at Terraland, when I was all shaken up ‘cause of that ride, not Emilia, no one else but you. And you’re the only person I want to be in the arms of right now, tomorrow, and probably every single day after that. I like it when you hold me, when you’re around. That’s all I know.” His eyes fell to her lips for a second, meeting her eyes as if he remembered that was forbidden territory. She had said as much. “I like it when we touch, everything seems at once much simpler but also so much more important and grander because of you.”

Biting her bottom lip, Y/N walked closer to Harry, and at the sight, he took two more steps closer as well, meeting right beside the lamp that was still occasionally lighting up the bell tower and the entire coast along with it. Standing right there in front of one another, something that could only resemble magic passed between them and circled around them, drawing them closer to one another. They were meant to be close, meant to be right here, with one another. It was wrong to be anywhere else than with Harry. She didn’t feel as lost when he was here; there was a sense of reason, of purpose, when they were together that was so great to the point of invention, there was no other way of explaining it. This, what was between then, was beyond anything. Limitless, unfathomable, immeasurable; infinite.

“I want to touch you,” Y/N said, her voice almost a whisper as she, once again, glanced at his lips.

“Touch me. Please.”

Slowly and gentler than she had ever been before, she placed her hand to his cheek, thumb stroking over the slight stubble before she slid the tips of her fingers to the back of his jaw and then forth again. He closed his eyes, leaning into her.

“Please, touch me,” he repeated, the breath of his pleading words falling against her hot wrist. “Never stop.”

She studied his face, loving the calming effect she had on him because it matched the one he had on her. Though he made her heart race and had her overthinking everything, he calmed her down and made her feel at peace. Exhilarated her and confused her; overwhelmed her and elated her. He made her feel everything all at once, and Y/N thought at last, wasn't that what love really was? When you felt like the feelings inside your body transcended everything, made you see everything around you in a new light? When it changed your world for the better?

Y/N’s hand slid down Harry’s cheek and his neck, and at the change, he opened his eyes to look at her again. She took another step forward, leading him toward her as her eyes fell to his lips, meeting his eyes as they hovered dangerously close to one another. The light blinked on and Y/N pressed her lips against Harry’s. They melted into each other instantly. Harry placed one of his hands to her neck and the other one to her hip, bringing her closer. She breathed against him, the rest of the world around them disappearing completely as they drew out the kiss.

His tongue traced her bottom lip, making a shiver run up her spine. Gently, she slipped her tongue into his mouth, making sure she did not overwhelm him, that it was okay. He instantly complied, stroking his against hers, swirling his around hers sensually, lighting Y/N on fire. She moaned into him, gripping at the hair at the back of his neck as their mouths opened wider, welcoming more of the other to enter and entrance them completely. She ran her other hand over his chest, wrapping it around him, while Harry’s slid down along her back, stopping just before he reached her bum, squeezing her a little as if he wasn’t mentally ready to go down there just yet tonight. The bell room continued to illuminate up, shining its guiding light out across the ocean, helping sailors home and to their final destinations. However, neither Y/N nor Harry could even remember where they really were as they continued to kiss one another. She felt his moan on her tongue, a slight whimper that he had not been able to hold back as they deepened the kiss. They instantly got more frantic; desperate, harder. She pushed against him more forcefully, wanting to taste and feel all of him.

For an instant, and what felt like for the first time since they had known each other, Harry took control. He pressed her against the bar with the lamp, keeping one hand on her neck, thumb at her chin, and the other on her waist. She gasped at the suddenness, her entire body aflame as Harry kissed along her jaw, tilting her head as to get better access. She could not help the contented sigh that left her lips, pushing him even closer to her, wrapping her left leg around his right one as to ensure he did not step away from her.

He whispered her name against her neck, leaving wet kisses along the skin that was exposed and that he could reach without removing the high neck of her jumper. He kissed the tip of her jaw, sucking lightly, and she could not hold back her whimper. It seemed to have had an effect on him that she herself had not anticipated, yet absolutely adored. Between them, pressed against her tummy, she could feel him. It seemed to have startled him as well, maybe not having anticipated it to happen that quickly, but he kissed along her neck again, seemingly not really caring anymore. He wanted her to know just how much power she held over him. He came back to her face, lips hovering above hers. They panted against one another, not letting each other go as the rain outside picked up, thunder rumbling in the distance, and the light that Y/N was pressed up again kept lighting up the ocean ahead.

“I, uhm…” Harry stared down, swallowing thickly. “I’m sorry ‘bout… that.”

Y/N smiled, shaking her head slightly. “Don’t apologise for that.” She brought her leg further up, twining it more around him to bring him closer. As if it was instinctual, Harry reached for her thigh, helping her bring it up to his waist. She let out another sigh, loving how he drew closer to her in the process of yanking her leg up higher. Their eyes met again, and she leaned her forehead against his.

“I thought we agreed on a ‘no kissing rule’,” Harry mumbled, lips brushing against hers as he spoke. “I thought you didn’t want to kiss me.”

“I want to kiss you; I just don’t want it to be part of our fake relationship.”

“This has nothing to do with that.” He moved to kiss her again and spoke against her lips. “I need to ask you, though, before anything more happens.”

She watched him, the sight of him slightly blurry but she did not care.

“There’s… There’s a bed… downstairs if you'd be interested in… you know…”

She smiled.

“In what?”

Harry smiled, giggling a little as he leaned his forehead against hers again. “I don’t want there to be mixed signals, so I’m just… I’m just gonna fucking say it.”

“Say it.”

He gripped her knee tighter. “Do you want to have sex with me? ‘Cause I… I mean, it’s not the sexiest way to go about it, just asking like that, but I… it’s very obvious that I would like- very much like to… you know, if you’d like. I don’t want to-“

She chuckled and Harry stopped talking, smiling at her. “I think asking is very sexy. Mixed signals aren’t sexy.”

“You’re right.”

She leaned in, pressing a light kiss to his lips.

“Flower,” he mumbled, voice rasping ever so slightly, making heat instantly pool between her thighs. “Would you let me make you feel good?”

“Do you think you can?”

Harry met her eyes, a crooked smile coming to his lips. “I’ve had no complaints before.”

“No complaints from Emilia?”

A slight furrow appeared between his brows before it lifted, his smile came back and it got wider. “You really were jealous of her.”

“She got to be close to you.”

“Well,” Harry said, eyes fluttering to her lips. “You’re close to me now. You’re closer to me than anyone’s ever been before.”

Y/N squeezed him closer, biting her lip before she said, “Yes.”

“You… you want to go downstairs?”

“Yes.”

Harry’s smile grew so wide it was hard for him to fight just how giddy he was getting at her words. He stepped away from her, taking her hand in his. They left the blinking bell room, climbing down the ladder, Harry securing the hatch before he turned to face Y/N again. Once they were in the near darkness of that room, they kissed again, desperate to feel one another again. This happened almost on every single floor – pressing each other up against a wall, needy to feel, to taste, to be close – as they could simply not help themselves.

Once they reached the floor, Y/N instantly recognised the door and where they were headed. On her first trip to the lighthouse, she had seen a bed in that room, the door had been half open, but Harry had closed it on their way down. Now, Harry opened it for her, letting her inside. It was tiny. A twin bed stood at the far end, its white sheets made neatly over it, while the desk – which stood perched right under a small window that was being attacked by harsh rain - was filled with photographs of Harry’s family. Him, Amos, Jessa, and Grace. There was a dresser with a vase on top, a bouquet of dead flowers in it that it seemed Harry had forgotten completely about.

Harry closed the door behind them. “This used to be my dad’s room. When it was stormy, he’d stay in here. The door sometimes opens on its own, logically I know it’s just a draught, but…” He shrugged his shoulders and Y/N knew what he meant.

Instead of focusing on that – because they could talk about this in the morning – Y/N said, “Kiss me.”

Harry wasted no time. He marched over to her, pressing his lips hard against hers as he started walking her backwards toward the bed. He let her lay down first, taking her rain boots off before she wiggled up to the top, watching as Harry crawled his way up to her, hovering his lips over hers as to tempt her. She tried to lean up to kiss him since he was taking too long, but he moved further away.

“Twat.”

He chuckled, grinning down at her. “How long do you think you can stand not kissing me?”

She brought her hand up to his neck, bringing him down towards her lips. They kissed again – finally. She felt Harry smile against her lips.

“Needy.”

“You were taking too long.”

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you?”

She wanted to roll her eyes at him, but he was correct. She wrapped her legs around him, bringing his core down onto hers. Harry groaned into her; his erecting cock pressed against her heat. He melted into her instantly, burying his hands in her hair.

“Neither can you,” she whispered back, making Harry let out a breathy chuckle.

“I also just want to make it clear,” he said against her lips. “If anything I do is not working, doesn’t do anything for you, doesn’t feel good, or if you want to try something new, a new position or anything like that, tell me, yeah?”

She smiled, nodding her head as they kept kissing. “Yeah. Same goes for you.”

“Do you have a favourite position?”

Y/N froze a little, thinking to herself and blushing when Harry looked down at her.

“What?” he asked.

“I’ve… only ever really done two.”

“Two… positions?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s fine, did you enjoy them?”

“Yeah, I did. Sex was never really been about enjoyment as much as it was about closeness.”

Harry furrowed his brows. “You should enjoy sex, Y/N.”

“I know, I know. I just… I used to set fire to myself to keep others warm. I realised that was not what I should be doing, which is why I ended up in St Ives. With you. Here.”

Harry leaned down again, pressing a lingering and deep kiss to her lips. “You will enjoy yourself and feel real fucking good tonight, yeah? We’ll find something that works for both of us.”

She smiled. “Time will tell.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I’ll feel real fucking good.”

Harry halted a little as he heard that word slip from her lips. He had never heard it before. She felt the effect it had on him against her. “I’ll show you, flower.”

He reached down to the hem of her jumper and the two got it off her, throwing it to the floor before they started kissing again. She wrapped her legs around him again, resting her heels at the top of his bum, urging him closer to her. Slowly and deliberately, Harry grinded against her, revealing them both of a small fraction of pleasure, increasing the anticipation that was building in the air around them. Hard against her most delicate spot. She felt a desperate need to reach for him, to feel him right there, as ready for her as she was for him, but she liked this much better. Feeling him moan against her, the slow waves of his hips as he stroked his growing erection against the heat between her legs that was aching. His promise lingered in the back of her head, making her nipples perk at the thought. You will enjoy yourself and feel real fucking good tonight.

Harry’s hand slipped down the front of her white summer dress, lingering over her breast where he felt her already hard nipple. He squeezed her breast, bringing what he could of the nipple between his index and middle finger, squeezing lightly as he started kissing down her jaw. An uncontrollable moan left her mouth as he kissed her neck, chest, between her covered breasts. She felt hot all over as he kissed his way down, leaving no spot untouched by his swollen lips. He reached her thighs, kissing up her right one, leaving wet spots that got cold in the crisp air of the lightkeeper room.

“Turn over,” he said, sitting up on his knees to make the process easier for her.

She did as he told her to without hesitation. Again, he leaned over her, nose nuzzling her hair as he kissed her exposed shoulder. Each one of the kisses he trailed down her shoulder place, and back felt like a declaration of love; felt like a promise of forever, of safe keeping. Right in that moment, she realised she had never felt more appreciated or more turned on. She felt so seen, so important, as Harry kept kissing her back, sucking on her skin, humming moans of absolute delight into her that made goosebumps appear all over her. He reached for the zipper of her dress, kissing her shoulder before he whispered, “Okay if I undress you?”

“Please.”

Harry unzipped her dress, leaving a lingering kiss to her shoulder as he shoved both the straps off her shoulders. She took them off, letting the dress hang loosely over her breasts. Just because she felt like it, she lifted her arse off the bed, pressing it against Harry’s hard-on. It took him off guard and he gasped a little into her ear, but quickly took a grip around her waist. He pressed down hard on her, parting her bumcheeks as his protruding cock could now be seen, and felt, outside his denim shorts.

“Fuck,” he breathed as he grinded against her. His hands slipped down further, hovering over her centre, laying a slight pressure on her over her dress and knickers that was exactly what Y/N needed right then.

“Harry,” she whimpered, feeling him moan at her utterance.

“Dreamed about you saying my name like that,” he mumbled, kissing her shoulder again. “Sound even fucking better than I could’ve imagined.”

He placed more pressure on her, making her gasp and throw her head back slightly, leaning it against Harry’s beside her. They grinded against one another, absolutely lost in this seductive dance that they would have no problem doing forever. Panting a little, Harry kissed her shoulder again, knowing that they could not go on like that, no matter how much they wanted, because he would surely not be able to handle much of it before finishing. The heat between Y/N’s legs was excruciating, she could barely take it as Harry pulled her dress completely off her, exposing her naked back to him.

“On your knees.”

She did as he demanded, getting on her knees in the bed as Harry positioned himself right behind her. He ran his hands over her wet knickers, wanting to properly feel all of her now that he finally had her there. It sent a lightening up her spine, making her moan as he reached her bud, flicking it slowly. He kissed the outside of her knickers before he ran his tongue over her, the hot wetness of him on her made her gasp, sweet torture that she both welcomed and hated. Hooking his fingers under the hem of her knickers, he slid them over her bum and down her legs, and. Again, she felt cold as her wet skin was exposed to the chill room they were in, Harry’s ragged breaths didn’t exactly make it better. She whimpered slightly as she felt his breath go from cold to hot, she could feel the heat of his body radiating against her cunt and bum. With help of her hands, she raised, looking over her shoulder at him to see him there, only his eyes visible as he hovered in front of her.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Y/N,” he whispered, planting a kiss to her bum before he went back to the place she had just been. “I’ll make you come, flower.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” she said, panting slightly in anticipation.

Harry smiled at her, she thought she saw a slight wink before he hovered back over her centre. She was about to tell him to just get on with it when she felt his tongue, hot and wet and hard, between her folds. She gasped again, closing her eyes at the impact. He licked up between her folds first, making sure to taste every last bit of her as he had thought about this for so long. He started off with a light pressure on her clit, licking around it, sometimes over it, driving Y/N absolutely insane. He slowly built up the pressure, making sure he did not overwhelm her, staying focused on the clit the entire time. He wrapped his lips around it, sucking lightly, something that made Y/N throw her head back, letting go of a loud moan that had Harry humming into her.

“Yes,” she gasped, fists buried in the white sheets under her.

He let go of her bud, licking up around the clit again, then over it, flicking it quickly while tipping his head to the side. She bit her bottom lip, looking over her shoulder at Harry as he continued to eat her out, eyes closed as if he was eating the feast of his life. Once again, he wrapped his lips around her clit, sucking lightly at first and building his pressure. Whimpering and panting, Y/N kept looking at Harry, the sight of him behind her like that, doing everything in his power to make her feel good – and succeeding – was so bloody hot.

When she had made her way up here today in the rain, she had never in her wildest dream this was where she would end up. On all fours, Harry seated behind her, eating her out. She had thrown away any hope of him even feeling a smudge of what she felt for him, but tonight, up in the light room, everything changed. Everything they said, and how they opened up to one another. She felt quite literally euphoric; static with adoration and completely engrossed in everything he did.

Harry moved up, slipping his tongue inside her hole, hands sliding down her thighs as he penetrated her. She swallowed thickly, biting at her bottom lip before she met his eyes.

“Doesn’t do anything.”

“Hm?” He moved up, eyes wide as he licked around his lips. “My tongue in you?”

“Yeah. Feels like you’re mushing mash into me.”

Harry laughed, resting his forehead against her bum as he shook, she chuckled as well.

“Don’t hold back,” he said.

“Sorry.”

“No, I’m glad you told me, flower.”

“Also,” she said as he started licking her again, she gasped slightly. “Can we switch? I want to watch you properly.”

Harry blinked slowly, smiling at her as he emerged. “Gladly.”

She turned around, placing herself on her back, Harry stopped to take her in, eyes gliding over her naked body in front of him. He cupped her face in his hands, kissing her deeply as he ran his hands over her tits, squeezing them just hard enough before he lowered them and himself. He positioned himself exactly where he’d been, spreading her legs wider for him.

He sucked on her clit again, this time pushing a finger into her. She instantly moaned loudly, burying her hands in his hair. Harry wrapped an arm around her thigh, holding her in place as he continued to lick at her clit, curving his finger ever so slightly as to make her feel the best she possibly could. She squirmed under him, her orgasm coming on much faster in this position than the last, streaming down her legs, her torso, towards the centre between her thighs where Harry was sucking at her most sensitive spot, pounding his finger into her. She tugged at his hair as she could feel it coming on closer.

“Harry,” she moaned and at once he reached up outside her thigh, cupping her breast in his large hand.

He ran a thumb over her nipples as he flicked at her clit, finger still buried inside her, watching as she started moving and panting and whimpering more and more. He moved his finger faster and sucked her bud, which was exactly what Y/N needed, she cried out, moving her hips with Harry’s fingers. He squeezed her breast, and she met his eyes, seeing his dark green eyes under his long lashes, drinking in the sight of her. He suddenly hit a spot that had fires erupt in her lower tummy. Y/N gasped and let out another loud moan, whimpering under Harry as he licked and fucked her through her orgasm. She did not take her eyes off him and he did not look away from her, ordering her to keep watching till she was completely down from her euphoria.

Y/N was sprawled out panting, smiling as Harry came up to hover above her. She took a grip of his neck, kissing him deeply. He tasted of her.

“I’ll go get a condom in the cottage,” he mumbled. “I-If that’s alright with you, of course. We don’t have-“

“-I want to.”

“Alright. Brilliant.” He stumbled as he got up from the bed in a hurry. “I’ll-I’ll be right back, yeah? Don’t move! I’ll-“ He looked over his shoulder as he stood in the open doorway, a huge sigh leaving his lips as his eyes wandered over her naked body. He shook his head slightly, letting out a chuckle of disbelief. “Fuckin’ hell,” he mumbled before running down the stairs and out of the lighthouse.

It did not take long for him to come back, condom in hand and panting as if he’d been sprinting back and forth. He closed the door again, placing the condom on the corner of the desk beside the bed, crawling back over her again.

“Been away from this for too long,” he mumbled, running a hand over her curves. “And your tits are bloody fantastic, by the way.”

She laughed at him, swatting his shoulder as he reached for the hem of his jumper and tee shirt, bringing both over the top of his head and throwing them to the floor.

“I’d been looking forward to doing that,” Y/N said.

“What, undress me?”

“Yes.”

His eyes seemed to darken a bit. “Take off the rest.”

And she did. Keeping eye contact, she reached for the front of his denim shorts, undoing the button and unzipping him. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, the slight pressure and caress of her fingers against his anticipating and hard prick seemed to do more to him than she thought it would. She hooked her finger around the band of his shorts and boxers, wiggling them down his hips till they were far enough down for him to do the rest. One hand supporting his weight, he used the other one to help her take his clothes off, but her eyes fell to his cock immediately.

It wasn’t like she had thought of it before. Yes, she might’ve had some dreams and daydreams involving Harry and her doing some very filthy things, but she hadn’t really let herself think about his prick. But there it was, and she felt absolutely giddy with anticipation now. She wanted to have proper sex with him; she wanted it so, so bad.

Harry reached for the condom, tearing it open and putting it on, hand sliding down his shaft and to the pubic hair at the very bottom. Seeing the slight trail from his navel and down to it made her mouth water.

“You alright?” Harry asked, that crooked smile on his lips making Y/N’s cheeks heat up. She was already flustered all over, she did not need him looking at her like that. He knew she had been looking and now he was taking the piss. As usual.

“How do you want me?” he asked, voice husky.

She bit her bottom lip, cocking her head to the side. “I dunno.”

He groaned, hovering closer to her lips. She felt him against her sensitive spot, making her gasp. “What can I have?”

She tugged at the hair at the nape of his neck. “I want to be on top.”

That crooked smile came forth again, his dimples deepening. “Yes, ma’am.”

Taking a grip of her waist, he rolled around, making her lay on top of him. His head was on the pillow, right where hers had just been, so Y/N sat up. She took a grip of him, making Harry’s lips part at the impact. He gripped her thighs that were straddling either side of his hips, squeezing her lightly as encouragement. She sat up, bringing him to her, sliding him over the wetness he had caused. He let out a shaky breath, looking to be just as nervous as Y/N felt. She slid down onto him slowly, Harry’s eyes fluttered shut.

“Fuck,” he hissed, and Y/N gasped again.

“Harry,” she said, a little breathless already. “I’ve… I’ve never been on top before.”

He smiled. “That’s fine, here-“ He placed his hands on her hips, urging her to move. She followed his lead, biting her bottom lip hard as her clit rubbed against his pelvic area. “That’s it.”

She continued to grind against him, moving her hips as he was instructing her. Placing her hands on his chest for support, she started moving a little hard, with a little more purpose, Harry’s hands on her thighs a grounding and intense pressure.

“Keep doing that,” he encouraged, letting a moan slip from between his swollen lips. She rolled her hips, loving the filthy sounds they made as the rain kept on crashing against the window. They continued to look into each other’s eyes, not daring to look away as if it would bring them back to reality. Because this was too good to be true. Never before in her life had Y/N felt like this. She felt powerful as she rode Harry, felt a sort of strength in her that had never been present before. It had never been like this with Dominic; it had never been this intense. He hadn’t demanded she order him around, hadn’t been willing or suggested to try new things, hadn’t really done it like this. Harry looked at her as if the world revolved around her alone. As if the centre of the solar system was right here, and he was watching the sun about to eclipse, watching one of the most beautiful and magnificent moments in time. He gripped into her with feverish hands, coming with suggestions every once in a while, always letting her know just how good she was making him feel.

“That’s right,” he moaned as she moved her hips in circles. “Right there. Don’t stop.”

That might just have been the sexiest thing she had ever heard along with his moans. She continued doing exactly what she was doing, feeling her entire body heating up as she could sense her second orgasm that evening. Thinking about it, she wasn’t sure she had ever come twice in one night before. Maybe it was Harry, maybe it was the moment, maybe it was the fact that her and Harry were finally letting their guard down, admitting that there was something else between them besides their fake relationship. People who fake dated each other did not kiss like that, they did not have sex, they did not look at each other like it was all they wanted to do for the rest of their lives. No, this was more than what they had let on. Way more.

Harry sat up, making Y/N fall against his chest as he bent his knees ever so slightly. He placed one hand on her bum and the other on the mattress behind him as to help him move more swiftly. With each stroke over him, Harry thrusted back into her, rubbing at her bud each time and making everything around her seem much more colourful.

“Like that do you?” Harry asked, mouth parted as he panted into her wet lips.

She nodded her head, taking a grip of his shoulders to better move her hips. They moved together, looking into each other’s eyes as the rest of the world disappeared completely around them. The rain, the thunder, the buzzing of the light from upstairs turning on and turning off, it was all tuned out. Harry leaned down, placing one of his hands on her left breast to kneed it seductively. He kissed from her collarbone and down to her breast, sucking and nibbling lightly on her skin as he made his way to her nipple. Sucking it lightly, he looked up at Y/N who was squeezing his shoulders, telling him to keep going. Electricity shot from her tits and down her spine, heating up the fire that was building in her core. He closed his eyes as he sucked and kissed her tits, humming into her and making her moan time and time again. It felt so fucking good. Though she moved a little awkwardly, though they made some sounds together that made both of them laugh and heat up, though they were still trying to figure out what the other liked, this was still the best either had ever had.

As he was closing in on his finish, Harry wrapped both arms around her, bringing her closer to him. They kissed, desperate pleads and whimpers left each of their mouths as everything started setting on fire. Harry moved his hips with her, she tried to continue to move hers along with him, her hips shaking a little with the effort. Harry’s lips parted completely all of a sudden, a furrow appearing between his brows, and she felt it. He twitched against her and she continued to grind her hips, moving him through his orgasm. Looking deep into her eyes, he seemed to completely melt away when she kissed his bottom lip, sighing against him as she herself started getting closer to her second orgasm as well.

“I’ll help you,” Harry said. “I’ll use my hand, if you want?”

“Yes, please.”

He removed his cock from inside her, meeting her eyes as his thumb circled her clit again. Y/N gasped, gripping both sides of Harry’s neck. His lips parted at the pressure, grinning up at her. He brought his other hand forward, slipping his index and ring finger into her while his other thumb continued to flick at her clit. At once she moaned, looking into his eyes as this brought her closer to her climax, fast. She moved with his hand, moaning louder and louder as the fire inside her tummy intensified, feeling even greater than the time before. Harry curled his finger just as he leaned down, sucking on her nipple again, looking up at her through hooded eyes.

Everything exploded and she threw her head back, unable to stop herself. The sound of Harry pounding into her at a fast speed, wet and filthy, echoed through the room with her exclamation of euphoria. Harry continued till she was completely done, watching her as she closed her eyes, breathing heavily above him. Gently, he removed his fingers from inside her, bringing them up to his mouth to lick them clean just as she opened her eyes again.

Y/N felt at peace. Her heart was still thundering away inside her chest, her soul was still intermingled with Harry’s, and they would not let go of one another. They didn’t need that lamp, they didn’t need a lighthouse, they could light up everything on their own. She was sure that at some point tonight, while their bodies grinded together and worked toward climax, they had lit up like the sun. What was going on between them, the cellular reaction, the emotional connection, the physical attraction, it all equated to something. It had to. What this was, was greater than either of them individually. This would forever be marked on their souls. Meeting Harry, spending this summer with him, it had shaped her into a brand-new person. That was, Y/N reminded herself, what love was all about after all. Change for the better.

Harry got a cloth not long after, helping clean Y/N up before they both slipped under the duvet in the lightkeeper room, squished together as the bed was way smaller than what they were used to. Harry ran his hand from Y/N’s cheek and up to her shoulder, his eyes following his hand’s movement.

“I fucking worship you, Y/N,” Harry mumbled, the rain still pouring outside. He caressed his fingers gently over her jawline.

She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. They both closed their eyes and Y/N felt sleep coming closer. She felt so incredibly content, cuddled up to Harry and with the storm raging outside. A couple a seconds away from falling asleep, Harry started whispering against her forehead.

“Play fair with my heart, yeah?” It seemed like he thought she was asleep. That it was safe to say this. “’Cause I’m gonna fall in love with you. You don’t have to love me back, but I’m telling you now, ‘cause it’s inevitable, at one point, I’ll love you. Madly, truly, completely. Just… please… break my heart gently.”

Before she was able to form any sort of reply, she fell asleep.

A/N: If you wonder what the melody Harry wrote for that day spent in St Austell with Y/N and Gracie sounds like, I imagine it goes something like this 🥰

NEXT UPDATE: Sunday, 25 October, 9PM GMT!

FIC PAGE | COME TALK !!!

A HUGE thank you to my amazing and beautiful beta readers! 🌊 @aileenacoustic​​​ 🌊 @bopbopstyles​​​ 🌊 @fromyourstrulyh​​​ 🌊 @harrys-shrooms 🌊 @honeydearly​ 🌊 @summerfeelng 🌊 @watermelonsuger​​​​ 🌊  @withallthelove-a​​​​ 🌊

[silverbyuls]

( lee hyeri, cis female, muse i ) oh snap! is that SHIN EUNBYUL they work over at high volume where some of the other employees have labeled them as THE AVERAGE JOE. that’s probably because they can be a bit ( optimistic. ) but also pretty ( dishonest. ) they’re TWENTY TWO and they’ve been living in woodstock for TWENTY TWO YEARS. it must be their shift because i totally hear THE CRANBERRIES blasting from the record store. ( a little tikes piggy bank tucked under the bed, clothing label sticking out from the back, snap clips with varnish peeling off, jelly shoes with the strap taped together, leaving lisa frank stickers along record crates ) @volumeupdates

BIO

the luke hemsworth of the family but middle child

goes by byul

tried to go by ‘e.b.’ but her mum went berserk because she’d reduced her name to two letters for the ease of her yt friends and her brother bullied her for being e.t’s ugly sister so now she tries to go by silver star (her name translated into english) but it doesn’t quite stick

claims that her older sister and younger brother stole all her beauty, brain cells and height

family invested everything into older sister so she could go to college in new york: savings, loans, moved to smaller house which is even further from the town centre

brother requires all attention as he has high hopes of getting into college on a baseball scholarship and she lowkey can’t wait until he’s far away from woodstock

her grades have always been average so no one expects her to leave – her parents talk about how nice it is that she’ll be with them forever but she knows that’s because they want her to take care of them when they’re old … which she would! if they didn’t live in woodstock

she tells them she’s going to move to california, but they think she’s as serious about that as she is about wanting to go to college, or becoming supermodel of the world, or an olympic swimmer, when she has average grades, of average height, and can’t even swim

if her life was a movie, she’d have fallen asleep in the first ten minutes – it has always been so boring and uneventful, so she lives up in her head with her fake scenarios to keep things interesting – most of the time, they’re taken straight from a book or magazine

sometimes these thoughts spill over into reality because she can’t fathom the idea of people realising she’s as plain as she is, and her little white lies give her a bit of sparkle to stand out (in her opinion)

but she will get to california!

she even has a plan:

she’s been working at freddy’s diner since she was fifteen, escaping to high volume whenever she can, a place where she can pop her headphones on during her breaks and pretend she’s getting ogled at on venice beach, but she’s terrible at saving so seven years later she’s still grinding

once she graduates high school, she has enough time for a second job and she’d dropped enough hints in front of jerry for him to kindly offer her a job. after all, she spends as much time in high volume as she does at freddy’s so there’s not much of a difference once she becomes an employee -- still floating around the place, sipping on her coke can, either people watching or people chasing -- except now she has access to the register

after a big argument with her parents, she ended up moving out into a place in the middle of town. that was never part of the plan because saving was easier when she lived at home. she’ll say things got really bad but really, she was just getting closer to her target and she wanted a valid reason to put it off for a bit longer

she was only supposed to do it once – stealing from the cash register. it was just right there, no one was around, and she thought it was going to be her last shift because jerry was angry at her for being late again (granted, he hadn’t actually been mad, but it was one of those days when everything felt personal)

besides, she’d overheard a group of girls she’d idolised in school talk about how they stole some underwear and they made it sound so cool

she felt like everyone could hear her heart thumping against her chest as she walked out of the store but the day after, no one said anything about it, no one even noticed, and she wasn’t fired. so she did it again, and again, and again, and eventually she didn’t even bat an eyelid

the extra money was supposed to help her reach her goal faster but, again, she’s terrible at saving and her parents are so hardworking, she can’t help but feel guilty and buy nice things for them every once in a while and when they ask where she got the money from, she lies and says jerry gave her a bonus for being a good employee

on the other hand, if they’ve had an argument, or they’ve forgotten about her again, she’ll have a full on les-mis-i-dreamed-a-dream episode then splurge out on a cute jacket because it’s hers and it’s new! rather than worn out hand-me-downs from her sister or brother!

started her own side hustle called the separation agency – inspired after a customer at high volume asked her to help him break up with his boyfriend. so she’s the messenger for people who have things to say but don’t have the balls to say it to someone’s face themselves. usually they’re horrible messages, like break ups. she’s had like three customers and tries to promote her side hustle whilst on her shift at high volume

she thinks her “business” could actually thrive in a bigger city which is just another reason why she needs to get out of woodstock – it’s holding her back!

anyway, jerry’s missing, which is perfect for her because she gets to come in late and not get told off, and maybe steal a little more than she usually does

PERSONALITY:

when she’s around people, she seems like an extrovert: bubbly, talkative, dramatic ... which uses up a lot of her energy and her social battery is weak, so needs her own space often, and likes doing nothing by herself so sometimes she’ll lie to get out of plans or bail last minute 

she has big dreams, and talks about all her big plans, but has leaving anxiety which is why she’s shit at saving and makes up excuses as to why she can’t leave just yet 

has main character syndrome -- likes to live her life as a romcom, most of her lies revolve around her love life because she wants to be seen as desirable, but also will overanalyse everything 

sensitive, passionate, immature, sympathetic, fickle, clumsy, dramatic, caring, head in clouds

will pretend to knows things to fit in like ~hipster~ bands or anything really, depends on the crowd

could gladly spend all day talking to customers at work then the next day she’ll prefer to day dream in the storage room

rides a bike to and from work and almost everywhere else too -- the only one out of her siblings who had to bike to school because small car and siblings took up all the space -- she’s had the same bike since high school 

loves spice girls but feels like she’ll be judged so keeps quiet and plays it when she’s closing

honestly could hate you one day and have a crush on you the next but you wouldn’t even know it -- a vicious cycle 

collects stickers and leaves them everywhere and on everyone - often passive aggressive through them, basically uses them like emojis

will try to order food and get others to pay for it - especially kfc, never gets to eat the drumsticks at home so will honestly cry if people steal the drumsticks from her

buys lottery tickets and scratch cards because she has a 50/50 chance of winning

WANTED CONNECTIONS: (current connections)

start up: stolen str8 from a kdrama that ruined my life hehe her parents set her up with a pen pal to keep her busy out of guilt because they’re so busy with her siblings and work and obviously she romanticises it !!! her parents would’ve asked to lie a little bit, just so she’d be writing to someone she’d easily obsess over -- love island vc: someone who ticks all the boxes 

xoxo gossip girl: someone who loves a good gossip sesh -- they probably send 👀 at each other across the store when things feel a bit tense, which is code for ‘meet me in the storage room’ so they can chat away for the rest of their shift

lunch stealer: she makes her own lunch every day and is extremely protective over it but one day it went missing and she knows it was them (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t) so now they are her sworn enemy

sister’s/brother’s friend: therefore an automatic enemy

shut up: someone who just tells her to shut up because she chats so much shit and she’s insane - just sandra x dina vibes from superstore (x)

carpool karaoke: she hates cycling in when it’s raining, so either she’s trying to get them to be her designated driver or has already succeeded and is annoying about it

crush #1: someone she has a crush on (more of an infatuation) and they’re not interested in her in the slightest but in her head they’re giving her mixed signals and she has made up a fake boyfriend to try to make them jealous

crush #2: someone she thinks has a crush on her. either because they’re nice or tease her or just mean, it doesn’t matter, she’s insane so she’ll interpret it however she wants

ex: they never broke up, or even dated, but she thinks something almost happened between them and she thinks she cut things off by giving them space

separation agency: someone who once used the agency either out of the kindness of their heart or for a different reason entirely and now she won’t stop pestering them to try and get them to use it again

no thots just vibes: i just like this gifset tbh (x) and we can brainstorm ! 

[foryoumyheroes]

Their S/O takes them to an Asian House Party

[Midoriya + Todoroki + Bakugou + Kaminari + Kirishima] 

A/N:  Hey here’s a niche that no one asked for. 

I know that Japanese is a type of Asian but I am a wildly different type of Asian 🤣🤣, so my headcanons are based entirely off of being this other racial group. 

I just want to say that most of the time older Asian relatives really step out of line with their comments and can be really hurtful. I absolutely hate that behavior and their mindset, but for the purposes of this let’s just say that they’re not being harmful at all and it’s mostly light teasing :) If they’re like that in real life :) screw them >:) Also P.S. if these sound familiar it’s because I’ve recycled a lot of ideas from my other blog where I wrote “Asian House Party” headcanons already! 

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, hints at underage drinking  

Midoriya Izuku: 

For the longest time it has only been him and his mom, so when he enters the house and sees it packed with people his brain just goes blank because this is a family party. 

These people are all related to you somehow?? 

He asks you how you guys are all related and you’re genuinely like, “I don’t know???” You just call everyone auntie and uncle and hope for the best.  

If you start taking him to parties before he becomes a Pro, he has enough of a baby face that your older relatives and grandparents give him a red envelope without thinking too hard about it. But he gets so embarrassed and feels so bad that he ends up giving it to your mom. 

At his first party he’s supperrr nervous and wants your family to like him. He’s stuttering nearly every other syllable. 

Never leaves your side. Trails behind you like a puppy the entire time. 

After he’s been to several parties with your family, they recognize his red Nike Air Forces in the pile of shoes outside the house enough to be like, “Hey, [Name]! Your boyfriend’s here!” 

Midoriya is kinda of a pushover during the beginning of the series, and Asian families have the tendency to tease without knowing how it might sound, so he becomes an easy target until you pull him aside and tell him to argue back. 

He’s like noooo I don’t want to be disrespectful :(. He says that he’s used to bullying so this is nothing which makes you kinda sad and angry. You’re like hahahaha no. 

You two eventually get your family to stop and that’s when he’s finally indoctrinated into your fam. 

He’s kind of the quintessential Asian boyfriend? He goes to a good school, is sweet and innocent, polite to elders, etc. When he goes to the party with you your aunties are going to your cousins and say, “Why can’t you get a boyfriend like [Name].” 

Your female relatives kinda baby him because every time they see him he’s always in a new cast with another broken bone, so when there’s no more space left on the couches or the folding stools they kick your cousins off to make room for him. 

When he later becomes Pro-Hero Deku, everyone’s in love with him. He becomes the talk of the party. Everyone brags about him saying that they practically saw him grow up when they only see him once or twice a year. 

He also becomes the “cool uncle” that offers to take your younger relatives out for boba. But you pay. You have to pay or else your mom will yell at you for making the guest spend money. 

Yes, you will polite fight your own boyfriend. 

No, he will not win, but he’s determined to win one time like the shonen protag he is. 

Always leaves the party with the large trays of leftovers for him and his mom. 

Even when he’s like in his late twenties he’s still sitting at the kid’s table. 

Todoroki Shouto: 

When you first invited him to a party with your family he’s just like, “Oh. Sure.” Most of the parties he’s been to is the rich people parties that his dad took him to for publicity, so he arrives to the house in a whole suit and tie. 

Your cousins and uncles are clowning him while the older women swoon. You’re in the background panicking because everyone else is in sweats or shorts while he looks like he’s going to prom?? 

[Your auntie says, “Oh my god, he’s making such a good first impression!” 

You: Hahahaha! Yea!〔´∇｀〕

Inner You: Oh god I forgot he’s clueless ⊙▽⊙] 

Brings an expensive pastry every time because Fuyumi said it was polite. From that everyone’s like, “Oh??? You’re invited to every party from now on!” 

Becomes the source of your mom’s humble brag. “Oh, your son goes to Stanford and is studying medicine? My kid and their boyfriend are both Heroes-in-training and he’s the son of the Number One Hero — “ 

Kinda just does whatever your aunties and mom tells him to do? 

He’ll sit wherever they tell him to sit, even if it’s far away from you and he’ll even take the many family photos for you guys in the end. Even though he’s shit at photography. 

If they’re like, “Oh, you’re so skinny, you should eat some more!” He’ll just shrug and be like okay, and doesn’t stop them when they continue to put food on his plate even though he’s full and gets into a big food coma that knocks him out on the couch right away. 

Every time he appears, your aunties will just stop and say, “Oh, he’s so handsome!” 

He’s getting better at handling kids and it shows by the way he’s more willing to play with them then hang out with your cousins that are around your age. He’s in the room upstairs and is ;; just napping with them.   

The kids in the party call him Zuko.  

Before you brought him your aunts and uncles would be like, “Do you have a boyfriend?? Do you have a girlfriend??” and you would say, “Yeah, Todoroki Shouto.” And they would laugh in your face. 

NO ONE BELIEVED THAT HE WAS YOUR BOYFRIEND UNTIL YOU BROUGHT PROOF!! HERE HE IS !! IN THE FLESH!! 

I feel like he would have the most culture shock? You guys conduct yourself in such a different way than his own family and from everyone in 1-A. You guys go batshit insane. 

When you wake him up and offer to walk him to the train station to take him home, he offers to walk you back to your house as well and you say, “Oh, I’m going back to the party after this.” 

It’s almost midnight?? 

He asks you where are you going to sleep or if you’re going to sleep at all and you don’t know how to explain the concept of how you and all of your cousins and siblings are going to cram into one room upstairs and sleep on every blanket in the house on the floor while only three or four lucky relatives are able to get the bed. 

Older Asians have no filter so they will straight up say to his face that he looks nothing like his dad he’ll just go, “ :’) Thank you, that means a lot to me.” 

Before Endeavor’s redemption arc he’s prone to oversharing and one day he tells your mom that his dad is a piece of shit and his mom is in the hospital. 

Your mom, taking her sandal and holding it like a weapon: Oh? Where’s your father?? I just want to talk. Your mom is welcome to every [Surname] party from now on!! Haha! (◕ᴗ◕✿)

His brain is doing backflips trying to figure out how you’re related to everyone. 

The only guy that neatly puts his shoes off to the side at the front door. 

Bakugou Katsuki: 

At first you didn’t invite him to the party, he kinda just figures it out from how your relatives are all tagging you on social media and forces you to invite him. 

Not because you’re ashamed of him but because they’re somewhat overbearing ;; and Bakugou has no filter. 

For someone who’s so “badass” he’s super anal about the rules and punctuality. 

You tell him the party is at 18:00 and by 17:45 he goes into your house and finds you still napping with your PJs on. Even though you tell him that the party isn’t really starting at six he doesn’t listen. He forces you to get dressed and takes you to the party and whatdoyouknow no one is there yet. No one is going to be here until at least two hours after the designated time. 

He instead forces you to help the women in the kitchen prepare the food, aka he’s helping while you laze around in the living room. 

All of the women are like, “Wow! You can cook so well! [Name] you should be more like him!!” 

If this is the first time he meets your entire extended family, he’s inwardly hyping himself up to make a good first impression. If you are not Japanese, he manages to memorize several greetings in your language and the proper formalities when greeting an older relative. Then he goes in and everyone’s already drinking and screaming their throats out to karaoke. 

When he walks into the party with his black tank top and saggy pants everyone’s first thought is that he’s an Asian Baby Boy. Like he probably takes social media pictures in front of cars, is going to break your heart, goes to raves, is named Kevin Nguyen. 

Everyone is loud af at this party so they don’t really care that he’s screaming. They love teasing the shit out of him because his reactions are so fucking funny. 

When one of your uncles offers you alcohol he immediately snatches it away from you. No, you guys are underage, have an athletic lifestyle, and he’s so protective of you asdfg 

He’s been so focused on being a Hero that when your cousins play against him in video games or card games he loses horribly. He’ll just keep going, “One more round!” until he finally wins. 

Your mom forces you to do a convenience store run to get something that the party is running out of and when you come back Bakugou managed to find is way into the “women” side of the room where they’re all gossiping with him and playing poker together like they’ve been friends forever. 

Your mom honest-to-god acts like he’s more of her child than you are. 

When you guys finally get your families to meet, his mom and your female relatives are going to be so powerful together. 

Is trying his damned hardest to get through the entire party because it can go all night long and he sleeps at 8:30PM. 

Kaminari Denki: 

The KING of the Asian House Party.

Absolutely CRUSHES it at karaoke with your family. Even though he might not speak your language, he’s putting so much passion into it that no one cares anyway. 

Sings so loud that the neighbors complain. 

Your family loves him because he’s just so happy-go-lucky. The life of the party. 

He goes around eating all night and continually asks you, “Hey [Name], what’s this? What’s this one?” 

You can drop him off in the designated kids room and not see him for hours on end. He’s too busy playing video games with your cousins and siblings. 

But he’s such a sucker. Your uncles and older cousins pull him into any gambling game and he loses so bad, even if he’s gambling things like candy or food. 

Kinda gullible when your family teases him?? If you’re not Japanese they teach him an insult in your language but tell him it’s a complement or “It’s like saying, I love you more than words,” and they send him off to tell you it. 

And he acts super fucking cocky like the e-boy smirk while he’s rubbing his hands together, and biting his lip and shit. While you’re just sitting on the stool with a drink in your hand like, “Okay....” 

He tells you the insult and butchers the pronunciation already, but acts like you’re about to fall in his arms and you just ;; burst out laughing ;;; until you fall off your chair. 

Has the party time down pat. He won’t arrive until three hours later, and that’s when you tell him an earlier time than everyone else. 

Will drink anything your uncle offers up. He’s a lightweight. You end up half-carrying him half-dragging him back to his house. Nearly trips on the sea of shoes outside the front door and falls on you. 

You’re just lucky that he doesn’t discharge his Quirk randomly when he’s drunk.

Doesn’t get Asian glow.  

When your mom discovers you struggling outside she just tells him to sleep over and if this is his first party with you guys, you’re able to get the bed because he’s the guest 😌😌. If he’s been here several times before, yeah ;; you guys are going back to a pile of blankets on the floor.  

Kirishima Eijirou: 

The “big brother” figure of the party. 

The kids love him and he’s willingly playing “Heroes and Villains” with them for hours. 

Since he’s so broad they hang off of him like a limpet and he walks around with children draped around him. 

Ngl... He walks into the party dressed like all of your other male cousins. 

Basketball shorts, t-shirt, crew socks. 

He’s able to find his shoes super fast at the end of the party because he’s the only person that’s willing to wear crocs. 

Willing to go outside with your cousins to play basketball with them but he’s so out of practice that he fumbles so bad. 

After several games he gets the hang of it and isn’t deadweight to your team anymore. 

LOVES going to your family’s parties because he gets to eat whatever he wants without holding back. Eats several plates and when someone suggests going to get ice cream he’s like, /gasp/ “Ice cream???” 

They were offering the little kids, but okay, a teenager can come along too. 

You’re never too old for ice cream. 

For some reason he’s able to get along with everyone at the party?? He just has a personality that makes him easy to talk to, and by the end of the night or the next day, he’s saying goodbye to everyone by name. 

[“No, wait, [Name], I haven’t said goodbye to your cousin’s sister-in-law’s daughter yet. 

You do a double-take because even you have no idea who that is.] 

When he gets a little bit older and he’s finally allowed to move out of the kid’s table and eat with the older male relatives he’s so ;;; awkward. 

They’re just all in the garage eating, drinking, and smoking and he’s just sitting there having no idea what to do. 

Eventually he convinces you to join him in the garage because he wants your emotional support and is super shocked when you fit right in. He’ll just ;;; go back to the kid’s table. 

Can’t sing to save his life. 

You guys heard him do karaoke once and you never let him do it again. 

If one of your relatives teases him he’s able to laugh it off and not think too much about it, but if they say something that might be hurtful to you he’s so quick to shut it down. He doesn’t care that they’re blood related to you or not. 

Does not let up until they apologize. 

For some reason all of the ladies are confused af when they find out that he dyed his hair?? They’re like omg is he a secret delinquent. 

LOVES to hear your relatives talk about what you were like when you were a kid. 

It’s embarrassing af but he just laughs it off like, “It’s okay, babe! You sound like you were super cute as a kid!” 

[chlobell]

meet chloe bell  // welcome to solaris bay.

                                         the basics //

full name : chloe michelle bell birthdate & zodiac : june 27th, 1991 & cancer gender & pronouns : female & she/her sexuality : bisexual occupation : producer for mtv, currently working on solaris bay reality show. hometown : solaris bay, new jersey family : roger bell ( father ), andrea bell ( mother ), clara bell ( half-sister, older ), [ male ] ( fiancee, dating since 2017 )

                                       deeper dive //

hobbies :                 FILMING - there wasn’t a time in her life where chloe didn’t have a camera in her hand - as a kid, she used their old video camera to record birthdays, events and the street they lived on, feeling safer behind the camera with a view finder between her and the rest of the world. these days, her filming is primarily done for social media posts, but sometimes she still picks up her old video camera and shoots slices of life that happen around her.                  SINGING - no one’s going to give her any money for it, but chloe always loved to sing. she joined the chorus in middle school, and stuck through all the way to college when she stopped her sophomore year. these days, it’s mostly with the radio or her iPhone, but she loves karaoke nights with friends and blasting older music to sing along wtih.                  SKATEBOARDING - though she doesn’t get to do so as an adult as often, chloe loved skateboarding as a kid and teenager. she was often found at the skatepark during her high school years, and while most wouldn’t suspect it of her, she’d managed to learn quite a number of tricks over the years. she did break her leg when she was 16 from the hobby, which slowed her down considerably, but every now and again she’ll pull her board out from the closet and find a place to skateboard around the neighborhood again.                  COOKING - in the bell house, it was practically a pre-requisite to learn how to cook. andrea taught both of her daughters from a young age how to prepare food, primarily creole from louisianna where she herself had been born and raised. while clara took to it quicker and easier and with more passion, chloe still remains an excellent cook who loves to entertain her friends with her dishes. 

favorites :                  food - meatloaf & mac and cheese                  drink -  chardonnay or mountain dew                  movie - moulin rouge!                  song - move along ( all american rejects )                   color - orange & purple habits :                no cigarettes  / socially drinks alcohol / no drug use                  nervous ticks include rambling until someone tells her to be quiet, tucking her hair behind her ears, twisting her thumb between her fingers, and licking her lips.  loves :                  homecooked meals, her family, her niece, pampered spa days, shopping at thrift stores, the summer, the beach, whales, 2000′s era pop punk, her fiancee, romance novels, board games, filming, and listening to people’s life stories.  fears :                  fire, hospitals, and losing her phone talents :                    film, skateboarding, cooking, hula hooping and predicting the weather

                                        appearance //

height : 5′9″ tattoos : a small butterfly adorns her right shoulder, a drunken choice she got with her college roommate while on spring break her junior year.  scars : a scar from her appendicitis when she was 14 is on her stomach, and a broken leg bone left a scar from where she fell over skateboarding as a teen. piercings : she has her ears pierced, usually donning simple gemstones in the holes unless she needs to dress up for an event, and has a simple stud in her left nostril.  hair : though she went wild with different colored streaks in her hair as a teen, she primarily keeps her locks at a medium length, usually just past her shoulders, with a light blonde highlights into her dark locks and a wavy curl to look sophisticated and stylish while being as low maintenance as possible.  fashion :                clothing - between work and her personal life, her clothing attire can vary - sometimes she’s donning suits in bright colors of pink or yellow, other times it’s ripped jeans and converse. she has to ensure she can look professional for meetings at the office, but trendy when dealing with her clients and the people around her, and it’s a dichotomy she takes in stride. her favorite outfit is a simple hot pink dress - one she’s worn for most important events over the past few years, including the premier of solaris bay and her subsequent engagement that happened that same night.                shoes - while she’s already tall, chloe adores wearing heels. she’s grateful to be around people who don’t mind when she throws on stilettos and climbs to 6′ - it helps her feel powerful, especially in a room full of men she may tower over. in her downtime, though, she’ll usually grab a pair of sneakers - converse or vans, though she uses addidas to exercise ( when she forces herself to do so ). 

                                       bio //

most could claim that chloe bell lived a charmed childhood; the only ( biological ) daughter of the local chief of police and a local restauranteer, she and her older sister clara grew up in the suburbs of solaris bay, attending clover street all the way until their graduation of solaris bay high twelve years later. an active member of their church community, a soccer player and an avid filmmaker, it didn’t come as any surprise to anyone when chloe managed to snag a near full scholarship to rutgers to explore filmmaking.

the goal was simple: become an award winning movie maker, focusing on niche topics and documentaries who got to travel around the world and visit sundance and tribecca, always with a new beau and a new movie in mind.

it was harder than it sounded, though, and chloe almost dropped out her sophomore year. crawling back home, she took classes at the local community college until she felt confident enough to go back - while it took her five years to get her diploma, it hangs proudly in her home office in new york city.

or, rather, it did, along with all her dreams. but becoming a filmmaker is easier said than done - these days, anyone with an iPhone can classify themselves a filmmaker, and while getting stories out of people as she set up shop in various bars was easy enough, the money never quite came together, and working various jobs to make ends meet in the tiny brooklyn apartment she shared with five others never seemed to be as satisfying as she hoped it would. instead, she landed a job at mtv - as an intern, working her way up until she landed a role she could feel comfortable with : producer.

reality tv was the bane of her existence, but she found something she could market herself as - the confidante to those on screen, edging them into particular circumstances those behind the scenes wanted more. but when the opportunity brought her back home, chloe tried to find any way out of it.

unfortunately, a hometown girl behind the scenes was exactly the kind of thing mtv wanted from their new show. and so she packed her bags, kissed her fiancee goodbye, and found a condo in solaris peak.

it’s not a glamorous job by any means - she’s often working 16 to 18 hour days when they’re filming, and in the off season she’s stuck recruiting new cast members, interviewing people for their web series, and coming up with plans for the next season. and being home should be joyous - she’s missed her parents, and her old friends, of course - but running into her exes, and more importantly, her sister, makes her want to crawl back to new york city and never return.

the bell family was perfect, after all. but only from the outside - and only if chloe and clara stayed far, far away from one another.

[merakiui]

Can you do hcs for nine, licht, mori, and ghilley going on a date with their s/o / manager? It could be first date or their preferred date scenario whatever you choose!

First Date HCs (Licht, Mori, and Ghilley)

(Nine’s first date headcanons can be found here.)

💋 Licht 💋

Licht wants to go somewhere upbeat for your first date, and so he believes karaoke is the best place.

Some will say that it can get awkward, and others will say it’s all in good fun. In Licht’s eyes, it’s an opportunity to show you the quirky and entertaining side of his personality. He’ll also learn what type of music you prefer and whether or not you’re confident about singing.

You don’t even have to be a good singer. As long as you’re enjoying your time together, the quality of your voice shouldn’t matter!

It takes a lot of courage for someone to show their true personality to the one they’re interested in, so Licht hopes that karaoke will encourage you to be yourself. He’s got such a fun-loving personality, and he wants you to be comfortable with lowering your walls (if you have any up to begin with).

After karaoke, the two of you might wander around, popping inside of stores and going for some late-night dinner. You might even stop at a bar for some drinks.

Licht will insist on paying for everything because he doesn’t mind spending money on his darling date. But if that bothers you, he’s willing to compromise and pay for half.

When you’re on your date with Licht, his full attention is centered on you. Licht might be flirty by default, but when he’s serious about a person he won’t look at anyone else. Though that means he’ll be flirting with you a lot.

He likes being able to do typical boyfriend things with you, such as holding hands, kissing you freely, and wrapping an arm around your waist to bring you closer.

You’re likely to go on more dates after the first, so he leaves the choice up to you. Licht will never force you to do something you’re not comfortable doing, and if karaoke isn’t exactly your favorite he doesn’t mind seeing a classic movie or going to a nice field for a picnic if the weather’s permitting. 

Even on your first date, he’s already calling you so many pet names, but that’s just because he’s fallen for you.

❄️ Mori ❄️

Mori will take you to a carnival for your first date!

He might not seem like the type of guy who’d enjoy a carnival, but Mori wants to show you how skilled he is at all of the chance games.

He’ll win you anything you want. All it takes is a little strategy and some good luck, and before you know it he’s won a giant stuffed animal.

It definitely surprises you because you’re almost certain those games are designed to rake in a lot of money.

The two of you will check out the food stalls before settling on something that looks especially delicious. You’ll probably sit at a bench, enjoying each other’s company while you eat.

It’s hard for him to deny how entertaining a carnival is. He gets a kick out of seeing the staff, slack-jawed and baffled, when he continues to win at the hardest games.

Mori’s winning streak is insane. It gets to the point where you can’t even carry all of the plush animals! You’ll probably need a cart to bring them around the carnival grounds with you. Everyone stops to stare in utter shock as Mori proudly carries whatever else fails to fit in the cart. He’s truly on X Games mode.

As the date comes to a close, Mori will sit with you on the Ferris wheel, where the two of you will watch the sky transition from oranges and pinks into dark violets and blues. 

You’ll talk about how the day went before falling into a comfortable silence, content with watching the stars wink at you from the inky night sky as the Ferris wheel slowly rotates.

It was definitely a date to remember, and now you’re stuck with an endless supply of plush toys.

🧩 Ghilley 🧩

Ghilley has an unpredictable personality and that’s reflected in his date ideas. No matter what, he wants your first date to be a surprise you’ll never forget. So he decides to bring you to an escape room.

Puzzles are always fun, especially when you’re working together to solve them. And what better way to get closer than to put yourselves in a room where the entire space is the puzzle?

Ghilley is smitten with the idea of an escape room and he hopes you’ll enjoy it as well. There are so many great aspects about being in a room with the person you like, unable to leave until you solve a series of exciting puzzles.

And it allows the two of you to determine just how well you work together under the pressure of being timed. Plus, it gives Ghilley plenty of opportunities to prank you.

He doesn’t mean any harm. Everyone deserves a good laugh every now and then, and if Ghilley senses that you’re getting stumped or the date is too tense he’ll crack a few jokes: spooking you when you’re concentrated, playfully hiding the clues and shrugging when you ask if he knows anything, and chuckling when you can’t seem to figure out one of the puzzles.

If you were skeptical of this sort of activity, you’re not anymore. To your surprise, Ghilley’s made it fun and lighthearted. You don’t even have time to stress over the puzzles when you’re so busy laughing at Ghilley’s constant teasing.

Without realizing it, you end up growing closer to him while trying to work through a dozen riddles.

After you escape the room with him, the date will continue. Ghilley has a lot of surprises in store for you, so you’ll be kept on your toes for the rest of the day.

And if you have anywhere in particular that you’d like to go, he’ll happily let you take the reins. He’d like to know what your definition of ‘fun’ is, so feel free to show him around town to the areas you frequent most often.

The date ends up going way better than you’d imagined, and you’re already thinking about where you can bring Ghilley on your next date.

[avmisworld]

Jungkook as your boyfriend:

●     Y'all know Jungkook is MAJOR bf material

●     The cutest bean uwu

●     At the start of your relationship he was probably a bit awkward

●     The poor guy is so inexperienced he forgot what it's like talking to a girl who isn't doing his makeup lol

●     Is scared to do something you won't like so he's always really careful with his words and actions

●     Eventually he'll ease into it and become the shameless loving crackhead you know today

●     But sometimes he'll still get a little shy

●     Whenever he says something too cheesy or makes a cute mistake or you compliment him

●     Always has the cutest bunny smile during these moments

●     Always puts your needs before his own

●     If you're a foreigner, he'll spend hours learning your native language

●     Even though you know Korean and you have no problem communicating uwu

●     Makes sure you're eating well and sleeping enough

●     Even when he's on diets and sleeps two hours a day max :(

●     Always insists to help you even if you don't need it

●     "Y/N, let me help you"

●     "Babe, I'm combing my hair..?"

●     Is always ready to tell you how amazing and beautiful you are whenever you get insecure about your body and talents :'(

●     Is legitimately confused why you would ever be insecure in the first place

●     When he is insecure tho

●     You just tell him the harsh truth

●     That he's the world's cutest, most talented and golden bunny, and he's precious to ARMY and to his members uwu

●     Tells you he loves you at least a hundred times a day just to see you blush and avoid his eyes cutely

●     His favorite thing is making you laugh

●     Loves it when you make him laugh as well

●     He's an hilarious person so he doesn't have to try much to succeed

●     Loves to make funny faces at you during one of your fake-serious banters

●     You two have a shit ton of private jokes (wtf is funny about a plastic cup????)

●     You live on sending each other memes and stupid videos of people falling down stairs lmfao

●     You two are severe crackheads oof

●     It's very likely to find the two of you awake at 3 am having a dance party or karaoke after too much wine

●     Constantly having tickle fights, wrestling matches, pillow fights, what not

●     Do not forget that JK is a savage little shit

●     And that doesn't change because you are his girlfriend *sigh*

●     Teases you about everything and anything

●     Places things high up on purpose just so he can show up later with his chest puffed out and take it down for you with a smirk

●     "Did I hear a damsel in distress?"

●     But makes sure not to take it too far uwu

●     This kid is competitive af omg

●     A relationship with him means turning everything into some race or bet

●     "I bet I can finish this hot dog faster than you"

●     "Whoever brushes their teeth faster gets to shower first!"

●     You see this a lot when the two of you game as well

●     There is no way you can date Jeon Jungkook without playing Overwatch at least once lol

●     Video game tournaments

●     He wins most of the time but if he'll ever lose it's because he let you smh

●     Is competitive also when it comes to other people

●     Always has to prove to you that he's the best and that you made the right choice dating him

●     Like you would ever doubt that pffft

●     Whenever someone impresses you Jungkook would just jump out and be like

●     "That's pretty cool, but did you see the new move I learned?" *breaks neck*

●     Going to a fun fair would just be you going back home with a truckload of plushies from Jungkook winning in all the booths kfkfkd

●     Dates with him are so cute and fun

●     He loves taking you out sm

●     It doesn't matter if it's movie night, ramen dates, dinner dates, lunch dates, beach dates, amusement park dates, coffee dates, workout dates, study dates, ice-skating dates

●     Jungkook's inner child always comes out with you

●     Probably because he never really got the time to be a real child :(

●     You're the only person aside from his members and family who gets to see the real him

●     He's so whipped for you

●     Literal heart eyes

●     Can't stop staring at you with twinkling eyes and a wide bunny smile

●     When you catch him he'll look away and blush but he'll feel satisfied when he sees you blush as well uwu

●     He finds everything you do adorable and can't help but send you bashful laughs and affectionate gazes

●     even if he won't admit it kkk

●     Compliments you all the time

●     Compliments about your looks, your outfits, your smallest, most insignificant achievements uwu

●     Always notices the small things about you that no one else does

●     "Wow, Y/N, these new earrings look so good on you, babe"

●     Basically Jungkook loves to spoil you hehe

●     Buys you presents all the damn time

●     You don't encourage him to do so because you hate feeling like he's your sugar daddy or smth and you aren't with him from his money

●     But he just can't help it when he sees something he knows you'll like

●     Spends more time shopping for you than for himself

●     But it's all worth the gleam of excitement in your eyes when you see his presents

●     Even if you playfully slap him and pout

●     "I told you to stop wasting money on me!"

●     Also makes you his own personal presents uwu

●     Usually gives you them before he goes on tour to cheer you up

●     Anything from portraits of you he drew secretly, to paintings of beautiful landscapes, to songs he wrote for you, to a collage of pictures you took of you

●     Jungkook loves taking pictures and videos of you

●     Takes snaps of you secretly cause he knows you're shy uwu

●     His camera roll and gallery is entirely filled with pictures of you sleeping, eating, laughing, smiling, staring, talking, etc…

●     Plus cute selfies and candid shots of the two of you with huge grins and arms wrapped around each other

●     And memey selfies of the two of you that you would literally bury yourself if anyone would find lol

●     Also has little, random videos of you just scrolling on your phone or something

●     "Y/N, look at mee~~"

●     It's really hard when Jungkook leaves for tour for both of you

●     Late night video calls almost every day

●     Even when Kook is after a concert, with his eyelids sticking to each other like glue π-π

●     Calls you half asleep and the two of you just talk about meaningless stuff until one of you falls asleep uwu

●     Sends you snaps all day of him and the guys and everything they're doing

●     Does it so you'll see he's having fun and staying healthy

●     Wants you to do the same so you send him selfies of you and your boring university lifestyle

●     He insists that he finds it interesting and that he wants to see your face

●     "I can't be deprived of touching you and seeing you! It's too much."

●     Doesn't answer texts ever so you mostly communicate through phone/video calls and snaps/memes

●     When he comes back from tour you wait for him at the airport

●     His face lights up when he sees you and he smiles so wide π-π

●     No matter how exhausted he is he runs to you like a lighting bolt

●     Hugs you tightly and twirls you around while the other members watch fondly

●     One of the few times he'll agree to so much PDA

●     Usually he doesn't really like being too touchy in public

●     But he always holds your hand just to make sure you're next to him, safe and sound uwu

●     Brings you so much souvenirs from his trip abroad to make you feel like you were there with him

●     Snow globes, magnets, clothes, key chains, plushies…

●     All of it to remind you he thought about you every single day he was away

●     When you're together you're so domestic

●     If it's making food together, Jungkook teaching you BTS' newest choreo, working out, or even cleaning the house together

●     Nothing's boring with Jungkook

●     He's a whole different person when you're alone

●     Calls you sweet nicknames like "baby", "babe", "jagi", "princess" and "angel"

●     He's singing all day so it feels like your constantly stuck in "The Greatest Showman"

●     But you can't really complain cause Gukkie's sweet honey voice is your favourite thing to hear

●     Sometimes he'll talk to you in songs only to piss you off

●     But most of the time he'll sing to you when you can't sleep or when you feel sad or sick

●     He'll comb his hands through your hair gently while he sings to you softly *heart-attack*

●     Picks you up all the time

●     It might be because he loves to prove that he's strong enough to protect you and cherish you

●     But also because he loves hearing your shrieks of surprise and soft laughter

●     Piggybacks on the street, carrying you bridal style around the house, lifting you up like a baby in his arms when you playfully fight and twirling you around

●     Just all the time really

●     "Okay, okay, I'm sorry~~ Please let me down"

●     Because you live together when he's in Korea you're always stealing his clothes

●     He pretends to not like it and demands you to give it back to him

●     But if you're ever cold or in the need of some clothing he'll be the first to throw you his wardrobe

●     His slightly possessive nature feeds off seeing you all small and soft in his clothes

●     It probably turns him on tbh

●     Because of this he has a big thing for couple items as well

●     Whether it's outfits, phone cases, lockscreens, accessories, and eventually jewelry (like promise rings uwu)

●     Brags about you to the members 24/7

●     "Look at this picture I took of Y/N when she wasn't looking! Isn't she the prettiest?"

●     "Hyung, did you hear that Y/N was voted for best student in her class? Wah, I was really so impressed! She's a genius."

●     The members high-key tease him for it and say it's annoying

●     But they secretly think it's adorable how happy you make him and adore you so much for it fr

●     You getting along with the rest of the members so well makes Jungkook really happy

●     Even though he might get too protective sometimes

●     Gets jealous often and is horrible at hiding it despite not saying it directly smh

●     Watches from afar when you laugh at something Taehyung says, pinching his cheek lightly

●     His eyebrows are furrowed and he's tonguing his cheek like he always does when he's jealous

●     Eventually he has enough and comes over to you

●     Pecks your cheek or pulls you to sit in his lap and tells everyone about the date you have planned for tomorrow

●     "So, me and Y/N are planning to go to a picnic tomorrow at Han river…"

●     And you're trying so hard not to smile cause he's just being so obvious and you find it cute

●     A few time his jealousy leads to fights tho

●     Fighting with Jungkook in general is a rare occurrence

●     But when you do fight it can get pretty bad

●     Rather than shouting or losing his temper, Jungkook tends to shut himself off when the fight is serious

●     He stays quiet and talks only when it's necessary

●     "Whatever" "Do what you want"

●     It's mostly because he's afraid to say something he'll regret later

●     He'll probably leave the apartment and go to the gym/studio/dorm room to calm down and clear his head

●     Because both of you have big egos, it might take a few days to make up

●     If Jungkook's at fault, he will eventually swallow his pride and apologize to you

●     If it were the other way around tho

●     You're not going to hear a word from him until you admit you were at fault

●     No matter how much it'll hurt him to be away from you

●     Even after the fight is over it might take a little time for things to go back to how they were

●     Because Jungkook's pride and insecurities might get in the way of him approaching you

●     But with enough patience you'll be back to being the inseparable couple you were before

●     In case you think I forgot

●     Skinship is a must in your relationship

●     Jungkook loves to cuddle with you

●     He's always the big spoon, with his hands underneath your (his) shirt, just gently caressing the skin of your stomach and hips

●     Or with you laying on top of his chest, legs tangled together

●     A lot of times cuddling leads to heated make out sessions and even more

●     When he's troubled or exhausted he likes to nuzzle his head in the junction between your shoulder and neck and just breathe you in

●     Tight hugs when you see each other after a while with his hands pressing your face to his chest protectively

●     Back hugs are a must obviously

●     Creeps up behind you when you're working and scares the frick out of you when he wraps his arms around your waist

●     Loves forehead kisses because it's another opportunity to boast about how tall he is smh

●     Also cheek kisses, nose kisses, ear kisses, neck kisses, knuckle kisses and lip kisses ofc lol

●     Kisses you out of the blue and then pretends like nothing happened

●     "Sorry, I couldn't help it"

●     Lots of sweet, soft, loving kisses uwu

●     Has a thing for nibbling/biting you (mostly your earlobe/bottom lip/fingers)

●     Loves giving hickeys oml

●     It fits his possessive nature perfectly

●     The more people know you belong to him, the better

●     Loves when you sit in his lap skdjd

●     He wraps his arms around your stomach and pulls you closer so he can place his chin on your shoulder, occasionally leaving butterfly kisses all over your neck and shoulders

●     Also into cuter things like poking your cheeks when you do something cute, ruffling your hair, tickling you and pinching your cheeks and bopping your nose.

●     When it comes to bed, Jungkook is definitely a dom

●     Just like he is on stage kdkck

●     Puts your pleasure before his own and makes sure you're a 10474859% with whatever he's doing beforehand

●     Sex after a fight or after he gets jealous and needs to remind himself you're only his

●     Dirty talk ahhhh

●     He can also be soft tho

●     Like when he's making love to you omg my hearteu

●     Whispering praises and sweet words in your ear

●     Staring into your eyes with his dark, intense ones

●     Moans alot and likes it when you do too

●     Occasionally he lets you have the upper hand

●     Doesn't spend too much time on aftercare because he wants to go back to holding you as quickly as possible

●     The two of you fall asleep naked with your bodies completely tangled together

●     Also likes showering with you

●     less in a sexual way and more as another opportunity to pamper you

●     Scrubs you carefully and puts shampoo for you

●     Uses soap foam to grow you a fake beard this boi srsly

●     Basically he loves you like no one else and you're destined to be

●     The best boi there is <3

[starrymused]

Constantinos Savalas (nicknamed Dino) was born in Samos, Greece to a Greek father and a Taiwanese mother who had moved there from Taipei for a quieter life. The two raised their son in Samos, teaching him both Greek and Taiwanese from a young age. When he hit eighteen, Dino traveled to Seoul to study music and pursue his dream of being a singer.

Personality-wise, Dino is an easy-going, fun-loving, extroverted guy who just wants to do his best in life while having a good time. He’s one of those people who will always make sure that nobody is left out, always the first to offer a hand, and is just a friendly and warm person to talk to. That doesn’t mean he isn’t a bit of a prankster, though. He has a good sense of humor and enjoys messing around, but it’s never at the expense of anyone else. He looks like he stepped right out of the late 80s/early 90s due to his fashion sense and his love for all things retro.

In his spare time, he enjoys song writing, performing, going to concerts, roller skating, basketball, eating good food, going to the movies, chatting up girls and boys, and just generally loving life. At age 21, he was living in a Goshiwon in Hongdae, which is known for its upbeat student nightlife, with karaoke lounges and dance clubs featuring techno, hip-hop and live rock music. He worked in one of these karaoke lounges as an assistant bartender. He sometimes performs outside the lounge to attract more customers while also getting his name out there.

It was here that Dino was approached by a representative of an entertainment agency called NEON Entertainment. They gave him a business card and say that he should call. However, Dino had no interest in becoming an idol, but called them anyway to see what they could offer. He told them that he just wanted to be a songwriter, singer, and producer, but without all the bells and whistles of being an idol. The songwriter and producer part was what grabbed their attention.

He met with a top manager at the company who immediately looked down at him, bluntly telling him that he’s too “foreign” to be an idol anyway. He does, however, want Dino to write some songs for them, saying that he’ll offer him good money. Dino was uncertain at first, but then he realized that he really can’t afford to turn down an opportunity like that and agreed So, he started to work for NEON Entertainment as a songwriter and producer.

After only four months of working there, he was transferred to NEON’s L.A branch to work with a new American boyband called Your Destiny. Dino was excited at first, but soon realized that they weren’t all that great. They didn’t know how to write their own songs (and couldn’t be bothered to learn) and could barely perform without lip-syncing, pre-recording performances, and relying on loud backing vocals. Plus, they relied heavily on targeting TikTok so that they could go viral without having much substance to them. Unfortunately, the fame they gained from that went to their heads, making them egotistical assholes. Whenever they meet with Dino now — he tries to keep these meeting few and far between or he’ll end up in a scrap with them — they look down on him for being a foreigner. However, again, Dino feels like he has no choice but to stay at the company because, now that he’s being forced to relocate to LA, he needs that money more than ever.

To get more of an icome (he’s actually paid pretty poorly at NEON, he takes on a second job at a fast-food place called The Burger Shack. The business prides itself on offering the ‘American Experience’ of burgers, shakes, and crazy ice cream combos. Dino doesn’t mind the job because he’s outgoing, is able to handle customers — even ones that want to stir up trouble — and sometimes gets to play his guitar outside when not on shift. He hopes to draw people both to his music and his workplace this way – it' a win-win scenario!

He lives in a tiny apartment in downtown L.A. in a not so great area, but he was made the most of the space to make it more comfortable. The apartment is similar to this one. Dino has been working with Your Destiny for three years now and is currently twenty-four.

[inkedtae]

forever under pink skies ⇾ ksj. [F]

𝓅𝒶𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 ⇾ bestfriend!jin x reader (f.)

𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓇𝑒 ⇾ f2l, light humor, sunrise confessions, fluff, angst

𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎 ⇾ after a late night karaoke session, the two of your went on a little walk along the pier, relishing in the other’s company.

𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉 ⇾ 1.3k

𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 ⇾ eating!jin, pinkhair!jin,

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇'𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝑒 ⇾ blowing hand kisses to you all. extremely unedited. please do not leave hate towards me or any other readers. please do not copy, repost, or translate any of my work without my permission. if you have any requests, please send them my way. enjoy!

⤑ le playlist 

His cotton candy coloured hair bounced with each step down the empty street, the houses and stores lined on either side dark and quiet. He claimed the colour was a drunken mistake, but that was weeks ago and you were fairly certain he went in for a touch up yesterday. He always liked pink and had never been afraid to admit it before, but you thought the bold gesture of dying his hair just flustered him, causing him to shy away from others compliments. 

Your mind wandered back to the last twenty minutes spent at the karaoke pub. A little giggle escaped you as you remembered the singing battle you both engaged in with an elderly couple. Jin practically carried the team with his award-winning voice. You shook your head at the following moments. You had stayed there all night until a security member escorted the both of you out, claiming you made too much noise, even for a karaoke club, and that they’ve been closed for an hour.

You glanced back at Jin, watching him slurp the last chunk of his cup of ramen. He discarded his now empty cup and wooden chopsticks in the garbage bin on the sidewalk. He returned to your side as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. 

You stared down at your half-eaten food to resist the urge to blush at how cute he was. As your stomach turned with him on your mind, you realized you really couldn’t finish your food and it would be a shame to waste it. Resting the chopsticks on the edge, you offered him the cup. “Here,” you muttered. 

His eyes widened at the gesture and he blew you a kiss, a habit that always erupted your heart even though he practically did that to everyone. You turned away from him, using your hair to hide your now red cheeks. He happily took the cup from your hand, and started eating again. His appetite was as big as his heart. 

The road ended, a boardwalk now taking its place as you continued straight down. The sun slowly began to rise, tinting the navy sky with a light orange. 

“You know how when you’re younger, and the world just feels like the most amazing place to be?” He asked around his food. 

You turned to him and nodded, “That seems like ages ago.” 

You thought back to the last few years of school and work. If you two weren’t in class, you were picking up extra shifts to pay for it. And on any spare nights, you both would usually hunch over your books at the library, exchanging oxygen for coffee. 

“Tonight was probably one of the most freeing nights since then,” he smiled after swallowing the last of his food. He discarded his second cup in the trash once you reached the end of the pier. 

You leaned against the edge, watching as the sun broke the horizon with a swirl of bright colours. You were not entirely sure what to say. The hurt in his voice shattered your heart, then used the broken shards to pierce your soul.

“I have to be honest,” he started when he returned to your side. “I really don’t think it’s worth it.”

You furrowed your brows, “What’s not worth it?”

“All this work and effort,” he shrugged. “I mean we pay money we don’t have to learn crap we don’t care about, and then suffer four years of intense exams, where half a percentage difference decides whether or not we graduate.”

You let his words sink in. The lingering ache in your back from constant work was enough proof of your unappreciated hard work. You rolled your shoulders back, slightly easing the tension. You turned to him and thought of the work he had to put in as a pre-med student, suppressing a shudder. “But, I thought you wanted to be a doctor.”

He sighed, the wind playing with his pink hair again. “I thought I did too. And I can’t believe it took me four years to finally realize that,” he drily chuckled. “I freaking hate studying medicine. I don’t want it as bad as the others.”

You shook your head, fully turning your body to face him. “Wait, wait, when I met you, you were talking about going overseas. You said it was your dream to travel.”

“Yeah, I said it was my dream to travel, but I never mentioned anything about traveling as a doctor.” Another sigh escaped his lips and you wished it was replaced with one of his fits of laughter. All you wanted to do was hug him until he felt better.

“Do you remember that first day?” you asked, a small smile playing on your lips. 

He fought one of his own as he spared you a sidelong glare. “You never let me forget it,” he mumbled. 

“You came in a freaking suit, Jin. No one freaking forgets it.” 

He shook his head, a little laugh bubbling from his lips. “That was one time!” he repeated for what feels like the hundredth time. 

Your eyes locked and the two of you gave in, doubling over. Jin’s squeaky laugh was undeniably contagious, tugging on your lips even when I really don’t want it to. A blessing during awkward situations, and a curse during serious ones. You would never forget your great-aunt’s funeral. You barely knew the woman, forever feeling guilty since you never laughed harder in your life than you did on that day.

You tried to stop laughing long enough to tease, “You’re so lucky I came into your life. I’m the reason you didn’t wear one the next day.”

He playfully nudged your shoulder, leaning in further as he laughed harder.

Your laughter slowly died out after a couple more minutes. As you wiped away a tear, Jin stared at you, a little smirk hovering over his lips. 

You wondered if he was trying to kill you with that look. “What?” You asked, forcing yourself to stare at anything but his handsome face and those dangerous lips. 

He gave into that smirk, a gleam of gratitude sparkling in his eyes. “It’s just that you’re right,” he uttered, voice barely above a whisper, and you found yourself straining your ears to hear his next words over the crashing waves. “I really am lucky to have you in my life, and if it means I get to meet you all over again, I would definitely wear a sparkly pink suit to class everyday.”

Your heart was at your throat, twisting and turning with every breath, and your gut was flipping ten times over, unsettling the nerves that shot up and down your spine. You wanted to say something, anything, but your voice was lost and words didn’t seem to be forming right now. 

He gulped, probably taking your hesitance as a rejection. That’s what you thought anyway before he stepped closer, resting his hands on your waist. You let yours move to his broad shoulders, even though you weren’t entirely sure it was what he wanted. 

You didn’t have a spare chance to mentally debate it as his lips gently pressed against yours. Captured in the essence of him, you felt the aching of your back, of your useless hard work drift away. All you can think about was how his lips were just as soft as they look. 

And though he pulled away all too soon, you felt as though nothing could touch you, like the two of you could stay together, forever under pink skies. 

[nkp1981]

Christmas and New Year Eve 2025/2026

They had all agreed on to meet and celebrate New Year’s Eve in Prague.

Joe and Nicky had arrived around Christmas, where they used the opportunity to be a couple on Christmas vacation to the fullest by eating good food, visiting their old stomping grounds, going down the narrow streets hand in hand being like silly teenagers, who had been left home alone and spending plenty of time in the bed.

As they walked down The Charles Bridge the clock struck twelve, they decided to take a break and looked out on the Vltava. “Merry Christmas, Habibi!” Joe said in Arabic and took Nicky’s hand, which he started to caress. “Merry Christmas, Mi Amore!” He replied in Italic with a smile and leaned into his shoulder. ”I got something for you!” Joe said and took out a bag of figs from his pocket together with some honey. “You incurable romantic.” Nicky replied with a big smile, when he saw the figs. “Remember our first Christmas as friends back in the small inn in Alexandria?" Joe wanted to know. "Yeah, we talked all night even though I'm not sure we understood each other completely since we still were trying to understand each other." Nicky replied with a laughter in his voice. "I think it was that night, I fell in love with you, because I had never seen anyone eat figs like you did with such a delight, so I thought that it was a good idea to do it again.” Joe admitted and handed him a fig. “It is, but how can me eating figs like a wild man be the reason why you fell in love with me?” Nicky wanted to know and tilted his head. It was something he did when he wanted an answer from Joe. “You looked lovely, but it also had to do with that I probably for the first time in my life could be myself without anyone telling me what to be instead of what I wanted to be!” Joe replied and took the last fig in the bag. “I felt the same way that night and I’m so grateful, that the feeling hasn’t disappeared that we still are together and still have time left in the world.” Nicky said and took the fig, he was handed. “You look just like in the inn!” Joe said laughing when fruit juice started to run down Nicky’s face. “Thanks! So, how did you get it through the custom?” Nicky wanted to know. “Well, I just used the concierge service, but I have to say, he didn’t listen when I ordered them.” Joe replied a bit disappointed that the figs were not as ripe as he had wished for. “Doesn’t matter. It is the thought that counts, and I appreciate it!” Nicky said and gave him a kiss on the cheek before he handed him a packet. “This is excellent craftsmanship, that I’ve seen in centuries. Where on earth did you find it?” Joe wanted to know when he saw the dagger and started to examine it closely. “I’m not telling!” Nicky replied with a secret smile. “Just wait till we get back to the hotel, then I’ll get the information out of you!” Joe said as he pulled Nicky in for a kiss. “Then you better put in an effort, because as you know, I’m not easy to get any information out of!” Nicky replied in a teasing tone and gave him another smile before he started to walk again. “Oh, there will be no doubts about that!” Joe said as he took his hand once again, while they talked on the way back to the hotel.   

Andy and Nile didn’t have the same quiet Christmas as Joe and Nicky had. They had been on a mission to take out an Ukrainian arms dealer, who in a desperate attempt to get out of the warehouse had fired a rocket launcher at them, which made Nile throw herself over Andy to shield her, while the rocket flew over the head of them hitting some parked cars behind them. “Told you to stay back at the hotel!” Nile said as she sat up and looked at cars, who were burning. “And miss out of all the fun? I haven’t had this much fun in years!” Andy replied sarcastically and reloaded her gun. “We two have very different definitions of fun and besides I think the boys prefer to see us both in one piece instead of a million!” Nile said and looked towards the arms dealer, who was running for his cars. “You may have a point there. Can you hit him?” Andy wanted to know and looked towards the man. “I don’t have Nicky’s rifle skills, but if you can deal with the big one over there, I may have an idea. Wait for my signal.” Nile suggested and Andy nodded, so when Nile went to the left, Andy waited and when Nile made the signal, they both hit their targets at the same time.

“I could really use a cold beer!” Andy said, when Nile sat down next to her. “Me too, so Merry Christmas!” Nile replied, when the bells could be heard in the distance. “Merry Christmas. Let’s get out of here and find that beer before the police show up. I don’t feel like talking to them or spending the night in a cell.” Andy said and the women walked in the other direction away from the police.

They found a small pub who still had open and sat down in a corner with their cold beer. “I have to say that the Europeans make better beer than the Americans.” Nile concluded and looked out on the snow that had started to fall. “Nah, the best beer in the world, you get in Thailand. I’ll show you one day.” Andy promised with a smile. “I’ll keep you to that promise, Andy. I can’t believe it has been two years since we last saw the boys.” Nile said and drank her beer before making a sign to the waitress to bring another round. “They are still the same. That’s the good thing about them, but I think that when we have celebrated New Year’s Eve, you should talk with Nicky about getting some more sniper training. He is the best teacher.” Andy suggested and took another beer. “It has been on my mind, but I’m also thankful for all the training, you have given me, Andy!” Nile replied in a grateful tone and found the cards in her pocket. “Don’t mention it, kid, but you do know, that you are gonna lose all your money, right?” Andy said and took the cards. “One day I will win it all back.” Nile replied in an optimistic tone.

When the women left the pub in the morning, Nile got a text from Joe. “The boys wish us a Merry Christmas and have reserved hotel rooms for us, but what does he mean with that I shouldn’t let you alone with the dynamite?” Nile wanted to know. “I might one time have blown up a hotel room, when I tripped over a box with dynamite and accidentally had a candle in the hands.” Andy replied and shook her head over that Joe had promised not to mention it again. “Seriously? What was a box of dynamite even doing in the hotel room in the first place?” Nile wanted to know. “Joe and I had picked the box up for a job and while we were waiting for the rest to show up, we started to drink some Turkish homebrew, we found it in the cupboard. We might have gotten a bit drunk, and when we heard noises, well one thing leads to another thing and the rest, you can guess.” Andy explained and made a mental note to have a talk with Joe about gossiping.

A couple of days later the women finally found the bar, Joe had told them about.

“Andy? Nile?” Nicky shouted from the stage and started to wave excitedly over seeing them. “Is he drunk?” Nile asked, when Nicky returned to signing. “He decided to start celebrating New Year’s Eve, when Samoa went into the New Year!” Joe explained and shook his head, before he hugged them. “He is your choice not mine.” Andy said, when she hugged him again. “I know it and I’m not even sorry.” Joe replied with a smile and looked at Nicky while making a sign that he should join them. “How long have you been bald?” Nile wanted to know. “Sadly, I’m not immune against lice. When we saved a couple of children, they all had lice and what was worse, but they are safe now, which is all that matters. My hair will grow out again.” Joe explained and caught Nicky, who tripped over his legs and landed in his arms laughing. “Seems like I keep on falling for you!” Nicky said in a cheesy tone and patted Joe’s cheek gently with a smile before kissing him. “As I said your choice.” Andy repeated and started to distribute the drinks between them. They talked for hours and drank even more. “I promised Nile to take her to Thailand, where you get the best beer in the world.” Andy said, when she took another beer. “That is not correct, Andy. The best beer in the world you get in Ireland, and I will show you.” Nicky said, but when he reached out for another beer, he fell off his chair and ended up on the floor laughing. “I better help him with finding a bed.” Joe said and offered Nicky a hand, who somehow had rolled over on his stomach and looked at the karaoke machine. “No, you have slaughtered enough ABBA for one night. So, I’m gonna give you the same choice, I did in the desert a long time ago: walk or I will carry you.” Joe said in a commanding tone, which did the trick. “See you tomorrow.” Andy said as the last thing, before they parted for the night. “Should we find another party?” Nile wanted to know, and Andy nodded. Before they ventured out into the night.

When they returned to the hotel room Joe helped Nicky down in a chair, so he could take off Nicky’s boots, before he kicked off his own boots. Then he went into the other room to remove the duvet from the bed, when a pair of familiar strong arms wrapped around his waist from behind pulling him near Nicky. They stood like this a bit, before Nicky turned Joe around, so he could look at him. “Remember when you danced with me in the bombed-out bar in Brussels right after the war?” Nicky asks and lays his forehead against his shoulder, brown hair brushing Joe’s nose. Nicky then takes Joe’s right hand in his left and presses closer to his neck, the scratch of his stubble making Joe close his eyes, letting memories wash over him. “You had found an old record player under the bar, who barely could play the record. You smiled, when you heard the lyrics of the song and we danced to it, even though I’m a terrible dancer,” Nicky said and Joe was ready to protest, but Nicky placed two fingers on his lips and he stayed quiet, lost in the depths of his blue eyes and the kiss that followed. “Can we do that again?” Nicky begged, and Joe didn't even blink. “Of course.” Joe finds the song on his phone and presses play, taking Nicky’s hand in his reverently, Nicky’s body fitting perfectly against his as they begin swaying lazily, two hearts beating in sync. when they reach the chorus, Nicky whispers in his ear in Arabic, “Yusuf, you make me the happiest man alive, Habibi.” And they share another kiss as the sun rises.

my creation

[the-inept-artist]

The Next Step

It's my first time doing a Destiel oneshot, I hope to make my fellow shippers proud! I'm also considering doing an animatic to be posted to my Tumblr, but I gotta figure out the tech and get the right software first, so that won't be for a LOOOOONG time.

Supernatural doesn't belong to me, nor does "Angel With A Shotgun", or any other song mentioned.

Anyway, as always, please enjoy and review!

~oOo~

It was over. It was finally over.

Castiel nursed his beer from his spot just inside the library as the sound of happy people washed over him. Conversation and laughter floated out of the war room—

No, not war room. Foyer. They had no use for a war room anymore. Cas needed to remember that.

It had seemed like ages since Chuck had surrendered. Somehow, two hunters, an angel and a nephilim had managed to bring down the almighty creator of the universe. And Dean—intelligent, cunning, wonderful Dean—made Chuck swear on his every creation that he would bring back everyone the four had lost to his little game, along with repairing the dimension that Michael had destroyed.

So that was why Cas was watching Mary Winchester chat animatedly with Charlie Bradbury and Jody Mills. Watching John Winchester stand awkwardly in a corner beside Crowley, tipping back his third beer of the night. Watching Sam nearly double over in laughter in response to Gabriel's joke, Balthazar rolling his eyes in mock-annoyance. Watching Kelly Kline grin excitedly after beating Bobby Singer and Rowena MacLeod at cards for the fourth time in a row that night. Watching Jessica Moore try to explain what college was to Amara. And many more revelers, all smiling and happy and alive.

"Hey." Cas nearly jumped from his seat as he noticed Jack standing beside him, looking at him concernedly. "Are you okay? We won, you should be celebrating."

Cas settled back, idly twirling his beer bottle and watching the alcohol swish around inside. "I know, and believe me, I'm ecstatic. It's just…I don't know."

Jack pulled up a chair and sat beside him. "Not sure what to do now?"

"Yes, that's it. Ever since I met Dean and Sam, there's always been an enemy to fight. Lucifer, other angels, the Leviathans…there's never not been a struggle." Cas sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure if that makes sense."

"No, no, I get it." Jack leaned his arm on the table and shifted in his seat. "I am a bit restless as well. But I say we make it through the party tonight, and tomorrow we figure out what to do next."

Cas mulled over the nephilim's words. "That sounds…doable."

"Hey everyone!" Dean's voice echoed over the clang of the metal door. Kevin Tran peered over his shoulder, bucketloads of Chinese food in his hands. "Lookit what the kid and I got!" The two headed down the stairs. Cas got up off his seat and joined the throng of people, Jack not far behind him.

"A karaoke machine?" Mary said, reading the box Dean held. "Where in the world did you find that?"

"We stopped in a tech store on the way back from the Chinese place," Kevin said, moving to the table to unladen his arms. "Dean insisted."

Dean smiled sheepishly. "I thought it'd be fun. Any takers?"

Charlie shrugged, a smile gracing her face. "Why the hell not, I'm in."

Several others followed the redhead's example, nodding and murmuring their agreements. Crowley and John took a pass, but more or less the majority of the party decided to partake in the fun.

Sam came up to Cas as he was watching Dean set up the machine. "You joining in?"

Cas glanced at the younger Winchester before returning his gaze to the elder. "I may. Not sure."

Sam nodded. "Gabe's definitely doing it. I'd bet all my money that he'll do "Sexy Back"."

Cas cracked a small smile. "That's my brother for you. Do you think you'll sing something?"

"Ah, nah." Sam rubbed the back of his neck as Dean hooked up the mic. "I've never really liked singing, and certainly not in front of people. Dean, on the other hand—"

"I call first!" Dean yelled, quickly straightened up from behind the machine. He grabbed the microphone and started scrolling through the songs, ignoring Charlie and Kevin's playful boos.

Cas nodded sagely, fighting a chuckle. "I see."

For a time, Cas enjoyed the many performances put on. Dean gave a rousing rendition of "I'm Too Sexy", to which Crowley immediately groaned and left the room. Cas found his face a bit hotter than normal as he watched Dean move to the music. But as Charlie took the makeshift stage, he attempted to calm himself and focus on the coming acts.

Charlie sang "One Woman Army", and Kevin managed to stumble his way through "Die Young". Jess ended up being the jewel of the party, singing "I Wouldn't Mind" with the most beautiful voice. True to form, Gabriel performed "Sexy Back", complete with some more than inappropriate dance moves. Funnily enough, as Cas looked around a while later, neither Gabe or Sam were to be seen.

The two finally came back just as Amara was wrapping up "Never Enough". They seemed much more giggly and closer than before, Sam having an arm casually slung around the smaller angel. Though, Cas, noted, Gabe was wearing Sam's coat. And Sam's mess of hair certainly was…messier than usual.

Cas smirked to himself, turning his gaze back to the head of the room. About time.

"Oi, Cas!" Cas was startled for the second time as Dean materialized beside him. "You haven't sung yet, c'mon!"

"Oh, um. I don't know," Cas said lamely. Dean chuckled and pulled him up off his seat.

"Please?" The hunter wiggled his eyebrows, which made Cas's stomach explode into fuzzy bumblebees, tickling his sides and making his head feel light. There was something about Dean's ernest and hopeful expression that made his face flush and he couldn't help a small smile escaping.

"O-okay," the angel timidly agreed, letting Dean lead him to the stage. He waited, awkwardly staring out over the idly chatting audience as Dean bent over the machine.

"Alright, you touch here to scroll up, and here to scroll down," Dean explained. "Hit this to confirm your song, and have fun!" He stepped down the stairs and started chatting with Mary, leaving Cas to his own devices.

Cas looked through the music selection with trepidation. Nothing he saw immediately jumped out. Everyone had somehow found a song to describe them, yet he—wait. Cas stopped scrolling and eyed the song title. "Angel With A Shotgun".

Cas remembered this song. It was one of the songs that convenience store he once worked at had on shuffle. The first time he had heard it, his thoughts had instantly jumped to Dean, much to his confusion and mild embarrassment at the time. Though as he listened, waiting for the next time it would play softly over the store speakers, he realized that there was a certain…pull, to the song. To how it somehow took every puzzling feeling he had and explained it clearly and concisely.

The song had helped him admit to himself and accept that he had a—what did humans call it?—a thing for Dean.

Cas's eyes flicked from the karaoke machine to Dean. He had long ago shoved the small piece of hope to a remote corner of his heart, but now that hope was shining through, almost hurting his chest with its strength and brilliance. They were free now, with nothing to hold them back or worry about. Could he…could they have a chance?

"C'mon, Cas, pick a song!" Dean exclaimed. Cas was shaken from his thoughts as they rest of the party realized who was onstage and began to clap and cheer encouragingly. The bumblebees in Cas's stomach were now rocketing around, pinging lightly off their walls.

He took a breath and before he had time to back out, selected "Angel With A Shotgun".

The familiar opening started, and Cas relaxed a bit. It's not like you're doing this blind, he reasoned with himself as the backup singers sang their parts. You know the song, and you have the lyrics. You'll be fine. Glancing out over the audience, he caught Dean's eye, who smiled and gave a thumbs up. Cas's heart skipped a beat as he cleared his throat and hastily looked down at the screen. Probably.

"Get out your guns, battles begun

Are you a saint, or a sinner?

If loves a fight, than I shall die

With my heart on a trigger."

Cas knew his singing voice wasn't the best. He was a bit too low in pitch, and he was probably holding the microphone too close. But as people listened and he warmed up, he felt his nerves settle down. The bumblebees faded away.

"They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be

I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back."

Cas couldn't help bouncing on his toes a bit. Jack whooped, and he felt a slight smile break out. Chancing a quick glance at Dean, he saw the hunter nodding his head in time.

“I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?

And I wanna live, not just survive tonight

Sometimes to win, you've got to sin

Don't mean I'm not a believer

And Major Tom, will sing along

Yeah, they still say I'm a dreamer."

Cas never really understood who this "Major Tom" was, but he knew that human music could be vague and have odd references. He didn't think too much of it as he moved into the beginning of the second chorus.

They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be."

He wasn't thinking anymore. He was openly grinning, moving in time with the music, even jumping about a little bit. He felt as though he were invincible. Is this how all humans feel during karaoke?

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?

And I wanna live, not just survive tonight."

As the music slowed, so did Cas. He swept his eyes over the audience, landing on Dean. Dean was smiling, the lights reflecting in his eyes like stars over a deep green sea. He's so beautiful.

"Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa

Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa."

Cas kept his eye contact with Dean. The bumblebees returned tenfold, some appearing in his throat, stinging slightly. Yet he never faltered, never wavered. He wanted Dean to listen and understand what he was saying.

"Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa

Oh, oh whoa whoa oh whoa."

Cas stepped down from the makeshift stage, ignoring the amount of eyes that were on him. As the music all but stopped, he set down the mic and strode right up to Dean. The hunter's eyes widened in surprise, and though it may have just been the lighting or alcohol, Cas swore he saw his cheeks flush. He lowered his voice, gazing into Dean's eyes as his lips smiled with the unasked question.

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back."

And Dean—the man who once clung tight to him as they ascended from Hell, the man who always had his back, the man he had fallen in love with—took his hand, smiling as he nodded. Cas's head instantly felt weightless, and he thought his face would split from the size of his grin as launched into the final chorus.

"I'm an angel with a shotgun

Fighting til' the wars won

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep you safe

Don't you know you're everything I have?"

Almost laughing, Cas spun Dean around, pulling him closer. He saw in his peripheral vision people smiling joyously. Sam was giving an approving thumbs-up, and Crowley, Gabriel and Balthazar were going around collecting money from others. But his main focus was on the man in front of him, beaming widely, blushing freely.

"And I want to live, not just survive, tonight

And I'm gonna hide, hide, hide my wings tonight."

Dimly, Cas realized he should finish the song back on the steps. But as he went to reluctantly pull away, Dean tightened his grip and pulled him, if possible, even closer. Now it was Cas's turn to be surprised as Dean gently cupped his face and quietly sang the last few lines.

"They say before you start a war

You better know what you're fighting for

Well baby, you are all that I adore

If love is what you need, a soldier I will be…"

Dean trailed off as he pressed his lips to Cas's. Cas's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he relaxed, nearly melting against Dean. Sure, he had been hoping for a yes, maybe even a hug after the song, but this…this went beyond his wildest dreams. He could even ignore everyone going nuts and yelling in gleeful surprise.

Cas had no more doubts about the future now. No more qualms about the next step, or anxieties over what the rest of his life would be like with no enemies. No, he thought as he and Dean broke apart to grin at each other. I know what I want to do.

I want to be the one to make him smile like that for the rest of his life.

[malecsecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @ladymatt!

*****

Take me to dinner first

Magnus Bane had taken a trip with some of his friends to Las Vegas and, while they had retired earlier, he’d stayed out, getting steadily drunker. The casino, Devil’s Snare, was a downworld place, so he had no reason to hide himself. Even better, shadowhunters were a rare sight. In his drunk state, he’d gambled a little; won some, lost some…won big. He would be thankful the fey didn’t rule the casino if he had enough mind to. 

Eventually, he took a break in the fancy lounge, cocktail in front of him and some actually good music playing above him. He was still drunk, but not in the way that would have him flying carpets or flirting with a dinner plate. Ah, good times with his friends, even if one of them was a grumpy cabbage. He was about to take a sip of his drink when three black-clad figures entered the room. 

Shadowhunters.

They always had a knack of spoiling the atmosphere, even if they were usually rather attractive. All young, one female and two males. The girl strode through the room seeming to lead the boys, one of which guided the second one after her. He found himself staring a little at the one being guided; he had dark hair and was quite tall. On closer inspection, he had the most gorgeous blue eyes. 

This was how he found himself suddenly with the girl in front of him; he hadn’t noticed that she had stopped at his table. Ah, he recognised her. Isabelle Lightwood. Party crasher.

“Magnus Bane! Thank the Angel for a familiar face. Look, I know this is a bit of an unreasonable request, but we don’t have time to come up with a better plan. My brother’s drink was spiked by something and we’ve just received a call, an emergency demon hunting. Can you look after him? I know you’re trustworthy, which is why we came to you. We’ll pay you afterwards, we just need to go now,” Isabelle explained. 

Magnus blinked at her and looked over at the unsteady young man. He shrugged and gestured for her to sit him down at his table. The young man protested a bit, but it was clear he was in no fit state and finally calmed after listening to his sister. The blond one gave him a look before the two dashed off to play hero. 

He turned his attention back to the shadowhunter in front of him, stirring his drink absently. Those blue eyes were staring back at him; no haughty glare he would expect from Nephilim, no suspicion, just…dazed curiosity. Of course, the substance in his system could be preventing him from a usual hostility, but he didn’t care to think too hard. He couldn’t, really, being hazy himself.

“Something the matter, darling?” He asked, wondering exactly how far gone the young man was.

Eyes blinking, embarrassment and a blush filled his face as he looked away, becoming fidgety. It was both awkward and cute, and Magnus never thought he’d think those words about a shadowhunter. Ever. He sipped his drink and didn’t expect anything, but he got it anyway.

“You’re…pretty. Handsome! Sorry. Handsome.” 

Magnus smirked, putting his drink down before stretching his arms out a little cat-like before clasping his hands in front of him, leaning forward. 

“You can call me pretty anytime, darling,” Magnus practically purred. He hadn’t been expecting such words coming from the other man. Perhaps his addled mind was deceiving him.

“Okay. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. You’re pretty. I’m sorry, Im-I’m messed—fuzzy. Bothering you, I should-should go—” 

Alec started to get up and somehow managed not to be too ungraceful about it. Stupid shadowhunter runes, Magnus supposed. He downed his drink before refilling it with magic and downing it again. He was nothing if not a good host. He might as well stoop further to the young man’s level. Speaking of which, he was staring at Magnus’ hands with a dazed expression again. He could have sworn he heard a mumbled ‘pretty’. Maybe not all shadowhunters were terrible.

He stood up, knocking his chair over, and walked over to the tall shadowhunter. Only a little shorter than himself. 

“Well, darling, what is your name? I could just call you pretty boy. I will anyway, there’s no lies here!” Magnus stated with flare. 

“Al-Alec.”

“Well, Al-Alec, I’m Magnus and we’re going to have some fun.”

He watched the man’s eyes widen and his cheeks redden and he couldn’t help giggling. Looping an arm in Alec’s, he pulled him along. He didn’t have any particular direction at the moment; he simply took him through the building, calculating what to do with him. 

They ended up at the slots and Magnus put the coins in while his new companion pulled the levers. Cherry, cherry, cherry. Did he have luck runes on? He had read the Gray Book but couldn’t recall what was in it. Strength…stabby. Oh well. He showed Alec the poker tables then. Alec was a terrible player; his poker face needed serious work for a shadowhunter. Three games and three losses.

“How about one more round? Winner takes all…plus double. Loser pays that double.”

“Gentlemen, I believe we are—” Magnus started. He doubted the shadowhunter had anymore money.

“Yes. One more. Okay.”

Well, he couldn’t call the shadowhunter a quitter. Stubborn like the rest of them. Magnus watched Alec’s terrible poker face once again as he made it obvious that his cards were awful, but still stayed all in. 

“Straight flush,” the competitor revealed. 

Alec looked put out before placing his cards down. “Royal flush.”

Colour him surprised, but Magnus was gleeful as he watched the wolves growl and push the winnings over to Alec, plus the double, muttering about rotten luck and poker faces. Magnus helped him over to the Madam who would cash in the winnings. 

“Well, darling, you are a wonder! Was that all planned?” 

“Uh, um, I guess. It’s easier if they underestimate you.”

“We are going to celebrate. Champagne? Whiskey? Cocktails?”

“Don’t mind.”

“Cocktails it is.”

Magnus ordered two sex on the beaches, one stronger for himself. He was missing the buzz. The good thing about this establishment was that it was large and had a lot to offer. Swimming was out; drunk swimming was a disaster. Karaoke! He wanted to hear Alec’s deep voice in song. 

It would be a good night

Blinking his eyes open, Alec groaned; his mouth was dry, his head felt fuzzy and his cheek felt warm. He took a few moments to get his bearings, trying to figure out what was going on. He was lying down, though his pillow wasn’t soft like it should be, though it wasn’t uncomfortable either. He was topless…that was strange. Wait, his pillow seemed to be moving!

Alec shot up onto his hands, realising there was a half-naked man underneath him and they were in a large, rather fancy bed. His heart beat fast as he looked down in a mixture of confusion and mild terror. What in Raziel’s name was going on?

“Hello Sleeping Beauty.”

His eyes darted to the stranger’s face; ruffled, highlighted hair and cat eyes, handsome. That wasn’t important! He needed to find out what had happened.

“Where…why am…what are…”

He couldn’t get the words out.

“We were drunk, darling. I’m still piecing the puzzle together myself. I just need to sit up and drink a potion…would you be a doll?”

Alec rolled off him like he was burnt, covers dragged up to his chest. This was like some nightmare…no, no. If Alec was honest with himself, this was more like one of his lonely dreams. Ah. That was what this was.

“Just a dream.”

“’Fraid not, Shadowhunter. We’re very much real.”

He watched as the man sat up and conjured a potion bottle in a whisp of blue magic. He looked over at Alec, making him swallow. “Will you be needing one? For the memory, darling.”

Alec shook his head mutely. “I just…need my stele…memory rune.”

The man gave him a brilliant smile, maybe more like a smirk. “Of course, darling.”

He watched as the other man downed the small bottle before snapping it away. He snapped again and handed him  his stele. Alec sat up, still convinced that this was a dream. He put the stele to a spot under his ribs where the silver of the faded Recall rune lay and put it to the skin, redrawing it. He put his stele to the side and lay back, focusing on the memories.

“Marry me,” Alec slurred.

Magnus giggled and slung his arm around him. “Gotta buy me dinner first.”

“Okay.”

Alec was clearly lost in how to get to the restaurant, so Magnus led him. There were so many foods he had never tried and that was ignoring the foods that he couldn’t eat as they were downworld-specific. They chose a few items and shared them, Magnus giggling and saying they felt like a real couple now and Alec spending most of the time spluttering and red-faced. Alec was pretty sure he was seeing double when the bill came; there were more digits added in his haze, but Magnus paid for it. Much to his protest. Wasn’t it supposed to be his treat?

But Magnus pulled him along from place to place; someone fitted him with a nice suit before he had to get into it and waited. Oh yeah. They were getting married. Handsome men didn’t just agree to marry him, so he knew he was dreaming. Therefore, he had asked Magnus to marry him. 

The minstrel guy was a warlock with horns and purple eyes. Not as pretty as Magnus’, it would turn out that he said that out loud. Oops. He held Magnus’ hands, smiling at him. He had rings on his fingers, luckily none on the ring finger he’d read about in mundane books. Alec had only worn his Lightwood family ring on his right hand. 

“Do you Magnus Bane take Alexander Gideon Lightwood to be your husband?” The minstrel asked.

“I do! Alexander, your middle name is Gideon?!”

Alec gestured for the minstrel to continue.

“Do you Alexander Gideon Lightwood take Magnus Bane to be your husband?”

“I do.”

“It is time to exchange rings and make your vows.”

Alec took the ring and placed it onto Magnus’ left ring finger. “I will stab anyone who tries to hurt you. With an arrow or with a dagger. I’ll protect you.”

Magnus giggled as he slid a ring on Alec’s finger too. “I’ll keep you safe, darling, and turn anyone who hurts you into a frog!”

“I now pronounce you both husbands. You may kiss.”

He leant in shyly, but Magnus took his face between his hands and kissed him. There was little elegance, but his lips were soft and his hands found Magnus’ waist, pulling him closer as he kissed his husband back. Magnus’ hands slid down until they clutched Alec’s waist. 

“I have a private room, darling.”

Magnus watched Alec as the young man had his eyes closed, remembering the events of the night before. Of all of the things he had done whilst drunk, this was the most absurd. And he’d flirted with a plate and ridden a flying carpet before! He had been drunk enough to think drinking more had been a good idea, but it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. He hadn’t murdered anyone or stolen anything, hurt anyone. 

“So, uh…”

He smiled at the shadowhunter; this was beyond anything he could have imagined doing, he could tell. Shadowhunters seemed to be very strict and to the book, though some were a little bit rebellious, one way or another. He put his hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort, because while he might find this situation a little funny, he knew the shadowhunter must be conflicted. Not that being married to a shadowhunter was something he would have ever foreseen or, perhaps, soberly chosen, but he chose to see the funny side.

“Such a passionate lover, Mr. Lightwood…well, Lightwood-Bane, now.”

Eyes like deer in headlights.

“I am kidding; you kissed down my chest and fell asleep before anything more sexual could happen, relax. You did not sully yourself with a downworlder quite that badly, I assure you,” Magnus said with a smirk.

“Uh…it’s not…if you were a…shadowhunter, no different…”

Eloquent. The young man was shy. He didn’t seem to have the haughty arrogance of his blond brother, so he’d perhaps cut him a little slack.

“If I were a shadowhunter, darling, I would have been de-runed and disowned years ago; I would have scandalised them from day one.”

It seemed Alec agreed with him, nodding. But there was a smile on his face, so he took that as approval. 

Then he seemed to return to being embarrassed and Magnus had no problem laying there, watching him. He wasn’t exactly a huge fan of the shadowhunters, but this one seemed a bit different. 

“…What do we do?” Alec asked. 

“First, darling, we sleep more. It’s only 7am, far too early for a man of my delicate nature,” Magnus said.

“But—”

“I won’t keep you, but you look about ready to fall asleep yourself,” Magnus said. 

He was right of course, even if the shadowhunter huffed a little. He turned onto his side and looked at him. 

“I don’t suppose you’d let me use you as a pillow this time, husband?” Magnus asked. He didn’t expect a yes, but the redness in his face was worth it.

To his surprise, Alec nodded, still looking rather shocked. 

Alec couldn’t believe that the handsome man he’d accidentally married wanted to…cuddle…of all things. He wasn’t really a cuddler and yet he found himself nodding. It wasn’t like they were going to stay like this and, once it was all settled, he doubted he’d see him again. He knew he wasn’t destined to be happy with a person he was attracted to, so was it wrong to…at least…pretend…for a little while?

He found himself wrapping his arms around him and closing his eyes. If he slept at all, it wasn’t for long. Something woke him and he blinked his eyes open, realising Magnus was chuckling, rubbing his arm.

“Hn?” 

“Enjoying yourself?” 

Alec was confused, until he realised where his hand was and moved it away like he’d been scalded, murmuring quick apologies. 

“No need to apologise; it was quite enjoyable.”

As much as Alec felt surprisingly comfortable, he knew he needed to find his siblings. He wasn’t even sure where they would be and whether or not they completed their mission. He had supposed to be on it, but he must have ingested something that turned him loopy. 

“I need to find my siblings,” Alec said. 

Magnus moved off of him slowly and he felt a little disappointed, but he stood up, quickly finding his top. He felt a tingling and turned to see him dressed. His outfit was as outrageous as he was and yet, he didn’t dislike it.

“Fresh and ready, darling. Shall we go?” 

“We…go?” Alec blinked.

“Technically, they’re my brother and sister-in-law now. Isabelle and James, right?” 

“Jace. I guess.” 

Alec dreaded to think about what his siblings would say, but there was nothing really to do; he had to sort this situation out as well, so it was better to not split up. They went searching, but they weren’t in their rooms, so he went down to the breakfast hall. They were there. He walked over and sat opposite them, their faces concerned.

“Where did you go?” Izzy asked. “We couldn’t find you…we searched everywhere!”

Jace glared at Magnus. “You were supposed to keep an eye on him; what did you do?” 

Magnus simply shrugged and sat down too. “You’re the ones who asked a drunk warlock to watch over him, blondie; it’s bound to end in shenanigans.” 

Alec blushed and tried to figure out how to address the issue at hand; he didn’t think there was any good way to do it. 

“You didn’t seem drunk,” Izzy said sheepishly, looking at her brother. “I’m sorry, we had no other choice; he was the only person I recognised.”

“It’s fine, he took care of me,” Alec said. 

A plate of food appeared in front of him and he looked at Magnus in surprise before murmuring a thanks, tucking in. After some silence, he looked up and realised his siblings were looking at him. 

“What?”

“You’re awfully chummy,” Izzy said.

“Uh, what? We’re not—”

Magnus put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. “We got drunk and married, then slept together. We bonded.”

“—Just sleeping,” he added quickly. 

Silence fell while Alec hid his face in his hands; he wasn’t upset, it needed to be told, but it was still embarrassing. But putting his face in his hands was clearly a mistake as Izzy pulled his left hand towards her. 

“Oh, Raziel! Alec, if I’d known you’d get that friendly with Magnus, I would have found someone else. I want you to get out there, but not that fast, Alec!” Izzy said. 

Meanwhile, Jace was glaring at Magnus. 

“We were both drunk, it was no one’s fault,” Alec said, trying to calm them down.

“Besides, we’ll meet with the minister and get this annulled. Happy ending,” Magnus said cheerfully. 

“Not long eighteen and already a divorcee, brother,” Izzy chuckled. 

“Annulment makes it a little different, darling. Like it never happened. Are you ready, darling?” Magnus asked.

“You’re going to have to at least give it a try first and if it doesn’t work, we’ll grant the annulment,” the minister said.

Magnus sighed; it was like something out of that Vegas movie with Cameron and Ashton something. Still, he could think of worse people to be stuck with and a handsome young man wasn’t one of them. He doubted the shadowhunter was going to be all that impressed.

“How long?” Alec asked.

“We’ll re-evaluate this case 15th January.”

Magnus dragged Alec out and sighed. “Sorry, darling, looks like you’re stuck with me for a few months.”

“It’s okay…it’s, uh, you I feel sorry for. I’m not exactly exciting.”

“You don’t seem boring to me; you haven’t once degraded my being a downworlder,” Magnus said. 

“I just don’t see why that would be a problem; you’re a person t—” 

Magnus couldn’t help himself, he swooped in and kissed him on the lips, pulling back with a smirk. 

“Keep up that talk, sweetcheeks, and we’re going to need my room again,” Magnus purred before leading a red-faced Alec towards the lounge area where Jake looked bored and Isabelle was looking at her phone. “We’re back, did you miss us? Slight hitch—ha, pun unintended—we have to wait until the 15th January to get this annulled. Something about giving the marriage a try first.”

Magnus tuned out the noise coming from Jake, even Isabelle was perplexed, instead admiring his glittery purple nails with an outlined heart on them. Shadowhunters. Always so determined to get angry about everything. Then he looked at his sheepish ‘husband’, who seemed to break the mold of what he knew about his people. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. 

Magnus had thought too soon; while Alexander wasn’t a problematic housemate, he wasn’t without issue. He found himself worrying sometimes, especially after that one time he came home caked in blood. Alexander being who he was, tried to play it off as nothing before he stumbled. He wasn’t supposed to care this much, but Magnus had never been good at not caring about people, he was just good at hiding it.

So when his hot warrior husband stumbled into his Halloween party, gear torn up, bloodied alongside his siblings, Magnus naturally got them to the guest room quickly. Nothing too major, but they needed a little warlock TLC. After that, some tough love ie. demand they take a shower. 

Needless to say, he took a long swig of his drink after that. His guests weren’t perturbed; some of them even snickered, which he rolled his eyes at. He watched as James and Isabelle made their way through the party, ending up talking to Clary and her friend Simon. He wasn’t sure how they’d found their way here, but he wasn’t a babysitter and Halloween disguised any of his guests who felt no need for glamours. 

Magnus walked into the guest room; Alec’s room, for the time being, spotting him in there with a book. He leant against the door frame.

“Is my party that dull?”

“I’m…not really into parties.”

Magnus noticed Alec’s eyes were on him, taking in his skimpy outfit. Modern day Beetlejuice, except prettier and more glittery. He swayed his hips as he stepped towards him, hem of the tight trousers dangerously low, until he stood in front of a now wide-eyed Alec. He sat down next to him.

“Are you ok, sweetcheeks?” Magnus asked.

Alec laughed at his nickname before blushing even more. He was terribly adorable. 

“I am…Magnus, I, uh, I was wondering…can we try this out? I mean, dating. I like you, I’d like to…take you out to dinner, properly,” Alec said. 

Magnus reached over and kissed his cheek. “Yes, that would be just fine. May I kiss you, Alexander? Properly?” 

Alec didn’t answer, he simply turned and kissed him, unpractised, but charming all the same.

[boshaw-manor]

‘This is gonna be so much fun!’

Rook’s attempts at joining Faith, Jacob and John up with her other guns for hire weren’t exactly going to plan. She’d tried a potluck but John ended up ruining it by insisting on cooking and giving everyone food poisioning. She’d organised a karaoke night that ended with Faith and Adelaide arguing over who got to sing Car Wash by Rose Royce. Hell, even the baseball game she put together ended up with Jacob throwing hissy fit because he lost by one point. It was getting impossible to get them to all get along but Rook was determined. This time, it’d work.

She’d decked out the attic in the Spread Eagle with beanbags and beers, telling them to arrive at 6pm on the dot for a very important meeting. Sure enough, they all arrived and gave her a quizzicle eye, standing in a semi-circle around the room.

‘So what’s goin’ on chica?’ Sharky asked, arms folded across his chest.

‘Yeah, I got stuff to do this evening.’ John groused, scratching at his beard.

‘No you don’t.’ Jacob stated loudly, John throwing him a glare. Rook crouched down and shut the trap door, locking it tight.

‘Woah woah woah, what is this?!’ Jess growled, her eyes darting around the room.

‘Games night. We’re going to play until all of you bond. I can’t trust you guys to have my back until you trust one another.’

‘I mean we could just take the key from you.’ Nick reached for it but Rook ducked, dipping a finger beneath the collar of her shirt and pulling it forward. She plunged her hand down and thrust the key into her bra before flashing her empty palms.

‘Nice try but no.’

‘That’s why she’s my best friend.’ Sharky grinned, elbowing Hurk who chuckled. There was a small silence as everyone looked at each other, unsure of where to start. Rook eyed them all, her gaze landing on Faith who straightened up.

‘I think,’ She began, smiling at Rook fondly. ‘This is gonna be so much fun!’

‘At least someone appreciates my hard work.’ Rook sighed. She walked over to the table and pulled out the Monopoly box, shaking it enthusiastically. ‘Pick your teams and let’s get going!’

Hurk and Sharky immediately linked arms, Jess and Grace doing the same. Adelaide made a bee-line for John who urgently took refuge behind Jacob.

‘What’sa matter sugar? I can show ya what it feels like to win.’ She batted her eyelashes and John’s blue eyes grew wide with either digust or genuine fear, maybe a bit of both.

‘You come with me Addie, we’ll be team wings.’ Nick took her shoulder and pulled her away from John who looked relieved.

‘Guess that puts us together Faith.’ Rook smiled, pulling the lid of the box off and unfolding the board.

‘We wanna be the puppy!’ Sharky screeched, flinging himself and grabbing the silver dog counter into his hand.

‘Oh hell yeah man! He’s so cute! What should be name him?’ Hurk cooed, petting the scrap of metal with a finger.

‘Uhhh... Barkzilla!’ Sharky grinned, fist bumping his cousin. Jacob rolled his eyes, hunkering down onto a blue beanbag and cracking open a beer.

‘We’ll take the car.’ Grace opened her palm begrudingly and Rook placed it in her hand.

‘What’cha thinkin’ Addie? The hat?’ Nick asked but she shook her head.

‘The cat more like.’ She grinned, eyeing John again. ‘Who doesn’t love a good pussy?’ The baptists’ cheeks flared up as he sat on the floor beside his brother and Jacob visibly choked on his beer. His cheeks puffed out like he was chipmunk as he struggled to swallow it down without snorting.

‘Boys?’ Rook asked and John leant forward peering at the leftovers.

‘Give us the thimble.’ He muttered but Jacob slammed his beer bottle down before she could hand it over.

‘The fucking thimble? Why?’

‘It’s the nearest one!’ John cried, still leaning over the board on his hands and knees.

‘Fuck that. I wanna be the boot.’

‘Fine, we’ll be the stupid boot okay?’ The youngest brother growled. Rook handed the silver shoe to him and John scurried backwards, slamming it into Jacob’s hand with a scowl. ‘Happy?’

‘Delighted.’ The solider grinned patronisingly, spinning it between his forefinger and thumb. Jostling the final counters, Rook showed them to Faith.

‘We’ve got the wheelbarrow, thimble, boat and the hat left. You decide.’ Rook knew Faith didn’t really care which counter they used. She’d be happy with any of them. But after spending most of her life being dictated to by Joseph, Pastor Jerome had suggested that Rook let Faith make more decisions for herself even if they were only small. It was all part of her recovery and reintegration into society.

‘I like the wheelbarrow.’ The siren smiled, picking it up and running a dainty finger over the handlebars. ‘It’s cute.’

‘Okie dokie.’ Rook divvied out everyone’s starting money as they all placed their counters on the board. At the first throw of the dice, all hell broke loose.

‘Hell yeah! Community chest baby!’ Sharky picked up one of the cards and squinted as he read. ‘Everybody has to give us fifty bucks.’

‘You’re shitting me? What the hell!’ Rook groaned, taking a fifty and handing it over.

***

‘This game is stupid.’ Jacob groused, arms folded in annoyance.

‘You’re only sulking because you keep getting us put in jail!’ John exclaimed, pointing at the lonely boot solemnly sitting behind bars.

‘S’okay, look we’re coming to visit!’ Nick exclaimed, as he counted up the amount of squares him and Addie needed to move.

‘You can always buy your way out.’ Rook pointed out, gesturing to their wad of cash organised by neatly by colour at John’s feet.

‘No ‘cause next time I’m gonna roll fuckin’ doubles.’ Jacob grunted indignantly.

‘You’ve said that for the past five turns.’ Reeling backwards, the youngest Seed feel onto his spine and splayed across the floor.

***

‘We wanna buy this one.’ Jess stated, about to hand Rook some of the fake paper money.

‘No no no! We wanna buy that one!’ Hurk shouted drunkenly, swaying a little even though he was sat down.

‘You’re not even on the panel!’ Grace protested only to receive a handful of blue plastic houses thrown in her face.

‘Are too! See!’ Hurk pointed at the silver car aggressively.

‘You’re the fucking dog you moron!’ Jess exclaimed, moving his elbow with her hand to point at the silve terrier that was a few paces behind.

‘Barkzilla!’ He screamed happily and Sharky whoozily cheered, though he didn’t know exactly what for.

***

Alcohol fuelled the game until nobody was truly certain who they were playing as anymore. Confusion settling across the group, Sharky got up and sauntered over to the cardboard box in the corner. He dipped his hands in a rooted around until he found something worthwhile.

‘Hungry Hungry Hippos!’ He screamed, waving the box in the air wildly.

‘I love rhinos!’ Hurk squealed and John crinkled his nose.

‘Hurk they’re hippos? That’s why it’s called Hungry Hungry Hippos.’ The baptist could not get over the stupidity of this man. Who confuses a hippo and a rhino?

‘I thought hippos and rhinos where the same thing?’ He bumbled, scratching at his head. Adelaide got up too and moved over to the box, peering inside.

‘Ha. Jenga.’ She laughed heartly, pulling it out.

‘I’m amazing at Jenga.’ Jess boasted, puffing her chest out. Grace pushed her, making the archer roll back.

‘Not as good as me.’

‘Oh you’re so on.’ Jess’ eyes narrowed as she stood up, swaying a little on the spot. She started to set up the game with Adelaide and Grace. Rook smirked at them and then noticed Faith watching longingly beside her.

‘Why don’t you join in?’ She said quietly, touching Faith’s arm in encouragement.

‘Oh no. They won’t want me to.’ She muttered quietly, picking at the fabric of her white jumper. Rook furrowed her brow, looking at Faith and then up to her friends who had nearly completed the tower.

‘Hey guys, can Faith join in?’ The Deputy asked. Grace and Jess exchanged an uncertain look so she shifted her attention to Adelaide, giving her a pleading smile.

‘Course. C’mon over.’ The helicopter pilot sympathised. Faith looked to Rook nervously who simply bobbed her head with a lop-sided smile.

‘O-okay. Thanks.’ Hopping to her feet gracefully, Faith tip-toed over to join in. Sharky came and took her place beside Rook.

‘Will you play this with me?’ He asked, shoving the box under her nose and pulling his best puppy dog eyes out of the bag. How could Rook say no?

‘Sure but it’s four players and Hurk looks busy.’ She stated, pointing at his cousin. Sharky turned and saw Hurk in a fervent arm wrestle with Nick over the table.

‘Damn.’ He grunted, staring at the hippos sadly. Rook turned her gaze to John and Jacob, both sitting on beanbags with beer bottles in their hands.

‘Yo Seeds, you playing?’ She called to them, blue eyes swivelling her way.

‘What your little kids game? Nah.’ Jacob sniffed, taking a swig of drink.

‘Oh yeah right, s’cause you’re scared.’ She shrugged, opening the box and setting up the game.

‘Psh.’ He grunted, leaning back into the beanbag. John crawled over, sitting behind the blue hippo and Jacob narrowed his eyes. ‘You fuckin’ kiddin’ me?’

‘Well there’s nothing better to do.’ His little brother retorted, pressing down on the lever and watching the plastic hippo snap forward.

‘Hell yeah Johnny boy!’ Sharky clapped him on the shoulder and sat cross legged behind the green hippo. Rook took the yellow one and shot a look at Jacob.

‘Ah look, you can be the orange one!’

‘I said I ain’t playin’.’ He sniffed but his eyes lingered on the board.

‘You sure? Or are you too chicken?’ She grinned, starting to cluck under her breath. Sharky joined in, bobbing his neck backwards and forwards. Even John started, making wings with his tattooed arms and batting them up and down.

‘For fuck’s sake, fine.’ Jacob slid off the beanbag and took his spot behind the orange hippo. Rook unleashed a handful of balls into the centre of the board and the four of them watched them roll until they settled against one another.

‘Ready, set, go!’ She hollered and the snapping began. Hands battered the levers as the hippos lurched forward and back, snatching balls into their mouths and depositing them in their individual racks. As the game ended, each player counted their balls and Jacob looked up with a smirk.

‘Nine.’ He grinned, already certain from counting the others’ marbles that he’d won.

‘Four.’ John frowned.

‘I got four too.’ Sharky stated.

‘Three.’ Rook sighed. ‘I demand a rematch.’

**

As the night wandered on, Rook’s friends started to go out for the count. Nick and Hurk were asleep over the table, hands still bound from arm wrestling. Grace, Jess, Adelaide and Faith lay snuggled around the fallen Jenga pieces. Yawning heavily, she slumped back into a sleeping Sharky’s chest. John’s head rested on her shoulder and Jacob’s boots were propped up on her knee. She’d done it. She’d finally united them.

[peachyfic]

Win or Win - Youngjae

January 1st. Jackson

January 2nd. Youngjae

The next day you were still drunken with the sweet moments from the date with Jackson, so it was hard for you to focus on your next date. Your best friend told you that Youngjae is waiting for you in an arcade at 2 o’clock. You were, of course, excited, but it was hard to get Jackson out of your head. If you would have had the chance to chose, you would have gone on another date with Jackson for sure. 

Your feet were hurting a little bit so you didn’t mind that this day’s date won’t be too active. You dressed up in comfortable clothes, but not too warm ones, as you were spending the whole afternoon inside. 

When you arrived at first you were not sure who to look for. Youngjae didn’t tell a lot of information about himself so you just cluelessly looked at all the boys standing outside of the arcade. But then suddenly a boy started to run towards you. He was wearing dark skinny jeans, sneakers, a hoodie with a long trench coat. He definitely looked stylish for an arcade date. 

“Y/n?” He asked and you nodded. His face was not as manly as Jackson’s but there was something charming about him as well. You noticed the small mole under his eye which made his appearance even cuter. “Nice to mee you, I’m Youngjae.”

“Nice to meet you, Youngjae,” you said as you shook hands. 

“We should go inside, it’s a bit cold here,” he said and you followed him in. He said hi to a couple of people in there, which made it seem like he had been to this arcade a lot of times. 

“Wow, this place looks super cool,” you said as you looked around the huge place with dozens of different gaming machines and all the neon lights brightening up the dark, windowless place. 

“This is one of my favorite spots in the city, so I’m glad you like it,” he said and you smiled shyly. “Do you want to try the basketball game?” He asked and you nodded.

“Actually I think I’m good with this,” you said and he looked at you curiously. 

“Okay, should we bet? The loser buys milk for the winner,” he replied with a smile. 

“Okay then get your wallet ready, mister,” you said daringly which surprised even yourself with. 

“Wow, you have a lot of confidence, I love that,” he laughed and his laugh was loud and contagious. 

You started the game and actually, you got quite a few balls in the hoop. Youngjae kept on cheering for you even though your win might mean a loss for his wallet. 

“I’m really good at this,” you concluded as you looked at your score. “Now it’s your turn but don’t go easy on me.” 

“It’s not my intention. I like winning,” he winked at you but then he started to laugh in his embarrassment. You guessed he wasn’t used to dating and flirting that much, in which you related to him. 

“Go Youngjae!” You cheered on him which made him blush and giggle even more. But once he got the ball in his hands, his attention was on the hoop only. He put on a focused look and didn’t even pay attention to his surroundings. As if he changed personalities. And of course, in the end, his score was higher than yours. 

“But you don’t have to buy me milk though, if I let you, then that’s not really nice of me,” he looked concerned when you were looking for your wallet in your bag. 

“It was our deal but hey you can buy food in the next round,” you shrugged and he nodded in agreement. 

“I kind of want to try something else,” Youngjae said as he looked around the first floor of the arcade. There were mostly claw machines and the basketball game you just played with. There was also a lounge area where people sat down to drink and eat some snacks in-between games. On the second floor, the sign said there are more machines and games to challenge players in. But before you headed upstairs for more fun, you got tempted by the claw machines. 

“Hey, Youngjae, what if we both have five tryouts on the machine and the one who doesn’t get a plush has to buy the food,” you suggested and Youngjae’s eyes brightened up.

“Great idea y/n, which machine do you want to try?” He asked and you looked at all the machines lined up with what kind of content they had inside. Then you saw a Pokemon one and pointed it at it like an excited kid. Youngjae approved your choice. 

“I want to get the Eevee,” you said while eyeing the figure in the corner of the machine. 

“Okay and my aim is Snorlax. It looks cute and also kind of easy to get out,” Youngjae said with a shrug, acting like as if it’s not a big deal for him.

“We will see Choi Youngjae,” you said with a confident smile which made him chuckle but also he felt challenged by your behavior. 

For the next thirty minutes, the two of you kept on struggling with the machine. You took turns in trying to get the plush that each of you chose. Even though Youngjae was so sure about getting the Snorlax easily, he progressed even less in getting the character out than you did. Both of you started to lose your cool and started yelling with the poor machine. Especially Youngjae lost his mind as by the end he just slid down on the floor and couldn’t stop laughing at both of your’s misery. And then neither of you succeeded. 

“Great, so we are not going to eat lunch,” you sighed and Youngjae patted your shoulder. 

“I’m on a diet anyways but if you are hungry I can buy you something,” he said and you shook your head. 

“Why are you on a diet though?” You asked him and for a moment he felt embarrassed as he avoided your eyes. 

“Well... since I have a job where I have to have a lot of public appearances, I can’t look that overweighted,” he replied but he seemed like as if he wants to avoid the topic. 

“Oh come on, what kind of overweight you are talking about? Youngjae you look great. You are handsome, you don’t have anything to worry about and diet. Dieting is the worst. I mean of course sometimes it’s good to eat healthier and taking care of yourself, but skipping meals is never a good option,” you explained to him and he listened to your words. 

“Thank you y/n, that’s really nice of you to say that,” he smiled shyly and you put your hand on his shoulder. 

“I mean it though, so please, eat with me. We can share the money,” you suggested and he nodded. 

“But first we should go up and look at some other games,” he pointed at the stairs and you followed him to the second floor. There were even more people there and a lot more machines. But Youngjae’s eyes stopped on something else instead.

“What do you think about this?” He asked as he stood next to the air hockey table. 

“Well, I never tried this before but why not,” you said and he showed you how to play the game. He stood beside you on your side of the table and he held on to your hand while showing off some movements you could do while playing the game. His hand was a bit sweaty, probably because he was nervous to be close to you. But otherwise his hand was smooth and he smelled really nice. It was comfortable to be next to him so close. 

After he let go of your hand, you could see it better that his ears were red like a tomato. He quickly walked over to the other side and you started to play against each other. You had fun during the game but at one point the puck flew out of the table, hitting Youngjae on his thigh. You rushed over to him telling him endless apologies while he was rubbing the spot where he got hit. 

“Thank God it wasn’t your sensitive area,” you said to him in which at first he looked at you with a shocked expression then he burst out into a loud laugh. “Oh my, I can’t believe I said that out loud,” you held your head and Youngjae kept on laughing at your reaction.

“Well, thanks for this laugh, it doesn’t hurt anymore. But you are absolutely right, this was a better spot,” he nodded. “So what do you want to play next?”

“Hm, I was thinking more about something that doesn’t involve sports for now. I feel exhausted after these two games and the claw machine misery,” you said and Youngjae got into deep thoughts. 

“Let’s walk around and see what options do we have,” he said and you started to explore more the arcade. It was surprisingly even bigger than it looked on the outside. There were some hidden corners with smaller machines. Occasionally you spotted some workers who took out coins from machines or cleaned some after they had been used for a while. 

Your attention was on a couple who were playing darts and they kept loudly laughing at each other. They both seemed to be pretty bad at the game but they for sure had fun. But then Youngjae gasped loudly and your attention got back to him. 

“Coin karaoke!” He exclaimed. Youngjae rushed to the small booth dragging you along. 

“Wait, I don’t think this is a good idea. If you hear me sing, I don’t think you will ever want to meet me again,” you protested but Youngjae didn’t listen to you. 

He stepped inside the tiny booth which squeezed you both in, the two of you standing next to each other closely. 

“I love to sing and people say I have a good voice, so if we do it together it might not be that scary for you,” Youngjae suggested.

“Okay, support me with this,” you sighed but Youngjae shouted ‘fighting’ to raise your spirit. He looked at the options while he fished out 500 won from his pocket. 

“What do you think about Bolbbalgan4′s Galaxy?” He asked. 

“Oh, great choice.” You replied while Youngjae handed you a mic. 

“Take a deep breath and don’t stress. We are not on stage,” he told you with a reassuring smile and you did as he said. 

The song started and Youngjae began to sing. You joined him once you felt more confident and it made you feel at ease when he smiled at you while singing. His voice was powerful but soothing.  

“You see, this was so fun!” He said once you finished singing couple more songs. The two of you were heading downstairs to grab something to eat. 

“Well only because you are a superstar singer,” you answered, which made him chuckle in his embarrassment. 

“There is a convenience store next door, do you want to go there and eat?” He asked, changing the subject. 

“That sounds good to me,” you finally arrived outside of the arcade and the fresh air made your head feel better. But when you turned around, you saw that Youngjae had a confused face. 

“Before we go, I should go and use the restroom. There might be a line, so please wait for me here,” he said and he looked nervous for a second before he disappeared. It was definitely suspicious as usually in the men’s restroom there isn’t a line. 

He definitely made you wait for like ten minutes and you started to get cold. Your mind was spinning with confusion and anger starting to pile up, but then Youngjae stepped outside while his arms were behind his back. 

“What are you up to?” You asked him with suspicion but also with a smile on your face. Youngjae kept on giggling until he revealed the Eevee that you tried to get out so hard from the claw machine. “I can’t believe you!” 

“Sorry it took me so long, I hope you were not too cold in the meantime,” he said while handing you the plush. In your happiness, you almost jumped into his arms while you hugged him tightly, with the Eevee between the two of you.

After that, the three of you walked to the convenience store next door and had some ramen to finish off the great day. Youngjae walked you to the bus stop and said goodbye to you with a warm hug. He almost left you there, but then he quickly ran back to you to ask for your number. He tripped a little and almost fell on you, but in the end, he was able to get his balance back. With a shaking hand he typed in your number then he said goodbye again. 

When you got home, you really couldn’t wait to be in bed as you felt exhausted. After you washed up and checked your phone, you fell asleep while smiling softly and hugging the Eevee tight. While you were already deep in your sleep, Youngjae texted you as he could barely fall asleep, still thinking about your day and how much fun he had. ‘I hope we can have another round in which you win and I pay you back with food ^^~ Sleep tight, Eevee will protect you~’

January 3d. BamBam

[nctzenchuu-blog]

stray kids as ur friends (maknae line)

a/n: i love stray kids and i wanted to do some writing for them... so! take this! ill do the hyung line later if you all would like :D - charlotte

stray kids as a whole is a loud group, but you have probably the loudest combination with the maknae line..

your group consists of 6 with you included, the other members being: jeongin, seungmin, felix, jisung, and hyunjin. felix jisung and hyunjin are the loudest and egg on seungmin for sure.. jeongin tries but tbh hes not really a loud person in the first place.

even if you are younger than jeongin, you all treat him like the baby. he doesnt necessarily hate it but he also wants to be seen as manly sometimes too. despite that theres still a running “baby jeongin” gag between you guys.

honestly the most common and probably only place you all hang out in is the park. these boys all enjoy playing in the sun! so theres lots of river side picnics for you all.

that doesnt always mean you pack food though, since youre not the best cook considering... hyunjin probably makes the younger members get food from a convinence store. :( you always go with because you feel bad for them carrying everything.

you try to rush them though because theres no telling what the other 3 will do without you around. one time you came back HORRIFIED because felix and hyunjin had there heads underwater by the river and jisung was just.. staring at his phone excited.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!”

“oh y/n! welcome back! what flavor ramen did you buy?”

“JISUNG THAT DOESNT ANSWER MY QUESTION!”

“oh y/n hyungjin-hyung and felix-hyung are swimmers, theyre okay!”

“yeah they’re probably just seeing who lasts the longest underwater.”

at that moment hyunjin’s head bursts up from the water with felix seconds after him

“HAHAHA I WON~” “god DAMNIT”

you clear your throat and they look back at you and their faces turn white... they expect an ass beating but you just scold them not to do that again, youre practically shaking from seeing that.

they feel bad and let you take first pick at the ice cream you guys bought :(. hyunjin and felix also make sure to give you BIG HUGS despite you absolutely refusing because of how wet they were. it turned out to be quite refreshing, though. 

other than that incident, you usually have a fun and relaxing time at the park. there's lots of games and talking and once the heat gets over bearing you all pile together under the shade of a small tree, legs intertwined and heads resting on each other's shoulders or laps. you all usually end up taking a nap together. it's.. so soft.

on the opposite end of the spectrum, you sometimes meet up with the boys to play video games and it gets loud. you don't play, not because you're bad or anything but because it's more entertaining to watch and hear them play than play yourself. hyunjin only has 4 controllers anyways, so you get to chat up who ever sat out that round. that is if you can hear them over the other.

"to the baby peach who just red shelled me, you're mom's a HOE."

"die mad about it, fe- JISUNG FUCK YOU I WAS IN FIRST. "

"HAHA YOU SLIPPED ON MY PEEL"

meanwhile seungmin silently enters first place and wins as toad

you and jeongin, who were watching, clap and congratulate him. he deserves it.

the other three are still fighting over who technically won after seungmin. it's cute. 

the things you do change depending on who you're with. if you're with the 3 older members they probably would want to go out all the time. cafes, the mall, maybe even to an open dance studio to dance or karaoke. they can entertain themselves easily at home but they're honestly more fun and talkative when they're out and about, so!

you guys are constantly broke because of all the going out... they ask chan and changbin constantly for money. also felix keeps a bunch of coupons for everything and the others make fun of him for it. it really does help you guys though.

when you're with the younger members though, they prefer to chill at home with you. the most they'll do is go to the park to lay in the sun again. since they're the quite members of your group it's much easier to do relaxing things together. you guys clean, cook, mostly just lay on a couch together, all crowded and talk about random things. you enjoy these breaths of air with them, to say the least. 

your group chat name is “stray boiizz” and they constantly make fun of you for it because you choose it. you, jisung, felix, and hyunjin spam it constantly and honestly youre lucky jeongin and seungmin enjoy it. you guys usually stay up having “deep” conversations on there.

sleep overs are something you do only for special occasions like birthdays because god knows you all will destroy who ever’s house its at.

dont even get me started on cuddle sessions. you know how soft these boys can get. 

soft and emotional, you guys are so close that you arent afraid to cry around each other and its very lovely. its means so much to you that they are so willing to share their feelings. 

seungmin and jeongin need a little bit of patience sometimes since they’re still sort of young and embarrassed about their feelings, but you all do trust, help, and comfort each other whenever you guys can

to put it simply, you guys are like a little, lovely, rowdy family and you cherish every second of it.