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starlightkun · 6 months

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❧ word count: 18.3k ❧ warnings: cursing, renjun gets CONSENSUALLY dosed with a magical aphrodisiac For Science ❧ genre: fluff, humor, one (1) heavy makeout scene but no actual smut, 0.1 seconds of angst if you can even call it that, academic rivals to lovers, modern magical creatures au, college au, siren reader, human renjun ft. siren ten, same universe as strawberry sunday ❧ extra info: in my lore, siren scales are visible when they’re in more human-like forms because of magic, and it’s not an indication of their skin tone at all. so when the reader’s scales are mentioned, please don’t take this as any sort of allusion to them being pale/light-skinned! i tried to take care and make sure i wasn’t implying that in how i wrote it, but please tell me if it reads like that this work is set in the same universe as strawberry sunday but can be read as a standalone! there is no continuing plotline between fics in this universe, they simply take place in the same world/magic system and may have overlapping characters (neos may pop up in more than one work!) ❧ author’s note: y’all. get ready for this one. no spoilers but renjun and reader r both crazy and nobody should be subjected to them except each other. like they both look at the other and think “i could fix them but whatever the fuck is wrong with them is infinitely funnier to me” but they’re both Wrong. they could not fix the other. i don't want what they have but good for them. anyway as always i had way too much fun writing this that it went over my projected word count and i hope y’all have a lot of fun reading it too

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ explore the strawberry sunday universe more here!

“Would you shut up?” You sat back up, grabbing him by the hair.

“Why?”

“I’m trying to kiss you again, idiot.”

2608, 2610, 2612…

The numbers of the study rooms you passed by went up, up, up, as you continued your hunt. You knew he’d be here. It was the day before the first test in your Linguistics in Magical Creatures Studies class, meaning he was going to be holed up in the library until closing time. Now it was just a matter of finding him. Somewhere quiet, obviously, which was why you’d completely skipped the first floor with its wide-open “collaboration areas.” The second floor was all bookshelves and private study rooms that would hold four or five students at most. You peered into the narrow window on each painted metal door as you walked down the hall. While the first floor was recently renovated with new technology and upgrades such as the “collaboration areas” and bright pops of your university’s school colors that made for great promotional photos to put on the website and pamphlets to hand out to new students, this floor hadn’t had seen anything more than a janitor in a good couple decades. The musty, stale smell of old, unused books was all around you, the air conditioning hummed and clicked irregularly, all the furniture had ugly, outdated patterns, and the exactly three desktop computers they did have in a far back corner were practically as old as you. Which, in the digital age, meant that they were artifacts belonging in a museum.

And of course, sitting at very last one, as if he had been hiding behind all of these bookshelves from you personally, was Huang Renjun.

Renjun was sat in the wooden chair facing the computer, clearly deep in thought. He had one foot propped up on the wide chair seat as both of his hands were on the archaic-looking keyboard, speedily typing something out. He wore a pair of jeans, yellow hoodie, and a red backwards baseball cap kept his hair out of his face. An open energy drink can and empty bag of chips on the desk next to him belied that he had already been there for some time.

Now that you had found your target, you put on a burst of speed, stalking up to him from the side and smacking your hand down on the tabletop beside him. “Renjun.”

The human jumped in his seat, looking up from his screen to you. Taking his hands from the keyboard, he made a couple quick clicks on the mouse as he used the other to take his headphones out of his ears. “Y/N. Fucking hell… is your new strategy this semester to give me a heart attack and kill me?”

“If murder was on the table as part of our little academic rivalry, don’t you think I would’ve just drowned you after our Intro course freshman year?” You asked, tilting your head innocently. After all, you were a siren, that would be much easier than scaring him into an early cardiac episode.

Huang Renjun was not your friend. Not necessarily an acquaintance either, you’d known him for going on four years now, since your first class on your first day of college. The two of you were in the same Introduction to Magical Creatures Studies class. He had sat in the very front row, you just behind him in the second row. When your professor had asked an open question to the class, both you and Renjun eagerly blurted out the answer, Renjun just a millisecond before you. Dr. Li gave him the credit, and also requested that you two raise your hands in the future. And from then on you hated Huang Renjun.

Well, hate may be a strong word. You overlapped in at least two classes every semester being in the same major, and were both chronic overachievers. The first to raise your hands when a question was asked, studying in the library until closing (separately), and visiting professors’ office hours just to discuss topics from class further. Your professors noticed this. Some would pit the two of you against each other, and others would try to pair you up, whether on projects, research, or just in general, as a meeting of the minds or whatever. And you two would get your project done, pocket your As, and part ways again. Academic rival slash frenemy was the best way you could describe who Huang Renjun was to you.

“Who knows, you might still, if they ask me to carry the banner,” he muttered, picking his pen up and spinning it between his fingers.

This was your last semester, both you and Renjun were graduating in just a few months. At commencement, each department picked one “outstanding student” to lead the progression, carrying a flag with the department’s name and seal on it. This semester it was Magical Creatures Studies’ turn to select a student for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and your program head had already heavily implied that they could choose either you or Renjun, but they hadn’t made their final decision yet.

This was actually a pretty good segue into what you were really here to talk to him about. Pulling your lips into an alluring smirk, you nodded, “You’re right. It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that—”

“A fucking what?” He cut you off, his face scrunching up as he blinked at you in confusion.

“Obviously it’s going to be one of us two, since we’re the two best students in the program.”

“Well, yes.” He nodded, seeming to let go of what had presumably been another one of your jumbled human malaphors. You admittedly hadn’t been living among humans for terribly long, and for some reason their idioms just didn’t stick in your brain very well.

“I mean, we not only are dedicated to the field itself and the content we study in class, but the program too. We probably know everybody in it, professors and students, right? Between the two of us?”

Renjun considered this for a moment. “Yeah, probably. We’ve both taken on a lot of SI and tutor opportunities for lower-level classes.”

“Right. So, you know those forums the school has on the online class platform? The general message boards?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I’m going to need you to sit tight with me on this until I finish talking, okay?” You pointed at him sternly. He nodded slowly. “Good. Back in the fall, about the end of September, I was on the message boards, just browsing around killing time. I was in the Tips & Advice section and saw this post. It was a gryphon who was losing feathers on one specific spot on her wing, and she didn’t know why. The witch she went to didn’t know why, nobody could figure it out. I was about to reply asking if it was her left or right, when I saw that somebody else already had. It was her left, and she’s a lefty. The same person replied again, asking if she sleeps with her wings out or not. She sleeps with them out. It turns out she was stress-preening in her sleep. Username: dr_magic2303. A couple weeks later, same message board, Tips & Advice, a human is suddenly producing dark purple goop from his feet but it’s so slippery he can’t even leave to go see a doctor or a witch and he was typing the post from his bathroom. Within an hour, this Dr. Magic is back telling him someone’s put an aether ooze hex on him, and to sit down and scoot on his butt to the kitchen and gather up all these ingredients for a cleansing foot bath. And if he doesn’t have them, then he’ll have to butt-scoot his way to an apothecary or call one who does home deliveries. Now people are posting on there specifically asking Dr. Magic to come heal all their magical aches and pains.”

Renjun stared at you, unblinking. The pen had gone still in his hand.

You breathed in, continuing, “I tracked this Dr. Magic all the way back to their first post in the first week of fall semester of this year. Now, I’ve been trying to figure out who they are on my own, and I’ve made a lot of progress on who they aren’t. But I’m going to lose access to those message boards once we graduate at the end of the semester. I know Dr. Magic has to be an MCS major, there’s no way they would be able to have to breadth, depth, and flexibility of knowledge by just Googling this stuff. And you and me, Renjun, I know we can do this. Not only do we know MCS, but we know the department, the people in it. It has to be us.”

He was still staring at you, mouth slightly agape. Then, his whole demeanor shifted. He dropped his leg so that both his feet were on the ground, and he resumed spinning the pen.

“Okay. I’ll help you.” He nodded thoughtfully. “If you’ll do something for me.”

“Do what?” You straightened up.

“I’ll tell you after we find Dr. Magic.”

You crossed your arms. “No, tell me now or no deal.”

“I tell you after, but you can still say no then if you don’t want to do it.” He bargained.

“That just sounds even more concerning, Renjun. Tell me now or I’ll do it myself.”

“I’m hurt. What happened to ‘it has to be us?’”

“I’m a siren, I know how to sweet talk. Don’t take it personally.” You snorted. “Now, what do you want from me?”

“You’re a siren,” he echoed plainly, as if that were all the explanation you needed.

“And you’re a genius.” You retorted. “Tell me now or I walk out.”

“I... want to experience siren venom. For science.”

Oh, you could kiss him right now, no deal necessary. He was meeting your gaze head-on, a slightly unhinged glint in his eye. Not a hint of fear, just a craving for new experiences, unbridled curiosity. Yeah, he was a bit crazy, you were realizing four years on, and you wanted him.

“You’re insane.”

He leaned back in his seat, putting his hands up in front of him in an ‘I-don’t-care’ gesture, “If you don’t want to find Dr. Magic—”

“I didn’t say no, I said you’re insane,” you corrected him with a grin, dragging your eyes up and down his form as he sat so confidently, negotiating with a siren like it was any average Tuesday for him.

“So do we have a deal?” He set his pen down and held a hand out to you.

“You help me find Dr. Magic, then I’ll spit in your mouth.” You momentarily thought about the disparity in division of labor on that, but decided not to point it out aloud. Easiest handshake of your life. “Deal.”

You wanted to eat him alive.

“You’ve tried IP tracking?” Renjun asked, scrolling through your word document of notes that you’d accumulated on Dr. Magic.

“‘You’ve tried IP tracking?’” You mimicked him under your breath, making your voice so high-pitched to the point of mocking.

He rolled his eyes.

This was your first meet-up to try to hunt down Dr. Magic together. It was a couple weeks after he had agreed to help you in the first place. There was a test and some assignments in a few of your classes to get through first before either of you had enough spare time to dedicate to this. But now the two of you were back in the library, having taken a study room on the second floor and set up with your own laptops. You’d sent him your notes to look through on it while you perused the message board for any new posts from Dr. Magic.

“You do know that any geographical location an IP address can give you will just be the city, right? It’s not like the movies,” you snorted, dropping your voice back down to your normal intonation as you shook your head. “Anyway, I did do some extra legwork with the IPs, and matched most of them to desktop computers here in the library. I think the others are a personal device, their laptop or something.”

“They’re all different.”

You tutted at him, “Oh, you sweet Thursday’s child…”

“That’s not the say—”

“They’re all somehow on other continents. Now, I don’t think Dr. Magic teleporting abroad and cross-dimensionally to make forum posts.”

“VPN?”

“Definitely. They’re covering their tracks, they almost never use their own device, and when they have to, they use a VPN to cover up the IP address of it.”

He made a noise of acknowledgement, eyes still focused on his screen.

Then, something on the forum caught your eye. “Oh! Right here. Thirty-six minutes ago, a dryad posted that she can’t sprout daffodils from her body anymore. Every other plant and flower are fine, except daffodils. She posted it specifically asking Dr. Magic if they know what’s wrong with her.”

“Huh.” Renjun’s brow furrowed. “Just daffodils?”

“That’s what it says,” you confirmed, making a few clicks on your computer. “And… ‘notify me.’”

“You can turn on notifications for forum posts?”

“You can’t,” you informed him smugly. “But one of the sirens in my pod, he’s got a bunch of CompSci friends who I paid to write a browser extension for me that bookmarks forum posts and sends me email notifications when anybody replies to them. So I’ll know exactly when Dr. Magic responds.”

“You…”

“Have definitely spent too much time, energy, and money on this, I know. Sunken cost fallacy, look it up.”

“I was going to say ‘are insane,’” he breathed out, his voice a mixture of awe and disbelief.

When you looked up from your computer at him, you saw that he had a curious gaze fixated on you, eyes narrowed slightly, mouth parted, and head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

You leaned forward minutely, holding his eye contact. “Takes one to know one, Junnie.”

He looked down at his keyboard, shifting in his seat before he looked back up at you. “Why are you calling me that?”

“Do you not like it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you do like it.” You smirked.

He frowned. “I didn’t say that either.”

“Well do you?”

“Answer my question.”

“Answer mine.”

“I asked first.”

“Ooh, how very primary school,” you teased, setting your chin in your hand.

“It’s only fair.” He pointed out.

“We could flip a coin.”

“Y/N.”

“Junnie.”

The human sighed, holding your eye contact wordlessly, looking entirely unamused.

You finally gave in with a casual shrug. “I just am.”

“Seriously? We’ve known each other for four years and you’ve never called me that—you’ve called me plenty of other things—but now suddenly you’ve got a nickname for me?”

“I’m not trying to be derogatory with it, if you’re worried about that,” you clarified. “Just sort of happened. I’m a siren, I flirt with cute people, sorry. Do you want me to stop calling you that?”

He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing some off his face as he turned his focus back down to his screen. “It’s fine.”

“Anyway, I bookmarked the new forum post, so it’ll go on the board.”

“The board?”

“I, uh, I may be using a spare wall in my apartment to host a conspiracy theory board with you know, the red string and thumbtacks and stuff…” You admitted quietly.

“Can I see it?”

“Ho-ly shit,” Renjun breathed out, staring up at the multiple time-stamped printouts of forum posts, pictures of classmates and faculty, sticky notes, and yards of red string that you had pinned to a blank wall in your apartment.

You stood next to him, gazing up at your creation with a strange mixture of pride and embarrassment. This was the first time you’d let someone see this, and you were kind of glad it was Renjun. He actually seemed impressed. You were sure that any of your friends and family would be weirded out at best, and very concerned at worst.

“Yeah, I’m adding color copies off the school printers to the invoice I’m sending Dr. Magic at the end of all this.”

“You’re sending them an invoice for your self-assigned mission to hunt them down?” He snorted.

“Yup. It’s their fault for not using their school-issued login.” You crossed your arms. “Makes them enigmatic.”

Your classmate pointed to one of the headshots. “Is that Dr. Li?”

“Did you think our scope was narrowed to just students? Faculty have access to the message boards, too. And we’ve learned everything we know from our professors, so they obviously have the knowledge and skill to be Dr. Magic.”

“And their names also start with Doctor.” He added dryly, which you took to be a joke.

You decided that it wasn’t at your expense, though, and after giving a short chuckle, continued on with your explanation of why you specifically had your program head up on the board. “When I was grilling Dr. Li for information in the fall, he was giving me very duplicitous answers. Pointed me towards a freshman who I swear didn’t even know the difference between Arctic sirens and glacial sirens.”

“You think it was a diversion.”

“Obviously.”

Renjun tapped his chin thoughtfully. “What sort of questions were you asking him?”

“I couldn’t straight up ask him if he was Dr. Magic. So I was asking him things like... other than you and me, who did he think was the best student in the program, that kind of stuff. Said that kid reminded him of you and me on that first day of Intro to MCS.” You couldn’t help but let out an indignant scoff at the idea. “Can you believe? Didn’t know the difference between Arctic and glacial sirens…”

“Who was it?”

“Some basilisk in one of his Intro classes last semester. Uh…” You snapped your fingers as you tried to remember his name. “Seunghan! Hong Seunghan!”

“Seriously?” The human turned to look at you incredulously, clearly offended at the comparison as well.

“Seriously!”

He clutched at his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. “That’s who he thinks is the next us? I was an SI for that class…”

“I know! He’s not the brightest tool in the shed, huh?”

“So close, Y/N. So close…” He sighed.

“It almost completely threw me off my search for Dr. Magic. I figured I needed to seriously step up my game in his undergrad research or something.” You shook your head at the horrible memory. “Then I realized he might have been trying to get me to do exactly that.”

“Huh.” Renjun folded his arms over his chest as he looked away, pretending not to seem interested. “You did research with Dr. Li last semester?”

“Don’t give me those kicked puppy dog eyes, you’re doing research with Dr. Kwon this semester and she’s like, my academic idol!” You pointed at him accusatorily.

“And Dr. Li is mine!”

You waved your arms in front of you, shaking yourself out of the academic envy-induced frenzy you’d gotten worked up into. “We’re getting off-topic. We’re here to catch Dr. Magic, remember?”

“Right…” He took a deep breath, turning back to the conspiracy wall.

As Renjun studied your work, you studied him. You had a strand of fairy lights clipped up above the conspiracy wall for light and ambiance (mostly ambiance), and they now lit his features from the front. He didn’t have a baseball cap on today, leaving his brown hair to fall over his forehead, down past his eyebrows and just into his eyes. He blinked and shook his head slightly. A piece had presumably been bothering him. The curving slope of the bridge of his nose, his lips, his chin that he still had one hand propped up to hold, a finger tapping against his cupid’s bow like a metronome. You listened closer, curious if it would be mimicking the beat of his heart. The tapping was just slightly slower than his heart, and would stop if he found something that he took particular interest in, then start back up when he moved on again.

Not that you were going to tell him, but you were double motivated to find Dr. Magic now. Seeing Renjun under your venom was going to be a reward all on its own. You understood full well why he felt like he needed to ask you as part of an exchange like this, but he seemed to greatly underestimate his own selling value. Which was good for you. This was a win-win-win in your eyes.

Thinking of the deal made you curious, though. He had that request ready to go almost like…

“So, do you want to be petrified by a basilisk, too?”

Renjun didn’t take his eyes off the wall. “Already have been.”

“Really?”

“My friend Mark is a basilisk. When he had just gotten his powers a couple years ago and couldn’t control them, he kept accidentally petrifying his human roommate. So I figured out when it was most likely to happen, invited myself over and hid his sunglasses. It was strange, being able to think but not speak, see but not blink, and telling my muscles to move and not having them obey.” He casually detailed what sounded like one of the most horrifying experiences ever to you, leaning in towards a specific post from November. “But it only lasted one minute and twenty-nine seconds.”

You stared at him with both admiration and alarm. “You manufactured an opportunity to get petrified.”

“I knew he wouldn’t do it if I asked. He’s a wimp. That, and he couldn’t do it on command at the time, even if he did agree.”

“Have you had your blood drank?”

“Yup.”

“Been flying?”

“How so?” His eyes flicked over to you for a second, and you were glad that you had relaxed again with the more casual conversation.

“With a gryphon, phoenix, take your pick.” You shrugged.

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you have a list for this stuff or something?”

“Written down, no. But I suppose I have a mental list.”

“Poisoned by a wyvern?”

“Would have to find one first.”

You felt your eyes bug out of your head. “You want to be poisoned by a wyvern? You know there’s no cure for that, right?”

“Yes, I took the same class that you did on them last spring.” He reminded you tersely. Your head jerked back minutely, surprised for a second that he had noticed, remembered, and brought it up. The two of you didn’t have a spat in that class, taking an ‘ignore and pretend the other doesn’t exist’ approach that semester when you could, and hadn’t mentioned it since. Seeming to realize what he’d done, Renjun rushed to move on, “So I also know that there’s no cure because they went extinct hundreds of years ago.”

“Supposedly.”

“You think they’re still out there?”

“Maybe.”

“Hm.” He stepped to the side to read over the next post from the first week of December.

You scoffed. “Okay, coming from the guy who believes in aliens.”

“We haven’t explored all of space. But we know what habitats wyverns lived in, and they’re not there anymore.”

“They could’ve adapted, gone somewhere else,” you tried to argue. “I’m not exactly splashing around the ocean right now, am I?”

“Where did they go, then?”

“I... I don’t know,” you admitted, holding yourself by your arms protectively.

“Hmph.”

You tightened your grip, swallowing hard against the lump threatening to grow in your throat. “I just don’t want to believe they’re gone, okay?”

“So this isn’t a scientific hypothesis, but some rosy daydream?” Renjun’s disapproval of the lack of academic rigor in your argument was clear in his tone as his eyes never left your wall, following a red string up to your next connection for Dr. Magic.

“I don’t want to believe that wyverns went extinct because that means that sirens could too! Alright?” You finally snapped, hands squeezing tightly around your biceps as your claws came out with the raw burst of emotion. “I know that Magical Conservation was just some class to you, but I had to sit there and take notes on how exactly the native habitats of sirens—me, my friends, my family—are shrinking, and could theoretically lead to our extinction, and then write a discussion post on it after like it was some intellectually stimulating bit of information. So yeah, maybe I like to imagine that there’s still wyverns out there somewhere, because it gives me a modicum of hope that after everything, there could still be sirens, too. Sorry that that’s not academic enough.”

The image of Renjun that you had been yelling at in front of you was wavering as tears swam in your vision. He’d turned around to listen, mouth parting as he seemed to immediately realize his mistake. The human nodded regretfully, running a hand through his hair before finally picking his words.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean to be so dismissive. I-I misread the tone of the discussion. Sirens aren’t wyverns, and you won’t meet the same fate they might have. Siren advocacy and conservation groups are making huge progress. The world now is a lot different than it was hundreds of years ago,” Renjun said, and you could hear both the remorse and firm belief in his tone. “And who knows, maybe there are still some wyverns out there. I could be wrong... it’s been known to happen before.”

You took a deep breath, your claws receding back into your fingers and just leaving your normal fingernails. As you looked down at your arms, though, you let out a sigh.

“Damn, I got myself.” You clicked your tongue in your throat regretfully, spotting a few drops of what looked like molten silver metal welling to the surface where you’d punctured your skin.

“Ooh,” Renjun winced sympathetically. “Do you have some… bandages?”

“Even better, I’ve got running water.” You started towards the door, then noted that there were no footsteps behind you. Turning back around, you looked at the human knowingly. “Do you want to watch, Renjun?”

He perked up. “Please?”

“Come on,” you jerked your head, holding your arms level as you shuffled towards your kitchen.

Thankfully, you hadn’t been nearly deep enough to get your scales, just the skin overtop. Turning the kitchen faucet on, you grabbed one of your sleeves, then looked at your classmate imploringly.

“A little help, Junnie?” You nodded towards your other arm, where the end of your sleeve was getting close to your blood.

“Oh, sure.” He surged forward to help you roll up the other one.

“I know you know this but be careful not to touch my blood,” you reminded him, finally pulling up the sleeve you’d started on well enough. Siren blood was a neurotoxin to humans—and not the fun kind like your venom, but a proper ‘kill you in an excruciatingly painful way’ kind.

“Uh-huh, got it.”

A couple drops on your left and a drop on your right had run down to your elbows, and you just managed to catch yourself so that they dripped into the sink and not onto your counter (or gods forbid, Renjun). Looking over to make sure he was watching, you stuck your left bicep under the stream of water first. The ocean blue scales that peeked through your skin shimmered in the kitchen lights directly above your head. Thankfully you hadn’t come anywhere close to nicking one of those. That would’ve actually hurt. Within a second of touching the water your skin had meshed itself back together. You turned your arm to rinse off the blood, then brought it back out to show that there was no scar left. Doing the same with the other, it healed just as quick, no mark left behind to indicate that anything had ever happened.

“Yep…” Renjun breathed out as you grabbed a hand towel and went to dry off your arms. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that.”

“How many does that make?” You giggled.

“What?”

“How many creatures have you seen magically heal themselves? What number am I?”

“You make me sound so…”

“Like a common MCS whore?”

“I was going to say clinical, but damn, tell me how you really feel, Y/N.”

Both of you laughed, and you put the hand towel back.

“You’re the first siren,” Renjun answered your question genuinely anyway.

You hummed as you mulled this over. “I’ll take it.”

He made a dramatic motion of wiping sweat off his forehead, and you reached forward to smack his forearm. You two laughed again.

After a bout of comfortable silence, your eyes settled on him again, still thinking about exactly how you’d accidentally stabbed yourself in the first place.

“I forgive you, by the way,” you said. “I don’t think I said that.”

“You didn’t.” He nodded. “Thank you.”

“You really mean all that? You think I’ll—we’ll be okay? Sirens?”

“Of course I mean it. Or I wouldn’t have said it. It’s the most scientifically plausible. I did take that Magical Conservation class seriously, you know. I know it couldn’t have meant the same thing for me as it means to you, but I did my final paper on siren conservation projects in the Arctic. The progress that’s being made there is incredible. I-I don’t want to tell you about your own species’ problems, obviously, but—”

“I did mine on siren conservation in the tropics.” You let out a dry chuckle at the flawless symbiosis. “You can tell me about your paper sometime, Renjun.”

“And I’d love to hear about siren conservation in the tropics.”

“Ah, ‘a meeting of the minds.’” You did your best impression of Dr. Li, thinning your voice out to sound like an elderly man, which garnered a smile from Renjun. “Isn’t this what our professors always wanted?”

“Uh-oh. We’re giving them exactly what they want.” He shook his head ruefully. “Quick, you need to start yelling at me about something.”

“Well you need to say something obnoxious first.”

Another gentle lull in the conversation, and you watched as Renjun looked around your apartment a lot more carefully than when you two had first entered. Your destination then had been solely the conspiracy wall, but now he seemed to be really taking it in.

“So why don’t you have like… a fish tank or something?” He asked.

“Because that would be cruel! Imagine if someone kept you in a 2-foot by 2-foot box!” You jabbed a finger into his chest accusatorily.

He held his hands up in surrender. “You’re right. That was a stupid question.”

“I’m glad you said it, because I was about to.”

“So why don’t you reply? To the posts.” Renjun asked curiously, back to trolling the message boards for new Dr. Magic posts. You two were holed up in your second floor study room again. “You’ve been tracking Dr. Magic so closely, you’re getting to these posts before they do, and you can help all these students, too. So why don’t you just reply instead?”

Yours and Renjun’s search for Dr. Magic had been going on for a month now, and he’d been proving himself useful. He’d finally convinced you to rule out Dr. Li as a suspect when he found a message board post made from a school computer while Dr. Li was away at a conference giving a presentation. Confirmed to be done at the exact same time. So you’d found another wrong person, but you still didn’t feel any closer to the right person. The remaining people felt like they were going to turn out to be dead ends, and there was nobody good to rule in either.

Spring break was coming up in a few weeks, which meant that commencement preparations would be starting, which meant that the colleges would be announcing who would be chosen to carry their banners, which meant the actual students who were going to be chosen would be told at least a week or two ahead of time. Every time you thought about that you wanted to bite something. Maybe there was some ancestral link between sirens and werewolves. Another paper waiting to be written.

“They don’t want me. They want Dr. Magic.” You told Renjun, hating the irritable edge in your voice when you addressed him. You weren’t upset with him, you were just anxious in general. He didn’t deserve to have you take it out on him.

“Right. Sorry…”

“No, Renjun, I’m sorry,” you sighed, taking the wood pencil out of your mouth that you had been gnawing on. “I just want to get this Dr. Magic stuff over with before midterms because you and I are both going to get super busy studying for midterms, and then no matter which one of us gets picked to carry the banner, that’s going to suck up a lot of time preparing for commencement too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you though, sorry.”

He offered you a small smile. “It’s okay, I get it. It’s another deadline. But it’s a group project, remember? We’ve got this, Y/N.”

You nodded. “Yeah, I know. Just feeling the pressure. I’m going to get something from the vending machine. You coming?”

“No, I’ll keep chugging along.”

“Okay. You want anything?”

“Nah. Thanks, though.”

“Alright,” you nodded, standing up and rolling your neck out. “I’m going to stretch my legs while I’m up, so I’ll be a few.”

“I won’t sound the alarm then.” He gave you a two-fingered salute as you headed to the door.

You meandered around the second floor, taking your sweet time to get to the stairs. There was a vending machine on the second floor, but it had a limited selection. The good snacks were all in the vending machines on the first floor, by the collaboration zones. Your back cracked all on its own as you plodded down the steps, and you let quiet groans with each one, until you finally landed on the first floor. There was a noticeable hum to the first floor, which only increased as you neared the two-thirds of the floor that was taken up by the collaboration zones. The vending machines were on the boundary of the bookshelves and the open spaces filled with tables and TV monitors and so many students.

Stopping in front of the drinks machine first, you mused over the options for a moment. Picking out your preferred seaweed-infused iced tea—an option you only saw sirens and the really hardcore human health-nuts drink—you then sidestepped to the snacks. It took you just a second to select a pack of mini peanut butter sandwich cookies. Neither peanut butter nor peanuts themselves were in the regular diet of a siren, but Renjun sometimes had the cookies on him for one of his werewolf friends and you’d picked up a taste for them. You would’ve never considered even trying them before hanging out with Renjun. Being an MCS major, you didn’t like to admit it, but your social circle wasn’t very diverse species-wise. You had your siren pod, and you were very happy sticking with them, thank you. Renjun, meanwhile, seemed to be best friends or friendly acquaintances with everything except a wyvern. You knew plenty about other species, after all, you excelled in class. But practical experience, you were finding you seemed to be lacking in. Maybe you should start your own Renjun-esque bucket list. Something to consider after finding Dr. Magic.

Taking a step back over to the drinks machine, you made the split-second decision to get Renjun’s favorite non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic drink. Honeydew melon soda. He had already said that you didn’t need to get him anything, but you wanted to.

“Hey, Y/N!” A cheerful voice greeted you, and you spun around, your two drinks and bag of sandwich cookies in hand.

You already knew who it was going to be, smiling at the familiar face of Ten. He was not only another siren, but specifically a siren from your pod, ocean blue scales and golden eyes matching your own. You threw your arms around his neck to give him a hug. “Ten! Ah, hey!”

“Are those… peanut butter?” He looked at the snack in your hand suspiciously.

“Uh, human study buddy,” you brushed off his concerns nonchalantly.

“Right, gotcha.”

The two of you usually hung out a lot—about as much as you and Renjun were together now, you figured—but since your spare time had been taken up with putting the search for Dr. Magic on full throttle, you were blanking on the last time you’d seen him. The beginning of the semester. Oh shit, you felt so guilty now.

The apology immediately started spilling out of your mouth, “Gods, I am so sorry we haven’t hung out, I wish I could say it was classes, or even research or something, but I’ve got this project. I can’t even really explain it without sounding crazy but—”

“Woah, Y/N, it’s okay,” Ten reassured you with a laugh, the same bright smile on his face as always. “I know how you get when you get really into one of your projects. Just let me know when you’ve finished it, and we can hang. Or if you ever need a break from it, too. It’s fine. If you weren’t a little crazy and obsessive, I wouldn’t be able to recognize you.”

He ruffled your hair with a snicker for good measure, and with your hands full of food, you couldn’t fight back, just huff and try to duck out of the way. But he was genuine about his sentiments, which really did make you feel better.

“Thanks, Ten. I’ll get in touch soon, I promise. I think I’m almost done!” You told him proudly.

“Soon in normal person time or soon in Y/N time?”

“Me time…”

“That’s what I thought. I’ll see you in six months then.”

“I’m not that bad!”

“Remember when I wondered aloud if sirens at the North and South poles were related, and you ended up spending our entire winter break researching that?”

“It only took four weeks!”

“You said it would be a quick search.”

“Exactly! People will dedicate their entire lives to that kind of research! I vastly condensed it!”

He shook his head fondly at the memory, elbowing you gently. “Get back to your project so you can finish early again and we can hang out soon, okay? And scoot, I’m trying to use the vending machine. You’re always in my way, I swear.”

You playfully pretended to block him, laughing as he nudged you out of the way with his shoulder. Starting back off towards the stairs, you turned around to give a cheery, “See you, Ten!”

“Bye, Y/N!” He waved to you with one hand, punching in the vending machine code with the other.

In better spirits having seen your friend, you traipsed up the stairs with extra pep in your step. Except Renjun wasn’t in your study room. Huh. Well, nothing in the rules saying a guy can’t take a bathroom break.

Setting his melon soda down next to his laptop, you plopped back down in your chair and kicked your feet up on the table. You ripped open your peanut butter sandwich cookies and cracked open your tea. The cookies were sweet, and while you didn’t have any oceanic reference for what peanut butter tasted like (you were told that “nutty” was a flavor profile unto itself, which wasn’t very helpful), you had decided that you liked it.

Waking your laptop back up, you saw that you had a new email, and shot up in your seat when you saw the subject.

dr_magic2303 replied to a post.

8 minutes ago.

Holy fucking shit, 8 minutes ago. While you were in the library? They could still be there. You looked around frantically. Where the fuck was Renjun when you needed him? Shooting to your feet, you snatched your phone from the table and rushed to throw the door open. Into Renjun’s face.

He stumbled back, holding his face as he let out a string of curses.

“Shit! Sorry, Junnie!” You didn’t sound all too sorry as you bounced on your feet, antsy to get a move on with your search. “No time for an ice pack though. Dr. Magic just replied to that dragon post we had bookmarked eight minutes ago. Which means that they’re probably still in the library! We need to go look for them right now!”

You took off in the direction of the desktop computers on this floor, keeping your voice at a fervent whisper-yell. The second floor computers were their favorite, according to the IPs.

“I know!” Renjun hurried after you, still clutching his nose. “I saw the email, and I tried to call you, but you left your phone in the study room.”

Checking your phone, you did in fact have a missed call from Renjun from 6 minutes ago. Well shit.

“So I went to go get you, but you weren’t at the vending machines, so I came back up to the study room and then nearly got my nose broken.”

You looked over your shoulder at him with wide eyes. “You went to get me? Not look for Dr. Magic on the freshest lead we’ve ever had? When they were quite possibly around the corner?”

The two of you had arrived at the desktops, and there was nobody in sight. One was awake, on the account login screen, the other two asleep on the ancient screensavers. You let out a heavy sigh, looking over at Renjun.

“I went to get you because this is your thing, not mine. I don’t know, I’d figured you’d want the satisfaction of taking the mask off them.”

You nodded. “Thanks, Junnie. Next time, though, just get them.”

“And how about you keep your phone on you?”

“So we both fucked it up.”

He gave you a one-shouldered shrug. “There’s still three more floors, Y/N.”

“Right, come on. You take the first, I’ll go up to the fourth since I smacked you with the door.”

The other floors were busts, and when you finally met back up with Renjun in your study room, you were glad to have your cold bottle of tea waiting for you. Knocking back a third of it in one go, you let out a noise of relief. Renjun had already opened the soda you’d gotten him.

“Thanks, by the way.” He held it up gratefully before taking a sip.

“You’re welcome.”

“And, I’m sorry. That I let Dr. Magic get away.”

“We don’t even know what floor they were posting from yet. They’ve could’ve been on the fourth floor and would’ve been gone by the time you got there anyway.” You brushed away his apologies. “Or they could’ve been on the second and been a psycho and you would’ve been a poor defenseless human all by yourself.”

“Oh, right, without my big strong siren to protect me.” He scoffed. “Woe is me.”

“Exactly,” you laughed, shutting your laptop. “Anyway, I’ll take a look at the IP later. Who knows, they might not have even been in the library. Might’ve been one of those rogue VPN posts.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He looked over you packing up your things. “You heading out?”

You nodded, zipping up your bag and tossing it onto your shoulder. “Prior arrangements. Sorry to cut this short, completely forgot about it when we agreed to meet up.”

“You’re so popular.”

“I know!” You mimicked his sarcastic tone, holding the door open with your foot as you stopped in the threshold. “Oh, hey— the midterm in MCS Linguistics. It’s my only one this semester, I’ve just got papers in all my other classes. Do you want to study together for that?”

“Yeah, sure, sure.”

“First session Saturday? My place for lunch?”

Renjun grimaced, presumably remembering your typical stock of pantry items tailored to a siren’s food preference. “I’ll pack a lunch.”

“Cool. See you in class, Junnie!” You waved to him cheerily as you took off for the faculty advisor meeting with Dr. Kwon that you were going to need to run across campus to be on time for.

“What is it?” Renjun set his book down where he was sat across your coffee table from you, an inquisitive eyebrow quirked up at you.

“What? Nothing.” You bit down on your lip, eyes boring holes into your computer screen.

“No, it’s not ‘nothing.’ You’ve been staring at me ever since I got here, while also refusing to make eye contact with me. What? Something in my teeth? My hair look bad?”

Normally that would’ve made you chuckle—he was wearing a backwards baseball cap again today—but you just bit down harder on your lip and shook your head.

“Now you’re refusing to talk?” He scoffed. “Did you get hexed or something? I can’t believe you’re refusing to talk.”

“No, I can talk,” you insisted. “What uh, what’d you get for number four? On the review packet?”

“Don’t tell me you’re still stuck on number four. Y/N, I’m almost done, and there’s twenty-five questions on this.”

“I’m not, I finished and went back, it was just one that I didn’t—”

But Renjun had grabbed your computer and turned the screen around, and you knew he could see that you had only done the first one. You buried your face in your hands, your skin prickling uncomfortably with shame. Your friend’s sigh was audible, but surprisingly, the next thing said wasn’t a string of derision. Instead, you heard the shuffle of clothes against your rug, and then he was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and knee-to-knee with you.

“Y/N, what’s going on with you today? Or, not today, the past couple days? You weren’t all there in class yesterday either. I left it alone then because it was Dr. Hyun, and nobody is ever all there for her classes but— what’s wrong?”

You slowly shook your head.

“You can’t tell me?”

You nodded.

“Okay. Is it bad? Like, dangerous?”

You shook your head.

“Alright, that’s good.” The relief was audible in his voice. “Is it family? Or, pod?”

You shook your head.

“School?”

You nodded.

“Alright, yeah. A lot going on. Is it like burn out?”

You shook your head.

“So, new stuff?”

You nodded.

He put an arm around your shoulders. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I know you already had a lot. Getting this midterm over with will be one more thing off your checklist, right? That’ll open a spot for this new thing.”

With a sniffle, you nodded.

“Ah, but you’re not going to be any good studying like this.” He sighed again, dropping his arm from around your shoulders and his presence shifted away from your side. “Come on, quick field trip. Then we’ll come right back to the MCS Linguistics grind. Sound good?”

You finally took your hands from your face to look up. Renjun was standing right next to you, offering you a hand. You tentatively put yours in his, and he tightened his grip to pull you up to your feet.

The two of you ended up in a froyo shop down the street from your apartment. You gleefully picked a gummy shark off the top of your swirl, biting the head off first before tossing the rest in your mouth. Renjun lifted a meticulously curated spoonful of froyo and toppings to his mouth, satisfaction on his face as he tasted his perfect bite. You watched in amusement as he went to start creating his next scoop that had the precise ratio of yogurt and every single topping he had chosen—each partitioned to their own area atop the froyo. You decided to save your second big gummy shark for last, and took a big spoonful from the melting edge of your froyo.

“Why not me?” Renjun asked abruptly, his gaze still on the dessert in front of him.

“Huh?” Your jaw dropped. How could he have known what—

“You haven’t asked me if I’m Dr. Magic. Why not?”

Ah, Dr. Magic. Of course.

“You were my first guess, and the first person I ruled out back in like September,” you admitted with a shrug.

His head snapped up at that. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re such an arrogant, neurotic overachiever that you’d want credit if you did all this. You wouldn’t use an alias.”

“Oh. Huh.” Renjun looked between you and his froyo, a sheepish smile coming to his face. “Strangely, that makes me feel better.”

You watched a dollop of froyo fall off your spoon and plop back into your cup. “And I nabbed your IP address off your laptop the first time we hung out in January and double-checked it with every Dr. Magic post. Just in case.”

“When I was in the bathroom?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Of course you did.”

“Were you taking it as an insult to your intelligence that I had apparently not considered you as an option?”

“Maybe…”

You laughed, and laughed, and laughed. You laughed so hard your sides hurt, there were tears in your eyes, and you genuinely started wheezing. Renjun pretended to roll his eyes, but you saw the smile on his face and knew what he was thinking: success, no more mopey siren.

Once you had enough air back in your lungs to talk, you pointed your spoon at him firmly. “See? Just proving my point. You want people to know you’re smart.”

He crossed his arms. “As if you don’t.”

“Oh, I definitely do. But I know I’m like that.” You put a hand over your chest, looking him dead in the eye. “Do you?”

With your head screwed back on the normal amount, you and Renjun were able to dive back into your study session at your apartment. Several hours into it, though, you noticed Renjun blinking like way too much and constantly rubbing at his eyes. It was to the point where it was distracting for you.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” You asked bluntly.

That immediately burst the Renjun griping dam (which was really held together with tape and prayers anyway). “The screens hurt my eyes and human blue light glasses don’t do shit and no fairy has let me try theirs out. I know I should probably just take the plunge and buy them but I really can’t justify the price and—”

“Try mine.” You stood up, walking over to a display shelf on the other side of the living room.

“You have a pair? Why? Sirens don’t—”

“You collect magical experiences. I collect magical things.” You said nonchalantly, grabbing the pair of silver frames from where they sat between a phoenix feather (a gift) and a small wristwatch that would tell the correct time until it was put on, then it would be set on the time and date most significant to the wearer in that moment until it was removed. Walking back over to him, you held them out to him insistently, “Here, try them.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Renjun gingerly took them, sliding the arms over his ears and the frames onto the bridge of his nose. The pair you had was a little older, admittedly. You’d picked them up at a novelty shop, so they had some retro charm to them. An older style of frame, thicker lenses. But you thought it added a quaintness to their look. Especially on Renjun, he just looked downright adorable in them.

You sat back down to watch with your head in your hand as his brown eyes blinked from behind the thick lenses, and he looked around your living room like a newborn woodland animal. His face had already relaxed, and he turned his focus down to his laptop screen next, messing with the brightness up, then down. After that, he took out his phone, doing the same with that device.

“Well?” You prompted him, though you truly would’ve been content with watching him look around as if he’d been born colorblind and it were his first time seeing in color. Which, you had an enchanted pair for that too, but he wasn’t colorblind to your knowledge.

The human looked at you, a giddy smile stretching across his face. “They’re perfect! Thanks, Y/N!”

His hand reached up to take them off, but you stopped him.

“Keep them—”

“No, these had to be so expensive!” He protested immediately.

“Just for a week or so,” you finished your sentence pointedly. He was cute, but not that cute. “Make sure you really like them before you buy, okay? If you end up hating them, give them back. If you like them and buy your own pair, you can give them back whenever yours arrive in the mail.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s not like I’m using them. Superior siren eyesight.” You tapped next to one of your eyes for emphasis.

“Thanks for not rubbing it in or anything.”

Scrambling to dial Renjun’s number, you put your phone on speaker as you fervently flicked through all of your Dr. Magic notes. You’d been laying in bed binging some mindless baking competition to numb your brain from all the studying you’d been doing when an email notification had popped up alerting you to a new Dr. Magic post.

“Y/N?” Renjun answered the phone, sounding utterly confused. “What’s—”

“New Dr. Magic post. I ran the IP and they’re in our city!” You blurted out.

“Okay… Well we already knew that, right?”

“Yeah, but this is an IP in our city that they posted from at midnight on a Saturday. Not any of the school computers.” You hit CTRL + F, typing in the string of numbers to quickly cross reference it with your extensive list. “This could be their IP. Like, their actual one, from a personal computer.”

“Oh, yeah. Could be.”

“Can you give me a little more enthusiasm here, Junnie? Did I wake you up or something? It’s only—” You stopped like you’d just walked face-first into a brick wall, eyes locked on the search result.

“Yeah, only quarter after midnight,” he scoffed.

You clicked the next arrow on the search bar, but that was the only match. 1/1 results.

“Y/N?” Renjun called for your attention. “You there?”

You hung up.

Not wanting to lose your nerve, you pressed the doorbell over and over insistently. You could hear the complaining tone of the occupant before his words were even audible.

“Christ, I have neighbors, you know?” Renjun swung open the door with a scowl. The human was in a big, slouching hoodie and pajama pants. His hair was stuck up in a couple different directions, making you think he might’ve just woken up. Except behind him, you could see that his kitchen light was on, and a couple books and his laptop were open on his kitchen table. Late night studying. And the fact that you’d just talked to him on the phone fifteen minutes ago.

“Can I come in?” You requested, fidgeting with the sleeve of your cardigan.

His face immediately softened. “Yeah, of course.”

“Sorry to just show up like this,” you said as you took off your shoes by the front door before following him further into his apartment.

“It’s okay.” He stopped you two in the kitchen, picking up a colorful, patterned cardboard box. “Uh, I was just about to make a midnight snack. Pizza bites, you want some?”

“I… don’t think I’ve ever had them.”

“Perfect, you can try one now then.”

“Mm,” you made a non-committal noise, leaning against his kitchen counter to watch him pour out the frozen food onto a baking sheet.

The oven beeped, and he put the tray in before pressing a couple more buttons.

“So, I was thinking about the Dr. Magic stuff. Not the IP stuff but like… What even is your plan for when you do find Dr. Magic?” Renjun asked as he put the remaining pizza bites in his freezer.

“What do you mean?”

He leaned against the countertop across from you, though in the narrow space of his kitchen, you were practically knee-to-knee. “Like, say we finally find out who they are, we run up to them in the library or on campus or something. Then what? What are you going to do? What are you going to say? You’ve done all this, and I know why you had to. I get it. But, do you know what you’re going to say to them?”

“Probably something along the lines of…” You trailed off, giving an exasperated sigh. Dropping your chin to your chest, you groaned, “Gods, I don’t know.”

“Hey, that’s why you got me. So you can bounce ideas off someone, do a dry run.”

“I thought the words would just come to me, and now that I’m trying, I can’t—”

“It’s fine, Y/N. Let’s think about why you did this. I know it’s really hard to put into words. I mean, I know why you did. I get it. It’s that need to know. Not because you can, but because you have to, right? It’s curiosity in its rawest form. So obviously it’s not going to be some schmaltzy ‘haha I caught you’ spiel or anything.”

Looking up from the kitchen tile to Renjun’s eager features, you shook your head in disbelief. “You’re still helping me… when I know it’s you, Junnie.”

He tilted his head to the side, a comical noise of confusion coming from his mouth, “Uh?”

“I know it’s you, and you know that I know that it’s you.”

“You already ruled me out, because I’m an arrogant—”

“Junnie, you made a post on the forums from your laptop. No VPN. When you knew I was still tracking Dr. Magic’s IP on every post they made, and that I had your IP. That’s not a whoopsie that you make unless you want to be caught.”

The human crossed his arms over his chest, but otherwise seemed entirely calm about being caught. “And you didn’t come in here guns blazing now that you’d caught me, either. Why?”

“I didn’t know how to say it. I mean, you’re right, I only did all this because I needed to know.”

“And now you know.”

“Why now? Why just give up now?” You asked with a shake of your head. “You started posting as Dr. Magic back in August, and I came to you in January. You knew everything I was doing; you could have cruised through the rest of the semester and I’d have never caught you.”

“You wanted to find out who it was by midterms. One less thing on your plate.”

“And now I know…”

“So how does it feel? Finally catching Dr. Magic?”

You wrinkled your nose and sighed, “Bit disappointing. I was right on my first guess.”

“And you immediately dismissed me out of hand for being an arrogant, neurotic overachiever on your first guess,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but I didn’t really know you then. If I’d known you then like I know you now, I would’ve known as soon as I saw the first post.”

Renjun batted his eyes teasingly. “Aww, Y/N…”

“Doctor underscore magic two, three, zero, three? Twenty-three, oh-three? That’s your birthday, Junnie,” you deadpanned.

“Right.”

Pushing off the counter to stand up straight again, you said, “Anyway, you did help me find Dr. Magic. So, my turn.”

“Oh, no, you seriously don’t have to do that. I rigged the deal—”

“Yeah, about that.” You took a step forward. “How did you think that was going to end up for you, anyway? Were you going to sell somebody else out as Dr. Magic and hope I wasn’t going to talk to them? Spit in your mouth first and ask questions later?”

“I was thinking on my feet.”

“Maybe think laying down next time, Junnie.”

“Ouch.”

“Anyway, come on, you’ll want to sit down for this.” You grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the living room.

“You don’t need to feel like you have to do this,” he reassured you.

Stopping the two of you in front of the couch, you turned to face him with a smirk. “Believe me when I say that it is going to be a treat unto itself for me to see you under the effects of siren venom. M’kay?”

Renjun’s surprise was evident on his face. “Oh.”

You stepped closer to him, delicately placing a hand on his chest. “Now unless you want me to literally spit in your mouth, I’m going to have to kiss you, to administer the venom.”

His eyes flicked between the hand you had on his chest and your face as he replied. “I’m okay with that—the kissing—if you are.”

“Renjun, I’ve been ready to eat you alive since you said the words ‘I want to experience siren venom for science’ to me.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. So why don’t you sit?” You guided him with the hand against his chest to sit back against his couch. Swinging one leg over his hips, then the other, you lowered yourself onto his lap. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, tentatively settling his hands on your thighs. “Is this okay?”

“More than.” You smiled, looping your arms around his neck. “Now, a couple things, before we get started.”

“We haven’t started?”

“You’ll know it when we do.”

“Right.”

“I know you think you know what siren venom is like, but whatever scientific articles you’ve read, or documentaries you’ve watched, or slides you’ve studied under microscopes in lab, cannot actually prepare you for what it’s like. Which, I imagine is why you want to experience it for yourself.” You smirked down at him as you watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down with a gulp. “So before I actually dose you up with it, I need you to tell me what you’re actually okay with doing and what you’re not. Because once you get my venom in you, you’re going to want to let me do anything and everything to you, up to and including kill you, remember?”

“Well that’s off the table.”

“Good to know,” you snorted, running a fingernail down the nape of his neck. You felt a shudder go through him. “Is this okay?”

“Y-Yeah.” He seemed to be fighting to keep his eyes open. You halted your motions to let him think, and watched in amusement as he blinked his mind clear.

Once enough time had passed, you prompted him, “So?”

“I think just kissing,” Renjun answered. “Like, making out, or whatever. If you want…”

You snickered. “What part of ‘eat you alive’ was I unclear about?”

“The ‘eat’ part, actually. How literal is that?”

“Guess you’ll find out,” you teased. Then, you focused again as you sat back a little. “Okay, making out. Making out means different things to different people. So… we know kissing’s on the table. Tongue?”

“Yeah.”

“Teeth?”

“Where?”

“Waist up. You got somewhere you don’t want them?”

He took a moment to think about this. Then shook his head. “No. You can use them. Anywhere.”

“Same goes for you. Hickies?”

“Giving or receiving?”

“Both. You first.”

“Both are okay. You?”

You were already zeroing in on his neck and a small part of his collarbone peeking out from under his hoodie. “Same. Touching over clothes?”

“Okay, as long as you don’t think it’ll be too much with the venom…”

“Oh, Junnie, everything is going to be too much.” You grinned down at him.

His breathing had picked up pace as the two of you were talking. “You? The touching?”

“Good. Great. Touching under clothes?”

Renjun squirmed underneath you, but maintained your eye contact. “Just under my shirt.”

“Smart boy,” you said approvingly. “Me too.”

“Is that it?” He asked quietly, eyes now flicking down to your lips.

“I think so…” You looked around the room to buy a couple extra seconds of thinking time. When you hadn’t come up with anything else, you looked down at the human below you once more. “Ready, Renjun?”

“Yes.”

You took one final look over him like this, how much he already wanted you before he’d even gotten any of your venom in him, and dragged the tip of your tongue over your bottom lip instinctually. His heartrate jumped, and you wondered if it was fear—if the motion had reminded him perhaps of a hungry predator—or need. Or maybe a bit of both.

But you couldn’t tease him nor yourself any longer, swooping down to connect your mouths. You started off with just a couple light, closed-mouth kisses, to ease him into it. You heard him inhale quickly through his nose, his grip on your thighs tightening minutely. Swiping your tongue across the seal of his lips, you were delighted when he immediately parted his mouth in response, his tongue seeking yours out. You hummed contentedly into his mouth as you started stroking a fingernail down the back of his neck again. At the same time, your venom was beginning to mix in with your saliva, being passed onto Renjun.

Once his jaw started going slack in the kiss, and his hands slowly slid off your legs entirely to rest lamely at his side, you deemed him plenty dosed up. Consciously, you blocked off your venom glands once more. When one particularly drawn-out scratch down the back of his neck finally elicited a noise from him, an involuntary whine, you felt something in you snap. You needed more of that.

“So this is what siren venom feels like…” He mumbled breathily, letting his head loll back against the couch cushion as you kissed a path down his jawline and neck. When you felt his breath hitch in his throat over one particular spot, you decided to take your time there, sucking and nipping a mark into his skin.

When humans were… locked in a lover’s embrace, they let off a certain perfume distinguishable only to sirens—which was what made them the favored prey of sirens for so long. A human under the influence of siren venom? Delectable. And every human’s was unique too, so Renjun under the influence of your venom? Absolutely addictive.

With each kiss you stole from his lips, every nip you left on his neck that you then soothed over with your tongue, you got another taste of it. A sweetness that came with a bite, like ginger candy.

Renjun was still talking, though, his vocal cords vibrating under your lips. “My-My heart’s beating so fast, and I’m so warm—that’s so the ocean water doesn’t feel cold, of course—”

“Would you shut up?” You sat back up, grabbing him by the hair.

“Why?”

“I’m trying to kiss you again, idiot.”

“Oh. Right.” He closed his mouth, looking up at you with glassy eyes, waiting. Gods, he was so pretty like this.

You crashed your lips back on his, a mess of teeth and lips and tongue as he tried to keep up with you. But you knew that your venom was in full effect now, every single one of his nerve endings was approximately three and half times more sensitive. So you were sure it was all a little overwhelming. But he was definitely trying his best, kissing sloppily into your mouth with hungry, desperate whines.

Pulling him back off with your grip in his hair, you traced a thumb over his kiss-swollen bottom lip, cooing over how fucked-out he looked like this. “Oh, baby. Oh, poor Junnie. What’s wrong? Can’t even kiss me properly because it feels too good? Baby’s overwhelmed with just a little bit of kissing?”

He opened his mouth wider, darting the tip of his tongue out to brush against the pad of your thumb. You pushed the finger in his mouth, groaning as he immediately closed his lips around it. “Gods, you’re perfect, Junnie.”

Taking your thumb back out of his mouth just to grab his chin with the same wet digit, you attacked his lips with yours again. Ginger candy. His hands that had been lamely resting at his sides the entire time now fumbled at something in the area where your hips met.

“What? What are you trying to do, baby?” You asked, leaning back to look down. He was grabbing at the hem of his hoodie, unsuccessfully yanking it up towards his head as part of it was stuck under one of your thighs.

“‘m too hot. Please…” He panted, dropping it as he looked up at you pleadingly.

You nodded slowly in understanding, knowing that one of the effects of the siren venom was an increase in body temperature, not to mention what you two were just doing. The collar of another shirt was visible underneath the sweatshirt. “Okay, Junnie, we can take your hoodie off. But only the hoodie. Your other clothes are staying on, understood?”

He nodded quickly, hips bucking up against you. Sweat was beading up on his forehead, his hair getting stuck to the damp skin. You shifted back on his lap so that none of the sweatshirt was under you anymore, grabbing the hem and reaching behind him to yank up from underneath him as well.

“Sit forward for me, baby?” You requested in his ear sweetly.

Renjun obliged as best he could, leaning forward to get his back and shoulders off the couch. You pulled the hoodie up over his head, tossing it off to the side, leaving him in a black t-shirt that certainly couldn’t be helping much either. But having that heavy layer off seemed to provide some relief for him, as he let out a sigh, falling back against the furniture again.

You giggled as you settled back into the crux of his lap again, lacing your fingers together behind his neck. “Is that better now, Junnie?”

He shook his head, and you arched an eyebrow curiously.

“Oh? What’s wrong, then?”

Renjun tugged gently at your cardigan where it had shrugged down to show one of your shoulders. “Please?”

Pulling your bottom lip in between your teeth, you thought this over. You had a tank top on under the cardigan, and both of you were still wearing everything else. Not to mention that you were starting to get a bit warm too. Sirens ran naturally cooler than humans, so you were sure that to him, you felt practically refreshing right now, but you honestly were a bit hot for a siren’s tastes.

Giving a contemplative hum first, you finally relented, “Alright, Junnie. But just my sweater. Everything else stays on, because we didn’t talk about that before the venom, do you understand?”

He rushed to strip you of the knit cardigan, his mouth following his hands’ path down your skin. First on your shoulder, then down your arm. You let the garment drop on the floor behind you as he kissed back up along your shoulder, then over the fabric of your tank top until he got to your collarbone, and finally the hollow of your throat. Fondly stroking the back of his head, the pleased purr that had started in your chest turned into a surprised moan when he licked a long stripe up your throat.

Holding his face in your hands so that your noses brushed, and your lips barely ghosted over each other, you let your breaths mingle in the meager space afforded. Renjun ended your little anticipation game quickly, kissing you tongue-first, and you kissed him back just as eagerly, sucking on his tongue with lewd, wet noises. He moaned into your mouth, his hands grabbing at your waist for purchase first, then slipping and curling into the material of your shirt, bunching it in his fists.

Slowing the pace of your kisses, you eventually sat back, appraising the state he was in. You affectionately ran a hand through his hair as you took in his blown pupils, kiss-swollen lips, and pink cheeks. “Junnie? How are you feeling? Need a break?”

You hadn’t given him another dose of venom since the initial one, which wasn’t very large to begin with. But this was his first time experiencing it, so you wanted to check in. He should be just past the peak of it by now, starting to come down but for all intents and purposes still very much intoxicated. Siren venom wasn’t meant to last very long, after all, it took an adult human less than a minute to drown.

“Need you…” He insisted, arching up towards you.

Indulging him in one, two more feverish kisses, you pulled away once again. “I know, baby. And you’ve been doing so good for me. So I need you to tell me if you need a break. Okay?”

“’kay.” He agreed before you sealed your mouth over his again.

Kissing down from his mouth to just under his jaw, at the same time you trailed a finger down the center of his front until it got to the hem of his t-shirt.

He nodded fervently before you could say or do anything more. “Please… please…”

“Shh, shh, shh,” you quieted him down gently. “Doing so good for me, Junnie. The best.”

You slipped your hands under his shirt, just to stroke his waist. His muscles tensed under your touch, and he let out a sound of satisfaction. He grabbed at your thighs again, but you couldn’t tell if it was an attempt at reciprocity or to have something sturdier to ground himself to than your flimsy tank top. The corner of your lips quirked up as you pressed a couple more kisses down his neck to hover your lips over his pulse point, content to start a new mark there as your hands continued to explore under his shirt. It was when you gently raked your nails down over his pecs that you got the loudest moan out of him yet, and you groaned in response.

“Gods, you’re perfect,” you nuzzled your nose into Renjun’s neck, then pressed a couple relatively chaste pecks to his cheek. “Just perfect…”

Taking your hands back out from his shirt, you silenced his whine at the loss of contact by slotting your lips together once more. You cupped his face with one hand, using the other to take one of his hands off your leg and lace them together, palm to palm. This seemed to make him content once more, especially when you brought your connected hands up to the back of the couch, pinning his behind his head. He squirmed under you, letting out a familiar noise of pleasure into your mouth and squeezing your hand tightly.

You knew the venom was well and truly starting to wear off when Renjun began keeping pace with your slow, lazy kisses, his mouth not as sloppy but no less delightful as it moved in tandem with yours. The thumb of the remaining hand on your thigh started to stroke over your skin, and the hand that you were holding gave yours a gentle squeeze. You gave him one, two last lingering kisses, drinking in the dwindling taste of ginger candy while you could, Renjun matching you beat for beat.

Unlacing your fingers and dropping your hand from his face, you drew back from him. Before you could say anything, though, Renjun grabbed you by the back of the neck and pulled you in for one more kiss, sinking his teeth into your already tender, over-kissed bottom lip. You gasped into his mouth, which gave him the perfect opportunity to intertwine his tongue with yours again on his apparent mission to try to kiss the breath from you. A nigh impossible task for a human to do to a siren, but it definitely felt like he was succeeding. He was crushing his lips against yours so hard you were worried about him drawing blood—not because you would mind the pain, but for fear of his safety if he got a direct hit of your blood in his mouth.

In the back of your mind, you were desperately trying to remember if you had maybe accidentally opened your venom glands a second time later on, but just drew a blank. That wasn’t something you did unaware, it wasn’t automatic, it had to be done on purpose. Then, for a brief moment, you were worried about secondary wave syndrome—some humans break down siren venom in two phases instead of one, and the second one almost always kills them if they’re not brought to a human medical doctor for treatment—and you started running through the symptoms as well as the nearest human emergency rooms in your mind. Burst capillaries in the eyes, refusal of food and water, the hospital three blocks over should have an ER, right? But the kiss didn’t feel like when he’d been intoxicated on your venom before, this one felt deliberate, in control. He was in control. You let out a small moan at the thought, and Renjun’s lone hand on your thigh tightened in response.

Once he finally let you go, you both sat there in silence for a good few seconds, you still on his lap. You stared extra hard at the whites of his eyes. They looked normal. He seemed… normal.

It was rare for either of you to be speechless, much less the both of you.

“Well…” you broke the silence. “That was siren venom. You should drink some water. Stay right here, I’ll get it.”

You climbed off of him, heading into his kitchen. Looking at the oven, you were wondering how the timer hadn’t gone off in that entire time when you saw that it wasn’t on. The words ‘TIMER SET?’ were flashing on the screen at you, and the preheat hadn’t been started either. The pizza rolls had just been slowly defrosting on a pan in the cold oven. You couldn’t help but laugh, reaching into his fridge for his Brita filter then securing a couple cups from the cabinets.

Walking back into the living room, you handed the human his cup of water and remained standing as you took a sip of yours.

“You didn’t start the oven, for your pizza rolls,” you informed him quietly.

“Wh— oh, shit,” Renjun groaned, tipping his head back. “I guess I don’t get to give you your first pizza roll tonight.”

“That’s okay.” You dropped onto the couch next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

“So… that was siren venom,” he breathed out, then took a long gulp of his water. Definitely not second wave syndrome.

“That was siren venom,” you confirmed with a laugh, fondly brushing a piece of sweaty hair off his forehead.

“You were right… I was not prepared,” he admitted with a laugh, taking another drink.

“So do you think you would’ve let me kill you?”

“Yeah. I would’ve given you my credit card info, bank password, spilled all of my friends’ worst secrets, let you kill me, killed someone else if you asked me. God, that was…” He said with wide eyes, shaking his head. But there was a familiar glint in his eye as a smile cracked across his face, “Incredible.”

“Glad you think so,” you giggled, patting his chest. “Now don’t become a venom junkie, okay? I couldn’t live with myself if you did and it was my fault.”

“I won’t. Not really what I meant anyway.”

You grinned slyly at what he seemed to be implying, that it might not have just been the siren venom, but that it was you and your venom that made it so incredible. Like how every human had a slightly different essence, every siren had a unique chemical signature in their venom. It’s why using it non-consensually nowadays would be extremely stupid (as well as just an immoral thing to do and also a crime)—it can be matched to the siren in a lab like DNA. In addition, anecdotally, every siren’s venom was said to produce a slightly different high, but no mass studies had backed that up. You were inclined to believe the stories, though.

Renjun was still a bit hazy, though, still riding the high of the venom, so you decided to tuck a conversation like that away for another time.

“So why did you pick Magical Creatures Studies? Other than you’re insane?” You redirected the topic to a more neutral one.

Renjun didn’t seem put off at all about this jump. “When I was a kid, my family traveled around a bunch, for my dad’s job. I got to meet a lot of different kinds of beings, some of them became my best friends, and I never wanted to stop learning about it all.”

“What does your dad do?”

“Government job,” he answered, suddenly interested in picking at his nails.

You furrowed your brow thoughtfully. “Wait a minute… Huang Renjun. As in, your father is Ambassador Huang? That we’ve had to write papers on in class?”

Ambassador Huang was the first human ambassador sent on diplomacy trips to outside nations of magical creatures post-integration. His trips had largely been considered a monumental success, and credited as a big driver behind the huge uptick of immigration that your city has been seeing from outlying areas in the past couple decades. You’d hardly gotten through a single contemporary MCS class without directly learning about him or at least hearing his name. And you’d apparently been going to school with his son for four years and just pumped said son full of your venom and made out with him while he was high on your venom.

“Yeah…”

“Dude! What the hell? You didn’t think to mention that at some point?” You asked incredulously.

“And sound like some uppity nepo kid bragging about my dad? No thanks,” Renjun snorted.

“Yeah, maybe not like day one but like… I don’t know, before I used my venom on you!” You nudged his arm teasingly.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I just venom-ed Ambassador Huang’s son!”

“Oh my God, could you not call me that?” He snapped at you. “This is why I don’t tell people! Because now I don’t have a name anymore, I’m just Ambassador Huang’s son.”

You immediately realized your mistake, your stomach dropping as you heard the hurt in his words. “Renjun, I’m—”

“Just go.” He demanded, standing up from the couch and putting distance between you two again. “We both got what we wanted, right? You found out who Dr. Magic was, and I experienced siren venom. That’s all this was, so you can go. You don’t owe me anything else.”

You clenched your jaw, setting your cup on the end table beside the couch. Picking up your cardigan from the floor with as much dignity as you could, you pulled it back on. Neither of you said another word as he watched you stalk over to the front door, shove your shoes back on, throw the door open, and slam it closed behind you.

Drumming your fingertips along your keyboard, you squinted at the flashcards on your screen. You were in a sour mood, which had persisted ever since you’d left Renjun’s last night feeling used.

Ten was next to you at your picnic table outside the student union, finishing up a pencil portrait sketch of one of his other friends—one of the CompSci majors you’d paid to write your browser extension, actually. Dejun, a dragon, whose slit pupils, many bejeweled earrings, and a singular fang poking out from under his top lip featured prominently in the portrait. The sketch was part of Ten’s midterm portfolio check-in for one of his classes. Midterms were literally this week. Like, right now. You forced your sharp teeth further into the wooden pencil in your mouth.

“You’re going to ruin your cuspids like that, Y/N,” Ten chastised you calmly, rubbing at a line with the pad of his ring finger to smudge it before flipping his own non-mangled pencil around and continuing to sketch with the graphite.

“I’ll grow another set,” you grumbled, but took the writing utensil out of your mouth nevertheless.

“And have no teeth in the meantime. Real sexy siren stuff. Sure to lure all the hotties to their deaths looking like GamGam missing her dentures.”

“Shut up!” You shoved his head away, earning a loud peal of laughter from your friend. “As if you’ve been pulling anybody yourself. You’re literally a siren art major covered in tattoos that he designed himself, more piercings than a dragon, including nipple rings, and you haven’t been on a date in… what, almost a year?”

“So we’re both disappointments to the good siren name, huh?” He held up his hands in surrender, still grinning. “Just a couple of poor, celibate sirens doomed to be disgraces to their species forever…”

“Can you not yell that to the entire courtyard, dude?”

“What? Not announce very loudly that you haven’t been with anybody in exactly four—”

You lunged to cover his mouth before he could publicize precisely how long it’s been since you’d hooked up with someone. Ten immediately broke down into laughs behind your hand that was covering his mouth, his shoulders shaking even as you smacked him on the back of the head with your other hand.

“Gods, what is wrong with you?” You hissed at him. “You’re a menace to society. And me.”

When you’d finally let go of his face, he said through a couple more chuckles, “Hey, you could easily do it back to me.”

“Why would I want to do that? And the fact that you’re suggesting it makes me think that you want me to do that, which makes me want to do it even less. You freak.”

Before your podmate could respond, you caught sight of a figure approaching your table head-on. Setting your jaw, your body immediately tensed. There was no mistake, Huang Renjun was walking straight towards you. Ten seemed to have noticed the shift in your body language and mood, as he didn’t say anything further, quietly going back to his sketchbook as you watched Renjun get nearer and nearer.

“Y/N,” he said your name quietly, stopping not quite at the end of the table beside you, but next to the end of the bench across from you.

“What do you want from me now, Renjun?” You replied bitterly, pretending to return your hands to your keyboard as if you were going to refocus on your studies.

“Uhm, to talk, I guess?”

Ten interjected, “Do you guys need a second? I can go—”

You held him in place with a hand around his wrist, your voice curt, “No, Ten. Stay. This will be short.”

Your friend lowered himself back down into his seat.

You then set your hard gaze on Renjun. The marks you had left on his neck were still visible above the collar of his t-shirt. Moving your eyes from that to his face, you cocked your head to the side. “What’s in it for me? You established that our relationship is purely transactional, remember? We apparently just use each other. You scratch my back, I spit in your mouth, quid pro quo.”

“Okay, I’m going now,” Ten declared, wrenching his arm from your grasp to grab his sketchbook, pencils, and backpack before taking off.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I don’t see you like that at all, I just... I got defensive and snapped. It’s not an excuse, but still, I want you to know that I don’t mean anything I said. I’m sorry.” Renjun shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but you could see the genuine remorse on his features.

You breathed in, then out.

“I’m sorry too,” you sighed, letting your voice relax back to the natural softness that it held around Renjun. “You’re your own person, aside from just ‘Ambassador Huang’s son.’ I’m sorry for treating you like anything other than Renjun.”

“It’s not that I’m not super proud to be his son or anything, I think he’s really awesome. He was my hero growing up; still is. I mean, I’m going into the same field as him. Kind of. You know? It’s just because we’re going to be doing the same kind of thing, I want to be able to be looked at for what I do. Good or bad.”

“Bad? You plan on using your degree for evil, Renjun?” You teased, scooting over on the bench seat to take Ten’s previous spot and freeing up a place for Renjun to scoot in beside you.

“I could,” he played along, gladly taking the seat offered.

The two of you made eye contact, then burst into laughter at the same time.

“What?” He questioned in mock offense. “I think I’d make a great evil dictator, personally. You don’t think so?”

“Not at all, you’d be great at it.”

“Thank you. My friends don’t take my threats so seriously.”

“Which will ultimately be their downfall.”

Renjun looked back out at the campus in front of you two, his voice turning serious again, “But, seriously, I mean, I don’t want people having all these lofty expectations for me and then be disappointed when I don’t change the whole world, nor do I want them making things easy for me because they know my dad.”

“That’s fair. Unattainable, but fair to wish for,” you nodded in understanding.

“Ugh...” He slumped forward, dropping his head into his arms atop the table.

“Look, Renjun…” You rested one hand on his arm as the other rubbed up and down his back supportively. “You can’t change who your dad is, and you said it yourself, it’s not like you’re ashamed of him either. So don’t brag, and don’t be a dick when somebody brings him up either. Just do your best to show people who Huang Renjun is. And if they still don’t get it, that’s their loss. Because I already know him, and I think he’s pretty cool.”

Renjun sat back up to look you in the face with a skeptical eyebrow raised. “You’re such a cheeseball. Aren’t sirens supposed to be alluring and enchanting?”

“Shut up! I will drown you! See how alluring I am when you’re under a siren call,” you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I’m kidding.” He grinned at you, nudging your shoulder with his. “That really did make me feel better, thank you, Y/N.”

You smiled back. “You’re welcome, Renjun.”

The two of you kept smiling at each other for a moment before he broke the eye contact, looking down at his hands then shifting his gaze back to the courtyard.

“Uhm, while we’re airing stuff out about last night...” He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Yeah, Junnie?” You tilted your head to the side, watching as his cheeks started flushing.

“I don’t think I ever said thank you. I kind of popped off on you right after... everything. But thank you, for taking care of me before, during, and after. It didn’t even occur to me to talk about what we could and couldn’t do beforehand. Thank you for that, and for getting me the water. And... all of it in between...” His ears were bright red too at this point, but he managed to look you in the eye as he gave you his genuine gratitude.

You nodded in understanding. “You’re welcome. I’m glad that you felt cared for during all of it. In addition to, you know, everything else you felt.”

“Mm, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

Studying his face curiously, you said, “You look like you want to ask me something else.”

“Well, I feel like you still weren’t very clear on the ‘eat me alive’ thing.”

You rolled your eyes. “Gods, Junnie, I’m not going to actually eat you—”

“I mean...” Renjun took a deep breath. “I kind of always feel like I’ve got a little bit of siren venom in me when I’m around you, Y/N. My heart races, and my skin is warm, and everything is just better when I’m with you. I want to see you when you’re not around, and when things are hard for you, I want to make everything better. I like you, and between the Dr. Magic deal, and our stupid academic rivalry, and what we did last night, I don’t know what I am to you, but that’s how I feel.”

If someone had told freshman you that Huang Renjun would ever say words like that to you, you’d have laughed in their face to the point of tears— or slapped them. And yet, in that moment, you weren’t surprised in the slightest. It was the most natural, beautiful, delightful, perfect thing that could’ve happened. Just like you leaning over to give him a modest, near-demure kiss on the cheek, absolutely beaming at him as you pulled back.

“I like you too, Renjun,” you admitted.

His eyes went wide before a broad, tender smile spread across his features and he wrapped an arm around your shoulders. He let out a drawn-out sigh of relief, “Ohh, that’s one weight off my chest for this week.”

You laughed in agreement. “Me too. Actually makes everything feel lighter.”

“Yeah, it does,” he said, squeezing your shoulder. “So how much do I owe you?”

“What?”

“You said you were going to invoice Dr. Magic. For the browser extension, and the color copies, and whatever else. How much do I owe you?”

You tapped a finger against your chin, pretending to think before a smirk pulled across your lips. “Mm, should be exactly the price of one nice dinner and a movie.”

“Dinner and a movie? Just how many copies were you making?” He asked with a chuckle and a shake of his head.

“A nice dinner,” you reiterated. “I paid those CompSci majors fairly for their time.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Friday night after your last midterm, you were knocking on Huang Renjun’s door. The two of you had seen each other this week for your Linguistics in MCS class, but had been utterly locked into academic mode and hadn’t met up aside from that. So, per his invite, you were here in your “midterms best”— i.e., the pajamas you had been wearing at your own apartment since submitting your last mid-semester draft earlier today. You’d been told this wasn’t going to be a fancy affair.

Judging by the pajamas that Renjun had also answered the door wearing—giving you vivid déjà vu to the last time you were here—you were dressed appropriately for the occasion. He led you in by the hand, informing you there was something he wanted to show you in the kitchen.

You came to a stop in front of a plate piled high with small, pillow-shaped pieces of dough, some with bursts of red sauce leaking out of them. You couldn’t help but let out a sputtering laugh. “Pizza rolls? Did midterms scramble the egg on your face so bad that you missed the part where I said nice dinner?”

You might not have ever eaten pizza rolls, but you knew what section of the grocery store they came from.

“I can’t even tell what that was supposed to be… You’re so beautiful…” He was staring at you with a look of pure adoration, and surprised you by giving you a fleeting peck on the cheek, gone as soon as you’d realized what he was doing. Your hand instinctually came up to brush at your skin, almost in disbelief, as he went back to explaining his plans for tonight. “Anyway, I didn’t get to give you your first pizza roll the other night, and I figured that the last thing you actually wanted right after midterms week was to go out to some hoity toity place and be out at the movie theater really late, right? So, I’ve got pizza rolls, peanut butter cookies, your seaweed tea, and like way more snacks and candy and stuff. So we can chill and watch whatever movies you want tonight, unwind from midterms. And then next weekend, we’ll do your nice dinner and go to the movie theater. Think of it as an IOU.”

A fond smile tugged at the corner of your mouth as you nodded your approval. “Mmm… you’re right. This is great, Junnie. Thank you.”

Set up on Renjun’s couch with the assortment of snacks—pizza rolls included—and your first movie chosen, you settled in next to him, knee to knee, under the same blanket as the two of you ate. You decided that pizza rolls weren’t that bad (you still liked peanut butter sandwich cookies better), convinced Renjun to try some of your ocean flakes again—a favorite snack of sirens, which he’d already tasted on one occasion at a Dr. Magic hunting session and hated—to similar results, and finished off a bottle of seaweed-infused tea by the time the first movie was about a third of the way done. At this point, you were pretty satiated food-wise, and set your empty drink bottle on the coffee table to sit back on the couch.

Linking your arm with Renjun’s, you rested your head on his shoulder as he was still finishing up his plate of pizza rolls. “That was good, Renjun. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I call dibs on little spoon first, by the way.”

“Damn.”

Once he was done eating as well, you laid down to eagerly take your promised place as little spoon. Renjun stayed partially propped up against the arm of the couch so he could see the TV as you were nestled back against his chest, one of his arms slung over your waist. Your fingers played with his under the blanket absentmindedly as you got used to your new place, with him, in his arms.

“Renjun?” You said into the quiet. The only noises were coming from the TV. The movie was nearly done, just a couple little resolving scenes after the climax left. You’d seen it plenty of times before—both of you had, it was a favorite that you’d discovered you two shared earlier in the semester—which was why you’d picked it, an easy watch that you both liked. But nothing that required your full attention, so you could talk or miss scenes if you wanted.

“Yeah?” He responded just as softly.

“This is really nice. Hanging out, just us. No school, no Dr. Magic.”

“I know. Almost doesn’t feel real.”

“What? That we’re hanging out without trying to kill each other?”

He let out a couple laughs, catching your hand that had been playing with his under the blanket and lacing your fingers together. “I think there’s definitely some people that would be shocked to see us right now. But I meant more-so that we don’t have any schoolwork to do right now, and that the whole Dr. Magic thing is finally over. Other than the dinner that I owe you.”

“Oh… I owe you… I-O-U…” you sounded the words and letters out slowly. “I get it now.”

“God, you’re perfect,” he sighed dreamily, brushing your hair away from your face to press two kisses to your temple in quick succession.

You turned over to face him to properly protest, “Hey, I didn’t grow up around humans, you know that, right? I just came here to go to school! I moved here like, two weeks before our first day of freshman year—”

“I’m not making fun of you, Y/N!” He promised, sandwiching your hand between both of his and squeezing it tightly. “I respect how difficult it must have been for you to acclimate to the new culture and city when you moved, and so suddenly, on top of starting school. I just love y- love when you do that. Genuinely, I’m so charmed by it. Endeared. Bewitched. Whatever word you want to use. It’s something I never noticed until this semester, when we started doing the Dr. Magic stuff together. Despite knowing you for so long, in the department, in classes.”

“You know what I never knew about you before this semester, Junnie?”

“What?”

“That you were such a softie,” you snickered fondly. “I thought you were all textbooks and GPA and flashcards and whatever.”

The human ducked his head bashfully. “It’s something I’ve been working on this year.”

“Between this and Dr. Magic, I think you’ve been doing pretty well.”

“Thanks.”

“So, why did you do it, Junnie?” You asked curiously. “Not be a softie, I mean, but…”

“What? Be Dr. Magic?” He clarified, to which you nodded. “I didn’t mean to make a persona like that, really. I had to pick a screenname, and the guys had jokingly called me that a couple times when I helped them out with some problems. That’s all.”

“I know why you started the account. Knowledge. That’s also why you didn’t get the credit. You just needed to know. Though, the story behind the name is cute,” you pinched his cheek, and he tried to deter your hand with his shoulder half-heartedly. “I mean more like, why were you hiding your IP and using VPNs and stuff before you even knew that I was trying to track you down? In the fall.”

“I made the first couple posts from the school computers just because I like to do my work there, I wasn’t trying to cover anything up. Then I pictured what I’d do if I found someone posting like I was on the forums. And I would’ve tried to find out who they were. So I started covering my tracks a bit more intentionally after that. Didn’t want any groupies rolling up on me.” He pinched your side teasingly with the last sentence, and you slapped his hand away with an eye roll.

“Oh shut up!” You scoffed, ignoring his hands as he tried to pull you back towards him again.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I’m sorry,” he apologized through his chuckles. “If anything I’m your groupie, I swear. Your number one fan from the moment you showed me your conspiracy board.”

“Mm, fine.” You scooted closer to him, letting him wrap his arms around you once more. “Glad we got that cleared up.”

Renjun shifted to lay on his back, and you easily followed the move to snuggle in mostly on top of him, resting your head in the crook of his neck and your hand on his waist, fingers innocently smoothing over a patch of skin above his hipbone where his shirt had ridden up. It sounded like the credits were on by now, but you didn’t really care about picking another movie as Renjun hummed along to the familiar song that played over the scrolling names. You’d sing along too, if you were alone at your own place. But now you didn’t dare even hum like the human with you for fear of what it could do to him. Renjun’s voice was plenty lovely enough though, even just this casual little bit humming. You’d see if you could get him to sing for you properly one of these days. If an opportunity came before graduation. Who knew what your days would even look like before then.

Gods, graduation. You felt like you could shrivel up and die just thinking about it. Not to mention that you hadn’t even told Renjun that you’d—

“Hey. What are you thinking about?” He suddenly asked, his disapproving tone clear.

You gulped. “How could you tell I was thinking about something?”

“For one, you’ve got your bad thinking face on.” He pinched your bottom lip. “You pout. It’s very dramatic. You look very concerned.”

“I have different thinking faces?”

“Yeah, you look different when you’re studying. I’ve seen you do plenty of that to know the difference. And you’ve got a third face when you’re contemplating. Usually you do that one when you’re looking at menus.”

“I didn’t know I was apparently an open book.” You covered your face with your hands in embarrassment.

“It’s cute, Y/N. You’ve got a cute face, and you make cute facial expressions with it, don’t cover it up.” He gingerly grabbed your hands to encourage you to take them off. “Except I am worried about what’s making you make your bad thinking face right now. What’s wrong?”

With a sigh, you pushed up into a sitting position. Renjun followed your lead curiously, a thoughtful frown on his own features as he watched you pull your knees to your chest.

“Renjun, I need to tell you something.”

He regarded you with a skeptical eyebrow raised. “Okay… go for it.”

Nervously, you smoothed out some wrinkles in your pajama pants as you confessed, “Uhm, Dr. Kwon asked me to carry the banner at commencement. I said yes.”

“I knew that.”

“What?” You looked up at him in disbelief.

“Well, since it was midterms already, I figured that if they’d picked me, they would have asked me by now and since they hadn’t, then they must have picked you. I was just waiting for you to tell me so I could tell you… Congrats.” Renjun grinned brightly at you, reaching out to rest his hand on your arm.

“You’re not upset?” You asked trepidly.

“We’re not petty little freshmen anymore, Y/N. No, I’m not upset. I’m proud of you, you deserve it.”

“So did you.”

“Not any more than you did.” He shook his head firmly. “So would you just accept my congrats already?”

You gave a small, shaky smile. “Thank you…”

“There we go.”

“This is what I was so freaked about… when we went to get froyo.”

“You were afraid of me being mad at you for being picked to carry the banner?” Renjun asked incredulously.

“I didn’t know how to tell you!” You defended yourself. “And now I have to do the commencement practices, on top of senior capstone and my extracurriculars…”

He wrinkled his nose. “Ew, commencement practices. So glad I didn’t get picked now, actually.”

“And that was so convincing, Junnie.”

“You remember what you said to me when we got froyo?”

Scrunching your face up, you struggled to think back to the exact conversation you had that day—you’d been really stressed. “Uh, ‘exactly two gummy sharks on mine please?’”

“Well, yeah, your hyper-specific froyo order—”

“Throwing stones at black kettles much?” You teased.

“Excuse me?” Renjun’s eyes went wide.

“Is that not—? I really thought I got it that time.”

“Did you mean to say ‘throwing stones in glass houses’ and/or ‘the pot calling the kettle black?’”

“…Yes.”

He turned very serious as he went to tenderly cradle your face in his hands. “I’m going to kiss you in like two seconds after I finish what I was saying, okay?”

“Oh, okay,” you agreed weakly, wishing very much that he’d just do it now instead of making you wait. He then let your face go.

“When we were talking about wanting people to know that we’re smart,” Renjun clarified. “You said that we’re both like that, and you knew that you were like that. And then you asked me if I knew that I was like that. I had tried to swear up and down this entire time that I was doing all of this—the needing to be the best—for myself. But it wasn’t. I’m like that too. That’s kind of what Dr. Magic was, me taking a step back from needing everyone to know I was the smartest person in the room. A quasi-experiment, to see if I could do it.”

“I think that after graduation, maybe we both chill on being the smartest person in the room, and try to just spend a summer working on that magical bucket list of yours?” You suggested.

“Oh?” He perked up at this. “Really?”

“You ever seen a werewolf shift?”

“No…”

“That sounds like a ‘not yet’ to me.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He confirmed with a conspiratorial grin that mirrored the one that you could feel across your own face. “You know how sirens can’t get dosed up on their own venom?”

“Yeah…” You nodded, wondering where he could be going with this.

“Well, I know a witch with a proprietary love potion blend that I think we might be able to modify to produce similar effects.”

“Fascinating.” You thought on this for a second, very quickly running through your knowledge of potion properties to imagine what it could be. “Two-factor blood potion?”

“Yes. But we’d put your venom in it instead of your blood so it wouldn’t kill me.”

“That could work…” You mused. “Speaking of, I should really give you a full dose one of these days.”

He breathed in sharply. “That wasn’t a full dose?”

“Nope.”

“Holy shit…”

“Have you ever watched a phoenix reincarnation?” You added another suggestion to your joint summer bucket list.

“Have you? Wouldn’t that literally blind us?” Renjun questioned, something akin to genuine concern on his face now.

You shrugged. “Allegedly. It’s never been recorded in a lab setting, so who really knows.”

“I think we’re going to get each other killed before we can get our PhDs,” he declared with a fond smile and shake of his head.

“Hey, the betting pools said we’d kill each other by junior year, so I think we’re doing well for ourselves.”

“Do you think we can collect on those bets when we graduate and we’re both still alive and have all of our limbs?”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get there.”

“Oh my god, come here,” Renjun groaned deliriously, kneeling to grab your face with two hands and crash his lips to yours. You curled your fingers in the front of his shirt, pulling him down with you as you fell back against the arm of his couch, still connected.

Yeah, you’d drive off that burning bridge when you got there.

⤷ blog masterlist ⤷ anthology masterlist

#renjun #nct dream x reader #nct x reader #renjun x reader #huang renjun #nct dream imagine #renjun imagine #nct imagine #nct dream fluff #nct fluff #renjun fluff #i: renjun #f: dr_magic2303 #au: strawberry sunday #*100 #*200

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ren-054 · 6 months

Text

Made a sorta humanoid monster generator art prompt game thing

You need a number generator for this.

The idea is that you go down the lists which have specific ranges and whatever number is generated for that list is one aspect of your character

Hope this is maybe fun akjdkskd

Humanoid Monster Generator

*decisions on sex and accessories/clothing are up to the artist

*note, any result below with multiple words separated by a ‘/‘ is up to the artist to decide which they want to choose

Body Type (1-11)

1- fat/obese

2- muscly

3- your idea of conventionally attractive (free space)

4- bony

5- the body type the object closest to you kinda looks like

6- petite/dainty

7- an absolute wall

8- scraggly

9- curvy (up to interpretation)

10- noodley/doughy

11- dorito body (up to interpretation)

*note, the traits below are a mix of basic human traits and monster traits

Trait Set 1 (1-8)

1- wings

2- enlarged teeth

3- extra limb(s)

4- face mole

5- scales

6- extra eye(s)

7- bald (head)

8- nonhuman feet

Trait Set 2 (1-8)

1- odd tongue

2- dark to light gradient around extremities (i.e., dark at fingertips, paler at shoulder)

3- excessively tall

4- nonhuman ears

5- hooves/webbed phalanges

7- freckles

8- gills/vents

Trait Set 3 (1-8)

1- body markings (stripes/patches/spots)

2- albinism

3- trait you find personally attractive (monster or human) (free space)

4- spines/spikes/other protrusions

5- extra mouth(s)

6 - hairy (body and/or face)

7- tail

8- tentacles

Trait Set 4 (1-10)

1- additional head

2- lacking body part(s) (this can cancel out previous traits if seen fit)

3- bags under eyes

4- “plumage” (not just feathers)

5- large scar(s)/stretch marks

6- no eyes in human-typical locations

7- greater than average amount of wrinkles (anywhere on body)

8- bow legged

9- kinda looks like your crush (if you don’t have a crush, then uh alter the nose)

10- oozing/decaying for some reason

Vibe/Expression (1-12)

1- trying to seduce you

2- gremlin/bastard

3- nervous/uncomfortable

4- just happy to be here

5- just some guy/NPC energy

6- bored

7- school picture smile (i.e., awkward strained smile with unsmiling eyes)

8- angry/grumpy

9- no expression/blank stare

10- confident

11- so very normal (not normal at all)

12- fond/soft

Stance/Pose (1-12)

1- sitting pretty like a proper lady

2- on all fours/crawling on the ground

3- jumping/in the air (open to interpretation)

4- standing awkwardly

5- power stance (funny or serious)

6- stock photo pose

7- asleep (wildcard)

8- not facing the camera

9- stretching

10- curled up/sitting comfortably

11- family guy death pose

12- breakdance pose

And obviously you can make other creative liberties where you see fit, idc this is for fun. Enjoy

#text post #art prompt #character generator #oc generator #oc prompt #character prompt #oc inspiration #monster #character creator #game #long post

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communistkenobi · 2 months

Note

Obviously art does not rest on methods, media, or the amount of effort a person exerted in making it, but I think AI art is yet another way that capitalism is changing the form and function of art (separating artworks from their original meaning on a different and even larger scale) and given that it is made by exploiting workers (the original artists and the people they pay pennies to sort through it to remove disturbing images) it makes people feel yet more powerless in the face of corporations so there is a big negative reaction to it. This negative reaction may not be articulated in the way you want but I think it's very understandable that people have reactionary feelings about large scale corporate exploitation.

just for the record before I respond, I am replying to this ask in good faith just as you are asking in good faith, I’m not angry at you and many of these questions I’m asking are rhetorical, for the purposes of reflection. So please no slapfighting in the notes, thank you!

First: I’m not disputing exploitation. in fact privileging AI as uniquely exploitative handwaves away the massive amount of exploitation that artists already endure and have endured for a very long time, as well as the horrific amounts of labour exploitation involved in mass producing the ‘tools of the trade’ so to speak.

But this is, again, a non-sequitur to my argument, which is that art produced under exploitative, destructive, “lazy” or politically repugnant conditions is still art. MCU films are art regardless of the fact that they are 3-hour long informercials for the American empire and require massive labour exploitation from CGI animators, actors, film set workers, and everything else: advertisements are art: AI art is art. Horrifying, trite, unoriginal, bad, socially destructive, maybe all of those things are true and we can talk about the merits of those claims (I certainly have strong opinions about them), but what is politically gained from saying bad, unoriginal, horrifying, or trite art isn’t art? Whose definitions are we using here, and if those definitions should be universalised, what does it mean for artists who are only unoriginal, only bad, only whatever else?

I return to my original example: are children not qualified to be artists if they only make “bad” art? I used to trace movie stills from Harry Potter photo books as a child because I loved the characters - am I a fraud for doing so? Am I given grace for my incompetence and “theft” on the basis of me “still learning how to do real art”? When does this grace period end? If we argue that only struggle can produce art, what level of struggle? Struggle for whom? Drawing isn’t difficult for me because I was taught how to hold a pencil, read, write, and draw by a western industrial publicly-funded primary school by a teacher paid with public tax dollars, supplemented with help every night from my mother and father, two married cishet middle class people in a mostly stable (if miserable and verbally abusive) marriage - all of which is resting atop stolen indigenous land. Under what historical conditions can arguments for artistic struggle be made? When we argue for struggle(/hard work/whatever) as the basis of art we are pre-supposing a universal subject whose struggle is globally standardized and calculable - which in all of these discussions on here is (implicitly, though sometimes explicitly) a white able-bodied settler living in a western state who benefits from universal primary education that teaches them the foundational skills of how to make art. You can probably add university educated to that too, given how many of these arguments seem to be swarmed by undergraduate students.

Arguing that there needs to be some threshold for method, labour, intent, or message for art to ‘actually be art’ is politically reactionary and is what I am responding to. It requires transcendental claims about the Artist as a unique labourer set apart from and superior to all others, one whose skills are universalised and whose intent is always observable and present in their work. So if people want to talk about exploitation they should talk about exploitation, not the definition of art. It’s not my fault people can’t stay on topic!

#asks #ai art #<- tagging for blacklisting purposes #sorry I should’ve done this earlier lol

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thealexandriaarchives · 4 days

Text

The Season's Been Laid Out in the Cards...

The above are a direct depiction of the editing of the show:

Lou views the wall of evidence with Sam Dalton, and says 'So it seems like it's about Objects. Do we have these things? Do we put them on the numbers? (This is correct to escape the step)

The lore provided for Sam Dalton's disappearance reads: "SAMUEL DALTON PRESUMED DEAD Friends and Colleagues gathered this past Saturday to mourn the passing of Samuel Dalton, who disappeared during his magic act last July. Dalton had encircled himself with household objects over the numbers of a clock when a bolt of lightning struck a magnet overhead leaving behind only his smoldering footprints. He is survived by his two sons, Ray and Bolt Dalton, who have since denounced the magical arts."

Brennan suggests someone goes out to start collecting the objects they need, and someone else "stay in here and see if they exist in this space". Sam looks shocked and delighted, looking offstage at someone, and biting his hand to stay quiet. Brennan notices, and asks "What are you biting your hand about?" suspiciously. Sam dramatically mimes zipping his lip and says nothing.

A couple of things that are not in the editing but personal theory notes:

This editing compared to the fairly clear and concise wrap-up on rewatch, especially Sam's over the top reaction to this bit, and the multiple maintained clips that carefully compare the red room to hell/purgatory (Siobhan calls it Sartre-esque, etc) while we are now seeing a decay makes me fairly sure it's foreshadowing.

Escape the Room aired in March, but if we have a 13 episode season again the finale will be in July, when Samuel Dalton disappeared.

I do not know if the episodes are meant to be in order, or if they're exact #s, but there are many things Sam has given this season (Plant, Watch, Jacket) as either prizes or challenges directly, OR episodes could be more metaphorically interpreted (Ace of Cheetos - the single episode designed to torture the snacker, Two of Pillows for the Newlyweds)

Episodes like 6x03 the Three of Coats for Sam Says 3 with a wardrobe challenge or 6x06 Deja Vu with a with a watch prize and time theme have all of the above etc

The Playing Card Items: Ace - Cheeto, 2 - Pillows, 3 - Coats, 4 - Lint Rollers, 5 - Plants, 6 - Clocks, 7 - Vases, 8 - Shoe, 9 - Fire Extinguisher, 10 - Guitar, Jack - Smoke Detector, Queen - Surge Protector, King - Paper Clip

The Other Items Surrounding Samuel Dalton: Scales, Phonograph, Typewriter, Rotary Phone, Photo Camera, Video Camera, Pocket Watch, Bowler Hat

#game changer #dropout tv #sam reich #samuel dalton reich #sam dalton #Yes i did spend too long looking for cheetos before i remembered brendan went keto #burn after scrolling #dropout

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saturnsbabyboii · 1 year

Text

💮Random Astro Notes, Answering Questions and a lil Rant💮

🪷The house that Saturn resides in can tell us what items we have been more careful and gentle with. To name a few, people with Saturn in 3rd house may have their books degrade faster, and their phones break often. Saturn in 4th need to be careful with their furniture, photos, kitchen, and even their entire home. Saturn in 7th may lose or damage their jewelry. Saturn in 11th may electronics break and malfunction.

🪷The house that Scorpio and Pluto reside in gives us some insight into how/where we are mistreated, misunderstood, taken advantage of, and perhaps even abused. However, it’s also where you’ll eventually come on top. If you thought Saturian karma doesn’t play then wait until you see Plutonian karma. Unlike Saturn, it is public and done indirectly. Because it’s the house of death (symbolically more than literally) and transformation, Pluto works slowly but on a large scale. Just like tectonic plates, they're slow and great. It may very well (especially for Scorpio) happen after your death or in a different lifetime.

🪷The Pisces paradox of being obsessed with yourself and taking pictures 24/7 and also desiring to escape your mortal flesh

🪷Side bar but I love how the sign of most season winners and of miss congeniality on Ruapul Drag Race is Taurus followed by Libra. It makes for Venusians to dominate a beauty competition show.

🪷Leo and Libra placements are obsessed with having an aesthetic. They drown themselves in whatever they find beautiful, and they do it well.

🪷I never understood the obsession with spouse, wealth, fame, and indicators in the chart. To me personally, when it comes to these subjects is that if you aren't actively trying to have or working in whichever way that suits you and seems the most effective, you won't attain it. How are you getting anything without putting an effort into it?

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Questions Asked:

🌸@brielledoesastrology thank you for the message, but I don't want to tell people about my chart 😅. I like to be as impartial as I can when it comes to doing astrology. I do it to help people and for fun not for fame or any gratification. It may seem dramatic but I swear it's easier when people don't know 😭

🌸 @spixcyy "Can I ask if you're gay?"

It's giving (Yes, I am very colorful and zesty)

🌸 Question from @iproposedtoyomamaandshesaidyes: “Heyy wassup bro how’s everything? I have Chiron in Leo is that a good placement?”

Heyy, I am good thank you and I hope you’re healthy and happy. Well, it depends on what we mean by “good”. In terms of the role of Chiron in Leo’s role in your trauma and healing.

Here are some of my interpretations of Chiron in Leo:

Sensitivity to your sense of person

Having limited self expression or authenticity (The house Chiron resides in can indicate where, how, and in some cases by whom.)

Being forced into the collective and not allowed to have a sense of independence

Individuality and unbecoming is a major life themes/struggles (regardless of the house)

Problems with self esteem, courage, vitality, creativity, and originality

Having a hard time accepting your possibilities and fearing success

Fear of disappointing role model/guide

Pressure from an early age for living a prodigy

Having to play a “role” or a character for a large portion of your early years

Trouble feeling that you do not have a central purpose or reason for existing

Difficulty understanding what it is you are ‘supposed’ to be doing with your life, yet having an overwhelming sense that you are supposed to be doing something.

Excessive rebellion or conformity

Healing and Moving on:

Learning to be content

Finding yourself as you move along life

Accepting that you won’t find instant solutions and results

Allowing yourself to grow

Forgiving yourself for being the person you were and needed to be

Helping others embrace their qualities (especially those that are viewed negatively by society) will help accept yourself

Leading with love and compassion, not detachment

As Chiron is the great healer that can’t heal his wound, your life purpose is:

To lead by example

Break the mold

Be the new “normal”

Perseverance

Act as a leader of the collective rather than be part of the group

Depending on the themes of the house Chiron resides in, you’ll work as a great motivator and healer in that aspect of life.

Hope this was of any help and thank you for your question.

🌸 @astro-lab asked :” So what is “the other Lilith” that comes with every chart? Which one is more relevant? How are they related?”

There are four asteroids that are part of Lilith.

- First, we have the Black Moon Lilith or Mean Lilith (h12), which is the most commonly used and referred to when people say “Lilith”. This is the one that is usually used in birth chart tools you find online.

The others are Asteroid Lilith (1181), True/Osculating Lilith (h13), and lastly, we have Dark Moon Lilith/ Waldemath Black Moon (h58).

Mean Lilith uses the average orbit of the theoretical Black Moon. This is why she is called Mean Lilith. “Mean” refers to the average, not her temperament. For True Lilith, her orbit oscillates or interchanges constantly. This Lilith uses the actual, real orbit of the Black Moon rather than the average in comparison. As for Dark Moon Lilith, some people have claimed to have seen this Moon, although its existence is debatable. Asteroid Lilith is the only Lilith that is an actual astronomical body.

In terms of their relevancy and importance depends on what areas of life are you looking to get insight from. Like other asteroids, they can shed light on things we tend to overlook. However, when it comes to Lilith, in general, these are things that we feel but never understand period.

The Mean Lilith is widely used because it takes the average orbit of Lilith and its mystic influence astrologically. In the birth chart, it represents the unconscious mirages that we create to protect our most vulnerable parts and deepest fears. Where we tend to be mistreated the most as Lilith had been and how can we fall victim to others but also heal, transform, and regain that power.

True Lilith in contrast is what we might now refer to as “your villain origin story”. This is where we find ourselves pushing the boundaries of ourselves and others. Our darker instincts and desires.

Asteroid Lilith is where and how we embody Lilith through the chart and in our everyday life.

I hope I was able to explain it well but thank you so much for your question 💕

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That's it, thank you for the questions and for reading.

Adios PUTAAASSSS

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britswriting · 8 months

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First Ultrasound | Quadruple The Love H.S

A/N: Just so we are clear, I'm not purposefully picking white girls to play the role! I'm just picking cute photos! - Also, there are more quadruplet images of Caucasian babies smh lol, but I will use POC photos as well! It's Y/N series, not an x person series so the skin color will more than likely not stay consistent!

QTL masterlist Read on Wattpad

Full masterlist

"Babe, I can see you sweating from here" Harry chuckled, walking towards me from the car.

Harry dropped me off at the automatic doors, the awkward wait and stares at my belly making me uncomfortable as he parked the car.

“Shut up! It’s fucking hot, Harry” I groaned, Harry intertwining our hands the welcomed AC

Checking in for something other than a pap smear and a stomach virus felt weird.

I turned to look up at Harry as he filled out one of the forms, passing the front desk woman our insurance car, a grin on my face as it started to set in why we were here.

I was here for a baby. My baby. We were pregnant. I'm getting a checkup and an ultrasound.

Harry kept his hand in mine as we walked the halls, reaching the OBYN waiting room, quite a few pregnant people and there partners were sat. A few girls were on their own, and one girl had another girl sat next to her, both of them looking over a baby must haves magazine.

"Let's sit over here" Harry murmured quietly, dragging me towards a back cornered area of the waiting room next to a kids activity table.

"Aw!" I cooed, "Look how small" I pointed at the little kid chairs and coloring books.

I felt the waterworks start, Harry chuckling as he snatched a coloring book off the table along with a box of crayons.

"What are you doing?" I asked, pulling myself back together, sitting down next to him.

"Coloring" he replied like it was obvious.

"It's a kids coloring book"

"So"

"Oh my god" I laughed, Harry flipping through the book, landing on a page of a cat with a mermaid tail

Harry colored the page, ignoring my teasing comments, passing me a crayon to join him before my name was called, the nurse grinning as Harry set the coloring book and crayons back on the table.

"If you can just step on the scale real quick. Would you like to know your weight or not?" She asked, respecting that I opted out, marking down the numbers before leading us to one of the rooms.

I thought getting STD tested was scary, but answering nurses questions for your file when you're pregnant is way scarier.

What if my numbers are too high? or low? What I have some weird blood type that is going to corrupt this child? What if I already had a bad weight gain? What if I'm already on the road to some sort of high risk pregnancy like diabetes or preeclampsia?

"Y/N? You have to uncross your legs and relax babe" Harry noted, the blood pressure cuff getting strapped around my bicep.

I sighed, nodding as I tried to relax, hating feeling the cuff tighten around my arm.

Did it have to hurt so much?

When the nurse confirmed that I was pregnant, my heart dropped to my stomach, the feeling of needing to throw up causing my throat to tighten.

There was a huge smile on Harry's face as the nurse continued to explain the next steps, but all I could think about was;

I'm pregnant.

I have a baby inside of me.

I'm in charge of another human. This humans life is in my hands. In my womb.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Harry rushed, pushing himself out of the chair and to my aid, "breathe. in, out" Harry coax, catching the nurses attention.

I did some deep breathing, getting myself to calm down, Harry's hand squeezing my own when he mouthed "Are you okay?" to which I nodded, only for the nurse to ask me if this was an unwanted baby.

"It's in your chart that you've been trying?" She asked, sounding confused.

"We have" Harry confirmed, the nurse looking over at me, confused.

"I just.. I'm pregnant" I spoke softly, Harry's brow furrowing. "I'm excited... but I'm.. I'm terrified. It's all on my shoulders to keep this baby safe. I'm just.."

"Y/N, breathe" Harry inhaled, then exhaled, having me follow him.

"I'm sorry" my voice cracked, my eyes stinging as tears threatened to rush down my cheeks.

I'm already a horrible mother.

I can't even act excited in front of the nurse.

"It's natural to be nervous" the nurse eased, my slight nod and Harry's soothing knuckle motion hopefully being enough to calm my nervous system. "You can be over the moon and terrified all at the same time. It's perfectly normal" He continued.

"I know.. I just.." I chewed my lower lip, "What if something happens? I mean, it's a miracle I'm pregnant to begin with and now.. and now that it's actually happened how do I make sure I don't mess it up?"

"Mrs. Styles, we're going to do our best and make sure you and your baby are healthy. Sometimes things happen, and it's never the mother's fault-"

"But it's my bodies fault" I interrupted, not daring to look at Harry.

"Sometimes things happen-"

"Because of my body. I can't have a baby" I interrupted again.

"And you're pregnant" the nurse's head nodded, my lips pursing.

"But I shouldn't be"

"It's not that you shouldn't be. No doctor told you it's suggested that you shouldn't be. You were told it was be hard to be; but not impossible, and look, now you're pregnant! We're going to keep watch, do our best to protect you and your baby and hopefully things go to plan. You can't worry too much though Mrs. Styles. The elevated blood pressure can risk you getting quite a handful of pregnancy complications" He warned and that alone was sending me into a mental hurricane.

When it came time for the ultrasound, Harry was giddy beyond belief.

I was as well, but I knew I'd be more excited once I was told that everything looked okay.

That me, and baby were okay.

Worse case scenario, I'm somehow miscarrying. Somewhat worst case is the pregnancy tests were false and my biggest fear that was forming a pit in my stomach was that I was pregnant, but I had some sort of detached egg and placenta thing, creating a high risk and or termination of pregnancy.

What if this was my one chance, and it didn't happen properly and I have to terminate it?

I don't think I'll survive that.

Harry called "Come in" when a knock sounded on the door, a youngish looking woman greeting us with a chart in her hand.

I laid back, the gel getting spread on my stomach, Harry taking a photo which made me laugh.

"Your fans would lose their minds if they knew you took selfies" I teased, the ultrasound technician smiling as turned on the machine.

"What they don't know won't kill them" he grinned, shoving his phone back in his pocket when I grabbed mine, returning the favor to record his reaction to seeing the baby.

"Are you guys ready?" She asked, the two of us nodding, our attention now on the tiny black and white static screen.

"Here's baby" She pointed, the little flick of a bean catching our immediate attention, "and... here's heartbeat" She pushed in on a button, the woosh sounding making our ears perk and our grins widen.

"What do you think, baby?" I asked, turning to look at Harry, seeing an overwhelming look of adoration towards the little screen, my heart melting right then and there.

I can't wait to watch him with the baby. He's going to be the best father ever.

With lack of reply, I turned back to look at the screen, wishing the baby was bigger so I could truly appreciate what was actually inside of me.

The wooshing noise stopped, my eyes snapping to look at the technician as she turned the screen towards herself.

I could feel my heart thump against my chest as I glanced over towards Harry who seemed worried, but was appearing to try very hard not to let it show.

"Everything okay?" I carefully asked, the technician humming.

"Baby's fine" she replied, "Um" she turned the screen back to us, "Do you guys see this?" She asked, pointing at the little bean, both of us nodding, "And do you see this?" She flipped screens, showing another bean. Harry's head tilting as I nodded slowly, also confused.

"That's the same, right?" I asked, the tech staying quiet.

"Do you see this one?" She asked, now my heart was really beating out of my chest.

What was happening?

Was this some kind of sick joke?

"You see here, each one has their own sack.." she pointed at three didn't placenta sacks.

"Yeah.."

"I uh, you're having triplets" She announced, my body stilling as Harry's eyes widened slightly, lips parted out of shock. "Here's baby A... baby B... baby C" She noted, the little letters showing up on the screen before she took a picture.

"There's three? Three babies?" Harry asked, the tech nodding as she went back to the video screen, moving around to show each one.

"Three's three"

"How- what?" I stumbled, leaning up on my elbows to try and get a closer look.

There is no way in hell there are three babies inside my fucking womb right now.

"There's just three, right?" Harry asked, my eyes widening at the possibly of more.

I'm going to be fucking huge.

"I'm not a golden retriever, Harry! I can't have a litter" I panicked.

I wasn't even supposed to have one baby, and now I'm having three?!

THREE?!!!!!!!

"I can only see three" She confirmed. "There could be one or two hidden behind one of the other ones-"

"MORE?!" I freaked.

"But that's rare" She finished, my eyes practically popping out of my head as I started to laugh.

"You're joking right? That's just like.. some prank you do on new parents? Ha ha.. jokes funny. It's just one, right?" I freaked, Harry's hand finding mine, the tech shaking her head.

"I'm not pulling your leg. It's triplets at least" She said, my body falling back on the exam bed.

Triplets.

Fucking triplets.

How the fuck am I gonna carry triplets?!

BIRTH TRIPLETS?!

No.

No I can't.

I can't birth triplets.

"Do I have to birth them all? Induvially?!" I worried aloud.

"It's extremely rare due to complications. You have a extremely if not guaranteed confirmation of a c-section"

"I can't have a VBAC next time right? if there is a next time? if I want a next time.." I rushed out, the idea of not having the dream vaginal birth was making my heart feel crushed.

I knew I shouldn't have hopes and dreams, especially since this wasn't supposed to happen period.. but I can't help it.

If it was one baby, or maybe even two... I could've possibly had a vaginal delivery, right? Like that could've been a possibility?

"Let's cross that road when we get there" She chuckled and I sighed, my eyes falling shut.

I could hear the tone of Harry's voice, the vibration it caused in my ears, but I couldn't make out the actual words as tears begun to roll down my cheeks.

I'm having triplets.

Three babies.

Three babies are growing inside of me.

T h r e e b a b a i e s a r e g r o w i n g i n s i d e o f m e

I have to raise three children at once. Of the same age. Forever.

Oh my god.

"Babe, I can see the smoke coming out of your ears from here" he snickered, "Quit thinking so hard"

I rolled my eyes, my hands coming up to cover my eyes.

"You're positive it's three?" I asked again, the tech confirming for what was probably the fourth or fifth time since I blacked out whatever Harry said.

I left the appointment with my brain spiraling and a few pregnancy pamphlets in hand, Harry already googling the recommended websites.

"Wait, it says that multiples rarely go to full term, meaning... we have like........ way less time than normal" he finished, making me laugh at his lack of words.

"Aren't you scared?" I asked, turning to face him as he scrolled through his phone.

"Scared? Sure. The excitement overshadows it though"

"How does the excitement overshadow the fear?" I genuinelly asked, baffled by how his emotions were a complete 180 to my own.

"Because we went from day and night worrying about not having any kids, to having three, Y/N. I mean, that's insane! A whirlwind if you will, but it's exciting! We're having three babies!"

I stayed quiet, Harry rambling the entire drive home about how we have so many more names to pick out now, and asking me if we were having one nursery, or a gendered nursery or even giving them each their own nursery.

Saying I was overwhelmed was an understatment.

♡ liked by: annetwist, yourbff, harrystyles and 15,859 others ynstyles: Throwback to our first ultrasound! @harrystyles and I love our little family so much already 🙈❤️

annetwist: Christmas is gonna be even more special this year ❤️🎄 ↪ harryfan1: @/annetwist OMG DOES THAT MEAN IT'LL BE HERE BY CHRISTMAS?!

yourbff: My new bff, sorry YN lol ↪ ynstyles: @/yourbff Gunna have to fight @/harrystyles lol

yourbff: @/harrystyles Can you fight though?! 👊🏽 ↪ harrystyles: @/yourbff for my family? Definitely ↪ yourbff: @/harrystyles BET ↪ harrystyles: @/yourbff BET ↪ yourbff: BET X2 ↪ harryfan2: @/yourbff @/harrystyles screaming crying throwing up

harrystyles: This was the best day ever ❤️ ↪ harryfan3: @/harrystyles WHERES THE H YOU IMPOSTER ↪ ynstyles: @/harrystyles yeah, where's the H ↪ harrystyles: @/ynstyles H

An: It's still four! They just don't know that yet!! - just to clarify lol

162 notes · View notes

foreverisntenough · 1 month

Text

-YOU’RE MINE -

Summary: While you daydreamed about his face an ocean apart, he had no idea what yours was about to do to him. With a twist of fate and the heat of summer, a new relationship would completely ransack his heart - Everyday heavy with the thought of one another, neither of you were going to let the unexpected love of your life go. You were going to be his, you were his, and you were going to stay his.

Warnings: This series will contain fluff, suggestive, smut love bombing, little sad, and kind of angst- not sure what else really… if i miss anything please lmk!

Note: I hope you like it! There will definitely be more parts (don’t know how many just yet though.)

INDEX

Chapter 16 - ‘You’re Mine’

(This chapter feels long and is exaggerated but what isn’t about the whole series.)

It was another match day. It was raining as usual and you sat in your kitchen gathering things before Marcel was set to pick you up from your house. You two had gotten really close, you spent so much time together over the years. You joked that you spent more time with him than you did Trent but the hours you spent in bed with Trent probably tipped the scales in his favor. You were together just about every match and had developed a little routine. You could technically drive in the UK with your US license for now. In the next year though you’d have to take an actual UK driving test if you wanted a real license which you were planning on doing but we’re putting off so your boyfriend's little brother drove you around. You two would go to a particular coffee shop you both liked every home game, it felt comfortable but when you went in today something felt off.

“I know I sound crazy... but do you feel like people are looking at us?” You hushly asked Marcel waiting in the queue.

“I am the best looking brother, it happens, people know…” he goaded, staring ahead debating if he wanted to venture away from his usual order.

“Humble too… but no, seriously.” You quipped back.

“Erm… “ he looked around the place assessing if anything was different, and it did feel different. “Now that you mention it, maybe a little… Don’t worry about it.” He tried to reassure you but put his hand on your shoulder moving you in front of him in the queue just in case. The Alexander-Arnold’s kept a low profile but they were known in Liverpool, when the boys walked in anywhere it was noted. The three brothers, obviously Trent, but all three really felt inclined to make sure you were okay. You weren’t actively trying to keep the relationship under wraps but your presence alone over time caused people to take more and more of an interest in Trent’s personal life and they were doing anything to get some insight. The uptick in curiosity was apparent to his family as it had changed from what they had been used to and it now was involving someone else; you.

When you were next in line the barista’s jaw slacked a little recognizing Marcel. You put your phone on the counter mindlessly before ordering and her eyes glanced down at your screen. Your background was a photo of Trent picking you up after a match, legs wrapped around him, still in his full kit, kissing. Her eyes widened, putting all the pieces together that the ‘mystery girl’ she and the whole city, country had seen, still unidentified in posts about Trent’s relationship, was in front of her and 100% in a serious one with Trent.

Marcel stopped the awkward encounter in its tracks interrupting it to place his order. When you got your drinks he trailed behind you making sure no one was going to bother you. Finally back in the car, relieved and back to normal banter with Marce, you got an abrupt call from Trent.

“Hi baby,” you cooed with a silly smile, answering excitedly to hear his voice.

“Can you do me a favor, beautiful?” His words came fast and he sounded a little stressed. You told him you would and he calmed hearing you and thanked you mushily with a few ‘I love yous’ before he even got to the actual task. Marcel rolled his eyes, able to overhear the excessively affectionate conversation.

“Could you bring me my headphones? I think I left them at home. I don’t know where. They aren’t here. I need them. I need them before the match.” He was panicking at the thought of shaking up his usual routine.

“Course, T. It’ll be fine. I’ll get them and be there soon.” You reassured him.

“Nah, it’s not like I’m the one actually really going to be doing this or anything..” Marcel yelled for Trent to hear. Trent knew you wouldn’t say no to helping him and Marcel wouldn’t say no to helping you so it was a chain of coercion. Trent was at the hotel with the team before the game, his car parked at Anfield already so even if he was allowed to leave, which he wasn’t, he couldn’t go get his headphones himself.

When you arrived at the hotel, security had to let your car through barricades. There were hundreds of fans surrounding the gates of the hotel knowing it was where the squad gathered every match. Trent met you and Marcel down in the lobby. It was rare for you to see him on match days so this favor turned out to be a pleasant one. Marcel kept his hand on your back from the car to the front entrance. His frame blocking yours from the fans. Trent greeted you both getting his headphones and the camera shutters were clattering outside. Trent dapped up Marcel as he wished him good luck. It was sincere but incredibly bro-y. Your interaction couldn’t have been more opposite. The crowd outside’s view was skewed, blocked by trees, a pillar in the hotel, other people in the lobby, but some of the onlookers were adamant to see what was happening, recognizing his brother and spotting Trent appear inside. Trent pulled you into his chest placing a kiss on your forehead whispering in your ear furthest away from the doors so no one could make out what he was saying but it was all being captured. He couldn’t help himself as his hands slid from holding your lower back while you three talked quickly to slip down to palm and squeeze your ass. You left with a kiss to his cheek and a tight hug before Marcel swung his arm around you to walk to the car leaving.

Once Trent had his headphones the team could proceed with preparations and went for their pre-match walk around the city. A little boy stood patiently on a corner holding a number 66 shirt so Trent stopped mid stride talking with Dom to sign a little boy's jersey.

“All good mate?” Trent cooed, taking the shirt from him.

“Do you have a missus?” The little boy bluntly asked.

“Uhh..” Trent was shocked by the question, his brows furrowed and he pulled away before laughing it off. Dom squeezed Trent’s shoulder at the direct and funny question.

“What’dya need to know what I’m up to off the pitch for?” Trent asked teasing, diverting from his lack of answer.

“I think you should date my sister so we could be related, you could be my brother.” The little boy's logic was wild but it was cute and endearing.

“I’m happy at the minute lad but thanks for thinking of me. You’re a big fan, yeah?” The little boy nodded eagerly. “We’re bros then. Reds are family.” Trent bent down and squeezed the little boy's arm, his mum thanked him for stopping before he and Dom walked away. She had captured the sweet encounter on video for her son to remember and posted it to her Twitter tagging him to share how kind Trent had been. The video fell into the abyss before it was spat into the algorithm and started racking up likes. The nice video turned into fuel for a fire that was already brewing on the app.

A Liverpool fan account shared a few videos and photos they’d taken at the hotel as live updates before the match. One particular post read ‘Alexander-Arnold last minute delivery before tonight’s clash’ including a bundle of photos and videos of you, Marcel, and Trent’s interaction. Its original intent was harmless but spiraled quickly when fans became interested in who delivered the item rather than what it was. Tweets and replies were multiplying at a rapid rate in discussion.

‘If we win tonight it’s thanks to another Alexander-Arnold’s assist’

‘What could he really need that badly to hold up the whole team?’

‘If that’s his brothers girl, I’d be throwing hands when Trent gets home’

The tweets were dramatic and exaggerated but the discourse ran wild with the tweet about you being his brother's girl. Simultaneously the heartfelt video with the little boy was generating another discourse about his current relationship status. Accounts were quick to call out Trent’s avoidance in his reply.

‘Wait.. but answer the question. Does he have a missus?’

‘If I was the girl he’s always seen with I’d be screaming’

‘Why didn’t he answer’

There were paralleled conversations about Trent and they both involved you. When the inevitable happened and the discussions merged ‘Alexander-Arnold’ began to trend on Twitter. You were blissfully unaware of it all unfolding going to the stadium. The internet dialogue continued as you entered Anfield with Marcel and Dianne. You were walking down the steps of the open air seats in the box to sit down to watch Liverpool warm-up when someone in an adjacent section took a video when Trent blew a kiss to you. A DM including the video was sent to a Liverpool update account who quickly reshared the message.

‘She’s here tonight btw with his family. Definitely together.’ Definitely not his brother's girl.’ The video featured you leaning on the bar in front of your seats, it panned to Trent’s kiss, then back to you smiling making a heart with your hands down to him. People were desperately just looking for confirmation of the relationship and this video was only feeding the beast.

After another win, you left the stadium with Trent headed back home. Pulling out, the car, as expected, was flooded with camera flashes. The photos quickly uploaded to the continuing Twitter narrative. A storm was brewing and you had no idea. Before, during, after... it was being rubbed in the public’s face you were together but they knew nothing about you.

You weren’t much of a Twitter user but the buzz there had leaked over onto Instagram. You were on your explore page scrolling mindlessly, Trent’s hand holding your other in his lap, when you jolted up seeing a video zooming in on you in the box tonight.

“Oh my god!” You exclaimed in the relatively quiet car.

“You okay?” Trent's eyes widened at you before speaking again, “baby...”

“Just… erm. Someone posted videos of me at the stadium.” You muttered out shocked not looking away from your phone, swiping to only see more photos.

“That’s happened before though, no?” Trent tried to downplay it in hopes it would settle you. You had gone almost two years keeping things private but lately…things had started to get a little out of control.

“Yeah, but this is like… my face. It’s about me. I’ve always just been in the background. People are talking about me… specifically.” You mumbled lost in your phone screen.

“When we get home, I’ll look at it, baby. It’ll be okay. Promise.” He kissed the back of your hand continuing to drive. As you had discussed you weren’t hiding the relationship and people were bound to talk. People would eventually want more details but your private information wasn’t up for grabs. This was the first time though there was direct focus on you.

“Did you still want to go out tonight?” Trent was hesitant with his question seeing your obvious discomfort with the online attention but he needed to know. It wasn’t often players, specifically Trent, went out after games. There was a break in the fixtures though and some of the boys wanted to grab a dinner together tonight thanks to the earlier kick off time.

“No, it's fine, T…” you said, leaning your head onto his shoulder looking for some solace. He pulled into your driveway and seeing the warm light emitting from your front door made you feel a little better. It was your little sanctuary tucked away in suburbia, just you and him together. That didn’t last long though when another set of car lights came beaming down the driveway.

“Think Dom came straight here. You gonna be okay, baby?” He spoke, pulling you off him to look into your eyes trying to see an honest answer. You could only nod. When you got into the house, Trent and Dom went straight into the kitchen, you told them you had to go upstairs to change, trying to get a moment alone. The videos of you today had accumulated thousands of comments about you. You scrolled what felt like endlessly until your phone was plucked from your hands.

‘Erm… who the fuck is that?’

‘He could do so much better’

‘TAA scoring on and off the pitch’

‘Ngl not good enough for me’

‘Honestly, gross.’

“Stop…” Trent had come upstairs. He knew you well, he knew you were running away trying to hide being upset from him. He snatched the phone away from you sitting on the edge of the bed to stop the flood of self doubt you were feeling. “Do you know who I’m looking for in the stands every match?” You didn’t respond just looking blankly around the room. “Hmm?” His hand was a little harsh, grabbing your chin to turn it up to him.

“Me..” you quietly said, rolling your eyes at his persistence to make you feel better.

“And who are you looking at..” he cooed, still holding your chin. His thumb caressing under it.

“You… T.. stop.” You pulled away getting actually annoyed with him.

“Baby…me and you. That’s it. Why do you care about people who we aren’t even aware are there? I’m looking at you, that's what I’m paying attention to.”

“T.. I’m not like you, people talking about me doesn’t just roll off my back.” You quipped standing up. He pulled at your shirt to keep you close.

“C’mere” your body pressed into his. He was tired and a little frustrated, not able to understand how you were feeling. His aggression started to seep through as lust. “Gonna be a good girl? Put something pretty on for me to go out? Hmm?” He was teasing you, his lips pressing to your neck now nipping a little at your skin, pulling a soft moan from you. “Hmm, baby? Let me take you out, show everyone how sexy you are for me?” His hands came to stroke down your thighs squeezing at your legs.

“T, please.” You whimpered.

“Answer me… gonna be a good girl?” His words felt like a drug, your brain had gone hazy, the sensation of his hands and lips on you had intensified.

“Y-yeah, okay baby. I can be a good girl for you tonight.” You whined and felt his cock twitch at your words. He let you initiate a passionate make out. It was mean but he pulled away. He slapped your ass, pressing his lips to yours once more before he walked towards the bathroom. “Hey!” You yelled after him flustered.

“Go on, we’ve got to go soon.” He said looking at you through the mirror with a smug smirk gesturing to the wardrobe.

He went downstairs and you got ready to go. You, Trent, Tyler, Dom, Curtis and a few other friends were going into Manchester for dinner. You came into the living room where the boys were, albeit a little shy after all the online commentary on your appearance. You weren’t sure if Trent told them but the boys were actually incredibly sweet telling you how good you looked for a change instead of the usual jeers. Trent got up to come over to give you a big hug.

“You know how much I love you, baby?” He whispered, lips pressed to your ear. His words sent a shiver up your spine. You just nodded, still feeling the remnants of your confidence being knocked down a few pegs. You sat on the edge of the couch starting to put on your shoes. You opted for a pair that brought back a warm familiar feeling. They were the pair of black heels you wore on your first date with Trent. The ones that wrapped and tied around your ankles. Trent offered to help you tie them so he came over and sat on the floor in front of you. His face perfectly aligned with your core. You were in a black mini skirt and he smirked at his view of your legs open a little so you didn’t close them. He just wrapped the leather strings around your ankles slowly, eyes fixed on the little material covering you. When he was done his hands stayed on you gliding up your legs as he stood up. Hands going up your calves, over your knee, gripping your thighs harshly to push himself off the floor. He leaned towards your face, you expected a kiss but he went straight to your ear biting it.

“You're so hot, you're gonna lemme take those panties off you later?” He whispered. Trent was trying to build your confidence back up and to be honest it was working. Having a man at your feet, staring at your panties asking to take them off later had you smug.

With your mini skirt, you wore a long sleeve sheer black top with a black bra underneath showing it intentionally. You actually really liked the look when you caught a glance again in a mirror in the foyer as you were leaving, setting the alarm to the house. While you typed in a code Trent’s hand crept under your skirt to squeeze your ass but he managed to pull the material up completely exposing your butt too.

“T!” You exclaimed, very aware your whole ass was out.

“Relax… everyone’s outside. Just f’me yeah?” He said in a sexy voice and as you scanned the room noting you were actually alone and gave in to his persuasion.

“So needy… gonna be like this all night?” Your eyes feigned innocence. You grabbed his hands and guided them around you to place them over your exposed ass. Once his hands were where you wanted them you took your hands off his and slid them over his chest slowly upward until you got to his neck wrapping your hands around it, digging your nails behind his head. You hummed when he started to massage your ass, your bodies coming to press together. Your faces were so close. Your glossy lips kissed his slow when you gently pushed your hips into him. He groaned a little at the movement only to squeeze you tighter and push a harder kiss back to you. He pinned you up against the entry way console, picking you up to sit atop it, him coming to stand in between your legs. His hands slid under your top up your back pulling your body into his. You moaned in his mouth at the feeling. If people weren’t waiting for you this would’ve ended up differently but instead you pulled away. His hands coming off your back up to your cheeks.

“All night.” He finally answered your question and it had you giddy. You both were incredibly aroused leaving the house so it was bound to be an interesting night. You closed the front door and got into some luxury car service completely lost on you, your focus was on Trent’s hand around your waist squeezing you, his thumb tucked in the waistband of your skirt. The boys had to kind of travel separately and enter stagnantly to avoid complete chaos. So you went in one car with Trent, Dom and Tyler. It was filled with a lot of noise, the boys all yelling about nonsense but it all sounded like static, the whole world blurred around you but Trent. You were lost in a moment gazing at him wondering how he got to be so perfect. He had pulled your legs over his. He wrapped one arm around your back, the other holding onto your thigh, while your hands played with the fingers of his hand on you. His body was so warm. He was so beautiful. You could stay in a trance like this for hours watching his lips move, his eyes light up, dimples appearing in big smiles and then disappearing but it was cut when the car came to a stop in front of the restaurant.

“Let’s go eat, beautiful,” Trent said, nuzzling his head into your neck playfully.

When the driver opened the door the all too familiar white barrage of flashes returned. Trent grabbed your hands and squeezed them. “Me and you.” He whispered before helping you out of the car. He held your hand tightly walking into the restaurant. When the door of the restaurant closed behind you he grabbed your hips swiftly pressing his body to your back behind you. His lips pressing kisses to your neck. “Okay?”

“With you… yeah. Always.” You said hands snaking up to hold his face for a quick kiss. Even in moments of distress he made you feel at ease, always sure to check on you. Unfortunately, the restaurant wasn’t that much calmer than the scene outside. This was a pretty popular spot that footballers seemed to frequent, it was expensive, it had good security, you guessed good food but it was just more so known as a domain of theirs hence the photographers outside anticipating the arrival of a few if not more players. It was a big place. Your table was a large one for all of you tucked behind an ornamental tree providing a screen from the front of the restaurant and potential for outside photos. You slid onto a bench Trent coming to sit absurdly and unnecessarily close to you but you liked it that way. Per the restaurant's standards an incredibly attractive girl came over to introduce herself as the server. She was very nice and returned promptly with bottles of liquor ‘on the house.’ It was ludicrous these boys were given so much for free given how much they made but you were just along for the ride and weren’t going to complain having a seat at the table.

After receiving the menus, Trent held up his childishly high to cover your faces to kiss you. His hand slipped around your waist gripping the material of your skirt. You couldn’t not smile but pushed the menu down, pulling away from the kiss to lean your head onto his shoulder, attempting to move your body even closer into his.

It wasn’t long after you had ordered that a group of younger girls came up to the table giggling. You understood the infatuation. They stumbled over words but eventually got some out.

“H-hi..” the first girl giggled, hiding behind her friend. Dom's eyes widened watching the girls lose all common sense when he looked at them. When they pushed closer to the table Trent’s hand possessively came to grip your thigh tight and high pushing your skirt up a little where you had to adjust it not to show your panties.

“Okay?” Curtis asked the group not really caring for their answer but just wanted to see them squirm seeing as this was a little amusing. You looked at Tyler shaking your head at them entertaining the girls falling over them. The girls weren’t all that young though after getting a better look. They probably were close to Curtis and Doms age so you gave them the benefit of the doubt maybe they had drank too much.

“Could we get a quick picture?” One girl finally got to what they came over for. Tyler almost interjected seeing as the boys were just trying to eat dinner with friends but let it play out. When Dom confirmed they could he stood up and walked around the table next to the girls who continued in their fit of giggles. At this point you deduced they were definitely drunk but you thought it was funny and a little sweet, not something you couldn’t see you and your friends doing. Definitely the giddy demeanor around boys who looked like they did. Trent hadn’t really paid mind to the situation, he acknowledged them of course, he’d never be that rude but he didn’t say much.

“I can take it if you want,” you smiled offering. Tyler looked at you with a ‘thank you’ expression because this interaction seemed to be dragging, taking a long time with the intermittent giggles.

“Oh my goodddd! Thank youu sooo much!” The girl was definitely slurring. Dom placed himself between Trent and Curtis still in their seats with the girls nestled in between them. Trent slid over on the bench some for the picture but kept his hand on your leg, just moving it down as he got further away. You took a couple photos for them.

“Can you take one with flash..?” One girl called out. You said sure. The light from the phone's camera though was like an alarm bell for people in the restaurant to register who was at the table.

“Here ya go” you said kindly, holding the phone out for the girls to grab after the photos. Trent pulled himself back over to you. You smiled at him softly. He returned the smile, gaze now locked back on you; his hand coming to brush up your spine to your neck, gripping it gently, stroking his thumb over your skin.

“Thank you! Sorry and you’re…?” one girl questioned who you were as she reached for the phone curiously watching Trent’s hands all over you.

“My girlfriend,” Trent answered for you. It was definitely short but he turned toward them with a smile.

“Oh! Omg she’s actually your girlfriend!” They all kind of murmured together simultaneously. Their tone and look of connecting all the dots in their head was enough for Tyler. He nodded at someone who worked at the restaurant who swiftly came over to the table and asked the girls to go on their way. The table continued on with the conversation you were in before like nothing happened but you definitely didn’t miss one of the girls sitting back at her table taking a photo of what looked to be directly of you.

You sat through the meal happily, probably having a drink too many but you blamed it on the bottles that kept appearing. Trent kept a hand on you at all times. You shared a quick kiss and nuzzled into him as you listened to Curtis tell a chaotic story. You were so comfortable under the influence of Trent and Tequila it was almost lost on you you were out in public for the moment. A table across from you, one behind Curtis, was pointing at Dom so you watched them talk about him, in a literal sense, behind his back. It was after that when you felt like you got a bit paranoid. It felt like there were eyes on you. You could feel the text being sent at the table next to yours ‘omg Liverpool players sitting next to us at the restaurant. Trent Alexander-Arnold is all over that girl… not that pretty in person imo’

Dinner wrapped up and your paranoia was broken in half when you heard Trent’s voice above you.

“Ready?” Trent said, holding out his hand for you to stand up.

“Thank youuu” you cooed while holding onto it, bringing his arm around your waist once you were fully standing up in front of him. Your faces pressed close together your noses brushing against each other saying mushy things till he placed a kiss on your lips. While you two stood there in your own world a man stopped Dom and Curtis for a photo. They graciously took one. The man posted the photo right away to instagram in excitement tagging both boys. The photo picked up more traction than a usual fan photo though when you and Trent were lit by the flash kissing holding onto each other in a way that could only be described as ‘in love.’ It was probably the first picture, a zoomed in, cropped, low res one, but the first proper one people had been able to see you were a couple. It was a quiet answer to all the questions; you weren’t with Marcel, you weren’t a friend of the family; you were most definitely Trent’s girl. The storm began to brew again online.

You left the restaurant hand in hand with Trent, the white flashes filled your eyes again, leading you to the car. He helped you get in but stood close to your body to block the view in case your short skirt slipped too high. You held onto his hand and stepped in dragging him in after you giggling a little as he stumbled in. He sat in the back seat and pulled you onto his lap. You felt like you could hide a little tucked in the back of the car waiting for the others to walk out so you grabbed at his face to give him a kiss but your body so close to his mixed with the drinks from dinner the innocent peck snowballed into a messy makeout. The cameras continued to shutter when Dom exited the restaurant walking to get into your car. The bright lights illuminated the interior of the car, you were unaware that the cameras could see inside while memory cards of media outlet’s press cameras filled with images of you on top of Trent passionately kissing, hands all over each other. The steamy moment only broken up because Dom opened the door to get in.

It was a night off for the boys, drinks were flowing, and you started to really let go of what people might be thinking of seeing when you were with Trent. No camera or headline could outweigh the love in Trent’s eyes when you looked at him. The car pulled away from the restaurant and drove a short distance to a club that had invited them to have a private table. With your newly developed detachment from the attention, Trent’s hands on you didn’t feel like a form of reassurance but a confirmation that it truly was just you and him. The ride to the club felt much more free, you could still feel the warmth from the cameras but it didn’t ignite your anxiety the same. You didn’t care, you were a little drunk on tequila and really drunk on love when you finally arrived.

It was like a familiar replay of entering the restaurant but as you exited the car to enter the club you felt more prepared to ignore the barrage. You were a little braver facing the lights. Trent held your hand and you squeezed his, your other hand gripped his forearm while he kept his head down guiding the two of you inside. You definitely didn’t like it but it’s how it was going to be on nights like this. Once everyone had made it in, security took you to a roped off area. The boys seemed unphased but you watched phones follow the group from the door to the section once they realized who was walking in. When you got to the section Trent pulled his hand away from yours and wrapped you in a tight hug, swirling you around with a kiss. It was a nice area filled with couches, tables of liquor, lights, the music was loud, and it overlooked a large dance floor but he was acting as if it was a closed off private room. If he was going to be okay with it then so were you.

It was a really fun night. You were drinking a lot more than you should’ve. You knew tomorrow it would seem like terrible logic but right now it was helping you cope with the amount of phones that seemed to be videoing your every move. You were straddling Trent’s lap on a je of the couches when he went to grab a bottle of tequila off the table to make a drink.

“Gimme!” You cooed in his ear taking the bottle of Don Julio 42.

“You want this baby?” Trent held the bottle further away from you just to tease so you whined rolling your lips into a pout. He caved immediately at the sad look that was swept off your face in an instant when you got what you wanted. You took a small swig from the bottle directly and Trent's eyes widened, he shook his head laughing. You leaned into him. You kissed his neck working your way up to his ear. His arms wrapped around your waist tightened. His hands gliding under your shirt. You pressed your lips slow and gently against his ear.

“Wanna taste?” You whispered sitting your core harder down on his lap.

“Mmm depends what of..” he cheekily replied. One hand letting go of you coming to grab your face and pull you in for a kiss then rolled into a messy make out.

“Relax!” Curtis called out from another seat. You couldn’t help but pull away from the kiss laughing. You were the definition of PDA and you were pushing the boundaries. Your one hand slid up the back of Trent’s neck and pulled on his hair to tilt his head back then sliding it to grip around his neck gently. He obliged and you couldn’t suppress the smirk. His arm still wrapped around you, your free one holding the bottle of the tequila poured it slowly into his mouth. It was sexy. A little dripped onto the side of his mouth when you pulled the bottle away so you took the liberty to clean it up with your thumb, brushing over his plump lips.

“I love you, baby” he cooed holding your waist tight.

“You’re drunk.” You babbled back earning another kiss from him making you beam.

“If I’m drunk.. then you’re very drunk, beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I love you any less.” He sealed his words one more kiss and you hummed in satisfaction. All you could taste was tequila and desire for him. It was like your body was wired to function solely off his approval.

The night continued as expected, drinks, more drinks, Trent refusing to dance, more drinks, and a lot of laughs. Your section was next to another private one that had later filled with a ton of girls in white all celebrating a hen do. It looked fun and made you miss your girlfriends back at home a little but a squeeze of your ass brought you back to the current moment remembering how happy you were to be here with Trent. You stood in front of him and nuzzled back into him. One of the girls from the hen do gestured over to ask if Dom, Curtis, and Trent wouldn’t mind taking a photo with the bride to be. Of course they didn’t, it wasn’t a big ask.

“I’ll be right back, pretty girl” Trent whispered in your ear before placing a kiss on your temple. The girl waiting to show them to her area watched your interaction like she had seen a ghost, shocked that all the swirling rumors over the past year were right, some wrong, it didn’t matter you definitely were with Trent.

They took what felt like a lot of photos. This was normal though, this was your normal now. People were excited to meet Liverpool players and if a photo was going to make a fan happy then that’s what the boys were going to do. It was a little ask but made a big impact.

You stood in your section trying not to watch in an attempt to not look overly protective or jealous. Tyler of course saw right through your facade.

“It’s fine” he confirmed to you, coming to grab both your shoulders from behind you.

“It doesn’t bother me, I just want to know what they say to him.” You told his brother honestly. It did make you wonder often but you never asked Trent because it was so common for him you didn’t want to make a big deal out of a regularity.

“You’re so hot, leave your girlfriend and come home with me’” he poked fun at your worry and impersonated how you were imagining these girls spoke to your boyfriend. “Y/N… you know they don’t say shit. If anything it’s a ‘my brother, dad, boyfriend, uncle, whoever loves you’ they just want a picture to show people they met him.” His actual opinion made you a little less tense but you still tried to glance over at the group.

“I know, it’s a me thing... I don’t know, it still gets to me.” You mumbled not really saying anything, a little embarrassed by your lack of confidence in the interactions.

“It is a ‘you’ thing. You two are end game, trust me… he’s definitely not thinking about anyone else.” Tyler told you, finally releasing your shoulders after one last tight squeeze. He and Trent had had many conversations about the trajectory of your relationship; ultimately what Trent wanted out of it and when he wanted it but you didn’t know he had these finite plans. You two just kept an open dialogue about the future with no real decisions made yet so Tyler bit his drunk tongue from sharing Trent’s plans for you.

“You don’t think there’s like an agenda there?” You asked once more as you watched a girl squeeze Trent’s arm in a photo.

“Yes, Y/N. One of those girls who met him just now, he’ll spend the next week not leaving a hotel, they’ll date, he’ll fly her around the world to see him, become so obsessed with her he makes them move in with our mum to then buy a house together all to just throw it to the wind…” He trailed off with the over exaggerated response mimicking a rendition of your and Trent’s story.

“Okay, okay! I get it. Thank you for the belittlement” you slapped at his chest starting to laugh at the ridiculousness of your worry spelled out for you.

“Believe or not… not all 10 million people that follow him want to have sex with him. In my opinion I’m amazed even one does, you’re insane to me but hey… each their own. If you want to voluntarily put up with his moody ass go ahead.” He said half joking half serious.

“He’s not that moody!” you tried to defend him but got lost when you caught Trent staring at you while he took another photo. He winked and your heart fluttered.

“Yeah… okay.” Tyler quipped, rolling his eyes. Tyler obviously knew Trent well and had a lot longer than you did and he was right, Trent could be dramatic but it was cute to you. You loved him for every quirk. Every little annoying thing to others was alternatively cute to you.

“One more!” The bride to be yelled while posing for another photo with the boys. “My fiancé is going to go mad when he sees this… thank you lot so much! Obviously I’m taken,” pausing to show the boys her ring, “but I have lots of cute friends!!!!” She squealed, pointing back to the girls they had just finished taking photos with. “Are you boys taken?” She quizzed. Dom just smiled, Curtis confirmed he was off the market leaving Trent. The girl looked at him but he wasn’t paying attention he was looking at you.

“Bro! She asked if you’ve got a girl?” Curtis snapped nudging Trent knowing the answer. He didn’t really turn back to the conversation he was itching to get back to you. He wanted to know what you and Tyler were talking about, he was definitely a little drunk and you looked so good.

“Yeah, me girlfriends over there.” He said practically drooling over the sight of you.

“Lucky girl!” The bride to be cooed. She was sweet, the boys said their goodbyes and wished them a good night etc.. you were still in Tyler’s ear yapping about something unrelated when Trent’s hands ran up and down your arms, his lips coming to your neck. It sent shivers down your spine.

“Hi” you cooed struggling to keep your voice steady trying to keep your gaze on Tyler to seem unphased by Trent’s arrival but he wasn’t interested in assisting you and Trent’s games, leaving you.

“I missed you,” Trent whispered, taking another step to press his chest up against your back. His hand snaked around your waist. Your heart began fluttering again. Any semblance of control to look composed was slipping away feeling the warmth of his skin.

“You were only over there, T.” You tried to play it off as if you weren’t eagerly awaiting for his return.

“You didn’t miss me?” His plump lips rolled into a pout. “Not even a little, baby?” His hands laced together tighter as you spin around to turn in his embrace to face him. You gave him a pretend unimpressed look.

“Don’t give me this.” You said pulling his bottom lip a little with your fingers. “So needy.” You teased, letting go of it, before pressing your lips to his. He hummed in contentment but you pulled away too soon for his liking so his hum turned into a whine. “I like when you need me, T.”

“I always need you” his hands sliding down to grip your ass over your skirt. “You should come home with me” he cooed, pretending like you were just meeting, like this would be a hookup.

“I don’t really know you though, do I?” You tried not to giggle as you questioned back like he once said to you on the street in New York.

“C‘mere beautiful.” He said pulling you closer pressing into his body. “I wanna finish what we started earlier.” You nodded your head ready for Trent to take you home. The way his hands felt on your skin made you dizzy. You felt so beautiful and desirable because of all the people here, the options he had, he still wanted you so bad. You had security escort you out when you decided to leave the rest of the group because you simply couldn’t take the teasing anymore and needed to get back home.

What you didn’t realize is that every finger you laid on each other during your time at the club was being videoed or photographed. People who were fans that knew he had a ‘mystery girl’ and people who thought they were just witnessing Trent hook up with a random girl were just glued.

You left the club and the familiar lights were back but you were much more intoxicated than when you walked in. Your shirt was no longer neatly tucked into your skirt; it had been bunched up from Trent pulling at it. Your lipgloss was on his skin, the color smeared a little on yours. You walked out first but Trent was right behind you, his arms wrapped completely around your frame, his face pressed into the back of your neck. Having him so close seemed to lower the pressure of the spotlight but it only heightened the noise around your relationship.

Trent wrapped his arms around you protectively, helping you into the car to be driven home. You slid in after Trent opened the door for you and he quickly followed.

It was a bad decision but you two were pretty drunk and you couldn’t help it. You needed him, he needed you. There was a divider between the driver and the back so there was some discretion but not enough to deem the ride’s actions acceptable. Trent’s hand initially was suggestively but innocently on your thigh but minute by minute it seemed to get closer and closer to your core. Your back was arched at the proximity alone. The intoxicating scent of him filled the car and made your heart race faster.

You looked at him with doe eyes, tugging his hand when he kept swiping his fingers closer to where you wanted only for them to drift back down.

“What do you need, baby?” He laughed at your needy expression. He was teasing you and he loved it. Alone in the back of this car felt like a private oasis from a night where you felt a million eyes on you and you couldn’t wait to take advantage of that million dwindling down to just his two.

Finally, after what felt like tortuous hours, actually mere minutes, he snaked his hand under your skirt stroking his fingers over your covered sensitive clit. Your body jolted finally feeling his touch. He moved your panties to the side and he started to rub your clit casually, he was so nonchalant leaning his face into your neck pressing kisses to your burning skin while you were trying to bite back moans silencing your actions. You were whimpering, squeezing his leg trying to remain calm but he was tracing soft circles over your clit making your pussy clench and gush. He dragged his fingers through your folds, humming content at your warmth before dipping two inside.

“So wet,” pushing his fingers in further, curling them, your slick running down his hands, you were trying not to scream from the pleasure.

“Want more, T” you were begging, pulling him into a filthy kiss. It was messy, his tongue in your mouth had you almost unable to hear the squelching sounds of your sopping pussy getting loud. This wasn’t discreet anymore. You were getting closer to the edge and he knew, the smirk on his face grew. You were overcome with a blinding pleasure fluttering around his fingers, before he slowed down. Trent gently pulled his fingers out and licked them clean. You looked at him with clear desperation. Your legs were glistening coated in a thin layer of your sweat under the motorway lights.

“Almost home.” He cooed, pressing a kiss to your temple. You relaxed into his body, spent, making him giggle so he pressed another kiss to the top of your head.

Before you could make it through the front door Trent had grabbed your waist pulling you away. He proceeded to throw you over his shoulder and carried you directly into the house, up the stairs, and straight to your bed before dropping your body onto it.

“Raise your arms in the air, baby” he said, pulling at your top as you sat up. “Gonna be a good girl for me?”

“Mmhm” you couldn’t get out any words you were desperate for him.

“Fuck, you have the prettiest tits, baby.” He groaned now pushing his face against them, licking, sucking, biting on your sensitive skin. You couldn’t compose yourself. You were giggling at the sensation. You were so focused on him. When he pulled away, his plump, pink, beautiful lips were just begging for a kiss so you pulled him down on top of you. Your kiss spiraled into breathy moans, the rest of your clothes peeling off, your bodies pressing into each other, your hands grabbing anything. You were absolutely soaked, he was impossibly hard. The kiss was a mess, you pushed your body further into his. He tasted like heaven, tequila and black cherry. The memory of your warm wet pussy was seared to the front of Trent’s brain, the thought of being inside made his cock twitch.

“Oh my god” you moaned, feeling him twitch as he pulled away to bite the sensitive skin on your neck, sucking harshly. His teeth grazed against your skin. A whimper fell from your lips as you rolled your hips into him. The things coming out your mouths varied form insanely lude to the most romantic things you’d ever heard. You were so in love with him, all of him. The alcohol blurred your vision, it felt so good, you couldn’t really process what was going on other than the sensation of his skin on yours, you were saying things you probably shouldn’t, things you needed to have proper discussions about, but you couldn’t stop them and neither could he.

Trent thought he was going to black out from how hard he was. He needed to fuck you now, he couldn’t even manage foreplay. This kiss, your body, it was going to break him. He flipped you over harshly. He grabbed your waist pulling you back to him.

“Please,T” You whined, arching your back begging for him to fuck you. His brain was short circuiting. You had drunk sex plenty of times but something about this was different. It was a familiar feeling, the one like he needed to take care of you, that you were his. He couldn’t work out what triggered him to be so possessive when you were with him the whole night but he felt compelled to fuck you so roughly as if you had done something wrong.

“You’re the hottest girl I’ve ever seen in my life” Trent cooed his hand coming to pull your hip the other stroking his cock. He dragged the tip of it down your ass, tracing it over your skin, smearing pre-cum all over you before he aggressively spread your ass to rub his cock up and down your pussy. “Oh my- Fuck.” You were soaked, you couldn’t take the waiting anymore. Trent wanted to fuck you so hard you were seeing stars but his brain did a 180 seeing your face turn a little. He could see a blush hue over your cheeks, a little pout and he just fell apart. You pulled your body up to his pressing your back to his chest because he was taking so long. He wasn’t going to do that now, he wanted to make love to you. you’re his baby, his best friend, the love of his life, he needed to be gentle with you. You leaned your head back onto his shoulder, your hand coming to grab his throbbing cock to tell him he needed to hurry up. He groaned when the other hand grabbed onto his hair and pulled.

It felt like absolute heaven when he slowly eased his cock inside you. You were so wet, warm, your walls squeezed his huge cock encasing him in warm velvet. He presses his lips into your hair quieting his moans as he pulled in and out of you. He kept his face buried there, eyes shut, relishing in the feeling of you.

“I love you” his words were muffled as your ass recoiled against his cock. You could feel your orgasm building.

“T...” you whined. “I-I love you” you could barely breathe. His gentle warm and comforting hands guiding you through the movements. It was so languid it felt like it was in slow motion. You had never felt so good in your life. You couldn’t stop yours eyes from trying to flutter closed.

“You’re so close aren’t you, baby? I can feel it.” He moaned as you squeezed him tight making it harder for him to pull his cock in and out. He hit a spot he never had before so deep that the invisible rubber band snapped inside you. Your walls pulsated around his cock as you came. Your legs felt like jelly, pleasure radiating through you as Trent continued to bounce you up and down. Your slick ran down your thighs covering his cock and your ass, it was a mess. Everything was a sticky mess and he loved it, he loved you. You thought you blacked out momentarily from the feeling. Tears started streaming down your face. You collapsed onto the bed, feeling so needy and overwhelmed as he continued to fuck you. Trent couldn’t process how you looked as you unraveled, prolonging your orgasm and he continued to hit so deep inside. Even his dirtiest, hottest wet dreams about you could never measure up to the real thing. You were so fucking beautiful to him, your pussy perfect, made just for him, squeezing his cock he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer when he heard you start to speak again.

“Gonna make you a daddy” you moaned being compelled to grind your ass back into his cock.

You both heard it. You couldn’t process what you just heard yourself say, you had no idea where that came from. You felt weird, like you actually meant it. Trent's brain shut off. That was it for him. Something broke. His strokes got harder and faster rapidly. You were so shocked but you knew that telling him to slow down would be pointless. The change in his behavior didn’t go unnoticed so now you were interested in what he thought but your interest was overtaken quickly by your pleasure.

Trent controlled your body and you let him. You liked it this way, he knew you liked it this way. You both felt so fucking good, nothing could ever compare to this feeling. He was so deep inside you that all he could think about was filling you up. He pulled your hair to press your body further into his aggressively. He bit his teeth down into your shoulder, unable to handle the feeling that was approaching. His mind had completely gone when your drunk self decided to push this further.

“Gonna cum inside me, get me pregnant?” You mindlessly whined begging for it.

“Fuck Fu-fuck Y/N, oh my god baby.” He couldn’t breathe. He wanted so badly to keep eyes open but he couldn’t handle the sensation. “Make me a daddy, be a good girl and take all of it f’me” he mumbled when you could feel his load pumping into you filling you past full. Some of his cum leaking out as he continued to thrust into deliriously. “Is this pussy gonna get pregnant for me?" You were on another planet, so you nodded, unable to hear the words he was babbling. The smile that appeared on his face was so genuine he was in utter bliss. He slowed completely, holding you so tight to his chest you couldn’t breathe. You turned your head back to try to see his face. His pupils were completely blown out, getting you pregnant still on the forefront of his brain. His heavy body laid on top of yours and you felt a wave of emotions hit you. Coherent thoughts finally were coming back to Trent and he was in the same boat. Were either of you supposed to acknowledge that you said you wanted to get pregnant? He rolled himself off you laying leading up to the ceiling, his chest heaving. Neither of you said anything but he pulled you to him. He didn’t know what to say but he didn’t want you to feel like he wasn’t with you. Your sweaty bodies stuck together when you nuzzled into his neck, kissing his skin softly. He sighed tilting his head to the side for you to trail more kisses up his neck, your hand coming to scratch gently at the nape of his neck. He broke the silence first.

“I want to wake up with you like this. You look so beautiful just like this,” his hand stroked slowly over your glistening cheek as you finally made eye contact for the first time. He kissed the top of your head.

“Never gonna let you go,” you muffled into his skin, cuddling closer to him. What had just unfolded wasn’t exactly anything you hadn’t heard before but the manner at which you were having sex and the way it was acted on felt like it was a genuine thought. Not some kink, you, he, actually might’ve wanted this and that thought was way too scary to bring up right now. You both could feel the pressure. Trent was trying to figure out the same thing. If either of you had any energy left you would’ve mustered up some courage to talk about this but instead he whispered into your hair a long ramble of words that answered if he wanted this or not. You couldn’t remember how much he drank tonight so you couldn’t tell if he maybe was just drunk. He was promising you the world, telling you all about the perfect life that laid in store for you in the future, gushing over the perfect life you two were living now. The life he depicted for you now was the one that he had already confided in Tyler. Sure, he was buzzed, high on adrenaline, fucked out of his mind, but this wasn’t something he was making up on the spot. You didn’t know any of that but it was true nonetheless.

“My T…” you cooed playing with a little piece of his hair till you fell asleep. Trent practically melted at the way you clung to him, curled up… filled with his cum.

•

Thank you for continuing reading! Comment or message what you think of the chapter / series … 🤍

Next Part - Chapter 17 xx

#trent alexander arnold #trent alexander arnold x reader #trent alexander arnold imagines #you’re mine fic

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angelicsjn · 4 months

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how are the six yanderes with a friendly s/o? Like no matter the gender, they're js very friendly. I can only imagine niko's reaction 😭😭 ANYWAYS I LOVE UR WORKS KEEP IT UP!! <33

Thank you so much, angel!

YOUR SIX YANDERES.

— ROMAN CORNELIUS JAMES BEAUREGARD.

This honestly makes Roman happy.

He finds it hard to connect to people on a personal scale, so he would initially be very interested in you based on how you treat others - no matter who they are.

Plus, while in a relationship it only aids him and his image. How can he be a mean and tough person if his partner is the epitome of kindness?

The journalists are obsessed with you and your drace, how you bright up every photo and the fans can't help but love you.

But Roman doesn't get jealous easy, he's secure in himself and your relationship.

Befriend his teammate, have dinners with the other wags, go to parties in Monaco with him and drink champagne on yachts with his closest friends!

Everybody knows better than to cross Roman Beauregard and his shiniest trophy.

— LATEN REED.

He's very kind himself! So he loves it. Two sunshines are better than one.

At times he would prefer you to be more standoffish, he doesn't like that nasty twinge he feels in his chest when you laugh at one of his teammates jokes a little too hard, but it still makes him happy that his friends and family like you.

Anyway, nobody will threaten your relationship; they're a dumb person if they do because well... Have you seen the size of him?

In general, he adores your kindness and appreciates the positivity you give him after a bad day, but sometimes he suffers a sad case of jealousy.

— JAE 'NIKO' LEE.

Oh boy...

He HATES it. It annoys him. So. Fucking. Much.

Why are you smiling at that stranger?

Why do you laugh at their jokes? They aren't even funny.

Stop complimenting the colour of that persons T-shirt. Compliment him!

He goes borderline insane and blames you for almost causing him a bullying scandal online due to his jealous rage.

He will water it down, take all of that kindness and keep it for himself.

He's selfish, in every way possible.

— KAIDAN ALEXANDER WOLFE.

He doesn't really notice it at first since he's around very 'happy' people all of the time.

He just believes that you're being nice to look good, to make friends. Maybe you're lying.

Even better - you're saying it subliminally to him...

He wore red yesterday, obviously you're complimenting the girls red coat as a hint. Duh!

But he also takes notes. Whatever you like in a person, he will become.

Just for you, darling!

— HAYDEN WEST.

It makes his life a whole lot easier as regards to communication with him.

If you speak first, show openess and kindness, he feels more confident because you can carry the initial conversations until his nerves have settled.

He does feel jealousy at times, especially if you show more interest in someone else; someone better than him; someone more desirable than him.

Hayden isn't mean, it's not who he is. Much like you he prefers kindness but being kind doesn't get the girl, not usually, so seeing you bond with others so freely makes him feel under attack.

what if you find better?

— JOSHUA WHITE.

He loves it.

He loves your kind nature, your giving self. He loves how you attract so much energy and spread so much love.

You truly are an angel sent down to love, to love the earth and its people.

To love him.

It reminds him that there is good on earth and that God believes he is worthy of such a gem.

#darling reader #darlingcore #yandere #yandere oc #yandere oc x reader #yandere x you #yandere x reader #yandere character

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alonetimelover · 1 year

Text

Action! - Heartbreak Anniversary- 2023

Pairings: ex!Harry Styles x Director!Reader x Joseph Quinn

Summary: Harry has an emotional and heartfelt conversation with his mother and sister. If it wasn't heartbreaking enough - to be this vulnerable and open - they had some news for him. Something that would tip the scales at the breaking point.

Warnings: it's angst. harry's not very polite. some self-degrading talk. some swear words. pregnancy is mentioned.

Word count: ~3,4k

A/N: While writing the whole thingy I was listening to this beautiful song, Heartbreak Anniversary (hence the title) by Giveon. It inspired this piece of a story, so give it a listen.

series masterlist let's talk about action!universe

“How do you feel after today’s session, Harry?”

“Pretty good. It’s - it’s nice to talk about it with someone, someone unbiased,” Harry expressed, searching for the right words. Words that would sound convincing. He knew Doctor McCanister would catch him on his lies but he needed to at least try.

“You’re lucky this session is almost over. You’re capping over and over again. You trusted me with so much from your past and present, why do you think you can’t trust me with this?”

After a solid minute of silence Harry whispered, “I don’t know. She was - she is still important to me even though she’s no longer a part of my life. Knowing it all could be different if I hadn’t done what I did. It - it’s making me overthink, reminding myself of everything I did wrong.”

“Does it work for you?”

“What?”

“Keeping it all to yourself, slowly rotting in this feeling.” She noted something down in her brown notebook. “All that emotional build-up is going to explode sooner rather than later, Harry,” Dr McCanister warned him.

“I don’t think I’m ready. I have this thought in the back of my head that if I tell anybody all that is here,” he placed his pointing finger to his temple, “and here,” moving the finger to his heart, “I’m going to lose her forever. Those thoughts and feelings are the last thing I have of her. Emotional thing.”

From the look on Doctor’s face he knew he needed to justify his words.

“Umm, I have lots of photos or her, old clothes that she’d never taken from ou- my house in LA. But they don’t bring me any - I dunno - there’s no comfort. No warmth. And when I’m thinking of her, of us, it brings me that comfort.”

“And pain?”

“I deserve it. I am responsible for our relationship ending on that bad foot, I am responsible for everything bad that happened to her after the breakup. It’s all my fault. And if a minute of comfort from the memories of her, and feelings that I still have for her cost me hours and days and weeks of sorrow and pain, then so be it. I’ll do anything to feel somehow 1% as happy as I felt with her by my side.”

It was the first time Harry spoke honestly about YN and their past relationship. It was a taboo whenever he went, even therapy. He knew the importance of speaking up about his feelings, sharing his emotions so he wouldn’t be alone to deal with them. But after losing YN, it wasn’t present in his relations with other people.

He felt like he deserved the pain. He hurt her so now he was the one to be hurt.

When they broke up - when YN broke up with him - he didn’t understand the importance she as a person had in his life. The scant and ethereal feeling succumbed him away from YN. Something new, exciting, nonroutine. Someone new fascinated him. Before he knew it, he was already gone, letting himself fall for an unknown.

He regretted it greatly, but it was too late. She moved on.

Everyone thought he moved on too. While still being in a relationship with YN, he moved on. But it was wrong. To the last day of their relationship he was faithful, and at the same time he let himself be pulled away, forget momentarily.

After calming down a little and doing a few breathing exercises with Dr McCanister, Harry left the clinic, having paid for the session.

On his way home, the phone call disrupted his Rumours listening session.

“‘Ello? I’m driving so I hope it’s important.”

“Hello my darling. Put me on speaker,” Anne said, her voice breaking here and there.

Harry did as his mum told him to, “all done. How are you, mum?”

“Good. Good. The weather is finally nice, so-"

“You didn’t call me to talk about the weather, did you?” Harry interrupted his mother, making her very audibly swallow. “Something happened?”

“No, no. Do you have some time to spare for your mother’s visit?”

“And sister’s!” Harry heard Gemma's voice shouting over Anne’s.

“Of course. I’m just going back from my appointment with Dr McCanister. I’ll be home in about 15 minutes? That’s alright with you?”

“Oh sure, sweetie. I’ve got a key to your house. We’ll just let ourselves in.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

***

When Harry got home, Anne and Gemma were already there, making themselves comfortable. Anne was making tea in the kitchen and Gemma, like always, was snooping for some new vinyls or papers with song ideas. Harry was used to leaving them everywhere.

“Hello there. To what do I owe the pleasure of having you both here?” Harry asked while walking into the living room.

“Like we can’t visit your annoying ass, brother,” Gemma laughed, smirking at pouting Harry.

“Gemma, be nice,” Anne reprimanded, walking inside the room. “Cannot we visit once in a while? We haven’t seen each other since you started the break.” She turned to her youngest child.

“I know. It’s nice to see you, mum.” Harry swiftly came up to his mother and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug, swaying from left to right. “Missed you.”

“Oh, I missed you, too, honey.”

“Ekhem,” Gemma interrupted the heartfelt moment between mother and son. “I’m here, too. And I also missed you, H.”

Harry smiled at his mother, teasingly rolling his eyes at Gemma’s words, making Anne grin at him. She loved her children so much, that seeing them being so close to each other was the best thing a mother could ask for.

“Come here.”

After the warm and longed-for siblings’ hug, and the joint one with their mother, they all moved to the patio to have the tea. Harry, unprepared for any visit, found some cookies to go with the beverages.

The weather outside was beautiful, this year's July was surprisingly warm in London. Harry’s garden was blossoming, different flowers, bushes and trees waking up to life, beautifying the area. At the same time, it needed a gardener. Since YN, no one put a foot near the beds. Weeds were slowly overcoming parts of the place.

His garden was the living epitome of him. There wasn’t a gardener good enough, good like the last one, to help.

“How was the appointment with Dr McCanister?”

Harry tensed at the question. He wanted to forget about that meeting.

“Like always. Hard.”

This time Gemma tensed. It was hurting her to see how much Harry was struggling. Years after the break up, he couldn’t get up, couldn’t find peace. He loved her too much, if that was possible.

“Did you talk about her?”

“Yeah.”

“And how did that make you feel?”

“It’s not therapy anymore, mum. I’ve had one already. Talked enough about feelings.” Harry sounded frustrated, was frustrated.

“And I’m not your therapist but a mother that worries about her son.”

“There’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing. It’s - she - she’s gone. Not here anymore, she’s got her life with someone else, and I can’t stand it.” Harry hid his face in his hands, pulling at the locks of hair. The emotional build-up that Dr McCanister was talking about, making its presence known. “It’s been three years. Exactly three years. And - and I hate this day.”

Anne just sat down next to Harry, placing her hand on his back, stroking it slowly. Comforting him. He didn’t need anyone to ask questions, he needed someone to listen.

“I don’t deserve to think about her because I was the one to contribute to her leaving me. It was all my fault-”

“Harry, stop. It wasn’t-”

“No, mum. It was. It is. I didn’t cherish her. I let myself be captivated by the bliss of a relationship that I had with Olivia. I threw away three years with YN to follow the excitement of something new. It was my decision and it’s something I’m gonna regret forever. And now? Look at me? Look at her.” Harry scoffed.

“She’s happy,” said Gemma, earning an uneasy look from her mother. “And you need to accept that.”

“Easy to say not being in my shoes.”

“You’re not the only one that lost her, Harry,” Gemma said firmly.

“Gemma, not now.”

“Yes, now, mum. You,” she pointed at Harry. “You were everything to her. She got people promising her the moon, sending flowers. She didn’t bat an eye. She was in love with you. She was-”

“Don’t say that.”

“What? She was, Harry. She loved you so much. She cared about you, supported you, followed you everywhere. She was there for you any second. Any moment you needed her, she was there. And what did you do with that?”

She left the question to linger in the air. She bottled her feelings up for those three years.

YN was her best friend. Her sister. They understood each other without words. And with the break up happening, it wasn’t the same. YN didn’t feel comfortable with her or Anne as she did in the past. They still talked, met up, and had sleepovers. But it wasn’t the same.

Gemma understood that Harry losing the love of his life, by his own mistake, was hard for him. And it hurted her seeing him heartbroken. At the same time, she was angry. He hurted YN. Made her leave him. That’s at least how she understood the situation. YN didn’t talk much about the breakup with anyone.

“I screw up, alright? I know that, Gem. I know! Do you think I’m blaming her for that breakup? No! It was my fault. I drove to that. I thought I lost my feelings. I thought there was not much love between us anymore. I realised it too late. I know it! All of it. And it hurts.”

Harry before starting his monologue had stood up, and paced back and forth.

“It hurts so bad. I dream of her. I see her everywhere. Her - her things are still here, staring at me like souvenirs. I look at my phone every night, going through our pictures. Our texts, the latest that she didn’t answer. I play back the last time we were together each time before falling asleep. I remember everything that I said and didn’t say. I remember her face, the smile slowly fading. Tears strolling down her cheeks. Pain in her eyes. I remember everything.”

“Harry, that's enough. Please, sit down.” Anne tried to pull him off that self-degrading talk.

“You know what’s funny?” he asked rhetorically, sitting down on the grass. “That night at the venue, three years ago, when - when I proposed,” he sobbed softly. “I had the speech. How she made me happy and was my family, and - and how you guys treated her like a daughter and sister you’ve never had. How I appreciated her work and our relationship. And - umm - I praised her.”

Harry took a pause, breathing deeply, trying to calm down a bit. Unsuccessfully.

“I wasn’t looking at her till she stopped me. I - I couldn’t look into her eyes deep down knowing how I felt, really felt at that moment. She stopped me, asking one question.”

“Do you still love me?”

Her voice was shaky because of all the crying. He didn't look at her once today. From the moment he picked her, through the dinner they had at the restaurant and till the moment she stopped his proposals. Somewhere deep in herself she knew why he wasn’t able to look at her, but was hoping she wasn’t right. It all was going to be a nightmare. She was going to wake up next to him, sleeping soundly.

He looked at her.

And stayed silent.

YN learned that day how loud the silence could be. How definitive and thundering it could feel. Terminating.

“Do you?” she choked out.

There was no sound of the voice. Just the one of a heart breaking apart.

“She dropped my hand and left, saying she’d be out of my house in an hour. It was our house, our home. We were supposed to grow old here. To - to spend forever there.”

“Harry, honey. You need to let her go.”

“I can’t! Don’t you understand? Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be able to do that. It’s the last thing bringing me joy in life. She’s my antidote. Always has been, always will be.”

Gemma sat next to Harry and hugged him. He sobbed into her neck, shaking heavily. She felt his pain and regretted deeply her words that encouraged and strengthen that feeling of guilt Harry had.

Anne was sitting on the chair still, crying. It was the first time she heard the story about the engagement.

“Is she happy? Really happy?” Harry asked after calming down a little.

“She is,” answered Anne. “Joseph, he’s a good man. He treats her well.”

“Have you met?”

Gemma looked at Anne worried. They met Joseph. Went to dinner with him and YN a few times. Last time was just two days ago, when they came back from Italy.

YN wanted Anne and Gemma to know it before the pictures were uploaded. Joseph threatening paparazzi with charges bought her a few days to tell some important people in her and Joseph's lives about their secret.

“Why are you looking at each other like that? Is he really good?”

“He is,” Gemma answered immediately.

If Harry couldn’t be the one for YN, Joseph was perfect. There was something between them that no one understood. The way they looked at, understood or talked about each other was so unique, so genuine. It was heartwarming to see YN being that happy after what she had gone through with Harry.

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Two days ago we met for dinner.”

“Gemma, it’s not a good time to be talkin’ about it. Please,” Anne begged, knowing the news would crush her son tremendously.

“It’s never going to be a good time, mum,” she said to her mother. It would be better if Harry learned that information from her and not the internet. “YN is taking a break from her career. For the next two or three years.”

“Why?”

“She’s pregnant,” Gemma whispered after a moment of silence.

If it was possible, they would hear Harry’s heart being ripped out of his chest and thrown to the ground. Laying there broken in a million pieces, not possible to glue back together. It was over. Now like ever, it felt real. He lost her. There was no possibility anymore, no prospect. The final curtain dropped.

“Do you want kids?” Harry asked, tracing shapes on YN’s naked back. Her head was lying on his chest, close to his heart.

“Someday, when I’m ready to be responsible for another human being. Do you?"

“I’ve always dreamt of a big family.”

“How big?”

“How big would you want?”

“Two for sure. So they would be able to take care of themselves when mum wants a quick break.”

“With dad?” He smirked.

“Stop it!” She slapped his chest playfully, looking up at him with a big smile on her face. “But maybe.”

Harry grinned at her and kissed her lips. Because of the smiling and laughing their teeth would clash, but they didn’t care. That moment they were so happy. Nothing else mattered.

“Is she - they - are they healthy? YN and the baby?” He asked finally.

“Yeah, healthy as a horse. Both of them. Pregnancy treats her well,” Anne said carefully, not knowing if Harry was going to lash out any minute.

“That’s good. That's good. It’s what matters the most, right?” It sounded like a programmed answer.

Harry gently made his mother loosen the grip she had on his shoulders. He needed to get up, to get away from people. He felt all of the emotions slowly entering his mind, his soul. Breathing started to get harder. More tears gathering in his eyes. Stabbing pain in his chest was getting more severe, but it couldn’t be his heart. He had lost it with that information.

“I - I’m tired,” he tried saying, but it sounded more like a whimper.

“Harry, my sweet boy.”

Anne walked up to him, trying to make him look at her, and failing. He dropped her hands, which had been briefly placed on his cheeks. There was no way to calm him down. No way to help him. How, if his heart wasn’t there? When the last drop of hope vanished, leaving his chest dry as a desert.

“I want to be alone.”

“You shouldn’t be. You don’t have to be alone. Please, let me - let us be here for you” his mum begged.

“I’ll call you, okay? I need to be alone, mum.”

And after more convincing from Anne, she and Gemma left. There wasn’t a chance for Harry to cave in.

The moment the front door closed, Harry sat on the floor hugging his knees to his chest. He swayed back and forth because of the sobs that were escaping his mouth. His eyes were like a river source, but a river was of tears. And it wasn’t slowing down, much less stopping. It was staining his cheeks, slowly moving to the red T-shirt he was wearing, decorating it with darker spots.

Deep down he was happy for her. After all, she always wanted to be a mother. She talked about dreaming of the family she could have, would love to have. Those times, she wanted it with him. However, they never came to the conclusion of what names were perfect. Maybe it was better for him.

He pulled out his phone from the jeans’ pocket and clicked the message icon. Was he going to text her? Yes. Was that a mistake? Yes. But he couldn’t stop typing.

Harry

Congratulations on your pregnancy, YN. Hoping the baby and you are healthy, H.

He didn’t count on the response. Considering that his previous messages to her were rather misplaced, he wouldn’t be surprised if she had blocked him. For a long time he was making decisions that he knew were wrong, that were probably hurting her current relationship. And, as bad as it sounded, and felt, it was giving him false hope. It was cruel of him. Desperation made him do things that were hurting her. And he would repeat them until the moment he realised that he was a bad guy. That when he told everybody he had never wanted to hurt her, he was still doing it.

Then the process would repeat itself.

yn🌻

Thank you, harry. We’re feeling great, baby’s healthy

And if he wasn’t surprised enough with one text, he got another.

yn🌻

Annie’s said you took a break, how is it going?

Unconsciously, he slipped into that process, hurting her again with his words.

Harry

You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. I understand. Just wanted to congratulate you after mom told me about your pregnancy.

yn🌻

I think I'm mature enough to put the past in the past. Also anne is seemingly worried about you, Harry.

But if you don’t feel comfortable yet, then it’s okay. Thank you again for the message. Hope you are well.

Those two messages came in immediately after his. He wanted to write so much. Tell her how he was feeling. How lost and broken he was. Tell her how much he loved her. Missed her. Longed for her. How, every night, he dreamt of her. Happy dreams with them being content and together. And nightmares, much more frequent, where she wasn’t his. Nightmares that were blending into reality.

With his phone screen still showing those messages, he finally moved from the floor, slowly walking to the bedroom. He placed the phone on the bed and walked up to the wardrobe. From under colourful sweaters he pulled out the one he was looking for.

He laid down on the bed, and cuddled the soft material, inhaling its scent. It no longer was hers, but the fact she made it for him and wore it more frequently than him, could make up for that.

When the wind started to come through the open windows, he didn’t move. It was cold outside, like when she walked out of his life. It was cold like the day they had their first date. Like the day they met, when he thought about forever with her.

These days feel like you and me, Harry thought.

He put the sweater on, turning to the side of the bed where his phone was lying. Where she used to lay.

Harry

Do you ever think of me?

deleted

#action!universe #director!reader #harry styles x reader #harry styles imagine #harry styles angst #harry styles x you #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn

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lordeemailarchive · 7 months

Text

Pure Heroine turns 10

(27/09/2023) (PH 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY DISPATCH)

Living in Ruins of a Palace within My Dreams

Photo by Simeon Patience

Hi,

Firstly, I wanna say thank you for your extremely supportive and kind messages after my last newsletter. I genuinely feel deeply cared for, less alone, and more sure that things will be okay after sending it! Albeit with a slight overshare hangover. I think a part of me knew that I had hit a wall, and that I needed to invite in the compassion and understand I’d been struggling to generate on my own, and then I’d have something to draw from and mirror. It feels like it’s working. I feel incredibly grateful that we have this relationship, that we can each give when the other needs it. Beautiful stuff x

Now, might U have noticed it’s 2013 mode round here????????? Yes that’s right, it’s a very special anniversary… Pure Heroine is... ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡TEN ˚*ੈ✩‧₊˚ YEARS ˚༘♡ ⋆｡˚ OLD ੈ✩‧₊˚ TODAY ! ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

You may (like me most of the time) hold the opinion that this album has been MYTHOLOGISED QUITE ENOUGH, but a milestone is a milestone, so I thought coming here and typing some shit to u about this time would be a fun thing for those who care.

2 xxxxtra special ltd time only commemorative designs by Hassan, who did the original of this bootleg tee 10 years ago❤️

It’s close to midnight, and I’ve just finished scrolling through my entire computer and phone archive from 2011-2013. Going on this memory lane ride has reminded me, for one thing, what a different time it was technologically. We were just starting to be able to see ourselves in real time, but we weren’t constantly connected. I had an iPod touch until halfway through 2013, which didn’t have a front camera or internet access, and my sister and I shared a MacBook, which is where we did our schoolwork and I wrote my lyrics. I took my first few years of selfies on Photo Booth…. Just let that… sink in!!!

Note the Royals Nat Geo pic in background— it’s happening...

When I was fourteen, my greatest work of art was my bedroom. A very cool, very classic teenage bedroom, Andie’s and Duckie’s from Pretty in Pink meets the Virgin Suicides— fairy lights, fabric on the ceiling, candles, stolen road signs (badman), paper lanterns, beer crate shelves, magazine pictures and club night posters and permanent marker on the walls. Bliss! I’d sit up there and vibe out, taking a lot of selfies. Creating a small-scale work of art using the self, and then examining the product from every angle, was the best method I had to express myself and exercise creativity at that time, and I now see it as an important PH incubation phase, whether I knew it or not. Something really amazing about a young person starting to see their own face and body for the first time, coming to a very secret understanding that they are beautiful.

I started to smoke weed, which gave me a deeper understanding of sensory pleasure, and allowed me to start to see my world as a possible work of art. I’d go on long walks around the neighbourhood, and began to mythologise the stuff around me (big empty floodlit rugby fields/bus rides/dark streets/boredom/isolation) into the motifs that would become Pure Heroine. I wore a lot of like, navy lipsticks from the 2 dollar shop. God, this aesthetic, It’s just TOO MUCH.

At some point in here, I met Joel, and another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. When you’re a teenager, you’re particularly sensitive to adults being condescending to you, not respecting the specific and finely tuned skills you have because of the ones you don’t. I was always on the look out for it, and from the first day meeting Joel, I knew that he would never give me that feeling. Which I’m sure wasn’t easy — my wallet at the time was the foot of a pair of tights that I cut off and knotted at the top — but somehow from the very beginning he made me feel like my ideas had value, like we were peers, in the most sensitive and age-appropriate way.

My view for thousands of hours making this album

We got on a call earlier this week and broke down the complete history of making the album. We both agreed that making Pure Heroine was deeply exciting and intimate and free, and still one of our most treasured experiences. I’ve linked it here.The second half of 2013 is when I really met the world, went to America and Australia and Europe for the first time. I found an incredible (for some reason Christmas themed) disposable camera image of my stage outfits all over the floor of my hotel room, which really sums up how ad hoc everything was at the beginning — a jetlagged sixteen year old, late for lobby call and frantically stuffing thousands of dollars of borrowed clothes into a suitcase.

In this stage, it felt like I pulled everything off by the skin of my teeth. Every week was the most exciting week of my whole life, I was so tired and still didn’t have a winter coat and took everyone clamouring for a piece of me completely for granted. I had zero cultural context, had no idea if an interview or TV show was huge or small, and so breezed through it all truly not giving a fuck. I am not a naturally nonchalant person, it was literally just too much to care about, I could hardly get up in the morning, so I just said absolutely whatever I felt like, all kinds of wild shit, if someone did something corny I’d say so, I was ruthless in that way that only teens are. Then through that year we went on our first tours, met you guys for the first time, hours and hours of hugs after the show, my favourite part so far and where it started to feel real for me. James took a lot of beautiful film photos through that time, and I’m really grateful he did.

Ten years goes really fast. One minute you’re wearing a leather collar with a giant crystal hanging off it to a Chanel party, and the next you’re blonde. A lot of stuff isn’t good after ten years. But I am still totally touched by this sweet record. I have deep respect for the vision of the little one making it.

Going back through all of this has reminded me of something that feels important to point out, whether you make art or not: everything starts out as a bunch of bullshit in a laptop. Pure Heroine was a handful of Photo Booth selfies and emotional Word documents and Tumblr posts (and a gorgeous over-decorated bedroom) before it was even one song. I had no reason, on paper, to believe that I was capable of anything. But if you can trust that the first impulse you had to create came from a place of deep wisdom, develop a few principles for your decision-making, and absorb a lot of stuff you find inspiring, you’ll have something special on your hands. Pure Heroine exists because I had the tiniest inkling of what I’ve now come to see as one of my guiding principles: that each of us have a handful of songs inside us that are ours, and only ours, to sing. Your specific interests and upbringing and physiology and experiences exist only in you; you are sitting on a gold mine that no one can rob. Whatever that means to you, whatever that statement you were born to make is, I invite you to take a big breath and make it.

All my love for another ten years of all this, and more, and more—

Ella XXXXXXXXXX

(source: received this email)

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melloianv2 · 1 month

Text

Have a Good Night Sleep, Dogday AU

Alternative:

Finally, after an month and an half of month, am finally finished.

Before I start i wanted to take back both things I said in my WIP.

When I said its cartoon world, i actually meant was its mostly take place in the cartoon world. it really an Imagination world, as you'll see what I meant during this post.

What i actually meant about its not a shipping au, its not a shipping au between Dogday and CatNap specifically. well there is no couple pairing of the critters existing, just crushes. but its never important at all (besides it only 2 critters.)

Now there is some things that are related to the bigger bodies however it has nothing to do with bigger bodies dogday nor catnap at all. it just about the cartoon world. So not even worshiping prototype exists here.

and I apologize for any grammar mistake I miss.

Anyway on to the post!

About:

About Have a Good Night Sleep, Dogday or HGNSD AU

In a nutshell, it basically two children created entire storyline about Dogday trying to find a way for CatNap to turn back to normal. At least what Dogday thinks because if there was a way to strengthen Catnap (dark essence bottle), then there has to be a way to get him back to normal.

The previous storyline before the brother came was just smiling critters just doing normal activities.

Originally the au was post to be slightly similar to 2016 stuff, but I think it not really "2016" like anymore. This series is post be animated on youtube only, but i have no idea if i should since i need motivation and still have to practice my animation skills.

Just note, some characters personalities are the same, but just altered a bit or a lot. Then the other altered completely

Anyway lets start with the characters that no one will cares about first!

Welcome to the Yearwoods Family.

Family Photo Link

It was- I mean is a happy family! The family are Christians. The family consists 2 children and a sphynx cat

All names of the family are: Mr. Yearwood, Mrs. Yearwood, Amber Yearwood and Kevin Yearwood. (the parents are nameless)

the cat name is pinky. (its a girl)

Out of the 4, Amber and Kevin are the important ones.

Amber and Kevin

Whenever Amber goes to school, she's bullied. She hates it as it ruins her self esteem. But she claims that she's fine and she don't need any help.

--------

Amber and Kevin gets along. Though, Kevin likes teasing and playfully making fun of his sister a lot. Amber usually ignores him or just pretty much says its not funny. Overall, they love each other as siblings.

Every day they play with the smiling critters toys before their mom tells them to go to bed. Amber sleeps with catnap toy or sometimes craftycorn.

Amber and Kevin playstyle is different. Though at the end, they're both obviously equally immature.

Amber's Playstyle:

Amber plays a CatNap, not shocking.... She sometimes play as the other critters (most likely CraftyCorn), but she mainly plays CatNap. And i mean main, she doesn't even let her brother play CatNap for once.

Amber is good with crafting an story, but very very bad at power scaling.

usually when she plays the other critters, they act bit more mature. However when she plays a CatNap, she either being serious or being a joke. there is no in-between.

One of the running gags of the Au is CatNap's powers. He keeps gaining new ability every time. Amber is doing that deliberately so she can win, and counter her brother every time. However when her brother starts winning, she gets annoyed and slightly mad when she starting to lose. But its the entire fact she wants CatNap to win entirely. by going as far as weakening the other critters.

She also pull the "nuh uh" or miss despite the attack was obviously undodgeable.

Kevin's Playstyle:

Whatever Kevin plays the critters, its more jokes and being unserious. sometimes he be serious but then its ruined with an joke. He mainly plays Dogday but he do play other critters. He gave Dogday powers because he thinks its more fair to have everyone with powers. Despite Kevin joking a lot, his powers are usually kind of balanced (expect for the fact Dogday is kind of op not as op as Catnap.) Dogday gains powers too but only if he learns something. The brother often wins.

Kevin likes overdramatizing fights, dark scenes and using powers, mostly because he watch too much action tv shows.

Now that's done, let get to the real AU.

Welcome to Sunnyville!

(i literally had to compressed the file omfg, this stupid image lags so hard everytime i open it..)

Here's a better close up version

Sunnyville is the brightest and cheerful town around! This is the main location where the Smiling Critters resides in. The positivity and good vibes came from Smiling Critters themselves.

There's more than one groups as the known ones are Smiling critters, Nega Bratzz, The Quacking Sisters, and The Ordinarys

The town is mostly nice however there are bullies (Nega Bratzz and The Quaking Sisters), but it doesn't quite override the sheer amount of positivity. Smiling Critters has a reputation in this town, often for their upbeat attitude. Outside of the critters group, Dogday is well liked by adults, awhile children thinks KickinChicken is cool. Not all though fine with their upbeat attitude, especially Nega Bratzz.

The houses are altered but Every single Night, Catnap's house changes.

Well not the exterior, But just the interior does.

The interior becomes an nearly endless mansion with whole bunch of halllways and rooms. turning back around doesn't get no better. Once enter his house, the doors are shut tight enough for no one to escape.

The inside of Catnap's house is described as an dream world or illusion world. Once entered here and manage to end up falling asleep or become unconscious, it would be treated as if the critters was dreaming the entire time. That's because when the sunrises, the interior turns back to normal. Any injury is also gone.

example:

The "illusion house" is quite dangerous, due to it being unpredictable unknown danger. Some rooms are safe, awhile others are not. Some could be neutral awhile other could be a trap. The critters will never know.

Aside from catnap's house, DogDay's house been redesigned in this au too.

Smiling Critters Section

Enough explaining everything else but the critters!

The story mostly revolves around Dogday and CatNap. KickinChicken is an major character. The other critters are very important too, but not as much.

Once wholesome positive team, is now a distressed team. Smiling Critters has to work together to solve this mystery of Catnap and the happenings that are caused by him. Awhile they try to solve Catnap awhile balancing their routines.

At day, Smiling critters just do their normal routine, get ready, eat, play, eat... But as soon as its Night, that's the where the real kicker is. Majority of the events that happens in this AU, takes place at night. At the moment, no one but outside of Smiling Critters area knows what's going on with Catnap.

They try to gather clues and research CatNap to get understanding on what their facing.

The Critters acts like their description.......somewhat. its altered a bit.

About the Other form i mentioned on the about, what was the so called form am I talking about? Well its called Enhanced Form. Enhanced forms are magical forms that gives a smiling critter powers. In order for an Smiling Critter to be enhanced, Dogday must enhance them, as he the only one who is able to do it.

Enhanced forms are strong, at least strong enough to fight the CatNap.

In order for an Critter to transform into Enhanced form, Dogday must use his powers to enchant the pendant (on the necklace). Then, the critter can either grabs the pendant tightly or smack it, causing them to transform into enhanced form.

Dogday can change at will, but he does not have enhanced form, but rather just a stronger form. Though, Dogday don't even need to transform, he can still use half of his abilities without it.

When a critter transforms, their pendant changes too.

An Critter can de-transform by either de-transforming willingly or when they become unconscious.

I will now talk about the Smiling critters separately.

Dogday the Guardian of the Sun:

Makes sense to start with the titular character of this AU.

Dogday is the main character of HGNSD.

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

Dogday is an early bird, he tends to wake up everyone to get the day started. Excluding CatNap, He's the last critter to go to sleep.

full content (but also not) of how Dogday gained his powers: Dogday was slammed multiple times by Catnap (due to the fact he rebelled, fight back and took the risk of letting himself be the one getting the punches instead of his friends), before tossing him to a deep pit. The pit had spikes at the very bottom. Despite Dogday was clearly about to die, he still had some hope and determination left...causing gain powers and fly upwards in result.

Dogday is more powerful than any other critters. He can even sometimes surpass Catnap's powers. Dogday's powers deals with the sun aka light. Dogday's powers are 2x stronger at day but at night, its normal strength of the power.

The AU name is post to be ironic (really just an bullying title since dogday cannot even go to sleep properly because of CatNap) but at the same time, its foreshadowing something.

Dogday is traumatized, but he doesn't show it.

He was horrified at the state of Catnap tall self. But after dealing with him for so long, he's desensitized to it. doesn't means that's a good thing though.

Dogday gets insulted a lot, he gets upset a little but it doesn't really effect him completely. The only thing that effects him is the fact his best friend is even like this at all.

Other Critters

Now the main character is out of the way, let's talk about the other critters (expect for Catnap). They will be ordered from most important to the least important.

KickinChicken the Guardian of the Stars:

(i added the bottom beak on purpose)

Let's start with kickin'

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

KickinChicken is most likely the one who defends his friends from bullying.

KickinChicken powers deal with stars and light. He is almost as strong as DogDay.

He often sacrifice himself in order for his friends to escape to find safety. If Dogday is almost there to being killed, he jumps in to prevent it. Because of his sacrifices....he almost had access to change into form at will permanently.

He was able to change into his enhanced form twice without Dogday's assistance. But it happened in two different circumstances. not to mention sudden change, but it was in a necessary moment.

KickinChicken and Dogday works together sometimes.

No matter how much an critter insults KickinChicken, it doesn't bother him. In fact, he will twist the insult into a positive one.

He considers Hoppy Hopscotch his best friend. They both have an friendly rivalry when comes to any game. They get a bit too competitive....almost destructive sometimes. They always doing the "am better than you" attitude. If one of them lost, they take the lost but still cocky.

KickinChicken usually compliments himself and looks at the mirror in his bathroom.

Kickinchicken secretly can sing. He didn't tell anyone because he wanted it to be personal for him only. Until catnap exists and ruins everything. There's concept designs of kickinchicken in his singer outfit design, but i hadn't finalized it.

CRAFTYCORN the Guardian of Colors:

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

More info about her own magic: she has an specific book to learn her own abilities. She tries to learn her own magic, but it pretty much hard for her too. She struggles to use her magic, when it successful, its usually something small. In her enhanced form, she able to use her magic like she trained for years.

Sometimes Craftycorn's magic is successful either under concentration or distress. And sometimes it fails. She also the only critter who can create her own form without Dogday's help. Though it isn't an enhanced form, but rather a different form.

Craftycorn one day wants her art be display in a muesum

In her enhanced form, she has the powers of creation, unicorn magic and color. Making her quite strong. She only has on specific healing ability called Revival. she can only use this on one critter awhile focusing, and if she gets distracted, the progress will fail.

Craftycorn sometimes ends up finding out some stuff before anyone else.

Craftycorn one time was able to beat Catnap without help.

Craftycorn has a crush on Dogday, she didn't at first though. She was saved by Dogday, causing her to gain a crush on him since then (omg its almost like proto-). She been drawing a lot of pictures of him closed doors.

Sometimes she plays chess with Bubba Bubbaphant. She loses mostly.

Bubba Bubbaphant the Guardian of Intelligence:

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

Bubba Bubbaphant has the power of vision, intelligence and detection. He is able to rewind to able to see an vision from the past. Since he most likely using his powers for investigating, making clues and ideas for any sign for an cure.

When bubba bubbaphant is targeted, he sometimes gets it the worst than Dogday, simply because "he's smart". For example, everyone else will get tied up in one way, but bubba bubbaphant will have 15 different ways of being tied and caged to make sure he doesn't try to strategize to escape at all.

Bubbe Bubbaphant pacifism caused injuries. He never try to switch sides, he's still standing his ways.

When Dogday first gain his powers, He went to Bubba Bubbphant to figure things out. Though Bubba Bubbaphant obviously could not answer how to deal with his powers. So instead he tries to study both Dogday's and Catnap's powers.

Bubba Bubbphant had try to to keep up with Catnap's powers, but he clearly wants to give up at this point because its way too much. Its stressing him out

Hoppy Hopscotch the Guardian of Energy:

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

Hoppy Hopscotch powers are lighting, super speed, super jump and energy. She can charge herself by simply running.

Hoppy and KickinChicken are friendly rivals mostly competitive in games. Though Hoppy is usually the one ends up making it more destructive then it originally is. She usually try to win, by doing things faster. She also view kickinchicken as her best friend.

Extension of the trained fighter: When using her fighting skills, she usual attacks fast. Awhile Hoppy was teaching Dogday, she accidentally gives him bruises in the beginning...

She can be just as cocky as kickinchicken sometimes without using the better than you phrase.

When she is being insulted, she usually insult back.

Even when its fighting with Catnap, she still wants an challenge.

Here an example of one of her sports form

Bobby Bearhug the Guardian of Love:

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

Bobby Bearhug have the powers of healing, enchantment and love. She is able to heal multiple critters at once or strengthen them. Her attacking ability is life drain. She discover this by accident.

Due to Bobby Bearhug's pacifism, she gets injured too but not as bad as Bubba Bubbaphant.

She's has been bullied a lot, despite it all she still wants to show love. She don't really judge anyone, despite people judge her.

She does care about Dogday's situation, at the same time she just feel sympathy for Catnap.

Bobby Bearhug can cook, she mostly bakes though. Her food is delicious.

PickyPiggy the Guardian of Food:

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

PickPiggy have the power of food and mixing. That's it. She's considered the weakest critter out of all the powers. At least she can create certain foods that isn't possible.

She is not a cooker at all, despite having cooking related powers. Instead, she just be the first one at the table when the food ready. Getting large portions of foods....no wonder there's no leftovers in the fridge. (no she doesn't eat the ENTIRE cooked meal, she does let her friends get a plate too.)

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CATNAP SECTION

Now....Catnap.. well now you saw how everyone views catnap or at least treat him. Its only right to finally show him now, yes?

He needs his own separate section.

Catnap is the main antagonist of the story.

Catnap....:

Other things that I didn't add due to space?:

Truly everyone is guessing what happened to Catnap, cause no one has no clue.

Catnap powers are either the most strongest or the most weakest... I cannot pick, blame the kids. Catnap has so many powers, even god give up. His powers are the negative versions of dark, psychic, moon, and dreams. He also can send more smokes in his nightmare form, which is from his spores that's on his back. The advantage he has over everyone, his powers at night are 10x stronger....so he can take down all the critters. However the massive downgrade, at daytime, all of his powers goes bye bye, he cannot even turn forms either. He stuck back to just Catnap. Only power he can use is transporting from dark areas. So when the sunrises, he slowly turns back to normal size.

Lunar/Third Quarter Form is usually what he changes into the most, its a mix between the regular form and Nightmare's powers but not having all of its powers. This form is somewhat comic relief. This is where most the jokes be, in this form.

Nightmare form is the most strongest, as he usually do not talk in form. He either wants to put fear or he was extremely angry to change into this form.

Out of all the critters, he believes bobby bearhug is the most insane, ironic.

Catnap at first hated the boot like socks in Lunar form, but ends up being fine with it because it was comfortable.

Unlike the canon og Catnap, catnap committing evil is a complete mystery...or the fact the kids never planned one. who knows.

He has the able to put critters inside a cocoon-like substance, to make them live inside their own nightmare. The victim actually has to find the way to break out of it..somehow

He got the name Boogeyman due to teleporting underneath hoppy's bed and kidnapping her.

Catnap likes pretending to be an magician.

Past Catnap usually likes being around areas that was calm and peaceful. any interruption would startle him.

Past Catnap used go to Bobby to talk about private stuff. Not things that between Dogday and Him though.

He's the only critter in the smiling critters group to not have an enhanced form

Catnap can change his eyes at will. but nightmare form he cannot.

He owns the Lair, which the lair only appears at night. its no where to be seen at day. He got an lair later in the story because he wanted to craft his plans far away from the smiling critters sometimes.

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Now for last one its relationship between Dogday and Catnap (also my last picture i can even post i reach my limit :()

Other things that I didn't add due to space:

Catnap equally insults Dogday, calling Dogday "DogStupid" because he believes that Dogday is actually stupid. Catnap actually insulted Dogday first.

Rarely, Catnap doesn't attack Dogday on certain days, as he sometimes target someone else.

Every since Dogday gained powers, Catnap been obsessed with trying to gain his powers. Mostly because he wants to torture him so that Dogday wouldn't be able to defend himself or enhance anyone no more.

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End !! now for the extras and Concepts! sorry no images.

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Concepts/Removed:

Originally there was going be humans in the cartoon world. Because how care bears and the old MLP had humans. There was 2 humans that was along with the Smiling Critters, Oliver and Maxwell. Oilver would have blond hair pigtails and pink overalls and Maxwell had brown hair. Oliver was the confident feminine girl awhile Maxwell was a curious boy. She and Maxwell would've helped the smiling critters. Oliver would've try to fight Catnap but Catnap wouldn't even attack her, but rather put her somewhere safe.

In continuation of the humans concept, there was going be a castle way up in the sky, as the only way to access it is through a magic beanstalk. The castle had a princess named princess balloobow. She is a human with powers. She would've attempted to cure Catnap's evil but it would failed. She also would've been the one who taught Dogday on how to use his powers properly.

lastly of the human concept, in some epsiodes, The smiling critters would've travel all over the world to find the cure. having an adventure and meeting new people or critters. Catnap still would've been a villain during those adventures. They would've have got clues about the cure, the origins of Dogday's abilities, an hint about what happen to Catnap and the mystery of the current Catnap. However during those travels, Catnap would've slowly become stronger...due to collecting stuff. Dogday would've also become stronger, from looking at the ancient stuff. Sometimes in their travel, they would help people or other critters.

Catnap would've an fourth form called Disenchant form, being the opposite of enhanced form.

The original name of this au was called Nighttime with Catnap. it was also called Smiling Critters and Shenanigans.

Dogday and Current Catnap was originally considered frenemies.

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Origin of this AU

This start off as an one-off joke where Dogday staying up all night playing videogames with Kickinchicken. Dogday was trying to keep himself awake until he fall asleep. As soon he woke up he was chained up on his own bed, just to find Catnap smiling at him. Catnap says he's about to punish him because he surpass his healthy sleeping schedule and decides to punish him by forcing him to watch Megamind 2. Dogday beg for mercy but Catnap turns it on, causing Dogday try to struggle to escape and scream.

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Extras

Pickypig is the only character to even question why don't they just attack Catnap at daytime because he's basically weak. (the reason is because the smiling critters do not want to cause commotion and attract large attention from the people in the town)

Possessed Dogday exists in this au, but ill talk about it on another post. Just so you know, He did not get his body controlled in the same way the bigger bodies Dogday was.

Amber first ever toy was the poppy playtime doll. every single smiling critters came out, she abandoned her, but she still in her room.

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End of the actual post ! ! this took too long, and i might forget to add certain details as usual. anyway i hope you enjoy the post, see ya

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