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the-witheredroses · 6 months

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Oscar Isaac Characters Eating You Out

Minors DNI

Featured Characters: Miguel O’Hara, Moon Knight System, Basil Stitt, Anselm Vogelweide, Blue Jones, Poe Dameron, Nathan Bateman, Duke Leto Atreides, Prince John, Santiago “Pope” Garcia x afab!reader (Pronouns and descriptions aren’t used for the reader)

CW: SMUT (did you look at the title?), pet names, slight size difference, fingering, face riding, mention of periods, slapping, toys, anal, dub-con, sub and dom roles, squirting, overstim/crying, untranslated Spanish, and possibly some other things (All are just brief mentions)

These are just some short, dumb little rambles/headcannons of mine, so it’s not written the best. Not proofread or heavily edited.

(Lmk if you want more in the future)

Miguel O’Hara - Across the Spiderverse

Miguel is a tired man, always overworking himself with the Spider Society. All because he’s extremely thorough, never leaving something to be completed at a later date. Because of this, it’s not often he gets the chance to destress.

So, when it comes time to pleasure, he’s just as thorough. Miguel makes sure you feel just as much pleasure as he does.

Of course, because of his lack of free time, Miguel doesn’t care where or when it happens, he’s eating you out.

You’re in his office? Bend over.

You’re on your period? I guess he’s not beating the vampire allegations.

Pick a time or a place, he’s there, willing to thoroughly please you in whatever way he can.

Miguel is on his knees with your legs over his shoulders. His claws gently pricking at the soft of your thighs as he holds you still.

If you squirm too much, he is glaring at you from overtop your heat, pinning you in place with one of his massive hands.

His tongue runs laps in your cunt, teasing your clit and slurping you up. He’s eating you like a starved man, letting out small growls every now and again.

Miguel will refuse to touch himself until you’ve climaxed multiple times. He has the stamina to keep going for hours, and this is just a warm up for him. Besides, he’d rather see either of your pretty lips wrapped around his length over his hand.

When you’re a trembling, sopping mess underneath him, he’ll finally stop. His lower face is shiny as he licks his lips and hungrily smirks at you.

“Don’t think this is over, mi amor. This is just the beginning…”

Marc Spector / Steven Grant / Jake Lockley - Moon Knight

Marc wants you to feel as much pleasure as possible, because while he denies it, a part of him is a people pleaser. He always puts his partners above himself, including during intimate moments.

Marc is experienced and he will take the time to know what you like. Marc practically memorizes your body and what gets you riled up. But if he has the choice, he has you on your knees as he eats you out from behind.

Marc has you bent over as his tongue hits that perfect spot, causing you to tremble and moan in pleasure.

He loves seeing you grasp the sheets as you bury your face in your pillow, to him it’s a sign of validation, evidence that he’s making you feel good.

His hands grab at your thighs and ass as he goes to town. If he feels you try to pull away, he’ll swat your rear until you stay still.

When his mouth starts to ache, Marc will pull up and insert his fingers instead. He’ll move them in the way that has your toes curling and has muffled screams coming from your pillow.

Of course though, he finishes the job with his mouth back on you, drinking up every ounce you give him. He’ll lick his lips clean and kiss your cunt in praise.

“You did so good for me, darling…”

Steven is the most insecure of the boys. He never had the chance to date before, so he’s always worried about making you feel good. He especially worries when he hears how Marc talks about your guys' time together. Steven wants to make you feel just as good.

But Steven isn’t as affirmative as Marc or Jake.

Steven will keep you on your back, his hands feeling his favorite parts of your body. He loves to caress you.

Steven likes to be thorough but also to go slow. He wants you to feel every little moment he makes.

His tongue hits the spots you love, but it’s methodical, careful.

Steven pleasures you as though you could fall apart if he were to be too rough. But if you grind your hips or grab his hair, he’ll go a bit faster.

He lets you have control, his goal is to make you feel good, so why wouldn’t he listen to you?

Despite being focused on you, Steven won’t hesitate to make himself feel good too. Whether it’s with his hand or just humping at the mattress in front of him.

He definitely gets pussy drunk, babbling as dines on you.

“So pretty… so pretty…”

Jake, on the other hand, prefers to be a bit risky.

As much as he loves private moments with you (like the other boys), the thrill of getting caught makes it more exciting for him.

He’ll absolutely eat you out in his car or in an empty alleyway. All because you dressed up pretty for him or gave him that perfect smile of yours.

Jake likes to be quick but efficient with you, at least in public.

Jake sinks to his knees and pushes you against the brick wall. His hand stays on your stomach, making sure you don’t scramble from his grasp.

He’d start slow, intentionally making you panic about getting caught, but as he gets quicker, you become a moaning mess above him.

Jake will smirk as he makes quick work of you, making you finish quicker than you thought possible.

“Tan perfecta/o, mi vida… tan perfecta/o para mí…”

All of them love you so much, so sometimes after a hard day, they’ll each take turns making you feel good.

Steven most likely starts, being that he’s the most gentle. He’s a good warm up and he’s good for calming down without actually stopping. But with the other guys there too, he definitely is being a bit more aggressive to keep up.

Marc and Jake will take their turns, teasing and riling you up. Just between those two alone, your position is constantly changing, there’s no chance you’re getting sore from being stuck in one place.

Each of the boys will make sure you feel good, prioritizing you above all else. They even monitor each other through the many mirrors littered throughout the apartment. They just want their darling to feel good <3

Each will take their time, only stopping when you’re an overstimulated, crying mess.

Soft kisses and cuddling definitely ensue afterwards.

“Our beautiful darling…”

Basil Stitt - Lightningface

Basil, the pathetic, desperate, possessive loner. He will do anything for your attention. He will follow your every order. You don’t even have to touch him, he’ll cum just from eating you out. He loves you that much.

Basil is aggressive as he eats you out, desperate to make you finish. Because if you finish, you’ll stay, despite his scars.

He moans and whimpers more than you do as you pull him deeper into your cunt. His hands grapple at every curve of your body, desperate to make sure you’re real, that you want him.

Why would anyone want a monster like him? Even his own girlfriend cheated on him before his accident happened.

As he tastes you, he desperately chases your climax.

He needs you to feel good. He needs you.

When your legs tense around his head and you start praising him, he starts crying and finishes as well, his seed staining the floor below him.

His head falls against your inner thigh as his tears fall fast. He grabs at you harshly, his fear causing his chest to ache.

“Imsosorry… staywithmeplease…”

Anselm Vogelweide - Big Gold Brick

Anselm is a weirdo, a big horny weirdo, let’s get that out of the way.

Anselm will touch you and do whatever he wants whenever he wants. This kinky switch of a man will eat you out in any way possible, and it’s never simple.

Per his request, he lies tied up with you over him. His arms are completely restrained as he lets you control the situation.

Your glittering heat flutters as he blows on you, smirking at every little reaction you have. He loves your noises, especially when you’re loud.

Eventually you sit on his face, and groaning happily, he licks up into you.

Your hips rock back and forth on his face, his nose hitting your throbbing clit harshly. You’re breathing heavily as Anselm eats you up, his beard scratching the back of your legs as your hips move.

Despite being such an odd man, he absolutely knows what he’s doing, like— he’s extremely talented with his tongue alone. With every squirm and noise you make, he’s watching you like a hawk.

Your high builds and comes crashing down quickly. But when you start to move off, he harshly demands you get back.

“We aren’t done yet, doll. If you don’t get back on, I’ll kill myself.”

Blue Jones - Sucker Punch

Blue doesn’t eat you out for your pleasure, no- it’s to prove a point.

He owns you, just like he owns all the people working for his club. And because he owns you, he has to make sure you know how good only he can make you.

You were in the dressing room when he approached you, his eyes hungrily scanning your body.

Whether out of fear or attraction, you do everything he asks. So when he asks you to strip bare, you do exactly that.

With his head between your thighs, it’s hard to remember that this man could kill you without a second thought. He’s just too talented with his tongue.

Running a club has its perks, including having lots of practice in making others feel good. With all this practice, this man will do anything to make you squirt. He sees it as a sign of victory, that his toy likes him the best.

Your back is arching as Blue hits your sweet spot. Your hips lightly hump his face and nose, chasing your high. His hands grip your legs, letting you ride his face more and more.

You squirt all over his face, causing him to hum in approval.

When you finish, he licks a stripe through your arousal. Blue’s eyes meet yours.

“Bunny, do you act like such a desperate whore with all the clients?”

Poe Dameron - Star Wars

Lover of the sky, Poe is known for being quite flirty. With the constant travel, Poe has had his share of hookups and romantic partners.

Which is why, of course, Poe would do anything to make you feel as much pleasure as possible.

He’s cocky, sure, but when he brags about how loud he makes you scream, you know it’s the truth.

After a long day of travel, Poe is clinging to your cunt.

As his tongue runs laps through your folds, you tightly grip at his curls.

He’s already made you finish at least twice, and he’s desperate for another.

Your cunt is trembling from overstimulation, broken moans escaping your lips as you lazily try to pull him away.

With every faint tug of his hair, he pulls your body closer towards his mouth, not letting you escape.

His tongue circles your clit like a dehydrated man, wanting you to release and give every drop of yourself to him again and again.

When Poe gets you to release over his tongue once more, he doesn’t back off, speaking as he licks every drop.

“Just one more… Can you handle one more for me, baby?”

Nathan Bateman - Ex Machina

Nathan doesn’t eat you out normally, he much prefers using his fingers if he has to.

This man prefers making himself feel good above all else, he only tolerates making you feel good. Which is why he always makes you finish quickly or sometimes not at all, moving on to make sure he can get his pleasure from this exchange.

The only time he has eaten you out was when he walked in on you having a wet dream, mumbling his name as your legs spread under the blankets.

You wake up moaning loudly, Nathan tucked between your thighs, mouth to your aching core.

As he hits your sweet spot, you instinctively grab his head. His buzzed hair provides nothing to grip to as your hips sleepily grinds his face.

Everything feels extra sensitive and good, the lack of previous priority making you extra needy.

His beard provides a scratchy and satisfying feeling as his tongue laps up your soaked folds.

He doesn’t even acknowledge that you’ve awoken, now on a mission to make you finish on his mouth.

His hands grope at your waist and ass, gripping at all the soft flesh he can.

When you finish with trembling legs, he lifts his head, his beard glistening in your juices. His hand palms over his cock as he sits on his knees and stares down at you.

“Get up. It’s my turn.”

Duke Leto Atreides - Dune

Leto is a very busy man, but he does worship you when he gets the chance.

Constantly being needed by everyone, it feels nice to relax and give himself to the one person he wants to: you.

Sure, sometimes you’re under the table servicing him, but it’s not often he gets the chance to do the same for you.

He’s on his knees, worshiping your pussy like it is a divine god. Leto is praying to you with his tongue.

Leto is so focused on you, he can’t even acknowledge his own pleasure before he knows you’ve had some release.

He has to give his baby some extra care while he has the chance <3

His hands touch every inch that he can, worshiping all of you that he can.

Leto’s nose bumps your clit as he watches you like prey, he just loves your blissed out expression.

When you two make eye contact, he makes his assault that much more pleasurable. Whether that’s adding in his fingers or reaching deep into you with his tongue. Man loves his eye contact.

When you climax, he’s smiling and peppering kisses over your inner thighs.

“I still have time, shall we go for another?”

Prince John - Robin Hood (2010)

John is a man of pleasure, and he will devour you as long as he gets some in return. Just… never mention your ex or past relationships, he gets jealous.

He loves different positions and experimenting with you, as long as you’re both having fun or a good time, then he’s more than happy.

John, the whiny man, is begging into your cunt as you two eat each other up.

Your mouth is wrapped around his length as he laps up your warmth.

With each stroke of your tongue, he moves his in tandem. Every moan you gain from him, wonderfully rumbles your pussy.

His hands grasp and pull your ass cheeks, kneading the soft flesh.

John eats you like a starved man, because despite his regal status, you are by far the best meal he’s eaten.

At least that’s what he’d be saying if it weren’t the end to your guys night of pleasure, and John didn’t need an heir.

He probably isn’t the most thrilled to be eating his and your cum out of your pussy, but it's you, so he can’t complain.

Together, you finish and clean each other of every last drop, leaving both of you exhausted.

John pats his shoulder.

“Come, rest your head.”

Santiago “Pope” Garcia - Triple Frontier

Santiago loves to tease you. No matter the situation or place, he will edge you until you’re crying.

He likes seeing you as a whimpering mess, begging for some relief.

You were just on the cusp of finishing when Santiago pulled away, watching as you begged him to let you cum.

He’d chuckle and hold your hands hostage, not letting you get the chance to finish what he started.

As you start to come down from your high, he’d go back in, licking and eating your cunt out.

As you squirm, chasing your release, he’d cage your legs in place with his arms and hands. You’re not allowed to escape him or his constant teasing.

When he finally lets you finish, you’re a trembling mess, your hole clutching at his tongue as he eats every last drop.

“You’re so cute like this… maybe I should go again?”

—————————————————

Thanks for reading!

Lmk if you want me to add more of his characters or do a different set of characters (like Genshin men for ex.)

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guav · 2 years

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Hello!☺️ Can you do a Yandere Rindou? So like Ayano is Rindou and the senpai is The reader, like the roles. The role of Rindou is Ayano but the role of senpai is The reader.

It's like Yandere simulator! :)

ᥫ᭡ for haitani rindou, OBJECT OF OBSESSION

⚠︎⠀yandere themes; explicit descriptions of murder, blood, obsession, stalking, all that. he's in his last year of high school for plot purposes

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who starts acting weird

he says tenjiku rendezvous got tedious. swears up and down with a sneer that his time is precious, and there are more pressing matters to attend.

ran likes to think he knows his brother well-enough to know truth from lie. although it is pretty odd rindou’s bottom drawer now has a lock, or he rarely leaves his laptop in their living room anymore; doesn’t allow for prying eyes into his life.

perhaps it’s odd, but they’re old enough to not be joined at the hip twenty-four seven.

so the oldest haitani doesn’t think too much of it. it’s none of his business.

a little his business when he finds rindou to go missing for entire mornings and evenings. very much ran’s business when he starts showing up late to meetings and there’s a need to convince izana not to splat rindou’s brain matter on the sidewalk next time he shows his face.

ran makes the conscious decision to shrug his new behavior off.

whatever’s gotten into his younger brother can’t be worse than anything they get up to together. rindou much prefers to operate as a duo whenever there’s violence involved. his sudden change of attitude surely couldn't lead to anything that bad.

right?

⠀

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who at first is convinced you’re a stalker.

let’s rewind a couple months back.

hard as he tried, rindou haitani is unable to pinpoint the exact moment you started to bleed into his days.

in the mornings your footsteps would be so loud outside his apartment. desperation was not a good look, there were better ways to get his attention (note, you were just walking to school, minding your own business).

on evenings your saccharine voice would always get his attention when walking to the liquor store (second note, you were just trying to power through your part-time job in that same street).

and during nights, after exhaustive hours of branding a uniform and doing the dirty jobs on occasions, your presence in his dreams would be very hard to ignore.

dreams where your lips would explore his own endlessly, charm forever sealed in his grasp. mewls that cried for each inch of skin he’d inspect. reveries where you’d be his. nightmares where rindou would be witness to someone else tasting what’s his.

you were stalking him, weren’t you? there’s no other explanation to your sudden prominent standing in his life.

the only sensible course of action was to tail you, too. just to make sure you’re not something he needs to be concerned about, of course.

⠀

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who for the first time in years, sat through an entire lecture.

it took rindou about two hours to assemble all the pieces to his old uniform in one same place. some were under trash bags, others shoved deep inside his closet. a good clean later and he was ready to carry out an operation to find out what your true intentions are.

once upon a time the brothers had to enroll into a local high school to scope territory. never would rindou have guessed he’d be back doing rounds through the same halls, eyes scanning through each classroom.

it was nauseating. so many people breathing the same air as him. unforgivable.

barely a couple seconds before he snapped someone in half, rindou caught wind of it. your light footsteps, a cheery giggle, an imaginary trail of thorns and roses in your wake.

you.

rindou haitani was presented with two options. the schoolyard was spacious, so much to the point of a table having the perfect view to your classroom. staking out your every hour would be easy, and the risk of getting caught would be close to none.

“oh, are you new?” your voice tastes even sweeter when it’s directed to him. when your words belong to rindou the world feels right. “i didn’t know we could get transfers this late in the course—i can help you catch up if you’d like.”

the smile you flash at him is better than any bone he’s dislocated with his bare hands. better than anything he’s had.

everything about you is dangerous. from your clear intentions to captivate him, to the way you’re fucking good at it.

it’s a shame rindou’s better though. he’ll just have to stick around advanced calculus to have the upper hand and observe you from up close.

⠀

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who surprisingly caught word of a confession before you did, and saw red.

rindou’s come to the conclusion you’re not a threat. perhaps it’s everyone else he should be concerned about.

the wake-up call comes as a letter with a red stamp, left behind by some forgettable classmate with unbelievably clammy hands.

a stupid move for an amateur. clearly someone who doesn’t even deserve five minutes of your time if he was unheeding to the point of not knowing thursdays are the days you’re around fifteen minutes late to first period. wednesdays are laundry days, leaving you in a frenzy to collect your unfolded laundry from the day before, consequently delaying your usual routine (wake up, shower with lukewarm water, hygiene, clothe, repeat).

only an idiot would also leave a confession letter behind when rindou haitani was present.

it’s bothersome having to stand and throw the piece of paper away. so much that rindou feels like he deserves to at least see what the idiot had to write. unfolding carefully wasn’t something that existed in his head. the letter is ripped open, if not to satiate his urge to do the same to your daft suitor.

the letter is emptier than he’d imagined, only a vague request to meet after class on the rooftop adorned the white sheet.

“rin?” the paper is quickly tucked away in his pocket, though you’re ever oblivious to the movement. “i know i said we could go over some stuff before class, i really didn’t mean to be late!”

rindou scoffs, fixing his glasses. “if i fail it’s on you.”

the annoyance in his tone enters one ear and leaves through the other, rindou’s sass no longer fazes you. “let me make it up to you, how about a study session at my place after school?”

“and your parents are okay with a criminal in your own house?”

they’re out of town.

you shrug, “they’re out of town, plus i’m sure they’d be fine since we’re gonna be working.”

“should you really be telling that to strangers?” rindou is convinced you’re a danger to yourself.

“you’re not a stranger,” and the way you say it makes him believe it for a moment. the invitation is all-too tempting. voice luring him like a starved man, eyes making him feel like he owns the world.

a grim reminder rests in his pocket. “i can’t, i have stuff to do after class.”

somehow the hurt flashing across your face is something he can’t get enough of. a new emotion to add to his catalog. “is it gonna take long?”

rindou grins, “you’re cute when you’re desperate.”

it doesn’t hurt when you smack his arm, or when you call him mean—doesn’t sting because he is, and because rindou already knows you don’t mean it.

“i’ll wait for you so we can go, okay?”

guess he’s gonna have to make it quick.

⠀

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who knows everything’s fair game as long as you don’t get caught.

“pathetic,” screams are silenced by rindou’s hand, muffled before they could ever alert another wretched soul. fear-stricken, twisting, and writhing like an animal at a slaughterhouse.

“gross,” it’s a messy crime scene. blood, exposed cartilage, and bone. unrecognizable by the time rindou is done.

“stupid,” this morning there were two people after your heart. now, only one remains, along with a mangled sight of student and cruor.

rindou haitani doesn’t care much for the pained wheezing coming from your suitor. he doesn’t savor it like every other injury he inflicts. this wasn’t anything but an execution, it would be unrealistic to even call him competition.

there was never a rivalry. not even a chance for contesting an award rindou gained long before you came to meet him. it will be a cold day in hell before he allows anyone else to even indulge in such fantasy. kill count forever rising, roppongi home to bloodshed until there is an understanding that whatever he wants will inevitably he his, and only his.

an annoyed sigh is all that accompanies the dead. irritation overpowering the nonexistent guilt of taking a life. something primal begs rindou to leave the rooftop as is, it would be a good warning for anyone with underlying intentions to follow the same steps.

sadistic in nature, methodical in practice—he opts for cleaning instead.

two trash bags, a mop washing away sin, and spare change of clothes is enough erase all trace of murder. not a spot is left in his wake; nothing to indicate there was ever a dent or obstacle between the two of you.

forever forgotten are the days where he’d only allow himself to witness from afar. no longer will rindou have to do rounds through empty streets just to wait for your nightstand’s light to gift him your silhouette.

he won’t have to worry for getting caught, not when you’re waiting for him a couple floors down; and most certainly not when the other fool chasing after your heart doesn’t even have blood pumping to his own any longer.

⠀

★ ⋆ . ⠀YANDERE! RINDOU, who is gonna go mad.

“i thought you were gonna take longer.”

rindou rolls his eyes, mindlessly reaching for your bag to carry. sarcasm in his intonation: “surprise.”

as much as his impudence is unwarranted, you can’t be mad. tutoring rindou is learning rindou, and he speaks through actions. there’s no other option than to bite back a smile when he’s already at the door, barking at you to hurry up.

a small detail makes you stop dead in your tracks. rindou raises an eyebrow, you simply stare.

it’s a small stain. easy to overlook, yet suddenly so prominent from the corner of his eye. rindou has no explanation for his erratic heartbeat.

all evidence was carefully disposed of, how could he have missed blood on his glasses?

such an obvious mistake. he’s already blocking the entrance to cut your escape route short.

“oh, rin,” your innocence speaks volumes as you lean over, hands coming to grip his glasses. “let me clean them for you.”

he really, really can’t explain the tint crawling up his face.

your movements are delicate, gentle as they cup his face. soft as you blow on the glass. hypnotizing as you tug on your shirt; white, pure, to clean the red smudge. effectively ridding any proof rindou is a threat by your own volition.

rindou feels his sanity slipping, the line between a careful plan blurring with his buried urges.

victim to dimorphous expression, rindou slips.

your wrist meets his own hand, grip so vicious for a moment you fear it intends to harm. chin raised by a single finger with way more force than truly needed.

as if seeking an explanation as to why the distance between your back and the nearest wall was completely erased within seconds, all you find is rindou’s own eyes. you swear they’re twitching—fighting something you were previously blind to.

“rin?”

rindou is gonna go mad. you’re stupid, so, so incredibly naive. ingenuos to all his advances and ties to crime, so unaware of the decomposing inside different plastic bags. you’re addicting in the purest sense of the word.

so when he leans in to kiss you, and you meet him halfway, rindou swears he’s already gone insane.

⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀navi.⠀＆⠀m.list⠀＆⠀send me an ask!

#i have Never played yan sim so i hope this is ok!#rindou x reader #yandere #rindou haitani x reader #rindou haitani #tokyorev x reader #tokyo revengers x reader #tr x reader #yandere x reader #ROGUEL1KE

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streetlight11 · 9 months

Text

What Are You Doing Here?

Summary: It's been 6 years since you earned the title of being an Aunt to one of the most beautiful little girl you've ever laid eyes on. She was your sister's daughter and you love her with all your heart. So what happens when you go over to your sister's place to surprise both her and your niece, only to meet the babysitter who has been looking after your niece for a few weeks now?

Theme: babysitter au, ex-schoolmates to lovers

Genre: slowburn, romance, fluff

Warnings: mild language, mentions of irresponsible partner,

W/C: 10.9k

Pairing: Babysitter!Changmin x Fem!Reader

a/n: Hello! I'm back with another fanfic! Apologies for my horrible description about y/n's work and job role because I know nothing about finance and how it works 🤡 Hope you like the overall fanfic though 🙏🏼

6 years ago, your sister gave birth to the most gorgeous little human being you’ve ever seen. She was the reason why you became an aunt. You love your niece with all your heart, promising to be there beside her every step of the way. Reason being the guy who got your sister pregnant who is supposedly her boyfriend of 3 years, had chosen to abandon his responsibilities as a father when he found out she was carrying his child. You were beyond furious with him to the point where you actually went down to his apartment to curse the fuck out of him.

After your niece was born, you made sure that you were there with her as she grew up. She was the reason why you look forward to living everyday. There wasn’t a day where you didn’t spend time with her. When you were in college, you worked as a part time barista to pay off your school fees and monthly expenses on food and stuff. The extra money you had was spent on her toys, snacks, food, anything that would make her happy and lessen your sister’s burden in a way.

She is a single mom after all so it’s only right for you to help out with whatever you can. Whenever your sister has to work or is busy with something, you’re always there to help her out no matter how tired or busy you are. A few years following her birth, your sister had saved enough money to rent an apartment solely for her and her daughter, Lucy.

As much as she was thankful that your parents were okay with having her and Lucy live in your family home, your sister wanted to move out because your parents were already old and she didn’t want to burden them even more. Taking care of two kids was already enough for them. Therefore, your sister rented a place not too far from your campus. During the first three years after you graduated high school, you were still living with your parents.

When you finally saved enough money, that’s when you moved out and rented an apartment that was just a 15 minutes walk from your sister’s place. It was way easier to travel back and forth to look after Lucy and spend time with her ever since.

Sometimes you would go to their place, sometimes they would come to your place. You are pretty close with your sister. You loved her unconditionally so to see her go through parenthood alone, it definitely breaks your heart but you also see how strong she is. Not many people can do this and yet, here she is. You are beyond proud of her.

It’s been 7 years since you graduated high school and you are now a working adult. You are working under a pretty well known company. Your job is stressful but most of the time, you have very codependent team members whom you work well with. You are thankful that your team is a bunch of nice people who you can bond with. The team has a total of 5 people and you’re all really good friends with each other. There was Jieun, who is your team leader, Yoongi, Taehyung, Yeji and yourself.

You have been working with this company and the team for almost 2 years now and you’re still grateful for it till today. Whenever you’re having a whole load of work stress, they’re always there to relieve it. Even your sister knows them because of how often you tell her about them.

However a few months ago, your CEO announced that they were starting this new production line which will be a test to see how well the sales are. If it goes well, they will launch the product for good and put it out on the market. Your job was to keep an eye on the sales and calculate the financial impact of the product. It’s stressful but at least you have a team working with you on it.

Due to this new project, you had to OT more often every week and this has led to you only seeing Lucy on weekends and less on weekdays. It sucks that you have to spend less time with your niece but at least you still see her on weekends.

It was a Saturday afternoon and you promised to bring Lucy to the mall. So it was Lucy, your sister and yourself who are going to the mall to hang out for the day. Jisoo drove so she placed Lucy in her baby chair at the back seat while you sat in front with your sister. Lucy was sleeping so you had this time to have a private chat with Jisoo about life and work. A year ago, you were dating someone you met at university. He was two years younger than you and everything was going well with him.

He was your person.

Unfortunately, with the accumulating fights and disagreements began to slowly build up at one point, a huge argument happened one day and both of you decided to break things off after realizing that it might never work. Both of you had very different perceptions of things and could never come together as one. Therefore, that was the only logical thing to do and this all happened just over 2 months ago.

“I haven’t heard about him in a while. Lucy asked me about him recently too.” Jisoo said, only for you to stare blankly into the dashboard.

It took you a while to reply but when you did, you had to take a deep breath first and said, “We broke up…” Your sister glanced at you briefly but made sure to keep her focus on the road.

“When?”

“2 months ago, give or take…” You said quietly to avoid waking Lucy up.

“I’m sorry.” She said, making you shake your head.

“No, it’s fine. I just feel like we’re too different and we’re no longer compatible with each other. So I didn’t wanna waste my time pining over someone who doesn’t wanna work together.”

“Well, I guess you did the right thing then… What are you gonna tell her though?” Jisoo asked as you glanced at the back seat to find Lucy sleeping.

“I won’t say anything to her until she asks me about him, I guess…”

“Yeah, I think it’s best if she hears it from you instead of me.” Jisoo said. You agreed with her decision because it’s your life so you should be the one sharing, not her. Just then, she changes the topic to avoid the awkward atmosphere about your ex boyfriend.

“By the way, I know I should’ve told you sooner but a few weeks after you started to get busy with your OTs, I started to keep getting night shifts so I decided to hire a babysitter. It’s been a month now. And guess what?”

“What?”

“Lucy loves him! She adores him so much, it’s literally so adorable.”

“Wait a minute… Your babysitter is a guy?” You asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Young and handsome too.” She said with a cheeky wink, causing you to gag. Your sister then scoffs at your reaction to defend herself before you get the wrong idea.

“Not for me, you fool. I’m telling you that he’s young and handsome.” She smirked teasingly to which you rolled your eyes.

“How young? And I don’t trust your tastebuds.”

“Rude. Look, he’s your age and I’m telling you… He is drop dead gorgeous.” She said but all you did was brush her off.

You still won’t believe her until you see him for yourself. Only then will you agree with whether he’s handsome or not.

You changed the topic again, not wanting to wake Lucy up as Jisoo finally pulls into the mall car park. All three of you got out of the car once it was properly parked and made your way into the mall. You spend almost half a day there, grabbing lunch, going to the clothing store to shop for your things, going to a toy store to buy Lucy new toys and plushies, going to watch a new cartoon movie in the cinema.

All in all, it was a very good day well spent with Lucy after a stressful week at work. Unfortunately, your day was being cut short when your sister got a last minute call from her senior nurse telling her to come down tonight to cover a shift for her colleague who took an urgent leave. You were pissed because today was supposed to be Jisoo’s day off but there’s nothing much you can say. Even if you told your sister to tell them it’s her day off, she would still go down to cover the shift.

Which is why you were now at her apartment to keep Lucy company for the night while your sister left for work. After she left, you showered Lucy and prepared her dinner. You were just feeding her dinner in the living room when she came to you with a sketchbook filled with drawings.

“Wow, did you draw these?” You asked as she sat in your lap to flip through the pages.

“Yeah! But Uncle Minie drew some of it!” She said, making you wonder if that was the name of her babysitter.

“Is Uncle Minie a good person?”

“He is! He’s very nice to me and mommy.”

“Mmm, you must really like him then, don’t you?” You said and as a result, she giggled adorably in your lap.

“I do! You have to meet him… I think you will like him too, Auntie Y/N!” She said so all you could do was smile. You continued to play with her after dinner until she grew tired so you could tuck her into bed. When she was finally asleep, you cleaned up the house a little before taking a shower and went to bed.

Almost a month has passed since you last saw Lucy and your sister. Work got very hectic and your schedule has been pretty off lately. You had to work on weekends for the past few weeks and it was mentally draining. The project has been a success recently which is why you had to work extra everyday but your schedule was starting to simmer down and was now proceeding to launch it for real and properly this time. Nevertheless, it has been really tiring for you but thankfully you had your team with you to motivate each other and give words of encouragement to one another.

It was a Friday evening and you decided to surprise Lucy and your sister tonight after not seeing them for so long. Before heading over to their place though, you didn’t forget to stop by Lucy’s favourite fast food restaurant to get her french fries. It was her ultimate favourite snack that she would never fail to ask for whenever you brought her out or came over to the house. You bought extra food so everyone could eat, including the babysitter just in case he was hungry.

It didn’t take long to arrive at your sister’s apartment so when you made it in front of her door, you gave it a few knocks and waited patiently for someone to open it. The one who ended up greeting you at the door was Lucy.

“Hi baby!” You said as she hugged your hips tightly with his small dainty arms.

“How are you, my favourite niece?” You asked as she let go of your hips to let you walk in. You closed the door behind you as Jisoo came out from the kitchen with her uniform already worn.

“I’m good, auntie!” Lucy said, making you kiss the top of your head before holding out the bags of food in your hand.

“I bought all of us dinner. And I bought you fries, Lucy!”

“Yay!” She cheered as she ran off and disappeared into the living room.

“What time are you leaving for work?” You asked as your sister took the bags from you while you took off your heels by the door.

“Soon. I have to come early tonight because one of the nurses took an urgent leave.” She said.

“Eat something first at least before you go. Don’t delay your dinner.” You scolded her while she quietly took out the fries from the bag. You helped her take a plastic plate from the cabinet, passing it to her. She then took out a handful of fries and placed it on the plate before you took it and brought it to the living room where Lucy was playing with her dolls.

“Lucy, auntie will put your fries here okay?” You said as she ran over to take one and put it in her mouth while excitedly thanking you. Just when you turn to go back to the kitchen, a figure comes out of the hallway only to stop dead in his tracks. His eyes were completely wide from shock.

“Changmin? What are you doing here?” His name slips off your tongue naturally as your sister looks back and forth between you and Changmin. He was speechless and so were you until Lucy ran up to his side and held his hand in hers with a bright smile.

“Auntie, how do you know Uncle Minie? Is he your boyfriend too?” Lucy asked as you glanced over to your sister and then to Changmin. He was still staring at you quietly but his eyes were no longer wide so you looked at Lucy and smiled.

“H-He’s just an old friend, who happens to be a boy. Not my boyfriend.” You explained to her while she let go of his arm and hops over to you when you gestured her to come to you.

“Who is your boyfriend then?” She asked, to which you kneeled down beside the coffee table while you pulled her into your lap.

“Remember Uncle Sunwoo?”

“The one who gave me the stitch soft toy?” She asked and you smiled at her.

“Yes. Do you remember him?”

“I do!”

“That was my boyfriend.” You said while gently cupping her cheek.

“Why isn’t Uncle Sunu here today?” She asked, only for you to accidentally glance up to find Changmin staring at you quietly with no particular expression on his face.

“Because he’s no longer my boyfriend anymore, that’s why he’s not here. But it’s okay, you have Uncle Changmin now right? I heard you like Uncle Changmin a lot.” You asked, only for her to giggle and point to him with a bright smile on her face.

“Yes! I like Uncle Minie!” She said. After you’ve let go of her, she runs back to him only to bring him to her play area in front of the tv.

You’ve known Changmin since kindergarten and high school. You used to bicker with him a lot and because he was your classmate, all the more reason for you to fight with him almost everyday. As much as you don’t like him at the time, you don’t consider him your enemy though. It’s not like you despise him or anything as a person. Sure he’s sort of similar to you in terms of being introverts but other than that, he’s too much of a weirdo to actually understand how he sees things when he was younger. Therefore, the endless amount of arguments with him. And after graduating, you never saw him again.

You went back into the kitchen to help pack the food for your sister, making sure she wouldn’t starve at work knowing how she is when she’s stressed or is thinking too much about things she chooses not to share with anyone. So when you placed the bag of burger and fries in her smaller lunch bag, you reminded her to eat when she’s having her break time and to not skip her meals during work. You then walked with her to the front door only to call Lucy over.

“Lucy, your mommy’s going to work.”

“Okay! Bye mommy!” She said as she ran to your sister to give her a hug and kiss. You were just watching them when Changmin’s voice sounded softly from behind you.

“Didn’t expect to see you again.” He said.

“Me too… Didn’t take you for a babysitter.”

“This is just a past time thing…”

“But you babysit her almost everyday.”

“Because I like her.” Upon hearing his words, this made you whip your head to him with a frown.

“My sister or my niece?” You narrowed your eyes at him.

“What do you think? Not gonna lie though, your sister’s pretty hot.” That’s when you slapped his arm and glared at him.

“My sister is off limits you pervert.” You scolded him, only for him to cackle.

“Fine. What about her sister then? Is she off limits too?” It took you a while to realise what he was saying and before you could even reply to him, Lucy was already rushing to you and waving to her mother.

“Bye sis.” You smiled as you gestured to Lucy to follow Changmin while you went to lock the front door. You came back to the living room to find Changmin teasing her by stealing her fries. You’ve never seen this side of him. Who knew Changmin of all people would be this good to a child especially considering he’s the youngest in his family.

About an hour or so later after you’ve showered and changed into your pyjamas since you’ve already planned to sleep over, you came back out to find Lucy curled up in Changmin’s lap on the couch. Paw Patrol was playing on the screen but it seemed like no one was really watching. You carefully walked closer to find Changmin patting her to sleep in his arms. He saw you from the corner of his eye so he glanced over his shoulder with a small smirk on his face.

“I think she’s in love with me.” He said, making you roll your eyes at him.

“I doubt that.” You walked over to kneel in front of his legs only to gently cup her face.

“Darling, come on. Let’s get you to bed.” You softly said as she stirred awake.

“Are you sleeping here tonight?” She asked tiredly while her tiny head was still against his chest.

“Yes, darling.”

Just then, Lucy looked up at Changmin and asked, “Are you sleeping here too?”

Changmin couldn’t help but glance over to you for a brief second before answering her, “I don’t have to sleep over tonight since your Auntie Y/N is here.” He said but she instantly whined.

“But… I want both of you here.” She said, making you stunned. Both Changmin and you exchanged looks for a second as if to figure out what to say but he beat you to it.

“Alright then. Uncle Min will stay with you and Auntie Y/N, okay?”

“Okay.” She giggled tiredly as she opened her arms to you so you took her onto your waist and carried her to her room. Once you’ve tucked her in, you sang her to sleep. Her favourite lullaby that apparently, only you and Changmin can sing for her. Lucy wouldn’t let your sister sing for her. She would ask your sister to read her a bedtime story instead. You made sure she was already fast asleep before you kissed her forehead and left the bedroom door slightly ajar. You came back outside to find Changmin cleaning up the mess she made with her toys.

While he was doing that, you cleared the kitchen by putting the leftover food in the fridge and throwing away whatever is deemed as trash. Both of you were working in silence, never once talking to each other. After you finished cleaning the kitchen, you went to the living room to find it empty. Changmin must’ve gone inside to sleep so you let out a soft sigh of relief. About half an hour later, you were just watching a tv series on netflix when soft footsteps came approaching you from behind. Before you could turn, Changmin came into your peripheral vision and sat down next to you.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” He asked as a strong whiff of vanilla filled your nostrils. It must be the body wash you saw in the bathroom.

“I could ask you the same question.” You said, earning a click of his tongue.

“I’m not sleepy yet. Your turn.”

“I need a break before I do a bit of work.” You said and he finally turns to you with a frown. You looked at him and gave him a shrug of your shoulders, “What?”

“It’s already after hours… What work do you possibly have to do?” He asked only for you to sigh.

“My work… You wouldn’t know.” You ended off in a whisper while turning your focus back to the tv. A few minutes later, Changmin excused himself quietly without telling you where he was going. Not like you cared or anything. So when you realised he never came back out after an hour, you guessed he was asleep. You stayed up till 4 in the morning just working on the upcoming project you had with the company’s sales.

You were doing your work at the kitchen island with your back facing the hallway. At one point during the night, Changmin left the guest room to go to the bathroom. He saw you seated on the stool with fingers tangled in your hair. He was curious to know what work you had to do that made you stay up all night but he wasn’t going to ask. He saw that it was nearing 4am and it kind of worried him a little. Changmin knew how tiring and mentally draining it is to stay up late to do work so he could only hope you’ll get the rest you deserve.

Days began to pass by fast, making sure to visit your sister’s house a few times a week on days where you weren’t working overtime so that you could spend time with Lucy again. It’s been over three months now and you’ve been to their house almost every week now. Of course not everyday since the project was still going on. And in all the times you came over, Changmin was always around. There are times when he’s oddly nice and kind to you, never once picking on you. Other times he was always being a little ass to you briefly so Lucy doesn’t catch on.

One thing’s for sure, Changmin has never really said something that made you absolutely pissed before so that’s good in a way. It was a Thursday evening and you made it to your sister’s apartment a few minutes after she left. You had to stay at the office for a bit and she had to leave early due to an emergency. Therefore, you didn’t get the chance to meet her. However, it’s okay because you still went over to spend time with Lucy.

You brought cakes for dessert, knowing she loves the strawberry shortcakes that were sold at a nearby cafe. When you reached their doorstep, you gave it a few knocks, only to hear her high pitched voices and soft footsteps rushing towards the door.

“Auntie!” She exclaimed excitedly as she carefully tiptoed to grab onto the door handle. But before she would accidentally wedge her toes under the door, Changmin was quick to hold onto the side of the door while gently telling her to step away from it.

With that being said, she hopped to the side only to hug your leg so you wrapped your arm around her hip and carried her up with one arm while the other was holding onto the bag of cakes. Changmin closed the door while you took off your shoes, only to feel him take the bag from you quietly and bring it to the kitchen. This allows you to properly hug Lucy and playfully swing her around as she laughs against your chest. You then placed her down on her feet, running back to her toys in the living room.

Changmin was just staring at the cakes so you couldn’t help but giggle softly at his sim-like behaviour and asked, “Why are you just staring blankly at the cakes? Is there something wrong with it?”

“No… I just, I’m trying to figure out which cake is Lucy’s.” Changmin said as you came to stand beside him.

“Make a guess.” You said. It took him 3 tries but when he finally got it, he decided to act smug about it like he was just trying to test you.

“I knew which one she liked. I just wanted to see if you knew.” Changmin said, making you mock him with a laugh. He made a silly face to you while rolling his eyes, earning a soft slap to his chest before calling for your niece. She came over to you and was utterly surprised upon seeing her favourite cake.

“Is this mine?” She asked excitedly, making you nod.

“Yeah! Do you want me to feed you or do you wanna eat it on your own?”

“Hmm… I want Uncle Minie to feed me.” She giggled while sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth teasingly. You faked a shocked face and soon pretended to get upset.

“Do you like Uncle Minie more or Auntie more?” You asked.

“Uncle Minie.” Lucy said with a laugh and that was it. You wanted to get back at her for choosing an outsider over yourself. Of course this was all just for fun and games, you weren’t actually this petty. However, while all this was happening, Changmin was actually enjoying this scene in front of him where you were having a playful banter with your niece. He was almost adoring you in a way where nobody else would realise unless someone was there to see his reaction live.

“Fine. Then you can’t have Uncle Minie. He’s mine.” You said as you stood in front of Changmin to shield her from him. Lucy laughed as she tried to go to the side but you followed her to block her. She was laughing till her heart’s content, failing to get to her babysitter who was all the while just standing there with the most fondest smile on his face.

Just when Lucy was holding your hands to apologise for choosing him instead of you, the pair of warm hands sliding over your waist and around your front was enough to catch you off guard as you accidentally crashed backwards into Changmin’s chest.

“Lucy ah, if you want uncle Minie, you have to want auntie Y/N too or else she’s gonna be very sad. Okay?” Changmin said as you tried so desperately hard not to turn your head because if you did, the chances of accidentally kissing him is very high. Not that you wouldn’t want that to be honest. But at least not right now. So with that being said, Lucy giggled and she quickly apologised to you before hugging you. Changmin had already pulled away from you but he was so tempted to keep his arms around you.

After you’ve kissed the top of her head, Changmin held her hand and brought her to the front to play and eat before she went to bed. All the while, you helped to tidy the house a little so that your sister wouldn’t have to do much cleaning when she gets home from work tomorrow. Hours later, you had just put Lucy to bed and so it was time for you to leave since you’re working tomorrow.

You came back out to find Changmin just finished cleaning up her scattered toys and putting them back in her basket. He stood up and immediately locked eyes with you, feeling something tickle your stomach.

“You’re not staying?” He spoke up first while he slowly approached you.

“I have work tomorrow. I have to come early and stay late to finish up the quotas for the project.” You sighed, watching as he stopped right in front of you. All you needed to do was stretch your arms out, grab his shirt and pull him in but of course you’re not gonna do that.

“So I’m assuming that you won’t be stopping by tomorrow evening?” He asked.

“Probably not… Why? Are you gonna miss me?” You couldn’t help but ask as a smirk slowly creeps onto your face.

“Miss you? I think you’re delusional, babe.”

“Am I?” You asked, seeing the way his eyes grew a tad larger for just a split second before it shrunk back to his original size.

“I’d miss you any day.” Changmin teased you back, now you’re the one who’s speechless. He laughed at your reaction, thinking you were hella cute as he watched you take your work bag and was making your way straight to the door. You left without another word said to him, hearing his cackle grow softer the minute the door was shut. As soon as Changmin had locked the doors and was making his way back into the apartment, he caught Lucy standing in the middle of the hallway just tiredly rubbing her eyes and was slightly groggy.

“Where did auntie go?” She asked so he carefully walked to her and carried her onto his waist to bring her back to her room.

“Auntie has to go home, darling. She has to work tomorrow.” Changmin gently explained to her while laying her back onto her bed and pulling the blankets over.

“Uncle Min?”

“Yes baby?”

“Do you like my auntie?” Lucy asked as she yawned but was patiently waiting for his answer. Changmin took no less than a minute to answer her question easily in a heartbeat.

“Yes I do. I like your auntie… I like her a lot.”

“You should tell her. I like you with my auntie a lot too.” She said as she slowly fell asleep again. Changmin unconsciously smiled, remembering this conversation. He definitely wasn’t lying to her about how he feels about you.

If only he can tell you…

A week has passed, as usual, your sister was working a night shift today and Changmin would be at her place to look after Lucy. Since it was a Friday evening, you were okay with sleeping over at your sister’s place since you’re not working tomorrow. So when you went there, everyone was present in the house. However, there is a new individual who is in the house and he was playing with Lucy while Changmin and your sister were in the kitchen preparing Lucy’s dinner.

“Hey! I’m here.” You said after Lucy greeted you at the door. Once you’ve taken off your heels, you made your way further into the house only to lock eyes with the new guy who soon stood up to greet you.

“Hello? I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ve met you before. You are?” You asked politely as he let out an awkward laugh and responded to your question nicely.

“I’m Heegeun. Jisoo’s uh… friend.” He smiled and you could tell he was lying but you never pry any further.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m her younger sister, Y/N.” You said before making your way into the kitchen. She was practically hiding behind Changmin so you pinched her side softly in annoyance.

“He’s not just your friend, is he? Who is he? Your boyfriend?” You asked in a whisper all behind Changmin who was scooping out the rice porridge into a bowl for Lucy. Even then, Changmin couldn’t help but smirk hearing this conversation happening right behind him.

“He’s… ah. I’ll explain tomorrow. I have to go now.” Jisoo escaped despite you trying to hold her back.

“Heegeun ah, let’s go. Lucy, mommy will see you tomorrow okay? I love you.” Jisoo said as she bid her daughter goodbye at the doorway. Meanwhile, you clicked your tongue in annoyance and whispered to yourself, “Ugh. He’s definitely not her friend…” Nevertheless, you heard the door click shut and Lucy soon went back to her toys. So you took this opportunity to interrogate Changmin instead.

“Why are you smiling? You know something, don’t you?” You asked, only for him to shrug his shoulders teasingly.

“I don’t know anything. He was already here when I came about an hour ago.” Changmin said, making you growl.

“There’s something fishy going on here…” You said while narrowing your eyes at him but then changed the topic as you took the bowl and walked over to Lucy to feed her dinner.

Your mind keeps drifting off to the guy earlier and you can’t stop worrying about history repeating itself again. Ever since what happened with Lucy’s biological father, you have gotten awfully overprotective towards your sister that you tend to analyse whoever wants to date her. So the fact that this guy suddenly appears in the picture without your sister telling you a thing about him, makes you feel slightly skeptical.

All the while you were just blankly staring into space with your mind somewhere else, Changmin was actually observing you. He kept smiling to himself knowing you were probably going crazy about who the guy was and all that. When you knew it was pointless to keep thinking about that guy’s relation with your sister, you just glanced to the left randomly with no particular intentions. Unfortunately, that caused you to lock eyes with Changmin but all he did was smirk at you charmingly.

After you’ve fed Lucy, you went to clean up the kitchen while Changmin accompanied her for the next few minutes before bringing her to bed. It took him less than 10 minutes to get her to finally sleep as he leaves her room quietly. Changmin walks into the living room to find you seated on the couch just watching your favourite american youtuber duo on the smart tv.

Changmin soon came to join you, sitting so close to you that you could literally rest your leg on his thigh since you sat with your legs bent into your chest. Still in your work clothes but thankfully you’re in formal pants so it’s fine to sit like that.

“What would you do if that guy is actually dating your sister?” Changmin suddenly asks, causing you to get agitated again.

“I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t break her heart and treat her the way she deserves to be treated or else I’ll come for his throat.”

“Woah. You’re literally threatening him.” He laughed but you frowned.

“After what that asshole did when he found out my sister was pregnant, I’m never letting any guy come near her unless he’s proved to me that he’s worthy of my sister.” You said protectively and he could sense that from you. Nevertheless, he totally understands where you’re coming from.

“So what kind of guys do you like?” He suddenly changes the topic, catching you off guard a little.

“I-I�� I actually don’t know… If I like someone, I’ll just know I guess.”

“How would you know if you like someone?” He asked, making you shy all of a sudden. It was difficult for you to answer at first but you managed to do it after a few seconds of buffering.

“W-Well… When I have butterflies while being around them? Or maybe when I feel comfortable and safe around them?” Changmin seemed to digest your answer as you wondered why he was asking you this question. Just then, he got up and said he wanted to go to sleep claiming he’s tired and sleepy. You bid him goodnight as you went to take a shower before going to bed yourself.

The next morning, your sister came home at about 8am as she found you sleeping in her bed. That same afternoon when Jisoo had already gotten her sleep since today was her day off, the four of you decided to hang out at the mall. Changmin was the one driving today so you sat in front with him while your sister and niece sat at the back. All the while, Lucy poked her head through the gap in the middle between you and Changmin. She sang and danced to the songs that Changmin put on his car radio just for her.

At one point, while Lucy was just talking to her mother about something out the window, you glanced back only to smile at the sight. The car gradually came to a stop at the traffic junction so you turned to look in front but instead, you caught Changmin’s gaze on you.

“What?” You asked softly, earning a cheeky little smile from him. One that wakes the butterflies in your stomach.

“Have I ever mentioned you’re pretty?” He suddenly flirts with you despite knowing there’s two other people in the back.

“Shut up.” You dismissed him with a shy laugh, knowing he’s just being playful. There’s absolutely no way he actually means what he said… Right?

Just then, Changmin glared and clicked his tongue at you to show that he was probably disappointed with your reaction. Though, knowing how he is, he was just joking with his reaction and it was true because he then replied, “Ungrateful…” Upon hearing this, you gently punched his arm and he hissed but never got angry for real. How did you know? Because right after he did that, you could see the way the corner of his lips curled up.

In another 10 minutes, you arrived at the mall where Changmin finally parked the car in the parking lot upstairs. The moment the engine was turned off, Lucy was already scrambling out of the car and was dragging her mother into the lobby which leads straight into the shopping mall. She was so eager to go see the toy shops she saw the other day. While the two mother and daughter were walking ahead, you waited for Changmin to get out of the car and locked it before walking with him.

You were going to turn the corner where the slope is when Changmin slid his right arm around your waist from behind to pull you in right as a car was speeding down the slope.

“Watch where you’re going, pretty.” Changmin said, making you blush.

“I-I was about to stop…” You faked an excuse as he squeezed your side softly before letting go.

Both of you made it safely into the mall, not surprised when you saw the two of them entering the toy shop just opposite from the lobby. You walked towards the shop and went inside to find them. Lucy was going around, looking at all the toys and playsets but your sister told her not to get any because she already has a lot at home.

Lucy isn’t the kind to cry and beg her mother for something she wants but you can see from her expression. Your heart breaks whenever you see her like that so when all of you were now at an ice cream shop, everyone had their own ice creams except for Lucy. She was sulking so she didn’t wanna buy anything even when her mother consoled her. With that being said, you looked at Lucy who was seated diagonally across from you and beside Changmin with a smile.

“Hey Lucy darling, mind if you accompany me go see a dress at one of the shops? I think I might change my mind about it.” At first she just shook her head and hung her head against Changmin’s chest. So you got up and went over to her side before you cupped her face and made her look at you gently, giving you the chance to whisper to her something her mother couldn’t catch.

“I’ll buy whatever you want from the toy store but don’t tell mommy.” That was all you said as she finally tore away from Changmin and kept her sad face on but decided to follow you. It was only when the two of you were no longer visible in their sight that you high fived her and she giggled excitedly to you.

Meanwhile, after you left, Changmin was just eating his ice cream when your sister suddenly spoke up from her seat diagonally across from him.

“Changmin, you’re a really nice guy and apparently a very good babysitter.”

“Oh. Thanks? I’m just doing my job.” Changmin said with a laugh, only for her to smile.

“But I think it’s time for me to talk to you about this…” She paused to give him the element of suspense. He was thinking that he was gonna be in trouble for something he did wrong or maybe even fired at this point. Except, the question that came out of her mouth was the least expected question to ever cross his mind.

“Do you like her?” She asked, catching him off guard.

“H-Her who? Your daughter or your sister?”

“I know you like my daughter. But unfortunately, I’m referring to my sister.” She laughed to lighten up the mood and it worked. Changmin felt a little less tense but he was still nervous about the question. Since he was taking too long to answer, she decided to change her question.

“Okay, nevermind. Scratch that. Let me rephrase myself… What do you think of my sister?”

Now that’s a question he could answer in a heartbeat.

“I think she’s an amazing person. She’s smart, kind, and can be annoying sometimes back when we were younger but she’s such an amazing auntie to Lucy and I can see that really well.” Your sister smiled happily at her bowl of ice cream before she spoke up afterwards.

“Now is it easier for you to answer my original question that I asked?” She teased and so Changmin chuckled nervously but he felt ready to give her his answer.

“I do like your sister. I actually like her a lot now…”

“Good. Because I think she likes you too, just that she’s still trying to figure that part out.” Your sister said as he felt something tickle his heart. Do you really like him too? If you do, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Just a few seconds after, you came back with Lucy and there was a huge plastic bag you were holding in your hand, paired with a toothless soft toy in Lucy’s arms. Your sister’s jaw drops as Changmin simply laughed at her reaction.

“I knew you were lying earlier, you brat.” She said to you, making you stick your tongue out at her teasingly.

“I know.” You said as you flipped your hair sassily and she scoffed but her smile betrayed her.

“Well, now that you’re here, I’m gonna go check out the home furniture store upstairs.” She said as she soon disappeared. Changmin brought Lucy to go buy her ice cream since she was in a happier mood now. When they came back, Lucy asked Changmin to feed her. He did it without hesitation, paying full attention to her only to abandon his own cup of ice cream that was ⅓ done.

“Lucy, can you eat on your own? Uncle Min needs to finish his ice cream before it melts” You said, trying to make her listen.

“No! I want Uncle Minie to feed me.” She said with a proud smile on her face.

“Can I feed you then? He needs to eat his ice cream too.” You tried to persuade her but she whined.

“Lucy.” You called her name once in a serious tone but she looked at you with a frowning pout. Her eyes started to get glossy so Changmin quickly stepped in and smiled at her.

“It’s okay, Lucy. Uncle Minie will eat later. Come, open your mouth.” He said while slowly bringing the spoon to her mouth. She eats it quietly, avoiding your gaze in case you scold her as she fiddles with her toothless soft toy ears. You let out a soft sigh, which was unfortunately heard by Changmin. You pressed your fingertips to your temples, only to hear him direct his words to you.

“Since she doesn’t want you to feed her, you can feed me before my ice cream turns into soup.” Changmin said. You glanced at him and then his ice cream bowl. It was starting to melt so you took his bowl and scooped a spoonful of ice cream and his toppings before bringing it to his mouth.

He ate it and the corner of his lips instantly curled into a small smile. You pretend you didn’t see that as he turned back to Lucy to feed her. This continued until her ice cream was finished, only then could he eat his dessert on his own. However, when you were about to pass it to him, he simply sat there with his mouth open. You raised your eyebrows at him in question and he smirked.

“Since you’ve been feeding me, you might as well continue.” Changmin said, making you shove the spoon onto the tip of his nose, getting a small blob of ice cream on it. You laughed as he narrowed his gaze at you on purpose but it didn’t scare you.

“It was a perfect opportunity. I’m sorry.” You said, only to feed him the last scoop before handing the rest to him. Changmin ate on his own after wiping his nose while Lucy came to sit next to you and apologised for making you angry. You told her you weren’t angry and that you just wanted her to be independent and she listened. All the while, Changmin was listening to you and it sparked something in him. Not long after, your sister came back and soon, all of you left to head home.

A few minutes upon reaching back at her apartment, you told your sister you weren’t staying over because you have to clean the house tomorrow so she said okay. Changmin also said he needed to go home to do his laundry. So when it was time to say goodbye to Lucy, both Changmin and you gave her a goodnight hug despite her crying, begging for you two to stay. Changmin went ahead and cupped her cheeks in his hands, giving her forehead a soft kiss to calm her down.

“Don’t cry, Lucy. Uncle Minie will come see you again soon. Auntie Y/N too, okay?” He said, making your heart swell.

“Y-You promise?” She asked so he nodded and did a pinky swear with her.

“I promise.”

“O-Okay…” She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck before letting go. She then came to you so you squat down to match her height and gave her a warm hug too. When both you and Changmin finally stepped out of the apartment unit, she gave you one big wave before her mother gently guided her back inside.

You were quietly walking next to him when he asked, “How are you getting home?”

“Bus, probably.” You said, only for him to offer you a ride home.

“I-It’s fine. I can take the bus.”

“I don’t take no for an answer.” He said, allowing you to enter the lift first. Once you got into his car, he asked for your address and so you gave it to him. In the car, his mind drifted back to your sister’s words earlier.

“I think she likes you too”

Changmin’s mind was swirling with questions following those words but he never actually voiced out to you about it. When he finally parked the car in front of your apartment complex, you thanked him for the ride home and bid him goodnight. He simply nodded and so you left his car right after.

Days have passed and it was recently announced that there will be a company event at the end of this week. The event is to celebrate the company’s 25th anniversary upon its first launch. Not only that, everyone was encouraged to bring a plus one to the event, be it their significant other, a friend, a family member, etc. Therefore, your friends in your team have decided to invite their partners along since they were all either engaged or in a relationship with someone. The only one who is single between the five of you, is you.

“So, are you guys gonna bring your partners?” Taehyung asked, earning a smirk from Yoongi.

“Hell yeah. I would be glad to show off my fiancè to that girl in the HR department who keeps flirting with me at work.” Yoongi said, making you laugh.

“How about you?” Yeji then turned to ask you, earning a quiet sigh from you. They knew you broke up with Sunwoo a while ago and that you’ve been single ever since. She felt bad for asking you so she tried to cheer you up, “You can go with me. We don’t need to bring anyone to the event.”

However, you knew she would love to bring her boyfriend to this event so you just smiled and rejected her offer. You reassured them that you’ll figure something out and told them not to worry about you. As much as they didn’t want you to feel left out, they knew you wouldn’t be affected by going solo to the event. With that being said, the topic was dropped and Jieun proceeded to talk about something else.

A few hours later, you made it to your sister’s apartment after work to have dinner before your sister leaves for work. You were at the kitchen island eating the kimchi soup your sister made with her while Changmin was in the living room with Lucy and you kept thinking about the company event. Your sister could probably sense your mind being somewhere else so she was the first to break your train of thoughts.

“You look like your mind just did a brain fart over there. What’s going on?” She asked you calmly as you sighed.

“My company is doing a 25th anniversary event this Saturday evening. They invited everyone in the company…”

“But?” She said knowing you were hiding something when you paused.

“But they encouraged all the workers to bring their plus ones. I can’t bring Sunwoo because he’s my ex now.”

“So ask Changmin.” She said almost so easily, causing you to widen your eyes in shock. Just then, Changmin’s voice sounded from behind you as he heard his name in the equation.

“Ask me what?” He said as you glared at your sister to keep her mouth shut but she of course didn’t care.

“She has this company event on Saturday evening and she needs a plus one so I told her to ask you since I’ll be out of town from Friday to Sunday with Lucy.” She said with a proud smile on her face. You just wanted to stab her right now for being so blunt. Nevertheless, Changmin looked at you and gave you his answer with no hesitation at all whatsoever.

“Sure. I’ll go with you. That is if you’re okay of course.”

You were speechless but maybe you were just a tad bit happy that he was okay to go with you considering you weren’t technically friends to begin with. So since he already said he could go with you, that’s one less thing on your checklist to prepare for the weekend.

A few days went by and it was finally time to get ready for the company event. You texted Changmin to ask again if he was really okay with going to the event as your plus one. He sent you the cutest message you’ve ever gotten by someone even though it sounds pretty threatening considering it’s him who texted it.

“You can either accept the fact that you’re going with a handsome lad or choose to go to the event with your lonely ass. You pick.”

It wasn’t a surprise that you laughed upon reading the text but he doesn’t have to know that… For the event, you decided to pick out the most formal yet casual dress you owned which was a simple black fitted lace dress that stops at your mid thighs. Pairing it with your favourite nude open toe heels that were just 3 inches at least. Your makeup was very light and you had your hair clipped up, leaving your bangs down to frame your face. When he texted you at 7pm saying he was downstairs, you texted back to acknowledge him and soon took your necessary belongings.

When you made it downstairs, you saw him lean against the passenger side door looking handsome as ever. Changmin was wearing a black skinny jeans, white button down formal shirt with the first four buttons undone, a black blazer over that and his black boots. His hair was jet black with the slight side parting, hair styled up to show his forehead.

Your heart was beating so fast as you approached him but you quickly maintained your composure when he finally looked up to meet your eyes. Changmin checked you out briefly and pretty much openly, making you feel a little small under his intense gaze. When he finally locked eyes with you again, he smirked charmingly at you and said, “Have you always looked this hot?” His comment was totally unexpected as it awoke the butterflies in your belly.

“Apparently not, I guess.” You said, only for him to laugh. Both of you got into the car and you gave him the address so he finally drove off following the map. In the car, he asked you more about the event and you tried your best to answer every question to your best abilities.

Right after he parked the car in the parking lot, he turned the engine off and suddenly asked, “By the way, what am I supposed to be tonight?”

“Oh… U-Uh… I don’t know. I guess just go with the flow?”

“Good idea.”

With that being said, both of you made your way into the lobby and went up to the ballroom level via the lift. When you arrived at the ballroom, you showed the security your staff pass and soon entered the venue with Changmin closely behind you. The room was filled with your colleagues but only a few were recognisable to you. Changmin scanned the entire room curiously, trying to get used to the new environment until he felt soft fingers wrap around his hand to bring him back to reality.

“Hey, keep walking or you’ll get lost.” You said with a gentle smile on your face, making his heart flutter. Nevertheless, he followed you to a table where your friends and their plus ones were seated at.

“Y/N! You made it!” Yeji said with an excited tone as her eyes soon flew over to Changmin behind you. She smirked at you but Taehyung beat her to the questions.

“Hey, who’s this?” He asked with a teasing smirk, making you blush.

“Guys, this is Changmin… He’s uh…” You paused as your mind grew fuzzy on what to say so you naturally turned to look at Changmin. However, he seemed oddly calm as he finally looked at them and spoke up confidently that it made you slightly shocked.

“Boyfriend… I’m her boyfriend.” Changmin said, causing your friends to make excited sounds that you couldn’t help but laugh, finding it funny.

“It’s nice to meet you, Changmin. You definitely made a good choice.” Taehyung said, making you slap his arm and soon took a seat in the empty chair next to him while Changmin sat next to you. All of you began to chat as Changmin surprisingly got along well with your colleagues and including their individual partners too. The event was going well so far, the CEO gave out his speech and was giving out awards to the staff members in the company. After that segment was done, it was currently a free and easy time. People can mingle around, dance on the dancefloor, etc.

Just then, Jieun noticed a photobooth at the other side of the room so she spoke up, telling everyone at your table to go take pictures for memories. Changmin remained seated at first but when you noticed he wasn’t moving, that’s when Yoongi spoke up to address him.

“You too, Changmin. Come on.” Changmin’s eyes grew wide as he looked up at you and you smiled. You patiently waited for him, seeing how hesitant he was. So to ease him up a little, you laced your fingers with him and he turned to look down at your intertwined fingers. Changmin glanced up to meet your soft eyes staring back at him, melting him into a puddle.

“We’re here together, remember?” You asked so he nodded. Both of you began to make your way to the photobooth where your friends and their partners were already busy choosing props for the pictures.

They beckoned you over so you dragged Changmin with you. Once you’ve chosen your prop which was a cat ears headband, Changmin chose the same as you so that you were both matching. First picture, the girls sat on the bench while the guys stood behind you. Second picture, the bench was taken away as you guys scattered around to stand with your partners. You stood behind Jieun while Changmin was to your left. Right before the picture was taken, you felt his warm hand gently rest on your waist to hold you securely beside him.

Your heart was racing as the picture was taken and they were now deciding how to pose. Meanwhile, you turned to him and saw that his hair was a bit messy. While everyone was deciding how to pose, you reached up and carefully adjusted his bangs so that they weren’t poking his eyes. All the while, Changmin couldn’t help but stare into your eyes even though you weren’t looking at him. When you finally realised he was staring at you, that’s where you giggled and whispered to him quietly.

“What?”

“Nothing. You just look really cute right now.” Changmin said.

You blushed yet again as you gently slapped his chest but he quickly wrapped his arms around your waist, his left hand holding his right wrist to keep you secure against him. Since you were stuck like that, you ended up resting your hands on his chest while you posed for the third picture.

“Okay guys! Should we do a cute photo for the last one?” Yeji asked, only for Taehyung to suggest something very unexpected.

“We should kiss our partners!” He said, making you panic slightly. Changmin noticed the way you tensed up in his arms so he felt the need to calm you down. With that being said, Changmin nudged your cheek with his sharp nose to make you look at him. When you turned, Changmin smiled down at you with his arms still around you.

“We don’t have to kiss if you don’t want to. We can just pretend.” He said calmly, making your heart melt.

Has he always been this sweet?

“I-I… Are you sure?”

“Of course. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything.” He reassured you and it was enough to make you feel a lot better.

Everyone else was already in their positions as they brought back the bench. Two couples were seated while the other three were standing. You were on the left side with Changmin, standing behind Yoongi and his fiancè. The cameraman did a countdown to tell you when he would snap the picture. So you turned to look at Changmin as you slid your hands onto his neck and kept them there.

3…

Changmin smiled softly at you while he carefully leaned down to let his nose brush against yours.

2…

You then saw his gaze fall down south easily as he let out a soft but shaky breath to calm his own rapid heart despite the smile still plastered on his face.

1…

Just two seconds before the cameraman took the picture, you tilted your head up to let your lips crash against his softly. He was still smiling into the kiss when the picture was captured, making you caress his jaw gently with your thumbs. When you pulled away, you struggled to meet his eyes. Butterflies erupted rapidly in your stomach, earning a soft laugh from him.

“Look who’s being brave tonight.” He teased you over a whisper, making you shy.

“It’s the best opportunity I have, I guess?” You said and he couldn’t help but agree. All of you returned the props back to the table and made your way back to the table. About an hour later, the event was finally over so it was time to head back home. You bid goodbye to your friends and their partners before walking back to Changmin’s car.

Both of you remained quiet during the first few minutes, not really sure how to approach the topic of what happened earlier. At one of the traffic junctions, you were just staring out the window, your mind currently running haywire thinking about the kiss when you felt his soft hand slip into yours and carefully laced his fingers together with yours. Changmin brings your hand up only to plant a gentle kiss to the back of your hand before resting them in his lap while he drives. When he made it to your apartment, he didn’t need to be asked because he was already walking with you to the lobby.

You quietly brought him to the lift and up to your apartment level, all in a peaceful silence. When you reached the 12th floor, both of you got out of the lift as you led him to your door. After you’ve unlocked your door, you turned around but Changmin thought you wanted to say your goodbyes.

“I’ll see you around then? Goodnight Y/N.” Changmin said as he was about to walk off when you held his wrist and pulled him back only to cup his face with your other hand and tugged him down to kiss him. Changmin was genuinely stunned this time as he froze when you kissed him. His hands were awkwardly hovering over your waist. Changmin was so scared of making the wrong move but when he felt how genuine your kiss was, that’s when he finally melted against you.

He easily wraps his arms around your waist to pull you into his chest while guiding you back to gently crash against the door. Changmin’s kiss was passionate and needy, his hands squeezing your sides as though he was afraid to let you go. You pulled away first to take a breath, holding his face with both hands and smiled.

“Stay with me tonight…” You whispered over his lips, causing him to go crazy.

“I would absolutely love to.” Changmin smirked as he kissed you again while reaching for the door handle to push it open. You stumbled back into your apartment while he held you to prevent you from falling over.

He then kicked the door closed and locked it before lifting you up onto his waist while kissing you again. He kicked off his shoes while he helped to unbuckle your heels and let it slip down to the ground. He walked deeper into your apartment, guiding him to your bedroom. Once he made it there, he brought you to your bed, gently laying you down as you sat up and watched him take off his blazer and tossed it to the ground.

Changmin crawls up the bed to join you, situating himself between your legs as you pull him down for a kiss. While you were busy kissing him, your hands began to unbutton his white shirt and pushed the material off his shoulders for him. He threw it to the ground as he then pouted to you adorably.

“Why am I the only one with less clothes on?” He asked, only for you to giggle.

“Because mine is just one piece.” You said, earning a playful smirk from him. Changmin kissed you while pinning your hands above your head. He laced his fingers with yours, holding them against the mattress while he kissed you lovingly. Suddenly, he stopped only to look you dead in the eye. You thought he was going to change his mind and that he just realised that this wasn’t what he wanted but then what comes out of his mouth next was totally unexpected.

“I think I love you.”

“What?”

This time, he said it confidently.

“Scratch that… I love you, Y/N.” Changmin said, making your heart swell. With that being said, you kissed him longingly while caressing his cheek. When you pulled away, you slowly fluttered your eyelids open to meet his gaze and smiled.

“I love you too, Changmin.”

That was all he needed to hear before continuing with where you both stopped. Knowing that the feelings are mutual, it felt a little more intimate now. All the while, he was being gentle to you, asking you questions to make sure you’re okay with what he’s doing. He would only go rough when he needs to, etc. That night, you felt so loved and respected. He showered you with so much love that it made you feel so full at the end of it all.

You’re glad he went to the event with you that night because if he didn’t, you probably still wouldn’t know how you felt for each other.

#the boyz scenarios #the boyz imagines #the boyz #the boyz ji changmin #tbz changmin #tbz imagines #tbz scenarios #tbz q scenarios #tbz q x reader #the boyz q #ji changmin x reader #ji changmin fluff #ji changmin scenarios

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staybabblingbaby · 5 days

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SKZ x Coordi (Chan Part) a1 d4

[Caution: These are not full fics, or even full parts of fics for some, these are part of my writing progress archive!]

Concept: Reader is a successful makeup artist with a notorious and prolific career and no self awareness. Reader joins JYP as a part of Stray Kids' team and encounters their hazing ritual for new coordis: flirting.

Word Count: 640

Notes: This feels more like a drabble than a full part, but I don't really want to add much to it either lol. As everything else, could use some editing for clarity. Maybe better descriptions or transitions? Idk, We'll think abt it later :p

Warnings: None that I know of? Reader has weird self esteem but it's not bad? Reader referred to with She/Her pronouns

Masterlist link :D | Prev Part Link <3 | Next Part Link ;3

The next few weeks pass by in a pattern of work and sleep with no real reprieve. It’s an excellent thing that you enjoy your work and that your coworkers are all very nice.

Ji-Won has you rotating between shadowing the various makeup artists on your team and doing little pieces of whatever look is being put together on each idol. You learn a lot about which shades match best with who’s skin tones and which sorts of styles are generally expected for which member. You don’t think you’ve ever been so thoroughly educated on a specific person’s face before. You’re usually in a whole other country by now.

You get this very thorough rotating education because the role you were hired for was to be a bit of a floater, to fill in where you’re needed. On the other makeup artist’s days off, you’ll be filling in. If someone calls off or the team needs a spare set of hands, that’s your job. You find that it suits you well.

Usually you move pretty quickly between jobs, always on the hunt for the next look, for new knowledge, for new adventures. Right now, though, you’re glad that you’ve stopped a while. Eight lovely faces to gain familiarity with, a variety of different projects to create for, and coworkers who seem very eager to teach and work with you.

You're having a great time and find yourself very glad you'd chosen this route for your career. You will admit that this little game that’s developed between you and the idols is possibly a very large factor.

It stemmed from Han’s little flirtation that first day, of course. The eonni who’d borne witness to it had congratulated you for your composure and explained that SKZ has always had a little game of flustering new coordis to break the ice. Their own form of gentle hazing, she tells you. It helps new coordis not be so nervous around them and, she tells you with a conspiratorial whisper, her personal theory is that it also tells them which coordis they have a chance with. You’re not sure how much you believe that part.

She went on to mention that she was surprised Ji-Won had allowed them to do it though, since your head stylist had been adamant that the whole team be on their best behavior with you. She hadn’t seemed to notice your confusion at her statement, so you chalked it up to Ji-Won doing her best to make the new stylist comfortable. She’d completed her explanation by telling you to expect the other seven to attempt it too before they’d stop.

When, the very next day, Chan prevents you from falling flat on your face and dropping towels everywhere and, like he couldn’t quite help himself, asks if this means you’d fallen for him, you decide that this means war. He immediately bursts into embarrassed giggles and you laugh along but internally you’re planning your retaliation.

As he releases you, still embarrassed with himself, and you steady yourself, you give the most obvious once over you can. As you meet his eyes again, taking in his already embarrassed face and reddening ears, you smile, making sure to lace it with the humor the situation deserves. And then, because you’re a bit of an asshole and you’d never denied that, you gently pat his arm, let the touch linger just a bit, and say “You’re cute. Thanks for the hand.” and walk off with a little nod in his direction before he can remember he’s older than you and technically your boss.

You hear a little pained whimper of embarrassment from behind you and mentally fist pump. Coordis - 2, SKZ - 0. And you’d gotten away with some blatant disrespect just then. It’s always a treat to let social niceties die.

#Baby Writes #Coordi AU #skz fanfic #skz fic #Stray kids fanfic #skz x reader #stray kids x reader #w.i.p fic #w.i.p

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popcornforone · 10 months

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The Interview

Part of the Attending Mr York Fan Fic Series

Master list

I just couldn’t put the Dave I created down. You got the last chapter in April of the original story but I actually finished writing it in March, & I missed him & the little world I created for them. So here I am back with my Stabby… ready for more fun.

Synopsis: You’ve applied for a housekeeper & Nanny job that you know you won’t get, but the perks & money were to tempting to not go for. So your shocked when your asked to come & be interviewed at the York residence, & meet the family who’s needs you will be attending.

Word count: 3200

Warnings: this is tame for me & Dave. Swearing & alcohol, pining, imagining what Dave might do to you, descriptions of oral sex are mentioned, along with blood, cuts, injuries & sick.This is the first time you come across Dave so it’s rather soft. However the rest of the series won’t be & as always DAVE YORK COMES WITH HIS OWN WARNING!

Thanks as always for the read people, all feedback is always welcome

Job interviews are never the easiest thing in the world, for a normal job. You never know if the vibe is going to click & if you will just get on, & be the person they are looking for. However this interview is one that you don’t think you will get, not in 100 years. You’re not really qualified for it but the perks that come with the job are most intriguing & you knew it was too good an opportunity to miss out on applying for. You were shocked when you got a phone call from them to say they wanted to speak to you. Obviously The Yorks have seen a quality in your cv that they think will suit this role.

Finding The York residency is easy. Considering what they want & how on the application they have described their lives, you thought they would have a much grander house in a much more affluent area. But here you are on a Wednesday afternoon, pulling up across their drive looking at this family home, which doesn’t look like it’s rather special but does seem homely from the outside. You make sure your hair is okay & that your outfit isn’t creased. You’ve worn a day dress but one that’s easy to move about in, if they tell you to go & interact with their kids. After all this is a job for a Nanny & House Keeper, surly whatever kids they have, must like you if your to get the job, not that you think you stand any chance of getting it at all.

You hear the doorbell echo across the house as you press it & wait patiently for someone to greet you, admiring the pot plants by the path. The front door opens & you are greeted by name “welcome, im Carol, we spoke on the phone last week, thank you for coming to listen to us” she says as she welcomes you in & you shake her hand. “My husband is just finishing a phone call but he will join us shortly, come with me to the kitchen, would you like water, tea or coffee?” Mrs York asks ushering you in & taking your coat. The house is homely but there’s no art on the wall, everything is very clean & white & in its right place. Clearly Mrs York likes this, it’s all very to the point & perfect. Until you get to the kitchen.

It’s a grand kitchen. A walk in pantry, an island counter with low lights hanging down, perfect for entertaining, a little kids play area a few steps down, a sofa & a round table which you can tell has been cleaned for this chat today. It’s too clean. This is clearly where their life happens & you suddenly feel very at home in this room. This is where memories are made for the Yorks. You watch as Carol makes you coffee & just have a nice chat about your drive & the weekend thats been & the next one to come.

“Sorry darling, you know how Daniels gets in the phone” a voice bellows from behind you which came from nowhere. It’s deep & sharp & you turn around to introduce yourself & shake his hand, but instead you almost drop your coffee cup. You’re frozen to the spot. You don’t believe in love at first sight, but you now think lust at first touch might be true. Large & broad, towering above you. His eyes dancing across you looking for any hit of weakness & vulnerability. His light blue shirt & dark pants are crisp, that belt buckle is polished & shoes so shiny you could see your face in them. Those eyes that are giving you the once over, are dark pools of delight. Rich caramels, taking in every inch of his prospective house keeper. Clean shaven as his large hand goes around his neck into this thick dark short hair. Those lips probably smile & seduce but the sternness in his face makes you think they haven’t smiled in a while. He has a mysterious aura around him, one of danger & to not get too close. But you can’t help it, the second his hand firmly shakes yours, you are his. It doesn’t matter his wife is standing next to you answering him back, you’re transfixed on her husband & you need to snap out of the trance quickly. “I’m Mr York… David York”

The next few minutes are a blur, watching this powerful man, who has somehow in all of 5 words, got all the power in the world over you. You’d do anything for this man, & you have only met him for a few minutes. The way he hold his mug, that chiseled jaw extending, the way he slurps his coffee. Seeing his lips kiss his wife’s cheek, you feel jealous. & that’s what makes you snap out of your trance, that & Carols voice asking you “come sit down deary, we can then go though your cv together.” You remember where you are & you join Mr & Mrs York at the circular table to discuss why you are even a candidates for this job. This does mean facing David & making eye contract as you answer his questions. Maybe you can just focus on Carol, not that you think you can actually concentrate on anything at all.

You take your seat ready for their questions. You look nervous but you can easily pass it on for interview nerves, not the fact that the man sitting opposite you is stunningly handsome & that you are wondering how good his plump lips would feel on your pussy, lapping away at your clit as you beg him for more. You need to remember why you are here, for an interview, not to gawp at your possible employer.

“So…” Carols starts with some pretty mundane questions about your back ground & education, all the old chestnuts from a classic interview. You answer them well & you see David roll his eyes a little at them. At question 5 he interjects.

“Why apply for this role?” He asks “clearly your into art, graphics & design, your cv screams it, why apply to be a house keeper?” He has a very good point & it throws you a little bit, but you have a prepared answer which probably isn’t one that they will appreciate but is honest.

“The job said beck & call but free time & support whenever it’s needed. Most normal jobs want a 8:30 to 6 that I apply for. Once you add a commute & eating in, that’s no home time. Here you have said weekends & yea there are early starts but you said support in whatever else I need. I’m sure that there will be days you just need me to pick your kids up & do dinner & some days when you need me to stay over, but I’m sure that when I’m not needed I would have the time to create some art, get my creative juices flowing again. I also think it would be good for your kids if you allowed them, to join me working on my art. A good creative outlet from them, let them find another type of inspiration.” David looks inquisitively at you looking you up & down “I know that wasn’t the answer you wanted, but I’m honest & im here to support you. I want to make sure that when I’m here, all you need to stress about is what’s going on in your own mind, not a grocery run or cooking pasta or running errands. I want you to stress about just your work & normal life like the rest of the world does” that’s when you see a small smirk across David’s face as you finish this statement with “I’m here for all your needs & to attend to you all”. His eyes dart across you not impressed just by your words but by your attitude & willingness.

“Art?” Carol chirps up before he can respond, he mouth & sentence hanging in mid air before he could even get the words out “that would be good for the kids for sure” she then talks about how she like minimal art but can’t find the right thing for the house to put up. A few more mundane questions happen before David then asks “Do you have first aid or life saving courses under your belt? Obviously with 2 small girls who you will meet another day, if we think you’re suitable, bumps & bruises happen all the time. You’re okay with looking after them if they cut themselves? you’re not going to freak out at a bit of sick or blood?” David is asking this because it’s part of the interview, but he knows it’s likely at some point you will find out what he does for a living. He’s an assassin, one of the best in the world, & he knows there maybe a day soon when he needs your help to stitch him up or take him to hospital.

“Yes I can do that, I have a friend who has fits, we as a group all make sure we stay up to date with as much as we can. I’m happy to take more courses if you need me too.” Is your reply. Firm & confident. You know it’s been a while since you’ve done a course in this but you still know what to do. Nothing your innocent king think, that an ice pack or a plaster can’t solve.

The interview starts to draw to a close & they start talking to you about your life in general. “Obviously there maybe a few days when we need you to stay over if you get this job to take the girls to nursery & school early if were not both back, or if you’ve stayed late” Carol implys “would that be okay? Are you comfortable with that? We have Cctv in every room so you will always be safe here without us”

“Yes Mrs York” your mind wonders why they have cctv but that’s a question for another day, not one when your trying to get a job “would my boyfriend be able to stay over, if I needed him too? It wouldn’t be something I would do until we were all completely comfortable with each other & you trust me & id let you meet him first” David raises an eyebrow when the word boyfriend is brought up “how serious is your boyfriend?” He asks “David!” Carol scoffs & playfully hits him “that’s none of your business” she say before he reply “if he’s a serious man in her life, I see there being no problem, stability means loyalty & trust, but if he’s just a fuck buddy then that raises more questions for me” you look a bit shocked. You’ve never been to an interview before where the interviewer has sworn let alone use the word fuck. He clearly is testing you to get a reaction from you. “I’ve been with him 18months” you reply calmly like you have done every question. “Harry & I have talked about moving in together soon, so that’s how loyal I am” David nods “well answered” he states writing the word not available on his own notes, which you don’t see.

The final question they ask you is if you have any questions for them at this stage. They have been clear throughout the interview that there would be a second interview with the girls on Sunday, if today went well to see how you get on with them & they have been very frank about what they expect from you. You sit there for a second & then ask something bold, which might mean you don’t get a call back for another day. “why interview me? You said yourself I’m not a house keeper or have nanny experience, why ask me?” Carol has a small chuckle & goes to answer but David buts in.

“We’ve interviewed 4 other people before you, all Nanny’s or house keeper, but none had any idea of what the real world is. We want our kids to have some of that in their lives & your CV was the next one on the pile. You have life experience & from what you’ve told us about you today, you have had some struggles in the past & you just bring across this soothing calm approach now we’ve met you, don’t you agree darling?” He asks his wife stroking her hand looking lovingly at her “yes dear” she says “we wanted to see what the rest of the world offered, not just those that fall into that bracket” you all just nod in agreement with each other. There is a very strong vibe & connection here & you think that maybe you do stand a chance, just as long as you connect with those girls. Or maybe you are just falling deeper for the talk dark & handsome man sitting opposite you. Each time those large rich brown eyes glance at you, you feel seen.

The Yorks then finish up & David looks at his phone. Carol shakes your hand & asks if you’re free at 3pm on Sunday to meet the girls & have early dinner with them, which you accept. You have a second interview in the bag. David nods. “I’ll walk her out honey, I need to make my way to the actual office” David says & you thank Carol, grab your coat & have David walk you out of the house. His hand pushes you forward touching the lower of your back. Not to low but enough to make you blush, but enough that to yourself it shows that this man has an effect on you. Thank god you are walking in front of him & he can’t see the true effect he has on you.

“I just want you to know…” David says as he locks the front door behind him & stands next to his car “that we’ve been looking for a house keeper for a while & a nanny more recently. Carol has hired some but most of them just aren’t what they say they are at the interview. You on the other hand, there’s something about you. Your normal & I think you will bring stability to our house & help influence our kids as they grow as well. I don’t tend to trust people, my line of work doesn’t allow me to, but there’s something I can see in you, that makes me know that I can trust you with my families & my own life.” He states.

“Wow Mr York” you’re a little stunned at that revelation “that means something that you’ve picked that up so quickly, thank you”

“Please it’s David, I actually prefer Dave but David or Mr York is fine” he says shuffling a bit. “I’m good at picking up on peoples strengths & weaknesses it’s part of the job I do, & from the last hour, the only weakness I see in you, is that you care too much & that’s what I need for my family” you blush as he says these words to you. No one’s ever said that a weakness of yours is what they need. This desirable man has a way of making you feel so much in so few words. He’s very to the point & direct. You can tell he’s a man who gets what he wants, no matter what.

A few awkward moments of silence happen between you before you both snap out of it. Daves been thinking about how well you’re going to look after his family. He finds you attractive & wonders how loyal & good your boyfriend really is to you & if he might, one day, be needed to pick up your emotional pieces should it all go wrong with him. “I should really get going now Mr York & you said you needed to get to your own office, so please don’t let me keep you” you offer you hand which he firmly shakes & through that connection of his large palm on your dainty hand, a small soft smile comes from his dark brown eyes. “Thank you for the opportunity” you say “ooh no the pleasure is all mine, sweetheart” he responds. That cute nickname makes you smile which he can see as bright as the sun. “I’m already looking forward to seeing you meet the girls on Sunday, im sure you will be the most attentive person we’ve had so far, I can just feel it in my bones.” He says, hands parting & you both sigh & get in your separate cars. You head home & Dave heads to the office.

1 week, later the phone rings while your out for lunch with friends. “Sorry guys, be back in 3minutes” you leave them & head to the bathroom of the cafe to take the call.

“Hello”

“Ahh it’s Mr York”

“Mr York… hi how are you?” Just his voice down the phone has you feeling flush & warm, how can he do that.

“I’m even better now, I’ve just hired a new house keeper”

Your face drops down the phone.

“It’s you”

“What!?” You let out an over the top excited screech

“All the girls have talked about since Sunday, has been making art & playing with you & your pasta was half decent on Sunday night, so what do you say… are you free tonight to come & see us to sign & be our house keeper & nanny & discus when you will start?” He asks, he himself is also excited to have you work for him. He’s not lying when he says how excited the girls have been, but he is drawn to you & he can’t explain why.

“Yes Mr York, what time?” You just about get the word out.

“7pm, don’t worry it’s Wednesday, I cook on Wednesdays, you’ll always have that night off from cooking” he laughs a little down the phone.

“Sounds perfect Mr York, I will see you tonight”

Once the call is over, you rush back to your friends & tell them you got the job. Suddenly the orange juices you were all having are now Buck’s Fizz as your friends celebrate your new job with you. “To attending the needs of the Yorks” you toast & your friends cheer. You have no idea exactly what needs you are about to attend, ignorance for now is completely bliss & will remain that way for a little while.

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scruffandyarn · 2 years

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Take My Hand, I'll Start My Journey (1)

A couple of things before we get this party started...

The title needs a little work. The story does too. All of this is completely unbetaed, so if you're reading and all of a sudden it's "damn, scruff, what the hell happened here?" it's all me. I'm trying to edit as I post, but we'll have to see how well that turns out.

My computer keeps freezing whenever I try to copy/paste the entire story, so I'll post it in parts. They'll eventually all be up, no worries.

This is a female!reader-insert fix-it fic of The Mummy Returns, with the pairing of Ardeth Bay x f!reader. Did I rewrite the movie with a reader character? Essentially, yes. This fic covers the entirety of the movie from the second-person perspective of the reader.

For warnings, whatever's in the movie, assume it's here. Additionally, there is mention of the reader sustaining previous injuries, one of which has left her unable to have children (if I ever write more of this, that will be addressed in more detail then). The reader and her sister, Faith, were nurses during a war, and Faith was killed. Reader's father was killed in WWI. There's some reliving of embarrassing moments, including mentions of behavior while the reader is under the influence of a medicinal substance (which will also be further addressed should I write any more of this). There's 'damns' and "hells", two 'bastards' and one 'son of a bitch' for the profanity.

The reader works as Alex's governess.

I tried to avoid any physical descriptions of the reader. If you see any glaring mistakes, lemme know.

If I've forgotten to mention anything, my bad. Just send me a message.

Here we go:

Part 1 (no Ardeth, yet)

“Alexander Rupert!” The frustration in your voice was tempered by the fact that you were panting. And leaning against a crumbling statue for support.

“Uh, I can explain!” The sandy-haired boy held up his hands in surrender and slowly began to back up towards the tunnel he’d just exited.

You growled as you pushed yourself up and started stalking towards him. “No, you can’t.” You gripped his shoulder harder than necessary and maneuvered him back towards the entrance of the temple. “Do you hate me or something?”

“No! I don’t hate you! Why would you think that?”

You eased up on your grip and sighed. “I know you think I’m no fun when I make you stay put, but kid,” you stopped walking and squatted down to look him in the eye. “I’m here to make sure you stay safe on these digs. That’s what your parents hired me for. And if I can’t keep you where they told us to stay and you get hurt, they absolutely could fire me and leave you at some boarding school when they travel.”

“They wouldn’t!” He immediately wrapped his arms around your neck, gripping you like you’d vanish in front of him if he didn’t. “You’re part of our family.”

You sighed again and returned the hug. “Even if they didn’t, I would be absolutely devastated if something happened to you. Because you’re my family too. Ok?”

You felt him nod against your neck and pulled back. You tousled his hair as you stood up and he immediately scoffed, putting a grin on your face.

“Come on, Alex,” this time, you held out your hand and he took it, letting you lead him back to the temple. “I think we should continue working on your engineering lesson.”

“You remembered the cheese this time?” He looked at you skeptically.

You pulled a wadded handkerchief out of your pocket, opening it slightly to reveal the wedge. “Oh, ye of little faith.”

Once you had made your way back to where Rick had told you and Alex to stay, you went to your bag and pulled out the schematics Alex had completed before you’d left London. Looking over them, you had to admit the kid was brilliant, and while a lot of it was due to his parents, you took pride in having at least a small part in it as your role as his governess.

Of course, a typical governess would be teaching the child in the comfort of a home, but you’d jumped at the chance to take on a job that would allow you to see and do more than spend your days in a stuffy room teaching from a boring text.

Not to mention, giving you the built in excuse to avoid dresses of any kind. Something your time as a nurse didn’t allow.

And, you adored Alex, the whole family, really. Even that ridiculous uncle of his, once he’d learned that you wouldn’t tolerate him attempting to charm you.

You just wished Alex would stay put, once in a while at least.

“Alright, kid, here’s your plans.” You handed him the papers. “I’ll gather the materials, and you start building.”

“I’m going to need sticks, and twine.”

“I’ll go get some sticks. There’s twine in my bag. And don’t even think about using the pocket knife to cut it until I’m back.”

As he started stacking bits of broken pottery that were scattered around the room, you dropped the cheese on the ground next to him and headed out of the temple.

You were on your second run for more sticks so Alex could “build a better mousetrap” when you heard horses approaching. Alarmed, you dropped everything and dashed towards the temple, skidding to a halt just as three armed men stalked through the entrance.

“Damn.”

This wasn’t the first dig-site you’d been to with the O’Connells where others had turned up. Most of them had been armed with some sort of weaponry, but all of them had excavating tools. These men didn’t, and you felt your heart drop to your stomach.

No tools meant nothing good.

As quietly as you could, you snuck in behind the three men, your eyes frantically searching for Alex. You were able to draw in a shallow breath once you spotted him hiding on the scaffolding.

“Knock, knock. Anybody home?”

You locked eyes with Alex just after sneaking behind a statue. You pressed your finger to your lips, probably unnecessarily. The kid wasn’t stupid, but his nod helped to ease a miniscule amount of your fear.

If only you could get to your bag and grab your pocket knife--maybe that would ease a little more. Unfortunately, even after one of the men left, there were still two guns between you and your knife. And really, what good would a knife do against one gun, let alone two?

Options. You needed options. You needed something. Anything.

Maybe, if you could get closer to one of the tunnels leading further into the temple, you could draw the men towards you and give Alex a chance to run for it.

Not the best idea, but if it kept him out of harm’s way…

Holding up two fingers, you mimicked a slingshot, then pointed at the men. Alex nodded again and slowly pulled the item out of his pocket. Once he was ready, you counted down with your fingers.

As soon as the man cried out in pain, you darted towards the next statue over, tensing up behind it when you heard the cocking of a gun.

This was it.

Except, no shot came.

“This place is cursed.”

You rolled your eyes. Sure. Cursed by an eight-year-old.

You gave it a couple of minutes for them to get distracted by more of the pottery before you chanced peeking out from your hiding spot. You caught Alex’s gaze, nodded towards the men, then counted down.

He hit his mark and you made your run, only to hear Alex let out a laugh. It was short and quiet, but you still heard it. And if you heard it, the men probably did too.

Damn it! You were so close to the tunnels, maybe one more statue, and you could make it and lead them away.

Forcing yourself to swallow your fear, you waited another few minutes, hoping the men would get sidetracked by more ancient items and forget if they’d heard anything. You gave Alex the countdown and hoofed it as fast as you could.

“I’ll take care of this.”

Your fear rushed back, tenfold, and you felt the room begin to spin. They must have spotted you. Except, looking around the statue, they weren’t headed in your direction. Instead, they were heading straight towards Alex.

You were left with no choice.

You ran towards the tunnels, not caring about staying hidden. “Over here, you bastards!”

Alex’s gasp at your profanity would have been comical if this wasn’t life-or-death.

“You get her. I’ll get him.”

No no no no no! They were both supposed to follow you! You had to think fast! Except, the sound of yet another gun cocking left your mind completely blank. Running was your only option--you couldn’t save Alex with a bullet in your brain.

You led your pursuer down a tunnel, trying to remember the turns you were making, hoping you could double back and intervene before the other man got to Alex. As soon as you saw an alcove, you ducked into it, praying that the man would rush by you.

“Come on, sweetheart! I won’t hurt you none if you just show your pretty face.”

Finally, after what seemed like years, he was past your hiding spot. As quick as you could, you hurried back the way you came. In your hurry, you slammed up against the wall, the thud echoing. Gunfire, and the sound of bullets ricocheting off stone, followed.

“Damn it!” Shaking off the pain from your collision, you kept moving until you were back in the temple. You spotted the other man, knife between his teeth, attempting to climb up the scaffolding, just before the man who had originally departed came running into the room.

“Spivey! Jacques! Let’s get the hell out of here!”

The man who had been chasing you immediately took heed. “Come on!”

The man after Alex slid down the ladder he’d been climbing and kicked one of the scaffold’s support beams before following after.

“Alex!” You ran to try and keep the entire thing from falling, but you miscalculated, and pulled too hard on the wobbly structure.

“Watch out!”

The scaffold swayed in your direction, and you moved to try and avoid having it fall on you. “Jump!” you screamed at Alex, holding out your hands to grab him. He fell into your arms, hard, knocking you backwards into a pillar. The force of your hit toppled the pillar, starting a domino effect of each pillar knocking down the next, all the way around the circular room.

“Wow,” Alex breathed as you set him down.

“Your mom’s going to kill us.”

Before you could stop him, Alex ran to try and keep the last pillar from falling.

“Alex! It’ll crush you.” You ran after him, tackling him out from under the pillar as it collapsed into the wall, knocking a giant hole into it.

Water immediately rushed into the room and you and Alex shared a look of bewilderment before turning back to the sudden flood. The two of you looked at each other again, even more confused, when Alex’s parents washed up at your feet.

“Mom, dad. I can explain everything.”

You smiled ruefully, knowing exactly what would happen when they learned just how close to danger their son had been.

“You see, there were these men--they were bad men, and ______, she tried to lure them away from me, but only one of them followed her, and the other one came after me when I hit one with my slingshot, and then they all ran out and ______ caught me but I knocked her into the pillars and it’s my fault we broke the wall.”

Evelyn and Rick looked up at the two of you, identical looks of…something…on their faces. You couldn’t tell what was running through their minds.

“Are you two alright?” Evelyn finally asked as she pushed herself up, a little squish sound with every movement. “Either of you hurt?”

“I’m ok, mom.”

“What about you, ______?” This time, it was Rick who asked. He was still on the ground, looking completely exhausted, his hands clutching onto some sort of box.

“I’m so sorry, I really thought they both would follow me, but they didn’t and I had to double back and--”

Rick held up a hand to silence you. “Alex is fine. Are you?”

“Oh, um…yeah. Peachy.” You offered your hand to help him up.

He grabbed it, making sure you saw him roll his eyes as he hoisted himself to his feet, putting minimal weight on you. “Let us know if you start feeling less than…’peachy’ and we’ll see about calling a doctor once we’re back in London.”

“I’m so glad you’re both alright.” Evelyn wrapped the arm not used to hold her son around your shoulders.

You stiffened slightly in surprise. They weren’t going to fire you?

“And you, young man,” Rick pointed at Alex, who made a show of gulping, “You owe ______ an apology for sneaking off from her earlier. If we have to pay her extra for chasing after you, it’s coming out of your allowance.”

“Aw, dad!”

Take My Hand Masterlist

#the mummy returns #fanfic #ardeth bay #ardeth bay x reader #scruff's stuff #the mummy #Ardeth bay fanfic

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high-dragon-bait · 2 years

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Some theories/guesses for what our Dreadwolf protagonist title might be!

We’re all curious what our Dreadwolf (finally don’t have to say DA:4!!) protag’s title will be like Warden, Champion, Inquisitor, and I wanna throw some guesses out there based on what we know. I doubt any of these will be the title, but it’s fun to imagine

We know our protagonist is meant to be someone that Solas “doesn’t know” and “will never see coming.” They’re someone without power or any innate abilities. Average Joe. Which is also what Hawke was so idk why they’re acting like this is new for the series but that’s no here nor there TITLES

With that knowledge, here are some ideas:

- The Infiltrator - This one is my personal favorite so we’ll start with this! I have actually been quietly referring to the DA:D (heh) protagonist as “The Infiltrator” in my head for months just because I got tired for calling them “My future protag.” Given that some of the descriptions imply we may be some sort of spy, “Infiltrator” would be fitting. Infiltrate Solas’ ranks. Infiltrate Tevinter’s hierarchy. Maybe even infiltrate the Inquisition itself if it still exists and we’re allowed to side with Solas. It’s descriptive and it sounds cool and I think it’s the most likely to be the one that would be picked if I were to present this list to Bioware.

- The Shadow - This one is pretty generic but does sound cool. Again, it goes off of the implication that we’ll be a spy, but what I’m really going for here is a sort of “Shadow of the Inquisitor” idea. Your Inquisitor can’t directly go for Solas, he knows them too well, but he doesn’t know their “shadow.” The part of them that walks in the dark, that’s unseen, unknown. And it carries meta as well, your “Shadow” would definitely have the larger role in this game, but they’ll be trapped in the shadow of the Inquisitor. Juicy! But I don’t love this one, it’s generic, but would be nifty.

- The Hunter - The edgiest option! Haha! This one relates to both the fact that we are hunting for information, probably hunting for slavers, but mostly is just a play on “wolf hunter.” This one isn’t that deep. You’re the Hunter! You’re hunting down Solas! Beat his ass when you get there!

- The Heretic - My second favorite after “infiltrator” but also the one I think is least likely to happen, but GOD it would be so cool. Imagine an opening cutscene with your Inquisitor and their advisors (not for too long tho you may cry) and Cullen says one of the above “We need an Infiltrator/Shadow/Hunter” like that’s cool those are all real jobs and sound neat but can you imagine him saying “We need a Heretic” that is just so BADASS. I love it because it’s just so JUICY in terms of lore and symbolism. You’re committing heresy against the Maker, against Tevinter, against Solas, it’s just PACKED FULL of meaning. AND it offers an absolutely DELICIOUS parallel between the Inquisitor and the new protag who we’re all pretty sure will have to be working closely together. “The Herald and the Heretic.” How catchy is that. That’s Varric’s next book.

That’s it! Not too deep, just me having fun. I’m sure whatever the actual title will be I’ll love it, but it’s fun to wonder till then

#Dragon Age #Dragon Age Dreadwolf #Dreadwolf #Dragon Age: Dreadwolf #DA:D #DA:DW #DA4

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christophercant · 1 year

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AI doesn’t have to be the enemy: Future-Proofing your Art Career Part 3

AI art, very appropriately named “Conversation with the Demon”

This is part 3 of my AI art series, originally posted on Christophercant.com. If you aren’t caught up, here’s Part 1: AI is coming, and here’s Part 2: How to Compete against AI.

For the past few months, if you only sat in certain parts of the twittersphere, you might be led to believe that AI is an aberration, come to rob us of our jobs and our meaning, and slowly replace all of human creativity with homogenous grey sludge.

And if you've read my previous articles about AI art, you might think I share that opinion.

But I can see some ways that AI might actually be able to help us artists - and not in a painful compromise, but in a liberating way.

No, I'm not talking about generating AI artwork and painting over it. If that's what you want to do, knock yourself out.

I’m talking to the people who want to paint for a living, who want to spend their day drawing, and feel like their dream has just dissolved in front of their eyes.

Because I want to paint, and I have dreams, and I’m not ready to drop them.

“Just paint over AI art”

Alright, I‘m going to have to address this straight away. Perhaps it’s a serious suggestion to learn how to write good prompts for AI art generators, correct the mistakes, and sell the results to clients.

So let’s look at what I think painting over AI art for a living would look like:

Many projects utilising AI art will only require a single human artist, so you are a one-person department. You meet with the other departments to discuss what art is required for the project.

You write a little description of the content you want to generate, and feed that into the AI. The AI spits out some images and then you tell it what it misunderstood, got wrong, or should adjust. The AI tries again with these new parameters; repeat this until you decide that the AI can’t get closer to what you want, and you take the best version of the art into Photoshop or whatever software you diddle about with.

Saving loads of time by generating some AI art and painting over it! Weeeeee!

You present the finished art to the rest of the team, and help it get integrated into the project properly.

For many projects the art will be complete within just a few months, so your part in the project ends and you hop to another project, and do it all again.

Did you spot the part where the artist gets to make art? The AI makes 90% of the artistic compositional choices, and you only actually put on your artist hat when the AI fucked something up - which will be less and less often, as the AI improves and you get better at ordering it about.

The rest is management - you’re not an artist, you’re a manager. You’re outsourcing the art to a robotic freelancer. The closest you might be able to call yourself is an Art Director.

There will be very little of you in generated art, very little of your perspective, of your personality and your narrative, of the stories you tell with your art.

If you want to do that, knock yourself out - but my dreams don’t look like this.

But how else can artists benefit from AI then?

Since AI is great at doing a single task very efficiently, it’s specialists that are the ones threatened by it - if you perform like a robot, you’ll get replaced by one - and that includes digital artists.

In truth, we are all probably going to have to shift toward the manager role and outsource tasks to AI to stay employed, but you don't have to outsource your art.

Outsource the rest.

If you’re employed as an artist then your art is part of a product pipeline, and there are multiple other components required to create the finished product besides your art. Use AI to handle those other parts. If you own and run the whole product pipeline, you’re no longer dependent on getting hired.

Don't replace yourself with AI; replace your employers with AI.

AI doesn’t only create digital art; it researches, writes, makes music, voice narration and sound effects, animates, codes, creates video, among a myriad more things yet to be revealed.

By leveraging AI, you’ll be able to build much larger projects than just the individual pieces of visual media you can create as a lone artist. Animations, comic books, card games and illustrated novels all become much easier with some AI employees. Feature-length films and massive videogames made by a single creator will become commonplace.

Dust: An Elysian Tail, made by 1 developer, Dean Dodrill, in 2012. Expect to see projects like this happen a lot more with AI on the scene.

The necessary tools are appearing already

We already know about the AI art tools, and I’m sure all of us are familiar with ChatGPT by now and the sorts of things it can do - basically, if you want to write anything, it’ll help you get it done.

There are other tools showing up that can simplify the majority of the product pipeline - from concept, to production, to marketing, to customer support.

Here’s a recent video by entrepreneur Alex Hormozi, talking about AI tools he may be able to integrate into his business, reducing workload or offering new angles for content production:

youtube

His video is a little gimmicky, and I'm not convinced he plans on actually adopting any of those particular tools into his business, but it does demonstrate the potential use cases of AI when running a business.

From making art to making complete products

As an example closer to home, let’s ponder fantasy and science fiction artists and how AI might be able to help them. If they are being employed by a company to make art, usually their art is some part of a film, video game, pen and paper game, board games, card game, illustrated book, or a book cover.

AI will probably be able to reduce your workload in every phase of making each of those products.

Need to expand and polish your product’s concept? ChatGPT is actually alright for bouncing ideas off and doing basic research, and a similar AI called Jasper.ai is really, really good at riffing off of your inputs and going in wacky, unexpected directions. I bet all text AIs are decent at it.

Need to produce a hell of a lot of writing or coding for your product? ChatGPT can handle that too.

If you haven't tried out chatGPT yet, it's actually interesting to play with and find its limits, and there are ways it can help you that don't feel like you're secretly just ripping plagiarised content from some poor writer struggling to make ends meet.

Need to create animated characters from your artwork? Here's a video of someone quickly mapping a 2d portrait onto a fully rigged 3D model and using their phone’s camera to animate it:

youtube

If you’re open to the idea, and I get it if you aren’t, you could train an image AI on your art, to produce more work in your style you can utilise in your project. I’m not sure where I sit with that particular use case, but it will be possible.

I've not tried it yet, but I expect you'll be able to use AI to test out game mechanics very efficiently, much more efficiently than playtesting every idea.

And of course there are AI to generate sound effects, music and other audio.

Marketing

If being a professional artist was a pie, then making art would be one half of that pie, with a tasty fruit filling. Apple and cinnamon or something. Marketing would be the other half, filled with shit. Currently if you want to be a successful artist you have to eat that whole pie, shit and all, but with AI we might be able to get it to handle a lot of marketing for us, reducing the amount of shit left on our plate.

Creating articles and YouTube videos is a great way to generate long term passive traffic for your projects, and ChatGPT is also great at helping with those, whether it's helping you do research, plan a script, or provide alternative ways to phrase something.

It’s also great at covering its ass!

It's also a dab hand at writing good copy to accompany your products and help you get sales, and can easily shorten whole ideas into short, snappy tweets. And if English isn't your first language, it's really good at translating and fixing mistakes.

QuillBot is also fantastic at helping you rephrase your writing, and I’ve used it to summarise things I’ve written, expand my notes into fuller paragraphs, simplify the language, and to add creative flair to the fictional stories I’ve been writing now and then (no, nothings public yet).

I came across MeetEdgar a couple of years ago, a social media scheduler that parses through blog posts on your site, pulls out snippets of text and images, and schedules them to be posted to your social media accounts at the times your account gets the most engagement. All you need to do is confirm you are happy with its plan.

I only tested it out briefly when I found it, but I’ve dug it out again recently with the intent of using it properly, now that I’m relying on articles a lot more than I was at the time.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I'm going to be searching for more of these tools and compiling a portfolio of similar software, and sharing my findings with you guys.

Using apps like these, and the ones yet to be created, you'll be a one-man creative force. You'll just need a vision, a passion for making art, and the willingness to manage your AI workforce.

The possibilities for a single entrepreneurial mind will go exponential - sat by yourself in your bedroom, you’ll have the creative potential of a whole studio.

The rise of the solo-preneur

As far as I can tell, the ‘solo-preneur’ is going to be the future of many creative professions. In many ways it’ll be the best avenue for digital artists, as being employed as an artist becomes less and less viable.

In the wider world, many artists already are solo-preneurs; oil painters selling their work in galleries, YouTubers and streamers sharing their expertise and insights, T-shirt illustrators, Skillshare teachers, Patreon…

Freelancers and employed artists are probably going to have to go join them. Hopefully AI will be able to help us get there, without it poisoning the very markets we are trying to enter.

Of course, you'll have to learn a little about many disciplines - enough to be able to spot shortcomings in the various AI outputs and improve them, but if you really want to make this career work it'll be a small price to pay.

At the risk of coming across venomous, even with the potential of AI at people's fingertips, most won't make anything with it. Most people just want to seek comfort and consume media; only the few are driven to create, even when it’s made extremely easy for the many.

So while I’ve made fun of AI art a little bit during this post, I would advise you not to ignore AI completely and to keep an eye on the tools that appear. They may help you stay competitive, and even ahead of the curve, moving forward.

If you combine your genuine passion and enthusiasm for creating art, with AI tools to handle other parts of your business, you may end up living that dream you wanted for yourself.

Perhaps the AI future isn’t as scary as it might seem

I can’t really give you a spot-on plan to prepare for what’s coming.

It's hard to predict exactly how AI will be applied in the future and what it will be capable of, as we are probably near the beginning of this thing. It's simply too hard, and I’m not informed enough, to guess what tools might appear.

But I’m pretty sure that now is the time to think big. AI is going to simplify many tasks, and drastically reduce the manpower required to make large scale products. If you aren’t thinking big by then, you’re going to be left behind.

You’re going to have to generalise your skills a bit and learn to plan larger projects, but you’ll still be able to concentrate on your art and make it the unique centrepiece of the things you make. Think something like 80% art, 20% other crap.

If that sounds a bit like a shitty deal, I can tell you that I’ve purposely generalised my skills a bit in the last few years, and I actually enjoy myself more now.

I used to just paint fantasy and mythology imagery. I chose to generalise by learning to write and web design, but as it turned out I use both of those new skills to celebrate my love of art, fantasy and mythology even further by building complete websites and products.

My love for art and fantasy now feels even deeper, and my expertise in them much more rounded - much fuller.

I feel like I’m working on more important things now, because of their scale and ambition, and their potential impact - and this was recently made much more plausible with AI assistance. I might have to pivot a few times as things develop, but I think there's a viable path forward.

I get it if you're feeling cynical about all of this. If you feel like the career you were looking forward to has been snatched away from you, I empathise with you. I’ve felt the same way a few times in the last 6 months.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck and I hope you don’t give up - there will always be a way to live as a full-time artist, and I hope you continue to pursue that dream, no matter the obstacles that appear in front of you.

Your humanity will act as a beacon to draw people in, and your perseverance will keep them inspired and invested.

This was going to be the last article in this little AI series, but I’ve realised I need to write one last article after this, and perhaps the most important - “Dont give up”, coming soon.

This article was originally posted on Christophercant.com

#ai art discussion #ai artist #chatgpt #ai art discourse #ai artificial intelligence #aiartcommunity #Youtube

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lucidpayments · 1 month

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Searching for Easy Payment Solutions? Our Sales Manager, Michael Nelson, Can Help

Like it or not, if you own a business, you’re going to need some kind of payment processing.

But our industry doesn’t do much to clarify things for merchants, and for the most part, it fails to provide easy payment solutions, keeping everything as convoluted as possible.

That being said, we understand how difficult it can be for business owners like you to try to understand what payment processing is, how it works, what exactly it is you’re paying for, and what provider you should choose to get the best service and the best deal.

With that in mind, at Lucid Payments, we’re on a mission to protect the best interests of business owners, provide easy payment solutions, and give you greater clarity on your payment processing.

And if there’s one member of our team who best embodies these goals, it has to be our long-time Sales Manager, Michael Nelson.

Our customers are constantly raving about the services Michael provides, as he loves to go above and beyond for them in whatever way he can.

As a show of our appreciation, we want to take this opportunity to highlight Michael’s dedication to our customers and introduce him to merchants like you.

So, if you’re searching for easy payment solutions, and you need someone to answer your questions and help you get everything set up, keep reading to learn how Michael can help.

Looking for Easy Payment Solutions? Michael Can Help

Whether you’re in the market for online payment solutions, payment solutions for retail, or something else entirely, Michael can make everything easy for you.

But before we go any further into that, let’s take a moment to get to know Michael a bit better.

Michael has been doing sales in one form or another for the last 25 years, he’s been with Lucid Payments for the last six years, and he currently lives in Sylvan Lake, Alberta.

Aside from his work in sales, before Michael joined Lucid Payments, he worked as a DJ for 27 years and ran his own IT business, which involved things like setting up networks and installing surveillance cameras.

Michael is also a single dad with four kids and the proud owner of a Chihuahua named Gringo.

When he’s not helping business owners, hanging out with family, or walking the dog, Michael loves to spend time cruising around on his Onewheel and dancing at music festivals.

Why Michael Chose to Work for Lucid Payments

Before starting with Lucid Payments, Michael had an awful experience working for another payment processor, not least because he felt like they weren’t being honest with him.

This was having a decidedly negative effect on Michael’s ability to do his job, and if they weren’t being honest with him, then you can bet they were doing the same thing with their customers.

“I worked for them for about three months,” he said. “And I walked away from it because I was ready to pull out my hair. I couldn’t even get answers to simple questions.”

Then he spoke to our VP of Operations, Steven Cumiskey, and that one phone call was enough to change Michael’s perspective on our industry.

Steven was able to answer almost all the questions Michael had, and the couple of things that he didn’t know offhand, he got back to him about the next day.

“I’ve used the term smoke and mirrors as my description of this industry,” said Michael. “But Lucid Payments offered all the clarity I was missing.”

What’s more, our mission, which is to protect the best interests of business owners, give them greater clarity, and provide simplified payment processing, really resonated with Michael.

“That’s exactly how I live my life,” he said. “When somebody needs something, I’m going to try and figure out a way to help them. And if I can’t, I’m going to try and find somebody I know who can.”

As a business owner himself, the most fulfilling part of Michael’s role with Lucid Payments has been helping other business owners.

Whether it’s helping them set up their equipment, showing them how to operate it, explaining how our industry works, going over their statements to explain what they’re paying for, or helping them save money on their payment processing, there’s nothing Michael loves more.

How Michael Has Helped Our Customers

Throughout his more than six years with Lucid Payments, Michael has helped countless customers.

Whether it’s issues with equipment, poor customer service, or just being tired of paying too much, if you’ve got a problem with your payment processing, or you’re looking for easy payment solutions, chances are, he can help.

And to give you a better idea of how he can help, here are some examples of what Michael has been able to accomplish for our customers:

Chief’s Pub & Eatery

Before choosing to work with Lucid Payments, Chief’s Pub & Eatery used to have lots of technical issues with the outdated payment terminals that were provided by their previous processor.

Michael recently switched them over to newer and more reliable machines, which has solved all of these problems for them, and we were even able to save them over 60 per cent on their monthly processing costs.

Mullets Barbershop

When they opened their first location about three years ago, Michael was able to help Mullets Barbershop get their payment processing set up and made sure they understood everything.

Since then, they’ve opened four more locations, and as a result of how happy they’ve been with the service Michael’s provided, they’ve chosen to work exclusively with Lucid Payments for their payment processing.

Party Chef

Party Chef, which combines a restaurant and local artisanal market, had a rough start when they launched a couple of years ago.

When they first opened, they went with a processor from Ontario, and within the first two days, they were already having issues accepting Mastercard and debit payments.

The following week, they agreed to go with Lucid Payments, and Michael was able to solve these problems by switching them to a more reliable and efficient payment terminal.

Shortly after that, they wanted to launch their website, so Michael worked with them on the initial setup, and he’s always available to answer any questions they have.

“I highly recommend Michael for his exceptional local service, strong communication skills, and willingness to go above and beyond to assist. He is always readily available to provide support and ensures that his clients receive the attention they need. Whether it’s a quick question or a more complex issue, Michael is consistently reliable and responsive,” said Party Chef’s owner, Lydia Neergaard.

“His dedication to helping others is evident in his proactive approach to problem-solving and his genuine interest in addressing clients’ needs. I have been consistently impressed with his professionalism and commitment to delivering top-notch service. I am grateful for his assistance and would not hesitate to recommend him to others.”

What Our Customers Have to Say About Michael

We’re constantly getting compliments from satisfied customers who can’t help but rave about the experience they’ve had working with Michael.

Whether it’s his helpful and friendly demeanour, dedication, expertise, or ability to provide easy payment solutions, our customers have no shortage of good things to say about him.

One look at our Google reviews, many of which mention Michael by name, should be enough evidence of that. Here are some of the compliments he’s received so far:

Still searching for easy payment solutions? You can call Michael at (403) 396-6941, email him at [email protected], or contact us for more information.

#easy payment processing #payment processing options #payment processing #paying online #online payment options

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tingseo-blog · 1 year

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Restaurant Rebranding Ideas To Swear By

Rebranding a restaurant can be a daunting task, but it can also be an excellent opportunity to revitalise your business, attract new customers, and re-engage with your existing ones. Whether you're looking to update your brand image, menu, or overall concept, here are some tips from branding agencies in Mumbai to help you successfully rebrand your restaurant.

Before starting the rebranding process, it's crucial to identify why you want to rebrand your restaurant. Maybe your sales have been declining, and you want to attract new customers, or perhaps your concept is outdated, and you want to modernise it. Whatever the reason may be, make sure it's clear before proceeding. This will help you stay focused and avoid making unnecessary changes that don't align with your goals. Your target market is the group of people who are most likely to visit your restaurant, so it's essential to know who they are and what they want. Conduct market research to understand your target market's preferences, demographics, and behaviour. This will help you make informed decisions when it comes to rebranding your restaurant with branding agencies in Chennai. Your brand identity is the way your restaurant presents itself to the world, including your name, logo, colours, and messaging. Define your brand identity by considering your target market and what they're looking for in a restaurant. Think about the personality and style you want to convey, and make sure it's consistent across all touchpoints, including your website, menu, social media, and decor. Updating your menu can be an effective way to rebrand your restaurant. Consider introducing new dishes or changing the way you present your existing ones. Make sure your menu is visually appealing and easy to read, with clear descriptions of each dish.

If you're changing your concept or target market, make sure your menu reflects that. Your restaurant's decor plays a significant role in creating a memorable dining experience. If your decor is outdated or doesn't align with your new brand identity, consider refreshing it. This can include changing the colour scheme, updating furniture, or adding new decor elements that reflect your brand personality. Engaging with your customers is essential when rebranding your restaurant. Ask for their feedback and opinions, and make them feel like they're part of the process. This can include hosting focus groups, offering surveys, or inviting customers to a soft launch of your new concept. Make sure to communicate your rebranding efforts through all channels, including social media, email marketing, and in-restaurant signage. Your staff plays a crucial role in delivering your brand experience, so it's essential to train them on your new brand identity and concept. Make sure they understand the changes you're making and how it affects their job responsibilities. Encourage them to provide feedback and suggestions, and make sure they're comfortable communicating your new brand message to customers. When it comes time to launch your rebranded restaurant, make sure you have a comprehensive plan in place. This can include a grand reopening event, a new menu launch, or a social media campaign. Make sure your launch plan aligns with your brand identity and target market, and that you're creating a buzz that will attract new customers and re-engage with existing ones.

In conclusion, rebranding a restaurant is a significant undertaking, but with the right strategy and execution by a branding agency Chennai, it can lead to increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, and a more memorable dining experience. By identifying your goals, analysing your target market, defining your brand identity, updating your menu and decor, engaging with your customers, training your staff, and creating the right brand fit.

#branding agencies in Mumbai #branding agency Chennai

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vendettaparker · 3 years

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Peanut Butter and Extra Jelly [T.H]

Summary: Tom’s long time crush on you becomes painful when you and Harrison are cast as love interests in a movie.

Paring: Tom Holland x Actress!Reader

Word Count: 5.8k

Warning: Suggestive themes, fake smut (very light), jealousy, probably some typos, swearing

a/n: i have no idea how filming a movie, or auditioning for one actually goes so don’t crucify me for this. i’m pretty happy with how this turned out, especially considering that this is the most i’ve ever written for a fic. also, Burt Kreisher is one of my fav comedians in real life, he has 3 shows on neflix and a mini series.

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Tom was not a jealous person. At least, that's what he always told himself. He prided himself in thinking he was a very level headed individual who didn’t let his emotions get the best of him. That worked best for his job anyways; always being able to control his emotions and not get in his own head. That simple, pacifistic mindset seemed to change when it came to you.

You were one of the many actors Tom got the pleasure to help hone their technique and work closely with. You were new to the lifestyle of Hollywood and the only roles you had before were in small indie films that never garnered too much attention. The first major role that you landed, which also happened to help kickstart your career, was in the MCU. You played the secondary villain in the third Spider-man movie.

Meeting the cast was a dream come true; they were all extremely helpful and they provided tons of tips and tricks in navigating the hectic schedule required for such a huge production. By the time filming wrapped up, you were considered part of their little Spider-man family.

Tom was easily the most helpful. Whenever he saw you struggling with anything, he offered to help. You two spent hours upon hours together in his trailer, ordering take out and practicing lines. Some nights you two planned to work through your script, but inevitably ended up falling asleep binge watching The Office, and laughing about crazy shit that happened on set that day.

When the movie wrapped up and you went home for a month before the press tour, you were completely unsure and nervous about what direction your career was going in. You auditioned for a few new movies, but had yet to hear from any of the directors about casting decisions. You kept in touch Tom during the month you were apart and expressed your concerns.

“I don’t know, Tom. I’m just so sick of waiting around and hoping that some director out there throws me a bone, ya know’?” You said on facetime, while making cookies.

“Yeah, I totally understand that, (Y/N/N). I had that issue a couple years ago before the Marvel movies. Trust me, you did outstanding in that role and once it gets noticed I’m positive you’ll have directors calling you, begging for you to audition.” Tom smiled warmly into the camera as he walked around his apartment in London.

“Yeah, easy for you to say, movie-star.” You giggled, turning your face away from the camera in hopes that Tom wouldn’t notice the blush his compliments painted onto your cheeks

“I’m serious! You were outstanding! Like in that one scene where you—”

“Tom! Tessa chewed a hole in my trousers again!” A voice came from outside of the frame, “Mate, you gotta get her to stop doing that somehow.”

Tom sighed, and waved his hand dismissively at the figure, “Okay, sure. I’m busy right now.” Tom looked back to the camera, “anyways, as I was saying, don’t stress about not having a new project yet, (Y/N)—”

“(Y/N)?” The other voice whisper-yelled. “Let me say hi!”, suddenly the phone was yanked out of Tom's hands and the video shook around a bit as Tom wrestled to get it back. Finally, the camera stilled and Harrison was on the other end smiling. “Hi, (Y/N)!”

“Oh, hi Harrison!” You smiled back, laughing. You'd met Harrison a few times when he visited Tom on set. “How are you?”

The camera started moving around more as the background behind Harrsion whizzed past. You assumed Tom must’ve been chasing him to get the phone back.

“I’m good! I just auditioned for a new movie. You should audition too! The main female lead’s description looks just like you.” He exclaimed, running past the kitchen to his room.

“Oi! Give me my phone back you div!” You heard Tom yelling in the background, no doubt in hot pursuit of Harrison.

“I don’t know, I'm not sure I’m prepared for a lead role.” You sighed, “What’s the movie called? I’ll look into it.”

“It’s called ‘Collateral Damage’, it’s a spy movie.” Harrison said, shutting the door to his room, while Tom pounded on it from the other side. “Yeah, it’d be really fun working with you. Tom constantly talks about how much fun you are on set.” Harrison wheezed out, trying to catch his breath.

“Aw, that’s sweet of him.” You laughed. “Well I’ve got to go. Just tell Tom he can call me tomorrow or something.” You waved at the camera. “Bye!”

“Yup, bye.” Harrison said right before the video cut out.

Harrison finally opened the door to a seething Tom. Tom grabbed the phone back from Harrison and noticed that the call had ended.

“Dude! Why would you do that?” Tom whined.

Harrison just patted Tom’s back, “Sorry, mate. She said she had to go, though. I was about to give the phone back.”

Tom huffed and sulked for a moment. “Whatever, I’ll just call her later, I guess.”

Harrison nodded and smirked at how whipped Tom was. “You should just ask her out if you’re so desperate for her attention.” Harrison teased.

“Shut up. I’m not desperate for her attention, I just like her voice and her personality, and the way she talks, and her funny sayings, and how her hair looks when she just woke up.”

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It was only a few days later when you received an email from the director of the movie Harrison told you about, asking for you to audition. You were ecstatic, Harrison must’ve already sent in some things about you since the director seemed adamant that you were of high interest for the role.

You called Tom immediately to share the good news.

He picked up after the third ring, “Hello, darling! How are you?” he beamed when he answered your call. He usually was the one to call you so he felt a sense of pride knowing that you were calling him for once.

“Tom! The director of the movie Harrison auditioned for just emailed me asking for me to audition!” You squealed excitedly.

“Really? That’s wonderful, love! Harrison just got the part of the lead too, so you’d be filming with him if you got it.”

“That’s so exciting, I’m flying to London for the audition in two days. Are you still there?” You pulled the phone away from your ear and switched it to speaker. “I’m booking the flight right now.”

“Yeah, I’ll be in London for another week and a half. Then we have the press tour starting in Japan.” Tom said, also switching to speaker phone to look at his calendar. “You can stay with Harrison and I while you’re here. Since we have to go to Japan together anyways.” Tom offered nervously. He really wanted you to stay in his flat with him. It’d be all cute and domestic, and maybe, just maybe, he’d spend enough time with you to not feel nervous about asking you on a date. If he was lucky, that is, but awaiting your reply he was a jittery ball of nerves.

“Yeah, that sounds wonderful. I won't be intruding though, right?” You said, smiling from ear to ear. Thank god you weren’t on facetime and Tom couldn’t see the stupid smile adoring your features.

“No, of course not. Harry will be so excited to see you. And Tessa too, she really misses you.” Tom shuffled around with his phone, shooting a quick text to Harrison letting him know you were coming to stay for a week.

“Ok, thanks so much, this is really thoughtful of you. I absolutely can’t wait to see you!” You gushed, finalizing your purchase of a one-way ticket to London. “K, the flight is at 2:30 pm here, it’s about 9 and a half hours, but you’re also ahead of me, so I’ll be in around..5?”

“Yeah, that sounds right to me,” Tom chuckled, “I’ll come pick you up. I’ll wear my incognito disguise.”

“If you mean that stupid t-shirt you got that says ‘I’M NOT A CELEBRITY’, then maybe I’ll ask Harrison to come pick me up…”

“That’s cold (Y/L/N).”

You giggled softly, “I’m sorry, Tommy. If it makes you feel better, that shirt isn’t as bad as that stupid blue beanie that you never wear correctly.”

“How the fuck would that make me feel better? You’re killing me, (Y/N/N).”

You laughed at his over dramatic reaction, “Sorry that you’re a sensitive babe. I gotta go now, see you soon!” You hung up before Tom could respond with a sassy quip. Then immediately after you received a text:

Tommy: The second you get here I’m bout to 👊

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Tom called Harrison up after you got off the phone, he needed to make sure his best friend wouldn’t say or do anything to embarrass him in front of you.

“Tom, don’t you think this is a bit obsessive? I mean, she’s only staying with us for a week and you already know her so well from spending all that time filming with her.” Harrison sighed, sick of listening to Tom ramble about every possible embarrassing situation he could be put in, in the coming week.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It's no big deal. But don’t mention that time I accidentally shit my pants at the club, or that time I got hit in the head with a golf ball ‘cus I got distracted by a flock of geese, or that time a got chased by a flock of geese, or—”

“Geez, mate. At this point we might as well not even talk to her.” Harrison chuckled, thinking of all the stories he could bring up about Tom around the dinner table with you. Tom really was just a walking ball of embarrassing moments.

“Stoppp ittt,” Tom whined, “when we were on set it was usually just the cast and Harry around, but you? You could do some real fucking damage to my love life, Haz.”

“What love life?” Harrison barked out, laughing.

Tom then hung up and began praying to whatever god was out there that this week could go by without a hitch, and then you and him would be on your way, together, to Japan.

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The whole week spent in London actually went really well, especially the audition. Tom and Harrison both accompanied you for moral support, well Harrison actually had to be there to be your scene partner, but it was still nice knowing he supported you.

The director shook your hand and you went through the normal formalities before beginning your scene with Harrison. It was a quick scene with a monologue in it. The main premise of the movie was all about choosing love over work, especially in dangerous, life-threatening scenarios. The scene you used to audition with Harrison was the scene where the main character, Lincoln, and his lover interest, Mallory, were arguing, trying to push each other away to keep each other safe. The scene had a lot of raw emotion that you were able to tap into, and the directors gave your performance a standing ovation once the scene concluded.

They said that they’d get back to you within the next few days, but they also mentioned how the chemistry between you and Harrison was off the charts, leaving you hopeful. Tom and Harrison both gave you hugs and pats on the back. Tom had watched the whole scene unfold and he was in complete and utter awe of your talent. Part of him was annoyed that he didn’t audition for the movie and a chance as your love interest. But Harrison deserved this big break and so did you, so he was hopeful of the outcome being something that benefitted both of his best friends.

After the audition the rest of the week went by nearly perfectly. The real kicker was when Tom’s family invited you and Harrison to join them for dinner. Tom had not anticipated his mom asking you to come to family dinner, so he wasn’t able to stop the embarrassing anecdotes his mom told on his behalf.

“Tom had the cutest little tush,” Nikki exclaimed, placing the old homemade scrapbook in your lap and flipping through a couple of pages. “See look,” she happily pointed to a picture of Tom as a toddler in a bath, surrounded by bubbles, his little bum poking through them.

Tom sat uncomfortably on the sofa next to you, cringing at the now 21 year old photo of him. He expected you to also cringe along, or worse case scenario, get up and make a flimsy excuse to leave his crazy family, but you just chuckled along with Nikki and continued making your way through the scrapbook, making little comments here and there.

“Oh, and this one,” Nikki said, pointing to a photo of Tom crying and Sam holding up a superhero action figure triumphantly, “that was Tom’s favorite toy, but when Sam saw how much Tom liked it, he made an effort to always be playing with it when Tom came into the room and he wouldn’t share.”

You giggled at the little whiny face Tom made in the picture, and turned to him, replicating it on your face, making fun of him. Tom laughed along and playfully shoved you. He adored how well you seemed to fit in with his family and his feelings for you only multiplied.

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The week in London was one of the best in your life. You didn’t realize how much you missed Tom until you got to the airport and he was there waiting for you, unfortunately in his stupid blue beanie, and no, it wasn’t on right, his big ears poked out of it horrendously.

The last day you had in London before you and Tom went to Japan, you finally received a call about the audition. The director called you to congratulate you on getting the part, and he sent you numerous emails about scheduling, where to be, and when. Harrison was elated to have a familiar face playing his love interest on screen, and Tom was over the moon excited for you, this on top of the Spider-man movie coming out, you were certainly becoming a force to be reckoned with.

You spent the night celebrating at a club, Harry and Sam also showed up to party with you. The night was still young and the club was already packed and in full swing. Tom ordered two shots for each of you to start off the night before he was whisked away by a few fans to sign autographs. When he didn’t return you took it upon yourself to have his shots, giving you an extra edge to help spice up your night.

Harrison found Tom in the corner of the club talking to some fans. But throughout his whole time taking pictures with them, he couldn’t help but glance at you every once and a while. You looked so carefree and beautiful, dancing around in your shiny silver top and leather leggings.

“Tom.” Harrison interrupted Tom’s gawking and directed his attention to the small group of fans Tom was with.

Tom nodded and finished up his pictures and autographs before wishing them all a good and safe night. Once he reached you, you engulfed him in a bone crushing hug.

“Thank you for such a great time in London, Tommy.” you slurred, already feeling the impact of the four shots you took. “I had the best time of my whole life.” You pecked his cheek and pulled him close to dance with you.

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The following month or so on the press tour was a once in a lifetime experience. You travelled to more cities than you even knew the name of and you had all of your friends by your side. More so, you had motivation to remain approachable and well liked by fans considering that you were moving up in the industry. Some interviews were mostly for Tom, Zendaya, and Jacob. Your role in the movie was big enough for you to be needed for some interviews, and most people were genuinely interested in getting to know you, but there were also a handful of press activities that you weren’t included in, which you didn’t mind.

When you didn’t have anything to do for an hour or so, you would text Harrison and send him funny memes. He was quickly becoming one of your closest friends; you had already created a surplus of inside jokes with him just over the phone.

Tom noticed how you were always laughing at your phone or rapid fire texting. Even when you were being interviewed, Tom could faintly hear the buzz of your text message notifications going off.

“Tom,” you snapped in front of his eyes, “did you need something?”

“Huh?” Tom blinked a few times, “Uh—no, sorry.” Tom’s cheeks flushed pink, embarrassed for having been caught staring at you. He couldn’t help it though, you were dressed so pretty that day. You had your hair done up in two bubble braids and you wore his pink sweatshirt over your yellow sundress.

“Okay then.” You smiled at him. You went back to your phone, reading what Harrison had just texted you. “What was the name of that comedian we watched the other night?”

“The one on Netflix?”

You hummed out a yes, tapping away at your phone.

“Burt Kreisher, why?” Tom asked, leaning over to your chair to try and catch a glimpse of who you were texting. When he saw the contact name “Hazzy”, he couldn't stop the little angry pit of jealousy that started in his stomach. Sure, you were here with him now, not with Harrison, but when you two were apart you also texted him nonstop, and the texts seemed to all be inside jokes, which was something you also shared with him that he held near and dear.

“I made a joke referencing him to Harrison and he didn’t get it. Fucking nerd.” You chuckled, texting Harrison a link to the skit you were referring to.

Tom chuckled along, but he couldn’t help but frown slightly at how bright your smile was when Harrison replied.

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The press tour and premiere of the movie seemed to go by lighting fast. You’d never been to a premiere for a production this big, and your nerves for the red carpet were starting to get to you.

You and Zendaya were stuffed into a hotel room with both of your respective teams, both trying to rapidly get both of you ready for the event.

“So when do you start filming for your next project?” Zendaya asked, she sat in front of a broadway-equse mirror, bright bulbs of light giving a luminescent glow to her already near flawless complexion. She hadn’t even finished her makeup yet and she was so pretty.

“In a month, I have to go back to London next week.” You said, sifting through the opinions you brought for dresses. You brought three options, just in case you changed your mind after seeing yourself in the dress. “Harrison and I are going to go over the scripts together and we were also told to go out in public a few times; for press and whatnot.”

“That’s exciting!” Zendaya mused, she glanced at the clock and gave her hairdresser some instructions about how much time she had to do hair. “It’s a good thing you guys are already friends. I remember when I filmed ‘The Greatest Showman’ I didn’t know many of the actors personally, so we had to go out together and do press all while being almost strangers. It was a bit nerve wracking.” Zendaya smiled at you fondly, she was like an older sister to you during this whole movie-making process, she constantly had your back.

“Yeah, I mean I’ll probably be in a situation like that at some point, but for my first lead role it’s nice to be working opposite a friend.” You smiled back, finally deciding on the red, sequined dress.

You both sat and worked through the makeup process in comfortable silence.

“So you and Tom…” Zendaya broke the silence and looked at you with a smirk on her face.

“What?” You looked at her with a dumbfounded look, before nervously laughing, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb, (Y/N/N).” She poked your arm and laughed, “He’s literally obsessed with you.”

You laughed at how ridiculous that sounded. A movie star, and very famous movie star at that, obsessed with you? You? Impossible.

“Yeah no, sorry but you got the wrong girl, babe.” You sighed, pulling out your phone to snap and selfie with her for your instagram story. You quickly snapped a pic of the two of you, her kissing your cheek, leaving a small, faint lipstick mark. “I mean it’d be nice,” you back tracked, “but I’m sure that’s just my wishful thinking.”

“What wishful thinking? I thought you were a pessimist?” Zendaya chuckled, taking her own photo with you to post later.

“I am, but I can’t help but indulge a bit.”

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Before you knew it, you were back in London, staying in a rented out flat for the next three to four months. Harrison was kind enough to come over to help you set up a work space, but he also offered you to spend most of your time at his place. Since Tom was in New York, doing interviews about the new Spider-man movie and having meetings with the Marvel Cinematic Universe team to try and gauge his future in the MCU, he wouldn’t be around for almost a month, so Harrison offered up Tom’s office when you needed to go over a scene by yourself and wanted a place that was already set up.

The days of filming seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Most of your scenes were with Harrison, and he was the perfect scene partner. He rarely messed up, but if he did then he was quick to use it as an opportunity to improvise. His skills weren’t as well honed in like Tom’s, but it was obvious that their style ranged from a similar source.

The main thing about this movie that you were excited, but extremely nervous for, were the two sex scenes. The first one is at the beginning, where the two leads give in to each other for a night, then there's some implied stuff in between, and the last one is when the two leads part ways for the final time at the end of the movie. The first one had to be rough, fast, and needy, whereas the second one was direct to be more slow, thought out, and sensual.

Both were extremely stress-inducing to film. Harrison had also never done any scenes like this before, so he was on the same boat as you. Thankfully you had an amazing director and stunt coordinator to work with and with the help of other crew members, the scenes were mapped out so that it wasn’t too much improv or guessing on your part.

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The first intimate scene you shot actually happened to be the one at the end of the movie. That scene was more tame and dealt with more emotional subtexts than physical. Since you filmed that one first, you went into filming the next one with more confidence. It only took a few days to get the first scene down to perfection, so with this newfound confidence, it shouldn’t take too long to get the next one done.

On the days you shot intimate scenes, you only needed to wear the costume you wore before the scene and then you changed into a robe with nude underwear underneath. The bits with the outfit on before were already shot, so the director called a 30 minute break until you could begin shooting the actual sex part.

You were standing by the snack table, eyes scanning the table for any more muffins leftover from breakfast. The robe you wore made your skin prickle whenever a draft came onto set.

Just as you had found the muffin you were looking for, a pair of warm hands covered your eyes.

“Guess who!” An all too familiar warm, British accentuated, voice called.

You turned around in his arms, effectively nudging his hands from your face, and soon you were met with the warmest hazel eyes. Eyes that you missed so much this past month.

“Tommy!” You squealed and thrusted yourself into him in a hug. He immediately reciprocated it and wrapped your body in warmth. “What’re you doing here?” You asked once you let go of him.

“Harrison gave me the location so I could come watch you film. I just got home, like, two days ago.” Tom eyed you up and down, not realizing what little you had on. “Um—are you wearing anything under that?” He pointed up and down your figure.

“Nope, today and tomorrow we’re scheduled to film the sex scene.” You said casually, doing a silly twirl. Tom gulped.

“A s-sex scene?” He choked, “I didn’t know you guys had one.”

“Yup,” you smirked, “two actually, this is my first one ever, Haz’s too, I think. Well actually, we filmed the sex scene at the end of the movie last week.”

“Yeah… t-that’s cool.” Tom smiled weakly.

Right as you were about to continue your conversation with Tom, an arm swung over your shoulder and pulled you close. Harrison smiled at the both of you. He wore a similar robe to yours, except he left the front open. His plaid boxers on full display.

“Don’t listen to her, Tom. She’s a natural.” Harrison pinched your cheeks. Tom clenched his jaw at the comment. He knew Harrison hadn't meant to imply anything with it, but he couldn't help but hear the hidden meaning behind the otherwise innocent compliment.

You giggled and pushed his hand away, “Only ‘cus my scene partner is so darn cute.” You retaliated, poking and tickling his pecs.

This kind of goofy banter was normal between you and Harrison, but Tom hadn’t seen either of you in so long. He also had never seen you two interact so fluently with each other. He watched the interaction with a tight-lipped smile, nodding along and shrugging every once in a while to seem like he was paying attention. In reality though, he couldn’t pry his thoughts away from how close you were to Harrison.

“Ok everyone! Places! Let’s wrap this scene up and put it to rest today!” Your director called. You and Harrison smiled and waved goodbye to Tom. Harrison pointed to a chair in the room that had a nice view of the set where Tom could watch. Tom nodded and walked over to the chair, enthusiasm for watching you work completely dissipating.

The scene started off rough right off the bat. The second the director said ‘Action!’ you and Harrison were practically pouncing on each other. Harrison had you pressed up against the wall and you were both breathing heavily. He was leaving sloppy, wet kisses down your neck, then across your collar bones. Your moans, which Tom always imagined to sound like music to his ears, sounded too real for his liking. But no matter how much he tried to look away, his eyes were glued to the two bodies moving fluidly with one another.

“Cut! Cut!” The director yelled, effectively ending the scene. You and Harrison pulled apart and he gave you a peck on the cheek, as in saying ‘good job’. “That was good, but Harrison,” The blonde nodded, awaiting further instruction. “You gotta be a little rougher, hm?”

Harrison nodded along with the critique. “(Y/N)?” the director moved his attention to you, “would it be okay if Harrison marked you up? Just a few hickeys to really sell the illusion. We can do without, though, if you feel uncomfortable.”

Tom overheard the interaction and internally hoped that you were too uncomfortable for that, but deep down he knew you would do it. You were never the type to stray away from a challenge.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” You nodded, chest still heaving from the scene. You looked at Harrison. “Is that okay with you?”

Harrison nodded, a shy smile tugging at his lips. Yeah, you guys have been working at this scene for days now, but he’d never been rough enough to leave marks. He’d be lying if he said the thought didn’t invigorate him.

So the scene started from the top, you pressed up against the wall, all your weight shoved between the flimsy wall of the set and Harrison’s strong arms. Harrison did exactly as the director required, leaving noticeable dark spots across the top of your chest. Unlike your previous moans, which had just been for show, this new roughness in his actions tore real moans from your lips.

Tom sat uncomfortably in his chair, wishing he picked a different day to visit you on set. He shifted around, watching twin moans pull from both you and Harrison’s throat. He watched as you nipped at Harrison's ear as he faux thrusted into you. The jealousy that had pitted itself in his stomach soon turned to self-loathing. You looked really into the scene, he couldn’t help but feel like he was intruding. He knew you were a great actress, but he couldn’t believe that this was all acting. In his eyes, he believed that some part of you must wish that this was real. And part of you did like this scenario, but you wouldn’t have picked Harrison to be opposite you in this little fantasy.

Your moans and Harrisons both grew louder, leading up to the climax as scripted. Tom, not wanting to watch anymore exited the set quickly before he could watch the scene end.

You and Harrison finished up, gaining applause and praise afterwards from the director and crew members on set.

“Where’s Tom?” You asked, scrambling back into your robe and smoothing out your now roughed up hair.

Harrison, now noticing the absence of his best friend, began to feel a bit guilty. He knew Tom had a thing for you, maybe he should’ve told Tom not to visit set today.

“Um, (Y/N)?” He mumbled, pulling you aside slightly.

“Yeah?” You still looked around for Tom a bit, heart sinking when you realized that he must've left without saying goodbye.

“I shouldn’t be the one telling you this,” Harrison began, drawing your full attention, “but Tom really likes you. He always downplayed it, so I didn’t realize how much, but I think watching this scene might’ve upset him a bit.” Harrison looked towards the exit, no doubtedly where Tom left through, out into the parking lot.

“Oh—oh!” You gasped, feeling terribly for having put Tom in such an awkward position. “I didn’t know he felt the same.” You whispered, smiling softly to yourself. Guess Z was right after all. You pulled away from Harrison, “I’ll go talk to him.”

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Tom didn’t go far. He still wanted to be there to support you; he didn’t want to come off as a jealous prick, but he couldn’t keep watching that intimacy between you and his best friend. He sat on the curb outside of the building the set was built in. A few people passed him going to their designated buildings on the lot, but he didn’t pay any mind to them, too lost in his thoughts. He needed to tell you sooner rather than later how he felt. No time to be a pussy anymore.

“Tom?” You walked up next to his sitting figure, still only in a robe, tightly wrapped around you. He looked up to acknowledge you, mumbling a soft ‘Hey.’ before looking back down, trying to collect his thoughts and courage. It’s now or never.

You sat beside him and rested your head on his shoulder. “Harrison told me something interesting in there,” You paused for a moment before continuing, “about you.”

Tom’s head shot up, and he looked at you with frantic eyes, only imagining the worse. There were too many things Harrison could’ve told you about Tom to sully your image of him.

“Whatever it was, he's a lying prick!” Tom rushed out.

You giggled, lifting your head up to look him in the eyes, his dark hazel eyes boring into yours.

“That’s a shame then,” You shrugged, “considering I like you too.”

Tom breathed out a sigh of relief, before looking back at you, doing a double take.

“Wait, what?”

“Mhm, yeah.” You said casually, standing up. “But since Harrison’s a liar then I suppose he was wrong.” You teased.

“No!” Tom grabbed your wrist and pulled you back next to him, but his aim was a bit off and you ended up in his lap. “He lies about a lot, but not about this.”

You smiled at him, “I should hope not, considering I’m crazy about you.”

Tom couldn’t help the smile that beamed across his face, but then he noticed the marks left on you by Harrison. Remembering why he was insecure in the first place, he looked away.

“What about Harrison?” He asked. You looked at him utterly confused. Tom caught on and explained further. “You looked like you were really into that scene with him.”

You giggled and pinched Tom’s cheek, turning it red. “I’m an actress, you idiot.”

Tom scoffed, “I know that. It’s just— I didn’t realize you could fake that kind of love.”

You looked at Tom’s downcast face. You leaned in and kissed his neck, just under his jaw. You nipped and sucked softly, leaving a nice, dark pink blotch that would go away in a few days under his jaw and he whimpered softly.

“I’d never fake that kind of love with you.” You grabbed his face, holding it gently in your hands. “I’d never have to.” You whispered, pulling him in for a kiss, soft and sweet.

Tom pulled you closer, resting a hand on the small of your back, kissing back fervently.

The short make-out session being cut short by the door to the set bursting opened. Harrison rushing out, now dressed in slacks and a white button up for the next scene you needed to shoot that day.

“(Y/N)! Hair and makeup need you.” You lugged yourself off of Tom’s lap, promising to talk to him after you finished for the day. You went back inside, jokingly blowing a kiss to Harrison on your way.

Harrison stayed outside and sat next to Tom.

“Did she confess first?” He asked after a moment of silence.

“Yup.” Tom smiled happily, licking his lips, tasting the strawberry chapstick he saw you put on earlier.

“You owe me 10 pounds then, you wimp.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Tom groaned, promptly pulling ten pounds out of his wallet and handing it to Haz.

#tom holland x reader #tom holland x actress!reader #tom holland angst #tom holland fluff #tom holland x y/n #tom holland oneshot #tom holland fanfic #tom holland smut #harrison osterfeild fluff #harrison osterfield #platonic!harrison osterfield

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acespec-ed · 3 years

Text

Limerence: the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily and characterized by a strong desire for reciprocation of one's feelings but not primarily for a sexual relationship.

That’s all I ever see about limerence in ace/aro spaces. Just the word and definition tacked on to an educational post about romantic attraction. Sometimes used synonymously with crush.

There’s no mention of how debilitating it is. No mention of how it can ruin your life. Not a thing about how there are entire communities out there of limerents struggling to get over their LO. (Yes, there are even special terms for things within these communities. LO stands for “limerent object” which is the person the limerent is obsessed with.) The kind of things limerents must do to get over their LO. Mainly through no-contact. Meaning the limerent has to cut off all contact with LO, some going as far as to quit jobs and/or move away just to get over the person. Sounds serious, right? Because it is serious. It’s not uncommon for a limerent to spend years trying to get over their LO.

The definition says it’s an “obsession.” And that’s what it can be summed up as. An unhealthy obsession. Your entire life revolves around that person. They affect the choices you make. From “I’m going to schedule my break at a time that’ll allow me to see LO,” to “I’m going to bail this important event so I can go see LO,” to “I’m going to turn down that promotion so I can continue working with LO.” Some will even crank it all the way up to “I’m going to leave my SO in hopes I can be with LO!”

And that person you’re limerent for has complete and total control over your emotions. An interaction with them goes well? You’re walking on clouds. An interaction with them goes bad? There goes your good mood. Something keeps you from seeing that person? Your soul is crushed, along with your hopes and dreams.

But you don’t notice the negative impacts. Because you’re too busy chasing that intoxicating feeling they give you. It’s like an addiction. You’d do just about anything to get that feeling only they can provide you. And that euphoric feeling takes over the rational part of your brain. You can’t think clearly when limerent. Your LO becomes the only thing that matters. The only thing you care about. You lose your sense of self as they take over your life.

Not every alloromantic experiences limerence. And many limerents end up limerent because of trauma, depression, or unhappy life circumstances. Basically, LO’s exist to cover up a problem while bringing in new problems the limerent (usually) isn’t even aware of because the limerent is too occupied with their LO to notice.

How do I know so much about limerence?

On November 13th, 2020, I fell limerent for an ordinary man who played a minor role in my life. At the time, I brushed it off as a “major crush.”

Nevermind the obsessive thoughts, mood swings, irrationality, and a Pavlovian response to UPS trucks.

Just about everything reminded of him- from brown eyes to Jeff Bezos. And I thought about him constantly. From the second I woke up, to the second I fell asleep. The only time I wasn’t thinking about him, was when I had to problem solve. But once I had whatever problem solved, it was back to him!

I’d feel guilt, anxiety, and euphoria in the span of an hour. That’s how crazy the mood swings got. I felt so much guilt, because this is all going on despite having a boyfriend. I felt like I was somehow cheating on him, even though I had no intention to. I felt anxiety, not knowing whether or not I would see him that day. Not knowing whether or not I’d have that special, almost-daily, 5-minute interaction with him. (An interaction I lived for, pathetic as that sounds.) Then, euphoria from that interaction- although euphoria doesn’t feel like a strong enough word. “High” would be a better description. And those highs made up for the guilt and anxiety. To the point where I forgot what guilt and anxiety felt like. Where I forgot what any negative emotion felt like.

Rational thinking? Ha! I was lucky to have one brain cell trying to talk sense into me. “You only know 3 things about him. You don’t actually know him. He could be a Trump supporter. He could be aphobic. Also, remember your kind and loving boyfriend?”

That poor brain cell. It tried it’s best, but the logical arguments it provided were drowned out by all my other brain cells screaming “He’s beautiful! He’s perfect! OMG he called Trump a ‘fucking idiot’!!! See, he’s not a Trump supporter which means he a good guy I love him so much I’d die for him!!!”

Yes, die for him. If it weren’t for that one brain cell, I’d probably have been convinced I would literally die for him.

The last day I saw him was January 14th, 2021. His last words to me were “see you tomorrow.” I have not seen him since.

Most people feel disappointment, maybe a touch of sadness, when their crush leaves unexpectedly. (At least, when it’s a crush on an acquaintance.)

Me? I felt anguish. Misery. Distress. I’m embarrassed over the amount of tears I shed. It sounds overly-dramatic, and I felt like I was being overly-dramatic. Which was when I realized this was something bigger than a crush. I remembered hearing about limerence in aforementioned posts, did a Google, and sure enough- that’s what this was. A limerent experience.

I’d like to think I’m over him by now. After all, it’s been 10 months since I last saw him. My head is finally clear. But I still haven’t gone one day without thinking about him. (That’s 365 days in a row- and counting!) It’s not persistent like it was. I think of him maybe, 2% of the time instead of 98%. Occasionally, I’ll miss him. But then I remember the downsides of limerence and be, like, fuck that shit I’m glad he’s gone!

Limerence is not some cutesy ~aesthetic~. It’s absolute hell. And it’s bullshit asexuality was in the DSM but limerence isn’t. (I blame amatonormativity.) It annoys me when people use it as another word for “crush.” And it pisses me off that people romanticize this shit. Reread this post and tell me my experience was a perfectly natural, healthy thing. Tell me how sweet and romantic it is to obsess over someone you only know 3 things about. Go on.

There is one good thing though: If I never fell limerent for him, this blog wouldn’t exist!

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writteninthegarden · 2 years

Text

Working Together

Aaron x Female White Collar Crimes Agent

18+ Minors, please DNI

A/N: It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted the next part to be…and then of course I had to actually write it.

Summary: Reader considers a new job opportunity. Unfortunately, the first agent she has to work with is a huge jerk. Reader and her new coworker meet with Aaron to request help from Garcia. Afterwards, Aaron and Reader commiserate about how obnoxious the other agent was in their meeting.

Word Count: 3,060

Warnings/Contents: Some language, jerk agent enters the story

The BAU started back up with a local case after we got back from our trip, which I appreciated greatly. One night that week when Jack had a sleepover, I snuck down to Aaron’s office around 7pm to surprise him.

His office door was open so I knocked on the frame to get his attention. “You busy, boss man?”

That earned me a half smile, but I was determined to do better. I walked in and closed the door. The office suite was mostly empty, but I still didn’t want any interruptions.

“Late night, huh? Did they leave you all the reports to do now that you’re back?”

“Kind of” I said as I scrunched my face. “It’s fine. Makes the hours just fly by, clearly. Same for you?”

“Thankfully, no.” He wheeled his desk chair back and motioned me over. I sat in his lap and relaxed against him. “Mhmm, my favorite part of the day.” He gently kissed the side of my head and brought his left arm around my waist.

“That’s funny…you used to grumble about me even coming down here.” I looked back at him. A smirk appeared on his lips and really made me want to kiss them.

“Well, I’ve come around a little. I wouldn’t say I grumbled. That doesn’t sound like me. Must be your other boyfriend.”

“Don’t joke. You’re the only grumbly boyfriend I need. Now, can I tell you something?”

“Of course” he said as he kissed the back of my neck. “Tell me whatever you like.”

“I kind of got recommended for a promotion today.”

“What? Sweetheart, that’s amazing!” He tapped my hip to signal me to get up. “Moving us to the couch and then I want to hear everything.”

Once we walked over to the couch in his office, he sat down and motioned to the space next to him. I climbed over his legs to sit on the other half of the couch. He instantly pulled me into his side and kissed the top of my head. I lifted my head up so I could sneak a quick kiss on his lips.

“So this is a promotion in White Collar?”

“No, it’s actually in Cyber Crimes. In that JTF, there was a SSA from Cyber Crimes that I worked with a majority of the time. Apparently I made a good first impression because he reached out to see if I’d be interested. I’d still have to apply and finish out whatever my freeze time is before I can transfer again. I never saw myself working in Cyber, but baby it’s a SSA position!”

“Well, first things first. I’m not surprised they spotted how impressive you are. I know you’ve wanted to advance, so that’s a plus. How do you feel about a different department?”

“It’s very tempting. I know it would be a few if not several years before I see that opportunity in white collar. Granted, I know next to nothing about the work, but the SSA said I could work on cases. That piece excites me since I’ve been mostly doing desk work for the past 6 months.”

“True, but didn’t you find the travel was taxing in previous roles? Do you know how often you might have to travel in this new role?”

“Not yet. The contact who told me about it said he’d email me the job description. Maybe you can help me decode what certain jargon actually means in reality. That’s a big factor I need to consider, especially to make sure I can still help with Jack.”

Aaron shook his head.

“What?” I asked.

“You know I love how involved you want to be with Jack, but you can’t rule out a promotion because it makes childcare for my son inconvenient. We would figure that piece out, babe.”

“I know, but it’s more than just childcare. I like being a part of Jack’s life and routine. We have standing plans for movie nights now, you know.”

Aaron laughed at that. “Oh, believe me, I know. Those few days you haven’t been available but I’m home I get an earfulif I forget that it’s movie night.”

Now I was laughing too. “Can the three of us have a movie night soon? I really miss the littlest Hotchner.”

“Of course.”

“With pizza?”

“Mhm.”

“And popcorn?”

“Sure, babe.”

“And candy?”

“Oh. My. Lord. Did the two of you make a checklist or something? Who knew movie night could be such a ritual?”

“Aaron” I said in between giggles. “Movie night is serious stuff. If you can’t hang, we’ll understand.”

“Ah, my girlfriend and son have teamed up against me.”

“Afraid so, man.”

“Listen, you” he said as he patted my hip with the arm around me. “We’ll find time for movie nights and all the junk food that apparently accompanies it even if you end up needing to travel for work.” He cuddled me with one arm still around my body and the other reaching over to gently stroke my arm and side. “You and Jack may have a coup formed, but I hope you realize you have not one, but two Hotchner men who have fallen for you. We won’t let you get very far from us. You’ll just have to deal with that.”

“I can manage that.”

I made my way up the stairs to Aaron’s office one morning around 10:30am and knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

“Hey, you in the middle of something?”

“Oh, hey babe. I’m just trying to get up to speed for my next meeting. What’s up?”

“That’s actually why I’m here.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“I’m your 11am.”

Aaron stared at me for a moment and pulled out his phone, likely to double check he read his calendar right.

“Babe, the meeting I have is to discuss analytic support for something cyber crime is working on. They’re already pulling you into things?”

“Yes, Agent Hotchner. From what I’ve heard so far, we absolutely need Garcia’s stealthy skills.”

Surprised is one way to describe Aaron’s expression.

“So you’re my 11 o’clock. Well, then. That must be a positive sign if they’re already getting you involved.”

“I hope so. The thing I wanted to talk to you about is that I’m only part of the meeting. There’s this SSA from Cyber who will join us at 11. Babe, between us he can be a bit of a tool.”

“Sadly they’re out there. So what do you want to do here? I think I have an idea, but want to hear your thoughts first.”

“Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t be offended if I said I don’t want them to know we’re dating. I’m kind of enjoying this so far. This case could be a way for me to really showcase what I can do.”

“Okay, that’s where I thought you were headed. That’s fine.”

“Are you really okay with it? I want you to know it’s just because I want to flex my skills without worrying about whispers about my personal life. It’s the whole rank and file thing. I know you always say to tell them it’s the wrong department I’m sleeping my way to the top of…but this unfortunately is a stigma, especially for female agents.”

“Y/N, I understand. We’ll just have to be extremely careful. Hiding our relationship is a choice, but then there’s always the risk that someone finds out. This could be interesting though. I never thought we’d have the opportunity to work together on a case.”

“Maybe even in the field and everything.”

“Eh, I’m not sure how I feel about you in the field.”

“And I’m not sure of the relevance here, Agent Hotchner…but this is exactly what we need to avoid.”

“Fine. I’ll counter with me taking you to the range to practice shooting again.”

“I actually need to recertify so that would be perfect.”

“Good.”

“Okay, I’m going to dash downstairs so I can come back up to meet them at the elevator.”

“Very stealthy of you. I’ll see you shortly.”

Once I got back down to my desk, the SSA I mentioned to Aaron was there.

“Agent Russell? I’m sorry, I thought we planned to meet off the elevators on the sixth floor.”

“We did. Sorry, I was a little early so I figured I’d come find you first.”

SSA Tyler Russell pulled out my seat for me and then leaned his ass against the edge of my desk. He wore black pants, a white dress shirt and a gray blazer with dress shoes. I was so used to seeing Aaron with a tie that the absence of one on Russell’s outfit threw me off. What really put me off though was his damn ass leaning against my desk. He had short dark brown hair, blue eyes and stood just over 6 feet tall. It was very easy to tell that he thought he was hot shit from how he acted and carried himself. In our work together so far he’d often try to steal the lead since he was currently a rank higher than me and had more experience in his specialty. I played nice, but already he annoyed the crap out of me.

Eager to get him away from my space, I grabbed the folder to give Aaron, a steno pad and pen and quickly stood up.

“Okay, the BAU is just one floor up. It’s their Unit Chief we’ll be meeting to brief him on the case and how his team might be able to help us.”

“Aww, is the recap for me or you? I remember the plan, Agent Y/L/N. Hotchner is it?”

I pretended to look down at my notebook for reference.

“Yes, SSA Aaron Hotchner is the Unit Chief.”

I hated how this jerk threw his titles around at me all the time…so I threw Aaron’s right back at him.

Agent Russell momentarily paused as I made my way right down the all too familiar hallway to Aaron’s office.

“Someone knows their way around. I’ll just follow you I guess.”

“It’s called a staff directory, Agent Russell. I’ll show you sometime. Should be at the end of the hall.”

When we got to Aaron’s office door I raised my hand to knock, but Agent Russell beat me to it. My hand ended up brushing his forearm.

I didn’t hear Aaron say his usual “Come in” because Russell distracted me by whispering, “now’s not the time for flirting, Agent.”

I rolled my eyes and whispered back, “oh, be serious.”

Speaking of serious, just then Aaron opened his door greeting us both with his usual poker face and furrowed brow.

“Hi, you must be the agents with Cyber Crimes. Please, come in. I’m SSA Aaron Hotchner and I’m the Unit Chief of the BAU.” He extended his hand first to me to shake, which he had no idea was the perfect comeback for the crap Russell pulled a minute ago.

“Nice to meet you, Agent Hotchner.” I met his handshake and firmly grasped his hand. “I’m Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N and this is my colleague SSA Tyler Russell. We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us.” As I finished the introductions, Aaron firmly shook Russell’s hand and motioned for us both to take a seat opposite his desk.

I prepared the file and intended to speak first, but again Russell stole the lead and ran with it.

“Agent Hotchner, our team has been following a mid-level hacker who somehow has found a way to intercept online transactions to redirect the funds to what thus far have been virtually untraceable dummy accounts across the country.”

Not wanting to let my preparation go to waste, I jumped in. Thankfully even this jerk needed to take a breath now and then.

“That’s why we’re hoping your tech analyst may be able to help ours. Just when they get a location on an account it seems to vanish and the funds are redirected”

“We’re happy to help with the tech piece. I believe your supervisor mentioned possibly needing profilers as well? I’m missing the connection I’m afraid, Agent Y/L/N.”

“Yes, potentially. We’ve notified all major financial institutions, but if we’re notified of missing transactions that meet the same criteria-

Russell cut me off.

“We’d then like to ask if your team could build a profile to help us better understand this hacker. So far all 3 victims have been females under 50. We’re not confident that’s their victimology yet, but it seemed too much of a coincidence.”

“Any other connections between the victims?”

“None we’ve noted yet” Russell replied.

“Also, only one victim had previously been married. All three are legally single.” You beat him to that detail.

“Have you interviewed all three?”

“Two thus far. Unfortunately the third suffered extreme emotional distress after she was hacked. She’d fallen behind on her bills and the transaction that was hacked was a commission she counted on to get squared up. Her medical providers haven’t let us speak with her yet. Agent Hotchner, I’ve pulled together some initial reference points for your review. As you can see we’re still trying to figure out the extent of what we’re dealing with here.” I handed Aaron the file.

“Of course. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Agents. I’d like to review it further to see who on my team might be the best fit for this type of case. Since it’s crossed state lines jurisdiction isn’t an issue. Is your contact information in the file?”

“Yes, sir. That’s correct.” Russell had to defer to me on that one since I compiled the file.

“Great, let me give you both my card as well in case you need to reach me in the interim.”

“Thank you, SSA Hotchner. The background and combined experience of your senior team would greatly help our efforts. Agent Y/L/N, could use the pointers as she just joined.” Gross, Russell was kissing my boyfriend’s ass and taking a jab at me in the same sentence.

“Of course, happy to help wherever we can. Agent Y/L/N, that was a thorough overview you provided. Agent Russell, I’ll remind you we’re all on the same team.” Aaron shook both of our hands again and walked you to the door. “The elevator is at the end of this hall to the right.”

“Thank you. Luckily my partner here seems to have the Quantico floorplans committed to memory.”

You just kept walking as if you hadn’t heard Russell.

By some stroke of luck he had to leave to join another meeting shortly after and didn’t linger around.

You got back to your desk and called Aaron. He picked up on the third ring and just said,

“Wow…”

“I warned you, remember?” I sunk into my desk chair and leaned my head back in frustration.

“Yeah, I’m sorry you’re stuck with him, babe.”

“Okay, let’s have it.”

“Have what?”

“Profile him for me?”

“He’s an arrogant prick.”

Feel free to be less concise. Please? Part of me hopes the inflated ego is masking insecurity rather than that just being how he is. Am I hot or cold?”

“Oh, he’s insecure without a doubt. He’s likely received positive attention for his looks and heavily relies on that for self-confidence. If I had to guess he’s likely the youngest child in a divorced family, which is where he developed the attention seeking behaviors and attitude. When this guy feels intimidated, he desperately clutches on to any way he can convince himself he’s superior. In this case, that’s why he keeps harping on being a grade above you and cutting you off. I started casually directing questions to you or making it known I was about to ask one while you finished saying something. I knew he wouldn’t cut me off so I could let you finish your point and then directly ask you the follow up. I hoped you knew I wasn’t trying to speak over you for any other reason. That line about working with my senior team aimed to associate himself as a senior agent and alienate you. Oh, and the quip about you needing pointers? Jesus Christ. Whether we end up working together or not I had to set him straight on that one.”

“Damn, babe. All that from an hour meeting?”

“Sometimes people are easier to read than others. That and the slight advantage that you and I have met before.”

“Yes, a couple times…but I’m only now just getting your card. Oh, I also loved that you shook my hand first. He made some jerk comment right before you opened the door, so that was perfect.”

“Oh, I could hear you two talking as I walked up to the door. I didn’t catch what was said, but then the look on your face filled me in. You’re going to have a difficult time with him, but if you can find any common ground it can only help. I just don’t want him to pull you down into the tit for tat games while you’re trying to showcase yourself with this effort.”

“Ughhhh.”

“Another thing. He’ll probably also either shamelessly flirt with you or try to find ways to claim you’re flirting with him. Watch out for that because someone like him will use that against you if they see the moment and personal gain.”

“You don’t really think I’d flirt with him…do you?”

“No, no of course not. Sorry if that’s how it came out. I’m not saying or have any qualms that you’d do anything like that. Someone like him needs it to keep his desperate illusion that he’s irresistible alive in his mind. But if we collaborate on this case he’ll have to knock that shit off forthwith.”

“Oh, speaking of if you take the case…can you confidentially off the record make sure your team knows that umm…we’re operating in a professional capacity here? I practically raced in and out of the bull pen in fear I’d run into someone who’d make a joke about me coming for an afternoon delight.”

“Of course. I don’t think they’ll have any problem with that.”

“Perfect. Well, I have a hot dinner date and maybe a relaxing bath to look forward to, so I have to go do my work now. Love you, baby.”

“Love you too. Still not taking any baths, for the record.”

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