#plus i like mr skull mans design

[leieryx]

SKETCHES YAY WAHOO FALLS OVER

[journalsouppe]

Ghost trick!!!! Loved this game it was exactly what I expected from a Shu Takumi game. I do hope they plan to make a sequel or crossover, I really loved the mechanics of this game.

Writing typed below! (plus some extra commentary)

Rating: 9.3 Played: Su 2023 Port: Nintendo Switch Favorite? Y Replayable? Y Recommend? Y

Comments:

LOVE missile

really fun premise - you died and don't know who you are

DON'T GET A CONCUSSION MISSILE

not the PM erotica T-T

LMAO Payne and Wright

the kazuma pose (skull)

I'm in love with Cabanela

Lynne not again T-T

Sissel in the painting...

NOT THE FEET OUT AT WORK T-T T-T

omg the security camera murder and the meory are different. I know your tricks Mr. Takumi (I didn't realize Yomiel shot the gun twice here LMFAOO)

mmm... chicken kitchen

is everyone in love with Lynne?

I'm actually so obsessed with the Ghost Trick art style

ALL of your medicine????

he's already dead... and they used an electric chair.....

THIS IS SO FUCKED UP

chicken kitchen and execution fates were really fun

man I really want an AAxGT crossover

love how oversized all the objects are

MISSILE IS BACK AHHH and he has different ghost tricks omg... then how did the lamp know about mine

so many mysteries omg I love it

how was I supposed to get sissel to the top (skull) (I was genuinely stuck and when I restarted the level it spawned me at a different place LMAO)

SISSEL? IN THE PARK?

HE SAW ME AND TURNED TOWARD THE SCREEN (Skull)

but his name wasn't sissel... who is the lamp....

love this crazy arm contraption

red suit man had radiation in his body... so I/Sissel died near it... but who am I... (I forgot about the cat LMFAOO)

Temsik... kismet... mmmm kismet (kismet is the name of my favorite restaurant)

STOP looking at the screen

yomiel...

I WAS YOMIEL'S CAT T^TT^T

ZAM RAY WAS OLD MISSILE

little Lynne T-T

Sissel has temsik...

Game Dev Notes

really fun animations and character design

unique gamplay - I love moving thru objects

love the character dialogue - great humor and timing

extra puzzles and challenges similar to professor layton

characters have tons of personality in design and posture

LOVE the cool toned shadows on the sprites

great music

fun and sweet ending credits

Summary

Shu Takumi has done it again (even though this is a remaster lol). What and incredible mystery game with really fun mechanics. There were definitely a couple times I was stumped on what to do or was stuck bc I missed my window of opportunity, but I think it worked well since the puzzles were difficulty and you couldn't just immediately breeze past them all. I also really enjoyed gaining missile's abilities later and having to think of the puzzles in different ways. The characters and animations/sprites were really fun. There's so much personality in them without even saying a word. The game also reveals character information in a really good way as you slowly learn more about the mystery of the game yet also feels like you're getting farther from learning who you are. I also just love how this game is just made with so much love for Takumi's real pets and how Sissel ended up being Yomiel's beloved cat... what a sweet ending oh my god. Each level had such a fun and unique design while also adding a twist to the puzzle, like the stealth level or submarine sinking level. The game also has many unlockable achievements to encourage replayability as well as concept art and other illustrations to unlock. There's so much added to this game and you can really feel the love and care the team put into this game, I hope there are more Ghost Trick games in the future or hopefully even a Ghost trick x Ace Attorney crossover -- I wonder how that would play out esp with Maya's spirit abilities. All in all, such a sweet and fun game. Not too long either. Can't wait to replay it to get all the achievements and make fanart!

[whoree321]

the bad batch + items i would knit for them

a/n: i’m obsessed with knitting/crocheting bc i’m actually a very very ancient old elderly decrepit person trapped in the body of a sexy young lady. and i especially love knitting things for other ppl bc it makes me feel like a little christmas elf. so this is what i would make for each of the bad batch

***

Hunter: headband

yes this is an obvious one but i don’t care

hunter wears the same rotting headband every single day someone needs to provide him with extras so he can at least rotate them

headbands are really easy to knit so i could provide him with an endless supply of clean ones

ALSO it would be so cute to make the actual headband one of the bad batch colors (black, red, even white) and then crochet little appliqués to sew onto them

like the skull, 99, those would so cute on there like basically how the skull is on his already but more 3D

yarn is also most likely more breathable than whatever he’s currently got strapped on there so comfort wise it would be better too

Crosshair: beanie

crosshair is such a 2015 beanie dude

like i don’t mean that in any sort of way bc he’s a handsome young man BUT he’s very “i’m the misunderstood artsy loner guy who wears leather jackets and beanies and smokes cigarettes and reads classic literature”

and i love that energy for him so he deserves a beanie to compliment it

also i think crosshair is a very chronically cold person but is too proud to ever admit he’s cold so he won’t put on a jacket or use a blanket BUT he’ll wear his beanie bc he can pass it off as a fashion choice

Tech: tote bag

tech has so many god damn things

so many trinkets and gadgets and tools

HES GOT GADGETS AND GIZMOS A PLENTY HES GOT WHOZITS AND WHATZITS GALORE

but anyway he needs somewhere to put all of those things! and if that storage location is also mobile? even better!

I keep a lot of my things in tote bags (literally i keep my knitting stuff in a tote bag) bc it’s easier and then they’re ready to go if i need to transport them

i just think he would get a lot of use out of something like that, plus this is more of a time consuming project and he would have the patience to wait since it’s not a pressing need

i’m making a tote bag for myself right now and i’m knitting a design into it (eggplant emoji on one side, peach emoji on the other side) and i would def do a design on tech’s to make it more exciting and I think he would really appreciate the craftsmanship of it all

Wrecker: bucket hat

crosshair might be a beanie dude. but wrecker is 1000% a bucket hat dude

like wrecker is just such a chad in the best possible way (in the beloved himbo way) and i think his natural state is at like a tailgate (or some kind of outside day drinking event), hawaiian shirt unbuttoned, bucket hat on, sipping a bud light and playing cornhole

bucket hats are more of a crochet thing but they’re pretty easy and quick to make and they’re super cute with little appliqués sewn on like with hunters headband

he would love having a few different ones with different vibes like obvi some bad batch themed ones but other ones too

specifically the one i’m picturing in my head is like a pretty light blue with little white cloud appliqués sewn in all over so it looks like a beautiful blue sky

Echo: blanket

now this is a time consuming project. you gotta really love someone to devote this commitment to them

as much as i love all these lovely individuals, echo is the only one who deserves having these labors performed for his comfort

echo has had almost only the worst of times ever. now he’s like half robot and doesn’t even get to have a robot hand OR his own bed he sleeps in a fucking hammock

he deserves the world, the least i could do is make him a big cozy knit blanket

echo is also the only one who’s patient enough to wait for a nice blanket to be made. everyone else would get antsy too soon

i would use that big soft yarn they sell for baby blankets like i would just buy a fuck ton of it and it would be so comfy

Omega: sweater

omega is the only one i would make a sweater for

similarly to echo i think she’s the only one who deserves such a laborious task, but also she’s much much smaller than the rest so it would be way easier

not to be fully mrs weasley but i would def knit her initial into the sweater

NO I WOULD KNIT THE GREEK LETTER OMEGA INTO THE SWEATER THAT WOULD BE SO CUTE

i’d prob also make matching headbands for her and hunter but whatevs

[scalproie]

And finally... mk11. Also let me preface by saying that I will only do the main three outfits because if I did all of them I would be here for two days. Anyway

Mortal Kombat 11

This is it baby, this is the outfit that made me want to do that whole thing in the first place. Man. Okay first things first that hood is everything. Theres just something about it. The mask is missing something like an additional color in my opinion but the way it goes so well with the form of the face and with the hood negate that fact. Normally I would say I wouldve liked more skull or scorpion imagery but this isnt technically scorpy, this is Hanzo, so Im fine with it in this case. Plus theres a scorpion's sting on the red loincloth. And by the way I love that he incorporated red in this outfit, it also just goes so well with the yellow. It also has some traditional elements? Like the cords? Also he has pretty eyes and eyebrows and eyelashes. And finally the sideboob is so real. 10/10. *mwah*

Here's Scorpion who fixes the potential problem I had above by having that dear old skull belt. It's a simpler design, but I like it a lot, I really really like how they did the shoulder era but my favorite part might be how the yellow line on the thighs and the yellow loincloth compliment each other. I miss the hood but I realize that this is the best way to have that klassic look, the mask feels like fabric and not metal but in my opinion it looks for the best here, this is a good design to call back the old ones. there's even my black lines. who are black blocks here. 9/10, also young scorpy look really cute and its all in the eyes, thank you Mr. Millado.

Grandmaster Hasashi gets an instant 10/10. He turned the ponytail into a cute bun, which looks good now with his lack of headband (while sub zero mysteriously gained one). And what can I say, Im not immune to pretty people. 💛🦂💛

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Top Ten Scarecrow Designs

#10: New Years Evil Scarecrow

Now THIS looks like a legit Scarecrow, from the patched eyes and mouth to the straw hat. A perfectly handmade suit for the sinister Jonathan Crane

#9 Batwoman Hallucination Scarecrow

This design calls back to some of the best Scarecrow aesthetics including fear needles and gas masks. A great, but terrifying vision.

#8 Kelly Jones Scarecrow

Mr, Jones knows how to create iconic designs, and this one is no joke! He really looks sinister, from the skull defining mask to the souless eyes!

#7 Nightwing Rebirth Scarecrow

One of the best designs to come out of DC’s rebirth this far, I love the jacket and hat, plus the mask is just creepy! The red eyes are what really sell it!

#6 Yellow Lantern Scarecrow

Iconic and Classic at the same time, this fan favorite makes Scarecrow that much more terrifying, yellow is a good look for him!

#5 BTAS/Batman Adventures Scarecrow

No matter who draws this iconic design, it always looks just amazing! The muppet like mask, the red top and the straw hair combine to create a one of a kind look!

#4 Salecrow

Tim Sale has created one of the, if not the, most unique versions of Scarecrow, covered in black and taller than you’d ever imagine, this Scarecrow truly exemplifies fright!

#3 Legends of the Dark Knight Scarecrow

Only appearing once, this design is all the best rolled into one. I love the skulls, the voodoo aesthetic and the creepy claw fingers!

#2 Arkhamverse Scarecrow

When you see this man in your nightmares, you know things have gotten serious. Arkhamverse as a whole is a design that I just love! The mask, the iconic fear gauntlet and of course, ragged clothing! So good!!

#1 Year One Scarecrow

I may be biased, but THIS design is the best for when it appears in the timeline, for a first ever costume this look is not only creepy but alarming and strange. Also the emo touches really help cement his character!

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #481

Top Ten Pixar Villains

Those rascals and rapscallions at Pixar are famous for twisting our emotions, aren’t they? Perverse masters at making us cry with sadness or joy, often at the same time (I’m looking at you, Inside Out, with your yellow and blue marbles). Oh yes, they’ll stick the knife in and give it a good old yank, like John Travolta teaches his daughter to do in Face/Off when he’s not really John Travolta and it’s a bit icky but then she stabs him at the end of the film so it’s alright really.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. Pixar, renowned for turning grown men into blubbering messes, mostly because an adult character was convinced to part with old toys he no longer plays with. But I’d argue that one thing they’ve done less well than their parent studio (that’s Disney) is crafting iconic baddies. I mean, we all know the Disney Villains; they’re so iconic and successful as pop culture icons that there’s an entire trilogy of movies based on what would happen if a bunch of them had kids (apparently they’d sing a lot). Pixar baddies though? Hmmm, maybe not quite so iconic. I can’t see someone making a live action prequel movie about Chef Skinner.

But that’s not to say they’re not great; in fact, rather than going down the route of snarling, moustache-twirling villainy, Pixar actually does a great job in creating antagonists instead. Sometimes they’re misunderstood; sometimes they’re not the person you thought they were! Quite often some kind of redemption is offered, and the villains are very, very rarely dropped off something tall. A lot of them aren’t even defeated, so to speak! A good deal of nuance and shade goes into a Pixar villain, and if they haven’t made as many all-time-great iconic ne’er-do-wells, it does seem as if their approach is starting to rub off on Disney mothership (the likes of Frozen II and Moana either don’t have, or at least subvert, the notion of all-powerful bad guys).

So what do we have? Well, hopefully, we’ve got a list of really cool villains from Pixar movies. most of them are presented as the film’s “big bad”, although there are a couple of lesser baddies. And I think we do see the pattern emerging, of more mundane levels of villainy; the selfish and greedy and damaged. It makes for great characterisation and some beautiful storytelling; some complex and pitiable characters. And, yes, a few absolute bastards too. Let’s tut disapprovingly.

Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty, Toy Story 3, 2010): a superb performance from Beatty as a seemingly nice, jovial old bear who’s really a manipulative, power-hungry, gaslighting bully. Realistically portrayed as damaged and bitter, he has a tragic backstory that feels real, and a sense of pain and loss that feels earned in this universe. Questions the nature of everything the movies are about, and is a genuine threat in more ways than one. Plus he literally leaves them all to die in the furnace!

Syndrome (Jason Lee, The Incredibles, 2004): Buddy Pine’s backstory is one of belittlement and rejection, so his switch to villainy is as well explored as many a comic book bad guy. But he’s interesting partly in what his character says about Mr. Incredible – in a way justifying the criticisms of superheroes, as Mr. I does ignore the admittedly-annoying Buddy rather than mentoring or respecting him – but also because he prefigures notions of toxic masculinity about a decade or so before they became, well, a threat to global democracy.

Al (Wayne Knight, Toy Story 2, 1999): Like how Lots-o can be seen as a dark examination of toy life (all toys are replaceable, kids don’t really love you, etc), Al also shows us another dark facet of toy-dom: namely the life of a “collectable”. Toys, in this world, want to be played with, preferably by children, so a big ol’ man-child who stores them in boxes or puts them on display is not ideal. It’s an inversion of what a toy is for; an object of joy reduced to a commodity. Is it entertainment versus art? Who can say? Also, he’s really just a massive jerk and a huge slob, so we feel no pity for him once he gets his comeuppance at the end of the film.

Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten, Toy Story, 1995): man, they nailed the Toy Story villains, didn’t they? Maybe there’s even more to come! But right out of the gate, Sid was a classic. An utter sadist in a skull t-shirt, torturing toys for kicks; adults can see the traits of a genuine sociopath (some serial killers start by torturing animals, remember!), and he’s portrayed like a character in a horror movie. Seriously, in 1995, Sid’s room was legitimately disturbing. I’m not sure what moral lessons his actions teach us, but just as a pure article of terror, he’s supreme.

Hopper (Kevin Spacey, A Bug’s Life, 1998): it feels a bit weird, if I’m honest, to celebrate a Spacey performance. But as a character, Hopper is excellent, one of the best things about the generally-overlooked-but-still-a-bit-lesser-Pixar Bug’s Life. Riffing on biker gangs, Hopper’s locust swarm in, revving their wings. Hopper’s a classic tough guy thug, dominating through violence and threat; a creature with a small amount of power determined to hold onto it, and ultimately eaten by a terrifying bird. Just don’t look at the cast list.

Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt, Coco, 2017): after the horror of Sid and the thuggery of Hopper, de la Cruz is a different, more insidious villain. He’s a thief and a betrayer who exploited and murdered his best friend, condemning him not just to death but to a forgotten obsolescence in the afterlife. He’s a perfect example of the gaslighting, friendly-seeming bad guy, more in the mould of Lots-o, but with the world on his side and a sweet guitar. Genuinely hissable.

Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammar, Toy Story 2, 1999): what, more Toy Story? Well, yeah. Don’t blame me, blame Pixar. And so Stinky Pete; a far more relatable and understandable villain, one driven to desperation through a lifetime of rejection and broken promises. Unlike the Machiavellian, power-hungry Lots-o, Pete just wants everyone to retire quietly together; he can’t accept the risks of freedom and only becomes sneaky and, indeed, violent after all else fails. But he does kinda get a happy ending, even if he doesn’t realise it; this is a villain who I feel could eventually be redeemed.

Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi, Monsters, Inc., 2001): Waternoose is the real baddy in Monsters, Inc., of course; a conniving capitalist who’s prepared to sacrifice the world’s children to keep his monopoly. But it’s Randy who sticks in the mind; his selfish, vain lackey, a monster with a huge chip on his shoulder. His design – lizard-like, snake-ish, with a huge mouth and invisibility – is seriously disturbing. Hearing Buscemi’s voice come from that form – an aggravated teacher, a furious accountant – adds something special, something darkly hilarious.

Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener, Incredibles 2, 2018): visually and conceptually, The Screenslaver (great name) is pretty cool, but when it’s revealed that the Big Bad is really under-appreciated tech genius Evelyn, that’s a great twist. A smart woman propping up her schmoozing brother, her criticisms of the heroes – like Buddy Pine’s – have resonance, although she’s learning the wrong lessons from tragedy. Her relationship with Elastigirl, from friendship to enmity, is very well-written and performed, and her belligerence at the end is a nice touch, denying the heroes of any catharsis from her capture.

Shelby Forthright (Fred Willard, WALL-E, 2008): I was originally going to feature the autopilot, but then I figured, if you can get Fred Willard in your list… and really, who’s the big villain here? It’s us, right? We killed the Earth. But Willard’s smiling, happy CEO is there, encouraging his customers to buy, promising them safety and security, promising them a repaired world… but really he’s shovelling them off the planet, secretly commanding the computer to take humanity far away and never look back. It’s a devious, horrible plan, giving the people unending luxury, making them want for nothing, turning them into fab, soporific blobs, basically because that’s easier than the alternative. It’s a horrible indictment of humanity (also: he’s the CEO of a company, but also – it looks like – that makes him rule the world? Creepy). So, yeah, the autopilot might be a baddun, but it’s the man in charge who’s the real villain of the piece, even hundreds of years later.

Sadly no room for John Lasseter, who may not have tried to enslave humanity or torture children, but still managed to be a huge jerk and a phenomenal disappointment.

[the-wiresmarvelau]

T.H.E. W.I.R.E.S.

Peter and his Friends are allowed to design the compound and couldn’t help but riddle it with secret tunels and hallways. While Peter installs said hallways he makes some new acquaintences who he has to help and gets help from.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2  - chapter 4

Chapter 3: secrets

The rest of the night was spent pacing about the compound.

Peter couldn’t stand even the thought of standing still but he knew that he was too wound up to be much good on patrol.

Instead, he took to walking up and down the corridors; until it literally drew him up the wall, how unproductive he.

Then he began distributing all the small things like pillows and decorations to all the Rooms he had roughly finished by then. Up to this point he didn’t have the nerve to do so much walking but right now it was exactly what he needed.

When he was done with the normal rooms, he did the same for the small spaces in THE WIRES he had built in for hiding or just chilling out.

The AI they wanted to install in there was almost finished and the young genius was eager to have him here.

They had decided on a male AI to even it out. His Name would be Manuel; since he was a manual for THE WIRES.

Ned loved this pun and they both were proud of their creation.

Peter tried to go through everything they had yet to code in his head in a desperate attempt to not think about Loki.

Yes, he wanted to save him and yes it had to be as fast as possible but the god had also said that it would take at least a day or two until he could contact his mother and right this moment the hero’s thoughts were too scattered to think of a solution.

As he went to bed, he was still more than a little distraught and didn’t think he would be able to so much as close an eye.

To his surprise, he drifted off fairly soon.

But it really couldn’t be called sleep as he was half conscious for most of the time and every time, he fell asleep properly, mere minutes passed until he was shaken awake again by sharp pains littering his back or threading through his mouth and lips.

Or he saw the god cowering in a cell, or being dragged out of it by his hair to be executed or to be whipped and beaten, again and again.

After a few hours spent half awake half dreaming up nightmares, he decided to get up.

It was of no use to torture himself also. There was enough pain already in this world.

Numb and slightly drowsy from tiredness he dragged himself to his bathroom.

While he showered, he tried to go through his options.

SHIELD was in ruins, therefore in no condition to house the god. Plus, they had been the ones banning him from ever coming back to earth in the first place.

They were out.

The government was similarly unprepared for this. They had neither the knowledge nor the resources to build a suitable housing and they would probably have to inform the public of what was going on, practically hanging a neon sign over the trickster’s head for Odin to find.

Mr. Stark was a whole other deal. He could build a safe facility and he wouldn’t even think about telling the media or government.

But as Loki had already mentioned. The billionaire wouldn’t hear him out in the first place.

He would berate the boy for talking to the Asgardian and threaten the god to leave them alone and to not play any tricks.

He wouldn’t see that just because someone was good at lying, didn’t mean they couldn’t also tell the truth.

And Peter knew that the New York incident offered enough opportunity for mayor grudges on his mentor’s side.

As Tony and him had grown closer both of them had opened up to each other.

The Inventor had told him about his childhood in Captain Americas shadow and the light of press cameras.

He had opened up about his time in Afghanistan, about Obadiah and Ultron and about what happened on the helicarrier and during the Chitauri invasion. Much of it during long nights, riddled with nightmares and panic attacks.

In return, the teenager had told him about uncle Ben, his guilt in his death and his sensory issues that came with his powers.

He told him about how the Vulture had found out his identity and how terrified he was when he almost drowned because of that guy.

They of course didn’t tell each other everything.

Everything Peter knew about his mentor’s childhood was pieced together from what he was told of the man’s nightmares and contextless rants.

Peter still didn’t know how Rhodes had become Tony’s friend and if Peter hadn’t seen the demolished suit, he wouldn’t even know half the extent of what went down in Siberia.

He still had no idea what exactly happened.

But that was okay. Tony was allowed to have secrets; besides, he was not the only one keeping them.

The teen had many himself.

He had never told Mr. Stark about Flash and Skip*. Or about the building, dropped on him.

Or that it was him, who he saved at the Stark Expo.

Or the meeting with DareDevil.

It was hard for him to talk after a nightmare. And other times he didn’t know how to bring stuff like this up with his father figure - because that’s what Tony had become for him at this point - even though he wanted the other to know.

Maybe that’s why he had made it a habit to look through old security footage now and again.

He wanted someone else to find what he couldn’t talk about, so he searched for hints of similar wishes and events in others.

During one of those searches he had come across the security footage of the day of the alien invasion as well as Loki’s arrival on Midgard (he didn’t want to know how and why Tony had gotten these from SHIELD) and with that, of Loki.

On that footage, something had been weird about his appearance, but back then he hadn’t really been able to name what it was, so he had let it slide pretty quickly.

After all, he was an alien.

But now, that he had seen how the god had presented himself, while he altered his looks to, what Peter assumed, was himself in a healthy condition; He was pretty sure he hadn’t been well back then either.

His pale skin had clung to his skull, the eyes sunken in and rimmed with red all around.

Keeping that in the back of his mind he decided that it would be best to keep the god somewhere close, so he could be protected.

And what was closer and safer than the very compound he currently resided in?

It was literally made to keep a hoard of super powered people safe.

There still was the part about Tony not hearing Loki out of course. But he was sure that helping the god was the right thing to do, he had to at least try and convince Tony to let Loki move in.

Unless.. he just wouldn’t know he was there.

Unsure about how good of an idea it actually was, he stepped out of the shower, went over to his closet and started to get dressed.

He needed to talk to Ned.

It was out of the question that his best friend would tell on Loki or him. He was the only person who knew everything about the superhero. And he trusted him with his life.

Together they would figure it out, though they had to find a way to get rid of KAREN.

Her Protocols would probably force her to relay all information about Peter and Loki to Mr Stark and that simply wouldn’t do.

Only problem: KAREN was still installed on his StarkWatch, hearing everything around him and simply taking it off would be a sure way to arouse suspicion, as he never took it off, save for when he showered.

Looking down to his wrist he cursed himself for how responsible he was. He had already put on his watch, first thing the moment he had towelled himself down.

He sat down for a moment to think about what he could do now.

The only reason to take another shower would be an extensive workout, after that he could pretend to have forgotten to put his watch back on again.

Peter really wasn’t in the mood for training but he needed to talk to his friend without the AI.

“KAREN, could you invite Ned over please? I wanna work on Manuel today” he asked while getting out some sports clothes and changed into them, a little annoyed with himself that he hadn’t thought about what to do before pulling on his normal wear.

‘I will text him at eight thirty, unless it is important enough to wake him up now?’ It was reassuring to hear her usual sass.

“Yeah, sure.” He answered, “it’s not urgent or anything. Please also ask Happy to pick him up and make a workout plan for the meantime. I’ve slumped on training a bit lately.”

‘If you say so’

It felt like it took an unreasonably long time for his friend to arrive.

When he finally got the text from Ned, telling him he was only five minutes away, Peter sent a text back that they would meet up in the lab and went to his room to take a shower.

He deliberately didn’t take any clothes into the bathroom and took extra-long, by the time he had to get out, he acted like he was in a great hurry, leaving KAREN behind in his bathroom.

No AI had been installed in the compound itself yet. The update for FRIDAY hadn’t been Mr. Stark’s highest priority, since the accords were much more time sensitive.

Grinning, the teenager made his way over to his personal lab. The only reason KAREN wasn’t installed there was that he had set his mind on having Manuel in there as ‘Peter Parker’s’ AI while KAREN remained with Spiderman.

Ned was already at the entrance to his lab, vibrating with anticipation.

That came to no one’s surprise, the boy was even more excitable than Peter and that was no small feat.

Additionally: this compound was massive, and he had helped design it and the fricking Avengers would live here. That was worth getting excited for.

“Ouuuuuh! This looks already soo cool. Here and there is a bare wall butit’sallcommingtogether. I can’t believe I’m actually here” The almost forgot to breathe with all the eagerness to share his mood with his best friend.

It had been some time since they last met in person. Both of them had been fairly busy and the compound wasn’t exactly close by.

But even trough is excitement did the boy pick up on the worry in his host’s eyes. The faint bags under them didn’t make it better and now that he paid attention to it, he also saw the nervous twitch in his hands and the lack of pep in his friend’s strides.

Something wasn’t quite right; and he was gonna find out what it was.

“Good to see you too Ned.” Came his greeting when Peter had come close enough to be heard while speaking at a normal volume.

Ever since the two had become accustomed to his super hearing, Ned started talking the moment he could see the other, knowing he would have no trouble understanding him.

The image of an energetic puppy was nearly impossible to shake.

A faint smile stole its way onto his lips at that thought.

The first since he had noticed the illusion in the roof last night.

Just like that the smile was wiped off his face.

“Oh no.” the shorter of the two exclaimed. “I know that look. That look means bad news and nothing good ever follows bad news”

This statement was met with a dry chuckle. “Isn’t that kind of the point of bad news?”

“Maybe;” He replied. “Still doesn’t make it any better. But you tell me, you’re the one bringing the news after all.”

“Don’t shot the messenger though. That would help none of us.”

While they bantered, they had entered the lab and spread out a bit. Ned sitting down on an almost empty table; Peter walking around, pulling up holograms manually and occasionally putting away some scrap parts or tools.

“You know I couldn’t shoot you even if I wanted to. You psychic!” his best friend taunted

His answer was a theatrical gasp paired with the super teen laying a hand over his chest in the way his mentor always did. Bringing a grin to the other boy’s face.

“Enough joking around.” He announced, getting back to serious. “Whatever it is, Stark junior. I can take it.”

Clearly, he tried to keep the mood as light-hearted as he could, which didn’t go unappreciated.

Still. Peter couldn’t help his tone becoming a little sombre.

“I met someone yesterday.” He said “On patrol.”

He had settled down a little bit; leaning back onto a table, which automatically changed its hight to fit his needs. His Hands fidgeted with the hem of his science pun t-shirt.

Patiently; his friend waited.

“It was.. It wasn’t DareDevil. Instead... I met Loki.”

Only now did he take his eyes from the floor to look at his friend.

Quite clearly, he was in shock. Staring at the other, trying to figure out what to think about this revelation.

“Before you freak out: It was only an illusion, he is still in the dungeons of Asgard.” The super-teen tried to calm his friend down. Cringing at the thought of Loki’s location.

“oh. Yeah… That’s good right? He won’t come back?”

His concern was understandable for Peter. But he was also convinced, that the god meant no harm and was truly in need of help.

In that regard, was the sentiment of his friend not the most promising. Though he knew him well and was convinced that Ned would be on his side once he knew what they did to the god.

“That’s the thing.. It isn’t.”

A quizzical look from Ned.

“He sent his projection here to ask for help, which in itself speaks volume considering ho prideful he seemed to be; but that’s not the point. In Asgard, they treat him bad! Like   I whip your back bloody and sew your mouth shut bad.”

He gave his friend a few seconds to process the new information; all the while staring him in the eyes to make sure he knew that this wasn’t a crude prank or something.

“We need to help him..”

“Wait what now!?” Ned squeaked. “They did WHAT!??!”

“Exactly.” The hero answered. “He needs our help, Ned. We can so it’s our responsibility. The plan so far is that he contacts his mother and she brings him here to earth; Our only job is to find a place where he can stay…

That’s why I needed to talk to you because this has to be thought out and I need your second opinion.”

Peter waited for his friend’s response.

After a few seconds of silence his friend looked up.

“Okay… what’s your idea?”

It took a great load off his mind to know he wasn’t alone with his opinion. If Ned was agreeing this easily it meant that he at least wasn’t completely delusional in his opinion on helping the trickster out.

“You remember that storage room slash hideout thingy at the exit to the lake? If I were to hide the entrance to the bunker behind a closet, nobody would find it; Even if we show them the entrance or have to get something from there.”

Originally, they had planned to build in there a kind of vacation home. Until they realised that the compound itself was more than enough novelty, a vacation spot was not needed.

Instead, they had made it into a small bunker in case the compound was taken over and they needed a spot to regroup while waiting on evacuation.

“Wait. Just so we’re on the same page. You really try to keep this a secret from Stark?” the shorter tried to clarify.

“He would never believe Loki. We can’t tell anyone before he hasn’t completely healed. Then we will decide how to break it to the others” The brunette got a nod in response.

“The only problem is to figure out where I will get some additional furniture from.” He added.

“And how to get his food to him.” Ned commented.

They spend some time trying to figure everything out, until they settled on ordering everything they already had and could use for Loki’s room to be brought to the compound a second time

To the millionaire, they send a message, explaining that they had managed to break one of the desks while messing around and used the occasion to reorder some stuff which had either the wrong measurements or they had forgotten to order them in the first place.

Tony replied within a few minutes saying it was no problem.

That problem out of the way, Peter began to bring the selected stuff to the hidden room, while his friend began to build a small service robot, capable of navigating THE WIRES and transporting things.

Not even two hours later, the room was done and they both turned to developing some protocols for Manuel, making sure he would be able to keep the secret.

Unfortunately, Ned had to go before they were able to finish the AI.

His mother needed him to babysit his sister but they would meet again the next day and probably be ready to install Manuel at the end of the day.

*A character from the comics. If you don’t know him, you’ll see. Don’t want to spoil a potential surprise for you.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 - chapter 4 

[reds-self-ships]

🔎 The Adventure of the Detection Club

Chapter 2: Reason for Attendance

Table of Contents & Trigger Warnings

The young man sat down on the settee in Sholmes’s living room, which had been commandeered for use by the attorney and his judicial assistant. Susato had a pen primed and ready for note-taking, whilst Ryunosuke was sat, ready to listen.

Sholmes had also joined in on the action too, seeing as he considered the thoughts of a so-called “great detective” would be considered worthwhile on the matter, especially where the police were to be concerned.

“I should probably begin by introducing myself,” said the young man. “My name is Redford Ninate, and I’m a student and a crime fiction writer, notably the head of our crime fiction writing group in the English Literature department known as ‘The Detection Club’.

“Yesterday, we were due to initiate a new member, Dexter Collins, to our group, after an unexpected vacancy cropped up.”

“Unexpected? In what way?” asked Sholmes.

“In that one of our members recently stopped paying his dues on-time. Which would be Harris Thomas, and that’s the man I currently am accused of killing. But I’ll get to that part shortly. We pay dues because we rent out a suite on High Window Avenue which acts as our club headquarters and meeting room.

“I attended the room that morning in order to meet with Harris after I invited him to formally notify him that his membership was being withdrawn due to unpaid dues. I remained there all morning preparing for our initiation ceremony for Collins but otherwise he never showed up. I remained there from nine o’clock yesterday ‘til twelve o’clock—if I remember rightly—and never left once, so it’s not like I had a chance to miss him or anything.”

“Was there anyone there who could testify to that?” asked Ryunosuke.

“Nobody. The ritual is always prepared by the club leader. And as I’m club leader, that duty fell to me.”

Ryunosuke stroked his chin. “I see. What happened next?”

“Well, I locked up and went home to prepare for the initiation to begin at three o’clock. I’m the only one who has a key, there’s no authorised copies and it’s Chubb’s latest lock—totally unpickable because the lock is designed to break if anyone even attempts that.”

“Do you think someone could’ve came in from a window in, Mr. Ninate?” asked Susato, making note of this fact.

“Unlikely. The suite’s three floors up from the ground and the windows only open about the width of, say, my hat. Plus the fact that I always lock the windows too, just to be absolutely sure.”

“So what happened then?”

“Well this is where it’s pretty straightforward when you explain it. I travelled back from my apartment to the club and waited on the club to meet up before we went in. From what I remember, all current members, Collins included, did show up.

“When we were all ready, I unlocked the door and we walked in to find Harris’s body lying across the ritual table, blood everywhere and his head bashed in, with Norman sitting beside him.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Who’s this ‘Norman’ person, then?” asked Sholmes with a snap of his fingers.

“Oh, Norman’s our club mascot. He’s a skull that was donated from the pathology department of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, where one of our members is working as an intern at the moment.”

“An actual human skull?” asked Ryunosuke. He’d never seen one in real-life before, but even the drawings and sketches of ones he’d seen in Sholmes’s notes scattered about the room were enough to give him the chills.

“Well that’s what we were told anyway. We swear the oath on him in lieu of any kind of religious books, it’s more inclusive that way. Plus it looks cool as hell.

“Anyway—naturally, we sent for a constable who in turn sent for a detective, and we ended up locked out of our club for the last twenty-four hours whilst we waited for the investigation to be carried out. Next thing I know, I was woken up by the detective and a prosecutor banging down my door looking to arrest me for the crime, saying that I was the only one that could’ve done it.”

“And you thought the best action to take was to run away and come in search of an attorney?”

“Yes. Well knowing the detective’s reputation from Dr. Wilson’s stories, I figured that it’d be for the best, given that he’d likely have a watertight case against me.”

“Which detective’s that?”

“Athelney Jones.”

Both Sholmes and Dr. Wilson tutted and rolled their eyes. “Oh, him?”

“Yeah.”

“Who’s Athelney Jones?” asked Ryunosuke. He’d encountered Gregson before, and was regaled with the antics that the late Detective Inspectors Bradstreet and Genshin Asogi had gotten up to with Sholmes and Professor Mikotoba before in the past, but never had he been informed about Athelney Jones.

“Oh he’s a detective with Scotland Yard,” explained Sholmes. “The type you know about when you see and hear him coming.”

Suddenly, and before anyone could comment on anything further, the door to 221B was broken off of its hinges, with a small army of police constables charging in afterwards.

“Alright now folks, stick ‘em up and come quietly!” called Detective Athelney Jones, a fat cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth. “I’m taking you all into custody! You’re all under arrest!”

[tripleaxeldiaz]

all was golden when the day met the night

chapter 3/5

read on ao3

start from the beginning

“...and then we saw the lions, but they were sleeping so they weren’t very scary. And the otters were so cute, and they came right up to the glass when they were swimming underwater!”

Eddie smiles as Chris recounts their day at the zoo to his parents over FaceTime. The monthly calls had been their idea, a way for them to stay up to date on Chris’s life in between holidays and summer visits. It was also their way of having a scheduled time to nitpick Eddie’s life from 800 miles away.

He loves his parents, he does. He just loves them more when they aren’t speaking.

“Your face looks a little red, sweetheart, were you wearing sunscreen today?” his mother asks, face getting too close to the camera as she inspects her grandson.

“Yeah, Dad put some on me when we got there.”

“Did he put on any more during the day?” Her eyes shifted to Eddie, perched next to Chris on the couch. “You know you need to reapply every two—”

“Yes, Mom, I did. And it’s getting late so we should really get going, say goodbye buddy—”

“Wait! I didn’t show them my snakes!” Chris rifles through his backpack underneath the coffee table, yanking out a folder and flipping through it until he finds the drawings he and Buck worked on. He holds them up triumphantly, angling them so his grandparents could see. “Buck helped me with them!”

“And Buck is…”

“Dad, you know who Buck is. My friend that owns the tattoo shop?” He tries not to ignore how calling Buck his “friend” feels like a disservice to all that he really is, how it tastes like sand in his mouth.

“He’s an awesome artist,” Chris pipes in. “He has huge books in the shop of all the stuff he can do, and sometimes he lets me watch when he’s working!”

His parents blanche at that, and Eddie is really not prepared to have this argument right now. He and Chris had a great day together, a rare day when he wasn’t in the shop for any reason, leaving it in Hen’s more than capable hands. They had a lot of fun at the zoo, were getting ready for a Marvel double feature in their living room, and Eddie was in an honest-to-god good mood, for once not plagued by lingering stress or ambiguous sadness. He’s not about to let any outside judgements ruin that.

“I think it’s time to go. Chris, can you say goodnight and go get your pajamas on?” Chris waves as he grabs his crutches and heads to his room. Eddie turns back to say a quick goodbye, but his dad clears his throat before he can speak.

“You leave your son alone in a tattoo parlor?”

“He’s not alone, Dad, he’s with Buck and all the other adults that work there. Plus it’s only in a pinch.”

“Eddie, do you really think those are the kind of people you should be leaving Christopher with?” his mother asks, a look of contempt masked by concern on her face.

Eddie takes a slow breath in and out through his nose. No use in giving them more ammo by getting angry. “Just because you don’t like their business doesn’t mean they’re bad people.”

“We just want to make sure Christopher is—”

“He’s fine. He’s happy when he’s learning to draw with Buck. I’m not going to take that away from him just because you don’t like it. Now we have to go, we’ll talk to you later.” He hits the red end button before they can protest any further. He tips his head back to rest on the couch and scrubs a hand over his face, his good mood now tinged with prickly frustration.

He thinks his parents mean well, but they’ve always been forceful when it comes to Chris, especially after Shannon left. It’s like they knew, somehow, how lost Eddie was on his own, how scared he was that every little thing he did was setting Chris up for failure, and took every opportunity to fix something he was doing or tell him he was wrong. That he didn’t actually know what Chris needed since he had been gone for so long. 

Eventually, Eddie started believing them.

But when Mrs. Negrelli gave him the money to start his own shop, he didn’t just see it as a fresh start for himself, but for Chris too. Eddie would be able to take them anywhere, away from the looming disappointment of his parents, and give himself the opportunity to figure out how to best be the dad that Chris needed. And if the past year is any indication, he knows he made the right choice, a credit he isn’t usually able to give himself. He’s not perfect, still second guesses himself constantly, but Chris gets invited to birthday parties and sleepovers and gets As on his report card, so something must be working.

Chris comes back from his room, Spider-Man pajamas on, handing Eddie the remote to queue up the first movie. He’s happily chattering about all the cool things Spider-Man’s costume does in the movie, and as he settles into Eddies’s side, head resting on his chest, Eddie feels the prickliness subside, replaced by the contentment he only ever feels around his son.

They’re good here. Chris is happy here. That’s all that matters to Eddie.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sundays are Eddie’s favorite days in the shop — traffic is usually slow, so he has time to plan out orders for the rest of the week and make sure their inventory is in check. It’s a little monotonous, but it eats up about four hours of time and gives him a break from any real thinking, so he feels almost relaxed by the time he’s done stocking cases. He has the added bonus of Chris and Buck’s conversation in the back room as background noise, interspersed with the occasional yell and slap of the table and Buck teaches him a new card game. The melody of Chris’s laugh and the harmony of their voices soothes him even more than usual, quiets some of the lingering annoyance from his call with his parents.

As he heads into the back room to grab the last boxes of peonies, Chris beckons him over to the table where he and Buck have been stationed since breakfast. It’s become a bit of a tradition: Buck brings muffins or bagels from Bobby and Athena’s bakery on Sundays and hangs out until the afternoons when his earliest appointments are scheduled (I refuse to tattoo anyone while they’re hungover from Saturday, Eddie. It’s not good for them and the extra complaining is certainly not good for me.). 

Maybe that’s another reason Sundays are his favorite days. Add that to the list of secret feelings involving Buck that are following him to the grave.

“Dad! Look, I colored Buck’s skull purple!” Chris says as Eddie comes behind his chair, bracketing him in with his arms on the table. Chris giggles as Eddie kisses the top of his head, leaning over him for a closer look. Buck’s latest tattoo is indeed a bright shade of purple, the roses surrounding it colored in blue.

“I told him I like cooler colors and he ran with it,” Buck says. Eddie’s eyes shift to Buck’s face, and he feels his heart stutter when he sees the soft, fond smile directed at Chris. It stutters again when Buck’s eyes meet his, that familiar warmth settling over him as Buck’s smile gets bigger, and he feels good enough, relaxed enough, that it actually soaks into his skin. Buck’s gaze flits down to Eddie’s arm where it’s still bracketing Chris, a crease appearing right between his eyebrows. The urge to lean over and kiss it away is unbelievably sudden and strong, and Eddie silently congratulates himself for keeping it together.

“Your ink looks a little faded there, Eds. I can fix it up for you, if you want.”

Eddie looks at the script on his arm, twisting it back and forth to see the whole thing. Buck’s right, the ink does look duller. Makes sense for a tattoo he got on his 18th birthday that he definitely didn’t take care of properly. 

Fortalecer la mente y superar el cuerpo. Strengthen the mind and overcome the body. When he was young and invincible, that seemed like all he needed. A clear head, clear purpose, clear desires, and he’d be able to do anything he wanted. If he followed the rules and did everything right, he’d get a happy ending.

But, once again, it hadn’t been enough. And now, looking at that tattoo just reminds him of the ways he’s failed. How he hasn’t been able to make his mind into anything resembling strong, how there are days when he’s so weak even basic functions take too much effort. How a happy ending is feels so far away he can’t remember what one even looks like.

He shrugs, hand rubbing the tattoo unconsciously. “Maybe, I kinda just want to let this one fade out though. Maybe get a different one somewhere else.”

“Well, my offer of a free tattoo still stands, just name the day.” Buck says. 

Chris gasps and twists around in his seat, eyes bright with excitement. “Can I help you pick it out? Can I draw it? I’m good at lots of stuff now, and Buck can help!”

And he’s not sure what it is — the smile on Chris’s face at the idea, Buck’s matching one, the lingering frustration with his parents transforming into rebellion (something he hasn’t felt since he last got a tattoo), or a combination of the three. But before he can think too hard about it, he hears himself saying:

“You know what? Why not. I’ll get another tattoo, and you guys can design it.”

They cheer and high five each other, Chris hugging Eddie tight around the middle.

“But,” Eddie says, “I do want final approval. And no cartoon characters.”

“I promise, Dad, it’ll be the best tattoo ever!” Chris grabs his nearby notebook and starts doodling, chattering happily about what he thinks will look good. Buck catches his eye again and winks, and Eddie’s returning smile is the easiest it’s ever been.

He grabs the boxes he came back for and goes to the front, still smiling as he hears Buck and Chris very seriously discuss the details of what Eddie should get. He’s not nervous, really, but he does say a silent prayer to whoever is listening that they don’t pick something too big or too bold. He loves them both, but not that much.

~~~~~~~~~~

They take about a week to design it and are so secretive they might as well be planning a jewel heist. It seems like every time Eddie walks into a room, they’re there with their heads pressed together, whispering over sheets of paper and pens. When Eddie tries to sneak a peek, they quickly hide everything away so he can’t see. Buck throws his whole body on the table at one point just to cover up the sketches.

Again, he’s not nervous. But the anticipation does start to get to him.

Finally, after a busy Saturday full of wedding deliveries, they announce that the design is complete, and Eddie is scheduled at Armageddon the following Friday evening. Chris already has a sleepover with Denny that night and won’t be able to come, but he makes Eddie double pinky promise to send pictures to Hen as soon as it’s done. 

It’s Friday now, and Eddie is all set up at Buck’s station in the back of the shop, waiting to see the final product of Buck and Chris’s hard work. He is a little nervous now, but he mostly blames that on Buck, who keeps looking over the sketchpad, pen in hand like he wants to make last minute changes, or like something isn’t quite right.

“Just show me, Buck,” Eddie says after a few minutes of watching Buck bite his lip in worry. Whatever the design is, he’s sure he’ll love it, if for no other reason than because of the two people who made it.

“Okay, okay. You can be honest if you don’t like it, but I think you’re gonna like it.”

He flips the paper over, turning it towards Eddie. It’s a crescent of flowers, an unfinished wreath, featuring moonflowers, Eddie’s favorite, with their starburst centers spiraling open, and ox-eye daisies, which he knows Chris loves. Sprigs of lavender and thyme fill in the gaps, and there’s a small bee floating around the center. It’s beautiful and a little chaotic, but it’s perfect. Reminders of his son and peace and courage that he’ll be able to carry with him always, that he’ll be able to look at when he forgets that he is capable of bravery or deserving of peace. He stares at the sketch, taking in every detail, for who knows how long. Buck clears his throat to get his attention.

“Chris thought the daisies and moonflowers would look good together, and they’re both white so no need for color. I thought the herbs would be nicer than just plain leaves. And he wanted it in a ‘C’ shape, you know, for Christopher.”

Eddie laughs and shakes his head. “And the bee?”

“Chris thought that would be cute, too, but you can nix that if you want.” There’s a faint blush dusting Buck’s cheeks as his eyes track down to the bee in question. “So, what do you think? Any major changes? You can tell me if you hate it, I won’t tell Chris.”

He looks up and Buck’s eyes are excited and worried all at once. Eddie would do anything to take the worry away, but at least this time it’s an easy fix.

“I don’t hate it, it’s perfect,” he says, handing the sketch back to Buck and settling back in the chair. “Let’s do this.”

Buck smiles brightly as he grabs an antiseptic wipe, holding Eddie’s right arm steady as he wipes down the area just below his elbow crease where the tattoo will go. Eddie knew he wanted it there as soon as he’d agreed to get one — he’d be able to see it easily when he needed to, and he liked that it matched the placement of his current one, would almost be replacing it if the words ever fully faded away. Once it’s cleaned, Buck puts a temporary transfer of the design there to trace over, starts up the tattoo machine, and loads the ink. The low buzzing of the machine mixes with the music playing and soft conversation coming from other clients in the shop, washing over Eddie like white noise.

Buck takes his arm again, machine in hand, and locks his eyes on Eddie. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“You can yell if it hurts too bad, just try not to pass out.”

Eddie rolls his eyes, says “It’ll be—” before cutting off with an involuntary hiss as the needle touches his skin. Buck snorts, and Eddie does his best to glare but feels it fall short.

He hadn’t worried about the pain — he vaguely remembered the sensation of being stabbed over and over again and didn’t remember it hurting that bad. He had also been shot before, so he figured he’d be able to handle it.

What he hadn’t taken into account was that for the next two hours or so, he and Buck would be very close together, close enough that Eddie can feel Buck’s breath on his arm as he traces over the outline, feels his strong hand on his wrist as he keeps Eddie from twitching. He had never been this close to Buck, had never allowed himself to be, and now that he is, he’s not sure how to act. He tries to look anywhere else, takes in the art on the wall, watches the other clients with Maddie and Chimney. He tries to make a to-do list for the weekend in his head, go over the things Chris will need for school next week, mentally figure out the designs for next week’s orders.

It’s all in vain, though, because no matter what, his eyes always drift back to Buck. From here, he can take in everything, and for once, he lets himself, because who knows when he’ll have this opportunity again. 

Buck’s brow is furrowed in concentration, blue eyes dark as they focus. He can almost count every eyelash, and his birthmark stands out even more than usual, almost glowing under the fluorescent lights. Eddie itches to reach out and touch it, feel how soft he imagines Buck’s skin to be under his fingertips. His cheekbones and jawline are sharp and beautiful, and Eddie wonders again how anyone could resist them. How someone could look at this man, have even one conversation with him, and decide they didn’t want more. He’s biting his lip as he finishes the first moonflower, and it turns and even darker pink as he releases it. Eddie gets a little lost imagining how those lips would feel on his, how gentle and warm and good. He imagines feeling them on his shoulder as they wake up on a Saturday morning, sees them laughing as they both make breakfast, trading kisses as they go. He wants to taste them, feel them moving down his neck, down his chest, wrapping around his—

He inhales quickly and shakes his head, because this is not the time nor the place to go down that particular road. Thankfully, Buck’s still in his own little world, eyes never leaving Eddie’s arm. He must mistake Eddie’s movement for discomfort, because he moves his free hand down from his wrist until they’re holding hands, Buck’s thumb moving slowly back and forth in comfort.

“You can squeeze if it hurts too bad,” he mutters, still not looking up. Thank god too, because Eddie can feel his face go bright red and his heart start working overtime.

The first pass takes about an hour, and they take a break so Eddie can stretch his legs and Buck can get more ink. There’s still some detailing left to do, but Eddie already can’t stop staring at the tattoo. It looks even better than the sketch, and having a tribute to his son literally branded on his skin fills a fiercely paternal part of him like nothing else ever has. There’s also a smug part that’s still 17 years old and can’t wait to see the looks on his parents’ faces when they have their next video call.

Buck finishes getting set up again and Eddie settles back in the chair. It’s quieter now — they’re the only two on the floor, Maddie and Chimney having finished up and moved to the back room, and the music playing over the speakers is something slower, stripped down, seems to filter into the room and soften all the hard edges of the world. Buck catches his eye from where he’s sitting, asking silent permission to start. Eddie nods, and he feels his heart swell when Buck automatically grabs his hand again. 

He’s got maybe 45 more minutes in this proximity to Buck, and he takes full advantage: notes the way his curls are starting to fall loose after a long day, tries to catalogue each shift of his face, every twitch of concentration, the shadow of his stubble growing in. Getting to study him like this — memorize the details of the beautiful face that houses an even more beautiful soul — makes all the feelings Eddie’s been trying to fight for months now bubble to the surface, fizzing inside of him like pop bubbles. 

But there’s a chill that settles in as well, because despite his heart desperately pulling him towards this man, he reminds himself once again that he can’t have this. He can’t let himself have this, can’t do that to Buck. He’s supposed to be forgetting about his feelings, releasing them so they can both be happy — Buck with someone who deserves him and Eddie...alone. With Chris, but still. Alone. And now he has to wrestle with that while a slide show of Buck’s every facial feature plays through his head on a likely infinite loop.

He can’t forget as easily as he thought. If he’s honest, there’s a small, hopeful part of himself that doesn’t want to forget, that never wanted to forget, and it’s getting louder and harder to ignore with each passing minute.

“Done!” Buck says as he turns off the machine and wipes away the last of the excess ink. Eddie looks at the finished product, a soft smile settling on his lips. He looks up and sees Buck watching him, looking hopeful. “What do you think?”

Eddie’s finger hovers over a daisy reverently. “It’s beautiful,” he whispers, smile spreading as he meets Buck’s eye again. “Thank you, Buck.”

Buck returns the smile, squeezing Eddie’s hand where they’re still clasped together, neither of them moving to let go. They’re still in each other’s bubble, close enough that Eddie can still count Buck’s eyelashes, and he watches Buck watch him for a moment. His eyes roam his face like he too is cataloging Eddie from here, and that hopeful voice is convincing him that from where they’re sitting, it’d be so easy to lean in and confirm exactly what Buck tastes like, how his lips would feel under his own. Just six inches away from allowing himself to be happy, because he can’t imagine being anything else with Buck.

His phone goes off from his pocket, immediately bursting the bubble, both of them flinching as the loud trill fills the shop. They both know it’s Chris, but he still looks at Buck apologetically, like it’s his fault for shattering whatever atmosphere they’d just been living in. Buck just waves toward the phone, squeezing his hand one more time before letting go to clean up his station. He talks to Chris for a bit, showing him the tattoo from every angle, and Chris talks to Buck as well, gushing about what a great job Buck did. Buck blushes at the praise, and that tug of want pulls at Eddie again.

They hang up and Eddie gathers his things while listening to Buck’s strict aftercare instructions, both heading to the front door so Buck can lock up. 

“Are you sure I can’t pay you?” Eddie asks.

“I told you it was on the house and I meant that. Plus it’s nice to work on someone I actually care about.”

Eddie feels his face get warm, hopes the neon lights in the window are bright enough to cover it up. It gets warmer as they continue looking at each other, neither willing to break their little bubble again. He thinks he sees Buck move more toward him, like he wants to get closer, but he stops himself before following through, leaning back on his heels instead, looking sheepish.

“Goodnight, Eddie. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Eddie waves as he leaves, stepping into the cool night to walk back to the apartment. He keeps glancing down at his arm on the walk and while he’s getting ready for bed, thinking of the care Chris and Buck both put into creating it. That small voice in his head keeps nagging him, saying Buck wouldn’t do something like this, something this personal, for just anyone. He complains about his clients enough for Eddie to know that’s true.

Maybe the voice is on to something. As he falls asleep, Eddie lets himself think that maybe, maybe, on top of everything, on top of two years of friendship and flowers and looks that make Eddie’s insides flutter, maybe these feelings he’s been trying to ignore aren’t as one sided as he thought.

Maybe he has a chance.

[celmation-gibson]

The First Drawing to post for this New Decade, and it's the Best of the Movies that I've seen in the Cinemas, and one I've heard of for a while. So here are some Favorite Characters of mine that were fun to Draw, along with the Reviews for the Films.

Missing Link - My First movie to see in the Cinemas of this Year, and it's another Laika Classic, and despite being a Box Office flop, It did receive some very Good Reviews from Critics, and even my Foodtown Boss' Grandchildren saw the Film on a Thursday(?) and they Loved it, so I figured I give this film a watch, and I was amazed at the Final result, An Amazing sight to see that some Folks out there don't know what their Missing. It was directed by Chris Butler, who was co-Director of Laika's other projects 'ParaNorman', and it had an Amazing cast such as Mr. Zach Galifianakis (Felix of 'Bob's Burgers' & Lego Joker of 'the Lego Batman Movie'), Zoe Saldana(Avatar, Gaurdians of the Galaxy), & Hugh Jackman (Van Helsing & Wolverine of the live-Action 'X-Men' films). And once again, the Folks of Laika really did some good Work & Commitment in Making this Film, especially when I loved the Film's settings & Landscaping, and the Action Sequences are Phenomenal, especially in those Action sequences when the Ship rotates with the People in it when it was Struck with the Storm's Big Wave, and How Suspenseful it was when the Characters are dangled into Ice blocks or big icicles, and how shocking on how the Villains' defeat of Lord Piggot-Dunceby, his neurotic right-hand man Mr. Collick, and Bounty Hunter Willard Stenk were killed in Cold Blood, cuz I knew that that Ice Bridge in the Film was gonna Break in a Sequence. Plus there were some Cute Humor in the Film as well, especially after when Mr. Link/Susan Roared at a Dog during a Bar Fight, and after a Moment of Silence, the Dog just attacked on of his Men and the Bar Fight continues (that's when most kids in the Auditorium laughed at that part), and how Susan literally thrown some Objects over the Wall. And I'm always fascinated with Cryptozoology creatures such as Bigfoot, Abominable Snowmen, & the Loch Ness Monster, even when they make me think about that 1970's film entitled 'the Mysterious Monsters'. And even if the film was Distributed by United Artists (a Subsidiary of MGM I suppose), it's kinda Weird now now that it was released on DVD and Blu-Ray from 20th Century Fox, even after Disney's Conquest, but can we still call ML a Non-Disney film, even if some MGM films are being released by FOX under a Contract?

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Well me and my dad certainly love Giant Monster movies when we were Young, and I certainly remember renting every Godzilla movie on VHS back when Blockbuster was still around, and we certainly enjoyed that one 2014 'Godzilla' movie, unlike the 1998 Matthew Broderick one, so we decided to give this new kaiju movie 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' a viewing pleasure, not to be confused with the 1956 Americanized 'Gojira' movie starring Raymond Burr. And i gotta say that it was an Epic Thrill-ride of our Lives, even the monsters we were familiar with were Amazing, Godzilla being all greatly Huge and Buffed-up as always in the USA, Rodan looking a-little Sinister lookin', Mothra playing out like the original 'Mothra' movie, starting off as a larva hatching from her Egg, then Evolving into a beautiful Butterfly-like Moth, then King Ghidorah was so Menacing in this one, and being like Lizzie in 'Rampage', he was such a "Pain-in-the-Ass" character, even once being Nicknamed 'Monster Zero', either that Nickname was also used in Japan, or used for one of Ghidorah's old film appearances in the US, that was double-billed with 'War of the Gargantuas'. I even like how they referenced some stuff from Warner Bros. & Legendary Films' 'Kong: Skull Island', as that films along with the 2014 Godzilla, and this Film are all in the same Universe, Monsterverse that is. And how surprising that there are other Kaijus in this Movie that I'm not even certainly familiar about, like that one Arachnid-like featured titan, or the Giant Ape Body/Mammoth Trunk beast, or another Muto(?), and I am wondering if the Demolished Boston at the end of the movie is gonna be the new 'Monster Island'. The human characters were good, I mostly like every member on the character Dr. Mark Russell's team, they seem likable, and the Cast was great, even after looking at the film's Poster befor we went inside the theater, I saw the familiar name of Thomas Middleditch, the same man who did voices in 'Captain Underpants' & 'Bob's Burgers', doing a Live-action role, and while writing this review, I've discovered some other actress who starred in this film include Sally Hawkins, who starred in the previous 2014 Godzilla movie, and also in Guillermo del Toro's 'the Shape of Water, and the woman playing the daughter in this film, also played in 'Stranger Things' as Eleven. And also I love on how the film as a Newer Version of Godzilla's approach-like film that was used in the old films, and even the end Credits have Cover version of Blue Oyester Cult's classic hit 'Godzilla'. And one of the Film's story plot is Fascinating, like how this Earth was once ruled by Giant Titans, until us small Humans have taken over while most of those Titans went Extinct and hiding in the Earth's Spirit.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 - Well, Illumination has done it again, as it Amuses me once before with 'the Grinch', 'Despicable Me 2', 'the Secret Life of Pets', & 'Sing', they have released a Sequel to my Favorite Secret Life of Pets movie that I saw in theaters back in 2016, and now have it on DVD. And when I heard that the Original voice for Max got replaced with a Guy I know of who has a Great Career in Animation, I was like "Whuuut?", but even after reading what Happened to that one Guy, i figured I'd give this Movie a Watch, since I'll like Patton even more. And I gotta say, this Sequel does have some Cute and Lovable moments in the Film, and those Subplots in the Film are Wonderful, leading up to a Story on how to save a White Tiger cub from a Wicked Ringmaster (voiced by Funny voice man, Mr. Nick Kroll(Sausage Party, Sing, Captain Underpants). And Snowball is more luvable in this one as he is in the first Film (Kevin Hart is so Wonderful!), even teaming up with a Cute/Funny character such as Daisy, a Shih Tzu voiced by Tiffany Haddish (who just did a guest voice role in 'Bob's Burgers'). Also with a Cute story on how Max & Duke's owner fall in Love with a Fun Gentleman and have a Kid together, and I love how the Dogs raised the Boy up, by helping him to Crawl & walk, and have Good Animal Instincts, which makes me think that what if my Sister & her Husband had a Pet Puppy that could be a good a Good Companion to my Little Layla niece. And some of the Parts in the Film have Good humor in it, like did I just heard a Cow say "Rat Turd" in front of an auditorium full of Young children? Plus Mr. Harrison Ford(Han Solo in 'Star Wars' & Indiana Jones) was great as a character named Rooster, who tries to Man/Brave up Max and a few characters, after Max has devoted his Life to Little Liam, which led to the Funny Collar on his head. And I'd figured there was something Familiar about that Young Lamb Cotton's voice in the Movie, as he is voiced by Mr. Sean Giambrone, the voice of Jeff in 'Clarence' & Shermy in the 'Adventure Time' series Finale.

Abominable - Well, Dreamworks has done it again, a new film from a Creative Team was made and about to be released soon, and when I saw the Previews of it for the First time, I thought I wasn't too interested in it, especially with the humorous Blueberry gag parts. But after a while, and see that if it looked cuter as Dreamworks' previous film 'Home(2015)', I thought I give it a go, and hopefully it look way better than that one Weird-Looking film in 1995 called 'to catch a Yeti' starring Meatloaf. But for the 'Abominable' film, since the Movie was getting Good Feedback from Reviewers and Viewers, I was Lucky to watch the Film for myself. The Characters were Cute and Funny, almost like the ones from 'Home', especially with Ethnic Protagonists. And the settings and Designs of Asia in the Open Fields, Forests, and Cities are really nice, wishing I could visit and/or live there. And the Great story is like an E.T. Extra Terrestrial thing, expect that the Heroes goes with the Creatures on an Adventure of a lifetime to bring back the Creature to his Beloved Family that they Tried to protect from any threats what's-so-ever. And there are some Amazing plot Twist among the Villainous Characters, like just when you thought the villain was actually an elderly Man who has been hunting Mythical creatures for rewards, but it turns out that the True Villain was actually a Nerdy Woman who thought was a seemingly-gentle Scientist just doing what's right for the World, who almost Barely looks like a geeky version of Kari McKeen of Disney/Pixar's 'the Incredibles', and when she let down her Hair, she may look like a Devious version of Merida of Disney/Pixar's 'Brave'. The Effects in the Movie is Super Nice & Super Awesome, especially in the Yeti's Humming effects, some Action Sequences, and that one moment when the Heroine's Father's Violin broke, the Yeti fixes it by using his own Hair for the String replacements, and I know from that Moment, with Yi's Musical skills and the Yeti's Powers combined, and when the Hearts are Full, and the Heavens are listening, Magic is bound to happen. And for the one other part when the Heroes are Gazing into the Stars, they say that the Stars could be our Ancestors watching over us, and that if we don't see any Stars in the Sky, there will be always there for us, almost like even if for some Folks lost their Love ones, they will always be there, even if we can't see them. But I'm glad i enjoyed the Movie, and I know that some Tween kid group enjoyed it as well, laughing at some Funny Parts in which i enjoyed, sometimes with the Woofing Snakes, "WOOF, there it is, WOOF, there it is".

the Addams Family - Well, a another Fantastic new Animated feature has been made, and it's based off of what I remember from my Childhood, cuz I do remember watching the early 1990's Live-Action movies of the Creepy Family starrring Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci, before I knew who some of the Actors were, and I remember the Animated Hanna-Barbera Kooky series on Cartoon Network a while back, even making a Spooky Guest appearance in 'the New Scooby-Doo Movies', but I haven't watched much of their old Ookie Live-action series, and the Family I'm talking about is 'the Addams Family'. And I've read a while back that an Animated CGI feature is gonna be released soon, and I knew back there that that would be interesting for me to see, so I've waited several months for the to be released in Cinemas, and I finally got a chance to do so. It was a Fun and Entertaining movie, and surprising it was made Directed and made by the same team who did the 2016 R-rated Animated film 'Sausage Party' starring Seth Rogan & Kristen Wiig, and the Character designs for the Film were to be based off the old design from the Original Addams Family comics in the old days, and with modern help from Mr. Craig Kellman(Hotel Transylvania, Madagascar). And the voice cast is amazing, we got Mr. Nick Kroll(Captain Underpants) voicing Uncle Fester, Chloe Grace Moretz(Kick-Ass) as Wednesday Addams, Finn Wilfhard(IT, "Beep, Beep, Richie") as Pugsley Addams, Charlize Theron(Kubo and the Two Strings) as Morticia Addams, Bette Midler(Hocus Pocus) as Grandmama, Snoop Dogg as Cousin Itt, Elsie Fisher(Despicable Me) as Parker Needler, even the film's co-director Mr. Conrad Vernon as Lurch ("YYYOOOOOOUUUUUUU RRRAAAAANNNGGGG?!", LOL!!!), a priest that presides over Gomez and Mortica's wedding, the spirit that haunted the abandoned asylum that Gomez and Morticia move into (who often threatened them to get out, much to the family's delight, which i find those Parts to be entirely Hilarious, even in the Theater's Booming Stereo), and Dr. Flambe, a Devil-like relative of the Addams family with fire-like abilities. And the Film's Story is very cute, even with the Film's Opening Scenes on the Origin story of the Addams Family and their "Creative Differences" with other Societies, and it gives me some Good comparisons with Sony's 'Hotel Transylvania' as Creepy Creatures who have lived through the Centuries and Years soon get into Modern times and how other people dealt with Beings like the Monsters of HT and the Addams Family and their Clan. And it would be nice if my Parents were watching the Film with me in the Theaters, cuz during the Film's Ending, me and the people in the Auditorium got a chance to sing-along with the Film's Theme Song, and everyone was Snapping their Fingers to the tune. So If you wanna celebrate Halloween in a Great and Wonderful way, I think that this film is for you, and for all you Goth, Emo, and Young-at-Heart Artists out their who would love a Creepy Treat, and just can't wait to get it on DVD. Klaus - To come clear, I've heard about this movie, and I've even seen some Pencil Tests of it way back then, but I've actually never seen the whole thing, or catch it in a Selected Theater, but I really did see the Film's Trailer. And I would say for a 2D, Hand-Drawn, Frame-by-Frame, Animated feature, these people tried to Improve something for the Classic Animation with their Coloring and Shading type Technique, and even though It's a wonderful Improvement, I wouldn't expect some folks to use this kind of thing more often for Future Celmated Features. As for the Voice cast, I already know who Mr. J.K. Simmons is, but I was surprised to read that the voice man for Mr. Jesper Johansson, is also the guy who played the Villianous Gideon Graves of 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' movie.

And sorry if I didn't catch 'IT: Chapter 2' like I did with the first one, But I'm hoping o see some more clips of it online. And I Never had interest in seeing the 2019 'Child's Play', though I still like Ms. Aubrey Plaza & Mr. Mark Hamill. And I had no interest in seeing 'the Angry Birds Movie 2' since I'm never a Big Fan of Thurop Van Orman's creativity. And lastly, I didn't felt like seeing the 'Spies in Disguise' movie ever since Disney's Horrible Conquest of the whole 20th Century Fox media.

[currently-underrated]

Yayyy so, I'm back here! ^^ Honestly, I don't even know how to order these. It's like, I'M FINE WITH ANY BARRIS-MAGDA I CAN FIND. I need more fics of those two. Many many more. But I always try to ask one per one to not stress authors. So... Enough rambling. I'd like some Barris-Magda in the first steps of their relationship, please ^^

I know that this is late but thank you for your patience.

Here we go:

Barris was never nervous attending balls. But this is the first one that he was invited to as a plus one for Magda Ellenstein. She still isn't on the Senete floor like she wants, but she's getting close. He just knows it. He forced his butler out of his room as he prepared by himself for this ball.

It was a simple one that was being hosted by Starr Mayvis in his new mansion after he gave his previous one to Magda for her department store. A simple housewarming was always in order. Starr himself didn't even want to move here, but he was close to losing his status as a noble. Even if he didn't want that either since he very much preffered his life as a mage to nobility.

But Magda wanted to show her gratitude and helped him set this up.

Not many nobles themselves were invited, Xander and Lord Lou were attending but they new Starr as a colleague at the Spire. Then there was Sir Alan, his god forsaken nephew, Juven, and several lower class citizens such as Acting Speaker Linglan, Mr. Blackgloves whom he was still looking into for various illegal activities, and several knights both from Finsel and the Lionheart Kingdom. He also believed that some mercenaries made it onto the guest list as well as some Kangila, like Matriarch Nahr.

He shook he head as he went back to business. He didn't want to wear the same tailcoat, puffy shirt, cravat, and trousers that he always wore when he attended these sorts of events. He wanted to catch the eye of a certain woman. One whom he was currently courting. He had yet another gift to give her tonight. It was a simple dress. Matching his darker pink accents of his coat, with lacy black accents. It fell to about mid calf with several layers in the skirt.

He didn't know much about women's fashion so he talked with Barbara to get her opinion in the matter. If all went well, he would soon be looking for a ring. The thought itself made his heart race as he one again doubled his efforts to find the best loon for tonight. He couldn't wear his bag piping ensemble, nor the marine biologist suit, he could use the coat from when he was Magdas law tutor, pair it with the same pants. Use the white shirt od the bag pipe outfit, with... should he wear a tie? Or go more casual?

Ugh. He just finishes getting ready and ran to the carriage before he decided against it. He could not make a mistake or be late. Eliza might have approved of him courting Magda, but he did not want to get on her bad side.

Magda POV:

The maid was putting together the worst outfits today. Okay, they weren't bad. They just weren't perfect. This was the first Ball she was going to be the main hostess for instead of just helping her friends. He wanted to pull out her platinum blond hair out of her skull,but she did some of the breathing practices that her mother taught her to stay calm.

"Lady Magda, Mr. Barris is here," the butler knocked and called out to her. "He has also brought you a dress for this evening. Madam Ellenstein insisted that you wear it for the ball tonight." Vivian sighed and took to opening her door to retrieve the dress.

Magda gasped. She didn't have anything this ornate or expensive, even with patron funding. She smiled softly when she took note of the colors that Barris picked for her. It was a Wrechy design she could tell by the near seamless seams and the style of lace used. The lace must have come from Rayorca while the silk was from Finsel. This dress looked like nothing her department store sold.

"Beautiful."

She quickly paired it with black ball kitten heels, black stocking that were almost transparent, a rose gold ring on one hand and a simple black band with a small pink gem on the other. She put in her hair a pink ribbon, a black satin shawl to go around her shoulders and a pink fan to top off the look. She skipped the earrings, necklace, or anything around her waist. Since she didn't want to keep Barris much longer.

She made her way to the foyer where Baris was dressed shockingly handsome. Has strawberry blond hair was styled like when he was her tutor, but the most striking feature was how he practically glowed with pride when he saw her in the dress he bought just for tonight.

He made his way across the room and grabbed her hands in his rather large ones. "You look amazing Magda." She wanted to tease him about how she looked normally, but all she could do was blush as she stared up at his handsome face.

"Thank you, Mr. Barris." He kissed the back of her hand gently as he bid the help and her mother good evening. He led her to the Sakan carriage that was out front. She hadn't been inside of this since she was nearly killed a while back.

"I do hope you like the dress. Barbara was a large help in finding the perfect one for you."

"Oh I will have to thank her the next time I see her. She always has a good taste in fashion. I'm surprised that you went through all this trouble for a dress."

Barris sighed. "Magda. I care for you deeply. More than I probably should given our social hierarchical system in place. You being a Nouveau Riche and I being of the big Four Families and all. But that never mattered to me, Magda. You may need to say what others want you to say in public, but I know that you are a good person who stands up for what is right no matter the consequences that occur. Even if that means risking your safety. I love you, Magda. Those rumors of me wanting to marry are true. But first I want to know if what I feel is mutual or eventually could be. I don't mind going out of my comfort zone to make you happy. Relationships are about sacrifices and compromises. Yes you can stand up for your morals, but at the end of the day the two of you are a team." Magda's eyes started to burn with unshed tears. She didn't want to mess up her makeup though.

"I understand Mr. Barris-"

"Barris. You can just call me Barris." She smiles sweetly at the man in front of her.

"Barris. I care about you too. But there are still things that you don't know about me. And I don't think that you should as it would ruin both of our reputations." Barris nodded. "But I do love you too. I think that I have for a long time. And I want to make this courtship more than just that. When you're ready to ask, I'll be ready to say yes."

[bang-tan-bitches]

Title: Immortals - pt 9 Word Count: 5k Rating: M Genre: Drama, smut, dark fantasy Warnings: language Pairings: BTS x Reader/OT7 x reader Summary: Sometimes, you find your destiny. And sometimes, your destiny does whatever it takes to keep you. Written By: A & B

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

It’s all gone.

The words repeat over and over and over in your mind. Bouncing around the inside of your skull like a deflated basketball.

It’s all gone.

You probably should have seen it coming. He had been so understanding about everything else. Then again, maybe that should have been your clue. He was too calm. Then he had asked you to do one thing, and you had betrayed him. It really shouldn’t be a surprise, but it is.

Maybe I wanted this….

The stray thought enters your mind, digging in and refusing to dislodge when you grab the sides of your head and shake it.

No. No. You didn’t want this to happen.

Did you?

No.

Yes.

Maybe.

“But not like this.” You whisper out loud and rub your temples, shifting a bit in the oversized chair you’d plopped yourself in. You weren’t sure how much time had passed since you’d been escorted back to their home and left at the door to your ‘room’ with assurances that they weren't far away. If you wanted them.

If you needed them.

You’re so lost in your spiraling thoughts, you don’t notice the door opening, or the two men who watch you from the doorway for long moments before stepping in.

“Come on, jagi.”

Hoseok’s hand appears in your line of vision.

You blink at it, then up at him, “Come?”

His brown eyes darken then flash gold, you blink and they’re back to normal.

“We want to take you somewhere.” He explains as you gently place your hand in his.

“Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be good company.” You try and force a small laugh, but it hurts, so you stop and settle for a shaky smile.

“You’re always good company, baby.” Taehyung says, moving closer and canting his head down to look at you through his lashes, “Maybe you think we aren’t good company?” He teases and you feel your heart skip a small beat.

“Never. You’re the best company.” You assure, feeling a bit lighter. Your smile is less forced as you entwine your fingers with Hoseok’s, “Where are we going?” You ask as they lead you out the front door, only pausing long enough for you all to slip on your shoes.

“It’s a surprise.” Hoseok tells you, smiling beautifully and handing you a pair of sunglasses.

You recognize them instantly as the ones from the music video shooting. Your stomach flips, making you feel giddy.

Two men are waiting at the bottom of the elevator when the three of you step out. One you recognize and the other you don’t. Seeing them makes you wonder just how many bodyguards they have. One for each of them? Two? If so, who did the man you recognized usually guard?

You don’t have time to think about it much as the five of you walk out and get in the waiting SUV. One of your escorts sits in front with the driver, and the other climbs into the third-row seats, leaving the three of you to slide into the middle seats.

Sandwiched between Hoseok and Taehyung, you interlock your fingers and keep your hands primly in your lap, reciting the golden rule ‘keep your hands to yourself’. They were so close, it was beyond tempting to let your hands oh so casually land on their thighs… but they were being good. Doing nothing more than letting their fingertips brush against your hair and shoulders every so often.

“Thank you. Again. For letting me stay last night. And- and tonight.” You stammer out and clench your hands tighter.

“Baby,” you glance up at Taehyung, “don't ever thank us for taking care of you. We always take care of what's,” you watch his eyes flick over your head to connect with Hoseok before meeting yours again, “ours.”

Your breath catches in your throat. Ours… he’d called you theirs….the thought tries to stick, what it means. The implications behind that simple word. Ours. You try and hold on to it, you do, but before you can blink, it’s gone and you’re back to enjoying their company.

He gives your hand a squeeze and you smile when he brushes a kiss against your forehead. Hoseok hums in agreement, his nose nuzzling your ear, “Plus, we've barely gotten to spend any time with you. We need to have a movie night and we want to show you the studios properly.”

“Yup.” Taehyung agrees and rubs his nose against yours. Your mind goes hazy at their affectionate touches. Your eyes flutter closed as you lean back into Hoseok, his hot breath in your ear and Taehyung’s fingers tangled with yours. They are still talking, their voices deep and soothing as they press chaste kisses against your neck and cheeks. For the first time since discovering your empty apartment, you feel whole. You feel loved.

You startle when the SUV doors are opened and you’re quickly ushered out into an underground parking garage. You’re absolutely mortified to realize that while you were wedged between Taehyung and Hoseok, the bodyguards were there and witness to the way you melted into them so easily.

Hoseok grabs your hand and leads you toward the fancy double doors. You can hear Taehyung following, murmuring to someone. You glance back to see he’s on his cell phone. He flashes you a quick smile, ending the call quickly before grabbing your other hand and walking through the double doors with you and Hoseok. You’re greeted with a nod by a pretty young woman with a tablet, she seems to be quickly typing something out before focusing on the two gentlemen you are sandwiched between.

“Mr. Jung. Mr. Kim. It’s a pleasure to see you again. We have everything prepared for you.”

She turns on her heel and escorts the three of you into a large elevator. You watch in fascination as she pulls out a keycard and inserts it into a slot just below the standard elevator buttons before pressing the top button of the elevator. As the elevator jolts slightly and starts to rise, you realize that you still have no idea where you are or what is going on.

You tug gently on the boys hands and they both tilt their heads down, focusing on you. You push down the butterflies and the feeling of satisfaction that at your softest touch, they turn their attention on you. It’s a feeling that could quickly go to your head if you aren’t careful.

“What’s going on?” you whisper, mindful of the woman just in front of you. She’s staring at the doors, professionally ignoring the rest of you. You have to admire her will power, being in an elevator with two of the seven most gorgeous men on the planet and she wasn’t even sneaking looks.

Hoseok smiles, and… it should be sweet. You feel like that’s what he’s going for. But it’s not. It’s a little bit dark, a little bit mischievous, and a whole lot seductive. “We’re taking you to have a little fun. Get your mind off things.” He leans in and presses a gentle kiss against your forehead, “Don’t think about it too much.”

The elevator doors open and the woman ushers you all into a large white room. There is a large, round platform in the center of the room surrounded by large, oversized chairs. You notice a small table with champagne on ice. Compared to the rest of the room, the table is tiny. Only noteworthy for the champagne on it, otherwise you might not have even noticed it.

The woman gives the three of you a small, tight, smile, “Please let me know if there is anything else you need. Everything is all set up to your specifications.”

The woman quickly leaves the room through the same way you entered and you glance at the two with you. They give you smiles and point towards the only other door in the room. “Go inside baby. We’ll wait right here.”

You make your way towards the door and you can feel their eyes on you the entire time. You glance behind you when you hear a pop! and notice them already sitting in the oversized chairs, drinking champagne. You hesitate for a moment, hand stretched out toward the door. Taehyung gives you a small nod of encouragement while Hoseok watches you over the rim of his glass. You smile tightly, and bite your lip as you turn back around. You open the door and see a mirrored dressing room with racks upon racks of clothing.

Your eyes are wide and you inhale sharply as the door closes behind you with a soft click. You can’t help but stare at the clearly designer attire. You swallow thickly, frozen in place as you try and think about what this all means. You want to try on the clothing. Really. But deep down know you shouldn’t. Because you know if you do, you’ll want them. And you haven’t even looked at clothes like this since…

You refocus on the clothing hanging beautifully in front of you. The fabrics look luxurious and you know that even touching them would be dangerous to your resolve.  The fact that there were no price tags obviously made it clear that there was no way you could afford any of this on your current budget. Especially since you’ll have to look for a new apartment soon.  

Still…

It might be nice to play dress up for awhile, you think moving closer to the clothing, reaching out a trembling hand. Your fingers brush against one of the dresses, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding. It would be nice to just have some fun and ignore your problems.  For just a little bit longer.  

“Baby,” a quick knock, and Hoseok’s muffled voice filters through the door, “are you okay?”

“Y-yes,” you clear your throat briefly, “yes, I’m okay.”

“Okay. Well, try something on and let us see you in it.”

You look at the different racks of clothing, biting your lip as you consider it. Dresses, pants, shirts, anything and everything you could ask for is hanging on those racks. You can feel your face heat when you spy the rack of lingerie. There are the, well you hesitate to call them basic, but there are bras and panties of every shade under the sun as well as… racier items hanging on the rack that you’re pretty sure you’ve never seen outside of a porno. The thought of putting something like that on and parading out there in front of them has you clenching your thighs together.

Before you can think about it more, and before Hoseok can come back and ask you what’s wrong again, you quickly grab a pale pink sundress that looks innocent enough. You aren’t surprised to see that it’s your size, shaking your head as you slip it on, a fond smile already forming on your lips. They were so thoughtful and considerate, putting this together just to get you out of their house for awhile.

They were really great friends.

-0-0-0-

“Thank you so much for letting me mess around with those designer clothes.” You squeeze Hoseok’s hand and press your head against Taehyung’s arm, “You guys are way too nice to me.”

Hoseok gives your hand a squeeze in return and smiles, “No worries. You needed a new wardrobe anyways, since all your stuff is gone. But we’re glad you liked the things we picked out. Taehyung was worried.”

You freeze, “Wh-what?”

They both stare at you, heads tilted and brows furrowed “What?”

You look back and forth between them, “What do you mean a new wardrobe?!” you whisper through your teeth, afraid if you unclench your jaw you might actually scream. Or cry. Or both. You adored them, really you did, but you couldn’t get a whole new wardrobe right now. And definitely not one that expensive. There was no way you could justify it, even if you could afford it.

Taehyung and Hoseok look at each other before glancing back at you. “What do you think we were doing here?”

“I thought you took me to some fancy place to play dress up to get my mind off of things! I can’t- I cannot buy all of that right now!” Realization dawns on you as they continue to look confused and slightly hurt at your outburst, “Oh my fucking god… Please tell me you guys didn’t just buy all those clothes.” you can hear the slight plea in your voice, as well as the longing. You couldn’t buy all of that, but they could… and some small part deep inside you and quickly rising to the surface wanted them to. To take care of you and buy things for you and treat you like a princess. And that selfish part of you wanted it bad.

Taehyung smiles, seeming to finally understand what you were upset about and pulls you into his arms, “Of course not baby. We bought all that stuff before we even got there. We just wanted to make sure we got your measurements right.”

His casual answer sends your mind reeling. Before you can respond, the SUV is there.  The bodyguards hop out and open the doors, waiting for you. You quickly climb into the vehicle without objection and make your way back to their home, your mind still whirling.

-0-0-0-

Hours later and you're in your room once more.

Your new wardrobe hangs in the closet, brought in by staff shortly after you had arrived back- back home.  You had let yourself be tugged into Jimin’s lap during lunch, grateful for his heat as he fed you small bits of your meal, his hot, hot, hot, fingers brushing against your lips, warming you further.

And you hadn’t even blinked at the way Namjoon had pulled you into his lap while you all sat around in their… sitting room. It was too fancy for living room, and the TV was in another room entirely, you had been informed, Namjoon’s lips brushing the shell of your ear and trailing down your neck, right before you had opened your mouth to ask.

You didn’t know what time it was when you had gone to your room again shortly after they told you they had to go to the studio and did you want to come along? You had declined, politely, wanting to use the time to collect your thoughts. They had dragged their feet, asking if you were sure you didn’t want to come? Yoongi would even let you touch his computer…

You had laughed at that, but still said no.

And now you were alone.

They had finally left and you were torn on how you felt about it.

It was a relief they were gone, you assured yourself sitting in the middle of the luxurious bed. A relief because they weren’t hovering anymore and causing your body to sing with fierce longing.

And….

It was awful. Awful that they had left you alone. Awful because you had nothing to distract you and you missed them. You almost felt as if your very soul had left you when they had.

Still, it was for the best. You had things to do. Throwing on the clothes nearest you -all ones Taehyung and Hoseok had bought- you grab your purse and head for the front door, only to stop short on your mission when you come face to back with your - their - bodyguard standing just outside the door.

“Oh. Um. Hi.”

He looks you up and down, “Going somewhere miss?”

Your mouth opens slightly, it was the first time you had heard him speak.

“Erm, oh, this.” you glance down at your purse and shoes, “I- yes. I need to go. Go out.” You stumble over your words, wanting to feel confident. It wasn’t like they had said you couldn’t leave. You weren’t a prisoner here. But you still felt guilty about leaving without telling them. Especially considering where you were going.

He stares at you silently for a long moment and it takes everything you have in you to keep from shifting from foot to foot. Finally, after seconds that feel like eternity, he nods and moves to the side. Head held high and feeling triumphant, you move confidently toward the elevator. When you reach out to press the button, another hand comes into view, pressing the button for you.

“Thank you.” You say, trying not to feel ungrateful, but when he moved into the elevator with you, you narrowed your eyes, “What are you doing?”

He cocks an eyebrow, and you curl your lip slightly as he tells you what you already suspect, “I’m going with you, miss.”

You roll your eyes as he presses the button to take you directly to the underground garage, “I can go by myself.”

He hums, but doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the ride.

“Seriously, I can do this on my own. I want to do this on my own.” you assure him as the two of you step off the elevator. Three other bodyguards you recognize fall into step with you as you follow him to one of the cars you can only assume belong to BTS or BigHit or one of the guys.

“I’m sure you can, miss.”

He opens the passenger door and you slid in part way, looking at the other three, “Don’t patronize me.” You say reflexively, “Are you all coming?” They nod and you sigh, “This should be fun.”

The ride to the hospital is mostly silent, the only sound coming from the quiet radio and your increasingly panicked breaths.

You had been trying to text your boyfriend all day with no luck so far. But you knew he’d never miss a shift at the hospital, so that’s where you would go too. If he couldn’t call you, or text you, or anything after kicking you out then moving out, then you would make him talk to you.

Hopefully.

When your driver pulls up and parks in front of the hospital, the thought crosses your mind to scold him for parking in a no parking zone, but you’re too focused on your breathing.

“Are you sure you want to do this, miss?”

You laugh, “No. No not really. But- but I need to do this.” You open the door then stop when they all open theirs as well, “Oh no. I put my foot down at all of you coming in with me. I can do this. Really.”

“We go where you go, miss.” The driver tells you and the other three nod.

“Ugghhh…” You feel bad, you do, they were obviously told to go with you and you didn’t want to get them in trouble… plus you kinda wanted someone else with you. To bolster your resolve to confront your boyfriend. “Okay, one of you can come with me. But just the one!”

One of the men in back nods and gets out, nodding at the driver as he tells him he will call when you’re done. You lead him in, ignoring the way he stays just half a step behind you and the looks that follow.

“This way.”

The two of you move to the elevator, when you enter, the others waiting hesitate and your bodyguard pushes the button to close the doors. You roll your eyes at his dramatics, but let it slide.

When you reach the floor your boyfriend works on, you close your eyes and take a deep breath. Opening them when you feel your bodyguard’s large hand land comfortingly on your shoulder. You look up at him with a smile, eyes only widening slightly when you notice how golden his eyes are, “We’re here.”

You lick your lips and nod, bolstered by his presence which seems to have grown in the last few seconds.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s do this.” He nods and you turn around, walking out of the elevator more confidently than you feel. You smile in relief when you see Jen at the nurses station. You weren’t really sure you could call her a friend, but she was always nice to you whenever you came to visit your boyfriend. She doesn't notice your approach, too busy looking at a chart, and you smile down at her as you get her attention, “Hey Jen!”

She looks up at you, smiling, which falls just as quickly, “Y/N! You must be here to get his things?”

“I- his things?”

“I thought he would be in after he emailed his resignation, but I suppose I can release them to you.” She says with a laugh.

“So, he’s gone? He- he’s not here?” Your voice cracks despite your efforts to keep it under control.

She looks at you, confused, “Of course not silly! His resignation said you were moving! And that Dr. Kim should take over his patients, effective immediately.”

You exhale, stumbling a bit, feeling as if the air has been knocked out of you. The guard with you moves to catch you, but you wave him off, steadying yourself with a death grip on the nurses station.

“Oh. Dear. Um… I… I guess you didn’t know?” She asks, eyes flicking back and forth between you and your bodyguard nervously.

You laugh. It’s not a good laugh. It’s hysterical and high-pitched and wrong, “No.” you choke the word out, not only answering her question, but denying what you’d learned, “No, I didn’t know.”

“Well… what an asshole.” She sympathizes, making you laugh harder.

“Yes. What an asshole.” You screech the last word, bending over and holding your stomach as you continue to laugh. “What. An. Asshole.”

“Miss.” His voice is soft and hands gentle as he pulls you upright, “Miss, I think it’s time to go.”

“Go? Go where pray tell?”

He turns you to face him and his eyes are gold once more, “Home.”

That one word sobers you.

Home.

Your body feels like it’s been plunged in ice water and you calmly turn to face Jen who you can see is doing her best to keep her calm. “Thank you. For everything.”

You turn and walk away, your bodyguard trailing closely behind.

-0-0-0-

Yoongi ends the call as he enters the practice room, mouth already open to tell the others what one of the guards they assigned to you just told him, when he sees Namjoon’s golden eyes shining even in the brightly lit room.

“You already know?”

Namjoon nods and sighs, “She’s pretty upset.”

Yoongi laughs, short and humorless, “I’m not sure upset really covers it from what Hyun told me on the phone.”

“She had to know he wasn’t around anymore.” Jungkook says, “What did she think was going to happen?”

“It was still a shock, even if in her heart she knew, I don’t think she really believed it.” Hoseok offers, trying to placate the irritation he can see growing in the youngest’s eyes.

“She’s ours, why would she even want him?” Jimin seethes, sparks falling from his fingertips until Taehyung takes his hand.

“She is ours.” Jin assures, “She’s still coming around to the idea. We need to give her some time.”

Taehyung stays silent, knowing they could make you come around to seeing things their way, but not wanting to upset his hyungs again. He shares a look with Jimin and Jungkook, knowing they feel the same as him.

“We know she’s ours, that’s not the issue here.” Yoongi says, all but throwing himself down next to Taehyung and running his cool fingers across the back of his neck in a silent warning. “She’s upset. She needs someone to comfort her. Let her know she’s welcome to stay with us.”

“Someone?” Jimin is quick to pick up on the word, “Why can’t we all go? She needs all of us.”

“It would be too much if we all went. She needs a friend, not seven men trying to get down her pants.” Namjoon says with a pointed look.

“I don’t just want to get down her pants! That was one time! And I would be her friend if you would stop keeping her from me.” Jimin pouts, but lets Jungkook draw his head down to his shoulder.

“Only one of us will go.” Jin says, “It’ll be better that way. The rest of us will stay here.”

“How do we decide who goes though?”

Jin turns his head slowly to meet Jungkook’s eager eyes, “We will draw straws. Short one goes. I volunteer to break and hold them. But you,” his eyes flash gold and Jungkook shrinks back into his seat, “are not allowed to cheat.”

“Tell that to Hoseok and Yoongi.” Jungkook grumbles, but doesn’t object.

Jin rolls his eyes and hides a fond smile behind his hand, “No one is allowed to cheat.”

A few minutes and more grumbling later, the room goes silent when Taehyung draws the last, and short, straw. He stares at it, hardly daring to believe it. Even though Jin had told them not to cheat, he had still expected the others to cheat a little bit.

“Taehyung.” Namjoon’s deep voice draws his attention away from the little straw in his hand. “You can’t influence her.”

He gasps, indignant, “I- you don’t want me to influence her? Like you did you mean?” he stands, ignoring the way Jimin’s hot hand tugs at his, trying to bring him back down. “Fuck you Joon, I can control myself. Better than you can.”

Namjoon’s eyes go from dark brown to molten gold in an instant and Taehyung knows he’s overstepped, but it’s too late. The words are out. Besides, it wasn’t like he was wrong.

When Namjoon stands, Taehyung holds his ground, trying not to show how nervous he actually is.

“Stop.” Yoongi’s voice cuts through the tension, “Joon, sit down or take a walk. You know better. And you,” Taehyung feels the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as Yoongi turns his attention on him, “you should know better.”

Yoongi stands and wraps Taehyung in a hug, “You know better than to influence her, right?”

Taehyung nods, “Of course hyungs.”

“Good. Now go take care of our girl.”

-0-0-0-

“I hear you had a rough outing.” Taehyung’s deep voice breaks through your cascading thoughts.

You jump slightly at the sound of his voice and turn to see him standing in the doorway, the light from the hallway casting him in shadows. You must have been so absorbed in your thoughts that you hadn’t realized they had returned from the studio.

“Are you mad?” You ask, voice small. He wasn’t wrong, it had been rough. You wanted to be devastated. Part of you was devastated. But another part, a much larger part, was sighing in relief. As much as you thought you loved your boyfriend, you had always wondered. And had always silently resented the way he had treated you with kid gloves ever since the accident.

“Oh baby, no…” Taehyung comforts, moving to sit next to you on the bed and pulling you into his arms, “I could never be mad at you.”

You give a watery laugh and rub at your tired eyes, “I’m sorry if my wallowing is bringing the rest of you down. I’m a horrible guest. I didn’t even realize you guys were back.”

“We’re not,” Taehyung murmurs, his lips brushing the top of your head, “It’s only me. The guys are staying at the studio late tonight. We have to finish up some stuff with the new album.”

“I’m s-sorry,” You swallow and try to pull away, but Taehyung holds you tight in his arms, “You shouldn’t be here if you’re needed at the studio.”

“Baby, I’m exactly where I need to be.”

You look up at him, sniffling, and your breath catches in your throat at the pure, unadulterated, desire swirling in his golden eyes. The soft buzzing sensation that has been humming under your skin since you’ve been in their home, flares to life when his fingers brush your bared shoulder.

You swallow harshly when need, so strong it makes you ache, flows through your veins at a rapid pace. Your hands are trembling as they cup Taehyung’s jaw and you pull his face close to yours.

You’re both breathing heavily, and your lips are so close you can taste every breath. Warm and sweet on your tongue. You want Taehyung. You need him. You love him. You know you love him. He’s everything you’ve ever wanted. The way he looks at you like you’re his entire world.

“I love you,” He gasps against your mouth, his lips brushing yours with every word. “I love you so much.”

“Tae,” You close your eyes and brush your nose against his, breath coming in short desperate gasps.The fire that started when he touched your shoulder burns though you and all you can think about, all you want to think about, is him. “Tae, I don’t- what’s happening?”

You feel different. You feel warm. You feel alive. Every touch is somehow more than the last. Your mind is spinning, everything's tumbling, tumbling, tumbling… but Taehyung, Taehyung is perfectly clear. It’s beautiful. It’s chaos.

It’s perfect.

“Baby, don’t be afraid.” Taehyung’s voice is deep and warm, a voice you can trust. And you do. You trust it. You trust him. His fingers tangle in your hair, tilting your head back, his eyes, so golden and beautiful are focused entirely on you, “Baby, can I kiss you?”

His mouth, so pink and perfect, is slightly parted, his tongue sweeps across his bottom lip leaving a glossy trail you wipe away with your thumb.

“Baby.”

“Hmm?” His voice reminds you that he had said something. Asked something. What was it… Kiss! He wanted a kiss.

“Yes,” you whisper against his mouth, licking his bottom lip, “yes.”

- pt. 10 -

[timelvss]

even if it was fake | jjh

  parings: jung jaehyun | ft. johnny & mark 

genre: rich!au, fake dating!au / romance, fluff, angst

warnings: language, a lil smut but not really honestly

word count: 15.8k (IM SO SORRY)

description: trying to save your best friend from his enemy you end up caught up in a whirlwind storm that only seems to get bigger and bigger. also, people apparently like telling the truth after years of hiding. oh, and tiny mark needs to be saved from the world. 

author’s note: first and foremost thank you for waiting. this fic has been in the writing process for so long like nearly a year and honestly i’m just super glad i could finally finish it and share it with everyone here. also i got the whole idea for this from of this fic by @stormae (if you have time you guys should def check it out) and another thank you my soulmate for pretty much proof reading it before i posted it but i’m sure there is still a few mistakes in there so i’m sorry in ahead. BUT anyways please enjoy and please send me your thoughts on it! 

    The hot sun flared across the tent that was doing little to nothing at trying to keep you cool and the champagne in your hand was no longer cold. The men on the horses ran back and forth across the field trying to chase a ball the size of a tennis ball. You never liked polo but it was a sport that was in the family and you kind of had to like it, your choice didn’t matter when it came to family. Your mom was out with Mrs. Kim trying to get Yugyeom interested in you, on the other hand you were sitting down with Mark who was exempt due to his fake wrist sprain.

Your heels were digging down into the grass and you could almost hear the cries of Saint Laurent as the soil muddied the tan heels. The game was only on the second break and the boys were only getting off their horses. A few of the families that joined yours were going on to the field, divot stomping the holes made by the horses making you remember your younger years. Smiling at the memories you glanced back at Mark who was on his third glass of rum and coke and was wobbling over towards Johnny. “Jonathan!” you heard Mark scream and you could only sigh at him.

“I told you I’m not actually called Jonathan, you idiot,” Johnny said as he made his way towards the both of you. His forehead was sweaty as he took off his helmet, shoving it under his arm. You handed him a bottle of water to which he returned with a smile. “He’s already had three rum and cokes so he’s not very aware as of now,” you told the taller man beside you as Mark wobbled through the field  towards the opposing team.

“Of course he has,” sighing he slipped his hand through his hair, “Doyoung is lacking today and Sehun keeps on falling behind, if they dont step up were going to lose the first game of the season,”

Your eyes went to the rest of Johnny’s team, Doyoung who was polishing his mallette. Sehun on the other had was trying to flirt with Chungha who just rolled her eyes and then Yugyeom who was now being introduced to your mother who was holding a glass of white wine. Shaking your head your eyes landed on Mark who was hugging the leader of the opposing team, Jung Jaehyun. He was one of the best players you had heard about, apparently he was known for his sweet character yet fierceful switch when it came to him being on the field.

On Jaehyun’s team there was Taeyong who pretty much was his number two. He was in charge of picking out the tactical leader in the opposing team, meaning he was trying to figure out Doyoung’s next move. Bambam and Jongin who finished Jaehyun’s team but you couldn’t figure out their positions just yet, you weren’t exactly paying much attention to the game to begin with, “And Mark is befriending the opposing team, so that’s also a plus,” you said softly bumping your elbow against Johnny’s side.

“As if he’s not going to die because of the Jonathan incident, he definitely wants to die for befriending them now,”

“Calm down, go get on your horse I’ll get him.” Patting his shoulder he started to walk back towards the team’s tent.

  Next you were taking off your heels, barring them from getting any more dirty than they needed to. You felt stares from different people as you made your way through the field as people were coming back to their seats. The fabric of the brightly colored Versace dress made you stand out as you made your way towards the other tent. With your shoes in one hands you reached over for Mark who was busy talking about how he had just gotten a new Porsche for his birthday,  “C’mon kid, we gotta get back to our seats,”

“Oh Jaehyun! This is the girl I was talking to you about, my sister, the next heir to the biggest fashion house next to Versace and Gucci of course. Gilded House of Fashion, will be hers in the next few years!” Mark said in excitement making you cringe when people reminded of your actual duties as the daughter of Y/M/N, not that you were ashamed but that brought a lot of unwanted attention to your name.

Sighing you pinched the bridge of your nose and looked back at Mark, who was just grinning at you, “Why did I bring you here?” you shook your head and looked at Jaehyun who had a smirk over his lips. “Oh yes, you’re Jaehyun. I’m Y/N,”

“I’m aware, nice to finally meet you,” Jaehyun announced as he stretched his hand out to you. Having no other choice, you took his hand and shook it, his hands were soft with small calluses scattered across his palms. You could only assume it was from holding on to the reigns of the horse for a long time or maybe because of the mallette, after all those things were not light. Just as you were about to take your hand back away from his grip, he moved your hand up to his lips pressing a kiss to the Alexander Mcqueen skull ring that adorned your middle finger. “I hope we can see each other more often.”

Once he let go of your hand you released a breath that you didn't even realize you were holding in. Beside you Mark was wiggling his eyebrows as Jaehyun said his goodbyes to the rest and grabbed his helmet, ready to go into the next chukka. Mark was about to open his mouth but you turned and grabbed him by the ear, tugging him all the way back to your tent.

  The rest of the game was pretty boring to you due to the fact that Mark was asleep on the couch next to you and that Johnny’s team was still tied with Jaehyun’s, eight to eight. A yawn escaped your lips as you felt the seat next to you dipped, it was none other than your mom. Great.

“I saw you talking to that boy on the other team, he’s the heir to the Jung & Associates, the one with all the lawyers,” you turned to look at her and yawned at her words again. “What I’m saying is, he’s a good candidate but I can still set up the date with Yugyeom,”

Slipping your heels back into your feet and glanced back at your mom who’s empty glass was sitting on the table in front of you.  “Mom, are you serious?”

“Sweetie, modeling isn't forever. You're gonna have to take over the fashion house once your modeling career is over. Yugyeom’s family is into electronics so it's nice, but if it’s Jaehyun we have a save card anytime a company tries to get to us. Sue all the people who copy our designs, we’d have all the freedom we could possibly have,” she said putting her hand on your shoulder, you knew since your father passed five years ago she was always on the lookout for you to have a good comfortable life. Only in her book that meant getting a rich man to marry you only for you to become the perfect trophy wife.

“I exchanged a total of maybe fifteen words with him, mom. Also Yugyeom was in my class but I don't even talk to him, please.”

“You're not twenty forever, keep that in mind.”

Gathering your phone and a few pieces of candy, you slipped them back into your tan Gucci clutch that somehow matched with your heels and tapped Mark’s shoulder. He only groaned and flipped over to face the couch so you couldn’t bother him, sighing you rubbed your temple and reached over for a water bottle from the bar. He was going to wake up one way or another. Twisting open the cap on the bottle you took a small sip before someone took the bottle from your hand just as you were about to pour it over Mark’s sleeping form, frowning you looked behind you only to find Jaehyun. He no longer was in his blue and white uniform but in a pair of white dress pants, a soft blue button down that was neatly tucked inside his pants, and a matching navy blazer. If you were being completely honest he looked good, a little worn out from the game but good.

“Let the kid take a longer nap, why don't you and I talk for a bit?” he said as he reached for the cap between your fingers. Handing it to him, he closed the bottle and set it down on the table before looking back at you, “Unless you have somewhere to be, I wouldn’t want to hold you back,”

From the corner of your eye you saw Johnny give you a warning look making you feel just a bit guilty. It wasn't that Johnny did not like Jaehyun, but he didn't like Jaehyun. Jaehyun had a casanova title and you could tell why, he was the one who stole Rose from him and he was still a tiny bit salty about it. Of course, that happened over a year ago, but the memory of it always brought discomfort to Johnny’s face. Nevertheless the rivalry between Johnny was not only in the love field but also in terms of their own social status, Seo Law Firm was the second to Jung & Associates and everyone knew that. Johnny was put as second best whenever he was pinned up against Jaehyun, and honestly you just wanted to run at this point.

“Uh, I mean,” you stumbled over your words not really knowing what to say, you knew if Johnny saw you talk to this man he would be pissed off. On the other hand Johnny was just your best friend and there was no way you were going to be able to carry Mark all the way to your car. Looking back at Mark, you dropped your clutch in his arms which he tugged close to his chest and looked back at Jaehyun. “Sure but quick, I can’t leave him like this for too long,”

“Great,” a smile broke over his lips and you felt your hands get clammy at the sight of his dimples. Dammit cute guys were always the jerks, you thought to yourself as the both of you walked towards the bar. “Would you like something to drink?”

You could only shake your head as you reached over to take the small sunflower out of the vase that was set between the both of you. “No thank you, I had two glasses of champagne and I’d rather not since I’m going to be driving,”

“Whoa, who said all rich girls were dependant on drivers,” he chuckled and the moment it reached your ears you could feel like it was the most beautiful sound you heard. “Most of the girls I know get pissed drunk and have drivers take them home,”

“Yeah well, I tend to live on my own I only come to these events when I’m called,” you said as you started plucking the petals of the yellow flower in your hand.

Jaehyun on the other hand ordered a whiskey on the rocks and was turned to you, giving you his full attention, “Ah, so the model who ditched her mother for her own self made life,”

“How do you know that?”

“Darling, you are at a polo match with some of the biggest families in our city. I knew you, I also know you're best friends with Seo over there who's pretty much killing me with his eyes. I know Mark is somehow cheating out of the game by faking an injury he doesn't have and also I know your mother is set on marrying you off to Kim Yugyeom. Now tell me, am I wrong?”

Narrowing your eyes you swallowed the lump in your throat that was beginning to build up since the moment Jaehyun mentioned Johnny. The flower was long forgotten as your arms came to cross over your chest, “What do you want?”

“I need a favor from you. You have a clean slate when it comes to the media, I’ve gotten into my fair share of scandalous rumors in the past and my own inauguration of taking over my father’s company is coming up in less than a year. I need you to date me, it would send the mature and changed image of me to the media,” you could only laugh at his attempts of trying to get you to fake date him. There was a small smirk that played over his lips as he turned back to look over at Johnny who was sitting down next to Mark who was sitting up now. “Unless you want me to make his life a living hell I suggest you take the deal, I know what to get to push his buttons starting with Rose, his own family, his company, his reputation, and his friends,” he turned back to look at you with a smile over his lips which only read off as fake, you could only sigh and look over to Johnny who gave you a worried look.

“You have until the end of next week to let me know, if I don’t hear anything from you I’m taking it as a no.” His hand made its way to your chin and he leaned in to press a kiss to your cheek before leaving you, standing alone at the bar with the happiness of your best friend weighing heavily on your shoulders.

  “Okay wait, so Jaehyun pretty much looped you into fake dating him because he needs a good reputation when he becomes the next CEO to Jung & Associates and then by telling you that if you don’t do it he’s going to pretty much slowly kill Johnny’s social and real life?” Mark quickly rushed out as he laid next to you on your bed. He was staring up at the ceiling because apparently if he moved too fast he felt like he was going to puke and you didn't feel like cleaning up his mess. He turned his head towards you and sighed, “What did you tell him?”

You were sitting up against the headboard glancing over at your phone that kept lighting up from different notifications, you knew in there was a text message of Johnny asking you if everything was okay. Honestly, you were kind of dying, there was no choice in what you had to do. You had to take Jaehyun’s proposal in order for Johnny to be happy even if it meant being used as a toy, “I don't have much of a choice Mark, I’m going to have to say yes,”

“Well, you don't have to,” his voice was a bit softer making you look at him. Reaching over you moved your hand through his hair, a small smile spreading over your lips. Mark was more than your brother, he was your best friend and your biggest inspiration at times. You knew he always tried to put up the cold front with people but he was just an eighteen year old boy who was in charge as man of the house when your father passed. Being only two years older than him you always looked out for him even when he annoyed you half of the time when he got too drunk.

“Listen kid, it’ll be okay we’ll break it off once he gets settled into the position. I’ll be okay I promise and if something happens you and Hyuck can go beat his ass,” you said laughing softly when you pushed him slightly, getting off the bed and slipping your sneakers back on.

His hands went straight to his stomach making you laugh, you could almost see his face turn green and you could only move the trash can closer to him. “Please, don’t move me again I might throw up on your bedding,”

“You have a death wish, don’t you?”

  Leaving Mark with asprin and the trash can made you feel a little bad but you had to get this thing with Jaehyun over with. It was almost the end of the week and you were avoiding Johnny at all costs which only made you feel even more guilty. Walking inside the offices of Jung & Associates you only felt out of place in your Off-White Jordans and your over priced white t-shirt. Trying to fix the wrinkles in your shirt and wishing the holes on your destroyed jeans would magically somehow fix and close, you walked up to the desk. At the desk there was a pretty blond with straightened hair but wearing a skirt suit thing that would have looked better in a trash bin, but you guessed that was her uniform. “Hello, is Jaehyun in today?”

“Good afternoon, do you have an appointment? Mr. Jung is a very busy person,” the blond said and you felt like rolling your eyes as you glanced over the counter. Your eyes met the floor listings and you only shrugged. The blond followed your eyesight and her eyes widened, but you could only smile and wave to her as you made your way to the elevator.

“I don’t, but he’ll be glad to see me. Call him and tell him I’m on my way up, darling!” A smirk played on your lips as you saw the blond try to run in her heels towards you but the elevator’s doors closed before she could get close. You pressed the button for Jaehyun’s floor and leaned back against the bronze wall. This is it, I’m giving myself up to the devil, you thought as you looked at the numbers on the small screen go higher and higher.

The doors opened with a soft ding leading you down a hallway of glass doors. You made your way down the hallway of doors and at the end you were met with a large wooden door at the end with Jung Jaehyun engraved in bronze letters across the front. You took a large breath before opening the door, only in front of you was no other than Jaehyun with his head tilted back as another blond in a tight (well, more loose now) bun was down on her knees in front of him.

Your eyes widened at the sight in front of you making you quickly shut the door and press your hands against your mouth to conceal the gasp falling from your lips. To be fair you were surprised but also not really. The casanova had to get laid but it couldn’t be in public eye and he had plenty to picks at his own work space. Shuffling came from behind the door and then it opened, the blond girl walked past you fixing her skirt as she walked back into her office.

A hand was placed on your shoulder and you could only cringe at the thoughts of where it had been making you move away from it. “Listen dude, I only came to talk to you before you ruin my best friend’s life. Although, I can come back later or meet you somewhere else I’d rather not go into your office until it’s been sanitized,”

Jaehyun only chuckled at your words making you turn to look at him and sighing. His shirt was sloppily tucked into his pants and his hair was a sweaty mess making you pinch the bridge of your nose. “Did you finally make a choice?”

“Make a choice? I don’t really have one here,”

“Sweetheart, of course you have one. Only one happens to be better choice and the other choice happens to bring misery to Seo,” he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned into the door frame as if it was as simple as picking out your outfit, “So you say yes?”

You could only roll your eyes at his words and slowly nodded your head. A bitter taste filled your mouth as you braved yourself for the words that were ready to spill from your lips, “Yeah,”

“Great, I’ll text you the important information you’ll need to know,” he said pulling his phone out of the pocket of his coat, handing it to you. Biting down on your lip you pressed in your phone number and quickly handed it back to him, “Oh, and also we’re going to be publicly seen at the wedding of Irene and Jin, just by the way,”

Jaehyun fixed his shirt and looked at his reflection on one of the glass doors along the hallway, fixing his hair down. He slipped his phone back into the pocket of his suit jacket before giving you a smile. Your mind was running at his words and you could only remember that the famous Kim-Bae wedding was only a couple of months away, “What?!”

“Be prepared, now I have to rush to a meeting,” Jaehyun said as he pressed a kiss to your cheek again and walked past you towards the elevator. Pressing the button for the elevator and getting inside as the doors opened for him. A kilowatt smile spread over his lips making your skin tingle as the doors closed. You tried to reach for the doors closed groaning internally and covering your face with your hands.

“Jaehyun!”

    Word spread quicker than fire as the days went on, specially after Jaehyun went to your own apartment with a box of flowers that cost a good hundred dollars. The flowers in general were a light pink and had some gold dusting around the tips that you knew Jaehyun himself couldn’t have picked. It was probably another of his blond assistants who gave him head while he worked. The gesture made sure everyone knew you were a thing but still not exposing much of the secrets. Of course, this meant that Johnny had been calling you non-stop, but due to your situation you still hadn’t picked up any of his calls  

Sighing you glanced back at your phone only to find three missed calls from Mark who was probably going to scream at you because you hadn’t been answering Johnny. There were also at least nine missed calls from Johnny while on the other hand there was only one text from Jaehyun.

  [12.35 pm] Jung Jaehyun: We’re going out shopping tonight. You need a dress for Jin’s wedding and we need to be seen in front of the paps. Be ready by 6.

  You glanced over at your clock and sighed as you read the clock. It was only 2:30 which meant you still had time to dread over Jaehyun and this whole deal.

  There was only thirty minutes until Jaehyun would arrive and you had changed into some black jeans that you had made rips into which probably decreased their value to only a hundred bucks. Matching it with a loose fitting long sleeve shirt that read Yeezy on the sleeve but it looked like you could’ve gotten it from walmart and a pair of boots that came up to your ankle. There was a thin layer of makeup on your face and a tiny bit of perfume on your wrists. You knew this date was fake but if there was going to be pictures of you, you need to look good. As the doorbell rang you checked your phone making you furrow your eyebrows, it was only 5:42. Jaehyun was early? Your hand reached for your bag that was on the hook near the door before going towards the door and pulling it open.

“I never thought of you as the kind that arrives early,” you said as you grabbed your keys out of your bag and glanced back at the person in front of you. Everything you had just said and whatever kind of feeling all sinked down to the bottom of your stomach. Standing in front of you there was no other than Johnny Seo. “Johnny.”

“Who are you meeting?” his voice caught you off guard as you quickly looked around. You knew Jaehyun was going to be here in less than ten and yet here you were talking to Johnny and about to witness them try to murder each other.

“Uh, no one,” you quickly blurted out as a nervous smile spread over your lips. In your bag your phone made a soft ding announcing that it had received a message which you knew was probably from Jaehyun. “Just going shopping,”

Johnny had a look on his face that he didn't believe you but he didn't say anything, which made you feel more guilty than what you were already feeling. “Well, can you just postpone for another night, we have things to talk about and I'd rather do it now,”

“Johnny, I can’t n-”

“Seo, what are you doing here?” you heard Jaehyun’s voice before you actually saw him. At that point your eyes were trying to avoid either males and trying to focus on the paintings on the walls. There was a few questionable stains on the walls, you made yourself a mental note to find some painters to get it fixed as soon as possible, “She’s got somewhere to be, with me to be exact,”

There was a moment of silence where you could almost hear Johnny’s breathing from next to you quicken as Jaehyun talked. You felt a set of eyes on your shoulders but knowing who it was from it only made you want to shrink smaller than an ant so that Johnny would gladly step on you. Although what you didn't expect was for him to pat your back, your eyes quickly went up to him only to find a disappointed look in his eyes, “Please text me after you get back home, we need to talk.”

Shopping went too slow to your liking, paparazzi followed you from store to store which made you a little uncomfortable but it wasn’t really up to you. You knew that now that you were back in the comfort of your home there was pictures of you and Jaehyun floating around the internet. Which only lead to your phone to receive multiple notifications from Mark, your mom, Johnny and probably some other people that called themselves your friends. Changing into some comfortable clothes and walked into the kitchen as you heard the door ring once again. In the back of your head you knew it could only be one person, Johnny.

Sighing to yourself you walked go the door and opened it, leaving it open for Johnny to walk inside as you walked back towards your small living room. As you walked you found yourself being engulfed by a pair of arms around you pulling you into his chest. His chin resting on your shoulder as you bit down on your lip and let yourself fall back against him. There was sense of comfort but the guilt rushing to every part of your body which made your eyes water but all you could do is look at the ceiling instead of the man behind you. “I’m sorry,” you whispered as you brought your hands up to your face to quickly wipe away any existence of the tears on your eyes.

“Why are you with him?” he asked instead of trying to change the subject. You knew he wanted to know the reason behind why you were doing it. You also knew if he knew he’d ask you break it off, that he could handle it on his own that it was his own problem with Jaehyun and none of your business to meddle with.

Scrunching your face you thought of excuses to make for it, but none came to your mind at the moment making you sigh. “I just..” you mumbled as his hands turned you around to face him, his face was full of worry and if you looked closely there was disappointment in his eyes and you knew that was from you. “My mom was picking guys from your last polo match, she was thinking of Yugyeom but since Jaehyun actually talked to me set up a date for the both of us. You know, we have to mingle with our own kind sort of thing,” Johnny could only nod, he knew about how much your mother looked at your future suitors and made sure they were within her standards before letting you date any of them.

  That’s what happened with your first boyfriend, Jeon Jungkook. He was your first boyfriend when you attended high school, he was the son of the CEO of a record label but he was new money. New money was never reliable, companies like that were always being brought down or being bought by the highest bidder and your mother saw no future in that. Which is why your own mother thought of sending you and Mark abroad to Europe for a modeling camp that went from country to country. She said it would be a good look on your portfolio which is why you only said yes. Meanwhile your mother gave the label a large amount of money if Jungkook never got near you again and to your luck you only got a text that night that read ‘i’m sorry were over.’ The following weeks were met with you staying in bed and asking Mark to call Jungkook only to find out he had blocked you on every platform possible.

While in Barcelona you met back with Johnny, he used to be in school with you back in the day and he quickly became one of your closest friends. You knew the Seo family, and you also knew that after graduation Johnny packed this things and left. With all the money he had he traveled until he was missing home, you had managed to caught him on his last whim and ready to head back home. After the stunt he pulled he was picked as the black sheep of his family, no one with that kind of duty in his shoulders would just leave his family behind. This is why you were willing to take the bullet for him when it came to Jaehyun, he needed the perfect image in front of his family. He needed to prove that he could handle the family business without the help of his siblings.

  You were brought back to reality when you heard him chuckle from behind you, “I always thought your mom would end up marrying you off to Yugyeom or me or maybe even Hoseok from Hope Inc., but never thought she’d want you to marry him,” he said as he pulled back and ran his fingers through his hair. He sat down on the edge of the couch and looked up at you with his face in his hands, he looked tired and there was dark shadows under his eyes. There was a small pang at your chest but you didn’t know where it came from. He’s my best friend of course, that’s why, you thought to yourself because you couldn’t think of it being something else.

“Yeah well, you know how she is,” you tried to give him a small smile before sitting down next to him. Bringing your hands up to your face you let out a shaky breath not wanting to think about what he had just said to you. He had actually thought about maybe —someday— marrying you. Blinking a couple of times you glanced back at his slumped form, he was breathing at a slow pace which made you even more confused. How in the world was he this calm when he had just said this to you like it was the most common thing in the world?

“Whoa, wait right there, you just said you thought about marrying me. Would you like to explain because I'm trying really hard not to lose my shit,” your voice was at a higher pitch by the end of the sentence. Johnny quickly stood up from his spot on the couch next to you, his face looked panicked before he wiped his hands on his pants.

Johnny let out a nervous laugh as he glanced back at you, shoving his hands inside his pockets. “Oh would you look at the time, I really need to get going I still have paperwork at the office to sign and I have to plan stuff. I should really get going,”

“No, no, no, you’re not leaving until you explain.”

  He was already walking towards the door as you quickly stood up front your spot on the couch. Your legs were moving as fast as they could trying to catch up to him. Dammit Johnny, why were you blessed with long legs? You thought to yourself as you reached over to grab his arm. He was like a deer caught in headlights, unable to move, trapped in his own body and you were the thing keeping him there, rooted. “Explain,”

“I dont think it’s the right time or motive for it,” he quickly said as you reached for his hand making him close his eyes. His mouth only let out a soft sigh before his arms quickly pulled you into his embrace. For a moment it felt like home, like coming home to your warm bed or cuddling into your favorite blanket while you've been out in the cold. Johnny had been your best friend of years, he even shielded you away from the troublesome kids in school. He was the one who would join you and Mark at fashion week. “All you gotta know now it that if you’re ever ready to run, I’m here we can leave and run away from all of this. I’d leave this world with you,”

“Johnny please, you can’t leave me after saying that,” your hands wrapped around him as you buried your face in his chest taking in his scent. His hands were resting on your back like they knew every curve on your body better than you. After all he had seen you in lingerie, that one time he came with you to the Victoria’s Secret catalog photoshoot. His hands moved back up and cupped your face pulling you back so he could finally look at you. The height difference between the both of you always made you feel tiny next to him, but now you felt it in another way. The way you see couples in dramas, those cheesy kind of things.

“You’re dating Jaehyun sweetheart, you left me before I could explain,” he said making you snap away from your thoughts and quickly shifting your eyes towards him. “Even if I explained now you won’t leave him, we both know you wouldn’t like to upset mother dearest. Although the offer still stands, say the word, I’ll leave everything and run with you,”

“You can’t ask me that, you know I’m taking over the House in a few years an-”

Johnny’s hands dropped from your body as he took a step back from you and placed his hands on his hips. A sad smile appeared across his lips as he took a look at you, “Y/N, if you loved me you wouldn’t hesitate,”

“Uh, excuse me, you're the one who said nothing about loving me and you expect me to run into your arms like nothing? I’m sorry but I have people looking after me and most of all, I don't want to be a disappointment to Mark,” you quickly said and he shook his head at your words, his eyebrows raising and only making your temper rise by that point.

“You know he wouldn't see it that way, tell me you love me,”

The deer was no longer Johnny, it was you. The headlights were on you and you felt yourself freeze in front of him. You had only said the L word to a total of three people in your life, Mark, your mom, and Jungkook but honestly you were fifteen you didn’t know better. After the Jungkook situation you hadn’t said it someone in a way that it way, of course, with your family it was different but in that way you had only said it to one person. “I can’t, not because I don’t want to. I just can’t, you should go.”

Johnny had a look on his face you couldn’t quite read, it was a look you hadn’t seen on his face and it only made you feel confused. His head shook once more before he made his way to the door, his eyes met yours for one last time as he opened the door. Neither of you could say anything but the tension was thick, you knew all you had to do was say those three little words and everything would be fixed. The only issue was, would you mean it?

Your eyes kept wandering across the room at a small little water feature the expensive room had, you knew Jaehyun paid over three thousand dollars for this whole room to yourselves but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. The memory of Johnny’s eyes still haunted you when ever yours would fall shut and it kind of freaked you out. It was just another of Jaehyun’s fake dates, the second one in a week and not even a week from where you had turned Johnny down. Honestly you didn’t turn him down but you left him without an answer and seemed worse than an actual no. the feeling of uncertainty was a lot worse than rejection, it was a feeling of being stuck and not being able to move on. Sighing you turned to look over at Jaehyun whose lips were moving yet you had no idea what he was talking about.

It made you feel a little bad that you weren’t paying attention to the man in front of you but you had your mind somewhere. Your eyes found Jaehyun’s making him stop talking and finally sigh, he slumped back against the plush seat behind him. His arms moved to cross over his chest as his eyes studied you. “Spill it out, you barely touched your food and by the looks of it you heard nothing of what I just said,”

“No, it’s fine. It’s nothing really,” you said as you grabbed your glass of water almost chugging half of it down before looking at the over decorated room.

“Well, if you had paid attention you would’ve reacted at the fact that I mentioned that my parents want to meet you,” Jaehyun said as you pushed the steamed vegetables from one side to the other of your plate, rolling your eyes as he spoke. “I know you’re going to say no and I’m not exactly happy about bringing you home yet, but it’s not for me. It’s for Jaemin,”

Your head snapped back up as you looked at Jaehyun, it wasn’t for him to spill on personal things. Even on your dates he never spoke about his family, his life, or his business which was understable you were still a stranger but since you were still here he must have thought he was safe. On the other hand, you knew very little about the Jung family. From what you had heard from Mark, Jaemin was only a year younger than him and was somehow one of the nicest guys in the world. In the world you lived there was only one school that was trusted by the surrounding families, so of course Mark knew this kid.

Jaemin was the school’s prodigy, he graduated a year early and was due to inherit the Jung law firm but due to Jaemin sudden sickness the title was handed to Jaehyun who now used you as his toy. No one knew what Jaemin had and how it all happened, they just knew that from one day to the next he was gone. Slowly nodding your head you could only sigh at his question. Leaning over and standing up, you dropped the white napkin on top of your plate of expensive steak and pasta. Your hands tugged down your black Balmain dress down from your hip where it scrunched up. “Since I’m doing it I’m calling this off early, I’m leaving.”

    The next time you saw Jaehyun he was dressed in a button shirt that looked crisp and clean unlike the ones he wore to the office. Those were always wrinkly due to the activities he participated in. He was polished and his hair was slicked back, he actually looked like a CEO, you thought to yourself as he stretched his hand out for yours. Neither of you ever held hands he always just kept his arm around your waist but never done that. Shaking your hand you tried to fix the chiffon dress before reaching for his hand, the Saint Laurent dress you were wearing was only a bit more expensive than the small Cartier ring around your finger. Although the house you had just stepped in was probably worth more than all the money you could imagine or that you had. The italian marble floor was shining throughout the foyer that seemed never to have an ending row of marble sculptures. A smile made its way to your lips as you looked at each one as you walked past them, you knew the details on them were not cheap and none of these could be less than twenty thousand each.

“Brother! Ah, you finally brought your princess home! Y/N, welcome! I’m so glad to finally meet you, Jaehyun has talked dad’s ear off about you and how proud he is of you,” the voice came from a boy who was walking towards the both of you, his smile was soft and he gave off the happy vibes which reminded you of what Mark said about Jaemin. “Oh! Where are my manners, I’m Jaemin,” Jaemin said as he reached the both of you, he wrapped Jaehyun in a hug and then went over to you to give you one too catching you off guard.

“Yes, I’ve heard about you. I think you and my younger brother used to go to school together,” you smiled as he pulled back from you, in the corner of your eye you saw Jaehyun reach over and move his arm around you making you feel a bit more comfortable. You reminded yourself it was fake but it somehow made you feel safe.

“Uh, right, Mark is it?”

“That’s him,” you nodded your head and turned slightly to glance over at Jaehyun whose eyes were already on you. There was an exchange of smiles between the both of you as you turned your attention back to Jaemin in front of you.

“How is he doing? He was modeling along with Jeno and Lucas back when we were in school from what I recall,” Jaemin said as a smile grew over his lips, you could see why the Jung family was known for their looks. Both Jaehyun and Jaemin were gorgeous and anyone you knew would have killed for a date with either men.

“Still modeling, keeping himself busy,”

“That sounds great, please do send him my regards,”

“I will.”

  During dinner Jaehyun’s mother asked you about your work, your mother, your family, and pretty much everything in the book. She didn’t seem too excited when you told her you were a model and if you had looked close enough you would have seen the roll of her eyes at the mention of the word ‘model’. On the other hand Jaehyun’s father seemed to love you, he kept repeating how much Jaehyun had changed for the better and how proud he was of him. Jaehyun on the other hand looked nervous the whole time they were interrogating you and as well when they praised him. You looked back at him and leaned closer to him, softly patting his knee as you kept on answering questions that were being shot your way. He relaxed under your touch and leaned in to whisper a faint thank you making you nod your head.

By the end of dessert Jaehyun was talking to his dad about the recent case in the office while his mom had stood up and left the table excusing herself. You couldn’t help but to look over at Jaemin who had a grin on his lips. “Jae, I’m going to steal your beautiful princess and show her the rest of the sculptures in the garden while you talk with dad,”

“You don't have to Jaemin,” Jaehyun quickly said as he stood up from his seat right after Jaemin had already gotten up and was making his way to you. There was something in Jaehyun’s voice that you couldn’t quite read which made you look at Jaemin’s whose grin had turned into a small smile.

“I know, it’s fine.”

  The both of you walked down the bushes of roses with scattered sculptures every ten feet or so. The Jung family was old money and not compared to yours which seemed to have come out at a strike of luck with your mother, the only reason your family was respected was due to the designer house making such big revenue. The Jungs were a family of lawyers, ‘The best in the country’ as some newspapers had said. Shrugging you pushed the thoughts away as Jaemin lead the way down the path.  “These are gorgeous Jaemin,”

“Yeah, I think they were all imported from Europe back when I was younger, although I think it was a stupid idea though. Jeno and I broke one two years ago while playing cricket,” there was a snicker that came out of his lips as he looked towards the statue with half of its head missing. It was no longer the rock who seemed soft but you could see the jagged edges of where the ball made its impact on the white marble. “Anyways the reason I brought you out here is because I have to thank you,”

“Thank me?”

“Listen, I know the whole ‘Jaehyun and Y/N’ thing is a lie and if I’m being completely honest it was kind of my idea. Not with you specifically but he’s doing it to save me, kinda,” Jaemin sighed as he sat down on one of the benches on the path. There was sculptured bodies of marble on either side but he patted the spot next to you. The sound of your fake relationship being known made a part of you panic internally. Were you not selling it? Should you have kissed Jaehyun before leaving him with his father? You could only mentally groan to yourself as you sat down next to Jaemin. “It’s really complicated so if you need me to stop please, feel free to. Also, I know what you’re thinking and for your information you have my father sold. My mother on the other hand will take more convincing but I’m sure that won’t be necessary,”

“Okay so, I’m gay,” he paused for a second before continuing, his eyes were on you and you swore he could pretty much see every inch of your brain ticking and running at full speed, “You also know the world we live in isn’t exactly the most understanding, I know it’s 2019 and stuff but like.. When I told our parents they flipped you know? I was supposed to be the wonderkid, the chosen one, the prodigy for the law firm. I mean, that’s why I studied so hard, graduated early, and got the internship with my dad while studying in college. All of it just to become the next man of the Jung family, the chosen one after the first attempt failed. I'm not trying to blame Jaehyun for our parents picking me but he fucked up and our mom couldn't bare to see another failure to happen so I got pushed into the picture. I'm not going to go into detail on what Jaehyun did, it’s not my place to say but that’s why he was sent overseas to study, so I became the main focus for them. I went to school, I fell in love, and at first I thought it was stupid I couldn't like a boy. Then everything just happened and suddenly I was like wow I’m gay.” Jaemin’s eyes were no longer bright, they gave off sad vibe that made you feel cold making you wish you brought your coat with you. In the short time you had met Jaemin you knew it was an odd sight to see him in another mood that wasn’t happy or something related to that feeling.

“Anyways, Jeno asked me to be in the cover of this gay magazine next month with him and I feel like it’s a perfect way to come out. That's why Jaehyun is doing this with you, he’s bringing himself the spotlight for my freedom. What I'm really trying to say is thank you, thank you for being with him and doing this.”

  You were speechless at Jaemin’s confession although part of you wanted to know what had Jaehyun done in the past to have cost him the title of leader of the Jung family. Shaking your head you looked back at Jaemin who had tears in his eyes, he reminded you so much of Mark. Truthfully you knew where Jaehyun was coming from now, not that the way he had asked was good the man pretty much blackmailed you with baggage that wasn’t even yours, but you knew where he was coming from. “Your parents don’t know anything about this, do they?”

Jaemin shook his head as he sighed and looked up at the sky, “They have already given my spot to Jaehyun for me saying I’m gay, can you imagine what they’ll do the moment I publically come out?” he turned his head to you and you could only furrow your eyebrows, shaking your head you reached over and took one of his hands between yours.

“I know we don’t know each other very well, but like, if you ever need a place to crash or a friend to vent out on my door will always be open.”

After Jaemin’s confession to you there was a part of you that wanted to be nicer to Jaehyun but it only brought back the fact that he blackmailed you into doing this. There was another thing bugging you in the back of your mind, why did Jaehyun pick you out of every single other girl at the polo match? Sighing you pushed your wet hair back as you made your way to living room where Mark was on his phone, America’s Next Top Model was playing on the tv but there was no way he was paying attention to it.

“Alright, will you spill it out? I can hear your brain trying to think for the past half hour,” Mark said as he lowered the phone from his face and turned to you as you sat down next to him. He gave you a calm look and shook his head slightly at the sight of you. The sweatpants hung around your hips were Johnny’s old gym ones from when you were still in high school with him and the oversized t-shirt that cost more than your own Gucci slippers.

  “I just.. I found out some stuff about this whole deal I have with Jaehyun and I kind of get it. Why he’s doing it,” shrugging you turned your attention to the tv in front of you where Tyra was handing out photos of the remaining models that were continuing into the next level, “I would do anything for you or you know, someone I care for,”

Mark sat up more and turned to face you, there was a scrunch in his brows that only reminded you of a baby lion which made you smile. “Okay, so let’s say what he’s doing it’s somewhat acceptable and good, why did he pick you out of everyone? Or why is Johnny being dragged into this?”

“That’s the part that I need to know, Mark. I know a part of the story not everything, plus you know how hard it’s going to be to take this out of Jaehyun. He looks like he can barely stand me sometimes.”

“I think we can all relate to Jaehyun in that last part.” Mark could only roll his eyes at your last comment and let out a laugh, tilting his head away from you as you playfully punched his shoulder.

    Once again you found yourself sipping on a glass of bubbly champagne in the middle of a white tent, watching Jaehyun on a horse run back and forth on the field. On the other side of the field, another game was hosted with both Johnny and Mark playing. You no longer sat in Johnny’s tent because apparently to what Mark said you were banned. It was the quarterfinals of the small superficial polo games and August coming up around the corner meaning you had to start getting ready for New York Fashion Week and try to find a dress for Irene’s wedding. The one you and Jaehyun picked was no longer one that both of you liked. Your eyes could only wander towards the other field in which you could faintly see Johnny’s team was winning by two chukkas. If you were there you would’ve probably thrown a party already.

Sighing you turned to look over at Jaehyun’s mom was talking to Mrs. Kim, Jennie’s mom, on a way of how they could get you out of the way and let their children marry each other instead. You knew there was no way Jaehyun would accept, but it was nice his mom was looking out for him and it kind of reminded you of your mom. On the other hand, Jaehyun’s dad was talking to Jaemin about how well Jaehyun had been doing at the law firm recently, which only made you proud. Your mind could only think back to the past couple of days in which in order to play the part of girlfriend of the year you had been taking Jaehyun some packed lunches while he discussed the Jeong case to you. Meanwhile Jaemin’s boyfriend, Jeno, sat next to you with his phone in his hands shamelessly scrolling through instagram. Both boys were adorable together but you knew the real reason he was here, he was going to become a part of this society with or without approval of Jaemin’s parents so he was being briefly introduced.

Pushing the button at the side of your phone, you looked at the time before getting up and walked out towards the tent for the players. Your eyes made their way towards Jaehyun who you gave a small wave as he waited for the referee to call out the start of half time. You stood no longer than five minutes until you found a pair of arms around you making you groan internally as a smile spread over your lips. “Get away, you’re sweaty and gross,”

Jaehyun’s soft chuckle vibrated against your shoulder as you turned to hand him the water bottle that was in your hands. “Oh, don’t pretend you don’t like it,” there was a playfulness in his tone which could only make you roll your eyes while a smile spread over your lips. You felt his hand leave your hip and moved to push back the wet hair away from his face. “Also, have my parents been bugging you?”

“No, but I do think your mother is planning on marrying you off to Jennie,” your head tilted towards where Jennie was sitting, she looked more busy trying to devour Jongin with her eyes than trying to spare Jaehyun a glance.

Jaehyun’s eyes followed the tilt of your head and he could only let out a small laugh as he pressed a kiss to your temple. It was something he had picked up on doing since mouth to mouth kissing was still a thing neither of you would attempt. “Should I propose to you within the next week then? Maybe then she’ll stop trying to find me new wives,”

“Stop that, go plan with your team. Taeyong looks like he’s ready to kill me for hoarding you too much already,” There was a soft blush coating your cheeks, you had always told yourself that everything was fake but there was something about his tone when he said certain things that made your heart flutter. Shaking your head, you pulled back from Jaehyun and gave his hands squeeze before walking towards the edge of the tent, “I gotta go check on Mark anyways, but please win.”

“You got it princess!” he called after you as your feet moved across the field making your way towards Mark who was sprawled out on one of the white couches.

  “Hey punk, how does it feel to finally play after your injury,” you said as you sat down next to Mark who had a damp towel over his forehead and handed him his water bottle from the small table in front of the both of you.

“It sucks, it’s so fu- I mean, freaking hot on that horse. Please remind me how I said yes to this stupid sport?”

You smiled thinking back at when you were still in highschool, Johnny had taken off a gap year and you were on your last year while Mark was struggling to pass geometry. Johnny would come to the school at least once a week to drop you lunch and to spend your free period with you talking about how his new hobby was taking over his life. One day Mark was skipping his physics exam in the library while Johnny and you dropped by. Long story short, Johnny ended up recruiting Mark for his polo team and scolding him for skipping his exams which only made you try to hold in a laugh. The memories were soon interrupted by a cough that sounded like Johnny’s which only made you turn towards him.

“So you show up here but can’t pick up a phone call or take five seconds to answer a text?” he scoffed which made him sound bitter and you could only sigh. Yeah, you were avoiding Johnny because you couldn’t tell him what he had asked you to. It wasn’t that you didn’t love him, but he was a bit too late. “But please, save your excuses. How about instead you go back to your asshole and follow him like a lost puppy again? You know like how you did just before you came back here where you know you’re not welcomed,”

There was a few gasps from the people behind you and tears stung on your eyes but you quickly blinked them back so they wouldn’t spill over your makeup covered face. “Could you not do this here?” you said through gritted teeth as you looked up at the taller man who was now in front of you.

“John,” you heard Mark say from behind you, he sounded threatening which is a tone he barely used with anyone let alone Johnny.

Johnny glanced back at Mark and shook his head as if to say stay out of it to which Mark could only hold his head up in your defence. You knew Mark and there was no way in hell he was going to back down, “Then leave, you’re not welcomed here yet you came,”

“Y/N,” placing his hand on your shoulder Mark sighed as his hand moved over to rub his eyes, he was trying to avoid this much needed argument between Johnny and you but he couldn’t control all of it at once.

“For fucks sake Johnny, I’m doing all of this because of you! All of it!”

“Why can’t you say it back then, it’s not that hard,”

“Uh, guys,” Mark was now tugging on your shirt which you could only push his hands away. You had already started it and you had to end it one way or the other no matter what your brother thought.

“Because it’s too fucking late John, if you had said those three stupid words three years ago it would’ve all been different then we wouldn’t be here! Then again who was I? The stupid best friend who saw you get fucked over by a girl who didn’t love you and I was there to collect every single piece of you that dropped. I was just the best friend, nothing else,” you sighed as your eyes stared back at the taller man in front of you. He looked taken back by your words but you weren’t going to hold anything back this time. “You were too caught up on a girl who just played with you while she kissed another man in front of your face,”

“Guys!” The both of you turned towards Mark who was discreetly pointing to Jaehyun who had just entered the tent, hearing every single word you had just said.

You saw Jaehyun chuckle from where he was standing, his arms crossed over his chest making him look bigger than he was and you mentally begged the earth to swallow you whole. Jaehyun made his way towards you and leaned into your ear to whisper, “We will discuss this later, is that understood?” You could only nod at his words before he pressed his lips to yours, this was the first kiss that the both of you shared. His lips were a bit chapped against your own but they were plush and a bit sweet from the snacks he ate to recover his energy before they called him into the next round.

Before you could do anything with your hands he moved away from you and took your hand tugging you with him, his hand squeezing yours a bit too hard for your liking but you knew why he had done it. As the both of you reached the edge of the tent, Jaehyun turned back to look over at Johnny who hadn’t moved a single inch since you were tugged away from him and Mark. “Good luck Jonathan with winning your game, I’ll see you at the finals. Well that is, if you’re lucky enough.”

  Trying to get Jaehyun to direct a word to you during the remaining time at the polo field was like trying to get water out of a rock. When you had finally worn out his patience on you he grabbed your hand and dragged you to the farthest corner of the tent, “We’re not talking about it now so go sit your pretty ass back in that chair, put on your cutest fake smile, and kiss me when ever I come back to you. Don’t worry our deal will be over sooner than you think, then you can run back into your stupid boy’s arms like nothing happened and you can tell him how much you love him.”

Jaehyun’s lips pressed to yours but this time they felt different, they were rougher against yours and his hands gripped your hips. His lips were salty from the sweat that dripped down as he moved under the blazing sun. There was something in the back of your head that screamed and yelled at you to move away from him but there was also a tug on your heart that made you want to stay with him.

The rest of the remaining game kept you walking back and forth between the couch and the edge of the tent. Jaehyun was playing too rough and you knew the referee was just holding back until he did severe fault so he could kick him off the field. On the other hand, from the other corner of the field you could see Mark screaming something over to Johnny who was dashing from one side of the court to the other. Sighing you could only sit back down on the couch next to Jeno, you knew if you kept on walking there would’ve been a hole on the path by the end of the night.

  As the game finished the referee shook Jaehyun’s hand, they had won once again and so had Johnny’s team. Both men were brought to the middle of the field to shake hands, although neither of them stretched their hands out. You knew why but there was cheers of people around you, they knew nothing about the rivalry that was going to come up in the next game. Jaehyun was only an inch shorter than Johnny but he stood his ground, his eyes never wavering to make it seem like he was scared of the older male. On the other hand, you knew Johnny wasn’t going to back down unless Jaehyun did so first which only made you sigh. Their gazes gave off the I’m going to kill you kind of vibe but there was only a handful of people who caught that, one of them being Taeyong who was walking towards you with a gentler but same look in his eyes.  “What did you do?”

“Excuse me?” you quickly said back with a questioning look in your eyes. Taeyong was the kind of guy who gave off the I’m hard on the outside but soft on the inside kind of look but at this moment you were terrified. Of course, you did your best to hide it because spilling the truth in front of him wouldn’t gain you any sympathy.

“Spill, I know you caused something. Ever since half time Jaehyun has been playing too rough, we all knew and it’s been a miracle the referee didn’t take him out. So, spill it,” he said it again and you could feel a small wave of nerves rush over you, although that seemed to subdue when you felt a familiar hand around your shoulders.

“Leave her out of it, Taeyong.”

  The car ride back to Jaehyun’s appartement was quiet, not only did the both of you not want the driver to hear what you guys were about to say but you had a feeling Jaehyun was putting sentences together in his head much like you were. His hand was still in yours, his fingers were rough from holding the mallet for so long but you didn’t seem to care. It had become a familiar touch, specially when he rubbed circles on your hand with his thumb which was something he did when he was nervous. Jaehyun wasn’t a person to get nervous easily, he was also not the person who would get scared either. On the other hand he was sweet to you when the both of you were out on your pretend dates, he held doors open for you and even shared his drinks with you. In the back of your mind you knew it it wasn’t real but a small part of you always thought they weren’t. Especially when he had bared so many of his secrets to you, a total stranger.

He had told you the reason he wasn’t his parents first choice to be the next CEO, on why he was sent to America to study while Jaemin quickly took his spot and became the favorite child. At the end of highschool he was pushed into studying law which is how he found himself twisted into a life that he didn’t ask for. You didn’t want to ask explanations, after all you weren’t more than the fake girlfriend. According to what Jaehyun said he found himself in the wrong crowd, doing the things at the wrong time and the wrong place. Social media made nothing better of the situation and once the press got hold of it they went wild. Once his parents found out there was nothing he could do but either go on his own will or be exiled from his own family. At that moment you knew he was the way he was, he didn’t have a hard life but he had terrible experiences that you barely knew about.

Getting out of the car, Jaehyun made his way towards you and took your hand once again. His grip was no longer as harsh as it was back at the polo field but it still felt distant and you could only feel your nerves get more shaky as you both walked into his apartment. “Jaemin’s photoshoot cover comes out next month, don’t worry only about two months or so of being with me so you can run back to Johnny,” Jaehyun said as he dropped his keys on the small coffee table in the middle of his living room.

“Jae,” you pleaded as you followed him into the kitchen, he was reaching for a clean glass as he turned to look at you and sighed.

“You want to know why I picked you out of all the girls I could’ve had anyone, but you want to know why you?” there was a small sarcastic sigh that made his way out of his lips as he turned towards you. His shirt was no longer tucked inside his white pants as he made his way up to you. “I was a regular guy in highschool who was on the A list trying to make good grades in order to inherit one of the biggest companies in our society. Meanwhile you were in love with a senior who had no idea you existed as more than just a friend. You only knew I existed until I took Rose from Johnny, I was the bad guy of the story. The player as I know lots of girls in our grade would say but did you see that? Of course not, you went along with the rumors,”

There was a slight pause as he turned to look at the sink and then back at you, he was about to spill everything to you and all you could do is bite down on your lip nervously. “You were too far up Johnny’s ass to notice anyone else and here I was, willing to take one for the team and let you be happy. That’s why I dated Rose, just so you could be happy with Johnny which never happened so I was with her for nothing. Just another stupid sixteen year old boy giving up his happiness so his crush could get the guy she wanted,”

Inside your head there were a million thoughts going through your mind, one of which was with Jaehyun in particular only back when the both of you were still in high school he went by Yoonoh. That’s why things never clicked inside your head, you looked back at the man in front of you and then to the nearest spot where you could sit. Sitting down you could only cover your face with your hands despite feeling his eyes trace every single move you made.

“I took Rose from Johnny so he could see the gift he had in front of him yet he only noticed you when you were taken from him. Everyone in our year thought the both of you were dating until they asked him and he denied it. I know taking Rose from him sent him into a wild ride of partying and going against whatever his parents said, which I can relate to but,” with a shrug he pulled off his shirt and started walking back towards his bedroom, “I picked you because even if it was fake for you, everything I did for you was real to me.”

    Arriving at JFK, you wrapped the faux fur coat around your body tighter sighing at the cold New York weather. Although you hated the weather you loved the thrill of Fashion Week, there was always a buzz in the air and you could only try to hold back your excitement. On the other hand you were very glad that you were out of town, no Jaehyun to worry about, no Johnny to look after, and most importantly no drama. The only drama you had to live with at the moment was trying to survive the show without twisting your ankle as you walked down the runway.

Mark walked with you into the dark SUV that was picking the both of you to take you to your apartment for the week. “Have you talked to either of them?” Mark asked as the both of you dropped your carry on the floor beside your feet while turning to see each other.

There was a nervous laughter that ended far too quickly for it to be genuine, “Does it look like I have?” pulling out your phone you glanced through instagram, liking a few pictures of your model friends mentioning they were on their way to New York for fashion week.

“Wait, so you mean to tell me, you ran away from Jaehyun’s apartment after he pretty much confessed he had feelings for you still?”

“You put it in such bad words, it makes me seem like a terrible person,” you mumbled as you looked back at your brother who had his arms crossed over his chest. There was a serious look on his face and you couldn’t help but to think of a concentrated baby lion ready to pounce, “But, I guess yeah.”

“I can’t believe you, but you know Johnny is coming with Rose to see the Yeezy show on Thursday right?”

At the mention of Rose’s name you could only blink in surprise, turning to look over at Mark but he was already invested in his phone. “With Rose?”

“Yeah, from what he told me before we left she hit him up last weekend, asked him if he was going so they’re coming down together I guess. I thought Doyoung was coming with him but I guess not.” Mark said as he adjusted the neck pillow around his neck and let his eyes fall shut, the neither of you wanting to bring up the subject again.

“Right.”

  The clothes you had sent in weeks prior to your arrival were neatly set into racks across the room in which you were staying. You were in the middle of picking outfits as your phone started going off, it was the ringtone you had set for Jaehyun. There was a small sense of guilt but also a tingling at the pit of your stomach that you knew were not butterflies, most likely that burrito you ate from Chipotle. Sighing you looked at the screen, quickly reading the text message from your boyfriend.

  [6.29 pm] jae: hey, i know you probably don’t want to talk to me but have fun in ny. i hope you arrived well and i’m sure you’re going to do great in your shows, i truly do wish you the best.

  There was a smile that crept over your lips as you read the message a couple of times before laying back on the floor. After the third fake date in which the both of you went to watch Venom, you remembered you had asked him why he was so formal on text to which he replied he didn’t know how to talk to you which is why he was that formal. Since then your conversations with him were more carefree and you had changed his contact name to just jae. Biting down on your lip you read the message again before typing back a quick text and hitting the small blue button to send.

  [6.34 pm] you: it’s fine, but thank you.

[6.35 pm] jae: no problem, i know you’re gonna kill that runway.

  The three grey dots appeared on your screen and quickly disappeared, he was writing more than what he had sent which made you frown but that quickly changed when you received the following message.

  [6.39 pm] jae: also, i wanted to ask you before i show up if it would be okay if i go? it would be good publicity you know for jaemin and stuff…

[6.40 pm] you: sounds good to me.

[6.42 pm] jae: cool, could you open the door?

  Furrowing your eyebrows you looked down at your phone and then through the open door in your room. You walked down the hallway and into the small living room that opened into the kitchen to find Mark. His headphones were in his ears and dancing along to his music while he made a sandwich. He didn’t even notice you until you stood in front of the small island that was in the middle of the kitchen. “What? I’m still a kid in development,”

“I didn’t say anything Markus, but hey, has the door rung or anything right?

“Uh no?” Mark gave you a look of confusion as you walked towards the door and leaned up on your tiptoes to look over the small hole on the door. You could only see someone’s back to which you pulled out your phone again to see the message from Jaehyun. Pulling the door open the person turned and there he was, Jung Jaehyun. There was a lump in your throat that you had barely noticed until you finally swallowed it down which made him give you a tiny smile from the corner of his lips.

  “Hey,”

“Hi,” you could only say that in return, a part of you was surprised but the other part of you wanted to run and hide from whatever feeling you were feeling now. Your eyes took in the man in front of you, the circles under his eyes were a bit darker than usual and his hair was dyed a purpley grey color which somehow fitted him nicely. He also looked a bit thinner than the last time you saw him which was about three weeks ago, but of course in order to keep your relationship believable you kept posting pictures of the two of you as constantly as possible on instagram. “I didn’t expect you to be here so soon,”

There was a small chuckle that came from his lips, although his eyes didn’t meet yours but instead they were focused on the floor. “I wanted to send flowers ahead but you’re not into the whole romantic vibe so instead I shot my shot through text,” he said as he looked back to you, with a shy smile over his lips.

“I have to say it worked then,” you quickly answered back which only made his smile grow bigger. There was not many times Jaehyun smiled, especially not for the press so you could only count this as a win even if it was only the two of you.

“Did it?”

“I think so.”

    Backstage was hectic, there were at least 6 makeup artists running from model to model fixing their last minute errors. You loved the rush it brought to you but at the same time there was a feeling of nervousness running throughout your body. Mark was changing into another outfit due to the hair stylist dropping hair gel on his white shirt. Virgil was walking up and down the line of models making sure everyone was okay before entering the runway. A small deep breath made its way through your lips and soon enough you began walking into the room that was your runway.

While walking you remembered to keep your head up and eyes forward, to keep your ‘resting bitch face’ on, and most importantly not to stumble as you moved. Your eyes were glued to the spot in front of you but from the corner of your eyes could still catch the phones and cameras flashing from besides you as you walked. You took notice of Jaehyun who was sitting down at the front row towards the middle of the runway with his phone in one hand recording everything while his eyes were locked on only you. The denim dress you wore fit on you like a glove but it was quickly swapped with a pair of white pants and a denim trench coat that went down to your knees. Your own feet moved on their own accord that you had forgotten was there in the first place. This side was confident, uncaring towards the world around you and you loved it, you were a rebel here.

  The rest of the day was a blur, you remember pictures being taken of you with the rest of the models, Mark laughing so loud everyone turned to look at him, Virgil popping open a bottle of expensive champagne and handing everyone glasses, oh and also Jaehyun helping you into the car on the way back to your temporary apartment. At that point you were tipsy but not fully drunk, you knew where your were but there was a slight fuzz around your surroundings. Helping you out of the car once it had stopped, Jaehyun’s hand stayed on your hip until the both of you had reached the front door.

“So, I think this is where I leave you,” Jaehyun said as you opened the front door. There was a look in his eyes you couldn’t recall seeing before but you just shrugged it off before stepping in.

“Why don’t you just stay, Mark isn’t gonna be back until the middle of the night most likely. Specially since Lucas was walking alongside us, he’s a party boy and drags Mark to wild places..” you shuddered at the thought of another of Lucas’ party’s they were just a little too much for your liking.

Jaehyun chuckled and shrugged as he walked up to you, holding the door for you to enter. A smile made its way to your lips as you walked inside leaning beside the couch to take off your heels. Unclasping the buckle you threw the shoe somewhere on the floor, although before you could make your way to take off the other one Jaehyun was already helping you with the other shoe.  

“You know, these shoes are worth a lot more than what you think and yet here you are throwing them like they are a only twenty bucks,” a smile peaked through his lips as he set the shoe down next to you and stood back up. “C’mon, I’ll tuck you in before I go,”

Stretching out his hand Jaehyun took your hand in his, his thumb slowly stroking your hand as you both walked towards your bedroom. There was a billion questions that you wanted to ask but none of them could come out, it was as if your tongue was a tangled into a bunch of knots and you had no idea how to get rid of them. Jaehyun laid in your bed as you took your time changing out of the designer clothes. You knew you had to return them but you weren’t too worried about it as you slipped into your comfy shorts and an oversized pastel Gucci t-shirt. There was shuffling coming from your room but you decided to ignore it as you washed the makeup off your face. After layers of skin care were applied to your skin you walked back to find Jaehyun looking out the long window.

“You know, I wish we could stay like this. No fighting, no problems, just us enjoying our lives without caring for the rest of the people,” sighing Jaehyun turned to you. You hand your hands behind your back as you looked at him with worried eyes. There was bags under his eyes and you could only walk towards him and let your hands your his face. Your thumbs caressed his cheeks, softly moved under his eyes and then slowly traced over his lips. “I want us,”

Jaehyun’s hands went to grab yours and you could only let out a small gasp, over both the motion and his words, “Do you mean that?” Your voice came out as a whisper as you turned to him. If you lifted yourself up on your tippy toes, your lips would align and that single thought made your cheeks burn.

A pair of lips were pressed against your own in a matter of seconds and your could only stand still. Jaehyun was kissing you, of course, he had kissed you plenty of times but nothing like this. There were always meaningless, nothing more than the agreement you had taken in order to save Johnny. Although now Johnny was the least person in your mind, all you could think about was Jaehyun. Your lips began to move against him and it felt as if they were made for one another. His lips were chapped and tasted of that peach lip balm he insisted on getting shipped all the way from Japan.

  “I don’t get it Jung, there’s plenty of lip balms in the grocery store why do you want this one?” You asked as you sat in front of him while he typed away in his office. Jaehyun was in his work clothes and was trying to eat his turkey sandwich you had made him while trying to type on his desktop.

“It smells nice like vanilla and peaches, leave me alone, I like that kind but they only sell it in Japan,” he said as he swallowed his food and reached for the empty balm container from your hand. “I got it last time I was there on business with my father, we got there just in time to see the cherry blooms it was a really such beautiful sight,”

Jaehyun looked at the balm and then at you, there was a faint red color in his ears. You had manage to figure out that came from when he felt shy or embarrassed around you. A soft smile creeped over your lips and you leaned into further in, your elbows resting on the desk with your face in your hands, “I’ve never been to Japan.”

“I guess I gotta take you there next, huh?”

  The memory floated in your mind as you pulled away from the kiss, your hands gripping on to the front of his shirt. His hands weighted softly on your hips as your eyes nervously met his, the height difference was seriously making you feel a lot smaller than you knew you were. Jaehyun’s hands moved from your hips to hold you closely with his hands to your back, it was a soft gesture but it felt intimate for some reason. Mentally you weighed the pros and cons of your current situation, but soon enough you threw everything out of the window and leaned up to press your lips back against Jaehyun’s. You felt him smile as your lips moved against his, there was a tingle of excitement fluttering through your bloodstream and all you could think was of the man in front of you.

Jaehyun moved his hands slowly back down until they reached the middle of your thighs, softly squeezing them telling you to jump. The flutter in your stomach was something you never felt before and all you could do was follow instructions, moving your legs around his waist as he carried you towards the bed. There was kisses pressed to your lips, your jaw and neck but all you could feel was the beat of your heart that rang through your ears. You knew there was no way Jaehyun hadn’t heard it yet. His hands held you firmly while yours cupped his face as you turned him to look at you. Now that he was fully himself in front of you it took you a moment to breath in all of his features. His cheeks that had slimmed down a bit since you saw him but were still round and you knew behind they hid his precious dimples. That gorgeous smile that seemed to blind you everytime he would grin at your sarcasm, his laugh whenever you spilled too much of Mark’s stupid ideas to him. His eyes had small lines of where they would crease when he would smile too hard and you thought it was beautiful.

“You have no idea how much I dreamed of this,” you felt Jaehyun whisper against your skin, making your lips break out into a goofy grin. As Jaehyun set you down and your hands reached over to grab him by his shirt, pulling back from you only to take it off. The sight of the shirtless man in front of you could only make a blush cover your cheeks.

There was a soft smile that lingered over Jaehyun’s lips when he leaned down to press a gentle kiss over your lips. “How much then?” you asked as your hands moved down his chest until they reached his hips.

“So much I thought I’d burst when I first kissed you on our second fake date,” he let out a small chuckle as he glanced back at you, his ears were a soft red color that looked almost pink. Bringing your hand up and pushing his hair off his face you could only grin at his confession, who would have thought Jung Jaehyun was such a softie?

It was the middle of the day when your phone buzzed letting you know you had gotten a new message. Bringing your hands up to your eyes and rubbing out the eyes you tried to focus on your surroundings. The light shining through your windows said that it was no longer morning, more like midday and you could only sigh. Sitting up you reached over for your phone and looked at the message on your screen.

  [1.27 pm] Jung Jaehyun: I’m picking you up on ten, be ready.

  Groaning you made your way out of bed and into the shower, letting the water wake you up. While you washed your hair you heard a couple of voices coming from outside the bathroom, “Dude, I’m telling you, she just woke up,”

“Well, she’s not asleep. Y/N, if you’re hiding just so you can skip on the date I’ll tell that giant you call friend!” you heard Jaehyun’s muffled voice and you could only sigh as you made your way out of the shower. Wrapping the white fluffy towel around your wet body, you slowly walked back into your bedroom to find Mark trying to pull Jaehyun out of your bedroom.

“There’s no need to Jaehyun,” you said walking past both boys and towards your closet, pulling out a new outfit, “Now, if you don’t mind I need to get dressed. At those words, Mark tugged Jaehyun away letting you to get dressed alone.

Jaehyun held your hand as the both of you walked down the park, his hand was soft and his thumb would brush against your knuckles every other step. The weather nice in contrast of the other days, the sun was shining down on your skin and you could only be grateful you applied sunscreen before leaving your apartment. There was families with their children playing on the playground, ladies jogging past you with their dogs on leashes, even some elderly people sitting on benches enjoying the day.

“I contacted some photographers so they can get some pictures of us being cute on this date,” Jaehyun said as he pulled you towards the edge of the lake. There was a few ducks swimming on the edge with little ducklings trying to follow after them. “If we stay here they’d get good pictures,”

You could only nod along to his comment as he moved a hand around you, his hand lingering on your lower back. It was such a gentle touch you could only relax back into hist ouch as you leaned closer in the man beside you. Pulling out a small bag of birdseed from his pocket, Jaehyun handed you the bag as you threw it carefully towards the ducks who just moved in closer to the both you. A smile spread over your lips and you turned towards Jaehyun who was already looking at you with a fond look in his eyes that only made you blush. Before you could turn away to hide the color in your cheeks, Jaehyun’s hand found its way to your cheek holding you in place as his lips met yours.

For a brief second you closed your eyes and enjoyed the kiss, the way Jaehyun’s lips tasted of the coffee he had sipped at your apartment, the way his lips were still chapped from biting them too much. As you pulled back you made a mental note to tease him about his chapped lips which only made you smile and turn back to the ducks.

  Looking back at the man above you, there was only one thought that kept running through your mind. Jaehyun. On the other hand you should be thinking about how his hands were under your shirt, his fingertips rough and slightly cold against your skin which only made goosebumps run along your thighs. “May I?” Jaehyun whispered as he pushed the shirt up to reveal your grey cotton panties. At the moment you mentally smacked yourself, you were looking like a model less than 5 hours ago yet here you are in the most boring panties in front of the guy who you were about to have sex with. “Stop over thinking it, I can hear the gears moving inside your head. We can stop and cuddle if you’d like,”

“No, that’s not it,” you groaned and pulled your shirt off to reveal your naked torso for him, blushing slightly and bringing your hands to cover your chest slightly. “I just picked the most boring panties for this occasion,”

A soft laugh could be heard from Jaehyun’s lips as he leaned down to press a kiss to your shoulder, “Well, I think they’re perfect regardless.” There was a reassuring smile on his lips as he leaned up to look as you before taking your hands into his, the soft breeze of the moment made your nipples harden which only made Jaehyun swallow. His eyes were no longer the soft brown they always were, they were now a richer dark brown that almost looked black that kind of intimidated you.

  Before you could do anything Jaehyun’s lips were on the skin between your breasts, pressing gentle kisses down the middle of your torso towards the edge of your panties. They left a trail of wet kisses as they made their way back up towards your breasts. His lips pressed against one of your nipples while his hand was brought up to the other, gently pinching your nipple at the same time his lips latched onto the other. The swirl of his tongue only made you want to clench your thighs together although he was in the way of you being able to do that. There was a feeling of heat throughout your body as if your skin was on fire as Jaehyun’s lips danced along your skin. By the end of the night you were a mess of moans and whimpers, there was small bruises scattering your skin. Some were across your chest while others were at such intimate spots you couldn’t even see unless you were bared to the world, not that it would happen in general but it was nice to point out. With your head resting on Jaehyun’s chest while his fingers moved through your hair, taking out any knots that might have formed from the previous activities, you slowly drifted to sleep. Your mind only thinking over the man who was with you and not caring about the rest of the world.

[nicostolemybones]

Ghostly Gods (1)

(Reposted from my old account because I don't post there now and I'm gonna continue this fic. Will all be in the tag #ghostly gods)

It was a strange occasion- two gods were expected to arrive at Camp Half Blood to help manage it, although they sounded like polar opposites so nobody was particularly looking forwards to the occasion. Plus gods were usually jerks. Chiron hadn’t told them much about the gods, other than the fact that he was proud to have mentored them once and the fact that one was a child of Apollo and one was a child of Hades. Everybody was gathered by Half Blood Hill, dressed in their orange tshirts but still attempting to appear smartly and neatly. The god of sunshine, comfort, and recovery was going to be the first to arrive- followed by the god of shadows, mourning and acceptance. Chiron had managed to settle the nervous demigods- although they still talked amongst themselves and speculated. 

They found it strange that the ghost that haunted the Hades cabin wasn’t there- or at least, who they thought was a ghost. A young boy who would sometimes appear in the darkest shadows whenever young demigods went exploring in there. Sometimes they’d spot the boy standing near the campfire, talking to Hestia, or in the infirmary when a patient would pass.

In fact, two boys usually appeared when a patient passed. The first boy seemed to glow and radiate care, and he’d always sit besides the dying patient and hold their hand, gently singing soothing lullabies. Then the ghost boy would appear from the shadows and pray to Hades for their safe passage through the Underworld, and he’d sit with the mourning campers. The glowing boy seemed just as ghostly as the first, but in a different way. Whilst the black haired boy would fade into the shadows, the blond boy would fade into the light. Sometimes he’d be seen coaxing the other ghost boy out of the shadows, following him and leaving sunflowers by the door to the Hades cabin. Neither boy was there today, and the camp had to admit that they were slightly disheartened by their absence. 

The camp soon fell silent as a chariot became visible- it was hard to miss, white adorned in intricate gold mandalas shaped into suns. Two pegasi pulled the chariot- pure white with golden manes and tails, a warm yellow glow around both. The chariot passed through camp boarders and slowly came to a stop by the old pine tree- it had always been called Thalia’s tree- they’d only learned today from the Huntress herself why. The campers awaited nervously for the god to step out of the chariot- they assumed this must be the god of sunshine, comfort and recovery. They expected the god to be clad in white and gold, perhaps with wings and a halo. Instead, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties stepped out, promptly tripping up when his flip flop snagged on a rock. He quickly stood and brushed himself off, turning to face the demigods with a fond smile. He wore khaki shorts with a green scrub top underneath an open lime green flannel shirt and a yellow lab coat with a sunflower pin badge with neon orange flip flops. He had striking cobalt blue eyes, although on closer inspection they were a gradient, from royal blue to cobalt to cerulean to azure to sky blue on the innermost parts of the iris, ice blue flecks throughout. He had short golden blond hair, thick bouncy curls cascading down just past the top of his ears, highlights of gold that seemed too golden to be natural yet they were, the sunlight radiating from his soft curls. Pale skin tanned a healthy bronze hue, sunlight reflecting off his cheekbones as though he wore highlighter, which he didn’t. A constellation of light brown freckles dusted across his nose and cheekbones like you could play a melodic symphony from the patterns weaving across his cheeks. He looked like an older version of the blond ghost boy. 

“Hi,” he began, “I’m William Solace, god of sunshine, comfort and recovery, but you can just call me Will. I used to go here when I was a young demigod, I’m a son of Apollo. I was head medic for a while, I fought in both Titan wars and I was around back when Apollo was turned mortal for a while. You’ve probably seen me around camp, I come here a lot. Please, don’t be afraid to approach me, I’ll always try to find time for you, even if you just need a hug, I’m here. Anyway, I’ll introduce myself properly once the god of shadows, mourning and acceptance arrives and we’re around the campfire.” 

So, the god- Will- was the blond ghost boy they’d seen around camp. He radiated comfort- Solace was a fitting name for him, it seemed. Even now, stood before them as a god, he dressed so casually- some may argue badly- that he seemed approachable. Something about his serene and relaxed posture and his warm smile made you want to hug him, because he looked like he could heal your soul with a hug and a few kind words. He seemed to glow, like sunshine radiated off him.

It wasn’t long before the warmth seemed to fade- the ground frosted and withered from afar, creeping closer in darkened shadows as a fissure ripped open- they would have screamed and ran if it wasn’t for the calm radiating from the blond god. Large bones began to emerge from the fissure, rolling over each other until they began to form skeletal hellhounds, tendrils of darkness swirling and wrapping around each other to form a chariot of shadows and bones. The camp waited in fearful anticipation until eventually the shadows began to form a vaguely human shape, slowly forming a more solid figure as they moved to stand beside Will. The shadows snaked away in tendrils, slithering back to the chariot to reveal the god of shadows, mourning and acceptance. He wore a long black leather trenchcoat, thick silver chains forming a trellis on the back, pulling it to fit snugly around the god’s waist. It reached to mid calf, but the collar was a thick brown fleece, like an aviator’s jacket. He wore a black tshirt, a fractured skull pierced by a dagger with blood dripping, a ghastly blue snake wrapped around it and peering from the eye socket, mouth open and dripping venom ready to strike, blue roses completing the tattoo-style design. The god wore black ripped jeans, plaid with red, purple and green. His boots were chunky leather, up to mid calf and laced loosely, the laces passing through the soles, purple leather flames at the toes and heels, inch thick soles with metal plates, and buckles partway up with a new rock metal logo on the tongues. A gold metal chain with skulls forged into the metal was threaded through his belt loops, from which a stygian iron sword hung, glowing a faint but ominous purple. The god’s eyes were dark brown, like brown glass, but they seemed to be woven with flecks of gold and red and green, only visible in sunshine. His hair was ebony, thick waves falling past his jaw and a fluffy fringe partially covering his eyes. He wore a silver skull ring, on his left hand on the middle finger, although a purple gemstone, most likely amethyst, formed the top of the skull. He was deathly pale, a slight olive undertone just about the only sign that he wasn’t a ghost.

“Nico di Angelo,” the god introduced, curtseying out of politeness, offering a rather unsettling lopsided smile, “the Ghost King, son of Hades and god of shadows, mourning and acceptance. I'll be joining Mr Solace as a camp director, although you have most likely seen me around camp near Cabin 13." 

So this god was the other ghost boy. It seemed strange- the other ghost boy was so much more youthful, emo at most, more mysterious than completely terrifying like the god stood before them. This god radiated death, literally- the grass died under his feet, but he had a sombre aura about him, like he was mourning. The shadows and the mourning made sense, although a few demigods were sure this god was more intimidating than Hades himself. It only occurred to them why he was the god of acceptance when he moved to hook his thumb in his jeans' pocket, exposing a rainbow bandana at his hip where his sword hung, and a small heart rainbow pride pin on his tshirt. 

Nobody spoke or dared to move, sure that the two opposing gods would spend their time at camp arguing heatedly. It wasn't until Will produced a sunflower from his pocket and handed it to Nico that people remembered how the two gods interacted in the form of the ghost boys. Nico brought the flower up and inhaled the scent, a light pink tint spreading across his cheeks as he closed his eyes for a second, smiling as he tucked the flower into one of his pockets, next to a silver exposed clockwork pocket watch. Will beamed, reaching out to take Nico's hand- and that's when everybody noticed the marital bands on their hands, identical black Celtic knots, a single round cut diamond in the centre. Except the diamonds were both a yellow half and a white half- it was clear that there had originally been two diamonds, one yellow for Will and one white for Nico, cut rounded then split in half so that both men had a single stone set in the middle of their rings- half yellow and half white. The two gods were married. 

The camp couldn't wait to learn all about the gods' lives, to get to know the couple, hear how they fell in love and why they became gods. It was turning out to be the start of something amazing for Camp Half Blood.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

@thecorteztwins Based on our conversation about Fabian actually helping, then demanding credit.  Taking place in your alt-Marauders.  Feel free to ignore this completely if it contradicts something you were planning to write.

“I’m saying, it’s an outrage!” Fabian Cortez paced back and forth along the beach, hands waving in air dramatically.  Both the track dug deep into the sand, and the expressions on the faces of his unlucky audience indicated he’d been ranting in this fashion for some time.

“Yes, yes, you’ve been very clear about that,” said Sebastian Shaw dryly.  “Why don’t you go make yourself a fancy medal if it’s so important to you?  Or buy one in some curio shop?”  The slowly-healing burns on the Black King’s face and bandages around his chest and shoulder indicated that his weariness was not entirely caused by Fabian’s performance – but Fabian was contributing quite a bit.

“It’s not about me!” Fabian exclaimed, in what was quite possibly the most blatant and obvious lie in all of recorded history.  “It’s about respect!  I – mean, we taxed our powers to the limits, pushing ourselves to the very brink of death!  It’s a miracle that we all survived – and the Council cannot even afford me – I mean, us the slightest hint of recognition for our service?”

“I got recognition!” Shinobi beamed. “Jumbo Carnation designed this just for me.”  He twirled around, showing off the black fabric.  It could, with some imagination, be called a suit, in the same way that artfully arranged dental floss might possibly be called a string bikini.  The huge gaps in what was basically loosely connected strips of cloth showed off a whole landscape of skin.  Shinobi may as well have been wearing a net.

“I didn’t realize Jumbo Carnation held such hostility towards you, son.  I expect your revenge will be, if not subtle, at least swift and cruel.” Sebastian was praying that certain strips would not shift too far to the right or left.  

“Maddie thinks I look amazing,” Shinobi folded his arms in a ridiculously attractive pout.

“Yes, he does,” Maddie chimed in, staring Sebastian down, hands on her hips.  “I think he should wear it all the time.”

“Do you really want to do this, Madelyne?”

“You’re all missing the point!” Fabian broke in.  The group’s attention had wavered from him for almost a minute, and that was unacceptable.  “I’m not talking about gifts and praise from our fellow mutants, which we of course deserve. I’m talking about official recognition from the Council that supposedly runs this island! Some acknowledgement of our incredible courage and accomplishment!  A medal is the very least they could do!”

“Crikey, will someone please shut him up?  That voice is like hammers on my skull,” Pyro groaned, propped up on a beach chair with one hand holding a wet cloth over his eyes.  Between focusing his flame into a blue-white stream to melt through the creature’s outer carapace, and then extinguishing the massive fires raging across Krakoa in the battles wake, he was nursing an intense migraine.  

“Perhaps you should go lay down in a dark room if you feel so poorly, Mr. Allerdyce,” said Sebastian, with absolutely no compassion or concern.

“Fuck off, Shaw.  I ain’t missin’ the celebration for anything.  Mind yer business.”  Fumbling blind, Pyro picked up the beer nestled in the sand next to him, and took a long pull.  

“You really should rest, though,” Haven put in, her tone the exact opposite of Sebastian’s.  “You did amazing things today.  I know it took a lot out of you.”

“Awww, thanks luv.  Couldna done it without your help.”  Her gentle hands on his shoulders, her cool voice in his ear – it had created a pocket of calm in his chest that spread out to shrink the wildfires down to nothing.

“No, I didn’t really do anything at all,” Haven demurred.

“Yes, exactly!” Fabian chimed in. “She didn’t do anything!  None of them did.  That’s what I’ve been saying!  I’m the one who charged all of your powers beyond your natural limits!”

“Thank you, Fabian,” said Haven, and only an experienced ear would hear the exasperation hiding under her usual gentleness.  “You were extremely…” she paused for a moment, then decided the next word would not technically be a lie.  “…brave. I know you were instrumental in our victory.”  Cortez had, after all, dashed into the fray to charge up the mutants in direct conflict with the creature.  And then just as quickly dashed back out again.

“Yeah, he did a great job not fighting at all,” Pyro grumbled.  Haven laid a hand on his arm.  There was no implied order or chastisement, but Pyro sighed deeply all the same.  

“Thank you for your help, Fabian,” he forced out through gritted teeth.  

“Thank you, my dear lady,” Fabian beamed, completely ignoring Pyro.  He took and kissed Haven’s hand, suddenly a model of charm and chivalry.  “Risking my life, fighting to my last breath, it’s all worth it for the appreciation of someone as beautiful and wise as yourself. If only you were not, sadly, a human, you would be an ideal candidate for the harem that the Council will no doubt assign me to further the mutant race.  Once they come to their senses and realize the true significance of my accomplishments today.”

“Our accomplishments,” Madelyne corrected, rubbing her temples.  After protecting the entire island from the telepathic backlash of the creature’s death throes (which would have killed most people in range and left the survivors irreparably insane), she was dealing with quite the headache herself.  She remembered how Haven had held her hand in the moment, providing an anchor against the tidal wave of psychic energy that had threatened to sweep Madelyne away.

“And enough of this nonsense about a harem,” Sebastian scoffed.  “The Council has not resorted to assigning partners and forced unions.  And even if they did, you would be the last one chosen to pass on your genes.  Some of us have real power.  Some of us have already proven our ability to create powerful offspring, even if their character leaves much to be desired.”

“So you acknowledge that I’m powerful, Father?”  Shinobi asked, more sharp than hopeful.  “I did strike the killing blow.  I believe you were unconscious at the beach at that time.”

“I acknowledge your basic competence,” Sebastian conceded reluctantly.  “You did what the situation required.”  

“By which you mean phasing an entire ocean liner through the monster’s body,” Shinobi pressed.  “I doubt Pryde could have pulled that off.”  Kitty Pryde had, of course, once phased a massive bullet through the entire Earth, but Shinobi considered that irrelevant to the conversation at hand.

“It was very impressive!”  Haven assured him.  “I only wish we could have communicated with the creature and found a peaceful resolution….but you did what needed to be done.”  It had taken the combined efforts of Storm, Iceman, Meggan and every other mutant with weather or water-control abilities, plus telekinetics putting up a force shield to keep the island from being swamped by tsunami as the creature thrashed and died.  Even Aqueduct, a human visiting his former team-mate Sunstreak on Krakoa, had stepped up to help, despite his past as a terrorist and criminal.  The one silver lining of the day’s horrors had been how so many people had come together, selflessly working to protect the island. Even Fabian Cortez.

“And of course, that impressive feat would have been impossible without me, charging you up, pouring my own life energy into you.  I could have died.”

“If only,” Maddie muttered.

“I believe I’ve already thanked you for your contribution,” Shinobi drawled.  (He had not).  “But I’ll send you a card if it’s so important.”

“I think that would be the very least you could,” Fabian sniffed.  “Although I’d expect better from someone with such wealth and connections.”  

“You know, I think Cortez has a point,” Pyro began.  “There is someone that we need to thank for helping us today.  Someone who’s been overlooked – “

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Fabian interrupted, nodding sagely.  

“Not you, ya plonk.  Haven.”  Pyro pointed in completely the wrong direction.

“I’m over here, St. John,” said Haven softly.  “And there’s no need for-“  Whatever she said next was drowned out by Fabian’s strangled cry of outrage.

“I couldn’t have put out those fires without your support.  I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but you helped me get there,” Pyro said.

“And you kept me grounded while I was dealing with the psychic wave.  Thank you for that,” Madelyne added.

“You’re the one who organized the evacuation of that ocean liner,” Shinobi offered.  “I mean, I would have still used it, but it might have broken that pesky little ‘kill no man,’ law.  Thanks for the support, Haven.”  He raised his glass in her direction.

“Normally, I would not indulge in this kind of sentimental nonsense,” Sebastian said.  “But you did pull me and Miss Renko from the water after the creature knocked us out.  Drowning would have been rather inconvenient.  I’m a man who acknowledges my debts, and I thank you.”  Claudine had gotten the worst of it, and was still unconscious in the infirmary, but Elixir assured them that she would make a full recovery.

“My goodness.  You’re all so kind, there’s really no need for this,” Haven exclaimed, her hands on her cheeks as a dark blush spread over them.

“Yes, there is.  You spent the entire battle in the line of fire, helping wherever you could.  Even with no powers, you were there by our sides.  That deserves acknowledgement,” Madelyne insisted.  She could understand the feeling.  Standing powerless beside comrades (and against enemies) that could knock down buildings, feeling like a useless fool, but charging in all the same. Doing whatever you could, because that was everyone’s duty, wasn’t it?  To do what you can.  She’d been so innocent back then, and the memory tugged at her with a sweet sadness.

“Thank you,” Haven whispered, as the group all raised glasses (or bottles) to toast her.  “You’re the ones who saved the day, I just….helped where I could.  I was proud to support you, and I’m sure Mr. Cortez feels the same way…”  She stretched out her hand, ready to share the moment with him.

But Fabian had already stalked off angrily down the beach.      

Notes: Sorry for leaving Claudine out, I’m unsure of how to write her and couldn’t fit her into the scene.  I don’t know if Sunstreak is actually a mutant, but I wanted an excuse for an Aqueduct cameo.  I have no idea what they were fighting – some kind of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, minus the racism.  Maybe it was just a giant fire-breathing crab.  

[littlemonstersau-blog]

Meet The Parents

Written by @jkl-fff, illustrated by me

————————————————————————————————

Bill, meticulously arranging props in front of laptop: … Okay, that looks enough like organization getting unintentionally messy … [puts cotton balls in cheeks to make them rounder, straightens tie, puts on stolen glasses, picks up pen] And now, to wait for the skyelp to come through! [bends over “homework” as if dutifully studying … holds exact pose for over 5 minutes while quivering with excitement]

*laptop chimes as skyelp comes online*

Dipper, excitedly: Will? You there? I’m here with Mom and— [registers costume (especially new additions of sweater vest, tie, and glasses) and gasps]

Bill, beaming and voice-cracking: Dippy!

Dipper, breathlessly happy: … h-hey there …

Ms. Pines, squealing softly to her husband: My gosh, he’s so cute!

Mr. Pines, just as softly and trying not to laugh: He looks like a tiny, Irish accountant. Like he’s balancing the ledgers for the Leprechaun King.

Ms. Pines: I know! I just wanna pat his chubby, little cheeks and put a pencil behind his ear!

Dipper, blushing: M-Mom! Dad! Don’t embarrass me with B-Will! [clearing throat] Um, Will. This is m-my Mom and Dad.

Bill, dripping with wholesome enthusiasm: Pleased to meecha, Ms. and Mr. Pines! I’m William Corduroy, but you can call me Will. Or even (ugh) Willy, if you like.

Ms. Pines: Well, Willy, it is sooo nice to finally meet you!

Mr. Pines, sternly: What are your intentions with my son? [gets smacked by wife while son groans] What? C’mon, I had to ask it at least once. I’m a dad!

Bill: My intentions? [flashes through everything he’s imagined doing with Dipper since the twins had to go home … it’s pretty wild; blushes; starts to sweat] hhh … HOLD HANDS! MAYBE KISS FACE! CH-CHERISH! [gestures helplessly at Dipper] I mean, look at him! What else could anyone intend with him?!

Ms. Pines and Dipper: D’awww!

Mr. Pines, still sternly: You tell me. What else do you intend?

Dipper, burying face in hands: Oh, Moses, Dad …

Ms. Pines: Dear, stop, you’re making the poor boys nervous. And teenage boys already sweat enough as it is. Just look at Dipper.

Dipper: Mom!

Ms. Pines, insistently: We can have a talk about … safety and responsibility later. [Bill and Dipper exchange a horrified look] Right now, we’re here to get to know Dipper’s little boyfriend. So stop acting out clichés for 5 minutes, please. Now, Willy … um … How’s your day been? What’ve you been up to?

Bill, relaxing visibly as things go back on script: Oh, y’know. Same old, same old. School. Now I’m just here at the library, gettin’ my homework done for the weekend. [gestures at prop “homework” like a good student] Sorry I couldn’t do this at home where you could meet my dad, but we don’t have a computer. If you can believe that. It’s also why I’m still wearin’ these school clothes.

Dipper, confused: School clothes? Gravity Falls schools don’t require uniforms. They’re public.

Bill: Oh, well … Today was … special.

Dipper: Did you … dress up just to impress my parents?

Bill, a little defensively: Golly, I just wanted to make a good first impression! So your folks’ll, y’know … like me. And let us keep being together.

Ms. Pines, charmed: Oh, don’t worry, Willy. It worked; I think you look absolutely darling!

Bill: Gee, thanks! I can see where Dippy gets his sweet personality!

Ms. Pines: Oh, you!

Mr. Pines, rolling eyes: Okay, honey, dial back the falling for cheesy compliments. Anyway, Will, what do you like to study?

Bill: Oh, I really like math. Especially … trigonometry.

Dipper, snorting: Pff! Seriously? Oh, um, inside joke.

Bill: Perpendicular.

Dipper: Hahaha! C’mon, man, be serious!

Bill: Let’s see … I also like psychology. Dream analysis is fun, ‘cause then I getta tell people that, like, I’m the boy of their dreams … analysis! At least, I getta tell Dipper that.

Mr. Pines, snorting: Okay, I’ll give you points for that one, kid. Dad Joke level of corniness. 6.5/10.

Bill, grinning: Gee, thanks!

Mr. Pines: You getting good grades in math and psychology?

Bill, playing at modesty: Oh, golly, sir. I don’t wanna brag … But it is easier to work hard when it’s fun, y’know? Unlike the way they do history classes here.

Mr. Pines: Boring teachers?

Bill: Yeah. Plus, they’re complete schills for the conservative military-industrial complex. It’s bad propaganda done borin’ly.

Mr. Pines, perking up: What makes you say that?

Bill: Oh, the usual. The don’t even teach that Ben Franklin was secretly Gwen Franklin, that JFK was killed by mobsters from the future to keep him from becomin’ a robo-dictator, and that Ronald Reagan was a mind-controlled puppet put in power by a conspiracy of billionaires to keep colonizin’ other countries for their resources and essentially slave labor.

Mr. Pines: Ugh! Tell me about it! And it’s all because they want to keep the populace uninformed and easy to pacify.

Bill, defiantly: But it’s not gonna work on me! Or Dippy! We do our own historical research and stick it to the man!

Mr. Pines: Boo-yeah! Tear down corporate capitalism! [turns to wife] Okay, I like this kid.

Bill: I can see where Dipper gets his keen judgment of character. Along with his striking good looks.

Mr. Pines: Oh, go on!

*Dipper gives bill a secret thumbs-up*

Ms. Pines, smirking: Okay, now who has to dial back the falling for cheesy compliments? [turns back to Bill] So, math and psychology and rebellious history study … Given any thought to what you’d like to do with those when you grow up?

Bill, feigning thoughtfulness: I … think … I’d … like to make video games. Coding and design and such. But ones that make players think and be creative.

Ms. Pines, impressed: Really? Has Dipper told you that’s the kind of work I do?

Bill: What? No! Gosh, Dippy, why’d you never tell me! That’s just swell, ma’am! What kind?

Ms. Pines: Indie games, so there’s a lot of side-scrolling and retro RPG elements—very basic gaming elements— but sooo much more heart. And, like, artistic integrity. The kinda stuff that really touches people.

Bill, starry-eyed: That’s the kinda stuff I wanna make!

Ms. Pines: It’s not easy … but it’s worth it. So, how’d you and Dipper meet? When’d you start dat—

Mr. Pines: Wait, sorry, hold up. Is that a freakin’ skull? [points at shelf]

Bill, genuinely surprised: What? [turns, has to take off glasses to actually see] Well, gosh, it looks like it is.

Dipper, mouthing silently: Why in the 79 hells would you even put that there?!

Bill, honestly: I’m honestly not sure why the library’d have that. I didn’t even notice it.

Mr. Pines: Might wanna get your prescription checked, kiddo.

Bill: They’re reading glasses, so …

Dipper, mouthing silently: Where’d you even … ARE THOSE GRUNCLE FORD’S?!

———

[Meanwhile, back at the Shack, Ford, stumbling around all squint-eyed: Ah, Stan, there you are! Have you seen my glasses?

Sascrotch, standing mutely like a taxidermied figure: …

Ford: It’s the darndest thing. I’d swear I set them on the end table when I laid down to take a nap, but couldn’t find them when I woke up. Of course, I’m not having much luck finding my glasses without my glasses.

Sascrotch: …

Ford: What? Oh, am I still getting the silent treatment for saying you’re too old to have hair that long?

Sascrotch: …

Ford, indignantly turning away: Fine, who needs you anyway? I’d find them without your hel—

Ford, tripping: AAA!

Ford, lying flat on his face: … I’m alright!]

———-

Bill, continuing as if to the Dad, but actually to Dipper: It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. [goes and puts a book in front of the skull] There! Problem solved!

Mr. Pines: Yeah, that’s much bet … Is that The Necronomicon?!

Bill, genuinely surprised again: … Huh. Looks like it is. [picks it up, pages through it … shakes head] Nah, it’s just The Nockoffronomicon. You can tell ‘cause it doesn’t mention Shaggy or even Bob. And instead of Cthulhu, it’s dedicated to Cthhula. [puts different book in front of skull] The best dancer among the Elder Gods, am I right?

Mr. Pines: Heh … 7/10 for that one.

Bill: Gee, thanks! Anyway, um … D’you mind if I tell ‘em, Dippy? You’re sure it’s okay? [pretending to get bashful] So, um … Dippy used to have a crush on my big sis, Wendy. And ‘cause she works at the Shack, they’d be, like, hanging out together a lot. He even came over to the house a few times. And, um, naturally I had a crush on him from the get go, ‘cause just look at him! Who wouldn’t?

Dipper, blushing: Ah, jeez …

Ms. Pines: D’awww!

Mr. Pines, grudgingly: D’awww …

Bill, making himself grin and blush wholesomely: So I started coming along to hang out. Then, before I knew it, it was just us hanging out alone together. And we were exploring the woods one day when we found some wild mistletoe—golly, I told him, “That’s wild mistletoe. That’s what it looks like in the wild.” and then he said … No, he stepped under it first, then he said, “Guess we gotta kiss now.”—and so we kissed.

Mr. Pines, slapping his son on the back: You sly, little dog!

Bill: And I was like, “Gee, that was swell!” Can you believe it?! Real lame-o line to follow a first kiss, right? And he was like, “We could do it again, if you want.” And I said, “But, gosh, we’re not even dating! Everyone’ll think I’m a boy-floozy!”

Ms. Pines: HA! Oh, that’s precious!

Bill, giggling: Y-yes, ma’am! It was! And then Dippy, he said, “Well, be my boyfriend. We’ll start calling our hang-outs dates, and I’ll fight anyone who calls you a floozy.” It was soooo chivalrous!

Dipper, beet red and with his hands in his face: Stahp …

*a while later, after the parents have left*

Dipper, relieved: That … That went a lot better than expected. And they sure loved Willy Corduroy.

Bill, self-assuredly: Natch. I’m inescapably charming, no matter the alias. [pulls out cotton balls and tosses them in the trash] If you ever call me Willy, though, I will shank one of your stuffed animals. That was me takin’ one for the team. Which is us, by the way. The team is us.

Dipper: Heh! Yeah, I gathered that.

Bill: Still, I’m surprised they never asked about my eyes …

Dipper: Oh, I “warned” them in advance. Told them you had a medical condition, and that you were really sensitive about it.

Bill: Good thinking. You’re so smart. And handsome. And sexy.

Dipper, grinning: Stahp!

Bill, grinning back: Nope. Never. Because I love you.

Dipper: Hehehe! I love you, too … Willy!