#that was when i noticed the second thing which was the free delivery promotion

[fingertipsmp3]

Gotta love seeing a cute knitting pattern that is free for Valentine’s day only, being excited at the prospect of saving money, and then immediately spending almost £30 on materials to make the damn thing 🤦🏻‍♀️

[dexiao]

Unprofessional (m) | Mark Lee

Synopsis: Mark and Y/N work together on writing songs and it flows perfectly fine - until Mark realizes how attracted he feels. Also, Y/N  has a crazy thing about Mark’s thighs. 

Pairing: Mark Lee x reader

Words: ~1.9k

Genre: angst, smut, coworkers!au, idol!Mark, lyricist!reader

Warnings: slightly dom!Mark, slightly sub!reader, thigh riding, blowjob (male receiving), masturbation (female), spit kink, safe sex, one slap or two.

A/N: sooo after a whole month (I guess?) without being able to write, here it is. Most of this fic was inspired by this fancam. This is not proofread until this moment. Any feedback is welcome, hope you enjoy :)

This is a work of fiction. It does not portray the real personality of the member.

Working with your boyfriend was both a blessing and a curse.

As a lyricist, it was a dream coming true when Y/N signed her contract with SM Ent. She worked with NCT since the beginning, but mostly with Taeyong since Mark was focusing on promotions with NCT Dream.

When she finally got to know Mark, she was mesmerized by the dark haired man. It was great to work with him, the compositions flowed so well and he seemed to be just a great person in general – until he became weird.

Out of nothing, Mark became quiet and things were strange. It became difficult to work with him.

There was a day she had to stay until late night at the studio, waiting for an order to be delivered, since it was the deadline of the delivery time. Y/N was sitting reclined on her desk chair as Mark walked into the room, his face showing he didn’t expect Y/N to be there.

“Hey”

“Uhm, what’s up” he answered quietly.

Mark sat as far as he could from me, lowering his head to write on his notebook. After half an hour of pure and plain silence, Y/N was bothered enough.

“Is there anything going on?” she asked. Mark raised his head, confused.

“Sorry?”

“It used to be so great working with you” she began, turning her chair in Mark’s direction “but recently you became all quiet, I feel like I’m disturbing you when I talk to you. Did I do something?”

Mark sighed heavily.

“Aah, I’m sorry, Y/N. I really am.”

Mark seemed nervous, staring at his hands.

“See, I am terribly attracted to you. I only knew you through work and this is the only string that keeps us attached.”

He pondered a few seconds before continuing, looking at Y/N’s face.

“I know that we’re both professionals and that what I’m saying is completely unprofessional, but I thought I could handle it and just get over without bothering you or affecting our jobs” he took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be disrespectful, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Y/N’s heartbeat was uncontrolled and she felt her face heating while listening to Mark.

“You didn’t, Mark.” She got up, walking towards Mark, bending in front of him and holding his face between her hands.

For a while, Y/N gazed into Mark’s sparkling eyes, feeling as if the man could listen to her heart. When Y/N realized she was holding her breath, she closed her eyes and exhaled. Mark closed his eyes as well, slightly brushing his nose against Y/N’s.

Then, they kissed.

Y/N and Mark’s relationship was being kept a secret for a few months now.

From the way it all began and from what Y/N knew about Mark before, she couldn’t imagine how dominant and how much of a tease the man could be.

Similar thoughts roamed through Y/N’s mind as she gazed at Mark’s appetizing thighs, evidenced by the fabric of his black sweatpants, feeling herself salivate.

Y/N shook her head, trying to focus on the meeting. The final touches of NCT 127’s next release were on discussion, so it was the last time to express her opinions on the songs they had so far. Crossing her legs tightly, Y/N paid close attention to the debate between the half dozen people in the room, including her boyfriend, whom shoved her warm gazes and smirks from time to time.

By the end of the reunion, Y/N could feel the sweat on her back and her legs were tired from being so tensely flexed against one another. She was extremely horny and thanked the gods that it was the last appointment of the day, to she and Mark could head to her apartment.

On her car, Mark laughed on the passenger seat as Y/N attempted many times on inserting the ignition key until actually leaving the parking lot of the company.

“Is my baby nervous?” he said with a laugh, patting her right leg before squeezing it.

Y/N’s muscles immediately contracted at Mark’s touch and she shifted on the seat, feeling not only her face but also the spot where Mark landed his hand become hot and tingling.  

Taking advantage of the situation but still laughing, Mark spread his legs further on the passenger seat, massaging his thighs from his knees to near his crotch.

“I’m not nervous” she answered quietly.

“What did my baby say? I couldn’t hear it.”

She took a deep breath, stopping at a red traffic light.

“I said I’m not nervous, Mark” she repeated, side-gazing the man.

Mark reached her right hand with his left, bringing it to his lips and leaving a small kiss.

“Are you sure, Y/N?” he smiled, guiding her hand to his left thigh and rushing it over his sweatpants.

Y/N gulped, feeling trapped as Mark pressed her hand against is leg in a squeezing motion. The man threw his head back against the seat, releasing a low groan only to provoke. She moved her hand back to the steering wheel and faced the traffic as Mark stayed in the same position, his right hand massaging the back of his neck, moving down slowly through his torso to his crotch.

When the couple entered the apartment, Mark immediately took off his jacket, leaving it hanging on a chair.

“Baby, do you have sparkling water by any chance?” Mark asked as Y/N still worked on locking the door. Not bothering to take of her boots, Y/N moved to the fridge and looked for the bottle of sparkling water.

After grabbing the beverage, Y/N found Mark on her sofa, legs as spread as in the car. He patted his thighs, signaling Y/N to sit.

“Thank you, honey” he said, involving Y/N with his arms and kissing her shoulder before taking a sip of the water.

Mark leaned his back on the couch, making Y/N’s upper body rest against his chest.

After a moment of silence, Mark spoke.

“So, do you want to tell me why you’re all worked up?”

Y/N exhaled before raising her body to properly face her boyfriend, trying her best not to pout.

“I’m horny, baby. That meeting lasted so much and you were in this fucking thigh sweatpants right in front of me, God, Mark.”

Mark took another sip of his drink while Y/N repositioned in his lap, sitting on his left thigh but now facing him. Her skirt started rising due to the position she was in.

The man dropped the bottle on the floor and traveled his hands behind her thighs, up to her waist, squeezing the soft flesh beneath his fingers, one hand colder from holding the beverage.

“Give me a kiss then, baby” he demanded.

As Y/N leaned closer, his grip tightened around her waist, pressing her down on his thigh. Y/N had just released a short groan as their lips touched and Mark caressed her lower lip with his tongue.

The kiss became more intense and wet as their tongues danced, Y/N’s hands grabbing the hair near the nape of Mark’s neck and breathing heavily. Her core was now wetting Mark’s pants for sure, since he guided her hips back and forth on his thigh.

Mark broke the kiss, speaking out of breath.

“Stand up, baby, help me take these annoying clothes off.”

The wet sticky stain was pretty visible on Marks pants as Y/N stood and undid the knot at the waistband before pulling them down. At the same time, Mark removed his t-shirt, remaining only in his black boxers and sitting back in his place.

Y/N kneeled on the floor in front of Mark, leaving him confused. The woman began caressing his thighs, squeezing and biting the flesh of his toned legs. Mark whispered a ‘fuck’, placing his hands behind Y/N’s head.

After the torture she went through all day, Y/N became even more desperate when she was finally able to drool over and rub her face against those beautiful thighs. Mark seemed so powerful when manspreading with those thick thighs, Y/N just wanted him to dominate the hell out of her.

Noticing how needy she seemed, Mark himself took his erection out of his boxers, holding the base of his cock with one hand and pulling Y/N’s head closer with the other.

“Baby, you look so fucked out already, look at your face” Mark said, running his free hand through Y/N’s spit covered face. After giving Mark a pleading look, Y/N leaned and licked a stripe from Mark’s balls to the pink tip of his cock.

Mark hummed at the feeling of Y/N engulfing his member inside her mouth, bobbing her head up and down his length in a fast pace, hollowing her cheeks and moving her tongue to give Mark the best she could.

Simultaneously, she felt her pussy drooling just as much as her mouth did on Mark’s cock, so Y/N used one hand to pull her panties down, having a little of a hard time, but finally being able to touch herself after.

The minimal friction against her clit was enough to make Y/N moan around her boyfriend’s pulsating hard member. Thought she tried to keep quiet, Mark soon noticed what Y/N was doing and raised her face. She faced Mark still drooling and unable to stop touching herself, which was now obvious from her expression and the noises she made.

“Open” Mark commanded.

Y/N opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out. Mark grabbed her face by the jaw and stared at his dumb fucked out baby, drooling and whining, then he spat into her mouth, moving her to stand up again.

“Raise your blouse, I want to watch your tits while you take my cock” he said, grabbing a condom from the pocket in his wallet.

 After putting it on, Mark pulled Y/N back to his lap. The woman was unable to control a whiny moan as Mark entered her pussy, feeling herself automatically clench. Mark raised her skirt up to her waist and leaned onto her breasts, licking and sucking over the softest flesh he’d ever seen. When Y/N started moving up and down his cock, Mark leaned back again, giving her ass a slap and biting his lip.

“Ah, fuck, Y/N.”

Y/N wasn’t even tired when Mark impatiently started bucking his hip up against hers, holding her tight by her butt and guiding the moves. Both had already stopped trying to contain their moans, thought Mark released much lower and raspier sounds. Both their orgasms approached quickly with the fast pace of the thrusts.

“Mark, I’m gonna come” Y/N warned before she started trembling on Mark’s lap, the clenching making the man reach his apex as well, releasing his seed inside the condom, both gasping and moaning.

After a couple of minutes of silence in which Y/N laid against Mark’s chest in order to regain her breath, she grabbed the bottle of sparkling water, taking a sip and passing it to Mark.

“Tired already?” she asked, in a joking tone.

“Not even close, baby” Mark laughed. “After all, now we have to make the night worth the mess you made in my pants, don’t you think?”

[full-hd-sun]

Instagram algorithms

Pairing:

Johnny/Ten

Warnings and genres:

Romantic Fluff, Happy Ending, Strangers to Lovers, Idols, Attempt at Humor, Dancer Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten

Summary:

They say, "Never say never." In an instant - you don't even think about dancing and it's annoys you, but in another moment - you are ready to make a room with a pole in your future apartment, so that "he" dances only for you.

     - By today, the shooting of the video is over! Thank you all for the work done, everyone is free! - said the director, and the guys could finally exhale. The staff collected the decorations, and the guys went to the dressing rooms. They had ten minutes to change - a car was already waiting for them on the street to take them to the dorm.

Johnny was sorry to part with his clothes for filming, because he really loved the style that the stylists chose for him. When he went to the store himself, he could choose clothes like a bum-style type, which upset him. While Johnny was changing, he had the thought that now he would have to return to his empty dorm room, where no one was waiting for him, and the second part of the bed was cold and not warmed by anyone’s body.

He had a neighbor named Taeyong, but the next week he is going to move to his boyfriend Jaehyun’s, so they would leave him all alone in the room. Sometimes he was so jealous of them. Johnny also wanted to have someone who could lie on top, and he would bury his fingers in the hair of this “someone”, which are still a little damp after a shower, and would exchange soft kisses with him, talking about something of theirs, secret.

And so the group was standing by the car. While the guys getting into the car, Johnny tried to order food delivery, because he is exhausted. He take a seat next to Mark, and they started discussing the filming and remembered how Jaehyun blushed when they forced him to shoot a video with the tackle phrase “Jeogiyo nuna hokshi namjachingu isseoyo”. After hearing it, Yoonoh blushed again and hid behind Taeyong’s back, who responded by gently stroking his head.

While they had such conversations, they quickly got to dorm, and fled to their rooms, because everyone wanted to wash finally off the makeup that irritated the skin. Taeyong took the bathroom, and Johnny cheered himself up and go to Instagram, while waiting for a friend to free room. Since he is a great connoisseur of high-quality photos, he follows many photographers and on average he spent four hours a day on Instagram.

      - This is outstanding ... Taeyong, come here! Look what a gorgeous shot! I’m crazy about this photographer! - Johnny yelled while lifting his phone into the air.

      - You say that about every photographer you follow, - Tae replied trying not to move his facial muscles to keep the mask from slipping. - And if it’s an animal on the photo ... - he did not have time to finish the sentence, because Johnny poked him with his phone almost in the face.

      - Just look! What color correction, what kind of exposure, and how well the background is visible, which does not distract from the foreground. Everything is harmonious as hell! - Suh shakes his phone. - I won’t find content on Instagram better than animals or professional photography, - Johnny switched to the recommendations feed.

      - I wouldn’t be so sure. I also thought so before, but you know, Instagram recommendations can throw something interesting. I’ve found so many edits made by our fans. When I’m not in the mood, they amuse me, - replied Lee, removing the mask and smearing the remnants of it on his neck with thin fingers.

      - Well, yes, artificial intelligence does not stand still, but it will definitely not be cooler than well-taken photographs or animals. - said Johnny, accidentally clicking on the first post in the recommendations.

The video showed a guy was on his knees and pressed his buttocks to the pole. When the calm music began, he threw one hand on the pole, and the other temptingly ran over the body. Then he spread his knees to the sides, grabbed the pole with both hands and turned over in the air, as if this did not require special strength, standing on his right leg, and wrapping his left leg around the pole. All his movements were smooth and calm, like a surface of a sea on an early sunny morning. The video was short, but Johnny seems to have spent a lot more watching, and Taeyong pulled him out of the trance by snapping his fingers to his ear.

      - Hey, I told you here how the guys and I spent the weekend, and you didn’t even hummed. You seem to have seen a new photo there that fascinated you? - said Lee and tried to look at the elder’s phone, but last quickly blocked it.

      - No, I thought about the upcoming photo sessions. Again, so many things will have to be applied, the hair will be torment ... - Johnny tried to redirect topic in another side, because he knew that Lee was a fan of crying about transformations during each comeback and how he fed up with everything.

      - Oh yes, this is awfull. They will paint me in long-ass colour again and dress something on me, like in Fire Truck’s era ... - Taeyong complained.

_-_-_-_ -_-_-_-_ -_-_-_-_ -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ -_- _-_- _-_- _-_- _-_- _-_- _-_- _-_- 

Several weeks after that video, Johnny followed actively that dancer. His name was Ten, and it turned out that he danced not only on the pole but also hip-hop, traditional Chinese dances, and even ballet ... Of course, pole dancing received the most views and admired comments. Suh watched and commented on all Ten’s videos, were on all the lives and tried to memorize every guy’s emotion.

- So, we have everybody here broken down by parts, so while the rap-line is being recorded, the vocals can have some rest. You can go take a coffee, - said the record director and disappeared into the studio with Mark and Taeyong.

Jungwoo promised that he would stay at the studio and write to the American in case of anything, so Johnny went to the cafe downstairs for calm breakfast with meringues and coffee.

He felt like a teenager when he thought about how to get attention from this handsome guy dancer. At first Johnny thought about writing Ten in direct, but he probably already has a lot of fans, so Johnny’s message will just get lost among a bunch of others. Then he thought to invite Ten as a backing dancer to their video, but they already had enough people, and then Suh thought if he received such an offer, he would definitely block this person. Therefore, Johnny was waiting for an opportunity to drive up to the guy as invisibly as possible.

Suddenly, a notification came that Ten had a new post. Opening it, Johnny flew out of this world altogether: in the video, Ten, slightly sag in the back, leaning on the pole only with his shoulder blades, but what Suh paid all his attention to was that the dancer was on high heels. Rather rhythmic music played, but Ten hit the beat with every particle of his body, captivating the American’s mind. He arching as if his bones were made from gelatin. Ten playfully shot his eyes into the lens, and Johnny felt like these eyes were hitting into his heart. Eagerly absorbing every movement, repeating Ten’s emotions on his face. When the dance ended, Ten found himself in the same position as in the beginning.

Johnny really regretted that he didn’t smoke, otherwise he would have smoked a whole pack. So he took a cup of Americano brought by the server and drank it all in a few sips. Johnny just forgot how to breathe. Previously, he did not notice a special love for dancing, especially the pole, he just did not understand the meaning. And now he is ready to find out the address of the studio where Ten dances, and even if this is some god-choked club somewhere on the edge of the city - Johnny is ready to come there and watch the guy dances, and then come to the hostel and will fantasize, remembering his cunning, fox gaze and light movements. Although somewhere deep in his soul he wanted Ten to dance only for him. Johnny was even ready to give him a room in his future apartment where Ten would dance only for him.

From such thoughts the blood rushed to the right place, but Johnny had no time to go to relax - he saw a message from Jungwoo: he wrote that it was time for them to go recording. So he quickly finished eating the meringue and having paid, ran up the stairs.

-_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- -_- - -

The guys were exhausted: they had a promotion for the “Cherry Bomb” tour, and the last city they sang was Seoul. Before the concert there were three days off, the group divided into units: one unit slept all day, got up to eat in the evening, and went to bed again, and the second unit just played games all day, ate a lot and lay in bed, conducting live.

The time was approaching midnight, when Johnny tired of watching YouTube, so he remembered about Ten’s Instagram. When he opened the application, he immediately saw a post about Lulu, a cute short-legged cat, very popular on YouTube, who also had a “brother”. It was a short video of Lulu trying to steal a piece of cake from the hostess. This made Johnny uwu-face and flipped down the page, bumping into Ten’s post. It said that they were recruiting for a pole dancing group.

At first Johnny lit up with joy, as this is a great opportunity to roll up to the guy and pull him into his net. But he is an idol, the day after tomorrow is a concert, he needs to rest ... He weighed the pros and cons for a very long time and finally went to Taeyong, who probably did not sleep because he is working on the lyrics of a new song.

Johnny tapped his knuckles gently on the wooden door. After a couple of seconds, he heard Tae’s stomping outside the door and a tousled head appeared from there with glasses slipping to the tip of his nose.

- Oh Johnny, it’s you. Come in, just try as quietly as possible - Jae-na fall asleep, he was spinning for a long time and could not sleep, - Lee whispered, opening the door wider and letting in the guest.

Suh sat down on Taeyong’s bed and wondered how to tell properly his friend about the situation, and decided that it would be better to dump everything on a clean one.

- Taeyong, I just decided ... I want to go pole dancing. What do you think about it? Johnny asked, looking up hesitantly at Lee, who was intently crossing out individual lines of the song in his notebook. He was not even surprised at this question and just asked.

-And who is this lucky guy that you want to attract? - with a slight grin on his face.

Johnny at first did not understand what the guy was driving at, and told that he had read somewhere there that it is useful for physical fitness, like you won’t be a jerk, but your hands will be strong. And then he realized, so he ran his eyes around the room, trying not to show it.

- In what sense of “lucky-guy”? I just decided for myself. I saw one guy dancing ... - Suh started talking, but was interrupted by Lee, who finished the sentence in his place.

- And you conquered him with your skills, am I right? Taeyong finally raised his head and turned sideways to his friend.

Johnny’s face was full of emotion, but the first thing Taeyong saw was embarrassment. He hit the mark.

- But how did you guess? - the American rubbed the tips of his ears.

- Well, first - you were never very interested in dancing at rehearsals, I never saw yours much zeal to dancing. Second, - Tae bent his second finger, turning his back to Johnny and recording something, - everyone has noticed for a long time that you spend a lot of time on the phone watching videos of some dancer on repeat. And our Doyoung, like a bloodhound dog, found him in your subscriptions and we also watched all of his videos. You have a good taste for guys, Johnny-hyung, - said Taeyong mockingly, making the elder blush even more and stare at the floor, - Well, third, even though you wear oversized clothes, yours “daddy” is all it is equally visible and he gives you up with giblets.

Johnny reflexively grabbed onto the aforementioned spot, covering it up, making Taeyong burst out laughing.

- But how did you all know? Johnny asked to deflect the subject from such an awkward moment.

- Well at least that you look hilarious when you watch him dancing and try to copy his facial expressions. And also, when you were dancing in the training hall with headphones on, I could admire how you tried to sit on the splits and your pants were torn right in the middle. - Lee could no longer restrain himself and burst into soundless laughter.

Johnny would fall through the floor if he found out that this shame was seen by someone else, but he can trust Lee, so they laughed, but not loudly, as Yoonoh tossed and turn in his sleep and Taeyong left to calm him down and sang him a song.

Johnny continued to sit on the edge of the bed, face propped in his hands, and watched about the couple. They were insanely cute: Jaehyun would often massage Taeyong’s back and legs on set because the latter was training too hard and was exhausted, and Yoonoh also brought food for Lee because Taeyong usually forgot to eat during day and then ate so much before going to bed and half of the night turning from side to side. Taeyong always asked everyone to be quiet in the car when Jaehyun fell asleep on his shoulder or lap; they were at the gunpoint of the cameras and behaved cautiously, no one could say that they were meeting, but the tenderness that they gave to each other was in the air and encouraged others to meet the soul mate, for whom they would want to move mountains. If they fought, then at most they could not talk for half an hour, one of them always came to another and childishly held out his little finger with the words “Make friends, make friends, Never, never break friends, if you do - You’ll catch the flu, And that will be the end of you”, and in the morning Mark and Donghyuck, who live next door, complained of banging on the wall and low sighs.

Johnny took a deep breath because he wasn’t sure guys like Ten needed a relationship. He seems to be married to the gym and pole. Meanwhile, Lee calmed Jung down and returned to the chair. Johnny looked up and asked hesitantly.

      - Well, since you already know everything about this, then ... Should I try?

Taeyong was silent for a minute, and then he spoke.

      - I think yes. It will be very difficult for you, but I am confident in you like in no one else.

      - To be honest, I’m terrified. I’ll be like a cow on ice ...

      - Love overpowers fear, - Taeyong whispered mysteriously and returned to his notes.

But really, what would he lose if he just tried? Yes, he will look ridiculous trying to climb the pole, but isn’t it worth it to make Ten laugh and cheer him up? When Doyoung was sad before the vlive, Johnny made him laugh in more ridiculous ways, and nothing, no one stopped loving him less because of this. Johnny decided that he should justify the feelings that arose in him six months ago, and he would rather get a refusal now than continue to sigh mindlessly for this guy.

      - You’re right, - Johnny whispered sharply and frightened Taeyong, who had already forgotten that Suh is still here, - I’ll take this first step towards winning the dancer’s heart, and either I’ll be refused, or I can bathe in his love.

＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／ ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／ ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／

After speaking a little more with Tae and finally dispelling his indecision, Johnny returned to his room. Now he had to write to Ten about his desire to dance, but it was not as easy as he imagined. He could only hope that his message would not get lost among others. He opened a direct with Ten.

Hello! Saw yours last post about recruiting a pole dance group. Are there still free positions?

He wrote this with shaking hands, but was very glad that he dared to take such a step. Deciding to distract himself from waiting of the dancers answer, Suh turned on video. It was fourteen minutes to three o’clock in the morning when Johnny received an Instagram alert on his phone.

Hi Hi. Just in time for the last. When will it be convenient for you to come?

The American was as delighted with the message as the schoolgirl to whom her love was answered. He wanted to squeak, but remembered in time that it was now like night. So Johnny buried himself in the pillow and muttered something joyful in his own way and then exhaled deeply. For a long time he could not leave the message read.

I don’t know yet, because I have a work, but I would like to get to your group.

Johnny wrote to Ten, hit the send button and immediately fall asleep.

In the morning his message was read, but with no response. Johnny imagined thousand and one reasons of his stupidness and was already ready to cry in Taeyong’s shoulder but he was stopped by Mark, who pleased the older one to reconcile him with Donghyuck, because he accidentally deleted a game from theirs computer because of lack of memory, and now the youngest was mortally offended by him. During lunch and Johnny did not touch the phone again. And only when they went to their rooms, Johnny finally remembered the correspondence.

He had never run to the phone so quickly. Grabbing it, Johnny sighed with relief: Ten answered. He did not dare to open the message for a long time, fearing rejection, but then he remembered Taeyong’s words and said “Well, no matter what, i open” and read the message.

If you want, you can come to the introductory lesson tomorrow at twenty minutes to three in the afternoon.

Johnny could not believe his happiness: tomorrow he will see this charm boy live and that is why he became strange, because after that he happily jogged in the room and shouted - Who is sexy Frau? I am sexy Frau!!, without even thinking - Frau is a woman, but he can say so, he has such an event. He picked up the phone and wrote a message:

Oh, sure. What should I take with me?

The answer came quickly, as if Ten were expecting his message:

Yourself.

Johnny wondered if either Ten was as weird as he was, or that the message was not meant for him. But he decided not to upset himself and just hugged the phone, imagining tomorrow.

＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／ ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／ ＼（Ｔ∇Ｔ）／

Arriving at the address showed by Ten, Johnny doubted for a very long time: was this message really was intended for him? Maybe Ten is expecting to see someone another. In moments like this, Suh forgets that he is an idol. He sat down on the sofa in the hall and waited.

Johnny was drawn from his thoughts by a human shadow blocking the light in front of him. He looked up and gasped - it was Ten who smiled to him. Johnny sat with his mouth open, and Ten realized how much he impressed Suh - he silently pulled Johnny with him. As the man stood up and followed the dancer, he noticed his height advantage and noted the strength with which Ten was pulling him forward.

They didn’t walk long, but during that time Johnny had time to study him: he had beautifully tousled silver hair, he was wearing a big loose T-shirt and sweatpants, and he smelled a mix of a little sweat and fresh mint. Johnny was so shocked to be so close to Ten that he didn’t even notice bringing him to the training room: it looked much smaller than theirs room, but it was just as cozy here, and Johnny thought the soundproofing was better here than in theirs company’s gym.

- So what dance would you like to dance? - asked Ten with honey voice, closing the door behind him. Johnny became very uncomfortable, because they were together there, and then his “daddy” made itself felt, showing through the fabric of tight jeans. I thought about wearing something loose,- he thoughts, and then looked up and caught the curious gaze of a dancer who was grinning and looking as sly as in his video.

- I would like to.. With you in ... I mean, dance on the pylon, you do it so wonderful and easily, it’s incredible ... - Johnny explained, looking at the floor like a child guilty of something. Ten only nodded in response to his praise.

- Well, since you are so amazed, would you like to see one of my best dances? - asked Ten after a pause and, without waiting for an answer, turned to the speakers behind him to find the music. - You can sit there - Ten pointed on the rugs.

Johnny decided that sitting down would be the best decision he made today. He sat down on the mat and, as it seemed to him, imperceptibly corrected his disgrace in his pants, but Ten saw everything watching the American in the mirror. Dancer just grinned at this maneuver.

Ten finally found the song, turned it on and ran briskly to the pole. He shook his head, stretched, and the song “Baby Don’t Like It “played. Johnny didn’t even immediately realize that it was a song from his group, he just thought he had already heard it somewhere.

Ten’s shoulders were wider than the guys his height, but he was very slim and flexible. Every movement of his hips made Johnny squeal inside, his arms were thin and even seemed a little feminine, but when he grabbed the pole, Suh opened his mouth in surprise and wondering where so much power in such a body. The song was alluring, and the atmosphere which Ten created with his dance was such that you can cut the air with a knife. At first, Johnny was controlling himself, but then he gazed at the guy. He even rarely blinked so as not to miss a single movement. There was nothing vulgar in dancer’s movements, but the way he presented the dance left nothing in his thoughts, except sexual fantasies. The guy glides along the pylon like a snake, and that sly look pins to Suh. Ten definitely understood his sexuality and knew what to press on. From time to time Johnny pinched his own hand to calm down a little.

Alas, Ten’s dance came to the end, and Johnny again did not even notice. His throat was dry, he wanted to drink even more than then in the cafe. With this dance, Ten finally won Suh’s heart.

- What do you think about it? - asked Ten. He slid down the pylon and sat on the floor opposite Johnny.

- You’re just like God, - croaked American. The dancer only smiled at this.

- You can just call me Ten.

Johnny didn’t know what to say to that and just hummed. He thought it would be much easier in live communication. Ten seemed not even tense. But he apparently felt that the tension was still there and emanated from Johnny.

- Well, will you sit and be silent, or will you offer to go on a date? - Ten interrupted the silence, getting closer to Johnny. Suh did not expect such a turn.

- Sorry, what?

- Come on, they’ve already told me everything about your love for me. I am the best friend of one of your group mate, and he told me about your feelings, - the dancer laughed, standing up from the floor and sitting down next to Suh, who was crazy about the situation. - At first I didn’t believe it either, because I have been a fan of yours group for a long time, and my bias is a fan of my dances, - Ten continued to twitter while Johnny was digesting the information. He could just use one of his morons - classmates, but he sat for six months like an idiot and suffered?

Did it suddenly happen that the person he loved was also a fan? Well, it flabbergasted me. Johnny just couldn’t help but smile with happiness.

Interrupting Ten’s speech, Suh pulled him into a gentle kiss, gently hugging the guy by the shoulders, because he was afraid of breaking Ten’s back with his strength. As expected, this guy is wonderful in everything, even in the kiss he brought his individuality. When they pulled away from each other, Ten chuckled.

- Well, actually, at first I would prefer to go on a date, but I also like your version. But wait a minute.

Ten got to his feet and turned the key in the lock, and then came back, knelt down directly to Suh and crawled on top of him like a cat.

- So where did we stop?

＼ （Ｔ∇Ｔ） ／ ＼ （Ｔ∇Ｔ） ／ ＼ （Ｔ∇Ｔ） ／

After a hot relaxation in the training room, Ten and Johnny took a shower separately, and Suh, like a gentleman, invited the guy to dinner. They went to the ramen cafe, where they ordered a few servings of noodles because they lost a lot of calories. It turned out they were like two pears in a pod: Ten argued with Johnny, who would eat two portions of ramen faster. Suh would win, but so as not to upset Ten, he patiently waited for him to eat his portions first, and then, like a child, rejoiced for him, clutching his cheeks.

Until recently, Johnny did not even know how to talk to a guy, but now they tried the forbidden fruit, albeit in the hall, but they will definitely repeat this in all places, because the elder now knows how much Ten fell in love with him during this time. Johnny could not want more, but fate rewarded him for restraint with a gift in the form of this adorable kitten.

[kikiyakno]

✧ Little Star

Date → Some day during the week prior to the Masquerade event. Feb 2021 Setting → Kian’s Grandparent’s Home. Santa Monica, California Triggers  → None, but does include descriptors of fish cutting so if that’s not your cup of tea... Mentioned  → Yi Jae-Sang , Seong Sunwoo , Brandon Kelly, Song Minjoon , Maverick Maxwell, Yong Chul Synopsis  →  ★ Stars are born when large gas clouds collapse under gravity.

The invitation was weird, it was random, it definitely was fishier than whatever fish it was Kian’s grandmother was scaling on the cutting board, but Kian held the weirdrandomandveryfishy invitation close to his chest. This was it. This was exactly the shimmering gold ticket his family and their restaurant needed that would definitely turn everything around.

Except…Gyeonggi Grill was having no part of it.

Just about every eatery in Pico was on board, even the ones Kian didn’t particularly think should be serving food (looking at you Pete’s Palace) and the ones he personally considered to be competition. There was no haste in the flood of Facebook posts on his feed of businesses confirming and promoting their attendance in response to the mysterious invite. It was hard not to feel the clamoring excitement over a party at an art museum. The more he refreshed pages, the more he heard about people talking of it between deliveries, the more Kian felt that this was possibly the shining light for Gijis to be seen again. They would sign up, get paid for it, and best of all to serve new people ~rich people~ to ultimately bring business back in. 

This big chance and his grandparents were radio silent. Kian couldn’t understand.

“Momo,” Kian whined loudly to his grandmother with a soft bounce on his heel. Even with his call the older woman didn’t look up from her work and feed into his melodramatic call. He huffed, the lack of response making his brows deepen further in frustration. “Momo, everyone who’s anyone will be there. They’re paying vendors to be there. This went out to a ton of people, probably everyone we know! Seriously! Everyone’s talking about it. This isn’t just something someone planned on the block, yakno. It’s a huge deal.” 

The pressed enunciations of his words make Kian stop to take a breath. In consideration, he defaulted to speaking in Korean when he was at home and not surrounded by any of his friends. His grandparents had never requested that he do so, but on his own Kian decided that it was a  respectful gesture. Just because English was his preferred language, forcing them to speak it with him didn’t seem fair. It takes him seconds to catch his breath before Kian starts up again.

“This party is exactly what we need, Momo. We can serve…..we can serve the soy garlic chicken! And you know people absolutely love our fried chicken. They talk about how good it is all the time! You know normal chicken places in America don’t double fry. And when they try, it sucks. That’s what makes ours so good! We can stand out with that! Guaranteed!” 

His grandma still didn’t respond, head down and much busier in her re-work of separating scales from the fish. However, there was a soft smile that had made a way to her face now. The passion and sincerity in his voice tickled her ears, especially when a little twist of the accent Kian had arrived at her doorstep with slipped free. Her grandson spoke with fire but not the kind that sought to burn others. He also spoke awfully fast. Which wasn’t too out of the norm for her grandson. Years ago she noticed Jae, Sunwoo, and Kian all shared that oddity.

The lull in the room pressed in on Kian and he broke through it with a giant huff. He waited still, watching her work the knife with expertise. He bit his lip to stop the clench of his jaw and the tightness from impatience building in his throat.

 “Mo—“ “Do you want to cut the fish? It’s your favorite before I clean it.” 

Cut short mid breath, Kian blinked wide at the knife being placed aside for him. She still didn’t look at him, but stepped aside for him to join her. The words sitting on his tongue blew away on a sigh, obediently setting the invite away and beelining to the sink to wash his hands. He steps beside her to take the knife as he starts cutting through the skin. The silence lingers on, aside from the edge of the knife occasionally drags against the cutting board. Kian works as asked, but fast. His cuts are clean and precise despite having his conversation stalled.

“You aren’t listening to me.” He says in an undertone, looking down at his work as he goes.  “I am, Ki-Hyun. I am listening.” Her voice is fond and silvery. Kian knew he was doing his cutting well. “Then why aren’t we joining everyone? Why aren’t we preparing for the event, Momo. We can serve food there.”  “...” “They will give us money. They pay, it won’t be free yakno.” “...” “A lot of people will be there. A lot of people who will love our food like they used to.” “...” “Maybe it’ll be enough money to help us catch up, Momo.”  “Kiki, please slow down and watch your cut.” “Please stop ignoring what I am saying.” Kian’s voice rises a few notches from his soft mutter. He pauses his cutting, noting how his clean work had suffered as he had tried to discuss. He evaluates briefly if his volume had gone too high to be seen as disrespectful, or if he could go on. Soon after he disregards his worry. He was tired of making these pleas and not getting answers. “Why are we not participating? Why aren’t we going?”

The sharpness in his tone takes her by surprise, but she is no stranger to determination. She can’t fight the look on her grandson’s face anymore, sighing herself before she gingerly responds.“...We can’t afford to close an entire day, Ki-Hyun. That’s a day’s business lost.” 

“They’ll pay twice that! Maybe triple than what we make in a day!” 

“We can’t guarantee that, Ki.”

“I can! It’s all over Facebook! Twitter! Other businesses saying they’ll be there and got paid! Remember when I made those accounts for us? People have tagged us—ah, mentioned us! They want to know if we’ll be there.” His voice brightens, contrasting her modulated one. His falters down instantly, however, seeing how her eyes widen then dampen in gentle confusion. Social media was still an entirely new world language for her. “Customers that are going to the party are asking about our food being there. They want us to be there too, Momo.” He defines for her with warmth. Kian can see her understand with his explanation, but she looks away from him before he can see a different turmoil in her eyes.

“We can’t gamble on something everyone else sees as lucrative. And...it would have to be more than a day to prepare for such a large number of people…that means we would have to close for longer to accommodate. Everyone on our staff would have to work longer.”

“Right, and then I’ll get Jae and DaeDae and Mason, and some of my new friends to help us all out and make things easier. And-and Minjoon loves being in the kitchen. If not, him and Chul have networks online too! I know they’d be super happy to help us find the hands we need. Maverick likes food trucks and stuff, he could talk to people! Oh, and Brandon might could help us with clothes and let us borrow something nice to go in!”

“Ki-Hyun.”

“He would find you a really nice dress. Remember I told you that’s what he does, yakno? He’s really good at it. Remember he called me from out of town? He was in a Fashion Show out of state! People love his stuff!” 

“Ki-Hyun.”

“And you know Jae would probably take off all his jobs to help. DaeDae would help too. Buuttt he’s the only one we might have to pay with food, so—” “Ki-Hyun.” Kian stops. Moreso to take a breath than to listen.

“Ki-Hyun, we don’t even have enough in our inventory right now to do so.”

“Yes we do, we—” “Kiki.” 

Kian blinked wide, and she simply shook her head against it. He hadn’t even finished! Each idea of his was shot down in seconds.

Excuses, excuses, excuses. These weren’t answers they were excuses. He didn’t notice how his hands had started trembling or how an ill taste of bitterness wrapped around his tongue. 

“Maybe if you stopped preparing that sweet chili wing combo every Monday and Wednesday night, we would have enough.”

“Kian!” 

“Momo, if Sunwoo was going to come back he would’ve by now. I told you that. But you still do that every night for two days a week. It’s been a month. That’s four weeks. Combos come with six pieces, but you give him two extra. So that’s about thirty-two pieces of meat we’ve had to throw out in the last month because of one person that could’ve fed five or more people.”

Kian knew he had crossed a line and he could see it in her face. He braced for anything, but she only fired right back at him.“And I will keep making what I want for him because those are his nights he works late. It’s too late and dangerous for him to stop anywhere else!”  

“You don’t get it. He doesn’t CARE!” Exploding, Kian lets knife go to drop onto the table as his world suddenly blurs. “He doesn’t care! He-He doesn’t care and he won’t come back! They aren’t coming back. Cause they don’t care. They don’t care. And YOU don’t care!” Kian steps back, immediately remorseful but a throaty sob obstructs his apology. The busy pattern on his grandma’s shirt melds into one in the watery world. “You don’t care! You won’t let me help. You don’t think I know we’re behind! I work because I know we’re in trouble. But you and Grandpa keep...trying to HIDE it and not make me worry. But that just makes it worse! I worry anyways! I’m 27 now and you’re getting older, but I see you work every single day. Then you come home, tired, but then for ME you pretend we’re doing okay when we’re not. We’re NOT!! No matter what we do it’s not enough. I keep working and working and working and working but it’s just not enough! It’s not enough for you to stop pretending like I can’t help! It’s not enough for my friends to feeling like they don’t have to baby me and take care of me and pay for me to eat all the time! It’s not enough for me to ever see you stop working, or rest well at night, or for us to think about taking road trips like we used to or flying away on vacation!” Kian stops to wipe his face with his sleeves in a rush, face wet as though he had been standing in rain. He pushes his face into them to have his cry, only to feel his chest heave in harder when in the brief darkness he only imagines the glittering, serene lights of Paris. He shuts his eyes tighter and tears his face away in a hurry, feeling the accumulation of months of his world caving in on itself finally collapsing on top of him. 

“I-I’m tired, halmeoni. I’m tired of us pretending. This is our one chance and you say no! Why are you giving it up so easily? Why are you giving up?! Wh-wh-why am I the only one who cares? N-N-No one cares! No one cares but me!”

Kian feels like he’s going to give way again before strong arms pull him close from behind. He breaks regardless, knowing now that at some point his Grandfather had come into the room. At this point Kian’s grief commanded his outburst.

“I’m sorry i’m not Kyung-soo. I’m sorry i’m not good like Kyung-soo so you could finally rest and have plenty of money and friends and nice clothes like he does. If I wasn’t here your family would love you and send you the money you need and you wouldn’t be dealing with this. They won’t even help you because of me. It’s my fault. I’m so sorry we can’t be happy and enjoy things like normal people. I’m so—!”

Kian felt warm hands take his cheeks and his body be squeezed harder. Momo had been hushing him and only at her touch had he quieted. He didn’t know how long she had been trying to, but his Grandfather’s face was buried heavy into his shoulder. Momo smiled, relieved to see that she had gotten through to him, but Kian could finally see her face was just as wet—and tired—as his. As familiar as she was to determination, her heart ached to see overwhelming frustration cripple the brightest heart she knew. She could be angry, she could be upset, but while Kian said one thing, she heard another. Hopes, wishes, blame, and shame but most of all that passion and sincerity.  Yes, it hurt to be the one hit by his fire this time, but this detonation of Kian’s was different than all the others she seen before it. She swiped over his cheeks with her thumbs, still working on a smile despite her own tears.

"Don’t let go of any of those dreams of yours, little one. We will figure this out just like we’ve figured out everything else. Keep hoping. It’ll be alright. I promise.”

[randomvarious]

Madison Avenue - “Don’t Call Me Baby” The Annual 2000 by Judge Jules & Tall Paul Song released in 1999. Mix released in 2000. House / Dance-Pop / Nu-Disco

***Song starts at 7:19 and ends at 9:50.***

Madison Avenue, the formidable and fleeting Australian duo who achieved worldwide fame, sales, and accolades off of a pair of similar-sounding, fun, and fierce dance-pop club bangers at the turn of the millennium, actually didn’t originally intend for themselves to become just a two-person group. And that might sound a little hard to believe given that the team-up of Andy Van Dorsselaer and Cheyne Coates sounded like golden, mass-appealing kismet, but the two of them actually wanted someone else to sing their songs at first.

Van Dorsselaer, who would become a successful label owner, DJ, remixer, and dance music producer, met Coates, a choreographer and singer, in the early 90s at a Melbourne club where Van Dorsselaer was performing a DJ set. The two would then develop a years-long friendship before finally deciding to make music together, which would see Van Dorsselaer producing the songs, Coates writing the lyrics, and then the both of them trying to find other people to sing the songs that they had formulated.

The first vocalist that Madison Avenue enlisted was a woman named Kellie Wolfgram, who sang on the group’s debut single, “Fly.” Wolfgram was then picked again to provide vocals for their second single, too, 1999’s “Don’t Call Me Baby,” but the plan suddenly changed after Van Dorsselaer and Coates realized that they actually had another singer in mind, one with tons of awe-inspiring spunk and swagger: Cheyne Coates herself.

See, Coates at first had provided a vocal guiding track for Wolfgram so she could get an idea of what Coates and Van Dorsselaer wanted, but Andy and Cheyne soon realized that Cheyne’s own vocals were actually better suited for the track. And you’d think that someone who graced a song with that much attitude and gravitas would’ve been an obvious choice from the get-go, but as it turns out, that simply just was not the case; it took a bit of time for Madison Avenue to realize that what they had had originally was actually quite good enough.

“Don’t Call Me Baby” was then released on Van Dorsselaer’s label, Vicious Vinyl, which had a production and distribution deal with Virgin/EMI Australia at the time. The song became popular in the Aussie clubs, but it was Virgin/EMI who were able to get it to radio, where it then flourished with mainstream pop audiences across the country, launching it to #2 on the charts and eventually triple-platinum status.

However, the song didn’t originally fare so well in the UK. Released in Australia in October 1999, “Don’t Call Me Baby” worked as a spring-and-then-summer hit there, but it was released the following month in the UK, and naturally, they weren’t on that same seasonal vibe as Australia, so while the song did well in the UK clubs, radio decided to pretty much sidestep it.

But then a bootleg that mixed “Don’t Call Me Baby” with “Disco Babes From Outer Space” by Babe Instinct surfaced and received serious play in UK clubs, leading to 15,000 copies sold, which then forced Sony UK’s hand, who had US and UK rights to “Don’t Call Me Baby,” to re-release it. And at that point, UK radio stations were more than willing to play it. The song then went all the way to #1 overall and #2 on the country’s dance chart, while also earning gold status.

And while “Don’t Call Me Baby” proceeded to take much of the rest of Europe by storm with a bunch of top-10 placements, it did not achieve nearly the same fate in the US. It tore up dancefloors across the country and achieved #1 status on Billboard’s dance chart, yes, but it only got to #88 on the Hot 100, which, honestly, kind of feels like a crime! I think if it had been promoted well enough, this jam would’ve killed it in America, but I guess since top 40 radio wasn’t really too much in the business of playing house music in 1999 and 2000, Sony didn’t wanna throw money at a song that a path hadn’t been previously carved for. It’s understandable, but it was also probably dead fucking wrong!

Anyway, this song’s a goddamn bop. For one, Coates’ varying vocalizing is fantastically catchy. It’s not so much the notes that she provides, although her briefly, slightly higher-pitched lines within the chorus that differentiate from her overall tone throughout the rest of the track makes for a subtly killer touch; it’s moreso her changing of pace and how she switches from a free-flowing, sing-songy wateriness in the lines of her pre-chorus, where the last syllable of one line connects seamlessly into the first syllable of the next line, and all within a single breath:

Don’t think that I’m not strong I’m the one to take you on Don’t underestimate me, boy I’ll make you sorry you were born

To a couple lines later, with the much sharper and much more economical, putting-her-foot-down,

Don’t. Call. Me. Baby.

It really is a thing of pop lyric songcraft brilliance.

And on the production side, Van Dorsselaer cobbled together an equally catchy funky house groove by utilizing and re-working a handful of samples from the opening seconds of Pino D'Angiò’s silly 1980 Italo-disco classic, “Ma Quale Idea,” which actually based its bassline off of McFadden & Whitehead’s super popular disco hit, “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.” Van Dorsselaer brought his construction made of samples up to a house music speed, added a 4/4 kick drum, claps, and hats, and then threw in a searing, high-pitched string pad for the chorus. And that string pad goes well with those points when Coates also raises her own vocal tone for that little bit, too. Also, there’s parts in “Ma Quale Idea” where D'Angiò sings at a noticeably rapid-fire pace, and, conceptually, it’s not really all that unlike what Coates does on the pre-chorus of her own song, although Coates’ parts don’t sound nearly as absurd, so I wonder if Madison Avenue got their idea for that speedier delivery from this song that they wound up sampling so liberally 🤔.

Much to my own and what should also be your surprise, Madison Avenue was the first dance act to top the Australian charts (“Who the Hell Are You”) and also the first Australian dance act to top the UK charts as well (“Don’t Call Me Baby”). You’d think that both of those honors would have belonged to Australia’s own undisputed dance-pop queen, Kylie Minogue, but they absolutely do not. Madison Avenue actually got there first, and as far as Aussie dance goes, they completely owned ‘99 and 2000. 

“Don’t Call Me Baby” is a song that manages to fit perfectly well on not just a late 90s-early aughts pop playlist, but also a house playlist that spans that same time period. And I don’t think that there’s that many songs from 1999 that you could say that about. I mean, along with its promotion and club success, this song’s inherent dynamism is the reason why it was included on both a bunch of pop comps as well as more dance-focused comps at the turn of the millennium, like Ministry of Sound’s The Annual 2000, which was mixed by Judge Jules and Tall Paul, and appears on Tall Paul’s side of the mix.

This one’s a tremendous tune that more than deserved all the praise, awards, and airplay that it received. Apparently Cheyne Coates grew pretty tired of it not all that long after its release, but I sure as hell haven’t and hopefully you won't either!

[arknights-imagines]

Imagine where mostima takes the doctor out to eat at her favourite place?

Hiya anon! Tysm for the request, I thought it was perfect for Mostima! ✨ Hopefully I wrote her okay and did her justice, please enjoy! 🥺🌸

--------------------

Stay Awhile

Imagine format; From the perspective of the Operator for the most part!

Contains: Mostima, gender neutral Doctor, Mostima warming up to the Doctor

Word count: just about 1.3k!

--------------------

To those who were acquainted with her, it was pretty common knowledge that Mostima knew a lot about all kinds of different places. No matter where, she always knew which places were best to get whatever one had in mind; of course, she had favourite places to stop by wherever she sent. More often than not, however, she didn't exactly have time to have an outing with people and visit said places. That was fine, the Caster was alright with visiting them alone, she was used to keeping her distance from people, but when it came to them, she found it unusually difficult.

The Doctor - quite the busy person, they were. Not quite in the same way Mostima was, but still deluged in work more often than not nonetheless. Even so, Mostima found that she and then had developed a warm relationship; one warmer than she had expected. Conversations with and assisting them became a typical part of her days at Rhodes Island.

"Hey there Doctor, I'm back." Mostima had visited them with a delivery, but it seemed like they were still working even though it was well past lunchtime. Had they eaten? It didn't seem so.

When she noticed their stomach kept growling, the Caster decided to speak up, "Ehehe, have you eaten today, Doctor? Your stomach seems to be pretty upset." They glanced at her sheepishly before confessing, "No, nothing since this morning." Mostima made a small hum of surprise, her eyebrows shooting up, "Huh? Nothing since breakfast? I know you're pretty busy, but that's a little concerning."

She looked down for a moment, before piped up again, "You're quite the lucky one, I have a few recommendations for where we can get some good lunch around here." She smiled when the Doctor turned to her, blinking a little again, "Really? You haven't even spent that much time at Rhodes Island yet, Mostima." The Caster chimed with a small laugh at their surprise, "Ehehe, what can I say? Well-informed and well-traveled, aren't I?"

Mostima asked again, "So, are you interested, Doctor?" They nodded, promoting another small grin from her, "In that case, I recommend you stick close to me. We wouldn't want you getting lost." When the Doctor chimed with a small laugh, Mostima's grin grew wider, her chest feeling warm. After a small word of agreement, they grabbed their coat, and both them and Mostima were off.

It wasn't often that the two of them were able to be by themselves outside of work occasions; now that there wasn't any job they had to focus on, they were free to talk casually without any rush - Mostima quite liked it, it made her feel warm, and curiously, the Doctor always seem to spark that odd warmth in her.

There was a lot of walking down winding roads and tight passageways, but finally, Mostima stopped at a building cramped in an alleyway. "Okay~. This is the place." Wrapping her hand around the Doctor's wrist to lead them away from the busy street, she smiled, "The entrance is a little cramped, but it's not so bad once you get inside." Unconsciously, her hand stayed around their wrist, her eyes looking toward the doors leading into the building that were so worn that they blended into the wall.

'...huh?' Mostima blinked when she felt their hand shift from her hold, but the next thing she felt was their fingers intertwining with hers. She looked back at the Doctor and found them smiling up at the building. The Caster beside them was quiet for a moment, before a warm grin pulled at her lips, and she squeezed their hand a little hesitantly. Part of her wanted to pull away, but that fuzzy feeling compelled her to accept their touch, "Hm, has their menu updated? I'm dying to know." She chimed out loud, stepped forward and led them into the restaurant with a warmth in her chest at how she was holding their hand in hers.

Leading the Doctor down a short hallway, Mostima slid open another set of doors, her lips curling into a smile. The restaurant was a little cramped, but the aroma coming from the kitchen and the low chatter of the people dining took one's attention rather than the size of the place. The Caster allowed the Doctor to step into the restaurant, her smile widening when she noticed the surprised look on their face. The inside of the restaurant was quite the stark contrast from the outside. "Ehehe, are you surprised, Doctor?" Mostima spoke up, letting them follow her toward the small reception desk where a young worker was waiting to bring them to a table.

"This world holds countless surprises like this restaurant. Maybe one day I'll tell you about some of them." Thanking the young employee for leading them to a table, Mostima motioned for the Doctor to take a seat, "But for now, let's get something to eat."

They nodded, watching as the Caster opened the menu and scanned it over quickly before glancing at them, "Hmm…are you craving anything in particular, Doctor?" She smiled, "I haven't been here in awhile, but they have lots of good options~."

The Doctor blinked, shaking their head after thinking for a second, "Anything to eat would be fine, I'm sure whatever you pick will be great, Mostima." The Caster chimed with a light laugh, Closing the menu, "Hmm, right~. I'll take the lead then, but you already know how I feel about you relying on me." Raising her hand, Mostima called for with the waitress, taking another second to send a light remark to the Doctor, "It never seems to stop you though, huh?"

The wait for the food wasn't long, but the time Mostima and the Doctor did wait was spent talking, exchanging smiles and light laughs. This was the first night they had truly spent time together, yet Mostima already felt like they had known each other for lifetimes.

Once the waitress had delivered their food, Mostima smiled at the Doctor, who's mouth already seemed to be watering by the aroma of their meals, "Ahaha, okay Doctor~. Tell me what you think."

The evening went on, and evening it was. Attachment wasn't something she was known for, but she felt it that day.

Enjoying food in one of her favourite places with the Doctor felt like home - Mostima had almost forgotten what attachment felt like.

As they finished their meal, the Caster stopped to stare at the Doctor, truly taking in the moment. 'Hm. Doctor…I see.' Even when she was detached, they always wanted to create a relationship. Mostima, however, wasn't against it - they were going to keep trying, and secretly, she hoped they would.

"That was delicious, Mostima. Thank you for bringing me here." The Doctor smiled, wiping their mouth. "Tonight was great." Something in their tone told her they obviously wanted the night to go along a little while longer, but as always, they expected the Caster to be off on her own duties again, as per usual. But Mostima wasn't in any rush to leave this time, and she almost seemed hesitant.

Goodness, this wasn't like her; the Caster didn't at all want to leave, even though it was the most appropriate time to. The hours she spent with the Doctor was enough for that day, so why did she want to spend more?

Sighing lightly, she let a small smile come to her face. Maybe she could accept the Doctor's warmth into her life, just maybe.

Picking up the menu, Mostima grinned at them, "Doctor, do you like ice cream? I wouldn't mind staying for dessert." Though the Doctor seemed to be surprised, they nodded, with a wide smile on their face, "Only if you can stay, Mostima."

For the first time in a long time, she wanted to stay for just a little while longer. A smile came to Mostima's face, genuine and almost warm, "Ehehe, if it's with you, I can stay a little while longer."

[sparklingskz]

duty calls | kim seungmin

▸ genre: idol au, MC au?, fluff, a small angsty part

▸ description: five times working as an MC with Seungmin was proven to be... difficult for your heart.

▸ word count: 3k

▸ warnings: swearing

▸   a/n: I had to watch so many music show mc cuts to get ideas for this and I suffered so pls enjoy (also the rose part is taken from jungkook JKJDKSJD)

one

When you first got assigned to be one of the new MCs on MCountdown, it was expected that you would feel a little nervous, same as with any schedule that involved having plenty of attention on you. However, you felt confident in your skills acquired through MCing on other instances, so it wouldn’t be that nerve-wracking.

What you felt when you heard who was going to be your partner in the show was a different story, though.

"Kim Seungmin?! As in, Stray Kids' Kim Seungmin?" you asked your manager, your eyes wide open.

"Yes, and you should start practicing because you start in a few weeks." That was all the response you got before being left alone with your thoughts.

You were a little intimidated to say the least, as you knew that Stray Kids were an incredibly talented group and facing one of its members wasn't what you expected to come out of this job. Additionally, have you seen Kim Seungmin? You were supposed to MC alongside that face? And not mess up?

That sounded a little hard, in all honesty.

The weeks went by way too quickly between schedules with your group and rehearsing your lines, and suddenly it was already time for you to start your MCing job. You arrived to the studio pretty early to practice on set, heading over to the backstage area to meet up with everyone.

You being nervous was an understatement. While you were sure that the delivery of your lines should be good with the amount of time you practiced, you forgot to take a crucial factor into consideration... Seungmin's presence.

The first thing you had to do when arriving to the studio was to meet him, seeing as he would be your partner for a (hopefully) long time.

As you came face to face with each other, you greeted him with a bow that he quickly returned, and directed you a cute smile as he introduced himself. The air filled with something close to awkwardness, the both of you having never interacted with the other, but you didn't really have a chance to do anything about it before the staff was rushing you two to get ready for rehearsals.

While sitting in the stylist's chair, rather than taking advantage of the free time to get some sleep like you usually did, you decided to take the chance to get a good look at Seungmin, who was sitting on the chair situated right next to yours. The mirror allowed you to see that he was concentrated with something on his phone, which gave you the opportunity to shamelessly stare with less chances of getting caught.

His brown hair matched his deep brown eyes, and it was being styled to be more fluffy than usual, which looked like something that would suit him well. His overall appearance was very boyish-like, and was accentuated by the outfit he was put in (it was color coordinated with yours, which you thought was pretty cute).

Okay, enough staring.

Soon enough it was time to head over to the space reserved for the MCs and to start practicing your lines for that day together. Seungmin shot you a reassuring smile before starting the dialogue, and you tried your best to follow along without getting too lost in the way his lips moved or how his eyes met yours.

For some fortunate reason of the universe you managed to get through all your lines without greatly messing up, which earned you a small break before recordings started for the real thing.

“Hey, y/n,” Seungmin called after you before you had a chance to head backstage. “Nice job, you’ll do great for the cameras,”

You managed to let out a small “Thank you, you too,” before hurrying out of his sight so he wouldn’t be able to take notice of the flushing of your cheeks.

-

two

After a few times of successfully MCing with Seungmin, all of your initial nervousness had faded and you started feeling way more comfortable while being in the presence of the young boy.

Actually, being partners with Seungmin was fun. Outside of recording, you often found yourself looking forward to the times you would get to engage in conversation with him, using up your small breaks to speak about whatever was brought up that day. He also helped you a lot with any doubts you had about your lines or acting, and you tried to do the same in return.

On screen you had great chemistry; even though you had to stick to a script, everything flowed very naturally between you two. There were some instances where you’d have to exchange painfully cheesy lines as per request of the production team, that, while being delivered with a straight face in front of the camera, had the both of you bursting out in laughter whenever the cameras were off.

One of those instances went as it follows:

“Y/n! Seungmin! You’re up!” You heard the director shout in your overall direction, and the both of you were quick to stand in front of the cameras. You noticed that in addition to his script, Seungmin was holding a single rose on his other hand, and put it behind his back.

Right, it was time for that part.

The director shouted “Action!” and you immediately shifted into “idol mode”, a wide smile plastered on your face as you started to recite the first lines.

“That last stage was incredibly powerful! Right, Seungmin?”

“Totally!” he exclaimed with excitement, before his expression turned gloomier.

“Is there something wrong?” You asked with a tone that denoted much more curiosity than a normal person would probably show.

“It’s just that I’ve been meaning to say something for a long time, but I’m a bit nervous.” He turned towards you.

“Oh? And what’s is it?”

That’s when he pulled out the rose from his back, offering it to you in a gracious manner. “Will you stay by my side forever?” He said with a flirty smile, eyes opening up in… expectation?

You allowed yourself to get lost on his gaze for a few moments, forgetting that the whole crew was right there, recording your every action.

Until you had to mentally remind yourself that this was all pretend, that those were lyrics from a new song a group was promoting and that Seungmin wasn’t actually asking you something of that scale.

You stood there, frozen, maybe for a second too long before you remembered that you actually had to continue with the dialogue, and thankfully your brain decided to be useful and allowed you take the rose from Seungmin’s hand, offering a “lovesick smile” at the camera (the script’s words, not yours) and thanked the universe for the fact that the producers didn’t think of making you actually reply to his question.

While Seungmin proceeded to introduce the next group coming up on the show, you just stood there, mindlessly nodding along to his words but not fully registering them, rose in your hand.

It isn’t real, you repeated like a mantra in your head.

-

three

You were not having your best day.

“What can we expect for the next performances, y/n?” Seungmin asked you, before turning to stare at the cameras with a curious look on his face.

Wait, what were you supposed to say again? Oh, right, introduce the groups coming up. Yes.

“Well, we will watch an explosive performance from The Boyz with their new song ‘RPM’, and then our hearts will be exploding because of SF9’s ‘Bloom Bloom’, so stay tuned!”

Wait.

You barely managed to catch the look of confusion that flashed through Seungmin’s face before he quickly spoke. “Guess the excitement for these stages can make anyone’s head spin! Here’s ‘RPM’ by SF9 followed by ‘Bloom Bloom’ by The Boyz,” he exclaimed before the cameras showed that they stopped recording live.

Shit, you had mixed up the group names with their songs.

And of course, Seungmin, being the angel he is, had tried to make it go unnoticed, but the way your eyes comically opened right after the sentence came out of your mouth probably hinted that something was not right.

Feeling a mixture of anger and embarrassment, you quickly flew past the staff into your dressing room, closing the door with more force than necessary and just stood there, in front of the mirrors.

You knew that something was going on with your head that day, but you should’ve been cautious enough to not let it affect your work. Any second now you would be getting a scolding from your manager, which wasn’t very ideal for your current state.

While all kinds of bad thoughts ran through your head, you heard the door of your dressing room click open and you quickly blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from your eyes.

“Y/n?”

Oh, great. Seungmin.

The last thing you wanted was for him to see you in the distressed state you currently were in, but you reluctantly turned around and plastered on the most serene expression you could muster.

“Yeah?”

Seungmin stepped forward a little, cutting some of the distance that separated you two. “What’s going on?” he asked, a worried expression taking over his features.

You sighed while trying to avoid his eyes by focusing your gaze on the floor, while you internally debated about whether to avoid the subject completely or just tell him the truth.

It was Seungmin, though, and you knew that he would be the last person to laugh at anything that was bothering you.

“It’s just that my stupid self messed up the lines even though I had them all memorized, and I don’t even know what happened? I can’t believe I mixed those groups up, their fans will probably be very mad at me and that’s the last thing that I wanted to happen, and for worse you were the one that had to step up and fix my stupid mixtape as if you weren’t a good enough person already and-“

“Woah, okay, breathe.” Seungmin held on to the sides of your arms, grounding you.

You closed your eyes and inhaled a deep breath, getting back all the air you used while rambling.

“I’m sorry,” you muttered after opening your eyes, meeting Seungmin’s soft ones.

“Hey, there’s no need to apologize. The only people who could’ve noticed your mistake were the ones that knew the script, but otherwise it went unnoticed by everyone. Don’t bring yourself down because of one little slip up.” He tilted his head, as if to make sure you were listening to him. “Besides, it was cute.”

His last words made you break out into a chuckle, and you hit his arm playfully. “Shut up, it wasn’t.”

“Good thing you can’t tell me what to think, because it was.” You were about to retaliate again, but Seungmin was faster. “Now stop sulking and get ready, because we go out again in a few minutes.”

He directed a last smile at you before heading out the room, leaving behind a warm feeling inside your chest that made any bad thoughts that remained inside your head a bit duller, being replaced by just Seungmin, Seungmin and Seungmin.

-

four

Falling for Seungmin was something that came gradually, and, in all honestly, didn’t surprise you.

Who could blame you? When he was the sweetest, funniest and most caring human being you happened to stumble upon?

As time passed, the both of you seemed to be getting closer and closer, which earned a few pointed looks from your managers. It all escalated when you found yourself wanting to hang out with him outside of your MCing schedules, which, considering the nature of the industry you were a part of, was difficult. You had to resign to the second-best thing, which was taking advantage of any little instance you could find to be with him before, during and after filming.

You weren’t about to jump to conclusions and say that your feelings (feelings?) were reciprocated, but you had found yourself quickly spiraling down a Seungmin-shaped rabbit hole and your only option was to hope. Hard.

Though…. Hope for what, exactly? For you guys to be in a loving relationship and turn everything into sparkles and rainbows? It wouldn’t be that easy. For starters, one of you would have to confess (and you wouldn’t be the one to do it first), and then came all the challenges surrounding the fact that you two were idols and doing normal, everyday stuff was one hundred times harder.

It didn’t hurt anyone to be greedy and want a little bit more than you already had, though. The small conversations in the hallways, the fleeting gazes, the skits you had to do that maybe sped up your heart more than they should…  Yeah. You hoped for more.

And, surprisingly, more is what you got.

You were heading over to your dressing room, hoping to eat a little something before you had to continue recording for your segments. You reached for your bag, as you always carried a snack with you to your schedules, but instead found a folded piece of paper resting on top of your stuff.

Huh, weird.

You took the paper and carefully unfolded it, revealing a note that was written in black pen, and neat handwriting.

meet me at the back of the building after the broadcast ends

seungmin <3

Oh. Oh.

The door suddenly opened to reveal one the hair stylists, and you quickly tucked away the note deep into your bag before it could be noticed.

A few minutes later you were called to your position in front of the cameras, and headed over to stand next to Seungmin so you could start the segment. You tried catching his gaze to see if you could get anything out of him, but to no avail, as the only times he directed his eyes at you was when it was required for the script. All in all, he seemed shyer than other days, which had you expecting the moment the director called the final “cut” so you could head over to the place Seungmin expected you to be.

If your heartbeat was a tad too fast during the rest of filming, no one had to know.

When the crew wrapped up, you resisted the wish to just drop everything and zoom over to the back of the building, but that would probably be suspicious. Instead, you calmly headed over to your dressing room, helped pack up some stuff, and told your manager that you would be having a conversation with one of the producers, and to just wait for you on the van.

A few moments later, you found yourself taking small quick steps through the corridors towards the back door, hoping that no one saw you and wondered why you looked so wary of your surroundings. You internally cheered when you managed to turn the handle and step outside with no one figuring out what you were doing, and quickly closed the door behind you before taking a look around.

And there was Seungmin, standing with a single rose in his hand.

 -

five

“Can’t you guys go and be gross somewhere else?” You looked up as you heard Minho’s voice, and proceeded to roll your eyes at him.

“We aren’t even being gross.”

Analyzing your current position, that was definitely true. You were sitting on the couch right next to Seungmin, one of his arms draped over your shoulders, and his other hand holding a phone that was displaying the performance Stray Kids had just recorded. Okay, you were in their dressing room, but that had become such a normal thing that it shouldn’t even surprise the others anymore.

You had to take full advantage of the fact that the boys were promoting, as seeing Seungmin only during your MC duties was hard. You missed him way too often. That’s why you found yourself heading over to his dressing room right after they finished prerecording their performance, trying to enjoy some time with him before the actual show started.

“You guys did well,” you told the room in general, earning a few thank you’s and smiles.

After the video showed their finishing poses and came to an end, Seungmin put the phone down and nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck. “I’m too tired to go out and MC,” he muttered, the sound becoming muffled due to his current position.

His actions made you chuckle before answering. “Think about the fact that you’re going to be MCing with me and you’ll feel better,” you said jokingly.

He lifted his head from your neck and looked at you with an amused smile, one of his eyebrows raised. You stared at each other for a few seconds before promptly bursting out in laughter, earning a few pointed glances from the rest of the boys.

“Shouldn’t you lovebirds be getting ready by now?” Chan asked, making you catch a glimpse at the clock before abruptly standing up, leaving a shocked Seungmin sprawled on the couch.

“Shit, yes.” You quickly headed to the door, but right before leaving you turned towards Seungmin and directed a small smile at him. “See you in a few!”

You were about to close the door behind you when you heard a shout from your boyfriend. “Remember not to mix up the groups!”

“That was one time!” you huffed before shutting the door.

You headed towards your dressing room with a smile on your face, probably weirding out the staff standing in the hallways. You didn’t pay any attention to them, and just kept walking with thoughts of Seungmin dancing through your mind.

[suzannaalden2]

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[purplesurveys]

781

Another quarantine survey for y’alls.

How are you coping? I enjoyed the lockdown in its first few weeks because back then it really felt like a nice break from how hectic January and February were. By now it just feels like it has overstayed its welcome and my anxiety is back to growing by the day, except this time it’s worse because I can’t actually go anywhere or do anything to get rid of it temporarily. Tl;dr I’m doing less and less well. How have things changed for you? School, mostly. The situation in the Philippines isn’t conducive to online learning, so we’ve had to cancel schooling altogether because it was the most humane option to make sure no student gets left behind. Some schools opted to mass-promote (read: pass) all their students, while the schools that selfishly chose to continue holding online classes face online backlash everyday. 

On that note, my graduation ceremony is indefinitely postponed and Andrew and I have had to give up a lot of the usual procedures for thesis, like doing fieldwork or having a required number of respondents for our questionnaire. What are three positives to being Isolated or in Quarantine? I get to stay with Kimi all day, my dad cooks amazing food for us daily, and I have so much free time on my hands which I use to watch videos or movies. What are three negatives? I haven’t seen my friends in months, being ordered to stay at home still feels different than voluntarily staying at home, and I have so much free time on my hands which leaves me to overthink and be paranoid.

Have you taken on a new hobby? Not really. I wanted to get into cooking/baking, but my dad always wants to be in control of his kitchen so I’ve barely had any chance to help out. Have you kicked any bad habits? Drinking coffee everyday. I stopped when I noticed I was getting a headache every night, which was my original schedule for making a cup. Have you watched a lot more television or movies? I’ve watched more YouTube but I generally find it hard to start on new shows or movies so no, not really. I’ve always preferred rewatching my favorites. I did revisit Descendants of the Sun starting the other night though; I hadn’t gone back to it since December but I’m glad I did now because it’s such a good show(!!!!!) Have you been separated from someone you love? Tons of people that I love, from orgmates to close friends to best friends to my girlfriend. Discovered any new bands? Nah, I’ve stuck to my faves. With Hayley hyping up her first album for the last five months and finally releasing it a week ago, my eyes and ears were only on her lol Have you shopped more online? Nope, no money these days ha. Have you cooked more? I’ve tried helping my dad more like I mentioned but ugh, he’s so possessive in the kitchen. Have you baked more? Same thing. Have you learned to knit or sew? Nope. Did you end up in Isolation or Quarantine? Just quarantine. I never showed any symptoms and neither did my family, so we’ve all bee in quarantine from the very beginning. Did the stores all close? Save for groceries, they were all closed in the first few days/weeks. But through April, more and more businesses (mostly restaurants) started to come back and offer delivery or pickup services. 

In the Philippines where the government has been hugely incompetent, they lifted the lockdown for nearly the entire country yesterday despite the number of cases not showing any signs of slowing down and DESPITE NO MASS TESTING BEING PUT IN PLACE SINCE MARCH. That means this whole quarantine has been fucking useless. And now that people have been crowding highways and malls again, a second wave is just waiting around the corner.

What kind of restrictions did your government put into place? It’s different per province but in my case, we had a ban on liquors, mass gatherings, and non-essential travel; an 8 PM-5 AM curfew; and checkpoints everywhere. For a brief time, homeowners in our village couldn’t even jog outside but I think they’ve loosened up on that rule now. Has this affected any travel, events or plans for you? Hasn’t it, for all of us? An year-end college party that my orgmates and I usually go to was obviously cancelled; I still don’t know what’s happening to our graduation; and plans to volunteer for an animal welfare NGO have been cut off. I was also supposed to go to Thailand and Vietnam this year, but I’ve had to forget about those plans. What is the first thing you will do when you get the chance? Drive up to Gabie, for sure. With all the crazy in the world, we forget how much we take for granted. Is there anything you feel you had taken for granted? Time with my loved ones. I’ve definitely thought about the times I declined on Angela’s offers to go out, or flaked on my blockmates, or opted to skip out on dinner with my orgmates so I could go home. Let's finish off with some nicer things! What is your favourite thing about life? I dunno if I’ve found a favorite thing about it yet. I find it pretty unfair for the most part. What is your favourite thing about nature? How peaceful it can be. Nature has always served me well when I’m in distress, and I will never forget the time I was in Sagada, and I had just gotten out of a breakup and was still reeling over my lolo’s death, and when I reached the top of a hill, I allowed myself to cry while in front of this view.

Favourite place in the world? Sagada, Baguio, and Palawan. Favourite animal? Dogs, if you don’t know me well enough already. Favourite Colour? I personally like pastel pink, and ~aesthetically~ I like black or white. Favourite Foods? My favorite food ever is burgers, but I also like sushi, chicken wings, and steak. Favourite Holiday destination? We don’t have an established destination. My family likes going to new places every time we have the chance to travel. Have you been on a cruise ship? Yes. Have you flown to a travel destination? Sure, several. Have you ever been on a bus or train to a holiday destination? I don’t remember anymore but we probably were. Ever been on a helicopter? I have not. Ever been in a submarine? Smaller chance of that happening cause there’s little opportunity for it, but it sounds like an awesome experience. Thoughts on Theme Parks? I will go there for the theme park food, but I’m fine with not going on any rides. Thoughts on Carnivals? Like a fair? They’re great fun, and I prefer them more than theme parks because they’re more lowkey. I also just go for the food hahahaha I don’t go on rides. Thoughts on Island Life? I’m technically living one because I live in a giant group of islands... but I wouldn’t want to live my whole life in just an island per se. I like being in the city, and I like living in a noisy environment where everyone and everything is busy. Ever taken a ferry to a destination? Eh, not really. We’ve taken smaller boats to get to certain island provinces, but not a ferry. What is the best thing about travelling? Learning new things, seeing new sights, meeting new people, getting to know new cultures.

Who would you like to travel with next time you go on a trip? I’d love to travel with Gabie. I’ve never done it with her before. Randoms.. Favourite television series on Stan? I’ve never heard of that. Favourite television series on Netflix? I don’t watch any shows produced by Netflix. My current favorite show to watch there is Descendants of the Sun, but my other favorites are there too, like Friends, Breaking Bad, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. What movie are you keen to see? Right now, none of the upcoming ones, or at least the upcoming ones that were meant to be released by the summer. None of them seem appealing to me. Do you study or work or both? I study, but I’m so fucking close to the finish line. If you could have any career, what would it be? I’d love to be in PR. I’d still be in media which is my strong suit, but none of the journalism bullshit I’ve grown sick of in the last four years. Do you play Animal Crossing on Nintendo Switch? No, I’ve never really been a fan of the series so I’ve never felt the need to get the game. I’m happy with Mario Kart 8 haha. What gaming console do you like best? Either the Wii or PS2 as I had a lot of memories with them. Speaking of gaming, name your top 5 games? Pass. Have you ever been to a convention like Comic Con? Nope. Life gets tough, how do you cope? I take a nap, I go to a café somewhere for a few hours to be alone, I take a survey, or I drown myself in work to keep me preoccupied. Do you like housework? If I’m not forced to do it. Are you afraid of the dark? If the dark was meant to be scary, like if I was in a haunted house or if I’m in the woods in the middle of nowhere at midnight. Otherwise it doesn’t bother me. Do you have pets? Yeah, I have the best dog.

[bakerui9-blog]

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[angstmongertina]

Words of Wisdom (minor Ethan Ramsey/MC)

Purposely posting for Father's Day because it seems very appropriate considering how much of a father figure Naveen is to Ethan, and a grandmentor to MC. In other words, I absolutely adore Naveen to bits, and I think he and MC are long overdue for a conversation.

I didn't think I'd have increased inspiration now that the entire book has ended and we have to wait who knows how long until book 2 comes out but hey, in the meantime, I guess I'll keep writing. So enjoy me continuing the spam the fandom? :P

AO3 Link

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She was not entirely surprised to be called into the soon-to-be Chief Banerji’s office after completing her rounds. After all, between his promotion and her return, there was plenty she suspected he had questions about, and the only true surprise was that he had recovered enough to maintain the stamina for such an extended visit to Edenbrook.

In retrospect, it should have been equally expected that Dr. Banerji would not be alone.

At his cheerful invitation, she entered, only to find him sitting at his desk, with an extremely familiar figure standing at his side. Ethan—Dr. Ramsey—froze as she paused in the doorway, his face appearing about as startled and awkward as she felt.

Dr. Banerji seemed entirely oblivious to the sudden tension, or at least would have been if not for the sly grin playing in the corners of his mouth. “Ah, Isabelle. Thank you for coming.”

Carefully avoiding the gaze of her now direct supervisor, she smiled, taking the chair he waved her towards. “Of course…” She hesitated. “Dr. Banerji? Chief Banerji?”

His answering smile was gentle. “I think you, if anyone, has earned the right to call me Naveen, my dear. I have been your patient after all.” She must have made a face; he laughed, warm and strong despite his lingering frailty and tinged with what was almost fatherly affection. “At least consider it outside of official settings?”

Before she could decide on a reply, he pushed himself to his feet and… Dr. Ramsey made a noise of protest, which he shrugged off as easily as he did the restraining hand on his shoulder. “I’m fine, Ethan. Now go on. You’ve been reinstated as well so I’m sure you have more important things to do than to hover over me like a worried hen. After all, thanks to you and Isabelle, I’m no longer on the verge of keeling over.”

His expression as stern as ever, Dr. Ramsey crossed his arms over his chest. “I believe I’ll be the judge of that. But very well.”

She stole a glimpse at him as he made his way around the desk and towards the door, his face oddly relieved, though it smoothed into his usual impassive expression when their eyes met, and she quickly looked away.

“Dr. Wang.”

She nodded, focusing her gaze just to the right of his face. “Dr. Ramsey.”

When the door closed behind him, she turned back to Naveen, who grinned at her, amusement and mischief dancing in his eyes, as he ambled his way to a coffee machine in the corner of the room. “Something to drink?”

She leapt to her feet, following him with outstretched hands. “Here, allow me, Dr—” He raised an eyebrow and she cleared her throat. “Um, Naveen?”

Dark brown eyes twinkled at her, both approving and gently admonishing. “I am well enough to get my own tea. And yours too, if you wish it.”

Somehow, it didn’t surprise her when he wouldn’t take no for an answer, and it wasn’t until she had been settled with her own fragrant cup that he relaxed back into his seat. “Now, where were we?”

“You asked to see me?” The question of whether he’d asked her to stop by knowing full well that he would have company in order to watch the theatrics, she swallowed with some difficulty, instead opting to take a small sip from her tea.

“Ah, yes.” Almost immediately, his casual expression turned serious, though his constant gentleness remained. “As a result of being thoroughly indisposed throughout most of it, I feel I am still a bit… behind on the full story of your trial. Dr. Olsen explained some details, including his involvement, during the drive but I would like to hear your perspective, if you do not mind.”

“Ummm… how much of it?” When he only gave her an encouraging nod, she took a deep breath, tightening her hands around the mug, and laid out everything, from the research to the theft and delivery of the drug. From Mrs. Martinez’s final fate to her friends’ support in the investigation and trial. Dr. Banerji was an attentive listener, exuding calm without judgment and only interrupting with the rare question.

After she finished, a silence fell over the room, one that she couldn’t bring herself to break, especially not to question whether knowing the full facts changed his opinion of her. Instead, she raised her cup, taking a sip of her now lukewarm tea, and resisted the urge to fidget as Dr. Banerji sat forward, expression thoughtful.

“Dr. Olsen mentioned being the one who told the Martinez family about your involvement, among various other… grievances he committed against you. And yet you accepted his help with little ill-will. Even he was surprised.”

Taken aback herself, she shrugged. “Our history didn’t matter when it came to a potential cure for you. Saving lives is far more important. And anything beyond that was his own choice.”

“And that is why he made the choice to support you in the end.” He nodded, seemingly to himself, and relaxed back into his seat. “Thank you. For both telling me everything and for your selflessness when you had far more pressing issues threatening your career than helping an old man. Your future patients are in good hands.”

“I should be thanking you.” She shifted slightly, then… “Do you truly want to leave the diagnostic team?” The words fell out of her mouth before she could snap her mouth shut, but he didn’t seem to mind, only steepling his fingers with a thoughtful expression.

“Would it surprise you if I said yes?” When she said nothing, he chuckled, but it was low, tired. “I loved my time leading the team, make no mistake, and I have no doubt you will find it a most rewarding experience. Being able to witness the trickiest cases, solve the toughest puzzles… It is an honor but…” He sighed, something resembling melancholy filtering into his voice. “I was too involved, too stressed, especially when I put my everything into it. In some ways, the irony is quite humorous.”

Drawing a breath, he sat forward, their eyes meeting, and the intensity of his gaze nearly took her breath away. “I loved it. I still love it. And I never fully realized how far I was until I physically could not maintain that life any longer. Only when I was staring death in the face did I notice how much of life I had missed. Now that you have given me a second chance, I have no intention of squandering that.”

Unsure of what she could even say to that, she only nodded, and he laughed again, more lighthearted this time. “I suppose you weren’t expecting such a heavy answer. My apologies for burdening you with an old man’s rambling.”

“No, it was very insightful to get your perspective. Just…” She hesitated, trailing off as she bit her lip.

He folded his hands around his mug and leaned back into his seat with a warm look. “You no doubt have more questions. Please feel free to ask anything else you wish.” There was something in his eyes, an understanding, as if he knew the doubt already lingering in her mind.

Encouraged, or perhaps emboldened, by his expression, she took a deep breath. “Why me? You already knew about the trial and there are plenty of strong residents who don’t have so much of a… reputation.”

Grinning, he shrugged. “Who else cured the sepsis?”

“That wasn’t just me. Dr. Olsen was the one who gave me the inspiration…”

To her surprise, he smiled wider. “And that is why you will make a brilliant diagnostician. Too many of us rely on only ourselves or those directly involved. And on one hand, it makes sense. Between patient confidentiality and our experience, we truly are the foremost experts in diagnosing tricky cases. But that also makes us incredibly insular. We must learn to branch out and reach out more, to trust others and obtain second and third opinions. I learned that almost too late. And Ethan…”

She straightened instinctively at the name, though she kept her face as impassive as she could. Thankfully, Naveen either didn’t notice or said nothing. “Ethan relies on me too much. There are few who could have achieved what he has done in ten years, but as a consequence, it kept him closed off from the world, from everyone outside of the team.” He sighed, though the sound was more affectionate than distressed. “I suspect Ethan has told you that I never married, never had a family?”

For a moment, she hesitated, but Naveen only chuckled. “It is hardly a secret, really. I decided very early in my career that I would focus all of my energy on my patients and that anything else, everything else, would be secondary. Ethan is the closest thing I have to family left, and while it is a rewarding life, it is also a lonely one. And now, I see him following much the same path. Or, at least, he would have been if not for you.”

“Me?” Her voice was more of a squeak than anything, but to his credit, his laugh was almost passably a cough.

“You. You brought him out of his shell, reminded him what it was to live for himself.” His eyes twinkled. “You called him out on his bullshit when he deserved it, and encouraged him when he needed it. And especially now that I am no longer able to keep an eye on him, now that he will be leading the team, I think he needs that more than anything else.”

For a moment, she hesitated, wondering just how much he knew, but when he said nothing else, she nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”

She shook her head, swallowing around a sudden lump in her throat. “No, thank you. For believing in me and giving me this opportunity and also for making Ethan the man, the attending, he is today. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’d be here otherwise, and I’ve already learned so much.”

His answering chuckle filled the room with warmth. “Perhaps, but I have no doubt you’ll have found your way here no matter what. This is your calling, Isabelle, and I don’t think anything could have kept you from it for long… except, it seems, the rambling conversations with an old man. My apologies.”

Grinning, she waved a hand at him. “No worries. It was… enlightening, to say the least, though I really should get back to my patients before Dr. Mirani comes looking for me.”

“I’m glad, and if he gives you any grief, feel free to place the blame solely on me.”

When he winked, she laughed and got to her feet. “And send him your way? I should hope not!”

He chuckled again, and she made her way to the doorway, though she paused when he called out.

“And Isabelle?” She turned to find him watching her with a mix of pride and understanding. “I do hope that you can take my words to heart as well. Please let me know if you ever have any questions, or just need to talk.”

Without thought, she raised an eyebrow. “Or want advice on the patients, no doubt?”

“Old habits die hard.” He grinned, suddenly mischievous, and raised his voice. “Oh, and please tell Ethan that I am still well, but if he must, he can come back in to check for himself, instead of just hovering outside the door attempting to eavesdrop.”

She twisted to find the man in question waiting in the hallway, muttering something that sounded impressively uncomplimentary under his breath, and met his gaze, laughing when he flushed. “Will do.”

It wasn’t until Dr. Mirani found her, nearly a quarter hour later, and commented on the unnecessarily chipper bounce in her step that she realized her face hurt from smiling.

[stainandscribble]

Americano

Pairing: Zhang Yixing (EXO Lay) X Reader feat. EXO

Genre: Coffee Shop AU, fluff

Summary: You work in a flower shop while you study for your Masters, and it just so happens that a handsome barista had been sent on an errand to your shop. Will your love gently blossom like the tulips he keeps buying, or maybe awaken you like the fresh coffee that seems to flow through his veins?

There is no doubt about one thing; you will hold his heart as gently as you do blooming flowers. 

A/N: So I mentioned that Chanyeol sent Yixing to get some flowers in Mocha ( Jongdae fic) and this is what happened I guess. Enjoy!

P.S.: I have gotten so much love for this fluff series, so thank you to all of you who are reading it! :) 

Word Count: 4228

One of the main points of their café, apart from the heavenly coffee, was the ambiance and aesthetic of their locale. The café always hosted an array of fresh plants, soft lighting and decorative pillows of various colours and sizes. The group worked hard to maintain the atmosphere that Black Pearl had become famous for. On this particular morning, Chanyeol had noticed that no one had placed an order for fresh flowers from the nearby florist.

It was just Yixing’s luck that he was out and about at the right moment. 

Junmyeon called him on his way to work, just as he was about to round the corner to Black Pearl, and told him to get flowers, of all things. It was seven in the morning, and he had to walk all the way back to the main street to get to the flower shop. By some miracle, it had just opened, and he could see a figure walking around. Trying his luck, and his patience, he walked in, his presence acknowledged with the ring of the bell above the door.

The young woman at the other end stopped her pacing to look at him. A bright smile spread across her face when she spotted him. Slowly, she made her way over to the counter at the centre of the shop, before greeting him.

By some miracle, Yixing happened to be not present during any of the previous flower deliveries, and so did not know the florists working here. Looking at the happy woman right in front of him, he wondered whether the coincidence was really that miraculous, or whether he had simply been out of luck this whole time. You looked lovely this morning, wearing a pretty green dress under your work apron, and smiling like the sun at a time during which the action would be frowned upon, at it was far too early for that.

Not really knowing whether to strike up a conversation or not, Yixing decided to place his order.

“Can I get five bouquets?” Yixing said, his voice gentle and warm. He was always polite, and despite the early hours and lack of caffeine in his veins, he was energetic and bubbly.

“Sure.” You said, waiting for a follow up, but the man in front of you kept quiet, looking at you expectantly. You tapped your fingers against the wooden counter, waiting patiently for further instructions. He just stood there, staring blankly at you, his deep brown eyes a picture of innocence and cluelessness. 

“Of what?” You prompted, which caused him to blink a couple of times, shedding the confusion on his face. 

“I don’t really know.” He answered honestly Yixing had never brought flowers from places like this before. if he had any other choice, he probably would have gone to the supermarket and picked out any bouquet that was not wilting. 

“What are they for?” You encouraged, hoping to help the poor clueless man with his task. 

“Decoration.” He answered, his voice as sweet as it was in the beginning as his eyes shined to match the softness. You groaned internally, feeling that it was a little too early in the day to be dealing with this. 

“What are the main colours of the room?” He looked a little confused at your question but answered anyway.

“Browns.”

You lost yourself in thought, looking around the shop, walking over to the baskets that held identical flowers inside. You picked one out, showing it to your client.

“How about white chrysanthemums?” The flower held slightly negative connotations in the west, but you also knew that it was a symbol of good luck and prosperity. 

“And maybe white tulips.” You picked out another flower, showing it to him. he nodded his head, and smiled at you, showing off his dimples. Still looking as clueless as ever, you began to explain your choice of flowers, hoping he would provide some sort of input. You liked having artistic freedom, but not having anything to work with was proving frustrating.

“It goes well with brown tones because it stands out but does not clash.”

“Okay. Can I get two white chrysanthemums and two white tulips.” He decided, and it took you a second to realise he was talking about whole bouquets, not individual plants. 

“Any other flowers you like?” You asked, prompting him to follow you through the shop, as he concentrated his attention on the array of white flowers your shop hosted.

After some thinking and consultation with you on what you think would look best, he decided on a bouquet of white hydrangea.

“Big or small bouquet?” You asked him, pointing at the size chart hanging on the wall, along with the prices. The bigger bouquet wasn’t too expensive, despite being twice the size of the small one, and so it was the obvious choice.

Yixing decided to get the bigger option. He could then contrast all of Jongdae’s green pot plants with some cut blooming flowers.  

You had gathered the flowers one by one, tying them together with emerald ribbons and wrapping them in fancy white tissue paper, before laying the bouquet down on the counter top and moving on to the next.  During the process, you started up another conversation with your customer, finding out eventually that he was from Black Pearl, which were one of your regular customers.  When you were done, and Yixing had paid, you helped him with putting all the flowers in paper bags, so that he could take them comfortably back to Black Pearl.

 In the process, Yixing had told you about some recent promotions they were doing for their two-year anniversary, including a free slice of birthday cake with any coffee order. An exclusive only available on April 8th. Seeing as you had a serious sweet tooth the offer of free cake sounded divine. You thanked him, and in turn told him that it was the cheapest to buy fresh flowers on Wednesday morning, rather than Monday like today. Some flowers would be even twenty percent cheaper, since they weren’t the ‘freshest’.

“Have a nice day.” You smiled at him as he picked up his bags off the floor.

“It’s nice already.” He smiled, showing you his dimples.

“How so?” You leaned against the counter, looking at him, your eyes filled with polite curiosity.

“I’ve just met a pretty florist.” He said, before walking out the door, leaving you speechless, a pink blush blooming on your cheeks.

---------------

When Yixing passed the doors to the Black Pearl, he was instantly enveloped in the warm and homely aroma of ground coffee beans.

Chanyeol was currently cleaning the coffee press, and you could hear the faint sounds of Minseok mixing the beans for their signature blends in the back of the shop. Junmyeon sat at one of the cleared tables, reading through this week’s long list of tasks. They had to do a deep spring clean, and then prepare for their 2 Year Anniversary in a few weeks’ time. This involved baking multiple cakes and decorating them. Honestly, Yixing was not keen on participating in the baking process, seeing as he himself claimed that the only thing he can cook well was some toast. Baking cakes was not for him.

“Did you get the flowers?” Chanyeol’s voice broke him out of his trance. He set the bags down on the counter, letting Chanyeol burry his whole head into the flowers.  The man then proceeded to breath deeply, inhaling the gentle floral scents. The scents of the flowers were intensified by the deep smell of coffee, which was apparently a kind of palette cleanser for the nose. 

“Ooh… Pretty.” He mumbled, buried in the soft mass of white petals. as comically as he had buried himself in the white mass of flowers, he rose his head, and Chanyeol’s face contorted as he sneezed , sending the unsuspecting Junmyeon flying out of his chair at the loud sound. 

“What are you doing?” He demanded, picking himself up from the floor. some of his papers had fallen with him, and were currently scattered all over the floor. 

Chanyeol apologised sheepishly, hands behind his back as he made himself smaller. Satisfied with the apology, Junmyeon turned to Yixing.

“Why white?” Junmyeon asked, leaning against the chair he previously sat in. 

“It goes well with brown.” Yixing responded, filled with confidence as he relayed the newly found information.

“How do you know that?” Junmyeon laughed, amused with the tone of his friend’s reply.

“The florist told me.” Yixing said as he gathered one of the bouquets into his arms, cradling it like a baby.

“Cool.” Junmyeon nodded, gathering up his paperwork to clear out the table for any upcoming customers.

“Put the flowers in some vases.” He motioned over to Yixing and Chanyeol, before disappearing to the back to return to their office, unsurprisingly searching for some peace and quiet. 

Chanyeol disappeared right after to the stockroom. He returned moments later, carrying a hazardous amount of glass in his hands.

“Where do we put them?” Yixing gestured to the flowers, as Chanyeol began unwrapping them from the tissue paper.

“Let Jongdae sort it out.” Chanyeol told him, before putting the first flowers into the clear glass vase.

When Yixing and him were finally finished, Minseok came out, carrying bags of fresh beans. The older looked over at the two, rising an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He asked, laughing as he leaned over the Yixing’s shoulder to look at the flowers.

Yixing looked at him, a perfect picture of confusion fainted over his features.

“Where is the water?” Minseok asked, lifting one vase to eye level so that they could see empty glass.

Chanyeol burst out laughing, hitting Yixing on the shoulder in the presses, as the elder attempted to get out the way in an attempt to protect himself.

“I’ll get the water.” Yixing volunteered, running away from the onslaught. 

--------------

The next Monday Yixing came to work with Jongdae, only for the two to find Chanyeol and Baekhyun arguing over the empty flower vases on the table beside them. Apparently, Junmyeon hadn’t ordered flowers again, and so one of them would have to go to the florist to get them.

“I’ll go!” Yixing volunteered, happy at the possibility of meeting the pretty florist again.  He was sure that it would be you working the morning shift today, just like you had last week. Ecstatic at the idea of having a proper conversation this time, he practically ran out the door, leaving his friends confused.

“Okay?” Baekhyun said, tilting his head to the side as he watched the elder disappear down the street.  Chanyeol shrugged and took some of the vases to fill them with water, remembering last weeks’ mistake. He wasn’t in the mood to be scolded by Minseok on a Monday morning, again.

Amidst his excitement Yixing had rushed to the shop so fast that when you saw him walking through the door he was trying to catch his breath. Despite the exertion, he still had a bright smile on his face, and his soft brown eyes were sparkling with energy.

Before you had a chance to react, he was already walking towards you, smiling so brightly his dimples were showing.

“Hi!” Yixing spoke, his voice pitched a little higher than usual, and he could only blame this on the excitement he was feeling when he saw you looking at him when he entered.

“Can I get five bouquets again?” He asked, stopping right in front of the counter, leaning forward as he swayed on the balls of his feet, waiting for your response.

Once the shock of the sudden, energetic arrival wore off, you greeted him in return.

If this was anyone else, you would have felt a little awkward at how energetically he had greeted you, but you knew the rest of his friends from Black Pearl, and it came as no surprise to you that Yixing also matched their energetic and happy natures.

“Morning.” You replied, mimicking his bright smile, happy that someone else was also this energetic in the morning.  “What flowers would you like?”

“Maybe pink?” He smiled, looking around the room. His eyes fell on the basket of pink peonies. Yixing pointed over to it, and you walked over, picking up one of the flowers so he could see it better.

“How about these?” He asked looking back at you.  

“Peonies?” You asked, and he nodded. You walked over to the basket and started picking out flowers for the large bouquet. You tied them together in pink ribbons.  

“And these roses.” Yixing then pointed over to another basket, holding baby pink roses. The colour was almost identical to the peonies. He was evidently going for softer, pastel colours.   

“Carnations?” Yixing picked up a flower, pointing towards the label in an adjacent basket. You gave him the bouquets you had already prepared, allowing him to cradle them in his arms like a child. He smiled down at the flowers, before looking at you with an equally happy smile as you worked.  

“Do these flowers mean anything?” Yixing asked, keen on having an actual conversation with you. Smiling down at the carnations you were working with, you thought a bit about the flowers he had chosen.  

“Pink roses mean sweetness and poetic romance, and then peonies signify good luck and prosperity. People buy them often for wedding anniversaries.” You told him.  

“You could give any of these bouquets to a lover.” He noted, and you nodded. Then again, as long as they weren’t white chrysanthemums, you could give your lover any flower, and they would not know any better.  

“Yeah. I suppose so.” You smiled. He gave you the bouquets he was holding and took out his wallet. After he paid, he left, giving you one last dimple smiled on the way out.  

“Have a nice day!” You called after him, waving goodbye.  

-------------- 

The next day You were running late to work. Thankfully one of your co-workers was already there, and the shop would be closed to customers for another half an hour, so she told you to grab her a coffee from Black Pearl. She had never actually met any of the men working there because you were the one who took morning shifts, since you had evening classes, and she took later shifts, since she was the owner, and usually had plenty of paperwork and orders to do in the mornings.   

Looking over the extensive menu, you decided to order yourself a coffee too, seeing as their Americano was surprisingly cheap in comparison to the feel of the establishment it was being served at.    

“Hello!” Yixing was the one at the counter this morning, prompting a laugh out of your throat. You looked around the café, seeing the pink flowers intermingled with the deep greens of the pot plants that occupied any free space.  

“So this is where all our flowers are going?” You asked, and Yixing blushed a light pink, eyes scanning the room to look at the flowers he bought from you.   

“Looks very good.” You complimented, your face heating up when you noticed the dimpled smile Yixing was giving you.   

“You pick very nice flowers.” He complimented back, and you laughed lightly, holding onto the two coffee’s he had given you. the urgency that had made you rush previously was now gone. In its place was the sluggish comfort that enveloped Black Pearl every morning. Your lateness suddenly meant very little, and you were able to enjoy the tranquil atmosphere, and the barista who happened to be smiling at you with the most angelic dimpled smiles.   

“Thank you. But these are the ones you picked out.” You told him earnestly. All you had done was tied them together with ribbons. Your eyes wondered over to the wall behind Yixing, and to the clock, conveniently placed right behind him. You froze, the illusion of tranquillity suddenly broken, before you gathered your coffee’s and got ready to make a run for it.   

“I’m off.” You announced, taking Yixing aback, and began to hurriedly make your way towards the exit, wide eyes signalling the sudden urgency.  

“Running late?” He called out, leaning over the counter to catch a better glimpse of you.  

“Just a little!” You called back, before the door closed behind you, and Yixing was left standing alone at the counter, eyes still stuck in the direction you exited from, gazing at you with longing.   

“Who was that.” Junmyeon asked, appearing behind Yixing. His solid hand broke the man out of thoughts and he turned to his friend.  

“The florist.” He answered.   

“Oh, Y/N?” Junmyeon asked, pointing towards the vase with light pink roses in it. 

“Yeah.” Yixing answered absentmindedly, eyes looking into some imaginary distance.  

“Tell her to give us a discount.” He told him, earning a glare from the usually calm man.   

“Hey!” He yelled out when Minseok’s hand connected with the back of his head. 

“Stop pestering him.” He ordered, before going to the back room, leaving behind a bewildered Junmyeon. Yixing gave Junmyeon a smile before he returned to serving other patrons.  

When the day had ended, all nine of them sat down at the cleared tables, tucking into the freshly delivered take-away pizzas. Their dinner wasn’t anything fancy as they sat around tables, barely able to keep themselves sitting upright. Their back bent with exhaustion, legs hurting from the long hours of standing around and running errands.  

Baekhyun had rested his head against Yixing’s shoulder, humming quietly and he chewed on his food. Yixing was almost asleep, his eyes closing shut without his permission.  

Junmyeon had started speaking, suddenly filled with energy. 

“I just realised that we order flowers from them every week, but Y/N had only comer to our café twice.” He leaned forward so he would be closer to Yixing and Baekhyun. “And only because the first coffee wasn’t for her.” His tone sounded almost accusatory.  

“Yixing, convince her to come more often.” He demanded, earning laughs from Chanyeol and the two youngest friends. At this, Junmyeon earned himself the glares of both Minseok and Kyungsoo. The power of their stares had the laughing trio fall silent, and they hurriedly dug into extra slices of pizza, exchanging knowing glances.  

“I am not getting you a discount.” Yixing said without looking up from his food. 

The other boys went into hysterics, laughing loudly and cheering him on as Minseok got into a heated discussion with Junmyeon, about how it was absolutely unnecessary to get a discount on the flowers, seeing as they already had one. 

-------------------

“Come on. We can get free cake with coffee today!” You had managed to drag your boss/co-worker to the second anniversary event at Black Pearl, and you were ready for your daily dose of sugar and caffeine.  

You walked into the café, seeing that all tables have been taken. Your co-worker started complaining about lack of seating, because that meant you would have to return to your shop to eat.  

You brightened instantly at the sight of Junmyeon at the counter. You managed to notice the nudge he sent Yixing’s way, before changing positions with him, so that he would be the one to take your order.   

“Coffee?” He asked your boss, standing in front of you, completely nonchalant as he smiled at you as if you had not just been a witness to Junmyeon’s dirty trick.    

“You could not have suggested anything better.” Your boss responded, waiting for you to say something.  

“Hi Yixing!” You greeted him, congratulating him on their two years, before introducing the woman standing beside you.  

“This is Elizabeth, my boss.” You introduced her, and Yixing shook her hand politely. This time his smile wasn’t as deep, so his cheeks lacked the dimples that always appeared when he was smiling at you.  

You ordered their Anniversary Special, gaining a slice of black forest cake along with your usual americano.  

“Do you ever have enough sugar?” Elizabeth asked, watching you over her cup of cappuccino, as you contemplated buying another slice.   

“No.” You responded, deciding to take advantage of the promotion to come again at the end of your shift in a few hours.   

“A sweet tooth?” Yixing asked as he packed the two slices of cake in cardboard boxes.

“You have no idea.” Elizabeth answered for you, laughing at the memory of today’s breakfast, which had consisted of Nutella on toast.  

“You are going to get cavities.” Yixing chided playfully, leaning closer to you to hand you the boxes he finished packing.  

“I brush my teeth.” You stuck your tongue out at him, earning a laugh, before Elizabeth started dragging you towards the exit. 

“Bye have a nice day!” You waved at him, just as the door closed in front of you. 

---------------

Back in the flower shop, Elizabeth and you were eating your cakes at the counter. She had kept glancing at you for the last fifteen minutes, before she finally decided to speak. 

“What’s on your napkin?” She asked, pointing at the piece of tissue. More specifically, she was pointing at the back ink that had bled through to the other side.  

Sure enough, when you did turn the tissue upside down, you saw a message, written in an elegant font, addressed to you.  

“To Y/N: Meet me outside at 7:00pm – ZYX” 

“The barista is asking you out!” Elizabeth could not contain her excitement as she squealed. 

“Go! You have to!” She insisted as you kept on stealing glances at Yixing’s message. 

A smile tore through your face, and you could not contain the little happy dance you did with Elizabeth before she started fretting over your what you should wear.  

After finally deciding that you should wear something nice instead of your everyday clothes, you settled for a blue dress and a cardigan.  

Nervous, you fiddled with your hands as you walked towards Black Pearl, hoping Yixing would really be there, but also hoping you were not making a fool of yourself.  You rounded the corner, and like something ethereal, he stood in front of the coffee shop, his silhouette illuminated partially by the lights inside his café. Dressed in a simple white button down and black dress pants, he looked even more handsome than usual. Day to day, you had seen his goofy, relaxed side. This side of this oozed charisma. You became even more nervous than before, wondering how in hell you got so lucky as to have Yixing take you out on a date. 

When he saw you, walking towards him, looking ever so pretty, Yixing was sure his heart was going to jump right out of your chest with the strength it was beating now. It felt like it could no longer be caged within his ribs, it desired solely to be closer to you. Alas, the ribs contained him, and it had to settle for rattling the bars of his prison.  

“Let’s go.” He managed to say. Not sure where to place his hands, he settled for fulfilling his heart’s desire. Gently, he took your hand in his, and intertwined your fingers, content with the way you settled comfortably by his side as you walked down the street.  

“Where are we going?” You asked turning to look at him, waiting for his answer. He smiled, turning to look at you before he answered. 

“I always wanted to go to The Night Theatre.” The words came out more like a confession than an answer, but they did reveal where you were headed. The Night Theatre was a student led and philanthropically funded initiative, where people could come and put on shows. It was used mostly for Open-Mic nights, stand up comedy and starting out musicians.  

You headed off to the Night Theatre and managed to get seats in the second-row tables. 

For the rest of the evening you watched musician after musician make their way on the small stage set up at the front. In between music performances, you laughed your hearts’ out at the duo of hosts, who obviously dabbled in comedy.  

At the end of the show, Yixing and you walked around aimlessly through the city streets, sometimes talking, sometimes content at the silence between you two. 

Too soon for your liking, you reached your building, and turned to him to bid your goodbyes. 

“Want to go out again sometime?” He asked, still holding your hand. 

“I’d love to.” You told him, no longer bashful. The easy-going vibe you two always shared had made its reappearance, and you were glad you no longer were a nervous mess.  

Just as you were about to let go, Yixing pulled you back into him gently, allowing you to fall into his chest. 

His head lowered, so that his eyes bore into yours. His penetrating gaze encouraged your own to increase its intensity, matching the subdued passion with which he was looking at you.  

Slowly, his lips met yours. His lips were soft. Hot. The passion scalding you in the best way possible as your lips moved against his. 

“Lets do this again.” He said between kisses. Lets kiss like this. Lets laugh till our lungs hurt. Lets love. The words hung unspoken in the air, thick and hot enough to leave an impression on your skin in the places his hands touched you.  

And you did do it. Again, and again, and again. 

[jlf23tumble]

Four Hangout: Recap

Oh, man, I know I “owe” this one, so I’m doing it, but I hate it for about 15 different reasons, 14 of those being Ben Winston, which means I’m gonna keep this fairly short. The Four Hangout (lmao, I will never stop laughing at the attempts to team up with Google’s shitty tech) predates my entry into this fandom, so I’m not as on top of every little thing that happened around it (and my god, there were some doozies). I’ve found other posts that do a better job of transcribing some key moments), but I’m sure lots of others are out there, and as ever, I recommend taking 35 minutes to stare at this work of art for yourself.

Whenever I’ve seen gifs from this, the read is that at least two people are coming off a coke bender as we all focus on Ben’s rather ham-fisted attempt to get Louis to admit that he hates people thinking he’s gay. But in rewatching it in full now and knowing more about the context around it, the true vibe is exhaustion mixed with some very real anger/mulishness aimed at management in general and Ben in particular. Because the point of the Four Hangout isn’t to promote Four, the album, but to exonerate the D’s management team, blow smoke up Ben’s ass, and “clear the air” about whatever rumors have been going around that the D’s team doesn’t like, all posed as questions theoretically from the fans, yet weirdly management focused.

I’ve found lots of good blog posts that summarize these 35 or so minutes, but here’s an executive summary of my comments coupled with others I’ve found:

Ben Winston is an insufferable dick

The D is so fucking TIRED at this point, everyone’s low energy, but Louis’s voice is the softest, raspiest, most enchanting thing

They regularly creep on social media and are up on pretty much everything fandom related

There are no rumors they need to dismiss except that they’re currently alive, go on, ask them twice!

Liam is great at delivering the corporate spiel

Harry really did get them sneezes out

The Louis/Ben feud is one thing; the Harry/Ben feud is a whole other

Louis reads fanfic (and has some faves!)

Narry are ride or die WMYB, except for when Harry needs to have a go at Ben

Zayn has somehow made himself look even more godlike

Louis has super cute socks

With that in mind, let’s jump into some key moments, but I’m paraphrasing a lot because it’s so hard to hear over all the cross-talk, asides, and inside jokes. More under the cut!

Shout out to Louis's collarbones and quiff combo...his voice is about to give out, but he’s so OPEN and present for this total shitshow, even when he defiantly refuses to take the path he’s being guided down. Also, please @ god let me play some poker while we enjoy a bacon butty over brunch, his face as Niall introduces Ben as a “very, very good friend of ours” (me as both Ziam and Harry):

One of the most subversive things this band does is effusive praise when they’re pissed off, and never is it clearer than here, when Niall gushes on about all the wonderful work Ben has done for them, and the other boys pick up on it and start whistling and clapping (Louis: “My hero”; Harry: “LOOK AT THOSE TEETH!”) until Ben gets extremely uncomfortable.

We’re off to a good start, with Ben being sure to preface that all of these questions are from the fans, and then Harry asking Ben if he’s wearing makeup (Ben, mildly affronted, “No, I’m not wearing any makeup, but you guys do, you wear a lot of makeup, don't you, Harry” [Harry: “Tons”; Ben: “Well, you need to”]).

The first question is about the difference between this album and their first one, and it’s such a stupid, easy question that I want to answer it for Niall because I can do it in my sleep. Ben then asks Louis if he likes visiting the X Factor, if it reminds him of the old days (you know, four years ago), and AGAIN, this is a dumb-ass question, and Louis’s a pro, so what do you think he’s gonna say? (Of course he likes visiting, it’s lovely to go down and relive it). Is Harry nervous about playing there again tonight? Nope, it’s fun!! He can enjoy it this time around! Simon Cowell doesn’t give him ANY anxiety!!

The next question is about the simplicity of the old days, and my god, does my heart break for Liam saying that they had to work really hard back then, so it’s nice that four years later, they get a few more vacation days. Louis agrees, adding that the first American promo trip was a grind where they did 10 things a day (multiple interviews, signings, radio appearances, rehearsals, and shows)

Ben asks if they ever go back and watch clips of themselves from their early days (this genuinely does seem like a fan ask), and wouldn’t you know, Niall was just chillin’ out last week, rewatching all the video diaries again. Louis admits that his red trousers and braces were loud, but they worked for the time, “Or do you disagree, Ben?” (Ben: “No, I loved it.” Louis: “Thank you.”) And I wish I could travel back in time both so I could kill Hitler AND witness Ben showing up somewhere in a pair of Toms, only to be faced by Louis Tomlinson telling him that he wore that style two years ago, and he wouldn’t anymore, which Ben says cut him down to size (I highly doubt that, but I would have love to see it).

All of this fashion talk is side-winding into a question about who tells them what to wear and whether they have control over their image now. They all note that they wouldn’t have dared to push back in year one, presumably because “experts” were telling them what to do, plus it was all free (which makes all the dragging on their old looks extra fun to watch). Then Ben asks whether they make their own decisions now, and Liam says yeah as Louis smirks, lmaooooo, which morphs into, well, we have much more input than we used to have. I’m here for Harry giving a slow, long-winded answer as a construction project starts up somewhere in the studio, and Louis yells, “Keep it down” into his mic.

Ben, I mean, the fans want to know what piece of advice they’d give the fetus versions of themselves, if they could go back in time, and Louis advises his younger self to have a second glance in the mirror and see if he’s really sure about that particular outfit. (Ben: “Is that…really?” Louis: “No, Ben, I’m just trying to make a joke.”). Liam would fight the haircuts, and Harry would burn the supras (I’m assuming; Louis: “They were outrageous”). Zayn would tell his younger self to have a bit more fun, to try and take it all in and enjoy it more. :(

“The fans” are curious about the negative side of social media, how the D just exploded on YouTube and Twitter after X Factor, and does it ever go too far? Liam channels my inbox and says that people forget there’s a person on the other side of an anon message, that these guys see all the things that are said about them, and they’re self-conscious with cameras and comments, but it’s okay, they put up with it. Louis’s addicted to Twitter, and says that there are negative people there, but you’ll find negative people on every social media platform and in real life, too, it is what it is.

Of course, “the fans” are curious about how all this social media shit affects their girlfriends, and I would kill to hear more about what Narry, the two singles on this couch, keep giggling about in this ridick convo that I’m not even gonna bother to sum up.

Ben’s curious how the fans always manage to leak everything the band does, and yes, Louis, tell us more! How does it make you feel? Liam thinks it’s anticlimactic, Niall’s only beef is when something is leaked a week before it’s out, and everyone else just gets annoyed if it breaks the structure of a rollout, but nobody talks about songs that are leaked that were never meant for official release (cough cough, "Home”), and Harry’s just happy people get a sneak peek and then still buy the album, so all is good. Me as this exchange: Ben, incredulously, “It’s amazing they’re able to constantly do it”; Liam: “Lots of high-tech people out there.”

Probably my favorite part of this is the fanfic discussion, which kicks off with Ben’s “I've noticed, not that I’ve read it, but there's been a lot of fanfiction published about you boys, books published, have you any read it?”

Zayn avoids it at all costs, but Louis’s aware of a fic writer’s book deal (who????) and says that he’s come across some of it on twitter (!!!). He finds some of it utterly bizarre (looking at you, self-inserts), but he’s read some nice little stories, and he’s seen some that go very deep and very, very weird. Liam acknowledges that it’s a whole different world, that he gets the idea of it, of fans putting themselves in situations with them (and Jesus Christ, it kills me that they’ve had to read self-insert wattpad fics), but some of it blows his mind. Niall doesn’t know where to go looking for it, but don’t worry friend, Ben’s gonna hook you up with his favorites! Harry is noticeably quiet during ALL of this.

With a horrible segue, Ben says, “Speaking of things that are made up, what’s the biggest rumor you’ve heard about yourself, this is a question lots of fans are asking” (SURE THING), and Harry never gets enough credit for his dry delivery, such as the way he says, “We’ve all been dead a couple of times.” But Ben can’t let it go, and that’s when Louis does his whole, “No”….dramatic pause (he might be saying “Go,” but the point is, he lets this bit drop where it lands). Zayn jumps in with the rumor that Niall used to be a jockey, and god bless him, honestly.

Ben realizes he’s not getting anywhere with this, so it’s time to move on to the actual album, why is it called Four, etc. It’s not really all that interesting, tbh, nor is the name they didn’t go with as a band (Liam’s dad’s suggestion, which was USP, if you’re curious). Liam figures USP will flourish one day, and this whole section proves how funny Liam actually is. I’m curious about all the One Direction tribute bands they’re mentioning, and I’m totally down to check one out if they’re ever in my area, just fwiw.

Anyway, moving on! What song are they most proud of? Zayn loves “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” and Louis is WAY into “Fireproof,” which Liam’s down with, too. The part that’s interesting gets glossed over because Ben’s an idiot, but they talk about how many songs they’ve written that don’t make it to the album, like, Liam has a tattoo that says “somewhere is a place that nobody knows” from a song we’ll never hear called “Man on a Mission,” and how many others are stored in this vault (23 or 24 were in the final running for this album, where are they)? Harry suggests those songs will be on USP’s first album, and I will absolutely buy it. His story about the Norway bus trip makes me want to dig deep (he was on a party bus in Norway and heard one of their songs, sung by them, that had never been released anywhere, and he was the only one who knew it).

Zayn hints a bit at what happens (voting), and Liam hints at all the meetings, but I would love to know so much more about this process, especially since Niall says that lots of people are in these meetings, with lots of opinions (Simon, label, other managers).

Ben says that another recurring question is about what “Stockholm Syndrome” means, and I love the Alex Turner-esque dodge we get on Harry literally describing what Stockholm Syndrome means, without any real insight into what the song’s about. Still, I live in the awkward that happens right after this drops, with Ben still somehow trying to get them to admit they don’t feel trapped, lmao:

Ben asks about which songs are about specific people, and god, I don’t care because all of this section is lies. Then he tries to get them to talk about songs they don’t like, and they aren’t here for that, like, Liam will say he can’t casually listen to WMYB, but he loves performing it, and the best part of this is Harry saying he’ll crank that song and mouth along, pretending that he’s Niall.

For their favorite songs, Liam goes with “Fireproof,” Louis goes with “Midnight Memories,” Niall goes with “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” Zayn can’t pick one, and Harry says “Best Song Ever.” Ben likes “Through the Dark” because of course he does, and that’s when the needling from Harry starts about “Gotta Be You,” and I don’t understand, but I live for him on the attack, so geddit, son (also, Niall, with his “your boyfriend’s back, and you’re gonna be in trouble,” etc., YES).

Another question Ben kept getting from fans (got it!) is what would be the one thing they’d change in the past four years, and Louis starts with, “Why would you want to? It’s been great, there’s no point.” Liam agrees, and that’s that. Ben’s next question is what moment they’d relive in the past four years, and Niall says he was really nervous at MSG, although Zayn thinks it was a great gig BECAUSE they were nervous. Nothing’s really happening here, so Ben asks Harry what’s going on with his hair (I guess “the fans” want to know?), and Harry just says it tends to grow, that’s what hair does, and he’s letting it all hang out.

Another “fan” question that makes me laugh from Ben: “Who makes the decisions in One Direction? Is it always your call?” And they all say NO, but Liam jumps in with, “It’s totally us, people ask us now, ultimately we call the shots,” and there’s a LOT of back-chatter here, so draw what you see.

Ben tries to push how much they love the “Night Changes,” video, and AGAIN, Harry gets on his case about “Gotta Be You,” and someone else covers it better than I ever could, but this goading by Harry is wonderful. Ben’s creative process for video concepts is fascinating because he basically admits that it’s easy or it’s really hard (read: he steals it or just throws a shitty idea to a wall to see if it sticks).

Ben asks if they get nervous about people liking the album, and Louis says they care if critics like the album or not, but really, he’s out there on twitter searching different song titles to see the fan reaction. This is also when we learn they aren’t on ye olde social meeds that much anymore, but they all enjoy a good old-fashioned creep session (Zayn especially). Harry’s comment about feeling vulnerable when you release something you’ve been working on for a year feels especially poignant—he gets excited and nervous all at once—and I really don’t get this whole controlled leak promo thing they did for Four, but who am I to question Modest or Syco?? All I want to know is what Niall’s talking about on the side.

[virmillion]

Ibytm - T minus 3 seconds

Masterpost - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter - ao3

Words: 3,645

Logan startles out of his reverie, quickly minimizing the (decidedly-not-work related) tabs on his computer screen as he turns to face whoever just poked him.

Roman.

Oh, joy. This should be fun.

“Whatcha doin’ there, mate?” Roman asks, draping himself over Logan’s shoulder.

“I’m not your mate, pal,” Logan replies. He opens his tabs back up, now secure in knowing it’s not Joy or Katie-Lee snooping on him— Miss Katie-Lee, he corrects himself.

“I’m not your pal, mate.” Roman grins and points at one of the tabs, tracing his finger along the headline. “Best local community colleges? What, a master’s isn’t good enough for you? Polly wanna get a doctorate, Polly wannna outshine all his free-yahnds?”

“I will pay you literal money to never do that accent again.” Logan clicks away to a less conspicuous screen as an intern skulks by, presumably on their way back from a delivery to Mx. Oatmeal. It’s painfully rare that Logan gets to see anyone new without going out of his way to hunt them down, but that rarity doesn’t mean he isn’t wary of the grapevine running through the honorary fifth floor. “I tried to get Virgil to look into local colleges, see if any interest him at all—for a number of reasons, none of which he was keen to hear, mind you. Anyway, that was a couple weeks ago now, and he hasn’t mentioned it since. I’ve been looking into it on his behalf, and I think he could do pretty well going for an art history degree, since he already likes working those tours at the museum, and—”

“And you’ve just decided all this for him?”

“Well, no, but I know what his interests are, and—”

“And you don’t want to afford him the chance to broaden his horizons?”

And there we go with the horizons again. Will anyone ever let Logan talk for more than five seconds without an interruption? Logan balls his hands into fists under his desk, digging his nails into his palms. He bites the inside of his cheek as he tries to grit out a response without literally snarling.

“Shockingly enough, broadening your horizons isn’t the only motivation for people to have a purpose.” He closes all the tabs and puts his screen to sleep, scowling. “Whatever. It’s not like it matters, anyway. Virgil’s made it pretty damn clear that he’s not interested. I’m just pulling my own leg at this point.”

Roman says nothing, still sprawled across Logan’s shoulders. The silence weighs heavy in the air for a moment, two, before Logan shoves back his chair and cracks his neck, knocking skulls with Roman. “I’m going on my fifteen,” Logan says sharply.

He shoulder-checks Roman as he stands, knocking him back a few feet on his way to the break room. You know, the one cramped with the likes of Miss Katie-Lee and Mr. Jolenta and everyone else who holds sway over whether Logan gets paid enough to keep himself alive. He fights down a growl and slinks toward the back of the room, where only a broken coffeepot dares make a home.

“Hey, Sanders, taking an early break for once? Or a break at all, really.” The owner of the new voice deposits herself at the seat across from Logan, who moves aside the dish of candies to hide his hand playing with his phone under the table. Reaching for a candy, Cassidy grins brightly. “So! How about my promotion, huh? Can’t believe me interpreting Joy’s chicken scratch is what got me noticed.” Logan nods with a faint smile. “What, too important to make conversation? Come on, stop thinking about work, yeah? Breaks are supposed to be fun times!”

“Work is fun.” It’s Logan’s instinctual response—always has been, probably always will be—but the certainty isn’t really there anymore.

“So’s wearing socks that are so small they slip off your heel when you’re running through a rainstorm.” Cassidy cocks her head to the side and smiles wider. “Oh, sorry, thought we were telling lies no one believes.”

“Work is fun.” Logan’s voice sounds even less confident now than it did before, which he hopes Cassidy doesn’t notice with the distraction of Roman taking a seat at his side. Logan is about five seconds away from socking Roman in the arm for intruding on a conversation that wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place, but Roman’s bicep is saved by Miss Katie-Lee striding purposefully across the room. She exchanges some furtive whispers with Roman, too quiet for Logan to hear, as Cassidy picks back up on the conversation that, again, was never supposed to exist to begin with.

“Hey, y’member that moon meeting Gazebo was on about?” she asks, her voice low and conspiratorial. “I heard he was actually planning—”

“Cassidy!” Miss Katie-Lee hisses, drawing a sharp line across her throat. “Tsst! Don’t!”

Cassidy blinks and shakes her head, as artless as if she were wiping an etch-a-sketch. “Right. So! How about that coffeepot, right? I mean, it’s been broken for, like, ages, wouldn’t a top tech-having organization be able to fix that, or at least replace it or something?”

Logan elects to ignore the suspicious conversation turn and how Cassidy just referred to NASA as a ‘top tech-having organization.’ He writes it off in his head as being a weird social nuance he’s not keyed into, and makes a mental note to ask Virgil about it later. Certainly an easier conversation to have than one about colleges. As if Virgil would ever let him entertain that kind of discussion again.

He furrows his brow at what looks like a fist hovering in front of his face, but it’s just Cassidy snapping her fingers. “Hey, Lo, puh tuh tut? Y’in there? Anything of consequence to contribute to the conversation?”

“I would hardly call it a conversation,” Logan mumbles into the fingers propping up his chin. He stretches behind himself for the countertop and grabs the broken coffeepot, eager to keep busy doing literally anything that will distract him from this inane polite chitchat. The whole point of going on his break was to get away from Roman, and now he’s stuck sitting by two new people as well as Roman. He starts unscrewing the main panel on the machine’s upper facade.

“Alright, fair play, fair play. Conversations do normally involve more than one person talking.”

“Thanks for the dictionary update. I’ll call Merriam, you find Webster.”

Cassidy may or may not attempt a response, but Logan neither notices nor cares, too focused on the coffeepot. The only thing to finally draw his attention away from the sputtering machine that definitely didn’t just scald his entire left hand is a rapid and insistent smattering on his arm. He glances over to see Roman slapping him gently, his eyes desperate.

“We need to talk,” he grits out, angling his head toward the door. Miss Katie-Lee takes a sudden and hurried leave, acting for all the world as if she hadn’t just been chittering with Roman. “Not in here. But, like, now.”

“I’m good,” Logan replies at full volume. Cassidy gives him a weird look, which he readily ignores.

“Logan.”

“Is good in here, thank you very much.”

“Logan will get his rear in gear right this second, or Roman will cause him serious bodily harm.”

“Logan is good in here.”

Roman sighs loudly, clearly trying to get the point across that I tried to warn you with only a series of nonverbal huffs. Following that, he smacks Logan across the face. Like, hard.

“What in the f—!”

“Now.”

Logan screws his face up tight and clenches his hands like claws to his skull before shoving his chair back, startling Cassidy. He plasters a manic smile on his face, more baring his teeth than anything else. “Fine. Fine? Fine. You wanna talk? Let’s go talk, jackweed. Fine. Whatever. Fine.”

“I had to get your attention somehow,” Roman pleads, tripping over his feet to keep up as Logan all but storms out of the room.

“And clearly you’ve gotten it, so what the hell do you want to do with it?” Logan steps into the stairwell and barely waits for Roman to clear the doorframe before he slams it shut. “If it’s that important, you can sum it up in fifteen seconds, because that’s how long you have before I go downstairs and report you to HR.”

“What’s with the sudden attitude, sassafras?”

“Feigning memory loss at your physical assault on me? An unorthodox way to spend your first two seconds, I’ll admit. Thirteen left, and do try not to waste them.”

“If you would just get over—”

“That’s two more on the clock. Running it down to the wire, huh? That your strategy? Draw me in with the intrigue? Seven seconds. Make it quick.”

Roman swallows a huge breath (for which he definitely doesn’t have the time) and groans. “Gazebo’s request went through.”

“I don’t—what?” The fifteen seconds are certainly up by now, but Logan doesn’t make a move for the door. Neither does Roman.

“For the wormhole to Neptune. Well, the moon coverup for it, anyway. He got the grant, he got the funding, Katie-Lee just told me about it. It’s gone through, go no-go set out, mission initiated, however you want to phrase it, it’s happening. He’s starting up the mission. Like, starting it up soon.”

“Yeah? Good for him. Should be exciting.” Logan folds his arms, and whether that’s to keep from screaming or to keep from throwing the door open and running away from the conversation and from reality, well, he isn’t entirely sure. Maybe a bit of both.

“Logan, surely you realize what this means?”

“Probably not, if how squeaky your voice sounds is any indication. It’s just a grant. Nothing’s going to be officially in progress this early, so what’s your deal?”

Roman groans again, doing an impressive mimicry of Logan clawing at his own face. He slaps his hands down to his thighs and grips the fabric in clenched fists, kneading the material like an agitated cat. “It means it’s gone through. It means Gazebo is going to launch a crew off the planet in a literal fiery explosion. Logan, it means that you could be going into space.”

Logan blinks. “I fail to understand how this could be a bad thing. Not to mention, I mean, it’s not like he’s even asked me yet.”

“That’s what Katie-Lee was talking about,” Roman groans, exasperated. “She wanted me to give you a chance to talk to Virgil, to tell you that you don’t have to—”

“Hey, fell’s,” a new (and not entirely welcome) voice says as the door cracks open. Logan’s eyes dart to the entrance, where Mr. Jolenta peeks his head into the stairwell. Truly a rare sight to see—Mr. Jolenta is infamous for making himself scarce to the public eye. More of a figurehead as being Mx. Oatmeal’s boss than an actual name found in casual conversations. “Y’got a min’te?”

That’s the other thing, by the way. Mr. Jolenta is far more interested in saving time with removing syllables than expediting the process by speaking with full words. Probably saw a particular episode of The Office too many times.

“Absolutely, we’ve got sev’ral min’tes!” Roman exclaims, far more panicky-excited than he ought to be. “Right, Logan? We’ve got, like, so many minutes. Pretty much every minute, in fact, I mean, we actually—”

“Lead the way,” Logan interrupts, stepping toward the door. Roman bites his lips and nods, following him out of the stairwell. All the way up to Director Gazebo’s office, they walk in silent step like militia on a suicide mission. Mr. Jolenta flashes a wide smile and makes himself scarce once more as the director beckons them in.

“Space, Logan,” Roman murmurs, reaching for the door handle. “Logan, space. Space, Logan. Logan, space.”

“I believe all present company has seen Parks and Rec, but thank you for the refresher course.” Logan places his hand over Roman’s, feeling the warmth against his palm as he pushes it down on the handle. “I still don’t get why you were so frazzled about this.”

“Oh, like you’re one to talk.” Roman winces as the door hinges squeal in protest, apparently unused to being closed for so long. Open door policy and what have you. “Going off on me out of nowhere every time I mention broadening your—”

Roman cuts himself off as they step into the office, staring in shock at what awaits. Something straight out of a detective movie. A detective mystery movie. An overzealous detective mystery movie. An overzealous detective mystery movie about a franchise that went under fifty seconds after its inception. Something like that. “Horizons,” Roman finally breaths as Logan’s eyes catch on the director, who kneels in the middle of a mess of papers and binders and files and sticky notes, all connected with tape and string and— is that one of those sticky hand toys?

“Ah, good, good, you’re here!” The director staggers to his feet, pushing stray hairs back from his face and pulling taut the skin on his forehead. “I trust you’re both doing well? Families good? Good. Great, even! So I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here, although I suspect the state of affairs may clue you in somewhat. Uh, I, erm, I actually meant to get it in some semblance of working order and presentability before you arrived, but that Jolenta is certainly adamant about punctuality—or pre-punctuality, as the case may be. To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be excused, isn’t that always the way?” The director claps sharply twice in front of his face, as if snapping himself out of his own head. “I have some thrilling news.

“I think I’ve found just the ticket for creating and stabilizing a wormhole of a decent enough size and make to support exotic matter like, well, like a rocket. And humans. Live ones, at that! I haven’t passed as much along yet, but I did get the go-ahead for the exterior premise of a trip to the moon, as well as clearance for a max four person crew. We’ve got the extra cargo space in that fifth seat, anyway, and we’re gonna need it for an extended trip to Neptune.” The director is now grinning like a little kid at his birthday party that just smashed a piñata to smithereens. “So! You two in?”

“I don’t—in on what?” Logan doesn’t trust himself to give a concrete answer, uncertain whether he’s totally on par with what the director is asking. Uncertain whether he’s totally on par with what his own instinctive answer would be. He can feel Roman staring daggers at him, definitely not answering the question, but Logan doesn’t dare turn his head.

“The trip to Neptune! Well, to the moon, on paper, but ideally Neptune. Mission Neptune! The Neptune Shebang!”

“I didn’t give him that nickname,” Roman whispers. Logan doesn’t move.

“So? Are you in or are you in?”

“I don’t know that that’s the kind of question I can give an up-and-down answer to out of nowhere,” Roman says. Logan remains silent. “I mean, I told you as much already, right? I’d need to talk about it with my family first, my friends, you know? There’s no way I can make a knee-jerk decision like this.” Logan says nothing.

“I mean, I can give you the night to decide, think it over, but I’d really rather get started sooner than later, and if you don’t agree, we can always go with a three man crew, use the extra space for more cargo storage. There’ll be paths around your not coming along, but—”

“Wait, you don’t have any other potential candidates on deck?” Roman shakes his head in disbelief, his question saving Logan from having to give his own answer just yet. “You have a maximum of four people you want on board, and if anyone ducks out, you cull the size of the crew? Isn’t there, like, a due process you’re supposed to follow? You can’t just assume the exact crew you went in with is the one that’ll go on the mission.”

The director glances to the side, mumbling, “I can if that’s the crew that convinced HQ to give me the grant.” Refocusing his gaze on Logan, he speaks louder. “Logan, what do you think?”

“Nope, hang on, back it up.” Roman does a quick round of jazz hands, still shaking his head. “You signed us up for this death trip—and told other people about it, to boot—and you didn’t even ask us if we’d be on board.”

“I would hardly call it a death trip, and you already said you were interested back at that initial meeting, so it’s not like it’s completely out of the blue for me to—”

“How soon do you need an answer?” Logan cuts in. The question, much more concrete than a general disbelief about possible dangers to which he did not consent, seems to slice through the tension well enough. At the very least, it breaks Roman’s increasingly furious staring competition with the director.

“Well, ah, now, ideally, would be a great time for you to go ahead and give me that answer, actually.” The director glances around his feet and laughs lightly. “I mean, I guess my current situation might not plant a whole lot of faith in your mind, but you said it yourself, remember? How you’ve always wanted to go into space? This is your big chance, Logan! There might not be another, and all that work you’ve done will have been for nothing.”

“That’s all well and good, but I don’t—” Logan hesitates, cocking his head to the side. “Wait, what do you mean for nothing, that there might not be another? It’s not as if you’ll only plan one mission in my lifetime. There’s even rumors of another moon mission—a legitimate one, by the sound of it—just a couple years out, anyway.”

“Well, yes, but I slotted you in myself for this one. I can’t promise I’ll be so generous in my selection with the next.”

“But that’s not fair.” The words leak from Logan’s lips of their own accord, and he wonders whether Virgil feels this childish when he says them. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Roman shifting his weight.

“You can’t just give him one day to decide something so important, regardless of how he’s felt and answered in the past.” Logan chooses to ignore how Roman says nothing of his own decision and history.

“See, that’s just the thing,” the director replies coolly. “I can and I did. I’m not saying you have to answer right this second, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt your chances.”

“Chances?” Roman sputters. “What do you mean, chances? You basically already admitted that we’re the only ones you want for this mission. Chances of knocking the crew down a size, maybe.”

“Shall I take that as a yes or no from you, then?”

Logan whips his head around to Roman, feeling his own jaw straining to drop. This is the whole point of working here, of rising through the ranks, is this one chance for Roman to get into space, to do all the things to which Logan has always aspired, to broaden his horizons like he always has, so long as he just says—

“No.”

Okay, now Logan’s jaw actually does drop. He snaps it shut before anyone can notice.

“Duly noted. Sad to hear it, but I won’t force you.” The director nods and looks to Logan, who’s stunned into silence. “Logan? How about yourself?”

“I, um—”

“You don’t have to answer anything right this second,” Roman says. “You’re allowed to talk it over with Virgil, and with your dads, and with everyone else who you think deserves to weigh in on it. You don’t have to lay your whole life on the line right now.”

“I wouldn’t call it laying your life on the line,” the director says sharply. “Simple question, yes or no. You can always change your mind later, but if you choose not to accept my offer and later have second thoughts, I cannot promise the mission—or a later vacancy—will be waiting for you.”

Logan wonders whether it’s possible to literally drown in his own fear. It certainly feels like it. Someone should do a study on that, see if it’s a feasible way to go out.

“Logan Sanders. Mission to Neptune. Yes or no?”

Logan swallows his terror and calls up Virgil’s face in his mind, picturing it in front of a television screen, picturing it watch him launch into space, picturing it in a fitful sleep, waiting for Logan to make it safely home, safely into his arms. Then he pictures it smiling, pictures it touring colleges as Logan tours the universe, pictures it beaming with pride as Logan collapses into a reassuring hug, back from the farthest reaches of the solar system, dozens of worlds crumbling in the wake of their embrace as the moon shines bright overhead, just a little less vibrant than it used to be. He holds that image close, wrapping it like a shield around his heart, and refocuses on the feeling of Roman’s hand on his shoulder, refocuses on the director staring at him, that same question hanging heavy in the air between them.

Logan Sanders, yes or no? Mission to Neptune, yes or no? Live your lifelong dream, yes or no? Leave behind everything you’ve ever known, yes or no? Achieve the only thing you’ve ever been truly certain of wanting, valued above all else for as long as you can remember, yes or no?

“Yes.”

[serenagaywaterford]

random thoughts:

jsyk, Serena swam in the place my dog poops. I hope Fred stepped in it. Die Fred.

(spoilers obvs)

NOT. ENOUGH. JANINE. the only time i cheered out the entire 3 episodes was that one glimpse of janine.

I got to see my girl Alma though which was lovely.

OMG. Can... I just... that scene with Emily walking through the hospital was the dumbest fucking, most American stupid scene ever on this show. It was so fucking cheesy and absolutely 10000% unrealistic. Who actually thought it was a good idea? They should be fired. Or sent to go work on Grey’s Anatomy or something. Not even that shitshow aka SVU would do something as painfully cliched and cheesy as that. Firstly, this show is fucking stupid. Okay. If all this shit was happening, Canada would have got like MILLIONS of refugees. Seeing the cops escort some raggedy refugee would be common af. Maybe it’s the baby thing? Still, Canadians aren’t gawkers like that. We also don’t like embarrassing displays like that. It’s so American it hurts.  NOBODY CLAPS LIKE THAT IN A FUCKING HOSPITAL. It’s a quiet place, okay. Also, why don’t any of these doctors have anything better to do? Anyway. I hated that scene so much.

Nick is so boring. So boring. He’s just a wet doughnut. I sorta liked him getting angry at June but also I wish I cared about anything he has to say. Bye Nick Bland. Good riddance.

Lawrence’s one liners? Funny. Lawrence? Disgusting awful psycho. I hate him sfm. 

Fred? Also disgusting. I hate him 10000x more. Everything about him is repulsive. He’s so much worse this season. I hate everything about his entitled, poor me, manpain. I hate hearing about any of his feelings. Fucking die already. I found him interesting enough as an antagonist in the show before but no longer. Redundant.

Beth. Too good for Nick. Too good for this world.

Too much staring. I AM SO SICK OF IT. It wastes time. Is redundant af at this point. I’m bored. Stop it.

Moss... um. Honey. I love you but... what the fuck was up with all the over-acting? 302 seemed particularly bad. Like I just can’t take it anymore. Who directed 302? They should be fired too for making her do that. Also, lady from Transparent, what the fuck was up with her acting?

Luke is useless. Like, I get it. I get why he’s a huge damp sulkbaby but I mean. I don’t want to see it? I’d rather just not see him at all cos literally I can’t recall a scene of him not being fucking useless or ignorant. Or half-assing it. I want to like Luke, honestly. But I just... don’t. I love the shit outta Moira and Erin, and I adored Moira/Emily interactions. But Luke? Miss me with his manpain.

Once again, I hate Lawrence. He is no good. He’s so fucking creepy and gross. I do not understand why people like him? And I don’t mean, “I don’t know why people like this character.” I mean, “I don’t understand why people like this person.” As a character, sure, he’s interesting and revolting and does his role well. He’s even got some funny lines and Whitford has great delivery. I mean these people who LIKE HIM. As a person. They think he’s great and a good guy. I don’t get it. Are we watching the same show? He’s a great character and a terrible person. That said, he’s still a dude and I’m not about to say he’s such a great character that I want to know all about him. Nah, bros. I wanna know all about Emily, Moira, Serena, Janine, Alma... and June I suppose but we already have quite enough of her. I don’t care about Lawrence’s backstory or emotional turmoil. I don’t need his perspective cos I’ve seen it before, I know it already. It’s in so many movies, books, and TV. So, he may be a well-written character but he’s not a fascinating one. If we wanna dig around in the psyches of bad people, Serena and Lydia are far more fascinating cos bad women’s stories are so much rarer to explore in any depth.

So, June got her feet lashed to shit again. And then she’s just walking around like no biggie next scene? Did the writers forget the first season when June couldn’t walk at all? All I’m asking is a bit of a limp?

June going straight to the house that just housed the handmaid that ran away with June’s baby seems... well, like complete bullshit. Never.

SERENA ISN’T WEARING HER WEDDING BAND. She’s done. She hates that man and I hate the fact everyone is pushing her to just get over it. Fred... is horrible in literally every single way. Every. Single. Way. (And sure Serena is horrible in some ways, but not nearly the same ways as Fred.) I just want Serena to be free of him. I want her and June to murder his ass. Graphically. That is the only violence I want to see on this show in the future. OMG, I can’t actually explain how much I hate him and I vomit in my mouth thinking about Serena having to get back with him. Even if I know she has to in order to survive. Ugh. 

UM. Okay, the “blood against the snow” bit was really interesting. I don’t recall Offred saying that in the book but Atwood brings it up often when talking about red. It was clever to include her own words, just like last season with the “men are afraid women will laugh at them...” bit.

But speaking of weird inclusions: Lawrence reciting book!Offred’s line about how easy is it to invent a humanity for anyone. It was curious they had Lawrence saying that to June, whereas it’s Offred in the book thinking that about the Commander.  “He was not a monster, to her. Probably he had some endearing trait: he whistled, offkey, in the shower, he had a yen for truffles, he called his dog Liebchen and made it sit up for little pieces of raw steak. How easy it is to invent a humanity, for anyone at all. What an available temptation.”

My wife, when Nick showed up in 303: “Oh, this prick again!” Just out of nowhere cos we don’t talk about fandom shit. She has no idea the extent of my sick obsession with this show. She doesn’t know how much I loathe Nick lol. She’s completely casual and even she can’t stand Nick. Which is so lovely. And then when he was yapping about going to the front, she just muttered, “Hopefully he’ll die there.”

OH MY GOD. I HATE MEN. That whole Commanders meeting scene made me want to throw up multiple times. It started with the words “shipment of females” and just got progressively worse with every passing second.

Except... LMAO. June: *sees Fred at a meeting* Fred: Hello. June: Hey you see Serena? How’s Serena? Is Serena okay? Serena’s tough. She’s great. She’ll be okay. I love her. *proceeds to do the world’s worst cringe-inducing seduction* I think on some level even Fred knows it’s bullshit.

I love comparing June’s seduction of Fred to her seduction of Serena. They’re very interesting contrasts. She’s so painfully fake with Fred. And only sort of insincere at times with Serena. 

Man, Sylvia is a dick lol. LOOK RICHMOND IS HARD ENOUGH TO GET ACROSS WITHOUT YOUR LIME GREEN CAR BLOCKING THE ONE MOVING LANE OF TRAFFIC!!!!!! Jokes aside... I actually really liked that scene of Emily finally calling her. That was touching and the closest I came to actually getting sniffly.  Actually no. Traffic on Richmond is no joke. I’m not kidding. That was a dick move, Sylvia. LOL.

June saying Nichole gets her politicianess thing from Serena absolutely fucking slayed me. I don’t even care if she was emotionally manipulating her af, it seemed genuine in parts of that convo. TWO MOMMIES. June used her flashback!June voice at one point. Honestly, these two actresses run this town.  You can tell how broken Serena is tho cos she’s oblivious to how manipulative June is being. She’s been aware in the past as soon as June does her whole “Say nice thing, bond over babies, ask for something” method and called her on it. It’s June’s only trick. It’s transparent af. And Serena knows it. Yet, she seems completely wooed now and not at all suspicious. So, when she gets her wits together again, I suspect Serena won’t be so malleable.

I’ve said a bunch of stuff about June/Serena stuff in my tag rants so I won’t repeat it. I just fell in love with it all.

PRAISE BE!!! We didn’t actually have to see a Nick/June sex scene. Behold His miracle! I was so relieved. And then... curiously they continued that love-theme-y music all the way over into Serena’s scene with June and that was not a coincidence.

I know people really like that Boomtown Rats song being the music to the fire... And it’s a jam. But... it’s about a real school shooting and I feel like that’s just a little... off? (Not to mention Tori Amos’ version is better, imo.) I mean, okay, I did some drama courses in university and I did a thing about that song so I researched it all and it just to me doesn’t fit at all. A 16-year-old girl shot up an elementary school. And somehow, call me crazy, but that’s completely inappropriate to use in this scene. I get female rage, etc etc. I get they didn’t want to go super obvious and use a song about burning houses. But considering how EXCELLENT a song they chose for 3x03 with that Roy Harper track you’d think they’d find something better for the bed/house burning. Not only that but the motive for Spencer was ... literally nothing. She didn’t like Mondays and thought it would be fun to kill a bunch of kids--which is the complete opposite of Serena’s motivations. It just devalues it.

I want more of Emily’s journey. This is the first time I’ve actually been interested in Emily tbh. And Clea Duvall is a treasure.

I want a Moira/Emily BROTP. Honestly Moira just seems like the best friend anybody could have?

WHY IS NICK A COMMANDER?! WTF????? Was I just not listening carefully enough? Is he? Cos I don’t really pay attention when he’s onscreen tbh and the wifey was like “Why’s this guy a commander now?” And I was like, “What do you mean he’s a commander?” Honestly, Nick is just like a piece of furniture. I barely notice him onscreen lol. Okay, this has nothing to do with my dislike of him. It honestly does not make any sense. We saw that other Commander only got promoted because his wife got pregnant. WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY PROMOTE NICK? What on god’s green earth has he EVER fucking done well? Why the shitting hell would they promote a Guardian who, under his watch, has had one handmaid kill herself, another one escape/”get kidnapped”, wife cheat on him then get executed, allow a BABY to get kidnapped, the house get burned down????? All those things seem like Very Bad things and put all together seem like something that would put him on the Wall for being such a shitty employee rather than someone who deserves MORE responsibility. There’s literally no reason to make him a Commander. Just conscript him to the Chicago front. You don’t need a reason. He’s a grunt. Eye or not. I DO NOT GET IT. Fred gets demoted and Nick gets promoted? Nahhhhh mans. Not buying it.

So little Nick. I love it. I want zero Nick, but this’ll do. I’ll even put up with him being a Commander (LMAO) if it means he goes away for a while.

Lawrence calling out June’s terrible seduction technique (it is really bad), and calling Fred stupid = :} 

OK BACK TO THE BURNING WATERFORD HOUSE... i cannot abide how SLOW June is ALL. THE. FUCKING. TIME. Like, she shows up in Serena’s little pyromaniacal bedroom inferno and is like “COME ON!” and pulls her out of the room in what appears to be a hurry. Then as Serena and Rita are rushing out June just fucking stops and starts staring at all the smoke as if she’s on fucking shrooms. Then there she goes on her bullshit... Hey, bish, the house is literally burning down cos your crazy ass soulmate set fire to her own life and maybe you should leave. No? Not interested? Sure, stand there. Feel up the walls like I did once on MDMA. Makes total fucking sense. TAKE YOUR TIME WHY DON’T YOU? Why not? It just reminded me of 2x13 when Rita was saying “You gotta leave NOW!” and June just took it upon herself to carve a bunch of shit onto the wall for no goddamn reason.

OKAY. I WAS RIGHT. The other night when I was like, “I think I know that beach.” I do know that beach!!! My dog likes to take dumps right where Serena was. (I clean up after him, don’t worry.) I can point out that beach on a map if you want. There are also heroin needles and ticks in the bushes. There is literally a water treatment plant 200m away. I go swimming exactly where Serena was and once a dead fish floated by and I had to wrestle my dog away from it. I have been swimming there a lot. It’s nice in the summer. HOWEVER, poor Yvonne in her drysuit doing that in fucking November or whatever. This lake is fucking cold even in summer sometimes lmao. Like, I’ve spent so many hours right in that spot... cos well, I used to live right up the road so duh. Of course now that I don’t live there now and it was winter so why would I take my dog swimming, that they decide to film there. OF COURSE.

Speaking of filming, not that anyone cares, they were at the St Lawrence Market at one point. It was so obvious. Wasn’t really paying attention to any of the other locales tbh. If I watch again and pay attention I prolly could pick out a few more but honestly the only person that entertains is myself.

I still can’t believe Serena was being reborn on dogshit/dead fish beach.