#the chokehold this drama had on me... and still has... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

envy-of-the-apple · 5 months

Note

Omg hi are your requests still open??? No pressure!

Unfortunately I am here as a Mahito simp and your twoshot of him has me in a chokehold. I’ve re-read that an ungodly amount of times now. That said, I can’t get the thought out of my head of Mahito noncon-ing a reader he likes who can’t see him, who is eventually able to see him in the midst of the act. Aaaaaa

sfjklsdkljsdkfjsdklfjsdlksj oh my god bestie you absolute genius hold on- alsosorrythistooksolong

(Dark!Mahito x reader)

Bed Bugs

(Yandere, dark content, implied somno, noncon, dubcon, choking-but veryvery brief)

You've been waking up sore lately.

Maybe you aren't sleeping, right? Maybe it's your bed. It might not be expensive, but you bought it solely for comfort.

The pain comes from your thighs. Aching. Numb. And if you looked closely, you swore you could see bites-

Bed bugs. That had to be it.

"I hate those fuckers," your friend groans, "I got a couple bites when I was staying in that cheap motel back in California? Lasted for a week."

"I was looking at exterminators. Everything's so expensive these days," you mutter, swirling your latte, "I don't even know how I got them. Ridiculous."

She hums. The cafe was quiet during this time, not too many customers. The two of you were tucked away in a booth, still nursing the expensive coffee. You'd already heard her rant about the inflation.

"Y'know, my friend's older brother has some kinda' homerun pest control gig. I can ask him about it. Maybe he can give you a discount? I'm pretty sure he specializes in termites but I don't think there's a real difference."

You eye her. "Yeah, no. Termites aren't in any way close to bed bugs. Besides, don't they use acid for termites? I'd still like to sleep on a bed that doesn't give me skin problems."

"See? I'm giving you solutions, and you keep rejecting them," your friend sighs, "I give up. I think you just got roommates now."

You laugh, about to respond, when you feel something dangerously close to your inner thigh. You glance down. Nothing.

"Uh, speaking of roommates, what did you say was happening with yours?" You change the subject, shifting in the booth.

"Oh yeah! Her and Dan are getting pretty serious, I think she's gonna move out soon."

"Oh really?" The touch came back. Harder. More insistent. You gasp when something grabs you by the hips, squeezing.

Your friend gives you a look. "You okay?"

You look around again. Nothing. Again.

"Um, yes! I am." You managed to respond, "Sorry, sorry, just....long day."

You clear your throat, plastering on a smile as you listen to her prattle about the drama in her life. Her voice distracts you from your thoughts swirling in your mind. Each getting more ridiculous than the last.

You swore it felt like a...hand.

Work kicked your ass today.

You'd never been so tired, practically falling asleep on the train. Crowded as always. You scrunched your nose as yet another person conveniently forgot to wear deodorant that day. Wonderful.

At least, the day was over. You could resign to being as unproductive as possible for the rest of your night.

You scroll through the forum. Almost everyone said that bed bugs- Cimex lectularius because now you've researched them so much you know their scientific name- are a losing battle. The final verdict is to get rid of your mattress immediately. Either that, or you'd need to call a specialized exterminator that cost at least twice the price of your current mattress. You didn't know which was the worst deal.

You ignore the first few touches. Trains. Crowded area. People who don't understand boundaries. It's the swipe on your ass that makes you turn around and glare at the likely culprit. A sleazy-looking man in his late-forties. He barely even reacts, just arching a brow at your look.

Typical. You inch away from him, squeezing past the other bodies until you're well past the other side. You lean against the window, blocking yourself from any other unwanted touches. Finally. Some peace.

Until it started back up again.

Something solid presses against you. Like-like a wall. Insistent, begging to be noticed. You're forced back, squished against the already small space. It wasn't your imagination. You can't delude yourself. It was real. A real hand was pressing against your pants, right above your clothed pussy.

But there was no one there.

What the fuck.

The rhythm is rough, forceful as the hand starts grinding on your clit, sending tingles up your spine. You let out a confused whine, slapping a hand over your mouth as you squirm fruitlessly against whatever the fuck this thing was. You can't stop it. It's too much. Too sudden. You want it to stop but it takes you higher and higher and higher and-

It's gone just when the train rolls to a stop. All at once, the opposing wall disappears. You stumble out of the doors, legs shaking, panting.

There's a whisper of a laugh right by your ear. You realize you're very wet.

What. The. Fuck.

You could have deluded yourself into thinking it was a hallucination. That you were so tired from work you had an orgasm untouched. It sounded ridiculous, but it was plausible, right? Stranger things have happened.

But, it just kept happening.

The touches range. Sometimes, it's just a brush against your shoulder. A poke on your cheek. Other times it's more insistent. You can still remember the sharp spank on your ass in your very much-alone apartment.

You were starting to think you might not be so alone, anymore.

The worst was when you were out in public. It always happened in public. You'd be at work, typing on your computer when you'd feel a sensation on your pussy, grinding on you until you're close to cumming. When you'd break away to hide away in the bathroom, you'd always find your panties soaked.

Sometimes, you find yourself typing something ridiculous on your computer. Are ghosts real? Can apparitions touch the living?

In one of these rabbit holes, you stumble across the word Spectrophillia. Forums of tons and tons of people sharing their own experiences that are eerily similar to yours. A woman describes her encounter with her own aspiration, saying that the thing had physical teeth, a physical tongue, a physical-

You stop reading after that. A horny ghost. Is that seriously what you were dealing with? You weren't raised religiously, so the idea wasn't very appealing.

Luckily, your doctor was a woman of science.

"The symptoms you're describing are a very common indication of stress." She types away on her computer.

You eye her, both in relief and incredulous. "Really?"

"Of course," she says, "Trust me, people have come up with crazier stories. Now." She turns back to you, clicking her pen before writing a couple things down on her clipboard.

"I'll prescribe you diazepam. Take one two hours after you've eaten before night." She instructs. "Come back if you feel anything out of the norm."

You nod, still a bit dazed by her answer. Stress, that's seriously all that this was?

But it worked, oddly enough. The first night back from the clinic, you stopped feeling those pseudo touches. Your insomnia started going away. You started getting a proper sleep cycle. For the first time in weeks, things were starting to work in your favor.

And then you wake up to the sounds of your bed moving.

Creaking. Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

Also, you feel...good. Really really good. Tingles shoot up your spine. A pleased sigh unconsciously escapes from your lips as the pleasure between your thighs grows. You're still incoherent, hips following the feeling. Hands are wrapped around your wrists, pressing them against the mattress. There's a puff of air against your ear. Tongue and teeth that nip against your throat.

It feels like a wet dream, you think. Blearily, you open your eyes, fully prepared to see some Hollywood actor, your crush from work, a cute stranger.

You see nothing but the ceiling. But the pressure only increases.

Immediately, all sleep is gone. You wiggle and squirm under the sudden weight. Weight that shouldn't be possible, considering there's nothing there. Your scream is blocked by a hand clamping itself over your windpipe, squeezing.

The panic is immediate. You're writhing, doing whatever you can to get air into your lungs. It's not working. You can't move your hands. You can't move your legs. You're dying you're dying you're-

"Can you see me now?"

You can see him.

You were expecting something a bit less inhuman. Apart from the stitches that litter his face, he looks familiar, in terms of shape that is. Two human eyes. A human head. Human lips that are curved into a grin. Human skin.

He looks so normal. And that makes whatever is happening even more scary.

He releases your throat, and you're sucking in mouthfuls of air, regulating your breathing. He hums in clear delight, leaning away so he straddles you. He tuts when you start crying, sobs wracking your shivering body.

"Is that all you can do?" He clicks his tongue like he's disappointed in you.

"Get off," you wheeze, wiggling away, "Get-get off."

"Why? You were enjoying it a couple of minutes ago." It? You glance down at the mess of bedsheets, where he's still inside you, lazily grinding his cock back into your wet hole.

Nothing about this makes sense. What was he doing-How can he be-How is he even real when you couldn't see him before? You can't think; your mind is still drowsy on fatigue and the medication. Fuck the medication? Is that why you can barely even struggle?

"What a-are you?" You manage to slur out, words slipping around your tongue like butter.

He laughs like you just said the world's funniest joke. It only makes your stomach drop. You've never heard a sound so evil before.

"That's kinda' rude. Your parents never taught you manners?" He drawls, "Mahito, that's my name! I know yours!" You hate the way he says your name with so much perversion. He's ruining the innocence, just like how he's ruining you.

You open your mouth, intent on screaming, but at that exact moment, his cock slams back inside you. You give out a stuttered moan instead.

"See? Told you: you like it." Mahito gloats and your mind swirls in and out of focus again. You're barely coherent, moaning and huffing underneath him. You feel disgusted at yourself. For being so okay with this. But-but you can't move. You can barely breathe.

And, you note with reluctance, he's been doing this for a while. You're practically mid-way through your build-up, so close to an orgasm that you don't want. Given by a fucking monster.

"Have you-have you been-"

"Yeah, it's been me, for a while now," he answers without much cadence, "You were so close with the ghost theory. It was kinda cute watching you get so desperate. Finding whatever you could to check out of reality."

Oh. You get it. This was all a game for him. How long has he been doing this to you? Making you stumble around, drowning in your own paranoia. How long has this thing been watching you? Touching you. Fucking you.

"You, on the other hand, are on a whole other level with your delusion." He grins, showing teeth. "Fuck, seriously, did you think you were hallucinating me fingering you? At that point, I have to admire your creativity."

You can barely focus on his words, not when his cock was digging you out. You were so close, practically on the precipice. He gives one more snap of his hips, and you're gone, pussy clenching around his dick, back arching.

The orgasm feels like it lasts for hours because he refuses to stop moving. He finally grants you mercy by spilling his cum deep inside you, forcing you to milk his cock as he lazily rolls his hips, forcing your oversensitive body to jolt.

You catch your breath when the world stops spinning. When it grows quiet, you can only hear your own panting. Another wave of tears threatens to spill.

"Aw, cheer up," Mahito purrs, "At least it wasn't bed bugs, right?"

#dark content #x reader #yandere #tw:noncon #mahito x reader #dark mahito #dark jjk #yandere jjk #tw:somno #tw: somnophilia #tw: choking

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captain-barnes-writes · 9 months

Text

What is soft launch? (Carlos Sainz)

Part three

Summary: Max Verstappen’s ex girlfriend moves on with none other than Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and they’ve managed to keep their relationship under wraps until now. Part one | part two |

Face claim: Cindy Kimberly

Type: insta au

Pair: Carlos Sainz x reader x ex!Max Verstappen

Warning: this is all over the place, fluffy Carlos, Lando Norris all up in the comments lol, salty max

————————

YourUsername posted a story

Replies

Username shots fired!

Username the pettiness is real🫢

Yourbff and he always remembers not to cheat!

YourUsername: girl stop 😭😭 you know what I’m gonna delete this

Yourbff 🔪

DanielRicciardo Carlos might as well have bought the whole flower shop lmao

YourUsername don’t give him any ideas 🫣

LandoNorris this will cause more drama with Max😑

YourUsername he started it, he should’ve never posted that story in the first place!

LandoNorris I know, I scolded him for it trust me

CarlosSainz55 anything for you princesa

YourUsername 🥰♥️

MaxVerstappen1 I’m sorry

YourUsername just let me move on in peace

MaxVerstappen1 I just don’t know why it had to be Carlos

YourUsername we fell in love, simple as that.

YourUsername deleted their story

———

20,890 likes

F1Wags Carlos Sainz and Y/N arriving at the paddock for the Barcelona Grand Prix. This is the first time the couple are seen in public after recently confirming their relationship (after secretly dating for one year). I wonder how this will go down after Max’s insta story a few days about Y/N caused some drama.

Comments

Username honestly I ship it

Username same 😶

Username I can’t believe she’s back 🥹

Username max and y/n are still my one true pair

Username he definitely cheated, that’s not an OTP😑

Username those were just rumors

Username I smell even more drama just wait on it

Username I still can’t believe Max posted that story about her as though he doesn’t have his own family now🤡

Username True. I actually feel bad for Kelly after that

Username maybe he realized the grass wasn’t greener on the other side 🤐

Username 2 years too late for that

———

18,675 likes

F1world Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were spotted having, what seems, a serious conversation ahead of the Barcelona Grand Prix. This comes after Carlos and Max’s ex-girlfriend, Y/N, confirmed they’ve been in a relationship for the last year. Max had an outburst and posted a story of Y/N holding flowers reminiscing on their relationship which he deleted after a few minutes. The drivers seemed annoyed and Carlos at some point walked away from the Red Bull driver.

Comments

Username i knew there’d be drama 😭

Username I hope they can get past it seeing they have to see each other all the time

Username same here

Username shouldn’t be dating his mate’s ex then

Username oh to be Y/N and have two drivers fight over her 😮‍💨

Username She has the grid rizz 😏

Username she’s immaculate

Username tbh she had most drivers on a chokehold ever since she was with Max👀

Username they’re all in her likes and comments a lot of the time 🫢

Username this is Max’s karma

Username ^^ yes

———

Liked by YourUsername, CharlesLeclerc and others

CarlosSainz55 Podium today, so many good things to celebrate 🙌

Comments

YourUsername proud of you baby!😮‍💨

CarlosSainz55 we’re celebrating tonight princesa 😘

LandoNorris keep it pg Carlos 😑 there’s kids here

CarlosSainz55 yeah, you!

LandoNorris 🤬

ScuderiaFerrari that’s our boy!

Username the way he included Y/N in his post too🥹

Username he’s simping hard

Username I wonder what max and him talked about

Username it didn’t look good🫢

Username definitely about y/n

Username she looks better with you than she ever did with max 🤤

Comment liked by CarlosSainz55

Username not carlos liking my comment lmao

———

Liked by CarlosSainz55, MaxVerstappen1, LewisHamilton and others

YourUsername Red for Ferrari ❤️‍🔥

Comments

ScuderiaFerrari Red looks good on you!

CarlosSainz55 I agree ❤️‍🔥

CarlosSainz55 more like red for me

YourUsername 😏

GigiHadid beautiful!

LewisHamilton so great seeing you again!

Charlottesiine ❤️❤️

Username she’s in love love

Username ok but what is Max doing here?

Username he doesn’t even follow her but is all in her likes all of a sudden?

Username apparently it’s a problem if she moves on but he moved on within a second lmao 🧐

Username someone take Max’s phone away!

Username he’s probably crying in the shower rn

Username red suits you so much better than blue ever did queen

YourUsername 😝🫣

———

15,870 likes

F1Wags There’s reports that Kelly and Max are taking some time apart after some drama-filled days following Max posting about his ex-girlfriend,Y/N, after she confirmed her relationship with Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz. Kelly was also pictured taking a solo flight to seemingly clear her mind and figure out the sudden halt of her 2-year relationship.

Comments

Username I called it!

Username it’d be hard to stay with someone who’s still clearly in love with their ex

Username you lose em how you get ‘em 🫢

Username poor Y/N can’t even move on in peace

Username she doesn’t seem to care tbh she’s down bad for Carlos lol

Username as she should 😏

Username lowkey feel bad for her

Username He should’ve fought for Y/N years ago, not now when he has his own little family

Username agreed! 😵‍💫

Username 20 sec penalty for ocon

Username 🤔

———

Liked by LandoNorris, CarlosSainz55, PierreGasly and others

YourUsername we’re good over here 😌 (that last one is for you guys, you’re welcome)

Comments

LandoNorris that last one was unnecessary 😒

YourUsername I disagree😋💋

LandoNorris 🤢

CharlesLeclerc I agree with Lando

YourBff is it simping hours??

YourUsername always 😶

ScuderiaFerrari giving the people what they want 👏

CarlosSainz55 😘

Username everybody just kind of overlooking the sassy caption 🤣

Username oh we noticed lol

Username my new favorite couple ❤️

Username queen keep giving us Carlos content

YourUsername 🫡🫡

———

Liked by YourUsername, LewisHamilton, CharlesLeclerc and others

CarlosSainz55 what she said 🤤

Comments on this post have been limited

YourUsername I love us🤤❤️‍🔥

CarlosSainz55 ❤️‍🔥

LewisHamilton beautiful couple!

YourUsername🫶🫶

LandoNorris third picture was unnecessary too

YourUsername 😐

DanielRicciardo the last pic on her post left me blind

CarlosSainz55 then how’d you type this?

DanielRicciardo 🫣

MaxVerstappen1 blocked CarlosSainz55 and YourUsername

———

Posting so late!

This is all over the place lmao but as always I enjoy making these social media au 🤭

#carlos sainz jr x you #carlos sainz x you #carlos sainz jr x reader #carlos sainz x reader #carlos sainz instagram edit #carlos sainz #Carlos sainz jr #carlos sainz x y/n #carlos sainz social media au #carlos sainz rec #max verstappen fanfic #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen fic

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berriweb · 11 months

Text

╰┈➤ ❝ unconditional love ❞

: ̗̀➛ ft. johnathan ohnn x gn! reader

: ̗̀➛ warnings. none

: ̗̀➛ a/n. someone save me from the chokehold pathetic men have me in, especially this one in particular, Im addicted to this man😞

“does it not bother you?”

The question pulled you out of your trance, almost not catching it as you’d become so consumed in the background noise that the drama series you’d put on played on your TV. Your gaze shifted from the flashing pictures on the screen to where Johnathan laid, his lanky body entangled with your limbs, arms wrapped around your waist and his head snuggled into your chest and turned with his ear pressed right above where your heart would be so he could better view the screen.

“Hm?” You chirped at first, taking note of his refusal to turn and look at you, even if your gaze technically couldn’t be met. The episode that played showed a couple in the show going on innocent dates, something akin to a slice of life to make up for all of the building tension in the series. Part of you wondered if that was the cause of his sudden question.

“This…all of this, does it not bother you in the slightest? Our situation.” The second time around, Johnathan sat up, pulling his arms away from your body but still focusing on the screen. That part of you was right. “We don’t get to go out for dates anymore, we can’t see movies and eat at fancy restaurants- I can never see your friends or family, we can’t do any of that. How are you just okay with it?”

His words gave a mixture of guilt and frustration in his tone, and your heart aches for him. Besides the initial discussion when you first found out what had happened to your boyfriend, you two hadn’t really talked much about how things would go from then on. You just fell into a pattern that the two of you silently agreed on, and part of that agreement was that Johnathan didn’t really go out much due to his insecurities and knowing that he’d never be seen as normal, never accepted.

“Johnny, I don’t-” “And in the house too,” he started, not even seeming to realize that he’d cut you off, “I don’t have a face anymore, I’m not me. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Your hands pulled away from him before cupping his cheeks and gently turning his head to face you, eyeing the hole where his features should’ve been. He didn’t try to resist. “I’m not going to lie and act like I don’t miss your face, none of this was fair too you and you don’t deserve any of it. But I didn’t fall in love with your face, I fell in love with you. None of this is going to change that.”

“And the others? Being seen with me in public would be shameful.”

“I’m never ashamed of you.”

He let out a sigh and his head hung low, you were lucky that his expressive personality and your ability to read him so well made up for the fact that he no longer had a face to express himself with. “We can still go out, I’m never against that. If there’s anyone in my life that even thinks of shunning you like the rest of them did then so be it, I wouldn’t want to be associated with someone like that anyway.”

You silently pulled his head back down to your chest and laid your own head back, staring up at the ceiling as you felt him relax on top of you.

“How are you so good at this?” He muttered.

“I’m not, you’re just easy to influence.”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“…you know, if you’re really worried about going out in public we could go see a movie or something. No one would even pay you any mind in the theater, it’ll be like baby steps. You can’t stay cooped up in here forever.”

Johnathan picked his head up to look at you. “Really?” He asked, sounding both surprised, nervous and just a tad bit excited.

“Of course, there is just one thing that does bother me though.” He tensed up for a moment, and you almost felt bad for springing the topic on him.

“What? What is it?”

“You’re gonna have to put on some clothes.”

“…that’s it?”

“I’ve been wondering for a while why you stopped, it’s just a bit weird.”

“It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve seen me naked…”

“You did it the few times we went out in public too!” You argued, and he got defensive.

“I didn’t think it mattered! It’s not like I have-”

“It’s the principle, Johnny.”

#across the spiderverse #atsv fanfiction #spiderman atsv #atsv x reader #spider man #the spot #jonathan ohnn #johnathan ohnn x reader #spiderverse the spot #the spot x reader #the spot atsv #the spot across the spiderverse

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chengtheauthor · 1 year

Text

Paddy Gibson x famous!reader (social media au & irl) pt. 1

We're not supposed to have that much chemistry...

Summary: fans are convinced that both actors are dating due to the vehement chemistry they share on screen and off screen.

yourusername

liked by blakelively and others

yourusername premiere 🪞❤️

View all 67,173 comments...

blakelively red definitely suits you! ❤️🔥

username1 MOTHER IS MOTHERING

username2 no. 1 reason why I'm not straight

username3 same bestie, same

paddygibson 🫠🔥❤️

username4 I can already tell that y/n has paddy on a chokehold QAHAHEDJJFKA

alexademie SO HOT

username5 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️

paddygibson

liked by benbarnes and others

paddygibson on my way to the premiere...

View all 35,295 comments...

username6 this pic is giving "you're coming home with me bbg 😏"

username7 I'll wholeheartedly offer myself to him.

benbarnes 🖤🖤🖤

yourusername I WOKE UP IN A NEW BUGATTI 🔥🚗‼️

username8 PLEASE I WAS WAITING FOR A COMMENT LIKE THIS

archierenaux3 too good looking to become an uber driver

Chengtheauthor

Many events from the premiere of the newly released Netflix rom-com movie "Paper Rings", but two actors really caught the attention of the fans. Despite being the two side characters of the movie, Y/n Y/l/n and Patrick Gibson held the heart of the fans due to the vehement chemistry they share on screen and off screen. Fans on Twitter couldn't help but get curious if the two actors were dating, making the hashtag "#whentheyhavemorechemistry" trending number one on Twitter.

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Which paper rings character are you?

Y/n Y/l/n shares her favorite tuna pasta recipe in her Instagram

Meanwhile during the press tour, both Y/n and Patrick are having the time of their lives flirting, chatting, joking and answering questions from their fans. They love it when people praise and acknowledge their work, especially with all the efforts they did to conduct a great film. It is a reward.

"Do you both consider each other as friends?"

"Do I consider Y/n a friend? Of course! Who doesn't?" Patrick said while looking at Y/n.

"You're just saying that for clout." Y/n jokingly said earning a dramatic look from Patrick.

"And to have an unlimited backstage pass on your concerts." Patrick added, making the crowd laugh at his comment. A fan shouted 'y/n you didn't answer the question!'. Making Y/n chuckle.

"Of course I consider Patrick as my friend."

"What is the other person's favorite color?"

"Y/n's favorite color is blue! She owns everything in color blue." Patrick proudly said earning a thumbs up from Y/n.

"Black. Or anything cool tones." Y/n said.

"What is something that the other person couldn't live without?"

"Oh, can I go first because this is very obvious and it's getting annoying how I would just see my face on it without my consent. But his camera! This boy couldn't live without his camera!" Y/n exclaimed while pointing her fingers at Patrick.

"Yes, I can't live without my camera and without Y/n's pictures in it." Patrick said winking at Y/n afterwards.

"Most of them are just me eating!"

"Exactly! You were called the eat girl in our set for a reason." Patrick said making Y/n laugh at the title she earned while on set.

"Who's your favorite person?"

"Patrick Leo Kenny-Gibson." She replied while putting a hand on his shoulder. Earning a series of 'aww' from the crowd.

"Wow, I did not expect this at all." Paddy said in a sarcastic manner.

"I mean, I only love Paddy cause he had a chokehold on me when he played Nikolai." Y/n said jokingly defending herself while rolling her eyes.

"Do I still have that chokehold on you?" Paddy asked while raising a brow, in a rather seductive way.

Y/n leaned on to Paddy and whispered, "Yes, you still do." This interaction of them made the whole room go wild. They both know for a fact that twitter will have a complete meltdown after that interaction.

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CHOKEHOLD

1,845 tweets

@freshtacooss Do I still have that chokehold on you?" "Yes you still do" WHAT THE FUCKKK!!!

@.y/nluvs I feel bad for the main characters of the film they're just third and fourth wheeling during the press conference 😭

@.y/npaddy YOU CAN'T CONVINCE ME THAT THEY'RE NOT DATING!

@slutforbenbarnes patrick and y/n promoting the movie versus Juliet and Rone promoting the movie:

@.y/nupdates SO YOU'RE TELLING ME?! THE CASTING DIRECTORS CHOOSE JULIET AND RONE TO BE THE MAIN CAST? WHEN Y/N AND PATRICK WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME?!

@pinkkittenprincess The fact that they're only the side characters but completely overshadowed the main characters.

@whoisangelxx56 When they have more chemistry than the main characters AWOOP

@lollawl me during the "chokehold" conversation

@paddygibsonupdates I watched paper rings for Patrick Gibson and Y/n Y/l/n only."

@.y/n&paddyprotectionsquad To the casting directors of paper rings, you had one job and that is to cast Patrick Gibson and Y/n Y/l/n as the main characters...

@lanwjr y/n and patrick singlehandedly ending the careers of the casting directors and main actors due to their chemistry:

@kaileeisseeingtaylorswift They gave what it needed to be gave.

@popculturegirlie The cast promoting their new movie, the side characters: 👩‍❤️‍👨 the main characters: 🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️

@purpleforspeaknowtv no one the casting directors once they open twitter and see the whole shabang:

@idkwhatmyusernameislawl to the casting directors, I hope you don't sleep well knowing that y'all pick the wrong actors to play the main characters...

@heyymissgurl y/n and paddy's back must've hurt so bad for carrying the entire movie

@chengtheauthor y/n and paddy really said "fuck them kids and fuck you to" to the casting directors and the main characters for doing a shit job.

Y/n Y/l/n tweeted!

@.realy/n we're not supposed to have that much chemistry @.paddygibson

@.paddygibson sorry, I can't control myself when it comes to you

Part two:

#Spotify #paddy gibson #patrick gibson #patrick gibson x reader #shadow and bone #nikolai lantsov #shadow and bone season 2 #social media au #nikolai lanstov x reader #sab s2 #hailee steinfeld

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patrophthia · 1 year

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fallin’ for ya | james potter

pairing: james potter x reader

genre: fluff, pining (kinda mutual pining), humor, crack, more fluff omg so fluffy

words count: 1.7k

original posted on wattpad

"you know [l/name], we were just talking about you before you came over."

before she could even retort about how they went back to last name basis and playfully reprimand him for it, he added, "james wanted to know if you'd like to go out with him this weekend."

“you twat!" he shouted, grabbing sirius in chokehold which only resulted in peter helping sirius fight for his life. "you dickhead, why didn't you let me ask her that myself?"

"because, you'd end up postponing it like you always do. it's been months prongs! get it over with!" screamed sirius between breaths, "honestly, you were putting gryffindor's name to shame."

it wasn't a rare occurrence for the quidditch teams to wreak havoc as they pass by the hallways. so really, it was the same old ordinary story for her to discuss her classes with her friends as a group of loud boys walked by.

now, there's one thing you should know. [name] has always prided herself to not be the type who falls for a guy who flashes her a smile (her friendship with the notorious sirius black which started from his failed attempts of trying woo her as evidence). she didn't swoon when sirius called her petnames, nothing. no matter how cool for school he may seem to be.

but there was something, something so unexplainable, a feeling that had her in a fit off smiley giggles —no matter how unlike her it was to do so— that had her scolding herself internally when james potter cruised by, grinning at her the second he spotted her.

she knew right then and there that she was in deep shit. they knew each other, of course they did, sirius would never stop talking about one to other and vice versa which meant that they're sort of acquaintances.

but merlin, something about that smile, the way his hazel eyes crinkled behind his round glasses, the slight dimples on his cheeks and the perfectly straight teeth that he had, had her in a fit. she was certain he'd still be the boy that she'd pick in a line of thirty hot guys.

"oh fuck."

"oh fuck's right," her friend, lucien retorted after having caught her staring at james, demanding a confession of sort. "i mean out of all the boys in hogwarts, you chose potter?"

"i didn't choose to!" she argued with a defensiveness that she didn't expect from herself. "i just fell for him!"

"good lord, you might as well prance around singing to him 'i've fallen for you! i know i shouldn't but i just can't stop myself' maybe he'll sing it back to you," lucien said teasingly, creating a tune as she went with her words. "perhaps you won't be lonely for the first time in -what, six years?"

"you're the worst friend ever," she groaned. the pair of them turning the corner so they could enter the transfiguration classroom. "you're supposed to help me get over him, this isn't good new for either of us-"

"good afternoon, [l/name]."

"er- good afternoon, potter," she greeted in return in a more questioning manner, he only smiled; turning back to his conversation with his friend. the feeling of blood rushing to her cheeks not missed by herself.

"er- good morning, potter," lucien said mockingly, a smirk on her thin lips. "i never pegged the great [f/name] as the type to fall for a guy just 'cause he says hi."

"it was 'good afternoon' not 'hi' and those are big words for someone who choked on pumpkin juice just 'cause they made eye contact with evans."

•••

she knew it was a mistake to introduce lucien to sirius. merlin, lucien alone was too much for one to handle when it comes to teasing, but put the two drama queens together? that was just a disaster waiting to happen. so when sirius approached her, tearing away from his herbology partner to annoy the life out of her, she was more than prepare to suffer for the next hour.

"so..." sirius drawled out, snatching her attention away from the plants she was maintaining. "a little birdie told me you fancy a certain friend of mine."

"yeah, lupin is one good looking lad," she quipped, praying that her body wouldn't betray her collapse right then and there from embarrassment. goddamn it lucien.

sirius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly; trying to get her to understand just how 'annoyed' she made him feel. "honestly [name], i'm pretty sure james fancy you too you know."

the way he spoke so nonchalantly put her on edge, but that didn't stop her from perking up to try to get more information from him. "we were talking the other day and he said you looked really pretty when he spotted you during one of his practices, that's a crush if i saw one."

"something about you catching his gaze as he was preparing to race," he muttered with a mischievous smile, "truly poetic."

"would you stop?" she grumbled, going back to attending her plants. "it's honestly not that big of a deal."

"not that big of a deal?" sirius gasp dramatically, pressing a hand on his chest for good measure. "this is the love of your life and it's not that big of a deal?"

she rolled her eyes, a remark ready at the tip of the tongue when professor sprout loudly clear her throat cutting off the pair's conversation.

"mister potter could you please focus on your partner rather than miss [l/name]?" she questioned, for the briefest moment she thought she saw a small smile on the edge of the professor's lip but she was quick to change her expression to a stern one. "or did you want to switch partners? if that's the case, you'll need to discuss it with miss [l/name]."

"no professor," he said quickly; rubbing the back of his neck as his ears flushed pink, "i-i was just a bit distracted."

the professor hummed, taking his excuse without further questions, letting him continue on his work. from her side she could feel sirius physically vibrating with excitement, slowly she turned; facing him once more to see —exactly what she expected to see when it comes to sirius— the human embodiment of an enthusiastic puppy.

"seeeeeeeee?" he dragged out, smiling from ear to ear, "sirius black is never wrong miss [l/name]."

•••

christmas was approaching, fast. and like any other rational 'high school student' sirius had the bright idea to throw a christmas party just before the break started. which led to her to where she was now; in the middle of a crowded common room trying to find her raven-haired friend yet all her effort was to no avail.

the room was packed, loud music that she could faintly recognize the track of blaring from every corner of the place, the air was humid; hot from all the bodies dancing and grinding against one another.

lucien had (for once in her life time) sat out from this party, having land herself a date with a redhead she'd been pining over since the start of this school year. so really, [name] was as alone as one could be and she was really regretting her decision to have even gotten dressed up to come in the first place.

remus was tall, she knew that, almost everyone in their year knew that, but she never stopped to think for second about how much of life safer his height was. merlin, knows the relief she felt the second she spotted his mousy head of hair bopping to the beat of the song a mere feet away from her.

it was an unspoken rule she had ingrained into her mind: wherever one marauder was, there would be the other three.

her feet moved before her mind even process it's movement, pushing pass people in pursuit of the prefect who really should be stopping the party but was instead joining in the fun.

sirius was quick to cheer her name when his eyes met her, bringing her to his side and handing her a brand new bottle of butterbeer. "i thought you'd ditched on me."

"and have you bother me about how i betrayed you for the rest of the break?" she retorted, twisting the cap open and taking a sip, "no thanks."

"and here i thought that you'd come to see me." he pouted, making sure that he was giving her his best puppy eyes so he could play victim. "turns out you just find me annoying."

"everyone does," remus snorted, joining in the conversation.

sirius tutted, annoyance playing on his features when he suddenly had a bright idea. "you know [l/name], we were just talking about you before you came over."

before she could even retort about how they went back to last name basis and playfully reprimand him for it, he added, "james wanted to know if you'd like to go out with him this weekend."

james quickly protested, hazel eyes going wide with shock as his cheeks flushed up, ears tinted red out of embarrassment. "you twat!" he shouted, grabbing sirius in chokehold which only resulted in peter helping sirius fight for his life. "you dickhead, why didn't you let me ask her that myself?"

"because, you'd end up postponing it like you always do. it's been months prongs! get it over with!" screamed sirius between breaths, "honestly, you were putting gryffindor's name to shame."

remus with enough sensibility, and a final snort, pulled the three boys apart; freeing sirius from james grip along with peter and pulled themselves away, giving james and [name] time to converse between themself.

"so.." she trailed off, looking straight at him, "would you still like to go out this weekend?" james blinked, staring at her like a deer in headlights. his mouth opening and shutting. "because, i'd like to."

fuck, she was digging herself into a deeper hole with every second that passes by, "only if you want to, of course. if not it's completely fine, i-"

"yeah." he cut her off, staring at her. "i'd love to," he added after clearing his throat, "i'll see you then?"

"yeah, i'll see you then," she agreed, feeling giddy the longer they maintain eye contact. after a second she turned; deciding that it was best to leave it as it is only to be stopped by a hand grasping her wrist. she looked over her shoulder, meeting his eyes once more.

"do you want to dance?"

—from bee: i love james potter ‼️

#james potter x reader #james potter x you #james potter x yn #james potter fluff #james potter fanfiction #james potter crack #james potter humor #james is a cutie #i love james potter #Spotify #🧳: my writing

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kai-anderson-whore · 10 months

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Vanishing point (jmp x fem reader smut)

Summary: you had a sneaking suspicion that your husband has been bedding his ex wife till he proves you otherwise

Warnings: smut, p in v sex, oral reader receiving, ex wife drama, accused of cheating, fluff, love making.

Word count: 1,6k

A/n: this song has been playing in my head 24/7 and it made me think of James patrick march

•¤❅¤•.•°˚˚°•..•°˚˚°•.•¤❅¤•.•¤❅¤•.•°˚˚°•. .•°˚˚°

Ever since you were bound to this art deco filled hotel you began to uncover new emotions you never felt before. Envy, lust and wrath and greed all deadly sins that can lead to some terrible things.

That's how you ended up in this mess dead. All because of lust and greed. After being charmed by the founder of the hotel cortez James patrick march. Immediately compelled by his wit and charm he managed to sweep you off your feet with his old fashioned ways.

Soon enough falling for the murderous ghost you decided to spend the rest of time with him till the vanishing point. You thought nothing can go wrong. James always spoke about his ex wife the countess that's when you discovered evny and wrath. The way he recalls all the memories of when she was the only one who had his heart.

But now he has you yet he still talks about his ex wife like they were still vowed to one another. It made your skin crawl and blood boil.

You sat on the foot of the bed waiting on James coming back from dinner with Elizabeth like they always do regarding the hotel. But you couldn't help but think your husband had bedded his ex wife. The thought made you physically sick you tapped your foot on the ground a glass of whisky in hand you have had enough.

Another half an hour later James finally enters the room. Expecting you to be asleep silently closing the door removing his neck scarf. "Ah darling I thought you would be asleep" James's velvet accent echoed through the dim light room. He then started removing his suit jacket and removing his suspenders. You just stared blankly at your husband taking a large sip of the whisky that didn't make you hiss anymore.

James strided over to you placing a kiss on your temple. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours dearest?" He asked taking a seat next to you not before pouring himself a glass of whisky. "How was the dinner?" You asked trying not to let the tears fall just yet.

"It was like they usually are just discussions regarding my hotel nothing new" James shrugged summing up his conversation he had with his ex wife moments ago. "Hmm" you hummed unimpressed downing the last of your whisky. "Are you sure your alright?" He questioned more noticing your demeanour.

"I'm fine James not like its normal constantly talking about your ex wife and having dinner with her no I'm completely fine with that" you scoffed getting off the foot of the bed. James furrowed his brows at your sudden remark.

"The dinners with the countess are strictly for the purpose of this hotel my dear nothing more nothing less" James told you but you didn't believe him. "Then why do you talk about her like I'm not your wife reminiscing on the past when she was going to leave you huh James how do you think that fucking makes me feel" you snapped.

James didn't say anything he knew that it wasn't fair on you. The countess was his first love the woman at one point had him on a chokehold. "Do you still love her James be honest" you asked the tears slipping out your eyes. "Of course not dearest" James chuckled at how bizarre you sounded.

How could he still love the countess when he had you. Someone who truly loves him for him. "Your lying" you accused clenching your jaw, gripping the glass tighter. James stood up walking over to you placing his ice cold hands on your shoulders.

"I do not love the countess she's history you are my present and future y/n" James stated wiping the stray tears from your cheeks. "You really mean that" you asked James nodded the line of his mustache going upwards as he smiled. "Your a thousand times mine and I'm a thousand yours until the vanishing point and not a moment before" you smiled at James's way of words like a poet.

He pressed his lips to your own passionately and lovingly. His ice cold hands on your hips guiding you to lay back on the velvet bed. Your back pressed against the bedsheets as he now paid attention to your neck. "I'm going to prove how much I love you" he whispered his voice velvety sending shivers down your spine.

You nodded your head moving your neck to let James have more access. His lips trailing peppering softly on your skin all the way down to the valley of your breasts. Your chest rising in anticipation.

"You are my queen not her, she's history you are my present and future" James hummed in between his soft lips touching yours traveling lower and lower until he faced your heat.

You bit your lip as James pulled your thighs apart. Revealing yourself to him he smirked dipping his head down giving your thighs peppered kisses leaving one of your clit. Your hands gripped the bedsheets as he devoured you.

James continues to lick a strip along your slick folds making you gasp then proceeds to suck your clit. Your fits started to grip the sheets tighter till your knuckles turned white. "Oh fuck" you moaned out your head hung back, your legs threatening to close around James's head. His strong cold hands holding your thighs apart.

"You taste exquisite dearest" James hummed sucking on your clit, your breathing heavy as your hands started tugging on his gelled hair earning a groan from James.

You began feeling that knot forming in the pit of your stomach building up for your sweet release. James began inserting a finger into your entrance curling it up hitting your sweet spot. Your moans filled the room, calls of James name left your lips like your only prayer letting everyone in this very hotel know who was making you feel this good.

James added a second finger adding to your pleasure. You squirmed from under him from the movements of his very skillful tongue. It was all too intoxicating the way his tongue would circle your clit then suck on it like his life depended on it, the way his fingers would curl upwards hitting that perfect spot bringing you over the edge.

"I'm so close james" you gasped out your soft legs threatening to enclose over James's head, "let go dearest" that was it for you the way James's velvet accent beckoning you to slip over the edge. Your back arching as you came over his mouth, James sucking up all your juices with every last drop.

Once you calmed down James removes himself from between your legs. Your legs felt shaky your eyes were heavy. "James that was wow" you chuckled lightly regaining your breathing back. James laid down on the bed beside you a devilish smirk across his pale complexion. "I'm far from done with you my dear" he grinned now climbing ontop of you making you giggle wrapping your arms around his neck.

You began unbuttoning James crisp white shirt, your lip tucked between your teeth. Detaching the last button on James's shirt you pushed the soft fabric off his pale shoulders discarding the material on the floor. James pressed his lips back on yours this time with much more hunger and passion than ever before.

With one hand holding himself up the other hand removing his dress suit pants meeting the same fate as his dress shirt did. You sat up removing your night dress leaving yourself bare for the man you loved. Your hair was all messed up by now from wiggling around but James still thought you were as perfect as ever.

Now both completely bare as the day you were born his cold hands roamed your body. Squeezing your breasts, thighs and legs peppering your soft skin with his lips tickling you with his pencil mustache. You were too focused on his lips you gasped as he entered your dripping wet heat. Your hands gripped his shoulders his thrust started slow letting you feel every inch of him Stretching you out blissfully.

"Your the only one I want not her" James whispered against your ear. You felt your heart flutter hearing those words a soft droopy smile on your lips. "I love you james" you panted a hand on the back of his neck bringing his lips to yours as he kept his slow, passionate thrusts.

"I love you more dearest" James grinned against your now swollen lips. Your moans filled the room your legs clamping over his waist feeling yourself getting closer to the edge once again. "I'm so close" you moaned bucking your hips up. "Me too darling" he grunted you felt him twitch inside you his thrust got more harder chasing your highs.

You let go over him your back arched. James watched in awe at your beauty unravelling beneath him. He couldn't believe such a creature like you would want someone like him he didn't deserve you he thought. A few more thrusts James reached his climax spilling him seed inside you.

Milking your highs James dropped ontop of you his face buried in the crook of your neck placing lazy kisses on the exposed skin. You grinned tiredly your hand playing with his hair. "Your the only one I want y/n, you and I till the vanishing point" he said rolling off you only to pull you close to him.

"And not a moment before" you smiled snuggling closer to him closing your eyes.

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evernkillian · 1 year

Text

Tomarry/Harrymort Fanfiction Recs | One- Shot Edition; Part 1

Standard Rec Lists Disclaimers Apply: Please for the love of God read the tags and Author's Note/s, This is NOT the ultimate rec lists or whatever, the fics below are my cup of tea.

Also, I tried my best to make the Quotes I included spoiler free but if you think it is just tell me!

(also I have more fic recs! Here)

🍄🍄🍄

1. naïve melody by TheOnceandFutureQueenofTarts

G | 2.9k Words

Summary: “You invited me to go to a fair with you,” Voldemort says levelly. “Because we’re going to battle to the death soon.”

Well, when he puts it like that.

Fluff beloved. They understand each other the way only enemies can. Voldemort as the Drama Expert™ also accidental date 👀

Voldemort returns, looking punchably smug and carrying the largest stuffed lion Harry has ever seen. Competitive git. Harry holds his stuffed snake a little tighter and ignores the feeling of rejection. He’d meant it as a joke, anyway; there’s nothing to be disappointed about. Voldemort clears his throat. “I propose a trade.” And he holds out the stuffed lion to Harry, his other hand gesturing for the snake. Oh. Harry hands over the snake hesitantly and accepts the lion in turn. Did we just win each other stuffed animals? he thinks.

2. Breaking More Taboos by Destiny_Of_A_Dragon

M | 3.3k Words

Summary: The first time Harry broke the taboo, he’d been beyond starving, with little to no choice. The second and third times were much the same.

But the fourth?

That’s when everything changed.

I KNOW I RAVED ABOUT IT ALREADY BUT. IT DESERVES REPEATING. LIKE PLS. THIS FIC HAD ME IN A CHOKEHOLD AJSVSHSBSHSH. Also, Deliciously Dark Harry. Voldemort saw that darkness, and moved. When I crave dark Harry who's oblivious he's dark- I read this. Sadly no favorite quote since spoilers 😔

3. Roads Untaken by wynnebat (@wynnefic)

T | 3k Words

Summary: Harry wanted to be outraged on behalf of the castle that he still considered to be his home. Hogwarts didn't deserve to have a piece of Tom Riddle lodged inside it like a particularly vicious splinter.

But there was something he was annoyed about even more than the fact that he was once again alive at the same time as a once and future dark lord. For the first time in his life, he sympathized with Voldemort, and knew that in this one instance, Voldemort might sympathize with him.

Harry looked at Tom head-on, and said, "Albus Dumbledore is a bastard."

Both turned down for the position of Hogwarts DADA professor, Tom and Harry have a few things to say to each other.

Ahvshsvs laughing at Dumbledore in this fic. "I am happy to have done right by you.", He says, while making another mistake. Aberforth, Tom & Harry bonding over insulting Albus. They got drunk and planned to build a new school- it was hilarious.

"Do you want to grab a drink at the Hog's Head? Dumbledore's brother works there. He can join us in insulting Dumbledore."

4. V Is For Vampire by duplicity (@duplicitywrites )

T | 13k Words

Summary: One cursed night over seventy years ago, Harry agreed to bite Tom and turn him into a vampire. Flash forward to today, when Tom hires a rag-tag group of starving film students to film a documentary about their lives as two totally platonic vampire pals.

Because Tom thinks their life as vampires is interesting enough for mainstream media.

Because he’s crazy.

Harry should have just let Tom die of old age like any other sane person would have done.

What really endeared me to the Vampire Harry and/or Vampire Tom troupe. COFFIN SHOPPING!!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) They're idiots who love each other very much. You know that love strengthened, and deepened with time? Yeah, like that. They're everything for each other. I love the whole crew (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠). Harry's endearing habit of knitting clothes for Tom. Artist Harry who draws (or redraws, as Tom makes a...sketch first) Tom's coffin designs ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ. Vampire Ollivander [insert shaky eyes]. Ginny is our lord and savior for putting up with these idiots. Ron Weasley is also our savior- because of him there are no....casualties. Jealous Tom [insert shaky red eyes]. Fluff- seriously, I read this when I need a pick me up (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠♥. Also Honorary mention to Tom Riddle's Hair Curl™

Harry laid a hand on Tom’s chest and said, “Okay.” Tom’s anger floundered, replaced with confusion. The harsh, inhuman lines of his face smoothed out as he tilted back, withdrawing from Harry’s touch like it had burned him. “I said okay,” Harry told him. “I do have you, don’t I? You’re right. I choose to be here, with you, and I’ve done that for about seventy years now.”

5. Sola Fide by crowthing (@crowcrowcrowthing )

M | 7.9k Words

Summary: Surely what he was dealing with was some level of deity, because quite suddenly the man was standing in front of him. No trace of apparition, no burst of speed. The man had parted through space and now towered over him, translucent and human-like.

Harry offered up his bleeding hand.

Hermit Harry- still magical, though. His lifestyle is so calming, no kidding (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠). I love the world building (?) In it where it shows his simple life. Love the cute niffler and the gnome family (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠). Harry taking care of his magical garden and Voldemort supplying the rare seeds ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ. *Screams* BWVSSGSVSGSGGS VEE AND HARRY'S RELATIONSHIP IS JUST 👌. Mutual Devotion [insert vibing emoji].

Blood glared against pale skin, ruby-bright, gathering in bunches and trickling down a bare chest. The man was so much taller than Harry, so much more, even while still so insubstantial. He eclipsed the world, staring down with those red, unblinking eyes and such pale, scaled skin.

He leaned in to rasp into Harry’s ear, “Worship me.”

#tomarry #harrymort #tomarrymort #fic recs #fanfiction recs #fanfic recs #tomarry recs #tomarry fic recs #harrymort recs #harrymort fic recs #tomarrymort recs #tomarrymort fic recs #harry potter #tom riddle #lord voldemort

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hazeracha · 1 year

Text

• // valentine’s day // •

pairing // jisung x reader

summary // spending Valentine’s Day with jisung didn’t go as planned…

warning // fluff, a little suggestive, kissing

wc: 2.0k

A/N I dont know why but this outfit that he wore recently has had me in a chokehold so I just had to write something about it. Dont forget requests are still open if there is anything you want me to write about let me know!! I hope you all enjoy.

“Why are you leaving me?” you whined as you watched Jisung get ready to go to the company.

You were laying in his bed at the dorms having stayed over the night before to spend time together on Valentine’s Day but there was a change of plans. He received a phone call from his manager telling him to come into the company for a quick meeting this afternoon. Jisung also thought it would be a good idea to leave a little earlier and work on some songs whilst he was there. You watched as he finished getting ready and grabbed his bag getting ready to leave. You sat up on the edge of the bed reaching your arms out for Jisung. He walked towards you standing in between your legs and your arms instantly wrapped around his waist as you buried your head into his stomach. “Don’t leave please.”

“Baby, I have to. I’m sorry I know we were supposed to spend the whole day together but you understand why I have to leave right? You know I wouldn’t if it wasn’t important.” he explained. “I know you don’t have to apologise to me it’s just… I don’t know… I....” you paused burying your head in closer and taking a deep breath. “Talk to me what is it? Are you okay?” He cupped your cheeks in his hands forcing you to look up at him

“It’s just...” you paused once again before you finally finished your sentence, “you look so good I can’t believe you're leaving me when you look like that” you gestured towards him with both your hands. He hit you lightly on the shoulder before speaking “I thought it was something serious, your such an idiot” he laughed pulling you in for another hug. “It is serious, my boyfriend is leaving me on Valentine’s Day whilst looking insanely attractive. I won't allow it.”

You clung to him tighter, “are you sure I can’t convince you to stay a little longer” you ran your hands up and down his sides before slipping your hands under his hoodie and feeling his warm skin on your fingertips as your traced small circles along his back looking up at him through your eyelashes. “It is very convincing but sadly I can’t...” he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss on your lips “but if you want to spend more time with me you could come to the company” he suggested. Your eyes lit up at his comment, instantly jumping up from the bed and rushing around trying to find something to wear. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready” you said as Jisung sat down on the spot you had just left, leaning back on his hands and watching you get ready. You settled on one of Jisung’s hoodies and a pair of oversized jeans pairing it with your platform converse. “I’m ready!” you leaned down and pressed another kiss to his lips before he stood up taking his hand in yours and leading you out the dorms and into the car.

You spent most of your time in the studio alone listening to music and reading the book you brought to pass the time. After you got bored with reading you used Jisung’s laptop to watch some Netflix, but of course, steering clear of watching the drama you watched together because he would never forgive you if you watched it without him. You heard your phone buzz on the desk and looked down to see a notification telling you that Stray Kids were live, the title read Happy Valentine’s Day. Clicking on the notification curious to see who it was, you were expecting Chan’s face to appear as he told you he was going to do a special live for Stay’s today but you were shocked when your boyfriend's face appeared on the screen.

> Y/N - Han Jisung!!!!

You watched as his eyes moved towards his phone and his eyes widened, he picked up his phone and stared for a few seconds before you watched him type on your screen.

J.One > WHY DID YOU USE MY FULL NAME??

J.One > What did I do!!!

> Y/N - Will you be my Valentine??? 🥺

J.One > I already am, what do you mean???

> Y/N - Then tell me why the Fuck I have spent nearly the whole day ALONE!!!

J.One > Once I’m done with this live you have all the time in the world to spend with me

> Y/N - Your lucky I love you AND look so damn good today like…

> Y/N - Your so pretty!!!

J.One > I know I am baby, you don’t have to tell me 😌

> Y/N - Annddd you have ruined the moment…

J.One > Sorry, my brain just stopped functioning I panicked

J.One > You can’t compliment me like that without warning

> Y/N - But it’s true, you look so good today I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep my hands to myself when we get home

J.One > Who says we have to wait until we get home 😏

> Y/N - HAN JISUNG!!!

J.One > Sorry, sorry. Just come sit with me whilst I finish my live I need to get off my phone

You walked through the hallways of the company passing studio after studio hearing different melodies and beats coming from them, which is something you always enjoy doing. You suppose that after all the time you have spent with Jisung and the other boys you have developed a better understanding of music, and the process you have to go through to create it. But also how much time it takes to produce a song. I guess you could say your love for music increased after meeting Jisung and you respected the people who made it a lot more.

You opened the door slowly and smiled at the staff sitting opposite Jisung taking the first empty seat you could find on the other side of the table. You smiled at Jisung and brought your book out, lightly placing it on the table trying not to make a noise. You listened to his voice as he spoke about his new song and many other things that came to his mind or were sparked by a comment he read. It was one of your favourite things to do, his voice was so calming and you can admit you were guilty of watching his old lives when he was unable to call you just so you could hear his voice.

After his live finished he spoke to his manager and a couple of the staff before they left the room leaving you and him alone. Standing up from the chair you made your way to Jisung and asked him if he was ready to go which he replied with a nod and took your hand leading you back to the studio to get your things. The silence as you walked was strange usually he always has something to say meaning he was preoccupied with something else.

As soon as he entered the studio he slumped down into the chair in front of the desk closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath. You stood and watched waiting for him to say something before you broke the silence. He opened his eyes and reached his arms motioning for you to come and sit on his lap. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he did the same around your waist holding you close letting your legs hang over the armrest of the chair.

“I’m sorry our day didn’t go to plan the way we wanted it to. So to make up for it how about we go back home and order some food and I know we both agreed not to get each other presents, but how about we go shopping tomorrow. Or if you would rather stay at home because we all know you are more of an introvert than me...” he joked, “we can do some online shopping and I will buy you whatever you want” he suggested.

“Anything?” you raised your eyebrows at him playing with the strings of his hoodie. “Yes anything. Unless it’s that one photocard of Changbin you want because ‘it’s the only one you need to complete the full set’ ”he said putting quotation marks around his words with his fingers. You laughed at the way he mimicked your voice, although you really hope that’s not what he thinks you sound like. Jisung brought his hand up to your face and brushed away a few pieces of hair that fell in front of your face brushing it behind your ear and brining his hand to rest on the side of your neck. You watched as his tongue ran over his bottom lip and his eyes drifted towards your lips.

Placing both your hands on Jisung's face and cupping his cheeks you pulled him in for a kiss, his grip on the side of your neck tightened as he pulled you in closer and let his tongue brush again your bottom lip. You pulled away and let your foreheads rest together feeling the soft material of the hat he was wearing against your skin. His eyes widened at your action and you could see him tense immediately thinking something was wrong but he relaxed when he saw you stand up and reposition yourself so you were now straddling him. His hands came back to your waist and your lips met once again. After a couple of seconds, you pulled away and started placing small kisses all over his face, first it was his cheek then the tip of his nose, forehead and lastly another on his lips. You pulled back and looked at his face as his hands made their way under the hoodie you were wearing and started tracing small circles on your back with his fingers as you did it to him this morning.

“Can I have another kiss” he pouted and closed his eyes waiting for you to complete his request. Instead, you reached for your phone and took a picture. His eyes shot open as he heard the shutter on the camera click and he reached for the phone. You held your hand up out of his reach and laughed as you watched him struggle under you to grab your phone. “No, give me the phone!! delete it, I look stupid” he whined reaching for the phone one more time. “No you look cute, I’m going to make it my lock screen” you teased.

That set him off even more as he now grabbed you with both hands resting on your ass and stood up from the chair, you let out a small squeal as he lifted you and placed you on the couch behind him so that you were now under him. “Oh, is this what you meant earlier when you said we don’t have to wait until we get home, because if it is… I like where this is going” you joked as he put one of his hands on your hips pushing you further into the couch and pressing his hips against you using his other hand to tilt your chin up to look at him. He leaned in pressing his lips to yours again and pulling you closer by the collar of the hoodie you were wearing. The kiss grew deeper and more needy as he eventuallty pulled back just a little but still letting his lips linger close to yours but not close enough, you could feel his heavy breaths tickling your lips before he leaned in to whisper in your ear. “Only if you give me your phone”

“Stop pretending like you don’t have pictures of me that are ten times worse on your phone” you pushed him away from you so he was now sitting upright on your lap. “Yeah, but that’s different I have my idol image to uphold plus I’m also the face of stray kids. aka the most handsome one,” he ran a hand through his hair that was sticking out the top of his hat. ”Your ridiculous you know that?”

“Yeah I know but you love me” he smiled.

“Yes, I do”

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opera-ghost · 10 months

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thought this needed to be shared on its own since the sweeney team have decided to edge us with releasing the cast album

this is from the second night of previews, february 28th. i gifted the full audio here, and shared a clip of the final sequence here as well

(more notes on the clip + the production under the cut)

after the verse about the beadle, annaleigh ashford attempts to swing onto the table and misses twice, before succeeding as the audience cheers. it was really funny in the moment and played into the vibe of the song as both ashford and groban continued to crack up. this seemed to happen on more than one night during previews from what i've read, which had me suspecting that it was a planned break-in a la the music man revival. but outside of previews i haven't heard of this happening again, so they could very well have just had difficulty with this bit during the first few shows. either way, the audience couldn't get enough of it. it was just amazing to hear this whole sequence live after only ever watching the movie and concerts (where the audience volume is significantly reduced). there was just the most contagious laughter at all the right moments, and it makes me really upset in hindsight that this number was butchered so much in the movie

so much to say about ashford and groban's performances in general. they clearly have so much fun with these roles and they do this particular number such justice, in my opinion. their visual comedy is just on a whole other level, and it really let the material shine along with their vocals. some people have criticized ashford for her accent/general characterization of mrs. lovett, but i'm so obsessed with what she's brought to the role. her lovett skews younger and, to me, she offers a mix of the iconic actresses who have taken a stab at the character before. others have had things to say against groban being cast as sweeney, but i personally enjoyed him very much, and he's of course at the top of his game vocally. this production plays things pretty straight and doesn't do anything super imaginative with the staging, but it really lets the actors performances shine

as a general note for the whole show, maria bilbao absolutely kills it as johanna, john rapson as the beadle makes parlor songs into one of my favorite bits of the show, and i want to print a little picture of nicholas christopher's pirelli and keep it in my wallet. gaten mattarazo is a great tobias, ruthie ann miles's beggar woman is as entertaining as she is soul-crushing. though he's since departed, jordan fisher had amazing chemistry with maria bilbao and his anthony was very sweet. jamie jackson as judge turpin was everything you could want out of that character, though i really really would've loved to see mea culpa here. i think the judge in this production especially feels a bit empty without it

this revival makes the weird choice to remove the factory whistle, which really takes away from a lot of the drama and overall makes it feel less sweeney-esque. although, i did read that they were maybe having technical issues during previews and added it back in later? but i watched/listened to some bits after opening and didn't hear it, so... still must be noted

despite some general criticisms i'm just so obsessed with this show, it's amazing to have a full staging of it on broadway once again and the 26-piece orchestra still has me in a chokehold. i highly recommend seeing it if you can!

#just needed to talk about this again bc despite my best efforts i am NOT off my sweeney bullshit yet #release the damn album for the love of god so i can move on /j #sweeney todd #josh groban #annaleigh ashford #save #audio gift

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crescentbea02 · 1 year

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"Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me" pt. 1 (Timeskip!Oikawa x fem! reader)

Tropes: second chance romance, long distance, friends to lovers, right person wrong time, ex-relationship,

Summary: In which Oikawa Tooru finds himself forecefully reviving memories in a flight for Japan, in hopes to reecounter with the one person that has him on a chokehold even after six years apart.

Part 1: here

ハイキュー

Some say that time heals all wounds. That the hands of the clock smooth the skin, that spread peace over our body, the peace of passing time. Saying goodbye to our phases, living in peace with what we once were, with what we once had.

Oikawa was a firm believer in that. He was a strong person, he had always been a strong person. A person too strong for this world, who seemed to take whatever trick the universe played on him. He didn't think anything else was going to make him collapse to the ground other than his ambitions. Or rather the lack of them.

His ambitions, his goals, his dreams were always in the first place for him. That was why so many girls had already dumped him for it. For being in a constant competition between them and the great love of his life, volleyball.

Oikawa always wanted more, he always wanted to go higher. He was a wild horse without dominance. A current of a winter wind. He was never satisfied. He always wanted more and more. And if for that he had to be alone, without serious commitments to any person, no matter how much he liked her, he would do it.

That was what he thought until he met Y/N.

“Tooru” a voice sounded.

An empty suitcase on top of his bed was enough to make his heart sink. The boy, now twenty-five, turned towards the doorway of his room. A small smile painted his face when he saw Emma, his current girlfriend, in his doorway.

She looked at the mess of clothes, sneakers and towels on top of the player's bed with a mischievous smile.

“What is going on?” she asked, walking into the room with a raised eyebrow.

What wasn't going on would be easier to answer.

Over the years, Oikawa has shaped itself on its own terms. He continued to fight, to work, until he ended up where he was now. An Olympic champion, playing for the Argentine national team, with so many trophies that not even the shelf could fit. It was what he deserved, after so many years of being spurned, if there was one thing he deserved was that. Now he had Emma, a beautiful model he had met at a company conference, in his life. The two were fine, there were no arguments or dramas, no crying, no passion.

But how unfair was the world, he still was not satisfied.

“I look so good in so many clothes that I can’t seem to decide which ones to take” he gave her one of his playful smiles, those smiles that everyone complained about how annoying they were.

Every piece of clothing strewn across the bed seemed to be a reason why his heart was squeezing with every minute that brought him closer to the moment he would land in Japan. Argentina was his home now, but part of his heart would always be buried in Japanese soil. Mainly because of all her favorite people who lived there. But he hadn't visited him for a couple of years, and the times he did go it was just for a few days to spend time with his family. Oikawa had games to win, training to do, in Argentina.

Imagine his surprise when his national team coach announced a supposed season in a foreign country for one of the players. All eyes were on Oikawa, and he quickly felt his heart drop when he realized that they would be spending some time in Japan to train for the 2021 Olympics. some time in the country, even if it was a thank you gift for Oikawa's effort.

Such news led Oikawa to immediately call Iwaizumi, who pretended to be extremely irritated with the fact that, very possibly, he had to put up with his friend in all his training sessions, teasing his players and upsetting everyone. The thing Oikawa knew how to do best in addition to his services. But he knew that Iwaizumi would be happy to see him. He always was, despite trying to hide it.

This ended up causing Iwaizumi to send him some high school photographs that he had found in the bedroom of his old house.

And one of them was the same one he kept in his bedside table drawer. Another reason why the various relationships he had in Argentina did not last long.

A picture of him and his high school girlfriend. Y/N L/N. What for many was seen as a puppy love, for Oikawa it had been much more than that. It had been proof of how his ambitions would always trump the person he was with. Even if he loved that person even more than he loved himself.

It looked like she haunted him. From the moment he left on that plane, she had never left his mind. No matter how hard he tried to get her to leave.

“Let me help you choose” Emma smiled, with her sweet smile that lit up an entire room. He approached the bed full of clothes and began to choose the clothes that Oikawa liked the most, and that best suited him “Look, these ones will look good with you in Japan. Don’t forget it’s cooler there” she held a sweater and struck him with her playful eyes.

Oikawa laughed.

“I just wish I could take everything” he said, in a nervous tone “Japan is my home, but Argentina slowly also became it.” he took one of his favorite jeans and fold them along with Emma “I’m afraid it will be those situations when you feel like nowhere feels at home anymore.”

“It won’t be” Emma answered, on her usual serene, mature and understanding voice "Some people don't even have one home. Be grateful that you belong to two places at the same time. If you don’t have one, you always have the other”

That wasn't really what worried him. After all, Oikawa had always believed that his home is what he made it.

What worried him was the deliberate choice he was going to make, which was to talk to someone who had been his home after six years of not even saying a word to her. But even so, he still felt her inside him.

And it was his fault, no one else's.

When the fateful day of the trip arrived, Oikawa didn't know if he loved or hated airplanes.He always loved space. He loved anything that did not have limits. But he hated feeling helpless. At any moment the plane could crash, and he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

With his head leaning against the window, he looked up at the starry night sky. That sky that reminded him so much of his youth. He thought about what would happen when he saw his friends again. He knew nothing ever changed, but it still made him a little nervous to imagine awkward silences and not the chaotic energy that used to happen whenever they met.

And he kept thinking of Y/N.

In his innocent nineteen-year-old mind, in a faraway country, building his future alone, after breaking up with his girlfriend of two years. With the one person who made him question his love of volleyball.

Oikawa chose his dreams over her, and he knew Y/N would never blame him for it. She didn't blame him so much that, even after that, she insisted that they remain friends.

At the time Oikawa thought she had been selfish. If Y/N could perfectly live her life in Japan, talking to him every day, just like a friend, which he no longer could remember what it was like, he couldn't. The distance, the time apart, only made him love her even more. He saw her everywhere he went. As soon as he saw a (y/h/c) hair his heart filled with hope that maybe it was she, in a sudden impulse of passion, who had come to visit him.

But it wasn't her.

It was never her.

A year went by, and Oikawa couldn't look at any woman he met without thinking about Y/N, how much he wanted her to be with him. How much he should be talking to her on the phone, that she must already be worried because he hadn't said anything in some weeks. Then, they always found that photograph in the drawer. And then they left the house, unintentionally hurt by him.

He thought that time would heal the wounds, that the hands of the clock would soften his skin, that they would spread peace over his body, the peace of passing time. Saying goodbye to his phases, living in peace with what he once was, with what he once had.

Because of this, Oikawa decided to give Y/N a break. And pretend that she didn't exist, or that she never existed. Maybe if he pretended she didn't exist, he would eventually forget about her existence. A decision that now, at twenty five years old, made him want to bang his head on the wall with the stupidity of his thinking.

But, after all, he was only twenty years old. And what does a person know at twenty?

“Good evening, would you like some snacks, sir?” one of the hostesses asked.

Oikawa slowly returned to real life. He took his brown eyes from the window and faced the hostess with a smile.

“Some milk bread, please”

ハイキュー

some silly idea I thought of. i crave for second chance romance. pt 1 of maybe 3 parts. i hope you liked it <33

#haikyuu #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu fanfiction #haikyuu fanfic #oikawa #oikawa tooru #oikawa fanfiction #oikawa fanfic #oikawa x reader #oikawa x y/n

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chaos0pikachu · 1 year

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tldr: bitches want gay shit, not het shit, with data and numbers to back it up; bonus Bible’s booty

so thinking about @discluded‘s essay on Mile and Apo’s upcoming historical drama, and Thailand’s bid for soft power got my brain thinking thoughts. I’ve talked about Thailand noticing the soft power of their BL media before along with why I think Chinese, South Korean, and other East Asian media (from television to novels, etc) are popping off in popularity in the last 5 years or so. Idk where those posts are and I’m to lazy to link them thus is life

The point! The point is tho reading discluded’s post made me think about F4 Thailand. Ironic, I know, since F4 is a het drama based off Boys Over Flowers a shojo manga from Japan that was released in 1992 and ended serialization in 2008.

Firstly, Boys Over Flowers FACINATES me b/c the god damn chokehold this series has on various Asian countries. I told a friend it’s comparable to like, Romeo and Juliet, in that it’s been adapted, remade, re-adapted, re-booted, re-imagined, and so on over and over and over again. Like there’s audio dramas, there’s films, there’s multiple live action TV shows, there’s an anime. Japan’s made two feature films, and two seasons of a TV. Taiwan had two seasons of a TV show, Korea had a tv show, China had two versions of the same show (one was a remake), Indonesia had two tv shows, India had a tv show, and finally Thailand was the latest to adapt it into a TV show in 2021 - 2022. The legacy of this story can’t be denied.

Now, my point? Okay so my point is I witnessed online the marketing for F4 Thailand in real time. It was interesting to me b/c I very rarely - and have not since - seen a ton of talk about a Thai drama that wasn’t BL or a horror or action film.

When it comes to the Thai film industry, the three genres I see discussed are: BL, Action, Horror. You can see this in what Netflix (America) offers in regards to Thai series specifically what ones they dub which shows like: Girl From Nowhere (which Netflix invested in a s2 and is a thriller/horror drama), The Whole Truth (a horror film), and Thai Cave Rescue (which they also have a documentary based on). Netflix is still (STUPIDLY) reluctant to purchase a license for any SK or Thai BL content (I know Semantic Error would blow the FUCK up on Netflix you idiots!!!) probably b/c investors are like, hmmmm but would gays of color sell? I would say they also have Your Name Engraved Herein but that’s an easier sell b/c its a drama and has more of that classic gay Oscars vibe (this isn’t an inherent bad thing don’t come for me).

Okay back to my point I s2g I have one.

So marketing for F4 Thailand was interesting b/c I actually saw it. I don’t see marketing cross over into my international waters for Thai het dramas. What helped this, and I fully believe this was done purposely, is the casting of Bright and Win who gained international popularity from 2Gether. Like, it seemed pretty obvious to me that casting Bright and Win was a bid to peak the interest of the international market, combined with casting them specifically in an adaption of one of the most famous and well known Asian romantic dramas of the last 30 years or so. This show was set-up to be A Hit.

But I don’t think it really worked internationally; bare with me, numbers time.

Now, ratings for F4 averaged at .441% on Thai TV, higher than Bad Buddy (which aired on the same network) which averaged at .121% and Kinnporsche which averaged at .314%.

I compared F4 to these two shows specifically b/c they aired in a similar timeframe (all three shows aired over the course of 2021 - 2022 except KP which only aired in 2022) and arguably Bad Buddy and Kinnporsche were the biggest BL shows in Thailand in those respective years.

F4 also did well in the Philippines, and ended up dubbed into Filipino, and it’s scheduled for re-broadcast in 2023. Honestly, it’s difficult to see how well F4 did internationally as there’s not a ton of information available on it. When I google “F4 Thailand reception” there’s not a lot of results, if I google “boys over flowers Thailand reception” I get this:

ngl I think it’s pretty funny that one of the top four most asked questions is if F4 is BL and again, it’s def b/c of Bright and Win’s casting. But given that there’s not a ton of information available, I glean that F4 didn’t do great in the western (American/Latin American/European) market. Not to say it didn’t do well.

On Google ratings: F4 Thailand lands at a 4.9 rating with 2619 reviews/ratings and Bad Buddy stands at a 5.0 with 1085 reviews/ratings

On MyDramaList F4 has a rating of 8.5/10 from 11,982 users, and Bad Buddy has a 8.5/10 from 26,445 users

On IMDb: F4 has a rating of 7.8/10 from 2.3k users, and Bad Buddy has 8.8/10 rating from 5k users

This isn’t a comparison about quality, but activity. I’m not here to make judgements on either shows quality, but rather international impact and relevancy. Outside of Google, Bad Buddy has more active users who left a rating or review on the website than F4, almost double in fact.

If you go to GMMTV’s official Youtube page and look at the most popular videos on the channel it’s majority....2Gether. Like my god so much 2Gether the CHOKEHOLD this show had on y’all:

More date and a comparison of F4 and Bad Buddy’s international numbers below, we’re getting into the meat now.

Now the actual F4 official trailer has 3.7 million views on GMMTV’s channel. Bad Buddy official trailer, also on GMMTV’s official channel, has 2.7 million views. Both are set at 1 year ago so they’re within the same or similar time frames for comparison.

To throw in there, the Kinnporsche official trailer was released 10 months ago and has clocked 7.1 million views total on Be On Cloud’s official channel. To keep up with the comparison, F4′s OST Who Am I clocked 21 million views at 1 year, while KP/Jeff Satur’s OST Why Don’t You Stay has clocked 36 million views at 8 months.

(completely unrelated sidenote but Vegas/Bible’s ass has 3.4 million views and I just find that fucking hilarious, the man’s booty got more youtube views than other studios episodes. The power of Bible booty)

You can watch episode 1 of F4 on GMMTV’s official youtube channel, but only episode 1 the rest are just previews for other episodes. Idk why, other series whether het or BL they have all the episodes available. There’s apparently 80 videos that are hidden, I’m wondering if you have to pay Youtube premium to access those. Since I only have episode 1 to compare, for comparisons sake, we can look at those numbers of F4′s ep01 and Bad Buddy’s, both of which are clocked at 1 year each, are as follows:

Bad Buddy ep01 [1/4]: 9.6 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [2/4]: 5.4 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [3/4]: 4.9 million

Bad Buddy ep01 [4/4]: 5 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [1/4]: 1.7 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [2/4]: 848k

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [3/4]: 3.3 million

F4 Thailand Begins ep01 [4/4]: 747k

If you crunch these numbers, Bad Buddy’s total view count for episode 1 is around 25 million views. F4′s total view count is around 7 million views (if I’m doing my math correctly a bitch doesn’t work in maths).

Now, I don’t know what the premiere numbers for either of these series was. BUT, this shows that one series, Bad Buddy, has legs and the other, F4, didn’t.

Either way that’s a pretty sizable gap and a lot of international fans use Youtube as a means to legally watch and support these shows as shown in the availability of subtitles.

F4 has subtitle options in: English, Korean, Chinese (Taiwan), Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish

Bad Buddy has subtitle options in: English, Turkish, French, Indonesian, Spanish, Chinese (Hong Kong), Korean, Chinese (Taiwan), Vietnamese, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Burmese, Chinese (Simplified) and Bulgarian.

Bro, BULGARIAN.

As far as I can tell, IQIYI doesn’t release streaming data that I could find, so idk what the numbers are for Kinnporsche. I do know that Kinnporsche, since airing, has never let the sites Top 10 list which is an impressive feat after ending months ago.

So like, what does all this information mean~ exactly? Am I saying F4 Thailand was a flop? No, not even a little bit lol I don’t have enough data to really say definitively F4 was a flop nor is that really the point here.

The point here is about international impact, and the fact that in my humble ass opinion, Thailand’s het shows ain’t hitting internationally all THAT much. Not as much as their BL shows are and have been.

Objectively, going by Thai ratings, F4 did a lot better than Bad Buddy, but internationally? Internationally there’s a pretty visible gap from everything I’ve seen.

I think what GMMTV was hoping was by casting Bright and Win they’re pull in that international audience they had cultivated with the 2gether series. But het dramas are high key a dime a dozen in American/European/Latin American audiences. Folks go to Kdramas or Cdramas for het dramas (and I have theories on why those hit, namely Cdramas for the high fantasy aspects that Europe and America doesn’t deliver on and kdramas for being unashamedly high quality produced romances. Also the one-and-done factor).

Given the juggernaut success of Kinnporsche, not just in the west but also in other Asian countries I imagine that’ll influence other studios to try to follow suit even more to gain even a half-slice of that visibility and profitability. Kinnporsche, imo, is an outlier, it’s success is sorta like 2gether and TharnType in that there were a lot of factors outside of the show itself that led to it’s individual success.

Like, flat, argue with the wall, 2gether is NOT a good series. But, it was released right when lockdown began (literally, ep01 aired Feb 21, 2020), in a way 2gether was like Animal Crossing, GMMTV didn’t expect it to do THAT well especially internationally but it did partially b/c what the fuck else we people gonna do in lockdown? Watch a simple but cute gay romcom which there was a gap for - Love, Victor wouldn’t air it’s first episode until June 17th, 2020, and that was marketed less as a queer romcom and more as a queer coming of age story. There’s also the factor of The Untamed having ended - final episode August 20th, 2019 - and folks catching on to the growing and active existence of international queer media that wasn’t boxed in and tied down by American conventions.

I think what we’re going to see is the “next era” of BL. We saw the uptick in overall content post 2019/2020 with the success of 2Gether and TharnType, following the success of series like Why R U, Love By Chance, 1000 Stars, Lovely Writer, etc along with other countries getting in more on the game (namely South Korea) and the overall uptick in the amount of BL (and now GL!) shows across the board.

After 2gether we saw more BL shows, I think after Kinnporsche we’re going to see higher quality BL/GL shows. And I think we’re already seeing that. Semantic Error was a nice change of pace for SK b/c it was longer than 15mins, I think going forward given the success of SE we’re going to see SK branch out slowly into developing longer shows (no longer than 30 to 35mins tho to keep costs down) and better workshopping (some kisses in KBLs...my guys). While for Thailand I think we’re gonna see better quality shows. Not Me dropped the ball in some regards but visually the show was great. Cutie Pie’s story was incoherent sure but visually? Hot damn that was a good looking show. We’re also getting more interesting concepts out of Thailand too; like that Prince/bodyguard show coming out, the fact Kinnporsche did eventually get made and MileApo’s upcoming historical film.

this all got away from me but whatever, bitches want gay shit, peace

#mileapo #kinnporsche #tharntype #thai bl #bad buddy #idk what else to tag this as #here ya go here are thoughts y'all #chaos pikachu talks to damn much #chaos pikachu metas

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the-orange-tabby-cat · 8 months

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Wings Of The Dawn | Chapter 2

AO3 link 🐾 | read chapter 1

GIF by loregifs

listen to the fic's playlist

pairing: joel miller x fem!reader Rating: 18+ eventually | first chapters free of smut Tags: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Age Difference, Small Town Dynamics, No use of y/n Word count of the chapter: 6k Next chapter will be posted: September 27th

Summary of the fic: You are Jackson's librarian, a doll with a good heart, that has your life changed when a handsome man decides to take his kid and start again in your small town after completing their cross country journey. Having a hard time ignoring Joel's dark brown eyes, you find yourself wishing to have him close as you both navigate through love triangles, teenage drama, city gossip, and ghosts from both of your pasts. This is a comfort fic filled with slow burn and small town dynamics. Chapter summary: Time for a lights out one on one session with your favorite Texan. And no, I'm not talking about smut... Yet.

｡˚🐾₊˚

CHAPTER 2

If you stare into the darkness for too long, you will notice that you can differentiate the shapes near you. For the first seconds, as your eyes get used to the lack of light, everything appears darker than it is, but as you keep them open, you see the details around you. After 21 years of living in the outbreak, being in the darkness from time to time isn't as challenging as it used to be, even for someone like you who wanted to run into the light as fast as you could.

"How many candles exactly do we need?" You asked Nath as she melted the beeswax little by little. There would be a programmed energy rationing for the following days as the dam got its amends done, making the demands for other sources of light higher.

It was a scorching day, much hotter than average for this time of the year. The heat in the candle-making process was hard to deal with, forcing both women to wear summer clothes and accept sweating as a regular reaction. You felt somewhat dizzy with the heat coming from the stove.

"We have 300 residents, I'm considering maybe 2 per person." She opened her mouth slightly, with her dark blue eyes looking above her, "600 up to 700 candles, maybe?"

"With just me and you making all of them? This is impossible." You looked at her, putting one of your hands behind your neck, scratching a little. From time to time, she would get a new plan that involved you both making something daring. Still, today, you were feeling tired from the start and decided to sabotage it before even beginning.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. We will have helpers, they’ll be here any minute, so you better behave and help me get the rest of the wax." Next to her, there were some trays with leftover candles. Everybody donated what they had on their shelf for the initiative.

Accepting defeat, you look at her, thinking about having more hands on. "Wait, what kind of help? You never involve anyone else in your plans," you inquired while separating the donated wax by color. Nath was very social and had most of the city in a chokehold, but she wasn't the type to keep too many people in her private life.

"First of all, ouch, I have more friends other than you," you glared at her, which she promptly ignored, "second, I convinced your favorite teenagers to join us. What could go wrong? Am I right?"

Without asking, you already knew the teens she was referring to.

In the weeks after the dinner at Alfie's house, Cat spent at least one hour per day at the library, close to you. She made herself useful with the book system you created, helping to put the books back on the shelves before you asked for it. Other times, she would read to the little kids in a group that came with the people from the small daycare near the corner by the afternoon.

Cat was reading Dr. Seuss, a very old copy of Oh, the Places You'll Go!, with a few yellow spots at page corners due to time, one of the residents found under a bed when they first moved into a house and decided to donate it. The infants reacted with smiles and giggles when you heard the characteristic bell sound of the front door.

Ellie stepped in with two books under her arm. You recognized her plaid shirt from the day at the meadow, trembling a bit with the memory. "I presume you devoured both of those?" You said, nodding at the books. She laughed.

"Yeah, came to deliver these and get new ones," she replied, putting them on the counter. As you went to put them on the right shelf, you noticed her brown eyes lingering on the kids listening to Cat's reading.

"Why don't you sit with them for a bit as I get you something new?" She looked at you and nodded slowly, finding her a cushion on the floor behind the kids. You smiled and thought she probably hadn't experienced the childhood pleasure of someone reading for her. A quick image of your brother reading out loud came into your mind, and you buried it as you searched for your recommendation books' shelves.

Cat didn't mind Ellie listening to her as she flipped the pages and showed the images to the kids. Ellie was blinking slowly, following Cat's hand in front of the pages, no longer a teen but instead a child. You started to get her two books since only taking one per visit was no longer enough.

She came every day to the library. At first, she came and left in a few minutes, just wanting a book to take home, but slowly she started to stay longer. Sometimes, she came just to check the available titles, walking between the shelves; others to get new books to take with her, and at times just to go somewhere. She was lingering for something you didn't recognize but tried to provide to her. Comfort seems to be a word that came close to what you felt she needed. You separated a table for her, near the window, a little far from the main door, when you saw she only read at her house. It has been two weeks since she started to read by her chair.

Finishing the story, the kids got up, and the teacher thanked you and Cat, who was already on her feet and coming closer to Ellie. You noticed a little red on her pale cheeks, perhaps from not being around other teens that much.

"So, what do you think?" Cat asked with a smile similar to the one that Alfie gave.

"Kinda cool, but not much for me," Ellie answered, a little snarky but playful. You wondered if Joel had a similar approach to humor.

"Okay, what do you like then?" Walking through the shelves, Cat put a copy of The Princess Diaries at the table nearby. As Ellie rolled her eyes, Cat got a clue and flickered around the shelf a little longer until she found something. “Maybe this? It looks like a you type of book.”

Ellie read the Murder on the Orient Express engraved on the cover and gave a quick look at Cat, "Now we’re talking, what is it about?" and with that they kept talking until after the sunset. Your recommendations for Ellie that day were discharged as she took Agatha Christie home, following Cat's tip.

They became a buy-one-get-two kind of deal. Cat helped you around as Ellie sat and read whatever the girl chose for her. If Cat wasn't there, no problem, she would wait for her with you, doing whatever her mind wanted. This was one of those days when Cat wasn't supposed to be at the library for a while, and without someone of her age, Ellie swallowed up her shyness and started to talk with you at the back house.

The back house was mainly bureau style, with just the machine that once belonged to a printing place, primarily focused on invitations and small printing, you believed. Now, they were filling a different purpose, restoring books and helping to preserve memory a title per time. You were taking leather and measuring for a book spine near the table, Ellie watching it closely.

“Where did you learn to do this?” She quietly asked, absorbed in the process, her eyes watching every small move you made.

"My dad was an archivist for a church. Do you know what are those?" Putting the book spine right in the middle, you started to glue the leather at the cover and back cover. Ellie shook her head, confused.

"Books are more than just stories, they also hold details about the world around us. Or used to, at least. My dad's life purpose was to ensure that every document, book, or piece of paper that held the church's history, part of us, was in good condition. He took care of it to be preserved for the next generations. I used to watch him do this at our house, in his studio. I like to think he would like me to continue doing this."

“What kind of books a church needs?” Ellie was seated next to you, her arms crossed a little on the table with her chin resting above them. You glanced at her and saw that she was honest with her question.

"Do you know what a Bible is?" You asked, stopping all your actions. She shook her head once more. "Well, you don't need to know about it, anyway. Churches' books are mostly their origin history or a collection of stories about what they believe." Forcing your hands to work with the leather again, you reflected on how different your life would have been without religious symbols shoved down your throat.

"Sounds kinda lame if you need a book to tell you what to believe," she replied, twisting her mouth slightly as if she thought it was absurd. You smiled at her, thinking about how much she looked like your brother at the moment.

Cat came not much after that, together with Nath, who was wearing a t-shirt written: "turtley awesome." She saw you by the counter and grinned immediately, making you sigh.

"You have a new plan," you said, annoyed.

"Yes, I have a new plan." She announced at the same time. "Our favorite Mexican will be starting to work on the dam soon, so I thought my favorite doll could do this city a favor and deliver candles with me."

"That's it? Deliver candles from house to house?" Squinting your eyes at her, you felt it was too good to be true. She squinted back at you for a few seconds, making Cat laugh.

"She forgot to say that we don't have any candles left in storage. You'll need to make new ones," Cat said, and you mouthed an "oh" to Nath. Of course, her plan had a catch.

"Just like I said, our favorite Mexican will be working on the dam soon, and they need a shit ton of candles in, like, two days," Nath said, pointing to Cat, eyebrows raised. As Ellie left your work table and came closer to the counter, Nath looked at her.

"Nice shirt," Ellie observed, followed by Nath humming something and entering a staring contest with the girl. You looked at both of them, confused about what was happening.

"How old are you? 12?" Nath questioned. Ellie shortly replied, saying 14. "Do you have a curfew?"

"Okay, no more interrogation. Let the poor girl be. When do you want to start this candle mission?" Before Ellie opened her mouth, you moved your hands in a motion to stop, gaining a short laugh from both girls.

"You see, Cat I get it, but how did you convince Ellie to make candles with us? This is new. I only see her at the library," the gears inside your head running with you, wondering when they met beside the library a few days back.

"A lady never tells, Doll," she said, melting more wax, "but apparently, having a collection of t-shirts with puns did the trick."

From the Tipsy Bison, Nath had a good view of the main street. She was quick to observe who and what, and even faster to understand their motivations. She noticed that Tommy's niece was going every day to the library, and on the days it was closed, she would stay put at home.

Joel appeared here and there, mainly with Tommy by his side, she crossed paths with them a few times and could check Joel's address. With the house street in her mind, she made a connection: Ellie was going to the library straight from her house, not from the school building, and as Maria reported earlier, she was supposed to already have started.

Nath and Seth cooked the patrol's food daily, with the patrollers coming to the counter to collect it before going to the city gate. In one of the deliveries, she heard Joel would come with the day's patrol to inspect the dam before working on it. It was Sunday, the library was closed, Nath made up her mind to let Seth take care of the Bison for the day and started walking to Ellie's house.

"Hum, yeah?" The girl opened the door, confused. Nath and she had seen each other just once, at the library, a couple days ago. Ellie's eyes lingered a bit too much on Nath's chest area, probably reading the t-shirt with a mouse drawing and the phrase "smartest rat at the sewer."

"What color is your room's ceiling?" Nath asked, snooping with her eyes inside the house. Old American regular, not yet different from the previous decoration there before being occupied by J0el and his kid. Impersonal, just a place to sleep, not a home.

She needed to find a way to get Ellie outside fast since Maria lived on the other side of the street and could easily question her motives for being there.

“Dirty white, why?” Ellie crossed her arms and raised one of her brows.

"Congratulations, you are a bored teen. Let me tell you what’ll happen now: you’ll come with me and have an amazing city tour, or you can stay here and your best choice is to sleep." Nath started walking down the pavement, shouting, "You have a minute to grab your keys and follow me."

Ellie rushed behind her, eager to have any excuse to leave her house. Nath had two main focuses during the tour: to present her with the basics of how the city worked and to gain a new alliance. She tried to make sure the kid understood the main buildings.

"Okay, let's get to the basics: buildings. The city has some structures inside our walls, but we also have some land a few miles from here to get some specifics. The food you eat is a mix of everything, Chad," she pointed at the man working on the garden as they passed by it, "is our gardner. Vegetables, fruis — you name it, are harvest inside the city and the animals come from the land outside. Try to get close to Chad, when you crave something sweet, compliment him, and he will give you a few berries. Works like a charm."

"The stable's horses are for the whole community, but if you start to patrol, you can choose one to be your main one." Nath continued as Ellie looked back at her in wonder.

“Which one is yours?” Nath laughed at the absurdity of the question.

“I don’t patrol, kid. Do you really think that I’d go around the runners and lunatics outside these walls risking my life? Hell no! My contribution is good alcohol and movie nights orchestrated by yours truly at the mess hall. Do you like horror movies?" Ellie didn't answer immediately, almost as if she had never seen one. "Well, you can try and see if it fits. The next one will be in a few weeks, you should come."

They walked through the main avenue and the main buildings. Nath showed her where they produced paper, how they got new fabric to make more clothes and not rely only on "treasure hunting." Little by little, Ellie understood the whole system of the city, including the government model. They were walking back on the main avenue as Nath continued the final part of the tour.

"If you ever get fucked up pretty bad and need a doctor, you go there and ask for Edwin. He looks a thousand years old, but pretty cool dude in case of an emergency," she spoke, nodding at the clinic on the other side of the street.

About four houses down the street, she started to speak again. "The little kids stay at the daycare until late during weekdays – make sure to do not cross their paths, or you will smell a diaper from a mile away," she twisted her nose and pointed at the said building. Ellie laughed, eyes bright as if she was taking notes of everything.

"And this is the best place in this city," Nath said as they entered the Tipsy Bison as the city tour ended, "it also opens every day of the week but for adults, not pests. You can't drink anything I have behind this counter, but you can eat a mean grilled cheese. Hungry?"

Turned out it was Ellie’s first time in a bar, exactly what you would hope for a 14year old, anyway. She was seated at a stool in front of the counter, watching from the kitchen’s door Nath make her a sandwich. Above the door, there was a black plaque with white letters:

NO SWEARING

NO FIGHTS

NO CORDYCEPS DISCUSSIONS

NO END OF THE WORLD TALK

"Why the hell do you have these rules for?" Ellie asked out loud, making Nath look at the plaque as she passed the door with the grilled cheese plate. "What happens if someone breaks it?"

“Pawpaw’s rules, not mine, but I still follow them. Don’t test them and you will be fine. Eat your damn sandwich,” she replied, Ellie was already taking a bite. “You like to read, huh? I watch you walk to the library every day. Dolly may be somewhat innocent, but I’m not. You are running from something.”

"What do you mean?" Ellie replied, getting tense at her shoulders, her small mouth a little more rigid. "I have no clue what you’re talking about."

"I get it, pal. A new kid that crossed the country with a grumpy man and ended up in a small town? Not the smoothest life," the girl looked down and took another bite. Nath continued, "My grandpa and I had our share of adventures before coming to this place, just me and him. If anyone understands you, this person is me. You skip school to go to the library. Dolly hasn't realized it yet, but I do."

"What the fuck do you want from me?" Ellie replied using her meanest tone. Nath pointed at the plaque with the rules. The girl looked up. "Not saying sorry for your stupid rules."

“Didn’t ask you to. Listen, I’ll keep your secret for now if you do me a favor.” Getting herself a little closer to the kid, Nath whispered, “I need to deliver some things around town and can’t be seen while at it, but you, nobody knows you yet. Simple and easy.”

"What kind of things?" She questioned in the same breathy tone, trying to keep her posture. "What can you give me in exchange? I won't do it for a secret. It’s too little."

“Basic shit, I can give you more details later,” Nath replied and waited for Ellie’s reaction, that just nodded her head once, “here’s the deal: you make me one deliver to check the quality of your work and come to my house next Sunday afternoon with Cat, I get you something from a smuggler outside Jackson. You name it.”

"Really, man? You want me to help with your stupid candles?" Ellie rolled her eyes, and Nath maintained her neutral expression, trying her best to get the kid afraid of her. It worked.

Ellie took her last bite and shook her head, "Fine, but no, something smuggled is too little. I want your shirt. The turtley awesome one." They sealed the deal with a handshake. One week later, Ellie and Cat were helping to make candles, to your utter confusion.

"Are you sure that this is your preferred weekend activity?" You asked as you finished making the second batch of candles. Looking at Cat, you continued, "Aren't we too old to be your pals for the day?"

"Old? Yeah, lame? No, also, I'm hoping to be paid with another apple pie," Cat said, and you smiled at her, putting the topic to rest.

Turned out that 600 candles were indeed impossible with the amount of time you had. You were tired of making them until way after the sunlight went away. Cat had gone home already, Ellie stayed to help clean everything and you realized it was probably too late for her to walk back alone, Joel was most likely worried.

Despite the kid saying to you that it was alright, you insisted on chaperoning her, carrying with you some candles, hoping that Joel would be less angry by it. As you walked the few blocks to their house, you came to the conclusion that you had no indication, clue, or even context for what Joel was like. Ellie spent most of the days at the library, but you never spoke about her relationship with him. He was a book waiting to be opened, one that you wanted to read every page and write small comments at the margins.

“I’m home!” Ellie shouted downstairs, as she entered the main door, Joel came from the kitchen. “Oh no”, you thought.

With a cloth rag on his shoulder, he stopped near Ellie, both hands on his hips and a knee popped. She opened her mouth, he quickly dismissed, "Don't. I told you, this is a safe place, safe as it gets, but you need to give a heads up before disappearing like that."

"I lost track of time, sorry. Nothing bad happened. Tell him, Dolly," she replied quickly, looking at you behind her shoulder. You were still at the front door, feeling awkward to enter the house. Joel furrowed his brows and looked at you up and down.

It had been a hot day, summer was not far away anymore. A tank top with shorts made sense for a day with your best friend, but in front of Joel, you felt naked. More naked than the day at the meadow. You jumped a bit, put on your best polite voice, and announced, "Sorry for showing up late, we did lose track of time. Ellie stayed with us all day. I can assure you she was fine under my eye."

Joel gave you a look, almost as if he didn't believe you. Remembering your first proper encounter at the Bison, he knew immediately you hated your nickname. Now he knows you were being just polite, not yourself, real. He looked through the doll in you, putting some weight on how his dark brown eyes gazed at yours.

"I mean it, she showed up by noon at Nath's door and stayed a little later to help us clean the mess. We made candles for the nights without energy. No more than that. I brought you some." You said in your own voice, no more the doll one.

"Right," he replied, looking down and then to Ellie, "Go to bed, you have school tomorrow. It's okay. I'm not mad at you." Ellie nodded, her face tensed still, and left without making any comments, leaving you alone with Joel.

For a few seconds, staring at each other, you both seemed to forget what you were doing. He spoke first, "So, the candles, thank you for them. They’ll be useful."

“Yeah, they will.” Putting the candles in his hands, you looked away when your fingers touched his. Not giving in to the feeling, you continued, “Have you seen the dam yet?”

"Hum, no, I’ll see the dam structure tomorrow." Joel quickly replied, short answer.

“Maria told the council that you used to work as a contractor, are you happy to do it again?” You tried once more, hoping to get more words out of him.

"I think so, it’s been so long that it feels like another lifetime," Joel replied, putting the candles away and taking the rag from his shoulder, not daring to look at you. Another lifetime, another Joel.

A younger Joel would have already asked for you to join him in the kitchen for a drink, maybe to walk you home, not this version with old bones and fear of everything. This one was too busy trying to keep what he already had near him, avoiding at all costs to be greedy.

To say that his first day back at a construction site was a dog day would be to lighten it up. He lied to you. Joel met Tommy a week ago to understand better the dam plan, the needs, and all by visiting it.

"Alfie is a good fella, not like some of the people we used to work with back at Austin," Tommy said as they walked down the main avenue toward the city gate. Joel allowed himself to see his baby brother as the 50 year old man he was, putting some trust in Tommy's words despite his history of having too much faith in everyone that sold him a good story.

Over the prior weeks, he tried to get some ground for him and Ellie. He would make her breakfast early in the morning, just like when they were traveling. Leave a lampshade lighted all night near her bedroom door to avoid bad dreams. Meet her at the mess hall every night to have dinner with Tommy and Maria. Walk her to school every morning. However, no matter what he tried, he could still notice the weight on her stare from when she asked if he was being honest with her.

Biting down the corner of his mouth, Tommy introduced him to Alfie at the city entrance. The man was accompanied by a young girl who looked similar to him. "Alfie, this is my brother, Joel. He will be joining us today at the dam."

"I heard good things about your abilities. Nice to meet you," Alfie started with a smile and shook his hand, "this is Catarina, my daughter. I will be home before the sunset, mija."

Joel controlled the impulse to sigh. Alfie was too smiley, too happy, too endearing, too young. Probably had an effect on women because of his thick accent, and being in his late thirties, early forties maximum helped as well. He had a happy look in his eye as if he hadn't lived on the same Earth as Joel for the last 21 years.

Cat gave her father a long hug and started to walk, leaving Alfie to talk with Joel and Tommy. The scene felt like a slap on his face, a reminder of what he one day had and now was shaking on his boots to keep. He assumed that Cat and Alfie had a similar age difference as Sarah and he had. Alfie was a natural, appeared to get along with his daughter, could smile easily, and had been a good friend to his brother over time. Envy wasn't a natural feeling for Joel, but he was sure he was jealous of the young man's destiny over his own.

He could sense there was conversation near him but only paid attention when Alfie said his name back at him. "Cat and Ellie are getting closer. Perhaps you both could join us for a backyard barbecue," he invited, smiling.

"Yeah, we’ll be there. Thank you," Joel agreed, looking in front of him, despite having not heard a single time Ellie mention Cat. He didn't know when, but he got so lost in his thoughts as they followed the trail that he lost his sense of reality a little. They were no longer at Jackson but on the back of horses following for the dam. He had no idea of how much time had passed.

“Hey man, I forgot to ask you. We saw you at Dolly’s door the other night, all good?” Tommy started as he got closer to Alfie, Joel behind them at the back of the trail. “All this cat and mouse must be tiring.”

“Oh, Dolly,” Alfie looked down a little, peaking Joel’s interest. “It is not, like, she is avoiding me, you know? But she hasn’t searched for me yet, I don’t know what to do.”

Alfie's smile was no longer decorating his face. Joel felt slightly guilty when he found out he felt better seeing the man's sadness. He had crossed paths with you a couple of times, but you looked at him straight in the eyes instead of running away. He saw how you dropped your shoulders as Alfie left your doorway, almost as if you were annoyed by the idea of being close to the man.

For a second, Joel allowed himself to believe you would have put your arms around his neck if he was the one kissing your cheek instead.

"She is a little difficult, but hey, progress is progress! Have you tried to ask Nath about it?" Tommy put a hand on his tight and looked at Alfie, a little lost in his thoughts.

"Not directly, she scares me a little," both men laugh as Joel didn't get the joke.

“Well, you should get a beer and try to get some alliances if you really want the doll,” Tommy advised and went straight to the front of the trail.

A well-known face waited for them at the dam. Joel glared at Tommy, who didn't look back at his brother's face. "Can't believe you didn't tell me this shit," Joel hissed low in his brother's direction.

Eugene and Tommy were fireflies together. Joel heard about the man over radio conversations over the years, listening to Tommy's enthusiasm as he spoke of his people skills and electricity expertise. Tommy searched for an older figure in Eugene because he no longer trusted Joel, simple as that. When Joel and Ellie showed up last winter, Tommy kept Eugene's presence a secret. Coming back during spring, he told Joel right away.

"Okay, you gotta check this out. I found the old floor plant of the dam in one of the office's rooms near the entrance. It will be a good rainy season, baby!" Eugene shouted hoarsely as the trio stopped their horses, Tommy and Alfie already walking behind him. Joel, however, stood back, taking a good look at the former firefly.

A slender man with long limbs, round glasses cracked in one of the lenses, and shaggy gray hair. His front teeth were slightly separated inside of a large mouth. It burned Joel's blood seeing Eugene so carefree, living a good life after years of Firefly actions and filling his brother's mind with ideas. Joel saw in him an old man who hadn't allowed himself to get old and hoped he didn't appear like this to the others, a joke of a man.

You were looking at Joel like he wasn't a joke to you, at least not a big one. His mind returning to the house with you, he waved the cloth a little on the air as if thinking and speaking at the same speed. "Why was Ellie with you?" He questioned a little for himself and a lot for you. He put some weight on the remembrance of that day at the dam, deciding to deal with it later.

"My friend, the bar owner - Nath, invited her to the activity." You replied with a lower voice as you shoved your hands in the back pockets of your shorts. "I can tell her to no longer invite Ellie if you feel uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine. Just took me by surprise, I guess," he quickly replied, pouting a little.

As you opened your mouth to say goodbye, a sizzling sound filled the room, and the lights flickered, followed by silence and total darkness. "Goddammit, fucking Eugene," Joel said out loud, leaving an intense sigh out of his body.

In the total darkness, you saw his silhouette against the moonlight that filtered from the kitchen's windows, a little far from where you stood in the living room. You could only hear you and Joel breathing.

"Guess we will have to use the candles before we imagined," he dared to speak, walking backwards into his kitchen. You were unsure of what to do, start to walk home? Wait until he came back with a candle lit up?

You waited, not by choice, but because you couldn't decide in time. You saw Joel protecting the candle's flame as he got close to you, his face lines soft from the orange light. His dark brown eyes were even stronger as the flame danced, reflecting on them.

"Come, I’ll get you something to eat," he spoke gently, and you followed his steps to the kitchen table despite the fact you were talking back.

“No, I will walk home, it’s already late,” you said without any intention to leave.

“Nonsense, it’s too dark for you without the lamppost. Stay a bit,” he replied gentler.

There was something sweet about how Joel moved around when his guard was low. It was the third time you met the man, but you noticed his shoulder line relaxed and his hands precise in their movements. In the dark of his kitchen, you wondered if he would appear the same with the lights on.

Joel heated for you some leftover tomato soup he made earlier when he waited for Ellie to show up. With a hint of embarrassment, you accepted the dish, lowering a spoon and tasting it.

"I'm not a huge fan of winter food during hot weather, but this is very good." He smiled, and a dimple appeared on his cheek. "Do you like to cook?"

"Not really, but I had to learn it due to necessity," he shrugged, frowning down a bit with his mouth. You laughed, and he smiled again.

"I learned due to necessity, and my soups don't taste like this," you teased, having another full spoon.

Time passed with the candle melting, and the only sound on the first floor was both your voices. Without noticing, you were almost whispering. You weren't sure if it was to avoid waking up Ellie or because it felt like a secret to be there alone with him.

“Can I get a little nosy?” You chewed your lower lip after speaking, Joel nodded. “Ellie comes to the library all the time. I think she is avoiding something.”

Joel's eyes got harder. "What do you mean?" He questioned, putting his back against the chair, getting some space from you.

“She reads a lot, which is amazing, but she reads to forget reality, not to her entertainment.” You lowered your eyes at your almost empty plate. Silence filled the room again. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

"You are right," Joel affirmed, crossing his arms at his chest. His eyes were lost on the wooden table in front of him. "The way to Jackson wasn't easy, I can tell you this much. She came from a FEDRA school, it takes time to learn how to be a kid when you were raised to be a soldier."

Finishing your soup and resting the spoon on the plate, you looked at Joel. The lines between his brows were stronger now, his hands around his biceps holding tight his body closed. His plush lips were tensed as he stayed quiet, immersed in his thoughts.

"Time heals most things," you started, earning a quick glance from him, "she will open her shell. I will keep an eye on her, pinky promise."

His eyes went back and forth between yours. You felt a little awkward after saying such a childish phrase in front of a man older than you, forgetting for a second you weren't speaking with Nath or your brother but with someone you were spending more than 5 minutes together for the first time. Despite that, he put one arm on the table, close to your hand, and lifted his pinky finger.

Smiling with your mouth closed, you enlaced your finger with his. He slowly looked from your finger to your eyes and smiled back. In the low and trembling light from the only candle in the whole room, with his dark eyes boring into yours, you never felt more seen.

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