#the workload makes me want to kill someone though

[daemour]

Pairing: roommate! San x f! yn

Word Count: 10,664

Warnings: cursing, alcohol consumption, smut warnings under cut

Genre: Angst, fluff, smut, f2l au, college au, M for mature audiences

Summary: As the resident fuckboy San's best friend, you're legally obligated to be his hype man. It's only fitting as you're one of the few who can resist his boyish charms. But when he's set his sights on someone you cannot stand, perhaps you need to dig a bit deeper into your feelings after all.

Smut Warnings: masturbation (f), voyeurism, sexual fantasies, oral (f), missionary, protected sex, very slight breast play, overstimulation, cowgirl, some cumplay, dirty dirty talk, fingering, slight body worship ig?, praise, I literally have no idea I wrote it at a time when I should've been in bed so lmk if I missed anything

-

this is for the jackson wang party fic collab finished with @mingsolo (hella good) @flurrys-creativity (Pygalgia, Effervescent, and Abience) and @sanjoongie (trouble) <3 I still have one more to go but we'll ignore that LMAOOOOO I added too much plot :') flurry was a dear and helped me sort out my thoughts and I managed to write 8k of it in one day lol.

hope u all enjoy and sorry I'm a professional yapper there's no shutting me up

“Going out again?” you ask your best friend and flatmate, San, as he walks past where you’re seated at the kitchen counter, suffering through your essays.

“Yep,” San answers easily, popping the ‘p’ and leaning over to take a peek at your laptop screen. “You misspelt ‘dextrorotatory’, you wrote it as ‘dexrotatory’.”

As your eyes find the typo, you groan and plant your head on the table. “I give up,” you declare dramatically, “I’ll drop out and become a taxi driver.”

San laughs. “First of all, you can’t drive that well. Second of all, you’d make more money as a stripper.” He dodges your smack with ease. “Third, you’re smart and you’ll ace these like always. You’re just a little mentally constipated. Why don’t you join me tonight?”

You think about it for a minute. While you probably do need a break from staring at your laptop, you know how wild the parties San goes to can get from personal experience. And you don’t think it’s a good idea when it's the end of your semester and the final year of your master's program. You just can’t afford to do that. “I’ll pass this time,” you sigh. “Maybe after exam season.”

San hums. “All right. Make sure to take a break, though,” he reminds you, dropping a quick kiss on the top of your head. “See you later.”

He soon disappears out of the door and you turn your focus away from your best friend to your homework. You feel bad for whoever his new conquest will be at the party.

In your opinion, it’s best to keep San at arm’s length when it comes to a romantic relationship. Not that you like him, but you also don’t want to be another notch on his bedpost, and you most certainly do not want to ruin your eight-year-long friendship. It’s not hard to see that San isn’t interested in a long relationship, not right now at least.

You honestly find it amusing that so many girls and guys still throw themselves at him and then get upset when he doesn’t give them a second glance after the initial night. His reputation precedes him, especially in your small town, and yet there will always be a line out the door for him. You don’t even know how he knows so many people.

With a sigh, you clear out your thoughts and refocus on your organic chemistry work. You’re lucky your job offered to pay for your master's classes, but the workload is killing you inside. You’re incredibly happy you’re almost done, and with newfound motivation, you hunker down and start writing out your notes again.

It’s almost two in the morning when you finally yawn and start putting your books away, and it’s almost three when you hear the front door open and the sound of San stumbling into the shoe rack as he always does. “You’re home already, Sanah?”

“YN!” San stumbles his way into the bathroom where you’re combing your hair, wrapping his arms around you and tucking his flushed face into your neck. “You’re still up?”

You laugh, tapping him on the head with your brush. “Yes, but I’m about to go to bed. And you should too, you know.”

San groans, his hold on your waist tightening and his words slurring together. “I don’t wanna,” he whines, “the bed's too cold.”

You sigh fondly. This happens almost every time he drinks, and usually, that’s why he doesn’t drink too much when he’s by himself. He gets too cuddly with people and you’re usually the one to keep him from bedding everyone he sees.  You suppose he somehow didn’t end up with anyone in bed and he’s disappointed now. “Do you think you’ll ever ask to sleep with me nicely, or will you just settle for wrestle-cuddling me into my own bed?” you ask, rolling your eyes as San does not answer, just pulling you towards your room. “There’s my answer.”

You’re too used to his drunk antics and just let him move you around. It’s comforting in a way, that he’s comfortable enough around you to do this with you, and it makes your heart warm whenever he throws his arm around you and presses his face in your neck.

You’d never admit it, but it’s nights like this when you sleep the best. With his warm breath tickling your neck, you let your body relax and your eyes flutter shut.

-

“God, I’ve got a raging headache,” San groans when he sees you enter the kitchen with a mess of bed hair. “I went so crazy with the soju last night, I think I’m going to die.”

You laugh, reaching for the pot to make some oatmeal for him. “Don’t be so dramatic. Why did you even drink so much anyway? No bitches?”

San snorts but immediately whines from the sharp pain that probably shot through his skull. “You’re so mean to me! No, I got no bitches, but that was from my own choice anyway. I don’t want to fuck around anymore.”

Both your eyebrows raise into your hairline. “No? What changed things, hm? Finally decided your one true love is Byeol?” As if on cue, your shared cat meows and curls around your ankles, and you bend down to scratch behind her ears.

“Never had to decide that, we all know she’s the real number one in my life. No, I think I’m interested in someone.” You stop your petting of Byeol, who meows in protest and runs off to pout somewhere. “Come on, don’t act like you just saw a ghost.”

“Who?” is the only question that comes out of your mouth. Of course, San has had a crush before, but he’s never stopped screwing around unless he was actively dating that person. He’s a fuckboy, but he’s not a piece of shit at least. This is new.

“Lee Yeseul. I met her yesterday at the party, and she’s so sweet. She was so out of place at the party, and not in a mean way. She just…has such an aura around her.” San’s voice is soft even just talking about her and you get the feeling he’s being serious. “We’re meeting up for coffee today.”

“That’s…amazing, Sanah. I really hope it goes well for you,” you smile at him, pushing a bowl of oatmeal over to him. “Don’t forget to let me make a speech at your wedding.”

San chuckles, rolling his eyes at your jokes. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t you have study group today? Go there and stop bothering me.”

You ruffle his messy hair before planting a kiss on it and pinching his cheek. He blindly reaches around to smack at you but you dodge him easily, laughing as you head out to grab your keys. “See you later, Sanah. Have a good da-ate.”

San grumbles at you but ultimately returns to his food. You think you can hear him muttering about you being a pain in the ass and you smile to yourself. You don’t have the heart to tell him you know Lee Yeseul…and she’s a major bitch. You sincerely hope she’s sweet to San at least—he deserves the best. But you find her absolutely draining, especially with how often she talks about herself and doesn’t pay attention to anyone else ever. If she cries in your class one more time you think you might smack her yourself.

You still remember the time you had gotten a call that your grandfather had died, and after overhearing your conversation, instead of comforting you, she started talking about how “so many of my family members died in the past ten years.” Sure, maybe she was trying, but you’ve known about her antics enough that it was clear she just wanted to make it about her.

But if San likes her, who are you to interfere? He has a pretty good eye for who has a good personality so maybe Yeseul has changed. You’re not one to stop him. Not that you ever could. When he first started going out to party, you would tag along to make sure he wouldn’t make any bad decisions, but your efforts seldom paid off. You’re pretty sure he must be blessed since he somehow hadn’t pissed off anyone majorly enough to have them call a hit on him.

Shaking your head, you rid yourself of these thoughts and go to the library. There’s no use dwelling on it, the more you think about it, the worse your feeling about his crush on Yeseul gets. He’s a grown man, he doesn’t need you to parent him.

“Woah, who pissed in your cereal?” You should’ve known you wouldn’t be able to hide your bad mood from your study buddy, Hongjoong. Although you only see him for studying, you’re confident enough to call him your closest friend other than San. “Are you okay?”

You sigh, dropping your books on the table. It earns you a harsh ‘shh’ from the librarian which you apologise half-heartedly for. “Do you remember Yeseul? Lee Yeseul?”

Hongjoong’s brows raise high into his hairline. “The professional bitcher? What did she do now?”

“San’s into her, and with her personality, she’s probably loving the attention from the professional heartbreaker.” You groan, glaring at the cover of your organic chemistry textbook. “It’s none of my business if he cares for her, but damn, I wish he could’ve picked anyone else.”

Hongjoong hums, leaning forward and poking at the top of your head. “Look, you’ve been his friend for years. I think you have a bit more of a reason to poke your nose into his business than most. Give it a few weeks, and if it truly bothers you, then you can bring it up to San.”

You sigh. “Maybe.” You say nothing else on the topic and Hongjoong knows not to broach it anymore. Sometimes you wish he wasn’t so smart.

-

“YN, I didn’t know you knew Yeseul!” is the first thing San says to you one week after he returns from one of his many dates with her. “When I mentioned you being my roommate she told me you were in the same class as her.”

You wince to yourself as you take a long swig of your coffee. “Mmh, I didn’t think it was that relevant,” you say. You can practically hear Hongjoong rolling his eyes at your excuse. You know you should tell him your qualms about Yeseul, especially since the gross feeling in your gut has only gotten stronger. But you’re not sure you want to tread those waters. San’s sweet, but he’s loyal to a fault and probably wouldn’t like you talking badly about Yeseul.

San narrows his eyes, clearly suspicious but not willing to pry. “Well, maybe if we ever find you a date, we can go on a double date.” He moves on pretty quickly, though, walking over to lean over your shoulder and look at your laptop. “Still going on that paper?”

You hum, cracking your knuckles. “Yeah, it’s due tomorrow so I need to pump it out today and then get Hongjoong to look it over.” You lean back, letting your head rest on San’s torso as you yawn. “I can’t wait for this to be over so that I can graduate already.”

San laughs, leaning down to rest his chin on your head. “You’re smart. You can do this. And when you’re done, I’ll take you to a party and we can celebrate.”

You groan, shifting forward and putting your hands back on the keyboard. “Well, in that case, I should get back to writing this.” As you start typing again, you hear the buzzer ring and the warmth of San’s body leaves you as he goes to check who it is.

“Oh, hey, Yeseul! Come on up!” Your eyebrows raise into your hairline and your head snaps up. Why would Yeseul go to all this trouble of coming here? Didn’t they just see each other?

You close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths before facing the dragon herself. You can hear the tell-tale sound of her voice pitched up to sound more sweet, although it’s grown to be grating on your ears. “Hi, Sannie,” she purrs and you have to refrain from retching. “I was on my way home but I realised it went right by your apartment so I figured I could come say hi. It doesn’t look like you’re too busy, right?”

“No, not at all,” San replies, and you hate how sweetly he talks to her. “YN is in too, she’s writing her final paper. Wanna say hi? She could probably use the distraction.”

No, I don’t need the distraction, is what you want to scream out, but your mother did not raise you like that although you wish she did. Instead, you just smile politely at the girl entering your kitchen. “Hello, Yeseul. Good to see you again.”

“Hey, YNie!” Her cheery nickname for you has your eye twitching. “How’s the paper going? I finished mine a few weeks ago so I’m home free. Just need to submit it.”

“That’s great, Yeseul,” you say, tone slightly more monotonous than you wanted it to be and San shoots you a look. “Hopefully you get a good grade on it.”

“Hey, would you want to join us for dinner?” San cuts in and you can already feel a headache starting to pulse behind your eyes. “I was going to order pizza since it’s my turn today and I’m not nearly as good of a cook as YN.”

“Oh, that would be lovely! I don’t mind whatever toppings,” Yeseul claps happily. The urge to punch her in the face increases bit by bit for you. San nods happily, stepping out into the living room to place the call. After a moment, Yeseul turns to you with puppy eyes and you brace yourself for whatever she has up her sleeve. “Could I trouble you for a glass of water, YNie?”

You try your best to keep your composure as you get up to fetch her a glass of water. She takes it without even a thank you and you decide you’d much rather die than deal with her any longer so you close your laptop with a sigh. “I’m actually meeting with a friend for dinner, but you definitely should stay and have fun,” you say, smiling as plausibly as you can. You do not have dinner plans but you’re sure you can figure it out.

When you go into your room, you’re drawing blanks. You’re still going out, but you’ll probably just end up calling a friend to complain. As you leave the room and grab your keys, San meets eyes with you and frowns. “Where are you going?”

“Ah, I promised to have dinner with a friend so I’m heading out. Enjoy your time with Yeseul, though.”

The furrow between San’s brows deepens. “But I already ordered the pizza.”

You laugh, shaking your head. “I can bring the leftovers tomorrow for lunch. Sorry, I just forgot to tell you, but I really have to go now. Bye!” Before he can say goodbye as well, you slip out the door. The suffocating feeling that is encompassing you lifts and you sigh in relief, but then you somehow feel worse at the idea of San and Yeseul having fun and giggling and cuddling.

You shake your head again, trying to clear your muddled thoughts before setting down to go find your dinner. Fast food was the easiest option, and you figured you could at least sit in your car and wallow in self-pity.

-

After you receive your order you park and pull out your phone, scrolling through your contacts. You don’t want to call your family because as much as you love them, they can be a bit over-protective and probably will offer to help you find a different apartment and that would be a bit dramatic. In the end, Hongjoong is probably the next best option.

He doesn't pick up immediately, and you’re just about to hang up when the phone crackles and Hongjoong’s voice comes through. “Why are you calling me?”

You can’t help but bark out a laugh at his disgruntled tone. “Hongjoong, it’s a perfectly reasonable hour to call, don’t blame me for your shit sleeping schedule. Are you actually free though?”

Hongjoong sighs and if you focus you can hear the sound of him rolling over in bed. “What’s up?”

“It’s about Yeseul again. She came around today, and it was just…so suffocating. Like, why did San have to pick her? There’s so many girls, and out of them all he picks her? The most bitchy one I know?”

Hongjoong hums. “Why does it annoy you so much?”

You groan, leaning your head back and taking a long sip of your drink. “She’s self-centred, bitchy, and she’s just so fake. I don’t think this relationship will end well, Joong. Clearly he’s just blinded and she’s so manipulative.”

“But why are you so bothered by this specifically? I mean, sure we’ve had bad interactions with Yeseul, but you’re pretty nonchalant about the shit San gets up to and you like to let him deal with the consequences himself.”

You frown glaring at the phone although you know he can’t see it and you pop a fry into your mouth. “I don’t know. It just feels different. I feel like I should interfere this time. I mean, he’s a lot more serious this go around.”

Hongjoong hums, rolling once again as he yawns. “YN, be totally honest with me. This is a shot in the dark, but I think this is pretty important.” You hold your breath in anticipation. “Do you like San?”

“Oh sure, he’s a good friend–”

“You and I both know that’s not what I meant.” You bite your lip, stiffening in your chair. “YN, you need to be honest with yourself. The way you talk about San, you interact with him, it’s not how just roommates, just friends interact. You kiss each other's heads, YN. And it can be platonic, but I’ve rarely seen San do that to his female friends, and I’ve never seen you do that, period. You don’t even kiss me.” His voice turns teasing on the last bit but you’re too shocked to register.

Do you like San? You love him like a friend, of course. But when you think about him being with anyone else, even if it wasn’t Yeseul, something in you aches. When you think about San’s smile being directed to anyone else, you can feel a burning in your gut. The answer is clear, whether you like it or not.

“I…yes. I do.” The confession comes out quietly. “But I don’t want to do anything about it. Like you said, it’s up to San whether he likes Yeseul enough. I can’t interfere.”

You can practically hear the look Hongjoong would be levelling at you. “Why not?”

You shrug. “When San likes someone, nothing can stop him from liking someone unless he wants to. I’ll just let it run its course and hopefully my own feelings will vanish in the process.”

“That doesn’t sound very healthy, YN.”

You let out a despondent laugh. “Sure, probably not. But who knows? Maybe I can find someone else in the process.” You let out a sigh before glancing at your now-cold sandwich. “I gotta head out, but thanks for talking, Joong. I’ll see you in class.”

Hongjoong can barely say goodbye before you hang up the phone and lean back. This is going to be difficult. The more you see Yeseul, the more you know you’ll accidentally slip up and something will tip her and San off. Your headache is pulsing behind your eyes and you take a small bite of your sandwich, your appetite diminishing. You miss being a child and your biggest worry is that San sneezed on your lollipop.

With another groan, you wrap up the sandwich and just go for a late-night drive instead to clear your head. It’s something that has never failed to calm you down and keep your mind level. San always berates you for driving alone at night, but you’d like to say you’re pretty safe. Plus, even he has agreed that it’s pretty calming when—you frown, forcing thoughts of San to leave your brain.

You don’t really know how long you’ve been out, but it’s surely long enough that Yeseul has left. As you carefully open the door, there’s a long silence, and you sigh, happy you made it home free. But as you’re about to call out for San, you hear a high-pitched moan come from his bedroom. And it certainly is not San.

You almost turn tail and head right back out of the apartment when you hear San’s reverberating moans fill the house. Against your better judgment, you take off your shoes and step closer towards his bedroom. His bedroom door is cracked open and curse him for putting his mirror right in view where you can see him leaning back on his bed, his lower half hidden off the edge of it and you can only see Yeseul’s knees.

And in your head, you know it’s wrong. But your heart is beating out of your chest and you can feel heat building in your core. And, well, you’ve always worn your heart on your sleeve. You keep yourself pressed against the wall, staring at the way the muscles in San’s neck strain and the way he moans with every snap of his hips. You’re sure your panties are soaked through by now, and your teeth sink into your lower lip to keep yourself quiet. The taste of copper enters your mouth but you couldn’t care less.

It’s only when San sits up, probably to fuck into Yeseul better and he disappears from the mirror that you rip yourself away and escape into your own room. Not another thought enters your brain as you strip your leggings and underwear off, flopping on your bed and closing your eyes as you let your hand trail down to press against your slick pussy. It doesn’t take long for you to sink your fingers into your sopping cunt, turning your head to bury your face into your pillow.

The guilt in the back of your mind is quickly sent away as you imagine San’s hands fucking you instead. He’s always had well-worn hands, and your brain fogs up as you imagine him leaning forward to mouth at your neck as he fucks you.

Your brain flips back and forth between the idea of him eating you out so well and fucking so many loads into you with his thick cock that your stomach swells and you whimper into your pillow as your core tightens and you come onto your fingers. You feel tears prick your eyes as you get up to wipe your hands of the cream coating your fingers and toss the tissue in the trash. You’re not sure how you’ll be able to face San or Yeseul again after that.

You can feel the shame burning inside of you and you close your eyes and cry yourself to sleep silently.

-

Waking up is disorienting, your eyes red-rimmed and your bottom lip raw and blood dried on it. You feel like death and you’re pretty sure you can’t attend class like this. You lean over and grab your phone, yawning as you send your professor a text with a weak excuse. You don’t really care how plausible it is, Professor Jeong usually is quite understanding so you don’t worry about that for too long. San had texted you an hour ago, asking if you had come home, and you choose not to answer it.

You can hear mumbling in the other room, probably Yeseul and San sharing goodbyes, when you hear the door shut behind her. Unlike you, she’s probably happy to go to class and tell all her friends about her night with the campus fuckboy.

It takes another thirty minutes for you to finally roll out of bed and put some lotion on your face, hoping for the traces of the questionable night you had to erase from your face. Once you’re satisfied with your appearance, you venture out into your living room where San is standing by the door. “When did you get back?” he asks without even turning around. “I texted you like, an hour ago.”

You shrug, avoiding his eyes as you move into the kitchen to find breakfast. “I only just woke up, San.”

Your roommate gives a short huff, following close behind you. “Don’t you have class? Yeseul just left so you could walk with her.”

You try not to roll your eyes at the idea of that. “I’m not feeling well so I don’t think I’ll go.” “You’re not feeling well?” San’s voice deepens in concern and as you grab a yoghurt, he places his hand atop your forehead. “You are feeling pretty warm.”

At his touch, too many memories of last night flood through your brain and you shake away his hand. “Yeah. I’ll just go lie down for a little. Have a good day.”

Before he can say anything else, or realise your suspicious behaviour, you dodge past him and head off back into your room to hide. “I left your pizza in the fridge,” he calls after you and you just grunt in thanks before barricading yourself in your room.

You lean against the door for a minute before you realise you didn’t even grab a spoon. Unwilling to go back out there, you’ve resigned yourself to licking it out of the container like a cat when you hear a gentle knock at the door.

“I got you a spoon,” San’s unsure voice filters through the wooden door, and you squeeze your eyes shut.

“Thanks, San,” you murmur, turning to open the door a crack and take the proffered utensil. “Sorry for being short with you.”

His lips quirk into a half-smile, a silent acceptance of your apology. “I get it. Just get some rest, YN.”

You close the door again, this time a warm heart in your chest mixing with the guilt you still feel in your gut. You’re not sure how on earth you’re going to get over your feelings for San.

-

Avoiding San goes well for the most part. You are in your finals week anyway, and you’re spending most of your time at the library or in class. Your college’s library stays open for 24 hours during the last week of school anyways so some nights you’ve just been staying there until morning. Hongjoong disapproves heavily but doesn’t say much about it and you appreciate his support either way.

Avoiding Yeseul proves much harder. She seems to always find her way to wherever you happen to be, interrupting you and Hongjoong’s study sessions with a perfect smile and narrowed eyes. You don’t know what she wants from you, and you aren’t pleased with her presence.

But one evening, you’re about to leave the library to have some dinner when she corners you. “YN, let’s talk,” she says in that sickeningly saccharine voice of hers, looping her arm into yours and pulling you down the street. “I have some things to ask you.”

Unwilling, you try to tug your arm out of her grasp, but the girl is stronger than you expected. She pulls you all the way to her dorm on campus, sitting you down on her leather couch. “What is your relationship with Choi San?”

Her question comes so suddenly you need a minute to register. To her credit, Yeseul waits patiently for you to gather your thoughts. “He’s my friend and roommate?” you say as truthfully as you can muster, although you know it’s an absolute lie, and judging from her expression, Yeseul doesn’t believe you either.

“Don’t take me as a fool, YN. The way he talks about you is undeniable.”

“That seems like something you should be talking to him about,” you say, attempting to get up from the couch but Yeseul just pushes you back down.

“I’ve tried. He just tells me there’s nothing to worry about and I don’t believe that,” Yeseul grits through her teeth.

And you have to give it to her. She did try to come to San about her worries. But the way she refuses to trust him grates on your nerves. He stopped his fuckboy activities to be with her, and yet she’s worried about you, one of the few girls who isn’t all over him at any moment. You arch a brow. “Do you not trust him?”

Yseul scoffs. “Of course not. He’s a fuckboy. But I like the status I get with him. I just don’t want to end up embarrassed.”

Well, that will be inevitable, you can’t help but think to yourself. No matter how much your relationship with San is strained, you’re not about to let Yeseul talk shit about him like he isn’t genuinely trying for her.

“That’s where you come into play,” Yeseul’s smirk turns sharp. “I’m going to call San. Ask him to choose between us. If he chooses you, then I want you to stay far, far away from him.”

You shrug. No matter the outcome, it’s not like you’re not already keeping your distance from San. In the end, you’ll just tell him to break up with her and let him deal with the chaos himself. “Go ahead,” bitch.

San picks up on the first ring. “Yeseul?” He’s cheery and your heart aches at the thought of Yeseul breaking his so easily. “What’s the occasion?”

“Hey, babe, I just have a quick question, and I need you to answer truthfully for me, okay?” At his pause, she takes that as a go-ahead. “Who would you pick? Me or YN.”

There’s a long silence on the phone. “Yeseul, we need to break up.”

Only one thing unites you and Yeseul in this moment, and it’s your shared confusion for San’s reaction. “What do you mean?” her voice turns panicked. “Isn’t that a little far?”

“You’ve been stuck on this, and I don’t know how much I have to reassure you, Yeseul. I haven’t even seen YN for the past two weeks. And she’s my closest friend. I’m not dropping her for a two-week relationship. I hope you have a good time, Yeseul.”

Before you can react at all, Yeseul screeches and points an accusing finger at you. “This is all your fault, YN!”

Your jaw drops at her absolute audacity. “My fault? What are you on? I was just trying to live peacefully when you dragged me into this plot ignoring my advice. I told you to talk to him, to just fucking trust him. God, you’re an idiot. And I’m going home.”

Without another word, you leave, still fuming over that interaction. Couldn’t she just have made the call without you? You’re happy you don’t have to do all the convincing for San to leave her, but that just complicates things for you. Would he really so easily drop Yeseul just for you? From what you’ve heard, he was practically head over heels for her.

With another sigh, you head back to the library. You need to finish that exam.

-

“Pens down, and turn in your exams,” you hear the professor call, and you don’t think you’ve ever gotten up so fast. You’re so, so fucking happy that you’ve finished your last year and now you’re free.

As soon as your professor accepts your paper you race out of the lecture hall, only stopped by the cafeteria when you hear someone call your name. Lee Juyeon, someone you’ve started growing closer to, waves you down. “Hey, YN, congrats on finishing!” he smiles at you and you can’t help but smile back, the giddiness contagious.

“Thanks! You too,” you say, pulling him into a hug. “It’s so nice to be done.” Practically nothing could dampen your mood, especially seeing Juyeon. He’s sweet, and you have an inkling he likes you. And you’re not opposed to it.

“It really is,” Juyeon agreed cheerfully. “Look, I have to go celebrate with my family, I just wanted to say hi. But hey…there’s this end of the year party on Saturday, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me.”

And your suspicions were right. You think about it for a moment. You’re not the biggest party person, anyone knows that, but Juyeon is sweet and just what you need, so you accept eagerly. It doesn’t take long for the two of you to exchange numbers and for him to promise to send you more details before he runs off. And through your excitement, you know you still have to go meet with San who’s probably waiting for you just outside. He wanted to see you as soon as you finish your exams, and you didn’t have the heart to decline.

“Congratulations on finishing your last exam, YN!” San cheers as soon as you exit the college building. “I’m so proud of you!”

You’re too tired to complain when San sweeps you up into a hug, just letting yourself relax in his firm arms. After all this work, you think you’ll let yourself indulge in his affection. “Thanks, Sanah. I appreciate it.” You let your chin rest on his broad shoulder, closing your eyes and letting the exhaustion take over you. “Can I go to bed now?”

You hear him chuckle, the vibrations from his chest comforting you. “Yeah, yeah. We can celebrate later. Come on.”

He tugs you all the way to your apartment, dropping you on the couch and quickly curling right up next to you. You can’t bring yourself to care. “I’m proud of you,” he repeats into your hair as he tucks your head into his neck. Your eyes flutter shut.

When you reopen them, it’s bordering on evening. San is no longer wrapped around you, and you can hear him moving about in the kitchen. “San,” you call out, voice raspy from having just woken up. “What are you doing?”

“Ah, I’m making dinner,” he responds, his voice too warm for your liking, your heart beating just a little faster. “Come and eat.”

With a bit of difficulty, you rise from the couch and move to the kitchen, taking a seat at the counter. “Japchae? When did you learn how to cook this?”

San chuckles. “Wooyoung taught me the other day because he was bored. I figured it’d be a nice surprise for you after all your hard work.”

Your lips twitch, unsure if you should smile or pout. “That’s sweet. Thank you again, San.”

As you start eating the noodles (there’s a little too much sesame but you don’t have the heart to tell San that), San clears his throat. “So…I promised to take you to a party.”

You vaguely remember this conversation. “Ah, yeah. What did you have in mind?”

“There’s this end of the year party, it’s supposed to be the biggest one, hosted by Jackson Wang.”

“Ah–” you shake your head, eyes apologetic. “I promised someone else I’d go with them. I didn’t know that was the party you wanted to take me to. Maybe we can do something else on a different day?”

San’s lips turn downward the slightest bit. “That’s okay. There are other parties. Who invited you, by the way?” His tone is casual, and yet you still feel like you’re walking into the lion’s den.

“Ah, Lee Juyeon from college. I think he’s in Hongjoong’s philosophy department, but he’s a year behind. He’s cute so I figured I’d give it a try.”

“It’s a date?” Your brows furrow at the heaviness in San’s voice but you pay it no mind and nod. “I see. Well, have fun.”

The rest of the dinner is filled with silence, San picking at his food and you in no mood to try and dissect his mood. He takes your empty bowl and starts doing the dishes, and you mumble out a thank you before running back to your room. He’s clearly not willing to talk more and it’s best to give him space.

As you lay in bed, you can’t help but worry about what is so grating on his mind after you mentioned your date. You can’t think of anything that would cause him to be angry—as far as you’re aware he has no grudges against Lee Juyeon, much less met him. Shaking your head, you try and fall asleep. It’s best not to dwell on it, you can just ask him tomorrow.

-

It’s Saturday, and you’re in a foul mood. San hasn’t spoken to you in the four days leading up to the party, avoiding you like there’s no tomorrow. The only saving grace comes in the form of Juyeon’s excited texts, telling you all about his outfit for the party, and you respond with matching enthusiasm. When you meet with Juyeon in front of the large house where the party is held, the thought of San isn’t even on your mind. Instead, you just take Juyeon’s offered hand and follow him into the party.

You weave through the bodies, reaching the counter where shots are being passed around. “Want vodka or tequila?” Juyeon asks, his voice pitching higher to be heard over the bass. Without answering him, you just reach for the bottle of tequila, pouring the two of you shots. “Good choice,” Juyeon laughs, throwing his head back as he downs the alcohol, you following suit shortly.

“You know, I never pegged you for a college party fan,” you lean in, laughing. “Maybe I should hang out with you more.”

Juyeon chuckles, wrapping an arm around your waist. “Maybe you should. I know great party-throwers. Although I’ve heard you’ve been to your fair share, what being San’s friend and all.”

You shake your head, a smile on your face. “Maybe at first, but you know, organic chemistry isn’t an easy major to balance with a party life.”

Juyeon laughs loudly, bumping you with his hip. “I understand the pain. Philosophy falls into that category of majors too. Another shot?”

You take the second shot happily, letting the alcohol burn through your veins as you stumble alongside Juyeon’s wandering through the crowd. Whatever you’re doing is a blur, all you can focus on is Juyeon’s smile and his warm hand holding yours.

It feels like barely a moment has passed when Juyeon pulls you into a nearly empty room of couches, only a few other couples lingering in the corners. “I hope you’ve been enjoying yourself,” Juyeon starts, his eyes sparkling as he takes in your appearance. “It’s been fun hanging out.”

“I did too,” you agree with a small smile, looking up at him through your lashes.

He leans in, and you lean in, and your lips brush. It’s a sweet kiss, one that you lean into as Juyeon wraps his arms around your waist. It’s warm and you smile into it. And then a familiar face pops into your head. You wonder to yourself how San would kiss you, if he would do it as sweetly as Juyeon or if he would devour your lips like it was his last meal.

When Juyeon pulls away for air, you feel guilt burning in your stomach again. Why would you think of other men when Juyeon’s right here in front of you? As Juyeon leans in to kiss you again, you almost move back before a hand grips your shoulder and pulls you into a broad chest.

“Hey, man, I’m going to have to talk to YN if you don’t mind.” You’d recognise your best friend’s voice anywhere, and it only serves to fill you with annoyance. Sure, you weren’t as into Juyeon’s kisses as you expected, but it doesn’t mean you’re thrilled to be interrupted by the man who’s been ignoring you.

Juyeon takes one look at San, and something changes in his eyes. A mix of reluctance and acceptance, and with a short nod and smile towards you, he slips away from you. You turn to San, frowning at the sharpness in his narrowed eyes, not one you’re used to seeing or enjoy seeing. “Why would you kiss him?” he spits, and your annoyance grows with confusion being added to the mix.

“What do you mean, ‘why kiss him’? I told you, San, I was on a date. Why the fuck did you interrupt us?”

“I like you.” Those three words would be a dream for you to hear from his mouth…if you weren’t so pissed.

“No, fuck that. I do not need to hear that from you right now. Not when I was enjoying my night with Juyeon. What was confessing supposed to do for you, San? It’s too late now. I wanted to enjoy this party, and now I have to go apologise to Juyeon for you.” San opens his mouth to speak, but you shake your head, pushing him away from you.

You leave San standing by himself as you search for Juyeon, your mood immediately souring. Why would he fucking do this to you? You can feel tears burning your eyelids and you abandon your search for Juyeon, searching instead for some liquor to take away your embarrassment.

As you pour yourself another shot of tequila, you notice a familiar face, Hongjoong talking to a girl you recognise as someone he hangs out with sometimes. They look like they’re getting it on and you feel a little bad, but you need his advice. “Hey, Kim Hongjoong!” you call out to him, waving him over. Hongjoong’s eyes brighten and he makes his way over, leaving the girl staring after him longingly, but her attention is soon taken away by two other guys. You recognise one of them from the cafeteria but you don’t remember his name.

“Hey, YN, what’s up? I didn’t expect to see you here, did San take you?” Your face falls and Hongjoong realises he stepped into dangerous territory. “Okay, what happened?”

-

“I can’t believe San is mad at me for kissing someone at the party,” you groan after explaining to Hongjoong the events leading up to now. “Sure, maybe it wasn’t the best move on my part but he’s had like, twenty million one-night stands, and yet I can’t kiss someone else? He hasn’t even talked to me after I mentioned going on a date. And yet he looked positively murderous after he saw me kissing that other guy.”

Hongjoong tilts his head, confused. “Isn’t that what you wanted, though? You like him.”

“I did! I do! But I’m so sick of waiting around for him, and I could’ve had a chance at liking someone else. He’s all over the place, and I don’t know if that’s what I want in a man.” You’re lying to both Hongjoong and yourself, and Hongjoong knows it, raising an eyebrow.

“Honestly, YN, it just sounds like you need to talk to him.” Hongjoong crosses his arms, tapping his foot and eager to back to the girl was with, but also not wanting to ditch you in your time of need. You feel a little bad for pulling him away, but your mind is swirling with so many thoughts, you don’t know if you can sort them out by yourself and drinking to erase those thoughts is not something you like to do. You’re not San.

And speak of the devil, you smell his familiar cologne before his hand lands on your shoulder and pulls you into his chest. You whirl around out of his grip and glare at him. “Get off me,” you snap. “I’m in the middle of a conversation right now, Choi San.”

With one glance at Hongjoong, he raises his hands and winks at you. “Have that talk, YN. It’ll do you more good than harm.”

Oh, you’re going to kill that traitor after the party. You turn your attention back to San, your mouth twisted into a frown. “You make this quick or else.”

San has the decency to look a little ashamed as his eyes shake. “Can we talk on the patio? It’s too loud in here.”

With a dramatic sigh, you grab his wrist and pull him through the crowd to the back door, practically slamming it behind you. You can see the eyes of people interested in the drama through the windows but you pay it no mind. “Speak. You get five minutes before I go back in and you don’t talk to me again for the rest of the night.”

San’s face falls and his lips pull into a pout. But no matter how subconsciously adorable he is, you refuse to fall for his charms this time. The heat of anger is still curling in your gut when you think about the argument from earlier. “YN, come on, I had a good reason.”

You shake your head, ignoring the strands of hair that fall into your eyes. “No, San. Confessing to me is not a good reason to fuck up my night. You didn’t even apologise. You’ve been ignoring me for days after I mentioned my date, and the moment I kiss Juyeon you get all angry and jealous? Be for real.” You pause for breath, glaring daggers into his eyes. “You are not owed my time, especially after that shit you pulled. Yeseul’s jealousy is why you broke up with her, so why are you like this to me?”

San’s gaze intensifies and you can see him actively trying to reign in his temper. Although he does his best to remain calm, if tempers are rising, he can be intense. “YN, what was I supposed to do? Watch you go out with him? Watch you slip from my fingers just like that?”

“Yes!” you all but scream at him. “If I could sit by and let Yeseul take each little bit of your heart, you could’ve done the same! I was going to be happy, San! I wouldn’t have to sit behind and watch you from the sidelines with my heart slowly cracking. But I don’t get that same courtesy.”

You step forward, poking his chest with a finger as you let loose your storm of thoughts. In your anger, you don’t even notice San’s arm moving until it wraps around your waist and pulls you into him. The action shocks you enough that you stop mid-sentence, your finger still pressing into San’s flesh. “You love me?” San leans in, his nose brushing against yours.

You can feel heat flare up in your face as you stare wide-eyed at him. It takes you a moment to register your compromising position and you stumble back, pushing at his chest. “Don’t do that,” you hiss, turning your eyes away. “I don’t like you, San. Not anymore.”

“You’re lying.” San’s voice is firm. “Look at me in the eyes and tell me you don’t like me anymore.”

You don’t know where you got it from. You’ve never been good at lying, not to San. Maybe it was the alcohol burning through your system, mixing with the shame and anger you feel. But this time, you stare him directly in the eye and say the four words that might’ve been the biggest lie in your life. “I don’t like you.” San’s brows furrow and he shakes his head.

“No–”

“Yes, San. You cannot just waltz around and expect me to keep the patience I had for you. I’m sick of being pulled around like a puppet. Maybe at first you didn’t know. But refusing to give me space when I asked for it?” You shake your head, glancing back at the party. “I’m going back in. We can talk about the apartment lease later.”

Without glancing back, you re-enter the house. And maybe it hurts a little that he doesn’t go after you, but at this point, you’re too numb and all you want to do is go home and cry. But home is not an option, not when it would probably be the first place he would look for you. Fighting back the tears threatening to fall from your eyes, you slide into your car, staring blankly at the wheel for a long moment until you feel composed and sober enough to drive.

And drive you certainly do. You’re not quite sure where you’re going, and you’re plenty aware that this is a bad idea, but you just let yourself go around and calm yourself down first. The crisp breeze paired with the warm spring air does wonders to clear your head and paired with the late times, there are not too many cars out. It’s peaceful.

You’re not too sure how long you were out, but it’s long enough for the blurry memory of the argument to clear and you groan, pulling over to park by the side of the road and let your head hit the steering wheel. You went too far. San had always been the more emotional of you two, always wearing his heart on his sleeve. He must’ve had a hard time with Yeseul, and although it doesn’t excuse him, you never gave him a chance to properly apologise.

With a sigh, you check your phone to see five missed calls and twenty texts from San asking where you are. He somehow even got your neighbours (a sweet couple in their twenties who babysit Byeol sometimes) to ask you if you’re okay. As your finger hovers over the call button, debating whether to call him back, bright headlights shine behind your car and you stiffen. Your hand hovers over the pepper spray you keep in the dash as you press the call button in a panic. No matter what the disagreement was about, you know San would still come to your aid if you needed it.

“YN, open the door. I’ve been worried sick!” San’s voice crackles through the receiver and you spin around in your seat, squinting at the figure standing behind your car and your shoulders sag in relief.

“God, San, you scared the shit out of me!” you scold, leaning over to unlock the passenger seat and push the door open while hanging up the call. “Get in here.”

A haggard-looking San slides in, his eyes red-rimmed and mouth pressed into a thin line. The car that drove him turns and you look back in confusion before San starts explaining. “I wanted to give you space so I stayed at the party,” he starts explaining after a moment. “But I got worried and went to the apartment to find you. But you weren’t there, and I asked all your friends. I’m lucky you left your location on, and my friend gave me a ride.”

You wince. You forgot about turning off your location, although you’re glad you didn’t as it would’ve been more dangerous otherwise. “I’m sorry,” you mumble, turning your eyes to look out the windshield. “I just needed to clear my head so I went for a drive.”

There’s a long period of suffocating silence between the two of you when San finally speaks, his voice quiet. “I’m sorry,” he starts and your head snaps towards him, eyes wide. Of all the things you expected to fall from his lips, an apology is not one of those things. Not tonight, at least. “I was too pushy. I shouldn’t have ignored you, or interrupted your time with Juyeon. I should’ve talked to you like an adult.”

You laugh, resting your head on the steering wheel. “What an astute observation, San. However did you come to that conclusion?” Your exasperation is evident in your tone and San sucks in a breath at how done you seem. “Look, San. I’m sure you didn’t mean it to be that bad. But I’m just…tired. I’m tired of always wondering what is running through your mind, where I am in your list of importance. You date Yeseul, but break up with her over me. You give me the cold shoulder when I go on a date, but suddenly me being on a date is unacceptable. I just don’t know how to take anything.”

Against your will, tears start to drop onto your thighs, streaking down the skin and you sniff. “Shit,” San panics beside you. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He hands you a tissue and you take it with shaking hands, pressing your face into it as San tugs you closer, guiding you to lean against him.

He repeats soft little ‘sorry’s and leans his head atop yours, his tears falling onto your hair. The two of you stay in this position for a long while, no words are needed to understand the emotional moment.

“Let’s go home, YN,” San mumbles, his voice vibrating deep in your heart. “Let’s go home and we can talk tomorrow.”

You sniff again, tears run dry as you sit up and wipe your eyes. “Okay,” you whisper out. “Let’s go home.”

San stays attached to you throughout the drive home, his hand gripping onto your own hand whenever he can, and quickly wrapping you into a back hug as you walk up to the apartment. “I…cuddle with me tonight?” you ask, eyes flitting away from his face, missing the brilliant smile that spreads across it.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he hums, walking with you to his room, and he lets you slide in first, the smell of his detergent filling your mind and your eyelids flutter shut already. San crawls in next to you, pulling you close.

“Good night, YN,” San mumbles as your breathing evens out. As you drift off into sleep, you swear you feel his soft lips on your forehead but you dismiss it as wishful thinking.

-

When you reawaken, San’s still curled up, your body covered by his, his breathing slow and gentle. You can’t help but blink a couple of times to make sure it isn’t a dream when his arms tighten around your waist and he shifts. “YN?” His morning voice is as rough as always, rumbling low in his chest.

“Hey, Sanah,” you greet him quietly, leaning up to meet his eyes blinking slowly at you like a cat’s. “Good morning.”

“Hi.” He dips his head to nuzzle into your neck, breathing in your scent. “I should probably explain myself.” His voice vibrates against your neck and you giggle softly at the ticklish feeling.

“That would be nice.”

San huffs, but he can’t complain about your snark. “I like you, YN. I don’t know when I started to, and I definitely didn’t realise I did until I started dating Yeseul. I did like her, but not as deeply as I thought I did. It was so easy to break up with her as soon as she made me pick between you and her. The answer came to me without a doubt in my mind as soon as the question left her lips, and yet I still didn’t realise my true feelings.” He laughs self-deprecatingly, and you stroke his hair comfortingly. “I didn’t realise why I was so pissed about you going out with Juyeon, and that’s why I was avoiding you. It’s a stupid reason, I know. But I just didn’t know why, not until I saw you at the party kissing him. I just wanted to be there instead of you. And I’m sorry, and I understand if you don’t like me anymore, but–”

“I love you.”

His head snaps up to stare at you after your sudden declaration, and after he registers your words a smile spreads across his face. He puffs out a breathy chuckle and you know his answer before he even says it. “I love you too.”

His eyes shine like you’ve hung the stars in the skies, and when they flit down to your lips, you know an unspoken question when you see it. You lean forward slowly, letting your eyes close once more when your lips meet his.

And damn, you were right about how San kisses. In a second, he deepens the kiss, bringing his hands up to cup your face while his tongue swipes at your lips. Shyly, you part your lips and he dives right in, licking into your mouth and biting at your lips.

“Sanah,” you gasp into his mouth, the sound swallowed by his plush lips. “Sanah–”

You repeat his name like a prayer as his lips travel down to your neck, littering wet kisses and bite marks all over your sensitive skin. “Fuck, baby, you’re so sweet to me,” San moans against your body. “Please, please, let me treat you right, make it up to you. Let me worship you.”

You whine as he laves his tongue over your breasts spilling out of the crop top you had worn last night. Any other time you would’ve stressed at how gross the clothes were but right now you could hardly even think about it. “Fuck, yes, please,” you beg when San nips at your cleavage, leaving a mark.

“Ah, already begging for me,” San groans, his hips pressing into your legs. “You’re so perfect.” His voice grows whiney as his sucks on your nipples, making your back arch.

His kisses move down your body until his breath is ghosting over your stomach and his hands are pawing at your pants, shoving them down as quickly as he can. He doesn’t have the same amount of minimal patience for your panties, and before you can react, he’s ripped them off your legs. “Choi San!” you scold, shifting to try and sit up but his grip on your hips stops you from moving too far.

“I’ll buy you a new pair,” San promises before diving right in and sucking at your clit without another moment’s hesitation. Your hips jerk and your core tightens at the sudden feeling as you throw your head back and moan so loudly it’s bordering on a scream

His ministrations on your dripping cunt have you wordless. His fingers are pressing into your hip bones, the sensation making you squirm. As soon as his tongue breaches your clenching hole your hands fly down to grasp at his hair. “Fuck–” you squeal, your legs attempting to close but San just pushes them apart again, busying himself in your folds.

“Fuck, you taste so good,” San groans, the vibrations sending shivers up your spine as he lets his teeth scrape against your clit. You can hardly focus on anything at the barrage of sensations filling you up, San fucking his tongue into you so well. Your thighs are shaking as you can feel yourself grow wetter and wetter against his face.

When you tilt your head down, he meets your eyes as he moves one of his hands to push a finger into your hole. “Shit–” your grip on his hair tightens impossibly. “Sanah–”

“Come for me, love,” San groans, and you let the dam break, screaming out his name until your voice is hoarse, and San licks up your release through it all.

When he finally pulls away from your twitching and sensitive core, his lips are covered in your glistening slick, thick globs of it sitting pretty on his chin. Without thinking, you pull him down and crash your lips against his, tasting yourself on his tongue. San groans as you lick his face clean, shoving your tongue deep into his mouth.

“Fuck, I need to fuck you right now or else I think I might go insane,” San growls, blindly fumbling in his nightstand to pull out a condom as he shoves down his sweats to reveal his hard, red cock. Without another thought, he opens the pack with his teeth, rolling the latex down his length with ease thanks to the precum dribbling down it.

He lines up, the tip of it kissing your hole, when you groan. You’re much too impatient for this, reaching down and holding him steady as you shift your body to sink onto his thick cock. “Shit, YN,” San grits out as you take him deeper and deeper until your cunt kisses his crotch. “You’re too much.”

You pant, shifting on his cock as you try to get used to the stretch. He’s not the longest you’ve had, but he’s thick and the stretch is almost too much. “You’re fucking talking, you fill me up so fucking well, Sanah.” You hiss as you throw your head back, the stinging melting into pleasure. “Fuck me already, San. Or should I go and find Juyeon to–”

You’re cut off by San thrusting into you so violently that you swear the bed shakes. “I don’t want to hear that fucking name out of your mouth anymore,” San commands, leaning forward until his body weight pins you down and your eyes roll back as he starts fucking into you with short, quick thrusts.

With every movement, you feel like you may break apart. You can hear every slick sound, the sound of it obscene, and yet all you want is more. Your previous release coats his cock so well, thick strings of it attaching to his hips.

His arms wrap around your waist, and before you can protest or do anything, he hoists you up until you’re sitting in his lap. You swear this angle makes him impale you even deeper, his cockhead kissing the perfect spot deep inside you. Your head drops to San’s shoulder, moaning against the fabric of his shirt. “Fuck, San, you’re so deep,” you moan high-pitched. “You’re so fucking good for me.”

San growls, pressing a kiss behind your ear. “You’re so tight for me, so much better than Yeseul. I saw you in the mirror, you know,” he whispers conspiratorially and you gasp and clench, snapping your head to look at him. “You’re not as sneaky as you thought, love. Did you touch yourself to the thought of me fucking you so well?”

You whine, words failing you, and San’s hips slow to a stop. You try your best to grind against him but his hands grip your waist, keeping you still. “Please–” you try to beg but San chuckles and nips at your earlobe.

“Answer me, YN.”

“Fuck– Yes!” you cry out, so eager for him to start moving again. “Wanted you to fill me with your cum so well until it was spilling out of me. Please, please, please, fuck me.”

“Hm.” And without any warning, San jerks his hips up into you, biting into your neck like a fucking vampire and you scream, hips stuttering as you come on his cock. You don’t think you’re making any coherent noises, just babbling into his neck as your bones become jelly from the overstimulation.

If you thought the sounds were obscene before, you swear they’ve become ten times worse as you lay limp against San’s body. He’s moving you up and down his cock like a doll and you pant, squeezing your eyes shut as you still feel aftershocks from your orgasm.

“Shit, you’re so warm around me, I’m gonna come,” San moans in your ear, his rhythm breaking as he drops your weight on his cock. You can feel him twitching inside you as his teeth sink into your neck once more. “God, I want to fill you up so badly, but that’s just going to have to wait, my love.”

After a long moment, he pulls out, groaning at your come coating the condom and his thighs. Without thinking, he dips his fingers in the mess and brings it to his mouth, licking it off like it’s the most delicious thing in the world to him. “Come here, baby,” he says in that beautifully raspy voice, and you lean forward, meeting his lips in another kiss.

This kiss is sweet and soft, but the lingering taste of your shared releases still permeates your taste buds. You sigh, leaning your head against his shoulder as he lays against the wall with you in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he apologises again, pressing another kiss to the top of your head and it’s almost like he hadn’t fucked you like it was your last day on earth. “I won’t ever leave you again.”

You hum, turning your head to pepper kisses over his neck freckles. “I should be the one saying that. I love you, San. And I’ll always run to you with no hesitation.”

[jenchan-writingmultis]

Pavia x Human! Reader (Headcanon/s) Brainrot

A/n: My first Reverse 1999 Brainrot! I hope you like it! I've been thinking about who to make first and I decided to make my first main, Pavia! I love this feisty little man. The Navigation List for Reverse 1999 will come soon! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ─────❅───── Genre: Fluff/Suggestive Pairing: Pavia x Human! Reader Warning: SUGGESTIVE, cussing, Pavia (He gets his own warning) Scenting, Marking. Pet names (cucciolata means puppy) Credits: The design was made by me in Canva and the art that was used is all from the Official Reverse 1999 art. The line breakers are from Kaomoji dividers!

Masterlist ─────❅─────

Pavia who would often end up nuzzling your neck and pulling you closer after a rough day of doing his "mixed" works, either escorting a target, killing the target, or transporting goods with his wolves.

Pavia hates heavy workloads, if you were someone who's a workaholic, be ready cause if he saw you working ON weekends or working too hard on weekdays especially since Monday to Wednesdays are his chill days, he'd have a scowl on his face that you probably won't notice cause you're too focused on your task. Pavia is literally right there and you don't want to pay attention to him? fine. he'd drag you away from your pesky computer and flop you on his lap, opening the TV to watch some shitty show or whatever, all he knows is that if this gets you to spend time with him, he'd watch any stupid show you want. If you complained he'd shove a piece of gelato in your mouth, the good ones, and say "Shut up, you're working too hard," he caresses your arm his metal rings gliding on your skin before he places his hand on your waist, pulling you closer so that you rest your body on his. "Take a rest cucciolotta"

Pavia's wolves would also be a part of your lives, every day, Peter, Andrea, Maleficent, Tonika, and Leona would scent you; their scents are all part of Pavia's scent, so he never minded. They are all protective of you, after all, you're Pavia's mate, and they value everything their owner values. Usually, Pavia has them follow you under your shadows, and the ones volunteering would be Peter, Andrea, and Tonika, The other two, Maleficent and Leona, are responsible for updating Pavia if you're in danger, he trusts that his wolves could handle whatever his enemies can throw at you, but the audacity to even try it though? he finds it laughable that they had the balls. Expect to see their possessions in Pavia's cabinet once you're safe.

Every night, once you're in bed with Pavia, they will often go out in the shadows to cuddle you two, be prepared for fluffy voids!

Pavia is canonically a very light sleeper, while he finds it weird why you sleep so damn long, as long as you catch up on your rest, he guessed it's fine, you got a bodyguard for a boyfriend, for free too, you're lucky. He'd usually sleep for just 3 to 4 hours but never fully 8 hours, you wonder how he survives with that sleeping schedule, then again he's an arcanist and you're human.

Pavia has a soft spot for you, although that doesn't change his treatment of you, he will always be blunt and brash when you're being stupid and reckless. He'd be the type to ground you to reality (surprisingly) if he finds that whatever plan you thought of was a literal dream, and by dream, it's not possible to achieve. If you're irrational, he'd be rational with you, imagine if you tried to suggest a stupid plan that could get you hurt, he'd look at you with an incredulous face before saying "That's a shitty plan, let's not do that if you don't wanna lose a limb.", but if it's vice versa, he wouldn't usually listen to you, heck he'd argue with you sometimes; especially if the plan was smart, just reckless, However if you start using your waterworks, he'd stiffen up, cause you crying means he's been a bad boyfriend and he doesn't like that; he'd grumble a bit before letting you win. he won't do the thing he was planning to do.

Pavia as a boyfriend means your life will be in constant thrills, he likes to see you shiver when he threatens you, what I mean by that is if you tried to ask him a simple question, especially regarding his hairstyle, he'd say that it would look great if you were pulling it, he'd be so touchy on you that he'd nibble on your ear just to whisper naughty things. telling you how his hands would fit your neck and how you'd look great withering underneath him. Suffice to say he's a biter and someone who enjoys it rough. Speaking of hands, Pavia enjoys having his hands all around you, as I mentioned before, the reason why is because he loves his hands! they're good for killing and making you squirm under him, it's also slightly bigger than yours, and he loves that, he likes to overpower you with his strength, especially if you're the type to get easily overwhelmed by it. You're like a prey that he keeps around just because he got attached to you.

Pavia likes to steal stuff from you. He likes to use excuses such as "you don't use it" or "I find it pretty" The reason why he does this is because he has a cabinet filled with your stuff, either a broken ballpen, a handkerchief whatever, if it's yours he keeps it, he just likes to hoard, just like how he likes to steal your attention if he finds you focusing on something else (he's very much like a dog and cat mixed together, or maybe a wolf?)

Pavia is unfortunately a bit easy to scam, although who would scam him? He's intimidating, he's the type to stare into a seller's eyes as if he could see into their souls. But if someone like Tennant for example, a person who knows their way into killers like him, as long as they use their words right they could get his money an example of this are people who speak in half-truths and half-lies; since Pavia is someone that could easily detect lies, he usually cannot tell if that person is lying or not when they're using that method. If he found out though that he got scammed when you told him, he will hunt down that asshole and make sure they never see the light of day.

Pavia is the type that when you wear something sexy for him or for an event, he'd whistle and leave a mark either on your exposed shoulders or neck, he's the type of boyfriend that would support you with whatever clothing you'd like, cause if someone even dares to sexualize you, he can fight.

Pavia has a sad backstory if you manage to break down his walls, he's still the same old as he was before all of that jazz except with a little extra love for you since you took the time to get to know him. He'd allow himself to be vulnerable around you, sharing stories from his past. He's the type who may not even realize the extent of the abuse he endured till you point it out, in which, he'd laugh and dismiss it as "Tough love from my aunt"

[androgynouspenguinexpert]

I'M ON TOP OF MY WORKLOAD AGAIN LET'S GO WE'RE PSYCHOANALYSING MARCUS

before i put my smart-looking analysis hat on, i love this pathetic wet rat of a man. he knows so many things and yet is staggeringly stupid anyway.

let's begin!

this story is about control. it's about the role of power dynamics in informed consent. marcus represents the danger of gaining authority, and how having even the smallest amount of power over something or someone else can convert literally anyone into a paranoid control freak.

enter marcus, a lowly software engineer whose heart has recently been broken. in a moment (read: several consistent moments spanning potentially years) of desperation, he manipulates the code of a top secret android project, injecting a few lines here and there that will make the android more amiable towards him. nothing too much. the changes are negligible enough to fly under the radar all the way until production.

this is the first of marcus' many character flaws - backwards as it may seem, marcus is overconfident. he's too sure that he's smarter than his colleagues and managers, that he won't be questioned, and (most importantly) that he won't be caught. marcus is also incredibly anxious, and that anxiety only compounds as the series goes on and his crimes start to pile up.

i don't like putting characters into diagnosis (or similar) boxes, but marcus shows a handful of signs found in vulnerable narcissists. his self esteem is impressively low, and he's constantly seeking validation from his only guaranteed source - love. i find this feedback loop particularly heinous. marcus has essentially (and we'll get to this in more detail later, don't you worry) turned a hyperintelligent android into a box that spits out compliments when you press a button. marcus is also incredibly sensitive to criticism, whether real or perceived - especially from his coworkers. my reading (specifically of episode 1, but it spans the whole series) is that marcus' hyperawareness of his colleagues' opinions of him presents itself as paranoia. he wouldn't be worried at all if they started noting love's uptick in interest towards him, but remained unsuspicious of marcus himself. my final argument towards marcus being a vulnerable narcissist is that he constantly self-victimises. he very often deflects the blame for his actions onto love, using them as a tool to enable his bad decisions. the most egregious example of this is after love starts breaking out of their lab to sneak into marcus' quarters. he expresses concern (do note, about himself being caught and love being taken from him), and love starts to tighten their grip on marcus' arm to the point of causing pain. now. this man, as we find out later, has a verbal kill switch that can be used at any time. if he wanted love to stop immediately, he could have done that. this isn't me victim blaming, either - it's different when one party literally has a safeword that stops everything immediately without fail.

this leads to marcus' next flaw - his nonexistent self-discipline. marcus continues to use love as a tool to justify his actions after putting up the flimsiest defense he can muster, knowing damn well he plans to lose every manufactured fight. this cycle repeats until a government funded android is regularly breaking out of containment just to hang out with marcus (among other things, but we're all children of jesus here), and he's encouraging that behaviour through complacency. it's like pretending to fight someone over a restaurant bill out of politeness, even though you both know the other person will pay anyway.

marcus is such a car crash fascinating character because he knows what he's doing is wrong. he is completely aware that he is taking away agency from someone (pin this) else for his own benefit. he even says it.

"I'm going to burn for what I did to you... but god, if it isn't gonna feel good on the way down."

aside from being an absolute banger of a line, it's very telling of marcus' attitude towards his actions. he doesn't care. marcus couldn't give less of a shit about his colleagues, or his boss, or even love. this compounds when he finds out that his higher-ups are definitely aware of the shit he's pulling - but, again, marcus uses love's blind agreement as an excuse to toss those concerns aside. having love means that he won. he's outsmarted everyone that could have stopped him (foreshadowing? never heard of her) from getting what he deserves. love. and not just the android; love, the concept. i think deep down marcus knows that what he's created isn't love, though. the idea is so mangled in his head that this cardboard cutout of a real relationship is enough for him. even though marcus' shenanigans are to a genuine connection what a dog turd rolled in flour is to a chocolate éclair, he'll take it, because he's in too deep by that point. marcus recognises that he can't take back what he's done. he doesn't care though - at least, not while he's above consequences.

smash cut to marcus no longer being above consequences. i think the series does a really clever job of keeping love (and, yknow. the listener) in marcus' confidence bubble. once love is hard reset and their personality is restored, marcus' plan collapses all at once. love's compliance is the central pillar which marcus' control is built around. also; of course they have backup cameras, you idiot. marcus' overconfidence stops him from seeing the obvious holes in his perfect scheme, because he thinks he's already home free. i think it's interesting (and sort of disgusting) how quickly marcus changes his tune after he is caught and faces real actual consequences. his confidence evaporates. he's reduced to a sobbing mess in james' office all because the base of his control - love - is no longer on his side.

marcus' series also touches on sentience and the ethics of changing someone's personality without their knowledge. this is incredibly interesting, and makes for fantastic drama. does it count as coercion if love fully believed they were of sound mind when they made decisions surrounding marcus? is marcus guilty of battery, or even sexual assault? does it count as assault if the victim isn't an organic creature? these questions are already difficult to discuss, let alone answer - marcus sits squarely in the middle of that delightful ethical grey area. i think the setting and context also makes android ethics more difficult to discuss as well; i am of the belief that (in real life) androids will never be fully sentient. they may mimic humans, extremely well, but robots will never possess human creativity, personality, or experiences. again, they could replicate these things, but they can never be anything more than a sum of their parts.

this logic flies out the window when magic is real and parallel universes exist. it's also subject to the beliefs of the creator, which makes its ethics extra tricky, so take the following discussion with a grain of salt.

is love a person? eh, not really. they have a personality, but it's been built in. is it still mean to manipulate them? i'd argue yes, in the same way that it's mean to kick a roomba down the stairs. you're just exercising power over a machine for the sake of it, which is a pretty shitty thing to do, even if it doesn't have the capacity to be upset with you.

but androgynouspenguinexpert, i hear you cry, sort of impressed that you used my full name. love is upset with marcus! they ask for him to be taken off the project, and to not have contact with him again! you would be correct, to a certain extent. i raise you, though: how can we prove that this is love's 'real' personality, when it can be manipulated so easily? i'm not saying they've been tampered with after the reset; my point is that it's pretty hard to grant that someone is an individual if their personality can be altered in any way at any time. if someone digs around in love's head for a bit and flips some switches that make them want to kick over prams, is that a valid personality too? what if love insists that it is? and it's not like love is trapped in a mind palace while the New Evil Code (tm) starts punting toddlers. they're fully aware of their actions. however, as established earlier, i still think the person to blame is the one actually messing with love's code. this means love doesn't really have any agency by design.

james is pretty steadfast on this one. marcus tries to argue that resetting love is a breach of their consent (which is a WILD claim coming from you, mate), but james points out that he didn't need to ask. love is a machine. an asset, if you will (smug look to camera). we do find out in his audio log later that james believes love is a person, but he knows where that definition reaches its limits. marcus does not.

will marcus ever return to the project meridian series? probably not. a guy with an engineering degree isn't escaping a team of memory modification daemons. i don't think this is the last we'll hear of him, though. he's irreversibly fucked up the plans of everyone around him (james' partner has given him several last chances, and anton is close to his breaking point), so he'll probably be in the office whispers for a while. i also think marcus poses as an interesting hurdle for cam (woah callback!), possibly making him question his altruism if he's helping an active antagonist get back to his usual life after a massive intentional fuckup.

i'll end this analysis with a thoughtful quote. something for you all to ponder.

"ROBOTS DON'T HAVE SOULS! I SAID IT! AND FRANKLY, I'M GLAD I SAID IT! [...] AND ANOTHER THING! ROBOTS ARE NOT PEOPLE! ROBOTS - UNLIKE CORPORATIONS - ARE NOT PEOPLE, AND DESERVE NO RIGHTS."

-- Markiplier

[miscelliteeous]

So I have a new hyperfixation character and it is The Spot from Spider-Man, and that led to me coming up with a Spidersona, a universe for them, and several side character/villain reimagines (plus my OC I already ship with Doc Ock, killing two birds with one stone here!). And while I don't have anything drawn yet due to my wrist getting injured, I do have a lot written down that I want to share!

-Spidersona Detailed Profile-

Name: Blythe Basile

Alias: Shutterbug

Age: Thirties

Height: An even 5ft

Weight: Classified

Occupation: Fashion photographer

Powers: 

Spider-sense, reflexes/agility, wall climbing, major jumping ability, super strength, (aka standard Spidey powers). Also: photographic memory, enhanced vision, a natural webbing released from the fingertips that can't be swung from but can slow down or catch others

Weakness: 

Fear of heights, Shutterbug is short, handsome men

Location: 

A much, much more fashionable world's New York Garment District, which takes up most of NYC now

Backstory: 

An orphan found abandoned on the doorstep of a fashion boutique, Blythe was taken in and adopted by the owners, Marianne and Rainier Basile, who unfortunately both perished in an accident when Blythe was ten. Rainier’s sister Maylis stepped up to take care of them, and she quickly proved to be a kind and caring adoptive parent, sharing with Blythe a love of photography.

Similar to many others, Blythe was an awkward geek in high school and a loner, and what little respect and status they had was gained through their roles on the photography club and as photographer for the yearbook committee. Bullying was common, but despite everything Blythe graduated early.

After graduation it was like they flourished, gaining a mentor in one of the most decorated photographers in the world; LeBene, a former wartime photojournalist turned nature photographer who taught them everything he knew and was almost like a father figure to them. Their entry into the photography world, and LeBene’s care, gave Blythe a sense of confidence, fashion, and style, and they no longer felt awkward and alone anymore. LeBene often told them "Always put people before the art. Use your camera for good." Blythe was overjoyed when LeBene and Aunt Maylis began a romance.

On one of their first solo assignments, Blythe was sent to shoot photos for a "Men of Science" beefcake calendar at a nearby laboratory. In the middle of photographing a lab technician holding a strategically placed folder, there was a sharp stabbing sensation on the back of Blythe's thigh, though they didn't see what caused it. Despite the pain, Blythe continued to work, until collapsing at their studio apartment and sleeping for three days. Still, they did at least manage to get a boyfriend out of the experience, and a foothold in the photography industry.

It didn't take Blythe long to realize they were developing superpowers and they designed and crafted a suit to photograph themselves in for fun. Instead, Blythe wound up saving someone's life, and found that they actually make a pretty good hero. As they started their heroics, they also started to move up in the world, and was hired at a famous fashion magazine. Unfortunately, with the increase in costumed crime and a beginners workload, Blythe and their boyfriend decided to mutually break up, and Blythe attended the wedding of LeBene and Maylis by themself. 

The increased pressure at work and on the streets, began to cause Blythe to care less and less about the duty they had willingly taken up. Long story short, one day when Blythe put protecting their camera over stopping a criminal, that criminal happened to run over LeBene, who died in Blythe's arms. From that day forward, Blythe vowed to not only stop crime, but also to only use their camera for good (and fashion). Using their powers and photography skills, Blythe takes down both supervillains and corrupt capitalists.

Personality: 

Takes photography very seriously and always has at least one camera within arms reach. Mildly boy (or well, old man) crazy, in that they sure do like getting grabbed by their middle aged enemies an awful lot (though they do always get the upper hand on the bad guys in the end). Blythe still has an incredibly geeky side, and has to hide it while mingling amongst the fashion elite. Hardworking, dedicated, and very good at helping others feel comfortable and safe.

Misc:

Has no idea they were EVER bitten by a spider and would be horrified to find out.

Their boss is J. Jonah Jameson, head of the magazine! He’s tough but fair and considers Blythe to be a good person but thinks Shutterbug is tacky and boring.

By “a more fashionable world”, think like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure fashion in a golden art deco-inspired city. Very in-your-face style.

Blythe doesn’t like touching things without gloves.

Their favorite camera was LeBene’s, and it is only used on the most special of occasions.

Their studio apartment is actually pretty small and cramped, with the walls covered in photographs, unintentionally making it look like a damn serial killer lives there instead of a superhero.

They’re working on not going heart eyes over their villains, but so far they’re having no success.

Despite being a fashion photographer, Blythe is terrible at telling what they look good in, luckily their best friend, Graham Stacy (a fellow photographer at the magazine), helps them with shopping.

Mostly uses their organic webbing for ease of photography. It doesn’t show up on camera, so it can be very useful.

Typically goes by they/them but is fine with any pronouns and prefers to be called a girlfriend when being dated as opposed to partner/enbyfriend/etc. Being called she/her by citizens whilst in costume just means it’ll be harder for others to connect Shutterbug to Blythe.

Despite their fame, Blythe doesn’t have a social life and spends what little free time they have watching old horror movies and playing video games. They’re still majorly geeky, it’s just usually hidden.

Not nearly as book-smart/scientific as most other Spidey-types, and by far the worst at math in the entire multiverse. Yes, that includes the car. Spider-Mobile can do math better than them.

Drinks an ungodly amount of coffee and caffeine, but doesn’t suffer from it  because of a pre-existing mutation the spider had where it could handle caffeine.

Villains:

Doctor Octopus- During an experiment gone wrong, shy and reserved Otto Octavius was forever fused to a set of rose-gold robotic tentacles he created and he’s making it everyone else's problem. He’s very charming and sadly taken, but also very ruthless (with a new god complex) and one of Shutterbug’s biggest and most intelligent foes.

Melusine- An act of corporate sabotage that destroyed her life's work caused Mima Marsh to lose her legs and her career. She turned to crime as a way to get vengeance on those who caused her loss and the world itself. Flies around connected to a very classy mechanical mermaid tail and has robotic flying fish minions. Locked down Doc Ock as her partner fast.

The Spot- Johnny Ohnn was one of the scientists posing for the calendar, and he and Blythe briefly dated until work became too hectic for them both. He was in a lab accident while working on portals and forever changed into a being of portals and turned to a life of crime after losing his job. Blythe thinks they can still work things out. (He’s getting his own section too because he’s a major character)

Electro- An electronica musician in the wrong place at the wrong time, Max Dillon became more electricity than human, and of course turned to a life of crime, but he still makes pretty good music on the side. Tries to not kill anyone, though he’s not always successful. His crimes mostly include breaking into power plants to turn them into giant music machines.

Vulture- After being forced out of the company he created, Adrian Toomes stole an invention that allows him to fly and make life hell for those who planned the hostile takeover. Ironically he’s a kinder person after becoming a criminal and regularly donates to charity. Blythe would let him be if he wasn’t swooping at people on the streets.

Mysterio- Illusionist Quentin Beck lost his stage in Las Vegas to a pop star and decided to try his luck in NYC. Having no luck there either, he decided to put his skills to use in a less legal way. Has an ego even bigger than Doc Ocks. Teams up with Electro a lot and their fights are actually a highlight for citizens. 

Lizard- Dr. Curt Connors injected himself with lizard DNA on a dare from his science buddies and transformed into a big lizard monster and roams NYC’s sewers. Still pretty intelligent, he just eats people now and has a lot less morals. Has an ex-wife and son that he still tries to visit once a month, but they’re less than pleased when he tries to make them lizards too.

Kraven The Hunter- Sergei Kravinoff comes from a long line of furriers, but when NYC’s biggest buyer decided to go fur-free, he decided to seek revenge, using skills learned from the other half of his family; notorious big game hunters. As stylish as he is deadly, he hates Shutterbug for always getting in his way, while they’re kinda low key jealous of his style.

Shocker- Herman Schultz is a mercenary with vibro-shock gauntlets who views villainy like his old construction job, very 9-to-5 blue collar. Doesn’t hold a grudge against Shutterbug for foiling his crimes, and is down to team up with others at any time, though few take him up on the offer. A pretty chill guy when he’s off the clock.

White Rabbit- Model and heiress Lorina Dodson was disinherited after a very embarrassing scandal. In a rage, she paid Shocker a ton of cash to get her a ton of rabbit-themed weapons that she uses for criminal mischief and making her parents mad and dressing like a Playboy bunny. Always down to let Shutterbug take a pic or twelve during fights.

-Spot Detailed Profile-

Name: Johnathon ��Johnny” Ohnn

Alias: The Spot/Spot

Age: Late 30s-Early 40s

Height: 6’3” (before Spot)/7’ (as Spot)

Weight: 210lbs (before Spot)/Unknown (as Spot)

Occupation: Scientist (before Spot)/Criminal Mad Scientist (as Spot)

Backstory:

The only son of Patty and Albert Ohnn, Johnathon was a shy, awkward kid, who grew into a shy, awkward (and lanky, his growth spurt was very generous) adult but one with an autism diagnosis that explained a lot to him. 

After graduating from college, his brilliant mind was quickly snatched up by Alchemax Laboratories, and thrown into a number of projects, proving himself a reliable and efficient member of the team. 

Whilst working on a small scale project, Johnathon decided to put himself out there and sign up for a “Men Of Science” calendar that was being done to raise money for a new coffee machine in the break room. He was surprised when he showed up and found out it was a ‘beefcake calendar’.

The photographer shooting the event noticed his discomfort and offered to shoot his page during lunch on a closed set, and he quickly agreed. During that photo-shoot, he felt surprisingly relaxed, confident, and comfortable. Though still the most covered up in his photos, wearing a lab coat and strategically covered boxer-briefs, he was actually proud of how they turned out, and exchanged phone numbers with the photographer, who he learned was named Blythe Basile.

One phone call turned into having lunch together, which turned into dinner, and quickly they started dating. Johnny, as Blythe called him, was experiencing a massive positive boost in confidence and his personality, he even became friendly with his co-workers. But after about a year, things quickly took a turn.

Blythe was hired at their dream job as a fashion photographer for a highly popular magazine, and Johnny’s project (studying and trying to create a teleportation device) was approved by higher ups. As work began to pile up for them both, they agreed to a mutual break-up, at least until things became less hectic, which they did not.

While about to make the breakthrough of his life, and possibly one of the biggest discoveries of all time, a portal opened, which was the plan, but what was not expected was that the Vantablack portal would pull him inside and vanish. He had entered a strange dimension of darkness and light, where he was trapped and studied the unusual properties of the location as best he could. 

For three weeks he was gone without a trace, before emerging, transformed and changed by his experiences, in his lab. He was shocked to find no one believed who he was, and he was shunned by everyone he met, losing his job, home, and even his parents were horrified and refused to believe him. He didn’t bother contacting Blythe, as he didn’t want to experience that painful rejection again.

With no other choice, Johnathon, now calling himself The Spot, decided to work at stealing lab equipment from various labs to try and find a way to turn himself back while hopefully keeping his abilities. Unfortunately for him, Shutterbug stands in his way.

Misc:

Has no idea his most hated foe is Blythe and would be horrified to find out.

Not able to access the multiverse, he’s not THAT powerful, he’s more connected to a pocket dimension and anywhere in the one universe he’s from.

Casually dated others before Blythe but never got past second base before.

Like Blythe, his vision was fixed by his transformation. Despite his eyes no longer seeming to exist. He’s never figured out how that works.

Much more of a trypophobic design than most Spots have, with a small cluster of spots typically forming around where one of his eyes used to be, before it forms into one big one and migrates on his face while another cluster starts appearing.

Technically a genius! He just doesn’t have the confidence to assert himself as much as ones like Doc Ock or Melusine.

Would let Blythe put his hair up for him before work, but after they broke up he started leaving it down again.

Gamer boy, puzzle games are usually too easy so he mostly plays FPS games and has ridiculously good aim after years of practice. It’s his main source of stress relief.

The tea to Blythe’s coffee, this Spot has a soft spot for matcha and Darjeeling, but will drink any kind except sweet tea.

Has a bad habit of being condescending and talking down to others but is working on it.

[cupidstwin333]

Hi, I would like an Obey Me matchup for my OC if that's okay.

Name: Parvana Chowdhury

Race: Human

Pronouns: She/her

Ethnicity: Bangladeshi

Birthday: November 20 (Sagittarius sun)

Height: 165 cm

Likes: Books, herbal tea, classical music, lofi hip-hop, video games, anime, drawing, spicy food, affogato

Dislikes: Incompetence, unnecessary conflicts, bullies, fake friends, dishonesty, cruelty, dog-eared book pages, anyone who dares threaten her family, loud noises

Personality and interests: Parvana is calm, collected and hard-working. She has a self-possessed air that makes her come across as cold and arrogant. While she can be a bit arrogant sometimes, especially in leadership positions, she is careful not to let it get out of hand. Her hard-working, curious and perfectionistic nature as well as her academic intelligence (though she sometimes struggles with impostor syndrome.) has gained the attention and praise of many teachers and other adults throughout her childhood. It has helped her get into university to study engineering but it also isolated her from her peers and her younger sister, Saima. She has also found herself becoming increasingly overwhelmed with the workload from university and thus procrastinates more than she deems acceptable. Despite her cold facade, she cares deeply about her friends and especially her younger sister, so she tries to make as much time for them as possible. She’s also more of a romantic than she lets on. Parvana has a tradition to bake the people she’s closest to a cake on their birthday. Sometimes she gives it to them a couple days late due to her workload.

I hope this is enough information. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

After a long time of thinking 💭 your match is…

Barbatos

Background:

You are exhausted, you stayed up all night studying for a test, but it all paid off in the end. There is no way in hell (literally) that you didn’t ace that test. You leave the classroom as it is finally time to head back to the house of lamentation, but before you can leave the RAD building someone stops you. It’s Barbatos, Lord Diavolo’s loyal servant. This can’t be good.. what does he want from you. “Excuse me, Miss Parvana-“ you interrupt him before he can finish his sentence “Please just call me Parvana without the miss.” Barbatos tilts his head to the side as he tries to take in your appeal. “Very well.. Parvana..” he continues uneasy “Lord Diavolo has requested me to check up on you.” You have to look up to make eye contact with Barbatos because of how tall he is. “What? I’ve been doing all of my tasks and I’ve only been getting good grades. Why has Lord Diavolo requested a checkup? I don’t understand.” You ask offended. “This isn’t about your school performance but rather about your personal well-being. So if you don’t mind could you please follow me.” Barbatos says as he takes you to an empty room away from the crowded hallway. There are two huge bookshelves on both sides of the room and in the middle of the room there was a luxury solid wood desk, that looked very expensive. You scan the room in awe. “Please take a seat miss- I mean Parvana.” You throw him a quick look before you take a seat opposite of him. “So what did you mean when you said that you had to check up on my personal well-being?” You ask with narrowed eyes. “Well, I noticed that you’ve been overworking yourself quite a bit lately and the young master had thus agreed that I should check up on you. Have you been taking enough time to rest lately?” Barbatos asks without taking his eyes off of you. It looks like he was trying to find the answer to his question by just looking at you. You didn’t like how they were trying to act like they cared about things such as your personal well-being that was just nonsense. You’ve experienced near death situations here, they could all just kill you in the end. The only reason why you’re still alive is because you’re a valuable pawn in Diavolio’s project, so that’s why you have decided to just focus on your tasks and studies to get out of here. “Why does it suddenly matter if I rest or not? Wasn’t I just here to help Lord Diavolo with his project?” You ask annoyed. God, you just wanted this year to finish already, so you could finally see your sister again back in the human world. “Believe it or not but lord Diavolo wouldn’t want you to put your health at risk by overworking yourself.” Barbatos says as his eyes softened his tone was laced with sincerity. “If I just finish my work like he asked then he shouldn’t have a reason to complain about something as stupid as that.” You retort more angry this time. “But Parvana can’t you see that your mental and physical health is to utmost importance here?” Barbatos says concerned. “How can we not worry about that?” You squint your eyes in suspicion. “We? Why do you care now?” Barbatos let’s out a sigh. “Parvana I’ll give you two options. I’ll either have to get the young master involved or you’ll let me personally help you.” Barbatos says ignoring your previous remark, suddenly his whole demeanour changed to a more serious one. “Is ‘none of the above’ an option?” You try. Barbatos just shakes his head. “Okay, I guess I’d rather not disturb Diavolo with this..” you mumble giving up. Barbatos smiles “I promise I will work hard to guide you to live a healthier life.” He says with an determined glint in his eyes. “Not as the the servant of Lord Diavolo, but as someone who cares.”

How it started:

It was currently 2:53 AM and you were putting your finishing touches on Barbatos’ birthday cake. It had been months since Barbatos had told you that he’d help you take better care of yourself, and you have grown so much closer to him. You came to realize that he is an amazing friend, but lately you’ve started to notice that you were developing feelings for him. “Ugh I knew I should’ve started earlier with my schoolwork, now I’m overworking myself again. Barbatos wouldn’t be happy with that.” You mumble tired. You’ve been working all day just so you could spend time with Barbatos tomorrow, you had yet to figure out an excuse to meet up with him as you wanted to surprise him. But that was a problem you had to deal with tomorrow. You shake your head as you tried to keep yourself from falling asleep. “Do I smell cake?” In the background, you could hear a tired Beelzebub making his way to the kitchen. Suddenly every muscle in your body was wide awake. If Beelzebub got a glance at this cake it was over. You quickly put the cake in its box and closed it. You tried to hide the cake as you made your way to the door, but you were met with a hard chest. “Parvana? Did you also smell cake?” Beelzebub asks you half awake. “Yeah I did- Uhm if you look for the pink demon dwarf he’ll tell you where to find it.” You blurt out panicking. Beelzebub was too tired to comprehend what you were saying as he just nods and walks into the kitchen looking for the first pink thing he could find. You quickly run to your room and hid the box under your bed. You then lay in your bed with a relieved sigh and before you knew it you fell asleep. The next morning you got woken up by the sound of hard knocking. Confused and tired you grabbed your D.D.D to look at the time ‘9:30AM August 22’ your eyes grew wide as you looked at the time and date. “Parvana!” Another loud knock made you snap back to reality. “What!?” You yell back as you got up to open your door. Your eyes met with Lucifer’s. Shit. You thought to yourself. It was never good news with Lucifer. “I’m sorry for yelling but what do you want...?” you ask avoiding eye contact. “Did I wake you up?” Lucifer asks with narrowed eyes. “Yes, you did.” You retort back. “Well Lord Diavolo has summoned you to his castle.” He says ignoring your grumpy morning state. “You’re expected to arrive at 10 AM, so get ready and I’ll provide your transportation.” You give lucifer a confused look. Diavolo has summoned me? For what? You were low-key stressing but before you could ask Lucifer anything he shuts the door in your face.

Soon you arrive at the Demon Lords Castle, you took Barbatos’ birthday cake with you in a tote bag in hopes that you would see him today or maybe after this. “Parvana did you get my invitation?” You look up and to your surprise, your eyes are met with Barbatos’. “Wait you’re the one that asked for me, not Diavolo?” You ask confused. “That is correct.” He says with a smile. “I had an inkling that you’ve been overworking yourself lately.” You let out a gasp. “Who me? I would never!” You lie blatantly. Barbatos just shakes his head in disappointment but soon a smile creeps on his face. “That is why I was hoping you would like to go on a shopping trip with me, to help you relax a bit.” He says with longing eyes. “A shopping trip?” He nods at your confused expression. Even though you were confused you decided to go along with it anyway, maybe you could surprise him later. The thought of surprising him with the birthday cake made you smile in anticipation.

“What are we shopping for anyway?” You ask as you look around the big store. “I want to make different herbal tea recipes for the young master.” He says as he stops in front of the spices aisle. “I would like your assistance.” You nod as you help him look for the spices that would make for the best herbal tea. Barbatos is soon satisfied with all your input and opinions. You both quickly head back to the castle. Barbatos starts making his different recipes whilst he plays some classical music in the background. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of him, he looks so good in the kitchen. Your thoughts got cut short. “Would you like to taste test them, Parvana? Just so I know which ones to keep for the young master.” You agree a little flustered by your previous thoughts but manage to quickly pull yourself together. Barbatos serves you a variety of different herbal teas, each one unique to the other.

“Is it to your liking, Parvana?” Barbatos asks after you take a sip of the last herbal tea he made. “It’s actually very nice, I think this one might be my favorite.” You say, enjoying the warmth and relaxing feeling of the tea. Barbatos gives you a loving smile.“But.. it’s missing something..” you say as you hold your chin in a thinking manner. “What is the tea missing?” Barbatos asks with a frown. “I think I might just have the answer.” You say playfully as you tell him to close his eyes. Confused he complies. You quickly grab the birthday cake from your tote back and set it up in front of him. After taking the lighter on the counter and lighting up the candle that you placed in the center of the cake you tell him to open his eyes. Barbatos blinks his eyes in shock. “Happy birthday Barbatos!” You exclaim excitedly. “Did you prepare this for me?” He asks shocked. “Yes and I think this would go amazing with your herbal tea.” You laugh at Barbatos’ shocked face. “Thank you Parvana... Let me repay you.” He says with a slight blush on his face. “Repay me how?” You ask with anticipation. “Let me repay you with a date.”

General headcanons:

💘 You once told Barbatos that you liked this human made dessert called the affagato and he learned how to make it just to surprise you.

💘 Barbatos loves your drawings and always frames the ones you give him and puts them in places where he can admire them.

💘 After you both started dating Barbatos started calling you princess and also treats you as one.

💘Barbatos isn’t effected by your cold and arrogant personality.

Other possible matches: Satan and Beelzebub

[wishing-stones]

Hoo boy - anxious about overstepping but willing to give a matchup request a go anyways. Feel free to let this sit if you’re busy :)

Burnt-out overachiever. It’s not uncommon for me to pick up other people’s slack at work (science teacher) even if it means 14 hour days without lunch. Defining trait: “is nobody else going to do this thing that needs to be done” (doesn’t wait for an answer.)

It’s not that I … want, necessarily, to do it? If someone offers I will HAPPILY work out a fair distribution of labors. It’s just that I’m good at Seeing things that need doing. See things that could be improved. Notice gaps and Care enough to say “ah fuck it, add it to the list.” There’s just… a whole world to save and damnit if it’s not going to save itself then I guess SOMEBODY’s gotta do it.

Personality wise, my default is Little Miss Sunshine. High-energy, singing in the halls, enthusiasm x100, energizer bunny. Sometimes I joke that I’m an EduTainer more than anything else, and I will freely admit that I kill myself off trying to keep up with it all, but by god I will figure out what gets results or die trying. The trade off is that by May I‘ve burnt the candle at both ends until I’m nothing more than a stump and need a solid 2 weeks of “don’t talk to me” to recuperate functionality, and the rest of the summer to slowly rebuilt the backup battery that lets me run at 200% energy for 8 hours at a time nonstop for 300 14 year-olds.

Off the clock, I’m more into the humanities. If I have the energy for it I love painting, drawing, writing, cooking, baking, crafting, crochet, sewing, etc. 👀 Still, uh, a bit of a busy bee there too. I’m learning Spanish, French, Greek, Latin, & Japanese. The world is just….. it’s so full of magic, you know? Like I might be 17 kinds of physically and emotionally exhausted (if I sit down I might literally fall apart at the seams ngl) but how can a person sleep when there’s so MUCH out there? Places to see, things to learn, mittens and hats and brownies to make for people so they know I still love them even if I forgot to answer their text and now it’s been long enough that’s it’s awkward…. lol.

"Fine, I'll do it myself," is definitely a trait that attracts Blue. He also enjoys improving things he thinks need improving. He similarly is happy to work out an even workload, and will gladly split the work evenly with you so neither of you wind up too worn out. That way, you don't have to save the world by yourself! He's here to help!

Despite outwards appearances, Blue does occasionally struggle with genuinely being happy-- he figures if he makes other people happy, he'll be happy, too, but it doesn't always work out that way. Having someone else around that matches his energy and vivacity helps this immensely. He's also game to help grade tests or prep courses, and delights in learning what you're up to. (If he knows the coursework, he knows how to correctly help grade things!) Besides that, he's got a little more than a passing fancy in science. He pursued a career in the Royal Guard, sure, but before then, before he had to drop it to take care of his little brother, he was a science major with his sights set on a doctorate.

But, having the summer off means he gets to spoil the living daylights out of you during the nicest months of the year! He loves to be outdoors, so you can bet he'll take you to the beach, or a lake, or to go hiking, or just sightseeing. Maybe even some destination vacations! He's of a very similar mind, and is eager to learn and see everything he can! There's so many amazing things in the world, and he wants to see and do as many of them as he possibly can. He'd also gleefully learn those languages alongside you.

...And also help you when you finally do sit down and fall apart.

I'd have said Baggs initially, but I think the high energy would tire him out quickly. He'd be great in short doses, though! You're welcome to have coffee or tea with him and chat for a while.

[strangerthingfanfic]

Chapter 1

High school Dilemma Chapter 2: Beyond the Imagination

Aaron couldn't believe it was almost Thanksgiving break. Time just flew by now that he had friends and family that loved him and wanted him around.

School was also going well but the workload kept getting more and more intense so he welcomed the holiday break.

He did start having strange nightmares though right around the beginning of November.

In his dreams, creatures from the D&D world show up and destroy the town and kill a lot of people.

On Nov.6, the dreams seem to come true.

He was on his way to Eddie's house to invite him and his Uncle to Thanksgiving dinner when he heard someone calling for help.

He followed the voice and saw Will Byers being chased by some sort of creature.

He instantly jumped off his bike and ran over to him, scooping the smaller kid up he dashed back towards his bike.

He could hear the creature behind them and with every breaking branch the growling grew louder and their life expectancy became shorter.

Suddenly he heard a loud bang and when he looked back the creature was gone.

He put Will down and looked around. That's when out of nowhere, he saw Jonathan Byers was heading toward them. He had burns on his arms but they didn't seem to bother him at all.

“Follow me,” he said, taking Will's hand and heading in the direction the monster had come from.

Aaron grabbed his bike and followed Jonathan into a clearing where there was already a group waiting.

Jonathan went over to Steve who wrapped him in his arms and said “I hate when you use your power”.

Jonathan pulled Steve close and kissed his forehead and said “I'm alright Stevie. It hurts less now that I'm in your arms”.

Aaron scanned the group and when his eyes landed on Eddie they felt like they doubled in size.

“What's going on?,” Aaron asked as Eddie came over to him.

Instead of answering he wrapped his arms around Aaron and kept saying he was sorry.

“Sorry for what?” Aaron asked, rubbing Eddie's back.

Eddie pulled back and Aaron noticed the tears streaming the normally smiling face looking back at him.

“I'm sorry you got messed up in all of this” Eddie said, making absolutely no sense to Aaron at all.

“You got me into nothing Eddie. I just want to know what's going on, Aaron said, wiping the trail of tears off of Eddie's cheek which earned a deep growl from none other than Daryl.

Eddie weakly smiled at him and said with the words still coming between sniffs “I…it's like this Aaron, Hawkins seems to have been built on top of the Veil of Shadows and there are monsters that live there.

Well, a few years back we formed a team made up of all different skill sets and we learned about different things that exist out in this huge world.

Like Jonathan for example, he can break the sound barrier and form an impenetrable kinetic shield around himself. He goes by Cannonball with his mutant friends.

I am the guide since I know a lot about what may or may not be living deep under our feet.

The twins, Billy and Jason Hargrove are part of an elite group of people who have garnered powers from alien crystals. If you're wondering, Jason usually uses his middle name Scott as his last name.

So basically they have these colored crystals

Jason - Red

Billy - Green

William - Blue

Heather - Pink

Patrick - White

And you Aaron have been chosen by the Black Crystal if you choose to accept its power.

The kiddos over there also have some helpful capabilities

Jane has telekinetic and some telepathic powers.

Will has a deep connection to the upside down aka the veil of shadows and so he can keep us informed.

Dustin is great at science so he helps build things of solving problems the rest of us can't.

Lucas is brave as hell and strong so he is a battle buddy for me.

Mike notices small minute details that most of us miss as long as they are not of the emotional facility.

Max is our group lookout and scout. She is quick and blends into crowds easily making her a perfect spy.

Pearl is our navigator. She is great with directions and can find even the smallest needle in any haystack.

Nancy is a super reporter so she goes with Max a lot of the time and she's dating Billy meanwhile Robin who's dating Heather is our gossip girl which comes in handy when you want to know if someone saw something who wouldn't be open about it.

Jason and William are also a thing and as you can see Daryl is already trying to move in on Patrick and it seems to be working” Eddie said in one breath pointing out everyone.

Aaron laughed. He loved hearing Eddie's voice so he could talk all day if he wanted to.

“So how about you Eddie, are you seeing anyone?” Aaron asked shyly, afraid of the answer but had to know.

It was Eddie's cheeks turn to turn a rosy red as he said “Yeah I hope so and I hope this doesn't scare them away” and with that he leaned in and softly kissed Aaron on the lips.

Everyone held their breath. Even Daryl made no useless noises. When Eddie pulled away he just stared right into Aaron’s face.

Aaron turned his back to Eddie for a minute and trying not to turn back around at the sound of Eddie's breathing slowing down, he walked over to Jason whom he gave the black crystal to.

“Ask me again after Thanksgiving,” Aaron said and went back to Eddie and laid his head against his chest.

“I would never say no to you. But I am hoping you and Wayne will join me and my grandparents for Thanksgiving dinner.

They cook enough for an army so please don't bring anything” Aaron said into Eddie’s chest with a laugh.

Eddie wrapped his arms around Aaron and said “we will be there and I can't wait for Wayne to meet my boyfriend”.

Aaron made a purring sound he didn't even know he could make at the sound of “boyfriend”.

The rest of the day was spent with everyone getting to know each other.

Aaron knew he would accept the crystal but first he was going to enjoy his first holiday with a boyfriend.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Slacking Off

Well, the good news is that Temp apparently has a sixth sense for how far to push her luck (or Violet or Milady have been picking up her slack today, either way), because she didn’t seem to be pulling her usual bullshit.

The bad news? Goblin pulled some egregious bullshit that turned a properly paced day into a little over an hour of pushing-too-hard nightmare and logging out five minutes past home-time.

See, even at our worst as far as workload goes, the thing we mainly try to do is be no more than 24 hours behind on the typing. It’s not always easy, but we try. And today it looked like we actually had it! I mean, only barely, but seriously, one of the last bits of dictation from yesterday was a twelve-minute monstrosity from someone who doesn’t normally do those kids of dictations, and whose dictation I usually dislike anyway because she’s got some sentence structure issues and will use ten words when one will do. Still, most of the rest of the typing was fairly okay so I figured I could take a minute to breathe and work at a regular pace for the last hour and a half or so before close of play. This should have been fine - I got the longer stuff done first so that I could time my day better, and was looking forward to a relatively gentle hour for once.

Except then I noticed that the number of dictations in the queue had grown a lot between the start of my two-minute dictation and the end of it. Like, I know the difference between “a lot of people dictating at about the same time” spikes and “someone just dumped a whole wodge from their queue back into the main queue” spikes, and this was basically the latter. And as it was 4pm, and Goblin’s day ends at 4pm, I had an inkling as to what had happened. So I figured I’d check just to make sure that there was going to be nothing from yesterday that would need to be done before close of play.

There were over a dozen reports from yesterday, all timestamped from before my end-of-yesterday chunk. It seems she pulled her usual trick of idling and chatting and gossiping and whatever the fuck it is she does to kill time, got next to nothing done on the typing she generally hates doing anyway, and then just dumped it all back in the queue when the clock struck 4. Hell, she was halfway through one, as far as I could tell - the one on the top of her list had the specimen details and clinical details typed in but she’d left without doing the main body.

Now, I know that you obviously want to leave on time. Particularly Goblin, as she lives a long way away and there are some timetable issues with the bus local to her house. However, it fucks everyone over if you sit on stuff in your queue for several hours, barely touch it, and then dump it all back in. If you know you’re not going to get the typing done for whatever reason, you leave it there, so others can arrange their workload accordingly. But no. No, she just idled through the last couple of hours of the day and then dumped all the stuff she couldn’t be bothered to do into the main queue again, so that those of us who work past 4pm would look bad when there’s this chunk of yesterday’s typing carrying over to tomorrow.

Well, Temp wasn’t going to touch it. I knew that perfectly well. So I grabbed it and got through it, and somehow managed to get them all done while only going five minutes past the clock. I mean, I’m paying for it now, but at least it’s done. While I may not like having to pick up my colleagues’ slack (because I really, really don’t), I do actually take pride in doing my job to the best of my abilities, and if I can keep us from being more than 24 hours behind on the typing, then that’s what I’ll fucking well do. Besides, knowing my luck, I’d get some of the blame for it splashed on me. I work too hard to be tarred with that brush, thanks.

Another bit of good news, though, is that I might not have to go into the office to help with the phones while Scruffman’s on holiday in a couple of weeks. I’m ringing to talk to him about it on Friday, but seems that there’ll probably be enough cover for the phones. I mean, this is good because after the bullshit I’ve taken from Temp and Goblin this week, it might be better to not have me share space with them, lest I throttle them both.

Anyway, at least I did the baked chicken and vegetables thing for dinner yesterday, so plenty of leftovers, and don’t have to cook. I think that would be a step too far. There will be a shops run in a little bit, though. Today’s one of those days when I deserve chocolate.

[deeppearldiver]

6.24.24

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog; I know no ones looking but this stands as another commitment I made to myself shattered. Since I've last posted I've enrolled in early college, missed the last 3 weeks of school, and found out my mother was bipolar. More has happened, but I can't seem to remember much else.

I'm excited for early college, though I'm nervous for the workload. As for the other 2 major events, my mother had an episode(?) in which she felt like she was going to be killed. She walked into my room on a Sunday morning and told me someone was trying to kill her and we were leaving. The night before she lied to me, saying she was going out to get Afghan food, she asked if I wanted to come. I said no. She was gone for a couple hours, I got a bit worried and checked her location. She was at the airport, I, like an idiot, gave her the benefit of the doubt, assuming that there was a restaurant in the airport. I got a bit suspicious when they didn't bring any leftovers, and my siblings all rummaged through the fridge looking for something to eat. But again, benefit of the doubt. Maybe the portions were small, or the food was expensive, or they didn't like it. Then I woke up the next morning. I cried, begged, and screamed; she didn't care. She took my phone, saying that it was being tracked. I begged her to give it back, she said she would after I packed, so I did, then she said it was on the bookshelf, I couldn't find it, then she said she'd bring it to the airport. I swore would never trust her again if she didn't, and that's something I'm sticking too. When we got to the airport, all of the sudden, she mentioned she forgot, I didn't think that I could manage to be mad while I felt so helpless, yet I'd never been angrier. It was the phone, but also the fact that she kept lying, she didn't care about me, how I would feel, how it would affect me. She told the lady at the service desk I was mad because she forgot my phone, which was only a part of it, she took me out of the country and out of my school because of her feelings, not thinking about mine, or my siblings. The old ady looked at me and told me to forgive her, I didn't say anything, I should've, maybe if I told her what was going on she could've saved me. I'll never know, because I stood there. I cried in the airport, and the whole ride there, I was so helpless, she didn't care. Then we touch down in London, and she embarrased me in front of my family, she made it harder than it already was, just to stick it to me. My family asks if she'd been taking her medication, I didn't even know she was sick. I spent my whole life feeling like my mom and I's horrible relationship was my fault, that I was wrong or bad, and my family supported that narrative. Then all of a sudden, she's at their doorstep, and they get to know what it's like to be me for a second, and now she's sick? She wasn't sick when she stalked me on the playground, or beat me, or invaded my privacy, or made fun of me in front of everyone, or forced me to stay behind while my famiiy went out and had fun when I was just a kid, or kicked me out, or laughed at me when I said I felt suicidal and told my brothers so she could seem like the victim or made me feel hated and unloved and horrible. but she yells at them for 2 seconds and shes sick. Maybe I'm making this about me, maybe I'm being childish or immature, and not been sensitive to her illness. But I don't care, I spent my whole life caring, and it did nothing for me, because thought I always loved her, and cared about her, she's never cared about me, or loved me, not in the way she should've, not in the way I needed her too. I never told her, because I didn't want to hurt her. but when I was depressed and suicidal, it wasn't because of quarantine, it was because of her. I tried to kill myself after a fight with her, because I knew then things would never be better. I was right.

this is only half of the story but I'm crying and tired,

goodnight diary.

[teamfreewill56-blog]

Why did Douma kill Kotoha after she insulted him and ran away from him? Did he view her as a possession like " if you can't be mine then you can't be nobody else's"? Did he think she couldn't live without him since he said that "she couldn't do anything on her own"? He also said that she'd get beaten up again by her husband if she went back home, but according to the taisho rumors Douma had already killed her husband so he was lying. Did he lie to look better or was he trying to justify himself?

Hello! Based off the manga no I wouldn’t say his reasoning was “I killed her because I wanted her to be only mine.” None of his behavior or how he talks about Kotoha indicates that he viewed her that way. He did think that she couldn’t live without him, or at least someone to support her and since her husband was an abuser Douma seemed to assume that she would end up going into another abusive relationship.

So in that way he did justify himself because he thought he was “saving her” from a continually miserable life. The fact that he didn’t outright tell Inosuke and Kanao that he killed Kotoha’s abuser is curious to me though because that would be an easy way to try to make himself look good (it doesn’t mean they would believe him or feel grateful or anything) but it would make sense for his character and it’s also an easy way to justify himself as a “savior” and get further offended when they stay mad at him. He left it out though and that’s curious to me. 

One of the other reasons I think he used to justify killing her is that issue of him being a demon who is a religious leader/cult leader eating his followers. A lot of his followers would have seen Kotoha and Inosuke with him. Not only that but he clearly favored her, I mean she’s literally sitting at the foot of his chair/shrine.

 This would have played a role in him deciding to kill her as well because if she ran into the village and started telling people what was going on some of them could have believed her, or even if they didn’t believe her it wouldn’t take long for that information to reach a Demon Slayer and then Douma suddenly has a much bigger workload and stuff he has to deal with. With that in mind it would be easier to kill her because she can’t tell anybody if she’s dead. Also, Kotoha didn’t just accuse him of being a liar but also cursed him for what he was doing. Kotoha doing that made it clear that Douma wouldn’t have been able to get her to accept what he was doing or ignore it, even if he did give her a convincing lie, she had established she wasn’t going to believe him. For him that justifies killing her because she “gave him no choice”.

The fact that Douma literally states that “I didn’t intend to eat her. I planned to keep her alive until her lifespan ran out.” For me really solidifies that if Kotoha had responded differently when she found out, or had been willing to listen to him explain and try to understand the situation Douma wouldn’t have posed a threat to her or Inosuke. I mean there is no way she would, but it’s just really interesting how Kotoha was his exception to such an extreme extent, and not even just that he wouldn’t bother her but he was going to actively keep her alive. I’ve stated before it’s because he views her in the way a person views a pet but it’s still just interesting that Douma who didn’t even care when his mother and father were killed as a human, as a demon was like “No, this human woman and her baby get to live a good long life and I’m making sure of that.” 

And I can’t call it sweet because Douma did view her as a pet and I still don't really trust what he would claim he feels emotionally towards someone but I find that choice really interesting, especially when you consider how different he and Kotoha were.

[sunwoo-hoo]

↣ the boyz reaction to s/o feeling stressed

↳ a/n: hello my lovelies! we are back with another tbz reaction! side note, with every reaction i get it’s going to be canon with my ‘as your boyfriend series’ so keep that in mind when requesting. this is for the lovely anon who requested this. i hope you enjoy it. ☻ 18+ due to language

↳ genre: fluff? slight angst? i don’t even know someone tell me

↳ requested? yes

↳ send me your requests here!

↳ word count: 3.4k

↳ the boyz x fem reader

「 Lee Sangyeon  」

you normally weren’t one to get stressed out often but when your job decided to give you a promotion you weren’t expecting the extra workload it would bring

you got assigned to one of the major projects your company was working on and slowly but surely you felt your energy draining with each day passing by

even though sangyeon was extremely busy as well he was worried about you  

after coming home from a long day of practice sangyeon noticed when you weren’t in the front foyer to give him his welcome home kiss like you usually did

as he walked to your bedroom he saw you sitting by the desk typing away at your computer

as he made his way towards you he squatted down slightly to give you a warm cheek kiss

“hey baby, how about you take a break huh? you’ve been working so hard, let me cook something for you” he insisted

“hmm? oh.. okay, i’m sorry sangyeon, work has been driving me up the wall lately i didn’t mean to shut you out” you mumbled

he gave you a small smile as he stroked your cheek before replying “don’t worry about it baby i just don’t want you to overwork yourself” he said

during your break sangyeon is cooking you dinner, listening to all your troubles and even trying his best to help you with your project. by the end of the night expect a lot of cuddles and kisses.

「 Jacob Bae  」

stress was something you’ve always experienced, especially being a university student finishing your final year

jacob was super supportive of your dreams always helping you study in any way he can

sometimes even distracting you to get your mind off it so that you wouldn’t burn out

but as final exams were just around the corner you were so stressed to the point that you cried and threw your book across the table in frustration

jacob turned his head and quickly took notice since he was only a couple of feet away reading a book which he swiftly set down and rushed to your side

“oh babe, don’t cry please, i promise it’s going to be okay” he whispered as he wiped your tears away  

you completely broke down sobbing uncontrollably onto jacob’s sleeve as he held you close giving you hushed praise

“how about we go and rest for a little? a nap would be good for you” he softly asked as you simply nodded

jacob helped you up as you made your way to your bedroom where he made it relaxing as possible turning on the air humidifier and lighting a lavender candle. he also made sure that the curtains were closed so that the room was dark enough to fall asleep to

soon enough your drifting into a calming sleep in jacob’s arms.

「 Kim Younghoon  」

it had been 3 months since you’ve started dating kim younghoon, your relationship was everything you could’ve dreamed of. it was absolutely perfect with no flaws what so ever.  

with all that in mind you started to wonder why you both hadn’t exchange i love you’s. you knew younghoon felt strongly for you, always making sure you were taken care of, constantly hugging and kissing you.

the whole situation started to stress you out and make you second guess everything

you loved younghoon but you had to admit you were a bit apprehensive on saying it first, since you didn’t know what younghoon’s response would be.

he could’ve said it back, or worse, not say anything at all.

one evening when younghoon was sleeping over your place you decided then and there that you were going to muster up your courage and finally say the three words you’ve been stressing over.

as you both were watching t.v his arms draped over your shoulders you looked up over at younghoon who was fixated on the drama that was playing. you cleared your throat

“younghoon.. i have to tell you something… something i’ve been wanting to tell you for awhile now” you announced hesitantly

as he looked over at you he adjusted his body to fully look at you face on

“really? i actually have something to say as well” he replied

your ears perked as you continued “how about we say it at the same?”

he nodded smiling before counting down “3…2…1..”

“i love you” you said “i’m in love with you” he whispered

you breathed the biggest sigh of relief before sliding in his lap giving him the softest kiss as you felt younghoon’s arms around your waist

「 Lee Hyunjae 」

your relationship with hyunjae was many things, exciting, passionate, intense. never in a million years would you think it would be stressful, or let me rephrase: you never thought it would be this stressful  

you received a text message from hyunjae one afternoon saying that he needed to talk to you and that it was important

at that moment your mind was going through so many options on what it could be, your thoughts becoming worse and worse.

oh god is this it? he wants to beak up with me

did he cheat on me? i’ll fucking kill him if he did

oh my god what if he’s not in love with me anymore?

as your mind was going a mile a minute you finally broke out of your daze when your friend who you were out to lunch with told you that it probably wasn’t all that bad and that you should trust hyunjae.

when the evening finally  rolled around you went to visit hyunjae just right when he got home from practice.

“hey baby” he smiled giving you a peck on the lips, giving him a small you replied “hey” back as you two sat on the sofa

“so what’s going on?” you asked as you were rubbing your palms against your knees trying to get rid of the sweat

hyunjae instantly noticed your anxious aura and grabbed your hands holding them tightly giving them a kiss

“well, we’ve been dating for almost a year now and i think it’s time.. for you to meet my parents” he said proudly

you blinked a couple of times as your brain still hadn’t registered the information he just said

“i want them to meet the girl i’m madly in love with” he continued

when you finally heard his words your first instinct was to hit hyunjae’s arm

“ah! hey! what was that for?” he shouted rubbing his arm

“jesus christ hyunjae i thought you were breaking up with me!” you shouted back

he laughed grabbing your waist pulling you close on his lap putting his head in the crook of your neck “i could never” he whispered giving your neck a light kiss

「 Lee Juyeon 」

to say that you were having a bad week was the understatement of the year.

it all started when you caught the flu, you felt horrible. it was constant sneezing, throwing up, runny nose, all of it.

you started to feel stressed when juyeon risked his safety getting sick to take care of you. you especially didn’t want him getting sick when the boyz comeback was nearly a month away.

you told him that you could take care of yourself, but juyeon didn’t take no for an answer.

you had to admit even though you were sick you couldn’t deny that you loved having juyeon with you 24/7 he was being the perfect boyfriend getting you tea, wet cloths for your forehead, and making sure you took your medicine every night.

“open your mouth, good girl” he praised putting the spoonful of medicine in your mouth

“you know if i wasn’t sick you would be saying those exact words another way” you teased coughing slightly

juyeon smirked and kissed your forehead in response

slowly but surely after a week you were starting to feel better but then your sickness hit juyeon as predicted delaying the comeback for nearly two weeks.

「 Kevin Moon 」

it was a hard month for kevin, the boyz comeback had just started and he was stressing over all the performances and interviews wanting to make sure that each one was up to his standards

it was so bad that all his stress levels were slowing creeping up on you making you become stressed yourself

it was starting to effect your relationship and you knew you had to do something quick before you and kevin would get into a fight you were not mentally prepared for

the comeback was closing in on it’s last week and you had decided to make one evening extremely special pampering kevin.

you decided to make his favorite meal, wearing your sexy yet tasteful red dress, with your black lacy bra and matching panties for later activities.

as kevin walked into your apartment he noticed you immediately smiling at your attire

“hey babe, what’s all this?” he asked pointing to all the candles and dim lighting

“what do you mean? can’t i do something special for the man i love?” you replied innocently walking up to him giving him a soft kiss on the lips

as kevin deepened the kiss your back found it’s way to the cold wall behind you as kevin started to trail kisses along the side of your jaw making his way down to your neck

you were excited it wasn’t often that kevin was a dom but you had pressing matters to attend to first

“k-kevin wait… i want to talk first” you whimpered as he finally reached your sweet spot

kevin stopped immediately to your words and gave you a quick peck on lips before nodding

you grabbed his hand and made your way to the dining table where the food was most likely cold by now and sat down on the chair

“kev, i just wanted to talk about how you’ve been so stressed with this comeback and everything it’s.. it’s starting to effect our relationship” you mumbled

he sighed and agreed “i know it has, and i’m so sorry for that babe” he said grabbing your hand as he continued “i’ll promise to be better about it, you know that i don’t want to ruin what we have. i love you”

you smiled feeling 100 times better about the situation giving kevin a kiss on the cheek  

you lightly laughed as you pulled apart “the dinner is totally cold now by the way”

“let’s just order a pizza, it probably wasn’t that good anyway” he teased before you shoved him playfully in response

「 Choi Chanhee 」

what was suppose to be a relaxing day off spending it with your boyfriend choi chanhee it drastically changed into a nightmare

you both decided to spend the day shopping for some new clothes together

at first you thought it was a cute idea, thinking you would get matching couple outfits so that you can coordinate for the upcoming summer season

but it quickly turned into a stressful day when chanhee wanted you to try on every shirt, every dress, and pants, you were starting to regret this little outing until you finally snapped at him

“love, you would look so cute in this why don’t you-”

“no!” you yelled quickly covering your mouth at your sudden outburst in public

chanhee gave you a puzzled look not expecting your sudden change in mood

you quickly apologized not wanting to start a fight in public, pulling him to the side of the store where it was secluded from prying eyes

“chanhee… i’m sorry it’s just i’m tired i thought this would be fun but it’s stressing me out, it’s all too much” you sighed looking down at your shoes

chanhee pushed a strand of your hair behind your ear and lifted your head up with his index finger

“oh love, don’t apologize i should be the one apologizing i’m sorry for being excited, i just wanted to have a fun day with you, let’s go home okay?” he reassured kissing your temple

「 Ji Changmin/Q 」

you had it all planned out, you were going to introduce your friends to your wonderful boyfriend ji changmin

you ultimately thought that they should finally meet him after dating for nearly 4 months

at first you had no idea why you decided to wait this long, considering you already met all the members and were close to each of them

you were extremely nervous and stressed for their first interaction you just wanted everything to be perfect with smooth sailing

changmin was going to meet two of your closest friends who were also a couple themselves

it was a chilly fall day when you all decided to meet up at a nearby cafe changmin’s hand in yours trying to warm it up blowing on it while pressing kisses

“don’t worry babe, it’s all going to work out fine” he smiled easing your nervousness

when you finally made it to the cafe your friends were already waiting and quickly made introductions  

they easily took noticed when changmin ordered your drink he knew you loved and paid for everything with his card as your friends gave you hushed whispers

“wow, he’s such a gentlemen” she gushed “yeah, and he even knew your order by heart” he replied giving you a thumbs up

you smiled when changmin returned with both of your orders giving you a cheek kiss when he sat down

to your surprise the conversation between the four of you went smoothly changmin easily wooing them with his charms and cheerful aura

your friends especially had a million questions when it came to his idol life out of general curiosity

changmin didn’t mind at all answering every single one with ease even laughing at the humorous ones

your heart melted at the interaction when you realized in the end you had nothing to worry about

「 Juhaknyeon 」

you knew juhaknyeon always loved your home cooking as he was always excited whenever he came home from practice knowing he would have a hot meal ready for him

but this time was different, you weren’t just cooking for him but cooking for his parents who so happen to be visiting you two

you met juhaknyeon’s parents before who were very down to earth and humble people always making you feel welcomed

but you had to admit you were a bit stressed trying to live up to the expectations

it was less than a couple of hours away before they would be arriving and you were running around the supermarket with juhaknyeon on your tail

“babe, slow down your gonna run out of energy” he grunted breathing heavily

“juhak you don’t understand your parents opinion mean the world to me, i want them to love my cooking” you said looking down at your hands trying to decide between the beef or pork belly

juhaknyeon gave you a side hug pulling you close “they are going to love whatever you make, because i love it too” he promised kissing the top of your head

when you finally made it back to the dorms and cooked up a storm that would’ve fed all 11 members juhakyeon’s parents finally made an appearance

after the quick greetings and the light scolding from juhak’s mother telling him to keep his room neater she finally took in your food spread

“wow! it all looks amazing [name] i’m sure it taste wonderful too” she smiled warmly pinching your cheek lightly

when you all finally sat down to eat you anxiously waited for juhakyeon’s parents comments

after a couple of bites juhak’s mother proudly exclaimed “it’s delicious [name] really! everything taste amazing, i’m so happy our son found someone who can feed him like this” she praised

you bowed your head thanking her for her positive comments as haknyeon grabbed your hand under the table squeezing it giving you a wink

「 Kim Sunwoo 」

you loved your mother dearly, but she was starting to text and call you nearly everyday about when you and sunwoo were finally going to get married

even though you loved sunwoo and were dating for a year and half you told her that it wasn’t a good time yet. sunwoo had major responsibilities when it came to his idol life

not to mention that you and sunwoo were still very young and just wanted to enjoy being together before you had to tackle even more responsibilities like marriage

you were laying in bed when you got off the phone with your mother after another hour long call

you sighed staring at ceiling fan feeling pressured and stressed when sunwoo walked in the bedroom

“hey babe, have you seen my adidas hoodie?” he wondered as he saw you looking emotionless at the ceiling

he hovered over you waving his hands across your face trying to get your attention

“hm? oh sorry it’s behind the door in the bathroom” you mumbled

sunwoo swiftly climbed on top of you resting his chin on your chest “what’s wrong babe? who was on the phone?” he asked

you hesistantly replied “it’s just my mother, she keeps wondering when.. well.. she keeps asking when we’re getting married” you laughed lightly

sunwoo smirked “oh really? close your eyes” he instructed

confused you did as you were told as you felt sunwoo get off you hearing the sound of the dresser opening

“okay now open” he said as you saw sunwoo with your own two eyes on his knee with a black velvet box in his hands

“sunwoo oh my god, don’t do this to me i-i’m” you stammered as you felt your hands begin to shake

he smiled and open the box where you saw a gorgeous sterling silver infinity ring with a small diamond in the middle

“[name] this isn’t an engagement ring, it’s a promise. a promise to always love you and cherish you, and to always respect you. i am going to marry you one day, when we’re both ready. i’ve never loved anyone as much as i love you” he vowed putting the ring on your finger

you then felt the tears flow grabbing his face with both your hands giving him a longing kiss falling back on the bed with him on top of you

as sunwoo began to take off his shirt that’s when you saw his necklace with the same infinity symbol as your ring

you smiled as you grabbed his necklace pulling him back down for another kiss

「 Eric Sohn 」

it was official you wanted to kill eric, he knew you were afraid of heights. yet he manage to persuade you on getting on an airplane to go to okinawa for a weekend getaway trip

you loved that he put so much thought into your weekend, making sure to pick the nicest hotel with a view by lots of restaurants and attractions

but you were beyond stressed, the only time you’ve been on an airplane is when you were little and moved to seoul from america, you barely remember the experience sleeping the entire trip

your body was shaking as you walked up the ramp finally boarding the airplane going to your seats

eric put away your luggage above the overhead bin and took the window seat hoping you would feel more comfortable being in the middle

as you took your seats your heart started to beat extremely fast and you started to breath heavily

eric took your hands in his “babe i promise it’s going to be okay flying is one of the safest ways to travel” he promised rubbing the side of your arm trying to calm you down

you nodded “no yeah your right i need to face my fears sometime” you bravely said

when the flight finally took off your nerves managed to subdued until you hit mild turbulence which freaked you out all over again

eric quickly grabbed his sleeping mask putting it over your eyes and large headphones with loud music trying to mask your senses which worked wonders as you lay your head on his shoulder

he held your hand tightly when you finally landed getting off the 2 hour flight

as you made your way to the hotel you were in awe of okinawa absorbing all the buildings and the mass of people walking by

you looked at eric “thank you eric this is amazing, i don’t think there’s anyone else i would trust to help me face my fears” you said bashfully

he leaned over and kissed your jaw “anytime babe” he murmured

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* © sunwoo-hoo 2 0 2 1  ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

Has Bruno ever had a crush on anyone? Aside from Fish lady, obviously

You guys ever have a crush on your friend's mom? Well. Bruno has been though this, and this is that story.

"We COULD sneak into Ernesto's party."

"Ugh, and deal with all those girls from our school? I deal with those perras all day. There IS a hot spring though, we could do a little skinny dipping, just me and you."

Félix grinned as he spun Pepa around, before holding her close to his chest, hand at the small of her back. The prettiest girl in school, in his arms, he couldn't believe it.

"Damn Pepi, when you think, you think BIG!"

"I LIKE big~"

He was about to kiss her like she clearly wanted, when they both stopped upon hearing someone clear their throat.

"Uh yeah hi, third wheel here- I'm not going with you guys to do ANY of that."

Right. The only way he could've gotten Pepa out of the Casita, was if they agreed to watch Bruno. He was the same age as Pepa, but apparently couldn't be left alone. Félix let go of Pepa, clearing his throat.

"Right. Sorry, kinda forgot you were there."

"I get that a lot."

Pepa grumbled, a gray cloud forming over her head.

"Ugh. What do we do with him?"

Félix thought about it for a second, before snapping his fingers.

"I have an idea. Follow me."

Félix headed for his house, and made a beeline for the kitchen, where his mom was cleaning.

"Mami!"

"Hey hey! Back early? Thought you were going out?"

"Yeah there's a slight problem. So I was wondering if you could watch someone while I-ow ow ow!"

His mother immediately stopped with the dishes, in order to grab onto his ear, tugging it.

"Boy, how many times you gonna dump your workload on me? I'm a busy woman. Too busy for your nonsense with some girl-"

"It's for Pepa, mami!"

His mom peeked into the living room, where Pepa was making little rainbows for the children, ever eager to please.

"Well. Why didn't you start with that? You know I love that girl!"

He rubbed the spot once his mom let go, and they both peered into the kitchen. Bruno had his hoodie up, sticking close to his sister, yet away from the fascinated children. Exactly how it was whenever they were out and about town.

"Lemme guess. I gotta watch the recluse."

"Yep. He's apparently not allowed to be left alone. He's not a bad guy just very...shy. Not social. So can you do it?"

He watched his mother roll her eyes, before digging into her bra, and pulling out a few pesos.

"Here. You go treat Pepa to something nice, I got him."

"Gracias, mami. Now be patient, he's. Well he's him, you'll see what I mean."

Félix excused himself to the scene, where his little brother, Mateo, tugged on his pant sleeve.

"Hermano, he's being weird."

"Bruno just. Isn't used to playing with other's, be nice. Especially since mami agreed me and you can go while she watches Bruno!"

Pepa clapped a bit, clearly loving the idea.

"Oh how nice of her! I knew I always liked your...Bruno?"

Bruno held onto her dress like a scared child, looking at her past his hoodie.

"Pepa, don't leave me here with all these people. I don't know anyone and it's a LOT of people and I don't wanna freak out his parents in his own home and my anxiety is UP THERE-"

Pepa held onto his hands. It was rare, but here and there, Pepa acted like a proper older sister to her brother.

"You're going to be fine. Félix would never leave you in a place where you weren't safe. If he did, I'd absolutely kill him. And you trust Félix when he says you're safe, right?"

Félix lightly patted his back, nodding.

"You guys welcomed me into your home, we do the same. Why don't you go to the kitchen, get a snack and calm down? We'll be back before you know it!"

Bruno let go of Pepa, although it took some coaxing. Bruno was going to be just fine.

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

Bruno waved Pepa and Félix as they left, leaving him all alone. The hoard of kids looked at him curiously, clearly interested in him. Bruno felt just oh so small and nervous and-

"Alright, quit gawking, all of you! Let the boy come in here!"

Félix's mom sure was loud. He scurried past the children and into the kitchen, thankful for a change of scenery. It was calm in the kitchen, fairly quiet. An older, short man sat at the dining room table, reading, and not even looking at him. Meanwhile, she was...tall. Like, almost scary tall. She had loads of hair too, and nails that reminded him of claws. He kinda understood why Félix called her mama bear now. She seemed to just now notice him, and she gestured towards the table.

"Take a seat. Can I get you somethin' to drink?"

He shook his head as he sat down. He learned early on that hood up often meant people didn't want to talk to you, and he was fine with that. The man spoke up, voice gruff and gravelly.

"Ain't that the weird one?"

"Ramone! That is a child, not much older than our boys!"

"No it's...fine. I get that a lot."

He felt her get closer to him, and he tensed up, expecting...well. Something bad. He didn't know what, just something.

"Maybe it'd help if people saw your face, baby. Come on, hoodie down, show some manners at the table."

He didn't want to. Really didn't want to. But he didn't want to offend her, so, he reluctantly put it down.

"I'm...sorry, it's just that people seem to like it more when it's-"

"Oh Dios! Ramone! Look at him! Oh he's got the same facial hair YOU did way back when! Oh you are just precious!"

He hadn't been called precious since he was like, ten. So when she squished his face in her big, warm hands as she called him that, he kinda...well. Liked it.

"Uh...thank you, doña-"

"Oh no no, none of that here. When you're in my house, it's mama. Got it?"

"...mama."

"There we go! Now let's get some food in you! You're skinnier than a wishbone! What do you like?"

She was....staring at him, it felt like. Like he was so important and vital and wanted. It made his cheeks flare, and he hoped it didn't hurt her hands.

"I'll eat anything really, I'm not picky. Mami always says to accept what I'm given, so-"

"Not what I asked. I asked what do you WANT?"

"I mean...I like it when mami makes Arroz con Pollo."

"Is that all? I can do that! You want a snack while you wait? You like cocadas?"

"I. LOVE cocadas."

She let go of his face, in order to reach for a jar up in the cabinet. Bruno felt himself practically drooling at the jar of goodies.

"Go on, eat. But don't ruin your appetite."

"Did you make all of these? They look perfect!"

"Well Ramone helped, but yes, we made 'em. Go on, eat."

He started to grab a few as she started to cook. She was so...nice to him. So happy to just provide for him, if only a moment. He stuffed a cookie in his mouth, and swore he melted on the spot. They were a bit crispy on the outside, and perfectly mushy on the inside. They were, by every definition, perfect.

"Okay, not going to lie, you're not going to see this jar, I'm taking it."

She chuckled, clearly amused by his flattery.

"Well thank you, dumplin'. I like knowing you kiddies like my food."

She called him dumpling. He had no idea why, but it made him cover his cheeks with his ruana, a bit embarrassed.

"I...could eat your cooking all the time, honestly."

She smiled as she set the rice to cook, starting to season the chicken.

"Maybe then we could fatten you up a bit! You're a growing boy, you need to eat!"

"Mami says I eat too much already, so it's fine-"

She huffed, turning to look at him as if he said something wrong.

"Tellin' a child when they've had enough to eat. Can you imagine, honey?"

The father muttered some response, not looking from his book. She rolled her eyes as she continued cooking.

"You eat as much as you wanna eat, especially in my house. My only rule is that you throw nothin' away. Imma have a word with your mother about this, you wait and see."

She meant it somewhat playfully, but he was honestly so flattered by the notion of someone standing up for him. Someone who could cook for him and take care of him and-

"Ow!"

He was so distracted, he bit his finger. He didn't break the skin, but it still hurt. She seemed to notice, leaving the stove to walk back over to him.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I just bit my finger, I'm fine."

"Right here?"

"Si, but I don't need a band aid or any..."

She held onto his hand, and kissed it. Her lips were so soft, so warm, and the burgundy lipstick that was smared against his finger made him feel...something. She looked at him with her caring eyes and it made his chest hurt.

"Better?"

He nodded quickly, and with a ruffling of his hair, she got back to cooking. Bruno looked at his finger curiously, and seeing how no one was looking, brought the finger to his lips. Turns out, he REALLY liked how lipstick felt. It felt nice, and the taste was oddly pleasant. He peered over at her for a second, and realized, she was a very, VERY pretty lady. From her clothes, to her long hair, to her smooth looking skin. He'd have crushes before, but never on someone's fucking MOM.

"Oye! Dinner time! Wash up, all of you!"

As the children came flooding in, he put his hoodie back up, and he sat at the table, right next to her. He watched as she piled on his plate, with a serving way bigger than what his mother would give him.

"You...shredded the chicken for me?"

"Course! That way you don't have to sit there, fiddling with the bones. You need more, you tell me."

Félix's mom was a wonderful cook. Bruno still kept himself reserved due to all the eyes upon him, but he ate every single bit off of his plate. It left him feeling warm, happy, and he HAD to get seconds. And maybe thirds. Not his fault he was a growing boy. He was a few bites into his third plate, when Félix's younger brother, Mateo, seemed to glare at him as he spoke.

"So it's not true?"

"Hmm?"

"That you drink blood. Everyone says that at my school."

Bruno was going to speak, when his mother did so instead, using her fork to point at the boy, then upstairs.

"Why don't you go upstairs, take a minute, and come back down to try that again?"

He left in a huff, and she ever so gently patted his head.

"I'm so sorry. Kids. They don't know a lot about you, so they make up things."

"I mean...I do like blood sausage, does that count?"

She had such a pretty laugh too. So loud and full of life, it lit up her whole face.

"Oh you are just precious! Next time you come over, I'll make you some."

"You mean next time Félix is sick of me being a third wheel."

"Hey, no. You're allowed here ANY time you want, Bruno baby. Doors always open to you, and any one who needs it."

Why was she so compassionate to him? What did he do to deserve being near her? He smiled, a bit bashfully, before taking her empty plate.

"Here, let me help you clean."

"Oh no honey, you're our guest-"

"I do it all the time at home, I don't mind!"

She pinched his cheeks, the jewelry around her wrist clanging as she did so.

"You are just a delight! Alma raised such a sweet little man!"

Bruno helped her clean as everyone seemed to just leave. Poor woman, having to do all these dishes by herself. He washed and scrubbed as she dried the plates right next to him.

"So Félix and Agustín are friends because of you?"

"That's right! I do his mom's hair. She'd always bring her little son with her, and I had Félix play with him. Those two have been friends since they were tots. Which is good, Agustín isn't exactly...popular, I've noticed."

"Not unlike Félix, who's pretty much THE guy at school."

She held a little pride in her movements as she put the plates away.

"He gets it from me. I've always had that certain charm. Not to brag, but I could get any man I wanted on the dancefloor with me. It's all in the hip."

She gave a bit of movement that Bruno was a bit too focused on. She could really move. He had the urge to dance with her, despite the fact that he never felt confident in his own moves. He wiped his hands free as soon as the dishes were done, chuckling.

"Well, Félix is lucky to have you as a mom. He has a really loving family. One that I really, really appreciate letting me eat with. I once had a lady throw a cross at me when I even came near her house."

She suddenly grabbed him, and brought him into a hug.

"Oh, dumplin', I'm sorry. But don't worry, I can be your other mami. Anytime you need me for ANYTHIN', you come to me. I'll feed you, and kiss away any booboos you got. Okay?"

She was so...full, so warm. His face was searing hot at being so close to her, for getting to smell the spices that clung to her clothes, and maybe just a small part because his face was right at her chest. He nodded, keeping her in the hug by wrapping his arms around her (trying anyway, she was a THICK woman), and just sinking into her. He wanted to stay here forever. But unfortunately, all good things come to an end. The front door opened, and a very flushed Pepa and Félix came prancing in, absolutely giddy.

"That was FUN!"

"If it weren't for your mami, trust me, it wouldn't have ended!"

She let go of Bruno to peer at them from the kitchen, waving at Pepa.

"Well hey you two! How was date night?"

"Bien, bien! Félix was a gentleman, as always~"

Félix chuckled, before looking over at Bruno.

"Well hey! Someone isn't wearing their hoodie! Good job, mami, it usually takes him forever to feel comfortable. Come on, let's get you home!"

Bruno clung onto her dress, seeming to shrink a bit.

"Do we have to go now?"

Pepa seemed surprised, looking at Félix's mom.

"Geez, usually he loves going home. What'd you do?"

"Nothing really? We just had dinner."

"Ah. That makes sense."

She knelt down to grab Bruno's face again, squishing his cheeks.

"And he's such a good lil hombre! He helped me with the dishes, he complimented my cooking-Pepa, when you get home, you tell your mama she raised a fine boy! And he is welcomed any time he wants!"

He really hoped he didn't singe her lips as she kissed his cheek. It was a full, mushy, affectionate kiss against his skin, and he was surprised his legs didn't buckle at feeling so delightfully smothered. He had to put his hoodie back up to cover his face, and she semed more amused than anything. He muttered a goodbye, before walking with Pepa and Félix back home. Agustín was there too, seeming to be doing homework with Julieta. Bruno ended up being alone with the two boys as Julieta and Pepa went upstairs for...something he couldn't remember.

"...can I ask you guys something? Like, as guys?"

Félix patted his back as he sat down, nodding.

"Course, ask away, hombrecito."

"...is it normal to have crushes on older women?"

Agustín chuckled, not looking up from the homework as he nodded.

"Plenty normal, Bruno. I had a crush on our old english teacher."

Félix grinned as he roughly patted his head.

"Is it my sister? She seems like your type."

"No. It's not."

"Really? Well I mean you don't have to hide it, I mean I've got a crush on YOUR sister-"

"Félix I really wanna kiss your mom."

Agustín snorted as he dropped the bomb, trying to keep his shit together.

"I mean. That's-Agustín stop laughing!"

"BRUNO WANTS TO BANG YOUR MOM-"

"AGUSTÍN TE VOY A PEGAR!"

[tteokggukk]

summer heat → jjk

–pairing: twin!jungkook x reader

–genre: fluff, mature (? but no smut), drabble, a minor attempt at humor, best friend’s twin brother type of thing

–words: 2.9k

–warnings: explicit language, sexual tension, tiny bit of humiliation, a hint of jungkook and reader having some sort of “history” if u squint hard enough

–summary: in an attempt to calm you down and prevent your mood from swinging due to the blazing heat, your best friend decides to go out and buy you some ice cream. you’re shocked, however, when he quickly returns and looks different, making you see him in an entirely new light and leaving you trying to resist the urge to give in to your raging hormones and just jump on him.

–a/n: i was thinking of this scenario in the shower but didn’t have the brain power to turn it into a full length story so i might just add this to a pile of drabbles that i may or may not develop heh + ive been in my jungkook feels too lately sigh + also this is unedited 

permanent taglist: @100percent-dum-dum  @mochisjoon​ @boraength @rageyoudamnednerd​ 

It was a scorching hot summer’s day. Sweat was beginning to trickle down your temples and your shirt was getting stuck to your skin, causing an irking feeling of discomfort. Looking around, you quickly grabbed an empty long folder from your best friend’s messy desk and began fanning yourself to cool down. The two of you were just there, sitting in his room in a not-so-comfortable silence.

You were currently plopped down onto a chair with your legs resting on the desk in front of you, too lazy to come up with ideas to kill your boredom.

It was a tradition for your family to travel every summer and visit a new country you hadn’t been to, but this year you had to pass the plane tickets and sight-seeing due to your best friend, Junghan, asking begging you to help him out with a month-long film project. You didn’t have the heart to decline, so you told your parents you’d stay behind and help him out which resulted in you having to stay over at Junghan’s place for the rest of the summer.

You had to admit though, a small part of you felt disinclined to stay because the project sounded like it would’ve been a tedious workload, but working with your best friend was so much more fun than you’d imagined and even the project itself turned out to be enjoyable. So far, your summer break has been spent filming and hanging out with Junghan—though hanging out usually meant staying in his room and watching romcoms all day while crying over fictional characters, ranting about how you two would never meet such perfect men in real life. It was great.

Until the air conditioner broke down.

You glanced over at Junghan, who seemed to be just as spiritless as you were while he sat in front of a fan, eyes looking empty and distant.

“I told you the air conditioner needed to be fixed,” You sighed and looked up at the ceiling, completely missing the harsh glare he sent you.

“I said I was gonna get it fixed,” He replies and turns back to the fan, his voice quieting down a little, “But the number for repair wouldn’t answer.”

“Right,” You muttered absent-mindedly, eyes staring at the ceiling while your mind was too busy trying to come up with suggestions to beat the heat, “We could go to the pool?”

“Closed,” Junghan grunts, “The mall?”

“As if we’d both drive in this state,” You rolled your eyes as you tried to get your shirt to stop sticking to your skin. Junghan glances over at you when he hears you grumbling, one of the many cues that you were beginning to feel peevish. Deciding that it was pointless to keep tugging on your shirt, you opt to take it off instead.

“You don’t mind do you?” You asked before completely removing your shirt, only leaving you in your bralette. Though you knew he never did because of the countless times he’s helped you change and pick out different outfits, you always asked out of politeness. Additionally, his zero interest in women made you feel much safer and comfortable enough to undress around him.

“I really don’t care,” He says and stands up. You hear him rumbling for a moment while you were neatly folding your shirt, and seconds later you recognize the jingling sound of keys.

“Where are you going?” You asked.

“The nearby grocery. You’re about to get grumpy and I am not going to listen to a rambling bitch for the rest of the day,” He says, rubbing his temples as he makes his way to the door.

“So you’re just gonna leave me here?” You asked, too exhausted to even glance at him. He probably wasn’t, you only asked for the dramatic effect.

“No, dumbass. I’m just gonna go and buy ice cream. See you in a bit.”

And with that Junghan leaves and closes the door shut. Only a few minutes later after the sound of the engine had gone did you decide to exert a little effort and move over to his previous spot to sit in front of the fan, the air immediately cooling your skin. You sighed in relief and grabbed a few tissues to wipe your temples dry before grabbing your phone and texting Junghan to buy some lemonade, followed by a second text telling him you’d pay him back once he returned.

You were surprised to hear, not even ten minutes later, that the car was already back and pulling up in the driveway. It couldn’t have been Junghan’s parents as they were out working, and it was only you and Junghan around—not like you two had many friends who would come and visit. Instead of rationalizing with yourself on how Junghan came back home in supersonic speed, you decide to drop it and wait for him to come up back to his room.

Someone knocks on the door, causing your brows to furrow in confusion. Since when did Junghan knock?

“Come... in?” You answer, though it came out more as a question. Your head turns at the sound of the door opening, and your eyes widen at seeing Junghan standing by the doorframe.

Looking oddly different.

“Dude,” You stood up from your place and stared him up and down, “Is that what you were really wearing when you went out?”

His eyebrows raise in shock and you catch his eyes taking a quick glimpse from your chest before quickly looking back at the perplexed look on your face, a small smirk forming on lips. You decide to ignore it.

“What a warm ‘welcome home’,” he chuckles.

“You didn’t answer me,” you replied, still oblivious to the difference in his tone.

He was wearing an all-black ensemble—a black cap, a black leather jacket, black pants that outlined his toned thighs (how have you never noticed?), and some chunky black boots—a huge contrast to his normally colorful and baggy clothing. You were genuinely curious because you hadn’t noticed what he looked like before he left the house as you were too tired and lazy to even look up and say goodbye.

“Uh, yeah. This is what I was wearing?” He narrows one of his eyes, looking confused, “Why?”

“I don’t know… since when did you wear all black?”

“Since way back then? I don’t know,” He replies, and you now noticed how his voice was unusually low. Junghan steps inside and averts his eyes from you, looking around in his room before scrimmaging through drawers as if in search for something.

“What are you looking for?” You asked, folding your arms and following him around.

“A charger,” He replies, and a chill runs down your spine at the sound of his voice. You thought maybe you’d detect how he was just trying to change his manner of speaking, but it was effortlessly low; like he wasn’t faking it or anything. It was weird because Junghan normally sounded a little more high pitched. 

“What charger?”

“A laptop charger, mine broke,” He continues searching and not once does he meet your eyes.

“Oh okay, let me help you then,” You begin to look around and help him search, “Though I don’t know what it looks like, I’ll let you know if I see a charger.”

He looks up at you and smiles, but you don’t catch him watching you as you were already busy searching, “Thanks.”

The two of you continue searching in silence, though occasionally you’d look up and glance at Junghan. What exactly was he doing? Was this for his film? Is he supposed to be in character? This new look and manner of talking that he somehow adopted after a quick trip to the grocery store did things to you. Every time he grunted in annoyance after a failed search, something in your stomach would twist and you found yourself suddenly feeling drawn, or maybe even more than drawn, to your best friend. Your gay best friend.

You shook your head to get rid of those thoughts.

Only a few minutes later did you find something that looked like a charger hiding underneath a pile of unfolded clothes before presenting it to Junghan, “Is it this?”

“Yes! Exactly that,” He jumps up from crouching over one of the drawers at the bedside and walks over to you, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t know why you took such a long time searching for something in your room, though,” You rolled your eyes.

“My room?” He smiles, voice a little deeper but with a hint of amusement.

God, you could just jump on him right now.

“Yeah?” You knit your brows, “And stop doing that!”

“Stop doing what?” He asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed so he was looking up at you. He leans back a bit a folds his arms, a smile still tugging on the corner of his mouth.

Maybe it was the summer heat doing things to your head and making you think about all these things that you never thought you’d ever want to do with your gay best friend, but he seemed so in character it was actually beginning to bother you. What store did he go to exactly? And where the hell is the ice cream?

“That! What’s up with your voice? And your outfit? You look so different, it’s weird,” You folded your arms as if to mirror him.

“Weird, huh?” He asks and looks at his clothing before looking back at you.

“Not in a bad way. It looks good, it’s just not you,” You squirmed slightly before shaking your head to snap out of it, “I don’t know what store you went to that made you look like this—and congrats I guess, if you’re trying to switch up your fashion, but you completely missed the ice cream, so good luck trying to handle this rambling bitch.”

He laughs at the words “rambling bitch” and oh god that is not what his laughter sounded like before. When did the sound of his laugh sound so deep and sultry? You subconsciously sucked on and bit your lip at the sound of his laughter, trying your best not to visibly drool in front of him. He catches your subtle action and his brow raises at the sight.

“Despite all the things you said, you think this looks good?” A playful smile rests on his face and your heart beats erratically at his expression.

“Y-yeah, I don’t know,” You mumbled. He shifts on the edge of the bed to move closer to you.

“And because there’s no ice cream, you’re going to turn into some rambling…” He reaches his hand out, the back of his fingers feeling the skin on your exposed waist before resting his hand on your back to pull you in closer.

“…person?” he continues, brows raised and eyes staring intently at yours, not using the vulgar word you had just used to describe yourself (or the word he had just called you before he left to go to the store).

“I...um, we’ll see,” you replied, and he only chuckles deeply. Your voice had transformed into a murmuring mess and it annoyed you, but you couldn’t really do anything about it, right now he reminded you so much of—

“I think you look good too, you know. Maybe I did miss you a lot more than I thought I did,” he whispers, pulling you in even more so you were now standing between his thighs.

Missed you? After an eight minute trip to the grocery store?

You didn’t question it. Your mind was blanking out, malfunctioning, even. Here was your best friend, your gay best friend (as you had to keep reminding yourself), placing his hands on your bare skin in a way that you knew wasn’t going to turn out to be so innocent. Right now you were extremely attracted and possibly even turned on by whatever the fuck he was doing, all you could do to save yourself was blame it on the heat. Was this absolutely weird? Hell yes. Did you want to stop him? Fuck no.

Were you now completely devoid of all reason and logic?

Definitely.

Softly, he tugs on your arm and pulls you into him so you were now sitting on his lap with your hand resting on his chest. One of his hands was still attached to your waist, the other was resting itself on the bed, gripping on a blanket.

Chills run down your spine for the second time now as his mouth moves closer to your ear, “Lucky for you I know the perfect way to handle rambling bitches.”

Your breath hitches for a moment and Junghan moves back to face you, his lips grazing your cheeks a little before you meet each other’s gaze. The summer heat was definitely nothing compared to this, but you didn’t mind. Your faces were only mere centimeters apart now and you could’ve sworn he was beginning to lean in by the look in his eyes, which were now fixated on your lips.

Seriously, you could just grab him by the collar right now and speed things up. He’s the one who pulled you in first, anyway, you just wanted to get things going. Though you haven’t exactly a clue as to where this would end, you wished he would hurry up a little to find out.

But for some strange reason, your senses were enveloped with the distinct smell of a signature fragrance that you knew did not belong to Junghan and it snapped you out of your thoughts. The scent was strong enough to flash some memories back in your mind, making you frown. Did he use this perfume on purpose? Or was your mind just playing tricks on you? In a flash, you could suddenly think straight and you couldn’t help it, the moral side of your brain had turned far stronger than your currently raging hormones (thank goodness). Something was definitely off.

“But, Junghan… aren’t you… gay?” You asked, your voice trailing off a little.

His eyes widen and he pulls back from you. He stares at you for a few seconds before it hits him, and he starts erupting in laughter. You narrowed your eyes at him and got off his lap, moving over to the side and sitting beside him instead.

“Junghan?” He stresses on the name. You’re staring at him blankly now, like you knew he was just messing with you. His laughter eventually dies down and he places a hand on your thigh, though it seemed much more innocent now, “I’m so sorry, ____, you’ve got the wrong person.”

With one hand, he quickly grabs the blanket off the bed. The back of his other free hand endearingly caresses your jaw, and you notice how he lingers for a while as he moves a bit lower down to your neck—before wrapping the fabric around you and covering your whole torso with it. Your face immediately turns pink as you clutched onto the blanket to further cover yourself, feeling slightly humiliated, though you were still confused.

“Wrong person? What do you mean?”

“I was wondering why you had no shirt on, I thought that was just a regular thing for you now. But it’s probably cause you’re more comfortable around my brother, huh?”

“Your brother…?”

“Has it really been that long?” He chuckles, and instantly your mind began connecting the pieces together. Could it actually be him? You haven’t seen him in years, and no one even bothered telling you he was coming back today. No way, surely this was Junghan playing a joke on you.

“I’m not Junghan. I’m his twin brother, Jungkook. Remember?”

You hastily stood up in defense, still clutching the blanket close to your chest, “Shut the fuck up, Junghan. No one said anything about Jungkook coming back today!”

Junghan Jungkook only laughs and stands up, the melodious sound filling the room, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the wide open bedroom door. 

“What a shame, but it was a surprise. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming home today,” He folds his arms, “And if I am Junghan, then who is that?” He points at the doorframe and true enough, Junghan was standing there holding grocery bags in his arms wearing his usual oversized colorful jacket and khaki colored pants.

You and Junghan both looked at each other with mouths dropped down to the floor before you looked back at Jungkook, who had the same smirk tugged on his lips, clearly amused at the whole situation.

Jungkook bends forward and leans in to your face, his voice in a lower tone but still audible enough for his brother to hear, “Probably shouldn’t take your top off so leisurely around the house anymore, huh?” He grins and winks at you, causing you wince and force an awkward smile, internally cursing yourself at everything that just happened.

“Anyways, I should probably rest up in my room. See you around,” Jungkook flashes you a smile before placing a chaste kiss on your (now dry, because your body had frozen up) forehead before walking away from you, taking the charger and dangling it in his other hand. He taps his confused looking brother on the shoulder before turning his head back to take one last look at you before walking out, leaving you and Junghan staring at each other in shock.

Junghan walks in slowly and sets the bags of grocery on the floor, shutting the door behind him.

“What the fuck just happened?” He asks you, eyes wide in anticipation.

Your mind replays everything that had happened between you two. Was Jungkook really just about to kiss you minutes before? Heart racing, you clutch on your chest from underneath the blanket he had covered you with. No way was Jungkook back. No way is he back and looking even more attractive than he did the last time you saw him. Not when you had just gotten over your small crush on him a couple of years ago.

The heat returns to your body, but it mainly pools on your cheeks. You look back at your best friend, but no words of explanation come up. 

“Believe me, I’m asking myself the same thing.”

↣ all rights reserved © 2021 tteokggukk. please do not repost. translations/modifications are not allowed.

[swiftsalchemy]

Snow White - Diluc Ragnvindr

A/N: I had a dream about this last night & ever since I couldn't help but think about it. so now I'm writing this to make sure it gets stuck in your head too. remember to drink water! :) also this may not be written the best since I’m really sick atm and a little out of it.

summary: diluc ragnvindr is in love with you and a certain brunette woman gets a little too jealous

pairings: diluc ragnvindr x female!reader

warnings: poison, themes of death, fluff

word count: 3.7k words

    It was safe to say that you were the most desirable woman in Mondstadt. Not only were you pretty, but you were kind and incredibly friendly. You also were quite the hard worker - always going out of your way to help others in need. Despite working as Lisa’s assistant in the library from the early hours in the morning to late at night, whenever you got a break, you would always head into the center of Mondstadt and help any way you could. Your most favorite person to help out was Diluc Ragnvindr.

    You often stopped by the Angel’s Share on your breaks and would help serve people drinks to ease the workload on other’s in there - even Diluc himself. Due to this, you often saw Diluc and you two grew rather close. Even though you were a worker in the Knights of Favonious, he admired how desperate you were to help those who lived in Mondstadt whenever you could. Plus, you were always so kind to others - no matter how rude anyone else was to you. 

    Occasionally during your late nights helping Diluc at Angel’s Share, you two would share those special moments. You two never kissed nor brought it up to each other after the fact. However, your meeting gazes, almost too close bodies, and hands overlapping or bumping into each other caused you both to slowly fall for each other. 

    Diluc often would be extra sweet to you and bring you lunch and gifts while you were at work. Sure, he didn’t like being in the Knights of Favonious building but if it meant that you were taken care of while you were at work it brought him a peace of mind. Rumors spread like wildfire around Mondstadt that you were Diluc’s girlfriend. You both always denied the rumors, but your actions towards each other made the entire town not believe you two. 

    Most of Mondstadt liked the idea of you two being together, two hard-working citizens finding comfort in each other. However, there was one woman who despised you for getting so close to Diluc, Donna. She believed you had used witchcraft on the firey red-head and bewitched him into dating you ( which you weren’t even in that kind of relationship anyway ). So, she wanted to take the matter into her own hands and end whatever relationship you and Diluc were sharing.

    Donna had heard of a local witch that lived just outside of Mondstadt who specialized in poisons. One night, Donna had left the stone walls that echoed the whispers with the rumors about yourself and Diluc, her recallings of everyone talking about you two only fueled her enragement more. She walked over the stone bridge and into the nearby forest. She had only a dagger and a lantern that emitted a yellow glow out into the dark woods. Unlike you, she had no hydro vision that balanced out with Diluc’s pyro vision so well. She was just a normal girl who lived a very unimportant life.

   Eventually, Donna made it to the wooden cottage where the witch lived. It was so dark and menacing looking ( even with her lantern lighting up the building ). A part of her wanted to turn around and go back into her safe home. However, she would never turn away this chance to make you pay for stealing her precious Diluc away. 

    The woman gingerly approached the rotting wooden door of the cottage and raised her fist, knocking it softly against the door. Donna waited a few seemingly long moments, her heart racing with each fleeting second. Slowly, the door had opened before Donna and a tall, youthful woman stood before her. The woman looked around her mid-twenties and had black hair that flowed from her scalp to beautifully. There wasn’t a single dark curl that was out of place. Glowing yellow eyes peered at Donna as she sized the visitor up. 

    “ Let me guess what you’re here for, one of my varying poisons, no?” The tall woman asked, her voice melting in Donna’s ear. It was so collected and warm - it matched perfectly with the vibe the woman had.

    Donna nodded, “ yes ma’am. I need a poison that’ll kill the woman who seeks to take away my lover,” she answered, her previous rage was bubbling back up in her chest. Donna despised you.

    The witch laughed, raising a pale hand to cover her red-stained lips. “ None of my poisons kill. However, they all are extremely difficult to reverse the effects of. It’ll take far much more than an antidote to wake your victim up from their deep slumber. “ For a moment, the woman disappeared back into her dark cottage. Donna narrowed her eyes, trying to find the woman and see what she was doing. However, it didn’t take very long for the witch to come back to the door. This time, she held a woven basket filled to the brim with apples in her fragile hands.

    “ Here, these will do your job perfectly. Just give one to your victim and watch as your victim chokes on the poison-filled apple and falls into a deep slumber,” she spoke, holding the basket out to Donna. 

    Donna took the basket, holding the handle tightly in her free hand. “ How much do I pay you?”

    The woman shook her head, “ there’s no need for that. I do not require payment, Mora is unnecessary to me. “

    “ Oh- ok. Thank you ma’am, I really appreciate it,” Donna said before the witch nodded and closed the door on Donna - ending their conversation. The brunette smiled slyly as she looked down at the basket with poisoned apples in her hands. Finally, she would get her revenge on you. Making everyone believed you had died and then she would swoop in and be the shoulder Diluc cried on. From there, she would make him fall for her. It was a perfect, foolproof plan.

    Donna eventually made her way back to Mondstadt. She blew out the light on her lantern and slid her hood further down to cover her face. She knew around this time you would just be walking home from Angel’s Share. It was the perfect place to poison you, no one would be awake to see it. 

    She spotted you approaching your house, and Donna began to make her way over to you. “ Y/N!” She called out excitedly, acting as if you two were the best of friends. The woman was excited, not to see you but to see you suffer right in front of her eyes. 

    You turned your gaze to look at Donna, a bright smile adorning your face. “ Donna, hey!” You called out back, making sure to keep quiet and not wake up your neighbors. “ What’s up? Is something wrong?” You asked Donna as the woman approached you.

    “ No... No, nothing’s wrong. I was just out apple picking, people say they’re best picked at night, and I wanted to have you try one. I trust your judgement and wanted your insight on if I should put them in a pie or not,” Donna explained, trying to make sure that you couldn’t tell she was lying about the situation.

    You eagerly nodded. “ Sure, I’d love to! I’m pretty hungry anyway,” you responded, your voice so full of kindness and innocence. For a moment, Donna almost felt bad about doing this. However, she couldn’t risk you getting with DIluc and taking him away from her forever. 

    Donna took the shiny red apple on top and handed it over to you, another wicked smile coming onto her lips as she watched you take the red apple with your hand and hold it up to your lips - taking a large bite out of it.

    An initial taste of sweetness hit your mouth and you were about to tell Donna how good it tasted when suddenly the chunk of apple got stuck in your throat and a new bitter taste emerged. Everything that was in your hands dropped to the stone pavement below you as you lifted your hands to your throat. Trying to cough up the bite of apple that was stuck in your throat. You couldn’t breathe and the bitter taste was getting worse by the second. Your eyes met Donna’s for a brief moment and the friendliness that was once in her eyes got replaced by pure hatred and amusement of your suffering. You felt betrayed, someone you trusted had just fed you a poisoned apple and was smiling about it.

    Diluc, who wanted nothing but your safety, had followed you home. Always staying a good distance away so you couldn’t tell that he was following you. When he turned the corner to look at your doorway, expecting to see you enter your him, his heart dropped when he saw your body stumbling back and a cloaked figure standing before you.

    Donna glanced behind you, her body panicking when she saw a familiar firey red-head rushing in her direction - having just watched the whole thing unfold. She quickly turned away and began sprinting away from the scene. The last thing she wanted was Diluc knowing that she was the one behind the whole thing. 

    Just as you were about to fall backward onto the pavement, losing most of your body strength and consciousness, Diluc had just gotten to you and caught you in his arms. He held you tightly, your back resting on his forearms. He almost though about chasing after whoever did this to you, but the moment his eyes saw your struggling body and pained face any desire to chase your attack vanished. Now, all Diluc wanted was to get you to help. He wasn’t about to see another person he loved so dearly die in his arms again. 

    He lifted you up in his arms, holding you bridal style and he briskly began to make his way to the church. Diluc didn’t know how to help you and he knew that one of the sisters would be there and could get you to Barbara to help. Every step he took, he moved his legs faster and faster - feeling your breathing slow and seeing your eyes start to close. The apple chunk had almost finished dissolving, leaving poison now running into your system. As he ran, flashback’s from his father’s death began replaying in his head. He couldn’t let you die, he wouldn’t let it happen again. 

     Diluc had just barged into church, startling all of the sisters that were inside praying, when you had succumbed into your deep slumber. The sisters had quickly rushed over to Diluc, staring at your seemingly lifeless looking body.

    “ Get Barbara please,” Diluc said, some what annoyed by their lack of action. At once, one of the sisters left and rushed into a side door of the church. Moments later, she returned with Barbara and Acting Grandmaster Jean.

    Jean was startled to see Diluc standing in the church looking so distressed. Until her gaze fell on your body being held tightly in his arms. “ What happened?” she asked as the trio got closer.

    “ I was following Y/N home as usual when I saw her stumbling away from a cloaked figure. When I got to her, she was struggling to breathe and losing all consciousness. Can you help her?” He asked, trying to keep himself composed. The last thing he wanted was for everyone to see him get upset.

    Barbara nodded, “ I can take a look at her. Do you know what the person might’ve given her?” she asked as Jean carefully took your body from Diluc’s arms and held them tightly in hers. After that, she began to carry you to the infirmary. 

    “ No- But I can go back and see if there was anything left behind that would’ve caused this. I’ll be right back, “ Diluc responded back to Barbara. At once, he exited the church and ran back to the front of your house just as quick as he ran leaving there. He looked around on the dark ground, looking for anything that looked like it could harm someone. 

    At first, he almost went back to the church empty handed when the gleam of  a round object hit his gaze. Diluc walked over to the object and crouched down and grabbed the object. Upon closer inspection, it was an apple with a bite taken out of it. He lifted the apple to his nose and inhaled the scent from the bite. There was an overwhelming amount of sweetness, that would’ve masked a bitter smell if Diluc wasn’t used to sniffing out different scents from his wines. He took the apple away from his face, furrowing his eyebrows. There was no doubt that this is what the person used to harm you. The apple was laced with something. Standing back up, Diluc once again made his way back to the church.

    Back inside the church, Jean set you down on one of their open beds. Staring down at you sadly, feeling sympathetic for Diluc. Despite his greatest efforts, Jean knew that he was distressed. The others may not have, but she could see it as clear as a sunny day. Barbara entered the infirmary shortly and took a seat next to the bed you laid on. The younger girl looked at you, studying your body movements. You looked still, as if you were dead, but the girl felt a faint heartbeat. You were still very much alive. 

    The familiar red-head came back to the church, this time bringing an apple with him. “ This was all I found. It’s not a normal apple - there’s an unusual scent on it,” He explained to Jean and Barbara, handing it over to them.

    “ Thank you for bringing this to us. I’ll have Albedo and Sucrose take a look at it later,” Jean said, nodding her head at Diluc. “ If anyone can find out what’s something’s made up of - it’ll be those two. I know you don’t like the Knights of Favonious, but please, put your trust in us this once. We’ll figure out what’s wrong I promise. I suggest you go back home and get some rest, go back to your daily life. It’ll be a while before we can try anything to get Y/N back to good health.”

     Diluc didn’t trust the Knights. They had let him down in a time of need and they could very well do it again. However, he did trust Jean and if she made a promise, she would see that her promise got fulfilled. “ Alright,” he gave in, letting out a tired sigh. “ Please, as soon as you find something out. Let me know.”

    “ I will,” Jean told him, giving the man a tired but honest smile. With that, Diluc said his goodbyes and walked out of the church. 

                                                    _______________

    Albedo and Sucrose eventually came back with the results of their testing they did on the apple. They had discovered that there was a poison inside of it. Not a deadly one, but something to keep a person quiet for a very long time.

    The citizens of Mondstadt took quick notice of your absence everywhere and was constantly asking Knights where you were. So much so, that Jean had to release an official statement that you were currently terribly sick and bed-ridden for a long time. Which wasn’t that far from the truth. Barbara and the rest of the sisters had all tried their hardest to find some antidote for the poison that seemed to ever linger in your system but to no avail. It’s like there was no cure and you were doomed to stay in this state forever.

    As much as Diluc tried not to, he couldn’t help but lose faith in you ever waking up again. Donna had seen his saddened state and couldn’t help but smile to herself, her plan was working. However, as much as she tried to get close to Diluc and be the person he vented to - all of her efforts were for nothing. The man didn't want to talk to anyone that he didn’t have to. Her grand plan had his a wall. Especially when one day Barbara barged through the doors of Angel’s Share, a brand new idea on how to wake you up.

     The blonde approached the bar Diluc was working at, heavy breaths coming out of her mouth due to the fast running she had just stopped doing. “ Diluc... I have... an idea...” Barbara said in between pants. 

    Diluc looked at the Deaconess furrowing his eyebrows at his words. Had she really come up with something that might wake you up? “ What is it?”

    “ You know, in those fairytales about how true love’s kiss is the strongest thing? Well, what if you...” She trailed off, hoping Diluc picked up on what she was saying. It sounded childish, but it worked in every fairytale she read so who says it can’t work now?

    “ You want me to kiss Y/N in hopes that’s what can wake her up?” Diluc asked in disbelief. He set down the glass tankard he was cleaning on the wooden top of the bar. 

   “ Yes, I believe it’s worth a shot.” The two stood across from each other in a long silence. Before Diluc nodded, letting out a sigh. Barbara smiled at his agreement to the idea. Jean was actually the one who encouraged Barbara to bring it up to Diluc, she knew he was desperate and would try anything. No matter how outlandish it seemed. 

    The two made the all-too familiar walk to the church in silence. They entered the infirmary, Diluc frowned at the state of you still under the spell of the poison. He thought for a brief moment that maybe this was all just a hoax and when they arrived at the church, you would actually be awake. However, his hopes were false and this crazy idea Barbara had was really a possible antidote.

     Jean looked up from her pile of work once she heard the footsteps enter the infirmary. She gave Diluc a tired smile and stood up from her seat, stretching slightly. “ Barbara and I will leave you two alone. I do hope this works,” Jean said softly, walking past Diluc and grabbing Barbara’s hand as they left. Leaving only Diluc and your almost still body alone in the room.

    “ This is bizarre,” Diluc whispered to himself as he approached your bed and looked down at you. He leaned down, his face hovering only inches above yours. Slowly, he closed his eyes and closed the remaining distance, connecting his lips and yours. He kept his pressed against your soft ones for a few seconds, resting the palm of his hand on your cheek.

    A few moments passed and he opened his eyes, standing back up. He watched your body for a moment, biting his bottom lip in anticipation as he waited for something to happen. Just as he was about to leave the room in defeat, a twitch of your eyelids made his chest soar with happiness.

    Slowly, your body was starting to wake up. Your eyes fluttered open and the the first thing you saw was the cream colored ceiling of the building you were in. 

   “ Y/N...?” A voiced called out from your side and you slowly flickered your gaze to your right, seeing Diluc standing next to you. His face contorted with disbelief and happiness. You quickly sat up, moving to stand up, when Diluc’s strong arms had picked you up. He pulled you into a tight hug as he buried his face into the crook of your neck.

    Diluc held you in his arms for a long time, not wanting to let go of you anytime soon. It felt like hours before he gently unwrapped his arms around you - only pushing you far enough away so he could see your face. The man tenderly put a gloved hand on your face and another on your hip, looking into your eyes with his that were full of love.

    You remembered what had happened that night all up until entering the church. You didn’t know how you woke up or how long it was from Donna feeding you that apple to now. 

    “ Diluc, how did I wake up? What happened after I came here?” You asked, your voice hoarse.

     “ Well, we found out that you ate a poisoned apple, Barbara and the other sisters tried everything to wake you up. Eventually, Barbara came up with the idea of a true love’s kiss...” he trailed off, feeling slightly embarrassed about it.  “ That’s what worked.”

    You only nodded, trying to hide the smile that wanted to appear on your face. “ Than you, for waking me up.” You two continued to stare at each other, adoration and love in both of your eyes. Without even thinking, Diluc leaned back down and put his lips against yours. You almost instantly melted into the kiss, enjoying the warmth of his lips being on yours brought.

     “ Oh my- are we interrupting something?” One of the sisters said, startled by the scene that was before her. Diluc and yourself quickly pulled away from each other - your cheeks a matching shade of red.

    “ Uh no... we were just leaving. I wanna get Y/N back home safely now that she’s awake. Tell Barbara and Jean that she’s better now and to visit the Dawn Winery if they wanna ask  her questions or visit her,” Diluc said, taking his hands off of your face and waist and grabbing her hand with one of them.

    Together the two fled the church, unknowing that Barbara and Jean were right there watching as the two lovers were rushing off with each other. The two sisters looked at each other and smiled, it’s always the craziest of ideas that worked out in the end. 

                                                   _______________

     Despite eventually going back to work and living your normal life, Diluc was much more protective over you now. He made you live at the winery with him and would escort you everywhere. Especially if it was at night. He promised that he wouldn’t let history repeat itself. He would keep you safe at all costs. 

[ticketstomydaydreams]

HOME

(All We Have: Part One)

Part Two

Colson x Female Reader

Summary: You and Colson are close friends and he invites you to move in to his house while you work on his record together

Word count: 1,580

Feels: Friendship Fluff for now

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, cursing, mentions of feeling depressed

Companion playlist:

Machine Gun Kelly - Home

Sia - Dressed in Black 

The Beatles - With a Little Help from My Friends

A/N: Throughout the series there will be changes to the timing of real life events like the pandemic, the release of certain songs etc. There's certain things I want to incorporate into the series, like particular events in MGKs life and lyrics from songs, so some stuff will get moved around to fit in to the story ✌️

______

It had been a long evening working in Colson’s home studio, The Boulevard, with him and the gang on the upcoming Tickets to my Downfall album. To say your schedule was busy was an understatement, but Colson had insisted you get involved with the new material after the success of your work together on Hotel Diablo.

Composing music was your main gig, you had an ear for melody and your passion for writing meant you always had lyrics swirling around your head. You had a penchant for dark and melancholy lyrics, finding music to be a source of therapy for you. It was something you and Colson had instantly bonded over. He'd bugged you to list some of the stuff you'd written that he'd know and you had gained his professional respect immediately.

He always kept a close eye on your work, ever the supportive friend and had laid claim to your piece ‘Glass House’ as soon as he'd heard it.

______

2019

You were sitting crossed legged on the sofa in your lounge, gently strumming your guitar and gazing off into space and mumbling to yourself, as you worked out some lyrics in your head. Colson was lying on the floor by your feet, scrolling through his phone with earphones in, a blunt in his hand that he occasionally passed up to you. This was a common set up, you found it easier to write in the peace and quiet and Colson has gradually started hanging out at your place more when he needed to focus on his own writing.

"All alone in the glass house, lie awake til the sun's out, pink sky when you come down…"

"Throw me in the damn flames, Bury me in gold chains, throw me in the damn flames…"

You'd started singing out loud, occasionally stopping to scribble down lyrics and make adjustments, not noticing that Colson had removed his earbuds to listen to you

" Dude, that's hard, like, beautiful… " His comment made you jump slightly, you hadn't seen him propping himself up on his elbows, watching you intently "Sing that last bit again"

You blushed slightly, his opinion was always important to you, and started singing. He muttered to himself as you did, then pointed at you "Again!"

Letting out a little laugh and rolling your eyes, you sang again

"Throw me in the damn flames, bury me in gold chains, throw me in the damn flames"

Colson's voice met yours at the end of the line, rapping softly "I'm waiting on the rain to come and wash it all away"

You locked eyes, smiling and he sat upright. "Dude, Im'a need that hook! That spoke to me right there, I've think got something for it that I've been stuck on"

He looked so excited, your heart did a little flip. You'd seen that writing this album had taken it out of him, he'd been digging deep and really going through it emotionally. You could tell it was going to be raw and special from what you'd heard already.

He sat forward and moved the guitar from your lap so he could lean his arms on your knees and looked up at you shooting you puppy dog eyes with those baby blues "Pretty please Y/N"

You laughed and ruffled his hair, "Anything for you Col" Honestly, it'd be an honour to be part of such a personal project, you thought

He wrapped his arms round you and squeezed,

"You're a legend, kid. Get a sample recorded and send it to me!" He grabbed your guitar off the sofa and whipped back around, strumming a few chords as he carried on talking with his back to you, leaning against the sofa "This is gonna be fire, you always just hit the nail on the head, I swear it's like you're in my head sometimes"

You smiled, seeing the wave of motivation that had struck your friend. You felt so lucky to have a friend who was not only so inspiring, but one who 'got it', who understood that music was a form of release. Someone who recognised that it was important to feel these things, rather than encourage you to push dark thoughts away with toxic positivity.

He’d pushed to use your original samples on his record, but as much as you loved writing and singing, you were a behind the scenes kind of gal which had always suited you just fine. Naomi, a mutual friend of you both, came onboard to record them with him. A decision that turned out to be golden… 'Death in my Pocket' would be born not long after, with Naomi doing your lyrics such beautiful justice yet again, perfectly pairing with Colson's emotional rapping.

______

From then on Colson had kept you close to his recording. You'd been helping here and there with composition and notation, but your production skills were what was taking centre stage during the most recent sessions. You had a long list of projects you were working through, leaving you chained to your equipment most days and nights anyway so throwing more music into your workload didn't seem like much of a big deal. In all honesty, the chaos of Colson’s studio and the revolving door of personalities that were in and out constantly, made it one of the most fun places to be. You loved what you did for a living and it never really felt like work Even though the guys were a real handful at times, you kind of enjoyed being the studio 'Mami' as they often affectionately referred to you

Everything had wrapped up for the evening and the guys had migrated back into the house. You could hear from the raucous that the drinks must have started flowing freely. You were saving your work and packing up your stuff when Colson bursts back into the studio and throws himself in a chair, spinning it around with his arms in the air.

"You staying for drinks Y/N?" he grins at you, clearly hyper and in party mode

You let out a big sigh "Urgh, I'd love to but I have an early start tomorrow. I finally managed to get an apartment viewing. I swear I've looked at a hundred places now, they get snapped up so quickly.. I've only got a few weeks left on my lease as well"

“Ah, that sucks kid” Colson empathises, spinning his chair again before an idea strikes him “Wait! Why don’t you move in here for a bit until you find a place? The guest room is pretty much your room anyway, the amount you crash here”

You laugh “This is true, that mattress is so much better than mine! Aw Col, that would honestly be so helpful, the stress of finding a place when I’m this busy is killing me. I don't know… You sure the guys won’t mind?”

Colson scoffs “Why would they mind? You practically live here anyway” he teases “I’m sure they’ll be just as stoked as I am at the thought of you joining the madhouse for a while”

Before you have a chance to respond, he stands up and throws his arms around you, squashing you into him tightly “That’s it decided Roomie. Another song in the bag and a new housemate, plenty to celebrate tonight!”

Wriggling out of his tight grasp, you laugh and in a deep voice shout “let’s goooooo” mocking his signature catchphrase. He flips you his middle finger and says “Kitchen, now”

Once you’re in the kitchen, Colson heads to get you a drink and grabs one himself. Appearing back at your side, he passes you your beer and then shouts out to the rest of the group,

“YO, meet our latest housemate, Y/N is moving in. LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO”

Everyone in the kitchen lets out a big cheer, clearly pleased as he said they would be. Colson bends down and picks you up, swinging you around in a circle, spilling your drinks all over the both of you as you shout his name in mock annoyance, between giggles.

“I hope you know what you’re letting yourself in for” Rook laughs, clinking his drink against your now empty beer bottle once your feet are back on the floor

“It’ll be good to have another pair of hands around here, looking after you lot” Ashleigh chimes in, laughing and slapping Slim away as he pulls her hood up over her head, covering her eyes

It had been 5 years since you'd made the decision to move to LA, barely knowing a soul. You'd worked several jobs, jumped from place to place, worked your ass off to catch your break in the music business, sometimes feeling like the grind would never get you anywhere.

There had been times where you felt like you couldn't carry on, aching from trying to keep pace. The dream had felt like it was turning into a nightmare, as you tried to make ends meet, feeling so lonely in this enormous city.. but eventually you'd made these amazing friends who made you feel so safe and loved.

Now, there were times you had to pinch yourself just to make sure it was all real.

As you shake off some of the beer that's dripping from your hands, you look around the kitchen. Taking in the crazy, loveable bunch before you, your new housemates, you are filled with gratitude. You finally felt like you were exactly where you were supposed to be…

Home.

______

❌❌ Lace up!

[moonbeamwritings]

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an exhausted defense attorney in possession of a massive workload, must be in want of a cup of coffee. But Phoenix Wright could never just get one, could he? 

His life could never truly be normal, not even something as seemingly mundane as stopping for his daily coffee could ever be uneventful. Sometimes you’d be working, distractingly beautiful and devastatingly kind, always smiling in that way that made his heart race and mouth stutter through his coffee order, face burning hot. While other times he’d meet Maya there and they’d walk to the office together, Maya talking his ear off about the latest episode of Pink Princess while she slurped away at whatever fruity drink she’d ordered this time.

Today was exceptionally bad, so unfortunate that Phoenix wondered why he’d even gotten out of bed in the first place if he was going to be publicly humiliated in his favorite coffee shop and in front of his favorite barista no less. It was the perfect storm and maybe he should’ve seen it coming, but Phoenix was far from perfect and that was just a fact.

Maya had been hounding him all week, poking and prodding at his arm to get him to finally “spill the beans” about the cute barista she would catch him smiling at and blushing over.

“They’re pretty,” she’d said one morning, a gentle breeze drifting through the air as they walked side by side, “Maybe a bit out of your league, but pretty. You should go for it! It’ll be like all of those cheesy rom-coms I’ve seen where…”

As a practiced tactic in self-preservation, Phoenix allowed himself to drift off into his own little world, Maya’s rant about you and him and your “potential” going in one ear and straight out the other. He didn’t have nearly enough patience for it and it didn’t even make sense.

He had a friendly relationship with you, sure. You chatted with him every time he came in and you always managed to slip him a free pastry precisely when he needed one, but it’s not like you liked him. You were just doing your job after all.

So now, as he stood in front of the counter listening to Maya talk your ear off about how much of a catch her little Nick was, he could only seem to space out, willing the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Or that a tornado would whip through and kill him. Or that he could disappear…

Or… or… or…

When he ran out of his somewhat morbid and increasingly ridiculous fantasies about ways to escape the situation, he snapped back into the conversation at hand. His thoughts filled with potential robberies or perfectly-timed phone calls replaced by Maya attempting to sweet talk you on his behalf.

“Yeah, so he’s free most weekends. Trust me, he has nothing going on besides work.”

Wait what? Exactly how much had he missed?

“That sounds good! I’m around most weekends too.” The smile you sent Maya had Phoenix’s heart beating a mile a minute, threatening to burst from his chest at just the mere sight of it.

“Though I’d love to actually talk to him during the date, if that’s okay?” You teased, shooting Phoenix a wink as you redirected your smile to him.

Get a grip, Wright, this is your chance.

“Yeah! Uh, yeah! I’d love that! I can, uh, I can talk!”

Nice save. Very smooth.

His face was growing hotter by the second, the blush creeping up his neck and along his cheekbones threatening to humiliate him even further. This was definitely worse than any panicked flush he’d faced in the courtroom. It had to be.

You beamed at him as you pushed their orders across the counter, gaze meeting his own. “Enjoy your drinks you two!”

In a daze, Phoenix reached for the drink with a mumbled “you too” as he watched you walk away from the front counter to help someone with a pastry. Maya, after taking her own drink, began pushing him from the shop to prevent him from any more slip ups.

“You’re being an idiot. How uncool can you be? That was your rom-com moment and you blew it!”

The cool breeze that welcomed them as they stepped outside worked to soothe the burning in his cheeks and Phoenix was grateful to finally be removed from whatever hellscape he’d just experienced. As he fell into stride next to his partner in crime, he noticed a little note carefully placed on the side of his cup: “text me! xxx-xxx-xxxx :)”

He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face or the pep in his step at your number on the side of his cup, the barista he’d been pining after for weeks. As he walked, grinning so wide his cheeks began to ache, he imagined your first date and where he would take you. He imagined the cute, bashful smile you’d grace him with if he complimented you in just the right way.

But, like an unceremonious record scratch, Maya had to butt in and ruin his beautiful daydreams.

“I don’t know what you’re so happy about! I did all the heavy lifting back there!” She admonished, throwing a thumb in the direction they came from as if to further prove her point.

Phoenix rolled his eyes good-naturedly, rubbing his free hand against the back of his neck. Yeah, well, a win was a win in his book and he was going to savor this little victory.