#they were not only more experienced but had a BIGGER BUDGET

[hostilemuppet]

sometimes i think about what the rest of the cast couldve looked like if they were designed around the same time as lammy and truffles

[growingstories]

Office politics

Fresh out of college, Nathan had put on the dreaded "freshman 15". Despite this, he was in decent shape, with a nice chest although his six-pack had disappeared. He began working at a finance company where the CEO, a fit 40-year-old, stood out among the rest of the management team, who were 30 something men with big bellies. The only woman in the office was Linda, the assistant to the CEO. Nathan met Henry, a handsome guy with a strong chest and a belly, who had started working at the company three months prior, they were both 23 years old.

Henry warned Nathan about Linda's influence in the company. He advised him to do whatever Linda asked in order to secure nice clients and tasks that would lead to bonuses. Nathan took this advice to heart and decided to play by Linda's rules.

One day, Linda brought a big cake to the office, announcing that the winner would be rewarded with a new client. The junior co-workers enthusiastically dug in, with one big guy eating four slices and emerging victorious. Nathan was on a diet to lose the freshman 15 so skipped the cake and watched how all the men devoured the cake in a matter of seconds. Little did Nathan know, the CEO noticed that he had skipped the cake entirely and mentioned it to Linda.

The following day, Linda gave Nathan the tedious task of filing old reports, a long and lonely assignment. To alleviate the boredom, Linda brought him six donuts. Nathan, unable to resist, ate one. Linda soon found out he only ate one and punished him by assigning him even more archive tasks.

Linda continued her pattern of bringing in large amounts of food every day, including pizzas, cakes, and other tempting snacks. The employees who ate the most received better tasks and clients along with bonuses. Nathan often tried to resist the fattening snacks, feeling determined to stay in shape. However, Linda would bring in other snacks as punishment for him. In an effort to burn off the excess calories, Nathan started running every morning.

As weeks went on, Nathan found himself 10 pounds heavier, while Henry had gained double that amount. Linda began handing out late-night tasks and arranging dinners for the employees who stayed late as a punishment for not joining her food challenges. Surprisingly, these employees were the fittest in the office. On the third night, Linda surprised them by bringing in bowls of ice cream, warning them not to let it melt. Fearing longer nights with work, they quickly consumed the ice cream-filled bowls. Linda then walked in and told them to go home, praising their good work.

After weeks of late nights and indulging in rich food, even the typically fit employees began to gain weight. Nathan and Henry found themselves in a constant struggle, their clothes becoming too tight and their workouts becoming a thing of the past. They had no choice but to complain to the CEO, who gave them budget for new clothes instead of stopping the overflow of overfeeding. Feeling defeated, they both decided to go all in for the bonuses and began participating in the various food challenges Linda organized. As they became more successful, the bigger guys in the office grew jealous and started to eat even more. Linda brought in more challenges and new tasks with bonuses, leading them to gain even more weight.

The big bonuses were accompanied by even bigger food challenges. Nathan and Henry found themselves struggling with their weight, experiencing heavy breathing with every movement. Instead walking or biking to the office they frequently took the subway or a taxi. Especially in Summer to avoid sweating. Their focus on work and food left little time or energy for dating, resulting in pent-up desires and frustration. They also found how ruthless the gayscene was, both experienced fatfobic remarks from their dates.

One morning the agreed that it was too much. In an attempt to shed some pounds, Nathan tried to start a diet and wanted to put on his running shoes. He could hardly bend over as his belly was in the way, he had to catch his breath after the first shoe and struggled with his second. He did make it outside in his tight clothes. After 10 minutes the intense exercise began to take a toll on his knees, and he found himself taking an uber home. The same afternoon he went to the Nike store to get new workout clothes. Surprised that he almost was 3 sizes up. Back in the office he started complaining about his new size and his failed running attempt, he told Henry that he would go the the gym the next morning and built on some muscle mass. Linda, always attentive, heard his complaints and brought him protein shakes to support him in his workouts, instructing him to have three a day. After a few days of going to the gym and skipping food challenges he was only getting bigger and found his new gym shirts also getting tighter. He was convinced that it was the laundry and that his muscles were growing. He started to feel more confident again.

Nathan continued with his dieting and his gym visits. Linda showed up with shakes and bars. Nathan found food wrappers from weight gain bars hidden away. While Nathan had become stronger, he realized he had also grown fatter. Meanwhile, Henry had taken up flirting at the office with growing Nathan seeking companionship beyond the office walls. He complemented Nathan on his new bulk. Nathan liked this and continued this pattern of gym and fattening bars.

Henry and Nathan found solace in each other and started dating. The had amazing sex and found a shared passion for nice restaurant and good food. The fact that both lost their once athletic looks didn’t bother them. They decided to abandon their diets altogether and began indulging in more food challenges, resulting in increased weight gain but also big bonuses they were sharing. Surprisingly, this made them Linda's favorites as they eagerly participated in these challenges, earning big bonuses. With their weight gain, they encountered more difficulties in their sexual encounters, struggling with positions and heavy breathing. Despite this, they continued to grow closer, engaging in intimate encounters both in and out of the office and agreed to stop seeing others.

Unbeknownst to the couple, the CEO started flirting with them individually. Confused, yet intrigued, Nathan and Henry decided to see where this newfound attention would lead. During a dinner invitation from the CEO, they were individually treated to a massive feast, where they ate to their heart's content and indulged in drinks until they could no longer move. By the end of the night, they agreed to explore a more intimate relationship together. The day following, they were rewarded with a big new and client a huge bonus. This pattern continued for the next few weeks, with their weight steadily increasing alongside their. earnings They continued their sexual encounters with the CEO both in and out of the office. They both were open about it to eachother and promised to share their money.

One fateful encounter, the CEO accidentally stumbled upon Nathan and Henry in the middle of their intimate moment. Rather than being angry or disappointed, the CEO invited them both to his home for another extravagant dinner. With each bite, they were stuffed beyond their limits, but their arousal only grew. That night, the three of them engaged in an intimate encounter, deepening their connection.

The following day, the CEO informed Nathan and Henry of their big promotion to the management team. They were given their own proteges to mentor and were assigned their own projects. The CEO revealed his secret to success: the bigger their employees became, the more bonuses they would receive. Inspired, Nathan and Henry continued to encourage their staff to indulge in the excessive food challenges, while they themselves continued their encounters with the CEO at his home. Their weight continued to skyrocket as they partook in more and more stuffing sessions.

[margridarnauds]

top three period dramas?

Not counting musicals, because it would be a rigged game then:

(1) I, Claudius. Yes, it's inaccurate. Yes, its portrayal of the women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty is undoubtedly sexist, not helped by the fact that Robert Graves was a massive sexist. Yes, it's based on something by Robert Graves, who, as a Celticist, I am professionally obliged to have a strong hatred for.

But it's also well done, the actors are all phenomenal, I quote things from it every day ("WHERE ARE MY EAGLES?" "Don't eat the figs, dear" "You may kiss me and go" "Uncle CLAAAAAAUDDDDDIIIUUUUSSSS" "IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGGGHHHHHTAAAAHHHH"), and for something that was made with a limited budget, I think they actually do a good job of showing the intimate world of the dynasty in a way that a lot of more recent series (Rome) failed to do with bigger sets, and the scriptwriters deserve credit for dusting off Graves' incredibly dry prose and making an adaptation that's crackling with wit in just about every scene for all of its six episode run length.

(2) Pride and Prejudice (1995). Such a shame that there hasn't been one made since then, but I can't blame them, given this set such a high standard. As a child, me and my mom were up to 2 AM watching it because we had no idea how it was going to end and we kept going "just one more episode!" until we'd reached the end.

And sharing third place: The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) and Ladyhawke (1985) -- Both of them were formative for me. The Man in the Iron Mask is very much putting multiple experienced actors together and letting them ham it up alongside Leonardo DiCaprio alongside gorgeous sets and costumes with a great score by Nick Glennie-Smith. It has next to no accuracy to the OG novel, it's wildly historically inaccurate, but my god it's *fun*. Ladyhawke, meanwhile, is probably one of my favorite depictions of the Middle Ages, specifically because it doesn't go into either the extreme of the Dung Ages or the extreme of, say, the 1950s where everyone is looking absolutely pristine. I think it's a nice compromise between the two of them. The plot itself, of two lovers forced to change shape, always together, never apart, by the machinations of a wicked bishop, reads like something from a medieval romance, even though I know, logically, that it isn't, just because it really does capture the *feeling* of the era. (And I will not hear a bad word against the soundtrack.)

Bonus round: Brennus, Enemy of Rome. This film is not good, but it IS the only film adaptation of Brennus' Invasion of Rome to date and...believe me, it being good would ruin the fun of it. ("KILL THE ROMANSSSSS ARRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH" Best introduction to an antagonist ever.)

[dankusner]

Texas last experienced a total solar eclipse in 1878.

Flashback:

People worried that the morning's clouds would obstruct views of the afternoon eclipse.

"But at 3 o'clock the heavens were clear in the vicinity of the sun, and joy was manifest with all the anxious watchers," the Fort Worth Daily Democrat wrote.

The stars became visible around 4pm.

The temperature cooled roughly 13 degrees as the eclipse moved through Texas, per the Ellis County Museum.

The Galveston Daily News said the sight was "indescribable."

What's next: April 8 will be our only chance to witness a total solar eclipse — the next one in our region won't be until 2317.

1878

Smoked glass, sextants — and a new planet

1878 totality left Dallas in awe, eager for discoveries

Clouds hung low in the sky the night before, and by sunrise they still hadn’t cleared.

“All the morning people were seen carrying their pieces of smoked glass,” a predecessor to modern eclipse glasses, wrote a Ross Avenue woman.

The woman, N.L. Belsterling, had made her pieces of glass herself, but newsboys were selling them across the country.

“I, too, smoked my piece manfully — no, womanfully — at the risk of cut and burnt fingers, and succeeded in getting a piece well blackened,” she recalled in a letter decades later. “Several scientific gentlemen,” she added, were on hand.

Dallas was 36 years old and about to see its first total solar eclipse — if the weather would cooperate.

Ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse, The Dallas Morning News conducted archival research on the 1878 eclipse, shedding light on its legacy in the region.

The event, like today, was a sensation.

For decades, observers recalled the moon’s shadow and the preparations that heralded the eclipse’s arrival.

No total solar eclipse had crossed the state since the arrival of Europeans centuries earlier, this paper wrote. And for the country, the stakes were even higher.

“It was a really important day for America and for American science because this was a time when the United States was still a young country,” David Baron, author of American Eclipse , said in an interview with The News .

Just two years earlier, America had celebrated its centennial and was becoming a global industrial power.

“But when it came to intellectual pursuits,” he said, “the Europeans looked down their noses at us,” confident the U.S. would never catch up. The date of July 29, 1878, was America’s chance to prove its intellectual might matched its economic muscle — and the public, galvanized by science they could see — was on board.

Eclipse expeditions

Knowing bad weather could spoil any one viewer’s observations, the U.S. Naval Observatory had launched about a half dozen eclipse expeditions across the country.

The zone of total darkness cut a path east from Russia to Alaska, crossed through British Columbia and traced large parts of the Rockies before entering Texas, where it curved out into the Gulf of Mexico and eventually passed over Cuba.

The chances of clear skies were better in Colorado and Wyoming, said Baron, so more resources were allotted to those expeditions. (Thomas Edison was among the scientists in Wyoming, though he was on a private trip.) In Dallas, things were a bit more DIY.

David Todd arrived by himself in Denison on July 12 after a four-day trip from Washington, D.C., according to the report he later submitted to the Navy.

A 23-year-old astronomer, Todd brought with him a $500 budget; a sextant; a chronometer; and a comet seeker, a type of small telescope.

“Todd was a one-man expedition,” Baron said. “The other expeditions were much more elaborate — more people, more equipment.”

In Wyoming, Edison brought along a device he called along the tasimeter, which he claimed could register changes in temperature as tiny as a millionth of a degree Fahrenheit, according to Baron. Billed as “bigger than the phonograph,” it turned out not to be very reliable.

The sun’s corona

Todd got situated, setting up communication with Washington and with people across Texas drafted to make their own observations of the eclipse and the sun’s corona, a mysterious phenomenon to scientists at the time.

“It was recommended that drawings of the corona be made at the three stations nearest the center of the shadow-path, namely Decatur, Jacksborough, and Henrietta,” he wrote in his report.

After a detour to Houston to pick up extra equipment, he returned to Dallas on Saturday night, two days before the eclipse, and checked in on his headquarters, the house of J.M. Oram, a local jeweler.

The house was about a quarter-mile from the telegraph office, and Todd later boasted of having someone on horseback standing by at the facility to grab any message that might come in from Wyoming during the eclipse and rush it to him “with all possible despatch.”

Like the other scientists around the country, Todd saw in the eclipse a rare chance to bring clarity to two big scientific mysteries.

The first was the corona, which becomes visible when the moon obscures the sun in what’s known as totality.

Scientists today know the corona is the sun’s outer atmosphere, but 19th-century theories ran the gamut.

Was it even a part of the sun? Maybe it was an effect of the Earth’s own atmosphere on the sun’s light, said Baron.

One theory, he added, even posited it was meteors burning up as they fell into our star.

By 1878, scientists had ruled out the most outlandish hypotheses, settling on a consensus that the corona was in fact part of the sun, but that was about as far as they’d gotten.

The other question the eclipse could answer was perhaps even bigger by today’s standards.

Scientists hoped in the span of mere minutes to catch a glimpse of an entirely new planet they believed existed — without having been definitively observed.

The planet Vulcan

“There was good reason to believe that there was at least one other planet between Mercury and the sun,” Baron said. “The belief was so great that in fact astronomers gave it a name.” They called it the planet Vulcan.

Vulcan, astronomers thought, had to exist to explain a quirk in Mercury’s orbit.

“Mercury behaved as if there was some mass between it and the sun, tugging it along,” Baron said. The problem was that “No one had ever reliably seen Vulcan.”

But that didn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t there.

Astronomers theorized if the planet was close enough to the sun, it would set with the sun at dusk, never to be seen in the night sky.

Daytime observation would be impossible, owing to the sun’s glare. “So, about the only time you might catch a glimpse of this supposed planet Vulcan would be during those few minutes of midday

darkness when the moon covers the bright surface of the sun and you could actually look at what is right around the sun,” Baron said.

Todd’s position in Dallas meant he wouldn’t be the first to spot Vulcan in 1878, but he might get a tip by telegram about where to point his telescope if another observer saw it before him.

As the big day wore on, the weather improved.

Only high clouds floated when the phenomenon was due.

Todd stood by his instruments at Oram’s house and his volunteers took their places, too.

Smoked glass in hand, the city looked up at about 3:14 p.m.

About an hour later, totality began.

“I almost held my breath in awe,” wrote Belsterling, the Dallas woman who saw it with her own eyes.

“The birds, overhead, blew hither and thither in alarm.

Chickens went to roost and began their pecking and crowding, preparatory to their night’s rest.

The frogs on the banks of the Trinity set up their sad, musical refrains.

As totality passed and the first rays of the sun fell upon us the scene was one of rare brilliancy.

I watched it as it slowly passed over, and felt sorry it was over.”

The next one wouldn’t be until 2024.

Belsterling’s account, captured in a letter, appeared in The News 50 years later.

She’s one of several Texans whose memories of the eclipse stayed with them for decades and resurfaced in newspaper coverage that looked back on the event.

‘Wonder and awe’

Ola Comer Haley, a young girl in Pittsburg, Texas, northeast of Tyler, watched the eclipse with her family in 1878 and told the Dallas Times Herald 45 years later, “I shall never forget the look upon mother’s face as I looked into it and saw an expression of wonder and awe, which as a little child, I mistook for sadness.”

Todd’s observations were less sentimental.

Tables and measurements make up his detailed report on what he saw during his stargazing.

But he did look back on his time in the city half a century later, calling himself a young scientist whom “a kindly cloudless sky favored so that Dallas has ever since held unchallenged a grateful nook in his heart.”

In the days and weeks after the eclipse, headlines shouted news of scientific breakthroughs. But as often happens in hindsight, little of the science held up.

“I mean, you know, this was the most important eclipse ever observed,” said Baron, miming the refrain of the time. “And Vulcan was found!” But of course, there was no Vulcan, he said. Studies of the corona turned out not to have revealed much either.

Still for Todd, it was the beginning of a long career.

After packing up his comet chaser, he went on to become a professor at Amherst College in Massachusetts and an eclipse chaser whose expeditions took him around the world.

The Dallas expedition was his first. He died in 1939.

Baron said despite it being largely a scientific dud, the eclipse remained a turning point in the country’s intellectual history because it whet the public’s appetite for more discovery.

“Here was the scientific event that got America jazzed about showing the world that we could compete in this realm,” he said. “And it wasn’t long after this, that we really did lead the world in astronomy and many sciences.”

Signature moment

In Dallas, the events of 1878 became the stuff of legend, revived in the papers when a partial solar eclipse was visible here.

“You Can’t Find Eclipses Anymore Like One In ’78,” said a cheeky headline in 1963.

“When Dallas Watched The Sun Go Out,” read the front page of The News on the 50th anniversary.

That story took a more solemn tone, however, tributing the eclipse as a signature moment in the city’s history.

“It was an event anticipated with immense interest and caused the greatest possible excitement,” the writer, Geoffrey E. Govier, declared.

At the end, Govier’s tone softened into something more contemplative as he pondered whether eclipses would mean as much in the future.

He told readers the next total eclipse in Texas wouldn’t be for nearly a century and, in the last sentence, made an admission: “enthusiasm for these far-away darkenings of the Sun is naturally feeble,” he wrote, “and by that remote epoch further mysteries of space and time may have been penetrated.”

They certainly have, but we’ll still be watching.

[lucybianchi]

i just watched the first episode of the live action Avatar out of curiosity and it's straight up making me want to write an essay/video essay on the problem with all these new streaming series, specifically live action adaptations

like the One Piece live action was actually really good and i thought that maybe netflix had learned something but as expected, i was wrong

There's so much off about the live action Avatar and i've only watched one episode

The pacing feels weird and really rushed

It feels like the actors were given no direction for example Gyatso's actor did a good job but i felt like the delivery of him telling Aang that he's the Avatar fell flat, almost like the actor wasn't told the weight of that moment and that line Generally i got the impression that a lot of the actors (especially the older actors) didn't fully understand their character motivations and the world like so many things that felt like they should be bigger moments were just throw away lines that were delivered in the least dramatic way possible

The frame is so empty...like all the time...

The costumes feel too new and clean and look more like cosplay than costumes like why does so much stuff actually look like plastic, you can use resin but at least try to make it look good why does Katara's necklace look like cheap plastic and why do the horn tooth buttons on Sokka and Katara's cloths look like they bought them from a Michaels????

EVERYONE looks too clean the moment that Sokka was covered in ash and his hair was all messed up after fighting Zuko felt the most grounded tbh he looked like a guy he had legit just gotten in a fight but like one scene later he looked freshly showered

The writing feels like it's missing some beats like we go from "oh wow look at this weird kid who just woke up and is being silly goofy" to "GranGran spews out some exposition and comes to the conclusion that Aang is the avatar with absolutely no drama or real emotion"

Also for the love of god please let moments breath!!!!! this is a criticism of the writing, direction/cinematography, and editing let us sit in a moment for a bit, let things sink in, let us see the world, let us watch the characters, people don't have to be talking 24/7 why were so many lines cut so close together?? like i get wanting the dialouge to have some more snappy/fast comedic moments, but sometimes it felt too fast or un called for (i can't remember the exact line but there was a moment when Aang said something and Sokka quickly made a snarky comment and it felt super awkward because it was cut too close together and Sokka's line was mixed a little too loud so it sounded like he was just speaking randomly rather than reacting and being sassy in the background like the line was clearly meant to be) but seriously the editing is making me want to strangle the editor I get it, some of these actors are young and inexperienced (Sokka's actor is clearly a more experienced actor that both Aang and Katara's but that's okay!!) but some of the editing choices/ timing of edits felt...ammeter... like it gave me student film vibes 😬

Anyways...this has been a very informal rant/ stream of consciousness that no one asked for I'm going to keep watching tho, partly because i know there are different editors and cinematographers on different episodes and probably different writers I'm hoping it will settle itself and get more comfortable I just need the writing, editing and acting to shape up a bit I have a lot of patience for Live action adaptations tho i kinda disagree with them but i watched the live action Jojo's Bizarre Adventure film and didn't hate it - i thought it was kind of charming - (i also have patience for low-budget j-dramas sooooo me low-key hating this says a lot)

[eddonegan]

Bush and the CIA

George Bush collated material written by others

BLACK OPS

Money is needed to finance the development of the newly acquired weaponry and UFO technology, the so-called 'Black' projects.

The Black Budget created from illegal global drug trade is 5 x bigger than the official legal white budget of the entire planet.

The 'shadow government' influences the President and those whose minds have been sanitized. They argue that the public must not be told of the alien contact, the panic that would ensue would be disastrous, particularly if they were to find out the aliens were uncontrollable. Funds for the 'Black Ops' must not come from taxation, they must come from undetectable sources...and the amounts needed would be vast in quantity.

The 'shadow government' has no desire to see the 'Black Ops' succeed, but it has no qualms in making a profit. The 'shadow government' principals suggest turning to an 'ally' of the United States in World War II... the Mafia. Though a minor protest is made by some high officials, the Mafia is once again the partner of Uncle Sam. The mobster lords are quick to suggest an arrangement... in illegal drugs.

The first phase of the operation concentrates on existing fields of poppy in Turkey. The Mafia will be responsible for bringing the drugs to the waters outside the coastlines of the United States. The CIA will bring the illegal drugs into the country.

The Mafia finds a young Greek shipping magnate who will bring their contraband in his ships to American seas. This young man becomes a tycoon. He is Aristotle Onassis.

The CIA utilizes the talents of an Irish bootlegger, a man who has Mafia connections and is experienced in moving 'booty' from small boats at sea to 'friendly' longshoremen on the docks. From there they are transported on trucks to all major cities. This man is Joseph P. Kennedy.

The drugs begin to flow, huge amounts of money is split up between the Mafia and the CIA. Black Ops is funded, the 'shadow government' holds the reins. Government officials, now connected to the Mafia, can be black-mailed and easily controlled... or eliminated.

The drug operations are extremely lucrative, but Black Ops needs more money, and the 'shadow government' simply is greedy and wants more money. The 'Golden Triangle ' of the far-east is targeted. The French have recently lost a high cost war. Without their presence, planes can be flown into the fields of Cambodia and Viet Nam, drug smuggling begins.

The success of the drug trade increases, greater numbers of air flights is too difficult to hide, a cover is needed.

The Gulf of Tonkin is contrived to provide a reason for war. War demands air flights into the distressed area.

Drugs from the Far East (Cambodia-Viet Nam) are brought in by Air America, a CIA front. The Viet Nam war is a drug smuggling front. Body bags are packed with drugs, soldiers are hooked so that a market will be pre exist for the payloads. Viet Nam provides the product and the users.

Black Ops funding increases, the 'shadow government' is not satisfied, they want more profit. The official government continues to get in deeper and deeper.

South America is a bounty of drugs. The previous phase which used smugglers is put into use again. The drug lords of Central and South America bring their cargoes to a small oil company in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil platforms which had been sending nominal amounts of crude oil in barrels nearly double the number of barrels they send into the U.S. Crude oil occupies only half of the barrels, drugs are stored in the others. The most successful operation centers around a young oil company called Zapata Oil. Its young CEO makes a name for himself. The operation is so successful the young man becomes intimate with the CIA.

He is present in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He advises the FBI, previous to the fateful day, of a 'possible problem' in the persona of Lee Harvey Oswald, who may be potential threat to JFK.

The CIA link becomes so strong that in time he is appointed to the Directorship. The young CEO is named George Bush. (George Bush is actually a second cousin to the Queen of England.)

'Black Ops' and 'Drug Ops' have become one and the same... the Mafia and the CIA are indistinguishable... the United States Government and the 'Shadow Government' are enmeshed.

They are the perpetrators of crimes against humanity... we are the victims.

JFK

Patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy proposes a deal to the CIA-Mafia powers.

If they assist in the election of his eldest son to the Office of the Presidency, his son in return will obey the dictates of his father. In effect, the Presidency of the United States will be under the control of the Mafia and CIA... completely.

The 'shadow government' smiles.

Joseph Kennedy's eldest son is killed in a 'mysterious' accident. Joseph assures the CIA-Mafia that his other son, John Fitzgerald, will abide by the scenario that Joseph has proposed. John is unaware of his father's 'deal', he is an intelligent young man but has an incessant eye for women. The election is rigged, JFK is the new President John follows his father's will, but the Patriarch falls ill.

Suddenly John and his younger brother Bobby, find the path before them is open to their own direction. Possessed of consciences, they begin to pursue their own course.

Aware to some degree of their father's connections, the full scope of the arrangement with the CIA-Mafia was beyond their comprehension.

They discover the 'Black Ops' and the drug trafficking... and the CIA-Mafia link. The two feel an overwhelming sense of betrayal, they are part of the system of injustice they have taken a vow to fight against.

John promises to disband the CIA and the drug trade. A committed Bobby goes after the Mafia.

Both groups feel the agreement is broken. The Texas oil consortium has its very foundation threatened. The military itself feels their war effort in the Bay of Pigs has been betrayed.

The two young men have effectively threatened the most powerful organizations in the world.

On November 22nd, 1963, (666) at noon in Dallas, Texas, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is assassinated.

On June 5th, 1968, in Los Angeles, California, while on a Presidential campaign, Robert Kennedy is assassinated.

The world cried, not because most agreed with them, but because everyone somehow knew... we lost one of our own.

[edkwery]

Choosing Great High Schools in Dubai

If you have lived in the same place for a very long time, you already know where your child is going to go to school until graduation. Unless you are willing to move, you don't have much choice in the way of what high schools you want them to attend. Your choices are usually the public and private options in your community. However, if you are planning to move, but you are not sure where you are going to end up yet, you can look into all of the schools in the general area to decide which you think is the best. There are many things to look for in a school and many questions to ask.

High schools in Dubai are not all the same. Some are large, some are small, and some are going to disappear. If you had a bad experience in school, you may be looking for a high school that is the opposite of what you experienced, but you can never judge any school by the size. Smaller schools have more close knit classes, but that can be a problem. However, some children get lost in larger high schools and their educations suffer because of it. A middle sized school may be the best all around bet.

High schools in Dubai can only work with what they have. There are many districts that have had to cut back on many programs that were standard when you went to school. Big changes have happened in some high schools in the last five years. If you have been out of high school for quite a while, the changes are even bigger When you are choosing among various communities, request information about the the school budget and changes that have been made. This information alone can help you cross some bad high schools off the list right off the bat.

Take a good look at the sports programs at each of the schools you are considering. A good program has plenty of options, but you also want a school that is not all about the sports. It is great for kids to play end enjoy sports for many reasons, but some focus on sports too much, leaving education in second place. Even worse, those students that are not into sports may suffer in such a school. Look for an active and funded sports program that is a part of education, not the entire story.

Find the Best Indian, American & British Schools in Dubai? Contact edkwery.com we provides the Best Cbse Schools, High Schools, Play School, Private Schools & School Admissions in Dubai.

[wheelsup]

kissing lessons

summary: one of your classic movie nights with spencer turns into a learning opportunity

A/N: this is really fluffy, but the whole story centers around kissing. use your own judgement! i’d say it’s at worst 16+

category: spencer reid x gn!reader, fluff (with a bit of spice)  best friends to lovers (sorta)

warnings: just kissing, a brief implication at the end

word count: 3k

Occasionally, the team will spend an extra night in their hotel before heading home from a case. Be it due to poor weather conditions, or the fact that your case wrapped in the dead of night, the reasons for flying don’t ever matter. Because the majority of the times when you have to stay that extra night, you and Spencer have sleepovers.

The routine is pretty much the same. You’ll stock up on gas station snacks – sour peach rings for Spencer, salted microwave popcorn for you – and reconvene in one of your hotel rooms. Preferably, whichever of you got the better deal that week – a bigger tv, a room further away from the ice machine. And you’d rent the cheapest movie available on-demand, the options spanning from low-budget sci-fi to poorly written rom-coms. That night, the viewing fell under the latter category.

Spencer perched at the foot of your bed with both feet tucked under his legs, criss-cross style, while you laid against the headboard to watch. Every now and then, you tossed out your commentary and he’d ignore it. He always says you’re too critical of movies and you’re of the belief that he’s too forgiving.

“I don’t think they should end up together,” you mumbled, words slurring around your mouthful of popcorn. You pulled a face right as the movie approached the romantic climax, after spending the past ninety minutes actively rooting against the couple. Spencer ignored you, pretending to be engrossed in the movie to spite your disparagement of it. “They both suck.”

You groaned, slumped further against the pillows, and shoved your sock-clad toes under Spencer’s left thigh in a call for attention. He jumped at the intrusion, but ultimately, your efforts were futile.

And then the big kiss commenced, and your booing finally piqued his interest. “Gross! I feel bad for people who kiss like that.”

A small bell went off in his head and he took a curious glance at you over his shoulder.

“What do you mean?” he asked. He stopped chewing and the piece of candy in his mouth pushed out his cheek, giving him an adorably innocent look. His brows scrunched in the middle and his nose had a tiny crinkle in it, utterly confused.

You scoffed and matched his expression. “Are you serious?” You jerked your head in the direction of the television and Spencer whipped his head back, squinting. He couldn’t figure out what you were pointing out, what it was that was so obviously wrong to you. “Spencer, he’s swallowing her chin!”

Oh. He hadn’t noticed.

Feeling dumb, he muttered, “I thought that’s how you’re supposed to kiss…” It wasn’t the deepest confession to admit to you that he lacked some knowledge when it came to kissing, but he still refused to look at you as he said it.

“Spencer, please tell me you haven’t been kissing people like that.” You narrowed your eyes at the back of his head, sitting up straighter in bed. He shrugged and lowered his head, focusing on his snack as his fingers dug into the packet of gummy rings in his lap.

He popped another piece into his mouth, pretending to be occupied with eating so as to avoid your prying. “I dunno.”

It didn’t occur to you until that moment that Spencer might have learned everything he knows about kissing – among other things – solely through watching movies. How else could he look at that and think it’s normal? And you’re left wondering if he’s ever even practiced it with another living human. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but unfortunately, that only heightened your interest. You had to know.

“Have you ever kissed anyone before?” You kept your voice low, your tone implying that you were ready to exchange this secret with him. You wouldn’t judge him if he admitted he hadn’t.

He scoffed loudly, and though you couldn’t see his face, you’re positive he rolled his eyes too. “Yeah, of course.” Then quietly, he added on, “But it was only like… for four seconds.”

You nodded thoughtfully, considering how this new piece of information adjusted your existing view of Spencer. For some reason, you couldn’t tell if you actually expected him to be experienced or not.

He didn’t exactly scream that he’d… gotten around, for lack of better words, but you’re still surprised to learn that he’s barely done it at all. You supposed he was objectively cute, that maybe you could see it if he weren’t your best friend. And yeah, he’s a little awkward, but he’s smart and kind, so he has three great things going for him, and you’re surprised more people haven’t swooped him up yet.

Your lips curled down in thought, brows raised in curiosity. “And was it good?” It was a genuine enough question, because you’ve never really thought about Spencer Reid and kissing in the same sentence before. As it turned out, there was a lot of missing information relating to those two things.

“I don’t know! I didn’t get, like, a feedback form,” he grunted, angling his shoulder even further away from you. If you could’ve seen him, you’d notice his face boiling and turning red with heat. All this inquiring made him think harder about his … talents … than he’s ever had to before, and he’s not a fan.

You were prepared to do some more digging when the slump in his back made you feel a tinge of guilt. It was your fault he looked so defeated. You pressed too hard, disregarding his boundaries just because you wanted to know more. And now, he was wondering if there was something wrong with him, because you wouldn’t leave it alone.

He barely noticed as you swung your feet from under his thigh and rocked onto your knees, leaning forward to nudge his shoulder with your palm. It hauled his attention out of his thoughts and back into the room. You wanted to apologize, but instead you settled with “I’m sure you’re fine, Spence.”

He nodded unconvincingly. By the glow of the screen, you could see he was still gnawing on the inside of his cheek, focusing his eyes as he played with a loose hangnail on one of his fingers. It made you feel even worse. “Are you actually worried about it?” you asked, laden with concern.

“What if I am bad at it?” He whispered, like saying it too loud would make it true. “And that’s why it’s only happened once?”

A large exhale puffed out of your nose as you weighed your options.

You could go back to your original plan and apologize for setting him down this path of doubt. But that wouldn’t do anything to stop him from worrying, anyway. You could tell him there’s no correlation between the way he kisses and how frequently it’s happened; that you’re sure the reason isn’t because he’s bad. But you don’t know that for sure.

So, fuck it, you thought, grabbing a fistful of his pajama shirt and tugging him closer to you roughly, pressing your lips onto his.

This way, you’d at least have an informed opinion to be able to tell him if he was good or bad.

His lips were softer than you expected – not that you’d thought about them often, they’re just impossibly softer than they look – and invitingly warm. But they were completely stiff.

You could tell he was trying to kiss you back by the way his mouth ferociously moved over yours. He was trying to be a passionate, engaged partner, but he forgot about the aspect of tenderness.

His lips felt like two solid objects just sliding around on your face. They didn’t move in any sort of accordance with yours. There was no push and pull, your lips didn’t mesh perfectly together to form a solitary unit as they moved in unison.

It felt more like his lips were your opponent, putting up an attack and defense play against the actions of your own.

You pulled away, resisting a giggle at his bewildered face. “You’re not so terrible,” you swipe the corner of your mouth, smudged with Spencer’s flavored chapstick, “But it could use some work.”

He was at a loss for words, mouth gaping open as his eyes darted around the room and all over you. Maybe he’d find an explanation for what just happened carved into the walls somewhere or written across your forehead.

What happened was that you kissed him. And he was a little bit bad. Simple as that.

“I-I wasn’t ready!” he stammered, chucking up his hands defensively. He’d process the fact that he’d just made out with his best friend at a later time, right now the bigger concern was the slight cringed look on your face. He sulked and folded his arms.“What was so bad about it?”

“Well,” you scratched the back of your ear, trying to gauge if he’d react well to getting some advice, “my first tip would be to relax your lips.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

“And don’t think too hard. You should react to what’s happening in the moment, not worrying about what your next move is gonna be.” You could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to envision what that would play out like in a real situation. “You wanna try again?” you offered, figuring he’d learn much faster if he was more hands-on about it.

He nodded, and you leaned in close, waiting for him to go for it. His heart quickened under the pressure of performance, eyes screwing shut as he closed the gap. His mouth smashed into yours as he dove in hard. It was toeing on the side of too harsh, but you let that one slide in hopes it was just a byproduct of his nerves.

You had to tap his knee to remind him to relax, and he loosened some of the tension he had in his lips. He slotted his between yours, allowing them to be pliable to your movements and remembering to react, not plan.

He moved his mouth leisurely against yours, trying to match your pressure and pacing. They actually started moving in time with yours at some point. The kiss took on a shape of its own as he started getting out of his head, letting himself enjoy the kiss for what it was in that exact moment.

It was already better than before. Leaps and bounds better. But then he tried to deepen it, building on its intensity but adding more… something into it. You couldn’t even tell what it was he was trying to do.

“Okay, second tip…” you inhaled sharply, pushing him off of you with a palm against his chest. Whatever it was, it needed to stop. “You kinda do this thing like… where you’re blowing air into my mouth?” You scrunched your nose, punctuating your dislike. “That feels weird. Don’t do that. If anything, do the opposite.”

“I’m supposed to suck the air out of your mouth?” His face contorted, voice already slightly exasperated. He barely understood what the air thing was that you claimed he did. He didn’t realize in the process of trying to add pressure to the kiss, he was just forcibly blowing against your mouth.

“Not literally, no.” You laughed a little, rubbing your palm in a comforting pattern on his chest.”But you can use your lips to suck on mine, or my tongue… just nothing involving the exchange of breath. We’re not in CPR training.”

He eased up a little with your joke, adjusting to your advice he gave it another try. After a few moments, he latched onto your bottom lip with his own, sucking it softly into his mouth. “Yeah, like that,” you mumbled against him, voice pitching high in encouragement. He sucked on it with a little more greed, holding it for a second, then eased up, varying the pressure of his movements just like you did before.

You made a mental note to praise him for that at a later time, deciding to instead part your lips to see if he’d venture into further experimentation.

He caught on quickly. He parted them further, prodding his tongue against them as you opened to allow him entry. Just as you started to really enjoy it, he ran his tongue over the inside of your mouth, moving it fast and roughly like he was a washing machine.

“Stop,” you grimaced, tearing away quickly. You had to swipe your hand over your mouth to get rid of the excess saliva that really shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place, given how brief the frenching was. “Your tongue is way too aggressive.”

Overwhelmed, he tilted his head to the ceiling and let out a frustrated grunt, slapping his hands down to the top of his thighs.

There were too many factors to worry about. He had no idea how you looked at him with a straight face and told him not to think too much when there were a million things he needed to remember all at once; he needed to vary his moves to keep it interesting, but make sure he’s not ruining the flow by changing things up too much, and to be gentle but not timid.

All of this was second nature to you, but it was brand new to Spencer. Could you really blame him for not getting the hang of it right away? You decided to stop your list of critiques short for this round to spare him. He’d get there eventually, but not if he felt discouraged too soon.

“I don’t see why people like it in the first place,” he huffed, his head returning to it’s normal posture. In Spencer’s eyes, there truly wasn’t any appeal to kissing with tongue; it looked sloppy and unnecessary, and as you’d just confirmed, it actually was.

You thought about his statement for a second. There’s a certain allure to it, and you didn’t know how to describe it to him. So instead you cupped his cheeks in both your palms and slid your mouth over his again. As his jaw slacked its tension, you slowly pushed your tongue past his lips and gently pressed it against his own before swirling them together.

You sighed softly into his mouth, running your fingers through his hair and tugging carefully at the ends. He made a small noise against you, something like a whimper, and you swallowed the vibrations of it. As you retreated, you captured his bottom lip between your teeth and gave it a light, teasing tug. You soothed it again with your lips before releasing it, a proud giggle forming in your chest as Spencer chased after your lips as you broke apart.

“That’s why.” You smirked at the dazed look on his face. His eyelids remained closed longer than necessary, still feeling the ghost of your mouth on his and a tingle where your fingers were in his hair.

“Oh.” His voice came out meek as he slowly came back to reality, brows wrinkling up his forehead as he opened his eyes.

He put both his palms down on the mattress, one laying flat on either side of you, and dove forward to resume the kiss right where you left it. A surprised squeak left you as his mouth collided with yours with an insatiable hunger. You brought one hand back to his hair, and he was a goner.

He unfolded his legs from under himself and shuffled onto his knees, following his hands until he practically crawled into your lap. Each of his legs hooked onto either side of your thighs as he hovered over your lap, leaning his body entirely into yours.

The physics of it didn’t hold up; he’s taller than you are, and his chest was too heavy for you to carry. The balance was off center and it sent you tumbling back onto the mattress, bringing him down with you until his chest laid on yours.

It was the perfect force – the weight of him on top of you. He tasted like peach candy and sour sugar, and you found yourself craving more of it.

You shuffled higher up the mattress, giving him space to stretch out his body as he followed yours. One of his hands found your waist, gripping tightly, while he placed the other on the mattress beside your head, using it to steady himself. Sliding your legs out from under him, you wrapped them on the outside of his hips, using them to pull him closer down to you.

It only broke off in moments when both of you absolutely needed to get air, gasping as you pulled apart for brief reprieve before colliding again. He followed every word of your advice, getting better with each passing second until he exceeded expectations by leaps and bounds.

Your fingers weaved through his hair, passionately tugging the wavy strands to angle him against you and igniting his nerves under your touch. A soft moan leaves him and you’re encouraged to tighten your grip on them. His hips bucked reactively at the sensation, and he quickly pulled back, a slight embarrassment creeping up his cheeks. He got too carried away.

You took in his flushed face and swollen, kiss-bruised lips. They’d turned a shade of red brighter than you’ve ever seen them, and it was all you could do not to dive for them again as his tongue sweeped over them, soothing the burning heat you’d left on them.

Before he could apologize for his eagerness, you nudged your nose against his, your smile skimming against his lips. “So what else don’t you know how to do?”

☆

☆

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[yoonjinkooked]

Risky Business | JHS

Banner: @casuallyimagining​​ Beta: for a huge chunk of this, @missgeniality​ Pairing: Hoseok x (f) reader Rating: 18+ Genre: Office AU, Secretary AU, Smut Word Count: 12.9k Summary: The person who invented smart glass office walls knew what they were doing. Your secretary fucks you stupid in the office. 

Warnings: Explicit sex, rough sex, Dom Hoseok. Public sex. Pure filth. Unprotected sex, creampie, bondage (a tie is there and a tie is used), pussy spanking, cock warming, gagging (Y/N has something in her mouth to keep her quiet), mentions of anal, dirty talk, biting, hickies, teasing, it goes from angry/punishment to soft sex, a tiny dash of humiliation (no one walks in but domhos wouldn’t mind), DomHos uses the word boss mockingly so much it hurts, Jin is an annoying client. Unnecessarily long for what was supposed to be pwp. 

❂ Room of Restraints

         ⁂ Hosted by: Professor Valerie through @bangtansorciere​

⤐  AU Type: Tie

⤐  Themes: Public Sex, Hard/Rough Sex

⤐  Kinks: Biting, Bondage, Hickies, Pussy Spanking, Cock Warming

A/N: This took long and I am sorry. DomHos DRAINED ME. Thank you to everyone who helped me get through this one🧡 Please forgive for any possible mistakes, I was in a RUSH. 

“Why am I not seeing the results that you have promised me, Y/N?”

The last ounces of your self-control went into keeping your reaction in check. If you had received that comment at a time when you were less experienced, younger, and perhaps even more stupid, it would have been impossible not to react to a question like that - at the very least, it deserved an eye roll, perhaps even a scoff.

Unfortunately, you were used to it. A few years back, you would say that these comments were directed towards you because you were a woman, but your career trajectory had shown you that it’s never because you were a woman - it’s because they were men. Egotistical, power-hungry and filthy rich men. Egotistical, power-hungry and filthy rich men that you run alongside of, oftentimes even overtaking them.

Yes, you were used to it. You were biting your tongue and keeping the eye roll imaginary as you straightened your back, looking your client directly in the eyes. He was sitting casually, his legs crossed, as if it was his conference room you were occupying and not yours.

“My apologies Seokjin, but you are,” you corrected him politely, the tone of your voice serious and professional. “I have promised you growth between 5% and 10%. The results of the past quarter show a growth of 8%. You had asked for 15% and I had told you that it’s nothing more than wishful thinking. I even reminded you of that the last time we met.”

“Of course,” he chuckled in a cocky manner, something that he often does. “But I want 15% and you’re not giving it to me,” he persisted. It made you let out a little laugh and you leaned across the conference table, lowering your voice in the hopes of sounding gentler, kinder even - a tone that would make the words you used sound even more frightening.

“Neither could anyone else in this business, Seokjin. There isn’t a single company that could give you the 15% you are asking for. Not even with more time and a bigger budget. But by all means, find another,” you encouraged him, somehow finding a way to both hide and accentuate the mockery in your voice. “They do say that variety is the spice of life. If that is the road you decide to take, I will consider promising you that I won’t immediately refuse a re-sign once you realize that you can’t afford to lose me.”

Although you have called him that behind his back, Seokjin was not stupid. He was, however incredibly simple - like so many of his counterparts, he often thought with his wallet and not his brain. It would be incredibly idiotic to end an ongoing and profitable partnership, only to start over again with a completely different entity. And that would only be the tip of the iceberg - while he could leave, the data would stay. Of course, it would be incredibly unprofessional, illegal even, to share said data with other potential or current clients, but there were plenty of ways in which it could be used for your benefit and Seokjin’s potential harm. Seokjin knew that very well, which made his theatrical fit even more baffling to you.

“You think too highly of yourself, Y/N,” Seokjin commented and if a partnership wasn’t on the line, you would have laughed in his face at how ironic it is that he is the one saying that.

“I just know the worth of myself and my team,” you told him, re-shifting your focus on the papers before you. “I could get the numbers up to 10% by the end of this quarter.”  

“I want 15,” he insisted.

“Then shall we call it a day?” you finally offered, not wanting to continue the cat and mouse game any longer. He wasn’t going to walk away and you were tired of pretending how you believed that he might.

It wasn’t easy to read him at that point, the way he was staring you down as he scanned your face, possibly waiting for a flinch or a tell-tale sign of your bluff. Sitting back in your chair, you waited patiently for him to announce what he will do next.

“Give me 10,” he decided finally, and it took a lot of strength for you to not grin in triumph, knowing that you would have your freedom from Seokjin, at least until the reports for the ongoing quartal were presented to him. “Then we’ll discuss if you’ll finally be able to give me what I actually want.”

“Wonderful,” you smiled, even though in your mind, it was anything but. “I look forward to continuing our partnership,” you announced, leaning over the table with your hand held out for him to shake. The way he glared at it had made you feel self-conscious, if only for a second but you did not have a chance to dwell on it because he finally accepted it. The handshake was brief, but firm, not showing any signs of reluctance.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” he deadpans, the tone of his voice confirming that he absolutely does not think that. Without saying a word more, he turns around and leaves the conference room, leaving you alone to watch him walk away. You wait until he is out of sight, not wanting him to notice the eye roll that you were holding in for way too long. Glass walls sounded like a good idea when the office design was presented to you but having to hide your exasperation had made you second guess it.

Gathering the papers quickly, you rushed out of the conference room and to your office, looking forward to the cup of coffee that waited for you on your desk but had undoubtedly gone cold at that point. Hoseok was already waiting at the door of your office, reaching out to take the folders you were carrying.

Always one step ahead of you. Hoseok knew what you were thinking before you yourself were even aware of it. He knew your schedule in and out, your preferences on just about everything and more than anything, he was the best in helping you keep it all under control.

“How did it go?” he had asked, closing the door of your office the moment he followed you in.

“We have him for a few months more,” you sighed, leaning back in your incredibly comfy desk chair and closing your eyes, looking for a brief moment of peace. “He wanted to drop the partnership, stuck to his idiotic expectations… God, that man is infuriating.”

“So you’ve said,” Hoseok laughed, earning a glare from you, which had only made him laugh more. You didn’t blame him for it - it was easy to imagine how your rivalry and annoyance with Kim Seokjin could be amusing to an outsider. However, it was not amusing to you. “All that matters is, you’ll be getting that money. And you will not have to deal with him for a while,” he added, reminding you of the bright side, like he so often did.

When times were the hardest and days were the longest, Hoseok was there for you, whether with words of support, a kind smile, reassuring words or simply, a solution to your trouble. He was there as your right hand and support system - your loyal employee and a friend.

“That’s true,” you agreed, reaching for your coffee - your guess was correct, as it was ice cold. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t make dealing with him any bearable. He is infuriating,” you repeated, emphasizing just how perfectly the word described Seokjin.

“Are you certain that you don’t like that, boss?” Hoseok teased you, something that made you laugh and shake your head in amusement - it was not the first time that he teased you about Seokjin and your annoyance with him. You considered him too close of a friend to worry about how your inside jokes might be inappropriate, if only barely.

“I’m a simpler woman than that, Hoseok,” you joked, watching as he sat down in the chair across the table from you, the one that he so often occupied. “Him being handsome does not compensate for his tragic personality. Not that it matters anyway - the only thing I need from him is his money. I’ll have it for two more months but I don’t know what will happen after.”

“Is he still being unrealistic?” Hoseok offered you a compassionate look.

“Unbelievably so,” you confirmed, allowing a deep sigh to escape you, giving yourself one minute and no more - one minute to rant, complain and feel hopeless. “He’s clutching onto the 15% like a mad man, even though he knows no one could give him those results.”

“How long would it take us to reach that level?” he asked, opening the folders that he took from you earlier - Hoseok studied the reports diligently but there were areas he couldn’t quite understand yet. As long as he was interested and asking questions, that was fine with you - you were aware of your job not being his area of expertise when you’ve hired him. His past experience and impeccable organizational skills landed him the job of your secretary, not his abundant knowledge of business terms and project plans.

“Next quarter, maybe,” you shrugged dismissively. “It doesn’t matter how long it will take me because I won’t be pushing it to that point.”

“Because the moment you give him 15, he’ll ask for 20?” Hoseok asked, looking at you over the papers in his hand. His smirk mirrored yours the moment he realized his assumption was correct.

“Exactly,” you confirmed, proud of him for guessing it right off the bat. “We’ll see how long I can play that game with him, because it won’t be eternal. That being said, he needs us way more than we need him and as long as he’s aware of that, I’m good. Now, enough about that idiot - when is the meeting with Park again?” you asked him, wanting to continue with your daily schedule, not wanting to think of Seokjin for at least a few weeks.

“Park Jimin is scheduled for three,” Hoseok glanced at his phone to confirm. “And I’ll be bringing you your lunch fifteen minutes before,” he added.

“Hoseok!” you whined, not having to elaborate in any way before he lifted his hand to stop you from talking.

“Boss, I’m not having it. Your doctor said three meals a day and as long as I work for you, I’ll make sure you have at least two in the office,” his tone was firm in a way that made you wonder who the real boss was - if the topic was anything other than your poor dietary habits, you wouldn’t have given in as easily as you did then.

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re too good for me, you know,” you told him, immediately laughing at the proud smile that appeared on his face. It made you feel happy to see how much he appreciated hearing something like that from you. And by God, did he deserve it. After three years of him being your secretary, you could only wonder how the hell you were able to function before his help.

“It’s my job,” he spread his arms, flashing the jokingly cocky smile that he reserved for moments like these. “Besides, who the hell am I going to work for if you get hospitalized? You’re on the brink of exhaustion every day, boss.”

“Enough,” you waved him off, not wanting that conversation to turn into him exhibiting the overprotectiveness that he felt towards you. “I’m fine, I’m eating, half the times my coffee is decaf. You can let my mother know that you are taking good care of me.”

“She did text me this morning, though,” Hoseok told you, immediately laughing at the way your eyes widened following his comment. “She worries, Y/N.”

“I’m just… going to ignore that you and my mother are apparently texting each other now and focus on my tasks for the day. Could you CC me on the backlink report for Park Enterprises? Jungkook had told me he had sent it to you earlier.”

“Already in your inbox,” Hoseok replied. The infamous one step ahead, as always. “Do you need me to take notes as you go through it?”

“Yes, please.”

It was not a good day, not even by a long shot. A Monday, it was bound to be terrible. But after the weekend that you’ve had, you were in no way prepared for a long, tiring Monday. 

You’ve spent both Saturday and Sunday working from home, pausing only for quick power naps and snacks. You’ve had to pull in a few team members to help you, too. Jungkook and Namjoon were coming in and out of your house all weekend, while Hoseok had stayed there the whole time, having his own power naps on your living room couch. 

One too many projects were due for Monday and one of those was a progress report for Seokjin. Mondays were bad enough on their own. Busy Mondays were even worse. Mondays when you have to deal with Kim Seokjin? They were pure hell.

“No headache?” Hoseok checked with you, not even lifting his eyes from the papers he was trying to organize last minute. It was amusing to see him like this again, all proper and in a suit, after you’ve spent the entire weekend watching him in neon sweatshirts.

“All good,” you confirmed. “I think the abundance of neon clothing in my sight this weekend might have been the cause of my headache, not overwork.”

“You have many good qualities boss,” Hoseok looked up to offer you what you could only describe as his most angelic smile. “I’m afraid humor is not one of them.”

“Shots fired,” you chuckled, too nervous to fully surrender yourself to the humor of the moment - it was impossible to do that, knowing what kind of day you have ahead of you. “A day will come when you will get sick of working for me and will find another job, Jung Hoseok. When it does, I’ll have a lot to say because if you weren’t working for me, I would bite back a lot harder,” you joked.

“Wouldn’t that be something?” he laughed and for a moment, you wondered if you had taken it too far. His laugh wasn’t as loud and joyful as it normally is - he wasn’t looking at you and if you were to overanalyze, which happens to be your expertise, you would wonder if he really sounded uncomfortable or if you were just imagining it.

“Did my humor miss the mark again?” you cringed, wishing you had the power to turn back time and keep that comment to yourself. Luckily, Hoseok laughed and that time, it was real.

“No,” his smile was reassuring. “I’m sure you’d have things to say if you weren’t signing my paycheck every month. I know I would.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” you asked him, now wondering if your humor had truly missed its mark not just slightly, but by a few miles.

“I’d bite harder, too.”

You were stunned, and not in the way you most likely should have been. For the briefest of moments, you’ve forgotten your setting and your position, you’ve forgotten who Hoseok is and more specifically, what he is to you, and you’ve allowed that one sentence to strike you like electricity. It passes as fast as it had shown up, you shaking your head to snap yourself out of the temporary delusion you were ejected into.

You open your mouth, despite being unsure of what you really wanted to say, only to be interrupted by your cell phone - one look at the name flashing on the screen made you shudder. You even had to pause for a deep breath before you answered, ignoring the questioning look Hoseok was giving you.

“Seokjin!” you answered with fake joy, not wanting to start off today’s conversation with him on the wrong foot. “Are you running late?” you asked, quickly checking your watch - he still has ten minutes to arrive on time and even if he doesn’t, you knew that Hoseok had left a little free time in your schedule, always wanting to be ready for possible delays and issues.

“Y/N dear, I’m afraid I cannot make it today after all,” Seokjin sounded happy, the ‘dear’ feeling so incredibly ironic to you, which it most likely was.

“It’s quite alright, Seokjin,” you reply, squeezing your fists in order to channel your anger somewhere, since you couldn’t tell him what you truly think. “We can reschedule immediately or you can reach out to my secretary at some point,” you suggested. Your eyes were closed as you were trying to calm yourself, so you weren’t able to see Hoseok, but you could feel his eyes on you. He knows you well enough to recognize the hurricane of emotions that is brewing inside you.

“It won’t be necessary,” at the sound of his laugh, your heart dropped right down to the pit of your stomach. You knew then and there what those words meant - you’ve lost him as your client. Knowing that it wasn’t an enormous loss might have been a form of comfort in the future but at that moment, you couldn’t care less about it. You’ve lost a client that you thought you’ll keep around at least until the end of the fiscal year. “I’ve received a better offer, one that I could not refuse.”

“Ah, and you’ve received it on the way to our meeting?” you sounded bitter and while you knew that you would end up regretting that comment, you simply couldn’t bite your tongue.

“Not exactly, but let’s say I was debating until the last moment,” Seokjin replies. He had won the battle, fair and square. But you will be damned if you let him win the war.

“Understandable. Well then,” you take a deep breath, a final one in order to calm yourself down before ending the conversation. “I would say that it was a pleasure doing business with you but honestly, it was anything but. I do wish you all the best in your future endeavours.”

“Likewise,” he laughs. Oh, just that laugh had made you decide at that very moment to make sure to track down his greatest competition, partner with them and do all that was in your power to make them bigger and better than Seokjin’s company. “I’ll be seeing you around, Y/N,” he ends the conversation rather rudely, leaving you with the phone still pressed to your ear, as you tried to process what had just happened and what it meant for you.

Your mind was racing, already miles ahead of you - it was as if you were having an out of body experience, like none of it was happening to you. It felt like it was all in your imagination but the pounding in your chest had told you that it wasn’t. It took you a moment too long to realize that your phone wasn’t shaking on its own accord - your hands were the ones that were shaking.

“Boss, what did he say?” you could hear Hoseok ask but other than a shake of your head, you didn’t offer him a response. It’s not that you didn’t want to - you couldn’t. You have reached the point of anger where you were unable to form words. You hadn’t even realized that you had stood up at some point, not until you were already walking towards the door.

The sound of your heels clicking fast on the floor made people’s heads turn - it’s a common sound in your offices, but not when it comes at a speed that it was then. You were all but running, trying to get to the comfort of your own office as fast as you possibly could. Once you finally did, you went to slam the door shut, not even realizing immediately that a hand had blocked you from doing so, Hoseok’s palm pressed to the glass. You had begun pacing around the office as he closed the door behind him.

“Y/N, what the hell did he say to you?” Hoseok urged you again.

“The partnership is over,” you waved your hand, signalizing that it didn’t matter, that it was irrelevant and that you did not want to talk about it. “That’s all we need to know.”

“There’s obviously more behind it,” Hoseok shook his head, giving you a stern look, one that you did not see often but one that managed to unnerve you every time. It doesn’t belong there - as much as a frown and a clenched jaw suited his face, it was wrong, it didn’t belong there. Someone as bright and cheerful as Hoseok always was should never look like that. “What did he say to you?”

“I told you!” you snapped at Hoseok, not enough to cross the line but enough to show him that you truly did not want to talk about it. You didn’t have much to say even if you wanted to - he didn’t offer an explanation or an insult. The contract ended, it was as simple as that. “The son of a bitch doesn’t want to continue the partnership - someone else offered him a better option. He didn’t say anything other than that.”

“If that’s it, then why are you acting like this?” Hoseok asked, the question immediately bewildering you. “It’s not the first partnership that has ended and it certainly won’t be the last.”

“I’m acting like this because I’m angry?” you pointed out the obvious, wondering why on earth he was questioning your reaction to begin with. You felt like a disobedient toddler when he walked towards the door, turning the smart glass to opaque. He was acting as if no one in the office should witness your tantrum, as if your reaction of anger was abnormal and that feeling only angered you more. “Oh, absolutely, by all means, make sure no one gets to see me pissed off!” you snapped at him again, this time definitely toying the line of behaving in a manner that no boss should ever behave towards their employee.

“I’m giving you privacy because I think you need it,” Hoseok sighed, clearly annoyed with you. “And yeah, I do think that once you’re calm, you will regret having the whole goddamn office having a front row seat to your anger performance.”

“My anger performance?” you laughed humorlessly, wondering how much longer you can take before you start crying, crying out of pure anger. “Hoseok, that bastard ended the partnership because I shot too high! I was playing the game and I thought I was playing it well. I’m not half as angry with Seokjin as I am with myself! I know this isn’t something I want to present to the world but don’t you think I can have one moment of weakness? Am I not allowed to have one brief moment of not knowing what the fuck I will do now?”

“Y/N, you need to calm down,” he told you in what you could describe a calming tone, but to your ears, at that moment, it sounded way too condescending for you to take it in your stride. His intentions might have been nice, completely innocent, but to you, in that moment, he was acting like a man that knew better than you. You no longer had any control of your insecurities and it was only a matter of moments before you lost control of your behaviour, too. It was too much, too much all at once.

“Hoseok, just leave me,” you tried to keep yourself calm, tried to prolong the inevitable. “I don’t want to discuss this any longer and nothing you can tell me now will make this any better. Thank you. Please leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” he shook his head casually and you couldn’t hold back the sound of exasperation that left you - he was relentless and you were tired. “Y/N, you are constantly under stress and you need to calm down. So please, calm down.”

“Hoseok, if you tell me to calm down one more time, I swear to god…”

“What?” he challenged you, cocking his eyebrow in a way that made you feel like you’re the stupid little girl and he’s the one who knows best. “What are you going to do then?”

The truth was, you didn’t know what you were going to do because you didn’t know what you were allowed to do. As a person in a position of power, you sure did feel helpless. Were you going to fire him? Absolutely not. Were you going to bluff that you might? You wouldn’t do that to anyone, especially not someone as important to you as he is. You didn’t know what you were going to do but like many times before, you could pretend that you did. That is why you walked towards him, acting the way he wanted you to all along - calm. You were putting on a performance of your lifetime by the time you stood before him, looking him square in the eyes, not letting the height difference between the two of you intimidate you even though the man before you was just that - incredibly intimidating.

“Leave.”

“And if I don’t?” he didn’t step away, not from you, not from the challenge.

“Then you’re going to see what a real fit looks like.”

You wished that you could fake confidence with your voice as well - it wavered, shaking at the last word in a way that told Hoseok that you were not as calm as you were pretending to be. You were every bit as angry as you were moments ago, your breaths becoming deeper and deeper with each second as you continued to try to compose yourself, breaking eye contact in a moment of cowardice that was so uncharacteristically you.

It happened in a flash - you didn’t even register his hand moving before it was already on you. Firmly but not violently, he took a hold of your jaw, lifting it up so that you had no choice but to look at him. “Don’t test me, Y/N,” he warned you, traces of the same anger that you were feeling flashing on his face. He was angry with you, it was obvious.

And you were speechless, never having expected him to do anything like this. He barely ever touched you in any way - and on the rare occasions that he did, it was nothing more than a friendly hug or a pat on the back. This touch, this simple action, was full of emotions you couldn’t name, emotions that had to have existed. You thought that you knew him well and the Hoseok you knew never acts out impulsively.

You were stunned and it is that that made him snap - snap out of whatever it was that he was in, his eyes widening and his hand dropping immediately away from you - he looked down, almost bewildered, taking one step away from you.

“I… I apologize,” he managed to utter, finally looking up at you again. It felt as if you weren’t looking in the same eyes you did moments ago, but there was still something there, something you couldn’t quite read or name. “That was… incredibly inappropriate.”

It really was. It was more than enough for you to ask for a resignation letter then and there. It was inappropriate, unwarranted and unacceptable. And despite it all, you couldn’t shake away the feeling of it changing everything. The way you saw him, the way he saw you, and any kind of connection that existed between you just moments ago. It truly was incredibly inappropriate and every fiber of your being liked it, in all the wrong ways.

“Do it again,” the words left you before you could stop them, before you could even consider them! You were out of your goddamn mind and Hoseok had opened the Pandora box you haven’t even realized that you had kept locked - with several deadbolts.

“What?” Hoseok asked - you weren’t sure if he didn’t hear you or was checking your sanity. Or perhaps even both.

“Do it again,” you repeated, stepping closer to him, much closer than you should have. “You want me to calm down? Then make me.”

The silence is heavy and you imagined the thoughts that were going through his mind and if they were anything similar to the ones swarming yours. All you could think of was how inherently wrong it was to be even saying those words and how you had never wanted to say anything more.

Make me. Two words that carried so much weight, weight that you were hoping Hoseok would recognize. If his grin was anything to go by, he did.

“Well now you’re just asking for it, aren’t you?”

You breathed out a sigh of relief, realizing that whatever it is that you were feeling, he was feeling, too. The way he was looking at you was both menacing and inviting and when he reached out to grab your jaw again, you finally had the guts to name the feeling you felt.

Turned on. You were completely turned on by him and the way he held you, the way he looked at you. It went against who you were as a person and the position you held but by god, were your knees weak the moment he gripped your jaw again.

You were positive that he could recognize your reactions - the way your breath hitched and your eyes widened - it was dangerous and wrong but it felt so damn right. He must have felt it too, because he lessened the distance between you, now standing so close that you could feel his breath on your face, which had only made you feel more.

“Are you sure?” he asked, no longer as menacing as he was moments before but very serious. You could understand what he was asking for - it was easy to see how he was the only one between the two of you who still understands how serious this is and how much trouble it could bring you. He asked, he gave you a chance to stop it, an option to take it back and stop this madness. And you wanted nothing to do with it.

“I said make me.”

No amount of preparation would have been sufficient to warn you on how the feeling of Hoseok’s lips on yours would make you feel. It was instant, comparable only to a spark of electricity, the way it all shifted the moment he kissed you. It was all you wanted but were too scared to admit, all that your body had wanted for god knows how long. And more than anything, it was reciprocated - the way he grabbed you by the hips and pressed you to his front while deepening the kiss had confirmed it.

You were grasping at him, desperate to pull him closer to you, to feel him against you in every possible way. A moan escaped you, muffled by his kiss, and it was that sound that made you both certain that whatever it was, it won’t be ending with just a kiss. Hoseok gave in to your demands, letting you anchor your arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to cling onto him as long as you possibly can. When he started to pull away, he did so slowly, leaving you with quick pecks before leaning his head back to see you. You could only imagine the thoughts that were running through his head and be frightened that he will bring them all to fruition. Something about this Hoseok frightened you and you loved it.

“You never listen to me,” he tsked, sounding disappointed. “I sometimes wonder why I even bother, when I know you’ll never do as you are told.”

“I will!” the words leave you before you could even realize what you were implying - and once you did, you couldn’t bring yourself to care. The moment he put his hands on you, you were ready to do whatever he wanted you to do and you haven’t changed your mind. “I’ll listen to you, I promise,” you reassure him immediately.

“I can tell that you want to be a good girl,” his grin is menacing in a way that if the situation wasn’t so sexual, you would legitimately be frightened. “But I don’t know if you know how to. You never do as you are told, Y/N.”

“Fine,” you suddenly snapped, not enjoying how your promises were falling on deaf ears. “Then you can leave my office and we’ll forget this ever happened,” you lie, knowing damn well that no matter if it ends or continues, you will never be able to forget this. Whether Hoseok knew you were lying or not, you weren’t sure - and it didn’t matter, because your threat was the straw that broke the camel’s back - with his hand in your hair, Hoseok pushed you into a kiss, one that you accepted gladly, not bothering to hold back the sounds of relief.

You hadn’t even realized that you were moving until you hit the side of your desk with your ass - judging by the way he pushes you even more into it, it’s exactly what Hoseok wanted. He kissed you passionately and you greeted him with equal enthusiasm, making you briefly wonder just how long both of you wanted to do that, without ever realizing it - or simply keeping it brewing under the surface, unwilling to act on it.

His kisses were passionate with a dash of roughness, something that wasn’t so familiar to you in such a setting, but once again - when it is Hoseok, you didn’t seem to mind it. You even encouraged it, biting on his bottom lip and dragging it with your teeth, relishing both the way he hissed, and the unspoken promise you could recognize in the look he gave you.

“Turn around,” he told you and you understood it for what it was - an order. Excited but nervous, you did as he told you, turning your back to him. You were faced with the glass walls of your office, reminding you of where you were and how stupid you were actually being. No one could see you through the glass, or at least you hoped so - not that it mattered much, seeing as the door was very much unlocked. The realization made you want to run to it quickly and lock it, making sure that what happens on this side of the door stays on this side of the door. But something told you that Hoseok wouldn’t like that and at that moment, you wanted to humor him more than you wanted to ensure your privacy. You were at his mercy and he knew it.

He ran his hands down your body, starting from your shoulders and down your back, stopping only when he reached the hem of your skirt. Sneaking one finger under it, he runs it on the naked skin of your thighs, slowly, almost as if he was warning you.

“Every suggestion I ever made was in your best interest,” he speaks again, his fingers applying more pressure to your thighs. “And you almost never listen, sweetheart,” you were not expecting a nickname, especially not one said so sweetly, it made you wonder if it was actually mocking. “Why should I treat you well if you never listen?”

“I’m sorry,” you replied, not completely certain if you meant it or were saying it just because it was something he wanted to hear. Yes, you did want to play your part well, you wanted to continue the game well - but a different part of you could understand the deeper intentions of his words. He did always want the best of you and you were sorry for not always taking it into consideration. Or maybe you were imagining it all.

“We could stop,” he reminded you, the notion that made you pause and take a deep, calming breath. “We probably should stop.”

“I don’t want to,” you say, painfully aware of him no longer touching you. He stood behind you and you could very much feel his presence but the lack of touch, of his skin on yours in any way, was unnerving - it felt so wrong. “I don’t want to stop, Hoseok.”

He didn’t reply immediately but he did start touching you again - his fingers moved your hair to the side, clearing the way for him to reach your neck - he did so quickly, barely pressing his lips to your skin and leaving fleeting kisses before whispering into your ear. “Give me a safeword.”

That made your eyes widen. “Safe word?” you laugh nervously, trying to keep a hold of your sanity and not lose focus at the ticklish feeling his breath was leaving on your skin. “What exactly are you planning to do to me?”

“Whatever I want,” was his answer and it affected you immediately - you could feel the wetness between your legs now, physical proof of the way he was making you feel while barely doing anything. “As long as you don’t tell me to stop, of course.”

The idea made you salivate, and wonder if there was anything you wouldn’t let him do. “Fax machine.”

“Fax machine?” he chuckled at your choice but accepted it nonetheless. “Very well. Don’t hesitate to use it, sweetheart,” he tells you, and the moment you nod, he moves you - suddenly, making you gasp as he literally bends you over with the press of his palm to your back. With your cheek pressed to the shiny wooden surface of your desk, you were facing the office door - a sight that you have never greeted this way before. It was exhilarating and downright scary, the notion that someone could walk in at any given moment and see you like this. Bent over the desk for your secretary, completely at his mercy.

Hoseok was moving around behind you, you only catching subtle movements in your peripheral vision as you waited in silence, listening, just like how he wanted. You have gotten so used to the lack of touch, you end up jumping in surprise when you feel his palms over your ass. “Let’s see what you hide underneath that skirt, boss,” his voice sounded deeper than it ever did before, the addition of the word boss doing things to you - things that you could never voice but that he will undoubtedly find proof of on your underwear. He lifts your skirt up, the tight fabric sliding up to cover your hips as he chuckles at the sight. “Black lace. Why am I not surprised?”

You don’t answer him - you don’t know what to say. Has he imagined you like this before? Would it come as a surprise to know that he had? You never did, you never dared - in your mind, it was never an option. Had you known this is how you would end up, perhaps you wouldn’t have been as hesitant to let your mind wander and think of unspeakable scenarios.

“Would you look at that,” he commented, almost in amazement. “You’re wet already. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

You wanted to bite back and answer how it should be obvious that you were, given your position, but something told you you’d pay for any attitude you show. You decided to keep your answer short and simple. “Yes.”

He says nothing as he pulls up the fabric to reveal more of your skin, grabbing at it greedily. No longer worried about his next move, you closed your eyes and surrendered yourself to him completely. When you feel him pressing himself against your ass, you move only slightly, giving him a little bit of friction - he seemed to like it, deciding to lean over you - the way he was positioned above you made his tie tickle your back, despite the shirt you were still in. Both of you were overdressed and it annoyed you to no end but you kept your mouth shut, letting him do both the talking and all the work. He was shamelessly kissing your neck, showing no signs of care of any traces he might leave behind. The determination in which he sucked at your skin made you wonder if that was his actual plan - to have you covered in hickeys for the whole world to see. “You have a great ass, sweetheart,” he bit your neck softly, as he squeezed your ass harder than before. “I can’t wait to pound it six ways to Sunday.”

“Hoseok!” you gasped rather loudly, completely shocked with how shameless he was. It made him laugh and the sound that filled your ears made it even worse for you - you want it. You want him to deliver the promise and you wouldn’t even mind him laughing darkly as he does so. God, you’d let him do it in a heartbeat.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he told you and you knew immediately that he was anything but. “You wouldn’t like that? You wouldn’t want me to take you in any way I want?” his voice whispering in your ear made it so much worse for you, leaving you instantly powerless.

“I would,” you admitted quickly. “I’d let you do it all.”

“I knew you could be a good girl if you really tried,” he actually sounded happy and not nearly as serious as he was before. It reminded you how the Hoseok that had promised to ruin your ass is the same smiley Hoseok that reminds you daily not to skip your meals. It was a 180 degree switch that you have not seen coming. “Do you feel this?” he asked as he slowly ground against you, letting you feel him through the tightness of his pants - he was already hard and had no shame in showing it. “You have no idea how hot you look like this… lying on your desk, just waiting to be used.”

“Then,” you urge him, knowing that you couldn’t last long like this - the risk of someone walking in on the two of you petrified you and after feeling his cock against you, you wanted it inside you as fast as possible. “Use me.”

“Oh, I plan on doing just that,” he promised as he moved away from you - he still kept his erection pressed to you but you were the one doing all the work. You moved against him, imagining the way he’d fill you up, how he’d fuck you fast and hard, leaving you begging and drooling for him, asking for more, not caring what more entailed. So lost in your fantasy, you didn’t even realize what he was doing until he was already finished - your arms were pressed together behind your back, tied around the wrist with what you think is his tie. The realization made you shudder immediately and he could recognize it. “Are you okay with this? Just say the word and I’m stopping.”

“It’s okay,” you reassure him as you test the fabric against your skin - you were tied tight enough to be unable to move your hands but not enough for it to hurt.

“Not too tight?” he checks.

“No, it’s okay.”

“You like this, don’t you?” he laughs when you nod, not trusting your ability to speak. Realization struck you hard the moment he went from the Hoseok you know to the Hoseok you’ve just met. It was as if his dark chuckle is your signal that the switch is flipped and that you were at his mercy. “You love this… being bent over the desk in your office… tied up and ready to be fucked,” he continued, and instead of nodding or verbally confirming it in any way, you move your ass against him, a move that made him groan. He wasn’t expecting it and it made you feel a bit better about yourself. Having lost all power, it was reassuring to know that he is still affected by you, even if he doesn’t show it. “Anyone can walk in, boss. See you like this, wet and desperate for my cock… you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

No, you really wouldn’t. But the notion that it might happen, that the risk does exist, made you whimper. You would be humiliated, ruined, mocked - and all for the cock you were yet to see. It would be your end and not even that knowledge was enough to make you stop this.

“Hoseok, please,” you take a deep breath to try and calm yourself down. “Please just do something… Touch me, fuck me, anything.”

“It doesn’t surprise me at all to know you’re as demanding during sex as you are during work,” he comments - you would bow your head in shame if you could move. “You’re very, very lucky that we happen to want the same things. I’ll fuck you stupid, Y/N. That’s a promise. But first I’m going to have my fun with you.”

Shit. You were hoping he’d run at a chance to bottom out and fill you up - you should have known better. Hoseok is a notorious perfectionist in all areas of life, always preferring to do something well than to rush it to completion. You were fucked, both literally and figuratively.

“Hoseok,” you beg, not even knowing what you were begging for.

“I think you need to be patient, Y/N,” he comments casually, as if he was suggesting that you shouldn’t whine about waiting for your coffee to be made or something. He took full advantage of you being tied and powerless - so much so, it made you wonder if he was actually on a revenge mission. It didn’t help that he stepped away from you, leaving you lying dumbly on the edge of the desk, with your skirt up and ass in the open. You weren’t warned before he pulls down your underwear, leaving you completely bare and in the cold air - you were ridiculously wet and you could just tell that he’ll revel in it. “Look at that… your pussy is even prettier than I imagined.”

“You imagined?” you couldn’t stop yourself from asking.

“There she goes again… yes, Y/N. I did. It’s hard not to, with you skipping around the office every day in a tight skirt. I wanted you - is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I don’t mind knowing it,” you answer honestly, wanting to tell him more, to reassure him that there isn’t a single part of you that thinks this is a bad idea. You want to tell him that you want him, too - you don’t get to because before you can even open your mouth to speak, he delivers a smack, directly to your sex.

You whine loudly, startled and hurt but oh so turned on - it stings, but it does so in a way that makes you want more. More and harder.

“You never listen,” he repeated the same words he had said earlier. “And even now with your pussy out in the open, wet for me, you still want to hear me praise you?”

“No! It’s not like that! I-”

Another smack, this one only adding to the throbbing sensation that never left from the previous hit. You were becoming dangerously loud, bringing the two of you closer to having your cover blown with each sound that escaped you. “You’re being very loud, sweetheart,” he pointed out the obvious - and seconds later, he dangles your ruined underwear right in front of your face. You swallow a lump that formed in your throat, immediately aroused at the thought of him suggesting what he was about to suggest. “It’s a good thing we have something to stuff your mouth with, huh?”

You say nothing, simply opening your mouth enough for him to do what he pleases. It makes him laugh, the ease with which you surrendered to every suggestion he offered. You yourself were surprised and will probably have to think long and hard about this later - you were never the one to be so compliant, so stupidly submissive. He could suggest fucking you in the middle of the office cafeteria and you’d probably accept it on the spot.

“What a good girl you are for me, sweetheart,” he comments, giving your cheek a gentle caress, a dash of softness in an abundance of pure roughness. He gently puts your underwear into your mouth, leaning over to give you a good look - you were unable to see him for a bit now and the sight of him was enough to make you forget about the wet fabric you could feel on your tongue. He looked so incredibly hot, with no tie and his shirt half-open, skin glistening with a thin layer of sweat and hair dishevelled. You found out what Hoseok looked like turned on and your chest filled with pride at the notion that you were the sole cause of it. “Can you speak? You could give me your safeword if needed?”

Yes,” you mumble, immediately laughing at the muffled sound that you made. It was so wrong, so so wrong, but you couldn’t help yourself - you had to laugh at the very stupidity of not being able to talk properly because your secretary put your wet lace thong into your mouth. You laugh, and even if it lasted only for a moment, you could see the Hoseok you knew well - he joined in on the laughter, probably realizing the ridiculousness of the situation. Whether he knew it or not, you needed that moment - some form of proof that the man who has you begging and drooling for him is still the same one who you rely on so much in your daily life, the one who cares about you more than an employee should and that never greets you with anything other than a blinding smile.

You couldn’t understand the science of it, but your dear Hoseok was the same man that was doing all of these unspeakable things to you, in your own office, for anyone to walk in on you. No amount of explaining could ever make you understand and you were fine with that.

“Cute,” he offers an angelic smile, looking you dead in the eye as he delivers the next smack. You weren’t expecting it, once again reacting to it loudly, enjoying the way his Adam’s apple bobbed, both at the sound and at the sight of you. Looking him directly in the eyes while he was ruining you was a completely new experience - it enhanced everything.

“The whole office will hear you, sweetheart,” he tells you in a sweet voice, looking at you with what you could only describe as a mixture of pity and desire. “Do you want that?”

You shake your head, using every ounce of your self-control to not react to the smack he delivered next. “Good girl. God, it’s so much better when I can look at you… You like this, don’t you? Do you want more?” he asked, spanking you the moment you nodded your head. You were ready for a hit this time, but you didn’t expect his fingers to reach your clit this time around - once again, you were louder than you should have been, whining shamelessly as you back into his waiting hand, rubbing yourself against it and hissing in pain when you felt the fabric around your wrists tighten - you were moving around more instinctively, reacting, silently asking for more. Hoseok’s eyes were blown wide, moving up and down your pathetic form - you would have gladly given up all your possessions just to know the thoughts that were swarming his head. You wanted to hear all the things he wanted to do to you even before he did them - you wanted any crumbs he was willing to give.

“You’re perfect,” he was in awe now, moving around the desk to stand directly in front of you - you were face to face with the bulge in his pants - bulge of a very promising size. If you had the ability to move, you would have mouthed over it, kissed it, bitten it - you’d do anything he would allow you to. You wanted to do it - to try and move, to mumble out your suggestion but Hoseok had different plans - instead of stuffing your mouth with his cock, he simply showed you the open palm of his hand - reddened and completely wet.

His power over you was embarrassing - the sight of your wetness on his palm was enough for you to whine for him, to try and move, pulling at the fabric that kept your hands immobile - letting out a pitiful cry when you realized that you couldn’t do anything.. “Oh baby… you want more, don’t you?” he asked and you took the chance to give him your best doe eyed look, hoping it would be enough to tug on his heartstrings and maybe, just maybe, convince him not to prolong your misery. “You want me to fuck you?”

“Yes,” you answered, your impromptu gag falling out of your mouth completely. “Please.”

“Very soon, baby,” he uses the pet name again - and as much as you enjoyed him calling you sweetheart, this one felt more personal to you. Were you delusional? Most likely - he made you lose your mind very quickly and with no prior warning. You weren’t quite sure if anything that was happening was actually completely real and not a very vivid dream. In the haze that you were in, the word baby sounded more meaningful to you and if you were wrong, it was something that you will have to deal with at a later time. Especially since Hoseok began to unbutton his pants.

“Can I suck you off?” you ask, keeping your eyes peeled to his crotch, enjoying the way his movements were purposely slow - even then, when he was simply unzipping his pants, he was still teasing you.

“We don’t have that much time, baby,” his words sounded distant to you because all you could focus on was his dick that was finally out in the open, merely inches away from your face. It was long and thick, looking incredibly hard - the way Hoseok stroked himself slowly made you want to cry - you wanted nothing more than to feel it in your mouth, suck on it hard, in the hopes of making Hoseok feel at least one bit of the pleasure and madness you were drowning in. He had turned you into the definition of desperate and you wanted nothing more than to thank him for it. “Can you stand up?”

Instead of answering, you do it - slowly standing up, you try moving your arms a bit, just to make sure they haven’t gone completely numb. Feeling dizzy, you try to focus on your own well-being and not on his cock, if only for a second. By the time you have gathered yourself, he was behind you and holding onto your shoulders. He turned you around to face him, something you weren’t ready for. Seeing him that close up, without a mask of dominance, felt like a punch to your gut. He was absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful in a way that you could only describe as raw.

Without looking away from you, he reached behind your back and you could feel him moving to free your hands. You could feel the silk slip away from your wrists but before you could make any sort of move, he was already moving to unbutton your shirt - he did so fast but carefully, thankfully carefully enough not to send any buttons flying. “Take off your shoes,” is the only instruction you were given and you followed it quickly, glad to be on safe ground. Without the advantage of heels, he seemed even more imposing to you.

As your shirt hit the floor, Hoseok pulled you closer, initiating another kiss immediately. Chest to chest and with his hardness between you, it was easy for you to take full advantage of your mobile arms - running your fingers along his back and along the nape of his neck, grabbing a hold of his hair. You didn’t dare pull no matter how much you wanted to, knowing that there would have to be some form of retaliation. You would undoubtedly love it, but there was only so much you could handle.

Hoseok escaped your grasp but he didn’t go far - he sat down in front of you, in your precious desk chair, his legs spread and his dick standing proud and ready for you. You stood in silence, waiting for him to either do something or tell you what to do. And he did - he simply waved his hand up and down his body, as if he was telling you to help yourself. That you did - without pausing to even consider it, you walked over to him and slowly sat down on his lap, mentally thanking yourself for picking out a desk chair without armrests.

It was obvious that he’d left everything to you now - he did not move and did not look away from your eyes, not for one second. Not even when you put your hands around his dick, gently squeezing it. He did not say a word but his breath hitched and not even a second later, he was biting his bottom lip. Much needed reassurance came with that - seeing that you were not the only one that is so turned on by all of this helped you a lot with what you’ve decided to do next - with one hand on his shoulder for stability and the other still firmly wrapped around his dick, you lifted yourself up and slowly, extremely slowly, let him slide inside you and before you knew it, he bottomed out. You were holding onto his shoulders with both hands now, trying to get used to the feeling and calm down your breathing at the same time.

He didn’t sit idly anymore - instead, he slid his hands between your bodies and reached for your breasts, gently squeezing them - an action that made you shiver, despite the lace that was still separating your skin from his.

“Don’t you dare move,” his voice was low but very strict - you knew he was serious. And for the first time since this entire situation spiraled from a small argument to full blown… sexual encounter, you wanted to fight back. No, you wanted to move, as soon as you possibly could, as fast as you possibly could. It feels wrong, so damn wrong, especially when you couldn’t recall if you have ever felt more full in your entire life. He was completely focused on your neck, licking it and biting it, something that made the haze in your mind even worse - you were losing the last of self-control that you’ve had. One particularly harsh bite served as a metaphorical slap that snapped you out of it.

“But…” you started, not sure what you should even say. “Why would… I want to…” your words were broken up by deep breaths and you could only hope that they were making sense to him. They must have, seeing as detaches himself from your neck, his hands letting go of your breasts and reaching for your face, his thumbs moving across your cheeks in a gentle, comforting manner.

“Don’t move,” he repeated. His hands weren’t the only gentle thing anymore - his voice was too, smooth and low, surprisingly calming given your current predicament. You wanted nothing more but to bounce on his cock like your life depended on it and here he was, calmly telling you to do anything but. “I want to stay like this and enjoy the moment. You’re mine and I want to savor it. Learn patience, boss,” the contrast of an order having such a soft delivery, along with the feeling of him, hard and ready inside you, had proven to be too much. Your deep breaths were threatening to turn into sobs, more and more so with each passing second. He let you be for a few moments, possibly waiting for you to calm down on your own but the moment he realized that it was fruitless, you were snuggled against his chest, comforting hands slowly going up and down your back. “Shhh,” he softly shooshed you, following it with a gentle kiss to your temple. “I’ve got you.”

Oh, did that stir emotions within you, emotions that never should have been unearthed, much less acknowledged and openly discussed. It was easy to push it away, at least for the time being - his embrace dragged you out of your head and back into the moment, leaving you focused on not much else other than the feeling of him - in and around you. Despite the risk of someone walking in on the two of you at any moment, you felt as if the you had all the time in the world - despite the dose of urgency in his earlier kisses, you knew that he would give you all the time in the world - time to calm down, get used to this, decide if you want to continue or not.

Not that not continuing was a real option in your mind - it was literally the last thing you wanted. The only reason you were as overwhelmed as you were was because he did not let you move and that was enough for your mind and calm to slip out of your fingers.

With each passing second, your breath stabilized and you’ve become more aware of everything - the way he smells of his signature cologne, the gentleness in the feel of his skin on yours and the fullness of him inside you, the enjoyable stretch that he gave you with a promise of how good it would feel once one of you started moving. You could now appreciate the moment fully, though - it was easy to see why he wanted to savor it, because as much as you wanted him to move, now and fast, you kind of wouldn’t have minded staying like that forever.

“Are you okay?” he asked you, leaning back in the chair to give you a good look - he stared you down, looking for any sign of distress. You felt his shoulders relax in relief once he saw you crack a smile at him - you were okay and more than ready to continue.

“I’m fine,” you opted for verbal reassurance as well. “I want to do this. Just… fuck me, I guess?” the laugh you let out showed just how surreal this felt for you. You did not know if Hoseok could relate or not but your comment made him smile and give you a cheeky wink.

“Oh, I plan to,” he promised as he moved his hips just enough for his dick to move, barely even sliding out of you before sliding back in - not even an inch, but it was enough to make you shudder. “You like that, don’t you boss? Like having my cock inside you?” he purred with an evil smile - unlike before, you were face to face now, which gave him a perfect opportunity to observe your reactions and relish the sporadic waves of shame that hits you whenever he would say something particularly dirty. It makes you wonder if he’s paying you back for something - you believed that you have always been a good boss but his teasing made you wonder if he had a bone to pick with you.

“Why are you like this?” you whine. You decided to take matters into your own hands, rolling your hips desperately, only getting a chance to do it twice before he stops you with his hands on your waist, holding you firmly - you try to move, not caring how pathetic that might look, knowing he will likely enjoy it anyways. He doesn’t give in. “Why?”

“I never thought cock would drive you crazy like this,” he cackled, and if you weren’t scared of him leaving you high and dry, you would have rolled your eyes and offered a comment that would undoubtedly annoy him. However, you have absolutely no power against him, so you decided to stay quiet and offer him nothing but a pout. “You want to be fucked hard, don’t you boss?” he tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear - something that would normally be sweet and nice but then seemed like nothing but mockery. “Want to come on my cock, screaming so the whole office can hear you?”

“Yes,” you answered immediately, hoping that confirmation will make him act faster. “Fuck me. Ruin me. Own me. I don’t care who hears, I don’t care if the whole world sees - just fuck me, please Hoseok.”

Was it the begging? You didn’t know and you didn’t particularly care either - whatever it was, it had worked and with no prior warning, Hoseok held onto you tightly and stood up - you barely held back on a scream of surprise, knowing that the last thing you needed was for someone to actually hear you. No matter what you said, no matter how hot it was, you truly did not want anyone to walk in on you in such a position. Without saying anything, Hoseok sat you down on the desk, right on the edge of it and before you could question him, he nudged you back - you were lying down, face up, spread out before him and with one hell of a view - him, hungry and horny. “I’ll make you regret that, boss,” his warning made you swallow a lump. Before you could tell him that no, you’ll never regret it, he was slamming into you, his thrust hard and merciless.

He didn’t prolong your torture no more, oh no - he was the exact opposite. He got his cock warmed up and he was hammering into you like his life depended on it. You wanted to say something, ask him to never stop or praise how good he felt - but you ended up with your mouth hanging open dumbly, not having a chance to say a single word before he was slamming into you again. He was not gentle in any way, the complete opposite of the guy who helped you calm down not too long ago - he was ruthless and you loved it. If anything, you wanted him to fuck you even harder and faster than he already was - something he probably could have guessed based on the sounds you were making.  

“Boss, you need to be quiet,” he laughed - he was really laughing at you, at the way he was ruining you in all the right ways. His power over you was humorous to him - it would have pissed you up if his cock wasn’t slamming into you still, hitting the spot that made you whine in response. It was the final straw for him - before you realized what he was doing, he had his fingers in your mouth - your lips immediately closed around them, knowing what he wanted you to do. “If you don’t shut up, the whole office will see and hear you coming on my cock. Be a good girl, stay quiet and suck on my fingers like you would on my cock.”

And that you did - you sucked on them, played around with your tongue, almost completely losing focus on the way he was still fucking into you - until he used his other hand and pinched your clit, causing you to arch your back and bite his fingers. He hissed, having not expected that kind of reaction but instead of punishing you, he rewarded you - or so you thought, when his fingers started rubbing your clit in tandem with the way his cock was sliding in and out of you. “Have you ever squirted, boss?”

You just nodded, his fingers blocking any words you could say - not that you would even be able to speak. Your confirmation made him laugh and his laugh caused another shiver to run down your spine - it sounded menacing.

“That’s hot boss, I’d love to see it,” he told you, moving his fingers against your clit even faster but slowing down his thrusts - he was attacking you with a sudden change in speed. “But you know you can’t do that, right? If you squirt, you’ll ruin my clothes and the whole office will know how good I fucked you, boss. Every time you walk down these hallways, they will all talk about how you squirted all over the desk for your secretary.”

“God yes!” your scream is muffled with your mouth being stuffed, but he could understand you perfectly. Sensing a challenge, he sped up again. Like in all other aspects in life, Hoseok was diligent, focused and overall just amazing at it - he was fucking you like it’s his last chance to do so, like he wanted to make sure that no matter what occurs in your life, you will never ever forget the feel of his dick inside you, slamming you into smitherines.

“Fuck, I’m coming,” you barely warned him before it was happening, a wave of shakes coursing through your body - you had no control of it, finding yourself tossing and turning - as much as he had let you. While you were in your own world, losing touch with the reminders of sanity, he did not slow down in any way - he slammed into you so much that you could hear the monitor on your desk shaking, over and over again as he continued to pinch and rub at your clit in turns, knowing that you were one step away from another orgasm. It didn’t take long for it to hit you and while you were trashing again, you could hear a long, drawn out grunt leave him, followed by the distinct feeling of his cum filling you up. That alone caused another shudder, your imagination running wild at the idea of it leaking out of you and making a mess - you know he’d love that imagery, too.

“Baby, fuck,” he fell on top of you, his lips pressing against your ear as he took his time to calm down his breathing. You were still dizzy, both physically and mentally - your body felt as if it would fall apart into pieces if you were to dare and stand up, while your mind was still trying to come to terms with you allowing Hoseok to fuck you stupid in your workplace.

Without letting his dick slip out of you, Hoseok started moving and he brought you with him. Slowly, he had picked you up and went a few steps back towards the chair with you in his arms - once he plopped down, he hugged you and helped you come back to your senses, similarly like he did before - in silence, with gentle caresses to your back and a few stray kisses to your cheeks. It took you a while but once you were finally comfortable in your ability to speak, you leaned back to get a good look at him, ignoring the way his cock twitched inside you. “That was…” you tried, quickly realizing that if there is a right word to describe it, it is not in your vocabulary. No adjective that you know could do it justice.

“I know,” he nodded, smiling at you softly - a sharp contrast to the man that had fucked you ruthlessly. He gently pushed your hair behind your shoulder, acting as if he is still trying to help you come to your senses and back to normalcy. His fingers drummed against the skin of your neck as he proceeded to slide them along the traces of his bites and hickies. “Y/N… I’ll give you my resignation letter by the end of the workday and start my two weeks notice tomorrow.”

The sound you let out did not have a definition - it was not a gasp but also not a wail. If you had to name it then and there, you would say it’s the sound of a person coming face to face with the biggest mistake of their life, right before it kills them on sight. You were not in any way ready to hear that - you wouldn’t have been even if the events of that day did not occur. In the years that he had worked for you, despite knowing that that day will eventually come, you never imagined Hoseok telling you that he will officially leave your side. You especially did not imagine him doing so while his cock is still nestled inside you, with his cum leaking out of you in a way that at first made you feel proud, only for it to turn to shame.

“Hoseok,” you stared, not bothering to hide that you were at a loss for words. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t think that it would be a mistake,” you shook your head, feeling horrible, blood freezing panic spreading from your chest through your whole body. “Please don’t do this, I’ll never be able to forgive myself!”

“Boss,” he started but you shook your head, trying to step away from him, get off him, but he didn’t let you, his arms rendering you immobile as he held onto you.

“I can’t believe I did this, I can’t believe I got you into this, please don’t just…”

“Y/N!” his voice was an octave louder and that made you shut up - he looked mildly amused, more than anything else. “Can I speak now?” he asked, to which you nodded, hoping that he will either change his mind or at least let you get off his cock before he proceeds to stomp on your already broken heart. “I’m not quitting because this happened. I’m quitting because I want it to happen again,” he tells you and there was no doubt now - he was amused and perhaps even touched, smiling at you like he often did.

“Yeah, oh,” he chuckled. “Did you really think I’d quit because we fucked with my dick still inside you?”

“To be fair, you absolutely did that,” you pointed out.

“Technically, yes,” he agreed reluctantly. “But you didn’t let me finish. I.. don’t have a problem with what just happened. The only thing that bothers me is that it did not happen sooner,” there he was, the Hoseok you knew and needed, with a smile that could scare all the clouds away. “I wanted to quit for a while now, knowing that it’s the only way I could ask you out without you facing repercussions for being with an employee. Plus, I thought my chances would be better that way. I wanted us to cross this threshold for a long time but I never thought it would happen with us fucking on your desk.”

“Oh we did a lot more,” you snorted, amazed at the way he was downplaying all the filthy shit he did to you - all the filthy shit you begged for. “Saying we simply fucked on the desk is the understatement of the century. You… you… spanked my pussy, Hoseok!” you angry whispered, unable to hold back a smile once seeing his shiteating grin.

“I did and you loved it.”

There was no use in denying it. “So… you want to have… a personal relationship with me? And you would give up your job for that?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’m pretty sure Namjoon needs a new secretary anyways,” he shrugged. “I would go far enough for our… personal relationship to not raise any eyebrows. But yes, I want to be with you. In any way you’ll let me. We’ve had more than enough time to get to know each other - long enough for me to know that I want to spend time with you, be with you and smack that pussy all over again.”

“God yes,” your head fell onto his shoulder, almost as if you were surrendering to him completely, again, something that made him laugh. “Consider the resignation and date both accepted,” you told him. There was nothing you wanted more than to allow yourself to feel giddy, to enjoy this new turn of events that you were perhaps hoping for, although you were way too frightened to admit it to yourself. There was so much to unpack and so little time to do it, seeing as you still have the rest of this workday to go through.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Hoseok started. “We’re going to get dressed and be presentable. You’ll get back into your soaking panties and work hard for the rest of the day. Once we clock out, I’ll take you back to mine, make us dinner and then I’ll fuck you again - this time, properly.”

You could only gulp and nod, agreeing immediately, knowing that no matter what he does, you won’t end up regretting agreeing to it.

“Oh and babe?” he asked, making your insides burn at the pet name. “Don’t let a drop of that cum slip out of you,” he warned as he suddenly lifted you up, making you clench your walls to stop any of his cum from dripping out. He looked at your ruined pussy, tapped it once for good measure, albeit gently, and gave you his most angelic smile. “Good girl.”

“Damn you,” you replied, making him laugh instantly. “You’d better make those promises come true.” 

“You know I will, boss.” 

[formulatrash]

Hi Hazel! Do you think that the Wseries business model of them owning all the cars (and staff) is something that could be used as a way to lower costs in other junior championships?

hmmmm, I dunno

so with W Series all the costs are on the championship - but it has had to move towards a team model in order to get investment and sponsorship. although it's a very nominal model, essentially selling liveries, it's still something that the championship has had to do and there is the possibility that it moves to a more classic team model, decentralising the engineering, in the future. (source: Catherine Bond-Muir told me this last year)

W Series guarantees that the drivers will never be asked for money to race in it but the series itself still needs funding sources; it's not currently getting those purely from TV rights and so sponsorship across the board is necessary. a team model spreads that risk by only tying two or in F3 three cars to a single business.

there could conceivably be logistics cost-saving if the championship ran all the cars and that's no minor factor, with freight overwhelmingly the biggest cost at the minute. but the risk of having to create that structure would be huge. an F3 or 2 team has simulator access, a factory about the same size as a Formula E team's (and often considerably more budget than FE teams, if they run in multiple series) and has an entire staff in place to try and support their drivers. different teams have different levels of that and some will have more or fewer full-time employees but the structures there are actually quite extensive.

if the championships were going to try to replicate that there might be some efficiencies from sharing facilities but it would also be a major task. W Series runs regional F3 cars, whereas FIA F3 and F2 are much bigger engineering operations.

one of the problems with junior series seat pricing is that it's a free market; drivers have to try and bid to be part of teams and like London rent that means there's always the chance that no matter how insane a price you name, someone might go higher. it also means that teams have individual control over who they take, which won't necessarily be based on who is the best so much as who they know and the drivers who can manage to get in contact with them.

so having that centralised to the championship could mean that drivers paid a fixed price and were put through (as with W Series) more of an eligibility programme than the way it is now. that would be a meaningful budget improvement as well as generally improving the fairness of how drivers get access to seats - the system as it is is extremely problematic in terms of requiring access and contacts etc.

but it might also create budget problems for some drivers. now, you can have your own opinions about whether Jake Hughes should be in F2 at this stage in his career but he is now because the budget Amaury Cordeel brings to VAR pays for his seat - he doesn't have his own budget to get there. if he had to pay even a fairer price, he wouldn't be there and without the team structure needing an experienced driver to benchmark their car that'd be the case, too. so it's all a horrible, delicate balance.

I've kind of completely lost my train of thought here but something else interesting is that F2/3 are already supporting teams with logistical costs to sustain longer seasons and different events.

[tymime]

Scrat Tales review (spoilers)

Hoo boy, was that ever a crazy mix of emotions.

First, the obvious things- Baby Scrat is freaking adorable, and the shorts are funny.

Scrat looks amazing- I’m pretty sure they had improved his model and design that much more, even though I didn’t think it could get any better. It’s a crying shame Blue Sky was shut down- I think they could’ve gone on to do even greater things.

I can’t help but wonder if Scrat’s ever experienced true love before. With Scratte it more like a crush, an infatuation, and didn’t end very well. It’s pretty nice seeing Scrat care about someone.

It was also great to see Scrat get some character development. He was definitely expressing some emotions that he hadn’t before. There were many moments that were somewhat frustrating, though- he and Baby Scrat got tantalizingly close to learning to work as a team and not compete with each other, only to take a step backwards. I like to imagine they eventually learned to get along.

The last episode, “Nut the End”, was the real roller coaster, though.

I found myself asking many questions:

“Wait, was it the SAME acorn this whole time??”

“Wait, just how long is Scrat’s lifespan supposed to be? Why isn’t Baby Scrat all grown up now?”

“Holy heck, is Scrat DEAD?? They wouldn’t do that, would they?!”

“Wait, did Baby Scrat... attempt to murder his adoptive father...? That’s kind of evil... and also kind of genius?”

That last one had me especially conflicted. I wanted so badly for there to be a deep father/son bond between them, and ooze heartwarming d’aww-inducing lovey-doveyness all over the place.

All I can figure is that Baby Scrat, being an infant (or possibly a toddler by the end of it), hasn’t quite developed a sense of morality. I imagine he gets over making complicated plans to bump off Scrat later on.

As for the question of their species’ lifespan, my best guess is that Scrat was already close to the end of his normal lifespan. After all, only a year passed, and he didn’t visibly age during the time Peaches grew up. The babies probably only grow as fast as humans do.

Overall, I liked these shorts a lot, and I only wish there were more to further develop their relationship, and see more genuine father/son moments.

I was relieved that some of my concerns didn’t come true. I was worried that they would show Scratte abandoning the baby (although I suspect they were trying to imply it, based on his fur color), and place her in an even more antagonistic light, and end the series with her jealously taking him back or something.

It does, of course, leave us with the mystery of where Baby Scrat ultimately came from. Separation? Abandonment? Orphaned? We’ll probably never know.

Now that Disney is taking the reins, I can’t help but wonder what’s next for Scrat and the Ice Age series. Baby Scrat is gonna have to appear again. Will he grow older like Peaches?

There’s apparently another film in the works. I hope it gets a bigger budget than Buck Wild, and a slightly less chirpy tone. I’m sure Disney can afford to give it the full theatrical treatment.

[tomtenadia]

A Little Braver - ch. 5

So, here is ch. 5 for you all.

We finally get to meet the mysterious man that Aelin was kissing.

Also, the firehouse gets a great news

Enjoy it!

Ten days had passed. Aelin had been discharged from the hospital and allowed to move around in crutches providing she took it easy, a concept totally alien to her. She had gone back to the station as soon as she could do it.

The deadline for the performance review was fast approaching and she had spent the last few days at the station. They only got a week extension so she had offered to help but all she could do was sit and direct the show. Also, working kept her mind off… things… and as in things she meant a certain arsehole who had gone completely awol. She had texted him and never got a reply. Lately every time she tried to phone him she was told that the phone was not available. So she had stopped. He clearly was offended by what she had said. She just wished he had spoken to her, explained why her confession had terrified him so much. Just as she had finally found the resolve to try again after losing Sam, he had gone and ruined everything.

A glove hit her face “planet Earth calls Aelin.”

She refocused for a second and noticed Ansel’s red mane of hair in front of her.

“Dorian is looking for you. He is in your office and Aedion is there already.”

Aelin groaned “can they come to the couch? I am so comfy here.”

“Apparently not.”

“Fine.” She dropped the documents she was revising and grabbed her crutches and pulled herself up.

At snail pace she made her way to her office and once she got there she saw Aedion standing in front of her desk while Dorian had his feet up on it and was sitting relaxed on her comfortable chair.

“I don’t care if you are the chief. First, feet off my desk, second, arse off my chair.”

Dorian moved away and let her sit down and grabbed her crutches.

“So, what is so important that I had to leave my spot on the couch?”

Dorian passed her the documents he was holding, with a grin. He was positive this was going to cheer her up.

“No fucking way. You did it.”

He smiled at her smugly “Not entirely my merit.” He confessed “As you remember, the community protested in front of the government in the aftermath of the embankment accident. They did it just before the budget review was due. The government could not ignore them and what you all did that night. And I guess that the statement from your cheerleader had helped a lot as well.”

“Who?”

“Someone I am not allowed to mention in your presence.”

Aelin stare darkened all of a sudden.

“We are getting a second engine, but that engine needs staff.” She pointed out, her excitement taking a hit “I was just getting to that” added Dorian quite quickly, “Thomas has offered to give you a few men to help staff the second engine. It will have a mixed crew of newbies and experienced staff for a while. Aedion and I thought it was the best way to go.”

Aelin nodded “I want to help interview the candidates. Aedion is busy with drills. I, on the other hand, I have plenty of time.”

“As if I can sideline you. You are the captain after all.” Added Dorian knowing full well that if Aelin had her mind set on a task it was almost impossible to dissuade her.

“I want a bigger female presence. I can’t believe that from all the candidates that graduate from the academy there are no good female firefighters.”

“I can spread the news at the academy and see who applies and go from there.”

“Good.” Aelin relaxed on the chair.

“We have also have been invited to a party thrown by the mayor.”

“You are joking.” Aelin hated that kind of party. She had been to a few and it had been a nightmare.

“There is no escaping it. We have all the be present and dress mess is required.”

“My leg is in a protective support, if I wear dress mess I need to wear the skirt which means heels and can you see where I am going with this?” Aelin protested.

“I guess we can do an exception for you. Wear your regular blue trousers, make sure your boots are shining and wear your uniform shirt with the tie, not the t-shirt. And don’t forget the hat.”

“I can live with that.”

“When is the dreadful event?” Asked Aedion who hated those ceremonies just as much as Aelin.

“This Saturday.”

“We are on night shift, you genius.”

Dorian smiled dangerously “Not anymore. Second team is taking the night shift. Let me remind you that attendance is compulsory and pass the info to the team.”

“Yes, Chief.” And Aelin was very tempted to flip him off, but he was still her boss.

“Lys and Elide are to come as well. They are part of the team.”

“Oh so, no one is immune to this horrible shenanigans. Lovely.” Aelin sat back, still annoyed at the invitation.

“No darling, if I have to suffer, you will all go down with me.” And with that Dorian disappeared behind the door.

“Come on Aedion, let’s go and ruin the team’s day.”

Slowly the two made their way back in the common area where the squad was relaxing. Aedion had put them through a gruelling session of drills in the morning and now they needed time to unwind. No one had taken nicely the fact that the review has been postponed only by a week, but at least they hadn’t asked Aelin to attend as well with a destroyed knee. She would be there of course but on the sidelines.

“Ok, people,” Aelin shouted as she slowly made her way to her team “Brullo, switch off the tv for a minute.”

“That doesn’t sound promising,” complained Ren.

“Where are Lys and Elide?”

“In the ambulance doing inventory.” Replied Nox.

“Ok, can you please go and get them?” She asked him.

He nodded and ran away and got back a few moments later with the two ladies in tow.

“Ladies, sit.”

“Uh oh.” Said Lysandra, sitting on Aedion’s lap.

“Now that everyone is here, I have an announcement.” She smiled wickedly and the team shivered. That was her scary smile “Our esteemed mayor has decided to throw a party this Saturday. Bad news is… we are all invited so that he can show us how he appreciates what we do for the community.”

“Fuck no,” shouted Ansel, while finishing the bowl of cereals she was eating.

“We are on night shift.” Added Brullo.

“No we are not. Dorian gave the shift to second team. We are all free.”

A chorus of very rude words erupted from the team. Yeah, everyone hated those parties.

“Oh and by the way… it has to be dress mess.”

The protests grew louder. Aelin let them vent for a moment before putting an end to it.

“Guys!” She shouted, and the room went quiet “I know none of us like those parties, but my hands are tied. Dorian made it pretty clear that this is mandatory. So, protest how you want but there is no getting out of it.”

The team went back to their protest when Aelin raised her voice again “Did I say I was done?”

The group went silent again.

“The second piece of information is hopefully a bit more welcome.” And she really hoped so “we are getting our second engine.”

The cheers that erupted from the team were of pure joy.

“How did you do it?”

“You have to thank Dorian. He is the one who pulled the trick.” And Rowan apparently. No, she was not going there.

“He really is better than his old man. We have been pleading the old bastard for ages and nothing. A few months in charge and Dorian gives us the second engine. If it wasn’t that I am I straight I’d kiss the guy.” Said Ren happily and everyone laughed. 

Good, Aelin thought, they needed the good spirits.

“How will we do for crew?” Asked Ansel.

“Thomas is willing to give us some of his experienced men from one of his engines and take a few newbies. We’ll man the engine with a hybrid crew. Half experienced and half newbies. I need everyone to help with training. Aedion and I will do the main stuff but you guys are involved in this as well. I am out of commission for a while so I can only do classroom training.”

“We’ll help you, cap.” Chimed Nox happily.

Aelin turned to Ansel “I have asked to have a few more ladies in the team.”

“Thanks for that. Far too much testosterone in here.”

Aelin sat back down on the sofa, her knee started to get sore again “We are going to have other women hopefully, just don’t break their hearts.” She told Ansel.

Two of the guys sprayed what they were drinking, Aelin laughed “Oh come on, don’t tell me you had no idea Ansel was swinging on both sides.” Joked Aelin smiling at the woman.

“Both…” asked Brullo still quite shocked.

Ansel drank her coffee very calmly “Men, women, on a few occasion both at the same time.”

Aelin laughed at the expression of the guys.

“Ansel, I think you broke our boys.”

Aelin mobile went off and for a moment she hoped. But that hope had been short lived.

“Give me two minutes,” she said at the person at the phone. She stood and very slowly she made her way back to her office.

Once she got off the phone she stayed in her office to work. Then the dispatch siren went off and she heard the team depart and staying behind broke her heart.

She worked a bit longer but her mind could never fully concentrate. So she decided to do something stupid while the team was out on a call. She booked a taxi and not long after she was in front of the station waiting for her ride.

The driver got her at the airbase pretty quickly. She took out her pass and she hoped it worked even without him about. The man at the main gate let her through after checking her badge. So apparently he had told people she was allowed on the premises. That was a start. Painfully she reached the second check point and a guard approached her. Ok, her luck had already ran out.

“Can I help you, miss?”

“Yes, I am here to see captain Whitethorn.”

The man looked at her with curiosity for a second.

Did she got to the right airbase? As far as she knew there was only one and the first guy let her in.

“I am sorry miss but the captain and his team left a week ago.”

“Left?” Her voice trembled.

“Yes ma’am. They have been recalled and deployed a week ago.”

“Oh.” Was all Aelin managed “Th— thank you.” She turned and made her way back to the exit. Her heart slowly breaking. She sat down on a cement wall and let the sobs come. She took the phone and dialled his number and it went to voicemail “You could have told me. Instead you left. You just left me. Do you really hate me that much?” She sobbed and brushed her hand against her eyes “I hate you and I wish I never met you. Don’t ever bother look for me when you come back… I don’t want to see your face anywhere near my station. I am done with you, captain.” She hung up the phone and lowered her head and kept crying. She was done with men. She was done with pain and a broken heart. It was not worth it.

Eventually she pulled herself upright again and started walking. She had no idea to where, which she then realised that with crutches was a really bad idea. She had to stop a few times, exhaustion taking root. But the pain in her leg was keeping away the pain in her soul. It was much later when she realised she ended up in the west of Orynth and decided to go to west station, perhaps she could bribe the guys to give her a lift back to her firehouse.

Once outside the station, Thomas was the first one who noticed her. He ran to her and Aelin collapsed in his arm.

“Aelin, what are you doing here?’

“I need to sit” was all she managed. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the section with all the bunk beds. He placed the crutches on the floor and sat on the bed at her side.

“What happened?” He asked when he noticed her puffy eyes “Why are you over here? On your own?”

“I was at the airbase.”

Thomas looked at her in shock “are you telling me that you walked in your condition from the airbase to here?”

Aelin nodded. “Can you give me a lift back?”

“Of course,” he patted her leg “let me go and tell the guys.”

He came back not long after, and lifted her in his arms “Let’s go.”

Once in the car Aelin relaxed and leaned her head against the window.

“Excited about the big night with the Mayor?”

Aelin groaned and Thomas laughed.

“Exactly the reaction my whole team had as well.”

She sighed “Dorian said it’s mandatory and I think for the very first time I have been this close to hit him. But he still is my superior.”

Thomas chuckled “If there is someone who can hit the chief without repercussions is you.”

Aelin turned and looked at him with a questioning stare.

“I mean because you are close. It’s not news that the man is madly in love with you. He might let you off if you beat him. Actually he might even like it.”

This time it was Aelin’s turn to laugh “Dorian and I… nothing ever happened. We are just really good friends. Not even a kiss.”

“So now the news is that you have your eyes set on a certain airforce captain.”

Aelin tensed at those words “You all are a bunch of crazy gossiper, you know that?”

Thomas shrugged “What did he do?”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” Her tone hard and the man at her side realised it was time to shut up. They were at her station anyway.

Aelin noticed the engine was back and she knew she was in trouble. They clearly had noticed her absence. When she decided to look at her phone again she saw a lot of message and missed phone calls from Aedion. Damn, she was screwed.

“Here you are, my lady.”

Aelin leaned over and kissed him on the cheek “thank you so much for the ride.”

“Anytime.” He opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped and tried again “if you need to talk, I am here. I know you have your friends, but if you prefer to talk with someone who is not around you all day, I am here.”

“You are wonderful.”

He helped her get out of the car, they said goodbye and he drove away again.

Aedion came marching on as soon as he noticed she was back “where the hell have you been? Why don’t you answer your bloody phone? We came back and you were not here, where you were supposed to be.” She felt bad for making them all worry but she did not feel like explaining herself so she just moved past him and in silence she dragged herself to her office and slammed the door shut.

She sat down at her desk and plopped her leg on the spare chair the guys had placed at her side so she could stretch her injured leg, hoping for the pain to subside. She took a few minutes for herself, then texted Lysandra telling her she needed her and Elide.

The two women arrived a few minutes later. They sat on the chair in front of her desk and Aelin knew that Lys was just as mad as Aedion had been.

“Where were you? We came back and you were gone.”

“I went to the airbase.” She confessed, looking outside the window, the sky looked heavy grey and she was positive snow was coming.

“As in the airbase. His airbase.”

Aelin nodded “I needed answers. I needed to know why he left that way. I had to ask him why all this hate.”

“And?”

Aelin felt tears sting her eyes again “he was gone.” She paused “the whole team has been recalled and left for a mission a week ago. No goodbyes. Nothing. He just took off.”

Lysandra stood and ran to hug her friend “what an arsehole.”

Aelin started sobbing again “all I could do was leave him an angry voicemail telling to get away from me forever.”

“I am seriously going to kick his arse.”

Aelin pulled back from the hug “Not worth it remember?”

“We all go to that stupid party and we’ll find you a man there. Perhaps a hot wealthy man.”

Aelin chuckled “You know what, screw it. I’ll remain single all my life and if I want a good time I might ask Ansel.”

The two women laughed “she might take you up on that, you know, right?” Added Lysandra.

“Can we just stop talking about it? Fine he is hot but is he not a nice man. I want to forget that I even contemplated the fact that I had feelings for the bastard.”

“Copy that. I will pass the message along.”

“Have you considered that he might not be able to reply to you because of where he is? Perhaps he is on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the sea.”

Lysandra and Aelin stared at Elide.

“What?” She said shrugging “Lorcan gave me his number, he told me to text him. But he added as well that in the case he was going to leave for a mission not to worry if he did not reply because sometimes their phones don’t work.”

“So you knew they were away?”

“No,” replied the woman lifting her hands “I haven’t heard from him in a while. He is not the greatest of texter and I haven’t spoken to him in a while. I had no idea he was away until now when you told us.”

“Basically airforce boys do not know how to communicate. Got it.” Sarcasm dripping from Aelin’s voice.

Aelin shifted uncomfortably in her chair and Lysandra noticed that.

“Are you okay.”

“Just my leg, bothering me like hell today.”

“Sure, if you only just didn’t walk from the airbase to west station…”

Dispatch alarm went off and the two ladies ran out as the ambulance was needed.

Aelin tried going back to work but her brain was not there.

Out of boredom and curiosity and probably a deep desire for punishment she looked up the captain online. The search engine brought up a page about him. He was only two years older than her. Native of Wendlyn but moved to Terrasen when he was quite young for his father’s job. According to the article he climbed the ranks quite quickly and was thought to be one of the most promising captain in the TAF in a very long time.

“Nerd.” She joked.

Then she scrolled down to personal life and she got even more curious but froze when she read the paragraph.

Fuck.

The man had been married. His pregnant wife had died in a car accident over a year and a half before. She opened the link to the newspaper article about the accident and noticed the picture of the accident site. Her eyes fell on one detail of the image and swore.

She stood and wobbling she went to the file cabinet where she kept the reports for the old cases. She found the one she needed and sat back down. Lyria Whitethorn, that was the name of the woman. She had a look through the case file. She did remember it. It had snowed heavily and the road and had been icy and pretty bad in some areas of town. That accident had been horrendous and it had involved quite a few cars. Lyria’s car had been stuck under a lorry. According to the police it seemed like it had lost control and smashed under the lorry that had crashed against the barriers at the side of the road. She died on impact. It had been an horrendous night. They spent hours working under the snow and only one person had come out alive from that disaster.

She leaned back and felt tears running down her face. They had one big thing in common. They both had lost someone they loved. And all of a sudden it hit her. His reaction. His fear. And for a moment contemplated that he was just as scared as her to get involved again. She closed the file and  grabbed her head in her hands. How badly had she fucked up? 

She took her phone and dialled his number. The number was not available and she left him a voicemail message again “Hey it’s me again. I know you are away and probably can’t get this message. If you listen to the old one as well, just ignore it. I was mad. I did not mean it. I… just… let’s just talk when you get back. Please. Be safe, okay?”

She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and cried for both of them, for what they had lost and for the fear of committing again. 

Saturday eventually arrived and Aelin was at home getting ready for the party. Lysandra and Elide had joined her since Lys was going to drive them all.

Aelin had been in a bad mood since her discovery about Rowan but had not told anyone about it. To do so would mean reveal his secret and she could not to do that. It was far too personal.

“You’d think that being barely able to walk would excuse me from such horrible events.” She growled while tying her tie.

“You have been in a funk for a few days. Are you okay?” Lysandra had noticed her bad mood.

“Fine.” She snapped. “I am sorry…”

“Just don’t piss off any politicians, okay? We need them.”

Aelin sighed “I will behave.”

They arrived at the venue not long after and they noticed the already high number of cars present.

“Are we too late to bail?” Asked Elide who had been uncomfortable as well at the idea.

“Unless you want Dorian to rip you a new one, I would leave aside that plan for now.”

The three women made their way to the main entrance where someone checked their names against a list. Aelin for a moment hoped that someone had messed up and forgot to add them.

But that hope died quickly when the man greeted them a bit too happily.

“Ok, are we ready?” Said Aelin gathering the courage she needed to face such a horrible night.

They entered the venue and the notes of classical music hit them.

“At least they have great taste in music.” Commented Aelin staring at the great hall.

Dorian spotted them from the distance and walked to them with a brisk pace “Ladies, you made it. wonderful. Go, mingle, have fun. There’s plenty of food.” He grabbed Aelin’s hand “You come with me. The mayor wants to meet you.”

“What?” Blurted Aelin, sweating cold all of a sudden.

“The mayor would like to speak with you. He met Thomas already. Now it’s your turn.”

“I am not speaking to the mayor.”

“Aelin… this is an order from your superior.”

The woman growled back “Oh, so pulling rank, now?”

“Come,” he repeated.

Aelin turned to Lysandra and Elide “if I don’t come back soon, please come and get me. I love you both.”

Dorian rolled his eyes and he started walking and Aelin followed behind.

Eventually they arrived where the mayor was entertaining some guest and Aelin wanted to turn away, but Dorian sensed her intentions and placed a hand on her lower back in warning.

“Ah, Dorian, I see you have captain Galathynius with you. Wonderful.”

Aelin leaned on one crutch and extended her hand to the man “please to meet you sir.”

“The honour is mine captain. And thank you for coming even in your conditions.”

As if I had a choice and she looked at Dorian glaring at him.

“I just wanted to offer my thank you in person for what you do in the community and what you did the night of the embankment accident.”

“The community comes first.” She commented and Dorian gently nudged her sides at her comment.

“You are absolutely correct, captain. I am aware that you will be getting a second engine at east station, I hope this is a welcomed news.”

Aelin smiled “Very much sir. It has been a long time coming and we are very excited.”

“This is my email,” he gave her a business card “email me. Any idea, concerns or anything else related to your job. I will do my best to make it happen.”

Aelin took the card and was speechless. 

“Now unfortunately being the host forces me to go around and be pleasant with all these strangers. I don’t think there is alcohol enough to survive such an evening.”

He gave her a huge grin, waved at Dorian and walked away.

“Are we sure that was the mayor?”

Dorian nodded dumbfounded.

“Do you think he was drunk?”

Dorian shrugged, just as confused as her “Just don’t loose that card.” The man then left her and she had a moment alone to look around and enjoy the music. She hadn’t been at a classical concert in a lifetime and missed it. Or at the opera. She wanted to go to the opera again.

She had her eyes closed when she perceived a figure at her side. She opened her eyes again and noticed it was Thomas, looking at her in a curious way “Hey you.”

She looked at him and froze. The man in front of her was gorgeous. She was used to see him in his everyday uniform or the fire gear, and his hair tied and under an helmet. She almost did not recognise him. He had his dress mess uniform on, and his hair was free and she discovered it reached his shoulders. 

“I almost did not recognise you there.”

He grinned “I know, without soot and dirt on me it must be a challenge.”

She smiled back at him.

“How is your night going?” He asked, moving closer to her.

“Counting the minutes until Dorian tells me it’s okay to go home.”

She shuffled in her position and he placed a hand on her back “you should sit down.”

“Does this place have a balcony?”

Thomas grinned “Follow me, m’lady.”

“Did you meet the mayor?” She asked as they started walking.

“I did.”

“And?”

“He gave me his business card and told me to tell me if there was anything we needed.” He made his way through the crowd.

“Me too. I am going to email him and ask a bucket load of expensive equipment.”

“I have my wish-list ready.” Thomas commented smiling wickedly.

They arrived at the balcony and once there Aelin leaned heavily against the wall.

“Are you okay?” Suddenly Aelin noticed their proximity. Thomas was right in front of her.

“I am fine.”

“Want something to drink?”

“Please. Wine if they have it.”

He smiled and she noticed his dimples appear “I’ll be right back.” And she felt her face flush hot.

What was happening to her? Why all of a sudden she was attracted to him?

She saw Lys walking by and waved at her.

“What are doing here?”

“Hiding.” She said hurriedly “I have a problem.”

“What did you do?”

“I want to do something stupid.”

“As in?”

“Thomas.” She explained.

Lysandra looked at her friend with a puzzled face.

“As in he is the one one I want to … do”

“Holy fuck,” she exclaimed almost spilling all her wine on her uniform.

“How?”

Aelin looked up “I don’t know. He was here, he was nice, he smiled and I just… have you seen him tonight?”

“No I was with Aedion and the guys.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t do… anything.” Then she moved away “he is coming back.”

Thomas came back with the drinks and placed them on the ledge beside them.

She had known and worked with the other captain for a very long time. They had gone through the academy together. And never, not once she had ever felt a smidge of attraction for him.

He leaned against the wall just beside her, shoulders brushing gently “is your team ready for the performance review?”

Aelin nodded “Yes, Aedion and I are going through as many different scenarios as possible. They are ready. But I hate that I will have to stare from the sidelines.” She told him “How did yours go?”

Thomas drank some wine “We had a few bad moments. My newbie fucked up a couple of things and threw the whole team off track for a moment but they did recover splendidly. Manon was the best in our individual challenge.”

“Ohh I like her. Can I please get her and Asterin for my new engine?”

“We’ll see.” The man gave her a wide smile that made his dimples come back.

She pinched his side and he grabbed her hands to block her. She stopped and stared at him for a moment and then they both moved at the same time. Their lips met and he pushed her against the wall and she left her crutches fall on the ground. His hand behind her back to hold her up. The kiss deepened and Aelin opened for him and a small moan escaped her.

“Oh shit.” Said a voice at her side and Aelin recognised Lysandra and Aedion at her side.

She and Thomas broke apart quickly. Thomas coughed embarrassed, looked at Aelin and excused himself.

“What the fuck was that?”

Aelin’s hand went to her mouth, her lips still swollen by the kiss.

Aedion kneeled to pick up her crutches and passed them to her.

In that instant the rest of the team arrived.

“Why is everyone out here? It’s cold.”

“Aedion and I just discovered Aelin making out with Thomas.”

“Do you mean captain Hamilton?” Asked Brullo.

“I thought you liked the silver haired fox.” Added Ansel.

“Are you and Thomas a thing now?” This time it was Ren.

“I don’t know okay?” Aelin shouted, frustration rising “It happened.”

“You… happened to trip on his lips?” Nox gave her a smug smile and Aelin would have stormed out if she hadn’t been on crutches.

Aelin placed the glass back on the ledge and started to walk away. Lysandra caught up with her “I am sorry. It just came out.”

“Lys, I don’t care.”

The woman grabbed her arm “Aelin, please…”

“What? I don’t know what I was doing okay? We kissed. And I don’t understand my feelings anymore.” She leaned against the wall, her knee throbbing with pain “I haven’t known my feelings since Sam died.” She sniffled “I work. I throw myself into work because that it’s when I do not think that he is gone from my life.” She closed her eyes and tried to put all her pain back “it just felt nice for a moment to have that again. And I know I am sounding like a pathetic mess… I don’t know why I did it.” Aelin sobbed “I am so tired of hurting.” A tear appeared at the corner of her eyes “you have Aedion. I don’t have anyone.”

Lysandra hugged her friend “I am so sorry.”

Aelin leaned into her friend “we are fine.” She pulled back “but I am going home. I am in a ton of pain and I really want to lie down.”

“I’ll tell Dorian if he starts looking for you.”

“We are off tomorrow. Fancy a girls day? We can invite Elide and Ansel.”

“Yeah. Yeah, please.”

“Good,” Lys patted her shoulder “now go home and relax.”

She was outside ready to call a taxi when she heard a voice calling her. She turned and saw Thomas running to her.

“Aelin,” he stopped in front of her “I am sorry. I have no idea what got into me. I was there and all of a sudden I wanted to kiss you.”

She turned to him and moved closer enough to kiss him. His hand slipped to her waist and pulled her closer. She melted in his arms and felt his hand caressing her back.

“I was going home.” She said against his lips.

“I can’t let you piss off Havilliard on your own.”

She kissed him again and then detached so he could call a taxi.

Their ride home arrived not long after and the journey to Aelin’s flat was not too long. 

They made it to her flat and he lifted her in his arms and walked to the bedroom. He dropped her on the bed and leaned on top of her and kissed her deeply, his hands trailing on the sides of her body and Aelin leaned into the touch. Her hand trailed up to his face and then fisted into his golden hair and pulled him down for another kiss. Maybe it was a mistake but she could not care.

Slowly he started to unbutton her shirt and Aelin did the same for him and not long after they were both naked and Aelin stared at his body and realised the man was so incredibly well built. 

“You will have to lead the dances, captain.” He lowered himself again over her and kissed her in a way that made her forget all the pain and hurt.

It was later, after their adventure in bed. 

Aelin smiled at him satisfied. The man had skills and for a while he made her forget the real reason why that night she had searched for comfort in him.

They were now sitting in bed, their back against the headboard and the blanket covering them up.

“Did we just mess up our friendship?” He asked turning to her “I am not complaining I just…”

She sighed at his side “I think we did it for the wrong reasons.”

He agreed “Epically awesome rebound sex?”

Aelin nodded and Thomas turned to her “you are stunning though, and if the captain can’t see it, well, it’s his loss.”

“You are a sweet man” and she caressed his face “and your ex is a bitch.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, “fancy watching stupid movies? We can also order in. There’s a place round the corner that stays open till late. I had no food at that stupid party.”

“I’ll get the beers.” He said getting off the bed and putting his briefs back on. 

Aelin grabbed a discarded t-shirt “I’ll order the food.”

He came back with the beers and offered one to her “to our own party.”

They clinked the bottles and went to camp on the sofa.

TAGs: 

@rowaelinismyotp

@swankii-art-teacher​

@courtofjurdan

[inliar]

timing

word count: 5.3k

jinhwan x reader

you have the uncanny knack of running into kim jinhwan exactly when he needs it. he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued.

a/n: support ikon on kingdom!

-

the first time you meet him, it’s at your friend’s debut stage. once upon a time, you and your friend, yerin, had been trainees together in a decently small company. but while her skills only grew over time, morphing into something fascinating and breathtaking that deserved to be shown to the world, yours had stagnated. it wasn’t for lack of effort – you had put just as many hours into dance and vocal lessons as the others –  but it was, probably, for lack of passion.

at some point, you had stopped emphasizing with your fellow trainee’s heartfelt speeches on their dreams of debuting, and it was around then that you realized you weren’t meant to be an idol in the same way they were. it was alright, though, because if anyone out of the two of you deserved to debut, it was her. you’d never felt any regret after terminating your short trainee agreement with your label.

but your friendship had never ceased, and you’d kept in regular contact with yerin, as well as the other trainees set to debut in the rookie group. you often took to reminding them to eat their meals, or to take breaks in between lessons, because you’d experienced first-hand how thoroughly unchecked passions can blind a person to their obvious needs. 

finally, their efforts had culminated into a debut, and you wouldn’t miss their first stage for the world. their manager, minseo (who, in a different timeline, might have been your manager as well) was kind enough to let you visit them face-to-face in their waiting room for the music program.

“nervous?” you ask, taking in yerin’s brightly-coloured romper and her bleached, curled, strands of hair. it’s such a far departure from the tracksuits and messy ponytail you’d often seen her sporting during early morning dance practices, but it somehow suits her better than anything else you’d ever seen her wear.

“excited.” she responds instead, with a frightening degree of certainty. it must be nice, you think, to have something you want so desperately and unfalteringly. but watching your best friend get to live out her dreams is almost just as nice.

you nod, feeling the corners of your lips quirk up. “have i ever told you how proud i am of you?” you say, lightheartedly, suppressing the urge to ruffle your hand over her well-styled hair.

“no, but since it’s coming from you, i know you mean it.” she says with such sincerity that you feel an unexpected surge of pride lodge itself into your chest. 

you clear your throat. this won’t do. she hasn’t even performed yet and you’re already turning into a sentimental mess. “i’m going to go get myself something to drink,” you say, excusing yourself. “do you want anything?”

her eyes brighten. “ooh, can i have an orange soda?” she asks, before pausing and turning around. “wait, manager-nim, am i allowed to drink soda before a stage?”

minseo tears her eyes away from her phone and straightens up. “as long as it’s not something that will rapidly stain your teeth, it should be fine. are you thirsty? do you need me to get you something?”

you pipe up. “oh, it’s fine, i can get it. you should stay with the group, unni, you’re the manager.” then, you raise your voice and direct it towards the rest of the girls. “hey, guys, i’m getting yerin a drink from the vending machine. does anyone else want anything?”

“oh, can i have a canned coffee?” you hear one of the members – jiyoung’s – voice ask.

“me too!” hyemin’s voice adds.

“vitamin water, please!” mirae’s voice calls.

you tally the drinks up in your head. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. you hold up an ‘okay’ sign with your hand and nod. jiyoung jokingly salutes in return.

“can i pay you back?” minseo offers, pulling out a credit card that most definitely won’t work on the rickety vending machines you’d seen on your way to the waiting room.

you shake your head dismissively. “it’s just a couple of drinks, and besides, i have a ton of coins i need to get rid of. you can buy me a meal later, yeah?” you offer, and minseo nods. “at this rate, i’ll have to hire you as my assistant.” she jokes, lightheartedly, and you smile. you wouldn’t mind that at all.

you recite the list of drinks to yourself as you make it out of their waiting room and towards the vending machine. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. two ca—

thud.

the small sound shakes you out of your mantra and, instinctively, you turn towards the noise. judging by the obvious frustration radiating from the person in front of you and his relative position to the vending machine, you figure he just kicked the poor thing.

“are you alright?” you ask, tentatively, and the person in question turns to face you. 

oh. it’s kim jinhwan. from ikon.

you try your hardest to suppress a smile. yerin loves ikon. she’d be so jealous to know that you ran into one of the members today, and in such an innocuous way at that.

“yes, sorry.” jinhwan offers, looking almost sheepish. “the machine stole my money, and-”

almost on cue, you hear a voice call out in the distance. “hurry up, hyung! you said it’d only take a few minutes!”

jinhwan’s expression instantly sours, and you nod in understanding. “what did you try to get, sunbaenim?” you ask politely, turning towards the machine and scanning its contents.

“just an energy drink. but i guess i’ll be fine without it.” he explains, trying a little too hard to sound lighthearted and unbothered. 

you identify the drink in question and punch in its code. after feeding your coins into the machine, you watch as the suddenly functional appliance pushes the energy drink out of its row and into the bottom of the machine.

squatting, you grab the drink and hold it out. “please, take this.” you offer as you stand up, suddenly noticing how heavily the foundation under his eyes is applied. you inwardly frown. he must really need the boost. “it’s the one you wanted, right?”

he doesn’t take it, instead opting to stare at it instead. “i couldn’t, i don’t have any more change on me right now.” he says, despite eyeing the drink longingly.

“hyung! we have to go!” the voice from before calls out again, insistently. he turns towards the voice before turning back to you, conflicted. you put on what you hope is a reassuring smile before pushing the drink with a little more force into his hands. instinctively, he takes it.

“please don’t worry about it, it’s just a drink. good luck with your stage, sunbaenim!” you cheer, gently. 

he looks at the drink, then looks at you, then glances behind him at what you presume to be his waiting room before looking at you again.

“jinhwan hyung!” the voice demands with an intimidating undercurrent of finality, leaving no more room to stall. you tilt your head towards it meaningfully.

“i.. thank you.” he finally says, tightly, before turning around and running away. satisfied, you turn towards the vending machine. what did your friends ask for? right, two canned coffees, an orange soda, and vitamin water. you punch the drink codes in, methodically inserting all of your loose change you had been trying to get rid of for so long, and add an extra coffee in for minseo for good measure. if she’s going to make good on her dinner promise, and you know she will, she should get a little something in return.

(you would have gotten her something even if you didn't coerce her into buying you food. a part of you thrives at the feeling of taking care of others, and you dimly wonder if that means anything.)

-

the next time you meet him is yet another case of being in the right place at the right time, for lack of a better phrase. 

you’d spent a good portion of your school days active as a trainee. so, when you’d eventually exited the entertainment industry, you were strikingly behind all the other students your age in the cruelly competitive system that was korea’s education system. you were planning on taking a gap year to figure out exactly what you wanted to do with the rest of your life (which was generally frowned upon, as students were expected to naturally know these things), but minseo had saved you from that fate. “since the girls have been getting a little bigger recently, i’ve been given the permission and the budget to hire an assistant manager.” she had explained through a spontaneous phone call, her voice crackling over the receiver as you shifted your cellphone to your other ear. “if i can trust anyone to care for them the way that i do, it’s you.”

“will it be okay?” you had asked, not against the proposition but not wanting to get her in trouble. “i have no managerial experience, and i’m in the same age range as the members. i don’t want the company to come off as unprofessional.”

she had reassured you that you wouldn’t be working on anything that she wouldn’t teach you to do first, and that, as long as you didn’t boast about your age, it would be fine. “i was allowed to write the hiring criteria, and if you just happen to be the perfect candidate, then so be it.” she had said, and you could almost imagine the conspiratorial wink she would have shot in your direction if you were talking face to face.

and so your reentrance to the entertainment industry had begun; except this time, you were on the other, more secluded, side of the stage. you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t considered being a manager before; you’ve always been the type to take care of others, and when minseo had joked about taking you on as an assistant before, a secret part of you had taken it a little too close to heart. but you had never actually expected her words to become a reality.

the job isn’t too hard to pick up. you’re assigned a lot of small yet useful tasks, like calling the salons and confirming hair appointment times, or writing the minutes for meetings about comeback concepts. sometimes, your only role for the day is simply coaxing minseo unni into stopping and taking a lunch break. you’re busy, for sure, but not yet at the juggling-octopus level of the senior manager, who is somehow able to coordinate every other task and responsibility that involves the group simultaneously and all without fail. while you just have to confirm the things she’s already set up, she has to do all the preparation work.  you’ve seen her meticulously arrange and assign each member’s schedules, all the while keeping an eye on album sales and concert venues and security payroll and feedback from their vocal or dance instructors. just by looking at her essay of a to-do list that’s propped up on her desk, you understand why the company gave her the permission to hire an assistant.

the most important responsibility she had given you, however, was to be the first line of contact with the members of the group. “you know them better than i do, so i think you’d do a better job of helping them out. they’re not too fussy, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work with them? just keep an eye on the members, and check on them every now and then. of course, let me know if you need any extra help.” a very harried minseo had told you, while on hold with the videography company who, annoyingly, hadn’t confirmed what time they were coming in tomorrow to film the dance video for the group’s upcoming comeback.

“yes, of course.” you had replied, fully intending to not do just that. you were going to avoid adding any responsibilities to minseo unni’s workload at all costs.

there wasn’t much that you needed to do. occasionally, you needed to get the members drinks or snacks while they were in their waiting rooms before music show performances, or make sure that they checked in with you before they went out anywhere. to help with this, you had gotten into the habit of carrying a backpack with you at all times, fully stocked with the necessities: an assortment of the member’s favourite snacks, an epipen for hyemin’s peanut allergy tucked in a small first aid kit, extra hair elastics, pads and tampons, and various sets of phone chargers. 

“you’re already, like, one of those overprepared asian mothers that carries everything in her massive purse, and you’re barely an adult.” yerin had snickered one day while you reorganized your bag in their dorm.

you had grinned, teasingly pushing her away. “it’s this overprepared asian mother that has your precious pocky at hand, so watch it.” you’d warned, shaking the snack box in the air. 

“don’t shake it!” yerin had yelped, cradling the cookie sticks protectively against her chest. “you’ll break them.”

it was the last week of promotions for the group’s third mini album, and you had just finished supervising the stage hands as they finished setting up the stage. satisfied, you grab your backpack from the chair it was lounging on, thank them for their hard work, and beeline for the exit, wondering if you can run into the girls before they get called down for their pre-stage interview.

“—ust going to have to wait, we don’t have any on hand right now.” you hear a gruff sounding voice say, and subconsciously, you look towards the source of the noise.

just across the hallway from you is what appears to be a very tall manager and a very short idol, judging from the casual apparel the taller is wearing and the shiny, glittery jacket the shorter one has on. the one in the glittery jacket is clutching at his shoulder in obvious discomfort. 

“how long do you think it will take?” the shorter asks, letting go of his shoulder and rolling it back, and you’d recognize that voice anywhere. yerin had recently been studying his stage habits by watching his fancams on repeat, and at this point, his voice was engraved in the back of your mind. it’s jinhwan, again. (“i can’t believe you got to meet jinhwan sunbae before i did,” yerin had pouted when you had told her about your previous encounter. “but why did you call him sunbae? he’s not technically your senior anymore.”

“so i used to be a trainee, and old habits die hard. sue me.” you had defended yourself, protectively, before making a mental note to stop doing that.)

“i’m not sure. i’m not supposed to leave the shooting site, and no one else has answered my calls yet. do you think you’ll be able to do the stage without a patch?” the manager asks.

the idol who you now recognize as jinhwan winces, and you take that as your cue to dig through your bag. after finding what you’re looking for, you take a nervous breath and walk towards the pair.

“hello,” you greet tentatively, bowing. the two of them turn to face you, and politely bow back. you don’t miss the way jinhwan’s face grimaces ever so slightly as he does so.

“i’m really sorry if i’m being invasive, but i happened to hear what was going on.” you start. at that, you offer him the pair of pain-relief patches you were clutching securely with both of your hands. “please, take these.”

the two of them pause, taking a second to read the upside-down text on the packaging. in hindsight, you probably should have held it so the text was facing them. “won’t you need them?” the manager asks, eventually looking back up at you.

you shake your head in denial, eyes wide. “no, no. i always have extras in my bag. besides, the ones my members use most often are the ankle patches, so i won’t miss these.” you explain, taking a short, meaningful glance at jinhwan’s shoulder before pushing the packages into his manager’s hands. 

he takes them. “thank you,” he says, gratefully, and you smile. 

“yes, of course.” you reply, taking another quick glance at jinhwan. he’s staring at you, expression carefully blank, but, upon making eye contact. he bows his head. “thank you,” he says as well, and you pause. there’s something in his tone that sounds off, but you can’t quite pinpoint what it is. 

you don’t have time to stand there and think about it, though, because your group is going to get called down for their interview any minute now. and while you don’t technically have to be there, minseo said that it would be a good idea for you to monitor them. “just so you can get used to your job,” she had said, and you agreed. it would be entirely selfish to back out on that now, just to stand and meaninglessly analyze a person you had no connections with.

“i … have to go now.” you begin, tentatively, ignoring the pressing feeling in the pit of your stomach thats begging you to stay and figure out what feels so wrong. “good luck on your stage, sunb- i mean! jinhwan-ssi, and i hope your shoulder feels better.”

you bow, reflexively, trying your best not to make a weird face out of embarrassment, and jinhwan bows back. “thank you, again.” he reiterates, and you turn to leave.

it’s only after you’re absolutely sure that you’re out of their line of view before you let yourself cringe. sunbae? you tried to call him sunbae? you really, really, need to get out of that habit. what kind of interaction was that?

‘but is he okay?’ a smaller, more insistent, voice in the back of your head asks, and you frown. you don’t know. 

- 

in between your last memorable encounter and the next one, you see him a few times. your group passes by him in a few music programs, you run into their group at a hair appointment, and a few other miscellaneous encounters as such naturally occur. but you never interact. as a manager, it’s not your job to play buddy-buddy with other idol groups, especially if they’re not even in your company. you’ve always done a very good job of staying out of the spotlight, and, as a manager, most people don’t spare you a glance. jinhwan doesn’t even look in your direction.

you’d be lying if you said you weren’t disappointed.

the third time you meet him is not, for once, at a music program. you’re in hapjeong-dong, meaning to visit a friend who’d recently moved into the area. but she’d last-minute changed her housewarming party time to a dinner party instead of a lunch meetup. by the time you’d got the memo, you were already halfway across seoul on the subway. since you hadn’t eaten anything yet, and you no longer had lunch plans, your first stop is at the first ramen shop you see after you exit the terminal.

“i’m afraid we’re a little full at the moment, ma’am, and the only seats available are at the counter. will that be alright?” the hostess asks, smiling warmly.

“yes, that’s great.” you say, and you let her escort you to the counter and hand you a menu. you prop up your purse and your housewarming gift on the chair next to you before taking it, thanking her.

as you’re flipping through the menu, mentally calculating how much more you’ll be able to spend this month, you hear the tinkling of the bell at the front door signalling another customer. a cursory glance around the relatively full counter area lets you know that there’s only one seat left, and you’re hogging it with your bags. you quickly take them off the only available chair and bend down to set them on the ground below your feet.

“... and here you go, sir, i’ll be back with a menu shortly.” the bubbly hostess says, smiling politely at the customer whose face you haven’t seen yet. you straighten up, taking a quick look at the hostess and the customer before turning back to look at your menu. 

“yes, thank you,” the customer says, and you freeze. you must be hearing things. there is no way that you are eating lunch next to kim jinhwan in a random restaurant.

the customer sits down next to you, and you shoot another quick look at the man who is taking off his mask. who is most definitely kim jinhwan. 

do you … do you say anything? idols deserve to eat in peace, so should you pretend not to recognize him? but won’t sitting in a stony, awkward silence as you eat next to each other be even worse? you contemplate burying yourself in your phone for the entire meal, before realizing that you left it in your purse. and there’s no feasible way that you can grab it without having to scoot back your chair, get off the stool to open your bag, and sit back up on it again. 

unfortunately for you, he looks in your direction as you’re gaping at him, panic-struck. the resulting eye contact is unbearably awkward on your end, but he looks at you as if he’s trying to remember who you are.

“pardon me, but are you the one who … with the pain-relief patch?” he asks, gesturing slightly with his hands as he sits dodwn. it’s vague and awkward, and if he did that to anyone else they’d be very confused, but you know exactly what he means.

you blush a little. there’s nothing else you can say now. “yes, uh, i think that was me.” 

“and … the vending machine?” he ventures.

your eyes widen a little at that. that was so many months ago. he still remembers? “the energy drink, right? that was also me. hello, jinhwan-ssi.” you offer, tentatively, bowing your head slightly. at this point, there’s no use pretending you don’t know his name. he bows his head in return.

“may i ask for your name?” jinhwan asks, tentatively.

“oh, ah, i’m ______.” you respond. “it’s nice to meet you, officially.” 

jinhwan nods in agreement, seemingly taking in all the new information for a few seconds. after a short pause, he continues. “do you also work in the entertainment industry?” he asks, slowly. 

“yes, i’m an assistant manager for kyubie, a new girlgroup at AB entertainment,” you introduce yourself. it still feels a little strange to say that title out loud. assistant manager. you’re an assistant manager.

“ah, i see.” jinhwan says, smiling a little as he processes the information, and you politely smile back. a part of you wants to help him carry this conversation out, but the other, more dominant part of you is just as socially awkward as he looks like he feels and is absolutely incapable of doing such a thing.

“you look quite young for a manager,” he offers, as an odd semblance of a compliment, and you take it in stride.

“i get that a lot! i actually used to be a trainee at AB, but i ended up becoming a manager inst!—ead …” you start, mouth running itself as it struggles to fill the awkward silence, before you register what you just said. 

“i, uh, i wasn’t supposed to say that.” you mutter, loudly enough so its audible but quietly enough to express your regret.

jinhwan, for what it’s worth, only looks placidly amused. “don’t worry, i won’t say a word,” he assures you. he doesn’t ask for any more details or for an elaboration on why it would be a secret. you’re grateful for that.

“thank you,” you say, trying not to let the relief show itself too heavily in your tone. if he notices it, he doesn’t say a word.

“i should be thanking you. for the drink and for the pain-relief patches, before. i don’t think i could have done my stage without either.” he assures you, kindly. “i didn’t get to thank you properly before.”

you shake your head in denial. “no, no, don’t worry about it. i get what it’s like to always be running low on time. and you did say thank you! i didn’t feel underappreciated, or ignored, or anything like that.” you explain, letting out your first real smile since the beginning of the conversation. 

(you miss the way his eyes linger on it for a beat too long.)

“i’m glad that you think that, then,” jinhwan says, faintly, as the hostess comes back with his menu that he barely even scans before ordering. you, too, order, ignoring the meaningful glances she’s throwing at the two of you. that’s a misunderstanding that can be resolved in the unlikely chance it becomes an issue.

“so,” jinhwan starts, “tell me about your group.”

and you’re gone.

conversation flows surprisingly easily once the two of you find your common ground. as a manager and as a friend, you have a lot to tell him about your members and how they act. “one of them, my friend, actually, she’s a really big fan of yours.” you mention, offhandedly. you’ve gone long past the point where you’re trying to filter yourself. 

“is that so?” he asks, calmly, and you grin.

“yeah. she was really jealous when i told her that i met you before,” you laugh, “and she’ll probably be a little bit jealous that i met you again today.”

“what about you?” he asks, and then looks a little bit startled. almost as if he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

“i’m sorry?” you ask, despite knowing perfectly well what he’d meant to say. you do your best to not blush.

jinhwan, having seemingly decided to just go with it, smiles. “are you a fan of mine, too?” he asks, and oh, your cheeks are not supposed to feel this hot.

“i, uh—” you flounder, trying to think of a way to answer this professionally, before a strangely brave crevice of your mind tells you to be honest.

“before? i don’t know. but now? probably.” you admit, which is good enough for jinhwan.

he doesn’t push it (probably because you looked like a tomato just then and he wants to save your blood pressure), and instead steers the conversation back to your life as a manager and his funny anecdotes in the entertainment industry. for someone who is so soft spoken and looked so thoroughly awkward when you first met, he tries incredibly hard to keep the conversation flowing and comfortable. you’re half in awe at his easy going nature.

you eat slowly once you get your food, selfishly wanting the conversation to last longer, but eventually there are no more noodles left in your plate and half of the lunchtime rush has already cleared out. jinhwan excuses himself to pay, asking you to watch his jacket, and you grab your purse and your housewarming gift from the floor while you wait. your phone tells you that it’s been nearly two hours since you entered the restaurant, and you must have suddenly forgotten how to read time, because there’s no possible way you had spent that long talking with jinhwan.

he eventually comes back. he puts his mask on and grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, and you take that as your cue to head to the payment counter. “i’m here to pay for my order,” you say, pulling out your wallet, and the checkout man shakes his head. 

“you’re already paid for,” he explains, and you frown. “pardon me?” you ask, unsure if you heard him right.

“the gentleman who sat next to you has already paid for your meal,” he clarifies, and you stand there for a moment.

“are— are you sure?” you ask, confusedly. the checkout man nods. “here’s the purchase receipt if you want to be sure.”

the sound of the front door bell tinkling draws your attention, and you turn to see jinhwan’s figure leave the shop. “thank you!” you exclaim hurriedly to the counter, mindlessly stuffing the receipt in your left pocket before booking it out of there.

by the time you get to the outside of the shop, jinhwan is a good ten meters away. “jinh—!” you start, and then stop. yelling an idol’s name in public is most definitely not a good idea. 

you’ve never been the most active, but you run after him anyway. thankfully, he’s not making an effort to run away from you, because you wouldn’t be able to catch up with him then. 

eventually, you catch up with him as he’s waiting for a pedestrian walkway to turn green. “jinhwan-ssi!” you call, furtively, and the man in question turns around to face you.

" ______.” he says, curiously. “what are you doing here?”

“you paid for my meal.” you state, and he looks at you like it’s obvious. 

“yes, i did.” he says, frowning a little. the pedestrian walkway turns green. he doesn’t make any effort to move.

“can i pay you back?” you ask, hand instinctively going towards your wallet in your right pocket.

he laughs a little at that. “why would you pay me back? this is my thank you for the favours you did for me.”

“you don’t have to pay me back! i did those things because i could. besides, a vending machine drink and a pain-relief patch costs much less than a meal.” you argue.

“then, consider it like i’m doing this because i can.” he counters, and its very hard to object to your own logic.

“can i at least buy you coffee or something as thanks?” you ask, as the pedestrian walkway turns red once more. 

at this, jinhwan pauses, before he sighs. “i have vocal practice in half an hour, so i can’t right now. but—” he continues, seeing the look of disappointment you already knew was on your face, “did you get the receipt from the checkout guy?”

“the what?” you ask, confused.

his face pales. “oh no, did you not take it?” he asks, suddenly looking scared, and you remember mindlessly snatching the receipt from the checkout man’s hands. you clumsily pat through your pockets a little before pulling a slip of paper out from your left pocket. “no, i have it,” you say, holding it up, “but why?”

jinhwan sighs. “turn it over,” he says, and you do.

in pen, a phone number is scribbled over the back of the receipt. “jinhwan,” it says in neatly printed letters next to it, and you fight back the urge to smile. you probably do a terrible job of it, too.

“text me when you’re free, and we can do coffee sometime, yeah?” jinhwan offers. you can’t see his face well because of his mask, but the tips of his ears are red. it’s stupidly endearing.

“i will,” you promise, because how could you say no to that?

the walkway light turns green once again. jinhwan waves as he crosses the street, and you wave as you stay behind. its only after you’re absolutely, positively sure that he’s out of sight that you let yourself grin, burying your too-hot face into your hands. 

if you just played your cards right, you have a date with kim jinhwan.

-

(you text him the very same day, and make plans for coffee the next week.

you treat him to crepe cakes and lattes, and he pouts, claiming that the crepes were too much and now he just has to take you out to make up for it.

before you can tell him that no, it’s fine, it’s your treat, he has movie tickets for two booked and emailed to your account.

you agree to go, but only if you get to buy the popcorn.)

[apossessionadaybreak]

Father’s Day Special

“Hey dad, I got you something” I announced, barging into the house.

“Hmm? Oh you shouldn’t have, there’s plenty of better things to spend money on than your old man.”

“Dad, for as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been wearing the same set of clothes every week. It’s Father’s Day! You deserve to have something new.”

He laughed. “Guilty as charged, put it in my room and I’ll have a look at it later.”

I did as he said, smiling to myself. I would do anything to make my dad happy, he had been so strong, so amazing, raising me all on his own. Not once had I ever heard him complain or lose his patience. If only I could do more for him… As my mind wandered, I began to feel a little woozy. Shopping for dad must have taken more out of me than I thought. I had even tried on some of the things I had bought for him. Of course I already knew his measurements but it was just for fun, to see the difference in size. I’m not sure what I was expecting, the pants sagged around my ankles and dropped down the moment I tried to put them around my waist. The belt hadn’t been any better, being way too long for someone like me to even consider. Still, I had earned at least a short nap. Surprisingly I could barely even keep my eyes open as I dragged myself to the bed. I was out in moments.

I gasped as I opened my eyes. I couldn’t have been asleep for more than a few seconds but something felt… odd. I somehow felt… thicker? Heavier? I shook my head to try to clear it which only reinforced the feeling that I had somehow grown a lot in a very short amount of time. I blinked and even the way my face moved felt strange. Looking down I saw that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. For one there was a lot more hair than I remembered, the thickest region right in the middle of my chest and more covering the rest of the front. I felt rather than saw, lines spanning my torso, defining muscles I had never bothered to develop. They were accompanied by a layer of fat and yet all of it felt, just right. Appropriate for a man my age. That thought gave me pause, I wasn’t sure when I had begun thinking of myself as a man but it certainly wasn’t within the last five minutes. Acting on instinct, I began to stretch. It felt good, better than I had ever known, the way my muscles pulled and tightened all around me. I took a deep breath and inhaled a scent that I knew instantly yet couldn’t place the name of. It was a few moments before I realised that it was coming from ME, it was what I smelled like. I took a few more tentative sniffs to confirm before putting my arms back down. I shook my head, I had hair all over my body in places I didn’t even remember. Everything felt distinctly familiar and foreign at the same time. I looked up to see a mirror, and saw my dad staring back at me.

I had never heard my dad scream before but somehow his deep voice still remained thunderous and commanding. I began to breathe faster, panicking. It was weird to say the least, to see my father, always so strong and stoic, having a meltdown. I swallowed hard attempting to calm myself and figure out just what the hell was going on. I scrambled to my feet, not even remembering having sat down. The weight and strength of this body nearly threw me off-balance even as I tried to stand up. Hesitantly, I looked into the mirror again, and saw my dad once again, making the same horrified face I had in my mind. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, feeling my huge chest inflate as I did so. Without even meaning to I felt blood rush straight to my member. I groaned, as if it wasn’t weird enough being in my dad’s body. I looked around me to confirm my surroundings. I seemed to be in my dad’s room. The shopping bag I had dumped here earlier was lying on its side. Looking down, I saw I was wearing the pants and belt I had tried on earlier except now they sat snugly around my waist, a perfect fit. I thumbed the material, scarcely daring to believe myself. I had shopped at the store so many times previously with no strange effects. Could something as simple as trying on clothes impart such supernatural properties? I wondered if my dad was in my body, experiencing the same weird scenario I was but given the complete silence throughout the rest of the house I was inclined to think otherwise. Somehow, I was possessing my dad’s body, filling out his suit pants. Now that I had gotten over the initial shock, another part of me couldn’t stop thinking how awesome this was, against my better judgment. I was my Dad. I was my own father. “This is crazy!” My dad’s voice boomed out of MY mouth, vocalising MY thoughts. I wanted to laugh, felt a mad urge to laugh and before I knew it was doubling over in the middle of the room, a lovely bass chuckle escaping my lips. My mind raced with all the possibilities that had opened up to me, I couldn’t even begin to describe the insanity of what was happening.

I felt my face with my thick, calloused fingers, feeling the tickle of the short bristles of hair on my head. A beard, I had an honest-to-goodness beard, well groomed and maintained. I ran my hands over the rest of my body, feeling newfound strength in my limbs and appreciated the WEIGHT of this body. It had never occurred to me just how well built, well proportioned my dad was but now I was seeing it in an all new light. I felt a bucking against my briefs as a small dark patch appeared on the trousers I had just bought. I laughed, I had always been a boxers man myself but couldn’t argue with how well the fabric supported my girthy new package. I ran my fingers through the dense pelt covering my chest and belly, taking a moment to circle my nipples, so much bigger and more sensitive than my own. My hands wandered down to my crotch and I began to unbuckle and unbutton, all thoughts of taboo replaced by the white haze of pleasure. However, as I slid the pants down past my knees, I began to feel woozy again, exactly how I felt before… this happened.

Coming to my senses, I quickly pulled the pants on again, the discomfort disappearing as quickly as I dressed. I couldn’t even begin to understand my powers but thought it best not to get too crazy for now. I flexed, striking a pose in the mirror and laughed as my dad obeyed my every command. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted my dad’s wallet. An idea coming into my head, I grabbed and thumbed through the wad of notes and cards stored within. I, my dad had never liked spending money but today was Father’s day and he, I deserved to enjoy myself. I quickly located my car keys and phone, smiling as I unlocked the latter with my strong fingers. I couldn’t recall the password at the moment but with a quick fingerprint scan I was reading through all of my dad’s messages. Details and memories of my life flowed smoothly in, informing my movements, my thoughts. I snapped up a crisp white button-down from the closet, swiftly pulling it on and tucking it in to my trousers. I tilted my head and arched my back as I felt my body a second time through my clothes. The fabric stretched tight as it hugged my skin, my nipples, me.

Panting, I retained the presence of mind to grab a set of my, my dad’s clothes and moved to leave it in my room. Knocking on the door, I swung it open to reveal my body, lying still on the bed. A quick check revealed I was still breathing. Resolving to study my powers later, I laid the pile of clothes on the desk before closing the door behind me.

I wasted no time driving to the local mall where I had purchased my gifts. I walked around the same department store I had been in just hours earlier but failed to uncover anything unusual. The only difference was the way other people looked at me, talked to me. Gone were the glances of disdain and fake smiles for the teenager grabbing clothes far too big for him. Now they were far more attentive, sincerely giving their best pitches, eager for my approval. I smirked and shook my head, my budget had expanded far beyond what they had on display. I strode out, leaving them to gaze at my impressive back. A small grumble sounded from my stomach and I grinned. Following the smell of sizzling meat I sat myself at the fanciest restaurant in the area. I politely declined a menu, I already knew my favourite. “Steak, medium-rare, and a glass of your finest red.” The waiter nodded and retreated as swiftly as he came. I looked casually around the room, easing my bulk into the soft cushions of the chair as I made myself as comfortable as possible. All around me were people who probably never even gave my dad the time of day now shooting glances in my direction. As they should be, despite my usual appearance I was not a man to be taken lightly. I rolled my shoulders and unlocked my phone, studying up on my life as I waited.

An hour later I walked out, fully satiated, having left a generous tip to boot. I felt a small pang of guilt as I saw my face in the glass, my dad would never spend this much money but I consoled myself that it was just for today, he deserved to enjoy himself. I was certainly enjoying myself. I strolled around, exploring stores I had never even looked at before.

“Billy!” I turned around at the sound before I could even process the words, somehow my dad knew this man. I gave him a once-over, he was taller than my dad but seemed just as fit. I felt a smile come to my face and a bulge in my pants.

“Evening Phil.” The words left my mouth as easily as flowing water. This was my son’s, my, best friend’s dad and fellow lawyer. I grimaced a little, the mix-ups were getting more frequent and slightly worrying.

“Looking good my friend, finally using that paycheck of yours?”

I laughed. “Gifts from my son. For Father’s day.”

“Ahh they grow up so fast don’t they? Nicky gave me a tie though I wouldn’t say no to a new belt either, suits you well.”

I glanced down and smiled at my handiwork. “It is nice isn’t it?” I grinned as a plan began to form in my mind. “Perhaps he’s waiting to give you the rest.”

Phil snorted. “Yeah, right. If that ever happened I’ll need to send him for an exorcism.”

I laughed harder than before, he had no idea how close he was to the truth. “Was good seeing you Phil but I must be going. Places to be, errands to run.”

We waved each other goodbye as I stepped in the direction of the tailors. A bespoke suit would do very nicely and Phil would indeed look nice with a handsome new belt around his waist. Might give a new sparkle to his eyes, I thought to myself, grinning madly as I did so. Happy Father’s day indeed.

[balkanradfem]

First time growing tomatoes story

So, I never expected to be telling this story, and planned to take it with me to the grave, but I'm here to embarrass myself anyway.

It was 3 years ago, I just got my community garden plot, and a few seeds from the plant lady. I grew tomato transplant inside, using the knowledge bestowed upon me by youtube videos, and I was doting on these plants in almost obsessive manner. Of course, a lot of them died from 'mysterious reasons' (it was a mix of sunburn, overwatering, drying out and very wrong containers) but in the end of it, I had about 10 good and big tomato transplants, ready to go in my new garden. Everything was good and filled with hope and a bright future of gardening was awaiting for me; except for one thing. My tomato's leaves were turning purple. At first I was like 'cool' but then those purple-leaved tomates wouldn't grow! They were standing still.

I asked the plant lady about it, and she had never ran into this issue and had no idea what I was talking about. I researched this weird phenomenon and the internet informed me it was a nutrient deficiency; these plants needed fertilizing.

I didn't exactly have anything to fertilize them with; at that point I knew I could make a fertilizer with nettle, but it would take 10 days or more for that to be finished. I didn't have a gardening budget and internet diy advice was only dumb stuff like 'blend a banana peel with coffee grounds' like I had either of those.

So, I convinced myself that once I put these plants outside, they would surely find new nitrogen in the soil, and it would be all good. They still had some greenery on them and didn't look too bad. I transplanted them out carefully, stared worriedly at them for very long, and went home worried.

Few days later, I went to check on them, and experienced my worst moment of gardening yet; they were all completely black. Entire plants turned black. I could barely see them in the soil. I barely stopped myself from bursting into tears, quickly put together nettle and water so I'd have the nettle fertilizer in 10 days, and went home determined to find every single article on home-made fertilizer until I found something I could do on my own.

I was reading articles obsessively until 2am, most of them were no use but there was one big list with 1 item that was doable. It said this: "Human urine contains more nutrients than any store-bought fertilizer, and it's sterile unless you're carrying some bacteria in your blood. Dilute it with 10x water and water the plants with it." Now that was something I easily had for free. And it was no time to be grossed out, the lives of my tomatoes were at stake!!

So, I managed to sneak a bottle of that to the garden, mixed it with water, prayed nobody would be able to smell anything, and I watered my tomatoes. The scent turned out to be easily absorbed by soil and it was no worry about anyone figuring out my dirty trick.

Next day... my tomatoes were all green and absolutely perfect. I could not believe it. It had worked out so quickly I was stunned by its effect. Human urine could do that for plants? It was mind boggling. Severly relieved, but also curious, I went home and... used the same trick on every plant on my balcony. Next day, my balcony plants were absolutely bursting with growth. Their color improved, they grew taller overnight, leaves became bigger, I was in my own plant oasis.

Since this worked so perfectly, I never stopped using it. I noticed it's not working out if I use it too often, once every two weeks was the most my plants can tolerate. And now sometimes my garden looks suspiciously lush and some of my plants look very green and happy and I'm too embarrassed to admit why. But I felt confident telling you all, in case anyone was thinking of buying plant fertilizer. You don't need that. Humans produce plant food just like plants produce human food.

In the end, the first time I actually cried about my tomato plants, was when they produced the first ripe tomato, and I immediately burst into tears, hardly believing I made it, and it was a final confirmation that I can and will grow my own food. To make things better, the plant lady had given me seeds for 'climbing triple crop' variety which produces humongous tomatoes, so my first tomatoes ever were over a kg in weight monstrosities; that easily convinced me that I am absolutely great at this. Needless to say, I never had a tomato plant turn purple, or black again.

[seddm]

What did you think about the s2 finale of Amphibia if you've gotten there yet? If not its all good!

AMPHIBIA S2 FINALE SPOILERS BELOW

I liked it a lot, it made me feel a particular kind of "hype" and interest I hadn't felt for an episode of something since SVTFOE, even if at a fraction of a fraction of the intensity (something that doesn't correlate to the objective or even perceived quality of the show at all, Star was the outlier experience in my life). It has some pacing issues in the first half, most things happen too fast up to Andrias being freed from prison, I feel like it'd have benefited greatly from being a two parts finale, or even just a 30 something minutes long episode, but that's super rare on mainstream channels since it's hard to air reruns, only Disney example I can think of it A Tale Of Two Stans from Gravity Falls. Pacing in the second part greatly improves, and it feels more like they chose what to put in the latter part of the episode, to then fit what they could in the first one. I'm assuming there's some studio-related bullshittery going on here rather than a conscious decision on the team's side (after all the episode is almost 25 minutes long so it seems they tried to squeeze every ounce of budget and timeslot they could).

As for the plot and characters arcs and all that, good stuff. We could all more or less see where Sasha and Marcy's parts where going - without knowing the details obviously, and Andria's reveal wasn't that big of a surprise, given, you know,

but as in most things execution is what matters the most, and Anne's reaction to both her friends' "betrayals" had emotional weight to spare, and it's interesting to see the degrees of "how messed up is this girl?" in relation to their experiences in a new world and or flaws (and screentime, obviously, but that's a given):

Anne found a supportive and loving second family and, as of Battle of the Bands, as so subtly implied by her song, she fully embraced and accepted the kind of person she has grown to be: her arc is obviously not done, with one more season left and a looot of emotions she and her friends need to deal with, but she seems to be fully equipped to potentially deal with everything the story might throw at her now (with all the realizations and pains and epiphanies she's undoubtedly going to go through).

Sasha found an enabler in the others toads, feeding on her desire to always be in control and on top of things, but she also found real friends who understand her and worry about her, and I'm sure she and Grimes are going to help each other become better persons.

Marcy found a manipulator who preyed on her biggest fears and... well...

I'm sure S3 is not going to be THAT plot heavy and the majority of episodes are going to be on the sillier side and a lot of lore hooks are never going to be solved, but I feel like Amphibia might stick the plot-related landing better than most comparable series did in the recent past, so far they ran a tight ship. As for the character arcs, I'm sure all the girls are gonna be able to become better and healthier friends once everything is said and done, and I'm very curious to see what they're going to do with Andrias: they made clear parallels between him and the girls, with being betrayed and hurt by one's friends, and he seems to be working for something bigger than him, so there might be more than blind ambition and lust for power behind the character, but chances for redemption get slimmer when you were more than eager to murder a toddler...

It's a pity they had to show earlier than they wanted the S3 intro because Disney is full of pathetic and cowardly higher ups, thus partially spoiling Marcy's fate (it's obvious she wasn't gonna die-die for real, but it'd still have been nicer to be left in the complete dark about her fate until S3), but I'm glad we got to see that Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly are going to interact with Anne's family, and it's not going to be (at least not for most of the season) a "ET hidden in the closet" kind of situation.

At least not with her family.

To conclude, an excellent season finale with a gutsy cliffhanger and big hooks not just for the plot, but for the characters as well.

I wonder if and how they're gonna handle Anne's reunion with her family from their point of view she disappeared for like six months that should leave some kind of mental trauma.

Also the series better end with a permanent and easy way of travel between Earth and Amphibia, I'm not here for some weak kind of bittersweet finale where the characters have to let go of their loved ones but they'll never forget what they experienced and what they learned, I'm here for a REAL MEN finale where Anne can jump over to Amphibia to play bugball after school and Wally can get arrested by LAPD for public intoxication.