#this shit took whole 3 hours i swear it was supposed to be a sketch

[motorcycleboy9]

when you never learned the color theory so you just gonna tvgirl the whole thing

[lostinwildflowers]

Night Skies and City Lights

Koshi Sugawara x Reader

Summary: Sugawara comes from a rich family, he owns lavish cars and houses, and can buy whatever he wants. When he is invited to an event in New York City, he wants to bring a date. What do you do when your best friend asks you to go with him?

Word Count: 8.0K (Yeah I’m sorry)

Warnings: wealthy!Suga, swearing, friends to lovers, pining, angst, two dum dums don’t realize they both like each other(omg please kiss already i stg), fluff of course :)

A/N: Here is my part of @bakugohoex​ (Ria)’s 3K follower event!!! I can’t say it enough, but congrats love! I hope y’all enjoy my first time writing for Suga bb :) Please let me know what y’all think in the comments or in my inbox please, this took a lot from me to jump of out my comfort zone. Love y’all! - Birch<3

Dividers were created by the lovely and wonderful @anlian-aishang​ :) (I totally didn’t get these made just for this fic LOL)

Also, this and this were my inspiration for their outfits :) (total credit to the artist of the drawing and creator of the dress.) Okay I’ll shut up now, please enjoy :)

The last bell of the day rang out loudly, and all through the hallways, you could hear the happy cheers and chatter of students on their way home for the weekend. Students bustle quickly out of your assigned classroom, and a chuckle leaves your lips at the horde of them that clutter around your door.

You are drawn out of your thoughts as you shut your notebook, realizing that you had to put all of your books in your locker for the weekend. You begin shoving binders and folders into your backpack as fast as you can as the teacher finishes putting the chairs up for the janitor to clean overnight.

As you zip your bag shut and toss it over your shoulder, an extra binder in your arms you call out, “Have a nice weekend, Mrs. Smith!” The older woman calls back a goodbye as you slip out of the door, striding down the halls toward your locker.

Your bag hits the ground next to your locker with a loud thump as you set the binder in your hands on top of your bag, turning back to your locker to enter the combination in. Footsteps down the hall pull your eyes away from the small dial as you pull the lever open swiftly.

Warm, brown eyes lock onto yours in an instant and a smile slides across your lips as you lunge toward the taller framed boy.

“SUGA!!! I thought you went home without me, you jerk,” you whine out as you wrap your arms around him. Large and muscular arms wrap around your waist, picking you up off the ground to spin you in a small circle.

You can feel Sugawara’s chest rise and fall from his soft chuckles and as he pulls away, he shoots you his signature sugary grin.

“Awe, did you really think I would leave you behind, Y/n?” he teases as you return to placing your binders in your locker. You roll your eyes in fake annoyance as you chide back at him, “Well you took your time getting here and the hallways are totally empty, so yeah.”

Suga leans against the locker next to yours, crossing his arms as he watches you struggle to place one of your textbooks on the top shelf. He leans forward quickly, grabbing it from your hands to place it above your head with ease.

“You really think I would let my best friend walk home on a Friday afternoon, all alone, with no one to protect her? Geeze Y/n, your expectations of me are very low,” he pouts as he looks away, brown eyes gleaming playfully as you pick up your bag in one hand, closing the locker with the other.

You shove him, bag slipping from your hands as you slam him against a locker. Laughs bubble out from the two of you, and you are so distracted by trying to catch your breath from all the giggles to notice that Suga has slung your bag over his shoulder and has tossed his arm around you, guiding you out of the building.

Casual conversation is held between the two of you as he walks you home. Suga talks about his classes and the status of his college applications. You talk about how you were so excited for the weekend because you finally got a break from classes and you got to sleep in the following morning.

It seemed to be too soon when you landed on the steps of your front door. Suga rubs the back of his head with a soft grin, offering your bag out with his opposite hand.

You tuck a piece of hair behind your ear and murmur, “Thanks Suga, I always appreciate it when you walk me home. I know you could always drive us, but the weather was so nice today and...”

A slight warmth hovers over your cheeks as your words trail off and you shrug as you grab your bag from him. You look down at your feet before mumbling out, “and I guess I like spending time with you outside of class and stuff.”

Suga lays a hand on your shoulder, causing you to look up at him quickly. His head tilts softly, like how he does, and chuckles, “Well I enjoy it too, Y/n! This is what best friends do, so you can count on me!” With his last words, his thumb juts toward himself and he gives you another one of his classic smiles.

You can feel a slight drop in your mood at his words. This is what best friends do. The silver-haired boy in front of you had been your best friend for years, but now he’s in high school and he’s not the same little kid he used to be.

He was thick with muscle from playing volleyball, and he was devastatingly handsome. Suga’s concerned face suddenly has you focusing back in as the hand he rested on your shoulder moves to cup your face softly.

“Are you alright, Y/n? You looked kinda dizzy there for a second, do I need to walk you in-” “I’m okay,” you chirp out as your (colored) eyes widen. Suga flinches at your words before pulling away from you, tucking his hands into his pockets.

You immediately feel bad for slightly snapping at him, he was always just trying to help. “I promise I’m good, Suga,” you say more gently, “I was just lost in thought there for a second.”

He gives you a nod and then a look of thought travels across his face. Suga opens his mouth to say something, but your front door opens to your mom’s voice, and you turn away from him before he gets the chance to speak.

“Hi mum,” you call as you wave to her. Suga doesn’t say anything but just lifts a hand to wave at her as he starts to back up. “Hey, Y/n, I gotta go home, I’ll text you, yeah?” he says softly as he turns away.

You nod over your shoulder as Suga fully turns around, too quick for you to see the blush on his cheeks and the embarrassed look on his face. He curses under his breath as he walks away from your house and down the sidewalk. 

You were his best friend, so why the hell was it becoming so hard to talk to you?

The following week was difficult for Suga after his failed attempt to ask you his lingering question. He had been invited to New York City for an event by his coach, Keishin Ukai. 

All of his friends were going with their girlfriends and significant others, and he didn’t want to show up alone. Suga didn’t really bother to listen to what the event was about, but he knew it was supposed to be a black-tie affair.

There were two reasons why he was struggling to ask you to go with him. The first reason, although selfish and a daydream, was every time he would go to ask you, all he could picture was the way you would look in a floor-length dress like that. Would you want to wear purple or blue? Maybe even an emerald green?

Just the thought of you looking so ravishing on his arm had his tongue-tied and all rational thought leave his head. His second reason was a bit selfish too, and it was because it was you.

You were his best friend. You were more than his best friend. You were his person, the one who he loved and enjoyed more than anyone else. Yeah, he had the biggest and sweetest crush on you, and no way to tell you.

How couldn’t he love you? You were absolutely stunning, you had an amazing sense of humor with a perfect midnight laugh. You were so, so kind to others, and the soft touches on the shoulder and friendly hugs were more than enough to make his heart skip in his chest.

So, when he acted slightly weird around you after that day he walked you home, you began to worry that you had done or said something to push him away. You didn’t want there to be tension between the two of you, you guys were best friends!

You both were currently sitting in Suga’s personal library after school hours, books sprawled out in front of you as you studied for your upcoming tests. Suga sat in front of you, glasses perched on his nose as he read from a small journal, taking small notes every few seconds.

On the other hand, you were furiously doing math homework, sketching out curves of complex equations, and typing things aggressively into your calculator. Suga glances up at you in concern when you let out a huff after loud clacking into your calculator.

“Everything alright, Y/n? What did that poor calculator do to you?” he chuckles lightly, setting his journal down and lightly stretching, leaning his palm against his face as he gives you his full attention.

You look up from your calculator a little wildly, a flush covering your cheeks as you register Suga’s words and his brown eyes on you. You push the calculator away from you as you murmur, “I just… I really don’t like math.”

Suga nods knowingly and takes a closer look at what you were trying to do. “Yeah, I don’t want any of that,” he laughs out with a disgusted look on his face. 

You pout and cross your arms, giving Suga the best puppy eyes that you could. “Pleaseeee, Suga? You are so good at math, you took this class a whole year early!”

Suga just rolls his eyes before scooting over to your side, one arm resting on the back of your chair as his eyes flicked over the problem. You tried to focus on the small corrections he was giving you, something about concavity and zeros on the graph.

It was difficult to think about math when your really, really cute best friend had his glasses on and was trying to teach you something. 

Holy shit he looks so hot, you think to yourself as you watch Suga redraw the graph you were miserably failing at. No wonder he wants to be a teacher, he’s amazing at this. Wait! Why am I thinking like this? He’s my best friend! I don’t like him like that!

“You got all this?” Suga asks you, a gentle expression on his face as he finishes the sketch, holding it up to show you. You blink dumbly at him for a second before nodding, “Yeah, uh, thanks, Suga.”

He gives you a short nod back but doesn’t return to his seat. He reaches for the journal he had been reading but stops and turns back to you.

“Hey, Y/n, I actually have something to ask you,” a blush starts to creep up his neck and red coats the tips of his ears. You turn away from your math homework to get a better look at your best friend.

One of his hands goes to scratch at his neck while he stutters out, “I- I, uhm, was wondering if you would w-want to go to this, uhm event with me? It’s in New York, so I get it if you don’t feel comfortable and it’s-”

“Suga, I would love to!” you chirp out, a smile gracing your features as you place a hand on his shoulder. A deep sigh of relief leaves his lips as he grins back at you, “Thank goodness, I really didn’t want to go alone. Not when Daichi and Asahi are going to show up with pretty girls on their arms.”

You blink at his words and look toward the floor, “Are you asking me just because I’m your best friend? Or am I pretty enough to fit in with your friends?” A sinking feeling hits your stomach as you realize the differences between you two.

It was easy to forget Suga’s wealthy status when he was your best friend. You had grown up together, so he just seemed like family. Suga never truly liked to flaunt his money or possessions, so it never really bothered you. But here he was, asking you to fly across the globe to go to an event with other rich people.

Suga quickly waves his hands in front of him before awkwardly trying to reassure you, “No, no, Y/n!! You are my best friend, and well, you’re really pretty- I just thought you might want to go, and I don’t think you aren’t pretty, in fact, I think you're one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen!”

A silence falls over the two of you as you both look at each other in surprise at Suga’s small outburst. You burst out laughing at the embarrassment on Suga’s face, hands clutching toward your stomach out of habit.

“You should have seen your face, Suga! Oh my gosh, you really are too sweet for your own good sometimes,” you squeak out in between giggles. Suga visibly relaxes at your words, and then pouts in his chair, sticking his tongue out at you in annoyance.

A smirk appears on Suga’s lips as he turns back to you, an evil look plastered onto his face. Your eyes widen as you start to realize what that look meant.

“No, SUGAAAAA!! Do we have to go shopping?” you whine as he pulls you into a new store. He just laughs and reassures you that it was very important.

“You have to pick a dress to wear at the event, Y/n,” he states, hands looking through the rack of dresses in your size. You stop for a moment to admire him, his brown eyes looking over each dress, taking in every part before deciding if it was your style or not.

“Can I at least pick which color we wear?” you ask as you slide in next to him. Suga just laughs and nods as he pulls a dress off the rack to show you.

The rest of the afternoon is spent shopping for new suitcases, outfits, and of course, the dress you were going to wear at the event. Suga left you to get your dress fitted as he went to find a matching tux.

You surprisingly trusted him to get a suit that matched well enough, because it’s Suga here. He is quite the fashionista, and he had a picture of your dress to show to his tailor. You would be taking the clothes with you that day, as the plane would leave the following morning.

You both had agreed to meet at the airport in the morning, Suga had even gone as far as to have a car drop by your house to pick you up, and all of your luggage would be loaded by some of his private crew. 

Suga waved at you as you slid out of the car he sent, and you lifted your arm to wave back. You thanked the driver and slid out, your carry-on slung over your shoulder as you made your way over to him.

The private jet was waiting and ready to go, so you both boarded the awaiting plane and got buckled in for take-off. You had asked Suga if you could sit next to him, as you were a little uneasy about flying, and being next to him would be comforting enough for you until you got up into the sky.

He, of course, was reading over the itinerary for the event, but the feeling of being up in the plane made you slightly sick to your stomach. Your head landed on his shoulder, and before you knew it, you were asleep on his shoulder.

Suga looks down at you with a soft admiration and love in his eyes, and he allows himself to enjoy the closeness with you. He gently rests the side of his head against the top of yours, and he slips an arm behind your back so you could be more comfortable. It was going to be a long flight to New York City.

It wasn’t long before your plane landed and you were sleepily getting ushered into a fancy black car. The hotel you were staying at was apparently one of the nicest around, so you couldn’t complain as your heavy eyes stared out the window.

Neither you nor Suga said anything when you woke up from your nap, and neither of you noticed the faint blush coating the other’s cheeks when you pulled away. Suga, ever the gentleman, had helped you down from the plane and carried your bag the whole way to where the car was waiting.

You could hear the radio faintly in the background, along with the soft and calm voice of Suga. He was on the phone with one of his friends, you couldn’t tell if it was Daichi or Asahi though. Suga told whoever was on the other side that you both had landed safely and were going to the hotel to relax after the long flight.

Soon enough you are facing a very large and fancy-looking hotel, bright lights shining down against the darkened night sky. You are caught staring for a moment before your car door opens to Suga staring down at you.

“We’re here, Y/n. Let's grab our bags from the trunk and get settled in,” he murmurs quietly, as if to not startle you. You give him a nod before beginning to slide out of the seat, knees wobbly as you stand up straight.

Large and comforting hands steady you on either side of your hips, and you look up to see warm honey-colored eyes staring back at you. “Ya okay there, Y/n? I don’t have to carry you now, do I?”

A chuckle leaves both of your lips as he pulls away, handing you your backpack and rolling your suitcase up next to you. The two of you head into the main lobby, waiting for a minute to get your room number before locating the elevator.

You once again slump against Suga as the numbers on the elevator click by slowly. Suga glances down at your tired form with affection in his eyes, and he whispers, “Hey, you can’t be falling asleep yet. You slept almost for the whole plane ride, and we’ve got some things to go over.”

You turn your head to glance up at him with confusion lacing your features. “Whatcha mean we got things to go over? Like for the event?” you question him, eyes flicking over his face tiredly.

Suga nods as the elevator opens to your floor, and he leads the way down the hallway to where your large room was waiting. You had asked him if you could share a room, as you had never been to NYC before and were hesitant to be alone.

As you get your things situated, Suga explains how with his friends at the event you can be yourself; goofy, charismatic, and so on. He also mentioned how his coach was going to be there after traveling, and that you would have to be pretty put together in front of him.

“This sounds like a lot, Suga,” you fret, hands fiddling with your suitcase as you pull out a pair of pajamas. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to remember all of this.”

Suga doesn’t say anything for a second before he looks you square in the eyes and says, “Well don’t worry about it too much. I’ll be right there beside you, Y/n. I drug you into this mess, I can at least be by your side for the whole night.”

You gave him a smile before nodding to the bathroom, “I’m going to get a shower now, is that alright?” Suga just gives you a quick thumbs up over his shoulder as he reaches for the remote to turn on the tv. 

You wander into the very large bathroom, taking in the high ceiling and marble countertops. You set your clothes down next to the sink before turning on the water and getting ready for your shower. Tomorrow was the big day, after all.

The night was young as the bright lights from the city reflected off the windows of the black limo you were sitting in. Suga was sitting across from you, head resting against the window as he watched the streets fly by.

He looked handsome. He looked sinfully handsome. His legs were crossed, and maybe that was a good thing. You could stop staring at his thick and muscular thighs.

You couldn’t help looking at your best friend like this. The way his perfectly tailored vest fit snugly across his chest was distracting, and the way the sleeves to his black button-up were rolled to expose his strong forearms was unforgivable. 

Suga was looking out of the window for one reason and one reason only. He was trying to stop staring at you because holy shit his best friend was riding in a limo with him to a huge event, and oh my goodness did you look divine.

Your flowy black dress filled a good portion of the limo, so Suga couldn’t really sit next to you anyways. In general, he was struggling to contain himself around you, so he opted for quietly watching from the window as you played on your phone.

The limo stopped after a few more minutes of driving, and suddenly you had arrived at a huge mansion just outside of Manhattan. Suga helped you out of the limo, offering his arm to you as you walked toward the growing party.

You clung on tight to Suga’s arm as he began talking to CEOs and other pompous aristocrats, your (colored) eyes scanning around you to see if you could recognize anyone. Suga mentions you a few times to the people he’s talking to, and you say a few words here or there, letting Suga carry the weight of the conversation.

Soon enough, the conversation ends and Suga leads you away from those people before leaning down to whisper in your ear, “You’re doing great, Y/n. Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”

Your (colored) eyes look up to him quickly, a warmth flooding your cheeks as you scan over his features. He looked as calm and collected as ever, his brown eyes watching the crowd as he guided you toward a less busy corner.

“You look handsome tonight too, Suga,” you murmur shyly as he finally lets his gaze settle over you. He playfully punches your shoulder and chuckles out, “Hey, I was trying to be nice and make this about you, ya know.”

You got to shove him back playfully before you catch sight of shoulder-length brown hair, paired with a barely-there scruff. 

“Asahi!” you call out, waving at him as he catches sight of you and Suga. A man slightly shorter than Asahi follows behind him.

Suga turns away from you to see Asahi and Daichi approaching and he opens his arms wide for a hug. “Asahi, Daichi! Good to see ya, fellows. How have you been?” Suga asks them, pulling you up next to him so you could say hello to his buddies.

Asahi gives a shy smile as Suga wraps him in a big bear hug and he stutters out, “I’ve uh, I’ve been good Suga- I can’t b-breathe when you sQUEeze me that tight.” Daichi just laughs and pulls Suga away to do the handshake chest bump thing that guys always do.

“Nice to see you Suga, Y/n, I haven’t seen you in forever! You look beautiful tonight,” Daichi says as he pulls Suga under his arm. Suga shoots you a sheepish grin as his best friends begin to pull him away.

“Y/n, is it alright if we steal him for a little while? To catch up?” Asahi asks as Daichi starts ushering Suga away from you. You just give Suga a little wave as you respond to Asahi, “Yeah, no problem! Just bring him back to me in one piece.”

Asahi laughs as he follows the captain and vice-captain into the mix of the party. You are left alone for a brief moment before someone calls your name. You look around, but you don’t see anyone you recognize.

Suddenly, two shorter boys appear in front of you, large toothy grins gleaming at you. “Noya! Hinata! How are you?!” you squeal out as you trap them both in a hug. 

A bored voice from behind them mutters out, “They should be better, they’ve been slacking off at practices.” You pull away and lunge at Kageyama, wrapping the tall, lanky boy in a tight hug with a cry of, “Kags! I should have known you would be here!”

“Hey!!! Why don’t I get any love?” came the fourth voice, and you turn to be faced with Tanaka. You let a laugh leave your lips as you give the last boy a hug before pulling back to look at all four of them.

“I haven’t seen you all in so long, you all look so handsome!” you state happily, hands toying with the side of your dress as you gaze upon them. Tanaka, Hinata, and Noya all beam under your praise, while Kageyama just blushes faintly and covers it up with a cough.

Noya looks around you for a second, confusion obvious on his face as he ponders aloud, “Where’s Sugawara? He was the one who brought you right?”

You go to tell him that Asahi and Daichi stole him but you are cut off by Hinata chirping out, “Yeah, is he like your boyfriend or something now?”

“Oh quit it, you moron,” Kageyama snaps at him, “Sugawara would have told us if he managed to snag her, dumbass.”

You blink dumbly at them all for a second before they all look up at you, eyes wide like puppies who ate something they shouldn’t have. Tanaka breaks the silence by saying, “C’mon guys, do you really think Suga could catch someone as pretty as Y/n? I don’t think so!”

“Hey, I would watch your mouth there, Tanaka,” Daichi’s voice comes. Asahi and Sugawara are right behind him, and Suga slides in next to you with an apologetic smile. He leans down to whisper in your ear as Daichi starts arguing with Tanaka, “Sorry I took so long, the guys really missed me, and I-”

You quickly shush him and shrug with a smile, “No, no it’s alright. I was just catching up with these lunatics.” Suga gives you a grateful smile in return before looking back at his friends, laughing along with a joke Noya told Asahi.

Your (colored) eyes flick over Suga’s handsome face, taking in the soft pink on his cheeks from laughing, the beauty mark next to his eye, and the gentle curve of his lips as he smiles at his friends.

You must have kept your eyes on Suga for a second too long, because Hinaya peeps out, “Hey, Y/n, is there something on Suga’s face that you’re looking at?”

You tear your eyes away from Suga as fast as you can to look anywhere but at any of the people around you. The group of boys all watch you as your face flushes and your mouth gapes open, but no words come out.

Suga starts to get concerned when you don’t say anything, and he murmurs to you, “Hey, what’s going on? Y/n are you okay? Your face is burning up.” You remain silent as you try to think of anything to say, so Suga nods to Daichi as he starts to pull you away from the crowd.

Suga guides you through a large set of heavy spruce doors before leading you out into a small garden. The cool night air helps to calm the rush of heat coating your face and neck, and Suga takes a deep breath in before sighing it out slowly.

“What was all that back there?” Suga asks quietly as you sit down on a long bench on the side of the garden. You avert your eyes away from him as you fiddle with the layers of tool from your black dress.

“Y/n?” Suga asks as he leans down to you, resting one arm on the bench next to you, caging you to the bench with just his body. He brings his other hand up to cup your cheek, bringing your eyes to meet his. You gulp at the warmth of his touch, even though you feel shivers down your spine.

Suga’s expression is anything but harsh though, there is only concern and care in his eyes as he gazes down at you. You open your mouth to answer him but you are left with silence hanging in the air. Suga tries to give you an encouraging smile, allowing his hand to drop from your face to grab one of your hands.

“You know you can tell me anything, Y/n. I’m your best friend.” But I want to be more. The words were left hanging on his tongue, but you didn’t know any different because you were so caught up in your own head.

“I uh, yeah, thanks Suga. I guess I just got lost in thought and zoned out for a minute,” your murmur as you look down at his hand on yours. Best friend. That’s what Suga was to you, a best friend, a study partner, your everything.

“Suga, I-” “Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Tonight is about having fun, so we don’t have to get too much into this, okay?” Suga cuts you off gently, squeezing your hands reassuringly before reaching behind you to pluck a rose from the bush near your head.

He carefully peels the thorns off quickly before he turns back to you, sliding the brilliant red rose behind your ear with a soft caress to your cheek. He gives you a slight smirk before he shifts his weight and murmurs, “I meant it earlier. You really do look gorgeous tonight, Y/n.”

You blush under his watchful gaze, and you can see his eyes trail over your whole face, even going as far as to take a step back to look at you in your dress. He lets a cheeky whistle slide from his lips as he looks at you fondly, and this time you are at a loss for words because of the way he’s looking at you.

He’s never looked at you like this before.

It was quiet in the car, no music, no hushed whispers, just hanging silence. It wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable, but you could feel some tension between you and Suga. 

You were feeling a lot of things after the way he looked at you, but he brushed the situation off fairly quickly, lending you a hand before whisking you back to the party where his friends were waiting.

Suga helped carry the train on your dress as you made your way up to your room, only a few words being passed between the two of you to keep the dress in the best shape possible.

Once you made it comfortably inside the room you turned to Suga, a faint blush coating your cheeks as he unbuttoned the silver-colored vest that was wrapped so neatly around his torso.

“Hey Suga,” you mumble, hands clenching at your sides as you inwardly groan. He turns to you quickly before murmuring back, “Yeah?”

You shuffle closer to him before turning your back to him and saying over your shoulder, “Could you unzip me? I don’t think I can reach it.”

Suga just nods, and he has to clear his throat and mind to keep his thoughts from straying. His mind was tired and he could make a fool of himself if he wasn’t careful.

One of Suga’s warm hands rests on your waist as a brace, and the other hand uses its nimble fingers to slowly slide the zipper down your back. Suga’s breath catches in his throat for a second, his hands lingering longer than they should have.

He can’t help the way he’s looking at you when you turn to face him. His eyes are blown out wide, full of some unknown emotion as he looks over you. Suddenly it clicks in your head.

He’s giving you the same look he gave you in the garden. It’s an intricate look, one of many layers, the first and most outward one being happiness. Then, maybe some adoration and giddiness. But the final depth to it, you couldn’t quite place your finger on it.

You turn to fully face him, opening your mouth to speak before he spits out, “You can have the bathroom first, I’ll uhm, I’ll get changed out here.”

You give him a nod before shuffling over to your suitcase and grabbing your pajamas before slipping into the bathroom. Once the door shuts behind you, a shaky sigh leaves your lips as you lean up against the door.

Fuck, what was that just then?

You get changed as quickly as you can, hanging the dress on its hanger before jumping in the shower. Once you take a quick shower, you wipe your makeup off and comb through your hair. You splash some cool water on your face to help you clear your thoughts, and you lock eyes with yourself in the mirror.

I’ve got to be honest with myself. Something is going on here, and I’m not really sure what it is. I can’t deny it, I like him. I like him a whole hell of a lot. I just can’t ruin this…

You shake your head to try to rid yourself of your lingering thoughts before you walk back out into the main living area of the hotel room. At first, you don’t notice where Suga is at, but then when you catch sight of him, a flush is filling your cheeks before you can help it.

Suga’s back was facing you, but it was very much a shirtless back, and while you had seen him shirtless after practices or even when you were swimming in his pool, this was different. This was domestic, there wasn’t anyone else between you two.

You squeak as you drop your phone, the small rectangle cracking against your foot in your stupor of Suga’s back muscles. He turns around quickly at your cry, and you avert your eyes to the floor to pick up your phone, trying to relax the rapid beating of your heart in your chest.

When you look up, Suga is pulling on a shirt, but you still manage to see the nice set of muscles set upon his toned torso. You wander over to your suitcase, putting away your toothbrush and other small items before glancing over at him.

Suga was already looking at you and he quips out, “Why’s your face all red? Did you use up all the hot water?” You just giggle to try to cover your butt, and he joins in as you nod, “Yeah, you know me too well, Suga.”

The rest of the evening slides by rather silently, with you scrolling through your phone before giving up and trying to sleep. Suga, however, is sitting at the desk next to his bed, reading one of the books he packed. He even had his reading glasses on so he could dim the light a little more for you, in hopes you would be able to fall asleep.

After 30 minutes of tossing and turning you shuffle up and whisper out, “Suga? Do you think you could lay with me? I can’t seem to fall asleep.” When Suga looks up from his book at you, your hair is slightly mussed from your constant motion, and your t-shirt is just barely hanging off your shoulder.

You looked as exhausted as he felt. He just gives a tired smile before nodding and placing his book down. He slides his glasses off before rubbing at his tired eyes, flicking the lamp off as he stands up.

Suga walks over to the side of your bed closest to his, so that if you wanted him to move to his own bed, it would be less of a hazard in the darkness. You pull the covers back for him, and soon enough Suga is settling down next to you, laying flat on his back.

You roll over onto your side to face him, and in the darkness, you can see his eyes twinkling from the lights of the city behind him. You whisper into the darkness, “Thanks for inviting me on this trip, Suga. It means a lot, you know. I’m not one who grew up with all the fancy things you have, so this was a true experience for me. Thank you.”

You can hear a tired chuckle from Suga as he whispers back to you, “No, Y/n. Thank you for coming with me. Don’t know what I would have done without you today.”

You just smile to yourself at his words, your heart fluttering a little more as you hear him softly groan as he fluffs his pillow before flopping down again. You blink once before closing your eyes and murmuring, “Goodnight, Suga.”

A quiet, “Goodnight, Y/n,” is the only response you hear before you are pulled under by sleep. Except you missed the silent thought floating around in Suga’s head.

I love you.

A soft beam of glowing sunlight is what wakes you up, the ray shining brightly into your face as it slid past the parted curtain. You blink your eyes a few times to allow them to adjust to the light, and you are confused for a second at how heavy the blanket feels around you.

Said heavy blanket groans softly in your ear as he too squints at the light filling the room. Suga’s arm was wrapped firmly around your waist, pulling you close to his broad chest. This had you waking up fast, because the fact that your best friend was most definitely spooning you right now was a little jarring.

A groggy but deep grumble of “G’morning” falls from Suga’s lips as he nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck. Warm puffs of air from his nose land on your skin, and you shiver at the goosebumps that rise on your arms and legs.

Suga shuffles a little more, tightening his grip around you as he mumbles, “You cold, Y/n? I’m roasting right now.” You giggle at his words before turning around in his arms, a whine leaving his lips as you shuffle around.

“Good morning, Suga,” you whisper as he blinks sleepily at you, large brown eyes soft in his morning glow. “Good morning, Y/n,” he says back with a dopey grin, a slight flush covering his cheeks at your close proximity.

You push on his chest with a gentle shove and another giggle as you murmur, “You said that already, you dork.” Suga just chuckles along with you and says, “I guess I’m not used to waking up next to you. We’ve been best friends for how long now and we’ve never had to share a bed?”

You both laugh at his words, enjoying each other’s company for another quiet minute before Suga’s phone starts ringing. Suga rolls onto his back with a loud groan, his arms and legs making a large starfish across the bed, pushing you off in his haste.

You cough a few times as you glare up at him, and Suga just points to his phone and mouths, “Sorry, I need to take this.” He grabs a pair of clothes before disappearing into the bathroom without another word.

The soft noise of the shower turning on alerts you that it was safe to get changed, so you pulled on a pair of jeans and a comfortable sweater before scrolling through your phone as you waited for Suga.

The day itself wasn’t meant to be super exciting, Suga had gotten an extra day in Manhattan for you to sightsee and go shopping. The flight to Japan was leaving that night though, and it was the last flight leaving for the night so you couldn’t miss it.

Suga allows you to drag him around the city, taking pictures at small cafes and huge signs here or there for your family back home. There was one building that had pretty brickwork and you asked Suga if he wanted to take a selfie with you.

He took the selfie on his phone, he had the better camera after all. You both smiled at the camera with large grins before Suga started counting down, “3… 2…. 1… ” and on what should have been cheese, he pressed a gentle kiss to the side of your cheek instead.

You tried not to think about the lingering feeling of his lips on your cheek as you ask him to send you the photo. Little do you know, he saved it as his lock screen while he was waiting for your phone to receive the picture.

After getting dinner at a small and locally owned restaurant, Suga begins pulling you toward the hotel. You both pack up your suitcases and bags, and before you knew it you were boarding the same jet that had taken you to the states.

The sky was pitch black as the plane ascended upwards, and you find yourself burying your face into your hands as you adjust to the feeling of being thousands of feet in the air. Suga was sitting next to you quietly, writing something in his journal about the event and talking to the CEOs.

The silence isn’t necessarily comfortable, there’s nothing except for the sound of the flight, and you can’t help but feel like you need to say something. You shuffle in your seat for a second, trying to get comfortable on the large cushion underneath you without bumping into Suga.

“Hey, Suga?” you ask softly, trying to not bug him if he was writing something important. He finishes writing whatever thought he had before turning to you, one hand coming up to rest against his cheek as he regards you.

“Yeah?” he prompts as he looks over your form, your hands clenching together as if you were unsure if what you were going to say was okay or not.

You turn to face him a little more, and you stare directly into his brown eyes as you say, “Thank you, again for taking me on this trip. I really had a lot of fun, and it was great to see Daichi and Asahi again. Noya and Tanaka too of course...”

Your words start to fade in Suga’s head as he gazes upon you. The lights from the city were shining brightly against the night sky behind you, lighting up the hair around you like a golden halo. The soft and warm-toned lights from inside the plane made your (colored) eyes sparkle, and suddenly, all Suga could think about was you.

He thought about all the times he tried to ask a girl out on a date, but they all rejected him because they thought he had a girlfriend. Suga was always so confused, he was hurt by the fact that no one wanted to date the rich kid, no one even tried to mooch off of him.

And it was because everyone knew he had you. You were always by his side, eating lunch next to him, walking to class with him, getting rides home in the winter because he didn’t want you walking home in the snow.

He had fallen so utterly and deeply in love with you over the years, and he was ready to toss it all out of the window with his next action.

Slowly but confidently, Suga brings his right hand up to cup your cheek, allowing his hand to glide behind your head. He leans in, eyes soft but determined. You didn’t understand what was going on at first, allowing your words to slowly drift off as Suga was the only thing you could think of.

His left hand finds a place on your waist, pulling you gently toward him as his head starts to tilt to the right. Your heart starts beating faster in your chest as butterflies erupt in your stomach. 

Suga was giving you all the time if you so desired to pull away, but he was pleasantly surprised when you leaned in, lips parting ever so slightly as you shut your eyes.

His lips felt like fire and ice all at once, burning and freezing as the air left your lungs. Kissing Suga was like eating a meal after fasting for weeks on end. He felt so much like home it almost scared you.

Suga’s lips move against yours at a bruising pace, letting you set the tone of the passionate kiss. You hear a slight groan from Suga when you brush your tongue against his bottom lip. He takes charge quickly though, his tongue chasing after yours playfully.

You try to battle him for dominance, your hands sliding across his chest before rising to tug on his hair. Suga takes this chance to tug gently on your bottom lip with his teeth before pulling away slowly, chest heaving from the weight behind the kiss.

You lean forward quickly though, press a soft peck on his lips before he pulls you close, leaning your forehead against his while you both catch your breath. No words are shared for a second as you both regain somewhat normal breathing, and this time you notice the flush on Suga’s cheeks.

You can see the city lights reflecting on his face as he looks at you, eyes blown wide with surprise and happiness, and definitely something else.

It’s the look he gave you in the garden, and it’s the look he gave you when he helped you out of your dress. This time, words start to come to mind to describe the look he’s giving you.

It’s tender and sweet. It’s fond and warm. It’s so Suga. It’s so… intimate.

You go to say something, but Suga beats you to it as he reaches for your hand. Suga swallows thickly and then says, “Y/n, I- I'm sorry, I don’t know what came over me, but hear me out okay?”

You open your mouth to interject, but you decide against it and give him a nod. He takes a deep breath and squeezes your hand ever so slightly, his own shaking slightly at his sudden nerves.

“Y/n, I know we have been best friends for a long time, and I really have enjoyed our friendship, and I mean it. But, I can’t deny it any longer,” he looks down at your hands before looking you square in the eyes.

“I am in love with you, and I have been for years now. I tried to play it off as sisterly love, because we were practically raised together. But I couldn’t deny the way my chest would flutter when yet another girl would turn me down for one reason and one reason only, you.”

You blink in surprise for a second, but Suga continues, “I couldn’t help but feel mad when jocks from the soccer team would try to ask you to the spring formal. I thought it was because I am your best friend, but I love you more than that.”

You give him a smile back, a warm feeling spreading over your body as you manage to choke out, “I love you to Suga, and not just in the best friend kind of way.”

Relief and joy flood Suga’s face, and you almost swore you saw tears gather at the edges of his eyes. He flushes softly before murmuring, “Can I kiss you again?”

You give him a gentle nod before he pulls you onto his lap, holding you close to his toned chest before leaning forward and kissing you like his life depended on it.

And on that flight, city lights against the midnight sky became an ambient background as the two of you discovered what you had been missing out on for all these years.

[jvnghxope]

love sewn | three (m)

part three;

◦ pairing: Jungkook | reader

◦ genre: boy next door au; fluff, smut, a little angsty at the end

◦ word count: 7.4k+

◦ warnings: sexual themes, penetrative sex, swear words, alcohol consumption

◦ abstract: You’ve never cared about the thin-as-paper walls of your beloved apartment until Jeon Jungkook moved next door. You could hear everything –from his late-night parties on Saturday, to the quality time he spent with his girlfriend in the intimacy of his bedroom. One day, everything ceases. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and you find yourself knocking his door before you can think it twice.

⇥ prologue | part one | part two | part three | final

“So, we are going to steal clothes and you guys are going to lose your job...” Namjoon comments behind your back. 

You exchange slightly panicked glances with Taehyung. 

"We’re not going to steal anything. We’re just going to borrow,” he quickly interjects before the panic gets the worst of you. You need to admit that you are a little nervous about this, too. 

"Still, I think this is a bad idea," Hoseok laughs nervously. 

“Hobi, everything is going to be okay." You take your friend’s hand in an attempt to ease his nerves. He doesn’t like to lie. He is really bad at that and he avoids doing anything illegal as much as possible. 

“Don’t worry. We have a key. It’s not like we are trespassing.”  

Hobi nods, a little calmer now and followed you inside the building. 

The gala is next Saturday and you still don’t know which dress you’ll use. Jungkook texted you about the gala theme just a couple of hours ago –you finally decided to reply to his question earlier that day (yeah, it took you a whole week to answer)– and is 'Family'. You have no idea what that means or how you are supposed to wear in a gala with that theme, but Jungkook kindly replied to your panicked text with ‘Dress formal. Like the type of dresses you designed last time. :)’ 

Your heart jumped at the emoji, but it’s not like you are going to admit that in front of your friends. 

That’s why you are now in front of the building of your office. Besides Taehyung, you are pretty sure only Joon owns a dress shirt. Luckily for you and your besties, the firm keeps every piece of cloth designed in a big ass warehouse inside the building. You remember seeing a collection of beautiful dresses and formal suits the last time you were honored to be inside.  

Once inside, your group of friends split in the seek for the perfect outfit. 

“There’s no way I’ll use that,” you hear Namjoon says from afar. 

“What do you mean?” you don’t need to see Taehyung’s face to see that he’s pulling the ‘Are you serious?’ Face. “It’s a beautiful color!” 

Listening to your friends arguing, even when is over a simple thing like what color of suit to use, always makes you chuckle. Sometimes is like they are 15 instead of in their mid-twenties.  

“Oh my god! This dress is gorgeous!” Anna exclaims next to you. The dress she is holding is gorgeous. Emerald green, long sleeves, lace-made, Greek-style shirt a little over the knees. It is the perfect dress for your cute friend. “I’ll try this one,” she chimes excitedly. 

“Perhaps it was not a good idea to bring you here. I’ll need to tear that dress from you if I ever want to return it.” 

“Yep,” she quickly agrees before running to the nearest dress room.  

You can't help but smile as you keep searching for a dress. But any convince you enough. It is either the design or the color. That pink is too bright; that blue looks so sad; that orange color is not that cute… You are about to give up. Maybe the perfect dress for you is not around here. 

But then, you arrive at a hidden space that is not properly illuminated. This time, the clothes are not scattered in counters, hanging from hooks or ordered by color. Instead, they are carefully guarded inside boxes. The wall is full of them. 

You know for sure the firm doesn’t throw away the clothes from past seasons. They keep the best designs made every collection. There is a high possibility that some of these designs were used by top models in previous Fashion Weeks.  

You open a few of them, finding cardigans, skirts from all shapes, types, and colors. Each piece is carefully saved. You gasp the moment you open another box.  The most beautiful dress is inside of it. It is a beautiful tone of crimson and made of silk. It is soft to touch. You carefully take the dress out of the box and with fear you look for the tag to see if the dress is of your size. It must be your lucky day because it is. 

“Oh, there you are! I want to use black heels with the dress but Tae told me I should use a pair of silver stilettos. Or even gold ones. What do you think-” She stops talking the moment she notices the dress between your arms and how you are holding it, like is a treasure. “That dress is beautiful! You should wear that one.”

You look at her with wide eyes, “But we’re not supposed to take anything from these boxes…”

“We’re not supposed to take anything from the warehouse. Why don’t you try it on?” 

Well, she has a point. 

Minutes later, you are staring at your reflection in the mirror. 

You look… different. The dress is hugging all your curves in the right way and the color enhances your skin tone. The skirt is pooling around your ankles. You love long dresses. It makes your legs look longer and they are pretty elegant. 

Ok. You will just take the dress for one night, like Cinderella, and return it right away. 

You turn around and see Anna taking some snaps of herself in excitement. Your male friends are in the corner. Taehyung and Namjoon still arguing about which color of jacket Namjoon should use with his tailored slacks. Seokjin is rubbing his temples like he’s tired of that shit and Hoseok, oblivious to the situation folding behind him, is admiring himself in the mirror. He looks handsome in that jacket. Floral print designs are very difficult to pull out but Hoseok is one of the lucky ones. 

It was not a good idea to come here, you quickly realize. Because as you watch the anticipation slowly starting to build inside your friend’s –and your own– chest, you know there's no way you'll be willing to return the clothes, putting your job at risk. But seeing the way your friends are smiling, it'll be worth it. 

The rest of the week passes painfully slow. 

You haven’t seen Jungkook in two weeks and you are starting to get anxious. The last time you saw him he asked you on a date and you feel like it is a turning point in your relationship. 

Since you met, you've been friends. But he asking you out means that he is ready to take the next step. The question is, are you? 

Despite the growing feelings you may have about him, you are still not sure if you are ready to be in a relationship. And right now you don't have the energy to stress more about it. So you decide to follow Anna’s advice and let things flow. 

In the next few days, you focus on work and upcoming projects. 

The firm you work for has a new project and asked you to design a dress for a spring collection. Piece of cake. Or that’s what you thought at first. 

On Monday, you managed to draw some decent sketches. On Tuesday, you figured the design was not that good and decided to start over. On Wednesday, you locked up inside your office to get the job done, without good results. On Tuesday, you stayed at your apartment and did some home-office because your creative juices flow better in your studio. Finally, on Friday, it was decided you were having some... creative issues. 

Saturday arrived finally and the gala is the only thing you can think about. Seokjin makes waffles for breakfast, making the day twice as special –Seokjin only makes waffles in special occasions–.  

Today, it is twice as hard to stay focused on your work. The nerves and excitement make it difficult. You haven't talked that much with Jungkook this past week. He’s been busy with all the preparation for his gala. Your phone chimes with a new text and you are surprised it is of him. 

[2:05 pm] Jungkook

The limo will pick you up at 6 pm. Can't wait to see you.

The smile that spreads across your face is unintentional and you feel your cheeks go warm. You are just as excited to see him. Wow, and a limo. That’s so nice of him. You check the hour. Fuck, it is 3 pm! 

You have exactly 3 hours to get ready. You text Namjoon before entering the bathroom. 

You know the basics when it comes to makeup. But considering this is an important event (and a date), you ask Anna’s help. She was an Ace on that stuff. By 3:30 pm, she already had done her hair in curls and perfectly applied makeup when you were still a mess of wet hair and swollen, bare face.

With his help and an hour and a half later,  you find yourselves already tucked inside your dresses and snapping shots in the enormous mirror of the bathroom. You have time to spare while you wait for the boys to arrive. Seokjin even joins you after a while, looking all handsome with his black tuxedo and taking some photos with you and Anna. 

As Jungkook told you, the limo is waiting for you at 6 pm sharp. Dressed as you do, you feel like you are a movie star going to a Movie Premier. Someone steps out of the car and a part of you hopes it is Jungkook, but when a smile of a stranger graces your face, you can breathe properly again. This man is going to kill you someday. 

“Miss ___? I’m here to take you and your friends to mister Min and mister Jeon’s annual gala. Please, get inside,” he opens the door and motions the inside of the vehicle. Excited chuckles come from behind you as your friends urge you to get inside.

"Man, this is so cool," Hoseok comments while Namjoon pours each one of you a glass of champagne you guys found inside the mini-fridge. This whole thing feels like a dream. Dressed as superstars, riding a limo, drinking champagne. 

As time goes by, you notice the limo heading towards a part of the town known as the Art District. It used to be where all the industries held their big factories. Now, the enormous buildings transformed into luxurious art galleries, beautiful museums, bright dance studios, and lush condos. This part of the town supports anyone and everyone who decides to pursue art for a living. Thus, the firm you and Taehyung work for has its headquarters here. 

Several minutes after, you have in front of you the most glamorous building. It looks like a skyscraper, tall and magnificent. In daylight, the windows reflect the sunlight and it looks like the tower is made of glass. The locals know it as the Glass Tower. Now, the windows reflect the orange-ish of the sunset. 

This is the first time you enter the building, so you are not sure where to go. The driver parks the vehicle near the main entrance and opens the door for you. 

“Mr. Min and Mr. Jeon are waiting for you inside. Ask for them in the Lobby. They’ll direct you from there.” 

“Thank you,” you say with a smile.

The Lobby is just as impressive as the outside of the building. The white marble-like floor, the plants embellishing the corners, the mesmerizing paintings and photographies and the furniture make the room look artsy yet elegant. 

“Hey, we’re here for the gala…” Seokjin comments to the beautiful red-haired receptionist once you and your friends get near the enormous mahogany desk. Then, something weird happens. The receptionist's eyes illuminate like she just saw a star as her glance lay on yours and your friend’s frame. Like she recognizes you from somewhere. 

“Yes!” she chimes with an unexpectedly high-pitched voice. “Everyone is waiting for you. Please, go to the 15th floor.” 

With a nod, you do as instructed, not without hearing the receptionist over the phone: “The special guests just arrived!” 

Special guests? 

You don’t have time to dwell in what you just heard, because the next second the elevator doors open with a loud ‘ding’. The 15th floor displays a small lobby –a perfect combination of glass, ivory, and silver. Another beautiful lady is waiting for you in front of a pair of glass doors. 

“Welcome,” she says with a smile. “Please, follow me.” 

You exchange nervous glances with your friends and follow her lead. The moment she opens the gates is like you are in another world. The room before your eyes is enormous and it is already full of people. Just as you enter, two waitresses approach your group with a silver tray and glass cups with a golden, bubbly liquid. More Champagne. 

A man approaches your group once you take the cups. It is not the man you are hoping for but just as welcomed. 

“You are here!” Min Yoongi pulls you into a hug. You’ve been texting with him after your little –and too awkward– encounter at the café a couple of weeks ago. He’s pretty nice once you get to know him. 

“Yoongi! This is amazing!” you exclaim and he smiles, pleased. 

“Thank you.” He just noticed the way your eyes wander around the room looking for him. “I don’t think I have the pleasure.” He gestures your friends and you’re thankful for the distraction. 

The introductory part doesn’t last very long and Yoongi leads the group to a part he claims to be the beginning of the exhibition, each piece arranged to tell a story. One that ends with his and Jungkook’s exhibition. As you made your way through the mass of people, it is not the first time you feel someone else’s eyes glued to your back. 

“Am I the only one who feels everyone is staring at us?” you hear Namjoon asks. 

“I know, right?” 

The early discomfort soon soothes away as time goes by and the cups get purred with more champagne. Yoongi, self-proclaimed as your official guide, stays with you and explains the story behind each photography embellishing the gallery walls. It is supposed to be explained by its author, see, but with a large number of people filling the room, everyone’s busy and Yoongi, as the great host he is, is glad to help. It’s not like it is a bother to him. He is so passionate about the matter. A rosy excitement tinting his cheeks, a gummy smile displayed as he happily explains each one of the exhibitions.  

It is a pleasant surprise to notice that not only photographies are embellishing the walls of the gallery but paintings and sculptures too.  

Yoongi explains to the group the reason why they decided to arrange their gallery as they did: with fake walls placed to form a somewhat labyrinth, each fabricated room gives every exhibition solitude and protagonism. They wanted to enhance the singularities of each of their artists –even when they belong to the same gallery and built their exhibition under the same theme, they wanted to share the beauty in their differences and unique style. 

Each exhibition is just as beautiful and mesmerizing as the last one. The vivacious colors are still dancing behind your eyelids as your cup of champagne keeps getting re-filled with excited waitresses. You find yourself having a really good time in the company of your friends and Yoongi (who is slowly becoming your friend too). It warms your heart to see them just as excited as they were in the beginning and asking questions to Yoongi about the exhibitions. You even forget that Jungkook is, still, nowhere to be seen and the bubbling champagne hides the disappointment that sets in the pit of your stomach. 

It seems you are reaching the end of the exhibition because a not-naturally shy Yoongi turns around on his heels to face you. “Don’t be so harsh on him, okay?” It is the only sentence he says before he leads you to the last prefabricated room –you don’t have time to register the meaning behind his words before you follow suit. The room is slightly bigger than the previous ones and by the sheepish smile Yoongi sends your way, you realize it’s because it holds not one but two exhibitions: his and Jungkook’s. 

His photos are mesmerizing and you don’t have to be an expert on the matter to know he is talented. 

The pictures are arranged to tell a story and it impresses you how much emotion they can portray: You can feel the sorrow, the disappointment, the pain of a young man you were abandoned by his family because he wanted to pursue his dreams. 

You can sense the relief and genuine brotherhood love he might had felt when he met the younger. He finally had someone who supported him no matter what. 

You see a young man who claims to be a loner and cold-hearted but on the inside, he craves the love of a significant other as anyone else and ended being heartbroken when he realized she was in love with his best friend. 

Yoongi has suffered. But he's is strong. That's why you admire him. 

You reach out to take his hand, "Yoongi, this is amazing." You clutch his hand tightly. 

"Thank you," he flashes the brightest of smiles, showing his gums. 

Then, you turn around to see Jungkook's exhibition… and now you realize why everyone was staring at you. 

The whole wall is full of photos of you and your friends. It is like the last couple of months had been recorded. You remember how Jungkook used to bring his camera everywhere and you didn't quite understand why. 

Now you do. 

Looking at the pictures you remember all the adventures you all have had together. Like that day when Anna made all of you go to an improvised picnic because the boys started a heated fight over a video game and she was tired of that shit. Then, the picnic ended in a random football game and Jungkook took the photo the moment Taehyung threw the ball and it landed directly in Namjoon’s face. It was a great day indeed. 

Or that one time when all your favorite male models got the same stomach flu (weird) and you asked –or more like begged– your male friends to be your models for one day. Taehyung and Jungkook agreed right away but for Namjoon, Hoseok, and Seokjin it took you more to convince them. Using ‘don’t know how to stroll in a runaway’ as an excuse, it took two hours and an express class from one of your girls to finally convince them to help you. At the end of the night, despite their worries, they made it perfectly and Jungkook took some snaps to behold the memory. He now could tell how he was a model for one night and had photos to prove it. 

It seems that the photos that embellish the walls of his exhibition are the memories he holds closest to his heart and you can’t help the smile that tugs your lips. 

Your eyes kept wandering around Jungkook’s exhibition with a fond smile, only to find your heart rate rise dangerously high when your eyes landed in a particular photo: just you and none else.

And there are a bunch of them. 

The sound of your friends happily chatting behind you and other people admiring the exhibitions suddenly become background noise. 

Staring at you in the photos is like a third-party experience. It is like you are not seeing yourself but another beautiful woman. And you are doing the simplest of things. Like that one time when it was your turn to feel a little down when one your beloved designs got postponed for the next season and Jungkook took you to a nearby convenience store and he made a super silly joke that almost had you spilling your spicy noodles because you laughed so hard. He took the photo right there. 

Sometimes, you pull all-nighters at Jungkook's when the sanctuary at your apartment didn't help your creative juices to flow. He was more than willing to offer his company and it helped you a little. He took the photo when your brows were furrowed and your tongue peaked in concentration because that skirt wasn't cooperating at all. 

Or that one time when you took him to the concert of his favorite artist and instead of taking pictures of him as promised, he took some of you. 

There are a lot more where you are just laughing, smiling or just doing nothing. There were times when he asked you to take photos of you but you never thought they will end here when you agreed. 

What all of this mean? you muse to yourself. 

"I'm so happy you could make it," a familiar voice chimes behind you. 

Jungkook. 

You turn around to face him and what you see leaves you breathless. He is wearing a black suit. One that you designed. You remember giving it to him as a gift after he helped you with the runway. He is also wearing a black dress shirt that would make Taehyung feel proud. The color makes the perfect contrast with his golden skin. His hair is styled in a way his forehead is exposed. 

He looks amazing and breathtakingly handsome. The mere sight of him has your stomach doing flip flops and butterflies flying. 

“Hi,” you finally salute him with a shy smile. 

“Hi.” 

He reaches you and pulls you into a hug, one that makes the breath hitch in your throat. He surrounds your body with both arms and your face ends in the crook of his neck. The scent of his cologne makes your head spin. He smells amazing. 

“Did you like it?” he asks once he pulls away, too soon for your liking. “The exhibition.” 

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“I-” 

“Jungkook, dear.” 

A beautiful woman on her late forties gives a loud kiss on both of Jungkook’s cheeks. 

"Oh, Miss Smith! I'm glad you could make it!” 

A warm smile spreads across his features. The woman –Miss Smith– waves her hand. "That's nonsense. I wouldn't have missed it." 

Then, she notices you. 

"Who's your companion?" 

Jungkook tugs you by the hand and, to your surprise, intertwines his fingers with yours oh so naturally that makes your heart jump. 

"This is ___. My-"

"Your beautiful muse!" She muses, her eyes illuminating as she recognizes you from the photos. "Nice to meet you, dear. You two make a great couple." 

You open your mouth to tell her that no, you and Jungkook are not a couple, that you are just friends but your mouth goes suddenly dry when Jungkook replies: 

"Thank you." 

He offers her a tiny smile. 

Wait. 

Your mind takes a few moments to digest what just happened before you. Your cheeks go warm and you raise your free hand to your chest to make sure your heart is working properly. 

"Well, I need to look for my husband but I will call you later. I want to buy one of the sculptures of this artist of yours, Vante. Nice to meet you, ___." 

And she disappears through the crowd.  

Jungkook turns to you and smiles so brightly. 

"Do you want to dance?" 

Ten minutes later, Jungkook led you to another side of the gallery, where all the people who finished seeing the exhibition is gathered, with upbeat music and their cups are being re-filled with champagne just as they are emptied. Now, it looks more like a high-society club. 

Then, you notice two things. 

One, your friends are nowhere to be found. You lost them the moment Jungkook appeared. Two, Jungkook is still holding your hand. 

Your poor heart beats nervously inside your chest as you follow Jungkook through the mass of people to the dance floor. Just when you arrive, the music suddenly changes to a slow love song. Your eyes scan the other guests in panic. More than one couple is already dancing and you spot a very shy Seokjin dancing with a very shy Anna in the corner. 

Your gaze shifts to Jungkook again, who is looking at you with a charming smile. 

"Can I have this dance?" He offers one of his hands. 

You gulp and accept his offer. He tugs you close, placing both hands on your waist. His cologne fills your nostrils again and you don't have other choice but place your arms on his shoulders. You just hope he doesn't notice how hard you are blushing. 

"It was a really good exhibition, Kook," you say after a while. "I'm proud of you." 

"So that means you are not mad?" 

"Mad? No. Surprised? Flattered? Yes." 

He laughs, relieved. Butterflies erupt in your belly one more time at the way he scrunches his nose. 

“I was so worried these last few weeks. I thought you would get mad at me… or something.” 

“Why?” 

“You helped me to stand on my feet again. It made me part of your family. Opened the doors of our home. I thought you’d think this would be an invasion of privacy.” 

You snort. 

“Kook, look at them,” you point to your friends in the corner. All of them are laughing, having fun. “Do they look mad?” Jungkook shakes his head. "You are part of us now. That means we will support you in everything you do." 

You offer him a warm smile. 

"Maybe you should give us a heads up next time. We spent the first half-hour feeling out of place because everyone was staring at us." 

He chuckles at that. 

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry. It was quite an experience."

You continue to dance. Then, he moves his hands. He is no longer resting his hands on your waist. Now, he intertwines his fingers behind your lower back making you move even closer to him. 

You are so close that you notice the freckle under his lower lip. The curve of his cheeks. The sharpness of his jaw. The way the galaxies are reflected in his doe-eyes… 

"You look so beautiful today," he comments after a while, making you feel self-conscious under his intense gaze. Then, he leans in and whispers against your ear, "Red is my favorite color." 

Your breath hitches in your throat when you realize how close his face is. His breath tickles the smooth skin of your lips. You nibble your bottom lip nervously and you watch how his attention shifts from your eyes to your lips. As if in slow motion, he moves forward –shutting the remaining distance between you two. When he is mere inches away, you close your eyes and hold your breath. A content sigh escapes your lips when his mouth brushes gently against yours and… -

“Mr. Jeon?” 

To your misfortune, he pulls away immediately. Without thinking, you rest your forehead on his shoulder as you try to calm your heart. It is a pleasant surprise to find his arms are still clutched around your frame even when you stopped dancing a long time ago. It seems he feels so comfortable to have you between his arms to care. 

“Yes?” 

Jungkook's voice sounds so stern you feel sorry for his poor assistant. 

“S-sorry to interrupt you, sir,” she starts and you don’t need to look at her to know she is doing her best to not run for dear life. Talking by experience, you know Jungkook can be pretty scary. “The curator of the Modern Art Museum is looking for you.” 

He lets out a sigh. 

“Ok, I am on my way.” 

Then, he brushes his nose against your cheek to draw your attention. When you meet his eyes, his gaze is as soft as you remember. 

“I’ll be back soon, okay?” 

He gives you a chaste kiss to the cheek and disappears behind his assistant before you can think of a reply. 

You join your group of friends 5 minutes later and grab another glass of champagne in an attempt to ignore the smirks and pointed looks of your friends. 

What on earth was that? 

Your cheeks burn again when you remember how soft Jungkook’s lips felt when they brushed against yours… What would have happened if you were not interrupted? Would the kiss have led to something more? 

You shake your head. 

You can't dwell on these thoughts right now. Not when your mind is full of hormones. Certainly, seeing Jungkook in a tuxedo hit you hard. Just the mere thought of it is enough to make you feel week on the knees. It is not the first time you see him like that, though. But the sentiment was different back when he helped you in the runway. What changed? Your feelings. Besides, with the amount of champagne you've drunk in the night –especially in the last 5 minutes–, your mind is a mess right now.  

“Are you okay?” 

The voice of your friend brings you back to reality. 

“Yeah… I’m just so confused…” 

“Hey,” Anna gives you a comfortable squeeze, “I dón think this is the right moment and the right time to think about that. Let’s have fun tonight. Okay?” 

Before you could reply, she is dragging you to the corner of the dance floor where Hoseok and Taehyung are having an improvised dance battle. 

One of the things you love the most about your friends is that they are capable of making you forget about anything when you were all together. Soon, all about Jungkook and the feelings vanish. At least for a while. You don't see Jungkook and Yoongi for the rest of the night. 

Time passes quickly. Before you know it it's midnight and your group is one of the few ones that are still at the gallery. 

"Wow, rich people are no fun."

"Yeah. It is just midnight…" 

Then, Tae suggested moving to the party to a club. 

"Dressed like this, we could enter a high-class club and they couldn't look at us weird." 

Hoseok and Seokjin accept right away. Anna is a little reluctant but Seokjin manages to convince her. Namjoon reclines. Something about finishing an article that is due to Monday. 

"What about you, ___?" 

"I don't know, I-"

"Hey, ___," Yoongi appears out of nowhere. 

"Hey, what's up?" 

"Jungkook forgot this in the office," he hands you his cell phone. "Can you give it to him when you see him?" 

"Where is he?" 

"I don't know. He left 10 minutes ago." Then, he notices your confused expression, "Don't worry. He had a problem with a client. Nothing serious but you him. He has quite a mood. He probably went to cool off. I guess his idea was contacting you later but he can't with his cellphone." 

Now, Yoongi turns to your friends. 

"If you need transportation, the limo that brought you guys here is waiting for you outside." 

"Thank you, Yongs. Everything was beautiful," you say with a smile. 

"Thank you. I'll call you later, okay? I still need to wrap up everything." 

In the end, you decide to return home. It was a long day full of emotions of all sorts and your heels are killing you. You plan to return Jungkook his phone in the morning. You are not sure where he is right now. 

The guys drop at your building and then they take the limo to the nearest club. The elevator dings when you arrive at your floor. You lazily walk toward your door and then stop. That's strange. Jungkook's door is wide open and the lights are on. This neighborhood is pretty secure  but how can you know it is not a thief? You probably should call the police but something keeps you going.

You knock the door.

"Hello? Jungkook, are you there?" 

"Yeah! I'm in the living room!" 

You sigh in relief. No thieves. 

"You forgot your phone at the gallery,” you comment as you walk towards his living room. “Yoongi gave it- Is that my photo?" 

The first thing you see when you enter the room is Jungkook holding one of the photos he exhibited and you are the only one in the frame. 

“Hmm… Yeah?” 

You are beyond shocked to notice the faint blush covering his cheeks. 

“Why is it here?” You stare at him wide-eyed. 

"One of my clients wanted to buy it, but I just couldn't sell it,” he shrugs like it is obvious. 

"Why? They couldn’t pay you what you asked?" 

He frowns, “No, that’s not it.” His gaze returns to the photo. "I don't know. This is my favorite photo of you and it was like I couldn't bear the thought of someone else having it." 

At this point your heart has gone crazy inside your chest, beating so fast that you can no longer hear it. 

"What do you mean?" 

He raises an eyebrow, confused. 

"Jungkook, why you chose me as your muse?" 

There, you asked him the question you wanted to since the beginning of the exhibition. 

"Because I admire you," he replies without hesitation. "You are passionate, beautiful and you fight for what you want. You've helped me a lot. How could I not choose you?" 

Your heart jumps. He thinks you are beautiful. He takes a step closer to you. 

“Ilikeyou,” he blurts out. 

“W-what?” 

Jungkook groans, dragging a hand down his face. 

"I like you,” he repeats slower after taking a deep breath. You’ve never imagined seeing him like this. You are used to his self-confident, kind of dork too, demeanor. “And I'm tired of pretending I don't.”

“Why were you pretending?” 

“To be honest, I was scared,” he confesses. “I was scared of how I was feeling; it felt so familiar yet so different. Scared of you not feeling the same way. Scared of the feelings not being real, like they were just an infatuation because you were there for me when no one else was. I wanted to make sure before I talked to you about this.” 

He is now close enough to take your hands in his. 

“So, you are not scared anymore?" You whisper. 

"No, I'm terrified. But in a good way. Now I'm sure my feelings are real and I want to give it a try. You know, go on a date." 

"Aren't we were on a date tonight?" 

He grins, "But I didn't spend much time with you."

He almost pouts and the view makes you giggle.

"But I had a great time, though."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"Does that mean you want a second date?"

“Do I need to say ‘I like you’ for you to understand what I feel or-” 

Your words are interrupted when Jungkook presses a soft kiss to your lips. 

You blink, suddenly speechless.

“No,” he grins at your expression. “I’m sorry. I wanted to do that since we were, uh, interrupted at the gala.”

Jungkook’s thoughts waver when you still don’t say a thing. “Did I cross a line? I won’t do that-”

“Please, do that again,” you cut him off finding your voice again.

He doesn’t need to be told twice, but he takes his time now. He cups your face with both hands and caresses the skin of your cheeks with his thumbs. You hold your breath as Jungkook’s face moves forward and close your eyes when his lips brush gently against yours. The kiss starts at a slow pace. He tastes good; champagne, mint and something more. It is addictive. For a while, you both stay like that. Content with being in each other's arms. You start to feel lightheaded. 

There's no place you'd rather be. 

Suddenly, Jungkook pushes you to the nearest wall and presses his body against yours. He uses his fingers to tilt your face and deepen the kiss. His body accommodates naturally between your legs. His hands slowly start to unbutton your coat, exposing your dress to him once again. Jungkook slides it down your shoulders and the coat hits the floor. He lets out a soft sigh. 

“You are so pretty.” 

His hands find purchase on your waist as his lips attack yours one more time. He kisses you with so much fervor that you need to hold his shoulders for dear life. 

In all these years, you forgot how good this felt. Having this type of… intimacy with someone. He holds you so dearly it makes your head spin. He whispers sweet nothings against your lips between kisses that make your heart flutter. 

Without thinking it twice, you help him to take off his suit jacket and untuck his dress shirt to slide both hands under it. You rake your nails all along his back and Jungkook's whole body shudders at the sensation. He seems affected to the point he pulls away to look at you. When your eyes open, you see Jungkook is staring at you with slightly blown pupils. 

"You don't know how much you affect me, do you?" 

You can feel his erection pressed against your belly. "I think I have an idea," you reply with a grin.

"Yeah?" 

He doesn't give you the chance to reply, because Jungkook is carrying you bridal style and taking you to his room. You've been in this bedroom so many times but your eyes wander nonetheless. Comparing to the first time you entered here, the room is quite neat. 

“So, it turns out you are pretty organized.” 

Jungkook’s arms slide around your middle from behind. He gives you a soft kiss to your neck. “Well, you met me in one of my worsts times.”

You turn around to face him. Lips crushing together, he hungrily seeks the heat of your mouth. With a sigh, you throw both arms around his neck. His palms fall to your waist. The dress you are wearing is soft to touch. He lets out a whine when you tug gently the hair in the nape of his neck. You look at him surprised. 

“You are sensitive.” 

You repeat the motion. 

He groans, “___, you need to stop doing that.” 

“Why?” You kiss his jaw. 

“I may not have mercy when I find one of your weaknesses.” 

Your lips curl, “I’m counting on that.”

Jungkook kisses you again, harder. His hands undo the laces of your dress. 

“Turn around for me, baby.” 

You exhale at the pet name but do as you are told. 

“Are you kidding? These are like tons of buttons!”

“Careful, Kook,” The buttons are one of the things you loved the most about the dress. “If you break it, you pay it.” 

He mumbles something under his breath but with skilled fingers, he patiently undoes every one of them. He even takes the moment to kiss every inch of skin is exposed making it so hard to wait. It only takes him a couple of minutes to finish. Then, you return him the favor and help him rid of his clothes.

At some point, you lay down in the mattress, Jungkook hovering above you. There’s a lot of kissing as if you’ll never have enough of the other. Jungkook preps your body using his fingers at a slow, agonizing pace that makes your head spin. He enjoys every beautiful sound that comes out of your mouth. He keeps his promise and he has no mercy when he curls his fingers inside of you to rub your soft spot every time until you are gasping for air. 

Soon, you are a moaning mess underneath him. Jungkook murmurs words of encouragement as he leaves a trail of open-mouthed kisses all along your neck. Then, he takes his time to play with your chest, giving each one of your breasts the same amount of attention and care. Your release comes so strong, like a tidal wave. You see nothing but starts for a couple of seconds. It takes another couple of seconds before you can breathe somewhat properly again. A soft moan escapes your mouth when he licks his fingers. 

Jungkook massages your thighs, “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, just wow.” 

He smiles, cheeks flushing. You tug him for another kiss, opening his mouth with yours. He gasps at your passion and you take the opportunity to slide your tongue inside the crevice of his mouth. He melts against your touch. You both make out lazily for a while, both legs wrapped around his waist. Your hazy mind barely registered when he moved forward to grab a condom from the nightstand, but he is already rolling the latex down his length. 

“Are you ready, beautiful?” Jungkook is staring at you so dearly.

You nod. Holding your gaze, he eases himself slowly inside of you. 

You receive him with open arms, hugging his body close to yours. You sigh at the feeling of fullness. He groans at the feeling of your walls clenching around him. 

“At this point, I’m not going to last long,” he pants. 

He starts at a slow pace. Gentle strokes that hit your soft spot every time. The thrusts might be slow, but he is pumping into you with so much force that you feel every inch of him. At some point, he kisses you again. Slow, languid. Lovingly. There's no rush in his movements. You hug him hard, trying to keep his body as close as possible. 

He changes the angle adjusting one of your legs a little higher. His thrusts hit deeper now. Your body starts to tremble and he slides a hand between your bodies to rub your clit, circling it with ease. And then you are coming, your whole body shuddering underneath him. Jungkook only manages a couple of more thrusts before he is following you over the edge. 

He collapses on top of you, groaning into the crook of your neck. You both stay like that for a couple of minutes, until your heartbeat calms down and you are breathing normally again. Then, Jungkook stands up to discard the condom and look for something to clean up the mess you just made. When he is content, he lays next to you and tugs you closer, sliding one arm around your waist and adjusting your head to rest on his chest. He even murmurs something but you are already dozing to sleep… 

When you wake up the next morning, the sun is already up. You stretch your sore limbs and yawn. Your stomach grumbles. You haven’t eaten in more than 12 hours. You open your eyes and… 

Wait. 

Why are you in Jungkook’s room? 

The memories of last night slowly come to your head. 

Oh my god.   

You slept with Jungkook and the realization has you blushing furiously and burying your face between your hands. Then, you notice the spot next to you in the bed is empty. You look around the room slightly in panic when you hear the sound of the shower. 

You take a deep breath. Right now is not the time to panic. Last night he made pretty clear he wanted to date you to figure if things could work between you, so there’s no point to worry about anything. You can talk about what happened yesterday over breakfast. 

But first, what time is it?

You don't know anything about your friends since they went to the club last night. Even when you want to stay with Jungkook, it's probably a good idea to check if your friends are okay. But you are hungry and knowing Jungkook, he is too. You should prepare something and have breakfast together before leaving. With your mind made up, you look for something to wear and walk out of the room. 

You locate your purse on the floor of the living room. With a sigh, you pick it up and dig inside to grab your phone to see the hour. 11:46 am. It is not that late. It is when you see an unread message that you notice that it is not your phone you are holding. It is Jungkook's. Yesterday, you didn’t have the opportunity to give it back to him… and the message is from Zoe… 

With the anxiety striking every fiber of your being, unconsciously you unlock his phone (he doesn’t have a password of any kind) and you wish you haven’t done that. 

[2:37 pm] Zoe 

Good luck at the gala tonight. :) 

[2:40 pm] Zoe 

I miss you.

[3:06 pm] Jungkook 

Thank you.

I miss you too. 

[6:32 pm] Zoe 

Can we meet sometime? 

I need to talk to you. 

[6:55 pm] Jungkook 

I would love that.

To be continued. :)

[xoruffitup]

Adam Driver on SNL: 1/25 Dress Rehearsal Recap

I’m having dejavu of the best kind. I’m sitting here on the bus on my way back from NYC in hungover euphoria and overjoyed disbelief at everything I just experienced, texting new friends and old, recounting everything in my head and smiling so hard. The September 2018 weekend of Adam’s last SNL show lives in my memory in unmatched infamy, so my excitement was off the charts to do it all again. And because this show was absolutely fucking INCREDIBLE, this weekend delivered in every way all over again!! Seriously, my face aches from how I can’t stop smiling aksnksj HELP :’)

My friends and I were in the Dress Rehearsal, so below the cut are retellings of ALLLL the skits including those cut from the Live show - and no small amount of helpless emotional flailing.

I had an idea of what to expect after attending Adam’s 2018 show, but I nevertheless felt sky-high levels of anxiety when Sarah and we arrived at the NBC shop at 6:30. I knew rationally that our chances of getting into Dress were good with numbers #12 - 14, but every now and then there’s the occasional oddity of only a handful of Standby people getting in. Though even without any uncertainty in the equation, my entire being goes on Hyped/Anxious Overdrive anyway whenever I’m about to be in the same space as Adam sO really there’s nothing for it. :’)

They lined us up by numbers, I did a lot of emotional wobbling like “I can’t believe we’re here again together guys waaaah” (have I mentioned I met these girls at Adam’s last show? Full circle moment of the highest and most beautiful caliber and it had me hella verklempt), and thennnn - drumroll and hushed silence please - the main security guy comes up to the giant line and asks the first 20 people to come with him.

As they constantly remind you throughout this thoroughly nerve-wracking process, there is no guarantee you’ll actually get into the show until you’re physically in the seat. It’s a long, harrowing trip from the NBC store where the line gathers, up stairs, elevators, and through hallways to reach the studio, and you can still be cut even as far as the very last checkpoint if all seats fill up with the people ahead of you. So as you get closer, the excitement spikes higher and higher but so does the worry! We went through security, and then I clung to our new Standby line friend Catherine’s arm as they lined us up two-by-two on the first staircase, with Sarah and @reylonly right behind. I was likely extremely annoying as I couldn’t help being rambly and weird in my nerves and compulsively hugging my girls’ arms. @reylonly did her very best to calm my hot mess down, bless her.

About 45 minutes later (Maybe? I had no idea what time was, lbr) we reached the final point of the elevator and last hallway, and were held just outside the studio. THEN - the woman there instructed the next 4 to follow her in (thank GOD because we were terrified of being split up), WE WENT INTO THE STUDIO WHEW YAYAY OMFG WE WERE THERE!!! - but then oh no it happened so fast that she pointed @reylonly down to a single seat in the center and then the other 3 of us to seats towards the left side of the stage. They were all single seats, but thank GOSH they were all end seats of rows right next to each other. So Sarah was right in front of me and I could grab her shoulder (which I would do a lot in increasingly desperate excitement over the next 2 hours), and Catherine and I could reach across the aisle to cling to each other’s hands! @reylonly was on her own but in an incredible seat, and during commercial breaks we would lean forward to wave and blow kisses to each other and mime flailing or crying as one incredible sketch after another played out in front of us. I made sure to be friendly and talk to the people sitting next to me so they wouldn’t be too annoyed with me and Sarah always grabbing at each other, but LOL they probably thought I was at least a little insane. I mean, maybe for the moment alone when I saw a girl I’d made friends with in line but then lost track of in a seat not too far from me, and we started waving and dabbing at each other. Once we were seated there in the studio, all the anxiety gave way to surging excitement and I was practically bouncing in my seat, so overjoyed to be there and see my dear fandom friends there with me!

Michael Che warmed up the audience with some standup, the House band jammed, and Sarah and I momentarily got Extremely Excited when we saw them setting up the hell backdrop set for the cold open and thought at the time it was supposed to be Tattooine for a Star Wars skit, lolol. But then the actual show started, and with our Adam-eagle eyes Catherine reached out to whisper “there he is! In the blonde wig!” And, heart in my throat no matter how many times I see this man in person, I frantically squinted at all the people waiting just off to the side of the set until I saw that unmistakably Tol Broad back, and then he stepped onto the set and into the lighted camera’s view and I was cheering and clapping so hard for his first appearance that I couldn’t hear who he was supposed to be playing. xD I was just tapping Sarah’s shoulder in front of me, bouncing in my seat a little, and trying not to start levitating with the sheer force of my excitement and joy to be there.

OKAY from here I’ll break this up by skit! Anything that was different or missing from the Live show I put in bold font if you want to skip to that! Starting with...

Intro Monologue

WHAT A GOOD MONOLOGUE, ITS LIKE THEY JUST LET ADAM RUN WITH IT AND WRITE IT HIMSELF IT WAS SO HIM AND HILARIOUS AND WEIRD AND YET CHARMING IDEK I WILL NEVER COMPREHEND THE WONDER OF THIS MAN??

So when he dropped the bomb of “I’m a husband and a FATHER” I clapped Sarah’s shoulder SO HARD, then he made he joke “I’ve made it very clear to my son that he’s second in everything” and I could not bELIEVE the wonder of what I was hearing omfg. I heard the words “my son” come out of his mouth with my own ears WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED, SURE AS HELL NOT ME????

Then he went into the audience to demonstrate how “approachable” he is and was so awk/weird/hilarious I was just losing it, then took his time meandering around the stage and making weird faces into the camera and I was just LOSING IT. And AKSKSJA after that he wandered over to another camera that was lower and kind of hummed as he lifted his shirt and put it over the camera so we got a full on belly button view for 2 unbelievable glorious seconds!! He looked up at the monitors as he was doing it and went “oh you can’t see anything” so that’s probably why he sadly didn’t flash his belly in the Live show.

“Cheer” with Adam as one of the team coaches

I’m going by the skit order in Dress, and this one was first after the monologue. Best part for me was the accent reminiscent of Clyde Logan. :3 But tbh, of the 6 skits they did for the Live show, I kind of wish this one had been swapped for the one performed last in Dress that was sO Wild and would have made fandom absolutely lose its shit aksnksal more to come on that.

UNDERCOVER BOSS AKA RANDY THE INTERN

THE BEST GIFT WE COULD HAVE RECEIVED!! BLESS YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR GIVING US KYLO CONTENT TO BE HAPPY OVER AND LOVE WHOLE HEARTEDLY. T___T

Honestly, I cannot even properly describe my reaction when the Undercover Boss intro logo appeared on all the monitors oHMYLoRDDD. I nearly leapt out of my seat, like my heart nearly jumped clear out of my chest oh my fuck and I was legit holding onto Sarah so much I almost slid out of my seat - I just couldn’t believe it and I cheered SO LOUD. The entire audience erupted with this “HOLY SHIT” vibe outburst and I was SO happy to be there in that moment - knowing that our entire fandom was only hours away from this!! I honestly didn’t expect it at all - after they didn’t do one of these the second time Adam was on, I thought there was no chance. But IT HAPPENED AND IT WAS SO QUALITY HILARIOUS WE ARE SO BLESSED - THANK YOU TO RANDY’S LIL BEANIE AND VEST AND HIPSTER PANTS.

Pretty sure I like half curled up on myself laughing so hard my feet left the floor at OK BOOMER. And at the part with “will Rey take his hand?” I swear MY SOUL NEAR LEFT MY BODY I MEAN IS THIS THE REAL LIFE IS THIS JUST FANTASYYYY

..... Can someone come promise me we really didn’t just collectively hallucinate that??

SAG Awards Fashion Red Carpet

I’m not too disappointed this one was cut. Of all the amazing skits performed, I would have ranked this one lower. Adam and Kenan Thompson were fashion critics talking about celebs’ looks on the SAG red carpet. A minute in Adam says, “We should be paying more attention to the kids!” Kenan: *nervous laugh* “uh, should we??” Adam starts talking about/admiring the outfits for like Finn Wolfhard etc, with hilarious but bordering creepy descriptions like “masculine but not quite fully grown,” until Kenan is like “umm maybe we shouldn’t be talking about kids this much?”

They interview a girl who’s supposed to be Jojo Siwa and Adam’s like “you should know I think you’re beautiful. Kids need to hear more often that they’re beautiful.” Kenan panics, going “alRIGHT we’re gonna cut back to the studio now!” The skit ended with Adam: “I got a ticket to the Nickelodeon afterparty and I’m gonna swipe one of those kids in my pocket!”

“Slow” Digital Short

HONESTLY, this competes with Undercover Boss for my favorite skit of the night. I can’t even tell you - I had literal tears running down my face I was laughing SO fucking hard during this entire thing. From the first moment we heard Adam’s deep-ass voice I absolutely and entirely lost my shit oh my GOD. We’d been so pumped for Adam in some kind of rap sketch when we saw the photos of him and Kenan filming the day before, but it was SO FUCKING GOOD. I will never ever in all my days not bust out laughing at “Bring that ass here” and “In a 65 hour lane going 2” aksnskns I’m on the bus struggling to fight back laughter just thinking about it SEND HELP!!!

It’s just brilliant. The turtle next to his expensive loafers. His cheesy sunglasses. That shot of his glorious bare arms. His deep voice “Baby” when they’re at the door and “But I brought ice cream” oh my god I love it so much BLESS YOU SNL BLESS YOU. I never in all my days thought I’d get Adam rapping but it’s every single thing I never knew I needed.

Del Taco Commercial / “Aw Man I’m All Outta Cash!”

ADAM’S SLEAZY LOOKING LONG WIG LMAO. This one was a wild and funny time once you got into it and just let it go. Once Kyle, Beck, and Adam were all yelling the line and Adam went “You don’t want to kill yourself, you just want a taco, Jesus” everyone was ROLLING. I think the only difference (is this even worth color coding lol) was that after Kyle took his pants off Adam kept slapping his thigh during Dress bahaha.

“Hot Dad” Adam dealing with a clogged toilet at a teenaged girls’ sleepover

Adam and Kate McKinnon comedy together YES PLEASE. This one was all the same as far as I can remember, but I will say that a woop/cheer rose from the people sitting near the set for this one at the line about Adam being a “hot Dad.” Yep sounds about right.

(Halsey’s first song, Weekend Update)

Medieval Renaissance Fair

You can’t have Adam host SNL without giving him some ridiculous character skit ala Oil Baron Parnassus. I absolutely loved how intense and deep he was for this kind of nonsense xD We can thank this skit for giving us footage of Adam yelling “Whore!” and spitting, lmao. Also.... I’ll just say in that outfit and wig he looked even Extra Big in comparison to everyone around him.

Courtroom Trial / Sinbad on Cameo

I’m also okay with this one being cut, but I was biased to enjoy the hell out of it live because the set was right in front of where I was sitting and I had such a perfect view of him. <3

Adam was supposed to be the defendant in a case where a female coworker claims he harassed her by sending “threatening” videos. Adam goes up on the stand and the prosecutor asks “are you familiar with these videos?” Cut over to Kenan Thompson, who’s pretending to be Sinbad on the app Cameo, making videos for the woman that are like “Hey you better give Mark a chance! Otherwise he might come after you!” Adam responds with disbelief: “I have no idea who this Sinbad person is and frankly, your honor, this is pissing me off.” Kenan acts a few more videos which keep getting funnier because he keeps eating things or being in crowded public places while filming them. But in the final video he references Adam’s character’s name so it’s clear he was the one requesting the videos. Adam gets all sad on the stand: “It doesn’t matter. No one likes me anyway!” It ends with Kenan as Sinbad crashing into the courtroom in person.

This was more Kenan’s skit as he really was hilarious, but someone had to explain to me afterwards who Sinbad is and how the Cameo app works so I didn’t quite ~get it while watching. BUT more importantly - Adam looked great despite the weird brown wig he had on. During the second of Kenan’s videos when the cameras were on Kenan instead, Adam’s face definitely started quivering with suppressed laughter until he visibly locked it down like NO FOCUS ADAM. Most of my attention stayed fixed on the buttons of his shirt because hOOo boy were they straining! Without me even saying anything, Catherine reached across the aisle for me immediately afterwards and whispered, “That shirt did /not/ fit well.” OH YES I NOTICED >:33

PBS Science Show

Another one which was performed right directly in front of us!! I already knew this was going to be a good one because Adam went right over to the skeleton mannequin when he came on set and started playing with it, like making the arm and wrist wiggle around. The biggest dork cutie you’ll ever see.

He was standing right under me, which meant once he started handling the balloon I got mighty distracted watching his MASSIVE hands around that tiny-looking balloon. >:)) Then I cracked up so hard when he got exasperated and threw something back against the window. WE GOT TO SEE HIM SMASH SOMETHING IN PERSON YESSSS

Ketchup bottles

Oh my GOD EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING ABOUT THIS ONE FROM START TO FINISH. The best part though might have been the prep beforehand. Someone carried the giant Ketchup and hot sauce bottles onto the set before the actors came on and we were like wtf? (For a minute I was triggered remembering Kanye coming on in his Perrier bottle during the 2018 show) But THEN Adam and Cecily Strong came on in big red shirts and people started lifting the giant plastic bottles over them and LOL we realized where this was going. They definitely struggled for a minute getting Adam’s bottle up over his head because of his height xD People in the audience were already laughing just watching this costume set up, and once Adam got the bottle on a WOOT cheer rose which I later learned was none other than @reylonly aka my hero. It was followed by someone yelling “THATS HOT”, which akndosjan made Adam laugh and raise his arms with a hilarious little shimmy in the bottle. He really seemed to be enjoying himself during the whole show, but during this ridiculous and incredibly hilarious skit especially so.

Game Night / Movie Quote Competition

OKAY this is the skit it’s a real tragedy didn’t make it on air! There were lines in this I couldn’t beLiEvE my ears were hearing, and if we ever get a recording I’m pretty sure the fandom would basically implode. 

Three couples are sitting around a living room having a game night. Adam is sitting with Kate McKinnon with his arm around her. After they finish playing Settlers of Catan, Heidi Gardner suggests they play a movie quote game where one of them says a line from a movie and the rest have to guess the movie. She is clearly very into it, and the others reluctantly agree. It quickly becomes clear that Adam is just as good at the game as she is, and they immediately start becoming competitive. They reach the point where they quote three lines from Captain Phillips in a row, trying to trick each other. As the game gets more heated, they exchange aggressive flirty banter such as:

Heidi: You really know your movie quotes, huh? Adam: Yeah I do. Heidi: And with some BDE over there. Adam: Yeah, I got that too.

AND !!!!!!!!!!

Heidi: You’re quite the movie flick daddy. Adam: I’m the world’s biggest flick daddy.

!!!!!!!!! HE CALLED HIMSELF A DADDY HELP CALL 911 EMERGENCY !!!!!!!!!!

The game keeps escalating until Kate tries to calm Adam down and he brushes her off. Everyone else tries to tell Heidi to relax, and she responds “What?! I’m supposed to lie back and let (Kate’s character’s name)’s hot husband rail me??”

I WAS FLOATING ON THE CEILING BY THIS POINT, I literally couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing alsdfjsldafjlsdkfj!

It gets to the point where they’re both standing, shouting completely vague snippets of lines at each other while the other continues to guess correctly. Until finally Adam exclaims, “I got a good one!” He grabs her and fULL ON kisses her. 

(Pictures from The Adam Driver Files twitter.)

Immediately afterwards she goes, “I know! That was the kiss from (Movie X - I can’t remember the exact title).” Adam: “HOW DID YOU KNOW?!” Heidi: “From how you moved your tongue!”

I’m still reeling from this one. Adam calling himself a daddy, talk of “getting railed” by him, and intense kissing?! Oh my lORDDDD. I’m still trying to keep it playing on a loop in my ears. I’m not sure if we as a fandom could collectively survive a full video of this, but GOD I hope we get the chance to test ourselves. RELEASE THE UNAIRED VIDEO, YOU NBC COWARDS!!!

FLICK DADDY INDEED

...Aaaaaaand that was a wrap! After 10 skits and nearly 2.5 hours, it literally felt like I had run a marathon at a full sprint. I was just trying to process everything I’d just witnessed, while trying to focus on committing every single thing to memory. I just couldn’t believe the range of amazing and hilarious things I’d just seen Adam doing: Play a talking ketchup bottle, call himself a daddy, awkwardly talk about feminine products clogging his toilet, yell “WHORE” then spit and swing a medieval mace around, rap hilariously, and yell about umami?? It was all almost TOO MUCH. 

For full-circle and emotional fulfillment reasons, I wore my Save Ben Solo shirt to the show just like I did at the 2018 show. I had debated beforehand whether it would be too bittersweet to wear it after TROS, but now I’m so glad I did. All these hilarious and zany skits were just what we all needed to continue the cycle of fandom excitement and positivity despite the last month. I’m so incredibly grateful to SNL for such great material for Adam to work with and us to laugh at, and for giving us the perfect reminder that there’s still so much to whole-heartedly appreciate and love. Most of all, Adam himself. <3

THANK YOU SNL AND ADAM FOR ANOTHER LIFE-HIGHLIGHT WEEKEND! <3

[ashes-and-ashes]

Drarryland #9!

This was really, really fun to write! We have forced bonding, lots of fluff, a bit of angst and of course, Pansy and Blaise being Pansy and Blaise, the two biggest Drarry shippers in Hogwarts. Hope you guys like this - let me know please!

@gameofdrarry

Prompt: Forced Bonding: the fallout of this as told from the POV of either 1) Ron -OR- 2) Blaise -OR- 3) The Minister of Magic - Minimum: 576 words - Maximum: 1675 words.

~

Monday

It really was not Blaise’s fault.

Never mind that he and Pansy had spent 3 months planning this. Never mind that the actual spell itself took 2 weeks to take effect. Never mind that they used some incredibly complicated spell work that would have let them ace their NEWTS for sure.

No, it wasn’t Blaise’s fault at all.

He leans against the wall now, smirking down at Draco and Potter. Both of them are flushed, almost hissing at Blaise, and both of them now had a ring of pure silver wrapped around their middle finger.

It’s interesting, to think of Draco and Potter being together. Blaise had spent the last 4 years of his life listening to Draco, about how Potter was incredibly annoying, immature and infuriating, how just because he’s the chosen one doesn’t mean we all have to bow down before him. It was almost a daily routine - If Draco didn’t mention Potter at least once before breakfast, all of them grew deeply concerned.

Blaise isn’t an idiot. He’s known about Draco, known since 4th year when Draco’s gaze fell on Marcus’ body instead of Millicent’s, known since those awkward dates between him and Pansy. Draco had never told him, not officially, in a household where Gay was uttered right next to mudblood and blood-traitor. Blaise has always known, to some extent.

Of course, all the shagging they did in 6th year didn’t hurt either.

Blaise just leans back, lets that infuriating smirk settle on his lips. It’s winter break, empty courtyards and hallways, and no one wanted to mess with 3 angry 8th years anyways. “So. Here are the rules.”

“Screw the rules.” Potter glares up at him, hair dimples and glasses askew. “What the hell did you do to us?”

Blaise shrugs. “Magic. Unbreakable Connection. We bound you two together for about…” He cocks his head. “5 days. Starting now.”

Draco splutters. “5 days?”

“Yep!” Blaise winks. “Or, you know. However long it takes for you two to decide.”

Potter groans. “Deside what, Zabini?”

Blaise shrugs. “Decide if you two are going to start shagging, or go back to being mortal enemies.” He smirks at the dumbfounded looks that cross both their faces. “Oh, get over it. Pansy and I aren’t blind, you know. We’ve seen you two eye-screwing from across the bleeding hall.”

Draco swears. “Goddamn it Blaise, if I get my hands on you…” He starts forwards, fists clenched when suddenly he jerks back. The silver rings on both his finger and Potter’s glows silver, and Draco curses at the invisible string that binds them together. Blaise nods. “Well. We know it works now!” He sketches a mocking bow. “If you excuse me, I have to go meet Pansy in the library. She’s busy making sure that the potion we put in your breakfast this morning won’t give you some nasty disease. It prevents you from telling anyone, by the way.” He winks at them both. “Enjoy your week!”

Without a backwards glance, Blaise struts down the hall, ignoring the angry cussing from behind him.

~

Tuesday

He’s eating his porridge when Pansy plops down next to him.

He’s exhausted, onto his third cup of coffee. He spent the whole night chatting and plotting with Pansy and he’s regretting it now.

He scowls over at Pansy, chipper as always, delicately eating a chocolate croissant. “How the hell are you so cheerful?”

Pansy shrugs. “I’m always cheerful!”

Blaise shakes his head. “You don’t get hungover. You never get tired. You can eat whatever you want and you have perfect skin.” He groans. “Screw you, Pans.”

Pansy smiles, resting her head on his shoulder. “You wish you could screw me.”

Blaise sticks his tongue out at her, and she shrugs. “How’s the Potty and the Malfoy going?”

Blaise points across the hall with his spoon. “Been arguing for half an hour.”

Pansy follows his gaze, where Potter and Draco stood fighting. Obviously Potter wanted to sit with the Gryffindors, while Draco wanted to sit with the Slytherins, and neither of them were giving in. They stand in the middle of the hall, their tense whispers filling the room.

Pansy sighs. “Why can’t they just kiss already?”

Blaise shakes his head, watching the two bicker. “I don’t know Pans,” he says. “I don’t know.”

~

Wednesday

They watch them, from behind the trees, watches the two of them walk around the grounds. They’re far enough not to hear the conversation, but close enough to see the glances, the small smiles, the way Draco’s hand brushed Potter’s face as he adjusted his glasses.

Pansy lets out a quiet squeal. “Oh my god, they are so perfect together! I ship it so much.”

Blaise nods, watching. There’s something beautiful in their movements, the two of them, the way they knew each other so well. He supposed they did, having spent 8 years in a war together, wasting so much energy on each other.

The line between hatred and love was very thin. Blaise knew that painfully well.

He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Draco this unguarded before, this relaxed, hasn’t seen him like this since the war had started. Potter brought out something in him, something so different to the boy Blaise used to know.

Pansy steps on his toe, making him wince. “Crap Pans. Do you have to wear the Heels of Death everywhere you go?”

Pansy flips him off. “You’d probably wear them if you could get away with it.” She pauses. “Anyways, we need a ship name for the two of them.”

Blaise shrugs. “Harco, Palfoy, Motter?”

Pansy frowns. “Nah. I’ll think of it.”

Blaise just laughs, quietly, turning back to watch the two of them. “Take your time, Pansy. Take your time.”

~

Thursday

They sit on the tower together, watching them fly.

Close, so close together, in perfect and compete unison. Their brooms pressed next to each other’s, legs almost touching, flying in huge circles and arcs across the quickly-darkening sky.

It’s beautiful, the way Draco and Harry flew, the way they were able to dance across the air.

Blaise leans back, into Pansy’s shoulders. It was slightly chilly outside, the stars bright above them. Pansy rests her head on Blaise’s, her legs bare. The Heels of Death lie on the stones, Blaise’s feet dangling over the edge of the roof.

Pansy smiles. “You know, for someone who claims not to care, you seem awfully invested in this relationship Blaise.”

Blaise shrugs. “So are you.”

“Yes, but I wasn’t the one who dragged us up here just to watch Potter and Draco fly.” Pansy winks. “Turning into a fanboy?”

Blaise scowls at her. “Oh, shut up.” Pansy smirks at him, and he exhales. “I just want him to be happy, you know? Draco, I mean.”

Pansy raises her eyebrows, Blaise’s words stumbling over one another. “It’s just…” He swallows. “The War. We were too young, all of us. Every single one of us were too young. You know. You know what Draco did, what he was forced to do. You know what they did to us. You’re maybe the only person besides Draco who truly knows what the war stole from us.”

Pansy’s eyes darkened, her face draining of blood as she nods. Blaise sighs. “He deserves to be happy. We all do.”

“Who did you lose, Blaise?” Pansy’s voice is a near-whisper. “Who did you lose?”

Blaise lets out a bitter laugh. “It was a boy. It was always a boy. A muggle. And he died.”

Pansy closes her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Blaise just swallows. There’s a pair of letters carved into the stone in front of him, dark against the stone. It’s just two initials, RL + SB, and he presses his fingers into the indents. “Shit happens. We move on.”

Pansy shakes her head. “Do we though?”

Blaise’s throat has closed up, making talking, swallowing, breathing painful. He shrugs. “It’s the best we can do.”

They sit there in silence for awhile, watching the silhouettes of two boys against the setting sun, the memories heavy in their heads. Pansy clears her throat. “Well.” Her voice is hoarse, clogged, and she coughs before giving Blaise a small smile. “I finally thought of their ship name.”

Blaise raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Pansy just brings her lips close to his ear, and Blaise can feel himself starting to grin as she whispers it.

~

Friday

He doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.

He’s back in the hallway with Pansy, both of them with their wands out and there’s Harry and Draco, against the wall, snogging fiercely.

Blaise sighs. “God, Pansy, I wish I could bleach my goddamn eyeballs.”

The two of them jump apart, both breathing heavily, and Blaise would pay money to see the expression that passed over Harry’s face again. “What. The. Hell?”

Pansy lifts her hands, exposing her palms. “Hey. We were going to reverse the enchantment, but, um, if you’re into that sort of...ropes and things, we can keep it on…”

Draco glares at her. “Traitor.”

Pansy smiles back sweetly. “You’re welcome.”

“Merlin’s saggy left - “ Harry thrusts his hands out in front of him, blushing furiously. “Can you undo the bloody spell?”

“No,” Blaise tells him, and Harry flips him off. He sighs. “Fine. Give me your hand.”

With a suspicious look, Harry places his hand in Blaise’s. He flicks his wand, and the silver ring around his finger disappears. Pansy does the same with Draco, and before long, the two of them stand there, pissed off and angry.

Blaise gives them a small salute. “And with that, we’re off before you guys start shagging. Thank us later. Invite us to the wedding!”

Pansy winks. “And your ship name is Drarry! Just thought you wanted to know that.”

They manage to flee down the hall moments before Harry’s wand flies down and hits the wall where their heads were moments before.

[prorevenge]

Two malicious compliances equals one pro revenge.

TL;DR at the end.

Several years ago, Barry, my boss, did a job for BigDaddy Construction, and got screwed. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, a couple of thousand dollars, but screwed is screwed. Basically, he accepted BigDaddy’s word on something that they denied later. Barry consulted his lawyer, and was told that since the issue was not in writing, that any legal action was likely to fail, and even if he won, that the legal costs would exceed any settlement. And BigDaddy basically said, “My lawyer can beat up your lawyer.”

Barry then asked what every lawyer likes to hear, “What should I have done differently?”

Fast forward to 2017. BigDaddy is soliciting bids for a new restaurant called FancyAss. Barry submits a bid for supplying and installing door hardware, things like doorknobs, emergency exit bars, door closers that pull the doors shut…and 3 Automatic Door Operators (ADO’s). An ADO is something you have seen before, it has a metal plate with a wheelchair logo mounted on the wall, when you press it, a motor opens the door. It’s designed to allow people with limited mobility to pass through a doorway.

Barry wins the bid, and calls a meeting. He is handling this job personally. All communication with BigDaddy is to go through Barry, and ONLY Barry. If someone from BigDaddy calls and says, “Nice weather, isn’t it?” we are to reply, “I wouldn’t know anything about that, let me transfer you to Barry’s line.” Under no circumstances is anyone from BigDaddy to be given Barry’s cell number. And the after-hours on-call techs are only to return the call and say that Barry will be in touch in the morning. Violation of any of this will be grounds for immediate dismissal for cause, is this perfectly clear?

A few weeks go by, and we get a call from “GC”, who not only is running the job for BigDaddy, but is BigDaddy’s son. He’s an entitled shitball of a tyrant, with anger issues and a vocabulary that relies heavily on profanity. I’m calling him “GC” because that’s his job title, General Contractor.

For those who don’t know, a GC is responsible for ensuring that everything gets done on a construction site in the correct order. For example, if you are building a bathroom, first you put up the wall studs, then the electrical is run and the plumbing supply lines are roughed in. next the drywall goes up, then the tile, and the baseboards. The walls, ceiling, and trim get painted, then the cabinets, light fixtures and switches are installed. Lastly the plumbing fixtures go in. So you can see, a GC has to deal with several different subcontractors and co-ordinate their efforts. It’s a stressful job, and you need the co-operation of the various people….and it’s hard to get people to work with you if you’re screaming swear words at them, something GC never figured out.

This might be a good time to give you a visual of the restaurant layout. This is by no means to scale, just a sketch to give you an idea of what’s going on.

There are 3 ADO’s to be installed, 2 on the entrance and one on the handicapped washroom. The conventional washrooms are down a set of stairs on the right, and by law, there has to be a washroom available for people using wheelchairs, marked as HC on the drawing. This is on a bit of a corridor of sorts used by the servers to bring food in and dishes out. The partitions separating the corridor are about shoulder-high, separating the corridor from the seating area, which is what the circles with 4 chairs represent. These are tables, booths, etc., with a smattering of service stands for order entry, and bits and pieces like extra cutlery.

The décor was fancy, and meant to resemble a Victorian Gentlemen’s Club, with oak throughout, and thick carpets on the floors. Worthy of mention is the feature wall at the front, with alcoves for displaying sculptures, and places to hang paintings.

So GC calls us, and they are ready for the ADO’s.

We arrive, and install. By the terms of the bid, it’s BigDaddy’s responsibility to supply dedicated 120v electricity for the ADOs and to run the 12v wires from the activation plates to the top of the doorway so they can be connected to the circuit board for the ADO. This wasn’t present at the time of the install, so he ran an extension cord to power the ADO, and used a wireless transmitter and receiver to trigger it. All of this was specified in the bid, which said that we could install, and then return to hook up the wires once they get run. Barry came and supervised the tech installing the ADOs personally. When GC signed off, buried in the description was a line or two referencing the relevant sections of the bid.

When GC signed off on the handicap washroom install there was a line noting that BigDaddy assumes all responsibility for compliance with the relevant building code section.

GC didn’t bother to read what he was signing, just scribbled a signature and took his copy. Barry made certain the tech was right beside him when GC signed off.

Malicious Compliance #1

It’s about 2 weeks before opening, and they are in the finishing stages. Barry gets a frantic call from GC that none of the ADO’s are working, and they need these to be functional, or they won’t get their occupancy permit. Barry heads down the next day with the tech.

Barry: “Well, I found the problem.” GC: “So fix the fucking problem” Barry: “There’s no 120v run to the doors, and there’s no 12v wires to hook up the buttons.” GC: “You didn’t run the power? Why didn’t you run the power?” Barry: “It’s not in the scope of work in the bid. You’re supposed to do it.” GC: “Why didn’t you tell me that when you were here the first time.” Barry: “I did, and you signed off on it.” GC: “Where’s the fucking electrician? Electrician, get your ass over here.” Electrician: “What’s up?” GC: “Why isn’t there any power for these door operators?” Electrician: “It’s not part of my scope of work.” Barry: “There’s some good news…” GC: “What?” Barry: “If we use wireless for the buttons, we won’t need 12v wires. I’ll have to bill you for it as an add-on, but once you get me 120v, these ADO’s will be working.”

NOW GC realizes how fucked he is. The interior of the restaurant is 90% complete, and there is no power to a critical part of the building. Without it, no permit. BigDaddy has fucked up big time, assuming that either Barry or the Electrician would run the wires, and not putting it into the scope of either bid. The electrical panel is in the back of the kitchen, and there’s no way to bring 120v to the front entrance, except across the ceiling, which would be nearly impossible. All of the lighting and the ornate false ceiling was already in. Even if he was able to magically do that, he would either have to run a metal conduit down the surface of the feature wall, or rip out a good chunk of it, run the wires, and reinstall it. The handicap washroom ADO wasn’t as much of a problem, since it was closer and the wires could be run through the false ceiling. The section that contained the handicap washroom also had offices and storage with a t-bar ceiling, unlike the main room, that had 20 foot ceilings. The electrician charged GC big dollars for the extra work.

Malicious Compliance #2

Remember the handicap washroom? When the building inspector came to do a pre-check, they discovered that the square footage of the washroom, minus the area taken up by the in-swinging door, was less than the required minimum. They needed a quick fix, as dismantling the washroom, moving a wall, and relocating the plumbing fixtures would be too expensive, and would take too long. So GC decided to reverse the swing of the door, and have it swing into the corridor, rather than into the washroom. This had a really bad effect on the operation of FancyAss once it opened, as any time someone wanted to use the washroom, the door blocked the flow of servers in and out of the kitchen. And people are lazy…even able bodied people were prone to using this washroom as it was closest. I don’t know what the conversations between FancyAss and BigDaddy were like, but I imagine they were pretty intense….but who gives a fuck. GC signed off on that, too.

And Barry got to invoice for a whole new ADO, as the original was a “pull” style, and reversing the swing meant that a “push” style was required.

Pro Revenge

GC called a few days after discovering that the entrance doors needed 120v, to tell Barry that the 120v was available. Barry heads down with the tech to check it out.

In the vestibule was a heater known as an “air curtain”. It’s a big heater, designed to push a high volume of warmed air into the vestibule, to mitigate cold outside air entering the restaurant. It pulls a significant amount of electricity every time it kicks on, and GC had tied the 120v for the entrance door ADO’s into the same circuit.

Barry explains that the bid specified that the ADO’s require their own dedicated circuits, one for each. GC responds that he doesn’t give a shit, hook the goddamn things up, so Barry does, and has GC sign off again. Only this time buried in the sign off sheet is an acknowledgement that by not providing dedicated circuits, all warranties are void, and subsequent service would be billable. Just like usual, GC scribbles his signature and takes his copy without reading it.

These ADO’s are finicky about power. There’s a motor (obviously) controlled by a circuit board that determines how fast the door opens, how long it stays open, how fast it closes, how much force is used, that sort of thing. If it takes a spike in power it fails, and the ADO no longer functions.

A power spike blows a fuse and damages one of the components of the control board. This is replaceable, and the part is worth about 30 bucks. The control board can be fixed in about half an hour, with another half hour on a scope to make certain everything is good. Barry had sent one of the techs to the manufacturer to be certified in rebuilding the board, even though our standard was to just ship them back to the manufacturer and get a replacement.

Sure enough, a couple of days later GC calls in a panic. They have the final occupancy inspection scheduled for the next day, and one of the ADO’s at the entrance is down.

GC: “Your fucking ADO isn’t working. Get down here and fix it.” Barry: “Okay, but this isn’t covered under warranty. It’s billable.” GC: “What the fuck are you talking about? It’s not even been a week and it’s broken. It’s warranty.” Barry: “No, warranties were all voided when you didn’t provide clean power.” GC: “Fuck that. Get down here and put in a new ADO.” Barry: “It doesn’t need a new ADO. It needs a new control board. And I can get a new control board from the manufacturer in 4 to 6 weeks.”

GC loses his mind. There’s no way he can delay the opening of FancyAss for 6 weeks waiting for a part. He calls Barry every name in the book, threatens legal action, etc.

Barry responds, “Look GC, I have a control board on the shelf that was rebuilt by a factory certified technician. I can let you have it at 80% of the list price of a new one, and I can have it installed by noon tomorrow. Do you want the rebuilt, or the new part, and do you agree that this is billable as per the terms of the bid?”

GC: “Yes! Just get the fucking thing fixed by tomorrow!”

Now Barry knows that GC and BigDaddy were going to fuck him just like they did years ago. That ended up being a “I never said that” dispute. What GC didn’t know was every time he called Barry, the call was recorded. You know the “This call may recorded for quality assurance purposes” that you get when you dial in? Well Barry never used his cell phone, never initiated a call, and every time GC called in it was recorded and archived. Every. Single. Time.

Sure enough, another couple of days go by, and an ADO goes down again. Barry asks if GC is good with the rebuild, gets confirmation, removes the blown part, installs the rebuild, then takes the blown control board back to the shop and rebuilds it.

A new control board is $750.00. The rebuild he’s charging $600.00, for a part that maybe costs $75 to get back into shape. The bid specified that non-warranty service was $125/hr minimum 4 hours, so tack on another $500.00 for labour, and it takes maybe 45 minutes to install a new control board and dial it in. So every control board replacement was generating $1,100.00.

There were 27 blown control board swaps in the first 2 months. GC called in every one of them, and Barry got his verbal approval. If someone from FancyAss called in, we gave them GC’s number, and said that we could only come and fix it if GC was the one to call it in.

Then Barry gets a call from Daddy of BigDaddy wanting to know what this invoice for almost 30 grand is for. Barry explains, and a meeting is called, Barry brings his lawyer, and all copies of the sign-off sheets, as well as transcripts of every conversation he had with GC. It becomes very apparent that GC fucked up large, and that Barry had every “I” dotted and every “T” crossed.

BigDaddy is glaring daggers at GC, and basically tells Barry that if he wants to get paid, he’s going to have to sue for the money.

Barry smiles, and slides his ace across the table. It’s a Contractor’s Lien against BigDaddy, FancyAss Restaurant, and Massive Realty Company, the owners of the building.

Here’s the thing. FancyAss was owned by Internationally Famous Chef (IFC), who makes his living getting Very Important People to invest in opening a new restaurant. This is a place where they go to be Very Important, and bring their business contacts with them. After a short time, when the restaurant is the happening place in town, the investors sell the place, and cash out large. IFC sticks around, helps with the transition, and makes a percentage of the restaurant’s profits for the use of his name. He’s built an income stream with the investor’s money, and the investors make a nice return.

Only now they can’t sell, with a lien on the place. And these investors have rabid fucking pitbulls as lawyers. Hell, some of them ARE lawyers.

See you in court, BigDaddy. Only you’re not facing Barry’s lawyer, you’re facing a whole new level of legal expertise. Have fun with that.

Barry got his revenge, and then withdrew service based on the disputed invoice. He’s the only company allowed to service and install this brand of ADO as he has a protected territory from the manufacturer, and does seven figures worth of business with them a year. The only other companies anywhere nearby were warned off by the manufacturer, who even relayed the fact that BigDaddy had called them directly looking for service, and they referred BigDaddy to Barry.

Barry will definitely get paid, as it’s a standard to hold back 10% of the payment to a construction company for a year, and the holdback will definitely cover the invoice. So FancyAss will pay Barry and then take it out of BigDaddy’s holdback. Either that, or they will sue BigDaddy into dust, and force BigDaddy to cough up and settle the lien.

Who knows what company BigDaddy picked up to cover the ADO’s. Barry has friends in the industry and warned them all off, but there are asshole competitors, and Barry didn’t say a thing to them. Maybe BigDaddy is screwing over one of the competition, and what hurts his competition, helps Barry.

What makes this deliciously Pro? You think maybe, just maybe, Barry, who has decades of experience in the industry, might have had an Electrician friend that could show him the Electrical bid? And that maybe Barry knew from the beginning that there was no provision for 120v in either package? Or that the washroom was too small? Or that GC, a corner cutter, would take the easy way out and hook the ADO’s into the air curtain?

Way to go, Barry. Nicely played.

TL;DR A subcontractor complies with a bid, to the letter, and covers his ass in all correspondence, General Contractor ends up paying big dollars for their error, allowing subcontractor to recover money he was screwed out of years ago.

(source) (story by balles_de_acier)

[imnotasuperhero]

Staubrey week day 3, everybody!

This was fun to do, honestly. I only had like.. 3 hours? (work can be a bitch sometimes) but I’m content with how it turned out since I had to build it from scratch. Isn’t useless Aubrey the best? God, I love to work with her. Will Stacie be any different? Hmm.. tomorrow we’ll find out ;)

Anyway, they finally met!!! Things will get serious from now on. This is the second part out of 7, so there’s a long way to go. I hope this meets your expectations and you enjoy it. I wanna hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy.

Theme: Workplace

Type: Fluff

Summary: Aubrey finally sees her soulmate in person. And talks with her.

Or, day 3 of Staubrey week where Aubrey becomes a useless gay.

Wordcount:

1170

Aubrey’s been watching magazines for what felt like ages. None of the styles compelled her enough to reno her brand new home. And it was a fact that she sucked at designs in general. Could some minimalistic sideboard match with one of those cool clock walls with roman numbers on it? Or perhaps it’d be better a fancy one? “Ugh,” the blonde threw her head back. “This is what’s called a waste of time.”

“Yup. Sitting there doing nothing won’t get you anywhere.” Didn’t she had enough that Beca kept coming unexpectedly?

“Can you at least knock before entering to my home?” Aubrey sighed deeply. “And I’m not doing “nothing”. I’m trying to calm the headache forming.”

“Wouldn’t be better if you sleep it off?” Aubrey couldn’t help the grunt at Beca’s words.

“For being a famous upcoming producer, you can be reaaaally slow sometimes,” Aubrey accommodated herself on the couch to face her friend. “Anyways. I’m trying to find a design for the house.”

Beca proceeded to sit in front of the blonde. “I have a colleague that’s an interior designer on her free time,” the brunette added casually.

“Is she any good?” Aubrey’s interest picked up instantly.

“She’s the one who did Chloe’s backyard.”

“Oh my god. Who is she?”

“I can send you her info,” Beca started to fidget with her phone. “I’m sure she has great ideas for this mansion.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes at her friend. “Just because is bigger than your apartment doesn’t mean is a mansion.”

“You’re right. But!, don’t deny that you can’t compare our memories there with this lifeless house,” Beca then walked to the kitchen ignoring Aubrey’s complains.

///

The day has finally come. Aubrey couldn’t believe she was so extremely nervous for just a professional meet-up. It wasn’t like she was on a date or something. But if it was just a reunion to see her - possible - designer’s ideas why did she feel like a teenager on her first day of school? It was so lame.

Deciding to just stop thinking, she ordered her coffee and searched for a table to sit.

“Aubrey?” A melodious voice made her look up from her book.

To say that her lungs were burning at the brunette was an understatement. The mysterious woman was finally standing in front of her. What were the chances that after all these years, she finally got to meet the culprit of her daydreams? If she didn’t felt compelled to trust in destiny before, she certainly did now.  

“Are you okay? You look a little pale.” Green eyes were staring at her with concern and Aubrey felt herself shake.

“Yes, yes I am.” Aubrey hurried to reply. She didn’t want to scare her soulmate off.

“I’m Stacie,” Aubrey swore she saw the light in that beautiful smile. And the softness of her hand? Oh sweet Lord, she never wanted to let go of Stacie’s hand.

The sound of a cleaning throat brought Aubrey back to reality. “A… Aubrey. I’m Aubrey.” Oh my god, really?

“Nice to meet you, Aubrey.” Ah man, why was she so smitten already that she wanted to keep hearing her name from Stacie’s lips? She knew nothing about the woman, for fuck’s sake.

“Ditto,” Ah shit! She had to chill the fuck out.

Or maybe not. She could swear Stacie’s laugh was everything that is good in the world.

“So,” Stacie got a sketchpad out of her purse and started to fidget with it. “I have some designs about what could suit your ideas.” Stacie then proceeded to give it to Aubrey, who gladly started to flip through the images. “These are just sketches, we can change any color or furniture you’d like. It’s just to give you an idea of what the reno would be like.”

Aubrey barely listened to what Stacie said. The images were incredibly beautiful. Could she ask for a mix between them all? Was that aesthetic? “Oh, this one is what I want!” Aubrey gave the sketchpad back to Stacie so she could see.

“Ah. That one was quite the design, to be honest,” Stacie´s smile was so bright that Aubrey patted herself mentally for her decision.

“It’s done, then. When can you start?” The eagerness of the realization that she’d finally get to have a place to call home, was almost too much to bear.

“I can talk with my crew and I’ll set a date depending on your schedule?”

“Oh, I can totally work from home. Besides, it won’t take that much. Right?”

“Umm.. the reno we’re talking about will take about 2 weeks? 3 tops. The backyard will be renovated from scratch.”

“Oh.” Maybe Aubrey should’ve thought about waiting until her vacations. “It’s okay. As I said, boss can understand,” Aubrey smiled to hide her nervousness. She just hoped Julia would accept her working from home for 2 weeks. After all, she was the top lawyer at the firm…

“Okay, then. I guess we have a project to do,” Stacie offered her hand with that breathtaking smile of hers and Aubrey couldn’t help herself.

“Can’t wait for it.”

True to her words, Stacie’s crew were in the middle of the backyard’s reno when she came home.

“Ah, there you are,” Stacie walked to her as soon as she spotted her in the door. “How was the meeting?”

“Exhausting, but productive,” Aubrey couldn’t help the smile forming in her lips at Stacie’s interest. Or maybe was the feeling of peace she felt whenever the brunette was around? “How’s everything?” She was only human after all and she could barely go personal with her.

“Everything’s perfect. The guys just have to finish a few details and the backyard is ready to go,” Stacie smiled.

“I can see that,” Aubrey took into the scenery in front of her. Stacie really had a hell of a talent. Not only the backyard but also the whole house. Whenever she entered through the front door, she felt at home. No matter how hard was the day, she’d step foot into the front porch and she could feel herself at peace knowing that these walls were her safe place. Stacie really did a great job capturing her character.

“That reminds me,” Stacie paused and Aubrey could feel something deep was in the table. “Would you go on a date with me, once everything is over?”

Aubrey couldn’t believe her ears. Did the not-so-mysterious woman was interested in her? She should’ve pinched herself without noticing if Stacie’s little laugh and the fire in her arm was any indication.

“So? Is it too much to ask?”

“Oh no,” Aubrey urged to answer. Hell, she was in for dates, weddings and kids with the woman. Okay, maybe not the last two just yet. But she was her soulmate, right? It was supposed they’d be together forever. “Yes!” Aubrey snapped herself mentally. “I mean, I’d love to go on a date with you,”

“Awes,” Aubrey would never get tired of seeing Stacie smile. She just discovered that.

[serkewen12]

Jefferson/Reader - Part Two

Here it is everyone! I was up all night typing because I was in the groove. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as Part One. Thank you for all your support 💜

@butlinislin @musicalmoriarty @daveedish @insane-hamilton-imagines @notthrowingawaymyfood @crazypurplebananas 

@small-stars

@imagineham

@crazypurplebananas

@hamiltryingmybest

@hammyhamfanfics

@ahhhhamilton

@witch-bitch-coven

@icanneverbesatisfied

@lunaaugurium

Pairing: Jefferson x Reader Time: modern college AU Word count: 2775

I use Google translate so I hope the French isn’t butchered… 🤞

When you walked across the courtyard it didn’t take you long to notice Hercules and John were already waiting for you to arrive at the group’s normal table. They were scanning the area trying to spot you.

“Here we go…” you say to yourself taking a deep breath.

“(Y/N)!!” They both chorused as they jumped up to hug you.

“Hey! What’s up? Where is Laf?”

“Laf has class so he isn’t here. I think you know what’s up… spill,” John said with a scowl.

Hercules was standing next to John and was uncomfortably silent. When you looked up at him you could tell he was incredibly angry. The larger man was not someone you wanted to cross and ever since you had befriended the fashion major he had become your protective older brother.

“Just sit down and when Alex gets here I will tell you the whole story,” you say sitting down at the table.

John and Hercules followed suit and sat down. You slowly pulled out your sandwich and started to eat it. You were painfully aware they were both staring at you impatiently. The tension in the air was thick.

“ALL RIGHT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE SON OF A BITCH SAID!” Hercules shouted, drawing attention from a few students sitting at the other tables.

“Will you keep your damn voice down!”

“Hey, hey, hey, we have arrived,” Alexander said cheerfully.

Eliza took a seat next to you and threw you a sympathetic look. Alexander sat next to Hercules with a rather smug look on his face. There was no doubt he was looking forward to watching the reaction your story would receive.

Alexander folded his hands under his chin and said, “I believe you owe these guys a story (Y/N).”

You took a deep breath and began to tell them what happened when you went into economics class. Hercules was shaking with rage at the comments Jefferson made. John was shocked but laughed when you told them what you had told Jefferson and how he had reacted. Eliza put a hand on your shoulder supportively and gave you a small smile.

“Wow… I can’t believe he would say something like that. You really told him you wouldn’t come near his cock for all the money in the world?” John asked slightly amused but you could hear the edge of anger in his voice.

“I know right? It took all my self control to not lose it right there,” Alex seemed proud when he spoke.

“Herc?” You ask quietly. He was shaking, but had yet to say anything.

“I’ll fucking kill him with my bare hands, I swear to God,” Hercules said slamming his hand down on the table.

“Calm the fuck down Hercules! I think I effectively handled the situation. He basically ran out of class and couldn’t even look at us. I love you, but I’m capable of defending myself! I put him in his place! That asshole isn’t stupid enough to come within a mile of speaking to me again after what happened, ” you said with a scowl.

“I suppose you’re right. He wouldn’t dare try to do anything, I’m sure he knows you will tell us what happened and he knows we always have your back,” Hercules muttered.

“Oh what? Come on guys we have to come up with a way to get back at Jefferson for this? He will see what we can do to him!” Alexander sounded extremely determined.

You look at Eliza. She was shaking her head at Alexander’s antics. You lean over to her and whisper, “Please do something to shut him up.”

“Alexander! I think that’s enough! (Y/N) did an amazing job putting Jefferson in his place and you’re making a scene. Stop trying to instigate a fight, it’s already over,” Eliza scolded.

Alexander looked like a child who had been put in time out. “Sorry, sorry you are right. It’s been handled.”

“So… Herc I heard you started on a new design project. Tell me about this dress you’ve been assigned to make,” you say trying to steer the conversation away from Jefferson.

As Hercules begins to talk animatedly about the dress he was designing and grabbed his sketch book out of his bag you mouth “thank you” to Eliza. She sends you a wink in response. When lunch ended you received a hug from everyone and you started walking to your writing class. Half way to class your phone buzzes letting you know you had a new text.

Fashionista: 3:00pm - I know you handled the situation, but if he says anything like that to you again… nothing will hold me back. -

(Y/N): 3:01pm - Love you too Herc -

Angelica was waiting for you in her usual seat in the writing class you two shared. The rumor was that (Y/N) had let Jefferson have it in economics so badly that he had actually skipped his next class. She couldn’t wait to question you to find out if what everyone was talking about was true.

As you walked into class you noticed a few people stop talking and look at you. You quickly sat down next to Angelica, who had a knowing smile plastered across her face.

“Let me guess… you want to know what happened in economics class?” you ask with a smirk.

“You’re damn right I do! I’ve been hearing all kinds of things the last hour and a half.”

“He was degrading Alex again so I stood up to him,” you reply nonchalantly.

“Girl don’t you try to jip me like that! I know there is more than that. Spill it.”

“He might have told me to suck his dick and I may have told him not for all the money in the world…” you shrugged.

“Oh my god! Are you kidding me?! I can’t believe it, good for you! No wonder he skipped his next class…” Angelica gushed.

“He did what?”

“You heard me, he didn’t show up to his next class.”

“Holy shit,” you whisper with wide eyes.

You must have affected him even more than you thought. After the two hour writing class you were stir crazy. You hadn’t been able to focus on the lesson. Angelica’s admission to you that Jefferson had actually not shown up to class had you distracted. Why would he do that? He never missed classes. You walked out of class, said a quick goodbye to Angelica, and slowly walked down the halls. As you ate dinner the argument replayed in your mind over and over. The only thing thinking about it accomplished was to make you even more confused about the whole situation.

“A walk is what I need,” you say to yourself. You pull on your jacket and step into the cool evening air and begin to wander with your thoughts.

Thomas Jefferson walked up to the entrance of the library and checked his watch. 7:10pm. He pushed the door open and walked through the shelves of books heading toward the back. As he got around the last shelf he saw Lafayette seated at the table reading a book.

“I didn’t expect you to be here yet.”

Lafayette snapped his book shut and tucked it in his messanger bag. He looked up as Thomas sat down across from him. “Class ended earlier than I expected mon ami. You said you had something important to talk to me about?”

“I trust that you have heard what happened between (Y/N) and I this afternoon…” Thomas trailed off, slowly making eye contact with Lafayette.

“Oui. Alexander wrote me an essay about it.”

Thomas grimaced, “I figured as much.”

Lafayette didn’t look amused as he raised his eyebrow at Thomas, “Care to explain what happened?”

“I don’t know what happened! I was arguing with Hamilton and all of a sudden there she was. She jumped right into the fray and I was so wrapped up in the argument I never thought that she would be fluent in French. It’s idiotic looking back to think that since she is your friend and Hamilton is fluent. It came out of my mouth so fast and I figured it would rile him up… I never thought she would understand me!” Thomas looked exasperated.

“Have you, how you say, considered apologizing?”

Thomas looked at Lafayette with his mouth slightly agape. “I told her she should wrap her mouth around my dick! Something tells me a simple I’m sorry isn’t exactly going to cover it. Even if I tried to apologize she would never believe me. What am I going to do?” He dropped his head into his hands. “You know how I feel about her! She just told me off without a single ounce of hesitation and it only makes her more attractive…”

“Maybe you wouldn’t be in this situation if you stopped always trying to belittle Alex. You know (Y/N) will jump to his defense. Perhaps back off a little,” Lafayette suggested.

“You know as well as I do that Hamilton starts just as many arguments with me as I do with him. I’m not going to sit by and not defend myself!”

“Mon ami, you could try to control the way you respond to Alex. If you refuse to stop bickering with him, there is another way to fix this…”

“And what pray tell is that?” Thomas seemed curious.

“You could let (Y/N) in a little bit. She thinks you are nothing but a pompous asshole, you could try to show her different. This armor of arrogance and indifference is doing you no favors Thomas. You claim you care about her but how is she supposed to see that, if you do not let her in.”

Thomas seemed lost in thought and Lafayette hoped he was seriously considering what he had suggested. As Thomas was muttering to himself about options Lafayette’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw an unread message from (Y/N).

(Y/N): 7:40pm -Hey Laf. Are you busy? Can I meet up with you and talk?-

Lafayette sucked in a breath and sat his phone on the table. You wanted to meet and talk too? Should he tell you to meet him here? It was the usual spot that he would meet you when you needed to talk. Another message.

(Y/N) 7:43pm -If you are busy it’s okay. I’m just not in a good place emotionally right now, I can call Angelica and vent if you can’t meet up.-

Lafayette: 7:43pm - Non mon ami. I can meet up. I’m in the library, our usual spot.-

(Y/N) 7:44pm - Sounds good. I will start heading that way. I’ll be there shortly.-

Lafayette looked up from his phone and saw Jefferson with his head bowed and his fingers tangled with his curls. “Je suis désolé. I didn’t catch what you said Thomas.”

“I said there is no way I can do that! I can’t just let her in! How do you expect me to do that? I can’t give Hamilton a single bit of ammunition to have against me. There has to be another way, she wouldn’t let me get close enough to let her see anything and I’m not willing to take that risk,” Thomas declared.

You pushed the doors of the library open and made your way to your usual table. You had assumed the walk would help you calm down, instead it just made you more angry and confused. Laf was a voice of reason and you could talk to him about anything that bothered you. At this point you had lost count of how many times you had met him at the table in the back of the library to vent about anything you possibly needed. You looked up and stopped dead in your tracks. There was Lafayette at the table just like he promised, but across from him was the one person you did not want to see. Jefferson. You seethed at the sight of him sitting there. Lafayette was looking increasingly irritated until he snapped at Jefferson. You weren’t close enough to hear their hushed conversation and didn’t want to take the risk of being spotted yet. Judging by Jefferson’s hasty retreat from the conversation you could only assume Lafayette had put him in his place for how he had treated you.

Lafayette let out an angry sigh. He had tried to help Thomas but he had reached the end of his rope. His eyes steeled and he glared across the table with crossed arms.

“C'est votre propre faute que vous êtes dans cette situation. Si vous n'écoutez pas la raison, décrivez vous-même!” Lafayette hissed, reverting to his native tongue showed his anger. ( It’s your own fault that you are in this situation. If you won’t listen to reason, figure it out on your own.)

Thomas was taken aback. He rubbed his temples as he stared at the Frenchman. He stood quickly and gathered his jacket.

“Je ne peux pas m'en occuper maintenant. Ça me donne de mal á la tête. On se voit plus tard Lafayette,” was all Thomas uttered before turning and heading toward the door. ( I can’t deal with this right now. It’s giving me a headache. See you later Lafayette. )

“Imbécile,” Lafayette said under his breath.

Jefferson had barely gotten out of sight when he heard her voice. He immediately stopped and peered around the bookcase. He saw you stroll up to the table with a scowl on your face. He held a bit of hope that he may be able to smooth things over until he heard you greet Lafayette.

“What did that asshole want Laf? What did you just say to him?”

“I only told him what he needed to hear.”

Jefferson backed away from his hiding spot and turned on his heels and quickly made his way to the door. As he pushed the door open he whispered, “ Maybe Lafayette is right…”

You aggressively pull out a chair and throw your bag on the floor as you sat down. You looked at Lafayette. After your long walk overthinking the “situation” as you had decided to call it, it threw you off even more to see Jefferson.

“I just can’t believe him Laf! I mean I know you’ve heard everything already because of Alex, but I’m just so irritated. He was the last person I wanted to see right now!” you vent while gesturing in the direction he had left. “You should’ve seen it Laf! He was so smug, but then he looked so ashamed! It’s infuriating! Can you believe that for a second I considered that he was actually sorry for his comment to me?! I want to punch him in that pretty face.”

“It’s possible that he is,” Lafayette reasoned. (Y/N) looked scandalized at the idea.

“Oh come on, you can’t honestly believe that! That arrogant piece of shit has never been sorry for anything in his entire life. To him the whole world should bow at his feet, he can do no wrong,” you claim rolling your eyes.

“That’s not entirely true (Y/N). He really isn’t that bad, but you will never see any of that unless you let go of your hate and actually look.”

“Seriously Laf, that is ridiculous. If he had any redeeming qualities I would have noticed. I know you got to know him while he spent the summer in France, but that doesn’t obligate you to defend his character,” you say with a smirk.

Lafayette ran his hands down his face and swore in French under his breath. “It’s not that I feel obligated (Y/N), it’s the truth. He really has a lot more to him then the person he lets you see.”

You scoff, “So you would have me believe he is secretly a good person under that mask of superiority? Yeah okay,” you laugh, earning a judgemental look from Laf, “Well it’s getting late and I have a test tomorrow. I’ll see you later Laf.”

As you walk away you hear Lafayette groan that causes you to look over your shoulder. He was redoing his bun and looked exhausted. When he got the elastic in place he shook his head in disappointment.

“Ils sont tous deux si obstinés qu'ils ne verront jamais qu'ils sont vraiment pareils,” Lafayette said. ( They are so stubborn that they will never see how alike they really are. )

You feel anger raise again at his comment. You turn quickly and rush to the door. Lafayette didn’t know what he was talking about.

“We are nothing alike.”