#this took 800 years to finish oh my god

[butchsquatch]

3, 8, 24. Make me cry or my money back >:3

make you CRY?

3. Do they try to prevent unnecessary suffering?

When Viko is doing well, absolutely! He's not big on making life hard for people or . When he's doing badly, cotard's syndrome bad, he doesn't care what happens to other people cause to him they are not real or stuck in the same hell he's in.

Reev??? That's a tricky one because he likes causing what he thinks is necessary suffering. But he's going out of his way to make sure that no cyberpsychos die. But he did drive after someone for 2 miles after they clipped his car while he was back out.....so take with that what you will.

Vulp will keep hitting someone with a baseball bat even if they're already knocked out.

8. Do they feel glee at the sight of blood?

When he got really into his merc work, Viko did feel a certain amount of glee at seeing blood, because it meant he was doing his job right. Viscera, not so much. He's a knife thrower so he's not seeing a lot of blood. 2079!Viko is a little different cause he's a lot softer but also has interesting kinks, to put it lightly.

I would say Reev feels glee seeing blood, but that's definitely not a good thing. Upon getting to Night City and Vik giving him access to NCPD records, Reev decided that he was judged, jury, and executioner.

Vulp is a little freak man and he definitely likes blood

24. Do they like maiming?

Viko does not like maiming and the idea of doing that to someone really freaks him out

Reev will only maim if he thinks it's necessary, otherwise, he will simply kill.

Vulp will just maim a mother fucker with a baseball bat. It's a terrible habit.

[jasmines-library]

CAN YOU PLEASE DO SOMETHING WITH OLDER BROTHER DAMIAN WAHNE?? LIKE 11 ISH YEAR OLD READER?? Reader is also an ex child weapon. Just a silent cutie pie. I just wanna see Damian spoiling them. Or something with like reader not following his orders and telling Damian to go away and does reckless stuff that Damian did when he was younger and his older siblings are just laughing at the irony

Brotherly Love

⛤⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽⛧☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⛤

Note: Sorry again for the wait! but two in one day woo.

Warnings: Just fluffy

Word Count: 800.

ALSO THIS IS MY 100TH FIC 🎉🎉

⛧ BATFAM MASTERLIST ⛧

⛤⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽⛧☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⛤

“If you walk out that door I swear to God-” Damian curses as you slink out of the door of the batcave. He had explicitly told you that he didn’t want you going on this mission because he had deemed it ‘too dangerous’ as soon as Bruce gave the details. For a boy who claimed he ‘didn’t give a shit’ he was rather protective. Of course, being the highly trained, and rather confident 11 year old you are (which basically meant you were an adult) you had decided that you weren’t going to listen to him. With a sly smirk, you slipped out of the door. “God dammit!”

Damian kicks the wheely chair beside him. It slides across the room.  And then there’s laughter.

It was Jason, geared up in his suit, minus the signature hood. He was leaning against the wall, an amused smirk on his face. 

“Finally getting a taste of your own medicine, huh Demon Spawn?”

“What?” Damian half snapped, his temper wearing thin as he spun around to face his brother.

This made Jason’s grin widen. “Don’t act as if you weren’t exactly the same.”

Damian glowered. “That’s different.”

Jason just raised an eyebrow. “Is it?”

“....shut up. Where are you going anyway?” Damian nods towards Jason’s suit. 

“Someone has to go and get them. And it certainly won't be you.”

~

“Hi Dami.” You smiled as you sat yourself beside him on the couch. He was still in a grump, grumbling about your excursion. Jason had gone to find you, but instead of bringing you home, he let you finish the mission. This royally pissed Damian off, and he was almost 100% certain that Jason had done it just to spite him. But as much as he wanted to, Damian just couldn’t stay mad at you. Especially when you looked up at him with those bright and mischievous eyes. You very much reminded your other siblings of Damian when he was your age. Though of course, now he would claim he was all grown up and always has been. And, even though Damian wished he could keep holding his grudge against you, his face couldn't help but melt. 

“Hey, kiddo.” he greeted, looking down at you curiously.

“What are you doing?” You ask. You had always been fond of your older brothers, but you had an especially soft spot for Damian, as he did for you. 

Damian held up the book that he was half reading, but then gestured to the TV that he kept getting distracted by. “I don’t even know why I bothered trying to be honest.”

“Oh.” You acknowledged before reaching forwards to pick up the video game controllers. You raised an eyebrow and held one out for him to take. He snatched it up and turned it on. Damian was very clearly competitive, however he let you win the first few rounds before he decided he had had enough and wanted to take all of the glory for himself. 

At some point, the two of you deemed it time for a break. It didn’t last long, but it gave the two of you long enough to stretch your legs. When you returned, Damian was already back on the couch. On the coffee table he had placed two steaming mugs of hot cocoa, topped with cream and marshmallows. He had also haphazardly placed a bunch of crisps in a bowl and had collected an extensive array of snacks that he had chucked onto the table too. 

You raised an eyebrow, looking curiously at him. 

“What?”

“You got snacks.”

“Yeah….well you looked hungry.”

Your face melted at Damian’s tenderness. Damian rolled his eyes as you took a sip of the hot chocolate, getting whipped cream on your face. He chuckled and gestured for you to wipe it away. You grinned up at him again.

“Thank you, Dami.” you beamed, nudging his side affectionately. 

“Yeah, well. Don’t get used to it.” He grumbled, unable to hide the sliver of a smile creeping up onto his face. 

The two of you eventually fall asleep, still in front of the TV and half gripping the controllers as the game idles on without you. It’s Dick who pokes his head around the door to see what the noise is. He is surprised to see you with your head on Damian’s shoulder as the two of you snooze. With a soft smile, he turns off the TV and places a blanket over the two of you. But not before snapping a quick picture of the two of you which he would definitely use to wind up Damian some point in the not too distant future.

⛤⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽⛧☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⛤

BATFAM TAGS

@hearts4robs @xxrougefangxx @hell-o-kittys @harleycao @batfamsstuff @alicedawitchbish

⛤⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽⛧☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅⛤

[maremartinelli]

OUT OF EVERYTHING

Sirius Black X fem!reader

Summary: Y/n has a busy week due to her work as head girl and her boyfriend gives her a little surprise to make her relax.

Words: 800+

Warnings: Mention of music, cuteness, couple in love and very much in love.

Author: English is not my first language, I apologize if I get any spelling or typing errors. Second, I know that the song mentioned probably didn't exist in 1970 and some broken, But I like her so much that I need to put her here. And finally, have fun reading!!

MASTERLIST

Head girl's job was really difficult.

In addition to monitoring at night, helping the first year students with their subjects, making weekly reports and organizing the common room every night, there were also boring meetings that took place every Tuesday and Thursday and took up at least two hours of the precious night.

Y/n loved the position, but lately the work has been too big and is taking a lot out of her.

Not that Remus didn't help her with matters, but she wanted everything to go impeccably. What was causing the girl's energy to run out quickly.

At the moment, Y/n was walking up the stairs to her dorm so tired that if she closed her eyes for 1 second she would fall asleep right there.

As she slowly opened the door to the dormitory she shared with Lily and Marlene, she could see that it was empty. She deduced that Lily was with James and the other boys in their dorm and Marlene had sneaked into Dorcas' room. Which she did a lot of in the last few days.

Y/n laughed lightly, imagining Marlene and walked to her bed, which had an object on top of her pillow that was delicately exposed on top of the sheets.

"Oh, let's see what's here" She whispers to herself and walks over to take a closer look.

She smiles when she finds a small bouquet of red roses and a note from her boyfriend.

The smile widens when she finishes reading the message he had.

She and Sirius had been in a relationship for 2 and a half years and he never stopped being romantic. The dark-haired boy's favorite act of love was certainly gifts and quality time.

Even though she's tired, she takes a quick shower and puts on some warmer clothes to go meet Sirius.

The weather in Scotland was starting to cool down and the night wind was colder than at other times of the year.

As soon as she grabs the denim jacket she had stolen from Sirius, she leaves the dorm and walks towards the astronomy tower in silent steps. The curfew had already rung and so all students were supposed to be in their dorms and at most in the common room. Which was not the case for the couple.

Upon arriving at the staircase that led to the top of the tower, Y/n hugs her coat tighter and asks for Sirius.

"Siri love, are you there?!" She says as soon as she reaches the last step of the staircase and sees a tall silhouette with long hair facing away from her.

"Hey! I'm here, my love" he turns around and then meets his girlfriend.

He approaches his girl with a charming and passionate smile on his lips.

"Babe, what's all this?!" Y/n exclaims as she looks around and feels Sirius wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I made a little surprise for my love. I know how tired she is and how hard it is to be our head girl." He smiles and then places a passionate kiss on the girl's cheek, leaving only one arm around her and guiding her to the small picnic he had made on the tower's balcony. "Did you like it?"

On the floor was a burgundy tablecloth laid out with several small portions of food. Cake, cookies, pie, sandwiches and double pieces of some fruits. Not to mention a liter of wine with two glasses, which he probably stole from a teacher or entered Filch's room.

"Do I like it? I loved it" Y/n looks at everything with a charm in her eyes, while Sirius looked at her.

With that, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All started playing on the record player that Black had taken upstairs too.

"Oh my God!!" Y/n turns to see where the music was coming from, a smile on her face. "It's my favorite!!"

"I know" Sirius looks lovingly at his girlfriend and a passionate smile on his face. "Grant me a dance, prefect?!" He puts one arm behind him and extends his other hand in front of his girlfriend.

Y/n smiles, looking into her lover's eyes and nodding.

"Absolutely, my love" She takes Sirius' hand and he leads her to the middle of the tower, placing both his hands on her waist, while Y/n puts both her arms around the boy's neck.

"And I know just where to touch you..." Sirius sings in a low tone, while resting his forehead against hers.

"And I know just what to prove..." Y/n sings a part and smiles, closing her eyes.

As the music played, the two moved to the rhythm of the melody and whispered excerpts of the song to each other.

Every time I see you, all the rays of the sun are

Streaming through the waves in your hair

And every star in the sky is taking aim at your eyes

Like a spotlight

"I love you to no end, my sweet girl," Sirius whispers in her ear.

She smiles shyly and leans into him.

"I love you, my sweet boy" she smiles and seals their lips with a kiss with a lot of feeling and shared love.

Author: I was a writing tutor for a few months when I was in high school, and seriously, it's stressful. Lucky you get some extracurricular hours.🙏🏽🫂

[chrisevansleftpeck]

Reidsgiving

That’s the stupidest title but i thought thanksgiving was bland 😭

Spencer Reid x Wife!Reader

Word Count: 800 (exactly 💅)

Content Warnings: slight mention of ED (mostly just reader forgetting to eat bc she’s so in love with this man)

You tumbled into the kitchen, rifling through your grocery bags. As you unloaded your thanksgiving groceries you smiled, hearing tiny footsteps and little nonsensical babbles. You turned around to surprise your daughter and lift her into the air.

“Silly, wanna help mama cook for daddy and you?” You help her on your hip, sifting through the kitchen drawers for a pair of scissors. You heard a little “daddy” in your ear, and that was enough convincing for you. You placed the red kitchen scissors on the kitchen counter and placed your daughter in her high chair behind you. 

You walked over to the record player Spencer bought you last Christmas and put on some Taylor Swift. Back in the kitchen you cut open the package of frozen bread rolls and popped them in the oven to cook. Then you started on your turkey, mostly completely helpless. You had no idea how to cook a turkey, and you weren’t expected to know until you had a kid and you wanted to give her a real at-home thanksgiving. Basically a thanksgiving that wasn’t prepared by Rossi. 

You hummed to Taylor Swift as your daughter babbled in the background when your husband entered through the front door or your big apartment. You didn’t notice him, preoccupied on your phone searching for how to cook a turkey. Maybe you should’ve figured that out yesterday. Suddenly, Spencer’s arms wrapped around your waist as he planted a sweet kiss on your cheek.

“My girl.” He whispered, arms still around you as he stared down at the raw turkey. His eyebrows furrowed, “It’s three pm.”

“Yes.” You exhaled.

Spencer let go of you, standing beside you instead. “Want help?” You looked at him, wanting to reject him, but a desperate neediness shone through your eyes. He nodded, “How about I’ll take the bread out when it’s done-”

You cut him off, looking down at your feet then at your daughter. “It’s not homemade, sorry. Just frozen. I was busy.” Your face winced a little, trying to ignore the stingy feeling starting in your nose and the water building in your eyes. 

Spencer just walked over to his daughter, lifting her from her chair and placing her on his chest. He carried her over to you then pulled both of you into a hug. “I don’t care about homemade, as long as I get to eat it with my girls.” You smiled against Spencer’s neck, as he ran his hand along your back. “Also she’s one years old, she probably won’t remember this after two to three weeks.” 

You giggled, pulling away from Spencer and your daughter. You exhaled deeply, releasing your own built up tension. “Okay, what was your plan?”

Spencer set your daughter down in her high chair again then headed back to you, “I’ll take the bread out later, I’ll try to deal with the turkey, and you can make the mashed potatoes. Hopefully we’ll be on the same page by then and we can make the sweet potato casserole together.” You took all of his words in, so much clearer than before. You loved watching his mind work.

You simply nodded and got to work. Throughout the next hour you’d take the rolls out and feed a cool sample to your daughter, letting her chew on the bread. You’d also boop Spencer’s nose, leaving a little dot of mashed potatoes that he licked off. 

“Oh, god I hope our daughter doesn’t have that gene.” You laughed. 

Spencer smiled widely, “What?! It’s a talent. She’d be lucky to have it.” Spencer danced his way over to his daughter, holding a spatula in one hand, “A lucky ten percent, huh?” He smiled hearing you and your daughter's giggles mix together. 

It didn’t seem to matter to Spencer that dinner wasn’t finished until 4:50. He was still the happiest man in the world. 

When all three of you finally got to sit down and eat dinner Spencer moved your hand away from your daughter's spoon as you tried to feed her. “I’ll feed her tonight. For once you only have to worry about feeding yourself.” He smiled at your daughter, not breaking his gaze from her. You watched the scene, him flying the sweet, soft casserole into her mouth. 

“You enamor me, Spencer Reid.” You spoke, unable to keep the thought to yourself. He broke away from the two of you’s daughter to look at you.

He twitched a little, smiling softly, “What a beautiful woman.” He nodded at your plate, “Made with love, no reason not to eat it now.” 

You laughed, coming out of a trance only his eyes and his daughter’s could hold over you.

“Happy Thanksgiving, my loves.” Spencer looked at both of his girls, smiling proudly of his sweet little family.

[ijhyo]

CHAPTER 4

what was supposed to be a fun weekend away with friends turns into a sinister game of hide and seek where their lives are on the line. trapped in a lake house cabin with only six hours on the clock, can y/n figure out who is behind the mask and manage not to get caught all before sunrise?

PAIRING. soobin x gn reader ; beomgyu x gn reader ; yeonjun x gn reader

GENRE. college au ; mystery ; thriller ; escape room ; angst ; horror ; humour

WARNINGS. character deaths (quick, act surprised) ; injuries ; blood ; swearing ; stabbing ; guns

WORD COUNT. 7k

A/N. FINALLY! she is here! after 300 years the final installment of the here i come series is out GOD BLESS. never have i been so happy to finish something in my life. very big thank you to everyone who continued showing interest in this fic even though this chapter took forever, this is truly for u I LOVE YALL! some of u have kind of guessed the killers so kudos to you, big brained people. i cant think of anything else to say just here you go, thank u, enjoy!!

TAGLIST. @tsupuffs @ren-chib @yjwfav @mykalon @junityy @iyeonjuni @fallingforhoon @fairybinie @enhacolor @cheorei @jjhmk @acciomylove @yeonjunsgf777 @soobin-chois @chosoluvr @odxrilove @soobisms @strawbrinkofdeath @etherealcherrie @maemarahuya @1-800-ryujin @wisecheesecakecloud @fairyofshampgyu @i-haewon @cottontvil @minthicons @bettyschwallocksyee @glyxiebear @calumsfringe @luvrboygyu @clyspm @celestialgyu @fallingforya @gyumie @ihsmarat @wooseoft @tatansoobin @wccycc @hello0i @prodsputnik @yotser @yhawnnzz @najaemin138 @ljnfav

prev | masterlist

When you come to, you are laying in a bed, an overhead light shines glaring harshly in your eyes. You blink blearily, trying to get used to the brightness of the room and getting your vision to focus.

Movement catches your attention at the foot of your bed. You see Lia moving around the room, picking up your dirty clothes to do the laundry because you always forget to put them away, humming under her breath as she works.

Saturday was always laundry day.

After you got out of bed, you would be the one to take out the trash and go shopping for any groceries you needed. By the time you’d get back, Lia would have already finished with lunch.

You’d watch a movie or two, maybe play a game if you could convince your roommate, and order take out for dinner.

Right about now, she would tsk her tongue and throw a dirty shirt at you, telling you that you need to start cleaning up for yourself. You’d roll your eyes fondly and promise to be neater. Lia would accept it even though she doesn’t believe you and the process would be repeated all over again the next week.

You wait for the shirt to hit your face. It never comes.

Instead, the illusion is shattered when your eyes finally focus on the person you saw and see that their back is way too broad to be your friend’s and that, looking around curiously, this was not your apartment.

Everything comes rushing back then.

The game. The killers. Lia.

You’re laying down comfortably but you feel dizzy. Raising a hand to your head, you feel cotten where your temple should be and find that pressure causes a sharp sting to shoot up to your forehead. You let out a low curse at the pain and the other person finally takes notice of you.

He moves to your side, relief written on his face. “Oh, you’re awake, thank God.” You try to place the boy in your memory but draw a blank. “You passed out sometime between the lake and here and didn’t wake up for half an hour. I was starting to get worried.”

Yeonjun, your brain supplies when all the recent events catch up to you.

Now that you could see his face illuminated properly, pretty seems like an understatement. His dark hair is pushed back, revealing his forehead and you didn’t think that could be attractive, but here you are.

Yeonjun is still watching you. You clear your throat. “Um, thanks. For helping me.”

“You’re welcome,” he says smiling. “You looked like you needed it.” You suppress a scoff. If only he knew. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

His sudden question snaps you back. He has his hand up in your direct line of vision. “What?”

“I’m checking if you have a concussion. I dressed your wounds as best I could with zero first aid training but I need to make sure you won’t pass out again on me.”

His fingers are really pretty. You blink. “Oh. Three.”

Yeonjun smiles, satisfied. “Okay. Good, that’s good.”

He walks around the bed and disappears behind through a door. You use this opportunity to look around the room Yeonjun put you in, not finding it familiar at all.

Knowing that it is not far from Soobin’s lake house, you think that this house must be on the same level of extravagance, or at least close to it, but this room gives no indication of that. It’s smaller than the bedroom you were going to spend the night in before but still larger than the one in your apartment.

There is indications of use around; a t-shirt hanging on the back of a chair; shoes spilling out of the closet; and the faint smell of cologne lingers in the air. It all seems so boy that the only conclusion you draw is that this is Yeonjun’s room.

The boy in your returns with a glass of water that you accept gratefully. You hadn’t realised how thirsty you were until you downed the drink in seemingly one gulp. Yeonjun watches amusedly as you wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and you feel your face heat.

“Where are we?” You ask, holding the glass in your hands.

Yeonjun looks around the room in thought, humming. “About ten minutes away from where I found you.”

“Do you live here?”

“Nah,” he denies easily, taking a seat ay the foot of the bed, being careful to avoid touching your legs, “I’m just house sitting. The family that lives here is away at their other vacation house. In Japan.”

At your stunned look (you’re pretty sure that your mouth is open wide), Yeonjun nods hugely. “I know. Rich people, am I right?”

You scoff. “You could say that.”

It goes quiet. Yeonjun watches you curiously, his heavy gaze makes you avert your eyes to the glass in your hold. You clear your throat. “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?”

He winces. “Can I?”

You shrug, feigning nonchalance, before launching into your recount of the night’s events. You watch his face as it goes from curious to shocked before finally settling on what is a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

Which, sums it up pretty nicely.

“That’s…Fuck, I-I don’t even know what to say. Who would do that?”

It feels oddly reassuring hearing this surprise from someone who has zero knowledge of the fucked up party you were just at. You inhale sharply. “Don’t know yet. But I’m gonna find out.” And you were. You couldn’t sit here forever.

“And the rest of your friends? You said you think they’re…” Dead. The word hangs between the two of you, too scared to be spoken aloud for fear they might be true.

“Well,” you start decisively, “they might not be.” With that, you swing your legs over the side of the bed, holding back a cry at the pain that erupts from the sudden movement.

Yeonjun’s hands shoot out to steady you, eyebrows creased with worry. “Woah! What are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” you grit out, pushing off the taller boy.

“You’re quite literally not. You might not have a concussion but fuck, Y/N, you’ve been stabbed. You can’t go out there. You need rest.”

Continuing out of the bedroom, you find yourself in an enormous foyer, almost as grand as the Choi family’s. “I need to make sure my friends are okay. I need to make those bastards pay.”

Your path is blocked by a very tall wall standing in your way. You roll your eyes, knowing that he used the fact that he doesn’t need to limp to pass you. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Yeonjun stands defiantly, arms crossed and displeasure clear in the hard set of his jaw. You are getting quite sick of boys telling you no.

You stop in your tracks, thinking.

Then, “Do you have any knives?”

2 HOURS LEFT

The trek up the hill is hard with your injuries and takes longer than it should have had you been in full strength. The ground is soft beneath your feet, gives way every few feet and you have to readjust yourself carefully to avoid slipping.

A knife, so graciously given to you by Yeonjun, is hidden under your shirt. You walk in a way that it won’t accidentally nick your side. It feels awkward but it works.

Nearing the house, light spills out into the night, the grand chandelier still on. It is jarring almost, how the trees go from being cloaked in darkness to being bathed in bright light.

The front door is deserted.

You feel the warmth from the fireplace rather than see it, noting how it is still on, despite everything. That someone was stoking it.

You enter cautiously. Hand hovering over where the knife is, you stalk your way back into the kitchen and the sight of your altercation with the seeker leaves a sour taste in your mouth. The kettle remains strewn across the floor, a puddle of water mixed with blood spilled across the wooden floor.

Heart hammering loudly in your chest, you approach the door to the wine cellar, hand clutched to your waist. You know there is a possibility that the seeker could be there, could jump out and surprise you at any moment, but now that you have your own weapon to defend yourself, you wouldn’t let that fear stop you from finding Lia.

A crash.

Your head whips around frantically at the sound. Straining your ears, you listen carefully for any indication of where the noise came from. Quietly, you duck behind the kitchen island into a crawl. The knife nicks digs into your stomach but you ignore it, focusing on controlling your breathing so as to not bring attention to your location.

There is a slam as something collapses against the ground.

“Get away from me!”

Your heart stutters.

Soobin.

The sound of heavy footsteps gets louder with every passing second as someone walks closer to your hiding spot. Peaking your head around the side of the island, you try to get a glimpse of who it is, but the wall of the kitchen obscures your view. Clenching your teeth, you steel yourself to take the risk and reveal yourself to see who it is.

Slowly moving from your crouched position, you rise to your feet and are greeted by the back of the boy you have liked for two years, the boy who went through all this trouble just to try and create a night you’d enjoy.

“Soobin.” Your voice cracks around his name. Tears well in your eyes and threaten to spill.

He turns and your heart soars. “Y/N?” Relief washes over his features as he takes you in. He barely gives you time to respond before he crosses over to you and engulfs you in a massive hug.

Immediately, your shoulders relax and all the tension in your body melts away when his arms wrap around you. “Oh my god, Y/N, I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried, you just disappeared and I couldnʼt find and there was blood everywhere I, I thought—”

Pulling back slightly, you press a gentle hand to his face to stop his rambling. “I’m okay, I’m okay.” His eyes search yours and he nods numbly, bringing a hand to cover yours.

Soobin laughs mirthlessly. “Some game night, huh?”

Your chuckle comes out wet. “Not exactly what I had in mind, no.” You chance a look over his shoulder, expecting to see one of the seekers pop out and ruin the moment. Focusing your gaze back on Soobin, you graze your eyes over his face, going through a mental checklist of injuries. There’s a cut above his eye and dried blood crusts his cheek. Aside from that and a split lip, he’s fine. You exhale in relief. “They didn’t get you,” you breathe, more of a statement than a question.

He’s in front of you, face beneath your fingers, real and alive.

Soobin nods once. “They tried to, but I got away in time.”

“That’s good. Have you seen Beomgyu? Lia?”

“No, I’m sorry,” he admits solemnly and you feel your heart constrict. That doesn’t mean anything, you remind yourself, stopping yourself from thinking the worst. He must read your mind because his eyes rove over your face and he kisses his teeth. “Y/N…” he warns carefully, but your mind is up.

You tell him as much, but he’s still against it. “You don’t have to do anything, Y/N. The doors are open–we could leave! Get out of here right now.”

While what he is saying sounds appealing, there is nothing more that you want than to get as far away from this house as possible, you couldn’t—wouldn’t—do that without your friends. “I came back here because I couldnʼt leave you guys. I found you and I’m not leaving until I find the others. I’m not leaving without them.”

There is a possibility that you are in over your head. That even if you did manage to get past the seekers, the chances of you finding your friends alive was slim. You know that’s what Soobin is thinking, that he’s just trying to be rational. You expect him to argue, but instead he just sighs. Glances up at the ceiling. Locks eyes with you again.

“Okay.” Even though he agrees, you can tell he’s still apprehensive. “But I’m going with you.”

You nod, offering him a grateful smile that he returns. Your mind flits through the faces of the other people who were at the party, a drop in your stomach when you remember all the people who died. “What about the others? Yunho and Wooyoung?”

At the mention of their names, Soobin’s eyes darken and his jaw sets.

Cocking your head to the side, you ask, “What is it?”

It takes him a moment to respond, a myriad of emotions passing on his face as he considers whether to tell you whatever it is or not. He comes to a decision when he inhales sharply and pinches the bridge of his nose. You watch him curiously. “They…fuck. They’re the seekers, Y/N.”

You blink owlishly. “What?” you question, barely above a whisper. There’s no way. It can’t be. You saw them, you, you played with them, you might have even gone as far to say you could have become friends. They couldn’t have…

But Soobin’s mouth is set in a hard line and suddenly the room seems too small. “But how could they…in the screening room, they were with you. How could they…?” You can’t get the question out but Soobin understands anyway.

His face softens as she shakes his head. “They joined us later, before I found you. And then, after you left, so did Yunho. He came back as the seeker and killed Jongho right in front of us, and we all ran. I saw Sumin’s body at the top of the stairs and I was just attacked. It’s them. They’re behind all of this.”

You feel sick. Bile creeps up your throat and threatens to spill out, but you swallow it down.

Shutting your eyes tight, you exhale shakily. It didn’t matter. It didn’t change the fact that your best friend was missing.

Squaring your shoulders back, you lock eyes with Soobin.

“I’m getting Lia back. And those bastards are gonna pay.”

His eyes widen in shock at your concoction but he recovers quickly. Nodding once, he grabs one of your hands and leads you out to the living room where the couches have been turned over and the coffee table lies on the carpeted floor in pieces, splinters of wood littering the ground.

You chance a glance at Soobin. He really put up a fight, huh?

“How are your parents going to feel about you trashing their house?” you ask, going for a joke.

He responds with a cheeky grin. “Great, if I never tell them. I’m sure I can convince them to spend a couple winters in Jeju and they’ll be none the wiser.”

Whether or not he’s kidding, you can’t tell. The thought of his family owning yet another holiday home—in Jeju no less—is…strange. You think that if you try to comprehend just how rich Soobin is, steam would start coming out of your head. You personally had never travelled further than the places you’ve lived, let alone had houses purely for the purpose of visiting during specific seasons.

But this must be normal for him as he doesn’t even bat an eyelash. Okay. Cool. You’re just going to assume that Soobin has a house in every major city of Korea at this point.

The two of you barely make it past the staircase, past Isa’s lifeless body that has since turned a ghostly pale yellow, when a voice yells from behind you, thick with malice and so raspy it sounds as though it ripped through their throat, “Soobin!”

Simultaneously, you and the boy in question’s heads turn, hands still clasped together, and come face to face with the seekers. Masks still donned with the same cloak they’ve been wearing all night, you wonder who is who.

One of them steps towards the two of you, and you surprise yourself by planting your feet firmly in place. “Soobin,” he says and with a chill down your spine, you find that it is, in fact, Yunho, his voice familiar to you after all this time. Why he’s decided to ditch the voice modulator, you don’t know. Your eyes narrow.

Next to him, Wooyoung practically seethes. Closing the distance between you, he stalks over, knife brandished like a sword, crying, “We’re going to fucking kill you—!”

BANG!

Wooyoung stops in his tracks. His head drops to the center of his chest where you notice a pool of red spilling through the cloak and spreading outward. At the same time he drops the floor to his knees, you turn to look at Soobin. With a gun in his hands.

ONE HOUR LEFT

Soobin gives you a sidelong glance out of the corner of his eye. “Make them pay, right?”

You swallow, your heart hammering wildly in your chest. Right? That is what you said, this is what you wanted, but—fuck. He has a gun? Has he had one this entire time? He knows how to fire one? The knife pressed against your stomach burns against your skin.

Soobin doesn’t acknowledge your apparent discomfort, he doesn’t even look at you. Instead he watches Wooyoung clutch his chest desperately, blood seeping through his fingers. Watches Yunho rush to his friend’s side, distressed as he yanks off the mask from his face. Watches as his friend’s name falls from his lips in between a string of “no, no, no, no”s that sound something between a plea and a prayer.

He watches all of this impassively. His face barely twitches. He looks almost bored.

In the past night you have seen more people die and be killed than you would care to count, and yet, seeing the boy you’ve cared about for years put a bullet in someone so easily, without so much as a flinch, makes something ugly curl in your stomach.

Revenge is what you wanted, but something about this feels wrong.

Yunho crouches over Wooyoung and removes his friend’s face, brushing the shorter boy’s hair away from his forehead. “You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” he repeats, a mantra as he rips off a piece of his cloak to press against the wound, over the sound of Wooyoung’s laboured wheezing. He turns to glare at the both of you, something heady and full of hatred. “What is wrong with you?” he cries out, voice thick with anguish.

You find yourself wanting to defend yourself, to tell him that you didn’t do anything, that you never knew Soobin would do that. But you stop when you remember that they hurt your friends, they hurt you; you have the wound on your your leg to prove it and—

Oh, god.

You’re going to be sick.

Masks thrown to the side on the bloodied floor, you can see their faces clearly. Soft light rises from outside as the sun makes its ascent over the horizon—Has it really been that long since this fucked up game started?—and casts a glow across their features. Their unmarred features.

You slammed a kettle of boiling across one of their seeker’s faces; you burned him. And yet, here they stand, skin as smooth as a baby.

Eyes blown wide, you exhale shakily, “It’s not them.”

“What are you talking about?” Soobin asks through a scoff. You take a step away from him, hands trembling at your side at your revelation.

“I-I hit one of them. Neither of them have any scars or anything. It’s not them. Soobin, they’re innocent.” He looks at you for the first time since firing his gun, one that is calculated, like he’s assessing you, and has his jaw clenching. He’s never looked at you like this before.

From the ground, Wooyoung laughs mirthlessly through gritted teeth, catching your attention. Blood spittles from his mouth and you wince. “You think this fucker doesn’t know that?”

Yunho nods in Soobin’s direction. “He’s the one who knocked us out and put us in these clothes to frame us and forced us to pretend to be seekers. He threatened to hurt that Beom—”

With a tired sigh, Soobin rolls his eyes and aims his gun at the two boys. “This is tedious.”

Two shots.

One through Yunho’s head and another to Wooyoung’s chest, right where his heart is.

The shots rings out in the expansive living room, reverberating in your ears. You think you flinch, but you can’t be sure. Not with how your body feels as though it’s been doused with cement. You can’t move.

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?”

Your mind was spinning. Soobin just shot two people. Two innocent people. Two innocent people who just accused him of—oh, god, you can’t keep the bile down anymore.

You heave.

“Oh, don’t tell me you believe them. Those guys?” Soobin asks disbelievingly, waving the gun around like it’s like a toy and not a weapon that just killed two people.

“You shot them,” you say, arms shaking at your sides.

“Yeah. After they killed my friends.”

“I just told you they didn’t!” Your voice cracks around the last syllable and Soobin’s face softens. He takes a step towards you, arm reaching out for you, but you step back, putting as much distance between the two of you. “Don’t touch me.”

He tries to stop you by saying, “Hey, don’t be like that,” but you just shake your head, trying to wrap your head around the last few minutes, but you find that you can’t. Nothing makes sense.

Nothing about the boy you liked being a gun carrying murderer makes sense. Nothing about the weekend that was supposed to be a fun time with your friends turning into a bloodbath made sense. The whole situation was making your head and you were so tired.

You just wanted to leave and go home to your tiny apartment with your best friend and watch a movie and complain about your classes over beer. You wish Soobin never planned this stupid party in the first place.

Your heart stutters in your chest.

I planned this whole thing for you.

The room tilts, like the world has been shifted on its axis. Moments from the night start slotting together like puzzle pieces in your mind as you recall the way Soobin wanted you to hide together at beginning of the game, how he just so happened to find you after Sunghoon was killed, how even though he claims to have gotten into a fight with the seekers, he barely has a scratch on him.

How he killed Wooyoung and Yunho despite you telling him they weren’t the seekers.

That ugly thing in the pit of your stomach grows and spreads throughout your body wraps itself around your throat.

Tears prick your eyes, sick and disbelief clawing up your throat. “You…” The words lodge themselves under your tongue.

Soobin’s face morphs just then.

Gone is the look of boyish care you have grown so familiar with, that you have fallen in love with, and is overtaken by a smug, snakelike grin. The sight chills you.

He claps. Actually applauds as he looks at you with something akin to pride. “God, you’re so smart. I knew you’d get it, you know? I always believed in you,” he admits, awe lacing his voice. Checking his watch, he whistles. “And with forty-seven minutes to spare! Wow. Your intelligence is one of the things I like about you, you know?”

What the fuck was happening right now? Was he confessing to you? Right now?

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You were fucking timing me? Why the fuck would you do that?”

“For you, obviously.” He says it matter-of-factly and it gives you pause. “You know,” he starts, walking around the base of the stairs with the air of someone giving a seminar, “when I told the guys that I knew you’d figure it out, they didn’t believe me. I said ‘That Y/N? She’s smart, she loves riddles. She’ll put two and two together.’. But they were adamant that the stress of the situation would be too much for you to handle and you wouldn’t be able to think clearly, blah blah blah. Psych majors. You know how they are.” He says it like the two of you are in on a joke together.

You want to wring his neck.

“And I guess they were right, kind of, but you pulled through in the end. Just like I knew you would.” Soobin flashes you a smile that before tonight, would have left your knees weak, but now the sight just makes you angry.

The fact that he thinks you should be flattered that he apparently thinks highly of your deduction skills in a situation he orchestrated that ended with so many people dead makes you sick. He bet on you.

With the seekers, you think abruptly. It has to be.

Your mind works quickly, trying to figure out who they really are and you gasp at your revelation.

His smile widens and you have half a mind to punch it right off. “I think introductions are in order, don’t you?”

As though summoned, two dark figures walk towards the both of you from a secret door in the walls of the living room. The seekers. One of them pushes someone along roughly—Beomgyu, your brain supplies—, a knife pressed against his throat.

A wave of relief washes over you as you lock eyes. “Y/N,” he exhales, breathlessly, eyes raking over your body. “You’re okay.”

“So are you,” you nod, voice dripping with relief, then you wince. “All things considered.”

He chuckles at that. “I suppose it could be worse.”

“Shut up,” the seeker holding Beomgyu snaps, the same voice modulator that has been tormenting you for six hours crackles.

The other one regards you lowly, through the black eye holes of the mask they don. “Y/N!” they announce dramatically, but Soobin raises a hand to stop them.

“You can ditch the voice now, guys. She figured it out.”

“God dammit!” they curse, ripping the mask off in an angry huff. “I can never have any fun around here.”

Finally, the identities of the people who have made your night a living hell is revealed to you. The boys standing in front of you are two you have only seen in pictures, heard about through anecdotes, the who, up until six hours ago, you had so wanted to meet.

Taehyun and Kai. The fucking seekers.

“What the fuck?” Beomgyu curses incredulously, staring at the faces of boys he used to pass in the halls at school.

Earlier that last night Soobin had told you that his two best friends were away at a yacht party.

We were having so much fun but you just had to go and rock the boat!

Jesus Christ.

You hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now, it clicks in your mind perfectly. You barely hold back a scoff. What a terrible clue.

Kai’s mouth spreads snakily across his face, in an unnerving imitation of a smile. “Hey, Y/N. Nice to finally meet you.”

You snarl.

Off to the side, Soobin is practically vibrating in place, bouncing on the balls of his feet like a little kid. “You figured it out, right? I was worried that telling you about the yacht party was too much of a throwaway comment and then there was the issue of trying to find a way for Kai to slip in something about a water or a boat—Have to thank you, Beomgyu, for that stunt you pulled. Really appreciate it.”

Your childhood friend physically recoils at that. Taehyun grunts and presses the knife against his throat deeper. Beomgyu winces.

Shaking your head, you turn and confront Soobin. “So what was the point of all this? You guys killed all these people for what?” A tremor goes through your hands so you ball them into fists at your side.

Soobin cocks his head to the side innocently. “For you, Y/N. You love game nights. You love riddles and puzzles and mysteries, so I came up with the biggest one just for you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Beomgyu exclaims. “You’re telling me that you did all of this, killed all of your fucking friends because you have a crush?”

Behind him, Taehyun shrugs noncommittally. “People who experience traumatic events together are inexplicably bonded for life.”

A beat.

“You were trying to fucking trauma bond with me?”

“You make it sound so simple,” he complains, waving the gun dismissively. “I made rules, people, there was structure. You know the order people died was the order they knew each other? Of course you did, you probably realised. But what you didn’t know is that Beomgyu—” he points the gun at him— “was supposed to go first. But you guys screwed it up! How the hell do you guys even know each other?”

“Your mom introduced us,” Beomgyu hisses defiantly. Blood trickles down his neck in response.

Soobin squints his eyes as if bored. “Real mature. Anyways, I saw you two talking in the kitchen at the beginning of the night so I had to do some emergency rearranging. So, in a way, Sunghoon dying first is kind of your fault. Granted, he would have died anyway, but, you know. Semantics.”

The same sweet boy who used to walk you to class and take you out for coffee after stressful exam weeks, the same boy who helped you out with homework and made you feel like the sun was bursting in your chest by smiling was the same one who hurt you, your friends. And he didn’t even feel an ounce of remorse for it.

“Fuck you,” you spit menacingly but you are just brushed off.

Soobin waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Plenty of time for that later. Now, we have to address the elephant in the room. The elephant, of course, being Beomgyu. Killing him now would mess up the order and I’m kind of a stickler for the—”

He doesn’t get to finish because out of the corner of your eye, Beomgyu elbows his captor in the stomach hard. Taehyun keels over, releasing him and you spur into action. Surprised, Kai takes a moment to recover before he is slashing at Beomgyu’s arm with his knife. Beomgyu hisses in pain, clutching his shoulder.

Rushing to Wooyoung’s body, pain flaring up your leg, you pry his knife from his fingers and say a silent apology in your head. “Beomgyu!” you yell. He turns to you and after a split second decision, you throw the knife in his direction.

Miraculously, he catches it by the hilt and, before you can blink, he’s lodged it in Kai’s throat.

The first seeker splutters, hands flying to press against the wound but it proves futile. Blood gushes from his neck like a burst pipe. Kai chokes as blood gets into his throat, coughing up red.

It’s a gruesome sight but it fills you with satisfaction, watching as he, too, succumbs to the same death he subjected your friends to.

Kai let's out a final wheeze before he falls to his knees, one arm reaching up to Beomgyu who watches on, face blank and chest heaving. Finally, Kai’s body goes limp and hits the floor with a thud.

“Well,” Soobin starts with a clap, turning to Taehyun, “guess I owe you that island.”

His friend grunts weakly, still recovering from Beomgyu’s assault. “You shouldn’t bet against me,” Taehyun admonishes when he rises to his full height.

Soobin nods sagely, chuckling. “I have learned my lesson.” Beomgyu steps back towards you and you reach for him instinctively. Soobin tracks the movement and something downright evil sparkles in his eyes. “Tell you what,” he says, addressing Taehyun, though his eyes never leave you and Beomgyu. “Do one more thing and I’ll throw in another.”

“An island?” you question incredulously. This was just getting ridiculous.

Taehyun shrugs. “It’s part of his inheritance. But now, it’ll be part of mine.” He stalks closer to the two of you causing you to back up to the stairs, nearly tripping over Isa’s body.

Knife pointed, he draws nearer menacingly. He’s after Beomgyu, you know. In some twisted form of logic you know that he won’t hurt you, not with Soobin right there.

Beomgyu tries to stand up straight but you can see the pain clear on his face as he clutches his injured arm. Taehyun grins at that, and lunges—

A wine bottle swings against his head from behind.

Taehyun’s body stills. He crumples to the floor in a heap of black fabric, head hitting the ground with a loud thud.

“Fuck rich people,” the assailant spits, chest heaving and your heart squeezes.

Lia.

She notices you and she lets the bottle drop from her grasp and the two run to embrace the other. All the tension you were holding in your shoulder eases, your body physically sagging against hers in relief.

You don’t even realise you are crying until damp spots start forming on her shoulder. Tears rack through your body at the feeling of your best friend in your arms, alive just like you believed she would be. Her grip around you tightens as she clutches the back of your shirt as though she fears you’ll disappear if she lets go.

“They attacked me in our room when I was grabbing my book, then tied me up and left me in the cellar. Told me that it wasn’t my turn yet. I tried to loosen them but whoever tied them used some kind of fucking boats knot. Broke one of the bottles and cut the rope with a glass shard—and my hand, too.”

It is her only injury, you note when the two of you finally pull apart. She has ripped off the left sleeve of her shirt and wrapped it around her hand as a makeshift gauze. It is stained with a giant blotch of blood but she’s alive.

She nods to Beomgyu appreciatively and he responds with a two finger wave. As she takes in the scene, all the blood and mess and bodies littering the floor, you see how her jaw tightens and eyes narrow. When they settle on Soobin, she spits in his face.

He recoils in disgust and wipes it away with—he’s got to be fucking kidding—a handkerchief from his pants pocket.

“You fucker,” Lia sneers.

He merely rolls his eyes. “Oh, great the band’s back together,” he drawls unenthusiastically. “There’s still twenty minutes left of the game, can we wrap this up?”

Aiming his gun between Lia and Beomgyu he pretends to ponder who he’s going to kill next. Lia stares him dead on, defiance dancing in her eyes and you have never been more in awe of your friend before.

“Y/N?”

Everybody’s heads whip around to the front door where Yeonjun stands in the threshold, confusion dancing in his eyes as he takes in the scene.

He came.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Soobin exclaims haughtily, arms going up in annoyance. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

“The guy who called the cops,” he reveals, jutting out his chin as he walks towards you. “They’re on their way.” The last part is directed more to you than Soobin and you have never been more grateful to see a boy you just met.

“Good,” you say nodding, eyes narrowed as you stare down the boy you used to look at only in administration, “you’ll be dead before they get here.”

Soobin has the nerve to gasp in faux shock, clutching at his heart as though you’ve wounded him. “Okay, ouch. That’s hurtful, babe, how could you say that?”

“You tried to kill me. You made me think my best friend was dead.”

He holds up a finger to stop you and you have half a mind to slice it off. “Point of correction: I never tried to kill you. I would never hurt you, Y/N. I did all of this for you! I ruined my favourite holiday house for you! Now I’m stuck with Jeju and fuckass Tokyo. Do you realise how much I’m giving up for you here and you think I’m the bad guy?”

“You’re insane,” you say incredulously.

“Insane for you.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Oh, come on.” He sounds like a petulant child. Which, you suppose, is exactly what he is. “I killed for you! You think, what, fucking Beomgyu can say that? You think you’d be happy with some asshole from across the lake with a terrible dye job? No way, baby! I’m it!” By the time his spiel is over, his arms are outstretched on either side of him, chest heaving like he’s just ran a marathon.

Lia grimaces. “Did you just fucking quote Gone Girl?”

“Ben Afleck rents out his L.A. house to us, of course I did.”

“What the fuck, man?” Beomgyu expresses, face pinched.

“And this isn’t a dye job, dickwad, this is literally my hair.”

Your best friend turns to Yeonjun and stares like he’s an idiot. “Time and place, dude.”

“Y/N. Baby.” You feel yourself cringe at the pet name. He holds out his hands and takes a step towards you. “You can’t tell me you don’t want this.” Soobin’s voice takes on a sickly sweet lilt, one that would have had you melting if you didn’t find out he was a psychopath.

Thinking about your friends, a wave of protectiveness and a pang of guilt pass through you. They’re here because of you.

With determination coursing through your veins, you step forward. “You’re right.” Behind you, your friends all verbally express their shock. You ignore them. “This is what I want.”

Soobin’s smile drops into an ‘o’ shape as he inhales sharply. When he glances down at the space between the two of you, he is greeted with the sight of a knife—Yeonjun’s knife—sticking out his abdomen.

“Huh,” is the last thing he says to you.

“Go to hell,” is the last thing you say to him.

Hand still on the hilt, you withdraw the knife only to stab him again. And again, and again, and again.

Over and over until you lose count, you plunge the knife into his body, piercing his skin. Blood splatters all over your face and front but you don’t care. You are moving on pure rage at this point. Rage at this boy who turned your favourite thing in the world against you, who put your friends in danger, who has more money in his left pinky than you’ll ever see in your life.

Finally, you slow, and watch as his eyes roll to the back of his head. His body falls to the ground and, for the first time since Sunghoon died in front of you, you smile.

A real, genuine smile spreads across your face as you turn to take in your friends.

“You look like shit,” Lia comments, her own grin growing on her face.

You lift a noncommittal shoulder, teeth bared. “You should see the other guy.”

Beomgyu laughs at that, hearty and full, taking over his whole body and the rest of you aren’t far behind.

Turning to Yeonjun, you find yourself growing shy. “You came.”

“I couldnʼt in good conscience let you walk into a murder house, now could I?” he asks with a tilt of his head and an easy-going grin.

You huff out a laugh and gesture to your blood covered body. “I’d hug you but I’m kind of a mess right now.”

“I don’t know,” he drawls, eyes raking over you appreciatively. Your skin flares wherever his gaze lingers. “I think the blood and guts is working for me.”

Somewhere next to you, Lia fake gags. “Oh, god, Y/N, your new boyfriend is gross.”

“Shut up, Lia,” you admonish without turning to look at her.

Yeonjun chuckles good-naturedly. “How about we reschedule that hug? Possibly after a shower. Preferably over breakfast.”

Feeling your cheeks warm, you nod. “I’d like that.”

“Great. I’m craving pancakes and I could use a hug, too.” You turn to see Beomgyu standing with a cheeky grin on his face.

There is a low grunt from behind you. Slowly rising to his feet is Taehyun having recovered from the wine bottle to the head. Steps staggering, he glares daggers at Beomgyu. “The only hug you’ll be getting is one from death. I’m getting that island—”

A bullet lodges itself in his head and he falls back, eyes blank. Soobin’s gun in hand, Lia stands with it aimed out in front of her.

You don’t even know when she grabbed it.

She exhales heavily. “I needed that.”

Despite everything, you laugh. “So. Breakfast?”

Everyone grunts in affirmation and starts talking over each other about where they should eat when they get back to the city. Obviously, you need to wait for the police to arrive so that you can give your statements. Someone needs to talk to everyones’ parents, let them know what happened. But you’ll cross that bridge when you get there. Together, of course.

Trauma bonded and all that.

[bewilderedbunny]

Weedman (Eddie x Reader fluff) 18+only!

This was originally going to be smut but I got distracted by the idea of flirting with Eddie while he makes bad jokes. Just over 800 words, no pronouns are used for reader.

Warnings: Lots of drug use talk, reader's mom speaks of food in a negative way, there's a joke about sex work but it isn't at any sex-workers' expense (it's just Eddie being silly) reader is a stressed out college student, I think that's all.

*I also wanted to mention, I did not come up with the joke Eddie makes at the beginning of the phone call, it's just something I've heard around and I'm not sure where it originates from

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Part 2 is here

You had just finished exams for your Junior year of college and you were drained. Normally, you would stay in the city while working for the summer, but this year you decided to take a break and go back home to stay with your family. You had hoped this time off would provide some much-needed relaxation. Speaking of relaxation, you had become a bit of a pothead while away from home. The amount of weight that magic little flower would lift from your shoulders was incredible. You hadn't smoked in high school, but you remembered the local dealer at the time. "Reefer Rick" how could you forget a name like that? Unluckily for you, Rick was picked up last month and wouldn't be out until your break was long over.

You thought this may be for the best. You had been smoking pretty regularly to help alleviate the stress of school, maybe a tolerance break could help reset your nerves. Then that night your mom asked if you were really going to have dessert since you already had a roll with dinner. You realized weed might not be enough to get you through this break. Maybe horse tranquilizers or a lobotomy would do the job.

After dessert, which you savored every bite of, you went to your room and decided to try to find a new supplier. After a few unhelpful phone calls consisting of people reminiscing about high school (how could these people miss hell so much?), you decided to call Robert Swan. He was a friend of a friend who seemed to know just about everything about everyone in Hawkins. Robert let you know that Rick had someone dealing underneath him.

"Huh, I never took Rick for the "management" type."

"Well, he's not exactly running a Burger King but yeah, he's making his way up. Oh my god, did you hear about-"

Robert rambled to you, gossiping about people you couldn't care enough about to remember. After "oh really?" and "no way"-ing your way through the conversation, you got the information for the dealer, thanked Robert, and said goodbye before he could trap you into listening any longer.

You sighed while looking at the paper you had written the dealer's information on. "Eddie Munson" the name was unfamiliar to you.

You dialed the number given to you and after a few rings, a man answered.

"Hawkin's mortuary, you kill 'em, we chill 'em. Would you like to make a reservation?" You took a second to process what he said before realizing the joke.

"Yes, please. Embalming table for two?"

He laughed and sounded embarrassed "Oh shit, I thought you were someone else. Sorry about that. Thanks for playing along."

"No problem. Out of curiosity, who did you think I was?"

"My uncle, he calls me on his lunches at work sometimes to check in, it's fun to mess with him, make him laugh."

"That's sweet he checks on you."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Eddie leaned against the wall twirling the phone cable with his finger.

"Oh, who is this, by the way?"

You tell him your name and how you heard about him.

"Words getting around that I'm the new go-to man, huh? Maybe I should make business cards."

You reply, "What would they say? Eddie Munson: amateur herbalist?"

He laughs and says, "Was thinking: 'Eddie Munson: Dungeon Master, Musician, Weedman, Phone Sex Operator.' Maybe add a drawing of a wizard or a dragon too."

You giggle at his silliness and say, "Don't forget to add mortician to that. How's the phone sex business treating you?"

"Not great, still haven't figured out where my dick goes in the phone." you hold your head in your hands and laugh. He laughs along with you.

You look at the clock, it's already midnight.

"I guess I should ask you about buying since that's the reason I called."

"Oh yeah. Shit, this salesman stuff is hard. How much do you want?"

"What can $50 get me?"

"$50 worth of weed."

You roll your eyes "Sounds like a deal. Can we meet tomorrow? Say 10 am?"

"10 am?! What am I, a doctor?! Who gets up at 10 am during the summer?"

You laugh and say, "Sorry, I didn't think about your beauty sleep. Please forgive me. How about 2 pm?"

"He agrees and gives you his address

"It's a date. Have a goodnight, sweetheart."

"Sweet dreams, Weedman."

Once you hang up the phone, you realize you've been bouncing your leg this entire time. You're unsure if it's from the general nerves or the fact that you've been flirting with a stranger. Was that even flirting or were the two of you just idiots? You think about tracking down your old yearbook to see if he's in there, but decide maybe it'll be better to have the mysterious Weedman's appearance be a surprise.

[indieninja92]

Hello again! This is the anon that was asking about all-caps. Buckle in because it is a TALE. (One that ended up being about 800 words. You have been warned)

So. It’s four years ago. I just picked up Good Omens in a bookstore, since the authors sounded vaguely familiar and I needed something to read. I binge it in about two to three days.

YOINK we’re fast forwarding and it is now TWENTY-TWENTY-THREE and FATHERS DAY oh boy this sure is gonna be interesting (said while putting on a very stylish hazmat suit) WAIT! Lo! Behold! Lo and behold! On thee website of Tumblr, what doth mine eyes see, reblogged by one of the people I follow? A message! (Spoiler: it’s the father’s day post you did over at monstrous agonies/monstrous productions) And now! I am having ~feelings~ NEW BLOG TO CHECK OUT WAHOOOOOOOO

“Ah, this blog seems themed,” I contemplate, looking upon the tastefully spooky art that’s been reblogged. “Oh, a new episode? This is most mysterious. OHHHHH it’s a PODCAST BLOG okay yeah that makes a lot more sense now” (puts down the salt and garlic) “whoop-de-doo time to listen to this cool little podcast! Yippee!” SIKE it’s FEELINGS time BUCKAROO (still not over “there is no amount of normal you can become that will wash the river from your skin. You're soaked the bone, my dear.” By the way) Oh no it’s almost over! Oh yay I’m not all the way through yet so there’s still more to listen to! (Insert fiber crafting while listening to Monstrous Agonies montage here)

(In the opposite corner of the circle I lurk in on Tumblr) wow, those sure are some really pretty gifs! It’s from the TV adaptation of that book I read? That’s nice, good for them :) oh wait there are. More. Pretty gifs. That’s intriguing. (This continues on and on and on until okay, fine, guess I’m watching the gay demon/angel show. If I must.)

DAVID TENNANT AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

*rereads books. It’s really quite good*

Oh wow I guess I’m in a new fandom now :)

(back in MA land) Aww, I just finished the last episode :( LOOKS LIKE IT’S Q&A TIME :DDDDDDD oh hey, Hero posted something on the Tumblr blog! It’s a reblogged poll about if vampire!prev would kill you or not? And it mentions the creator of Monstrous Agonies? I was wondering if they had a main account! (A moderate amount of clicking through links later) “Queer, quaker, chronic daydreamer” that’s nice, good for them :)

Now. This, my dear reader, is where it gets interesting. You see, I’d started following Good Omens blogs, or at least, blogs that posted a good deal about Good Omens. One of them (fellshish) frequently and enthusiastically shares fic recommendations (they are also an avid reblogger of fanart. In some ways, their blog functions like a community space. It’s quite lovely.) Furthermore, their fic suggestions are typically of a very high quality, and I greatly enjoyed one of their previous recommendations (Slow Show by Mia_Ugly on ao3), so when they. Continuously. Posted about the glory of The Good Omens Grindr Fic (tm), I, of course, had to check it out.

At this point, the question may be raised of who the author of The Good Omens Grindr Fic (tm) is. This would be a very reasonable inquiry. It would not, however, be an inquiry made by me, for once I started reading I was ENRAPTURED. Enthralled. En-another thing that’s really really intense (I’m running out of appropriately accurate adjectives). The only breaks I took from reading it were to bounce around my room and do flappy hands because the banter oh my god the banter “angelic tummy” aaaaaaaaaaa (or sometimes the smut oh my god the smut holy SHIT guess I have a new thing now. I can’t even be mad about it because it’s so good).

Alas, I do need to occasionally sleep, and so one night I knew that I really didn’t have time for another chapter, but wanted to see what the author was up to. So I licked on the “come hang out on Tumblr! :)” link. Wait. Wait. Hold up. I recognize this. “Queer, quaker, chronic daydreamer.” WAIT. WAIT A GOSH DARN DING-DANG DAGNABBIT MINUTE. YOU. YOU. YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS OF ALL TIME. IS WRITTEN BY. NONE OTHER THAN THE CREATOR OF MY FAVORITE PODCAST WHO IS ALSO THE INTERNET DAD???????? ON TUMBLR DOT COM??????????? (Q&A flashbacks, paraphrased) “What Hero doesn’t want to say is that they’re a very good writer” MY GOOD FRIEND SOHPIE B. THAT IS PUTTING IT LIGHTLY. HELLO????????????????

So that’s the story of how I found out that author of one of my favorite fics is the same person as the creator of my favorite podcast and the internet dad. I am thoroughly delighted and not at all normal about this :))))))))) so, thank you!!! You’re very very cool and a marvelous writer :D

(p.s. I'm so excited for Travelling Light!!!!!!!)

asdkjfhslkdjf this is such a wild ride haha my favourite part is you looking in the author notes to follow the link to get to my tumblr... despite me having the same name here and ao3 😅

anyway, thank you for sharing your excitement, its very sweet! i dont usually make much fanfare on the podcast side of things about my fic writing - not that its a secret or anything, but i feel like if you come to me for cosy affirming monster agony aunt stuff then you might not be in the market for explicit gay pornography 😂 but theres definitely some overlap between the two audiences and im glad you're enjoying being in both camps!

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

6/13/2023 DAB Chronological Transcription

1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological, I’m China. Today is the 13th day of June, welcome. Excited to be here with you today as we continue our story in First Kings Chapter Eight and Second Chronicles 5. We continue on with the Christian Standard Bible for this week.

 Commentary

So a recap, the Temple has been finished. It took them seven years. Solomon and all of the men that he set to be appointed in their positions, the seven years have been completed and now it's time to dedicate the temple to the Lord. And so we read about the dedication. We read about Solomon's prayer, his prayer over the temple, and thanking the Lord that,you know, he gets to do this. And that this was David's heart, desire. And even though David wasn't the one who got to do it, that Solomon was the one to do it. His heart is with great reverence and like like an honor. And so I love that all of the prayers, real, especially from the David family line, are very artistic and very poetic and are just so beautiful to read and to listen to. It definitely runs in the family for sure. And then we read Solomon, his prayer, but then his blessing, his petition to the Lord. And you can just tell like, this meant a great deal to him. This wasn't a small thing of like, oh, got to do what my dad didn't do, you know, was like, I get to do this, I'm going to do this. With with reverence and honor to the Lord. And so that's this is what we read today. And then with Second Chronicles, we have a very summarized version of what we read. But again, the preparations for the temple dedication. And yeah, this is this is a really big deal. 

Prayer

Lord, I thank you so much for your Word. I thank you that we have a greater and deeper understanding of who you are each and every single time we come into your word. And I pray that you would just give us eyes to see and ears to hear, and that we would fully know you as you are revealing yourself to us constantly .And God, I just thank you so much for that, we don't have to go to this temple to hear from you, or to feel your presence, or to know you. I thank you that with the knowledge of these scriptures and just the deep meaning of all of this and just where we are on the other side of the story, I pray that it would register in our hearts, that we are so.,That we should be so grateful to have your Holy Spirit, In your presence, so freely given, I thank you that you're omnipresent. I thank you that, you have the ability to be with me and also with everybody else who's listening to your word right now. I thank you that that could even exist. And as mind blowing as that is, I thank you that it's the truth. And so I just thank you that we are constantly being allowed by who you are through your word and how you moved in your people. And it's in your name we pray, Amen.

Announcements

Dailyaudiobible.com is our website. That's the place of connection where you can see what's happening here in the community, so be sure to check that out. If you have prayer requests, things that we as a community can come alongside of you and encourage you and uplift you, you can call in at 800-583-2164. And if you listen through the app, you can also send your prayer request in through there, and those get sent in and played at the end of every day's podcast. That is all for today. I'm China. I love you, and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow. 

Community Prayer Line

This Melissa. I am from California. It is June 7th. I'm calling to ask for prayers for my friend Susan. Her grandson Thomas. Thomas was in a terrible motorcycle accident. He was wearing a helmet. His brain is good, the neck is good, everything else down, many broken bones, collapsed lungs, several situations going on. He's been in ICU for almost two weeks now and a medically induced coma. They've done 3 surgeries and he's on a ventilator.The doctors are hopeful and Susan has asked everyone to pray. So I have come here to activate the prayer warriors, to add Thomas to the list to protect him and heal that young man. He is 18 years old. I pray for Susan, for her to have the strength to be the backbone and strength for her child, Her children, I do not know Thomas's parents names. I pray for them also. He has been an ICU for two weeks. Let's just all gather around Thomas and ask for his healing. Heal all those broken bones. Heal those collapsed lungs. And let's get this young man back on his feet. He has a long road, but is a road he can do with Susan and all of us, Prayer warriors, please add him to your prayers. And please ask the woman who hit him. She misjudged the distance and thought she had more time and she didn't, and he didn't have the ability to slow down enough. So, Lord, please, I pray for her too. Ask us all in prayer, Lord, to hear our prayers. Thank you so much. Amen. I love you.

I just wanted to thank Daily Audio Bible for Jill, and for China, Brian, the whole family for sharing the word of God with all of us. This is my first time, maybe second time calling in, but I've never really said thank you, thank you, thank you, I continue to pray for you. Support you in a little way that I can. I just know that the word of God is so important. And that we need it. And every day as I hear it, I've been able to mark it if I miss, like try to go back. But I'm trying to be faithful as I can this entire year, to follow through complete. And I just want to say again, I love you all and Daily Audio. I love the prayers that people have called in and pray over other people. It's amazing what the Lord has done throughout the entire world and how each of us are voices make a difference when we're calling out to Jesus. Love you, Love your brothers and sisters and this is woman of Faith. Love you. 

Hello, this is Tillie from Florida calling in on June 6. For faithful Mama, for Angela again. Um, we're gonna lift up Angel again to you, Lord God, knowing that, You know, the doctors gave her a prognosis on probably on paper. And verbally, that's, yeah, disconcerning. But the papers of your scripture Always says A different path forward, and a different and result. So I lift up Angela with the word of God.That by your stripes were healed. And that's mentally, physically and then our souls around in Jesus name. Amen. And I'm gonna need prayer as well from the community. UM those of you have listened, some known that I've been battling Atrial fibrillation since 2019.I still have the issues, not as bad as it was then, but the doctors have ordered another, and felt like they need to have another ablation Done. And that schedule for July 11th. And it's going to however be a more much more complex ablation and that I'm going to have dual, dually electrodes put in my heart, one from my groin and one from my neck, with two or three doctors helping me, so hopefully make this be a final.Uh.A final time I have to go under anesthesia, so please lift me up community because I'm nervous as can be about it. While having faith too. Anyway, bless this community in Jesus name, Amen.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible Chronological family. Uh, this is his faithful one from Arizona.It is June 6th and I just wanted to call in a prayer request for my husband.Umm, he? It's kind of a twofold thing. He has uh, fallen away from God a bit and hasn't been at church, You know, in over a year. He refuses to go at this point.He says he hasn't stopped believing in God, but God can't do things for him. He's looking for a job. He's been looking for a job for a while now and has been struggling to find a full time job that will pay the bills. And so he says God can't provide financially for him, that he has to do it on his own. And so I I ask for prayer for him to come back to the Lord to see that.He is providing for us. Maybe not in the way that my husband is looking for, but He has still been providing for us through this time and also for a job for my husband. He has a part time job that will start in the fall.Teaching, but it is only part time, just about 3 hours a day, and so that's not going to pay the bills. So we just need something more that will pay the bills completely. And the Lord has been very clear to me that I am not to work. I'm home schooling my kids currently, so that is not an option that's on the table at the present moment. I just thank you so much for all of you guys, for all your prayer warriors, and for Jill in China. I thank you for this ministry that y'all do. Um, and pray for you guys for all the prayer requests that come in. And I just thank you for all the people who pray for the prayer request that come in.Thank you all. Have a great day. Love you fam. 

[aprillikesthings]

The Legends of St. James the Greater [citation needed]

Because I'm doing the Camino de Santiago next spring, I've been reading stuff about St. James the Greater, because the stories around him are why the Camino exists in the first place.

And, oh my god, they're Something Else. Because nearly everything I read is either 1. extremely unlikely 2. kinda wince-inducing. at best.

I want to make it clear: I don't think it matters, at this point, how much of his post-Biblical legends are factually true, in regards to walking the Camino. People have been making sincere pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela for so long that bits of him might as well be there, yeah? It's became a sacred place devoted to one of the first of Jesus' apostles whether his actual bones are there or not. Also, quite frankly, many of the legends aren't any more or less believable than anything in the Gospels themselves. Disclaimer over.

Things that were recorded soon enough after they supposedly happened that they are the likeliest to be true:

He was one of the first apostles of Jesus, along with his brother John. The two brothers (plus Peter) were witnesses to some of the more notable parts of Jesus' life and ministry. He was also the first apostle to be martyred; beheaded by sword on the order of Herod in 44 AD. (His beheading is in Acts 12:2, just one sentence: "He [Herod] had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.")

After that...things get...weird.

Legend has it that he traveled all the way to what is modern-day Spain to preach the Gospel there, and that after he came back to Jerusalem and was beheaded, his body was miraculously taken by angels and set in a boat that washed up on the coast of Spain. During a wedding. Which spooked a horse and rider. Who fell into the ocean. And then emerged miraculously unharmed and covered in scallop shells...and that's part of why scallop shells are symbols of St. James and pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Yeah, okay.

"Oh thank God, I'm not lost." And yes, lots of people get some variation of this as a tattoo. (I know I probably will, ahaha.)

(That all said: there's an Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Jerusalem that claims to have his head. So maybe the angels only took the rest of him. Who knows? Not me.)

At some point his relics were moved to the location of what is now Santiago de Compostela by some disciples of his (from his earlier visit to Spain? I think?), and the fact that the relics were there was revealed to a hermit by a field of stars in 814. He reported this to a bishop, who told the local king, who built a chapel on that site and is said to be the first pilgrim to Santiago. The chapel became a church in 829, the church was burned down by the Moors in 997, and in 1075 the king started building a cathedral there (it was finished in 1211). In the 900's pilgrims started arriving from all over Europe, and once the cathedral got started their numbers increased dramatically. Both St. Francis of Assisi and Margery Kempe did pilgrimages to Santiago, for instance. Margery did it multiple times, bless her.

But here's the thing: somehow nobody noticed the whole "his body is in Spain" thing until that hermit? And just coincidentally, this was a time when the Catholic church was trying to stamp out the remnants of a particularly popular heresy that had started in Spain. Just saying.

But wait, there's more!

Another thing that was happening in the 800's and for, y'know, a LONG time after (seriously it went on from 711 to 1492); was Christians and Muslim Moors fighting over Spain.

The Christians of Spain named St. James as their patron and protector, in part due his miraculous help in a battle that, uh, never actually happened. The date of the battle is given as 843 or 844, but somehow was never recorded until 300 years later. (Are you sensing a theme here, because I am.)

St. James is therefore sometimes portrayed as Santiago Matamoros, aka St. James the Moor-Slayer. A lot of medieval imagery of him portrays him on horseback, slaughtering people. 😬 Many of the old churches along the Camino include this portrayal--and some of those churches were originally mosques. Oof.

CAN IT GET WORSE? YES.

Look, I'm just going to copy/paste from the wikipedia page on this one: "The iconography of James Matamoros was used in the Spanish colonization of the Americas as a rival force to the indigenous gods, and protector of Spaniards from the indigenous peoples of the Americas. He was depicted as a conquistador."

I mean, thankfully; I won't run into much of that in Spain. But...euggghh.

Anyway.

I kinda feel bad for the actual James, who was just a fisherman working with his dad and brother before becoming one of Jesus' close friends. James was just A Guy! The other apostles apparently found him and his brother kind of annoying! He sometimes had a bad temper! The stories about him in the Gospels just make him sound so human.

There are two common portrayals of our man James all over the Camino: St. James the Moor-Slayer, and St. James as a pilgrim, wearing a floppy hat and robe and holding a walking stick. Much nicer.

Now that's a guy I'd walk across Spain for.

[luciathcv]

drunken facetime - jjk

summary: your boyfriend drunkenly says something embarrassing to you in front of your mom || warnings: jungkook is drunk || genre: fluff, established relationship, suggestive, angst, comfort || word count: approximately 800

I sat in the car with my mom, the both of us had just finished having dinner together, and she was currently driving us back home, where my boyfriend, Jungkook, was waiting.

She was busy talking to me about work when my phone started vibrating in my lap. I looked down at it and checked it, seeing that Jungkook was Facetiming me.

"It's Jungkook." I told her. She knew Jungkook, considering I've been dating him for a few years at this point and the fact that I've lived with him for a while as well.

"Answer him." My mom told me, wanting to say hello. And so I accepted the Facetime, not thinking much of it.

When I answered the call, I could see that Jungkook was in the living room, his hair was a bit messy and his face was a little red.

"Hi, baby." Jungkook said, and I could tell that he was drunk as his voice was a little slurred.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked with a smile as I looked at my phone.

"I just wanted to check in on my baby." Jungkook told me and I couldn't help but blush a bit at his words.

"I'm having a good time. My mom's driving me home right now." I told my boyfriend. I then moved my phone so that Jungkook could see my mom and my mom waved at him.

"Hey, Jungkook." My mom greeted him.

"Hey, (your mom's name)." Jungkook said back sweetly. "How are you?" He asked.

"I'm good. How are you?" My mom responded.

"Good. Thank you." Jungkook said and I turned the phone to face me again.

"I'll be there soon." I told him.

"Good, when you get home I'm going to make love to you so good, you-" Jungkook started saying, whispered, but still loud enough for both my mom and I to hear.

I gasped as I heard what he said, "Jungkook!" I said, shocked as I avoided looking over at my mother.

"What?" He asked, really not seeing the problem with what he did in the moment.

"I- I'm hanging up." Is all I said before I hung up the Facetime.

I looked over at my mom awkwardly as she just laughed. Oh my god. I couldn't believe him.

<3

I walked into the apartment and took my shoes off, still feeling immensely embarrassed. I walked down the hallway and into our bedroom as I changed out of my clothes and into some pajamas. As I was putting my shirt on, my back facing the door, Jungkook walked inside the room, and quietly walked over to me, wrapping his arms around my stomach and nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck.

I was upset with him so I pushed him off of me and stepped away, putting my shirt on all of the way. I then turned to face him.

"What's wrong, baby?" Jungkook asked. "Why'd you hang up on me so fast?" He then asked.

"What's wrong?" I repeated. "I'm so embarrassed." I told him. "You talked about making love to me and my mom heard you!" I complained.

"She did?" Jungkook asked.

"Obviously." I said as I walked past him and out of the room, sitting down on the couch next to Bam as I started petting him.

Jungkook followed after me, sitting next to me on the couch. "I'm sorry, baby." I pouted as I looked down at Bam who was now laying his head on my lap. "I would never embarrass you on purpose, especially in front of your mom." Jungkook said as he put his hand in mine, squeezing it gently.

When he said that, no matter how upset I was, I knew that he meant it. He always did everything to protect me from everything really, but embarrassment too, even when he was drunk so I knew he wasn't lying when he said that.

"I know.." I said as I looked over at him. "Do you forgive me?" Jungkook asked.

I gave him a pouted look, making him smile a little, before I nodded. Bam hoped off of the couch, going to drink from his water bowl, and as soon as he did so, Jungkook gently pushed me so that I was laying down on the couch, before he got on top of me and started kissing me all over my face.

I giggled as he did so, his hair tickling me. Jungkook then pulled away for a moment, looking down at me. "I love you so much." Jungkook told me.

"I love you too." I said with a smile as I looked up at him, holding onto his biceps.

He smiled down at me before leaning down and kissing me. You forgave him but were the both of you definitely going to be embarrassed the next time you saw your mother? For sure.

ᥫ᭡ link to my masterlist

[nushy]

𝓒𝓪𝓻 𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓸.

pairing: steve harrington x f!reader

warnings: none, just fluff; friends to lovers; maybe some strong language (?)

word count: 800

It was a warm Saturday night. Steve was waiting for you in his car - you had just finished your shift at the music store. You rushed to the car and hopped in the passenger's seat, smiling at him. He smiled back, his eyes shining, reflecting the street lights. You took in the sight of him - his perfect hair and that single disobedient strand on his forehead, his plush lips (they looked so kissable), his big brown eyes.

"Let's get you home, darling." he said softly, making you daydream by the nickname - allowing you just for a second to think that you are a couple and not just friends.

The car was moving slowly, your window was open and the fresh air was brushing your face. The music from his radio was quiet but you could still hear it, a familiar song was playing so you started singing: "And these are the days we'll remember / Yes, and these are the nights we won't forget / Tell me how many ways can I love you". You closed your eyes, living in the moment, while Steve was stealthily looking at you, admiring your peaceful look.

"Hey, darling, wanna make a little detour?" he spoke, taking you out of your trance. You just nodded as you were ready to follow him wherever he went. The place he took you to was new for you - a big field outside of Hawkins but with a magnificent view over the town - you could see the lights from the homes, looking like a sky full of stars.

You sat in the car, the radio still playing a soft slow song - "One more day of love / Is really all I need / Is really all I want". Steve hummed to the tune, this time his eyes were closed, so you could take your time to admire his face and how perfect he was. Your heart was aching as he was so close to you yet so far.

A new song started, this one you both knew. He quickly opened his eyes:

"Come on, sweetheart, lets dance under the stars." With that said he jumped out of the car and came to your door to open it for you. He grabbed your hand gently and helped you get out. "Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight / It must've been something you said / I just died in your arms tonight." Steve was holding you tightly, spinning you slowly in what resembled a dance. Your head was resting on his chest while his chin was lightly placed on your head. He spoke: "You know, I've always wanted to do this - to hold you like this in my arms." You couldn't tell what he meant by this so you looked up with question in your eyes.

"What do you mean, Steve? We've hugged many times." you laughed it off as you thought he was somehow joking.

"No, no, I've always wanted to slow dance with you to a romantic song." You both stopped dancing and stared into each other's eyes. "You know, I fell for you ever since that one time you gave me hell for joking that the new girl asked me on a date and that I made fun of her. God, I was such a jerk back then. But I still remember what you said to me." You were at loss of words but could still make yourself speak, quoting your first words to him word for word:

"What happened that made you have such a large inferiority complex, that you have to piss on the feelings of a first year girl for you to feel cool? Were you never validated as a child, or did mommy never compliment your drawings? Or did daddy never come to any of your graduations? Anyway, you seriously have to get over it and start behaving like a human. Stop walking around like a fucking cliché." You could feel your cheeks blushing, blood flooding to your face. Steve laughed, a sweet, genuine laugh.

"Yeah. That was the moment I knew I wanted you to be mine. But I could tell that you'd never want me, so the best I could do was to be your best friend."

"Oh, Steve." you stroke his cheek, happy tears forming in your eyes. "I've always wanted to be more than just friends. But I never thought you'd feel the same." With that being said, he just leaned forward and kissed you softly. None of you needed more words, it was time for actions. The night was perfect, soft melody coming from the radio, stars shining bright and the boy you were sure you loved, holding you in his arms and kissing you gently.

[deanstead]

Everyday is Valentine's with you

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

Requested: kind of, and yes i guess?

Summary: After being forced to cancel your Valentine's date because of a cold, Jay decides to bring Valentine's to you instead.

Word Count: 800

Warnings: none

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! Fair warning, I wrote this in... an hour? So it's probably not my best work but here's some fluff i guess! Don't kill me if this sucks haha. And also it may kind of fulfil a request for sick!reader i have somewhere in my inbox so... hope you guys enjoy it!

JAY HALSTEAD MASTERLIST

You let out a big sigh as you looked back up at the ceiling.

You were supposed to be out. You were supposed to be sitting across from Jay in a nice restaurant, with the smell of food floating around the both of you, the sound of clinking glasses…

Everything that had been ruined by your stupid fever that literally was making you feel like shit. You had the worst headache ever, your body felt like it had been run over by a truck or maybe two.

You hadn’t fallen sick for three years, but you had to have one of the worst colds on Valentine’s Day.

So you’d canceled on Jay but lying alone in your apartment just made you feel worse.

You must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing you knew, a clanging in the kitchen woke you. You were confused at first, wondering if the medications had fogged up your brain too much but as other noises joined in, you started to feel alarmed.

Someone was in your apartment.

You glanced to your bedside table for your phone before you remembered that you’d left it outside on the coffee table after you’d called Jay.

As quietly as you could, you rolled out of bed, looking around your bedroom and finding a baseball bat that Jay had left behind the door.

The nap had done you good, at least the fever felt like it was gone and your head was no longer pounding, although maybe it was the adrenaline that was keeping you moving now.

You crept outside, gripping the baseball bat at an angle where you could swing, until you froze.

Jay was just as frozen, bent in an awkward position as he looked up from where he’d just set a plate down on the table.

“Oh my god, what the hell Jay!” You half yelled, the air easily reaching your lungs again as you lowered the bat.

Jay didn’t know whether to laugh or not as he took the baseball bat from your hands. “I’m just going to take this.” He said, and you could tell he was amused.

You narrowed your eyes at him.

“You said you were sick, so I brought Valentine’s Day to you.” Jay said, as a form of explanation. “I don’t think I deserve getting smacked around with a baseball bat for that.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your lips.

“At least you’re feeling better?” Jay asked.

You made a face at him. “No, everything hurts.” You answered, even though you were already kind of distracted by the setup Jay had done for you.

He’d draped a nice fancy tablecloth over the table, set out two tall lit candles, two plates of pasta sitting on the table and he’d swapped out the normal wine with glasses of water.

“We’ll make up the alcohol another day, I promise.” Jay said, like he knew what you were thinking as he put his hand to your forehead, nodding approvingly that your temperature seemed normal.

You half laughed.

“You think you’re well enough for the pasta?” Jay asked. “I didn’t think you’d appreciate soup for Valentine’s.”

You smiled and nodded. “I think I’ll manage.”

So instead of having to spend the night alone, you had dinner with Jay in the comfort of your home, just glad that you didn’t feel as bad as you had a few hours ago. You weren’t sure if it was because of Jay or you were physically better, maybe both. But you didn’t care, or mind.

As Jay took your empty plate away after the both of you finished eating, he smiled at you. “We’ll have another fancy dinner when you’re better. With real alcohol.”

You smiled back at him. “This was plenty fancy, except…” You looked down at your pajamas. “Next time I’ll be sexier.”

“Oh you’re totally gorgeous. Absolutely stunning.” Jay whispered, kissing the top of your head before he headed around towards the kitchen.

You got up, heading towards the couch, where Jay joined you soon after, grabbing the blanket draped over the armchair and draping it over you before he sat next to you and you cuddled into his side.

“Can you stay tonight?”

Jay glanced at you.

“I feel better when you’re here.” You pitched.

Jay smiled. “Of course. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Thanks for doing this, Jay.” You whispered after a small silence. “Sorry I’m sick today.”

Jay just turned to press his lips on your temple. “Hey, everyday is valentine’s with you. I just thought you’d be pissed about having to skip dinner.”

You giggled. “And you were right. Thank you.”

Jay smiled and you closed your eyes as you pressed yourself deeper into Jay’s side. Jay was right - everyday was Valentine’s as long as you were together.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS!! SHARE WITH ME YOUR FAVOURITE LINE/PART IN ANY WAY YOU’RE COMFORTABLE!

[the-winter-spider]

I live for your fics and i live for the angst you write it so perfect but i was wondering if you could write something small like a one shot that was fluff 🥺

Three Words

Pairings: TFATWS!Bucky x Reader

Word count: 800

Warnings: flufffffffff

A/N: Ask and you shall receive, hope you like it! Not edited or proof read

Masterlist

++

“Now what are you doing here all by yourself?” You heard Sam’s voice booming from behind you, the dock creaked as he came and planted himself beside you. Swinging your legs back and forth just about touching the water below you “Just needed a break” you shrugged

“My family isn't that bad” He laughed giving your shoulder a shove

“Oh come on Sam, y’know that's not what I meant”

“I just like bugging you is all” He took a sip of his beer

“It's just” you trailed off, letting out a sigh “I don't know actually, just forget it”

“It's Bucky isn’t it?”

Letting out a laugh “is it that obvious, things just feel different”

“Good or bad, kind of different?”

Before you got the chance to answer you heard heavy footsteps behind you, Bucky cleared his throat “Sarah is asking for you Sam”

He looked back at Bucky nodding, he put his hand on your shoulder “We’ll finish this later”

You heard Sam’s footsteps start to retreat before shouting “I expect both of your asses back to the party in 10 minutes top!”

“He’s bossy sometimes, isn’t he?” Bucky chuckled, sitting down beside you, you nodded in agreement.

“Sometimes?” A quiet laugh leaving your lips.

A silence rose between the both of you, not comfortable like they used to be, this one felt thick, like there were unspoken words and feelings floating around, which there were.

--

“You need to be more careful!” Bucky shouted at you

“I was perfectly fine, I can handle my own thank you very much”

He scoffed “Handle your own? Is that why that why you were on your ass with someones hands around your neck”

“I can handle myself Barnes, now leave me alone!” You started walking fast, trying to get away from him but he was right on your tail

“I wasn't done talking to you y/n”

You laughed throwing your hands up “That's what you called talking? Treating me like a child, why don't you go ‘talk’ to Sam to then because he was also getting his ass kicked”

He was fuming you could see it, this isn't even the worst fight or disagreement the two of you have had “Because”

“Because why Bucky?! Huh? Because I’m not as strong as Sam or you? Because I can do pretty well on my own and sure as hell was befo-“

“Because I love you!”

—

“Y/n”

“Yeah Buck?” You didn't look his way, your eyes still glued to the water in front of you, a dark shade of blue what you imagined Bucky's eyes to look like under the moonlight.

“I, what happened back there, I-“

“You don't have to explain yourself Bucky it's fine, really”

“But its not, I know you can handle yourself, i know you kick ass you were doing it side by side with Steve before I came back around, I just, don't wanna lose you”

You turned your head to look at him, really look at him. God how could someone be this handsome it had to be illegal you thought, your hand reached out taking his hand in yours, he looked stunned “You’ll never lose me Buck, your stuck with Sammy and me now”

His thumb was rubbing circles onto your palm “Not sure how I feel about the Sam part, but the you part sounds pretty great”

“D-did you mean it? What you said back there?”

He nodded “Everyone single word doll”

“When did you know?”

“After the snap, when they said it had been 5 years, I just wanted to find you all the lost time, I knew then.”

“Why didn't you say anything before?”

He finally left your gaze, he shrugged “I was scared is the short answer”

“You're not scared now?”

He laughed “No i definitely still am but nothing was scarier than watching the life almost leave your eyes”

You nodded, you knew you loved Bucky a long time ago. You were scared to love and be loved, everyone you ever loved was dead or gone, each person was like adding a nail to the coffin of your heart and all you had left was Sam and Bucky and right now it felt, no you knew they were enough, that they wouldn’t leave like the others, this time felt different.

You always thought love was nothing but a burden to have and looking at the super soldier beside you, the way the light from the sun setting was shining off his skin you knew this was a burden you wanted to bear. That no matter the outcome and god you prayed it would be a good one, was an outcome you were ready to take on.

“Hey Buck?”

His eyes left the waters and met your face, his hand still entwined with yours “Yeah doll?”

“I love you too”

[queenshelby]

Teacher’s Pet

31 Days of Kink: Day 7

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Words: 1378

Warning: Smut, Teacher/Student, Age Gap

Imagine starting drama school during your first year of university and having Cillian Murphy as a temporary drama teacher while your professor has taken six weeks off to recover from a broken leg.

But, Cillian and you aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye and you were asked to meet Cillian in his office to discuss some recent issues that have arisen in your performance.

***

‘You are difficult, you know that’ Cillian murmured, his smile faded, his face hardened, and his eyes narrowed.  You had yet again complained about your schedule.

‘I am difficult? I think you are the one who is difficult. I have been trying my best here and you keep rearranging everything…’ you said as you felt your stomach tighten. Immediately, you knew that you screwed up again because you secretly desired Cillian, a man twice your age, and the worst of it all was that you knew he was right when he criticised you and your performance.

‘Have you?’ he asked, his voice stern.

‘Have I what?’ you asked.

‘Have you been trying your best? Because it sure doesn’t look like it to me’ Cillian said, referring to you having forgotten your lines several times over the last few days.

‘I am distracted, I am sorry’ you huffed.

‘By what?’ he asked and you sure didn’t want to respond to this question.

But he already knew your answer. He has seen the way you kept looking at him.

‘I need you to tell me what has been distracting you so that I can help you Y/N’ Cillian said.

‘It is you who distracts me and, unless you are going to fuck me over this table right now, I will probably continue to be distracted for the auditions this afternoon’ you huffed as you knew that, by the way things were going, you may as well cancel your drama school enrolment.  

Cillian chuckled and moved quicker than you thought possible, grabbing your waist, hoisting your up off your chair and onto your feet.

‘I’ve got 45 minutes Y/N…you better remember your lines after this’ Cillian said, quickly pressing his lips onto your before spinning you around to face his desk.

He had been wanting you since the moment you walked into his class. Of course, it was inappropriate but his desire had finally gotten the better of him when the words left your lips.

His chest pressed against your back and you previously pounding heart doubled its pace as you felt incredibly turned on.

His breath was hot on your skin as he kissed his way from the nape of your neck up to your ear where he took your earlobe into his mouth and tugged at it gently with his teeth before whispering in your ear ‘Is this what you want.’

‘Yes’ you moaned, your head falling back against his shoulder as your eyes closed.

‘Don’t make a sound’ Cillian’s inducted as his hand slid beneath your cotton skirt and into your panties where his fingers found your already soaking wet slit.

He traced the edges of your pussy with the tips of his fingers, never directly touching your clit but getting just close enough to make you ache with anticipation. He continually dipped the first knuckle into you, but never enough to satisfy the desire to be filled that pulsed inside you.

As he teased you, you could feel the bulge in his pants pressed against you growing. All you wanted was his cock inside you. You moaned and tried to grind against his teasing hand, shifting your hips in an attempt to get his fingers where you wanted them, but he continuously rebuffed your attempts.

After what felt like hours of teasing, his hand left you and you felt him unbuckle his belt and push his pants off.

Cillian pushed your skirt up and, when his body came back against yours, you felt his hard member pressing against your panties.

‘Please, please just fuck me’ you moaned as Cillian finally pushed your panties down to your knees.

‘One thing you really need to learn is to be patient’ he then growled as he moved his fingers adeptly through your folds, finding all your most sensitive spots, rolling around and over your clit, probing inside you deeper and deeper, making you groan with pleasure and fuelling your desire even further to get him in you.

You could feel the precum oozing from the tip of his cock, smearing on your ass as he slid back and forth between it. You tightened your glute muscles around him and felt his girth slipping between you.

Then, all of a sudden, he removed his hands from your aching mound and reach for his wallet on the desk, pulling out a condom.

You heard Cillian opening the packet just before he rolled the condom onto his hard shaft. The sound of it made you ache for him even more, knowing that he would be inside you any moment now.

‘Spread your legs for me’ he instructed before he aligned the head of his cock with your entrance.

Instead of pushing into you however, he began to slowly pull you back onto his length. As the tip entered you, you felt your walls stretch to accommodate his girth. It was uncomfortable for a moment, but he went slowly and you soon adjusted.

You slowly took inch by inch, moaning a long guttural moan that seemed to be pushed out of you at the same rate that he filled you.

‘Sssh, we don’t want anyone to hear us, do we?’ Cillian whispered, his breath changing.

Eventually you felt his tip bump into your cervix and Cillian came to a halt, allowing you to adjust to his size.

Once he felt you relax, he quickly backed 3 or 4 inches out of you and then thrust inside you again, being sure to stop just short of your cervix.

From that point forward you were lost in the moment. You bounced back against Cillian’s cock which he met with equal thrusts, each time the head of his cock stretching you and pressing against your g-spot as he slid deeper inside you. You had never felt so full and satisfied in your life. With each thrust you felt the heat and tension building deep inside you.

 ‘Are you going cum for me?’ Cillian groaned as he could feel your legs shivering and your walls tightening.

In the heat of the moment, with his hands on your waist, holding you firmly, and his cock buried in your pussy, you couldn’t hold back much longer.

‘Oh my god, oh my god!’ you moaned in response and Cillian’s hand immediately moved onto your mouth to cover your moans.

Your moans became more and more desperate and your hands clenched the front end of the desk while your eyes slammed shut as you felt the explosion erupt inside you.

‘That’s it’ Cillian moaned as your legs shook uncontrollably and you could barely breathe as your walls spasmed around Cillian’s pistoning cock. When your voice finally returned you let out a wailing scream as you rode through wave after wave of bliss.

Even after your orgasm had subsided, your body twitched and convulsed involuntarily as the aftershocks of being so satisfied rippled through your body. Through it all, Cillian continued his onslaught, watching as you writhed before him, your figure reacting to him in every way he could have wanted. He watched as your pussy gushed around him, dripping all over the floor.

He tried to hold off his own pending orgasm, but the ferocity with which your spasming walls gripped and milked at his cock was too much. As your orgasm began to subside, he could hold out no longer. He groaned and thrust deep inside your as he felt his balls tighten and begin to unload his cum. You felt his already thick shaft swell inside you and begin to twitch and pulse.

When he had finally finished, he pulled out of you and quickly disposed of the condom.

‘Right Y/N, you’ve got what you wanted, now repeat your lines for me’ Cillian smirked as he zipped up his jeans.

 Tag List (Cillian):

@lilymurphy03  @deefigs @theflamecrystal   @desperate-and-broken  @weepingstudentfishhorse   @livinginfantaxy  @rosey1981  @atomicsoulcollecto  @peakyboyslover  @nerdy4itall  @elenavampire21  @hanster1998  @mariapaiva13  @fairypitou  @harry-is-my-sunflower  @zozeebo  @lauren-raines-x @kasaikawa  @littlewierdalien  @sad-huffle-nerd  @theflamecrystal   @peakymalfoyscullymulder  @themissthang  @0ghostwriter0  @stylescanbeatmyback  @1-800-peakyblinders @datewithgianni  @momoneymolife  @ntmynouis @lilymurphy03  @mcntsee@cloudofdisney @missymurphy1985 @peakymalfoyscullymulder  @otterly-fey @janelongxox  @uchihacumdump @basiclassy  @being-worthy  @chaotic-bean-of-smolness  @margoo0 @chocolatehalo

Cannot Tag (please check your settings):

@l0tsofpennies @trolleydolly @avonlady1985 @chrisevanshoeee  @daydreamingnymph  @fookingshelby   

[laladellakang]

DANIEL AND DELLA INTERACTIONS🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲‼️💥💳💥💳💥💳💥

sorry this took so long ☹️ i was just gonna include this in upcoming i-land chapters but that’s gonna take a whiiille (since daniel was in ground in majority of pt 1)

bringing back mini chapters since long ones are.. hard for me rn... i have the ideas but i can’t seem to put them down on paper

“Dude, if I call you Dani, are you D-A-N-I or D-A-N-N-Y?” Della asked. “-and in Hangul, is it 다니 like 다니엘 or 댄니?” [dani — daniel — daenni]

“D-A-N-N-Y no? Isn’t D-A-N-I short for Danielle or something? And I guess it’s… 다니.. wait no 댄니..? Both don’t sound right.” [dani — daenni]

“Right?! 다니? 댄니..? It’s just Dani, y’know? Also- D-A-N-I can be short for Daniel too I mean- it’s completely up to you.”

“True, and I guess D-A-N-I seems more fitting to me rather than D-A-N-N-Y ‘cause it sounds a bit too-”

“What are you guys talking about…?” Sunoo couldn’t take it anymore.

“All I heard is 다니, 댄니, D-A-N-I-N-N, why, why,” Jungwon chuckled.

“Right, me too,” Sunoo laughed.

“I hope my dad is proud of me,” Alice smiled to herself as she was flipping her salisbury steaks. Double D were assisting Jay and Alice in the kitchen. “Embracing my American side.”

“Wait! I just realised!” Daniel exclaimed. “The chefs are the Korean-Americanz!”

“Dani, I’m not American” “She’s not American” “Della’s not a foreigner,” Jay, Alice and Della said in unison.

“You’re not?!” Daniel looked at Della with wide eyes.

“Where did you hear that?!” the girl looked so confused.

“Huh.. I guess I was hoping for us to seem more like siblings.”

“It’s kinda hilarious how most of the hyungs have a crush on you,” Daniel blurted out while they were waiting for everyone else to finish getting ready for the stage.

“Dani!” Della’s eyes widened. She removed her head from his shoulder to slap his arm. “The staff!” she whisper-yelled.

“They’re all busy tending to the others, they can’t hear us,” he assured.

The girl turned her attention to the crowd of people. Half of which are the I-Landers (excluding K, Hanbin and Alice since they were also done) and the other being the staff.

Just in time to catch all the I-Landers staring at her and Daniel. She sent a wink over to Jungwon, who was the only one who didn’t immediately look away.

“As much as I love you and see you as my noona. Try not to hurt them, okay? Most of them are going to be in the same group and you will most probably be in it too so I hope you come to a conclusion that doesn’t mess up the dynamic or anything,” she sighed at his advice.

“Honestly- I’ve never caught feelings for more than one person before, and I’ve also never rejected someone I actually like-like,” he wrapped an arm around her and pushed her head to lay on his shoulder again.

“You’re a smart girl, Lala. I’m sure you can figure out what’s best for everyone.”

“Oh my God- I just realised you’re born in 06, you’re really young,” Della suddenly said while laying down on the other blue room bed. “I keep forgetting since you’re so tall and mature.”

“That’s flattering, Delle, thank you,” Daniel shifted in his bed to show her his smile. “We’re almost exactly three years apart.”

“Plus we’re both INFJ and our initials are KD,” Daniel’s eyes widened while he pointed to the girl.

“Broo,” Della reciprocated his gesture. “-and we both speak English and we’re both tall.”

“And we both like romance and horror!” her eyes widened again. “And we both need something to hug while we sleep!”

“Okay- well you just learned that a couple hours ago from my PR video but yes!” he sat up from excitement. “Ah but you’re not an only child.”

“Nahh. I was for seven years though,” she let out a small smile while looking at the younger. “I might introduce you to my sister when she gets older and you’re both single or something.”

“Noo, why are you saying that like we’re not gonna debut together?! I’m gonna meet your sister and parents soon, Delle, and you’re gonna meet my parents too.”

taglist! @hoonstrology @jaetint @afiaaaa19 @1-800-enhypennabi @studioreader @one16core @sarang-wonie @sleepyenhasasha @ilyxion @toriluvsfics @i90snoo @fairydosii @danyxthirstae01 @seulgifted @clar-iii @hiqhkey @nichmeddar @jiwlys

[lebrookestore]

four years, one night

Pairing: Ten Lee x  female reader

Themes:  SLOWBURN, best friends to lovers, player! ten, fuckboy! ten, fluff, humour, angst, sexual tension, college au, some talk about music 

Warnings: angst, cursing, mentions of sex (?kinda), ten is kind of an asshole, reader calls herself a dumb bitch, bittersweet ending, three kisses, kissing, gets a little spicy in one scene but that’s about it, PG15

WC: 10.8k

Playlist: Dream Launch by Wayv, Never let you go by AleXa, Illicit Affairs by Taylor Swift, Young again by Morgan Evans, Without You by NCT U, The Tempest by Beethoven (this looks so out of place eye-)

Taglist:  @danishmiilk @channoticedmeuwu​  @1-800-seo @sweetlyjaem @badwithten @blueprint-han @chicksung

Summary: Ten was a fickle person, he jumped from one person to another, breaking hearts, and getting his own heart broken. The one person who had to pick it up every time? You, of course, and it was exhausting, especially when you had to watch.

day break  [ extra piece based in this universe ]

A/n: hello! this fic is very much self indulgent, but i love it so much. I spent most of the last week working on it and half of it is me simping, and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you to @chicksung​ for beta reading and helping me throughout writing this. As always, feedback would be very much appreciated!

‘I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong’- Lemony Snicket

~

A loud slam of the door made you flinch, shutting your eyes in exasperation as you knew what was to come. The same thing over and over again, you were used to it. Honestly, it was nothing new, but his stupidity, the obvious was in front of him, but did he listen? Of course, he didn’t.

A figure walked into the room, a mop of messy black hair with brown highlights adorning his head. It was pretty long at this point, his bangs reaching his eyes. Those damning eyes, melting pools of chocolate brown that seemed to bore into your soul. Those eyes looked remorsefully at you now, as he plopped down next to you, wrapping his arms around your midriff and burying his face in your back.

You sighed. “Again?”, you asked, running your fingers through his hair as he hummed a response. “Again”, he repeated, confirming your suspicions. He looked up, his eyes meeting yours.

You hated his eyes.

He managed to make you do anything for him with just a look. They were undoubtedly your weakness, when they looked sad, or when they upturned into a smile, that instantly brightened your day.

“I can’t seem to get it right can I?”, he asked, searching your eyes as if you had all the answers to his turbulent love life. You scoffed, “You couldn’t have been serious about that chick, Ten, you met her three weeks ago, and she was simply a rebound for you” “Thanks for the support”

“I’m being real, not supportive”

He rolled his eyes, pouting. “But I liked her”, he whined. You gave him a pointed look, “Please, You just wanted someone to be with, if not to fu-” “Oh my god, shut up”

You smirked, turning your attention back to your laptop, where the essay you had been trying to write glared back at you. 

“I just want someone who understands me”, Ten continued, still looking at you. You looked at him. 

I understand you, you thought, I’m here

Ten had always been like this, he jumped from girl to girl, getting his heart broken several times because he was too forgiving with it. He wanted to love, he had always romanticized the idea. Honestly, you thought he needed love too, but he was going down all the wrong paths.

And you had to be there every single time to pick up the pieces.

“I know”, you said half-heartedly, biting your lower lip. He propped his chin upon his fist, observing you and your concentrated look. You typed away, desperately wanting to be done with this paper, one you had been working on for about three days. 

“Do you think I’ll ever do something right?”, he asked. You froze, pushing down what you wanted to say. It was hard, having to deal with Ten's endeavors of the heart’ as he called them. The right term would be- doing random shit and breaking girls' hearts', but of course, he refused that catchy title. Sighing, you shut your laptop, knowing you wouldn’t get anything done now that he was in a mood.

“You haven’t done anything wrong” “Haven’t done anything right either”

You took his face in your hands, “You haven’t done anything wrong, you’re amazing, now stop moping, I’m ordering pizza”

He pulled away from you, sitting up properly. “Can I stay over?”, he asked hopefully. You clicked your tongue, looking at him with an annoyed expression. “Don’t you have your dorm?” “My roommate said he has a girl over, and I kinda want to sleep, thanks” You rolled your eyes, but nodded, picking up your phone and walking into the other room to order.

You heard laughter and looked back to see the boy laughing at something on his phone. Probably a cat meme, or something of the sort. You admired his side profile for a minute, the slope of his nose, the way his eyes shone. He was okay, you supposed, annoying, but okay. No matter how much he tried to justify it, he didn’t care for the girl who broke up with him. He was just fine right now, and had moved on from the topic pretty quickly, and was already smiling.

You also hated his smile. Infuriatingly adorable, one smile would make you want to smile back. You hated it with every ounce of your being, the effect he had on you. 

You hated Ten Lee.

Scratch that, you didn’t hate the poor boy, you just, despised him?

Nope, you were close friends.

Ironic isn’t it? You had met Ten at a party, where the Dance major was having a lot of fun. You hadn’t seen him before but had heard of him. The boy who jumped from girl to girl as easy as one, two, three. You had no intention of even talking to him, you were content in a dark corner, with a drink.

Nothing ever goes your way. 

The meeting was by chance, he was dared to ask you to dance, you declined, he persisted giving you those puppy eyes. After glaring at him, he sighed, explaining it was a dare, and that he didn’t want to make a fool of himself, and before you knew what was happening, you were awkwardly swaying along to the music with him.

He, regrettably, stuck with you for the rest of the evening, and you ending up liking his company, to the extent where you invited him over the next day for pizza.

The pizza situation turned out to be a thing between the two of you, a tradition of sorts. He would come over with candy, in an oversized sweatshirt looking illegally adorable, you would supply the blankets, and movie nights would begin.

He had a sweet smile and sparkly eyes, which made you question if this was the guy who broke hearts, who was a player. He was like a puppy, it confused you to no end.

“Miss L/n?”, your professor asked, raising an eyebrow at your spaced out figure. Startling, you blinked rapidly, cringing at the situation you had put yourself in. “Sorry”, you apologized, focusing back on the textbook in front of you. You were majoring in Psychology, and while you love the subject, the teacher didn’t like you very much, probably because you had been so distracted the past few weeks, and you hadn’t done particularly well in the midterms.

Needless to say, you were stressed.

The class got over quickly, and you walked out of the lecture hall, deciding to get some coffee before your next class. The cafe was a well-loved one visited by almost every student, and was famous for its chai-lattes, so much so that others also visited it, and not just the students.

Turning towards the on-campus cafe, you spotted Ten already there. His glasses sat at the edge of his nose, giving him an oddly studious look, which was almost laughable. He stood there, holding two cups of coffee, eyes lighting up as he spotted you.

Ten Lee was going to be the death of you.

You walked up to him, taking the coffee which he handed to you, “What do you want?”, you asked suspiciously, taking a sip of the bittersweet drink. You noted the fact he had gotten your favorite, which only worsened the feeling of butterflies in the pit of your stomach. He looked mock offended, and grinned at you, “Nothing!”, he said, “Just wanted to see you”

You rolled your eyes in an attempt to thwart your initial reaction, beginning to walk back to the main campus, for your psych class. Ten walked beside you, holding his sketchbook in his right hand, and coffee in the left.

“Okay, um actually-”

“You want something don’t you?” “I need a reference model”, he said, “So, Y/n, could you please-”

“Oh my god no”, you said, without even letting the poor boy finish, “Last time this happened it ended up with a pain fight and my sweater destroyed.”

“I said I was sorry!”, he semi shrieked, “And this time I need it for a project worth half my grade.”

Sighing, you but your lower lip, nodded tentatively, to which he let out an almost inhuman sound of appreciation, “When are you free?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Nah, I have a date”

You blinked in surprise, and he smiled sheepishly. “Eun-hae asked me out and I said yes so”

“Of course you did”, you muttered bitterly, “You broke up with that other one yesterday”

He seemingly chose to ignore you, “Sunday?”

You nodded and took another sip of the drink you held. He smiled, his eyes forming those endearing crescents that you loved, or hated, depending on what you were going for.

“Thank you, Love you”, he called out, jogging away to his class. You watched him run-walk away, almost dropping his sketchbook. Shaking your head in amusement, you smiled somewhat sadly.

“No”, you whispered, “You don't”

You didn’t know exactly when you fell for Ten, only that it happened suddenly and you couldn’t deny it. He was idiotic, on many levels, but he was sweet and was there for you when you needed it. 

He was a dance major, and an art minor, talented in both these aspects. You had seen him dance, it seemed like his body moved with the music, it told a story every time. He would illustrate emotion with his dancing. He did that with his art too, each stroke equivalent to a sentence from a story.

Anyone could tell he loved both of them.

You let out a frustrated sound, bending down to pick up the pen you had dropped. You were in your apartment, trying to finish an essay that was due the next day. You longingly glanced at your keyboard, the one instrument that you loved.

Well actually, you loved the piano, but you couldn’t haul your piano from back home to your apartment that you had rented out for your college years, and so you settled for a keyboard. You had loved music ever since you were little, instruments making its way in and out of your house. Your jazz phase consisted of saxophones, and you played the guitar for a bit too. You even picked up the drums for a while, insisting that it made you cooler (because every thirteen year old needed that validation), but you settled back to piano eventually.

You took part in competitions and such, sometimes singing along with your playing as well. 

But you couldn’t afford to even think about playing, until you finished your assignments, which were all marked. They were extensive projects that made you want to scream at times. You didn’t care what Shakespeare meant, nor did you want to conduct a survey about emotions. 

Turning the page of your textbook, you switched tabs to your next resource, ready to jot down more notes for the essay, when you saw a notification at the bottom right of your laptop, which was an email. You clicked on it and let it open.

Your eyes widened, gaping slightly at the screen as you read the email.

 To: y/n@gmail.com

From: admin@royalschoolofmusic.com

Good morning/evening,

            We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into The Royal School Of Music on a scholarship. We have received your application and are impressed by your talent and dedication. Please send us a follow-up email within a month's time to confirm your attendance at our institution.

      TRSOM

 You grabbed your phone, texting your mother about the scholarship, shaking in happiness. It had been your dream to get into the Royal school, but you had initially applied to it on a whim, not really expecting to get in.

You swiped through your contacts, ready to call Ten, who was regrettably your best friend, to inform him of the good news, until you realized-

The school was in another country altogether.

While you knew Ten would be ecstatic about the fact you got it, you had known each other for four years, the entirety of your college career, and leaving for the school would be a bit of a shock. It was definitely not the fact that telling the boy you loved you were potentially never going to see him again that was deterring you from telling him.

You placed your phone back down, telling yourself you would deal with that later, reminding yourself you had an essay to finish.

Ten tapped his finger impatiently on the table, trying to figure out a way to get out of this date. Initially, the girl he was out with, Eun Hae by name, seemed nice, but as time went on, it was clear she had no personality. 

Now, Ten wasn’t one to judge immediately. He tried to give her a chance, smiling and indulging in the bland conversation, he smiled and complimented her, and was sweet. It was going fine for a first date until of course, she suggested they share a fruit salad.

There were about fifteen other salads on the godforsaken menu, but no, she had to choose a fruit salad, above everything else.

Ten was not having it.

He excused himself, muttering something about an assignment, and went to the restroom of the restaurant, pulling out his phone and searching for your contact, clicking on it.

 [8:39 pm] 10: y/n

[8:39 pm] 10: y/n

[8:39 pm]10:  my precious friend

[8:39 pm] n/n : what now

[8:40 pm]10: I need help

[8:40 pm] n/n: I refuse 

[8:40 pm] 10: I am ofFENDED

[8:40 pm]10: please my date is making me eat fruit

[8:40 pm] n/n: sounds like a you problem

[8:40 pm] 10: I am quivering in fear and this is how you react

[8:40 pm] n/n: I have three assignments to finish

[8:41 pm] 10: I’ll take you for ice cream

[8:41 pm] n/n: deal

[8:41 pm] 10: why has our friendship been reduced to bribery

[8:41 pm] n/n stfu or I won't come and save you

[8:41 pm] 10: I LOVE YOU 

 He quickly sent you his location and put his phone back, getting back to the table and smiling as realistically as he could at the girl opposite him, who was still going on about one of her friends and their doings, while he tried to look as interested as possible.

“So, should we order-”

Right at that moment, you walked in, hair tousled because of the wind and a disgruntled expression on your face. He made an attempt not to smile at your appearance, ignoring the warm feeling he got on seeing you.

You looked around spotting him and storming over, “Ten Lee, what the fuck are you doing here”, you asked, ignoring the girl that sat right opposite him, mock angrily. He caught on, staring at you in bewilderment, noting the hint of amusement in your eyes, “How dare you to do this to me!”

“I-”

“Um, who are you?”, the girl asked, seemingly offended that you had interrupted their date.

You scoffed, displaying all your acting abilities in their full potential, “Who am I? Who are you?”

She blinked in confusion, and Ten used every bit of willpower he had to prevent him from bursting out into laughter. “I’m his date?”

“Un-fucking-believable”, you said, “Ten Lee how could you?”

At this point, Ten was invested in whatever lie you had somehow come up with to get him out of this date. It seemed like you had an entire explanation for it, either that or you were taking the opportunity to scream at him. Both seemed valid.

“How dare you lead this poor girl on!”, you continued, taking a turn, making the girl look scared, “You didn’t tell her did you?” “Tell me what?”, she asked anxiously, leaning forward. You fought to keep your straight face on seeing Ten lean forward too, apparently interested in whatever abomination he committed. 

“He’s gay”, you said with as straight a face as possible, which was hard considering the girl looked so embarrassed, you could see her face go red. Your best friend looked at you incredulously, almost as embarrassed as his ���date’ was, and mildly amused.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’ll be taking him”, you stated, grabbing Ten’s hand and taking him along with you, out of the restaurant and onto the streets.

“You really-” “Ice cream”, you demanded, smirking at his obvious embarrassment. He gaped at your indignance, but nodded, “At least you got me out of there”

“I’m an actress”

“Fuck off”

“Finals are in two weeks, I still come help and this is how to repay me? Ungrateful”

The two of you took Ten’s car to the Ice cream shop, leaning on the hood as you ate your ice cream, with Ten occasionally stealing bites. You smacked his hand away, glaring at his as he tried to take another.

“I’m literally the one paying for it”, he argued.

“This is payment for saving your ass”, you retorted. He slung an arm around you, ignoring you and taking his phone out, scrolling through Instagram. You leaned into him, the scent of your shampoo making its way to him. There was that warm feeling again, and he didn’t like it one bit. 

Deep down, he knew what it was, but he was too much of a coward to ever try, or even take a chance with it, because he wasn’t one for commitment, and even though he had thought about it, he was, as much as he hated to admit it, scared.

“So can I get another scoop?”

“You have assignments to finish”

THREE WEEKS TO GRADUATION

~

The lilting tune played through your apartment, your fingers running across the ivory keys in fervor. They clicked and clacked ever so often, which was the one thing you hated about keyboards. The keys weren’t as firm as an upright piano, giving the music an annoying clickity noise.

Most of the time, you could ignore it, but today you were tired, and this piece was particularly difficult. For some reason, you were having trouble playing the accessories, and keeping the piece in time. You played that part over and over again, but it wouldn’t work.

You switched off the metronome in annoyance, you stared at the music sheet in front of you, trying to figure out how the fuck you should play the piece. Your door clicked, and you did your best to curb your annoyance at the fact someone was interrupting your practise time, no matter how hard the piece was.

Like all keyboards, yours was smaller than an actual piano, and looked very out of place in your apartment, which was warmly decorated with all sorts of trinkets and such. One of Ten’s sweatshirts was thrown on the sofa, and for some unknown reason there were three candles sitting on your table.

It was confusion incarnate, to say the least.

You heard the door click, and a girl walked in, smiling at you. It was the only other person other than Ten who had the key to your apartment, Angie. She was shorter than you, but only by a little bit, had a fringe and brown eyes. She was pretty, and easy to talk to, which was probably what drew you to her in the first place.

“Hey”, she greeted, seeing you on your keyboard, “Whatcha playin?”

“An andante”, you groaned, “Why are you here?”

“I have nowhere else to be”, he said bluntly, “Renjun’s at Doyoung’s place or something”, she pulled out her phone, “I’m just here to chill dude, continue playing, I finished two projects and my brain in dead”

Renjun was her boyfriend, who was on the Dance Team with Ten. The two were ridiculously cute, but due to the fact she now had a boyfriend, the two of you spent less time together. You were okay with it though, you understood.

“Isn’t Doyoung with his girlfriend?”, you asked, and she shook her head, “No, she’s at her Chinese class”

You nodded, going back to your piece, placing your fingers on the correct notes when-

SLAM

Your door opened and closed again, and you closed your eyes, praying to whatever God existed that one day, you would get to practise without interruptions. Ten trudged through throwing himself on the couch, next to Angie, who paid him no attention. “Hi”, he greeted you, and you glared, causing him to give you a look of confusion.

“What did I do now?”

“Not your fault, sorry, I’m not getting this piece”

He perked up, walking over to where you were, “Can I help?”, he asked, gesturing for you to move to the side of the piano stool so he could sit next to you. He studied the notes, as you looked at him, admiring his side profile, wondering how someone could be so pretty. He placed his hand on the keys, playing it. He made a mistake but in the place you had gotten. He got the part you were struggling right.

“Here, do this”, he explained, “The notes are after the third but before the fourth count, so you have to play it quickly”

You nodded, trying to play it, not quite getting it but it was getting there. He smiled, his eyes turning into crescents as he grinned at you.

You hated his smile.

It was infuriating, the fact that he always helped you, he was always there. You kept finding yourself falling for him more and more, and you didn’t want to, because you knew how Ten was, and it was making the whole ‘telling him about the acceptance into the music school’ a lot harder.

You thanked him, pushing him off the stool playfully so you could finish your practice session before going back to studying. He made a mock offended look, retreating to the couch next to Angie, who was engrossed in texting someone, presumably her boyfriend.

His hair was messed up, sticking up in different directions making him look ridiculously adorable. You shut down the keyboard, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to practice anymore with the both of them around. You went to sit next to Angie, but Ten’s entire presence seemed to be in your way.

“Move”

“No, I’m comfortable” “Chittaphon Leechaiya-”

“Yeah I’d like some chai”, Angie said mindlessly, causing the two of you to look at her in mild astonishment. She seemingly didn’t notice your gaping looks, still scrolling through whatever she was looking at.

“Did you just reduce me to tea?”, Ten asked.

Angie looked at him, mystified. “It seems so”, you mused. A slow smirk stretched across his lips. He propped himself up on his elbows, his too-long hair falling over his eyes

“I’m flattered”

“What?”

“Tea is hot. I’m hot”, he drawled, waiting for the two of your reactions to his statement.

You smacked him.

It was your designated pizza day, which meant Ten was at your place. He was currently in the kitchen getting something to drink and ordering the pizza while you sat alone in your living room.

You looked up at your laptop screen, going over the draft of the email you were to send back the The Royal School of Music. Your parents had been extremely proud of you for getting in, and had called you the other night to congratulate you. You heard footsteps, quickly shutting your laptop down, looking up at Ten who walked into your living room from the kitchen.

“Pizza will arrive in a bit”, he said, handing you your drink and plopping down next to you, “Movie?”

“Uh Bridge to Terabithia”, you spouted, taking a sip. You were supposed to be looking for a movie while he was gone, but instead had begun writing the email, so you spouted the name of one of your childhood favorites, that never failed to make you cry. He nodded and you opened Netflix, quickly searching the movie and pressing play.

Ten wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder as the two of you sat in silence. The movie played, and even though you had already watched it before, you still found yourself invested in it. Except you weren’t completely focusing. Ten was so close, his fingers brushing against your hips, his breath near your neck. It felt right, like you were supposed to be like this.

That was the thing, it never felt wrong when you were with Ten, it was like you were exactly where you were supposed to be. Except of course for the fact he wasn’t yours. You knew how Ten was, he was the heartbreaker, and you were the one who was always there to pick up the pieces. Still it was nice to pretend that he was yours, because that was all you could do.

Pretend.

He kept talking about how he wanted someone who understood him, who he could be with, not just some stupid fling. He kept repeating the same thing again and again, and it frustrated you to no end, because you understood him and you were right there, but he never saw you. He would flirt with you, he would do everything and yet, he would never even think of you.

You leaned into him subconsciously, biting your lower lip as you stared at the screen in anticipation. He started playing with your hair, twirling it around his fingers, his hot breath on your neck making hard for you to fully concentrate on the movie.

You hated the effect he had on you, he had barely even done anything, but had still managed to make you nervous. He pulled you closer, burying his face in the crook of your neck. “Are you even watching?”, you asked, semi breathlessly, “Yes”, he responded, “But I want to cuddle.” You couldn’t argue with that logic, so you relaxed into his embrace, as much as you could. “You’re warm”, he murmured against your skin, looking back up at the screen and humming a random tune. “I’m hungry”

“I think I have some M&M’s on the counter”, you mused, “I’ll go get them”, you jumped at the chance to get up and get away from Ten, who was positively driving you crazy at this point. However, your grand plan was cut short when he refused, “I can go get it”, he made a move to get up.

“Sit down idiot-”, you said, pushing him off you, but accidentally tripped over yourself, falling back into his embrace. He laughed, hands falling to your waist to make sure you didn’t fall. “Graceful”, he snickered, and you glared at him. “I hate you”, you grumbled, “You love me”, he teased, making you almost fall again.

Except this time, his face was dangerously close to yours, and you just stared at him, your mind going blank. His arms were still around you, preventing you from falling. His eyes fluttered down to your lips for a second before he looked back up. He opened his mouth to say something but-

RING

The doorbell rang, startling the two of you out of your trance. You pulled away from Ten, shakily walking over to the door and opening it.

“Pizza?”, the guys asked, handing you the pizza box, “Yeah thanks”, you paid him and walked straight into your kitchen, not giving Ten another look, because you knew that you wouldn’t be able to.

You sighed, shutting your eyes, and trying to collect yourself, before grabbing the M&M’s and walking back into the living room, where Ten was sitting, eyes trained on the screen.

“You missed an entire scene”

“YOU DIDN’T PAUSE IT FOR ME-?”

The music echoed through the studio, its melody harsh and striking. It was dark, no lights were on, but the mirrors reflected the only person in the room-Ten.

His figure moved with the music, choosing to do whatever it pleased, trying to portray the beautiful piece to its fullest. The higher notes gave it a sort of hopeful effect, a guide. It lead you to believe that it was alright, it was fine. 

The lower notes added depth to the melody, giving it a richer feel. The two played together made it a beautiful piece, with a sort of melancholic feel. He danced to it, telling a story with his body. Ten would do this sometimes, instead of choosing an upbeat song to dance to, he’d take a classical piece, something that he could feel.

There was something in this piece, the Tempest, that resounded within him. It reminded him of you, specifically your friendship with him if you could even call it that. He got that warm feeling again that day when you had almost fallen. He would’ve kissed you if not for the doorbell. 

Ten wasn’t one for commitment, he wasn’t one for standing up first and telling people about his feelings. He played people, he played them like he painted a picture, or danced.

Speaking of which, the piece had suddenly taken a turn for the turbulent, faster-paced, anxious even. It resembled his feelings perfectly, the random urges to tell you, the anxiety for the outcome. He somehow managed to gracefully enact these feelings, making it look like art instead of the confusion he felt.

Maybe he chose this piece not only for himself but for you too.

It was one of your favorite ones to play, you could and would talk about it for days, especially when you had just mastered playing it. It wasn’t an easy piece, with all the nuances and timing changes, but you pulled it off. He could almost pretend it was you playing.

And then suddenly it mellowed down, the piece sounding hopeful as if there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and you could finally see it. A solution, a happy ending to the harsh waves of the storm, a merry end. His moves became lighter and almost joyful, as he twirled and jumped.

It was all an illusion.

A lie to make you believe the storm was over, there was no hope for this story. The harsh melody returned with vengeance, striking down the sliver of longing, any dream of making it out. Ten did his best to keep up with it, but the sudden change of emotions was startling even to him. It had changed so quickly, he didn’t even have time to comprehend it.

It ended on a triumphant note, like a proud win over an enemy, a victory that shone above everything. Ten ended the dance with a pirouette, panting as he tried calming himself down from the intense session. He couldn’t help feeling triumphant as well, the adrenaline of the piece getting to him, yet, he was skeptical.

Because he had a feeling it was the Tempest that had triumphed, and not him.

You’ll admit: you were not having fun with Psych. You had been studying all day, trying to absorb some of the stuff you had been taught throughout the year. Even though studying human behaviour had always intrigued and interested you, the reason you chose Psych, you couldn’t care less about oxytocin and how attraction worked, nor did you care about how human behaviour was affected by it.

But you had been at it for the past 6 hours, and was tired, so when Angie came along and expressed her disgust and sympathy about your studying endeavors, she hauled you up from the place you had been sitting at for most of the day and instructed you to change and get ready to go or a party.

So you found yourself at a frat party, Angie's arm hooked in yours and music blaring all around you. It was hot and dark, and you could barely see anything with the terrible lighting. You couldn’t tell what song was being played at such high volume, but awkwardly swayed to it anyways, wondering if staying at home at falling down the hole of ice cream and Netflix would have been a better alternative to this.

There were couples making out, and random beer cans everywhere. Everyone was half drunk, and you took this as an excuse to go get a drink. You turned to Angie who was looking the other way. 

“Angie”, you whisper-screamed her name into her ear, causing her to jump, “I’m going to get a drink okay?”, you explained, to which she nodded. “I’m going to Renjun”, she said, walking away and leaving you alone.

Friendship.

You pushed through the crowd of sweaty adults, to get to the makeshift bar that was at the other end of the frat. You stopped occasionally to greet friends, or smile at a random cute boy, but finally made it to the kitchen. Johnny, one of your other friends stood there, inclining his head in a greeting. “Hey, what do you want?” “Are you in charge of the drinks or something?”, you asked, leaning on the island of the kitchen. He grinned at you, shaking his head, “No, but I’m so much I might as well be!”

You laughed, requesting for your drink of choice, which he went to fix for you. You licked your lips, scanning the area to find another friend to latch onto, since Angie had so kindly abandoned you.

“Didn’t think I’d see you here”, a very familiar voice said form behind you, and you turned to see none other than your best friend.

But he looked nothing like what you were used to.

Ten’s hair was slicked back instead of splayed out on his forehead like usual, his eyes seemed darker, probably due to the alcohol. He was wearing skinny jeans, and a blazer with most of the buttons undone, his chest in full view.

Ten looked hot.

“Uh-”, you started like the well read person you were, “Angie dragged me”

He smirked, “Of course she did”, he took a seat on one of the stools, legs spreading as he leaned back. You looked away, trying your hardest not to stare at the boy in front of you, who was making that mission increasingly harder with every little thing he did.

Johnny came back out, offering you a smile and your drink, which you took from him, returning his smile. He handed a glass of something you couldn’t make out to Ten, who took a sip, keeping it on the island. “You don’t seem to be having fun”, he observed, hands finding your waist and pulling you closer to him.

This was a normal thing, but this time it felt different. It wasn’t the same innocent gesture. “I just arrived idiot”, you scoffed. He smirked, “You can look at me you know”, he teased, and you could feel the heat rush to your face. You turned your gaze to him. Currently you were in between his legs, and your mind was a mess.

The first thing you noticed was his tattoo on his right arm which you had seen before. The next was one you hadn't seen before, and rightly so, since it was on his chest.

“Done staring at me?”, he said with a smirk, and your eyes snapped up to his, holding his gaze. If you hated the effect his eyes had on you before, you positively despised them now. He was staring at you through a half lidded gaze, licking his lips. Even without any alcohol in your system you felt dizzy, but not a sick way. Ten was driving you crazy, with his hands on your waist, eyes on you and just everything about him in the moment.

“You’re pretty”, he murmured, looking up at you, eyes falling to your lips, “Did you know that?”, his voice was deeper than usual, sending shivers down your spine. “I-”

“Hmm?”, he sounded absent minded, like he wasn’t even listening to you, which was great considering you didn’t even know what to say. He pushed you a little, standing up himself, now looking down.

“If you didn’t know, I think you are”, he said, face closer than any friend’s face should have been. You breath hitched in anticipation. “Ten?”, your voice was small, quivering almost under his gaze.

He was so close, painfully close. If anyone asked you how you got into this position in the first place, you wouldn’t be able to explain, not quite knowing yourself. 

“Y/n, I need you for a second”, Angie appeared from nowhere, freezing when she saw the two of you in that position, “Um- I can leave-”

“Hey Ang”, Ten greeted, moving away from you. You missed the proximity, as much as you hated to admit it. You blinked hazily at your friend who had so conveniently interrupted whatever you had going on with Ten. You silently cursed yourself for getting so out of it. “Here, I think Arya is calling me anyways so”, he pushed his hands in his jeans pockets. He glanced at you, before walking away and out of the kitchen.

Would he have kissed you?

You looked over at your friend, who was still staring at you like she had seen a ghost. “Did I interrupt something?”, she asked, eyes wide. You felt embarrassed, taking a step back as if you were trying to walk out of the whole situation. “I’m not sure”, you said, “What do you need me for?”

“I need you to hold my drink, I need to go to the bathroom, Renjun is drunk as fuck and I trust you”, she explained, handing you her glass. You nodded, “And maybe can you watch my dumbass of a boyfriend please?”

You snorted, agreeing and walking to the main area of the party that was unfortunately the most crowded. You spotted Renjun on top of Donghyuck, practically choking the latter boy who was laughing for some reason. You could see why Angie went to you for her drink. Walking over, you tried to help Mark, another one of your friends, in separating Renjun and Donghyuck from initiating the 77th hunger games on a friday night.

After somewhat succeeding in pulling the two away from each other, Angie had arrived, choosing to ignore her wasted boyfriends antics and taking her glass back from you. 

You remembered you had left your own drink back in the kitchen, and so you backtracked your steps to said place, when you saw it.

Ten was standing with a girl, her hands around his neck. He was saying something that made her giggle, throwing her head back in laughter as he grinned happily. You froze watching the scene unbeknownst to Ten. You didn’t know what you were feeling for an entire minute until it hit you.

You were hurt.

It was a pricking sort of feeling, like a rod prodding at your heart. It was like a warning, telling you to look away before it pierced your heart, but you couldn’t look away for some reason. It was like your mind was mocking you, telling you keep watching, to realize you never had the slightest chance with Ten.

You weren’t special, whatever flirting he did with you he did to everyone, anything that had remotely happened wasn’t even mentionable, because you were like every other girl in the crowd, and it fucking hurt. It hurt to see the boy you loved not give you a moment's thought, not even give you a chance.

That night you went back to your apartment alone, leaving Angie to deal with her boyfriend. You had never felt this horrible before, it had never escalated to this level of hurt. This type of hurt was different, a dull ache reminding you of what an idiot you were to have ever hoped for more.

You hated Ten for several things, his eyes, his smile, the way he could make you giddy by doing the simplest things. But in the moment, you hated yourself more.

You hated yourself for loving Ten Lee.

‘Don’t call me kid, Don’t call me baby, look at this godforsaken mess that you’ve made me. You showed me colours you know i can’t see with anyone else’

~

You sat on a colourful rug, holding a book up, and surrounded by several other books. You were in a sort of greenhouse, the walls and roof were made completely off glass, and the light streamed through, giving the scene a sort of whimsical aura.

This was the place ten has chosen to paint you, standing behind his easel and and focusing on the canvas, occasionally looking up at you. There were flecks of white and pale blue paint on his face, and he looked whimsical in a way as well.

You sat there, ignoring the warnings in your mind that told you to stay away from Ten for yourself, but you couldn’t bring yourself to. You showed up to the venue right on time, and did your best to not seem any different. You spaced out, eyes focusing on a random word on a page. Ten had promised he was almost done with it, since the two of you had been at it for quite a while now.

His lower lip was caught between his teeth in concentration, hair messed up from the amount of times he had run his hand through it. He stepped back for a second, inspecting his work, a dorky smile stretching out on his lips.

“It’s done!”, he said, “Some fixing, but I can do that later, get your ass here!”

You get to your feet, placing the book on one of the piles of them around you and walking towards him, biting down your own smile at this enthusiasm. You walked behind the easel, your eyes falling on the painting.

It was gorgeous, the colours complimenting each other. The depiction of the light rays was so soft, yet it was there shining down on the main part of the picture- you. He had painted you so prettily, almost fairy like in the midst of the scene. You stared at the painting in awe, unable to think of words to describe it.

“So?”, he asked hopefully, his eyes searching yours for some sort of reaction. You looked at him, then at the painting, then back at him, wondering how he could’ve made it look so fanciful, something out of a disney movie.

“It’s beautiful”, you whispered, your voice not daring to go any louder. He smiled placing his palette down and standing next to you. “It’s not hard when the subject is beautiful”, he said nonchalantly. You froze, silently telling yourself to calm down, to not react to it, that it wasn’t anything to be noted. Yet something in you clicked, shifted into place.

You were angry.

You were furious at Ten, with his pretty smiles and wishful eyes. You hated it when he flirted with you, because he kept leading you on, you hated it when he looked at you like you were the world, because it was a lie, it was all a fucking lie.

“Don’t”, you said, voice shaky. He stared at you in confusion, which only irked you more.

“Don’t”, your voice betrayed you, breaking. He looked alarmed, reaching his hand out, “Hey, Are you okay-”

“No, I’m not okay”, you hissed, slapping his hand away, stepping back. Your mind was clouded with a feeling of helplessness, helplessness at not being able to tell him how you felt, how you hated what he did, how all you wanted was something you definitely couldn’t have. He looked bewildered at your seemingly sudden outburst.

“Stop fucking playing with me”, you said, “I’m not this”, you searched for the words, coming back with nothing, “Stop complimenting me, calling me sweet nothings, making me believe-”, you sucked in a breath, feeling the tears build up in your eyes, years of pent up frustration finally making their way out of you. 

You looked up at him, he still seemed to not be following, “Y/n, I don’t-”

“I’m in love with you”, you choked out finally, the words seeming to tie you down, rather than set you free like you had once hoped. “I’m in love with you”, you repeated, Ten could hear the rage in your voice, washing down on him like the waves of the Tempest, harsh and real. “And I hate myself for it”

Your voice was softer, much more mellow now, like it was tired. A single tear trickled down your face, and you looked up to see a stunned Ten, eyes wide at your state. He said nothing, instead just looked at you, as if you were a different person all of a sudden. It wasn’t a pretty sight, you crying and him standing there like a statue, not a word escaping his lips. 

The air seemed to be colder all of a sudden, biting into the exposed areas of your skin. There was that aching feeling again, that pricking of your heart, the silent ‘i told you so’, that your mind seemed to be playing on repeat. You brushed the tears away from your face furiously, feeling stupid all of a sudden. 

“I’m going to go”, you muttered, grabbing your things and walking out, not caring if you looked idiotic, and not staying to listen to any pathetic response he gave you. 

Ten watched you leave, cursing himself for being such an idiot to you. He didn’t mean to hurt you, he was in love with you himself, but he would never admit it. He hated himself for it, because he knew what he had done. He had flirted with you, had played you, but it was only because he thought the two of you never had a chance. 

He hated himself because it was him, after all this time, who had destroyed that chance.

You sat in front of your computer, back at your apartment, trying not to cry again as you stared at the screen, fingers hovering over the send button. It hurt much worse than you expected it to, his silence had made everything all the worse. But you were tired of him going back and forth. You were tired of having to pick up the pieces every time when he broke another girls heart, or someone else broke his.

You had nothing to lose this time. So alone, in your room you pressed send, signing of your future, sending the email to The Royal School of Music.

Alone.

Finals week passed in a blur of stress crying, all nighters and excessive reading of things that you had read a million times before, and if they hadn’t already gotten into your head, they would never. Which prompted the stress crying.

It was a vicious cycle.

You barely stepped out of your apartment, other than to actually take the exam. All your time was taken up in studying, occasionally eating, and studying again. You also didn’t see Ten that much, other than a glimpse, but immediately swerved away, not in any mood to deal with that confrontation as of yet.

Somehow, you managed to make it to the end of the week, without completely going mad. You made it out of finals, and was technically done with your college career altogether, which was crazy to even think of. You had spent the last four years of your life in this hellhole to get to where you were, and you had made it.

So seeing yourself in front of the mirror a week later, donning your cape and cap over your clothes, you smiled for the first time in two weeks. It was the day you finally graduated and went out into the world as a person with a degree. 

Granted, you were slightly pissed at the fact you had spent four years, and paid an enormous amount of money for a sheet of paper, but at the moment, you couldn’t get the fact that you were finally done with it out of your head. You were happy.

The ceremony started off slowly, the principal calling the names of the students in alphabetical order. You saw Ten walk up and take his degree, a broad smile on his lips. You saw Angie take hers, almost tripping over her cape, earning a laugh from the principal, and fond looks all about. You saw Renjun and Donghyuck hugging instead of at each other's throats for once, and Mark randomly beat boxing for no reason.

You went up on the stage, taking the degree and smiling, realizing that your vision was hazy. Tears of happiness had made their way to your eyes, and you blinked them back, thanking the principal and smiling at the crowd. You walked off, going to stand with your little group of friends.

Later on, Angie went off with her boyfriend for a celebratory date, Renjun and Donghyuck decided to crash at Marks place, and you? You decided to walk through the campus one last time, before you never returned. You were done with college and this place wasn’t yours anymore. It held a sort of nostalgic feel all of a sudden, walking under the arches and admiring the architecture one last time.

You were holding your cap in your hand, after finding it on the ground somewhere after the throwing of them. Your cape was folded and hung from your arm as you walked through, deciding to go get some coffee after you were done.

Lost in your own thoughts, you bumped into someone, dropping the cap., “Sorry-”, you begun you apologize for your absent mindedness, crouching to pick up your cap when you saw the person you had run into.

Ten.

You silently scowled, cursing whatever above that had thrown the two of you together at the very moment, and cleared your throat uncomfortably, looking away. “Hey”, he said breathlessly, looking you up and down. He looked great, he always did, you couldn’t deny the fact no matter how much you were trying to hate him.

“Hi”, you said curtly, “I have to go”

“Wait”, he reached out, grabbing your hand, “Can we talk?”, his voice was tilting towards the hopeful side. It reminded you of your own foolish hope, and you didn’t like it one bit. “No”, you said, “I have to go”, you repeated for words, crushing any hope.

“No- Wait, please, Y/n let me explain”, he pleaded his case, his eyes striking through yours, stirring up some sort of sympathy. Your mind was telling you to go, to get out as fast as possible, but your heart softened, as it always did with him.

“Explain what?”, you chuckled bitterly, “You’ve made it pretty clear how you feel Ten. I was stupid”, your words were hurting yourself, but hurting him too, because he knew it wasn’t your fault.

“No Y/n, you-”

“I what?”, you hissed in question. He spluttered, discouraged by your disinterest in whatever he was trying to tell you. You wanted nothing more to get away from him in that moment, but he seemed to want to stretch out your time together as much as possible. It annoyed you, and made you sad at the same time.

The more time you were with him, the more you could feel your heart break.

“I love you”, he said quietly, “I know I’m a terrible person for leading you on and not realizing earlier, but I love you.” You froze, standing there and staring at him. He looked back, not daring to break your gaze. Instead of joy, which was what you had expected to feel if he ever uttered those words, you felt angrier.

“Please Y/n”, he said, “Just give me a chance?”

You stayed silent, contemplating your choices. “How long have we been friends?”

“What-”

“How long have we known each other Ten?”

“Four years, but I don’t see-”

“We have been friends for four fucking years. I was there for every heartbreak, every date, every girl. I stood on the sidelines, I listened to you, I have you advice when you needed it, I comforted you when you cried. But you? You never gave me a chance!”, you exclaimed, “Not a second glance, not a single chance.”

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, taking in your words and trying to think of something to justify them, but he couldn’t, he knew you were right.

“So yes”, you voice quivered, “You are an idiot. You’re an idiot for never realizing my feelings when i made it PAINFULLY obvious”, you took steps back, trying to calm yourself.

“I can't believe I”, you scoffed at yourself, your own idiocy, “I can’t believe that three out of four years I was in love with you, but I guess that’s what makes me the dumb bitch.” You looked away, the words you had wanted to say since forever finally out of your system. He stood there, just a few steps away from you. But then, why did it seem like he was miles away?

“I’m sorry”, he said weakly, “I hate myself for what I did, but Y/n I”, he paused, shutting his eyes in frustration, “I’m in love with you dammit, and I don’t expect you to forgive me for what I’ve put you through but, can we-”

“No”, you said, “We can’t”

“Y/n give us a chance, please”

“You don’t understand!”, you said almost feverishly, blinking back tears, “I can’t Ten”

“Why not?”, he asked, walking closer to you. You took a step back from him, looking at the boy you loved with remorseful eyes. “I’m leaving Ten. I’m leaving for a music school in another country.”

He blanched, any hope withering away, like a dead flower, dried with the summer heat, like a lone boat in the midst of a storm. You let out a pathetic sob, realizing that you couldn’t ever have Ten, no matter what.

“I’ll be gone before we could ever be”

The world was never fair. It came at you with things you wished never happened, you wished you could change, or would have handled better. Like a storm on an unsuspecting sailor, it’s waves crashed down on you, and you were unable to breathe.

Life was the tempest, with it’s harsh tremors, it’s sudden soft waves that lead you to believe things were going to be okay. It’s highs and it’s lows, the good times and the bad. You found it ironic, the fact you were playing your favorite piece of all time, and it reminded you of reality.

You had always viewed music as an escape from reality, but now you were starting to connect the two, using music to let both the worlds connect. Your fingers flew across the keys, the climactic melody thundering through your apartment.

Finishing the piece, you let out a sigh, taking the music sheets and placing them back in your folder. Shutting the keyboard down, you cleared up a bit, settling down on your couch. Cracking your knuckles, you pulled out your phone to mindlessly scroll through Instagram as one did to pass time.

You seemed to do that often, now that you were officially done with college and had a bit of time before you left for The Royal School of Music, approximately three weeks, you honestly had nothing else to do with your time.

And so, you indulged in the world of reels and other videos that didn’t necessarily add anything of worth to your being. Time seemed to trickle by slowly, much slower than you would have liked. 

Your flight to the country in which the school was in had already been booked, your registration had been completed, and you had even found an apartment to rent over there. Some of your belongings had already been sent for shipping, leaving you with the bare minimum. You had even sold some stuff, because cross country shipping was expensive, and you had gathered quite a few things over your four years staying in your college area that you definitely didn’t need.

It seemed as if everything was set, you were ready to leave everything behind.

Your doorbell rang, it's obnoxious ringing sound making you wince out of annoyance. You got up from your spot on the couch reluctantly, and walked over to the door to open it.

You were met with a slightly disheveled looking Ten on the other side, hair slightly messy. It had been yet another week since you had seen him, not have been in contact since graduation day, and suddenly here he was at your doorstep. Before you could even say anything, he pushed his hand out, thrusting a pizza box in your face.

“I know you don’t want to see me, and I don’t blame you but”, he took a deep breath, “You’re going, and it sucks, but I’m happy for you, so i brought pizza, for old times sake?”

You blinked in surprise, your hands on their own accord and taking the box. As if he could sense you were skeptical, he rambled on, “Just a movie and pizza, then I’ll leave I promise.” Everything inside you screamed at you to say no, but the words left you before you could even comprehend your mind's thoughts.

“Okay”

You opened the door more, walking back into your apartment, opening the box and taking your laptop to search for a movie. He closed the door after himself, taking a seat beside you on the couch, but not touching you. It was like there was a wall in between the two of you, and you couldn’t break it down.

You weren’t sure if you wanted to.

“There’s a new season of His Dark Materials”, you thought aloud, “We could binge that.”

It was so easy, being with Ten. Like falling back into a routine you had missed, a habit that had been cultivated. It was natural, him by your side, eating pizza and searching for a movie or series to binge. It was a tradition for the two of you after all, and even though you had stayed away from Ten for your own heart, it felt so good to do this again. You had missed it.

“Sure”, he agreed, taking a slice of the pizza, the stringy cheese not breaking, “We may need plates.”

You shook your head at his comical state, placing your laptop down and walking into your kitchen, opening the topmost cupboard to get the plates down, when you realized you couldn’t reach it. Now usually, you would just get a stool or something to climb on top off, but that would mean going back out there and admitting to Ten that you were short.

That was not acceptable.

Of course any grand plans of somehow getting the plates down without Ten knowing had been thrown out the window when he himself walked into the kitchen, “Are you making the plates or something? What’s taking so long?”

He spotted you, hands stretching up, leaning over the counter. Ten smirked, walking over and taking the plates down himself, “Someone’s short”, he snickered, to which you glared, “You’re short too dumbass.”

“You’re shorter”, he teased, taking the second plate down. He was standing in front of you, directly facing you as he placed the second plate of the counter top. You stared indignantly at him, and he caught your gaze, holding it. It was the same Ten you had known since you entered your campus, the same Ten you met at that party.

The same Ten you were in love with.

His eyes shifted from yours to your lips, realizing how close the two of you were. His hand raised up to your face cupping it. You subconsciously leaned into his touch, eyes wide, waiting for him to do something, anything.

His eyes searched yours for an answer, some sort of indication that he could go ahead. You knew that nothing good would come from this, but you couldn't help but nod your head a little too fast, and fisting the end of his shirt in anticipation.

He kissed you. 

His lips moved against yours softly, hesitantly, like they were scared you would disappear if he went any faster. It was nothing like you had ever imagined (believe me, you had imagined), but it was better. It was like a culmination of wanting had been poured into the kiss, and you didn’t want it to stop.

You could’ve sworn time had stopped when he kissed you, the world around you seeming to fade away. You could feel your knees going weak with the overwhelming feeling, the flutter in your stomach growing. If you hadn’t been holding onto the end of his shirt so hard, you would have collapsed into him.

“I’m sorry”, he whispered against your lips, pulling away, cupping your face, “I know I’m an idiot”, he confessed, and you resist the urge to agree, “I know I’m an idiot but,”, he stopped again, resting his forehead against yours. “One night”, he whispered, voice shaky now, “Will you be mine for just one night?”

There was something fragile in his voice, like he was afraid of your answer. You looked up, looking at those eyes you hated, but loved at the same time. You silently agreed, pressing your lips to his again, kissing him once more. His hands dropped down to your waist, your hands wrapped around his neck as you stole another long awaited kiss from him.

The plates were long forgotten about, instead the two of you stumbled back into the living room, hands not leaving each other. The back of his knees hit the couch, and he sat down, taking you with him. You sat on top of him, breathing heavily. 

He pressed his lips to your forehead affectionately as you leaned into Ten, not ever wanting the moment to end. “I’m tired”, you whispered, all the years of pining and wishing he was yours suddenly weighing you down. 

“I know”

“This isn’t going to end well is it?”

“I don’t know”, he mused, rubbing your back comfortingly. You looked at him once again, like you had done many times before, except this time he was yours, for how long? You didn’t know. You didn’t want the night to end, the prospect of losing him again already making your stomach pit.

“I love you”, he said, and you didn’t say it back. You didn’t have too, you had said it many times already, you had told him. Instead you kissed him again, getting drunk on him. 

The rest of the night was spent this way,lazily kissing, cuddling, and eating pizza straight out of the box since neither of you wanted to get up again. Ten held you like you were the world, and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into the crook of his neck. The two of you forgot about the serial you were supposed to binge as well, too caught up with each other to even care.

He told you about how he got scouted for dancing by an entertainment company, you filled him in about The Royal School of Music, about how you were so glad College was over even though you would miss it. He made you laugh with his stupid jokes, and it felt like it had always been. Somewhere along the line, the two of you fell asleep in the dead of the night, or almost morning, tangled up in each others arms, happy.

You woke up on your couch alone, your apartment lonely and silent. You looked around sleepily, your eyes catching a glimpse of the clock on your wall, which told you it was already noon. You pulled your knees to your chest, feeling out of place. Something was missing.

Ten.

Ten was gone, nowhere to be seen. You tried thinking back, wondering why he was gone, until you realized - one night was over. Like he had promised, he was gone, not yours anymore, and you weren’t his. You shivered, realizing that there wasn’t any blankets or anything on the couch, yet you couldn't seem to get up.

It hurt. You wanted to cry and scream, the realization that he was gone, before you could even fully have him sinking it. It felt so unfair, the fact that you could never really ever have Ten, someone you had loved for four fucking years, for more than a night.

You took in a shaky breath, looking to the end of the sofa, which is when you saw it. It was Ten’s painting, the one of you in the greenhouse, supposedly reading the books. On the top a sticky note read ‘The Tempest’. You brushed your finger over the painting, taking it in. He had left it here for you, and it was the one thing you had of him. At the bottom, it was signed in his handwriting.

‘10’.

“널 다시 만나면 네 손을 잡고 말해줄 텐데 I will never let you go”

fin.