#top 30 countdown

[christinered]

The Rolling Stones- Miss You

Top 30 Countdown Song #1: MISS YOU

This is my all time favorite Stones song.  This is the first Stones song I can remember hearing.  My first Stones album.  You never forget your first KInksters.

This is my go-to song when I am alone at night and walking through the big bad city.  It helps me get where I’m going  while walking past the wicked night crawlers.  It turns heads.  It makes people step aside.  It helps my badassery while I bop around.

Now,  This of course was inspired from nights spent at Studio 54.  Keith was incarcerated at the time this was bubbling around in MIcks brain.  It is solely his creation.  The bass line and the Wurlitzer organ courtesy of the one and only Billy Preston.

This was a number 1 song for the Stones and It deserved to be. 

Can we discuss how cool and raw the lyrics are...Even the “oooho oooah o oo oo”s” are crazy cool.

Being from New York City I have a special connection to this one. “Ive been walking central park’.  “Singing after dark” “People think I’m crazy.” I’ve been there my friends.  I’m sure you have been too.

~Red

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️ Ranking Richonne

#5: You're My Family (S9E05)

✨Top 5!✨ Words can't even fully capture how much I adore this scene right here. 😭 But I'll try. - I am so grateful for it and for Danai for being a big reason why we got this moment. This is such a significant scene, especially because it’s Rick and Michonne’s final exchange of dialogue before Rick’s departure. And what a perfectly fitting, stunningly beautiful way to land their love story until they’re reunited again. The family and true love Rick and Michonne know they found within each other will always move me. And I know this scene is a hallucination, but listen, Michonne said it’s real, so it’s real to me too 😌...

(now if I went all out for my last 25 posts, then for my Top 5...🎵you know that I'm gon' be extra🎵 as we get into the big guns of this countdown. thanks for reading ♡)

I'll always love that Michonne is Rick’s final hallucination in his final full episode. It’s such a confirmation that she truly is home to him.

As I noted in my Reveling in Richonne post on this scene, the final stretch of a journey is often the most draining and challenging to get through, and it’s there when you need to tap into the most powerful source of strength and reflect on what most fuels you to keep going, so, of course, Rick's mind went to the ever-so-important love of his life - Michonne. 

And I love how any time we’ve seen Michonne in Rick’s mind, she's always this glowing, calming, goddess-like presence. No wonder Rick looks at her like she hung the moon and the stars all the time. 😊

It’s sweet seeing that while Rick's mind conjured up all the living people he loves on this bridge, it’s Michonne whom he envisions having a personal moment with. He needs her. And she’s so reassuring when she tells him it’s gonna be okay.

The real Michonne is going to be understandably distraught when she sees Rick bleeding out on this bridge, but here Rick imagined her as the calm, comforting, and life-giving presence she’s always been to him. 

And then it’s powerful for Rick to tell Michonne to take care of tf because he’s again passing the torch. Similar to him telling her she’d have to be the one to lead the others forward in Say Yes, Rick clearly believes so strongly that his people will be in good hands with Michonne as the leader. He knows this because he’s been in good hands with her as his leader. 🥲

And what a testament to Rick's trust and belief in her that he could know that this thing he’s dedicated his life to - protecting his people - is something that Michonne can continue. And as he thinks he's dying, it's like this moment is Rick personally finding solace in that Michonne will continue to hold things together if he doesn't make it.😭

Michonne encourages him, instilling faith that he'll get through this, and I always love the moment where Rick vulnerably says, "I can’t" because he’s always been allowed to be so human with her. I love that she says confidently, "You will, it’s not over," and it's just so believable when she says it.

And then, I have many favorite parts in this one scene, but the following part is particularly special because it is my favorite visual of Rick and Michonne of all time.

Like if you told me I could only ever look at one visual of Richonne again it would be this one right here where Rick and Michonne stare right into each other's souls as her eyes instill this blazing strength in him.

BREATHTAKING. 🤩😍🤗 It’s just beyond powerful and beautiful to me and perfectly illustrates the relationship and depth and strength of these soulmates so well. What this gorgeous power couple gives to each other is one of a kind. And as always, this moment is literally and figuratively magnetic. 🧲

I love that Michonne tells Rick adamantly, "We don’t die" as a motivating rendition of "We’re the ones who live" and a graphic novel nod. And again, when Michonne speaks, you just believe it.

I remember watching this live, unsure if Rick would survive or not, but when she said this I was like alright it is written, my baby Rick doesn’t die, cuz Michonne is always right...

But I also love her saying "we don't die" for its figurative meaning, as truly the love Richonne found with each other is endless and will never die.

And I adore that Rick looks her right in the eyes and nods, hearing and believing her even despite the odds and the pain. All versions of Rick can hear Michonne and allow her words to reach him. 

Then there’s this wonderful moment where Rick is about to exhaustedly hang his head and Michonne lovingly takes his face in her hands to both physically and emotionally lift him up. The movement just feels so symbolic of how she will not let him stay defeated and low. She always lifts him up like only she can.

I get teary over this whole scene, especially because of how powerful it is to see Rick have someone who can hold him up like this even in his toughest moments.

And because Michonne always knows what to say, she then brings the focus back to one of the most motivating, important, and inspiring things in their life - their love. 

When Michonne asks Rick, "You wanna know why I fell in love with you?" in that lovely tender tone, I was gagged then and I'm still gagged now. Like you would think one of us pitched this moment. 😋 It’s just so romantic, and I am forever elated that Rick and Michonne got to directly discuss their incredible love in their final conversation. 

(Also, again, you really can't watch this scene and then be surprised that TOWL is being called an epic love story. I repeat - Richonne's story has always been an epic love story. 😌)

At this moment on this bridge, where Rick needs the ultimate fuel to keep fighting, this is his own mind focusing specifically on the love supreme he found with Michonne - his guiding light, who has kept him going so many times before. Eternally here for it. 🙌🏾🥹

One of the many things that chokes me up about this gorgeous moment is when I stop to think about the start of Rick's TWD journey.

When we were first introduced to Rick he had a wife who wasn't sure if she was still in love with him and caught legitimate feelings for his best friend. And that very best friend ultimately plotted to kill Rick and told him his own family would move on from him because "they've done it before." Like that's so painful.

But then, in the wildest of circumstances - an apocalypse - Rick found a wife and a best friend all in one. He found the ultimate love of his life. He found Michonne - whose love for him runs so deep, so visible, and so certain always.

And where his hallucinations of Lori were more tormenting, here Rick is hallucinating his wife Michonne and envisioning her enveloping him in her consistent and unwavering love that has always meant the world to him.

And as Rick's mind imagines Michonne bringing up their love on this bridge, it's him in the potential final moments of his life also thinking about how honored he is to have loved her and been loved by her. 🥹

So after Michonne asks if he wants to know why she fell in love with him, it is so extremely moving the way Rick intently looks at her with a tear, eager for the answer.

And Michonne stays holding his face up as she tells him with conviction that she fell in love with him, "Because you're a fighter and you never give up." 😭 Exquisite. To see Rick be showered with this love and praise from his true love is just everything and more.

You can really tell that for Rick in this exact moment the only thing he's thinking about is her. Not the pain, not the turmoil, not the past or the future - just his wife's love.

And it's cool because in one of my Reveling in Richonne posts from years ago, I was analyzing that season 4 finale scene with Michonne in the car with Carl while she listened to Rick talk to Daryl outside. And I felt like that scene in the car and their special "Cuz I'm Okay Too' scene were signs that Michonne was falling in love with Rick, especially after Rick showed how far he'd go to protect his son in contrast to her previous partner. This is what I wrote way back then:

"Like she needs someone who won’t give up and she saw firsthand that Rick doesn’t give up, especially when his son is involved. And so I think this is when she starts really thinking of Rick differently."

The fact that years after that post, Michonne straight-up tells Rick she fell in love with him because he’s a fighter who doesn’t give up made me even more confident that my love timeline theory is pretty accurate and that I was on track with my studies in getting a Ph.D. in Richonne. 😂

She fell in love with him way back then. I mean, Danai has even said Michonne has been in love with Rick for a long time. (And I bet if Rick were to tell Michonne when he fell in love with her, it would suggest it was around season 4 as well.)

In this s9 hallucination, I love that Rick gets this uplifting encouragement from the woman he loves and has long been in awe of and that her words so clearly breathe life into him. Michonne has always breathed life into Rick, so it's only fitting that she did it one more time in this series.

And then I really love that she tells Rick, "Fight for me." 🥹 Oh it's perfect. It’s just touching knowing this is Rick’s mind telling him to fight for her. Fight for his wife. Fight for Michonne, the most important person in his life apart from his kids. 💯

I'm willing to bet that during the years that Rick's been taken away from Michonne and Judith, the words "fight for her" likely played in his head often and helped keep him going.

(Side note: This moment and "fight for me" line right here should tell everyone watching that Michonne is in a category of her own to Rick. It shouldn't need to be clarified cuz it's so obvious. But for anyone that still needed clarification, I love that TWD & TOWL promo has set the record straight (time & time again, amen) that Rick's wife and kid(s) are his ultimate choice. As I've noted before, one thing I've long known and long-loved about that man Rick Grimes is he gon' make it about Michonne every time and make sure everybody else knows what we've known for years - His wife and his kids are his everything. I'm not against a reunion with some of team family eventually, especially a reunion with Daryl after he watched over Richonne's kids - but I also just know viewers demanding to see all these different friends (and even enemies 😪) on screen with Rick again does not automatically mean Rick needs it. Within the actual story that we've been watching of Rick Grimes since the pilot episode of TWD, we can be confident that reuniting with his immediate family - Michonne, Judith, and RJ to be clear - will take precedence. As TWD has said, reuniting with each other is the only goal - as it should be when a man's been taken from his wife and kid(s). 👌🏽 While I haven't seen TOWL yet {which ahhh we're so close 🤗}, I've been quite positive for literal years that while Rick's been away, he's felt like all he is anymore is a man looking for his wife and child...And anyone who has got in the way of that is gonna lose.)

Rick knows that despite the pain and exhaustion on this bridge he has to keep fighting for the love of his life. And it makes so much sense why Michonne would fall in love with the fighter within him.

And then Michonne says, "Fight for all of us," because team family is of course important to them too. It's just Rick is a whipped man, see, and so even here there's this subtle aspect where Rick is staring straight at Michonne and really only looks to the side once Michonne turns to face the others. 😋

But then, as Rick does best, he puts his attention right back on Michonne and just warms my heart completely when he looks at her and says, “You’re my family. I found you.” Gospel truth and Utter Perfection. 😭

I adore how s9 Rick was just so vocal about his reverence and love for Michonne every chance he got, even in hallucinations. 🤩 And it is so sweet that in his final exchange with Michonne, and really his final dialogue with anyone, Rick gets to look at her and cherish finding family through her.

And with what a family man Rick is and has been since season 1, it is truly the greatest treasure in the world that, even after losing all his family from before the apocalypse, he still found a genuine family that became his life's fuel.

I love the way Rick places a hand on Michonne's shoulder to really emphasize that he found family in her.

It is so great that in this 9.05 episode where Rick is repeatedly talking about needing to find his family, his mission since s1, we get this lovely declaration that Michonne is so much of who he was always looking for. 🥹

And what a beautiful way he found her both in their actual life journey and in his mind’s mental journey this ep. 

Michonne’s tear as she smiles and again affirms him and says, "You did." Just beautiful and melts my heart.

Andy and Danai did a masterful job depicting the immense love Rick and Michonne have for each other in this scene. They always have, and of course, their final scene delivered on another level. 👏🏽👑

Truly this has been a stunning love story from the moment they laid eyes on each other in season 3 all the way to this s9 moment here (+ their s11 finale moment) - and now beyond as we look forward to Richonne's story continuing. 🤩🙌🏾

It’s heartbreaking that after a moment of such love and warmth, Rick then has to acknowledge that this exchange isn't actually happening in real life. He says, "But this isn't real", and then I will forever love that Michonne assuredly says, "Yes it is." 👏🏽

It is real. What they found with each other is real. The abundant love emitted between them in this scene is real. I feel like had Michonne actually been able to get to him on this bridge, the exchange could have gone similar to this (but like a lil more frantic probably cuz she'd be anxious to get him some medical help) But in many ways how Rick is picturing their love playing out here is so real and accurate.

So I love that Michonne got to confirm that the love and family she and Rick found in each other is real in any dimension. Since this is all in Rick's mind, it's like this is his mind also deciding that everything in this moment is real and something he has to fight for when he wakes up.

Then Rick and Michonne seal the moment with their precious final kiss within the TWD series and it's another perfect example of true love's kiss. Y'all this really is a love story for the ages and I’ll never stop shouting that from the rooftops. It’s beautiful. 🥰

It's fitting for Rick to imagine her kissing him and breathing life into him one more time because 🎵these are a few of his favorite things🎵. And if he's dying then Michonne's love is what his mind wants to remember before he goes.

(Also I wish the real Michonne got to know that on this bridge Rick was imagining her empowering him and kissing him one last time. 😭)

Finally, Michonne tells Rick to wake up, and the resilient king does as she wishes, notably without knocking out like he did the other times he hallucinated people, which to me is a nice subtle way to suggest there was something more real about Richonne's exchange than his previous hallucinations.

This scene is just gorgeous and touching and emotional and a lovely ode to what makes Richonne so special. We really are spoiled cuz we’re fed with gourmet content in each and every scene. And this scene was a feast and the perfect exchange to close out Richonne on the show. #I'mGrateful

Had this moment legitimately been their last exchange ever it would have done Richonne justice. Fortunately, though, we've finally arrived at a point where this won't be the last exchange between them. 🥳🙌🏽 Soon, this 9.05 scene will have to be referred to as Rick and Michonne's 'final convo in TWD,' because more Richonne content is coming. And this is why...

In this Top 5 moment from Rick's last full TWD ep (where Andy and Danai gave a masterclass in each scene they had both together and apart 👏🏽) I adore that this final intimate exchange between them served as a reminder that Rick and Michonne fell in love, that they don’t die, and that what they found in each other is a beautiful family that is forever real and everlasting. The ultimate win.

I will always celebrate that Rick and Michonne found the truest family in each other and that they will soon find each other again. 😌

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 30

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. EPISODE QUOTE: “My, my. Can we actually have a brain beneath that pointy cowl of ours?” Number 30 is…If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?

This episode acts as the first appearance and origin story for Edward Nygma, a.k.a. the Riddler. The story begins with Nygma working as a programmer and video game designer for an electronics company, run by a greedy sod by the name of Daniel Mockridge. Nygma has created a best-selling puzzle-based video game, called “Riddle of the Minotaur,” where players have to traverse through the legendary labyrinth of the Minotaur, evading various traps and solving various puzzles along the way. Mockridge fires Nygma, who – due to a loophole in his contract – loses all rights to the game and any legal grounds to even receive royalties. Furious, Nygma adopts the guise of the villainous Riddler, and goes on a quest of vengeance against his old employer. The Riddler, for those who don’t know, has always been one of my absolute favorite Batman villains – second only to the Joker himself. (I should also add this was LONG before Paul Dano’s version; I liked the Riddler before it was cool, as the kids say.) I think that John Glover’s portrayal, from the animated series, might have been the very first version of the Riddler I ever saw. I remember renting a VHS tape from a Blockbuster as a little boy (yeah, anyone remember those things?) which had two of Riddler’s episodes on the tape. Both of those episodes, perhaps not coincidentally, are on this main countdown. You would think, with all that said, that this first outing for the criminal genius would be much higher in the ranks. Well, it’s hard to say why, because there’s certainly a lot to enjoy about this episode. Glover’s smug and smarmy Nygma is one of the chief versions of the character out there, and set the standard which many later incarnations – both in and out of comics – would look to for inspiration. The team behind the animated series took a character who had been perceived as “a two-bit gimmick villain” and transformed him into one of the Dark Knight’s cleverest and most cunning adversaries. The tricks and traps (and, of course, the riddles) that the Riddler uses in the story are also pretty ingenious. I also have to say that the ending of this episode is just phenomenal; one of my favorites in the entire show. I won’t give away what it is, but trust me, it’s great. I think the big issue is the Riddler’s origin itself. I like the idea of the Riddler being a programmer and game designer, and they use that to great effect in later stories, too. It’s also something that’s continued to be part of the character, with him being gifted with electronics and technology. However, I feel the turning point for the character doesn’t quite match: while it’s clear that Nygma always had a high opinion of his own mind, and loathed humiliation, it’s hard for me, personally, to make the jump from “disgruntled employee” to “highly theatrical supervillain,” at least in the way the episode presents. The animation is also sort of…iffy, to say the least. Most of the episode looks pretty good, but there are some scenes where the animation or the shots feel a bit “messy,” or a bit “stiff,” for lack of a better word. Still, these are minor nitpicks on the whole: for a first outing of my second favorite Batman villain, this certainly made a good impression. I probably wouldn’t like the Riddler as much as I do now if it weren’t for this episode.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 29! Hint: “The final stunt IS the best.”

[weeklydoseoffeelgoodtunes]

March 30, 2024 (192)

Top 30

1. Dillon Francis & REI AMI- Rainy

2. Cage the Elephant- Neon Pill

3. Declan McKenna- Mulholland’s Dinner & Wine

4. AJ Mitchell- Foolish

5. Ice Spice- Think U The Shit

6. Calvin Harris & Rag’n’Bone Man- Lovers In A Past Life

7. Chromeo- Lost & Found

8. Kali Uchis & Peso Pluma- Igual Que Un Ángel

9. Astrid S- First To Go

10. iann dior- I Think You Should Go

11. Juanpalitoschinos- Cuando me amabas

12. Gwen Stefani & Blake Shelton- Purple Irises

13. Hemlocke Springs- sever the blight

14. Issey Cross & Songer- Sleepwalking

15. BLK ODYSSY- Want You

16. Tyla- Truth Or Dare

17. Central Cee- I Will

18. Fred again.., Lil Yachty, Overmono- stayinit

19. bludnymph- Deserve Each Other

20. Ariana Grande- supernatural

21. Milky Chance- Reckless Child

22. The Marias- Run Your Mouth

23. Porter Robinson- Cheerleader

24. Galantis & Hannah Boleyn- Little Bit Yours

25. Olivia Rodrigo- obsessed **DEBUT**

26. Myles Smith- Solo

27. bbno$- lil’ freak **DEBUT**

28. Zerb, The Chainsmokers, Ink- Addicted **DEBUT**

29. Artemas- i like the way you kiss me **DEBUT**

30. Green Day- Dilemma

Close Calls

1. Ali Gatie- Does He Know

2. Danny Ocean- Cero condiciones

3. Reik- Abril

4. Vicetone & Emily Falvey- Count Me Out

5. Josh Ross- Complicated

[hammerbacks]

i was today years old when i found out that ian mckellen is the one playing dracula in the heart music video?!?!?!

[jnece-maharlika]

Amity parkers are feral and insane

-Gothamites.

Somehow, someway, Casper high finds their selves in Gotham.

It could be a field trip or a ghost shoved them in a portal, doesn't matter, they're in Gotham.

As they arrive in Gotham, the Casper teachers decide to turn this into something educational and hire a tour guide from Gotham Academy (or was it Gotham university? I forgot) GA agrees and also Sends some of their students to partner up with the amity parkers as a sort "buddy" and to hopefully teacher em the ways of surviving in Gotham.

To the gothamites, the amity parkers look like children who have never been exposed to crime in their life, never been mugged, never been been kidnapped.

But the truth is, compared to the BS amity is used to, Gothams issues are like kindergarten.

First thing the tour guide hears when she greets Casper high Mr lancer telling them to, "Please don't walk into danger, please don't try and provoke the joker, I know he's a bitch but still. If you find yourself in a tricky situation, do not hesitate to punch yourself to freedom, but ABSOLUTELY NO CRITICAL HITs these are NORMAL people they're not like us or the ghosts, they will not survive. Please do not give phantom problems, He's already failing in class he doesn't need more problems"

Its important to keep in mind that:

amity parkers and ghosts are buddies now.

The Ambient ectoplasm gave them a form of super strength, also making it so that they are able to touch ghost.

They join the ghost brawls everyone in a while and has some wins.

Most, if not all are liminal in a way.

Everyone knows that Danny is phantom but have signed an NDA that says they aren't allowed to tell anyone who isn't a native amity parker who he is.

Things is, The gothamites don't know about this and take it as if Mr lancer and the students are underestimating Gotham. So as a from of pettiness, all the Gotham students decided to bring their amity partner to the most dangerous places they can think of.

Niky has lead sam into a park that poison ivy frequents. Of course, poison ivy is there but instead of running away in fear like niky expected, Sam runs up to ivy, complements her and joins the path of eco terrorism.

Tucker and his partner Vic finds himself in the middle of a riddler attack, locked in a room with no way out, a countdown timer with 20 secs remaining and a riddle in a computer.

Vic is panicking as he tries to figure it out, he looked to tucker for help. Tucker just shrugged and hacked the computer, not even bothering to solve the riddle. It worked and Vic is baffled and the riddler is frustrated.

Danny find himself in the hands of the joker, (his partner ran the moment joker was seen) hanging upside down on top of a large pool of acid, because, it's classic for joker. He is also being live streamed.

The teachers in GA are panicking, the bats are panicking.

Casper high teacher took one look at the stream and shrugged. "Eh, he'll be fine." They also called the number that joker has displayed on the screen, just to say, "Daniel Fenton, make sure your back before in GA 6 pm or else were leaving you to find the hotel on your own."

The time is 5:30 pm.

It takes 25 minutes to walk from Joker to GA.

Danny sighs, might as well start walking.

He uses intangibility to free himself and fall into the vat of acid.

The Gothamites are shocked and screaming, the bats are shocked. Amity parkes went "oh" and continued placing bets on how fast Danny will get back.

Danny then proceeds to swim out of the acid pool, punch the joker in the face, knocking him out in a single hit and then proceeds to casually squeeze out the acid from his Casper high "I am a proud amitian" shirt as if it's regular water.

All of this was done in 5 minutes.

All of this was caught on stream.

The Gothamites are passed out, the bats are questioning everything. Batman is searching up everything he can about acid side effects and about Danny but ends up with nothing.

The amity parkers just raised their bets even further.

Danny somehow makes it back 10 minutes late and Wes wins the bet.

[radiomax]

Monday, May 29, 2023 12pm ET: Artist Countdown: Melissa Etheridge Top 30 Hits

Melissa Etheridge has released 14 studio albums, 43 singles and 38 music videos on Island Records and ME Records. Over the course of her career, Etheridge has amassed 5 Platinum albums, three of which are multi-platinum, and 2 Gold albums. She also has 11 Billboard Hot 100 charting singles, with 6 of them hitting the Top 40, and 11 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles, all peaking in…

[whatsk-poppinhomies]

Pairing : idol!Lee Minho x F!Reader TW : pregnancy ; unplanned pregnancy ; Minho is a jerk ; general angst ; fluffy ending ; Word Count : 6.3k Request : AHHH THANK YOU!! im happy that you like my request🥺🥺🥺🤍 hm bang chan would be good! he’s my bias after all HAHHAH buttt honestly speaking, i’d more than love to read about seungmin’s, minho’s or felix’s too <3 take your time!! A/N : the Minho gif came from this blog!!

Late… You were rarely ever late. You always kept track to make sure that you were on time and this month was no different. The little alerts had gone off from your calendar, and it’s not like you were under a lot of stress or anything that would cause any shifts… You were just… Late. 

The first day hadn’t exactly bothered you as much, the second day began to worry you, but now you were a week in and you still hadn’t gotten it and you were starting to panic… At least to yourself. Your boyfriend, who was usually just as on top of your monthly cycle as you were, was busy with his own schedule, making sure that he was prepared for the group's next big comeback. He didn’t have time to worry about something like this… That’s why you did your best to keep your panicking to a minimum when he was around. It’s not like you knew for certain anyway… Not yet at least. 

“Going to the store… Need anything?” You asked from the doorway, already slipping your shoes on. He was sitting on the couch, he looked so comfortable, you didn’t want to bother him by even letting him know where you were going, but you also knew that if you left without a word it would worry him. 

He looked up, running his hands through his hair as he let out a small yawn before shaking his head no. “You want me to go with you? You know that I don’t like you carrying a bunch of bags in by yourself, especially if I’m literally right here to help you do it.” He was already starting to get up off the couch, but you held your hands out, waving them at him before motioning for him to sit back down. 

“Lady things… I have to get lady things. That’s all. Just one bag.” You held up one finger, and he slowly sunk back into the couch, watching you grab the keys off the hook. He was clearly questioning you, the way you reacted, his eyebrows lowered and his eyes narrowed as he stared, and you didn’t want him to think too hard about it so you quickly ran over to him and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I love you, I’ll be back soon.” 

He hummed against your lips, and you felt the corners of his pull up before you pulled back, his hands firmly grasping your waist. “Love you too, babe… Be careful. Call me if you need anything… Okay?” You nodded in agreement before backing up and going back to the entryway, going back to putting on your shoes before going out the front door and taking a deep breath. You had dodged a bullet there… But there was a bigger one coming, the size of a missile, and you weren’t sure if you’d be able to dodge it now. 

You sat on the edge of the bathtub, the tests lined up along the back of the toilet, all of them face down. Thankfully Minho had been called into work at the last minute, and while he had been grumpy about it, you promised him dinner when he got back home and that had made him calm down enough to not question why you were trying so hard to get to the bathroom so quickly. 

The five minutes that it said it would take on the box felt more like 30 as you watched the timer on your phone slowly countdown. Your legs were bouncing nervously and you tried to focus on literally anything but your phone and the little white sticks that would inevitably decide your future. You couldn’t be pregnant… Right? Of course, there was always the chance… And it’s not like you and Minho had used protection the last couple times that you did it. Not that the both of you were trying… But with his busy schedule, the last thing that the two of you thought of was making sure to keep things like this happening. Whenever you had the chance to be together, you both were going at it… And that’s why you were sitting where you were at right now, chewing nervously on your fingernails as the timer on your phone got to 3… 2…1…

You stopped the alarm before it could go off and flipped the sticks over. Your breath had been held the entire time, and once the sticks were turned, it felt like you were going to be sick. Bright pink double lines seemed to be staring up at you, perfectly contrasted by the bright white of the stick. This wasn’t what you wanted to see, it wasn’t what you wanted at all, at least not right now… But here it was… The answer to your question as clear as a neon sign in your shaky hands. 

Even with the tests, it took you another five minutes after staring at them to really comprehend what was going on, to truly let it set in that this was not a dream and you truly were pregnant. It’s crazy though how, you had always wanted children, it’s not like the thought of being pregnant was inherently bad for you, it’s just the fact that it was so unplanned and you weren’t sure how Minho would take it. He had never said anything against you having his children, he even seemed to get slightly excited when the prospect of it was brought up… Why were you worried? The both of you knew that you were each other’s person, there was no one else that either of you could see each other even tolerating. He’d be fine… Maybe a little bit shocked at first, but fine at the end of it all. 

The front door clicked with the undoing of the lock and then the sound of keys jingling as he pulled them from the keyhole and pushed the door open, the entire time your head had been perked up to watch him come in. 

Dinner had been prepared, the table set, the pot on the stove set to a low simmer just to keep the food hot when he came in. You wanted everything to be perfect for him, his mood would… should be just right for when you delivered the news. “Dinner smells amazing, darling.” He commented from the front landing, pulling his shoes off before falling down onto the couch beside you and immediately pulling you close to him. “Have you eaten yet?” He murmured as he hugged you tight against him, his face buried in your hair. 

“Mnn nn…” You mumbled out your answer against his chest, pulling back enough to look at him. His eyes had bags underneath, he looked tired, but other than that he seemed happy, he looked happy. “Do you want to go eat now?” You chirped, the nerves kicking in now, knowing that if you followed your own plan, you’d be telling him very soon. 

“Yes please.” He practically groaned, his head falling back before his arm was pulled away from you and he got up off the couch, grabbing your hands and pulling you to your feet as well and then ushering you to the kitchen. “So what did you do today? Looks like you cleaned a lot… You didn’t have to do that. I like cleaning with you.” He pulled his chair out and sunk down into it as you transferred the pot from the stove to the middle of the table. 

“You were called in so randomly, I didn’t want you to have to worry about anything else when you came home…” You gave him a small smile as you sat across from him, moving the spoon in his direction so he could eat first. “Did they work you too hard today?” 

He snorted softly as he lifted the spoon, filling his bowl with the soup before looking up at you. “As hard as they usually do, yup.” He commented through his chuckles as he took a bite, his eyes closing and a muted moan coming through his closed lips as he chewed. “You must’ve worked yourself very hard today, this soup is amazing.” 

You sighed softly, your cheeks rising slightly with a smile as you thanked him quietly. “I have uhm…” Your heart was beating so loud, but you knew that you had to tell him, this wasn’t something that you could just hide from him until the baby came out in 9 months. “I have news… to tell you…” 

His eyes lifted from his bowl, his chopsticks pausing just outside his mouth as he stared at you. “What is it? Are you gonna come to the comeback show?” He asked, and you nodded in agreement to his question although that wasn’t the news that you were going to tell him, but you had been planning on going. “Perfect. I’ll do way better with you there, darling.” 

“I have… more news to tell you.” You whispered, dropping your hands from the table to nervously rub your thighs, your palms becoming sweaty just from the buildup to this. His eyes were bright as he looked at you expectantly, waiting for the news to leave your lips. “I’m… I’m pregnant.” You breathed out the words, your heart frozen as you waited for his reaction. 

He blinked once… twice… the sparkle in his eyes fading every time they closed and reopened, his smile slowly dropping until his lips were set in a straight line. “Okay… And?” The reaction was… definitely not what you had expected. You didn’t even know how he was feeling, his words, his face, it gave you no answer. 

“I just… wanted to let you know…” You murmured, dropping your eyes back down to your soup bowl and finally taking the first bite. He was still looking at you, you could feel it even, and then he let out a sigh, his chopsticks hitting the edge of the bowl had you slowly glancing up at him. 

“Picked a really good time to tell me… I have so much going on already and now I have to worry about this.” He grumbled and your eyes wavered as you tried to process what he was saying, what he was talking about. It’s not like he was the one carrying the baby, there wasn’t even anything that he had to do right now. 

“Just… pretend I didn’t tell you…” You looked back down into your bowl, stirring the vegetables as you shook your head. “I’m sorry… I should have waited until after the comeback.” 

He ran his hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair. “My entire life is busy, Y/N. I don’t have time for a kid, I don’t have time to worry about this.” He motioned to you, but his hands were slightly lower and you knew that he was talking about the baby. “I won’t be able to sleep, I’ll… I mean… What the fuck.” 

Now you were blinking blankly at him, your heart frozen in the deepest pit of your stomach. “Wh-What do you want me to do? I’m… I’d wake up with the baby… I’d take care of it… I don’t… I don’t know what you want me to do. I thought…” Your breathing was becoming heavier and you shivered under his intense gaze. 

“We’re not married… hell, we’re not even engaged yet! What will the company think? Do you know what they’d do to me? They could kick me out of the group! And my family… Oh my god. I already have three cats to take care of and… I can’t do this.” He pushed away from the table, going straight to the door, not even putting his shoes on, just picking them up off the floor and heading out the door like he couldn’t wait to be away from you, leaving you at the table gasping for breaths as tears streamed down your face. 

Minho had gone to the dorms, going to his only hyung for advice on what to do. Of course, Chan was more level headed then any of the other guys would be, he saw things from every direction, every perspective, and after listening to his advice for over two hours, Minho knew he had made a mistake. He had been with you for two years, not on and off, a straight two years, he was absolutely head over heels for you. It’s not even like he didn’t want children, he did, and he wanted them with you. Having it all laid out for him like that, it really opened his eyes. 

Two days, he only stayed at the dorms for two days and one night, giving you the time he assumed you’d need to calm down because he was sure that you’d be angry at him. He couldn’t even imagine how you must’ve felt and he’s been kicking himself over it every hour, every second of every day. He had tried to text you, just to check up on you to see how you were doing, but you didn’t respond. He understood. He had tried to call you at night, he listened to each ring until it finally went to voicemail, and that too, he understood. You didn’t want to talk to him… He’d just have to suck it up and deal with it. 

Street lights illuminated the road as he drove back home, and he was sure there wouldn’t be dinner waiting for him like there was the night that he had left. Of course, he shouldn’t be expecting it, he shouldn’t be expecting anything of you after what he had said. He was expecting you to still be there though, that was the one thing he hadn’t been prepared for. The house completely empty of your physical presence, yet the pictures still hang on the walls. You had been there, but you were gone now. A thorough search of the house only proved what he already knew. 

His phone was immediately pulled out, texting you again to ask where you were, and when a response didn’t come in within five seconds, he was calling you and leaving messages until your voicemail box was full. Were you doing the same thing he did? Maybe you were just going to be gone for a day or two and then you’d be back. He sent one more text. “Darling, I’m home. I know you’re upset, but I want to talk to you. I’ll wait for you.” 

And wait he did, for a day, then two, then a week… Then a month, then two, then three… You weren’t coming back. He had called your parents and they had told him that you weren’t there, although he was sure they were just lying for you considering they didn’t sound worried. They were covering for you, you didn’t want to see him. That didn’t stop him from going over to your parents house to try to see you though. Every time he did, the door would be cracked open, just enough for someone, anyone but you to peek out and tell him that you weren’t there. 

He was getting pissed, especially during the one trip he made during the winter, six months after you had left without even a single word spoken to him since, your snow boots clearly sitting on the front porch. “Just let me fucking see her! I know she’s here!” He shouted, slamming his fists against the door to try to push it open, but your father pushed against him and swiftly locked it, leaving Minho a frustrated crying mess on the porch. 

The worst part was not knowing what was going on, not knowing how you were doing, not knowing how the baby was doing. Were you still even pregnant? He hated not knowing, but the worst part was that the one thing he did know was that it was his fault that all of this was happening. 

He became absolutely ruthless during practice, laying into anyone that messed up a routine, yelling if someone simply even misstepped. He couldn’t help it, it felt like he was in shambles, his entire life was falling apart. He was going to be a dad, that much he knew, but he didn’t know anything else and that made him feel worse. 

“You need to calm down.” Bangchan said as Minho stood off to the side, breathing heavily after practicing as hard as he could, the only thing that kept his mind off of you. “Have you tried calling around the OB’s? Maybe they’ll tell you which one she’s at and you can meet her there.” 

“That’s fucking stupid.” Minho muttered, running a hand through his sweat drenched hair. “They’re not going to give me that information, you know that. She doesn’t want to see me anyway… I’m gonna have a kid in a month… if it’s not already here yet… And I don’t know anything about it.” He was huffing, it almost sounded like he was hyperventilating. “Just leave me alone… I want to be alone.” 

“You’re being hard headed. Have you tried to talk to her at all?” Bangchan foolishly questioned, and Minho whipped his head in the leader's direction, his jaw set and his fists clenched at his sides. 

“The fuck kind of question is that?! Of course I’ve tried to talk to her! I’ve almost had the cops called on me at her parents house because I tried to get in. I’ve tried everything!” He shouted, pushing against Chan to try to get him to the door. “Leave me the fuck alone. I want to be alone.” 

There was nothing else that Chan could say as he was literally being shoved out of the room. He knew this couldn’t go on any longer though. Minho could barely even sing, they were in the process of recording a new album and it seemed like he would read into the lyrics of every single song and find a way to attribute them to you. He’d start crying and having to take breaks, but his dances were almost violent… He was becoming violent. 

You sat in the rocking chair in the nursery that had been set up in the guest room at your parents house, looking over the ultrasound pictures of your daughter that was bound to come out any day now. Your parents were out right now, both of them working while you were on your break from working at home. It was one of the many perks of your job. When you had gotten further along in your pregnancy your boss told you to just stay home, allowing you to take your work laptop home with you. 

Just as you were about to head back into your room/office to get back to work, the doorbell rang. The last person you thought it would be was Minho, he hadn’t tried to see you since December and it was February now. It had been almost 2 months since you’ve heard his voice shouting from the other side of the front door. That’s why you got up as fast as you could, waddling your way down the stairs and pulling the door open. 

“Jisung?” You said, although it was more of a question as you stared at the sheepish man on your porch. “What are you doing here?” You looked around, checking to see if Minho was there as well, but Jisung shook his head as if he could tell what you were thinking. 

“He’s not here. It’s just me.” He said, and then you felt his eyes scan over you, slightly bulging when they landed on your stomach. “You uh… You’re like… Pregnant pregnant. When are you due?” 

You rolled your eyes, leaning against the door and shaking your head at his question. “Why are you here? Seriously… I don’t need you to be Minhos minion. He chose this, he left, he didn’t want her so he doesn’t get me.” Jisungs lips parted into a small ‘o’ and you mentally cursed yourself for letting that small piece of information loose. 

“It’s a girl? Wow… a niece…” He whispered, but he let out a small sigh. “I’m not here for Minho. I’m here because of Minho. He’s being an ass, he’s actually scary. Not even I can calm him down, and he went off on Chan yesterday.” He seemed so nervous being there and, after 2 years of being with Minho, you knew the rest of the guys just as well as you knew your boyfriend. Jisung surely wasn’t enjoying this, and you felt bad for him. He had come here on his own to try to talk to you, to save the rest of the guys from Minhos rage. 

You stepped back from the door, letting him through and showing him to the living room. “Let me just tell my boss that something came up…” You sighed, waiting for him to sit down before waddling into the kitchen and texting your boss. Out of all the guys, you knew Jisung the most, you had hung out with him and Minho the most, you were closer to him than any of the other guys and that’s why you felt a little less uncomfortable with him being here. “Do you need anything to drink? Water? Tea?” You called from the kitchen and he shouted out a ‘no’, but you still grabbed two cups and filled them with water before returning. “What’s he been doing?” You asked, letting out a little grunt as you lowered yourself down into the chair. 

Jisungs hands moved out as if to help you, and you shook your head, letting out a little giggle once you were settled in. “He’s… He’s vicious. He yells at everyone and he’s so short fused… It’s scary. He’s scary.” His hands slid over his face before his palms slapped against his lap. “He misses you and he’s angry with himself and he’s taking it out on everyone else. We don’t know what to do… just… Can you talk to him? Please?” 

You knew that this was coming, you knew the request was going to come, but you didn’t know things were this bad for them. You felt awful, and it’s not like it was directly your fault, but you were the only one that could fix things. “Fine…” You relented, taking a deep breath before holding your hand out. “Let me use your phone, I left mine in the kitchen.” Jisung nodded, about to get up from the couch, but you shook your head. “No… I want to use your phone. I don’t want him to know my number.” You pushed your palm out further and Jisung looked a little dumbfounded at your persistence but let it go, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing Minhos number. 

“He’s her father… What if he wants to keep in touch with you to know about how she’s doing?” Jisung asked quietly as the phone rang. It was put on speaker phone in the center of the table so that you both could talk and you both could listen. “I think you should let him have your number.” 

“He said he was too busy for this life, again, it was his choice and I’m just following through with it. I’m doing him a favor.” You hissed, not wanting him to hear you immediately just in case he did answer. “He can’t just say what he said and then decide later that he messed up.” 

“It wasn’t decided later though, it only took two days for him to come back and realize he screwed up. You were already gone.” Jisung retorted and your mouth snapped shut as you leaned back further on the couch, your arms wrapping around your stomach to cradle it. 

“You don’t understand what it felt like… for him to just decide that he didn’t want this and walk out… that hurt, Jisung. He put the company and the group first, and fine… he knew you guys longer… I get that… But this is a child and it’s my child… and I’m gonna protect her.” You whispered, a soft sigh flowing through your nose as you looked at the phone that was still ringing in the middle of the coffee table. “He’s not answering. This was pointless. I think you should go now.” 

“For fucks sake, I thought you’d give up if I didn’t answer on the first three rings.” Minhos voice rang through the speaker and the sound of it had your heart stopping. He sounded so… angry. You had never heard him sound like that before. “What do you want? Make it fast, I’m busy.” 

Jisung looked at you but you shook your head, motioning for him to talk first and he rolled his eyes, leaning forward to be closer to the mic. “I’m uh… I’m over…” He looked to you and you shook your head faster, your eyes wide, knowing that if Jisung said it right now the call would end and Minho would be racing over. “How are you feeling right now? I was wondering if you wanted to go meet up for coffee or something?” 

Minho scoffed loudly and you heard the light shuffle of his feet and heavy breaths, he must’ve been practicing again. “How am I feeling? Like shit, Jisung! I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know what she’s doing, I don’t know anything about the baby. Does she still… Is she still pregnant? Did she have the baby? Did she have to do it by herself? I don’t know shit and I’m losing my fucking mind. So no, I don’t want to meet up for coffee, I don’t want to do anything.” 

Jisungs teeth gritted together nervously as he stared at you, but you were silent, your eyes staring down at the little waves that moved in your stomach from your daughter kicking. “She didn’t have her yet…” Jisung murmured, and your eyes widened as they shot up to look at him. “What? What am I supposed to say?! You won’t say anything!” He practically shouted at you and you felt your chest tighten as angry tears threatened to fall. 

“What am I supposed to say!? I haven’t talked to him in 8 fucking months!” You shouted back, your face falling into your hands as you took a deep breath. You heard nothing from Minhos end though, an incredible silence coming through the speakers before he cleared his throat. 

“Are you… there? You’re with her? Is that Y/N?” Minho stammered, and then you could hear a gust of wind as if he were running, and you knew that if he was, he’d probably be at your front door in an hour or less. “When… Why are you there?! What are you doing there?! Why are you with her?!” 

You rolled your eyes at his screaming and Jisung threw his hands up in disbelief, letting his head fall against the back cushions of the couch. “Because you’ve been an asshole and they came to me hoping that I could cure you of that.” You answered and you heard Jisung snicker to himself at your response. “What crawled up your ass? Why are you taking it out on them?” 

“I…” Minho started and you heard a car door open and then slam shut as the engine roared to life. “Well wouldn’t you be pissed if you had a baby and you haven’t gotten to see a picture and ultrasound… I haven’t heard a heartbeat or anything! I’m pissed!” You heard the phone hit the steering wheel as his car peeled out of the parking spot. 

“Don’t hold your phone and drive, idiot!” You scolded and as if on command you heard the phone get thrown onto the passenger seat. You huffed loudly before speaking. “You walked out on me, you chose your job. I wasn’t going to force you to be a parent when you clearly weren’t ready to be one.” You explained, and you heard him groan loudly through the speaker. 

“I was gone for two days! You were gone when I came back! You’ve been gone for 8 fucking months!” He screeched, and then you heard him slam on the brakes as horns went off all around him. Your heart stopped momentarily before he started ranting out curses at whoever had messed up on the road. “I thought we’d be able to talk about things but no! You went to your parents house and had them lie to me! I almost had the cops called on me just to see you!” 

You quickly covered your mouth to stifle your laughter, remembering the look of shock on his face as you watched from the top window. “Well you tried to punch through the door! You scared my dad!” You said between giggles, and even Jisung started to chuckle now. 

“It’s not funny! Do you know how many restraining orders I would have broken to see you and the baby?!” He screeched, but even he seemed to be calming down, the lengthy breath he let out shook with silent laughter. “So how are you feeling?” 

The sudden shift in tone had you pursing your lips, hating to admit to yourself that you missed him. You missed the goofy bickering, the way he cared about you, the way he’d look at you as if you were the only woman in the entire universe. “I’m feeling- What the hell?” The line went dead before you had the chance to finish, and you knew how Minho drove when he was in a hurry, your heart lurched into your throat as you moved to get up off the couch. “H-Help me up…” You reached out your hand to Jisung who began to panic when he saw you. 

It’s not like you knew the first thing that you were going to do, but you were gonna go out on the road to look for him, to make sure he was okay. “Yeah… Yeah I’ll get your shoes just… Hold up…” Jisung stammered, looking around the room cluelessly until you pointed to the little cupboard box near the entryway and he rushed over, grabbing the first pair of shoes he saw. 

The click of the front doorknob turning had you immediately defending yourself and Jisungs presence. “It’s okay dad… I’m gonna be back soon. I have to go find Minho… I think… I’m worried about him and I still love him and I want him to be a part of her life…” You explained breathlessly as you tied your shoes before sitting up once more and turning to look at the door. 

There Minho stood, his eyes squinted with the cockiest smile as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “Never heard you call me dad before… I don’t know if I like it or not yet.” He teased, toeing his shoes off next to the door before walking over to where you sat. “I’m glad you still love me though, woulda been weird to have to take you on all the first dates over again with the baby in the stroller.” The teasing tone was gone when his attention turned to Jisung who was sitting on the floor next, having helped you put your shoes on. “Did you really come here just to tell her I’ve been an asshole?” 

“Uhm… Yeah? Because you were being a really big asshole. Needed that shit to stop, so I went to the only person who would be able to stop it.” He motioned towards you with both of his hands, the usual Jisung smile on his face as he did. “And aren’t you happy? I mean, if I didn’t come here you probably would still be trying to get past her parents and you would have missed the birth of your daughter. So, I feel like you should be thanking me. And even if you won’t say it out loud… You’re welcome.” He pushed himself up off the floor, patting your head before walking over to the door and letting himself out. “I feel like you two have a lot of catching up to do, so I will be leaving. See you later!” 

Now that Jisung was gone, it felt like the comedic relief that the two of you needed had left as well, leaving an awkward film lingering in the air as you and Minho stared at each other. “You uh… you look like you’re really close. How much longer?” He asked nervously now, lowering down onto the arm of the couch to get a better view of you and your stomach. 

“About two weeks…” You murmured, swallowing thickly as you thought about it. “I’ve been going to the lamaze classes and doing the little breathing exercises to get ready… It was just hard to be at the classes since I was the only one there alone.” Minho nodded slowly, his heart aching at the thought of you going through all of this by yourself. “Her room is all set up though… Me and my dad worked on it for a while… I kept getting tired.” 

“So… you’ll be staying here?” He hated that… You and his daughter being so far away from him. It took him an hour to get there from the office, and his house was another hour in the opposite direction. He didn’t want to have to drive two hours just to see you and his baby. “I… You know… I didn’t know that she would be… A girl… But… I’ve been hoping and preparing… I’ve got a room set up for her too. It made me feel a little better… I even got the clothes and the diapers and stuff.” 

Your thumbs twirled around each other as you looked away from him. You knew that at some point it would need to be brought up, you just hadn’t had the chance to really prep what you were going to say to him. “I love you, Minho… But I never planned on going back to you.” You heard the sharp gasp be pushed from his lungs at the revelation. “It wasn’t to hurt you though… I know how important your job is to you. I was doing it to protect you, to protect the guys. I wasn’t going to hide her from you, or keep her from you forever… But I needed to get myself used to doing this on my own so that I didn’t feel like I had to depend on you. I was doing it for me… For her…” 

He slipped off the arm of the couch to fall on the cushion beside you, his hand hesitantly raising before lowering it down on your stomach, his thumb lightly brushing along the fabric that hung loosely over it. “My job is important… But it’s not more important than you, and it’s definitely not more important than her. One day the group is going to be done… And sure, I’ll still have the guys, but I don’t want to be the one sitting around while they all have families of their own… I don’t want to be the one alone while knowing that I do have a family… I just pushed them away. I don’t want you to do this on your own either… You shouldn’t have to. I want to be here, Y/N. I want to be her father… And I want to be your… Your husband.” 

Marriage had never been a topic that the two of you went too far in depth into when it got brought up, you both would ever so lightly touch base on it and then quickly move onto the next topic. It’s not that you didn’t want to get married, it just didn’t seem like an important thing to do during the two years that you had been dating. The only time that it had been seriously brought up was during that talk eight months ago that led to this.

He pulled the box out of his pocket, chuckling softly to himself as he looked at it. “You know… I brought this with me every single time I came to try and see you…” He commented as he opened it up, revealing a thin silver band with the smallest diamond on top. “There’s no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with, no one else I’d rather be starting my family with. I don’t care what management will say, I don’t care what anyone says… I don’t care what happens, as long as I get to be with you and her… So please… Will you say yes? I want to at least try to do this the right way…” 

You sniffled softly, looking down at your hand that the ring was supposed to be placed on, wiggling your finger, it was so easy to imagine what it would look like once it was slipped on. “You make it so hard to hate you, Lee Minho…” You mumbled, wiping your tears with the sleeve of your shirt before letting your hands drop back down to your sides. 

“That should be a good thing, darling. I don’t want you to hate me.” He grabbed your hand, placing the ring delicately on your finger, the fit was perfect, made specifically and only for you. “I want you to love me as much as I love you… And if you’re still unsure… I promise to spend the rest of my life making sure you’re happy, and you’re comfortable, and you know that you’re loved by me.” He pressed a kiss to the back of your hand before leaning in to kiss you softly, the feeling opening a floodgate of memories that had tears rushing faster down your cheeks, and he worked quickly to catch each and every single one before they had the chance to reach your chin. “I think I’ve got about 8 months worth of catching up to do before the two weeks are up… You think we got enough time?”

[anonymousicecream]

Backstage Fun (Rei x M Reader)

Smut

(Request)

You're a soloist, who recently debuted in 2022. You're one of the more popular soloist, having winning a rookie of the year award in 2022. However, to increase your popularity, your agency, Starship, decided to send you to become a host in M Countdown. You had your fair share of hosts, and you manage to befriend them all. However, your host has been IVE's Rei for the past 3 months. You didn't thought you'll had the chemistry with her, compared to all the other co-hosts you had, but she managed to prove you wrong from day one.

(Flashback to first rehearsals)

You arrived at the studio at 10:30, which is an hour before the scheduled meeting time to start. You immediately went to the meeting room, where you met your co-host which your manager informed you beforehand.

"Rei-ssi!" You greeted. "Ah, annyeong oppa!" Rei replied, shaking your hand.

You sat down next to her, discussing about your current projects, future projects, as well as goals and expectations for the upcoming year. You learned that her group's planning to do a comeback on top of their current tour, so it's a possibility that she might promote her songs while also being a host at M Countdown. It didn't take long for the two of you to cozy up to each other.

Not long after, Rei faced you and spread her legs, showing her shining wetness, despite still being covered with white panties. You started getting hard, which got even worse as she lift her left toe and rubbed it up and down on your cock. "Ah fuck. We shouldn't do this here." You said, obviously struggling due to the immense pleasure you received. "Oh yeah?" Rei teased. "Not here. Follow me." You stopped her, before standing up and guiding her towards the nearest bathroom.

You manage to lock the bathroom from the inside before walking inside the stalls, locking yourself and Rei inside. You wasted no time, leaning into her and making out with her. At the same time, you moved your hands towards her bottom, raising it to allow easy access towards her pussy. You set her panties aside before you insert your finger into her pussy, fingering her at a slow but deep pace. At the same time, she dropped your pants and boxers, releasing your cock out, as she starts stroking it, hardening your cock.

"We don't have much time." You said, and Rei agreed. You tapped on her thighs, and she understood what you meant. She hopped onto your hands as you wrapped her legs around your hips. You held her against the wall, lining your cock with her pussy as you thrust into her. "AHHH" She moaned, before you gave her a stern look. "If we're doing this we need to be quiet." You said, and she nodded.

You took your cock out of her before thrusting back inside her. You continued thrusting as she moved her hands, alternating between your scalp, neck and upper back. At the same time, you also moved your right hand between her hips and tits, while your left hand is on her pussy, rubbing it, to further add the stimulation she's already going through now.

It didn't take long for you to feel her pussy clenching. Knowing that the two of you are about to cum together, you thrusted harder, deeper and faster as well as rubbing her clit faster. After a few more thrusts......

"AHHHHHHH!!!!" Rei moaned loudly, as she clenched hard, before squirting out her cum. You then pulled out and came on her thighs, as she came onto your thighs as well. The two of you smirked, kissing each other before you helped clean her up as she cleaned you up. You kissed her one last time, before leaving her for the meeting room.

[lovebeinaprincessworld]

Hopeful Love (Cato Hadley x reader)

Description: The arena was horrifying, but with Cato by your side - maybe you could make it through everything?

Part 1

Masterlist

A/N: you can read this even if I might write another part, as always all my writings do have a conclusive ending, no matter which part!

Warnings: death, blood, wounds, the typical hunger games stuff

7515 words

It felt like a fever dream - like it wasn’t really happening. The moment Aspasia had hugged you and the platform started moving, your heart was beating out of your chest, and not in a good way. The light was blinding for a moment and then you took in the arena. The biggest part of it was a forest and there was also a big grass portion where the cornucopia was located.

Your attention snapped back to the other tributes, some looked more than ready to finally kill and some looked like they wanted to kill themselves. The cornucopia was filled with things, less and less of them strewn around the farther they laid from it. They also seemed to be less useful the further one went from it.

And finally your brain kicked in a little, your eyes moving over the other tributes searching for Cato. He was exactly opposite to you, and his eyes were already locked onto you in determination. This was probably the worst possible distance for his plan (the one of you running towards him) and you were sure your chances of making it at the moment were like 30 percent or less. If you died hopefully it would be quick, but you would try to make it - for him.

You could see the countdown was already at 16 and you took a deep breath to ready yourself for the sprint, listening to the steady rhythm of the numbers going down. You were honestly curious how the people watching would take Cato trying to protect you - nobody knew anything about you two yet, how could they?

The countdown was getting lower and lower and you felt like you were about to throw up when it reached 3. You braced yourself to jump down from the platform. 2. You took a deep breath. 1. You really hoped you wouldn’t catch a knife to the back - and then you were running. It was like you were on autopilot, putting one foot in front of the other and towards Cato who was running even faster - considering he was way taller that made sense.

You were almost there, and you really thought you would make it - when suddenly someone tackled you from the right. In retrospect you should’ve been more aware of your surroundings, but what shocked you the most that on top of you and trying to grab you neck was Taron, your own district partner. You had no idea he hated you so much he made it his mission to kill you first. You tried to keep his hands off your throat, but when he finally got a good grip he was ripped off of you.

Cato was determined to keep you alive. Fuck, he had never run this fast in his life and when he almost reached you that son of a bitch from your district seriously tried to take you from him. Foolish. He ripped him off with ease, taking his head between his big hands and breaking his neck with a controlled snap of his hands. One person less.

He pulled you up immediately, taking your hand in his firmly and making his way towards the cornucopia. He picked up a long knife and a small one on the way, giving you the small one and ending every tribute that came near you two with the other. You knew his weapon of choice was a sword but you hadn’t been close enough to the cornucopia yet.

The other careers had already brought the cornucopia under their control, so once you arrived there, the other tributes were either dead or they already ran away. You were shocked that you had honestly made it, still kind of on edge by the way Clove, Marvel and Glimmer were eyeing you, but you knew as long as Cato stuck to your side you were relatively safe - as safe as one can be in the arena.

Cato pulled you into the cornucopia - the other three rummaging through the things in the entrance - and when you were at least a little shielded he pulled you into a bonecrushing hug. You could almost hear Caeser Flickerman commenting in your ear. „Cato“, you whispered, you were surprised he was willing to show this much emotion in front of the camera.

The tall career was honestly a little worried that his feelings for you would damage his hardened career image and offend the sponsors - but on the other hand he was in an arena fighting with others until death. So he didn’t really give a shit, he was just so incredibly happy that you were safe for now and he couldn’t control himself, he had to hold you close, even just for a moment.

When you mumbled his name, pressed against his chest, he gently kissed your forehead before hesitantly letting you go. Eventhough the bloodbath was over for now, you were still relatively out in the open right now and he needed to sort out the supplies and plan with the others. He drank in your pretty face for another moment and without words (he was never the biggest talker and especially not in a situation like that) he pulled you along to sort through the equipment.

—————————

You were quiet, now that the adrenaline was gone and all the death and killing that happened was sinking into your brain you had to concentrate on your breathing to not freak out. You knew Cato wasn’t affected by this nearly as much as you - he was trained for this after all. But the lifeless eyes of the other tributes, the ones that trained next to you for a week, haunted you. And when the canons went off after the bloodbath it felt final. You were really right in the middle of the hunger games.

The Careers were building a camp down by the river and the meadow and you were mindlessly carrying stuff from the cornucopia over there with Cato. The others were leaving you alone, but you knew that if it wasn’t for Cato you would be dead for sure. Two of the Careers - Glimmer and Marvel - were scouting the closest parts of the forest to find tributes who may have lingered around. You had one ally more, a boy who claimed he could dig up the mines from around the cornucopia and bury them around your food stash so it would be safe.

Once the others seemed satisfied with everything you sat down around the camp, Clove in one corner playing with her knives and facing the forest and you and Cato in the shade in the back, while Noah (that was the other tributes name) was still moving the mines. „How are you feeling?“, Cato was talking as quiet as possible, but it probably still would be picked up by the cameras.

He had just put down the last bag and sat down next to you, his eyes scanning your form, his hand reaching for yours gently. Crazy to think how he easily murdered multiple people a few hours ago and now the same hands were so soft with you. „I’m okay, don’t worry“, you gave him your best attempt at a smile, but he looked only partly convinced. How could you truly be okay though? The carefree nights on the rooftop seemed so far away.

Cato wanted to say more, but he didn’t want your private conversation to be broadcasted for everyone to hear, so he just nodded and pulled you into his side with one arm. He kissed your temple carefully, trying to convey his thoughts like that - and simultaneously fighting the urge to kiss you for real. He decided he would postpone that to when it was dark, and their was at least a minimal amount of privacy.

Suddenly Glimmer and Marcel broke out of the treeline, and with them was another person - still alive that is. They came closer and when your recognized the other tribute you sat up straight in surprise. „Peeta?“, you mumbled to yourself and you could feel Catos arm around you thighten. „What’s he doing here?“, Cato barked when they were close enough, standing up and pulling his sword out.

„Calm down lover boy“, Marvel rolled his eyes and walked over to Clove. „He‘s our best shot at finding the chick from his District“, Glimmer explained, picking up and apple from the bag and eating it. „Watch it District 12, one wrong move and it’s over“, Cato warned Peeta with a rough voice and gave him a dark stare before sitting down next to you again, a protective hand on your thigh. Peeta just nodded and they started planning the hunt for Katniss.

————————

Tracking through the dark forest that night, you felt like throwing up. This was all so wrong, Katniss had helped you - considering the weird circumstances she was probably your only friend(ly contact) next to Cato and you were walking through the woods trying to find and kill her. Not that you would be the one to do it, but you were with them, weren’t you? Cato held your hand tightly as if afraid something might happen if he let go for only a second.

And maybe it might, because his hand was literally the only thing stopping you from full on panicking and running away. What was the future perspective here anyway? Only one would leave this arena alive. The other three (except Peeta, who seemed just as unsure as you and Cato who was looking all serious) were joking around and having fun and it only made the whole situation more bizarre.

Suddenly Glimmer squeaked excitedly and when you followed her gaze, you could see a fire in the distance. „The fuck, who would be so stupid“, Marvel was cackling and you took a deep breath when you walked towards the fire, knowing what was to follow. The girl didn’t realize the group was there until Marvel was standing directly behind her, and her face was that of pure horror. You looked away, but the bloodcurling scream would never leave your memory. If Cato didn’t fall for you, this could’ve been you.

The canon went off and you didn’t realize how tightly you were holding onto Catos arm until he pulled you away from the scene. „Sorry“, you whispered and he just calmly squeezed your hand. You were glad he was calm enough for the both of you, always grounding you and protecting you.

After a few more hours and tips from Peeta, you gave up for the night and settled back down in your camp. Clove took first watch and Cato pulled you away to your private corner, settling down on the ground between a few boxes. He leaned against a heavy one and pulled you in between his legs - just like he did on the rooftop. It was dark here, a little bit of light filtering through form the fire, but you felt the tension leave you for the most part when you were tucked into his chest.

„You will be okay, I promise“, Cato whispered close to your ear and somehow that made you so emotional, made you feel like he understood your struggle with all of this without you having to say anything and you had to fight back tears for the first time since you had met him. „I love you“, you whispered back, not knowing what else to say and hoping it would be enough. You could feel him gently lift your chin towards him and pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

———————

It had been two days since that night and the other Careers were obsessed with finding Katniss. You hadn’t had the chance to talk with Peeta yet, but you felt his eyes on you sometimes, making you wonder what it was he wanted. And when the others were arguing about which direction Katniss would most likely be in, Cato had stepped away from you for a second and Peeta seized the opportunity.

„So, you and Cato huh?“, he smiled and stepped next to you, „Katniss told me she already suspected something at training.“ You blushed a little at the thought of the other tributes talking about you two. „Yeah, Cato and me“, you smiled too, „and you and Katniss right? At least it seemed like it“. His smiled was fading a little, and you guessed he felt guilty for trying to help the Careers kill her, when he obviously had feelings for her. Her, you weren’t so sure if this was true.

„Yeah I guess the survival instincts kick in“, he lamely explained, but you guessed the underlying message was, that he wasn’t really helping the Careers, just biding his time until he could run off. You could understand that. „I guess“, you sighed, the look you two shared in understanding was interrupted by a mad looking Cato. „Piss off 12“, he growled and pulled you close by the waist, Peeta raised his hands in surrender and walked off with a small smile towards you.

„What did he want?“, Cato gruffly asked with furrowed eyebrows and squeezed your waist, his other hand on the handle of his sword. „Nothing“, you smiled and stood on your tiptoed to kiss his jaw, making him grumble but relent.

You set off on another hunt for Katniss, and had only walked a few minutes next to the river when suddenly Marvel discovered her in the water. Shit. She looked just as shocked as you probably did and if Cato wouldn’t have pulled you along you would have remained there. The Careers followed her through the woods and you were sure you had to witness her death now, when she climbed a tree.

Glimmer missed with her bow and they were getting agitated when Cloves eyes fell on you. „You’re small, can’t you climb up there?“, she grinned evilly and was probably hoping you would either get killed by Katniss or the fall down there. You were about to answer when Cato spoked up. „I’ll do it“, he grunted. „Cato, I can-", you started to say, he didn’t have to do everything for you, you were really starting to feel bad. „No“, he interrupted you without looking at you and laid down his equipment before starting to climb the tree.

You looked at him worriedly, he was way too heavy and tall to climb up a tree like that. And as if you called it, one branch broke and he fell, taking several other branches with him. „Cato! You okay?“, you kneeled next to him, but he just got up with a grunt and glared up a the tree, while you were checking him for injuries.

„Let’s just wait here, she has to come down at some point if she doesn’t want to starve“, Peeta suggested and unhappily the others agreed, climbing up was out of question now that Cato took all the usable branches with him.

———————

You had been laying awake in Catos arms for what felt like hours, your mind running through all the horrible things that had happened or will happen. The thought that Katniss sat up there right now, fearing for her life (just like probably everyone else in this arena) and you were part of the group that was the reason for that, made you sick. All the other deaths were bad, but you didn’t know them. Katniss? Katniss had been nice to you, showing you how to make fire and how to set up traps eventhough she didn’t owe you anything.

Silently sighing you looked up to the sky, the sun started to rise half an hour ago. The other thought that was bothering you, was that it was either you or Cato making it out alive. It wouldn’t be both of you. And considering your chances of survival without him, it would most likely be him. And he was so thickheaded, he would never leave you out of his sight voluntarily, meaning that in the end it would be either him that would have to kill you, or one of you had to sacrifice themselves.

And you sure as hell didn’t want him to die, and neither did you want him to live with your death on his consciousness. A silent tear escaped your eye when you accepted what you had to do. Now was the perfect opportunity to leave. He would be incredibly angry, but you would rather he be angry than either of you having to live with the guilt.

The others were sleeping around you, and you carefully peeled yourself out of Catos arms, sitting up next to him. He didn’t move, and you looked at him for a long moment, before softly kissing his cheek and standing up as quiet as possible. You made sure the others were still asleep and grabbed your small backpack (with your waterbottle, knives and some food) before silently walking towards the edge of the clearing. You couldn’t stop yourself from looking back one more time and you immediately regretted it.

Cato was awake and sitting up, looking at you with a scowl on his face and tense muscles. Your face fell and you went rigid for a second, before tears filled your eyes and you just gently shook your head, mouthing „I’m sorry“ before taking off. Fuck, he wasn’t supposed to see you, and he would most likely follow you now. You still had to try though.

Catos heart felt like it would jump out of his chest. What the hell were you doing? He sensed you were feeling guilty and overwhelmed but he didn’t think you would try to leave. Try being the main point here, because he sure as hell wouldn’t let you. When you mouthed you were sorry, something inside of him snapped and he jumped up as quietly as he could, grabbing his stuff and following you into the forest. He couldn’t do this without you, the only reason he even tried anymore was you.

Tears were running down your cheeks as you made your way through the thicket and you had to surpress a sob when you heard Cato following behind you. You were about ten meters infront of him, but you knew you could never outrun him, no chance. He let you get a little farther, probably to make sure you were far enough from the others, before closing in on you.

You had just made your way between a rock formation and you could hear a small stream nearby when he grabbed your upper arm and hauled you around, trapping you between his big body and the boulder behind you. „What the hell do you think you’re doing?“, he was visibly angry, but tried not you raise his voice and you refused to meet his gaze.

„Let me go Cato“, you whispered, and you meant it in more than the literal sense in that moment. It would be easier if he would forget about you. „Never! Do you hear me? (Y/N) I will never let you go“, he sounded almost desperate and his hands left your arms, one grabbing your waist tightly and the other cradling your jaw.

He hated how you were refusing to look at him, you were the only thing he fucking cared about anymore and you almost left him. You wanted him to let you go. „Why would you even say that? Without you I wouldn’t…I can’t even…“, he was so panicked at the thought of losing your he couldn’t find the words, but you finally met his eyes, „I love you so much baby, please don’t leave me I need you.“

Your heart almost broke for the man infront of you, and simultaneously you felt so much love for him at that moment. „Cato“, you were slightly overwhelmed and your hands softly cupped his cheeks in an attempt to calm him down, „it’s easier if I go, I don’t want it to come down to us two. Better I be killed by someone else isn’t it?“ Suddenly his lips were on yours, desperate and firm and you could only whimper and return it with as much passion. How could you ever think he wouldn’t have hunted you down, no matter how far you went?

Cato pulled back for air and the both of you were panting. „Don’t say that. Never…never say that“, he sounded liked he was in agony and you hated yourself for doing this to him. „But-“, you tried to reason with him. „Don’t“, he growled and pulled you impossibly closer kissing you again, and you sighed softly, thinking in the back of your mind what a great show you were giving the audience. But neither of you cared anymore.

Suddenly Cato flinched and let out a pained hiss, making your heartbeat rise in worry. He turned around quickly, shielding you with his body and then you could see the arrow sticking out of his shoulder. Glimmer. „You’re betraying us already?“, the blonde called out from the top of the opposite boulder you two were leaning against, another arrow readied. Please, please don’t let him die.

Before any of you could react, there were suddenly screams coming from the direction of the other Careers and Cato seized the opportunity. He reached up quickly with his uninjured arm and because Glimmer was distracted he yanked her down roughly by her ankle. With a scream she came crashing down losing the grip on her bow and with a fast movement of his wrist the pretty girls trashing stopped and the canon went off.

„Come one we have to go“, Cato says, and you were still stunned by what just happened in the matter of a few seconds. Then the two of you were off, quickly running through the forest.

—————————

You and Cato had run through the forest as far as he could go with his arm, until you had singled out a really big oak, climbing up to see if you could settle there. The middle of the treetop was shaped like a small circular floor and after Cato managed to climb up the tree - which was way harder for him than for you - it was perfect for you two as a camp.

Cato looked really pale now, the arrow sticking out the front of his shoulder and you were so in over your head. „Shit, I think we have to pull it through love“, you said, your aunt was working as a nurse and a little bit seemed to have stuck with you. He just nodded, and you got out a shirt you had taken as a spare and ripped it in stripes, to immediately wrap his wound once you cleaned it.

„This is gonna hurt“, you softly stroked his cheek and he closed his eyes. You gave him an encouraging kiss and he chased your lips when you pulled away, before you took a deep breath and fought your inner restraints and carefully but quickly pulled the arrow through. He groaned in pain, throwing his head back and holding onto your hip so tightly you were sure it would bruise.

As soon as the arrow was out, you quickly took of his shirt, cleaned the wound with water - you didn’t have anything else on you - and wrapped it tightly with the ripped shirt. The bleeding wasn’t as profusely as you had anticipated, so that means there was probably no major artery hit. „Rest now, I think we’re safe here for now“, you kissed his sweaty cheek and helped him lay down comfortably with his backpack as a pillow.

You settled down next to him, and you thought he was asleep when he suddenly grasped your hand. „Don’t leave“, his voice was raspy and his eyes half closed, but he still looked scared you would try to leave again. „Never, I promise“, you leaned down and softly kissed his lips, „I’m sorry I tried to.“ He smiled a little and squeezed your hand. „I love you“, he whispered and then he was out like a light.

————————

It’s been days up in that tree, and Cato seemed to being doing worse and worse. You two had enough food and you went down to the stream nearby to fill up the water daily, but you didn’t have any adequate medication for his wound. And it was really infected, the edges a glowing red and everytime you cleaned it there came more pus out of it. Cato was sleeping most of the time and when he was awake he seemed mostly lucid and was worrying about you. Which was ironic, because he was the one who needed the worrying.

And worry you did. There wasn’t much you could do, and you hated it. „Here baby you need to drink“, you woke Cato up gently, and he was burning up. Before he could say anything, your evening was interrupted by an announcement from the Gamemakers.

„Attention tributes, attention. The regulations requiring a single victor have been suspended. For these games stand under the star of romance, the Capitol wants to give love a chance. From now on, four victors may be crowned, but only if they consist of two pairs of one male and one female tribute. This will be all announcements.“

You and Cato were silent for a moment, before his good hand gripped your hip where you were sitting next to him. „Fuck baby, that means we could both go home“, he rasped and you were still not registering what that meant, but let yourself be pulled down by him into a messy kiss. „That’s…that’s great“, you gave him your best smile, trying to hide your worries for now. How the hell were you supposed to get his wound to heal? Or the other option - even more unlikely - how were you supposed to win this for the both of you? Damn.

—————————

Cato got even worse over the next day and his breathing was labored. You had shed a few tears when he was unconscious, but tried to pull yourself together for him. But you were helpless, until there was another announcement.

„Attention, tributes, attention. Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast tomorrow at the Cornucopia. This will be no ordinary occasion. Each of you needs something desperately. And we plan to be generous hosts.“

Medicine. It had to be something that would heal Cato from the gaping wound in his shoulder. „You’re not going“, you didn’t even hear him wake up, but even this weak he sounded dominant. „Yes I will, you need medicine“, you almost rolled your eyes and he scowled at you, sitting up in great agony before you could stop him.

„What are you doing? Lay back down Cato!“, you exclaimed, moving closer but he swatted your hands away. „You will not go to the feast, you’d be dead in a heartbeat. Clove’s still out there, and so is Thresh, I won’t let you“, he grunted, pale and shivering. „Good thing I didn’t ask for your permission then“, you snapped, „you’ll be dead if I don’t go, and it’s only a matter of time that I die then, so no argument you’ll tell me will make me change my mind.“

Cato hated that you were so right. He was slipping in and out of consciousness the last days and to be honest he knew you were right. He just didn’t want to lose you, eventhough he had realized from the start that it would come to that point. But now there was a possibility for the both of you to go home and this stupid infected wound was fucking it all up. The thought of dying and leaving you alone in here, and the thought of you dying were equally painful.

„Fuck“, he cursed, the pain in his shoulder becoming to great to sit up anymore and he laid back down, „please just…let me hold you til sunrise then?“ Your face immediately softened and the now familiar tingling flared up in his stomach at your smile - despite his pain. „Of course baby“, you blushed a little, and he loved that eventhough you were in an arena fighting other people til death, he could make you flustered.

You laid down your head on his good shoulder and he turned onto his side a little, catching you offguard when he captured your lips in a ravishing kiss. „I wish we weren’t in here and I wish I wasn’t sick right now“, he growled in your ear when he pulled away, and you looked up at him shyly when you realized what he meant. „Me too“, you whispered, your hand stroking his cheek before kissing him gently.

————————

You decided against saying goodbye to Cato, he fell asleep all smiley and with several more kisses shared between you and if you died you wanted to leave him with that memory. Fuck, if you died that would’ve meant he died too, so you had to give it your all. You secured the bigger of your two knives in your belt and smaller in your hand and took a look back at the sleeping lover you would leave behind for now.

Then you made it down the tree and carefully tracked through the dark forest, way earlier than needed just to make sure you would make it in time. Once you reached the clearing the cornucopia was in, you settled down in a bush and alertly watched your surroundings.

It must have been over an hour, when the sun started to rise and after a few more minutes a table with five bags on it came out of the ground. Your eyes immediately zeroed in on the one with an eight on it, and you could feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins. You were about to move in - no use in waiting and have someone else snatch up your bag, plus you were fast so if you hurried that would be your best chance - when the redheaded tribute ran out of the cornucopia, snatched her bag and was off.

That was fucking smart, but it was now or never. So you pushed your legs up and ran as if your life depended on it. Because it did. From your left you could see someone else run as fast as you did, and getting closer to the table you recognized her as Katniss. Hopefully she wouldn’t hurt you, considering with the new rules all four of you could make it out alive - if she paired up with Peeta that was.

When you quickly grabbed the bag, the both of you locked eyes and it seemed a quick truce was communicated through that, because you both were on your way again. But then you saw her get a knife thrown at her by Clove. Fuck. You stopped in your tracks when she was tackled by the smaller girl and it looked like she was done for.

You had to help her, she had helped you before without even knowing you so you just had to do something. It was auf if you watched the scene from outside of your body, changing direction and running over to the fighting pair, grabbing your big knife and shoving it into Cloves throat. You pulled it out immediately and both you and Katniss were splattered with the girls blood, the adrenaline keeping you from thinking how horrified you should be at killing another person. That would have killed your in heartbeat if she had the chance.

Clove fell to the side clutching her leaking neck, gasping for air and then she was dead and the canon went off. Katniss got up immediately, picking up her bag and squeezing your shoulder gratefully. „Thanks“, she said and the both of you shared a nod and a smile, before taking of again.

————————

You couldn’t believe you actually survived this, let alone save Katniss. You were still running high on adrenaline when you climbed the tree where Cato was laying with a high fever and a badly infected wound. But now you could actually help him, you actually did it. You let yourself fall next to him, sitting on your knees and pulling out the contents of the bag.

There was a relatively big container in there, wrapped in a cloth, plus a small bottle. They were labeled with their use and so you set them aside, pulling Catos makeshift blanket off and unwrapping his nastily infected wound.

At that he awoke with a groan and looked at you unbelievingly. „You’re alive“, he rasped, he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. His vision was slightly blurred but he could see you actually came back, back to him and you seemed safe. He was thanking whoever was up there that he didn’t lose you yet. „I need to put this on your wound baby“, you said, and he saw that you got the bag from the feast, medicine included. You were incredible.

He nodded, bracing himself for the pain that came with touching his wound, and you scooped up some of the paste before spreading it as careful as possible, using a good amount. He hissed at the initial touch, but after a few seconds the paste cooled down the burning sensation in his shoulder to a low pulsing and he sighed in relieve.

At the sight of the medicine helping already, tension you didn’t even realize was there fell off of you. „Need to do the back to“, you helped him roll onto his side slowly, before spreading the same generous amount on the back of his wound. You packed away the paste safely, before making him take the recommended amount of medicine from the bottle, that was supposed to help with the fever.

It made him extremely sleepy, but you instilled a little water into him, before laying next to him exhausted. It wasn’t dark, but the both of you needed the sleep badly. Hopefully he would feel a little better when you’d wake up.

—————————

When you next awoke you were wrapped tightly in strong arms and pressed to a chest. And you immediately took that as a good sign, that he felt good and strong enough to do that. Then you noticed the sun was rising again, so you had slept for most of the day yesterday.

You enjoyed the way he was holding you a little longer, even more relieved when you noticed his breathing was already stronger and steady again. When you couldn’t wait any longer, you carefully peeled yourself out of his arms to look at his wound. He grumbled unhappily and turned onto his back when you sat up, one hand on your hip and his eyes slowly opening.

„Hey“, his voice was gravely from lack of use and you smiled at him. „Hey“, your hand softly tracked his jawline, „can I take a look at your wound?“ He grinned a little and nodded, so you sat up on your knees and pulled aside the fabric that you had lightly wrapped around it yesterday and you gasped in shock. Positive shock.

„What is it?“, he asked, sitting up quickly, before looking down at his shoulder. „It’s almost gone“, you whispered and couldn’t quite believe that there was only a little bit of pink skin left from his previously gaping wound. When you checked the other side, it looked the same. „How does it feel though? Does it still hurt? Do you still feel sick?“, you worried that it was healing only superficially.

Cato loved the way you worried about him, only now that he felt healthy again was he really able to enjoy it. Fuck, you were so perfect, you risked your life to save him and if you weren’t televised right now he wouldn’t hold back. He was hard already just at the thought of what you had been doing on that rooftop on the last night.

„I’m alright, I feel perfectly fine“, he grinned and suddenly hauled you up and onto his lap with ease. He really seemed to be better. Your gasp was stifled by his lips and they felt warm and soft again, not clammy and cold. You could cry with how happy you felt. You two could make it out of here together.

When he pulled back, he looked you over for any injuries and almost had a heartattack when he saw you were covered in blood. „Why the hell are you covered in blood? Are you injured? Do you-“, you interrupted his panick quickly. „Calm down it’s not mine!“, you cupped his cheeks, your fingers trembling a little when your remembered how you killed Clove.

„How did it get onto you then? You okay?“, he took your hands in his, kissing your shaking fingers and waiting for your answer patiently. „It was…It’s Cloves. She was about to kill Katniss and I-“, your voice gave out and he pulled you closer in comfort. „Hey it’s alright“, he whispered stroking your back softly, the terror you were feeling shrinking a bit, „it will be okay, I promise.“ You just tucked your head into his neck and stayed there for a while.

————————

It has been two more days since then, and Cato was perfectly fine again. There had been a rainstorm and because of the thunder you must have missed the canon, because in the evening you saw that the redhead was dead. So only you and Cato, Katniss and Peeta and Thresh were left.

You and Cato and been walking through the forest, your camp in the tree packed and left behind, and you were searching for food because you were running low. But when suddenly in the middle of the day, the sky turned dark, you knew you wouldn’t need that anymore. The games would come to an end tonight.

„Seems like they want it to end it huh“, Cato gripped your hand tightly, he knew the gamemakers had planned something big if they changed the time of day. „Let’s go towards the meadow“, he suggested and you just nodded, squeezing his hand gently. You almost reached the edge of the forest when you heard it. It sounded like wolves, but more…domesticated. Not quite like dogs either. But it sent a shiver down you spine.

You both stopped to listen, and it seemed like the howls were getting closer. „We should-“, Cato was interrupted when Peeta and Katniss broke out of the thicket about ten meters away, running terribly fast and screaming at you. Run. So that’s exactly what you did, Cato held your hand so tight that the circulation would most likely be cut of but you didn’t care. You only concentrated on getting away from whatever seemed to be chasing you as fast as possible.

You didn’t dare look back, hearing the heavy sounds of paws behind you entirely too close for comfort even if they were a little bit away still. You ran out of the forest and over the meadow, following the other two towards the cornucopia. That seemed like a solid idea.

Cato thought about picking you up so he could run faster, but when he realized you would probably be safe on top of the cornucopia he decided against it. You could make it like that. He heard what were probably mutants pant behind you and howl angrily, and when you finally reached the cornucopia, you had passed Katniss and Peeta a little and Cato immediately took your waist and hauled you up.

Youwere unceremoniously dumped on the cornucopia and were once again awed by Catos strength. He pulled himself up with ease, Katniss right next to him, who started to pull up Peeta. But it seemed like they were a millisecond too slow, because one of the creatures grabbed Peetas leg. „Peeta!“, Katniss screeched and you were thankful Cato immediately jumped into action, grabbing Peetas other arm and ripping him out of the monsters hold.

The four of you stood on top of the cornucopia, panting and gasping for air when you had a chance to look at the creatures for the first time. And you almost got sick at the sight. They were huge mutant dogs, growling and jumping up the side of the cornucopia. But the worst were their faces. They were distinctly human, but not quite. The gamemakers were fucking sick.

Before you could think about anything else, a strong arm wrapped around your neck and pulled you back roughly. With a gasp, you gazed up towards your attacker. Thresh. He was bleeding profusely, and it seemed liked the creatures got him good before they ran after Katniss and Peeta.

The others looked at you in shock, Katniss had an arrow pointed at him and Cato seemed like he wanted to murder and rip apart the tribute holding you with his bare hands. Peeta was limping an balancing on his good leg, looking as helpless as you felt.

„Let her go“, Cato barked at the nearly equally tall man, and your hands grasped the arm wrapped around your throat. „Ha, fuck you! And you don’t even need to try Katniss, if I fall, she falls too“, Thresh seemed to know his situation was hopeless, „fuck all of you! You four get to go home and have a nice life? How’s that fair? Why do you deserve that? I would have deserved that too, Rue would have deserved that, all of us would have!“ He wasn’t only speaking to you, he was looking at the sky and seemingly addressed the Capitol.

Katniss flinched a little when Rue was mentioned. „How about I snap your pretty little neck hm?“, he cackled and you were frozen in fear, „that’s what they want right? Drama, death and betrayal!“

„You don’t have to give them what they want“, you whispered, the other three still rooted in their spots, „you don’t have to be who they want you to be. If you don’t let them, they can’t take that from you.“

Thresh laughed, and then it turned into a sob. Suddenly, he let you go, pushing you forward roughly and Cato caught you in a tight grasp. You turned around just in time to see him raise three fingers to his tearstained face, holding them to his mouth and raising them into the air, before falling backwards and into the pack of monsters on the ground. And then he was screaming, before Katniss went forward and put him out of his misery with an arrow.

Then she raised her hand in the same gesture as he did, Peeta following suit and then you and Cato did too.

———————

You four had waited there for an hour, the pack was long gone and you knew you won the games. But there wasn’t anything happening, which worried you tremendously. When the sun started to rise, you decided to climb down and as soon as your feet hit the ground, the gamemakers spoke up.

„Attention, attention tributes. There has been a slight rule change. The previous revision allowing for four victors has been revoked. Only one victor may be crowned. Good luck. And may the odds be ever in your favor.“

The four of you stood in silence for a few moments, looking utterly defeated. „They have to have a victor“, you whispered, scared for what might happen now, because Katniss was still holding her bow and Catos grip on his sword was so thight his knuckles were white. Only you and Peeta looked at eachother with surrender.

„No“, Katniss said, throwing her bow down and pulling something out of her jacket. Nightlock berries. You recognized them from back home and from training. If you’d eat them you’d be dead before they reached your stomach. And you suspected what her idea was.

„We don’t have to give them a winner, why should we“, she locked eyes with you, and you nodded, looking up at Cato who was watching your reaction. He seemed to know what they were too. He held out his hand just like you. Fuck them. None of you would be happy if you went out of here a victor. Let the last thing you ever did be a big defiance against the Captiol.

„Together?“, Peeta asked Katniss, and Cato couldn’t help himself and pulled you in for one last kiss. He hated that you were going to die - he didn’t care about himself - but he knew you wouldn’t back down. And going together with the woman he loved seemed like a good way to go. And giving the gamemakers a big fuck you felt reassuring too.

Cato let you go and the four of you looked at eachother one last time, your hand tightly laced in Catos, and then Katniss gave a small nod. „One“, Peeta said, and you and Cato moved closer. „Two“, you whispered and looked into his blue eyes, memorizing the way he always made you feel. „Three“, Katniss said and you raised the berries to your mouth, ready to die, when you were interrupted.

„STOP! Stop! Ladies and Gentleman may I present the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games.“ Cato pulled you into his embrace immediately.

—————————

So this was part 2! And yes I know all four winning is as unrealistic as it might get, but I didn’t want to kill Katniss or Peeta and if I want to write another part, I need the normal revolution storyline. What do you think? Do you want another part?

I just tagged everyone asking for a part 2, I hope that’s alright it’s y’all!

@xplrcolbyy @riverlikethelake @l0stinth3nightsky @lisedanie @mysticdaisy21 @n1ght5h4d3-24 @inparanormal @hannahnikohl @worshiptheduck

[christinered]

U2 with Mick Jagger & Fergie: Gimme Shelter - Live from Madison Square G...

Top 30 Countdown Song # 11:  Gimmie Shelter

This song, as played as it is,  is still pure rock and roll running through your veins.

The opening lets you know that whatever is about to happen aint gonna be pretty.  

This is my favorite version of it live.  Bono is there but after Fergie comes out to wail those iconic words You forget that Bono is even on the stage. Chickie can “sang”.  

Fergie and Mick kick the shit out of this song and their chemistry is crazy.

Great rendition. ~Red

[whateverisbeautiful]

♥️ Ranking Richonne

✨TOP 30 Countdown✨

For those that love them like I love them - we gotta revel like we do best over two iconic characters that make up the best of the best TV couple, brought to life by two beyond incredible actors - Richonne 🙌🏽

The most reoccurring question I've got over the years is, "What's your favorite Richonne scene?" And years ago, I said I'd share a Top 30 scene ranking one day. In the past, I always used to time my posts as a sort of countdown to a TWD premiere or trailer etc. So when Rick and Michonne left TWD, I knew I'd share my Top 30 Richonne moments leading up to whenever they finally came back to us. And now at long last, we’re going to see Rick and Michonne Grimes' story continue and close out in what I know will be a really beautiful way.

Richonne is finally back, so it’s time to revel in a Top 30!

With just a month before their long-awaited return in the TOWL premiere, I want to journey down memory lane like old times and each day recap and reflect on the top 30 scenes that most make me love Richonne. 😊 (And you’d think 30 is a lot so it shouldn’t have been hard to make and rank this list...but it was. 😅 Their every moment is just so top-tier) Revisiting their scenes completely confirmed that Richonne never gets old because their love story is still as mesmerizing as ever. 🤩

Interestingly, the only scene on the list that never moved from its spot is my number one favorite moment. 😏 I’m excited to countdown and celebrate Richonne as we anticipate their return. And if you have anything you love about any of these top 30 scenes, I always adore hearing thoughts on Richonne, so I’d love to hear yours! I hope this daily list countdown brings just a bit of the joy that Richonne brings to us all. This should be fun 😌

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 30

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “Your vast, corrupt future is draining away as we speak.”

Number 30 is…Cole Phelps, from L.A. Noire.

While they will not be plentiful on this list, I do feel I need to give a shoutout to the video game detective concept. Mystery and crime-themed games have been around almost as long as video games have. This isn’t surprising: from Clue to murder mystery dinner parties, the idea of turning crime and detective work into an entertaining pastime has been around probably for as long as people have been playing games in general. Video games, in particular, allow the player to effectively become the main character of a story, and the idea of playing a detective is a fantasy many can understand.

“L.A. Noire” is one of my favorite detective-themed video games. Released in 2011 by Rockstar Games – most famous for the popular Grand Theft Auto franchise – L.A. Noire, as its title implies, is one gigantic homage to the “film noir” genre. It features various tropes and concepts found throughout many typical noir-style films, and while the game is in color, the use of said colors, and the way things are lit and shot, gives one the feeling of being in an old-school adventure comic, or perhaps a neo-noir movie along the lines of “Chinatown.” (You also CAN play the game with a black-and-white palette to match film noir of the older sort, so that’s definitely something worth mentioning.) The music is also very much in the vein of the style you would expect, with much emphasis on brass and woodwind, and lounge-style songs that fit the 1940s universe it presents.

The main character of the game is our current sleuth-of-the-day: Cole Phelps. The entire premise of the game is the player steering Cole along on his many cases as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. As the game goes on, Cole rises in the ranks, going from a simple beat cop to a major investigator. At the same time, the different cases Cole is forced to tackle begin to take on more and more significance, as Phelps uncovers a strange conspiracy, connected to multiple housefires, and goes on a quest to try and find the root of the corruption plaguing his city.

Cole is a pretty classic example of the noir-style detective, which is entirely the point. He’s a hard-nosed, sarcastic, suspicious gumshoe who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty to see true justice done. He absolutely despises corruption and injustice in all their forms, and fights against them with passionate zeal. While he is often impulsive and ready to fight when necessary, he’s also very intelligent: Phelps has a remarkable education, being very well-read and having knowledge of some other languages; at times his dialogue can be downright poetic in nature, owing to his intellectual side. It’s always interesting to have a character who has that kind of blend of being sophisticated in some places, and yet rugged in others, and Cole Phelps is a great example of that. I honestly feel really bad for not placing him higher on the countdown, but to be perfectly honest, when I think of detective characters in general, the name “Cole Phelps” just isn’t one of the first to pop into my head. So, based on that fact alone, it didn’t feel fair to me. But hey, he still makes it onto the countdown, at the very least.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 29!

CLUE: “I know what you’re thinking. I was thinking it, too.”

[weeklydoseoffeelgoodtunes]

December 30, 2023 (179)

Top 30

1. Galantis & Neon Trees- Dreamteam

2. Mae Muller- Me, Myself, & I

3. Arcángel & Grupo Frontera- ALV

4. Little Big & bbno$- IT HAPPENS

5. Fireboy DML- Oh My

6. Holly Humberstone- Into Your Room

7. Milky Chance- Feeling For You

8. Tyla- Water

9. PinkPantheress- Mosquito

10. Rema- Trouble Maker

11. The Killers- Your Side of Town

12. PinkPantheress & Central Cee- Nice to meet you

13. The Veronicas- Perfect

14. Hemlocke Springs- sever the blight

15. Cannons- Bad Tattoo

16. Dillon Francis & REI AMI-Rainy

17. The Last Dinner Party- Nothing Matters

18. iann dior- You Don’t Even

19. ENHYPEN- Sweet Venom

20. J. Balvin- Amigos

21. Two Door Cinema Club- Sure Enough

22. Crash Adams- Sugar Mommy

23. Kenny Mason- FACTS

24. Jack Harlow- Lovin On Me

25. Alan Walker & Daya- Heart Over Mind

26. Bebo Dumont- Ninguna **DEBUT**

27. Nissi & Fireboy DML- Nobody

28. Myles Smith- Solo **DEBUT**

29. Robot95 & Lucho SSJ- ICEY ICEY **DEBUT**

30. Fat Nick- Songs on the Radio

Close Calls

1. BIA- FALLBACK

2. Zae France & Dada- Whoa

3. KAROL G- QUE CHIMBA DE VIDA

4. The Knocks & Sofi Tucker- One On One

5. Fat Nick- Virgo Summer

[cissa-calls]

Countdown to Agatha: Darkhold Diaries: Day 671

Agatha: “Where’s my cloak? It’s cold out!”

Wanda: “Haven’t touched it!”

Y/N at the top of the stairs, wearing Agatha’s cloak, in a dramatic booming voice: “FOOLISH MORTALS! You stand beneath me both physically and in the natural order of the world!”

Agatha: “Not. Funny.”

Y/N: “BEHOLD! My great descent!”

Wanda: “Oh no”

Y/N: *sleds down the stairway on a garbage pail lid before getting caught in the cloak and tripping* “Did I die?”

Agatha: “Who cares, did you tear my cloak?!”

Wanda: “Did you break any bones?”

Y/N: “Give me 30 seconds for the adrenaline to wear off and then I’ll tell ya”

[toonyballoony]

My annual birthday comics countdown starts next week, so I wanted to properly announce up top that this will be the final year. Thanks for reading along all this time, whether you’ve been here since the Tumblr days or are just now hopping on the tradition train.

30 Until 30 will start June 5 and run until July 5th, updating in my IG stories/on my socials. In the meantime, if you want to read past years’ birthday comics, or more autobio shorts in general, you can check out my website and Patreon!

Here’s to the last days of my twenties! :’)