#wh what do you mean that’s not how awards work

[redreamie]

very fun watching the dreblr awards i hope everyone wins <3

[scar-lie]

Hi! Could you maybe do a heavy angst where reader found out that Nat is cheating but still go home to Nat cuz she have no one to go, and then maybe Nat realising but it's too late cuz reader is dead! Pleaseee and Thank you!

-L

Widow [Natasha]

I DO COMMISSION JUST DM ME FOR THE INFO

Summary : Everything is lifeless in Natasha's lifee

Pairing: Natasha Romamoff x Fem ! Reader

Warning : Cheating,

Word Count : 1,432

No one has permission to repost my work anywhere, if you see it let me know.

Everything seems blurry; every second passing by feels like eternity; the noises that surround her are getting muffled by the voices inside her head; and the scene in front of her feels like a dream, a nightmare that she fears in this world.

"Grand that our sister, Y/F/N, may sleep here in peace until you awaken her to glory, for you are the resurrection and the life. Then she will see you face to face and in your light will see the light and know—" Everything is suffocating: the people gather around for today's event; the sound of the rain with thunder; and the prayer from the priest in front of her.

It's all too much that she doesn't know how to feel—guilt, sadness, mourning, or disgust toward herself. She stopped listening to the people around her, but her mind kept running to the old days where everything seemed like a dream in their paradise but got tainted with horrifying blood.

It feels like she never gets to clean up her ledger after all.

(FEW MONTHS EARLIER)

Y/N's mind is messy; the scene she saw a few minutes ago can't seem to register in her head—or she just didn't want to believe it—and Y/N doesn't hear the car pulling up the driveway; she keeps stirring the dish she's cooking for dinner.

"Y/N?" Natasha shouts, panicking and worried about what's going to happen even though she already knows what's waiting for her, and as much as she hates to deal with it, she has to face it.

Natasha stopped seeing you steering something in the pot and focused on your thoughts, which made her hand sweat, so she slowly but cautiously walked to you.

"Y/N? Baby?" She whispers softly when she finally reaches the kitchen table, keeping the distance in case you don't want her near you.

"Y/N?" Natasha calls you out a bit louder, which makes her so anxious that she starts to pick her own skin on your hand.

You snapped out of her thoughts when you heard your name being called, and you know who the person is: Natasha, your wife for over 5 years now, the woman you love dearly.

You sighed and took a deep breath before you turned off the stove and turned around, trying to be as calm as possible and give her the warmest smile that you could.

"Oh, you're home; sorry I didn't hear you." You swallow the lump in your throat, trying to be as positive and unsuspisious as possible.

Natasha frowns at your acting; this isn't what she expects your reaction to be; she expects you to pack your stuff or rage at you; she expects you to shout at her, but she didn't push it and went to her plan and apologized to you.

"Y/N, I'm sorry, I swear it doesn't mean anything, I-I love you." Natasha softly begged, slowly walked toward you, and took your hands on hers.

"What are you sorry for?" This clearly caught Natasha off guard; she does know what was happening to you, whether you're pretending you didn't know or you truly don't know, and she can't read you; she doesn't know either way.

"The affair," Natasha simply said, playing it safe and trying to test you.

"What affairs, wh-what are you talking about?" If you're in the running for the Oscar for best actress, you're definitely winning the award.

"Are you having an affair?" You asked with knotted eyebrows and a questionable tone.

"Uhm.....no, sorry, just.....forget I said anything, okay?" Natasha quickly withdraws and kisses your forehead, hugging you tightly, afraid you will be gone.

She would rather lie to your face than lose you; she doesn't know if she will be in her right mind when you're finally gone, and she can't imagine the future without you.

"Dinner's ready; are you hungry?" You asked, tapping her bicep, and she nodded, then proceeded to kiss your face.

"Stop, please," you whisper and beg her, and she smiles and nods, letting you prepare the dining table while she goes upstairs and takes a quick shower.

You can't sleep or think straight; your mind is only focusing on what happened earlier. You look over your shoulder to your wife, who's sound asleep while her arm is wrapped around your waist.

You sigh, seeing her peacefully sleeping form behind you while you can't seem to find a little bit of tiredness in your body to fall asleep.

Your mind is filled with thoughts: how she held her, the way she touched her, kissed her, and pleasured her, the things she did to you, and the things you have done with her that she's now doing with another woman behind your back.

The promise you both held in front of the altar is now broken; her loyalty and faithfulness had been tainted with dark ink, which ruined your marriage.

The promise of in sickness and in health is on the edge of your marriage, but you decided against it; you chose to be silent and blind to her lies.

Even though she cheated on you, you can't leave because you have no one to run to, no place to stay but this house, no one to call but her, and no one to hold on to if you decide to break the marriage.

You risk everything to be with her; you lose your acting and modeling career; you turn around on your family; you push away your friends just to be with her; and now, you have no place to go; you have no one but yourself.

"Nat?" Natasha snapped out of her thoughts when Wanda tapped her shoulder, worried.

"Ye-yes?" Natasha whispers, looking up at her with a defeated face.

Everyone is already on their way home; do you want us to drive you off? "Wanda looked at her with sympathy while Natasha looked around to the darkish raining field and saw no one but her teammates, the Avengers, who dressed in all black with black umbrellas, looking to the both of them, waiting.

"Oh........uh, no, thank you. You all can drive back; I want to stay here." Natasha gave Wanda a sad smile and tapped her hand that was in Natasha's bicep.

"Are you sure? We don't want you to be alone." Natasha nodded at Wanda.

Ok," even though Wanda didn't want to leave her alone, she didn't push Natasha; instead, she pulled out her handkerchief and extended her hand to Natasha.

"Take this at least," Wanda said. Natasha looked down at the white handkerchief with a flowered design at the edges.

She swallowed the lump in her throat when she saw it. It's your handkerchief, one of your favorites; it's one from your mother, which is why you love it, but when Wanda joined the Avengers, you decided to give it to her as a welcome gift.

"Thank you," Natasha whispers, taking the handkerchief while her tears keep flowing down her cheeks.

"Call us if you need us." Wanda gives Natasha a smile and finally turns around to join the team and go home with them.

The team is worried for Natasha, especially Clint, when they see Wanda walk on her own, but they respect Natasha's decision and let her mourn.

The team didn't know what happened; you decided to keep it to yourself. When you decided to stay, not a single soul knew that you knew about the affair.

Natasha doesn't know what to feel; she doesn't know what is the right thing to do; she feels guilty and disgusted for having an affair; she's sad that she missed the last few months of her life with you when she was busy somewhere else; and she's mourning the loss of her love, her greatest love.

You're her life, the sun in her dark and rainy days, the rainbow in her sky, and her nature in her land; without you, she will be nothing, a useless woman who seeks her lover's embrace; she will never be Natasha Romanoff without you in her arms; she'll go crazy if ever so

Now she's soaked from standing alone in a cold, rainy cemetery, standing in front of your newly fresh grave in all black, her umbrella long forgotten that she dropped, crying silently while looking at the dirt in front of her, a nightmare that she didn't expect so soon to come true.

She's now living under her own name as a Widow.

[trashmouth-richie]

WE’RE THE LAST IN LINE: PART 6

Eddie x female! Reader

Modern AU

W.C 2.3k

Warning: no minors, fluff

masterlist

It had been a week since Chrissy graced you both with her presence and Eddie’s phone wasn’t blowing up at all. He was suspicious, rendering himself crazy into thinking that she just disappeared. She would never. But he put a brave face on for you. Anything to see you happy was more than enough for him. He wanted to take things slow, afraid you would get freaked out eventually by the shit that happened with Chrissy and what had originally brought you two together, Jason. You were special to him, meant more to him than anyone currently in his life. And he wanted you to be a part of it. Whatever that may mean for you. But for now— he was going to take it slow.

Monday and Wednesday he showed up to your apartment with an iced coffee, and a lemon poppy seed muffin at 6 AM. Sleep still stuck in your eyes, hair a complete disaster but Eddie thought you never looked prettier. Leaving you with a kiss on your forehead and a wink as he left to head into the shop. He would text you every morning around the time you got to work, telling you good morning and wishing you had a nice day at work. Tuesday and Thursday he had stopped by your work to eat lunch with you. Bringing sandwiches and chips from the new modern sandwich shack on Main Street, making you laugh as you wiped mayo from his chin. You loved his thoughtfulness, yearning for more from him.

He had made it a habit to stop over after he got off work, apologizing profusely for when it was late. He never overstayed his welcome, just popped in and out, leaving you with the tightest hug anyone could have given you and the world’s most award winning smile.

The kiss you had shared the week prior was sweet as sugar, a light at the end of the tunnel after a complete shit filled day wracked with a confession of his horrible past and the decaying face of his ex. It was everything you had needed in that moment in time, but you were craving more.

“You okay?” He asks, rubbing your back one night as he gives you his usual hug goodbye. His lips pressed against your hair as you rested your head on his chest, breathing him in, not wanting to let go.

“Eddie, do you like me?”

A chuckle reverberates against his throat, “what do you mean sweetheart?”

Pulling away from him and looking into his smoky brown eyes you say, “I mean, do you like me? Or did I do something to turn you off from me?”

Eddie’s eyes water to empathetic, “God no, I — the things that happened to us—to you, how we met, it’s a—”

“I get it. It’s fine..” you say, pulling away from him. Wrapping your arms around yourself and turning your back to him. You can’t help when the tears begin to fall. “I just thought that you, that we were I don’t know… on the same page?”

Was he scared? Afraid that you didn’t want him? Didn’t need him? Afraid that you had a glimpse of his everyday life and decided that it wasn’t for you?

“Sweetheart,” Eddie said, turning you around, placing his hands on your cheeks, skimming away your tears with the pads of his thumbs. “I like you so much it melts my brain whenever I think of you. I’m just—trying not to come on too strong, I don’t want to scare you away.”

“Wh— Eddie?”

“You have been through a lot, and I didn’t want to overstep your boundaries and make you uncomfortable. What happened last week was…insane, we talked about it but I guess we never talked about how you felt about it.”

Your mind plagues over with the sagging flesh of Chrissy’s face. You would be lying if you said you weren’t terrified at times, waking in the night with skin slicked with sweat, hair matted to your neck. But that wasn’t Eddie’s fault, he can’t help what his ex is like, it’s not like he is that way. Eddie is sweet and kind, a perfect gentleman. Not to mention hotter than the seven layers of hell themselves.

“I was serious when I said that nothing in your past could deter me away from you. Those are things that happened to you, not things you had control over. I—you, you saved me! Who knows what J—he— would have done if you weren’t there that night. You didn’t even know me but you jumped right into helping me. Talking to Hopper, calling our building manager to get the security footage— Eddie you are the most amazing person I’ve ever met.” You’re full on crying now, using the sleeve of your hoodie to wipe at your tears. His eyes are full, taking you in, heart aching for you.

He leans in, caressing your cheek against his rough hands. “I’m sorry, you doubted how I felt, let me make it up to you.”

Friday was a normal day at work, a few clients today nothing spectacular, a couple of piercings, and Pete had a giant back piece to finish. You were sitting at the reception desk answering a customer’s question about placement for a nose ring when in walked a giant order of white roses, clad with orange and black balloons and a gorgeous basket filled with enough candy and shooters to make a dentist wince. You blushed hard as the delivery driver handed them over to you. The card was shoved tight into the center of the roses.

“Talked to Pete and I got you off work at 12, be ready at 2 for a date, see you soon pretty girl -Eddie”

Your heart sang with the sweet melody of Eddie Munson. He was gentle and sweet and everything you could ever ask for. You were giddy as you piled the balloons and roses into your car and sped home. It was the perfect day outside, a warmer day for the end of October, the autumn foliage blazing against the sky as the leaves clung for dear life to the windy branches against a cerulean sky.

This was the first official date for you and Eddie, technically the 30 seconds of the movie night that you enjoyed before Chrissy bombarded his apartment was your first date but you wouldn’t be counting that.

Like clockwork, a knock on your door at 2PM could only be one person. That damn grin. You swear he gets better looking by the second. “There she is,” Eddie murmurs, “girl of my dreams.”

You reach out to him and pull him into a hug, your hands wrapped around his neck as you stretch for more of him on your tippy toes. He smells like a new cologne, an amber moss with notes of citrus and bergamot. He’s wearing a black and gray flannel, pushed up tight around his bulging arms. His large hands wrap around the small of your back, pressing you flush with his body, He feels so good, warm and holding you tight, his hair tickling your ears.

“I missed you,” he admits, “that’s not weird is it? I mean I literally saw you last night.”

You chuckle and pull away from him planting a kiss on his plump lips, “definitely not weird, thank you for the roses. They’re beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful,” he says, stroking your cheek. “Not sure if you know this, but I’m a stuttering blubbering mess when you’re around.”

“Yeah I’ve noticed—“ Eddie’s face blushes to crimson, “And I think it’s super cute that the hottest guy I’ve ever seen gets flustered when he tries to flirt with me.” A smile spreads across your lips.

“The hottest guy huh?” Eddie says behind his curtain of brown curls.

“Duh! Do you own a mirror?” You tease, “you are so handsome I used to stare unapologetically whenever you came into Ace of Spades. Then I get to know you and you’re funny, and kind…sexy.”

“Jeez baby keep it in your pants, I’m a good christian boy here.” He says, swooping you low into a backwards dip and kissing your lips. “I noticed you too by the way,” standing you upright again and holding you close, murmuring into your hair, “just too awkward and in my own head to make the first move.”

“You awkward?” You tease, “no way.”

Eddie tickles your sides, fingers curled into your ribs and by your neck, you’re giggling and trying to get away from him and he’s laughing too. “Alright! You win!” You say breathless and wrapping your arms around his neck.

He brushes hair behind your ear and holds your back tight against him. “In more ways than you know, sweetheart.”

“So where are we going?” You asked from the passenger seat of Eddie’s 4Runner, a ridiculous amount of little trees in the scent Black Ice hung from the review mirror as Metallica blared through the speakers.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.” Eddie smirks, flashing his pearly whites.

Pulling up to Merrill’s Pumpkin Patch n’ More, Eddie has a giant grin splattered on his face. “I’ve always wanted to come here, but figured it would be weird going by myself…nobody wants to see a grown man go down the giant slide by himself.”

“Probably think he’s some sort of a creep,” you tease, “or maybe a serial killer?”

“Ooh that’s festive, very in the spirit of Halloween.”

Merrill’s was bigger than you had expected it to be. Like most things in Hawkins, it was staple in the 80’s, sort of dwindled down to almost being closed but nothing a few hipsters with an impressive amount of followers on instagram couldn’t fix. The rustic vibes had people driving all the way from the city just to get a taste of nostalgia in this worn down, weathered but also now modern, establishment. Spreading along for acres were orange spheres of every shape and size. Even the ones that were different colors, muted greens, Cinderella blue, alabaster, and coal black. There was an apple orchard on the east side where you could pick your own apples, a giant Cider Mill on the north side that doubled as an eatery and a place with home brewed apple ale. A corn maze stretching over 10 acres, where the winner could win tickets to the movie theater and a freshly made apple or pumpkin pie. Activities for the kids included: the giant slide, corn pit, pumpkin painting, pumpkin carving, you name it—Merrill’s had it.

“Eddie this is fantastic!” You say, crunching into a caramel apple, “seriously, the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.”

He’s pulling orange tufts of sugary cotton candy out of his hair, he licks his fingers and takes a bite of his foot long corn dog. “Right? It’s like every enjoyable thing about summer minus the heat!”

You were having the best time, it’s so easy spending time with Eddie, he made you laugh any chance he got. He held your hand all the way through the corn maze, swearing he knew the way out only for you to be in the maze for over 2 hours and very, very lost. His tongue poked out when he was concentrating carving his pumpkin, a flight of bats, as you carved ghost face. He dunked his entire head in the barrel while bobbing for apples, leaving his head sopping wet, and shaking his hair like a dog would to try to dry it out. He was chaotic and sweet, caring but also didn’t give a shit what anyone had thought of him. He was perfect in every way.

“Did you have fun? Eddie asked lugging a wagon full of pumpkins of every color Merrill’s had to offer behind him.

“Are you kidding? Hands down the most fun I’ve had in Hawkins, ever.”

You’re carrying two pies, because Eddie couldn’t decide which one he wanted but didn’t want to leave one out. A gallon of cider in one hand in the wagon handle in his other hand he smiles, “I’m glad you agreed to come with me.”

You turn your head to look at him, winking as you say, “I’m glad you finally asked.”

Loading up the back of his 4Runner you slide the last of the pumpkins in. Eddie leans back against the them, bringing you between his legs, holding your hands, rubbing the knuckles with the pads of his thumbs. “I’m— I’m not very good at this. I’m super awkward and I get flustered whenever I’m around you,” his tongue sweeps over his bottom lip as he looks into your eyes—two orbs of melted chocolate dripping with happiness, “I haven’t dated anyone since— and I’m not even sure if I’m doing this right…you’re beautiful and sassy and I care about you more than you could ever understand,” tears prick the corners of your eyes, “I would really love, if we took this to the next step, and you would be my girlfriend.”

This gorgeous man. God he would be the death of you. You lean forward and plant your lips on his, deepening the kiss by running your hands through his curls, your tongue slipping inside his mouth, dancing with his. “I take that as a yes.” Eddie purrs into your neck. You hold eachother for what seems like hours. Taking eachother in for everything you’re worth.

“So this is it huh? Fancy fuckin’ broad ain’t she?”

“Shh, there’s cameras all over this building— that’s how they caught Jason.”

“They caught Jason because he’s sloppy— couldn’t even wait til she opened the door… rookie mistake.”

“Quiet, this will be trickier than normal… Fred is right, this place is loaded with cameras and high tech shit, I had to see what we were dealing with.”

“That why you made a little surprise visit last week?”

“Yup, Jason told me she was his neighbor but I didn’t know where— thankfully he was able to swipe her file from HR before they fired him… see you soon princess.”

—

Taglist: Taglist: @boomhauer @sidthedollface2 @b-irock @creoleguurl @tlclick73 @manda-panda-monium @audhd-dragonaut @emxxblog @jadequeen88 @edsforehead @quinnsgrapejuice @idkidknemore @bebe0701 @mandyjo8719 @chelebelletx @big-ope-vibes @e0509 @itsasilentreader @adequate-superstar @bpj519 @eddiemunsons-world @aysheashea @chonkzombie @vecnuthy @eddiethesexy @foreveranexpatsposts @makeupqueen89-blog @brittanyyydamnit @itsasilentreader @danielasspiritualjourney

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

29, with the illogical husbands maybe?

<3

Prompt 29: "don't play dumb, you know what i want." "spell it out for me, baby."

It still feels weird to write Illogical Husbands, but... okey-dokey.

On with the fic!

--

Bill could feel the cold, angry glare of his husband's eyes on him from the doorway. He knew he had pissed Alec off somehow, however...

He wasn't sure what it was he had done.

He hadn't forgotten any important dates, Betty or Daisy would have told him, same with Ellie. He hadn't done anything terrible in public, as far as he was aware, and he had taken their cat, Minnie, to her appointment, having remembered it this time.

What was the problem? Alec had been giving him looks for the past few days, and yet he hadn't said what it was. What was the problem!?

He sighed loudly, saving the file he had opened on his laptop before spinning around in his chair. "What?" He asked, his tone blunt.

"Nothing." Alec replied with an air of nonchalance, but the glare was still there.

"It's not nothing, what's the problem?"

"Never said there was a problem."

"Uh. Yes. There is. We've been married for two years now, and we've known each other for longer, I know when you're mad at me."

"Never said I was."

Bill groaned, running a hand through his hair. "You are! You clearly are mad at me, what did I do this time!?"

Alec's stare was harder now, and his posture was stiffer, he was defensive now, waiting for Bill to figure it out. When Bill couldn't figure it out, Alec sighed loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's not that hard to figure out what I've been wanting, Bill."

"... Sex?"

"Wh- no! That's-! Come on!" He slapped his forehead. "It's not that, it's something else, something important that you haven't asked yet!"

"And what is that?"

"Don't play dumb, you know what I want."

"Spell it out for me, baby." Bill practically exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I want you to ask me to come with you to your next awards dinner, you idiot!"

Bill paused, blinking. "W-what?"

Alec shifted, leaning against the doorway. "I saw the invite on your desk the other day, it said for you to bring a plus one. I... you've never invited me to one of these events before, you always told me I wouldn't like them. I mean, of course, you know how I am around crowds and strangers, but... it would be nice if you had asked anyway. Can't a man support his award-winning husband once in a while?"

The doctor sat there, feeling guilty. He glanced at the invitation, still sitting open where he had left it. He knew that Alec wasn't a people person, and was always awkward around strangers unless if it was for work, where he could hide behind professionalism. He hadn't bothered to ask because he knew that Alec would say no, but if this had been bothering his husband so much, did it mean he wanted to come? For support?

"I... I'm sorry, dear." He got up from his chair and walked across the home office, taking Alec's hand. "I just assumed you'd say no."

"It'd still be nice if you'd ask anyway, what if I changed my mind?"

"Have you?"

Alec's face pinched for a second. "Kind of, mostly out of spite, but I'd still like to go if you ask me."

Bill smiled, just a little. "Well, here's me asking. Would you like to come with me as my plus one?"

"Yeah, but only this once." Alec replied and Bill let out an amused huff.

[cookies-are-nice]

Catalyst

Content : Mikey x Sachiko(OC), typical tokro revengers shananigans

Notes : English is not my first language and there are probably a lot of mistakes in here :'D. Also, I need to stress how cringe the first part of the story is but trust me, my writing gets better as you read😭

Chapter 1 : Rose of Tokyo

-ˋˏ ❀。* ✿˚* ੈ ‧₊*❈꧁🥀꧂❈ * ੈ‧₊ *₊° ❀ ˎˊ-

"Have you guys heard of the 'Rose of Tokyo'?" Akkun asked with hesitance.

"What kind of name is that?" Makoto asked mockingly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHO?! THE GIRL WHO SAVED COUNTLESS OF OTHER WOMEN FROM BEING HARRASSED?! THE GIRL WHO IS RUMORED TO HAVE THE SKILL OF TOMAN'S LEADER?! THE GIRL WHO CAN KICK ASS?! THE GIRL WH-"

"OK, WE GET IT" Yamagishi was quickly cut off by Takemichi.

Despite that, he continued, "You are a disgrace to the brotherhood for not knowing that such a badass delinquentress existed."

"You are one annoying fanboy"

*GASPS* "HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY WORK YOU LITTLE-"

Yamagishi and Makoto get up to square up with each other, while the others continue to chill at the park.

*Sigh* "Those two are so annoying,"

Takemichi chuckles.

"But why did you ask us about her?"

"Oh, I want to know who she was."

"Akkun? I didn't know you were a fan"

"What no! I just wanted to thank her in person for helping my sister get out of trouble yesterday,"

"why can't you just find her and tell her,"

"she always runs away when someone tries to talk with her,"

"oh I see"

"WAIT, did you think WE of all people knew?"

"I thought Yamagishi would've found out by now."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

He yelled from a distance.

"WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD KNOW WHO SHE IS BY NOW SINCE YOU'RE SUCH A SIMP!"

"OH, YOU WANNA FIGHT?!"

"BRING IT ON FANBOY!"

Akkun left Takemichi and joined in on the fight.

<what a hypocrite>

Takemichi thought to himself as he glanced at the time displayed on his phone.

"Uh, I have to leave now, it's about to be dinner time."

His friends whined in disappointment. They bid farewell and Takemichi headed home. After walking for a while, he finally reached home. He swung open the door, threw his bag on their broad couch and rushed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Emerging from his room after showering, he walked toward the sofa and flopped on it face down, not even making an effort to complete his schoolwork. Suddenly, he heard the house door being unlocked.

"TAKEMICHI IM HOME"

"Oh hi sis"

Sachiko comes in with some kfc that she bought for dinner.

"KFC?!"

"You got a 67% on your Math exam so I figured you should have a reward"

<I really shouldn't award him for this but oh well>

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!"

Takemichi exclaimed as he grabbed the bag of the finger-lickin' good fried chicken and dug in. While enjoying their dinner, Takemichi suddenly brought up a question.

"hey sis, have you heard of 'tokyo rose'?"

"...what"

"or something like that I probably messed up the name,"

"OH, you mean 'Rose of Tokyo' ? The one who goes around saving girls from getting harassed or something?"

"Why does everyone know who she is?"

"cause she showed up like 1 month ago I think."

<1 month 2 weeks and 4 days>

"oh really? I only found out about her recently, "

"huh, I didn't expect that from you, Takemichi,"

"what do you mean?"

"Oh cmon you know what I mean!"

'Wha- OH DONT THINK OF ME THAT WAY!"

"IT'S HARD NOT TO IF YOU'D HIDE THOSE MAGAZINES BETTER THEN MAYBE I WOULDN'T! "

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH STOP TALKING ABOUT THAT! "

"..."

An awkward silence filled the room—that was until Sachiko started eating again, Takemichi followed, not making eye contact.

"So uhm why did you ask me about her?"

<damn this feels like déjà vu>

"uh Akkun wanted to thank the girl for helping her sister"

"She already thanked m....." She mumbled then slowly trailed off.

"What?"

"O-oh I was saying his sister probably already thanked the girl"

"He wanted to thank the girl formally, "

"She really doesn't want it, I mean she doesn't do what she does for something in return, she does it because she wants to help out. Plus, she'd feel way too bad if she hadn't interfered with the situation."

"wait a minute"

<SH*T I SAID TOO MUCH>

"How do you know that much about her?"

"ARE YOU-*GASP*"

"UHM NO I'M NOT IT'S JUST THAT I-"

"ARE YOU SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH HER?! I MEAN YOU AND HER HAVE 'ROSE IN YOUR NAMES AND-" "I'm throwing you out of the house"

"NO WAIT-"

Sachiko jokingly forces Takemichi out of the house and smiles to herself thinking how lucky she is to have a brother this stupid. But he was right about one thing, she really needed to be careful when letting rumours about her spread.

more notes: AHHH THAT WAS SO CRINGE. I'm so sorry😭😭 I wrote that shi a year ago. I promise the next chapters will be better🤞

[house-of-slayterr]

Watchmen Incorrect Quotes:

@rorschach-thumbtack

Fang , at an awards show: Well, first of all, I’d like to thank Rorschach, the love of my life, for telling me Thumbtack was going to win so don’t bother to prepare a speech.

Rorschach: What’s it like being tall?

Rorschach: Is it nice?

Rorschach: Can you reach comfortably for the cupboards?

Thumbtack : We live in constant fear of the short ones who, in my experience, will climb 4 chairs, 2 boxes, a small coffee table and 6 oddly placed stools to get what they want.

Fang : It was one time!

Rorschach: I have locked Thumbtack in a cage designed by their own art. Oh, they have been well and truly hoist by their own petard.

Fang : Could you put it another way? I didn’t understand a word of that.

Rorschach: I’m blackmailing them.

Fang : Oh, happy days.

Dan : Hey, no, you stay out of this, this is between me and Silk !

Thumbtack : So Silk knows about this?

Dan , walking away: No, this is between me and me!

Dan : The best part of an oreo is the cookie part, not the frosting. Deal with it.

Fang : Darkness without light is an abyss. Light without darkness is blinding. You cannot have a coin with one side.

Rorschach: YO SOCRATES! IT'S A FUCKING COOKIE!

Fang : Silk, get that hidious thing out of the living room, would you?

Silk: Dan , Fang wants you to get out of the house.

Fang : What are you getting Thumbtack for the holidays?

Dan : I don't know. It's kind of hard buying a gift for your partner when they already got everything they could've ever wanted when they married you. So I'm not sure yet.

Ozymandias : I'm getting Thumbtack a divorce lawyer.

Fang : You know guys, sometimes I feel like Ozymandias doesn't take me seriously enough.

Thumbtack : "Sometimes"?

Dan : "Enough"?

Fang :

Dan : Change that to 'at all' and we'll talk.

Fang : For self defense reasons, I'm going to pretend to be a burglar and you guys have to act wisely.

Rorschach , Thumbtack , & Ozymandias : Okay.

Fang : If you don't want to die, give me all your money.

Rorschach : Bold of you to assume I have money.

Thumbtack : Bold of you to assume I don't want to die.

Ozymandias : Bold of you to assume I can die.

Silk : What’s wrong? You look 10 seconds away from ripping someone’s throat out.

Ozymandias : Fucking Fang and Thumbtack were trying to invoke one of the minor gods again last night. I didn't get an ounce of sleep, thanks to their bloody chanting.

*Casually in the Middle of a High Stakes/Dangerous Situation*

Fang : How do you eat pickles?

Thumbtack : What do you mean?

Fang : I mean, there's a whole process. It's not like you can grab them from the jar with your hand, because it's cold and the juice burns if you have a cut, plus, it's pretty unsanitary. And you can't use a spoon because you'll have to scoop it out, and it'll be way too difficult to grab more than three or four without taking 10 minutes along with half the brine in the jar, even if it's one with holes.

Thumbtack : Yeah, that's why you use a fork.

Fang : Okay, sure, but what if you don't have one of the big ones clean? It's weird to use a small one. But there is always one of those smaller sharp knives clean.

Thumbtack : But the straight edge doesn't really fit the cylindrical shape, and you have to make sure you don' t break it, it's too much work.

Fang : It makes me feel like I deserve the pickles though. Like, "Yeah, I did it. That's right. Good job me." It's empowering. But even after that, it's not like you can use a bowl.

Thumbtack : I get that, it's not ascetically pleasing.

Fang : Exactly! And it looks weird if you don't entirely fill the bowl, but you also can't eat that many. My solution: Use a mug.

Thumbtack : *Nods in agreement*

Ozymandias : That is all very interesting, BUT WE'RE TRYING NOT TO DIE RIGHT NOW! USE YOUR LIMITED ATTENTION SPANS AND FOCUS!

Fang : Jeez, okay.

Thumbtack : Quit yelling at us already.

Thumbtack : Are you reading fan fiction?

Fang , reading an article about extremely rare diseases: Wh- No.

Thumbtack : Oh, is it on AO3?

Fang : This is CNN.

Fang : Thumbtack , I beg of you. Please, PLEASE go to the doctor.

Thumbtack : Hey, I'm sorry. Is this OUR stab wound?

Dan : *seductively takes off glasses*

Dan : Wow...

Silk : *blushes* Haha... what?

Dan : You're really fucking blurry.

Rorschach : Dan and I are so close we even share a toothbrush.

Dan : We what?

Fang : Pfft, you should meet Comedian , they're such a tsundere.

Thumbtack : They... they just stabbed you.

Fang : So cute.

Thumbtack : Isn't it weird that people kill mosquitoes just because they're annoying?

Fang : Damn, if people did that to each other, Comedian would've killed me years ago.

Ozymandius : We’re kind of missing something guys.

Comedian : Cohesion?

Rorschach : Teamwork?

Dan : A general sense of what we’re doing?

Thumbtack : And Fang is not here.

Comedian : Oh, and that, yeah.

Comedian : If you put 'violently' in front of anything to describe your action, it becomes funnier.

Comedian : Violently practices.

Fang : Violently studies.

Thumbtack : Violently sleeps.

Dan : Violently shoots pictures.

Ozymandius : Violently boxes.

Rorschach : Violently murders people.

Thumbtack : Violently worries about the previous statement.

An: all of these are accurate, change my mind!

[artg210-donovanle]

Summary #3

Design can happen anywhere. Imagine a world where graphic designers didn’t exist, the world will continue without it, but it’ll lack the colours and communication that gives the buildings and companies the strength to survive. There are times where graphic designers do need to play a role but might not work the way planners and architects want it to be. If the design can be easily legible, it becomes functional over decoration.

            The manifesto talks about two different sides of a divided mindset. Some are considerate, advisory, truthful, thoughtful, fortunate, or informative. All these topics/sentences give the viewer a sense of critical thinking about the world and how they see it from their perspective of what’s right and what’s wrong. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. You can’t rely on the world doing it, act on it.

            These three steps aren’t just limited to professional designers, but anyone who becomes a designer. Why say no when you can say yes to take an awarding risk? Why wait for a positive change when you can act and be heard from? While it may be an exercise to design sometime beautiful, the limit is what you can accomplish within your skill level.

Staying true to your profession means that you are committed to the challenges that you’ll face as a designer. Staying true to yourself means that you know what is right and making the judgment call of creating a professional ethics for you and others.  Repairing the world is a priority for graphic designers as there are close to 2 million designers in the world. These designers can do something on their part to make the world a better place, and it’s not too late for it yet. Time is precious and it’s waiting for the next best thing someday.

            When it comes to registered graphic designers and certified graphic designers, they are committed to the highest standards in ethical practice when working for a client and be a service provider for the public. There are responsibilities to the profession of a designer that has reasoning to either accept or decline a project if acceptable, or unfairly criticize/exploit a designer’s work that may damage the reputation. Because this goes beyond the designer, clients, and employers’ point of view. Society and the environment itself also have its responsibilities as becoming economically friendly, using non-copyrighted material, time management, and striving to educate others about the work that is put towards a design. Having all that experience can help in the long run and can be extremely valuable.

            When it comes to approaching a design problem, we need to be informed, aware, and influenced by the impacts of our material choices that may affect our planet and ourselves. This is where system thinking comes in as an emerging concept. There’s more to the eye when it comes to audience relationships, boundaries, and values as going past the printer, paper, or mobile app can make the idea more visually clear to the targeted audience.

             A way to better visualize the system is by going through an ecological food chain. Something that goes along the lines of ‘The Hawk, the Squirrel, and the Oak Tree’. They are interconnected, interdependent, and sustainable without the humans around. This food chain analogy also applies to graphic design; when the impacts and decisions on the world becomes clear, it prevents carbon emissions, keeps jobs in the community, and saving animals.

            Another visual example is the logging industry, the flow chart of logging is having equipment to cut down trees, machinery to be manufactured requires natural resources, natural resources need to be mined or purchased which are recycled, shipped, processed, and all to a warehouse. All this effort takes energy, resources, money, and people. This flow chart also applies to graphic design since a normal human may not realize the entire process is a lot bigger than what’s visible at first glance.

            An inverted pyramid model is also a good design process to follow as the most time-consuming process would be the first step, the research and brainstorming, and goes to idealization, refinement, and delivery taking the less amount of time. It helps you understand the relationship between each element and gives a clear path to a project goal. Moving forward, we as designers need to be better at understanding and embracing how the biological state of the planet operates. Making decisions to reduce impact is a good thing, but we need to repair what’s been damaged from our actions. It’s why we need to go outside, get inspired, and change the world.

            Dieter Rams made 10 brief overviews on why good design is a good design. I have seen innovative, aesthetically, long-lasting, little design as possible styled logos throughout my life. I have seen these principles being applied to the most iconic logos and have inspired designers to follow those principles in making a successful logo.

Take-away Statements:

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Long-lasting is a good design.

A flow chart can become a design process system.

Ecological decisions lead to good intentions.

Designers are not to decorate; they are for legible reading.

[mindofharry]

I want you to love me

IN WHICH, Y/N performs at coachella with Harry and no one knows they’re in a relationship. I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS TO MEET FAMOUS Y/N!!! she is everything to me <3 please reblog and leave feedback, it means so much to me!!! enjoy! :-)

✧ ✧ ✧

Y/N and Harry met at the 2021 Grammys. Harry had won his award and was over the moon, absolutely ecstatic. Y/N was at the table beside him, her manager and best friend squeezing her hand because she knew the next category was coming up — which Y/N was nominated for. Y/N had “blown up” over the quarantine. She uploaded a video to tiktok as a joke and here she was a year later, at the Grammys. Once she was signed on to a record and had a team, they immediately had her releasing songs and at the end of 2020, she released an album called ‘I want you to love me’, it was a mixture of indie rock and indie folk and people really resonated with her work.

Harry had watched videos of Y/N and actually bought the album on apple music so he could listen to it whenever he wanted to. Considering this was her first album, she was doing pretty well. And god, is she beautiful. Harry had harboured a sort of crush on the new artist, which Jeff constantly teases him about. But it’s not just how beautiful she is that has him blushing at the thought of her, but how insanely talented and haunting Y/N L/N is.

“Whatever happens, I’m so proud of you,” Veronica, Y/N’s assistant said. Y/N nodded, smiling underneath her mask. She was just so grateful that she even got to be here, that was thought of for this award.

Harry watched Y/N like a hawk as they went through the nominees. He secretly crossed his fingers and hoped, Y/N got what she deserved.

“And the winner of the new artist grammy is…….” Billie Eilish paused opening the letter, she smiled when she saw the name written.

“Y/N L/N!”

Y/N’s ears filled with claps and hoots, a whistle from Harry Styles. Veronica giggled and held onto her tightly. She was in complete shock and didn’t know what to do or where to look. Y/N’s eyes filled with water as she laughed walking up the stage to take the Grammy off of Billie Eilish. She squeezed Billie’s hand and then took of her mask, looking down at her award.

“Wow,” She said, breathing out a sigh and tear rolling down her cheek. “Thank you so much. To everyone that believed in me, took a chance on a little nobody from new york, I love and thank you. I can’t—“ She paused biting her lip, “I can’t believe I’m actually holding this! Again, thank you. Look at me, mama! I made it,” She cheered, walking off the stage.

Her ears were still ringing when sat back down and fully sobbed into Veronica’s shoulder.

“Hey! Congrats!” A voice said from beside Y/N. Harry was leaning over, a bit tipsy. His cheeks were flushed and his curls were all over the place — Y/N blushed at the thoughts of running her hands through them.

“Thank you so much,” She said, blushing furiously. Harry pulled a chair beside her and watched her intently.

“I listened to your album on repeat. So fucking good,” Harry said, Y/N felt like her face was on fire — thank God for masks.

“Stop! Fine Line is one of the best albums I’ve ever heard,” Y/N said, turning her body towards him. He raised an eyebrow, “One of?” He asked and Y/N inched towards him.

“I mean, Fleetwood Mac, Rumours has got to be one of the best,” Y/N said and Harry nodded agreeing.

Since then, they exchanged numbers and texted everyday. They met up secretly at the studio and were practically inseparable.

“You know some friends and I are quarantining together,” Harry said, placing a hand on Y/N’s leg. Y/N hummed, writing down some lyrics that were jumbled in her mind.

“They’re producers and great musicians…. Maybe you’d like to stay with us for a bit?” Harry asked and Y/N blushed and hid her face away from Harry.

“Hey, show me your face, bunny,” Harry pouted, taking the notebook away from her.

“I’d like to stay with you, Harry,” Y/N whispered, Harry moved on top of her his gaze on her lips.

“Really?”

She hummed, “Yes. I’d like that very much,”

Harry crashed his lips into hers, causing Y/N to involuntarily moan. Harry smirked against her lips, placing a hand on her hip, while Y/N’s hands went straight to Harry’s curls. She remembered at the Grammys wanting to run her hands through them and pull at the ends of it. She was finally getting to do that. Harry pulled away from Y/N’s lips and travelled down her neck, leaving a burning trail of kisses behind. Harry’s hands had a mind of their own, squeezing anything and everything. In a quick movement, Y/N moved Harry under her so she was sitting on his lap. Harry looked up at her and breathed her in.

“Are we doing this?” He asked, squeezing her ass cheeks. Y/N moved against him, nodding.

“Oh yeah, we’re doing this,”

Y/N bent down and kissed Harry with all her might, Harry pulled at her shirt, tearing it off her body making Y/N gasp. Her bare breasts were on show and Harry just wanted to suck on them, so he did. He started licking at her nipples, Y/N moaned at the feeling of his warm mouth on her tits.

“These are my tits, right? My pussy too,” Harry asked, Y/N nodded quickly.

“All yours, Harry. All fucking yours,”

Harry tugged off his own shirt and pants, leaving him bare. Quickly, Y/N pushed down her skirt and panties leaving them both naked. Y/N eyes wandered down his body to see his cock, huge and red just waiting for her.

“Fuck,” She moaned, as Harry pulled her back against him.

Harry pushed her down on the couch, leaving a trail of saliva on her stomach as his tongue traveled down to her drenched pussy. He spread her legs, kissing the inside of her thighs and smelling her arousal.

“What do you want?” Harry asked, his breath hitting off of her sex.

“Need your cock,” She moaned, Harry nodded.

“I’ll give you whatever you want, baby,”

✧ ✧ ✧

Months had past and Y/N and Harry fell more in love with each other. They quarantined together for awhile, then went back to their own homes as they wrote new songs and facetimed constantly. They were able to enjoy their relationship without feeling the pressure of fans and paparazzi. They still don’t know how their relationship hasn’t been leaked — because they haven’t been super careful.

Last week Harry accidentally kissed Y/N goodbye in public, but luckily no one caught them and Y/N had a good laugh at Harry’s panic. Not that he was embarrassed, but he just didn’t want Y/N to be overwhelmed, especially now that they both have albums being released soon.

Harry’s Home was something so special to Harry. Not only because it was his third album, but because the songs were about or written by his love and light, Y/N. It was a pretty special thing to write songs with your partner and see the way they work. And the way Y/N worked was magical. Y/N is releasing her second album and she’s so proud of the work she’s done with this. Harry helped her immensely with writing and introducing her to great musicians in the industry. Harry Styles knew his shit.

Y/N named her album, Punisher and her the song she’ll sing with Harry is moon song — they wrote that one together after going through the same thing in relationships.

“I want you there with me,” Harry said referring the coachella, as they lay in bed together. Harry practically lived in her LA home, but Y/N wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Of course I’ll come with you! Gotta support my man,” She teased pecking his lips.

“No, I want you there. On stage with me,” Harry said and Y/N froze.

“Harry…”

“Please. I need you,”

So Y/N nodded and kissed his lips, “I love you,”

“Not as much as I love you,”

She smirked, “Debatable,”

Weeks went by and there they were, backstage preparing to sing Moon Song together for the first time. They had written and produced this song together but never sang it live before. It’s such a personal song, so Y/N hopes she make it through at least the first verse.

“You look incredibly sexy,” Y/N said, placing a hand on Harry’s chest. Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

“Well, look at these,” He said taking a handful of her breasts. Y/N swatted him away.

“You’re on guys,” The stage manager said.

“I love you,” Harry said and Y/N smiled.

“I love you more, rockstar,”

[afraidparade]

Monastic monk Luka with daemon spirit Faust. Luka faces an existential crisis about his faith (perhaps he already was, and meeting Faust confirmed it) and Faust has a similar experience in learning to trust as the OG cannon storyline.

A common lifestyle of earlier christian monastic monks involved living quiet, mostly solitary lives and spent most of their days praying and copying and illuminating (adding art to the texts, like the big fancy first letter of a paragraph or those intricate borders. With like the golds and greens, gorgeous stuff) books by hand (since the printing press hadn't been invented yet. Look into the Gutenberg Bible if you're interested in that it was the first printed bible ever. It still needed to be illuminated, however).

But anyway I can totally picture Faust as being a daemon/fae spirit that totally knocks Lukas socks off. Shenanigans ensue, Faust ends up keeping Luka company while he illuminates a Gutenberg Bible (which can take months, years if it's hand written) by candlelight, instead of working at a computer.

Another thing (some) monks would commonly do was self flagellation (whipping themselves). I can absolutely see Faust witnessing this and perhaps that could trigger a similar conversation to what they had when his arm popped out of it's socket. When it comes to him being vulnerable about how he was severely punished I can see him questioning why someone would willingly do that to themselves, maybe getting angry about it.

And maybe Luka plays with alchemy a bit? Perhaps that has to do with how they met. Either way I can absolutely picture Faust wandering amongst beakers and old scientific tools, being ornery about something or other.

Unfortunately as far as I'm aware there is no medieval version of Hatsune Miku or macaroni and cheese but I will continue my search for a suitable replacement.

You said its up to us 😬😳 this is what my brain imagined - I'm a religious history nerd and a Faust/Luka nerd I couldn't help it. This is a very fun AU tho I can probably think up more specifics too but I won't torture you haha

wh- pff, i mean, duh, yeah, that's EXACTLY what i was thinking anon (< doesn't know shit about religious history)

for real though, it's incredible you were able to piece that together so fast?? took me the whole day to think of an interesting interpretation of the prompt and i thought what i ended up with was kind of a stretch 😭 like, i didn't realize anyone paid enough attention to my OCs to be able to come up with so many (incredibly accurate??) parallels like that. it's really surreal and incredibly flattering! tbh it actually makes me want to think about an AU for this more, but god knows i have my hands full already (apologies to luka for using the lord's name in vain)

here is a faust award for your hard work today, take it easy friend

[salemorbit]

For the 100 followers thing :)

48-parents. Botw, either sidon or link.

heheheheheh :)) why not both??

had a little angst w link's...so sorry abt that LMAO

~~~~~~~

100 Followers Special <- link

Prompt 48: parents

[Sidon x reader, Link x reader]

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Sidon

sidon always looked up to his father, admiring him for his bravery and aptitude in leading the zora race in all their years of existence. he always wanted to raise his own children just like his father had raised him and his sister: compassionate, protective, proud. and he wanted to do it with all the love and light he could give his partner and his family while he did so.

when you came to him and mentioned that you could see yourself starting a family with him, needless to say, sidon was over the moon. he wanted nothing more than to raise children with you, mix your parenting styles and have the best life he could imagine. the two of you decided on adoption, and began the search from there for a child you could give a home to.

sidon had made sure there were plenty of arrangements made in the zora domain to raise offspring of your own. it took a few months, but you finally found an organization that held orphaned children after monster raids. you and sidon headed out and hoped for the best.

there were dozens of children from all over hyrule in this little cabin sanctuary tucked away in the faron region. you met with the hylians that ran the place, tellorn and merida, and instantly hit off a connection. they let you spend a day with the kids and see if there were any good contenders.

you were beside yourself at the different personalities that sprouted form kid to kid. sidon just couldn't believe this was happening in general. there were little rito fledglings, excited zora guppies, tiny pebbles of gorons, baby hylians, and miniature gerudo warriors running all over the place, terrorizing each other (playfully) and living together in harmony. you fell in love with every one that you got to spend time with, and learned that sidon did the same. at the end of the day, when tellorn and merida came to you asking for your decision, you and sidon shared a look to make one of the best choices in your entire lives.

"how much for all of them?" sidon asked, flashing his award winning smile. tellorn and merida laughed at first, thinking he was making some kind of classic joke. after a few moments, they realized the two of you were dead serious.

"wh- you mean you seriously want all of them?" merida asked, mouth gaping in disbelief. you and sidon nodded in agreement.

"it would be criminal to pick just one," you shrugged, looking around at the energized kids. "they all live here together. to take one away wouldn't be fair to the rest of them, and they all care about each other so much. we'd like to offer to buy your entire orphanage, or at least adopt all the kids and take them with us."

tellorn and merida were both shocked at the proposition. never in their lives had they been offered for their life's work. but here was that opportunity, laid out right in front of them as a zora prince and his hylian partner. and you were serious.

it didn't take long for tellorn and merida to allow you to adopt all the kids at the orphanage, buy the orphanage off of them, and employ them as caregivers for the kids if the two of you had to be across hyrule on business. you and sidon made arrangements for the orphanage and your kids to be moved just outside of the zora domain and out of harm's way, always guarded by zora warriors and a small trip away from you and sidon so that you could visit your children every day.

sidon always knew he would be a father, but he had little knowledge that he would ever become a father of the next generation of all races in hyrule. and he would never have traded any of them for the world.

Link

link always thought about his parents. he always wondered who they were, what they were like. all he could remember at that point were faceless memories of time long lost. he hated the shrine of resurrection for taking his past from him, his family.

you knew how much this tore him up inside. basically, link never had a family as far as he was concerned. he couldn't remember them at all, let alone call them his blood.

you were the closest thing to family in a long time. he didn't remember his friends, he didn't remember his colleagues. you were all he knew, and he was content with that. he didn't think he could handle anything else.

after he finally laid ganon to rest for however long more, the two of you settled down after your adventures. now was time for a long awaited rest, the deed link had been put on this earth to do over now. the rest of your lives were in your hands.

it wasn't long before you started hinting to link at expanding your family. yes, you loved him and would be content if it was just the two of you for forever, but if there was a possibility of having something more why wouldn't you go for it? so you gently mentioned things here and there, hoping that link would eventually get the message.

he got the message all right. link caught on quick to what you were saying; the boy was quiet, not stupid. but he didn't know how to tell you that he didn't want that. that he didn't see himself as that. that he didn't think he could ever accomplish something like that.

link pushed off his responses day in and day out, hoping that you now would get his message. it was one of the first times you ever disagreed with each other about something, and he desperately didn't want that to destroy your relationship. you were all he had anymore.

eventually you got tired of waiting for him to come up with his own ideas, and you straight out asked him if he wanted to have a family with you or not.

"link," you chided after dinner one day, deciding to confront him there and then, "every time i bring this up, you don't outright answer me. i'm sort of tired of beating around the bush, so i'll need a direct answer right now."

link knew what you were talking about, and he was sure that his truthful response would break your heart. no matter how many times you said you were fine with just the two of you, he knew deeps down that you wanted- no, needed something a little more.

"do you want to have a family with me?" you asked, not making eye contact with him. you heard him put down his finished plate and take in a deep breath, and if he didn't say anything else at that moment the conversation would have already been had within those two seconds.

"i...don't think i can."

you would be lying if you said your chest didn't splinter into thousands of pieces of broken glass at that second, falling out of your sternum and piercing the floor beneath your feet. you knew then that you did want a family, just you and link weren't enough for you to keep going. you had been lying to yourself about where you were comfortable, and now you were done.

"...can i ask why?" your voice came out in the quietest link had ever heard you in all the years of being with you. he was well-aware that he had just broken your heart, something he never wanted to do. something he promised himself he would never do. but many things in life are inevitable, and telling you the truth was one of them.

"i don't have anything to give a child," he said, continuing to clean his place. "i don't remember my parents. i don't know who they were or how they raised me. i barely knew who i was myself when i woke up all those years ago. if i don't know anything, how can i raise another living creature?"

those were the most words link had ever said to you in continuation, and they were the best truth you could have heard. he wasn't confident because he thought he needed to rely on those who came before him. you smiled to yourself, then turned to look at your partner.

"you're afraid of what every parent is afraid of," you chuckled, crossing your arms and leaning against the counter. "i knew my parents, I've asked them about this sort of thing. what you're saying is exactly the same as they felt when they raised me, too. no one knows what they're doing. all you can hope is you do your best, having known your parents or not."

link listened to you intently, understanding every word you said. perhaps you were right, that he really was just afraid like everyone else was. but perhaps he was right, too, and had his own unique fears. but as he looked at you in the dying sunlight, easygoing and steady in his kitchen, he knew that he would love to have a family with you, as long as you were there. as long as both of you were there.

"maybe i'll think about it," was all link said afterwards, but you knew he had nearly made up his mind.

[kenbunshokus]

eggnemies to lovers

nami/vivi, zoro/sanji | 7k words  (best viewed on: ao3)

My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie. submitted 6 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

(Or, the one where Sanji is a diner cook, Vivi is their waitress, and Zoro and Nami accidentally became each other’s wingman.)

Zoro glares at his plate as if his omelette has just challenged him to a duel. Nami tries her best to focus on the map she’s working on—this one’s a particularly difficult homework from her Intro to Coastal Navigation class—and pointedly does not look up.

“Holy shit,” Zoro mutters under his breath, poking at the offending egg, “Nami, I swear—”

“We are not having this conversation again—”

“I told you,” Zoro plows on, “that fucking cook is doing this on purpose.”

Nami takes a deep breath. Cartography is a delicate art, and Nami aims to be a professional. She takes her favorite pencil and elegantly traces over the coastline of Cocoyashi Village, poised and collected and calm. She’s not going to take the bait and ruin her map, no matter how much Zoro is sulking over an egg—

She sighs. “Zoro, I’m pretty sure there’s just been some mix-up with the orders.”

Zoro huffs at that, clearly disbelieving. “For the third time this week?”

“This isn’t exactly a five-star establishment,” she points out, and adds, reasonably, calmly, in an attempt to find some semblance of peace, “I doubt the cook of some no-name diner even knows your name.”

The words seem to have brought about the opposite effect, because now there’s a dangerous glint in Zoro’s eyes as he mutters, “well, he’s about to find out,” before standing up and shamelessly yelling, “ OI! COOK! ”

Nami drives the pencil through her map.

+

     r/relationship_advice

My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie. submitted 6 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

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  My (20F) Date (21M) keeps getting into fights with a cook at Baratie.

submitted 6 months ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

 I know this sounds really weird, but here it is:

This guy and I have been on a couple of dates. We’d been friends long before we started trying this going out thing, so he isn’t a total stranger to me, and I’ve long known him as a pretty calm guy. Chimes in once a week in the group chat, grunts a lot during conversations, you know — one of those quiet, meditating types. He’s only competitive when it comes to his favorite sport (he’s a professional kendo athlete), but other than that he tends not to care about what other people think about him. I’ve never seen him respond to anyone’s taunts or getting worked up by a stranger’s words.

Except at Baratie.

Any time we’re out he wants to go to this diner called Baratie down in Grand Line. I don’t really care about the food, but the tables there are big enough for me to do work (Maritime Science major here—lots of stationeries and large maps to work with). But that became impossible once he and this one cook started chirping at each other every time we went there. Date complained about his eggs one time, because he likes them a little runny and they were served hard. The cook responded by giving him scrambled eggs. When he brought it up again, the cook served him two hardboiled eggs. It was kind of funny to be honest, but my date wasn’t able to laugh it off. When we left, he was in a bad mood.

This is the crazy part: he keeps going back.

In fact, he keeps going back and ordering eggs and getting into fistfights with the same cook. It’s almost a ritual at this point. He orders runny eggs, the cook serves him some other version of eggs, and then they beat the shit out of each other. We never eat out at any other places now; it’s just Baratie every fucking week. Sometimes he even goes there without me. 

I’ve tried to talk to him about it a few times, but he keeps saying it’s a matter of principle. I’ve told him to just talk to the manager, but he just waved me off. Apparently that cook hasn’t yet made him the correct runny eggs, but it’s like he spends the week learning new ways of preparing eggs to piss my date off.

My question is — this is weird, right? Like, I’m not really concerned about the fighting part — he’s never been physical with me and I never once felt threatened by him — but what’s with the obsession ? They’re just eggs, aren’t they?

Is this indicative of something deeper? Should I reconsider going exclusive with this guy?

 +

 When Nami looks up from her map this time, Zoro has already stalked off to the kitchen. This isn’t new or remarkable in any way, except the fact that he almost ran into one of the waitresses, who immediately clutched her tray against her chest and watched his retreating back warily.

Zoro didn’t even spare her a glance. What a brute. Nami’s going to add to his debt later for that.

“Hey,” Nami calls out towards the waitress, waving at her to come by her table, “I’m sorry, uh…” 

“Vivi,” the waitress fills in with a polite smile.

“Right, Vivi—I’m Nami,” Nami replies, finding herself nervous all of a sudden, because up close like this, holy fuck is the waitress so pretty, with long blue hair and silver-sharp eyes. Nami clears her throat. “Uh, I just want to say sorry about his—his whole deal with your Cook. Zoro—that’s his name—he’s usually really chill, so I don’t know what’s happening here.”

Vivi thankfully chuckles at that, seemingly finding the situation more hilarious than threatening. Good. There’s also something about that laughter that makes Nami feel like she’s fourteen again, full of butterflies and all too small for everything, but she tries not to think too hard about that yet.

“In your friend’s defense,” Vivi says, “Sanji is usually really good with memorizing orders, so he’s totally messing with your friend on purpose.”

As if on cue, the cook’s voice—Sanji’s—rings out from the kitchen. “YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, MOSSHEAD, I TOLD YOU THE KITCHEN’S OFF LIMITS FOR CUSTOMERS —”

Nami finds herself laughing with Vivi. “You know, it’s actually impressive that Zoro doesn’t get lost on his way to the kitchen anymore.”

Vivi raises her eyebrow. “Nami, the kitchen door is right there.”

“It’s Zoro,” Nami presses, because it’s always fun to see strangers learn about Zoro’s disastrous relationship with directions and maps for the first time. “One time, during our junior high sports festival, he got lost on the running track. For a hundred-meter race .”

That earns her another laugh from Vivi as she takes a seat beside Nami, body leaning forward in curiosity, “really? Is he short-sighted or something? Can’t he just—I don’t know, literally see the finish line?”

“Here’s the thing you need to know about Zoro,” Nami begins, and watching the way Vivi’s soft hair falls over the slope of her shoulder, bright blue and blinding despite the dim lighting of the diner, Nami somehow can’t find it in herself to be mad at Zoro anymore.

 +

 u/salveshine • 492 points  6 months ago

This seems like an obvious question, but I have to ask: have you considered going somewhere else for your dates? Most people don’t go to a diner for dates in the first place.

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 23 points  6 months ago

Well, as I said on the original post, it’s downright an obsession at this point. Asking him to go somewhere else doesn’t solve the problem since he’d just go there on his own on a different day.

Also, the waitress there is nice. She’s been keeping me company throughout this whole thing. She’s a godsend.

 +

 Vivi appears by her table as soon as Zoro disappears into the kitchen.

“Again?” Vivi asks by way of greeting.

“Again,” Nami agrees, scooting to the side of her bench to give Vivi space to sit. “It’s eggs benedict this time. Perfectly poached. I went to this fancy restaurant a few weeks ago, and they didn’t even make it this good.”

Somewhere from what presumably is the kitchen, Zoro’s frustrated voice echoes throughout the whole diner. “Now you’re not even serving me eggs anymore!”

“What are you—“ there is a moment of stunned silence before Sanji‘s reply comes, equally loud, dripped with utter disbelief. “Are you fucking serious? You thought this wasn’t made of—you’ve never seen scotch eggs before?”

“SHUT UP,” Zoro yells back.

Nami cranes her neck out of instinct, wishing to catch a glimpse of the scene from the window behind the counter—she’s never heard Zoro sounding so flustered before—but Vivi’s voice, small and low and far from the confident tone Nami has started to get used to, pulls her attention back.

“I’m sorry.”

It takes another moment before the words fully register in her brain. “Wh—for what?”

“I mean,” Vivi says, twiddling with her fingers as she mumbles, “this is supposed to be your date.”

“My date?” The question already falls out of her mouth before she realizes, oh. Oh. This is supposed to be a date, because her and Zoro are…well. Sometimes she doesn’t even remember that part—they’re certainly not acting the part, considering they’re hanging out with other people during these ‘dates’. Nami understands, rationally, that she should be mad about this; and yet— “It’s fine. I’m not that bothered.”

Vivi blinks. “You’re not?”

“Nah,” Nami says, waving her hand dismissively, feeling as surprised as Vivi looks. “Well, when it comes down to it, it’s still free food, you know? Could’ve been better—no offense, but a family diner isn’t exactly date material—but considering the menu and ingredients you guys have to work with? Sanji’s practically been making feasts fit for royalty here.”

“Well, I still think you deserve to be treated better during a date,” Vivi crosses her arms and—is that a pout on her face? “Don’t you feel a bit lonely?”

“No?” Nami replies, taken aback. That’s literally the furthest thing on her mind, because— “I have you, don’t I?”

Nami feels her face heat up as soon as the words left her mouth, because that sounded way more presumptuous than she intended. She meant to say, I have you to keep me company , like a friend , in a totally friend platonic way. Except they were talking about dates in a decidedly very romantic way and she should totally take it back—

Vivi beams at that, the kind that makes her look like she’s glowing inside her skin, and never mind, Nami’s not taking it back. Nope. She’s never taking it back even if someone’s paying her a million berries to take it back.

Vivi takes Nami’s hand from the table and holds it in both of her own, and Nami’s heart trips in her chest.

“Yeah,” Vivi says, the words sending a low hum under Nami’s ribcage. “Yeah, you have me.”

 +

 /u/mettlemental • 301 points  5 months ago

This is their ritual. Do not interfere.

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 279 points  5 months ago

You know what, I think you have a point. This thing between me and the waitress is also a ritual now, so we’re even.

 +

 “Shishishi!” Luffy laughs, eyes practically sparkling. “Sanji is so cool!”

“No he’s not!” Zoro pinches Luffy by the cheek to try to drag him away from Sanji. “I brought you here to defend me!”

“But Sanji’s the one making me delicious meat right now,” Luffy pouts, seemingly unperturbed by the potential disfigurement of his own face, gaze still rooted on Sanji—or, more specifically, the food Sanji is carrying on a tray. “What can you make, Zoro?”

Sanji lights up his cigarette, expression hidden behind his hands, but his whole body visibly puffs up like a peacock. Nami notices how the tips of his ears have turned red. “Finally, someone with taste.”

Zoro tries to grab the tray away from Sanji’s hand, and Nami watches Vivi masterfully maneuver between the messy cacophony of the trio, placing a tall stack of waffles in front of Chopper.

“This doesn’t make me happy at all!” Chopper says, his words nowhere near convincing, considering he’s saying it with the largest grin Nami has ever seen on a fourteen-year-old. “Did Sanji make this one, too?”

“He did,” Vivi says as she takes a seat beside Nami, as she always does. The table settles into a comfortable silence as Chopper digs into his waffles and Vivi absentmindedly plays with the salt shaker, observing the idiot trio from a distance.

“They sure get along fast,” Nami says as she takes out her cartography tools, and Vivi’s gaze sweeps between Luffy, Chopper, and the maps on the table.

“You’re not even trying to have a date anymore, aren’t you,” she points out.

“Nope,” Nami agrees, gesturing to Chopper with her pencil. “Chopper here wanted to try the waffle for a long time ever since I told him all about Sanji.”

“Please tell Sanji I love it!” Chopper adds around a mouthful of sugar.

“And Luffy’s been really curious about you two anyways.”

One table away, Luffy took the last bite of whatever meal Sanji just served, and dramatically announces, “this one’s better than the last one!”

“You always say that after every plate,” Sanji mumbles, but shoves another plate towards the kid anyways, clearly preening from the praises.

“It wasn’t even that good,” Zoro adds desperately, and scowls when Sanji chooses to watch Luffy eat another serving with the same gusto like he did the first one. “Oi—don’t ignore me, Shit Cook!”

It’s...fascinating. Nami never had a habit of watching Zoro—those activities are reserved for those fangirls in their university who barely know him—but she finds herself unable to look away whenever they’re at the Baratie. Whenever he’s with Sanji, to be precise. The chef seems to have brought out so many different sides of Zoro she’s never seen before in all the years she’s known him, and that’s saying a lot, considering she’s known Zoro for a decade.

Zoro has always been a steady presence in her and Luffy’s life ever since he moved into their neighborhood when she was shy of turning ten; he is strong-willed and loyal and eternally dependable, like a safe place they can always come back to. He can be a little hard to read, quiet and reserved as he is, but these days Nami knows where to look, the telltales hidden in the way he straightens his back and carries himself.

But with Sanji, Zoro is—he’s all those things still, sure. But he’s also— so much more. There’s suddenly this— kid, lively and boyish and so, so easy to read. Open book, heart on his sleeve. He grins and yells and throws his punches, and Sanji would take them in stride and return them as easily. This Zoro pouts when Sanji doesn’t pay him attention, and scowls when he does; and when Sanji makes him laugh, it’s a loud, open thing.

Sometimes it feels as if the Zoro she knew was an impostor all along. As if there was a pale imitation of Roronoa Zoro with a ghost of a smile, and he’d only come alive in the middle of a fucking diner.

And the worst part of it all is—

“You two?” Vivi suddenly mumbles, seemingly to herself. 

Nami tilts her head. “Yeah?”

“You were saying something about Luffy being curious about… us two ,” Vivi says. There’s an odd, pensive look on her face. “Are you talking about Sanji and…”

“You, of course!” Nami cuts in, perplexed.

“You told your friends about me?” Vivi wonders, and it’s baffling. Of course Nami told her friends about Vivi. Sometimes Nami thinks Vivi is all she could talk about. She’s hilarious and smart and a thousand times more interesting to talk about than Sanji and Zoro combined.

That’s a really weird thing to suddenly spring on someone though, so Nami instead says, “Vivi, you’re the best thing about these weekly visits, because that sure as hell isn’t.”

She’s pointing at the dumbass trio; somewhere along the way, Luffy has seemed to fall asleep, and Sanji is smiling at the boy’s sleeping form, looking very pleased with himself. Zoro is fuming behind him, arms crossed and chest puffed, like a child being forced to share his favorite toy.

Vivi laughs at the sight, shaking her head. “Well, boys will be boys.”

The words bury itself uncomfortably in the pit of Nami’s stomach.

Boys will be boys—which is why sometimes (oftentimes, many times, always) Nami thinks she’s much more easily enamored with girls. Nami supposes there is a certain charm in Zoro’s brutish ways, but she’s beginning to learn that it may not be for her—Nami appreciates people who can hold their own in a fistfight, but there is also strength in reigning yourself in despite the circumstances, the way she’s seen Vivi handle difficult customers with a firm tone, graceful and dangerous at the same time.

(What could this mean, then? For her, for them—)

Zoro and Sanji have started fighting animatedly again. Roronoa Zoro, his heart on his sleeve.

And the worst part is that Nami doesn’t even care.

 +

 /u/sorcatarius • 334 points  4 months ago

I usually appreciate it when OP updates their posts with recent developments because I’m one of those people who get easily invested in a stranger’s life story, but is it just me or do all of these updates seem irrelevant? Most of them are about the waitress. I feel like I’m learning nothing about the actual date here. Who’s dating who again?

/u/NeonRain15• 137 points  4 months ago

OP is clearly a troll lol.

 +

 They are sitting at a corner table in front of the door to the kitchen, because Franky and Robin aren’t even pretending they’re here for the food instead of a show. Usopp told them he would rather ‘see where the danger is coming from ’, but Nami suspects the real reason is something closer to morbid curiosity.

Nami doesn’t fault them. It certainly is hard to look away from what those two clowns are currently doing: Zoro is waving a spatula and a frying pan like he would his kendo swords, clearly breaking several kitchen-related OSHA rules in the process; Sanji puts out his cigarette against the counter—seriously, has nobody here heard of proper kitchen etiquette—and swings his leg in a drop kick.

There’s a loud CLANK as his shoe comes into contact with the pan.

Franky whistles. “That’s super awesome, bro!” He cheers, before turning back to the table with a lower voice, “Seriously, how have they not fired Sanji-bro already?”

“Other than the fact that he’s overqualified as hell?” Usopp asks in between spoonfuls of Sanji’s fried rice.

“Well, they do provide a wonderful source of entertainment for us customers,” Robin observes.

“Sure thing,” Franky replies, “but they’re totally destroying kitchen appliances right now, I mean, look at that roller. There’s no way any normal wood could withstand that —there it goes.”

“Let them be—what’s the worst that could happen?” Robin muses. “Other than a kitchen accident that leads to a gas explosion and the restaurant burning down to the ground, obliterating all of us in the process, of course.”

“Robin,” Usopp squeaks.

Inside the kitchen, the tables have turned—Sanji has somehow regained possession of his kitchen appliances, and he’s now teaching Zoro how to cook. They’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder, heads bent over the stove, and Sanji would occasionally wrap his hand around Zoro’s wrist to instruct him.

Zoro looks like he’s going to spontaneously combust. His eyes are darting between Sanji’s hands (still lightly gripping Zoro’s wrist), Sanji’s face (dangerously close to Zoro’s own), and Sanji’s lips (there’s something there, something he wants to do and Nami knows if she thinks hard enough she can put a name on it) —anywhere but the food they’re actually cooking. Zoro’s own face is now redder than the tomatoes lining up the kitchen counter.

Heart on his sleeve, Nami thinks. Open book, open book.

“I’m going to get some refills,” she announces, suddenly feeling like she’s intruding on something private and practically leaps towards the soda station. She could feel a pair of curious eyes on her back—Robin’s, no doubt—but she’s more distracted by another presence currently standing beside her.

“Hey,” Vivi says, voice light, teasing. She’s carrying a lot of cups on her, presumably the others’, and she bumps her shoulder against Nami’s playfully. Nami could feel the touch fizzle against her skin.

“Hey,” Nami replies, trying to pretend that the close proximity doesn’t bother her at all. “‘Sup?”

Vivi wordlessly helps her with the drinks, and they easily fall into comfortable silence, filling cups after cups, until Vivi nudges her again. “You know, Usopp was right about Sanji being overqualified.”

Nami fills Franky’s cup slower, wondering where the conversation is going. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah. You know, I have a secret,” Vivi says, tone playful, but when Nami looks up there’s something in her eyes. “Actually, I own this place.”

Nami stops filling the cup. “What?”

“I mean, it’s mostly on loan, and I’m not halfway done with the payments, but technically, yeah,” Vivi says, tucking her hair to the back of her ear in a nervous gesture. “I didn’t really want to tell anyone because it’s not like I wanted a special treatment from the patrons. And I am effectively a waitress here.”

Nami is suddenly reminded of all the instances when she called Baratie a no-name diner right to Vivi’s face, and feels her stomach sink. Holy shit, she called it a dumpster fire just last week.

Vivi must have noticed Nami’s mental breakdown, because she quickly waves her hand and laughs. “No, no, don’t worry about it—I know we’re still a work in progress. Especially ever since—”

Vivi trails off at that, suddenly looking unsure. She starts collecting all the cups, like she’s giving Nami a reason to back out of the conversation. “It’s kind of a boring life story, actually, I’m sorry for dumping that all to you out of the blue—”

“Vivi,” Nami says, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t usually do this; she knows, better than most, how heavy one’s past could be, and she hates it when people try to pry into hers. But Vivi is looking at her with sad eyes and unsteady hands, and suddenly Nami wants nothing other than to tell her, “I’ll drop this if you don’t want to talk about it, but remember this: I will always want to know more about you.”

She places her hand on Vivi's arm, for emphasis. “I will always want to support you.”

It takes a moment before her words sink in, and Nami could see the moment it does, Vivi’s eyes widening in surprise as her face breaks into a slow-starting smile. “Thank you, Nami,” she whispers, and it’s almost reverent.

Nami’s gaze falls onto Vivi’s lips, and suddenly it’s become very difficult to maintain a conversation.

She wonders how she’d look now, to an outsider. Flushed face and a stupid smile on her face, hands fidgeting with her own hair. Open book, open book . Could they hear, she wonders, the way her heart is hammering against her ribcage—would they find out—

Robin claps her hands together, snapping Nami out of her reverie. The whole group is already standing by the door, waiting for her, and god, how long have they been talking by the soda station again?

“Perhaps we can take the drinks another day. Time to go home, don’t you think?” Robin suggests. Her tone is light, but her gaze is heavy, and Nami has to resist the urge to curl into herself.

Zoro still stares at the kitchen, oblivious to the tension. “Yeah,” he says, almost in a daze. “ Shit — yeah.”

Shit, indeed.

 +

/u/Lanzifer• 975 points  5 months ago

This is a love story.

 /u/nashdezus • 307 points  3 months ago

I hate to break it to you but I think your boyfriend is in love with the cook. If this is fake you have written one of the greatest gay romances of this generation, if this isn’t fake I dunno what.

 /u/ParkNight • 399 points  3 months ago

Your BF needs to cut to the chase and invite the cook over to your place for some eggs and rough sex.

 /u/Cod3Man • 760 points  4 months ago

He has a crush on the cook & vice versa but they’re both living a lie so they fight because it’s the only way to release the sexual tension. Every different way of cooking an egg represents a different sex act.

 /u/jakubada • 523 points  3 months ago

Girl, not to wish ill will on your relationship, but you should bang that waitress instead.

 +

 “Have you ever heard of Baroque Works?”

Nami pauses. She places her pencil away, knowing that Vivi deserves nothing less than her full attention.

It’s only been a couple of days since the conversation she had with Vivi, but Nami can’t get her mind off of it. She’s been coming to Baratie every single day now after college, and it’s just so convenient that Zoro suddenly refuses to go. It’s simply harder to have Vivi open up when someone else is around, and not because there are other reasons. Like wanting Vivi all to herself. No sire.

She shakes herself out of the dangerous train of thoughts. “Baroque Works? Isn’t that the new restaurant chain down the block? It’s the one that’s taken over that other chain, right? Uh, what was it called—”

“Alabasta,” Vivi supplies, before sighing. “That’s the chain my family used to own.”

Nami blinks. “Wait, you used to own Alabasta?”

Running a diner on her own at her age is already an impressive feat in and of itself, but Alabasta is a whole different beast. It’s a nation-wide chain with dozens of restaurants, and owning the chain is probably equivalent to owning a small empire.

“Oh, no, I mean, my family did,” Vivi quickly adds, ever humble. “It’s not exactly anything impressive. My grandfather ran the business before my father did, and his father was the one who started it—it was passed down the generations, and I was simply born into it.

“As you said, Alabasta went down a few years ago because my father struck a bad deal with a ruthless businessman. It is clear now, in hindsight, that Crocodile was tricking us, but we were naive and perhaps a little too eager to expand. Baroque Works took over, and we were left with the only branch they deemed the least profitable—here.”

“And you renamed it to Baratie?”

“That was Sanji’s idea,” she says, a small smile playing on her lips; it is clearly a much fonder memory than what that businessman—Crocodile—did to her and her family. “At the time, Sanji just moved to Grand Line. His father had a restaurant back in East Blue with the same name, and he told me he would help me build everything back from the ground up. We would borrow the name, acting like we’re a branch of Baratie, and I can rename it back to Alabasta once I can settle all the legalities with Baroque Works.”

Everything slowly falls into place now—the way Sanji is clearly trained to cook dishes much more sophisticated than waffles and scrambled eggs, the freedom he gets to be able to mess around with Zoro, and his close camaraderie with Vivi.

Nami feels a pang of—god, jealousy, if she dares to put a name on it—towards Sanji; for being able to stand by Vivi’s side when she needed it the most. It’s silly, because Sanji has always been kind to her, and it’s not like it was Sanji’s fault that Nami didn’t know Vivi until recently, but the feeling gripped her like a vice anyway, heavy and suffocating.

Vivi seems to have taken her silence wrongly, though, because she looks away, almost shamefully. “You must think this is all stupid.”

“Of course not,” Nami immediately retorts without missing a beat. She thinks of Bellemere, holding her head high despite the judgments from the neighbors. She was alone and penniless, countless doors slammed close in her face just because she was a single mother; but none of that stopped Bellemere from sending Nojiko and Nami to the best school in the neighborhood

So Nami tells Vivi what she has always wanted to tell Bellemere, and what she knows to be true of Vivi, of any women in her life who has never backed down from adversity— “You’re amazing.”

Vivi blinks, cheeks coloring at the words. It takes her a moment before she can reply with a shaky, “Yeah?”

“Yeah? Vivi, you’re—” Nami turns her body to face Vivi fully, grabbing her by the arms, “—you’re the strongest, most hard-working person I’ve ever known. Most people in your shes would’ve turned tails and run.” 

Vivi flushes further. It’s the first time Nami has seen her flustered, really cute, actually. And the fact that Nami is the one who put that expression on her face —

“Are we intruding on something?”

Nami almost jumps from her seat, suddenly feeling like she’s five again, getting caught with her hand halfway into the cookie jar. Vivi is scrambling to her feet from her side, cleaning imaginary dust from her uniform as she stammers, “no, of course not! I’m sorry, sir—sirs , can I take your order?”

Nami looks up to see Jinbe laugh and wave at her, signaling her to calm down. Brook is standing right behind him, giving Nami a small wave. “What do you serve?”

Nami tries to return to her map as Vivi starts rattling off the menu, but Brook—wise, old Brook, with his soft voice and observing eyes, goes, “No Zoro this time around, hm?”

Her pen stills. There’s nothing accusatory in Brook’s voice—he would never, none of their friends would never. But she waits for Vivi to be off with their orders still before replying, arms crossed across her chest almost defensively. “What is it to you, old man?”

She realizes a little too late that it’s an awfully rude response, but Jinbe simply laughs. “Old men, aren’t we, Brook?”

“Certainly older than most,” Brook agrees, eyes shining in mirth, not offended the least. “Hopefully wiser, too.”

“Well, sometimes,” Jinbe says, turning to Nami, “old men like us have the fortune—or the misfortune, some may say—to have loved and lost.”

Nami isn’t quite sure where the conversation is going, but there’s grief carried by Jinbe’s voice, and what comes out is, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all long past, miss,” Jinbe dismisses, not unkindly. “More importantly, what I’m trying to ay is, you and Zoro might have been looking at the wrong places. Love, that is. But there is time to rectify this—isn’t that what you young people have? Time”

Nami sits still, stupefied.

She has the suspicion that Robin knows, but Robin has always had her ways. For Jinbe to notice? Jinbe, who would rather talk about his fishing trips than to gossip? How obvious has she been?

(Open book, the thought resurfaces, unbidden. Heart on her sleeve—)

“Though, Nami?” Brook suddenly says, snapping Nami out of her own reverie.

She suddenly realizes that it’s just the two of them on the table, Jinbe already wandering around after imparting her with some advices. She clears her throat, trying to get her bearings. “Yeah?”

“I have to disagree with our dear Jinbe, I must say. We have loved and lost, but,” he takes her hand and guides it to rest on her heart.

“To love,” Brook says, voice steady, sure as a day. “Is never a misfortune.”

 +

     r/AmITheAsshole

Realizing I am a lesbian while dating a guy. AITA? submitted 2 months ago by u/throwawaypinwheel

257 comments    share    save    give award    report

   Realizing I am a lesbian while dating a guy. AITA?

submitted 2 months ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

I’m a girl who has gone through a couple of dates with a dude, but I’m falling in love with another girl. Like, I’m having a gay crisis right now. I’m not actually cheating since we haven’t decided to be exclusive yet, but he’s also a childhood friend, so it makes me wonder if this is a dick move? 

To make matters more complicated: my date? Friend? Sort of boyfriend? He seems to have fallen in love with someone else too, and it’s another guy, so he might be gay, too.

Yes, I know bisexuality exists. Can’t exactly speak about him but I think I’m not that, so it’s not like I can suck it up and date him instead. AITA?

  [deleted] • 725 points  2 months ago

Aren’t you the OP of that one viral post from r/relationship_advice about the Baratie cook?

/u/throwawaypinwheel • 2324 points  2 months ago

Yes, and that’s relevant, how?

 /u/alohci • -20 points  2 months ago

LOL you’re clearly a troll. This isn’t r/CreativeWriting, go write your romance novel somewhere else. I’m reporting you to the mods.

 /u/cheesus32 • 1739 points  2 months ago

This is better than most shit on Netflix right now

 /u/veloace • 1641 points  2 months ago

Communication is key, OP. Sexualities aside—which is a topic for another day—isn’t this essentially a case of the two of you wanting different things from the relationship?

 +

 Nami takes a deep breath and checks her phone for the time.

She sees the 1:00 displayed on the screen. Her appointment with Zoro is supposed to be on twelve thirty, which means she’ll have another 30 minutes as Zoro gets lost on the way to Baratie as usual. One hour was his record.

She takes another deep breath and sighs.

This is it. She’s going to tell Zoro the truth.

It’s rare for her, to be so nervous around Zoro, but in her defense, it’s not like there’s an easy way to say, “hey, sorry, this may come out of nowhere but I’m breaking things off between us. Apparently I’m a lesbian and I’m also in love with the waitress at the place where we’re supposed to be going on dates in. It’s not you, it’s me.”

...Nami really needs to work on her delivery.

Her heart stutters in her chest as the automatic door slides open and Zoro walks in with the grim determination of a soldier going into battle. Perhaps Zoro is more perceptive than she’s giving him credit for. She hopes so—it surely will make this whole sort of-break up easier for the both of them.

She has run her line over and over again in her head, but nothing has prepared her to see Zoro sit down across the table, bow down, and says, “I’m sory, but I don’t think this is working out for us.”

She blinks. Wait. Wait—“ You're breaking up with me?”

“Luffy thinks we’re having a fight because we’ve been acting weird around each other ever since we tried out this whole dating thing, and hell, Nami, he’s right—I’ve seen you less now,” Zoro plows on, oblivious to her shock. “And don’t get me wrong, you’re my best friend, and you’re still my best friend, and I want us back. The us that’s, you know, normal. Alsoimightbeinlovewiththecook .”

Oh.

That’s—oh.

Nami is pretty sure her mouth is hanging open stupidly now, but she can’t bring herself to care. “Holy shit,” she breathes, perplexed. “Reddit was right.”

Zoro finally looks up at that. “What’s red—” he seems to take in her expression for the first time since the conversation started, eyebrows furrowing. ‘Wait. You’re not mad?”

“Mad? No, Zoro, god—how could I be when you’re right?” She feels her body slumping into the chair, the weight she didn’t know she’d been carrying has suddenly been lifted. “We are terrible for each other. I have no idea what got us to agree to this.”

Zoro visibly relaxes. There’s amusement in his tone as he suggests, “the copious amount of alcohol?”

Right. They were in the middle of a drinking competition when the idea of a date came up. “You know what, in hindsight, it’s kind of crazy that we got this far with such a stupid idea.”

“I think I was running away,” Zoro admits, eyes unwittingly darting towards the kitchen. “I couldn’t—I had this thing, for the Cook, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit it. So I tried to make you an excuse for my cowardice.” He bows again. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, dummy, don’t—” she kicks him on the shin, forcing him to stop bowing. “Stop being all bushido on me. I wasn’t any better. I’m—in love with Vivi.”

It’s Zoro’s turn to look at her in surprise. “What, really?”

It’s comforting, in a way, that at least she isn’t so obvious that Zoro would notice. “Yeah. You’re probably too preoccupied with your pretty blond to notice, but I’ve been pretty smitten myself. And I guess I have you and your little crush to thank for dragging me here in the first place.”

Zoro blushes at that, and it’s cute—not in a way that makes her want to kiss him, but definitely in a way that makes her want to tease him until the end days. God, how did it take her so long to realize she never loved him that way?

“‘Dragging” you, huh?” Zoro seems to decide to hone in on that, probably because he could burn himself alive from embarrassment if he keeps talking about Sanji. “This place is that bad for a date?”

Nami throws her head back and laughs. “You’re the worst date ever, Zoro,” she says, in between peals of laughter. “But you’re the best wingman I’ve ever had.”

 +

 “Going on a date again this time?” Vivi asks.

Nami looks at her—really takes her in, her smooth long hair and bright smile and long eyelashes. Holy shit, she’s staring at her eyelashes. She is so fucking gay.

She clears her throat. Focus, Nami. “No, actually, uh, can we talk? Like, super serious.”

Vivi immediately straightens up at that. “Of course. Give me a moment."

She rushes towards the kitchen, probably to tell Sanji that she’ll be occupied for a moment; something pulls inside Nami’s chest at the sight, knowing that Vivi would drop everything to be by Nami’s side.

When Vivi reemerges from the kitchen, she’s no longer carrying the tray and the menu. She takes a seat beside Nami and takes her hand. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, kind of, uh,” here goes nothing. “Zoro and I broke up.”

Vivi’s free hand shot up to cover her mouth in surprise. “Oh my god, Nami, I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be,” she rushes to clarify, before Vivi gets the wrong idea, “I did say we broke up, but that isn’t exactly right—I mean, we were never exclusive, Vivi. And I don’t think we were ever dating for real. Like, we’re gay.”

There’s a beat. “What?”

Okay, so Nami could  have broken the news much more smoothly than that.

“Zoro and I, uh—I’m gay. And Zoro never exactly put a label, but I’m pretty sure he never even dreamed of banging a chick, and—” she squeezes Vivi’s hand. She isn’t sure she’s doing it for Vivi or herself. “I know this is a lot, but I just—I think we were just very comfortable with each other, and since we are man and woman, we somehow thought we should date. Which is dumb, looking back at it, but we’d never fallen in love before.”

She thinks of Vivi—beautiful, fierce, kind Vivi, who carries the world on her shoulders. Vivi, whose smile lights up the whole room. “We didn’t know how different it was going to be, when it’s the real thing.”

Somewhere behind them, she can hear something heavy hit the floor in the kitchen, which means Zoro must have confessed right about now and Sanji must have dropped something from the shock.

Well, at least Vivi hasn’t dropped anything yet. 

“What I’m trying to say is,” she continues, finding newfound courage from the way Vivi looks at her—is that hope in her eyes? “Vivi, you’re the most wonderful, amazing person I’ve ever met, and you’re beautiful and pretty but I like you more than just that.” She takes Vivi’s hand in both of hers now. “Would you go out with me?”

There’s a moment as her words seem to sink in, and Nami feels her blood run cold—what if she read this whole thing wrongly? What if Vivi was straight? What if she was just trying to help out a friend, being the nice person she is?

But then Vivi’s face splits into a smile, soft and golden-warm, the white light of the overhead fluorescence illuminating her almost ethereal-like. “Yes, Nami,” she says, lacing their fingers together, “I would love to go out with you. But only on one condition.”

“Anything,” Nami says without thinking, because it’s true.

Vivi grins, and there’s a teasing edge on her voice as she says, “If you’re asking me on a date in a diner, count me out.”

“Oh my god,” Nami says, finally, finally pulling Vivi in for a kiss, “never again.”

 +

  UPDATE: My (20F) Date (21M) has left me for a Baratie cook (21M)

submitted 3 days ago by /u/throwawaypinwheel

 It’s fine though, I have a girlfriend (18F, beautiful, amazing, doesn’t get into fights with random cooks) now. Yes, it’s the waitress. Yes, you guys have told me so. I’d love to take the L, but I’m the one with a hot girlfriend here, so am I really losing in this scenario?

[cutiequokka]

Excuse Me, Noonas (Moonsun and Jisung)

Genre: Smut (God help me this is FILTH)

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: F/M and F/F smut, threesome, there’s quite the age difference between them, Moonbyul's a little mean in the beginning (but just because of stress), Dom!Moonbyul, Brat/Switch!Solar, Sub!Jisung, mommy kink, slight noona kink, dirty talk, hair-pulling, lots of praise for Sungie and some degradation for Solar

Summary: All Jisung had wanted to do was congratulate them on a fantastic performance, but instead, he got roped into a rather interesting evening...

A/N: I am not actually shipping them, this is purely a fictional piece made for entertainment purposes only, just like the rest of my fics. I simply thought this was a fun way to combine my two favorite groups while still getting my hornyness out, please don’t kill me!!!

Alright, so now that that’s out of the way, this fic is inspired by this video of Jisung watching Mamamoo perform Destiny and Hip. This interaction literally killed my staymoo heart, even if they weren’t actually meeting each other. Also, I know this is definitely not how award shows work backstage and stuff, but just play along, it makes the story so much more enjoyable.

“You’re seriously gonna do it?” Changbin scoffed, looking at him incredulously.

Chan sent him a glare before turning to the nervous Jisung reassuringly. “You’ll be fine Sungie, just go tell them you liked the performance and that they did a great job.”

Jisung gulped, the prospect of addressing his favorite noona idols a daunting task to him. “Wh-what if I make a fool out of myself?”

Minho, who had overheard the conversation, leaned over and spoke directly into his ear. “It’s bound to happen at some point, you might as well get it over with.” Chan stepped between them with a huff and shot Minho his best ‘angry father’ look.

“What Minho means to say is that what’s the worse that could happen? You don’t even have to talk for long, but wouldn’t it still be cool just to meet them?”

“I sure would like to, especially the thicc one,” Jeongin mumbled, his eyes turning glassy as his mind probably filled with the vivid image of Hwasa spitting at the camera. Seungmin made a disgusted face at the maknae.

“Innie, she’s like 7 years older than you!”

“And still hot!!”

“Oh my god, shut up, I’m gonna go now,” Jisung groaned, adjusting his outfit and hair quickly before shooting the group a timid smile and thumbs up. And just like that, he was briskly walking down the hallway, his mind reeling and heart beating a million miles per hour.

To say Jisung was nervous was an understatement. Ever since he had first seen Mamamoo perform, he had become enamored with their angelic voices, their stage presence, their musicality, and admittedly, their gorgeous looks. Sure, he wasn’t as blunt as Jeongin, but Jisung would be a liar if he said he didn’t find them incredibly hot, particularly the rapper and blonde one. Moonbyul and Solar, as he had come to know from some googling. That combined with their pure talent sent Jisung’s brain into simp mode, desperately trying to calm down so as to not embarrass himself.

The dressing room doors passed by as he walked each with a group’s name on it. Itzy, Twice, Day6 (he’d be sure to tell Seungmin about that one), BTS, Everglow… there. Mamamoo. He stopped in front of the room, trying his best to steady his breathing. You got it, Jisung, just don’t screw it up. As he reached out to knock on the door, he was surprised to see it drift open, apparently having not been latched shut. Jisung’s heart dropped as he wondered if they had already gone home, but poking his head in, he was met with a sight that made him freeze in his tracks.

The rapper, Moonbyul, had Solar’s arms pinned above her head against the wall, her back to Jisung, completely oblivious to the boy standing stunned in the doorway. Solar stared back at her defiantly, whimpering as Moonbyul kicked her legs apart and leaned in to connect their lips in a kiss…

Jisung made a noise of surprise that caused both girls to immediately jump away from each other, spinning around to face him. Solar looked like a mixture of terror and shame, whereas Moonbyul simply glared at him with a look that, embarrassingly, made his heart rate speed up even faster.

“I-I’m sorry noona- noonas, I’m so sorry to intrude, I came to say good job with the performance and the door was open so I just peeked in and I’m sorry please don’t kill me I swear I won’t tell anyone-”

Moonbyul marched over and yanked Jisung in the room, slamming the door shut behind in a way that made the poor boy flinch. “What’s your name, are you a fan?” Solar asked, eyes wide in shock as she signaled for Moonbyul to take it down a notch.

“I’m H-Han Jisung, and yes, wait no, not like that! I-I’m in a group, Stray Kids? Under JYP entertainment?” A look of recognition crossed Solar’s face as she nodded, running a hand through her hair.

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard of you guys,” Jisung’s chest swelled with pride despite the humiliating situation, excited that she even had the slightest idea who he was.

That pride was immediately squashed, however, when Moonbyul came back into view, rubbing a hand over her face. “Jisung, listen carefully. You cannot, absolutely cannot tell anyone what you just saw, got it?” He nodded frantically, shrinking away as Moonbyul’s gaze seemed to cut through him like a blade. He whimpered, tears starting to form in his eyes. He’d messed everything up, they hated him, he was the worst idol in the history of-

“Byulie, stop it! You’re scaring him!” Solar yelled, stepping between the two of them. “Look, he’s obviously terrified, I think he gets the point.”

Moonbyul sighed, regret flashing across her face. “Sorry,” she muttered, “It’s just that, you know, this could ruin us. We can’t have anyone knowing.” Jisung nodded, letting his tears slip freely down his cheeks as every cell in his brain screamed at him for being the most colossal dumbass to ever live.

“Hey, no no no, please don’t cry sweetie,” Solar said, wiping his cheek. The contact made Jisung blush and flinch away, shocked she would want to touch the boy who could ruin her career thanks to his stupidity. Maybe this was her way of buttering him up to stay quiet? Either way, Jisung didn’t care. Her fingertips felt nice, cool against the hotness of his cheeks. Without even realizing it, he was leaning into the touch, desperate for any sort of affection he could get from the girls he was supposedly trying to impress when he first knocked on their dressing room door.

Solar smiled, finding herself drawn to the boy in front of her’s cuteness. He really did seem sorry, and she knew he hadn’t intended to walk in on them on purpose. Sure, it wasn’t ideal, but at least Jisung seemed like he wouldn’t blab. She glanced over at Moonbyul, who looked tense but had calmed down considerably. Solar made a jerking motion with her head towards the boy as his eyes fluttered shut, practically nuzzling her palm as she wiped the tears off his cheeks. Moonbyul chuckled, mouthing a quick “cute” before Jisung’s eyes snapped open again at the sound.

“W-wait, where are the others?”

“Wheein and Hwasa? Oh, they...” The girls exchanged looks, a knowing gaze passing between them.

“...went home early,” Solar finished, and Jisung didn’t see it fit to press further.

“So baby, what did you want to tell noona when you first got here?”

He blushed profusely at the nickname, shifting on his feet as his eyes fell to the ground. “U-um, I liked your performance, and your songs make me dance, and your voice is really really pretty.” Solar grinned, patting his cheek affectionately.

“That’s very sweet of you to say. What about Byulie?”

He glanced over at Moonbyul quickly, hurrying to compliment the other girl as well, hopefully winning some points back. “Y-you’re a good rapper! I like your voice too, it’s so raspy and warm, and it makes me feel butterflies in my stoma-” Fuck, he wasn’t supposed to say that part. Moonbyul raised an eyebrow, suddenly looking far more interested.

“Is that so?” She asked, sharing a look at Solar as he blushed and nodded shallowly. Moonbyul laughed again, this time sounding more rich and genuine. “That’s actually kinda adorable, baby.”

There it was, that damn nickname again. Jisung shivered, ducking his head down to his chest to avoid eye contact. No one knew he liked being called that, and especially no one knew it was certainly a subspace switch for him. Solar cocked her head to the side and surveyed him, watching as his pupils dilated and his breath grew more shallow. “Do you like it when we call you baby, Jisungie?” Jisung nodded, squeezing his eyes shut as well as his legs, frantically trying not to get turned on even as two insanely pretty girls hit his weakest spot.

Suddenly, Solar’s hand was removed from his face, and he heard shuffling as the oldest made her way over to Moonbyul. There was whispering, causing Jisung to look up in confusion, only to see the two of them discussing something with their backs to him. He whined, disappointed at the loss of contact, which caused them to look back over and Solar to look up at Moonbyul with puppy dog eyes.

“Pleeeeease Byulie, look at how cute he is!”

Moonbyul’s eyes surveyed Jisung skeptically, gaze snagging on his blushing face and the teeth nervously chewing on his bottom lip. She sighed, un-crossing her arms and looking over at the pouting Solar.

“Fine, but under 2 conditions: He is 110% okay with it-” Solar mumbled a quick “of course”, anticipating the purple-haired girl’s next words intensely.

“-And I dom.”

Jisung froze in place, his mind going into an absolute frenzy. Dom? Dom what? Him?? His gaze flicked back and forth between the two, thinking he surely must have misheard. Or he died of embarrassment and already made it to heaven…

Solar nodded enthusiastically, planting a quick kiss on Moonbyul’s cheek as a silent thank you before making her way over to a now even more anxious Jisung. “Aww, look at you, so adorable.” She lightly grasped his chin to move his head up to make eye contact with her, gaze soft and understanding. Holy shit, this is happening, Jisung’s brain screamed as her gaze flickered between his eyes and trembling lips.

As if seeing him as a timid squirrel who may run at any moment, Solar chose her next words very deliberately and clearly.“We won’t do anything if you don’t want to, baby,” but Jisung was already shaking his head before she could even finish her sentence.

“N-no!! I wanna… I wanna do, uh, ‘this’ if you guys are ok with it and everything, but I don’t wanna be in the way, I can just leave if you want maybe this was stupi-”

“No no baby, we want this too,” Moonbyul piped up, crossing over to them. She gave Solar a look that immediately made her drop Jisung’s chin, a blush creeping onto her face. Moonbyul chuckled. “Unnie thinks she can dom a pretty boy like you, but don’t be fooled. She’s just a needy little sub at heart.” Solar whined, pouting in a way that made Jisung giggle. Moonbyul smirked at his reaction, tussling his hair with a look of admiration in her eyes. “You were right unnie, he’s simply too cute to pass up. We sure got lucky today.”

Jisung keened at the praise, leaning into her hand and making both the girls coo. “I got lucky too,” he grinned, eyes slipping shut, not being able to comprehend how this came to be but not seeming to care. Solar took this opportunity to press her lips to his, the younger gasping at the sudden yet sweet kiss. She tasted like strawberry lipgloss, a detail Jisung couldn’t help but latch onto for some reason. Moonbyul made a pleased noise as she watched the boy simply melt against her girlfriend’s amazing lips.

“Jisung, baby, look at me.”

Jisung’s eyes fluttered open before he reluctantly pulled away from Solar, face already flushed and panting. Moonbyul grinned at his obedience. “Such a good boy, doing exactly as I say, I won’t even need to train you.” Jisung whimpered, pressing his thighs together and nodding frantically.

“I’ll b-be as good as I can for you, Mommy.”

Moonbyul groaned in appreciation, the boy unknowingly hitting her favorite title directly. On the first try, no less. “Fuck, baby, good job. You hear that Solar? He knows how to behave, unlike someone else.” Solar stuck out her tongue and dove back in for a second kiss, but Moonbyul grabbed her hair and yanked her back before their lips could connect. “You’re such a slut, baby, you can’t even have the respect to warn our poor guest when you’re about to devour him?” Solar moaned softly at the tingling pain of her scalp, loving it way too much. Jisung watched the interaction eagerly, bulge starting to form in his pants as his nervousness quickly gave way to pure need. “Aww, look at little Jisungie, already getting hard for his noonas,” Moonbyul laughed, releasing Solar’s hair to kneel down in front of him. “May I touch you, baby?”

Jisung nodded so hard his neck ached, causing both girls to chuckle. Moonbyul brought one long hand to cup his cheek, the other slipping down to his bulge and giving a light, yet firm press. Out of instinct, Jisung bucked his hips up, desperate for more pressure, but soon Solar was by his side holding his hips in place. The touches continued to be barely there, just mere ghosts of strokes and massaging on his aching dick. Eventually, despite wanting to be a good boy, Jisung whined in annoyance.

“More Mommy, please, I want you to touch me more!” Moonbyul smirked, pressing down so hard it made Jisung yelp, the action just barely bordering on painful.

“Last time I checked, good babies take what they get, right Solar?” Solar nodded, leaning in to whisper in Jisung’s ear.

“You’re lucky she sees you as weak, otherwise your ass would be spanked raw for that.”

Jisung moaned at the mere thought of being bent over Moonbyul's knee, and a small part of him almost wanted to act out so that could happen. But his rational side won, and he continued to lay pliant for the two girls as Moonbyul slowly unzipped his pants.

“Is this ok?” She asked, checking in for what felt like the tenth time. Jisung nodded, quickly explaining he would say ‘red’ if it ever wasn’t. Satisfied with that answer, Moonbyul pulled his pants down all the way, licking her lips as the bulge in his boxers became more prominent.

“Solar darling, how about you suck Sungie off since he’s been so good for us?”

Solar grinned eagerly, nuzzling Jisung’s neck and kissing the skin softly. “Marks or no?” She asked. On one hand, Jisung knew his stylist would kill him, but on the other, he shivered at the idea of going back to his members, flaunting evidence of his interaction. So after whispering a hurried “yes,” lips were attacking his neck, sucking and biting and littering it with marks.

There was a shuffling sound as Solar moved between his legs, planting a kiss on his clothed dick and making Jisung gasp. Her hands traveled up, tweaking his nipples experimentally, which caused him to moan much too loudly. Within seconds, Moonbyul's hand was clamped over his mouth, her eyes sharp and commanding.

"If you're gonna be so loud, we might have to put that mouth to good use." Jisung nodded frantically, wanting that, craving that, but before he could ask his boxers were pulled down, and in one swift motion, soft lips connected with the head of his aching cock. Solar's tongue lightly traced the underside of his length, teasing as she took just the tip in her mouth before pulling off and repeating the process. After a full minute of this, Jisung whined, looking over at Moonbyul with pleading eyes.

"Mommy, please make her go faster." Moonbyul nodded and did exactly that, grabbing Solar's hair and shoving her down his twitching length without a second of warning. Solar moaned, the vibrations causing Jisung to buck his hips up, thoughts of anything but how good his noona's mouth was feeling fuzzy and far away.

"Aww, you should see your face baby, practically drooling as Solar chokes on your cock," Moonbyul teased, tapping his cheek lightly as a signal to open up. Mouth falling open, Jisung hummed in content as she slipped two fingers in, his tongue lapping and sucking at the digits to keep quiet. This wasn't what he meant when he wanted them to use his mouth, but he certainly wasn't complaining.

"How about you be polite and look at Solar while she's gobbling you up, hm?"

Jisung's eyes fluttered as he gazed down at the girl, her face twisted in a combination of pain from the hair-pulling, pleasure from having a dick in her mouth, and pure concentration. Her tongue felt like heaven, rough and firm against the veins of his cock, her pace ruthless as Moonbyul sank her head down over and over again relentlessly. So much pleasure, yet Jisung forbid himself from cumming just yet. If he finished so early, he'd never let himself live it down. "Cl-close, noona's mouth feels so good, 'm close Mommy," he moaned around the fingers in his mouth, and Moonbyul nodded in understanding, pulling Solar away and quickly spinning her around so her back was to Jisung. He whined at the loss of stimulation, but quickly shut up as he felt Solar's slick folds against his thigh, grinding in a way he wasn't even sure she realized.

"Solar's gonna ride you, is that ok darling?" Moonbyul asked, a smirk tugging at her features as Jisung mumbled a shocked "yes, please". Solar, the Solar, bouncing on his cock? Why the hell would he not be ok with that?

But Solar had other ideas.

“But Byulie, you haven’t gotten any sort of pleasure yet,” She pouted, turning to her girlfriend. Moonbyul scoffed, unimpressed by Solar’s display of fake concern. She knew the oldest just wanted to rile her up, and she refused to give her the satisfaction of it working. “Can’t Sungie or I eat you out? So we can see your face all twisted in pleasure and pretty for us?” Solar continued, sending the most intense puppy-dog eyes in her direction. Moonbyul couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Jisungie is the good boy here, let’s see what he wants. After all, he’s the one actually doing as he’s told instead of behaving like a needy little slut.” Solar’s hips twitched at that, her slick panties rubbing along his thigh as she let out a quiet moan. Moonbyul laughed, grabbing her hair and yanking the poor girl’s head up to meet her gaze.

“Fucking slut, grinding on our guest’s leg like a bitch in heat. You act all tough and mighty, but you just wanna be a good girl at heart, don’t you?” Solar mumbled something, hips rocking even faster. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of your pathetic moans.”

“Y-Yes Mommy…” Solar whimpered, and Moonbyul’s eyes flashed the darkest shade yet.

“That’s my good little whore.”

It took so readjusting, but within seconds Jisung found himself laying on the ground, Solar’s discarded shirt bunched up underneath his head as a makeshift pillow. His dick was thoroughly aching at this point, having been denied an orgasm and just watched the two girl’s interaction taking place in front of him. Jisung loved the way Moonbyul could make even Solar, who had been nothing but cocky and sly this whole time, turn into a whiny sub just like himself. The power she held made him yearn to be touched again, and his wish was luckily about to be granted.

After checking in one final time to make sure everything was ok, Solar began to sink down on his cock, warm walls enveloping him deliciously. Jisung gasped in surprise, expecting them to prep her, yet she seemed unbothered by the stretch. Curious, he looked up at her with glossy eyes.

“F-fuck, noona, h-how are you taking me already?”

Solar let out a breathless laugh, pussy convulsing around his length as he filled her to the hilt. “Byul- I mean M-Mommy fingered me this morning before the show.”

Jisung whipped his head around to look at Moonbyul in shock, and the girl chuckled at his cute reaction and shrugged. “She was feeling nervous, so I helped her relax.” Jisung couldn’t help but moan at the mental image of Moonbyul stretching Solar open with those beautiful hands that were currently rubbing his head soothingly. Moonbyul raised her eyebrow in response. “Do you like that, baby? Do you like imagining my fingers plunging in and out of your noona’s dripping pussy?” He nodded aggressively, bucking his hips up into Solar, who whined. Wanting to be good so she could cum, Solar had opted to wait for permission to start moving, which was driving both of them insane.

Having noticed this, Moonbyul laughed, the sound mocking and making the subs whimper even louder. “My pretty babies can’t think of anything but how badly they want to fuck, hm? Well go ahead, Solar, be a good girl and show him a good time.” Solar nodded feverishly, raising herself up and making them both moan at the friction before dropping down so fast it made Jisung see stars. Sure he had had sex before, but it had never been this wet, this hot, this intense. His mind was reeling, trying to process all the pleasure as Solar continued to ride his cock, her beautiful boobs bouncing with each thrust, her pants echoing in the small room. Tears formed in his eyes, overwhelmed with emotions of pure lust, admiration, and gratitude at just how fucking lucky he was to get to see this. And it was only going to get better from here.

There was the sound of a zipper and clothes being discarded before Moonbyul was standing above him, bottom half exposed and dripping. “You know, I think Solar was right, I deserve to get in on the fun too.” Knowing exactly what she wanted, Jisung stuck his tongue out, face awaiting to be used for the girl’s pleasure. Her hips were lowered and soon her heat was set on his mouth, Jisung eagerly lapping at the folds as if his life depended on it.

“Sh-shit, you really do have a rapper’s tongue, huh baby?” Moonbyul chuckled, and Jisung swelled with pride as he slipped his tongue into her slick hole. The girl’s deep moan resonated around the room, and he heard Solar whimper in response before there was a wet sound of mouths meeting. Jisung groaned at the idea of them making out above him, acting as though he was just their little toy to play with and receive pleasure from. He was being used on both ends and absolutely could not get enough of it, stomach coiling from the soon-approaching orgasm that was bound to be simply mind-blowing.

It didn’t take long for Solar to pull away from Moonbyul’s mouth to gasp out a “Fuck, close, he’s hitting- fucking hell he’s hitting my spot so well,” and Jisung moaned in response, the vibrations going straight to Moonbyul’s pussy buried on his face.

“Y-You can come any time, baby, just warn Jisung so he can prepare for when you start squeezing.” Solar moaned out an affirmative before gasping, grinding her clit down against his pelvic bone and practically screaming as his dick hit the deepest parts of her, the combination making her orgasm slam into her like a freight train. Jisung tried his best to fuck her through it, but it was becoming and harder and harder to hold back his own release as her pussy spasmed around him. Once Solar’s eyes became glossed over and droopy, he whined, begging for it to be his turn.

Moonbyul agreed, ordering Solar to get off him and let Jisung use her mouth, which Solar was too fucked out to respond to. She simply slid off his dick, whining at the slight overstimulation, and sank between his thighs, taking the angry red-looking cock in her mouth in one go. It took only seconds for Jisung to cum, so pent up and desperate that he only needed the warmth of her cheeks to send him over the edge. His moans were muffled by Moonbyul above him, and he was met with even more as the vibrations ravaged her swollen clit. Soon, she was cumming too, legs squeezing around his face and head thrown back as the deep throngs of pleasure washed over them both. Panting, she fell backward onto the ground, chest rising and falling at rapid speed.

Jisung looked like a filthy angel, legs spread wide open, dick still twitching in post-orgasm bliss, cheeks red and shining with Moonbyul’s slick. The three of them simply sat there for a bit, catching their breath, before Moonbyul stood up to put her clothes back on and slip out of the room.

“Where’s she going?” Jisung asked, voice croaky from all the moaning.

Solar laughed tiredly. “To go get stuff for aftercare silly, we can’t just send you back out there like this.” Jisung nodded, waiting patiently until Moonbyul returned, arms full of water bottles, concealer, and some cool towels.

“There you go babies,” she smiled, placing the towels around the back of their necks and handing Solar some water. Jisung sat up slowly, sipping the cold liquid as Moonbyul held it to his lips, stroking his hair lovingly. “You did so good darling, so good for your noonas.” Jisung grinned, eyes crinkling shut as he basked in the attention, just happy that they had all enjoyed themselves. It took a few more minutes and praises before he was fully back from his subdpace, reluctantly dragging his clothes back on and letting Solar pat concealer over his parks and hickeys. Finally, he sighed, looking over at the door sadly.

“I should, uh, go now,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We know darling, but not before I get your number,” Moonbyul winked, planting a kiss on his cheek affectionately. Solar then did the same, and they exchanged numbers. Jisung was about to exit the room when Solar grabbed his hand to stop him.

“I just want you to know that I really enjoy your group’s songs. I didn’t say that before because I was scared you were a crazy fan, but you guys are going places, Sungie.” She smiled sweetly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before Jisung blushed, thanking her, and with one final look, he waved goodbye cutey, slipping out the door and down the hall with a springy pep in his step.

As soon as he got back to his dressing room, Chan was on his case in a heartbeat. “What the fuck, dude, did you get lost on the way there?” Everyone looked up from their phones and within seconds were swarming him, asking questions about what they were like, what they talked about, if they had heard of them. Jisung smiled shyly, repeating what Solar had said before he left, and they all beamed at the sweet message.

It was Jeongin, of course, who ruined the moment.

“Hey Jisung-hyung, what’s that on your neck?” He asked, poking at one of the hickeys Moonbyul had left behind. His face immediately flushed, frantically trying to stammer out an excuse, but in the end it was painfully obvious.

“So that’s why you took so long, Jesus Christ…” Chan groaned, shaking his head. Jeongin and Hyunjin whined something along the lines of “lucky” as Changbin and Minho burst into a fit of laughter. Seungmin, on the other hand, simply gave him a look of disapproval.

“This is why we can’t take you anywhere hyung, your dick thinks too much for you.”

And although Jisung wanted to smack him, he couldn’t help but think he was probably right.

[lubdubsworld]

Better Man.

              ~~~~We might still be in love, if you were a better man. ~~~~

Taehyung x OC 

Rating 18 +

Angst. 

Implied Infidelity in the past. 

Chapter 1 ~ Walk out the first time. 

"Are you okay?" My mother's soft voice came from behind me and i panicked, hurriedly swiping at the tears that were streaking down my face. Heart pounding, I grabbed a bunch of tissues from the dresser, patting my face down hurriedly , making sure to keep my back to her. 

"I'm fine, Mom." I said , voice surprisingly steady as I turned around to smile weakly at her. She stood near the doorway, a petite woman of fifty with greying hair and too many wrinkles. 

I thought she looked older than she was and i knew I had a part to play in that. Sighing, I tried not to cry more, moving to gently take my son out of her arms. 

He was four years old, fast asleep and smiling sweetly in his slumber. He had downy black hair, feather soft and warm brown eyes. He looked incredibly like his father, the resemblance stunning even though he was so young. I stared at him some more, laying him down on the bed and brushing the hair off his face. 

"Are you sure there is no mistake? Taehyung ssi wouldn't hurt us like this..." My mother said, sounding broken and I felt a pang of sympathy. But also annoyance. 

Us. 

Us....like she had an equal share in the hurt I was feeling.

 I was the one getting a  divorce but my mother made it sound like it was personal to her as well. Like somehow, the fact that she now had to meet her friends and tell them that her daughter was divorced could compare to the pain I was feeling. To the sheer anguish that was filling me.

To be fair though, my mother had loved Taehyung very much. Her favorite son-in-law . My sister's husband had been a mean drunkard who had brought a lot of misery to our family. Taehyung by contrast had been a loving, filial son in law. He had cared deeply for my parents, paid for my father's funeral ( even though the man itself was nothing more than a drunk , cheating fool who had abandoned us )  and he had been the most kind man . 

I swallowed. 

Maybe , you should have forgiven him. Maybe , you shouldn't have divorced him . So, he slept with another woman. Fine.  It was one night... just one night. you should have gotten over it! Was it worth it to spend all these countless nights alone? To break your mother's heart a thousand times over? 

 The funny thing was, i had forgiven him. Maybe right after I had found out. He had stood there, looking shell-shocked and horrified and his eyes had begged me for forgiveness and my heart had cracked , the way it always did whenever I saw him in distress. And when he had looked me in the eye and said, "  I’m sorry,  Jang mi..." I had forgiven him right then and there.

 But it was the forgetting that was hard. The fear that it would happen again. The fear that somehow, I was the reason he strayed. And that kind of fear can be debilitating. For the first three weeks, I'd tried to pretend it hadn't happened. I had tried hard to see him the way I had always seen him but it had been impossible. everytime I saw him, my heart had broken anew. It had been hard but I had to accept that things would never be the same. That I would forever look at him and remember what he’d done. That I would forever wonder if he would do it again. 

So we had done the wise thing. 

At first a break.

 A few days apart to get our head on straight.  Then I’d found a job and I had to move closer to the office to make the commute easy. And then suddenly, I wasn’t seeing him even during the weekends , to spend time as family for our son’s sake. And just like that , a whole year had passed and we  were separated. Only meeting to hand Hoshi over to each other. 

"I'm sorry mother." I said softly. I knew that she blamed me, a whole lot for the separation. 

People with children  didn't leave each other over infidelity in my country. You hit your husband, denied him from your bed maybe but you didn't break up a family over one night of bad decisions. You just didn't .

But for me, it was beyond the act. It was the broken trust, the shock of knowing that some other woman had given him something I couldn't, the fact that he had even wanted it from another woman had been enough for me to crumble on the inside.  

But, none of it mattered now. 

He wanted a divorce. Officially. Wanted to end it for real. 

It was jarring, how badly it shook me. I felt unaccountably lost and confused and disoriented. I couldn't imagine not being Taehyung’s wife , i realized with a stunning sense of self realization.

 Call me irrational, but apparently, I couldn't stop thinking of him as my husband , even after two years. Soon he wouldn't be my husband. 

He would be  my ex -husband. 

i hated that word. 

It had such a plethora of negative connotations to it. When you hear it , you just brace yourself for unpleasantness.

 Because it is unpleasant. A marriage ending, a family breaking, feelings hurt , hearts shattered,  angry words tossed...its all a very unpleasant experience for everyone involved. 

An ex husband was seldom a harbinger of happiness, more often a reminder of choices gone wrong, regrets and wasted time. and I didn’t want to associate Taehyung with a word like that.

Taehyung who was still the kindest, warmest human being I knew. The best father in the world. 

I felt like someone had sucked all the strength out of me.

I didn’t really want to think about the call I’d gotten from Taehyung last night. An appointment with a divorce lawyer.  It had been followed by an apology because apparently, someone in the law firm had let the info leak. And now it was all over the sleazy tabloids that fed on people’s misery. 

It was impossible to escape it too, Taehyung was famous. An idol. And actor. The country's sweetheart. And he was the epitome of perfection. The beautiful, talented actor with an impeccable record of well behavior. 

I knew that literally everyone on the planet thought he was a literal angel. 

 I remembered how much , by contrast, I had been hated when I'd married him.

I could just imagine how much more it would all be this time around. And i wondered if it bothered Taehyung too. Did he perhaps wish he’d never met me

? 

It had been sheer luck that we had met.... 

In fact, if Jimin's  car hadn't broken down right outside our home on that cold December night, I wouldn't have even met Taehyung. A great cosmic shift, somewhere some butterfly flapped its wing a certain way and suddenly, Jimin’s car ran over a thumbtack and his phone was dead so while he tried to fix the damage , Taehyung  just had to knock on our home and I had been the one to open it. 

Boom. That was it. Love at first sight. 

 I had been a high school kid and he had been barely nineteen. Fresh faced and cheerful , the struggling idol from a small company. He hadn't been surrounded by fans or chased by saesangs. He hadn't had security tailing him. No daesangs, BBMAs, or acting awards. No blockbuster movies to his credit , no chart-bursting songs either . 

And I had fallen in love with that version of him. 

The hardworking, talented young man who worked twice as hard as anyone around him. 

 That's right. You've loved him for fifteen years.  So it's understandable that you're upset. Now, maybe you can move on too. Go on a few of those blind dates that Jiyoung is always setting you up on. Go live your life instead of being a zombie. Get a hair cut. Dye your hair red. Do something to get your life in order. 

"I still find it hard to believe that he would want a divorce. Jangmi yah... did you tell him you forgave him? Tell him you wanted to try again..." My mother said again and the distress in her voice was equal parts heartbreaking and exasperating. 

"Mother, I don't want to try again . We aren't married anymore. It's over, whatever it was between us. " 

 Whatever it was. 

How cruel, to have all that love, all that affection  reduced to a phrase like that. 

What a pity. 

"But what about Hoshi? He needs his father..." My mother cried out and I willed myself not to snap. She means well, I thought miserably. 

"He has a father. Taehyung is an excellent father and you know that. Don’t start that again.” 

My mother sighed.

"I still feel that this wouldn’t happen if you tried a little bit. He’s a good boy. Such a good boy and you could never do anyone better. Why are you so full of pride, Jangmi... so prideful...you should be a little humble. Think of the kind of man he is...where would you find a man like that ? And moreover .... Taehyung loves you. i know he does." My mother said stubbornly. 

I sighed, feeling my fingers shake from the effort not to scream. I wasn’t strong enough to have this conversation with her. Not now. Possibly never. Taehyung did  love me. Had never made any effort to hide it. But sometimes, love wasn’t enough. It just wasn’t. 

And I wanted to yell at my mother she was at least partially to blame for me walking out on Taehyung. 

My father had left us for another woman , when I was twelve. I had seen the toll it had taken on my mother and I just knew that I would never let a man do that to me. My mother had later confided in me that it wasn’t the first time. He had done it before. A lot of times. And my mother had always forgiven him. Let him back into our lives. 

And one night, drunk on soju she had confided between hiccups, ‘ I wish I’d walked out the first time.” 

And that had stuck with me. 

Walk out the first time. 

If he cheats on you , walk out the first time. Don’t stick around waiting for him to do it to you again. Walk out the first time. 

 And so I had. 

“ Should I talk to him? Tell him you’ve changed your mind? “ My mother began and I felt my patience snap.

“No!! Could you just, for the love of God, stay out of this, ma? It’s over. Our marriage is over and it has been over for a long time. A piece of paper doesn’t really change that, does it? Its not my fault you can’t get over it but that’s a you problem. And you need to fix it yourself.  “ I shouted. 

My mother immediately recoiled, eyes shuttering down. 

“Of course. You know the best. Who cares how anyone else feels, right, Jang Mi? You always know best.” She said softly, and I exhaled, shaken. There it was. The guilt trip. It was never ending. 

Please... I just need to go now.” I moved to grab my bag, :” I need to go get ready for the meeting with the lawyers tomorrow. You can keep Hoshi with you tonight.  I’ll come pick him up after I’m done and then I’ll drop him off at his father’s place.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With Taehyung and I, our break up hadn’t been terrible. 

It hadn’t been terrible because our own penchant for being terrible had always been very minimal. We didn’t do swearing or fights or threats and it always annoyed our friends that we got along so well. That it was so easy for us to forgive and move on with each other . That we were the one couple who didn’t hold grudges or bring up past mistakes. 

Which is why, when we did break up, none of our friends had tried to change our minds over it. They had accepted it rather calmly, shocked at first because it was so out of the blue but not opposed to the idea itself . They just trusted us to know the right thing to do because we were easily the most mature , the most level headed couple in the entire group. We were usually the sounding boards , the voice of reason in whatever petty conflict our friends were involved in . 

So when it was us, needling a little advice, a little guidance, our friends had been woefully ill equipped to help. They had merely hummed and nodded and empathized. Maybe that was another reason I’d left. I hadn’t considered the alternative. No one had asked me to consider the alternative. 

Our friends had watched us drift apart watched us break up, but they hadn’t really asked us  why.  

Because if something had caused Kim Taehyung and Jang Mi to break up, man, that must’ve been a really huge issue. 

So the break up had been amicable. Gradual and slow but mostly amicable, eased by our mutual love for our son. We wanted him happy and he was happy when we were happy. So we put on a front, laughed and joked in front of him and let him have some semblance of normalcy in his life. 

It wasn’t easy. 

From him,  it had been nothing but a mess of   heated glances, touches laced with intent and eyes begging forgiveness . every gaze of his was a silent scream for a second chance that I was not at all ready to give. 

Because for me, the raw hurt and anger and frustration that bubbled up every time I saw him , it had nowhere to go. It stayed churning in my gut, made everything bitter and unpalatable and I wanted to hurt him for hurting me. How could I think of a second chance when the hurt from the first, was still so fresh, an open wound festering. 

Self esteem in tatters, I had hated him fiercely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The meeting was at his company, and I arrived at nine in the morning, with a few more minutes to spare.  I knew the place like the back of my hand, was here at least  once a week either to pick or drop Hoshi off and I knew that the conference room in the third floor was sound proof and cut off from the rest of the building for extra privacy. 

Which was a little too late because I’d found two tabloid newspapers waiting outside my apartment this morning. 

I opened the door carefully, surprised to see Taehyung sitting in one of the chairs, bent over a sheaf of paper on the table and next to him a leggy girl in a small skirt hovered, fingers resting lightly on his shoulder, bent at the optimum angle to show him her curves. 

I sighed, looking away.

It was way too early for this. 

“Mia!” Taehyung’s voice made me look up, and I watched as he stood up, pushing the chair away and moving to me . He was easily the most good looking man in the country. And he looked so good at thirty five that it was impossible to look away from him. 

He was dressed in a pale blue shirt and black slacks and it never amazed me, how good clothes fit him. 

I took in the broad shoulders, thick arms and the lean waist, the carefully styled hair and the breathtakingly beautiful face and sighed when he kept coming closer, hands held out. . 

Of course, the customary hug. 

i let him wrap his arms around me, my face buried in the comforting warmth of his body, the scent of his cologne filling my brain . He always smelled so good it made my heart hurt. I tried not to let myself get carried away. Tried to remind myself that this wasn’t anything more than a.....

A facade ? Or was it? Was his affection genuine? 

Was I just too cynical?

I shook my head, pulling away and smiling a little at the genuine venom in the leggy girl’s face. 

“Are you okay? Where’s Hoshi?” Taehyung brushed the hair off my face, eyes warm and I wondered if he’d forgotten we were here to get a divorce.

 Whenever we met, Taehyung acted like we were still together. 

No, that wasn’t it. 

He just didn’t act like we had broken up. He was affectionate and open and cooperative. It always left me in a sort of limbo, unable to navigate our relationship with clear boundaries. There were no line to stop myself from crossing, because he just didn’t draw them. 

“ Ms. Lee says we just have to go over the details like the alimony and the custody and the division of assets and then we can just proceed. Get it all finalized.  “ He said casually, when I moved away and sat on the chair opposite him. 

“Okay .” I said casually. 

He smiled and turned back to the girl next to him.

“I’ll join you after the meeting Lisa.” he gave her a nice wide smile and the girl practically bloomed under the attention before bowing curtly in my direction. I watched her walk away, slightly amused.

“Bit younger than your usual type.” I commented , glancing at him. He gave me a look.

“I’m not dating her.” He shrugged. 

“Does she know that?” I retorted.

 It was dumb. Uncalled for. I was being a bitch, really but the urge to evoke some kind of reaction from Taehyung was something I’d never really out grown. I liked getting under his skin.

Taehyung sighed and gave me a little smirk.

“Are you jealous, Mia mine?” He teased. 

It felt a little like someone had dug a nine inch dagger straight  into my heart. 

That stupid nickname. 

God I couldn’t bear it. 

Swallowing i looked away. 

“Sorry. “ he said quietly, a few seconds later. 

I nodded curtly. 

“Don’t do it again.” I said hoarsely. 

“Why not?” He whispered gently. 

I groaned. 

“Taehyung... “

“it’s just a name...why does it bother you so much?” He whispered. 

“The same reason you’re asking me for a divorce.” I said softly.

He blinked.

“Mia...”

“Because we both know its time to stop.” I said quietly. “ Stop dancing around each other , stop doing...whatever it is we’ve been doing these past two years and give our relationship a name. “ 

“I’m not very fond of labels.” He shrugged. I glared at him. 

“Well tough luck. Labels are good. Labels are great. They let you draw boundaries. “ I retorted. 

“You sound like you’ve had enough of me.”

“Well, haven’t you had enough of me?” I snapped.

“Not even close.” He leaned forward gently, eyes pinning me to the table with a gaze so strong he may as well have used his body. And it didn’t help that two years wasn’t enough time to forget how it would feel if he  had  used his body. How it would feel to be stretched out on that table, him on top of me, hands working my clothes open, lips kissing their way down my jaw. 

I could almost taste him, taste the minty freshness of his breath, feel his tongue in my mouth, the hardness of him inside me. My thighs clenched because I hadn’t gotten laid in two fucking years and even if i did, no one would ever compare to the man in front of me. 

“Mr. Kim? Mrs. Kim? “ 

The lawyer’s voice broke the spell and i straightened, swallowing. Ms. Lee had walked in , and I watched her close the conference door behind her before locking it gently. 

She was young, dressed in a business suit , a no nonsense bun and had small round framed glasses. She gave me a nice smile, shook hands with us both and placed her briefcase on the table before glancing between us. 

“Shall we begin?” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note : its gonna be a bumpy ride. 

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Vil Schoenheit Beans Camo Personal Story: Part 2

"I'll Direct For You"

(Part 1) Part 2

[Woods Behind Campus]

Farmer Team Student E: Now! Everybody, capture Vil Schoenheit and Silver!!!

Silver & Vil: …..!

Silver: What are you doing! Let go of us.

Farmer Team Student D: You’ll stay quiet if you know what’s good for you. If you struggle too much…

Farmer Team Student D: We’ll raise an alarm saying “Some Farmer Team members are here～”. Since you’re unarmed now, you’d be caught immediately.

Vil: What do you plan to do with the Beans Shooter you stole?

Silver: Yeah. We’re both on the Farmer Team. Aren’t we teammates?

Farmer Team Student D: The students who best contribute to their team’s victory get awarded bonus points in their Physical Fitness class grade, right?

Farmer Team Student D: We want to do overwhelmingly well in this event and get that good grade.

Farmer Team Student D: If we increase the number of beans we have and collect a bunch of powerful items like the Beans Shooters, our chance of success increases.

Silver: You’re telling me this was your plan all along? You avoided the risk of going to the supply box by yourselves…!

Vil: As expected of Octavinelle dorm students. Sharp, insidious, and clever. Just like your Dorm Leader.

Farmer Team Student E: Hahaha. Just say we’re smart!

Farmer Team Student F: Anyway, now that means we have 2 Beans Shooters. There’ll be no enemies that can stand up to us!

Farmer Team Student F: Hey, you Savanaclaw students. It’ll be better for you if you join the stronger side, yeah?

Farmer Team Student A: Hmph. It’s a pain to listen to those guys from Octavinelle, but… I’ll take you up on your offer.

Farmer Team Student B: Seems like we’ll have more freedom on that side too!

Silver: You guys are betraying us too….!

Vil: Sigh… In the end I suppose it was simply a mish-mash of a group thrown together.

Farmer Team Student D: And suddenly, we have the upper hand! We’ll have Vil and Silver work for us now.

Vil: ….!

Farmer Team Student F: Alright. Let’s see how many beans are in the bag…

Farmer Team Student F: ….!? Wh-what is this!!

Farmer Team Student E: What’s wrong?

Farmer Team Student F: The pouch we stole from Vil… There’s no beans inside, its rocks!

Farmer Team Student A: What!? Don’t tell me, the Shooter too…

Vil: That’s correct. The beans have all been removed.

[bam]

Farmer Team Student D: Uwah!! That Vil just kicked the Shooter up out of his hands!

Farmer Team Student E: Hey! What are you doing letting go of the equipment we finally got our hands on! Hurry and recover it-

Vil: I won’t allow it.

[whoosh]

Farmer Team Student D: Ugh!

Farmer Team Student E: Gah!

[thud]

Vil: Well, I’ll be taking back the Shooter now.

Farmer Team Student A: They were defeated just by his kicks… and he also took the Beans shooter!

Farmer Team Student F: This guy, why is he so strong!?

Silver: Wonderful, Vil-senpai. That was a striking roundhouse kick.

Vil: Are you sure you have time to be impressed?

Vil: I’m going to skewer these potatoes. Don’t just stand there empty-headed, lend me a hand.

Silver: Of course.

Farmer Team Students: Hiiiiiiiie!!

Vil: Whew, we were able to round them all up.

Farmer Team Student D: Shit～～～! We thought we had completely deceived you!

Vil: You’re joking, right? I wouldn’t be fooled by such a forced performance.

Vil: I was aware of your scheme from the very beginning.

Silver: Eh, really? I didn’t know at all…

Vil: The entertainment world is similar to a large stage setting. Even if the cameras aren’t rolling, many actors are still acting.

Vil: For example… Like pretending to be a good person but then dragging their rivals down.

Vil: Once, my costume had been torn up, and the culprit ended up being a senior actor who had been so kind as to give me acting advice.

Vil: While I’ve found myself interacting with such people, I’ve naturally fell into the habit of searching for a person’s true intentions. Spotting such betrayal is too easy.

Silver: If you’re so cautious, why did you help me?

Vil: Because you had the look of someone who would believe whatever other people say.

Vil: I thought that something like “betrayal” wouldn’t even have crossed your mind.

Silver: I see…

Silver: … Vil-senpai, this may be rude, but I have something to say.

Silver: Malleus-sama is so strong that there is no way that I could compare to him whatsoever.

Silver: But after all we just went through, I realize that Happy Beans Day is a difficult event rife with strategy.

Silver: Even if his strength knows no equal… you never know what may happen. I wish to go searching for Malleus-sama as soon as possible.

Silver: It may be rude to ask even though you saved me, but will you allow me to part ways with you from here on out?

Vil: I thought you’d say something like that.

Silver: Eh?

Vil: But the only item you have is the beans pouch that was distributed in the beginning, I’m sure.

Vil: Then that’ll just be a repeat of what happened earlier. So, take this Beans Shooter that we just took from these guys.

Silver: It’s okay if I go….? Wait, before that, why would you give me one of your prized weapons?

Vil: Someone as powerful as Malleus is valuable, and is one of the keys to ensure a victory for the Farmer Team.

Vil: Because of that, he’s probably going to be chased by many of the Monster Team. It won’t be that easy to join him.

Vil: Head out to any prominent locations and you’ll be done for. …. Of course, you should try to avoid such a situation in the first place…

Vil: If it’s just one agile person, you might be able to slip past the enemy. You may be able to be of some help to Malleus.

Vil: Please go for me as well.

Silver: But if I were to go, you…

Vil: Ara. Even though we fought together, are you still doubting the strength of Vil Schoenheit?

Vil: I should be able to increase the number of Farmer Team in my group in no time, and until then as long as I have this magical camouflage it should be enough.

Silver: Vil-senpai…

Silver: Thank you. And I hope you are able to safely last until the end and win.

Vil: Now then, next is dealing with you all…

Farmer Team Student A: Hie! We won’t betray you a-a-again! We’ll listen to whatever you say, so please forgive us!!

Vil: What good boys.

Vil: Then, to make sure our team wins… You’ll be happy to be the bait, yes?

Farmer Team Student D: Eh….?

Vil: So that you can shine as the best possible decoy, I’ll direct for you.

Vil: You should be thankful that you can be useful to me.

Farmer Team Students: O-Oh noooo!!!

Vil: It’s really starting to feel like Happy Beans Day. For plants to grow beautifully, they need the proper nutrients.

Vil: Fu…fufufu...

Vil: Hahahahaha…!!

(Part 1) Part 2

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything is now ruined.

Chapter 22: Then It Ended

As soon as we came, Annabeth ang Grover tackled me. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke, so of course everybody treated us as if we'd won some reality-TV contest. According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor, then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence.

Annabeth's shroud was so beautiful—gray silk with embroidered owls— Percy told her it seemed a shame not to bury her in it. She punched him and told him to shut up. Percy being the son of Poseidon, he didn't have any cabin mates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make his shroud. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

As I was still unclaimed, Hermes cabin had made me one. (Just... IDK go crazy with your shroud IG) It was fun to burn. As Apollo's cabin led the sing-along and passed out s'mores, Percy and I was surrounded by my Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "Brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past." The only ones not in a party mood were Clarisse and her cabinmates, whose poisonous looks told me they'd never forgive us for disgracing their dad. That was okay with me. Even Dionysus's welcome-home speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits. "Yes, yes, so the little brats didn't get themselves killed and now they'll have an even bigger head. Well, huzzah for that. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this Saturday...." Going back to the cabin I finally had time to talk to Luke. Who just expressed his relief of me being fine, and how he was scared when Annabeth told everyone about me. No wonder everyone was so shocked seeing me come back with Percy. On the Fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. Being Hephaestus's kids, they weren't going to settle for a few lame red-white-and-blue explosions. They'd anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with rockets the size of Patriot missiles. According to Annabeth, who'd seen the show before, the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they'd look like frames of animation across the sky. The finale was supposed to be a couple of hundred-foot-tall Spartan warriors who would crackle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million colors. As Annabeth, Percy and I were spreading a picnic blanket, Grover showed up to tell us good-bye. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks he'd started to look older, almost high-school age. His goatee had gotten thicker. He'd put on weight. His horns had grown at least an inch, so he now had to wear his rasta cap all the time to pass as human. "I'm off," he said. "I just came to say ... well, you know." I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't every day a satyr got permission to go look for the great god Pan. But it was hard saying good-bye. I'd only known Grover a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth and I gave him a hug. She told him to keep his fake feet on. I asked him where he was going to search first. "Kind of a secret," he said, looking embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan ..." "We understand," Annabeth said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?" "Yeah." "And you remembered your reed pipes?" "Jeez, Annabeth," he grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat." But he didn't really sound annoyed. He gripped his walking stick and slung a backpack over his shoulder. He looked like any hitchhiker you might see on an American highway. "Well," he said, "wish me luck." He gave Annabeth and I another hug. He clapped Percy on the shoulder, then headed back through the dunes. Fireworks exploded to life overhead: Hercules killing the Nemean lion, Artemis chasing the boar, George Washington (who, by the way, was a son of Athena) crossing the Delaware. "Hey, Grover," Percy called. He turned at the edge of the woods. "Wherever you're going—I hope they make good enchiladas." Grover grinned, and then he was gone, the trees closing around him. "We'll see him again," Annabeth said. July passed. I spent my daysplanning out strategies with Luke for capture-the-flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting scorched by lava. From time to time, Percy and I would walk past the Big House, he'd glance up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle.

I tried to convince him that its prophecy had come to completion. "You shall go west, and face the god who has turned." "Been there, done that—even though the traitor god had turned out to be Ares rather than Hades." "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." "Check. One master bolt delivered. One helm of darkness back on Hades." "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." Percy recited. "Ares had pretended to be our friend, then betrayed us. That must be what the Oracle meant.... Or maybe Nereid?"

"And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end." He sighed. "I had failed to save my mom and lost you..."

"So why are you still uneasy?" The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. The campers had one last meal together. We burned part of our dinner for the gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end-of-summer beads. Percy and I got our own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer. The design was pitch black, with a sea-green trident shimmering in the center.

"This is so beautiful..." I smiled to Percy. "The choice was unanimous," Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" The entire camp got to their feet and cheered. Even Ares's cabin felt obliged to stand. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy or sad as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. And in the morning, most of them would be leaving for the year. * * * The next morning, Luke called me. He gave me a paper, telling me to fill it out, and asked me to meet him as soon as I could. I knew Dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong: Dear (WRONG NAME) , If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit. Have a nice day! Mr. D (Dionysus) Camp Director, Olympian Council #12 That's another thing about ADHD. Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face. Summer was over, and I still don't know what to do. I had no where to go to. The only option I had was Percy's or maybe Hades was not joking about inviting me back to the Underworld. Sighing I decided to just meet Luke before filling it for second opinions. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for final inspection. Argus was helping some of the Aphrodite kids haul their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I was walking around looking for Luke. I jumped when I felt someone tap me from behind. I instinctively unsheathed my knife and turned only to see Luke with his hands raised.

"Whoa! Calm down just me." He laughed.

"Kinda weird seeing someone laugh at a knife pointed at them." I smirked sheathing my knife.

"I only laugh since its you." He smiled and ruffled my hair. "Are you done with everything?"

"Not really. I don't know whether to leave or not yet. That's why I came. Help me?" I asked him.

He turned to me and to the forest. "How about you hear me out about something... important and private... then decide?" He gestured towards the forest.

"Not planning on killing me are you?" I squinted at him.

He gasped. "Not you. Never. I would never hurt you."

I let him lead me to a shrouded area of the forest.

"How serious is this thing that you can't let anyone see? I am blindly trusting you here Luke." I laughed nervously. But when he didn't reply I felt something was off. "Luke, okay this isn't cool. How deep into the forest do we have to go?"

"Y/N remember when you said... You want to be the person I trust...? How you promised to help me?"

"Luke?" He took my hand and pulled me sharply. I winced at how hard he pulled me. "That hurts! Let me go!"

He snapped back and let go of my wrist. "I-I'm sorry... Y/N..."

As much as I knew I had to leave, I couldn't I was worried about him. I reluctantly placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's happening?"

"I did it..." I said and sat on the ground. "I swear I didn't mean to get you hurt. But, I confess to everything. I  stole bolt and helm, I summoned the hound, I gave Percy the cursed shoes... And just now, I tried to kill Percy Jackson." He looked at me with empty eyes.

I shot up and looked at him in emotions I couldn't put in words. "W-Wh---" I wanted to leave and check on Percy. But once again, seeing him right now... I need to stay with him. "Why are you telling me this...?"

"Join me... please?" his voice was weak. He sounded vulnerable. "Let's serve my Lord together..."

"L-Luke... no. I-I can't do that!" I took his shoulder, "Y-You should stay with me instead. How about that, huh? L-Let's explain to Chiron and the others... come on please. I could help you!"

Nothing was working.

"Come with me..." He muttered.

"Luke, I won't join you. You have to change your mind. You can't do this."

"I can't change my mind."

"I can help you with that? How about you go with me huh? I could spend all my time doing this and that. Please, just change your mind."

He didn't reply for a while until he whispered, "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

"You'll stay with me."

"What? Luke I wo--"

"You won't join... Just...don't stay here for the year... and stay with me."

"I-If I stay with you... what would that mean?"

"Yo-You... might change my mind."

"I'll go." I replied with no hesitation. "I'll leave camp for the year. And I'll find my parent to prove to you that Gods and Goddess aren't all bad. We'll find my parent together."

"I do my lord's bidding--"

"You can still do it. If you want to. But whatever happens... stays only between us. I'll stay with you until I change your mind. And I'll bring you back to camp."

"I would never do anything to ruin your trust in me." He knelt down. It was kinda awkward but hey... "I need you."

Worry not hero. We shall stay.

"Please..."

We'll meet again. Wait for us, we shall join you soon. Now leave.

I had no idea what happened since when I came to Luke was gone and there was no sign of him anywhere. How were we going to st---

We will meet him once we leave. Now go as our hero needs us.

I suddenly remembered Percy's state that Luke had told me about. So I ran. I ran to the Big House

***

Percy finally opened his eyes. He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club. Argus stood guard in the corner. Annabeth and I sat next to Percy, I was holding his nectar glass and she was dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," Percy said. "You idiot," Annabeth said, "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing..." "Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit." He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form. His lower half was magically compacted into the wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved." "Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened." Between sips of nectar, he told them the story.

I bit my lip trying to keep what happened between Luke and I private. It was a risky move that would not be approved by anyone after all. The room was quiet for a long time. "I can't believe that Luke..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, I can believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

Percy was looking at me as if checking what was my reaction to his story. "This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once." "Luke is out there right now," Percy said. "I have to go after him." Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods—" "Won't even talk about Kronos," Percy snapped. "Zeus declared the matter closed!" "Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready." "Chiron... your prophecy from the Oracle... it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? Y/N? And Annabeth?" Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place—" "You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" His eyes were sympathetic, but sad. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you..." Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows. "All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing." "We can't just sit back and do nothing," He said. "We will not sit back," Chiron promised. "But you must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come." "Assuming I live that long." Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice...." I got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all his willpower not to advise me. "But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision." "I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you." He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear... whenever you're ready, they're here." "Who's here?" Percy asked. Nobody answered. Chiron rolled himself out of the room. I heard the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time. Annabeth studied the floor. "What's wrong?" Percy asked her. "Nothing. I ... just took your advice about something. You ... um ... need anything?" "Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside." "Percy, that isn't a good idea." Percy slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth and I caught him before he could crumple to the floor.

I said, "I told you ..." "I'm fine," He insisted.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on me. Argus followed us outside, but he kept his distance. By the time we reached the porch, his face was beaded with sweat. But we had managed to make it all the way to the railing. It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun. "What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked us. "I don't know." Percy replied. "I got the feeling Chiron wanted me to stay year-round, to put in more individual training time, but I'm not sure that's what I want. I also don't want to leave you both with Clarisse only." Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." He stared at her. "You mean, to your dad's?" She pointed toward the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted—two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had gotten from Waterland in Denver. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him... I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided... we'd give it another try." "That took guts." She pursed her lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you? At least ... not without sending me an Iris-message? Both of you?" Percy managed a smile. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

"You already know my plans."

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?" "Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

She held out her hand. Percy shook it. She gave me a hug. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told Percy. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Then turned to me, "Good luck on your own quest Droopy."

"Of course Peabody." We watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be lead over the crest and into the mortal world. "I made my decision." Percy said. "What's yours?"

"I'll be leaving camp... I'm going to look for my parent..." He looked at me in shock. "I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then."

"Alone?"

I smiled at him.

"Don't you want to stay with us? Mom said---"

"I want to find my parent. I need to. I'll be fine Percy."

I helped Percy to his cabin so he could pack and went to mine. To my surprise I see a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, and a very familiar sly grin. He had bags at his foot.

"Delivery for Y/N L/N."

"Uhm..."

"Hermes." He said.

I froze and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Personally packed. As a thank you for what you're about to do." He smiled softly and handed me the bags.

"H-Huh...?"

"For helping Luke."

"I..."

Don't forget her mail!

Ooh! And tell her to bring us snacks next time we meet since it'll be often now!

No it wouldn't be often! She'll be with Luke!

"Both of you keep quiet." Pulling out a mail he handed it to me. "Luke... prayed to me telling me about your plan. He asked me to help you. I don't know what or why he did it. But I know he'll change thanks to you. So do guide him."

"Sorry you lost me at the talking air..." I blinked.

Hermes laughed and showed a caduceus. "It's just George and Martha."

"Hi?"

Hello!

Hi

"I just wanted to let you know. No god or goddess could see you. No matter how hard they tried. So your secrets.. are really secrets. Good luck on your travel."

Next time we meet you should have snacks.

Then he vanished.

Staring at the letter on my hand, I was stunned seeing it was from... my mom and dad.

Sweetie,

You've made quite a friend here.

-Mom and Dad.

I immediately knew where to look. I hurriedly took my bags not bothering to check the contents. I ran to Percy's cabin and helped him out so we could leave.

Percy got a cab and looked at me worriedly.

"I'll write you. Stay safe Arthur Curry." I ruffled his hair and watched him go.

I didn't know where to go so I just went to the first secluded area I saw.

"You have more stuffs than when you arrived." I heard someone behind me.

"You prayed to your dad. I hope he knows how to pack." I sighed turning to him. Turning around I barely made out Luke from the few days I last saw him. "You okay?"

"Do you know where to look first?"

Call upon our hound.

I whistled, I don't know why. But when I did, D/N came out of the blue. Luke looked at me and my dear dog, who was probably bigger than the hound he'd summon back then. "How do feel about L.A?" I said riding on D/N and making space behind me for Luke.

~~~END OF BOOK 1~~~

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END OF BOOK ONE!!! THANK YOU FOR READING YLATHB I HOPE YOU ENJOY!! I'LL PUBLISH BOOK 2 WHEN I'M DONE OR EVEN AT LEAST HAVE WRITTEN 5 CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK 2 ;))

I HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT TIME!!!

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000 @katara720 @ynfics

[yuziyuanapologist]

i got this as an ask several weeks ago, from the angst prompt list that i cant be bothered finding again, wangxian + “shit, are you bleeding?” unfortunately sometimes tumblr decides that i must pay for my crimes and deleted the ask instead of saving it as a draft. so. but i had the fic saved! so once more with feeling:

it’s here on ao3, 2.9k words, canon divergence from ep33, no big warnings but mostly-non-graphic injury description and also my personal vendetta against the lan clan’s rules.

big thank u to @goldencorecrunches for reading this over and generally being the best

It’s been a strange few days. 

As Wei Wuxian wakes up from what feels like a dream, he finds himself somewhere he’s never been - yet somewhere familiar, all the same. The sound of soft notes - the song of clarity - floats through to his consciousness, he turns his head to the side, smiling gently at Lan Zhan, deep in concentration with his fingers on the strings.

It’s not the way he would have chosen, to come here to Gusu, but he could get used to it. He’s certainly grateful for it, brought here safe instead of dragged back to Lotus Pier - or, indeed, slaughtered where he stood. 

Zidian gets no more pleasant, in a new body. Sixteen years away clearly has not mellowed his sh- his ex-shidi. 

He has questions, though, as to why the sixteen years have worked in what seems like the opposite way on Lan Zhan. Wasn’t he desperate to scold Wei Wuxian before, wasn’t he desperate to - drag him back here to Gusu?

Well, he managed. But it - well, either it was never as bad as he thought it would be in his last life, or Lan Zhan’s intentions are more gentle now. Sweeter. He’s simply playing for Wei Wuxian, dressed all in white save for -

“Shit, are you bleeding?”

The notes come to a discordant halt as Wei Wuxian forces himself to sit. Lan Zhan straightens his shoulders - the shoulders that, down one side, are tainted with a stain of dark red.

His only answer - typical Lan Zhan - is “Mn.”

“Lan Zhan - wh-”

“Do not panic,” Lan Zhan says, even as Wei Wuxian hauls himself to standing, his legs buckling beneath him in protest. Lan Zhan stands in one fluid motion, and crosses the room to take Wei Wuxian’s arm, and lift him back to the bed. 

Wei Wuxian protests half-heartedly, but only from sitting - he really is weak in this new body.

“It is nothing unexpected,” Lan Zhan says, quiet resignation filling his voice. “Stay.”

“Lan Zhan-“

But Lan Zhan has already crossed the room, moved behind the screen in the corner, and Wei Wuxian’s vision is fuzzy already from standing so quickly - he can’t protest, or follow - he can only wait.

It’s not long, a few minutes at most, that Wei Wuxian passes with his head in his hands, trying to fit this information in somewhere that makes sense - although, of course, he’s been gone sixteen years. It could be anything.

Lan Zhan emerges, and his robes are once again pure white, as if nothing had ever happened.

He settles back behind his guqin, and his fingers meet the strings once again, soft notes melting into the evening. 

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian speaks up, even though, despite the sixteen years since he's known him - he knows he will give no answer

As predicted, he gets only silence. 

"Was it Zidian? Did Jiang Cheng-" he cuts himself off with a shake of his head. That's not how Zidian works, and he knows it. The only likely part of that story is Jiang Cheng, and perhaps - but Lan Zhan was so unconcerned, it can't be a recent injury. And it is nothing unexpected - 

"Is it a curse?" 

"You ought to have paid more attention in your lectures here." 

Wei Wuxian scoffs. “I’ve been dead for sixteen years,” he reminds Lan Zhan. “Even if i had paid attention, would you really expect me to remember?”

Lan Zhan doesn’t respond beyond a slow blink, one that could disguise the edges of a smile - but it’s been sixteen years. It could just as easily be anything else.

After too long in silence, Wei Wuxian lets out a sigh. This isn’t how he wanted to begin to make amends, this isn’t who he would choose to be, on his second chance. Overbearing, insistent, prying. That was for Lan Zhan, that was for sixteen years ago. “Lan Zhan -”

“It does not matter,” Lan Zhan interrupts, and his voice falls to soft tones, evocative of tears that no one has shed. “You are here.”

*

Blood runs slowly into the water of the Cold Springs. Wei Wuxian watches, his mouth slack with worry. For all that Lan Zhan had acted as though it was nothing to concern himself with - and for all that he had then refused to speak more about it - this wound is deep. It cuts from the top of his shoulder blade, all the way down below the water, and the blood flows thick and steady.

There are other scars, too - long healed, but that might once have been just as deep.

“Lan Zhan -“

As soon as the words sound in the quiet air, Lan Zhan's tranquility is stopped  - he flees the water and dresses before Wei Wuxian can even finish the sentence. But - on his way out of the water - he exposes a second wound across his lower back - shallower, than the first, the blood thin and only trickling from the wound - but still it bleeds.

Lan Zhan moves to face him on the bank of the stream, tying his robes closed. He blinks slow, and opens his mouth at the same time as Wei Wuxian. “Wei Y-”

“You said it wasn't anything to worry about,” Wei Wuxian says, barely even trying to keep the accusation out of his voice. “This is - this is -" he lets it rush out in a breath - there aren't words for what he means to say. 

"It is nothing to worry about," Lan Zhan repeats, without meeting Wei Wuxian eyes. But there's a pallor to his skin, a weakness to his breath - he takes a step, and stumbles. 

"Lan Zhan!" 

"I am fine," says Lan Zhan. "My body will adjust." 

"What do you mean? Can you not give me a straight answer?" 

Lan Zhan's eyes drift shut. "I need to rest." He moves past Wei Wuxian and starts down the path. 

Wei Wuxian is not so easily distracted. "You need a doctor, Lan Zhan," he tries to insist, reaching for Lan Zhan's arm, but he's shrugged off in an instant - and though it's weak, Wei Wuxian has almost no choice but to let go. He follows along, though, hand inches from Lan Zhan's arm in case he needs to hold him up.

A minute later, Lan Zhan replies in a low voice. "No doctor of the Cloud Recesses can help." 

"What? What do you mean?" 

But try as he might, he gets no further answer from Lan Zhan, until they're back in his jingshi and Lan Zhan settles cross legged on the floor, eyes falling shut and yet doing nothing to slow the red bloom on the back of his white robes. 

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian tries again, but he is ignored. "Lan Zhan, at least -" a solution comes to him. "Do you have a needle and thread, then? Preferably silver, but I mean, I get that we can't all be Wen Qing," he laughs a little to himself, and feels the pull of guilt down at the bottom of his stomach. She's gone, says his chest. Sixteen years gone. And - that's enough time to be fine, says his head. 

Lan Zhan doesn't reply. 

"I will tear this room apart, Lan Zh-" 

"It is against the rules." 

"What, to have needle and thread?" 

"To stitch the wound." 

None of this adds up in the slightest. Wei Wuxian falls into sitting beside Lan Zhan so that he's facing him, leaning his weight on his hands. 

And, not that he expected otherwise, but Lan Zhan does not look at him. 

"Why -" 

Lan Zhan lets out a breath, as close to a frustrated sigh as he has likely ever been. 

"You have to know I'll keep asking, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian grins, shifting so that he can knock his shoulder into Lan Zhan's. "Just tell me." 

"It is a punishment," says Lan Zhan. "The lesson has not been learnt, so the wound will not heal." 

Wei Wuxian feels all traces of mirth vanish from his face. 

"You mean," he swallows. "The section of the rules that I once asked about - the one that Zewu Jun assured me was about an outdated practice that hadn't been used for seventy years?" 

A moment's silence. Then - 

"Mn." 

"What could you have possibly done - what could you still be -" he's incredulous, disbelieving, but the answer dawns on him before he finishes the sentence. "Oh." He exhales all of the energy, lets his anger become cold and sharp, a means to an end - a flavour of fury that feels, perhaps thankfully, a little less easy than it had been in the last life - but he still knows it well. "It's me, isn't it?" 

Lan Zhan's eyes open, falling on Wei Wuxian, softened with worry, creased with pain, and yet truthful in silence. 

"Lan Zhan, I can't -" 

"Stay," Lan Zhan says - pleads. "My body will adjust." 

Already, Wei Wuxian is shaking his head. "How can I -" 

"I lost you, before," Lan Zhan says, voice shaking, strangled, almost inaudible. "It would hurt more - to lose you again." 

It softens Wei Wuxian's anger, and yet fuels it. "Lan Zhan." 

And yet, he knows where his talents lie. In mischief and craft, in deviance and trick. 

"I'll make you a deal," he says, and though Lan Zhan's eyes have fallen shut again, there's a shift to his brow, a worry and a resignation. "I'll stay. If - you let me stitch you up." 

Lan Zhan swallows. "It is against the rules," he says weakly. 

One side of Wei Wuxian's mouth pulls up in disgust. "If you think I ever cared about that, you have the wrong measure of me." 

He's awarded with the barest hint of a smile,but still no agreement. Coming to a decision, Wei Wuxian reaches into his robes for a blank talisman, and without casting anything onto it, he places it down on Lan Zhan's lap. 

"Hostage situation," he smiles. "Freeze talisman. Lan Zhan, whatever will you do?" 

Lan Zhan opens his eyes to glance down. "Wei Ying," he says. "This is blank." 

"Mm, pretty sure you can't move, actually, so," Wei Wuxian tails off with a mischievous shrug. "Needle and thread? Or should I go?" 

“Don’t go,” is the response, so quiet and desolate that Wei Wuxian almost caves - but this is for Lan Zhan’s own good. “The drawer behind the screen.”

Wei Wuxian smiles, hand to Lan Zhan’s forearm in thanks as he stands. 

True to the request, Lan Zhan stays exactly as he is while Wei Wuxian digs around for everything he needs; needle and thread; a basin of water and cloth; bandages, too. He returns to kneel carefully behind Lan Zhan, and hesitates with his hand a finger’s breadth above his shoulder.

“Lan Zhan - can I -” He finds the edge of the robe with his fingers, brushing the skin of his neck.

There’s an almost imperceptible nod - and - a shudder? -as Lan Zhan reaches for the tie of his robes, and loosens it, enough to shrug the robe off his shoulder down to pool at his waist. Half-dried blood sticks the fabric of his undershirt to the wound, and Wei Wuxian tries not to wince along with Lan Zhan as he pulls just a little too roughly, murmuring an apology. 

It’s not that he’s ever seen blood before, of course not - but it’s been a long time since he’s seen Lan Zhan in any pain, and it does not get any easier.

“Lan Zhan,” he keeps his voice low as if the volume will also cause pain, and lifts a damp cloth to the site of the wound, to ease the pull. “I know you said - you want me to stay - but -” He finally manages to tug the shirt away, exposing the wound for how deep it truly goes. “I’m not worth this.”

“You are.” It’s a tone that allows no arguments, a certainty that allows no doubt. All Wei Wuxian can do is believe it. Or - well - leave his rebuttal unsaid.

He shakes his head, for himself, since Lan Zhan won’t see it, and sets about cleaning the wound. The flow of blood is steady - not lethal, of course it couldn’t be, if a lesson is supposed to be learnt by the end, but it is enough that, no sooner than Wei Wuxian has wiped it away, more has taken its place, and soon enough he’s left with a blood-soaked cloth and a wound that still pours.

His hands have never been steady, but when sewing up his own wounds back in the Burial Mounds (“Just give me the needle, Wen Qing, I can do it myself”) it hadn’t mattered - because the only pain he was dealing with was his own, and he deserved it - he could barely feel it anyway. Here, now, with Lan Zhan soft before him, hands resting on his knees and shaking every time the wound is disturbed, he needs to be strong, stable, careful.

He lifts the needle. “Lan Zhan - it’ll hurt.” 

He thinks, anyway. He thinks it used to hurt.

The only response he gets is a determined hum, the muscles below his fingers tensing. 

“Okay,” he says, and sets to work. As he does, he desperately searches for something to distract Lan Zhan with - every time the needle goes in he tenses - slight enough to be unnoticeable, but clear enough that even Lan Zhan can’t hide it. 

He could joke about it - well, if you won’t let me leave, this is the only option - or he could talk of something else -  but all other subjects have evaded him since he’s been faced with this wound and the second, with the countless other scars, with the bare skin of Lan Zhan’s body, before him, slashed and destroyed for protecting - 

“You didn’t only protect me,” he says quietly, distracting himself enough to run his finger over one of the other scars. “These other scars -” he reaches one unlike the others, threaded through with familiar black filaments. “There was one for each of us?”

Lan Zhan lowers his head, but does not respond. It’s close enough to a nod, and Wei Wuxian mimics the gesture, before returning to the task at hand - his eyes falling on the second wound, barely even bleeding, but unmistakably still open. He tries to fit it in, between everything else he knows - but finds no space for it. “And this one? Was there -”

He cuts himself off before he dares to hope. It will only lead to disappointment.

“It -” Lan Zhan exhales shakily. “It’s - different.”

Wei Wuxian can say nothing to the dismissal, knowing that Lan Zan will say no more, but narrows his eyes.

He’s close to finished, now, and the stitches seem to be holding so far. But - it’s not a permanent solution.

He lifts Lan Zhan's undershirt from the floor, and shakes his head at the bloodstain. 

"Lan Zhan, where do you keep spare clothes?" he asks. "I'm done here, but you can't exactly put this back on." 

"I will -" he starts to stand, but Wei Wuxian catches him by the waist, pulling him back down. 

"Stay still," he instructs. "You're injured." 

He - for some reason, he can't bring himself to let go of Lan Zhan, now, though he shows no signs of moving again. Instead, he keeps his hands where they are, not holding tight - not even holding, just - touching. His Lan Zhan. 

He strokes his hands up and down Lan Zhan's bare skin, testing his limits, his eyes trained carefully on the wound - both to make sure he doesn't disturb, and simultaneously deep in thought about it. Lan Zhan's breath comes unsteady with hands on his skin, but not - if Wei Wuxian is correct - upset. 

"It's been sixteen years," Wei Wuxian says absentmindedly. "And you still think I'm worth this." 

"Yes," Lan Zhan says, with no trace of doubt. "You are." 

Wei Wuxian can't help but let out a huff of laughter, letting his head fall forward to Lan Zhan's uninjured shoulder. "You're so -" he sighs out whatever it was that he was going to say - his mind can't summon the right words anyway. 

With his eyes on his - admittedly imperfect - needlework, he conjures other questions.

“This discipline whip that they used,” he says, letting calculating anger control his thoughts but trying his hardest to keep his voice soft. “Where is it kept?”

He’s almost patient, waiting for Lan Zhan to respond, but when more seconds pass, he prompts “Lan Zhan?”

“Why do you ask?”

As if he doesn’t know. “Any talisman, however complex, can be reversed. Even on a spiritual tool.”

“It is against -”

“If you want me to stay,” replies Wei Wuxian. “Then I have to try.”

For a moment, he wonders if Lan Zhan will refuse him. If he will say, after all, that perhaps he has come to his senses, perhaps the rules are more important - but at long last, he sighs. 

"The storeroom behind the library pavilion. It is guarded during the day, and warded in the night." 

"Good thing I've broken your wards before, then," Wei Wuxian smiles, glancing out at the still bright sky. Later, then. He smiles to himself, and slides his hands forward, pulling Lan Zhan into an embrace - one that he could easily shake off, but doesn’t. In fact, his shoulders, tense as they had been, settle into relaxation, a breath of calm. “I suppose I should get you a shirt.”

Lan Zhan moves his hands to cover Wei Wuxian's, leaning his head back against Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and turning to bury his face into his neck. His eyes are shut - he’s almost smiling.

“Stay,” he murmurs.

Wei Wuxian can't help the quiet laugh that escapes him. "I already said I will, Lan Zhan."