#which she is actually kind of silly shes just overly dramatic

[doomed-era]

on another random note, I realized I tagged my fic as "competent yiga clan" when I first started it, and while that is true (they are pretty dangerous) I'm sort of wondering if by that they meant "a more serious yiga clan than in canon"? because unfortunately I am not doing that.

oh well

[myg-butterfly]

Nothing New

Ot7! BTS x Choreographer! Reader (Seokjin x Reader focused)

Summary: You get hurt and have to find a replacement. You just didn't think that replacement extended to your relationship with the BTS members. Will they still want you when you're nothing new?

Tags: ANGST (sorry), eventual fluff, Injured!Reader, Fem!Reader, Bangtan are kind of assholes, this isn't really proofread sorry, I also don't know how this shit actually works with Idol groups so I'm just making shit up lolsies.

A/N: HI omg sorry this took FOREVER. I was gonna have this done this weekend but we went to go visit family so I put this aside omg, but it's finalllyyyy here! I hope this lives up to your expectations. Thank you for all the love on the teaser, and remember, comments and feedback are always soooo appreciated!

Taglist: @bangteezbaby @thelilbutifulthings @hoshi-is-ult-bbg @juju-227592 @kikz165 @plexcaffeinate

All the members had just gotten home from rehearsal, and immediately went to find you just so they could throw silly little tantrums about you not being there.

The way they were pouting reminded you more of kicked puppies than world-wide sensations.

"It's fine guys, I know someone who can cover for me until I get better."

"But we like your choreography better." Taehyung whines into your shoulder and you pat his head in comfort.

"It's just a month or two, Tae."

You had broken your leg about a week ago, and consequently, you couldn't continue choreographing for the group until you were fully healed.

Which meant either the boys paused their learning, or you brought someone else in to cover for you - and you're all aware that pausing isn't really an option.

"But I'll miss you." Your boyfriends were overly dramatic, acting like you were leaving even though you all lived together.

"You'll still see me at home, it's not like I'm dropping off the face of the earth."

He huffs into your shoulder and rolls over so he's sitting next to you normally now.

"Anyway, how have you been? Have you felt okay?" Seokjin sits down on the other side of you and you feel yourself growing a bit shy under his caring stare.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

•••

"Hi! Thank you so much for covering for me. We're on a reall-"

"Save it, it's whatever. I always told you you'd need my help again at some point."

You don't like the implications in her tone but you pass it off with a small chuckle.

"Okay, so they already know 2 out of the 5 numbers for this album, and we were in the middle of learning the 3rd one. I taught it to Hoseok in advance so he can take over for that one. So you wouldn't need to be at the studio until next week. I'll send you the videos I took of the foundation of the other 2 numbers so you can learn it and then teach it."

She looked so uninterested in what you were saying, but you had to be professional.

You called her here in the first place.

"Kay, cool, got it. Also, can I get the guys' numbers? You know, just in case."

"Oh uhm, you can ask them when you see them next week… I'm not sure if they want me giving out their numbers to people they don't really know."

"Well they're gonna know me soon right? Don't be greedy, trying to keep all of them to yourself."

She giggles but you can feel that it's not really one of genuine giddiness and you hope that your discomfort isn't apparent.

"I'll ask them when I see them later today."

You plaster on the best smile you can and she gives you an equally forced one back.

"Okay. Bye!"

She basically struts away and you're left standing there; maybe calling her was the wrong move.

•••

Yep. Calling her was probably the wrong move. But it depends on which side of Y/N you ask.

On the professional side, this is absolutely great. They hit it off right away, all the boys growing comfortable with her rather quick (something HYBE valued a lot), and she was great at her job. Talented, bold, confident, friendly, the whole package.

On a more personal side, this was putting you on edge. How suddenly, all the guys would talk about was 'Joanna said this a rehearsal' or 'Joanna invited us out to eat'. It was always Joanna this Joanna that, and you knew they were just excited to have a new friend, to have someone who shares their passion, you couldn't help but wonder if their feelings for you were simply out of excitement. And now that you're not the newest thing around, would they still want you? Would they still talk about you with the same sparkle in their eyes as they do with Joanna? It left a pit in your chest.

And — yeah, calling her was the definitely the wrong move.

Finally, a long-awaited date with all of you. They were filled with energy, talking and joking on the ride there, and you felt your heart growing lighter, you still had them.

They even helped you get off the car with all the gentleness in the world, helped you get in your seat and made sure you were completely comfortable.

The lightness quickly weighed down into something much heavier when you saw Joanna walk in and make her way to the table.

And the weight felt like it had been dropped to you feet when the guys scooted to make space for her, Namjoon even standing up to hug her and letting her sit first so she'd be in between him and Jungkook.

How long has it been since they hugged you with such happiness?

"Oh my god, Y/N, hi! The boys didn't tell me you would be here."

Something about the way she said "the boys" made your hands itch, almost as much as your throat itched to say 'likewise'.

"Welp. I'm here. Haha."

Dinner wasn't fun, to say the least.

Joanna was blatantly saying shit to embarrass you the entire time, and it even worse, your boyfriends seemed to be soaking up her every word, laughing whenever she pointed out something embarrassing about you when she knew you in high school.

"Yeah! And when we choreographed together, she would always forget her parts." She lets out a giggle and Hoseok laughs too: what's so funny?

"It was only once or twice." You groan, mostly to yourself, but Joanna hears it.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Everyone laughs at her words again and suddenly, you start to think that staying home was the better option.

"I've always said she has the memory of a goldfish. Sometimes it felt like I was doing all the work because i constantly had to step in and help when Y/N froze up."

She turns to you when she speaks her next question:

"How are you doing now that I haven't been here to clean up after you? Are you making Jimin do it?" She laughs and nudges Jimin, who's sitting next to her, on the shoulder, and he happily shoves back with a bright smile on her face.

"I'm fine, it's rare that I forget stuff lately."

She gasps in a dramatic manner, you wish she would just disappear already.

"You? Not wasting time in rehearsal? Because you forgot? That's unheard of!"

You hate the way pretty much all of the guys laugh at her words: they know how much work you've put into being a good choreographer. Why were they laughing at you?

Suddenly, you feel the person next to you pressing up closer against you: Seokjin.

You look at him and he has a soft smile on his face, but not towards Joanna; his entire focus is on you.

"You have a really good memory darling. We can tell you've worked on it." The knot in your stomach softens its grip after hearing Seokjin's words, and for the first time since you got here, your smile is genuine.

"Anyways, how'd you injure yourself?"

"Oh, we were doing some cardio and I tripped. Fell at an awkward angle and it twisted my leg. Haha."

Joanna laughs a little too hard at this.

"I've always also said that for a supposed dancer you sure are clumsy as hell."

Some of the guys giggle at her comment, and you look down at your lap: why were they laughing at you?

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Seokjin sit up a little straighter, and you suspect he's gonna say something.

"Supposed dancer?" He raised a brow and to most people, it would've seemed like he was just egging onto the joke, but you and the rest of the table could tell that there was a serious undertone to his question.

It was no secret in your relationship with the guys that Seokjin had a specific soft spot for you – in a relationship as big as yours, its bound that all of you will have your weak spots for one another: Jungkook and Namjoon, Jimin and Taehyung, Hoseok and Yoongi, you and Seokjin.

So you were more than relieved when he met your gaze from across the table; he knew you were uncomfortable.

And as everyone knows, he's not one to stay quiet.

"I just mean it's surprising that for someone so clumsy she went into the professional world where coordination is crucial."

Jungkook uses this point to tease Namjoon, and thankfully the attention is taken off of you. You catch Seokjin's stare again and this time it's accompanied with an apologetic smile and him reaching out his hand to hold yours.

As your hands meet on top of the table, you seem to be the only one who notices the look Joanna sends you at the display of affection.

•••

More days pass by and everyday they get home later and later until you're left going to bed on your own.

You'd made it a habit to wait for each other if one was out late, but it didn't happen often since you had almost the same working hours and when you went out, it was usually altogether.

You'd tried to keep that habit after your injury, but they were coming home later everyday, and you weren't sure you had it in you to keep staying up for them.

Especially on nights like this one, where when they do get home, you're dismissed almost entirely.

The door opens and you sit up, ready to greet them one by one with a hug and kiss, but most of them just mumble a "hey" or "hi Y/N" and walk straight to their rooms.

Only Jungkook and Seokjin genuinely acknowledge you, Jungkook giving you a hug and a peck on the forehead accompanied by a soft "Hi baby." before going to his room as well.

Seokjin also hugs you, but he picks you up while doing so: shifting you in his arms so he can carry you to bed with him.

As he begins to walk, your eyes meet and he sends a soft smile your way.

You barely start to relax in his hold when you realize that he's walking into your room, and you slightly panic at the thought that he's going to leave you alone in there.

Your slight panic turns into franticness as he sets you down and steps away from the bed.

"No! Don't-" Jin whips around at the sound of your voice, and you feel immediate guilt when you see his startled expression.

"Sorry, I- I know you're tired. Sorry, you can go."

Your attempts to decrease his worry don't seem to work, because he's already making his way back towards your bed.

"No, no. What happened? Whats wrong?"

"Its nothing." Seokjin gives you a stern look, you both know that lying to him is impossible.

"It's not nothing. Is it your leg? Or is it something else?"

"Its stupid" you mumble.

Noticing that you're unsure of yourself, he sits closer to you and brushes you hair out of your face in attempts to comfort you.

"Its not stupid if its bothering you" you feel your tears welling up again at how soft Seokjin's voice is. How soft he is with you.

"I just- I don't think I can be alone right now." You lean into his touch as you finally get at least some of the truth off your chest.

"You don't have to be. I was going to shower, do you want to join me?"

"I don't want to bother you."

"You won't."

"But my leg, I won't be able to stand for long."

"It's okay, we'll bring a stool in and I'll help you."

"But you're tired-"

"Never of taking care of you."

Something in your heart settles through the rest of the night, there is no other intention behind Seokjin asking you to join him.

He washes your hair and even dries it once you're out, he helps you get dressed and he goes to sleep holding you, and even if it's just for one night; all is right in the world again.

The next morning, Jin wakes you up and asks you if you'd like to come to rehearsal with the 7 of them. You're elated, to say the least. You knew it was a minimum thing, but your heart couldn't help but flutter at the thought that they wanted you around.

•••

Jin on the other hand, is pissed. Not at you, (never at you), but at his 6 boyfriends and how absolutely dense they could be, this being one of those moments.

He'd mentioned that you were coming with them, and all of them responded well: "I hope she likes the choreo!" "Yay! I want to hear what she has to say."

Their response to you tagging along wasn't the problem, no.

It was their response when he tried to tell them about how you were feeling that pissed him off:

"Wait guys, before we leave, I need to talk to you about something real quick."

All of them were attentive towards him immediately, so he thought they'd receive this better.

"It's about Y/N. And partially Joanna."

"Okay?"

"I talked to Y/N last night and she seemed upset. She didn't really want to talk about it but I'm almost completely sure that she's feeling left out, and I think it may partially be because of Joanna."

All of them begin to speak at once, until Taehyung's voice cuts through everyone else's.

"Why do you think it has something to do with Joanna?"

The 6 boys settle down and stare expectantly at Jin.

"Have you guys not noticed how backhanded all of Joanna's comments are towards her? Even when Y/N isn't present, she always makes a joke at her expense. And not to mention, we've been spending a lot of time with Joanna, much more than we've been spending with Y/N. I know if I were her I would feel hurt; being injured and spending the whole day cooped up alone while my boyfriends are spending all their time with someone who treats me like dog shit."

Jin wasn't sure what he was expecting the boys' reactions to be, but it definitely wasn't the outraged faces they were all giving him.

Jungkook is the first one to respond:

"I mean, I noticed the comments but I thought they were all in good fun? You know, since Y/N and Joanna have been friends for such a long time."

Taehyung cuts in next:

"And if Y/N is feeling left out, I mean I understand but what does that have to do with Joanna?"

Almost as if on cue, there's noise coming from the kitchen, meaning that you're awake.

Jin quickly gets up to go to you, but not before leaving the 6 boys with one final word, "Just pay attention to how she speaks to Y/N, you'll see what I'm talking about."

•••

It's hard to describe – the knowledge that you're being left behind without any obvious evidence surrounding you.

It's not something that everyone outside of your point of view might see, but you can feel it cutting through you deeply.

Not being able to do what you love, and on top of that, not being able to spend time with the people you love, it's a shattering feeling that claws through your chest.

Which leaves you where you are now: in the car with the rest of the boys on your way to rehearsal.

You thought that maybe being back in the studio would relight the spark that made the 7 men drawn to you in the first place, but even the car ride there felt cold and almost uncomfortable.

•••

The atmosphere changes the moment you step foot in the studio. It feels lighter, somehow. You don't know how to feel, not with the voice in your head insinuating that this lightness is because of Joanna; the guys are more at ease with Joanna than they are with you.

You usually hate being wrong: but now, you wish you could say the voice in your head was being irrational, yet you can't. Not when you turn around and see everyone besides Seokjin and Yoongi - who are off conversing to the side - gathered around Joanna, happily talking to her.

When did they stop looking at you like that?

Finally, she takes notice of your presence and makes her way over to you.

"Y/N, girly! Hey! Are you here to learn?"

You don't respond, confused as to what she's trying to ask you.

"Ya'know? Learn from the best! We've been so productive with this number."

She responds like it's the most obvious thing in the world, and you almost feel offended at what she's insinuating.

"Oh, um- I'm here to see what the guys have done."

Joanna blinks at you, as if your answer threw her off, before continuing.

"Oh. Ok then. Cool! And are the boys cool with that?"

You can tell, she wants this to sound passive aggressive. Kind on the surface, but a clear jab at your insecurities.

Jungkook quickly cuts in;

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be cool with that?"

Joanna stutters through her response, being caught off guard by Jungkook as she thought no one had heard her remark.

"Oh! I don't know, you might get distracted? You know?"

"We'll be fine."

This time it's Jin who answers, and even if it's a little selfish, you're glad that his tone towards Joanna is automatically cold.

"Okay thennnn!"

She turns to you:

"But if you start being a distraction I'll have to ask you to step out. Heh, step out. That's funny."

She giggles at her little joke (at your expense), and makes her way into the practice room.

Rehearsal continues as usual, and you feel a bit lighter as the boys all make jokes and include you while they stretch and warm up.

They start to run through the choreography, and your heart swells with pride seeing them dance; all their hard work really does pay off.

As much as you wish to get up and dance with them, or even get up at all, you know you can't. But just seeing them perform will do.

Once they finish, you start to clap and Jimin and Jungkook turn towards you with a playful vow.

"Its looking really good guys!"

All of the boys respond with a 'thank you' and a smile.

"I do have a couple pointers about some things I noticed-"

"Okay, let's run it again!" Before you could finish your sentence you're cut off by Joanna's squeaky voice.

Thankfully, Hoseok cares about what you have to say, and the rest seem to agree as well.

"Wait, I wanna hear what Y/N had to say."

"Yeah! It's felt weird learning a brand new number and not having any of your input on it."

"Y/N, go on." Seokjin is the one who speaks last, and the look in his eyes tell you that things will be alright.

"Ok, so first thing make sure you guys are agreeing on your directions, make sure that it's either a complete diagonal or if its a slanted move so you all move the same direction-"

"Oh yeah, I explained that to them already, they know." You're once again cut off by Joanna.

You use this as a chance to tease the boys, as you always normally.

"Oh, then why are y'all making that mistake huh?" Your tone is playful, and you see Hoseok step towards you with all the intent of playing along, when a gasp coming from your right stops you both.

"Did you come in here just to criticize?"

Of course it's Joanna.

"Wha- no. I was just teasing them. The dance looks grea-"

"I told you you were gonna distract them, and what did I say I was gonna do if you got them unfocused?"

"I didn't mean to, I was just giving pointers-"

"I've been teaching them for the last few weeks, I know what they need to focus on right now."

"But I know that it can look cleaner than it did right now."

"Well this is my choreography! I know what's best! You don't get to come in here and just start shitting on my work because what? You're jealous?! You think you're better than everyone else?!"

You're taken aback when Joanna starts to scream at you, so much so that you try to step back, completely forgetting that one of your feet is injured.

As you place your foot down, a soaring pain strikes from your foot all the way to your thigh. A sob escapes you and that's when Jin's protective nature kicks in full force.

In the blink of an eye, he's crouching next to you and picking you up while everyone else in the rooms stands frozen in place.

The ice is shattered when a wail comes from somewhere else in the room: it's Joanna.

Everyone's head whips to her direction, but for very different reasons.

Jin, for one, is beyond disbelief that she'd go as low as fake crying to get the attention back on her.

The rest of the guys seemed concerned, but not because of her. Rather because they just saw her true colors, how Jin was right, how they'd neglected you.

Seokjin picks you up and rushes out the door, leaving everyone else in the room frozen.

•••

You don't really process anything that happens afterwards. You just know Seokjin is with you as you go to the doctor to get your foot checked out, and that's enough to push you into a state where you know you can space out.

You couldn't comprehend it, how you were hurt and the rest of them weren't there.

Did they even care you were hurt?

It didn't make sense, that you were asking yourself this. When had things gotten this bad? How could they have let thing get this bad? It left you aching more than your injury, and you think that shouldn't even be possible.

When you get home, you find all the boys kitchen, a mess everywhere -much to Jin's despair- attempting to decorate what you assume is a cake. They're all focused to the point where they didn't hear you come in, and if they did, they're really good at acting like they didn't. You want to hide in your room, maybe ask Jin to hide with you, play into their ignorance, but the petty part in you is much quicker.

"Joanna doesn't like cake."

You speak without thinking about it first, and it's clear that none of them were expecting a comment like that, not even Jin, because their heads whip around instantly to you.

You panic for a little, thinking they'll get mad, but Hoseok and Yoongi start laughing at Namjoon's terrified face, at the maknae line looking like they're deer in headlights, and at Jin's round eyes.

Before you know it, They're all running up to you, and Seokjin has to grab you by the waist to make sure they don't knock you over.

They all speak at once, and you can only make out some things like "are you okay? what did the doctor say? im sorry." What cuts through all the rambling is Namjoon's smooth voice, sounding a bit exasperated as he speaks: "The cake is for you Y/N. We were making the cake for you."

Oh.

"Joon! You ruined the surprise!" Jimin stomps his feet, but you know he's not actually upset.

"Well we couldn't just let her think that we were baking a cake for fuckin Joanna!" Namjoon defends himself.

Yoongi steps in front of the two and turns to you, "It was supposed to be a 'Surprise / I'm sorry / We love you / Get well soon' cake but you got here before we finished."

His genuinely dejected demeanor makes you giggle, he looks like a sad cat.

"It's okay-"

"No it's not. Cake or not, we're all really sorry- hold on, we should sit down for this." Jungkook grabs your hand and leads you to the couch, the rest following suit.

You all sit in silence for a second before Hoseok speaks up:

"Well I guess I'll start." He sits up a little straighter so he's facing you directly, and you feel nerves run through you: was he upset? Was he going to scold you?

The guys seem to notice how you tense up, because Hoseok's face falls a into a small frown, while Jungkook scoots closer to you and Jin places a hand on your thigh.

"Y/N, I am so so sorry for the way we've been acting, and the way we haven't been acting. You got hurt under our watch, we should be the ones taking care of you, no questions asked, and we've failed to do that. There's really no excuse for how inattentive we've been. In our heads, or at least my head, I didn't really see you all day, so I thought that everything was okay because I still got to wake up to you, I still got to come home and feel comfortable knowing that you were here: we had your company. But I failed to return that company, we all failed to give you the bare minimum, and I truly am so sorry."

For the time you've know Hoseok, you've only seen him cry once or twice, so when you see tears start to fall from his eyes, it shakes you up and down. Before you can go console him, Jimin speaks up from where he sits beside Hoseok.

"Hobi's right, Y/N. We didn't pay you enough attention. We were too worried about ourselves to consider how our actions looked to you. The whole thing with Joanna, we did spend a lot of time with her, but even then, all we did was talk about you. Not in a bad way, obviously, but you just always came up in conversation. I don't know why I thought that talking about you would translate as 'we're still giving you our attention' as if you could read our thoughts or something. But again, we were selfish and careless, and I can't apologize enough for how we acted."

You appreciate Jimin's attempt at lightening up the mood, and you appreciate his words overall.

The next hour goes by in the same manner. The boys apologize one by one, not to just you, but to Seokjin as well, and before you know it, there's no one in the room that isn't crying, all of you a teary and snotty mess.

"We love you so much, Y/N. Please let us make it up to you. I love you so much." Yoongi's the last one to speak, and he finishes while walking up to you and bowing at your feet.

The rest of the guys join him, even Seokjin, and you don't know what else to do except throw yourself on the floor with all of them and cry.

The night ends with all of you cuddled up on the floor, until Namjoon and Jin make you all get up so you could go lay down properly.

They guys don't let you walk, no, Jungkook carries you while Taehyung and Jimin squish at his side in an attempt to stay close to you.

You all manage to squeeze into a single bed with you in the middle, hands everywhere trying to keep you close.

You feel warmer than you have in weeks, and meanwhile the guys do have a lot to make up for, with arms wrapped around you and sweet nothings floating in the room, you think this is a great start.

[munson-blurbs]

Thot of the day: reader is obsessed with Eddie's lips, she has the biggest fattest crush on him, maybe he's a costumer in her cafe, they often speak/flirt and she watches him greedily, thinking about what those lips could do on her. She often fantasizes about making him sucking her fingers while she rides him. Well, she's determined to make him hers 🫠

Combined with this anon req:

Hello hello hello! I love your blog! may I please request a little smutty thing of Eddie losing his mind over fem reader having a tongue piercing when she's going down on him?

I took some liberties and made some changes so Eddie is more subby; hope that's okay!

Warnings: smut (18+ only, minors DNI!), oral (m! and f! receiving), unprotected p in v (wrap it up pls), teeny mention of breeding kink, subby!Eddie

WC: 2.5k

--

Eddie hadn’t even meant to meet you. 

He’d only stumbled into the café in a feeble attempt to get out of the pouring rain after the wind snapped his umbrella inside out. The goal was to get to the nearest McDonald’s for lunch, since he’d forgotten his sandwich at home, but the weather had other plans. 

“Shit shit shit,” he’d muttered, shaking out the umbrella haphazardly before giving up and chucking it in the trash. There was no way he was walking anywhere else, so he wiped his hands on his jeans—which were now stuck to his thighs—and approached the counter to get a better look at the menu. 

“What can I get for you?” A voice greeted him, coming out from behind the espresso machine. You gave him a small smile as you grabbed a notepad to jot down his order. 

“Um,” Eddie’s full attention was on you, rather than his food options. “Do you serve coffee here?” 

You gestured at the bags of coffee beans lining the counter. “What gave it away?” you’d asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. 

He could smack himself—it’s a café, of course there’s coffee. “I mean, I’ll have a large coffee, cream and sugar.” That’s what Wayne gets whenever they go to the diner, so he chooses the same. 

“Mhm,” you hummed, raising your eyebrows. “Anything to eat?” You pointed to the small chalkboard hanging behind you. “If you need help sounding out any of the words, let me know.” 

Eddie’s eyes widened. “Are you calling me dumb?” he’d balked. “What kind of customer service is this?” But he was smiling, and his silly, overly dramatic nature had you giggling. 

That’s when he saw it. 

The black stud, perfectly adorning the center of your tongue. It flicked against your teeth as you’d told him, “the chicken pesto panini is my favorite.” There was no response from the curly-haired metalhead before you. You’d squinted slightly, waving your hand in front of his face. “Hello? You good?”

“Wha—oh, yeah,” he’d stammered bashfully, breaking from his trance. “I’ll have that, then. The, uh, the chicken thing.”

“So, one coffee and one chicken thing?” you’d teased him. “And who’s this for?” 

Eddie furrows his brows in confusion. “It’s for me?” It comes out as a question. 

“And does ‘me’ have a name?” You laughed again. He didn’t even care that you were laughing at him, not with him. He’d say or do nearly anything to get a glimpse of your tongue and that godforsaken piercing. 

“Oh, uh, Eddie. Eddie is my name,” he says lamely. 

“Eddie. Got it.” You’d written his name on the side of the Styrofoam cup in permanent marker. He’d felt himself stiffen against his zipper when you’d said his name aloud. He wanted to hear you moan it, scream it, over and over. 

From that moment on, Eddie is totally smitten. He stops by the café for his coffee every morning on his way to work at the record store. The burgeoning caffeine addiction is worth getting to talk to you for just a few seconds. 

After a week of flustered half-conversations, he finally works up the nerve to ask you an actual question.

“Are you from around here? Like, from Hawkins?” It’s clunky and awkward, but it’s a start.

“Kinda?” You chuckle at his puzzled expression. “I lived here until my parents divorced when I was fourteen, right before I started high school. Then I went to live with my dad in Chicago until I started college last year.”

“That’s cool–I mean, it’s not cool that your parents split up, that sucks, but it’s cool that you lived in Chicago and go to college and stuff.” Good God, stop talking, Eddie wills himself, practically clamping his lips shut in an attempt to cut off his babbling. “What brings you back?”

You give an exasperated sigh. “My mom insisted I spend the summer with her; she wants to ‘reconcile our misgivings’ or whatever bullshit line Oprah fed her.” Eddie takes note of your eye roll when you speak about your mother. “So she set me up with this job while she drags me to family therapy once a week.” You pull a cup from the pile in front of you. “Your usual?”

“Yeah,” he says distractedly, trying to find another topic to keep the conversation from ending. “Where do you go to college?”

Your smile melts him, and he has to grip the counter to keep his knees from buckling. “The Pratt Institute. It’s in New York City,” you elaborate.

Eddie’s jaw drops. “No fuckin’ way!” he exclaims. “I’ve always wanted to go to New York, but to actually live there? That’s fuckin’ awesome!”

“My mom wasn’t thrilled,” you confess through gritted teeth. “She never liked that I wanted to pursue art as a career. It was always, ‘make it a hobby so you can get a real job.’” You slide his cup towards him. “It’s like, she disapproves of everything that I do: what I study, friends I hang out with, people I’ve dated.”

“Are you seeing anyone now?” The question spills out before he can think it through, hoping you don’t pick up on his eagerness.

You shake your head. “Single as ever,” you reply chipperly. “Why, you putting in an application?” Your tongue sneaks past your teeth, just enough to show off the piercing.

A blush creeps into Eddie’s cheeks at your proposition. “Maybe? If you’re interested? If not, I can just pay for my coffee and go.”

You tilt your head, musing his proposition. “I’d be lying if I said I was looking for something serious right now,” you begin, watching his shoulder sag dejectedly, “but my boss doesn’t get here for another hour, if you wanna fool around in the back?”

Eddie’s eyes almost pop out of his head. “You wanna fool around…with me?” He doesn’t wait for your response as he hoists himself over the counter, knocking over the stack of cups and the basket of sugar packets. “I’ll clean that up later,” he mumbles, dragging you to the door marked “employees only.” 

His hands are relentless, like he can’t decide where to put them first. First, he cups your cheeks as he presses his lips to yours, but determines that that’s too intimate for the occasion. He brings his palms up your shirt, messily groping at your tits through your bra. “S’perfect,” he growls as he bites your neck. You can feel him twitching in his jeans, and you grind up against him. The groan that leaves his mouth is downright pornographic. 

Your tongues intertwine as he pushes you against the door. He tastes like stale cigarettes and the sip of coffee he just had. His knee instinctively slips between your legs, angled perfectly for you to rub yourself on it. 

“You ever get head from someone with a tongue piercing before?” When he shakes his head dumbly, you take the opportunity to continue taunting him. “Oh, sweet boy; have you ever gotten head from anyone before?”

“N-No,” Eddie admits. “But I’d like to change that.”

You giggle at his candid confession, fingers toying with his belt buckle. He hisses at the mere brush of your hands against his clothed erection. Pulling his pants and boxers down as you drop to your knees, you watch in awe as his thick cock smacks against his stomach, leaving a pre-cum stain on his Dio shirt. “Damn, these Hawkins girls don’t know what they’re missing,” you tell him. You lean over, spitting on his pink tip and collecting the saliva back in your mouth as you lick up his shaft. 

The piercing feels like absolute heaven on the ridges of his dick. You trace along the vein as you take as much of him in your mouth as you can. He’s huge. 

“Holy shit, holy fuckin’ shit,” Eddie breathes, digging his ringed fingers into your hair. “Please keep going, please please please.”

Never one to turn down the chance to torture, you let go of his cock with a pop. “What was that, baby?” You give a mischievous smirk. 

Eddie looks like he’s about to cry at the loss of contact. “No, don’t stop; need you,” he whines, jutting out his lower lip reflexively. 

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” You take him back in your mouth, sucking him off while playing with his balls. He’s not expecting that, and he bucks his hips into you, making you gag.

“‘M sorry,” he whispers, pulling back slightly to let you breathe. “Didn’t mean to…” He spins a ring on his finger anxiously.

“Maybe I like choking on you,” you murmur, grasping his softening length in your lithe fingers and pumping it, watching it stiffen in your hand. “You know what else I’d like?” He hums his response. “I’d like you to cum in my mouth. Y’think you can do that for me?”

You’re shocked when he shakes his head no. “I don’t wanna cum yet,” he mumbles, hoping you’ll get the hint. “Tryna hold out so, y’know…”

You lick your lips and sneer. “Honey, I bet you can get it back up in under five minutes, if that.” Swirling your tongue over his angry red tip, and grabbing his thighs, you bring him to his climax. He spills into your mouth, moaning your name so loudly you’re worried a rogue customer might hear. 

Eddie gently withdraws, and you part your lips to show him his cum on your tongue. The black stud makes the perfect centerpiece as you swallow his load.

A string of his cum lingers on your pointer and middle fingers. You consider it for a moment before bringing it to his lips. “You should taste yourself, Eddie,” you murmur. “Taste s’fucking good.” He opens his mouth obediently, sucking on your fingers harshly. His tongue tickles against them, and you shiver.

“You’re…oh my God,” he manages. “Is it too forward to say that you’re perfect?”

“I don’t care what you say, as long as you fuck me right now,” you growl into his ear. You can’t act like he’s the only needy one any longer. Ever since he’d walked into the café, drenched from the rain, you’d wanted him. Wanted his soft, pillowy lips on yours. Wanted him to sink his teeth into your skin until he left marks. Wanted him inside you, filling you up completely.

He nods his head, but the rest of his body seems to freeze in place. He snaps out of it as you bring his hands to the button on your skirt, quickly using his thick fingers to strip you of it and revealing black lace underwear. He practically falls to his knees, kissing your wet pussy through the cloth. 

“You’re fucking soaked.” Eddie can’t hide the awe in his voice, tugging at the fabric so roughly that it rips. “Oh, shit. ‘M sorry.”

“No, that was really hot,” you tell him breathlessly, mindlessly bringing your middle finger to your throbbing clit. Eddie pushes it away, running his tongue along your folds. He’s eager but timid, so you encourage him. “Fuck me with your tongue, baby. Oh, that’s it—right there,” you wail as he finds your hole. His thumb is rubbing frantic circles on your sensitive bud, not stopping until you cum so hard, your toes curl. 

“Fuck—yes—Eddie—I’m coming—f’you,” you manage, throwing your head back and biting your fist to muffle your screams. Sweat drips down the side of Eddie’s neck. “Worked so hard for me, didn’t you?” you coo, resuming your dominance. “C’mere; you ready to cum again?” His boner speaks for itself, twitching up against him. 

You lean your stomach against the cool countertop, mentally reminding yourself to sanitize it tonight. “‘S not ideal, but it’ll do,” you say. A lot of people want their first time to be in a bed, or on a beach, gazing lovingly into their partner’s eyes. Well, Eddie Munson was going to lose his virginity by fucking you from behind in the café kitchen, but you doubt he’s complaining. 

“I d-don’t have, um, protection.” He winces at his awkwardness, massaging the nape of his neck. 

“Relax. I’m on the pill.” When he shoots you a dubious glance, you laugh. “Do I look like I wanna have your babies?” His eyebrows raise at the thought of it. “Oookay, we’ll unpack that another time. For right now, for the love of God, put your dick inside me.”

“Yes ma’am.” Eddie sets himself behind you, sliding into your waiting pussy. “So tight; takin’ me so good.” He pinches his face together in ecstasy. 

You press your palms into the counter. “Harder. I l-like it rough.” He takes direction well, pistoning into you and grabbing your ponytail. “Yes, Eddie. Pull my hair. Fucking yank it.” You clench around his length as you feel the familiar strain on your scalp. 

“Can’t—hold—out,” Eddie groans. He wants to make you cum again, but his orgasm is just too close, and he finds himself spilling into you for the second time today. “Thassit. Take it. Take my cum, just like that.” He keeps thrusting even as he gets softer, fucking his seed into you. When he comes down from the high, he’s immediately embarrassed. “You didn’t get to—”

But he’s interrupted by the sound of the bell jingling, signaling an incoming customer. “Y/N? Where are you, dear?” a voice calls out. 

Eddie knows that voice. He knows it all too well. 

You roll your eyes. “Ugh, my mom’s here. I forgot she said she was gonna visit me at work today.” You pull your skirt back up to your waist, fasten it quickly, and secure your hair back in its tie. 

Your…mom? But that sounded like…

Without thinking, Eddie follows you, adjusting himself and fixing his belt as he walks. There’s no way…

“Edward? I didn’t know you worked here with my daughter!”

You turn to Eddie, confused. “How do you know my mom?”

But the older woman answers for him. “Oh, we know each other very well. Mr. Munson took English with me three times over. Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, Mrs. O’Donnell,” he replies miserably. “But I finally graduated this year.”

“And thank God for that,” Mrs. O’Donnell scoffs. “Do me a favor and stay away from my daughter. She doesn’t need any more bad influences in her life.”

Something comes over Eddie—maybe it’s his pure rage towards his former teacher; maybe it’s the confidence he feels from losing his virginity—but he steps closer to you and grabs your ass through your skirt. “Not a problem. I think my work here is done, anyway.”

Mrs. O’Donnell practically faints on the spot. “What—what do you—oh, for heaven’s sake, please don’t tell me you two are dating.”

“Oh, no, we’re not dating,” you smirk, waiting for her to relax before dropping the bomb: “We’re just sleeping together.”

Eddie grins, leaning over to kiss you possessively. “See you tomorrow? Same time and place?” He winks at Mrs. O’Donnell, still in shock from your blunt admission. “Don’t worry; I passed sex ed the first time.”

--

[quieticmoss]

So I'm pretty bad at expressing myself through writing cuz I'm pretty shit at it, but I can't get out of my head the scene of Jaiden comforting and confronting Roier during Festa Junina. It's the fact that Jaiden, through her own grief and self isolation, grabs a hold of a drowning Roier. Looking at him and truly seeing him and accepting him at his lowest point. Loudly declaring that he deserves kindness and love and she is his partner and that she is here for him. 

And I believe she will not waver about her conviction and affection for him. And while she may need time and she may be hurt beyond comprehension, she will never actually leave him until the day she is no longer wanted. (Even then she will leave with kindness and understanding.) 

In fact, until the day when one or both are ready to come apart and become their own person again, I believe that together they will be holding each other up. Unwilling to let the other fall despite their own pain.

And just, I love their partnership so much. I know other people in this fandom have been upset that Jaiden or Roier haven't been there for each other enough since Bobby's death, but I need people to understand that both are the type to self isolate when upset. Like Roier might still be a part of the bigger group and acting dramatic around others while Jaiden is acting fine with her usual silliness and then completely disappearing, but both doing the same thing. Both are trying to make a “joke” about how much of a mess they have become after Bobby died without ever having to open up and talk to anybody about it. Both are giving a show as if to say “I wont let you see how much I’m actually hurting because if you actually saw me grieve without my mask of silliness, I will become a burden and you will leave me” 

And by god if I don't feel this to my very core which might be why I’m so obsessed over this. Cuz despite their own fear of being perceived and the feeling of becoming a burden or being looked down upon and used, they are still reaching out and offering others nothing but love.

Like if I remember correctly there was a time when someone (I can't remember who, sorry) asked Roier what he wanted and he said that he wanted someone to fully accepting him and give him a place to feel like he was being cared about, and to be the one on the receiving end of love rather than always being the one to reach out. And here is Jaiden with the sun rising behind her with arms wide open bathed in the new dawning warmth, only offering love and asking for nothing in return. 

Bobby may have been their sunset, but together through the love they have for each other they are creating their own sunrise. 

 And just, ahhhh, sorry I know all of this was overly long winded and badly written and I'm deeply embarrassed by the fact that I can't write better than this but I wanted to try out being a part of a voice in the void of a fandom for once and get a little bit of my love for these two out there.

[hwnglx]

do you have ANY idea what the jimin and jeongyeon beef was? or if there even WAS any 😭

i didn't look into their relationship fully, since these questions felt more right while reading. let me know if you want me to dive further into their dynamic and what happened. (update: right after posting i got asked to read more on their relationship so i will soon 🤍 stay tuned for that!)

was there any truth to the jimin + jeongyeon rumors?

based on tarot. i do not know these idols personally. energies are always changing. what i say is NOT straight fact. pls take it with a grain of salt!

was there any beef between them? pagofc&char, tower&4ofc, pagofp&knofc&kingofp

not to the extent of which it was made out to be. a lot of it was projection, people strongly pushing their own desired narrative on it.

they tried their best to ignore the rumors, but i think this all happened during a time where they might've been in a talking or flirty stage of some kind. so it caught them off guard and made things even more awkward between them. they knew their every move was gonna be overanalyzed, so it made things.. just awkward, best way to describe it.

how did jimin feel about the rumors? 3ofsw+3ofw+7ofsw, 2ofp&pagofsw, 9ofp, 10ofw&star, 9ofc

he was being very cautious. at first, he was taken aback by all the sudden talk. he felt like he was being watched way too closely and it was a little silly. this entire discourse made him realize how the community will just buy into any story if it's in their interest, and almost.. ignore actual reality, essentially not even care about it. the idea of the beef was more interesting than what actually happened behind closed doors, in his eyes.

it made him once again realize these are the things that come with being a public figure. i believe due to him being the more experienced idol out of the two, it didn't affect him all that much. he knew how to deal with things of this nature much better than jeongyeon.

still, i got the 3 of swords and kept asking what the reason is (since i did not get a "sad" vibe from him at all), and i believe he just didn't like how people started being so nosy about him and a person he was talking to. they probably were getting to know each other, things were still fresh anyway, so he felt the timing was just bad.

how did jeongyeon feel about the rumors? 5ofw&9ofsw, 10ofsw, star&9ofc, wheel&just

oh wow. jeongyeon definitely felt much stronger about it. it lowkey seemed to have messed her up.

the swords lead me to believe she thought a lot about it, a lot of anxiety on her part. she did not like all this back and forth talk about it at all. the 10 of swords is telling me, she just felt like she couldn't really do anything about the rumors. like there's no way out of it, no matter what she does or how she acts. people will continue to talk and everything will be misconstrued or matched to their fantasies in some way.

also, i believe it happened during a time where she had a lot of hope for their connection to blossom into something more. she genuinely seemed to have liked him, a lot of wishful thinking. so similarly to jimin, she thought the timing of it all was very unlucky, unfair almost.

idk, she gives me very self-victimizing and overly dramatic vibes. i can almost see her crying to her friends about it like.. "why would it happen now? while i was finally getting close to this guy i like and sht is awkward for me anyway?" very emotional girl for sure ☹

[here-have-some-stories]

Massacre Masquerade Chapter 10

Chapter 1 Chapter 9

It wasn’t too much later when Bailey started to regret her decision to help out. Glancing at Deacon and Leon, she saw that they were bored of searching as well. They were getting suspicious glances from the other people, obviously wondering why they were looking around. It was also getting tiring.

“Well I don’t think we’re going to find anything,” Deacon said, “We might as well just stop looking.”

“It’s been ten minutes,” Bailey pointed out. 

“Yes,” Deacon agreed, “ten minutes of hard, incredible searching, but to no avail.” He spoke in an overly dramatic voice that made Leon grin. “Let’s just leave it to those fancy detective people, it’s their job anyway.”

“What are we going to do then?” Leon asked.

Deacon shrugged in reply. “Just go back to what we were doing before. Sitting down and getting bored to death.”

“Sounds so exciting,” Bailey said sarcastically. Despite her reply, the group agreed with Deacon and walked back to their favourite corner. Leon pointed out that they could still help by keeping a look out, they just didn’t have to move. 

They had barely been sitting there for three minutes when Deacon said, “I’m bored again.”

“You’re sitting here doing nothing,” Leon said, “what did you expect?”

“I don’t know,” Deacon admitted, “some sitting down and doing nothing that was more fun than this. Perhaps even more action packed.”

“It was your idea to come here,” Bailey put in blankly.

“Yeah, but I thought we would at least talk, not just sit here in disappointing silence.” Deacon crossed his arms across his chest and put on a fake pouting expression so he was looking like the child he was acting like.

“You said that you wanted to go back to what we were doing before,” Leon said, “this is what we were doing before.”

“We can change it up a little bit,” Deacon mumbled.

“By doing what?”

“By talking!”

“About what?” Leon was grinning now even though he was asking a genuine question. He had to admit that everything would be much more entertaining if they conversed, and he wanted to get to know Deacon a bit more. Or a lot more. He just liked to have small silly arguments sometimes. It really did help pass the time.

“I don’t know. The weather, our favourite types of birds, anything!”

“Alright then, what’s your favourite type of bird?” Deacon looked a tiny bit surprised at the question, a little taken aback by the fact that Leon actually took one of his stupid suggestions. 

“Um, sparrows. It’s pretty basic but they’re cute,” Deacon replied. He was happy to find that there wasn’t any kind of small judgement from Leon. It was a stupid thing to be embarrassed by but whenever he said sparrows were his favourite bird he would be called basic and boring. “What’s yours?”

“Birds of paradise,” Leon said. “They’re pretty and cool and do funny little dances.”

“I’ve seen them before, not in person but in a documentary. It was the only David Attenborugh documentary that I wasn’t bored by. What about you Bailey?”

“What?” Bailey replied. She blinked at Deacon as if she had just come out of zoning out, which she had. She had completely missed everything Deacon and Leon had been talking about.

“What’s your favourite type of bird?”

“Oh, um, kiwi’s. You know, the New Zealand birds.”

“Oh yeah those are really cute,” Deacon agreed. 

None of them said anything for a while and just when Leon was about to ask another question to his new friend when they were all alerted by a creaking noise coming from the ceiling. Simultaneously, they all looked up at the roof in the direction of where they heard the noise. Deacon was the first to look away, losing interest pretty quickly. It could have just been some random noises that buildings make. Leon wasn’t so sure. The creak sounded different from anything else he had heard. It sounded like the noise you’d hear from a tree branch just before it was about to fall down. He squinted his eyes a little closer at the ceiling and was surprised to spot a small crack, running in a perfectly straight line for about two metres before his eyes lost sight of it. Weird. But Leon shrugged. It was probably just some part of the building, nothing too odd. And that creaking noise was probably just something unimportant.

Leon was ready to turn back to his friend when all three of them jumped at the sudden sound of something snapping loudly, followed by a loud crash. A large portion of the ceiling had fallen down.

Leon looked in horror as he realised that the section that had fallen was exactly where he had seen the crack, and where they had all heard the creak. His horror increased as he remembered that there was a group of people who were sitting right underneath that section of ceiling and were nowhere to be seen. All ten of them.

I was excited to include kiwi's in the story. As a fellow kiwi, I was very happy to put in my native bird. Anyways, sorry this took so long to the one person who probably only reads it, but the new chapter is here and ngl I kinda don't like how I did the actual tension part of the ceiling falling but I really can't be bothered to change it The next chapter will take ages I promise you that. Once again if you have any questions of comments or feedback or just wanna talk do not be afraid I welcome very very much. And if you have any requests for fictional stories then I will give em to you depending jut read the rules I have on my pinned post most of the information for requested shit is there Anyways hope you liked it and bye y'all.

[grimmmviewing]

S1E17: “Love Sick”—C-/D (Watched 6/2/24)

“My butt is on its way.”

Like “Island of Dreams,” this is another crossroads episode: It brings together Nick’s heritage/Aunt Marie, Renard’s plotting and own mysterious influential background, Adalind’s seduction of Hank, Wu’s pica-like eating, and even Rosalee’s deceased brother, who gets a mention as Adalind’s love potion shopping list is dug up. This time, however, there really is no case of the week. The murder du jour relates directly to the criss-crossy other stuff, so there’s absolutely no unrelated or tangentially related material. It all matters, and that sounds like a good thing on paper. In execution, it results in an episode that ultimately feels like it lacks a lot of the usual creativity, if not also whimsy, of the Dark Fairytale Procedural concept.

There is some good Wu eating weird stuff action here, including his ultimate act of consumption—grazing on a particularly sumptuous-looking rug on his hands and knees (before Nick breaks down his door). There’s a certain cuteness in Nick trying to threaten and verbally spar with Adalind in the presence of others that don’t know about their secret natures. There’s also some unintended goofiness, that I personally enjoyed, that comes from the hardcore dramatic scenes. I felt it most keenly when Renard meets with his cousin and his cousin’s associate/servant in some nondescript concrete location and when Nick has his climactic confrontation with Adalind in the woods. There’s just something kind of funny about these situations in convoluted fantasy series like this, particularly with the wide shots where you can see the whole scene. Maybe it’s the costuming or script or some other element of cheapness or cringe in the production. Both of the aforementioned scenes also have fights, and the one with Renard, which is much briefer, looks a lot more visually credible, whereas Nick and Adalind’s brawl is pretty silly.

We also skip right past the Hank-Adalind sex—which is probably appropriate given the nature of the whole relationship (Hank being essentially drugged this whole time) and given the tone of the episode, but I couldn’t help thinking the CW would have indulged if this had been one of their, similar, shows. Nick forcefully kissing Adalind (also problematic!) during their fight to the death in the woods certainly felt like something they would have done as well.

That whole final sequence, from when the gang (Nick, Monroe, and Rosalee) find Hank unresponsive in Adalind’s bed through her defeat in the woods, just feels overly complicated and muddled to me. There’s this last-minute revelation that Adalind has altered the love potion/spell, so the antidote that worked on Wu won’t have any effect. Instead, Adalind needs to die for Hank to wake up, but then that apparently won’t work because they need the blood of a Grimm, but then Rosalee says to Monroe in a later scene that if Hank wakes up that means Adalind is dead, and then her being “dead” is just figurative anyway and just means she loses her powers. The Wikipedia summary acts like it was always clear “that the blood of a Grimm will kill the Hexenbiest spirit in Adalind and cure Hank,” but I don’t think it comes across like that in the episode. I’m not going to claim that it doesn’t make sense (Rosalee does say Nick can’t shoot Adalind)—just that I had a hard time following it initially and that it feels convoluted and like a major ass-pull that almost sounds like it’s being written as the episode is playing: “And then they, uh, had to kill her… but not really… because she was actually just dead… weight… without her powers…”

None of the above is actually why I came so close to giving this episode a D, however. There are two much larger, major problem areas, as I see it.

Major Problem #1: “THE KEY”

This one is simpler and easier to cover: The (to the best of my recollection) sudden fixation that the episode has on the key Aunt Marie left Nick earlier in the season feels like it comes out of nowhere. This is suddenly the whole point of all Renard’s scheming and Adalind’s seduction of Hank. It’s referred to with such emphasis and reverence to the point that it would probably be comical even if it didn’t also seem so weirdly sudden. It’s not “the key”; it’s “The Key.” You can positively hear the capital letters.

I think I could have bought into this anyway, though, if not for the opening scene of Nick going over every inch of the trailer to try to find what the key unlocks. It just feels like too much to only be doing now. I could have gotten on board with it if they had chosen to maybe convey that he’s been trying the key here and there “off-screen” over time (maybe even retracing his steps by revisiting every lock in the trailer), but the fact that it instead feels like the first time, in all this time, that he’s trying to find what the key unlocks just makes the whole fixation on it feel that much more random and silly overall.

Major Problem #2: Mother Dearer

“You’re useless now. Just another pretty girl.”

Adalind’s mother is easily the worst thing about this episode and that undermines so much of the intended drama for me. Just to be clear, though, the casting and costuming and performance for the mother (played by Jessica Tuck) are all great. She looks and feels like an older Adalind in a very positive way. The problems are with just how completely and utterly she steals Adalind’s thunder in an episode that also ends with her (Adalind) losing her powers.

There’s trouble right from the opening quote, which I was immediately side-eying pretty hard for what it seems to suggest about Adalind’s role and actions by explicitly putting the blame on a mother. In part, it says, “[M]y mother drove me to it; it was done against my will.” So far, the show has treated Adalind as a major threat and a valuable asset to Renard, a key part of his plan (whatever it was). Now he’s plotting with her mother instead, behind Adalind’s back, or even over her head, in a sense. And the mother is stepping in to essentially coach or prepare Adalind in certain scenes, making her feel less competent in her own right. She is, we’re ultimately shown through this episode, not all that big of a threat in the grand scheme of things—or ultimately that important to either her mother or Renard. It's kind of remarkable just how much younger the disheveled Adalind looks after her fight with Nick, and that feels very intentional. She goes from classic sexy lawyer woman to what looks like maybe ten years younger. She’s lost all of her poise and any sense of control, which could be a good development in the right (read: different) context.

As it is, there’s definitely a certain irony to the episode description on Amazon, which is one of the shorter ones for the season: “Nick comes face to face with his worst enemy.” Presumably this means Adalind, but it’s kind of ironic that she’s so obviously upstaged and pushed aside here. This sort of escalation is to be expected for a show like this one, but I think not saving the showdown with Adalind/the introduction of an even bigger, badder version of her for the end of the season (or else a holiday break) feels like the wrong call. My backseat writer-ing is that Adalind should have failed on her own terms, and only then should the mother have been brought in by Renard as a replacement. Having her enter the story before the episode is even over just feels premature and hurts the intended drama.

Also: I’m from the internet, so of course I love a strong and evil woman, and seeing Adalind so thoroughly disgraced and defanged here (even before Nick takes her powers) is pretty personally… annoying?

I do appreciate the way Mom takes the distraught, defeated Adalind into her arms near the end of the episode. Like, she reaches out and hugs Adalind, who’s clearly looking for a hug, but you can immediately tell from her posture and her tone that this isn’t a warm gesture, and she recoils in more obvious disgust when she realizes Adalind has been depowered. Again, I think the performance is excellent, but my issues with the mother character go beyond the aforementioned upstaging and further include her characterization as a kind of tropey mother and woman both.

I’m having a hard time figuring out a more succinct, effective way to phrase this, so I’m just going to let it unfurl for a bit: Something about the look and bearing of the mother (which is glamorous but severe, still quite beautiful but also visibly mature) and the things that she says and does for Adalind just strike me as uncomfortable, and it probably has to do with how it comes off as so cold and calculating and how it intersects with matters of romance (or at least sex).

At one point, while discussing the seduction of Hank, Mom says, “You still love him, don’t you?” (I assume “him” is Renard given the full context of the conversation.) To which Adalind replies, “What difference does that make?” “I taught you well,” says Mom. Later, when Hank calls, she instructs Adalind to “Put on a smile. They can hear it in your voice.”

The use of “they” in that last example really jumps out at me because it’s a general statement about men, and about how to manipulate them. There’s a certain type of misogynist that feels all women are gold-digging schemers only interested in the highest-value Alpha catch, that makeup is a lie, and so on. Adalind’s mother feels like that particular man’s view of women made manifest, up to and including her physical appearance, from her haircut to the angle of her jaw (just replace makeup with leeches). She’s like another sort of (less problematic) Geier-type of portrayal, to me. Some kind of retrograde stereotype, though, as established, I’m struggling to think of the right label.

That’s already probably a reach, so here’s another (Why not?): I also don’t like this exchange between Nick and Monroe where they realize Hank has probably been magicked in some way. Nick says, “Could she have done something to him?” And Monroe says, “Hell yeah. That’s what they do.” In context, this is about Hexenbiests, but even lightly removed from context, that “they” feels weighty to me, like Mother Schade’s “they” from before. That Monroe is being a bit of a Bro here, with the late-night woman talk and the “Hell yeah” with a beer in hand, just makes this… weird, to me.

I’m not nearly giving “Love Sick” a D because of misogyny that I’m digging for between the lines—I just think it’s not a particularly competent execution of such an obviously important story (Nick’s decisive victory over an enemy he’s had since episode one and her subsequent replacement, raising the stakes) for at least a few other reasons, and then there’s the possible misogynistic vibes on top of that.

[punishing-eden]

Thoughts on the Latest Archon Quest...

Aka why Neuvillette is the best boy, a stan's Essay...

⚠️MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ARCHON QUESTS AND STORY QUESTS⚠️

>>>TDLR at the end

Tags: Rambling, long post, not really an essay, but just want to say a few things, idk will this make sense, I can't write essays this just a word vomit.

Please note that this is just MY opinion. I am not here to slander, theory craft, or be in an argument. I just want to give my two cents and thoughts about this game and the story.

══════════════════

I have recently got back to Genshin mainly due to Furina. I actually like everything about her, from her colours to her characterisation. The lastest Archon Quest solidifies her as one of my favourite Genshin characters.

Firstly, I want to talk about Fontaine's plotline as a whole, how everything ties up together on the end. Then, why I find Neuvillette such an endearing character through out the arc.

Previously, after going through Sumeru's Archon Quest, which; I find it more enjoyable and better written than Inazuma's arc, I had expressed my concerns regarding the AQ's plotlines in the Hoyo survey.

This concern feels a bit silly to type it out now after the fact, but during that time, at least to me, it felt like a main concern.

The main concern was about the over all theme of AQs: the people vs Archon. I fear that it would be overly used and recycled. That, it might get predictable, and what's the point of me continuing the quest if the story is basically, help people accept the archon, or help the archon accept the people.

In otherwords, if each nation has a unique crisis of their own, I personally would find it more engaging to continue and see.

In general, Fontaine did not disappoint.

Firstly, I want to say, I enjoy watching Tartaglia getting yeeted. Lol.

As for the story, I think the pacing improved, although there are still some areas in the story that I think could be better. For instance the Fotress of Meropide arc, and the Spina arc. But, I think it has improved in terms of linking the events and foreshadowing something bigger for the grand finale at the last act.

Not to mention, the AQ seems to finally address, or acknowledge the anomlies of Teyvat, like the Descenders, Skirk, and a bit about Celestia.

It's not a lot, but enough for me to be satisfy. Because, in the past, these lore bits are just crumbs. And, now it feels like the actual agency/story is moving forward to something.

As for the story itself, I like the concept of the prophecy. For some reason, it reminds me of Noah's Ark with the flooding, punishment, and the flying ship in Meropide.

The prophecy aspect feels unique. Paired it with Furina, the archon who we all perceive as a stereotypical Marie-Antoinette-quese, and dramatic personality, to be incompetent in the time of crisis. I was at the edge of my seat to see how can she solve this problem.

People might say, "Well, the traveller is going to help her, of course!" which brings me to my next point.

For once, the traveller feels powerless. A stark contrast to the usual, "Only the traveller can do this.", or "The traveller is so strong they can bring an end to this.", and I think this makes the stakes higher, more exciting.

Heck, most of the cut scenes show how the casts were the ones who take initiative to solve problems. Like, Clorinde and Wriothesley at Meropide, or Navia saving the traveller when the clockwork meka went haywire.

Overall the story felt like a roller coaster of emotions, packed with tension, mystery, and drama. The last act was just so bittersweet for me.

I love the moments between Focalor and Neuvillette. I think it kind of shows how much connection they both had through out those 400 years.

Also, Focalor is really pretty!!!!??? Like, can this be a skin option?!

In regards to Neuvillette, I am not here to do an expert character analysis, but to kind of just tell you how I interpret Neuvillette's character, and in what aspect did I enjoy him the most in the role of the story.

Do note that I play in the Japanese voice over, so the characterisation and interpretation is different than the English voice over.

What I like the most about Neuvillette might be the fact, how simple his character is. If I were to boil down Neuvillette's core character it would simply be: benevolent.

His character is of a benevolent Hydro Dragon (I don't know can this statement be use to describe to his past self.) Not only to Melsuines, or to other people in general, but I also think it is how he sees the world.

Such as, his relationship with Furina, I actually think he's being very patient with her (Save for the trial, because everyone was desperate at that point). The time when he was ask how he would 'hunt' his 'prey', Neuvillette states he would use the most gentlest way as possible. Visiting Callas's grave after being confronted by Navia. Heck, this guy even goes out of his way to make the small talk just to not let Paimon feel awkward.

Despite how simple his characterisation is, it is also complex in a sense. In his SQ, we get to see how Neuvillette has his own concerns and issues settling in Fontaine. And, it is not soley his benevolence that is causing him the issue, rather, it was the circumstances that happened in the past, and how he interpreted the whole situtation and it's aftermath. I think the SQ did a good job in showing how complex he can get, if given the right conflict and situtation. *cough cough* we will not talk about a certain SQ *cough*

I think the narration for his SQ did a good job in focusing on Neuvillette as a character, and the emotional side of him. I might be a little empathetic, with the cut scene and the information we learned, I was able to connect with Neuvillette emotionally by how well the cut scene wrapped up the story. I felt the melancholy and bittersweetness.

Whereas for Wriothesley's SQ, just to compare, it was interesting to say the least. But, I couldn't connect with him in an emotional level as I did with Neuvillette. And, I think if the Devs could just show a bit more vulnerability of Wriothesley's character (his past is the most interesting part about him.) it would be a better connection with the character, instead of info dumping about his past in the most anti-climatic way.

I actually really enjoy Neuvillette's and Furina's relationship. As I said before, I find Neuvillette being extremely patient with Furina with her antics, despite he sometimes make comments on how she handle things, I still think he holds Furina close (Not in shipping way), after all it was her that gave him a place in Fontaine.

The part where Neuvillette finally meets Focalor, and knowing what was being set in stone; Neuvillette will regain all his original powers to end the crisis, and Focalor getting guillotined to get rid of the heaven principle's influence on Fontaine (I think Focalor is the only one, by far, was able to actually spite Celestia). That scene, I find, moving, and it really shook me, especially when Neuvillette made this expression:

He might not be the most expressive character, but...gosh that expression conveys so much of his emotions.

My interpretations is: I don't think Neuvillette wanted Focalor to sacrifice herself, and felt there could be another way. There are so many things he wanted to say to her, and to even ask her.

But alas, he never got a chance to before Focalor was guillotined.

The more I write about this particular scene, the more questions and new possible interpretation comes to mind:

Why did Neuvillette feel upset when Focalor executed herself? If, essentially, she's a different "person" to Furina. Could this mean, regardless of Focalor and Furina, he still sees them both as one entity?

Who, or what, is he grieving (I interpret him as griefing in the admist of powering up) for? Was he grieving because he felt sympathy for what Furina and Focalor had to do?

To be honest, I don't know, so I can't conclude an opinion. Maybe when he got a second act to his SQ, it could provide more insight for me to have an opinion.

But for now, I believe everything Neuvillette does comes from a good place in his heart even if it doesn't seem like it at the beginning. He could have got his power up and simply reclaim Fontaine and not care about the people, like Apep, but he didn't and chose to fillful Focalor's wishes. Even so, he still worries about Furina's well being after the fact.

After all that has been said of my impression of Neuvillette, I find his benevolence, and his lack of conventional human expression very endearing. I also enjoy how we began to gradually see him become more expressive. I enjoyed his relationship with Furina because they are kinda like a set, in my opinion, like a dynamic duo type of characters.

That being said, I hope the devs can continue with their good work, and I am excited to see what the Teyvat journey ahead would be like.

>>>

TLDR: Teyvat's Fontaine arc is nicely written. It has showcase improvements in regards of the overall story telling of the Archon Quests, such as pacing, flow, and themes. Although, there were a few parts of the story that I feel could have been done better.

It's nice that the story also finally addressed the anomalies of the Teyvat world (as they play a much bigger part), thus giving more information to the lore, and help to bring agency back to the main story.

In my opinion, Neuvillette is a greatly written character, and I enjoy his character throughout the Archon Quests. In my character study/writing perspective, Neuvillette's characteration, I find, is very interesting, and I couldn't wait to see more of his character in the future.

Thank you for reading of you made it this far!

[chromajelly]

what's on your s5 wishlist? the silly, goofy things!!!

oOoooh ok here we go!! I feel like these are mostly vibes and not that very specific (or all silly) but I hope they jiggle your brain all the same hehe

Mike channeling his overly dramatic and sassy S1 self is high on my hierarchy of needs tbh

The party goofing around and shitting on each other's music tastes while making mixtapes to retrofit everyone with their own walkman and cassettes in order to fend off Vecna's possessions.

Honestly, just having the party reunite and catch up. Lucas and Dustin asking Will what California life is like and whether or not he met any cute girls (bonus if we get great cinematography and performance from the interested parties to highlight how deep the question goes)

New outfits!!

Mike spending some quality family time with his sisters and his mom. Maybe after him and Nancy clue Karen in on what’s been happening. Bonus point if that gives us more Karen and Joyce interactions down the line.

Mike’s hair getting even longer. I wonder if he'd use whatever to tie his hair with (elastic bands, the horror) before an aghast Nancy just gives him some decent hairbands.

El and Lucas hanging a lot more while also helping Max work through all the big changes which eventually is comfortable enough that she uses them (in a poking fun kind of way) as leverage to give everyone a hard time.

I can't wait to see more of Argyle tagging along and dishing out absolutely brilliant plans out of left field.

Which actually makes me wish we'll get to see Murray and Argyle buddy up at some point

Will absolutely reaching his limit when UD deniers start making things difficult for the party and finally snapping at someone and everyone going :000 He only does it the one time and the second time he does it is when they zap Vecna out of existence.

If set during winter, please give me byler goofing off and Mike inadvertently brushing off some snow off Will's coat or something. Just send them both in a panic and have them overthink every little thing the other does for an entire episode.

Background byler. Don't care what or how, but would be nice to have the established relationship weaved in when the big overt stuff isn't happening on screen, ya know?

[froggyfriendart]

If you want could you possibly. Tell me about your ocs

:O Hey hey I just saw this!! Thank you for taking an interest in them :)

So, my Sky:Children of The Light OCs

These three are Mercymorn, Arcadias, and Ariadne. They're all three of them rogue actors in whatever world they find themselves in, you can't usually figure out what the hell they're doing or why they're actually there. Do not separate them.

Mercy is a fighter, and one filled with pride at that - they can and they will pick fights to prove a point and they get very petty when they don't win. They're 75% sick moves and 25% gremlin bastard. They'd be the type you see standing in the center of a coliseum or acting all heroic with their cape fluttering in the wind, but they're rather silly actually.

Arcadias is a musician, and a traveler. They play the lute. They're extremely curious at heart and though none of them can actually talk, they love asking questions through mimickry and wide gestures. Behaves like a bird. Actually really sweet, prone to playing pranks, sometimes acts rather childish. The cape they have shapeshifts into wings whenever, they think it looks cool. So do I.

Ariadne is a circus performer. They're the one taking the stage, they're the one spinning the stories and making shadow-puppets against the walls. They will strangle you if you talk slander about their performance. They're also really into fortune telling, but will lie (well, lie through gestures and implication) for shits and giggles.

Now, this is Eurwen, she's really cool, she's not with those three but she knows them and tolerates them. This artwork is actually a bit older than most of them but it's one of my favorites. Deadpan, ruthless, I literally made her so I could be gay over her muscles and overly serious butch charm. She's everything to me. Other than Arcadias she's the only character I've ever drawn more than once, because I was working on her character sheet which is as of yet incomplete (like. a lot of my art)

now THIS GUY. he's my specialest little guy, this guy. His name is Lucien Lyfrassir VI. He's in my brain at all times. Fucking shit up and spray painting the walls neon. He wears a cool jacket absolutely covered in neon graffiti-like designs, he wears a cool LED mask/helmet that hides his face, not pictured here. Does Testosterone injections (like. 60% of my characters are transgender. I do make the rules.), his supply is literally a replicator machine that's been replicating the same stuff from centuries ago because it's a pain to hope every new civilization produces it. He jumped into a black hole for fun. Explosions! Mad cackling! Cinematically standing on lamp posts, leaning against walls with dark and dramatic lighting. Fights with gauntlets he built himself. He is also immortal. Absolute vibing. He's just My Guy. AND he's hot. Him and Eurwen are, anachronistically, best friends. God. I fucking love him. His partner is unfortunately not pictured because I haven't drawn him yet. God i care about him.

This is Dreamer. Their flute is named Lullabye (sic), they were first designed to be a bard in DnD and then they sort of morphed into a different kind of character. They're the man in the moon.

There's a lot more but I haven't got any art for them yet and anyway, you're welcome to ask me about them at any time :) I really appreciate you taking the time to let me talk about these guys. I love talking about these guys. I can do it forever.

[science-lings]

idk if I'm going to ever write for it so I'm gonna put it here, my reborn Yatagarasu AU. I guess if I get a little encouragement I'll want to write it more but I have to get some thoughts out or I will explode.

It started because I thought Beanix and Kay should meet and do crimes together. I think they should fight corruption and be overly dramatic while annoying Edgeworth. I mean, think about it, in the first game, Phoenix's whole thing was exposing notorious blackmailers and corrupted officials and generally being unafraid of facing mob families when everyone else is kinda scared to take any action.

before the cut to so much rambling, I need to get one question out of the way so...

anyway, lore below, I just didn't want to put that under the cut where no one will read far enough to see it lol

That and he also has experience with eccentric thieves. Also, they're both named after mythical birds and named specifically to be silly with their dialogue ('Mr. Wright, right?' "Kay 'kay?'). I also just want a reason for them to pose as father and daughter and be able to pull it off perfectly.

Now for actual plot stuff, I am of the opinion that Phoenix has acquired some weird-ass skills that he uses in weird-ass ways, I mean in canon he has a talent for bluffing and he uses it to absolutely dominate at poker. So I'm thinking this guy, who hasn't risked his life in over a year, fresh out of leads to fight the case with his disbarment, needs enrichment. This comes in the form of Kay investigating him out of interest as his role of 'that man' and discovering that he's pretty neat actually. She looks at his case files and finds him silly enough to recruit for a new project.

The re-emergence of the Yatagarasu is directly correlated to the dark age of the law and the increasing corruption practically everywhere. The law makers and law keepers of Japalifornia ignore the truth for their own self interest and that is Not Good. Kay recruits Ema, who is interning at the police department and on her way to becoming a detective turned forensic investigator. She is also stem girl extraordinaire who wants to use her tech for good and not to help the police. Funded by Franziska (because the best use of Manfred's fuck you money is actively fighting the corruption he was a part of) the Yatagarasu plan to expose as much corporate and legal filth as possible. Because to build a new legal system, the other one must be destroyed a bit.

In comes Phoenix, who through past cases and his work at the Borsht Bowl, just happens to have a pretty good amount of criminal connections. He's inconspicuous, already kind of undercover, and he knows how to get people to talk. He's disillusioned with the law and settled into a character that requires him to convincingly act at all times. Also his daughter is a magician and I think it would be really funny for him to learn a little sleight of hand and how to use throwing knives only for him to turn around and use those skills for Crime.

In return for info and his help with the Yatagarasu project, Phoenix gets more assistance in his investigation into Kristoph, which makes it easier to keep him and Trucy safe. Also in this AU Kristoph is worse and more invasive and more willing to cause problems if he catches Phoenix learning too much. Every one of their shared dinners consists of Kris poisoning Phoenix's wine and them switching it until they're both confused and Phoenix ends up drinking it but survives anyway.

Another part of this AU that I would want to touch upon would be Phoenix's reputation outside of being a fallen famous lawyer. I think that his work getting multiple mob members, prosecutors, a police chief, and generally terrifyingly powerful people incarcerated would get him noticed by people. I like to think that he's trying his best to look pathetic and depressed but the whispers around him make him sound kind of terrifying and it's only because of that that he feels secure enough to take Trucy along with him to the bowl for poker matches. He also is trying to learn her perceiving power, which he can't do but he does get really good at silently communicating with Trucy to the point that they become a kind of terrifying duo.

I just... weird girl crime group (Maya is not allowed, she'll just get falsely accused of murder again)

[laikuh]

@spoopy-action-at-distance

If you have time, can you give a short run-down on why this show is a good watch and why a SPN John Winchester fan might like it? The gifs are making me curious!

hey! sorry it’s taken me a few days to get to this! i would be happy to give a short run-down of prodigal son.

basic premise: malcolm bright, born malcolm whitly, is the son of martin whitly, an infamous new york serial killer known as “the surgeon.” malcolm was close to martin as a child, and even after martin was incarcerated at an asylum, he remained close. both men further bonded over murder and what makes the mind of a serial killer tick as malcolm grew, but eventually malcolm cut off martin to study profiling and join the fbi as a profiler. when the show starts, he’s been fired from the fbi and is now consulting for the nypd under the leadership of the cop who helped him as a kid and that cop’s detective team.

the bad: this show is a knock-off nbc hannibal. malcolm has will graham’s same empathy gift, though it’s packaged differently, he’s just as mentally unwell (if not worse), and his push and pull dynamic with martin is very very similar to will’s push and pull with hannibal in season 3.

it is also a procedural. and i mean, like, really a procedural. like criminal minds level, not like hannibal having to pretend at being a procedural to tell an actual story, just a straight up procedural (don’t take a shot everytime i type the word “procedural”). this means it’s...i mean it feels like criminal minds. and i don’t mean that super negatively generally speaking. i love criminal minds tbh! i have seen most seasons of cm like 4 times, i just never talk about it here bc it would ruin whatever weird artsy incest vibe i’ve managed to acquire on this blog. but i just mean if you think you’re going to get a show as delicate as hannibal with prodigal son, you aren’t. it’s going to be more akin to criminal minds.

it is also very stupid and dramatic. like. shit happens that will make you roll your eyes. it’s ridiculous. it’s over the top. it’s silly.

the good: the acting and the cast is wonderful. the dude who plays malcolm is so good. i mean, so fucking good. and michael sheen needs no words. it’s michael fucking sheen. he’s taking his volturi camp and making it somehow worse, by which i mean better, and he’s just so fun to watch. lou diamond phillips is great as gil. i love both the actors who play dani and jt. bellamy young took me some time as jessica whitly, malcolm’s mother, but she’s grown on me a lot if you assume she is also playing camp instead of serious. and the actress who plays ainsley is...fine. lol. also down the line we also get recurring roles from dermot mulroney, catharine zeta-jones, and alan cumming.

also i mentioned above that it is stupid. but actually i love that it is stupid. i love that it is stupid so much. i think it’s so fun! i love rolling my eyes fondly and thinking, “god, this show is dumb.” it’s campy! it’s having a grand time! i love it for its wildness and think that’s what makes it so enjoyable. let shows be dumb! it’s good for us as a society, i think.

but really, the best selling point for this show is the martin-malcolm dynamic. it’s so juicy. it’s so gross. it’s so tragic. they play off each other beautifully, and tom payne as malcolm really does a perfect job of getting us a crystal clear image of how damaged malcolm is by his experience with his father. how fucked up his love for martin has made him. he’s gone on his dad, his dad is gone on him, and it’s so unhealthy and awful. but it’s also really interesting. i eat up every scene together, and i love how unpleasant it is. malcolm is a very whumpy character, very dean winchester, very will graham. he’s so sad, he has so many daddy issues, he is so broken. we love to see it.

as for your specific question i’ve kind of been avoiding, i don’t really have a reason why a john winchester fan would like prodigal son, as john and martin are not overly similar beyond the damage they’ve caused their oldest children. and even then, john at least was a good person trying to do some good. martin whitley is genuinely a serial killer who is deeply psychotically unhinged. he is trying to do only harm, even to malcolm, even if he thinks otherwise.

tldr: prodigal son is fun and emotional if lacking in originality and realism. it’s a procedural, which means it’s repetitive, and its flair for the dramatics may not be a good fit for some. but if you love characters that are filled to the brim with daddy issues, are super traumatized, and also might be a little in love with their fathers, i think it’s a great pick to watch.

[spaceyflowerswriting]

encouraging (jace park x reader)

details: kind of a crack/fluffy drabble, gender neutral reader who is friends with mira; reader is only mentioned lol, general canon au, you and jace are strangers

summary: jace is a nervous wreck over his blind date with you so his friends are showing support to help him feel better.

a/n: OK I NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR reader is Only mentioned. like seriously. this was just an excuse to write silly family antics ft burn knuckles and j high gang im sorry

also this scenario. it doesnt make any sense for jace to be in a classroom with the fashion department students because they're in different departments but just ignore that logic <3

×

"Jace, how have--JESUS CHRIST!"

"Huh...?" Jace honestly looked like a mess at the moment. He barely got any sleep in the past few days and he'd been out of it. Couldn't even focus on Burn Knuckles's group workouts, couldn't even focus in class. He only snapped out of his daze from staring out the window thanks to Zack.

The guy had jumped a good distance back while his girlfriend still stood nearby, a hand clasped over her mouth.

"I've never said that in my entire atheist life but--" Zack straightened up, blinking himself back into focus or he would've gone on a tangent. "Nevermind. Jace, what the hell happened to you?"

"Yeah, are you okay?" Mira added, brows creasing in worry.

"I'm fine," was Jace's automatic reply, which made Zack walk back to him to give him a light punch on the shoulder.

"Pull yourself together! Are you like this because of the blind date Mira set you up on?!"

"Oh... so you know, too..." Jace put his head in his hands.

"Of course I do--"

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by a, "Hah!" Zoe dramatically spun around in her seat, facing the three. "Pretty sure the whole school knows. The Burn Knuckles guys won't stop talking about it! They even put up posters to support you."

"Ah..." This was to be expected, of course, with how overly supportive the group was, but Jace still felt embarrassed. At the same time he had too much anxiety to even think about it. All he felt thankful for at the moment was the fact that his blind date wasn't someone in the school.

Zack frowned. "Hey, c'mon, man. You signed up for this. At least own it."

Mira gave him a small nudge with her elbow and Zack quickly murmured an apology. She turned back to the poor guy seated in his desk, offering words of sympathy. "I'm sorry, Jace. I didn't think you'd get this stressed out. You can back out if you want, my friend would understand--"

Jace shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I swear."

"Ah...?"

"Plus, Zack's right." Jace's palms were getting sweaty. How could he just "own it" though? Sure, he had a lot more common sense than the other boys around, but he still had little experience in the romance field! Not to mention, the last time he thought he was getting somewhere with his love life, it crumbled into a lie. What if it was the same with his new blind date?!

No... no way. That was an entirely different situation. He really did have to pull himself together. What was he thinking? He shouldn't let one girl ruin his trust. Maybe this new person would be his soulmate! Not to mention, they were a friend of Mira's, and Mira knew how to spot fake people from genuine people. Her friend had to be a good person.

Zoe reached over to tap the front of Jace's desk, interrupting his thoughts and making him look up. "Are you seriously that bothered? Cheer up!" She gave him a bubbly smile. "Remember Mira only asked you because she said her friend specifically had an interest in nerdy guys? You're already their type! It's a win-win!"

Mira nodded reassuringly and Jace glanced at her and then back at Zoe. "I... I guess."

"Yeah, so don't worry! Plus, for an architect guy, you actually have good style so you're good in the fashion department."

"What's that mean--" Jace started, until he remembered how he had to ask Jay for help to dress up Vasco when he had a blind date a while ago. The memory made him smile a bit and he started to ease up very slightly. He meant this in the nicest way possible, but if even Vasco could have a good blind date, then surely he could also.

Speaking of his beloved friend, the man came bursting into the classroom with a cake in his hand.

...With the rest of Burn Knuckles following after.

"JACE! WE'VE PREPARED A FAREWELL PARTY FOR YOU!"

"I'm not going off to war or something!!" Jace immediately shouted back.

"THEN A PRE-CELEBRATION!" Vasco offered instead, the members behind him echoing, "A PRE-CELEBRATION!!"

Suddenly filled with bare minimum confidence (and the support of his best pals), Jace shot up from his seat. "Alright... let's celebrate!!" He ended up running out of the classroom with his gang, a skip in his step.

Zack turned to his friends as soon as the door shut behind Jace. "Who wants to make bets?" Mira gave him a much harder elbow nudge. "Ow... I was just kidding, haha..."

[2n2n]

Could you do an analysis on the train scene between Hanako and Aoi? I was surprised that Hanako asked Aoi about how her life was like.

A lovely question!! Thanks for asking! I adore Hanako in this scene!! We so rarely get to see Hanako interact with new people... such a treat that him and Aoi get more than a brief intersection. What guarded little beasts they both are.

…. to start, I want to begin on Hanako's circumstantial (and pointed) use of honorifics.

Generally speaking, Hanako refers to others in an exceptionally rude way. He never uses honorifics with anybody, a symbol of himself being fundamentally above them, as 7ban-sama. He refers to Nene as Yashiro. It's neither her given name-- so it's detached/distant, not too friendly-- and it's lacking honorifics, making it overly-familiar. For Kou, he actually avoids even using his name entirely, just calling him 'shounen'. It's even more distant/disrespectful. I would even call it dehumanizing, with Kou-- saying 'you don't even deserve me using your name'. This is the gradient Hanako has for our mains. Hanako always delivers a clear message in how he sees others, by how he refers to them. He is never concerned with consequences of rudeness... because he is 7ban-sama, he is above everyone. THE TYRANT BOY-KING!

In Picture Perfect, while attempting to woo Yashiro, and while acting 'normal'… Hanako switches to the polite 'Yashiro-san', referring to her as another classmate would. (Weirdly enough he doesn't actually extend this courtesy to others? He uses simply Yamabuki and Minamoto for Kou and Lemon…. I guess even as the ~polite~ Amane-kun, he can't help himself but be particular and exclusive.... it's uh, a step-up from 'shounen' though....)

Which is what people like Akane typically call her. Kou uses Yashiro-senpai 'cuz she's older than him…..

Once he breaks character, he switches right back to Yashiro, dropping the 'san'. This is our immediate confirmation he is Hanako, because only Hanako would ever refer to her in this way. A creepy stinger.

....Nene is a normal girl of course, so Hanako is the only friend to have ever called her Yashiro. A familiar friend would call her Nene, or Nene-chan.

… for Aoi, Hanako uses "Aoi-chan", which is cutesy, but in the context of what he's saying, what he's doing, and the control he has over her… it has a sortof condescending, demeaning, feeling to it. He's using an affectionate, childish honorific. For Yashiro, while telling her about his crimes, he is using it to be intentionally upsetting-- the contrast of this cute honorific with what he is saying.

….. so what is the general vibe of him using it, here? How does it feel for Aoi?

My Amane has a nice post about Hanako's upsetting grin, which is as on-blast in this scene as it is in any where he's being knowingly creepy.

…… it's worth it for this scene as well to reflect on, that in the previous encounter between these two, Aoi threw Hanako and Nene into the well. This is the last Hanako she saw.

…..so I think Hanako's 'friendly' behavior in this scene, playing cordial, guiding her, using a diminutive honorific, is meant as a kind of power display, as well as a kind of "I'm the mature one here. Silly thing who acted out…. but you're just a little girl, after all, and I am 7ban-sama." He is acting as Aoi's warden. Simply seeing one another again after the dramatic departure… you can see how Hanako's behavior is pretty jovial. Hey girl, you didn't do shit to me, actually.

"I'm such a good sport about that shit you pulled. Now I'll politely shepherd you to the Far Shore, where you belong. Tsk tsk." By not being at all aggressive, or agitated with her, or even quiet and ominous, he actually asserts more power and confidence. He can diminish her outburst into a small, meaningless brief inconvenience, like a kid acting out. "Here I am again… what good was all that acting out? Ah, nothing, but that's okay....." using 'Aoi-chan' helps further this feeling.

… I think as Aoi is Nene's friend…. he's got his own modest curiosity about her. Why not take this opportunity to finally talk to Yashiro's friend, someone who Hanako could never communicate with, before? While I'm here, making sure you make it to the slaughterhouse....

I think he expects her to simply go on about her regrets or life-- which he would not cherish personally, but would feel is a kindness to offer her in these final moments (makes him both look good and positions her as the pitiable one), and perhaps he could gain something out of this being Yashiro's little friend. Learn a little something about Yashiro's life. Watch a girl cry. Feel appropriately like a monster, because he is one, and he 'doesn't care'. Hanako is emotionally detached from the situation enough to be able to entertain conversation, and take in whatever Aoi feels or says. After all, Hanako is pretty pleased when people threaten him, call him out, or are upset with him. He enjoys when being a kaii creates a distance between himself and others, when he gets to be the indifferent spectator to the living's pitiable troubles. Feeling that comfortable distance and perhaps disdain emanating from humans…. it matches with his self-image and self-hatred. It matches with his sense of isolation, which is comforting to him-- a person who is nothing but upset by his own emotions of love, his own humanity. A person who has given up on his 'humanity', who refuses to see himself as 'human'. To Hanako....It's the correct way to feel about him. He's happy to invite Aoi to spill at him, whether the results are her being resentful, angry….. or sad, miserable… or listless, dreary…. I think Hanako would be satisfied either way, and feels he has nothing at all to dread from inviting Aoi to talk.

…but all things considered, Hanako and Aoi are oddly similar individuals in their detachment, misanthropy, and habit of looking down on others around them. They are both perpetual liars, too… even to Nene specifically! And even specifically, to their respective beloveds, of course. This dynamic is so fascinating-- and Hanako himself is continuously caught off-guard by Aoi, who exudes a carefree facade-grin that rivals his own. If he's expecting a clear delineation between himself as a Godlike all-powerful kaii and the measly mortal Aoi…. he will not find it. … for this whole scene, Aoi is correctly reading Hanako, seeing herself in him. His cheery facade, his polite front, his lack of expressing true feelings….. Aoi is perfectly familiar with Hanako's cadence, and what he is doing. Godbless her, she turns this around on him, and pinpoints his weakspot with precision. She already knows him and Yashiro's silly little will-they-won't-they dance. Hanako is funny to her, and she doesn't see him as the indomitable inhuman kaii Hanako would like to be seen as…..

taste of your own medicine, boy!!!!

I'm sure those final glances Hanako shot to Aoi in the well told her everything, about his possessiveness of Yashiro, his similarity to Akane in some way….. ah, this protective guy. Clearly loves Nene... but hasn't told her so.

Hanako went into this, I think, hoping to get to feel like a little alien, get to voyueristically watch a human go through the emotions he ~knows all too well and has observed with indifference for decades....

... but just gets a humbling moment of being related to.... the general series thesis to disprove Hanako's belief systems regarding himself (and kaii+human's being meaningfully different in their nature at all!) is really strong, in this scene. Hanako will not be rewarded with comfortable distance. This stupid little power-display doesn't go how he assumed. He will instead be humbled and have a moment of sincere relatability with this normal human girl who struggles with love and sincerity. So cute, isn't it? The imposing 7ban-sama is no different from a humble emotionally stunted high-school girl with a childhood crush she can't confront.... he had such a hubris starting this conversation! He didn't expect Aoi to be able to move him, or want to relate to him.

...... and with that all out of the way, let's just appreciate this difficult fussy little Amane.... ♥

the epitome of emotionally constipated 13 year old.... such a normal boy. He likes to think of himself as different from the living... different from the Amane he was in life.... but that boy couldn't even tell his own twin brother I love you. As in life, so in death.... ah, Amane.... ♥

[alpacaparkaseok]

Working Overtime

requested by @thecaffeinatedscribbles​ - thanks for requesting! a picture of your request will be at the bottom of the post!

Pairing: BTS x reader

Premise: A freak storm forces the biggest band on the planet to spend the evening seeking shelter at your small cafe. Of course, you can't complain about having to work overtime.

"...remain indoors for the rest of the evening....further notice....stay safe everyone!"

You can't help but groan, the sentiment clearly reciprocated by Benny, the cook at the small cafe you work at. The two of you came to work expecting to be kept inside for a while - just because a storm was brewing didn't mean you got a free day. Chances were that customers might decide that the best way to spend the hurricane-like day would be at their favorite restaurant.

Well, their favorite clearly isn't this one. The cafe is completely barren, leaving both you and Benny to lounge around. Just waiting for the storm to pass.

Benny dug up an ancient radio from the supply closet, and spent thirty minutes tuning it before finding a station. The two of you have taken up two stools at the front counter, head down on the table while the staticky radio picks up every other sentence. "Well Bill, it looks like...that's right, Sharon, I was thinking the same-"

You'll never get to find out just what it was that Sharon and Bill were thinking about, because suddenly the front door flies open, nearly tearing itself off its hinges.

Both you and Benny turn around in shock, nearly slipping off your chair as you get a look at whoever these strange newcomers are.

It takes a few moments before they all file in - there's seven of them - and slip their hoods back.

It takes another moment before they manage to get their hair out of their face enough to actually identify them.

"I'm so sorry about that," Kim Taehyung apologizes as he throws his body against the door so that it will close properly. "We just saw that you guys were open-"

"Nobody else is open on this entire block," Park Jimin finishes, currently struggling to brush his fingers through his hair like he usually does. It's a bit more difficult now that it's been through such a windy atmosphere.

You and Benny exchange a look, clearly at a loss for words at the strange development. Together, the two of you let out a wry laugh.

"What are you boys doing out right now?" Benny asks, rising from his seat and motioning for them to hang their coats on the coat rack.

Everyone immediately turns to look at Jungkook, who's cheeks turn a little red even as he laughs.

"Someone wanted to see how windy is was," Seokjin drawls, glaring daggers at the youngest member of the group.

"And you willingly agreed!" Jungkook defends, pulling a laugh from you.

Huh.

They're just like the other boys you've met.

Silly. Irrational. Blindingly beautiful.

"Could we get you anything to eat?" You ask, slipping into waitress mode. "It sounds like you might have to be here for a while," you tap the radio, scrunching up your nose as a bit of dust flies up.

The boys settle down in the middle of cafe, pulling a few tables together. You place some menus before them, marveling at how they seem to bicker like your family.

They place their orders - enough to feed a small army, which, you suppose they are. You head back into the kitchen, prepared to help Benny with the order. However, you're a little surprised to see Seokjin and Yoongi trailing you, with a nervous Jungkook behind them.

"Oh, did you want something else?" You ask, smiling brightly. The two oldest members of the group chew on their lips, sparing the maknae a glare.

"Actually," Yoongi begins, his cheeks reddening, "Is it alright if we help with the order?"

You blink, unsure of what to say. "...what?"

Jungkook jumps into the conversation like an excited puppy. "Well, it's just that it's going to be a lot of food and it's just the two of you..."

"We're bored." Seokjin injects, laughing to himself. "Let us help you?"

Shrugging and praying that your boss won't decide to fire you over it, you lead them back into the kitchen. Benny grins when he sees the four of you.

"Come to learn from the best?" He boasts, his round belly proof of his amazing cooking skills. "Grab an apron, wash your hands. Prepare to learn, boys."

You cackle as the three highly successful (and blindingly beautiful) idols follow Benny's instructions, chattering excitedly between each other.

It only takes a couple of minutes before the rest of the group appear at the doorway to the kitchen, watching on with curiosity.

"Care to join?" Benny invites. You stand off to the side watching with endless amusement.

Taehyung joins in with glee, while Namjoon, Hoseok, and Jimin hang back. They look to you hesitantly.

"Could we actually help you bring the dishes out?" Hoseok asks timidly.

You smile. This has got to be the best shift ever.

"Yeah, if you want to. Want to come watch the kitchen go up in flames with me?" Jimin bursts out into a fit of laughter, pointing at you with pride on his face. "Oh, she's funny!” He walks over to you, leaning against the counter.

Namjoon and Hoseok follow suit a moment later, giving you kind smiles as they take up the spot next to Jimin. 

“We’re so happy you guys were open,” Hoseok comments, watching with a bit of apprehension as Jungkook tries to copy Benny’s movements. “I seriously thought we were going to die out there or something.”

“Agh you’re so dramatic hyung,” Jimin says, rolling his eyes. “But it is pretty bad out there. When do you think it’ll end?”

You shrug, stifling a laugh at Yoongi’s expression of long-suffering as he fields Taehyung’s questions.

“I’m not sure...probably not for another couple of hours, though. It’s going to be a mess trying to get home I bet.”

“Mmm.” Namjoon leans forward so he can see you properly. “Care to eat with us when the food’s done?”

Try as you might, you still end up blushing. “That’s alright, I don’t want to intrude on your meal-”

“I’m already making your food!” Jungkook shouts from where he stands watch before the oven. “Or...Jin is, I guess. But I’m making sure it doesn’t boil over!”

You give a shocked laugh, dropping your head in your hands. “I guess I will, then.”

Together, the four of you watching from the sidelines being to commentate every move that’s made within the kitchen. 

“Oh, that was a bad move Yoongi,” Jimin chides. 

“Shut up,” Yoongi responds, not even looking over.

Jin nearly drops a potato, earning quite the reaction from you. “Kim Seokjin, if you drop that potato so help me!” 

Everyone in the room pauses for a moment, Jin looking over at you with wide eyes. A moment later, they all dissolve into a fit of laughter, Jin making a show of setting the potato down with car.

“Better?” He asks. You nod.

“Much better, thank you.”

In the matter of an hour, you’ve made yourself completely at home with these complete strangers. Benny begins making more food, getting overly-excited at having willing students. Time drags on, and eventually you all ditch the idea of eating out at the tables, opting to hop up on the bar and watch the chaos unfold.

“How long have you worked here?” Jungkook asks with a mouth full of food. He ditched the kitchen a few minutes prior, deciding that it would be better to eat than learn. Hoseok replaced his presence in the kitchen.

You blow on your soup before taking a bite. “Umm...a couple of years? It’s been a good college job, I think.”

They nod along, watching at Jin wanders over. He makes a show of looking exhausted, leaning up against the opposite counter. “Is the food good?”

“Delicious,” Namjoon says.

“What do you want to do when you make it out of here?” Jimin asks.

You frown, looking down at the counter. “I...I actually really love graphic design. I don’t know, I just think it’s the coolest thing ever. There’s so much that could be done with it, too.”

When you look back up again, you find Namjoon and Jimin locked in a silent conversation. A second later, they look back to you with smiles. 

“What?”

Jimin shrugs. “Nothing. Graphic design is cool, don’t you think, hyung?”

Jin nods weakly, eyeing your soup. You take the hint, blowing on the spoonful you have. “Want to try it?”

He looks at you a little sheepishly. “Can I? Is that too weird?” You shrug your shoulders. 

“It’s a weird day. Might as well go for it.”

That’s all the motivation he needs.

The storm doesn’t let up for a long while, but you’re kept busy with the boys. They all take turns in the kitchen except for Namjoon, who claims that he’d be more harm than help. 

Together with Namjoon and Taehyung, you turn up the volume on the radio. The static makes it hard to understand, but you hear enough.

“subsided for now...remain cautious, but the worst is over.”

You let out a shout of excitement, pounding the table. Taehyung jumps a bit, laughing. “I think the storm is ending!” 

Benny hardly hears you, but the boys do. They also shout with you, except for Namjoon who suddenly receives a phone call. He’s on the call for all of thirty seconds before it ends. 

“Hey guys, that was Sejin...we need to head out.”

You frown, but try not to let it get to you. “Thanks for hanging out with Benny and I.”

The boys each take their leave, thanking you and Benny profusely. Jungkook hops on his feet as Benny fills a couple of takeout boxes for him. They quickly exchange numbers with the two of you, vowing to return soon.

“We’ll just put you in our group chat, alright?” Hoseok says, typing away at his phone. 

“How much do we owe you?” Yoongi asks, grabbing his wallet from his back pocket. Both you and Benny immediately wave them off. 

“Nothing,” Benny declares. “Thank you for keeping us company. That was enough.”

“Really, let us pay you-”

“You guys need to get going,” you interrupt, smiling at Yoongi. “Really, don’t worry about it.”

They leave, grumbling the entire way. Once the door has closed behind them, you and Benny exchange looks. 

“That was...”

“Freaking awesome,” Benny finishes for you. You chuckle. 

“Yeah, it was.” Sighing, you slip off of the bar. “I’ll put the chairs up and then come help you clean up.”

Benny waves you off. “I don’t have much to clean, Hobi did most of it.”

“Oh-ho, you even call him ‘Hobi’!” Heading into the dining area, you go toward the table that the boys were originally going to sit at. Something catches your eye before you can put the chairs up.

“Benny!” You shout, hands shaking a little as you grab the paper. 

It’s a note, hastily written but legible. 

Thank you for the meal and new friendship - please confirm the Venmo request we send to you. All the best: Bangtannies

Almost as though timed, both your and Benny’s phones chime. You gawk at the ridiculous amount of money, but you nearly burst into tears at the text message that follows it.

Bangtan: This is the number of the head of graphic design at Bighit. They’ll be in contact with you within the next couple of days - keep a lookout for it!

masterlist

[yeojaa]

( VELVETEEN RABBIT. )

What do you get when you mix Thumper and Bambi?  Answer:  Jeon Jungkook.

pairing.  french lop bunny!jjk x ragdoll cat f!reader.

genre + rating.   hybrid!au set in college.  super fluffy, a little angsty, with a dash of smut to balance it all out.  explicit towards the end because i just can’t help myself.  oops.

tags / warnings.  honestly, this jungkook should just come with his own warning.  but more realistically, mentions of kook using a scrunchie, kook being cute, kook railing his date after using the world’s worst puns...  the usual.

wc.  4.4k

beta reader(s).  @hobi-gif​ as always become, c’mon.  i’m me.  she’s her.  

author note.  this was written as part of @thebtswritersclub​‘s a hybrid fest and is gloriously late (i’m so sorry @ditttiii​​).  i’ve never written anything hybrid-related before so hopefully you enjoy.  feedback goes a long way!  xoxo

He orders the same thing every time he’s in.  Iced Americano, no room for cream, and a single almond croissant.  (Every once in a while, he switches it up for matcha but that’s exceedingly rare.)  He always pays with a tap of his wrist - a sleek black AppleWatch with rubber band - and flashes his trademark slightly too-big smile.  All the girls swoon.  So do the guys.  Everyone except for you.

He’s unnervingly handsome, with long dark ears that sometimes hang in front of his eyes.  You’ve caught him with them pulled back Lola Bunny-style, knotted with a loose silk scrunchie that looks nearly as soft as his fur.  His hair’s usually unkempt, tossed into a little sprout of a bun, overly long fringe falling all over his big round eyes.  He wears butterfly clips sometimes, though that’s usually on days where he isn’t freshly sweaty and carrying his gym bag.  They appear in his hair when it’s damp from a shower, the smell of papaya and honey clinging to every inch of him.  You know, because you have a great nose - one that’s sensitive to every smell under the sun but especially his.  (You try not to think about it much.)  

It’s a Wednesday morning when you notice the change.  It doesn’t register at first, acknowledgement coming in a curious sniff at the air.  Weird. 

“Thanks,” he says like clockwork, a well-oiled polite machine, deceptively slender hands receiving the exceedingly hot cup without a care in the world. He’s got his usual bag over his shoulder - overly big, black, almost tactical - and a pair of comfortable looking pants on that seem more like they belong on your beloved grandmother.  Somehow, he rocks it (but he always does).  “Have a nice day.”

Because of course he says that.  Of course he steals the words right out of your mouth, turns them back on you as easy as he makes your heart rattle around in your chest like it’s a Friday night bingo ball. 

He moves toward the bar - he only ever grabs three napkins, tucks them into the slot on the left side of his bag - but pauses halfway there.  Rooted to the same spot as always, sleek ears following the imposing line of his shoulders.  

One, two—

The thumping starts, so quiet it’s almost negligible.  But you catch it, because you always do and because you’re the reason for it. 

He turns then, levels you with a look from the corner of those pretty, pretty eyes and you can’t help but laugh, openly, unashamedly, with the back of your hand plastered to your mouth. A true ojou-sama. 

His mouth quirks - does that funny thing where he sucks in his cheek then rolls it back out with his tongue - and you think he might finally say something.  Call you out for writing his name wrong for the past five weeks, finding more and more creative ways to do so every time.  Even occasionally using nicknames - silly things you’d come up with while on the walk home, or during lunch, or in bed.

“Good one,”  he states, laugh lines threading over his face, prominent around his eyes.  His nose wiggles with the sound - another of his traits that comes out to play often.  Your favourite of them all, if you’re being honest.

“Anytime.”  

You don’t realise it’s him until it’s too late, until you’re practically running into him, bouncing off the broad expanse of his back with a startled squeak.  Lucky for you, you’re quick on your feet, catching yourself before your skull can become too well-acquainted with the red brick wall to your right.

“You okay?”  Though he asks, you have a sneaking suspicion he knows you’re not and an even stronger suspicion that he’d been waiting for you, hovering past the entrance of the cafe with his big university hoodie on.

“Barely,”  you manage around a laugh, straightening the backpack slung over your shoulders, packed to the brim with goodies you got to bring home at the end of the night and two of your textbooks.

“Should watch where you’re going.”  

This is the most conversation you’ve had - ever.  But it’s fun, easy, organic and natural.  You wonder why that is. 

“You should watch where you’re standing, actually.”

He’s so much bigger than you, imposingly tall (especially being part of the Leporidae family) and wide in the chest.  Not bulky by any means, but big.  Strong.  Threaded with a strength you don’t normally see in hybrids of his kind.  It probably has to do with how often you see him covered in sweat and panting, basketball hooked under his arm, soccer cleats tied to his bag.

When he speaks again, it’s full of mirth, squeezing his round eyes near shut.  “Got a problem with me standing here?”  

You nod, solemn as ever (which is really never, but that’s besides the point).  “It’s dangerous to block entryways, didn’t you know?”  You’re gesturing to the awning, the dark interior just past the window of the shop.  “You’re loitering, Jungkook.”

“So you do know my name.”  You can tell he’s not surprised - that he’s hamming it up for dramatics, softly pink lips rounded in a little ‘O’.  He’s cute like this, you think.  Playful in a way you’ve never seen before.  

“I do?” 

There’s that cheek thing again.  It’s even more attractive up close, the shape of his jaw thrown into prominent relief when he sucks in a breath.  

“You just said it.”

You nod, thoughtful, finger tapping upon your chin.  “I guess I did.”

“Say it again,”  he states, expression inscrutable, eyes bright.  They’re so glossy even under the dimmed streetlights, impossibly big and undeniable.  So easy to get lost in - if your attention weren’t caught by something else.

“What is that?”  

You’d noticed it earlier in the day, caught the scent in passing sometime during the early hours.  You’d been unable to place it then, too distracted by freshly ground coffee, a girl’s three too many spritzes of Daisy by Marc Jacobs, and baking banana loaves.

It’s heady, masculine.  A strong musk that sinks into your nose and makes it twitch, ears rotating as if that’ll help pin the smell down.  

“What’s what?”  You hadn’t realised how close you’d become, your face five seconds from planting directly into his chest.  (It’d probably be nice - you know how soft your school’s merchandise is.)  “Are you okay?”  He asks because you’re now, actually, planting your face right against the worn navy cotton.  It’s terribly nice, silk upon your cheek.  

You answer more to his clothes than to him, nosing into the fabric. “You smell different.”

You feel more than hear his laughter, the sound barreling past his teeth seconds later.  The vibrations running along his spine jostle you from your position face first upon him but you don’t mind.  It doesn’t send you far, dark eyes peering up into the face of the bunny hybrid.  True to his kind, his nose is twitching, puffs of laughter expanding his cheeks when he meets your stare. 

“No I don’t.”

“You do.”  Tone firm, a finger lands upon the neatly embroidered N on his hoodie.  The white stitching stands in stark contrast to your baby blue nails.  “You smell… off.”

Whether Jungkook’s offended or not, you can’t tell.  He’s got that same strange expression on his face - the one from this morning when he’d received his coffee.  It’s made up of too many moving parts:  the flutter of his lashes, the coil of his jaw, the minute tick of the corner of his mouth.  You can’t read him for shit, somehow more confused now than in your 300-level art history class.  (You’d taken it as one of your optional electives assuming it’d be an easy A.  You were wrong.)

“Sorry you think so,”  he hums, looking down at you.  You’ve seemed to fully forget the meaning of personal space, edged up beside him as if you’re best friends and not just two ships passing in the night. 

“It’s not bad.”  Really, it isn’t.  It’s strong and sensual, vegetal in a way, calming in another.  But it isn’t unwelcome. 

In fact, you think you might like this scent a little more - less sweet than what normally clings to his skin, natural honeycomb rather than processed sugar.  It zings across your teeth, pieces broken up and scattered behind your molars.  You can practically taste it.  Him.

“Is that so?”  

“Yep.”

You share a look - one that says more than all the words you’ve ever spoken, that threads together all the silly laughter, narrowed stares, (written) flirtations.  It settles between the two of you, filling the spaces with something akin to cotton, light and airy and soft.

The desire to speak lingers, hidden just beyond the cotton candy dusting.  Should you?  Shouldn’t you?  You still have no idea what he’s doing here, a street urchin making his rounds on the campus village.  

He beats you to it.  “Can I walk you back to your dorm?”  

You don’t think you could want anything more.  “Sure.”

Silence falls again but it’s comfortable, a caress rather than a crutch.  The grounds are surprisingly quiet - wayward students on their way to the library or heading home from lectures.  There are no picnic blankets spread across the grass, no gaggles of girls dressed in school colours.  It feels like the first day of fall, change sitting heavy in the air. 

“So—”  You start.

He finishes,  “do you wanna go on a date with me?” 

That’s surprising.  (Or is it?  You’re not really sure.)  You nearly trip over your own two feet in your haste to look at him, entire body swivelling on the spot because apparently you can’t just turn your head like a normal person.  Something something all or nothing. 

“What?”  

“Do.  You.  Want.  To—”  He’s being insufferable for the hell of it.  You can see it in his eyes, glossy things shining down at you like he’s got the entire fucking nightsky hung in them.  

“Not if you keep that up,”  you retort, though you both know you’re lying.  You’ve been waiting - wishing, wanting - for this moment since the day you laid eyes on him.  Since Yuri had elbowed you so hard in the ribs you’d thought you’d be bruised for days, since Jae had rambled on and on for his entire shift about the cute new bunny who’d come in that morning.  Since that very first wrongly spelt name on his plastic cup and every visit since.  

“Is that a challenge?”  

“You won’t get it in.”  

He scoffs, loud and drawn out, cheek rounding with disbelief at your disbelief.  How can you possibly doubt him - school basketball star and all-around athletic freak of nature? 

“What do I get if I do?”  The ball rests in his palm, poised to be shot through the hoop, sunk without making contact with the rim.  He’s confident - he’s done it a million times.  

“A pat on the back?”  As much as you tease him - loop mockery around nearly every syllable you speak, you’re endlessly supportive, already carrying the fruits of his labour under your arms.  A Pikachu shoved haphazardly into the purse slung across your body, a Snorlax tucked under your arm at an awkward angle that crushes his poor head, a Sylveon tucked into the side pocket of his joggers.  (The arcade was really into Pokemon, apparently.)  “Me saying thank you?”

“Not good enough.”  He leans in close - those big galaxy eyes practically swallowing you whole - and taps a single finger upon your nose.  It makes your nostrils flare, an itch blooming under his touch.  “Gotta sweeten the deal.”

You must look hilarious because Jungkook’s biting back a smile, smirking down at you.  Then, all at once, without breaking eye contact, he’s extending his arm, flicking his wrist, and— swish!  

In goes the ball, leaving him with a perfect score.  

“I want you to stay the night.”

You think he’s joking.  He must be joking.  This is your third date.  

But he’s staring at you like he’s completely serious, gaze expectant, lips pursed around something that reads like a smile but has your heart doing a strange little one-two step in your chest.  It soars for a moment, high above the clouds like the string orchestra of a choral work - Beethoven’s Ninth in D minor. 

“Are you propositioning me, Jeon Jungkook?”  It’s the same reaction he always has when you say his name: a twitch of his ear, the corner of his bottom lip quirking and then resetting, eyes so sparkly it’s almost absurd.

“No.  I’m just telling you what I want.”

“Huh.”  You should say no.  Guys like him - with charm that oozes out of every pore, whose offhanded smiles break more hearts than you ever have - are almost always bad news.  Too sweet, too funny, simply too much for your feeble heart to take.  

“Is that a yes?”  He’s got you in his clutches - a viper rather than a hare, with a smile so dangerous you’re paralysed by just the sight of it.  (Who needs venom?)

Your words catch in your throat, stick to one another like the deformed gummies at the bottom of the movie theatre bag.  What comes out isn’t what you expect.  “Okay.”

Damn you.  Damn him.  Damn how good he smells and the big dumb grin that spreads over his lips, sunshine in human form, undeniable and warm and cute enough to start a war over.  (That’s probably what’s happening - a vicious battle between your head and your heart.)  

Damn his stupid thumping foot that you can make out over the sound of the video games, the boisterous din.  It’s so cute you can’t help yourself from smiling, mouth pulling and pursing around the delight that begs to be freed.  

“Cool,”  he says, and you almost think that’s not very cool.  He’s so nonchalant, cavalier about it as if it means nothing.  You’d be bothered if you felt like you didn’t know him so well - hadn’t learnt his idiosyncrasies over the last two months.  

How he looks when he laughs really hard, his slightly too-big front teeth taking up all the real estate in his mouth.  How he sounds when he’s tired (groggy, with a lisp that rarely sees the light of day otherwise) or when he’s told he’s wrong (pouty, with his bottom lip jutted out so cutely you want to scream).  How he runs every morning, hits the gym every night, and eats double your protein because fitness, bro!  How his cheat meal of choice is soy garlic fried chicken from the place off-campus and he hates tangy, tart desserts (your lemonade lip gloss not included, he insists).  How he can’t sleep if he’s too hot - which he often is - and he spends way too long combing through his ears with a specialty brush he doesn’t let anyone touch.  How he’s secretly raindrops and gummy bears and hand holding in the car, so much more than his high school superlative of most likely to grace the cover of GQ.

You wonder, because you know those things, does that make you special?  Does it make you immune to the heartbreak that you swear you imagine whenever your mood drops (not often, but often enough)?  

You hope so.

“Let’s go shoot guns?”  He’s tearing you from your reverie, planting an open-mouthed kiss to your temple.  It’s sloppy and not very refined, much less suave than what you’d expect from your school’s soccer captain (and basketball small forward and swim team stand-in).  You suppose that’s why you like him so much - because he’s always surprising you, keeping you on your toes. 

“Let’s.”  You agree, letting your date drag you toward the Time Crisis machine.  It’s blissfully unoccupied, allowing the two of you to slide into place.  He takes the blue gun, you the red.  

He squeezes your hip when you take up position, one eye squeezed shut as you look down the barrel of the plastic weapon.  “Better not let me die.”

“Better not get shot,”  you return.  

He doesn’t listen - failing halfway through the helicopter scene, his shot missing and resulting in some sad miserable death in the form of Continue? blinking across the screen.  Neither of you mind that much though.  He occupies himself on his phone, free hand tucked into the back pocket of your jeans.  You play better when he’s not shouting terrible call-outs, nearly crashing into you because he gets so into it.

(How he’s never got a concussion on the basketball/soccer/etc. field before, you’re not sure.)

By the time you’re done - a good five minutes later, you think - Jungkook’s growing restless, tugging at your belt loops enough that you stumble with every shot, nearly knocking yourself out when you have to steady yourself on the centre console.  

“Kook!”  Your glare is barely that, too affectionate to dissuade him from his childish antics.  

He pulls you forward, traps you between his thick thighs, tattooed hands settling comfortably on your hips.  “Let’s go home.”

“Someone’s in a hurry.”

Of course, he doesn’t deny that.

It’s not the first time you’ve been over.  Not even your second or third.  You’ve met up with him before his games, thrown his jersey overtop and helped him wrap his fingers before hitting the court.  You’d even had to grab his cleats for him once, running across campus as he did drills in his socks as punishment.

This time feels different.  You know why but it doesn’t make it an easier pill to swallow.  It lodges somewhere in your throat, makes it hard to breathe when you kick off your shoes and tuck them neatly beside Jungkook’s.  

“Are you hungry?”  He’s already in the small kitchen, glancing over his shoulder at you as you linger in the adjoining hallway, bag halfway over your head.  

“I’m good.”  You are, really.  You’d eaten one donut too many at the arcade, indulged in a little too much disgusting nacho cheese goodness.  You don’t really understand how your date’s still hungry, a cucumber crunching between his teeth when he turns back to you. 

Standing there, vegetable devoured in quick, decisive bites, he looks every inch the French lop bunny he is.

You reach him in the same instant he finishes his midnight snack.  Arms fold around you like there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing, head dropping to rest comfortably upon yours.  Like this, his ears tickle your cheek - velveteen fur lost to the silk of your hair.  “Are you tired?”  

Another no comes - spoken into the fuzzy fabric of his sweater - and he hums above you, whole frame rattling with the noise.  

“No bed then?”  

At least he’s transparent, you think.

“One track mind much?”  You’re only teasing.  A part of you looks forward to… whatever it is that sits over the horizon, lost past the creaky bedroom door and somewhere beneath his surprisingly soft sheets.  (You’d asked about them once - he’d told you his mother liked to send him housewares to remind him of home.  He was a real mama’s boy that way.)

The monster only laughs, snuggles into your hair like it’s home.  “Can you blame me?”  

You can’t do much of anything when he’s like this - so utterly adorable and enticing and good for your heart that it feels as if you’ve taken a straight dose of morphine.

“Let’s go to bed, Wookie.”  Another nickname, recently coined after you’d spent an evening watching Star Wars for the first time.

“Yes, ma’am.”

You whack him on the way to his bedroom, smack a hand over the arm curled around your shoulders.  He pretends like it hurts, howls in a way he he thinks resembles a wounded animal but really just sounds stupid.  “Not a ma’am.”

“Sir?”  He asks, just to make you laugh. 

“If you don’t shut up—”  

He pushes you through the door of his bedroom while giggling to himself, sound puffing out of his cheeks.  “Don’t be mad, kitten.”  The two of you drop to the bed, a tangle of limbs and silken fur and squeaking laughter.  “You’re so purr-ty when you’re annoyed.”

He’s doing it again.  Dropping those stupid cat puns that make your nose wrinkle, ink-tipped ears folding back against your head.   

“I think I’m hiss-terical, don’t you?”  

Face adamantly buried into his sheets, you don’t give him the time of day.  You don’t even care that your mascara is probably rubbing off against the charcoal fabric, lipstick tint doing potentially irreversible damage.  He knows how unfunny you find these jokes, how you’ve heard them your whole life and roll your eyes so hard your optic nerve might sever every time you face another.  

What’s the point of sharing your pet peeves with him when all he does is lean into them?  Use them against you like it’s the cool thing to do.  Make you wonder what you’d seen in him when he was just another customer, another boy in Seoul National indigo and bedhead so dishevelled it begged to be managed.  

(You’re not sure why you’re so irritated suddenly, caught in the clutches of a moodswing as you curl into your side and ignore his bad jokes.)

Stupid Jeon Jungkook.  Annoying, silly, too-cool-for-his-own-good Jeon Jungkook.  

Jeon Jungkook who makes you second guess your choices, leaves you breathless and confused with just one dumb look.  Who has convinced you into his bed and teases you mercilessly, snickering to himself as his foot bounces against the floorboards because he finds himself that funny.

“Baby?”  The pet name comes, presses itself past your curtain of hair and invades your thoughts.  

You say nothing, adamantly faced away.

He doesn’t like that, sneaking his hands around you and cradling you into his chest as if that’ll lighten the mood.  (It does, a little bit, but you don’t tell him that.)  “Don’t ignore me,”  he mumbles, warmth breath tickling your ears, fingers dancing over the rungs of your ribs as if they’re ivory and not bone, playing a tune only he can hear.

“Stop with the shitty jokes,”  you retort.  You’re being difficult - can feel the vinegar turning your blood even as he tries to will it all away.

You feel the intake, the rise and fall of his broad chest.  You can only imagine how hard he’s biting his tongue, careful to keep his next errant pun at bay.  People don’t tell him no - only you.  Maybe that’s why you do it, to remind him you’re not just like everyone else.  

“Sorry.”  

You don’t tell him to show you how sorry— but he does anyway.

You’re astounded by him, utterly entranced by the way he moves.  How power runs the length of his frame, manoeuvres each of his limbs and turns your own to jelly.  

He’s got you face down, ass up, hands cradling your hips like they’re his home and he can’t bear to let go.  Every upward stroke feels like heaven - feels like a million lifetimes of pleasure you can barely wrap your thoughts around.  He’s impossibly big, thick and long.  The first thought you’d had when he’d stripped his black Calvin Kleins was pretty.  

You realise now there’s nothing pretty about him.  He’s filthy - the devil come to collect as he fucks you across his bed, nearly loses you to the pillows at the head with each snap of his hips.  (What they said about rabbits was true, you think.)

“B-Bunny,”  you sob, scratch over cotton that’s worn soft and smells exactly like your favourite sweater of his.  The linens are defenseless, tangled up and wrinkled with each flex of your fingers, bunched up within your palms every time he buries himself like he’s looking for the answer to life, thinks he might find it within the fluttering walls of your pussy.

“Not my name.”  When he sounds like this, he’s more predator than prey, a thousand volts of electricity shooting up your spine.  He’s demanding and unrelenting.  It makes your head spin.

“Wook—”  

“Not.”  Bunny teeth are just as painful as a feline’s, doing their job as they dig into the flushed skin over your back, marking his territory with two prominent indents right between your neck and shoulder.  “A.”  He ruts into you as if he’s got something to prove, snaps his hips to a beat you can’t keep up with.  “Wookie.”  Grips you so tight you might snap, red blooming beneath his hands.

You sob under him, drool against the pillows because you can’t seem to keep your mouth shut.  (You feel like Jungkook post-win, spewing nonsense as he prattles on about game winning plays with his teammates.)

“K-Kookie.”  It’s what he wants to hear - hits him right in the chest, a bull’s eye to the thing that beats wildly and in tandem with your own.  

His rhythm stutters.  The bed is shaking and not because he’s practically breaking the weak wooden frame.  No, his foot’s thumping, bouncing across the sheets even as he tries to regulate the roll of his hips, return it to the assured, teeth-numbingly good tempo it’d been at.  

It doesn’t work.  You love it anyway.  Like it more, because it means he’s just as affected by you as you are him. Your heart sings, leaps out of your chest on hummingbird wings, and dances around your head.  You’re a goddamn cartoon - Pepé Le Pew in ragdoll form - animated pink shapes circling like a crown.

You don’t care.  You can’t.  Not when he plasters himself to your back and asks you to say it again, begs you to tell him how good he is, tells you how he wants to make you his.  

Who cares if it’s three dates in, if your meeting was cliched and silly and he’s the campus heartthrob?  

You don’t - because he’s yours and when he flips you onto your back and you curl your fingers into his hair, it’s your name he stutters out.  It’s you who has him coming apart beneath your hands, the feel of his ears like velvet, the little whines he huffs growing louder each time you tug at the base.  It’s you who knows what he sounds like as he falls to pieces, throws himself against you as if gravity demands it.  It’s you who holds him to sleep, whose skin acts as a canvas for the doodles he traces as he drifts off.  

It’s you and it’s him and that’s enough.

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