#you would absolutely clown me for my water bottle

[baggy-holmes]

why are yall making fun of me for drinking a big ass cup of water

[timaeusterrored]

(The Pool Boy)

((Remember that one post I made waaaaay back in the early days when everything was cool? Yeah well I’m finally writing it))

Kerry Eurodyne remembers a time when he would have been embarrassed by Ariel seeing the state of the villa after a long night. But now he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Both were used too it, just as much as Kerry was used to being shaken to make sure he was still alive and Ariel starting conversations way too early.

“Kerry! Up! Breakfast!” Ariel was two seconds from pouring water over the rocker if he wasn’t up in the next five seconds. Kerry knew the annoyance in his voice, this song and dance happened every morning.

The rocker followed the smell of food and winced at the bright lights, attempting to dim them but immediately got scolded by his cook. Claiming he ‘needed them.’ Kerry just figured he was in a bitchy mood today. Or maybe he himself was in the bitchy mood.

Ariel was talking a mile a minute while Kerry stared at his back and tried so hard to focus on what he was saying, but failed miserably. What on earth was this man on today?

“Kerry!”

The older man winced, putting his hands over his ears for a moment. Was Ariel’s voice always so loud? Or was Kerry just extremely hungover? When was the last time he was this hungover?

“Did you hear anything I just said?” If anyone saw them right now, Ariel could have been confused for a disgruntled lover not getting paid attention too.

“No, I didn’t. What the fuck did you say?” God he sounded awful. Ariel just rolled his eyes and put on a pot of tea.

“I said that we have a new guy coming in. He’s on the younger side so be nice. He’s gonna be helping Miguel out, with the pool or something. I dunno.”

“I’m always nice-“

“Remember that time I came in and you launched a bottle at my head at full force.”

“Hey now, that was only because you came in at fuckin five am while I was in the zone, that was your fault.”

Ariel flipped him off then placed a heavenly plate of food in front of him. Kerry ate slowly, trying to keep himself from throwing up, and any mention of the pool boy gone from his mind- Ker don’t call him a pool boy this is not a porno.

The thought made him laugh and Ariel looked up from his own food in confusion. Kerry stated once that Ariel could eat whatever he wanted, he cooked the food he should be allowed to enjoy it! And if he came in early enough, Miguel was welcome to join them too… Kerry needed to stop hiring only men. He wasn’t even attracted to either of them, it just happened.

Ariel forced Kerry to drink the tea and honey he had made him, stating with as renowned as Kerry was for his voice, he took absolutely awful care of it. If Ariel knew Kerry when he was in his early years, he’d know Kerry was a princess about his voice. Now his chrome did most of the work and Kerry stopped caring as much. At this rate, Kerry was going to sing himself into the grave.

After breakfast was said and done and Kerry decided to be somewhat human today and take a shower, he wondered about the new hire. Honestly he wondered if he had been told at all, or had just not been listening when it came up. Either way, he trusted his gardener to not hire some complete clown.

What he wasn’t expecting was a complete piece of Night City beauty standing by his pool, talking to Miguel. He was tall, built like a fucking merc, and had gorgeous red hair Kerry wanted to grab. Oh and he also didn’t look a day past at least 26. And Kerry wasn’t sure if he had reached that level of his celebrity meltdown yet of dating a guy that young.

“Absolutely not, Kerry Eurodyne.” The voice behind him made him jump out of his skin. He needed a fucking bell on Ariel at this point, who was packed and ready to go to the store to restock Kerry’s fridge. “That kid is like 28 and way not prepared to deal with you.”

“Deal with me?” Kerry asked, offended now.

“You know exactly what I mean, Ker. Don’t fuck your pool boy, that’s just pathetic.” Ariel wasn’t wrong… but fuck.

Over the next few weeks, Kerry had for the most part, stayed out of the kid’s way. He learned his name was V, when Kerry asked Miguel if that was it, he was told that’s all the pool boy told anyone. He was from Heywood, his dad was apparently a ripperdoc in the city, and he liked boxing. Pretty basic if you asked Kerry.

But the weird part was that no one had seen him actually get into the pool. He somehow managed to avoid doing it every single time he was there, doing his work from the sidelines. He did a damn good job of it too, they were just impressed he could do it.

He was normally in and out, doing his job quickly and quietly to a point that Kerry honestly kinda forgot about him… until one morning.

Kerry had been on another work binge, up all night writing and composing, when he just happened to still be up when V’s car rolled up. It was a hunk of junk and Kerry noted he needed to look at his pay. Pretty boy like that deserved better than a junk car.

It was way too early for any normal human being to be up and at em, but Kerry supposed he was awake too. Maybe it was high time for and introduction. Kerry forgot he actually had to introduce himself to people.

He walked out of the villa once he had put some more presentable clothes on, a cup of coffee warming his hands as the door slid shut behind him. The pool boy was hard at work, doing… whatever it was he did with the pool. Kerry actually had never taken care of this thing on his own… had his fame really made him this lazy.

“Bit early for a swim, ain’t it?” That was his opener? Dear god he was rusty. Alright, Ker, put on the charm.

The man turned his head over his shoulder in confusion, then his eyes widened. Kerry heard him swear before he stood up, drying his hands on a pair of cargo pants. Seriously what was this dude’s deal? How do you work on a pool and not get in?

“Shit I’m sorry, hope I didn’t wake you up- uh, Mr. Eurodyne?” He said it like a question, like he was testing what Kerry preferred to be called.

“Kerrys fine, kid. And I wasn’t sleeping, so you’re fine on that front… never answered my question though. The hell are you doing here at 5:30 in the morning?”

Fuck what was this dude’s name? Z? Van? V! That was it. V looked perplexed, hands in his pockets as he examined Kerry for a moment.

“I’m always here early. I don’t wanna be in anyone’s way so I come and get my job done and then leave.”

It was kinda impossible to bother anyone with a face like that but okay. And also normally Kerry for the most part alone, unless Ariel was worried about him or Miguel needed extra hours, in which he just sat down with Ker and Ariel and had lunch or something. But this kid? Bothering them? Unlikely.

“And do what the rest of the day?”

V shrugged. “Help my mom out at her bar, or my dad in his clinic. Or Y’know, hide bodies.” Oh he thought he was funny did he?

“Oh are you good at that? I actually have some in the bathroom I needed help moving.” Kerry shot back, earning a small laugh from the pool boy.

“I Uh… I should probably get out of your hair soon, don’t wanna-“

“You want a cup of coffee?” Kerry cut him off. Clearly this kid had some deep rooted issues and Kerry was too tired to ask why he felt like he was bothering him. So here they were.

“Uh… sure.” V’s voice was quiet, but Kerry didn’t miss his small smile as he was lead inside. He wouldn’t fuck his pool boy…

Not yet.

[elvenxwarrior]

Quality Time - Mammon

Masterlist

You can also find this posted on my AO3!

Mammon had noticed you had been rather... off, as of late. You weren't as talkative, seemed tired almost all of the time and spent most of your time huddled away in your room.

He didn't like that. He missed you coming straight from class and jumping into his arms and kissing him, telling him about your day or funny things that happened to the rebellious clowns of your class.

You were stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted.

Now you'd just walk with him, attentively listening to what he has to say but not really responding.

-

Mammon knocked on your door, earning a sleepy "Yes?" from inside the room.

"It's The Great Mammon~" He sang, wriggling the door handle, smirking to himself.

"Come in, babe."

He opened the door and slipped inside, making his way over and plonking himself next to you on your bed.

"You okay?" He asked, gently stroking your hair out of your face and tucking it behind your ear.

"Mm... I don't know..."

"Well, you're nappin' a lot more and a lot longer than usual... not to mention you've been actin' different when I come to meet ya after class..."

He was now stroking the top of your head, "I'm worried about ya, darlin'..."

A lazy smile crept onto your face, "I know, baby, I've been kinda worried about myself too... Life's just getting a bit overwhelming y'know? All the media, news stories, motivation..."

Mammon listened intently, whilst grabbing your D.D.D. from your bedside.

"Mammon, what are you doing?"

"Muting things."

"Wh-"

"You need a break. Get up, have a shower, get dressed- do whatever ya need to do to get ready and meet me at the entrance, okay?" He placed your D.D.D. back on your stand, and swiftly left the room before you could speak.

You sigh with a smile, shaking your head slightly before kicking your sheets off and heading for a shower.

You were feeling fresh after your shower and decided to leave your hair slightly damp due to the lovely, sunny weather. When it came to putting on some clothes, you chose a light dress (or shorts and a tank top for my readers that don't like dresses!) that would keep you cool in the summer breeze and a pair of converse in a complimentary colour.

You wandered downstairs to the entrance, seeing Mammon stood waiting for you. He wore his signature yellow glasses, with a plain black tank top and white shorts; he was holding a small bag, interesting you.

"There ya ar-" He stopped at the sight of you, "[N-Name]... you look..."

A smile graced his lips, "You look stunnin'!"

You took his arm, "Thank you, sweetie. Now, what have you got planned, and what's with the bag?"

"S'for me to know and you to find out~" He teases, booping your nose slightly.

-

After a short walk from The House of Lamentation, you were at a lovely little park; it was a large field with trees on its perimeter, flowers dotted every so often.

"Mammon... this place is beautiful!" You released his arm, taking a few eager steps ahead of him to get a better view.

"Thought you'd like it... Where d'ya wanna sit?" He was now behind you, placing an arm around your waist.

"I... I like it here. You can see everything..."

You turned as Mammon removed his arm from you, seeing him rooting through the bag he had brought. He pulled out a medium sized blanket and rolled it out onto the soft grass.

"Then here we shall sit!"

You felt all warm and fuzzy in your chest, sitting down next to Mammon on the soft blanket. Mammon was still preoccupied with the bag he had brought with him, pulling out bottles of water, juice and some of the fizzy variety alongside food - human food!

"There was this store I managed to quickly go to, and they actually had a human realm section so I-"

"Wait, wait, wait." You interrupted, "So, not only have you planned this absolutely wonderful picnic date, but The Great Mammon, Avatar of Greed actually spent money for someone else?"

His expression was one of being flustered due to you actually naming this plan as a date and one of slight annoyance, "Well... yeah! I-"

You chuckled lightly, "I'm not complaining, Mammon. This is so nice of you, I appreciate it."

You gave a soft peck to his cheek before resting your head on his shoulder.

"... You're welcome, darlin'..."

[dogbunni]

dude your nendou HCs?? on fucking point.

anyway!! if you'd like to: nedou and saiki! friendship hcs!

OUGH friendship hcs??? let's see

[sits bolt upright as my eyes start flickering and emitting light] [several nendo&saiki headcanons are projected onto the wall]

-nendo is an extreme extrovert and saiki is an extreme introvert. now we've all heard of extrovert/introvert friendships and how the extrovert adopts the introvert and yes absolutely nendo did adopt saiki but also get this: nendo is an extrovert who struggles to make friends. he is loud and crude and not super smart and most people find him a little off-putting. saiki on the other hand is an introvert with an insanely high stat in charisma for no fucking reason and most definitely against his will. people are drawn to him despite his best efforts to push them away. therefore nendo and saiki are the dream team. they compliment each other. nendo's unlikeability keeps the normals well away from saiki, whereas saiki's baffling magnetism attracts the weirdos not put off by nendo's nendoness. nendo finally has the friendship group of his dreams, and saiki gets his likeability score tanked every time nendo calls him "pal". incredible.

-theyve been friends long enough now that they can do that weird BFFL thing where they can finish each others sentences and guess pretty accurately each others train of thought. this caused a crisis for saiki bc for a minute he thought nendo actually could read his mind.

-when I say saiki can pretty accurately guess what nendo is thinking I mean that nendo is pretty much always thinking about ramen

-nendo however will have real conversations with saiki where saiki says nothing. not even with his telepathy. nothing. nendo just knows through BFFL magic what saiki would say. saiki loves this, despite being a bit scared that nendo is always right on the money

-sometimes saiki indulges nendo's weird impulsive thoughts. they're both teenage boys. saiki is repressed, but also a silly little guy at heart. he has pushed nendo down a very steep hill in a shopping cart, while nendo stood upright in it, T-posing and screaming the whole way. he fell out and split his lip on the pavement.

-they play saiki's weird bargain bin games together. you can't convince me that they don't.

-they absolutely bully each other and yes it is a love language. sometimes you just need to tell your best friend that he is ugly and a freak of nature and that is okay <3

-they clown on saiki's dad together. saiki likes the challenge of pranking kuniharu without using his powers. nendo just likes seeing kuniharu suffer

-they once bought up every single coffee jelly for miles and then had a taste testing tournament involving a sticker chart to find the best coffee jelly factoring in best quality for money. granted, saiki did a lot of the heavy lifting for this one, but nendo enjoyed putting stickers onto the chart. it holds the record for the most saiki has ever smiled in one day

-once kusuke came over and tried to pull some bullshit while they were hanging out and they just looked at each other and then started throwing shit at him. like;

kusuke: KUSUO I HAVE COME TO EN-

kusuo: (throws TV remote at his head)

kusuke: TO ENGAGE YOU IN-

nendo: (throws a half eaten sandwich at his head)

kusuke: IN A BATTLE OF W-

kusuo: (throws a water bottle at his head)

kusuke: OF WITS- STOP THROWI-

nendo: (throws his chair at his head)

this only ended bc kuniharu thought it looked fun and tried to join in. they then started throwing things at him instead.

-nendo got them matching "I LOVE MY BEST FRIEND" t shirts. saiki has never worn his and never will but nendo wears his fucking constantly

-saiki retaliated by getting t-shirts that said "IM WITH STUPID" and "IM STUPID" on them. jokes on him tho bc nendo loves that shirt too.

[dazaisleftarm]

"if im going to hell so are you."

Priest fyodor x incubus Nikolai.

A/n

This is based of fanart i saw,so whoever drew that shoutout to u for the idea‼️ Sorry if this is shit yall i am writing this with 4 hours of sleep,sorry for any grammer mistakes or bad explained situations,i love yall and i hope you have fun reading this<3 (Apologies if it gets boring too,imma try to make this one interessting story‼️)

_____________________

Fyodor,a priest,was asked to perform an excsorsism in a old yet still good looking castle,while fyodor was walking there,holding the cross around his neck now tightly,he felt a incredibly dark aura,he looked at the castle infront of him,it was black and brown,it looked so beautiful yet scary,he walked up a couple of stairs leading to the front door,yes,yes this place was haunted,it felt like a demons house,such dark feelings,there must be one bad little demon here,fyodor walked around the dark castle,the only source of light being a candle,and the bright white moon that was shining through the dusty black Windows,after walking around for a while he found a big room,it looked perfect to perform the excsorsism he placed down a small bag he was carrying,taking out three items,a cross,a bottle of holy water,and a pretty,white candle,he puts down the candle he was holding for Light previously and lit the other one, while he was getting ready to preform the excsorsism,holding a cross necklace(yk the one w the beads,sorry i forgot the name :( ),he started saying a prayer, while doing so,a figure appeared from the shadows,it was a young looking male demon,pretty white hair done in a neath braid,his clothes much like a..clowns..? Except his clothes didn't have any of the bright colours clowns would wear,no reds,no bright greens,just black and white,what an odd demon. Fyodor felt his presence and turned around holding out his cross. "Stay back you filthy unholy creature" fyodor growled out,this only made the demon get closer putting out his arms "allow me introduce myself,will ya? And put that cross away,only looking at it gives me a headache" the man said,his tail swishing from side to side, fyodor took a few steps back and looked at the demon in discust still holding out the cross. "My name is Nikolai gogol,who are you,you seem like a important person,ah yeah- i can feel it,your aura,so Pure,so innocent,you must be one of those patethic believers" nikolai scofted out,fyodor looked at him with discust "you piece of filth,how dare you, go back to the deepest pits of hell where you belong." Fyodor said in a stern voice "oh you see mr priest,i could go back,but why go back when its way more fun here! Getting to feast on those idiots who enter this place,its so much fun! Fucking and sucking all their energy out,then making them go home, clueless of what happend!" The white haired man said with an excited giggle,by now fyodor lowered the cross,he studied the man for a second looking at his facial features, he was absolutely stunning..no fyodor! Focus! "From the mark on your stomach i assume your a dirty incubus,Arent you" said fyodor,looking at the pretty mark,it was red and decorated his tummy beautifully. "Ah yes,yes i am ! Good observing sir!" Nikolai said with a smile approaching the black haired male,by now fyodor couldnt back away anymore,he was already propped up in a corner,the pretty moon light and the 2 candles making it all honestly look.. romantic? "Back away you filthy animal" fyodor said with a loud growl, ofcourse one thing led tho another and...yeah!

_______________

Nsfw ahead!! I reccomend people sensetive to this kind of stuff click away and imagine how the rest of the story would go,idk:3

________________

"Ngh..~⁠♡ d-discusting..filthy sinner..ugh~" fyodor said while gripping on Nikolais braid,Nikolai was sucking him off like a Hungry beast who hasnt eaten in ages ,this was all so sinfull,would god ever forgive fyodor for this? I mean,he was gods chosen one after all,or so he thought,so he'd surely forgive fyodor for this sin,right? "Your saying i am discusting while your drooling and moaning all over the place" Nikolai said in reply, "shut your mouth you animal,once this is over il send you- ngh~! Back to the place where you belong! Oh god..~!" He said with shaky breaths,Nikolai rolled his eyes,now touching his own dick while continueing to suck fyodor off,not long after fyodor came in Nikolais mouth. "Ngh~! Oh god! Ah~!♡" fyodor whimpered and moaned as Nikolai helped him calm down from his orgasm,fyodor was shocked, discusted and extremely tired,"there,if im going to hell so are you."

________________

TY FOR READING IF U MADE IT THIS FAR, SORRY IF ITS CRINGY OR SMTH I TRIED MY BEST,LOVE YALL MWAMWA

[kozukenkitten]

🧚🏻‍♀️.)) hii!! I saw your matchup is open, and tbh I don't know if you get my request before or not, but if you haven't, can I get a haikyuu matchup? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

she/her. a 5'2" curvy asian girl with a rbf. long wavy black hair that I let down all the time. only wear a little make up everyday, but always with a very bold red lipstick. love perfumes and comfortable clothes.

personality : ENFP, taurus, and Gryffindor. veeeeery friendly, and loud (a chaotic clown). Loyalty and honesty means so much to me. ☀️

I have a lot of insecurities and got depressed easily, so I'll need a lot of attention and validation from my loved one. I'm also a hopeless romantic that believe in soulmate 😆

love singing, playing games, tarot readings, and watching horror movies (which gonna ended up with me being too scared to sleep) are some activities that I really enjoyed doing. 💫

okay thats it!! have a nice daaay.♡

Okay, hear me out on this one:

Ryunosuke Tanaka would 100% be OBSESSED with you. Would almost literally worship the ground you walk on. Would give you all of the love, affection, and validation that you could ever wish for.

He's a dork, sure, but he will absolutely do everything in his power to bring a smile to your face every day, and to hear your laugh whenever possible. He's super supportive and will quickly learn how best to help you through your depressive episodes. He will not ever let you feel unwanted. He is literally incapable of it.

Need something sweet to brighten your day? Tanaka's bringing you a popsicle or some candy and a sweet carbonated beverage from the convenience store. Need some extra rest? He's got a little blanket nest ready for you to curl up in for a cuddle, and a comforting movie to play in the background (and let's be honest, he's probably also got plenty of water bottles and your favorite takeout for when you feel up to eating, bc he wants to take care of your physical needs as well as your mental/emotional ones).

He'd be so fascinated by watching you do tarot readings, and he'd love to play video games and watch scary movies with you (he'll be wide awake with you, too, bc he's absolutely also the type to be scared of falling asleep afterward).

He will ask for you to sing for him and tell him all about your favorite things, bc he loves hearing your voice, whether you're just chatting or singing to him.

If you're looking for someone with the energy to match yours, who will give you all of the emotional and physical support you could possibly ask for, Tanaka's your man!

[guilty-pleasures-and-dead-doves]

[Free Wolf, She-Wolf] Chapter 9

Chapters post

Chapter 8: The running of the bull

[Chapter 9] Step into my parlour...

The Emperor quirked an eyebrow at the sight of Bison. "You look beat. Trouble on the road?" As though he hadn't been listening to Exusiai's and Croissant's group call.

The young man set his shield down by the side of the couch opposite to the Emperor's seat, then sat down heavily on that couch with a sigh. "More than my usual in Lungmen, but less than your usual." He gladly took the small towel and water bottle offered by Yith. "Thank you."

Yith stepped out of the room as Bison wiped down his face and started rehydrating. Bison took a look around the room as he capped the bottle. "Mister Yith said Texas and Sora would be here?"

"Oh?" the Emperor teased. "Were you always so eager to see my girls? If they're gonna steal your breath away, maybe wait and catch it first."

Bison laughed a little. "Mister Emperor, if you're going to pull my leg, please wait until either of them stop shaking."

"Oh! Oh-ho!" The Emperor slapped his knee. "The boy bites back! You're growing up, punk. Pretty soon, you'll need to be beating the ladies off with a stick."

Bison tried to shrink into his jacket. "Or outrun them on a bicycle."

The Emperor leaned back. "Is that what happened on your way here? Do tell."

Bison relaxed just enough to fake a casual shrug. "Nothing much to talk about. Someone didn't want me to be here, so they shot out my car's tires, then left. But someone must have been keeping watch, and when they saw I was still on my way here, they sent the cars back around."

"And this had something to do with girls?"

Bison shrank back in on himself and avoided eye contact. "My Butler thinks they were working for that one family."

The Emperor snorted derisively. "The one that tried sellin' your old man on an arranged marriage at your last birthday party? As though you hadn't already declared your independence with MCT?"

"The ones you walked into and spilled wine on, yes. Thanks for the interruption."

"My pleasure. They had no class. Also, clearly no brains, but we knew that before today's absolutely shit amateur hour."

Bison winced. "That's an insult to amateurs, sir. Amateurs are hobbyists doing what they love. This was just a bunch of fools stumbling around in a panic."

The Emperor nodded, "True, true. I cain't be disrespectin' love of the craft." 

Internally, the beast-lord patted himself on the back and laughed at twice making a fool out of one potential rival in this new little game, without any real effort. Externally, he lazily waved a flipper. "Anyway, slow down. 'Take off your jacket and stay a while', as they say in Columbia."

Bison gladly complied, pulling his jacket off and half-tossing it over his shoulder to drape over the back of the couch.

Without that additional bit of bulk, and with sweat binding his shirt so closely to his skin, Bison looked that much thinner. Not for much longer, the Emperor knew, and the boy's arms and chest already had definition.

That family had at least done the Emperor two favors today. First of all, the sweat Bison had worked up would come in handy a little later. Second of all, their little clown show gave him a plausible motive to dig for information.

If the Emperor had to admit to his plan's greatest weakness, it would be a lack of intelligence.

Ideally, Penguin Logistics would have already conducted some kind of investigation into Bison's thoughts on marriage, his tastes in women, his opinions about Texas and Sora specifically, or if he actually already had someone else in mind. Sadly, all of his girls had wasted the two last two years' worth of opportunities to do any of that subtly.

Quickly probing now would require more overt moves. Any more thoughtful rivals who had yet to make a move would go from suspecting Penguin Logistic as a threat to knowing them as a threat. And they would employ more insidious, effective tactics than the farce today.

As a rule, the Emperor didn't 'throw his hat into the ring' to forewarn of his intention to fight. He stepped wholly into the ring, and left the competition scrambling to react. Win the match before it started.

But that didn't mean he never scoped out the opponent before stepping over the point of No Return. Especially when his girls were involved.

Thus, the Emperor affected a pose of contemplation, putting the tips of his flippers together and tapping them on the tip of his beak. "Actually, you mind if I ask a personal question?"

Bison gave him an unsure look. "What is it, sir?"

"Why'd you run away from that particular 'offer'?" He took advantage of Bison’s surprise to put him further off-balance. "Was it the family, the daughter, or you got your eye on someone else already?"

"No!" Bison exclaimed. "I mean, I'm definitely not keen on the family, and I didn't care for their daughter at the party, but I'm not seeing anyone else."

The boy had more to learn about maintaining his composure and keeping his cards closer to his chest, even with a trusted partner hitting him from an unexpected angle. But for now, the Emperor shamelessly took advantage of his inexperience. "You plan on being too busy with MountainComm Trade to consider your options, or is it just that no one has caught your interest?"

Bison mumbled a bit and fiddled with the cap of his water bottle.

The Emperor quirked an eyebrow. "Wait. Don't tell me. You think you still need to prove yourself worthy?"

Bison popped the cap off and chugged the rest of his water.

That was all the Emperor needed to know. He reclined back in his seat. "Speaking of girls, Yith was right. Texas and Sora will be joinin' us for this talk. Actually, the opportunity I wanted to talk to you about is their own personal venture."

Bison paused in his drinking, but the Emperor gestured for him to keep going.

"I'll let Texas fill you in on the details later, but suffice to say that she's wanted to get started on this venture for so long that she'd forgotten about it. Some obligations in Siracusa stood in her way, but she's free of those now. Then you were the first option she floated to Sora for a partner, and Sora agreed you were the best choice."

Bison set his empty bottle on the coffee table, looking flattered, but confused. "A joint venture with Sora? Has Texas wanted to be an idol all this time?"

The Emperor broke into a laughing fit, slapping the coffee table. The noise he made completely drowned out the sound of Sora's own, slightly-more-restrained laughter, which was already muffled by the door from which she and Texas eavesdropped.

Bison blushed, embarrassed. Of course Texas wouldn't need his help to become an idol. If that was her goal, she would simply go straight to Monster Siren Records.

Still laughing, the Emperor assured him, "Well! From a certain point of view, you're actually not as far off-base as you might think! But she's looking at a much, much smaller clientele than that."

"How small?"

"One," the Emperor said lightly. Matter-of-factly. No big deal.

"One what?" One city, one venue, one performance?

"One husband."

"Husband? Why does she want to perform for somebody's husband?"

"Because he would be her husband."

"She's married?!"

"Nope; she's tryin' to get married."

"To who?!"

The Emperor's beak somehow approximated a shit-eating grin. "You."

"M-... wha... ", Bison stuttered. He blankly faced the Emperor's satisfied smile.

The Emperor casually scratched an itch on his chest. "Yeah, Texas and Sora both decided that they want to marry you." You know; no big deal.

Silent stillness. The Emperor checked a watch he wasn't wearing.

Bison blinked, frowned a little. Gave a small, strained smile. Then he began to relax, and chuckle a little.

The Emperor also chuckled a little. Together, they worked their way up to full, knee-slapping laughter.

"You got me again, sir!" His Butler had been right; just another one of the Emperor's pranks. But as Bison hoped, the silliness did help him feel more relaxed.

"I know, right? The look on your face!"

Bison grasped and waggled both of his knees. "At least you did wait for my legs to stop shaking this time!"

"I sure did!"

"You really had me going, too! You got me so confused, for a moment I actually believed you." Not enough true belief for the sting of disappointment to outweigh the humor of the situation. Especially given the relief that he couldn't fail to meet expectations no one actually had of him.

"Oh, but that's not the funniest part of the joke!"

Smiling, clueless, Bison asked, "What's that?"

"That I ain't actually joking! Come on in, ladies!"

====

Chapter 10: Spellbound...

[glassblossomsthunderstorm]

Attention UK friends and others preparing for an energy-crisis-winter!!

I recently had a chat with someone from Scotland in which we discussed the terrifying reality that many people probably won’t be able to afford to heat their homes this winter due to the energy crisis and the ever increasing energy price cap... Looks like the UK is once again hit especially hard by their delightful clown show of a government, so I gave my mate a few tips on how to stay warm and thought I should share them here as well!

Please note that I am in no way an authority in this field, this just comes from someone who’s worried about y’all and who knows what it’s like to live in a house where it would regularily be 10°C indoors in winter for ten years!

Hot water-bottles are your best friend! Especially in order to warm up your feet. Cold feet equal an overall chilliness!!

Similarily, you can take a hot foot bath. You don’t have to take too much time out of your day for this, you can work on everything that you can do while sitting down; just get a small tub or even a bucket that fits your feet and place it at your desk, than fill with hot water and if you want add some salts, essential oils or body wash (just remember to bring a towel to avoid slipping when you get up!)

Tea and other hot beverages will warm you from the inside out

So do stews and warm soups

Cover cold surfaces with blankets/rugs e.g. I always have a blanket laid out over my desk chair to avoid direct contact with the cold fabric; cover leather couches and the like with soft warm fibres; invest in a small rug/or even just a towel for tiled floors (believe me, even if you’re wearing socks this still makes a difference)

If you can, invest in a fan heater! These things have saved me from many a biting cold morning. They heat up small rooms very quickly, however they also use quite a bit of electricity, so I would mainly use them for around 10 to 20 minutes. Depending on the room size this is enough to warm up a room by 1-3 degrees C

If you have a desk job make sure not to sit too still for too long a period of time. Stretch a bit, wiggle your fingers and toes, masage your feet a bit or even jump slightly up and down to get your blood circulating again

Additionally, if you’re like me and have poor circulation and your fingers start to freeze when working on a PC, fingerless gloves can really help you out there! And again, there is no shame in draping yourself in a blanket!

There is nothing better than being able to slip into a warm bed on a cold winter night. When you get home from work/school/etc put on a kettle, fill up a hot water-bottle and place them in your bed under the blankets. You can also first wrap your pyjamas around it and then place them in your bed. If you live with other people and you get home first, you could even prepare this for them as well; will not only warm their beds but also their hearts :)

Wear layers! Make sure to wear a base layer that soaks up sweat and keeps you from getting cold or ill, for example long underwear (we’re not trying to look sexy, we’re trying to stay warm, folks!) I prefer cotton and other breathable fibres for this, but again, since I’m not an expert I recommend looking up “How to dress in layers”, many camping websites offer great tips for that!

If you have to go out, be sure to wear a water-resistant outer layer & shoes or, if you have the possibility to change, bring some spare clothes! I ALWAYS have a pair of dry socks in my bag; wet feet are ambassadors to illnesses

Visit libraries, community centres, and other public spaces that might be heated and don’t cost too much

Cats, dogs etc. are little furnaces and make great snugglebuddies that will often happily function as personal heaters!!

If you end up sweating in the night (either because you followed all of this and ended up being too warm or because you remembered that everyone who might become the next PM is absolutely dead inside), remove the moist clothing, have a change of clothes nearby, and maybe even change your sheets if necessary, lest you’ll get sick.

And last but absolutely not least: check BEFORE IT’S WINTER if your windows/window frames are well insulated! I can’t begin to tell you how much of a difference good insulation makes! If that’s not the case and you can’t afford to change this, there are lots of pretty effective and reasonably priced ways to stop the cold from coming in/the heat leaving, for example insulation tape/curtains and draught stoppers!

Please feel free to add to this!!

I know a lot of this might seem obvious, but I also know that many people (especially younger ones, queer folks who might not have a great support system etc) were never taught how to properly cook an egg or other “essentials”, so please never look down on people who might need the “obvious” tips!

Again, I am absolutely no expert, I can just draw from personal experience. I live in the Alpine region where it will easily be -10 to sometimes -20°C in winter. Please share this, because being cold fucking sucks, and if this maybe helps to alleviate some of the suffering that’s sure to come or might stop someone from falling ill, then I’d be more than happy!

Take care everybody, sending you all lots of warmth and love!

[wpdarlingpan]

Could I please get some yandere Damian Wayne headcanons reacting to the reader crying in her sleep cause of a bad dream or something? Oh, and if it's not too much could you make it fluff in the end since I could really do with some fluff right about now. Btw I really love your work, keep it up :)

Thank you for the request, and I hope you are doing okay ♡

-Damian woke up to his beloved crying in her sleep, she was moving a lot as well until she shot up in bed.

-He of course was absolutely concerned. He wouldn’t allow anything to scare his beloved.

-“beloved whats wrong?” Damian questioned as he softly picked up Y/N and set them in his lap as they leaned against the headboard of their bed.

-“it is nothing.” Y/N spoke quietly lightly pushing away from Damian. But he wouldn’t allow his beloved to push him away.

-He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him tightly. He took one of his hands and lightly gripped Y/N’s chin and had them look up at him.

-He saw the silent tears that had fallen and he quickly wiped that away and kissed the spots they were.

-“Tell me my beloved, you know not to hide anything from me.” Damian spoke while he stared down at his beloved who looking up at him. She tried looking down again before he forced her to look at him.

_“Tell Me.” Damian almost growled out and Y/N took a deep breath and spoke “It was of the joker… I had a dream that..” she cut off before Damian raised an eyebrow urging her to continue.

-“I wont allow anyone to hurt you beloved.” And he meant that. He wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt his beloved never. They wouldn’t live to see the next sun.

- “He killed you… like Jason.” She spoke as tears started again as she could see the image of the crowbar in the hand of the clown. Damians eyes immediately softened.

-“He won’t get me, he won’t ever get you either. The joker isn’t a match for me Beloved.” Damian tried to joke, trying to cheer up his beloved. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. He smiled back and hugged her close to him.

-“He won’t ever hurt me beloved, none the less kill me. The Joker is unpredictable but you can always count for him to not do the same thing twice. He would claim it’d ruin his act.” Damian said rolling his eyes as he attempted to ease their fears. He saw they had stopped crying so he reached over to his bed side table and grabbed the water bottle he kept there after he had wanted a drink before he went to bed. He put it up to their lips and urged them to drink the water.

-Y/N finished the water and Damian put it back on the table and he laid back down and had Y/N almost on top of him as he had his arms wrapped around her securely. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before she laid her head down on his chest but she could bring her eyes to close.

-Damian saw and began talking. “I’ll tell you story, once there was a assassin named Robin…” Damian continued talking, thinking of random situations he’s been in and many of the places he’s gone and a little into the stories he felt Y/N’s breathing level and she has a soft smile on her face.

-“Goodnight, I love you my beloved.” He spoke before falling into a deep sleep with his beloved in his arms.

[puwumats]

critical role outfit vibes (pt2)

in honor of the m9 vs vm one shot, here’s another one of these posts bc the vibes tonight are impeccable

ashley: ma’am. ma’am. how are you so cute. the hairbuns? the eyeliner? the slightly crooked goggles resting on her forehead? the black would be insufferable in the post-apocalyptic heat, but as the goths of old have shown us, you can’t be hot without risking possible heatstroke. i am surrounded by water thieves, who want me not only for my precious few bottles of water, but also my juicy dump truck ass. i try to fight them off, but there’s just too many of them. suddenly the one nearest to me’s head explodes, and screaming through the spray of blood and viscera is ashley, riding a tricked out quad bike. she makes quick work of the water thieves and holds a hand down to me. i gently grasp her hand, and she takes me back with her to her utopia hidden among the sand dunes. 10/10

marisha: we meet at a LARP gathering. i’ve never been before, so i’m nervous. she takes me under her wing, guiding me through the ways of a warrior. i can’t stop thinking about warrior cats jokes. i see her defeat three men in single combat. i lose her in the crowd of people after this, and never see her again. the warcraft movie blue face paint and the goggles give me steampunk warrior, but the single-armed fishnet glove and leather bustier gives me 2008 scene kid. both of these are specifically designed towards me so 8/10

laura: harley quinn without the clowncore. she’s that cool chick at a roller derby that’s super sweet to everyone out of game, but will go absolutely lethal the minute her skates hit the rink. would kick my ass and i would thank her, but there’s nothing too crazy with this outfit - i would wear this out in public. 6/10

liam: Erik Phantomoftheopera called, he wants his mask back. the feathers on the black hood is tight as fuck tho - i’m pretty sure he’s wearing a fishnet shirt underneath as well. kinda gives me “theatre kid that shows up in full cosplay to a halloween party where everyone is just dressed sluttily” vibes. again, he will instantly die of heatstroke the minute the apocalypse happens but like, what a way to go. 8/10

sam: whatever energy the insane clown posse has, this outfit has the opposite of that. haunts me, even when i close my eyes. this man walks up to me in the aisles of a 24 hour corner store and asks me if i’ve seen god. i clutch my doritos close to my chest and weakly tell him i’m agnostic, so no. he grins too widely at me, and tells me “you will”, and then walks away. the woman on the bean cans next to me stares as i contemplate what the fuck i just experienced. -100000/10

tal: 18th century vampire who’s lived the last 50 years in vegas. will officiate your wedding, however any children born of this union will have their souls tied to the eldritch god that he made a deal with back in ‘83 (which ‘83? he’ll never tell). this doesn’t impede these children in any way, but they do find themselves drawn to leopard print for unknown reasons and will be goth.

travis: this is a t-shirt and a pauldron, with some eyeliner as a treat. he also immediately took all of this off after the intro. would not last in the apocalypse. 3/10

[sadoeuphemist]

We were about twenty minutes in when we realized Brody’s fingers weren’t wrinkling. We’d only just come up with the idea for the competition, all of us splashing around in the pool and clowning on each other, and Kai was going, “You guys ready to have your whole bodies turn into prunes? All baggy and swole up with water? Because I’m sticking it out to the end. You guys don’t want to end up with your waterlogged skin peeling off, you better call it right now!” That got us comparing each other’s fingertips, trying to figure out who’d end up the most pruney, and Brody’s were perfectly smooth and taut, not a wrinkle in sight.

“You been keeping your hands out of the water?” Derek said, squinting at him.

“I’ve been in the pool just the same as you,” said Brody with a shrug. He splashed his hands. “Maybe you guys just don’t have what it takes.”

“What the hell,” said Derek. “Let’s see your feet.”

Now all of us, our toes were pretty wrinkly already, but Brody, again, had perfectly smooth skin, not a single wrinkle or crease. “What the hell?” said Derek.

“Is there something wrong with your skin?” said Tyler. We were all sort of gathered around him now, with Brody leaning against the edge of the pool and floating, bobbing one foot out of the water. “Is this, like, a medical condition?”

Brody shrugged again and looked real smug.

“Are you not affected by water?” said Kai.

“Hey,” said Brody, “you guys don’t think you can beat me, feel free to call it quits right now. Me, I’m real comfortable.” He spread his elbows out on the gutter like he was reclining on a throne. “I could spend the whole summer in this damn pool.”

“C’mon in the deep end, if you’re so comfortable then!” said Kai.

Brody laughed and pushed off from the wall, disappearing under the surface of the water, a dark shape propelling itself across the pool until he surfaced again at the far end. We all stared.

“What the hell?” said Derek. “How is your hair not wet?”

---

The contest was temporarily put aside, as everyone applied themselves to the issue of how Brody’s body was completely unaffected by the water. The rest of us splashed around, got chlorine in our eyes, snorted water out of our noses, watched the skin on our fingers etch themselves into little labyrinths of grooves, and through it all Brody might as well have been on dry land for all it showed on him. It was as if his skin had been sealed off, rubberized, like there was an invisible force field keeping the water from touching him. Brody himself seemed similarly insulated to the bizarreness of what the hell was going on with his body. “I’m feeling great,” was all he would say. “I could spend the whole summer right here.”

I was the first to call it quits after a few hours. “Brody’s going to win,” I said, climbing out of the pool dripping. “How’s this even a contest? He’s got some weird physiology that makes him immune to water!”

“Boooo,” said Tyler. “Don’t even want to try for second place!”

“I’ve swam enough!” I said. “I’m going inside!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Brody. “Acknowledge the champion. All of you ought to give up right now.”

We had a pizza by the poolside as well as a bunch of drinks, but as the hours went by I ordered another, got more drinks out of the refrigerator. Tyler gave up. I went diving a few more times, but then the sun started going down and it started getting cooler. Derek got out, shivering. Kai and Brody had set themselves at opposite ends of the pool, staring each other down.

Tyler broke out the DVDs. Derek went out to yell at them. “It’s been ten hours!” he said. “You fuckers have been emptying soda cans and haven’t left the pool once! That’s piss soup in there! You’re both stewing in piss soup!”

Kai looked absolutely miserable. His fingertips were white and wrinkled and had turned translucent. He was hunched around himself like a wadded-up rag. The moon was out, reflected in milky ripples across the pool. Brody meanwhile looked untouched, like a plastic bottle bobbing in the ocean, stoppered up and completely airtight. “You could quit at any time, Kai,” he said, grinning. “This is my element.”

“F-fuck you,” Kai said. “You gotta crack, sooner or later. I don’t care what sort of genetic mutant you are, you can’t keep sitting in a pool for hours and nothing happens to your body. You gotta reach your limit! You gotta - hit saturation or something, man, I don’t know! Fuck!”

“Suit yourself,” said Brody. He lazily kicked out his legs. “Man, this pool’s real nice. Figure I could just about live here.”

“It’s piss soup!” Derek said.

It took two hours more, but Kai finally gave up. He came out shivering from the black surface of the pool, and we had to wrap him up in towels and rub him down because he looked like he was at risk for hypothermia. Brody did a few more laps, floating unconcernedly, and we had to yell at him before he finally pulled himself out. He sat on the edge, one foot still dangling in the water, and rubbed at the sole of his foot.

“Hey, whaddya know,” Brody said, looking down. “Finally got a wrinkle. What are we on, hour twelve? Well, took long enough, I guess.”

We all looked, even Kai, who was still waterlogged as a drowned cat. There was in fact a wrinkle on Brody’s perfectly smooth skin - but just a single one, incongruous against his rubberized sole. Squinting at it, I thought it looked like a defect, a flaw in the material. It was like seeing a wrinkle on the taut skin of an inflated balloon.

“Never got one of these before,” Brody said casually, pinching the crease of skin between his fingers. I got a sick feeling in my stomach, seeing it, someone pinching the skin of a balloon. “Maybe you shouldn’t -” I started to say.

And then the piece of skin came off in Brody’s fingers, and all the water started gushing out.

We were all awestruck for a moment, just watching it. It was a perfect arc of water, crystal in the moonlight, so smooth that it seemed like a curve of glass stretching from his foot into the pool, like a sculpture, or a fountain, a perfect pressurized flow. We might have all just watched that for a good ten seconds, twenty seconds, half a minute, just staring in wonder at the sight of it, and then I looked up at the rest of Brody and saw his eyes rolling back in his head, his head and shoulders deflating, sagging, right about to collapse.

“Oh shit, put some pressure on it!” Tyler called out, and we all sort of grabbed at him at the same time and went unbalanced, and Brody toppled right back into the pool, Tyler and Derek diving in, fully clothed, after him.

Between the four of us we must’ve seen that event from every possible angle, and yet none of us could tell what had happened next. We all saw bubbles, the splash, the force of impact, and to my mind it was like watching a balloon popping, the pressure equalizing, Brody disappearing beneath the surface of the water and gone. Tyler and Derek came up gasping, and already there was this murky fog spreading through the water, all skin cells and hair and whatnot, I figured, Brody’s remains. Derek scrambled out of the water, spluttering, rubbing at his skin and pulling off his shirt and immediately ran to hose himself down. Tyler dived back down, looking for Brody, and then came back up again with the growing bewilderment of someone who’d set something down for just a moment and couldn’t tell where he’d left it. Kai was standing by the pool’s edge, probably in shock, and I'd fallen backwards on my ass and was just watching the whole thing like an idiot, while Tyler dived under again and again, feeling around the edges of the pool, possibly trying to find Brody by process of elimination.

Finally we managed to get him to come out, and we all just stood there poolside, staring down at the cloudy water. Brody was gone, not a trace left of him but his trunks.

“Fuck,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Kai. “Fuck.“

“Oh god,” said Tyler. “Oh god oh god he just disappeared, he was there and then -”

The murky pool water burbled, bubbled, spoke with Brody’s voice, if he had been speaking to us from the bottom of a drain.

“Told you guys I could spend the whole summer right here,” it said.

---

So, swimming was out for the rest of the summer. Brody occupied the pool, and the rest of us would come by to skim out the leaves and whatnot, toss some pizza slices or nachos in there occasionally, or empty in a few cans of coke. The water level slowly sunk as the summer rolled along, the pool water growing cloudier and more congealed, until it started to look like Jell-O setting in a mold. The pool drained itself, its contents becoming more and more concentrated, until one day we came by and found Brody at the bottom of the pool, stark naked, his skin still wobbly and not quite fully set, waving up at us.

“Lost my trunks!” he said. “How ‘bout you help a guy out!”

So that was how we spent our summer, and we all agreed that we had definitely not gotten the full benefit of the pool, although Brody maintained he could not reasonably be blamed. That didn’t stop him from lording his victory over the rest of us, proclaiming himself the undisputed Champion of the Pool, a record that would never be broken. Brody being Brody, it got to the point where he was seriously obnoxious about it, but once Derek started calling him Piss Soup that was finally enough to shut him up.

[thebonerpit]

cheerleader [FIC]

cheerleader

Rom Howney, 3896 words, [E], read on Ao3 here

A very seasonally appropriate fic in which Robert throws a Halloween party. Tom hates Halloween but decides to wear a costume he's wanted to try for years.

“I just don’t understand it.”

Tom frowns as he stares at the racks upon racks of zombies, clowns, vampires, and sexy nurses in front of him.

“I mean, to be fair, you don’t understand much of anything, do you mate?”

“Fuck off,” Tom says, whacking Harrison on the arm. “But seriously! Why do Americans go so absolutely mental for this stupid holiday?”

“Again, having trouble with the fact that you, an actor, who plays dress-up FOR A LIVING, doesn’t understand this. It’s not like this is any weirder than a fancy dress party. Plus, you get candy!”

Ok, he does have a point there.

Tom lets out a deep sigh. He wouldn’t even be bothering with all this if it weren’t for Robert. An invitation appeared in his inbox last week for a Halloween party, and when you’re invited to a Halloween party at Robert Downey Jr.’s house, you don’t turn it down. Even if Halloween is incredibly stupid. He shuffles along through the rows of costumes, rolling his eyes at werewolf masks and inflatable dinosaurs.

“This is ridiculous,” he mutters. Harrison groans, his hands already full of the various parts of a Mad Hatter costume.

“Just pick something, who cares?!”

“There’s too many options!”

“Ok, look. Halloween is the chance to dress any way you want to and have no one judge you for it. Just think about that. What have you always wanted to be?”

Tom immediately knows what the answer is, but instead of replying he just huffs and turns down another aisle that’s covered in fairy wings and glitter. He can’t possibly do it. Especially not for this party. For Robert’s party. It would be… inappropriate. He rounds the corner again and is faced with a shockingly huge assortment of superhero costumes. A foam version of Thor’s hammer sits on the shelf to his right, and he smirks as he picks it up and gives it a good twirl.

“In your face, Hemsworth,” he mutters quietly.

There’s a whole row of different Spider-Man costumes which makes him smile, especially when he sees a flimsy synthetic fabric version of the Iron Spider suit. And right next to that – a placement that thrills him even more than the suit alone - are the Iron Man costumes. Plastic faceplates, arc reactor gloves with LED lights, fabric onesies with fake, puffy muscles sewn in… it’s all there. Tom runs a finger along the edge of the faceplate before snatching his hand away like he’s been burned.

It’s all he can think about, even as they leave the store after Harrison buys his costume and Tom walks out empty-handed. He thinks about it on the ride home and through dinner until he finally makes excuses and runs off to hide in his room, laptop in hand, and puts on Iron Man 2. It doesn’t take long to get to the scene he wants. Tony Stark, diving through fireworks, landing on a flashy stage, surrounded by his Ironettes. Tom bites his lip as he stares intently at the bright red booty shorts, the long gloves, the crop tops… maybe, if he altered it just a bit, if he wore the mask… He can already feel his face heating up at the prospect of walking into Robert’s house dressed like that. Would he laugh? Would he be weirded out? Or… would he like it? Tom pushes the laptop off to the side and lets the movie play as he touches himself, coming to the sound of Robert’s voice in his headphones.

* * * * *

Tom is going to throw up. It’s inevitable, at this point. He’s in the back of a car squished between Harry and Harrison and he’s going to throw up. His stomach is in knots and he can’t remember ever being this nervous in his life. He’s used to the fluttering before a big stage performance or audition, but those nerves are more like excitement. This is sheer terror and he is going to THROW UP.

“Can you calm down? Jesus, you’re going to ruin my costume if you don’t stop squirming!” Harrison jabs a sharp elbow into his side and Tom jerks away into Harry who pushes him back.

“I just… I need some air.”

“The windows are all open! Take the mask off!”

That is the absolute last thing he wants to do. He was only able to leave the house in this costume with the mask securely over his face and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to take it off. He must be red as a tomato.

“Look, we’re here!” Harry crows. The car finally comes to a stop and they all pile out. Tom wants to collapse on the soft grass but he’s pulled along by four strong hands.

“Maybe I should… Look, I’ll just wait out here for a bit, ok? I just need—”

“Nope, absolutely not. Look mate, we already told you, he’s going to love it. Maybe not in the way you want him to-“ Tom punches Harry in the arm for that “-BUT, regardless, he’ll love it. You look great. And this is coming from someone who never turns down an opportunity to tell you you’re an ugly twat.”

“That was… almost sweet,” Tom says, and then yelps as they both drag him inside.

The party is in full swing and is absolutely packed with people. Small groups are standing around chatting, all in costume, and a live band is playing in the huge backyard to a crowded dancefloor. Tom recognizes only a few people – it’s hard to miss Scarlett even when she’s dressed like Morticia Addams – but that doesn’t bother him. Normally he loves mingling and meeting new people, and even dressed as he is it’s still exciting. It’s even easier after he quickly downs a few strong drinks, careful to only pull up the mask as far as it needs to go. The urge to vomit has pretty much dissipated and he’s actually beginning to enjoy himself, twirling around the dancefloor like a maniac until he’s slightly sweaty and out of breath.

“Water break!” he yells to Harry and squeezes through the crowd of people to get some air and hydrate. He finds a relatively quiet corner where he can chug half a water bottle in peace and is enjoying the cool air on his skin when someone taps him on the shoulder. He startles and nearly drops the bottle but manages to save it before turning around.

“Nice catch.”

Oh fuck. It’s him. It’s Robert. He hasn’t seen him the whole evening and assumed he was off being a good host so the whole thing almost slipped his mind, but now it’s all rushing back and he has to grip on to the fence post beside him to steady himself.

“Love the costume. Not exactly how I remember the Ironettes looking but I gotta say, this might be an improvement.”

Tom nearly chokes. He decided he couldn’t pull off the real Ironette costume as the distinct lack of breasts made it look a little awkward. So, he improvised. The shiny red and gold booty shorts stayed, of course. They made his ass look incredible. He bought the long red and gold arc reactor gloves and the plastic faceplate from the Halloween store, and instead of heeled boots he found a pair of gold high-tops and knee-high red socks. The shirt was the most difficult part, though. He went through a few variations before settling on something cute and comfortable: a red, cropped tank top. It was a bit loose and thin, so it flowed around his chest nicely and was short enough to show off his abs and his tiny waist. He also managed to find an LED necklace to serve as his arc reactor. It glowed a soft blue through the thin fabric of the shirt. Overall, he’s incredibly proud of what he came up with. Especially for someone who hates Halloween.

And now, with the way Robert is staring at him, he’s VERY happy he was brave enough to wear it.

“Is there someone under that gorgeous mask? Or are you too shy to say hello?”

Tom steels himself, takes a deep breath, and pulls the mask off.

Robert’s face goes through a myriad of emotions almost all at once. Shock, delight, amusement, and what is unmistakably arousal.

“Well. Tom Holland. As I live and breathe.” His voice is lower than before, more intimate, and when he takes a step forward Tom swears he feels the temperature go up by at least two degrees. He also notices that Robert is wearing eyeliner. The black kohl makes his eyes look even more gorgeous, and then there’s the red glitter dusted across his cheeks and around his hairline that is giving him an almost eerie glow.

“What are you supposed to be, then?” Tom asks. Robert smirks and points to the two small horns sticking out from his hair.

“The Devil, of course.”

“Of course,” Tom repeats weakly. It was barely a costume, the deep maroon suit looking more like red carpet attire than anything else, but fuck it looked incredible on him.

“I am the purveyor of sin on this fine evening,” he says, gesturing to the party, “so I thought I’d play the part. But you… you look far more sinful than me.”

Tom squeaks as Robert steps even closer and taps at the arc reactor on his chest.

“Cute,” he murmurs.

“Just… just wanted to show you how much of a fan I am… Mr. Stark.”

Robert’s eyes snap up to Tom’s and he doesn’t think he’s ever been looked at so intensely in his entire life.

“Is that so… Mr. Parker?”

Tom whines, loud enough for Robert to hear it. His hand travels down Tom’s body to squeeze at the bare skin of his waist.

“I think—”

“Robert!!”

They both jerk back as if they’re waking up from a trance. Someone is yelling for Robert and waving him inside, and he acknowledges them with a quick gesture. Turning back to Tom, he licks his lips and leans in to whisper in his ear.

“I think we’ll have to continue this later. Don’t leave without saying goodnight. Alright?”

“Yeah. Yes. O-ok. See you later,” Tom stutters, and when Robert disappears inside he chugs the rest of the water bottle and collapses back against the fence to catch his breath.

* * * * *

All the telltale signs of a party winding down are there. Most people have left, the band has stopped playing leaving only some low background music emanating from the speakers around the house, and the guests that remain are splayed out on various couches and chairs, half their costumes missing and happily drunk. The kitchen is a disaster and Tom feels bad adding more bottles to the mess, but he’s on a mission and can’t stop to tidy. After his run-in with Robert he only saw him briefly a few more times, mostly through a massive crowd, but he didn’t forget his words from earlier.

Don’t leave without saying goodnight.

Harrison and Harry have already gone home. They tried to get him to come with but Tom pretended to be enthralled in a conversation and told them he’d catch up in a bit. Now he’s wandering the massive house, peeking into various rooms as he looks for Robert. He gave up on wearing the mask after they met in the yard so it’s pushed up on his head like some sort of strange visor, his curls a sweaty mess beneath it. The second floor is quiet and empty; no one really came up here during the party anyway so it’s also much cleaner. A set of closed double doors is in front of him, and it’s the only place he hasn’t looked, so…

Tom slowly opens one door and pokes his head inside. Robert is lounging on a massive bed, scrolling on an iPad, glasses perched on his nose. He’s still got the horns on his head, and when he glances up over the rim of his glasses to smirk at Tom, he really does look positively devilish.

“Found you,” Tom says, trying to appear completely casual when his heart feels like it’s about to explode from under his ribcage.

“So you did. Come in. Close the door.”

Robert makes no effort to move so Tom slowly walks over to the bed, suddenly very conscious of how tight his shorts are as Robert unabashedly roams over his body with hungry eyes. He stops at the edge and toes at the plush carpet with one foot.

“Have you been drinking?”

Tom nods.

“How much?”

“Not that much,” Tom replies, understanding what Robert is trying to ask. “But maybe just enough to give me some liquid courage.”

Robert raises an eyebrow but waits patiently for Tom to make the first move, only shifting slightly to drop the iPad and his glasses on the nightstand. Guess it’s now or never.

He kneels on the edge of the bed with one leg first, testing the waters. Robert stays perfectly still. A deep inhale to steady himself and then Tom goes for it, pushing up on the bed and straddling Robert’s lap. He hesitates for only a moment before settling right on the seam of those expensive maroon trousers.

A pleased hum rumbles out of Robert’s chest as he runs two smooth, warm hands up Tom’s spread thighs to his waist.

“My own personal cheerleader, hm? I always knew you looked up to me but I never expected this… Pete.”

He catches Tom’s eye and gives him a brief wink. Tom’s heart speeds up even more as excitement bubbles in his stomach. Playing. Robert is playing with him. He was desperately hoping he wouldn’t drop this, leave it as the brief tease it was back in the yard. Acting with Robert is one of his favourite things in the entire world, and being able to do it like this? God, for the first time he’s actually happy that Tony Stark is dead because he’s never going to be able to act across from him again without thinking of this moment.

Robert nuzzles into his neck and starts leaving wet, sucking kisses all along the line of his throat. Tom shivers at the sensation and then starts to giggle when the tickle of Robert’s beard is too much against his sensitive skin. Robert laughs into his neck and nips playfully.

“You’re so darn cute,” he whispers. Robert has always been free with his compliments, telling Tom he’s handsome or pretty or talented, but somehow it just hits different when his hands are also squeezing Tom’s ass.

“Want to touch you, Mr. Stark,” Tom murmurs into his ear, easily switching his accent to sound even more like Peter. He feels Robert shudder underneath him and can’t help the pleased smirk that crosses his face.

“Yeah?” Robert says, grasping his chin gently so he can look into his eyes. “Do you even know what you’re doing, sweetheart?”

Tom absolutely knows what he’s doing, but Peter…

“I… uh… I was hoping you could teach me. I’m a really quick learner, sir,” he says softly.

“Jesus fucking christ,” Robert mutters, breaking character for a moment. He collects himself quickly though, shifting Tom in his lap just enough so he can undo his trousers and pull himself out. Tom’s mouth literally waters at the sight of Robert’s dick and he uses every ounce of willpower not to just pounce on him immediately.

“Want to feel your mouth, Pete,” Robert says, rubbing a thumb along Tom’s lower lip. “You can go slow. Use your tongue.”

“Yes, Mr. Stark,” Tom replies, trying not to sound too eager. He shuffles down a little and purposely sticks his ass up in the air. The red and gold shimmer on the shorts catches the dim light and he gives his hips a quick wiggle when he sees Robert staring.

“Maybe I should’ve reworked the design on your suit, hm? You like wearing little shorts like this?”

Tom nods and presses his face into the curls at the base of Robert’s dick, inhaling the scent of him. He feels the thick cock jerk against his cheek and angles his head to lick up the whole length of it, swirling his tongue at the tip. The bitter taste of precome blooms in his mouth and he moans, forgetting himself for a moment as he starts to give a much more experienced blowjob than what Peter would be capable of. Robert knocks the mask off Tom’s head so he can tighten his hand in his messy curls.

“Jesus,” Robert groans, “you’re good at this, kid.”

“Mmm, just want to make you feel good, sir,” Tom hums. He manages to remove one of the arc reactor gloves so he can grip Robert’s cock while he uses his mouth everywhere he can reach.

“Well, you’re doing a—fuck, god—a damn fine job.”

Tom thinks he could stay here forever, on his knees, mouth stretched almost painfully around Robert’s cock. He explores up his chest with his other hand, rubbing at one nipple with his thumb which makes Robert jerk underneath him.

“Keep doing that,” Robert spits out as he pushes Tom’s head down even further. He gags a bit but the incredible sensation of being stuffed and used overrides everything else and he takes every inch Robert gives him while tugging and pinching at his apparently very sensitive nipples. He drifts for a bit, so content and fuzzy, and only comes back when Robert pulls him off and throws him down on the bed.

“Pull up that shirt for me, sweetheart. Gonna paint your pretty chest with my come.”

“Oh my god, fuck, yes, please, please, want it,” Tom moans, shoving the fabric out of the way as Robert jerks himself off quickly above him. He can’t decide whether to watch his dick or his face when he finally comes, thick and white all over his chest and the arc reactor necklace. Robert’s slightly red in the face and gasping for breath as he steadies himself with a hand beside Tom’s head. Tom leans to the side to kiss at his knuckles and then dares to run his fingers through the come on the necklace and bring it to his mouth to taste.

“You’re going to give an old man a heart attack,” Robert says. His pupils are all blown out as he watches Tom hollow his cheeks as he sucks. Tom understands the feeling. He’s so hard in his shorts that it’s painful.

“Please,” he whispers, biting his lip, “will you touch me, Mr. Stark?”

“It would be a pleasure, Mr. Parker,” he replies. He palms him over the shorts which makes Tom buck into his hand. “As much as I love these… they have to go.”

The shorts are so tight that they both struggle to pull them down but finally they’re tossed off to a distant corner of the bedroom and Tom hisses as Robert immediately get his mouth on his cock. It feels absolutely heavenly, especially after being trapped in the confines of that uncomfortable fabric for so long. Robert takes his time, licks and sucks everywhere he can, all the way down to that sensitive spot right behind his balls. Tom whimpers as his tongue gets so fucking close to his hole but then pulls away.

“Want to use my fingers… s’that ok?”

“Y-yeah, please, yes!”

Robert grabs some lube from the nightstand and even warms it first before sliding one thick finger over Tom’s hole, pressing just the tip inside. Aside from the thrill of having Robert’s finger inside of him, the most incredible part is that he doesn’t stop sucking him off. The level of coordination is astounding and Tom would have complimented him on it if he was able to speak beyond moans and pleas for more. A second finger quickly joins the first and Tom’s body accepts it without hesitation.

“Good boy,” Robert murmurs in between gentle licks, “look at you, hm? So pretty and pink.”

Robert shifts him down a bit more which makes his legs fall open even wider. He feels so exposed and whines a little, trying to draw his knees close without squeezing Robert too much.

“Aw, don’t be shy sweetheart, you’re gorgeous,” Robert says. “You can put your legs up on me if that helps, ok?”

He hears the rubber of his high-tops squeak against Robert’s skin and somehow the sound is more obscene than anything else. He tries not to thump his heels too hard but fuck, Robert is doing something with his tongue that should be illegal and Tom can’t stop squirming. A low chuckle reverberates against his stomach as Robert pulls off briefly, his fingers still working in slow, gentle pushes.

“Aren’t you sensitive, hm?”

“P-please, Ro—Mr. Stark, please, need to come,” Tom begs, accent slipping slightly as he tries to shove himself down even deeper on Robert’s thick fingers. He’s held in place by the firm grip of Robert’s other hand on his waist and he whines petulantly.

“Anything for my favourite little spider,” Robert coos. He crooks his fingers and Tom arches up off the bed like he’s been shocked. He feels like he’s been on the edge since they first met in the yard and now Robert’s fingers are pressing right on his prostate and his hot mouth is back on his dick and he doesn’t think he could possibly hold off any longer if he tried.

“Gonna… gonna…” Tom’s whole body is taut, like a wire ready to snap, and when Robert takes him all the way down his throat he comes with a ragged gasp. Distantly he thinks he should be considerate and pull out but it’s like his body isn’t under his control anymore, and even though he hears wet choking noises it seems like Robert is just fine with him coming in his mouth. His fingers have stopped moving and he lets Tom clench around them for a few moments before gently sliding them out. Tom whines at the loss even though he’s so oversensitive right now he couldn’t possibly take anymore.

After taking a minute to catch his breath and regain any semblance of normal brain function, he finally looks down. Robert’s eyeliner is smudged and Tom feels a bizarre sense of pride about it. He can’t stop running his fingers through his salt and pepper hair which is also a complete mess.

“Just FYI,” Robert finally says, his voice a little raspy, “you’re going to be finding red glitter in every nook and cranny for about three years after this.” He punctuates that sentence by rubbing his cheek against Tom’s thigh, grinning as he does it.

“You’re a dick,” Tom says fondly, giggling even more as Robert continues to just rub his face all over his body. “But can’t say I’m gonna care that much if I’m being reminded about this.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Robert says, that absolutely devilish grin returning, “I can give you more than just glitter for that.” Tom squeals as he starts sucking a deep bruise into the inside of one thigh, teeth marks and all, that Tom presses on every time he sees it for the next week.

[bunny-xoxo]

Big Brain Bitches Playlist ❣️

For the lovely @nataliahaslosthershit , thank you for always being so kind and being patient!!!

disclaimers: this is a fem!reader since it is a request, so if there’s any instances where those pronouns or the fact it’s a fem reader is alluded to that’s why!

warnings: Tsukishima, that’s the warning

gif not mine, credit to owner

a/n: thank you for being so patient sweetie!! I really hope you like this and I did my best with the playlist to include a little bit of everything you like!!!

Relationship Headcannons

As much as Tsukishima would lowkey HATE the way you always wanna make friends (not really he just likes being a shithead) he also just finds it so cute??? Like he’s like 🙄✋🏼 must you talk to everyone?? But is also like :) shes so friendly and tries so hard to be nice :) how did I find someone like her :) but he keeps that on the lowkey a bit and GOD LET ANYONE BE RUDE TO YOU WHEN HE SEES YOU AS AN ABSOLUTE ANGEL‼️‼️‼️

Tsukishima is also focused on his studies and would appreciate you being focused as well, he would hate to see you over stressed from the importance your parents put on it, and he’d always be doing/saying things to get you to relax as best as he could

“You’ve gone over this 5 times, do you really think you’re that stupid that you have to go over it again?”

“We should take a break, let’s go take a walk to the corner store and find some good snacks. Studying is always more effective if you take breaks like that anyway.”

It is, but he’s more concerned with removing those frown lines from your forehead and warming your hand up with his

Sidenote - definitely the type to blow on your hands while their held in his to warm them up

ANYWAYS

Regardless, it’d become a habit for you two to always do your studying together since he wants to be sure you’re not overworking yourself.

STUDY DATES‼️‼️

Idk I can just see him always bringing a second bottle of water with him just in case you need it ??LMAO like y’all would be studying and you’d be like

“I’m a little thirsty, I’m gonna get-“

“🤨”

boom bottle of water on the table for you

PLS he won’t give it to you until you mention you’re thirsty tho, unless he feels like he hasn’t seen you drink enough water

I don’t see him as a big talker while he studies with you unless you’re helping each other out, he just kind of likes your presence while you guys are studying cause it feels like bonding and he just likes spending time with you :)

A bit off topic of study dates but you can’t tell me his love language ISNT quality time and he would never admit it but he’s definitely clingy lowkey LMAO

like he just wants to spend his free time with you even if it’s just being in the same room together but doing different things?? He thinks being able to be your own person while still enjoying each other is important in a relationship

So of course he’ll sit in a room with you and eavesdrop read a book while you gossip with your friends over the phone and then listen to you rant about it after

just like how he appreciates when you ask about his day while you cook dinner together and ask him all kinds of follow up questions, cause you actually care and want to know!!

Ok but ANYWAY back to study dates:

So like I was saying, not a big talker, but I feel like complete silence would freak him out?? This mf always got his headphones so one of you has got to be playing music while you’re studying, but do you know what this means?

This means that a song has definitely come on that he likes and he totally was humming or even quietly singing along to himself, not really thinking about the fact you were there and can definitely hear him, and as soon as he realizes he would just look at you and shut up SO fast LMAO

Like he’d just get wide eyed and breath in and stop singing and just kind of look up at you AND HIS EARS WOULD BE SO RED (he’s an ear blusher for sure) and he’d do that WHITE BOY SMILE THING WHERE HE HAS DEAD EYES AND HIS MOUTHS A THIN LINE but he’d look so shy and embarrassed plssss and he’d just look back down to his textbook and try not to think about it

And you’d just giggle and he could only groan and be like “let’s move on 😐” BUT YOURE DEFINITELY NOT FORGETTING THAT

But study dates?? Yeah they’re important to you two

Tsukishima would also be constantly making sure you’re taking care of yourself outside of studying, like making sure you’re needs are taken care of since you have a tendency to over look them in the favor of others (which I feel like would really drive him crazy cause you’re his baby!!! He can’t stand that thought !!!)

Like if he saw you offer a friend your last snack knowing you hadn’t eaten enough today he’s slapping a snack in your possession so fast like 😐 eat this, now.

ITS A LITTLE AGGRESSIVE IN THE CALMEST WAY but it’s just cause you’re important to him

The bullying??? Yes he’d love that cause he’s just like 😳‼️ you keep up with him and he’d just love the back and forth between you two so much

Queue the eye rolls and lopsided smirk while he’s grabbing your hand and kissing it telling you to shut up

Regarding your stims - he’d definitely take notice and probably do things like always holding your hand to make sure you aren’t hurting yourself too bad!

I know people have mentioned him not being that big on PDA but I feel like he’d take a neutral stance on it, like holding your hand is so innocent and if it helps you not pinch your wrists or picking at your nails of course he’s gonna do it!! It’s his way of showing you he notices and cares 🖤

Regarding your self confidence, he’d definitely still bully you cause cmon 🙄 this is your guys love language and he knows you know it’s harmless, and the last thing he’d want to do is make you feel like he’s coddling you and suffocating you by not being silly with you the way he normally would

HOWEVER

If anyone else clowns on you whew please it is over for them

Like let’s say you meet the boys and you and hinata are clowning on each other?? Tsuki is NOT playing games LMAO like he’d definitely be like

😐😐 hinata I KNOW you’re not talking and you’d have to remind him in private that it’s ok he doesn’t care he will bully hinata any chance he gets

Okok real talk Tsukishima would think it’s so fucking cool you know how to speak more than one language!!! Not the type to necessarily be like let me hear it 🤠 but if you do speak another language around him he’s always like 🙂 wow, that was pretty cool

Ok also?? Both of you being introverts?? Tsuki is happy to the MAX

Like he just gets to come home to you and detox in his little home and sit with you on the couch and talk about your days and watch whatever you’re feeling and it’s just so recharging for him and he’s so grateful you’re perfectly ok with that :)

And finally, tell me he wouldn’t bully you for your height but also find it so so adorable 🙄‼️

Ahhhh!! Ok here is the acclaimed playlist I made for you!! I hope you enjoy it❣️

Ok I did my best to include your variety of music tastes in here!! But if there’s anything you’d like me to change please feel free to let me know and I will!!

Ahhhh I hope you like it, enjoy my descriptions below!

1. The Most Beautiful Thing - Bruno Major: ok so yes we’re starting this off with a dash of Tsuki angst, as much as I know he’d deny it he yearns for love. Like the idea of someone being so important they get his attention and devotion and they love him the same is sooo comforting to him! And sometimes he would daydream about it like :) I wonder when I’m gonna meet them, I wonder how, I can’t wait - but the way he would he embarrassed if anyone knew this - and when he DOES meet you it is not what he expected LMAO

2. 80’s makeout session - dacelynn:  OK SO HE MEETS YOU and is just like 👁👄👁 and it’s everything he dreamed of, if he was feeling irrational he might’ve even believed it was love at first sight but there’s one problem, the way Tsuki is be lowkey mad he wants your attention LMAO. Like you would meet and he would just look into your eyes and he feels his heart stop; and you’re so nice when you’re introducing yourself to him and your voice is so sweet and he can’t stop thinking about the way your curly hair is framing your face and he just oop 🤒 he got the love bug bad AND HED BE SO MAD cause like, he tries to only do things for himself! And that’s exactly why love was a daydream cause UGH HOW PATHETIC IS HE. He never tries impress anyone else cause he’s his biggest critic anyway, but suddenly he wants to be noticed by you and impress you and the way that would just irk him, but he cant help it 🤷‍♂️ sorry bout it Tsuki

3. IFHY (feat. Pharrell) - Tyler, The Creator: more on Tsuki being mad he likes you LMAO - I think what would push him to get over himself and how it’s kind of scary for him how much he likes you would be imagining what could happen if he DOESNT grow up and just let you know. The thought of you with somebody else? Yeah he don’t like that one bit and that’s when he knows he better suck it up and accept he’s got it for you hard

4. Make Me Your Queen - Declan McKenna: OK CALLING TSUKI SIMPS OUT- you’d want him so bad but he’s so bad at showing his interest!! So on your end it’d be soooo much pining and patience and a little bit desperate like PLS I jus wanna be your s/o man 😕 but don’t worry he likes you just as much, he’s just awful at showing that at first LMAO

5. Kiss Like A Woman - Mona: ok but once Tsuki accepts he’s got it bad, I don’t see him as someone who wastes time at. All. Like he’s like ok well she’s fucking great obviously if I like her cause I have great taste so it’s only a matter of time before someone else tries to get her attention, so I gotta act fast. However, he’s clueless so he’d think he’s being obvious but he’s not. Like he starts his habit of bringing you snacks and water on your study dates before they’re actually dates and you have no idea he likes you. And he thinks he’s being smooth like, how could you not know he likes you? But it’d be the end of your study session and you’re about to leave and he’s been wondering why it seems like maybe you’re not interested? He can’t tell so he’d just be like, “do you like me, too? Or am I making you uncomfortable? I’ve been waiting for you to let me know how you feel but you really haven’t said anything, so.” AND YOUD JUST BE LOOKING AT HIM LIKE 😳🧍🏻‍♀️ and you’re blushing hard so he’s like ok obviously she likes me? And he would kind of tilt his head in your direction and raise his eyebrows waiting for you to answer, cause he still wants to be sure. And you’d hold your books tighter to your chest and nod so fast. He’d walk over to you and kiss you on your cheek and be all, “see you tomorrow, idiot.” And walk off like a bad bitch, cause that was pretty smooth, but once his back is to you and his headphones are on while he’s walking away BOY IS BLUSHING HARDDDD CAUSE HE’S LIKE did I really just do that oh shit 🥴

6. A Sunday Kind Of Love - Etta James: when I mentioned Tsuki liked to think about love this is exactly what I mean. He just wants something so relaxed and devoted and when he gets that with you? WHEW he is not letting that go!!

7. Black Dog - Arlo Parks: ok so this song itself is more intense than for what I’m writing for it and what it inspired me BUT this is really how Tsuki feels when he sees you overworking yourself. He can’t stand to see you stress so much over something, especially if it’s school, and then see you push your own limits in the favor of others. It’d definitely be a day where you come to his house to study but when you guys get there instead of pulling out the stuff from his bag he just sets it down and walks over to you and pulls you into his chest. After holding you for a while, he pulls back and makes you look up at him with his hands on your cheeks and leans down to kiss your forehead. “Are you ok?” It’s such a simple question but it really hits home and it’s one of the first times you guys simultaneously realize how much you care for each other. And you’d just hug him tighter and he decides nap time holds a little priority over studying right now.

8. come out and play - Billie Eilish: as smooth as Tsukishima can be or as clueless as he is, he’s also a shy lover for sure. It will take him a while to be genuinely soft and let his walls down and be vulnerable and tell you how much he cares about you, he try’s to show it as best as he can cause it can be easier than looking into your pretty eyes that make him all nervous and choke on his words while he tries to tell you he loves you. So it’ll take some coaxing and you being patient, but he’ll get there eventually and become more confident with his declarations of love.

9. Pleaser - Wallows: more on Tsuki being shy LMAO he wants to tell you he loves you SO BAD but he just cannot make himself do it

10. I’m Glad There Is You - Julie London: ok you mentioned slow dancing in the kitchen type songs? Stop it this is the one - to me this is the introvert love anthem , perfect for you two right? Like you’d be playing music in the kitchen while you two are cooking and this song would come on and normally he’s not a person who shows his affection much but this song would just get to him? Like he almost wants to cry??? He just looks at you, and maybe you’re humming a little, he really can’t tell but he doesn’t care cause you’re just so bright and gorgeous and the more he hears the song, the more his heart is starting to swell thinking of you. And so he wouldn’t be able to help himself. He’d just come up behind you and lean down so his head his resting on top of yours and his arms are wrapped around you. He leans down a little farther and presses a soft but long kiss to your cheek and just whispers how he loves you and hugs you tight one more time before going back to his part of cooking dinner; as if that wasn’t the first time he was finally able to tell you that.

11. Linger In My Arms A Little Longer Baby - Peggy Lee: kitchen dancing music kitchen dancing music kitchen dancing music !! I feel like once Tsuki dances with you ONCE he’d be addicted 😶 like you just look so happy and it hits him in his gut in the best way and he’d kill to feel like that with you again 🖤

12. Sweet Creature - Harry Styles: stop I fucking love Harry styles when I say Tsuki sees you as his home I MEAN it, it doesn’t matter what happens between you two. Sure, like any couple you guys argue and it can be rough sometimes, problems can arise it’s natural. But Tsukishima would never be the type to say something he doesn’t mean or do anything to ruin the relationship, you’re his person and no matter how much you two argue he’d always be sure you know he loves you and you’re the most important thing to him, and you’re very aware of that.

13. I Think I Like It When It Rains - Willis: ok a little bit of angst! In those difficult moments, sure sometimes Tsuki does wish it was like how it was a while ago when the pining and awkwardness was still there and you would go home after studying and you’d both still be giddy and trying to calm yourselves down. Cause the pining and awkward feelings were easy to solve, but these problems are harder, they’re the ones you solve for the long haul. But once he takes a breather he knows this is so much more important and worth it, and he’s reminded of how much he really loves you.

14. I CHOOSE YOU - Adam Melchor: you really would be living in Tsukis mind rent free LMAO and while he was all grumpy at first at the fact he even wanted your attention he’s so happy now it’s so cute pls. He goes to the store and sees something you like?? Yeah he’s buying it. Hears a song you might like? He adds it to the playlist you guys share (yes you would have one from when you would study together all the time and you’ve just kept it and he always add songs to it still for you) all in all, you take up his mind 25/8 now and he’s accepted it with a smile on his face

15. this is how you fall in love - Jeremy Zucker, Chelsea Cutler: introvert love anthem #2, this is literally so cheesy and I hope it fits your taste but anyways!! Falling in love is just so easy for you guys, it’s the easiest thing Tsuki’s ever done, and he holds a lot of pride to that statement.

——————

that’s it!!! That’s the thing!! Gosh I really hope you like it !! Thank you for being so patient and kind to me again, and don’t forget to message me if you need a change

-🐇out

[peaches-writes]

meeting points

description: because overcoming heavy traffic is the new crossing oceans for people member: jisung / han genre: fluff, college au, not-so-long distance au, city life au, best friends to lovers au word count: 9.4k warning: explicit language, drinking, suggestive, food, traffic, heights, a clown note: i want to throw fists at han jisung but like with affection y’know

one - a new cafe

For almost 2 years now, you and Jisung have what Seungmin has once referred to as a semi-long distance friendship—only semi since you attend universities literally 20 minutes away from each other when there’s no traffic and friendship because, well, you’ve been best friends since high school. It’s not that you don’t have other friends who attend SNU like him or vice versa (but Yonsei University); rather, it’s that Jisung is the slowest replier in the world and you’re the second clingiest person in the world (just behind Hyunjin). Seeing each other in person as much as you can is an absolute must in order to keep Jisung from fully becoming one with his dorm, you sane from the academic pressure of tertiary education, and your overall friendship afloat. College students need to stick together somehow.

Unless it’s a bigger hangout with your mutual friends, you alternate locations depending on who has a heavier deadline to attend to afterward. When Jisung finds himself struggling to finish a song or needs to be at the campus radio station with the rest of 3racha later on, it’s you taking the bus to his university dorm; when it’s you slumped on term papers for your core subjects or on visual props your club needs, Jisung convinces Minho to let him carpool (since his night part-time job is on the way to your university). 

But even then, it’s more often that you make the tedious travel. Like today. 

On this particular day, it’s you seated on a bus and looking outside the window to pass the agonizingly slow time, sighing for the nth time at the evening rush hour. It’s only 6:20 PM on your phone and your bus is already on the connecting bridge but the endless sight of cars behind and ahead of you, against the darkness of the Han river and the bright city lights, doesn’t make you feel like you’ve crossed any distance. Jisung’s last text was a simple “stay safe” almost an hour ago when you got on the bus from the nearest stop outside your university. 

The two of you are you supposed to try the new cafe inside his campus for dinner since your recent hangouts have only been inside his dorm (with Hyunjin too since they’re roommates), watching old movies and eating take-out until Jisung accidentally falls asleep from power working beforehand. It’s nearing the semester break and everyone’s been sort of busy at SNU, but lately, Jisung’s been actually making an effort to make time for you and insisting that you hang out at the expense of his sleep.  

Backwards thinking but okay, you shrug one shoulder at the thought. You’ve talked about it once on call when his sudden initiative to meet started since you’re concerned about his well-being and that you have all the time in the world once break starts but Jisung unexpectedly fell asleep halfway and Hyunjin had to end the call. Two days later, Jisung texted you that he rented the movie you wanted to watch at the cinema for the weekend with an apology for falling asleep and assurance that he’s almost finished with his deadlines and that he’s asking you to hang out responsibly.

It’s not like you don’t like it, you are already on the way to SNU, after all. Besides, you’re still very much free from heavy academic and club activities since your professors scheduled their deadlines after the break and your club is not as active lately. Have fun now, suffer later as Seungmin and Changbin have told you when you told them your worries about Jisung’s sleep schedule. 

After a while of trying to count the cars on the bridge as your lane moves a little faster now, you open your phone and message Jisung to pass the time. You don’t always expect that he replies but it’s always the most reassuring when it’s him you’re contacting, even when it’s just casual. 

y/n: don’t u have radio tonight? [sent 6:32 PM] 

You’ve heard 3racha’s campus radio show on the several times you hung out at SNU during the day. They air live on Friday nights, Saturday if most of the all-student crew are busy, but the meetings are rather frequent when nearing holidays so you’re careful of leaving on time even on a non-Friday weekday like this.

y/n: just crossed ynghwa

y/n: bus is driving steady now!!! aaaaak

jisung: almost typed ‘arent u supposed to be looking at d road’ then i rmmbr that u don’t have a car LOL [sent 6:56 PM] 

y/n: so do u have a meeting later? 

jisung: no

At their dorms, Hyunjin is out for the night to god knows where but Jisung is quite certain it’s not for studying since he was dressed to the nines. When he got a text from you, he slowly but surely forced himself to stand up from his work area to get dressed. Though he’s the one who insisted on hanging out, it doesn’t change the fact that leaving his work is hard when he’s in his ‘zone’ but he has to since the new cafe’s apparently a 3-minute walk from his dorm but he has to meet you at the bus stop first.

y/n: ur probs not even dressed yet 

y/n: close that laptop nerd

Jisung couldn’t bring it in himself to reply because he was already preoccupied avoiding getting dissed by you again whenever he wears his favorite Supreme t-shirt. 

- 

You arrive at the bus stop at around 6:50 PM, just as Jisung arrives, panting heavily from running the remaining distance when he received an ‘almost there’ message from you. You offer him a bottle of water you forgot to take out from your backpack and he quickly swipes it from you, chugging down the contents as if his life depends on it. “Woah there, haven’t seen you in a long time. Drink slowly and breathe.” You rub his arm comfortingly as the two of you stand on the empty sidewalk. Behind you, your bus drives away. “You didn’t have to run, you know, I could’ve just met up with you wherever you are.” 

He then stops drinking just to breathlessly say, “But it’s dark and there could be creeps out.”  

You’re touched but still concerned. “Still. I have you on speed dial, remember?” 

When Jisung’s fully recovered, the two of you walk to the cafe together, catching up on what’s happened in your own lives in the past week since you last met. There’s not much, actually, since Jisung really doesn’t go out often unless it’s for classes, the radio show, or some of his other friends insisted and you’re almost always with your dorm mates, Lia and Ryujin, or with Changbin, Seungmin, and Jeongin. 

“Minho says they have good Americano.” Eventually you arrive and Jisung immediately points to the several posters on the window, showcasing the cafe’s specialty. 

“And how many days have you been running only on Americano?” You point out in an almost scolding tone. You approach the counter now where there are barely any people in line since most customers are already seated. 

“Not that long!” He holds up his hands in the air. “Just 2 weeks!” 

“Jisung!”  

He imitates you dramatically with,“Y/N!” to which you only roll your eyes to. 

“Good evening, how may I take your order?” The barista asks. 

Jisung opens his mouth to speak but you hold an arm in front of him and turn to the barista, “One pesto, one lasagna, the chicken wings for sharing, two glasses of water, one cheesecake, and one strawberry cake, please.” 

“Y/N, this is a cafe, where their specialty is coffee.” Jisung teases dryly as the barista takes note of your order, a last attempt at getting himself another cup of Americano. 

So without turning to him, you tell the barista, “Also, can you add an additional Americano—?”

“Finally—” “Two shots for me, not him.” 

The barista only laughs at your banter. “Name please?” 

“Y/N.”  

While you’re conversing with the barista, Jisung shoots daggers to the side of your face, dramatically declaring, “I’m stealing your Americano.” 

But you only drop your arm in front of him as the barista says, “That would be 12,000 won.” 

“Oh, he’s paying.” 

Either way, Jisung reluctantly pays with the sole motivation to get a sip from your iced Americano. 

“Seriously, though, cut the Americano for a little while, maybe until finals.” You point out as you settle on a nearby table that has just been cleaned by staff. “Do you even know what a water dispenser looks like at this point?”

“I drink water.” He pouts, opting to sit down next to you to show that he really has all intents to steal your Americano. “It just doesn’t give me ideas for my projects.” 

“You have one practical project due before the break. What about the other times you do work?” 

“I do them quickly.” 

You sigh in defeat. “Ah, seriously?”

When the barista calls for your name at the counter, Jisung holds you down by the shoulder and makes a run for the counter, taking a long sip of your Americano until you caught up to him. 

“Success!” He exclaims, proud of himself, as he takes one of the two trays. 

“Satisfied with your Americano?” You take the other tray in defeat, walking back to your table with him. 

“Hm, I don’t knoooow.” He teases in sing-song, sitting next to you again instead of across from you as he would usually do. “You might finish everything before even finishing your pasta.” 

“I’m not too much in a coffee mood, actually.” You scrunch up your nose. The two of you then proceed on taking your respective orders off the tray, setting the trays aside. 

“But after the break, you will be.” He states matter-of-factly. “How many projects do you have due after the break?” 

“I can only remember six because I really don’t want to think about them right now.” You steal a small slice of cheesecake from him as an unwritten exchange for his unlimited share of your iced Americano. “As Seungmin and Changbin once said, ‘have fun now, suffer later.’“ 

“Oh, I’m fun?” 

You turn to your side to look at him, finding him looking back at you with a triumphant smile. “You’re not letting me live this down, won’t you?” 

“No, it’s getting added to my list of Y/N compliments!” 

You roll your eyes, taking another slice of cheesecake. He reiterates with his now third sip of Americano—you’re not even sure anymore because you’re pretty sure he’s already drank half of it. 

“I said drink your water, jeez.” You slide him his glass of water, barely a quarter empty. You take the Americano from him, taking your own long sip of the drink.

“I will, I will! Just one last si—” “Han Jisung, let me drink my damn coffee!” “Okay, fine, let’s exchange!” 

-   

You leave the cafe when it’s nearing 9 PM. Somehow, when you’re with Jisung and food, you barely check the time, much less your phone, since your table gets messy from stealing each other’s dessert plates and, for tonight, Jisung drinking most of your Americano. You and Jisung also had a lot to say about your respective classes in a full-on rant session since there’s only 2 weeks left until everyone is on semester break.  

“There’s not much traffic at this time, isn’t there?” Jisung asks you as he walks you back to the bus stop. He holds a paperbag containing your take-out cakes for your roommates. “You might fall asleep and miss your stop again.” 

“Says the guy who sleeps on people during calls.” You tease with an elbow to his side. He tries to slap you back on your arm but you walk ahead enough to be out of his reach, sticking your tongue out at him. “There isn’t much traffic now, though, it’s only Thursday.” 

“Y/N.” He laughs while calling your name, covering his mouth. “It’s Friday.” 

Your eyes, of course, widen in surprise. “It is?” He only nods at this, finding amusement in the way your expression quickly turns into that of horror. “Ah, shit, I told my roommates we hang out tomorrow!”

“Why, do you have to do the dishes or something?” 

But checking your phone, you only find a ‘wya’ message from Ryujin. Almost as quickly as you started panicking, you calm down again. “Oh, it’s fine.” You conclude, shoving your phone back in your coat pocket. “It’s just that they sometimes think I died at the library or something and end up making a big scene about it. Last time, our batch FB group got spammed.”

“Wow, then you judge me for always being cooped up in the dorms?” 

“That’s different—I actually go out and walk. I’m surprised you can even run to the bus stop a while ago.”   

Jisung threatens to swing your take-out bag at you. You only take it lightheartedly by holding your hands up in front of him, laughing. 

But all jokes and banter aside, you give him a hug before boarding the bus. “Text me when you get home.” He recites his constant line when it’s you leaving. “Or when you miss your bus.” 

“Shut up.” You mumble on his shoulder, punching his back hard before pulling away. “I hope you trip on your way back.”

“‘Night, Y/N.” “See you when I see you, nerd.” 

two - a park 

After a month of living off of ramen and iced Americano, barely seeing the sun, and hearing the same chords and melodies on repeat, Jisung passes the song he’s been working a week later. Besides this, he only has three papers left to tweak before he can fully enjoy the semester break without any sort of guilt.

To celebrate, it’s you inviting him this time to ride bicycles so he can move around but also relax. You picked the park at Ichon that’s on your side of the Han river but still far away from university so you don’t think of schoolwork the entire time.

On this particular hangout, you took the same bus but at different times. He boarded the bus first before you, arriving some 30 minutes after you’ve arrived at your nearest stop. Since it’s a Saturday morning, the traffic’s not too heavy.

“You look nice.” Jisung nudges you with one shoulder as you take a seat on the spot he saved you. The bus is not full since the rush hour had just gone.

“It’s just a t-shirt and shorts.” You reply flatly, hiding the fact that you actually thought a lot about your outfit last night. You even wore your good sneakers and denim jacket today.

“Yes, but it’s your other other favorite graphic shirt.” He points out. “The one for when we’re outdoors.”

Oh, so he noticed.

“Yes because someone has to look cute.” But you actually think Jisung looks nice even when he wears the same Supreme shirt like today—you’re just too in deep with the teasing to compliment him.

“I compliment the rainbow shirt you always wear when we sightsee but you diss my Supreme shirt.” He rolls his eyes. “Ah, people these days.”

“Because you’re always in and out of university in that.” To emphasis, you tease him further by scooting away. “Do you even wash that?”

“Of course I do.” He confidently and lightheartedly answers, putting an arm on your shoulder and pulling you back. “While it’s in the laundry, I wear my other Supreme shirt, or my other other Supreme shirt—“

“Yikes.” You tsk at him, crossing your arms. “This is what staying inside all day does to you.”

“That’s why you’re here, my Y/N, to take me out.”

“I was reduced to the role of babysitter.”

“I was going for hangout or date but you called yourself babysitter.”

-

Arriving at Ichon park, you make a quick snack stop at the nearest convenience store first. Since it’s your turn to pay, Jisung makes sure to buy all of his favorites (sans an iced Americano this time as your only condition to pay for him). You fill an entire basket with snacks and drinks both for when you ride a bicycle and for when you settle down for a picnic later at lunch.

“By the way, did you bring the mat?” You ask Jisung as you walk to the renting station, remembering that he and Hyunjin have the picnic mat you and your bigger circle of friends use for outings like this.

“Of course I did, what do you take me for?” He unzips his backpack to show you the blue gingham pattern Seungmin picked out two years ago. Aesthetic, he said. “I’m not the one who mistakes dates.”

“And I’m not the one who had to ask what the picnic mat looks like the other night despite having it for 4 months now.” After a few more steps, you arrive at the renting station. “I was just making sure.”

You then rent two bicycles, both with baskets for your belongings.

“Y/N, wear a hat.” Jisung reminds you while putting in his.

You frown. You did bring a cap but you also put a lot of effort on your hair today. “It’s going to ruin my hair.”

“The sun’s going to burn your hair if you don’t.” He takes your cap from your hands and gently places it on top of your hair before you can even reiterate, a small smile gracing his face at your speechless expression. “There.”

The fuck is he on? Still, your heart beats erratically at his sporadic gestures. Being Jisung’s best friend is a bit of a rollercoaster.

Especially lately.

Before you know it, Jisung’s already on his bicycle, urging you to do the same. Half-dazed, the two of you leisurely circle the entire stretch of the park, pointing at random landmarks across the river and eating your snacks.

Since this hangout’s also meant as a celebratory one, you let Jisung let loose and yell, “I’m done with my projects!” while extending his hands out as he cycles. You think to yourself that you have the rest of the year having a heart attack over that.

-

The park is full of families, friends, and couples on a Sunday that you almost couldn’t find a spot to lay your picnic mat on when the two of you got too tired of cycling around. You couldn’t consider sitting on a park bench since Jisung was getting sleepy as well, a result of not having a proper sleep schedule and a half in the past weeks.

So, after almost twenty minutes, you managed to secure a place from a couple who was just leaving for the nearby Namsan tower.

“Thank you so much again!” You thank the couple who even helps you set up the picnic mat while you let Jisung temporarily rest on the bare grass with his backpack as a pillow, sleep quickly catching onto him.

“No problem.” The woman says with a smile.

“Have fun on your own date.” The man adds, placing an arm on his date’s shoulders.

“Oh we’re not—“ But before you could even finish, the couple’s already walked away. You sigh, squatting down to Jisung’s eye level this time. “Jisung wake up, mat’s ready.”

He scrunches his nose with a groan, about to roll over to the opposite direction until you stopped him and rolled him towards the mat. His head lands soundlessly on the ground, forcing him to open his eyes.

“Damn, I thought I was going to land on your lap.” He rubs the area on his head that hit the grass.

You sit down next to him, taking out the sandwiches you bought from the convenience store. “Who do you think rolled you over, dumbass? For a genius, your sense of direction is quite questionable.”

“But can I?” He looks up at you now, poking your bare thigh. “Do you need like a blanket or something?”

You remind yourself that this is the same guy who threatened to smack you with a box of cake last week and dropkicked you once (but that’s another story). “Fine, go ahead.”

As if he woke up just a little with wide eyes and a genuinely happy expression on his face, Jisung scoots over while laying down (which makes you stifle a giggle because he looks like a worm doing it) until his head lays on your lap. You push a bottle of water and two bags of sandwiches next to his shoulders. “You have to eat later, though, okay?”

Looking down at him, you surprise yourself by finding him with his eyes still open. He busies himself with lazily getting his phone and earphones from his bag, putting on an earbud and offering you the other. “I saved my project for you to listen to.”

“Didn’t you say you were going to sleep?” Nevertheless, you take the earbud just as the music starts to play.

“Yeah, but I’m suddenly hyper-aware and awake.” He shrugs, taking the sandwich on his side. “You know, like when kids get put to bed from sleeping somewhere else.”

“So you do think you’re a kid?”

“Shush, this is the good part in the song.”

You chuckle, opting to not reply vocally to enjoy the song you’ve been hearing fragments off for the past month. The two of you then eat and listen in silence, that is until he asks you for comments at the end and the two of you discuss it for a while then it’s back to comfortable silence again but with different music as you scroll through your phone and Jisung tries to nap again.

Jisung falls asleep once he has a good look at you without your phone in the way.

-

At the end of the day, around 4 PM so you don’t get stuck in rush hour traffic, you take the same bus again but this time, it’s you leaving first.

The only problem is that despite a year and a half of frequenting your side of the Han river, Jisung still can’t seem to memorize bus stops well, forcing you to stay awake the entire ride.

“Y/N—“ “No, Jisung, we’re still three stops away.”

You don’t even have to look up from your phone to know that Jisung’s still looking out of the window as he’s had for the past 20 minutes, trying to gues your stop. At hearing your answer, he decides to stop, turning his head to the other direction as you text your groupchat.

“What’s up?” He rests his head on your shoulder casually to get a better view of the messages you’re skimming through, sending a shiver down your spine.

You try shrugging him off his shoulder but he shows no initiative to move. “Everyone’s starting to talk about the annual Halloween party. You’d know if you check the chat often.”

Away from your view, Jisung frowns. “I get ideas of what you’re talking about from how Hyunjin reacts to them, especially to the memes, thank you very much.”

“Well, at least you’re a bit better than Changbin when it comes to being online.” You say, more to yourself than to Jisung. “Anyway, you, Hyunjin, and Chan are in charge of the guest list. Chan just suggested that you squeeze it in your next radio show this week since the party’s the next night—maximum of 50 people!”

“Oh, yeah, we can do that.” He nods. “Any news on the venue?”

At this, you release a sigh of frustration. “Seungmin and Changbin booked a rooftop in Itaewon of all places.”

“Isn’t that cool? Why are you sighing?”

“Speak for yourself, Jisung. Remember last year?” You close your phone now but Jisung’s head still remains on your shoulder. “I don’t want to deal with a lot of drunk college kids again—especially not on a rooftop and not when I really deserve a drink.”

“Nah, I’m sure it won’t be as bad as last year.” He tries to say dismissively but the two of you know exactly know crazy it was last year, especially for Jisung.

“Which is why I told Minho that we buy the alcohol together on Wednesday—so no one does anything too stupid.” You shrug Jisung completely off of your shoulder now since you’re nearing your stop and he complies, caught off-guard with the way you said you and Minho are doing something together. “Okay, Sung, this is my stop.”

You stand up and Jisung almost does the same in his absentminded state. “So are you carpooling with Minho on Saturday?”

“Yeah, I need to do something for my club before going to the party but we’re sending the drinks early in case we’re late.” You say quickly. “Okay, I gotta go. See you this break?”

“Hm, see you.”

When the bus moves again, there is a sinking feeling in Jisung’s stomach until the view of you walking back to your university disappears.

three - a supermarket

You invited Lia to help you and Minho to buy liquor at the nearby supermarket after Minho’s classes, only to find out that Minho brought 3racha along.

“It’s not that I don’t trust your box-carrying skills but I don’t trust your liquor-handling skills.” Minho explains when he sees your surprised expression at seeing Chan wave at you and Lia from the front passenger seat. “That goes literally and figuratively.”

“I mean, I feel the same which is why Lia’s here but, really? You trust Jisung and Changbin with liquor?”

“Hyunjin’s out with someone again and Jeongin might get carded again.” Changbin shrugs from the open passenger seat window.

“Seungmin? Jeongin? Felix?”

“Do you think we’d actually let them touch alcohol until Saturday?” “Right.”

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine. We’re buying for around 50 people right?” Lia asks Minho as the two of you squeeze in the back seat of his car.

“Yeah, so that’s about 6 boxes since the venue’s also providing some drinks.”

“What about snacks?” “Covered by the venue too.”

“How many bottles can fit in 1 box?” You mumble to yourself but Jisung, sitting very closely next to you, hears.

“Around 10 to 15, probably.” He says, startling you.

“Aren’t you supposed to be finishing papers?”

“I already finished them waaaay back.” He smirks at you coolly. “While being a ‘cave man’ at the dorms like you said. You’re supposed to be proud I’m voluntarily going out today.” 

He’s too prideful to admit that he finished his remaining work in the 3-day window you didn’t see each other so he can tag along today.

-

At the supermarket, you split up in teams, each with two baskets to fill. Changbin and Lia head off to the liquor store outside the main supermarket while Minho and Chan go to the liquor aisle inside the supermarket. You and Jisung, on the other hand, stick together, browsing the other aisles instead after being in the same liquor aisle but at different sections with Minho and Chan. No reason, you both just felt like it.

“Do you think we have enough budget to sneak in a bag of candies?” You think out loud, holding a bag of mint candies from the shelf. “I’m not sure if I want this one but Minho likes it.” 

“Minho probably wouldn’t notice—maybe he’ll even think he put that in himself.” Jisung says, standing really close to you and examining the candies himself. Your two baskets of alcohol bottles are half-forgotten to the side. “Why do you even want to buy candies for him? If you want it, though I can buy it for you.”

You give him a skeptical look, only then noticing how easily your shoulders brush against each other. “Why are you standing really close?” You voice your observation out loud, making him turn his head to you with a pout. “I mean sure go ahead but you’re literally blocking the light.”

“I can’t?” To emphasis, he leans some of his body weight to you, just enough to make you hold onto him by his arm at the feeling that you’ll tip over if you don’t. Succeeding, he smirk triumphantly and takes your hand off of his arm so that he can put in on your shoulder. “Y/N, I missed youuu.”

“We saw each other 3 days ago.” You huff, more to yourself than to him because he really is making you nervous. “You’re so clingy today, that’s my job!”

“Sus, I can’t miss you after 3 days now? When it’s already my break and you’re still attending some classes?” He pouts, holding his arms open. “Come here.”

“What? Why?” At this point, you’re just getting a serious whiplash from his sudden clinginess. That’s my job, how dare he?

When you don’t budge, eyes still narrowed at him, he moves forward himself, trapping you in a hug. “I want to hug you, idiot.”

“What if I don’t want to?” “I’m still hugging you.”

You simply give in this time, the two of you just standing there until Chan passed by to get Minho candies.

“Dudes, come on, we’re buying alcohol.” He reminds with an amused smile, snatching the bag of mint candies from your grasp. “Get moving, lovebirds.”

“We’re n—“ “We’ll be right there.”

You pretend on swinging a bag of gummy bears at him. When he asks you why, you only run back to the liquor aisle to meet Chan and Minho.

-

More bickering, some alcoholic jokes, and the woman at the check-out counter asking for your I.D.s later, the 6 of you rest and eat ice cream at a parlour near the check-out before leaving, your boxes of alcohol carefully placed together at the end of your table.

“So how many people are actually going?” Lia asks Chan over her chocolate ice cream.

“Around thirty-people already responded to the invite.” Chan answers. You wince every time he bites his ice cream. Every person to themselves but biting ice cream is just a no for you. “When the Friday show airs, hopefully more people go.”

“We had 100 people last year, right?”

“That’s because these geniuses thought they can handle a hundred drunks at a house party.” You recall the chaotically eventful party last year. “We’re cutting in half since we’re at a rooftop party and I don’t want to see people jumping off the 4th floor.”

“Also since not a lot of people dress up.” Jisung frowns. The party has always been a costume party when it started 3 years ago but somehow, a lot of the guests you’re not particularly close with always show up in the bare minimum.

“Ooh, what are you guys dressing up as this year?” Minho asks, suddenly excited at the topic of costumes.

“Might just go as a vampire again this year since I won’t have much time preparing this Saturday.” You frown.

“Hey, I wanted to go as a vampire!” Chan complains.

“You already went as a vampire last year! Can we not match again?” 

“What about you Minho?” Lia asks, disinterested in your bicker with Chan.

“I haven’t decided yet.” He shrugs. “Ask Jisung.”

Lia turns to Jisung who enthusiastically answers, “It’s a surprise!”

“It’s probably the horse head again.” You roll your eyes, knowing his enthusiasm very well. “But we’re just going to pretend that it’s a surprise on Saturday.”

“You better do.” Jisung pouts.

“Have you even washed that horse mask since last year?” Minho narrows his eyes at the younger boy. 

You yourself didn’t even expect that he’d keep it for this year especially after what happened.

Yikes. 

“Minho, you know I do! I take it out sometimes to scare Hyunjin’s dates!”

-

You head to the events place in Itaewon after. From the photos in your groupchat, it’s an average-sized building in relation to the others in this particular district, holding a convenience store on the first floor, a BBQ place on the 2nd floor, and miscellaneous offices on the 3rd—one of which rents the rooftop for events.

“So why did we have to buy drinks at the supermarket again?” Changbin asks, still trying to catch his breath from carrying so many boxes of alcohol. 

“Because supermarket alcohol is slightly better than convenience store ones.” You answer matter-of-factly. “It’s semester break and Halloween. Indulge a little,  Binnie.” 

“Y/N has plans to get wasted.” Jisung spoils to everyone, making you call out his name from the front seat. You asked to exchanged seats with Chan after loading the boxes at the back of the car so you can have a run through of the food and drinks. Throughout the whole ride, he’s been hell-bent on exposing you. 

“Then it’s counterproductive to buy those hard drinks.” 

“Who says I’m sharing them?” You chuckle. You didn’t expect that anyone but Jisung would notice that you bought smaller drinks for yourself. 

Then the car is quiet for a while sans the music playing from Jisung’s phone which you immediately recognized as one of the playlists 3racha played on a broadcast before. 

When you get stuck in temporary traffic on the last intersection before the venue, you then turn to Minho. “Minho, aren’t you afraid of heights? Is 4 floors okay?”  

Glancing at Minho for a response, he nods while still looking at the road. “The place’s really nice in person. I went with Seungmin yesterday.”

“If you say it’s nice then I’d probably feel guilty of letting people trash the place this weekend.” Because it’s true, if Lee Minho calls something nice or pretty, it’s really really nice or pretty.

“It’s really spacious so you don’t have to stare at the ground below all the time, lots of picnic chairs and tables with the big-ass umbrellas, fairy lights, and a sound system when people want to karaoke or need mics.”

“Ah, yes, very much of Seungmin’s aesthetic.”

“I’d like to be acknowledged too, thank you.” Changbin says from your rear view mirror view.

“Thank you Changbin.” You tease him with a laugh. “What did you like about the place?”

And before Changbin could even answer seriously, the rest of the car answers in chorus, “There are lots of glitter and foil decorations.” before breaking into laughter. 

“There are beach props too! There’s fake grass and everything so it looks cheerful!” Changbin defends but to no avail because you only end up laughing. “Seungmin didn’t like it but I insisted that we borrow it for the party.”

You arrive at the building afterward, handing the alcohol to the staff on their 3rd floor office and finalizing the food you’re going to have on the party. 

“We’ll see you on Saturday night, then?” The owner of the building confirms once you’ve covered all the inquiries you have. 

Chan nods. “Me and the guy who booked the place, Seungmin, will be here first on Saturday night around 6 PM.” 

“What are you doing at 6 PM that you have to be late on Saturday?” Jisung whispers next to you, diverting your attention from looking at the view next to you to him as he looks at you expectantly. 

“Cramming a poster while waiting for a club meeting.” You frown. “Not everyone had their school day on Friday.” 

“Can’t you skip?” 

“Hm? Why?” You nudge his shoulder, as if trying to take out the pouty expression he wears on his face. “I told you I’m carpooling with Minho on that day so it’s fine.” 

“But stiiill. I won’t save your alcohol.” 

“No need, I already asked Seungmin to do it...and even asked Felix to watch you before I get here.” 

“What did you bribe those two with?”

“Tickets to Lotte world.” 

Jisung narrows his eyes at you but he’s thoroughly impressed. “You’re too smart.” 

“I have to outsmart you somehow when it comes to doing something stupid.” You shrug with a chuckle. “Plus, traffic’s really heavy on Saturday since everyone’s going home that day.” 

“You really should just ditch club.” He shrugs. “It’s the last day anyway.”  

“I can’t, dumbass, that’s part of my grade. Really, it’s fine, at least I’m with Minho on that day so we can be late together.” 

Before Jisung could argue further, however, Lia approaches the two of you. “Ready to go, guys?”

four - a rooftop party

Sometimes, you hate it when Jisung is right. Turns out, the meeting you had for your club was relatively pointless and could’ve just been discussed over e-mail or your club groupchat. Still, it ended at around 9:15 PM because most of your club mates arrived later than the 7:35 PM you agreed on and the stubborn president didn’t want to start the meeting until everyone was there. 

Still, you passed your posters (which you definitely crammed at the school library prior) and made a lot of suggestions during the meeting which felt rewarding enough to make up for the frustrations you can’t vocally tell your seniors over causing a lot of inconveniences to your meeting. Just think that’s going to be you in a few years, Y/N, so try to understand, you think to yourself as you return to an empty dorm. Ryujin already informed you over text that she and Lia already left with Yeji to pick up Chaeryeong from her university. 

“Now, for costume.” You mumble under your breath, heading straight to your room.

After much thought on which black clothes to wear, you got dressed quickly to attend to your make-up faster. Since you’re a vampire again like last year, you have to put in more effort on your hair and make-up—you’re definitely not winning best costume but at least you look decent (and definitely not wearing the same clothes from last year) for the endless pictures Hyunjin’s going to take of everyone later. 

 When you’re already halfway to your make-up, Minho decides on spamming you, your phone lighting up and displaying 9:58 PM. Shit. 

minho: here!!! 

minho: traffic still heavy 

minho: chan asked for reinforcements btw

minho: so were stopping at d mart

minho: pls don’t tell me ur putting make-up blood on ur face [sent 10:03 PM]

You groan, typing a quick “i am” reply to his last message before quickly finishing your make-up and heading out. 

y/n: ok otw [sent 10:06 PM]

You quickly spot Minho’s car right outside of your dorm, his tinted windows rolling down as you approach. Opening the car, your eyes widen in brief surprise before crinkling into a laugh as you get in and close the door. “W-what the...what the fuck, Minho?”  

“Don’t.” He holds a threatening finger up in front of your face, putting his hand back on the steering wheel as you drive away from your dorm. But even he stifles from his own laughter. “The kids asked that we buy 10 more bottles of the whiskey Chan picked out since Hyunjin made cocktails with it and a lot of people want more.” 

“W—wh...sorry, it’s just that I can’t concentrate when you’re looking like this.” You end up laughing for the rest of your first 2 minutes inside the car and almost forgetting what you were going to ask. 

This year,  Minho is a Korean traditional woman for Halloween.

“So,” You start when you’ve recovered, holding a hand to your chest to steady your breathing. “So, are you going out to the mart or do I have to sacrifice myself?” 

“You can air drop the pic of the whiskey brand on your phone.” He answers. 

You sigh, putting on a jacket you find on the back seat to cover your exposed torso for when you go out to the supermarket. 

- 

At the supermarket, people only gave you brief stares because of the fake blood dripping from your chin to your collarbones before their attentions turned to another person (probably from another Halloween party) dressed as a literal YouTube video picking up snacks. Though you’re relieved, you made your exit quick after your purchase, pushing the cart as fast as you can to the nearby parking spot Minho’s car occupied, because your phone suddenly started ringing from consecutive messages from Jisung, of all people. 

jisung: y/n where r uuuu

jisung: party started at 6! 6! 

jisung: seungmin playing truth or drink 

jisung: changbin singing at karaoke

jisung: also i drank ur mules 

jisung: n ur peach sojus

jisung: but i shared w felix! [sent 10:25 PM] 

You sigh, particularly at reading the last message after successfully loading your box of whiskey at the back of the car. You were too hopeful trusting even Seungmin and Felix. 

y/n: otw w minho [sent 10:25 PM] 

“Jisung’s really drunk again.” You inform Minho once you’re on the road again. “I can’t even trust Seungmin or Felix now.” 

“Well, you’ll have to keep texting him because the traffic going to Itaewon doesn’t seem to be moving.” Minho sighs. “You know he’ll sleep dehydrated if he’s that bored by himself to text you.” 

You groan. “No shortcuts?” 

“Even the shortcuts are flooded. I swear, everyone’s travelling home or partying tonight.” 

You lean back on your seat, taking a few deep breaths. If there’s anyone that shouldn’t be left alone at a party, it’s one Han Jisung. 

- 

At the party, Jisung sits at the bar, accompanying Hyunjin as he re-discovers his drunken talent of mixing cocktails. He scrolls through his phone absentmindedly with the occasional sips of the peach soju he’s been struggling to finish for 20 minutes now, having no motivation to join Changbin and Felix at the karaoke or Chan, Jeongin, and Seungmin playing more drinking games with most of the guests. 

“Jisung, you’re sulking.” Hyunjin points out as he gives another guest his new cocktail recipe. 

“No, I’m not.” Jisung frowns and hiccups through his big horse mask even when the older boy can’t actually see. 

“You’ve been in there for the past 20 minutes.” Hyunjin knocks on Jisung’s horse mask for emphasis. He’s no better, actually, dressing up as a big giraffe head since Felix decided to be the Joker this year. “Literally the last time I saw your face, you were texting Y/N.” 

“Y/NNNN! Why aren’t Y/N and Minho here yet? I want to see Y/NNNNN!” 

“Well, it’s traffic out.” At the very end of the bar, Hyunjin can see the heavy traffic below. “Everyone’s going home or eating out tonight.” 

“But I want Y/NNN!” Jisung is fumbling around now, narrowly missing his bottle of peach soju since the horse mask doesn’t have a good view from the weird eyes. “Where is Y/N?” 

Though his friend is incredibly drunk now, the tipsy Hyunjin still tries to keep a decent conversation so Jisung doesn’t accidentally fall asleep on his mask again. “You saw each other a lot the past weeks, though? Unlike when it’s a regular school week and you barely reply to them on chat.” 

“But that’s because I’m not as busy then as I was this semester.” Jisung manages to slur after a while before momentarily taking his horse mask off just enough for him to take a long sip of his peach soju with a metal straw he found somewhere in his backpack a while ago. “I miss Y/N when I’m busy.” 

“What about when you’re not busy?” “I also miss them when I’m busy.” 

Hyunjin sighs. “Just say you have a crush on them and go.” 

And he’s not sure if Jisung actually heard him but the boy replies with a muffled sigh. “Having a crush from people in different universities is hard!” 

- 

You open your phone to check the time, the twelfth time you’ve done so in the past hour since you’ve been stuck in the now moving traffic. Eleven-twenty PM on the dot, the party could either be still in full swing with everyone drunk off their asses or dying down with everyone drunk off their asses—either way, most of the liquor are probably gone now (even the one you asked Seungmin to guard for you) and the reinforcement’s probably not a good idea already. Next to you, Minho sighs, “Not that it’s annoying but you keep checking your phone and frowning every time you do. It’s scary, especially since you look more like a depressed vampire than a slutty one.”

“Thanks, Minho.” You roll your yes, closing your phone and putting it down on your lap.

“You’re really that excited much to see your boyfriend?”

You glare daggers through his side profile. “He’s not my boyfriend and I’m more worried than excited because he’s really bad at drinking. Remember last year—”

“It wasn’t that b—”

“Minho, he was crying because he thought his mask was stuck on his head.”

“But—” “He also tried drinking soju while crying and wearing his mask.”

Knowing he’s on the losing side of the argument, Minho waves his hand dismissively, eyes still on the road. The traffic’s moving steady now. “Anyway, there’s 50 people there someone has to be sober-ish somehow.”

“Uh huh, sure, someone is.” You reply dryly. Though this party has a larger attendance list than your friend group’s usual hangouts since it’s your annual Halloween party, you can’t help but remain distrustful. Your friends aka the worst drunks ever are hosting, for God’s sake.

“Why don’t you text someone so you’d feel less nervous?” Minho suggests after a while.  

And this time, you actually listen to him and open your phone again, opting to text Chan.

y/n: y’all still alive?

y/n: we’re about to turn right to the venue [sent 11:28 PM]  

chan: shit’s lit!!!!!!

“Yup, even Chan’s drunk.” You conclude, closing your phone as Minho pulls up to the building. Minho sighs for probably the nth time tonight, exiting the car when you do. “Come on, ahjumma, we’re checking if our friends are still alive.” 

- 

Arriving at the party by the service elevator the staff kindly showed you, you almost kicked the box of whiskey bottles you placed on the ground in surprise once the doors opened and Chan greeted you dressed as a clown. “Finally, you’ve arrived!” He exclaims through his semi-faded white make-up and red nose, completely ignoring the way you just had the shock of your life. “Here, let me help you with the whiskey.” 

You recover quickly, helping Minho and Chan lift the box to the nearby bar where Hyunjin is still busy mixing drinks. “Chan, why are you dressed as a clown?” 

“Twitter poll.” He answers nonchalantly. “You should see Jeongin, he’s a life-size bread.” 

Carefully setting the box on the ground for Hyunjin (who is more than grateful that the whiskey finally arrived), your expression returns to that of concern. “So, where’s Jisung?” 

“Oh, he said he was going to take pictures by the railings with the good view.” Hyunjin shrugs. Panic sets on your face. “Don’t worry! There’s like a lot of people there right now! And I gave him water a while ago!” 

You swip a bottle of peach soju and a bottle of water you saw hidden expertly under the counter from your view on the ground, sighing. “I swear to God, you guys are the worst hosts ever.” 

And so you set out to find Jisung amidst the most random crowd of costumes ever. You spot Changbin dressed as Kim Shin and a Joker Felix still competing for higher scores on the karaoke and passed by baguette Jeongin and sunflower Seungmin who are now hosting a very drunken Whisper Challenge with your seniors, Younghyun who wears a big report card on his neck, Jae who’s dressed in Chicken Little’s clothes, Snow White Sana, and a pirate Jeongyeon. 

If it’s any consolation, at least people dressed up better this year compared to last year. 

“Ryujin, have you seen Jisung?” You near the viewing area on the other side of the rooftop where the light gets progressively fewer. 

“He’s over there.” Your roommate points to an empty area with only a few tables and outdoor lights. 

“Where?” 

“Oh, he’s laying down somewhere. He’s still wearing the horse mask if that helps.” 

“Thank you!” You part ways as you open your phone, turning on the flashlight to find Jisung. 

From your area of the rooftop, the EDM music Chan mixed for this party already sounds faint and the traffic below sounds louder. You point your flashlight on the ground but also look ahead for any shadow of a horse mask. 

“Han Jisung.” You call for him in a loud whisper, in case he fell asleep since he’s sound-sensitive when drunk. “Yah, I swear to God, we’re not hosting another party again if you’re dead somewhere.” 

You repeat this a few times, changing baseless threats in hopes that it alerts him, until you find him raising a hand up in the air. “Here.” He responds tiredly to you, his voice not muffled by a mask this time as he’s long set it down next to him. He spots you immediately, illuminated by the garden lights. “You look pretty.”

“Thanks?” You approach carefully, pointing your flashlight away from his face and kneeling beside him. “Why are you laying down on the ground?” 

You contemplate on laying down next to him but then you remember that you left your jacket in Minho’s car at the thought that the denim doesn’t go with your all-black ensemble. The bare floor’s already cold on your bare legs, how much more on your exposed back? “Anyway, drink this water later.” 

But Jisung seems to ignore you, pushing you gently away by your arm. “I’m looking at the stars, Y/N, move over.” He groans. “Turn the light off too.” 

You scoff. “You can’t see the stars—” But as you look up at the purple night sky, you see countless of twinkling stars. Caught off guard, you turn your light off. “—here. Oh.” 

“Do you want to lay down?” When you turn to look back down at Jisung, he’s already sitting up slowly. Moving away a little so that you’re not in his way, he then takes his jacket off and places it on the ground. “You can use my jacket. It’s fine.” 

You hand him your water bottle and place your peach soju next to his horse mask. “Sure...” Reluctantly, you lay down on Jisung’s jacket. 

Jisung chugs down half of the water before laying down again, next to you this time. 

“Aren’t you cold?” You ask, sparing a glance in his direction as you do so. Jisung only shakes his head. 

“I thought you’d never come.” He pouts, still looking at the stars. He’s slowly sobering up now, making it harder to look at you in the eye. 

“Traffic.” You heave a long sigh. “Hyunjin also made Minho and I buy extra drinks.” 

It’s silent for a moment, you glance at Jisung for the second time to check if he’s fallen asleep again but you see a very concentrated expression on his face as he looks at the stars. “Are you still drunk?” You shake his arm, immediately getting his attention. 

“Do you like Minho?” He suddenly blurts out, catching you off-guard. What makes matters worse is that he didn’t even spare you a glance while. 

“What?!” You exclaim. At this point, you just regret not drinking your peach soju before joining him. 

“Do you like him? Like like-like as in...hold on, the word like’s getting too redundant here...” In the darkness, Jisung turns beet red the more he looks away from you, not even realizing that you’re equally flushed from trying to hold in your laughter. 

Where is this going? You can only think to yourself as he was rambling. 

“Jisung, I only like Minho when he offers carpool and free drinks when we hang out.” You sit up this time, extending your hand out past him to your soju bottle. You’re definitely drinking to this unusual conversation. “Why did you suddenly think I like him?"

You don’t remember doing anything with Minho that would make Jisung think this way.

Leaning even more towards Jisung’s direction, you see a faint glimpse of his embarrassed expression—his hand covering his eyes as he curses under his breath. You drink a little bit more of your peach soju before nudging him with the bottom of the bottle. “What made you say that?”

“No.” He replies as calmly as he can, hand still covering his face. At that moment, he wishes he could put the horse mask back on quickly so he can run away while hiding his face. 

You try prying his hand away but to no avail. He looks at you on his own accord a moment later but even then he doesn’t hold eye contact for long. 

“It’s silly, just the soju.” He waves his hand dismissively. “Can you lay down again so I don’t have you see your face? Not that the make-up is bad, it’s just really embarrassing when you’re looking down on me like this.” 

You chuckle, amused, but comply eventually when you’ve had enough of your soju. Instead of looking up at the stars, however, you turn your body to the side so you’re facing Jisung this time. 

“Yah—” 

“You said lay down again, I’m laying down.” You tease in between laughs. “Are you seriously not looking at me in the eye?” 

“No!” He whispers loudly in a dramatic fashion, taking his horse mask and balancing it on his face to hide from you. 

You shrug, flicking his horse mask away easily. “Why are you so embarrassed? Best friends talk about this all the time, it’s normal.” You shrug as you say this next, trying to act nonchalant about it as possible. Internally, you’re still processing where this conversation could go. “I’m just wondering how you came to that conclusion? It sounds weird and gross: Minho and I, I mean.” 

Jisung only looks at you quietly for the next 2 minutes, clearly contemplating. “It’s just...” He starts and you hold your breath, realizing that your faces are really close when he turns his head to your side. “Seriously, it’s silly!” 

You shrug, as nonchalantly as you can seem. “I want to know, it’s n—”

“Ilikeyou.” 

“Hm?” You feel lightheaded, and you definitely feel like you need to pee. Soju works fast that way. 

“I like you...” He says, slower and trailing off this time. He thinks you didn’t notice but you caught the way he glanced briefly down at your lips before going back up to your eyes. “Like really really like you; but we’re always running on different schedules since we entered college and we’ve only ever hung out when my deadlines aren’t heavy enough to make you feel guilty to come over until recently.” 

“...Is that why you’ve been asking to hang out more this semester?” Jisung nods at the simple question. “You wanted to see me that much?” 

“Well, don’t get too cocky now.” He chuckles nervously. Suddenly, he’s overthinking everything, trying to pick apart any hint from the tone of your voice. “Because this would be really really awkward and embarrassing if you keep acting like that then turn me down later.” 

Your heart skips a few beat, you’re sure it’s Jisung now and not the soju kicking in. “Who said...who said anything about me turning you down?” 

Jisung’s thoughts malfunction at this. Suddenly, he’s taking too slow to process anything again. You roll your eyes at this. “Do I have to say it?” 

“...yes?” 

You scrunch up your face in distaste but Jisung doesn’t laugh, making you sigh. “Fuck it, fine.” You take a deep breath, slowly following your words with, “I like you too, Jisung.” 

You look at him expectantly and he returns your gaze with one of disbelief. “R-really?” 

“I just said it, didn’t I?” You flick his forehead. 

“Can I—” 

He leans forward but you stop him with a hand in between the two of you.  “You smell like alcohol.” You whine, pushing him away slightly. 

“But we’re in the dark, under the stars, sorta drunk at a Halloween party; naturally, the next thing that follows is—” 

“Ew, Jisung, gross!” You push him away completely but he only resists, managing to hug you with one arm. 

“You can say that all you want but you already said that you like me too.” Slowly, he gains his confidence back which only just makes you squirm more.  

“Yeah, but you said it first.” You give up from squirming in his grip, realizing that it’s warmer than letting your torso be exposed to the cold for another second. “If anything, I actually have the upper hand here.” 

He shrugs. “So? I actually like saying it. I like you, I like you, I like you...” You open your mouth slightly to comment but he takes this as an opportunity to press a long kiss to your lips. “I like you. There.” 

[bikerjongho]

in the coop | kang yeosang

genre: humor

character: college student!yeosang ft. college student!wooyoung

description: Yeosang and Wooyoung hatch and execute a plan to steal a chicken from a county fair to save it from the butcher.

word count: 3.1k

warnings: a little bit of swearing

author’s note: happy birthday yeosang!! <3 a gift for you. eat lots of chicken today! thank you for entertaining atiny with your humor and kindness. and leif, I hope you enjoy this especially, because I wrote this with you in mind. <3

taglist: @itsapapisongo @mangomingki @irehlevant @blueprint-han

The county fair was a treat to behold once a year. Though the smells were less of a treat to witness - filled with smells of starchy food and sweaty children, Yeosang and Wooyoung had to adapt to ignore it. Wooyoung did this by buying an enormous and sugar-coated funnel cake. When he dove into it while the two of them walked around the fairgrounds, a bit of powdered sugar dusted his nose. 

Yeosang opted for a corndog. It was less messy and perhaps a bit healthier in comparison with the funnel cake. "You're going to have an awful stomachache when we leave," he said while he watched Wooyoung shove an absurdly large piece of funnel cake into his mouth.

"And?" Wooyoung said between chews, the powdered sugar on his nose that Yeosang had not bothered to mention making him look like a white Rudolph. "When else can I have funnel cake?"

Wooyoung was right, the fair was the only place Yeosang could think of that actually had funnel cake. But he wouldn't be surprised if Wooyoung birthed a food baby and a stomachache the next day. Yeosang took another bite of his corndog and decided not to push the matter.

They had been at the fair for a few hours now, going on rides that made their stomachs rearrange themselves and gave some usage to their vocal chords while they screamed. They were on break now, enjoying their dinners and pondering what to do next while their food settled.

Wooyoung had suggested they play tented games, like throwing ping pong balls onto the top of glass bottles or throwing balls to knock down clown faces in order to win a prize at the end of it. But Yeosang decided against it. "Those games are so incredibly rigged, we'd just waste our money because it's impossible to win," he said, so they both ignored the heckling game owner that tried to sell them balls so they could play his game.

"So what do we do?" Wooyoung pushed. "Stare at the farm animals?" He asked, and then gestured to the animal exhibition that was growing closer to them in the distance.

"Exactly!" Yeosang grinned. He was actually excited to see the animals, but Wooyoung groaned.

"Wouln't that be boring?" He whined.

"Not at all," Yeosang said, waving his corndog stick at him. "The animals are cute and we can compare them to our friends. I swear I saw a sheep that looked just like Seonghwa."

At the mention of making fun of their friends, Wooyoung's face broke out into an enormous and evil grin. "Then let's meet these furry friends!" He said and marched ahead of Yeosang to the cow barn.

Upon entrance to the barn, they were met with the pungent smell of animals. Yeosang and Wooyoung crinkled their noses at the same time. A cow mooed at them as greeting.

"Is that hay?" Wooyoung conversationally asked the cow, referring to the food it was eating, then directed the question at Yeosang.

"Like if I know," Yeosang shrugged. "Probably." He walked over to Wooyoung and pulled out a water bottle from Wooyoung's backpack and took a long drink. It was sweltering outside. And although the sun had descended from its peak a few hours ago, the heat still stung.

Wooyoung was closely inspecting the line of cows cheerfully eating hay and swishing their tails. "I think Hongjoong would enjoy being a cow," he said wisely. "Seems like a chill life. He always complains about stress."

"That one kind of looks like him," Yeosang laughed and pointed at one that did have some resemblance to Hongjoong.

They traversed to another area of the barn and found more animals - pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, geese, bunnies, and chickens. A goat was there to greet them with a loud and piercing bleat. "Jongho, is that you?" Wooyoung said as he smiled at the vocal goat.

"There's Seonghwa," Yeosang said and was quick to point out the sheep he had talked about earlier, resting in a pen.

"Yunho," Wooyoung said and gestured towards a particularly tall llama with a long neck.

"San," Yeosang said, and pointed to a pig pen. One of the pigs was having a blast and running around the pen excitedly. "And Mingi," he continued, gesturing to another pig peacefully sleeping in the corner.

"Yeosang," Wooyoung said, causing Yeosang to turn towards his friend, only to find out that he was being compared to a chicken.

"I'm not a chicken," he said, offended. He raised his eyebrows and pointed to a patch of honking geese near the pigs. "Wooyoung."

Wooyoung only took the geese as a compliment. He grinned like a little kid and honked himself. "Do the chicken dance for me, Yeosang," he bantered.

"Shut up," Yeosang said sweetly. But he had to admit, the chickens were extremely interesting. In his opinion, they were the best animal at the fair. It might have been because he loved to eat chicken, but the chickens he came by as he walked around their pens came in beautiful browns, reds, oranges, and blacks. Some of their eggs even came in different hues. When he walked by one, it pecked its beak towards him and made him smile. So he was in Wooyoung's line of vision, he silently did the chicken dance in front of a light orange variety.

"Amazing," Wooyoung breathed and walked closer to him. He peaked at the orange chicken that Yeosang was nearby. "Aw, this one is cute."

"But he didn't win any prizes," Yeosang said and gestured to the other chickens around them. While some chickens had beautiful multi-colored ribbons that announced they had won in some sort of category, this orange chicken had a small, simple, and drab white ribbon.

"Participation," Wooyoung said, ogling the single ribbon on the chicken's cage. "That's silly. He's a stunning bird. A true specimen of chicken." The orange chicken pecked at the cage in response to Wooyoung's compliment.

"Taken an interest in Mr. Clucks, eh?" A man said, coming from behind them. He wore worn blue jeans, sneakers, and a yellow plaid shirt. He was older, but the little twinkle in his eye that appeared when he smiled suggested he was young at heart. "I'm the owner of him and a few other animals in this exhibition," the man clarified.

"It's too bad he didn't win anything," Wooyoung said, always eager to talk to someone. "He's really quite a nice-looking chicken."

"It really is too bad," the owner nodded. "I send my non-winners to the butcher, unfortunately." He said this casually.

Yeosang and Wooyoung looked at the chicken, Mr. Clucks, and then back at the owner, who gave them a smile.

"The butcher?" Yeosang repeated. He couldn't have meant that. Perhaps it was just a joke. He knew, rationally, chickens had to be killed in order for him to enjoy fried chicken, but now he knew this chicken. He couldn't just die now.

"I know, it's unfortunate," the owner sighed, and Yeosang couldn't argue with him. He gave a smile to the owner and looked back at Mr. Clucks, adamantly pecking the ground, oblivious to his fate.

"I can't believe he'd just drop him like that," Yeosang said to Wooyoung after the owner had gone off to talk to other fair-goers. "This poor chicken will die because he wasn't good enough? Mr. Clucks doesn't deserve that." He looked back at the orange chicken with a saddened expression.

"Nothing we can do about it, though," Wooyoung shrugged while Mr. Clucks pecked at the ground some more. "Unless we were to steal him, but that's impossible. He's in that cage."

Yeosang nodded, unable to keep his eyes off of the chicken. "I really wish we..."

But Yeosang trailed off. On other cages, a small lock kept the door of the cage secure. But on Mr. Cluck's cage, the lock was both unlocked and broken. It would still prevent Mr. Clucks from getting out of the cage, but all Yeosang would need to do would be to slide the lock off of the hook that it was on. 

Wooyoung noticed what Yeosang was seeing. "Yeosang, no. Absolutely not."

"But he's going to die," Yeosang pushed, his heart beginning to race. Could they save Mr. Clucks?

"Yeah, just like a lot of chicken!" Wooyoung hissed. "The same chicken that you gouge down about four times a week. And what if we get caught? We're not exactly inconspicuous carrying around a goddamn chicken."

Yeosang pointed to Wooyoung's backpack that was coincidentally chicken-sized.

"Yeosang," Wooyoung groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "Okay, I guess I don't want him to die either. But he's not going to be happy in my backpack. He'd get stressed being in an unknown and closed space. We'd have a clucking backpack for the rest of our time at the fair."

"Then we steal- no, rescue him when we leave," Yeosang said, nodding at Wooyoung, who looked like he wanted to pass out on the floor out of exasperation. "Come on. This is a perfectly dumb thing that we can do together. We'll laugh about it in a few years."

"Not if the chicken police catches us," Wooyoung said, but his tone was amused rather than scolding. "Fine. But after we lose our minds on a few more rides."

Yeosang's smile was brighter than the blazing sun. "Thank you." Yeosang took one last look at Mr. Clucks in his cage before the two of them exited the animal exhibition.

Wooyoung and Yeosang proceeded to let themselves go wild for the last few hours of the fair. They rode one wooden and rickety rollercoaster in the fair multiple times with the other screaming preteens. They went on it so many times that the ride attendant learned their names, thanks to Wooyoung's loud personality and penchant for never shutting up.

"Well, Wooyoung, Yeosang," said the attendant, a cap that displayed the fair's company logo on his blond hair, "have fun on the ride. Again." He seemed to linger a little too long on Yeosang, but both of the boys were too eager to go on the ride to notice his attention to him.

Wooyoung later dared Yeosang go to on a terrible yet exciting throw up-inducing ride that flipped and turned its riders in the air. Yeosang stood in line with his arms crossed while Wooyoung gleefully stood on the sidelines. But the tables turned when the attendant told Yeosang that a minimum of two people were needed for each seat on the ride, and no one else in the line was riding single. There was no greater walk of shame for Wooyoung as he climbed into the ride's seat next to Yeosang. It was Yeosang's turn to be gleeful. So, the two of them screamed their lungs out as they whipped through the air and the sun smiled down at them from above.

The sun soon disappeared from the horizon and cooled down the fair. There was less light and more people crowding the fairgrounds, giving perfect conditions for the rescue of Mr. Clucks.

Wooyoung and Yeosang darkened the entrance to the chicken exhibition around eight o'clock. Wooyoung, armed with Mr. Cluck's red ride, his backpack, had a satisfied smile. Yeosang, eager to save his friend he had only met a few hours ago, made a beeline for the chicken.

"Mr. Clucks, hello!" He whispered as he slid the broken lock off of the cage while Wooyoung partially blocked him from other's view. There was only one other family with them, a mother and her screaming toddler, so they doubted she would pay attention to their thievery. The owner was also nowhere to be found, and the two of them had assumed he was tending to his other animals. The universe, it seemed, was optimized for thieves and discord this night.

Mr. Clucks clucked with fear when he was picked up by Yeosang from his cage, but all of the other chickens were also clucking. He was inaudible as he was placed carefully into Wooyoung's backpack and then zipped up.

"Oh, he's restless," Wooyoung muttered, now carrying the weight of poultry on his back. "I can feel him pecking my back."

"He's showing his love," Yeosang said and shut Mr. Cluck's now empty cage behind him. "Tomorrow, I'll go out and buy chicken food."

Wooyoung eyed him. "Yeosang, you're keeping him?" He asked, as if there wasn't a chicken in his backpack.

"What else am I supposed to do with him?" He asked incredulously, leading Wooyoung out of the chicken exhibition. It was luckily darker than when they had entered the chicken pens, so the small ruffling of Wooyoung's backpack was hardly noticeable. There was also enough screaming, laughing, and chattering from other fair-goers to deafen Mr. Cluck's clucking.

"Just let him go on the street?" Wooyoung shrugged. "You can't possibly take care of a chicken. Where will you put him?"

"I'm sure Pet Smart will have everything," Yeosang shrugged, weaving around a few of the fair-goers. They were almost at the exit of the fair. Once they were out of the gates, their rescue of Mr. Clucks would be a success.

"How was the fair?" The security guard that stood outside the fair asked, giving a serious smile as he checked to make sure Yeosang and Wooyoung had wrist bands.

"Egg-ceptional," Yeosang said at the same time Wooyoung said "im-peck-able." They then looked at each other with murder in their eyes.

The security guard, however, was not fazed. "Have a nice night," he said, and waved Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Mr. Clucks off.

Now that they were in the parking lot, Mr. Cluck's clucking was more audible. "Mr. Clucks, stop being so clucking- no, fucking loud!" Wooyoung hissed.

"It's fine, there's no one else around us," Yeosang reassured him. He could feel the adrenaline beginning to pick up inside him. They had done it, and Yeosang was so excited to show the rest of their friends Mr. Clucks.

"My backpack is going to smell like chicken for the rest of time," Wooyoung groaned as they reached Yeosang's car. He carefully placed down the backpack as he got into the passenger seat of the car and opened up the backpack. Mr. Clucks clucked as a greeting.

Yeosang peered over to look at their new friend. "Wonderful," he said, starting up the car. "Doesn't it feel good that we saved him?"

"What I'm feeling is itchy scratches on my back from all of his pecking, but sure," Wooyoung said, not taking his eyes off of Mr. Clucks. The orange chicken, now unzipped and a bit more free, seemed happier. Yeosang drove out of the parking lot.

"Get ready for your new home, Mr. Clucks," he said, turning smoothly into the lane that would take him home, "everyone is going to love you."

"What the hell?" Seonghwa said as a greeting when he walked into Yeosang's apartment. It was the next day, and Yeosang had gone out and bought all of the basic necessities for Mr. Clucks - a cage, chicken food, a chicken harness, and assorted clean up supplies. All of it sat in the corner of his apartment, while Yeosang himself was sitting on his couch. Mr. Clucks was perched onto his thighs and pecking aimlessly into the air.

"It's Mr. Clucks," Wooyoung said, leaning on the wall next to him with his arms crossed. "We stole him." He grinned while Seonghwa looked like he wanted to pass out.

Hongjoong entered the room next. He stared at Mr. Clucks for an absurdly long amount of time before saying, "Yeosang, I think your fried chicken is a bit undercooked." Seonghwa snorted.

"They stole him," Seonghwa added.

"From the fair," Wooyoung clarified.

"Why?" Hongjoong asked.

"Why not?" Yeosang said in reply, stroking Mr. Clucks' feathers.

Yunho and San entered Yeosang's apartment at the same time. "A chicken?" San asked, while Yunho sat right down next to Yeosang, admiring Mr. Clucks. Seonghwa and Hongjoong judged Yunho as he smiled and pet Mr. Clucks with Yeosang.

Jongho walked in with Mingi trailing behind him. While Jongho went through all five stages of grief upon seeing Mr. Clucks, Mingi was unfazed by Yeosang's new pet. "A chicken?" He asked. "What's his name?"

"Mr. Clucks," Yeosang grinned, which caused a few of them to look at each other with concern. Yeosang didn't seem to notice.

"Mr. Kang Clucks," Mingi finished.

At that, Yeosang brightened and Mr. Clucks let out a particularly triumphant cluck. "Oh, I love that name!"

"Or KC," San added. The room was oddly silent as Yeosang stroked his chicken, the only noise coming from Mr. Cluck's random clucks.

"Does the landlord know about this?" Hongjoong said finally, breaking the silence.

"He won't ever know," Yeosang said, smiling. "Well, unless he sees me taking it on a walk. But I think I'll be fine."

A pin could have dropped in the room. Seonghwa didn't take his eyes off of the harness, which had a leash, in the corner of the room. "A chicken," Hongjoong said finally, the unspoken spokesperson of the group. "Alright."

"I saved him from being killed," Yeosang felt the need to say. "And," he continued, looking at Wooyoung, "maybe I will end up releasing him or sending him to a good farm. But for now, I'll take care of him." He gave a grin to everyone, and as he stroked Mr. Clucks some more, it was clear that he dearly admired him.

But their smiles turned into held back laughter as Yeosang bent down and began dressing Mr. Clucks into a leashed harness. "I'll take him on his walk now," he said, placing Mr. Clucks down onto the floor wearing his new harness.

"Have a nice walk," a few of them echoed as they watched Yeosang and his domesticated poultry exit the apartment.

"A chicken," Seonghwa echoed now that Yeosang was gone. Jongho was already pulling out his phone and setting himself by the window to record Yeosang walking the chicken like it was a dog.

"I think the chicken is kind of cute," Yunho shrugged. "And it's admirable of him to give a bit of his time and money for the little guy."

"But a chicken," Seonghwa said. "A chicken."

They all grinned at that. But Yeosang was Yeosang, and as he walked outside with his winged and clucking pet, the rest of them felt a wave of respect and love for him.

And that was the sweet part about Yeosang - despite his love for eating chicken, he had a heart of gold and cared for unseen animals. And that allowed all of them to look at him at a new angle that, until now, none of them had previously noticed.

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】  Tears of Themis: Xia Yan Personal Story 4-12 Translation

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist | Video

Chapter 4: 4-1 / 4-2 / 4-4 / 4-5 / 4-6 / 4-7 / 4-9 / 4-10 / 4-11 / 4-12 / 4-13 / 4-14 / 4-16

Just when I was about to drive out of the tunnel, I noticed that there was a heavy-duty truck parked at exit of the tunnel near the mountain.

MC: !!!

I spun the steering wheel abruptly. The car avoided the truck, but slammed into the railings beside the road.

The massive impact left me dizzy. Amid my daze, I saw some burly men step off the back of the truck.

I had just hidden the earbud when they yanked open my car door, dragging me out of the car roughly.

--

Mountain Road

I was thrown harshly onto the ground.

The rough ground scraped my skin, and the frigid rainwater drenched my entire body.

MC: Ugh…!

Song Heng: Miss Lawyer, I made my way in your direction to minimize your trouble. Aren’t I quite the gentleman?

Song Heng, who was wearing a well-ironed suit, walked over with a black umbrella in his hand. He stood a few metres away from me.

Three burly, dauntless-looking men stood beside him.

MC: Where is Ji Xiaoyu?

Song Heng: Give me the evidence, and I’ll bring her to you.

I took out the USB from my pocket, and a man beside Song Heng snatched it away.

He stuck the USB into a computer for a check, then nodded at Song Heng.

Song Heng: Bring her over.

Ji Xiaoyu, who had been beaten black and blue, was dragged off that truck.

Four of the fingers on her right hand had been snapped.

Her face was covered in cold sweat, and her lips had been bitten to shreds, yet she still did her best to hold in her tears. But when she saw me, her tears burst out instantly.

Ji Xiaoyu: Why did you come… why couldn’t you have let me die…

MC: I’m sorry…

I couldn’t tell Ji Xiaoyu what my intentions were. All I could do was apologize quietly.

After, I couldn’t bear to look at her, so I stared straight at Song Heng.

MC: Song Heng, I’ve already given you the evidence. As promised –

Song Heng: I have fulfilled the promise. I indeed did not kill her before your arrival.

Song Heng: Although now, the two of you can head down that path together.

MC: You!

--

[Flashback]

Xia Yan: It will take me 35 minutes to drive to where Song Heng is. After you get there, no matter what, delay him for 15 minutes.

Xia Yan: I will absolutely save you. Absolutely.

Xia Yan: … You must wait for me.

[Flashback end]

--

I had to delay him for 15 minutes… no matter what I did.

Song Heng looked at Ji Xiaoyu and laughed.

Song Heng: Seeing how hard you’re trying… I’ll let you die in the same way as your sister, to make things come full circle.

MC: As expected! Ji Xiaoyu’s sister… Ji Xiaoqing – you killed her!

MC: What did you do to her!

MC: (Making Ji Xiaoyu die the same way that her sister did – he’s very smug of his criminal acts.)

I tried using this topic to lead Song Heng on and have him talk a little more, so I could delay for time.

Ji Xiaoyu: How did my sister die?!

When he heard me and Ji Xiaoyu, Song Heng’s lips curved with an amused smile.

Song Heng: Then I’ll demonstrate it for you – start.

One of Song Heng’s subordinates held down Ji Xiaoyu, while another returned to the car to grab a bottle of white wine.

The one with the wine grabbed Ji Xiaoyu’s chin, spilling wine into her mouth.

Ji Xiaoyu choked as her face reddened, coughing nonstop.

Ji Xiaoyu: Cough cough…!

Song Heng: She drank until she was dead drunk like this, and then got into an “accident”.

Song Heng: Right, the vehicle that hit Ji Xiaoqing is the one over there.

Song Heng lifted his chin towards that pickup truck nearby.

Ji Xiaoyu: …!

Ji Xiaoyu looked at that truck as well, her eyes momentarily sluggish.

Song Heng: Take her over, in memorial of her sister.

The man who had just dumped wine into Ji Xiaoyu’s mouth dragged her by her collar to the front of the truck.

Bam – Ji Xiaoyu’s head collided on the front of the car, and blood poured out.

MC: Stop it!

Song Heng: I am merely helping you both understand what happened, as you wished.

Song Heng: You should be thanking me for doing so much for you.

MC: You!!!

My whole body trembled uncontrollably from rage, but I forced myself to maintain calm.

Delay for time…

I needed to ask Song Heng some more questions that would amuse him and have him talk more.

⊳ Who was it who ran into Ji Xiaoqing! ⊳ You were also the one who killed Qian Yi, weren’t you!

MC: Who was it that drove the car and ran into Ji Xiaoqing!

Song Heng: I don’t remember.

Song Heng: Would you remember which shoe you used to smack a cockroach dead?

Song Heng: As long as they get money, lots of people are willing to be that cockroach-smacking shoe.

  ⊳ Who was it who ran into Ji Xiaoqing! ⊳ You were also the one who killed Qian Yi, weren’t you!

MC: It wasn’t just Ji Xiaoqing. You killed Qian Yi too, didn’t you!

Song Heng: Yep, that’s right.

Song Heng: People should be self-aware. Since he wasn’t, I could only teach him a lesson.

Song Heng: You could consider it as… using violence to curb violence? Enforcing justice for the heavens?

 --

Song Heng lifted his hand indifferently, looking at his watch.

Song Heng: Alright, that’s all for fun time. It’s almost time for me to get to the airport too.

Song Heng: I’ve worked hard in this country so long, so it’s about time for me to go elsewhere and enjoy life.

Song Heng looked at the vast expanse of river water at the bottom of the mountain.

The sky was dark and the rain poured vigorously down. The river grew darker and colder.

Song Heng: Go ahead. Send them on their way.

The man who had poured the wine into Ji Xiaoyu’s mouth started to drag her powerless body towards my car.

The other subordinate walked up to me. I snuck a glance at my watch.

Not enough… there were still 10 minutes until Xia Yan arrived.

MC: Song Heng, you think you can escape?!

MC: You said so yourself – this evidence is very important to me and the police. We can solve the case and get fame and fortune with it!

MC: Did you think I was the only one with a copy?

MC: Before the police left, they made a backup copy. That’s the only reason why they let me send it over!

Song Heng’s face twisted for a moment, but soon, he laughed loudly.

Song Heng: Miss Lawyer, I thought you a hypocrite, but now, I think you’re an utter idiot.

Song Heng: The Maple Leaf Event Hall network has always been under my control. I would be all too clear on it if anyone uploaded anything.

Song Heng: Not to mention, those policemen are currently fighting for their lives under a hail of bullets.

Song Heng: As for the car computer, my subordinates checked after dragging you off.

Song Heng: Plus, if the police really did have even better methods, then where are they?

Song Heng: If they send you over with the evidence, they’ve got to prepare backup to save you two, right? Where are they?

MC: …

I couldn’t let him find out about Xia Yan’s and Sphinx’s plan.

I had to think of something else…

I looked at the distance between me and Song Heng and grabbed tight on the lipstick tranquillizer gun in my sleeve cuff.

MC: (If I can get a little closer, I might be able to hit him. But how do I do that…)

--

[Flashback]

Sphinx: I don’t mind whether I remain an undefeated legend. Bringing those people to justice is, of course, the most important.

Sphinx: It’s just that the police wouldn’t let me write the script. I could’ve made written it to make it all cooler and more heroic, comparable to James Bond.

MC: Didn’t know you had this sort of hobby, Sphinx…

Xia Yan: Alright, catching criminals is the coolest.

--

Xia Yan: But after, I slowly realized that heroes aren’t always cool and impressive. They often are extremely wretched.

Xia Yan: But no matter how wretched they are, they still must protect those who they want to protect.

[Flashback end]

--

What do I do!

⊳ Kneel and beg for mercy ⊳ Inflame him verbally

I struggled against the man dragging me, plopping into a kneeling position in front of Song Heng.

MC: Mr. Song Heng, I beg you, please let us go. I’ll do anything.

The rough, cold, muddy road chafed against my knees, but it was more humiliating than painful.

Rainwater ran down my cheeks, and my messy hair clung to my skin. My wretchedness made my begging seem even more real.

MC: I beg you… I… I don’t want to die.

Ji Xiaoyu: Do not beg him!

Ji Xiaoyu: He won’t let you go no matter what you say! Don’t you understand?!

Ji Xiaoyu: Even if we die, we should die with dignity! Get up! Get up now!

I did not respond to Ji Xiaoyu as I remained in my kneeling position in front of Song Heng.

MC: Mr. Song Heng, I beg you, let us go…

As I spoke, I neared him in my kneeling position, taking the chance to grab the lipstick tranquillizer gun hidden in my sleeve pocket.

 ⊳ Kneel and beg for mercy ⊳ Inflame him verbally

MC: Song Heng, do you think you’re that impressive?! Way more impressive than the police?!

MC: You’re wrong! Perhaps justice may be late, but it will never be absent!

MC: You’re just a bouncing clown—

Song Heng’s subordinate grabbed my hair, throwing me ruthlessly on the ground.

A punch fell on me like a rainstorm. I could only protect my head with my hands.

MC: Ugh…

But I continued trying to anger him with words.

One step, two steps… Song Heng slowly strolled up to me.

I used this chance to grab at the lipstick tranquillizer gun in my sleeve pocket, then pointed it at Song Heng--!

----

Bam!

I had just lifted my hand when Song Heng’s subordinate snatched it out of my hand.

Right after, a forceful punch landed on my stomach, so severely painful that I curled over.

MC: Cough… cough cough!

Song Heng took the lipstick that his subordinate handed over, then casually shot out all the tranquillizer darts in it.

Song Heng: So, this was what you were aiming for.

The unending pain left me almost unable to breathe, and my head was filled with the ringing in my ears. I basically couldn’t hear what Song Heng was saying at all.

I only had one thought – get more time.

MC: Song Heng, you… won’t get away with it… ugh!

Fists and feet rained on me without stopping.

That’s alright… delay for more time…

Song Heng: Though I’d love to continue to enjoy seeing a self-important person like you look desperately pathetic as you beg for your life…

Song Heng: There’s not much time left.

Song Heng turned around and returned to his limousine.

Ji Xiaoyu was stuffed into the driver’s seat. Then, Song Heng’s subordinate handcuffed her to the steering wheel.

Because the front door on the other side of the car was stuck on the mountain road railings, the other subordinate just stuffed me into the trunk.

After, someone started the truck and drove it straight at us.

Bang – my car flew past the guardrails, flipping off the cliff.

The car fell into the water.

It was inky black in the trunk. Accompanied by the muffled sounds of water, I could feel myself tilting at a more and more extreme angle within my space.

As river water trickled in, the car sunk gradually lower. We’d be completely submerged soon.

Ji Xiaoyu: I’m sorry. It’s all because I implicated you.

Ji Xiaoyu: I knew that if they threatened you with me… you’d definitely come. No matter how much I begged you to not come, you wouldn’t listen.

Ji Xiaoyu: If you were scared, you wouldn’t have helped me from the start…

Ji Xiaoyu’s voice was choked up as she intermittently apologized.

MC: It’s not time to give up yet! I talked to Xia Yan – he’ll be very soon!

MC: It’s just hard for him to find us immediately in this weather.

MC: We have to think of a way to get out the car first – it’s almost filled with water.

The trunk… Xia Yan said that there was a way to get out of the trunk.

--

[Flashback]

Xia Yan: Most car trunks have a hidden switch that you can use to open the trunk from within.

MC: Is that so?

Xia Yan: Yeah, it’s usually on the trunk lid or the side wall. Some are buttons, some are handles, and some use panels to cover it that need to be opened with keys.

[Flashback end]

--

The trunk’s opening switch is on –

⊳ Trunk lid ⊳ Side wall

I felt over the trunk lid, but didn’t find anything like a handle, door bolt, or button.

MC: Don’t panic. Look somewhere else.

 ⊳ Trunk lid ⊳ Side wall

Up, down, left, and right… I felt in the dark for a long time, and finally found a handle.

MC: (That’s it!)

I pulled the handle.

--

River

The trunk immediately popped open, and the icy wind and rain battered against my face. Only a quarter of the car was still sticking out above the river surface – it looked like it was on the verge of being completely submerged.

I pushed out of the trunk quickly and swam to the driver’s seat door, where Ji Xiaoyu was.

Due to the front of the car being heavier, the front seats had sunk even deeper into the water. Ji Xiaoyu could only desperately tilt up her head to continue breathing.

I tried to help Ji Xiaoyu out of the handcuffs, but the other side had been locked onto the steering wheel. I couldn’t do anything to take it off.

Ji Xiaoyu: That won’t work… I still have an idea.

MC: What idea? How do I help you?

Ji Xiaoyu: No need.

Ji Xiaoyu looked at her handcuffed hand, the one with four snapped fingers thanks to Song Heng’s men.

She gritted her teeth, forcefully snapping the last, unfractured finger.

MC: Xiaoyu!

Enduring the pain, she gasped a few times, shaking as she drew her deformed hand out of the handcuff.

I pulled her out of the seat, and we got out of the car.