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fanfuckingfic · 4 years

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You Move Like Real People Do

(Choreographer!Jimin x Ecologist!Namjoon x Singer!Reader)

Summary: Sometimes loving someone is just too easy. It just sinks into you so deeply or floats you away so high either way it shouldn't be hard to hold on to.

Wordcount: 2.6k

Warnings: (Sappy fluff, polyamory, lots of talk about bog bodies, excessive amounts of admiration, the songs are literally Hozier’s and you should listen to them if you haven’t, oh my god this is so self indulgent)

A/N: I haven't written in like 3 years and I've never tried bullet fic style so please be nice :( also I love Hozier so much oh my god I literally just built a whole universe in my brain around his music + bangtan and I think Movement fits Jimin so well and LRPD is a sick song and Joon is a just weird nerd but anyway please enjoy and lemme know what you think!

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Namjoon is an ecologist and Jimin is a choreographer and Y/n is a famous indie-rock blues singer/songwriter (literally just fucking Hozier because I love that man with every bit of my heart).

You and Joon are early risers and spend mornings sipping coffee and reading together on the couch while you wait for Jimin to get ready for the classes he teaches alongside being a choreographer so they can kiss him good morning and wish him a good day when he leaves.

You’re sure to put extra honey in his green tea to-go cup, and he kisses you both quickly on the cheek before scurrying out the door.

They both kind of fiddle around with their day cause Joon is a professor at the local university and only has classes twice a week and finished grading that last assignment yesterday.

So now he's watering his plants and terrariums in the greenhouse porch you all have and your sitting there fiddling with your guitar, messing around with some chords sometimes writing them down sometimes not.

Casually you ask Joon which student had the best paper.

“One student went out of their way to be a kiss ass if that counts.”

You ask how he means with a chuckle.

“Well you know how I've been writing a thesis about bog bodies and what-not?”

“Yes of course, love, you only remind me of the phenomenon every chance you have.” You look up at him with mock disdain.

His eyebrows furrow, “I thought you liked talking about the bog bodies” He pouts and you honestly can't even try to deny it.

“I do, I think it's kind of beautiful- not like dead people that's shitty- but when you describe how the swamps and bogs preserve them and how they’re found.” You take in a deep breath mulling over your words for moment.

“You make things like that sound so beautiful, Joonie. Even if I don't get half the big sciencey words you say. It sorta sounds like people falling in love with something they shouldn't but doing it anyway.” You smile to yourself thinking of him talking to (mostly at) you.

Namjoon still gets flustered easily by your and Jimin's creative ways of declaring your love.

He hears Jimin's tinkling laugh in your music and his own words in your songs, sometimes he feels like he doesn't love you both back enough but you both are quick remind him that he doesn't show love through notes and twirls

He shows them through flowers he picks and the way he's always willing to interrupt himself to explain something when he sees confusion in either of your eyes, because he knows you want to but wont stop his train of thought, you both want to understand what he's babbling on about because you love him.

(And he looks so fuckin hot when he goes on his passionate rants about certain bacteria being the back bone for an entire ecosystem how could you not?)

He blushes and clears his throat.

You always find the beauty in everything, can turn just about anything into a love story, a poem.

He loves that about you and Jimin you're both so able to make the world more beautiful with your bodies and minds. You both love that he adds so much sustenance to that beauty.

“You're right, bog bodies deserve love, just like any real person does. But a student wrote their paper on them and used me as a source in their reference page.” He huffs, still amused by the students' tenacity.

“Any real person, huh? You gave them an A didn't you?” You absorb his words before deadpanning.

Namjoon doesn't answer and instead bends down to kiss your lips then your forehead before he goes back to being very interested in how his Venus fly trap is doing.

Some days when your writer's block is extra bad and you've been struggling to come up with lyrics that mean anything or chords to go with them, Jimin asks if you want to come with him to the studio.

He's just experimenting with some new choreography so it's just you two.

He notices when you get into these slumps you can't quite reach your way out of and staying in the house all cooped up trying to get inspired by the same things you see everyday isn't going to help.

It's a classical piece a dance company hired him to choreograph, wordless dancing was always his forte.

Feeling the music move through him and around him, throw him to and fro. He likes to feel like a tool of expression- like an instrument to be played.

You watch him work and think and move, over and over again, something just slightly different each time just slightly closer to what he wants.

He's breathless by the time he comes to sit next you against the back wall he saw you staring the whole time and loves how he can still make you and Joon speechless and swooning even after all the years together.

“Sometimes I forget you're real, you know, when you dance.” You murmur head on your knees still in a daze after watching him.

Jimin quirks an eyebrow and smirks.

“The hell does that mean?” He simpers, knowing you're probably about to say something that will completely floor him and make him fall for you even harder.

“You just stop looking real I guess, you look like if I reached out to touch you, you would still just be barley out of reach, like driving towards a rainbow or a mirage, ya know?”

He quirks his head, not really understanding what you mean but trying to.

“You're just so good at using your body to show a concept you almost kind of become one. I don't know, mostly, I just feel like I'd chase you forever if you really were unreachable like that, I don't think I'd mind.” You shrug and reach for his hand to fiddle with.

He exhales in surprise. He was absolutely right. Floored.

“Would you dance with me? Running after me doesn't sound as pretty as us dancing together forever.” He asks twisting you fingers with his.

“I don't think I'd have a choice not wanting to dance with you would be like not wanting to breathe.”

He sighs dramatically. “Babe! How am I supposed to be okay after you say shit like that? Huh?” He laughs and shoves your shoulder playfully.

You laugh and fall over pulling him with you.

Namjoon comes by later with drinks from the cafe he knows Jimin loves and finds you both slow dancing in the middle of the empty studio.

You both pull him in between you and continue to sway back and forth. It's sweet and romantic and your drinks go cold before any of you are ready to let go of each other.

Your latest album was amazing and you're about to go on tour and you're nervous to be away from your guys for so long cause last time you went on tour you weren’t as famous and such didn't go to different countries to perform.

You're gonna miss them terribly and they miss you twice as bad and they definitely bawl their eyes out when your tour bus is out of sight.

They tried really hard to keep up the smiles for you cause you deserve the success and the recognition without guilt or reservations but wow the house is so quiet without your absent-minded humming and strumming and no knew pieces of paper with potential lyrics scattered around the countertops.

You all keep in touch of course- face-timing at least once a day with both or either of them and you ask them not to watch any recorded performances cause you don't want them to spoil it for when you come back and do your final home concert.

Your reason being: you left two songs off the album you wanted to perform on tour.

So now it's your last concert before you get to sleep in the same bed as your loves again, they arrive early but you're still too busy with sound check and your drummer having boyfriend problems to get more than a hug and kiss to each of them.

They don't mind though they know how concerts are for you. You love them- you get to give your fans a bit of your soul and they all give a bit right back.

They meander through the crowd towards the front not too close though. Your manager tried to get them to stay backstage but they both wanted to get the full experience since they did as promised and had steered clear of any footage of the concert.

When you walk out everyone lights up and the energy in the whole concert hall shifts.

You smile so bright and they're close enough they can see the surprise on your face when you look down into the crowd and see them. Your eyes soften and get a little misty but ever the professional you trudge on.

Song after song you work the crowd into the comfort of your melodies and words have people screaming, crying and eating out of the palm of your hand so easily.

You get to the end of your set, Namjoon and Jimin know- you'd asked them for help when planning the show. They knew which songs you were gonna sing and when but it didn't occur to them it seemed just a bit short until now when you're clearly your throat and asking for the house lights to be brought up just a bit.

“The next two songs are love songs, I would sing about political injustice and grieving a metaphorical loss all day if I could-” the crowd hoots a few times with their chuckles and Namjoon and Jimin feel surprised grins growing on their faces.

“but I'm just too in love to not write a song or two.”

You strum a tune he’s only slightly familiar with, its something he’s heard you tweak for the past year or so.

“The lyrics of this one are a bit odd and terribly specific to a certain person so bare with me.”

The auditorium murmurs a laugh again knowing your lyrics more often than not are.

“I had a thought, dear, however scary

About that night, The bugs and the dirt

Why were you digging?

What did you bury, before those hands pulled me from the earth?

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask you, neither should you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do”

The piano sounds and the haunting harmony from your back up singers makes Namjoon’s heart race.

He knows what you're singing about, Jimin knows too he might not get it as well as Namjoon does right now- some of the things Joon talks about are just slightly too icky for him- but he does know that if he could dance about Joon’s brain he would.

He smiles when Namjoon's hand squeezes his, his eyes unable to look away from you and the little story being told between you two right now.

“I knew that look dear, eyes always seeking

Was there in someone, that dug long ago

So I will not ask you, why you were creeping

In some sad way I already know

I will not ask you where you came from

I will not ask you and neither would you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We should just kiss like real people do”

Noli timere Namjoon hears the words being dragged and stretched in your vocals and his heart clenches.

“I could not ask you where you came from

I could not ask you, neither could you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips

We could just kiss like real people do”

Your voice tapers off and the strums slow as you open your eyes and hold his gaze meaningfully.

Namjoon is left feeling like he's floating.

You wrote a song about something he cares about, you wrote him a song about one of his favorite things even if it is a very creepy weird thing.

You took all the thoughts he poured into your ears and made it something people could love just a little bit easier. He almost thought he couldn't love you more than he already did.

“This next one might be a bit less niche but if you've ever seen your lover dance you would know exactly what its about.”

The heavy dip of bass vibrates their feet and a resounding clap comes to fill the air as the surprise and tears come his eyes.

“I still watch you when you're groovin'

As if through water from the bottom of a pool

You're movin' without movin'

And when you move, I'm moved”

Jimin’s hand comes to his mouth and you smile mischievously into your mic.

“You are a call to motion

There, all of you a verb in perfect view

Like Jonah on the ocean

When you move, I'm moved

When you move I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be

When you move I could never define all that you are to me”

You look directly at him making sure he knows this is his song.

“So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally

Move me, baby

You are the rite of movement

Its reasonin' made lucid and cool

I know it's no improvement

When you move, I move”

Jimin laughs wetly at your joke. You’re wrong- he thinks- your body is absolutely and improvement of any situation.

“You're less Polunin leapin'

Or Fred Astaire in sequence

Honey, you, you're Atlas in his sleepin'

And when you move, I'm moved

When you move I can recall somethin' that's gone from me

When you move, Honey, I'm put in awe of somethin' so flawed and free

So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby

So move me, baby, Like you've nothin' left to prove

And nothin' to lose, move me, baby

Ooh, ooh, ooh

Oh baby, oh baby

Move like grey skies

Move like a bird of paradise

Move like an odd sight come out at night”

The sudden crash of the band coming together to put music to your declaration makes goosebumps rise on Jimin's skin, Namjoon looks between you both and his heart melts softly in his chest. Just the admiration between you both enough to make him fall all over again.

“Move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby

So move me, baby

Like you've nothin' left to lose

And nothin' to prove, move me, baby

So move me, baby

Shake like the bough of a willow tree

You do it naturally, move me, baby”

The calls and hums of you and your back up singers echo quietly before applause assaults their ears, the cheering nothing short of deafening.

You bow and wave backing away from the mic for a few moments- taking in the last show you'll be doing for a while- before walking off stage.

Namjoon knows he should be pulling Jimin with him towards backstage so they can smother you with love properly but hey can't move Jimin has tears streaming down his face and Namjoon is too awestruck about you remembering him going on about the last words of a poet who had written about the bog bodies and how you always just cared so much about him and Jimin.

Eventually they do move through the leaving crowd towards security, the guards already aware of their faces escort them.

They knock on the green room door with your name next to it.

It swings open so quickly they flinch back and the woman barreling into their arms throws them back at least a foot.

“I missed you so much” you all but sob into their chests. Clinging tightly to their shirts.

They share a look over your head all too endeared with your clinginess having missed it terribly for the past months.

“We missed you too angel.” Jimin sighs into your hair, much closer to your head than Namjoon.

Namjoon hums in agreement then sniffles making you both turn your faces up to look at him, Namjoon crying was a really rare thing well maybe in comparison with you and Jimin who will cry at an emotionally manipulative commercial without hesitation.

You're both slightly shocked to see tear tracks on his adorably reddened face and him struggling to control his breathing.

“Ooh Joonie.” You coo then pull them both into the green room and start wiping at his cheeks. He sniffles again and it's absolutely precious.

“Y-you sang about b-bog bodies!” He sobs hauling you off your feet pushing the air out of your lungs.

Jimin laughs and sniffs wiping at his now wet face too.

“You guys liked them? They weren’t corny?” You wheeze as he sets you back down between them.

“Are you kidding?! You referenced Sergei Polunin, that's so corny, babe.” Jimin pets your cheek and kisses it tenderly. “Of course we loved them.”

“I'm gonna put my song in my thesis, its gonna open a whole flood gate for the romanticism of them.'' Namjoon says, mostly to himself, still shaky with tears.

Jimin pulls you both in for another hug and in a similar state to Namjoon says, “I’m gonna choreograph both of our songs. I’m dropping all my projects for it- right now.”

You laugh and shake your head before pulling back to take them both in again still not over how long it’d been since you got hold them.

“You wanna go somewhere? Get a welcome home drink or meal or candle or something?” Jimin asks, putting your hair back into place as best he can.

“That diner with the shakes on 5th is probably still open-” Namjoon starts but you shake your head.

“Can we just go home? I missed you so much.” They both nod with the softest smiles and each grip a hand.

Your tour bus dropped off most of your stuff at home earlier that day so Namjoon just takes your backpack and Jimin pulls your guitar over his shoulder. But not before asking with a smirk-

“Did you say Fred Astaire in sequins?”

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Thank you for reading <3 Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this! It’ll lets me know if I should write more or not

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emeraldtawny · 4 years

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Drug Dealer!AU Blanc & Oliver: Mitigation

...hey, it’s been a while ghrodktergrdg. I’ve been sitting on this idea for a bit wondering how to bring it to life and...I may have...accidentally planned out the entire direction I want this story to go?? WOO!

As always, the rundown of this AU can be found here if you’re unfamiliar or need a quick recap. Otherwise, enjoy~

There were few things that could rattle the esteemed heir to the Lapin family name - their history of unshakable tenacity dating back to its earliest records. But none of them had ever faced an obstacle of this magnitude, thus the sole successor allowed himself some self-pity in these moments of dread.

“Mr Lapin! Mr Lapin!! The drug cartel in this city has gotten even more out of hand. Some people are suggesting that the dealers for Magic Crystals have doubled this month alone! How are you planning to fix this?”

He flashes a grin that would pacify most, his rose-gold eyes narrowing amiably - just shy of irritation - as he turns back to the reporter hot on his heels.

“There has been no such confirmation, so they are baseless rumours made to stir up trouble as far as that goes. The police are working day and night to hunt down the smaller dealers as well as the one behind all of this. I’m afraid all I can ask of you is to wait patiently.”

“But there has been talk of corruption among authorities, many being bribed to stay silent or taking Crystals themselves. And those aren’t just ‘baseless rumours’, Mr Lapin.”

(I have to give this young man credit for his dedication to the job. I only wish his attack was not directed at me.)

He walks briskly as the sun creeps eerily behind the surrounding buildings, lamp posts bursting to life to provide illumination for the rabbit being chased by his news-hungry predator.

“That I am aware of. We are making preparations with the police - with officers we are certain are clean - to begin dealing with those corrupt officers. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much power as you think I do, so my reach can only go so far.”

“As the man in charge here, don’t you think it’s callous of you to deter blame for this? The Clemences are under suspicion for dealing Crystals to the high-class public, the Godspeeds are remaining neutral in this entire fiasco, and no one has trusted the Kingsleys in years. You’re the only pillar of stability we have left in this city, so how about you start standing on it and helping us out?!”

“You--!”

(You don’t think I’m trying to do that?!)

The unbecoming retort on the tip of his tongue is cut short by another voice, harsh and cutting like a winter’s gale, especially in contrast to Blanc’s warm and honeyed tone.

“Don’t you think you’re being unfair to the only man in this city actually trying to combat this? And don’t you dare try to say you’re helping this city out by ‘doing your job’. A reporter is about as useful as a lead balloon.”

Dressed down in a casual white long-sleeved button-up shirt and black pants, yet still sporting his recognisable silk hat, he steps out from the shadows of a nearby building, the lamp post’s light cutting through him and shining its light on only half of his frame.

“A-and who are you?” The reporter retorts, the shakiness in his voice unable to be quelled.

“Just someone who also wants this city to be free of pests. But believe me when I say that antagonising the only viable option left is the worst possible thing you can do. Go back to the papers and scream about the ‘youth ruining the economy’ or whatever the hell has your knickers in a twist this month.”

The venom laced in his words is potent - far from subtle - and makes the young man quiver as he turns to run with his tail between his legs. Blanc lets out a soft sigh of relief before he feels those metallic eyes turn their daggers onto him.

“I thought I said to be back before dusk to avoid this very issue, you mangy rabbit.”

He lets a laugh escape him, though he doesn’t try to mask the clear fatigue in the gesture; he was comfortable enough letting his long-time friend see him weak when the public couldn’t, for the sake of his image as a figurehead for the city.

“My apologies, Oliver. It won’t happen again. Although, I honestly can’t deny how pertinent this chance meeting with that reporter was.”

Oliver raises a brow, his intrigue disguised by aggravation to all except Blanc. “And just what do you mean by that?”

The click of Blanc’s oxfords seems to reverberate through the empty street as he steps past Oliver.

“Perhaps this information will be better relayed in private?”

With a throaty grumble through pursed lips, Oliver catches up to Blanc in a few long strides, the two men walking in silence. Yet somehow, they fail to notice the hooded figure lurking a few buildings back, the Crystal’s potent effect letting him hear every word of their conversation, eyes of blood and gold resolved to deliver this information.

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Behind the closed doors of the Lapin estate, the two retreat even further into the house’s infrastructure to enter through a simple wooden door that’s so remarkably out of place amidst the ornate decor. Flicking on the light, Blanc sighs as he removes his coat and places it neatly over the back of a chair, Oliver following in behind and shutting the door to their ‘workshop’.

Paper is scattered loosely across the table’s surface, the oak brown replaced by sheer white. On the far wall is a pinboard, various faces stuck onto its surface alongside meticulously detailed notes of each profile. It’s a scene ripped straight from a buddy cop scenario, the only missing element being the comedy.

Blanc and Oliver stand before the table littered with sheets of paper, both sets of eyes roaming over their sporadic evidence, notes scribbled down with the sole purpose of documentation over organisation. Oliver pulls free a cigarette and a lighter from his pants pocket. He coaxes the stick of nicotine to life and inhales a long drag, his expulsion of the smoke seeming to linger around him. Eyes unmoving from the table, he passes the cigarette to Blanc, himself taking a puff whilst Oliver sorts through the papers to attain some semblance of order.

“So? Why was that kid so important when all it seemed like he was doing was trying to drive you up the wall?”

Letting the smoke rise naturally from his lips, its distinctive scent burning his nostrils, Blanc taps the ashes at the tip of the cigarette into the ashtray - the only non-paper object on the table - with skilled fingers.

“It only made me realise that our risky decision is the right course of action to take.”

“Explain.”

Inhaling another drag of smoke into his lungs, Blanc breathes it out through puckered lips, admiring the thin, wispy trail it makes before elaborating.

“That young man from earlier did bring up an interesting point that only reaffirmed our plan. No one has trusted the Kingsley family in this city in years...which means that even without a sound lead, focusing the public’s attention on a single source will give us more time to discover the truth. Who knows? Maybe they’re the ones who have been behind this all along.”

A bitter laugh, “That, I don’t doubt. If Lancelot admitted to the whole thing, I don’t think a single soul in this city would be surprised.”

“That is exactly my point,” Blanc pushes the cigarette into the ashtray to extinguish its light, the heavy clawing scent of nicotine permeating the small room, “In these trying times, a common enemy to scapegoat our frustrations onto is dutifully needed. Especially if that scapegoat has a high chance of being as guilty as we expect him to be.”

As Blanc grabs a blank piece of paper and pulls a pen from his waistcoat pocket to write out a note, Oliver looks over at him from stacking the papers.

“You sure this will give us enough time to actually get a proper lead? All we’ve been able to find is that the Godspeed kid is in on this, but everyone with a functioning brain knows that. We’ve got leads and plenty of them; we’re just lacking evidence and proof.”

Finishing his note with a satisfying tap of pen to paper, Blanc draws his eyes up to Oliver and flashes him a smile, “Relax, my old friend. You underestimate how up-in-arms the public can get over issues like this. This will cause enough of a stir to mitigate our immediate problems.”

“If you say so.”

Oliver huffs, fishing around for another cigarette as Blanc promptly grabs his coat and exits the workshop. And in his hand, a neatly written letter:

[ To the tabloids desperate for a news story,

Here’s a headline for you:

The Beautiful Beast Embezzles Government Money, But For What Cause? ]

#ikerev #ikerev fanfic #drug dealer AU #blanc lapin #oliver knight #hmmm I wonder who else made a tiny guest appearance???? :3 #I'm so excited to share what I've got cooking up with this AU #it's nice to have a project that I can keep coming back to and that I'm this invested in #feels good uwu

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that-shamrock-vibe · 4 years

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Disney+ What To Watch: My Top 10 Favourite Disney Classics

#1. One Hundred and One Dalmatians

I cannot begin to describe how much I love this movie, not only is it my favourite Disney Classic and probably my favourite Disney movie overall, but it’s probably also one of my favourite movies of all time.

Not only does the movie epitomise why I love dog-centric movies, but this is a nostalgic classic that has aged up with me so well. I can remember this being one of the first movies I constantly watched, I can’t remember how the VHS got damaged but the actual tape reel became damaged and at the same point in the movie where Cruella’s pen explodes onto Roger and Pongo was always accompanied with static but for some reason, even when I watch the movie via DVD and now Disney+, I kind of miss that little unique addition to it.

Outside of the movie though, like Disney Classics such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Hercules, I also watched 101 Dalmatians: The Animated Series which I believe continued the franchise from the first movie, but then you had 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure which was also good but counteracted the continuity of the series, also the animation style was different in all three.

I also played the 101 Dalmatians storybook for the PC which not only helped me from a young age with my memory and coordination, but also added another layer to the original story such as exploring the De Vil Mansion and getting a glimpse into Cruella’s past...and I don’t care what anyone says, the puppies licking the screen at the end still touches my heart almost as much as when my dog licks me.

It’s also something when the live-action version, which I discovered around the same time I discovered the animated classic as I was the right age when the live-action version came out, gives me more layers for appreciating the original while still being a great movie.

I mean let’s not joke, the two best things about the live-action version are the real life dalmatians and Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil...but I still love anything attached to this franchise.

Because of this also, I have actually developed an interest in reading novels by beginning to read The Hundred and One Dalmatians and getting another new layer of appreciation for the story.

I love this movie so much that I got back into watching Disney Channel for the Descendants franchise because I knew Cruella’s son would be in it. Loved him as well.

But moving away from what this movie means to me, and talking about why the movie is number on its merits, not only are these animated puppies just so darn cute, but also the family feel story is just so touching. This is a Disney family movie about a family which Disney don’t always focus on. It’s usually about the hero or the heroine and the love interest stopping the villain. But this is about a realistic family in dog form.

Even the human family members are involved in this too. Yes they’re side characters but without them to look after the dalmatians, the dalmatians wouldn’t thrive as they do.

Now I constantly am at war with myself, because while One Hundred and One Dalmatians is my favourite Disney movie and dalmatians are one of my favourite dog breeds, Cruella De Vil, whose mission it is to skin dalmatians for their fur, I identify as my spiritual mother.

I love her so much, I love her style, I love her persona, I love the fact that she is relentless and passionate, yes about something horrific but at the same time you have to admire her tenacity.

The grandeur of this movie also when you have the Twilight Bark with all these dogs communicating from across London all the way to Hell Hall, then you have Pongo and Perdita searching for their puppies and when they are on the run from Cruella during that snow storm...it’s so grand and makes me appreciate the winter season even more.

The climax when you have the dalmatians in Dinsford with the Labrodor where they disguise themselves in soot in order to evade Cruella and the Badduns is also just so fun, from the fact they play a minor espionarge heist to the high-action speed chase of Cruella’s car and the truck driver.

Musically, the attention is really on the one song which is the song “Cruella De Vil” but there is also the song “Dalmatian Plantation” at the end. “Cruella De Vil” is definitely one of the better Disney villain songs even if it is one of the few “villain songs” not sung by the villain.

But I think overall the reason why this movie is immovable as my favourite Disney movie is the feeling that it gives me every time I watch it. I either feel ill or low and I’ll put on One Hundred and One Dalmatians and it cheers me up, I came back early from a family friend’s birthday during the Christmas holiday to the house to myself and put on this movie and it was one of few things that year that put me in the Christmas mood, even though One Hundred and One Dalmatians is as much a Christmas movie as Lady and the Tramp.

There is nothing negative I can honestly say about this movie, as I say it is my favourite Disney Classic, favourite Disney movie and probably my favourite movie. I don’t see a movie unseating it anytime soon.

So what do you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Disney+ What to Watch Top 10s as well as more Top 10 Lists and other posts.

#disney #disney+#disney plus #disney+ what to watch top 10s #disney+ what to watch #my top 10 favourite disney classics #one hundred and one dalmatians #101 dalmatians

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eleventoes · 6 years

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all these books (but i’m only checking you out)

pairing: seokjin x reader; college!au | fluff fluff fluff word count: 1.1k warning(s): none (apart from cheesy pickup lines)

Libraries were comforting; but not exactly comfortable. Or at least that was what you could gather from the past two hours of being cramped up in this secluded corner, craning your neck every two seconds for a good glimpse of the check-out counter.

“Can you please take your stalking elsewhere?” The annoying asshole next to you laments, and you roll your eyes, pretending to be offended for all of three seconds.

To set things straight, you weren’t stalking anybody, no, that’ll be way too harsh a word. It was as simple as it gets, really. You were just on your merry way to the library for a couple of books on that research paper due Friday, and had incidentally locked gazes with that cute librarian from across the room. A skip of your heart and here you were, two hours later, with a random book in hand and your essay nowhere near completion.

“It’s not stalking, Yoongi,” You retort, “You really need to get out more.”

“Stop bugging me and go ask him out already,” The blonde douchebag (who’d only gruffly acquiesce to being your best friend if you’d somehow trick him into taking a shot) huffs in annoyance, before nodding apologetically at the poor dude seated across the both of you, who looked as if he was going to start tearing his hair out anytime now. You don’t blame him; finals week was termed Hell Week for a reason.

You blink once, frowning.

Easier said than done; you weren’t just crushing on anyone, because the new student librarian happened to be Kim Seokjin himself, and if the rumors were anything to go by, you’d only be setting yourself up for heartbreak if you asked him out on a whim.

Known throughout the school as the campus sweetheart, it was a given that he had at least three dozen fanclubs, and his fair share of admirers (that face of his wasn’t fooling anybody; everyone knew it and honestly, so did he). It wasn’t that he was a bad boy or a Casanova or anything like that; the problem was very much the opposite. The problem was that he’s all too used to the blurted confessions and hasty love letters, and he’s long mastered the art of rejection, though in the gentlest way possible, because duh, he was Kim Seokjin.

If you weren’t careful, you were going to get shot down before you could even blink, and yes, it has only been two hours, but your heart wasn’t ready to let him go just yet, damn it.

“I heard he likes lameass pick-up lines,” Yoongi whispers with a shrug, “Go nuts.”

Ah, Min Suga, coming through with his multitude of insider sources as usual (only because Taehyung keeps him well-fed with everything that goes on within campus, and Taehyung’s friends with literally the whole planet). With a resolute exhale, you get up (not before shooting your dear friend finger guns, to which he returned a scowl), making your way towards the towering shelves.

It wasn’t as if you could work on your essay without spelling out his name a million times in Arial font size 11 anyway, and you were almost ninety-five percent sure your stoic professor wouldn’t quite appreciate that.

Though, your professor did make it clear that you should be chasing your dreams, and you intend to do exactly that, eyes scanning the books lining the tall shelves before landing conveniently on one titled Pickup Lines for Dummies.

It was a pity that it was just that much out of your reach, your fingertips barely grazing its spine even on your tiptoes.

But of course, of course a shadow was quickly enveloping your frame, and a hand was reaching out from above you to slide the book right out effortlessly.

Breath hitching from the sudden proximity, you whirl around to come face to face (or more like his shoulder to your face) to wouldn’t you know it, Kim Seokjin himself, who was presently wearing the most precious smile on his lips as he hands the book over.

“Interesting choice,” He remarks, leaning forward ever so slightly, and truth to be told, anymore eye contact with those hazel irises of his and you’d be this close to going into cardiac arrest.

You flush, but if you had one redeeming trait, it would be tenacity, and there was no way you’d reduce yourself to a blushing mess this early in the game.

“Hold on,” Peering up at him through your lashes, you swiftly flipped to a random page in the book before reciting, word for word, “You must be a tower, because Eiffel for you.”

Kim Seokjin blinks back, albeit with the slightest hint of a smirk.

Half a millisecond goes by in stark quietude before his honeyed voice was filling the void once again, firing back without missing a beat, “You must be a triangle, acute one.”

Stupefied, your eyes flicker nervously to where Yoongi was busy working on his essay, clearly not giving a flying fuck about you and your emergency over here. This wasn’t how you had expected things to go, but screw it, you had nothing to lose anyway.

Orbs glinting with renewed determination, you turn the pages frantically before biting back, “If you were a booger, I’d pick you first.”

Seokjin was grinning back at you, very much visibly amused, “You’re a photographer aren’t you? You’re making me smile.”

How does this man pull a million cheesy lines out of his ass like it was nothing?

“Is that cashmere you’re wearing? Or is that sweater made of boyfriend material?”

“You must be a parking ticket, you have fine written all over you.”

“You must be a keyboard, because you’re just my type.”

“Well, if you must know, you’re my type too.”

Oh, damn.

“You don’t understand,” You speak slowly, taking care to enunciate every word clearly, “I’m trying to pick you up here.”

“I know,” That goddamned smile was still tugging on those lips of his, “Give me some credit, I’m trying too.”

Stunned, you only watch, fascinated at the iridescent hues dancing vivaciously in his playful gaze, any semblance of how he actually felt materializing in the form of a light crimson dusted across his cheekbones. It was more than obvious that neither of you were used to assaulting the other with pickup lines (the cringier the better) out of the blue, and you supposed the two of you were having a moment and all; if a moment meant an awkward beat of silence where you looked at anywhere but at each other.

“Uh, so, coffee?”

“Hell yeah.”

a/n: happy birthday to car door guy, third from the left, worldwide handsome, bangtan’s eldest maknae; kim seokjin!! i love him so much i don’t even know what to say apart from my heart being this close to combusting because it can’t handle how much i adore him and his relentless dad jokes omigod i hope he receives all the love he could possibly get:’))) excuse my rambling, and thank you so much for reading^^ (feedback would always be welcomed:))

#sfwbangtan #btswriters #jin scenarios #jin fanfic #bts fanfic #bts scenarios #happy jin day

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leigh-kelly · 7 years

Note

In your 80s!au Santana is a republican. How do you think she would align herself in today's political climate?

Hi! It’s funny, I’ve actually thought about Santana’s political affiliation a lot, starting back last summer during the election.

Santana was conservative, fiscally, and in a lot of ways, socially as well, for her most of her life. Her conservatism allowed her for a long time to look past the ways republicans treated people like her. She isn’t ignorant by any means, but she has a certain worldview that allowed her to vote for Reagan’s re-election in 1984, despite the fact that she donated great deals of money to Community Health Project, and other emerging health centers and charities that helped in the fight against AIDS. While Brittany was positively appalled by her vote, and had a Mondale-Ferraro bumper sticker on her bike (and let’s be real, a little bit of a crush on Geraldine, because who wouldn’t?), Santana truly believed that the president would do something, and couldn’t count him out for his inaction just yet (I know, Santana, honey...open your eyes.)

She voted for Bush Sr. twice, and didn’t buy Clinton’s promises to be a more centrist democrat--and was, additionally particularly offended by his statements that he didn’t inhale, and the allegations of infidelity, because the president should be more respectable than that. She did, however, appreciate his wife taking a stand on political issues, despite the fact that she didn’t agree with what most of the issues were, particularly on her (and Bill’s) belief in allowing the government to become more involved in the private sector. As someone in private sector finance, she felt that threatened her livelihood, and, like many conservatives would argue, she put in the hard work, so it’s not the government’s place to meddle. She did, however, greatly appreciate the fact that someone was finally addressing the AIDS crisis, and she was glued to the television when The Quilt was actually visited by the sitting president and First Lady.

Santana voted for Dole in 1996, and then W. Bush in 2000, but by 2004, she began to shift a little to the left, a result of both Brittany’s passionate stances, and the radicalization and evangelism of the political right. Brittany was beside herself with joy when Santana made a choice to vote for John Kerry over W because of his lies about the Iraq war, and his push for a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. While Santana briefly flirted with voting for Hillary Clinton for Senate--because of her admiration for her tenacity and resilience--despite her vote for W for president in 2000, John Kerry was the first democrat that Santana ever voted for, and she held her nose to do it. She was still a republican, but if you were to compare her political beliefs to any person in politics, they were more like Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s--who was a democrat, then a republican, then an independent--than most contemporary republicans.

In the 2008 primaries, Santana voted for John McCain, because she admired his service to the country, and believed that his political stances were less right of center than those he was running against. His choice of Palin as his running mate though really turned her off, and it wasn’t until two days before the 2008 election that she decided to vote for Obama (and side note, Brittany was a big Hillary supporter in the 2008 democratic primaries). Because she does work for a bank, Obama’s handling of the 2008 financial collapse (where Santana just barely managed to hang onto her job with what was now J.P. Morgan-Chase) was admirable to her, and it allowed him her full-fledged support.

By 2010, with the rise of the Tea Party, Santana Lopez did the unimaginable, and changed her voter registration to independent. She had a lot of resentment for what the party she loved--and donated to consistently--had become, but she wasn’t ready to commit to going fully to the left, even though she donated to both Barack Obama and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s re-election campaigns.

In 2015, the idea of Donald Trump shook Santana to her core. He was everything she despised in the world--brash, offensive and ostentatious--but she was smart enough to know that he was a symptom of what had happened to the republican party, and a validation of the reasons she left. Because she committed herself to do whatever possible to stop him, and on October 9th of 2015, the last day it was possible to change her voter registration and still vote in the primaries, Santana filled out the form and became a Democrat.

She and Brittany, both retired by this point, worked tirelessly on the Clinton campaign, making phone calls, knocking on doors, donating money (I actually started a little one-shot back in October, where they go to Pennsylvania, but I never finished it before the world went to hell), and were actually at the Javits Center on Election Night, expecting to see Hillary claim her victory, when everything went down. They were both incredibly shaken and terrified afterwards--and continue to be today. While Santana definitely doesn’t agree with everything either Hillary Clinton or the Democratic Party stand for--though she is a staunch supporter of Planned Parenthood--her worldview is more closely aligned with theirs. Sometimes she and Brittany still get into small spats over politics, because Brittany is much further left, and Santana still bemoans big government, but the Clinton/Kaine sign still hangs in their window, and probably isn’t going anywhere until 2020.

#80s AU #like-rain-and-phones

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maekara · 7 years

Text

too hard, too scarred ch.01

link on ffnet link on ao3

summary: (but you know, i still wake up with you every morning like we're still dead) Told from Naruto's perspective, we see his life with his first love and to what extent his love for her will keep her from hurting herself. Mental illness heavy. [NaruSaku] [AU]

rating: m

a/n: i posted this fic a month or so ago, maybe more, on ffnet and then decided ao3 was a good idea, even though there’s not much traffic there for ns. i wanted to challenge myself so i made each chapter pretty long.. and so far it’s worked out quite well for me and for the ones who have already read this! feedback either here or ffnet/ao3 would be so heavily appreciated x

chapter two chapter three

ch.01

The summer before his senior year of high school, Naruto was advised by the school counsellor to participate in more extracurricular activities. Being an actor was hard when you had no experience in the theatre, or any experience managing an event. Some people had natural talent, but who could ever tell, apart from those who actually had experience in these areas? He knew he was somewhat lazy, and he knew there were probably better career options out there, just like his mom always told him, but he couldn’t bring himself to try being a lawyer, or a doctor, or a CEO of a company that he would later hand down to a successor. It just wasn’t him, but with acting — and God, did he love it — he got to make people laugh, cry, and to go on a journey. Cheesy as it may be, Naruto knew that that was one of the things he wouldn’t let go of. Once he set his mind to something, it was all he ever saw, and it was all he ever had passion for. He knew that the journey to be successful was not easy, but he also knew he had the drive to work hard. It’s what his teachers loved most about him.

Even so, he was told that universities looked at potential, it didn’t matter what you actually wanted to be. All they cared about was that you did a program that they offered, and they would support you with whatever means they could. Especially in this day and age where the demand for jobs was high, Naruto couldn’t risk just doing one thing. He spent countless nights staying awake as he wrote personal statements, personal essays, and submitting them to as little as ten universities before he stretched, yawned, and continued to write. That was how the first half of his summer was spent, writing and bullshitting his way through his essays, and even though he wanted to skip ahead to where he was successful and happy, he knew that that wasn’t how life worked. He knew you had to work hard, he knew he had to work hard.

So there he was, a week before senior year started, helping the Social Committee plan a bonfire to kick off the year before everyone was subjected to misery and impending doom on whether or not they would be accepted to the university of their dreams. Naruto held his phone and scrolled through the list of items they needed, just hours before the damn thing was supposed to start, and he furrowed his brows in frustration, despite the fact that he was standing on soft sand, about to overlook a gorgeous sunset.

“We were supposed to have this shit two days ago, Shikamaru, what the hell are we gonna do?” Naruto hollered to his classmate who always dubbed everything as ‘too troublesome’.

“They didn’t have it at the shop, and Ino and I looked all over town,” he responded, his voice calm and collected, “but it’s okay, Sai is looking around right now. I told him to text Ino once he found more firewood and matches. Plus the drinks.”

“What about the rest of the barbecue food?”

“Chouji’s got it covered,” a blonde, blue-eyed girl chimed in.

“How are you so calm? And anyway, why is Sai texting you and not me when he’s found everything?”

“Because you actually get kind of scary when you start yelling like you do,” Ino, the blonde girl who also happened to be the Chair of the Social Committee, chuckled and clapped a hand on his shoulder, “but that’s how you are. Chill. We got this.”

Naruto flashed her a bright smile and he was already starting to feel better. It was funny what growing up did to a person, because never in a million years would he thought that he wanted to care about a school carnival — what’s more if he actually participates in setting it up? Ino took his phone from him and began scrolling through the list herself, directing orders to those responsible in an assertive but kind manner. Naruto admired her tenacity, he always had, and before he knew it, Sai, along with a few others of his classmates, had come back to the beach with just enough time to spare. Their graduating class was always thought to be interesting. Well, by the PTA, that is. It was their class that was debuting this bonfire, because the class that graduated before them really could not come to care about how they spent their final year of high school. Throughout his whole life, Naruto’s parents always told him that high school was important and difficult, because it would be the first time someone would ever have to face so much pressure, and at such a young age, too. Although Naruto was not particularly wealthy, he wasn’t living in poverty, either. Both his parents had decided to take a career route that no one else’s parents did: they were ex-spies who retired when Naruto came along. Naturally, gadgets and government secrets were kept hidden around the house, but Naruto knew all their tricks. He had the charisma of his father, and the temper of his mother. Being able to talk his way through to what he wanted was definitely something his father taught him, and his hardworking nature? That, of course, came from his beautiful mother, who was admired by everyone in the area they lived in. Growing up the way he did, it’s no wonder Naruto wants to get away from a stressful life that could potentially cause harm to him, or his family.

Surprisingly, people started showing up on the beach right on time, which made Ino cock an eyebrow, but then laugh, because she was always ‘fashionably late’ to these things throughout high school. She was beautiful, popular, the kind of person all the girls wanted to be friends with, and the kind of person all the guys wanted to date. Even Naruto had a crush on her, at some point. Then again, he had known Ino from before puberty hit her. They were next-door neighbors, and Ino’s father was a detective who specialised in interrogation. It was a very different job than Naruto’s parents, because he worked for the government before he decided to have his own private firm, but that never stopped Ino and Naruto from being friends. In fact, both sides encouraged it. Naruto was rambunctious as a child, and Ino was sassy (as she was now), but somehow, the two made a good match for being best friends. Over the years, Naruto became less demanding about things that had to go his way, and Ino became more compassionate towards other people. It was a good balance, and it made every other person in their big school jealous.

“Naruto!” a deep voice called out, and when Naruto turned around to see who it was, he was surprised, to say the least. A man in his thirties approached him, smiling proudly as he eyed the middle of the beach, where the bonfire was beginning.

“Kakashi?” Naruto squeaked, nervous but curious about what his counsellor had to say about the event that he helped plan. “What are you doing here?”

“I was told to check out the venue when the bonfire started,” Kakashi ran his hand through his hair briefly as he spoke, “and it’s looking like things are going pretty well.”

“Yeah. Well, Ino’s pretty amazing.”

“I was talking about your part. You know, actually taking my advice and wanting to get involved.”

“Oh. Ha. Thanks, man,” Naruto chuckled, causing Kakashi to crack a smile himself.

The two watched as laughter became louder, and music boomed from the speakers. Familiar faces began filling throughout the crowd, and Naruto took a step forward to begin mingling, but Kakashi cleared his throat in an attempt to start a conversation. Naruto looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

“You met any of the new students yet?” Naruto asked when Kakashi didn’t say a word.

“A few. It’s no surprise that there’s not that many for your year,” he answered, “since it’s senior year and everyone’s freaking out about their futures.”

“Why would people move to a different school if they know that, then?”

Kakashi shrugged, his expression hard to read. “Parents’ jobs. Family situations. Better education. Maybe they want to move because their old schools were shitty in terms of people.”

“Is that common?” Naruto enquired curiously.

“Definitely.” Kakashi’s eyes scanned the crowd of students who were just coming in, and they widened just a fraction at the faces of one of the students. “In fact, I think you should be friends with one of them.”

“What?” Naruto laughed, “No way. It’s senior year, everyone has their group of friends. Too bad for the new kids.”

“You were a new kid once, too.”

“Yeah,” Naruto agreed, “when I was in, like, kindergarten.”

“They could end up changing your life.”

“Then they will when they will,” Naruto replied, “but it doesn’t have to be now.”

With that, Kakashi gave him a look and patted him on the back before he left the venue, smirking. Naruto wanted to call him back to ask what he was thinking, but there was only a week before school started, which meant he should be spending it having fun and making more memories — not thinking about the things that were going to drive him up the wall in the next ten months. He walked towards Ino, who was laughing gleefully at the jokes the captain of the water polo team was telling her. The poor guy had been chasing after Ino since freshman year, which made Naruto want to chuckle, because it seemed apparent that he hadn’t figured out Ino’s game. Naruto tapped her on the shoulder when he stood next to her and he could visibly see the guy’s face drop at how close Ino and himself were.

“Naruto! Where were you?” Ino chimed, giving him a hug.

“Kakashi was talking to me,” Naruto answered and looked at the guy standing behind Ino, “how’s it goin’?”

“Was good until you came along,” he mumbled in reply, and Ino shot him a look.

“Anyway,” Ino bubbled, “there’s a bunch of new kids here for you to make friends with.”

Naruto shot her a look, though admittedly, he was a little amused. “Are you and Kakashi in cahoots for making me talk to the new kids?”

“No,” she laughed, a sound that rang through the air around them, “it’s just always good to have new friends.”

“I have you, and Shikamaru, and everyone else,” Naruto replied, exasperated.

“Trust me, Fishcakes,” Naruto cringed at her old nickname for him, “this’ll do you good.” Ino leaned in so that only he could hear, “Plus, I think this guy’s about to snap your neck if you don’t get away from me.”

Naruto chortled and playfully punched her shoulder before waving at her and taking his leave. He pushed his way through the crowd and greeted familiar faces, telling them to enjoy the party. Looking around, he tried to see if there was anyone who seemed uncomfortable — he figured that the new kids would be scared to make new friends, too — and surely enough, he saw three new faces. Two of them were guys and seated right next to each other. Watching from a distance, Naruto could eventually see one of them put his hand on the other’s knee, which surprised Naruto. Not that he had anything against people being gay, but he didn’t know he was somehow intruding on a couple’s spat, and had to witness them making up. The two guys left and immersed themselves within the crowd, which means there was one person left: a pink-haired girl who was scrolling through her phone, looking up at her surroundings every now and then. She touched her hair whenever anyone got close to her, and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, but would absentmindedly push all her hair to one side when they walked right past her. Feeling somewhat sorry for her, Naruto sauntered on over to her, and surely enough, she could sense him, and she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before she looked up at him, with eyes so green, that Naruto was sure a small chill ran up his spine. He offered her a warm smile, and she returned it with a shy one.

“Hey,” she said, “who are you?”

Looking at her face for just a few seconds, Naruto decided she was someone who actually wasn’t shy, but she just didn’t know how to make friends. Figures. “Whoever you want me to be.”

“What?” she laughed, a sound that rang through his ears even more than Ino’s laugh did.

“I saw it on a TV show once,” he chuckled, “I thought the guy who said that was so cool.” He watched her face again and she visibly relaxed at his presence. Of course, Naruto knew he had that effect on people; that’s why he was mostly friends with everyone in his year. “So you’ve been sitting here this whole time, and no one’s said hi to you?”

“Well, a few people did,” she answered pensively, “but they seemed a little creepy.”

Naruto chuckled. “Man, those guys don’t know how to talk to people.”

“You know them?”

“I’ve been going to school with these people since I was like, five,” he replied humorously, “I don’t even have to know what they look like to know who you’re talking about.”

The girl smiled and put her phone away. Success, Naruto thought. He turned his body slightly and they both watched the party around them. He noticed her eyes seemed to hold a spark to them when she watched people dancing, bumping against each other and grinding on each other. Naruto always thought it was funny (and maybe a little bit hot) when he saw how people seemed so comfortable dancing the way they did. Maybe he was more self-conscious than he thought, because the girl before him was subconsciously tapping her foot to the beat. A lock of her pink hair fell from behind her shoulder, and Naruto thought it was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things about her.

“So why’d you move here?” he asked, genuinely taking an interest in her now.

“My parents wanted a change of scenery.”

“Did you?”

Pausing before she answered, she smiled and looked at him again, her expression unreadable. “No,” she enunciated, “but I was told that it’s never good to stay in one place your entire life.”

Naruto watched as her face fell from the bright smile into a more subdued pondering. He was never the guy that anyone relied on for support, unless it was Ino, because he never knew what to say. All he could do was stand there and listen to them rant about their problems, but when she didn’t elaborate further and didn’t even look at him, Naruto started to feel restless, like somehow, he might be doing something wrong.

“I’m Naruto,” he offered, “what’s your name?”

Peering at his face, the girl ran her hand through her hair and pushed back her much-too-long bangs. She flashed him a kind smile, one that was kinder that Ino’s, and Naruto swore his heart was pulling him down a road he didn’t think he would ever go down.

“Sakura.”

--------------------------

After subjecting himself to nights filled with coffee runs and memorising murder cases, divorce cases, and federal cases, Naruto graduated from his law school as one of the top one hundred students. Granted, he was the hundredth one, but his parents were elated when they were notified. “I knew you could do it!”, they exclaimed before throwing him a large party filled with all his favorite foods. Even with his law degree, Naruto still didn’t feel motivated to practice the law, to want to find justice, just like he wrote in his personal essays and personal statements that got him accepted into these schools in the first place. After the celebrations and congratulations were in order, Naruto sat with his parents and firmly asserted his freedom by informing them that he still wanted to be an actor. Although it took a little bit of convincing and maybe a fair bit of yelling on his mother’s part, the Uzumaki family finally calmed down and Naruto relished in the words his parents uttered: “We will support you no matter what.”

Traveling to his girlfriend’s place was always his favorite part of the day, after auditioning or after shooting for films or TV shows that would air within the next year. He may have an understudy, and he may get god-like treatment from his agent and the people he worked with, but Naruto was always sure to not let it get to his head. With each year that passed, he became more and more renowned amongst audience members, and it was starting to look like he couldn’t walk into town without some form of a disguise. Which is why he was walking in the city with a cap and a pair of sunglasses on. It was a warm day, which meant he could wear his cotton t-shirts, which his girlfriend hated. She wanted him to dress more sophisticatedly, but ultimately, she knew Naruto was too stubborn to do anything about his fashion sense. “You dress like you’re white,” she had told him once, to which he replied, “I am white-skinned”. She had scowled then, because his cleverness always brought about jokes that she tried so hard not to find funny. He chuckled and continued to tease her, to which she ignored him and sulked for the remainder of the day.

Veering up to a junction near the main part of the city, Naruto quickly walked to the apartment building behind the city’s most famous bakery, which of course, was one of the most expensive residences in the entire area. Nodding his head at the guard who monitored guests, Naruto pulled his wallet from his pocket and swiped his key card against the scanner, and when it flashed green, Naruto felt like he was coming home.

“Tell Ms. Haruno I said hello to her today,” the guard chimed in as Naruto walked away from the lobby.

“Will do, Miyagi!” Naruto responded and smiled to himself. Everyone loved Sakura.

As he rode the elevator to the tenth floor, his view overlooked the city and the people walking underneath him, and he never understood why people hated the city. For people who grew up on the beach like he did, it was refreshing to always have something to do, to always have somewhere to go. There were days when he felt restless, and maybe that just meant he was morphing more and more into a person that belonged in the city, because as far as he knew, Sakura was so accustomed to the city that it puzzled her when people were excited to move there. She once told him that perhaps, it was the “magic” of the city, that whoever spent their lives not knowing what it was like, would come to it, and fall in love with it. He figured she was probably right, since that’s exactly how he fell in love with it, and how he fell in love with her.

In his hand, he held a leather bag filled with clothes that she had left at his place. She was mostly organized, but when she was stressed, she tended to leave things with him and they laid around his house until he finally figured out that these pastel clothes were not his. Along with her clothes was his laptop, which was filled with movies and TV shows that they watched together. Naturally, he kept a charger at her apartment, because he was too lazy to bring his to and fro. She was also much better with electronics than he was, and she knew which wires went where. They seemed to fit pretty perfectly, or so everyone thought. When they met in high school, they didn’t start dating immediately. They were friends, and even though Naruto always had a soft spot for her, she wasn’t sure she returned those feelings until the final year of university, when he contacted her to ask her how she had been doing. They were on opposite sides of where they went to school together, and even though so many of his friends told him it was just about impossible to date freaking Sakura Haruno because she was so smart and so beautiful, Naruto still held out hope. That was more his thing, he supposed: holding out hope for something that people thought was impossible. Now, at twenty-eight years old, she and him had nourished a friendship that was natural, and cultivated a romantic relationship that both of them felt was the only logical explanation for how drawn they had always felt towards one another.

As the elevator arrived on the tenth floor, Naruto’s phone started to ring. Glancing at the screen to see who it was, he smirked and answered, his voice teasing.

“You couldn’t even wait for me to knock on the door?” he chuckled.

“You’re ten minutes late!” Sakura scolded on the phone, her voice loud, as usual.

“It’s only ten minutes, Princess.”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” she groaned, though playfully.

“I only do it because I love pestering you,” Naruto chuckled as he walked towards the end of the hall to her door.

“I know,” she said quietly, but he knew she was smiling. “Okay, I’ll wait at the door.”

“I’m already here,” he replied, but she had already hung up.

Ringing the doorbell, Naruto wasn’t even fazed when Sakura immediately opened the door, a mock-pout on her face. Making himself at home, he leaned down to kiss her forehead and walked past her, setting the leather bag on the table Sakura kept next to the door. He pulled his laptop from the bag and took off his cap and sunglasses. She closed the door behind her and walked towards the kitchen, humming a tune Naruto knew was the theme song of the most recent sitcom he had been appearing on. Reaching towards a cabinet above her head, Sakura pulled out two wine glasses and set them on the counter. Meandering about the kitchen was her business, and she never let Naruto help, because the last time she did, he accidentally broke two plates and a mug, and even though he apologised profusely and even cleaned up the mess, Sakura still won’t allow him back in the kitchen if it’s to do anything other than wash his hands after dinner. While she poured red wine into their glasses, Naruto sat on her leather couch in front of the TV, and sighed.

Shit, he thought, I forgot which wire connected my laptop to her TV.

“Are you connecting your laptop to the TV?” Sakura called from the kitchen.

“Uh,” Naruto panicked, “yeah! But, I forget which wire —“

“Jeez,” she sighed, exasperated, “you always forget which wire it is. Want me to do it?”

“Nah, just tell me which wire it is.”

“It’s the only black one on the floor.”

With how many times they’ve watched movies on his laptop in the entire time they’ve been together, Naruto would think that he was an expert on how things in her apartment worked. Yet, he always seemed to muck up anything he touched. In the beginning, when they first started getting serious and spending a lot of time at her apartment, Sakura would grit her teeth and try not to get too angry, but now that they were together a long time, she seemed to have accepted it as being part of his personality. They were both impatient, but of the two, Naruto was definitely the patient one.

“So what’re we watching today?” she asked as she sat beside him, setting the wine glasses in front of them on the coffee table.

“Something you need to see!” Naruto grinned as he turned on the TV.

“Is it Full House? Because if it is, I’m already on season five.” At her own words, Sakura’s eyes widened. “Ah, I’m so sorry, Naruto! I was gonna tell you that I watched without you but I didn’t wanna —“

“It’s okay, and no, that’s not what we’re watching.”

“Then?”

Naruto watched as Sakura turned her eyes to the TV and read the words In a galaxy, far, far away, and couldn’t help but smile. For years, Naruto vowed to make sure that Sakura watched all the Star Wars movies with him, because it was one of the most important things to him. It was a large franchise, so Naruto had always wondered how she’d never seen it, especially because she lived in the city for most of her life. He settled into the couch and put his arm around her, her head resting snugly into him.

“Dim lights.” Sakura said suddenly, and as Naruto began to move, she laid a hand on his stomach. “No, silly,” she laughed, and suddenly, the lights were dimming by themselves.

“Voice command?” Naruto asked excitedly.

“Yeah,” she replied with her eyes fixated on the screen, “Sasuke helped me set it up.”

“Sasuke helped you? That guy?”

“What’s wrong with Sasuke?” Sakura said, her voice surprised.

“He dated Ino.”

“And?”

“And he had a huge crush on you.”

“In high school.”

“Still,” Naruto sulked, sighing as he settled back into the couch.

The first few minutes of the movie, Sakura was quiet. He knew he was being a little petty, but he was incredibly protective of her, because he knew exactly what guys thought of her, back in high school, and even now. The reason he didn’t bring her to any of his premiers was because he wanted to shield her from the paparazzi. It’s not like he didn’t think she couldn’t handle it, but his overprotective nature always kicked in when it came to her. It’s not like he didn’t trust her either, because Sakura was, and is still, the most loyal girlfriend Naruto had ever had. She was a strong believer of monogamy, which was rare in this day and age, especially for celebrities like Naruto.

“Does it really bother you that he helped me?” Sakura whispered.

In the five years that they had been dating, there were boundaries that Naruto had set with Sakura, but there weren’t a lot. One of their boundaries was Sasuke, unfortunately, because he and Naruto were friends throughout high school. That was, of course, until Sasuke hit puberty early, and became popular. Naruto had classified it as growing apart, though it still kind of hurt when he thought about how close they used to be. He sighed and smiled at her, reassuring her that it was all okay. Keeping secrets from each other was an obvious taboo, but he figured this wasn’t really a secret.

“Oh,” Naruto recalled, “Miyagi said hi.”

Sakura snorted, amused. “And you’re okay with him coming near me?”

“Yes,” Naruto laughed, “because he’s doing his job and protecting the building and its residents. Which means protecting you.”

Eventually, their conversation died out as they focused on the TV before them. Naruto watched for Sakura’s reactions, and they started out as tame, and maybe even a little uninterested. About an hour into the movie, Sakura stopped snuggling into Naruto, and he felt a sense of satisfaction and as though he had executed a mission successfully. They got through only two of the movies before he heard her stomach growl. He kissed her cheek and chuckled, turning off the TV.

“Wanna go grab a bite?”

“What’d you have in mind?”

“Pizza?”

“Too cheesy,” Sakura yawned.

“Pasta?”

“What did I just say?” she laughed and pressed his hand to her face.

In dimmed lighting, people always say that things are more romantic, and more intimate. When Naruto leaned forward, she didn’t move. Her eyes watched his every move, and Naruto felt as though he could never get tired of her, of this relationship with her. He rubbed her cheekbone with his thumb and leaned forward, forcing them to be close enough that their noses touched. She let out a breath of air and began to giggle, and he smiled. When he first began dating her, he always pressed his mouth to hers, but would wait for her to kiss him. Admittedly, he merely wanted to be cute with her, and she fell for it each time, even now, five years later. Whenever he looked at her, he felt as though he was steady, like the mere sight of her could make his heart still.

“Why are you always this nice to me?” she whispered, touching his cheek.

“Because,” he murmured, “I don’t want you to be afraid anymore.”

With his kind words, Sakura’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she smiled and gave in to his touches, to his mouth, to the soft words he whispered to her. Seeing her smile always made his heart feel full, and even though he has made mistakes in the past, he knows that with her, he can always be better. He can always improve himself, and maybe that was the secret to happy relationships — to always be with someone that can make you want to improve yourself. She sniffled every now and then, and as a response, Naruto kissed her harder, longer, and he felt his heart swell up when her hands pawed at his shoulders, at his back, at his thighs.

Maybe she was his home.

A few hours later, they were in her bedroom, half asleep. Of all the things they did in bed, this was definitely Naruto’s second favorite thing — Sakura wearing his shirts that were too big for her, but seemed to suit her all the same. Her soft hair messy from laying around with him, her eyes half-lidded and her demeanour absent-minded as she stroked his face. Naruto found that she never took her eyes off his face during these moments, and even though they were so close, he wanted to be closer to her. Naruto was never good at explaining things like fate, but ever since he met Sakura, he felt as though he knew her, like she was someone he might have fallen in love with in a past life.

“It’s getting late,” she whispered and Naruto hummed in affirmation, “do you want to stay the night?”

“You know I’d never say no to that,” he chuckled, “but I have work in the morning.”

“Okay,” she replied, moving to get out of bed. Naruto watched her take off his shirt and lay it on the bed. She was absolutely naked, her soft skin visible even in the dark. He let out a sigh of yearning. What if I could wake up to this every morning? he asked himself. He felt as though maybe, that wasn’t such a crazy thought — maybe it made sense to want that.

“Come to think of it,” he began, “I hate coming here all the time, and then having to go back home.”

“Yeah,” Sakura hummed, “but you don’t really have a choice. You live twenty minutes away from here, after all.” Brushing her fingers through her hair, Sakura reached for the bed lamp and turned it to low light, so they wouldn’t hurt their eyes. “You could always find an apartment that’s closer, so you don’t have to worry about traveling late at night.”

“I could do that,” Naruto said slowly, “or… maybe there’s other options?”

Sakura put on a sweater he gave her and looked at him, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Well, what’re the other options?”

“I could get an apartment close by,” Naruto enunciated, “or, I could, you know.”

“No,” Sakura replied, “I don’t know. What is it?”

Taking a deep breath, Naruto made sure to make his tone playful. He didn’t know if Sakura loved him as much as he loved her, though he knew that that was a stupid thing to insinuate, and could potentially start a pointless fight. God knows how many of those they’ve already had. Smiling at her, Naruto chose his words carefully, watching her reaction.

“What if I lived here?”

It was silent. Perhaps the most silent that Naruto has ever witnessed coming from her. She didn’t move an inch, and she merely stared at him. If this was a movie, Naruto thought, you’d think that the movie froze because no one is freaking moving. When Sakura opened her mouth, she would close it again, and this continued several times as Naruto waited patiently for her to just say something. He held his breath for what felt like minutes, and realistically, it probably was a few minutes before Sakura let out a sharp breath, her eyes wide.

“Are you asking me to move in with you?”

He nodded.

“In here? This apartment?”

“What better place than where we spend most of our nights?”

“We never go to your apartment,” she said quietly.

“That’s because of the paparazzi.”

“Still,” she said slowly, “you really want to move in with me?”

“Sakura,” he said, moving closer to her, “everyday when I wake up, the first thing I think of is you and what you’re doing, and every night when I go to sleep, I think about you getting ready for bed, and I think about whether you’re comfortable in bed without me beside you.”

“I mean…” she began, “…it’s not like I’m comfortable, I just.” she watched his face and he knew she was searching for signs of hesitance, of uncertainty, but he knew she would find none. He was never more sure of anything in his life, other than the fact that he was sure that it was fate that brought her to him. “This’ll change everything, you know?”

“What secrets do you think you’re hiding from me?” Naruto asked teasingly.

“Not that I’m hiding anything, but Naruto, if you move in with me, you see the ugly side of me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When I lose it, I really lose it, I can’t control myself and maybe I’ll start blaming you for —“

“You’ve never done that,” Naruto replied calmly, knowing that she was referring to her ‘mood swings’, as she referred to them.

“That’s because I’ve been very careful,” she said as-matter-of-factly, “but what if I hurt you —“

“If you don’t want to move in with me, you can just say so.”

His heart felt hollow when Sakura stayed silent, her expression anxious. Perhaps it had been too soon, perhaps he loved her much more than she loved him, but whatever it was, Naruto knew that maybe, he had made another mistake that he didn’t think he could make. Bracing himself for the worst, Naruto was surprised when Sakura’s sigh sounded less anxious than he thought it would.

“Yes.”

“What?” Naruto asked, blinking rapidly.

“Yes,” Sakura said again, smiling, “I’ll move in with you.”

That night, they spent hours kissing, touching, and laughing. Naruto never went home to get a fresh change of clothes, and he didn’t care that he had work in the morning, since it was closer to go there from Sakura’s — their — apartment anyway. All he cared about was that he could feel her heart in his hand, and he vowed to never clench his hand too tight around the very thing she found most difficult to give away.

Of course, Naruto was more than ecstatic that she gave it to him.

--------------------------

Within the next month, Naruto had moved out all of his belongings — which, admittedly, wasn’t a lot — to Sakura’s apartment. She even made more space for him to put his things, whole cabinets and drawers and even two of his own closets! Never once stopping to doubt him, Sakura helped organise his possessions, and they quarrelled for that for a little while before one of them gave in and let the other do whatever they wanted to do. A lot of the time, Naruto just let Sakura organise their home the way she wanted, because he knew otherwise, she wouldn’t stop bickering with him about it.

During one of the weekends they were both free, Naruto was cleaning out one of her closets when he pulled out a pair of ballet shoes. He smiled as he held them, remembering how she always seemed to flow naturally along to music, like the first night he met her.

“Sakura-chan?” he called out to her from their bedroom. “I found your ballet shoes, do you want to keep them?”

When no response came, Naruto sighed and walked towards the kitchen to find that Sakura was holding two mugs, her expression confused. A little puzzled, Naruto tried to make light of the situation, because the last thing either of them needed was to be stressed during a new move.

“I think those go on the shelf, babe,” Naruto chuckled, but it didn’t seem like she heard him, despite the fact that he was standing right in front of her. “Sakura-chan? Did you hear me?”

It took a few seconds, but the pink-haired woman finally looked at her concerned boyfriend, and he had to admit that he felt quite uneasy because she was wearing an expression that he knew it meant she was freaking out. He started to open his mouth, to begin reassuring her, to comfort her, but she beat him to the punch and began speaking rapidly.

“Ican’tfigureoutwhereIputthoseotherglassesthat —“

“Babe,” Naruto said, raising his hands as an attempt to show comfort, “calm down. Breathe. Take deep breaths.” As though demonstrating to her, Naruto began inhaling through his mouth and exhaling through his nose. Sakura watched him, and mimicked him, eventually calming her down and making her set the mugs on the kitchen counter before her. Resting her hands against the counter, she sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Naruto asked slowly.

“I can’t remember where I put those glasses we use for tea.”

“For tea? You mean teacups?” Naruto asked, confused, “Shouldn’t they be in the china cabinet in the dining room?”

“No, no,” Sakura retorted, “I moved those, and now I can’t find them. The china cabinet is empty.”

Having been together for five years, Naruto knew when to look for signs of anxiety from her. He had been to therapy with her, and was informed in private that he should look out for her, in case something were to happen to her. Of course, protecting her from herself was only a small reason he stayed with her. He knew that he loved her, and that he would do anything to support her. When he began going to therapy with her, he was warned that there might be times where she eventually tries to shut him out, and that he needs to prepare for it. Naruto knew that when Sakura started misplacing things, it was because there were things going on at work. Then again, she was a social worker, which meant there was always something going on at work. Then, Naruto thought, it must be one of the more serious cases this time. Carefully, Naruto took a few steps towards the dining room to look at the china cabinet, to see that it was filled with teacups, intricate and simple designs painted onto them alike. Closing his eyes briefly, he figured he had to think of a plan to distract Sakura while he pretended he found those teacups in a box that would “magically” appear from their storage closet.

“That’s pretty weird that it’s empty,” Naruto said slowly, “but maybe I’ll look for them?”

“But, what if you can’t find them?”

“I’m pretty good at finding lost items. Don’t worry about it.”

“But —“

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto said sternly, “just relax, okay? How about you go get us some cinnamon buns?”

Sakura’s expression changed from anxious to curious. Her smile spread across her face and Naruto thought again, about how he would never tire of her antics.

“From the bakery?”

“The most famous one here,” Naruto chuckled. “But are you okay?”

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, Sakura shrugged. She furrowed her brow and stared at Naruto, pursing her lips as her thoughts percolated, and Naruto thought that perhaps, she was trying to communicate something about going back to therapy, but it never came. Instead, she stared at him, as though she was reviewing for a chemistry exam and needed to memorise all the symbols for the elements. Finally, she sighed. “I’m sorry,” she confessed, “I’m just really annoyed that I can’t remember where I put those teacups.”

Tightening his jaw, Naruto remembered what her therapist had told him; that she will have times where her memory lapses and she can’t seem to remember the simplest of things, and that she will get frustrated. The most important thing to not do was insinuate in any way that her memory was off. That would make her even more anxious, and potentially cause her to disassociate, if she became accustomed to that level of anxiety. Instead, Naruto gave her a reassuring smile and walked towards their front door.

“It’s okay,” he told her, “I’ll go and find them, and if I can’t, I am sure you will remember later.” He pulled open the front door for her and she smiled, giving him a peck on the lips before she grabbed her wallet and walked towards the elevator. She waved at him and smiled her wide grin, and Naruto was scared to admit that on some days, he wasn’t sure who she was. Even so, he waved back and returned her smile with one of his own, closing the door behind him. Walking towards their storage closet, Naruto sighed. I know how to be a boyfriend, he told himself, and yet, he found that sometimes, Sakura seemed afraid to trust him with the most private of her thoughts. She would let him look at her the way he did, with such love and affection and happiness, but she sometimes wouldn’t let him completely in. If she thought he was lying to her, she would distance herself, and he was forced to ask himself if he had, whether he realised it or not, given her a reason to not trust him. He knew it wasn’t her fault for being so distrustful, but he also knew he was trying his best. Then again, he understood that Sakura was trying her best, too. He knew that he was, and still is, the closest person to her, apart from her closest friends. Even with them, Naruto knew she kept secrets.

In the ample time he had, Naruto came up with a story to tell her about the teacups and where he found them, as he packed them carefully into a box, making sure not to crack any of them. He was about halfway done with the cabinet when he heard the front door open. Shit, he thought, his mind going haywire at the thought that Sakura might find him lugging all the teacups into a box.

“Naruto?” she called out, and he could hear her setting a paper bag onto the kitchen counter.

“Yeah,” he replied, “give me a second. That was quick!” he said as he hid the box under the dining table.

“I know!” Sakura laughed. “It turns out, they hired more employees because they were getting a lotta customers, isn’t that great?”

“That’s fucking wonderful, babe!” Naruto exclaimed as he entered the kitchen, hugging her tight. “What else did you get? Did you get a lot?”

“I got some patisseries I know you love, and also some brownies.”

“You mind if I get a plate?”

Sakura laughed, and Naruto couldn’t help but hope that he could hear it more often, even with what was going on with her. “Yeah, just go for the normal ones we use on movie night.”

“Every night is movie night for us,” Naruto chuckled, to which Sakura playfully punched him in the shoulder.

Throughout the rest of the day, Sakura stayed in their bedroom, cleaning out her old things, while Naruto had to ‘mysteriously’ bring out the teacups, and making it seem like they showed up out of nowhere. He could hear the thuds of her feet against the wooden floor and Sakura sighing before she threw something into a trash bag. Hurriedly, he grabbed the box full of her teacups and brought it to their bedroom. When he stood in the doorway, he patiently waited for her to look up from clearing out the drawers.

“You know,” she said absent-mindedly, “I have so much shit. Why didn’t you ever tell me to throw any of it away?” She rummaged through the drawer for a good minute before she noticed Naruto hadn’t said a word. She looked up at him, curious, and he could see the spark return to her eyes when she acknowledged the box he was holding. “Oh my god,” she beamed, “is that what I think it is?”

“Yes, Princess,” he replied, his voice booming, “all your teacups for when the Queen arrives have been found.”

She seemed to ignore his teasing and instead, planted a wet kiss on his cheek. Humming as she took the box from him, she walked straight to the dining room to the china cabinet, Naruto following suit. Wordlessly, he offered to help her, and for once, she allowed him, and maybe it was the fact that he had cheered her up, though not in the way he would've liked to, but the image of them putting away china teacups together wasn’t something he would've wanted to do when he was just a few years younger. They smiled and laughed as they organised their new home, getting rid of old, worn out things, and replacing it with newer ones, calling it a possession that belonged to them both. Before long, they started to get hungry, and Naruto brought the plate full of desserts to their bedroom, his goofy grin plastered on his face. He sat at the foot of the bed and Sakura rolled her eyes at him and the fact that he was already taking advantage of the fact that they lived together; now he could bring food into bed, apparently.

“I never said okay to that,” Sakura sighed.

“But you’re not saying ‘no’ to it,” Naruto teased.

“That’s true, but what if crumbs get everywhere?”

“Then I’ll clean it.”

“You suck at cleaning.”

“Not as much as you think. My mom did teach me a few tricks after I graduated from law school, y’know.”

Giving in, Sakura reached for a brownie and they sat in silence as they ate, but Naruto’s mind was on her. He was constantly thinking about her, about her wellbeing. Even when she smiled and said that it was okay, he wondered if it really was okay. From his experience (and when he thinks of his experience, he thinks of all the things Ino has advised him about), if a girl generally said she was okay, it might mean the opposite. If things were okay, how did he know? Or if they weren’t, how would he know how to fix that? More than anything, he wanted to ask her what was wrong, what was bothering her, but he knew he might be overstepping a boundary, because there were times when Sakura refused to tell him anything. When they first started dating and this occurred, he’d write down what he wanted to ask on a piece of paper so that he remembered to ask her about it. That method always used to seem to work, but the more serious they got, the less it did. He had to wonder if things were changing for her.

“About today,” Sakura began, which startled Naruto. He never thought she would bring it up, because she was so used to bottling things up. Of course, it wasn't healthy, but it took Sakura quite a long time to realise that, and maybe this was the starting point of her acting upon it, “I’m sorry.”

“What’re you sorry for?”

She hummed. “Well,” she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Nervous, Naruto thought, “for starter’s, for lashing out the way I did.” Hearing the words come out of her mouth, Naruto wasn’t sure what his reaction should be. Watching the way she avoided his gaze, he felt like he was an outsider looking in on something he really needed. “Secondly,” she continued, “for not trusting you more.”

“You’re admitting you don’t trust me enough?” he asked, his voice hitching at the idea that Sakura was finally acknowledging her problem.

“I know that at times,” she enunciated carefully, “I blame myself for things and I also blame you for things. It’s not healthy, and I know that I could be better.” She paused and looked at him, and Naruto’s heart settled into his chest, the way it did every time he was reminded that this was where he was supposed to be. “I know that I could stand to trust you more, and it’s just that today… I was really frustrated when I couldn’t find those teacups.”

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto whispered, “about those teacups… I lied to you.” Naruto felt his pulse quicken at his own words, but he understood that it wasn’t easy for Sakura to tell him the truth when it came to trust. It was only fair that he tell her the truth, too. At least, he supposed so, anyway. He was her boyfriend, which meant he was the person who was supposed to be most honest with her.

“What do you mean?” she mumbled.

Gulping, Naruto almost felt as though he was going to regret the following words that were about to come out of his mouth. He looked at her face, searching for any sign of distance, for a lick of her shutting him out. When he found none, he took a deep breath, and made sure he didn’t waver. “When you said they weren’t in the china cabinet… they actually were.”

A long silence followed and Naruto could see her face go from content to absolutely thwarted. She licked her lips and didn’t take her eyes off him, and it looked almost as though she was at a true loss for words. Keeping his eyes on her, he wanted to communicate to her that he would not waver, even if she did. Sitting up straight, he watched her, and surely enough, she eventually let out a hearty sigh, one that was as rough and as angry as a mother who had scolded her child one too many times.

“I’m such an idiot,” she sputtered, “I can’t even do one thing right anymore!”

“No,” Naruto said gently, “that’s not true.” Moving closer, he reached for a lock of her hair and pushed it behind her ear. “You are strong, and you are smart. Forgetting one or two things every once in a while doesn’t make you an idiot. It just means you’re human.”

“But why couldn’t I have had another flaw? Like, I don’t know,” she pondered for a few seconds, “why couldn’t I have just been disorganized? And lose my notes and stuff during university?”

“Because it wouldn’t make you my Sakura-chan,” Naruto said encouragingly, “and you know that no matter what happens, no matter how many things you forget or how often you forget it, I am here to help you pick up the pieces.”

“But you won’t put them back together for me.”

“No,” he smiled, “I won’t. I’ll just hand you the pieces so you can put yourself back together. And I’ll be here the whole time.”

At his words of encouragement, Sakura leaned in for a kiss, and even though Naruto loved when she was affectionate, he could tell that she was still keeping something from him. He only hoped it was temporary, because the truth was that he couldn’t stand the thought of her keeping secrets from him. It wasn’t how they did things. It wasn’t how they worked as couple. Even when she looked at him, he could see that part of her spark was missing, the one that he loved so much. He wanted to ask her everything, wanted to know her heart like she knew his, but she never picked up on that, and merely went about her days as though she didn’t share them with him.

It definitely made him feel like an outsider.

During the following two weeks, Sakura’s eating habits had drastically changed, which Naruto only noticed when he was about to make dinner one night, and saw that the fridge was empty. There were no ingredients, much less any snacks. He was pretty busy throughout the day, especially since he was progressively becoming well-known in the media, so when he found that Sakura, the person who always made sure they were eating right, hadn’t placed some food in the fridge, it was definitely a warning of sorts. He sighed and dialled the number for their favorite Italian restaurant, because at this point, takeout was better than a home-cooked meal. She’s late today, he thought after he hung up and checked the time. The only reason she was ever late, according to him, was because she was working hard on a case. Even then, she would leave a text, or she would call.

Much to Naruto’s anxiety, she hadn’t been acting like herself at all, since the night he basically told her that her forgetfulness was beginning to take a toll on her.

Was it my fault? Is she avoiding me because of what I said? he thought, his mind racing at the possibilities he hoped wouldn't be true. When she was growing up, she moved around all over the place, and hardly had any time to make permanent friends, so in the end, she had only a few close friends she could rely on. Of course, she had Naruto, as well, but she was so good at pretending like she didn’t need help that everyone used to believe she was completely stable. Not only did she have few friends, but her parents were distant from her and as an only child whose parents’ expectations exceeded the norm, she became skilled at working until she cracked. Sakura was certainly different from her loving boyfriend, and everyone knew it.

When he heard the lock on the front door turn, he sat up straighter at the kitchen bar and made sure he had a smile on his face. If there was one thing that made Sakura’s day brighter, it was his wide grin. The door flew open and Sakura was carrying a box which might’ve made Naruto cock an eyebrow, if she didn’t look so ecstatic. Setting the box on the bar near him, she shut the door and walked over to him, crushing her lips hard against his. Naruto smiled and at the sensation, so did Sakura. She pulled back and her eyes were brighter than they had been in the last few years, and the storm in Naruto’s heart settled.

“You won’t believe what happened at work!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“I’m going to guess you didn’t get promoted?” he chuckled, his arm around her waist.

“Naruto,” she laughed, “I did! The promotion I was waiting for!”

“The one you were working your ass off for, for like, two years?”

“Yes!”

She kissed him again and wrapped her arms around his neck, the little squeal from her lips making him want to tear up. I’m so fucking glad, he thought to himself as he kissed her back and swept his thumb across her cheek.

“To celebrate,” Sakura whispered against his mouth, “how about we have the good wine?”

“You mean the wine we have isn’t good?” he feigned shock.

“Idiot,” she giggled, “but, let’s get drunk tonight.”

“You want to drink? To celebrate?”

“Yeah? What’s wrong with that?”

Naruto hesitated but when she cocked her head, he shrugged off his worries and stood up, grabbing the wine as she grabbed the glasses. He listened to her talk about how nervous she had been when her boss called her into his office, and how she felt like crying when she first received the news. The first person she called was her mother, even though she wanted Naruto to be the first to know. “Telling you over the phone didn’t seem practical or fair,” she said, which was understandable enough. She went through four glasses of wine before her words started to slur, and when he tried to put her to bed, she pulled him on top of her and wouldn’t take her eyes off of him.

“Stay,” she mumbled against his neck.

“You need sleep,” he replied in earnest as he sighed against her hair.

“I need you with me.” Adamant on her decision, she began touching his shoulders, and ran her hands down his back softly, whispering I love yous as she kissed his jaw and rolled him over so that she could sit on him. She tasted like wine and Naruto feared he was getting even more addicted to her kisses and to her touches than he already was. He kissed her neck and her collarbone, and although he drank more wine than her, he swore he was getting drunk off her skin and her panting as she rocked against him. Pressing her forehead against his, she looked him straight in the eye and the words that came from her mouth made his throat choke up in swallowed sobs. God, she’s so beautiful.

I love her so much. I love her so fucking much.

--------------------------

END CHAPTER

#naruto #narusaku #sakunaru #uzumaki naruto #haruno sakura #*my fics #otp: but choice was ripped away #fic

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jammixes-blog · 6 years

Text

No Time For Regrets

Looking back doesn’t help moving forward.

Instead of regretting the past, create a worthwhile present.

I am no more important than any other human being, I am equally similar, in my differences.

To be important is not as rewarding as being loved.

I give no importance to importance. I don’t agree with the concept. Everyone and everything is important, in specific situations.

I love the love, inside all other human beings, it makes my heart bigger.

The soul is a magic wand that can make wine, out of water from the sewage.

When your body and your mind have been cornered, fight with your soul, it can be destroyed, but never captured.

Since tenacity is one of my trademarks, how can I spend a day without thinking of the New Atlantis. Sir Francis Bacon still has a lot of admirers and heirs, his beautiful piece of art will never be compromised. If push comes to shove, I believe that the UK will be the place that will start the cleaning up. It’s a nation that is very dear to my heart, somekind of home, for my soul, since I was young. I always regarded London as the city I go to, if I have no other alternative. Why? I am discovering myself. It’s true, that’s where I went to University, by personal choice, to get away from my parents’ home. That’s where I became an adult and spend the best years of my life, making the best friends of my life. English people encouraged, or, at least, liked my “eccentricity”. To me, they were the kind of Geniuses I wanted to be educated by. I also enjoyed fully their “eccentricities”, fully legitimate, to my eyes. the only thing that perplexed me was the ritualistic 5 o’clock tea and respect for the Queen, even from the most hardened criminals. It took me two decades, to understand that one. Otherwise, Canada became my homeland, France, the place I grew up in, and the USA, the place I wanted to make my home. It was very hard to leave the USA, last year, after 13 years, in my 24 years of adulthood, admitting defeat and being chased out of the country, by criminals, black and white, claiming allegiance to the trump thing. This is why I hate the buffoon and his Vice so much. I was on my way out, anyway, they had no reason or justification to fuck with me, through silicon Valley’s social media platforms, forcing me to become a public figure. They were laughing, in my face, while getting me in trouble, and giving my locations to all junkies and low-scum criminals, in SF and Oakland. Now, I'm safe, in Toronto, beyond their reach, but making sure that they will be singled out and punished. The idiot with green hair and newly tattooed pentagram, on his forehead, is definitely having this tattoo removed, or, start being fucked around, by Good people, including the real gangsters, he wishes he could join. None of them will take in a crack addict with a daughter he deprives of a normal childhood. Same with the medicated bitch, “home schooling” her 12 and 16 years-old to be hackers, thieves, and criminals, starving them, a couple of days a week, to buy her $30 whiskey bottle. The bitch chased me, from oakland to san francisco, desperately trying to hack me, again. But I knew better, my phone was turned off, the second I saw her. she left me chanting white supremacist slogans, with her two kids. on top of that, she tried to make me believe that she was affiliated to gypsies and that they were all criminals. Apparently, gypsies enjoy stealing, for fun, they are like kids. What an idiot, I happen to love and respect gypsies, I knew it was all bullshit. Gypsies are very straightforward and honest, towards other human beings. The idiot with the tattoo literally cried on my shoulder, to help him out, before showing me the gun he constantly carried on him, and was going to use to rob me. That’s when “Jackie Chan” and his Nepalese crew jumped in, to save my life. They wouldn’t leave my side, my last day, in oakland, making sure that my stuff and I were safe. I owe them much more than I gave them, wholeheartedly. Once back in SF, for my last couple of weeks, Mrs Z, at the Cafe International, and Chinatown were my refuge. But, there were always Nepalese showing up, when I was in a critical situation. Mexican gangs were very nice to me, too. We’ve been friends since I was 21, in Art School, reds and blues, the locals and the newly arrived. They were very nice to me. As for the junkies, camping out outside my motel room, they didn’t scare me. I invited them to chill, several times, knowing full well how the junk, or its withdrawal, was affecting them. I was careful, plus, I always had my switchblade in my pocket. For 3 years, I had practiced, daily, pulling it out of my pocket, while opening it. With those people, my hand was often in my pocket. My last week was different, I had words of young adults, camping outside my hotel room, trying to figure out what I was doing, behind the drawn curtains. I spied at them too. One night, I got pissed off and ran down to confront one of them. he ran away, scared, yelling “he’s crazy, he’s crazy”. But, he never answered my question: “Why are you spying on me?”. Then, a few days before I leave, one of my best friends tells me: “you know that in the USA, anyone can film you, at all times. even within your private spaces. It’s not the same in Europe, good luck.”. That was a good hint. Basically, Americans are being taught that “privacy” does not exist and is not protected. As well as that anyone can possess a gun, easily, and should purchase one, as a means to protect oneself. It’s absurd, to say the least. What kind of society enacts such conduct, and what kind of sovereign nation promotes these kind of values, it’s truly a shame, there is no other word for it. I won’t get into it, suffice it to say that the New Atlantis, of Sir Francis Bacon, became hell on earth, for me, the last place I want to anchor myself in. Especially after experiencing riots, in Oakland, seeing the police force more armed than the army, and the portrayal of the riots, on TV. Rioters were pretty calm, but, on TV, they made it look like civil war. That’s because, no one gets chilled seeing ambushes of police cars, with soldiers in full gear, with weapons that should not be used, in a city, on civilians. The USA is in a deep existential crisis, it needs a JB, to clean up the White House, and heal Americans, from the Ground up... The Pestilence and his Vice should be swept away, unceremoniously, with the rest of the dirt, both “Fired”, by all Americans, for being blood-sucking parasites, towards them, as well as the rest of the world. It’s become an evidence and reality, after 1 year: those two evil idiots are out to destroy everything that made America great, for everyone. Furthermore, lately, they are coming out as unapologetic white supremacist Neo-nazis, in the face of the whole world, thinking they can get away with it. The trump thing thinks that is beyond reach and that he checked-mated the rest of us. He knows that if he gets kicked out, his Vice, who is even more evil, will replace him. And, he is convinced that no one wants that, so he can tweet hate and atrocities, like a twat, without repercussions. I am not knowledgeable in the US constitutional law, but I am sure that there are special clauses, for situations like this. That means that there are ways for Congress and the Senate to enact emergency measures to neutralize both him and his Vice. The good news is, they ran as a team, from the same platform, this platform can be made criminal, unlawful, and Anti-American. Even the Republicans are getting alarmed and losing patience, since they are true Americans, like their Democrat counterparts. Belittling and disrespecting US war veterans is the biggest mistake the two idiots could have made, this is what is going to hang them dry. They tried to fuck with the most essential part of the US social fabric, the American Noble and Selfless Hero. In time, they will both get lynched by the soldiers they thought they can poo on. Obviously, the kkk morons who support them will weasel out, since they will be surrendered, outnumbered, and singled out, with their ugly faces in the public light. Who hides behind a mask, except for coward evil criminals and Halloween tricksters? A real Knight has nothing to hide. There should be a special court, in the US, set up like The Hague, to pursue the kkk and Neo-nazis and compensate, retroactively, any family put in distress by those vermins. That’s the other good news: the kkk is broke and desperate for funds, hence the trumpy thing trying to miss as much cash as possible, for them. As it stands, they cannot afford all the law suits that can be created, against them. They should be exterminated as soon as possible, while it is still possible. I’d love to see what the twat tweets, when entire kkk armies are tried criminally and publicly. Is he going to re-tweet Neo-nazi propanganda, or defend his scumbag allies? Trust me, he went too far, there is no way back for him, he’s going to keep pressing on, with his bullying, until we stop him. More than ever, I am happy Mr Macron made a big fuss with the handshake, he was the first to denounce the fraud, approved by all the other EU leaders, they knew he was going to be late, on purpose, they were probably laughing at the vain, egocentrical buffon, looking at his watch, constantly, with a mounting frustration. That handshake shows a riteful Knight, made Prince, refusing to play a faker’s game. In a way, he said: “What kind of legitimate Knight shakes hands like this?”. He was rite, it’s a schoolyard bully tactic, faking an official sign, for legitimacy. Thanks to Mr Macron, all my doubts about the evil were lifted. He made a sign, telling all real Knights that this clown was not one of them. He can go further, and insist on stripping the criminal for any honour he bought in the past, in the EU. What does the bully have, to fuck around? Possession of “The Button” as well as the means and power to create terrorism, globally, to blackmail every Nation, in the world. He is the worst President, in US history, so far. His only accomplishment is record tweets, daily, to insult everybody, in the world. Today, he was fucking with the FBI, claiming that he can change it. True, he can put white supremacists in key positions, in this essential organisation, to fuck America, even more, as well as securing, through theft, datas on all Americans, to control, rob, and blackmail them. As a bully, he tries to push as much as he can, while he can. Is this the figurehead of America and Americans, today? Americans have become the butt of a global joke, how beneficial is the current form of government, and, who is benefiting from all this? Definitely not proud patriotic Americans, his so-called fan base, They are being ridiculed, worldwide, thanks to him. Hanging, for him and his demons, might be too lenient, I’d advocate very solid bars, and public exposure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in special cage, as an example, to discourage racist evil idiots, from trying to take over the world. Same with his Vice, silent for a reason, to hide, behind the radar, like a cockroach, while leading the kkk. Trust me, the Vice is as active, if not more, than his teammate. No real Knight is allowed to have an ego. These guys are, most definitely, fakes. Without a sheet on their face, they look and stink like pieces of shit. There is no doubt, they already went too far. It’s time to build 4 walls, around them. That day will be celebrated in every Nation, without exception, it will be a relief for every human being, on the planet. How does his eldest son feel about that? We’ll know in court, when he gets charged, as well. He will try to distance himself, without convincing anyone, of his innocence, since he is the one stashing all the money made, by stealing from American people, the past year. Russia made it clear that it won’t help, in that respect, refusing to allow the criminals to use its soil to hide the money, through bogus companies. Putin is a Good Genius, he patiently holds his cards, while the trumped team is sweating bullets, having put their cards on the table, out of over-confidence, since he doesn’t need their money.

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