#been also thinking about another hiatus for three months now maybe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bamnamuu · 8 months

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HELLO AGAIN ˗ˏˋ✩ˎˊ˗ CHOI SOOBIN

PAIRING ! non-idolchoi soobin x fem!reader

SUMMARY ! After starting her new job as a barista, Y/N begins to see someone more and more it just so happens to be Choi Soobin from grade school, never thinking she'd actually get to talk to him let alone get to know him, soobin has been dying to know her.

INCLUDES ! txt members, skz's Hyunjin, nwjns' Danielle, itzy members

A. NOTE ! this is based off of those Soobin pics from the seasons of txt youth box, also y/n and Danielle are both 03 babies in this, also i started this before lia went on hiatus and i love & miss her [if it’s bad don’t tell me i can’t take constructive criticism:) ]

W. COUNT ! 3k shes a long one

not very proofread beware

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

Walking onto the empty bus only made y/n overthink about her day more, after finding a seat at the back she put her headphones in. It's not like this is her first-ever job, it's just her first day as a barista. If she thought about it, the y/n of three months ago would be jumping for joy that she gets to work at the famous GuGUcafe, however, the y/n now was filled with dread.

GuGucafe is one of the busiest cafes downtown, y/n didn't even know why she was worried about her first shift. She had done her orientation and training days already so she knows its not the work that's worrying her, it could be the fact that her ex Hyunjin not only just works but also lives downtown, their relationship wasn't bad but it wasn't good either, just the basic things young love never works through, jealousy, miscommunication, insecurities, alert of y/n will always love him, he was her first love. they haven’t ran into each other since the breakup, she hoped that wouldn't change. Y/n snapping out of her reminiscing cloud, realized she was at her stop. Walking through the doors y/n was greeted by Lia her boss.

"I'm happy you showed up today! "The blonde girl said,

"Do you guys get a lot of no-shows ?" y/n was totally regretting showing up

"yeah... but let's not talk about that, go find your

apron!"

she did as the older girl said, finding her brown apron with a name tag, in her new uniform y/n started getting nervous again, but by pushing through she found herself at her break.

"I've been here for 4 hours ?!" y/n said shocked

"Unfortunately ’’ Yuna the another new hire said while rearranging the hot drink cups

"I'll see you in a bit, good luck!" y/n said to the girl who was now moving all the cold tea jugs around, yuna nodded as y/n went to the back to get her things.

At the beginning of the day y/n thought she would mess up horribly or bump into her ex in the mass-populated downtown, yet to her surprise the first half of her shift went well, so she just assumed that her anxious thoughts were just getting the best of her...until she bumped into a tall man entering the cafe, not even having to look up she knew it was him, she still knew his perfume. Y/n thought maybe he had forgotten who she was, it had been a entire year, maybe if she just apologized, walks out the door he won’t even see that it’s her, before she could move he spoke up

"y/n?" the boy spoke in a questioning tone

"Who?" y/n said, She was a fool, an absolute fool, and both of them knew it.

" God, you haven't changed one bit!" Hyunjin said smiling causing y/n to meet his eyes finally, they still hadn't changed from that night, but she felt different when looking into them than she did

" it's nice to see you again, but I have to get going" she finally spoke up, giving him a final smile and pushing past him, before turning around and saying

" oh and sorry for bumping into you"

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

Frantically reaching for her phone she texted Danielle, who's been her other half since elementary school, they've been there for each other through, first loves, birthdays, heartbreak, even emo phases ( that one was mostly y/n, but they promised to never bring it up)

"Gonna come see you" y/n typed

"YAY! I kind of figured you would, got you lunch" Dani responded

"I'm gonna marry you"

She finished typing as she made her way to the park near Dani's place of work, she truly wouldn't know what to do without her sunshine. looking up after texting her mom that she was okay and doing alright y/n saw Danielle waving to come to sit down with her,

"Okay what happened, did you spill coffee on someone, did you spill coffee on yourself, did you mi-" Danielle practically interrogating y/n before she could say hello, was cut off by the coffee girl.

"OMG! You really have no faith in me, but no it went really well..till” y/n said shaking her head during the first part, then quickly falling silent thinking about the incident.

"till???" the inpatient girl started shaking y/n, causing both of them to giggle.

"Well I was leaving and then I bumped into someone." y/n didn't want to say it because if she said it then that meant it happened, Danielle, on the other hand, brought hers up to try and help speed her friend's confession out

“Walked into Hyunjin and I kept staring at his boobs.. god... I don't think I've ever stared at someone's boobs for that long ever, but I did. I did! '' y/n said frantically

"So you're telling me you saw the "love of your only life" after almost a year, and you couldn't even look at him in his eyes!?" Dani brought her hands up to make air quotes, then shook her head not believing that her friend could be so silly and dumb at the same time. Y/n didn't speak she simply nodded. She didn't feel like getting into the nitty gritty part that were her feelings and if she still had them for Hyunjin, because even she didn't know, not after that interaction but for now she'll just let her friend believe she is.

"Also men don't have boobs y/n" she added remembering what her friend said.

much to both of the girl's dismay y/n had to get back to work, crossing her fingers and praying that Hyunjin wasn’t staying for long , maybe y/n was going through a lucky strike cause the boy was nowhere to be seen, letting out a happy sigh y/n got her apron back on and got back to work. 4 more hours was all she had to get through, and she would as long as Lia was there with her, she needed her for reassurance.

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

With the sun going down y/n had only two hours left in her shift. She didn’t have much to do Yuna was on her break, so she looked around the floor of the now desolate cafe and decided she would sweep, walking around the counter that was brushed by a rushing, heaving stressed lia,

“woah are you breathing properly?” y/n said to the blonde girl

“No... I think someone broke into my apartment!”

“Jesus, did you call the police?” y/n said now also stressed

“No, I'm gonna go over there just to make sure, and call on the way,” Lia said, walking around the empty store collecting her things and the scissors by the cash register.

“Do you think you can handle being alone here? Yuna should be back in a little bit” Lia said now looking serious

“ I think all will be fine Lia, rush hour is over and no one’s in here, I’ll be fine till Yuna gets back you should go!” with y/n saying that Lia gave her the keys to the shop in case she wanted to close early, and left

Y/n now getting free range to use the speakers, puts her music on shuffle, and continues cleaning. ‘Paris by Taylor Swift’ starts playing as the door chimes, y/n is now in the stock room, she figures it’s just Yuna. Until she hears a voice coming from the cashier's desk that’s clearly not Yuna’s

“Hello, is anyone here?” a boy said

Y/n who now sets the milk back in the fridge and walks to the front, can’t help but feel some sort of familiarity in the boy's voice, until she sees who it is, Choi soobin, they went to the same school since they were kids, he was two grades older than her but she knew of him.

“hi…sorry i’m the only one here,” y/n says waving her hands around to show the empty space around them

“s’ok you’re here now,” Soobin said with a little smile

“so what can I get for you” y/n smiled at his last comment

“I’ll have an iced Americano please”

“Just that ?” y/n looked up after putting his order in the machine, soobin nodded, then paid, as y/n was making his drink, she asked

“We went to the same school, right?”

“yeah I’m pretty sure we did” soobin replied,while looking at her with a soft smile

“here you go” She held out soobins drink for him to take

“have a good night y/n!” he said walking to the door

“you too”

It wasn’t until he finished his drink that Soobin realized that Y/n drew a small smiley face on his cup.

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

It's not that Soobin knew y/n worked there, he didn't, he doesn't even like coffee that much,but now he knows he has a shot to talk to her he's gonna do it. unlocking his apartment door he heard his friend say

''If anyone has a tiny smooth brain it would be you Beomgyu!'' Yeonjun said to his phone, making Soobin let out a little laugh.

''Ayo, you went to get coffee and didn't bring back anything for me? that's so cold man'' his roommate said looking at him with sad fox eyes

''Oh shut it, you never get me anything when you go out, and I didn't even plan on getting coffee it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision'' Soobin said rolling his eyes at the older boy

''Whatever dude! I will remember this next time'' Yeonjun rolling his eyes at soobin when he spoke

''Hey I have a question for you, do you remember Y/N from when we were little?''

''I think so? isn’t she dating Hyunjin?''

''No, they broke up'' the man on Yeonjuns phone said

''Shit I forgot to hang up''

''Hey Soobin didn't you have a crush on y/-''

Before Beomgyu could finish his sentence Soobin jumped from the kitchen onto the couch finally hanging up the phone. it's not that soobin was embarrassed to like y/n its just he was embarrassed that he hadn't stopped liking her even after he found out one of Beomgyu’s friends was dating her. There was just something he loved liked about her maybe it was the way she always smiled at him when they passed in the hallway or the one time when he had to walk home but it started pouring, and he forgot his umbrella until a cute girl a couple years younger him tapped his shoulder and handed him her umbrella, and carried on her way, not caring that she would be drenched. Ok so maybe he did know why he liked her, but it's entirely his fault that they've never had an entire conversation he was just too scared he would say something stupid that would scare her away, as well as haunting him for the rest of his life or be it Beomgyu would tease him, seeing the fact that he was the only one who knew.

''Dude what the hell is wrong with you'' yeonjun said, confused and scared

''What do you mean?'' soobin said looking up knowing full well he was laying in Yeonjun’s lap, with his phone in his hands

''Get off of me, you probably bruised my stomach'' Yeonjun chuckled whilst pushing the taller boy on the floor.

''It's not like I didn't know you liked her, Beomgyu is horrible at keeping your secrets and that's entirely your fault!'' Yeonjun said, pointing his finger at Soobin and moving to his room.

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

Y/n was getting ready for the day when she heard Lia walk into the break room frustrated, with a follower right behind.

“I want my key back!” Lia said turning around to the girl

“I lost it! Why do you think I broke into the apartment?” the other girl said, y/n realized it was chaeryeong, one of Lia's friends.

‘’G'morning to you two!’’ y/n said passing the bickering girls, starting her second day off better than the first, she was still running off four hours of sleep, it's not like she got off at a ridiculous time, no, she just kept thinking about the tall boy with the dimples. She didn't know why she drew a smiley face on the soobins cup, god he probably thought she was weird. y/n didn't know why the cup drawing took over her mind, but she should be happy because she'd been so focused on Soobin that she completely forgot about bumping into her ex, well until her sunshine friend's face jumped at her, knocking her out of the thought of last night.

‘’So have you face-butted anyone's boobs today?’’ Danielle smiles

‘’Sorry you have to leave the shop we don't want you here!’’ Y/n said teasing Dani

‘’ whatever… I’ll have that’’ Danielle said pointing at one of the posters with the seasonal drinks

After finishing Danielle’s order, y/n watched as her friend took her drink with a smile and waved goodbye. Y/n likes her job it's fun to people-watch without looking creepy, as well as her shifts go by super fast which she's grateful for. Until y/n found herself alone in the cafe just like the night before.

‘’Hello again!’’

‘’Oh, Soobin.. Hi’’ y/n said getting scared at the sudden volume change

‘’I'm sorry for scaring you, I didn't mean to’’ Soobin started apologizing, only to be opposed by y/n telling him he's fine and to not worry about it, or that it happens all the time

Soobin ordered his drink and watched y/n make it with such intent so he didn’t miss a single thing, he watched as she finished up and walked over to him drink in hand, nervously he took it replacing the drink in her hand with a small note meant for her.

confused y/n watched as the boy smiled wishing her a good night and went on his way. looking down at the small piece of crumbled paper in her hand she unraveled it to find the cutest little note.

you look really pretty today! <3

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

The causal flirting between the two started after soobins note, every single day, at the exact same time soobin would walk in the door to the usually quiet coffee shop and beam down at y/n causing the girl to form a reddish pink hue to her cheeks. Leaving Lia to be the third wheel, as she watched Soobin and y/n blush and giggle at each other, she got sick of it. she knew she had to do something for her best employee.

“Soobin wait!” Lia yelled sprinting out of the shop

“What? oh Lia?” Soobin replied confused

“You should just ask y/n out already, she’s been waiting and we both know she won’t ask!” Lia said dryly

“WHAT!” soobin yelled causing the passing strangers to stop at look at him

“You actually think y/n wants to go out with me?”

“You’re hopeless,” Lia said walking back into the store.

⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ⭑ ⊹ ࣪ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── ๋࣭ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⊹ ࣪

‘’ AM I hopeless?’’ Soobin spoke well opening the door to his apartment

‘’You want me to answer that? I won't be nice’’ Beomgyu said following behind, without even a second thought Soobin spun around to glare at the boy he calls a friend.

‘Yes?’

‘’You are hopeless, You liked this girl for how long now? Like a bajillion years! Just ask her out, the worst thing that could happen is her throwing a drink at you.’’ Beomgyu told Soobin, who wasn’t paying any attention to him. Calling it a night soobin went to his room to think over both Lia’s and Beomgyu's words.

Soobin hadn’t slept much that night too busy making up sentences and planning out how he's gonna ask y/n out. It's not the first time he's tried the first time he was going to ask y/n to go to the school dance with him, the news of her and Hyunjin broke out, god it hurt him. Who was he to think he could compete with Hwang Hyunjin, all of Soobin's negative voices came out to attack him, and he resented Hyunjin for years, he knows now it's not Hyunjin's fault he got insecure. He was just young and unconfident and it's easier to blame someone else when time doesn't work in your favor. That was then but now he wasnt going to let anything stop him, he even bought her favorite flowers which are dahlia’s Soobin was in in for real. soobin grabbed a scrape of paper to write out his plan,

1) wait till y/n is off her shift

2) pull her aside and give flowers.

3) ask her on a date via an note on the flowers

Simple plan, nothing could go wrong Soobin kept repeating in his head. Walking into Gugucafe Soobin looked around for his girl, only to be face to face with Yuna.

‘’Is y/n here ?’’ Soobin asked wrly

‘’No sorry she called in sick today’’ Yuna replied

‘’Oh okay, ah have a good day’’ Soobin tried to hide the disappointment in his voice but failing. Would it be weird for him to go to y/n apartment? His plan of asking her out has been put aside for now, and it’s not unusual to give your friend soup when they’re sick, and that’s what he and y/n are friends first, Soobin went on his was with a new that consists of restaurant soup and finding y/n address, and the last part he would need hope that Lia would give out her address, and to Soobins luck she told him

‘’Sure it may be wrong that I'm giving out my employee's addresses but it's for a good cause so I need to!’’

He didn't ask many questions about Lias statement, he seemed to be out the door as soon as she gave him the last letter of y/n’s street, with the bouquet of dahlias and a steaming container of soup he knocked on y/n’s door expecting to be faced with red-nosed coughing y/n, only to be faced with the opposite

‘’Soobin what are you doing here, not that I’m not happy to see you I just.. How’d you get my address?’’

‘’I went to see you and Yuna told me you were sick so I thought I would bring you soup, oh and Lia told me where you live’’ y/n just stared at him

‘’Oh these are for you!’’ Soobin said handing y/n the soup and flowers with his note still wedged between the stems

‘’Oh thanks, I’m feeling ok I just lied to Lia for fun, you can come in’’

‘’For fun you and me and different versions of fun’’

‘’No seriously you should try it sometime. these are absolutely beautiful Soobin what's that?’’ y/n said looking at the flowers,in that moment he remembered the forgotten note that was still attached to the bundle of dahlias in y/n’s hands, there was nothing he could do, he accepted his fate. He watched as y/n placed his gifts on the counter and took out the note, he didn't want to see her face, he now realized how awkward this was,

‘’You don't have to read it, s’stupid’’ Soobin pleaded

‘’It's not stupid if it’s from you ’’ y/n said still not looking up at him after a few long seconds y/n looked up at Soobin and said

‘’I would love to go out with you !’’

“Oh thank god!” Soobin said inhaling like he just learned how to breathe.

56 notes · View notes

lilpixielixie · 1 month

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CHAPTER THREE: Delicate | hwang hyunjin x fem!reader

Delicate | hwang hyunjin x fem! reader

"This ain't for the best, my reputation's never been worse, so you must like me for me"

- Delicate, Taylor Swift

Summary: Moving to Seul wasn't something that Selene expected to do, but her broken heart and tired soul were craving for peace. She didn't even think too much about it: she simply saw an opportunity that would let her hide from the media and Hollywood for some time and took it. However, she will have to make a decision by the end of the year and she hopes that, when the time comes, the same world that was hating on her right now would forget everything. Maybe she wasn't meant to be an actress, but she was sure she wasn't meant to be loved. At least, that was what she thought before meeting an idol who wasn't treating her like a broken and pitiful person.

Words: 2K

Genre: actress!reader x idol!hyunjin, SLOW BURN, angst, hurt/comfort, eventual smut (minors dni)

Warning: mention of Hyunjin's hiatus

Author's note: Hi everyone! I know it's been another month, but I've been really busy with work and lots of other stuff I've been doing that maybe one day I will tell you about. Also, mainly they speak english with Selene, when they speak korean I will change font so you can understand the difference! Enjoy the chapter!

Series Masterlis | Selene Profile

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

“You’re really rocking this shorthair agenda” Sunoo said while making a weird hand gesture.

Selene cringed.

“For the love of God, Sunoo please stop and go back to practice with the others”

“I’m being supportive of our amazing and beautiful choreographer!!!” he replied, outraged.

Sunghoon snorted from the floor where he was stretching “Seeing your performance lately, you should really practice instead of chit chatting”

Sunoo shot him a glance and huffed “Do you wake up every morning being this insufferable? Was there once you were nice?”

“Children, no fighting in the practice room” Selene warned both the boys “go back to warm up, I want to run the whole performance of tamed-dashed at least five times”

“FIVE?!” Jake yelled from the other side of the room. He was wearing a baggy brown hoodie which made him look like a teddy bear ready to hug and cheer up every single person in the room. Right next to him there was Jay who was helping the other stretch and he was also a victim of his sudden yell: he flinched and started to rub his ears murmuring what Selene thought were curses in english.

The girl was unimpressed because she was used to their antics by that time. In fact, she raised an eyebrow as if she was questioning his whining.

“You have to be perfect and go beyond the standard you set with your last comeback”

“You just like to torture us at this point” Nikki whined even though he was the most diligent out of all the seven boys when it came to dance. Moreover, he didn’t really mind practicing the same dance several times because he was a perfectionist just like her and this little resemblance made him happy.

Selene was sort of his idol: the kind of adoration he’d been expressing towards their new choreographer since they were introduced was crossing a thin line between admiration and worshiping a god. For this very reason, the others would often joke about how Selene was the only god Nikki believed in. She found herself often in this situation and even though at the beginning it made her laugh, now it was starting to get annoying. However, this had nothing to do with Nikki or the boys because the blonde girl knew it was her low self-esteem talking. She’d never understood the blind admiration certain people felt towards her and the more it happened the more she got annoyed and frustrated with the situation.

If she was such an amazing actress, she would be still acting instead of being there in Seul hiding from the cameras and her fans.

If she was the amazing dancer Nikki talked about with sparkling eyes full of admiration and respect, she would be still having a dancing career.

If her relationship was really the most perfect of all, it wouldn’t have ended like this.

However, here she was acting like a criminal who is waiting for all her charges to disappear into thin air. The only difference between a criminal and herself was that a lawyer wouldn’t be enough to bring her out from the mountain of crap she was being crushed under.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder that brought her back to reality. The choreographer turned her head towards the younger boy who was smiling at her with his little dimple out.

“Are you ok? You were a bit anxious this morning” Jungwon asked with a concerned tone. Selene looked down feeling guilty.

“I…I think I screwed up” she admitted in one breath. Jungwon frowned because he was confused by her sudden vulgar choice of words and whatever she meant by that.

“Someone recognized me last night”

“OH MY GOD, WHO?” Sunoo jumped into her view, eager to know. On the other side, Jungwon shot him a disappointed glance.

“Don’t you see she’s upset?”

“She shouldn’t”

“Well, but no one is supposed to know I’m here” she murmured “the company was very clear about it”

“Then, screw the company” Sunoo said without hesitation. Both Selene and Jungwon didn’t react, too used to this kind of reaction every time this topic came up.

“Selene, you can’t recluse yourself into your apartment when you’re not working with us” Jungwon said matter-of-factly “and the fact that someone might have recognized you doesn’t mean they know everything”

“Yeah, you have to live blondie”

“Sunoo”

“It’s Sunoo-hyung for you”

Jungwon rolled his eyes and muttered something along the line “cannot stand him anymore”

On the other hand, Selene was biting her lips uncomfortably “But, what if…they start to question my sudden appearance here? Moreover, I was at the convenience store near my apartment that is near the company”

“That is irrelevant, really, the majority tend to mind their own business” Jungwon reassured her while gently rubbing her shoulder to ease a bit of tension.

“So…who was it?” Sunoo asked again, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Hyunjin” Selene replied “from Stray Kids”

Both the guys looked at her and replied with a little “oh” and because of this weird ration Selene started to panic.

“I-is it that bad? What? Hyunjin is like a bad person or-”

“No no no, sorry, we didn’t mean like that” Jungwon jumped to reassure her again while still having a weird expression “It’s just that-”

“He was literally in your same situation not until some days ago, no one in the industry has seen him in months” the oldest of the two mumbled “from what we know, not even his members had seen him for weeks”

“Jake became friends with Chan and Felix” Jungwon said to Selene even though she still had to ask how they knew.

After that, the blonde girl nodded and she started to think about last night and how he looked all covered up.

“How is he? Do you know him?”

Jungwon raised an eyebrow questioning Selene's sudden interest without calling her out directly; however, Sunoo looked delighted by it and gave her a big “I know where this is going” smile.

“Oh oh” Sunoo’s eyes sparkled full of interest “someone got our girl attention”

Suddenly, the other members who weren’t involved in the conversation appeared as those magic words sinked into everyone’s mind.

“Oh my god, you like someone?” Jake asked overexcited

“I KNEW IT! I told you it was a matter of time!” Jay’s voice sounded clear - Selene couldn’t understand who he was talking to - among the chaos Sunoo created. All of the members but Jungwon (he was rubbing his temples done) started to talk and ask questions to their young choreographer because they were eager to know some news. This reaction kind of warmed Selene’s heart because from day one these boys have been nothing but kind and supportive with her, treating her as a normal human being and they’ve never made her feel uncomfortable or left out. However, she was also annoyed.

“STOP! ALL OF YOU, SILENCE!” she yelled so that everyone could hear her over all of that noise. The group shut up and waited for their choreographer to continue.

“I don’t like anyone, I just wanted to know how a certain idol I ran into last night is, drop it. If you’re not gonna answer me, go back to practice tamed-dashed ten times; or we can have another five minutes of break”

“Man, she got mad…ten times now!” Jake whispered-yelled into Jay’s ear who wanted to punch him in the face.

“Which idol?” Sunghoon asked “Was he better looking than me?”

“Well” Sunoo replied in english at Selene’s place “you might wanna sit dude, because this is a good one”

“Did he just dude me?!”

The blonde girl couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out the answer “It was Hyunjin from Stray kids” she was met with silence “is he a good person or not? Because both time you hadn’t got a good reaction”

“No it’s just…” Jay started to talk but didn’t finish his sentence, probably because he didn’t know how to explain it.

“We’re just surprised” Heeseung said “seeing what happened with him we’re still surprised he came back; also you’re the first person that has seen him since his come back some days ago”

“But he’s great” intervened Nikki “I mean, none of us had really any kind of relationship with him, but from what Chan, Felix and also Jeongin said about him and those little interaction we had he seems good”

“Everybody before that scandal talked really good about him” Heeseung nodded along with the others.

“And now?” Selene asked.

Everyone looked at each other before Jungwon said “No one was allowed to talk about him anymore, he just came back unexpectedly so…for now, the majority will pretend to be nice in front of him while talking shit at his back, and the rest will just try to treat him as nothing happened”

Selene looked at all of them, then she smiled bitterly “It looks like the story is always repeating itself”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hyunjin didn’t tell anyone about his encounter with Selene the other night, but he kind of hoped to see her again. He didn’t really know what came into him, but he just wanted to talk a bit with her and see if she was doing ok. Considering the fact they’ve never met before last night, this wish was weird and pretty out of the blue, but it had to do with Hyunjin’s eternal empathy. While he was in hiatus - but also before that - he kept himself informed about whatever happened to Selene, one of the most famous and loved western actresses of the last four years, because firstly he was a fan of the movies and secondly he liked her as a person. When she disappeared around the same time he went on hiatus he thought it was pretty ironic and started to wonder what she was going through; if she was having the same thoughts as him; if she was also finding it hard staying hidden from the world’s spotlight just like himself.

Due to that sudden encounter in that particular convenience store, he decided to test his luck and go back there. Considering the fact that Selene was one of Enhypen’s new choreographers, she must have been busy until pretty late into the night, so Hyunjin went to the convenience store a bit after midnight. He took his time going around the aisles and looking through the food he could buy when the door opened. He briefly glanced at the door and he saw the same feminine figure all covered up going straight to the ice cream section.

Then, as if he was possessed by someone definitely more confident than his usual awkward off-stage self, he walked towards her. On the other side, Selene was totally unaware of the man approaching her, too busy choosing among the ice cream flavors. At some point, she heard a gentle “hey” behind her which made her hand pause mid air while taking the cookie dough flavored ice cream, then she felt the mysterious guy moving behind her. She saw a hand coming into her view and picking up the ice cream she wanted and putting it into her hand. In that moment, she quickly studied that hand and, when she saw two particular rings adorning it, she recognized him. She took the cookie dough flavored ice cream and turned around meeting a pair of brown gentle eyes which were turning lightly into two crescent moons.

“Hi there” Hyunjin said in english while scratching the back of his neck nervously “what about we have something to eat together here?” he shook the cup of instant ramen he was holding.

“I…”

“This convenience store is usually empty at this hour, I used to come here a lot some months ago” Hyunjin continued in a rush of confidence “there are those sits right there pretty hidden from the outsiders, that’s why I like this place”

The girl in front of him looked like a spooked cat, but against all of his expectations she nodded while fixing her face mask.

“Ok, Hyunjin”

And when he heard his name coming from her mouth - he was surprised she even knew him - he realized he liked the way her accent curled around the syllables more than he thought he would.

#skz au #skz bang chan #skz han #skz lee know #hyunjin x reader #skz x you #skz #skz angst #skz changbin #skz felix #skz seungmin #skz x reader #stray kids #stray kids x reader #skz jeongin #skz hyunjin

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theotherstephencobert · 2 months

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Personal Inventory - What the hell happened over the last 7 years?

I have been contemplating it ever since I first became aware it was going on, and I am going to share a few insights into what I think happened. I am not sure even now that I completely understand why it happened, but maybe my putting it down into my Tumblr blog will allow me to see it in perspective.

What I'm talking about is this: I started a health, fitness and weight loss journey back in the summer of 2013. No formal diet, just get in some good exercise and eat healthy foods, lay off the fast food and carbonated drinks, make it a lifestyle change instead of a diet or a quick fix. For four years it worked: I went from a weight of 290 (almost certainly more than that before I started weighing myself weekly) to weight in the neighborhood of 215-225 lbs. I got fit enough to take bicycle trips to small towns 20-25 miles distant. In the scheme of things I added running to my journey and completed a number of sanctioned 10K's. 2017 started out as a banner year for my continued progress. And the, midway through the year, it turned downhill. My weight went up into the 220's then the 230's and then the 240's in the space of just four months. I still rode my bike and ran regularly, but all the progress I'd made with my weight loss just kept reversing itself. I found myself giving the whine of so many people in weight loss programs, "But I'm doing the same thing I've been doing for months [in my case,years], how come all of a sudden it's not working anymore???"

I had been through so much in those four years. I was enrolled in my local YMCA in 2014, and when I reported that I'd lost 45 lbs in the course of the year they did a blurb about me for their online newsletter, "Another Y Success Story". In the summer of 2015 I rode my bike to the small town of Clearwater, KS, some 17 miles from Wichita (a feat that my granddaughter Savannah was quite proud to tell her friends about). Just before Christmas of 2015 a car ran into my left leg in the Walmart parking lot; I had to take time off to heal but then got right back into the journey. Three months later a lowlife jerk ran over my left leg while getting away after robbing me of my change purse (with all of $6 in it). Again, some time to heal and then I was back in the swing of things. I rode my bikes hard and long, and rode them until they fell apart or were trashed. My response was to go buy another bike and get right back onto the road.

So what could have happened in mid 2017 that would make me lose all that progress and then eventaully put the whole journey on hiatus?

I am pretty sure this is at least part of it.

On June 2, 2017, near the end of a bike ride, my mother called me to tell me my father had died. This was the day before I had planned to run the 10K River Run, an official part of the Wichita River Festival, and (ironically) the day before what would have been Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary. Dad had been in failing health, so the fact that he would die soon should not have been a surprise, but the news was still a shock to me. I told the desk clerk on duty at the hotel I manage; she was pretty good friends with my son Travis and called to tell him, and he suggested to his son Jordon that maybe Grandpa needed someone to be with tonight. So that evening Jordon joined me at the hotel and we were together that night and in the morning.

I have detailed the 2017 River Run on this blog and also on my Facebook page, and I will come clean about something here that I did not say on either site: I was wracked with guilt over the whole thing. I wrote about how Dad was very much a family man (which he was) and how I was honoring his memory by taking part in the River Run and River Festival with my grandson. The truth was, I was trying to cover up my feelings of, "My Dad is dead and my Mom just lost her husband of 65 years and I'm galavanting through downtown Wichita with my grandson playing Soccer Ball Billiards and chowing down on overpriced pizza and lemonade." I had been a notorious no-show at family get-togethers and holidays; part of that was I was so busy at the hotel that I didn't take time off for anything, but another part was Wichita is pretty near 1000 miles away from Knoxville by the preferred roads of travel and I was too broke (or too cheap) to afford the air fare or even the bus fare.

The next weekend I went to Knoxville to join my brother David and his two adult sons to visit Mom; it was the first time any of them had seen me in person since my sister Carol's wedding in 1993, and in fact David's sons were 2 and 4 years old then. A running gag was that every hour or so my phone would ring, I would look at the caller ID and roll my eyes and everyone else would laugh. The people at the hotel were blowing up my phne because it was the first time in over a decade I wasn't there to put out the fires and answer questions: "Steve, where do we keep the light bulbs for those new lamps James bought?" "Steve, this guy has a reservation for two nights but he only wants to stay one night. What do I do?" (The laughs were a lot quieter when I got a call from an irate guest at 1:30 in the morning.)

I discussed my feelings of guilt with my sister Carol later on. She confessed that, the weekend I got together with Mom she was scheduled to take her recent high school graduate daughter Rachel to Colorado to apply at the Air Force Academy (not the sort of thing you can bail on or reschedule) and she was wracked with guilt that she didn't join us to visit Mom in her time of mourning.

Anyway… In 2006 I responded to my 27-year-old daughter's death by throwing myself into my work. I was salaried then and so I worked ridiculous long hours, at least once working over 1/2 the total hours in the two-week work cycle. I was running on fumes and fighting off exhaustion. So in 2017, in response to my father's death, I made the (I see now) stupid decision to just go on with my life like nothing had happened… "life goes on" and all that.

I made the mistake of not dealing with my father's death. The problem was, I had no idea how the hell to deal with his death. What was I to do? Sit down and talk with a friend or counselor about my feelings, maybe regularly over time? Go to a rock quarry with a sledgehammer and smash a lot of rocks? I suspect (it didin't seem this way at the time but I am very good at deceiving myself) that I self-medicated with food a lot more than I realized. Remember that "whine" I mentioned at the end of the second paragraph of this post? Truth was I was slipping back into my old habits of eating at fast food places and hydrating with fizz.

My father's death was just the start: Two years later my mother died, almost two years to the day of Dad's passing. I got the call from Carol the morning of July 1 as I was preparing to run the 2019 River Run 10K.) Of course 2020 was the year that damn COVID-19 shut down the world. Then in October of 2021 my ex-wife Teresa (with whom I'd been on good terms since our divorce) died of COVID. And then in February of 2022 my son Travis joined his sister and mother in death. I'd like to say he died of liver failure, but the plain truth is he died of too much whiskey. (As his mom's next of kin he had to tell the hospital not to resuscitate Teresa, and even though that was what his mother had told him her wishes were, he was despondent with guilt over it and medicated with alcohol.)

I was still exercising with the bicycle, but in the time after Mom's passing my weight climbed into the 250's and then into the 260's to 270's where they stayed for a couple of years. Then in mid 2022 my weight went over 280, was consistently there until the start of September when I for some reasom lost interest in recording my weight anymore.

It's been a year and a half since then. My bicycle had two flat tires and a rusted out drive train. My finances (or maybe I should say my priorities) wouldm't allow me to get another bike until just recently. My weight is now in the mid 260's… maybe I did something right between the Fall of 2022 and now.

But I still have to ask: Was the death of my father, and the deaths of other family members, the real reason my health and fitness journey was sidetracked? And if it was, have I REALLY dealt with it? Or like a chiming electric clock that no one replaces the batteries to, has the issue just grown fainter and fainter with time 'til it's at the point I just don't notice it now?

To anyone who took the time to read all of this: I welcome any insights or advice into what might really be going on here and how I might effectively deal with it.

#personal #setbackintocomeback #setback into comeback

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miionio · 7 days

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Mio your Mio is here!

I have been quite busy since March, a lot of things have happened but I haven't had the time to draw for my little diary blog here.

So hopefully you are fine with a text post, and I can draw for those mini stories with more detail later!

The haircut in March

I have cut my hair short a fair amount of times in my life, for the majority I have cut pixie cuts. During my time where I was in the most denial about feeling like a boy though, I grew my hair out long and klad it in so many big ribbons.

There have always however been a haircut I have wanted to try at least once, but I was too scared going to a hairdresser and showing her a boy-picture of what I wanted to look like after my one attempt when I was 14.

Due to circumstances, I couldn't cut my hair at my usual hairdresser, a story I will tell later. So I went to a new lady. Picture in hand and my courage shaking in hand. I had almost saved my hair out to a near perfect length for this particular cut; which had taken me a year. Maybe another half year of it growing out from this cut, I would have the ideal length to cut the hairstyle.

Moving onto the actual haircutting...

When she finished cutting, my hair went from Deku fluffy cute cloud waves to it belonging onto a 2010's meme site.

I cried when I got home.

I warned my two irl meetup friends that I refuse to allow them to see me with my haircut until it has grown out for at least 4 months, it was too darn embarrassing and shameful. I stopped covering my head with my hoodie two weeks ago when the summer heat was hitting too hard.

One year of length until I stop looking horrid. My hair is also going to take two years to grow out to the desired length of my dreamcut, to which I have decided that I will save up and travel to the big city to get it done right.

And if you think that story isn't so bad... That is ⅛ of what happened. The rest will come with drawings to explain the nightmare I went through that day with the hairdresser.

My very first binder

As much as I wanted the story of my first binder to be exciting and thrilling; I have to buy a new one with a different model. To put it short: I bought the very wrong model for someone with J-cups.

This too, will have a drawn example, so future me knows what I did wrong.

I am now saving up to buy another one, double as expensive. My eyesight has gotten worse, but I kind of need the binder more, my eyes waited a year so they can wait another three months.

You thought you were slick when coming out

You were not. Apparently two of your TTRPG players had missed the news and message you put on your general discord chat back in December.

One was left shocked when you mentioned something about it, as they had missed it.

The other was confused until they asked what everyone was talking about, and then apologized profusely.

Mio, you probably should've done a better job.

This was a rather long post from the little hiatus, but far more than that has happened and I will make updates on it after my birthday in two weeks ❤💕

#trans man #transgender #trans #blog #blogger #ftm #lgbt blog #trans ftm #lgbt #lgbtq #trans blog

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ikatako38 · 4 months

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Hey all, I have some good news and some bad news.

The bad news

is that TPWCH is going on an emergency (unplanned) hiatus. This means I won’t be making any effort to work on the fic or any related work such as art and side projects, whicle I try to get myself back on my feet. This means we might miss the 2nd Anniversary Special, but I will post it eventually even if it’s late. I’m really excited to share it with you! I don’t know how long this emergency hiatus is going to be, but I think somewhere around a month would be a reasonable estimate. Keep in mind that this is when I’ll start working on things again, so it might be a few more weeks after that before you start seeing content again.

The good news

is that I’m going to be emptying out all my WIPs, notes, and any other content I can easily throw at you guys to help hold you over throughout the break! So anyone following me here should be getting a bunch of exclusive content over the next several weeks.

Also,

since everything’s getting pushed back, I think now would be a good a time as any to start Ship Wars! I’m not going to put an exact start date on it yet, because it will take a bit of work to kickstart, and I don’t know when I’ll get around to that, but once I do get it started it should mostly run itself!

So…

I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but thank you guys so much for sticking around with me through all of this. I’m painfully aware that I’ve only uploaded one and a half official chapters since April, and I know that I’ve lost a lot of readers because of that. So again, thank you so much for staying. It really means the world to me.

I’m sure the question a lot of you probably have on your mind right now is, Is Tako ever actually going to finish TPWCH? And with how things have been going lately, that’s a very valid question. To be 100% honest with how I’m feeling another the fic right now, I kind of wish it could just be done already. Or that it could just somehow write itself. But the reason for that is that I’m so excited to share with you all other parts of the TPWCH universe that are just waiting to be written! I really don’t see myself dropping the TPWCH universe anytime soon, and I really don’t see myself dropping TPWCH itself anytime soon, either. And an important reason for that is simply that… I don’t have any other ideas to write. Even for other fandoms. It’s a bit crazy just how strong of a hold TPWCH has had on me for three years now.

By the way, that’s not normal for me. Back on my FFN and Wattpad days (don’t bother going to look for my accounts, they don’t exist… yet 👀), I was usually working on 3-5 fics at once and was constantly having ideas for new ones, to where it was a struggle to keep up and I to make hard decisions about priority. I don’t know if I’ve gotten less creative with ideas as I’ve gotten older or whether TPWCH is just the first universe to be so interesting to me that I don’t have any need or desire to come up with new things outside of it.

Either way, if I have no desire to work on other things, the only way TPWCH would ever stop is if I stopped writing altogether, and that’s just not going to happen. Writing has been a huge part of my life since I was ten, and maybe even younger. It’s my most important hobby and makes me happy. If I don’t do it for too long, it’ll actually make my mental state worse.

So I really don’t want you guys to think that this is like a vacation for me, or some sort of respite from the… AWFUL chore of writing. (　ﾟдﾟ) Really it’s more like I’m grounded from writing until I can get my grades up. (;_;) The grades in this case, yes being my university grades but also my life in general because it’s been kind of a mess lately. Within the last two weeks, I fell out with two of the closest people I’ve ever been to and pretty much the only irl friends I have at this point (the Discord server will know who these people are). One of them going very badly and increasing my conviction that everyone secretly hates me. （╹◡╹）On top of that my room is slowly becoming uninhabitable, I’m not sleeping, and I’m just constantly stressed and anxious. But I’m gonna be okay. The fallings-out are very fresh and will fade with time, and just two days ago I finally got a consultation for ADHD. I now have initial diagnoses of ADHD and Social Anxiety Disorder, which I should be starting treatment for in about a month, so I’m really hoping that will help me somewhat to get back on track. And all the support from everyone between Discord, here and AO3 has always helped, and I’m sure it will continue to help. Many of the people I’ve met online through the fic have ironically been far more supportive and trustworthy than the people I’ve met irl. You’re all so real for that ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Wow, that got really long! Thank for reading this far!

#tako’s updates

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ask-the-bone-boys · 2 years

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indefinite hiatus.

so, as much as I really hate to say it, I think I and anyone who’s been following along with this blog for the last year or two could tell this has been kind of a long time coming.

Basically, the gist is that I don’t know if I’m having fun running an ask blog anymore. I genuinely do love writing these characters, and I want nothing more than to keep working on this story and helping it grow and develop. But lately, I’ve been struggling massively with actually getting the motivation required to work on it.

It’s become a pattern; I get motivated for a few weeks, drop some updates that are more than just static talk sprites and text, and then disappear for months more before it all starts again. I feel bad and guilty every time I disappear, especially for no reason, but I just can’t get myself to work on what I need to do next. It doesn’t help that I’ve gotten progressively more busy as time goes on, too.

That’s another thing. I started this blog when I was thirteen, you guys! Next summer I’m gonna be getting ready for college! There are so many things I wrote back at the start that I wish I did differently, good lord. But that’s besides the point, which is that in the four years I’ve been working on this, only about a week and three days have actually passed in canon. Considering how long I plan for the full thing to be, thats..........a little demotivating, yeah

But enough with my list of grievances! I want to say now that this does not mean this story is being put to bed. I want to keep working on it! I want to tell the damn story I’ve been writing for four damn years!!!! I’ll abandon it when I’m in my thirties!!!!!!!!!

Lately, I’ve been playing with the idea of fully moving away from the ask blog format and converting it into a more traditional fanfic. This would come with its own challenges, being that I would have to almost completely rework the first two arcs, but. Writing’s always come a bit faster to me, somehow.

I haven’t decided on anything yet, though. Maybe I’ll try the ask blog format a bit longer. I love interacting with you guys, after all, and I love seeing what weird shit you decide to say to my skeletons! But for right now, I just need to take an actual, intended break, guilt-free, just to figure out exactly what I want to do. I’m also gonna start a separate fic for Karma’s backstory sometime soon, so maybe that’ll help clear up some of the weirdness in my brain. Who knows! I don’t!

But anyway this is long as hell and y’all get the point by now, so I’m just gonna say, thank you all so, so much for sticking along with me for as long as you have. I hope that I can find a way to continue that’s satisfactory for everyone, and I hope that one day, we can all see it to its end.

#ooc #watch me walk this back in like a month bc summer sucks for my mental brain. lol #dont get ur hopes up tho. i rlly just need time to think over this more #i love my guys and i love YOU guys but running an ask blog is #a lot #and so so so damn SLOW when you have a bad brain that refuses to cooperate #but i'll figure something out. i'll finish it from the grave if i gotta #and you can COUNT on that because i have SO MANY CUTE OUTFITS DESIGNED FOR THE EPILOGUE #I WILL NOT LET THEM GO UNSEEN!!!!!!#ahem. anyway i'm stalling with tags so im gonna . post.#see you guys whenever I make a decision :')#bone boys #<- tagging for chrono readers sorry guys 😔

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melsie-sims · 2 years

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I’m going on vacation!

I’m going camping deep in the bush for a week from July 15 to the 22!

Although the cabin I’ll be staying in is supposed to have wi-fi, I don’t expect it to be great... if it works at all. If you’re wondering why I’ve only been posting 3 times a day compared to my usual 7-8 posts per day... that’s why! I’m trying to have a decent amount of content to last me until the end of the month.

Of course that means I won’t be here to get hyped up about the High School pack with everyone... but you can bet your ass when I get back home and get through updating all of my mods again... I’m gonna be playing it! It’s actually a pack I’ll get to use for my BACC so that’s super exciting!

So here’s the deal when it comes to my three on-going stories/series. A lot of this will depend on factors out of my control, like EA fixing their bugs and how many mods break with the High School update.

MY BUILD A CITY CHALLENGE...

I have plenty of content to last me through the month so no worries there!

I won’t be playing any households with babies until the toddler glitch is fixed but I do have a few households I can play still once I get back from my vacation on the 22nd. Once I’m through all of those, if EA hasn’t fixed the bug, then I may have to take a short hiatus for this series.

I’m assuming they’ll have it fixed by then though! It should take me the whole summer to get through these 2-3 households after the Leprince-Flynn family.

MY EXTREME DECADES CHALLENGE...

Unfortunately, I’m completely out of posts for this one and it makes me soooo sad because I’ve been dying to play it again. We’ll be on hiatus until the toddler glitch is fixed. I can’t play with broken ass toddlers, sorry.

Until then please go check out @ivyandink‘s Dubois Decades (it’s already in chrono order for you!). It’s pretty similar to mine in terms of setting but edited WAY better and with a much more detailed storyline. I’m kind of obsessed... and it’s been keeping me going while I wait to play my Decades.

MY OCCULT SAVE FILE...

To be honest? Not sure about this one. If I keep going the way I’m going... I’ll probably burn myself out and stop playing it. It’s A LOT of work for one single post... I don’t know how all of those crazy storytelling simblrs do it constantly!!

I don’t think all of this posing is my cup of tea though. I will continue this save but it will be a bit less staged and a bit more gameplay-focused. I have a few more posts left in my drafts that I’ll queue up and then this save will be on hiatus for a little while until I figure out what kind of challenge/gameplay style I wanna do. Probably some kind of Rags to Riches meets Occult Legacy meets multiple families/rotational gameplay. We’ll see in August!

MOAR STUFF??? MAYBE??? WILL IT LEAD TO BURN OUT?? WE’LL SEE!

Knock on wood, but I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at juggling multiple save files... which was a huge issue for me last year when I attempted it.

I know I have 3 things going on now, but I’ve been wanting to maybe start something new in August. Let me know if you have any challenges you’d like me to check out! I’m considering doing a modified version (aka harder and more long-term) of AussieCassPlays’ Island Challenge. I might also try a random legacy challenge or a LEPacy... those also seem really fun!

Soooo... yeah! I’m still gonna be around for another week but I will be slower at replying to DM’s, asks or WCIFs. I probably won’t be replying to anything at all from the 15th-22nd.

Happy simming!

#sims 4 #just chatting #update

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livingmybestfakelife · 2 years

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Through The Wire

You’re the assistant engineer that helped bring the Peaky Blinders interactive museum/theme park to life, you loved this exhibit the most because it was historical and you’ve always been a history buff and also into true crime, so it was safe to say that you were excited to be apart of one that had to do with the infamous Shelby Family.

The company that the museum is owned by created very realistic and intelligent robots that looked like human’s. The museum was very successful and you were proud of your involvement in it.

After the museum had finally opened back up after a three month hiatus due to system update’s, you found yourself in the ballroom part of the park doing some tests. While you were replacing the microchipped bracelet back onto the robot of the Duchess Tatiana, out of nowhere she say’s.

“Congratulations by the way, on your engagement, I’ve heard that he is a good man”

You look up at her, wondering why she was even on, knowing full well that you put her in sleep mode, and then how she even knew about Broderick, you never mentioned your boyfriend now fiancée in front of any of the bots, maybe another employee did?

Just then, one of the other bots that was based on Thomas Shelby who was also not in sleep mode looks at her with a puzzled expression, then over at you, his eyes are filled with disappointment, confusion, and a bit of anger, it’s like the information that he just heard was something that didn’t sit well with him.

“What is she talking about Cora?”

You back up a little, only for him to follow your steps, this isn’t how this was supposed to go, you’ve never had this kind of interaction with him.

“T-Tatiana, how did you know that?”

She giggles and gives you a big smile

“The Bluetooth on your work tablet is connected to my microchip, I heard you talking with Gabriella yesterday”

That’s when you open your tablet to connect to Tatiana’s “brain”, you see that she is in fact in sleep mode but somehow is awake, after some fiddling with some codes you feel Tommy grasp your wrist.

“Now what makes you think that I’ll ever let you do that? Since when have you been with a man?”

“Thomas let go!”

“ANSWER ME GOD DAMMIT”

A loud alarm goes off before three employees run over and grab him, he gives them some loud threats and swears at them before a long needle is inserted into his neck and he shuts down, one of men walk over to check on you and ask if you’re hurt, you tell him no and he goes to shut Tatiana down as well.

Both bots are taken away to have any glitches fixed and you’re left with a slightly bruised wrist and a cracked tablet when Tommy made you accidentally drop it.

You’ve interacted with Tommy ever since he was created and it’s been nothing but a positive experience, it was almost as if he was programmed to be nice to you, you were even encouraged by two of the founders to go along with the storyline that they programmed for him based on the real life and long dead man that he was referencing, for three long years you wore costumes that went along with the years that the storyline took place in.

You went along with whatever “memories” that he had, you even had to read Wikipedia articles and biographies about his life just to make sure that you knew enough about him to make it look authentic.

“Why weren’t those two in sleep mode YN?”

“They were, I went to double check after she spoke to me and everything, and it said that she was, there must be a glitch or something, and besides, I wouldn’t be in my regular clothes if I knew that they weren’t turned off”

“Fuck…well we’re gonna deal with them amongst ourselves, don’t say anything to the bosses alright?”

“Of course not, no”

“Okay”

You rush back to your office in the building that’s two miles away from the museum, the whole time you’re wondering why Tommy would get so upset at you having a man of your own.

It wasn’t until later that evening when you were home that you remembered Cora Hamilton, the Peaky Blinders only female member and the one woman who was referred to as the real love of Thomas Shelby’s life, but it never gotten to be anything because she was a lesbian. So with this knowledge already programmed into his bot, and Tatiana spilling the beans that your real life self is with a man, it’s clear that bot Tommy felt as though you, aka Cora, was fooling him the entire time and felt betrayed.

“Fuck…FUCK”

Hopefully by tomorrow the Tatiana and Tommy bots will be wiped clean of any recent memory and will be back to normal, for now though, you will be sure to not let your guard down and avoid speaking on your personal life within any device connected to any of the characters.

“Thomas…can you hear me?”

He blinked only once at the engineer, playing into the robotic being that he was, he was stripped down to just an undershirt and boxers while his system was being wiped clean of the past 24 hours and updated, or so that’s what they thought they were doing.

“Yes, I can hear you”

“Do you know where Cora is right now?”

“She’s in the hospital right now with the flu”

It was the cover story for your absence that was programmed into him, you were advised to take a week off just to be safe that the update was successful, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and Tommy knew exactly what they were doing, it wouldn’t be long until he finds a way to leave the museum undetected, before he finds you to get an explanation on why you lied to him about your sexuality just to avoid being with him the way he’s always wanted, he would first have to deal with the obstacle that was your fiancée Broderick.

#peaky blinders #tommy shelby #tommy shelby imagine #peaky blinders imagine

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oficmag · 2 years

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Contributor Spotlight: Leandra

Now that Issue #1 is live, we at OFIC Mag are excited to shine a light on some of the amazing contributors from our inaugural issue. We hope you all love them as much as we do!

Today’s spotlight is on Leandra | @LeandraMWrites, who wrote “A Bad Lock” for Issue #1.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hello! I'm a Black millennial from Southern California who is currently on a "hiatus" from teaching preschool. Prior to teaching three and four year olds, I taught yoga to grown ups (somehow more difficult than being around children) and spent the rest of my free time writing fan fiction and playing video games. Currently, I'm on a roller skating kick while attempting to write the novel I've been trying to execute since 2014.

How did you find fandom?

I found fandom through Myspace and Livejournal when I was in middle school. RPF was the shit back then and I had notebooks full of "bandom" fan fiction that I'd share with my friends during lunch and passing periods. Things were so simple, then.

What fandom are you in now and what brought you here?

Publicly, I'm afraid I have to plead the fifth.* 🤐 No, but for real, I'm actually not super active in any fandom space right now! Though I do have many friends and acquaintances from the [redacted] fandom, who I thank every day for supporting my unhinged tweets and fan fiction. Special shout out to my best friend and beta reader for the past ten plus years for bringing me there! That space and support/positive reaction really pushed me into actively pursuing the goal of submitting my original work to magazines. (*If you are so inclined, peeking at some of my followers on Twitter and their accounts could give you a good idea of where I've been, fandom wise).

What’s your favorite book of all time and what do you love about it?

This is a hard question. I don't really have a favorite book because every time I read a book and I really enjoy it, it becomes my favorite book. Genre wise, I tend to stick to literary and I'm kind of a sucker for weird shit and sad shit and offbeat shit about all the nuances of interpersonal relationships. For the past few years, I've been reading pretty much short story collections and nothing else. But recently, I read Red At The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson and it blew my mind. Maybe I'm biased, but stories about families and difficult relationships with mothers always strike me in a very specific place.

What projects are you working on right now?

Speaking of difficult relationships with mothers, that's one aspect of what I'm working on now. The elusive novel that may or may not take eight more years to complete if I keep working at the same pace. Other than that, I have about a dozen short story ideas at varying stages of completion. I'm a slow writer though, so each one of those will probably sit for another six months before I get around to having something that's actually readable. (Not necessarily likable to my standards, but readable at least).

What are your aspirations as a writer, big picture or small?

I sort of want to do everything. Call it delusional, but I see myself floating around everywhere in terms of writing (mostly because my interests are fleeting, but also because it's fun to do new things!) I've got a few screenplay ideas laying around, plans for multiple novels, plans for eventual short story collections. I'm a big idea sort of person. A big dreamer, I guess. As someone without an MFA and no desire to get one, I can only hope that my writing reaches as many people as possible.

If you could give one piece of advice to beginning writers, what would you tell them?

Write what you want. Don't write what you think other people will want. Oh, and don't compare your character of color's skin tone to food.

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE OFIC FAMILY, LEANDRA! WE’RE SO THRILLED TO SHARE YOUR WORK WITH THE WORLD.

#bookblr #writeblr #issue 1 #spotlight

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chidoroki · 2 years

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ahh i’m so mad for forgetting it was tpn’s 6th anniversary today.. i dunno how i can never remember that date. i don’t have anything planned though, which sucks because it’s kinda the most important day of the series ya know?? HOWEVER! i already finished my edit for emma’s birthday last week, so that’s pretty darn early for me! okay so it’s like 99% done, i gotta figure out one final touch, but yeah. and then isabella’s should be next but that’s not til september anyways. i remember very few birthdays..still upset i forgot about today though! i know i can always post something later this week but then it’s late! and that’s even if i get an idea in the first place hhmmm..

but in my defense it was an important day for me for a completely different reason though.. little Kona turned one today!!! love her. she’s too cute. she actually shares a birthday with my late great grandmother so that’s kinda sweet. (maybe now i won’f forget tpn’s anniversary either)

aside from that i feel like last week was real busy/eventful. dad had actually tested positive for covid tuesday so since we had dinner together the day before i worked from home all last week just to make sure i was okay (which i am thankfully). i don’t mind working from home, it allows me to sleep in a bit but having two screens instead of three is always a troublesome adjustment, and annoying if things get too stressful. every now and then there’s also some nights where i can’t even fall asleep and just feel incredible anxious..why i dunno. it feels random honestly.

it hasn’t been all bad though. i decided to read ahead with the paripi koumei manga and oh my god, the love i have for eiko is IMMENSE!! i honestly wasn’t expecting to get more of her backstory, but i’m so happy we did. i thought we were just gonna focus on the summer sonia concert stuff next, but it seems that is gonna be the final goal. so i’m really loving the direction the manga is going now with creating more songs and learning more of eiko’s past/family. it just makes sense. i debated in writing a whole post on it but idk yet, we’ll see. i dunno how often the manga updates, but i’ve only seen sites have up to ch49? but aahh i want her to succeed so badly! i really hope we get another season because i need to hear more of her lovely voice! THEN i forget what day i read ch113 of ft 100yq but MMHHMM that gruvia body swap! their reactions were great and i loved every moment and of course i’m looking forward to see how gray fights with juvia’s magic. i’m eagerly waiting for the day we get a trailer for the anime too.

then finally.. FINALLY the black clover manga is back! and i still think it’s hilarious that the three month hiatus started right as i finished the anime, like of course that’s just my luck! i think i caught up for just two new chapters then poof! break time! my friend has been begging me to watch since the anime started so i pushed it off for years, til something just.. clicked within me? i remember the movie trailer was announced months ago and friend was excited about it and naturally tried to convince me to start the series once more and i dunno exact words, but i’m pretty sure he compared it to fairy tail (which i sorta figured from the start anyways) but then said everyone from the squad got more focus/backstory, and i was like.. oh? so, that kinda did it for me. and damn it, i ended up loving the series. a lot. but better late than never i suppose! (and he totally has the right to say “told you so,” he deserved it. he even predicted that vanessa would end up as my favorite. so he’s right. again.) so sorry not sorry for all the spam. my queue was filled over 250+ at one point and stayed like that for weeks because i just kept adding more to it. it’s finally back around 50ish now because i FINALLY gone through the whole anime yet again (why do i queue all the gifs chronologically? i dunno!! i forget which series i started doing this with but now it feels necessary for me to do so! lowkey kinda hate it, makes it seem like i’m insane ahaaa. but now all that’s left is artwork that i can fangirl over, thank god!)

but now that the manga is back i’m debating on writing chapter reviews for it, though i doubt they’ll be as long as those i’ve done for tpn, but hhmmm. it’s just funny how i decide on doing such a thing whenever a series enters their final arcs. well, i say that but i haven’t done any for mha in.. years. probably won’t start those up though. i still read it sure but the story is meh to me sometimes. i enjoy the characters more and unfortunately those i really love don’t get much spotlight, maybe just a moment or two recently. always debating on reading ahead for no guns life too since i have no clue if the anime is gonna continue, but i definitely won’t for fire force since season3 has at least been confirmed, whenever.. same with tokyo revengers even though i’m getting real tempted with that one. and for the love of god i have to remember to read the psycho pass manga still! or however much i can find of it anyways!

what else is happening in my world right now, umm. almost a month away from splatoon3 thank god. i haven’t played my switch in a hot minute but once i got that then mmmhmm it’s over. then. scarlet & violet a couple months after too. OH! pokemon.. the masters 8 tournament has been bittersweet for me. the battles are rushed, even most take one episode, some of the moves and outcomes are just.. upsetting and strange. like i’ll never get over how dirty the writing handled the leon vs alain match. my boy deserved so much better. lance vs diantha was okay i guess and ya knew cynthia was gonna win against iris no problem. but then that battle with steven and ash.. idc what people say but there’s no way he should’ve won. after all that damage pikachu took from mega-metagross, he wins by one z-move and an iron tail of all things?? what?? (i think? i dont remember, i was annoyed). only bright side are all the cameos we’ve been getting. they only last a few seconds but they grant me SO MUCH happiness! seeing mairin, the johto trio, drew AND harley?? my heart was ecstatic! and i’m sure they’ll save all of ash’s traveling companions for his final match with leon, or at least i’m hoping so. i better see may and serena again darn it!

oh, and no joke but i swear i actually had a fucking contestshipping dream last night, which isn’t too surprising since i do indeed love them very much, but it was just randomly timed? like why now and not last month around their actual day when i rewatched all their episodes ya know?? but whatever. all it was was drew calling up may after some contest lose (in johto im assuming) to cheer her up. then some light teasing of course. that’s all i needed.

sometime during my incoherent rambling i did get an idea for an tpn anniversary edit. so i’ll definitely start on something for it tonight or tomorrow, unless i get caught up playing more pmd sky.. i started a randomizer yesterday and i’m enjoying myself. nostalgia hitting hard. but i would seriously love a new mystery dungeon.

#talking to myself #edit: as im posting this i just noticed a pokemon presents was announced for august 3rd! HELL YEAAHH more scarlet & violet news babyyy!!!!

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loveislarryislove · 10 months

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Halfway Home Check-in (2023)

I know this is over a month late because of who I am as a person but I still want to do it so shhhhh, a #HashtagGoals update for the year. I started this in June/July but wanted to make some “quick” progress on a few things first -- but then I was not quick oops.

Numeric goals

Minimum goal: 5 fics and 50,000 words over the year

Aim goal: 12 fics (ideally at least 1 per month) and 80,000 words over the year

Ludicrous goal: 15 fics and 100,000 words over the year

So far this year, I’ve posted 6 fics totaling about 35k, and I also have around 10k written on another three ongoing projects (edit: those numbers are from July 1st aka actually halfway through the year; now it’s more like 20k on four projects), so I’m definitely going to be fine on the minimum goal. I also have a couple of other fests I’m eyeing or ideas I might do -- and Wordplay is coming up, so that should also help boost the number of fics. I think in terms of number of fics, the Aim goal is totally doable and the Ludicrous goal is definitely plausible. It’s harder to predict word count-wise, since a lot of these upcoming fics are likely to be short, but we’ll see!

15,000 lifetime kudos

222,222 lifetime hits

1,000 kudos on 2023 fics

10,000 hits on 2023 fics

ngl I don’t remember the numbers at the start of the year, so it’s hard for me to say exactly where I am on the lifetime goals, but they definitely seem in reach! I’m probably around halfway on most of these, which for halfway through the year is great -- and since Wordplay again is a huge boost, we should be good in the hood!

General goals

Tracking my writing

I’ve been doing this, and I love the graphs so much. Look how tasty!!!

I also was inspired by @larry-hiatus to make a spreadsheet of all my fics (77 and counting, it took a while haha) with various stats, and the graphs from that were also interesting! Apparently I write Louis POV twice as often as Harry, I switched hard from past tense to present tense in 2017, and I only have 10 fics with more than a few seconds of smut (8 of those written in the last two years).

Beta-reading more

I’d say I’ve been medium at this. I’ve done some, and I’ve also recently signed up for a couple events as a beta! And I do some editing stuff for work purposes so I guess that could arguably count.

Reading-reading more (both fic and non-fic)

I regret to say that I have forgotten how to read and I literally don’t think I’ve read a book all year oops. Have devoured some fic though. Maybe I’ll read some books when I go on vacation next week.

Branching out with what I write to explore new fandoms or fandoms I haven’t written for as much, or new pairings within familiar fandoms

The 6 fics so far are evenly split between three fandoms, though all fandoms I’ve written before. I may dabble around for Troped multifandom events, I signed up as a beta for a PJO event, and I’m trying to find a Shiall concept I like for The Show Fic Fest, so definitely still room to keep exploring and diversifying.

Replying to most comments – “all” isn’t always feasible for me, but I’ve been doing probably around 80% and I think that’s a decent proportion

It looks like I’m at around 60% so far this year, so I guess that means it’s time to go on a spree! (edit: those were July numbers again; now I’m at more like 75% which I’m pretty happy with!)

Make a podfic

Make a fic rec of some of my favourite fics

Make a cover for one (or more than one) of my old fics

I have done... none of these. Maybe someday lmao

Find the executive functioning to put my Wordplay and Troped fics into series

Come up and implement a generic AO3 pseud for my non-Larry non-critrole fics and sort those around

I did both of these this week! The pseud part was actually embarrassingly easy, you can mass-edit what pseud something is under so it took like two minutes. The series part was more effort but it’s done now :) I was procrastinating making this post until then and I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing haha

Come up with and implement sort of Replying To Old Comments Project so I feel like less of a doof replying to comments from like… five years ago

Still want to, still haven’t.

See you in five months for final results!

#writing #mine #my fics #goals

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lilacmoon83 · 1 year

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Lightning in a Bottle

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Author's Notes: Sorry for the hiatus I had to take from writing. Work and real life has been crazy. I also wanted to watch the final 10 episodes of Manifest so I could get an idea of how I'm going to handle seasons 3 and 4, so please read these author's notes for details:

This chapter begins corresponding to Season 3 of Manifest and now that I've seen the end of the series, I believe I know how I'll be writing the last two seasons. With that comes a few notes. This chapter introduces a new major character and a new minor character. I debated on replacing the major character with a Once character and decided against it as there is just no Once character that fits what this character becomes in the age range that is needed. So I've decided to use the Manifest character. Her name is Angelina and she's played by Holly Taylor so you can Google it. Also, with the addition of Mr. Gold in this story, his advice and knowledge will change the tone and provide them with insight that the characters in Manifest didn't have. This will result in avoiding certain calamities and replacing them with others that work for my characters.

I also may explore and flesh out the Mythology and lore a bit more than the series was able to with my own conclusions.

The second minor character is the daughter of the Major in the series. Since we are using the Black Fairy as our Major in this story, I chose a Once character and decided that Tinkerbell fits well in this role, as she will be playing mainly off Hook. Since I can't call her Tinkerbell, her name in this will be Bella Green. It's also been about 4 months since the last chapter.

Sorry for the delay on getting this out. Work has been crazy and I had to take a few weeks off, but this is an extra long chapter. I think that's it for notes for now. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Lightning in a Bottle

Chapter 80: Tailfin

David held his head in his hands, as he screamed in pain and the bright light nearly blinded all of them. It was the same Calling he, Emma, and Henry had been having for months now. There was another young woman in the Calling too, about maybe a bit older than Olive. She looked just as terrified, but they hadn't been able to get a good look at her to identify her until today. Henry had gotten a better look at her, but immediately called his father and David answered right away.

"Hey buddy…you had it again too?" he asked.

"Yeah…" he said with a sigh.

"The light was so bright and we were all screaming. It scared me," Henry added.

"Yeah…me too, but we'll figure it out. I saw your Aunt Emma there too. I wonder if she had it too," David said, as his phone beeped.

"That would be Emma," Margaret said, as she hooked her hand on his elbow.

"Let me guess…we all just had that Calling again?" she asked.

"Yep," David answered.

"Who was that woman? I couldn't make her out," Emma said.

"I'm not sure…but I think I know what triggered that Calling. We found the boat," David said, as he held his wife's hand.

"Like in my sketch?" Henry asked.

"Just like it," David replied.

"That boat found something, Dad…about 828. I just know it," Henry insisted.

"We believe you, buddy and we're going to see if we can finally get some answers," David said.

"Well…whatever is on that boat must be important. I haven't had a Calling that intense in months," Emma mentioned.

"Agreed and the boat is barely tied up. The owners can't be gone for long," David said.

"Okay…but please be careful, you guys. You have a sister and three kids that need you to come home. It can be dangerous there," Emma warned. They smiled.

"We will…call you soon," David said, as he hung up the phone. When Henry's drawings suggested that answers to his exploding plane Calling were in Cuba, he and Vance had decided to make the trip there. Margaret insisted on coming with him, though he protested at first. But his father was more than willing to stay with the kids and he had trouble saying no to her. Plus, he liked the idea of a little adventure and mini getaway with his wife. After all, Jamaica had been their last vacation.

"Do you see anything, honey?" Margaret asked, as they poked around the ship.

"No…there's nothing here," he replied, as they stepped off the ship, just as the owners returned. Margaret listened to her husband speak to them in Spanish and then offer them a wad of cash, provided to them by Vance's government connections.

"They said they found something regarding 828," he said, as they took the cash and proceeded to lead the couple to a nearby storage warehouse. David held her hand, as they cautiously followed the men inside and to the far wall. There was a large tarp covering whatever it was that they were keeping in there.

The man pulled the tarp away and Margaret gasped, as they lay eyes on the tailfin of flight 828…

~*~

"Same calling again?" Neal asked, as she and Neal sunbathed on a beach near the beach house they had rented for their honeymoon in Costa Rica.

"Yeah, David and Henry are just as floored as I am. We can't identify this woman that's in the Calling with us though, but it feels like we're all dying," Emma replied. He grimaced.

"I wish I could help…but no Callings for me anymore," he said.

"You're alive and you survived your Death Date. Believe me, it's a trade off that we're all glad for, especially me," she replied, as they shared a kiss.

"If surviving the Death Date means no more Callings…then sign us all up," she added. He smiled and squeezed her hand.

"You'll get there," he assured her.

"Yeah…but the return of the Callings after months is probably telling us it's time to pack up and head home," Emma said. He nodded.

"Yeah…back to reality," Neal replied.

"Yeah…the Callings are a blessing that lets us save lives, but they're also a curse sometimes," Emma said.

"But if I want to grow old with you…I better get back to solving them," she added.

"Oh…you're going to grow ancient with me," he mused, as he pulled her close and they shared another kiss.

"Here comes the train, Eden…because we like avoiding planes now," Robert said, as he fed the baby, while Olive smiled on and Henry paced.

"Anything from Mom and Dad?" she asked.

"No…they went dark all of a sudden. I really want to know what they found," Henry said impatiently.

"Impatience…wonder where that comes from," Robert mused.

"Dad loves that joke almost as much as you," Olive joked, as Eden called out and Robert fed her another bite.

"All three of you are like this," he said, as they witnessed Henry have a Calling.

"Hey buddy…what was it?" Robert asked, as his tablet rang.

"Same one…it's Aunt Emma," he replied, as he answered.

"Hey kid…did you have it too?" she asked.

"Yeah…who was that woman?" he asked.

"No idea, but I was hoping you and Ol could go to your Dad's boards and help me identify her," she replied, as the two went into the garage.

"I talked to Dad earlier," Henry said.

"You spoke to your Dad? He and MM have been radio silent for the past couple days. Have they found anything?" Emma asked.

"Not yet…but they think they're really close," Henry replied.

"What happened in the Calling?" Olive asked.

"We were about to die," Henry answered gravely.

~*~

"Okay kiddo…open wide for me," Regina said, as she examined the little boy in the small exam room.

"Good boy…it looks a little raw in there. Probably strep. Has he had strep before?" she asked the mother. The woman nodded.

"Two winters in a row," she answered.

"Let me get a test so we can be sure and I'll be back with a lollipop too," Regina replied, as she went to get both, but not before checking in with one of Vance's other employees in the control room.

"Anything from Cuba?" she asked, as she gave him a lollipop.

"I'll let you know when I do," Alonzo replied, as he took the wrapper off the candy.

~*~

"Morning, Bill," Killian said, greeting the desk sergeant.

"Lieutenant," he nodded in response, as he noticed a young woman talking to one of the other detectives and heard Emma's name.

"Where's Emma Nolan?" she asked, perking his interest.

"Look, I'm sure you're a very nice person. And I would know, 'cause I'm a very nice person. But I just can't divulge that kind of information about Detective Nolan," the other detective replied.

"You don't understand. I need to speak with her," the young woman insisted.

"Well, I don't think she can help you, but I can redirect your concern to the precinct where your mom lives or the FBI," the detective replied.

"I've been to both. No one would help me. Just tell me when Detective Nolan gets back and I'll come back then," she replied.

"I can't tell you that. Now, I'm sorry, but I really need to get back to work," the detective said, as he turned away and she stormed out of the station.

"Hey, what was that about?" Killian asked curiously.

"Missing person. She can't get ahold of her mom and she wants to talk to Emma," Ruby answered.

"I feel for her, but it's not our area," she added.

"Why's she asking for Emma?" he asked.

"Uh, she thinks the 828 cop can help. People will believe anything when they're desperate," Ruby replied.

~*~

"What did you see?" Olive asked.

"We were all freaking out…and there was another woman that I didn't recognize," Henry replied, as they looked at the board.

"Okay…was she old or young?" Olive asked.

"Old," Henry replied.

"Hair? Eyes?" Olive asked. Henry shrugged.

"Medium," he replied. She gave him a look.

"That's not an option," Olive replied, as she took his tablet and turned it so Emma could see, as she moved it over the board.

"Wait…there she is," Emma said.

"Are you sure?" Olive asked.

"The hair is different…but that's her," Emma replied.

"Angelina Meyer…you said she was old," Olive said to her brother, obviously a bit annoyed. He shrugged again.

"Older than me," Henry replied, as Olive rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Meyer, Angelina. No reply to email. No reply to call. He never talked to her, but there should be more bio stuff," Olive said.

"Here. Born Long Island, New York, 1990. Current whereabouts unknown. Parents own homes in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Tamarindo, Costa Rica," Olive added.

"Wow. The callings really do follow us wherever we go. Or tell us where we need to be. How far is Tamarindo?" Emma asked her husband.

"Two-hour drive," he said, looking it up on her phone.

"Hey, nice work, you guys. We'll call you back. Try and reach your dad, okay?" she said, as she hung up.

"Angelina Meyer. She seemed like she was really in danger," Emma mentioned.

"And so did you. And David and Henry," Neal reminded her.

"True. But either way, she needs us. I just...I know it," Emma replied.

"I think she needs you. But where you lead, I will follow. Let's go," Neal said.

~*~

"David…" Margaret murmured.

"I know…it's impossible," he whispered back. They had been there that night at the hangar when the plane mysteriously exploded. Slowly, David let go of her hand and approached the tailfin. He touched it and Margaret cried out, as some unseen force threw her husband back several feet to the ground. She rushed to him, as the two men looked on quite curiously.

"David…" she said in alarm, as she shook him awake. Thankfully, he had only been mildly shocked and was roused easily. He noticed the men looking at him suspiciously and he quickly got to his feet.

"Must be some static electricity," he said, knowing it was a lame excuse.

"Thank you for showing us," Margaret said, as they quickly left and David called Vance.

"What the hell is going on…I can't let you two just go dark in his country," he said.

"Sorry…but you're not going to believe what we found. It's the tailfin," David replied.

"That's a hell of a mystery," Vance agreed, as they heard someone speaking to them in Spanish and approaching. It was a Cuban law enforcement officer and he knew that wasn't good.

~*~

After talking to Angelina's parents, Emma and Neal headed to track down one more lead, which led them to a beach not far from their house.

"Elena Rojas?" Emma asked, as they engaged a friend of Angelina's and explained the situation.

"We hung out a bit after the plane came back. I tried having dinner over there a few times, but her parents were still so clingy," Elena explained.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Emma asked.

"A few months ago. I figured she went back to New York. She always talked about going," Elena answered.

"What else?" Emma pressed.

"I don't know how to explain it. She was distracted, almost paranoid, looking over her shoulder like she was being followed," Elena offered.

"Her parents didn't mention that," Neal commented.

"They're so strict and religious, I'm sure she was nervous to tell them," Elena said.

"Did she ever talk about being followed or give you any details?" Emma asked. Elena looked hesitant.

"Look, it's important to tell us anything that you might know, because she didn't go back to New York, Elena. She's still somewhere in Costa Rica," Emma pleaded.

"That's seriously all I know. You don't think someone really was after her?" Elena asked.

"I don't know. Look, if you hear or think of anything, you have my number, okay?" she added, as she and Neal walked away.

"So was she really being followed, or was she just having a calling?" Neal wondered.

"Or option number three, the calling was trying to warn her about something," Emma responded.

~*~

The Cuban official looked at the pair skeptically, as Margaret clung to his side.

"Americans?" he asked. He nodded.

"Yes…we're just here visiting your beautiful country," David replied, as he clutched her hand.

"Can you explain this?" the man said, as he showed him a video on a phone. Someone had captured him touching the tailfin and the reaction.

"Oh…that was nothing. Just a little snafu," he said.

"You show us," he said, as the other officers surrounded them. He put his hand up and put his other arm around Margaret, as they were led back into the warehouse.

"You touch the tailfin now," he ordered. He nodded and did as they asked, knowing that they would threaten his wife if he didn't. He looked at his hand and put it to the tailfin again. But nothing happened and he glanced at his wife, wondering what they would do now. Fortunately, they wouldn't have to find out, as Vance and his associate moved in with guns and rounded up the officers.

"How is this possible?" Vance asked. He shook his head.

"No clue…but we need to get it out of here or we're all going to end up in a Cuban prison. I knew I shouldn't have let Margaret come," he said.

"Fortunately, we have a ride. Let's go," he said, as they piled into a flatbed truck and took off for the nearest airfield.

~*~

"Oh," Noelle, Angelina's mother, uttered in surprise when she returned to the patio. She did not expect to see Neal and Emma back.

"Didn't know you were back," she said.

"They were talking to Elena," Angelina's father replied.

"We didn't realize Angelina had a friend right here in Costa Rica," Emma said.

"Does it matter? She doesn't know where Angelina is either," Noelle replied.

"I'm sorry to get hung up on this. There's just something I'm not quite getting. If Angelina lived here with you and she was so afraid, wouldn't she have mentioned something to you?" Emma questioned.

"I don't...someone following her, a stalker…" Noelle stammered.

"There was no damn stalker. There was no anything. It was all coming from within her," Angelina's father snapped. Emma pretended to be lightheaded.

"You okay?" Neal asked.

"Uh...sorry. I just got really dizzy. Do you mind if I use your bathroom?" Emma asked.

"Of course. Just through here," Noelle said. Emma went into the house and found the bathroom, but once she was sure it was clear, she followed her urge and started to search the house.

~*~

"When I touched it, it blew me back, Vance," David called over the wind, as they rode on the flatbed of the truck to the airfield.

"It launched me," he said. Margaret nodded.

"Still could be a duplicate," Vance reasoned.

"Come on. It's the actual tailfin from 828," David insisted.

"How? You came home in that plane," Vance argued.

"Right. And then I watched that plane explode. And how, Vance, after all these years,

does an 1,800 pound tailfin dredge up from the bottom of the ocean?" David questioned.

"David, my whole career has been about looking at how the facts add up," Vance replied.

"What are they trying to tell us?" Margaret asked.

"I've lasted this long simply because I would not let go of that mantra. How do the facts add up? Then your flight returned, and nothing added up. Cost me almost everything

to try to make it all add up," he said, pausing for a moment.

"But with that tailfin, we may be on the cusp of finally understanding the biggest mystery that's ever transpired in human history," Vance added. David and Margaret smiled.

"I'm glad you're on our side," David said.

"Always" Vance promised, as they neared the airfield.

"There she is," Vance said, pointing at the large cargo plane.

"Nice upgrade from the puddle-jumper that got us over here. Can't exactly Uber home a tailfin" David joked.

"Boss, we got company," Vance's right hand called from the cab of the truck.

"Gun it!" he shouted.

"We got a good lead on them," David said.

"Not enough. Stop the truck," Vance called to his driver.

"Come on," he said, as he hopped out.

"Vance, what are you doing?" David asked.

"Making sure you two get home," he replied.

"Get this to my wife," he said, as he handed his wedding ring to David.

"Vance, we don't have to do this. We can all make it to the plane," David insisted.

"It doesn't matter. It's DGI. Intelligence. They want the tailfin. They'll shoot us out of the sky for it. This is the only way," Vance replied.

"Vance, what about you?" Margaret asked. He sighed.

"Listen to me. Listen…both of you," he said.

"You're going to want to do something to help me. It's in your nature. Do not. I'll handle it," he said, as he got into the truck, while his driver, who was also their pilot, fired up the plane.

"Vance, get out of the truck," David pleaded, as Cuban intelligence arrived.

"Get on the plane!" Vance said, as he drove off with the tailfin to keep the heat off them.

"Vance! Vance!" David called. But it was too late. Vance had surrendered and the Intelligence officers would soon turn their attention to them. David growled and grabbed Margaret's hand, as they ran up the ramp of the plane. It closed and Vance's pilot took them to the air…

~*~

Emma had been gone a while and that made Noelle venture into the house. Neal knew he needed a distraction and pretended to faint.

"Noelle!" Kenneth called, as he tried to rouse Neal.

"Don't tell me you're like them too," he mentioned skeptically, as the distraction worked and Emma continued her search inside. She trekked through the large house, all the way to the basement and felt the Calling urging her on. She found her way into the cellar and saw that there were individual cellars, finally seeing a girl locked inside one.

"Hang on…I'm getting you out. Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you," Emma said, as she broke the lock with a crowbar. She tossed it away and helped the young girl out, who was momentarily blinded by the bright light of the sun.

"It's okay…you're safe now. I'm going to get you to a hospital," Emma assured.

"No!" Angelina cried.

"No, don't," she pleaded.

"We have no choice. It's okay. It's okay," Emma soothed, as she hugged her gently.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital and get checked out?" she asked.

"No…I just want to go," Angelina replied. Emma nodded and they left with Angelina.

Her parents didn't fuss too much, because they knew Emma would call the Police on them if they did and soon they were back at the house they had rented for their honeymoon.

"You need to know that you're not possessed. The voices in your head, the

visions, they're far from a curse. No matter what your parents believe," Emma said.

"My mom…she was religious too, but not in a scary way so I know the scriptures too. I don't think your parents are using them correctly," she added.

"I'm sure you know Romans 8:28. You're one of the Called. So am I. Actually, so are a lot of us from 828," Emma said. Angelina looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, that's right. I was on that flight. 5A," Emma said.

"24D," Angelina replied," as Neal returned.

"Wasn't sure what you were into, so I got a few of everything," he said, as he dumped some packages of snacks on the bed and she eagerly chose one.

"Nice assist on the "fake calling flop" back there. How'd you know I needed help?," she asked.

"I don't know. I just felt it," Neal replied.

"The American consulate's gonna close soon, so we should get going. I told the police we'd bring Angelina to report her parents," Emma said.

"No. I just want to get out of here with you. Please. I don't want to be alone with this anymore," she pleaded.

"Believe me. If you're hanging with us, you can't throw a stick without hitting somebody who has callings," Neal said.

"Okay. You're coming with us," Emma replied, as she started to look through her phone.

"I don't want to rain on the parade here, but we don't have any paperwork for Angelina. No passport, no license…and you're already handling it, aren't you?" he mused. She smirked.

"Of course I am," Emma said.

"Of course you are," Neal replied, as she made a call.

"Her name is Angelina Meyer. M-E-Y-E-R. And it has to be confidential," she told one of Vance's contacts back at his blacksite.

"We might have an in with the ambassador. That contact's a bit dry," Alonzo said.

"There's always shipping containers, but it's a hairy ride," he added. Regina bit her bottom lip, as she looked on the screen with him.

"Hey, Emma, I think I may have a better idea of who could help," Regina said, as she saw a cargo plane on the radar nearby.

"Is it someone we can trust?" Emma asked. She smiled.

"More than anyone you know," she replied.

~*~

"Thanks for the lift," Emma said, as she sat next to her brother on the floor of the cargo plane where they were strapped in. Margaret was asleep against him and Neal was passed out as well.

"Glad to have one win today. Is she okay?" he asked about the mysterious passenger that had joined them.

"Yeah. She will be, with our help," Emma said, as the plane rocked slightly.

"It's so great being back on an airplane. I'm totally cool with it," she deadpanned and he smiled.

"Yeah, not panicked at all. What year do you think it'll be when we land?" he joked.

"Not funny," she said.

"Don't worry…we'll figure this new Calling out," he promised.

~*~

Hours later, they finally arrived home at their house, with Angelina in tow. Olive and Henry rushed to hug their parents fiercely. Robert approached and Margaret took the baby with glee, as she kissed her little head. David did too and hugged his father. Henry eagerly approached their guest.

"Hi…I'm Henry. I've been waiting for you," he said cryptically and they knew a long time ago that Henry's Callings were particularly powerful. If Angelina was supposed to be there…then there had to be a reason.

~*~

A blonde woman approached his desk and Killian recognized her from earlier in the day. He noticed she was petite, almost pixie-like, with green eyes.

"Didn't I see you in here today, like, 11 hours ago?" Killian asked.

"Which is when I saw you come on shift. Figured by now Detective Lucas would be gone, but you wouldn't," she said.

"You came here to see me?" he said.

"I know it looks crazy," she replied, but he shrugged.

"I've talked to a lot of people about my mom, so I've gotten used to being brushed off or treated like a crazy person," she added.

But the way you looked at me was different, like you actually might care what I have to say," she said.

"I have a few minutes," Killian confirmed, as he motioned for her to sit.

"My mom worked for the government. What she did exactly, I don't know. But what I do know is that every time she went on a trip, somewhere she couldn't reach out, she'd send me roses. Three red roses meant she'd be gone three days. Two yellow roses, two weeks, and so on," she said, pausing for a moment.

"Last time we spoke was three months ago. And I haven't gotten any roses. The reason I keep coming here is because I think what happened to her is somehow related to Flight 828. It felt like the focus of her work, so I thought Detective Nolan might help," she continued.

"The DoD just keeps telling me everything is classified. No other cop will give me the time of day. Please, you're my last hope," she said, as he opened her file folder.

"This is your mother?" he asked.

"She adopted me when I was a little girl. Her name is Fiona Black," she said.

"And your name?" Killian asked.

"Bella Green," she answered.

~*~

Mr. Gold sipped at his tea, as did Belle. Once they were back, they called them and Regina to have a meeting at the Nolan house.

"So Vance is…" Belle asked.

"In a Cuban prison. I'm supposed to give his ring to his wife and he insisted that I don't try to help him. I'm not sure I can do that," David replied.

"You are the leader of the passengers. Allow me…I still may have some pull with the NSA and I can be very persuasive," Gold said.

"I still don't get it…we were on that plane when it landed. We still have our fingers.

We have our toes. We watched it explode," Regina mused.

"I know," David said, as baffled as she was.

"So how does a piece of it end up at the bottom of an ocean?" Emma wondered.

"I've no idea. But it did," David replied.

"I think we're about to find out it's going to change everything," Gold said.

"Why do you say that?" Margaret asked.

"You said you touched the tailfin?" Gold asked. David nodded.

"And it sent me careening back at least twenty feet," he replied.

"Did you touch it with that hand?" Gold asked. David looked down at his left hand and they were all astonished to see it glowing.

"Oh my God…" Margaret uttered.

"I need to take a sample of this and get it under a microscope," Regina said, as she got her back and took a scraping from David's palm.

"Yeah…that's different," Emma mused.

"Do…do you think we actually died on that flight?" Belle asked in a hushed whisper. Her eyes were haunted just by the idea.

"The Calling…us screaming. I guess it's possible," Emma said, unnerved by it too.

"Not to mention my Calling of the plane exploding in mid-air," David replied.

"But you didn't die…you're here," Margaret insisted.

"She's right…that may be the tailfin, but this glow means something and I don't think it's death," Regina said.

"The plane exploded…but then it reappeared, or part of it did. Like it was resurrected," Emma replied.

"Or it disappeared like we did and now it's back like we are," David reasoned.

"I'm inclined to agree with David. Much research must be done," Gold said.

"I'll start first thing in the morning going through every book I can find on the Divine," Belle said.

"What about this girl? Angelina?" Gold asked.

"Henry had a Calling…he said she's supposed to be here and she needs help, so we'll help her," Margaret said.

"She could be dangerous," Gold said.

"She's scared…her parents had her locked up, because they thought she was cursed," David replied.

"Maybe she is," he mused.

"Roman!" Belle scolded.

"I'm sorry Belle…but we must consider it," Gold said.

"How do you figure?" Emma asked. He sighed.

"If we are to entertain any theory that passengers are the returned, whether that be as angels or prophets, we know that Henry is special among the passengers," he said. David nodded.

"Agreed…go on," David urged.

"We know Henry is pure of heart and may be the key to everything. But we all know that to everything good, there is a counterpart of evil. There is no one without the other. Black and white, light and dark, yin and yang," he said.

"You think Angelina might be Henry's dark counterpart?" David asked.

"Take it from someone who knows darkness and trauma, dearie…a girl with that much trauma has sanity that is hanging by a thread and intense Callings could push her over the edge," he warned.

"We can't just kick her out…she has no one. We have to show her kindness and if we see an inkling that she may be what you say…we'll deal with it accordingly," Margaret said firmly.

"Understood…just be mindful. You may be right and another sheep has joined our flock…or we just let a wolf into the pen," he advised.

"I'm going to go run this test. I'll call in the morning when I have results and we can meet again," Regina said. They nodded and parted for the night.

~*~

Margaret went up to tuck the kids in. Olive and Angelina were already asleep, so she went into Henry's room.

"Hey sweetie," she cooed.

"Hi…how long is Angelina staying?" he asked.

"As long as she needs until she gets back on her feet," Margaret replied.

"She's scared," Henry said.

"I know sweetie…and we'll help her as much as we can," Margaret replied, as she tucked him in.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah…" he answered.

"No nightmares?" she asked.

"No…but all of a sudden, I just feel like that again," Henry said.

"Feel like what?" David asked.

"Like when I had the visions of the three shadows. Like I did before. When they were here," Henry explained, as his parents exchanged a weary glance.

~*~

Upstate, at the lake where Neal survived his Death Date after pulling Henry out of the water, three masses floated to the surface. They were covered in mud and muck from the water. Terrifyingly, one opened his eyes and gasped for breath. The other two followed and like nothing, Jace, Kory, and Pete emerged from the water and walked onto land once again, alive and well, or so it would seem…

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #Emma #Henry #Regina Mills #Mr. Gold #Belle #Manifest #with a Once twist #romance #adventure #mystery #family #Lightning in a Bottle

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isaacathom · 2 years

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so im going on holiday, right, for an annoyingly long time (until the very end of september). and ive told all the campaigns that im in about this, because i was only MAYBE going to be available for one week of those games (while im in korea) and then completely unavailable for the other 5 (while im in canada, bc of the timezones, im australian).

and, one by one, each campaign has gone on a hiatus roughly encapsulating that length of time

im in two minds. on the one hand, it means i can continue my streak of having never missed a campaign game (i missed ONE session of my pathfinder campaign bc I was at my brothers wedding, and while I was in a restaurant afterwards I found out that rather than actually play the game they'd just looked at a player's dog, so its a .5).

on the other hand, it means that im indirectly responsible for all three campaigns having no games for the next two months :(

now, its indirect, bc there are obviously other factors. for one campaign, the gm had mentioned earlier that he might have to make it biweekly or take a break to work on his thesis - fair enough! for another, its to allow the gm to work on uni stuff, run some side sessions with smaller groups, and prep for a big mission that'll happen after I get back. for the last, its so the gm can fiddle with 'kinks' that have come up as we keep playing (since we're running an adventure path with some home rules and stuff).

but im also like. :( i specifically didn't want to be disruptive, especially considering i had no authority on how long this holiday was. It was one of the things that motivated me to quit the 4th campaign I was in when I did (in addition to other factors), because based on historical evidence I figured my "temporary absence" would cause a lot of sessions to not be run, whereas if I quit then me not being there would be normal, right, and they can run when just the other 4 show up, right? I couldve quit whenever, but I figured now was a good time so I didn't fuck over 5-6 weeks of the game. (2 of the 3 campaigns earlier are biweekly, LESS of a factor)

and like. I guess im... honoured?? that my presence is valued enough that me not being there would be a significant enough factor to prompt the gms to go 'actually yea lets just take a break instead'. but then also worried that I'm reading too much into it? and being egotistic by assuming thats whats happening? especially in one of the campaigns where theres 8 players, including me and not including the gm, right? like in the one on hiatus for thesis i can slightly inflate my ego more because im basically the party bookkeeper and notetaker, responsible for tracking the inventory of our pack mule and stuff. but mmmmm am i being an egotist. am i thinking about it too much.

i just dont wanna be a buzzkill?? I dont wanna be the reason others miss out on having fun in their fun ttrpgs? and i feel bad that i put them on hiatus?? like again yes there are OTHER reasons, but my absence *is* a factor, and i just ;-;

especially again in the 8 person campaign bc writing my character out for three games is really easy. we established that the ship she's a captain of has been pressed into service patrolling the bay in advance of an invasion by mindflayers or whatever. so shes just. on that ship. actually being its captain. instead of leaving it to her lieutenant, which has been her tactic for the majority of the time she has been captain of that vessel. even with the adventure path one i said, before the hiatus was called, that presumably my character was just ~along with the party~ until they got to the ferry we need, and then would be in their cabin on the ferry reading and completely oblivious to the outside world. sure that ones a little shakier but they did literally uncover a journal of theirs and they have amnesia so deciding to do a deep dive on that bad boy while stuck on a boat seems completely reasonable. bwuuh. (difficult to justify for the thesis campaign bc my character is a) Around, and b) has no way to simply dip for 6 entire sessions that would make sense or wouldn't just fully take him out of the campaign).

whatever. im just antsy because im really stressed about my holiday and full to the achy tit with period hormones that make me grumpy and also even MORE stressed about the holiday. so on, so forth, grumble grumble

#ive been around more often bc it is genuinely quite useful to have somewhere to blurble on without my friends reading it lol #and bc ofc i grew up on this hellsite im very used to and comfortable just rambling on social media. so having my safe space? nice #also i prefer tumblr posts for bitching bc twitters just a pain in the ass and by the time i get to the end of the thread ive forgotten mys #myself. whatever. also i love tags for the (ps: shenanigans) vibe. love that #anyway its just me feeling bad about causing campaigns to go on snooze and then worrying im an egotist

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cultleaderyoongi · 2 years

Text

Opposites Attract – pt.1 | myg

☆ pairing: Yoongi x f. reader, (Namjoon x f. reader)

☆ genre: s2f2l, hints of e2f2l at first if you squint (one-sided sentiment though), love triangle • angst, fluff, eventual smut

☆ word count: 12.7k

☆ warnings: bro-code violations (it's up for debate if reader is fair game); mature language; mentions of alcohol; virgin shaming to some extent; the word wh*re being mentioned

☆ synopsis: You're Namjoon's girl – kind of. So why does Yoongi, who has never been too fond of people in the first place, get that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach around you? And most importantly, why can't he seem to stop himself from falling for you when you're supposed to be off-limits anyway?

☆ navigation: pt.1 | pt.2

☆ a/n: Hi there! I'm back after an almost 6-month hiatus, and this was supposed to be out for Yoongi's birthday, but I guess this is my gift to you in celebration of my birthday now as well lol though also a week too late to that lmao And since it's gotten kinda long, I spontaneously decided to divide it into two parts which also gives me more time to finish up the last few lines oops As always, I hope you enjoy reading. If you do – thank you! Lmk how you like it, I love feedback ♡

(P.S. special shout-out to whoever can guess which album they're talking about in the record shop scene!)

(also P.S. I'm part of a fun, little Discord server created by the dearest @kooala where we share our favorite fics, simp over our biases, etc. and we'd love for it to grow. If you're looking for a cool place to connect with people and discuss anything K-pop, feel free to join here ♡)

☆ taglist: @bangtansjonas

There aren't a lot of things in the world that catch Yoongi's attention. He's most interested in music, creating his own little world as the beat becomes one with that of his heart. Basketball is another interest of his, the satisfying swish of the rubber globe falling through the hoop like music to his ears.

One thing is for sure though, and that is people aren't at the top of his list – meeting new people, that is. There's only a handful of people he actively cares about in his own aloof kind of way. Human interaction isn't his forté, so he's more than thankful that the people he does hold dear to his heart understand his weird antics. He would have a hard time admitting it, but losing even one of them would tear him apart. Breaking his hand-signed vinyl copy of Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. in half would hurt less, he concludes.

Having his set group of friends also means that the idea of adding another person fills him with frustration. For as long as he can remember, it has always been him, Namjoon, Hoseok, and Seokjin. No one else but him and his three best friends since childhood days. He convinces himself it's already too late to add another person into the mix anyway, almost two decades of friendship making it impossible for anyone to feel remotely comfortable among the four of them. But not everyone shares the same belief from the looks of it.

"I hope that's okay," Namjoon probes, hands buried in the front pockets of his chino pants as he leans against the red-brick façade of the faculty building behind him.

"More than fine by me," Hoseok drawls while running a hand through his chestnut hair. "Maybe you should worry about Grumpy Cat over here." His lips pull into a half-smirk.

At the mention of the all-too-familiar nickname, Yoongi peels his gaze from the concrete steps he's sitting on, turning towards his friends. "Why? Think I'm gonna rip someone's head off with my sharp fangs?"

"The risk is minimal, but never zero," Seokjin states in amusement, the hand curled around his iced coffee lifting into the air in emphasis.

The eldest's comment draws a scoff out of the man in question. Yoongi has grown used to the light punches at his reserved persona and granted, he would feel weird if the teasing stopped at some point. No matter how old the jokes have gotten.

"What am I? The mom in the group that tells you no all the time and grounds you for no good reason?" he grumbles, fixing the snapback covering his platinum-blond tresses.

"No," Hoseok retorts, "you're more like the uncle with the shotgun that everyone's secretly afraid of."

The group exchanges words in agreement leaving Yoongi with nothing but an annoyed glare. As the commotion dies down, he sighs in defeat. "It's fine or whatever. You already invited them anyway."

Namjoon nods, his face lighting up ever so slightly. "Okay, cool. You won't even notice she's there."

"She? You invited a girl?" Yoongi exclaims in confusion, loud enough to catch the attention of other students lingering around.

"Ah, Yoongi... You weren't paying attention again, were you?" Seokjin playfully nudges his friend in the elbow with the tip of his suede shoe. "Namjoon invited this girl to hang out tonight because he has a thing for her but is too afraid to ask her out on a proper date."

"Hey! That's not what it is," Namjoon grumbles, adjusting the black-rimmed glasses sliding down the slope of his nose.

"But you think she's hot?" Hoseok probes with a raised eyebrow.

The youngest barely responds, a breathy chuckle and a hand scratching at the nape of his neck enough of an indicator.

"That answers that."

Yoongi absentmindedly toys with a pebble, creating white marks as he scrapes it across the concrete surface. Who in the world invites a random girl to hang out with a bunch of strange dudes? he thinks to himself, the scratches becoming harsher until there's nothing but wild scribbles.

"Can you stop fussing around already?"

Namjoon mumbles out a quick apology to Hoseok beside him, immediately halting the shaky movement of his leg.

It hasn't even been five minutes since the quartet arrived at the movie theater, awaiting the arrival of the youngest's secret date.

"It's not a date," he fends when Seokjin teases him again, a hand running through his short – notably freshly cut – hair. "She's a friend, and I invited her out because– Oh! She's here." As he practically jumps up from his seat on the black leather couch, Namjoon storms towards the entrance.

"Not a date my ass," Hoseok comments, earning an affirmative chuckle from the eldest.

With the rest of the group rising from their seats, Yoongi reluctantly follows lead, hands immediately finding harbor in the pockets of his jeans.

"Oh, she's pretty," Seokjin muses to which Hoseok hums out in confirmation.

As Yoongi's focus finally shifts from the dark blue carpeted floor to his friend and the stranger standing next to him, he raises a brow. Yeah, she's pretty, he thinks to himself. At first glance. Yoongi isn't one to be easily swayed by looks though, so he mindlessly trails behind the other two.

"Guys," Namjoon turns towards the others, "this is _____. _____, these are my friends."

You beam a friendly smile at Seokjin who is the first one to extend his hand out to you, shaking it lightly before letting you move on to Hoseok.

Yoongi is slightly taken aback when your eyes land on him, nothing but warmth emitting from them. Usually, no one ever even dares any attempts at approaching his cold exterior. When he gives you his name, he swears your grin grows impossibly wider. Who in the world has the energy to be this friendly?

"Alright," Hoseok starts, "why don't you guys"–he nods towards you and Namjoon–"go get some snacks while we buy the tickets?"

The group separates as suggested with you and Namjoon heading towards the snack bar while Yoongi follows Hoseok and Seokjin to the ticket booth. Stealing a glance at his friend, he silently scoffs at the sight. You're deep in conversation, head lolling back in laughter at something Namjoon says. He finds your reaction so over the top. Sure, Namjoon can crack some jokes from time to time, but it almost looks like you're losing it. It's such a weird sight, and your clashing outfits underline that. You stand out in your yellow, ruffled top and cherry-red Vans against the beige and white hues of Namjoon's ensemble, the same shade of red showing up on your nail beds and the tint on your lips. This is definitely a date, he concludes. And now we have to play wingman. Great.

When the group gathers again to exchange tickets and snacks, Yoongi slightly flinches in surprise as someone thrusts a bag of popcorn in his face.

"Another salty popcorn enthusiast, I heard?" You smile up at him, the telltale rustling noise of popped kernels sounding as you lightly shake the bag.

Taking it with hesitant hands, Yoongi manages to muster up a nod, murmuring out a quick Thank you.

"Salty popcorn is barbaric," Hoseok's voice blares, breaking the unknown tension. "All it does is make you thirsty."

"Oh, allow me to prove you wrong," you counter with a wicked grin, eliciting a laugh from the man.

Throughout your discussion on why salty popcorn is superior, Yoongi doesn't realize he's been behind you this entire time until the five of you are looking for your respective seats in your assigned row. Now he has no other choice but to sit in the middle with you to his right. Fantastic.

Once the movie commences, the entire room falls silent lest the occasional rustling and crunching noises surrounding Yoongi. Absentmindedly taking a big gulp from his blueberry slushy, he proceeds to put it into the cup holder compartment of his chair when suddenly his hand comes into contact with another one.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

As he retracts his hand in a flash, he turns his head towards the source of the voice, the outlines of your facial features becoming visible via the blue flashes reflecting off of the screen. "Ah, you're fine," he manages out, the hold on his plastic cup tightening.

His focus is back on the opening sequence when someone invades his space once again.

"Do you want some?"

With furrowed brows, Yoongi's vision steers to the side, your hand holding a package of strawberry flavored Pockys coming into sight. "Uh..." Hesitantly, his eyes flicker from your hand to your face, then back to your hand. "Y-yeah, sure." He takes two of the chocolate sticks, mumbling out a stunned Thank you while he munches on them.

It's an unusual scene – not once has Yoongi come across someone this unhinged and outgoing without inhibition towards him as a stranger with what people call a resting bitch face. Usually, people don't even dare an attempt at building some sort of a connection with him. This leaves him wondering about you: are you always like this or is this all an act in order to stay in Namjoon's good books?

The setting sun outside serves enough light to guide the group through town, yet not enough to cause any discomfort after having spent the last two hours in complete darkness. Namjoon with his sensitive eyes in particular is thankful for that.

"Anybody else hungry?" Seokjin inquires, craning his neck as he takes a look at everyone individually.

"How can you be hungry again?" Hoseok blurts. "You had part of my half of the popcorn after annihilating yours – and then an entire pack of...what was it? Skittles? M&Ms?"

"Both," Seokjin announces proudly. "These were to tend to my sweet tooth though. Now it's time to satiate my savory needs."

Hoseok rolls his eyes at the eldest's response. "Can you believe this guy?" He turns to the rest before a sigh passes his lips. "Alright, I could go for something."

As everyone else hums out affirmative answers, the group settles on their go-to diner for classic burgers and fries.

"So, _____," Hoseok starts, a hefty sandwich haphazardly lodged in between his hands, "how come you know this guy over here?" With a tilt of his head, he gestures towards Namjoon.

You hum as you take a bite of your portion of fries. "Oh, we have the same major. We're also tutoring a class together this semester."

"Someone who matches his intellect, I see," Hoseok answers, a hint of a smirk hidden behind the large patty.

You don't get a chance to chime in when Seokjin continues, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

How subtle. It comes like second nature to Yoongi, a roll of his eyes a common reaction in a situation like this. It's when your eyes meet for a second, the corners of your lips curling upwards in an amused manner that he realizes his rather obvious slip-up.

"No," you chuckle with a shake of your head.

"Girlfriend?" the eldest follows up shortly, several expressions going around the table ranging from awkward laughter to annoyed sighs, the latter most notably sounding from Namjoon and Yoongi.

"Also no," you simply reply.

Seokjin shrugs his shoulders. "Can't hurt to ask."

"Why? Are you interested?"

Yoongi can't help but cackle at how the words leave your lips in such a deadpan yet entertained way, and for a second he's worried the others notice his change in demeanor. Your counter has the eldest choking on his drink though as he erupts into his characteristic windshield-wiper laugh, catching everyone's attention as Seokjin furiously wipes the bottom of his chin covered in soda.

"What happened to the standard ice breakers like What do you like to do in your free time or What's your take on mint chocolate ice cream?" you probe further, lips curling around the straw of your drink.

"Mint choco? Not a fan," Hoseok retorts, his face contorting into a disgusted grimace.

"Also hate it," Seokjin chimes in now with Namjoon following suit, the youngest going as far as mimicking puking noises.

As Yoongi makes no move of joining in on the conversation, you carry on, "Am I the odd one out here again? Guys, this could determine the future of our entire friendship if there's ever gonna be one."

The group erupts into laughter at that until Yoongi decides to come to the rescue. "I like it," he mumbles out nonchalantly with his arms crossed in front of him on the table.

"Thank you!" You turn to him, eyes sparkling in surprise at his sudden contribution. "At least someone with taste."

For the rest of the night, Yoongi can't help but steal glances at you and his best friend across the table, studying your interactions. They look cute together, he thinks to himself. As far as I can tell. And from what he can see it's easy for you to engage in conversation with the other guys as well, effortlessly exchanging quips and revealing facts about yourself. Yet, Yoongi can't seem to figure you out. Namjoon invited you out to hang out with his friends. Of course, you're going to be nice to everyone including him. Nothing to worry about, and as far as he's concerned if you happen to fake it he doesn't care. He never cared.

When you catch sight of him inspecting you, your lips curl into a small smile causing him to avert his eyes as fast as humanly possible. Awkward.

After everyone finishes their meal, you step back outside to say your goodbyes, the cold breeze of the night air brushing past.

"You sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Namjoon inquires, his stare set on you.

"Nah, it's fine," you decline, shaking your head as a shiver runs through you. "My friends are around in the area. They said they can pick me up."

He solemnly nods at your words, pulling you into a half-hug before stepping aside.

"It was really nice meeting you, _____. And hopefully, we'll get to see you again soon," Seokjin notes.

You send the eldest a pleasant smile, waving him off before doing the same to the other two.

When your eyes land on Yoongi, the man in question musters up a meek smirk and when you practically outshine him with a bright beam, he catches himself almost cursing. How are you so fucking friendly?

"So," Namjoon turns to the group once your silhouette disappears into the backseat of a black car pulling up at the curb, uncertainty clear in his features, "what do you think?"

"I like her," Hoseok is the first one to answer.

"Yeah, me too," Seokjin joins in.

It's quiet for an instance before everyone's eyes turn to Yoongi in anticipation.

"What?" the man grumbles, hands burying into his front pockets. "You need my blessing or something? She's alright, I guess."

Hoseok huffs, patting the youngest on the shoulder. "That's the most you're gonna get."

The mellow sounds of some lo-fi hip-hop song paint the perfect atmosphere while Yoongi scours around the store. It's like a safe haven for him, a place where he can replenish his power after a straining week of classes and assignments, unbothered and undisturbed. With swift fingers, he browses through the plethora of record sleeves in search for –

"Oh, hey!"

A somewhat familiar but also not-so-familiar voice startles him. Lifting his eyes from the rows of vinyls before him, you come into sight, cheeks risen into globes as you send him a bright smile. "H-hi," he croaks out, slightly confused. For some reason, the record shop is the spot he least expects to run into you. He's not sure why, but you don't strike him as a person to enjoy these things – though he knows little to nothing about you.

"Any good finds?" you inquire, head tilted to the side as you roam through the selection on your side.

"Uh..." he trails, "yeah, actually." Eyeing you for an instance, he ponders whether to elaborate or not. But why would you ask if you weren't interested? "I was looking for"–pulling out the record in question, he holds it up for you to see–"this one."

"Oh my God!" you exclaim as your eyes land on the colorful cover, splotches of pink and orange mingling with blue and purple hues. "It's such a good album. I waited ten years for this, but it's so worth it."

Stunned, Yoongi sends you a look he's sure he's never given anyone before. "You know it?"

"Yeah," you answer nonchalantly, "track number seven and eight are my favorites. Oh, and also–"

Yoongi flinches slightly when you lean forward until he catches onto your action, flipping the record around to let you check the tracklist on the back of the sleeve.

"–track number four. I'm a sucker for movie sound clips." You beam him a bright smile before continuing, "I'm a fan of Act I and II especially, and the features are expertly chosen." Retreating to your initial position, you finish, "Overall, one hour of excellence I can only recommend."

Yoongi regards you as if you just found the solution for world peace. He didn't expect you to be so enthusiastic about music – let alone hip-hop. You don't strike him as a person to enjoy this type of genre, but who is he to judge a book by its cover? "More of a reason to check it out then," he finally replies with a light chuckle after listening to your rambles. When you grant him another smile of yours just to return to your own business, he continues, "What have you got there?" A little small talk shouldn't hurt, right? After all, you're being exceptionally nice to him, so he should reciprocate.

Your eyes dart down to the vinyls lodged in between your folded arm. "Oh, just a random mix. Some rock, some pop, some R&B." Pulling your shoulders up into a shrug, you finish, "All kinds of things."

He nods in understanding. It's such a superficial thought, but he never imagined you to be so enthusiastic and versatile with your music taste. Not that he ever wondered in the first place, but he knows essentially nothing about you. Hearing about your interest in music piques his interest in you in turn though – on a friendly level, of course.

It comes naturally, falling into conversation about your favorite artists and albums, giving each other recommendations, and it's not long before you step out of the store together after paying for your purchases.

"Which way are you going?" you ask with a hand shielding your eyes from the midday sun, the light adorning your face in a yellow glow.

Yoongi hums out in thought. "I gotta stop by Namjoon's and Hoseok's, so this way." With an outstretched thumb, he points to his right.

"Oh, okay," you answer, cracking a small smile. "Is it fine if I walk with you part of the way? I'm supposed to meet up with Namjoon for a project tomorrow, and I need some books from the library."

"Uh..." The male studies your features, your eyes set on him expectantly, lips slightly pursed yet not losing their curved shape. Despite your outgoing and to him somewhat outlandish nature, you seem to make sure not to overstep any boundaries. He grows fond of the thought, letting out a light chuckle at that. "Yeah, sure."

Throughout the entire way to the library, the two of you converse mostly about music. Yoongi is specifically interested in the fact that you own vinyls as well.

"My brother got me into them," you explain, fingers carding through some strands of your hair being swayed by the breeze. "He has this huge collection he's been accumulating since he was like sixteen."

He listens attentively to your words, soaking them up like a sponge. It doesn't dawn on him at first, but there isn't a single moment of silence – and he doesn't hate it. Usually, it takes him a great amount of effort to stay energized during social interaction, to not feel like he's either faking or half-assing it, or even the need to take flight. As soon as you arrive at the library though, he figures the contrary is the case here, a huge power drain suddenly coursing through every crevice of Yoongi's body.

"I guess I'll see you around?" You turn to him, hand curled around the iron door handle of the entrance.

Yoongi nods leisurely, a small smile forming on his face.

You mirror his mimic though tenfold in vivacity, offering him a wave of your hand in addition. "Tell them hi for me."

Lifting his own hand into the air, he answers, "I will."

And with that, you're gone and an indescribable feeling follows Yoongi to his friends he can't seem to shake off.

"Dude, that was whack!" Hoseok's shrill voice blares across the court, harvesting the attention of several onlookers.

"Yeah, okay. I know," Namjoon fends, watching the basketball bounce off the backboard onto the ground. "Everyone and their dog knows. Fuck!"

The group grows silent as they watch the youngest strut over to the bleachers, rummaging in his backpack.

Seokjin scoops up the ball from the gravel, shuffling over to the remaining boys gathered in the middle of the court. "What's up with him?"

Hoseok sends the eldest a simple shrug of his shoulders.

"What's up with you?" Seokjin shouts across the place but receives no response from Namjoon as he plops down on the bench, swallowing his water in big gulps.

"Okay, water break," Hoseok huffs out, trudging over to his friend followed by Yoongi and Seokjin.

As they reach Namjoon, said man simply shoves his water bottle back into his backpack before springing back into a standing position.

"So, are you gonna tell us what your problem is?" Seokjin tries again, locking eyes with the taller man.

Namjoon sighs in defeat, running a hand through his sweaty strands. "I'm a little on edge, I guess."

"You don't say," the eldest retorts, taking a swig of his water bottle. "But what's the reason?"

It's quiet for an instance before Namjoon continues, "I'm not sure how to go about things with _____."

"What do you mean?" Hoseok takes over this time, drying off the droplets of sweat on his forehead with a towel.

"We've been meeting up here and there. Sometimes for school, sometimes to hang out. But..." He stalls, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"It's not going anywhere?"

The youngest nods, his jaw set and tongue pushed into the inside of his cheek.

Yoongi zones out halfway through the conversation. Over the course of time, get-togethers with you and either Namjoon or the whole group have become a frequent occurrence. Whether that be in between classes to have lunch or hang out later that day for a drink or two – Namjoon has been making an effort of incorporating you into the clique. And from the looks of it, you and the guys are getting along well.

In addition to that, Yoongi ran into you at the record shop again once or twice. He wouldn't necessarily deem it a notable fact as you parted ways to go on with your days every time, but the moments spent in there remain valuable nonetheless as both of you walked out with new discoveries each visit.

"Have you made any moves on her?" Seokjin questions now, leaning back onto the row of benches behind him.

The man in question tilts his head to the side. "Not per se, but I give her signals."

"What kinda signals?"

This entire time Yoongi remains silent, watching the scene unfold in front of him like an outsider. It's somewhat of a familiar sight, a memory of Namjoon trying to confess to his high school crush coming to the forefront of Yoongi's mind. The boys practically had to push the poor guy into her arms before he could chicken out for the umpteenth time. And though the course of their relationship neared its end sooner or later, Namjoon has at least gained the experience instead of giving in to his doubts. What a shitshow that was, Yoongi thinks to himself.

"I compliment her whenever she's wearing something nice or did her hair and make-up differently, and I bring her coffee and snacks." Namjoon's voice pulls Yoongi out of his daydream.

Hoseok musters his friend with furrowed brows. "You're doing the bare minimum, man."

Seokjin agrees with the former, adding, "You could spare all the second-guessing and straight-up tell her."

At that, Namjoon exhales loudly through his nose. "But she's not showing any signs, you know? At first she did, but now not so much."

Yoongi can see the disappointment in his friend's eyes, and if he could help him he would. But the others are only right – Namjoon has to stop playing around and come clean about his feelings. Yoongi knows he would if he were in Namjoon's shoes. Even with the nearly non-existent experience and abysmal enthusiasm for romantic relationships he has.

"We're not sixteen, seventeen anymore," the eldest blurts out. "If you wanna get the girl, you gotta tell her."

"I know, I know. But..." Namjoon trails, his hooded eyes darting towards the distance. "I dunno. It's obvious something's off. Maybe I came on too strong? Just gimme some time to figure it out, and – oh shit! She's coming."

All heads follow Namjoon's line of sight, a familiar figure coming into vision.

"Hey!" You greet them with a wave of your hand and your signature bright smile. "Heard you guys were here, so I thought I'd come with refreshments." As you pull out a cup carrier from behind your back, the boys let out sounds of surprise. You hand out the drinks to each individually. "I hope I did okay. I got the usual for Joonie,–"

The man in question accepts the beverage from you, a wide grin splayed across his face at the gesture – and most likely the nickname as well – as if the conversation from mere minutes ago is already forgotten.

"–watermelon for Hoseok, pink lemonade for Seokjin, and–"

As your hand curls around the last cup, Yoongi blinks up at you with wondrous eyes.

"–I remember you mentioned Iced Americanos once, so here you go."

Yoongi's lips part, closing and opening again before he mutters out a small Thank you. His hands shake slightly as he takes the cold drink from you. He remembers pointing out his go-to order about a week ago when you joined the clique for a quick coffee break after morning class. You wore your hair up in a bun, minimal make-up yet your face looked as bright as ever, and an oversized–

Hold up. Why does he remember all of this and why does it matter? What the fuck? Yoongi mentally slaps himself on the back of the head.

"So, who's winning?" You plop down onto the bench in between Yoongi and Seokjin, the former going rigid when your arm shortly comes into contact with his.

Everyone's eyes go around the group before landing on Namjoon.

"Last time I checked, we were on a losing streak," he sighs, nodding towards himself and Hoseok.

The remaining boys raise their eyebrows in confusion, not expecting the youngest to paint himself in a bad light in front of his crush.

"I'm the problem though," his teammate follows up quickly, defusing the situation. "I pull him down like a rock. Today's just not my day."

Your lips pull into a pout before curling upwards again, giving him an understanding nod.

"But hey," Hoseok continues, snapping his fingers as if he came up with the perfect idea, "how about you two play together? I could use a break, to be honest."

You lean in further at the proposition, your elbows propped up on your knees with a mischievous smile creeping up on your face. "I'll tell you what – you two go 1v1 and I'll play with whoever wins against these two." With outstretched thumbs, you point to Yoongi on your left and Seokjin on your right.

Hoseok's eyes widen ever so slightly and his lips curl into the shape of a circle.

"Please? I just wanna see you play, Joonie," you add with a slight lilt to your voice, gaze lingering on the tall man.

Yoongi almost spits out his drink, splurting a little as he sucks the caffeinated liquid through the straw. That's not showing any signs? My ass.

"Okay then," Namjoon states cooly though a hint of a smile can be spotted on his features. Retrieving the abandoned ball from the floor, he tosses it into Hoseok's hands. "First one to score ten points."

The two exchange looks with each other before jumping into action, jogging back to the court.

"Oh, thank God," Seokjin sighs loudly from beside you, head slumping sideways onto his shoulder. "I needed to catch a breath. My legs are killing me." He stretches out his limbs as a means of demonstrating his fatigue.

"How can you be tired? I did almost all the work, old man," Yoongi suddenly chimes in, a hint of annoyance yet amusement laced in his tone.

"Yah! I'm only three months older than you," the older male retorts, hoisting himself into an upright position. "I'm exhausted because you're hopping around the place like a rabbit on steroids. You always play like your life depends on it." Seokjin lets out several other humorous remarks that have Yoongi chuckling when a muffled vibrating sound interrupts him. Reaching into one of the pockets of his backpack, he pulls out his phone. "I gotta answer that real fast. It's my mom."

"Tell her I said hi," the blonde comments nonchalantly, adjusting the headband holding back his bangs.

Seokjin gives him a confirming nod before standing up with a groan, finger hovering above the screen ready to accept the call.

It's silent for a few seconds once Seokjin disappears down the line when suddenly a low cackle leaves you.

"What?" Yoongi asks, eyes shifting from Namjoon dribbling past Hoseok and landing a lay-up to you.

You shake your head slowly. "Your friendship dynamic is kinda weird but cute."

"Cute?" he blurts out in disbelief, repeating the word in his thoughts like an echo. Cute... Not in a million years would Yoongi have thought anything remotely in regards to him could be described as cute. "Care to elaborate?"

A shrug of your shoulders serves as part of your answer. "I dunno. I just find it interesting how different you are around each other, but all fuse so well." You rest your head in the palm of your hand. "You and Seokjin, for example, are the bickering type yet you treat each other with so much respect."

Yoongi laughs at your analysis. "Yeah, I guess so."

"It's kinda endearing to see," you add with a small smile.

He reciprocates it with an equally shy smirk. Wow. No one has ever made the effort to look beyond his quote-unquote stone-cold persona. People usually write him off as rude and aloof, and most of the time it doesn't bother him – but hearing someone point out the opposite fuels him with pride.

"Hoseok matches your coolness, but he's more of a happy-go-lucky type compared to you which is a good balance."

Yoongi just smiles to himself at this point, listening to your ramblings. Cool. You called him cool.

"And then you and Namjoon–"

He clears his throat, unsure of what to expect next.

"–are more on the same wavelength intellectually. Like you talk about this and that on an equal level, but he looks up to you like an older brother."

The man regards you with utmost attention, rendered speechless. He's unsure what it is about you as he would usually brush it off, pass the words off as bullshit, but looking into your eyes he can see the honesty, the truth behind them. A mix of emotions comes crashing in like a storm, settling in the core of his stomach, nestling there and leaving him nauseous. What is this feeling?

Before Yoongi can make sense of things, you speak up again. "I can't give you a full breakdown of our friendship yet."

His eyes widen as he lets your words sink in. "Our f-friendship?"

"Yeah." You lean back on the bench behind you. "I'd like to think we're friends." When he doesn't answer, you probe further, "Don't you?"

It doesn't go unnoticed, the barely significant change in volume and pitch of your voice, and it has Yoongi in silent panic. "Yeah n-no, of course we're friends," he stammers, his hand shooting up to brush through some damp strands of his hair.

At that, your signature smile returns, serving as a stark opponent to the orange light of the late afternoon sun. "Okay," you simply reply, licking your lips as you drop your gaze to a patch of grass on the ground. Yoongi does the same when your voice grabs his attention again. "How'd you like that Bryson Tiller I recommended, by the way?"

Swallowing down the lump in his throat, he muses, "It was really good. R&B isn't usually on my radar, but I really liked it."

You beam him a grin that grows wider by the second. "For real?"

Yoongi hums out in confirmation, accompanied by a nod of his head. "I can see why he's one of your favorites."

It's apparent you're trying to form words to speak when a loud roar sounds from across the place, followed by Namjoon sprinting towards the two of you. Hoseok trudges behind him defeatedly, seemingly out of breath.

"I did it," Namjoon announces proudly, pectorals on full display through his sweat-soaked shirt.

You spring up from your seat, cheering and clapping for the male before you engulf him in a tight hug.

The sensation in the pit of Yoongi's stomach intensifies, growing into unbearable stages when he watches Namjoon wrap his strong arms around you. This is unfamiliar territory for him, the force of this inidentifiable feeling brewing inside of him, the unexplicable longing for an answer to something he has never experienced before. Is it possible that he's... No, he can't be. This can't be, Yoongi tells himself. No.

Then he realizes that he hasn't spared one single glance at the game – and neither have you.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Seokjin utters, his torso pressing further into the backrest of the sofa with each passing second, tightly clutching a pillow in comfort. "Don't look back! Run for your fucking life!"

Everyone's attention is on the lead actress of the movie, her struggle to escape the creature chasing her leaving the group on the edge of their seats.

For tonight, the boys decided on drinks and movies at Yoongi's and Seokjin's place, and despite a democratic vote against a horror movie, you managed to convince the opposition – most notably Seokjin and Hoseok – otherwise.

In his peripheral view, Yoongi can spot the latter grabbing onto his hair in tension the longer the chase continues, mouth falling agape when the main character barely dodges falling into the hands of death.

"_____, why would you make us watch this?" Hoseok whimpers, leaning closer to Seokjin beside him, the elder clawing onto the other as they both cower in fear.

With a lifted pointer finger to your lips, you signal him to shut up when suddenly a loud screech sounds from the speakers, causing you and everyone else to flinch.

Yoongi's hands clench around the armrests of his recliner in shock, a low chuckle leaving his lips once the aftereffect of the jumpscare subsides. When he turns his head to the side though, his expression falls just as fast as it came.

Your hands are clutched around Namjoon's biceps, your forehead resting on his shoulder before you look back up, sharing a laugh with the man seemingly embarrassed at the frightening scene.

Throughout the remainder of the movie, Yoongi's mind wanders elsewhere, the horrifying acts happening on screen serving as mere background noise for his thoughts. Why does he feel so hollow witnessing you together with his friend? He shouldn't care about any sort of physical touch between the two of you. He should be cheering for him now that he's becoming closer with his crush instead. So why is Yoongi internally conjuring up an image where he's the one sitting beside you in Namjoon's place? Why does he wish it was him that you're looking at so sweetly with that sparkle in your eyes? Why– No, stop, he mentally slaps himself. Stop it – now.

The ending credits roll when Seokjin springs up from his seat, a slight wobble apparent in his legs. "That was...something. I'm gonna need another beer. Anyone else?"

Hoseok is the first to give an affirmative answer, followed by you and Namjoon which forces Yoongi to opt for one as well.

"Let's watch something more lighthearted next?" Hoseok pleads as he scrolls through the plethora of movies, and once everyone is equipped with another cold beer, you agree on a comedic drama this time.

Yoongi has a gradually harder time trying to ignore the soft whispers and the glances stolen at each other, so he accepts sleep with open arms once he senses his eyelids growing heavy – the last thing he sees being your eyes facing him.

About an hour passes when Yoongi wakes up from the flickering lights of the TV screen as it shows recommendations after being inactive for so long.

Rubbing his eyes, he looks around the room. Everyone is dead asleep with Seokjin having settled for a makeshift bed on the floor, leaving an entire couch spare for Hoseok. Namjoon occupies one half of the other couch, legs resting on the coffee table – and then there's you next to him, hugging a pillow almost as big as your body in your curled-up state. Yoongi can make out the folded fashion of your legs covered under the throw blanket. You can't possibly be comfortable in this position, he concludes, but yet you look so peaceful, so tranquil – so beautiful.

He barely registers your eyelids fluttering open, deep in thought yet no thoughts at all, so he finds himself flinching once your focus sets on him.

Confusion seeps through every crevice of his being when all you do is stare at him, eyelids still heavy from sleep, wispy eyelashes brushing your skin with every blink. Yoongi should feel uncomfortable locking eyes with you so intently, so intensely, but all he feels is a meaning behind it.

Neither of you break eye contact, the tension growing palpable in the silence of this room, only the ticking of the clock on the wall and the light breathing of your sleeping friends to be heard. It's like only you and him matter at this moment, and when your lips curl into a small smile, he reciprocates the same, watching your eyelids fall shut again.

Yoongi wakes up once more to the now black mirror of the TV screen an hour later – and a light fabric draped atop of him. Running his fingers across the knitted pattern, he realizes it's the blanket you were wrapped up in from before. As his head whips around to the spot to his right, you're nowhere to be seen.

She might've gone to the bathroom, he tells himself, running a hand through his tousled hair. As his throat feels somewhat dry, he rises from his seat in the recliner, trudging over to the kitchen to find the lights on.

You're sitting facing the door, so when Yoongi enters, you're quick to greet him, surprise evident in your features. "Oh, hey."

"Hey," he replies, voice still thick from slumber. "You're up?"

"Mhm," you mumble. "Couldn't fall back asleep."

With shaky hands, he pours himself some water before settling down onto the chair adjacent to you. It's quiet for a while – not the same kind of quiet as back in the living room though. This time, the buzzing sound from the ceiling light and the droplets of water from the tap render Yoongi queasy, the scene transpiring just an hour ago playing on a loop in the forefront of his mind. To break some of the tension, he says the first best thing he can think of at the moment. "Thanks, by the way." When you look at him in confusion, he clarifies, "For the blanket."

"Oh." A light chuckle escapes your lips. "Yeah, I figured you might need it." Fiddling with the cup you're cradling in your hands, you continue, "I don't get why you always walk around in short sleeves."

Yoongi lets out a low hum. "It's not like I'm immune to the cold, but I'm less prone to it."

"Really?" you question him with interest. "I feel like I'm freezing all the time. Here, look."

"Ah–" Yoongi winces in surprise when one of your hands curls around his, the surface of your palm frigid against his skin. Like hypnotized, his eyes are fixated on your fingers laying loosely atop of his, the delicate flesh of your digits brushing against his calloused ones, your meticulously manicured nails a shocking juxtaposition to the rough edges of his. He's taking in the soft pink of your nail polish, a similar shade to the tint on your lips and a stark contrast to the prominent purple veins raking across his knuckles like vines.

Despite the clear collision of different worlds, all Yoongi can think about is how this looks right and how this feels right. Your hand might be freezing cold, yet he's fighting the urge to intertwine fingers with you until the temperature of your limb matches his – but then he remembers who you are. "Yeah..." Slowly retracting his hand from yours, Yoongi's vision steers to a cracked tile on the floor, the memory of a clumsy Namjoon in drunken stupor coming to the forefront of his mind. "You're really cold," he murmurs.

As if some sort of spell was lifted, you empty the remnants of your water in one go before slowly rising from your seat. "I should probably get going."

"W-what?" Yoongi stammers with a slight delay, processing your words. "It's like"–he squints at the clock on the wall–"two in the morning."

"Yeah, well..." Placing your used cup in the sink, you turn back around to face him. "I have some things to do tomorrow, so I should probably get some good rest in my own bed instead of breaking my neck sleeping on your couch." You finish your explanation with a hint of a smile.

Yoongi watches you with caution, searching for any sign that might give away your innermost thoughts. He doesn't remember you talking about any plans earlier today. "Let me walk you home then."

"Oh no, it's fine. You don't have to." Vigorously waving your hands in front of you, you politely deny his proposal. Why are you so adamant about it?

"I think I do." He's unsure where his assertiveness is coming from, but the thought of you returning home in the dark all alone renders him with discomfort.

"Really, it's not the first time. I'll be fine."

The male scoffs at that. Even more of a reason now, he thinks to himself. Who in their right mind ever made you walk home by yourself? "I don't think so."

"It's really not that far and I have–"

"_____, I'm not letting you walk home alone at this hour. Over my dead body." Pushing his tongue into his cheek, Yoongi declares, "It's either that or I'm waking up one of the guys to take you instead."

When you look up at him with wide eyes, he's concerned he might have overstepped a boundary – but he's merely being sensible. What if something happened to you? The thought alone sends shivers down his spine. He would never be able to forgive himself.

Your small voice softly rings in his ears, barely noticeable but enough for him to be able to finally breathe again. "Okay."

The walk to your apartment is dead-silent most of the way except for when you mumble out directions. Once you arrive at your apartment complex, you send him a small smile, thanking him before turning on your heel without wasting another breath.

"_____!" Yoongi calls after you.

You halt in your steps, facing him again.

"Did I do something wrong?" He knows he didn't, but something must have happened that caused your change in attitude. There's no way you can be angry with him for wanting you to arrive home safe and sound.

When you walk back towards him, a weak smirk stretches across your face before you shake your head. "It's nothing," you reassure him. "It's not you."

The space in between his eyebrows furrows at your words. What do you mean by that? He's trying to study your face under the dim streetlight though all he can see is the faint outlines of your features.

"Thank you for walking me home."

The action catches Yoongi off-guard, but when you wrap your arms around his waist, cheek coming to a rest on his collarbone, he acts as if on autopilot, leisurely draping his limbs across your back. Man, despite you laying it down on him so strongly that you're cold all the time the hug feels pretty damn warm and cozy. He can sense your heartbeat through the layers of fabric, the swell of your breasts pressed against his chest –

Oh God.

Unfurling his arms, he releases you from his hold, stumbling a step backward before things can escalate any further. He's not supposed to have these thoughts – not about you.

You take the hint, your own limbs dropping to your sides as you send him one last look, the corners of your lips tugging upwards ever so slightly. And then you turn on your heel, leaving for good.

He waits until you've entered your apartment, a light igniting on the fifth floor an indicator that you have, but even then he can't seem to set foot until several minutes have passed.

It's still pitch-dark inside when Yoongi returns, the slivers of moonlight shining through the windows serving as his sole guide. Silently hanging his set of keys onto the keychain holder, he shuffles his way back into the living room.

In the meantime, Seokjin must have moved to his bedroom as no traces of him or the pillows and blankets on the floor are to be seen. He usually does that when the boys are over and they end up falling asleep with not enough space for everyone.

Steering his gaze to the left, he witnesses Namjoon's tall stature splayed out on the now entirely vacant couch, back turned towards him.

Realizing there's no need for him to retreat to the recliner, Yoongi stealthily moves past the sleeping bodies of his friends in search of his bedroom.

"Thank you, hyung," the deep timbre of Namjoon's voice suddenly sounds, just above a whisper but enough to startle him.

"What for?" he inquires, confused at his friend's words and the fact that he's still awake.

"For taking care of _____."

Clubs aren't Yoongi's terrain. He avoids them like a disease, the sole thought of being surrounded by sweaty strangers grinding on each other to shitty, repetitive music so loud it almost bursts your eardrums forcing him to gag. Yet here he is, sulky though dressed to impress – in his eyes – as he patiently waits for the rest of the group to finish up. He's well aware that he could have declined, but at the same time he didn't want to. She's gonna be there.

It's minutes later when the front door finally opens, revealing Hoseok first, followed closely by Namjoon – and then there's you.

This has to be some sort of fever dream. He's at high risk of being caught, but Yoongi can't take his eyes off of you. Your pearl-white dress paired with the matching heels sends his head reeling, the hemline of your skirt stopping about mid-thigh causing a blush to creep up on his cheeks. But he can't lose his cool in front of everyone. That would be stupid and weird – and not to mention outright treacherous.

"Ready to go?" Seokjin questions, clutching his car keys as the designated driver of the night.

Everyone quickly assembles at the front door except for Yoongi who takes a second to gather his thoughts.

"Are you coming?"

Yoongi lifts his head at the inquiry. When he realizes it's you who posed the question with your frame turned towards him, his heart starts pounding in his chest like a pump gun. If only you understood the insinuation behind those words... "Y-yeah, sure," he chokes out before clambering off the couch, and so the group steps outside to Seokjin's car.

"Hyung." Hoseok puts a hand on Yoongi's shoulder. "We already pre-gamed a little. You gotta sit in the back, or I get car sick."

Yoongi peers behind Hoseok's form, eyes landing on you. They're gonna make you sit in the middle because Namjoon would block the view through the rear window. He's fucked.

Without posing any further questions, he climbs into the right backseat. When you settle down next to him not even a second after, it's like all signs of lifeform leave him – his breathing becomes shallow, his heartbeat flatlines. Not even a single muscle moves.

Your bare thigh comes into contact with his when you squirm around in search of the buckle. "Oops, sorry." A small smile flashes across your face when you notice. "I think it's on your side."

Yoongi tries his hardest to avoid eye contact with you. He wouldn't survive it in this close proximity. "A-ah, yeah..." he mumbles, maneuvering his legs closer to the door, giving you enough space to fumble.

The entire ride to the club he remains silent, his racing thoughts drowning out the chatter in the background. He's so unbelievably fucked.

The majority of the time Yoongi spends at the bar, downing beer after beer to wash away the chaos inside his mind – though what he deemed his remedy at first turns out to be his poison instead. After the third beer, it's impossible to ignore the way your hair sways along with your movements, how well your snug dress hugs your silhouette, and how smooth your bare arms and legs look.

"Alright," you pipe over the loud music after swallowing your shot of tequila, "I'll be back on the dancefloor again." Sliding down the bar stool, you shoot a look at the boys, both Hoseok and Namjoon tagging along with you.

Seokjin sends an affirmative nod your way before turning back to the bartender, engaging in their current conversation.

Even among the crowd it's easy to spot you, the satin fabric of your garment causing you to stand out like a sore thumb. In Yoongi's eyes you easily lighten up this sleazy place though, this pit of hell where everyone devours each other with indecent looks. You're like an angel among demons, wearing that sweet smile of yours like a halo, glowing with understanding and genuine interest – only it isn't directed at him but Namjoon in this scenario instead.

He watches your face turn into something darker though when his friend leans in closer towards you, whispering something in your ear.

Oh... Fuck.

He can't do this right now. Not now, not like this.

Without giving it much thought, Yoongi gets up from his seat. "I'm gonna step out for a second," he informs Seokjin before trudging towards the backdoor.

Once he sets foot onto the asphalt of the back alley and the door shuts behind him with a loud thud, an exasperated sigh escapes him. The air is cold and crisp with a hint of humidity from a prior rain shower. "Fuck..." The curse comes out audibly this time. Walking around in circles, his hands come up multiple times to run through his tousled locks. Why does he feel so strongly about this situation? You're just a girl, some random girl, that one of his closest friends since childhood happens to have a crush on. Yeah, you're kind and you're smart, beautiful and funny... But why does all of that matter to him? Why does it bother him so much seeing you with him that his insides churn at the sole thought of it?

He fell for you. He actually fell for you.

The realization has Yoongi forcing out a laugh in disbelief.

"There you are."

A familiar voice brings him back from his manic trip.

"I found you."

Looking over to the side, he almost regrets his decision. Even underneath the dim streetlights and the red hue of the neon sign plastered on the concrete wall you look stunning. Pull your fucking shit together, he tells himself. So he musters up the faintest of smiles at the source of the voice.

Your heels click on the asphalt as you make your way over to him, the surface still wet from the rain as it emits a splashing sound with each step. When you lean next to him against the wall, you let out a soft whine along with a chuckle before retracting from the surface in lightning speed. "Ah, it's cold."

Yoongi can't help but react with a soft chortle. "And wet," he adds, shrugging off his leather jacket in an attempt to throw it over your shoulders though you don't comply.

"Oh no," you fend. "I'll just go back inside where it's warm. I only wanted to cool off for a bit."

For some reason, your words render him even more eager in his proposition. "Don't be ridiculous. Put it on, please."

"Really, I came out for a breather, and that's what I got. Besides," you gesture towards him, "you're wearing short sleeves again–"

"And you're practically half-naked, so don't try to argue with me." It takes him a second to register what came out of his mouth, so when you look up at him with a dumbfounded expression, he immediately backtracks from his statement. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just–"

"You're just trying to be nice. I know," you finish for him.

Even though he would usually word it this way, there's more to it that he refrains from revealing. The alcohol coursing through his veins serves as a strong opponent though, clouding his senses.

With outstretched arms and pouty lips, you let him drape the heavy clothing over your torso, carefully looping your limbs through the sleeves. The sight of you standing there like a sulky child has him suppressing laughter.

"What?" You eye him, a glint evident in your glare before it softens again.

A small smile stretches across the man's lips, hinting at a confusing blend of endearment and disappointment. "Nothing," he simply states. He's in it – deep in it – with no way out. God, he wants to tell you that you're the most beautiful thing he's ever laid eyes on even though it would be wrong to admit.

"Can I ask you a question?" you finally break the palpable silence.

He gulps, unsure of your possible inquiry, but ultimately nods his head yes.

"It's two questions actually." Licking your lips, you shift your focus to a nearby puddle, the reflection of the light coming from the neon sign gifting it with more depth than it probably possesses. "Does Namjoon happen to have a crush on me?"

You come in straight with the facts, so Yoongi is taken aback, confused over how to go about it. "Uh..." he stammers, hand shooting up to scratch at the nape of his neck.

There are so many possible outcomes to this conversation. If he tells you the truth, things end right here, right now. Do not pass Go, do not collect 200 dollars. Does he think Namjoon should've confessed a long time ago? Yes, absolutely. Does he have it in his heart to shorten the process and do it himself instead? Absolutely not. First of all, it's Namjoon's wish to keep it a secret until he musters up enough courage to do so (which Yoongi can only so much as scoff at but still respect), and second and most important of all, there's this lingering fear of you reciprocating his friend's feelings – which isn't too far off of reality from the looks of it.

Realizing he hasn't given you a proper reply yet, Yoongi continues, "Well–"

"So it's true then." You cross your arms in front of your chest, your eyes finding his again boring into them with intent.

"I didn't say that," Yoongi counters, his glare holding yours in an attempt to ignore that glimpse of your cleavage framed by his jacket. It's not an easy feat as your folded arms give it an extra push, the pendant of your necklace sitting neatly atop of it.

"Yoongi, it's not like any of you are exactly subtle about it."

The words leave your lips in such a deadpan way, that trace of indifference within your answer shocking Yoongi as if you don't share the same sentiment. "Then why do you ask if you're so sure about it?" he fends in retaliation, finding no energy in himself to fight against your rebuttal. There's no reason to backtrack now. "Why do you ask me and not Namjoon?"

"I guess I..." The space in between your eyebrows creases. "I don't wanna have to break his heart."

Now it's Yoongi's turn to look at you in confusion. "W-what do you mean?"

He doesn't miss the way you roll your bottom lip in between your teeth, your eyes once dead set on him now avoiding the intensity of his. "Don't get me wrong. I like Namjoon, I really do – just not in that way."

For a second the world seems to stand still, your words slowly sinking into Yoongi's mind. He had it all wrong this entire time since you were dead convincing. Were you just playing some sick, twisted mind game all along?

You continue, "He's a great guy and everything, and I'm probably stupid for not seeing something that could potentially be there. But it's not him I'm interested in." Running a hand through your hair, you let out a loud huff. "I know I'm gonna have to tell him eventually. The thought already stresses me out."

"Namjoon appreciates honesty. Just right out tell him how you feel," Yoongi explains calmly despite the chaos raging inside of him. Honesty. His and Namjoon's friendship has never been of the complicated type, built on nothing but trust. Now he's committing the biggest crime in their twenty years of brotherhood, his eyes lingering on the sparkly sheen of your lips for a second too long wondering what they would taste like contradicting every principle he's trying to uphold. But wait – what do you mean it's not him I'm interested in?

"Yeah, you're right." Your words pull him out of his trance. "I'll talk to him as soon as I can."

Yoongi mirrors that weak smirk spreading across your face. "What's the other question?"

"Huh?"

"You said you had two questions," he recalls.

"Oh, yeah..."

It's quiet for an instance as he watches you deep in thought, struggling with whatever occupies your mind before you shake your head.

"Nevermind."

"Come on." His brows furrow at your curt reply. "Tell me."

"No, it's stupid," you counter, an embarrassed expression taking over your features.

"Nothing you say could ever be stupid." He doesn't think twice about the words leaving his lips, ignoring this weird mixture of regret and shame surging through him. "You brought it up, so just–"

"Do you have a crush on me, too?" you blurt out, eyes set on Yoongi's like your life depends on it.

It's almost as if all sense of being leaves him, his limbs growing rigid and his breath being knocked out of his lungs. How the fuck is he going to go about this? "What?" he merely responds, still in shock.

You blink up at him a couple of times, lips trembling as if you're about to elaborate – though you retract instead. "Forget it." Still facing him, you take a step backward before turning on your heel.

It can't be more than a split second, but within that time frame a million thoughts cross through Yoongi's mind. You have to suspect him for you to ask this question in the first place which poses several questions: how obvious has he been this entire time and why would you want to know the answer? Is it to ridicule him? Is it something entirely else? Whatever the answer may be, Yoongi needs to know – no matter the cost. "Don't," he croaks out, almost unconvincing in the way his voice wavers. "Don't go."

You watch him with wistful eyes as you turn around again, arms still crossed in front of your chest.

"What would you do if I said yes?" Usually, he would set the record straight right away, but this is unlike any other situation Yoongi has ever experienced before. Your presence alone renders him insecure yet the alcohol coursing through his veins causes him to come up with somewhat courageous statements like these.

Taking another step closer towards him, you lean against the wall beside you, one leg leisurely resting in front of the other. "I guess you're gonna find out."

With an incredulous chuckle, he mirrors your movements though his hands bury into the pockets of his jeans instead. You're not even two feet apart from each other, enough for him to feel the heat radiating off of your body. "What makes you so sure about that?"

Despite the shake of your head, the man can still make out the smirk stretching across your face. "Two things: one, you're stalling. If you wanted to say no, you already would've said so. And two," you lick your lips before drawing them into a thin line, "simple intuition."

"Intuition?" he repeats.

"Mhm," you hum out. "Maybe."

Another chortle escapes him. How has this turned into a cat and mouse game? And who is who?

"Or maybe you're just insanely obvious," you fend, a mischievous grin finding its way onto your features.

"Me?" He scoffs. "Obvious?"

A sole nod of your head seals your answer, and maybe his mind is playing tricks on him, but Yoongi swears he can sense some sort of chemistry brewing in between the both of you. But then again, why would you show any signs of interest in him? He's him and you're...you. Perfect, stellar _____ whom his best friend is pining for. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place, unable to deny his feelings yet the idea of Namjoon's heart being crushed comes to the forefront of his mind. Although the sheer thought of losing you tears him apart equally as bad as hypothetically losing his closest companion since childhood.

In hindsight, he wonders if things would've turned out different, if things could've been avoided, had Namjoon confessed to you and had you reciprocated. Yoongi wouldn't have developed feelings for you – at least he believes so. Now he's so deep in shit he doesn't see any way out of it without someone getting the short end of the stick. Either way someone's going to get hurt, and he decides it rather be him instead.

"Cat got your tongue?"

Yoongi comes back to life at the sound of your voice, the soft lilt alluding to your ignorance.

"Would it make things easier for you if–"

His brows furrow in surprise when you step closer to him, so close that you're almost chest to chest.

"–I said I liked you back?"

Did he hear you right? Did you just imply that you– There's no way. This can't be real. "What kinda sick joke is this?" The words leave his lips without much thought.

Now it's your turn to look at him in confusion, eyebrows creased with a deep-set frown. "What?"

Huffing out in frustration, Yoongi declares more deadpan than he prefers, "You're right – I like you, _____. And you say you like me, but..." He stalls, the residue of alcohol complicating the process of keeping his emotions in check. He can't have an outburst happen in front of you. The situation is already complicated enough as is. "Why do you act like that around Namjoon? I don't understand."

You look like you're about to reply with the way your bottom lip quivers, a hint of tears forming in the corners of your eyes, but a rusty creak along with a loud slam of metal and an all-too-familiar deep voice have you both turning your heads towards the door.

Shit.

"Namjoon," you two mumble in unison before rushing back inside.

Yoongi can already hear the commotion when you enter the hallway connecting the back entrance with the main room.

"Dude, calm down. What's going on?" Hoseok holds the younger man by the arm to stop him from storming past the crowd.

Namjoon looks back at the two of you. His nostrils are flared and his jaw set – Yoongi is scared he might pounce on him any second.

When his friend finally releases himself from Hoseok's hold and stalks over to you, he instinctively pulls you behind him. He knows Namjoon would never hurt anybody, but the thought of you being in this mess in your vulnerable state sends him into protector mode.

"I should've known," he starts. "It was crystal clear this entire time, but I didn't wanna accept it. Well," running a hand through his dirty blonde strands, he continues, "now I have proof."

"Joon, let me explain." Yoongi tries to defuse the situation. "It's not–"

"It's not what it looks like? Is that what you're trying to say?" Letting out a scoff, his stare shoots even more daggers at the shorter male now. "So I didn't see you confessing your feelings to the girl I like just seconds ago? This was all in my imagination then?"

Yoongi's mouth turns dry, a lump forming in his throat. "Joon, just hear me out–"

"Oh, I think I've heard more than enough." Clasping his head in his hands, he continues, "I didn't think you would stab me in the fucking back like that."

"Namjoon!" It's Hoseok's voice now calling the male's name in warning.

Another curse escapes him before he leans in closer towards you.

He might be mistaken, but Yoongi's hand suddenly feels heavier, another set of fingers weaving their way through his in search of comfort.

"Good luck with the virgin," Namjoon snarls, his eyes traveling from you to the male beside you.

"Kim Namjoon!" Seokjin steps in this time, fury evident in his face before said man can make his way to the exit, leaving everyone in shock.

Yoongi's ears fall deaf after that, a pit opening in the depths of his stomach, every fiber of his being becoming numb. He's neither particularly ashamed nor proud of this fact, but the way the words came out of Namjoon's mouth has him almost toppling over in disbelief.

He doesn't understand what's happening around him, but when what he believes to be your head drops onto his shoulder, he comes back to his senses. The contact is fleeting though as you detangle yourself from his grip.

"I'm sorry," you murmur, and without taking a look back, you disappear within the crowd, someone calling your name over and over again without an answer.

It's then that Yoongi realizes he and Seokjin are the only ones left.

"Stay here," the elder signalizes him, following your trail through the club.

Fuck. Fuck! How could things have gotten so uncontrollably out of hand? There's an uncomfortable tightness forming in Yoongi's chest, wrapping around him like a rope. Is this going to be the end of his and Namjoon's two-decade-old friendship? Is he going to lose one of his closest confidants because of a girl? The thought leaves a bitter taste on his tongue. You're not just some random girl – you're far more than that. He despises himself for even thinking of diminishing your worth, his heart clenching in disgust, yet there's no way this can be the end of things. He should've never fallen for you.

Your mind must be racing as well though, Yoongi concludes. You basically confirmed that you have feelings for him as well – if what you said was the truth because, after all, you have been heavily flirting with Namjoon in front of Yoongi. If so, how are they going to hold up after this mess? And – the idea has him swallowing down hard – are you turned off by the fact that he's a virgin?

His priorities are all over the place right now. Is he going to have to make a choice between you and his friend? Or are you both going to abandon him maybe? Fuck...

"Yoongi!" The familiar sound of Seokjin's voice appears at the perfect time, catching him before he can fall deeper into despair. "Let's go home."

"What about _____?" he inquires, not realizing your name slipping off his tongue first instead of Namjoon's.

"She's in the car," the elder explains. "Hoseok and Namjoon are taking an Uber home."

There's nothing much Yoongi can offer besides a solemn nod before following Seokjin outside to the parking lot.

The dusty green of his roommate's old Honda Civic comes into view, and for a second Yoongi considers taking the seat next to you when he catches a glimpse of you through the window, head hung low and hair falling in front of your face. The sight has him opting for the passenger seat instead.

Most of the car ride remains calm, not even the radio playing any sort of music. An incoming call from Hoseok informs everyone that he and Namjoon arrived at home safely and that the man – though still somewhat in distress – will be alright and won't do anything stupid in his drunken state. Yoongi is more than thankful for the eldest's sobriety and clear mind in this situation though it only does so much easing the nervous shaking of his leg and the incessant picking of his cuticles.

It's not long before you arrive at your apartment complex, once the car comes to a halt your fragile voice filling the silence. "Thanks for the ride. Goodnight." And without sparing one single glance, you climb out of the vehicle, shutting the door with a loud thud.

Silence settles again, no one daring to speak until Seokjin moves to ignite the engine again. It comes to life with a spluttering roar when suddenly the door to the passenger seat opens.

"Yoongi!" Seokjin calls out for the younger male only to be answered by the door slamming shut again.

You're already rummaging around for your house keys when his voice stops you in your tracks.

"_____, wait." He breathes out, a cloud of mist forming in the air. It's only then that he realizes how cold it has actually become – and that he's still without his jacket.

You slowly turn around, your arms wrapped around you for comfort.

The look you send Yoongi hits him straight in the chest. It's dim under the light of the entrance to your apartment complex, yet he can spot the streaks of runny mascara around your eyes. "Are you okay?" he asks, his voice small and unsure.

Your arms fall to your sides lethargically. It's quiet for a long time before you speak up. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm sorry, I messed everything up."

Yoongi vehemently shakes his head at your apology. "You have nothing to apologize for. It's not your fault."

At that, you mimic his gesture, a small whimper resonating from you as fresh tears start to form again. "Earlier, you asked me why I act that way when I'm with Namjoon..." You stall, visibly swallowing down a lump in your throat. "At first it was because I wanted to give it a serious shot. I could tell he liked me, and I was actually considering it. But my heart just wasn't in the right place."

The first tears trickle down your cheeks. "So I thought if I ended things early I wouldn't have a reason to stick around anymore."

The space in between Yoongi's brows furrows at your explanation, but he lets you continue without interjecting.

"I was scared I wasn't gonna be able to be around you anymore, so instead I led Namjoon on and then this whole mess happened." In between heavy sniffles, the tears flow uncontrollably now.

Never in his life has Yoongi been so dumbfounded, so struck to silence by a hurtful truth. Words don't even come close to describing what he's experiencing in this moment, a mixture of frustration and disappointment concentrated in the core of his body, but something tugs on his heartstrings at the sight of you. Your presence comes across as frail, that damn black leather jacket almost swallowing you up entirely, engulfing you in darkness. It's kind of ironic, this comparison of images: Yoongi in his initial head-to-toe black attire if it wasn't for the white, slim-fit t-shirt on his torso, and you in your skimpy, white dress as your centerpiece though it's now being dominated by that foreign black piece of clothing. It's as if you traded pieces of each other, innocence and corruption cohabitating within the two of you – no one entirely good, no one entirely evil.

"God, I feel like such a whore!" you suddenly exclaim, your whines becoming louder. Burying your face in your hands, you cry with reckless abandon.

Yoongi is stunned at your response – and heartbroken that you would call yourself names like that. It wasn't an ideal approach, but at the end of the day everyone had their wrong-doings. He should've never given in to your advances, and Namjoon should've confessed to you.

It takes you a while to regain composure, and Yoongi feels compelled to console you though he refrains from it when you strut over to him, shrugging off the jacket in the process. "I'm not sure what kinda outcome I was expecting, but I didn't think it would tear you two apart like this." A huge question mark appears in Yoongi's head when you elaborate, your fist thrusting the heavy leather towards him which he takes with a slight delay. "I don't wanna take part in this if it means your friendship's on the line."

His soul leaves him in an instant, that unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach tightening, tenfold in severity now. The worst-case scenario has come to life – he lost his best friend and he lost you.

"I'm so sorry," you murmur for the umpteenth time this night, and with that you turn around, unlocking the front door and leaving Yoongi alone in the dark as it clicks shut behind you.

Seconds upon seconds pass by as Yoongi tries to come to terms with what happened, a lightheaded sensation creeping up on him, causing him to collapse at the knees. Now he's in a crouched position on the concrete platform, dismissing the freezing cold nipping at his exposed skin. His elbows come to a rest on his bent joints, his hands clasping around his head as if to shield himself from the outside world. Fuck... Fuck! There's no way things are going to go back to the way they were. Everything's fucked.

"Hey, man." Yoongi discerns Seokjin's voice beside him. "Come on, let's get you home."

The elder hoists him up by the shoulders, retrieving the leather garment that lifelessly lies on the ground to throw it over his shivering form.

"Hyung..." Yoongi mumbles out. "I fucked up."

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