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eunoiaflow3r · 3 years

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when worlds collide - h.p. x gn!avenger!reader

a/n: bahahahahaha no one reads harry x reader lmaoo you don’t have to tell me - i know. but still, i thought this was a cute idea and i went with it. hope you enjoy :)

not edited.

also: timelines don’t match up bc i don’t want to do the math so harry is like 20 - 21 and your like 19 - 20 in 2020. Civil War and everything on didn’t happen. Fred didn’t die.

gn = gender neutral

warning(s): “language!” - captain america.

word count: 3.1k

request(ed): no.

summary: stephen sends y/n to a strange new place with...wizards?

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Never doubt Stephen Strange. That's something that pretty much everyone has accepted. Never second guess the wizard man. Usually you'd agree. Usually you'd just let the man babble about whatever he needed to and then go about your day.

Not now.

The fuckery.

Now you were here (wherever here was) after some flashes of orange and a "be careful." Did he even do the spell right? Is this really where you were supposed to be?

It was dark, and dirty and you just wanted to go home and not talk to anyone so you turned yourself invisible.

You were born with your powers - you think. You were adopted so you wouldn't know where your powers came from. All you know is that one day your parents couldn't find you, even though you were right there. Instead of thinking you were some kind of alien and throwing you out to labs, they helped you control it the best you could.

It was difficult at first, all things considered, but you got through. You discovered you had another power as well. Force fields. Those came in handy during the battles. (You helped where you could), and Tony Stark took you in afterwards as his own. He helped you create your suit, and your name, and discover more about your powers, he was basically a dad to you.

Your parents were a little hesitant letting you join the Avengers, but once they realized this is what you were meant to do, and you had people just like you protecting you, they couldn't keep you from that. They just couldn't.

So here you were, invisible, in some dark and creepy alley. There were doors either side of you, so you got out of the way considering they could open and smack you in the face at any given moment. You heard loud voices and laughing and cheering from both ends of the alley so you walked towards the one in front of you.

The voices were so loud and echoey that you really couldn't focus on anything else. Maybe that's why you didn't hear a boy behind you trip and fall into you from behind.

"I'm so sorry." he said helping you up.

You turned around to help him, he got awfully dirty, and searched for his glasses that fell off his face.

Once standing, he took out a stick, waved it over him, and all of a sudden the dirt and gravel was gone.

"How did you do that?" You were no stranger to magic, but this was something you've never seen before. And why would he do it in front of you? For all he knew, you were an unknowing human.

"What?" He asked eyebrows furrowed together, accent strong.

"With the stick."

He chuckled shoving the stick back in his cloak.

"The stick." He smiled and looked you up and down. "It's a wand. You must not be from around here."

"Yeah, what tipped you off?" You noticed the lightning bolt scar on his head. You wondered how he got it.

"The accent, the clothes, the inability to recognize a simple wand, the ability to be here, not recognizing me, and wait - where is your cloak?"

"Cloak?"

"You were just invisible a moment earlier but I don't see your cloak anywhere."

"I don't have one. I can make myself invisible without a piece of fabric or your fancy stick." You say sarcastically. Were you flirting?

"Handy." He grins. "The name's Harry Potter."

He holds his hand out for you to shake. "Y/N L/N."

He asks you if you want to talk somewhere besides a dark dirty alley. You agreed. It took some convincing though to let him use his stick to clean the clothes you had on, but to change your outfit to something less, standout-ish.

When you felt the witch hat on your head you immediately snatched it off your head and glared at him.

He just laughed.

Once out of the alley, you breathed in the now clean air, and was mesmerized. People were bustling in and out of small shops, animals were flying and chirping around their owners, children were running around with their friends and siblings, and people were waving sticks, or wands, just like Harry used.

"C'mon, this way." He smiled at your awestruck face. It reminded him of when he first arrived with Hagrid all those years ago.

He brought you inside a coffee shop, and sat you at a booth near the window knowing you'd probably want to still look outside at the new scenes.

After ordering, and a few moments of silence as you looked around, you decided to ask some questions.

"Where am I?"

"We're in Diagon Alley. It's like an outside mall."

"I mean like, planet? I guess?"

"Earth."

"Earth?"

"Well, more specifically London. Diagon Alley."

"London?! I'm in London?!"

"You've never been? To Earth? Or London?"

You rolled your eyes silently cursing Strange. "I'm from Earth. The United States, actually. I just wish he'd put me on a fucking plane or something instead of making it seem like I was going to Mars."

"He?" Harry was very curious.

You looked into his green eyes, your mind wandering. The guy in front of you was very attractive. His dark hair complimented his eyes, and his glasses made him even more attractive.

"You guys are wizards right?"

"Really? What gave you that impression?" He asks sarcastically. "The sticks, the pointy hats, or the big bowl with green liquid sitting outside?”

You rolled your eyes. "Very funny. It's not my fault you live into the stereotype of brewing potions in your cauldrons -"

"Oh well I can only assume you're one of those Avengers from the States, yeah?" He grins. "You guys are all over the news."

"Yes, sure -"

"And don't one of you wear capes and another shoot lasers or lightning or whatnot? Sounds very stereotypical to me."

You laugh as the waitress brings over your drinks and muffins. You thank her. "No, well yes, that's Strange and Thor, but that's besides the point -"

"Well of course it's strange." He grins and winks and you over his mug. He was purposely annoying you and found great joy in it.

"Anyway," you sigh getting back to the point. "Do you guys have a Wizard here, like a powerful, trusting, all-knowing kind of guy?"

His eyes dropped slowly and his smile dimmed for a moment before slowly widening once again.

"Had. His name was Dumbledore."

"Our guy is Stephen Strange. Or Dr. Strange. He sent me here, and I'm not sure why."

"Hmmm." He hums setting down his mug. "Are the states in danger? Were you sent here on a secret quest that would put you through tough trials that would risk your life but would ultimately save everyone you've ever loved so you just have to do it?"

You were in a silent shock. "Uhm. No, not that I'm aware of, no."

"Well then perhaps your Wizard Strange is playing matchmaker."

"Matchmaker?"

"Well you were sent here weren't you?" You nod. "Arrived outside the exact place where I was and I just happened to bump into you? Sounds like a set-up to me."

"Or a coincidence."

"I'd like to think it was fate that I bump into the most attractive person I've ever seen and they don't know who I am and won't judge me 'cause of my past." He took a bite of his muffin.

"Should I be worried?"

"I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself." He winks.

You decide to eat your muffin as well. It was a comfortable silence until you looked out of the window and noticed a guy crouching down behind a cauldron...with a camera.

"Harry?"

"Hm?"

"Why is there a man outside taking pictures of you?"

His eyes widened. "Oh shit." He whispered. "Here." He took out a baseball cap and put it over your head, hiding your face from the camera.

He gets out of his seat quickly pulling you along with him to the back of the shop but before you could say anything he had his wand pulled out.

Next thing you saw was a couch and living room.

"Wow." You panted. "What a way to bring a girl home."

"I apologise Y/N, I block them out so much I forget they're even there and now they've seen you, and have a story and -"

"Wait, wait, wait, are you wanted for murder or something?"

Harry walks over to his bookshelf and pulls out a rather large book. After opening up on the table, he waved his wand over it and beckons you over to read it.

'Boy who lived.'

'Golden boy defeats Voldemort'

'winner of Triwizard tournament'

And there was so much more… 'Harry Potter' in bold just strewn across the pages. His whole life story.

Your eyes widen at everything. "So both and neither. War hero. How come I've never heard of you? Or any of this?"

He smiles at the pages fondly, running his fingers across the letters and reminiscing on his times at Hogwarts.

"Unlike you Avengers, we like to keep our business private and quiet. We don't like prying eyes."

You scoff. "Not our fault we have alien invasions every year."

Harry agreed and for the rest of the night you sat on his couch talking and sometimes arguing, over every little thing. It felt like you two had known each other forever.

You're not sure when, but you fell asleep there and woke with your head on his chest and his arm wrapped around your waist. You're not sure how the two of you ended up this way, and you realized you were practically strangers, but you didn't want to move. You just wanted to tangle your fingers through his dark hair.

But you didn't. Instead you stared at his closed eyes, and focused on his long, dark, eyelashes that fluttered a little from time to time. You thought about how you could get used to this. Waking up with his arm wrapped around you.

You told him last night that if he was actually a serial killer, and wanted to kill you that you had a whole team of people who would rip him limb from limb. He had no doubts and looked actually scared of your threat.

You thought about what it'd be like to live here among people like you.

Stomach grumbling, you decided to get up and see if he had anything you could make for him. It's the least you could do. His face turned when you left his arms, but you quickly pulled the blanket over him so he would be able to sleep a little longer.

You found his bathroom, and washed your face. In your backpack was a toothbrush and some toothpaste so you brushed your teeth, fixed your hair, and got dressed.

By the time you got out of the bathroom, you noticed Harry was still sleeping so you went into the kitchen and tried to find anything remotely close to breakfast foods. By the look of his inventory, you could tell he was very good at cooking but hadn’t been to the store in a while. He did have some eggs and toast though so you decided to make that.

In the middle of it, you got a phone call from Strange.

“Strange?”

“Harry Potter.” he says.

“What?” you were so confused as to how Stephen knew ANYTHING.

“You’re in his place, we've been tracking you.”

“So I guess we should probably have a talk about privacy? I don’t know, it just seems like something we should discuss you know? Cause usually people can respect that - especially people who just DUMP you here in the first place -“

“Calm down that’s what the mission was. While you were sleeping, we searched the place with a camera we put on you and he’s not who we thought he was. You completed the mission L/N. Great job.”

“Is he a danger?”

“Not necessarily. Just making sure your fine is all.”

“What -?”

He hung up.

Why wouldn’t Strange tell you his intentions? Why would he let you stay here if he thought Harry might have been a bad guy? Why would he risk that?

Right as you hung up Harry Potter walked into the kitchen with his lenses in between his shirt - he was cleaning his glasses.

His dark hair hung over his eyes but his eyebrows were raised.

“You made breakfast?”

“It was the least I could do. I didn’t mean to fall asleep but thank you for letting me stay.”

He smiled and put his glasses back on. In doing so his gray shirt lifted and you could see his abs. You turned away a blushed.

“It was no big deal. Thank you for making breakfast, love. You didn’t have to.”

You didn’t say anything and instead placed both of your finished plates on the dining room table. He followed you and sat down immediately digging in.

“These are the best eggs i’ve ever eaten Y/N thank you.”

You smiled in response but then frowned remembering your conversation with Strange. You should probably tell Harry.

“So,” you cleared your throat. “You were wrong.”

He gave you a look that meant “about?”

“Dr. Strange - the wizard I work with - he likes to check out potential threats and make sure that ya’know - the earth stays safe and everything. Je can kind of see the future and its propabilities. He did the same thing with Thor and his brother Loki.”

“Okay, go on.”

You cringed. “And so he called me and told me that he sent me here so he could see you? I don’t know I guess he saw you as a threat and wanted to make sure you weren’t.”

You looked at Harry but his face was clear of any and every emotion. He just continued to eat his eggs. It was silent.

You ate a bit at your eggs too until he spoke up which made you look up.

“I can’t say I’m very surprised honestly. With everything you guys manage to fuck up there I’d wanna know if someone else was about to create shit problems too.”

You sighed with relief. He wasn’t mad.

“I’m sorry really Harry, I didn’t even know.”

“No yeah it’s fine. I get it. I still think he sent you specifically for a reason though. There’s just no way we aren’t soul mates or something.”

“Oh shut up Potter.”

He smiled. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Gee your head must hurt.”

He squints at you jokingly. “You should let me take you out. I can show you around today. Y’know, so you can see what wizards are like.”

“Is this a date?”

His face flushes red and he looks down at his plate. “Yeah, yeah it’s a date.”

And a date it was.

“What the fuck is wrong with you Harry! Again?!” You practically screamed. Harry called it aparation but you call it hell. You let it go the first time but damn. He barely even warned you, just took your hand, held it tight, pulled you close, and waved his wand.

It was teleportation. Something you’ve never ever done before.

“Fucking hell Potter I’m going to murder you.”

“And Strange was worried about your safety? This is like your 4th time threatening to end my life and besides, it wasn’t even that bad.”

You rolled your eyes.

Throughout the day Harry showed you all sorts of things you’d never ever seen before. This consisted of every flavor jelly beans (and by every flavor they really meant every flavor), a chocolate frog, and never ending bubble gum. And that was just on the candy side.

He took you inside this joke shop ran by two of his friends from his old school he called hogwarts. They were twins that went by the names of Fred and George. The only twins you had ever met was Wanda and Pietro but telling the story of Pietro’s death seemed to sour Harry’s mood but excite the twins. The fact that he sacrificed himself for a little boy made him a hero in their eyes. They begged you to tell them more stories.

By the end of the day you went back to Harry’s place and you were exhausted. You can’t believe all that you’ve seen and eaten. How was this stuff even possible? How was it all hidden? You were amazed.

Harry was glad to see you had a good day and glad that he had met you. When you got back, he told you that you could stay another night...and perhaps in the bed instead of the couch. He hadn’t meant it in a dirty way but that didn’t stop you from laughing until tears came out of your eyes. He was so awkward at times. Once he had to ask if it was okay to take your hand while you were in the street and it was so cute how he couldn’t really find the words even for something as simple as hand holding.

“Harry?”

“Hm?”

You both were laying in his bed facing the other.

“I had a lot of fun today. I feel like i’ve known you forever.”

He grinned from ear to ear and was glad that you couldn’t see him. He would have been beyond embarrassed if you’d seen how unmistakably happy that made him.

“I had fun with you Y/N. You’re great company.”

You were silent for a moment.

And another.

“Harry?”

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

You were scared of his response and your heart was practically beating out of your chest. What if he was just being friendly? What if he just wanted to be friends? You would have made a huge fool of yourself. You were going to turn away embarrassed until his hand came up to your face and slipped onto your cheek. He was so warm. His lips pressed against yours for a moment and then he pulled away.

After a moment he reconnected and moved his lips against yours slowly. Your hand went to the back of his neck and toyed with his hair. He groaned into your mouth. You smiled and scooted even closer to him. All you could hear was the sound of your breathing and kissing. You didn’t want to pull away but you had to.

“Harry.” you said practically breathless.

“Yeah.” he was breathless too.

“I want to show you my world. You should come see New York.”

“Yeah? You wanna show me those alien invasions and robot attacks?”

You laughed and snuggled into Harry. He wrapped his arm around you and kissed your neck.

“Mhmm.”

“I’d love to see it.”

Tags:

@romance-geek @gooseyhouse

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bopbopstyles · 4 years

Text

3. More Than a Song

SERIES RATING: M (sex)

CHAPTER WORD COUNT: 9.7k

MASTERLIST | INSPO TAG | ASK

Y/N promised herself she would never date a musician. It was her one rule–her only rule, actually–when it came to dating. But then, Harry Styles rolled into her life and asked her to break it, just this once. And this is what happened.

a/n: prepare for ANGST! and dunkirk premiere harry aka one of his best looks ever :) also thank u to @havethetimeofyourstyles for making my line breaks bc i’m inept at making things xoxo

pls reblog to spread the word about only exception! 🥰

“Baby,” Harry said, turning to her from where he stood in his closet. “Can you help me with my collar? I can’t get it.”

Y/N set down her phone—she was ready first, which wasn’t surprising considering it took Harry ages to get ready, partially because he kept getting distracted with her. He’d touch her, run his hands all over her, ask if he could get her out of her lingerie, and she’d have to remind him that she’d barely even had it on and they had an important event. “Sure.”

Harry looked dashing—he always did. After much debate, they had decided on a simple white silk short-sleeved button down and a pair of flared black pants, cool enough for May in LA, but still perfectly Harry. Y/N had painted his nails last night a pastel purple while they had watched a documentary about sheep—which Harry had selected—and the color popped against the neutrals of the rest of the outfit. Shoes were still up in the air, but Y/N was trying to get him to wear the yellow loafers he’d gotten recently, the ones she was so obsessed with she was considering stealing for herself.

Somehow Harry always managed to mess up his collars before big nights, the nerves probably getting to him. Y/N smoothed the material on his shoulders to relax him before popping up his collar and folding it back down crisply. “There you go.” In the mirror in front of Harry, her eyes trailed down his body, from his sweet curls she had labored over styling in the bathroom, to the recently tailored pants he wore. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, a smile dancing onto Harry’s face at the action. “Nervous, bubs?”

He turned his head and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Bit. More for you to hear it than anyone else.”

The honesty of his statement brought butterflies to her tummy. Harry had been in and out of meetings for the past few months getting together the release of his debut album and putting the final touches on it, but at no point had he let her hear it. She suspected it was because he was scared she’d hate it, but when she asked her dad about it, he told her to think about it as his journal. His journal of a past that Y/N hadn’t been a part of. That had made Y/N understand a bit better, the prospect of being nervous of what she’d think of him more the worry than a worry of what she’d think of the music. So she nuzzled her nose into his shoulder, careful not to get lipstick on the fabric, and told him, “I’m going to love it. It’ll be perfect, just like you.”

Harry’s arms wrapped backwards so he could hold her to him and they stood there, holding one another, basking in each other’s presence before everyone else arrived. It had been a busy couple months for them to start a relationship—Y/N was swamped at work, her boss having left so she had to take on extra work, and Harry was releasing his album, Dunkirk was coming out in the summer, and his tour started in the fall. It was a lot to say the least, and Y/N tried not to think about it too often because she’d get all in her head and ignore Harry’s texts for hours until he called her and asked her if she wanted gummy worms or Hershey’s for movie night. Then, she’d remind herself that they were doing good—really good, even. Better than other relationships that she had been in for this long. Usually this was when she got bored, but with Harry she kept falling for him more and more every day they spent with each other.

He was like a drug, and she was addicted.

“We should head down,” Y/N said, brushing back from him. “Wear the yellow ones, yeah?”

He mumbled something under his breath about her being bossy and coming for Lambert’s job and she snorted, leaving him in the walk-in closet to straighten himself out. Her phone in her hand, she slipped on her heels, a summer sandal with a platform so her feet didn’t hurt, the perfect compliment to her flowing sundress she’d selected for the release party. When Harry had seen it he’d promptly asked if she could take it off so he could ravish her, so she decided it was a good choice. It emphasized her curves in a way that made her feel confident and she’d pinned her hair over one shoulder, the earrings Harry had gotten her for their three-month anniversary on display.

Re-emerging, Harry rolled his eyes over her body and she gave him a soft smile at the way his eyes screamed with desire. “See something you like?”

“Fuck yes,” he cursed. “Can’t wait to have you all to myself later.” Hands in hers, he pressed a searing kiss to her lips, the kind that made her toes curl, before pulling back. “C’mon, Azoff is yelling at me over text about being late to my own party.”

“It’s literally downstairs,” she pointed out. “He’s just mad he can’t embarrass you in front of your friends.”

Harry laughed, arm tucked around her waist as they descended the stairs of his house. He’d bought it at the end of February, a birthday gift to himself, and Y/N had thought to herself at the time that it wasn’t about her, it was about him. But it was kind of hard whenever he had her help him pick out all the furniture, making sure she approved of the colors he painted the walls and the patio furniture.

Downstairs, the party was in full force. Harry hadn’t invited too many people, mostly the same crowd as his birthday. Since it was at his house, he was hesitant to give the address out to too many people, but ultimately he wanted to be able to do whatever the fuck he wanted to celebrate, no paps around. Also, it was hot and he had a pool, so he had told everyone to bring a swimsuit just in case they wanted to take a dip. Y/N had persuaded him to keep it simple and they’d ordered pizza from his favorite place and she made some a ton of margaritas for everyone to help themselves to. Jeff was left in charge of the door when Harry was late finishing getting dressed, and she could tell that he had done a fine job. The tunes were going, people were drinking, and everyone seemed happy. He had even put the album countdown that Y/N had spent two hours making that morning on the TV.

“Stay close to me, please?” Harry asked her, bending his head to whisper in her ear when they reached the group.

Y/N nodded, and Harry began happily talking to Jeff. Y/N started up a conversation with another one of the Full Stop employees who had come who she’d met at a brunch a few weeks ago, plucking some details from her brain about her boyfriend to check-in about. Then, a familiar face flashed in the crowd. “Hanna!”

Harry had suggested the idea of inviting her best friends to the party and Y/N had leapt at the idea. The prospect of having her two favorite people be there with her to celebrate her boyfriend was her idea of a perfect night. Hanna’s red hair popped up, her smile giddy from seeing Y/N. Cutting through the crowd, she quickly made it to Y/N, who wrapped her best friend up in a tight hug.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” she said. “Find it okay?”

Hanna nodded. “Security at the gate did not want to let me in though. Jamie is on his way—Cole called while he was walking out the door.” Jamie and Cole had been together for years and Y/N decided the first time she met Cole that there wasn’t anyone better for Jamie, and Jamie seemed to agree. “How are you?”

“Amazing,” Y/N replied and she truly was. She felt like she was on cloud nine right now, the energy bouncing off of Harry absorbing into every one of her pores. “Excited to finally hear it.”

“You should be.” Hanna leaned over and tapped Harry on the shoulder.

His attention shifted from some work-related conversation with Jeff quickly over to his girlfriend’s best friend. “Oh, hello Hanna,” he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thank you so much for coming.”

“No place I’d rather be,” Hanna replied. “Now can I steal Y/N?”

Harry’s eyes lingered on Y/N, but he gave her a warm smile. “‘Course.”

Y/N followed her best friend out onto the patio, giving hugs and saying hello to the friends of Harry’s she’d met during the past few months of them being together. Harry watched her with awe at how well she had fit into his life, she’d succeeded faster than any other girl he’d ever dated. The tidbits of information she remembered and the way she made an effort to be present in the conversations, her deep knowledge of music and the industry coming in handy. He loved having a girl at her side who knew what all of his team did without him having to explain it to her. It was small, but it made a difference to him.

“H,” Mitch said, pulling his gaze from his girlfriend back to the conversation he’d been having with Mitch, Adam, and Sarah. “You good?”

“Yeah,” he replied, taking a sip of the margaritas Y/N had made for the party. She’d slaved over them all day while he was on calls and doing interviews and he appreciated it so much. He reminded himself to tell her later when he had her alone and could tell her properly.

Sarah smiled at him knowingly. “He’s just looking at Y/N, as usual.”

Mitch and Adam chuckled, but Harry frowned. “Am I not allowed to look at my girl?”

“You are,” Adam said, “just be careful, mate. You told us about the rule, remember?”

The Rule. The goddamn rule that controlled this relationship more than he felt like he did, sometimes. He didn’t know how much Y/N thought about it at this point in their relationship, but then again it was still technically pretty early in the grand scheme of things. But for him, it was a constant reminder than their time together was fleeting, that at any point she might want to leave him, his lifestyle too hard. And it’s not that he blamed her. He just hated that it was a possibility. “I know.”

“How’s it going?” Adam pressed. Harry had been distant these past few weeks, holing himself up in the house with Y/N every chance he got when they weren’t rehearsing and he wasn’t on a call. It was hectic and he knew that his friends worried about him.

Harry took another sip of his margarita, eyes finding Y/N out on the patio laughing with Hanna, hair blowing in the wind. “Been good. She seems really happy,” he continued at the sight of her smile. “Bit nervous about tonight, if I’m being honest though.” He’d told Y/N the same thing, but the pit in his stomach still lingered. She had said she was excited, but he didn’t know how she would react to him releasing an album full of songs about his exes and flings.

They all got it though. “About which song?”

“All of ‘em,” he said nervously, and it was true. Y/N came into his life after the album was done, the idea of adding a song about her impossible. Even though he could’ve written dozens—he already had, the voice memos on his phone to prove it. Sometimes he’d sneak away to the bathroom while she slept to sing something that popped into his head, and the few that he’d shown the band they liked. It was all material for the next album, they told him. Some of them had even become full-fledged songs after a few hours locked in his office, but he hadn’t shared them yet. They still felt too raw.

Sarah reached out a hand and squeezed Harry’s shoulder. “She’ll get it, H. Her dad’s a musician, you know? If there was anyone who would understand, it would be her.”

And she was probably right. But there was a feeling in his gut that Harry couldn’t shake—that tonight wouldn’t end well for them. He’d felt it when he had woken up this morning and no matter how many time he kissed Y/N to make it go away, it lingered and it was making his brain go wild.

He hoped it was just the nerves.

The night passed quickly. There were speeches, a cake, Jeff pulled out a bottle of champagne, and Y/N had rejoined Harry at his side for the most part. And at this party, there was no question as to who she was—to everyone she was “Y/N, my girlfriend,” and Harry loved it. Particularly the look on her face that she would get every once in a while when her eyes caught his. He didn’t know what to call it, but he just knew that he felt the same way.

Before he knew it, it was 11:59 and everyone had gathered in the living room. The TV had the countdown on that Y/N had designed, the album cover with the numerical countdown over it, another bottle of champagne in Harry’s hand, ready to pop. Y/N stood a few people away from him, watching him with that look in her eyes that she’d been giving him all night that made him weak in the knees and made him curious what she would do to him when they were upstairs. He knew why Y/N was keeping her distance right now—she had mentioned it once before when they were curled up in bed after Harry asked her to be put down as a co-host for the party, that this success was his and his alone. That she was here at the end and she wanted it to be all his. She was here to support him and give him kisses after, but it was all his.

“10, 9, 8.” This was it. It was Harry’s debut album, his first solo record. It was weird for the rest of the guys to not be here when an album dropped. Usually, they were all standing together with bottles of champagne, ready to celebrate with one another.

“7, 6, 5, 4.” And Harry didn’t know which one was worse and which was better. Maybe they were both equally as wonderful, because he had other friends here to stand by his side. Jeff, Sarah, Mitch, Adam. James, floating around somewhere. His mum and sister tried to be here but Gemma got sick and Anna wanted to stay behind to take care of her.

“3, 2,” He had Y/N. He had Y/N’s excited expression, her wide eyes and flushed cheeks, the look of pride on her face that he treasured.

“1!” But this was his, his success, his win. With the first notes of the album playing in the room, he popped the bottle of champagne and with the bubbles running down the side of the bottle, he took a long swig.

Cheers went up around him, his best friends celebrating his biggest success of his career thus far, one he’d fought long and hard for. One he was immensely proud of and he hoped he would always look back on fondly. And the sound of his album blaring in his house’s sound system—the sound of Meet Me in the Hallway, it brought him to tears.

“Aww, man,” Adam brought him into a hug, patting Harry softly on his back. “Y/N! Come here!”

Y/N was there in an instant, wrapping Harry up in her arms, his head falling onto her shoulder, sobs wracking his body as they stood there. He didn’t even care that his friends were all there witnessing him crying into his girlfriend’s shoulder, he was just so overwhelmed.

“You okay, bubs?” Y/N asked, petting the back of his head softly.

“It’s a lot,” he replied softly, trying to find the words. “Happy. But also just…”

Her hands ran up and down his back, rubbing circles. “I know, baby. You don’t need to explain, okay?”

Harry didn’t reply, just tried to find his breath and stop the tears that were welling in his eyes. And when he did, he lifted his head and his lips met Y/N’s, the sound of whoops and cat-calls breaking out around them. The middle finger that Harry raised to them all did nothing to stifle them either. “Thank you,” he said into her hair when they broke.

The feeling of her lips on his neck, a soft kiss, brought him to his knees. “Always.”

And Harry hoped it was true.

While the rest of the party swirled around her—dancing had broke out, James had started making themed drinks, his favorite being the Sign of the Times one—Y/N sat right in front of the speaker, listening to every word of the album. It was her first time hearing it and she knew Harry would probably play it for her later, but she wanted to hear it now. She wanted to hear his pride and joy, the thing that had him beaming and laughing with his friends, belting out the lyrics with Mitch and Adam in a conga line that was worming its way through the room.

And what she heard broke her heart in so many ways.

Y/N knew that music, and much of art, stemmed from pain and hurt. A good amount of it was also about love, but the songs that were some of the rawest, the ones that hit home for most people, were the ones about our darkest moments. Harry’s album was full of them. Heartbreak, heartache, regrets, addiction to people and things. It was chock full of every one of his deepest darkest secrets, especially the women who he had loved before he met her. There was a part of her that knew that he would tell her in his own time about the stories of some of these women—he had mentioned a few when she’d asked about them—and that she didn’t need to push, but there was this disgusting, self-sabotaging part of her that wanted to know every sordid detail, even though she knew it would hurt her.

This was one of the many reasons she had always told herself she would never date a musician, but more importantly that she would never fall for one. Because their relationship, their joys and pitfalls, heartache and brightest moments, it was all fodder for a song, an album, a career. It wasn’t the artist’s fault, that’s how it worked, but that didn’t make it any easier to be the person they were writing about.

Was that all she was? Another girl for Harry to write a song about?

She wanted to be happy for him, to be glowing and beaming for him, but the part of her that she hated, the part that conjured the worst possible parts of people, it was crawling out of her head. It was twisting Harry and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she didn’t believe it.

The album only lasted 40 minutes, but in those 40 minutes the party died down. People had jumped in the pool while Y/N sat by the speaker, they had finished their drinks, they had said their goodbyes, the object of the event passed. Hanna and Jamie came over and gave her hugs, concerned looks on their faces, and told her to call them if she needed anything. When she looked up, the last notes of From the Dining Table fading, it was just her left.

A light from the patio twinkled and she could see the water rippling under the moonlight. Harry.

She left the stereo silent, not cuing up another playlist, and tugged off her shoes, then her dress. Following the pull of the man who had written such a beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful record, she walked to the patio.

“There you are.” He was floating on his back in just his boxers, which didn’t surprise Y/N in the slightest. The fairy lights they had strung up together were dim in the nighttime darkness, but just bright enough so she could see Harry and all his beauty. “Look bloody gorgeous, love.”

Y/N tucked her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, knotting the hair so it stayed. “Finished the album,” she said, walking to the water’s edge.

“Yeah?” Harry swam over to her, leaning his head on her thighs that rested on the concrete that lined the pool. “What’d you think?”

She couldn’t help the heartbroken smile that graced her features, because she was too tired to lie to him. Exhausted from trying to pretend that she didn’t think about the fact that he could leave her at any moment, that the insecurities of who she was and who he was didn’t catch up to her sometimes. His fingertips brushed at her cheeks and Y/N realized she was crying.

“Y/N? What’s wrong?” He hoisted himself out of the water and hooked one of his legs around her waist, pulling her into his wet skin. It was cold against the night air, but somehow Harry was still warm to her.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she said slowly, struggling to find her words.

Fingers drifted up and down her back. “Just do your best.”

She tried not to think about the fact that she was crying on his album release day, that they were having this conversation now. One that sat in the back of her mind when she was alone and Harry couldn’t banish it. “The album is beautiful, Harry,” she started, “but it’s about a past that I wasn’t a part of.” Harry was quiet, but his arms didn’t move from their place around her, so she forged on. “I know that artists write from their experience, and that this album was done before I met you, but there’s this part of me, this horrible part that I utterly despise, that is jealous of them. The women who you wrote about. And the fact that it’s them that you’re going to sing about on stage every night. Does that make sense?”

The brush of his chin against her spine showed her that yes, he understood.

“And,” she continued, voice breaking, “I can’t stop thinking about the fact that maybe I’m going to be a song.”

“Of course you’re going to be a song,” Harry said, his voice soft and sweet.

He didn’t get it. To him, being a song was an honor, but to her, it was a threat almost. “No—it’s that I’m going to be only a song.”

The man next to her didn’t say a word. The chirp of the crickets stretched between their bodies, which were still close on the concrete floor, not a muscle moved.

“I don’t want to only be a song.” Y/N’s voice was hoarse, sobs wracking her body she didn’t expect, didn’t want. She couldn’t have this conversation if she was crying, but she couldn’t hold them in either. It was her biggest fear, the one that festered below all of the others, threatening to consume the relationship she had with a man she was falling for. And falling was the only way to describe it—without any support, a free fall that was utterly terrifying but also blissful peaceful.

Suddenly, his fingers swept across her neck, brushing against her sensitive skin. “Y/N,” he whispered, “you could never be just a song. You’re—you’re like the stars and the moon to me. In that room I could always feel you, wherever you were, and I didn’t want to be anywhere where you weren’t. And maybe this is too fast and too soon, but what I feel for you, fuck Y/N how can you not see how much you are to me?”

He pulled her head so she faced him, his eyes teary to match her own. “Do you hear me? You’re so much more than a song. You’re an album. You’re my life’s work, my masterpiece, a symphony. A song can’t contain how I feel for you, it’s just a piece of a billion I could write.”

Soft as a feather, his lips pressed to her cheeks and then up and across her forehead, over her eyelids, barely leaving a mark but a searing fire in his wake that shook Y/N’s core. “And Y/N, you’re better than a song. You’re my life. You’re here, you’re real, you’re with me. Y/N, you will never be just a song to me. You never could be. Not to me.”

Y/N rested her forehead against his, inhaling his cologne and exhaling her feelings for him. He managed to rip down all her defenses, the ones she had spent years building up, and it was frightening. But then she looked at him, the way he smiled at her, the way he kissed her, the way he said her name, and it wasn’t quite as scary. She hoped he could feel how much she cared for him in the way she kissed him, their tears blending into one as they scrambled for each other. Lips breaking and meeting, desperate for more and more and more. Her fingers gripped the back of his head, holding him to her, wanting to have his whole body imprinted on hers.

“Y/N,” he breathed, “you heard me? You understand?”

“Yes,” she replied softly, “I hear you.” She brushed her fingers through his hair gently, curling the wet strands back. “You may need to remind me sometimes.”

“Always,” he whispered, catching her kiss with his own, tugging her into him, arms around her body in a vice grip.

She lost herself in Harry, him an ocean and her a boat lost at sea. Maybe it was their conversation or the night or the alcohol flowing through their veins, but it felt different. The way he kissed her felt heavier, her moans a prayer, his fingers on his back a weight she never wanted lifted. Her legs wrapped around his waist so she was firmly in his lap, arms thrown over his shoulders, their bare bodies except for their underwear pressed against each other without a molecule of air between them.

His lips drew a line across the top of her shoulder, a fire building in her belly as his fingers fumbled with the clasp of her bra. It was a light pink she’d worn just for him and when he nudged at the strap with his nose, letting it slip from her shoulders, she didn’t care that he could barely see it. She’d show him tomorrow morning. He pulled the fabric away and bent his head, licking at one of her nipples and then the other, gasps falling from her mouth like poetry. Without meaning to, her hips rolled over his cock, the thin fabric of their underwear doing nothing to keep the heat of her center from touching his sensitive skin.

He moaned her name, the sound muffled against her neck as he sucked a love bite into the spot that made her keen every time he nipped into it. She rocked again on him, his fingers digging into her skin so hard it would leave marks tomorrow but she didn’t care. In fact, she wanted to have his marks on her tomorrow, she wanted to show the world that she wasn’t just a song, she was his, she was his girlfriend and she made him feel this way.

Hands on skin, he pressed her down onto the concrete so she was lying down, her ankles tucked around his hips, anchoring her to him. When his hips bucked into hers, she let out a sharp cry, the angle brushing her clit perfectly. “Right there?” He mumbled, nipping and tugging on her nipple, laving a circle that left her squirming against the concrete.

“Off,” she whispered, tugging at his boxers with her hands. “Wanna feel you.” With his help, they shimmied off his boxers without too much difficulty and Y/N let out a sigh of relief when she could feel his cock brush against her covered folds. Reaching a hand down, she brushed the pad of her thumb across his tip, a pained hiss flying from Harry’s throat. He was sensitive and Y/N loved it.

They didn’t have a condom, but she didn’t care. She’d been on birth control for years and she knew Harry hadn’t slept with anyone else since she found her way into his life. Plus, she needed him—she wanted to feel him, raw and bare inside of her.

They were going to have sex on the concrete next to his pool, but she didn’t care. They had had sex before and they would have sex again. She just needed him in a desperate, crawling way. When he nudged at her underwear she pressed into him, letting him pull them down her legs without a second thought.

“Condom,” Harry mumbled as she chased after his lips, open mouthed and heavy.

“It’s okay,” she said, fingers digging into his shoulder blades. “Want you like this.”

Harry’s head dropped to the space between her neck and shoulder, the groan that filled the air unlike anything she had heard before. “Gonna ruin me,” he whispered, brushing his cock against her folds. Y/N whimpered at the sensation, her fingers begging him for more, for anything she would give him. When his fingers brushed her clit, his name tumbled from her lips without abandon.

“Harry, please,” she panted, fingers deep in his hair.

That was all it took. She was so wet from the foreplay and just him that he didn’t even need to stretch her out. Her mouth fell open as he pushed inside, a mewl landing on his lips as he kissed her. Slowly, he pulled out and then back in, both of them groaning from the sensation of him being bare inside her. He felt impossibly close, every ridge and edge of him pressing against her in the most perfect way. She didn’t know if she could use condoms again, because holding Harry to her chest, arms around his shoulders as he fucked slowly, deeply, into her, her able to feel every inch of her, it was bliss on a new level. A sensation she didn’t know she was missing with him.

Her ankles hitched higher on his hips and when he pushed back in he hit a new angle, a groan ripping from his throat that set her on fire. “Can I go faster?” He said with a grunt. “I—I don’t know how much—“

“Yes,” she whimpered at his words.

He didn’t wait. He drew back and into her, pistoning his hips at a pace she couldn’t even describe, hitting that spot deep inside of her that made her eyes roll back over and over. How he managed to do that she didn’t know, but he deserved an award. Fingers grabbing at his skin in desperation for something to hold her together, Y/N gasped and exhaled his name, a plea and a beg and a prayer all in one. Her back hurt from the concrete but she didn’t care, she just wanted to finish, to feel him release deep inside of her.

Then he thumbed over her clit and she arched up, back leaving the concrete as the fire deep within her threatened to bubble over. When he start brushing circles there, Y/N gripped his shoulders like they would keep her anchored to Earth, her body possibly transcending. Harry bent his head and sucked a love bite on her breast, the puncture of skin forcing her head back, unable to keep it together.

“You close?” He asked, littering her chest with kisses, “Please tell me you are, I can’t, I can’t hold on…”

She mumbled a yes as he drove deep inside of her, swiveling his hips in a brutal way that left her hands squeezing his butt cheeks to get him to do it again. When he did, she swore she saw stars. “Gonna come,” she said, eyes searching for his lips in the low lighting. “Kiss?”

Without hesitation, he kissed her, open mouthed and dirty and sloppy and perfect. She wanted every rough-edged and sweet part of him, every kiss and press of his body against hers. “Y/N, Y/N, Y/N,” he chanted as he pressed into her again and again, her body drawing tighter and tighter. Then, he pinched her clit and she came, the ball in her tummy unravelling, hips bucking up against him as she rode out her high. Her eyes stayed trained on him as she did, not wanting to miss his face when he came inside of her.

His hips stuttered, release unloading inside of her in ropes that left him cursing like a sailor. Hair wet and sweaty, sticking to his forehead, and irises blown out, he looked beautiful. She held him close until his body settled, shaking as he came down from his high, forehead resting on the swell of her breasts.

Slowly, he rolled off of her, tugging her body into his so she wasn’t on the cold concrete anymore. He was fiery hot and it kept her warm in the cold air. “Can we never use a rubber again?” He asked softly, and she giggled, hiding her face in his neck.

“Don’t see any reason to,” she replied and he hummed with joy. Tucking her hands under her chin, she looked at him with a smile. “Congrats on your album, baby.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear tenderly. “I’m so happy I shared today with you.” She kissed him softly and let him hold her close, not wanting to move even to go to bed because it meant leaving his grasp. And as much as her head told her that it wasn’t forever, she couldn’t help but hope it would be.

It had been four days since Harry had texted her. Five since he called her. Six since they FaceTimed.

He was in London for the press junket for Dunkirk and Y/N was supposed to fly out for the July 13th premiere—it was decided a month ago, the tickets booked and her time off from work already approved. But as the days stretched on and the silence grew longer, she couldn’t help but wonder if something was wrong. If she had done something wrong.

It wasn’t the first time he had been away from LA. They had a conversation about how they were going to handle distance when he travelled back in April, before the album came out and he had to fly around and do press for two weeks. That time, though, he handled it well—he called every night before she went to bed if he could, if not, he sent a long voice memo that she listened to when she woke up. They texted all day, him sending photos from dressing rooms and backstage at talk shows, even FaceTiming her so she could meet the stars he shared the nights with.

But this time was different. Since he left he had texted her just a handful of times and it was when he was at his mom’s house visiting home before press started. And then once press kicked into gear, he was gone, her texts ignored, calls not returned. She was trying not to seem desperate, but with the more time that passed the more anxious she got. It wasn’t how this was supposed to go, this wasn’t what they’d agreed on. He knew her fears, the dark thoughts that crowded in when she spent too much time worrying about their relationship, and yet he wasn’t taking the actions that helped her calm down. Even though she knew it wasn’t his responsibility to take care of her brain, it helped to know he thought about her, at the very least.

The morning before her flight was supposed to leave, she called Hanna in a panic. Her suitcases laid open on her bed, clothes scattered around her, tears streaming down her face. She had tried to call Harry again to confirm her arrival plans, only to be met with his voicemail, again.

Hi, you’ve reached Harry. I’ll give you a call back when I can!

Somehow, the sound of his voice made it worse.

“Han,” she choked out when her friend picked up, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Did he not answer?” Hanna had been counseling her through the whole thing, helping her stay calm and sane, as much as possible at least. From Y/N’s lack of response, just more sobs, Hanna knew immediately. “That prick.”

Y/N wiped a tear from her eye and looked at the ticket in her hand. Harry had forced her to accept his offer of first-class, booking her flight through his agent and everything. “Does he even want me there? Should I not go?”

Hanna was quiet, thoughts rolling through her head. “No,” she finally said. “You should go. Even if it’s just to talk to him in person. You deserve to hear it face-to-face, not by him ghosting you.”

“Even if that means I end up in London and he breaks up with me?”

“Yes,” Hanna replied softly. “But I really, really hope that is not what’s happening.”

At first it had been that he was busy, that he would text when he had time, but it had been six days. Now, both Y/N and Hanna were increasingly worried that it meant the end of their relationship and Y/N was simply not ready for that possibility. She had let Harry in—he had begged her to let him in—and he was going to end things like this? When things got hard with the distance he just…cut her out? “Can you take me to the airport?” Y/N asked, sniffling. “If you don’t I don’t think I’ll be able to force myself to go.”

“Was already planning on it,” Hanna replied. “I’ll bring snacks for the flight.”

“Love you,” Y/N told her. Hanna was her one constant, who knew Y/N better than she knew herself.

“Love you more. Now go finish packing and call me if you need me, okay?”

Y/N told her okay and hung up, her gaze shifting to her suitcase. If he was going to break up with her, then she was going to look so magnificent he would regret every second of it.

Eleven hours in the air meant plenty of time to run over her entire relationship with Harry. She had sat curled up in her seat scrolling through her camera roll and listening to Bon Iver, which was the sappiest thing possible and she didn’t care. Y/N didn’t want to break up with him and the photos and the texts and the memories proved it. Her time with Harry had been so beautifully bright, his presence in her life making so much better, from her confidence to her knowledge to her music taste. And she cared about him in a way she hadn’t let herself do—ever.

She had texted Jeff before she took off, telling him she couldn’t get a hold of Harry and asking where she should go when she landed. He replied with Harry’s Hampstead address and the door code, saying there was a key waiting for her, hidden in the garden, an apology on Harry’s behalf for how busy he had been. The words meant nothing, though, to Y/N. If Harry wanted to apologize he would have to do it in person, not through Jeff.

It was eleven by the time her Uber pulled up to Harry’s house and she thanked the driver as he tugged her luggage from the boot. She waited until he pulled away before she typed in the gate code, not wanting to reveal Harry’s security to anyone—she have been mad at him, but she still didn’t want anything happening to him. The door unlocked for her and she slid inside, shutting it quickly behind her. Pulling her suitcase behind her, she walked up the path, searching for the garden statue Jeff had told her the key was hiding under. When she found it, her fingers ran across the ridges as she made her way to the front door.

His house in LA was warm, it was the Harry she knew. But this house felt colder, the design modern, his personal affects not as visible. Although to his credit, he hadn’t been here for more than a few days in months. A few photos of Anne and Gemma were scattered through the front hall, some framed photos of his time in One Direction nestled between them.

“Harry?” She knew he wasn’t there, but the idea of walking into his house without checking felt too uncomfortable for her. She locked the door tightly behind her, typing in the security code Jeff had sent before re-arming it.

Y/N took her time exploring his house. She perused the main spaces, testing out the couches and peeking at his bookcases, studying the art lining the walls. Then she made her way upstairs to the bedrooms, running her fingers along the edges of his One Direction album plaques that lined the walls of his office, the ones from his debut still resting on the floor waiting to be hung. She found the guest bedrooms with ease and she spent a good five minutes standing on the landing deciding if she should go into his bedroom or set herself up in a guest one.

She settled on a guest bedroom. If he was going to break things off, she didn’t want to know what his bed felt like or smell his clothes or take a shower in his bathroom.

Instead, she showered in the guest bath, washing off the plane smell that lingered on her body. She dressed in shorts and a tank top, letting her hair air dry since she would have to just re-style it for the premiere later. Jeff hadn’t told her what time Harry would be back and she was ravenous, so she wandered downstairs to fix herself some lunch. To fill the silence in the house she turned on The 1975, playing the music from her laptop she had open on the counter as she cooked some pasta she had found in the cabinet. As she ate at his dining table, she tried not to think about the fact that this could be the last time she was in a space of Harry’s. The last time she sat on things he had picked out, the last time she rooted through his fridge, past his obnoxious green juices and leftovers since he hated eating out if he didn’t have to. Her fingers brushed at her eyes, trying to stop the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.

Reaching down for her fork to take another bite, she suddenly heard the lock click in the front door and the security system begin to beep.

He was home.

She slid her bowl away from her and turned to look at the doorway, waiting to see his face for the first time in over a week. And when he appeared, she couldn’t the return the stretched across his face at the sight of her in his house. He looked the same and somehow that was worse. In a nice shirt from interviews this morning, his hair slightly tossed from running his fingers through it, the sheen on his upper lip from the heat outside. He looked like her Harry, but she didn’t know if he was hers anymore.

“Y/N!” His voice rebounded off the walls, filling her heart with a kind of hope that was crushing.

“Hi,” was all she could muster before looking back down at her pasta. An anger rose in her, replacing the hurt that had lingered for so many days. How could he pretend like everything was okay? How could he smile at her like he hadn’t been ignoring her for days, too busy to even check and see how her flight was?

His footsteps were heavy on the hardwood floors as he made his way over to her. “Baby? What is it?”

“Do you want to break up?” She asked, her question hard compared to his kind, gentle, tentative tone.

“What?” Harry dropped into the seat caddy-corner to the chair she sat in. “What are you talking about?”

She pushed away her bowl and looked him dead in the eye. “I haven’t heard from you in days, Harry. Days. I flew halfway across the world for you and you couldn’t even manage to check-in to see if I was alive?”

He flinched at her words, eyes dropping to the table they sat at. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, words barely audible above her heart beating a mile a minute, pulsing with anger.

“That’s not going to cut it,” she told him, standing up and taking her bowl to the sink. “You fucking ghosted me like I was a girl you’d just met. We’re about to celebrate six months together. And you know what this shit does to me.”

And he did. She could see in his eyes that he knew he was in the wrong, and yet he was quiet. “I was busy.”

“So was I! But I still found two seconds to text you asking how it was going, I found fifteen minutes before bed to call you, and I kept trying even though you couldn’t even manage to reply to me. You’re not that busy, Harry.”

He stood too, walking over to where she stood in his kitchen so that he was a few paces away from her. “I was in and out of interviews from morning to night and when I wasn’t, I was with the cast who I haven’t seen in almost a year. And when I wasn’t doing that Jeff was harassing me about tour details or I was sleeping. I’m sorry if my schedule didn’t allow me to talk to you at every second of the day, Y/N, but this is a huge moment for me and I had to focus on that.” His words were measured, but she could feel the tension rising between them, words unsaid bubbling over.

“And your career is more important than our relationship.” She nodded sarcastically, wiping her wet palms on the dish towel and turning to face him. “Got it, heard loud and clear.”

“Fuck—you know it’s not!” His hand ran through his locks and down his face, struggling to get a handle on his breathing.

“Harry,” she said, trying not to yell, “I’m not going to force you to stay in a relationship that you don’t want to put the time in for. But you know exactly what I need from you—I have been very clear. You know my fears and my insecurities, and you know what triggers them. We had a plan for how to deal with this, and you completely disregarded it!” Her voice rose at the end, the fact that he couldn’t even meet her eyes pushing all of her buttons. “Fucking look at me when I talk to you!”

His eyes met hers and she didn’t see the Harry she knew, the Harry who cared for her, the soft, gentle man. Instead, she saw someone who was pissed off and hurt and grasping at straws. “I can’t dance around your fears every moment of the day,” he said, voice spitting anger. “And I’m sorry if that breaks one of your rules,” the word hitting her in the face, “but you’re going to have to get over it because I can’t spend every second of the day wondering if something I did or said has made you think I don’t care about you! You should know that I don’t want to hurt you, that of course I want to be with you!”

“Well, how am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me!” His words stabbed her right where it hurt, hitting her fears right in the heart.

Harry turned, his body facing the counter, fingers gripping the edge of the marble. He sucked in breath after breath trying to calm himself down and Y/N tried to find it within herself to have sympathy for him, but she just…couldn’t. She was so pissed off at him she couldn’t think straight.

“I’m not some girl waiting around for Harry Styles to come home, begging him to never leave me,” Y/N said. She was done. She was done with this fight, with him expecting her to be someone she wasn’t. “I’m me and I’m waiting for Harry, the person I care for so deeply it hurts—you are held to the same standards as every other guy, no matter how busy your schedule is. I should not be expected to fit into your schedule all the time. It goes both ways and you operated this week as if it was entirely my job to stay in touch with you. And I am not going to stay in a relationship like that.”

Harry’s head whipped to hers, eyes boring straight into her. “Are you saying you want to break up?”

Y/N tried to keep her head high, tried to hold back the tears. “If you’re going to do this when you’re on tour, I’m done. You know what I want—it’s the same thing I wanted from this relationship the moment I met you. You’re the only one who seems to think things have changed.” And with that, she stormed out of the room, which was probably petty but she didn’t care. She was so mad at him for his actions and his words that she couldn’t stand to be in the same room as him.

Harry didn’t follow her.

At 1 o’clock, a knock came on her door.

“If you still want to come, we have to leave for the premiere in an hour. It’s up to you.” And with that, he walked away, not even waiting for her to open the door.

She sat on the bed, considering her options. Did she go and support him anyway, pretend everything was fine? Or did she stay here—or maybe find a hotel—and leave him alone for the premiere?

He had told her how nervous he was about this. This was his first time on a movie red carpet as an actor and he was freaking out about it before he left, a ball of anxiety that she had to carefully untangle. The thought of him being up there alone pained her, despite how his hurtful words lingered in her head. That she had to get over it as if it was that simple.

The red dress she had bought for the premiere hung in the bathroom where she had left it while she showered so the wrinkles would leave the fabric. It was beautiful—a tiered taffeta skirt that cinched in at the waist, a caged bodice showing off her shoulders. When she had tried it on she had felt beautiful, powerful, as if she could take on anything and everything. She had spent a ton of money on the dress and she didn’t want to waste it.

So she got up, turning on BANKS and set about her hair and makeup in the bathroom, praising Hanna for teaching her how to do her makeup in college. She painted her lips red, in the shade that she adored wearing, and twisted up her hair into a chignon that emphasized her neck. Running her fingers along the skin she remembered when Harry had kissed it, but the love bite he had left behind was long healed. Was she asking too much of him? She wondered as she looked at herself in the mirror. Was he right, were her fears stifling him?

Then she remembered what Hanna had told her. That he wasn’t anyone different from other guys she had dated, and what she was asking from him wasn’t out of left field. Any guy she would date she would except to check in with her when he was traveling and Harry was no different, no matter what his job was.

Harry was waiting downstairs for her, probably having heard her rummaging around in the closet. When he heard her heels on the stairs, he looked up and his eyesight on her skin burned because he looked gorgeous. Maybe this was a horrible idea, she thought as she made her way towards him. She would have to touch him all night, look at him in his tailored suit, gaze into his green eyes as they were photographed on the red carpet.

“You look beautiful,” he said, words gravelly in his throat.

She stopped a few paces away from him. “Thanks.”

He fiddled with his keys, the silence stretching between them. “Thank you for coming with me. I know you have no reason to, but having you there…It means a lot.”

Instead of replying, because she didn’t have words for him, she just nodded. Because she did have a reason—even though she was mad at him, she still cared for him. Despite not wanting to, she still craved him giving her a kiss on the cheek as they walked out the door.

The drive to the red carpet was quiet, the radio playing softly in the background the only sound. They sat on either side of the backseat, Y/N staring out the window while Harry fiddled with his phone. She hadn’t been to London since she was 18 for her graduation present from her mom, and the city held warm memories for her. She wondered if that would change after today.

When they pulled up, an anxiety Y/N didn’t know she was holding started building, the sight of the photographers and the screams from the fans barricaded in. With all that had been happening, she had somehow forgotten what going to the premiere meant for her. Her eyes fell to Harry who was staring at her, trying to gauge her reaction. She had never done this before and he knew that.

“I’ll be with you the whole time,” he said, trying to calm her fears. “Promise.” It helped. At least she wouldn’t be completely alone. “Ready?” He stretched out a hand to her and she took it, letting him help her from the car.

The second her feet hit the pavement, the screams got louder. Fans with signs and their phones outstretched on either side of the wide red carpet, the word DUNKIRK in large white letters closest to the entrance to the theater. Harry’s hand gripped her as she stood, thankful for his body to help her keep balanced.

“Just smile as best you can,” he whispered in her ear as the car pulled away behind them. “And if your eyes start hurting from the flashes, just look at me, okay?”

Y/N nodded, and with his hand in hers, fingers entertained, they made their way down the carpet. He stopped a few times to take photos with fans and sign cards, but all that time he never strayed too far from Y/N’s side. With his arm securely wrapped around her waist, they stood for photos, Y/N trying to stand up as straight as she could and smile sweetly. Harry was a pro at this, a smile practiced for years, but she didn’t have the same experience. She was just a regular person who didn’t know which side was her bad side and had her eyes closed in half her photos.

The cameramen screamed questions at them, about their relationship, if they were married. They’d never quite publicly announced their relationship, Harry preferring to keep his private life private, so this was the first time they’d ever even publicly been out as a couple. And for it to be like this…Y/N hated it. She wanted to stand there and be utterly infatuated with Harry like she usually was, but this time her spine was rimrod straight, trying to keep her emotions in check. It was awkward, the way he tentatively touched her body, not wanting to overstep but also wanting to present the aura of normalcy.

Then they took a few steps and rotated to another set of cameras and Y/N understood what Harry had meant about her eyes hurting from the flashes. She turned her head to him and he found her eyes, giving her a wide smile meant just for her. Without thinking about it, her hand pressed to his suit right over his heart, the soft material of his suit jacket butter under her fingers. Then, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek, softly and sweetly and to most it wouldn’t have meant much. But to Y/N, it was the first time he had kissed her since she’d seen him. And the feeling of his lips on her skin lingered, a tingle moving through her body. Her hand gripped his back a little tighter and he just kept smiling at her, utterly entranced by her eyes.

Their bodies had betrayed them. To anyone who looked, they would have seen perfectly fine, not that they had been fighting only two hours ago. But they knew the reality, and this moment, their bodies close together and emotions running through them without being able to stop it, it made it clear that neither of them wanted to break up. They would just have to find a way to move through it.

TAGLIST

@smokeinherperfume @afire-hes @harryinsweatersandbandanas @marinalima3 @havethetimeofyourstyles @ursogoldenshan @inmygardensuit @marinalima3 @amaridon @harrys-watermelons @dontgiveupthedayjob @cronias13 @apples2019 @laula843 @afterstylesmadeit @kait-brin @harrys-watermelons @groovybaybee @clumsywithlove93 @1142590m @erin0717 @ketchuplukehemmo

Would you like to know when I update The Only Exception? Let me know here!

NEXT CHAPTER COMING JULY 11TH @ NOON CST

#Harry Styles Fan Fiction #harry styles fic #harry styles one shot #harry styles drabble #harry styles writing #harry styles smut #harry styles x reader #harry styles x you

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sugas-sweetheart · 3 years

Note

SUGA + DECORATING THE TREE IF YOU WOULD PLEASE MAAM 🙏🙏

A/N: ahhhh thank you both ( @boosyboo9206 ) for requesting suga 🥰 decorating drabble with suga coming right up bc I just decorated the tree so we’re feeling festive tonight 😼 this also strayed away from decorating together and more “decorations are mentioned but its suga messing around with christmas songs and mistletoe”

Christmas Cheer || Sugawara Kōshi

A thud brought you out of your thoughts as you looked down to see a box labelled “LIGHTS” had been placed next to you. Multiple bags and boxes of festive decorations were already splayed across the front room of the apartment and a Christmas playlist blared in the background.

“I think that’s all of it now” Suga stated as he straightened up from dropping the box and wrapped an arm around you. He continue on, “I did find this though” and alas, his other hand came above your heads to reveal a mistletoe hanging from his right hand.

“I swear to god if you bought more mistletoe, I’m going to start limiting how much you can hang up” despite your words of displeasure, he tilted your face upwards for your lips to meet his and in doing so, shut you up.

“Hmm what was that you were saying, my love?” A teasing smile came over his features as his hand still softly held your face and his right hand lowered the mistletoe.

“Uh, anyway, let’s start decorating, shall we?” Shaking your head lightly you stepped away and out of your daze to open the lights box.

The next hour was spent debating which set of lights to put on the tree and which ones can go in the windows, or around the front room. Many other decorations tangled together had now also been pulled from bags and boxes along with stockings, old cards from relatives, and some more of Suga’s mistletoe from previous years.

There was tinsel hanging round your neck as you placed a different garland along the mantle place that held a few framed photos of you two. From the corner of your eye, you could see him choosing a song on his phone connected to the speaker, he turned and sent you a small wink when he caught your perceptive eyes. The current song finished as you stepped back to see how your decorating was going and you prepared yourself for whatever cheesy song he had chosen.

A pair of arms wrapped around you from behind, spinning you to face the silver-haired male as he started singing along to his chosen song. All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey. You couldn’t help but laugh at his choice.

“You cheesy piece of shit” ignoring your comment he continued to sing and sway, moving his hands to hold yours and make you sway with him.

Spinning you around and dipping you down, he simply smiled as he gazed at you in adoration. “it’s just the Christmas cheer, love.” Catching you off guard he proceeded to tickle your face with the tinsel that was still hanging around you and caused your nose to scrunch up.

“No, I think you’re always this cheesy” a smirk crossed your face at his mock offense, but it was quickly replaced with his own cheeky smile.

“Only for you” pushing his face away, you once again began to laugh at his antics.

“Now, as much as I love your rendition of Mariah Carey, we have a tree to decorate” and as you walked over to the tree you playfully whacked the back of his head with a stocking.

The next hour was spent laughing, singing and decorating around the tree. It say in the corner of the living room, glowing brightly with lights, tinsel and multiple baubles. Now all that was left, was the star on top.

“Do you want me to lift you up to put the star on, like we did in that photo” he nodded over to a framed photo that sat on the mantle, it presented you on his shoulders, laughing and smiling, as you placed a star on top of the tee in his parents house. The memory was a sweet one, you had stayed round his house the first weekend of December in your last year of high school, and the tradition in their household was to put decorations up on that first weekend.

In his mother’s excitement of you staying round, she suggested that you two have the honour of placing the star on the tree. She had taken a photo and as a present the next Christmas, she printed and framed it for you.

“Of course, team work right?” The silver star in your hands was glittery and reflecting the lights already on around the apartment. As you settled on his shoulders, he stood up slowly and moved his arms to hold your legs and hopefully avoid dropping you.

It was a simple moment. The placing of the star. Yet an important one as it signified the end of the decorating process and it was time to relax and enjoy all other things festive.

Suga took a step back so that you coukd admire your handy work with the tree before taking a couple more steps back and flopping you down onto the sofa.

“Hmph, a warning would’ve been nice”

“I have to keep you on your toes somehow. How does hot chocolate and a Christmas movie sound now that we’ve decorated?”

“Sounds amazing” a small radiant smile crossed your features at the sound of a cozy and lazy night with him under the glow of your Christmas lights.

“I’ll be right back then” a quick kiss was pressed against your forehead before he disappeared into the kitchen.

Tags: @justamultifandomfan16 @shoutamajiki @meliorist-midoriya @goopyartiste @yee-harr @bizzoldmann-08 @katsushimaa @mystic-helena @spookykiri @hannahalanib1 @ordinary-ace @boosyboo9206 @derpeedoo @estridries @vhskenma

#sugawara imagine #sugawara koshi x reader #haikyuu sugawara #sugawara kōshi #sugawara scenario #sugawara koushi #sugawara fluff #sugawara #sugawara x y/n #sugawara x you #sugawara x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu suga x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu!!

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kn1feinthec0ffee · 4 years

Text

only angel - roman godfrey

roman godfrey x reader

title from the harry styles song of the same name

disclaimer: i’m not trying to distract from what’s going on by posting my work. that would never be my intent. times are trying, and i’m simply trying to provide some sort of entertainment or something to do with your time. i’m not fishing for any praise of any kind, i’m just putting my work out like i usually do. i love you all and please stay safe.

notes: in other news, if you haven’t noticed, i have a posting schedule now. it used to be every friday somewhere around midday, but that wasn’t really doing much with the algorithm, so i changed it to midday thursday. and i’ll be taking a week off next week bc i’m getting my wisdom teeth removed then. (which i’m incredibly anxious about) so if i go awol for a little while, that’s why.

also, i have almost no knowledge of alcohol! and i don’t drink! so if i don’t have some commonly known drink or bartender knowledge, please forgive me.

***********

“i’ll take an old fashioned, please.” a woman asked politely, flashing her pearly whites.

“one apple martini with no olive,” a man requested.

“can i get a scotch on the rocks?” a man with a gruff voice asked.

you were new to this job, but you had a bit of experience, both on the bartender end and the bar attender end. you quite liked this job; the customers were fairly friendly, and you were in a much less seedy part of town than the last dive bar you worked at. you didn’t mind it, though, it gave you your thick skin, something you need in a profession like this.

you also liked this job better because you weren’t alone. this joint in particular had more bar space than seating space, so they commissioned two bartenders to work instead of just the one. the first few days you were a little rusty, not having worked in a while, but the two of you quickly got into the swing of things.

his name was roman godfrey, heir to the godfrey fortune, who had a much different story on how he became a bartender. coming from such a wealthy family, he of course inherited the highest position at godfrey tower, which he quickly realized was way too much work for him to handle. roman had transformed from a spoiled rich brat to someone who had more respect for people who actually had to work to keep themselves afloat, and you’d say it changed him for the better.

somewhere along the line he’d developed a respect for women, too, probably coming from some prior bartending experience. you admired him for that, mostly because you’d hate to work with the man he used to be.

another reason you enjoyed working with him so much was the fact that his name was so well known across the entire state of pennsylvania that nobody really liked to fuck with him. they’d much rather stay on his peaceful side, because some, more than others, had seen his aggravated side before and were not too terribly inclined to see it again. this came in handy for you when a situation similar to tonight’s had arose.

it was a stormy night, much like many spring evenings. the bar was packed tighter than usual since it was raining much too hard for anyone to leave. it was nearing last call, and you and roman were trying to close up, much to the dismay of the customers. as you were starting to stack some glasses, a greasy older man sauntered up to the bar, plopping right down on the barstool you’d just cleaned.

“i’ll take a gin and tonic, and make it snappy, i’ve gotta get home,” the man demanded, tone devoid of any politeness. “and it’d do you some good to button that up a few more times.” he gestured to your uniform that had the first couple buttons undone to show some cleavage.

“excuse me?” you stammered, flabbergasted at his frankness. you paused what you were doing, frozen in shock.

“you heard me. now make me that drink, bitch, or i’ll climb over this fucking bar and make it myself.” the man insisted.

“you have no right to say that to me.” you defended. “this is my uniform, and if it makes me more comfortable to unbutton it, then i will. i don’t need input from people like you, and you certainly don’t deserve a drink for acting like that. we’re closing anyway, it’s too late.”

you’d handled customers like this before, but they tended to be much less blatant about their sexism and disrespect than this man was. you had started drying the glasses and putting them away at a much faster pace just to get this insistent man off your ass.

“come on, no ones over here, what’s it gotta take for a guy to get a drink?” the man’s inebriation became much more obvious now as he grabbed your forearm as you reached for another glass.

“let go of me!” you shrieked, much louder than you intended. this caught the attention of quite a few other customers and, of course, roman, who quickly made his way over to you.

“exactly what the fuck do you think you’re doing here, huh?” he growled, setting his piercing gaze on the man, who quickly unhanded you.

“i asked her very kindly if she would please make me a drink, and she said no.” he swallowed nervously, the mere presence and power seeping off of roman intimidating him.

“it didn’t sound very kind to me, man. i didn’t hear any fucking ‘please and thank you’s over here.” roman replied, trying to keep his calm with the man that he wanted to hypnotize into slamming his head on the bar.

the man stayed silent, his cocky asshole persona fading into fear at the hands of mr godfrey. roman nodded at his compliance and subtly placed a hand on top of yours on the glass you were holding.

“alright sir, if you would please kindly,” he put a strong emphasis on the word. “stop bothering my friend, get the fuck out of our bar, and head the fuck home, it would be much appreciated.”

as if entranced, the man pulled his jacket back up on his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets and walking straight into the rainstorm.

roman looked down at you and smiled his signature grin. usually that’d have your heart melting like a popsicle on a hot summer day, but you weren’t in the mood for it. the scowl on your face told him everything he needed to know.

“why the face? what did i do?” he asked genuinely. he had learned not to skip straight to defending his actions, finding that asking what his mistake was and how to fix it was a method much more popular with the ladies.

“you should’ve let me handle that myself.” you frowned, unhappy with the situation at hand.

“what? why would i do that?” he asked incredulously. “i’m not just gonna stand by and watch that cretin of a man treat you like that!”

“i know, and i thank you for that. your heart was in the right place, but you shouldn’t have stepped in.” you began. “for the longest time, almost every profession has been male-dominated, so us women get the short end of the stick when it comes to how we’re treated in the workplace.

“men have some sort of hero complex, thinking they can insert themselves into a situation they had nothing to do with and earn praise and thanks for their help that wasn’t asked for. men think that they can start confrontations with us and expect us to be silent and complient, to just sit there and take it because we’re not going to stand up for ourselves.” you watched the expression on his face morph to one of interest. “it was my situation, my job to deal with it, and my job to handle the repercussions, should there be any.

“men are accustomed to getting whatever they want, whenever they want it, and that’s got to change, and it starts with small things. small things like me, reprimanding that man for his actions and the way he spoke to me.” you took a breath. “i’m glad you recognized something was happening, but you should’ve only stepped in had things gotten more violent.”

roman looked stunned, almost like he’d gotten a slap across the face. you shouldn’t be surprised, this was usually the reaction you got from men when you tried to educate them on the trials and tribulations of women, but something was different. rather than shocked and confused as to why you would think that, he seemed more understanding of your struggles. sympathetic, even.

he stood still for a moment, as if he was a sponge absorbing all the information you’d dumped on him. “wow, i had no idea there was so much behind that. thank you for letting me know.”

“can i..?” his question trailed off as he leaned down towards you, lips meeting yours. you melted into his embrace, the weeks of yearning for this exact moment finally catching up to you. he started to pull away, but you stood on your tiptoes and chased his lips. you both pulled away breathlessly, lips wet and pink.

“wow, that was,” the rest of your thoughts fell short, but as you looked at roman it was apparent he had the same idea, whatever that may be.

“can i walk you home?” he asked, gathering his things. you nodded up to him, smiling sheepishly as he gently placed your jacket on your shoulders.

the two of you managed to close the bar for the night and fortunately, the rain had died down enough for you to head home. roman held his umbrella above both of you as you curled into his side to escape the cold chill of the rain.

he dropped you off at your place, turning to leave before you spun him around. you hopped up the first two steps and leaned down to kiss him again, easier this time since you were at his level. he smiled against you and kissed back fervently, placing a hand on the area between your neck and shoulder for some leverage.

you said your goodbyes, heading into your house, still feeling the tingling sensation where his hand was as you smiled giddily.

**********

ignore the ending i cant write endings it’s a problem

the feminist jumped out a bit sorry not sorry

i wrote almost all of this last night bc inspiration suddenly struck and i had to take advantage of it and this turned out waayyy longer than intended oopsie

tags: @emmyrosee @jadelynlace @copper-boom @babyboy-cody @goblincxnt @hecohansen31 @skrsgardspam @bill-skarsgard-owns-my-ass @little-grunge-flowerz @manicpixiedreamguurl

#roman godfrey #roman godfrey x reader #roman godfrey imagine #roman godfrey oneshot #roman godfrey fic #roman godfrey fanfic #roman godfrey fanfiction #roman godfrey hemlock grove #hemlock grove #bill skarsgård #bill skarsgård character #my writing

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extreme-technicality · 3 years

Note

does talking to an anon help about ninjago help? cuz I'm down

DHDKCKGSC YES IT DOES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OFFERING YOUR SERVICES

Okay now that I know I won’t be clogging people’s dashes buckle the fuck in my dude and I should stress that I literally would not be talking about this as much as I will be if I didn’t genuinely enjoy the show. I’m gonna go season by season and just Rant

S1 has the serpentine as the bbeg and like, as far as villains go they’re p lit. They’re early enough that they haven’t been done to hell, things are fresh, the characters and dynamics are being fleshed out, and all in all s1 is a pretty solid season. There’s some fuckery that gets brought up re: how the FUCK aging works and what the actual timeline of Ninjago is and how Wu and Garmadon fit into that timeline, fuckery that LITERALLY NEVER GETS RESOLVED IN A SATISFYING WAY BC ITS REVEALED IN A LATER SEASON (s8, dw we’ll get there lmao) THAT THE ONLY REASON THE FIRST SPINJITSU MASTER, WU, AND GARMADON LIVED AS LONG AS THEY DID IS CUZ THEYRE BASICALLY DEMIGODS AND ITS IMPLIED THAT LLOYD WILL ALSO LIVE FOR A LONG ASS TIME WHICH MEANS ONE DAY HES GONNA OUTLIVE ALL HIS FRIENDS AND EVERYONE HE EVER LOVED WHICH IS A FUN THING TO THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT But anyway I digress, s1 also coincidentally introduces Lloyd (he wasn’t in the pilot episodes that set up the rest of the series) and the existence of Evil Dad Garmadon.

S2 is where Garmadon starts acting a lot more Evil and a lot less Dad. He’s the main antagonist for that season, and I actually read somewhere that the show was originally slated to end after s2 which high key explains the fuckery of literally every single season after this lmaooooo. Much like s1, I really can’t find much to complain about, the first two seasons are pretty decent as far as I can remember

Season. Fucking. Three. Where the fuck do I start??? I hate season three for entirely personal reasons revolving around the STUPID GODDAMN ROMANCE WRITING. okay lemme back up and explain a thing first so, Jay is dating Nya and they’re fine, they’re going steady, aND THEN????? THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON INTRODUCES BULLSHIT LOVE TRIANGLE FUCKERY FOR ZERO GODDAMN REASON, BITCH I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE WHEN THEYRE DONE FOR NO GODDAMN REASON!!! AND THEN. AS IF THAT WERENT ENOUGH. THEY SHOEHORNED A ROBOT ROMANCE BETWEEN ZANE AND PIXAL AND I KNOW I RANTED ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY WATCHING BUT I DIDNT GO INTO ENOUGH DETAIL!!!! THEY MADE THE OTHER NINJA OOC IN ORDER TO PROP UP THEIR SHIP!!!!!! AND AT ONE POINT ZANE GOES “its like we were…made for each other” AND I HAD TO FUCUCJDHVE I HAD TO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW BRO, IM SO TIRED!!!! NO THE FUCK YOU WERENT!!!!!! YOU WERE MADE FOR YOU AND PIXAL WAS MADE FOR PIXAL AND IF YALLS WANNA BANG BOLTS THATS FINE BUT DONT IMPLY THAT EITHER OF YOU WERE MADE INCOMPLETE!!!! THATS AN INSULT TO YOUR MAKERS AND YOURSELVES, MOVE ON, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. anyway that season also killed Zane (for the first time, but not the last) (spoiler alert lmao) and like, not to be an emotional little shit but I did cry a bit at his funeral.

S4 is honestly one of my favorites, even though the romance crimes continue (the love triangle bullshit is continuing and honestly I maintain that Cole, Nya, and Jay should all have gotten together and in my personal canon they DID, and also Kai has a forced romance) the VILLAIN makes up for it imo. He’s campy!! He’s funny!! He’s a clown!! He’s serious enough that if he says “I’m gonna kill you” HE MEANS IT and that’s so fucking refreshing!!!! S4 is honestly 8/10 just for the villain alone, don’t like that it retconned the SHIT out of the elemental masters and how many different elements there are TO master but eh, it’s ninjago, shit is stupid.

S5 was…interesting? OH WAIT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT S3 INTRODUCED A GARMADON WHO WAS A LOT LESS EVIL AND A LOT MORE DAD, HONESTLY I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LOT OF THE FLAVOR OUT BUT THATS JUST ME LMAOOO. anyway s5 killed Garmadon, and I was a little sad cuz I like him okay??? I just think he’s NEAT, he’s got big dad energy, he was teaching Lloyd some shit that just got DROPPED and literally was never brought up again which is honestly a theme in Ninjago. Ninjago drinking game: take a shot every time they introduce a plot point or ability and drop it at or before the end of the season. WHICH THEY ALSO DID IN S5 WITH A DIFFERENT POWER ACTUALLY, so all the ninja are masters of Spinjitsu right, well s5 introduced the concept of Airjitsu which only Spinjitsu masters can learn and it lets them FLY and they used that for seasons 5 and 6 and then they nEVER BROUGHT IT UP AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT WOULDVE COME IN HANDY FOR S E V E R A L DIFFERENT SITUATIONS ACROSS THE SEASONS, ONE OF THEM WOULD BE FALLING TO THEIR DOOM AND MY ASS WOULD BE YELLING “YOU CAN FLY, DUMBASS” - anyway, they do that again later lmao it’s fine. But what’s low key NOT fine is they made Nya the WATER NINJA!!! Like I’m not mad she has powers, except I kinda am, she was doing just fine as Samurai X and honestly the only reason she has super special ninja powers is for plot reasons. Also Cole got turned into a ghost, but by s7 he’s????? No longer a ghost????????? And that’s NEVER addressed or reasoned away, so like. Cool lmao

S6 didn’t happen. Like, canonically, s6 ends with wish fuckery that undoes the entire season and none of the characters remember anything that happened except Jay and Nya because S6 is the season where they get back together so they remember all those events for???? Feelings reasons?????? Unclear, moving on. The actual bbeg for S6 was a djinn with a vaguely Spanish accent, and to this DAY I don’t know why they made him have a SPANISH accent. Djinn are Arabic, not Spanish!! They’re not central or South American, either!!!! Your villain design makes no sense, do better

S7 had MORE time fuckery, and retconned what happened to Kai and Nya’s parents and hmmmhmhmhmhmhm that makes me Upsetti Spaghetti :3 not just the retconning, but the fact that they LITERALLY brought them back oNLY TO NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN!!!!!! LITERALLY!!!!!!!! Okay so at the VERY very beginning, like pilot episodes beginning, Kai talks about their dad like he died/left fairly recently, BUT s7 contradicts that and claims that both of their parents were essentially abducted when Kai and Nya were little kids, which makes me question what in the fresh fuck two little kids were doing for all those years alone. SETTING THAT ASIDE FOR A HOT SECOND, their parents were also apparently good friends of Wu’s and old war buddies (from the Serpentine wars, which is YET ANOTHER bit of the timeline that doesn’t quite add up but honestly I could make a whole other post about that shit). But if they were such good fucking friends, why didn’t Wu check in every now and again??? What the fuck was Wu doing that was so fucking important that he couldn’t have been assed to visit his friends ONCE in like TEN MOTHERFUCKING YEARS and realize “oh shit, they’re not here and there are two tiny children running around unsupervised…My Kids Now : )” LIKE????? WU YOU LOW KEY SHOULDA LOOKED OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS’ KIDS BETTER, THEY COULDA DIED BRO!!! Uhhhh the time fuckery also results in Wu getting yeeted ahead in time a bit and the ninja gotta find him

Season. Eight. I have…mixed feelings about this one. The beginning absolutely SLAUGHTERED me, and not in a “this is so fucking funny” way. No, the beginning made me feel like I was being flayed alive with just about every episode because Ninjago was back on its forced romance bullshit and this time it was Lloyd’s turn on the chopping block. That hurt my soul cuz like, look at that mans color scheme, he’s CLEARLY alloaro, why are you forcing romance on my aro man, why would you hurt me like that, BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE AND THE GIRL HE WAS BEING SET UP WITH HAD A LITTLE HEART TO HEART REALLY EARLY ON AND IT WAS THE MOST QUEER CODED SHIT!!!! IT DEADASS READ AS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN AN OUT AND PROUD QUEER AND A CLOSETED QUEER AND THEY MADE!!! IT!!!!! STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing that kept me watching at first was wanting to find Wu, and then I started enjoying myself once Cole found a plot-relevant baby and had fatherhood thrust upon him. Everything went from “ehhhhh” to “holy shit this FUCKS” once it was revealed that Rumi (Lloyd’s love interest) wAS PLAYING HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND WAS EVIL AND HAD AN EVIL GIRLFRIEND!!!!!! LITERALLY IMPROVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SEASON FOR ME, I COULD EVEN FORGIVE THE WHOLE “let’s resurrect Garmadon, but as evil as possible” BULLSHIT!!!!!!

S9 is a continuation of s8, Garmadon is back and 1000% Evil, 10% Dad, but none of the Dad energies is directed at Lloyd - it’s all directed at Rumi, and honestly I could write a whole ass post on just RUMI cuz that’s honestly my DAUGHTER and I LOVE HER and I’m MAD SHE DIES AT THE END OF THIS SEASON!!!! SHE DESERVED THERAPY AND TO LIVE WITH HER GF AND MAYBE SOME CRIME. AS A TREAT. RUMI DESERVED BETTER AND LOW KEY IM GONNA WRITE A FIC ABOUT IT, BUT ANYWAY WHERE WAS I

Ah right, so s9 has the four major Ninja stuck in the original dimension with no way home, while Lloyd has no powers (cuz he almost died last season) and has to somehow lead a resistance against Garmadon (who has taken control of Ninjago City and is working on the rest of Ninjago). Actually, s9 is pretty cool. Like, the end of s8 and into s9 are low key my favorite episodes, and I kinda wanna rewatch them now -

S10 is a FUN one. Garmadon got got last season, but he didn’t DIE, so he’s in cold storage and now there’s Another Threat and he’s the only one who knows wtf they’re up against so they let him out and he works with them. The funny part is, he is still Very Much Evil and doesn’t quite Get emotions like he did when he was, uh, human lmao, sO HE WOKE UP EVERY DAY DURING THAT SEASON AND DECIDED TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SHIT. 1000000/10 MY FAVORITE GARMADON, he ended that season by literally fucking off into Ninjago and they never decided to track him down 😭😭😭😭😭and I’m so SAD about it dude

S11 has another Serpentine as the bbeg, though in the setup to that they retconned how the fucking Serpentine tribes and history work??? I think???? Also Wu was a good 150% angrier and generally Done with the ninja’s shit, which was honestly refreshing tho I’m not quite sure I liked what the refreshed view was, but whatever lmao. S11 also had the ninja get yeeted to the dimension farthest from Ninjago, and honestly - okay, so they didn’t all go at the same TIME, Zane left about a week or two before the others did but there was time dilation fuckery afoot which I’m not too mad about cuz low key it makes sense. What I AM mad about is that they didn’t play the angst up to its full POTENTIAL!!!!!! Zane was EVIL in the other dimension!!!! Okay so I’m Ninjago he was only gone for maybe a week or two, but DECADES had passed in the other one, and all that time Zane was alone and disconnected from everyone he knew and loved, with a staff that boosted his power while slowly corrupting him and Turning Him Evil to help him, and like???? The thought of Zane trying to find a way home, trying to get SOME sort of message back, while he has to use the staff more and more to help him survive the long, lonely decades, so that by the time his family DOES show up its too late??? BRO. B R O. THAT JUST HITS DIFFERENT, BUT NINJAGO DIDNT DO THAT!!! THEY MADE HIM EVIL DUE TO MEMORY WIPE!!!!!! MEMORY WIPE IS BABY SHIT COMPARED TO A LONG, SLOW CORRUPTION!!!!!!

S12 was alright. It went into Cole’s mom, touched on some of the adventures she had had, threatened another forced romance (this time on poor Cole, just leave my mans ALONE) but thankfully didn’t follow through this time, introduced cool new powers that honestly hasn’t been elaborated on since that’s the most recent season I think lmao

Anyway thanks for reading and letting me rant!!!! I have,,So Much More I could talk about, PLEASE ask me about Rumi, some of my headcanons re: Garmadon and Wu’s dynamic, the Serpentine, my top five times they butchered Kai’s character for Plot Reasons, or anything else I brought up here that you want me to elaborate on!!!

#technical talks #ninja hoe #ask dadzawa #nonnie #this was honestly therapeutic tysm #and it let me kill time before I play Mario kart so bonus points!!#I definitely forgot to mention A Lot (like all the times one or all of the ninja lost their powers)#so like!!! feel free to bug me for more shit!!!!

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tarithenurse · 5 years

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Agent of Hope - 19

Your world falls into ruin together with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcements Logistics Division when you find out that your boyfriend isn’t one of the good guys. Pairing: Brock Rumlow x fem!reader, Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader Contents: Hmmm...weapons, fluff, dealing with trauma, mention of rape, masturbation, violent reaction, difficult choices, more fluff, and kissing. A/N: Thanks to all of you who like and especially reblog <3 On a second note: been looking for houses (need to move out of my parents’ place with my husband bc omfc). Also that GIF just is epic.

19 - An offer you can’t refuse

… Romanoff …

The tinny jingle from the Goldfish commercials doesn’t cause hesitation to the hands moving rapidly to find and connect the right parts needed in the task of assembling three different guns. Only when the last weapon is locked (and loaded) does Natasha spin the cell phone on the table with a frown. Unknown caller, but the small dots in the corner indicate that Jarvis is tracking down the number already and will have an answer in three…two…one…ugh! Langley.

“Afternoon.” The tone is flat enough to show the lack of enthusiasm without being downright rude. “What more does Langley want post-hearings?”

She can almost hear the crooked smile. “Hrph…I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, miss Romanova.” The twist to the last name sends shivers down the former Russian’s spine but the familiar voice continues. “I’m agent Ross…we met during the hearings…?”

The silence is allowed to reign in an attempt to get the man to talk, maybe say too much. Meanwhile, Natasha brings the Glock 26 behind the back and starts to dismantle it, counting the seconds it takes before every piece of metal is spread out on the couch cushion behind her, careful not to lose the pins or the little spring for the trigger.

“Miss uhm…miss Romanova? You there?”

Nervous. Not enough. “…yeah.”

“Good! Good. Yes…” Some paper rustles through the line. “Right…I know the hearings’ve been long and prob’ly bothersome,” agent Ross hesitates to allow for some comment but gets none, “s’I can completely understand and respect if y’aren’t interested, however…I believe that you may ‘ave information that could be of benefit to u- to the Agency, I mean, in terms of filling some gaps. Erm I think…what I’m trying to say’s would it be possible for you to – off record – have a look at our older intel?”

Wait…waaiit…one more second. An intake of breath is Natasha’s cue. “You want me to shed light on old cases that’ve gone sideways?”

“Well –“

“You think either SHIELD, Hydra, or maybe my former handlers could’ve botched it for you guys?” By now the short agent’s sputtering in embarrassment, maybe hoping for the weak protests to soothe any slights the insinuation could have caused. “Send me a top ten and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Really?!”

Yeah, why would I? Simply put, Natasha hates being out of the loop, and the spy in her is aching for the chance of (legally) getting hold of CIA intel. More than that, though, she’s learned the hard way how precious the currency known as “favours” are. Owe someone something? They’ll have a hook in you forever. Someone owes you? It can be the difference between life and death. An IOU from a CIA agent…that could be handy.

“No promises I can actually tell you more than y’know already.”

Movement behind her makes the Avenger turn her head, a smile already curving her lips at the presence of [Y/N] who eyes the weapons (and parts) cautiously.

“Oh, no! That’s okay, no worries!” An idiot might refuse the tentative offer and Ross is far from that. “I’ll compile the files and get them to…you…uhm…”

“I’ll text you an address.” A slightly oil-greased finger hovers over the phone already. “Bye, agent Everett Ross.”

… Rumlow …

The fly circles the room a few times before finally settling on the person in the corner, climbing across brown-stained jeans in short sprints before reaching the lax hand and taking off again. Next time the insect lands it’s by the dried spatter on the wall where the bullet had made a small crater when it exited the skull of…who was that? A glance at the pens and the old-fashioned glasses makes Brock guess at some dusty field of expertise like history or literature. Whatever it had been, the man had decided it was better to risk it all and go looking for Hydra on nothing but a rumour.

“Don’t mind zat,” Strucker dismisses the sight easily, “ze interesting zing is zis.” Careful not to touch, he points at the darkened veins and (with the help of a metal rod) the unnaturally blue eyes. “Ze experiment was quite a success, my friend. We are able to channel ze power of ze weapon into humans.”

“They all end up like this so far?” The eyelid hasn’t lowered again, so the endless glow of space is staring blindly at Brock no matter where he moves. “A bullet in the brain? Why did he get that?”

Chuckling softly, Strucker wipes the little stick in a handkerchief which he folds before depositing both in a pocket. “Zis man gained immense strengz but lacked control.” Oh. “Perhaps zere is a stronger connection between the state of mind and ze results zan we anticipated. We are now looking for actual volunteers.”

…

Fuck. However Loki did it remains a mystery still, but Brock won’t give up the hope that it will be possible to figure out how to control another person with the staff. Damnit, he’d seen the bit of salvaged footage and read the debriefs portraying the events when the Asgardian came to Earth and brainwashed top agents in no time.

The results of Strucker’s and his team’s work is vital both for the promotion of Hydra’s scheme…and to get anything useful from [Y/N] when she will get back again. I’ll be damned if it kills her. Brock’s all too aware that his craving for the ex-girlfriend wouldn’t be condoned if anyone knew – to be fair, he doesn’t quite like it himself because it makes him feel like he isn’t in control of his own damn mind. Every dream is either about missions and kills, sending adrenalin pumping through his veins, or they feature every detail of [Y/N].

The little smile when she was lost in thought. Her spine curving to jut the breasts upwards, skin subtle under Brock’s hands. Remembering the teasing hitches in her breath on a sunny morning, light filtering through the windows to catch in her hair as they made their bed creak together a lifetime ago.

“Godfuckingdamnit!”

Already, an erection is pressing painfully hard against tac-pants and Brock shoves a fist down to reposition the stubborn cock only for a new memory to appear the moment his fingers close around the shaft. Shea-butter mixed with sweat on pebbled nipples…perfect taste. There’s not much room to move the hand, but at least the pants are easily opened allowing for longer strokes.

The speed accelerates with each recollection, fist tightening and twisting while the echoes of [Y/N]’s moans are replaced by cries tearing from her throat when he took her with force. Fuck, it was so good, the man admits to himself, the struggle…oh yeah…the…the control. Breathing laboured, Brock has to lean against the wall, unable to stagger the last few steps over to his cot. She’d begged and pleaded, and he had been the one to grant her peace…or not.

He grunts as he comes. White stickiness spurting between his fingers, adding to the blurry haze from the inability to focus on anything else than the rush thrumming through the veins. It’ll be a short reprieve before the need returns like an endless hunger that nothing can sate. One thing can. But [Y/N] isn’t here, she’s tugged away somewhere with the fucking Avengers and that makes it all a million times worse because to think that Romanoff or maybe even Steve get to be close to her. Get to touch her, smell her.

It stings pleasantly when the hand connects with the drywalling and the structure behind it, thin strings of cum hanging from the torn plaster. At least that clears Brock’s mind a bit.

… Reader …

Lying awake all night, it’s almost a relief to sense the grey dimness take over the room and allow the outlines of furniture to stand out – not even Natasha’s steady breathing has been able to calm your mind after the hours of training spent to tire out your body at least. Why this time?! You’ve spent more than enough nights trying to escape nightmarish memories and negative thoughts but this…this issue is different and you’re happy with the decision you’ve made. I should just tell her.

It’s almost possible to make out the contours of Tasha against the white pillow, darker hair spreading like a halo of smoke. You know she sleeps lightly. Brushing your lips featherlight across her cheek, and she already turns to find your mouth with her own. Sweet and lazy kisses, a single tug to your bottom lip. Morning breath is a non-issue when she invites you into a bubble of gentle safety. Home.

“Morning, babe.” Her fingers tease the shortest hairs in your neck. “You’ve managed to sleep at all?”

There’s no reason to answer, just plant a peck on her nose. “I’ve made up my mind,” you offer as consolation, “and I hope you’ll understand why it’s important to me.”

The love never disappears from the touch while she sits up against the headboard. If it was light enough, you think you might see cautious interest mingled with concern in her eyes because Tasha isn’t as good as hiding it as she thinks she is. That’s a secret though.

“Okay…” She drags you onto her lap, straddling her so the strong arms can wrap around your waist. “Is it about the call from Ross?”

The scent of shampoo still clings to her hair as you bury your face in it, happy to talk into the red mess. “Yes, but mainly it’s about wanting to do what I can.”

Of course your reasoning isn’t perfect, but Natasha doesn’t interrupt even once as you explain how you want to do your part to support the hearings and the new request from the CIA by giving a testimony. Gifted or not, at least there’s information about Brock that can be of use and it seems someone else than just the Avengers are trying to clean things up…hopefully that includes tracking down the people that can be identified to Hydra through the data dumped on the net the day SHIELD fell. You promise to keep the ability secret to anyone outside of Natasha and her friends...admitting that you’ll have to be careful although you’ve got the most convincing cover to any strange phrasing “thanks” to what Brock and his people have put you through while in their hands.

The colours have returned to the world by the time you finish explaining. Dusty lavender heightens the rosy cheeks of the woman looking at you with a serious expression that makes your stomach knot. I have to do this. It’ll be hard as fuck, but it feels right. Feels important.

“I’ll let him know,” Tasha whispers, pulling you in for a tight embrace, “and I’ll be with you all the time.”

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chaoticneutralwriter · 5 years

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15; Dark Chocolate

In which you recall satisfying your hunger with expensive chocolate but Jimin satisfied his in a very... different way.

idol!Jimin x staff!reader

genre: fluff, comedy, romance, things get a little spicy/steamy, slow-burn

word count: 6.3k (ooof)

A/N: So I decided to jump ahead in the timeline for this AU bc OOOF you know that look has birthed how many AUs and got me feelin’ all kinds of ways the power of Park Jimin. And whoo okay first stab at writing something a little more intimate and i suuucckkk so ;w; keep your expectations low.

You breathe in deeply, trying to regulate your palpitating heart because you cannot afford to be sweating in this dress right now. Funny and ironic because the dress is precisely the reason why you’re very close to breaking out into a nervous sweat. It’s a fancy award show in Japan, one of which you had to be part of the ‘escort’ team for the boys which you had no problem with (hey, it’s free access to a full award show), only part of the job was also having to adhere to the dress code.

Your coworker had more of a field day than you when she heard the news, and aggressively insists that she helped you pick out your dress. In part of her insistence, she had talked you into wearing a rather daring number because, ‘you can’t have those idol girls show you up in front of your man! You need to work it girl!’

And you can’t say her hype-woman ways didn’t get to you because here you are, about to step out of your hotel room to meet up with the rest of the team in that very same dress. The deep crimson colour is nice, it’s definitely something you’d wear but the cut of it is a whole other story. It had a plunging neckline that you can’t say you were use to but as if that wasn’t enough of being out of your comfort zone, the dress had a dual split-front right up each leg that allows for double the Angelina Jolie stance. The only thing saving you from chickening out completely in changing into your ‘backup’ is the long sleeve of the dress; it makes you feel a little…less exposed. Red strapped heels, a little smokey eye, loose waves that was side swept completed your ensemble that had you practically holding up a sign that screams, ‘Lady in Red.'

You reach up to tuck the loose strand of hair back behind your ear, scowling a little at how shaky your hand had become. You huff once; trying to settle yourself once again by giving a pep talk that you can do this. You can totally march out of here and sashay your way like you own this place. Girl, you. Look. Good.

Satisfied, you grab your small clutch, checking over if you forgot anything and then fling the door open before the surge of confidence goes away. Your heels are muted against the carpeted flooring of the hotel, but you put an extra stomp to your step to also keep yourself from tripping (heels and carpet are not a good combination). You round the corner just in time to the designated meeting spot, only finding a couple of people already there, dressed up to standard for the occasion.

You greet them with a bow though you modestly kept a hand close to your chest to avoid unnecessary flashing and smile shyly when compliments were given your way. It boosts your confidence a little, however it fans at your nerves just a little more as slowly but surely, the members start making their appearances.

“Ohh wow, noona.” Hoseok smiles widely, giving an approving nod your way that makes your cheeks heat up involuntarily. “You’re like a true ‘Lady in Red’. Ah, they’re done for now.”

You laugh breathlessly; waving off his comment as if he could really say anything about you when he looks about ready to kill half the nation with just his looks alone (the stylists has unleashed the forehead after all, your prayers to the fandom). You say so as much and he laughs boisterously in return, clearly embarrassed by the way his face flushes pink even under the foundation. As more of the boys trickle in, looking red carpet ready in a variety of black suits, the cycle is repeated; greetings were exchanged along with compliments and whoever threw it out first was given one in return and soon everyone is reduced to a bashful, awkward shy mess (even Seokjin, who held out the longest, had his ears turning redder than a tomato by the end of it).

It makes you feel a little at ease, the way these six arguably most sought out men are still not used to being dressed up and complimented for their good looks. However, your ease was short-lived when the last of the member, Jimin, strolls up, still in the process of shrugging on his jacket with the help of stylists trailing behind him; this man who you thought couldn’t steal your breath away any more than he did on a regular basis, is doing so to the point you don’t even know what breathing is anymore now.

He’s dressed in a classic black suit to match with the rest of his member’s look; no shine, no sparkles, just plain and simple but the clean look of it along with his coiffed, neatly styled hair had him looking like the heir to an insanely large business mogul, or better yet, an actual CEO of one. The moment he looks up from straightening and buttoning his jacket, eyes meeting yours….

Hoseok’s right; they’re done for, and by them he actually should’ve meant you because holy hell.

Jimin looks surprised for a moment as his gaze moves over you, feeling him taking you in and you resist the urge to swallow loudly but by the time his eyes trail back up to yours, it’s taken on a darken look that you can’t help but immediately break eye contact. Thankfully, the managers has taken to getting everyone moving once all was accounted for so the exchange had gone unnoticed, save for the ever watchful and attentive members who only share knowing smiles at one another.

Your focus is immediately drawn on the rundown of your duties and what’s expected of everyone who’s supporting that’s being given. As much as it’s nice to get dolled up, you still had a job to do. So in a whirlwind that you’re still not quite used to, you’re rushed into separate vans and transported to the venue.

As soon as you’ve arrived, you go your separate ways to be able to meet and escort the boys ahead of time, touch up their makeup and straighten their suits and direct them to the right staff members to be shown their seats.

You find yourself trying to catch your breath for the second time that night from all the rushing you had to do.

Right on time, the boys walk through after being interviewed on the red carpet, greeting the camera before disappearing down the hall to enter the auditorium through another set of doors meant for artists.

“Y/N-ssi, can you straighten Jimin-ssi’s tie? It looks like it’s bunching a little.” A makeup artist asks, glancing up only briefly from blotting Yoongi’s face. You gulp but nod regardless, tucking the makeup bag under your arm before you move to where the blonde is standing. He just got his makeup retouched, the makeup artist moving on quickly to the next member, which allowed for you to take her place in front of him. You firmly keep your eyes on his tie; gaze barely traveling up beyond his chin but the close proximity still has your heart beating faster than it should. You could practically feel his breath fanning against your forehead.

“You look beautiful tonight, noona.” He speaks lowly, keeping the conversation between just the two of you. It makes your breath hitch a little as you look up from beneath your lashes, straightening his tie as best you can.

“I look like a potatoe beside you.” You say in an attempt to brush off the compliment from burning your cheeks off; it doesn’t work thanks to Jimin’s breathless chuckle.

“Don’t say that. If anything, you’ll be a sweet potatoe; my favourite.”

You snort a little before covering it up by clearing your throat. You can only smack him lightly against his chest for giving such a greasy line. He doesn’t seem to care if the wide grin on his face is anything to go by. Your hands travel up to fix his collar and it’s then that you feel him leaning closer; much too close to having one’s collar be fixed. You subtly begin to lean back, but all he does is follow and that’s when you know; he’s teasing you.

The little shit.

You give one last pat before stepping away completely, his cologne lingering in your senses. He sends you a smirk before he’s rushed off with the rest to get to their seats. You let out a sigh, giving your own pat on the face to get a hold of yourself as you’re being called away.

“Since you’ll be seated in a VIP section, can you film some footage for Bangtan Bombs?” A VJ asks, handing you a handy cam. You’ve only been given permission to film a couple of times but it’s enough for you to get the gist of working the camera and what sorts of footage they want.

Flashing your staff badge around your neck, you’re lead to your own seating section, placed at the very edge of the artist seating area up top. If you strained your neck a bit, you spot the backs of the boys’ heads and though you had to also angle yourself to get a view of the stage, you were satisfied with your seating (and you get your own modesty blanket too, sweet). Settling in, you brace yourself for the long ride.

Halfway through the show and about three awards won by the boys later, you set your camera down to give your arm a rest during a commercial break. You roll your shoulders, trying to work out the kinks and contemplate on going to the restroom to freshen up and stretch your legs.

One bathroom trip later, all the water is gone from your stomach, which makes you realize how hungry you actually are. Is there a secret snack table for artists somewhere that you can mooch off from? Damn it, that’s what you forgot: snacks in your clutch, you should’ve snuck some.

Pouting, you make your way back to your seat only to be stopped by none other than Jimin. He smiles before waving you over from his seat next to Namjoon’s (who’s missing, probably a bathroom break like you) and curiously, you make your way over.

“Is there something you need?” You ask, grabbing the larger fabric of your dress to make a makeshift modesty blanket to kneel down without flashing anyone and lean a little closer to him to talk over the noise. Jimin, in turn, leans in and you had to hold yourself back from shivering when his voice comes close to your ear.

“When we go perform, you can take my seat to film; it has a better view of the stage.”

You blink perplexedly but all he does is shoot you a charming smile that has you blushing almost immediately. You avert your gaze, clearing your throat and hurriedly agree to slink back to your seat, already feeling the heat of the cameras, no doubt from Jimin’s fan sites. You’d rather not have a field day in doing damage control if anything gets blown out of proportion. However, Jimin seems to have other ideas.

“How are you enjoying the show? Are you doing okay?” His hand subtly grazes the wrist of your hand that’s hidden from prying eyes, stopping you from your retreat. You nearly keen over at the genuinely sweet concern he has but also very well nearly combust at the same time.

“I’m doing okay, I’m also really enjoying the show and performances. Also,” You beam, can’t help the widening smile that stretches across your painted lips. “Congratulations, to you and Bangtan; looks like you’ll each be getting a trophy before the end of the night.”

Jimin’s own smile takes up his face, eyes crinkling to crescents as he bashfully tilts his head to the side as if trying to hide the pink tinge taking up his cheeks. “Ah, noona, don’t say that…”

You let out a little laugh but compose yourself as you catch sight of the broadcasting camera getting into position and the big screen showing their last advertisement, signaling the start of the show again.

“I should get going.” You say, making show of fixing your staff badge around your neck.

“Ah, yeah.” Jimin makes a move to run his hand through his hair but stops himself midway, realizing he shouldn’t ruin it and instead places it on the back of his neck to rub shyly, averting his gaze. You hold back a giggle at how cute he looks. Before you straighten up fully, he speaks up again. “I hope you look forward to our stage.”

You smile back at him, not hiding your enthusiasm. “Of course I will.”

And you were definitely not disappointed. Their stage has never failed to amaze you and the audience alike; always so pumped with energy, precision, and showmanship that have the auditorium shaking (literally! You swore you felt your seat vibrate to the beat of the song). As well as per Jimin’s suggestion, you got quite the view and you swear more than once you’ve caught Jimin purposefully going towards your side of the stage just to show off.

Cheeky.

But as fast as the excitement came, it’s over in a flash and before you know it, you’re preparing to leave for the hotel. Everyone is rightfully exhausted and you don’t blame them; the entire night you didn’t think the boys were in their seats for more than fifteen minutes at a time. However, there’s still a slight buzz in the air that conveyed their good mood as everyone piled into the vans. Even so, a shower and warm bed (and maybe some room service) is something everyone is looking forward to now.

You all pile into the elevator, the boys chattering amiably with each other about their performances, the awards and how thankful they are that everything went smoothly and no one got hurt, as well as the awards they were blessed with.

“I told Jimin you guys would probably be getting an award each to carry home by the end of the night. I should’ve turned it into a bet.” You playfully say, causing most of the boys to laugh.

“Wow, you would’ve made a fortune!” Seokjin exclaims while still laughing. The blonde in question giggles before you feel his arm wrap around your waist, pulling you closer to him until you feel the heat of his body. He’s changed out of the suit and tie like the rest of the boys, wearing a comfy sweatshirt and dark pants. His hair is still styled and he’s yet to wipe off his makeup too, but the dressed down appearance makes him radiate boyfriend vibes.

“I’ll buy you something nice then as a way to congratulate you on your prediction.” And if you weren’t already flustered enough, he places a chaste kiss on the top of your head. It elicits a series of whoops and hollers that practically shake the lift.

“I—That’s not what I mean, you don’t have to do that Jimin-ah.” You mutter bashfully.

“What if I want to spoil you?” is his confident reply.

“Oohhh!! Manly Park Jimin-ssi!!” Hoseok whoops, joined in by Jungkook who’s contorting his expression into something between hardcore cringing and wholesome hyping.

You try to seem appalled by the renewed ruckus but can only muster a half-hearted smack to Jimin’s chest before burying your face in it when the catcalls from the other boys don’t stop.

“Hey, stop guys you’re making her shy.” You hear Jimin reprimand lightly, hearing the slight laughter reverberate from his chest as he rubs your back in comfort. “Don’t mind them noona.”

“Okay, okay, leave the two lovebirds alone guys.” Namjoon chimes in just as the lift reaches the right floor. You had to hold back a laugh on that as you remove your face from your makeshift hiding space by the way Jimin whines at his other members to stop teasing him. You all shuffle out and the boys start going their separate ways to their rooms except for Jimin, who’s seems very adamant on keeping you glued to his side as he leads you in the direction of your room.

With the shouts of goodnights (and more teases) dying down behind you, you’re finally left alone in the quiet hotel hallway with the handsome blonde.

“Are you hungry? Should we have dinner together before sleeping?” Jimin asks, voice taking on a low timbre. As if by the mention of food, you feel and hear your stomach rumble and growl as if agreeing for you. It pulls a tinkling laugh from Jimin, one that makes you duck your head in embarrassment, even though you had no intentions of turning down his suggestion, so you could only mumble a yes.

You think you hear a ‘cute’ amongst his giggling as you fish out your room card and unlock your door. As you both head inside, he gives your waist a squeeze before breaking off to head over to the phone.

“What do you want to eat noona?” He calls from over his shoulder as you awkwardly try to unstrap your heels and walk at the same time, eager to flop onto your bed.

“A salmon fillet? Maybe miso ramen…?” You trail off, not really sure because you just need sustenance so Jimin’s affirmation noise of hearing your initial answer doesn’t bother you. You finally get your heels off with a huff of relief, flinging them to where you think your luggage is and as you’re about to swan dive into your downy duvets, you’re stopped by the sight of a dark brown box, tied with a nice golden bow, situated perfectly in between two lumps of towels folded expertly to look like swans.

Chocolates.

More specifically; Godiva chocolates.

Bless.

You like to thank God but also Jesus for allowing you to have this bougie job to be able to get these bougie chocolates in your time of need, you think as you nearly mangle the perfect bow of the ribbon in getting the lid open to the cocoa goodness inside.

Each piece looks delectable and mouth watering, so you didn’t give it much thought as you pluck one out and pop it into your mouth. You moan to yourself in satisfaction as the first rich taste of chocolate hits your taste buds, your stomach approving as well. You get through the first piece in no time, eager to pick out a second one. As you work through your second piece, you actually take a look at the back of the lid to see what flavours you’re currently eating and which are left (though to be honest, it’s not like it’ll change your mind on not eating them since they all sound as delicious as they look).

“What’re you up to pretty girl?”

You’re startled by a deep Busan drawl and you’re quick to realize that it’s Jimin who snuck up behind you while you were so immersed with your chocolate studying. You swallow the piece in your mouth loudly (you rather not risk choking on it instead), eyes wide from his close proximity. He only smirks mischievously at you, eyes hooded and dark like you had seen just briefly when you first walked out of your room, making your breath hitch a little before his eyes drift to your point of interest.

“Oh, chocolates! Were they complimentary?” And like that, sweet, angelic Jimin is switched back and it takes you a moment to reorient yourself.

“Y-Yeah; found them on the bed and…got kinda hungry…” You answer lamely. Jimin hums noncommittally, wrapping his arms around your middle and resting his chin on your shoulder so naturally that you’re a little envious at how easily he initiates skinship.

“Looks good, can I have one?” His breath tickles your cheek and you have to fight off a shudder to hold up the box and offer it to him. He doesn’t make any movement to reach for one and as you throw him a questioning look, he shoots you a grin before opening his mouth with an ‘ah’ in response.

Ah, this little—

“I don’t know which one you want.” Your voice comes out strained, trying to keep cool. Jimin takes the time to laugh.

“I think anything you give me will be good.”

“But you have hands….”

“But I like being fed. Especially if it’s you.”

Wow…. You’re about to ascend soon.

You can only blink at him, having been rendered speechless with a gradually heating face and all he does is smile back innocently. It goes on for what seems like minutes before he nudges you and throws in his finishing move; a pout. You give in.

Taking a glance at the chocolate box, you scan it briefly before picking a piece out and bring it up to Jimin, who eagerly leans forward to capture it with his mouth. Least to say, nothing could've prepared you for the feeling of warm, plush lips brushing against your fingertips. You’re lucky that the chocolate piece was in his mouth or else you would’ve definitely dropped it by how fast you take back your hand in surprise, heart racing a mile a minute.

Jimin doesn’t seem to mind, chewing cheerfully and letting out an exaggerated hum of satisfaction. “Mmm… These really are Godiva chocolate huh?”

You nod, trying to calm yourself by choosing another piece of chocolate to devour. You take one blindly and pop it into your mouth without thought, letting the sweet taste wash over you and it seems to do the trick.

“Noona.”

You turn on instinct and are met with a familiar feeling: warm, plush lips. Only this time, they graze the corner of your mouth. It’s so feather-light that for a moment you weren’t sure if you actually felt them but he lingers, waiting and watching you. For a moment, you forget how to breathe (for the nth time).

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Was that okay?” He asks carefully, voice a little above a whisper as if he doesn’t want to scare you. You feel his breath fan against your cheeks, the sweet smell of the chocolate faint but you find that his words were sweeter. It makes you smile.

“It’s fine…. You just surprised me.”

“Then…. Can I kiss you?”

The question never fails to make butterflies flutter in your stomach and you find that every time, your answer doesn’t change; you nod. You can see the way he lights up, holding a smile back before leaning in to press his lips fully on yours. You meet him halfway. The kiss is slow and tender, wherein Jimin takes his time in molding his lips to perfectly fit yours, enjoying the taste and feel. Though this isn’t the first time he’s kissed you, he still acts like it does, committing every moment to memory. You’re absolutely lost in the feeling, eyes shut and just letting your senses and him guide you that you almost miss the way he pulls you closer, shifting you so that you’re practically on his lap and facing more towards him.

You feel his hand cup the underside of your jaw, caressing lightly with his thumb and the rings on his fingers feel much cooler against your rapidly heating skin. There are moments that you two break away briefly, but as if like magnets, you draw back to each other for more. As the kiss drags on into a full blown make-out, Jimin gets more confident.

You feel the first brush of tongue against your bottom lip; it’s light and almost cautious, like he’s testing the waters. It takes you by surprise that your brain stutters to process it. Now this is definitely a first. It’s a first but you find yourself not wanting to shy away and though your heart is racing with anticipation and nerves, you still felt a sense of trust and security. So tentatively, you part your lips.

For a moment you think you’re doing it wrong but then you feel Jimin shift and then you feel a brush of his tongue again, this time against the roof of your mouth. You shiver involuntarily then, floundering but with Jimin’s coaxing, he draws you deeper into the kiss. You can practically taste the chocolate he just had: the sweet and bitter taste intermingling with the velvet feel of his lips and tongue. The new sensation has you sighing against his mouth, feeling like putty.

He pulls away slowly, lips swollen and you swear a little pinker thanks to your faded lip tint; you wonder if yours is in the same state. The bedside lamp casts dark shadows across his face, highlighting the sheen his lips have taken and not hiding how blown out his pupils have become. You’re both out of breath, panting as you take the other in but Jimin is evidently less in a daze than you are because he’s moving again with a mind made up.

He reaches for the forgotten chocolate box that you still have clutched in your hand, letting him take it from you to place on the nightstand.

“I think that’s enough chocolate; don’t want to spoil dinner.” Jimin’s voice has taken on a deep rasp that has your breath hitching in your throat, eyes smoldering in a way you’ve never seen before. You lick your lips out of nervous habit but the action seems to catch Jimin’s attention, dark eyes flitting to them before they come back up to lock on you again. And as if like a trigger, he leans forward, capturing your lips with a kiss that belies ferocity. You’re absolutely flustered that for a moment you have a hard time keeping up with the way he molds his lips to yours and suddenly you think you might be dinner.

Your hands find his shoulders as a brace and he seems to lean more into your touch eagerly. As he shifts to put more of his weight into you, you naturally let your hands travel to accommodate, leaving no resistance and soon, as if wanting to eliminate any space, he’s got you both falling back against the bed with your arms around his neck and him pulling you closer by your hips.

“I haven’t kissed you at all tonight.” He says breathlessly between kissing you senseless. “I thought I was going to go crazy.”

You let out a quiet laugh, not really understanding his dramatics but it’s hard to think properly when his lips are doing such a good job at distracting you. Jimin eventually lets his lips wander, pressing kisses to your jawline and moving downwards, keen on covering every surface of skin he can find.

“And you had to go looking like this too. Ah really, are you trying to kill me noona…” He sucks a kiss into your neck, just below your ear and like a knee-jerk reaction, your back arches and the first sounds of a soft moan is pulled from your lips. It comes out before you realize it and immediately you feel your face become redder than a tomato, eyes widening because holy shit….

Jimin freezes at the sound too, his ministrations halting though you can still feel his warm breath tickling against your damp skin. And then, you feel a twitch of his lips that you belatedly register as a smirk before they’re moving again on your neck. His newfound knowledge of the sensitive patch of skin lets him easily pull more breathy moans and soft whimpers from you. You’re starting to wonder who’s really trying to kill who at this point.

Evidently, his lips were not the only thing that’s wandering. You feel the weight of the hand on your hip begin to shift, trailing down until you feel deft fingers brush your bare thighs. Your leg twitch as you freeze, startled; you completely forgot your dress had those revealing slits. Jimin stills his hand, hovering just out of reach at your reaction and he lifts his head up from kissing your collarbones to meet your gaze, worry washing away the cardinal hunger.

“Sorry, I startled you. Do you want me to stop?”

You take the time to gather yourself, blinking away the haze. “Ah…” You’re not sure what to say, your clearing mind giving way for self-conscious thoughts to invade. It’s not that you didn’t like it, just that you’re still testing the waters yourself with being intimate with someone after so long. But despite your obvious fumbling, Jimin is patient and considerate, always making sure you’re comfortable above everything else.

You can’t contain a smile at the thought.

“What?” Jimin chuckles as he rests his hand on the mattress, the piercing grey-blue contacts he has on muted by the adoring gleam his eyes radiate; they practically drip honey.

“Nothing…. Thank you for being so concerned, Jimin.” You say sincerely, voice quiet from not wanting to break the intimate moment that’s still lingering in the air.

He shoots you a beaming smile, bringing up a hand to brush your hair back from your face.

“What are you saying? What kind of boyfriend would I be if I wasn’t?”

Boyfriend….

The word makes a warmth blossom in your chest, which is ironic enough because months before, the word had no meaning to you nor did you really want there to be. You remained indifferent to it. That is, until you met Jimin who’s managed to worm his way into your heart and you’ve never been more thankful.

“Mmm you’re right…” You grin back.

“Of course,” He says smugly, leaning forward to rest his forehead against yours, not before sneaking in a quick peck to the tip of your nose that has you giggling. “You could say you have the best boyfriend in the world.”

You hum, biting your lip to keep another fit of giggles from coming in an attempt to play coy. But what can you say; Park Jimin is a man with his words.

You sigh, feigning reluctance, “I guess I have no choice but to acknowledge it.”

Jimin smiles widely to the point his eyes disappear and he has to contain his own bout of giggles. “And you’re the best girlfriend in the world.” He says, voice full of affection before kissing you. Soon though, the soft, short kisses gradually turn deeper and longer.

“I don’t mind…” You get out huskily before you’re completely lost in the heat of it all again. Jimin pauses, a mere breadth away to register what your words meant but when he does, his breath hitches a little. His eyes search yours as if making absolute sure, to which you offer a small smile, not looking away from him as you raise a reassuring hand to rest on his cheek.

That’s all he needs to dive back in with renewed enthusiasm. Your senses were filled with nothing but Jimin; the feel of plush lips kissing yours swollen, the smell of his cologne, the softness of his hair as your fingers run through them and the sounds of his pants and muffled moans, all blending together into an intoxicating drug that has you wanting more.

Like a scene repeating itself, you feel the first brush of fingers along your thigh once again, only this time; they daringly progress further until you feel the whole warmth of his palm resting on it.

“So soft….” Jimin breathes out, more to himself than to you, letting his hand glide slowly over the smooth skin reverently. Before you can let out a laugh, endeared by his unconscious slip of thought, he’s back to sucking kisses on your neck and down your throat and all you could do is shut your eyes and lean your head back, the sensation overwhelming.

It only allows more access of skin for Jimin and he’s all too pleased as he brings you as close as you can, dragging your leg to wrap around his hips with a firm hand, kneading so delectably into the aching muscles. It’s getting hot, you’re getting hot, and this dress you’re wearing is starting to stick to you like a second skin uncomfortably. And on top of that, Jimin’s sweatshirt is not helping in elevating the heat; it’s just making it worse.

But just as your hands start to tug at the fabric of Jimin’s shirt, a loud melodic chime cuts through the air.

You let out a loud gasp like you had been shocked, nails seizing into Jimin’s shoulder and he chokes out a groan as his attention whips to the direction of the door, body taut from the sudden interruption. After a moment though, he breathes out through his nose, deflating and then dropping his head to rest on your shoulder, blond strands of hair tickling your cheek as you let out your own breath to calm your racing heart.

“Aish, really…. this timing…” You hear him grumbling and you had to hold back a laugh. The doorbell rings again, the incessant noise a signal that you would have to put this steamy session on hold for another time. You pat Jimin’s arm lightly and he reluctantly lets up his weight.

“We can tell them to come back….” Jimin tries, blinking wide, puppy-dog eyes at you but you shake your head, smiling widely at him.

“Jimin-ah I’m hungry, we need to eat.”

“But I already had my dinner.”

“Yah Park Jimin—!” You gasp, giving his shoulder a nudge, scandalized. He only doubles over laughing, tossing himself to rest beside you on the bed all squeaks and giggles. You roll your eyes playfully, getting up to make your way to the door but Jimin stops you by standing as well and grabbing your wrist.

“It’s okay noona, I’ll get it for you.”

“I can go get it, I’m already—“

“No, no I’ll do it.” Jimin insists, spinning you so that you trade places before forcing you to plop back onto the bed. “A princess shouldn’t have to get up.”

“Princess…” You wheeze incredulously as Jimin just laughs again. You shake your head in disbelief though your lips twitch in holding back another smile. He rushes off to get the door and before long, he’s wheeling in a white-clothed table with silver serving covers. He pushes it over to where you’re sitting before he dramatically makes a show of presenting the dish like he’s a butler.

What a goof.

The rest of the night is pretty much spent enjoying each other’s company; Jimin talking about episodes that happened before getting on stage and meeting his other idol friends (while occasionally asking to be fed and sampling your food). The atmosphere is relaxing and you can’t help but find it a little amazing that you’re sitting here; with Jimin who’s become someone you deeply care and love. And crazier is that he’s willing to stick by you and help break out of your shell, even when you don’t know what you’re doing half the time.

Well, you suppose neither of you do really.

But you guess that’s the comfort of it all.

It’s a little past midnight by the time Jimin decided he should let you rest of the night. Ever the gentleman, he makes sure to take care of the table, rolling back outside to leave by your door before coming back in to say goodnight.

“Make sure you don’t stay up too late, even though it’s not good to go to sleep right after you just ate.” Jimin says, stopping right in front of the door to face you.

“I know, I gotta take off all this make-up anyways so…it’ll be a while.” You reply back nonchalantly. He makes a noise of disapproval, grasping your hand and swinging them gently between you two.

“You’re beautiful with or without make-up, it doesn’t matter how much you got on.”

The statement makes you laugh shyly, head tilting down in an attempts to hide the blush creeping onto your face. A hand brings it back up however and you find yourself staring up at twinkling grey-blue eyes. He smiles, tilting his head to place a chaste kiss on your lips.

When he pulls back, he takes a moment to just stare as if he’s taking in every feature of your face, one hand cupping your cheek. You see the way his eyes wander languidly, from the tops of your head before trailing down and lingering down to your chin and neck. You see the beginnings of a smirk itching to make itself known on those full lips of his but he smoothly transitions it to be a sweet smile.

“Goodnight, noona.” He says.

“Sleep well, Jimin.” You reply, giving the hand you’re holding a squeeze. With one last gentle caress, Jimin reluctantly opens the door and steps out, turning back briefly to send a small wave over his shoulder. You send one back and you as slowly as you could you shut the door.

You let out a whoosh of air, placing a hand to your pounding heart in an attempt to prevent it from actually bursting out of your chest. Your cheeks are burning, they also hurt from the wide grin on your face but you feel as giddy as a schoolgirl.

“Gosh, relax.” You mutter to yourself, patting your cheek as you make your way to the bathroom. Stepping inside, you search for your makeup wipes, pulling one out of the packet and as you turn to face the mirror….“Holy shit—!”

Along one side of your neck down to the edge of your collarbone were reddish-purple bruises. You double take to make sure you’re not just seeing things but they were there all right.

You huff out a sigh of resignation; this is gonna be a pain in the ass to cover and only thing Jimin is gonna do is probably giggle himself to sleep tonight.

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topfygad · 4 years

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A Stay at The Eccleston Square Hotel in Belgravia

If you have a penchant for personalised, boutique hotels, you might like to check out the Eccleston Square Hotel. This family-run hotel located in SW1 opened in 2011 when Olivia Byrne decided to create one of the most ‘technologically advanced hotels’ in London. At 23, the Paris-born entrepreneur was dubbed one of the youngest hoteliers of the time.

Since then, the 4.5-star hotel has picked up quite a few accolades. Conde Nast Traveler listed it in the top 15 best boutique hotels in London and it picked up their Reader’s Choice Award in 2016. You’ll also find many articles applauding the hotel’s various hi-tech features and massage beds that come with every room.

With no plans to travel far over the Easter weekend, BC and I took up the opportunity to enjoy a one-night stay here and make the most of some ‘London time’ following our recent move. Here’s how it went.

Eccleston Square Hotel: The Location

The location of Eccleston Square Hotel is definitely one of its strengths. Eccleston Square is located in the SW1V area of London. And overlooking a leafy garden, it feels surprisingly quiet, but is actually, very accessible. Victoria coach, railway and tube stations are just a five-minute walk away. And you have Pimlico, Belgravia and the attractions of Westminster right on your doorstep. It’s a great location for anyone visiting the theatres in Victoria too.

The building itself is a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse, which is immediately appealing for travellers who appreciate a bit of character, although, as you’ll read below, this is a super modern hotel inside.

Interestingly, you’ll find the house that Winston Churchill lived in, just a few doors down and I’m told that Queen Victoria’s granddaughter once lived in the building that is now the hotel.

How’s that for a bit of history?

The Arrival

It was very quiet when we first arrived, and we waited a few minutes at reception for someone to greet us. Once they did, the front-of-house staff were very warm and friendly, and check-in was quick and seamless. They’ve taken a very contemporary approach at the Eccleston Square Hotel, with lots of monochrome, marble and sparkling chandeliers.

Once we’d checked in, one of the hotel staff took us up to our room on the first floor and gave us a thorough explanation of the technology and services in the room, which was a nice touch.

The hotel entrance hall

The entrance to our guest room at the Eccleston Square Hotel

The guestroom interiors & amenities

The guestroom interiors, much like the hotel reception, are contemporary and quite business-like with dark wooden wardrobes and furniture, grey carpets and black faux-fur cushions and throws.

There are two fluffy towelling robes and slippers in the wardrobe and guests who have booked directly through the hotel can enjoy a complimentary mini-bar (choice of Evian water, two types of beer and soft drinks). There’s also a Nespresso coffee machine and while there’s no kettle, they do offer a free 24-hour tea service – something I think every hotel should adopt!

My favourite part, style-wise, was the bathroom – a sleek, white marble space where you’ll find a huge two-person shower cubicle fitted with four (yes FOUR) showers. Two rainforest showers were overhead, and an excellent power shower and hand-held shower were fitted to the wall. Eccleston Square Hotel provides various L’Occitane bathroom miniatures (including a lovely Lavender sleep spray) and the whole room was bright and airy, thanks to the natural light that flooded through the frosted floor-to-ceiling windows.

Hi-tech features

The technology at Eccleston Square Hotel is evident as soon as you walk through the traditional front door that’s fitted with automatic sensors. There’s an iPad on the front desk telling you the weather forecast in London and even the lifts are fitted with six miniature TV screens, all tuned into different channels.

Once inside the guest room, all the light fixtures, except for the bedside lamps, are controlled using electronic switches and the heating, curtains and ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign at your door (no need to hang a sign up) are also electronically controlled. There is also, of course, free wifi.

On the bedside table, you’ll find an iPad that’s been installed with a variety of features that are particularly useful for first-time visitors to London. There’s a catalogue of restaurants to try in the area, a list of local attractions (you’ll also find tips for things to do on the Eccleston Square Hotel blog) and a delivery-app called Night Room Service, offering food delivery from around 50 London restaurants, which is great if you fancy eating in. There’s the option for in-room dining from the hotel’s in-house chefs and the local restaurant Lobster & More will also deliver a wide range of dishes to the hotel. For a fee, the in-room iPad also offers the option of late check-out (which we took advantage of) – very handy indeed.

One of the most noteworthy features for foreign travellers is the smartphone which every guest has in their room. You can take it out with you, use the social media and make use of the unlimited data – you can even make international calls to selected countries. It wasn’t something I needed but if you’re travelling from overseas, this is a great added extra.

The massage bed

The feature I’d been looking forward to the most was the Hästens massage bed. After an afternoon walk in the area, I enjoyed a bit of down time ahead of us going out for dinner (I’m pregnant, I have an excuse) so it was the perfect time to try it out.

If you haven’t heard of them, Hästens beds are pretty highly sought-after. Hand-made in Sweden, they cost upwards of £12,000 each and are crafted using sustainable materials such as pure flax and hypoallergenic horsehair, which are said to channel away moisture and excess heat and lead to a better night’s sleep. (I can back that up, I slept very well).

When it comes to the massage function, I have to admit, the massage beds were quite loud and provided a strong vibration rather than a kneading motion (which is what I was expecting) to your body or feet area. That said, I liked the way you could raise the head and feet to your preferred position – a great way to watch the 46-inch TV in comfort.

Speaking of TVs, there were two screens in our hotel room – one at the end of your bed, and a small one fitted inside the bathroom which syncs to whatever you’re watching in the main bedroom.

I’m not sure if it’s the case in every guestroom, but our bathroom TV was located opposite the toilet and you could just about see it from the shower. It’s great if you want to listen to a music channel, but personally, I’d have loved to see a bathtub in there, so you could enjoy a long soak with your favourite programme in front of you.

I think you’ll agree, it’s a pretty cool feature nonetheless. And we got a surprise when we discovered that the bathroom door can switch between frosted and transparent, again, at the touch of a button. The last time I saw this was at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur – another feature that technology geeks will no doubt love.

3D movies

The final hi-tech feature you’ll want to check out is the option to watch 3D movies which are all complimentary with your stay. In keeping with their convenient ordering system, guests can pick from a selection of 3D Blu-ray movie options on the iPad and within minutes, a member of staff will arrive at your door with the DVD and Panasonic 3D glasses.

PJs on and massage bed set at the perfect incline, we were ready for our 3D experience, but sadly, neither of the movies could be supported as it turned out, the TV needed an upgrade. It wasn’t something the staff could fix at the time and they were incredibly apologetic; however, after all the hype, we were gutted we couldn’t experience it!

Downstairs in the hotel, next to the bar, they do have a ‘media room’ where guests have the option to watch movies on the 103-inch LED TV. We were already in our PJs at this point so didn’t fancy coming back downstairs, however it’s a great option for watching sport if you know it’s going to be available. You can also sync your laptop to the screen, so it’s well set up for events and private meetings.

Food and Drink at Eccleston Square Hotel

Once you check out the in-room iPad at the Eccleston Square Hotel, as mentioned, you’ll see that you can order a number of food options to your room, or in the dining area downstairs.

We went out for dinner in Victoria, however, we did order from the hotel breakfast menu the next morning. The Eggs Benedict and Eggs Royale were both delicious even though my request for the sauce to be served ‘on the side’ wasn’t noted. The fresh fruit with yoghurt was also fantastic with thick gooey yoghurt, fresh mint and a drizzle of honey. It all arrived fairly promptly and was a great way to end a lovely London stay.

I’ll also be writing a separate post about the afternoon tea at Eccleston Square Hotel, very soon.

Verdict

Although we felt this hotel didn’t quite hit the mark in some areas, the service was extremely warm and welcoming, the room was super clean and cosy, and we felt it had lots of brilliant features that made for a comfortable stay. If you’re looking for something super luxurious, do check out their new townhouses which recently opened. However, I would recommend the Eccleston Square Hotel for couples enjoying a weekend away in London and anyone looking for a personalised stay with excellent access to central London and all its attractions.

It’s not often you can enjoy a free mini-bar, 24-hour tea service and an array of services which you can conveniently order from a screen. With rooms starting from just £125, this boutique hotel gets a thumbs up for convenience, value-for-money and style.

For more information, visit the Eccleston Square Hotel website and follow them on Instagram, twitter and Facebook.

Have you been to Eccleston Square Hotel? Feel free to leave a comment and share your travel tips and thoughts.

Eccleston Square Hotel, 37 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PB, 020 8068 1011

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Our stay at Eccleston Square Hotel was complimentary. All views here are my own.

source http://cheaprtravels.com/a-stay-at-the-eccleston-square-hotel-in-belgravia-2/

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icyhotexplosionwritings · 5 years

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This time, the author’s note will be at the end, so it doesn’t get even longer up here

FYI: when your symbiote talks it’s in bold~, plus this rly is the reader’s side of things, not rly about how Baku bae feels and stuff, just so you know~

trigger warning: self harm mentioned, suicide attempt mentioned

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Glancing to the sides, once, twice, you finally sighed and relaxed against a tree, letting your chubby legs finally give in, hitting the ground, your face hidden between your hands. Another sigh escaped your lips. This was hard.

Looking at Bakugou, was hard. Since this school year started you did your utmost to avoid him, not get in his way and just live your high school life, hoping it wouldn’t end like your middle school one, but it was hard. You hated yourself.

Why? Why did your stupid heart have to beat faster whenever you would see him, he had done so many things to you, you should absolutely despise him, but as much as your brain hated him, your heart jumped whenever you couldn’t escape and you were near him.

Flinching a little, you looked up when you heard one of the teachers shout, it was time to eat, finally. You had helped everyone beforehand, however, you just needed a little break, this stupid training camp seriously was your nightmare, you were near that stupid explosive boy more than you liked.

However, this nightmare didn’t stop, as you were going back to get something to eat, everyone had already taken their food and the only place left was one beside Bakugou. Gripping your plate a little harder, you were playing with the thought of actually not eating and just going back and enjoying a nice bath, but then you heard a familiar voice that still made you flinch and unintentionally you were gripping your plate even tighter, almost breaking it.

“Oi, don’t just stand there and sit the fuck down, I’m not gonna fucking steal your food or anything.”, he said and for him, it might have been nothing, just words, just telling you, you can sit beside him, but for you, it hurt. You weren’t worried about that… did he really think you were afraid of not getting enough? Did you look like that? Is it because you were plump and chubby that he had to reassure you he wouldn’t steal your precious food? You couldn’t help thinking like this, your insecurities didn’t let you think otherwise, your past that had left scars on you, didn’t let you think otherwise.

No, you knew Katsuki, whatever he said, he always meant it in the most hurting way. “Ne? Can I finally eat him?” Crack. Your plate broke in half and you gulped when you heard the voice of your “partner”. A few students were now looking at you, you were standing there, the plate in two, the food falling to the ground, your head lowered, and your eyes shut tightly, as you thought, “You can’t, you can’t!” – “Why not?! It should have been done sooner! He is always like this! Even now! Remember his apology?! I hope you didn’t think he even meant one thing! Look at you!”, and that’s when your arm was suddenly a big, black claw and before you could realize it had ripped the other sleeve, you had been wearing long sleeves even while training, because now, your skin was exposed, both sides of your arm, covered in scars and wounds you had given yourself over the course of the past three years. “Look at this! And tell me once again not to eat him!?”

Now, the teachers were finally acting, you were now clawing at your hair with your free hand, trying to get the control back as you mumbled something, ignoring anyone who tried talking. No, you didn’t want to remember, not now, you could suppress these emotions for so long, why did he have to say something so stupid, why did it have to trigger you like this? You told yourself, it was nothing, harmless words, you were just interpreting to much into it, but at last, it didn’t work.

And then, you just looked up, your piercing (e/c) eyes looking directly at Bakugou who couldn’t help but flinch a little. “What, wanna fight?!”, his hands were ready as a few explosions were going off and it was enough for the thing inside you to finally overwhelm you. It was gross to look at, really. The way you were transforming, your symbiote overwhelming you and before the Pussycats or Vlad could do anything, your “partner” had already punched and swung them into the building’s wall, totally shutting them down. “Stop it, (L/N)!”, Aizawa said, his quirk activating, however, it was not your quirk and you weren’t changing back “Hm, nice try, Sensei.”, it said, almost giggling, laughing at how stupid your teacher was, “I’m sorry, but, you can’t just erase me!” and Aizawa was hit with your extended arm, landing beside Vlad and by now, everything was a mess, the friends you had made, screaming at you to stop, other students hiding and running and Bakugou? Bakugou was up for a fight.

Katsuki was the first to jump and take you down, however, your symbiote was faster, quickly grabbing his neck, the explosions hurting it a little, but it was strong and not backing down just from that. “Oh, how I love when I don’t have to chase my food.”, the evil grin exposed all its sharp teeth and its tongue licking along Katsuki’s cheek, making him shiver in disgust, but before he could use another explosion, two claws wrapped around his hand and with a crack, Bakugou’s scream echoed through the forest, both his wrists broken and turned around, so he couldn’t use his hands anymore.

“Mhmh, don’t fight, little one. Do you know, how long I’ve wanted to do this? Ever since middle school, ever since you made her jump off the footbridge, I wanted to see you dead, bite your head off and leave you to die. If I hadn’t saved her that day, you would have killed her.”, its arm extended, lifting him higher into the air, the claw around Bakugou’s neck tightening, making him squirm as he was struggling to breath and everyone could just look and listen, too shocked to react, you were their friends… right?

“And then, you dare to “apologize” to her. Ne?”, your symbiote was pulling Katsuki back, getting really close to him when your “partner” almost only whispered, “I wonder, Bakugou Katsuki, why? Was she just a nice target, because she never said anything, were you disgusted by her appearance or were you just jealous of her because she also had a nice quirk? What was it that made you bully her, embarrass her, humiliate her, every day, one year… after another? And now, tell me, Bakugou Katsuki, tell me a good reason why I shouldn’t finally eradicate you from this earth? You are not worth becoming a hero. Remember what you said? “You are just a waste of oxygen, why don’t you just jump off that roof already?”. I think, that’s how you said it, right? So now, I’m asking you. You are just a waste of oxygen, Bakugou, why don’t you just die already?”, there it was again, that grin that made even Bakugou shiver and he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of fear, he was pale and for once, all the things he had done in the past were crashing down on him.

Bakugou couldn’t do anything, his hands were twisted, his neck almost breaking from the tight grip you had around him and no one was there to help him as you, or the thing inside of you, were lifting him once again and he came down hard on the ground, once, twice, and another time, and another, and another.

Though, before he lost consciousness, you could make the symbiote stop as you were desperately trying to fight against it, screaming inside your head, you didn’t want to kill Bakugou, getting just enough control back, so your tight grip loosened up and Katsuki fell to the ground one last time. You could fight back enough to make the symbiote stumble back a little, but it was stronger than you and in the end, it had the control back, though this time only looking back as the teachers seemed to regain their strength and consciousness. “Remember this. You can’t escape from me, I have waited all those years, seeing her suffer, this will finally end. Bakugou Katsuki, I will hunt you down.” and with that words, it was gone, running through the forest into the night, leaving not only a big chaos behind, but also a shivering Bakugou Katsuki and before he finally drifted into unconsciousness, for once in his life, tears of fear in his eyes as he wondered if tonight would be his end.

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

Now, to finally let go of all my negative emotions, I wrote something I’d normally never write, so anon, I guess you were lucky this time, bc otherwise I probably wouldn’t have accepted this request. This is also the first and last time I’ll be accepting requests that come in even tho the requests are closed, (but ofc sharing your ideas and other thoughts is always welcomed, like that monster musume one… still a fav of mine thanks to that anon~) you know, if everyone would tell me to “save it for later” I would never see an end, but yeah, this came in handy now. Also, this will be first and last time I’ll ever write bully!Bakugou or bully!bnha boys in general. I want this to be a happy place where they’ll love us and defend us from such bullies and not be one themselves, that’s why, with this, I could reset my feelings, get everything out and we’re gonna write all the smut and fluff again from now on and I hope you’re looking forward to that~ <3

#tw: self harm #tw: suicide attempt #bnha imagine #bakugou imagine #mha imagine #mha scenario #bnha scenario #bakugou katsuki #Bakugou x reader

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i-will-die-for-jim-mason · 5 years

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Duncan goes to their parent’s house to meet them for the first time and they are the cute southern parents that call him hun and sweetie and feed him way too much food and they stay in their childhood room and he is thriving bc he never got affection like that as a kid and decides that he about to wife that girl up!!!

AN: Okay so I live for this type of shit, but I also wrote all of this while on some meds cause your girl got her wisdom teeth out so sorry if this isn’t actually coherent

Duncan at first would for sure be hesitant to actually bring up meeting your family. Most of his previous relationships didn't really make it to the meet the family stage. So it would for sure be a big step for him.

But Duncan "too cool for school" shepherd would never admit that it made him nervous when you brought it up one day, and he definitely wouldn't admit that he was even more nervous that he liked the idea.

To be honest how nervous he would be, would kinda be endearing, even if he was 100% over thinking everything. Like you managed to throw together your overnight bag, and get ready before he could even pick his shoes.

Which he would end up having to reconsider after he saw how causally you were dressed.

"Are you really wearing that?"

"Yeah they're my parent's, they know what my deal is."

But it's Duncan so he still ends up in an outfit that probably cost about as much as your parent's house. Even if he tried to dress it down a little.

He would have a decent grip on his nerves, at least until it got closer to the dinner. You could practically hear him over thinking, during the car ride over.

You knew that family was a touchy subject and that he knew your family had defiantly heard they're fair share of not great things regarding him and his family.

You tried to help him calm down, telling him dumb little stories about where you grew up. Ponting out places as you passed, just trying to help him relax.

Until eventually you ended up outside your childhood home.

"So any last minute warnings?”

“If you see a cat with thin stripes she’ll fuck you up, the one with thick stripes is sweet though.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, she’s a mean bitch.”

“Y/n, come on.”

“Duncan, it’ll be fine. They're just people.”

Squeezing his hand Y'all finally head to the door. And let's be real you probably only get one knock in before your mom's already hugging you and giving you shit about how long it's been since you've last visited.

You could feel Duncan tense up without even looking, but the second your mom turns his attention on him the Big bad Duncan Shepherd doesn't stand a chance.

Before he knows what going on he's being pulled into a hug, while she goes on about how glad she is to finally meet him after hearing so much and of course throwing in some comments about how he could stand to eat some more.

Next up was meeting your dad, who lasted a good two whole minutes with the boyfriend intimidation routine before breaking down laughing at the look on Duncan's face, before pulling him in for one of those hug handshakes.

Which was not what Duncan was expecting to say the least.

Honestly, he was half expecting to see your dad polishing a rifle on the kitchen table, so this change of pace threw him.

Your dad did throw in some light grilling, but nothing more than the kinda of stuff you're sure you told him a hundred times.

When dinner was ready your mom made sure to through in a comment about showing a Yankee what real food is, before bringing out enough sides to feed a small army.

Dinner went surprisingly smooth, even with your parent's being well parent's, and your mom pushing more food on to Duncan plate.

Duncan even managed to make them laugh a few times once he relaxed. He even offered to help with dishes earning brownie points (and an extra slice of cheesecake) from your mom.

He did get some ribbing from your dad when you mentioned that Duncan wasn't exactly handy, but nothing he couldn't handle.

Really by the end of the night, I think he would be genuinely happy, asking about different pictures on the walls, while your parents tell him stories about you growing up.

Eventually, it would get late and the two of you would end up in your old room. Where he would ask you about any little trinkets or whatnots you left behind because ofc he would.

"Wasn't exactly Sunday dinner with annet, huh?" You asked after the two of you finally crawled into bed.

"Not at all."

"Is that a good or bad thing?"

"Good thing, definitely a good thing. Explains some things about you too."

"Don't you even start with me Shepherd or I'll tell my dad you can't change a tire."

All in all, I think Duncan would manage to for sure win over your family, and like honestly I think your family just treating him like a person would be more than enough to get him to like them.

And watching how you interacted with them would really stir something in him. He would probably even be trying to find little reasons for you two to visit more often in the future that night while Y'all are trying to fall asleep.

Bonus

"Hey Y/n, do you hear that?"

"It's just the cicadas screaming, go to sleep."

"The fucking what now?"

@langdonsoceaneyes

#duncan shepherd #duncan shepherd hc #duncan shepherd headcanons #duncan shepherd x reader #cody fern #ask #mine

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chrysaliseuro2019 · 5 years

Text

The Boat was Rocking

It was time to leave the Peloponnese and head to the island of Folegandros. Prior to that we wanted to look at the archeological museum in Nafplio and we also had to return the car to Piraeus the port of Athens from where all the ferries leave. Liz had timed it to all fit together. Car due back in Piraeus at 1.30 with a half hour leeway and ferry leaves for Folegandros at 3.45pm. Two hour drive to Piraeus so we wanted to be on the road by 11.15. We headed for breakfast at 8.30 and had a very pleasant one in the main square with just a few people around at that time. Headed for the museum post that and we were the only visitors in there. It is a really attractive building dating from 1713 in the Venetian style. It was very imposing. The first thing we saw which had been the real drawcard was a midden which was 32000 years old (you don't get a chance to see something that old very often) used by hunter gathererer cave dwellers in the region. Looking up the word midden it appears to be some sort of dump for all sorts of domestic waste which might be human excrement, animal bones, shells, molluscs, charcoal could be anything. Presumably the archaeologists gave it the once over and found all sorts of goodies or possibly baddies in there. In truth it looked like some flattened clay so imagination required. Though not too much. I didn't want to contemplate some ancient cave dweller squatting over the midden (though now I am). The rest of the exhibits were very interesting with a lot of artefacts which had been placed in the tombs of eminent people. Also examples of tools and weapons which showed the transition from hunters to other forms of "economy" and survival. Exhibits ranged mostly in age from 6000 BC to around 400 AD but some much older and covered everything from ornate urns and jugs (which were fantastically reconstructed), figurines, jewellery, tools and a suit of armour from 1500 BC which did not look very manoeuvrable. You felt that anyone inside it would be a sitting duck though it would have taken some penetration. Had a touch of the Monty Pythons. We stayed for around an hour and I think someone else rolled up to visit in that time which was just as we all as the 6/7 staff needed something to do given the museum was only on two not huge floors. We headed back and scurried around packing. Liz keeping a very watchful eye on the time and my intricate packing and ablution procedures. The time was called out at 5 minute intervals. It seemed to work as we head off in the car at 11.19 (precisely). Four minutes late, not bad, in fact in my book that's early. The journey was uneventful with a mix of freeway and standard roads. You can do 130km/hr on some stretches of the freeway so that was handy to keep on schedule. You have to stop for tolls every 20/30kms or so which is usually around 2 euros which slow things down a little. The biggest deal at the end was finding a petrol station. I had bypassed the last one so was not popular. We had to roll up at thrifty/hertz and ask for directions - very handy as station was around the corner. Interestingly when we picked the car up it had been left on half full as they said they had not had time to fill it up. We dubiously wondered if this was another lurk as it's pretty hard to return a car on half full. You are bound to go over. We pondered the various ways that dosh could be made on this but perhaps it was genuine. When you believe there's a conspiracy it's usually incompetence. Never ever happened before though in other countries. We handed the car back around 1.45 as close to half full as we could manage so all good and I must say the staff were very friendly and helpful. Now for the ferry. Piraeus is a pretty large passenger ferry port. There seemed to be around 10 or more quays and perhaps more that we couldn't see and they are spread out around a sort of horseshoe bay with a distance of a kilometre or two (hard to tell) covering them. We set off wheeling our bags with back packs on and it was pretty warm but we weren't 100% sure which quay we had to go to though had an idea. Anyway after about 20 mins of wheeling with a few stops including to buy some savoury pastries we entered a gate and were directed to the kiosk of the shipping line we were using. Now around 2.15. Ferry due to leave at 3.45. Of course we had walked past the kiosk on our way so were now doubling back through the heat but had found where we needed to be so didn't care. Not good news, ferry was running late. They weren't sure why but later said it was the weather and certainly the wind was very strong which wasn't filling us with joyous anticipation for the trip. It would be arriving at around 5.00pm. Leaving, some time after that, typically a half hour turn around so we were told. Nothing to do but head for some covered shelters to get out of the sun, eat our pastries and settle down for a long wait. 5.00pm became 6.10 and the ferry finally rolled up around then. Around that time proceedings descended into farce as another ferry from the same shipping line came in first at a slightly different dock nearby. All those waiting for the Folegandros ferry including us scooted over to that ferry, watched cars and people unload only to be told that we needed to go back to the original spot and wait - it wasn't ours. There was scurrying as everyone tried to get good positions to be on early. This presumably was because some did not have reserved seats and wanted to find the pick of the unreserved seats. We had reserved a couple of seats though our last experience on a ferry to Sardinia had been that reserved seats were not reserved seats and people commandeered them. So we were playing it sort of safe and trying to make sure we were not at the rear end of the line. As our ferry approached people moved from side to side 30 or 40 metres trying to anticipate and partly as directed by staff as to where the ramp would actually be. Imagine a couple of hundred people moving back and forth with suitcases, kids and various holiday paraphernalia all in still warm sun. It was quite something and we for our part were trying to stay reasonably at the front too. To add to the confusion a large petrol tanker was right in the midst of us presumably ready to refuel the ferry and had to reverse causing more chaos. We chatted to an amusing guy from New York and his wife who was good naturedly bemoaning the fact that as we stood in the queue he was supposed to be at a beach birthday party on one of the earlier island stops for this ferry. He and his wife had flown from America to specifically make this event. The best laid plans. Still he said the party would still be going when he got there. Finally around 6.30 the ferry started to unload people followed by cars while some onboarders rushed up the ramp against the flow of offboarders trying to stake their spots. This sent the officials into minor apoplexy and these people were stopped at the top of the ramp while disembarkation finished. We all then put our heads down and rushed up. Elbows weren't quite out but there were no beg pardons. Luckily I was with someone who can handle herself in the clinches and Liz beat me up the ramp hands down. One good reason to be up the ramp relatively early was that the formal storage racks for bags soon ran out though in truth people then just stored their bags alongside them and it didn't seem to be a problem. Also the ferry had several stops at different islands and theoretically each island had a separate storage section. We ignored that as clearly did plenty of others and chucked ours where there was a space. All worked well. Finally we had to negotiate the narrow doorway where tickets were checked with a couple of hundred people trying to be first through but from there the bedlam ceased. Our reserved seats were very comfortable. In a separate section with a hundred or so others though the seating was not full. An attendant checked tickets so no one could take your spot. I immediately shot to the bar and they actually did vodka and tonic which Liz was v pleased about after 4 frustrating hours of sitting on our hands preceded by a 2 hour + drive. I enjoyed a couple of cleansing ales too of course and we settled back to await departure. Of course the boat took another hour and a quarter to depart so finally left around 7.45pm - 4 hours late. Thems the travel breaks sometimes. A bit aggravating apart from the boredom of hanging around. It meant we lost the latter part of the evening and a decent dinner in town in Folegandros. Also we were paying essentially for a bed for a night and Folegandros prices not that cheap. If you knew that you would be arriving so late you would stay at the $50 a night job at the port, assuming it existed, though we reconciled ourselves that with a 1.45 am ferry arrival finding a hotel would have been impossible. Anyway, very efficiently, staff at the apartments where we were staying pick you up from the port and much to our relief after a 6 hour journey due to the rocky weather one was there to transfer us to our digs. The boat trip because of the strong wind did cause a bit of seasickness. There was a lot of side to side rocking. I managed to stay OK though felt a tad uncomfortable from time to time but Liz felt a bit queasy though through a mix of sleep and willpower managed to hold things off and we arrived without any technicolor events. You get these days from time to time. Not much you can do but go into some waiting zone, google, write blogs, go for walks, chat. We had left our hotel in Napflio at 11.20 am and arrived at our new one just after 2.00am. 15 hours. The ferry mob were apologetic and free cokes came round and we were told we could all claim a free ferry ride in the future. Do they do Tasmania? We crawled into bed.

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seoulscenarios · 6 years

Text

College AU! Han Jisung

i may have gotten a little carried away with the linguistics part,,, i studied a linguistics module and poured my own damn feelings into this lmao

-Major: Linguistics with TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

-Minor: Lyrical Composition,, though he kept pretty quiet about it

-Sports: none,,, he tried joining Hyunjin’s basketball team but he got cut from the team during tryouts for Naruto running across the court which was apparently against the rules

-Clubs: Jisung joined the dance club but gave up after two weeks bc Minho kept making him do all the difficult stuff lmao, is a part of the art club bc he likes to draw, esp characters, and design artwork for 3RACHAs posters/mixtape covers,,,, all the posters you see advertised around campus for the next 3RACHA gig, yeah those were designed by J.One lmao

-So,,, linguistics???

-Jisung honestly couldn’t tell you why he ended up majoring in linguistics when he first got to college bc it’s such a weird niche subject

-9 times out of 10 he ends up having to explain what the hell linguistics is to people bc they have no clue

-It’s the study of language

-So like you’re learning a language??

-No,,, I study how language is formed and used and structured

-……. So no actual language??

-NO

-Honestly Jisung is a bit sick of it tbh, like there’s only so many times he can explain what it is before he wants to explode with anger

-So whilst Jisung didn’t know why he chose linguistics at first, he soon realised that he loved learning about syntax, semantics and pragmatics behind language,,,, he just really loved it

-It also helped him when he was writing lyrics and more often than not, he ended up helping Chan and Changbin with their lyrics when they had an awkward phrase or there was no flow in the lyric

-It really did come in handy for the three of them when they were writing songs late at night and Jisung’s linguistic brain took over when he was checking lyrics

-However,,,, as much as he enjoyed linguistics he actually really despised it at the same time

-I mean,,, idk about you but linguistics is really really REALLY hard to learn and get your head around

-Like if you don’t get something, it makes learning and understanding literally everything else so difficult

-Jisung constantly had an IPA chart in his hand trying to learn the symbols for different consonants and vowels when he was trying to study

-Which,, was hardly ever bc linguistics revision made him want to CRY most of the time bc he couldn’t think of anything worse than writing out the correct pronunciation of sentences or annotate sentences with their different particle abbreviations or,,,, the actual worst which was learning the different phonological rules

-So yeah, Jisung was the literal definition of winging it when it came to his linguistic exams having crammed the night before and bouncing off the wall from 4 espresso shots he had just downed

-He wasn’t that stressed about the exam bc,,, well if everyone else finds it difficult they’ll just lower the grade boundary lmao

-Whilst Jisung seemed like a good kid during class,,,, most of the time was not

-Boy has a LOT of energy and spends most of class literally bouncing in his seat or constantly yelling to a friend across the room from him

-He was asked to leave a few times bc of class disruption and Jisung literally did the Naruto run out of class whilst everyone cheered him on bc of how distraught their teacher was at him

-They didn’t hate him, oh no, bc he was a kind hearted kid he just,,,, was a bit too much sometimes esp for a 9am linguistic class where everyone was literally dead on their feet and he was bouncing off the walls, yelling the answers out even if they were wrong

-He was a much appreciated addition to the class though bc otherwise,,, that class would be DEAD and no one would participate so they were just glad Jisung was there so they didn’t have to answer

-And you bet ur ass when he had to a presentation there were tons of anime references and bad slideshow transition bc that’s who Jisung is a person and he thought they were funny,,, tho the look on one of the examiners face made him slightly regret it but his other examiner was crying at the effects so u win some u lose some Jisung thought

-So alongside his linguistics major, he also took a TESOL path bc he learnt how to speak English so he wanted to help others learn how to

-He always tested out his methods on Jeongin bc,,, they lived together and Jisung literally locked him the living room so he could practice his teaching methods on him lmao

-Jeongin always protested and tried to run away to literally anyone’s house but Jisung just caught him in a hug,,,, and Jeongin could never refuse a hug even if it was from one of his most annoying hyungs

-Besides,,, it meant he got free English lessons without having to be taught by a stuffy professor

-Jisung was a very,, enigmatic teacher and the kind of teacher that would never make a class boring

-In fact, many of the students who signed up for English classes tried to request him despite the fact that u know,,, there were quite a few TESOL students who needed the students to teach as well

-But for the 1-1 sessions,,, Jisung was so oversubscribed that they literally had to redistribute the students so Jisung could get some damn rest,,,, I mean he tried to protest saying that it was fine but the professors were like JISUNG NO

-JISUNG YES he yelled, trying to redo his schedule so he could accommodate all the students before one of his classmates literally had to rip his planner out of his hands and another one grabbed his pen so he couldn’t write any of it down

-Poor baby,,, he just wanted to teach

-A lot of his students came out of their 1-1 classes extremely overwhelmed and had gone to his professor to ask if Jisung is always that enthusiastic and that maybe he should calm down on the coffee

-The gag? Jisung doesn’t even drink coffee unless he accidentally pulls an all nighter before an exam

-The professor just shook his head and was like,,, no that’s just Jisung

-O h

-Jisung wasn’t always the most well prepared for his classes though, preferring to have a very lax lesson plan and once he got called to the head of departments office bc apparently teaching the students English using Beyonce lyrics wasn’t appropriate no matter how much they seemed to enjoy it

-Jisung was offended bc,,, did she just insult Queen Bey just now?? He was going to argue but he didn’t want to get ANOTHER warning bc the last time he was called there was bc he showed his students The Bee Movie and one kid on the feedback form just quoted the opening monologue for his response to “what did you learn that helped improve your English skills?”

-Jisung just felt that learning English through academics wasn’t interesting and certainly wasn’t going to make anyone enjoy it or learn much from it so he liked to use a lot of songs and films and tv shows that had helped him learn English all those years ago

-He still went to Chan and Felix’s flat though just to make sure he could still understand English and that he was still able to English bc lbr here,,, English is extremely difficult

-Like even for Jisung, who lived in Malaysia in his childhood and could speak and understand English well, it’s still hard bc it’s not his native language

-Sometimes Chan had to look over his teaching notes and correct all the English on it bc Jisung had made them the night before and was clearly extremely tired bc it was a jumble of Korean and English that shouldn’t even be together and,,,, were those Zico lyrics in the corner???? JISUNG NO

-But yeah, Chan was very helpful towards Jisung bc of all the help Jisung gave to him when they wrote lyrics together so he was extremely willing to help Jisung with his English

-Heck, he even taught Jisung English once a week so Jisung would feel more comfortable speaking English with his students and his professors bc he wasn’t afraid of getting the answer wrong exactly,,, but still at the back of his mind was that lingering feeling of disappointment if he got it extremely wrong and everyone knew that it was wrong

-The English lessons chan gave to him was extremely useful and he felt even more confident when he went to teach bc he knew that Chan’s lessons would pay off

-You, however, were not a linguistics major

-You studied TESOL full time bc you really wanted to be an English teacher

-You used to volunteer at elementary schools whilst you were a high school student, giving out free English lessons to the kids

-Whilst you may not be as crazy as Jisung was when he taught English, you were still extremely charismatic and enthusiastic bc you had so much passion and love for it

-You met Jisung in a rather,,,, unusual fashion

-It was your first day of classes and you were running late bc you had a meeting with your academic advisor which should have only been a few minutes but ended up being way longer,,, you were polite enough to hear her out but honestly u just wanted to blast

-You didn’t want to miss your first TESOL class bc hello,, that was your damn major

-LUCKILY

-There was still a seat just by the door which you managed to grab before the professor could give you an evil glare for being late to class lmao

-You knew that this would be your spot for the duration of this module bc that’s just how seating arrangements worked,,, u choose one spot and suddenly it’s yours for the rest of the semester/year

-Unfortunately, you couldn’t make that class the next week bc you had doctors appointment during that particular class

-Which, fortunately, for Jisung meant there was one free space when he actually turned up to class that week

-He didn’t mean to not turn up the previous introduction class,, but honestly he kinda gathered he wouldn’t miss anything that he couldn’t find out from the information pack online or by talking to other students lmao

-So when he turned up the week and saw everyone else sat in their respective seats he sighed but spotted a spare one just by the door

-You weren’t there so, without thinking, he just went and sat in it pulling out his notes

-The third week of class comes round, and you arrive to class to see a boy sat in “your” seat and ur fuming bc hello,,,, did he not realise that the seat was already claimed by you

-You stalked up to it and placed your hands on the desk, tapping impatiently

-The boy looked up from his phone and pulled a headphone out, and you could hear a heavy beat with a melodic voice rapping over the top bleed out through the now free headphone

-“I believe you’re sat in my seat”

-The boy just looked at you confused from under his black bangs and beanie

-“But,,, I was sat here last week?”

-“And I was sat here in the first week which makes this MY seat so move it before I drop kick you outta this seat”

-The boy just laughed, before gathering his stuff and placing it on the empty seat next to you,,,, guess that person didn’t want to go to class this week

-(Plot twist: they did turn up albeit 10 minutes late and they realised,,, they lost their seat to Jisung forever and rumour has it the department had to steal a new table for the classroom)

-You just sighed, placing your bag heavily on the table whilst the other boy just sat there, tapping his fingers in time with the music

-Little did you know that this was going to be the beginning of your friendship with Jisung

-As the class started you couldn’t help but be drawn to the boy next to you as he bounced excitedly in his seat whilst your professor spouted some nonsense about how to teach the possessive case as easily as possible

-You couldn’t help but smile as Jisung yelled out nonsense answers to the questions asked by both professor and students, and you full on laughed as Jisung got into a friendly debate with the teacher and the teacher just gave up halfway through

-You caught Jisung’s eye as he sat back down in his seat once the teacher turned his attention elsewhere and he just grinned at you, seeing the smile that was playing around your mouth

-When the two of you were partnered up for a quiz that was going to happen next lesson and the class split off in order to delegate revision

-“I’m Jisung!” the boy, Jisung you now knew, burst out excitedly

-You laughed at his enthusiasm and he smiled at you, before introducing yourself

-“And I’m Y/N, pleasure to meet you Jisung”

-And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the beginning of a beautiful if slightly crazy friendship

-You see, Jisung brought out the loud, childish side in you especially during class whilst you had the ability to mellow him slightly when he got just a little too raucous when challenging a teacher or throwing out answers

-The two of you became extremely close friends, even hanging out with each other at the others flats

-You could be seen playing video games most days instead of studying or having Netflix binges when you should’ve been making lesson plans

-But it was all in good fun, considering you hadn’t failed any classes yet and you had a good social life as well

-Jisung introduced you to his friends and you were essentially one of them now

-Like, you frequently had the boys over in your flat even without Jisung being there

-You came back one day after class with Jisung in tow and found Seungmin and Hyunjin sat outside your door, pouting bc Changbin kicked them out of their apartment bc he “needed space to think for his new track and he couldn’t hear himself think over the sound of a law book being thrown at Hyunjin whilst he was playing overwatch so you NEED TO LEAVE BEFORE I DRAG YOU OUT” to which Hyunjin had replied with “can you even reach my neck?” and Changbin nearly tackled Hyunjin so Seungmin dragged him away before he would be looking for a new flatmate

-You just roll your eyes before unlocking your door and letting them in, knowing they feared the wrath of Changbin lmao

-I mean, they knew where everything was in the flat now so nothing was sacred

-But only Jisung knew where your secret stash of snacks were :’)

-True friendship

-Before you knew it, everyone but Changbin had turned up to your tiny flat for an impromptu movie night

-Chan and Woojin had brought along snacks and drinks, and a very disgruntled Jeongin who just wanted to sleep, whilst Felix and Minho brought more blankets and pillows and set up a pillow fort in front of your TV

-You watch in utter horror as popcorn ends up in every corner of the room before the film had even started bc Hyunjin was retelling his story of nearly being killed by Changbin that afternoon and they all retaliated by throwing popcorn at him

-The boys decided to watch a horror film, and you were less than thrilled

-You didn’t hate them,, you just hated the jump scares and sometimes you had to sleep with the light on just in case

-As you grabbed the drinks bottles from the kitchen, you navigated your way through the pile of boys that had accumulated on your sofa and floor placing the bottles on the floor next to the table

-Frowning, you couldn’t see any free spaces to sit on your sofa and you were slightly annoyed,,,, bc hello it’s your flat AND you sofa u didn’t care that you had guests they were your friends

-As you stood there trying to figure out where to sit, a hand wrapped itself around your wrist and you looked down to see Jisung staring up at you, gesturing to a space next to him

-Knowing there was nowhere else to sit, you begrudgingly sat next to him and Jisung smiled really widely as he felt the heat from your body next to his

-As the film progressed, you found yourself moving closer and closer to Jisung the more jump scares that occurred

-Safe to say, you whimpered quite a lot and at one point you buried you face into Jisung’s chest trying to calm down

-Jisung,,, was pretty concerned with you bc he didn’t know that you were scared of horror films so rather than laughing at you like he would do with the boys,,, he grabbed your hand and rubbed circles onto the back of it soothingly in an attempt to calm you down

-By the end of the film you were basically sat in Jisung’s lap and he had one arm wrapped around your shoulders and his other hand holding yours uwu

-You didn’t realise the film was over until you heard someone, who sounded suspiciously like Seungmin, cough and you practically leapt out of Jisung’s lap

-You didn’t see the smirks Hyunjin and Minho sent Jisung’s way bc you were too embarrassed to admit the fact you were scared and needed Jisung to protect you lmao

-Deciding the night was still young, the boys picked another film and at this point,, you were extremely tired

-The last film had worn you out emotionally and you found yourself drifting off during the second one

-As you did, you shuffled closer to Jisung bc he was warm and soft and you missed the warmth to be quite honest

-As you rested your head on his shoulder, your hand found his and entangled your fingers together before getting comfortable to watch the film

-Jisung was a blushing MESS at your actions tbh,,, like who allowed you to be so cute and play with his heart like this

-The smirks on Hyunjin and Minho’s faces only grew wider as Jisung sent them a panicked look

-You’ll thank us later was what Minho mouthed at him, before turning his attention back to the film that was playing

-Jisung could not find it in him to concentrate on the film, instead choosing to take in your features one by one

-The way your eyelashes rested perfectly on your cheekbones, how your eyebrows would furrow as you shuffled trying to get comfier and the feel on your fingers intertwined with his made his heart rate pick up and left him breathless

-I mean, Jisung had always acknowledged that you were attractive and when you ended up spending more time with him and you got closer,,,, he began to notice everything about you, and whilst sometimes he had trouble recalling what his friends told him sometimes,, he managed to always remember everything you said so clearly

-He gasped,, realising that he had maybe developed a tiny crush on you

-On the opposite side of the room you could see the victory gleaming in Minho and Hyunjin’s eyes

-U see,,, they already knew Jisung had a crush on you and they were just trying to get him to realise it so they could see the two of you happy together bc,,,, boy did they know how much you liked him as well

-Out of all Jisung’s friends, you had grown the closest to Minho and it was to him that you had vented everything about Jisung to,,,, he was just trying to figure out a way to make you realise you had a crush on him too

-Luckily,,, Minho needn’t interfere at all bc after the movie had finished both you and Jisung had fallen asleep and the rest of the boys had left to two you asleep on your apartment floor

-You woke up the next day feeling incredibly warm and extremely uncomfortable

-You rolled over only to encounter an obstacle,,,, cracking an eye open it looked familiar and you realised that your hand was entangled with someone else’s and all of a sudden the images of last night came flooding back into your head

-You clinging onto Jisung, him rubbing soothing circles onto your hand, holding his hand,,,, and then falling asleep

-What you didn’t realise through all this was that Jisung too was waking up

-It wasn’t until you were observing Jisung’s face that you realised his eyes were in fact open and he was staring at you with a soft smile on his face

-Groaning, you reached for a pillow behind you and threw it at him

-Jisung’s laugh echoed loudly in your ears before he launched a pillow at you

-Well,,, it was just a full on pillow fight after that for a good ten minutes until you had all the pillows and Jisung pleaded mercy

-“Fine, I win and you get to make breakfast instead” you conceded, hugging one of the pillows and Jisung begrudgingly agreed, trudging to the kitchen

-10 minutes later, he served you a plate of toast with different toppings and you couldn’t help but laugh bc you forgot how incompetent Jisung was in the kitchen

-As the two of you ate the toast, your eyes kept drifting to Jisung

-His messy hair was almost comical but you found it endearing somehow, and his face was kind of puffy from just having woken up but there was something so intimate about the scene that you kind of wanted to take a photo of how domestic you felt

-As you finished your slice, you took a sip of water admiring Jisung’s features when all of a sudden he made his way over to you

-He leant in and kissed the corner of your lips, before pulling away and smiling at you

-“You had something there”

-Um Y/N.exe has stopped working

-You were literally dying right now,, like wtf

-Why was he being so smooth all of a sudden

-Your brain just went into overdrive and the only logical solution you could think of was pretty damn crazy

-Your head and heart were both in agreement at the solution

-So you just stand up to meet him and grab the collar of his t-shirt and planted a kiss right on his lips

-He was,,, shocked to say the least but goddamn relieved that you reciprocated his feelings

-The two of you pulled apart and sat in silence for a few minutes,,, no one daring to break the silence

-“Soooo,,,, you wanna go on a date?”

-“Sure, let me get dressed and let’s go”

-DATING JISUNG:

-So your relationship,, is definitely not unexpected and was met with great enthusiasm from the boys bc finally,, you had stopped pining

-We didn’t pine!!!

-Look,,, listening to both of you gushing about the other to me was SICKENING and can therefore be seen as pining good day to you

-You and Jisung was very high energy and mainly bc of Jisung bc he would not ! stop! Talking! 99% of the time and u were like,,, babe I love you but pls shut up

-And he would get all pouty which could only be solved if you kissed him

-One day Minho asked you how put up with Jisung being loud for so long and you were like,,, easy! There’s a trick, an off switch of sorts. Care to find out?

-Minho,,, was intrigued but also wary bc hello,,, this is Jisung we’re talking about

-You walked over to Jisung and tapped his shoulder whilst he was talking to Hyunjin about the killing streak he got on overwatch last night you just planted a kiss on his cheek and Jisung stopped talking and giggled shyly before kissing ur cheek back

-You sauntered back to Minho with a smug look on your face whilst Minho,,,, just had a very disgusted look on his face he knew he shouldn’t have trusted you to have a simple answer to his question

-One thing you didn’t know about Jisung was the fact he was part of 3RACHA

-Like you had heard of them,,, you just weren’t big on the campus social life tbh so most things like this kinda went straight past you

-You noticed, however, now you were dating Jisung was that twice a week would disappear for a few hours then occasionally on weekends he would go missing for the entire night

-Not that you were worried that he was doing anything bad bc you trusted Jisung wasn’t THAT stupid to get arrested or something (you hadn’t ruled it out entirely as this is Jisung we’re talking about, he would get arrested for disturbing the peace or something at 3am)

-You just wondered what Jisung was doing bc you were curious

-You waited a few weeks to see if he would tell you and when he hadn’t you just straight up asked him where he went

-He was a little startled, but rather than giving you an answer he just grabbed your hand and tugged you out of the door and towards campus

-“Jisung, babe, please tell me where we’re going” you panted as he weaved through the unfamiliar corridors of a building you had never been in before

-Without warning, he opened a door and pulled you into a,,,,

-Recording studio???

-“Babe,,, what is all this?”

-“I probably told you that I did lyrical composition alongside linguistics right??”

-“Briefly, you were pretty quiet about it to be honest”

-“Well, with Chan-hyung and Changbin-hyung, we uh, write songs and perform them sometimes”

-“Really?! That’s so cool”

-“You think so?” he asked you shyly, ruffling his hair nervously

-“HELL YEAH that’s amazing, could I maybe hear some of the stuff you’ve done?”

-Jisung smiled, slipping into a chair in front of the chair looking extremely professional and began clicking on stuff and bringing up a track

-He plugged in a pair of headphones and slipped them onto your ears, pressing play

-You heard his voice intertwine with the smooth melody and you were in awe at his sheer talent, like you were so shocked that your boyfriend could sing AND rap extremely well

-Jisung sat watching the expressions on your face as the song played, smiling as he saw the different emotions flash upon yourself

-When the song ended you flung yourself at him and began kissing him all over his face whilst he laughed at the sudden affection

-You leant in to kiss him deeply and he just leaned back in the chair pulling you closer to him

-The kiss probably would’ve got more intense if Chan and Changbin hadn’t walked in just in the moment and literally screamed at the fact their friends were tainting their recording studio (it wasn’t actually theirs but the music department graciously let them use it out of hours)

-You threw yourself off Jisung and were extremely red in the face, and Jisung had the audacity to grin at his hyungs

-Changbin just threw a pillow from one of the chairs at him, glaring at him as he took a seat in the other chair whilst Chan just glanced between the two of you

-“I’ll just get going” you said awkwardly, backing towards the door when Jisung shot up and pulled you from the door so he could walk you home

-I can’t believe I have to sit in this seat,,, it’s TAINTED changbin

-It’s your own fault

-???? How ????

-Idk,,, just your bad luck

-…….

-ANYWAY

-You and Jisung were an extremely clingy couple,,, like skinship central

-Jisung absolutely loved loved LOVED it when you would wrap him in a back hug bc it made him very happy and he just loved the feeling of your arms wrapped so securely around him and your hot breath tickling the back of his neck

-Seungmin had to have his law books confiscated whenever you hung out together bc he would just keep throwing them at Jisung whenever he would kiss you or show any affection

-SEUNGMIN IT’S JUST A KISS

-IT’S AFFECTION KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME

-Cue Jisung chasing after Seungmin to try and tackle him and plant a kiss on his cheek,,,, he succeeded but at what cost

-Seungmin nearly throttling him, that was the cost

-Despite the excessive skinship, you and Jisung wouldn’t change your relationship for the world

-You were just the loud, clingy couple that hyped each other up even in the most mundane thing

-Like,, you did a presentation for one of your classes and Jisung waited outside for your class to finish and when you left the class he threw confetti at you before screaming about how much his baby did him proud

-If this was literally any other couple the whole of campus would’ve been like wtf are they crazy but when they heard Jisung scream they were just like,,, ofc

-Hey Y/N u wanna go

-Yeah

-On a date with me./ OH YOU DO./ OHH

-YOU’RE SAYING THAT LIKE I FELL FOR A CUNNING PRANK WE’RE LITERALLY DATING YOU EGG

dating college jisung is just a big meme filled mess tbh

#stray kids #stray kids imagines #stray kids imagine #stray kids scenarios #stray kids han #han jisung #han jisung imagine #han jisung scenarios #stray kids han imagine #stray kids han scenarious #college au #han jisung college au

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queenklu · 6 years

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So You Think You Can Dragon p9: werewolves not swearwolves

I thought I’d start this post by talking about some of the mechanics I’m still getting a grip on.

It is BIZARRE to me that the only edge I happen to have while playing a my very first video game is that I listen to a DND podcast

leveling up! sssskills! uhhhh math? enemy has resisted!

I’m still SO MAD????? that I have to be in charge of playing dress up for my grown ass party members.

Y’ALL ARE ADULTS WHO’VE BEEN ADVENTURING LONGER THAN I, THE UNQUALIFIED GENTRY,

YOU NEED TO BE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN ARMOR

i’ll be in charge of gifting gifties and reaping allll the praise

Real big fan of the ‘SIT, STAY’ button

glad @tombolguid told me about that

comes in real handy when Magnus needs to run around a room disarming traps so they don’t try to follow me and step directly onto all of them

like the spectacular failboats they are

sidenote: real glad ‘easy mode’ seems to mean getting a flamethrower directly to the face doesn’t do massive amounts of damage

still hurts my soul tho

Speaking of: I do not understand why healing potions don’t actually heal your goddamn injuries

oh no you’re totally healed bro, but your eyeball’s hanging out of its socket

I bought every fuckin injury potion I could get my hands on before heading into this forest and i still had to ration it like “oh man, well, Morrigan’s got a skull fracture and a gaping wound but Sten’s got a broken limb, a concussion, and he’s deaf in both ears I guess he gets the lesser injury potion we just found bc i’m PLAIN OUT”

PLOT WISE

It turns out Tuvok invented werewolves. Out of revenge for a real bad thing that happened literally centuries ago. And he intended to keep that curse going. Despite the people he was revenging having died of naturalish causes waaay back in the day. And all of his own people getting murdered and/or werewolfed.

Tuvok, how could you.

I’m surprised the werewolves want to be uncursed tbh. We’ve got, what, at LEAST 3rd generation of werewolves who have never known what being human is like? Why do they want to change back? Humans get ACNE. And they have to wear SHOES. I just don’t think they’ve thought this through.

But hey, seeing as Tuvok’s plan is to murder everyone including their weird naked tree mom (who is maybe kind of Tuvok’s daughter bc he “made her””” (but also maybe she’s fuckin these werewolves??)) AND MEANWHILE the werewolves are all “not if we murder you first!!!” so

I’m really glad that my complete lack of statistics, probability, and balancing skillsets allowed me to sink every last level into being the most persuasive motherfucker on this planet.

Magnus: How bout we......don’t?

Tuvok & werewolves: o shit he’s got a good point

And children that’s how Tuvok the Old As Balls died peacefully and also so did the tree lady, woe. The werewolves were uncursed, and somehow transformed into humans who were already wearing clothes. They ran off into the woods in perfect pack formation. I’m sure this will all work out well. ~THE END.~

ROMANCE WISE:

MAaaan. Romancing Zevran is like trying to date the cross of a Spanish Zac Efron and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.

“These are your badness levels. They’re remarkably high for someone your size.”

He’s little, and broken,

He recently recited raunchy poetry to me, then ruined it by mentioning he memorized it from a lady who told it to him to keep him from murdering her.

Magnus: ........uhhh........

Zac Efron: But I banged her for HOURS before I killed her so that makes it ooooookay :D

Magnus: ..........................................*squints????*

Does he r e a l i z e how fucked up his life was? I keep catching glimmers here and there that he maaaaybe does? But boy howdie is he quick to cover it up.

WYNNE meanwhile,,, wants to ask me my INTENTIONS

Wynne: I hope I don’t need to tell you we can all hear you banging quite loudly in the camp every night.

me: .....thE FUCK YOU CAN

me: I HAVEN’T CLICKED THAT OPTION YET.

me: IS SOMEONE ELSE FUCKIN IN THE CAMP? WHOMST??

me: ALISTAIR AND.....LELIANA???? the most virgin of virgins????

me: MORRIGAN AND..........STEN?????????????? WHO BEEN FUCKIN’

me: otherwise we’ve got a coyote infestation and you’ve got a dirty mind, wynne, check MATE

magnus: ur not my mom

zac efron: *approves*

Part 10

#So You Think You Can Dragon

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chrysaliseuro2018 · 6 years

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Aphrodisias

Day 4 of the tour and a leisurely 9.30 start for our private trip to Aphrodisias which was recommended to us by Dougal and Genevieve. Prior to setting off we again had breakfast in the magnificent setting of the 7th floor of our hotel gazing across the whole bay before we were met by our tour guide for the day Daniel. Daniel was young with virtually perfect English and most engaging. There was a driver also who said hello but not much more and we set off for the 2 hour trip in a pretty small car though plenty of room for the 4 of us. The car was the driver's though every time we hit a mini hill he drove it like a 17 year old learner with much revving, a bit of backwards roll and crunching of the manual gearbox. A bit like my efforts with hire cars. I was wondering if it was a borrowed vehicle, not that that mattered much, except he drove like your typical Turkish driver with foot to the floor at every opportunity so always handy if you have some familiarity with the contraption. It was a couple of hour's trip and for much of it Daniel turned around in the front seat and chatted to us. He was keen to know about Australia, had travelled overseas himself and was happy to chat candidly about all sorts of topics about Turkey. The time passed quickly enough. One of the messages we got was that things are a bit tougher on the financial front for Turks compared to Aussies. While this on the face of it seemed true (though many of them seem to be fantastic entrepreneurs with great business acumen) we also did wonder if we were being softened up for a generous tip. Anyway we had an interesting, diverse and pleasant chat and really enjoyed his company. Aphrodisias is another of those ancient cities in the Troy, Pergamon mould. Evidence of occupation going back to 5000 BC but in its heyday from 1st century BC and by the 3rd century AD it was a Roman provincial capital with a population of 150,000. It was wealthy and well known for the quality of its marble. Particular highlights were the stadium which was in very good condition. Seats for 30,000 people, 270 metres long and a place to hold athletic games, chariot racing and at one end gladiatorial contests. The theatre was also in fine condition with seats for 7,000 and also a building called the Sebasteion a 3 storied temple to the deified Roman emperors which was magnificent. I Perhaps the absolute highlight though was the building we visited last which was the museum. A large collection of basically Roman sculptures of citizens, noblemen, Gods and Goddesses and a flying horse which stole the show. The quality was superb and being inside and away from the elements meant that the level of preservation was very high. We spent 45 minutes or more in there after an hour and a half of wondering around the city itself. Like all the ancient cities we had visited, Aphrodisias presented another opportunity to immerse yourself in a bygone world. The Romans given the period they were operating in and the lack of facility to me were probably the ultimate colonial power though the Ottomans later gave them a run for their money. It's amazing though as you move around Europe how many substantial Roman towns you come across. As I have mentioned before I grew up in one in England (Rochester). You know on these tours to typical ancient towns or cities that you are going to see the forum, the temples, the baths, the theatre etc but it's still a buzz cos for me it's where people hung out and did stuff. The sort of stuff many people still do today - prayed, shopped, chatted to their mates, went to the doctors etc. They did wash a bit more communally than us because the facilities at home were not that good but another great opportunity to natter. At around 2.30 with the tour over it was time for lunch.Just the 4 of us including the guide and driver. Liz and I had a fairly plain lunch. We had chicken shaslicks which were large but a little overcooked. We should have followed the direction of the locals who went for koftes which looked great. One amusing thing at lunch was that I spoke to the driver and asked him if he spoke English. He did, pretty fluently but indicated that it wasn't his job to speak so he hadn't. So after 6 hours of him being mute we realised that we had another English speaker in our midst which made me wonder if I'd made any adverse comments about his driving during the day. However after that short sentence or so he went back to being mostly mute though very amicable. Anyway did the job and around 3.30 we set off for the final leg of the tour which was a couple of hour trip to Pammukale. Daniel referred to this period as siesta time and it mostly was though we badgered him with a few more questions. If it's an interesting time across the world (and perhaps it always is) in Turkey it's very interesting. A presidential election in the offing with strong views either way on the leading candidate. The Kurdish issue. Syria. Relationships with Russia and the West. In addition as we travelled around there was a wide tolerance of different behaviours - some Turkish people drink alcohol others don't. Some women wear very or partly conservative clothing (the further away from the big cities the more conservative it would seem though in big cities also) others wear essentially western style clothing and the whole range of it. In addition there is the absolute fascination of East meets West and the confluence of cultures. It's a really interesting place. And one wonders of course how all these various areas and issues will play out if you jump forward 5 and 10 years. We still had a week to go but thought provoking discussions with Daniel and other locals we had met gave much food for thought. We arrived at our humongous hotel "the Colossae" - most aptly named which was a short distance out of the main town. Obviously an overnight stop for tourist buses as there were large numbers of Chinese and Japanese tourists. We parted company with the boys and it had been a great day. Interesting site, committed guide, we learned a lot. Would recommend the diversion though most structured tours don't go to Aphrodisias so we had to arrange a private tour. A That night was low key. Dinner was included and was buffet style but finished at 9.00. Given lunch finished after 4.00 we were not very hungry but shoved some grub down, nothing too inspiring though very friendly service from the staff. We did muse that if the current super powers US, China, Russia set the standards for the approach to eating going fwd, meals will become far more perfunctory and there will be a lot more utensil waving. Speed of consumption seems to be the goal though I am at the very boring end of that, timewise, as many lunch and dinner companions twiddling their thumbs waiting for me to finish will attest.

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sussex-nature-lover · 3 years

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Tuesday 22nd December 2020

Our Garden Birds. Part 1

♦ bold type indicates an outside link not affiliated to this blog

Before I start today, did anyone manage to see the Great Conjunction last night?

It was thick cloud cover here and the only bright light in the sky was a reflection of the house Landing lights in the bathroom window. I’ll keep looking out and you never know our luck although I have to say considering yesterday was the shortest day, today is putting up some stiff competition and the sky is a sheet of grey.

Back to birds...

Long Tailed Tit on one of our feeding towers

I’ve been chatting with Ms NW tE and she’s disappointed that her venture into bird feeding hasn’t taken off like she’d hoped and she wanted to have a conversation about that and about why and when do the birds come and go, so I thought that’s what I’d write about today. It’s turning out to be long, so I’ll have to carry over to tomorrow.

Why and How to Feed Garden Birds

First off think about your budget and the amount of time you’re prepared to put into feeding your birds. Second, think about the birds and wildlife you attract into your garden and what their needs are. For example we have a large and active squirrel population and for that reason we tend to avoid feeding peanuts - the cost is just prohibitive, we wouldn’t be able to keep up with them.

We offer hanging feeders with high quality fat balls NB please do not buy the coarse,cheap ones which are less nutritious and avoid the dangerous netting at all costs, Birds can get trapped in the net, it’s a very bad idea.

We have two metal garden obelisk type towers. They’re meant as features or to support climbing plants, but we have nicknamed them Italy and France (the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower don’tcha know, No prizes for why they got those names) and we suspend ‘Squirrel Proof’ (excuse me while I convulse with bitter laughter) Fat Ball Cages from each of them.

So called Squirrel Proof feeders No offence to designers and manufacturers but this is a battle you will never entirely win.

Squirrels are skilled acrobats and endlessly determined. We’ve used an old football rattle, a saucepan and wooden spoon, a kid’s Super Soaker water gun and any manner of things to frighten them off. They work, sort of, for a while...a short while.

We’ve had squirrels chew through plastic feeders and the ones made of very sturdy wire; learn to open the top lid so we had to secure it with twine and it was a devil then to top up or refill: one little squirrel actually got INSIDE the cage and when all else has defeated them they’ve stolen feeders and taken them away never to be found.

Squirrels really do manage the most outrageous assaults on the food sources

We also offer seed in ground trays of various sizes. The large wooden one has bitten the dust though after being trampled by Deer and the small ones have proven just the right size for tiny twins.

In the end we just accept that they’re hungry and pander to them as much as we look after our birds.

This brings me to another topic, not very savoury, but to be borne in mind - bird food may attract much less desirables. You can’t choose to put out food and always see it taken by what you intend it for and worst case scenario you may find it attracts rodents. Take in food at dusk if you can, sweep up any spilled seed and if you do have an issue then you may have to stop feeding for a time.

Also top priority for bird and garden health is to keep your feeders and the feeding areas clean. Good advice can be found Here and I do recommend to diary note regularly as we all know time runs away with us on the routine tasks.

Where to Place your Feeders

Bear all these points in mind:

Sheltered

The bird table needs to be positioned where there is not too much direct sunlight or in a windy location. Birds will feel safer it is in a sheltered position.

Quiet

If possible locate in a quiet place in your garden, preferably not by a path or any other area with human traffic passing. Remember not to place the bird table too far away from your house then you can still enjoy watching the birds!

One last thing to consider, make sure the bird table is placed away from cat ambush sites including fences which cats can leap from.

Safe Location

The bird table needs to be positioned next to a bush or tree; birds will perch before landing on the bird table to ensure that is it safe for them to land on it.

Raised

A raised bird table is easier to view from your house and safer being away from predators. Most bird tables are complete with a wooden pole but you can hang bird tables from a tree.

Nuthatch particularly like Sunflower seeds and you don’t have to spend a lot of money on suitable containers

Our feeders are directly in front of the kitchen patio doors so we have great viewing from our seats at the table - this is why so many of my photos are hurriedly snatched shots taken through the glass. We’ve left the dead trunk of the palm as a kind of Totem (our name for it) as the birds do like to fly to the various trunks and perch there or queue before going on to the feeder. The palm also offers some shelter and protection from both the weather conditions and the predatory Sparrow Hawk. We have Bamboo growing in our garden and in the hot weather I’ve been known to cut branches down and use those as a natural parasol too.

A lot of our birds are so used to us now that they don’t mind our presence and are happy to come and feed while we’re around outside. Some, like the Pheasants will more or less come and ask for more supplies, indeed when we had some resident Mallards, they’d peck at the door in the mornings. The Blue Tits will flock around my Crow as he fills up the feeders. We imagine the cry going out ‘The Man’s heeeeeeeere’

Female Common Pheasant above and Male below. The record number we’ve had in the garden at one time was the Season we got up to 22 - cost a fortune in corn

Anything for Me Please?

We’ve also been very lucky that when we had Dennis and now M Flambeau visiting, they are so well fed that they didn’t bother the birds at all. Actually Dennis used to watch the wildlife like he had his own TV channel for viewing pleasure. Here he is with his own personal Christmas tree. The little birds used to come and perch in it while he sat underneath.

When he first came to live with us he would occasionally give chase to a Butler (Squirrells) or two, but he soon tired of that and saved his energies.

Attracting Birds to your Garden

Just think when the breeding season is highly active, during Springtime, your garden feeders offer a handy and easy source of food for busy parents and their hungry nestlings.

Hungry young Great Tit

In bad weather and harsh winters when natural food is scarce, feeders can be a life saver and please don’t forget to keep fresh water available at all times too.

The important things to remember are good hygiene for your birds’ safety and well being and that if you are going to feed, do it regularly as you don’t want birds wasting their energy seeking out a food source that isn’t available that day.

Much the same as humans have different tastes and diets which are based both on natural preferences and on learned or informed decisions, our animal and bird life is subject to the same. I’ve noticed how some birds learn new tastes and routines to go against type and some stick rigidly to their type. Insect eaters such as Swallows for example haven’t ventured into our feeding areas despite once nesting in our front porch in the Robin box. Robins and the bigger birds like Magpie, Jackdaw and Rooks have found it very tricky to use the hanging feeders, but have persevered and triumphed, adapting their skills and mastering them to reach a food they enjoy. Others will happily scavenge for the bits that fall below.

‘Joe’ Rook and his balancing act. Source of the Joe nickname is Here

Starlings taking advantage of the berries on the palm

Top Ten plants birds will appreciate in your garden.

Birds of all sizes can be found sharing and feeding with impeccable manners, while others like Starlings descend like a veritable plague and are noisy and ill tempered with it. It all forms part of the experience of bird watching.

(mostly) Young Starlings and Great Spotted Woodpeckers make short work of three fat balls

Our gardens are an endless source of food for Green Woodpeckers, who unlike the Great Spotted ones, feed off Ants. We just need thousands more Woodies to keep up the sterling work.

Also insect eaters, Wagtails will come only to drink, although we did have one particularly comical Pied Wagtail who we nicknamed The Inspector because he liked to patrol the ground trays and see off other birds even though he didn’t partake for himself. I believe the expression for that is Dog in the Manger

Generic internet illustration

What's the origin of the phrase 'Dog in the manger'?

The infamous 'dog in a manger', who occupied the manger not because he wanted to eat the hay there but to prevent the other animals from doing so, is generally said to have been the invention of the Greek storyteller Aesop (circa 600 BC).

We happily ascribe this expression to Aesop, disregarding the lack of evidence that he even existed.

Many of the fables that have been credited to Aesop do in fact date from well before the 5th century BC and modern scholarship doesn't give much credence to the idea that Aesop's Fables, as we now know them, were written by him at all. Accounts of Aesop's life are vague and date from long after his death and some scholars doubt that there ever was a real Aesop. If he existed at all, it was as an editor of earlier Greek and Sumerian stories rather than as the writer of them.

Nothing written by Aesop now exists in any form. Nevertheless, you can go into any bookshop and buy a copy of 'Aesop's Fables'

I never actually thought of the expression as one of the Fables. The one that always springs to my mind is that of The Tortoise and the Hare, or the Hare and the Tortoise as it appears on the link above.

The carved staircase at Thornton Hall Hotel, Wirral - with scenes from Aesop’s Fables (est c1892) We used to go often for Sunday lunch when the girls were small

Once young broods are successfully raised you might notice feeders fall out of favour for a while. The wild foods like seeds and fruits in hedgerows and spilled grains from the harvest, mean birds can assert their independence and do their natural thing. They tend to return when they need to. Long Tailed Tits are a classic example of this behaviour taking long breaks in the woods and being missed very much by us. It’s great when they return.

Birds often disappear and go ‘into hiding’ after breeding when they moult and need time to recuperate, get their strength back and replace their flight feathers, Poor worn-out things.

Feeding birds can also have a side benefit - since the G S Woodpeckers became so very fond of the fat balls, we’ve noticed attacks on the bird boxes have ceased (fingers crossed) and everyone’s happily well fed.

To be continued.

Male Woodpecker using a crack in the palm to hold steady a piece broken from a fat ball

And do remember, as I said, in both hot weather and cold, please leave fresh, clean water for the birds to drink and to bathe. You don’t need a dedicated bird bath, they’re not fussy and really do appreciate a water source.

Little and Large, or should I say very large and little. Sparrowhawk above on the bird bath and Goldfinch below.

Decorations from the Standen Courtyard Christmas Trees

Two handmade heart decorations today. I thought we could do with seeing something nice and bright and different. These two are particularly beautiful and well crafted.

December 22nd Advent Door. The ever popular Blue Tit

The Nature Watch Nativity

The Shepherds were frightened at the sight of a brilliant light in the sky, but an Angel appeared and told them they should not be afraid as there was wonderful news to share. The lowly Shepherds were the first to be told of the birth of the baby Jesus.

Christmas Hymn of Choice today from King’s College Choir, Cambridge

‘Angels from the Realms of Glory’

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#caring for garden birds feeding birds Advent decorations Christmas #Nativity Goldfinch Sparrowhawk Woodpeckers #Squirrels nature photography

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