#more than one or two mains that are really gonna require Makeup

[whiteteadreams]

Pink + White

Pairing: Non-Idol!Zhong Chenle x Maid Cafe Waitress!Female Reader

Preview: “Chenle, we shouldn’t.” He backed you into the kitchen island, watching your every move. “Why not?” He looked into your frantic eyes that were searching for a way out with a false sense of confusion. Chenle placed his hands on the counter at your sides, slightly behind you, caging you in.

“T-the deal?” You assumed it was obvious but as you said it, you knew it didn’t make sense and you were screwed. “I think we both know that this-” he pointed between the two of you, “-isn’t a part of the deal.” He was right. You hated him but that didn’t mean you didn’t want him.

Word Count: 15.1k

Genre: (not actual) Enemies to Lovers, smut, angst, fluff, non-Idol AU,

Warnings: Chenle is really mean, reader is quite sensitive, their sexual relations aren't a part of the deal they made, both parties' consent and enjoy what goes on, blackmailing, cleaning wounds, chemical burns and bruises are mentioned, reader works at a maid cafe (men are weird and gross.), they aren't actually enemies ig they're just stupid, mature language/cursing, not proofread at all

Smut Warnings: slight dub-con (easy to miss), maid kink obvi, degrading names (slut, bitch, messy, whore etc.), kitchen sex, use of pussy pump, oral sex (both receiving and giving), sex is interrupted at one point, squirting, slapping, praise, heavy degradation, dumbification, dom/sub themes, chenle is mean, photo taken during sex, possessiveness, ik there is more so pls let me know lol

a/n- so this sprouted from several things lol i already had the idea for one of the scenes and then the youtuber emirichu posted her video abt the maid cafe and i just wanted to go ahead and write this. i hope you all enjoy it <3 ALSO sorry it took so long to write, it's over 11k words more than i thought it was gonna be lol

Stepping into the ‘Employee’s Only’ bathroom, you made sure your appearance was perfect before clocking in for your shift. Your thigh-high socks were all the way up, only two inches below the hem of your skirt. Your frills were wrinkle free, allowing them to show their true shape. The bow that sat at the small of your back wasn’t too tight nor too loose, it was fluffed, just like it was required to be. You didn’t hate the uniform, you felt really cute in it, but it was the customers that made it dreadful. The old men that would come in just to get called “Master” always, without fail, make some comment about taking the dress off of you.

Other than them, your job was quite enjoyable, it was a pretty and chill environment, you made close friends with some of your coworkers, and the shoes that came with the uniform made everything slightly less miserable for you. Shiny, black Mary Jane heels.

Deeming your hair, makeup, and outfit good enough to start your day, you walked out of the bathroom and headed for the machine in the back of the café.

“Hey girly” Minjeong bumped your hip as she passed you. She was the first friend you had met while working at the café. And even now, she was your closest friend. Your friendship didn’t stay inside the café but the two of you spent time together constantly.

“Hi Minjeong, have we been busy so far?” She didn’t give you a verbal response, only nodding her head with wide crazed eyes. You laughed at her expression and finished punching in your numbers. The ding sounded and that signaled that your shift had begun.  

“Alrighty, one of your regulars is here so you better go wait on him.” Minjeong pointed to the man in the corner of the restaurant. Having immediately recognized him, you grumbled a bit. Sure the tips were great, but you’d have to work for him. He wasn’t just gonna give you money for looking pretty, he’d make you run back and forth with different requests for the kitchen.

“Wish me luck.” Fixing you once slouched posture, you stood up straight and walked out of the back and towards the main floor. Minjeong winked at you, bit her lip, and wolf whistled as you walked away.

You were still lightly laughing as you approached the customer who had been waiting for you. “Well, aren’t you happy to see me?” Your real laughter stopped immediately and was replaced with your “customer service” laugh, it was fake and high pitched. “Oh I’m always excited to see you, Master.” You bowed your head, looking down at your shoes while you waited for him to say something.

“I think I’ll have my usual for lunch, but I’m in the mood for something sweet.” His gaze was almost predatory. The glint of lust in his eyes that were raking your body was unwanted. “How about you and that other pretty little maid over there tell me what you would recommend.” He licked his bottom lip as he pointed at Minjeong with his head.

“Right away Master.” Bowing to him and turning on your heel, you walked over to Minjeong who was headed towards the kitchen.

You walking quicker just a tad to put you side by side to Minjeong, all while still looking graceful for the customers who could still see you. “Sup pretty little maid, the guy over there wants us to recommend something for desert.” You smirked and raised both eyebrows in a provocative way. “Ugh, is that what he called me or something?” Nodding your head and linking your arm to hers, you steered the both of you back to the man’s table.

While you were still out of the man’s earshot, you heard Minjeong let out a, “Fucking old ass perv.” You elbowed her slyly since you were in the main dining area but still let out a snort, which of course caused her to laugh as well.

“Now I have two pretty girls to assist me. Okay ladies, what would you recommend for something sweet today. Of course, I’m open to trying anything.” Ignoring his obvious advances, you pointed at the menu the dessert section and gave more in-depth descriptions of all of them.

 “Oh my fucking god.” The voice came from behind you and was in shock. Minjeong looked at you with confusion. “Do you know him?” She raised one of her eyebrows at the man behind you. “I’m sorry Mister, it appears another guest is in need of immediate service. I’ll be right with you Master.” Bowing to the man seated in front of you, he rolled his eyes but allowed you to leave.

Minjeong who was still next to you wanted to know if any drama would come out of this conversation. Turning around to face the shocked man, you were still looking at Minjeong when you started speaking to him. “Is there anything I can assist you with Sir?” As soon as you said ‘Sir’, your eyes flickered to who you were actually speaking to. Zhong Chenle, the boy you had a damn nearly decade long feud with.

Before you could show any signs of embarrassment, he started talking. In a ridiculing way, he said your full name slowly. “I never would’ve thought I’d see you working in a place like this. The fuck were you thinking?” He just kept laughing, in your place of employment. Not only was he embarrassing you, but you actually liked your job for the most part and it hurt that he was making fun of it.  

Your boss overheard the conversation and the commotion that Chenle was causing. A few well-known patrons were getting annoyed with being disturbed. You heard your name being called from behind you. “Get this boy out of here and then get back to work!” Glaring at Chenle, you took him by his elbow and pulled him out the back door.

“Why the hell are you here?” You were seething at this point. But even if you were mad, the embarrassment you felt when Chenle’s eyes raked up and down your body overtook every other emotion. He smirked when you crossed your arms and put your legs together, cowering under his gaze.

“Why am I here? Oh, I don’t know, to look at all the pretty maids. It seems like I found my favorite already.” He looked down right sleezy.

“This café is 30 minutes away from campus, there’s literally one down the street from your apartment. Why wouldn’t you just go there? I work here to insure that I don’t run into anyone I know.” By your words, he seemed to gain something, but you didn’t know why the evil look in his eyes was present.

Chenle walked around you, causing you to turn around to follow him, not wanting him to be behind you at any point. “So, what you’re saying is, you don’t want anyone to know about this.” You slowly nodded, regretting saying anything to him.

“It would suck if I told anyone about this, wouldn’t it?”

“You can’t Chenle! Please, don’t. I’ll do anything!” You gasped, pleading for your secret to stay hidden.

“Anything?” He was sly, making sure that no matter what happened, he got the most out of it. In this situation, he would either get to bask in your embarrassment or he would get you.

You thought carefully about your next words, deciding if it would be worth it.

“What would you get out of it?” He shrugged nonchalantly before running his finger along the lace trimming of your skirt. “I think we both know that I’ll get you out of it at some point. However, you can just clean my apartment until then.”

Cleaning with the possibility of sex. You hated Chenle and he hated you, sex would never happen. However, cleaning didn’t seem so bad. It wasn’t as bad as everyone on campus knowing you worked at a maid café.

“Alright, sure.” You rolled your eyes at him, but you still couldn’t shake the feeling in your gut. You didn’t know what that feeling was, but you figured you’d find out eventually.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your feet felt heavy as they dragged you to Chenle’s front door. You wish they were truly as heavy as they felt so you wouldn’t be able to make it to the door. But still, no matter how much you wished your feet would somehow get cemented to the floor, you arrived in front of the wooden door.

Raising your fist to knock, you wondered if this was even worth it. Would it really be terrible if everyone knew about your job? Even the thought of people knowing made your skin crawl, so you went through with the plan and tapped your knuckles on the door.

Hearing a “One minute!” allowed you a bit of time to give yourself a breather and of course, Chenle being Chenle, that minute, turned into a few.

The door swung open once you decided to pull out your phone. Chenle, looking like he had just rolled out of bed, leaned against the frame. His eyes went from your trench coat to your sock covered legs, and down to your heels. His eyes never once reached our face until it was to question your appearance.

“Where’s the maid dress I requested? That was a crucial part of the deal.” Rolling your eyes, you grabbed the belt of the coat and pulled it loose, allowing the front to fall to the sides, baring your outfit to him.

“Ah, there we go. Such a good pretty maid. My pretty maid.” There must be something in the air, because no way in hell did Zhong Chenle’s words make you clench your thighs. Maybe it was the way he was looking at you with those sleepy eyes and smiling at you with that tired smile. Whatever it was, you hated it, but at the same time, you wanted it.

You wanted more.

More of him.

However, you needed to ignore the feelings and just get on with the deal you made. “Alright, what do you want me to clean first?” Smiling, he stepped aside, but not enough for you not to touch. Your side brushed his and he didn’t move until you were all the way in the large apartment.

“Well, you’re gonna clean something I hate cleaning.” It’s going to be his bathroom; you just know it.

Chenle led you through his penthouse sized apartment and said nothing. Walking through the living room that connected to the kitchen and following him down the hallway, he stopped in front of the 4th room on the left.

“Here’s where the porcelain throne stands.” The bathroom. Of course it was going to be the fucking bathroom.

You stepped into the bathroom that was easily bigger than your entire bedroom. Chenle on the other hand bent down and opened the cabinets underneath the sink. “So I don’t know if you’re allergic to any of these products, so I bought you these gloves. The chemical in the orange bottle makes my hands red so, be careful with that one.” You watched as he placed everything on top of the vanity.

Chenle stood back up and handed you the pale pink rubber gloves. “I wanted them to match your outfit.” You grimaced when you looked around the bathroom. For being so rich, the stereotypical housekeeper was nowhere to be seen.

“That’s why I have you.” Your body was facing the mirror and when you looked up to see the voice, Chenle’s mouth was against your ear. Apparently, you had said that out loud. “You’re my pretty little maid. We made a deal and I’m gonna use you in any way I want until you either back out or I’ve had enough.”

He gave your ear an open-mouthed kiss, lightly slapped your thigh where your skin showed and left.

We made a deal and I’m gonna use you in any way I want until you either back out or I’ve had enough.

He wants to sleep with you. Or that’s what he made it seem like.

Not knowing where to start, you decided on cleaning the floor last, just so if anything dripped onto it, you wouldn’t have to clean it twice. 

You were immediately thankful for your thinking since as soon as you picked up one of the spray bottles, it leaked onto the floor once you spritzed onto the washcloth.

Rolling your eyes to yourself, you went ahead and put on the gloves just in case anything else leaked unexpectedly. The gloves were your size which was helpful, you wouldn’t have to worry about the glove sliding down while you were cleaning.

Pulling the gloves on your hands and up to the middle of your forearms, you closed your eyes and randomly picked another bottle. Letting fate decide which disgusting bathroom appliance of Chenle’s you’d have to clean first.

Opening your eyes, bottle in hand, you read the description. You kneeled down by the edge of the bathtub, leaned against the side and started spraying around the tub.

You didn’t mind cleaning, you felt as if it was oddly therapeutic. Spraying the liquid, wiping it away, and watching all the gunk disappear. It was easy to let your mind slip and wander as the hypnotic sight played out in front of you.

The bathtub, toilet, mirrors, sink, and vanities were all clean after about 45 minutes. Your mind wandering definitely caused you to move a bit slower than normal but at least it went by fast. Reaching for more floor cleaner, Chenle walked into the room and just stood there. Stood there and watched you clean.

Tired of his watchful eyes, you abruptly stopped and slapped your covered thighs in annoyance. “Can I help you?” He leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed and a stupid smirk plastered onto his face. He shook his head and continued to watch. “Then why are you looking at me?” You refused to clean one more tile until you knew why he was standing there.

“Am I not allowed to look at my maid? She’s really pretty, it’s hard not to stare when I’ve got her kneeling on the floor for me.” Rolling your eyes at him, you reached for the bottle with the goal of ignoring him. “And now I’ve got her rolling her eyes back!” No matter how annoying he was at this moment, you laughed at him and threw the rag you were using to clean the floor with at him.

“Oh my god, fuck off man.” He caught the flying rag that was headed towards his face and grinned. “Nah I just wanted to tell you that I’ve got sandwiches on the table for lunch.” Chenle reached his hand out to you and shook it lightly, telling you to grab it. Placing your hand in the warmth of his, he helped you off the floor and led you to the kitchen. Your head hurt from the intense smell of his expensive cologne, the feeling of his hand still holding yours, and the thought of him making sandwiches himself, for you.

Pulling away from him to pour yourself some lemonade, with a shaking hand you picked it up by the handle and used the spout of the pitcher to ensure that nothing spilled out. Watching the pale-yellow drink pour into the cup, you listened to Chenle behind you. The crinkle sound the bag of chips made solved the mystery of where he was standing.

When your cup was full you placed the glass pitcher back down on the counter, the soft clink letting you know it was secure. Turning around to sit down at the table, you didn’t know that Chenle had also moved but he was now right behind you. Your chests collided, causing you to spill the lemonade on yourself and Chenle.

“I’m so sorry, it was an accident!” You could hear the drink drip on the floor but all you were concerned about was the stain that was surely going to be on his shirt in a few minutes. The stark white behind the yellow worried you. “Take off your shirt, let me spray it and go throw it in the washer.” His silence scared you more than the stain. He hadn’t said anything but when you looked up at him with wide eyes, he was just smiling while watching you panic.

“Haven’t even been here for an hour and you already wanna rip my clothes off.” He tsked in a mocking way but nonetheless he took off his shirt. When you reached for the shirt, he threw it behind him but stepped closer to you.

His face was so close to yours and quite frankly, you didn’t know what to do. You knew what you wanted to do, but that was a whole different thing.

“Chenle, we shouldn’t.” He backed you into the kitchen island, watching your every move. “Why not?” He looked into your frantic eyes that were searching for a way out. Chenle placed his hands on the counter at your sides, slightly behind you, caging you in.

“T-the deal?” You assumed it was obvious but as you said it, you knew it didn’t make sense and you were screwed. “I think we both know that this-” he pointed between the two of you, “-isn’t a part of the deal.” He was right. You hated him but that didn’t mean you didn’t want him.

He took another step closer to you, the space that was once between you was now gone. “All you gotta do is tell me to stop. I will stop, immediately.” As his lips moved, they brushed against yours.

“Push me away and I’ll stop this. You can go back to cleaning.” You would’ve laughed at him if you weren’t starting to get wet. The thought of Chenle doing whatever sick things he wanted to do to you took over your common sense and hatred.

You stood up on your toes, teasing his lips with yours before pressing them together.

Instead of laughing at you and cracking some perverted joke, Chenle caressed your uniformed sides. Continuing to kiss you, he leaned back, allowing you to put your full weight on him. His chest was much firmer than you originally thought. Under the baggy clothes he wore was a muscular, sculpted body. As much as you enjoyed feeling him, you wanted to see him.

“Chenle-” The name that whispered out was one you never would’ve thought you’d say in this way. He didn’t say anything back, but he knew exactly what you wanted. Chenle grazed the exposed skin between your thigh highs and the hem of your skirt. Those gentle touches turn rough as he picked you up by the back of your thighs. He held you close and just looked at you a bit when the movement broke the kiss.

The expression that painted his face could only be explained by confusion. He was internally battling with himself over the situation, much like yourself. The years of fighting and insults and tears were ignored by your lower halves, which were begging for something, anything.

Still without exchanging any words, Chenle turned around so he could see where you were headed, and you couldn’t. While he took you to whichever room in his apartment he wanted, you set yourself a personal goal of marking him. You placed both wet and sucking open-mouthed kisses along the column of his pale neck. His steps faltered a tad when you assumed you found his sweet spot. You didn’t hold back there, sucking the skin hard enough to leave an immediate red mark.

Chenle’s breath was heavy now, more than before. He feared that you had control over him, but whether it was because of the deal or the feeling in your bodies, it was the opposite. Feeling so wrapped up in your own world of bruising his neck, you didn’t realize how far he had walked.

You gasped as your back hit the bed and then giggled once you bounced. Chenle was standing at the foot of the bed, looming over your flushed figure. You went to make eye contact with him only to see that his eyes weren’t on yours. His were so clearly focused on your thighs. Your skirt was pushed up from your impact on the bed and your thighs were pressed against each other. While seeing that he wasn’t looking at you did make your heart ache a bit, but you quickly decided to use it to your advantage.

While still watching him, you slowly parted your thighs are raised your skirt even more. This allowed him to see your white panties that now had a very visible wet spot from your arousal.

“My pretty maid has such a pretty pussy.”  

“You haven’t even seen it yet.”

“That’s right, maybe you should take off your panties. Please let me see you.”

His voice had a whiny edge to it. Desperation laced it and it caused you to give in. Using your heels, you lifted your hips off the bed and hooked your fingers in the waistband of your panties and slipped them down your legs. They were still hanging off of one of your ankles, so you lifted your leg and brought the panties towards his face.

“My maid is a little tease too.” Chenle grabbed the panties from your ankle and brought them up to his nose. As the smell of your arousal entered his nostrils, his eyes rolled back, and a red tint covered his face.

Crawling on the bed towards your head, he planted kisses along your clothed body, letting out boyish giggles when he felt you twitch from it tickling. When his face was hovering over yours, you pulled him down by the back of his neck and smashed your lips together.

His tongue licked across the seam of your lips, pleading for entry, and who were you to deny him. Chenle’s smile was so obvious that you could feel it in the smile. You lifted your legs and wrapped them around his slim waist, keeping him as close as possible to you.

You tilted your head a bit, trying to get his lips on yours even more, if that was even possible. He matched movements, seemingly trying to do the same. Moans and laughs were the only things heard throughout the room, until a ringing sounded.

“Fuck! My fucking phone.” Chenle grumbled, several apologies and quick kisses were landed along your body as he picked himself up and grabbed the ringing phone that was on the nightstand.

“I’m” kiss “so” kiss “fucking” kiss “sorry”. You laughed at him and nodded, letting him up by releasing your legs’ grip on him. Chenle rolled his eyes, mimicked his father’s voice but nonetheless answered the phone before the ringing stopped.

Immediately the conversation turned serious, and he stepped out of the room. As soon as his figure disappeared into the hallway, the feeling of lust and lightheadedness left your body and shame took over. What the hell was that.

Your body was cold now, no longer embraced by the heat of Chenle’s body pressed against yours. But the cold sweat and the dry throat was enough to force you out of bed and towards the bathroom. Walking on your tippytoes to prevent any noise, you made your way to the bathroom.

Closing the door slowly, making sure the door didn’t creak, you splashed cold water on your face and cupped water in your hands and brought them up to your lips.

The cold water running down your throat soothed you, but still not as much as you needed it to. You almost had sex with Chenle. You liked it. And you were upset that you were interrupted.

Looking in the mirror, laughing at yourself, you shook your head and opened the door. Jumping a bit at the sight of Chenle leaning on the wall next to it, he was still on the phone.

He was slouching and opening and closing his mouth in a mocking sense of his father. He smiled at the giggle you let out. Chenle’s smile faded though, his expression turning solemn again. He looked at you and you looked at him, both of you silently agreeing that it was your time to leave.

With one last glance, you made your way out, but you could still feel his eyes following you, watching you leave. You had to stay strong and resist the urge to look behind you. Although difficult, you succeeded. It was difficult to understand what you were feeling, you hated him, and he hated you, but you wanted him, and he wanted you. You didn’t have to like someone to be attracted to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as you knocked on the door, Chenle opened it and pulled you in with your wrist. “Chenle, wha-” He interrupted you by kissing your mouth, not even giving you time to react before he started talking. “I just need you, I wanna try something new that I saw.” Every type of kink was flying through your mind, or at least the ones you haven’t tried yet. “Are you okay with this?”

“Yeah, what is it though?” Chenle walked you to the master bedroom, him leading you from behind. Every time he tightened his grip on your waist, you clenched your thighs, wondering what he had planned.

“I bought you some more maid dresses, some like your uniform and others, not so much. I just didn’t want you to ruin your uniform.” He opened the armoire that hadn’t been there the last time you were there. The opened doors revealed several different dresses from pink to black and others that weren’t traditional collars. They ranged from different styles and materials, but they all had one thing in common, they were obviously expensive. With the dresses hanging from a rod at the top, there was about a half of foot of space from the dresses to the bottom of the section of the armoire.

Before you said anything about what you saw, Chenle spoke up. “I know how much you like the Mary Jane heels, so I bought you a bunch of different kinds and you can keep all of them even after the deal.” You turned around to face him and smiled.

“I can’t believe this, thank you so much!” You walked over to him; heels clicking on the hard wood floors and kissed his cheek. “That isn’t all.” His words trailed on, he refused to look at you, and he scratched the back of his neck. But the thing that made you giggle was the blush that spread across his entire face.

This Chenle was different, he was more vulnerable which allowed you to relax a bit even with the sexual undertone. “The drawers.” He pointed to the four drawers that were built in, under the doors of the armoire.

Raising one of your eyebrows, you walked backwards still keeping an eye on Chenle who still refused to look at you. Turning around and kneeling, you opened the first drawer, the top one on the left. As soon as everything inside was in your view, you heard Chenle make a slapping noise.

When you looked behind you, over your shoulder, he was covering his eyes with his right hand. Looking back at the drawer, you felt the fabric of the several sets of lingerie. Some were classier, babydoll styles with sheer fabric to cover the skin and others were blatantly sexy, garter belts, hooks and rings, matched with crotchless panties.

“Oh my god Chenle, what a fucking freak.” Your voice was laced with tease, making sure Chenle knew that you weren’t truly making fun of him. His ears were now burning red, and you were worried that he’d start crying soon.

Opening the drawer next to the one you were in now; you saw even more sets of lingerie. You coughed at the thought of the price of all of them. “Okay, okay, I thought you’d look pretty in them, so I bought them, move on.” Laughing at Chenle’s pleading groan, you smiled but complied. Closing the drawers and moving on to the bottom ones.

You decided to just open them both at the same time, ripping it off like a Band-Aid. “Chenle-” Gasping at the sight that was in front of you. You didn’t think you’ve ever seen this many different sex toys in one place. Dildos, vibrators, gags, collars, leases, floggers, candles, and that wasn’t even it. There were things that you didn’t even know what they were.

“Are these for me too?” Your eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. You never would’ve thought that Chenle would spend this much money on you. You closed the drawers, got up, and approached Chenle who was still seated at the foot of his bed.

You pushed his chest back, causing his back to hit the bed. With him now lying flat, you climbed on top of him, straddling him. “What kind of shit do you want to do to me? Huh?” You laid your chest on his, your breasts pressing against him now.

His hands enclosed around your hips and pulled you closer to his face. “I wanna make you cry and beg.” Biting your lip at his words, you got up off of him and looked at your new collection of dresses. “You got me all worked up, what do you wanna do first?”

You looked through all the toys in the drawers, looking at all the ones you weren’t familiar with. “This dress, these heels, and this toy.” Chenle threw the dress behind him at the bed and picked up the heels and the toy that kind of resembled an oxygen mask.

“What even is that?” You followed Chenle to the bed and tried to figure out what exactly was the thing he was holding. “It’s a pussy pump. It’s gonna make that tiny pussy all swollen and sensitive for me.” Oh.

“I’ll leave you to put on the dress, just call me in when you’re ready.” He kissed your head and walked out, leaving you alone with yourself.

You kicked off your heels after unbuckling them. It took a few tries to reach the zipper behind you but after you got it and pulled down, the dress pooled at your feet.

“Do you want me to leave my bra and panties on?” Chenle didn’t pick out a set, so you weren’t sure of what he wanted. “No, just the dress and heels.”

Unhooking your bra and pulling down your panties, you picked up the dress and just looked at it a bit. You hadn’t gotten to see it when he pulled it out of the closet. It was a pink frilly one, really short too. Looking over at the pussy pump that Chenle picked out, you thought about what it would do to you. You knew that it would basically do from what he had said but Chenle didn’t say what it would actually do.

Deciding to just wait for Chenle to help you through it, you pulled the dress over your head. There wasn’t a zipper, the hem that held the bust up was just elastic, so it fitted.

The way you looked at yourself in the mirror and assessed the way you looked reminded you of how you would prepare for a shift. You felt pretty in frills at work, and you felt pretty right now, standing in Chenle’s penthouse bedroom in a pink dress that he bought for you. ‘

From the way your hair sat to the way your socks were tugged up, you made sure you looked pretty with Chenle in mind.

“I’m all done!” You called out and waited for Chenle to walk back in. Calming your breathing to make sure you could hear Chenle’s footsteps didn’t help, because they never came. The door immediately opened with Chenle walking in.

“Were you just waiting right out the door?” You made eye contact with him through the mirror. Even though you expected a verbal answer to your question, you received something else. A compliment.

“You look so pretty. My pretty maid. My pretty girl.” He walked up behind you, still holding eye contact and wrapped his arms around your waist. You liked the weight of his arms on your hips, and he liked the way it felt to have your skin touching his. When you turned your head to look at him directly, your noses lightly knocked against each other from close proximity.

Chenle squeezed your hips and started walking you backwards, leaving wet kisses on your neck until the back of his knees hit his bed. He sat down and just pulled you down with him. Both of you were still facing the mirror. “I want you to watch yourself during this. Since we’re bringing in new and more intense things into the bedroom, what do you want you safe word to be. I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have any control.”

With how short the dress was, being spread out on Chenle’s lap bared everything to your eyes. Your knees were hooked over his and since his legs were spread, so were yours. The obscene sight was the only thing you could pay attention do. The warm lighting made the both of you glow, and with Chenle’s sincere look, you relaxed in his hold and allowed yourself to slouch against him.

“I get that you’re really pretty, but this is important. I’m gonna need you to answer me if you wanna start.” He spoke quietly against your ear and looked at you through the mirror since it was the only thing you were paying attention to you.

“Look at me.” Through the mirror, your eyes connected. “No, look at me.” Sucking in a breath, you turned your head to look at Chenle. “So, what do you want your safe word to be?” His fingers lightly brushed your thighs, drawing shapes along your smooth skin.

Giggling, you thought about a word that was a bit silly and on theme. “How about Windex?” Chenle’s normal obnoxious laugh was dialed down for the serious conversation. “I mean, if that’s what you want it to be, I’m happy with it. However, I hope to never put you in a situation where you need to use it.” Your giggling died down and you smiled softly at Chenle, you wanted to live in the sweet moment, but with Chenle’s half hard cock sitting against your ass, your pussy spread out, and the pussy pump next to you, you needed him to do something.

“Alright, it feels like you’re getting needy with all your squirming, let’s get you wet.”

Chenle started with just looking at you through the mirror, at your pussy specifically. “Chenle, just hurry. Please.” He laughed at you and brought his hands from your thighs to your naval. He rubbed the junction of your thighs and naval, inching closer and closer to that place you needed him the most.

With one last whimper from you, Chenle gave in to what you wanted. He ran two fingers through your wet lips. He circled around your hole that was clenching around nothing, but he still didn’t fuck you yet.

“How are you so fucking wet already?” It was a rhetorical question. He knew the answer and so did you. It was because of him.

One of his hands disappeared from your cunt and picked up something from your side. The pussy pump.

He kissed the back of your neck and placed the chamber on your pussy after removing his other hand, now using it to hold the pump.

In his left hand he held the chamber to you and with his right was the pump. He gave the hand pump an experimental pump to see if it would stay. Like a vacuum, it gave your pussy a suctioned feel. It wasn’t like what you’ve seen with a penis pump. It didn’t blow air into you, instead it sucked it.

Giving it a few more pumps, Chenle watched and listened to you. Whining at the new feeling, you looked at yourself. “Chenle, it feels really weird.” He chuckled lowly in your ear and instead of saying something he just pumped it again and again.

You watched what it was doing to you through the mirror. “Oh my god, Chenle!” He didn’t give you a break during it, he pumped it, listened to your noises and then continued with his ministrations.

Tears formed in your eyes at the feeling.

You didn’t think that Chenle could possibly pump it again as the chamber was impossibly tight around your cunt, but he was able to prove you wrong.

It wasn’t your pleas or begs that persuaded him to stop. It was his own impatience. He flicked the valve and released the suction. The blood flow returned to your cunt and your clit throbbed, already so sensitive and Chenle himself has barely touched you.

The chamber fell from no longer being supported and you gasped at the sight. He wasn’t joking when he said it would cause your pussy to be swollen and you didn’t know how long it would last like that. You didn’t even move, scared to feel it.

“Oh my god, fucking look at it.” Chenle flicked your clit that had easily grown twice its original size. You screamed at the feeling, it felt as if he had already been touching you, for the whole day possibly. “How long is this gonna last?” Your thighs jumped when he ran three fingers through your folds. Playing with the swollen flesh and wetness, he thought out loud. “Imagine you stayed like this forever, ruined for anyone to ever come after me. Proof that you let me do these things to you. Think about what people would think if they saw you like this. Fucking whore.”

He slapped, pinched, and stuffed your pussy, forcing you to let out gasps, moans, and screams. It wasn’t until you felt his cock prod at your dripping hole. You had felt him get his cock out of his sweats, but you thought he was going to give you a minute before he fucked you.

“Wait, Chenle, just give me a moment.” He complied but still asked, “Do you want to use your safe word?” Shaking your head, you leaned back against Chenle, starting to take a breather. It quickly came to an end though when his hands tightened around your waist, picked you up, and placed you on the ground.

“While you wait, you’re gonna clean.” He smiled and threw you one of the old towels that he used to clean. You stared at him in disbelief, jaw dropping once you saw him scoot back on the bed, back against the headboard.

“What? You want to wait, but we might as well be productive during it. And get your tits out.” The stark difference of Chenle’s attitude towards you was something you were ashamed to admit that it made you wet.

Still listening to him though, you pulled the bust of your dress down and let the elastic snap under your breasts.

You got up from your spot on the floor to go grab the floor cleaner. When you walked your pussy clenched from sensitivity. “The floor isn’t gonna clean itself and at this point you’re just gonna have more to clean with the way your dripping all over it.” When you were standing over your original spot on the floor, about to kneel down you noticed that there were small droplets from you. Chenle just laughed when you looked down, not being able to hold eye contact with him.

Deciding to go ahead and start cleaning, you sprayed some of the floor cleaner on the rag and started to scrub the floor. “My pretty little mindless doll.” His voice was gentle with a hint of being condescending. Every time you would scrub the floor a bit harder your breasts would bounce and Chenle would palm his aching cock with more pressure.

Even though you had only been on the ground for a few minutes, you needed him to do something. You didn’t want to wait any longer. You needed to be fucked. “Chenle, please. Do something, anything.” His smile turned devious and soon after, you felt the flash and heard the click of a polaroid camera.

Chenle waited for the film to develop before he approached you. Crouching down to your level, he placed the humiliating photo in your line of sight. “Who’s is that?”

When you were about to say it was you, you realized that he said, ‘who’s is that’ not ‘who is that’. “Yours.” Smiling and placing the photo in his phone case, he helped you off the floor.

“Even though you’re a slut who doesn’t deserve to be fucked on a bed, you can rest your knees just since I’m nice.” His grip on your upper arm helped him throw you onto the bed. Your skirt lifted in the process and showed Chenle the curve of your ass.

“Spread your legs. Now.”

Laying on your stomach, you did what you were told. Chenle stood behind you, watching you listen to him. “Such a good little maid. My little slut.” Chenle ran his palm over the smooth skin of your ass before landing a harsh slap on it. He felt his dick twitch at the sight of the muscle jiggling at the impact.

“I need to be in you, need to cum inside that sweet pussy.” Climbing on the bed, knees on either side of your hips, Chenle pulled your ass a part as far as your would stretch before slamming inside your dripping hole.

“Fuck! Chenle! Feel so, so good.” Your eyes rolled back at the feeling of his cock dragging against your gummy walls.

With every thrust in your cunt, you could feel Chenle’s balls slap against your thighs, and every now and then you felt a slap against your ass.

“Yeah, this is what you were made for huh, just a hole for me to dump my cum into. But don’t worry slut, you’re the best whore there is, so willing to take everything I give you.” To emphasize his point, Chenle ran his finger through your swollen folds and flicked your puffy clit, reminding you of what you allowed him to do to your body.

Never once slowing his pace, Chenle tightened his grip on your hips and pulled your ass up off the bed, so he’d have better access to your clit. With the new position, your weight was being held up by your knees and chest, but with the angle of your body, your face was smashed into the mattress, muffling every noise that came out of your mouth. 

Your pussy throbbed, needing to release already. With the pussy pump, it felt like Chenle had already had his way with you, several times. The feeling of his fingers flicking and pinching your clit plus the head of his cock kissing the spot deep inside you was making you feel overstimulated, even though you haven’t even cum yet.

“Chenle, please, please, let me cum. I need it.” Rolling the bud between his pointer finger and thump, Chenle added pressure, squeezing it. “Yeah, go ahead, but just because you’re cumming so quick doesn’t mean we’re stopping any time soon.”

Deciding that Chenle’s trade wasn’t a now issue, you agreed foolishly. The need to cum was the only thing on your mind and once Chenle gave you permission, you let go. However, you didn’t think you would cum as much as you did.

Screaming into the blankets, you soaked Chenle’s waist and torso, squirting harder and harder as Chenle kept going. “My messy little baby, I told you, I’m not done playing with you yet. But that little pussy controls you huh, you just couldn’t help it!” Chenle laughed at you, mockingly.

“The only thing in that empty little head is thought of cumming on my dick.” Chenle fisted your hair from the back and forced your head to nod up and down into the blanket. “Wow, you’re already so cock drunk that you can’t even make your own decisions. Don’t worry though baby, I’m here so you don’t have to worry about thinking, I’ll do everything for you.”

Every single word that left Chenle’s lips were spoken in a sickeningly sweet tone that was so obviously fake. His words affected you heavily and that didn’t go unnoticed by him.

“Ah, little slut likes being talked down to! M’not sure why I’m surprised, I bet you’ve always wanted this, me using you, belittling you. Because that’s what sluts like you want.”

Once again, he forced you to nod, but it wasn’t like you disagreed.

“Come on pretty baby, lemme see you. Let me see what you look like while I ruin you.” Without taking his dick out, Chenle rolled you over and onto your back.

With each thrust Chenle watched your tits, occasionally reaching out and slapping the soft mounds. He could feel your walls clench around his pistoling cock. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew he wasn’t going to last much longer. The feeling of your walls, the outline of his dick in your lower stomach, and the look on your face, he knew he was about to cum, and he wasn’t going to pull out to do it.

“You wanna cum?” You nodded, eyes rolled back, and jaw hung open, you were ready. Chenle’s pace sped up and each time he hit your g-spot, forcing you closer and closer to the edge.

Finally, with one last strong thrust from him, the knot in your stomach unraveled. Squeezing his dick impossibly tight, he came as well.

White heat ran through your veins, your vision had gone white, and you held on to Chenle’s shoulders since you needed literally anything to hold on to. You needed something to ground you. Chenle continued to roll his hips, riding out your highs and then some so you weren’t forced into a sudden stop.

“Chenle~”, you whined, wanting him closer to your shaking body. He understood and lowered himself onto you without crushing you under his weight. He signed into your neck, breathing you in and out. You did the same to him, hiding from the world, protected by his warmth.  

The two of you stayed in that position for a while. It wasn’t until Chenle could feel your wetness dry on his skin before he slowly pulled out and coxed you to use the bathroom.

Although moving was the last thing you wanted, you still allowed him to scoop you up, but not without whining of course.

Chenle placed your feet on the ground and made sure that you were steady before he helped you out of your dress. Your heels were long gone, somewhere discarded on the floor, but they weren’t anywhere in your mind at the moment.

He stepped out of the bathroom, telling you to use the bathroom so you wouldn’t get a UTI. You listened but called him back in once you were done and washed up.

“Let’s take a shower, get you all clean.” He smiled at you and helped you into the walk-in shower.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clocking out of your shift, you walked into the dark night. You were so happy that they put more streetlights in the parking lot, you and Minjeong both agreed that you felt so much safer now with the illuminated area. However, no matter how many lights they installed, with how much rain was pouring from the sky, you couldn’t see anything. And to make matters even worse, you didn’t even have an umbrella.

“Fuck, fuck, FUCK!” Your heels splashed in the puddles as you dug in your purse for your car keys. Of course, right now was the time that your keys fell to the bottom of your purse, and you actually had to stop outside your car and dig around. The rain was stingingly painful. It was freezing cold and felt like little needles pricking your skin.

Your hand brushed metal that jingled in your purse. Almost ripping the keys out, you clicked unlock and as soon as you heard your doors click you ripped the door open and threw yourself in the seat.

Shivering in your seat, your body was even colder now that you were out of the rain. Your dress had gone see through and it was sticking to your body. Turning on the car and immediately cranking the heat to the warmest setting and so it would come out the fastest.

Not eve waiting for your car to warm up, you put the car in drive and pulled out of your parking spot and out of the lot. The shivering didn’t stop or even slow until you had been driving for several minutes but then you were almost at your apartment.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Your parking in your designated parking spot outside the complex was definitely not good to say the least. The passenger side of the car was on the line and even then, you were crooked within the lines. But you didn’t care, you had gone over the speed limit the entire drive there and you weren’t about to take extra minutes in the rain to fix it.

Making sure you had everything together, you cracked the door open, made sure all the doors were locked, and then made a run for the awning. Once again, you were colder after you were no longer in the rain, and you could barely hear yourself panting over the loud pitter padders of the rain above you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You sniffled, sucking the snot back into your nose. Your head was throbbing, and it hurt to swallow. But nevertheless, you were walking out of the elevator once it arrived at Chenle’s floor. The thought of texting Chenle to say that you were sick crossed your mind, but you decided against it. Your past self would kill you if the thought of enjoying Chenle’s company, his cock, crossed your mind.

Clearing your throat and sniffling once more, you knocked on his door. You liked spending time with Chenle and based on him always answering the door immediately, you thought the feeling was returned.

“Hey, oh my god, are you okay?” So much for the bit of extra makeup to try and put the life back into your face. “I’m fine! Now, let me in.” Chenle moved to let you in, but he didn’t believe your words in the slightest. “You’re obviously sick, when did you start feeling this way? I saw you two days ago, and you were okay.”

“I got stuck in the rain last night for a bit after my shift, but I promise, I’m okay! What do you want me to clean first?” His eyes were wide with concern as he watched you shrug off your jacket and headed to the cabinet where he held the cleaning supplies.

Stepping in your way, he placed his hands on your shoulders. “Woah, woah, woah. You’re not gonna clean anything right now. But what you are going to do is go put on some more comfortable clothes and lay down.” You were confused why Chenle wasn’t just making you leave, but your screaming joints and muscles were louder than your worries. On shaking feet, you walked towards Chenle’s room, his closet specifically.

Not daring to even touch the designer sweatpants and baggy shirts, you looked for the brand that was the cheapest. Nike. His cheapest brand was Nike and even then, the pants and shirts were the most expensive of them. Kicking off your heels and taking off the long socks, you unzipped your dress and stepped out of it. Just in your bra and panties, you took Chenle’s clothes off their respective hangers and tugged the pants up your legs and the shirt over your head.

The floors were cold under your feet, from the hardwood in his bedroom and to the marble of the kitchen, it all caused a chill to run down your spine. It was either that, the fact that you were sick, or because of the domestic nature of wearing Chenle’s clothes.

“Do you feel any better?” The loose clothes felt better on your warm skin than your dress did, and you let Chenle know that. “I’m glad.” He kissed the side of your head as he rounded the kitchen island to retrieve his phone which was on the other side. “What do you want to eat? Hopefully having some solid food in your stomach will make you feel better.” You just nodded and tangled your fingers together, thinking about what sounded good.

“If you want soup there’s a place with a really good French onion down the street. But if-” he scrolled on his phone as he spoke out options until you interrupted him. “French onion sounds good.” You smiled at him. Even though you were smiling at him on the inside, you were frowning at yourself on the inside, mad that you were allowing yourself to feel comfortable around him so quickly.

“It’s really good, don’t worry.” He somehow could see your worry. The corners of your lips turned upwards at the sight of him dialing the number of the restaurant and placing your order. You wanted him to come closer, to wrap you up in his arms, cornering you, making you feel safe. You hated the feeling, but at the same time, you wanted nothing more.

“Chenle-” You finished just as quickly as you had started. He looked up from his phone, eyes boring into yours, watching you so intently that you thought that if you moved, he’d look away. You felt frozen as he looked at you, waiting for you to finish what you were saying. The words disappeared somewhere in the space between you two, lost in the chilled air.

He had no use for his phone anymore, so he placed it back on the white marble countertop and walked over to you. Even though his body moved, his eyes stayed still, continuing to hold your gaze. Once you could feel the heat radiating off his body and onto yours, you looked away, no longer able to hold eye contact. He said your name just like you had said his, quietly, slowly, longingly.

Looking back up at him, your lips ghosted the other’s. Not even a centimeter apart. The air you breathed out was the air he breathed in, and vice versa. Your noses brushed the other’s as you interlocked lips.

When you went to lace your hands in his hair, you felt the familiar tickle in your nose. Knowing immediately what was to come, you pushed Chenle away, turned, brought your elbow up to your face, and sneezed.

Chenle laughed as you wiped your nose. He tugged your closer to him and hugged you, your back to his chest. “Sorry for pushing you away, I didn’t want to sneeze on you.” Sniffling and giggling, you looked at him and smiled. “I appreciate that.” His smile gave you chills. It was so genuine; you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

You just wanted to stare at him, but your body had other plans. That first sneeze wasn’t the last. You broke free from Chenle’s arms and sneezed again, three times in a row. Your head was throbbing at this point and the sneezing didn’t help whatsoever.

Chenle noticed the sway in your stand. The dazed look in your glossed over eyes told him that you needed to lie down. “Alrighty baby, it’s time to lay you down.” He wrapped his left arm around your waist and put your weight onto him.

Baby. He called you baby.

Chenle walked you to his room, slowly, making sure that you wouldn’t fall. “My head hurts Lele.”

If your eyes weren’t almost swollen shut, you would’ve seen the blush that covered his entire face. All the way to his ears and down his neck.

Lele. You called him Lele.

“I know, we’ll lay down and hopefully it’ll be gone when you wake up.” Chenle helped you lay down. He whispered that he’d be back in a minute, and he was gone.

Closing your eyes, you brought the plush blankets up to your chin and fluttered your legs a bit, nestling in his soft bed. The burring that came with keeping them open immediately vanished. Your skin was hot even though you felt cold. The heat that the blankets provided was much appreciated.

However, you shivered as soon as something freezing hit your forehead.

“Chenle?” When you were about to open your eyes, Chenle shushed you. “It’s a washcloth. We need to break your fever before it gets worse.” You let him know about your disapproval by grumbling, but you didn’t state your complaint verbally.

He laughed at the noise and made his way around the bed to his side of it. “M’tired Lele.” He agreed and pulled your body closer to his.

Sleep came easily for both of you; however, sleep wasn’t interested in staying for you. Every couple of minutes you would wake up, toss and turn for a bit, and then fall back asleep. It wasn’t until Chenle felt this routine for about the umpteenth time before he wrapped his arms around your body tightly and pulled your back to his chest. Your half-awake mind decided that this position was comfortable enough, as you didn’t wake up again until hours later.

Your eyes stayed shut even after you woke up, the headache returned immediately, and you were determined to continue to sleep until you were no longer sick. But your goal was easily washed away when your pillow rumbled. The soft cushion moved at the same time you heard quiet laughter. A slight weight on top of your head joined the new sensations. But that weight didn’t still, it moved down your head, ran through your hair.

Deciding to fight against the crust that had built up around your eyes, you moved your hand up to your face and wiped the crust away with your fingertips. Once you deemed your eyes free of any annoyances, you opened them. The immediate sight was heavily blurred, the light fixture above you seemed extra bright but with the soft warm hue, you were able to get used to it quickly and soon you figured out that your rumbling pillow was Chenle’s thigh, and that weight was his hand massaging your head.

“Lele~”, your voice was drawn out, still deep and husky with sleep but Chenle understood you and smiled gently down at you. “How did you sleep? You were out for a while.” You sat up slightly to be upright and next to Chenle, but your straight posture didn’t last long, and you slouched into his side. “I still don’t feel good.” Without saying anything Chenle felt your forehead again, frowned, and picked up some water from the nightstand next to him.

The cold glass that was being brought up to your lips was the only thing that made you realize just how thirsty you really were. Chenle helped you drink the water slowly as your hands were still laced with that sleepy weakness. The soothing feeling of the water was welcomed, helping your sore throat significantly.

Silence filled the room, except for the TV playing some show that caused Chenle to laugh occasionally and your heavy breathing through your mouth as your nose was clogged. During a particularly quiet part of the show, your breathing was audible to Chenle, and you laughed. “I’m sorry for being a mouth-breather during your show.” Your apology made him laugh in which he gently assured you that it was okay and he’s sorry you feel so terrible.

“So, what did you do while I was asleep?” Pure curiosity got the best of you, and you wanted the visualization of what Chenle does when he’s alone. “Well, I was asleep with you for about two hours but when I woke up, I just stayed next to you in case you needed anything. I watched the movie I needed to for my communications class and I’m now ahead in most of my classes.” You were glad that your chest wasn’t pressed to Chenle because he definitely would’ve felt the tempo of the beating speed up. He stayed with you.

You would honestly, whole-heartedly say that you didn’t mind being sick. Chenle had treated you with a gentle tenderness that you didn’t think he was capable of. The thought of your guys’ feud and hatred for each other made you sad for the first time ever.

But you pushed the negative notion away and snuggled into Chenle even more, loving the unspoken reward of his arm wrapping around your shoulder, holding you securely to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the second month of your deal. Your knees hurt from kneeling on the floor to scrub the floors and your hands hurt from all the chemicals since you refused to use the gloves that he bought you. You refused to use anything Chenle had bought you if it was him attempting to be nice. Even though you two had had your moments, you couldn’t shake the thought of him just using you in some way.

Knocking on the door, you were expecting Chenle to make you wait and then finally greet you with a sleezy smile. But what you were met with made you step back. Chenle swung the door open and stepped forward.

“Let me see your hands and knees.” Instead of listening to him, you hid, you hid your hands behind your back and looked away. “I’m not fucking asking, show me your hands and knees.”

Chenle’s eyes showed that he wasn’t joking, this was the most serious or angry you have ever seen him. He stepped aside and nodded towards his apartment, urging you do walk in. You decided it would be better to listen to him and when you passed him and he’d be able to see your hands, you moved them to hide in front of you. But it didn’t work because as soon as your hands weren’t interlocked with each other, Chenle wrapped his hand around your wrist and pulled your arm up.

He gasped at the discolored splotches of your skin, where the skin was rubbed raw, and bumps were forming in some spots. “This is why I bought you gloves.” His voice wasn’t stern anymore, more so remorseful.

“Come on, I have some ointment for this.” His fingers intertwined with yours, and he lightly pulled you to the bathroom. Chenle’s hands were nice and cold, a good contrast to the heated and irritated skin of your own.

You unfortunately knew where his bathroom was. It reminded you of the first day of this mess. But based on Chenle’s change in attitude, you had a feeling that this bathroom would bring a new memory.

When he led you to the bathroom, he didn’t say a single thing. He didn’t make fun of you or scold you or degrade you. Instead he waited until your back was in front of the vanity. He bent down and wrapped his hands around the backs of your thighs and gently placed you on top of the bathroom counter.

“Is it alright if I roll down your socks?” His face was level with yours. “Yeah, that’s fine.” You nodded at him but looked away when you felt his hands on your thighs.

His pale fingers lingered on your skin longer than they needed to, but it was comfortable. Chenle did what he said he would and pulled down your socks. You could hear his swallow once he saw the dark blue bruises that littered your knees.

“I even bought you the best knee pads I could find so this wouldn’t happen.” He shook his head and turned around. He rustled through the medicine cabinet. You assumed he was looking for the ointment he had mentioned.

While his back was turned to you, you looked at his outfit. He was wearing a black fitted muscle tee and gray sweatpants. If you weren’t so embarrassed, you probably would’ve been drooling on any other day.

“Alright, this one is for your hands and this one will help the bruises heal faster.” He looked back at you and popped up one of the caps. “This one is going to burn a bit where the cuts are a bit open but that just mean it’s working.”

Chenle took one of your hands into his, cradling it with upmost care. He dapped the cream on your hand and allowed you to squeeze his own when the burning kicked in. He never said anything to you when your legs twitched at the pain. He made sure all the white liquid was rubbed in and no longer burning.

“And we’re done with your hands. The bruise ointment doesn’t hurt at all, it’ll feel almost cold, but it’ll be more soothing than anything.” You appreciated that he was walking you through everything he was doing without making you feel dumb and with the look he gave you, you felt anything but that.

You were pulled out of your daze when he brought your hands up to his lips one by one and planted a gentle kiss on ever irritated spot. Chenle didn’t look up at you when he did this, nor did he when he explained himself. “My mom always said that if someone you’re close to is hurt, kissing the spot that hurts makes them feel better quicker.”

He didn’t wait for you to respond before he knelt in front you in between your knees. He looked up at you from his knelt position. Chenle just stared at you for a few minutes, and you just stared back.

“Chenle-” He stood back up quickly, grabbed the back of your neck and connected your lips. Your hands fisted his t-shirt. He whispered your name against your lips and tugged you closer, so close that your chests were touching and there wasn’t any room to breathe in between.

Although you couldn’t fit a hand between your bodies you still tried to move closer. You felt your butt get closer to the edge of the vanity and before you could wrap your head around the fact that you were about to fall, you fell.

Your already abused knees hit the floor and you let out a cry. Chenle fell with you purposely, immediately addressing your pain. “Ah fuck, I’m so sorry!” He apologized even though it wasn’t his fault. He pulled you into his lap, letting your knees rest from the pressure of the ground.

“I’m gonna put the ointment on you, again, it’s just gonna be cold.” You heard him twist off the lid. He dipped his pointer and middle finger in the white cream.

He was right when he said it was cold. You gasped at the sensation and clutched onto him. Your breath was already shaky from the pain. Chenle rubbed it in gently, soft enough to prevent it from being painful but still firm enough to get it done quickly.

While you intently watched Chenle aid you back to health once again, you realized that as time progressed, your time spent together consisted of less cleaning and more…intimate activities, and not just sex either. 

Tears were still streaming down your face still and Chenle wiped the ointment residue on his shirt but still wiped your tears off with the back of his hands to avoid getting the cream on your face.

“How about this, it’s getting late already so how about I cook us some dinner and we can have an easy night. You can go change into some of my clothes if you want.” He smiled at you and kissed your lips; you kissed back but Chenle didn’t let you deepen it like you wanted. Chenle laughed at your little pout, kissed your bottom lip that was jutted out, and helped you up.

He held you hand and led you to his room. “I’ll be in the kitchen, just let me know if you need anything. Join me whenever you’re finished and comfortable.” You nodded and kissed him one last time. You loved kissing Chenle even though you wouldn’t admit it out loud. The feeling of his lips now was much different than the feeling of them when you first kissed. They were softer, smoother, almost nicer you’d say. He started using chapstick for you.

Even after having kissed Chenle several times before, he still left a tingling sensation on your lips. Once you were behind the door of his walk-in closet, you leaned against it and lightly touched your lips. The realization of what you were doing hit though and you mentally kicked yourself. Returning to the task at hand, you looked at Chenle’s closet, the familiar items stuck out to you, and you wanted to wear something you had seen him wearing recently.

The familiar black and grey striped hoodie caught your eye, and you took it off its hanger and slipping it on your bare body. Your dress was already crumbled on the floor, but you ignored it and went to the drawers that stored his sweatpants. Remembering the pair that you wore last time; you picked those and relished the comfortable feeling they brought.

When you were done, you crouched down and collected the pieces of your previous outfit and placed them in the tote bag that you had left in the bathroom. As you approached the kitchen, you could hear Chenle softly singing. You didn’t know that he could sing, and you wanted nothing more than to hear more. So, you entered the kitchen as quietly as possible and just stood there. Thinking about sitting in a chair at the island did occur but you quickly decided against it as the possibility of the chair scrapping across the floor would alert Chenle and the singing would most likely come to an end, which you didn’t want whatsoever.

But your secret viewing of the domestic concert came to an end anyways once Chenle turned around to plate whatever was in the saucepan. He smiled at you, deciding to ignore the fact that hearing him sing caused a blush to take over his face. “I hope you’re okay with me just reheating some leftover pasta, I didn’t want to keep you waiting.” You pulled out one of the chairs from under the island and thanked Chenle, ensuring him that dinner was perfect.

Instead of sitting in the sit across from you, Chenle sat in the one next to you. With his right hand he ate but with his left he rubbed your thigh over the sweatpants. It was silent for the most part, Chenle didn’t do anything to spark the conversation, however, he just looked at you. His eyes were telling you something, something you have never heard from him before, but you couldn’t for the life of you figure out that the look in his eyes were trying to convey.

The pasta was soon gone from the plates and now in your stomachs. With the fullness in your belly and the warmth that Chenle was bringing your body, you yawned, tiredness consuming your body and mind.

“Let’s go to bed, baby.” He called you baby, and you weren’t even sick. “You want me…to stay?” Chenle looked at you like you were insane, like you were purple with two heads.

“Of course I want you to stay, why wouldn’t I?” You just shook your head and watched him clean up the kitchen, which in retrospect, should be your job. “Shouldn’t I clean the table?”

The question shocked Chenle, “I guess I forgot about the deal to be honest, until now of course. You’re not as bad as I thought. And please, that isn’t supposed to sound bad. You’re not bad at all.” He was tripping over his own words, digging himself in a deeper and deeper hole. His ears were pink, and a nervous smile took over his lips.

“You’re not too bad yourself Zhong.” Chenle approached you slowly, the warm lighting highlighting his features beautifully. Once he was right next to you, he leaned down and pecked your lips. It was soft and sweet and said exactly what needed to be said.

“Now let’s actually go to bed, I can tell that you’re tired.” You were, and the fact that it was probably the dark circles under your eyes that told him so, you still felt the fluttering in your heart at the thought of him knowing you.

What Chenle did next surprised you, he bent down and scooped you off the chair. “Oh my god! What the hell Chenle!”

“Shhh, just let me carry you!” Giggling as Chenle carried you to the bedroom, you littered his cheeks, lips, and nose with several tiny kisses. He started giggling as well. You assumed your pecks were starting to tickle him because his pace picked up and soon you were in the air. Yelling as you landed on the plush bed, your loud laugh mixed with Chenle’s dolphin like howl.

“Now we’re waking your neighbors!” You covered your mouth and squeezed your nose, trying to calm yourself before you actually woke his neighbors or worse, pissed yourself.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Chenle jumped on the bed, next to you. His impact caused you to bounce and the giggling increased. The two of you, giggling into the other’s mouth, were rolling around the bed uncontrollably. The tiredness was most likely at fault for the fit of giggles, but it was almost like you were high. High off each other.  

You rolled onto Chenle’s chest and kissed him. Both of you were already panting, trying to catch your breath after the laughing session but the kiss definitely winded you as well.

The heavy breathing slowed the giggles and forced you to take a break from the other’s lips. Chenle was on his back, and you had rolled off of him and laid on your stomach right next to him. You looked at each other in silence, stupid dopey smiles decorating your flushed faces.

The moment lasted until seemingly simultaneously you and Chenle both closed your eyes and drifted off to sleep, but not before Chenle rose his hands in the air and clapped twice to turn off the lights.  

Chenle’s mood was similar to the one he carried before the two of you got to know each other. You didn’t know what had changed but you still walked out of the café and towards him.

“I just can’t fathom the fact that you get all dolled up like this just to go to work at a maid café. I didn’t think this type of outfit was your style. You look a bit ridiculous.” You were used to Chenle being mean to you, it has happened since grade school and all the way to your current Uni days. Him picking fun at your looks wasn’t surprising either, he’d always call you ugly or something like when you were kids but now, it hurt worse than ever. And for once, he seemed to pick up on it.

“What’d I say?” He huffed out a laugh through his nose, not believing what he was about to see in front of him. You crying. Chenle’s cocky smirk fell off his face, “Woah, woah, woah, what’s the matter L/n?” You looked away from him as tears started to fall down your face. Chenle cupped your now wet cheeks and turned your head towards him. Concern was written across his face. “You’ve never cried before, just tell me what’s wrong. Please.” The chill from being outside caught up with you and you shivered, your bare arms were now littered with goosebumps. Chenle immediately noticed this and pulled you into his coat clad body, trying to transfer his body heat to yours.

“Please tell me where I pushed it too far. I know I make things difficult, but I can’t stand seeing you cry because of me.” This was very unlike him, but you were too upset to ponder on it.

“I felt pretty like this.” The crack in your whispered confession made him want to kill himself for ever making you feel like this. Pulling you away from his chest, he saw your mascara running down your cheeks, snot leaking out of your nose, and your eyes were already puffy from the crying. “Oh, no, no, no. You are pretty, the absolute prettiest. I think you’re the most beautiful person to ever walk the Earth.” “I think-” He was interrupted by you slapping his chest, hard.

“It’s always ‘Well I think’ or ‘Well I didn’t think’. You need to make up your fucking mind Chenle. You think a lot of things while not thinking at all. And I’m done with this whole being your maid deal, go ahead and tell everyone, I don’t care anymore. I’m tired of you always treating me like dogshit. I’m done with the deal, and I’m done with you.” You turned on your heel and started walking away from the café and away from Chenle. Your tears were no longer of sadness or from being insecure. The tears now felt hot with rage. But, instead of lashing out even more, you just wanted out of the situation. 

Minjeong who got off of her shift 15 minutes after you got off yours was walking out of the backdoor and towards her car. You cleared your throat and wiped your tears, “Minjeong! Can I catch a ride with you?” She could hear the bubble in your throat and met you halfway.

“What happened?” She looked at you and then looked over your shoulder. “I’m gonna fucking kill you Zhong!” You put your hand out, stopping her from approaching Chenle. “Let’s just go Minjeong.” She ignored the anger inside of her and just huffed, held her nose in the air, and pulled you to her car.

Before she let you explain what exactly happened, she listed all the fun things you two were going to do tonight to cheer you up. But still all you could think of was Chenle. Even though he has hurt you in the past and continued to hurt you, you still had some sick soft spot for him. Maybe it was caused by the moments after the two of you would have sex, or the times he would pick you up from work or even visit you at work to give you a break from the creepy men. You liked Chenle and you hated him for it. But most of all you hated yourself for it.

Minjeong was still shit talking Chenle while you pulled out of the parking lot, and you refused to look back at him, but you could see him through the passenger’s side mirror. It had started to rain and Chenle was still standing under the streetlight, watching Minjeong’s car drive away. Watching you drive away.

You ruled out any possibility of him caring about you the moment he let you leave with Minjeong. If he liked you like he led on, he would’ve stopped you. He would’ve explained whatever sick reasoning he had, but he didn’t. He watched you leave and thinking about it, the fact that he didn’t fight for you, hurt more than anything he’s ever said to you.

“You need to get him out of your head. I know it just happened and you two have the weirdest relationship I’ve seen but it’s better to get him out of your head now.” You kept looking back at Chenle until he was out of sight. “Minjeong, I fucking hate that I love him.” It was the first time you’ve ever said it out loud, but she knew.

You looked down to your lap and played with the frills of your skirt, running your fingers along the lace. Watching the streetlights pass by the lights themselves were just blurring from your eyes still being teary. “Minjeong?” You turned your head but still didn’t look up. “Yeah?” She placed her hand on yours, putting a stop to the shaking.

“Can I stay with you tonight?” She laughed and shook her head. “I wasn’t even going to give you a choice. Even if you asked me to take you home, the answer was going to be a no.”

The two of you fell into a calming silence that was only interrupted by your sniffles and then a gasp once you felt your phone buzz.

“Oh my god, it’s Chenle.” Minjeong whipped her head around to yell not to answer it. “Well I don’t wanna talk to him right now.” You ignored the call, and her shoulders released their tension. “I’m proud, he doesn’t deserve your tears and he certainly doesn’t deserve your time.”

“I’m gonna miss him.” She placed a comforting hand on yours, eliminating the shakiness. “At least it was just sex, right?” Minjeong tried figuring out where you and him truly stood so she could assist the situation better.

“No, I wish it was, but it wasn’t.” Your hand slipped from beneath hers and raised along with your other to cover your face.

Minjeong didn’t pry for anything else, the rest of the car ride was silent, or at least until she pulled into the drive through. “What do you want?” Turning your head from looking out your window and out Minjeong’s, you rubbed the tears out of your eyes so you could read the menu without the blur.

“I’ll have chicken nuggets and a vanilla shake, thank you Minjeong.” She smiled and placed your orders with the person speaking in the microphone and pulled up to the window when instructed to.

The person at the window looked at your outfits and tried to suppress a laugh but once he saw your swollen face, his smile disappeared, and he just took Minjeong’s card to pay for the meal.  

“I can’t believe Chenle can be such an ass, especially after everything the two of you have been through. Sure you guys didn’t like each other but I saw the way he looked at you! I saw the change!” Minjeong broke her own rule about not talking about Chenle and the more she spoke about how much Chenle supposedly liked you, the more you felt your feelings disappear. What he said reminded you of what he was like before the deal was made, but along the way, the deal didn’t exist anymore, and it was just Chenle and you. You didn’t understand what processed him to say what he said but you didn’t care anymore.

Sniffling once more, you wiped your tears and leaned across Minjeong. “Hey, do you think I could get your number?” The guy at the window shot you a sleazy look and wrote down his snap on a napkin. You shot him a flirty wink and sat back in your seat naturally.

The guy handed Minjeong your food and called out to you, “I’ll be looking forward to talking to you.” Minjeong though, drove away before he could even finish the poor excuse of flirting. When you looked at her, surprised by her speeding, her eyes were filled with anger. “What?”

“What? What? What do you mean ‘what’? You just broke off your relationship with Chenle! I don’t care how hurt you are, but you are not moving on that quick, the only thing that guy is going to do, is make the situation worse.” Minjeong took the napkin with the barely eligible handwriting on it, without taking her eyes off the road, and she crumpled it up and put it in her apron pocket.

Minjeong didn’t allow you to get a word in before she started talking, “The both of us are going to call out tomorrow, from both school and work and have a little day to allow you to sit and wallow. But after that, you’re getting back on track where you lived in a world without Chenle.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was right, she sent the emails and made the calls herself on your behalf so you wouldn’t have to reach out to anyone unless you wanted to. However, the constant checking your phone wishing that Chenle was the cause of those notifications, caused your day to go much slower than it would’ve with him.

But no matter how many times you flipped your phone face side up to see the screen, Minjeong did a good job on distracting you. The two of you binge watched damn near all of One Direction’s content for the sole purpose of Minjeong getting to see Harry Styles on the screen.

The day did eventually come to an end though and you were forced into getting ready to go back into the real world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your step had a bit of extra pep in it and it was because of the thick wad of cash that sat in one of the hidden pockets in your skirt. You had your usual top customers that requested for you specifically all come around at some point today, so of course, your tips for it showed.

The sun felt nice on your skin, the several days long rain had finally ended and as the dark clouds floated away, so did your sore mood. Along with your thoughts of-

“Y/n! Please let me talk to you! Just for a bit, please!”

Chenle.

Looking behind your shoulder, you kept walking to your car. “Well I don’t want to talk to you.” Facing your head towards the parking lot, you spotted your car and made a beeline for it. Ignoring the begs and pleas coming from the man behind you, you just kept walking. That was until you literally couldn’t.

Chenle had sprinted in front of you and had his back to your driver’s side door.

“Chenle. Move, I want to go home.” He shook his head. “I miss you so much, you don’t even understand.” You scoffed, unable to hold in your disgust. “You miss me as your maid and fuckdoll, give me a fucking break.”

Walking closer to him, you tried to pry him off of the door. “No, I love you. I need you back into my life. I miss the moments when we were us.” You knew exactly what he was talking about, they were the same moments that caused you to fall in love with him.

“I know you know what I’m talking about. Please just forgive me. I didn’t mean to push it too far, I didn’t know you had changed, I was expecting you to throw something back at me. If I knew our relationship had changed, I never would’ve done it.”

He looked like he had walked through hell. His hair was a greasy mess, his eyes were bloodshot, he had dark circles under them, and his usual designer casual wear was nowhere to be seen. In Gucci and Louis Vuitton’s place was a grey pair of food stain covered sweatpants and a heavily wrinkled dark green shirt. He didn’t look like The Chenle. The person standing in front of you now was the closest version of Chenle that you knew. But this time, he wasn’t behind closed doors. He was refusing to let you in your car and begging you to forgive him.

“Now, how do you think our relationship changed?” Your arms were crossed against your chest. You mentally stabbed yourself for even allowing him a chance to explain himself.

“After a few weeks of fucking, we stopped with the insults. We started actually talking and, and, and you stayed passed the time you were done cleaning. You stayed for dinner with me, you, you, we slept together without actually having sex.” He was bringing up good points but in a very poor way. These things meant a lot to you too but with his portrayal of events, you didn’t have you convinced yet. Even though he never lost you in the first place.

“Remember when you weren’t feeling well but still came over to clean? I noticed that you weren’t feeling well and instead of telling you that you didn’t have to clean, and you could go home, I suggested you stay at my place, and we could have a comfortable lazy day.” Your stomach hurt for two reasons that day, the stomach bug that had taken over your body, and then a virus, Chenle. Chenle made you feel so pleasant that day. From him rubbing your stomach and shoulders on the back to him washing your hair that night and letting you sleep in his bed cuddled up against him.

He was right, your relationship had changed. It had changed so much that you went from wishing he’d disappear off the face of the earth to wishing he’d never disappear from your side.

Chenle could see you thinking, over the time you had spent together, he had learned to read you. He could read you from before, but he only knew what pissed you off. Now, he knew almost everything.

“Please, I’ll do anything. I can’t lose you when I love and need you this much.” You knew that you were going to take him back, but you still wanted him to suffer.

“Anything?” Although you tried to play coy, he immediately caught on and answered your question. “You know I’d do anything for you.” He cupped the back of your neck, looked into your eyes, and with that single close-mouthed kiss, your relationship was sealed.

Your hands moved from your sides to his shoulders and finally reached their destination curled in his hair that was now the color you had suggested to him, pink.

You hid your smile in this chest, he had made you cry in several different ways, but now, he was making you smile. “Chenle-” he shushed you. “I just wanna hold you, I never want to let you go again and I’m not going to mess up again.” His hands clutched onto you tightly, emphasizing his point.

“I love you Chenle and I hate you for it.” He laughed; it was high pitched like that was the last thing he imagined leaving your mouth. Once his laughter died down, he looked at you, really at you. “I love you too, but it’s the best thing to ever happened to me.”

#female reader #kpop #x reader #fluff #nct #smut #angst #nct smut #nct dream fluff #zhong chenle #chenle smut #chenle #chenle fluff #chenle angst #nct dream angst #nct dream smut #nct dream #nct fluff #nct fanfic #nct angst

[madaboutmunson]

The Eddie Munson Tape Dates - Black Sabbath - Master of Reality

Warnings: Graveyard, poetry, fluff, so very many kisses, picnic

"I can't believe it's the last one." You say, flipping Master of Reality over in your hands.

"Well, you know it's just the last one of this batch, Babe. We can do this whenever we want, you know." Eddie smiles, rolling on his side towards you. He cups the side of your face to turn your face towards his and kisses you gently on the mouth, then the jaw and the neck.

"Eddie..." You playfully complain, "We can't just stay in bed all day."

"Who says we can't?" He says, grabbing the tape from you and putting it on the bedside table behind him, "I haven't seen you all week. We've got the place to ourselves. I don't see why we can't", he says, reversing the trail of kisses

Eddie was right. You had hardly seen him this week. In fact, you probably spent more time with Wayne this week than Eddie. You'd only gone over there to pick up a textbook you'd left there and ended up staying and chatting for a few hours.

"Well, except for the fact, this date is probably going to be the best one," he says, being purposefully vague.

"The best one? Really? How so?" You say, turning to him and returning his trail of kisses.

"Well, first of all, it has multiple parts. It involves thrift shopping, creativity, a picnic, and some scary stories," Eddie manages to say, a little distracted.

He then playfully pushes you away, "You know what, you were right! We can't stay in bed all day, Babe. We've got so much to do!!" Then, finally, he springs out of bed with a new enthusiasm he didn't have five minutes ago.

He opens up the cassette case and takes out $40. He gives you $20, leaves the other in the case, and starts getting dressed.

"Ok, so by sunset, you are gonna need The poem for me, an original by you, that I told you about in advance, so no complaints. At least one scary story. It doesn't have to be an original. Lastly, a suitably spooky thrifted outfit. I will permit you can use your own stuff, but the main elements of the outfit must be thrifted. " He says, pulling on his sneakers.

"Wow, So as it is now midday, Edward. I now have a little under 7 hours to do all of that, and stores are gonna close in 4 or 5??!!" You say, leaping out of bed, grabbing yesterday's clothes and throwing them on. Comically tripping over your jeans as you try to get in them.

"Hey, hey. Slow down, speedy. You need to make it to the date too, you know?" Eddie chuckles. "You can tell you aren't a person that's used to being late for things. Besides, your poem must be done by now, so that's one thing. You must have heard a scary campfire story. So it's really only the outfit, right?"

"Right." You smile and agree. He was correct, of course. You'd had this poem ready for some time and rehearsed it whenever possible. You knew you would eventually read it to Eddie. You'd just envisaged it being much later on.

"So I'll see you later, ok, babe?" He says, leaning down to you and planting a kiss on your head with his keys in hand.

"Wait...what? You're just gonna leave me, now. The man that just didn't want to get out of bed. You haven't seen me all week, and you're ditching me until later? I hate this date already, Eddie," you say half seriously.

"Oh ye of little faith, we'll see how much you hate it later on, shall we?" He smiles smugly at you and waves goodbye, leaving you in your bedroom, bemused.

You charge back through the front door a few hours later with everything required. You run upstairs to get showered, fix your hair and put on a little bit of darker makeup than you would normally. You wanted to look a little spooky but not like a zombie, and you really couldn't carry off that alternative look. You didn't have those kinds of makeup skills.

Once satisfied, you step into the 1970s prom dress. The skirt of which started at your waist and flowed to the floor, was black with 3 spaced out gold trim lines at the waist and two in the bottom third of the skirt.

The upper part of the dress was black, with golden embroidered detailing throughout. A modest v-neckline with a line of rounded black buttons to the skirt. The leg of mutton sleeves of the same material led to satin cuffs at the wrist.

You take a spin in front of the mirror. It looked nice, not necessarily spooky, though. You rummage through the bags, find the old black waist-length cape you'd found, and fasten it around your neck with its old chain clasp.

You grab your purse, put in your heavily handled but neatly folded poem, and then lastly, put on your little black leather driving gloves.

You spritz yourself with some perfume and hear the familiar rumble and creak of Eddie's van outside.

You grab your keys and purse, double checking you have everything, and hurry down the stairs.

You open the door, and Eddie is leaning in it confidently. You scan over his outfit as he does the same to yours.

He's basically wearing his own regular clothes, except for three things, he has on some coachman tails, a top hat and a cane. He obviously looks dashing regardless of the mishmash of Victorian, ripped jeans and Slayer t-shirt.

"Wow, you look amazing, Babe. So very groovy," he says, smiling and waving a peace sign at you.

"And you look like you blew your budget on that very fancy hat," you say, grinning knowingly and folding your arms at him.

"It really is a fucking cool hat, isn't it?" He says, completely ignoring any negativity in your statement.

"Now, My dark enchantress," he says in an eastern European accent, spinning his cane around and offering you his hand, "To the main event."

When he takes your hand, he twirls you into him, like something Gomez Addams might do to Morticia. You giggle, shut the door, and walk to the van.

Once in your seat, nerves set in, and you recheck your bag. It's all still there. You close it back up and drum your fingers against it gently.

Eddie starts up the van and puts in Black Sabbath's Master of Reality, which unnervingly starts with someone coughing.

Eddie nods his head and taps the steering wheel as he drives, occasionally looking your way and grinning. Maybe it was the hat, perhaps it was the outfits, the promise of a poem just for him, but whatever it was, Eddie was desperately excited about something.

You pull up next to a ruined building, the dusk making way for the dark quickly approaching. On closer inspection, you would guess this used to be a church of some kind.

Eddie hops down from his seat and runs around to gallantly offer you his hand to disembark. You tap your bag several times, check its contents, and finally take his hand to get down.

He then slides the van door open wide and is fussing about in there for a while before he hands you a lit oil lantern whilst he lifts out a picnic basket and his own lantern and slams the door shut, disturbing some winged creatures from their roost in the church.

Eddie escorts you along overgrown paths and gravel. In the lantern light, you see many tombstones and plaques on the floor, all worn and weathered. Some broken, some simple wooden crosses in the ground and some vast disfigured statues that loomed over you.

The lighting made the place both terrifying and beautiful, and you couldn't think of a better representative of your own feelings right now. You tap your bag again. It's still there. You haven't forgotten it.

You come to a high hedged area. Eddie stops and turns to you, turning your lantern down and then his own, "Ready?" He says sweetly, smiling at you before pulling back a sheet between the shrubs and waves you inside.

As you step through, you first see tens of lanterns dotted around the place and some candles happily melting and dripping down old stones of the clearly forgotten.

Your eyes adjust to the light; you can see this isn't an enclosed space. It was just that the greenery around one of the enormous angel statues here had overgrown enough to disguise some of that area.

You'd never thought of graveyards as beautiful before, but the warm light glowing against everything made it much more friendly.

Eddie walks ahead of you, now you're in a more well-lit area. First, he takes the blanket out of the basket and lays it on the ground. Then places the basket on top. Next, he pulls out some soda cans, a bunch of string cheeses, and a very familiar box.

A wave of happiness hits you. The little nods to past dates were here at the last one. You couldn't believe how you'd got so lucky to have met someone so thoughtful.

"Just wait for a second, one more thing," he says happily whilst pulling out yet another blanket, but this one you recognise immediately. It's the throw from your bed.

Eddie sits on the picnic blanket and pats it for you to sit next to him, and you oblige.

He unfolds the blanket and shows you all the new patches he's sewn on. One for every date. A set of red lips for when you watched Rocky Horror together. A disco ball and guitar for the one where you danced together over Hawkins. An air rifle patch for when Wayne tutored you both in shooting and many others.

Your hands go to your face in amazement, "Oh, Eddie...this is so wonderful. Thank you so very much. I mean, I know it's ours, but you put all the work in, really"

He looks so pleased that you love it and then quickly folds it up and puts it carefully back into the basket.

You sit and snack for a bit, exchanging urban legends or, in Eddie's case, stories from D&D lore about people obsessed with immortality and the first vampire. Then, when you get to the familiar box, inside, as you had hoped, it's a beautiful lattice work cherry pie, and just like the first time, you feed Eddie the first forkful. His expression is so soft as you do. He's so pleased you remembered.

Eddie checks his watch and nearly chokes on his mountain dew, "Sorry, babe. I got so carried away. I didn't realise the time" he stands up, dusts himself off, and walks off the blanket in front of you. The lanterns light him up like stage footlights, "So let's get to the next bit, right?" He gives you an encouraging smile.

You sit opposite him and watch him remove an actual scroll from the side of his top hat. Then, he pulls open the ribbon and unravels it.

"Oh wait," he says, "Almost forgot I need audience participation for this", and he grabs your hand and rolls up your sleeve before pulling you up to stand opposite him. He uses your linked hands to hold the bottom of the scroll and his free hand for the top.

He clears his throat, theatrically reciting and acting out his poem.

"My baby's scar is big and bad

And sometimes that scar

really makes my baby sad.

My baby's scar is proud and it's bold

And probably won't fade

Until we're grey and really old.

My baby's scar is absolute sheer class

It shows the cretins of this town

I've got a myself a certified badass

But my baby's scar is there to show

Despite the damage and pain

She wouldn't and didn't let go

So my baby's scar is beautiful you see

Because whenever I look at it

I'll know how much my baby loves me."

"Oh, Eddie. Thank you, that was beautiful," you say, wiping the tears from your cheeks with the back of your hand, but a huge smile on your face.

He knew how self-conscious it made you sometimes, and hearing everything it meant to him, made your heart almost burst, and you felt so proud to have it.

"I meant every word, My Lady," he says tenderly.

Eddie pulls your held hand up again, and places a line of kisses from your wrist, along your scar, all the way up your arm, neck, cheek and finally landing softly on your lips.

As you part, he says, "The floor is all yours, Babe. I can't wait to hear it."

You take a few steps back, pull out your poem and unfold it. You clear your throat and smile over at him, and he gives you a thumbs up.

"Ok, here goes," you say to yourself, brushing down the front of your dress.

"I met a guy called Bruce

With Hellion for a curl

Who turned out to be an Eddie,

Too much of a wild child for this girl

But somewhere between the books

A Dangerous Meeting was planned

That ended with a Run to the hills

Losfer words hand in hand

Before I knew it

I was Breaking The Law

And I fell Head Over Heels

For this Iron Man for sure

Everytime Im close to you

It's a Sheer Heart Attack

but I know without you

everything would Fade to Black

So, Babe Run if you can,

I have no remorse

But youve got another thing coming

If you think I wanna be somebody other than yours"

You raise your eyes from the paper to Eddie, his eyes are brimmed with tears, his brow slightly knitted, but his face can't hold back his radiant smile. His hands behind his back in a gentlemanly type pose.

You stare down at the last stanza, sitting there, waiting to be read aloud. Whilst written in basic blue pen, they couldn't have been more glaringly neon in your mind right now.

Your heart pounds and your chest heaves, as your fingers tense at the well-creased edges of the paper they made whilst you stood in front of the mirror practising.

You'd practised it in different rhythms, in different outfits, with different mannerisms, and different tones. Just so it could be perfect because he didn't deserve anything less. The last few times, you'd got it just right, you thought, but right now, you'd stalled, and there seemed to be no restarting.

This time it was real. This time if you said it, you couldn't take it back. This time Eddie was right there. Not a picture stuck up on a looking glass.

Your eyes move between the words and Eddie, and the lump in your throat returns again, once more trying to block off your ability to get the words out. What you wouldn't give for a drink right now.

How long had you been standing here like this? Minutes, seconds, you had no idea. Maybe you should just forget it, right?

No...you can't...this is it...this is the moment.

All this time leading up to this, all those tiny indicators along the way. All those times, you knew it in your gut but pushed it down because it was ridiculous. It was stupid. It wasn't the right time. You were too young. Maybe he didn't want this, you didn't know, you hadn't outright asked.

But you'd prepared for as many reactions as you could. You had rehearsed them in your mind over and over this last week. Hell, even before this week, it was just you didn't have the words before.

You stare desperately at the page wishing it could just read itself aloud, so you wouldn't have to.

But then it happens, Eddie shifts his weight where he is standing, your eyes lock to him, and the words pour out of your mouth. You knew them by heart.

"So, maybe not now,

But in the future, sometime.

Edward Munson

Would you let me be your Last in Line?"

You pull out the box from your bag and flick it open to reveal a ring, a silver dragon claw ring. You'd wanted it to fit his style, reference things he loved, and make sure it was totally replaceable. Otherwise, he'd worry about losing it.

Though ring details be damned, it feels like you spoke those words into a cave. Their lonesome echo in the dark of the night. They ring out in your mind. The rest is silence.

You don't know what to do next because the reaction you have is not one of the many you had planned for. But, this one, you can't figure it out.

At the very least, you can see it's not a positive one. If you had to label a photograph of Eddie's expression right now, it would be fearful.

The tears were streaming down his face as he shook his head from side to side. One hand in his hair, the other stuck firmly behind his back. He can barely even look at you at all. When you do see his eyes, they are wide, maybe confused, panicked or worried. His body is fidgety like he wants to move but can't

Fuck. You'd really fucked this up. How do you claw what you had back from this? Your brain decides to just run on instinct, and you want to rush over and comfort him, say you were sorry, that it didn't matter, and you should have asked first. Why were you always this stupid?

You step forward, and he takes his hand from his hair and pushes it out in front of him to indicate to you to stop. You do as requested and try to say something "I-"

The hand outstretched to you is now one finger trying to silence you from afar.

"No!" Eddie sniffles and looks to the sky for assistance, attempting to blink the tears from his eyes, but he's still crying too hard. It's unbearable to be at this distance.

"Hey, it's ok. We're ok. We don't need this..." You chuck the box into the darkness.

"No..be-be-be..." His words were cut up by sharp intakes of breath, and you be right there with him if it wasn't for the fact that you felt you couldn't cry until he was ok.

He looks at you, and the deepness of his sigh moves his shoulders up and down. He rolls his eyes and furrows his brow in desperation because he loves words, and currently, his body is robbing them from him.

His hand emerges from behind his back, and he holds his arm out to the side. You feel so confused right now, but something is moving in the darkness. You can hear something around you.

"Eddie, something isn't right. Just forget what I said, ok, let's just get out of here, alright?" Fear takes hold of you, memories of things lurking in the darkness when Eddie had saved you at the very last second by the lake.

"No," he says, finally able to take a whole breath instead of the shallow ones stunted by his sobs. He raises his arm again, and something swoops over your head this time. You cover your head and make a run towards Eddie, and that's when you notice it and stop in your tracks.

On Eddie's outstretched arm hand is a glove, a battered thick leather glove, and now balanced on it, looking around, is a beautiful Great horned owl. It's head bowing down to receive a treat from Eddie.

You look confused at him and his eyes seem to plead with you for understanding as he walks away and tethers the Owl to a nearby post. As soon as the Owl is secure, he runs over to you.

He grasps the back of your head and kisses you ferociously, and it's almost like the exchange of breath brings your Eddie back to life.

"Oh fuck", he says, hands in his hair, pacing in front of you, looking at you shaking his head but grinning wildly, and lets out a laugh, "Fuuuuuck!" He shouts whilst laughing at the sky.

You are standing still, bewildered, but at least he wasn't sad anymore. Then, finally, you take a moment to catch your breath and offer a small smile.

He lets out a loud sigh and tucks his hands around his chest, still shaking his head in disbelief.

"So, I just wanna be really clear on this. You, Y/N L/N, My Lady in shining armour, "he points at you, "wanna be with me" he points back to himself, "Forever?"

You stand there awkwardly unsure what to do or say. You look at Eddie's tear-stained face, which was now laughing intermittently.

"I just thought, you know, I...I...Did I scare you? I'm sorry. I should have asked. I just...you know...I can't see..." You are desperately trying to support your reasoning for asking, but without possibly causing him to retreat from you again, or frighten him. Which was problematic when all you wanted to say was, 'I can't see me being with anyone but you.'.

"You are avoiding my question. It's a simple yes or no" Eddie purses his lips and looks at you coyly from under his hair.

You close your eyes for a moment and steel yourself. Just say it and deal with the aftermath later. "Yes." You almost shout out.

"Well..." He says softly as he walks back over to you, "That's good to hear...you know...because me too" Eddie looks you in the eye before dropping to one knee on the ground.

He looks up at you and pulls out a leather-wrapped box from his pocket, "So just for clarity, and not because I love hearing it. Y/N L/N do you wanna see through the rest of time, maybe an Armageddon or two, with me?"

He opens the box to reveal a silver band with wings etched into it. His big brown eyes look up into yours, his big dimpled smile spread across his face.

"Yes," you manage before the tears of a range of emotions fall from your eyes. You think relief is the main one, followed closely by an overwhelming helping of happiness.

He scrambles to pull the ring from the box and puts it quickly on your left-hand ring finger like he's worried you might change your mind if he takes too long about it.

His eyes dart from your hands to your own tear-flooded eyes, but your smile is so big your face is starting to hurt.

Once the ring is in place, he wraps you tightly in his arms, only a tiny occasional release so he can wipe your eyes, before pulling you back into him for another hug or kiss.

He tilts your chin up to look at him, "By the gods, I love you, but holy shit, if you just almost didn't ruin my plan. Fuuuuuck!" He exclaims again into the sky, occasionally giggling like a madman.

"I'd been working with that owl every minute I could spare to get it right", he laughs, holding you tightly to him again, and kissing you on the forehead, "You know this confirms you're insane, right?"

You laugh and wipe your eyes. "The owl was your two-week project?" You ask.

"Well, yes and no. It's just more intensive these last two weeks, is all," he answers, "Oh, wait a minute!" He releases you and shouts, "Which one of your corpses has got my ring?"

You grab your lantern and run over towards the general area you threw the box and find it just sitting waiting on top of a tree stump.

"Got it!" You yell out and Eddie charges back over and collides into the side of you in a hug.

"Lemme see. I couldn't see it properly before." So you hold up the box for him and open it up.

"Now, this is what I have, but you can have whatever you want. I tried to get something I thought you might like. That fit with the others, so you wouldn't worry if you..." You say quickly.

Eddie turns your chin towards him, saying softly, "Babe, you're rambling. It's perfect." His eyes well up a little again, but this time there is no confusion, these are happy tears.

Your hands are shaking as you take it out of its box, and you almost lose it into the darkness again and grab it just in time. You hover it in front of his finger whilst holding his hand out and stare at it, muttering, "Are you sure about this? It's not about a wedding, a fiancé, or things like that. I mean, I just want you forever. Whatever shape that comes in, I don't care. But you shouldn't feel pushed into anything you don't want to do."

Eddie sniffles and lets out a small laugh, "All I can tell you is that if you do not put this ring on me, right now, and make me yours for eternity... I'm gonna do it my goddamn self, ok?"

You put the ring on Eddie's finger, and it's like a weight is lifted from you, tears still escape your own eyes, but you finally muster the strength to look him in his eyes again.

You grab hold of his jacket lapels and pull him in for a deep, passionate kiss. Eddie makes a pleased murmur but slowly pulls away, his eyes dazed, "Yeah, you might wanna save those ones for a little later, when we're alone", he says, smirking.

"You can come out now", he calls into the graveyard as you're trying to process what he just said, and you're still holding onto him tightly.

Four silhouettes emerge from the darkness into your lantern-lit area. You recognise three of them. Your Mom, your Dad and Wayne. The last person you don't recognise comes forward first, walks over to Eddie, and pats him on the back before going to the post to collect the Owl from its tether and leaves.

"Who-" you start to ask before you and Eddie are engulfed in another layer of embrace around your own, as your parents and Wayne wrap their arms around each other and you both.

You feel a hand wrap around one side of your head, pulling you away from Eddie into a tight embrace, a kiss planted on top of your head, and the chest you land against shudders with small silent sobs.

You smell the familiar aromas of cigarettes and cologne, "Hey, Wayne", You say into his chest.

"Hey Darlin'", he drawls, stroking over your hair still holding you tight, "You know, on the regular, if someone upset my boy like that, I'd make them wish they were never born." He laughs a little.

"If it's any consolation. I didn't mean to upset him like that. I also thought I'd terrified him at one point, and I was definitely gonna be in back your bad books" you say, genuinely making your hug a little tighter.

You turn your head to look at Eddie, your Mom busy wiping his hair and tears from his face, fussing over his clothes, and talking to him enthusiastically. Your Dad is beside her, his strong arm extended to have his hand on Eddie's shoulder. He mutters the odd word but mostly nods along with what your Mom is saying.

"Nah, " Wayne says with a chuckle, "It's much worse than bad books for ya now, girl. You can't tell that boy nothin' he won't hold you to. Not an ice cream you mention to stop him having a meltdown, not a trip to the park, so he does his chores. If you said forever, that's the time you gotta do."

"You know, I think I can manage that. Did you know? About the owl thing?" You ask curiously.

"Girl, you better go get that ring back cus it sounds like you don't know Eddie at all. He hasn't shut up about it for at least a month. No 'how's your day, old man, no 'hey, wanna grab a beer, just plottin' an a schemin' 'How many lanterns do you think I'll need and 'Should the owl fly from behind her or me?'" Wayne laughs, doing his best Eddie impersonations

"I can't believe you knew that, and sat opposite me just the other day and said nothing. You didn't even flinch when I told you my plan. Have you ever thought of taking to the stage?" You laugh.

"Truthfully, it was tempting to put you off completely, but then that Munson in me was like, Nah, let's see how this plays out", he laughs deeply.

"If I didn't love you so much, that would definitely be worth a thump in the arm." You say, squeezing him again.

"Careful now, don't want the boy gettin' jealous", he laughs. "Welcome to the family, Darlin'" He gives you one final kiss on top of the head, holds your hand and walks you back to your parents and Eddie.

You look at Eddie and he's mirroring the same big closed-mouth smile as you. So you figure he's had much the same interaction you have just had, only he's had to deal with two of them.

You do a quick drive-by squeeze of Eddie's side as you pass to switch places. To your surprise, your Dad grasps you first. His two big strong arms wrap around you and squeeze you tightly in a bear hug, "You alright there, Lass? I saw your face drop out there, and it took all of me not to rush out t'ya. Good job we knew beforehand."

"Oh, so you're a pair of sneaks too, huh? " You laugh, raising your head, freeing an arm to reach out to your Mom, and pull her in towards you also.

"It wasn't sneaking per se, it was more like you both told us not to tell the other. So we did as you both asked" she laughs as you look her over and wipe away her celebratory tears. "I knew it. I knew it the first day I met him. I said it to your father on the steps, so now he owes me $1000."

"$1000???" You say in shock.

"Look, she wrote t' bet down at the time o' meeting him. The odds were slim. I thought I was quids in, ya know? The way he were dressed, love. It didn't scream committed relationship lad, you know?"

You laugh together and take a quick look over at Eddie, who is currently pressed firmly against his Uncle in a tight double-armed embrace.

You leave them to it and start tidying everything away as best you can. Waving goodbye to your folks and Wayne as they go. You occasionally hold your hand out in front of you and admire its new addition.

A hand appears next to yours, another moves around your waist to your hip, and a voice in your ear, "Oh, are we gonna be those insufferable type people, now? I'm always down for a new way to annoy people, just wanted to make sure it was a team effort."

"Oh, everything is a team effort now, Babe. All the chores, writing your D&D sessions, attending parties of family members neither of us knows, painting my nails, any snacks you buy, you know everything." You say, turning to face Eddie, pretending to be serious.

His eyebrows raise, and he stares at you and blinks a few times, "So, like everything?" He says thoughtfully.

"Yeah, everything." You add matter-of-factly.

"Oh, ok then." He says, before behind down, grabbing your legs and putting you over his shoulder. "I figure walking is included on that list", he laughs, "oh, don't forget the box, babe", he adds, moving you around like a claw in a grabber machine.

"Got it!" You say as you grab it, and he walks you over to the van before setting you down outside the passenger side, opening the door, and taking the box from you.

You hop into your seat, and a couple of door slams later, Eddie gets into the driver's seat.

"So where are we off to, Babe? Mine, or yours-mine," you smile.

"After all that, Babe? Neither," he laughs, reaches into his jacket pocket, tosses you a motel key, and starts up the van.

You look over at him in surprise, "Well, it wasn't like you were gonna be able to turn all this down, was it?" He laughs mischievously, gesturing to himself and the van, and drives you into the night.

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddiemunson #eddie stranger things #eddie the freak munson #stranger things fanfiction #fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie x reader #romance #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson / reader #theeddiemunsontapedates #fire_au #madaboutmunson

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

Bajoran alien design is so funny bc I can just feel the needs of the makeup and budget coming through the world building. These people were just like listen. Listen. This station is next to 2 planets, and we have to make everyone, including all extras on one of them into lizards. We're just doing fucking nose ridges on the other one ok???? We DON'T want to here shit about bad alien design if the critics want to throw shade they can damn well pay for more makeup artists.

#that being said #don't think I haven't noticed how all the alien mains in star trek who truly Look very alien are all men #like b'elanna is the most alien alien woman of them all #and compare her to quark or neelix or phlox and she's pretty tame #like kira #dax #kes #all aliens who are barely alien in design so they can still be cute #and like some of it I'm sure is just that have a heavily prostheticed actor is a lot of work and you don't want to have #more than one or two mains that are really gonna require Makeup #but it's not a coincidence literally all the alien women not only look human #but their alien things just kinda make them quirky #kira's nose ridge is kinda cute #dax's spots also #kes is all elf-y #also rip deanna troi you deserved so much more #b'elanna is an exception but like she's still v cute and her prosthetics don't infer with the traditional appealing features #give me a woman alien man who is a ferengi or something I'm begging you #star trek #ds9 #tng #voy

[bisexualcrowley]

Undercover

Pairing: Harry Hart x Fem! reader

Summary: While doing surveillance at a gala, Y/n and Harry's identities are threatened to be uncovered and they take to a rather intimate method of hiding their faces

Content/warnings: smutty themes? nsfw, fluffy stuff, cursing, suggestive themes, semi-public foreplay/teasing, making out, Merlin’s still alive bc i want him to be

Word count: 3,729

“A Gala. In the middle of winter, this means I might have to fight in heels, is this really necessary Merlin?” Y/n sighed, glancing out at the light drifting of snow that had begun to flutter down from the sky. Its not that she had anything against winter, the woman mused to herself, just that it makes this sort of work so much more difficult. 

The year had been tough enough already, having lost Harry to Valentine, getting Harry back, the whole issue with the Golden Circle, and the constant stress was getting to Y/n, the smallest thing now able to piss her off, and unfortunately for her, this latest mission seemed to be more than a small thing. “C’mon Y/n, i know we all could use some rest but this is important, the target is threatening to release catastrophic amounts of classified government information. I’m not asking you to be on the front line here, I just need you and Galahad on the sidelines, more as surveillance and backup than anything else.”

Y/n had been less than impressed with Merlin’s words, wanting to stay as far away as possible from field work until she had gotten a decent amount of sleep, but her ears perked up at the mention of her best friend and previous partner at Kingsman.

“You’re letting Harry in the field again?”

She asked, surprised at the man’s words. “I thought you said he wasn’t ready yet, after the problems he had while working alongside the American agents.

“Not fully, as i said, the two of you will just be keeping tabs on him from the crowd, not making contact unless absolutely necessary.” Merlin must have picked up on Y/n’s eagerness to work alongside Harry again and allowed himself a slight smile as he spoke, sliding the paperwork across the table to the younger agent. “This place is fancy, i mean really fancy, you’re gonna want to look your very best. Go over his papers today and be here dressed and ready at 20:30 tomorrow. And I mean it, y/n, be dressed to kill, in more than just the metaphoric sense”

Most of her annoyance having melted away at the mention of Harry, Y/n agreed, taking the papers and shaking Merlin’s hand before turning on her heel and jogging down the hall of the Kingsman offices, hoping to find her friend. Luckily Y/n didn’t need to search far, finding him in the actual tailor section of the building being fit for a tuxedo.

Y/n caught Harry’s eye in the mirror in front of him and she shot him a grin, leaning casually against the door frame. “Lookin’ good, Galahad. Excited to be headin’ back into it?” She asked, affection shining in her smile at the sight of Harry Hart suiting up for battle once again. 

It was no secret among many of the Kingsman agents that Y/n had fallen hard for the man, her feelings becoming clear to them when Harry was shot as she had broken down in tears at the news despite being one of Kingsman’s toughest agents, however she did manage to keep the secret from Harry himself, terrified of losing the relationship they already had by revealing her feelings only to find that they weren’t reciprocated. 

Eggsy and Merlin, of course, had required a fair amount of bribery to be convinced to keep their mouths shut, finding the whole situation more than amusing and wanting nothing more than to spill the beans to Harry, whom they were fully convinced shared y/n’s feelings. Y/n didn’t crack though, and eventually the men had settled on the childish teasing of Y/n and placing bets on who would make the first move. Eggsy had put 50 pounds on Y/n cracking first, but Merlin put his money on Harry, having said something about Eggsy underestimating the woman.

At the moment, despite her refusal to share her feelings with Harry, Y/n feared that Eggsy was going to be the one to win the wager as she felt her heart beat faster at the happy smile Harry had offered her in return.  “Looking forward to be working alongside you again, Y/n, it’s been lonely without my partner”

Y/n felt her face heat up at the compliment, but determined not to let her resolve fail she once again held back the words she wanted so badly to tell her friend, instead choosing to push herself off the doorframe and saunter over to Harry’s position in the center of the room.  “So... A gala. Haven’t done one of these together in ages, have we.”  Y/n’s hand came to rest on Harry’s shoulder, still not having broken their eye contact through the mirror. “It has been a while, although luckily, I never forgot how to dance”

Y/n’s confident exterior faltered at his words, tilting her head to the side and eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “We have to dance?” She asked, voice coming out far quieter than she had hoped. Harry let out a very ungentlemanly laugh at her shock, turning his gaze from the mirror to meet his friend’s eyes properly. “I’d assume Merlin didn’t tell you for this very reason, y/n” He chuckled. “We’d stick out too much, standing in the middle of a ballroom. To draw the least amount of attention to our position, we’re gonna have to dance”

Y/n froze for a moment, weighing her options. On one hand, she thought, I’m dancing with Harry. On the other hand, i’m dancing. In public. What a terrifying thought, i should just tell Merlin i won’t do it. But if i don’t do it, i don’t dance with Harry. 

She squinted slightly, fighting herself for which option was better, but in the end decided that the upside of pretending to be Harry’s date outweighed the negatives in the situation, and after another moment of hesitation, Y/n nodded, nervously drumming her fingers on the man’s shoulder.

“Alright then. If we’re gonna dance, we’re gonna do it right. I’m gonna go find a dress, i guess. See you tomorrow, Galahad” Y/n breathed, a hint of humor making it’s way into her words as she went on, which to her luck Harry picked up on, and replied with an exaggerated salute, earning him a giggle and smile from Y/n before she slung on a coat and took off again.

Lucky for her the London streets were nearly empty, most seeking cover from the bitter cold within the comfort of their homes, and the trip to her own home was quick for Y/n. Almost immediately upon arriving, she threw open the doors of her closet, flicking through hanger after hanger of clothes that Merlin would be less than happy about her wearing to such a prestigious event. It appeared that luck was still on her side, however, as Y/n paused, pulling out a dress previously hidden behind a thick winter coat.  It was beautiful, a slim gown of deep green velvet with a loose, plunging neckline and thin black straps with a shimmering gold woven throughout, and y/n smiled, knowing it would be perfect for the following night.

The next day passed quickly, Y/n having to study the target’s file, shower, do her hair and makeup, fit a variety of concealed weaponry on her person, and what felt to her like a million other things, and it felt like no time at all before she found herself outside the Kingsman Tailor shop, glittering heels clicking along the icy sidewalk leading up to the building. Y/n reached for the door handle, shivering slightly in the cold but was met with the door swinging open in her face, Merlin staring down at her with Eggsy, Tequila and Harry behind him. 

“Y/n, you’re late, c’mon, there’s a car waiting in the back, c’mon lets go” Merlin ushered her along, the group rounding the building to find a black towncar waiting in the alley. It took a bit of maneuvering to fit everyone into the vehicle, coats bunching up in the small space, but eventually the group situated themselves in a somewhat comfortable fashion, and they were off.

The drive was longer than Y/n had expected, but no time was spent relaxing, having found herself rather distracted by her body being pressed against a very well dressed Harry, the cramped space forcing her leg to shift up onto Harry’s so that she was sitting partially on his lap, a position that had the both of them blushing furiously and Tequila chuckling from Harry’s left. 

Hoping to distract from the uncomfortable and unfortunately mildly arousing way she was seated, Y/n leaned forward to peer past Harry and raised an eyebrow at the American agent, who in return mimicked her expression, which brought a mix of annoyance and amusement to the still blushing woman.  “Mind if i ask why Harry was forced into the middle seat? Last time i checked, i’d fit a fair bit better” Y/n asked, Harry humming in agreement with her statement.

“Why, you wanna sit on my lap instead?” Tequila smirked, earning a snort of laughter from Eggsy and Merlin in the front seat and a glare from Y/n, where Harry shifted uncomfortably and blushed harder.

Y/n’s snapped back, but her retort was cut short at the feeling of the car slowing to a stop and Merlin leaning over the drivers seat to run over the night’s details one last time. 

The plan went smoothly from then, Eggsy and Tequila positioning themselves near the main doorways and Merlin settling himself behind a computer, leaving Harry and Y/n to shed their coats and make their way further into the ballroom. A string quartet was set in the middle of the north wall, playing what y/n recognized immediately to be a slower rendition of the seal lullaby, and she fought the urge to twirl around a couple times, instead smoothing out her dress and holding out a hand to Harry.

“Well Mr. Hart, may i have this dance?” Y/n spoke calmly, careful to avoid appearing overly enthusiastic so as not to draw unnecessary attention to the pair, but the warmth shining in her eyes was undisguisable to Harry, who took her arm with a smile and led her to their position in the ballroom.

The image of the two Kingsman agents settling into a graceful mix of a waltz and a simple slow dance was reflected off the marble floors, creating what would have been a beautiful photo had there been a photographer near them and y/n relished in the moment, hand clasped with Harry’s, his hand pulling her waist to his as they swayed to the music.

Harry caught Y/n’s eye as he caught her after a spin, a grin breaking through his character that made her heart flutter. The song slowed to it’s end and the couple for the night paused, the taller figure dipping y/n and freezing, their faces inches apart. Y/n felt her breath hitch in her chest, heart pounding at the intimate position they had paused in.

Her eyes met Harry’s again, the latter panting slightly, his pupil dilated and face flushed red, and dear god it turned Y/n on. Biting her tongue to hold back what would have been a rather humiliating moan, she rested her weight into Harry’s arms, allowing herself a second to catch her breath. As the next song began, Harry shook himself out of whatever state he was in and pulled y/n back up against him, resuming the dance like nothing had happened. Y/n, still flustered, tried to distract herself by shooting a glance towards their target, who had moved from lingering by the side entrance to scanning the crowd from a nearby refreshment table.  As the song reached a peak Harry spun y/n around again, but this time around her heel caught on the seam of her dress and she stumbled, accidentally turning away from her partner. Quickly righting herself, Y/n returned to her previous stance, but not before making brief yet intense eye contact with the man they were watching.  “Shit... Merlin do you have eyes on the target? I might have just fucked us over” Y/n’s voice came out in a hoarse whisper, eyes blown wide with horror at the prospect of ruining Harry’s first real taste of action since the Golden Circle incident.

“Hang on, hang on, don’t abort mission yet” Merlin muttered through her earpiece, y/n hearing the clacking of keys as the older agent fussed with the security cameras

“Fuckin hell, Galahad, Y/n, he’s coming your way. Hold your position, we don’t blow your cover unless we’re 100% sure he knows who you are. Keep dancing, but don’t let him see your face” 

Merlin’s voice cut across the earpiece again, and by the way y/n felt Harry's shoulders tense she knew he heard the message too.

“Shit, what do we do?” she hissed back, watching her partner risk a glance to the left and finding the target moving smoothly through the crowd, eyes set on the couple.

“Keep dancing, stay inconspicuous for as long as possible, if we’re lucky he’ll just pass on by. Now i’ll say it again, don’t let him see your bloody faces.” Merlin’s voice was low, and Y/n couldn’t stop the nervous feeling they caused from setting in as she watched the man grow nearer out of the corner of her eye.

“Merlin i don’t know what you expect us to do here if it’s so imperative we don’t move from this spot, we can’t just-”

Y/n tuned out Harry’s urgent whispers as a solution came to mind, eyes widening at the ridiculousness her own mind had come up with, but not seeing a better solution she shushed him, placing a finger over his lips.

Harry looked confused but went along with it, cocking an eyebrow in silent questioning and giving her shoulder a soft squeeze as the man drew closer, nearly close enough to get a good look at the pair, and y/n knew she had to make her move.  With a quick whisper of “forgive me for this Harry”, Y/n brought her hands up to cup her friend’s face and pulled him into a kiss. Harry froze momentarily, his jaw tensing in shock before he followed her lead and returned the kiss, their lips moving against each others perfectly in sync and y/n couldn’t keep herself from sighing into the kiss, unconsciously pressing her body closer to his. 

Harry deepened the kiss, his hands moving to thread through her hair and a vague thought reminded Y/n he was just helping to conceal her face, but it was shoved quickly to the back of her mind with a particularly passionate movement from Harry which she met enthusiastically. Her hands inched upwards to tug at his perfectly styled hair, which earned Y/n a low moan against her lips, and she pressed closer again, unconsciously slipping her leg between Harry’s. She felt his cock twitch against her thigh and all thoughts of what they were there to do flew out the window, one hand clasping at the collar of his tuxedo’s jacket and the other cupping his cheek, pulling his face down to her own.

Feeling bold, Y/n made a move to nip at Harry’s lower lip but before she had the chance, they were interrupted by a more than amused Eggsy clearing his throat beside her.  The pair flinched in surprise and pulled quickly out of the heated embrace, leaving Y/n wiping speared lipstick from her face and fixing disheveled hair, Harry somewhat discretely adjusting his clothing to hide the now quite sizable bulge in his trousers with a deep blush across his cheeks and Eggsy watching from the side, eyes tearing up from the effort of holding in his laughter.

“Merlin says good thinkin’, Y/n. The two’ve you were a bit busy to notice but Tequila got the guy, he went down nice n’ quiet, we’re supposed to get to the car as soon as possible” Eggsy had a shit eating grin plastered across his face as he spoke, which only got wider when Y/n gave Harry an awkward smile, which he returned briefly before shoving his hands in his pockets and staring down at his shoes.

Snickering, Eggsy escorted the pair through the crowded room and through a series of side doors, which after a seemingly unnecessary number of hallways led to a back exit where the towncar that had brought them to the gala was waiting. Dreading what was sure to be an uncomfortable conversation with Harry, y/n winced at the thought of how inappropriate her actions towards her friend were, and she moved to open the passenger side door but was stopped by Eggsy once again, who flung open the door and threw himself in next to Merlin, who quite to her displeasure shared Eggsy’s smirk. 

Y/n’s eyes locked with his, silently pleading to switch seats but her weak attempt proved to be in vain as Eggsy winked and pointed over his shoulder to the back of the car, where Harry was already seated.  Y/n glared at Merlin but didn’t argue, and took a deep breath before sliding into the car, which to her luck was no longer so cramped due to the third agent having stayed behind with the target. The space was still smaller than she would have wished, but the cover of darkness provided a touch of comfort that y/n was endlessly grateful for. 

Shadows crossed across her legs as the car rolled into gear, Merlin driving out of the alley and beginning the long journey back to the Kingsman headquarters. Y/n sighed, leaning her head against the window and closing her eyes, hoping the cold glass against her skin would help to drown out her racing thoughts.

Much to her dismay, however, they had been traveling for less than ten minutes when Eggsy turned around, leaning over his chair with the same wicked smile stretched across his face as he had worn before.

“So, you two had some fun t’night, didntcha?” Merlin let out a snort of laughter from beside him, Eggsy nodding his head suggestively between the pair in the backseat. Too tired to come up with a snarky reply, y/n simply rolled her eyes at Eggsy, and went back to working up the nerve to say something to the uncharacteristically silent figure seated beside her.

The realization that Harry was rarely this quiet around y/n outweighed her fear of confrontation, concern for her friend pulling her focus from Eggsy to the older man, and she turned to face him.  Harry was sitting stiffly, hands clasped in his lap and head straight forward, but he must have been watching y/n out of the corner of his eye, as he looked to the side to meet her eyes when she turned from her position by the window to look up at him. 

In that moment, the car was silent aside from the low rumble of the engine, the tension between the two growing from tolerable to an absolute peak, hanging thickly in the air between their bodies.  It was thick enough, apparently for Eggsy to pick up on it, and with a chuckle about “giving you two some privacy”, he pressed a button beside his seat that caused a black divider to come up behind him, separating the front from the back of the car and leaving Y/n and Harry in silence.

Both Harry and Y/n stayed frozen in place, faces turned to each other and her eyes locked on his. Hesitantly, y/n placed a hand on Harry’s knee, a motion that years of friendship had taught him meant she had a lot to say, but didn’t yet know how to say it, and Harry nodded, the silent exchange sharing more than words would be able to.

“...I... I’m sorry, Harry, i shouldn’t have...” Y/n’s voice was low, barely above a whisper as she spoke, trailing off as the words caught in her throat. 

"No, y/n, it was my mistake, i just...” Harry's voice faltered as well, fingers coming up to fuss nervously with the strap of his eyepatch, a habit y/n had noticed Harry picked up when he felt flustered.

Neither of them knew what had happened; one moment they were sitting in silence, y/n’s hand on his knee and tension high, and the next moment y/n found herself being pulled into Harry’s lap, her hands once again tugging at his hair as they met again in a heated kiss.  Her dress had hiked up to her hips at this point, allowing Y/n to straddle her lover properly, and this time she didn’t hesitate to grind down against him, Harry’s hands coming to grip her smooth hips as she rubbed her barely covered sex along the bulge in his trousers, both letting out groans of pleasure at the friction.

Harry’s fingers trailed down y/n’s body as they made out like horny teenagers in the backseat, moving from her hair down to cup her covered breast, and down further to trace along the slick fabric of her panties. Y/n whimpered at the touch and moved to return the favor, her own hand coming to palm at his cock through his pants, at which Harry gasped and yanked her down onto his lap once again, hips thrusting up to grind against y/n’s cunt.

She moaned against his mouth once again, pulling away for just long enough to strip off Harry’s coat and unbutton his shirt before returning to her position on his lap. The two were so caught up in the moment that they didn’t notice the car pulling up to the curb and stopping, however they did take notice to the door flying open and the flash of a camera, followed by Eggsy’s delighted voice and a deep laugh from Merlin.  Embarrassed, y/n quickly tugged her dress back into place and slid out of the car, holding out a hand for Harry to take as he climbed out, looking as red faced as y/n felt.

“Go on, buggers, we took you to Galahad’s place. I’ll find out who won the bet tomorrow, go have some fuckin’ fun.” Eggsy laughed at their dumbfounded expressions at his words, but chose not to respond, instead returning to his seat beside Merlin who drove off a few seconds later, leaving two very sexually frustrated agents on the sidewalk. 

“Well then... Wanna take this inside?”

#harry hart smut #kingsman smut #kingsman imagine #kingsman fluff #harry hart x reader #harry hart imagine #harry hart fluff #wlm imagine #fanfic #oneshot #kingsman the golden circle #kingsman harry

[novasintheroom]

Hey its ray-jaykub! I saw that you did requests and i was wondering if i could get head-cannons on the turtles and what they like to do with their respective s/os

OMG I love you!!! Okay I gotta calm down hooo

Leo

·         Love love loves to carry you over rooftops and sit on high points to look over the city with you. This is one of his ways to calm down and think about things without his brothers’ around to stress him out, and having you there some nights, looking at the glitter of the lights – poetry for his heart

·         Speaking of poetry – you guys will have contests for who can make the worst poems. Just something to pass off to each other between visits, something you find in your bag or in his bed sheets. Cheesy, unrhythmic, stupid, whatever. You guys have cried laughing before b/c of this. However, every once in a while he’ll slap you with a real intimate and loving poem that just makes you melt.

·         You’ve started trying to sneak up on him. It doesn’t work. He still lets you do it, just so he can turn around and grab you at the last second. Sometimes he throws you on the nearest soft surface, sometimes he gives you a big kiss, sometimes he just starts carrying you around like a sack of potatoes – depends on his mood honestly. Your determination to spook him is cute.

·         Watching or listening to True Crime stuff becomes a quick couple’s hobby for you guys. Usually it’s playing in the background as you each do chores or work on some project, but you’ll each talk about the case throughout. You’ve hit him more than once for giving away what happened or who killed who. He’s too good at figuring this kind of stuff out!

·         He loves when you sit with him when he meditates. Even if you aren’t the meditating type, if you just sit quietly by him or read, he already feels much calmer. If he’s practicing balancing moves, he’ll sometimes grab you to hoist you up in the air, “to practice strength” at the same time. You’ve learned it’s a very bad idea to squirm when he’s got you planking above his head; he will start tickling you if you don’t keep still.

Raph

·         Once he gets a good enough disguise, he loves to ride around on his newly built motorcycle with you on the city streets. It’s fun to zip through cars and people and drive out to the sparser points of the city to watch ships come in and out of the bay or go to a park outside the city to watch the lights as they all turn on at dusk.

·         Loooovvess having movie nights with you. Seriously asks for it every week. You two get comfy on the couch with like 3 blankets thrown over your laps and watch something like Jurassic Park or Mad Max and gorge on buttery popcorn and chocolate. Sometimes you’ll slip in a chick flick like Pride and Prejudice. He acts like he doesn’t like it, but you’ve caught a goofy, happy smile on him more than once at the end of the movie, and then he starts lifting your hand like Mr. Darcy and adopting more “romantic” actions and it’s just *chef’s kiss*

·         You guys will spar together. It’s kinda required once you date him; he wants you to be able to kick butt if he can’t get to you fast enough. But these sessions usually end up with you and him wrestling/tickling each other and him holding you down with a foot while he lifts weights. Get comfy princess, he ain’t moving that foot ‘til he get 100 reps.

·         He has a really good eye for fashion and makeup. He’s actually the one that sews together all of his family’s clothes, as much as possible with the scraps they find around. It’s calming to make something instead of the stigma he has of destroying stuff. He’s the first person you SnapChat with an outfit just to make sure it looks good, and he sends back honest feedback, like “why do you still have that scarf, you know it doesn’t match anything in your closet,” or “try the red sweater with that long gold necklace you have.” Everyone compliments your outfits so much because of his input

·         Likes to go swimming with you. There’s a few clear, clean pools in the sewers (Donnie approved) where you guys go just to have a good swim. There’s usually some candles lit and music playing. More often than not, you’ll end up laying on his chest while he floats on the surface and just enjoy each other’s company. At least until he gets the idea to dunk you.

Donnie

·         Sneaking into the rafters of Broadway is a regular event for you guys. He manages to disable any security they have up around your “spot,” and you get a free show with your favorite person. He’ll be quoting his favorite lines for days after, all the while talking about the next show to see. He’d so be a theater kid if he had the chance.

·         One of the main things that got you guys together in the first place was you helping him put together tech he’s working on. It still continues now, since you have a steady hand and a willing ear to listen to his theories and ideas. You’ve even inspired him a few times with your comments! It’s a casual bonding activity for you both, and he values your thoughts.

·         Spontaneous dances are a must. Sometimes he’ll grab you and dance around the room – especially if an experiment of his goes well – sometimes it’ll be goofy dances to see how badly you two can embarrass anyone looking, and other times, you guys will just slow dance before you leave, just as a way to be close before having to part.

·         You guys form your own little potted plant collection in the lair. It’s both a hobby, and a way for you to check on how he’s doing. If he’s doing well, the plants are watered and taken care of. If he’s getting sucked into things and forgetting to care for himself, the plants suffer. He tries to get an auto-watering system for them, but you shut that down quick. It’s good to do some things yourself rather than rely on technology!

·         Cupcake Saturdays are a thing. He’ll take you to a bakery, where you’ll go in and get a box of cupcakes (extra frosting). You guys will then just chow down on them on the rooftop, often with him licking a lot of the frosting off the cupcakes before eating the actual “cake” part.

Mikey

·         Such a fan of trying every new restaurant you can find in NYC. It’s become a date-night tradition every Thursday to either order or pick up some hole-in-the-wall place’s food, meet up somewhere, and Gordon Ramsay the crap out of the food. He does a mean Ramsay impression, and you’ve snorted more than one ramen noodle out of your nose from laughing so hard.

·         If you aren’t a fan of video games, you will be once you date this guy. It’s not even just watching or playing video games with him, he’s just funny when he plays! He’ll make the most stupid comments about something going on in the storyline, or mess around, even glitch out a game. He’s managed to get out of the maps of Among Us more than once. You’re convinced if he started his own YouTube gaming channel, he’d be a quick star.

·         Game nights are a must for you guys. It usually turns into a family game night with you, the turtles, Splinter, April and Casey, which Mikey just adores because he gets to see everyone he loves having fun. You two will usually team up against the others, or turn on each other to stab the other in the back. Uno and Cover Your Assets have made you guys question your loyalty to each other more than once. That Uno Reverse card, man…

·         Arts and crafts are his favorite. Anytime a holiday is coming up, Mikey gets hyped ‘cause he knows you guys are gonna start making decorations for it. You guys will usually make decorations for each other. Mikey loves this, just because he feels like a normal person by having actual Halloween decorations around the lair instead of stuff he and his bros scraped together off the streets.

·         Loves to stargaze with you in the summer time. He’ll convince Donnie to let him drive the truck out of the city to the countryside of New York, bring you with him, and set up on the roof of the truck in the middle of a field (that he totally didn’t crash through a wood fence to get to). Fireflies will fly over your faces, and he’ll joke that they’re shooting stars and make a thousand and one wishes on each of them. He won’t tell you that all of those wishes are for you and him to be together forever, but it’s not hard to guess with how mushy he gets after each one.

#ray-jaykub #supershiny-raven #answer #tmnt #tmnt x reader #request #headcanons #tmnt headcanons #leo x reader #raph x reader #donnie x reader #mikey x reader #leonardo x reader #raphael x reader #donatello x reader #michelangelo x reader #reader insert #my writing

[romanceboys]

(interview) w korea september issue 2020 — reptile

1. i was surprised to learn that this is your 13th year since debut. within a company, the years almost reflect the experience of a vice department head. that’s right. though there are things i’m seeing for the first time at this point, i think there’s a lot that has remained the same. shall i tell you something funny? early in the year, i transformed into my debut appearance from when i was 16 with a bowl haircut and had my picture taken. i put it up on instagram and as i watched my fans briefly mistake it for an old picture, i thought to myself ‘well at least my face hasn’t aged much yet.’ haha. 2. today, i get to meet one of the personalities i’ve been very curious about personally. how should i put it, you seem like a person who possesses a perfect narrative. oh my, thank you. 3. maturing steadily after debuting with shinee in middle school, you broke away from your image as the group’s youngest and instead donned the clothes of a solo musician. all 5 of your solo albums have been recorded as hits. now you are a member of superm that has gone global. even a narrative within a coming-of-age novel could not be as sturdy as this.  when i look back on my life, i find it quite fascinating. i entered the company at the age of 13, and this year i turned 28. i’ve lived half of my life as a singer, i realise this when i think ‘i’ve run along the same path for a long time’. i think... i’ve been very greedy. it was through this greed that i was able to debut in a team called shinee, and consequently receive solo plans. once, producer lee sooman told me to bring him a recording of any pop song. wondering ‘what’s going on?’ i prepared for it and submitted, and soon after my solo album was released. thinking back, it must’ve been a test. i felt a sense of accomplishment in these things. that too very deeply, of course luck was on my side too. 4. a methodical company like sm couldn’t have proposed a solo career so lightly. there were a couple of tell-tale signs as far as i could tell. my singing parts were little during debut. after all taemin had the image of the one in charge of dancing. then my parts started to increase gradually, this could’ve been one of the signs. back in the day i used to stay back in the practice room till dawn. the employees working late would see me and the word probably went around. they must have felt sorry for me. a skinny boy practising by himself till dawn (laughs). 5. were you the type to stay back later than the rest in the practice room? i would go to the practice room as soon as we wrapped up our schedule. i’d practice till sunrise then return to the dorm and prepare for the next schedule immediately, i spent a long time doing this. 6. it was at the time of ‘sherlock’ in 2012 that your stage presence started to shine in shinee’s stages. thereafter, it seemed that you enjoyed your time on stage thoroughly. when did you begin to realise that only you were in command of your own stage? there were a couple of times... sherlock was one of them. sherlock was an album that came out when i was 20, right after becoming an adult, it was then my attitude towards performance changed. in those days i challenged myself to ‘not to do what was expected/fixed.’ usually our gestures at certain sections of the song are fixed beforehand, from sherlock onwards however i tried my hand at different things without reserve. it was my way of approaching the audience with sincerity, and my way of improving in the future. back then i would notice variations (in my performance) everyday when i monitored myself. 7. frankly, isn’t it difficult for someone to have made such a prominent leap? i think it might have been because of the long hiatus before sherlock. i was able to prepare well so my growth was likely more obvious when i stood on stage after a long time. how should i put it, my members were very stimulating for me. since the hyungs aren’t ordinary people (laughs). this is something i’m confident about, even if you say that most of the shinee members are main vocalists, none of us is inferior to the other, everyone is so talented. with these thoughts verbatim ‘i must survive in here,’ ‘i need to finish what i started,’ i practiced. i couldn’t not have made the leap with such stimulation and not to mention my greedy nature (laughs). spending time together with the members made me realise that we started to resemble each other in some aspects, thanks to them i was able to broaden my perspective and become aware of my undiscovered talents. 8. the prologue single ‘2 kids’ of your third album ‘never gonna dance again’ released in august. as i was listening to the song, i suddenly became curious about the lyricist and looked them up. my impression was that the language of the lyrics was raw and honest. the lyricist turned out to be you. my intention was to include everyday, colloquial speech. i’ve written poetic and abstract lyrics before, but while working on ‘2 kids’ i wanted the listeners to easily grasp the emotions at once. since i’ve released many songs like ‘danger’ with vivid concepts and sensual performances, i expected there to be some distance between me and the public. i found that i shouldn’t stray too far. in any case, i’m a pop singer. i thought to myself let’s meet the public halfway, and the result was the lyrics for ‘2 kids.’ it’s the brightest of all my title tracks (laughs). 9. i find two interesting points here. first, you are completely aware of your identity as a pop singer, second, to do that you work hard to keep close to the public. of course there are times when it doesn’t work out (laughs). for instance, when we’re deciding on the title track for a shinee album, my opinions always diverge from the members’. after listening to our fourth album title track ‘view,’ i said ‘no way, it can never be this!’ (laughs). what i’m after is, how shall i put it... there is a side to me that wants to experience things profoundly. for example, if i were to express love, instead of depicting it one-dimensionally, i’d prefer to do it maniacally. i like taking it one step further to appear twisted.  10. that’s amusing. it’s probably because i’ve seen your easy-going appearance on tv a lot, i would have never guessed for you to approach things ‘deeply’. profound people tend to be like that. ‘multi’ people are able to do several things at once, i can’t do that. i have to dig into things deeply at a time. that’s why when my members and i receive the same schedule notice, i’m the only one who always forgets it (laughs). 11. oho, this makes me curious about your taste in pop culture.  i really like the british drama <black mirror>. i get hooked on the unusual. like mind-boggling things? i used to watch movies that weren’t popular because such movies are less likely to repeat contents that have already been consumed. but then i slowly began to enjoy light films as well. these days i leave a movie running in the background while i do other things. back when i would look for an independent film or thriller of my liking, i’d get extremely exhausted after watching it. they require so much focus that they sap my energy. 12. we were talking about lyrics but somehow ended up here (laughs). if you were given the opportunity to write lyrics again, what kind of story do you want the lyrics to convey? i like philosophical lyrics. for instance, a song called ‘soldier’ from my solo album deals with religious content, it varies from time to time of course but well if i were to write again... i think about this a lot these days. i want to change myself, i want to shake off my image uptil now and be reborn again. 13. why is that? i want a colour that is more concentrated and unique. as if i'm debuting again, i want to show something completely new that i had not before. 14. but aren’t your comebacks always novel? a musician like you who does diverse and experimental concepts is rare. is that so? sure the concepts are always new but... these days i think about how i want to change myself as a person from the very inside. instead of putting a facade on display, i have a thirst for wanting to show a more humane, genuine appearance. all humans experience moments of weakness and dysfunction. i think these moments definitely hold some beauty in them. the moment a person breaks down. it’s the only way one can get up and overcome difficulties again, i believe showing these sides of me, all of me, unabashedly is a path i need to walk as an artist now. 15. honestly, i’m excited for your third album because i heard this album reflects your ideas the most. what aspects of the production were different this time? firstly, i personally cast and liaised with the music video director. i thought it was important to work with the director one-on-one by keeping mediators to a minimum. through several meetings we mulled over every single thing like concept, outfit, hair and makeup. i offered my opinions too: ‘because i’m thinking of leaving a connecting link in the prologue, since there are two albums that would release following ‘2 kids,’ i want to drop certain keywords in the music video.’ fans usually call this a ‘bait’ (laughs). 16. the choreography stood out the most in the ‘2 kids’ music video. you weren’t simply moving to the rhythm, rather weren’t you moving your body guided by emotions? actually there were barely any plans to include dancing scenes. but i thought you never know so i quickly prepared a choreography the day before i left for paris. initially, i had a ‘dramatised’ (borrowing elements from drama) choreography in mind, but the director was expecting something modern. in the end, we expressed it well with a choreography that the director and i came up with after finding the perfect common ground. 17. personally i think a dramatised choreography would have been quite alright because ‘2 kids’ is a universal love song. i told the director i wanted to look miserable and pathetic through and through, like falling into a bottomless pit, wrecked, to be found waking up in the middle of the street, that would do too. why did i want to be that wrecked? i don’t know. there’s just a lot that exists within me. and i might have wanted to express that.... 18. with your first solo mini album <ace> you proved your grit as a solo musician to the public, and i believe your second album <move> reified your colour. i think taemin is a musician who doesn’t need to prove himself anymore. having reached this status, you’re releasing your next album <never gonna dance again>. did you ever think that this album could be it? rather, i hope that this album can be my ‘turning point.’ just as how it was during sherlock, i hope this time it changes my identity completely, as an individual and as a performer. people might like this album or find it mediocre, but i try not to care about these things now. 19. were you the type to stress over feedback? yes. because there are many people who are uncomfortable with change. but then i realised we’d never be able to free ourselves from within if we continued to be tied down. so now i’m trying to notice these things less. 20. have you ever had this thought? that looking back, the experimental has always revolved around you. as i said before, i think there is a lot of something within me (laughs). people have recognized that, there’s a lot i want to do. there is a greed for wanting to be different from others. it’s not that i want to ‘appear’ different but truly be different. 21. do you think there is an aspect of you that others can’t follow? i can’t seem to figure it out. i’m looking for it. however, my satisfaction level with myself tends to be low. and it’s something that has been guiding me till now. 22. what helps you recharge the most? i like lower-body bathing so much (laughs). as soon as i get into the bath, i automatically end up going ‘euu’ ‘aah.’ i soak my body completely, light up a scented candle, then let my body warm up like this. 23. while watching your vlog-like youtube content taem-log, i wondered ‘does he have an affinity for household goods?’ since the camera often captured your surroundings, i noticed pretty glasses and a colourful coffee machine adorning your cupboard. not at all. my mother did all of that (laughs). she’d say ‘this would suit taemin~’ then set it up prettily for display on the shelves. sometimes i do think i’d like to furnish my house with antiques if i were to move in the future. this is a bit funny but i find the houses in old horror movies so pretty. 24. i saw a bottle of moët & chandon in your refrigerator, is champagne your regular choice of alcohol? i rarely drink. i usually receive gifted alcohol quite a lot, it all goes to my father (laughs). my mother brought the moët & chandon and left it in there. i asked her to leave a pretty bottle in there at least for decoration purposes, so she probably brought it just for that? (laughs). 25. what kind of a person is 28-year-old taemin? i sort of want to set things ablaze. i want to put up a spectacular finale of the opening act. 26. how do you want to be remembered as a musician? as a great person. i say this knowing it sounds a bit grandiose but it’s my mission.  27. i can see it. the bigger you become the larger the impact you can have on society. i will become that person. so that many people can hear the message i want to convey.

translated by romanceboys — take out with full credit (source)

#shinee #taemin #p:taemin #w korea magazine september issue 2020 #interview #translations #e:never gonna dance again #enjoy!

[mcwriting]

The Marriage Project (6)

Heyyy guys! Sorry this has taken so long to get out. Even though I have a lot of chapters written, I’m in the process of overhauling some later chapters and I’m trying to make sure I don’t conflict anything in these earlier chaps. Also I’ve been sooooo busy :(

Also: if you haven’t seen my recent kim possible au, definitely check it out!

Story Masterlist

Word Count: 2307

Warnings: none that I can think of this chapter

% Approximately the 2nd week of October %

Monday you continued to shut down and deflect dumb rumors about you and Tom. The rumors had exploded over the weekend since some had noticed the way Tom pointed you out before his game and walked with you after.

But it was all innocent, right?

In home ec, you started a sewing project of making a pajama set. 

As always, Mrs. Flynn had tied it into the marriage project, requiring that couples sewed each others’ garments and made the fabrics compliment each other. If everything turned out right, the couples would have to wear them during their final presentations.

You laid on the floor over the fabric you’d chosen as Tom marked your hem length for the pants, the main part of the pattern already cut out.

“This Friday is your last home volleyball game, right?” Tom questioned as he rubbed chalk on the fabric.

“Yeah, I know. Crazy, right? It’s been half of my school life longer than I’ve known you. Just like that, it’ll be pretty much over.”

“Have any big plans for your senior night, then?”

You sat up and got off the fabric so Tom could cut it.

“Well, I’m probably gonna do my hair and makeup since they’ll take pictures before the game, and then after we win I’m going out to dinner with my family. My extended fam is coming to town. If they weren’t gonna be here I’d drive over to the football game.”

You laid out the fabric for Tom’s pants and waited for him to lay on it, preparing to do the same as him.

The football game was against the other public school in your town, which was essentially your biggest rival, and this year it was at their field.

“You won’t get to see me win, princess? That’s just sad. I’ll be at your game for at least the beginning. I just have to be over there an hour and a half before kickoff, but it’s not till 7:30. My mom wants to shoot pics so you’ll probably see her.”

Tom laid down.

“Oh yeah? Based on the football pictures I’ve seen, I’m excited for her volleyball shots. By the way, how did the pictures she took this weekend turn out? I haven’t had real pictures like that taken of me since I was probably 3.”

You leaned forward to mark the fabric, but first had to move Tom’s leg to the right position.

“Haven’t seen them. She never shows me pictures until she’s done editing. I also can’t relate to the other thing. She’s had a camera pointed at all of us since the day we were born. I get it, though, it is her career.”

Tom got up and you both went to sit by the sewing machine you’d set up, pinning the fabric cutouts into individual pant leg tubes.

“Tell her I’ll be her subject matter any time, champ. I actually had a lot of fun doing it.”

“WIll do. And you’re really gonna stick with champ?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Kinda rolls off the tongue.”

By the end of class you’d both finished and tried on the pants, and you were surprised at how well Tom had done on yours.

Wednesday, you made the shirts, which, since they were custom made, fit just about perfectly, too. As per usual, you got an A.

%

Friday morning, you dreaded and looked forward to the afternoon. Like, yeah, you were excited to be recognized for your years of hard work, but you didn’t want it to be over either. 

You looked in the mirror, butterflies in your stomach. 

Since it was chilly, you wore some ripped skinny jeans and a dressy long sleeved top with pink flowers. Your hair was straightened and glittery makeup adorned your face. 

You were interested to see how people would react to the more traditionally “girly” side of you at school.

Even your parents were surprised to see you all dressed up as you said your goodbyes and headed out the door.

In the halls, people pointed and stared, but it wasn’t accusatory like the prior week. Instead, people complimented the look and congratulated you on the upcoming evening.

You walked into calculus, flicking your hair over your shoulder as you sat down next to Tom.

“Wow. Finally decided to go for it, huh?”

“Yeah, well. I thought about our conversation a couple weeks ago and decided to dress for myself. It’s been pretty well received so far.”

“Princess, I’m pretty sure people are gonna like you no matter what you’re wearing.”

You smiled and rolled your eyes, preparing to reply when you were cut off by the bell and the start of announcements.

As your game got closer throughout the day, the pit in your stomach grew deeper. You spent the entire free period talking to coach in her classroom to get your mind off the upcoming game.

“Y/n, I know you’re nervous, but this is going to be the best night of your entire volleyball career. I know you and know that you’re gonna crush it. That whole team looks up to you and Anna. I haven’t seen a pair of such magnetic personalities leading my team in years. I’m proud to call myself your coach.”

You gave a watery smile.

“Thank you, coach. I’ve loved having you mentor me these last four years. I promise I won’t just forget about you after tonight.”

“Well you better not. We still have regionals and state the next two weeks,” she joked. “Now bring it in, kid. I don’t want anyone seeing me be a softie.”

You quickly hugged. Once separating, she took on a serious face.

“Now go run along, eat a snack or whatever it is you do before games,” she said seriously, before cracking one more smile and tossing you a wink.

%

You stood outside the gym nervously, flanked by your parents. 

They were about to walk you out and present you for the final time. 

Anna was walking through the gym now with her parents and siblings as people cheered in the stands, and there were nervous flutters in your stomach.

Finally, someone waved you along. You stepped into the large gym and saw the massive crowd cheering and clapping. All of your friends and family were in the stands.

You also noticed Tom in the crowd. He wasn’t overtly clapping and yelling like everyone else, but he did put up a thumb and shoot you a wink when you made eye contact.

As the announcer listed off things from the senior night sheet you had filled out, you found yourself holding back tears, thinking about all the memories you had of the sport.

A few slipped out and you quickly wiped them away so Nikki could come take a couple pictures of your family.

After the announcer finished up, your parents went to join your extended family in the stands as you warmed up on your home court one last time.

After winning the first two sets, you sat on the bench, ready to win one last one as you noticed Tom slip out the gym, giving one final wave.

You quickly pushed his absence out of your mind however, when you got behind the back line and put an ace down on the first serve.

%

Sam opened his front door for you the next day.

Of course, you had won the night before, shed a few tears, and enjoyed the time with your family, who you’d said bye to before going to the Hollands’.

“Hey, y/n. Good game last night. You and Anna crushed it.”

“Thanks, Sam. Julia was amazing, too. Without her, we’d never have good passes to set and hit.”

Sam agreed and talked to you for a little bit when you thought of something.

“Oh, hey. Where’s your mom? I wanted to talk to her.”

“Um, I think she’s in her office. Let’s go check.”

He led you to a part of the house you’d never been, and sure enough, Nikki was sat in front of a large desktop computer, a picture of you jump serving on the screen.

“That’s an incredible shot!”

She startled a bit and turned her chair to face you.

“Oh! Y/n, you scared me. Come on in! I was just going through the pictures I took at yours and Tom’s games last night. While you’re here, let me show you the ones I took last Saturday.”

She minimized the tab she was working on and pulled up a file, the first picture being a black and white shot of you looking down at a notebook, writing.

“Woah. That’s beautiful,” you breathed, looking at every little detail.

“Thank you, that means a lot. You can scroll through them all, if you like. I’m going to go find Tom, I think I heard him and Harry arguing not too long ago.”

You chuckled as she left, looking at each photo. Some she kept in color and others were in black and white. You stopped on the picture of you and Tom laughing at each other.

Your faces were lit up in genuine happiness, and you felt a pang in your chest as you burned the photo into your memory. You quickly changed it when you heard footsteps approaching.

“Hey, sorry. Harry was being an ass. You like the pictures?”

“Yeah, they’re incredible. I’d love to have some of them.” you said, scrolling through the last few.

“I’ll ask her to put some of those on the flashdrive she’s making you. She was planning on just putting all the pictures from last week to tomorrow on one if you’re good with it.”

“Oh, yeah. No rush. Ready to go upstairs?”

“Yeah, sure,” he replied as you picked up your backpack from the floor and followed him. He continued. “So I hear you guys won last night. Way to end on the best note possible.”

“Yeah, it was a bittersweet night. What about you? I never heard anything about the game.”

“Oh, we won. Not much to it, but it was a tough game.”

Tom closed the door behind him and immediately went to his desk. He pulled out a piece of chocolate and tossed it to you as you sat down.

You worked together for a while, then decided to take a break, just sprawled across the floor on your backs a couple feet apart.

You glanced over at Tom, who was messing around with his necklace.

“Can I ask you something?” you said quietly.

“Hmm?”

“What’s with your necklace? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take it off.”

Tom was quiet for a few minutes, rolling his plastic ring in his fingers.

“My grandad, my dad’s dad, gave it to me a few years ago before he passed. It’s just a saint’s symbol for protection. It was basically his way of saying he’d always be there for me. He was one of the best people in my life, and I wear it to remember him. It also helps me stay grounded sometimes, when I’m anxious or sad.”

You listened intently and looked at Tom for a while, who was just staring straight at the ceiling. There were tons of questions racing through your head, but you narrowed them down to one.

“Why did you put your, uh, ‘wedding’ ring on there, then? I don’t feel like I deserve to be next to him.”

Tom smiled and let out a breath through his nose, then looked right at you.

“Well I definitely wasn’t going to wear it on my finger. At first, I did it just to piss you off, because I could tell that you didn’t like it. But… I don’t know, I just… kept it as a reminder of everything we’ve been through. We still call each other enemies but honestly, I’ve started to consider you one of my closest friends.”

You scanned his face, grinning slightly. Over the past week and a half his bruises had pretty much faded, a little bit of yellow lingering around his cheek and his lip pink with new skin. 

You noticed his hand close by and laid yours on top of it, stroking your thumb over the tops of his fingers.

“Yeah… yeah,” was all you could manage to whisper out loud. 

After a few moments, Tom flipped his hand, pressing your palms together and curling his fingers around yours. All you could manage to do was stare at each other in silence, unsure of what to think or how to act. 

You were startled out of it when there was a knock at the door. Your hands quickly pulled away from each others’ as the door creaked open and you sat up. It was Nikki.

“Sorry to bug you two, but I was just gonna come ask what time would be good for you tomorrow, y/n? We need enough time to get there and take the sports pictures during the day but I think golden hour would be perfect if you wanted to bring another outfit and take regular pictures.”

“Okay, yeah. Whatever time you think. I’m free all day.”

“Well I was thinking we leave here by two so we get there at three and have plenty of time before it gets fully dark around eight. My parents would love to have you for dinner, too.”

“Sounds good with me. I’ll make sure to pack a dress or something to change into.”

“Alright, well I’ll let you get back to it, just wanted to ask before I forgot again.”

Once she shut the door, you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. You looked to Tom, who seemed just as uncomfortable about everything as you were.

“Okay then, let’s finish up,” you suggested, waking your computer back up.

%

A/N: once again, so sorry it has taken this long to upload ch 6! I’m so excited for y’all to see ch 7 tho like I literally love it. Anyways, I really want to get on a more consistent upload schedule but I also want this story to be the best it can be and school is making that so hard rn

Don’t forget to check out my new work and hopefully I’ll have another one-shot out soon, too!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series tag lists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Story Tag List: @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @l0lmk, @primadonnasdream, @bookworm06, @thenoddingbunny-blog, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe, @stxfxniexreads 

#The Marriage Project #tom holland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland story #tom holland imagine #tom holland oneshot #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #harry holland #sam holland

[mercuryonparklane]

Okay, so I’m listening to a podcast Charity did in January 2019 and she confirmed that Liz got her the job on the Fearless Tour. She said that one of the dancers pulled out of the tour at basically the last minute and Liz suggested her to Taylor.

She talks a bit about her experience on the Fearless and Speak Now tours. She also says that she got to travel the world with her best friend (Liz) and says “that was just a dream. I mean, there’s so much drama and so much just... so many stories, but so much fun”.

She said that the Fearless tour was hard for her and that when she got the job she didn’t even know who Taylor was, which is kind of funny, especially since Liz was basically a Swiftie since day one.

She talks about her friendships with both Selena and Taylor and at one point says that “it was like Taylor passed the torch, which was me, to Selena”. And it was a lot of fun when the 3 of them all hung out together.

She tells a story about when she was on tour with Selena in Europe and they were staying at a hotel in Portugal that looked like the Great Gatsby house (they were obsessed with the movie at the time). They were drinking champagne and Selena was like “hey, let’s cut your hair” and she let her (which honestly gives me strong Tayliz vibes).

She talks more about tour life.

Then she says something I found very interesting regarding an IG post about deciding to make some changes in her career that the podcast host brings up, in which she wrote “there’s nothing more important than genuine connection, fierce love, authenticity, and to bring hope to one another”.

The hosts asks “when you were doing this part of your life, this crazy, exciting part of your life, were you experiencing that? As far as the fierce love, genuine authenticity, connection?”

Charity’s response:

“I think there were absolutely moments of that and I think what made it hard were the moments that weren’t like that, but seeing that even the most famous people in the world, all they really want is that connection, like, that real love, that authenticity. They just want to be them and now, because of social media and all these other things, which can also be great, it’s like everyone has this right to know everything about, or make up things about, these people that are just human, that are genuinely just like ‘I have this gift and I want to share it with you and I want to connect with you in this way’.

I think the hardest part for me, once I kept doing the tours and all of that, was realizing how much the fame wasn’t worth it. Just seeing a lot of the realities of that and seeing the pressure these people are under every single day that no one can even fathom. They barely get two seconds to themselves. There’s a tap on the door every other second, something that someone needs from them and just, like, the hopelessness that can kind of come from that.

People get to form their own opinions of these people and then they run with it and now there has to be all these PR people to keep other things from spreading, you know. Instead of just being like, ‘hey, yes it’s the price of fame now’.

But I think the thing that was really hard for me was having to be around things that kind of took the authenticity away or the connection away because of certain things that were expected and required of me or of these people.”

“At the end of the day we all want at least one person that we can sit and cry and be so authentically ourselves and vulnerable and not be worried that ‘are they gonna go and tell someone this?’

And just seeing the way... it’s hard to trust in that industry cause you don’t know who loves you for what you are and who loves you for who you are.

And that was really hard to watch and be a part of and be like ‘I care one billion percent more about being your friend than being your dancer or being your employee or anything else. Like, if you want to fire me from all of that and just let me be someone that can like hold you at the end of the day, let’s do that’.

And then I think what started wearing on me was because... was when I started being that for people and not having it for myself. So, yeah, that is when it started getting a little overwhelming because I wasn’t really even aware of that because I wanted to love so fiercely and have that authenticity.”

The host asked her if the decision to leave that life and career was a gradual thing or if there was a day where she was just like ‘I’m done”.

C: “Oh man, I went kicking and screaming. It was the hardest thing I could have ever chosen, but when I chose it, it was the first time I had felt real peace in a long time. I know that my story is so rare. Yes, I worked hard, yes I trained, but I also... I met the people I was supposed to meet and I kept relationship with people because I genuinely cared to and once I got all of the opportunities, and I auditioned for a lot of them too... yeah, it was hard to leave because I loved it...”

“I knew that I needed to take care of myself and I knew that I needed to be taken care of. That’s what brought me back home...”

“If I can say anything to anyone that’s choosing the entertainment industry, just don’t ever... oof, I can’t say that cause it happened to me, but if you ever get to a place that the industry of what you’re doing is taking the passion away from the craft that you’re doing, please take a break because you are giving out of empty and there’s nothing more life sucking than that. So, I had to take a step away because I needed to love myself and love dance again and be around people that I could just fall into their arms.

Living in LA is no joke. It’s hard. Anywhere that you live that you’re pursuing something in that kind of capacity is challenging and you always have to have your guard on, you know? You always have to be ready and I needed to not have to be ready all the time.”

She talks about moving back to Nashville and teaching dance. And basically just what she is doing now.

“I get to kind of figure out what’s next and pull from what I experienced, and go ‘ooh this is worth it’ or ‘ooh, that is not worth it’.

And just have a lot of grace for people that are still living that and artists that will never get to be like, ‘okay, you know what, I’m done. I’m gonna like be a normal person now’. They don’t ever get to escape and I got the sweet spot.

I got to experience all the cool stuff, then I got to be like, ‘I’m gonna go take a nap. I’m gonna wear sweatpants and no makeup for the next five days and no one is gonna photograph me or make up rumors about me’, you know?”

Anyway, she seems to be in a really good place now and that’s great. It does make me sad because it’s true that someone like Taylor or Selena is unfortunately kind of trapped in the industry in a way that someone who had a more background role isn’t. Ofc, there are people who do escape it, but it’s not easy. And as controlled and grueling as that life can be for a dancer, it’s gotta be a thousand times more so for the main talent.

This interview made me happy for Charity, but sad for Taylor and Selena at the same time...

Also, I’m transcribing this at like 4 in the morning on no sleep, so sorry if it’s a bit all over the place, but you can listen to the podcast here.

[dissoluteways]

positions

❧

Chapter I

PAIRING: Hyuk/OC RATING: PG  WARNINGS: Office AU.  WORDCOUNT: 5010

Notes: This is the enourmous fic I’ve been writing for MONTHS, and i am not joking. First of all: this is chaptered, it’s gonna probably be 4 chapters only. I’ve already written 99% of it, I’ll porbably be posting every chapter once a week or so, depending on how i feel. Second of all, there is no warning for this one, there is not even a kiss in this first chapter. And i guess the only warning would be that, this is boss/employee relationship? But everyone if over 20 here so. If it still bothers you, don’t read it. Now yes, go ahead and enjoy c:

❧

“Since you told me you were looking for a new assistant, I hope you don’t mind I told someone I know about the job.” Hakyeon told her, while he was visiting her office during lunch time. They would usually eat out, that day it was raining though.

“Oh, that’s cool, I don’t actually have that many applicants though, but I look forward to meeting him.”

Hakyeon smiled at her, while eating a cherry tomato.

Moments like that made it seem like being an editor in a magazine was easy. Hakyeon was a genius though; he was a manager in marketing and he was amazing at that, mainly because he was so social and charming. She could never do what he did. 

Her job, in the meantime, was being a beauty editor. When there wasn't a deadline or if there weren’t any kind of issues running around that day, it was certainly a dream job. The amount of products she got from PR and the events she could attend were ideal. It was tiring at times but she wouldn’t change it. She enjoyed the process of dolling herself up. 

But she really needed extra help. It has been a month without an assistant, and she finally understood why she even needed one in the first place.

“His name is Han Sanghyuk. Just be nice to him, okay, he has never worked in a magazine before,” Hakyeon informed her, taking back his things and getting ready to walk out to go back to his own office. 

It wasn’t going to be the first time she interviewed a young boy for the job.

Though actually meeting and interviewing people she didn’t know was boring if she was honest. They were mostly young girls with no prior jobs, but who were eager to work and get into fashion. They were cute, they reminded her a bit of herself when she was just starting. And there were a couple of people with actually impressive curriculums, some of which were even older than she was (it made her feel slightly uncomfortable that they would have to work for her).

She almost forgot Hakyeon told her someone he knew was going to be there for the job until she was about to save all the résumés and close the door, and she almost bumped into a boy just outside her office.

“Oh, sorry!” She had to stare up to actually see his face, and she couldn’t help but point out his height. “Wow, you’re really tall.”

“Thank you, I guess.” He seemed kind of awkward, and nervous.

“Are you here for the model job? That’s actually on the other side of the corridor.”

“No, I’m actually for the assistant job.” He handed her two pieces of paper. It was a really short curriculum.

“Oh… Oh, okay, come on in.”

She walked in before him, and looked at him when she sat down in her chair. He had the face of a baby, with cheeks she could pinch, and hair she could fluff. And she had the need of booping his nose. Her heart was actually jumping inside her chest. 

By the way he was frowning and looking at her curiously, she noticed she had been staring for maybe way too long. 

“Sorry, sorry… Can you tell me your name?”

“Han Sanghyuk.”

“Oh, you’re Hakyeon’s friend, right?”

“‘Friend’ would imply we are the same age,” He pointed out.

“Yeah, how old are you? Do you even have the right age to start working, it seems to me that you should be in high school. If it weren’t for how tall you are.”

“I’m almost 24,” He smiled at her. Her heart jumped once again. 

“You’re a baby,” She said without thinking. He started chuckling and she couldn’t help but smile. “Tell me about your previous jobs.”

“I had mostly summer jobs, at fast food restaurants, as a shop assistant, and as usher in local cinemas.” She must have pulled some kind of face, and she felt bad because he got nervous again and she noticed. “I know it’s not impressive, but I’m almost done with my university studies, and I’m eager to learn.”

“Well you’re the last person I’m interviewing, and I’m going to think about it before hiring anyone. I’ll let you know, alright?” She smiled at him reassuringly. 

He bowed slightly before standing up. His face might scream baby, but the rest of his body was big for sure, and he really seemed like a man. She tried not to stare at him once he walked out the door.

She had been set on the idea of hiring someone with experience, but she didn’t know then. Sanghyuk was just so cute and handsome. And it wasn’t part of the requirement for the job, but she couldn’t help it; it would be nice to have such a cute face waiting for her every time she arrived at her office.

And she even had to look at his picture every time she checked his resumé. Damn it. 

When it was time to leave for her place, she stopped by Hakyeon’s office, ready to talk about that issue with him. He was gay, he would understand.

“How could you not tell me Sanghyuk was so cute?” 

“Hello to you too,” He was closing his office, ready to leave as well, and he seemed a bit taken aback by her question. “What are you talking about?”

“Sanghyuk. You sent him to my office and didn’t tell me he was cute and tall and handsome. I wasn’t ready.” She knew she sounded way more stressed than she actually was. But had she been a few years younger, she would have definitely made a move on him. 

Hakyeon smiled at her in a knowing way, and she glared at him.

“When I bet with Taekwoon if you would like him or not, I didn’t expect to be right, but I guess I just made fifty bucks.”

She hit him on the shoulder not too hard, but strong enough to hurt him.

“I wanted someone with experience, but now I just want him,” She whined, walking alongside him to the main entrance. “What do I do?”

“Well, I know for a fact that Sanghyuk is really hardworking, I assure you he won’t blow it, he really wants to learn.” 

She sighed. At least that was something.

“But you can’t sleep with him, it wouldn’t look good that you’re sleeping with someone below you.”

“What if he’s on top?”

Hakyeon glared at her, and she grinned at her own clever choice of words. 

“How do you even know him, by the way? He’s five years younger than us.”

“You remember I give dance classes, right? He’s one of my students there.”

Interesting. He must have been bendy then. That was going to be a much harder choice to make.

She didn’t really want to overthink it too much. Sanghyuk was hardworking, Hakyeon said, and he wanted to learn and was almost done with his studies. Maybe this was his chance. Maybe he would be a great assistant. And she could also admire him from up close in the meantime. That was really just a plus.

When she called him back a couple of days later, she was, once again, taken aback by how cute he was. And how tall as well. She wore heels every day and still only reached his shoulder.

“So your job is mostly following me around and basically helping me with whatever I need for the magazine.” She explained to him after Sanghyuk had signed his contract, ready to start his first day. “I’m a beauty editor, so I deal with makeup products and creams and skin care. You have to help me with that.”

Sanghyuk was nodding enthusiastically to everything she was saying, and making sounds like he understood, with wide open eyes. 

“If you have any doubts you can ask me, since it’s your first time working for a magazine, I’ll try to help you.” She smiled at him soothingly. He returned the smile, and her heart melted in her chest. She wanted to pinch his cheeks. “We have to check the new PR products for the next edition, so let’s get going.”

Sanghyuk followed her without questions. 

“Oh, by the way,” She turned to Sanghyuk, who was walking right behind her. She blushed a little when he suddenly looked up at her face; his eyes were seriously a little more south than that before. “You’re supposed to write down the things we might need or the ones we might use from the products.”

“Oh, alright,” Sanghyuk took out his phone.

There was a serious generation gap if the last assistant she had still used notepads for those things.

When they got to the PR room, Sanghyuk actually made a cute surprised sound, she couldn’t help but giggle. 

“All this for makeup?” He asked her in a low voice.

“No,” She laughed, walking to the section where they got the new products, “This is also for skin care products.”

Sanghyuk wasn’t probably impressed by the difference, but he was going to learn while he was there.

Checking the PR products was fun if it wasn’t for the new guy that started sending them in. She didn’t remember his name, she didn’t care at all, mainly he has been asking her out for a while and it was annoying to say no every time. It was borderline harassment at that point. Out of all the gay guys out there that delivered beauty products, she had to get the one that was straight and annoying.

And there he was, unpacking brand new boxes right at the end of the room. She sighed loudly before approaching, Sanghyuk still right behind her.

“What’s new today?” She asked, very aware her voice was cold and detached.

“The usual brands send in the same stuff,” The delivery guy replied, dropping big boxes on the table by her side. “There’s a new makeup line from Revlon as well. But maybe we should talk more about that at night.”

She closed her eyes right after he had winked at her. Breathing in, she ignored his advance and checked the label on each box instead, trying to focus on what she was going to work with instead.

“Come on, for how long are you going to ignore me?”

“Sanghyuk, can you write down all the labels of these boxes?” She suddenly turned to him. His eyebrows were surprisingly furrowed, but he nodded immediately. She then turned and faced the delivery guy once again. “Please, I already said no. Every time you asked, actually.”

“I know girls like to play hard to get. And you’re quite the catch.” He smirked. She felt like puking.

“I’ll go check the skin care products.” She sighed, facing Sanghyuk. “Find me once you’re done.”

Walking away, she tried inhaling and exhaling to calm herself down. After months of the same routine, it was frustrating to have to deal with the same dumbass every week. 

“You have to write on a file all the products that we recorded today, then send it to me.” Once they were done with the PR unboxing and labelling, they went back to her office, as she explained to him what the rest of his day should be. “I might get a call from other departments today, like marketing, so you should pick up the phone every time.”

“Noted.” Sanghyuk agreed without question. 

She looked at him over her shoulder when they got to her office. He was writing everything down on his phone. It was adorable.

After a few days, Sanghyuk quickly adapted to working as an assistant. He was far more organized and mindful than she expected, she was happily surprised. At least she didn’t feel bad about hiring him just for his looks; turned out he’s an excellent worker. 

The only con of having him there, was still the fact that her crush on him hadn’t faded away. If anything, it grew bigger. His hard work and the way he applied himself to the task at hand only made him more attractive; suddenly he didn’t seem so young anymore. 

On monday morning, exactly a week after she hired him, she caught herself staring at him from her seat behind her desk. She could see him from there, his desk almost across from hers in the other room. If he were to lean back on his chair, she wouldn’t see him, but he was writing on the computer so she could easily stare at his face. She still had the need to boop his nose. 

That was the day they had to go again to check the new PR products. Sighing loudly, she got up and walked out.

“It’s PR day, let’s go, Sanghyuk.”

“Alright, boss.” 

He got the habit of calling her boss. It was cute; she loved it.

She was still dreading going to PR. Whenever she thought about it, it was still the reason she didn’t like going to work on mondays. It was taking a toll on her overall mental health, making her anxious and nervous. 

Trying to somehow conceal it, she breathed in deeply as she walked into the PR room, Sanghyuk still following right behind. 

“Hello, sugar.” It was the same delivery guy, and she felt sick when those words came out of his mouth.

“Please don’t call me that.” 

“Still saying no to my invitation?” 

He was smirking again, so she turned and faced Sanghyuk. It surprised her to see the look on his face, between annoyance and exasperation, his eyebrows once again furrowed. 

“Um, could you please write down all the stuff we got, Sanghyuk?” 

“Sure.” His expression softened a little, as he got out his phone and started taking pictures of the boxes’ label.

“Want to go out after this, darling?” The guy kept making advances; she really didn’t want to stand that in that moment.  

“I’ll wait for you outside.” She tapped Sanghyuk on the shoulder and walked away quickly.

It was incredibly frustrating having to deal with that. Especially because she loved her job. She had to deal with men her whole life; like every woman did, she knew that. It was upsetting there certainly wasn’t a way out of this.

While waiting for Sanghyuk, Hakyeon walked past, which helped her get her mind out of upsetting thoughts. 

“Hey!” He greeted, patting her shoulder. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” She cleared her throat, just as Hakyeon looked inside the PR room.

“Shouldn’t you be in there, with Sanghyuk? Guiding him?” He sounded concerned.

“Yeah, I guess.” She looked inside as well. Sanghyuk was working hard as always, looking at the label of each box, and checking inside to see if everything was good. The delivery guy was still leaving some boxes on a table, and they seemed to be exchanging words. “It’s that guy again.”

“He keeps bothering you?” Hakyeon turned to her, worried. “I wish you would report him to Human Resources.”

“No, that’s such a mess. Besides, they would probably fire him if they decide to believe what I say about him.” She kept looking at Sanghyuk, not really wanting to face Hakyeon and his well-meaning concern. 

“Um…” He looked at Sanghyuk as well, following her gaze. “How is Sanghyuk doing?”

“He’s great!” The expression on her face must have changed drastically, she could tell by the look on Hakyeon’s own face. “He’s really good at learning, and so organized. I adore him.”

“I can tell. You look smitten with him.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“You know you can’t-”

“I know, Hakyeon!” She replied, irritated. It’s not like she was going to try anything. “Don’t worry, I’m not thinking about doing anything about it.”

“Hey, Hyogi!” Hakyeon smiled brightly once Sanghyuk approached the exit. 

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk looked embarrassed at the nickname, but still smiled softly. “What’s up?”

“She was telling me that you’re really hardworking. She likes you.”

She turned her head abruptly to glare at him. What the heck was he saying? What the heck was he going to say?

“Yeah…” Sanghyuk looked at her for a split second before turning his gaze back at Hakyeon. “Yeah, I really like it here.”

“Great!” Hakyeon smiled, knowingly. She wondered what was going through his head, wishing he would leave just in case he decided to say anything else. “I should get going now, I’ll see you at lunch.”

Hakyeon patted her shoulder again before walking away down the corridor. She sighed loudly, relieved. 

“I guess I’m doing a good job if you like me.” Sanghyuk commented, casually. 

“Yeah… Yeah, I mean… organizational skills are a turn on.” Those words came out of her mouth long before she could think about it, and she couldn’t help how hard she face-palmed herself. 

“Really?” He looked surprised, raising an eyebrow, while he looked down at her.

“Yeah. Let’s get going now.” She started walking immediately so as not to face him, knowing very well she was blushing.

She promised Hakyeon not to do anything about her crush on Sanghyuk, somehow that task was more difficult than she thought it was going to be as time went by. It was weird because she never really asked a guy out. But now that she wanted to, she shouldn’t. 

It was logical the company would have a policy against dating coworkers. It was to avoid harassment and any kind of abuse in power. But it was so hard to do it when Sanghyuk was just so cute and big. 

It was particularly bad for her heart when one day she walked into her office after lunch, to find Sanghyuk wearing one of those sleeveless shirts that were so cut anyone could see his chest. He was bent over, looking for something inside his sports bag, and a lot of skin was showing through. He was all sweaty as well; he had been working out and she couldn’t help but gasp loudly at the whole picture as soon as she saw him.

“Sorry, boss,” He apologized, quickly grabbing a hoodie. “I was going to take a shower and change before you got back from lunch.”

“It’s alright.” Her voice was small and breathless, and she was holding her hand to her chest like she was about to have a heart attack. 

“Are you feeling okay?” He asked, looking concerned, putting the hoodie aside as he got closer to her to check her out.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” She backed up, trying to put some distance. He looked confused, and she felt a little guilty for pulling away like that. “I just… I had a bad bagel for lunch.”

That seemed to be enough for him, since he nodded before grabbing his bag and his hoodie and leaving right after. She sighed loudly, covering her face. 

It was embarrassing stuff like that startled her since she was a grown woman, but Sanghyuk had that effect on her, apparently. And she had even seen him with that shirt. He was no longer that adorable, suddenly.

Sanghyuk, on the other hand, didn’t actually seem that interested in her. Other than the fact that sometimes she was wearing a too tight skirt, he looked at her a little longer than usual. But then again, even Hakyeon did that. So many men around her did that, it certainly didn’t mean anything to her. Somehow, that created a barrier that made her feel safer. She had to get over her crush, since obviously, nothing was going to happen between them.

“So you think he doesn’t like you?” Taekwoon, Hakyeon’s boyfriend, asked her one night. 

It was later that week, on friday. The three of them were having dinner after both her and Hakyeon left their work building. It’s been a while since she met up with both of them, and she really missed Taekwoon. 

“He probably likes me as his boss,” She replied, almost bored, leaning her head on one hand. She took a bite of the apple crumble she asked for dessert before elaborating. “He’s always nice to me, but then again he’s nice to everyone. I’m happy with just getting along with him.”

“But you’d like to get a piece of that.”

She almost choked with a piece of apple when those words left Taekwoon’s mouth. His expression was completely deadpan, made him look completely serious when he said that, but the absurdity of those words were kind of funny. Hakyeon was sitting right next to him, and he looked at him with wide eyes, as he tried not to even smile.

“Are you really asking me that?” She wiped her mouth carefully, at the same time trying to hide her blushing face.

“I guess we already know the answer then.” Said Hakyeon, casually.

“I don’t- I mean-” She pursed her lips. Her face was positively on fire. “Yeah, I would.”

“Do you want help?” Hakyeon asked, completely serious.

“Yeah, I’d like help ordering another apple crumble.” 

“No, dummy,” Hakyeon hit her gently on the arm. “Help with Hyogi.”

She blinked, until she realized what he was implying.

“No way. No fucking way.” She glared at him. 

There’s no way Cha Hakyeon was meddling into this. He wasn’t so subtle in any way. He might even spoil the good, professional relationship she had with Sanghyuk. 

“But I have good inside information, I could-”

“Don’t you fucking dare, Hakyeon!” She tried to keep her voice down, but certainly failed. “Didn’t you also say that he was my assistant and it was inappropriate?” 

“That was before you fell in love with him.” He said, matter-of-factly. “I thought maybe you just wanted to sleep with him.”

Her face flushed harder than before.

“And I figured, after your last experience with younger men, maybe you wouldn’t fall this time…” His voice was small, like he didn’t know if he should be commenting on that.

She bit her lip. It’s true, her previous relationship was with a younger man, only three years younger, but turned out he was mentally ten years younger. And she had a hard time with all his partying and going out with other girls. She didn’t want to compare though. She didn’t really know Sanghyuk that much.

“I still don’t want you to butt in on this.”

She knew Hakyeon was not going to pay any attention to her and still will try to somehow help her with Sanghyuk. She really wished he didn’t.

When she was walking home, she passed by a couple of opened bars and restaurants. Luckily she lived near the work building, around eight blocks, so she never had to take the subway or anything. That area was also around the nightlife district, so it was always full of bars and little clubs, open until early in the morning.

She wasn’t really expecting to run into Sanghyuk right there.

He was coming out of a bar, with his phone on his hand, and the same bag he carried when he went to work every day. And still wearing the same clothes he wore that day earlier.

“Sanghyuk!” 

He quickly turned, following the sound of her voice. He had to look down, and she almost blushed. The height difference was really one of her weaknesses. 

“Boss,” He smiled brightly. She could melt right there.

“You don’t have to call me that, we are not at work anymore.” She smiled back at him, genuinely.

“Alright, noona.” He grinned, youthful.

Oh, no. This was bad. 

“What are you doing here?” Sanghyuk asked, curious.

“I just had dinner with Hakyeon and his boyfriend.” She approached him a little more. The street was rather busy, and people were passing by in a rush. 

“You know Taekwoon-hyung?” He looked surprised, for some reason.

“Yeah, of course, I met them both in college.” She eyed him, trying hard not to make it look like she was actually checking him out. Which she was. “How do you know him?”

“He goes to Hakyeon-hyung’ studio sometimes. They are rather gross.”

“Gross?” She laughed. She knew what he meant but still wanted the information.

“Yeah, Taekwoon-hyung is kinda shy, but Hakyeon-hyung isn’t, so there's a lot of PDA.” He pulled a face full of disgust. It was incredibly funny. And cute. 

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I take it as a comedy show every time I get to watch them be around each other.” She giggled. Hakyeon was really overbearing, and somehow Taekwoon fell in love with him, when he’s the exact opposite. Though she noticed Taekwoon started taking the certain qualities that had nothing to do with him at the beginning, like the clinginess. It was endearing.

“Yeah, it’s fun to watch them.” Sanghyuk agreed, mimicking her giggle.

“So what are you doing here?” She asked, starry-eyed. 

“I work here.” He pointed to the bar he was just coming out from. “I only do it on Friday and Saturday nights though. Rather work at the magazine than here, to be honest.”

She tried not to sigh loudly. 

“That’s great, glad you like working with me.”

He flashed her a smile. She almost gasped. 

“Are you going somewhere?” He asked.

“Just home.” 

“By yourself? Are you taking the subway? Or the train?”

She blinked at the amount of questions he was suddenly asking. 

“No, I’m just walking there.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly, not the way he did it those last few times she saw him doing that, but just a little to make him look concerned. “It’s just some blocks away from here.”

“I’ll walk with you.” Sanghyuk looked completely serious. And she really liked that. But she wasn’t going to let him do something that was slightly inappropriate; she was his boss after all.

“It’s really okay, I walk home every night.”

He looked even more serious, if not pissed. She swallowed; she knew she was going to start blushing at any moment.

“I can walk you to your place, noona.” He wasn’t asking; it was a statement. 

She swallowed again before nodding.

She couldn’t say no. Not after that. She was only human after all, and with his face, completely serious and slightly annoyed at the fact that she walked home alone every time, she wouldn’t turn him down.

“So you have two jobs,” She commented, once they started walking in her direction. Sanghyuk followed along, right by her side. “Do you have time to study?”

“I use every free time I have left for studying.” He replied, while making way for both of them among the crowd.

It was friday night after all, but with Sanghyuk, he was so tall and big, people moved to the side in a second. She was amazed.

“I used to work all weekend as well, but I just want to focus on finishing my major now, so I just work friday and saturday nights.” 

“You never told me what you were majoring in.”

“Music.” He looked at her and smiled cheerfully. “I want to be a composer one day.”

Oh, that was cute again.

“You seem to be working hard for that,” She smiled back at him, sincerely. “I’m sure you are going to be a great composer.”

Sanghyuk beamed with complacency. Her heart skipped a beat.

Talking to him wasn’t any different than talking to Hakyeon or Taekwoon. She didn’t actually notice their age difference. He seemed mature for his age. Especially because of all the jobs he had and everything he studied, he didn’t seem the type of guy who went out to parties. He didn’t even seem to have time to have friends. 

He asked her about her life later on. Which was uneventful, she didn’t really have much to comment on. She sometimes hung out with Hakyeon, sometimes with other friends from high school. She hadn't had a date in almost two years. She refused to. But she didn’t tell him that. 

“This is where I live.” She signalled to the building that was across the street, about six blocks from where they met. 

“I’ll walk you there.” He said without any sign of doubt.

“Okay.” Sanghyuk wasn’t looking at her, only focusing on checking if any car was coming from either side, and she was glad because her face was flushing.

They crossed the street, walking a few feets until they reached the building’s entrance. She turned to face him; he was looking at the building, checking it out, with his mouth half-opened. The building was slightly fancy, it looked very well kept, and might as well be new. Her income allowed her to pay for it, and she was content.

“Thank you for walking me here, Sanghyuk.” She smiled at him and bowed slightly, as a thank you.

“It’s alright,” He returned her smile, bowing as well. “I’ll see you on monday, noona.”

“Can you text me when you get home?” She asked, genuinely worried.

He blinked at her, taken aback. He was big and certainly didn’t seem like a child, but she was still worried. She didn’t exactly know where he lived. 

“Sure.” He smiled once more, before waving and walking away, towards the same direction they came from.

She hid under the entrance, and watched him walk away. She couldn’t see past the driveway. Hopefully he lived nearby.

Around twenty minutes later, she got a text from Sanghyuk, telling her he got home safely, and saying he hoped to see her on monday. She sighed loudly, hoping to see him next week as well.

She told herself that night that it was really dumb to fall in love with her assistant; yet at the same time, she didn’t really care. She was letting herself fall, on purpose. It was probably the idea she had that maybe this guy wasn’t so bad. All her impressions of him were good. He didn’t seem to have anything bad going on. The only con was that he didn’t seem interested in a relationship. 

Decided to not overthinking it anymore, she tried to rest the weekend, and just let things flow.

#vixx scenarios #vixx scenario #vixx imagines #vixx fanfic #vixx fanfiction #vixx hyuk #han sanghyuk #vixx #sanghyuk

[cake-writes]

Compromise (Part Five)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Story Warnings: Mom!Reader, Dad!Bucky, Ex-Relationship, Co-Parenting Drama, Angst, Fluff, Separation Anxiety

Summary: You didn’t want to trust him again, because every time you did, Bucky broke your heart just a little more. Deep down, though, you wanted to get along with him. You wanted to be amicable. You wanted your daughter to know her father. You’d always wanted that. It just required a compromise.

Part Four / Master List / Spotify Playlist

The next hour or so went by in a blink.

Bucky finished up the dishes while you and Winnie watched another episode of her show. Now that you actually had a chance to sit down and watch it with her, you understood why she liked it so much. The main character was a queen, and a little female empowerment went a long, long way at her age.

And, well, at any age, really.

Still, you couldn’t help but sneak glances at Bucky every now and then after he joined the two of you on the sofa. Some small part of you liked knowing that he was there. It was stupid, sure, but harmless – as long as Winnie didn’t see, and she was far too absorbed in her show to notice an earthquake, even, let alone something so subtle.

Her father, on the other hand, was far more perceptive. After about the fourth or fifth time you looked over at him on the sly (or so you thought), he finally asked, “What?”

There wasn’t malice in his tone, but amusement. 

His sudden question startled you anyway.

With Winnie situated right in between the two of you and his arm resting on the back of the couch behind her, you thanked whatever deity there was for the extra space.

“Nothing, I just…” You started fidgeting with the hem of your blouse, turning back to the TV out of embarrassment. “This is kind of nice.”  

Bucky let out a quiet hum of approval, followed by a soft, “Yeah.”

And it was. It was comfortable.

Too comfortable.

You checked your watch, then, a distraction from your ridiculous thoughts – which was when you realized that you should probably get moving if you were going to go buy a car today. That was the whole reason you were here, after all. Not to spend time with him.

Even though you were kind of enjoying it.

“It’s already after 11,” you told him. “We should probably get going.”

“Oh, yeah.” There it was again; you’d caught him off guard. “Yeah, we should.”

As you pulled yourself to your feet, you turned off the TV and instantly received a half-frown, half-pout from your little girl in response. “Sorry, baby. We’ve got places to be.”

“Is Daddy coming?” Winnie asked, giving you the perfect pair of puppy dog eyes.

Now that was something she’d gotten from her father.

“He sure is!” you replied with a smile. “Won’t that be fun? All three of us going somewhere?”

“Yeah!” she exclaimed, beaming.

“Okay, princess, go get your things,” Bucky instructed, and she was off – sprinting to her room for the second time to get her belongings. This time, however, you had a better feeling about it.

Maybe this could work.

Of course, when it was just you and Bucky like this, you got nervous. He was still seated on the sofa, looking up at you with those soft baby blues like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, you held the eye contact for a second longer than necessary, before you stammered out a quick, “Be right back,” and disappeared down the hallway.

For the second time that day, you shut yourself in the bathroom as a means of escape.

Staring blankly at your reflection, you frowned at your appearance. Your skin wasn’t blotchy anymore, at least, but your makeup was definitely smudged from crying earlier and you cursed yourself for not bringing something to touch it up.

Then again, why did you care? This was Bucky.

But you knew deep down that you only cared because it was him.

So you took a few deep breaths, salvaged what you could of your makeup, and then flushed the toilet: another means of keeping up appearances.

You were in the process of strapping Winnie into her car seat when you caught a glimpse of Steve through the rear window. He must have just returned from a mission, judging by his uniform. 

While you couldn’t hear what he was saying to Bucky, it seemed serious – probably mission-related, or something else you weren’t privy to. Not that it mattered, because as soon as you approached, the tone of the conversation changed entirely.

“Oh, hey!” Steve said with a bright smile, pulling you in for a hug. “Long time, no see.”

God, he was just as heavy as Bucky. Good to see that hadn’t changed.

You gave him a quick squeeze around the waist and then took a step back. “Yeah, it’s been way too long, hasn’t it? How have you been?”

He offered you a shrug. “Fighting bad guys, you know, the usual. What about you?”

You snorted. Yeah, that sounded about right. “Still making coffee for those bad guys you’re always fighting.”

Once upon a time, Steve had busted one of them right outside your coffee shop in Manhattan. Judging by the laugh your joke earned you, he definitely seemed to remember.

“Hey, Steve,” you spoke thoughtfully, “You got a couple minutes? Winnie would love to see you before we go.”

“Yeah?” Steve’s eyes lit up, and you didn’t miss the way he glanced at Bucky, almost like he was asking for permission. Bucky just rolled his eyes and shoved him toward your car.

Over the last two years, Steve had seen Winnie even less than Natasha had, and it was a damn shame because he was her godfather. You knew he cared about her, probably just as much as Natasha, but he’d always kept his distance after you ended things with his best friend. Even though you invited him around every now and then, he always said no; only came by with Natasha, and only sometimes. You always got the impression that he didn’t want to step on any toes.

“Oh wow, you’re so big now!” came Steve’s excited voice from the back seat. Somehow, he’d managed to contort his large body to fit in the small space, and you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

“Uncle Stevie, you’re all spangly!”

“It’s my job to be spangly,” Steve told her pointedly, and then he started to talk about his mission – little bits and pieces, all good, non-violent things. She’d always liked his stories. 

It was nice to see her so happy like this, chatting animatedly with Steve just like she’d done with Natasha, and you knew she’d love to see the rest of the team, too.

“We’ll have to come around more often,” you found yourself saying, not really considering the implications of it – that you’d have to have a good co-parenting relationship first.

“You know you can come by anytime you want, right?”

Well, no, you didn’t, and Bucky’s suggestion caught you by surprise. You met his eyes for a moment, worrying your bottom lip in between your teeth as you considered it. No, it just didn’t seem right to come to the compound unannounced, for a multitude of reasons – particularly if he wasn’t here to greet you. When you opened your mouth to refuse, however, he just shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter if I’m on a mission, doll. It’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” you asked, brows furrowing. “That would be kind of…”

Awkward. Intrusive. Spiteful, even.

“Weird,” you finished lamely.

“Why?”

“Because they’re your friends.”

Bucky scoffed. “Hardly. Steve wanted to see you just as much as I did. Shoulda heard him.”

Your heart immediately skipped a beat, and you ventured hesitantly, “You wanted to see me?”

Bucky didn’t seem to realize what he’d said until you pointed it out, and he quickly looked away, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Even you were able to notice the way his ears turned red. “Well, yeah. ‘course I did.”

What the hell did that mean?

Steve, of course, chose that opportune moment to say his goodbyes to your daughter, and you lost your chance to ask. Not that you had the courage to, anyway.

“I’ve gotta type up some reports,” Steve said, jogging back to the two of you. “Don’t be a stranger, okay? You’re welcome here anytime. Buck’s already sorted it out.”

“Thanks,” you responded unsurely. “See you later?”

Steve nodded, and then he clapped Bucky on the shoulder – the very same Bucky who shot him an irritated look, which Steve promptly ignored in favour of waving goodbye and making his way up the steps.

You grew a little wary at Bucky’s sudden change in demeanour. “What did he mean, you’ve already sorted it out?”

Bucky sighed exasperatedly.

“I had a swipe card made for you,” he explained, clearly annoyed, running a hand through his hair. “For the gate. If… If you want it. You don’t have to take it, I just thought—”

“Okay,” you accepted with a shrug.  

He just stared at you.

“It makes sense for me to have one, right?” Good thing you could think fast on your feet, because otherwise you would have seemed way too eager. “Especially if Winnie’s gonna be here. Right?”

“Right,” he said slowly. “Yeah.”

God, you were an idiot.

Bucky pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and cracked it open; and as he thumbed through it in search of the swipe card, you caught a glimpse of a photo: one of you and Winnie on her first birthday, glittery pink party hats on your heads.

The very same birthday he’d missed.

The very last straw before you left.

“Here,” he said, then, holding out a plain white card to you – plastic, the same size and shape of a credit card. “Just swipe it over the black sensor by the intercom.”

You swallowed thickly and accepted the card with a shaky, “Thanks.”

When your fingertips brushed against his, you nearly dropped the stupid thing – nearly jumped out of your own skin.

Bucky studied your face for a moment, and then, predictably, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

You pushed your feelings aside and shoved the card into your purse.

“Nothing,” you lied, walking around to the driver’s side of your car. “Come on.”

He’d probably only kept that photo because it had Winnie in it. Of course, you’d given him plenty more, so you still weren’t sure why he’d decided to put that particular one in his wallet.

It didn’t matter.

“Okay, but at least let me be a gentleman,” he teased, coming around to your side of the car.

When he opened the car door for you, you gave him what you hoped was a grateful smile before you settled into the weathered, sun-faded seat, thoughts racing just as much as your heartbeat.

Part Six

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes imagine #this is the day that never ends #it goes on and on my friends

[trombonesinspace]

Typhoid Mary: feminist femme fatale?

“Season 4 was going to be Typhoid Mary, Alice Eve [who played the role in Iron Fist], we were doing a kind of...I had a much different version of her than what Raven [Metzner] had done in Iron Fist. I was kind of rebooting what she was going to be like, and we were going to do a, you know, kind of a warped love story/murder mystery kind of femme fatale, but kind of a modern-day, feminist version of it, as opposed to kind of the older, sexist kind of femme fatale archetype.”

-Erik Oleson, in conversation with Steven DeKnight, SaveDaredevilCon 

As I said yesterday, I have some thoughts about this! If you want some opinions nobody asked for, about a storyline that may never come to pass, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in.

A femme fatale is a character type with quite a history, that can take various forms. She is always an attractive woman who brings ruin to the man who gets involved with her. But sometimes she is deliberately manipulative, while sometimes she is more a victim of circumstances. She may be evil, or she may be sympathetic/tragic. But whatever her moral alignment, she has two defining traits: sexual allure, and some form of negative consequences for the hero as a result of his involvement with her.

A woman who schemes against the hero, and succeeds in harming him, but without using feminine wiles? Not a femme fatale. The Marvel TV universe has featured several examples on different shows: Madame Gao, Mariah Dillard, Alexandra. And, ironically, the version of Typhoid Mary who appeared in Iron Fist. (We’ll get there.)

A sexy woman who tries to manipulate/damage the hero, but fails? Also not a femme fatale. I wish I could give some examples, but sadly I can’t think of any, in dramas at least. Our current media culture loves a sexy manipulator, no writer ever seems to introduce one into a dramatic story without making her succeed in her schemes, to some extent at least.

Which is unfortunate, from my perspective, because I loathe sexy manipulators. It’s a character type I really dislike, whenever I encounter her. As soon as she shows up, I know the hero is going to fall for her bullshit like a chump, and I’m going to end up respecting him less as a result. I could try to unpack my feelings about this a bit more, but that would probably make a post all on its own, so for now I’ll leave it at that.

This doesn’t mean I hate all femmes fatales—it really depends on her motivation and her behavior. If she isn’t trying to harm the hero, and it happens due to circumstances, then I might like the character, but the story becomes a tragedy. Which is not necessarily bad. Just, you know. Tragic.

Anyway! Let’s talk about Typhoid Mary.

Mary Walker is a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), and high-level combat skills. In the comics, she is also a mutant with mental powers. She appeared in the Daredevil comics starting in 1988.

In this original version, her personality fragmented due to childhood abuse, leading her to vow as an adult that no man would ever hurt her again. Her personalities are: Mary, who is timid and gentle; Typhoid, who is adventurous, lusty, and violent; and Bloody Mary, who is even more violent, sadistic, and hates all men.

Mary becomes romantically involved with Matt Murdock, who is cheating on his girlfriend, Karen Page, to be with her. At the same time, Typhoid is trying to ruin him, having been hired to do so by the Kingpin. Matt can’t tell they’re the same woman, because when she switches personalities all her bio signs change (voice, scent, heartbeat, etc) so much that he can’t recognize her. (Uh, sure.) She may also be using some of her mutant powers to confuse his senses. I haven’t read the comics, I’m relying here on what I could learn from the internet.

Eventually Typhoid drops him off a bridge, but then Mary finds him and gets him to a hospital, saving him. Karen is with him when he wakes up, but he breaks her heart by calling out for Mary.

This storyline...does not thrill me. As I said, I haven’t read it, but comics writing about mental illness is generally neither nuanced nor accurate, and comics writing about women circa 1988 is also not great, by today’s standards. And comics Matt’s disastrous love life is legendary—cheating on your girlfriend is bad, Matt! Don’t do it! 

I have, however, watched season 2 of Iron Fist, where we get a different version. This Mary Walker is a US army veteran, special ops, who was captured by the Sokovian military. Her personality fragmented due to the brutal abuse she received from her captors for nearly two years, until she finally escaped. She got a medical discharge from the army after being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Her personalities are: Mary, who is innocent and naive; and Walker, who is a ruthless, coolly efficient mercenary-for-hire. The existence of a third, ultraviolent personality, previously unknown to either Mary or Walker, is revealed near the end of the season. 

Mary meets and befriends Danny Rand, while Walker is hired by his enemies to stalk him, and eventually capture him so they can steal his Iron Fist powers from him. She later changes sides, getting hired to bring down Davos, the season’s main villain, by Joy Meachum, his former ally.

There are clear parallels to the Daredevil comics storyline, albeit in less extreme form—Mary befriends the hero, but isn’t romantically involved with him; her more violent personality works against him and fights him, but doesn’t try to destroy him. 

I enjoyed this version of the character more than I expected to, for a couple of reasons. For one, she is never the out of control, “crazy” stereotype of a person with mental illness. Both Mary and Walker are more-or-less functional adults, managing to live a strange hybrid life, aware of each other’s existence even though they don’t share memories.

But what I especially like is that she isn’t sexualized, at all. It’s incredibly rare, in my experience, to see a young, female antagonist opposing a male hero, and not have her be sexy. Older women are exempt from this obligation (see my list of examples above), but the young ones always vamp it up, and I am so tired of it. I am not opposed to sexy women, but I am very opposed to the requirement that all women must be sexy. (Unless they’re old.) Male antagonists aren’t required to be alluring, so why should women be? (Yes, I know why. I just don’t like it.)

There’s also a lot of potential YIKES in sexualizing a woman with a severe mental illness, which was caused by (among other things) repeated sexual violence. Could it be done in a way that isn’t super problematic? It’s possible, sure. Am I assuming that most television writers would give the subject the respect it deserves? NOPE! 

I’m really glad they chose to just not go there. Walker is extremely good at what she does, takes no shit from anyone, and (almost) never gets riled up. After everything she’s been through, nothing in her present life has the power to faze her, and none of the men around her have the power to intimidate her. It’s pretty great!

She isn’t the least bit coy or seductive, and, equally refreshing, none of the men try to sexualize her or hit on her. Everyone Walker talks to knows she is a highly skilled professional, and they treat her accordingly. Or, when someone does disrespect her, it’s never gendered as far as I can remember, and it stops as soon as she calmly states what she’s going to do to him if it doesn’t.

As for Mary, although she has a more feminine appearance than Walker (hair down and loose, makeup), she is also not sexualized. Her friendship with Danny, who is in an established relationship with Colleen Wing, is platonic, and no one else tries to hit on her that I remember.

So this is the version of Typhoid Mary that Erik Oleson was going to reboot, into a femme fatale. Only, you know. A feminist one. 

I...have some questions. What does that even mean? What does feminism mean to Erik Oleson? Let’s be real, the idea of a woman becoming an ultraviolent, sadistic man-hater as a result of sexual trauma would have been seen as feminist in some circles, back in 1988 when that version was written. So what, exactly, did he have in mind?

As I said before, sexual allure is a necessary component of a femme fatale. So she was definitely gonna be sexy. And you know now how I feel about sexy female antagonists. As for the “warped love story” part...Matt wouldn’t be cheating on Karen, since they aren’t together (please, for the love of mercy, don’t have them get together right before he meets Mary, we did that once and I do NOT want to see it again), but I am still not a fan of Matt/Mary as a couple.

Her Dissociative Identity Disorder raises some serious issues around consent, and even if the show chose to ignore that, there’s still the issue of past sexual trauma. Unless Oleson’s reworking of the character was going to include a completely different back story, a Matt/Mary relationship would mean Matt unknowingly having sex with a woman who has suffered brutal sexual abuse in her past. Not to mention, having sex with her that only one part of her personality actually wants.

Is it possible for someone with Mary’s past trauma and present mental illness to have a positive sexual relationship? In reality, of course! In the hands of writers with only a layman’s knowledge of psychology, on a show that loves to torment its hero, I wouldn’t bet on it. How do you suppose our poster boy for Catholic guilt would react when he inevitably finds out the truth?

Plus, aside from any issues around Mary herself, Matt starting a relationship with anyone other than the handful of people who already know his secret identity, means a whole new round of Matt lying to someone he cares about. Does anyone really want to see that? I know I don’t. Sure, maybe he’d tell her eventually, but how long would they have to date before he decided to trust her with the truth?

I’m not opposed to the Mary Walker from Iron Fist appearing in Daredevil, if the writers could come up with a new story for her (i.e, don’t just have her repeat all the same plot beats with Matt that she already did with Danny). But bringing her in as a femme fatale really doesn’t sit well with me. We’ve already seen Matt in an ultimately destructive relationship with a sexy, violent, morally grey woman. I really don’t want to watch Round 2: now with multiple personalities!

Of course, maybe we never will. The quote at the beginning of this post is from just a couple of weeks ago (July 25 2020), so Erik Oleson still seems to think it’s a fine idea. But obviously we don’t know yet if there will ever be a season 4, or who the show runner will be if there is. He may never get to make the story he was planning.

So yes, I realize I’m merely speculating about a completely theoretical story that may never happen. But I wanted to write this anyway. I had a strong “ugh, no” reaction to the idea of a feminist femme fatale Typhoid Mary, and I wanted to go deeper and pick apart my reasons for not liking the idea.

To the three of you who have read this all the way through to the end (this post is nearly 2000 words, yikes), thank you for indulging me! These are, as always, my own opinions, and YMMV. 

#daredevil #typhoid mary #femme fatale #long post #oh look I wrote a dissertation

[quintessenceofdust73]

WINGMAN by Quinn73 on AO3

Pidge felt a cold trickle of perspiration sliding down her back as she approached the entrance to the most popular nightclub in this little corner of the galaxy, a posh establishment known as The Event Horizon. She clutched her sparkly handbag a little tighter and wondered if she should go inside. She checked her watch. She was still too early. Why was she foolish enough to agree to this? Pidge sighed and began pacing back and forth in the high heels she was still very unaccustomed to wearing. Hunk had been the one who talked her into this madness. He had been very persuasive, having gone on and on about how vulnerable Lance was.

“He hasn’t dated anyone since...” Allura’s name went unspoken. “...you know.”

“I know,” she replied to Hunk. “But aren’t you normally his wingman?”

“Yeah, of course! I’m the best wingman there is.” Hunk looked incredibly pleased with himself. He winked at her. Pidge frowned, perplexed by how strange Hunk had been behaving lately. In recent weeks he had been bombarding her with the most personal and embarrassing questions when she least expected it. “But you know I have an important diplomatic mission to Cyan III, so I can’t be there to help him get back into the dating scene. Pidge, please, do this for me. I don’t want Lance to get his heart broken again—“

She exhaled. “Fine. I’ll steer him away from the crazies and the stalkers. What time do I have to be there?”

“Seven o’clock sharp. And wear something nice. You know, maybe get your hair done, put on a little makeup—not that you need it—it’s just, Lance—- uh, I ,mean, that club is really upscale, okay.”

After that conversation Pidge rummaged through her closet and found nothing suitable for the evening except for the clingy little emerald green cocktail dress she had worn only once before. The diamond earrings she had inherited from her great-grandmother would look nice with it, she thought. There was only one necklace that she owned that was the right length for the neckline of the dress though, and she wondered if it would be appropriate to wear it or not. It was a golden heart on a delicate chain that had been sent to her as a special delivery on her twenty-first birthday. There was no return address, only a typed note that read, “To the strongest, smartest, most beautiful woman I have ever known. I hope someday I have the courage to tell you how I really feel about you.” The message wasn’t signed, and she had no idea who sent it to her. Colleen had teased her daughter so much about her “secret admirer” that she had hidden the necklace away in her jewelry box and had never worn it.

Lance had been particularly sulky at work that April, and often seemed as grumpy as he was when his siblings ate all the garlic knots and didn’t save any for him. He was even grouchy in his classes. Pidge overheard his students gossiping about it, and thought that it was very strange because Lance was known to be the most cheerful and enthusiastic of all the flight instructors at the Garrison.

Pidge began having lunch in her laboratory, pretending that this was saving her valuable time on her latest project. She didn’t want to admit to herself that she was avoiding Lance because her feelings were hurt. After three years of long weekend video gaming sessions and endless hours at his apartment binge watching all of the movies and television programs they had missed while in space, she thought their friendship meant something to him. She couldn’t believe he had forgotten her birthday this year, and she had cried herself to sleep for three nights. Hormones, she thought. Maybe she should ask the doctor for something she could take for all of her mood swings. She thought it might have something to do with her being a late bloomer.

She checked her watch again. It was nearly seven. She looked up at the glowing sign above the famous club’s entryway, squared her shoulders, and walked towards the front door, then abruptly stopped short before entering the nightclub. There was a sign on the door in front of her that read

ONCE YOU CROSS THE EVENT HORIZON, THERE’S NO TURNING BACK.

Pidge read it, and then swallowed. She reminded herself that she was doing this for Lance because she wanted him to be happy, even if that meant he was going to find happiness with someone that wasn’t her. Her vision blurred, and she wiped the corners of her eyes with her fingers, hoping her eye makeup didn’t smear. She took a deep breath and crossed the threshold.

A young Galran woman greeted her in the front lobby. “How many are in your party?”

“Oh, uh, I’m looking for a friend. He might have arrived before me,” Pidge replied.

“You are welcome to look for him, miss. Let me know if you require a table.”

“Thanks,” Pidge responded, and she headed towards the bar just beyond a large sign that read “The Singularity.” She assumed that with a name like that it must be the singles bar. There were several sorry-looking males and only a few overly made-up females of a variety of species at the bar. All of them seemed either depressed, intoxicated, or both. She sat as far away from all of them as possible. If Lance was going to meet the woman of his dreams tonight, surely it wouldn’t be any of these pathetic creatures. What was Hunk thinking? The Polluxian bartender asked what she wanted to drink, and Pidge responded that she was waiting for a friend. She cringed inwardly as a gap-toothed Unilu male sauntered her way and sat on the barstool next to her. “Buy you a drink, sweetheart?” His breath reeked of intoxicants.

“No, thank you.” She moved away from him. He leaned closer, eyeing her in a way that made her very uncomfortable. Pidge’s mind raced. She needed an escape. “I’m meeting a friend here tonight.” She looked toward the club’s main entrance, and saw her opportunity. “Sorry.” She got up. Lance had just arrived, and she couldn’t repress her grin at the sight of him. She darted towards the front lobby, passing in front of the huge darkened room called The Black Hole, which was, by the sound of the loud music, a dance floor of some kind.

Pidge thought Lance looked quite dashing in the tailored blue suit he was wearing, but she soon realized that his expression was surlier than usual, as if he didn’t want to be there at all. Her smile melted away.

Lance didn’t see her approach. He had turned toward the young Galran hostess. “Table for two, please. I don’t know if she’s here yet though.” His stance was alert, with his fists curled at his sides. He looked as if he was ready to bolt at any moment.

“There was a pretty young woman of your species who arrived just before you did. She said she was looking for someone,” said the hostess. She saw Pidge standing a few feet behind Lance. “Here she is, sir.”

Lance took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something very unpleasant. He slowly turned around, and Pidge watched as Lance’s expression went from a look of anxiety to one of elation. “Pidge?! What are you doing here?” He looked happier than he had been in weeks. “You look great in that dress, by the way.” His eyes lingered on the golden heart-shaped necklace at her throat, and his grin broadened even more.

“Hunk told me I had to be here, and I don’t understand what’s—”

“Hunk really is the best friend a guy could ever have, isn’t he? I owe him big time for this.”

Pidge didn’t understand what Lance was talking about. “I—“

The hostess interrupted. “Your table is ready, sir. Right this way.”

Before Pidge could even ask what was going on, Lance grabbed her by the hand and followed the hostess into a brightly lit dining room, past the larger tables for boisterous gatherings, and onward to a quieter, more dimly lit area where couples would normally sit at smaller, more intimate candlelit tables. The room was empty for the moment. Soft, beautiful music was playing in the background. Pidge was both overwhelmed and confused. She felt a momentary pang of regret as Lance let go of her hand, but she soon realized that he did this in order to pull out a chair for her. “Oh! Thank you.” She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. What was happening? She smoothed her skirt as she sat down. They should be at the singles bar. How was she supposed to help Lance get a date if...

“Hunk really had me fooled,” Lance said with a chuckle. His blue eyes sparkled with happiness.

“What exactly did he tell you?” she asked, trying to calm her nerves. She had her hands hidden in her lap, hoping Lance wouldn’t notice that they were shaking.

“Well, when Hunk said that he was gonna set me up on a blind date with a girl who would be an absolutely perfect match for me, I was really skeptical about that. At first, I refused to go because I told him my heart already belonged to someone and I wasn’t interested in meeting some other girl, but Hunk said that I had to go, and that if I didn’t go you would be really upset with me. I thought that meant that you wanted me to move on, and that hurt so much.” Pidge noticed that Lance began to tear up a little. “I thought you didn’t like me that way, especially when I saw that you didn’t ever wear the birthday present I sent you.”

Pidge gaped at him as touched her golden heart pendant with one trembling hand. “You sent this to me? I-I didn’t know!” She felt a cool tear slide down one very warm cheek. “The card wasn’t signed. I am so sorry. I love the necklace! It’s beautiful, and thank you for it.” Don’t cry, don’t cry she told herself, but it was too late.

Lance extended his hands across the table to her, and after wiping her face with a napkin, she reached out to him, allowing him to take both of her small hands into his larger ones. “Hunk had to trick me into going on a date with you,” he confessed. “I was too afraid of rejection to ask you out on a real date, even though we spend nearly every weekend hanging out together.”

Pidge bit her lip and then gave him a watery smile. “He had to trick me too. He said you were going out tonight and needed a wingman. That’s why I was waiting for you at The Singularity just now.”

“Wearing that dress and with your hair curled and—wait a minute! Are you actually wearing makeup?” Lance chuckled. “You look like a model or a movie star. Did you really think I would be looking at some other single lady at the bar when you look hotter than a supernova?”

Pidge giggled. “Well, I wanted you to see what you’re missing,” she teased. “And from now on, the only heart shaped pendant I will ever wear will be from someone that I love, not some unknown secret admirer.”

Lance beamed at her. “I hope that means you’ll wear it again.”

“Always.”

That was all the encouragement Lance needed. “When I sent you that note I was thinking of something a wise man once said: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

“Lao Tzu,” Pidge commented, recognizing the quote. “The note you sent said that I am the strongest woman you have ever known and that someday you hoped to have the courage to tell me how you really feel about me.”

“I guess that someday is today.” He let go of her hands and slid his chair around the table to her side. “I love you, Katie Holt. I always have. I’m sorry it took so long for me to find the courage to say it out loud.” He reached out to cup her cheek, wiping away one of her happy tears with his thumb.

Courage, she thought. Just tell him. She placed both of her hands on his broad shoulders, and he dared to move even closer to her. “I love you, too.” she said softly. “All these years, it’s always been you, Lance.”

Her eyelids fluttered closed as he leaned towards her. Their lips met in a soft, gentle kiss. Instinctively, Pidge slid her arms around his neck, and Lance responded by pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.

“I think we should stop,” she whispered in between kisses.

“Why? I know you’re enjoying this as much as I am,” he said in an uncharacteristically deep voice that made her shiver.

Pidge knew she had to be the sensible one. “The waiter will be here soon and we haven’t even looked at our menus.”

Blushing, Lance slid his chair back to the other side of the table. “I guess I was getting a little too carried away with kissing my new girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend? You move faster than a proton in a particle accelerator.”

“Sorry. I should have been a gentleman and asked—“

“Yes, well I do expect my boyfriend to be a gentleman, especially when we’re in public.” Her eyes sparkled like the diamonds she was wearing. They were both giddy the rest of the evening, which was spent dining and dancing and talking about the bright future that was ahead of them.

It was mid morning at the embassy on Cyan III when Hunk’s deep space communicator received an electronic message from two of his fellow Paladins. When he opened the message, Hunk saw that it was a selfie taken on Lance’s phone. In the photo Lance was smiling at the camera, dressed in his finest suit, looking more cheerful than he had been in years. He had his arm around a gorgeous girl in a clingy green dress who seemed to radiate waves of happiness. It was Pidge, Hunk realized. She looked so glamorous he nearly didn’t recognize her. The message read, “I had the time of my life at The Event Horizon—dinner and dancing with the love of my life. Thanks, Hunk. You’re the best wingman ever! —Lance.”

#plance #lance mcclain #lance #pidge #vld lance #katie holt #plance fanfiction #hunk garrett #pidgeance #flirtyrobot #voltron fanfic #voltron #vld

[creativespecialism]

Film Language: Taking  A look At Black Swan

Black Swan is an American Psychological horror film directed by Darren Arronofsky. I is based on an original story by Andres Heinz. he film stars Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Babara Hershey, and Winona Ryder. The plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by the New York City Ballet company. The production requires a ballerina to play the innocent and fragile White Swan, for which the committed dancer Nina (Portman) is a perfect fit, as well as the dark and sensual Black Swan, which are qualities better embodied by the new rival Lily (Kunis). Nina is overwhelmed by a feeling of immense pressure when she finds herself competing for the part, causing her to lose her tenuous grip on reality and descend into madness.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The film opens with a shot of Nina’s feet. she is wearing ballet shoes and the light is white. This establishes her character very early on as it tells us that she is pure, naive and that dancing and ballet is the most important element of her life. I think it’s interesting that this opening scene is also a dream sequence. Nina dreams that she is the Swan Queen so at this point in the film it is but a fantasy and is even interrupted by the nightmarish black swan creature and we are made aware of this through the use of music. It quickens in pace making the situation seem panicked and dire. It could also be said that the fact that the surrounding area is symbolic of Nina’s underlying darkness and her blindness to the reality of the outside world.

When Nina is walking outside it is always a shot from behind and the camera is slightly shaky. This makes us feel like we’re following Nina in a documentary style film and it makes the whole thing very personal. like we’re their on this journey with her.

Early on in the film we get introduced to Nina’s foil, Lily. Lily is a stark contrast to Nina’s innocence and naivety. She’s confident and sexually secure. 

 This is where the wardrobe really comes in. Even before this contrast we have a pretty good idea that the costume design is gonna play a huge role because Nina’s scarf looks particularly like a swans plumage. and could be seen as restricting.

Lily wears black and grey throughout the film and rarely wears white, using it as an accent to the black,  most notably with her delicate white feather earrings. Whilst Nina wears mostly white, pale greys and very pale pink. All very delicate colours that preserve her innocence. This carries over in the makeup choices as Lily’s eyeshadow is dark and bold, heavy and Nina’s is light, more natural with hints of glitter. 

The crux of the film is Tchaikofsky’s Swan Lake. Thomas the director of  the dance company has to choose his swan queen but they have to be able to play both Odette and Odile. The white and black swans. The wardrobe choices eludes us to the fact that Lily is the black swan or at least resembles what the black swan is supposed to be. 

Nina finds out that she isn’t picked to be the swan queen and goes to confront Thomas who assaults her with a kiss. this is what earns her the role because she retaliates with a bite. After this scene Nina calls her mother and calls her “mommy”  this is a reaction of regression to childhood, perhaps a retreat to a time of safety? I say this because it’s already established that Nina refers to her mother as mom and has her saved as this in her phone. This regression is Nina’s way to deal with this unwanted advancement. But later on in the film we get the impression that her mother is narcissistic as their apartment is littered with self portraits and she resents Nina for ruining her ballet dreams by being born.

Whilst we’re on the subject of childhood I find Nina’s bedroom incredibly interesting.

The main colour is this incredibly pale pink, almost off-white and it’s cluttered with lacy furnishings and stuffed toys that scream Sanrio aesthetic. Don’t get me wrong I love stuffed toys and I have many at home but within the context of the film and how they’re used here. It’s clear that they are supposed to be this symbol of childhood and childishness.

One time when Nina is walking home she has a visual hallucination.

She sees herself in a darker attire with darker hair and more confidence as if she’s daring herself to defy and question the inevitable existence of her darker side. This can be seen as foreshadowing to the point in the film where Nina begins to embrace the darkness that’s underlining her innocence.

At one point in the film Lily takes Nina to a club. there’s lots of flashing lights, red lighting. It’s quite intense. Lily offers a skimpy black top to Nina so that she can dress more club appropriate. At first Nina refuses but later we see her wearing it over her white top. This not only shows us that Nina hasn’t fully embraced the darkness but it also marks the start of her transition into the black swan. Lilly also offers Nina a white pill of Ecstasy. Which she takes, albeit with reluctance. 

The sex scene is very interesting especially since it was completely fabricated. Lily wore black underwear and Nina wore white underwear. Lily was on top, the more dominating position. Nina was very submissive and and at the end she saw Lily as herself. This tells us that Nina will eventually allow her darker side to take over and dominate what she is now. 

Nina actually oversleeps after this night and because she comes in late Lily is named as her alternate. This makes Nina paranoid and is the true catalyst to the decline of her sanity. She also has a visual hallucination of Thomas getting it off with Lily and Thomas turns into the black swan creature we saw a the start of the film. 

We can say that this is a wake up call of sorts. She rushes home and gets rid of all her stuffed toys. Literally disposing of the symbols of her childhood and by extension her innocence. She does it quite forcefully too.

This is a great scene as It’s so unexpected and intense. Beth is the old and forgotten prima who winds up in hospital after a failed suicide attempt. Nina returns the items she stole from her dressing room, one of them boing a small knife, probably a letter opener. Nina hallucinates Beth stabbing her self with the knife. Since Beth represents a future version of Nina we can say that this is foreshadowing that Nina will be her own undoing.

We also get this scene.

The ballet music is building in the background and is competing with the factitious screams and that her and her mother exchange. She forcefully locks herself away and pulls jagged black feathers out of the self-inflicted scratches on her back. Her eyes are red and intense. and we get a close up shot of them to give us a feeling that she’s looking at us, pleading for help.

This is the night before the show so it’s all getting very intense and we can see that the pressure is getting to Nina. She hallucinates her legs breaking which cause her to fall and bang her head. on her bed. This can be read as her not having a leg to stand on. Or that she’s on her last leg as it were. However you could also say that this is a nod to the idiom “break a leg” which is used to with good luck to someone out of superstition that “ good luck” would be a jinx.

In the final act it’s time for the show. Nina goes on and an is riddled with anxiety which is made worse by the fact that her prince drops her. We get a close up of her knee as it makes contact with the floor to emphasise the importance of this. In a high class ballet production you expect everything to be perfect and run smoothly and Nina knows this so this mistake really plays on her mind. 

After this Nina returns to her dressing room to find Lily there, powdering her nose and wearing Nina’s costume for Odile. This is a fight scene of sorts.

Nina hallucinates Lily as herself but a more dark and confidence version who is determined to take Nina’s place on stage as Odile so, Nina trusts this adversary against the mirror and stabs them with a piece of broken glass. After which they turn back into Lily. Personally I read this as symbolic of Nina killing her anxiety and insecurities and ridding herself of them so she can be free to fullylet go and embrace her darker self.

This is clear in the scene that follows.

Here we can see right away that Nina is much less rigid and controlled as she was at the start of the film. The dance is her advantage rather than a prison her mother put her in. Nina undergoes metamorphosis into a black swan. It starts at the hands, a symbol that blood is on her hands due to the murder of Lily/her darker counter part. this grey colour travels up Nina’s veins and eventually consumes her arms. Feathers begin to form and her foot work sounds like feathers flapping. Her eyes are red and swan like and her makeup looks like a pair of angular wings. eventually her arms turn to actual wings and her dress grows to fit the rest of her body, drowning it in black. We get a striking shot of of Nina in the finishing pose with two large shadows cast on the bare brick wall. It’s wonderful. Also after this Nina forcefully kisses Thomas which is a parallel to when he kissed her earlier on in the film as this time Nina is the one who is in control and passionate. She’s now the seducer. 

After this performance it is revealed that Lily is still alive and Nina actually stabbed herself. In the final part of the play Odette returns and commits suicide by jumping off a cliff but safely onto a mattress. This means Nina has to become Odette again so the film shows her taking the shard of glass out of her wound. she is effectively removing this part of her so she can resume her innocence but as she dances for the last time we learn that this isn’t possible. The wound begins to bleed and stain the white dress representing the underlying issues Nina has and how they are bleeding through into her life. She jumps and we discover that this wound was one of the only things that actually happened to Nina and her final words “I was perfect” fade to white.

I think fading to white is interesting. It represents peace but also vulnerability. Naked and in your face about it. I always get quite tense when I see a character wearing white. most of the time one of three things happen; there’s gonna be blood because it shows up nicely, they’re gonna get married because wedding dresses are normally white and it’s subtle foreshadowing, or they’re going to die, especially if it’s a bloody murder but more importantly because angels and heaven are often associated with white. So having Nina be a white swan in her final costume is very fitting.

Black Swan is an amazing film that probably needs a few watches to really catch everything. it has amazing performances and direction and the costume design and lighting and shot work are just amazing. There are still somethings I didn’t talk about and I know I’ve kind of already spoiled the majority of the film but I really recommend watching it for yourselves. 

#filmlanguage

[rogues-r-we]

Halloween at the Manor was….quite the experience. Walter Worker Miyasaki, or Miya, learned this the first time she was there for it. The bots really had a big thing for the holiday. Each year, the found and fraternal family hosted a huge Halloween party, the next year better than the last. Miya had arrived at the Manor in the middle of the summer, so she was brand new to the many events that happened during the rest of the year. The first time she heard it mentioned was from Rabbit mid-September. It was time for the porcelain bot’s monthly maintenance, and Miya was the only person Rabbit currently trusted to do it.

“Have you figured out your costume for the party?”

“Rabbit, what party? I haven’t heard anything about a party.”

“The p-p-party is the biggest event at the m-m-m-m-manor! We h-host it every Hallowee-ee-een. You have to have a costume!”

Miya finished screwing in the last part that she was working on, and released Rabbit from the restraints that the bots were put in during this process.

“You b-b-better figure out your costume f-f-f-fast! The party is on H-h-h-halloween!” The energetic bot skipped out of the workroom, shriek-singing at the top of her lungs. Miya decided that it would be best to ask the other robots about this party. Not that she didn’t trust Rabbit, she just needed some more information. As Miya stepped out of the stairwell, she was greeted by four bumbling bots yelling for her. Upgrade, The Jon, Hatchworth, and Zer0 screeched to a halt in front of her.

“You don’t know about the party?!” This was said in perfect unison, which shouldn’t have scared her, but this just showed how fast information traveled in the Manor. Miya began to ask the bots some questions, which is a bad idea. It’s like talking to a bunch of children on a sugar-high.

“Calm down now,” she said, “and talk one at a time, please.”

The bots all looked down slightly bashful, until Upgrade finally piped up.

“The party is the biggest event at the Manor! There’s food and games and a costume contest and of course music of all kinds! It’s totally radical!”

Despite the pink robot’s use of slang, Miya had grasped a better understanding of the halloween party. She walked over to the Hall of Wires and knocked on the door politely. It swung open, and she stepped into the blue-tinted, metallic room.

“Spine? Are you in here? I have some questions about this Halloween Party that I’ve heard of.”

A tired and slightly gruff voice came from the ceiling. “Couldn’t you have gone to Peter or another Walter Worker? I’m busy.”

“Well, I trust you the most to remember information the longest, and you’re probably going to be more helpful than Rabbit and the others.”

With a deep sigh and an exhale of steam, The Spine in his snake form wiggled out of the wires.

“What do you want to know, partner?” Realizing it was Miya, his disposition changed into a more comfortable one. “Ah, it’s just you. I forget you’re brand new to the Manor. Would you like a better explanation?”

She nodded her head yes, and The Spine smiled. He moved himself over and guided her over to his desk, where she immediately sat in the chair. He then disappeared, and after a few seconds, returned in his chassis and took a seat across from Miya.

“When PA Walter I originally began hosting this party, it was an expo to show off his robots and other mechanisms. Slowly, as people found the bots less scary and more entertaining and kind, the later generations turned it into a Halloween party. Six orders some of the best catering, builds fantastic games, has us bots judge a costume contest, and, of course, hires some performers other than us. We do perform, though, I promise,” he snickered. “Anyways, the best part of these performances are that some of our story songs come to life. Both Gomely and the Ghost Grinder are frequent attendees, yet both also require constant supervision so they don’t summon anything. We also occasionally end up with a steamboat in the basement, but that just happens at random no matter the time of the year.”

Miya nodded her head, understanding better what occurred.

“Thank you kindly, Mr. Spine. I appreciate the information.”

He accompanied her to the entrance doors, since the wires were quite the maze. A kiss was bestowed upon her hand, and she exited the Hall. Now, she just had to figure out her costume for the party. Over the next month, Miya created the costume only she could dream of, with the help of the other Walter Workers and one of the local seamstresses in San Diego. The morning of the party, the family was chatting about costumes and other important things. She heard Upgrade lean over to Jon and say something along the lines of “They’re bringing back the bubble room?”, followed by an eager head nod from the golden robot. Quietly, she grabbed a bagel and some cream cheese and headed back to her room to finish up her work for the day, as well as to get ready. That evening, as she touched up her makeup, there was a knock on the door. In sauntered Rabbit, wearing an extremely intricate black and red ballgown with an asymmetrical hemline and a high collar. She paired the dress with red fishnets, black knee high stiletto boots, lacy black gloves, and some stark black jewelry that stood out from her porcelain covering. Her hair was put up in a chignon, and when she pulled her red-painted lips back a pair of fangs (hopefully false) was shown.

“Rabbit, you look….amazing.”

“Thank you Miz Miya, c-c-can I help you with anything?”

“Not now sweet girl, but if I do I’ll call for you, okay?”

She nodded and exited the room. Miya turned back to face her appearance in the mirror. She had applied tan foundation to her pale white skin to give off the appearance that she was still relatively human. Her face was iridescent, shimmering from powders and gels she detailed her face with. Her long blue-black hair cascaded down her back in waves, decorated with a hairpiece containing little glowing lights. All she had left to do was to put on her costume. She slipped off her comfy button up shift dress and socks and then changed, preparing herself for the night she had coming. As soon as she arrived on the main floor of the building, the whole Walter clan (adopted, birth, robot, or otherwise) stared at the gorgeous figure before them. Miya had created a silvery colored dress, with holographic boots to match and beautiful iridescent butterfly wings on her back. She accompanied said outfit with more holographic looking jewelry and a lightly shimmering shawl. Gasps and whispers came from across the room, wondering who the pretty girl was. That soon came to a halt, as Rabbit noticed her.

“Miz Miya, you look incre-e-e-edible!”

The whole clan soon came over and began fawning over Miya’s costume.

“Get ready Mi,” said Walter Worker Camille who was dressed as a bird of paradise, “for the most….interesting occasion you’ll ever experience in this Manor.”

A few hours into the party, Miya was already exhausted. The whole house was completely transformed into a circus of spooks and horror. Many icons that Steam Powered Giraffe had sung about showed up. In the backyard of the manor, though, held the attraction most interesting to Miya. There was a thick surrounding of fog, and in the middle, a graying man holding an organ grinder like you’d see at a fair. The first time she’d approached him, The Spine had appeared out of nowhere and pulled her away, telling her that “it’s a bad idea to do anything with this man.” But now, she would make it to him and see what he had to provide.

Making her way through the thick fog, Miya heard a soft song coming from near where she had originally seen the man. As she got closer, the song grew louder, and she grew more and more drawn to it. Then, she entered the clearing where he was seen for the first time. Surrounding the man were more gray, shadowy figures, women and men dressed in clothing from all eras, dancing and spinning without a care in the world. Unbeknownst to her, this man’s song had been hypnotizing her mind. This was the Ghost Grinder, who brought the dead back to dance, as well as taking new dancers from amongst the living. Miya stepped into the circle of people, and was immediately swept off her feet by a tall man in a tuxedo, who looked curiously similar to The Spine. The music’s spell blinded her, and she was tossed from partner to partner, enjoying every minute of it.

At the party, The Spine had been searching for Miya. He hadn’t seen her since the incident by the Ghost Grinder, and had grown worried. He snagged Chelsea and Camille, and pulled them into an unused room.

“Have either one of you seen Miss Miya? It’s been a while since I’ve seen her and I’m concerned for her safety.”

The two blue haired women looked at each other, and shrugged their shoulders.

“Haven’t seen her, and I’ve been all over the manor,” Camille said. “Do you want us to help you search?”

“Yes, please. The last time I saw her she was out by the Ghost Grinder.”

Both girls took in sharp breaths. “We’re gonna need more people if we have to go down there,” Chelsea murmured quietly.

After explaining the situation, Spine, Chelsea, Camille, Peter VI, and Matter Master David, they headed down there. They all had earplugs in to assist them in not getting put under the man’s spell. Spine didn’t have to do this, for he is a robot and not a human being. All of a sudden, The Spine stopped and stared. The search party looked over, and saw Miya dancing amongst the ghosts, a peaceful smile on her face.

“Miya! Please! Come back!” Chelsea yelled to the pretty girl. Spine immediately groaned and spoke up, “Miss Chelsea, she’s not coming back. Once they’ve been taken, they’re gone forever.”

After staring for a few minutes, the search party headed back to the manor. Rabbit had been escorting the guests out, leading them out to their cars, thanking them for coming. It was around 4 in the morning so it was about time to go. As soon as the group stepped inside, a hush fell over the occupants of Walter Manor who were left. Spine stepped up.

“She’s gone.”

Rabbit shrieked, “who d-d-d-d-did this?” and then immediately shut down completely.

“It was the ghost grinder.”

All faces went pale white. Slowly, one by one, everyone left the room, heading to wherever made them feel best.

“Mr. David, take Rabbit. Make sure she’s functioning,” Spine instructed. David nodded, and rolled the sleeping robot into the elevator for the basement.

The Spine and the two Walter Workers sat there in complete silence, until Spine spoke up again: “Ladies, please put an advertisement out there that Walter Robotics is hiring mechanics.”

The women just sat there, still stunned.

“I said GO!”

They both jumped up and ran out, and Spine was left alone again. His sister lost her best friend, the company lost a valued member, and he lost the person he considered his “child.” Better to forget this.

Okay so this fic was inspired by Ghost Grinder if you couldn’t tell! Thank you to everyone who wanted me to post! Love y’all! Compliments and constructive critiscism are appreciated!

#steam powered giraffe #spg #ghost grinder #steampoweredgiraffe #fanfiction #oc

[batbirdies]

NaNoWriMo 2019 Batfam fic Part 3

I realized I said I was gonna post snippets from my nano and I haven’t for a bit....

Part 3 of my Jason Todd Batfam fic where Jason agrees to dog sit Titus, there are some deep seated issues, unintended animal therapy, snarky text messages between robins and eventually some reconciliation between father and son. Takes place in a murky in between time sometime after Damian was resurrected.

Also I’m sorry guys, I don’t have an actual computer to work on, so I post these from the website on my ipad, so I can use the read more break, but I can’t figure out how to hyperlink on here so I’m not linking the previous installments....but if you search my blog for Jason Todd the first two aren’t far down the list....

Jason swallowed hard and took a breath, set his book down on the coffee table and got up to open the door before he could entertain the idea of pretending he wasn’t actually there and ignoring all attempts to contact him like their conversation the night before had never even happened. For prosperity's sake he did check the peephole before opening the door and nearly had a heart attack because it wasn’t just Bruce standing outside his door.

The demon brat was there too, leash in hand attached to the most massive dog Jason had ever seen. The kid was scowling like no other and the fish eye perspective made it look more comical than annoying. JAson was an idiot, of course the kid was gonna come along, it was his dog. That he was apparently protective enough of that he didn’t want just anyone watching him.

Bruce, next to him, looked enormous, with a blank expression that never failed to make Jason either irritated or nervous. This morning his stomach can’t seem to decide.

Damian glances at Bruce and his frown deepens and Jason realizes he’s been standing at the door for probably too long. “Here goes nothing.” He whispers to himself before stepping back and unlocking the deadbolt. He attempts to smile when he swings the door open but its still really freaking early and Jason’s not really prepared for the way his stomach swoops when he looks at Bruce.

He can’t get that damned card out of his head, can’t help wondering when Bruce wrote it, what he was doing. What he was thinking when he picked up the book and the movie and decided it was a good gift for Jason, whom he hadn’t had more than one pleasant conversation that wasn’t about vigilante business within the last 4 months. And before that….it might have been before he died, not counting any near death experiences where he got weirdly emotional and then regretted every word that came out of his mouth later.

“Hey.” He says lamely, stepping to the side at the expectant huff from Damian. They both walk in, Damian with an air of superiority that Jason’s not sure he knows how to turn off, and Bruce with an awkward sort of shuffle that almost catches him off guard. Jason realizes that without the fish eye lense making him look huge and out of proportion he looks tired.

There are bags under his eyes and a bruise on his cheek that Jason knows he would normally cover with makeup. His hair is mussed and he’s wearing track pants and tennis shoes with a cotton t-shirt and a zip up hoodie. He’s also carrying three enormous shopping bags that he sets on the floor just inside the door. When he straightens his eyes go to Damian before Jason and he realizes he’s staring at Bruce, and obviously so, and snaps his eyes to the kid too.

Damian is taking the dog in loop around the main space while inspecting everything with a sharp eye as Titus noses around his kitchen cabinets and past the glass door to the balcony.

“He better not pee on anything.”

Damian gives him a sharp look and scoffs. “Please, just because you lack proper house training does not mean all animals do.” Jason raises his eyebrows at the acid in the kids tone and nearly bites something nasty back before Bruce speaks up.

“Damian.” The kid stiffens and then slowly lowers his shoulders, staring down at the dog with a deeply unhappy expression and sharp twist to his mouth. Bruce takes a breath and Jason chances a glance over. He’s got his eyes closed, a wrinkled line between eyebrows, before it smooths out and he opens them again, eyes flicking to Jason where he stands, feeling weirdly out of place in his own apartment.

“He’s nervous.”

“I am not-“

“Damian.” They both stare hard at each other for an extended moment, Damian’s posture stretched tight. “Jason is doing you a favor. Act like it.”

“We could just bring him along-“

“We are not bringing a Great Dane to London. We’ve been over this.” And by the droning tone of his voice, they must have been, multiple times. The kid is wringing the leash in his hands and the dog is looking up at him, ears back and tail thumping the ground before he noses at Damian’s clenched fists. Damn this kid actually is nervous.

“He is not well.” He says as he lets the leash go with one hand and sets it gently on the Dane’s head, rubbing back and forth absently, like he doesn’t even realize what he’s doing.

“He has an ear infection Damian. It’s not serious. Jason can handle it.” Bruce’s voice is soft now, cajoling like he’s talking to a kid who’s actually Damian’s age and not some old man stuffed in the skin of a 12 year old. He sounds….gentle, and JAson has to turn away from him entirely to push down on the uncomfortable twist in his chest, busies himself straightening the blanket on the back of the couch that’s clearly already straight.

He remembers that voice, didn't realize Bruce still had it in him.

Damian turns his gaze to Jason finally, glare firmly in place along with a look of deep distrust.

Jason remembers working with the kid. Wearing that ridiculous costume with the fake feathers and he wonders how they made it out the other side of that with less trust than they started with. Damian had been more upset than Jason anticipated when he’d found out who he actually was.

It may have hurt Jason’s feelings, a tad, not that he would ever admit it. - research before posting

Another part of him feels kinda bad for lying to the kid for so long.

“Relax twerp. I’ll take good care of your dog.”

“Tt.” He glances around the apartment again with a look of distaste but the tension in his frame diminishes just a little. “Your apartment is smaller than I anticipated. Titus may require more than two walks a day if he is cooped up in here all the time.”

Jason stiffens, “Well sorry I don’t live in a fucking mansion.” There’s more heat in his voice than he was aiming for and he has to wrestle down anything else he might say before he looks just as defensive as he suddenly feels.

An awkward silence hangs in the air after his outburst, Damian staring at him with that stupid scowl. Bruce takes an awkward step closer to Jason and he has to resist the urge to step back.

“You apartment is fine Jay. Titus sleeps most of the day anyway.” Jason rolls his eyes, telling himself to get a grip.

“Whatever. What’s with the apocalyptic supply stash?” He juts his chin toward the pile of crap by his front door.

The question at least, sends Damian into motion, so he’s not staring around Jason’s apartment like he expects the place to collapse in on itself at any moment. He unhooks Titus’ leash from his collar and coils it up in a loop that he leaves sitting on Jason’s kitchen counter, and then he goes for the first bag.

When Jason says enormous bags, he means it. They are three times the size of regular grocery bags, he didn’t know you could even get bags that size. They all have a logo on the side he doesn’t recognize, something with paw prints, obviously some kind of pet store.

First he pulls out a massive dog bed, which Jason supposes makes sense. Best thing he’s got is the blanket on the back of his couch. The kid looks around while holding it, like he’s gauging the perfect place and finally sets it down next to the gargantuan TV.

Bruce sidles up on Jason’s left side while they both watch Damian unload the bags. Jason is uncomfortably aware of his presence but he doesn’t look over, doesn’t acknowledge him.

“Thank you for doing this.” Bruce says under his breath, while Damian drags a huge, unwieldy bag of dog food across his floor and props it against his kitchen counter. Jason only grunts in return, isn’t sure what to think of this whole thing still.

Next comes a stainless steel water dish and a matching one in porcelain for the food. Then a fresh container of tennis balls, two leashes, some kind of waterproof coat and then a red freaking dog sweater that Jason has to stifle a laugh at. “He really is just nervous.” This is even quieter than the thank you and Jason feels the need to look over. “The infection is minor, but before we took him into the vet he was acting strange, whining and tilting his head back and forth, standing with it at an angle that obviously didn’t look natural. He wouldn’t stay still, would only lie down for a minute at a time before he got up and paced the room. I think he was terrified it was some kind of brain tumor, that he was having complex seizures.”

Jason frowns, watching a white paper bag make its way to his kitchen counter with a prescription tag stapled to the outside. “He’s a good kid, just…” He waits for the word difficult to come out. Just like how people used to describe him, always angry, defensive, annoying. Interacting with the kid he can see why people couldn’t stand him when he was younger but he still gets Damian to a certain degree.

“He’s had a hard time.” Is what he says instead and Jason has to turn away again, decides finally to go introduce himself to the dog to ease the tangled mess in his stomach.

He’s so irritated, two days ago he would never have been this much of a mess over talking to Bruce, even in a casual setting, even in his own apartment. One stupid fucking hint of the man caring about him beyond what he contributes to fighting crime in the city and he’s bending over backwards looking for other signs. He hates his own stupid, dysfunctional brain.

He holds out a hand to Titus, takes a deep breath to let go of the tightness in his chest. Dogs and little kids, they can always tell when you’re upset and he doesn’t want to make him nervous.

Honestly, he’s huge. Like, Jason knew Great Danes were one of the largest breeds of dog but this particular one has to be even bigger than average. He sits on the corner of the living room carpet, watching Jason with alert but friendly eyes and easily sniffs at the hand, then shoves his nose into his palm and butts it up so his hands is resting on the top of his snout. Jason huffs out a laugh and crouches down.

“Like being petted huh?” He scratches behind his ears and is nearly bowled over immediately. Titus twists his head so far to the side Jason doesn’t quite follow with his hand and then shoves forward into Jason’s space, knocking him off balance with his insistence. Then a hand reaches for the collar and draws him back just enough to keep Jason mostly upright. Bruce is standing there, looking mildly amused as he looks at the dog.

“The drops the vet gave him make his ears itch, he can get a little pushy.”

“I can see that.” Jason mutters back. He kneels then, knees on the floor so he’s more stable and reaches out, ready for the sudden twist and shove. “You can let him go, I got it.”

Titus nearly lunges for him, shoves his whole face into Jason’s stomach, making him wheeze out a laugh. He rubs with significant force at his ears and the gargantuan dog goes boneless, flops down across his legs, whip like tail slapping loudly against the side of his coffee table. “Yeah, wow, you’re so big and tough huh? You must get people running for the hills killer.” Jason scratches down his neck and Titus makes a funny little grunting noise and then flops over sideways, belly exposed, head resting in his lap and yeah ok, Jason’s not a monster, he rubs his tummy. “Man you are heavy. Might need to put you on a diet.”

“Apparently, he is on one.” Jason glances up at Bruce, who’s still standing there, arms crossed over his chest, looking down at him with this odd little quirk to his mouth and if Jason had to guess he’d say he looks fond. And he doesn’t know what to do with that so he goes back to the dog, feeling his face flush in discomfort.

Damian clears his throat, pulling Jason’s attention back to him. He’s standing at the edge of his kitchen counter, hands clasped in front of him in a way that reminds Jason starkly of alfred of all people. He still doesn’t look happy, per say, but the anxiety leeching off the kid seems to have gone down and he’s staring at Jason intently.

“Yes. He is on a diet. He has gained weight since the weather started to turn.” With that, the kid launches into a spiel about the do’s and don’t’s of watching Titus. The list is significantly longer than Jason had anticipated, partially due to the ear infection but mostly just because the kid is a little pissant with way too many rules.

Jason takes it all with as much stoicism as he can muster until he pulls out a freaking muffler for the dog.

“What the heck is that?” Jason is still kneeling on the floor, dog laid out half in his lap, lazily wagging his tail and Damian is holding a thick square of black fabric in his hands that turns out to be a tube, it has drawstrings on the top and bottom to adjust the size of the loop.

“It is,” he makes a face here, obviously unhappy about what he’s about to say, “called a Head Muff. It goes over the neck and ears to keep them warm on walks.” He lays it down next to the prescription baggy and Jason has to hold back from a snort and instead looks back at Bruce out of the corner of his eye and finds him already looking down at Jason, expression completely blank and this time Jason chokes when he catches the twitch of Bruce’s lip. Somehow he manages to disguise it as a cough when he looks back but Damian looks suspicious none-the-less.

“I expect hourly update texts with photo’s.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have never owned a dog have you?” The question sounds weirdly accusatory and Jason feels the need to gently push Titus off his lap just so he can stand to his full height for this conversation.

“No, I haven’t but-”

“Then I will need proof that you are capable of the job.”

“Capable of the job? It’s dog sitting, not nuclear fission.”

“The very fact that you are not taking this seriously tells me it is necessary.”

“Well if you don’t fucking trust me then you can get somebody else to watch your damn dog.”

Damian had his arms crossed over his chest tightly, scowl intensifying with every breath. “Because you have shown yourself to be so trustworthy.” Jason clenched his hands into fists, feeling red creep up his neck.

“Damian.” Bruce’s deep voice cut across the room, quiet, but firm. He stepped around Jason, putting himself vaguely between them but not enough to be obvious. “You’re being unreasonable. Jason is perfectly capable of walking, watering, and feeding Titus, along with handling his ear drops.” He glanced over at Jason, eyes uncertain for a moment. “He always wanted a dog when he was younger, he’ll treat Titus well.”

Jason opened his mouth, ready to argue until that last sentence. Instead he blinks back at Bruce for a moment, feeling floored by the simple statement. He doesn’t have a response and quickly breaks eye contact, swinging them back to Damian whose mouth is twisted in a grimace before he finally heaves a sigh and uncrosses his arms.

“Fine.” 

#Jason Todd #Fanfiction #nanowrimo #Batfamily #Bruce Wayne #Damian Wayne