#not relevant but i love his gummy smile | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chittapornswife · 3 years

Text

- midnight moon café

genre: fluff, fantasy, mystery, slight angst, suggestive, baker!au, soulmate!au, proofreader!reader word count: 14.8K warnings: swearing, one mention of drugs, suggestive content, kissing. pairing: gender neutral!reader x baker!taeil song recs: ride or die - kai // dream girl - crisaunt

a/n: finally finished my first taeil fic a day late of his bday😭 first time making a soft moodboard & thought it turned out great! :D inspired by my lovely lovely friend’s moodboards @laurence-web! also bc i couldn’t help but think of you, dedicated to @neonun-au to celebrate your one year on this god forsaken yet addicting site🙏🏼💗

synopsis: a curse befalls moon taeil, a successful baker and the owner of ‘midnight moon café’. for every thing he bakes, he is lusted after tirelessly by hundreds. one day, you stumble upon his café by accident and find yourself to be the only person who acknowledges that his baked goods are terrible. this leads you to try and discover just why you’re the only person who doesn’t view taeil with rose-coloured lenses...

Lo and behold, after a couple of years and trying out different techniques and interior designing, Midnight Moon Café had opened and was thriving in its first week. Taeil had chosen to name it after his own last name and to have the theme relevant to it as well. He was more than content with it as it surpassed any expectations he had had. He had no regrets nor any worries as he watched people take pictures and videos of his café after hours, sharing the beautifully sky and "up in the clouds" like place on their social media.

Yet with all of this happiness and good fortune, somehow Taeil had cast an evil eye upon his self. For struggling and walking to wherever the devil took him, an evil sorcerer aimed to find a place to call his own and to take revenge upon those who had wronged him. This sorcerer had been good at one point in time, yet the greed and selfishness that arose with the power he had gained from learning witchcraft had corrupted his mind. After a serious incident, he had been kicked out of the guild in his city and exiled. It was heart-breaking of course, yet he never understood his wrongdoings and instead sought out revenge and to practice his evil sorcery.

He happened to be walking down the same street where Taeil was standing a couple metres away, simply admiring the neon white milky sign of his café with a great sense of pride. When the sorcerer spotted him, jealousy and spite filled him at the prospect of someone being successful and happy, something that had been stolen from him. So, he cleverly thought of a plan and approached poor Taeil who was still in his flour dusted apron, ready to clean up.

“What a beautiful shop you have.” The sorcerer pulled up slowly beside Taeil, pretending to be in awe at the grand place.

“Thank you, it's a café.” Taeil warmly smiled at the man, noticing how he looked to be in poor health and clothes.

“Would you like something to eat? I have a lot of pastries left and would hate to throw them out.” He offered, seeing how this poor man would definitely benefit from all the leftover food he had. Besides, wasting food was a bad thing and he always felt so guilty for it, wishing he could simply donate the unused food to charity but knowing it would go bad very quickly.

The sorcerer’s eyes twinkled as he broke out into a gummy smile, “I would love to, that is very thoughtful of you.”

Taeil smiled, a relaxed happiness in his eyes as he excused himself to pack up the pastries.

He quickly stuck a couple random tarts and other baked goods in a paper bag, sealing it shut and bringing it outside to what he thought of as a poor man patiently waiting.

“Here you go!” He handed it to the poor man who smiled at him, revealing his missing teeth and pink gums.

“May you be blessed," The man put up his hand, making a mockery of religions for he believed in none, "Do you have any wish you would love to come true my child? I could put in a good word for you at the church I visit often.”

“Oh no, that would be too much. All I ask is for you to enjoy the baked goods and to live in peace.” Taeil attempted to be religious back to the man.

For some reason, the sorcerer twitched at the word peace and roughly asked Taeil again, “My boy I can not leave without blessing you. Now tell me what it is you desire?”

“That’s weird.” Taeil thought to himself as he watched the man become agitated. But what harm could come in telling a random man his dreams? Not to mention that most of his dreams had already come true with the opening of his café.

“I don’t think I have anything else I desire besides the success of this café....”

“Are you sure? Nothing that your heart aches for?” The sorcerer didn’t want to use any magic on Taeil to reveal his deepest desires as he was now being entertained by the stupidly naive boy who looked willing to share enough and more with a random man like him.

“I guess...” Taeil's voice trailed, a faraway look in his eyes.

“You guess...?” The sorcerer egged him on, his eyes gleaming.

“I guess it’s always been my dream to not only be successful but to have someone by my side to share the success with. To be able to love someone so deeply that we merge into one with our thoughts and hearts.” He smiled to himself with love filling his eyes to the point where it looked like he had someone he loved. Yet, it was simply the idea of having that perfect love that he was so deeply in love with.

The sorcerer grinned widely saying, “I will grant you that. You will be extremely successful and through your success, will find your one true love.”

Taeil smiled, simply thinking that the man was a bit odd but still kind as they both walked away from each other. Little did he know what was in store for him.

For just a week later, Taeil had lost all of his staff and had been cursed to create terribly tasting food that looked beautiful and created people to lust after him. His once golden hands were now as good as coal. All because he was in the wrong place and time, taking in pride and happiness in what he rightfully should have.

The hushed whispers annoyed you to no end. Normally, you wouldn't have minded it but today was harder than usual, as you'd had to communicate with a rather difficult author when proofreading their local traveling guide. Then when having to fact-check the locations and their descriptions, something that landed you in the gossip chain for being so unusual, you had stupidly tried on some new shoes that needed to be broken into so your feet had been killing you all day. Altogether, the quiet whispers, no doubt more gossip, only added onto the irritation of your aching feet, growing headache and sore fingers that kept typing and erasing, typing and erasing.

Choosing to become a proofreader had always been one of your dream jobs as you'd always taken great pleasure to point out the mistakes in everything you read, whether it be grammer, syntax or the usual spelling mistake. It wasn't a glorified ideal job for many, you were aware. But it paid well and you weren't forced to interact with your coworkers through brainstorming or group activities.

After graduating with an English major and a minor in Philosophy, you'd taken up the first job lined up for you, a perfect job at the Neo Proofreading and Publication Company. As happy as it made you, at times it was demanding to work as a proofreader when dealing with non-compliant authors and clients as well as the occasional rift between two proofreaders when an assignment was handed out. Yet, it was refreshing to take upon a new challenge after another and strive to complete your job by the deadlines. It was a joy to proofread and you felt immensely accomplished after every assignment so you kept going on.

Your office was also not the ideal workspace either as the proofreading floor was located on the basement floor and there were just a couple massive tables with sections in between, separating you from each other. There were no cubicles nor no offices as even your boss' desk was just at the very back of the floor, a bit further from the others. The only separate rooms kept the machinery such as printers, books, belongings and sometimes miscellaneous items such as little models of houses and toys from books that one of your colleagues enjoyed creating.

So the open environment wasn't quite your favourite but everyone minded their own business and it was beneficial that you didn't have to go far to ask if you could borrow an item from your colleagues. The only downside was that anything that was happening could be heard from everyone like if someone was calling their significant other or was being yelled at by their mother.

"Psst (y/n)!"

Lovely. This was another downside to being in an open setting, that you could be called upon by anyone, specifically the annoying workers from the publication company.

You turned to the sound of who was calling you. Of course, it was the intern from the publication company on the floor above yours, Ally. They often visited your floor, the basement really since the publication company dominated the proofreading side, to hand over some items or works needed to be proofread. It was plain bullshit most of the times since they spent a good half hour chatting with the other gossiping proofreaders that needed a break from their job.

Most of the people you worked with were all in their late ages, only a couple were your age and Ally had latched onto them, befriending many. It wasn't that you didn't like the people you worked with, it was just exhausting having to maintain good work and friend relationships and you really preferred not to mix between the two in order to avoid complications. But Ally was a fresh face which all the old and young folks loved.

"Yes Ally?" You didn't even try to hide the exhaustion in your voice as you looked at their bubbly self adorned in a multicoloured flowery dress and pink cardigan, a huge contrast to your black and white work suit.

They grinned, "I was just talking to Sophie and Matteo over here in how we should all check out the new cafe that opened up nearby here! It has the most amazing pastries and it's so cool because it opens at 10pm to 5am!"

Well that was odd but intriguing.

Ally's eyes shined as they continued, "Plus, the owner's really cute and so dreamy." They let out a sigh, the other two following suit, no doubt probably having accompanied her before.

"He's just as delicious looking as his food," A twinkle in their eyes as they continued, "But I've yet to taste." Ally winked while Sophie and Matteo giggled. You managed to hold yourself back from mock gagging, a habit that you couldn't stop doing when watching cringeworthy or extremely cheesy content. Couldn't they all just talk about this type of stuff during lunch break or after work? Must they speak about it during work hours?

"But seriously (y/n), the moon tarts there are addictive I swear. I don't know what he puts in those, I have to ask him actually, but they keep me wanting to come back for more and more!"

"Ssshhh!!!!" Manuel, one of the no nonsense proofreaders shushed her. Finally someone did.

"Except tonight we're going to be hitting up a bar or a club with some of the publication guys and gays, do you want to come with? It'll be fun after having to deal with boring text all day."

Sophie and Matteo sucked in a big breath at her careless words, everyone knew how much you loved your job and dealing with 'boring writing', so no doubt these two were expecting for you to blow up. But you weren't about to have a fit near the end of the day and at work too where you always kept to your own business. Besides, you were too tired to put them in their place.

"I'm good Ally, thanks though."

"Whyyyyy." They whined. You could feel Manuel's glare on you without even having to look his way so you purposely lowered your tone, hoping Ally would follow.

"I'm a bit tired, I've been running around all day so I'll pass."

You didn't include the classic line: "I'll join you guys another time/sometime" as this only encouraged them to ask you more often.

Ally frowned, wanting to argue more but perhaps feeling the intense anger from Manuel so they backed off and let you get back to your demanding work.

Thank god it was 6pm and you only had a couple hours left.

—

"Alright, thank you everyone!" Your boss waved to you all, creating a whole chain of voices to monotonously reply, "Thank you Mr. Lee."

Eagerly logging out, you checked around to see everyone leisurely grabbing their belongings and quickly grabbed your own. You did not want to spare time and to have to take the elevator with anyone so you always made sure to be quick when leaving.

Finally, you were off. Darkness was slowly creeping in as it was already seven and you were happy to head home. The work hours were a bit odd as you all started at nine in the morning and stopped at one in the afternoon, having an hour for a lunch break and to clear your mind and to freshen your mind from the morning. Then you all went back to work at three up until seven or sometimes overtime. That meant that you had fairly long days and it wasn't always so pleasant as you rarely had time to schedule anything after work.

But you only worked four days a week so having three days of vacation was still rewarding plus you could always just have a shorter lunch break and head home early. It was this type of relaxed environment that made this job worthwhile in keeping, at least in your eyes. Many of the folks who worked alongside you had worked for years and were comfortable with their lives, not wanting any change. Curently? You felt the same. It was nice to not have to stress over going through job interviews, new classes, and everything else horribly nerve-wracking in university.

You hurried out the main doors of the building, contemplating on whether to endure an hour and a half more and head straight home in these aching shoes or, whether to stop by the mall and switch out the shoes maybe eat some dinner there and just go home and relax.

If made more sense and saved you more time at home to deal with everything at the mall so you decided to just stop by there for a bit. Your feet hurt immensely, but there was a fire inside of you waiting to be released at the fact that you were off work. It was like a light switch went off as soon as your shoes hit the pavement outside and a breeze passed by.

What a beautiful summer evening.

The flowers were blooming alongside the sidewalk and so many people were happily chatting away with one another, immersed in their own bubbles, something you secretly yearned for. The bus to the mall had just arrived and so you tightened your bag on your shoulder and hurried before the doors shut.

Once on the bus, you let out a deep sigh of relief. Finally, only a couple of minutes until you were out of these damn shoes. Hmmm.... maybe a nice epsom salt bath would help any soreness for tomorrow as you were unfortunately going to be traveling more.

Plugging in your headphones, you let the beautiful arrangement of classical music take over your senses. No more grammar checking nor correcting jargon, all you cared about in the moment were the piano notes drifting through your ears and feeding your mind some peace.

The mall was actually really pleasant to be at. If you weren’t so tired from before, you would’ve had more enjoyment in accepting the free samples from this new restaurant opening and the small yet random jazz band performing across from a newly opened musical instrument store. Yet, you trudged past them in hopes for a pharmacy or even a dollar store to ease the burning pain in your feet.

To your luck, there was one just by the grocery store, carefully hidden from the normal views with a small sign hanging on the wall. You had quickly bought some light blue crocs as they would be very comfortable and easy to walk in, especially while your feet had polysporin and bandaids all over them now.

You had spent a bit longer than you expected at the mall, finding it difficult to choose what to eat and then while seated at a table far from the excessively loud noise, peacefully watched an anime and ate. Somehow, you hadn’t noticed the time pass by as you were so into the anime that when the mall's old european looking clock chimed, you twitched from surprise. Checking your phone, you realized it was now 9pm meaning that you had spent a little more than an hour at the mall.

Damn it. You were going to be late to do your nightly routine and sleep in early to give your feet an adequate amount of time to rest!

Quickly, turning off your phone, you got up and realized that the next bus that stopped the closest to your house was arriving in a couple of minutes. The bus afterwards the next one was going to come in half an hour or so and you knew you’d be home much more late by then.

You practically ran in your crocs, the sounds of the plastic slapping the floor drawing lots of attention your way. You didn't have time to focus on the people that were looking at you like you were crazy in your weird outfit consisting of a formal black and white suit and light blue crocs. But you didn’t really care, they were all strangers, bystanders in your life who you'd maybe by coincidence see one more time or never again. The only thing that mattered was your transportation home.

Once again, this must’ve been your lucky day as when you made it to the bus stop, very out of breath, the bus hadn’t even arrived at it’s scheduled time. Many people had been grumbling about the late bus near you and when you checked your bus app to see if it had come, you found that they were right, it hadn't yet arrived.

Thank god for that. Now it was just an hour ride and then you’d be at home, taking a nice, warm shower and snacking on some pastries. What a lovely thought and an even lovelier realization that you were so close to comfortable clothes and a soft bed.

—

With a merry pep in your step, you got off the bus as you arrived at your stop and thanked the driver. It had become more darker now, the sky being a clear dark blue with twinkling stars above. You stopped on the sidewalk to really take in all of the beauty in front of you. The illuminated streets and small shops buzzed with life and the narrow streets were as usual empty, perfect to have a leisure walk and simply enjoy the ambiance created by the wonderful people around you.

You didn't hate people, on contrary to what your coworkers thought of you. It was just much easier to be friendly and spend time with those who lived near you and those you would be seeing for a longer period of time. Your job was a place of professionalism and seriousness, not for slacking off and emotions. It was also just really warming to walk in your neighbourhood and meet with all the lovely and kind people in your area.

You lived in an apartment just down the street that was surprisingly much more quiet and reserved than the small shops situated just a couple of kilometres or so from it. The neighbourhood was nice and you didn’t have to go far to grab a morning pastry and coffee so you enjoyed living here. On one hand, you got your peace and quiet that you deeply valued, on the other, you had the small city life type of feeling when you walked by the shops and restaurants.

With a deep breath and a small smile, you nodded at some people as you walked by. The night wasn’t too warm either so you left your suit jacket on and enjoyed the way the straps were twinkling and the light laughter paired with glasses clinking to welcome you into the night. A strong cool breeze passed by, somehow knocking some important papers out of your bag onto the ground.

You collected the papers quickly but one paper was a bit stubborn than the rest as it kept being swept up by the wind and fluttered into this narrow alleyway. It almost felt as if the wind was teasing you to see how long it took for you to catch up to it’s great gusts. But you weren’t one to give up as you chased and chased the paper, finally snatching it up off the ground.

As you got up and shoved it into your bag, you looked around to see that you had somehow trudged down an unfamiliar and shady looking dark alley. When you turned around to go back, for some reason, some small scooters were all in a line coming your way so you were forced to walk towards what seemed like a more open area with soft lights shining ahead.

Thinking this was maybe some secret connecting alley to another road, you were surprised to come across a small but spacious area that resembled a miniature version of a town square. There were seats set up and you realized once entering the opening, there were also small shops stuck together revealing that this was some sort of hole in the wall area. Except all the shops were closed

There weren't too many people around which felt a bit weird and spooked you out a bit. The scooters from behind you had all passed by you and were making their way farther down the alley and for some reason you felt compelled to follow. Perhaps it was the fact that they were in a clump and it felt safer, or maybe it was the curiousity of what else was going to be discovered. It was still intriguing to see all these scooters in a file going down the narrow alleyway that had now gotten so small from the sides that the scooters barely fit through without touching the sides.

Somehow you didn't wish to bother any of them with questions as they all looked fairly serious and not too welcoming so you followed them and when they all came to a clearing, you were left in shock.

For in front of you was a bigger town square-like area than the one from before, with a fountain in the middle of the painted cobblestone road around it, and many other smaller shops surrounding the fountain with fairy lights hung up everywhere. It was a sight to behold in the night but you knew in the day it would be absolutely extraordinary. With little flowers growing in between the cobblestone and beige picnic benches on the far sides. Once again, the shops looked to be closed except this time, one was still open and vibrantly shone amidst the darkness around it.

You squinted from the bright white neon sign that read "Midnight Moon Café" and noticed the heavily tinted windows that contrasted and didn't give away the interior of the place at all. Wasn't this the place that Ally had been mentioning? Midnight Moon Café? That was a pretty funny coincidence that you had stumbled across it when you had shut Ally's invitation down. It looked to be very pretty, some vines hanging from the roof with beautiful white clematis flowers resembling a wedding dress' train.

It was definitely beautiful but you didn't have the time for it at all.

And you were reminded of this when your phone dinged from a random notification and you checked it only to see that it was now 9:20pm, far too late for you to be venturing out and trying a new café.

Yet, something inside of you was drawn to the beautifully white café and the mysteries it looked to hold inside. It was hard to fight against the feeling and you let out a sigh, deciding to just take a quick peek. Just one small look wouldn't hurt, you could always visit this place the next night.

It didn't spook you out like the previous shops and looked welcoming in a similar way to a late night ramen shop, warm and comforting but with an air of elegance.

Slowly approaching it, noticing that weirdly the scooters had disappeared off to somewhere, you felt a bit nervous, hating the feeling of visiting new places by yourself. But the area looked to be dead so the café was probably quiet and empty which assured you.

Boy were you wrong.

For when you pushed the doors open, in front of you was a sight even more shocking than from before.

A small staircase led you to a spacious and sky-themed room that seemed to have no end to it. The walls were painted a dark blue with white clouds and stars that looked like they were moving but you just wrote it off as really good computer projections. On your side was a long table encased in glass and filled with many different types of pastries, all looking so delicious and unique. This place was absolutely stunning to say the least.

But it was also packed with people like it was some rush hour for a restaurant. Except one thing you noticed as you slowly walked closer was the dazed look they had in their eyes as they ate and spoke with one another. It was odd but they probably were as smitten as you were with the place.

It was like the café of your dreams and because of that, you didn't even care so much about the amount of people and had totally forgotten about your desire to sleep early. Your feet had stopped hurting and you felt like you had taken something that was making you feel so giddy and full of energy. Gone were the eight hours of fatigue and now you were refreshed simply from the interior designing from this place. You hadn't even realized it but the roof above your head also had those same clematis flowers hanging from above, looking like white stars against the dark blue.

You wondered why dark blue had been chosen and not a fresh light blue which would be typical of a café. Either way it felt like a magical sleeping fairytale with how everything was set up. Even the tables and chairs were different shades of blue and the ground had some black swirly fog lightly rolling on top. This seriously felt like some Disney shit happening and it was incredible. A part of you expected Mickey Mouse or Goofy to pop out and announce the newest addition to Disneyland or Disneyworld or something.

You noticed however the one odd thing was that there seemed to be just one person working behind the front counter on the side. You walked closer to the counter, mesmerized by the place and unable to comprehend how someone had made this happen and how you really were standing there right now.

As you got right in front of the counter, blown away at how beautiful the pastries were up close, you noticed the man behind the counter tiredly ask, "Welcome to Midnight Moon Café, what would you like to order?"

Was this the so-called dreamy owner?

Perhaps it might be that your taste in men was different from Ally's or that he might be just having a rough day but this guy looked absolutely exhausted. He was more cute if anything, with his striped baker's cap, plastic face shield to ensure food safety as he baked, almond-shaped eyes hidden behind round glasses, a straight nose, thin pursed lips and he was adorning a dark blue sweater with a cute apron filled with clouds. The attractive appeal was there but with an aura of sadness that lingered as you watched the tired man have no choice but to work.

You pitied the poor man and found it hard to really focus on his attractiveness because of this.

Oddly, he looked like a reflection of yourself at work earlier. Except now you were obviously giddy from this discovering this new place and it being so close to your home that the exhaustion had magically melted away.

You noticed a name tag on his apron, a cute white cloud that read Owner Moon. Was this some themed nickname to go along with the café or was this his actual name? You didn’t want to risk asking him as he didn't even look your way when he spoke, which you would've thought was rude if he didn't look so tired.

Realizing he was probably still waiting on your response, you felt pressured and quickly ordered the first thing you saw.

"Uh I'll have a moon tart please and a caffé latte please." You skimmed over the selection of pastries on the side of you. It was for sure now that you had to come again and try all of the desserts. They looked so delicately and perfectly created, there was no doubt they all had to taste just as great.

"Sounds good." Was his curt response.

As sorry as you felt for him, you wondered why he was all alone and felt concerned for his well-being. Shouldn’t he just have closed the shop then? Or was he some sort of part-timer worker or even full-time worker being profited off of unfairly. Or you could be stretching it and maybe his coworker(s) were just on their break or attending to other matters. Regardless, a part of you wanted to meddle yet a part of you was beginning to accept the reality that you needed to get a move on it and seriously get home and go to sleep to prepare for the next day.

So once you paid and he surprisingly quickly prepared and gave your order which was conveniently packaged for takeout, you decided to eat and drink at home.

As you quickly made your way out, somehow fighting against the weird urge to stay, you thought to eat and walk at the same time to save you some leisure time at home considering you were late already.

You had high expectations for the taste, was it going to be very sugary or have the perfect balance of sweet and sour with the berries you could see hidden inside?

A thrill ran through your body and you shivered at the excitement as you walked up the stairs and out of the magical place.

But when you bit into the tart, you were majorly let down.

It was plain, like seriously plain as if it was made for someone who had a ton of allergies and couldn't consume sugar or merely made by someone who had lost their taste.

The tart itself was a pretty crescent moon shape with chocolate cream piped inside and little bits of mixed glazed fruit in between but the top had a beautiful white chocolate piped to look like little clouds and was dusted with chocolate powder as well as little bits of gold foil. All in all, it was so intricately beautiful that you were very disappointed that it tasted the way it did, like some plain dough and creamy textures, none of the sweetness not even a bit of tartness from the fruit.

You tried to look on the bright side though. Maybe this tart was just a defective one, who knows, you couldn't judge the whole café based off one tart.

So you took a sip of your caffé latte, hoping it would wash away the taste only to be met with more disappointment.

It was the same problem, somehow there was no distinct flavour to it, how could one mess up such a simple drink like this? The drink wasn't even bitter, at least that would've been something to complain properly about. Nor was it too sweet, it tasted like a twice watered down coffee with plain cream in it.

You were so upset as you quickly walked down the sketchy alley again that you didn't pay attention to your surroundings nor to how the alley was slowly and magically being cemented behind you, preventing you from turning around and going back to bring up the issue with the owner. The familiar rush to go home filled you again as you took another small sip of the drink, stepping out of the alley.

Luckily to your side was a trash can and although you didn't enjoy wasting food, this was an exception as you just couldn't bear to take one more sip nor bite.

As you walked the couple blocks to your apartment building, the café's magical interior kept reappearing in your mind. This stayed all the way to even when you got home, took a shower and laid in bed to sleep. The last image in your mind was of the tired but cute café owner and wondering if he was alright.

—

The next day was fairly hectic again.

Somehow, the publishing company had needed many extra pair of hands on deck for their last minute projects and you had been volunteered by your boss as you were pretty ahead with your own assignments and already going to be adventuring out for work anyways.

Begrudgingly, you had gotten up and helped them out, running around (thankfully in comfortable shoes) and helped the distressed publishers and workers.

It was a better day however, as Mr. Lee had let you go home early as a way of saying thanks so you were all comfortable currently in your apartment, wrapped up in a blanket and pajamas as you watched a cooking show.

Living by yourself had encouraged you to cook more at home, realizing how how fast the expenses of takeout and delivery added up. But you enjoyed cooking for yourself and felt it was like a reward after a very long day at work. It was your comfort hobby now and one that you treasured secretly in your heart.

The weather outside had randomly turned rainy and cloudy, despite it being so sunny a couple hours before.

The whole day you had been fantasizing about the café, unable to get it out of your mind and the negative experience of what you had ate imprinted in your mind. You'd hoped to go again today but the weather looked too miserable. The place opened at 10pm anyways, which was plenty of time for the weather to get better or to prepare yourself before going again.

Over the next couple of hours, you researched as much as you could about the café, wondering what the reviews were and if anyone had experienced something similar to you.

To your amazement, all of the reviews were extremely positive and filled with love! You noticed that half of the people commented on the owner's looks as well, talking about how good-looking and kind he was. Whenever commenting on food, most people talked about how the pastries were so good that they felt compelled to go back and eat some more.

It was oddly suspicious that this guy had no negative reviews at all, no matter how much you scrolled down to read. Could it be that he was paying for only positive comments to gain hype for his café?

Now you were way too curious to not go again later on in the night.

The rain had lessened around 9:30pm and was now a gentle mist so it seemed like it would be okay to go out for a short while.

Changing into some joggers, a long-sleeved shirt, a puffy jacket and a cute knitted brown hat just in case the rain was heavy again.

Somehow, the distance to the alley seemed shorter and trudging down the dark and damp alley felt a little less scary now, knowing what was coming up.

The familiar small square had a couple of people in it that were all hooded which was a bit spooky but you tried not to think too much about it.

Soon enough, the big town square came into view and it's one of a kind almost rural beauty shined in the dark. The fairy lights made you feel like you were in some coming of age movie and some shops had their lights on which piqued your curiousity to check them out. Yet, you made sure to keep your eyes on the bright Midnight Moon Café that hadn't opened it's doors yet.

You looked down at your phone and saw that it was a couple minutes to 10 and you were alone in waiting for the café to open. You were lucky as that meant that you could talk to the owner today and ask him about his shop.

Aimlessly scrolling on your phone to pass the time, your ears perked up at the sound of a door unlocking and you looked up. As soon as the door was pushed open, you were met with the eyes of the man from the other day. And boy you were not prepared for how he looked today.

First off, he didn't have his baker's cap on and you had failed to notice the other day, the hair that had been slicked to his neck that would've revealed a mullet and bangs covering his smooth forehead. Now, his hair was all free and showed off how insanely attractive the mullet looked on him. The glasses were also gone as well showing him in a much different light to his innocent baker look.

Not to mention that your mind was going crazy at how he wore a gray hoodie, dark green joggers and converse, an outfit so simple and reminiscent of your teenage years. This guy looked very, very different from the exhausted looking man from the other day. Although he had on a face mask covering half of his face, he still looked to be filled with more life and it was understandable now why so many people fawned over his looks.

Your eyes were still locked on him in surprise as he looked at you unfazed, not even batting an eye to your reaction. Was that just a part of his personality maybe? Or was he just used to people staring at him?

For some reason it was hard for you to speak, you felt so nervous as if you were back in high school and this was one of the popular cool guys who you couldn't approach, no matter how hard you forced yourself to.

"Would you like to come in?" He asked, looking at your casual outfit and the way you were rocking on your feet. He probably thought you were cold, that was considerate of him.

"Uh sure, thank you."

He walked out and held the door open for you, your heart throbbing as you tried to not look into his deep brown eyes that didn't seem to care too much at your close proximity. You noticed the fresh musky melon-y hybrid scent coming off him and tried not to take a good sniff which would show your desperateness.

It was hard to date while being so obsessed with your profession so you hadn't really come across a really fine man like this in a long while. The closest you had was when the attractive interns would come by your floor for their orientations.

You walked down those same set of white steps, amazed at how clean they were. The people working here did an extremely great job to keep everything looking brand new. It was a bit weird to be the first person inside as the place was huge and had soft music playing throughout to make up for what would've been an excruciating silence.

"I'll be right back to help you, I wasn't expecting anyone to come in right at opening." The owner said as he took off his mask, revealing his handsome face underneath. His voice was smooth and made you feel a bit more relaxed.

He looked over at you with a slight curiousity in his eyes as he said, "Usually rush hour starts at 10:30 so this is a first. Help yourself to a table and I'll be right out in just a moment to assist you."

You nodded, not knowing how to keep up the conversation but wondering why so many people came by at a certain time and not right at opening. If all of these reviewers loved this place so much, how come they didn't come right at opening? It wasn't like it was too early or at a bad time anyways, the café was open past midnight until the early mornings.

But this was a perfect chance for you to mention the plain moon tart and latte. You felt some sort of pity still for the owner and didn't want to start any drama in front of customers.

In a couple of minutes, he was out and back in those regular clothes. This time he was wearing a simple short-sleeved white shirt which showed off his fair and lean arms.

However, now was not the time to drool over arms.

He walked over to the table you were seated at with a pen and paper in hand and for some reason the first thing you could think of saying was,

"What's your name if I may ask?"

Great, now you were going to seem just like those reviewers but even probably creepier.

But he didn't seem to be fazed by the question or think much of it, judging by his calm facial expression and instant reply.

"Taeil Moon." He pointed to his nametag with a small smile, "Many people think I use a nickname to go along with the theme of the café but in reality, it's after my own name."

You nodded, avoiding eye contact as to try and focus on what you were actually aiming to say. His name was beautiful though, no wonder he created a whole café surrounding it.

"Could I ask you something?"

"Of course."

You fidgeted with your fingers under the table as you focused on a loose tendril of hair peaking out of his baker's cap. You tried to think of the best way to word what you wanted to without hurting his feelings yet once again, you failed to do so under his gaze.

"How do you bake?" Was the unintelligible thing that came out of your mouth.

Taeil cocked his head to the side and licked his lips, seeming confused. You would've been more blunt if you were in his position and someone had fumbled with their words but he surprised you once again with his calm and patient nature.

"Are you meaning to ask for the recipe?"

You nodded, hoping you looked more composed than the intense freaking out going on inside you. How come yesterday had been different? You had been totally fine and not obsessing over his looks. Perhaps it was because he looked much livelier and not so exhausted that the pity went away and was replaced with desire. But you didn't want to be like everyone else so you attempted to push down the feelings that were arising.

He looked pensively at the table, putting his paper and pen away in his apron pocket.

“I’ve never really done this for anyone, but tell you what, you can be the first.”

He smiled, somehow the whole place brightened with his smile and a soft feeling fluttered inside of you at the angelic sight.

“I can give you a small baking lesson after hours if you’d like.”

Huh?

You raised your brows, unsure if you’d heard him correctly. Bake? With him?

He looked patiently at you, a spark in his eyes that you couldn’t decipher what it meant.

It sounded like a good idea still. Having a baking lesson could show you what he was doing that was lacking and making his food taste bad. Maybe this was your golden chance and besides, you were going to be spending some one on one time with him which sounded so lovely.

The nervousness had to wear off sooner or later and more of it was because of the way he looked at you now. There was a tender look in Taeil’s eyes and as you thanked him, getting the details to meet up with him on the weekend, you realized that that look never left his eyes when they were upon you. It only faded away as he helped other customers who had begun to swarm in now.

—

It was Friday night.

The night that you were going to be learning from Taeil the so-called renowned baker.

You had prepared yourself as much as you could before stepping out of your apartment.

The fit of the night included some cute dark overalls, a long sleeve brown tee and boots as the weather was muggy again.

Somehow you hadn’t been able to get Taeil and his calm nature out of your head in these past couple of days. It had been agony to wait for this day to come where you could see him and because of this, you hadn’t gone back to try his baked goods again.

A part of you was curious as to whether his food just didn’t taste good or if you should just wait to taste it when you baked together. Although, you weren’t a master baker yourself, you still knew the basics and would be able to tell if he messed up.

Yet, how could he mess up? He had probably been baking his whole life so surely this had to be a one day mistake or maybe purposely to see who was truly praising his food or had no taste buds.

The walk to the café had been peaceful, the pathway and alley seeming more familiar to you now. It was comforting and you felt more relaxed as you walked into the brightly lit up café.

You both had decided to settle on 7pm so that Taeil had enough time to prepare before opening and you had just asked to leave early from work, having done most of what you had to do on a Friday night.

It was nice to leave work early so you had made an early dinner at home and gotten all ready for the night that was to come.

And here you were, inside the café that was a bit more bare and had most of the lights shut off. Taeil had left the doors open for you and so you locked them behind you before following the small ray of light emitting from a set of closed doors on your far side.

It should’ve been spooky to be in the vast space by yourself yet, there was a more peaceful aura instead of the nervous and high strung feeling you’d had before. Was it because you hadn’t seen Taeil yet?

“(y/n), I’m glad you could make it.”

You faltered in your steps as Taeil opened the doors to the kitchen.

He was incredibly beautiful tonight.

Although his clothes were simple, a black hoodie and dark cargo pants, they added onto his untouched beauty. The light behind him illuminated his figure as if he was an angel and truly you believed that he looked like one except in black. Taeil was like a soft, dark angel and yours for the two hours.

You noticed as you got closer that his mullet was messy, as if he’d just ran his hands through it and you wondered why. Was he as nervous as you?

After all, he had mentioned that he had never done this before. But you found it hard that this calm man with a lazy smile in front of you would be nervous.

It was probably stress, thinking of it now, you felt guilty for asking him to teach you to bake before he worked such a long shift into the night. That was another thing you had found out, he worked the whole shift and didn’t work with anyone else. Surely, it was against many work-safe rules but you weren’t in any place to snitch on him.

“I love your overalls by the way, they’re very cute.” He commented as he held the door open, taking a long look at your simple outfit. You realized that you both were matching coincidentally.

You felt your cheeks heat up as you thanked him. He smelled insanely good again and you closed your eyes for a second as you passed by him, allowing yourself to indulge in his addicting scent.

“I have everything set up for us here, I hope this will go okay, I’ve never really properly taught someone how to bake.” He walked over to a drawer and pulled out two aprons. One was his classic cloud apron and the other had crescent moons all over it.

He handed you the crescent moon apron and then tied his own. A part of you hoped that he’d help with yours like some cliché movie scene but he went off to prep and left you to tie your own.

“Okay, today we’ll be baking my infamous moon tarts. They’re fairly simple and use simple ingredients as well so I think it’d be nice to teach you that as a starter.”

He guided you throughout the whole process of the creams and glazing the fruits and creating the dough. Taeil was obviously gentle and patient with explaining it and you couldn’t help but fall for him more. There was an undeniable attraction to him and the unconscious eye smiles, sweet laughs and grins that only made you swoon harder. But you knew nothing was to come out of it. He was simply being kind and allowing you the privilege to bake with him, the privilege that you were going to discover if he .

The whole lesson felt short even though it had gone on for two hours and when the tarts came out of the oven, then you and Taeil had decorated them, they were just as beautiful as when you had seen them in the display.

Now the important factor was the taste. Were they going to taste as horrible as before? God, you hoped not. Taeil had put so much love and care into his baking and you'd found yourself enjoying his company as if you both were old friends. Well, that is if one old friend had a huge one-sided attraction to the other.

As for the ingredients, they all looked similar to the other tart recipes you had found online so really, they couldn't taste bad.

You'd realized that you had been staring at the tarts in deep thought and Taeil had been simply watching you, not saying anything.

"I'm sorry, these just look so beautiful, I find it hard to eat them and ruin their beauty." You mumbled in a daze.

Taeil lazily smiled, his thoughts only being reaffirmed as he watched you picked up that tart, put it in your mouth and make an unpleasant face that quickly changed to a wide fake smile to be polite just for his sake.

"These taste good!" You put your hand over your mouth, straight up lying and regretting that you'd taken such a big bite of the dry ass tart and wondering how to get through eating the rest of it.

"No need to lie for me (y/n), I know what you feel."

You coughed, choking on a specific dry part as Taeil walked up to you, a small smirk curving on the side of his lips and his eyes gleaming.

You were slightly terrified at how he knew, you thought that he couldn't have ever, was this some kind of setup or something? Perhaps he had this weird sixth sense and knew you didn't like it so he had created this whole scenario so that he could cook you alive for daring to disrespect his food.

Although, he didn't look dangerous besides the weird gleam in his eyes. But now you were realizing that maybe you shouldn't have blindly accepted to spend two hours with a complete stranger. No matter if he was a hot stranger.

Yet, you had to admit this was hot as well.

Taeil was so close to you, one more step and he'd be touching you. Your heart was going a mile a minute as the small features on his face became clearer now.

A small acne scar ran across the top of his cheek, some tiny blemishes nearby. Tiny melanin dots speckled all over his face and jaw, so insignificant that you wouldn't have noticed until now being so close.

The once thin lips now looked fuller and were an irresistible pink, looking so soft and inviting. You realized his hair wasn't just a dark brown but also had what looked to be caramel brown highlights hidden here and there. Yet, it was the brown eyes that held so much care in them that you couldn’t stop drowning in them.

He was truly mesmerizing. But this was not the time to be fawning over him as you had now been caught in the act of faking to enjoy his pastries.

"You're probably confused by all of this so I'll try to explain as best as possible. I-I just seem to be filled with a lot of intense emotions right now and it's hard to not act upon them, so um could you please step away?"

His voice was so soft, so delicate as if the words he spoke were not meant for anyone else but you. You were the only lucky one to be graced with his attention.

You gulped down the remaining of the tart, unable to process his words and thirsting for water now to not only wash away the tart but also to cool your hot and bothered body.

Taeil brushed something off your lip, his breathing becoming shallow as his finger lingered on your bottom lip, simply rubbing it gently.

Good lord you were going to lose it.

"I don't think I'd be able to control myself being so close to you and I can't seem to walk away..." He trailed off, reluctantly stopping himself from touching your lips and holding the side of your face tenderly, looking into your eyes before flicking his attention back to your lips hungrily.

The sexual tension was off the charts and you were having a hard time comprehending his words but also at how fast this situation had escalated to. With a deep breath and all of the strength you had in you, you obliged, stepping back a couple steps in order to think clearly because your senses were just filled with him.

Taeil's warm hand fell from your cheek and your heart clenched at the cold feeling that went through your cheek, wanting him to touch you again.

What were these feelings?

What was wrong with you?

He walked over to the tarts as if nothing had happened, taking them off the tray and talking to you at the same time, while you stood frozen and in a daze.

"I can tell you're very conflicted right now and what I'm about to say probably won't help your current state but I do hope you take my words seriously. I've waited a long time for this and I'd hate to see you slip away."

His brown eyes looked up hesitantly to search your face that was void of emotion besides shock as his hands swiftly packaged the tarts.

"Those tarts tasted plain right? Same with the café latte you ordered a couple days ago."

Your eyes widened at his words. How did he know?

Taeil took in a big breath, his vulnerability showing through his eyes and he ran a hand through his hair continuing,

"This will sound stupid I know but I've been cursed."

Excuse me?

You both stood there silent, Taeil trying to read your face while you were processing his ridiculous statement. Was this guy for real?

"I know you might not believe me so I have no choice but to explain as simply as I can, but I have been cursed by someone whom I believe is or was a sorcerer."

Great, now he really sounded crazy. Your eyes shifted over to the exit door to the side of you that could be your ticket to freedom if he pulled some crazy shit like speaking about sacrificing or something. The hesitant trust you had placed in him before coming was dwindling, yet, you couldn't help yourself in trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there was something going on and he had gotten an evil eye, maybe that's what he was trying to say.

No matter what though, there was just something about him that made you want to try and trust in him.

Taeil was extremely nervous now you could tell, as he was wiping and cleaning everything repeatedly while speaking in a rushed tone. This was very different from his calm and laidback nature you had seen.

"I don't know of his or maybe her name but I do know that it is a curse as all of the things I've been through lead to it. It was just about a year ago and I also was tipped off by an anonymous letter which I believe to be by the sorcerer indicating and gloating in what had happened to me. I think it started when I had been closing my café one day and a poor looking man crossed my path then had blessed me which was a lie as it was a curse."

He huffed, messing his hair again and giving up on the cleaning, plopping himself down on a stool and putting his head in his hands, his shoulders hunched.

"The curse is that everything I bake, no matter how I bake it, will always taste plain and unappetizing. But the catch? The poor man slash sorcerer had asked me what my desire was and I had stupidly told him true love. So whatever I bake and sell to people, they only taste the intense desire and love I have for wanting to find my soulmate and in turn they fall in love with me. I'm sure you've seen it in the people who come here, it's hard not to see it."

This was a whole lot to take in and you leaned against a counter, keeping a distance between the two of you as you tried to process his words. On one hand, it did make sense with the way people lusted after him and did the most, the reviews were a great example of this and even Ally.

But on the other, a curse? Curses were for children who loved fantasy books and escaping from reality. They were meant to be in books and movies so that you could imagine a world that contained magic. You had never heard of any sorcerer in the city nor of them existing altogether either. But you knew that Taeil did have an issue with his baking despite the ingredients being accurate and the way people weirdly desired him.

"If," His head perked up and his hopeful eyes shone as you began to spoke, "If this is true, then how do you lift the curse? And why are you explaining this to me? How am I involved?"

You crossed your arms over your chest, trying to appear a bit tougher yet unable to help the pity that ran through you as Taeil looked frustrated with himself.

"What I say next might be even wilder than the curse so just, just please promise me you won't walk away? Please promise me you'll hear me out?"

You knew you shouldn't be making any promises, especially with a man who believed in curses. But you couldn't help it, he just looked so sad and it tugged at your heart. If he needed help with his magical problems, then maybe you could offer it to him, depending on what it was.

"So the only way to break the curse is if I find my soulmate and if they fall in love with me then we kiss. It's not a huge thing but it has to be a kiss filled with love, not just a small peck or one done for the sake of the curse, it must have natural feelings to it as stated in that horrible letter. My soulmate is supposed to be the only one who is able to recognize the true horrible taste of my food."

Wait a minute....

"And so um, that's where you step in." Taeil got up and walked over to you, completely disregarding his previous statement of staying away from you and the silence being so loud as you pieced together what he was intending.

"You're my soulmate (y/n)." He whispered.

Your mouth was ajar as you stared into his eyes that had that tender look in them from the other day.

God this wasn't real. Where was Ashton Kutcher when you needed him to pop out and yell that this was a prank? Or the Prank Patrol? Where were they?? This had to be some bloody prank.

"Is this a joke? Is this a new way to get with somebody now?"

You knew your words were too harsh as he flinched at your rough tone, stepping away from your upset self.

"I wish it was..." He muttered while looking down at the ground dejectedly and he went back to the other counter to continue with his work, not even sparing you another glance.

"I can tell you probably think I'm a fool so I'll just stop now and just give you the option of leaving. I'm sorry to burden you with this (y/n), it's not a joke, it's something I have to deal with everyday as stupid as it sounds."

You clenched your fists together, not liking the difficult position you were in. It was just a kiss of course, but you didn't know his true intentions behind it. It only seemed like he was trying to get in your pants and this didn't seem like the calm and patient guy you had talked to so far. Your elders had always told you to be aware and stay careful of men who lied as they would just do it again and again without another thought.

Besides, even if a kiss didn't seem to be a big deal, you didn't know what you were getting into as he already seemed unstable enough to come up with this whole curse thing.

Yet, a foreign feeling fluttered throughout your body. You felt compelled to kiss him, to touch him, to run your hands through his soft looking hair and to feel his smooth jaw just as when he had been so close to your earlier. You felt the lust take over your senses and make it hard to logically reason what you should do.

It seemed Taeil could sense this as he looked at you with concern and stepped even further away than was possible.

"This soulmate connection is also supposed to be strong and make us both want one another very badly. I know you're struggling against it so I think the best thing would be for you to leave and come back another day (y/n)."

He was right. It was so fucking weird but he was right. These intense feelings inside of you just wanted to do so many nasty things to him that were clear as glass in your head and it confused you as you had just been contemplating on running out of this place a couple minutes ago but now wanted to stay? Even though Taeil was technically kicking you out?

"Y-you should go (y/n)," Taeil's voice was strained and he walked away even farther, "Come back tomorrow or Sunday. I don't want you to regret your impulsive and unconscious actions."

His hands were white from gripping the kitchen door that led to the café and with it being silent, you could hear his shallow breaths as he struggled like you.

"I'll, I'll see you, just call or walk in whenever you're free to discuss."

He was the first to walk away, leaving you sexually and mentally frustrated.

But the extended distance between you, helped to cool you down a bit and to think more rationally. No matter how badly you wanted him, you had to listen to the voice in your head that was reasonable and fighting against the urge. Taeil wasn’t yours in the moment, no matter what had been said. You’d only known him technically for less than a full day and so succumbing to your desires was only going to lead to regret and anger at yourself.

With all the willpower you could then muster, you went out the exit, wanting so badly to go back in and just hold Taeil, to merely touch him. But you couldn't give in, you had to think it through first and this situation just made your head hurt at how quickly it had escalated.

So begrudgingly, you walked away from Midnight Moon Café, sighing and confused at this bizarre situation and as to when you should come back again.

—

You decided to not to go during the weekend no matter how much your body was telling you to. Taeil’s words begin to ring even more true as you ended up spying in the alley to see all of the people still fawning over his feet with this dazed look in their eyes. The curse seemed to become more believable when you saw how when people took one bite into the Midnight Moon pastries, their movements slowed down and their eyes glazed over.

Another option you’d considered was that he laced the food with drugs but that would also mean that you would’ve been drugged as well. This was highly unlikely as the first time you had ate the pastries you had felt fine. The second time you’d also felt fine and only really felt a drastic change when Taeil had come into close proximity.

It should’ve been ridiculous really but you were slowly beginning to believe Taeil and had so many more burning questions at the tip of your tongue about this situation. Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to visit him on your days off. There was a slight nervousness as to what was going to happen next.

If you truly were soul-mates what was going to happen? It wasn’t that you were unsatisfied with Taeil, curse or no curse, he was seriously an amazing person. You’d discovered after sleuthing or well creeping about him that he’d used people’s desire for him in a positive way by contributing to charities and having people follow in his steps.

Could it be seen as a wrong thing for some? Perhaps. But donating to charity was never wrong even if some were doing it while being under some sort of spell.

But you had decided that you’d have to face this head on and get to the bottom of it. You didn’t want to run away from things as at work you always faced situations head on so this was it.

Thinking it would be better to visit a bit later on when the rush died, you had stayed up until 2am. This was one of the first times you had stayed up before a work day. Honestly, you should’ve regretted it, knowing that you’d be yawning and being slightly grumpy throughout the day from the lack of sleep but one day wouldn’t hurt.

You had to get to the bottom of this.

Dressed in some long basketball shorts, a baggy tee and some sneakers, you made your way over to the beautifully decorated café. A part of you had dressed this way thinking that it would sfop the sexual tension between you and Taeil, surely in non-form fitting clothes you would be seen as less desirable but that thought went right out the window when you locked eyes with him outside the café.

The silence was excruciating as you simply stared at one another in want.

“I was wondering when you’d come back, I knew you would just didn’t know when.”

Lord have mercy. He was taking out the trash in a tight short sleeve white tee, black shorts for the mildly warm night and his classic converse that you were beginning to adore.

The two of you just stared at one another, all questions leaving your mind as all of your senses were just filled with Taeil. The fairy lights softened the atmosphere and made it feel like you both were either in a cliché romantic movie or that this was like a date. The latter was what you secretly hoped could happen one day.

“You, you look good.” Taeil muttered, a pained look on his face as he forced himself to look away.

“Thank you, you do too.” You politely replied, feeling hopeless as your plan had obviously not worked and awkward as to what was going to happen now.

He cleared his throat, his eyes shifting to anywhere but you and said, “Come in, no one’s here since it’s so late. I’ll make us some tea.”

He opened the door for you and somehow you managed to keep yourself together when thanking him and attempting to casually walk inside while your brain screamed at the close proximity and the intoxicating scent of his musky cologne once again.

But over the past two days, you’d trained yourself to control the urge, finding it much easier now to hold yourself from jumping on him.

“Oh wait, I forgot that my baking and cooking will taste bad to you.” He laughed bitterly.

“It’s okay, I’ll um make the tea.”

You followed him to the kitchen, the fresh memories coming back to you. Making the tea was quite relaxing and soothed you for what was to come so thank god you had done it.

Taeil sat on a stool on the other side of the counter, facing you and took a sip of the warm tea. His eyes closed from content and a peaceful smile etched its way on his face, making you wish that you could capture this moment and attempt to paint and fully preserve his raw beauty.

“So where should we start?” He grinned, seeming a bit more cheeky and lighter than before.

That early morning you talked and talked for what seemed like a short amount of time. Taeil had luckily not had too much business and had explained to you about the specifics of his situation.

You’d learned that when he had opened the café, it had been successful and he’d employed many people to work for him. But as the curse was placed, many people quit because of the tension and toll that the Taeil crazy customers put on them. This had left only Taeil behind and he had no choice but to keep the shop open. This was also why he had relocated in such an oddly remote location to prevent people from finding him quickly yet, that had seemed to fail.

No matter what he did, if he gave up on baking and did something else, the curse forbade him to take upon another career besides his current one.

He didn’t mind it too much though, he really minded the people more and after a while he had come to accepting that his pastries tasted bad.

The conversation was deep yet light at times and you wished to just keep talking with him forever. There was something about lat night conversations that was so intimate but also helped you to bond closely with the other person.

Your trust in Taeil expanded as he kept talking and being so polite. The more he spoke, the more you were making up your mind as to what you were going to do.

“Hey Taeil,”

“Mhm?” He was cleaning the dishes now, you realized he had an extreme habit of cleaning when stressed which you found adorable.

“Is it just one kiss? Will this uh tension wear off after?” You felt bold in asking and knew you wouldn’t have if this had been during the day.

His whole body froze, kitchen gloves on and all. After a couple seconds or so he slowly nodded, unable to speak.

“Okay then, I believe you in most parts and I think then I’ll kiss you as to release you from this whole thing.”

Knowing he was still taken aback, you got up and walked over to him, placing a hand on his thin clad shoulder.

Taeil turned around, his eyes wide as he took in your disheveled and tired state. You were simply drunk off the exhaustion and wanting to just stop the worrying and fear from what was to happen next.

Before you could do anything else, Taeil cupped your cheeks delicately, slight concern in his eyes as he asked, “Are you sure? You don’t have to, we can wait it out or-or find another way. I don't want to force you into this (y/n), those were never my intentions, I'm sorry."

You found it funny as this whole situation had done nothing but put a whole lot of pressure on your shoulders. But fuck it really, Taeil was the closest thing to perfection you had seen if there was anything in this world that was perfect. It may have been naive for you to think this way but a part of you wanted to just take the risk and see what the outcome was. It was thrilling to dive head first into this crazy world of curses and magical tarts. It was just a kiss, you kept telling yourself.

Just a kiss.

Looking into his eyes that held fear for the future, you hoped your own showed some reassurance before you took the leap.

You leaned in slowly, the moment feeling so fragile and precious. Taeil's hand moved to the back of your head, caressing it gently as your lips landed on his own delectably pink ones.

You were right.

Taeil's lips were just as soft as they looked.

You slowly moved your lips against his own, feeling the deep thirst in you take over and wanting to only have Taeil touch you for as long as it was possible. You could taste the tea on his lips, your eyes fluttering close as he deepened the kiss.

The situation intensified fairly quick as your hands slid to the back of his head, finally being able to feel the soft mullet and tugging at it, wanting more and more of him. Meanwhile, Taeil hand's slid from your head to your shoulders then to your waist, pulling you in right up on him so that your body moulded with his own, feeling the heat roll off him. You did the same, letting go of his hair and sliding your hands from his collarbone to his chest, just wanting everything you could have of him.

This moment was perfect. You knew right away now that you couldn't go back, this was it for you, he was it for you.

Grasping for air, the both of you stopped kissing and you slumped against Taeil's shoulder, the fatigue from not being able to sleep well these past few days catching up to you and feeling high from this blissful feeling coursing throughout you.

If every kiss felt this powerful and intoxicating then you never wanted to stop kissing Taeil.

"I didn't know that you were so tired, I would've just asked to meet up another day" He laughed softly, rubbing your back as you put most of your body weight on his.

You couldn't tell if it was the tea or simply that that was one of the most mind-blowing kisses you'd ever had but you were absolutely addicted to him now and feeling so sleepy.

Taeil put his arms around you, hugging your soft body so that he could touch you one last time before he parted with you.

"I guess the tension doesn't wear off huh." You mumbled into his warm shoulder. You could feel him laugh as his shoulders shook and he replied, "I guess it doesn't."

The both of you simply stood there in each other arm's, enclosed and not wanting to be the first to move away and face with the reality sitting on your shoulders.

"It's getting late and I know you have work tomorrow fairly early so you should go home."

Your heart fell at his words, not wanting to leave him and his touch. There were more questions on your mind as well now that had arised. Such as, where did you stand now? Were you together? Was his curse lifted and he could bake well again?

Taeil gently lifted you off his shoulder and kissed your fore-head, his eyes holding so much tender love for you that you wanted to succumb to your desires and kiss him again. If only, you weren't so tired.

"Come back tomorrow and we'll discuss it all okay? I think the curse must have lifted off now and you're way too tired to properly talk with so I'll walk you home and we can meet again."

A nervous feeling washed over you, what if Taeil didn't want you now that you had helped him lift the curse? Your shoulders slumped as he walked away to grab the shop keys to lock up. Time had apparently flown by and it was 4am now so he was closing up an hour early.

When he walked back to you, he noticed how dejected you looked and realized what must've been on your mind.

"I know you must have a lot of questions but one thing I can assure you is that I want you (y/n). I want you like no other and that was prevalent when I first paid attention to you the second time we met. You might be thinking that this is all because of that stupid curse but even if that hadn't happened, I'd still want you more and more after getting to know you."

He kissed you tenderly again, reluctantly pulling away and resting his fore-head against yours, his eyes fluttering as he closed them as he cupped your cheek, his whole body tense.

"You're the one for me (y/n) and what happens next is what you decide it to be, I'll be fine with whatever you decide."

"I only want to be yours and for you to be mine." You whispered, feeling his body relax and a bigger smile stretch across his face.

"I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear you say that." He gave a gentle peck before stepping towards the exit and holding the door open for you.

"After you." He gestured to outside, looking like so happy and you felt yourself mirror his happiness and walked out the door. Taeil locked up the door and put his hand out, letting you slip your own into his and feel the warmth radiating off him.

You both walked home, murmuring to one another like those secretive lovers you often saw roaming the streets, in their own bubble. You had found your other half and now you were never going to part with him. The future could hold whatever in store but with Taeil grasping your hand in his own warm one, making you feel like a main lead in a movie, you didn't care whatever happened as long as you were together.

—

A couple of weeks later

"Yeah, I dunno the Midnight Moon Café owner just doesn't do it for me anymore... I heard he's in a relationship now too so don't want to mess with a man who's off limits." You could hear Ally loudly whisper to your coworkers by the printing machine.

A small smile swept across your face and you tried to act like you were just happy about something to do with work.

"It's so weird though, you know? Like he was so dreamy but now I'm realizing he's just average I guess."

Your brows furrowed, not enjoying the way Ally was being rude towards your sweet boyfriend. You didn't know what got into you as you got up and walked over to the printer, your feet having another mind of their own as they rested to a stop in front of your terrified coworker and surprised Ally.

They looked at you as if you were going to tell them to quiet down but instead you simply smiled and whispered, "I still think he's pretty dreamy, I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm still dating him dunno. That or for his creative, kind and intelligent personality I guess."

Ally's mouth fell open and your coworker looked like they were going to pass out. You were never one to join in any gossip so this was new of course.

"Are you just saying that or, or are you really dating him?" Ally sputtered, eyes wide as they didn't believe your words.

"I guess you'll just have to see after work." You winked, reaching behind them and saying, "Sorry, just gotta grab something." Then you walked away, head held high and feeling so powerful for the way you had defended Taeil's innocent self. It didn't matter what people said about him or you, society's words shouldn't have such an impact. Yet, it was the condescending way that Ally had degraded Taeil to just his looks that really upset you and you had wished to see that shocked look on her face.

So it was worth it.

You heard a door close and knew that Ally had left, thank god. Before you were able to get back to work, a gentle tap on your shoulder made you jolt in your seat.

You turned around to see Manuel who had a smile on his face and he mouthed a thank you before going back to his seat. A big smile stretched its way across your face as you tried to concentrate on your work but failed to do so for the rest of the day.

"Than you again everyone!" Mr. Lee thanked you all and for the first time you enthusiastically thanked him back, quickly grabbing your belongings and excited to leave. This time it wasn't for the sake of avoiding everyone but for who was waiting for you patiently outside.

It felt like you were flying as you rushed to see the man who you daydreamed about in the middle of work and whom you wished you could be with every minute of the day.

Moon Taeil waited outside, a giddy feeling rushing through him as he checked his watch to see that it was now 7pm and you'd be rushing to see him. His life was back to normal now, his pastries tasting delicious to all, including himself. He'd also been lucky enough to hire people again which took a load of stress of maintaining the huge café off his shoulders. It seemed that the love spell thing had also worn off as well on people and instead they came by for the quaint and lovely hidden café and not him.

He though about his future with you as that was the only thing on his mind constantly nowadays. Sure, you two had only started officially dating for only a couple weeks now but it felt like a dream for him that he never wished to wake up from. So many people around him kept saying that he was in the honeymoon phase which would wear off soon enough but he couldn't disagree more.

The love he had for you was eternal and no matter what happened, it would remain in the deepest parts of his heart and mind. Sure, tough times were to come like when he had discovered that you didn't like that he stress cleaned and had advised to find a better way to cope. And how he didn't enjoy the fact that you stayed up late at night watching shows and dramas only to wake up the next day totally exhausted as you headed to work. But it was all a part of your love for one another.

And when he saw you practically fly out of the building's front doors, his cheeks hurt from the huge smile on his face and his heart burst with joy as you jumped into his open arms.

This was his forever, holding you in his arms and feeling his heart beat wildly out of his chest at the same rhythm with yours.

You were his forever.

And as you held Taeil as close as humanely possible, this moment was one you would never want to exchange with anything else in this world. Just by being in his arms you had forgotten any hardships from the day adn what you'd said to Ally, so wrapped up in your boyfriend and that fresh scent of his cologne you loved. You didn't pay attention to the people who stared at you, some reminiscent of their own loves and some envying you.

You fit together perfectly, your fingers, your bodies, your lips, your souls. And when you pulled back, facing a wide smiling Taeil, his brown eyes shining from the sun reflecting off them, you knew that this was it.

Your love was worth it forever and forever. And as you grew old, having children of your own and managing the café as well as proofreading, you never regretted it for a single moment that you had succumbed to your desires for once and taken a risk.

Taeil was the best risk in your life.

#neocafe #nct writers #cznnet #neoswitch #taeil imagines #taeil scenarios #taeil fics #taeil x reader #nct taeil x reader #nct imagines #nct 127 x reader #nct fluff #nct angst #moon taeil x reader #nct 127 #nct au #nct 127 scenario #nct 127 fluff #taeil moodboard

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mimiplaysgames · 3 years

Text

Terraqua Week Day 1 (Weak Spot)

Summary: We all have to make peace with the past. (In which Terra returns in Xemnas’s body and I scream SIZE DIFFERENCE.) || Word Count: 8,319

Read on AO3

A/N: AAAAAHHHH I’m so excited that we’re doing a whole other @terraquaweek !! I have to apologize ahead of time, my fics this year are super long and super packed, but I’m pretty proud of this collection and I can’t wait for y’all to read! I can’t wait to hear what you think! <3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Time Takes You For Granted

Terra looks so different.

No matter—Aqua has to fight. She can’t hold back when he summons red sabers of light from his palms, can’t falter when he hammers them against the staff of her Keyblade, can’t blink when canyon dust is kicked into her eyes, can’t be fooled by his face because this man is not Terra and couldn’t ever pretend to be.

He opens his arms to conjure a fatal blow—but he underestimates her speed. She’s grown up fighting large men. He is no big deal.

The man with Terra’s face withers when she strikes his midsection. One arm grips his stomach to hold himself together and he brings his other hand up. Dark tendrils evaporate from the leather of his gloves.

“As you wish,” he says to her, richly voiced, smooth as a river stone. “Friend.” He staggers to his knees, groaning as he flickers away.

“Terra!” Ven calls, too fast for Aqua to hold back. The man still wears that same black cloak that marks him as a member of the Organization.

The man shivers when Ven shakes him awake, a quiet “Aqua? Ven?” escaping his lips. He huffs out a hoarse chuckle that clutches out of pain, with a voice that sounds like a morning at the summit of a mountain. “Ven, you’re so short.”

There he is.

“Terra.” Aqua rushes over. “Can you hear me? How do you feel?” she asks, checking for signs of physical injury, a refusal to use a limb, the inability to breathe.

His breath stutters. “Aqua?” There he is.

“I’m here.”

He pants, opening his eyes—now blue again, his hair dark again, there he is. He jerks forward as if desperate to find her, but it’s like he can’t see her. In a drunk and feverish whimper, barely with the strength to sit himself up, he stumbles back. “Aqua. Aqua, I have to tell you something.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she says, checking his temperature with the back of her hand, “just rest.”

“No, I have to say it,” he mumbles. “I have to. I didn’t last time, I didn’t and look what happened—”

“Okay,” she whispers. “Go ahead.”

He pauses, moaning, “I’m sorry. I love you.”

“What?”

Ven bursts into a fit of hysteria. “Perfect timing, Terra. Ten out of ten.”

But Terra seems unaware, straddling between the drift to sleep and the fight to stay awake. He nods as if to confirm, mumbling to himself like a baby.

Aqua stares at him, her heart itching to hear it again in case she misunderstood. She has daydreamed of this moment—not like this, anything sweeter than this but genuine all the same—and yet it comes to her like a splash of ice on the face. Terra is older. He has more pronounced cheekbones with less elasticity in the skin, folds of dimples and knowledge when his lips twitch, a thicker jawline, a stronger nose. A glimpse of the future, his long brown hair stretching past the shoulders, oily and excessively gelled up for ridiculous bangs. Aqua brushes his cheek with her fingers.

She should have said something years ago, too.

“What’s going on?” a voice calls out. Riku’s. He skids to a stop when he sees them. “Is that Xemnas?”

The man Aqua fought never introduced himself, but he sure liked to talk a lot. Whoever he was, he’s not relevant anymore. “He’s delirious. We need help picking him up.”

“Wait a minute,” Riku says, approaching them with a smidge too much caution for Aqua to appreciate. “I’ve been fighting Terra all these years?”

“Xehanort,” Aqua says quietly, wrapping Terra’s arm over her shoulders. She shuffles her knees. He’s too heavy. “You’ve been fighting Xehanort.”

Riku nods. It’s his way of apologizing. “Well. That sucks.” He offers to take the other arm. “Xemnas was the leader of the first Organization. A self-inflated piece of work… I didn’t know who he really was. I didn’t recognize him.” He pulls a smile to his face and nudges Ven with his elbow. “Sora and I made sure to give him a hard time.”

Aqua wants him to stop talking.

Footsteps approach them, crunchy with the sound of sand and dirt, and Aqua braces herself for what’s to come. Riku whips around to prepare an explanation, but it’s none other than Kairi.

She sees them with wide and round eyes. Brings her hand to her mouth. “Riku?” Kairi says specifically, asking him questions with her eyes in a private language Aqua can’t understand.

He shrugs. “What do you want me to say?”

Kairi sits on her knees, her skirt too short to cover them from the dirt. “This poor boy. It’s not fair.”

Aqua purses her lips. Ven stares past everyone else.

“We’re all getting punished,” Kairi continues like the sting of knowing that after all is said and done, Sora is gone somewhere and here are Aqua and Ven picking up their own brittle, little pieces. “Look at him.”

Riku sighs. “I have space in my Gummi ship for him. But we need to be quick about it.”

Kairi gasps, wide-eyed. “That’s right.”

Aqua doesn’t want to ask why. Ven does it for her. “What’s up?”

“We can’t let the others see him,” Riku says.

Too late. Roxas appears on the other side of the clearing, heavy in breath. He’s sweet and gentle even when it seems like his mind is a distance away. He looks exactly like Ven but nothing like Ven, a grimness to his smile and a thoughtfulness to his speech like he’s seen and knows too much.

Roxas frowns. “What are you doing?”

“We’re helping him,” Aqua says as a matter of fact, flexing her ankles to stand up with Riku, shouldering half the weight. Terra stumbles on his feet, mumbling something about not wanting to step on any mice. “This is Terra, by the way.”

Roxas stares. “Why?” he asks accusingly.

Aqua stammers. How this boy who has been ripped away from his own friends could ask such a thing—

“Come on, he’s our friend,” Ven says.

“You call him a friend?” Roxas points at Terra. “Do you even know what he’s done?”

Xehanort. What Xehanort has done, but Aqua stops herself from snapping. She says softly, “Terra would never—”

“What if Terra saw what happened? What if he knew? Is he the type to be okay with that?”

She glares at him. No answer comes to her, except when Xemnas called her a Friend.

Kairi steps forward, arms out like a barrier. “He needs medical attention. We don’t have to talk about this right now.”

And they won’t have the chance. Xion slowly comes up behind Roxas. They’re both dressed in the same black cloak that Terra wears like it’s a mark, a forced tattoo. She has her hands cupped into each other, bringing them to her chest like they’re a shield.

“Roxas?” Xion asks. She looks terrified.

“Forget it,” Roxas says, turning over and tugging her by the elbow. “This is dumb. We don’t need to care or be here.”

Aqua refuses to fight this battle, not when Terra is wheezing and flinching as if he’s being crushed under mineral and earth.

“Kairi,” Riku says solemnly, “just guide us back to the ship.” He says to Aqua, “If it’s any consolation, I think he would’ve done something if he knew.”

Aqua nods, choosing to create solace out of his delicate comfort, if only to find the strength to drag Terra across the desert.

It’s a laborious but peaceful walk, what with Kairi talking about healing potions (I’ve learned some during training, maybe I can make Terra one?), and Ven excited about the first meal they’ll have together as a trio again (Pancakes, Aqua. Pancakes.), until they find Lea standing in front of the Gummi ship. He has his hands in the pockets of his cloak, and Aqua wonders if he’s concealing weapons.

Lea is a double-sided coin. One side a mask with a running end of jokes and playful jabs designed to hide the other, steely and scrutinizing.

“I promised myself I would never see Roxas that upset again,” Lea says, as if to blame them for breaking it. “I’ve never seen Xion that upset.” That brand of Lea-lilt in his voice, the one he uses every time he spits out Got it memorized?, is gone, and Aqua admits she respects him more for it. Lea nods over to Terra. “Shouldn’t we leave the trash where it belongs?”

“You’re really going to ask that when you’ve been pining all this time for Saïx?” Riku snaps.

Lea laughs. “You might as well shave my entire head and tell people I’m ugly.” He chills over. “I’m no saint either, but don’t compare us to”—he points at Terra, not Xehanort or Xemnas or whoever—“him. You want to know what I think of Xemnas? He doesn’t deserve an ounce of the worst. The core of rotten fruit. The smell of ass after a trip to the bathroom. The pits of the ocean where all the fish shit clump together and the bloat of dead flesh float around.”

“Don’t mind him,” Riku tells Aqua and Ven. “He likes to exaggerate.”

“I like to make a point.” Lea steadies his breath, hot petrol on the verge of exploding, letting the steam lose pressure. “I like to tell the truth when it matters.”

Aqua glares at him. She doesn’t know Lea that well, and doesn’t know what matters of truth are supposed to mean. But she holds her head high. Her truth screams from the inside of her head.

“Terra would never,” she announces.

Lea scoffs.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ven trips on dragging fabric. They’re taking some of the Master’s old robes to Terra, who can’t fit into any of his own clothes anymore. The castle at the Land of Departure is stiff and quiet, like a long-lost stranger. Home isn’t home but a dream, a memory, a trip through aged photos.

“I don’t think this is going to work,” Ven says in a sing-song voice.

“The Master was a large man,” Aqua insists.

“Yeah, but Terra’s bicep is bigger than your head now.”

That’s true and… not something Aqua wants to think about—his body though, it’s impressive—not if she wants to hide the blush in her cheeks. Terra is huge now, the crown of her head reaching the base of his diaphragm. He’s so broad that if he hugs her, she’d disappear into the flesh.

Aqua and Ven turn the corner and enter Terra’s room, who has a towel wrapped around his hips. He’s fussing with the wet roots of his hair.

“So much grease,” Terra complains, scratching his scalp with the pads of his fingers. “What the stars was this guy thinking with all this hair gel?”

Aqua stares at the wood of his dresser—not at how sculpted his muscles are (more than ever, actually). Not at the chisels and grooves on his back as he breathes and moves to grab a robe from the rumpled stack is Ven’s arms.

“That one will look nice,” Aqua says, eyeing the ivory color of the robe Terra chose.

“Might,” Ven corrects. “Might look nice.”

Terra snorts. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re bigger than a rhino.”

He laughs. He sounds the same. “All the more to terrorize people with,” Terra says and it wretches at her chest.

“Glad to know you’re still an idiot.”

Terra slips his arms through the sleeves, pulling the robe over his shoulders and across his chest. It’s not flattering. The seams are stretched, the threads exposed, and it wears on his shoulders so tightly that the muscles form hills under the fabric.

Ven points and laughs. “I told you. No one listens to me.”

Aqua pulls the robe off Terra’s shoulders when he slouches into his chair. She tosses it with the rest of the Master’s unfittable artifacts onto Ven’s arms. “Can you take care of these? I’ll stay and help Terra.”

Ven eyes her. With a knowing grin. Like an imp that should be slapped. “Do what? Put his pants on?”

Terra gapes. “What?”

“You’re obnoxious,” Aqua says to Ven.

“You’d miss me if I wasn’t,” Ven says with his nose high to the ceiling. He leans forward, the imp smile stretching to reach ear to ear, curled upwards. “But Terra would like it, wouldn’t he?”

Terra coughs and clears his throat. “Ven, get out.” He waves his arm—and a crash explodes before Aqua can understand what happened. Everything in his room—his shoes, the coat rack, the lamp by his bed, his pillows, books from the shelf, dirty laundry that hasn’t been washed in a decade, dust collected from the same amount of time—fly at Ven. The comforter in particular is what knocks him over.

“What was that?” Ven squeals, sitting up from the rubble. “What was that?”

Terra’s lip quivers. He stares at his hands. “I don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” Aqua says, bending over to stack books in her arms. “Ven, get a broom and some rags. We’ve got some cleaning to do.”

Ven trips before heading off, like he couldn’t wait to get out. Aqua has a feeling he’s going to bug her for details later.

“I’m so sorry,” Terra whispers, balling his hands into fists and shoving them into his lap as a preemptive measure.

The Organization’s cloak sits thrown on the floor, still dusty. Aqua pads the excess off.

“Don’t worry,” she says, pulling cheer from somewhere inside to lighten the mood. “I’ll sew you a new robe.”

Terra won’t look at her. He mumbles her a word of thanks when she hands his dirty cloak over.

“Leather can’t be scrubbed like everything else,” she explains. “I’ll clean it later.”

“It’s fine,” Terra says, holding it in his giant hands. He doesn’t move to put it on, and instead stares at the large mirror hanging over his desk in front of him. Aqua stands by his side. She’s tall, but she never once considered herself as thin, her frame skeletal by comparison.

By comparison, she hasn’t changed.

Well, she has. Her smiles are not the same.

Terra’s hair is messy, now with much more for her to brush her fingers through. She doesn’t try. “I don’t remember any of these,” he whispers.

The scars. Knicks in crossed-over patterns across his chest and biceps. A rippled scorch mark by his elbow like a crater, a gouge on one side by the stomach, a deep ravine on the other, near the ribs. More on his back, a textured map for nowhere to go.

“Not a single one.” His voice cracks.

Aqua caresses his shoulder. Those scars are not stories he needs to hear. “What do you remember?” She actually doesn’t want to know, in case Roxas was right.

“Nothing.”

She wants to be relieved, but she isn’t. “Nothing at all?” In twelve years?

“No.”

Aqua wraps her arms around his shoulders from behind him, aware of how he tenses at first and relaxes after, a puzzle piece fitting in exactly the right spot. “Where were you?”

“I don’t know.” He sighs, leaning his head onto hers. “I wasn’t anywhere, I… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine.” Twelve years of nothing and twelve years living with nightmares; there’s not much to talk about. She traces a divot on his shoulder. “I know this one.”

“Yours,” Terra says. When he smirks that way, he looks the same as he always had.

“I stabbed you with a wooden sword.”

“My wooden sword.” He brushes his fingers on the scar. As if he’s reminded of something, Terra frowns. “I was just a kid.” He studies his skin on the reflection, pulling on his face with his fingers, watching the way the skin ripples, the sharpness of cheekbones, the dips and dimples that didn’t used to be there. There are thick streaks of silver underneath the outer layers when he brushes his hair back. He never asked for this. “Can we get rid of every mirror in the castle?” he whispers.

Aqua lets him go. The way he asks makes her want to try memory alteration, to slowly erase what haunts him so he doesn’t have to deal with harsh reminders or sudden blows to the mind. She forces herself to smile—if she shows distress, it would only upset him more. There is nothing they can do about the past and there won’t be a mention of what it’s robbed from them.

“Maybe just the one in here. I’ll help.”

Terra stands up and takes one of his old, simple cotton shirts that he prefers when he goes to bed while Aqua tests the bottom part of the ornate frame. It won’t budge, heavy as lifting a boulder.

“I look ridiculous,” she hears Terra say. The shirt is as tight as second skin, what used to sit on him loosely now gripping for dear life across his upper stomach, his belly button exposed.

Aqua purses her lips, heat to her cheeks. “Do you remember waking up?”

“Where?” He’s layering the cloak over the scandal.

“At the Keyblade Graveyard.”

“No,” he says. She’s known him for years. She can tell he’s sincere. “Why?”

“Just wondering how far your memory goes,” she says, playing serious. She’ll have to figure out a different way to bring up that conversation. “I can’t lift this alone.”

“Not a problem.” Terra grabs his side of the mirror and lifts it off its hook like it’s a single piece of paper. He clears his throat. “Um—wow.”

“That’s impressive,” Aqua says, and Terra blushes purple.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aqua makes it back home in time for lunch, and finds Terra sitting on the bar that splits the kitchen from the dining room, wearing his cloak with the zipper open, no shirt and leather pants. It must be blistering hot in those considering the sunny weather. He’s complained about having to sleep naked.

She presents him with several bags on the counter. Rolls of fresh cotton shirts and pants for lounging, nylon for sparring and wool for the winter. He splits a warm grin when he feels how soft they are. It almost brightens his deep dark circles.

“I also found these gorgeous fabrics,” Aqua says, showing him the silk she means to make him a new robe in that same ivory color, with embroidered, rust-colored strips that she’ll use for the borders and trims. “This will look good with your armor.”

“Let me show you what I’ve been working on.” On his lap are a set of the Master’s old hakama. Terra is attempting to tailor it…all through hand sewing, the needle swallowed by his thick fingers. The threads are bunched up and knotted over, if they don’t skip some parts. “What?” he asks. She must be making a face. “It’s ugly isn’t it.”

“Nothing that skill can’t help,” Aqua says, taking the pants from him and not apologizing for anything.

He taps the counter with his fingers. “Riku told me about Xemnas.”

Aqua stops the urge to groan, folding over the fabric carefully and pretending that name doesn’t boil her blood. “What did he say?”

“Xemnas was a telekinetic.”

That explains some things. “Okay.”

“Apparently he could lift entire buildings.”

Aqua snorts.

Terra leans forward. “Hey, you can’t blame me for the back door.”

“But it makes sense.”

Terra has blown open said door. He has also destroyed historical statues and windows that are difficult to replace. He has even ripped a tree from its roots when he practiced his powers outside. The more he gets scared of these abilities, the more destructive he becomes. Terra’s body is not entirely sane on its own either—he’ll step on pebbles, on glass barefoot, and he can’t feel a thing.

“Can you answer Riku for me?” He pulls the Gummiphone from his pocket, the device smaller than his palm. “The buttons are too small. I’m thinking of asking Chip and Dale to build me a custom-sized one.”

She takes his phone, the screen smudged with his round fingertips, larger than her nails. “Are you going to stop training your new powers?”

He flinches. “They’re not mine.”

“Well...” she says gently, cradling his phone in her hands. It’s warm from his touch.

“Not that I can control them.” He huffs, frustrated enough to crack the counter in half if he tries.

“Why don’t you show me how far you’ve come?”

He glares at her.

“The oranges.” She points to the kitchen on the other side of the room. Oranges, pears, and apples sit in a wooden bowl by the sink. “Pick one of them up.”

“That’s a little too much to ask for.”

“One tiny orange?” She smirks. “You can balance it on your pinky.”

He scoffs. “You talk as if you like me like this.”

Aqua clears her throat, suddenly deep in a trench that she can’t climb out of. “You can’t help what happened to you, but you can help yourself.”

Terra rolls his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. Stars, it’s like being in class again.”

“I’m pleased with that. Try sliding the bowl over.”

Terra leans his elbows onto the counter and opens his palms, his fingers curled like claws. What surprises her is how fast the bowl responds, like it’s channeling an emotional reaction, immediate and neurotic. It rattles, as if it weighs several tons under an ocean.

Aqua looks over at his furrowed concentration, sweat glistening as though he’s wrestling instead of picking up fruit. “What’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

She smiles. “There was a day when we didn’t know what our Keyblades would look like. That was exciting and terrifying at the same time, remember?”

“You sound like the Master.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

Terra grunts. “Fine, I’ll try harder.” Though he doesn’t have to prove anything to Aqua. Ever.

Terra waves his hands to the right and—disaster.

The bowl flips over and crashes into the fridge.

Plates and mugs burst out of the cupboards, shattering when they hit the floor. Pots and pans soar, crossing the entire kitchen and slamming into the grandfather clock, destroying the glass casing and tearing apart the inside as gears sputter to the floor.

The clockface nearly lands on Ven’s head when he enters with a glass of water in his hand. He freezes. It cracks when it hits the tile. Forks, spoons, and other utensils spin past him and stab the wall, the knives wedged into it.

“Ven!” Aqua calls, running to him. He’s fine. If anything, he’s shivering from shock.

“Ven,” Terra starts, scrambling up from the stool but he flicks his hands too quickly. The water from Ven’s glass splashes him on the face. “Stars, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t,” Ven says, wiping his face. “Worry about it.” He inhales. “You nearly impaled me.”

“I’m sorry—”

“Sit,” Ven says, pointing at Terra. “On your hands.”

Terra does as he’s told, slumping his shoulders over as if to shrink. But it’s a parody, an elephant hiding behind a palm tree, a giant monster puppy rejected.

Ven looks over the destroyed grandfather clock—it was one of the Master’s newer ones, who developed a fondness for them late into his life. “This one was a stars-damned eyesore, anyway.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aqua is dressed in her shorts and shirt, preparing for bed when she hears another crash, this time a dull crack, breaking apart right outside her bedroom.

Terra is carrying a door handle, still attached to shards of wood. He is furiously shivering, wearing the new clothes she bought for him.

“Terra, are you okay?” she asks gently.

With effort, he calms himself, the handle shaking in both of his hands, a hole in his door the only other thing amiss. “I can fix it.” His undereye circles are getting awfully puff, his voice broken by static.

“You should really get some sleep,” she says, stepping out.

He sighs forcefully, as if to ask her to stop. “I can’t.”

She nods. “It’s hard for me to sleep, too.”

“I can’t help but feel like my body is going to sleepwalk without me knowing.”

“I don’t think it would.” She smirks but it doesn’t comfort him. “I take rounds around the castle sometimes. I would notice if you’re a zombie.”

His lips quiver, and he squeezes the handle as if to snap it on purpose. He doesn’t. Terra turns to her but stares hard at the floor. In a voice so quiet that he sounds like a small boy, he asks, “Can you stay with me tonight?”

Her heart jumps, trying to wretch itself out of her chest. “Terra?”

“I want to sleep. I can’t. I think it would be easier if…” He fiddles with the door handle, a shy boy unable to speak. “If you were with me.”

Aqua smiles. He’s braver than her for asking. “I’d feel safer behind a locked door. Come in.”

On her desk is her sewing machine, the pattern of his new robe designed, his measurements already taken, the fabric put together in pins and ready to be weaved with thread.

But there is a mirror in her room, and when Terra enters, he stops in his place.

“I’m sorry,” she says, moving to pull one of her bedsheets to cover it.

“It’s fine,” Terra says, but she’s too fast, balancing out the coverage. He slouches on her chair and leans back with a grunt. His fair falls behind him like a cascade. It’s always been wonderfully thick and dark. Aqua indulges this time, brushing it with her fingers, tempted to braid it. He audibly relaxes, and says, “Riku told me what happened in the Graveyard.”

Aqua swallows. “What did he say?”

“How Roxas and Lea reacted.” He gets quieter the more he speaks, words slipping into weak whispers. “To me.” Tears drip out of his eyes, running to his ears and down his neck. He sniffs. “Xion is terrified of me and I don’t know how to live with myself.”

“It’s not your fault, Terra,” she says softly, lightly rubbing his scalp when she sweeps his glorious hair, brown and silver like silk on her skin. It soothes him.

“Kairi said the same.”

“Kairi is wise.”

“She wants to find a way to get us all together.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Aqua says, and he groans. “Let me figure out how to set that up. I’ll coordinate with her.”

“I don’t think that will end well.”

“We should try. We all have things in common and have faced similar hardships. We need each other as friends.”

“But look at me.”

She does. He’s beautiful. “I’m looking.”

“What am I going to do?” Terra has always been too sensitive for his own good. Aqua thinks about who she’d possibly call to help me. “They’ll never talk to me.”

“You’re already trying your best.”

“Aqua, I’ve been a beast since I’ve been home.” He rubs his thumb and fingers together. A body that fails him.

“Terra, please, you’re fine the way you are.”

“Two more grandfather clocks under my belt and all the vegetables in the garden in my pocket,” he reminds her.

“Let’s try one more time,” she says, taking his hand. “I think if you could outwin your powers, you’d feel better.”

“Your room is too immaculate for me to mess with.”

“Not my room. On me.”

“Why would I do that?” Terra stands up.

“I think if there’s a parameter that you’re forced to work under, you’d improve the way you want to.”

Terra pauses. “And put you in danger?”

“If that’s what’s going to work.”

“I care too much about you to do that.”

“I know you love me,” Aqua says, startling herself. She shouldn’t have said that, especially now that he’s staring at her wide-eyed—but they’re best friends. Of course he loves her. Of course it’s the most natural thing to say. There’s not much more to imply. “You won’t hurt me.”

“Intentionally,” his voice croaks, looking everywhere around the room except at Aqua.

“What do you want out of your training, Terra?”

“I want to feel less like a freak.”

“Here I am.” She widens her arms. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“What if I fling you out the window like a rag doll?”

“You won’t.” Now she’s nervous he will.

“Or burst your skull open?”

“Then don’t.” Aqua swallows.

Terra sighs and runs a hand through his hair, the silver glistening from the light of her ceiling lamp.

“Be gentle,” Aqua suggests.

Terra hesitates, one step too far behind necessary confidence. She takes both of his hands in hers, and he gives her a feathered squeeze in return.

“Promise me you won’t break,” he says.

“Promise you won’t break me.”

He blinks back tears when he holds her waist, his hands a hearth through her thin shirt. He’s about to pick her up but he lets her go instead, intentionally widening his hands as if pulling strings. As though gravity has shut off, the air around her loses all weight. Her feet lift off the carpet and she’s suspended above her dresser, her limbs moving slowly as though she’s underwater. Terra trembles from so much concentration. He’s worried, delicate with her, lifting her up like a cloud drifting over a mountain, her desk distant like it’s inside a doll house, her bed too small for a body to sleep in.

She gasps. “Wow.”

Terra wrestles with a smile but every muscle is engaged as though he’s picking up a boulder.

“You’re doing wonderful,” she says. When he looks up at her, he cries. “Now put me down. Gently.”

It’s like she’s asking him to drop that boulder, all collateral be damned. He groans, a vein throbbing on his forehead. He’s hesitant at first but he exhausts when he finally relaxes. The threads that hold her snap. Aqua falls. Terra catches her by her bare thighs.

“You did so well,” she whispers, holding onto his shoulders. Dust collects on the top of her door frame that she’d never notice otherwise. “You’re so tall,” she laughs.

He sighs. “I’m so tired.”

“Oh, you can put me down.”

His arms stutter when he slides her off him, and he plops onto her mattress, the adrenaline making him tremble. But he smiles. That’s the most Aqua could ask for, and yet that’s the thing, for some reason, that unplugs the dam.

“I know what it’s like,” she starts, resting a hand on his head. “I wish it never happened. I wish I didn’t have to meet Xemnas, or that I fell into Darkness. Or that anyone hurt you. We wasted all those years.”

“Don’t say that,” he says softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. “You came back the same and you can redo all that time. Enjoy it.”

“But you?”

Terra sighs. He’s aged. He lays on her mattress, knees sliding off the edge and feet firm on the floor. “I’m okay. I’ve made my peace.”

When she settles next to him, she has to curl her legs in, fitting right into his side, her head on his shoulder. She relaxes to the way he strokes her hair. Peace shouldn’t have to be made. It shouldn’t be bargained for, it shouldn’t be difficult to win in a twisted game. But it is for most people, isn’t it? It is for anyone who’s been betrayed, who has suffered misfortune, who has been robbed or tortured, who has been fractured into pieces with no reason to justify it.

Terra and Aqua have kissed before out of curiosity, years ago. It left her wanting more. And the wanting has led to yearning. And the yearning lingered on, Aqua choosing to wait for the right moment, for the right hour, for the right occasion, letting it all slip her by each and every time for the most mundane reasons. Terra and Aqua have napped together in the woods, in the shade of a tree after hours of sparring, shoulder to shoulder, one of them promising to wake the other before they’re late for their lessons.

“If I ever get up in the middle of the night...” Terra starts.

“Where is this conversation going?”

“And I’m not actually awake—”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“—and I’m walking around like a zombie—”

“Pfft.”

“—please hit me as hard as you can.”

Aqua chuckles. This shouldn’t be a joke at all and yet what else is there left for them to do? “As you wish.”

“Promise me you’ll wake me up. No matter what.”

“Of course.” Aqua nuzzles her face into his shoulder, feeling the way his pec curves over rock-hard muscle. “Always.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They’re in the study, where some of the most outdated books in the castle find their home, for decoration more than anything.

Terra has new suspenders and hakama pants. The robe she’s designed for him, ivory with rust-colored trim, has one proper sleeve. The other is more of an open cape that curls under his armored arm, pinning at his shoulder like a shawl, made to show off the metal, burgundy and shiny. He’s elegant, tall and intimidating, respectable and warm.

“I love it,” he says.

“You almost look like the Master,” Aqua says.

“Do you think he would have liked it?”

“I think he would have been proud.”

Ven knocks on the door frame, holding up an Okay gesture. “Nice getup.”

Terra smirks. “It makes me look less scary.”

“Are you going to throw away the black cloak?”

Aqua flinches, pinching the robe and straightening it, though not because it needs it.

“I’m still thinking about it,” Terra says. “It depends on how today goes.”

“Speaking of,” Ven says, and Aqua sighs. “Aqua, he’s here.”

As though all breath has been sucked out of the air, they fall quiet. The crackle of the fireplace snaps.

“You doing okay?” she whispers to Terra.

He nods, but his skin turns green.

“Just relax and get comfortable,” she says.

Ven follows Aqua to the entrance hall, where their guest has welcomed himself inside. Isa stands with a poise that demands to be matched with a level of professionalism. Aqua crosses her hands together and keeps them to herself.

“Thank you for coming,” she says. When she messaged him to be a mediator, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Lea and Isa may seem to be opposite but they are two peas in a pod that way. Lea is a book of riddles, one page contradicting its own backside depending on which version of him shows up that day. Isa’s book is blank.

“I appreciate your invitation,” Isa says, though an instinctual tick deep in her stomach tells her that appreciation was a difficult word for him to use.

“Hey there.” Ven waves.

Isa raises his eyebrows. “Hello, Ventus,” he says… and nothing else.

Ven glances at Aqua and blares a tight, awkward smile. “Okay. Well. I’ll leave you to it.”

After Ven leaves, Isa breathes, like he’s been holding it. “I suppose the rest of this visit will be similar.” The grin on his face is sudden whiplash for Aqua, his strict posture now with blurred edges.

“In what way?” Aqua can’t quit the habit of letting go of her hands.

“Roxas usually wears a scowl. To see the same face greet me so warmly, it was quite the surprise.”

“Ah.”

“But a welcomed one.” His intense green eyes drill a hole into her. “Believe me when I say that I’m more than happy to come here and see him for myself, though it puts me in a fickle position with my family.”

Aqua brings her hands to her heart. “I think Sora would want us all to get along.”

“If that’s the angle you want to approach this with, I’d say you have a moderate chance of convincing them.”

She nods and leads the way. “He’s excited to meet you.”

Isa doesn’t reply. Terra is waiting on one of the lounge chairs in the study, telekinetically spinning pages on a book floating in front of him. He snatches the book as they approach him, and drops it on a nearby desk.

Terra doesn’t say anything. Neither does Isa, who sits himself on a comfortable chair opposite and crosses his legs. Aqua, not knowing where to go or what to do with her hands, stands by Terra. She’s hoping for an amicable meeting, anticipating an interrogation.

Isa smirks and it’s not exactly inviting. “Shall we skip the pleasantries?”

Terra nods like a dog scolded. “I’m glad you’re here,” he says with a shaky voice.

Isa hums, interlacing his fingers as he stares—rather studies Terra with scrutiny. “Do you remember me?”

Terra shakes his head, choking on a cough. “You’re asking the wrong person.”

“Are you certain?”

“I know of you.”

“What do you know of me?”

“You’re with Lea.” Terra licks his lips and balls his hands into fists. He only gets this way when he’s being tested, when he wants to get every answer correct. “You’ve had a complicated history with Organization XIII.”

“Complicated,” Isa repeats.

“You were a Nobody.”

Isa smirks coldly, much like how Aqua would have imagined from the stories she’s heard about Saïx. “We were brethren.”

Terra hangs his head. “I don’t know much else.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. I resigned. It was so painful not to. I was nowhere. Nothing to have, nothing to see, nothing to hear. I waited for an opportunity for it to stop hurting—” Terra croaks. “And I woke up.”

Isa uncrosses his legs and anchors his elbows onto his knees, cupping his chin into his hands. “You’ve no memory of the command to manipulate Sora into vanquishing Heartless for us?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

“To gather enough energy to summon Kingdom Hearts.”

“That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Isa sighs, and Aqua swears it sounds like anticipation. “And the scar on my face?”

The way Isa asks demands an explanation, and Terra—sweet, sensitive Terra, whose eyes grow hollow—can’t handle the implication.

“No. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He grits his teeth, staring at the armrest. Aqua stops herself from speaking and holds his shoulder. There isn’t anything for Terra to be sorry for.

Isa closes his eyes, trembling. After a moment, he jams his thumbs into his eyes and stills, silence befalling all of them, settling among the gentle presence of the fire and the movement of the clouds outside.

When Isa sits up, eyes glassy but kept together, he summons a smile. Softly, he says, “You look nothing like him.”

Terra, at a loss for words, nods meekly. “Did you keep it? The black cloak?”

“Of course not.” Isa scoffs. “We burned ours.”

Terra offers no condolences or congratulations. He smiles, exhausted.

Isa stands up. “Please don’t tell me you enjoy white wine with red velvet confections.”

Terra recoils, popping into a laugh as though he’s cracked under the pressure. “That sounds like it tastes awful. I don’t drink. I don’t like losing control of my body.”

The sound of Terra’s laugh shocks Isa. “Sensible.” He addresses Aqua with a look. “I must go. This has been… rather cathartic, and I’d prefer to release it in private.”

Terra bolts out of his chair, reaching out to cradle one of Isa’s hands in both of his.

“Thank you,” Terra says, and though Aqua is behind him, she could hear the tears. “Please come back whenever you feel comfortable. I’d love to have your company.”

Isa nods, turning over his shoulder for the door.

The abrupt exit leaves Terra pleading Aqua with his eyes. “Did I say something wrong?” he whispers, slapping his forehead. “I couldn’t honor his experiences. I should have figured out a way to remember.”

“That’s not your burden to bear. It wouldn’t help you anyway,” she whispers back, gently gripping his elbow. “I’ll be back.”

Aqua trails Isa back downstairs, skipping steps. It’s as though he’s in a hurry to get back home.

“Isa,” she calls. When he stops, she almost trips on herself. Her hands return to their crossover position. Something about Isa makes her so self-conscious, it’s indescribable how he can unravel her like this. “I wanted to thank you again for taking the time to come here.”

His eyes are pink. “I will tell the others there is nothing to fear.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Lea is unbearably stubborn, but he is intelligent. He already knows Terra is not to be blamed. He simply hasn’t buried his demons yet and that is his responsibility.”

Aqua sighs, relieved. “I needed to hear that.”

Isa doesn’t smile. Instead, he traces a finger across the X-shaped scar over his nose. “Terra and I are forced to face our mistakes in the mirror for as long as we breathe. If we are ever to forge a new life from the ashes, we would need to throw our transgressions into a pyre.”

“I think your presence makes him feel less alone.”

“I want to apologize, Master Aqua.”

“For what?”

Isa considers his words. “Lea and I have lost so much of our youth to a worthless cause. It is not natural for us to enjoy freedom. We expect a harsher punishment to catch up to us any day now, to steal more time from us. Perhaps we deserve to live in fear of that every day. I certainly do.” He watches her. “I can see the story you’ve endured this past decade in your eyes. It’s horrific.”

Aqua stays quiet.

“And Terra,” he continues. “He will age and die long before you and Ventus. I’m so sorry for that. The rubble we’re left with, it is such a weight for us to bear.”

She wipes a tear from her cheek, too proud to let them continue. “That’s why we need to make the best of it.”

Isa smiles; this time it’s warm. He holds her bicep. “I agree.”

“Will you and the others join us for dinner? Terra speaks for all of us, we’d love to have you around.”

“Bribe Lea with an extravagant experience and he will surely say yes. The children will follow once we assure them.”

Aqua nearly jumps to hug him but she keeps herself composed. Instead, she bows to him. His eyes pulse open.

“That was not necessary,” he says.

“You need to understand how deeply I appreciate this.”

“Lea was right. You old-fashioned wielders are certainly an odd bunch.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On her way back to the study, Aqua breaks into a sprint, desperate to fly so she could get to him as fast as possible, see his face when she delivers the news.

Terra sulks by a window. Before he could say anything, Aqua jumps and throws her arms around his neck in a clash of grunts, her legs dangling.

“They’re going to join us for dinner,” she says. She can’t tell if she’s the one who’s trembling or if it’s Terra. Because her arms are wrapped around his neck, she drags him down with her when he relaxes. He rests his forehead on hers as he leans over her, his hair falling around her like a curtain.

“Stars,” he whispers. “It’s happening?”

She smiles into his cheek. “He wants to bring everyone with him.”

He squeezes her by the small of her back. “We’ll have to invite the others too. Riku and Kairi. Naminé. It will be a feast.”

At the sound of his own words, Terra straightens out, and their fleeting moment of excitement vanishes as quick as it graces them. He nervously clutches a handful of his hair. “Wait, how soon are they coming?”

“Is something wrong?”

“I want to wear it in a ponytail.” He brushes his hair up, exposing the silver near the scalp. “Do you think it’s possible to dye it?”

That’s what makes him so insecure? Aqua stands on her toes to fiddle with the hair. “Come on. It’s a little tedious, but it can be done.”

Aqua snips the necessary plants from the garden, and after grinding them, she dumps the blend into a mix of water and animal fat. Terra slips his robe off and bends over the kitchen sink, letting her sweep the dye with a paintbrush and pinch it across the strands of his long hair with gloved hands. This is the tedious part, separating his hair into thin chunks and being diligent enough to leave nothing untouched.

“It won’t last for long, right?” he asks, shifting his weight.

“I can find a spell to seal it and make it last longer.” She nudges him to turn his neck over so she can work the other side. In this direction, he can look up at her.

“This feels like I’m cheating.”

“I think we all cheated. We all came back by some star’s blessing.”

Terra frowns. “When Isa wanted to know if I remembered anything, I felt like I was playing a rigged game. Like I had gotten away with it so easily when he’s stuck with them on his own.”

“Bend your neck forward,” she says, and he follows so she could brush the dye into the back of the scalp. “Well, Isa doesn’t blame you and no one should. And you do get away with certain things.”

Terra flinches but she keeps her hold on him. “Like what?”

Aqua pinches more of the dye into the hair at the neck, wrapping a towel around his shoulders. He will have to pass the time needed for the color to sink in. She can’t wait until he sees it for himself in the mirror. She can’t wait until he smiles more, until he can walk with seeded confidence.

“You can stand up,” she tells him, instructing him that it will take almost an hour for the dye to settle. She pulls out her gloves and considers an answer to his question. “You get away with what you say sometimes.”

Terra gapes. “Did I offend you?”

“No.” She smirks. This has never been the way she daydreamed it would go—she had prepared a scenario where they would talk about it under the stars in a clear night, in the spring where the flowers have blossomed. Not with yet another shirt that they’ll have to replace.“You told me you loved me that day in the Graveyard.” He doesn’t flinch. “And you don’t remember saying that either.”

The bowl of dye rattles and Aqua catches it from falling over, spilling the excess into the sink and rinsing it. “Terra?”

“Uh.” The cupboards shake as if about to spill open. Terra grabs the knife block and throws it into the fridge, just in case. “Well.” He splays his hand over the handle and burns it with a fire spell, molding the metal together so it can’t burst open. “I’ll fix that later. Um. It’s—” He tips over the fruit bowl so nothing will fly out in different directions. He can’t look her in the face, taking deep breaths. “I mean. It’s not—it’s not a lie.”

Aqua waits a moment, afraid another word is going to make the oven explode. “I should have told you the same.” She bites her lip.

“What are you saying?” The burner grates of the stovetop blow up and hit the cupboard over it. “All this time, I could have known?”

“Maybe you should have done something about it.”

“I’ve been driving myself crazy wondering how you felt. Ever since we came back home.”

“And you said nothing?”

Terra stares at her. “You know what—I’m not protecting you from the oranges.”

“What are you doing?” She chuckles.

He flips the bowl back and waves his arm, five oranges punching her on the arm that she’s using to shield herself.

“Terra!”

She stumbles as the oranges bounce back from the floor and arc over to hit her again. Terra squeezes his fists and the oranges unpeel themselves, sputtering juice all over her face, a tart taste filling her mouth.

Aqua laughs and runs into the dining room, ducking behind the table.

“Get back here,” Terra calls. He rushes into the dining room, clumsy enough to be caught off guard when she charges at him.

Aqua has to jump higher, kicking off his chest to flip over. The goal is to slam her foot across his face—the best sparring trick in her arsenal. Terra catches her by the ankle but his balance is tested when she bends her knee to throw him off. He’s stronger, a tight grip on her calf. They both fall onto his back, a tower broken in two and collapsing on itself.

Aqua rests her head between his chest, giggling so much that her chin digs into his thorax.

Terra groans, his soaked hair leaving brown tracks over the tile. “You got some on you.” He rubs a thumb on her temple where it meets the base of her hair. “Hmm, you’d look good as a brunette.”

“In your wildest dreams.”

“If one can come true, then you never know.”

Aqua holds herself up on her elbows. Terra is so large, he’s a mattress in the middle of the dining room floor. Streaks of dye draw across his cheek. They leave what look like slashes across his neck. It’s going to take some scrubbing power to remove them. She sweeps some of the hair off, not caring about the stain it leaves on her fingers.

The next move is natural. A touch of lips to lips, careful and giddy, puckered and softer than she expects, two hands on her back and a powerful jaw under the grace of her fingertips.

Ven opens the door and gags. “Ugh, all the stars in hell, could you do that in your room?” He turns on his heel and stomps off. “I’m too young for this.”

Aqua snorts into Terra’s mouth and he spits. “I’m sorry,” she says.

Terra licks his lips of juice. He leans up for more. “You taste tangy.”

#terraqua #terraqua week #aqua #terra #ventus #isa #AHHHHH IT'S THE START OF THE NEW WEEK #I wish i had more time for this one #but I hope you all like it ;-;#my fic

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fuckingthefictional · 4 years

Note

sorry to bother but i have a request, could you write a peter parker! x reader, with the reader being the protégé or adopted daughter of the strange doctor? I searched a lot but I didn't find

Must be magic.

Peter Parker x Strange!Reader

Requested: Yes by @celenajulie

A/N: hope you enjoy this! I tried my best- and there will be a part 2 out soon, where Y/N introduces Peter to her dad, stay safe out there! Xx

Y/N never knew her birth parents, she had only been a mere few hours old when she had been left outside of a New York orphanage.

The owners took her in, fed her and let her grow. She was a generally happy baby.

Until one day, a few months later, Y/N took a turn for the worst. She was no longer that happy girl with the gummy smile, she wasn’t herself.

She slept more, she cried more, she vomited more despite eating less and she didn’t interact with the social workers at the house like she used to. She just wasn’t herself.

Soon they found out why. Y/N had a brain tumour, the doctors called it pineoblastoma.

It was rare, it was aggressive and it was killing the young infant- causing her to waste away.

There were several options, the majority of which were expensive and risky. The staff at the orphanage were considering placing Y/N into the care of a hospice.

After all, time was limited and their options were coming to dead ends. What else could they do? They needed a miracle, a doctor something magical if Y/N was to survive and thrive again.

Christine Palmer loved her job, she loved the idea of caring and helping those who needed her support.

It didn’t matter what age, gender, sexuality or race someone was- she tried 110% to help them to the best of her ability.

Some said that she cared too much, Christine opted towards the fact that compassion was key in the medical industry. And anyone who lacked it, wasn’t cut out for this line of work.

Compassion was what lead Christine to Y/N.

God- she could still remember the first time she’d met the tiny girl.

It had been in the early hours of the morning, the rain had been hammering down for hours and all had been relatively quiet in ER.

Christine remembered going to the vending machine in the waiting room on her break, in hopes to get a snack.

What she hadn’t expected was to become involved in a small dispute. There had been a small altercation that she had decided to step in between.

It seemed to of been between one of the ladies at the front desk and a tall, slender woman- who Christine had at first assumed to be a wife or parent of a patient.

It wasn’t until the young woman inquired why the argument had begun that she finally understood and jumped into action.

“It’s one of the children that I care for, Y/N- last month we were here and she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, we’ve been getting treatment but she’s taken a turn for the worse.”

It was almost immediately that Nurse Palmer jumped into action and called for support on her pager.

It took mere seconds for a doctor to come forward with the required equipment and a portable bassinet to wheel the baby away in.

But there was a nagging feeling in the back of Christine's head, she needed to call him. Just to be sure, to get support and a second opinion.

Without a second thought, she picked her phone from her scrub pocket and pressed the dial button, it rang for a second before a voice chimed through the other side.

“Christine it’s two in the morning.”

“You owe me that favour- come to the hospital now, I need support on a patient’s case.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Okay.” She paused, licking her lips. “And Stephen- thank you.”

It had been an ongoing gag between Stephen and Christine that he owed her a favour.

Ever since the incident in med school, Stephen vowed to give his friend one favour- whenever she needed it, whatever it was- he would be there.

That was why he was getting dressed into his scrubs at 2:30 in the morning (when his next shift didn’t start for another day) in order to help Christine with whatever it was she needed.

When Stephen arrived at the hospital he rushed to where Christine said to meet, Paediatric intensive care unit.

He strolled in, finding Christine sat on a chair next to a tiny infant, no less than a few months old, who was covered in fresh wires.

“She has pineoblastoma.” She explained softly, “You’re the only one I know who can operate and get positive results on this sort of thing.”

Stephen nodded, formulating a plan in his head as he read the baby’s case file.

The poor child had been through a lot in her first few months of life it seemed.

And the doctor didn’t know it yet - but he would soon become her proper family, and give her the life she deserved.

It was weird being the daughter of a master of the mystic realm. Like really weird. Nothing was ever ‘normal’ in her life.

Travelling to the grocery store? Her dad would simply use his sling ring.

Wouldn’t get out of bed? The cloak of levitation would drag her out if her dad willed it.

Wanted a slice of pizza? Sure- Wong would just conjure one up.

She lived in the New York Sanctum Sanctorum for crying out loud that didn’t exactly scream normal!

The only thing that may have been normal was her school life, Midtown school of science was perfect for Y/N.

She took after her father on that, she was smart and bright and loved to learn.

In fact, there had been many occasions growing up that she had been caught under the covers, flashlight in hand, reading her dad's old medical school textbooks.

But just because she was bright, didn’t mean that she made friends easily. Being smart often meant she was teased by her peers- it didn’t help that her last name was Strange either.

She had some friends on the debate team (MJ being one of them) and she talked to Peter and Ned too sometimes.

But half the time Y/N avoided it, after all, she’d rather not listen to her long term crush go on and on about how he loved the most popular girl in school.

It was painful- that stuff hurt. And every time she thought she’d taken a step forwards toward him he’d take three more back.

“Miss Strange?”

Y/N focused back in on the whiteboard, in front of which stood the extremely unimpressed bio teacher.

“Pardon?”

“The answer Miss Strange?” The teacher turned around, marker poised ready to write down her answer on the board for the class to see.

Thankfully MJ was up to date and mouthed the question number across the room. Looking down at the sheet in front of her she found the relevant question.

‘Name an example of a gene pool.’

“A population with a known proportion of A, B and O blood groups would be an example of a relevant gene pool.”

The teacher looked unimpressed at the fact that Y/N had been ‘listening’, “That is correct.” He cleared his throat, “Now before this lesson ends, I will be handing out these assignment sheets that are to be used for your upcoming projects- yes, you will be doing them with your lab partner. No-you cannot switch.”

Fuck that meant Peter was going to be Y/N’s partner. Double fuck. That meant spending time alone with him.

While Y/N pondered in her doom, the lunch bell rang and everyone moved around her as they packed up and left the classroom.

“Hey erm Y/N?”

The teenager’s head snapped up, only to come face to face with Peter.

“Peter!” She yelped, “Hi.”

The boy laughed breathily, “Hi, listen since we’re buddy’s on this project i was wondering when you were next free- Y’know to do the project?”

Y/N tucked some stray hairs behind her ears, “Oh I’m free whenever,” she ripped the corner of one of her pages off and scribbled down her number, “This is my number in case you need to call me.”

“Cool,” Peter rubbed the back of his neck nervously, “I should get going- it was nice talking.”

“Yeah of course,” she nodded happily, “I’ll see you later.”

Mere minutes later there was a beep coming from Y/N’s pocket, she fished around in her pocket in an attempt to find her phone.

‘Hey this is peter, are you free to make a start on the project afterschool?’

She typed a quick response back, ‘Sure, where were you thinking?’

‘The library is probably most convenient right?’

‘Okay cool, I’ll see you later.’

By the end of the day, Y/N found herself practically bouncing at the idea of spending time with Peter alone.

She’d managed to snag a table and the required textbooks that they’d need. But minutes turned into hours and there was no sight of the boy that Y/N was falling for.

He’d stood her up.

Or at least that’s what Y/N had initially thought. but as the clock struck half-past five, she was aware that it was time she made her way home.

Despite his no show, the bright girl was almost entirely finished with the first half of the project.

She was in the process of exiting the library’s doors when she heard the familiar laugh paired with a high pitched giggle.

“Seriously though- Thanks for helping me with Chem.” The female voice countered, “I’d be lost without you.”

Y/N was flat backed to the cool, red bricks that made up the library building. Listening in to what was being said.

“No problem Liz,” Peter laughed nervously, Y/N could almost imagine the awkward neck rub that he did whenever he laughed like that, “I really enjoyed it- I-I’m glad I could help.”

So it was Liz that Peter stood her up with. Ouch- that stung.

The sorcerer's daughter felt tears drip down her cheeks, she sniffled quietly and kicked off the wall brushing past Peter and Liz briskly.

But all she could hear was Peter’s voice calling behind her. Shouting desperately for her to stop and let him explain.

But she did what she knew best, she went home to her family.

The next few days fell victim to the onslaught of messages that Peter sent to Y/N via text.

Even the sounds of her phone buzzing were beginning to set Y/N on edge. Especially since she knew that the notification coming through would be from Peter, begging to let him ‘explain.’

But once more in true Strange fashion, Y/N worked and worked and worked. Until the bio project was finished- almost four weeks in advance.

The way she saw it was that If the work had been completed, then there was no real to hang out with Peter ever again.

He, however, didn’t seem to have the same idea. As 3 weeks later on Monday, Peter had resorted to cornering the girl in the school's supply closet.

He didn’t want to do it, but Y/N gave him no choice. Peter had to explain himself.

“Peter- what the hell?” Y/N yelped, she was beyond pissed at this point.

“You haven’t been returning my texts and calls,” he shrugged, “I need to explain myself.”

“Like hell you do.” She spat, “Look it doesn’t matter, I’ve finished the damn project- we don’t need to see each other again.”

Peter looked shocked and there was hurt in his eyes, “Y/N...”

“What do you want me to say, Peter? That I’m not hurt?” She pursed her lips to stop the tears from leaking, “You left me for hours in the library all while you were having fun with Liz- how is that fair?”

“Please don’t cry,” He whispered, pulling her into his body in an embrace, “I can’t stand it when you cry.”

“You left me alone Peter!” She fought against his embrace, “Like everyone in my life!”

Peter held Y/N against him, rubbing her back and shushing her. Trying anything to bring her calm.

“I got nervous.”

Y/N lifted her head, “What?”

“I got nervous- I’ve- I’ve liked you for forever y’know. I was outside the library for 10 minutes willing myself to go in.” He laughed softly, “But every time I saw you sat there- I just froze.”

The young girl looked up in shock, “But-But Liz?”

“I was about to get reprimanded for loitering, she got me out of the situation. I was going to call you but my phone died.”

Y/N didn’t realise how close together they were until their foreheads touched and their noses bumped.

It felt like her heart was about to beat out of her chest. It was ironic really because when they finally met in a kiss it felt like all time had stopped.

She could feel every touch on her cheeks, his hair and how it ran through her fingers, how minty he smelt. Everything stood still and for a few moments, you had everything you’d ever wanted in the palm of your hand.

What Y/N had failed to notice was the glowing golden portal that had appeared in the supply closet- even worse the thoroughly unimpressed man standing through it.

“Y/N Strange you are so dead!”

“Shit!”

#mcu #marvel #stephen strange #doctor strange #strange!daughter #strange!reader #peterparkerxreader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #peterparker #peter parker x reader #tom holland x reader #tomholland #tom holland #benedict cumberbatch #spiderman #request

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dothwrites · 4 years

Text

@redridinghood03 requested Destiel baking together with a flour war. <3

---

It’s an odd sort of life for a hunter when the worst catastrophe of the day is finding Cas trying to do things in the kitchen.

“Thought we agreed that you weren’t going to experiment anymore,” Dean says, cautiously, because it’s 11am, which is still an hour before Cas is considered fully human. Antagonizing Cas at this hour, when a quick glance at the coffee maker tells him that the former angel is only a cup and a half deep, is a ballsy measure, but Dean didn’t get to his advanced age by playing safe. “Or that you would at least bring along an adventure buddy.”

Cas doesn’t deign to look at him as he studies the flour spread out across the countertop with toddler like intensity.

“Dean, when the ancestors of humanity’s ancestors were still swimming in the oceans, I was already a garrison commander,” Castiel says, and yeah, Dean made him mad. That’s a definite pissy tone in his voice.

“All right grouchy, no need to brag.”

Cas just grunts at him. Throwing caution to the winds, Dean creeps forward, enough that he can see the sad looking lump of...something...in the mixing bowl.

“So uh...we’re having...” Dean’s nose wrinkles as he looks at the greyish lump congealing in the stainless steel bowl. He feels as though he should look away, just so this monstrosity can pass from the world in some kind of peace. At his elbow, he can feel the slow burn of Cas’ irritation. “Gruel?” he finally guesses.

“I’ll just clean it up,” Cas says.

Thing is, Dean loves ruffling Cas’ metaphorical feathers. He loves the look that Cas gets on him, like a cat who’s just been sprayed in the face with a squirt gun and holds a grudge over it. There’s something so delightful about seeing Castiel, badass former angel of the Lord, snapping and snarling because Dean changed the channel or moved his book or inconvenienced him in any way, shape, or form.

He’d hoped for that pissy little reaction. What he gets is so much worse. Cas’ voice is resigned as he turns to the pathetic huddle of failure in front of him. The disappointment clear in the slump of his spine rubs against some half-healed, raw spot of Dean’s, until he’s rushing forward and catching the cold goop in his hands. It’s simultaneously lumpy and unnaturally smooth and he bites back the automatic gag as the soft, sticky mess oozes through the spaces in his fingers.

“Maybe we can save this,” he tries. It’s a pipe-dream--This is obviously beyond saving, but anything to make that disappointed look disappear from Cas’ face. “What were you trying to make anyway?”

Cas’ face gets that squinty, shifty look that it does when he’s trying to figure out the best way to slide around the relevant facts. Out of all of humanity’s little quirks, Dean wishes that Cas hadn’t taken to lying like a duck to water, but the good news is, for the most part, Cas is pretty fucking obvious when he decides to throw a little lie in the mix.

Case in point: right fucking now.

“A pastry dish,” Cas finally lands on.

Dean can’t stop his snort, which is not a good thing, because all that does is serve to piss Cas off even further. Dean asks, around his own little helpless burbles of laughter and Cas’ half-snarl, “A pastry dish? Cas, you know that making pastry is like...well, it’s hard,” he finishes lamely, Cas’ glare finally getting to him. He bumps his hips into Cas’, ignores the little shiver of delight that he gets from the action and takes Cas’ place at the counter. “You don’t do anything by halves,” Dean murmurs.

It all makes sense now: the flour, the butter, the eggs, even the sodden lump of hopeful dough in the bowl. The only thing that Dean can’t understand is why Cas would wake up with the burning need to turn contestant on a baking show. As a human, Cas is vulnerable to whims, but this is stranger than most.

“All right.” Dean rolls up his sleeves and surveys the countertop, same way he used to look at the weapons stashed in the back of the Impala. “Tell me what we’re dealing with.”

“I was going to make it myself.” There’s something petulant in Cas’ tone, which Dean would normally roll right over (another bit of humanity that Dean wishes Cas hadn’t caught onto so quickly was the idea of stubbornness) but what makes him stop is the ragged, raw edge of something else. He doesn’t know what it is, but it’s not just a whim, like he originally thought. For whatever reason, Cas has decided that making this stupid pastry thing matters.

“I know.” Dean dares to lean into Cas’ space, touch his shoulder to Cas’. Something about the contact relaxes them both, lets a little breath of fresh air into the room. “But no offense, you’re going to need some help. I’m here, I’m willing...Let’s just get it done.”

The look on Cas’ face says that he’s not thrilled with Dean’s logic, but that he also doesn’t see a logical alternative. So Dean listens as Cas rattles off the ingredients that he’ll need (human or not, Castiel has a mind like a steel trap, which comes in damn handy most times) and the basic instructions.

The flour hits the bowl with a soft whump and sends up a little cloud everywhere. Dean blinks through it, wiping away the bit that’s gotten on his cheeks. He rubs his fingers together before he looks over at Cas.

“Oh hell,” he says around his laughter, “you’ve got...”

A fine patina of flour sits on Cas’ hair, nose, and shoulders. It looks like he’s been in through a snowstorm or that he has the worst case of dandruff ever. Dean can’t help but laugh because the overly dignified stare that Cas tries to defend himself with doesn’t help relieve the ridiculousness of the situation. Instead, it just adds to it, like watching a cat trying to recover its lost dignity.

Dean’s chuckles morph into outright laughter, becoming louder and more uncontrolled the more that Castiel tries to pull his cloak of dignity around him. Finally, Cas’ facade and patience both snap and he does that which Dean was not expecting him to do.

Dean sputters around the sudden face full of flour, spitting clouds of white away from his mouth as he snorts in small bursts. He blinks to clear his vision and looks at Cas. Cas’ face is a mixture of satisfaction, horror at his own daring, and slowly but surely, delight. As Dean watches, the sheer joy eclipses everything else, until Cas is grinning, huge and wide and gummy, before he starts to laugh.

He’s heard Cas chuckle before, short little huffs through his nose and, rarer than a blue moon, an occasional short bark of amusement (usually at Dean’s expense, but sometimes they watch funny stuff on TV). But this is the first time that he’s ever heard Cas laugh, a full bodied sound that comes up deep from the diaphragm and explodes through the kitchen, rich and warm and infectious enough that soon, Dean’s laughing along with him.

“Asshole,” he says, gasping around his laughs as he seizes a handful of flour and tosses it in Cas’ general direction. It falls well short of him, but the intention was clear, and suddenly, like children, they’re chasing each other around the kitchen, dodging over and under tables and countertops, throwing flour.

Castiel may have been the commander of an angelic garrison for thousands of years, but Dean’s an older brother. There was only ever one way that this was going to end.

It ends with Cas cornered against the fridge, hands empty as Dean advances on him, bag of flour in hand. “Dean,” Cas tries, holding his hands out in what Dean supposes is supposed to be reconciliation. “Dean, there’s no need for...Look at the kitchen, it’s already a mess...”

“Yes it is.” Dean’s cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. “And whose fault is that, Castiel?”

Cas’ face shifts from a poor attempt at pleading to his smitey expression, eyes narrowed and mouth pressed into a flat line. “You started it,” he says, flatly, uncompromising.

“Did I?” Dean asks, calm and sedate as he dumps half the bag over Cas’ head.

After the dust settles (it turned out to be a kamikaze attack, the flour dust got Dean as well as Cas), they slump onto the floor, still huffing with breathless laughter. Dean’s shoulder presses into Cas’ and his fingers are tangled through Cas’. He decides to leave them there.

“So what were you making?” Dean asks. Whatever it was, it’s long beyond salvaging now. He supposes that after they clean up, they can either try for Take 3 or, they can just do what they probably should have done to begin with, which is to go down to Lebanon’s bakery and buy whatever it is that Cas had a hankering for.

Cas slants his eyes at him. “Well, it was March 14th, so I was trying to honor that occasion.”

It takes Dean a minute to link the pieces together. “A pie,” he finally comes up with. “You were...you were trying to bake a pie.”

“In honor of the day,” Cas says, seriously as if Pi Day were an internationally recognized day of mourning and not a fun coincidence that high school teachers all over the country seized.

Dean’s still not done putting the pieces together. “You were making a pie because...” The last piece slots into place and Dean’s cheeks heat, at the same time as a grin starts to spread across his face. “Cas, were you making a pie for me?”

Cas is definitely looking shifty now, his fingers twitching underneath Dean’s as he starts to brush at the flour covering his jeans. Dean doesn’t let him pull away and laces his fingers tightly with Cas’. He doesn’t push or prod, because he’s learned through painful experimentation that pushing Cas too fast and too far beyond his comfort zone ends in nothing more than a snapped Fuck off Dean at best and a slapped ear at worst, but he also doesn’t let Cas pull away. Because Dean also knows that, while Cas aspires to be a world-class liar, there’s nothing he craves more than the truth. From everyone, but most often, himself.

“It’s possible,” Cas begins, belligerence covering up something pale and vulnerable, “that, since it was already associated with the day, and since I knew that it was your favorite dessert, that it could be thought that I was making the pie for you--”

“You were going to make me a pie,” Dean breathes, just before he puts a hand on Cas’ cheek to tilt his head towards him. He checks Cas’ eyes, a silent is this ok and the look he gets from Cas screams full speed ahead, so Dean leans forward.

Absurd that after all this time, what it takes is a failed pie and a kitchen doused in flour. But, Dean thinks, before Cas’ lips meet his and then he’s not thinking about much at all, much like pie crust, it’s usually not about the individual ingredients, but more the process and the sum of its parts.

---

Later, curled up in his bed, satisfaction and bliss still humming through his veins, Dean nuzzles at the underside of Cas’ jaw, stubble prickling alongside his nose and cheeks. “Was there something that we forgot to do?” he asks, voice heavy and thick with impending sleep. “Feels like we’re missing something.”

“Don’t know.” Cas’ arm curves over Dean’s waist and settles possessively on the small of his back. Miles and miles of skin are pressed against his and Dean loves it, would bottle this feeling and take hits off of it like a junkie if he could. “Sleep now. Worry later.”

“Yeah,” Dean yawns, already halfway gone. Cas is right. Whatever it is that they’re missing, they can figure it out after a nap.

That’s his last thought, at least until he hears the Sam’s shrill, “What the hell?” coming from the kitchen.

Oh, Dean thinks, remembering the flour covering almost every inch of the kitchen, as well as the incriminating patterns made in said flour, as well as the obvious articles of clothing left in the kitchen.

That’s what we forgot to do.

Then he sleeps.

#destiel #destiel fic #destiel fanfic #fluff #castiel in the bunker #human!cas #dean winchester #castiel #dothwrites

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twistednuns · 3 years

Text

February 2021

Irises and purple, lavender and white hyacinths. For merely three bucks. What a gorgeous bouquet.

My own thai curry recipe. It's THAT delicious.

A pep talk from Manu. Realising I really need to take more chances. And get rid of that dude I've been hanging out with. I've been feeling so stuck lately. I'm toying with the idea of giving it all up. Quitting my job. Leaving the country. Just to see what happens. Because I'm pretty sure I'll love what happens next. / Whatever worlds you live in, there are other worlds out there. If you are uninspired living life a certain way, it’s your duty to change. Nothing, not a relationship or job or housing situation, is worth sacrificing your ravenous hunger for life for. X

I feel my obsession with artificial cherry flavour creeping back up on me. Cherry-flavoured diet coke is one of my guiltiest pleasures.

I keep seeing those multicolour graffiti tags everywhere and I finally found out what kind of pen they use for this effect! I ordered one, I just had to, and it's fantastic. So beautiful and vibrant! I've already asked around how illegal it is to walk around the neighbourhood signing my tag on random surfaces...

Fresh pineapple.

The ocean. Talking about diving. Watching documentaries about marine life like My Octopus Teacher and Blue Planet. Drawing nautical objects, sea dragons and mollusks.

Learning more about apophenia.

It actually smells like spring in the forest and the days are already so much longer. I even saw a deer jumping over the path last night. I even got Frank to join my on my walk for the first time.

A little glimpse of summer. The south of France is my happy place I keep going back to. But there are more little reminders of the world out there, of travel and summer, that I thoroughly enjoy. Like watching Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat with Samin Nosrat. Not only do I really want to try making my own Tahdig now but I also kept smiling throughout the whole show because they filmed episodes in Italy, Japan and Mexico. Just imagine walking across a citrus market in the Yucatan right now. Or making Pesto Genovese with an Italian nonna in a Ligurian castle. Maybe even learning how to make your own miso in a remote corner of Japan. There is so much longing within me at the moment. What made my virtual culinary travels even better was Netflix's Street Food series. I especially enjoyed the episodes from Bolivia and Mexico.

I May Destroy You. Different, and very relevant.

This year's Valentine's Day happened to be pretty rad. So I've exchanged the boring nerd I had been dating with an exciting artist from Colombia. John is a painter, a poet, photographer and filmmaker who gave me a Spanish copy of an Oscar Wilde book with a poem he had written for me. My cold and cynical German heart is not used to wooing on this level but I love it. On Sunday we walked through the English Garden and Schwabing in the sunshine, took photos, looked at some art and antiquarian bookshop windows. We saw two cats inside the cat café, bought fancy macarons at Maelu and just kept talking. I even found a few interesting books about dream interpretation on my way home. John has a reference to Kleist's tragedy Penthesilea tattooed on his collarbone - Küsse/Bisse ("das reimt sich, und wer recht von Herzen liebt, kann schon das eine für das andre greifen"). He is a Scorpio with impeccable taste and sends me songs he plays for me on the guitar / Cocteau Twins tunes upon waking up. I really needed this.

Having my students create English comics with Pixton. I love how much their avatars actually look like them! I hope they had fun, too.

The smell of cherry-flavoured candy wafting through the air.

Semolina pudding with banana. The subtle heat does something to the bananas; the combination is simply delicious.

I watched the first season of Chef's Table and was really impressed by Francis Mallmann. I admire his courage and lifestyle. The constant change he craves. The way he speaks foreign languages and just bravely does his very own, unique thing. I want to live like that, too.

A crystal clear view of the Orion constellation.

Very fine snow powder against the sunlight. As if it was raining glitter.

Feeling cool and confident. A fleeting feeling but it makes such a big difference.

When we practice forgiveness, we let go of shame. Embedded in our shame is always a sense of being unworthy. It separates. Compassion and forgiveness reconnect us. / reading bell hooks' all about love.

Mustering up enough motivation to go through all my stuff in the basement and put a few items on eBay. I'd been putting this off for years now.

I'm amazed how good my phone camera is. I took some pictures in the pitch-black forest and you can make out the moonlight on the path and even see star constellations on the photo.

Spending quality time with a cuddly kitty boi.

Blue corn quesadillas prepared for me by a bloody gorgeous Mexican metalhead.

Writing that message I should have written weeks ago (letting Simon know that I wasn't particularly interested in dating him anymore).

Trolli burgers. The best gummy candy out there. Arguably the most fun. I love being able to disassemble my food and eat it layer by layer.

John's story about that acid trip on a boat somewhere in the ocean off the Colombian coast. They lay under the bright moonlight and were suddenly surrounded by Gray whales communicating with each other through song.

The spicy smell of a fresh, moist loaf of rye bread. Eating it with soured butter and salt.

The first snowdrops of the year.

Another one about the moon: walking home late one evening there was a lunar corona in the fog. I loved how the light illuminated my arms in that cool, white light.

The morning after the worst weekend in months or maybe even years (with both a mental breakdown and a medical emergency because misery loves company, eh?) Waking up early, pain-free. With a little spark of excitement and motivation. Just lying around for an hour in the darkness. Meditating. Falling back asleep for a little while. Getting up eventually, brushing my teeth and hair, painting my nails.

Painting more. Just experimenting with colour, intuitively. Without putting pressure on myself. The other night I painted with oil pastels and chalky pastel crayons while watching Dawson's Creek (I successfully avoided this series for 20 years and now, in my thirties, I start watching it?).

Bananas with nut butter, dark chocolate and sea salt.

Meditating with the blanket covering my nose. Breathing in fresh laundry smell.

Riding home from school with Anastasia, talking about diving adventures.

Reading Jill Heinerth's book Into the Planet. Her career as an explorer and cave diver is breathtakingly exciting. I couldn't put that memoir down. And it made me even more antsy. I'm really unhappy and bored right now - I wanna go out and learn something new, explore, live a little more.

Going to work without make-up. In the last ten or even fifteen years I put on make-up every single day I went to school. I'm done. Lockdown made me come to terms with the look of my bare face.

Learning about Antarctica cruises. It only takes about 24hours to reach the area from Argentina! I'd really love to go but the cruises are crazy expensive.

My house plants sprouting new leaves.

The moment the pain suddenly stops and you can breathe again.

Tropical breakfast. Banana, kiwi, mango, pineapple. And plain yoghurt. Decidedly non-tropical.

#personal #present perfect #things i love #february 2021 #2021 #february

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inmyarmswrappedin · 4 years

Text

DRUCK reactions - s4 ep1

Ages ago I said I wanted to write meta about Cris’ and Matteo’s seasons, so of course, when I finally sit down to write reactions to a Skam remake, it’s about Amira instead.

A few weeks back I was composing tumblr posts in bed before falling asleep (my number 1 hobby lol) when it struck me that the writing for Amira’s season was really… indefensibly bad. So let’s stroll down through memory lane and revisit Druck s4, or how to throw away your potential because you have to put out this season before summer is over!

CLIP 1: Dark clouds over Winterberg

Obviously I’m writing these with the benefit of hindsight, but I will try and incorporate what my initial reaction to a clip was whenever I can remember.

Sometime between the Abiball episode and episode 32, I argued (on twitter) that the Abiball special was the Abiball episode instead, the first episode of Amira’s season. It would thus introduce us to the conflicts and characters that would take place during Amira’s season. I thought that in addition to the obvious Amira/Mohammed, Carlos/Kiki/Essam would be important, Kiki’s family life would be important, Stefan would be important, and David/Matteo would probably not be important as they seemed to be doing just fine in their scenes.

I didn’t think Mia/Alex would be important because I didn’t actually watch their clip lol. The Winterberg stans on my twitter orbit thought the clip was cute and nothing to worry about. That should’ve been my first clue that the (twitter) stan habit of repeating the “we never lose” mantra doesn’t make for great viewing comprehension, because watching the clip, it’s so obvious that shit is gonna go down lol.

Mia moves from one of the flat share’s bathrooms to the other because they never really recreated Mia’s room in the s3 flat share.

I still haven’t watched Mia’s episode, so I don’t know how all this stuff is going to get resolved, but it seems like Mia doesn’t think they can handle a LDR, and Alex is picking up on those vibes hard. I guess I don’t really get why Mia is so pessimistic about it because at that age I kinda thought a few months break weren’t really an obstacle. (Not sure if it would help me to watch Mia’s season, because this seems like a wholly new conflict.)

Anyway, Alex acts sweet/reassuring (I really like how soft spoken everyone is in this episode), so Mia puts it out of her mind for now. But Idk, they haven’t really spoken about the elephant in the room.

CLIP 2: Don’t call them the chastest evak ever again

Tbh this clip comes across as a direct rebuttal to all the s3 commentary about David and Matteo seeming like they’re not into each other, or like they aren’t ~passionate~ like the other evaks.

It’s like, “these gremlins are horny on main, now shut up.”

But I like that they’re fully dressed, like yes, you can show physical intimacy without undressing your teen actors (shade fully intended).

I love Lukas von Horbatschewsky’s hair and I’m very jealous of Matteo in this sequence, lmao.

Luis Sepúlveda died of coronavirus this year, in Spain. You’re welcome for that bit of 2020 misery dripping onto this cute clip.

I do think David feels guilty that he may have caused Matteo to fail his Spanish exam because of David’s own issues, which I think is very on brand for David. Obviously it wasn’t his fault.

I really like how soft spoken everyone is in this episode, 2X.

And this has been said a million times by now, but David and Matteo are the one evak version where they’re the same age (Joana is in the same year as Cris, but is a year older, so she must’ve gotten held back at some point). So it’s funny, and possibly a reference to Isak and Even, to see David talking about what it’d be like if they had that age difference. Like, maybe David would be more like Even in behavior! And, going by Matteo’s reaction, he wouldn’t be into that.

This clip really feels like the ending to Matteo and David. They’ll go on a road trip, they’ll work on David’s movie, they’ll be around, but this clip is their conclusion. They both feel secure and content in their relationship, and ready for everything that’s to come.

Like I said on the post about Cris and Joana, I like that David and Matteo don’t have further issues. And while I have tons of issues with Druck s4, which I will be talking about forever in the following posts, I never had an issue with how they deployed Matteo or David. (Okay, self. Now say that again without crying about David’s season that should have been.)

Fucking David cutting their make out short only to then say such a highkey flirty, romantic thing to Matteo though. No wonder Matteo’s like, “STOP, I’M SUPPOSED TO STUDY.”

CLIP 3: A challenger appears!

I like the fanon that David is a healthy eater (or at least in comparison to Matteo), because all we ever see David eat of his own volition (i.e. not food that was made for him) is candy.

God, I love Kiki snatching David’s fruity gummies out of his hands. It makes me laugh every time, particularly how she demands to know if the candy is vegan.

Hanna looks beautiful. ;_;

There’s a split second when Jonas is about to give Hanna that box where David looks alarmed in the background. In my mind he’s all, “Bro, no. Not a public proposal. Reel it back in, bro!”

And then, to the surprise of Jonas and all the viewers, we find out that not only are Jonas and Hanna not together, but Hanna is dating German Arthur. Again, in “fandom refuses to acknowledge storyline conflict until it’s staring right at them” news, Stefan had actually been introduced via an audio to Hanna the day before, but people were convinced it was Hanna’s dad. Whose actor they called just to record an audio. Clearly.

My belief at this point was that Stefan would be relevant to Amira’s storyline, but instead it was just a way to give Hanna her own episode. 🤡

Matteo’s transformation into Michi is complete by donning his grandpa hat.

He also makes to trip David for no real reason. Throwback to Unter Wasser.

Matteo saying Inshallalalah in a sing song voice is cute, but so annoying.

Matteo Florenzi: He’s a pain in the ass, but we love him.

CLIP 4: I guess Abdi and Axel picked up his grades at another point

I love the way Matteo grabs David’s head to pull him along. They’re so cute and I’m gonna enjoy every second.

Jonas also grabs Hanna along, because fans needed to be further confused as to what was happening with Hanna and Stefan and Jonas.

Thank you, Druck, for telling me Kiki’s and Amira’s grades, but as you can understand, that’s nowhere near enough to satisfy my curiosity and I will be needing to know everyone’s GPA because that is the kind of thing that’s important to me. What about it!!!

I think, going by how impressed Mia is, that Mia’s grade isn’t as good as Amira’s. Which I think is a neat detail, since the Nooras are kind of supposed to be the perfect girls. I like that Amira is even better than Mia at school.

I thought the concept of Carlos failing his final exam and maybe realizing school wasn’t his thing would’ve been an interesting storyline to explore, but I’m not mad that it didn’t happen. Hopefully Druck will touch on it with the next kids.

And we’re now treated to three reveals about Kiki. Kiki has a sister (now she has two), she likes the idea of moving out and living with Carlos, and her mom isn’t doing well.

The remakes trying to develop their Vildes past s4 make sense to me. By the end of Skam, Vilde clearly was the character who’d been the most robbed of a season, there were several potential storylines to do with her. Financial instability, alcoholic mom, eating disorders, plus it seemed obvious that any season taking place during the girls’ russetide should go to her. And that’s without getting into Vilde’s strong denial that she was a lesbian.

So the remakes are sitting on all these potential storylines, but as we now know, they can’t make their own Vilde season.

And from a European TV exec’s point of view, Vilde (who in every version is a white, skinny, ostensibly straight girl) is a very safe main after the gay and Muslim seasons.

Cue the LITTLE SISTER.

I get why people are fed up with the Vildes’ prominence in the remakes that are in their latter stages, but at the same time we got 8 versions of Noora’s season, most of which are a limpdicked enemies to lovers story with a misguided sexual assault storyline tacked at the end. (And I say misguided because after a strong start, it’s mostly about what William will think, how William will react, I can’t tell William about this, etc.) So in my case, I’ve had quite enough Noora to last me a lifetime, but my Vilde thirst has only begun to be quenched.

Tangent over, Kiki lies that she’s not going to the lake because she’s going to check on Carlos. Bad form, Kiki.

CLIP 5: Graduation (Friends Forever).mp3

In clown news, I predicted there’d be a clip between the Kiki stuff and the actual dance (maybe a Sam clip), as it seemed to me there wasn’t much of a connection between Kiki looking sad on that ping pong table and PARTY TIME. Lol at me.

And speaking of clowning, while I thought the Abiball episode was part of s4, I also thought that was fine because it was just doing the multi POV episode in the beginning of the season rather than at the end, right? Wrong.

As much as it would’ve been great if Sam and Abdi had storylines pertaining to racism and islamophobia (whether Abdi is or isn’t a Muslim, people would probably assume he is), I also have to admit… This conversation is hilarious.

“I want to have intercourse with you.” [glass breaks in the background]

Abdi closing his speech with a wide smile gvvhvh.

The first hundred times I watched this scene, I thought Alex seemed a bit alarmed at the conversation taking place, but really… We’re back to stone-faced Alex lol.

Don’t kill me, but I feel a little bad for Abdi in this moment. He really put himself out there and Sam just leaves without giving him an answer, yikes. I actually got tired of Abdi’s sad sackiness during the season, but right now I feel for him. L

There’s this smile Jonas sometimes directs at dudes (like Alex here) that makes me think… Bi. He also directs it at Matteo in s3.

Ugh.

There’s a parallel universe where Stefan was the villain of Amira’s season, and it would’ve been a much more interesting season than the one we got.

Because Stefan is a bit of a Darth Jonas. He works for Greenpeace, but, at least in this scene, seems a bit full of himself, and like… twisting the knife in a way that feels like it has to be intentional. And it would’ve been so interesting if Druck had tackled the white dudes who seem like they’re not going to be assholes about Muslims, but then turn around and say some shocking garbage. I’m sure we’ve all met a guy like that before.

In my mind, Stefan would’ve driven a wedge between Hanna and Amira, which would’ve been way more compelling than what we got, but on the other hand, it probably would’ve made fandom people hate Hanna, and people outside of fandom hate Amira.

Anyway, tag teaming gays! I love how David and Matteo share a look and immediately take care of both Jonas and Stefan.

I also love it when David looks murderous. It looks good on him.

But I feel like this didn’t go anywhere? Like, Matteo always hated Stefan and continued hating Stefan until the finale. In this scene, David seems to dislike Stefan just as much, but it’s not a thread they bother following. It’s too bad because I think Matteo and David together sabotaging Stefan is a lot funnier than just Matteo doing it.

I love how soft spoken Amira is when telling Essam not to show up at her graduation party. I would’ve been a lot less polite lmao.

You know, I actually thought Kiki was genuine here when she said she wasn’t a fan of competitions. Obviously that’s not the Kiki we’ve known until this point, but like, I thought it was meant to show character development on her part, But we’ll talk about THAT more in the following episodes.

Matteo fully blames their win on David being so hot, mysterious and new, and it’s hilarious because that’s also what initially drew him to David. Like, “fuck you for being so hot!”

I thought it was such a nice detail that they brought back the girl from the refugee classes in s1. We’re saying goodbye to all these school people who are going on their own post high school journeys without us!

In my mind, Abdi and Alex are talking about something completely serious, like, I don’t know, Abdi’s dad wanting him to study business and Alex advising Abdi on the best business schools in Berlin or something.

I feel like Hanna is the one girl in the squad who really doesn’t feel ready for post high school life and I HATE the writers so much for how they wrapped her character up, but we’ll save that for later.

I could watch Matteo passing the tiara (=the main) to Amira forever. The way he tips his hat and looks like even he’s a little surprised that he (a character like him!) was ever the lead on a teen show, David’s voice asking Matteo if he’s coming, Matteo leaving with David to live happily ever after, the initial notes of Just Got Paid as Amira looks at nighttime Berlin. This meme is overdone by now, but THE POETIC CINEMA.

Jonas glaring at romantic rivals at end of year dances is iconic at this point.

Amira being tagteamed by an annoying little brother AND a well-meaning, embarrasing older brother. Choose your own nightmare.

I really love the set up for the Essam/Kiki/Carlos conflict. The emotional potential is SO good because on one hand you have Kiki, who wants to have a good time for once instead of parenting her own parent, then Carlos whose self-esteem is on the floor after having failed his final exam, and Essam, whose own sense of self-worth hinges upon whether white German girls find him attractive. Like, obviously Essam is never going to come between Kiki and Carlos who have been through some shit together, but with Carlos out of commission and Essam eager to please, you can see how the situation could so easily turn into a mess.

Amira and Mohammed have the most sexual tension out of any Yousana pair, period. They literally just said hi to each other and I already feel like I’m intruding gvhvhv.

Social media

David saying of Matteo: “Er bekommt Auslauf.” (Something like, “he gets walkies” because he’s been good with revising) is the cutest shit ever.

Remember when Stefan sent Jonas a whole ass message and signed it “with sunny greetings”? Stefan was much more fun when we were supposed to find him unbearable.

Kiki creating a new Whatsapp group for every single thing is so true to life.

I’d forgotten that Amira also hated Stefan almost right away. The season that could’ve been, I tell you.

All the Abi Chaker Clan content reminds me of how I thought Jonas looked like, well, such a child, compared to Stefan, and I thought that was intentional. Like, here is Stefan with a Greenpeace job whereas Jonas doesn’t know what to do with his life, and he’s like, spray-painting abi chaker clan onto walls and posting pics to the abi chaker clan account. It’s not that I thought Jonas should’ve acted like a whole ass adult, of course he’s having fun with his high school friends, but I thought Jonas might feel inadequate in comparison to where Stefan is at this point of his life.

I can’t remember who revealed it, but Sara was supposed to end up with Toilet Sam and that was supposed to come out during the s3 finale (on that week, Sara posted a story with a guy whose face was obscured iirc). Since that was part of the clip where Hanna and Jonas also got back together, which they cut to make way for Hanna/Jonas/Stefan drama, Sara takes some other dude to the Abiball. And I think we’re supposed to think that’s the same dude she went on that date with.

#druck #these are very heavily inspired by lightsandlostbells' format btw!#in case you wanted to check her out #about druck

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frankieabii · 5 years

Text

|| Dear No One || Ch. 1

Summary: Bay St.James was perfectly happy crushing on guys from afar and writing love letters that she never dreamed she’d send. So what happens when the letters she prayed no one ever saw, suddenly got sent out to their intended recipients? Especially when one of those happens to be Bay’s sister’s boyfriend!

Pairing: Jungkook x OC, Yoongi x OC, Jimin x OC, Taehyung x OC, Hoseok x OC, Namjoon x OC, Jin x OC

Genre: Fluff, Romance, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before!au, High School!au, Fake Dating!au, Friends To Lovers!au

Word Count: 1595

Warnings: none

Author’s Note: Holy crap my friends I am so freaking excited to post this story! I’m a HUGE ASS fan of TATBILB and I just HAD TO put it into a series. thanks to @chan-yolo for being so supportive of me writing this and reading everything for me lmao. CHAPTER 1 IS HERE!

For as long as I can remember, I have liked to save things, never anything important or relevant like the planet or an endangered species, hell, or even a cat stuck in a tree! It was always small things, charms, trinkets; like those small ugly porcelain figures you can find in thrift shops. Hair scrunchies by the bucket load. Love letters. Out of everything I have ever saved, my love letters are the things that mean the most to me.

The letters are kept hidden in a lilac box, topped with a silk rose that my mom got me when I was a child, from an old store in our town that no longer exists. They aren’t love letters, romantic notions, that someone else has written to me; I don’t get those. No, these are ones that I have written myself, and there's one for every boy I have ever loved - seven in total.

The first was Jungkook, when I was seven years old. Jungkook Jeon was the son of one of my mom's friends, a couple of years younger than myself but cuter than a bunny in spring. Floppy dark hair that always fell into in big brown eyes, and a little smile that resembled that of a bunny rabbit, tiny, sweet and blushing. I remember him coming over for playdates with myself and my sisters, which always ended up with us picking the games, overruling all ideas that Jungkook had had, insisting that we play house, dress up or have a tea party. I cringe at the thought now, how mean it was to force this five-year-old boy into tiaras and fairy wings, to be the dad when we played house. It went along for a year, until his dad got a job overseas and they moved away. I wrote the letter the day I found out he moved.

Next was Yoongi Min, a boy a year older than my nine-year-old self. He wasn't much taller than me but had warm brown eyes and a small smile when he was shy and a big gummy smile that could light up a room when he was laughing. Our dads worked together at the time, and his dad held a Christmas party for several of his work colleagues and their families, and my family was invited. It was a nice party, fancy food and glittering decorations that hung from the ceiling, and I enjoyed it until my nine-year-old self was unknowingly stood under mistletoe next to Yoongi. His mom insisted that he kiss me, as I was stood frozen in fear, he pressed a quick kiss to my cheek and then ran away very promptly, not before giving me one of his precious gummy smiles. I wrote Yoongi’s letter on New Year's Eve, and my dad got a new job a week later.

When I was eleven years old, there was Jimin Park, angelic face and innocent eyes that turned moon-shaped when he smiled or laughed. My mom had signed me up to dance lessons, and Jimin was assigned to be my partner. He moved so gracefully and elegantly, whilst I stomped around like an elephant in an awful mood. He was always so eager to help me perfect the dances and the movements, always patient when I struggled and enthusiastic when I got it right. Then, for Jimin, puberty hit like a bat out of hell and suddenly every girl wanted to be his dance partner, and I was cast aside like yesterdays news. Jimin’s letter was written in anger, that day after I got home, and refused a dance lesson ever again.

I fell in love with Taehyung Kim when I was thirteen years old at Evergreen Summer Camp. Taehyung had long dark hair that fell onto his eyes when he laughed, and a boxy smile that made him charmingly adorable. He was smart and funny, and was always causing mischief around the camp that my mom had insisted on sending me to, as my older sister Ivy had gone a few years prior and wanted to make it a tradition amongst my sisters and I. I followed him around like a lost puppy and clung onto his every word like a spider monkey, until he pushed me into the lake and laughed at me with his friends. I wrote his letter in my bunk, my hair matted with salt lake water.

Hoseok Jung was my first ever date. When his sunshine bright smile had asked me to a school dance when I was fourteen years old, I couldn’t say no. Hoseok had gotten me a flower to pin into my hair, that matched the one pinned onto the pocket of his shirt. We had laughed, and danced all night; myself horrifically and he danced with rhythm and excitement in every move. He kept dragging me out onto the dancefloor, even when I had protested that my feet were about to fall off, he spun me around the dancefloor like we were the only two in the room. He made my heart spin around the dancefloor too, so I wrote him a letter.

At 16 years old I fell in love with Namjoon Kim. With his blonde hair cut into a fashionable style; longer on top, with an undercut on the side, his black-framed glasses, the adorable dimples that graced his cheeks whenever he laughed or smiled, and his ability to recite a Friends quote for every occasion. Namjoon was smart, and somewhat popular, not through sports, mostly by association with the ‘in-crowd’, but still much more popular than myself and the friends I could count on one hand. It was about halfway through the school year when we were all invited to a party at one of the popular kid's houses, with smuggled alcohol and kids dancing on each other in every corner. Not exactly my scene, but coerced into going by my sister Ivy, and we somehow managed to get roped into playing a game of Spin The Bottle. And Namjoon was sat in the circle, his smile slightly hazy from alcohol he had consumed, but his eyes still bright and aware of what he was doing. So we took it turns to play, each of spinning the empty beer bottle, kissing whoever it landed on. The boys all whooped and hollered whenever someone kissed, and I buried myself further and further into my jumper, thankful that the bottle missed me each time. Until it was Namjoon's turn, that was. The bottle spun round and round, over and over until it achingly came to a stop and my feet, a blush rising to my cheeks in an instant, Ivy’s eyes widening in surprise. And so, playing by the rules, he kissed me. I wrote Namjoons letter a week later, after some several daydreams about that kiss.

And finally, number seven. Seokjin Kim. Jin. Jin is the year above me at school, and the year below Ivy, and moved into the house next door to us about four years ago. He and I became friends instantly, sharing the same taste in music and movies, and playing weird questions games for hours. I never really realized I had loved him until Jin and Ivy started dating about a year and a half ago. And then I wrote his letter.

When I write the letters, I don't hold back. I write about all the things I love, that annoy me, that makes me weak at the knees. Everything I think and feel goes into the letters, every secret thought, every careful glance of observation. Nothing is left out, as I write like he’ll never read the letter because he never will. And then when I’m done, the letter is sealed forevermore in an envelope, addressed, and then stored away in the lilac box.

But my letters aren’t love letters by definition. I write the love letters when I want the crush to be over. Done with. They’re goodbye to the feelings and thoughts that the crush gave to me. After I’ve written the letter, I feel a weight off of my heart and my shoulders, and I’m now longer weighed down by all-consuming love. I can go about my day like normal, I can watch a movie and eat popcorn and not wonder which sodas he likes to drink with his popcorn; apple tango for me, or if he’s more of a sprite kind of guy. I can sing along to songs on the radio and not be belting out my heart for him. My letters are my freedom, they set me free from my crush. Or at least I thought they would.

#bts #bts fanfic #bts x reader #bts x oc #bts series #namjoon x oc #rm x oc #jin x oc #seokjin x oc #hoseok x oc #jhope x oc #jungkook x oc #jimin x oc #yoongi x oc #suga x oc #v x oc #taehyung x oc

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jjkpls · 5 years

Text

Mean Yoongi (m)

> genre : light smut, fluffy (?) drabble

> pairing : min yoongi x reader

> words : 4.2k

> warnings : spanking, language

> Min Yoongi asks you to take care of his plants when he’s gone. It doesn’t go as planned and well, he has to deal with your misbehaving ass.

> A/N : i don’t even know... i blame the Cyphers for this.

> next

Mean Yoongi 11:39: I believe I asked you to just water the plants

That is not quite close to the answer I expected from him.

How disappointing.

Sort of. I mean, I’ve known him for quite some time now. I would not say that we are that close but I sure know him well. There’s one thing about him, one constant in his behaviour, he never misses an occasion to turn down someone’s expectation.

He is just not a pleaser. I could tell that from the very get-go when, the first time we met, I saw his scrunched in what appeared to be strong disgust face when I thanked him for his (accidental) nice manners he showed.

I took it personally that time. I thought he hated me for some reason and if I’m being a hundred per cent honest, I was so vexed I started nourishing strong hatred for the guy. However, my friend Taehyung was quick to apologize on his behalf. He explained to me that actually Yoongi showing any kind of emotions around me, plus on a first encounter, was quite phenomenal and that I should feel very special. He added that Yoongi did not have enough energy to hate anyone, that I should not worry about it and that he was pretty sure he thought I was somewhat cool because he did not hiss like a mad cat when Tae mentioned that I were to visit often from now on.

So yeah, Min Yoongi is grumpy as hell and he will only ever satisfy your expectations of disappointment.

I am not sure what I was waiting for anyway.

Maybe him sending me a rude voice message cursing at me and my whole family. Or at least, the prelude of a diss track about my ass. That would have been fun.

But I forgot: Min Yoongi is not a funny guy.

I don’t even know why I like him.

The people I usually want to befriend with are quite the opposite of his kind. Kim Taehyung, for example. A bubbly, kind, cheerful, extraverted social-butterfly. Slipping on the borderline of insolence sometimes but never plain rude. He is a magnet to people.

Min Yoongi is like… I don’t know, a leaf blower? You approach him and he just throws all his unlikeable traits in your face so that he’s sure you won’t persist in trying to interact with him. He says there is no point in making himself all sweet and likeable when he hates to do that, simply because he already has too many friends. Which well, is kind of true.

But me being me, me not being able to live with myself if I show any kind of unpretty traits to any human beings (actually, to other animals too); well, for me, it’s a bit insane. I could not live this carelessly. That is why sometimes it amazes me how I can actually want to be his friend and not hate him for being a massive dick.

It doesn’t take me too long to remember though. The little slip up that his mouth has sometimes when no one is really watching. He always looks bored out of his mind if not mad even, but sometimes, I can catch from the corner of my eye his lips stretching gently in a gummy smile.

He looks like a turtle when he smiles -which may be the reason why he doesn’t do it that much- and it makes my heart so warm because his seems to be on his sleeve during these very rare moments.

After some time, I came to realize that he does care about what is surrounding him, sometimes. He is not the kind to get super into the action, he’s more of an observant and doesn’t manifest himself that much. Also when he does intervene, he always has that attitude, half-shut eyes not even looking in our direction, voice stern, firm but quiet so that everybody needs to shut up to hear him -and of course, everybody does-, all slumped on himself. And he says the most relevant things.

Like really. Things smart or important or even deep. And everybody’s left shook for an instant.

That’s also why I like him. He seems to be a huge asshole but in reality, he’s cool. He’s an artist, an incredible one. He’s so passionate, smart, and loving -even if he doesn’t show it that much, all that knows him knows that it’s there. I want him to teach me what he is doing even if I will probably never use this knowledge, and just talk and teach and explain to me how the hell he is doing so good at living this life. I want to be more like him -not the asshole part. That’s why I want to be his friend. For him to show me.

Also, he definitely does not hate me. I have doubted that fact for the longest time until their depart, last week when he sent me a text from his own phone for me to come over. I was so fucking excited I could not even deal with myself as if my long-time crush has contacted me for the first time. It actually felt better than that since well, no matter how desolate my love life is, I still saw way more chances of my crush I didn’t even have to call me than fucking Min Yoongi. Statistically, I thought there was no discussion to hold.

When I arrived, there was no crazy warm friendship reunion or whatever. Without bothering asking how I’ve been, he just led me to his studio, presented briefly the three plants hanging on a shelf and said I had to water them while he was gone.

“Can’t you pay someone to do that ?”

“Why would I pay someone to do it when you’ll do it for free.”

For so many reasons, I appreciate this friend. Even when he was looking at me with his stupid bored eyes, eyebrows raised in a what-non-sense-are-you-saying-i-don’t-have-time-for-this fashion. He knows how to test people’s patience.

“Okay. I’ll do it, Yoongi.”

He shakes his head in confusion. As if he wasn’t asking. Which I knew he wasn’t but well… People are not supposed to be that rude. Usually, people pretend to ask for a favour to people that pretend to do them a favour when, obviously in most friendships, there is an unspoken rule of obligation. You don’t really have a choice to say yes because people get easily pissed for things like that. But at least, they pretend. I haven’t seen him in over a few weeks and it’s like I forgot how inadequate he was. It’s hard to put up with his shit when you’re not mentally prepared for it. I guess I was so excited I didn’t even take the time to take a much-needed meditation before coming.

“Do you need to be so rude? You didn’t even ask how I am doing.”

“You look okay. You’re not ?” He asks, actually making the effort to look at me.

“No, I’m good.”

He clicks his tongue at that, obviously annoyed. This is insane how that old man can make you feel guilty for just conversing with him. As if I’m sucking the power out of his body and pushing him closer to death with each word I’m stealing out of his mouth.

“Great. You can go now, thank you.”

The sarcasm is so thick in his voice I know none of my disillusions can cut through it.

“Don’t you want me to hang out with you for a bit ?” I am half-giggling now, battling my eyelashes his way because I know he hates it and I know he doesn’t want me here. Unsurprisingly, he groans and proceeds to shove me out of his studio calling for Taehyung’s name so that he’ll keep me away. I want to insist more, be as annoying as possible, any reaction is a reaction, but he’s too quick to slam the door on me and lock it down.Taehyung is standing at the end of the hallway, looking rather confused.

“Dude, I won him over. He’s totally my friend!”

“Congrats, dumbass.”

That was about a week ago. Since then, he did not contact me.

He asked twice how his plants were doing and if I haven’t fucked anything up in his studio, but he did not even bother addressing me himself, he asked through Taehyung. Which I thought was incredibly rude.I know it is his way. I’m not even sincerely upset. But still, I wanted to bite him a little bit.

He always shows extreme annoyance but deep down, I’m sure he’s entertained.

So this is why, I felt like sending him a video of myself in his studio, dancing wildly with an opened bottle of beer in one hand, screaming approximative lyrics to his own band’s songs between hysterical peals of laughter. If there is one thing that pisses Min Yoongi off, it’s when “stupid kids mess with his shit”. His precious studio he spent days planning, customizing, bringing up with all those expensive sophisticated technologies, is definitely on top of the do-not-mess-with list. I can still remember distinctly him, when he gave me the instructions for his plants, insisting so much on how careful I needed to be when I’ll be coming in here. Bring a half-filled cup at a time, I don’t care how many back and forth you’ll need to do, and as soon as you’re done watering you get out, do not touch anything I’m warning you, all you need to touch is the door handle so you don’t stick your fingers anywhere else, got it ?

I felt like a little kid again, getting scolded by my parents and I hated that honestly. So of course, like a kid that’s been told so harshly to back off, I didn’t feel like listening. Also, I was curious to hear what their fire rap songs sounded like on his insane equipment. And damn, was I not disappointed.

The dancing while drinking beer came out of nowhere but was to be anticipated honestly. This studio was insanely fun. I understand why he just buries himself in there and never wants to go catch a glimpse of sun. As he is away, I wanted to show him that his studio was still preciously cared for and appreciated.Well, all this nonsense is the result of me trying to find good excuses when he’ll ask for them.But of course, Min Yoongi who never disappoints to disappoint does not even ask for anything.

Y/N 11:42: Goddamn those bassssss duuuude

Sitting nicely in his cosy leather chair, simply shaking my foot to the music, I wait not so patiently for something to happen. No matter how hard I stare at my phone, the screen remains sadly dark. What a prick.

Laying back, I spin a little. He really is no fun. Maybe I should send him a video of me pretending to spill my beer all over his computer. I could make a dramatic shaking camera filming, cut abruptly through a panic scream type of video like those prank videos gone wrong. Or maybe I should really spill my drink. No, he would hate me for real if not actually murder me. Not a good idea to get us closer. Defeated, I’m already gathering my belongings, turning off his computer, ready to abort when my phone finally rings.

TaeTae 11:59 : ___ stop now

TaeTae 11:59: I think ur going to die

Y/N 00:01: Tell him he should not get too mad it’s not good for old hearts

TaeTae 00:01: He’s not amused dumbie

TaeTae 00:03: You definitely are dying

TaeTae 00:03: Youre insane whats wrong with u

Y/N 00:11: pff u guys stink anywayYes indeed, real mature.

This happens often anyway. Not that Taehyung and his band members are your only friends. But they’re still a great source of entertainment. And when all your other friends (who don’t happen to be very numerous anyway) are all busy living their adult lives, well, it gets pretty fucking boring. Especially since you’ve just learned that you’ve made progress with the Mean Yoongi, the evolution of your friendship being the biggest quest of your life at the moment.It feels like one of this mobile game when at the very moment the game starts being fun, they make you wait for like 24 hours for you to get more gems to be able to keep playing. Except those Yoongi gems don’t take a day or two, they take two fucking weeks.

How am I supposed to be able to develop a strong friendship with so little constancy? There is no proper link between the two of us, especially because he chooses not to contact me when he is gone.

That must be the reason why, when four days later they finally come back from their tour, I kind of forgot everything about the past incident. How vexed I felt that he ignored me. And how apprehensive I should probably feel towards his reaction. Quite frankly, I’m too excited and I feel like, once he’ll have checked his studio for any dysfunction and realize everything’s good, he won’t even think about it anymore.

He might give me the stinky eye but I don’t envisage much more.When Jimin opens the door for me, smiling warmly, no commotion taking place in the background, I assume I’m all clear. Then there is a giant all-limb creature coming up to me, wrapping me in a suffocating hug and I definitely forget all about Mean Yoongi. Taehyung smiles down at me and I feel my cheeks burn with happiness. I always forget how much I miss seeing him in real, feeling his warmth and his smell -even though most often than not, he smells of sweat- until he wraps himself around me completely and kisses my head hello. I just feel bored when he’s not there, but meeting him again reminds me that it’s way more than just boresome.

Also, he is not embarrassed to show how much he missed me too, and that’s important. I just get to wave at few of the boys before he’s dragging me through the hallway to the bedroom he shares with Namjoon. The latter is standing next to his bed, trying to sort out his luggage. When he sees me, he politely tries to engage conversation but Taehyung is quick to shut him up because we have important things to do. His elder, acquainted with his antics, doesn’t even seem fazed and keeps arranging his clothes. He’s lucky he’s cute. If it were anyone else, I don’t think a leader like Namjoon would have accepted to be disrespected like that.

The very important things we need to do is simply Taehyung having to show me every single one picture he took (included the dozens of to-make-sure-he-got-it-right versions that almost all pictures have) and explaining everything that has happened.I don’t hate it. It is quite funny and touching to see someone so excited and passionate about sharing and it allows me to travel a little bit. I don’t even remember the last time I actually went on vacation. I love feeding off of his passionate tale-telling. But after an hour of monologue on his part, I start feeling my eyelids getting heavy, my eyes itchy and no matter how many times I try to switch positions, there’s not any comfortable one left.

“You. Come with me.” Taehyung, I and even Namjoon stare at the wide-open door where an agitated-looking Yoongi is standing. What a way to make a dramatic entrance. He simply glares back at me, eyebrows raised high in impatience.

“Hyung, we were talking-”

“You’ll talk later. Come on.”

He doesn’t even wait for an answer and disappears in the hallway. Taehyung releases a deep sigh. His face matches Namjoon’s. They don’t look annoyed but worried and it makes my heart beats harshly in my chest. Maybe he did not calm down since the video. Is it why he did not talk to me at all? He was making sure to keep his rage nicely tucked inside so it would not waver down until he can finally come back and lash at me full force?

I stare into Taehyung’s shiny puppy eyes for comfort but it makes it worse. Then, Namjoon is patting my back for some courage I guess. When I arrived in the hallway, the open door of Yoongi’s studio on the other end, it really feels like I’m walking the fucking death corridor. He can’t sincerely be mad, can he? The next day, Jimin and even Hoseok had seen the video and said they thought it was hilarious (suicidal and very irresponsible but hilarious).

Leaning forward in his chair, smoothly slipping a hand behind me to close the door with the tips of his fingers, his eyes don’t leave me for a second. I can’t even see him blink once. It’s probably more eye contact we’ve ever shared in all of our friendship history. Ultimately, embarrassed and scared, I end up looking down at my feet.What have I done?

An eternity passes. And then, Yoongi is on his feet, standing right in front of me and quite frankly too close for comfort. As I don’t dare to raise my eyes, he bends over a little for his to meet mines. My heart is beating so fast I’m scared it might stop forever from exhaustion. I do manage to glimpse at him for a second and he is smiling. He is actually smiling. Not one of his full turtle smile but a sneaky, cocky kind of side grin.

“Oh, now you’re scared ?”

“I’m not. It was just a joke ‘cause you were rude.” I mumble, meeting his intense gaze by intermittence.

“It wasn’t funny though, __. Of course, you understand that if you don’t get words, I still have to get the rules in this thick head of yours somehow, uh ?”

Frowning, I open my mouth, trying to get a proper question out. He is so confusing right now. He looks actually… dare I say- playful? Mean Yoongi is actually messing around right now. And I don’t even get what he means. He might be right, my brain happens to be particularly slow today.

I have a properly structured question to shoot him with but he decides he waited enough and taking advantage of the surprise, pushes me down on the little sofa opposite his desk. I curse at him, try to get back up but I just have the time to raise on my hands and knees before I feel a sharp pain burning my ass.

Did he really just…?

His face his harbouring a large amused smirk, not fazed for a second by my astonished expression. Then he makes his eyebrow dance in an extremely insolent what-you-gonna-do-about-it way and I just lose it.

“Oh really ?! You’re just going to spank me like a child? Am I Jungkook ?”

“Actually, that kid wouldn’t dare do what you did so I’ll be a little harsher than I usually am. Bear with me.”

Another slap erupts in the small room, followed by another laughter. I don’t even know why I’m laughing anymore. Maybe the light burning is making me delirious. Or maybe because the situation is fucking ridiculous. Even as a child, I’ve never been spanked and here I am, supposedly a grown-ass adult, all four on a leather sofa too small for me to even lie on, getting spanked like never before by a friend of some sort.

At some point, finally, I seem to regain some kind of sense and I come to realise that the more I’m laughing and fidgeting, the harder his hits get. Therefore, for once, I choose the careful approach and manage to control my hysterical reactions.

“Are you calming down hoping that I’ll believe you got it? I know you don’t yet. That head of yours is just so thick.”

“My asscheeks are going to fall off, Yoongi.” I moan making him chuckle.He grabs with a hand my hip, holding my side against the top of his thighs, helping my failing knees to keep me from slumping over.

“You’re fine, __.”

As if trying to show some mercy, he passes rather gently his free hand on the surface of my ass, the high back of my thighs. And I think that’s the very moment when something switches. As if someone has just press a button spraying a whole different atmosphere in the small room. I become super aware of everything. From how close we are, he is pressing me against him so hard I could feel his body heat. His fingers on my hips digging slightly in a way that made me feel all giddy for some reason. It was burning hot in here and the leather of the couch is uncomfortably sticking to my palms. I can still visualize the scene as I did minutes before when I was fighting to breathe through my laughter but it all feels different. As if a filter has been added on the picture or something.

I am starting to make inappropriate connections with lame erotic books’ situations when I decide to give myself a serious mental beat up. My thoughts are all shambled. Seriously. It’s just all childish innocent fun. Nothing is different from a few minutes ago when I thought it was just ridiculous and hilarious. It’s exactly the same kind of play as Taehyung, the BFF, locking my head under his smelly armpit and wrestling until we-

But then I feel it. Digging obnoxiously precisely where my hip meets his body. My whole being burns uncomfortably. I gasp out loud so I know he knows that I’ve felt it. Still, he doesn’t squirm away or even lighten his grip on me. He just acts like everything is fucking normal and he should not feel mortified or at least, embarrassed. He keeps playing with my butt, switching between harsh slaps and soft petting, taunting me with stupid remonstrances. Still, the weirdest thing in this whole situation though, is probably how I feel about his hardness against me. I’m not disgusted by it which is… surprising. Not that I think about his boner all the time and anticipated to be grossed out if I ever were to encounter it. I don’t remember ever thinking about it, in all honesty. That’s why it seems so surreal. Me being me, I need some fucking preparation beforehand to not freak out on the spot but here I never thought of Yoongi like that and still, feeling him hot and hard against me makes me feel all tingly.

In the end, it is his boner that works on me. I can’t even hear his words anymore as he tries so hard to insert the rules inside my head. His voice is just like a background white noise I can’t seem to give the least damn about. I’m so shy and intimidated that I can’t help but turn into a pliant kitten. That’s when Yoongi decides I’ve had enough and releases me. He helps me sit up, grinning my way when he sees me wince a little at my ass hitting painfully the sofa. He crosses his arms on his chest, looks down at me as he asks what I’ve learned from my punishment and like a good pet -when really, I’m just stunned by the very obvious presence of his semi-hard, through his fucking light sweatpants, centimetres away from my face- I stutter what I was able to gather from the distant pieces of his voice. He smiles to himself, nodding.

“What are you looking at ?”

“Nothing!” My face is burning, I’m sure he can’t miss it. Probably can’t miss it just as the stupid blatant glare I gave his dick thinking he wouldn’t notice.

“I like spanking.” He explains matter of factly. I don’t know if I’m more stoned by the casualness in his admission or just by the fact that he actually justified himself, for the first time ever. This Min Yoongi is so different from the one that left two weeks ago. I feel like I should but I’m not sure if I detest that. One thing those two versions have in common though is their shamelessness and their total lack of self-consciousness. I have this completely confirmed to me when he readjusts himself in his pants, right in front of me, while still looking at me dead in the eye.

“Well- Grea-ood, good for you, dude.”

I, on the contrary, didn’t change one bit and I’m as uncasual as I always am in this type of situations.His lips twitch slightly. Without adding anything, he’s seeing himself out and I’m left confused as hell. As my affected mind proceeds to regain calm and sanity, it maunders and falls upon a thought that I don’t manage to repress. He does spank Kookie when the kid is being a little shit sometimes.

“What are you doing ?”

Tae’s holding the door wide open, glaring at me with suspicious eyes.

“Why are you so red ?”

“I’m not, shut up.”

> next

#yoongi x reader #bts fluff #bts scenario #bts drabble #yoongi smut #yoongi drabble #yoongi scenario #yoongi fluff

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dwindledglow · 4 years

Text

001. MEET JORDAN

FULL NAME: jordan kade thompson. PREFERRED NAME: jordan. NICKNAME/S: jord and jordie. DATE OF BIRTH: december 17th, 1993. GENDER & PRONOUNS: cis male & he/his. ORIENTATION: hetero. RELIGION: atheist. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: married to alice thompson. OCCUPATION: music producer, songwriter and entrepreneur. RESIDENCE: in between soho, new york city and sag harbor, suffolk county.

002. CHECK JORDAN’S BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: tallahassee, florida. NATIONALITY: american. ETHNIC BACKGROUND: afro-american. LINGUISTICS: english which is his native language and spanish and french in a fluent level. EDUCATION: he has graduated from high-school and attended cuny's john jay college of criminal justice where he did two years of criminology and criminal justice before having to drop out due to financial difficulties. CRIMINAL RECORD: clean. BIRTH ORDER: third. FATHER: tyler dajan brown, born on april 30th, 1965 in baltimore, maryland. his whereabouts, as well as living situation, are unknown to jordan but last he heard, he worked as a record store clerk in atlantic city, new jersey. MOTHER: nora jada thompson, born on august 4th, 1968 in st. petersburg, florida, currently residing in sagaponack, suffolk county. she is the owner of four restaurants - wabi-sabi, a japanese cuisine place in soho, new york city, 1946 house, a contemporary french-american cuisine place in miami beach, florida, magari, an italian cuisine place in dumbo, brooklyn and scusi, an italian cuisine restaurant in miami, florida. SISTER/S: alexandra kalla thompson, born on january 7th, 1999 in philadelphia, pennsylvania, currently residing in new york and working as a model and professional dancer. BROTHER/S: william bakari thompson, born on july 1st, 1987 in tallahassee, florida, currently residing in new york city and working as a personal trainer. carter kaluuya thompson, born on may 21st, 1991 in tallahassee, florida, currently residing in new york city and working as a publicist. SIGNIFICANT OTHER: alice thompson, née cooper. CHILDREN: maya anne thompson, born on october 19th, 2018 in southampton, new york. ivy ayana thompson, born on november 8th, 2019 in southampton, new york. OTHER RELEVANT FAMILY: amani robins thompson, née white, william’s wife thus sister-in-law. monique byers-thompson, carter’s wife thus sister-in-law. jada niaara thompson, carter & monique’s daughter, niece. bryson alexander hill, alexandra’s fiancé thus brother-in-law. apollo kade hill, alexandra & bryson’s son, nephew. EX/ES: isobel powell and jessica loyle. PETS: kovu and kopa, two pomskys and cookie, a pug.

003. GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

HEIGHT: 6′3″ or 192 cm. WEIGHT: between 177 lbs or 80 kg and 181 lbs or 82 kg. BODY BUILD: jordan has what's considered the ideal weight for his height. he has a fast metabolism so albeit not upkeeping any kind of strict diet or following a specific eating plan, it's hard for him to put on much weight. up until a few years ago — five or six — and following how he stopped regularly exercising / playing basketball, he had a, somewhat, thin figure but ever since he started working out again, he has managed to get some lean muscle. overall, he has a toned body with defined abs and muscular arms. EYE COLOR: dark, earthy brown. EYESIGHT: his eyesight has no problems. HAIR COLOR & STYLE: when the topic in question regards personal style, it's hard to describe jordan's seeing as it is ever-changing. he has dreads and, most of the time, that's the extent he'll go to with his hairstyle. every so often, he'll get tired of having his hair down and he'll go for pigtails — which is one of his favorites hair styles — or a ponytail. when he wants his hair completely out of his way, he'll section his hair and part it in two cornrows and on the rare, he wears half of his hair up and the other half down. DOMINANT HAND: right. NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: the most notable physical trait is, without a doubt, the unusual birthmark on his cheek. besides it, and despite not doing it nearly as often ( unless he's around people he loves ), his smile / laugh are another thing that distinguishes him. there's also his towering frame, his ever-changing hair styles and his chiselled features on top of it. SCARS AND MARKS: asides from your every day, average scars here and there, jordan has a two larger and notable ones : the first on the underside of his right arm courtesy of breaking his arm when he was a kid and the second on his left knee, the result of a surgery he had to be submitted to due to an injury he made when he used to play basketball. he has a distinguishing birthmark on his cheek but, other than that, and sans a few moles here and there, jordan has no other relevant marks. TATTOOS: he has the quote on your own and for yourself in morse code tattooed around his right wrist — reference —, a reminder to keep going, no matter what might happen in his life; on his left wrist, he has a W — reference — which is the initial of his older brother's name; he has the outline of new york's skyline, in white ink, tattooed on the inside of his right arm — reference. on the back of his left arm, he has the geographic coordinates to alexandra's — his younger sister — and jada's — his niece — birth places — reference. on his left ankle, he has excelsior tattooed in bold font, new york city's motto. on his ribcage, a little below his left pectoral, he has the sound wave of his mother saying i love you tattooed. there's the word saudara — meaning brother in indonesian and which he got along with his brother carter — on the right side of his ribcage. he has the quote to new memories tattooed on the inside of his left arm — reference — something he got shortly after he moved to bali. he has the word clarity on small, uppercase font on the right side his neck. on the back of his right upper arm, he has two hands — reference. he has the word power on the back of his left hand. there's the quote self consciousness is heavy along his right hip. on his left collarbone, he has the quote dum spiro spero which translates into while i breathe, i hope and on his right collarbone, he has the quote esse quam videri which translates into to be, rather than to seem. he has the quote and still i rise in bold, uppercase and small font on the back of his neck. on the back of his left ankle he has the word tallahassee in uppercase and bold font, representing the city he was born, and on the back of his right ankle, also in bold font, he has 1993, the year he was born in. for his and ally’s daughters, on the inside of his upper right arm, he has maya shaped to form a heart and, likewise, ivy on the inside of his upper left arm. additionally, he has the sentence ten planes in cursive, recalling when alice and him first started dating and he mentioned how he’d fly ten planes for her. PIERCINGS: he has two piercings on his left regular lobe. VOICECLAIM: daniel caesar. ACCENT & INTENSITY: jordan's accent is somewhat of a hybrid thing — it's not a strong and prominent new york accent but it's also not the closest to a philadelphia accent. growing up and just as he moved to new york, it was easy to place how there was a philly accent to his way of speaking... slowly but surely, it started to fade away and nowadays, he has more of a faint new york accent. ALLERGIES: none that he knows of. PHOBIAS & FEARS: trypophobia. MENTAL & PHYSICAL ILLNESSES: none so far. ALCOHOL USE: sometimes, mostly on social situations. SMOKING: yes, he’s been trying to reduce it but he still does smoke. NARCOTICS USE: if he's in the studio, completely stressed out and needing a way to get creativity flowing, he does smoke weed. INDULGENT FOOD: not very often. SPLURGE SPENDING: yes, sometimes. GAMBLING: no, never.

004. DIG DEEPER

CAN THEY DRIVE? yes, he can drive. CAN THEY COOK & BAKE? yes and yes. CAN THEY CHANGE A FLAT TIRE? yes. CAN THEY TIE A TIE? yes. CAN THEY SWIM? yes. CAN THEY RIDE A BICYCLE? yes. CAN THEY JUMP START A CAR? yes. CAN THEY BRAID HAIR? yes. CAN THEY PICK A LOCK? yes. EXTROVERTED OR INTROVERTED? extroverted. DISORGANIZED OR ORGANIZED? organized. CLOSE OR OPEN MINDED? open minded. CALM OR ANXIOUS? calm. PATIENT OR IMPATIENT? patient. OUTSPOKEN OR RESERVED? outspoken. LEADER OR FOLLOWER? leader, but willing to listen to others and compromise. OPTIMISTIC OR PESSIMISTIC? in-between. TRADITIONAL OR MODERN? modern. HARD-WORKING OR LAZY? hard-working. CULTURED OR UNCULTURED? cultured. LOYAL OR DISLOYAL? loyal. FAITHFUL OR UNFAITHFUL? faithful. NIGHT OWL OR EARLY BIRD? a mixture of both depending on the days. HEAVY OR LIGHT SLEEPER? not heavy, nor light. an in-between. COFFEE OR TEA? coffee. DAY OR NIGHT? night. TAKING BATHS OR SHOWERS? showers. COCA COLA OR PEPSI? coca-cola. CATS OR DOGS? dogs. NETFLIX OR CINEMA? cinema. SHOWS OR MOVIES? movies. LAPTOP OR GAMING CONSOLE? laptop. HEALTHY OR JUNK FOOD? healthy food. ICE CREAM OR FROZEN YOGURT? ice cream. PIZZA OR HAMBURGER? hamburger. LOLLIPOPS OR GUMMY WORMS? gummy worms. BEACH OR POOL? beach. SNOWBALLS FIGHTING OR ICESKATING? both. LITERATURE OR SCIENCE? literature. HISTORY OR ART? art. CHOCOLATE BARS OR COTTON CANDY? cotton candy. XBOX OR PLAYSTATION? playstation. FACE-TO-FACE OR PHONE INTERACTIONS? face-to-face interactions. DRAMA OR SCI-FI? drama. HORROR OR COMEDY? both.

005. JORDAN’S FAVORITES

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: songwriting. FAVORITE ANIMAL: panther. FAVORITE BOOK: he has no favorite book so far. FAVORITE COLOR/S: orange and blue. FAVORITE CUISINE: thai. FAVORITE DISH/ES: jollof rice, khao soi, nasi goreng and yum woon sen. FAVORITE DRINK/S: coffee, limeade and thai tea, patron and hennessy. FAVORITE FLOWER/S: chocolate cosmos. FAVORITE GEM: topaz. FAVORITE MOVIE: fences by denzel washington. FAVORITE SONG: like really by oddisee. FAVORITE SCENT/S: coffee, cinnamon, mint and citrus. FAVORITE SHOW/S: how to get away with murder is the only show he really follows and his all time favorite show is the fresh prince of bel air. FAVORITE SPORT/S & TEAM THEY SUPPORT: basketball, he supports philadelphia 76rs and miami heat, baseball, he supports new york yankees, american football, he supports philadelphia eagles, hockey, he supports philadelphia flyers and tampa bay lightning, soccer, he supports tottenham hotspur fc, barcelona fc and juventus fc, formula 1, he supports mercedes amg petronas, and the list continues — he loves sports. FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR: fall. VACATION DESTINATION: sidi bou said, tunisia and bali, indonesia.

#── ✰. ┊ jordan : — HEADCANON. ❜

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strandedhaze · 4 years

Text

ONE : MEET TYLER

FULL NAME: tyler alexander walford. PREFERRED NAME: tyler. NICKNAME(S): ty. DATE OF BIRTH: august 19th, 1998. GENDER: cis male. PREFERRED PRONOUNS: he/him/his. ORIENTATION: heterosexual. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single in main verse. RELIGION: christian. OCCUPATION: footballer, a left-back for lafc. CURRENT RESIDENCE: los angeles, california ; he resides in a house in hollywood hills.

TWO : TYLER’S BACKGROUND

HOMETOWN: manchester, england. NATIONALITY: english. ETHNIC BACKGROUND: british. LINGUISTICS: english is his native language but he can also speak dutch and spanish fluently. EDUCATION: he graduated high-school. CRIMINAL RECORD: clean. BIRTH ORDER: second. FATHER: dave walford was born on december 26th, 1976 in manchester, england. he is a former professional sprinter and olympics athlete, who currently works with manchester united and who resides in manchester. MOTHER: suzanne marie walford (née dawson) was born on december 8th, 1977 in liverpool, england. she is an accountant and resides in manchester, england. SISTER(S): none. BROTHER(S): marcus john walford was born on january 4th, 1993 in manchester, england. he is tyler’s manager and resides in new york city, new york. OTHER RELEVANT FAMILY: lotte walford (née janssen), sister-in-law; solange walford, niece; benjamin walford and dev walford; nephews. SIGNIFICANT OTHER: tyler is single. CHILDREN: none so far. FRIENDS: tbd. EXES: roos dekker and stella jones. PETS: none so far.

THREE : GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

HEIGHT: 5′11″ ( 181 cm ). WEIGHT: his weight oscillates between 160 lbs ( 72.5 kg ) 165 lbs ( 75 kg ). BODY TYPE AND BUILD: he used to be rather lean, almost lanky in a way, but in the transition between nyfc and lafc, tyler managed to put on some weight and build up his body through workout + diet. so whereas he’s naturally slim, he now has more of an athletic build with muscular arms and an overall toned body. EYE COLOR: deep brown. EYESIGHT: he has perfect eyesight. HAIR COLOR: brown. HAIR STYLE: he doesn’t bother much with his hair style, in all fairness. the most he does is get a trim here and there, and sometimes if he’s feeling do a fade-cut, maybe go for a shorter length than regular but even so, he always sticks to wearing his hair as it naturally is. DOMINANT HAND: right. NOTABLE PHYSICAL TRAITS: his smile is undoubtedly his most notable feature, his full, often described as pouty, lips probably a close second. other than that, his overall physique. ever since he’s managed to build up his body, it has clearly become a subject of attention. SCARS AND MARKS: it comes with the career and the job. he has scars from surgery but also from training and official games, as well as the occasional every day life ones. same goes for marks. even so, there’s nothing particularly noticeable. TATTOOS: none so far. PIERCINGS: none. VOICECLAIM: trent alexander-arnold. ACCENT AND INTENSITY: despite having lived four years in amsterdam, and having gone from seattle to new york to los angeles, his accent remains the same. you can tell every time he goes home, as he returns with an even more intense scouse accent. yes, he is from manchester so the most natural thing would be for him to pick up the mancunian accent, however given his mother (and respective family) was the one who was around the most when he was growing up, tyler has picked up her accent. it’s the same for his brother. ALLERGIES: dairy and mushrooms. PHOBIAS AND FEARS: he’s not claustrophobic but he gets a little paranoid when in very tight and very small spaces. MENTAL ILLNESSES: none so far. PHYSICAL ILLNESSES: none so far. SCENT THEY WEAR: neroli portofino by tom ford all year round, probably his fave scent. for nights out, sauvage by dior and on special occasions, bleu de chanel. he does the occasional mix, acqua di gio by giorgio armani always being the base and then something different to change it up. ALCOHOL USE: socially, he does. SMOKING: he doesn’t smoke. OTHER NARCOTICS USE: no. INDULGENT FOOD: rarely. he’s not one to indulge in food, truly, he prefers sticking to a healthy relationship with it and opting for foods he knows his body will be happy with, so to say. SPLURGE SPENDING: he can go a little bit crazy with his nephews but otherwise, he’s a responsible spender. he knows his limits and what he can and can’t spend. not to mention he’s the son of an accountant, so he’s been raised to be very mindful and responsible about his money and assets. GAMBLING: no. ADDICTIONS AND VICES: none.

FOUR : DIG DEEPER

CAN THEY DRIVE? yes. CAN THEY COOK AND BAKE? yes and no. CAN THEY CHANGE A FLAT TIRE? yes. CAN THEY TIE A TIE? yes. CAN THEY SWIM? yes. CAN THEY RIDE A BICYCLE? yes. CAN THEY JUMP START A CAR? no. CAN THEY BRAID HAIR? yes. CAN THEY PICK A LOCK? yes. EXTROVERTED OR INTROVERTED? extroverted. DISORGANIZED OR ORGANIZED? a healthy in-between. CLOSE OR OPEN MINDED? open minded. CALM OR ANXIOUS? calm. PATIENT OR IMPATIENT? patient. OUTSPOKEN OR RESERVED? outspoken all through and through. LEADER OR FOLLOWER? leader. OPTIMISTIC OR PESSIMISTIC? he’s a realist, you won’t find him sugarcoating anything and you won’t find him downputting herself either. TRADITIONAL OR MODERN? modern. HARD-WORKING OR LAZY? hard-working. CULTURED OR UNCULTURED? cultured. LOYAL OR DISLOYAL? loyal. FAITHFUL OR UNFAITHFUL? faithful. NIGHT OWL OR EARLY BIRD? early bird. HEAVY OR LIGHT SLEEPER? heavy sleeper. COFFEE OR TEA? coffee. DAY OR NIGHT? night. TAKING BATHS OR SHOWERS? showers. COCA COLA OR PEPSI? coca cola, if he has to choose. CATS OR DOGS? dogs. NETFLIX OR CINEMA? (home) cinema. SHOWS OR MOVIES? movies. LAPTOP OR GAMING CONSOLE? gaming console. HEALTHY OR JUNK FOOD? healthy. ICE CREAM OR FROZEN YOGURT? ice cream. PIZZA OR HAMBURGER? pizza. LOLLIPOPS OR GUMMY WORMS? neither, he doesn’t like sweets. BEACH OR POOL? beach. SNOWBALLS FIGHTING OR ICESKATING? snowballs fighting. LITERATURE OR SCIENCE? literature. HISTORY OR ART? art. CHOCOLATE BARS OR COTTON CANDY? same as above, neither. XBOX OR PLAYSTATION? playstation. FACE-TO-FACE OR PHONE INTERACTIONS? face-to-face interactions. DRAMA OR SCI-FI? sci-fi. HORROR OR COMEDY? both.

FIVE : TYLER’S LIKES & DISLIKES

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: training and playing football FAVORITE ANIMAL: puma. FAVORITE BOOK: he doesn’t have one so far. FAVORITE QUOTE: ❝ i’ve failed over and over again in my life. and that’s why i succeed. ❞ — michael jordan. FAVORITE COLOR(S): red. FAVORITE DESIGNER: he has a couple he enjoys, none that he favors personally though. FAVORITE CUISINE: he likes mediterranean cuisine a little bit more than others but he’s a person of experiences and who enjoys tasting and playing so there isn’t an exact fave. FAVORITE DISH(ES): he really likes shepherd’s pie and sunday roasts, not even because of the dishes itself but because they remind him of home, and he also really enjoys mediterranean bowls and seafood paella. FAVORITE DRINK: he likes a good gin, on the rare, mostly during off-season. FAVORITE FLOWER(S): black orchids. FAVORITE GEM: ruby. FAVORITE HOLIDAY: christmas. FAVORITE MOVIE: ali, probably is one of his all time faves. he really likes documentaries too, especially surrounding stuff he loves, his favorites as of now might as well be what’s my name - muhammad ali (he’s a major fan) and make us dream. FAVORITE MUSIC GENRE: hip hop and r&b. FAVORITE SONG(S): mile high by james black ft. travis scott. GO TO KARAOKE SONG: HYFR by drake ft lil wayne. FAVORITE SCENT(S): fresh coffee, the scent of freshly baked, straight out the oven cakes, musk. FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOW(S): he has a hard time keeping up with shows, truth be told. FAVORITE SPORTS: football and basketball, though he’s a massive sports fan in general. SPORTS TEAM THEY SUPPORT: liverpool fc (though he keeps that one dear to his heart and not many know about it — his dad included), la lakers though there are a few basketball teams he appreciates. FAVORITE EMOJI: 🙄 — maybe? FAVORITE WEATHER: he's an england boy so naturally, he’s a big fan of the opposite weather he grew up in. he’s also a summer baby so sunshine and warm days all through and through. FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR: summer. FAVORITE PLACE(S): rhodes, greece — ever since he turned ten, his parents made it a point to go there every year as a family and though the tradition fell through when marcus married and tyler moved to america, it’s still a place of fond memories and where ty really feels at peace and at ease. SUPERPOWER THEY WISH THEY HAD: invisibility. VACATION DESTINATION: there’s a few places he enjoys, he REALLY loves anything more on the calmer, beachier side.

#° ❁. — tyler ╱ defined. ❜

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heart-eyes-mf · 5 years

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This is my first ever attempt at writing fanfiction. It’s just a one-shot type thing, where Neil receives a bunch of pictures and stuff from the FBI of his childhood and looks at it with some of the foxes and Andrew

Weeks ago, Neil Josten had left his past behind him for good, letting the memory of Nathaniel Wesninski bleed out in the back of a federal vehicle in the streets of Baltimore.

Or so he’d thought.

He held a cardboard box in his hands, the words of FBI Special Agent Browning still ringing in his ears.

“We found these in your father’s house,” Browning had said. “We analyzed them for anything relevant to the case and found nothing, but considering what’s on here, we thought you might want them.”

He didn’t sound like he particularly cared if Neil wanted them or not. His tone was short, a little impatient.

“What is it?” Neil asked warily, his bandaged face stony.

“Photos and some such,” Browning thrust the box toward Neil. “Look, kid, if you don’t want it, it’s going to collect dust in evidence lock up before being thrown away.”

Neil reluctantly took it, if only to get the agent out of his presence.

Now, he stood in the lounge, watching as his teammates rifled through it.

“Oh, my god,” Nicky exclaimed, brandishing a picture frame. “Look at this. You’re wearing ruffles! You were born to be gay.”

Neil rolled his eyes but looked at the photo. It was of a chubby toddler that Neil couldn’t quite place as himself: wispy auburn hair, big pale blue eyes, and a white ruffled shirt under a sky-blue sweater vest. Even more mystifying was the gummy, dimpled smile on his face.

“You were so cute,” Dan squealed, leaning over Matt’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“Torture,” Neil said drily.

Dan paled, looking sick, and seemed like she was preparing to launch herself at him in a barrage of hugs and apologies before Allison broke in from where she was sitting beside Renee at the table, riffling through a photo album.

“Why did a serial killing maniac have so many pictures of you? Didn’t he hate you?”

Nicky winced. “Nice and sensitive there, Allison.”

Allison glared at him.

“I’m wondering the same thing,” Neil admitted.

He looked at Andrew, silent and disinterested beside him. His chin rested on his hand, with his elbow on the table, the black armbands on his forearms peeking out from the cuffs of his dark hoodie. His hazel gaze was directed at the far wall and he showed no signs of being mentally present at all, but Neil knew that no matter how hard Andrew tried otherwise, he was processing and retaining everything that was happening.

“To keep his cover,” Kevin said clinically. “The Butcher of Baltimore masqueraded as a devoted family man. What kind of good father doesn’t have at least on picture of his son?”

“Is this your mother?” Renee’s voice was gentle but it didn’t need to be harsh or loud to attract attention. She held out a photograph of a woman with brown hair, a straight nose, and dark eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail and her bright red lips were twisted in a subtle sneer directed at whoever was taking the picture, her disdain obvious.

Neil just nodded.

The sight of his mother stirred up mixed feelings, feelings he thought he’d gotten over or repressed. Grief and hatred were a cocktail he was used to drinking but hadn’t tasted in a while and all he could do was feel it. For a moment he smelled smoke and felt the heat of fire and heard the sick rattle of her bones in the backpack he’d buried in the sand on that beach two years ago.

“What was her name?” Dan’s voice was gentle and it just hurt Neil more. Impassivity was a mask he clung desperately to, despite his promises not to lie to them.

“Mary Hatford,” Neil said quietly.

“I’m sure she was a lovely woman,” Matt said, almost a question.

He’d told them very little about what his relationship with his mother had been like after they’d come back from Baltimore. They’d asked him endless questions but mostly about himself and the questions they’d asked him about life on the run had mostly been about the locations and what had forced them to leave.

“You all would have hated her,” Neil said.

Matt and Dan looked surprised and Andrew turned his head toward Neil and Neil knew he was going to tell them everything because Andrew was listening. Andrew was curious.

“Did you hate her?” Andrew asked.

Neil looked at him and found Andrew’s gold-green gaze turned on him, apathy hiding immeasurable darkness. “I did for a long time,” Neil admitted. “It’s more complicated than that now.”

“Did you love her?” Nick asked sadly, clutching a few photographs to his chest. “Did she love you?”

“I don’t think so,” Neil said slowly.

Allison gave him a pitying look. “No wonder you’re so screwed up.”

“Allison,” Dan hissed.

Looking increasingly desperate, Nicky said, “She never said it? Have you? You have to love something.”

“No, she never said it,” Neil said. “What does that matter?”

“She’s your mom,” Nick persisted. “She raised you and protected you. That had to mean something, right? She had to love you.”

“I think--,” Matt started, looking extremely uncomfortable.

“Nicky,” Renee said softly. “You can’t compare Neil’s life and relationships and feelings to those of anyone else. He’s had a very complicated life. You can’t expect him to uncomplicate it just to reassure you.”

“There’s videos,” Kevin said suddenly.

“Let’s play them,” Matt said, looking relieved to be off the subject of Neil’s mother. Matt got up so quickly he almost knocked Dan over and hurried to the DVD player, having snatched the case from Kevin’s hands on the way.

Matt queued up the video and took his seat beside Dan, a remote clutched in his hand. He pushed play and Neil’s childhood was on the screen. Everyone watched, even Kevin and especially Andrew, as Neil’s life unfolded before them.

It started the day he was born, the date a little subtitle in the bottom left corner. Baby Neil squirmed and cried, looking red and mushy and wearing only a diaper.

“That looks gross,” Nicky exclaimed. Dan smacked his shoulder.

It showed him in his mother’s arms, which Mary looked like she barely tolerated, and Nathan wasn’t there at all.

It flashed straight to toddler Neil, taking slow steps towards Mary, babbling nonsense. Mary didn’t look happy but she didn’t look miserable either as her arms extended to catch him in case he fell. Even when she didn’t love him, she still protected him.

“There you go, Nathaniel,” Mary said, her British accent crisp. “Steady, now.”

“Your mom was British?” Matt asked, surprised.

Neil just nodded, his eyes on the screen.

The clips were short, scattered throughout the years. Whoever had filmed it had known that evidence, however minimal, was all that was needed. Probably Lola Malcolm or her brother Romero had filmed it for his father.

The videos of Mary were disconcerting to watch. It was hard to connect the young, healthy and alive woman he saw in the clips with his memories of a bloody corpse and charred bones.

But even more disturbing, to Neil’s teammates and to himself, was the videos of Neil with Nathan. Side by side their resemblance was startling.

There was a clip of Neil sitting on Nathan’s lap, looking up at his father with wide blue eyes, perhaps three or four years old. They had the same auburn hair and pale blue eyes but while Neil’s were blank with the oblivion of adolescence, Nathan’s were cold and unfeeling. No matter what false affection Nathan put into his voice for the video, one couldn’t look into his eyes and think that he felt anything at all.

“This is the letter N,” Nathan was saying to Neil, pointing at an alphabet picture book. “That’s the first letter of your name. Say it, N.”

Neil just looked up at Nathan. Even that young, he’d kept still and stiff and tried not to touch his father.

“N,” Nathan coaxed and Neil, old enough now, recognized the soft threat in his voice.

“N,” young Neil said.

Matt paused the video.

“Is anyone else creeped out?” he asked.

“Majorly,” Nicky said.

“No wonder you’re scared of your own reflection,” Allison said, slitting a look at Neil. “You don’t look anything like your mom, except your ridiculously stunted height.”

“Do you remember any of this?” Dan asked, adjusting her weight on the arm of Matt’s chair with a hand on his shoulder.

“I remember him acting like this sometimes, to keep up appearances,” Neil said. “I don’t remember ever being videotaped. The time I spent with my father was usually spent doing things a devoted father wouldn’t do with his son.”

“What did you usually do?” Nick asked warily, looking like he already regretted the question.

“He trained him,” Kevin said quietly. “To become the next Butcher of Baltimore.”

“You cut people up?” Nicky asked, sounding horrified. “Oh, my god, weren’t you, like, ten?”

“Eight, when we ran,” Neil said, nonplussed. “I didn’t touch people with knives but he did supervise while Lola taught me how to use them.”

“Taught you on what?” Matt asked.

“Dead animals,” Neil said.

Dan looked like she might be sick. Renee gave him an unreadable glace and Andrew kept his gaze on the screen. “I’m just going to pass over that,” Matt said, looking green, and pointed the remote at the TV to play the video.

It flashed to a video of Neil sitting in a dining room chair, the table level with his chin. Mary was on one side of him and Nathan on the other and they were watching as he tried various foods. Mary fed a piece of broccoli to him and his face immediately twisted and he spit it out onto the table. Mary, surprisingly, laughed.

“There has to be some food you like,” Mary said, picking up a baby carrot. Neil spit that out too, looking at Mary with a look that could only be betrayal.

“Yuck,” the Neil on screen said sincerely.

“Try the fruit,” Nathan said, flashing a smile at the camera. No amount of false feeling could change the hard pull of his smile.

Nathan fed a piece of strawberry into his mouth and Neil smiled.

“Strawberries are a yes,” Nathan laughed.

It changed again, to a video of Neil at about five or six. This video was a little grainy and from a distance. Mary was standing by the planes of an Exy court, looking fierce as she watched Neil running around on the court, looking remarkably small with a racquet in his hands.

“Faster, Abram,” Mary shouted. “Run faster!”

“Who’s Abram?” Nicky asked.

“It’s Neil’s middle name,” Andrew, surprisingly, responded.

The video abruptly ended, the screen turning dark. Neil sat there, his thoughts a little muddled, still trying to crawl out of feelings he didn’t know he had anymore.

A text alert blared through the room, cutting through the short silence, and Nicky pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Aaron is done with his session with Betsy,” he announced. “He needs to be picked up.”

Nicky gazed expectantly at Andrew but Andrew was still vacantly staring at the dark screen. He eventually rolled his eyes and tossed his hands in the hair and turned to Matt.

“Can you take me to pick up Aaron?” Nicky asked.

Matt nodded. “Dan needs to get back to her dorm anyways. She has an online quiz in an hour.”

“I’m not staying with the monsters,” Allison said, sending a derisive glance at Andrew.

They all filed out, even Renee, her rainbow hair swinging as she followed the clack of Allison’s hot pink high heels out of the room. Matt and Dan hugged Neil goodbye and Nicky tossed a fluttery wave of his shoulder as he sailed out the door.

Andrew and Neil were left alone, sitting beside each other, watching the blank screen.

Neil turned his gaze to Andrew, content just to look. Eventually Andrew looked back at him, but Neil knew he’d been aware of him the whole time.

“Why wouldn’t they have liked your mother? Your teammates tend to like anybody, especially if they are damaged,” Andrew said. “And I am willing to wager that your mother was quite damaged.”

“Our teammates. You haven’t guessed?” Neil asked. He leaned his head on his hand, his elbow on the table. “She hit me. You’d have killed her.”

Andrew’s eyes darkened.

“I would have killed her only if I cared,” Andrew said. “I hate you.”

“You’d have cared,” Neil said, a smile pulling at his mouth. He leaned closer to Andrew, close enough to make him tense but not close enough to violate Andrew’s boundaries. “What percentage am I at now?”

“It is not even worth counting anymore,” Andrew said. He slid rough fingers into Neil’s hair and pulled him the rest of the distance. His kiss was hard but skilled and tasted of cigarettes. Neil’s hands tightened around the arms of his chair and he leaned into Andrew, knowing the other man would hold him up. Andrew would always hold him up.

Andrew pulled back slowly, his eyes dark and watching Neil’s face. Neil felt hot all over and breathless.

“Junkie,” Andrew said, with a final tug on Neil’s hair before releasing him.

“You like it,” Neil retorted.

Andrew didn’t answer, just stood up.

“Are you taking all of this back to our room?” Andrew gazed with disinterest at the photos spread across the table. He reached for one and tossed it with a flick of his wrist at Neil.

Neil considered it.

“Yeah,” he said. “I am.”

#all for the game #andriel #fanfiction #fanfic #the foxhole court #hope you like it

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snapchattingnct · 5 years

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Can i get a ship as well? I’m 4’8 and a little chubby. I love children and animals it’s kind of annoying. I really cherish all my loved ones, i enjoy spilling tea (LIKE A LOT) and i actually like cooking and doing chores and things related to nature!! I’m also a certified crackhead so i think i’ll fit into nct. I don’t know if this is relevant but I absolutely love being goofy??? like throw me in an awkward situation and i’ll make everyone laugh lol - all units pease^^

Hi~

In NCT U, I ship you with Doyoung! Ugh, Doyoung’s love for kids is so freaking cute. He honestly has all the qualities to be a wonderful dad, which I know he will be. Doyoung can cook, he cleans, and he’s financially stable because he’s always flexing that he got money (aka Weekly Idol). Like what more can you ask for? He’s also a certified bunny, 100%. Doyoung’s gummy smile is seriously contagious as well. With his sassy nature, I feel like Doyoung would love to gossip a lot in my opinion. Plus he just likes to know additional dirt on people to blackmail them lol.

In NCT 127, I ship you with Yuta! Yuta loves animals. I mean come on, he literally looks like kitten himself and he admits it too. But his favorite animals are dogs. As a Japanese native, Yuta has a great appreciation for nature and he’s quite an outdoor’s man. He’s also known for his beautiful healing smile and his energy. He can lift your mood up in literal seconds. With this, he’s also pretty funny too. I will never forget the moment when the translator in Chicago couldn’t translate what he said so he was like “EXCUSE MEEE?” Hilarious.

In NCT Dream, I ship you with Chenle! Honestly speaking, I feel like Chenle would thrive off gossips and all that tea. He just wants to know everything about everyone. Ever since his nephew was born, Chenle is constantly bragging about him. He really loves and adores his nephew. He’s also pretty funny especially when it comes to that dolphin laugh of his. No matter the situation, just hearing his laugh will have you cracking up as well.

In WayV, I ship you with Ten! I feel like Ten is another member that would be really into spilling the tea and all the gossip. He has a ton of sass and his roasting skills are super high. But with that, he’s honestly a bit of a crackhead. (I mean all of NCT kinda are lol… and I mean that in the most loving way possible). But seriously though, have you seen all the NCT Daily’s videos of “Cup of Coffee”? It’s the funniest thing in the world. Ten also has a soft spot for animals and he has a couple dogs himself.

- K 🌱

#krhc1706 #ships #nct ships #wayv ships #nct u #nct 127 #nct dream #wayv #kpop ships #ten #chenle #yuta #doyoung #admin K 🌱

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prophetandprincess · 5 years

Text

X X X X X X X

Hey Everyone! How is life treating you? 2019 has been, systematically, doing it’s best to make me wonder if I possibly was cursed and didn’t realize it. However, I am still plugging away at this story because I love it and I love you. Hope you enjoy the read

Trigger Warning: Assault, Gun Violence, Mention of Rape

“You look like someone shot your dog,” Monica wrapped her arms around Alex’s waist and rested her head on the taller girl’s shoulder while they waited in line to pay for their frozen yogurt. “What’s wrong? Boy trouble again because if you need me to kick someone’s ass…”

“Only if you consider my prepodavatel telling me that if I don’t get better, I am going to fail boy trouble,” Alex sighed as she put her head against Monica’s curls. “Please explain to me why I decided to take Russian as an elective again?”

“Girl, I have been asking you that since you told me that it was on your schedule,” Monica laughed as she gave Alex a squeeze and let go as it was almost their turn to pay. “I mean, it’s Tuesday, but I can offer going out for drinks Friday night to help you forget your troubles.”

“I can’t,” Alex sighed as she pulled her card out, attempting to stop everything else from spilling out. “I have my first extra credit thing Saturday morning. I don’t think it would be a good idea to show up hungover the first day.”

“That on top of you not sleeping would not give the best impression, I’ll give you that,” Monica laughed as the two girls grabbed a table by the window and dug into their yogurt. “Where is this assignment again, the Ravenclaw Institute or something?”

“The Ravencroft Institute.” Alex purposefully didn’t tell Monica that it was an asylum for the criminally insane. There was really no reason to get a lecture when Alex just wanted to enjoy her frozen yogurt.

Unfortunately, she forgot that Google existed and it could be accessed easily by a smartphone.

“Your internship is at an asylum for the criminally insane.” Monica blinked at Alex, her spoon dripping peanut butter yogurt on the table while cheesecake and strawberry bits threatened to slide off.

Slowly, Monica put the bright pink plastic spoon into the container and folded her long, slender fingers on the table, and stared at her. Alex pushed around her chocolate yogurt filled with gummy worms, chocolate chips, and whipped cream and avoided the intense gaze. However, after almost three minutes of Monica’s silence, Alex finally looked up. Her dark eyes were practically sparking and her bright red lips were a thin line.

“Please explain to me what made you think that taking an extra credit assignment at an insane asylum was a good idea? Especially given how you attract every lunatic is a ten mile radius?” Monica’s voice was steady and controlled, but her nails were pressing into her skin hard. “I didn’t even think there were any asylums in New York City anymore? That’s like, some medieval shit, Alex.”

“It’s a government run facility for criminals who are too dangerous and unstable for the normal prison population,” Alex recited what she had read off the internet, expecting someone was going to yell her about this whole situation.

“Yes, because ‘government run facility’ is not just as terrible sounding as ‘asylum’” Monica’s voice rose and Alex quickly tried to shush her. “What the hell could you possibly be doing there? You aren’t a psychologist, you’re a scientist.”

“Let’s not shame our psychologist colleagues, they are also scientists.” Alex pointed out, which lead Monica waved her spoon before vigorously attacking her frozen yogurt once again. “There is a patient at the Institute that survived some sort of genetic mutation. Professor Warren wants to study how that affected the mental processes as well as the physiological effects. I would just be collecting skin and blood samples, then completing a quick interview.”

While Alex was attempting to sound confident it was all a show. There wasn’t much information about Ravencroft on the internet and it almost made her tell Professor Warren no. However, she had checked her grades that morning and had failed her first Russian quiz, so she needed the extra credit to cushion her GPA. A professor wouldn’t send her into a seriously dangerous situation, so there was no reason to stress about it. Right?

There was also this morbid sense of curiosity about what this genetic mutation looked like. While it was probably not anything dramatic, she was envisioning extra limbs or scales. The scientific part of her brain was interested about the research that this data was going to be used for as well. The questionnaire she had been emailed seemed pretty standard, but there was also a note to follow any line of questioning that Alex thought relevant. How was she supposed to know that if she didn’t know what the whole study was about?

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Monica said with a sigh, shaking her head so her curls bounced wildly. “Now, instead of lazily laying in my bed with some hunk Saturday morning and getting my well-deserved beauty sleep, I’m going to be worrying about your dumb ass.”

“If you get any more beautiful, people are going to start building monuments to you,” Alex laughed as she decapitated a gummy worm.

“It’s just, you have this freakish ability to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Knowing you, there is going to be a security failure and you’re going to be taken hostage within the first half hour.” Monica gave Alex a small smile to show that she was mostly joking.

Alex rolled her eyes, but couldn’t say that it was completely out of the realm of possibility. Just imagining the lecture she would get from Sam and Steve if they had to bust into a criminal asylum to save her was enough to give her a headache. That actually might be what would cause Steve to lock her in Stark Tower like a fairytale princess. Her mother and Jake would probably send him a thank you basket when they found out.

“Well, since you’re going to be in a hostage situation on Saturday, you have to come over and have wine and Chinese tonight. I’ll invite Gabe over and we’ll have a nice night in.” Monica had stress eaten all of her yogurt in record speed and tossed the empty carton into the trash can.

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” Alex laughed as her phone started to vibrate in her pocket, surprised to see Michael Sousa’s name on the screen. “I have to take this, give me a second?”

Monica waved her hand as Alex grabbed her yogurt and headed out to get a little bit of privacy. Normally, she would have let the call go to voicemail, but she was hoping that her favorite New York City cop had done the background check she requested on Peter Parker. She really hoped that he wasn’t some crazed stalker or something because that would make lab really awkward.

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it, I swear,” Alex joked as she picked up the call.

“You know, it kind of concerns me that is your standard greeting when you answer my calls,” Michael’s voice held a smile, which eased Alex’s anxiety a little. He would be using his cop voice if there was serious trouble.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten my innocence out of the way, what can I do for you, Detective?” Alex leaned against the warm bricks of the building, phone pressed against her shoulder as she started in on her yogurt again. “Just know that I can and will plead the fifth if need be.”

“Alright, well please try and keep that sense of humor during this conversation,” Michael laughed, but Alex’s anxiety made her shove more yogurt into her face. “I might have asked a couple of the younger officers keep an eye on the guys you beat up outside the Marquee the other night.”

“Well…I guess that is better than having them following me around,” Alex sighed as she continued to shovel yogurt into her mouth. “I’m guessing they are up to something that has to do with me or you wouldn’t be even calling me. What’s going on?”

“That’s where it gets a little fuzzy,” Michael paused after that.

“So you’re calling me because?”

“The group of them were hanging around your college a couple days the past week. I’m not saying that they were looking for you, but they really had no reason being there if they weren’t looking for you,” Michael said it slowly, as if he really didn’t want to admit this to Alex.

“So, you’re calling me to be careful and report if I see a bunch of rapists hanging about,” Alex scraped the bottom of her yogurt container, needed more sugar to deal with this. What was it with every man in her life thinking that she needed to be monitored twenty-four seven?

“Something like that. I know you can take care of yourself, just be a bit more careful than normal,” there was a hint of a smile in Michael’s voice again. “I would hate to have to write you up for manslaughter charges.”

“So you’re just trying to save yourself some paperwork, I see how it is.” Alex laughed as she tossed the yogurt cup away as she walked back into join Monica. “Thanks for the heads up, Michael. If anything changes, let me know.”

“I would say the same thing to you, but it would be a waste of my breath,” Michael actually laughed now. “Take care of yourself, Alex. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Michael as in that hunky police officer from the other night?” Monica asked with a large smile on her face as Alex hung up the phone and threw it in her bag. It was obvious from that wide smile that Monica had a thousand things to say, but instead just tilted her head and fluttered her eyelashes.

“If I’m coming to your place for Chinese and wine, I need to get back to my place and get some work done.” Alex knew there was no reason to attempt to defend herself against Monica’s unstated accusations. No matter what she said, Monica would turn it around that Alex was madly in love with the Detective. Better to just keep her mouth shut.

“You’re no fun,” Monica pouted as they gathered up their stuff and headed out of the shop. “If it’s because of the Russian thing, I suggest swallowing your pride and getting a tutor. If you go to the student union, there might be something on the bulletin board. I need my fun-loving and carefree Alexandra back.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Alex laughed as they walked home, enjoying the warm weather in early autumn afternoon.

“Darling, all my ideas are good.” Monica flipped her curls before busting out laughing again. “Seriously, though. You need some stress relief and if you get it from sleeping with a cop, I guess I can forgive you.”

Alex rolled her eyes, but just let it go. Henry waved at the girls when they got back to their apartment building, saying that it was good to see them enjoying the day. Alex went to her apartment and was the most productive she had been all semester. While she might have dozed off on her anatomy notes, she still got caught up on all her classes except Russian.

At seven, Alex finally closed her books. She didn’t worry about changing out of the gym shorts and tank tops she had been wearing, knowing that Monica had seen worse and Gabe wouldn’t care. Instead, she slid on some flip-flops and plodded to Monica’s apartment.

“Su casa es tu casa.” Gabriel gave Alex a dazzling smile as he opened Monica’s door and handed her a wine glass.

“Muchas gracias.” Alex knew that her pronunciation was terrible, but it was the one phrase in Spanish that she knew.

Gabe gave a good natured laugh as he closed the door and ushered Alex into the living room. Monica was flopped belly down on a bean bag, ankles cross in the air, as she had notes and textbooks spread all around her.

“Oh, no, if I can’t study, then you can’t study,” Alex kicked Monica’s leg lightly before she sank down onto the couch, enjoying the air conditioning. “Besides, what kind of host makes their guest open the door?”

“I had to finish this chapter, alright? Besides, Gabe has been texting a boy for the past half hour with this idiotic smile on his face while we were waiting for you. He’s fine.” Monica flipped her text book closed before rolling onto her back. “And, because we have the first sorority mixer on Saturday, which you’re totally invited to, I need to get ahead on assignments.”

“I’m probably going to want to just come home and sleep, but I’ll let you know,” Alex knew that the chances of her actually sleeping more than two hours were very low, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to try. Plus, socializing past drinking and getting Chinese sounded too draining.

“If you wanted to go and have hot sex with the police officer, you just have to say so,” Monica laughed as she got to her feet and grabbed her phone.

Monica turned on Netflix and then tossed her phone over to Gabe so that he could put in his GrubHub order. He passed the phone back to Monica, who tossed it at Alex, almost making her spill wine all over the couch. After Alex handed it back, Monica continued to focus on the phone, tapping away and sighing.

“You’re looking a little tense, Mo,” Gabe said as he turned down the episode of Supernatural for a moment. “Something wrong with our favorite Vice President of a sorority?”

“For once, it’s not the sisters that are causing me to go prematurely grey,” Monica sat up and blew some of her curls out of her face. “There has been some…tension at Oscorp recently due to events that I can’t tell you about under penalty of death. Of course, the interns are being blamed for the whole thing, which is ridiculous.”

“Why didn’t you mention something when we were together earlier?” Alex looked away from the screen were Sam and Dean Winchester were doing something very stupid and looking amazing doing it.

“When did I have the time between you dropping the mental asylum bomb and then talking to Hot Detective on the phone?” Monica smile at Alex.

“What’s the problem, in vague terms in which we wouldn’t really know what’s going on if someone tortured us for the information?” Gabriel asked as he got up and refilled everyone’s wine glass.

“As it won’t be leaving this room,” Monica gave them both a pointed look, “Oscorp has been experiencing some technical difficulties with their security system recently. Nothing serious and no one outside of the company knows about it, but obviously they are starting to get a bit paranoid about the whole thing. As the interns are low men on the totem pole and some of the glitches are around our lab, all the interns in my division have been questioned. There is a group message that’s comparing interrogation notes.”

“That sucks, didn’t you all need to go through some sort of…testing to get security clearance?” Alex asked as she sipped her wine. She had been wondering how different Oscorp was from Stark Industries, but she didn’t want to come out and say she had to have a polygraph test. It would seem weird if it wasn’t industry practice.

“I mean there were background check run and personal references verified, the usual stuff. We also don’t have access to everything, just the projects we’re working on. I mean, I’m working on a new water filtration system that takes out impurities while equally distributing things like fluoride into the water at less cost, smaller equipment, and hopefully completely green.” Monica shrugged. “I don’t know why they’re so worked up about it. Nothing has been stolen and the security cameras have never gone out. It’s just some IT bug that has to be taken care of.”

“It might not be that simple,” Gabriel said as he tapped the side of his wineglass, obviously deep in thought. “There are a number of reasons for glitches in the system that are not simply IT issues.”

Gabriel started to explain a number of complicated computer and security processes that could possibly lead to the vague glitches Monica had mentioned. Some of it was rather innocent stuff, others were malicious virus that had no set plan of attack, just to cause chaos. Alex zoned out after a couple minutes, feeling about an inch tall for not noticing that something was bothering Monica. She had to be the worst friend in the history of the world, just a step above Brutus to Caesar, but just barely.

“Oh fucking hell,” Monica gave a frustrated growl and collapsed face first into the bean bag. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“What’s going on?” Alex asked, not sure what could have made Monica react so dramatically.

“I hit pick-up instead of delivery and so now the delicious, unhealthy, and soul comforting Chinese food that I need is now sitting on a counter instead of on it’s way into my belly,” Monica’s voice was muffled by the chair.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I’ll go pick it up,” Alex said with a laugh as she got up and slipped her flip-flops on. “You ordered from The Jade Dragon, right? That’s only like ten blocks away and it’s still nice out.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Gabriel asked, already getting to his feet. However, at that moment a cell phone started to ring. They all stared at one another for a moment before it was coming from Gabe’s pocket. He pulled out another cell phone and sighed.

“You take whatever that is, it’s not that late and the restaurant isn’t far. I’ll be back before you finish your call.” Alex left before anyone could protest, taking the stairs since it was faster.

It had gotten a bit cooler than Alex had expected and she crossed her arms over her chest as she walked quickly toward The Jade Dragon. While the restaurant didn’t get any marks on aesthetics or presentation, it was the most delicious Chinese in the city. For a moment while she was waiting for the light to change, Alex got a chill that she was being watched, but the light changed and the feeling slipped away as the bell over the front door rang.

After five minutes to confirm with Monica that Alex was there to get the food, she was left with a brown paper bag packed full with delicious smelling food. The walk back took a little longer, Alex having to switch hands when her fingers cramped. That feeling of something not being right only increased as she seemed to hit every light. Alex’s fingers found her wrist, looking around, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Anxiety was a bitch.

Five blocks from the building, something hard and cold was pressed into Alex’s spine. After having a gun pressed to your skin once, you never forget it, and Alex froze recognizing that feeling now. This time it was not one of her less than civilized friends playing a not at all funny joke and Alex’s wrist throbbed in pain.

“You looked better in the red dress,” A male voice whispered into her ear. “You’re going to walk down this alley with us, calmly, and we’re going to have a little chat.”

“If I say no?” Alex’s voice was steady even though she was covered in a cold sweat. This close, there was the possibility of getting the gun away from the guy without him paralyzing her with one shot, if not kill her. However, there was a chance she couldn’t and also that he would accidently fire and hit some innocent bystander. Was that a risk she was willing to take?

"We don’t believe in the word no, Princess.” The sound of a click made Alex jump a little. “But you know that, don’t you?”

Alex knew at that moment it was the assholes from Marquee.

Her eyes closed and she said a couple of choice words under her breath before moving into the alley. While she was still scared, a part of her was wondering how this kept happening to her. Maybe she should let Steve lock in Stark Tower, maybe then she wouldn’t be accosted by morons.

“You know,” Alex said over her shoulder, anger starting to replace some of her fear, “if I was really a princess, this would be considered treason. I could have you beheaded.”

“You smart mouth bitch,” The gun is brought down on the back of Alex’s skull, causing her to stumble into the dumpster and see stars. “I lost my acceptance to medical school because of the police report.”

Alex set the Chinese food on the top of the dumpster so she wouldn’t spill everything and slowly turned around. The three men who assaulted the brunette outside the Marquee where all glaring at her, but there was only one gun, which was a plus. Still, Alex was in flip-flops and she didn’t think that one bag of takeout would stop a bullet.

“Do you understand what you did to us, what we might lose?” The shortest one growled.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have raped a bunch of women and then your perfect future would be secure. However, you ruined their futures so it only seems fair that your lives are ruined as well.” The fear had seeped away at some point, leaving just anger. How dare these men who raped a number of women, stand there and complain to her about how their actions ruined their lives.

“None of them said no,” the black haired one pointed out with the sleaziest smile Alex had ever seen, “and neither will you.”

“No,” Alex said simply as she took a step forward. “Now, if you touch me, you’re going to need god himself to stop me from ripping your throat out with my teeth.”

All three of the men took a small step backward at the viciousness in her words. It only took a moment for them to collect themselves, smirks sliding back onto their faces. Alex had never had the urge to spit in someone’s face, then she did in that moment. She had always felt that a punch was more refined than spitting, but these guys deserved to be degraded.

“Well, then I guess I’m just going to kill you if I can’t get anything from you. That will lead to the other bitch dropping the case.” The black haired one, who was holding the gun said. “You’re probably a horrid fuck anyway.”

Before Alex could say anything, the gun muzzle was pressed into her chest. It jumped a little with each heartbeat as they stared each other down.

Alex knew that there should be fear, there should be tears, there should be begging for her life, but all she felt anger. It would be a cold day in hell before she let these pieces of shit kill her. That meant she had two options, attempt to disarm and get away or try and talk them out of shooting her. There was no point in attempting to appeal to their sense of humanity, it was obvious that they had none, but she could probably spin it into a way of them saving their own asses.

“Finally, a way to shut you up.” The black haired one slid up to brush against her jaw and then back down. “You know, you’re very pretty when you aren’t talking. Are you sure we couldn’t work something out?”

“I wish I could say the same for you, but you’re just disgusting,” Alex said between clenched teeth.

The men just laughed a dark and humorless laugh. Alex knew that she now only had one option, which was to get the gun away from them. Yet, the muzzle moved back down, right over her heart, right into the red star tattoo, and pressed hard. The black haired man took another step forward and licked his lips.

There was a sharp pain and a large crash, but there was no blood. For a long second Alex just stared at the other two men, neither of them sure what the hell had happened or where the black haired man had gone. Then there was a flash of red and blue and the assailant was being punched multiple times in the face.

“Now, is that any way to treat a lady or the Chinese food she’s carrying?” Spiderman asked as he moved to stand between Alex and the other two men. “Why don’t we just let her hurry home before the foods cold and we can have a chat about manners.”

“We’re going to teach you a lesson this time you fucking fairy,” the shorter one growled.

There was the sound of a shot being fired and Spiderman jumped out of the way. Alex just stood there, pressed against the dumpster, unable to move. It was as if the little buffering wheel was up in her brain and she couldn’t process anything. Spiderman bounced off the bricks, avoiding another shot, and gave Alex an ungracious shove behind the dumpster to get her out of the line of fire.

It was a difficult for Alex to stay focused on the fight, Spiderman moving so fast, but unable to get the three men all wrapped up in webs. The vigilante was able to get the gun out of the black haired one’s hand, but that was the only progress he really made. The alley was too tight and it was obvious that Spiderman didn’t want to really hurt them.

As if something switched on, Alex surged forward and tackled the shortest guy from behind. They both hit the cracked asphalt, Alex’s knees getting bloodied, before she brought her knee up and slam it into his balls. The man’s elbow came back at the same moment and winded her, causing her to roll off of him.

Spiderman’s foot came down on the wrist of the other man’s wrist as he got him onto the ground as well, but the blacked haired one got behind him. While he didn’t have a gun, he did wrap an arm around Spiderman’s throat and they both tumbled into the wall. Alex scrambled over and slammed her elbow into the other man’s stomach to stop him from joining the fray. Spiderman got a bit of leverage and flipped over, stuck to the wall, and webbed the back haired man to the ground. Then he webbed the other two, making sure to cover their eyes.

Alex thought that was a bit excessive as she got to her feet, hissing from the scrapes on her knees. She was thinking up something witty to say to the web-slinger as she tilted her head up. However, it died on her lips and all the air left her lungs. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real.

“No,” Alex said shaking her head and backing up, “no, no, no! Not again.”

“Again?” Peter Parker asked as he jumped down onto the asphalt and picked up his mask, brushing it off. “You unmask superheroes often, Harper?”

“Why me? What did I do to have this keep happening to me?” Alex ran her hands through her hair as she paced over the prone bodies, pulling little sounds of protests when she stepped on a hand or stomach. It was like she had a tattoo on her forehead that read ‘superheroes please come mess up my perfectly normal life at the most inconvenient times.’ How many superheroes were running around New York anyway?

"You just found out about my secret identity, I’m pretty sure I should be the one freaking out.” Peter pointed out, brushing the dirt off his mask.

“Peter?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut the hell up.”

“What? I have a secret identity for a reason!”

They two of them just stood there and staring at one another, wrapped up in their own thoughts. Most of Alex’s continued four letter words. Of all the students in her Biochemistry class, she was paired with Spiderman. Peter Parker was Spiderman.

“What do we do now?” Alex sighed, as the sound of sirens reached her ears. It wasn’t like she could unlearn Peter’s identity and it wasn’t like she could avoid her lab partner. She had even started to, against her will, consider him a friend.

“Well, first we should get out of this alley since the boys in blue are on their way. They aren’t all that fond of me and vigilante justice,” Peter tugged the mask on, even though it was pretty pointless.

“Do you know that there is a task force that is tasked with finding vigilantes and you’re on the top of their list?” Alex asked with a smile before looking down at the idiots on the ground. “One of that task force will probably be here because of this and I should talk to him. You get out of here, though.”

“I’m not going to leave you alone with these guys,” Peter gave the wiggling black haired man a swift kick in the ribs. “I mean, I’ve been following you for weeks trying to keep them from getting you alone. Especially after their first threat.”

“So you were stalking me, I knew it!” All of strange questions and popping up out of nowhere suddenly made so much more sense. Popping up when she was jogging at dangerous times, being alone with Sandy where she could have been hurt or taken, and being sincere when asking if she was alright. It was still stalker behavior, but in a sweeter way.

“It wasn’t stalking, it was…protection detail that you didn’t know about,” Peter protested.

“Yeah well,” The sirens sounded as if they were on this block, “we’ll talk about it later. These guys are tied up all pretty and you’re not good to anyone in jail. Especially me, we have that project in Warren’s class that I don’t want to do alone.”

“Oh, I see, purely selfish reasons,” Peter laughed, but he crawled up the wall without any more protest. “I’ll see you when I see you, Harper.”

“You bet your cute little spandex ass, now get out of here.” Alex walked over and grabbed the Chinese off the dumpster so that didn’t get tipped over in the chaos.

“Stay out of trouble,” Peter called before he disappeared onto the roof.

“Always has to have the last word,” Alex muttered as police officers came into the alley, guns drawn. “Hello officers, could you call Detective Sousa for me? I believe this case falls into his jurisdiction.”

#marvel #spiderman #the amazing spider-man #peter parker #A Spider Sat Down Beside Her #Update 9

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tinamaetales · 6 years

Text

2017 K Drama Journey

It was that one night, while scrolling through my facebook feed that I came across this short clip from Doctors wherein Park Shin Hye is beating up the gangsters in the ER. I got curious so I decided to find a copy of it and try watching a K Drama. I thought, why not give it a try? It was during those times that I was recovering from my PUD and I just resigned from my job and I really want to watch a good tv series and K Dramas are really popular nowadays so I decided to give it a try and, I wasn’t disappointed. K Dramas, as cliché as it may sound, changed my life. Every show I’ve watched was a roller coaster ride of emotions. In addition, they taught me lessons I never expected in the first place.

I would just like to share with you a “summarized” version of my views about the kdramas I’ve watched in 2017 (cause ya know, I’ve already posted my individual reflections about them here)

Doctor Stranger

My rating: 7/10

Starring: Lee Jong Suk, Park Hae Jin, Kang So Ra and Jin Se Yeon

This is an interesting drama to watch because it doesn’t only focuses on the romance aspect but also divulge into the topic of politics and medicine. The best part? The competition between Park Hoon and Han Jae Joon for it served as an avenue for their growth both as doctors and as a person. However, I felt like the romance part in here is a bit forced; I’m sorry but the main couple has zero chemistry.

My fave quote: “…the doctor’s gown you wear? That’s sufficient enough for people to put their lives in your hands. Let’s not disappoint them”

My fave OSTs:

Like Tomorrow Won’t Come by G/O

A Good Day Like This by Jeon Hye Won

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/158622149566/strangers

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/159863753466/who-is-the-real-stranger

Goblin

My rating: 10/10

Starring: Gong Yoo, Kim Go Eun, Lee Dong Wook, Yoo In Na and Yook SuengJae

The best K drama ever. It’s perfect. That’s all. This K drama will make you value life more and will show you that death isn’t something we should be afraid of – it’s a part of our journey on Earth, an end to a life once lived and it will only be regrettable if you didn’t live your life right. Anyway, this is a story about a Goblin who lives for more than 900 years and is searching for the Goblin’s Bride that will pull out the sword from his chest to end his immortality is surely something that would catch your attention. Let’s also add that he has an amnesiac Grim Reaper for a best friend (lol) and a spoiled brat ‘nephew’ who is so in love with his credit card. What will make you get hooked in this drama? It’s how every character are related to each other both in beautiful and painful ways; yes, even that gorgeous chicken store owner has a very important role. The part that broke my heart in this drama is the realization that the key to ending the Goblin’s immortality has become his reason to stay alive. It’s ironic how someone who has the ability to end you is also the only reason for you to keep going. Ang sakit bes. It was a perfect mix of romance, comedy and drama.

My fave quotes:

“Every life is touched by a deity at least once. Just when you’re drifting away from the world, if someone nudges you back in the right direction, that’d be when the deity chooses to visit you”

“If god really only gives one as many struggles as one can handle, he may have thought too highly of me”

“The ones left behind should live even harder. We might cry from time to time but we should smile a lot and cheer up. You are obligated to do that in return for the love you received”

“Every human dies at some point, that’s why life is even more beautiful………If today is my last day, this will be my final memory of the person I love so I’d better live hard and love”

“How could you tell me to remember only the happy memories but to forget you? That makes no sense because every moment I spent with you was a happy one even though each and every moment was also sad and difficult. So, did my dying to protect you become your happy ending?”

“I will come as the rainfall. I will come as the first snowfall. I will beg the divinity to do just that”

“Every moment I spent with you shined. Because the weather was good. Because the weather was bad. Because the weather was good enough”

My fave OSTs: (all of them actually, lol)

Beautiful by Crush

Stay With Me by Punch ft. Chanyeol (EXO)

I will go to you like the first snow by Ailee

Hush by Lassie Lindh

I miss you by Soyou

And I’m Here by Kim Kyung Hee

You are so beautiful by Eddy Kim

Heaven by Roy Kim

Round and Round by Heize

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/160115970831/souls

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/161922642721/i-dont-wanna-live-forever-goblin-post-part-2

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/175471572666/hes-always-listening-goblin-post-part-3

My rating: 8.5/10

Starring: Lee Jong Suk and Han Hyo Joo

One of the most interesting plots in the K drama land; it is a story about the lead character of a famous comic book series who developed “free will” that scared his creator so much to the point that he wanted to kill off his main character. Kang Chul’s (the comic book’s main character) creator is afraid of how he seem to be directing his own story so his solution is to kill him however due to an amazing twist of fate, the creator’s daughter (which happens to be a doctor) gets sucked inside the comic book world every time that Kang Chul is in danger in order for her to save him. This k drama knows no chill by the way, it will keep you on the edge of your seat every episode. It’s intense and sometimes stressful to watch but you will love every moment of it anyway.

My fave quotes:

“But in last moment, he suddenly thought of one word: ‘Come-from-behind-victory’. Kang Chul decided to keep fighting until he found the true culprit – he wouldn’t be able to take back his own life. So he will find the culprit before he dies, no matter what.”

“The first purpose of the characters are to deliver the story. When the purpose is gone, the character disappears forever. On the contrary, when a character’s purpose becomes clear… then the character becomes one of the main characters by force”

My fave OST:

Where are u by Jung Joon-young

Please say something, even though it is a lie by Park Bo Ram

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/164668803281/hero

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/174726704651/kang-chuls-fight-is-my-fight-w-blog-post-part

Love in the moonlight

My rating: 9/10

Starring: Park Bo Gum, Kim Yoo Jung, Kwak Dong Yeon, Chae Soo Bin and Jinyoung (B1A4)

My first historical drama. It’s charming especially when you have Park Bo Gum as the Crown Prince and Kim Yoo Jung as the female lead, what more can you ask for? The romance side of this feels natural and would make you feel kilig everytime! You will love it to the moon and back. Moreover, the social issues it presented were still timely and relevant. It will make you realize that no matter how many years have passed and how different the government system has changed through the years, if those in position are motivated by their love of power instead of service to people then things would definitely won’t turn out well. This drama shows us that it is when the government listen to its people that it can be effective. The officials should not create higher gates and longer barriers between them and its people but instead open its doors and close the distance after all, without its people the government is nothing.

My fave quotes:

“I wish you would be a king with good eyes because if you’re too high up, you tend not to see people below you. I wish you have good ears – you must not listen only to those who yell before you… Please protect every single person for they’re all your people. Will you promise me to become a King like that?”

“Rather than a sun that shines alone, he’s a ruler who shines brightly when among his people, like the moonlight—I believe the king is that kind of person.”

“The highs and lows between me and my people, the distance between me and you—I hope that you will understand my wish to be one step closer.”

My fave OSTs:

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds by Gummy

Melting Heart by K. Will

My Person by Park Bo Gum

I think I’m done sleeping by Soyou ft. Yoo Seungwoo

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/165394639616/the-rebel-prince

Legend of the blue sea

My rating: 7/10

One of the most hyped K drama of 2016 and even though it fell short on its promising story line, I still get to enjoy watching this. It’s interesting to watch a love story between a mermaid and a human especially when it also included the theme of reincarnation. This drama also shows us the value of second chances – it is an opportunity for us to change the course of our fate but it will be our choice…it’s up to us if we want to be better.

Starring: Lee Min Ho, Jun Ji Hyun, Shin Won Ho, Lee Hee Joon and Shin Hye Sun

My fave quotes:

“If someone is reborn, might it be because they have an unrealized dream? That dream could be an unfulfilled love, or it could even be unsatisfied greed.”

“The fact that everything is repeating isn’t a curse, but an opportunity—to change the ending.”

“But when I make friends with someone, that’s it for me. Whether you backstab or not, that’s your choice. I’ll think about what I’ll do if you do backstab me. Until then, you’re my friend.”

“Rather than being unable to love my daughter because I can’t remember her, it’s better to live remembering her, even if it’s painful.”

My fave OSTs:

Love Story by Lyn

A World that is You by Yoon Mirae

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/168356428401/when-history-repeats-itself

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

My rating: 8.5/10

If I could only describe this K Drama in one word, it would be charming. The plot is light yet relatable. Easy to watch yet filled with great life lessons too. It will actually remind us of our younger years – the silly crushes, the dreamers in us and the unforgettable friendships we gained. What I like the most about it is the simplicity of its plot yet it will touch your heart.

Starring: Lee Sung Kyung and Nam Joo Hyuk

My fave quotes:

“No matter how high the mountain is, it will not be as grand as your dreams. This is nothing hard! We get back up no matter how harshly we’re trampled upon”

“I hope you will confront that matters (resentment towards your mother and your complicated emotions towards your uncle’s family) squarely. Those emotions such as gratitude, guilt or tiredness from pretending you don’t know the truth.. should burst out at least once. Only then you will be completely free from the trauma you are having”

“Everyone has a youth. A time that’s more beautiful because it’s awkward and clumsy, a time that shines brilliantly. A time when you’re not afraid of anything because you have nothing to lose, and a time when you’re excited because you can have anything, everything. That’s now, age 24, my youth. Although I’m still uneasy and nervous, I’m perfect without needing anything else.”

My fave OSTs:

You and I by Kim Jong Wan

Dreaming by Han Hee

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/168888275251/swag

Cheese in the trap

My rating: 6/10

If you’re looking for a realistic yet harsh approach towards depicting our society in general, then this k drama is a must watch for you. It shows how the real world sucks. It has its charming side too though, especially the love triangle between Yoo Jung, Hong Seol and Baek In Ho and it will sometimes make you feel that both guys are deserving…actually erase that…all of them are deserving of love especially after all the struggles and challenges they’ve went through at such a young age. This drama started out strong but the ending felt a bit empty.

Starring: Park Hae Jin, Kim Go Eun, Lee Sung Kyung, Seo Kang Joon and Nam Joo Hyuk

My fave quotes:

“Once you start working, you’ll realize you’re no longer the center of the universe, you realize there’re many people who are better & scarier than you and you need to accept that you cannot control everything.”

“People who play victim will always end up like that, losing what they have as they attempt to gain what isn’t theirs”

“Why is it that people always want what belongs to other people? Then they delude themselves thinking other people’s things are theirs when in the end they lose what’s their own.”

“There are ups and downs in relationship but maintaining longevity is hard”

“No matter how rock bottom you are, you shouldn’t bring harm to people who care about you”

“Don’t put up walls and look down on people because among those people, there are some who sincerely wanted to be friends with you”

My fave OSTs:

My Time with you by Vanilla Acoustic

Einfuhlung by Tearliner

Just a little by Sweden Laundry

Maybe I like you by Cosmos Hippie

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/168925207681/trapped

Descendants of the Sun

My rating: 9.5/10

One of the best k dramas ever! I swear! It tells a great story of love, service and sacrifice. It is a great combination of romance, action, thrill, and philosophy. The best thing about this is how it executed the differing principles of the way doctors and soldiers save lives. It shows us how we can find ourselves through the service of others.

Starring: Song Joong Ki, Song Hye Kyo, and Kim Ji Won

My fave quotes:

“Soldiers always live with a shroud on. When they die in a nameless land for the sake of their country, the place of their death become their grave and their uniform become their shroud. This should be every soldier’s mindset every time they put down their uniform. Therefore, be honorable at every moment – there’s no reason to fall short”

“I’ve been given the privilege to be a doctor, I faithfully pledge my life to serve humanity. The health and life of my patient will always be my priority. I will faithfully carry out my duties regardless of the patient’s race, religion or nationality. I will not use my knowledge inhumanely even when I’m under threat. I hereby take this oath on my account and on behalf of my honour”

My fave OSTs:

Everytime by Chen of EXO ft. Punch

Always by Yoon Mirae

You are my Everything by Gummy

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/169657649021/sacrifices

Hwarang

My rating: 7.5/10

I once described this drama as oppa overload because it was really filled with handsome oppa! Anyway, this is a great drama to show how the youth, despite them being young, can become the nation’s future. It is when we guide the young people rightly that we can secure a good future. It also shows us how much we needed to be united for our country’s sake because we can do so much better if we work with each other instead of against each other. This is a story of growth and brotherhood. A must watch, for sure.

Starring: Go Ara, Park Seo Joon, Park Hyung Sik, Choi Min Ho (SHINee), Do Ji Han, Kim Tae Hyung (BTS), and Jo Yoon Woo

My fave quotes:

“It’s only those who possess a lot who fear. If you don’t have anything, you don’t fear anything.”

“Only when they (Hwarang) were able to think and live freely that they can dream of a future for Silla”

“Don’t be silenced by an order created by another. You are not a horse on a chess board. You are Hwarang who are freer than anyone else in this world. The fact that you are Hwarang, never forget that”

“Being young and weak is not a sin.”

My fave OSTs:

Even if I die by V and Jin from BTS

Our Tears by Park Seo Joon

I’ll be here by Park Hyung Sik

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/170972988531/change-starts-with-us

Doctors

My rating: 8.5/10

Starring: Park Shin Hye, Kim Rae Won, Lee Sung Kyung and Yoon Kyun Sang

This K drama will always have a special place in my heart because of how much I love and can relate with its heroine. The focus of this is the life of a great neurosurgeon Dr. Yoo Hye Jung – her ups and downs and how she manage to come out of all the challenges thrown at her stronger than ever. Her life story is really inspirational.

My fave quotes:

“The cells that make up a human are always in a state of instability. To live is to be unstable. In the end, the essence of life is change.”

“Unresolved pasts will always come back to find you whether it’s love or resentment”

“People say that forgiveness is not for others but for yourself. They shouldn’t say such things. Forgiveness isn’t as light as it sounds.”

“When doctors become guardians, they too are merely impotent humans.”

“A genuine meeting can change a person. The person I am with right now could change my life. That’s why a person can be both hope and despair”

“I had once dreamt of revenge — killing everyone and myself. But there is such a thing as karmic justice, and at the center of that is not me, but the world.”

My fave OSTs:

No Way by Park Yongin and Kwon Soonil of Urban Zakapa

It’s Love by Jung Yup

Sunflower by Younha

That’s the way it is by Se O

More of my reflection:

https://tinamaetales.tumblr.com/post/173628552981/what-doesnt-kill-you-makes-you-stronger

It was one heck of a roller coaster ride, right? I think it’s safe to say that my 2017 k drama journey was lit af! Now I’m looking forward for more!

TinaMae

#personal #kdrama #k drama #2017 #doctor stranger #goblin #w #kang chul #love in the moonlight #legend of the blue sea #cheese in the trap #weightlifting fairy #kim bok joo #hwarang #weightlifting fairy kim bok joo #descendants of the sun #dots #doctors #doctor crush

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