#or is it bc i actually lack any sort of attraction that would prompt me to desire a relationship | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yuzukult · 3 years

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acquitted love || sjn & reader

title: acquitted love pairing: johnny suh x reader genre: fluff, angst, co-workers!au, lawyer!au, one-sided enemies to lovers word count: 8.7k warnings: some language/cursing, brief mentions of sex but there's no actual discussions or explicit conversations of the topic, but generally pg-13 prompt: you absolutely hate johnny suh. but when your boss pairs you two up together for one of the highest profile cases, you’re left working close with your enemy but he doesn’t seem to think that way of you. a/n: tada!! i wrote this for the @/ficscafe fic exchange event!! so @urlocalnctstan , hope you enjoy this !! i tried to write it according to what you put as your preferences, but honestly T_T it was so hard bc i was just not getting any ideas!! hopefully this is something you’d like :D enjoy !!

“God, isn’t he just… so attractive?”

Along with a click on your tongue, you feign a hit in Hyeri’s direction, whose reflexes have gotten so much faster in the past couple years of knowing you and it shows when she cowers underneath your arm. She gifts you that not-so-apologetic smile, full of mischievousness because she knows no matter how annoying she can be, you’ll still love her nonetheless.

“Why do you keep talking about Johnny? You know he’s banned as a topic of our conversations.”

Hyeri rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her white frilled blouse. You know that she doesn’t actually inhabit any romantic feelings for Johnny, but she has a problem of thinking without the usage of her brain when she sees a hot guy.

Not that you think Johnny is hot.

No.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t think he’s at least an ounce of smokin’ hot.” She’s unraveled her arms by now, poking your shoulder incessantly to grasp onto your attention as you're tapping on the buttons of the copier machine. “I bet if you asked him out, he’d say yes.”

You briefly glare at Hyeri. “You realize that he and I don’t get along, right? He keeps finding stupid loopholes in the system to win his cases. He thinks with his heart, not his head, and sometimes, with whatever that thing was in his pants.” And, not to mention that he walks out the court with that big grin stretched from cheek to cheek, giving the ‘good news’ to your well-respected boss (who you desperately seek the approval of but that’s a different story for another time). And every single time, she gives him that nod of appreciation, that ‘nod of approval’ if you will, when it should be given to you and not to some asshole who fucks his way to victory.

“But he’s so hot—”

You narrow your eyes at your friend, and with a stern voice, you call out, “Hyeri.”

She shrugs. “Honestly, though, he’s hella smart. He’s got a job here, and works under your boss. It’s Park, Kim & Associates—notice how Park is first, because she’s a fucking genius. She only picks the intelligent ones to work under her. Why do you think I’m still working for Mr. Kim?”

Park Seohyun and Kim Gonghyun—one of the biggest lawyers in the region, decided to join together to build their own law firm from the ground up. They were both highly respected in their field; Kim Gonghyun spent years of his life being mentored by one of the most famous judges, and as for Park Seohyun, she was, simply put, admirable because of the obstacles she has overcome to make her dreams of working in law to be real. Being a woman, young, and beautiful, she’s had her fair share of encounters with people who disregard her potential, that is until she met Gonghyun—who, admittingly is an old man who seems like he’d be traditional, sexist, even, but he proves to also make people realize how wrong they are with their impression of him.

But, as Mr. Kim is getting older, he’s gotten a bit… lazy.

In fact, he’s been slacking so much that he’s gotten a new rep in the office—if he was your direct supervisor, or your supervisor was under him, you were on the side of the office where all the easier, uncomplicated cases were assigned. Which meant that there was a slight possibility that your talents and skills weren’t as sharp and exceptional as you thought they were.

And well, Hyeri works directly underneath Mr. Kim.

Hyeri doesn’t want a heavy workload, despite the fact that there’s a plethora of files on her desk, stacked up one onto another as tall as her PC tower, and they were all open and closed cases—needless to say that she didn’t mind it.

“Okay, but you got offered a position under Seohyun. Do you really think you’re not wasting your potential?”

Hyeri scoffs. “Never. At least, not now. I’m still in my twenties, I’d like to enjoy my youth while I can, for your information.”

You quirk a brow. “And does any of that pertain fucking Johnny? The hot guy, so you claim?”

She immediately has her hand covering your mouth and you scowl. “Shhhhh, he works here!”

You bite the flesh of her hand and Hyeri instantly retracts. “You think I don’t know my archenemy works here? He sits directly across from my office—I get the best view of the guy and I’m not even one of his fangirls.”

“You’re not gonna be one of those girls who claim they’re different because they don’t like him but then end up falling for him anyway… are you?”

Your hand goes up and Hyeri crouches down.

“Stop it.”

“Seriously though! It’s the classic e2l love story,” she has her hands gesturing in front of her like she’s making an imaginary rainbow, “Two lawyers, constantly butting heads, accept each other’s differences and learn to love—“

“The fuck is an ‘e2l’?”

“Enemies to lovers.”

“Are you high? Stop spitting nonsense.” This time, you’re waving the stack of papers that finish printing in front of her face. “Meet me for lunch later. But if you keep talking about my archenemy and I falling in love, you can kiss a free meal goodbye.”

Hyeri gasps.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Maybe. Just maybe, Hyeri might be a tiny smidge right when she says Johnny is handsome. Just a bit though, because she can’t get credit for something like that.

He’s dyed his hair this shade of brunette that sort of reminds you of roasted chestnuts on a cold, winter day, sitting inside of a cooker outside of your childhood home, baking along with some sweet potatoes your mom had gotten from a farmer’s market nearby. Johnny has this focused gaze attached to the screen of his monitor; there’s a dip in the fronts of his brows, lips tightened into a straight line, and constant switching back and forth from the computer while taking notes down in a book that’s laid open in front of him.

You wonder what’s running through his mind, or well, you’re more interested in what files he has sprawled out on top of his desk.

Truthfully, if it hadn’t been obvious enough, you weren’t quite a fan of Johnny Suh and it’s mostly due to his work ethic. He’d been notorious for his reputation of sleeping around—especially with the opposing side—so it’s hard to convince yourself that he didn’t win the case because of his actual capabilities, but it’s because he pulled some strings.

And Johnny doesn’t put much effort into denying it either.

Albeit deep down, you were a teeny bit envious of his confidence. He struts around the courtroom with ease, and when he presents his position, there’s no staggering in his voice—it’s always crisp and clean, weighted with nothing but credence, and never straying from his initial perspective. It’s never a lack of poise, it’s consistently the look he goes for; from the hand gestures and the furrowed brows, to the rhetorical questions in the end of certain statements that has the speculators and jury sitting at the edge of their seat, Johnny had a talent for performing in the courtroom, but that doesn’t mean anything when the way he gets to the success isn’t ethical.

Just at that moment, his eyes lift from the screen and meet yours.

There isn’t any hesitation when you scramble to grab the remote controller, and the shades drop over the windows instantaneously.

“Fuck,” you mutter underneath your breath, tossing the remote onto your desk and shaking your hands after. What if he thought you were admiring him? Maybe he didn’t see. Yeah. It was for a brief second, and with how close your offices were to each other, it would be common to accidentally lock eyes… right?

Interrupting your thoughts, the office phone rings and it nearly startles the living soul out of you. But before you reach for it, your head tilts to the side curiously because the extension number is familiar—it’s Park Seohyun’s, your boss.

What could she be calling for?

You don’t remember fucking something up—but to be fair, half the times, you never really know if you’ve actually fucked up until someone with steaming ears and a crimson face comes storming in. So… did you do something good? Again, you don’t think that’s right either, because other people would’ve made comments about it.

Deciding to swallow your nerves, you pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey!” Seohyun never fails to be bubbly, and you could never mimic her energy. You definitely had to be born with that kind of enthusiasm. “I have a favor. Hop into my office.”

Leaned back in her leather swivel chair, she had her fingers laced with each other while resting over her stomach. Johnny stands beside you (and you do your best to not look directly at him, especially after that weird staring thing), and you both feel like kids being lectured by parents from how still you are. Her office is huge, probably the size of both yours and Johnny’s combined; with ceiling to floor windows, cases of books that line the perimeter, not to mention the humongous ass couch that practically covers the other half of the room, and her desk was so wide, you estimate about four monitors would fit on there with still additional space for work. That wasn’t even the best part—the view of the city looks almost like a generic lockscreen of a Windows computer, and you’re not even sure why she goes home at night when she basically has a penthouse here.

“As you know, I have a favor.”

“Right,” Johnny retorts, mostly as a filler in the awkward silence. “So… what’s the favor?”

She pulls a box from her purse; square, black and made from a leather material with a lock pad stitched into it, something you’ve never seen before, and she slides the passcode in, then it pops the lid open. A key (a… very small one) sits in the velvety cushion, with nothing else occupying the space with it, and it looks comical. She uses this to open the very top drawer of her desk, and as she pulls using the handle, there’s another box inside, but this time, metal instead of leather, but still black.

What the fuck?

It seems Johnny shares the same thoughts, because he sneaks a glance over at you.

“You see,” Seohyun begins, pressing on the digital keys of the box until there’s a beep at the end and the case hisses open. “There’s a lot of security for this. Which means you understand the importance of it.”

Then, she picks up four manila envelopes and lies on the surface of her wooden top desk. “I have a family emergency to attend to this upcoming week. I’m boarding a flight tonight. So I’m leaving the Hwang v. Yoon case to the two of you.”

“Fuck—”

“The what?”

You and Johnny are sputtering out of shock. The Hwang v. Yoon case is the biggest case that the firm is involved in currently, and the only people involved in it have been Seohyun and Gonghyun. It’s been on every social media platform you could think of; from Facebook to Twitter, TikTok to Instagram—there’s even this weird website for emo/grunge teens or strange kids that like writing fanfic called Tumblr, and whatever that is, it’s discussed on there too.

“What about Gonghyun?”

Seohyun scoffs, closing the drawer and dropping the key back into her special box. Where do you even get a box like that? “He can’t handle this alone. So I’m kicking him off until I come back. I thought about letting the two of you work with him, but his ego is so inflated, it’ll get in the way of our chances of winning. It’s easier if it was just me and him, but seeing that things at home aren’t well, I’m going to need you two to step up to the plate.”

The room goes quiet. The only sounds you hear are the muffled noises of a typical bustling office outside the thick walls of Seohyun’s office, and at first, excitement rushes through your blood because Seohyun thought of you taking over a special, high profile case.

Albeit, another realization gets soaked up, and it’s that Johnny also came to mind, and that because it’s such an important case, the two of you would be… working… many… hours… together.

Maybe you should back out of it—but then again, this is such a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Imagine winning this— it wouldn’t be good for just the law firm, it’d be good for you too. Your name, in articles on these big fancy news websites, perhaps even on new channels, talking about how you, this amazing lawyer, won the Hwang v. Yoon case.

But then you’re snapped back into reality when Johnny leans over to take the envelopes from Seohyun.

If your name is on those platforms, so is Johnny’s.

God, this guy just ruins everything, doesn’t he?

“We’ll take care of it, Seohyun. You can trust us,” he says assuringly, a smile tugging on each corner of his lips with that dazzling gaze. “We’ll be at our best.”

Kiss ass.

If you had the option, you wouldn’t be spending your Saturday night here at work, in one of those conference rooms with a long table in the middle, a big projector that displays on the wall, and a random black leather loveseat couch that lines the one corner in case there’s too many occupants.

Especially since the person who’s accompanying you is Johnny Suh.

There’s probably a lot of people who would kill to be in your position (Hyeri being one of them), but you dread it. Not to be that person, but what’s so special about him anyway? What? He’s tall, has some muscles, long luscious hair that he can slick back with that sultry stare—wait, what?

“Alright, moving on…” From what? You guys just started? It’d been clear with Seohyun that the mornings would be dedicated to other cases, but nights would be considered overtime and where you’d zoom in your focus on Ms. Hwang’s justice. “Let’s take a look at the facts here.”

Johnny slips off his blazer, hanging it on the back of one of the chairs as you’re seated in another, leaning back comfortably with an arm resting on the table. He loosens the first few buttons of his dress shirt before folding up the sleeves, and that’s when you notice a little thing in the inner crook of his elbow—is that a fucking sunflower? Is that what he uses to reel girls in? That he’s soft enough to have a pretty little flower etched onto his gentle, silky and supple—

“Okay,” he says, interjecting into your thoughts with a laser pointer in his hand. He taps on the space bar of his laptop that mirrors what’s on his screen, but then, that’s when you realize what’s on the slides.

There’s a collage of pictures, mostly street, casually walking themed ones, but the common factor was that they were of Yoon Changmin, the man you guys were up against. They were all paparazzi-like photos, which begs the question, how did he get pics like this, and why did he get them?

“What’s the point of this?” you ask, voice laced with nothing but suspicion.

“We gotta get into the mind of the enemy.” You wanna get into the mind of your enemy, too.

You gesture to the one image of Changmin with an arm around his girlfriend and a finger up his nose. “Seems like he’s trying to reach inside of his head instead of us. These are just everyday pictures, Johnny. What’s that going to do for us?”

“Well,” he begins, turning to look at the wall of ‘evidence’. “You see—wait, holy shit.”

Freezing in the midst of reaching for your coffee, your head jolts in the direction of your partner. “What? What is it?”

“Holy shit,” he exclaims, “Hoooooooooly shit. Why didn’t I see this before? This changes everything.”

Furrowing your brows, you’ve given up getting your drink and dropped your hands onto the table. “Tell me, what is it?”

“This is a game changer.”

“Johnny,” you call out sternly, and his eyes link with yours before he instantly points to a particular picture with his red laser pointer.

“Look at that.” There’s pride saturated in his words, but when you look at what he’s indicating, your body slouches in disappointment.

Why the hell was he directing your attention onto Changmin’s thighs? Surely, there’s no denying that they were attractive—you recall that his alibi was at the gym that very night of the crime.

“What? He’s guilty for showing off his toothpick legs?” They were lean, you never said they were muscular.

“No,” he retorts, slightly irritated by your response as he rolls his eyes. “Look at his pants.”

“Okay…”

“They’re jean shorts.”

There’s a pregnant pause, but the expression on your face is so loud it can’t be hidden.

Johnny continues, “That’s a fashion crime.” He says it as if it’s an obvious fact known by many. “Not to mention that it’s fucking raw hem. He should be arrested.”

Suddenly, your opinion of him thinking too much with his heart dissipates because it seems like he’s thinking out of his ass instead. Did he win those cases out of pity? How did this guy even pass the bar? How about law school? How the hell did he even get into law school?

“I don’t think—”

“Listen, alright, just hear me out,” he’s got the palms of his hands resting flat on the surface of the table, doing his best to gain your full undivided attention. “Only assholes wear jean shorts. They flaunt that shit around like they own the place, but they’re horrendous pieces of clothing that should not be on a male’s body. I don’t care what you say, what your opinion is, because that is a fact.”

Puffing your cheeks, you feel at a loss. If Johnny is who you had to get this done, it feels like you’re not going to be finding much evidence any time soon.

“Okay, if… if that’s how you want to play it, then show me the evidence—other than those 2012 cut off denim shorts.”

He reaches over to hit his space bar again, then with a wink and a slide change, he leans closer to you and says with that deep, honeyed voice, “Gladly.”

You hate admitting when you’re wrong.

Ironically, you concede and will confess when you actually are, but it doesn’t mean that you enjoy it. For example, when Hyeri claims that the intern Mark had a crush on you, you quickly waved her off, stating something along the lines of, “I’m too intimidating; there’s better chances of him being scared of me than ever finding me attractive.” And then a week later, you owed Hyeri free lunch at that hip ramen place downtown because Mark had approached your desk that very morning with a bouquet of red roses flowers for you, a cheeky grin glued to his face with pools of hearts in his eyes, and ready to ask you on a date because it was the day after his internship had ended. Naturally, it wasn’t fun rejecting that poor college boy.

But, you won’t say you find Johnny interesting or handsome. Or that there’s potential when it came to possibly (just barely the slightest smidge) that you’d ever consider asking Johnny out. He’s your enemy here, you’ve mentioned that a multitude of times, and you stand firm on that very declaration, despite the fact that sometimes when he gets too close, your breath gets caught in your throat and you feel like you can’t get whatever’s lodged in out.

Albeit it’s not the whole “you guys are gonna end up together” comment that Hyeri makes and resulting in you denying it afterwards, it’s that Johnny might… be a decent lawyer.

He’s not the best one you’ve seen; the stupid revelation he had on the first day working on the case about the jean shorts is evidence for it, but it’s the days following that were slowly changing your perspective on him.

When you said, “He thinks too much with his heart more than with his head,” it was 100% correct.

When meeting with potential witnesses, you recognized that Johnny empathizes with people often; when they cry and start panicking from being overwhelmed, he's quick on his feet to put an arm around them, share reassuring words, and have them back to normal in record’s time.

And, well… you? You’re the one making them cry in the first place.

You don’t want to fully take the blame for being the cause of their tears, but people need to hear what’s happening, and the very detail that they can’t even handle this information probably means they’re not worthwhile as a key witness.

Johnny, of course, thinks otherwise.

He believes that these people should have a voice (although you’ve alluded that they might be more useless than helpful), and putting them on the stand with Yoon Changmin there would change the view of the jury to supporting Hwang Naeri.

“Listen, if we get these people to sign the form, we’d get witnesses and it’ll help Naeri,” Johnny claims, frantically moving his arms annoyingly as he talks, trying his best to express the gravity of the situation, “and maybe, maybe, money wouldn’t be how Changmin wins, but how he loses. We can’t have another person with jean shorts walking on the streets of our city like this—they deserve to go to prison.”

You scrunch up your nose. “Why does this always revert back to the jean shorts?”

“It always has to do with jean shorts,” he snaps back matter-of-factly. “Any straight guy wearing jean shorts with that much goddamn confidence has done some wrong in their lives.”

“Right, but I’m pretty sure that the crimes he did are mainly the reason why he’s being prosecuted against.”

“Jean shorts are the windows to the soul.”

“I’m almost 100% sure that eyes are the windows to the soul, but whatever. If you genuinely believe that the women we met today would benefit our case, then… okay. Let’s bring them to the stand.”

On the contrary to you, Johnny doesn’t have a hard time convincing witnesses to testify. You see the way that he works; those kind eyes directed at the participants, the pools of chocolate were sweet, saturated in nothing but tenderness and warmth, then he does that weird thing where he reaches for their hands and cups them before the words that escapes from his lips are enough to swoon them to stand in front of a courtroom.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s a method to his so-called madness.

Aggression and bluntness don’t work, it seems, because when you’re the one attempting to convince these people to go against the man that had done them wrong, they’re less willing to do it. Something about ‘moving on,’ and ‘not wanting to relive those memories again,’ but if it was you, you’d want justice. Then again, not everyone is like you, and not everyone thinks like you, and spending this abundance of time with Johnny is slowly getting you to ease into that perspective.

So… the initial impression you had of him may have been wrong.

And maybe, just maybe, you’re developing some feelings for him, just as Hyeri predicted.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

His abrupt personal question is enough to have the coffee spill into your mouth to slide down the ‘wrong throat’ because you’re choking, hand on your chest as you’re tackling to regain your breath again and Johnny only stares in disbelief, blinking blankly. “Are… are you okay?”

You glare at him through a hooded gaze. “Well,” you clear your throat once more. “Now, I am.”

“Cool.” He nods, retracting his hand so he could rub your back soothingly, deciding it’s best to stay away. “Are you going to answer my question?”

Quirking a brow, your head tilts slightly in puzzlement. “Why are you asking this?”

Johnny shrugs. “Isn’t it weird that we’ve hung out with each other for a whole week—stayed here for nights and we both don’t know anything about each other?”

Tapping your fingers against the wooden top table, you sigh. Maybe he’s got a point; after all, “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer,” right?

“No, I’m single.”

Johnny’s face suddenly brightens, ears perked, and his body straightens its posture in his seat at this revelation. “Oh, uh, I didn’t know that. You seemed busy in your personal life, so I, uh… was just wondering.” He looked anxious, but you couldn’t pinpoint why. “I, um, I’m single too, by the way, in case you’re wondering.” You weren’t.

The plethora of cardboard and plastic boxes scattered across the table was a representation of the night. It’s been long, exhausting, and messy, mostly because it’s a Friday night, the hearing was on Monday, and the two of you were nowhere near close to having enough to present to the court. In fear of disappointing Seohyun, the two of you agreed to stay over the office for the weekend to cram work for the case. There’s no denying that the atmosphere is weirder on the weekends, especially since, well, no one really comes here on the weekends. Johnny had to use the bathroom earlier and ran into the cleaning lady and she nearly shit her pants because she didn’t think anyone was here, so she had music blasting in her headphones.

Johnny is… interesting. He makes you laugh—or well, want to laugh, but you don’t give him that sense of satisfaction—and he’s smart but in his own weird way. He’s not like the other lawyers you’ve met, or any of the law students you attended University with because he’s more lighthearted and free-spirited than the rest, taking life in strides instead of just overwhelming himself in the abundance of stress that work brings.

He’s entirely the opposite of you.

And maybe you could learn something from the guy, but there’s something in you that brews hatred toward him. Possibility that you resent how easy he makes being a lawyer seem when you’re struggling in your day-to-day life to make things work.

But it’s way too fucking hard when he’s just… like that.

Despite all of that, he’s very generous and kind toward you. On rough days, he delivers your coffee order, the one you always get because he remembers what you asked the intern to get for you the last time, and he’s good at identifying when you’re just having that kind of day. You eventually learn he has a photographic memory (fucking show off), so when he saw that crumpled napkin with scribbles of what you want in that dumb intern’s hand, it wasn’t hard to remember. Which, by the way, is how he’s able to get into the most prestigious school for undergrad, manage to pass the bar so easily, and get into law school effortlessly.

And knowing this information sort of angers you more.

You know this isn’t his fault—he’s been blessed with a trait that people desire, one that you also yearn for, but the lucky ones get handed a lot of things in life. You wonder if he’s the type of guy who wins girls easily after matching with them on dating sites because of this stupid ass ‘photographic memory.’ Does he sleep with them right after? Does it ever get serious?

You shrug your shoulders and shake your head. You shouldn’t even let these strange thoughts haunt you, especially when you don’t even like him.

He’s a spoiled brat who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter.

So you’re left counting the remaining days until the trial so you don’t ever have to work with Johnny Suh this closely again.

Okay, well, it’s evident that bad luck is glued to your side because after you win the Hwang v. Yoon case for your law firm with that asshole, Seohyun is so impressed. So goddamn impressed that she insists that all the high profile cases are to be given to both you and Johnny.

To work as a team.

Together.

Jesus, this is Hell for you.

Surely, the promotion and raise that came along with it was definitely a plus, but it has you wondering if it’s even worth it. He’s been your unspoken enemy since the first day, and although you think you’re pretty forthright about your hatred for this guy, he can’t seem to read social cues.

When you’re pushing the double doors into the conference room the two of you often spend working on cases in, you expect Johnny to be ready for another day. But strangely enough, Johnny doesn’t have his laptop out or any of the notebooks sprawled across the table.

“Um,” you slide the strap of your bag off your shoulder and onto the spare chair. “Did you come late or something?”

He takes in a deep breath like he’s been holding back something. “We need to talk.”

There’s worry inscribed into his features; from the crease in between his brows, to his pursed lips, and eyes soaked in concern, almost like he’s got bad news to share and it has your stomach in knots. Was it that the case was thrown out? It couldn’t be, right? You both worked hard, presented your stance to the point that the jury and the judge were in awe with your findings. Sure, you had to cover Johnny’s mouth right before he was about to go off in a tangent about jean shorts, but overall, it was a good win, a hard one to go back on and pull out the wrongs of it. So what was it?

“I’m quitting our partnership.”

You blink. “What?”

He gestures to the room with his hands as if there’s anything out to reference. “This thing. Our work. The big profile cases. The famous stuff. I told Seohyun that I won’t be doing it anymore and she can revoke the promotion and the raise.”

You’re still not catching on. “… Why?” Was it something you did? Yeah, you weren’t a big fan of Johnny either, but were you so bad that he decided to not go through with the raise because of you?

“Because,” he pushes his blazer back, hands sliding into the front pockets of his navy blue trousers. “There’s a policy put into place. Those who are on the same cases cannot have any personal relations with each other that extend past friendships.”

“We’re not even friends?” With confusion written across your face, your head tilts to the side. “I’m not… I’m not catching on here.”

“I like you.”

Startled, the words you want to say are stolen out of your mouth. You’re left with a mixture of perturbation and bewilderment, uncertain where to go from there because Johnny asked for the removal of both a promotion and additional money that could be so good for his career… and it’s all because he has a crush on you?

“You quit the best thing that could’ve happened to you because you like me?”

“Yeah,” Johnny states calmly, sucking in his cheeks for a brief moment. “Ain’t that romantic?”

You scoff. “No. Absolutely not. You’re insane! Why would you do yourself dirty like that? Use your head, Johnny, you’re constantly thinking with that stupid heart of yours, and hate to break it to you, but it won’t get you anywhere.” Combing your hair with your fingers, you let out a sigh. “Go ask Seohyun for the position back. Say you made a mistake and—”

“I’m not asking her for the position back.”

Johnny doesn’t make any sense to you. “What? Why wouldn’t you do that?

“Because,” he laughs in disbelief, not because he thinks you’re funny. “I’m not going to force myself to work with a girl that I keep falling for. That’s self-inflicting, you realize that, right? You’re amazing, but you can seriously be so dense sometimes.”

“I’m dense? You just told one of the best law firms in the city that you don’t want to work on the important cases anymore because you have a stupid crush on your partner!”

“If we were on a team with more people, maybe it’d be different. But it’s just us two. You think I won’t fall any harder? That’s not easy. Every time I see you working, I swear I could be hopelessly in love with you one day.”

Your heart stops for a second.

This is Johnny Suh you were talking about here. One of the claimed best lawyers in your office, one of the most intelligent people that Hyeri has ever met, and Seohyun evidently backs this up because she’s given him so much recognition for his work. He’s the guy who worked with you to win the Hwang v. Yoon case, he’s the one who brought up the stupid jean shorts that seemed so far-fetched at the time, but they were a crucial detail everyone missed—it so happened that when Changmin bought those dumb shorts, there was evidence of at least one of his crimes in that store from the security cameras.

Any cis-gendered male who wears jean shorts can’t be trusted, according to Johnny.

And candidly speaking? You couldn’t even deny that. Your past two ex-boyfriends both wore jean shorts and the one cheated on you and the other one was caught money laundering.

“Listen,” he begins, interrupting your foggy thoughts. “I’m not asking you to tell me you like me back. I’m telling you because you should know, and that I can’t go on any further without letting you know. I’ll, uh, be in my office. Seohyun said she’d find a replacement for me.”

Hyeri is his replacement.

She’s great company and does a good job of helping you with whatever you need, but that was just it. Hyeri followed you, she never led with you, just as Johnny does. Agreeing with everything you say, mindlessly trailing behind everything you do—Hyeri was smart, but she couldn’t figure out how to think for herself when it came to these bigger cases because she’s never been given such a responsibility. But you couldn’t even blame her because it’s what she was told to do under Gonghyun.

“You said that you think Maeri snatched the bracelet?”

“No, I said if you watched the security video that the jewelry store submitted, it clearly shows that Maeri snatched the bracelet. Not that I ‘think.’ The proof is right there, Hyeri.”

She nods, resuming back to her work on the computer. Truthfully, Hyeri felt more like an assistant than a co-worker, someone to bounce ideas off of and to see from a different perspective. And as much as you hated Johnny, he had decent points. He had ways of making you put yourself into the shoes of people you never thought you were; although the guy was obnoxious, at least he actually was… good at his job.

Deciding you can’t take it anymore when Hyeri asks for the tenth time that hour about your beliefs rather than her own, you abruptly stand from your seat.

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” you reply shortly. “I’ll be back.”

It was just a spontaneous thought. It’s after hours, and although there are some people who stay behind to get some work done, you had your doubts that Johnny would still be here. He seems to have a better grip on that work/life balance thing people talked about (unlike yourself), but it didn’t hurt to check his office, right?

It’s a good thing you went with it. Because right across from yours, there’s Johnny.

There’s one single lamp that shines over the tabletop of his desk, and the other sources of light in his office are from his computer screen and the ones from the city skyline from behind him. It has him seemingly angelic like this, so serene, calm, and collected, only focused on what’s laid out in front of him. The sun has gone down, people have gone home, but Johnny remains, hardworking as always, despite your previous observations that he’s a lazy, unprofessional guy who gets everything handed down to him.

With a knock on his glass door, he flinches, head raising up and eyes meeting yours.

Were his eyes always this sparkly?

Opening the door, Johnny drops the pen in his hand and crosses his arms before leaning back in his seat. “What’s up?”

“You’re here late,” you state the obvious, and Johnny only nods in return, without a rebuttal in sight. “You aren’t normally here late. At least, before the Hwang v. Yoon case.”

“Yeah, you’re right. But Seohyun dropped something on my desk this morning. Wanted to work on it. What brings you here?”

Inhaling in a deep breath of courage, your hands bundle up into a fist by your side. “Please come back.”

Johnny raises a brow. “What?”

“Come back,” you reiterate, this time, it’s less tense and releases with ease. Caving in isn’t usually this effortless to you, but something about Johnny makes you feel… comfortable enough.“Come back and work with me again. Yes, I’m not supportive of how you do things—”

“Then let’s go out on a date.”

You freeze. Legs rooted into the floors of Johnny’s office, you’re left immobile and diffident on how to react next. It wasn’t what you were expecting, although you weren’t quite sure what you were hoping to anticipate, but it most definitely was not this.

“I—”

“I said my terms,” he retorts, shutting the book in front of him before shuffling up from his seat. He’s leaving, you realize, and Johnny’s ready to head home for the night and you’re not sure if you could handle an entire weekend with Hyeri here. “And, I meant what I said. One date, and if it really doesn’t work out, I’ll stay on the case.”

Chewing on your bottom lip anxiously, the next words that come out are out of character for you. “And… what if it does?”

A soft smile tugs from each corner of his mouth. “Then we’ll figure it out from there. Promise.”

This is… awkward. It shouldn’t be, but yet somehow, it remains awkward.

You’ve spent weeks with Johnny before, and those moments were in a room, in the middle of the night, and alone. Hours and hours were dedicated to work, yes, but it was just the two of you and nobody else.

So why is it so weird being in a five Michelin star restaurant with him?

Maybe it’s the atmosphere. The dim lights, the white clothed tables in lieu of the scratched up wooden one back at the law firm, and instead of leather seats, there’s a neutral beige chaise cushion for the dining chair, slightly less comfortable because it doesn’t recline like the one in your office. Instead of an array of photos and evidence disseminated in front of you, there’s a laminated menu with a multitude of options of what to have for dinner.

Johnny gets the steak with mashed potatoes and string beans, and you order something similar but seared salmon for the main protein. The waitress offers wine, babbling on about the age of the red, where the vineyard is located, and the dryness to sweetness—to be honest, you could care less; you’d rather have gin and sprite with a squirt of lime. A couple glasses of that and you can almost guarantee that the night would end with a deep slumber.

Oddly enough, Johnny seems nervous. Ever since he pulled up in his midnight black Audi in front of your apartment complex, he’s been acting strange. He keeps wiping his sweaty palms off the material of his trousers, occasionally swiping off the droplets that fall on the side of his face.

“Are you… okay?” you suddenly ask, adjusting your dress in your seat. Deciding to go with a black silk dress with a slit up the leg and your hair let down, it’s not a look you often sport but since you’re going on a date (one you haven’t been on in quite some time), you figured it would be nice to at least play the part.

“I’m, uh, honestly, I’ve never really asked a girl out before.”

You quirk a brow curiously. “What? You’re telling me you never asked a girl out before?”

He lets out a bashful laugh with a faint nod, making an attempt to swallow his nerves after. “Honestly, I’ve always been asked out and not the other way around. Not to sound like that guy, but I never really had to put effort into trying for girls. They kind of just…”

“—Throw themselves at you?”

He beams. “Yeah! Like that. I don’t really know how to react half the time, but it makes the whole dating scene a little bit easier.” Geez, he called you dense, but he’s over here acting clueless.

Either way, it feels like whatever opinion you had about Johnny remained true. He never had to try when it came to the dating scene, and you could only imagine what that means for work and the relationships he has with the women in your career field.

“Mm, does that usually happen with work too?”

Befuddled, Johnny leans back in his chair. “What do you mean by that?”

With a shrug of your shoulders, you’re poking the meat of your salmon that falls off easily. After the first initial bite, the fish practically melts on impact when it touches the tip of your tongue, smooth like butter and bursting with flavor that couldn’t be described by any common person because it wouldn’t do the salmon justice. Johnny seemed to put a lot into this date, and you’re left pondering what the point of this was. Did he actually like you, or was he trying to get into your head? “Just seems like you get a lot of special treatment.”

“Are you jealous?”

“In what way?” you snap back.

“Are you jealous of me because I’m getting this so-called special treatment that you think I’ve always had, or were you jealous of the girls that seemingly got my attention?”

You’re left without anything to say.

It was a good observation he made because truthfully, you never saw it like that.

In actuality, you often saw Johnny as your rival. He climbed the ladder in the field with ease, and it wasn’t hard to quickly blame his success on the fact that he was a guy in a male dominated industry, but the fact that there’s a possible interpretation for your hatred may be from these feelings you might’ve been harboring for him this entire time… that can’t be it… right?

“I mean, look at where you are now,” you begin, trying to defend yourself. It can’t be true that the reason you’ve been bitter about Johnny was because of the girls that got his attention, and one of them not being you. “You got a high position from—”

“—From hard work,” Johnny interjects with his brows furrowed. “I didn’t get to where I was because I slept around, if that’s what you’re insinuating. I knew you sort of always hated me, but I’ve always admired you. I like your work ethic, I like your style, even though we’re both on opposite spectrums, I like the way you think and I wanted to know what it was like being partners with you. Getting to be on that case with you showed me more than just who you were as a lawyer, but who you were as a person. I like you, but I’m trying to put my finger on why you hate me so much.”

“So you noticed.” Sucking in your cheeks, your eyes trail elsewhere—from the fork that lays beside your plate, to the glass filled halfway with wine, to the little candle that sits in between the two of you that flickers the way he has your heart when he expresses once more how he feels about you.

“Yeah, of course I noticed. If you like someone, it’s kind to miss details like that about them. So… you really hated me because you thought I slept my way to the top, huh?”

“I mean…” shoulders dropping in exasperation, you run your fingers through your disheveled hair. “All those rumors—”

“Again, they’re just rumors. I worked hard to get here, you know. And I’m kind of offended that you thought of me that way.”

You scoff. “They’re rumors, Johnny, it’s kind of hard to ignore all the office gossip when that’s all you hear. Plus, it wasn’t hard to believe either, with the whole flirtatious act whenever you encounter anyone who’s breathing and has a vagina.”

“I wasn’t flirting.”

“You need a book for dummies that elaborates on what’s flirting or not, because Johnny Suh, whatever it is you do with your body language in front of that chick who sits by the front door.”

“You mean Siwoo? The pregnant one who’s married to her highschool sweetheart? Also, how do you not know our receptionist’s name?”

You throw your arms into the air. “How am I supposed to know her name?”

He tilts his head to the side, genuinely baffled. “Do you… not talk to anyone outside of Hyeri?”

Your silence answers his question.

“I… honestly, I don’t know if I should be offended or if I should be honored. You think I didn’t earn anything that I have now, you think that everything I have was handed to me. On one hand, it’s flattering that you think my looks and my bedroom skills could do that but at the same time… I’m offended because you think I’m incapable.”

“I never said you were incapable—”

“But you implied it.”

Hands falling onto your lap, it’s your turn to gulp. His words come shooting at you, but you’re without a shield to protect yourself, and with the new experience of working with Johnny, there comes the realization at times that Johnny is a hard worker. There are some things that he says and does that aren’t like the people you’ve encountered, and being put on new cases with Hyeri only proved it. He’s thoughtful in the sense that whenever you’d bring up your stance on something, he challenges you with what the defense might counter.

Johnny makes you want to be better. Not just against him, but to brush off the dust on your skills and enter into the battlefield of a courtroom to showcase them.

“Well, if you’re staying silent, I just want to say that I tried,” the crinkle in between your brows makes another appearance because Johnny is great at leaving you stunned and confused. “I really like you. I love how your head works, and I wanna be with someone like that but I also can’t be with someone who doesn’t respect me.”

Why is it that when you’re in that conference room with him, you’re not afraid and never running out of things to say, but now you’re empty handed?

“I’ll pay for dinner. Grab you an Uber. I honestly thought I could overlook those things, and maybe your perspective for me has changed, but I could see it on your face. It’s the same.”

After that date with Johnny, his life turns back to normal.

Yours? Not so much.

Candidly speaking, part of you missed working with Johnny. You were wrong about him, so wrong, and even when you wanted to apologize at the dinner for what you thought of him, the pride in you was like a vicious plague that blackened your insides, preventing you from ever saying those words.

Oftentimes, you’d still be able to sneak a glimpse of him in his office with that same look on his face—full of concentration and nothing else in his mind other than the task at hand.

The cases you have with Hyeri entail a head like Johnny’s. Someone who could question you, to protest against your stance when there could be flaws in it. It feels like deja vu each time you think about it, each time you open a new case file and Hyeri sits there, perched in that seat beside yours, eyes sparkling with what you have in mind next, instead of what she has going on in hers.

Although you’ve tried convincing yourself that maybe, just maybe, what you feel for Johnny is purely professional but when you see him standing by the water cooler with a couple of your coworkers, eyes mimicking the moon crescents in the skies, replicating the ways his lips curl in elation—it was beginning hard to believe that it was all platonic feelings.

So maybe you should be bold for once. Pull off that exterior that displays you as someone who isn’t just independent and assiduous, but someone who’s stubborn and aggressive in getting what they want—and not in a good way.

This time, you’ll show it in a good way.

Or at least, you’ll try.

Johnny is a routine kind-of-guy—he grabs an iced americano every morning at the coffee shop downstairs at the edge of the street, he does his daily 11:00AM drop-by at the water cooler to refill his Hydroflask (which was his prized possession, by the way), and parked in the same exact spot in the parking garage of your building, despite there being an abundance of places he could choose.

That’s why you decide to stand by his car after work that day. Bouncing on the balls of your feet, hands shaking because it’s your turn to feel anxious. That blazer that once fit so comfortably in the morning suddenly feels tight and hot in the afternoon, and the weather hasn’t even changed. Your bag slung over your shoulder weighs ten times heavier than an hour ago, and you can’t stop your jaw from tightening.

Before your thoughts could spiral off all the possibilities of what the outcome may be when you tell Johnny how you feel, he’s already standing there, feet away from you with that dip in the fronts of his brows that you want to smoothen out the crinkles of with the pad of your thumb.

“Hi,” you greet, faint and peculiarly different from your other approaches. “Um, I just… was waiting for you.”

“Hey,” Johnny says back, the first few buttons of his shirt already unraveled, his blazer hung over his forearm and the sleeves are rolled up. “I see that. What’s up with you?”

“Um,” your leg was jittery, hard to control so you spat everything you had to say out as fast as you could before he could see right through you. “I just wanted to apologize. For everything. You’re admirable, kind, and I wish I inhabited those same characteristics you have. I think professionally, you’ve got great ideas, one that could be implemented into mine and what we did together for that case was just… yeah. We could do something big if we put our heads together.”

Johnny nods in agreement. The relationship between you two work-wise was obvious, he knew that much. “And what about… outside of that?”

“I like you,” you choked, barely getting the words out. “More than just coworkers, um, I guess, more than friends but I’m not really sure since you walked out on our first date,” inhaling in a deep breath of courage, you continue on, “and I don’t know how you feel now after I’m standing before you like this, asking for another chance and that I’m sorry.”

He stares at you blankly, and it leaves you unsure whether or not he accepts your apology. “You know why we ended that date early.”

“Well,” you start again, “can we… start over and try again? I promise I won’t tempt you to end the date early this time.”

And with that, there’s the signature smile that Johnny sports that swoons girls, makes their knees weak, and heart clench but this time… it’s just for you.

“I’d really like that.”

#ficscafe #nct fanfic #johnny x reader #johnny fanfic #johnny suh #johnny nct #nct 127 #nct 127 fanfic #suh johnny #gyukultfics #idk what else to tag #hopefully this does well :|

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ai-katsuu · 3 years

Text

Happy Valentine’s Day!

So @cookieek posted on the discord sever a cute set of prompts that I answered there so I’d like to do this as well! credits to @lamiahypnosia for making these <3

1. I actually wrote them to say I love you at the end of their story where Jack's curse is broken, but I changed it to some months after since I felt that was too soon. But I do have this clip where it's implied but they don't outright say it! -

Jack rolled his eyes as she laughed. He took her hand and looked her directly in the eye, “Audrey, I love how different you are from me. I love how...we’re from two completely different backgrounds, how we first met and I sort of didn’t like you at first.” Audrey was about to say something before he held his free hand up and smiled in assurance, “I love how witty you are, how you never miss a chance to say something funny under your breath, even though no one hears it. How you care for Snow White and the rest of the F7 like family even though you just met them. How you understood me even though...you’ve never been in my shoes. This was more than enough to make me hopelessly attracted to you.” he said “I am so, so” he put emphasis on his words, “happy you’re still in my life. If I had to go through those woods again to save you, go through my curse again to meet you....I would happily do it all over again.

“You’re a true partner and…” he looked sideways and gave a sheepish smile, “I’m hoping we could become much, much, more than that.”

Audrey looked at him and instinctively laced her fingers with his, Jack was quick to reciprocate the action as their eyes locked with the other. “I would want that as well…” she mumbled. Jack mumbled something under his breath that Audrey didn’t quite hear, but it didn’t matter as he smiled soon after and leaned in forward.

2. First date, hmm probably somewhere on the outskirts of Fairy tale Island. Since they went on an adventure I'm sure just to diffuse any lingering awkwardness Audrey would want to go exploring since that's when they were most comfortable with each other.

3. Yup! They live in the White Palace with the other partners and while there are maids and staff, I'd say it's Jack who does most of the cleaning in their room since Audrey never,,,,really had a room to begin with

4. Jack oh god, he can't stand Audrey's lack of self-care and room maintenance. She never really understood why one needs to brush their hair everyday?? Or other hygiene stuff? Like if you're clothes are clean then why do you need to wash them? Jack is annoyed a lot by that. For Audrey it isn't really a pet peeve but it's the opposite, she doesn't understand why Jack is so consistent with several face masks and perfumes

5. Audrey probably? They're both mature in their own sense and immature at separate times, but Audrey seems like the one to pull them out of any trouble if there is anything suspicious going on (she has been on her toes since she was younger after all!)

6. Audrey too! She's been outside of Fairy Tale Island and had been to many countries. Since she wasn't a prince or princess, she's had tons of time of explore and do fun activities. Jack of course has his own idea of fun which she appreciates^^

7. HERE WE GO

Merlin and Snow - "They pretty tight." "I love how Jack was finally able to find love from another person!"

Pino and Gretel - "Judging from all the stories she told me before I met you guys, they look like they've been through a lot in just 8 months?" "You have no idea haha. Audrey's pretty fun to see outside of the workshop."

Noki and Goldie - "They're fine. Jack has stopped bothering me about making exquisite stuff for him so I appreciate that." "I find them pretty cute! I love exchanging Valentine's gift ideas with Jack! He's pretty good at them you know?"

Kio and Peter Pan - "I love Audrey. She's pretty fun to play pranks on or work on them together. We both have had time to spend on the outside world so we make a lot of pop-culture references others don't get." "Jack and Audrey are probably the most photogenic couple I've had taken pictures of, but nothing compared Arthur and Gwen. Now those two look like they'd step out of a portrait"

Hans and Briar - "Not gonna lie. I had a bit of trouble with Audrey when I first came to the White Palace, I always felt like she was judging me,,,well I was too but still. But we're all good now! I love it when we go on missions together!" "Jack was my best friend first but it's nice to talk her about him. Whenever she needs advice she comes to me so that's something I have pride on!"

Arthur and Gwen - "THE AMOUNT OF TIMES JACK HAS TAUNTED ME THAT I WAS THE LAST ONE TO BREAK MY CUR-" "I love them! They're very nice and sweet!"(edited)

8. When Jack proposed to Audrey? It was through a big surpise and she had no idea it was coming bc SO many people were involved and he played it like a heist.

9. ARTHUR WANTS TO VOMIT. Jack kept on taunting him that he was the second to break his curse and not Arthur and he made sure Arthur saw it. But discreetly of course and nothing too much. Mostly just light hand holding, hugs in the hallway, leaning on her shoulder. Overall they're moderate.

10. Audrey hates getting jealous but she does. It's an internal thing and something she wants to get rid of. She trusts Jack with all her heart but she knows he could've gotten someone else as the richest prince in FT Island so that makes her a bit insecure. Jack on the other hand? No not really. The only time you see him jealous is when Frosts visits because Audrey told him prior that she didn't have a lot of people she was close to so Jack sort of felt special. So you can imagine he felt a little hurt when he found out he wasn't the only one who knew most of her feelings, secrets etc.

#red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #red shoes movie #red shoes #red shoes audrey #red shoes jack #red shoes ever after #rsatsd #rsat7d

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thrillridesz · 4 years

Note

Could you ship tbz members with your mutuals? (Seeing this everywhere so I thought why not pass it to you!)

ahh i’ve been seeing this everywhere as well!! i’ve actually done this awhile back but since i’ve gained a lot of new mutuals since then, i’ll just give it a go once more ^^

i may or may not have put too much thought into this oops 🤭

sangyeon + @moondustaeil @aveluant1a

talking to amber feels like i’m talking to a trusted older sister ngl. she's one of the people i’d turn to for an honest opinion or some much needed advice on stuff and i value her insights very much. she's also very mature in their thinking which is what i think sangyeon would appreciate a lot as the leader of a group of 11 (10) other boys who are always constantly on crack.

as for yu, she gives me very gentle and calm vibes seriously. she’s strikes me off as a hard worker from our conversations and she is very dedicated to her writing which i believe sangyeon would love in a person. i can already imagine him just staring at her work, with a look of affection and admiration in his eyes 😆

jacob + @ihearttbz

riane is an absolute angel to talk to and i love our conversations tgt because it’s always so easy to talk to her and i feel like i can tell her a lot of things i normally wouldn’t tell anyone else. she’d pair very well with jacob and just be that couple that everyone loves and adores, the really sweet couple that people just love to hang around with 💞

younghoon + @chaoticdeobi

um was it really going to be anyone else other than bea? XD younghoon as we know is a pretty shy person and bea to me, seems like the opposite of that. in their case, i think the phrase ‘opposite attracts’ is applicable! bea’s enthusiasm and liveliness is something younghoon would definitely find to be very charming, prompting him to come out of his shell very quickly when he’s around her. i believe whatever he lacks, she makes up for it and vice versa

hyunjae + @bobagyu @kpophours

rose is just so random and funny sometimes which is honestly just like hyunjae to a tee, they’re just so like each other in a way! i get the feeling that rose may be a little unsure of herself sometimes ( which she shouldn’t ) and i think hyunjae would be a great fit because he would definitely be able to help her become more confident while she can probably teach him to be a little less tough and be more vulnerable to his own feelings.

anna is an extremely bright and outgoing person from what i can tell from our conversations. i think that would complement well with hyunjae’s loud and larger than life personality and they would a 100% be that couple that everyone just asks to tone it down but secretly love having them around because they’re just so intriguing and fun to have around 💫

juyeon + @jyeonvoir

elsie has these very calm vibes and i’ve mentioned this before but she gives mad older sister vibes as well. she’s gentle and soft, very much like juyeon and ngl i may be just a little intimidated by her at first but after getting to know her, she’s actually super friendly and nice! she and juyeon would make a lovely couple and i can totally imagining them just chilling on a rainy night, watching Netflix while he wraps his arms around her in a warm embrace.

kevin + @2hyunjae @mae-gi-writes

luna imo is pretty quiet for the most part but once you talk to her, she’s actually pretty fun to talk to! she’s also artistically inclined ( also have you seen her calligraphy skills? they’re insanely good omf ) which i think kevin would appreciate a lot as an artist himself! i feel like he can bring her out of her shell and when he does, he’d just be enchanted by her lovely personality and did i just write a fluffy fic prompt?? o.o

mae is JUST. SO. CUTE. my biggest kevin stan out there, you would be a great match for kevin i just know it. your enthusiasm and your meme vibes would complement kevin perfectly! she’s incredibly supportive and lively which is definitely something i think kevin would look out for in a partner. i can 100% see him with someone who’s just like mae in the future 💓

chanhee + @tidalstorm

something about ros to me screams vogue and classiness and when i think of her, i feel like she’s super bougie? maybe im wrong but that’s how i feel! i get the same vibe around chanhee as well and her really cute personality i feel will mesh well with chanhee’s seemingly harder personality? they’re just very alike to me in terms of vibes!

changmin + @fluffytbz @sankyeom

having talked to rosie, i can tell you that she’s one of the easiest people i’ve talked to on tumblr so far. she’s also such a sweet person and her vibes are really similar to changmin’s come to think of it? lovable but with a tiny hint of shyness? that’s changmin and rosie! i know we always see changmin smiling since that boy basically exudes happiness but i feel like there’s got to be a special kind of smile, the soft kind that speaks volumes of his feelings that he reserves for those he loves and i feel like that person could be rosie. does that make sense?

talking about belle is like talking about a role model to me >< i still fangirl sometimes but that’s beside the point. belle has such warm vibes that changmin would have loved! i feel like he’s not someone who likes to make his feelings know and he’d rather just be happy in front of the camera all the time but i think with belle, he would definitely be able to let his guard down around her. there’s just something about her that wants to make ppl trust her instantly 😋

haknyeon + @atbzkingdom

dee is an absolute sweetheart which is just what hak needs. she can be level headed and mature when the situation calls for it but she can also have fun and be wild which i think hak would appreciate a lot in a partner! he’s been through a lot so i feel he may need someone who he can feel comfortable around to tell his secrets to and since dee is trustworthy like that, he’d feel at ease around her 😌

hyunjoon + @tbzwurld

ok i’ll be honest. i was kind of intimidated by bee when i first started talking to her. there’s something about her that just makes her whole vibe so powerful and just radiate such dominant energy ( not in that way ) but yes, she just seems so cool to me and the vibes she gives off to me is exactly the vibes hyunjoon gives me as well. once you get to know her though, she’s actually so sweet?? and kind?? and amazing?? idk why but to me, she’s what i think would be hyunjoon’s ideal type ✨

sunwoo + @minfuwa @jopping-to-my-kpop @mjlkau

although i haven’t rly talked much to iris ( but i really want to >< iris can we be friends pls ) iris has this sort of charm that i can’t quite put my finger on. it’s a certain type of charm that i associate with sunwoo? like there’s a certain appeal which they both have in common! from our very little interaction ( hopefully we can change that ), i get that she has a vibrant personality that would make everyone just love to flock to her and befriend her. ngl when i think of sunwoo, i think of her sometimes! maybe this is a signal from the universe idk 👀

yo ok emma is just like super cool ok? idc what tf you have to say, she’s cooler than you and me and everyone else combined. her swag is just out of this world and i think her effortlessly cool persona is something that sunwoo would just be completely enthralled by. she's also a very reliable friend who i am so glad to have gotten to know bc hell, even i’m attracted to her personality so how can sunwoo not be? actually, sunwoo would love her personality! they both exude such badass but soft vibes it’s almost unreal 💙

anie has a very surprising personality imo! my first impression of her was really cute and sweet so imagine my surprise when she reveals that darker side of her >< i really like the duality though ngl and i think sunwoo would too! he’d just be so fascinated by her and just want to get to know her more and as he learns more about her, he’s just going to end up falling deep in love without realising until one day he’s like “fuck, i’m an idiot in love without even noticing it.”

eric + @heartyyjeno @lovely-kpop-writer

alesha is just a BIG ball of floof and i love her omg she's such a supportive and caring friend, it’s unreal. her enthusiasm to me, is on par with eric and if he’s the energy boy, she’s the energy girl for sure. they’d be that couple that just goes around hyping everyone up and everyone would just LOVE them! i know i would and if anyone disagrees, i’ll fite you >:(

jasmine my love!!! this girl here is just so incredibly lovely just like her url suggests and honestly, she’s one of the ppl who are most significant in my tumblr journey because her love for people is just so heartwarming? she’s always friendly and kind which is what eric would love in his future partner. jasmine is just so PRECIOUS istg ❣️

#answered #anon #lovely moots #tbz #the boyz #qiu.txt

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quidfree · 4 years

Note

yay prompts! would love nr 16 with james/sirius if you have time? i love your writing

always have time for my terrible twosome <3 i’ve gone with some teenage dumbasses bc james’ POV is so funny to write

16: new year’s kiss

gryffindor tower is abuzz with energy by the time midnight creeps up, mass of sweaty revellers making the common room the kind of slightly suffocating heat that makes people start to ask if a window couldn’t be opened. it can’t, because the wind is subartic outside, howling with a vengeance like it resents them for their youthful exuberance. james doesn’t mind- he likes the warmth, likes the overheated feeling of the party. it reminds him off the adrenaline high at the end of a long quidditch match, sweat plastered uniforms and faces red with exertion. gryffindor tower has that look and feel, right now, and it feels good.

most of the younger students are high on excitement more than anything else, or asleep already; the fifth years and upwards, though, are all somewhere above tipsy on illicit firewhiskey that james may or may not have played a part in smuggling in. he himself is tipsy, clumsier than usual and unduly emotive, but not heavily drunk, risk of a hangover still minimal.

he’s not drunk enough, say, for him to be distracted from the fact that it is nearing midnight on new years’ eve and there is no one lining up to kiss him. he is drunk enough, on the other hand, that he is righteously upset by this.

he bumps into remus where he lies sprawled over a couch, mug of what could pass as tea in the event of a teacher bursting in guns blazing cradled loosely on his chest. it’s straight vodka, in actuality, because remus’ token protests have long faded and he’s probably the heaviest drinker amongst them, lying in a maudlin heap as he snarks at passerbys.

“moony! it is eleven fifty six! on new year’s eve!”

“oh, you’ve learnt to tell the time, james. congratulations.”

james very graciously ignores the unwarranted sarcasm in favour of making a sweeping gesture to convey the gravity of his situation. “remus! who the fuck is going to kiss me? they’ve all- they’ve all buggered off!”

outrageously, remus doesn’t answer, maybe because he’s preoccupied by swearing at the stain on his shirt that james’ sweeping gesture may or may not have caused. james ignores this in favour of his own crisis.

“every single year. every single year i’ve managed to get a kiss from one of the girls. no, not one of the girls- the fittest girl! and now we’re sixteen and it actually matters and they’ve all managed to be otherwise occupied!”

he’s not sure how the odds have turned against him so fast. there are six gryffindor girls in their year, seven in the year above; he’s not keen on kissing anyone under fifteen, on account of how it feels sort of creepy and also loses him any cool points kissing girls usually gains. of the older girls four are in relationships, two are collapsed in a giggling heap, and one is in the hospital wing, so no luck there. in their year, two girls are taken, one is passed out, one is currently making out with peter of all people, and the other two are nowhere to be found. which is a problem especially because marlene and lily are by far the fittest girls in their year, and also james is actually friends with them so it’d be a laugh, anyways. well, all right, he’s friends with marlene; he and evans are still in a weird place on account of how the whole snivellus thing went down, but he figured this sort of thing was the ideal time to test the waters, right, because to be honest james is still very much interested and he feels like playing it off as a flirty jokey thing might be his best shot at seeing if that’s going to go anywhere anytime soon.

“it’s not,” remus says. so james might have said that out loud. “lily’s not going to kiss you.”

“she might!”

“she will not, james. it’s not happening.”

“you can’t say that for sure,” james protests, “we’re really getting on lately and earlier i said i’d see her later and she said-”

“james,” remus says. “there’s two minutes to go and she’s making out with marlene mckinnon.”

“what?” james says, and then looks, and nearly chokes on his own tongue. “what?”

remus mutters something incoherent and sloppily chugs the rest of his vodka in one go.

“you’re disguting,” james has the presence of mind to say, and absently taps his wand at him to clear the stain on his shirt, eyes still fixed on the bewitching sight of lily and marlene nearly knocking over the chess table and looking altogether quite disinterested in any masculine company between now and midnight. midnight, which is...

one minute away.

“merlin’s sake!” james exclaims, no longer angry but really quite aggrieved. all well and good for the girls, but now he’s just reminded of how desperately depressing it will be when the clock strikes and he’s stood like a plonker surrounded by people who have actual options. he’s a pariah, is what it is; he’s been forsaken by his fellow man. he wonders if hogwarts offers any monasterial training.

“oi oi,” a familiar voice says, rudely interrupting james’ stirring mental image of his life as a solitary eunuch, only it’s sirius, so he doesn’t hold it against him. “fucking hell, mate, you look dire.”

“circumstances call for it,” james mutters darkly, with another dramatic arm movement, which sirius dodges neatly. “thirty seconds till midnight, padfoot.”

“so?” sirius asks, quirking a brow. his utter lack of caring for any socially constructed festivity is something james finds both entertaining and obnoxious on a daily basis; currently he opts for the latter, giving him a stormy look.

“new years, wanker. no one to kiss.”

“oh, right,” sirius says, glancing around the room. “merlin’s dick, is that peter getting molested on the couch? you’ve really fucked it tonight.”

“tell me about it,” james sighs, though he’s somewhat mollified by the fact that sirius gets it, at least, enough that he tips his head against the wall and pulls a face. “to be honest i think i self-sabotaged. it’s a little weird now that we’re older. like, it feels like a big deal, and there’s really none of the girls i want a big deal with, except evans, obviously, but she’s a little difficult-”

“understatement of the century.”

“so maybe it is for the better that i’ve fucked it, even if it does mean i’ll spend the rest of my life as a dashingly attractive hermit-”

the rest of his increasingly impassioned declaration is cut off by the loud chimes of the new year rolling in, and then the raucous cheer of gryffindor house, only james doesn’t even get half a second to join in because suddenly sirius has hauled him off the wall by the shoulders and is kissing him on the mouth, hard, and james is sort of too gobsmacked to do much except make an incoherent sound of surprise and notice that sirius tastes like firewhiskey and cherry liqueur before sirius is ripping off him with a frankly obscene noise, lips spit-shiny and insultingly composed.

“what the fuck,” james says, quite reasonably, still clutching sirius’ jumper in both fists.

“you’ll not go and become a hermit, you twat,” sirius replies, grey eyes threatening on stormy, “where’d that leave me?”

“oh, right,” james considers, and lets go of him, only he sort of maybe doesn’t do that, because sirius’ brows shoot up and he sticks an arm out to brace against the wall as james drags him slowly closer.

“prongs, we’ve gone past midnight, you do realize,” sirius says, with a gratifying tinge of uncertainty.

“have we really?” james asks, and possibly doesn’t really leave sirius much time to answer before he yanks him down by that infuriating inch sirius has on him and smashes their mouths together.

sirius makes a startled noise that james mercilessly exploits to shove his lips apart and start kissing him like his life depends on it, because really, sirius is such an arse, springing that on him out of nowhere and then trying to get away with it like it’s no big deal, because- because-

“oh,” james says, briefly ripping free as sirius groans in confusion, “this is a big deal. only it’s not a big deal that it is a big deal.”

“you are an unbelievable-” sirius starts, only james is quite persistently kissing him again, and he writhes like an animal to shake him off, eyes flashing as he stubbornly pushes on. “you wanker, you-” and then, almost laughing with irritation: “james, for fuck’s sake-”

“what?” james exclaims, when sirius finally manages to shove him off by biting him like the vicious psycho he is. he’s quite sure they’ve really managed to clear everything up just fine, no loose ends, carry on, even if it took about twenty seconds, but then they are usually pretty good at this whole telepathy business so really sirius has no reason to act like this is so shocking, and james would rather like to get back to the snogging, because sirius was actually half decent at it the first time.

“it’s not a big deal that it’s a big deal,” sirius parrots, mockingly, and makes a semi-thunderous expression. james pulls a face.

“well, it’s not, is it?”

“is it?” sirius volleys back, and so james humours him and really thinks it through with due diligence for all of ten seconds, weighs the pros and cons, gains some nuanced insight into the situation and all that. around them, people are sloppily embracing, and james makes brief eye contact with a debauched looking marlene, who grins savagely at him and flashes him a thumbs up that he returns enthusiastically.

“it’s really not,” james declares, returning to more pressing matters, and then very patiently leaves sirius thirty seconds to get over whatever melodrama he’s cooking up now, using the time to sneakily card his fingers through sirius’ hair, which is the sort of soppy thing they obviously don’t do normally and which james has always secretly wanted to do, if only to verify whether sirius’ hair feels as obnoxiously nice as it looks. it does, although sirius snaps out of his brooding and then shakes him off like the prickly bastard he is, which makes james laugh, which makes sirius stop glowering at him.

“oh, well, fine, then,” sirius says, abruptly quite reasonable, and then slams james back against the wall and kisses the living daylights out of him before he can string a coherent thought together, the magnificent twat. it is sloppy and aggressive and james shamefully forgets to be an active participant for a bit because as it turns out sirius’ tongue smoothing over his bite marks feels distractingly nice. then he remembers himself and stops dazedly hanging off sirius in favour of kissing back, and then it gets mock competitive and silly and james is sort of laughing into it so they’re not entirely connected all of the time but it’s good, actually, and sirius’ eyes are sparkling between kisses so it’s really quite excellent, and neither of them really care about who’s leading this particular charge.

he’s not entirely sure how long it lasts, except at some point someone taps on sirius’ shoulder insistently and doesn’t go away when sirius ignores them completely (james does sort of try to acknowledge them, but sirius is really kind of a dick and doesn’t budge), and then remus’ voice is saying: “sirius, listen, don’t mind me, but you haven’t seen james, have y- oh, mother of godric!” and there’s a loud crashing sound next to them, and james really gets the inclination to do otherwise but they’re gryffindors, honestly, it’s not proper to ignore a friend in need, so he shoves sirius off him and considers remus where he stands gaping, mug in pieces on the floor.

“honestly, moony,” james sighs, in fatherly tones of concern, and magics his mug whole. “you’re so melodramatic.”

“you,” remus starts, and seems like he might be having a conniption, something akin to dawning horror in his gaze. around them, a fair number of people are staring in their direction, mostly curious or entertained, some (especially older) students resembling remus somewhat.

“you’re embarrassing yourself, mate,” sirius adds, in low tones, patting his shoulder sympathetically. “it’s really not a big deal.”

“i hate you both,” remus groans, and stalks away, grabbing a bottle of firewhiskey out of lily evans’ hands. james looks at lily evans, who looks back, then winks. she doesn’t return the wink, but she does smile with amused surprise before she turns to pat remus on the back.

“best new years’ ever,” james declares, grinning broadly as he slings an arm around sirius’ shoulders, which are decidedly less infuriatingly broad once you’ve laid claim to them.

“you’re so easy,” sirius says, fond in that mean way of his, and james smacks him on the back of his head and mentally reminds himself to never let him out of sight at a party again, anyways, because really that was the root of his problem right there.

#qui ecrit #qui repond #lmv #james #sirius #prongsfoot #prompt

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derangedhyena-zoids · 4 years

Text

Soooo

I'm going to talk about Zoids being edible and that apparently has the potential to be bothersome so I'm going to put it under a cut:

For modern day humans: Vegetarianism is more common on Zi than not. This is more due to the practical limitations of their climate, it's more productive and water-wise to grow x amount of plants than it is to raise x amount of animals. They do have animal products however (egg, milk, wool etc) because that's what early human colonists brought the (test-tube) animals with them for, and that mindset never really went away (especially given the severe scarcity issues that'd crop up now and again over human history on Zi.) But they also have plant-based equivalents and they're more common (read: cheaper)

Most meat is lab-grown, or comes from farmed animals that outlived their usefulness. Rich folks might raise their own meat-animals independently - it's probably a status thing (hi I'm having this gross thought of people relishing 'animals with bones' please shoot me thanks). Cities probably have big indoor hydroponics/aquaponics setups to support local population density and reduce reliance on imports.

Humans on present-day/NC0 Zi never ate Zoids or Zoid products because by that point in time they find it really weird (like eating your fucking car) and it's likely toxic (bc: human-built Zoids hyper-concentrate waste products and don't expel them regularly; it's very heavy-metals rich, you'd get poisoned.) It may have been a survival-situation thing in the past, but even then it'd probably be looked upon the same way as people deciding to eat their sled dogs.

So, that's humans, let's talk about Zoidians and Organoids

Since Zoid Cores are supposed to be all the viscera compressed into one unit, that must not just be edible, it's probably fucking amazing if you need food. Especially given the size of one Core versus a Zoidian. It could feed several families.

In a previous post I detailed that docile Zoids in Zoidian settlements had some of the cores they laid used as food because that was a HELL of a lot easier than hunting actual wild Zoids. Over time I'm guessing that some smarter wild Zoids perceived this tradeoff and more-or-less domesticated themselves for the chance to be fed, doted on, and protected from their bigger, nastier predators (and the wild Organoids.)

So with this I'm going to posit that "modern" Zoidians were technically VEGAN because of their plant-and-Zoid-based diet ... because is it really an issue when you can communicate with the creature providing you with the sustenance-object? The Zoids weren't being killed, exploited, confined, or anything of the sort. They were free to move about, they just tended to stay with their own family groups (territory) which worked out for everyone. (Wild Zoids existed but were largely left to their own devices.)

Even unfertilized Organoid eggs were probably eaten, because Organoids would need to consciously control their population. An Organoid acting as a female will produce _a lot_ of eggs in good circumstances. A LOT. A LOT A LOT. That's why they became so many so quickly and were such a problem in the first place.

And I mean, it seems really weird I guess to our sensibilities, but if you had a creature that's just like HERE'S SOME EGGS I MADE THEM 4 U like... of course you're going to be like wow thanks, this is great

Q: why are you making this shit up A: because

So anyways, yes. Substantially different diets and food-cultures h o o r a y I guess

(low-key I imagine that the lack of Something Dietary is what prompted Fiona to pour salt in coffee all the fucking time, I imagine Hiltz and Ryss were excessive consumers of salt too because really, Zoid-Cores were described as internally mimicking a pressurized-seawater environment, so.... salty.)

Organoids can both eat and metabolize energy directly through fusing with a Zoid (which became infinitely more common after Organoids were domesticated.) They obviously prefer Zoid Cores as a source of sustenance, because that's what they initially evolved hunting for/feeding on and then fusing overwhelmingly became how they lived. The ability to eat never went away, as they probably got table scraps constantly because they're big metal dogs

This means they can consume whatever, but the vast majority of non-Zoid food is incredibly nutrient-poor for them annnnd they won't have a good time.

Q: STOP? A: no, actually

While I'm talking about Organoids, because I'm trash, a few additional points on unrelated topics

Organoids can freely switch their bio-gender just like Zoids, but if they have a bondmate they take on that bondmate's gender and reproductive role. you better believe sex is THE SHIT in a Zoidian household, bondmates' Organoids tend to like one another (and in fact, often like one-another before any attraction develops between the Zoidians themselves) so uh... yeah that's a thing

this gon get awkward in modern times, guys

I really really think One is an exception and doesn't have a technical gender, he's a "he" because of Vega but he cannot reproduce. (I honestly think between Vega's genetics and being bound to One, there is no way he's successfully fathering kids when he grows up either)

mmyhea, that's it I guess

#headcanon #if this doesn't make you reconsider your decision to follow this shitpost of a blog you're in the right place

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shadeofazmeinya · 7 years

Note

In one of Jeremy's streams he talked about playing /competing in chess when he was younger. So if you can, a story where Ryan is playing chess against himself and Lil J comments on his technique and then beats him in a match. Fahc please

(so uhh… this prompt for some reason just made me think of Vulcan chess. Which made me think of star trek, so Star Trek au? Bc why not apparently)

It’s because of a few drinks and some goading from his friends that Jeremy even approaches him for the first time. At least for the first time one-on-one. They’ve seen each other on the bridge of course, seeing as they both work there on the same shift. But still. Jeremy doesn’t remember ever talking to Commander Ryan outside of the bridge.

It all starts because Jeremy’s friends just have to notice him staring at the Vulcan across the room. And just have to open their big mouths.

“Is he playing chess against himself?” Matt asks as he glances to where Jeremy was staring.

Jeremy felt immediately bad for staring, but he couldn’t help it. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Ryan in the lounge before. He was pretty well known to just keep to himself, only ever really seen on the bridge. But there he was. Sitting in a chair, a three dimensional chess board in front of him, his face focused as he stared at it for a while and then moved a piece. Several moments of staring and he moved a piece of the other color.

“He’s definitely playing himself,” Trevor comments from Jeremy’s other side.

And then both Trevor and Matt’s faces turn to Jeremy, the same smirk on their faces and Jeremy just narrows his eyes suspiciously and asks “What?”

“Go talk to him,” Matt says. “We know you want to.”

“What?!”

Trevor rolls his eyes. “Don’t think we haven’t caught you staring at him literally every time you see him. We’re friends with Jones too you know. He says its even worse on the bridge.”

“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” Jeremy huffs, poorly lying.

“Sure you don’t,” Matt says, shaking his head. “But if you want to talk to him, now’s a good time. It’s not like anyone else is bothering him. He’s playing chess. With himself. He’s lonely, go say hi.”

Jeremy opens his mouth to protest, point out he’s technically his superior, how this isn’t appropriate, really going to say any reason his has against this, but both of them just stare him down. Finally he sighs, grumbling under his breath. “Fine. But if this goes horribly wrong, I’m blaming both of you forever.”

“But when it goes right you can thank us forever,” Trevor grins, pushing him forward. “Now go before you chicken out.”

Jeremy rolls his eyes, flips them off, and finally goes over to where the First Officer was sitting.

Jeremy walks closer, confidence carrying him a few steps, but then stops. What is he doing? This whole thing is stupid; he probably doesn’t even want to be bothered. He’s clearly busy with whatever he’s doing. It’s rude to just interrupt, no matter how attractive he is. Actually, that might make it ruder. He should just turn around and go back. In fact why doesn’t he? Safe himself some sort of dignity –

“Ensign Dooley?” Ryan’s voice cuts through, making Jeremy freeze on the spot. “Is there something you have walked over here for?”

“I… uh…” Jeremy stutters, mouth opening and closing. Ryan was looking to him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for answer and Jeremy was racing to try to come up with anything that wasn’t incredibly stupid. “You… um, you’re playing chess against yourself.”

Great answer, Dooley. Really showing off that Starfleet intelligence now.

Ryan’s face remained stoic, just as it always is. Making it impossible for Jeremy to tell what he’s thinking about him. “In a way I suppose that I am,” he answers, matter of fact. “I am testing different strategies against each other and observing the results.”

Jeremy nods, still embarrassed, but clearly not enough because the next thing bursting from his mouth is, “Wouldn’t it be nicer having someone to play against? Kind of hard to test strategies against yourself when you know exactly how they’re going to develop.”

“I had extended an invitation to the Captain Ramsey to join me, but he had declined,” Ryan says simply.

“Well… uh… if you want someone to play against, I know a thing or two about chess,” Jeremy offers.

Again Ryan looks to him with an eyebrow raised, a look Jeremy’s quickly learning seems to be the only expression of emotion he gives. There’s a brief moment of Ryan just sort of staring at Jeremy before he nods. “If you wish to play, then we can attempt a game or two. But I must warn I have been playing since my youth and hold a great expertise of the game.”

“Is that you’re way of saying that I’m going to lose?” Jeremy grins, pulling out the chair across from him to sit down.

“I am just preparing you for the statistical likelihood of the outcome of you losing,” Ryan says, resetting the board.

“You can’t say anything about the statistical outcome if you haven’t even played against me yet. Maybe I’m like, the super human of chess players. With a brain more advanced than even Vulcans.”

Ryan does the eyebrow thing again, but there’s something… fond in it. Lips just barely curling up, an almost unnoticeable smile. Jeremy just gives him a big grin back. “We will see,” Ryan just says, pieces reset. “You have first move.”

Jeremy loses spectacularly. He hasn’t played chess much since the academy and even then it was very little. Just something to pass time. While Jeremy had been decent back then, he was hardly playing against masters. But even still, even as he loses in what has to be record time, he just smiles and asks to play again. Ryan seems almost surprised at this, both eyebrows rising. The secret to reading Ryan’s feelings seems to be the eyebrows. But he just silently resets the board and they begin again.

It’s the third game where Jeremy breaks the silence that surrounded them as they played. He was never one for sitting in silence, and keeping with the lack of filter between his brain and his mouth, blurts something out.

“Ryan’s a strange name for a Vulcan,” he says before his brain can tell him to fucking stop. When Ryan pauses and glances over to him, Jeremy swallows and immediately tries backpedaling. “I mean, uh, not that it’s like a bad name or anything. It’s… a good name. Just, um, more human sounding than Vulcan and I just –“

“It is because it is not my name,” Ryan says, cutting off Jeremy’s rambling. “My name is Rylaek. Not Ryan.”

“Wait. What?” Jeremy says, face screwing in confusion.

“The name is a form of ‘nickname’ started by the Captain after he could not pronounce my name,” Ryan explains. “He had called me ‘Ry’ and then ‘Ryan’ was added, though I do not have a clear explanation as to why.”

“So this whole time everyone calls you Ryan because Ramsey couldn’t pronounce your name?”

“That is how I had just explained,” Ryan says.

“And you don’t correct him on it?”

“I had at first. The Captain is well aware of how my name is said, but still insists on the false name. The name has caught on with the rest of the crew and it has proved futile to get it to change.”

“I’m sure there’s a way you can get everyone to stop if it bothers you,” Jeremy says, frowning a bit in concern.

“I have grown rather… used to the name,” Ryan says, moving another piece of the board. “I do not feel the need to spend the effort to get people to change the habit of calling me Ryan.”

“Would you rather me call you Rylaek?” Jeremy asks softly.

Ryan looks to him once more, something almost calculating in his look. “It does not matter as both are efficient in identifying myself.”

“Oh, um, ok then,” Jeremy says, finally moving a piece again.

Another bit of awkward silence surrounds them as they play before Ryan (Rylaek? That’s going to take some getting used to) speaks up as they restart for the fourth game. “How much time have you spent learning this game would you say?”

“Is that your way of noting how bad I am?” Jeremy says with a chuckle. “I have played it before, but clearly not that much.”

“Then why did you offer to spend your time on this game with an opponent far more advanced than yourself?”

Jeremy shrugs. “You seemed bored. Figured it might be better to play against someone. But if you want me to leave you alone, I can. I don’t mean to impose.”

“I am not asking for you to leave,” Ryan corrects, something almost… softer in his voice. “I am enjoying having an opponent who is not myself. Even if the challenge is not difficult.”

“I don’t know if that’s more insult or compliment, but I’m going to take it as a compliment,” Jeremy grins.

“It was neither, merely observation.”

“I’m still taking it as a compliment.”

Ryan’s mouth quirks up, in a just barely there smile and Jeremy finds his own grin growing back.

They play more games, falling into easy conversation. They talk about their current mission, talk about the past ones in the few months they’ve been exploring on the USS Achieve. They discuss what their time back at the Academy, their home worlds. Conversation flows naturally once they get started and Jeremy finds some dry sarcastic humor hidden inside Ryan’s stoic presence that has Jeremy barking out in laughter. And, overall, it’s… nice. Really nice.

It’s the eighth game when Jeremy, naturally, fucks it all up.

They’re just resetting the board as Jeremy reaches across, both of them trying to grab the same piece. Their fingers brush, just for a moment, really not meaning much but Ryan yanks his hand back like he’s just been burned. Jeremy blinks, surprised until he remembers Vulcan’s are touch-telepathic. Though, even then, that doesn’t fully explain how rapidly he recoiled from him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t –“

“You did not do it on purpose,” Ryan says quickly, face too blank, Jeremy can’t tell what he’s thinking, what’s going on that made him retract so quickly, so suddenly. “If you excuse me, I must retire for the evening.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, I –“ Jeremy starts, but Ryan’s already standing up and leaving, rushing from the lounge. Leaving the chess set behind.

Jeremy watches him as he leaves, face falling as he glances back to his hand, wondering what the hell just happened.

Ryan rushes back to his quarters, quickly slipping inside, holding his hand that is still nearly burning from the warmth that had come from just that brief touch. Mind trying to quickly justify what had just happened. The brightness, the connection that had formed between them. Deep down he knew what this meant. But for now, he needs to meditate.

#jeremwood #star trek au #ah star trek au #ragehappy #prompts #sorry it took so long to get a prompt out haha #i had much more planned for this au so if yall wanna ask about it go ahead #but im just keeping the prompt to one scene for now haha #rlskipper0

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