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mint-yooxgi · 10 months

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{4} - Written in the Stars - Yandere!Idol!Yeosang X Tall!Chubby!Reader

Soft Yandere AU & Idol AU

Genre: Mature, Horror, Angst, Fluff, Slight Humor, Slow Burn

Pairing: Yeosang X Reader (ft. future Ateez and Skz ensemble)

Words: 12,502

Warnings: Slow burn. Minor fatshaming, oc gets called a bitch a few times (not by anyone important), minor assault and uncomfortable/inappropriate comments made towards the oc. K-Drama moment. I think that's all This is a Yandere story, it will contain themes such as stalking, violence, obsession, possessive natures, and just general overall creepiness and swearing. You have been warned.

A/n: It's been literally forever since I updated this omg, but I hope you all enjoy this part!! I'll edit it tomorrow after I wake up, so please excuse any mistakes. I'm super tired and not feeling the greatest at the moment because of it. Anyways, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated! Enjoy~

Also, gentle reminder that I don’t do tag lists.

Disclaimer: It's not often this chapter where this applies, but the following is important to note:

"This represents a line spoken in Korean."

"Bolded represents a line spoken in English."

"Bolded and italics represents a line spoken in Japanese."

Mini Masterlist - Part One - Part Two - Part Three

Placing the mug onto the table in front of you, you pull out a chair and sit down.

“I’m serious!” Winry laughs. “Rumour on the street is that you and Yuta are dating! After those images of him holding your hand at that award’s show went viral, it was the talk of the town.”

Letting out a puff of air, you run a hand over the top of your head. “It must not be a very popular story. Mark hasn’t said anything about it to me.”

“Maybe he’s jealous.” She shrugs, taking a sip from the mug you’ve already provided for her.

Immediately, you start laughing. “I highly doubt that.”

“Yuta is your biggest wrecker in NCT,” she shrugs casually.

“Yeah, but he doesn’t know that.” You reply.

“You told him that Ten is your bias, but not the fact that Yuta is your wrecker?” Winry quirks a brow.

“Essentially,” your shoulder lifts nonchalantly in confirmation. “Also told him that he was my first NCT bias cause he wouldn’t stop complaining about it.”

“Damn,” she breathes. “Boy must have ascended when you told him that.”

“You’re blowing things out of proportion.” You shake your head teasingly. “They’re just my friends.”

“Are you sure they think that?” She quirks a brow.

Only, before you can respond, her phone rings.

“I’m so sorry,” she grins sheepishly, checking who the caller is. “It’s Wyatt.”

Understanding passes over your features. “Well, aren’t you going to answer it?”

“Are you sure?” She looks genuinely hesitant to.

“Of course! He’s your significant other, after all!” You encourage her to answer by motioning towards her phone. “You haven’t talked lately cause of his business trip, right? Please, be my guest!”

A grateful smile tugs onto her lips as she stands from your kitchen table. Not even a moment later, she’s pressing accept on the call as she retreats into your living room for a bit more privacy.

You watch her disappear around the couch, noticing how she tucks herself away in the corner by the balcony. Her voice is low, so you can’t really make out what she says, but from the expression on her face you can tell just how happy she is to be talking with him. You smile.

Shifting your gaze to your hands, you pull your mug in closer to yourself. A moment later, you bring it to your lips, taking a small sip of the hot chocolate you’ve made. At least it’s cool enough for you to drink now.

Pulling your phone out of the side pocket of your leggings, you decide to distract yourself for the time being. You don’t want Winry to feel as if she has to rush her conversation with her significant other. After all, they haven’t spoken in over a week, let alone seen each other recently. With their busy schedules, you can’t even remember the last time she spoke about seeing him.

Scrolling through Tumblr, you check your notifications.

Despite being a published author, you still maintain some of your blogs from before. The sentiment is far too great for you to give up now, and you enjoy it too much. Besides, it’s fun to post little pieces here and there on your old writing accounts. When inspiration strikes, it strikes hard.

There are only a few select people that know you still do this. Well, more than just a few. Still, it’s quite fun to see new readers message you asking you if you’re really who they think you are, only for you to reply that you are not. It’s like a huge game of detective for your followers that are convinced you are who you say you are not, but don’t have any proof. Of course, you use an alias online now, but regardless, you don’t think you could give up your blogs, even if you tried.

“Sorry about that.” Winry’s voice manages to pull you out of your thoughts.

Locking your phone, you place it beside your mug on the table. "No worries at all; I don’t mind.”

She smiles, but from the way she begins to fidget in her seat, you can tell that she has more to say.

You quirk a brow.

“Wyatt came back a few days early. He said he wanted to surprise me, but when he got back to our apartment, I wasn’t at home.” She begins.

You hum in acknowledgement.

“He said he had a surprise he wanted to give me, and that he wanted to take me out for the day.” She continues. “I told him I was spending time with you.”

You take another sip of your drink.

“Of course, he seemed a little disappointed, but he understood-“

“Winry, if you want to go spend the day with your significant other, don’t worry about me.” You reply.

“But we planned for us to spend the day together…” She counters, shoulders twitching as she fiddles with her hands beneath the table.

“I know you want to see him.” You smile assuringly. “It’s been, what? Two months?”

“Almost three.” She breathes out, whole body stilling as she stares at the top of your kitchen table almost absentmindedly.

“Then, by all means! Go! Spend the day with him!” You motion for her to stand. “We can always reschedule. Who knows when you’ll get to see him like this again.”

“Are you sure?” Hopeful eyes meet your own.

“Positive.” You nod, quite enthusiastically. “Go have fun with Wyatt! We saw each other last week, and I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”

It’s as if a tension lifts from her entire body. “You’re the best!”

You laugh, watching as she scrambles to her feet and towards the front door. “I know.”

“I owe you. Big time for this.” She says as you follow her to the front. “Seriously, I can’t thank you enough.”

“I need to run a few errands, anyways.” You wave her off, holding your mug delicately in your one hand. “Gives me an excuse to go do some things I’ve been putting off before tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah, your signing is tomorrow, right?” She finishes slipping on her shoes.

You nod.

“We’ll be there.” She states, rather firmly.

“You don’t have to-“

“Nonsense!” She shakes her head. “I’m coming to support you, and I’m dragging his ass along with me, too. Payback for this little ‘surprise’.”

The two of you share a small laugh.

“Okay, well, say ‘hi’ for me, and have fun!” You smile, holding the door open for her as she exits your apartment.

“Will do!” She calls over her shoulder as she heads down the hallway. “See you later!”

Waving your final goodbye, you shut the door softly. As soon as the lock clicks into place, a small sigh is escaping your lips. Well, there go your plans of spending your day with your friend.

Oh, well. It happens.

Stopping off in the kitchen on your way back to the table, you’re quick to place your now empty mug in the sink. A few steps later, you’ve moved over to grab your phone off of the top of the table, shifting to put Winry’s glass into the sink as well.

Leaning against the counter, you scroll through your phone. You do have a few things you could get done today, but you weren’t really planning on doing them until later. Perhaps you can find a café or something when you’re finished, and get some writing done.

A sudden message from Jongho in the group chat catches your attention. It appears that they’re all at the dance studio for practice, as he’s sent a selfie to go along with it. Only, you can tell he was really sneaking a picture of the two males doing… whatever it is that they’re doing in the background.

You:Please tell me that’s some kind of elaborate stretch I’ve never heard about and not choreo for your next comeback.

You: And if it’s neither… Damn, you guys really get it on in the studio? I heard some of you were freaky, but I didn’t think you were that bad

Mingi: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You honestly laugh at how many emojis this man uses.

Seonghwa: Why? Are you interested in what goes on during practice?

Yunho: Wanna watch?

The side eyes Yunho sends you have you quirking a brow.

Jongho: Uh-oh, now the hot Cheeto is mad.

Another picture is sent, this time of Wooyoung angrily storming towards where you believe Jongho to be sitting. You can see both Mingi and San laughing in the background of this one while Hongjoong just looks exasperated.

Wooyoung: If you’re gonna sneak pictures of me in compromising positions to send to our sexy author friend, at least make sure to get my good side.

Jongho: What ‘good side’?

Wooyoung:Do you see? Do you see the harsh words I have to put up with from my junior everyday?

Yeosang: To be fair, he’s not the only one wondering

At the pondering emoji Yeosang uses, you cannot help but send a few laughing ones of your own.

Wooyoung: NOT YOU, TOO!

Wooyoung: First, you break my heart by giving me false hope that I’m your bias. Then, you won’t even tell me that I’m your wrecker. And now, you LAUGH at my MISERY?

Wooyoung: You are a meanie >:(

You:Wait wait wait

You: I knew that, but how did YOU know that? :0

A slew of laughing emojis are sent from a bunch of the guys, you smiling down at your phone. This short interaction has really served to boost your mood, and you cannot help the way a few chuckles escape you as you read their continued banter back and forth.

Hongjoong: You should come hang out with us sometime during practice. At least that way I know Wooyo will behave.

You can practically hear the whine Wooyoung is sure to let out in response as you read this message, and you cannot prevent the way your lips quirk upwards.

Seonghwa: Yeah! The staff seem to like you, and our manager already said it was okay.

A moment where you see a few of them typing their responses.

Wooyoung: Besides… you’d get to watch us dance~

You: Be honest, is this another one of your attempts to figure out my bias?

Hongjoong: No!

Hongjoong: Most definitely not!

Hongjoong: Why would you think that?

Hongjoong: I would never!

You receive a photo from Yeosang of Hongjoong intensely staring down at his phone, his ears clearly bright red as he pouts.

Yunho:Betrayal…

You shake your head in amusement.

You: As long as you can guarantee I won’t be in the way, or be too much of a distraction… I’ll think about it.

Several various cheering emojis are sent to you by some clearly overexcited males (Wooyoung, Mingi, and Jongho), while the others are able to type out their excitement with small phrases.

San: Since we’re now all apparently taking a break… what are you up to currently?

You: Me? Well, I was supposed to spend the day with a friend, but something came up, so now I’m going to go run some errands. Might find a café of something and do some writing.

Hongjoong: Did you even get any sleep last night?

You: Hey! Of course I did! Besides, you’re one to talk. I woke up to five messages all an hour apart. You were up WAY later than I was. You need more sleep than I do!

Hongjoong: It’s not my fault I do my best work at night.

A meme is sent from you of a man in a purple shirt pointing his finger in the air while saying ‘you got me there’.

You: I swear, one of these days I’m going to knock you unconscious and FORCE you to sleep

Hongjoong: That’s rich, considering YOU are practically always awake when I am

Another meme is sent from you of a stuffed bear wrapped in a blanket burrito while laying on a bed. A knife peeks out from the blanket. The caption reads something along the lines of, ‘I will sneak into your house and replace all your drinks with sleepy time tea. You will be forced to breathe in comforting scents which soothe the mind, and as you fall unconscious, the last image you will have is of me smiling over you with a nice warm blanket tucking you in. This is a THREAT.’

Wooyoung: If this is how you threaten people, then I want IN

Mingi: Oh, oh! Threaten ME next!

You: You would not BELIEVE how many times my one friend sends me this, especially when it’s like, five am my time, and they’re just sitting down for dinner in their time zone.

Hongjoong: You drive a hard bargain…

Yunho: My god, I think he’s actually listening for once…

Seonghwa: I have been trying for YEARS-

Hongjoong: It only works if she’s the one to do it.

Wooyoung: I’d listen, too, if I had a pretty lady always telling me what to do.

San: Yeah, yeah, we all know you’re an obedient sub.

Wooyoung: LIKE YOU WERE THINKING ANY DIFFERENT!

The cackle that escapes you nearly causes you to drop your phone.

Mingi: Wooyo’s got a point…

You: Am I suddenly in the wrong group chat?

Yunho: Nope, same one. You should see how mad Jongho looks right now.

A photo is provided by Wooyoung this time of the youngest sitting against the mirrors with a frown on his face. He hugs his knees to his chest as he stares down at his phone.

Your own brows furrow in confusion, but before you can respond, Yeosang beats you to it.

Yeosang: Will you all stop fucking flirting with each other?

You nearly drop your phone.

San: Oop- we’ve gone and made Yeo mad

Wooyoung: Just cause YOU’RE not her favourite doesn’t mean you have to spoil OUR fun, Sangie.

You: Woah, woah, woah, who said he’s not my favourite?

This seems to shut all of them up for a good few minutes.

Seonghwa: Yeosang’s your bias?

Another minute of silence.

Yunho: You seem to have incited a war.

Another picture is sent. A pile consisting of Yeosang, Jongho, Wooyoung, and Hongjoong all seemingly rolling around on the floor is shown. San stands to the side with Mingi, the former attempting to pull the pile of males on the floor apart while the latter laughs.

You send some side eye emojis along with a few laughing faces.

You: You guys are really THAT desperate to know who my bias is?

Mingi: Does that mean Yeosang ISN’T your bias?

A shrugging emoji is all he receives from you in response. For now.

You: Any one of you could or couldn’t be my main bias.

You: Like I said, you have to buy me a drink first ;)

Wooyoung: Why can’t you just tell us? :(

A sigh escapes you, thumbs hovering in the air over the keyboard as multiple of them seem to agree with Wooyoung’s inquiry.

You: It’s just a personal thing I have.

You: I don’t mind telling other people, but when it comes to the actual people it involves, it’s a different story. I don’t know how much my opinion of each of you matters, but I’ve never really enjoyed picking favourites when that choice is told to said people. I don’t like the connotations of multiple people getting their hopes up that I’ll pick them as my favourite, only to choose someone else. I don’t like disappointing people, and I also am all too familiar with the feeling of not even being someone’s last choice. If I tell you who I bias, it will most likely be at some point when we’re one on one. If you’re still interested at that point.

You:I just-

You: Did that make sense? I can try and explain it better if you need me to.

Yeosang: We understand. Don’t force yourself to do something that makes you uncomfortable.

Wooyoung: Don’t worry! We’ll stop bothering you about it.

Yunho: Wooyoung… just agreed to stop pestering someone…

San: It’s a Christmas miracle!

Jongho: He’s still pouting about it in the corner…

A photo is received showing both Hongjoong, Mingi, and Wooyoung all standing dejectedly in the corner.

You: Damn, are you guys going to start growing mushrooms like Tamaki from Ouran now, too? I didn’t realize my opinion of you mattered so much.

You: If it makes you all feel any better, I think you’re all wonderful people. I thought that before I met you, and getting to know you all has only solidified that fact.

Quite a few typing bubbles appear onscreen. A moment later, you’re flooded by emoticons either blushing, screaming, and, or crying happily with hearts surrounding them.

Seonghwa: You’re a great friend

A soft smile caresses your features as you read his comment, a subtle heat rising up your neck. At the way the others all emphasize Seonghwa’s message, you cannot help the way your heart begins to flutter inside your chest. Truly, his words mean the world to you, and the fact the others agree with him is simply icing on the cake.

After sending a quick response to them, you decide to actually get out of your apartment for the day. It takes you no time at all to grab your one notebook, some writing tools, and your laptop, just in case. Packing everything into your one small cream coloured tote with the Skz Zoo characters on it that you got from their one concert, you head towards the door.

Slipping your shoes on, you grab your purse, slinging that over your opposite shoulder. You do a quick check in the mirror to make sure you still look okay before slipping out of the door. The faint clicking sound of the lock sliding into place is starting to become a familiar comfort to you every time you leave your apartment, walking down the hallway towards the elevators in the next second.

The ride down to the main floor is a bit slow, you focussing on your phone the whole time. Naver Maps rests open on the screen, doing a quick search of the area to find the best stores for what you’re looking for. Already, you have a mental list of what you need to get, and you figure doing that before settling down in a café to write will do you some good. That way, if you get on a roll, you don’t have to worry about cutting your time short to pick up what you need.

Stepping into the lobby, you send a polite greeting to the security guard behind the front desk before exiting the building.

The moment you step outside, you head over to the bus stop. Sitting on the bench, you wait for the respective bus to come, plugging in your headphones all the while. At least you can take your time now, and maybe explore the area a bit more when you get back. If you’re up for that, that is.

Half an hour later, you find yourself at a small shopping centre. You don’t need much, but you do need to get a few new replacement pieces of makeup. Then, you figure you can check out the bookstore before finding a place to work on your novel.

The night of the award’s show, you managed to finish off both your favourite shade of red lipstick, as well as your liquid eyeliner. Normally, you don’t wear makeup very often, but since you have a bunch of events coming up, and no personal stylist, you figure you should at least look somewhat put together. Not that that ideal will last long.

Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Entering a few different cosmetic stores, you search around for the best deal. The first one you went into was sold out of the liquid liner you like to use, anyways. You swear by it, as it’s application is the easiest to deal with. At least, in your opinion. That, and it dries quickly, and isn’t prone to smudging.

Perhaps you should also get a pencil liner while you’re at it…

Standing in front of the display with your favourite shade of red lipstick already held in your one hand, you look over all of the options. It appears as if this store is having a sale on their eyeliner, the words ‘buy one, get one half off’ practically glaring back at you from the sign.

Your eyes light up as you spot your favourite liquid liner. Almost instantly, your hands reach out to grab one of the last two on the shelf. Then, comes the hard part. Picking a pencil liner to go with it.

That’s when you notice another person shifting closer to you almost timidly.

Turning your head, you see a person somewhat hesitantly standing a few feet away. Their appearance is slightly androgynous, their black hair falling to their shoulders in a semi-wolf cut. Every now and then, you see their gaze darting to you almost nervously, their eyes lined with black liner.

“I like your hair,” you hum, purposely focussing on the display in front of you as you pull one of the two options you’ve been looking at off of the shelf. “I think it suits you nicely.”

Almost instantly, the person’s eyes light up despite them averting their gaze, “Thank you.”

You blink, as if realizing something.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m completely blocking the display.” You step to the side, smiling politely at the person beside you.

Timidly, they smile back, taking a step in closer to the display.

Reaching your one hand forward, you pull the other pencil liner you’ve been considering off of the shelf to compare it to the other one in your opposite hand. Your brow furrows, looking over each one of them carefully and attempting to find out what the difference is between the two brands.

“I personally like this one better.” A voice from your right draws your attention, and you notice the person beside you glancing down at the liner in your right hand. “It last longer, and if you want to go for a smokey eye, it blends really nicely.”

“Really?” Your voice sounds hopeful.

“Yeah!” They smile somewhat shyly. “Though, if you don’t want it to smudge, then I would go with the other one you’re holding. It’s more of a gel pencil, if that makes sense.”

Softly, you nod your head. “I don’t usually wear a lot of makeup, but I never fuck around with my eyeliner.”

“Oh, yeah. Eyeliner can practically smell fear.” They joke.

A small laugh escapes you, and you notice them chuckling along, too.

“To be honest, I’ve never really been into makeup, but I don’t mind it every now and then.” You admit, sparing a glance down at the products held in your hand.

“I love it.” They say, only for their whole body to stiffen in the next second. It’s almost as if they said something wrong, for they glance towards you in what you can only assume is fear in the next moment.

“That’s so cool!” You grin, eyes crinkling at the sides. “I really love the way you’ve done your eyes today. It really makes them pop.”

Instantly, their shoulders relax and they shuffle a bit from foot to foot. “Thank you.”

“When I was younger, I was always obsessed with different coloured eyeliner.” You say, putting the one pencil liner back onto the shelf since you’ve decided to go with the other one for now. “Never used them, but I would always beg my mom to buy them for me.”

“I think my mom nearly had a stroke the first time I asked her to buy lipstick for me.” They voice lowly, as if sharing a precious secret. “She was a little hesitant at first, but when she saw how much I loved it, she couldn’t resist getting me more. Now, it’s like a recurring joke between us for her to get me a new shade every year for my birthday.”

“I love this for you!” You grin widely. “That’s honestly the best.”

“I’ve always wanted to work in the film industry for a few years now, but it’s quite competitive even getting a foot in the door.” They tell you.

“I can imagine.” You nod sympathetically before your eyes are widening as if you’ve just realized something. Then, quickly, you’re introducing yourself, seeing as you haven’t bothered to yet.

“I’m still working on that name stuff, but for now you can call me Zed.” They say, bowing slightly to you.

You bow back.

Ten more minutes are spent talking with Zed in front of that display. You even manage to go on your brief makeup is gender neutral rant after they express the same ideals.

“Everything is gender neutral if you’re brave enough.” You comment lowly, adjusting the strap of your purse over your one shoulder.

“Here, here.” They mock toast you with the few products held in their one hand.

“By the way, you mentioned being a makeup artist, correct?” You meet their gaze.

“Yeah, you’re correct.” They nod once in confirmation.

“This may be really weird considering we just met, but if you’re free tomorrow morning, I have an event I need to attend, and I would love someone to do my makeup for me. I’m not the greatest artist myself, and I would definitely pay you for your work!” You begin, somewhat shyly.

“Sure! What time would you need me to be at the place?” They ask.

Five minutes later, and you’ve exchanged contact information with them after explaining the details.

“I thought you looked familiar.” They mumble, almost to themselves. “I heard about that speech you gave two weeks ago, it was all over the news. I just didn’t realize that that was you.”

“Yep!” You chuckle, grinning widely from ear to ear. “That’s me!”

“Is that why you’re picking up products today?” They quirk a brow.

“One of the reasons.” You confirm. “I have the rest at home, but you’re more than welcome to bring whatever you think you may need tomorrow. I know it’s super short notice, and we just met, but I really appreciate you agreeing to do this for me.”

“Hey,” they shrug, “work is work. As long as you’re serious about it, that is.”

“Of course!” Comes your immediate reply. “You’re also welcome to message me anytime! I really enjoyed talking with you today.”

“Me too,” they smile.

“Thanks for the recommendation, by the way.” You wiggle the pencil liner held in your hand.

“No worries at all.” They chuckle. “You looked like you were struggling, and I’m always happy to help.”

You begin to make your way towards the cash line with Zed in tow. Except, you notice them holding only one liner in their hand, as opposed to the two they had earlier.

“Are you not going to get the other one, too?” You tilt your head curiously. “It’s buy one, get one fifty percent off.”

“I don’t think two is in the budget for me right now,” they chuckle, somewhat embarrassedly. “Money’s a little tight between jobs.”

You pause momentarily, turning right back around and pulling the other product they had been looking at off the shelf before grabbing the other one that’s still held in their hand.

“What are you doing?” Their voice is a little frantic as they follow closely behind you.

“Buying something for my friend.” You reply, somewhat matter-of-factly. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You don’t have to!” Immediately, they begin to protest.

“Think of it as a small ‘thank you’ from me to you in advance of tomorrow.” You reply, stepping into line with them beside you. “Besides, I want to.”

They purse their lips slightly, shuffling from foot to foot before muttering out a low thanks.

“Don’t even worry about it!” You smile at Zed. “It’s my pleasure.”

Idly, you continue to chat with them as you wait to be cashed out. As soon as you’re done, you hand them their items while standing just outside the store.

“Thank you so much.” They breathe, almost in relief.

“Really, it’s no problem.” You smile, tucking your own items into your tote bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Just text me the details as soon as you can, and I’ll be there!” They reply eagerly, tucking their own products into their back pocket.

“Of course!” You wave as they begin to take their leave. “Talk to you later!”

The moment they’re out of sight, you cannot help but smile more to yourself. They were so nice, and you honestly loved every second of that interaction with them. If only more people were like them.

Adjusting the strap of your tote, you turn back to face the other shops lining the space. There’s really only one other store you’d like to check out before leaving to find a café soon.

On the way to the bookstore, you quickly text all of the information Zed will need for tomorrow to them. They reply quickly with a ‘thanks!’ And some excited emoticons.

Again, you grin to yourself, happy to have made a new friend.

Rounding the corner of the hallway, you spot the bookstore at the end of the row. The sign is bright, and you can see a bunch of people milling about the one section near the front. Despite this not being the store you’ll be having your signing in, there seems to be a large display of your books in the middle of the store. Luckily, your picture doesn’t seem to be anywhere near the table like the last bookstore you had visited.

Shuffling passed a few people, you’re quick to head over to the manga section. There’s a volume of Tokyo Ghoul in Korean that continues to elude you no matter how hard you try and find it. You really just want it to complete your collection at this point, and it has one of your favourite characters on the front.

Crouching down to look on the bottom shelf where you see the different volumes of the manga you’re looking for residing, you’re quick to scan them all. Your eyes practically light up as you see the one you’re looking for, only a sharp gasp coming from down the row draws your attention.

The sound of quick feet approaching you causes you to look up to see a girl and two guys rushing over to you.

“Hi, oh my gosh, are you the author of this book series?” The girl excitedly holds out a copy of the second novel in your first published series.

You blink up at her owlishly, “Uh…”

“You’re so cool! I really admire your work!” She squeals, drawing even more attention to yourself from the people around you.

“Thank you,” you smile politely.

“Anyways, I’m so sorry for interrupting you.” Her face immediately goes bright red as she averts her gaze. “Do you think I could get a quick picture before I leave?”

“Sure!” Slowly, you stand back to your feet.

Handing her phone to one of the guys behind her, the girl steps into your side. A wide smile is on her face as she throws up a peace sign, holding your book proudly on display. You immediately mirror her enthusiastic expression, heart warming at how happy she looks.

After a few pictures are taken, she’s turning to you once again.

“Thank you so much!” She bows lowly, nearly hitting her head on the table beside you with a full display of One Piece on it. “Again, sorry for bothering you!”

You have just enough time to mutter a ‘not at all’, before she’s giddily hopping away with the two other males in tow.

Turning back to the shelves of manga, you go to crouch down once more to pull the volume of Tokyo Ghoul off of the bottom.

“Hello, My Love.” A voice says from above you.

Figuring the person is talking to someone else, you opt to ignore them for now. Instead, you reach out to finally pull the volume off of the shelf.

A harsh clearing of someone’s throat is heard as a shadow looms above you.

“I said,”they say, much more firmly this time as they nudge you, not very gently, with their foot, “Hello, My Love.”

The sudden push causes you to stumble slightly, steadying yourself on the bookcase in front of you.

Turning your head, you peer up at the person, a slight frown tugging at your features. Quickly, you stand back to your feet as you see a male staring at you quite expectantly. He appears irritated, the corner of his lips tugging downwards, standing slightly shorter than you with his arms crossed over his chest.

“My bad, I didn’t realize you were speaking to me.” You incline your head in apology. “But please, don’t call me that.”

His brow quirks, clearly amused by your response. “Aren’t you into that shit, though?”

“Excuse me?”To say you’re caught off guard by his sudden attitude would be an understatement.

“You write about all that sappy romance stuff.” He replies.

“That doesn’t give you a right as a stranger to invade my personal space, or say something like that. I don’t know you.” You blink at him.

A puff of air escapes his nose in annoyance. “But you’re that author chick.”

“And?” Your brow furrows even further, taking a small step away from him.

“Come on, Baby, don’t be like that.” He sighs, his jaw twitching.

“You’re the one that approached me.” You counter. “And, please, don’t call me that.”

“You’re different than I thought you’d be.” He states, giving you a once over. “Bigger.”

“I’m sorry?” You recoil slightly, appalled by the sudden disgust on his features.

“I said you’re beautiful.”A sly grin pulls onto his features as he takes a step closer to you. “You’re not like other girls.”

You blink at him, quite rapidly at that in your state of shock. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, I think you know, Petal.” His eyes are suddenly hooded as he takes another step into you.

“Don’t call me that. Please.” You manage to slip around the corner of the table you’re standing beside.

“Why are you being so difficult?”The man mutters to himself, shaking his head.

A call of someone’s name from the side draws both of your attention, and you see two more males staring intently at the one standing closest to you. The way they wear smug grins on their faces as they give you pointed once overs says it all.

“I’m getting there.” The man before you snaps at the two others.

“Did you want something?” It’s your own voice that seems to draw his attention back to you.

“Oh, look at you! You can speak a bit of Korean!” His tone is nothing short of condescending. “That’s wonderful!”

“I have nothing to say to you.” You state, rather bluntly before move to turn away from him. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Where are you going, My Dear?” The way he drawls out that nickname has a shiver of disgust running down your spine. The fact that he snatches your wrist in his hand has panic seizing your entire body.

“Please, stop calling me those names.” You yank your wrist out of his hold. “Don’t touch me, either.”

“Come on, Darling,” his eyes flash, “don’t be like that. I only want to please you. To show you my devotion-“

“Get away from me!” You begin to scramble away from him, noticing you’ve started to draw some attention from a few of the staff members working in the store.

The two other males suddenly turn and begin to head towards the exits while two staff members approach you.

“What’s wrong with you?” There is nothing but ire on his features as he spits out these words at you. “All I’m offering is a chance for you to recreate those sex scenes from your books with me. A once in a lifetime opportunity, if you ask me. It’s not like people are lining up to be with you, anyways. You should be grateful I’m even giving a fat bitch like you attention.”

“Is everything okay here?” An older gentleman with a name tag interrupts, looking between both you and the male before you.

“I’m sorry to cause a commotion, Sir.” The way you immediately incline your head in respect to the elder male clearly catches him off guard. That, and the fact that you actually answer him in proper Korean. “This man won’t leave me alone, and is making me extremely uncomfortable. He’s making rude and inappropriate comments towards me, and thinks he’s entitled to assault me.”

The woman standing beside the male gasps, recognition flashing in her eyes. Her one hand comes up to point at you, “You’re that author from the award’s show!”

This draws the attention of a few more people standing around you, whispers being heard as a few more people recognize you from the display of your books a few tables over.

Politely, you smile at the woman, nerves skyrocketing as more and more attention is brought upon you. Again, you incline your head in respect as she looks slightly younger than the man, but still older than you.

“You said this man was bothering you?” She immediately turns a sharp gaze to the person standing closest to you.

“I was just leaving.” He huffs, purposely brushing past you and bumping quite harshly into your side. “Fucking bitch.”

Eyes follow him all of the way out of the store as he rejoins his two friends in the hallway.

“Are you alright?” The older gentleman turns to look at you.

“Yes, thank you.” You once again bow to him. “I’m sorry, again, for causing a disruption.”

“It’s not your fault.” The lady shakes her head, immediately wrapping you gently in her arms and guiding you towards the back of the store. “Come with us, we’ll call security and have them escort you in case that man comes back.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” You smile lightly, seeing as she sends a kind one back.

Looks like you’re not getting that volume of Tokyo Ghoul today, either.

Sitting in the staff room at the back of the store, you let out a long sigh. You clutch your tote close to yourself, purse resting between your feet on the floor. Your phone resides in your hands, and you scroll aimlessly through Tumblr while you wait for security to reach the bookstore.

Opening your messages, you’re quick to type one out.

You: Why do people feel entitled to another person?

Placing your phone upside-down on the table before you, you let out another sigh. Not even a moment later, you pick your phone back up.

Jongho: Did something happen?

Mingi:Is everything alright?

Hongjoong: Are you okay?

Your eyes widen at how quickly you’ve gotten responses, but that’s when you realize: you texted the wrong chat.

You: Shit, sorry! Wrong chat! Just forget I said anything.

Wooyoung: You message something as ominous as that and expect us NOT to be worried?

Yunho: Jongho’s already putting his shoes on.

You: Wait, does that mean you guys are done with practice for today?

Seonghwa: NO, we are NOT!

You:… you guys don’t wear shoes when you practice?

Yunho: We do, it was just a figure of speech.

San: He meant that Mingi and Yeosang are holding Jongho back from racing out the door as we speak.

You: Damn, this reminds me of my wondrous ‘protection squad’ days.

Seonghwa: Protection squad days?

You: Nevermind. Like I said, just forgot I said anything.

The door opens and in walks security. You take a few minutes to describe what happened and what the man that assaulted you looks like before the two guards are escorting you out of the store. One walks in front while the other walks behind you.

“We’ll lead you to your car, or the bus stop, and stay with you until you leave.” The one says to you.

“Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.” You bow slightly while walking.

The guard simply smiles at you from over his shoulder in response.

Once you’re on the correct bus on your way back to your apartment, you finally allow yourself to breathe a sigh of relief. Pulling out your phone, you check your notifications.

Immediately, you’re greeted by tons of worried messages from the boys, and even a few from some Stray Kids members. Looks like Wooyoung told Changbin, who in turn told Minho, Hyunjin, and Seungmin.

You: I promise I’m fine, just an uncomfortable encounter at a store.

Another round of messages are sent to you by the Ateez members, and you reassure them yet again.

You: Well, I could go for some boba now as a pick me up. Any of you know a good place in the area? The one by my house just closed for renos.

You notice a few of them typing a response before the first one comes in.

Yeosang: There’s one in the back alleys near Sinsa that’s really good. I’ll send you the address.

A moment later, a link to the Naver page is uploaded to the chat by Yeosang.

You: Thank you!!

Wooyoung: Daaaaaaamn Yeosang, you had that ready and LOADED

San: Don’t hate the man just cause he was prepared.

Yunho: Well, WE may have to prepare HIS funeral now

A photo of Yeosang being held in a headlock by Jongho is sent to you almost immediately after that message gets sent.

You laugh, a smile pulling at your features as you shake your head at your phone.

You: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

A few more messages are sent between all of you, ending with you wishing them luck with the rest of practice. They eagerly tell you to come visit them soon, to which you reply that you will.

Twenty minutes later, and after switching buses once, you find yourself standing outside of the little boba shop Yeosang recommended to you. It has a cute little awning over the door, a soft pink in colour, while large windows line the front of the shop. It doesn’t look too busy, from what you can see, but the menu has a variety of options and you are more than eager to try them.

A small bell jingles as you enter the shop, the worker behind the counter smiling politely at you as you approach. Luckily, you already know what you want to order from looking at the sign outside, so you manage to do that fairly quickly.

Five minutes later, you have your glass in hand as you seclude yourself in a corner seat. There’s a half-wall with plants resting on top of it to your left, while an open view of the store sits to your right. You’re directly across from the entranceway, but you cannot see the order counter, nor the worker anymore. Two more tables sit to your right, a small hallway stretching down after that towards where you’re sure the bathrooms reside.

Your tote rests on your left between your body and the wall, while your purse is on the booth beside you to your right. Considering you have a wall behind you, and there aren’t very many people in the shop, you feel comfortable enough to pull your laptop out. Once you’ve set everything up, you’re taking a sip of your drink while staring at the document you had been working on last night.

Scrolling back up to the top of the chapter, you begin.

Editing what you wrote the previous night takes some time, but by the time an hour has passed, you’ve start to write more for the chapter you’re currently on. It took a little bit of time, but you finally know how you want to end this particular scene, and you’re challenging yourself to see if you can finish it before you finish your drink.

Unfortunately for you, you’ve always been a fast drinker. Especially when you haven’t had much to drink all day.

The sound of another glass being placed onto the table before you draws your attention from your screen.

“Sorry to interrupt you,” it’s the worker you ordered your drink from before. “I saw your speech from the awards show when it aired, and I just wanted to say I really admire you. Thank you for everything you do! I didn’t want to say anything before since I was on the clock, but my shift just ended and I noticed you hadn’t left yet, so I wanted to say something before I went home.” They smile shyly, “and give you a refill of your drink. Work hard, and have a lovely day!”

“Oh, thank you so much!” You smile back at them as they clear your empty glass from the table. “That’s so kind of you!”

A nod is all you get in response as a soft blush begins to dust their features. Not even a moment later, they turn away, leaving you on your own once more.

Another hour and a half passes by with you furiously typing away at your laptop. You’d like to say that you hardly get distracted, but there seems to be this one person who has been constantly walking passed your table in hopes for you to notice them. The first few times, you glanced up, eyes being drawn to the movement given how close they were to your table, but by the fifth time, you started to ignore them.

That is, until they decided to actually approach your table.

The conversation was short, and awkward. They kept stuttering over their words, not to mention they kept interrupting you while you’re trying to work.

That’s the one thing that irritates you no matter what. Nothing is worse than being in the middle of writing a scene, deep in the flow of words, only to be interrupted or distracted by someone. Really, you know it’s not their fault, but you still cannot help your annoyance at the situation. Once or twice, you can brush it off, but the third time they do it, you’re a little blunt with them when you respond. You don’t mean to be, but alas, it happens.

Approximately fifteen minutes go by without another interruption, and you manage to finish the scene you’re working on. You’re almost done with the current chapter, and all that’s really left to do is round it out, and edit the final product. To say you’re happy with what you’ve done would be an understatement.

This time, when you notice someone approaching your table, you don’t even bother to glance up. You figure it’s that person coming to bother you again, so you opt to continue typing away at your laptop, staring intently at your screen.

The sound of two glasses being placed onto the table has your ears quirking, even more so when you hear the chair across from you scraping against the floor.

A tremendous sigh escapes you, “Look-“

Your words die in your throat as you see the person now sitting across from you. They wear a black bucket hat, strands of what appears to be newly bleached hair sticking out from beneath the material. They blink at you with somewhat wide eyes, freezing in their movement of pushing a brand new cup of boba towards you.

“Yeosang?” You keep your voice low, blinking at him in mild shock. “What are you doing here?”

He smiles faintly, resuming his motion of pushing that one drink towards you. “Practice ended early.”

It is then that you glance at the time, seeing that it’s starting to become late into the afternoon. You honestly haven’t been keeping a close track of time while you’ve been here, only truly registering how long you’ve actually been writing for.

Softly, you close your laptop. “Aren’t you worried about being spotted?”

“Not here.” He shakes his head. “It’s actually a really common spot for a lot of us. The staff are discreet, and not many people know about it.”

Briefly, that interaction with that one worker earlier who brought you your second drink flashes through your mind. You smile in understanding, “I see.”

“Are you okay, though?” He blinks a few times, innocently. “You seemed irritated when I got here.”

Your eyes quickly scan the shop, not seeing that person who kept bothering you earlier in their spot by the windows.

“Better now,” you reply, honestly. “Just kept getting distracted, is all.”

“I thought you didn’t like using your laptop in public?” He quirks a brow, taking a sip of his own drink.

“When I’m up against the wall, anything goes.” You shrug, and almost immediately, he starts choking on his drink. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

He waves you off, hitting his chest with a fist lightly.

Soon after, he clears his throat. “I’m good.”

“Good.” You chuckle faintly. “Last thing I need is your fans coming after me for choking out their favourite member.”

“I think you should be more worried about Wooyoung.” He comments, a hint of irritation on his face.

Your brow furrows, “Why?”

“He’d be next in line.”

Your eyes nearly bug out of your head.

“I-“ you blink rapidly a few times, swallowing the sudden dryness in your throat. “Are you implying Wooyoung wants me to choke him?”

“He’s not the only one.” Yeosang replies, a slight bitterness lingering in his tone. “Mingi has spent many a night ranting about how he wants to be suffocated between your-“

Yeosang seemingly catches himself in the last second as he spares a glance at you.

Your mouth hangs open in pure disbelief, blinking at him in shock. You hands rest on the table before you, a vibrant heat rising to your cheeks. Of course, you can most certainly incur where Yeosang was going when he was speaking just now, your heartbeat thundering in your ears.

“Sorry.” He averts his gaze, somewhat embarrassed.

In the next moment, you’re shaking your head.

“No, no,” you manage to organize your thoughts, clearing your throat, “I’m just surprised, is all.”

“What? Surprised that some idols have horny fantasies, too?” He quirks a brow, slight amusement shining in his eyes.

“Oh, no.” Your nose scrunches as you shake your head mildly. “If they read my books and thoroughly enjoy them, that fact doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Then, why do you look so shocked?” He tilts his head slightly in inquiry.

Your lips pull back in a tight smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m curious, though.” He blinks, taking another sip of his drink.

You reach out to grab the full glass, noticing how the drink appears to be the same one you’ve been drinking since you got here: matcha milk tea with pearls.

“You’re aware I am a fan of Ateez, correct?” You look at him somewhat expectantly.

“Believe me, I’m well aware.” He nods along with your words.

From the way he still stares at you, with those wide eyes, has you exhaling lowly.

“Let me put it this way,” you take a sip of your drink, noticing how the label said it had been made with soy milk. In the back of your head, you wonder if he knows you’re lactose intolerant, or if it was just a personal choice on his part. “How would you feel if you suddenly found out Emma Watson admitted to having sexual fantasies about you?”

Yeosang freezes right before your very eyes, nodding slowly as realization crosses his features. Then, as if making another connection, his brow furrows.

“You find Mingi attractive.” The statement is a bit blunt as he says this, grip tightening over his drink.

“I thought I told you that I find all of you attractive?” You quirk a brow playfully at him in response.

“Right.” He nods, seemingly in recollection before halting all movement once more. “But you desire Mingi.”

If you didn’t know any better, you’d say that hint of bitterness is back in his voice again.

“I desire many things, Yeosang,” you begin. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to indulge in them.”

“But you would if he offered?” He places his glass a bit firmly back onto the top of the table.

“Probably not.” Your face scrunches slightly as you consider his words. “I don’t know him like that. I don’t know any of you like that, and it takes a lot for me to be intimate with another person in such a way.” You meet his gaze. “Are you familiar with the term demisexual?”

The way he blinks at you blankly is answer enough.

“It means a person has to have a strong emotional connection with someone before experiencing sexual attraction.” You explain.

He shakes his head, still not quite understanding.

“It means I don’t do hookups.” You add. “Hookup culture is not for me.”

Understanding crosses his features as his lips part slightly, a soft ‘oh’ falling from him in the next second.

“On top of that, I am also demiromantic.” You continue. “Meaning the same thing, only this time it’s considering romantic attraction. It takes a lot for me to fall in love, and it takes a lot for me to be intimate with someone.”

“So, you wouldn’t-“

“No.” You shake your head, cutting him off. “I may have desires, Yeosang, but there is a huge difference between reality and fiction.”

His eyes narrow slightly at you in response, and you can practically see the gears turning in his head.

“You’ve fantasized before? About your bias?”

You nearly spit out your drink as you go to take a sip. Coughing a few times, you rub at your chest, noticing how he hasn’t torn his eyes off of you for a single second.

“I’ve fantasied more about my own characters.” You admit once you finally manage to get your breathing back under control.

“That’s not a ‘no’,” he hums, brow quirks slightly in amusement.

“Why? Suddenly curious about whether or not I’ve fantasized about you?” You turn the question back on him, noticing how he begins to splutter almost immediately.

The way red begins to slowly creep up his neck has you laughing.

“I’m just kidding.” You reach across the table to pat his hand gently. “Though, I could have sworn you were about to ask me about my Ateez bias again.”

He averts his eyes only briefly, “no.”

“I mean, if you want to know, I don’t mind telling you.” You shrug. “We are alone, and you did buy me a drink.”

You can see the sudden eager gleam in his eyes as he leans the slightest bit forward in his seat. His lips part, and you hear the breath he takes before his shoulders seemingly deflate.

You quirk a brow.

He shakes his head, somewhat dejected. “I’d rather not.”

The way he suddenly looks tense before you has you cautiously trailing your gaze over him in response. You’re about to ask if he’s sure of not, but at the way he shakes his head, almost absentmindedly as his hand tightens around his drink once more is all the answer you need.

So, you decide to change the subject.

“How was practice?” Your soft inquiry seems to manage to pull him out of your thoughts.

You take another sip of your drink as he responds, a gentle tug of his lips upwards as he recounts the way Hongjoong had to chase Wooyoung at one point to continue learning the new choreography.

“You should have seen the way Jongho practically lunged at his phone each time it pinged.” Yeosang half rolls his eyes. “He thought it was you every time.”

Your eyebrows raise in amusement, swirling the contents of your drink around in your hand. Honestly, your heart warms at the thought of Jongho being so excited to message you that he literally jumps at his phone every time.

“I thought you guys said I wouldn’t be a distraction?” You tease. “Just imagine what it would be like if I was actually there.”

“You think Mingi’s bad for using his pelvis during concerts?” Yeosang shakes his head, almost exasperatedly.

You laugh, tossing your head back as your eyes crinkle at the sides.

Again, once you manage to calm down, you notice Yeosang staring at you exactly like he did that first day you met him on the plane. Though, again, you brush it off.

“Well, I know for a fact the Mingi Stans are not complaining.” You grin. “You should see the amount of videos my friends who bias him send me of him when he does those things. It’s fun watching them freak out over it.”

“But you don’t?” He quirks a brow.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” You shrug casually. “I have my own selection of videos and pictures of my biases that ruin me in the best ways.”

“Ah, so you’re not immune.” He nods in understanding.

“Oh, most definitely not.” You snort. “I am just as…” you hum, searching for the right word, “feral as some of my friends. You just haven’t seen it, yet.”

“Are you offering to show me?” He quirks a brow.

“Depends.” The corner of your lips quirk upwards deviously. “When’s your next comeback, again?”

Yeosang leans back in his chair, observing you carefully. “You know, now that we’re friends, I think you should hype us all up more.”

“I can do that.” You readily agree. “Next comeback, I’ll give you all my live reactions. Well… within reason.”

“I look forward to it.” He grins.

“If the other guys get weirded out by it, then I’m blaming you.” You point an accusatory finger at him playfully.

“I’ll take full responsibility.” He raises his own hands in front of himself, almost as if in mock self-defence.

“You better,” you joke. “I don’t wanna lose my new friends that quickly. I really enjoy talking with you guys.”

Yeosang’s lips twitch upwards faintly in the corners, almost involuntarily. “I enjoy talking with you, too.”

“Oh?” You quirk a teasing brow. “Even when we flirt in front of you? Which we weren’t, by the way.”

Yeosang’s lips part, mouth opening and closing in protest despite no words escaping him.

“Nah, I’m just kidding,” you playfully pat his hand that he still has resting on top of the table. “If I ever make you uncomfortable, don’t be afraid to tell me. Boundaries are important, especially when they’re your own.”

“I will.” He smiles faintly.

“Same goes for if I start rambling too much, or if I’m being annoying, or if-“

“You’re not annoying.” The suddenness that Yeosang cuts you off with surprises you. “Why would you think you’re annoying?”

“I, uh-“

“Who told you that you’re annoying?” His brow furrows, clear confusion on his face. There’s something else there, you can see it shining behind his eyes, but you’re unsure of what it could be.

“Just a general comment,” you smile, somewhat tightly at him in response.

“Oh.” He seems to calm down, if only slightly. “Well, don’t think that you’re annoying. You’re not. I enjoy talking with you, and I enjoy listening to you speak.”

You blink in mild shock, a shy smile pulling at your lips as you avert your gaze.

“Thank you, Yeosang. That really means a lot to me.”

“Don’t be afraid to be yourself around me.” He swirls the content of his drink around slightly. “I quite like the real, unfiltered you.”

Your breath hitches in your throat, and you cannot help the way your back straightens. However, before you can so much as thank him again, he’s clearing his throat.

“So,” he stares intently at the contents of his drink. “What’s your favourite colour?”

You think this is probably the most talkative you’ve ever witnessed Yeosang to be, and to say you’re caught off guard is an understatement. You both continue to ask each other questions, laughing and getting to know each other better as the time continues to pass around you.

Before you know it, another hour and a half has passed, and you notice that the sun is beginning to set in the distance. Though, that’s not the only thing you’ve started to notice.

For the past twenty minutes or so, you’ve spotted two girls sitting a little ways away from your own table. They constantly peer over towards you, whispering quite loudly to each other while staring between both you and Yeosang.

You’re starting to get worried. The last thing you know he needs is word to get out that he’s been seen out with a girl. The setting could heavily imply a date, and that fact alone is enough to have you swallowing nervously. He doesn’t need a scandal, and you would hate for that to happen, especially since you consider all of Ateez to be your friends now.

“I’ll be right back.” Yeosang whispers lowly as he pushes his chair out from the table.

You find you can only nod in response, watching as he disappears down the hallway to your right for the moment.

Carefully, you observe the girls after pulling out your phone. Resting it on the table, you begin to put your laptop away, cleaning up your mess to appear as if you’re getting ready to leave. Every now and then, you glance to them, straining your ears to attempt to overhear their conversation.

“No, I’m positive that’s him.” The one says. “I saw this online forum post about how this place is common ground for a lot of idols, especially him.”

“It’s hard to tell since he’s wearing a hat, and not looking in our direction.” The other replies, not as lowly as the first girl who spoke. “Besides, why would he be out with someone like her?”

The first girl shrugs. “Maybe it was a dare, or a private contest.”

“He seems to be having a good time.” The second one bitterly mutters.

“He could be pretending.”

“He’s not that great of an actor.”

Your eyes widen slightly. Some fans they seem to be, considering how they seem to be acting right now. Still, their conversation worries you.

“We should follow them when they leave. It looks like she’s packing up, anyways.” The first one whispers again to her friend.

Your heart drops, and you find yourself grabbing your phone. You do your best to appear casual as you open your messages to send one to Yeosang privately.

You: Bad news. It looks like those two girls sitting behind us might have recognized you. They think we’re on a date, but they’re not 100% convinced you are who they think you are.

You just hope he sees your message before he comes back out.

A moment later, you see he’s replied.

Yeosang: We should leave then.

You:Great plan!!

You: Except that I overheard them saying they’re going to follow us to find out if you are who they think you are. You’re lucky you’re wearing that hat.

You: Wait, I have an idea.

You: Call me crazy, but I think we might be able to fool them into thinking that they’re wrong about who you really are.

Yeosang: What do you have in mind?

You: Keep your head down when you come back out, and then just follow my lead.

Yeosang: That sounds ominous.

You: I know. You’re going to have to trust me, though. Can you do that, Yeo?

It takes a moment for him to respond, and you cannot help the way your one finger taps at the side of your phone nervously as you wait.

Yeosang: I trust you.

You: Heads up: I’m about to get up close and personal with you real quick. I won’t purposely do anything to make you uncomfortable, I promise you that, but if we want to make this believable, we’re going to have to act like a couple.

Again, it takes a moment for him to respond, and you can feel your heart positively thundering inside of your chest. Anxiety floods your veins, and already you can feel your palms beginning to sweat. You just hope you look calmer than you feel.

Yeosang: I trust you.

You: Alright. Wait another minute and a half or so, and then come back out. Make sure all of your hair is tucked beneath your hat, too.

Placing your phone onto the top of the table, you’re quick to reach into your purse. Digging around beneath your wallet, you manage to pull out the case you’re looking for.

You place it onto the table, right next to your phone.

Turning to your opposite side, you rummage around in your tote bag. A small black box is pulled out, and you’re quick to open it. A small tube of lipstick falls into your open palm, and you toss the now empty container back into your tote.

Grabbing your phone, you make a show of using your reflection to apply the shade to your lips, making sure it’s evenly applied before you’re standing back to your feet. Then, you’re reaching over to grab your bags, slinging your purse over your one shoulder while you hold onto the tote in your hand. Once your other hand is free, you grab your phone and slide it into your back pocket before grabbing that case from on top of the table.

Luckily, as you had been talking with Yeosang, he had already managed to finish his drink. He also took the liberty to return the empty glasses to the front, so all you have left is to give your final glass back to the worker behind the counter.

A few steps later, and you do just that, your tote hanging off of your arm lightly. You can just feel the gazes of those two girls following you the whole time, and just as you cross the small space of the boba shop, you see Yeosang appear from the back hallway. His head is angled downwards, pretending to look at something on his phone, and you notice how his hair is now completely tucked beneath that hat of his.

Purposefully, you make a show of skipping the rest of the way over to him eagerly.

“Kyungmin!” You giggle, pulling him closer to you by his wrist. A gentle kiss is placed onto the side of his exposed cheek, a red lipstick stain now painting his skin. “Let’s go get tteokbokki! I’m hungry!”

Quickly, you begin dragging him out of the shop, handing him both your tote bag to carry, and that small case held in your hands.

“Don’t forget to put your glasses back on. I know you hate them, but I think they make you look so handsome!” You purposely stand on his right side, blocking him as much as you can from the two girl’s view. Luckily, your height practically swamps him, his figure hidden quite easily behind your frame.

Yeosang is quiet, nodding faintly to your words as he walks beside you. He’s already tucked his phone into his pocket, opening up the case with your glasses inside seamlessly. He’s quick to slip them on as you step outside, wrapping your one arm around his shoulders as you walk down the deserted back alleys.

Unfortunately, you can practically hear the two girls scrambling after you once you get a certain distance down the street.

Subtly, you lean into Yeosang’s side.

“They’re still intent on following us.” You whisper lowly as you pick up your pace.

“What are we going to do?” There’s a slight panic to his voice that you notice almost immediately.

“Do you trust me?” Your eyes dart to another, more secluded alleyway you can see up ahead.

Yeosang swallows thickly before nodding his head.

In the blink of an eye, you’ve pulled him into that side alley. Your left hand rests beside his head, blocking his view from the entranceway, but also ensuring his face is covered should the two girls come rushing around the corner.

“We don’t have much time, but we have to make it convincing that we’ve just been making out.” You say, quite bluntly as you lean into him.

You swear Yeosang’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head.

“We can’t slip up now, and the staging is important.” You bring your right hand up and lick your thumb, moving to smear some of your lipstick in the next second. “I’m really sorry it’s come to this, but I think it will work.”

Yeosang’s eyes briefly dart downward, and you assume he’s now staring at the stain of red on your thumb. He swallows thickly. “I trust you.”

Moving as precisely as you can, you begin to smear some of that red on your thumb on the corner of his mouth.

“I’m really sorry for doing this, I swear to you I’m not just making you do this for the adrenaline kick.” Your words are rushed, and you swallow the dryness in your throat. “Luckily with my height I can cover you, but you’re going to have to make it look like you’re grabbing onto me. Most people are startled and embarrassed if they catch a pretty heated pda session. I’m going to bet they won’t stick around to find out afterwards.”

He nods his understanding.

“I’m going to put my knee slightly between your legs, okay?” You keep your voice low.

“Okay.” Yeosang replies, somewhat breathlessly.

Any second now.

“Grab the back of my neck with your left hand, and angle your face towards mine. Put your right on the back of my waist. Slip it lower if you think it’ll be more believable.” You instruct, giving him an impromptu lesson on stage kissing and angles. You may not actually be pressed against him, but it most certainly will look like you are, and that’s the most important part.

Instantly, his hands are on you, and you feel him pull you closer. Whether it’s subconscious or not, you don’t know. All you do know is that his right hand rests just above the curve of your ass, and your breath hitches slightly from his touch.

You squeeze your eyes shut, feeling your blood rushing through your veins as your anxiety continues to skyrocket. You just hope beyond everything that this works.

You hear the sound of feet hitting the pavement, and a sharp gasp followed by a loud exclamation of ‘oh my god!’.

Slowly, you turn your head to face the opening of the alleyway, seeing the two girls standing there. Red is clear on both of their faces as they splutter in their spots, shifting their gazes everywhere around the alleyway but at you.

Your eyes narrow, irritation shining on your features as you glare at the two girls for ‘interrupting’ you.

“What?” Your voice is nothing short of sharp as you finally speak.

The two girls remain silent, attempting to stutter out an answer.

“Do you mind? I haven’t seen him in two months, and I’d really love to spend some time with my boyfriend.” You snap, a prominent frown on your features.

“We’re so sorry!” The one girl immediately bows to you, quite clumsily. “We just thought-“

“What? You thought what?” You cut her off, shifting slightly so your head is turned more towards her while your body still covers the majority of Yeosang’s.

You can feel his grip tighten over you, but you choose to ignore it for now.

“We thought he was Kang Yeosang from Ateez.” The other girl replies, somewhat ashamedly.

“And that gives you the right to stalk us?” Your gaze narrows once more. You scoff. “Why would Kang Yeosang from Ateez be out at this time of day? Here, of all places? He’s probably at a schedule or something. He is an idol, after all.”

That’s when you realize: these girls don’t recognize you. For that, you’re grateful.

They remain quiet.

“You hear that, babe?” You purposely turn back to Yeosang. “These girls think you look like an idol! I told you you were handsome! I don’t want to hear another doubt about yourself come out of your mouth again.”

The way you’re leaning into him makes it look like you’ve placed another kiss onto his cheek. Yet, only you and he know that your lips never grace his skin.

“We’re sorry for interrupting.” The first girl bows clumsily to you again, shoving her friend back the way they came.

“I told you it wasn’t Yeosang!” You can hear the one friend harshly whisper to the other.

“You were right.” You hear the other sigh. “Besides, he wouldn’t be caught dead with an ugly bitch like that, anyways.”

The moment you hear their voices fade away into the distance, their footsteps no longer resounding against the pavement, you’re breathing a sigh of relief. A light smile paints your features as you turn back to face Yeosang, immediately moving to step away from him.

Only, the feeling of his hands tightening around you has you clearing your throat, seemingly snapping him out of whatever daze he seems to be in.

“You can let go now.” You mumble lowly.

“Oh.” Immediately, his hands retract, as if burned. “Right. Sorry.”

You notice Yeosang shifting slightly back and forth on his feet, a frown soon marring his brow as he looks down at the ground.

“Thanks for trusting me,” you smile at him, rummaging around in your purse for that pack of tissues he gave you that one day at rehearsal. “I’m so sorry for invading your space like that and subjecting you to be my fake boyfriend just now. I swear to you I wasn’t just doing that to cop a feel, or say you’re my boyfriend, or anything weird or creepy like that.”

“It’s alright.” He smiles assuringly at you. “I didn’t mind at all.”

Heat immediately rises to your cheeks from his words, handing him a few tissues so he can wipe the lipstick from his face.

“I’m just glad it worked.” You breathe a low sigh of relief.

“Me too.” He smiles, rubbing at his cheek with a tissue.

Still, he swears that he can feel the tips of his fingers tingling from where they had just been pressed against your skin. His heart absolutely pounds in his chest, and he can’t seem to erase the feeling of your body barely pressed against his. Really, he wouldn’t have minded if you actually touched him, but then again, he thinks he probably wouldn’t be able to stand right now if that had been the case.

“So,” your voice catches his attention, a light smile painting your face as you adjust the strap of your purse over your shoulder, “You hungry?”

#cultofdionysusnet #yandere yeosang #yeosang scenarios #yandere ateez #ateez scenario #kpop scenario #yandere kpop #kpop au #ateez x you #ateez x reader #ateez x y/n #chubby reader

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smoooothoperator · 1 year

Text

What A Shame

05: The Winner Takes It All

Driver! Charles Leclerc x Singer! OC (Juliette Morelli)

Exes to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Childhood Sweathearts

Summary: things are starting to calm down? or is it just the calm before the storm?

Words: 3.1k

warnings: Charles being a lost puppy, Juliette being Meryl Streep for some secons (if you understood the reference tell me), flashbacks are on italics

Official Playlist

Masterlist

previous part | next part

a/n: hey! you just got a free chapter today because is frstive where I live so that means no classes yay!

Every interaction is very welcomed!!!!

🏎️

I walked out of her room. I had a chance to talk with her, but that didn't go how I wanted.

Just when I thought that we were on the same page, talking about my regrets and that I still love her, she just pushed me away.

"What did I do wrong?" I frowned looking at the ground.

I walked through the corridors going outside towards the garden, needing time alone to think. For a moment I saw my Juliette, the one that used to place a band on my thigh and calmed me immediately. The one that smiled and all worries disappeared. For some minutes I had that woman back with me.

But it was just an illusion.

Julitte Morelli is no longer the little girl I fell in love with, she's no longer the next door neighbors' daughter that came to the same school I was, she's no longer the girl that came to cheer for me during all the karting races.

She's a different woman that had matured because I broke her heart. And I'll never forgive myself for doing that.

"Thank God you woke up in time" Carlos said walking towards me. "Pierre was searching you"

I turned around and looked at him. I don't know what shocked him the most, how red were my eyes trying to hold the tears or that I was a functional man after drinking god knows how many glasses of whiskey last night.

"Mate, are you alright?" he frowned, walking closer to me.

"I talked with her" I said, taking a deep breath, smiling weakly. "And… God. I just hurt her so much"

Carlos looked at me and his gaze changed. Again, he's looking at me trying to show his big brother instinct.

"At least now you know it" he sighed.

"No, no… You don't understand" I said shaking my head. "I read her notebook, her lyrics, her poems… She said she had a lover but in that notebook the only name there was mine"

"Well, good for her that she had a lover! She deserved it just after you fucked up everything" he frowned looking at me confused.

"She still loves me" I said. "She… God, how can someone like her, after everything I did… How can someone like her love me?"

I was questioning everything. Every choice I made came to my mind as a list.

The first contract with Ferrari. Sure, it was my dream. I was the second driver but I had Sebastian Vettel as my teammate. The best mentor I could even imagine.

Then Anthoine died. I fought hard that weekend to make him proud, even if that meant no sleep and study every previous race I could. That meant not sleeping with her in bed. First bad decision.

Then Ferrari showed me the contract of the first driver. Everything I ever wanted was in front of my eyes. Wrong, it was something I dreamed about and I promised her to accomplish it with her next to me. Second bad decision.

Being the first driver meant being a leader, fighting hard. I needed to spend more time on the simulator and on the headquarters, away from home and barely going to see my family and my girlfriend. Third bad decision.

I signed for more seasons with Ferrari, rejecting all the contracts other teams showed me promising things and warning me. I didn't believe their words, I defended my team with all my heart. Fourth bad decision.

I never leaned on her anymore, I got distanced and locked myself in the simulator room and did everything Ferrari told me to do. She showed me support and I never appreciated it. Fifth and worst decision.

But the worst decision I took was pushing her away, breaking her heart just because Mattia told me to do that. The worst decision I made was choosing Ferrari over her. Choosing a team that tortured me instead of a person that loved me.

"She hates me, Carlos" I sighed. "And she has every right to do that. I promised her so many things and broke all the promises"

"For example?" he asked me, leading me to sit on a bench that had views to the vineyard.

"That I would never push her away, that I would let her be by my side… That I would marry her" I sighed. "I even wrote it on the final lines of one of the songs she wrote. That promise sounds everytime I hear it, reminding me of that broken promise"

I saw Carlos nodding, taking a deep breath and crossing his arms. The moment I stopped coming to the paddock with Juliette he never asked what happened. He just stood there, looking at me.

"What happened?" he asked, leaning on the door of my room.

"Huh? With what?" I frowned looking up from my phone and leaving it on my lap.

"Did you leave her in Monaco? Is she sick or something?" he asked worriedly.

"Oh, no. She won't come back" I answered looking back at my phone. "We broke up last month"

He stood there on the door, looking at me, scanning me with his eyes. I didn't look worried, like it was the most normal thing on Earth. I mean, a break up is normal. But he knew that it wasn't normal with us. He knew that something was wrong.

"Just say whatever you want to say" I sighed heavily. "I know that all these years you had many things that you wanted to tell me. Go on"

"Just to resume everything… You are an idiot" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Like, a big one. You were so selfish, so greedy. Just because you were in Ferrari, it didn't mean that you were the king. You are not Michael Schumacher, you are Charles Leclerc. You really believed that the nickname they gave you was your destiny"

I swallowed thickly hearing him talk. But I have to stay still, it was my turn to listen to him, to face the consequences of my mistakes.

"You turned down big opportunities just because you loved red" he said. "You never listened to the warnings, to the friendly comments. You kept defending a team that always let you down always blaming yourself for the mistakes"

"I know" I said, looking at my hands. "That's why I left, because I got tired of them"

"But you did that too late" he frowned. "And don't tell me that Ferrari was your childhood dream. Ferrari was the dream of everybody that was on the grid, only a few of us were lucky enough to dress in the red suit. But you took it too far, mate. You made unnecessary sacrifices for them. And now look where you are. It was about damn time that after all this years you faced her"

I sigh and close my eyes, letting my head fall down defeated. Yeah, it was about time that I faced her and confronted all my mistakes.

"But now it's too late, Carlos" I sighed. "Even if I recognize and accept my mistakes, she won't want me back"

"And you deserve that" he scoffed. "You deserve it for being so stupid ad blind"

"I know" I sighed.

I got up and took a deep breath, brushing my hair and looking inside the building. I have to talk with Valerie, the one that might know how to fix this.

I searched for her around, guessing that she would be somewhere here.

"Valerie… Can we talk?" I asked her once I found her, surrounded by a couple of her bridesmaids in her room to get ready.

"Is it urgent?" She frowned. "I mean… I have tk get the last things ready"

"Please" I sighed, holding the handle of the door. "It is"

She sighed and looked at all the girls around her, understanding the gaze she gave them and walked out of the room, making me move a little to let them pass by.

"What did you want to talk about?" she sighed looking at how I sat on a chair close to her.

"Just… About Juliette" I mumbled. "She will never forgive me, right?"

"I mean… You fucked up pretty bad" she shrugged her shoulders. "But maybe you two need to talk"

"I tried, actually" I sigh. "The first time went pretty bad and the second try… Just when I thought that we were talking peacefully she just pushed me out of the room"

"You know her, Charles-"

"No I don't" I frown. "The Juliette Morelli I met this weekend is not my Juliette, is someone else. And I know I made her like that, you don't have to remind me. I just… I don't know how to talk with this her right now"

"Try to sleep with her" she shrugged. "Make her jealous, mad… Whatever to get her attention. Just don't go to her trying to talk because she will get anxious and get her walls up"

"Are you crazy?! I can't sleep with her, not this way!" I exclaimed, like if I was offended.

"Then make her jealous" she sighed. "I know deep inside her she still loves you. You just have to take your Juliette out of this Juliette"

I took a deep breath and nodded. Make her jealous. Okay, maybe I can do that. Right? Maybe dance with someone at the wedding, talk with them while Juliette is near.

I can make her jealous too, right? Yeah, I can.

"Okay, yeah" I nodded. "Your sister is single? Maybe I can talk with her?"

"Stay away from my sister, you idiot!" she laughed.

I chuckled and nodded, getting up and hugging her. I have to get ready, the lunch will be soon and then after that I'll be too busy.

"Charles, can you come please?" Pierre sighed, calling me.

I nodded and walked towards him, frowning when I saw his worrying face.

"Don't tell me you are having second thoughts, please" I begged. "Because then I'm going to kill you"

"No! No, no, is that…" he sighed. "The string quartet that was going to play in the church… Well, there won't be a string quartet anymore"

"Fuck me" I groaned. "No fucking way! They just canceled on the wedding day!"

"Well… Talk with Juliette" he sighed. "Maybe she can sing?"

"Dude, no" I frown. "She's going to kill me if I do that!"

"Please? Just… God, I don't want Valerie to be sad! She had a list of songs she wanted to be played during the wedding! And there's just enough time for Juliette to try them!" he begged, making me sigh and nod.

"Okay, okay… Give me the goddamn list" I sighed. "Why the hell did they call you, by the way? I'm the one that organized that, I thought they were professionals''

"At least you didn't pay them yet" he shrugged his shoulders, sending me a text message with the list of songs. "That's what happens when you give a chance to someone that is a friend of a friend of a friend"

"Whatever" I signed. "They were friends of my piano teacher"

Pierre looked at me nodding, laughing.

"If you weren't my best man and all your songs weren't depressing I would have asked you to play at the wedding" he joked.

"Fuck you, mate! Those signs have many fans" I laugh punching his arm. "Well… I guess I'll go talk with Juliette… Wish me luck"

"Yeah, you'll need it" he joked, making me roll my eyes and walk out of the room.

"Fucking great" I groan.

I prayed that she was in her room just like before. I prayed that she would let me in even after she pushed me out of it.

"Juliette?" I sigh knocking on her door. "Juliette, I need to talk"

I heard rushed steps and then she opened the door. Her hair was wet, body wrapped with a silk robe. No bra. Fuck me.

"What you don't understand about me telling you that I don't want to talk with you?" she frowned.

"The string quartet won't come to the wedding. I need you to sing, or play the guitar or the piano. Whatever that makes music" I said nervously. "Just… Don't do this for me but do it for Valerie"

She looked at me and I felt little. I tried to breathe deeply, standing there in front of her.

"What songs?" she sighed and I felt myself smile a little. "And you better make sure that there's a guitar or a piano on the church after lunch so I can practice"

"Of course" I nodded. "I'll send you the songs… You still have the same number?"

"Yeah" she nodded and I took a deep breath. "Just give me times and I'll do whatever I can"

"I'm sure you'll do it amazing" I said smiling and I saw that she tried to not smile.

Just relax, please. Smile at me, Juliette. Let me see my Juliette.

"Thanks" she nodded. "I'll search the scores, I prefer if there's a piano"

"Yeah, okay" I nodded, sighing.

She won't smile at me anymore.

🎤

I took a deep breath after closing the door, then I heard the bell on my phone, making me sigh when I read the contact name I never changed.

Charles❤️: Guests entry something simple, whatever you can play on the piano is fine

Entry (bridesmaids and groomsmen first, groom with his mother and bride with her father): A Thousand Years, is around 5 minutes

For the exit Valerie wanted Wings by Birdy

I rub my eyes and brush my hair with my fingers. I'll let him in read, I really don't want to talk to him nor text him. But he kept messaging.

Charles❤️: I'll be on the church trying the keyboard

Just in case you want to come and try it by yourself

I groan and lock the phone, leaving it on the bed. Why did I never change his contact name?

I looked at the phone, the only source of light in the room. A week went by, and he didn't call yet.

"Maybe he's just busy" I mumble.

A week ago he broke up with me. A week ago he came to me and told me he wanted to break up, that we weren't working at all anymore, that I was distracting him.

Of course I didn't believe him. He's stressed with this season and needs to focus, maybe he just had a bad race and needed to get all his stress off with me so he said the first thing that came into his mind.

I waited days for a text, then the days became weeks, the weeks became months. I waited every hour for a text of him telling me that he misses me, that he loves me and that he regrets breaking up with me.

But that text never came to my phone. That text never showed up in my notifications, his name never came again.

I sighed, shaking my head, and got ready to get out of my room.

I wanted to go to the restaurant and eat lunch, I really wanted to, my mind wanted to go. But my legs and my heart had other plans, making me go to the church and accepting the fact that he was there, maybe alone playing the piano.

Music came to my ears when I was near the building, piano notes. He was playing, sitting in front of the keyboard with his eyes closed and fingers working all over the keys. It was a sad song, one that you want to hear whenever something is wrong, when someone hurts you.

"You improved" I said walking closer, trying to keep the sadness that song brought me.

"I'm a verified artist in Spotify after all" he said, stopping the music and looking at me with a sad smile. "It's all yours"

He got up and let me sit on the chair. Something deep inside in my heart wanted him to tell me why he composed a sad song, why he played it right now.

I just want answers.

I sigh and sit on the chair, trying the keyboard, playing the songs I'll play at the wedding.

How ironic it is that the song I would have chosen to be played at my dream wedding is the one I'll sing in my best friend's wedding and with the man that broke my heart, the one I wanted to marry, right in front of me.

"It's nice" I nodded, standing up and turning off the keyboard. "I guess I have to be earlier, just to warm up. See you later"

I started to walk away, but then he held my wrist, making me close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Thank you" he said, and I just nodded.

"This is for Valerie" I said, moving my wrist away from his grip. "Don't get the wrong idea"

"You know that's not true" he whispered, trying to hold my hand. "Juliette, you know that we belong together-"

"Don't" I said, turning around. "Don't make me laugh, is not the right place to lie, you know? On a church" I scoffed, looking around.

"Juliette, please… Let me talk" he begged, those green eyes looking at me with anxiety.

"I don't want to talk about the things we've gone through, Charles" I sighed, closing my eyes. "There's nothing more to say"

"Juliette…" he sighed, and I just asked myself how many times he said my name this weekend.

"You know… I just thought that I belonged to your arms" I said, smiling weakly. "That you were home, that you would be the last person that could hurt me. But I was so stupid, a fool,an innocent girl in love"

I heard Charles taking a deep breath. I just want to let my anger go, all the anger in my heart wants to come out.

"I don't want to talk about this because it makes me feel sad" I whisper. "And I know you hate seeing me sad, so please. Leave me…"

"I was there" he interrupted me, taking me by surprise.

“What?” I mumbled.

"I went, I went to some of your concerts, I followed your award shows, I watched every movie you worked in even if I had to watch you making out with someone else that wasn't me! I was there but I couldn't be there! Because I was so afraid of what could happen, Juliette. I was afraid if someone saw us, if someone saw me. I even wrote on papers everything I wanted to tell you all those times, I still have the papers. I just… Please, Juliette… Let me talk"

taglist

@lestappenloverr @racinggirl @roni-midnights @livster @kakorrhaphiphobia @starkeyellow

#f1 #f1 x y/n #f1 x oc #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 drabble #f1 serie #formula 1 fic #formula 1 drabble #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 fanfic #formula 1 #charles leclerc #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc fanfic #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc imagine

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egrets-not-regrets · 1 month

Text

Two Months

Two months, it took two months before Erriox decided to stay. Lenora has an “Oh no! He’s hot!” moment.

Dialogue in High Gothic will be in bolded italics.

Author's Note: This takes place after "Exchanges". The full chronological order of Lenora and Erriox's stories are in my master list.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior), Lenora

Tagged: @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

Two months. Two months was how long it took before Erriox decided to make himself a permanent fixture in Lenora’s life.

It started with Erriox returning a week after his first visit, then it became every few days. Sometimes staying for a cooking lesson and/or a meal, other times, joining her on walks through the forest surrounding her home, or merely stopping for a conversation; never staying, even though her invitation was always there. His visits were so frequent to the point where Lenora always felt his presence, despite her not physically seeing him in person, short of the weeks when he left to go on missions with his warband.

She likened his behaviour to a feral dog or cat, coming and going whenever he pleased, but hadn’t quite let his guard down to stay for too long for fear of getting trapped. Erriox never explicitly said where exactly he was staying, but Lenora had the feeling he was somewhere nearby given the frequency of his visits. She did appreciate the extra sense of security his visits provided though.

It was about a month in when he first stayed overnight. Lenora found him on her porch, waiting out a heavy rainstorm, looking like an unhappy wet cat, as much as a fully armoured space marine can look like an unhappy wet cat. She ushered him into her home, threw him some towels and clothes that Mithras left behind, then told him to shower then join her for dinner. Lenora never knew how both Erriox and Mithras cleaned themselves. She figured it would be pretty cramped given her bathroom was designed for humans in mind, but let it go as some things were better left unasked. She trusted that those two knew what they were doing.

That was also the first time she saw Erriox fully out of armour. Heat rushed up her face and into her belly when he came into view, fresh out of the shower. She looked him up and down, before quickly turning to plate up the food to serve. Lenora hoped he didn’t notice her blush.

Mithras’ pants were a bit of a tighter fit, but luckily were made of a more elastic material, so it worked. His shirt, on the other hand, was too small so Erriox went without it, battle scars on the upper-half of his body on full display. Not that Lenora was complaining; it was a privilege to enjoy the sight of this living beefcake eye candy around. Scars only added to his character.

Erriox wasn’t so ignorant as to not notice his human’s reaction. The subtle change in her scent and acceleration of her heartbeat was hard to dismiss. He preened under her gaze and was amused by her struggle to maintain eye contact as they conversed that evening. He filed the memory away in his mind, secretly planning to do this again one day.

After that, Lenora gave him access to the old barn next to her house. It was empty outside of the few pieces of furniture that were stored there and she never really used it. At least this way, he would have a proper shelter to stay dry and out of the elements if needed rather than taking shelter on her porch, considering his tendency to not stay overnight in her home. Lenora told him he could make use of the barn however he wished, which Erriox appreciated. It wasn’t long before she could hear him working on making improvements to the barn structure itself.

Lenora was surprised the day she found him fixing up the back wall of her house. She had been meaning to have someone take a look at it at some point. “What are you doing?” she asked

“Fortifying your home.” Erriox answered her, as if that was the obvious answer.

“Did you already finish the construction on the barn?” He had been working on it previously, she thought, confused. Lenora was pretty sure he meant to turn it into his base or workshop, or something similar.

“No, but you do not live in the barn.”

“Oh…” That was when it clicked as to what the Iron Warrior was trying to do. Lenora went speechless, touched by such an incredible gesture, “I… Thank you, Erriox. Thank you for doing this. I don’t even know how to even begin to repay you.”

“Let me stay with you?” He knew that her invitation for him to stay had always been open, but at least this way, he felt he was more deserving of such an offer.

Lenora smiled, warm and welcoming; Erriox knew then, he would grow fond of that smile.

“Of course you can. For as long as you want.”

#space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #iron warriors

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kaisntbreathing · 2 months

Text

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Hello, I'm Kai I'm a writer and this blog was made for all my Hazbin Hotel, SBG, and Stranger Things enjoyers which are the main fandoms I write for on here but I do write for others.

I'm currently hyperfixated on a few characters *cough* Adam *cough* Lucifer *cough* Vox *cough* Eddie *cough* *cough* Aiden Clark *cough* anyways enjoy.

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→ DON'T ASK ME ANY PERSONAL QUESTIONS I WILL NOT ANSWER THEM.

→ I DON'T WRITE OC X CANON OR CANON X CANON .

→ PLEASE ADD PRONOUNS FOR THE READER IF YOU DONT I'LL AUTOMATICALLY USE GENDER NEUTRAL PRONOUNS.

─────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────

★ My boundaries ★

→ AGAIN PLEASE DON'T ASK ME ANY PERSONAL QUESTIONS I WILL NOT ANSWER THEM AND I WILL NOT BE DOING A FACE REVEAL

→ PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF EVERYONE

→ I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WRITING CERTAIN TOPICS SO IF YOU REQUEST SOMETHING AND I DON'T ANSWER IT IT'S EITHER BECAUSE I DIDN'T SEE IT OR BECAUSE I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WRITING IT

─────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────

★ What I write ★

(List of fandoms at the bottom of the list)

→ I DO WRITE NSFW (NOT SAFE FOR WORK) BUT NOTHING TOO EXTREME

→ XREADER (You) SCENARIOS, ONE SHOTS, AND HEADCANONS

→ I LOVE WRITTING BOTH ANGST AND FLUFF AND SOMETIMES SOME SMUT

─────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────

★ What I don't write ★

→ I REFUSE TO WRITE ANYTHING TO DO WITH INCEST, SUICIDE, VORE, FETISHES (UNREASONABLE ONES), PEDOPHILIA, RAPE, OR EXTREMELY DARK TOPICS

→ I WILL NOT WRITE NSFW FOR ANY CANONICALLY UNDERAGED CHARACTERS EVEN IF THEYRE AGED UP I WILL NOT WRITE THAT

→ I WON'T WRITE ANY OC X CANON OR CANON X CANON UNLESS I'M INTERESTED IN IT, BUT I DEFINITELY WON'T WRITE OC X CANON

─────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────

★ List of Fandoms & Characters ★

→ HAZBIN HOTEL

✦ ADAM

✦ ALASTOR

✦ ANGEL DUST

✦ CHARLIE

✦ LUCIFER

✦ LUTE

✦ LILITH

✦ HUSK

✦ NIFFTY

✦ VALENTINO

✦ VOX

✦ VELVETTE

✦ VAGGIE

→ STRANGER THINGS

✦ Eddie Munson

✦ Billy Hargrove

✦ Steve Harrington

✦ Johnathan Byers

✦ Jim Hopper

✦ Nancy Wheeler

→ HELLUVA BOSS

✦ BLITZØ

✦ MOXXIE

✦ MILLY

✦ LOONA

✦ STOLAS

✦ FIZZAROLLI

✦ ASMODEUS

→ OBEY ME

✦ LUCIFER

✦ MAMMON

✦ LEVIATHAN

✦ SATAN

✦ ASMODEUS

✦ BEELZEBUB

✦ BELPHEGOR

✦ DAIVOLO

✦ BARBATOS

✦ LUKE (PLATONIC)

✦ SIMON

✦ SOLOMON

✦ THIRTEEN

DIGITAL CIRCUS

✦ JAX

✦ RAGATHA

✦ POMNI

✦ CAINE

✦ ZOOBLE

✦ KINGER

→ CODMW3

✦ SIMON 'GHOST' RILEY

✦ JOHN PRICE

✦ JOHNNY 'SOAP' MACTAVISH

✦ KYLE 'GAZ' GARRICK

✦ KONIG

✦ ROACH SANDERSON

✦ ALEJANDRO VARGAS

✦ ROMANOV MAKAROV

✦ KEEGAN .P. RUSS

✦ KATE LASWELL

→ DEMON SLAYER

✦ TANJIRO KAMADO

✦ NEZUKO KAMADO

✦ ZENISTU AGATSUMA

✦ INOSUKE HASHIBIRA

✦ RENGOKU KYOJURO

✦ UZUI TENGAN

✦ SENEMI SHINAGIZAWA

✦ GIYU TOMIOKA

✦ SHINOBU KOCHO

✦ MISTURI KANROJI

✦ GIYOMEI HIJIMA

✦ OBANI IGURO

✦ MUZAN KIBUSTUJI

✦ AKAZA

✦ DOUMA

✦ KOKOSHIBO

✦ GYUTARO

✦ DAKI

✦ RUI

✦ TAMAYO

✦ YUSHIRO

→ MY HERO ACADEMIA

→ FNAF SB / SAMS

✦ SUNRISE

✦ Moondrop

✦ Montgomery Gator

✦ Eclipse

✦ Bloodmoon

✦ Lunar

✦ Gemini

✦ Earth

✦ Solar

✦ Freddy

✦ Roxanne

✦ Chica

→ CREEPYPASTA

✦ eyeless jack

✦ Ben drowned

✦ Ticci toby

✦ Jeff the killer

✦ Masky

✦ Hoodie

✦ Clockwork

✦ Jane the killer

✦ slenderman

✦ splendorman

✦ Laughing jack

─────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹─────

School bus graveyard

Aiden Clark

Taylor

Ben

Ashlyn

Tyler

Logan

★ To-Do List ★

[✓= done]

[Italics= Unfinished]

[Bold = In progress]

۪۫❁ཻུ۪۪┊ THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY PAGE AND I HOPE YOU ALL STAY SAFE AND HYDRATED.

𝒦𝒜ℐ

꒰⚘݄꒱₊_______________

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dickarchivist · 6 months

Note

BESTIEEEE could i trouble you for a kiss prompt of….

a hand (or both) placed gently on their cheeks!!!

With Banshee pleaseeee? 👉🏻👈🏻🥹

Banshee Babes I have a snack for you pspspspsps

Feels Like Home

Clone OC Banshee (pov) X gn!Reader

Word Count: 1324

Prompt: First Kiss prompt list: a hand (or both) placed gently on their cheeks

Rating: G, but minors DNI still 🔞

Contents and Warnings: none, it's really cute fluff ♡ there is a bloody nose from a punch at one point, but that's really the only thing.

Summary: Banshee loves you (that's it, that's the fic)

Author's Notes: Thank you @anxiouspineapple99 for asking for this fic!! Immediately when I read it I heard Banshee in my head go "Can I tell this one?" so it's written from Banshee's POV!! Kinda reads like a one-sided conversation in Ban's head, like he's thinking directly to you.

As always, Banshee mostly signs. All Sign will be in italics without quotation marks to show the difference between spoken word.

I miss you.

It's been... kriff I don't even know how long. I think last time I saw you, it was sunny... yeah, it was, I remember thinking how pretty you looked with light dancing in your eyes. I wish I'd kissed you then. Before that too, when we were at 79's and I heard you laugh at one of Phantom's shitty jokes.

You talk to him a lot. Makes sense, he's got a lot to say... I wish I could speak more to you. I just-- can't. I don't know why. My voice is fine, I remember you saying it was pretty once, when you heard me laugh. Made me blush. Kriff, Specs wouldn't let me live that down for weeks. "Sing us a song with your pretty voice, Banshee~"

He was just poking fun, I smiled at it, rolled my eyes, but I hated it. I hated that I couldn't sing like a bird right then and there. I flipped him one instead, we rough housed, and then before we knew it, we were on another battlefield.

I want to tell you everything. I hope it's enough just to want to. That when I put my arm around you, you know I'd do anything for you. That when I look in your eyes all I can think is how lucky I am to have been made, because I get to look at you even for a second. I get to hear your laugh, even if it's muffled it's still the prettiest laugh I know. Or your voice, ah kriff, I could listen to you talk all damn day.

I do, sometimes.

That message you left on my commlink, I saved it. Play it when I'm in the field so if I go, you're the last thing I hear.

"What'cha thinkin' about Ban? You've been staring off into space for like... twenty minutes. You okay?" Athena. She's small, I could throw her pretty far if we combined my strength and her force jump. I think General Valka would kill me if I launched her though.

Nothing, but that's a lie, I'm thinking about you.

"Somebody's lying~" I could punch Phantom right now, that sing-song jeering makes me so- ugh, "You're thinkin' about that babe, aren't you? Vod when ya gonna ask 'em out! Better do it before I do, I make em laugh you know, bet I could get em to make other noi-"

I punch Phantom. I don't even realize I did until Athena gasps at the blood running down Tommy's face. "Kriff I was joking Ban! Ah! What the hell!?"

I'm sorry, Tom, I didn't- he swats my hands, effectively shutting me up.

Ghost comes in later, he looks disappointed. I wish he'd look angry. "Anything to say for yourself?"

No. It was out of line.

"It was. So, why'd you do it? It's not like you to take a crack at Tom in earnest, lucky his nose didn't break." He chuckles, and I'm relieved at that. Didn't hurt him too badly after all.

But I can't answer Ghost... I don't want him to think less of me. Punching my brother just because I got jealous of even the thought of him taking you from me, and you're not even mine? Oh shit, why's he laughing? Hey, stop that, what's so funny?

Why are you laughing?

Ghost smiles, "You're in love huh? That person from 79's, the one you keep staring at? If Tom made a pass at them, I get why you punched him." He pats my shoulder, and I feel myself bristle, but he just shakes his head, "Look. Apologize to Tom, but between you and me, he deserved it. You should tell them when we get back, think you'll be happy with the answer."

I miss you more now. For three days, I miss you more and more. When The Crypt finally lands I can't get off the ship fast enough. "I'LL TELL THEM TO MEET YOU AT THEIR PLACE!" Ghost calls after me as I take a flying leap from The Crypt's still opening door.

I turn around, run backwards a click so I can sign my thank yous and wave. As I'm rushing through the crowds, the streets, you chime into my helmet. I can't pick up fast enough, I accidentally hang up on you in my excitement. Thankfully you call back immediately.

"Hey, I know you don't talk, so just listen! Ghost called, I'm headed home now, I'll be a few minutes but if you beat me home, just let yourself in okay? The code is your number! I'll see you soon, ahh I can't wait to see you I missed you!!! Bye Ban!"

You missed me... You missed me!! My legs carry me faster than before, I can't stop the smile on my face. It almost hurts my cheeks, I just want to see you already!! The streets here all look the same, where's your door? I know it, I know it, come on, which one-

"Ban!!" It's you. It's you! Where are you, from above? "Banshee look up! To the left, Ban!"

My head snaps around, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I get to see your smile. My heart beat pounds in my chest, my cheeks are hot, Maker you look so beautiful...

I rush the stairs like my life depends on it, feels like it almost might. My body knows the aches of battle well, but this ache is still new to me. The physical need to be close... I yank off my helmet and fling it to stop at your feet before I crash into you.

With your arms around my shoulders, your legs wrapping my waist, every part of me feels whole finally. You smell like sunshine in the cold, like fresh bread from a real bakery, you smell like you, and it's my favorite scent of all. You smell like home.

Once your legs are under you again, I still don't let go, I can't. I've waited too long to hold you, to see you, just be near. I'm not letting you go. Your hands are so soft...

I lean my cheek into your palm, smiling down at you as I continue to catch my breath. Stars I could look at you forever. The way you run your hands over my head, feeling my short hair. You'll come back with ink on you, I know it. The others just drew on me, I hope there's nothing bad up there... I love the way your thumb feels against my lips. The way you map out every part of me, like you're seeing my face for the first time all over again. I love you. Kriff I love you so much I can barely stand it, I--

"What are you thinking about?"

"I love you."

No. No no no. No I didn't-- I didn't mean to say it like that, I'm sorry, please stop looking at me like that, no, I'm sorry, p--

What was that? Do it again.

Your lips on mine... I move forward, careful, trying to mimic the same thing, but- oh... oh that's... you'd move your lips on mine, I move mine the same, slow, softer this time. Am I doing it right? You don't stop me, I think I am. You pull back, breathing hard as I am, smiling so brightly... you're everything to me. You feel like home.

"I love you too, Banshee." You giggle, and my heart sings. One hand leaves my face, I can see ink on your fingers, just like I thought. 1666, you really did use my number as your code... you love me.

As we move inside, you stop, gasping at a sudden realization, "Oh stars, that's the first time I've heard you speak! I didn't know you could!"

I can't help but laugh. Of course that's the first thing I say to you. Of course it is.

#from the archivist #grave squad clones #sw fic #sw tcw fanfic #clone oc banshee #clone oc banshee x you #banshee x you #clone oc banshee x reader #banshee x reader #gn reader #sw fluff #sw oc fluff #first kiss prompt

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svtminji · 8 months

Text

EP. 14 Relationships Aren’t Built To Last | SEVENTEEN : HIT THE ROAD

pairings. seventeen x oc word count. 2.8k content warnings. family stuff, mentions of johnny like thrice, ankle twisting, mention of seungcheol anxiety hitaus, a slight hint of mizuki's depression, knetz (japan new era-sana situation), joshua and mizuki's moms being bffs, mizuki's self-doubt, comfort tbh, angst.. dialouge notes. 'normal' = korean, 'italic' = japanese, 'bold' = english, 'bold-italic' = spanish an. enjoy this three hour written htr episode lol..

The female member sighed as she continued to get ready. All of these years of performing on stage and not a single memory would comfort her in this time of need.

"What if I missed a step in the choreography, what if I mess up the vocal pitch, what if I twist my ankle, what if-"

"Minji, we need you to start putting on your mic pack and your jacket." A distant voice disrupted her thoughts. She turned around and saw her long-term stylist trying to rush her into getting ready.

"Sorry, I'm just.. just distracted."

"There's no need to be distracted if you're going to perform for your fans. You need to put your best version of yourself no matter what, and being distracted is not an excuse."

"I know that, but I-"

"Minji, you need to get ready. Your members are waiting for you." The female stylist argued and ended the discussion.

Right. The staff weren't family no matter what, even if you spend years together with them.

͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀⠀ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀⠀͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀⠀ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏hit the road - intro

͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀⠀episode fourteen - Relationships Aren’t Built To Last

— “Osaka is a place of comfort for me. It’s a place where I can see myself spending time with my loved ones. But with the events that played out, I can't see it as that anymore.”

🫧 𓇼 ೀ OSAKA, JAPAN. - 10.2019

The camera cuts to Mizuki staring at her members. Everything during this stop wasn’t going right, and it was evident on everyone’s faces. She didn’t want to appear weak, but the cameras caught her face in a demise. The female member was going through something that was eating her alive, her love for her then-boyfriend. It was reasonable that she would eventually have to call it quits but so early into the tour? Not only was that consuming her but the extra pressure she put on herself. She needed a break, or she just needed to break down her walls.

The camera goes from Mizuki to Seungkwan, who’s having a bit of a concern for her.

“Hey Minji, are you doing well? I’m sure you’re excited to be in your home country, right?” He asked, knowing the answer that’ll come out of her lips.

“Huh..? Oh, I’m doing well. I think I’ll have a few problems but it’s not something I haven’t experienced at all before. I really missed Osaka, it’s very important for me.” Mizuki replied, though it didn’t sit right with the rest of the members around her. She was in a sitting stance that showed defensiveness, and not-ready-to-share vulnerability.

They all knew she wasn’t ready mentally to go out and perform like she did in Seoul. She was still together with Johnny during that time, and this was her first concert without him. When they had the countries and cities listed for the Ode To You Tour, she recalled the time she had brought her special person to Osaka.

— “I don’t like to appear weak. It’s something I never allowed myself to show, but I also have feelings. Now that it has been months from ending it with Johnny, I have been better and I would like to think that having support from my members and our fans made it happen.” Mizuki said to the camera and stopped for a bit, “I don’t want to make this about him, but he is someone who’s been by my side for a long time, even before Seventeen. I think people wouldn't want me to talk about him, so I’ll just end this talk for now.”

🫧 𓇼 ೀ OSAKA, JAPAN. - 10.2019

"Whenever I have the time to come home, I always think about my family. I had the chance to fly out my parents from the States, and I'm getting a little nervous. Because I have diverse parents, I don't get the chance to see them all the time and I think that's what the foreign members and I have in common." She told the camera with a slight smile. It was the truth and she had to realize it one way or another. It was 5 hours before the concert, and she sat on the couch figuring what to do to pass time.

By the looks of it, Mizuki was really excited to showcase what she was working on to her parents. Being an idol wasn't the easiest job and being away from home was even harder. At least she had family in Japan, but it wasn't the same without her parents there with them.

– "Mizuki really kept to herself for most of the tour. We had talked about how it was going for her, but she didn't mention any of her actual feelings about the situation she was in." Seungcheol mentions, reminiscing about the tour, "She works hard, and when her parents couldn't make it to Japan, it really took a toll on her."

The video cuts to the cameraman focusing the camera on the worried Seungcheol. He had his phone by his ear and he scanned the room for the female member. With the call ending, he pulled it away from his ear and went up to Mizuki. Seungcheol told her to come with him, and he pulled her aside from the rest of the members. To the viewers, it was evident that Mizuki's parents couldn't make it, but to the members, it was worrisome. The leader and co-leader (with the cameraman as well but distant) were outside of the waiting room. Seungcheol didn't know how to start and the way Mizuki was staring at him, she wanted to know what was going on.

"You said your parents were coming, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I paid for their tickets and luggage. Why is this anything important?"

He looked at her and held her by her shoulders. "Your mom called me, and with her level of Korean, she told me that they can't make it to Osaka."

As soon as he stopped talking, he watched the gears work in Mizuki's head. She spoke in a timid voice, "Not even to the rest of the Japanese tour?"

He shook his head, "They can't make it to Japan. She told me that they have too much going on at the moment and they wanted me to tell you because they know how you'll react to the news."

Mizuki just looked at the floor and kept her gaze there. Many thoughts ran threw her head but only one question came up: Why? Why couldn't they make it? Did they not care? Was she not worthy to be seen? Did they not lo-

"Hey," Seungcheol lifted her chin so she could face him, "I'm sure they'll explain it to you soon enough. Don't forget we're having the LA stop, so you can see them there as well."

Though she nodded at his words, she couldn't help but let out the tears. Sensing that this would happen, he pulled her into his embrace, letting her cry out as much as she wanted. All words that was exchanged were comforting, and that was all Mizuki needed to hear.

– "Do you usually cry?" — "To be honest, I'm quite a crybaby when I do get extremely emotional. My mom giving Seungcheol the information first was probably the best idea because I don't think I would've told my members about the situation. So, thanks, Mom."

🫧 𓇼 ೀ JAPANESE TOUR - 10.2019

Other than the unfortunate incidents with Chan getting sick and Mizuki's parents not being able to come, the Japanese tour went well. But of course, the feeling of being well breaks soon after. There were times that she felt like she wasn't doing the best at protecting her members or even looking after them. Of course she had to worry about herself first, but there was always a feeling of incomptence.

She would never say it out loud, or even to her members, but she felt like she was useless at times. During the Japanese stops, Mizuki spent her time translating and helping out the members in Japanese. With the events that had played out early 2019 about the new Japanese Era, she felt like she couldn't express herself in her mother tongue. At the Chiba stop, she expressed her worries:

"When I had posted something about Japan's new era, I was not in the best state. As much as I don't let hurtful words affect me, in a way, they still do. I'm thankful to even be here with my members and I hope everything can go well in the future."

🫧 𓇼 ೀ NORTH AMERICA - 01.2020

The stops during the first two weeks of January went fine. Mizuki was put up the the co-leader role because Seungcheol had taken a break for his anxiety. Every new stop and it had felt like every member was missing or just complete done with the tour. Touring in North America meant English interviews and that was tiring for the main English speakers of the group. There was no rest period in between the US dates, and frankly, she was tired.

— "As part of the trio of main dancers, I do get my injuries and my ankle had twisted pretty badly during Houston. I never understood why my stylist paired my outfit with heels, considering encore was pretty extreme. Though I did make it out fine and continued the rest of the tour with flat shoes."

The cameraman filmed each member getting off the stage and Mizuki was seen limping in the background. The scene cuts to another scene with an ice-pack around an ankle. Discarded heels were on the ground and a blanket was wrapped around Mizuki's lower body.

"I think I twisted my ankle when we were Aju-Niceing," Mizuki sighed at the memory, "I don't think it's pretty bad and I think my feet have gone through worse."

"You should still take it easy during these next cities. It won't benefit any of us if our second leader leaves as well." Jeonghan points out, making his way next to her to which she scoots to give him room to sit.

She paused, then she agreed. He had a point and she couldn't let down her members. Mizuki laid her head on his shoulder and focused her gaze on the resting members. The manger had entered the room and he was announcing the next stop: Mexico City. Right, how could've Mizuki forgotten her father?

"Could you pass me my phone? I should call my dad, like right now." Mizuki asked Mingyu, who happened to pass by it. He handed it to her and Mizuki started to find her father's contact.

She placed it on speaker and on the second ring, he answered. The rest of the members knew Mizuki's parental situation and they always found it interesting how she would speak in her father's native language. Though, they would be confused with their dynamic.

"Hi Dad, I just got off work like a few minutes ago."

"Ah, my Mari. How was it?"

"It went well but I'm pretty tired from all of it. How about you?"

"I've been well as well, work has been hectic but it's my job. I'm sure you understand. Mom's been great too, as well as your brother. He's been struggling with his English homework and that boy is literally fluent in it."

"Really? I'm glad that you and mom are doing well. And there's no way he's struggling at it; I'm definitley going to talk to him about it. Um- I forgot to ask, are you coming to Mexico City? I was thinking you would at least see your home country."

"I'm so sorry my mariposa. As much as I would love to go, I can't."

Mizuki sighed, it was Osaka all over again. "It's fine Dad. We have two stops in California anyways, I'm sure you and mom are going to both."

"Of course, why would I miss it when I have you so close? Don't forget your brother, he's coming as well. Alright kiddo, I'm figuring that it's close to 12 over there and considering you have a concert in two days, you need to rest."

She humed in agreeance, "The members are here incase you want to say any goodbyes. They've been listening to the converstation."

A faint laugh is heard in the background. "You decide to tell me this now? Wow. Cannot believe my own daughter. Your mom can tell them my goodbyes for me." He passed the phone to his wife. "Hi Mizuki, and hi everyone! I hope everyone had a good time at the concert. Thank you for taking care of our Mizuki and don't worry, Joshua's mom and I have prepared food for all of you guys when you arrive. Have a good night! Bye Mizuki, love you."

The beep is heard throughout the room, and everyone glances at Mizuki. She stares at her phone screen and sighs.

"At least it wasn't that bad," Soonyoung tells her which makes her look up at him, "I mean, your dad told you he's not making it to Mexico, and it's one more stop til you see your parents."

"Yeah, not to mention it seems like my mom has used a lot of her Korean to your mom. And they prepared many things for us, so let's look on the bright side." Joshua also commented on the matter.

The members agreed with what the older had said, and to their suprise, Mizuki had agreed as well. Maybe it was for the best to not look too far into it.

Mexico had gone by in a flash and the members were on their way to the Golden State, California. The home state of Mizuki and Joshua and most importantly, where both native Californians would see their family after a long time. As soon as Mizuki had arrived at her childhood home, she ran into the embrace of her parents and her brother. Luggage was forgotten, picked up by Mingyu on the way into her house, and all that was in her head was her family. Everything that had happened in the past year went away and it felt like she was finally healing.

— "When I had made it into my childhood home after a year or so, I felt like I was at peace. Obviously my past year didn't just dissolve as soon as I entered the house, but it felt like it did. Talking to my mom about what had happened was very therapeutic for me and I think having such a close relationship with my mom has really made it even better." She spoke. "I also believe it was also a good time for Joshua to bond with his parents because he had been away from them around the same time as I have. We spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying the embarssing stories."

🫧 𓇼 ೀ SOUTHEASTERN ASIA - 11.2019 & 2.2020

It was not looking too well for the members during November. Every tour stop had one or two members missing, and now with Seungcheol taking his well-deserved rest, it felt like more were gone. Mizuki stepped up to the leader role and needed to have everything in check. Sometimes she felt like she was incompent as a leader but she didn't want to show it.

– "Mizuki doesn't realize that we can see her struggling. As much as we see her struggling with her emotions, we know when to intervene and when not to." Jihoon adds, "During the time Seungcheol was gone, I feel like everyone went in some sort of panic but Mizuki really made a difference by taking the role he had. There was a change in leadership, but it wasn't so noticable."

February roles around and the third stop in Southeastern Asia comes around. Manila was always beautiful place, especially it's architecture. Spanish colonial times had an effect on the city, and Mizuki always took her time looking around for familiar tastes.

Manila was an amazing night, considering it was the last stop of the Ode To You Tour. Unfortunately with Covid-19 rising, Pledis Ent. had to cancel the two remaining stops in the Southeastern Asia tour and the European Tour.

Though none of the stops held strong importance to her, she felt bummed out on the idea that Carats couldn't see them due to the pandemic. Entry to countries was getting harder, especially coming from Asian countries. All Seventeen members were sent to South Korea days following the concert, and had strict rules placed. All Mizuki knew was that the world tour had ended, and she could finally have her peace. Or so she thought. Considering how Jihoon works in his studio, she knew there was a comeback happening soon.

— "Even when I'm at my lowest, my members are always here for me and they can always count on me to do the same for them. I started the tour as the same person I was, and I left it feeling different. Perhaps it can be for the better or for the worst."

this draft has been here for MONTHS. like as soon as i started this account. i began rewriting this fic like a few days ago and in the last two hours, i think i wrote over like 1k words :3. i rewatched hit the road after like a year or so and having to sync up events from memory onto the fic is like hard for me. this isn't like the rest of the htr episodes and i wanted it to be special. this fic mostly was based on her family stuff. so yay!!! svtminij est. 2023

#svtminji #kpop #kpop oc #seventeen 14th member #seventeen oc #seventeen #kpop added member #seventeen added member #seventeen female member #kpop female oc #seventeen female oc #seventeen female addition #svt #mz:hittheroad #svt:hittheroad #seventeen x oc

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venus-haze · 2 months

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Writer Tag

Thank you so much for tagging me @frstcorinthians🖤

Just a "proceed with caution" on the fics I've linked on this list. Plenty of detailed warnings!

How many works do you have on AO3? 42

What's your total AO3 word count? 178k

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

3 out of 5 are Homelander fics🤭

My Destruction Is an Hour Late (my first Homelander fic🥲)

She's Out To Please, She Pouts Her Best (Soldier Boy x Reader)

Bruised Fruit (Michael Corleone x OC, an honor that it’s even on this list)

Got No Reason To Run (Homelander x Reader)

Baby Let's Play House (Homelander x Reader)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! I appreciate every single one so much!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Definitely Sinnerman, I need to write more for Midnight Mass. There's so much potential there.

What’s the fic you've written with the happiest ending? I think Eat Your Heart Out...

Do you write crossovers? No, I haven't.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? No, which is shocking considering what I write about.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? The kind that usually requires a lot of trigger warnings.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, I couldn't with my schedule.

What's your all-time favorite ship? I absolutely love the way Minxie @cherubgore writes Vincent/Paige! Rarepair forever🖤

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? None I can think of. I mostly write standalone fics, and I know I'm gonna finish Bruised Fruit at some point. Usually my WIPs change over time so they might not look the same as when I started, but they end up getting posted eventually.

What are your writing strengths? I don't know…I've been told I'm good at bringing the reader into a fic, so I guess building settings and scenes, which makes sense considering I write mostly readerfics and the immersion aspect is the backbone of that.

What are your writing weaknesses? My writing is more straightforward and doesn't use a lot of poetic style, which is something I wish I were better at. I don't think I write individual sentences that "wow" a reader, you know?

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I do not trust Google Translate and will not walk around with egg on my face. I just use italics to indicate speaking in another language, on the off occasion that's included in my fics. Or like with Bruised Fruit, Gloria doesn't speak Italian, so part of portraying that involves her asking people what they said and hoping they're telling the truth or trying to figure out based on her interpretation of their tone and body language.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? The Outsiders! I was so upset about the ending that I wrote many fics on Quizilla where Johnny and Dally lived.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to? I'd like to write something for Justified, but I need to rewatch again.

What's your favorite fic you've written? That's so tough...maybe Howl.

No pressure tags: @cherubgore @zaras-really-dreamless @shoshiwrites @blurredcolour @blindmagdalena @sehtoast @flaggermuser @zepskies (please make a new post, don't reblog)

#battie signals

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italic-doing-random-shit · 9 months

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Masterpost!!

More Info under the cut!

Some must-knows!

Welcome to my bullshit blog! You can call me Parker or Italic, I am a minor, and I use He/they pronouns. I've got ADHD so please pardon me if I'm unclear with tone or get a bit too silly. oh yeah!! I does a lot of art with my OCs and UTMV fanart.

DNI List!

Proshippers

Racist

Transphobes, Homophobes, and/or terfs

Pedophiles/groomers

Any sort of bigotry/hate

+18/nsfw blogs

Askbox!

do it. do it, i dare you. You can ask me literally anything and I will answer, and if i don't, it's because I'm hoarding the one's that make my day to read.

No hate however, I will address the hate but will not actually answer it. You will be blocked if its really that bad.

Tagging!

Feel free to tag me in anything horrordust, afterdeath, lustberry, or crossmare! or anything you'd think I'd enjoy, just keep it Pg13 at most.

People you should follow!!! Because they are amazing!!!

@tundra116, @justanidiotartist, @hidden-panther, @yael-things, @hiro-doodlez, @fandomsoda, @its-paperd, @toka-san, @purpleperson441, @justakat, @daylit--l0ve, @popiollie, @psycho-chair, @unknownarmageddon, and more to come!!

#Masterpost #my art #THIS IS Q U I T E OVERDUE #WELL I HAVE IT KNOW !!!#heheheh tunny hoodie is MINE

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auxiliarydetective · 21 days

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↬ OC Verse Trading Cards

Here it is! The reason (well, one of the reasons) for why I've been so inactive lately. I saw this super cool trading card template by @squea and @buttertrait and thought it was super fun, so I wanted to make something similar for my mutuals and myself. And, as you can see, I rediscovered my love for art deco on the way, so it's very art deco lol

You can find the template to make your own cards here - and I explicitly encourage you to make your own, because I was kinda hoping I would get to see cards of you guys' OCs and we could collect them all in a binder like this one. It would be really fun! (The number next to the name is the power level btw - I wanted to imitate a set of Star Wars trading cards I used to collect as a kid) Make sure to @ me when you do and tag your post with #ocversetradingcards!

I tried to make the template as accessible as possible so that even beginners should be able to use it without any issues. So, I color-coded the layers!

The red layers are ones you shouldn't touch. They make up the main frame of the card. The orange layers are ones where you can play around with the colors, but that's for advanced photoshop/photopea users. The green ones are the ones where you put in text! Edit those freely. Blue ones are ones you have to select and move as a batch - if you don't know how to do that, check below the cut ^^

You'll need to download these fonts:

Park Lane (name & power level)

Market Deco (main text font)

Artisual Deco Black Italic (blog url)

Below the cut, you'll find a tutorial for the template and a list of the image resources I used - Quick info for everyone, including the more experienced Photopea users: Save your image at 50% quality. The template is a big file and the exported image will also be pretty big if you don’t save it at a lower quality. 50% is what you can see above and I think it's a nice size-quality ratio.

Tutorial Time

Opening the File

Step one: Get either Photoshop or Photopea. Photoshop costs money, Photopea is free and runs in your browser. Take three guesses which one I use. Yeah, it's Photopea. As such, this tutorial will be Photopea-centric, and I also have no clue what the Photoshop interface looks like, so I can't really help you if you work on Photoshop. But I'm told they're essentially the same, so...

Step two: Download the fonts listed above from the links in this post.

Step three: Click on the link above to go download the template. It's a bit of a big file, so I put it into a zip file for you. Don't worry, you don't need a special program to open it. Photopea will do that for you.

Step four: Open Photopea. Click on "File" -> "Open..." and select the "TradingCardTemplate" zip file.

Step five: Click "File" -> "Open..." again and select the zip files for the fonts. This will import them to Photopea. There are also preview images included in at least one of the zip files for the fonts, so just close the windows for those projects when they pop up by clicking on the little "x" next to their file name. You only need the "TradingCardTemplate.psd" tab to be open in your Photopea window.

Great! Now you're all set to edit!

Editing the name, power level and blog url

I decided to group these together because they function essentially the same way

Step one: Select the typing tool. It's the little "T" symbol in the toolbar on the left side of your screen.

Step two: Select the layer of the text you want to edit. The blog url one is in plain view. For the name and power ones, you need to open the corresponding folders first. They're the green layers in the folders!

Step three: Click on the text you want to edit. It's easiest to aim for the middle, that way you have the least chances of missing. The typing tool is a bit finicky with that sometimes, especially if the text is small.

Great! Now you can use your keyboard to delete the placeholder text and replace it with your own! The power level will only fit two digits and picking "00" will look bad. Your OC should have at least some power. They need it to breathe.

Changing the size of the name text

As you might be able to tell, the basic text size only works for fairly short names. So, you might have to make it smaller for your OC's name to fit

Step one: Enter your OC's name as described above.

Step two: Select the text as you would anywhere else in your browser.

Step three: Above the little tag where it says "TradingCardTemplate.psd", there's an options bar. You'll find a box there labelled "Size" with a box that says "150px" and a down arrow next to it. Click on the down arrow and a slider will pop up. Play around with that slider until your text has a good size. Then click on the checkmark.

Step four: Switch to the transformation tool. It's the cursor with the directional cross next to it, at the top of your left-hand tool bar. Move your text so that it aligns well with the left side of the frame but make sure it's below the middle.

Step five: You now have to select two layers at once. The text layer and the frame for the name tag. Do do that, either press and hold your control key on your keyboard while selecting the other layer or toggle the control key using the on-screen keyboard at the bottom left of the toolbar. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step six: On your horizontal toolbar above your project window, click on the icon that's a horizontal line with two boxes centered on it.

Congrats, your text should now be centered!

Adding in your OC picture

Step one: Open the "Picture" folder and select the layer beneath "Add picture here". This will make sure your picture will be in the right spot. Also make sure to click on the eye next to the "Pattern" layer tag to make it go invisible.

Step two: Select "File" -> "Open & Place..." and pick a nice image.

Step three: Once the image has been imported, make sure you change the zoom percentage to 100%, that way the image doesn't look pixely or weird. Click on the checkmark.

Step four: Resize your image so your OC fits nicely into the frame. The image should fill the entire space inside the frame and can stick out as much as you want.

Step five: Right-click (or press and hold, if you're on mobile) your image' layer and select "Clipping Mask".

Perfect! Now your image should no longer stick out of the frame. Feel free to adjust your image's coloration, brightness etc. by selecting "Image" -> "Adjustments" and your preferred action.

Changing your stats bars

This works the same for each bar and I tried to make it as simple as possible.

Step one: Open the corresponding folder.

Step two: Select the set of three blue layers together. You can do this by selecting one layer normally, then selecting the other two while holding your control key or while having it toggled using the built-in on-screen mini keyboard at the bottom left of your screen. If you use the toggle, don't forget to untoggle it after.

Step three: Switch to the transformation tool (the one at the top of your left-hand toolbar, it's a cursor with a directional cross) and move your layers. By moving them to the right, you'll reveal more of the gold underneath the overlay. More gold = higher level of the corresponding stat.

Great job! Now adjust the bars to your liking.

Saving your project + card image

To save the project: Click on "File" -> "Save as PSD". This will download the current project under the same name as the file that you downloaded it as. So, it will be called "TradingCardTemplate (1)" or something similar. Make sure you change the name in your files so you know which is which. Alternatively, you can also change the name of the project by double-clicking the little square that currently says "TradingCardTemplate" and type in your new name. If you save again now, it will show the new project name! Make sure to save your project if you want to be able to recover it and/or work on it later!

To save the card image: Click on "File" -> "Export as >" and pick your preferred image file type. I suggest JPG for best results. Make sure to turn the quality slider to 50%, then hit the save button. This will download an image file of your chosen type, under the same name as the project name. To change that name, refer to the bullet point above or go to your files :)

Advanced: Changing the BG color of the pattern

Step one: Select the pattern background of either the name tag, power score or picture and turn it to 100% opacity.

Step two: Color-pick the current background color of the pattern.

Step three: Click "Image" -> "Adjustments" -> "Replace Color..." and click on the colored rectangle in the new pop-up. Replace the default color with your color-picked color. Now use the Hue, Saturation and Lightness sliders to get a new color that you like. Note down your slider values for later so you have them for the other elements.

Step four: Color-pick your new color and select the corresponding solid background layer. For those layers, click "Edit" -> "Fill..." and make sure you have "Foreground" and "Normal" selected, your Opacity is 100% and you have "Preserve Transparency" checked.

Step five: Don't forget to turn the opacity of your pattern layers back down to 60%.

Congrats! You have your colors changed! Repeat this process for the other two patterned elements.

Extra advanced: Changing the card's background color

NOTE: I DON'T recommend this. You can do it, but it's a lot of work.

Step one: Select the background layer and change its color to the new color you want. You can do it with the "Hue/Saturation..." adjustment, with the "Fill" edit as described above, or whichever way you want. Color-pick your new color.

Step two: Open the smart object PSDs for the frames for the frames for the picture, the name tag, and the power counter by double-clicking on the preview image of the layer.

Step three: Select the lowest colored layer of each and change its color to the same as your new card background color. Click on "File" -> "Save (Smart Object)". Close the project windows.

Step four: Open the folders for the various stat bars and select the "Color Overlay" layers. Change their colors the same way you did for the other layers. Warm colors and high-saturation colors will most likely not look good here and you might need to find a different way of making the stat bars look good. Playing around with the "Brightness/Contrast" adjustment layers above might help, but I can't promise anything. This is the main reason why I don't recommend changing the card background color. The stats bars are adjusted to the background color.

There we are! Either your card looks very pretty now or you understand why I don't recommend this. Either way: Good job!

Resources from Freepik:

Corners by tartila Power counter frame Picture frame by pch.vector Stats bar by tartila Pattern

Taglist (we're bringing out all fandoms today): @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @bravelittleflower @box-of-bats @fluffle-system @wheresmybloodynauglamir @nanukanal @supermarine-silvally @cody-helix02

#ocversetradingcards #artsy #photopea adventures #oc: akaito coraline #oc: helena #holy freaking shit i finally did it #look everyone!!!

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techs-goggles9902 · 2 months

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Two Souls Entwined

part 3 eventual Captain Rex x oc

A/N: sorry for the wait! life's been... life. Open to criticism, as always! LMK if you wanna join/be taken off the tag list. And sorry if it feels rushed 😭

The second to last paragraph of italics is directly from Triple Zero by Karen Traviss and I don’t take credit for it I just thought it would be a cool addition and help set the mood

word count: 812 (apparently? I thought I wrote more)

The Mandalorian Medics helped Niva the best they could, physically. Nothing could help her recover from what happened; watching her father, her buir, die right in front of her, and she could do nothing.

Kal shifted his weight from his right foot onto his left, his shattered ankle screaming at him. His sand colored beskar’gam reflects the sun just right that there appears to be a halo encircling his body, the light at the end of the tunnel for Niva. He waited outside the medical tent for a while with his arms crossed, pacing back and forth every once in a while.

Poor girl…

The medic - Gale? - pushes aside the tent flap and walks out onto the firm ground of Central Mandalore’s terrain. Gale looks at Kal, giving him a small reassuring smile and nod. “Did my best, Skirata. She’ll make it.”

“That…That’s great. Any permanent damage?” Kal asks, his brow furrowing.

“None that I can see… You know, she has a lot of Cabur in her. Just like her buir, eh?” Gale grins, patting Kal’s shoulder, and walks over to the center of the camp, talking with his vode.

Kal’s footfalls are nearly silent as he slips through the tent flaps. The tent is dim, a small lantern illuminates a small area by Niva’s bedside. A thin, portable, wooden floor is all that separates Niva’s little sleeping bag from the dense clay soil.

Thick gauze is wrapped around her sternum, cords and wires hang from tabs on her wrists and chest. The heavy, cloying scent of bacta fills the tent. Kal glances at Niva’s half open duffel bag, which she insisted Kal take with them.

“Why is it so cold?” Niva’s quiet voice fills the tent. Kal laughs, coming over to sit on the floor beside her.

“We’re in Central Mandalore. Up north, ad’ika,” Kal says, the nickname flowing off his tongue so naturally. He fixes the blanket lazily draped over Niva.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“How did Buir die? He always gets into fights… Why did this one kill him?”

Kal sighs, “Gale, the medic, told me that his rib punctured his heart. You know, ad’ika, even if you’re in the safest, toughest box in the entire galaxy and you’re hit tons of times, that doesn’t mean being rattled up in that box can’t hurt you.”

Niva looks away, blinking back tears; her long lashes clumping together from the wetness.

“And why am I alive?” She asks.

“That little necklace, made of pure beskar. The blast hit you between the collarbones, but that little scrap of iron saved your life, ad’ika.” That does it for Niva. Her eyes brim with tears, her throat begins to tighten. The heavy feeling of grief, loneliness, survivors guilt, all coming back to her.

“Buir g-gave me that…”

“I… I’m sorry, ad’ika. You know… I lost my dad, too. Before becoming a mando, that is,” Kal whispers, carefully adjusting one of Niva’s many curls.

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” The two quietly talk together, Kal telling Niva about the origin of his three sided knife in exchange for Niva telling him about her necklace, the metal tree now bent at an awkward angle.

“Do you have any other family?” Kal asks after a while.

Niva doesn’t respond right away, only looking to a corner of the tent instead. She says softly, “No.” That’s the biggest lie she’s ever told, but she can’t go back to that village. An already unstable woman, now grieving the loss of her husband… Not a good mix.

“Alright… You can stay with me, if you-”

“Please, can I, Kal?” Niva cuts him off, her wide green eyes staring intensely into Kal’s.

“‘Course, ad’ika. Anything,”

Two years later.

Kamino was damp. No, it was more than damp: it was nothing but storm-whipped sea from pole to pole. The air smelled more like a hospital than a military base.

Niva, now 16, steps close to the window separating the corridor she and Kal’buir are currently waiting in and the vast chamber of what looked to be large toroids stacked on wide pillars.

In the past two years, Kal became Niva’s surrogate father, showing his love by telling her to call him Kal’buir - Papa Kal. He could never replace Cabur as her father, they both knew that. Yet the empty, painful hole left in Niva’s heart was slowly filled in by the presence of her Papa Kal.

This was a mistake. Taking Niva, of all people, here. We might not leave for… For years! Jango’s gonna owe me s-

“Kal’buir… Look at the towers,” Niva says, interrupting Kal’s thoughts.

“I don’t see anything, ad’ika.”

“No, k’olar. Closer.”

Kal sighs and steps beside Niva, who’s nearly as tall as him, although that isn’t saying much since he’s shorter than the average man.

“There’s… There’s babies in those tubes, Kal…”

Glossary & Pronunciation

Beskar'gam - Mandalorian armor [bes-car-gum] (I think). Buir - dad/mom [boo-ear] Vode - brothers/sisters/comrades [vod-ay]. (I think) Ad'ika - little one, son, daughter of any age [ah-dee-kah] Beskar - Mandalorian iron [bes-car] Kal'buir - Papa Kal [Kal-boo-ear] K'olar - come here [ko-lar]

Taglist: @fionajames @sevdidntdie @will-is-silly @hellhound5925 @skellymom @dangraccoon @the-rain-on-kamino(<- maybe you're interested?)

dividers by @saradika

#sha speaks #star wars #clone troopers #tcw #the clone wars #captain rex #Niva Veen oc by Sha #republic commando #kal skirata #kal’buir #kamino #baby clones!!!!#two souls entwined

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mint-yooxgi · 1 year

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{2} - Written in the Stars - Yandere!Idol!Yeosang X Tall!Chubby!Reader

Soft Yandere AU & Idol AU

Genre: Mature, Horror, Angst, Fluff, Slight Humor, Slow Burn

Pairing: Yeosang X Reader (ft. platonic Ateez ensemble)

Words: 16,875

Warnings: Slow burn. This story is going to be very self indulgent on my part, so please bear with the first few chapters. Mentions of Jonghyun. Fatshaming, name-calling (not done by any male idols), Wendy and Irene of RV are bitches towards OC, OC is a bit of a 'pick-me' girl but oh well. I think that's all. This is a Yandere story, it will contain themes such as stalking, violence, obsession, possessive natures, and just general overall creepiness and swearing. You have been warned.

A/n: Shamelessly, this part is probably even more self indulgent that the first lmaooo I apologize in advance for that. Still, I do hope you enjoy it, as I had a really fun time writing this chapter out. I actually had to split it, as originally I was going to make all of chapter two both the rehearsal day and actual performance of the award's show.

Also, gentle reminder that I don’t do tag lists.

Disclaimer: The first little portion of this chapter when the OC is speaking is implied that the OC is speaking in English. It is not until OC arrives at the venue where the following takes effect:

"This represents a line spoken in Korean."

"Bolded represents a line spoken in English."

"Bolded and italics represents a line spoken in Japanese."

Mini Masterlist - Part One

“Hello, everyone!” Your smiling face stares back at you from the screen of your phone as you go live on instagram. “I’m just on my way to rehearsal right now.”

The low voice of your publisher in the front seat reaches your ears, telling you not to talk so loudly while in the car.

“Oops, my bad,” you chuckle, turning back to face the camera. “Anyways, I wanted to do a brief live like this since I’ll be busy for the rest of today and tomorrow. I won’t be able to have my biweekly live on Friday night tomorrow cause of my event.”

Your eyes scan the comments, a small quirk to your lips.

“What event you say?” Your eyes gleam with mischievousness. “Well, as a few of you may or may not know, I’m in South Korea right now. I’ve been asked to perform an original piece of writing at the award’s show tomorrow night.”

A giddy smile stretches across your features.

“I know! I’m so excited!” You cheer. “It’s such a high honour to have been asked to create and perform a piece of written work for the show.”

A comment catches your attention briefly.

“I mean, I’m not sure if I’ll be hanging around any idols, but we’re all there to do a job, so I wouldn’t want to disturb anyone if that’s the case.” You reply, eyes briefly looking out of the window at the passing scenery. “As to if Mark Lee will be there or not, I’m not sure. If NCT is set to perform, then probably. I only know of a few select artists that will be there.”

A flood of ‘who’s and ‘omg really’s appear in your comments, a few popping up in different languages such as Korean and Japanese. You remain speaking English for now, but the other comments still make you smile. You’d just rather surprise everyone that watches tomorrow with your language skills.

“Why, whoever’s on the website listings, of course!” You wink playfully, shoulders shaking in laughter. “Nah, even if I did know, I’m not at liberty to say.”

That grin never leaves your lips as you scan the comments once more.

“Let’s see…” your eyes flit back and forth as you pick a question to answer. There seems to be one popping up repeatedly, more so than the rest. “Is it true you were on the same flight as Ateez heading to Korea?”

Your eyebrows raise slightly, amusement dancing on your features.

“Was I?” You hum, the familiar sight of those heads peeking over their seats filling your vision for the briefest of moments. “I don’t recall.”

Though, with the wink you send the camera, your comments are flooded once again.

“Nah, I’m just playing.” A knowing grin stretches across your features. “They’re all really nice people. Friendly, too. They are people after all, which I feel like a lot of others tend to forget about their idols. I don’t know why it’s so hard in general to treat others with basic dignity and respect.”

Immediately, your defence squad rolls in, asking if you’re okay and if something happened.

“I’m fine, everyone! Really!” You smile at how enthusiastic they are in protecting you. “It was more of a general comment than anything.”

Of course you don’t really want to divulge the small incidents you’ve already incurred while being in the country. You know that South Korea has a very lookism centric society, but even when you’re prepared for it, you still cannot help the way certain interactions make you feel. The looks you receive from the older crowd, many of them muttering under their breaths while shaking their heads, sometimes do not go unnoticed.

You may be a popular author, but not everyone knows who you are. Nor is everyone willing to accept the way you look, unfortunately.

Then again, it would probably hurt less if you didn’t understand what some of them were saying. Though, you will never forget when you were in a café the other day, and two taller women came up to you who didn’t necessarily fit into those typical Korean beauty standards. They were a little thicker than those around them, and goodness, were they gorgeous. The fact that both of them were your fans, and thanked you for giving them more confidence with your writing, and just who you are in general, really made your day. You could never forget them, even if you tried.

Thinking back on it now, a small smile pulls at your features.

“What am I thinking about?” You hum, noticing a few comments, only for your eyes to go wide. “My Ateez bias?” You laugh, shaking your head in amusement. “I mean…” you tilt your head, teasing smile pulling at your lips. “Well, if you know, you know.” A wink. “But nah, I’m thinking of a really lovely interaction I had the other day with two women at a café. Saeyoung, Haesoo, if you’re watching, thank you for making my day!”

The two weeks leading up to this point in time have been fairly hectic for you. Between settling into your new apartment, getting used to the time difference, and writing for your new novel, you’ve barely had time to relax. Not to mention the hours you’ve spent practicing your performance for tomorrow. You’ve barely had time to visit your friends, yet.

On the other hand, you’ve been messaging quite a few people quite often lately.

The first few days after exchanging contact information with Ateez were a little silent, but you just chalked that up to busy schedules on all of your parts. However, you weren’t expecting Hongjoong to message you in the middle of the night complaining about a song he just couldn’t get right.

Needless to say, he wasn’t expecting you to respond so quickly. In fact, he had been surprised that you had still been up at three in the morning. Only, when you explained the jet lag, and the fact that you had also been working on your writing, he understood. You’ve both sort of become night owl buddies now, messaging each other when you’re working on projects until the early hours of the morning. A hilarious fact, especially when you both start chastising the other for not getting enough sleep.

Then came the group chat.

You woke up one day to at least seventy-five Kaotalk messages from a new chat. Thinking it had been an emergency of some sort, your heart rate had skyrocketed. Only, you soon found out that it was just the guys speculating what you could be doing since you weren’t responding to any of them at two in the afternoon.

The moment you sent them a meme of a tired cat waking up with squinting eyes, and a message that only said, ‘wtf’, the real chaos began.

Wooyoung is convinced that he’s your Ateez bias, immediately rubbing it in the other’s faces. At that, you promptly received selfies from Seonghwa, Mingi, and Yunho just ‘casually’ wanting your opinion on them before they posted them to their instagram and twitter accounts. You also received photos of what each of the guys were doing from Hongjoong, telling you that this was the chaos you incited by finally responding.

Yeosang would comment one liners here and there that would absolutely knock the shit right out of you. The way this man had near perfect timing still amazes you, laughing to yourself every time you think back on his responses.

Both Jongho and Wooyoung are the most talkative in the group chat, but Jongho tends to message you a lot outside of it, anyways. More so than Hongjoong now, considering his main thing was that he didn’t want to bother you at first with his thousand and one questions about your writing.

You found out later it was both Hongjoong and Yeosang keeping him in line.

Mingi and you share anime recommendations when you can, and you’ve even started planning a day where you’ll binge some of your favourite shows together. You heard that San may or may not tag along, but that’s yet to be decided.

Speaking of San, he’s one of the most quiet in the group chat. You assume it’s probably because out of all of them, he’s the one you spent the least amount of time talking to. You cannot fault him for that; you both hardly know each other.

Yunho likes to crack jokes every now and then, along with Seonghwa, but they’re both really level headed guys from what you’ve gathered so far. They like to flirt, but not nearly as much as Wooyoung does. Besides, with the two older members, you can tell it’s just friendly, so you have no problem teasing them back. Wooyoung, on the other hand, you can’t be too sure. Though, if it truly bothered you, you’d get him to stop.

“Anyways, we’re getting closer to the venue, so I’m sadly going to have to say goodbye for now.” A dramatic pout pulls at your lips. “I know! I promise to do another live soon, and I’ll answer some questions about my newest novel and upcoming works then.”

The way the chat immediately starts flooding with happy messages and people saying they’re looking forward to it makes your heart swell in your chest.

“Alright, lovelies,” you smile just as the car pulls into the parking lot. “Thanks for tuning in. See you next time!”

With a final wave at the camera, you’re ending the live.

Letting out a low sigh, you tuck your phone back into your side pocket. Grabbing your purse, you notice that you’ve pulled up to the side entrance of the venue. Both you and your publisher step out of the vehicle, thanking the driver all the while.

Immediately, you’re greeted by security who escorts you inside and to the backstage area. Your publisher talks lowly with the head of staff, ensuring all of the requirements are met and getting all of the details you may need for now. They’re really only here to drop you off and then head back out for the day. Besides, the event organizer and stage manager will look after you if need be.

You follow quietly behind, taking in the space of the venue as more staff mill about. A few recognize you as you walk passed, their eyes lighting up as you shoot them a polite smile in return. Some of them must be on break currently, for you can see snacks and drinks scattered around a few the deeper into the arena you get.

Finally, you reach backstage.

“So, all of the groups are currently occupying the green rooms, or milling about. That means, unfortunately, you won’t be getting one to yourself.” The head stage manager turns to you once you reach them, speaking in English for the moment. “You’re more than welcome to observe the soundcheck from the floor, or from the seats instead of staying back here the whole time, as well.”

“Please, don’t feel like you have to speak in English for my sake.” You say, noticing how you catch all of the staff off guard with your Korean. “I can speak and understand Korean. So please, let’s all speak comfortably. Thank you for hosting me and including me in such a monumental show.” You bow politely in their direction. “The room situation most certainly will not be a problem. I don’t mind at all. Just tell me where to go, and when, and I will do my best to stay out of everyone’s way.”

You can hear the familiar boom of music from the stage area reaching your ears, though it’s more of a background noise right now.

The stage manager nods approvingly in your direction, a smile pulling at their features. “I understand. Thank you for being so accommodating. I cannot stay and talk long, for I’m needed elsewhere, but help yourself to drinks and refreshments. If you need any help, Riley will be more than happy to assist you. She’s been assigned to be your personal assistant today.”

At their words, a girl with long, chestnut hair steps forward. A giddy smile rests on her features, and you can see her visibly shaking in excitement.

“Hello,” she bows, addressing you formally. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you, too, Riley,” you smile, telling her to just call you by your first name to make things easier.

“Alright, well, I’ll be off. Itzy is supposed to be having soundcheck right now, but we’re a bit behind.” The stage manager rushes off after that, speaking quickly into their headset.

“You’re not scheduled until the very end, so you have plenty of time to lounge around and do whatever you’d like.” Riley informs you with a smile.

“Oh, sweet,” you grin back. “Thank you for taking care of me today.”

“Really, it’s no problem at all!” She’s quick to answer. “To be quite honest, I’m a big fan so I jumped at the opportunity to be able to assist you in any way I could.”

“That’s very sweet of you! I really appreciate it.” You nod, moving to stand off to the side so that you’re out of the way.

“Your books are incredible, and reading them gave my boyfriend so much confidence.” She comments, a faint blush beginning to dust her cheeks.

“Ah, really?” Your eyes light up. “That makes me so glad to hear! I’m so happy for the both of you.”

“I can’t wait to tell him that you can speak Korean!” She says, grabbing a water bottle off of the table closest to you and handing it to you. “As long as you’re okay I share that with him, of course.”

“Of course!” You confirm. “By tomorrow night, most people will know, anyways.”

“Oh, are you performing your written piece in Korean, then?” She asks, eyes sparkling as you thank her lowly for the water.

“It’ll be a little bit of a mix,” you tell her, a small smile pulling at your features. “Korean, and English. Though, I contemplated adding Japanese to the speech. I opted out at the last minute.”

“You can speak all three?” Her eyebrows raise, voice incredulous.

“Yes, I can.” You confirm with a nod. “I’m working to learn Mandarin next.”

“That’s incredible!” She praises, and you avert your gaze somewhat bashfully. “I’ve been learning Japanese, but I have a hard time practicing it. Lack of conversation partners, and all that with the way my schedule is.”

“Well, if you’d like to practice with me, I’d be more than happy to help!” You say. “I may not be the best for correcting your pronunciation, but I can most certainly help with conversation practice.”

“Really?” Her eyes flash with excitement. “That would be wonderful, thank you!”

“Would you like to start now, or hold off until later?” The way you ask her this in Japanese catches her slightly off guard.

A blink, and she’s setting her expression into one of determination. “Now would be a good start.”

“Wonderful!” You smile. “So, then, Riley, tell me about your favourite animal.”

“Well, I absolutely adore sharks. I just think they’re really neat, and it’s so sad that some of them get hunted for sport.” She begins, taking a moment to think of her next words carefully. “Half of the time, they’re hunted after attacking a human, but they don’t know any better. I watched a documentary once where it explained that because of their poor…” her brow furrows slightly, “Oh shoot, I can’t remember the word.”

“Eyesight?”You supply, to which she nods, eyes lighting up in recognition.

“Yes, eyesight!” She replies enthusiastically. “Because of their poor eyesight, humans on top of surfboards look similar to dolphins and other aquatic mammals from below.”

“Oh, I know exactly what you’re talking about!” You nod along with her. “I literally could not agree more. It’s sad that they get hunted just for following their instincts. I understand some of the reasoning behind it, but at the end of the day, you’re right. Sharks are just living and hunting in the wild like they always do.”

“Yes, exactly!” Riley turns to grab another water bottle off of the table for herself. “I just wish more people would understand that.”

“Me too, honestly.” You agree.

“Anyways, enough about me.” She chuckles, somewhat bashfully. “What about you? What is your favourite animal?”

“Oh, that’s easy, it’s-“ the words get stuck in your throat as your own brow furrows this time. You blink, thinking hard. A slight chuckle escapes you, “Now I can’t remember the word.”

“Maybe I know it?” She offers, but at the way she shakes her head once you say the animal, you know she doesn’t know the term.

Luckily for you, someone just so happens to be walking passed you for the moment, and without thinking, you stop them.

“Excuse me, but what’s the word for turtle in Japanese?” You meet the male’s gaze, noticing how stunned he seems to be for the moment.

Blinking, he tells you the word.

Recognition flashes behind your eyes as you turn back to Riley. “Right! Turtles are my favourite animals. I just think they’re so cute.” In the next second, you turn back to the male. “Thank you so much! I couldn’t remember for the life of me.”

“No problem,” he nods, somewhat in shock, before walking away.

Only, when you turn back to Riley, she wears an expression of mild awe on her features.

“I can’t believe you just asked the Yuta of NCT that question so casually.” Her jaw drops, a giggle falling from her lips as you shrug sheepishly.

“He was the closest person around.” You laugh along with her. “Though, I feel like he was expecting me to start freaking out about who he was when I stopped him.”

“Yeah, sometimes the extra staff we hire to help out don’t always act professional around the artists.” Riley explains, a sort of grimace to her features.

“Really? I would have thought there’d be a screening process for that.” You comment, brow mildly furrowed.

“There is, but sometimes they still slip through.” She comments. “That, and some people say they’ll act one way, but then when it comes down to it, act another.”

“Oh, believe me,” you hum in acknowledgement. “That I do know.”

Around you, you can hear some whispers beginning to float around about your arrival. A fact which you find a bit odd, considering you’ve already been at the venue for at least a half hour or so. Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice some more idols beginning to linger about as well.

Just as you go to continue the conversation with Riley, you hear a shout in the background of someone’s name. You watch as her eyes go wide just as you feel a weight jump onto your back.

“Zhong Chenle, you get back here right now!” Whoever it is, they sound mad.

“You’re real! Holy shit!” A voice right by your ear sounds, and you blink in shock, hands naturally coming to support the body now clinging onto your back. “Mark hasn’t been making you up this whole time in some elaborate fever dream!”

“Zhong Chenle!” The angry voice finally caches up to you, and you turn to see Kun from NCT frowning at the younger male clinging like a koala to your back. His gaze softens as he meets your own. “I am so sorry for him. Once Yuta came back to say you had arrived, he darted out of the room to come see for himself.”

“It’s no problem, really,” you laugh, and you notice your response catches them both off guard. “Yes, I can speak Korean.”

Beside you, Riley giggles.

The sound of feet hitting the ground reaches your ears, and you see some more males rushing over to you.

“Way to go, Chenle,” Renjun deadpans. “Way to make a great first impression on Mark’s author friend.”

Softly, you set Chenle back onto his own two feet. A second later, and Kun is reaching over to drag the younger male over to him by his ear. Renjun shakes his head disapprovingly all the while.

“Ow! Kun, stop it! That hurts!” The younger complains, batting the elder’s hand away.

“Once again, I am so sorry for him.” Kun apologizes, and you notice the faintest hue of pink dusting his cheeks.

“Really, it’s no problem,” you assure him, noticing too many pairs of eyes on you now.

You shuffle in your spot, beginning to rub a hand over the side of your one arm nervously.

“If he bothers you again, just come find me and I’ll deal with him.” Kun replies, sending a small smile your way.

You nod. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Wordlessly, Kun begins dragging off Chenle, Renjun in tow.

A few more people step forward.

“Not even a ‘hello’ for your biggest fan?” Mark quirks a brow, walking up to you with both Johnny and Taeyong on either side of him.

Teasingly, you begin to look around the space. “Why? Did you see Jongho from Ateez around?”

Mark looks truly scandalized by your words, his eyebrows raising significantly as his voice almost cracks. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, hi, Mark.” You reply casually, hearing Johnny snort at the intonation you use.

“No, no, I see how it is,” an overdramatic pout pulls at his lips as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Spent all of three months convincing half the guys to read your books and this is the thanks I get once we meet.”

You lowly hear him muttering about how he is your biggest fan, not Jongho from Ateez.

“I don’t know, he was pretty excited when I met him on the plane.”You hum.

“So, you did meet Ateez on the plane ride over here.”Johnny observes, amusement dancing in his gaze.

“I did,” you nod in confirmation. “They’re all very nice.”

You notice Taeyong following along with the conversation, brow furrowed slightly as the music stops for the moment. “I think they just finished soundcheck. They should be back soon.”

“Then I’ll say ‘hello’ to them soon,” you reply, noticing the slight surprise that graces Taeyong’s features at your response. “If I happen to see them.”

“Anyways, it’s so nice to finally meet you!”Mark smiles, and you notice Johnny grinning smugly while nudging him not so subtly with his elbow. “Shut up!”

“What?” Your brow quirks, amusement dancing in your eyes.

“Well, are you going to ask her, or not?”Johnny teases the younger male beside him.

“I’m getting there!” Mark pushes the elder male back slightly.

“What can I do for you, Mark Lee of NCT?” The grin that pulls onto your features says it all.

“I- uh… um…” he stutters over his words, palms nervously rubbing over the thighs of his jeans for the moment.

“Where’s that confidence now, Markie boy?”Johnny laughs before turning to you, completely ignoring the glare the younger sends his way. “Mark wanted to know if you would be willing to give him a hug when you finally met.”

Mark looks about read to strangle Johnny, a bright red lighting up his features.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so!” You chuckle, extending your arms out to him. “Hugs are one my favourite things! As long as you ask first, or I’m offering, I usually don’t mind at all. Besides, I think Chenle technically already beat you to it.”

Mark immediately sinks into your embrace, wrapping his own arms around you and squeezing you tightly. You can feel the chuckle he lets out against your chest as he responds. “Yeah, sorry about that. Again.”

“Really, it’s no worries.” You tell him as he pulls away, holding you at arms length.

“Impromptu piggybacks are kind of his thing when he gets excited.” Taeyong sighs, shaking his head.

“No fair, I want a piggyback ride, too!” A loud voice draws your attention from the side.

Looking over, you see Wooyoung happily skipping over to you, the other members of Ateez in tow. It seems as if they’ve just finished their soundcheck.

“I’m sure it wasn’t a case of her offering,” Yunho chuckles, and you see the red-headed male pout.

“Hello boys, it’s nice to see you again.” You smile, tilting your head politely in acknowledgement.

“How come Hongjoong was the only one to know that you’d be in attendance today and tomorrow?” Jongho crosses his arms over his chest, a pout tugging at his features.

“You didn’t tell people?” Mark turns to you.

“I was told not to,” you shrug. “Privacy, and all.”

“Really? Cause Mark was more than happy to literally shout it out at practice when you told him.” Johnny blinks, a teasing grin pulling at his features.

“Which now makes sense why Chenle practically bulldozed me fifteen minutes ago.” You nod, turning your amused gaze towards the male standing beside you.

“You told Mark, but not us?” Mingi pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.

“To be fair, I’ve been chatting with Mark a lot longer than I’ve personally known all of you guys.” You say, a casual shrug to your shoulder. “Not my fault Hongjoong didn’t tell you.”

“Wait, but how come Hongjoong knew?” San’s brow furrows, turning to look at the aforementioned male.

“He’s not the only idol that should have been informed.” A slight frown tugs at your brow. “Speaking of, Riley, when’s the briefing meeting supposed to be?”

The woman, who had been silently standing to the side all this time observing the interactions straightens in her spot. “You’re set to meet with the idols you’ve requested to join you for your presentation just before we break for lunch. The rehearsal for your speech won’t be until the very end, though.”

“Requested?” Yeosang’s brow furrows.

“I’ve seen a few of them around, but I’ve yet to speak to the majority of them.” You comment.

“I’m still mad that you didn’t ask me to do it.” Mark crosses his arms over his chest. “Some friend you’re suppose to be.”

“I’m sorry!” You raise your hands in your defence, a hint of exasperation to your voice. “The organizers told me I could only ask so many people on such short notice. I only thought of the idea less than two weeks ago. I’m lucky to get even eight of them to agree!”

“As long as you haven’t forgotten about our bet.” He huffs, quirking an eyebrow at you.

“I most certainly have not forgotten about our bet.” You meet his gaze, eyes wide in exasperation. “You’re about to owe me ten meals, Mister. Anything that I want, too.”

“I sure hope you don’t mean him cooking for you.” Johnny snorts.

“Oh, god no.” You huff out a laugh. “Not after I saw the ‘egg incident’ of Resonance era.”

“Not the egg incident!” Johnny cackles right along with you, and you notice Taeyong grimacing as he remembers it as well.

Mark’s eyes are wide, a tight smile on his face showing just how exasperated he is. He almost looks as if he wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

“Bet?” This time, it’s Hongjoong that quirks a brow.

“Oh, you haven’t been told? She bet him that she could learn-“

Johnny gets cut off by Mark’s nervous laugh.

“Mark Lee, you told me that you didn’t tell anyone about our bet.” Slowly, you turn your head to look at him, a tense smile on your face.

“Oh, the ‘Seventh Sense’ bet?” Taeyong tilts his head slightly in inquiry. “The whole of our group knows of it. We all want to watch you, what’s the phrase? Wipe the floor with him.”

“Mark Lee!” Your jaw drops. “I told you how I feel about dancing in front of other people! Especially when they’re idols! Not to mention the original performers of the song!”

“I’m sorry! You still said you’d do it!” He replies, lifting his hands in front of himself in his own defence. “I just got too excited!”

“More like carried away,” Johnny chuckles.

Casually, Yunho leans into Johnny’s side. “What’s this bet they have going on?”

“Oh, they were talking about some of her favourite NCT dances one time, and she commented on how one of them was, ‘The Seventh Sense’.” Johnny explains. “She admitted to always wanting to learn it just to say she knew it, but never actually got that far, yet. Mark decided it would be a good idea to discourage her from learning it since it is pretty difficult, and she doesn’t usually dance like we do. Hence, a bet was made that she would prove him wrong.”

“Listen,” you sigh. “I may not be a dancer, but don’t tell me what I can or can’t do. I will prove you wrong. I just wasn’t expecting to have a crowd when doing it. I don’t really like dancing in front of other people all that much anymore.”

“Why not?” Yeosang’s brow furrows, a slight downturn to his lips.

You curl your arms over yourself, holding your elbows delicately in you hands. A small grimace crosses your features as you seemingly curl in on yourself. “Personal reasons.”

A hushed understanding settles over all of them. That is, until Mark is breaking it.

“Is this about Kite?”

“Don’t-“

“Isn’t Kite your significant other?” It’s Riley that asks, and you notice all eyes on you.

“My ex, yes.” You sigh.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you weren’t together anymore.” She’s quick to bow to you, but you wave her off.

“It’s alright,” your expression falls, a grimace crossing your features. Out of the corner of your eyes, you see Yeosang take a half step towards you. Only, you don’t chalk it up to much, as so do Mark, Jongho, and Yunho. “I just don’t like talking about him anymore.”

“Sorry for bringing him up,” Mark pats you comfortingly on your arm. “Anyways, Ten says he has to watch you dance for the bet.”

“Not Ten!” The instant mortification is clear on our features. “Anybody but Ten.”

“And Doyoung, and Jaehyun.” Taeyong nods.

“It could be worse. It could be worse.” You begin to mumble to yourself, blinking at the ground a few times.

“Well, if you want to owe me ten meals, you can always back out.” Mark comments casually, a hum to his tone.

“No way in hell.” Your eyes narrow. “I have to prove you wrong.”

“Now, this I can’t wait to see.” Johnny chuckles, eyes crinkling as he smiles.

Just then, a voice from across the way draws your attention.

“Holy shit, is that who I think it is?”

Looking across the backstage area reveals Vernon from Seventeen staring at you with wide eyes. Though, you notice that you’re not the only one who’s now staring at him in response.

Quickly, he bows, apologizing lowly before making his way across the backstage area. You note Mingyu, Seungcheol, Seokmin, and Jihoon all following behind him silently.

The crowd around you slowly begins to get bigger, and you notice some other idols lingering around the edges of the room, waiting to catch a glimpse of you. A fact of which that has a heat rising to your cheeks, shuffling once more in your spot.

Vernon stops on the edge of the circle you’re now apart of, smiling at you politely.

“I didn’t know you’d be here!” He inclines his head towards you in greeting, introducing himself and his group mates in succession. “It’s so nice to meet you. We’re all pretty big fans of your work.”

“Thank you so much,” you bow back to him politely. “It still boggles my mind knowing the idol groups I enjoy listening to know who I am. Not to mention read my writing.”

“You’re a fan?” Seungcheol blinks at you in shock.

“You can speak Korean?” Seokmin is equally as shocked, though there’s a hint of pleasantness to his tone.

“Yes, to both.” You chuckle, noticing how Jihoon shoots you a polite nod in acknowledgement. You smile back, leaning into Mark in the next second, “looks like Jihoon knows how to keep a secret.”

“Hey!” He whines, and you notice how most of the males around you look at the aforementioned one in confusion.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” he smiles.

“You as well,” you return the look. “Thank you for agreeing to be a part of my presentation on such short notice.”

“Wait, is that why you nearly collapsed at practice during break about two weeks ago after looking at your phone?” Mingyu’s brow furrows, turning to look at the shorter male beside him. The height difference in person nearly makes you chuckle.

The way the shorter male elbows the taller one in the side is all the answer you need.

“That’s nothing,” another voice draws your attention from the side. “You should have seen the panic Hyunjin went into when we got the call.”

Wordlessly, the members of Stray Kids now begin to crowd around you, and you notice a few giddy smiles sent your way. Though, what makes you laugh is seeing Hyunjin’s exasperated look that he sends towards Bang Chan after the words escape the elder’s mouth. The way you see some of the members greeting Ateez excitedly has your heart warming in your chest. To be able to see all of the friendly interactions between the different groups makes you extremely happy for the moment.

“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding when you said she was tall.” A voice from your left draws your attention, and you notice Changbin staring at you with an awe filled expression while standing beside Wooyoung.

“I told you.” Wooyoung replies, a smug grin tugging at his features.

“Speaking of height, Jaehyun and Jungwoo owe me twenty bucks.” Johnny hums, walking off back towards the green rooms with Taeyong in tow.

You turn to Mark, a questioning look on your features.

“They didn’t actually think you’d be taller than me.” Mark grumbles, averting his gaze.

“I take it you didn’t, either.” You chuckle, noticing how a few males shift closer in order to see just how tall you are compared to them.

“To be quite honest, I didn’t,” he chuckles, and at the way you quirk a brow, he’s quick to continue, “not that it’s a bad thing! I think you being tall is really cool!”

“Thank you!” You grin. “I do, too!”

“By the way, since Chan is too much of a scaredy cat to ask,”the deep voice of Felix draws your attention to the side, “would you mind taking some pictures with us later? We think the fans would love it.”

“First of all, your voice should come with a warning.” You notice him grin at your words, and you return the smile, eyes crinkling at the sides. “And sure! I’d love to.”

“Us, too!” Vernon is quick to jump in.

“Listen, if anyone is getting a photo first, it’s me!” Mark voices loudly.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice quite a few female idols looking your way. Some of them look on at you in awe, while others cannot hide their distaste seeing you surrounded by so many males. Even some other male idols begin whispering about your appearance quite openly, but you ignore them for now.

“Yeah, yeah,” you huff out a laugh, “and I’m pretty sure you mentioned how Yangyang wants to do karaoke at some point?”

“He just wants you to perform WAP with him.” Mark sigs, shaking his head disapprovingly.

Your eyes widen in amusement, a subtle heat rising once more to your cheeks. “Does he?”

“Oh, karaoke sounds fun!” Vernon nods enthusiastically.

You jaw parts in mild shock, pure mirth dancing in your gaze. “Did the Vernon of Seventeen just invite himself along to karaoke with me?”

Lowly, you register Hongjoong and Chan whispering to their groups in Korean.

“I’m coming, too!” Jongho nearly shouts, drawing almost all of the attention of everyone backstage.

“Right, you still need to serenade her,” Yunho nods, and instantly he’s running for his life as Jongho chases him with murderous intent around the backstage area.

You turn to Mingi, “you still up for shouting anime openings at the top of our lungs at some point?”

At this, the remaining members of Ateez turn to look at Mingi.

“Of course!” He grins widely, nodding enthusiastically.

“Sweet.” You mirror his grin, noticing a few other idols commenting on wanting to join in on the fun.

“No, I’m telling you Shotaro, she can speak Japanese.” A voice coming from off to your right says.

“Just because she asked you what one word is, doesn’t mean she can speak it.” Another voice replies, getting closer with each passing second.

“She immediately jumped right back into conversation with Riley about animals afterwards.” Yuta rounds the corner, Shotaro right beside him.

At the way both males see the group you’re currently surrounded by, they immediately freeze in their spots. Briefly, each male nods their head in acknowledgement, eyes flashing in recognition as they see Mark standing a little ways away from them.

“Mark, tell Shotaro that your author friend can speak Japanese.” Yuta meets the male’s gaze, stepping in closer with Shotaro in tow.

“Hi, Mark’s author friend here.” You lean forward slightly, waving a bit so you catch their attention. “I can speak Japanese.”

The way Shotaro stubs his toe on the table against the side wall in shock nearly has you laughing in response.

“See! I told you!” Yuta crosses his arms, turning to glare pointedly at Shotaro.

“You can speak Japanese?” Another voice from in front of you catches your attention, and you see Momo, Mina, and Sana from Twice making their way over towards you.

“That’s incredible!” Mina comments, her eyes wide as they join your little circle of idols.

“Thank you!” You smile widely at the three of them.

“By the way, these guys aren’t bugging you, are they?” Sana shoots you a knowing look. “You seem a little crowded.”

“No, no, not at all.” You shake your head. “I appreciate you checking in on me, though. That’s very kind of you.”

“We’re all really big fans of your work.” Mina adds, a light blush dusting her cheeks. “We overheard Riley saying how you gave her boyfriend confidence through your writing, and you’ve done that with a few of our members, too.”

“You’re really beautiful in person.” Momo compliments, a soft smile painting her features.

The way your hand comes up to cover your mouth is so natural, a vibrant heat rising to your cheeks.

“Thank you so much,” you cannot keep the awe from your voice. “I think you’re all very beautiful, too. Not to mention talented. I always have fun singing and dancing along with your songs, especially when I need a pick me up.”

All three of their eyes light up, excitement coursing through their veins as they grip each other giddily.

“You like our music?” Mina cannot keep the joy off of her features.

“Of course I do! I listen to a lot of the groups currently around me.” You admit. “I find a lot of inspiration from them.”

“Who’s your favourite?” Shotaro cuts in, noticing how both he and Yuta casually lean against the side table now.

You smile at him knowingly, a gleam to your eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

The way he blinks back at you has you laughing lightly. Though, before you can say much more, the familiar music that begins to play from the stage area has you freezing in your spot.

“Mark Lee,” you turn to him with wide eyes, “how dare you not tell me.”

In the blink of an eye, you’re rushing towards the seating area to get a better view of the stage, quite a few of the idols blinking at you in shock. Riley seems to catch on quickly, following behind you as a few of the other idols do as well.

Pushing through the door, you step out onto the floor before the stage. You completely bypass the steps leading to the seats in favour of walking out onto the empty standing area where you can see some staff milling around. Some other idols seem to be watching the soundcheck, too.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice another familiar idol shoot a friendly smile your way before she turns her head back to watch the four males on stage.

A small squeal of excitement escapes your lips as you watch SHINee do their soundcheck on stage. Each male even gets a portion during their set to perform a part of one of their solos, and you vaguely hear a staff member commenting on how there will be a SHINee special this year. Which explains why they’re getting the longest stage time out of all of the groups set to perform.

The moment SHINee finishes their soundcheck, you find yourself leaning back against the little guardrail leading up into the stands. You can feel your heart racing in your chest, and you blink, finally coming back to the reality around you.

“Surprise?” Mark chuckles from beside you.

“‘Surprise’ my ass!” You smack him lightly on the side of his arm. “You want to complain about being friends for so long, and you can’t even tell me my favourite group is performing at the award’s show I’m attending!”

A few chuckles are heard from around you from passing staff, as well as a few of the idols who followed you out.

“So, I guess it’s true that SHINee is your ult group, huh?” Vernon comments, a small quirk to his brow.

“Oh, most definitely.”You nod. “At least, one half of them.”

“Who’s the other half?” Felix asks, his eyes wide and hopeful.

“Oh, that’s easy,” you notice quite a few of them hanging on to your every word, “VIXX.”

“Damn, two tough groups to beat.”Vernon whistles lowly.

“By the way, you keep mentioning this performance you’re going to be having, but who did you all ask to be in it?” It’s Seonghwa who asks, looking between you and some of the idols around you.

“Well, it was short notice, so my publisher only managed to contact a few groups that we knew were going to be here,” you reply, a slight quirk to your lips upwards. “And a few that we did not, just in case.”

“I think you asked me first before our manager did,” Hongjoong laughs, arms crossed casually over his chest.

“Since my performance is going to be on the different forms of art, I wanted to showcase different idols who matched different art forms.” You explain, noticing how you draw in a few more people’s attention with every word. “I wasn’t expecting so many to agree to help.”

“Okay, so we know Joong is one. Jihoon, and Hyunjin are two others,” Mingi comments. “Who are the rest?”

“Well, I asked all of SHINee to be in it, and a few EXO members, but I never heard back from SM. Same with Seulgi of Red Velvet. The only confirmation I got that Ten, Renjun, and Taeyong all agreed to help, was from Mark, cause he wouldn’t stop complaining that I didn’t ask him to join. Twice’s Momo and Dahyun both agreed. Bang Chan, too.” You say, listing all of the idols off on your fingers. “I tried to have at least two per category, but it didn’t always work out that way. Plus, multiple could definitely fit in more than one.”

“Categories?” Yeosang asks, blinking at you curiously.

“Dancer, vocalist, rapper, fashion, visual art, composer, actor,” you list off. “Art takes many forms, and I wanted to emphasize that with their help.”

“We were told our respective categories when we got the call,” Hyunjin voices from above you, casually leaning over the railing of the stands and watching everyone with sharp eyes. “I don’t know about you guys, but I was asked if my art could be included in a video slide show thing to go along with it.”

“Oh, mine was, too!” A feminine voice cuts in from off to the side.

Turning your head, you see Seulgi join your little circle of idols. You smile at her, noticing how she nods her head politely at you just as she did during SHINee’s soundcheck.

“It’s so lovely to meet you, I’m a big fan of your books!” She leans in to grasp your hands lightly in her own, giving them a gentle squeeze. “As are Joy and Yeri, but they’re backstage for the moment. They’re going to be so jealous I’m meeting you right now.”

“I didn’t know you were going to be joining the presentation.” An awed look crosses your features, and you can feel your hands trembling slightly in her hold. She squeezes them once more. “Thank you so much for agreeing, I’m a huge fan of yours, too.”

“Then, I’m glad we could meet like this.” She replies. “I overheard that SHINee is set to join us for the briefing soon, too. Same with some of the EXO members.”

“Really?” You cannot prevent the way your eyes shine with excitement.

“So, then, who’s in which category?” Yeosang’s voice cuts through the crowd, his arms crossed over his chest. Though he leans against the side of the stands casually, he looks a bit tense.

Just as you go to answer, a call for you and your presentation team goes out for everyone to gather in front of the stage for the designated meeting. Lunch is called for everyone else, for now.

“Good luck,” Mark pats you on the side of the arm before heading out with some of the other idols in tow.

“Thanks, Mark.” At the intonation you use, you notice Vernon’s shoulders shaking in laughter this time as he walks backstage with some of the others.

Heading over to the stage area, you situate yourself right by where you see the stage director and event organizer appear. Seulgi, Chan, Hongjoong, Hyunjin, and Jihoon all follow you over, standing around you as the other idols that have agreed to help you gather.

A few minutes later, and you are surrounded by all of them. You notice that the artists practically group themselves by company.

“We’ll let you lead.” The stage manager says.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Says the event organizer.

Across from you stands Jihoon, Hongjoong, Ten, Taeyong, Renjun, Bang Chan, Hyunjin, Seulgi, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, Minho, Key, Onew, Taemin, Momo, and Dahyun. They all arrange themselves in about three lines facing you.

“Thank you.” You nod once to them before turning to face all of the idols before you. Quickly, you introduce yourself, a sense of professionalism taking over quite quickly. “I understand that this was asked of all of you on short notice, and I would like to take the time now to thank each and every one of you for agreeing to aid me in my presentation. That being said, I was uninformed that some of you would actually be joining me for my speech until a short while ago, so I will have to adjust a few things.”

Nods of understanding are seen from most of them.

“You all should have been asked a few questions when you received the offer, confirming that it is okay for my video editor to either use clips from your music shows, dramas, behind the scenes footage, livestreams, songs, events, and, or, any type of artwork you have created.” You scan the small group of idols before you. “I want to confirm now that I have your express permission to do so. Otherwise, my editor and I will adjust the video clips to be shown along with the presentation.”

Nods greet you all around, a few in mild shock that you would ask them such a thing again.

“Good.” You smile. “Now, I believe you should have all received a copy of my speech, and instructions along with it as to which categories I would like you to be sorted under. Again, if you have any issues, let me know and I will adjust accordingly.”

At the silence that greets you, a few of them sending reassuring smiles your way, you feel a tension beginning to release from your shoulders.

“I understand that these categories might not be what you usually get sorted under. That being said, I want to focus on different aspects of art using familiar faces to the public that were already attending these ceremonies.” You explain. “The lines I would like a few of you to read are meant to showcase art as collaboration, as expression, and as our passions. Again, if you have any issues, let me know, and I can rearrange some things.”

The way they all wait for you to continue warms your heart.

“I want to thank all of you for helping to bring my vision to life.” You smile. “If you have any questions or concerns, please, do not hesitate to let me know.”

“Are we allowed to see the video before it’s finalized?” Dahyun asks, her eyes wide as she blinks excitedly at you.

“Of course!” You return her smile. “The finalized version will be edited and submitted tonight, along with the script. You’ll all receive a copy of that as well. There’s simply one more thing I need to confirm before then.”

“What is it you still need to confirm?” Kyungsoo asks you, meeting your gaze.

“Well, making sure I had all of your consent to use your own forms of art was one of them.” You say. “The other, I would like to speak with all four members of SHINee about. Privately, if that’s alright?”

All four members turn their attention to you, both Minho and Onew smiling kindly as they nod their heads. You notice Taemin blink a few times, caught off guard by the sudden request, while Key’s expression remains neutral.

“If you’ll all follow me for a moment.” You step off to the side a little ways away from everybody, even the stage manager and event organizer.

Luckily, all four members follow you quickly, and you notice the other idols beginning to chat amongst themselves to give you some more privacy.

Once you’re far enough away, you’re turning to all four of them. Nervously, your hand begins to fiddle with the strap of your purse still slung over your shoulder.

“There is an additional piece I would like to add to the end of my speech, but I wanted to discuss it with all of you first.” You begin, swallowing somewhat thickly. “As you may or may not know, I have always been a big fan of your group as a whole, and have found inspiration from all of you. The reason I am pulling you all aside to ask you this, is because I respect all of you, and I would never want to do something to offend you, or disgrace his memory.”

You notice Key’s one eyebrow twitch upwards slightly.

“I would like to end my speech both making reference to, and quoting Jonghyun and his artistic views. If you would like to read what I have penned for it, I have copies ready for you if you believe that will help influence your decision. If even one of you disagrees, or is uncomfortable with such a thing, I will not do so, and leave my speech the way it is now.” You tell them, feeling your heart about to beat right out of your chest as you take the time to meet each of their gazes. “I only felt it right to ask permission from you before doing so, as again, I do not wish to tarnish or disrespect any of you, or his name.”

A beat of silence passes over all of you as they consider your words. What makes it even more nerve wracking is how you cannot read any of their expressions.

The four of them briefly share a look before Jinki is turning towards you.

“May we see what you have written?” His voice is soft as he meets your gaze once more.

“Of course.” You nod, quickly opening your purse and pulling out a few slips of folded paper.

Gently, you soften the creases, separating the two sheets with the same ending portion of your speech on them. A moment later, and you hand one piece to Key while Minho takes the other.

The silence that stretches on around you as Taemin leans into Minho’s side to read, and Jinki into Key’s, is deafening. Sweat begins to form on your hands, which continue to nervously fiddle with the strap of your purse. You even go so far as to start rocking on your feet to dispel your energy, your eyes darting every which way as they read your writing over for themselves.

You notice a single tear begin to trail down the side of Minho’s cheek.

The four males share a brief look with one another before Jinki looks up in your direction. You notice that he blinks away tears of his own.

“We appreciate the consideration you have extended to both us and him,” he begins, voice catching in his throat. “Thank you for asking before wanting to honour his memory like this.”

You blink at him, breath catching in your throat as his words wash over you. Perhaps you heard him wrong, but is he saying what you think he’s saying?

Again, they all share a look, Minho straightening himself while wiping at his cheek.

“Please keep this as the ending to your speech.” He says. “It makes a great addition to what you already have.”

The familiar burn of happy tears begins to make itself apparent behind your eyes.

“I know we don’t know each other, but the fact that you went out of your way to ask us permission before doing this shows just what kind of person you are.” Key adds, a gentle smile being sent your way. “Thank you for considering our feelings on this matter.”

“I think we are all in agreement that we would like you to use this ending to your speech.” Taemin confirms, a soft nod to his head.

“Really?” You cannot hide the way your eyes shine, heart swelling in your chest.

At the four nods you receive from all of them, a large smile breaks out onto your face.

“Thank you so much.” You bow deeply to all of them, eyes fluttering shut as you do so.

“Thank you for asking.” Jinki smiles kindly at you once more.

“Of course,” you right yourself. “It was only the natural thing to do.”

“We appreciate it.” Minho smiles your way as you all begin to make your way back over to where the other idols are.

Seeing you approach with SHINee in tow catches all of their attention, hushed whispers dying out to a silence once more.

“Alright, so the way I’ve grouped you all off means there should be at least two of you per category,” you address them all. “I know I’m probably repeating myself here, but I want to focus on how we all have different outlets for our art. You’ve all been told the category you’ll be under, so if you can all just stand with your ‘buddies’ for the moment it would help me explain the next part.”

Again, nods greet you in understanding.

“Great!” Your eyes crinkle as you smile. “If I could get the composers over here.”

You point to your immediate left, seeing Bang Chan, and Jihoon both move to their new spot.

“Visual artists here,” you point beside the first group, a little ways to their right.

Hyunjin, Renjun, and Seulgi all stand together.

“Men of fashion, next.”

Both Hongjoong and Baekhyun stand side by side.

“Dancers, if you please.”

Ten, Taemin, and Momo form a small group.

“Then, the actors beside them.”

Kyungsoo and Minho stand together, nodding politely at each other in acknowledgment.

“The rappers.”

Both Taeyong and Dahyun move to the side, smiling at each other politely.

“And finally, the vocalists.”

Lastly, Key and Onew shuffle off to your right, completing the semi-circle around you.

“I will represent the author aspect to my speech, but I think that one is pretty self explanatory.” You chuckle, nothing how a few of them smile along with you. “Now, each of you were given a specific line to go along with your category. You may decide amongst yourselves who says it, or if you all wish to speak it in unison. However, for effect, it would be best if we all came to a decision on whether the lines will be spoken in unison by the groups, or individually. I really want to emphasize the collaboration between all of us artists with these lines.”

You notice each of the groups briefly talking amongst themselves before a few are nodding. A minute later, and you have all of their attention on you.

“Unison, or individual?” You quirk a brow.

“Individual might work best.” You see Baekhyun nod in your direction as he responds, the rest muttering their agreements.

“Great!” You smile, shifting to pull a small spiral bound notebook and a pen out of your purse. “Let me just write down who you’ve all agreed to speak each line between you all for reference. It also makes the technicians jobs a bit easier.”

A few minutes later, and you’ve written down the respective idols that will be saying each designated line.

“While each of you are speaking your lines, the category you represent will appear on the screen behind us along with visual aids showcasing you performing, demonstrating, or working on said topic.” You explain, and you see some of their eyes light up in awe. “There will be a strong emphasis on timing, especially on my part. A lot of what I say will be synced to the video behind me, as well as serve as audio cues for both you and the lighting techs.”

“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.” Key observes, clearly impressed.

“Well, I went to an arts high school, and I was also a theatre kid.” You cap your pen, smiling widely. “I do also have a flare for dramatics at times.”

“What type of arts high school?” Chan asks, tilting his head mildly in curiosity.

“It had quite a few different disciplines, but I was in for vocals.” You tell them.

“Not drama?” Minho’s eyebrows quirk, clearly surprised.

“No, but that would have been my second choice.” You close your notebook.

“Wait, you sing?” Momo’s lips part, an eager gleam to her eyes.

“I was trained operatically for over seven years.” Your words have clear shock pulling at all of their faces. “Don’t know how good I am now, it’s been quite a while since I last had a lesson.”

“I can’t wait to tell Jongho, he’s going to lose his shit.” Hongjoong mumbles.

“Wait until Seungmin hears this,” Hyunjin huffs out a laugh.

“Would you ever sing for us, sometime?” Seulgi asks, her whole face lighting up as she looks at you eagerly.

Your eyes nearly bulge right out of your head, heartbeat thundering in your ears.

“Uh,” you blink, attempting to wrap your head around the situation fully. One of your favourite female Korean singers has essentially just asked you to sing for her sometime.

“She’s already agreed to karaoke with some of us,” Hongjoong hums, a chuckle falling from his lips.

“Oh, I want to come, too!” Dahyun chimes in, smile wide as she meets your gaze.

“Is there a karaoke space big enough for everyone?” You put your notebook back into your purse, motioning to all of them that you’re done for now. “That’s all for now, by the way. Thank you again for agreeing to help on such short notice. We’ll practice the timing during the actual rehearsal portion designated for us at the end of the day.”

You notice the members of EXO and SHINee all nod their heads, heading off for lunch with one another after bowing to you politely in leave. You bow back, smiling faintly as they head off.

“I’m sure we can find one,” Jihoon says as the rest of you begin to head backstage as well.

“Damn, I’m gonna get to hear you sing and dance today?” Ten grins, stepping right up beside you for the moment. “I must be extra lucky.”

“What do you mean ‘dance’?” Seulgi tilts her head curiously.

“Oh, the ‘Seventh Sense’ bet she has with Mark.” Taeyong mentions casually.

“Oh!” Seulgi’s eyes widen, nodding in understanding. “That!”

“Does everybody at SM know of that bet?” You exhale an exaggerated puff of air.

“Only the people Mark told,” Renjun chimes in. “So, naturally, everybody knows. Man has a loud mouth at times.”

“At times?” Taeyong laughs.

“Do you know any other dances?” Momo asks, Dahyun nodding along with her as they walk side by side. “You mentioned that you enjoy singing and dancing to our songs earlier.”

“I know a few, but I usually don’t like dancing around other people.” You reply.

“How much is ‘a few’?” Ten quirks a grin, eyes tinkling mischievously.

“I have a few mixes my one friend made for me that I’ve learned.” You shrug. “Kind of like my own personalized random dance plays.”

“That’s pretty cool!” Dahyun comments, quite enthusiastically.

“Wait, how come you don’t like dancing around other people?” Renjun’s brow furrows, turning to look at you briefly.

By now, you’ve all made it backstage once more, and you notice many of the staff and other idols have dispersed for lunch. Only a few familiar faces linger around the space from earlier.

Again, it’s like you shrink into yourself. “Personal reasons.”

“Then, how are you going to win the bet you have with Mark?” Ten tilts his head curiously at you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice a few more Twice members, such as Jihyo, Jeongyeon, Mina, and Sana all join your group. Even some more NCT members are present, and you see Mark come to stand right beside you for the moment.

“You see, my need to prove him wrong is much stronger than anything else.” You reply, noticing how you see Yeosang watching you from the corner that the rest of the Ateez members are currently lingering around.

“Name the time and place.” He grins, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well, who knows when we’ll get another chance to do this,” you say, quirking a brow knowingly. “It’s going to have to be today, is it not?”

“Now would be an opportune time since the stage area is clear of most people,” Taeyong suggests. “Riley can help with the soundboard and play the song through the speakers. Everyone would probably think it’s just us getting in another round of practice again. Sometimes we do that before shows.”

“I’ll go get Doyoung and Jaehyun!” Ten rushes off before a word of protest can escape you.

“Would dancing with someone else make you feel better?” Momo offers.

You think about it for a moment before nodding. “Perhaps it might.”

“Oh my goodness, come dance with us, then!” Sana grabs your wrist, pulling you back out towards the stage area with some of the others in tow. “Now, where’s Riley?”

You notice the aforementioned female appear from down the hallway.

“Riley, soundboard for us for a bit!” Mina begins pushing the somewhat stunned female along with all of you and back to the stage.

“What?” Riley blinks. “Oh, okay!”

“I would love to dance with you!” Jihyo grins, walking alongside you as Sana continues to pull you along. “The other girls are eating lunch, but I hope us six will do!”

“You’re more than enough.” Comes your instant reply, a firm nod of your head. “Though, I warn you, I’m probably going to be the ‘standing guy’ emoji when the music starts.”

Jeongyeon lets out a boisterous laugh from your opposite side. “It’s okay, we’ve got you!”

“I’m about to dance with pretty girls,” you mumble, causing all of the girls around you to smile. “Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming.”

Instead, you receive teasing pokes to your upper back from Dahyun who currently stands behind you.

“What song would you like to start with?” Momo asks, the members all flanking you on stage as Riley sets up the soundboard from the middle of the floor.

“Uh…” your brain refuses to function for a moment as you process her words.

“Wait, you said you had some mixes your friend made you.” Dahyun recalls. “This might be presumptuous of me, but do you have any Twice mixes?”

You blink. “I do, actually.”

“Great! Why don’t we do that, and we’ll support you!” Sana grins, shaking your arm gently in excitement.

“You all really want to dance with me?” You ask, voice meek as your eyes shine with your emotions for the moment.

“Of course!” Jeongyeon’s reply is immediate. “Not only would we be getting a chance to dance with our favourite author, but we’ve got to show those guys how it’s done.”

The wink she sends your way makes your heart leap for joy in your chest. You cannot help the way a bashful smile pulls at your lips as you pull out your phone.

“If you want, we could even do our best to follow another of your mixes.” Mina offers. “It would be like a random dance play for us. Plus, I’m sure more people would join! It’s whatever makes you most comfortable.”

“We can start with the Twice mix, and go from there?” Even though you sound a bit unsure of yourself, you notice the girls all eagerly nodding around you.

Already, a small crowd of both idols and staff members begin to form around the stage. Some stand in the wings, while others look up from the ground around the stage. There’s a good mix of eager looks and curious ones, but the smiling faces of the six girls around you manage to distract you from the less than savoury ones right now.

“Alright,” you say, walking to the edge of the stage with your phone in hand. Crouching down, you hand it to Mark. “Mark Lee, I will personally shave your head, and dye all of your white shirts bright red if you fuck around with my phone. I will also never gift you spoilers to my books, or watermelon taffy again.”

The wide-eyed nod he gives you says it all, and with the added way he swallows thickly, you giggle lightly.

“It’s mix three,” you say, handing him your phone.

Again, all you receive is a nod from him in response before he’s walking over to Riley and passing her your phone. A moment later, and she hooks it up to the soundboard, looking up at you in preparation to hit play. After doing a few light stretches with the girls, you straighten your back, cracking your neck all the while.

“The first song is ‘Fancy’, which leads into ‘Talk That Talk, and then ‘I Can’t Stop Me’ after that.” You tell them, seeing them all nod excitedly at you.

“Do you usually dance a specific part, or is it all just chorus stuff?” Momo asks, standing beside you to your right.

“When I learn a full song, I usually learn either my bias, my wrecker, or whoever ends up being easiest to follow. For the mixes, it’s mainly just chorus stuff, though.” The way you see them all nod along at your words has your heart warming in your chest. “There’s a small intro, and then the pre-chorus to ‘Fancy’, though, so you have time to get into position.”

“We’ll follow your lead!” Jihyo grins, a firm nod to her head.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Sana smiles at you.

Meeting gazes with Riley across the way, you smile, shooting her a small thumbs up. Immediately, the music starts blasting through the speakers, and you can feel the adrenaline beginning to pump through your veins.

“You know, if you would have told me I’d be dancing on a stage with Twice today, I would have never believed you.” You comment, a light chuckle to your voice as you get into position.

“Well, believe it, girly!” Mina laughs, lightly going over the pre-chorus part of the dance as you all get into position. “Cause guess what?”

The only thing you have time to do is blink at her in response as all six of them shout out a loud ‘We’ as the chorus hits.

A large smile breaks out onto your face, whole body heating as you begin to dance along with the six girls around you. Lowly, you all sing along to the lyrics, losing yourself to the music as it surrounds you. The way their eyes light up as they watch you dance along with them sets your heart racing even more so than usual, absolutely revelling in this euphoric feeling.

Cheers erupt from some of the staff and other idols standing around the area, and you can hear Mark exclaim a loud ‘holy shit’ from beside the soundboard.

“Damn girl!” Dahyun bumps hips with you playfully as the song switches. “You can really dance!”

“Really?” Your eyes shine as you meet her gaze, noticing the other five members encouraging you all the while. At the nods you receive, you smile bashfully, tears threatening to gather in the corners of your eyes. “Thank you.”

From the crowd, you hear Ten beginning to shout in Mark’s direction. “Damn, Mark, you didn’t tell us your author friend could dance!”

At the way Mark shakes his head, blinking in shock, you can just tell he calls back an ‘I didn’t know’ lowly in response.

“You are so going to lose that bet.” Doyoung laughs loud enough for both you and Mark to hear.

“Hey, Chan, do you think she knows any Stray Kids dances?” Changbin calls over to their leader as a few more of the members join the crowd.

“Back off, Bin! She’s dancing to Ateez, next!” Wooyoung shouts at his friend, and you notice Jongho standing there with his mouth hanging open beside him.

The moment you hit the drop with your leg extended in ‘I Can’t Stop Me’, more cheers erupt from the crowd, even more staff and idols coming to see what all the commotion is about. The way you can see some people’s jaws drop in awe makes you grin, getting more and more into the moves the more time passes. It makes it even better when Johnny and Ten start hooting and hollering encouraging things your way as you dance. Even Wooyoung and Changbin get in on the action, Felix cheering along with them.

The moment the mix ends, the six girls are crowding you, talking excitedly about how much fun that was, and that you should all do that again some time.

“Thank you so much for dancing with me,” you meet each of their gazes, noticing how they all look at you fondly.

“It was our pleasure,” Jihyo smiles widely at you, squeezing your arm gently.

“If there’s ever any dances you want to learn, let us know!” Dahyun grins, giggling all the while.

“Yeah! We’d be more than happy to teach you.” Momo nods enthusiastically.

“You kept up with us really well,” Sana adds. “Most trainees can’t even do that.”

“I may not be a dancer, but I do put a lot of effort in to everything I do.” You avert your gaze to the floor bashfully, tapping the tip of you foot lightly against the floor of the stage.

“It shows.” Mina reaches over to squeeze your arm this time, smiling kindly at you.

Slowly, a chant begins to build from the surrounding crowd.

“Seventh Sense. Seventh Sense. Seventh Sense.”

“I think you’re being asked for an encore.” Jeongyeon winks at you, and you chuckle along with her.

“After you’re done proving him wrong, we should do one of your mixes!” Dahyun eagerly says, excitement shining in her eyes. “I wanna see how many songs we can get.”

“Plus, like I said earlier, more people might join that way!” Mina repeats, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

“We’ll give you space now.” Jihyo says, beginning to usher the other girls away from you. “As long as you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.” You nod once firmly in confirmation.

“Good luck!” Momo cheers, shooting you an encouraging thumbs up as they make their way to the side of the stage.

Stepping towards the front of the stage, you get into position. Lifting your head, you make eye contact with Mark who still stands beside Riley, looking completely stunned for the moment.

“Be prepared to lose the bet, Markie Boy.”You grin, flicking your gaze towards Riley for the moment. “Hit it.”

An awed hush settles over the crowd as you wait for the music to start. Not even a moment later, the opening beats of “The Seventh Sense” can be heard through the speakers.

Your body instantly begins to move, the dance having been ingrained into you with how often you practiced it since making this bet with Mark. Even your expression moulds to fit the theme of the song, and as soon at the lyrics begin, the crowd erupts into cheers.

You hit every beat, noticing how both Doyoung and Jaehyun wear expressions of complete and utter shock on their faces. Even Mark cannot keep his mouth from falling open as he watches you incredulously.

About halfway through the routine, you notice Taeyong hoist himself up onto the stage, joining in to dance with you for the remainder of the song. The way you sing along softly to the lyrics only becomes apparent when he gets closer, his eyes widening ever so slightly as his lips part in awe.

During Mark’s iconic line, you purposely look his way, shouting it at the top of your lungs with a wink sent in his direction. You notice he still wears that same expression of shock on his features, and even you can tell how red his face has gotten from your position on the stage.

The way you can keep up with Taeyong has even more cheers erupting from the crowd. Ten practically begins shaking Doyoung beside him, screaming about how you’re dancing his part right now, a giddy smile on his features. Hell, even half of Stray Kids and Ateez look about ready to fall over, their wide eyed stares encouraging you to continue.

The moment the song comes to an end, a roar erupts from the staff and idols around you. You hear some shouts from certain groups asking you to dance their songs next, and it makes you smile. Your chest heaves with every breath you take, and you turn to face Taeyong just as he turns to face you.

“You proved him wrong.” He smiles, extending his hand out to you for a high five. “You’re an incredible dancer.”

A large smile stretches across your features as you meet his hand halfway in the air. “Thank you so much!”

“Really, do you know any more dances?” His eyes are wide as he looks at you, an eager gleam shining within.

“From start to finish?” You tilt your head slightly.

“Yeah, or just in general.” He nods.

“Well, from start to finish, I know Red Velvet’s Psycho and Bad Boy, EXO’s Monster, BTS’ Fire, and GOT7’s If You Do.” You list off. “There’s a few more I know larger portions of, but the rest I just know from the mixes. I, uh, do also know a few duet dances, cause I used to dance them with my ex.”

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice both Hyunjin and Wooyoung chatting with Riley, of whom looks a bit reluctant to be apart of the conversation.

“I owe you ten meals.”Mark comments, stepping up onto the stage. “You really did prove me wrong.”

“I told you I would!” You stick your tongue out at him playfully, wiping at the sweat forming at your brow.

“You’ve also really drawn a crowd.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “I don’t think anybody was expecting you to be able to dance like that.”

Out of the corner of your eyes, you see Jaehyun approaching you.

“You can really dance.” He comments, blinking at you a few times as his dimple appears.

“Thank you.”You incline your head in his direction, a warmth blooming on your cheeks.

“You mentioned knowing duet dances?” Taeyong inquires. “Which ones do you know?”

Your eyes widen slightly, noticing Wooyoung, Hyunjin, and Changbin now all making their way onto the stage towards you.

“Uh…” you chuckle nervously. “Well, I do know Baby Don’t Stop, Seulrene’s Monster, and, uh…” your voice drops into a mumble, “Troublemaker.”

“You know Troublemaker?” Changbin’s voice is full of awe. “Okay, we’re dancing that.”

“Get your own dance partner, Bin, I’m dancing Troublemaker with her first!” Wooyoung crosses his arms over his chest, huffing all the while.

“Oh, you all think I know Hyuna’s part, don’t you?” You glance at him with amusement dancing in your eyes.

Taeyong’s brow furrows. “You don’t?”

“Oh, I know some of it, but the only Hyuna dance I really know is Lip and Hip. I learned Hyunseung’s part.” You chuckle. “My best friend learned her part.”

“You dance often, then.” Hyunjin observes, calculating gaze fixed on you for the moment.

“I mean, I used to.” You shrug. “I’ve always enjoyed it, even though I’m not a dancer. It used to be my ex’s and my thing.”

“Is that why you don’t like performing in front of other people?” Changbin’s brow furrows.

“Kind of,” you mutter. “But that’s not a can of worms to get into today.”

“Okay, well, we need to plan a day where we have a dance party, clearly.” Wooyoung comments, slinging his arm around your waist as he pushes Mark out of the way.

“Dance another mix for us!” You hear Mina call out from the side where you see all of the other Twice members now standing.

At the way you hesitate, the crowd starts chanting for you to dance more.

“We tried convincing Riley to play another one anyways,” Hyunjin shrugs casually. “She wouldn’t budge unless you were comfortable with it.”

You chew on the skin of your bottom lip. “Well, I guess one more wouldn’t hurt.”

Wooyoung shakes you lightly in excitement as he laughs giddily. “Yay!”

“If you join, and I see any of you mocking girl groups, I will punt you off of this stage.” You threaten, pointing your finger threateningly at the males around you.

At the way they raise their hands mildly in their own defence, you know you have them.

“Alright, hang on,” you say, quickly hopping down the stairs at the side of the stage to make your way towards the soundboard where Riley is.

Along the way, some staff members and idols send compliments your way. A few of them are backhanded, but you brush those off for now. Besides, you feel as if nothing could bring you down.

Reaching Riley, you’re quick to unlock your phone for her once more.

“We’re gonna do another mix, but I figured my phone had shut off by now.” You chuckle, and you see her nod enthusiastically. “When I give the signal, play mix four.”

“Roger that!” She mock salutes you, and you giggle along with her.

Making your way back to the stage, you notice quite a few more idols having gathered around. Some eagerly talk amongst themselves, while more have moved to the front of the stage in order to get a better view of the dancing about to take place.

“Alright, you guys ready?” You quirk a brow as you stand back into position.

“Oh, hell yes!” Both Wooyoung and Changbin cheer.

“As a curtesy, the first song is The Eve.”You tell them. “This is my longest mix, so I might not do all of it.”

“Understandable.” Taeyong nods your way.

“Whatever makes you most comfortable.” You notice Momo has come back to join you, nodding all the while.

With a smile pulling at your lips, you send a nod Riley’s way. A moment later, and the familiar sound of music is playing through the speakers.

The more you dance, the more you notice that even some of the backup dancers join in on the fun. You cannot keep the joy from radiating off of you, a brilliant smile on your face as you move around the stage with the people around you. The way even Seulgi comes to join you for some of the Red Velvet songs that you have in the mix makes your heart swell, laughing along with the others gleefully.

The whole time, you can feel eyes on you. Whether they’re judgmental, or in awe, you no longer care, for you get lost in the way dancing like this makes you feel. You haven’t had this much fun in a while, and you’re not about to give it up now.

Once the mix has finished, another cheer rises up from the crowd. A few of the dancers even come up to you and start up a conversation about where you learned to move your body like that. A fact which makes you all the more bashful.

An intense feeling of eyes focussed on your back has you turning to face the crowd. Only, when you look in the direction you felt such a gaze coming from, all you see is Yeosang staring at you with an unreadable expression on his face. Mingi seems to be talking his ear off excitedly at the moment, the shorter male nodding along quite firmly to whatever is being said. However, you’re not even sure if he’s listening to what his group mate is saying, or not.

Smiling softly his way, you notice him blink suddenly, as if to clear his vision.

Mark catching your attention from beside you has you turning away from Yeosang for the moment. Only, you fail to see the way the male’s eyebrow twitches slightly, the corner of his lips tugging downwards.

A short while later, and you’ve cleared the stage area so rehearsals can continue as scheduled. Riley makes her way back over towards you with your phone in hand, passing it to you with awe still clear in her eyes.

“I didn’t know you could dance like that!” She exclaims, visibly shaking in her spot. “You’re incredible!”

You chuckle at her enthusiasm. “Thank you.”

Now, as you settle back into the backstage area, you notice quite a few more idols and staff around. The way their gazes dart over to you is obvious, whispers reaching your ears.

“Have you eaten, by the way?”It’s Mark that asks, handing you a fresh bottle of water as you lean against the wall.

“I ate a big breakfast before I came, so I’m not really hungry right now.”You reply. “But thanks for checking in.”

“He was just hoping to get a head start on those ten meals he owes you,” Johnny chuckles, joining your little circle.

You notice Hongjoong, Jongho, Yeosang, Wooyoung, and Changbin all join you as well.

“So, when are you coming over to learn more Stray Kids dances?” Changbin asks casually.

“Um, after she learns some Ateez dances, obviously.” Wooyoung answers for you, a roll to his eyes. A second later, and a smug grin is pulling at his features as he stands proud. “Her bias is gonna teach her everything he knows.”

“Wait, you’re her Ateez bias?” Changbin’s eyes nearly pop out of his head before turning to look at you. “Please tell me you have better taste in men than this idiot over here.”

“Hey!” Wooyoung whines.

“I never said Wooyoung was my Ateez bias,” you chuckle, and you notice how said male’s pout only deepens.

“Then, who is?” Hongjoong quirks a brow, a teasing smirk pulling at his lip.

Again, a knowing smile pulls at your features.

“You mean, you won’t tell them?” Mark frowns. “You had no probably telling me that Ten was your NCT bias.”

Johnny looks absolutely scandalized by Mark’s words, placing a hand over his heart as his jaw drops in shock. “And here I was thinking what we had was special.”

“I met you today, John.” You deadpan, blinking once.

Laughter erupts around you.

“Wait, Ten is your NCT bias?” Jongho looks at you, somewhat incredulously. “I would have thought it was Jaehyun with how often you reference him in your writing.”

You shrug casually. “Some things are the same, others are not. I mean, Ten’s not my only NCT bias.”

“You have more than one?” It’s Yeosang who asks this time, his brow quirked and gaze unreadable.

“Of course I have more than one, there’s over twenty-one members in counting, and multiple sub-units.” You reply, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I’ve got a bias per unit.”

“Yet, none of them are me.” Mark pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.

“When I was first getting into NCT you were.” You remind him.

“It’s not the same.” He whines, shaking his head.

“So, you’ll tell him your biases when he asks, but not us?” Hongjoong quirks a brow, amusement dancing in his eyes. Though, at the way his jaw twitches, you can tell he’s slightly exasperated by this fact.

“Again, I’ve talked with him for much longer than I’ve personally known you.” You chuckle. “Plus, you’re not as persistent about it as some people.”

The way you shoot a playfully pointed look at Mark says it all.

“Oh, okay,” Wooyoung nods, a maniacal grin tugging at his features. “We’ve just got to annoy it out of you.”

“That’s one way to ensure I never tell you.” You huff out a laugh, a smirk dancing on your lips. “Though, I don’t know why you guys are so obsessed with knowing who my bias is. Really, you should be asking about my wreckers. Haven’t you ever heard the phrase that a person’s bias is most like them, but their wrecker is their ideal type?”

Without waiting for a response, you walk over to join Mina, Sana, Jihyo, and Jeongyeon, leaving all of the males stunned for the moment.

“Mark, who’s her NCT wrecker?” Johnny immediately turns to the aforementioned male, noticing the others do the same.

“I- uh…” he swallows thickly. “I don’t know.”

Your shoulders shake in laughter as you begin conversing with the girls. A few hours later, Joy from Red Velvet joins in on your little circle of friends, her introducing herself and expressing how big of a fan she is of your writing. Easily, she falls into conversation with all of you, and she even brings up the fact that she and the other members saw you dancing with Seulgi earlier.

Again, you feel eyes on your back, watching your every move closely. When you spare a quick glance over your shoulder, you see Yeosang watching you with a neutral expression on his face. His arms are crossed over his chest as he leans back against the wall, one leg propped up behind him so that his knee is bent slightly.

Unfortunately, you don’t have time to dwell on it for too long, for the girls are all asking to exchange contact information with you. Of course, you readily agree, the Twice members even going so far as to create a group chat with you and the few other members that danced with you earlier.

Loud whispering draws your attention to the right where you see Irene, Wendy, and Yeri all standing to the side. You send a polite smile their way, but the only one who somewhat smiles back is Yeri. On the other hand, both Irene and Wendy could not look more disinterested by you. In fact, you’d say they almost look annoyed that you looked their way.

The moment you see Seulgi hop over to them quite excitedly, overhearing your name being mentioned, scowls pull onto Wendy’s and Irene’s faces.

Pointedly, Wendy leans into Irene, whispering quite loudly as you turn back around.

“Can you believe they invited such filth to perform at these awards?” Wendy’s voice reaches your ears, and you cannot help the way your shoulders tense. “I hope they wash the stage after she’s been rolling around on it. I can’t believe we even have to breathe the same air as that thing.”

From the muffled laughter you can hear behind you, you know it’s not just Irene that finds these comments funny.

“Wendy, stop it, you’re being extremely rude.” Seulgi chastises, an immediate frown tugging at her features. “And I can’t believe you two would laugh along with her! She’s been nothing but kind to everyone this whole time.”

“Did you see her dancing earlier?” Irene snorts out a laugh. “You know we stopped doing charity events, right, Seulg?”

“You call that dancing?” Wendy cackles. “More like flailing. She looked like a fish out of water.” A pause. “Wait, let me describe it more accurately: a beached whale.”

Again, more laughter can be heard from around the room, the loudest emanating from that specific corner where they reside. Though, the sneers and smug looks from some of the idols and staff that you’ve felt judging you all throughout the day no longer can be ignored. You have a feeling that they’re all finally getting the vindication of hearing their negative thoughts and feelings towards you finally be said out loud.

Jeongyeon places a comforting hand onto your back, noticing how you visibly deflate at the harsh words being thrown your way. Jihyo, Mina, and Sana all look about ready to cut a bitch, and Joy just looks embarrassed, her eyes widening in shock.

“People like her make me sick.” Irene comments, somewhat casually.

“Watch. I’m gonna go over there and compliment her in English, and it’s going to make her day.” Wendy laughs, already moving to push herself off of the wall.

“Wendy,” Seulgi warns, grabbing the aforementioned female’s wrist and holding her in place. “You’re making a fool of yourself, disgracing our group, and embarrassing the rest of us. You know she can understand you, right?”

You hear Wendy scoff, “I doubt that.”

Tugging her wrist harshly out of Seulgi’s grip, Wendy continues to make her way over to you. The ominous presence you can sense that is her approaching makes you tense, your hands nervously wringing themselves together.

Just then, a squeal is heard from behind you.

“Oh my gosh! Aren’t you that really famous author? I love your work!” Wendy’s voice reaches your ears, causing you to turn around to face her.

The expression she wears is one of awe, but it doesn’t take an expert to know that it’s not genuine. You can see how her gaze not so subtly trails over your body, a brief look of disgust pulling at her features as her lips twitch downwards. Though, in the blink of an eye, that expression of ire disappears, replaced by that overtly friendly one she attempts to wear.

You don’t even have to say anything, for Mina, Sana, Jihyo, and Jeongyeon all step in front of you, shooting harsh looks her way. Even Joy shakes her head disapprovingly, crossing her arms over her chest at her group mate.

Wendy looks clearly taken aback, blinking a few times at the silence that stretches on around you.

“What’s that look for?”She chuckles, somewhat nervously. “I just wanted to come over and say that I saw you dancing earlier and it looked like so much fun!” She nearly chokes on her own words, blinking as if she cannot believe what she’s about to say. “You’re a really good dance-“

“Are you sure it wasn’t more like a fish out of water?” You meet her gaze, a blank look in your eyes as you tilt your head slightly to the side.

You can just tell that your words catch her completely off guard.

“What are you talking about? I only came over here to tell you how pretty I think you are.” Wendy blinks at you in shock.

“Do you expect me to thank you for insulting me not even two minutes ago?” You continue. “The only thing I hate more than dishonest people, is someone who thinks they can get away with being two-faced just because of who they are.”

“How dare you!” Wendy inhales sharply, anger pulling at her brow. “You bitch-“

“Did you eat a stone, Wendy?” Jihyo’s gaze is nothing short of furious as she stares the elder down.

“You should be ashamed of yourself.” Jeongyeon spits, brow furrowed in distaste. “You of all people, judging another person based solely on their looks.”

“Why are you defending her? Can she not speak for herself?” Wendy replies, incredulously. “And Joy, why are you wasting you time with filth like her?”

“Unlike you, I don’t judge a book by its cover.” Joy deadpans, blinking at the girl before her blankly.

“Are you that unhappy with you life that you have to bring down mine?” You ask her, tilting your head slightly to the side.

Wendy rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Stop acting all high and mighty. You’re nothing, anyways.”

“I’m not the one that went out of their way to insult the other.” You reply, holding your elbows in your hands once more as your arms cross over your body for support.

You can see her getting more angry with every lack of reaction you give her.

“Yeah, well, you’re writing is mediocre, and you’re just a fat, ugly pig.” She spits, and it goes so silent that you can hear a pin drop around you. “No wonder your ex cheated on a bitch like you.”

Gasps are heard all around.

You wish you could prevent the way you inhale sharply from her words, but you do. What makes it worse is the way she grins after hearing you do so.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you see Mark needing to be held back by Johnny.

You blink, swallowing thickly and doing your best to maintain your composure. The familiar sting of tears burns behind your eyes, but you refuse to give her the satisfaction of seeing you break.

Taking a deep breath, you school your expression.

“Wow, Wendy, not many people know that fact. I only ever talked about it once or twice during my lives.” You comment. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you’re obsessed with me.”

A loud scoff leaves her lips as she turns away from you, rolling her eyes all the while.

“Whatever,” she mumbles, beginning to walk away. “You’re not worth my time.”

Your eyes widen significantly, appalled by her comment for the moment considering she was the one that approached you. Luckily, though, you don’t have time to dwell on it, for the girls surrounding you are immediately turning back to face you, asking if you’re okay.

“Yeah, yeah,” you shoot them all a tight smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes. “I’m fine.”

“I am so sorry about her,” Joy looks the most distressed, her cheeks red in embarrassment. Instantly, she bows to you. “I know it’s no excuse, but I hope you will accept my apology for her instead.”

“It’s not your fault, Joy,” you say, stepping out of the circle of girls for the moment.

“Where are you going?” Mina asks lightly, concern clear on her features.

“I just need some fresh air. I promise I’ll be right back.” Again, another tense smile is sent their way that doesn’t quite meet your eyes.

Not even giving them time to respond, you’re quickly making your way back down the hallway that you first arrived in. Pushing open the side door, you make sure you can get back inside first before letting it fall shut. Luckily for you, no one stops you, nor bothers you for the time being. Doing a quick scan of the area, you ensure that you’re alone.

It takes a moment for you to be sliding down the side of the wall. Another for the movement to become synonymous with the first of your tears escaping your eyes.

You don’t care that Wendy insulted your writing. You recognize and understand that it’s not for everyone, nor is everyone going to like it. If people telling you they didn’t like your writing, or that you were a shitty writer stopped you from pursuing your passion, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Hell, you don’t even care that she insulted you. You’ve had people insult your appearance your entire life, so that’s nothing new.

No, what hurts you the most is the fact that she would use such a traumatic incident against you. How she even knew about it confuses you, for you only ever disclosed the information publicly once, and not even all of the details. The memories are still just too painful for you, even if they happened over six months ago.

You crouch against the wall for a good few minutes, your muffled sobs being your only accompaniment. That is, until you hear the side door creak open.

Quickly, you’re wiping away your tears and standing back to your feet. You figure it’s probably some staff members either needing some air themselves, or going for a smoke break.

You’d rather not have anyone see you cry right now.

What you don’t expect, however, is to see Yeosang peeking out at you from the small opening. He says nothing as he meets your gaze, and you don’t know whether to thank him for that, or not. What he does offer you, though, is a tissue, wordlessly extending a small packet out to you with the top already open.

Silently, you take one from him, nodding your thanks. The smile you send him is small, and tense, but it’s something.

“Riley said that your rehearsal for your speech is on deck.” He says lowly. “I came to get you.”

“Oh, okay,” you swallow your remaining emotions for the moment. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

A nod is all you receive in response as you dab at your eyes while turning away from him for the moment. Scrunching your nose, you sniffle.

“Are you okay?” His tone is soft, and you notice how concerned his eyes look as you turn back to face him.

“I’ll be fine,” you nod assuringly at him, but he doesn’t look all that reassured. So, you divert the topic as you head back inside. “You said it’s time for my rehearsal?”

“Riley’s gathering the other idols with Joong as we speak.” Yeosang replies casually, clutching that little package of tissues in his hands still.

“I see.” You hum, bringing the back of your hand up to rub at the side of your cheek.

Wordlessly, he offers you another tissue.

“Thanks.” You say, grabbing another from him.

He nods, which is the only response from him that you get.

“Hey, do you mind watching my purse while I rehearse?” You spare a glance at him just as you breach the backstage area, ignoring the few other worried looks sent your way by familiar faces.

“Not Mark?” He quirks a brow, the corner of his lips twitching upwards faintly.

“I don’t trust him not to go snooping through my bag to search for spoilers to my next book.” You chuckle lowly. “Besides, I know Jongho won’t be able to convince you to let him sneak a peek, either.”

Yeosang cracks a small grin. “You’d be correct.”

“I may not have the best judge of character, but I can tell that you’re a decent guy, Yeosang.” You say, and you watch a faint blush begin to creep onto his cheeks. “Thank you for not prying.”

Sliding the strap of your purse off of your shoulder, you hand it to him. Not even a moment later, he grabs it from you, slinging the strap over his own.

“It’s not my place.” He replies, blinking lightly up at you.

A call of your name from the stage manager draws your attention to the front.

“Good luck.” He nods, to which you nod back, leaving him without another word.

Yeosang smiles faintly, still feeling the warmth that continues to dissipate from his cheeks as he looks down at his feet. Shifting the strap against his shoulder, he slides the pack of tissues into the side of your purse, just in case.

Stepping into the wings of the stage, he watches on as you practice your speech for tomorrow, going over the stage directions and lighting cues with the staff. What he truly cannot understand though, is why, when every time he looks at you, he can feel his heart now racing inside of his chest.

#yandere ateez #yandere yeosang #yeosang scenarios #ateez scenario #ateez imagines #yandere kpop #yandere au #kpop au #kpop scenario #ateez x reader #ateez x y/n #ateez x you

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smoooothoperator · 11 months

Text

What A Shame

07: Sad Beautiful Tragic

Driver! Charles Leclerc x Singer! OC (Juliette Morelli)

Exes to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Childhood Sweathearts

Summary: they realize their feelings, but the hard part is admitting them

Words: 2.1k

warnings: fluff, angst?? lot of tears, Mattia (he needs a warning, yeah), flashbacks are on italics

Official Playlist

Masterlist

previous part | next part

a/n: well well well!!!! here you have!! remember that there's only a chapter left. tell me your theories!!!

Every interaction is very welcomed!!!!

🏎️

How, in less than an hour, I found the words I wanted to say? I only needed to hear her sing, I only needed to hear her sing the song she wanted to be played at our hypothetical wedding.

"I just heard the most beautiful wedding song ever" she said while she threw herself on my bed, looking up at the ceiling with a big smile on her lips.

"Oh? Surprise me" I chuckled looking how she grabbed her phone.

The song started to play and I just had to look at her waiting for her voice. I know that she loves a song she heard recently when she already memorized it in less than a few hours.

"It's beautiful" I nodded while hearing it.

"Imagine it at our wedding" she gasped sitting on the bed.

We always knew both of us were going to get married. Our families knew it the first time we met at school, how we played to be a couple, how we made weddings in our backyards. We were soulmates, and soulmates shouldn't be separated.

"I'm already picturing it" I smiled looking at her. "And that's a yes. Is definitely added to the bucket list"

I know I love her. I always had. All those years without her were so hard. I only needed three months to know that I made a big mistake, listening and doing what Ferrari said.

"If you want to become a champion you should focus on the team and only the team" Mattia frowned looking at me. "What you did during the lockdown, playing on the internet, was a bad distraction"

"And what did you want me to do! I couldn't get out of my house, for god's sake!" I exclaimed.

"Well, train more! Focus more! Because it's obvious that playing games won't make you a world champion" he said mad, placing both of his hands on the table in front of me. "Focus on Ferrari"

"I have a life, Mattia" I frowned. "I have a family, I have a girlfriend. I have friends!"

"Well, then maybe you shouldn't have a girlfriend" he said.

"What?! Are you crazy?" I exclaimed, getting up off the chair. This is getting out of hand.

"Break up with her. She's distracting you" he said. "If you want the seat next season, break up with her. Or else you won't be here anymore"

Threats. Everything was a threat. If I did something they didn't approve of, they gave me an ultimatum. I was their golden boy, they put a lot of money for me.

They were my childhood dream.

And I did what they told me to do. I did everything. I was their puppet, someone they could use to have more attention, more sponsors, more fans. They used me to be back on top of everyone.

"Charles" Carlos called me, making me focus back on the wedding.

It's already finished. Everyone was standing up and clapping, watching how the newlyweds kissed.

I missed all the wedding just because I was locked in my mind. Shit.

"You have to sign the papers" he whispered to me and I just smiled weakly at him, walking towards Pierre and sighing.

"You were distant during the ceremony" he whispered, handing me the pen. "Are you okay, mate?"

Just as I was going to answer, Juliette started playing the piano again. She started to sing again.

"I'll talk to her" I whisper, signing the paper and looking at him. "I'll tell her the truth, even if that makes her hate me more"

Pierre just smiled and hugged me, patting my back and holding me tight. He knows I need all the support I can get. He knows how much this means to me.

"I'm sorry I spaced out all the ceremony" I sighed.

"I'm not mad" he smiled. "She was looking at you"

🎤

The moment I waited the most all year. Summer trip. I always went somewhere with my family, they promised me this year we will go to Italy.

"Mommy, how long until we arrive?" I asked, hugging the plush cat. "I want to show Cha the new plushie I bought for his little brother!"

"Soon, honey" she smiled looking back at me.

Summer trips with the Leclerc family were always funny. Since we were neighbors we planned the summer trips together, just because Charles and I never wanted to be away from the other.

Italy was beautiful, we both had so much fun. The backyard of the villa our families rented was so big that we could run free around.

"Cha!" I exclaimed, jumping out of the car, watching my best friend running towards me.

"Juls!" he smiled, hugging me. "I missed you, wifey!"

"I missed you too" I smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Wait, wait, since when are you two married?" his older brother and his friend Jules us, making him hug me tighter.

"We did it on the last day of school" Charles said proudly. "So none of you two would take her away from me! She's mine!"

"Okay, okay" Lorenzo laughed. "you better keep it that way, you don't want to make Juliette sad, right?"

"No! She'll never be sad! I promise" he nodded looking at me, holding my hand and linking out pinkies.

He made so many promises and broke them. He promised he would never make me sad, that he would never break my heart, that he would marry me.

I sighed, playing the last note of the last song and looked down at the keys. I wanted to get up, to walk out of the church and avoid that conversation with him.

I want to be mad at him. I really want to, but I'm so tired of that. I'm so tired of fighting, of lying to myself.

So I just gave up. I let the tears fall down my eyes during the wedding. I let my eyes look at him while they said their vows. I let myself think about us again, about our promises. I let my mind read him, looking into his eyes and talking with him only with our eyes.

He regrets things, he's scared, nervous.

When I saw him walking towards me after everyone left the church, I just smiled weakly, defeated.

"I don't want to argue" he said, making me nod. "I don't want to fight with you anymore. I... Juliette, you are the love of my life... And right now is like if we were the worst enemies out there"

It made me chuckle softly. Yeah, maybe we made a show with our two arguments, one last night and another this morning.

"I'm tired" I sighed looking at him, hugging myself. "I... I don't recognize us"

"Can we please talk as two grown adults, please?" he asked me, taking another step closer to me.

I nodded and sighed, watching how he smiled weakly and nodded too. He took a deep breath, trying to find the words.

"But" I interrupted him before he could open his mouth. "Can we please do that after everything is done? I just... I don't want to ruin their day, Charles. I don't want to be more emotional that I'm already am"

"Promise me you'll dance with me" he asked. "Promise me you'll save a dance with me and we'll talk as long as we need it"

I took a deep breath and nodded. I felt his hand on mine and I just felt shivers running up my back. I missed his touch, how warm his hands were.

"Just don't stare at me while I sing on their first dance" I whisper looking at our hands.

"I can't promise you anything" he whispered. I sighed and nodded, him letting go of my hand.

"I... I guess I'll have to get out. There are photographers so..." I sighed looking up at him. "I don't think it's a good idea if we walked out together"

"Yeah, you are right" he nodded, nervous.

I sighed and grabbed all my things, walking out of the church and immediately facing the media. I just smiled, posing for some pictures and immediately walked away back to the villa.

I tried to not think about Charles, not wanting to have high hopes. I just want this day to end and go back home, where everything seemed normal.

"Juliette!". Lando. "Hey, wait!"

I sighed and look back at him. No, I can't repeat it. Charles is here, I don't want to fight anymore.

"Lando, hey" I sighed.

"You sang amazing" he smiled walking next to me. "You really made me cry"

"Oh... Thank you" I sighed. "Look... About last night"

"I know. One night stand" he nodded. "But hey, we could be friends, you know?"

I looked at him and sighed. I felt Charles' eyes on me again and I felt the shivers again.

"Look... You are nice and all, but you are not my type" I sighed.

I smiled weakly and kept walking, making myself get lost on the streets of the village just to have time to think.

"Juliette!" he called me.

I turned around and sighed. Charles followed me, he walked behind me.

"Charles..." I sighed.

"They threatened me" he said, walking closer to me. "They didn't like that I did nothing during the lockdown. That I didn't train. That my first season in Ferrari was nothing. They wanted me to fight, to focus. To leave everyone to the side"

"What?" I frowned.

"Mattia wanted me to live only for Ferrari" he mumbled. "He obliged me to break up with you. To leave my friends. To not date anyone nor be involved in rumors. They used me as a puppet to have more followers, making promises that I would take the team back to the top"

I looked at him and swallowed thickly. Now I understand why he was nervous that night. Why his eyes were red.

"Juliette..." he whispered, closing the big distance between us, just standing a few feet apart. "I went to your shows. To your first show, I was there, on top of the stadium and watching you how you sang and danced"

"Why did you never call me?" I mumbled, feeling tears in my eyes. "Why did you never text me?"

"Because my publicist had a copy of my sim card" he whispered, holding my hands. "He controlled my media, what I should post and when. Who I followed and who followed me"

I looked at him. He was crying. He was crying and letting all his feelings get out. I missed him, how fragile he let himself be when he was with me.

"I missed you, Juliette" he whispered. "Every second, every hour, every day of my life. I missed you so much and it killed me that I could never be near you because they had eyes everywhere"

I swallowed thickly and did what my body needed to do. I just hugged him, I just held him close to me.

"I tried to find you" he whispered in my neck. "I tried to contact you but I was so afraid of you pushing me away again..."

"Oh, Charles..." I mumble rubbing his back. "I..."

Can't. I can't.

"It hurt so bad" I whispered. "It... The day you left me was the most painful day of my life. I could handle the pain of all those nights hearing you cry, holding you until you fell asleep in my arms. I could handle watching you fall apart and hearing your heart break when Jules and your father died. But... That night was like if you died to me"

"Juliette" he whispered, holding me tighter. He's here.

"I waited for you" I whisper. "A day, a week, months... But you never called"

"I wanted to call you" he whispered. "I... Valerie. Valerie was the only way I had of knowing how you were. She got me all the tickets, she made sure that you were alright"

"What?" I frown. "Valerie?"

"She wanted us together, Juliette" he whispered, pulling away and looking at me, cupping my cheek. "He wanted us back together, she threatened me so many times about telling you everything I did for you. And... God, I know I disappeared for ten years, but if you give me another chance I promise you that I'll never leave"

"Charles..."

"I'll never leave you, Juliette Morelli" he whispered, wiping away my tears. "I promise. I know that I broke so many promises. But... Please, give me another chance"

"Give me time" I whisper. "I need time"

taglist

@lestappenloverr @racinggirl @roni-midnights @livster @kakorrhaphiphobia @starkeyellow @ru-kru

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knoxvillegender · 5 months

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STEVIE/ENDER, 19, THEY/THEM & NEOS

stonedstevie -> knoxvillegender

interests:

* italic means special interest/hyperfixation

> youtubers/content creators (gab smolders, johnnie guilbert, jake webber, jacksepticeye, sam and colby, dan and phil, aimsey & more)

> movies/tv shows (stranger things, fargo s5, fnaf movie, spree, the last of us hbo, deadpool, marmalade, jackass, & assorted horror movies)

> video games (night in the woods, sally face, disney dreamlight valley, the sims 4, minecraft, purrgatory, & various horror and cozy games)

> music (jxdn, glaive, reneé rapp, johnnie guilbert, yung scuff, djo, hozier, chase atlantic, roger alan wade)

info about the blog & me (UNDER CUT):

> i am an adult and post adult content sometimes. i suggest minors to tread lightly. i tag nsfw related posts with '#suggestive'. minors block that tag.

> i block dream and wilbur soot supporters on sight, fuck off if you support either of them. i block harry potter fans, and people who like billy hargrove/ship h*rringrove or m*ngrove.

> i tend to spam rb and not queue, so if that bothers you, this blog isn’t for you. but i do queue my own original content!

> i post about 🍃 (weed) and being high sometimes untagged, so if that makes you uncomfortable, i suggest you unfollow/block me.

> i use contradicting labels (ex: arospec and hyperromantic), don’t look at me for an explanation or discourse about it.

> don’t talk to me about discourse in general, i genuinely don’t fucking care.

> i am autistic so apologies in advance if i misunderstand things! i struggle with conversation but i try my best. please use tone tags with me!

> i am a system, please don’t be weird about our introjects or you will be blocked. you do not have the right to tell us what we experience is fake. if you "don't believe" in DID, get a life.

> please ask to dm me if we are not mutuals (dms are 17+)! mutuals also have full permission to ask for my discord.

important links:

my tagging system (must read), pronouns page, pronouns.cc, list of headmate blogs, spotify, ao3

some fast tag navigation (silly edition):

my fics (send an ask if you want to be on my taglist) ★ ideas ★ eddiecore ★ stevecore ★ steddiecore ★ stobincore ★ jknoxvillecore ★

playlists i’ve made (still adding to):

songs that remind me of 2000s johnny knoxville, my oc sunny, sunville (the relationship of my oc sunny and johnny knoxville), viva la sunny (songs my oc sunny and bam margera would share a love for)

other blogs of mine:

my alt (@igotpapercuts), catkin (@kittybaps), our system blog (@originssystem), webweaving and other word/aesthetic rbs (@loverstained), post limit (@stevie-idiot-jail), my steve-o rp blog (@steve-o420)

my url history:

ass-olotls -> aimsify -> genlossism -> stonedstevie -> knoxvillegender

last date updated: apr. 26, 2024

times i’ve hit post limit (for fun :3): 1 (one)

[please like after reading]

#pinned #ender.txt

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ladystardust-thinks · 1 year

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Hello There!

My loves,

my name is Ronnie and i try to write. I write for some specific franchises and characters because I'm a tad bit uncultured and I have not watched a lot of stuff. This post will be a list of people I write for and you can request fics. I only write OC and x readers though. I am very sorry if that is not what you are interested in.

the people in italics are those I prefer to write the most about right now (bc I'm just a girl and I have phases ok?) and those in bold are the people I have a request in my inbox so works for them are basically coming soon

Any of the Marauders!

Any of the Daisy Jones and the Six girls!

DJATS; Eddie Roundtree, Warren Rojas

Kingsman; Eggsy, Roxy

Celebrities?; Tom Blyth, Taron Egerton, Taylor Swift, Florence Pugh, Joe Mazzello, Hailee Steinfeld, Suki Waterhouse, Josh Whitehouse, Maya Hawke, Joseph Quinn, Joe Keery

Stranger Things; Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, Chrissy Cunningham

misc; tom blyth's!billy the kid, eloise bridgerton, razzle dingley, brian may, roger taylor, paris geller, rory gilmore, lorelai gilmore, jess mariano

Any Spiderverse Character!!

ATTENTION!

this list is not limited, if you have any request about the marvel or star wars universe send it around.

I do not write rpf (real people fiction) smut! The celebrity members list only includes fluff and light angst! I am not sure if I will be writing smut in general.

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the-anxious-youth · 1 year

Text

I am Crazier - Chapter Two

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Dark!Targaryen!Reader/OC (fem)

Summary: After giving Aemond your eye in place of your brother Lucaerys’, the two of you return home to your respective families and deliver the news, an interesting offer comes your way.

Warnings: canon typical violence, gore, body horror, reader herself is a whole ass warning, Targaryen incest, no NSFW but still 18+

Author’s Note: I wanted to dive into reader’s past so flashbacks will be in italics. While this is written in an x reader format, some characteristics of hers were created by me, and she has the typical Targaryen hair and eyes, hence why it could be read as an OC piece. I hope you enjoy and let me know if you would like to be added to the tag list!

Word Count: 4,200

Chapter One

Aemond was silent as he flew back to King’s Landing, internally recounting the events that had just transpired. The image of you, his niece, gouging out your own eye was seared into his brain. He pondered how you could do such a thing for someone you claimed to despise.

He knew you handed over her eye to protect Lucaerys and not for his own pleasure, but there was a nagging feeling in his gut that your actions could lead to something more.

The two of you got along decently in your childhoods, as Aegon was the more frequent target of your rage. He never knew when to shut his mouth, and as soon as he brought the legitimacy of your brothers into question, you made it your mission to put the brat in his place.

Your parentage was rarely questioned as you were lucky enough to possess the long, silver hair that was famously Targaryen. The purple within your irises also suggested you were of pure Targaryen blood, which was closer to the truth than most people realized. You were conceived right before Rhaenyra was wed to Laenor while the young princess visited a brothel with her uncle Daemon. It didn’t take a genius to infer the identity of your father, but you appeared purebred enough for people to question it.

Aemond didn’t care much for the discussion of his nephew’s lineage, at least not until his mother advised him to. He didn’t care much for you either. Your borderline insanity always had him on edge, hence why he tried his best not to bother you.

As King’s Landing came into view, he prepared himself for the large quantity of questions he shall receive. Vhagar landed his feet upon the ground as Aemond claimed of the magnificent beast. His grip on his satchel was tight, and the knowledge of what’s inside weighed heavy on his mind.

While walking through the halls of the Red Keep, he mentally practiced what he would say to his family, especially his mother. He knew her quite well, but was unsure of the nature of the reaction she would have at your actions.

The guards outside the throne room bowed their heads out of respect for the young Prince. As the door opened he saw his older brother lounging on the throne as if it were a measly chair. His mother, Alicent, stood next to him and appeared to be involved in some form of conversation with her son.

In addition to his mother and brother, his uncle Otto Hightower stood on the opposite side of Aegon, and was listening intently to their conversation. Helaena stood beside her mother, but seemed to be lost within her own mind. She was the first to meet Aemond’s eye.

The sound of the great doors opening caused the remaining parties to turn their heads. His head was held high as he walked with an air of confidence.

“Aemond my dear, do come closer. Your brother and I are pleased at your return. I do hope you have some good news to share.” Alicent always had a special connection with her second born son, as was visible to anyone who spared a glance at the love displayed on her face.

“I do have news, but whether or not it is positive, I cannot say.” He closed the distance between his family members and himself, and mentally prepared for the difficult conversation he was about to have. Both his sister and mother wore looks of concern.

“Very well. What do you have to share?” Otto spoke calmly yet firm.

“We have gained the support of house Baratheon, but the events that transpired at Storm’s End were quite… unexpected.” Instead of explaining further Aemond reached towards the satchel within his coat and pulled out its contents.

The shock was evident on all four of their faces, and the two women gasped out of fright. A blood-covered eye rested in the palm of his hand.

“Aemond, what have you done?” Alicent’s voice trembled as she looked deeply into her son’s eye, silently asking for more context.

“I did not remove this eye from its owner, it was gifted to me in an effort for a truce.”

“From whom?” Suddenly Aegon spoke up, his interest piqued at the sight of the dismembered organ.

“Y/N,” Aemond muttered quietly as if it were a sin to say her name.

“She gouged it out herself as payment for the eye her brother stole from me.” The room went silent at the admission. Alicent was horrified that her niece would do such a thing. Otto appeared to be deep in thought, probably mulling over what her actions meant for the two families. Amusement was obvious on Aegon’s face, as he was not nearly as surprised as everyone else. But the most disturbed of them all was Helaena.

Aemond may not have been close to you, but his sister sure was. You were both viewed as odd, with Heleana and her bugs and you and your unbridled temper. Despite being polar opposites, you spent a large amount of free time together. When you weren't training with your brothers, it was not uncommon to find you lounging with your aunt.

A mixture of emotions rushed through her body. Anger that her brother would tempt her niece to do such a thing, fear for how this would affect your life, and sadness at the reality of the feud between their families, but the most prevalent emotion was longing. It had been a while since the two of you had last seen each other, and Helaena missed you greatly.

You were the only person who didn’t brush off Helaena’s predictions. You would intently listen to every word, something that Helaena greatly appreciated. Whenever Aegon had the gall to insult his sister, you would jump right to her defense.

After combat training with her brothers and uncles, Y/N had spotted a beautiful spider made of brown and blue, one which Helaena would love. Crouching down, she gently trapped the spider between her palms and immediately raced off to find her best friend.

Heleana was the only person outside of her Velaryon family she adored. To her, they were not aunt and niece, but sisters with a great deal of respect between one another. As she ran through the castle halls, a joyous smile laid on her face.

Y/N found her friend stitching a picture of a butterfly, and the latter looked up as her niece-sister loudly entered the room.

“Helaena, Helaena, I found something for you!” She sat down next to her and slowly opened her palms. Helaena let out a gasp and immediately smiled. No one appreciated her love of insects like Y/N did, and she was honored that the young girl went out of her way to make her smile.

Y/N was used to the looks of fear that constantly adorned the faces of those around her, but Heleana never held a single ounce of fear behind her eyes. Much like Jacaerys and Lucaerys, she knew Y/N would never raise a hand to her or put her in harm’s way.

The love between the young aunt and niece was one of a pure kind that would melt the heart of the cruelest barbarian. When they looked at each other, they didn’t see princesses of Targaryen descent. They just saw a person full of love who was often labeled peculiar or odd.

“Thank you so much, dear Y/N,” said Helaena as the spider crawled into her open hands.

“He’s beautiful.” They sat in a peaceful silence until Aegon spoke up, his words vile as usual. The short haired prince loved to complain about his sister, and today was no different.

“Only a wretched creature such as yourself would find beauty within an insect.” With a look of disgust, he stared down at his sister and niece.

“I cannot believe I have to marry a woman as delusional as yourself.”

“What’s delusional is your distaste for a lady as lovely as Helaena. I cannot tell whether you are ungrateful or just downright ignorant. Anyone would be lucky to spend their life with such an incredible person.” Y/N’s previously gentle gaze had turned to one of ice and stone.

“Are you implying that you would take my place?” A tone of hilarity rang throughout the challenging statement. Aegon enjoyed pushing Y/N’s buttons, and this was no different.

“I would marry Helaena in a heartbeat had it been permitted by the gods.” Confidence bled through her words, a stony look upon her face.

“Wouldn’t that be wrong, neice? A relationship without a man would be fragile, just waiting to be interrupted.” The mischievous grin on Aegon’s face did not go unnoticed by Y/N. She stepped closer until the two were only centimeters apart and whispered in his ear.

“What would be wrong is a prince without a cock.”

To emphasize her point, she raised her knee to roughly press at his groin while leaning back to look deep in his eyes. Aegon tried to appear unaffected but Y/N knew he was rattled. Her smile was off putting, and he knew her threat was a serious one.

As if nothing happened, she strolled back to Helaena and sat down next to her once again. Aegon rolled his eyes but decided it was best not to push her any further.

“Is Y/N alright?” Helaena shakily inquired.

“I believe so. Despite the bloody cavity on her face, she was of a tranquil manner.” Helaena let out a sigh of relief, but it was obvious she was still struck with worry.

“You didn’t pressure her, did you?” Alicent warily questioned. As much as she loved her son, she knew he had become cold in the years since the confrontation with his nephews. Many were afraid of the wrath that laid beneath his pale exterior, but she hadn’t forgotten that Y/N was not one of them.

“Of course not, mother. It was her brother I wished to unnerve.” Aemond was almost offended that his mother could think he would harm someone of which his heart held no ill-will.

“Apparently she found our long-standing quarrel tiresome and offered me her eye in exchange for its end.”

A bitter chill fell upon the room as the reality of Y/N’s action set in.

“It appears our precious niece is still as crazy as in our youth,” Aegon muttered, breaking the silence. In all honesty, he was impressed at the vehemence of the devotion she bore for her brothers. He could even picture the wicked smile on her face as she clawed her bloodied eye from its socket.

He remembered the night Aemond lost his eye as well as his brother did. While he missed the quarrel itself, the story his brother told was one he would not soon forget.

You had been peacefully resting in a bedroom at Driftmark when your slumber was broken by the sound of angered voices and pattering feet. Such things often led to conflict, something you would never fail to include yourself in.

Bare feet padded against the stone floor as you followed the hushed whispers through the halls, eventually ending up at the entrance to the dragon pit. Baela, Rhaena, Jacaerys and Lucaerys stood parallel to a boy with blonde hair who you immediately recognized as Aemond. They appeared to be arguing, so you hid yourself behind a wall to eavesdrop.

“Vhagar is my mother’s dragon.” Baela’s words were soaked in anger.

“Your mother’s dead, and Vhagar has a new rider now,” Aemond replied cockily. He was a boy who usually reeked of insecurity, but none could be found at the moment.

“She was mine to claim!” It was apparent on both her and her sister’s faces that they were appalled at their cousin’s actions.

“Then you should have claimed her!” Even though you couldn’t see his face, you could picture his smug expression.

“Maybe your cousins can find you a pig to ride, it would suit you.” Suddenly Baela lunged at Aemond, but was harshly thrown to the ground. Rhaena threw a punch towards his jaw, but he was faster than her, and retaliated by socking her in the nose.

“Come at me again and I’ll feed you to my dragon!” He began fighting with Jace, and you came out from behind the wall in case you had to step in. You would have loved to beat your young uncle unconscious, but you had been recently scolded by your mother for fighting your brother’s battles for them.

‘They will never learn to defend themselves if you’re always protecting them, Y/N,’ Rhaenyra’s words echoed in your mind, and as much as you hated to admit it, she was right. You wouldn’t always be there to keep them from harm, so it was about time they learned how to win a fight on their own.

You were starting to get worried until Aemond got knocked off his feet and was suffering the punches of Lucaerys and the two girls. It seemed as though the fight had been won, but then your brother’s throat was seized by his foe. Aemond stood up with his hand wrapped around Luke’s neck, and in his right hand you spotted a sizable rock.

Your breath caught in your throat as he lifted the stone above his head, his intent to strike blatant. As you took a step forward, Aemond hauled another insult at your kin.

“You will die screaming in flames just as your father did. Bastards.” You had enough of his taunting and started treading towards him, keeping your footsteps as light as possible.

“My father’s still alive,” replied Lucaerys, and your steps faltered. You knew he wasn’t aware of his lineage, and you were furious that he would find out this way. Aemond chuckled at his realization of your brother’s naivety.

“He doesn’t know, does he… Lord Strong.” Jace pulled out a knife as Aemond shoved his brother toward him. Despite his best efforts, his uncle was the better fighter, and he was quickly subdued as his back hit the dirt.

Aemond once again raised his arm, but was met with sand in the face. You smirked at Jace’s dirty move, knowing full well you were the one who taught it to him. Closing the distance between Aemond and yourself, you had every intention of putting him in a headlock when he was sliced across the face by Lucaerys. He gripped his now bleeding eye and fell to his knees, only to hear a cruel chuckle.

Aemond looked up and saw none other than yourself, and the crazed look in your eyes told him he had fucked up. Had he known his niece was present, he never would have dared to dig into her brothers about their parentage. The once smug smile on his face immediately turned to a wince, and you reveled in the dread behind his eye.

“That should teach you to watch your tongue!” You laughed joyously, mocking the mutilated boy in front of you.

Up until that moment, you bore no animosity towards the second born prince. He feared you like everyone else, and did his best to leave you alone. The second he disrespected your family, he became just another human that needed to be reminded of his place.

Aemond tried his hardest to conceal how frightened he was, but you saw straight through his cloak of lies.

“Nothing I said was untrue.” His voice shook as he tried to defend himself. Despite the terror streaming through his arteries, he never broke eye contact with you. He mentally prepared himself for the beratement he would no doubt receive.

Much to his surprise, you grinned as if you had just landed an arrow through the heart of a great buck.

“It seems you have forgotten your place, boy. I shall be more than happy to remind you where you lie in the hierarchy of this family.”

With your right hand you harshly gripped Aemond’s jaw, turning his face to inspect the gaping hole of which blood was pouring. Your eyes met his blue one as you thrust your thumb into the slimy orifice, causing him to yelp. The hoarse scream he struggled to choke down fell out his chapped lips as your nail met his optic nerve. Crimson ooze sept down his face and you leaned closer until your faces were millimeters apart.

“You would be wise to remember this moment the next time you dare think about bestowing harm upon my brothers.”

Alicent nervously paced around the throne room once the reality of her son’s situation set in.

“I know Rhaenyra well enough to know that she will be furious when she hears about the actions of her daughter. She may point the blame towards you, Aemond, since it was your disputation that drove her to such ends.”

She turned to her second born son, a combination of wariness and frustration visible on her features.

“You should never have accepted this from Y/N! We are on the brink of a war I wish to avoid. I understand the malice you have towards Lucaerys deeply, but involving the unstable daughter of the woman attempting to steal your brother’s throne will most likely have unsavory implications.”

Aemond’s heart tensed at his mother’s words. He opened his mouth to speak, but she went on before he could utter a word.

“We are trying to mend the relationship between our family and theirs, and here you go throwing a rift in our calculated plan. What if Rhaenyra wants revenge? Y/N is her only daughter after all, and the rift between our houses is greater than ever.”

“There is something you are forgetting, mother. This eye was given to me by Y/N’s own will. I did not ask her to do such a thing, therefore-“

“But she did it with the purpose of ending your feud! Lucaerys deserves punishment for stealing your eye, but Y/N does not. You know just as well as I do that her madness is not to be underestimated. If she convinces Rhaenyra to go to war for the crown, there’s no telling how far Y/N will go to win.”

Everyone was quiet, mulling over the words Alicent had just spoken. After a short period of time, Otto broke the silence in a calm and collected voice.

“If that is so, then we must appease them in some way. Should we keep Aegon seated on the throne, we will have to barter a truce. The only way Rhaenyra and her family will bow the knee is if we offer them something in return.”

“Have you forgotten that we already sent her terms?” Aegon commented sarcastically.

“Then we shall modify them to ensure she agrees.” It was clear Otto was formulating some sort of plan.

“What do you intend to offer her?”

“It must be in her best interest to accept.” Aemond wondered whatever was swirling around in his grandfather’s mind, but knew it was nothing good.

“What in the seven hells happened to you?!”

The glance at her daughter’s disfigured face appalled Rhaenyra, and sparked all sorts of questions in her head.

“I paid a debt,” you affirmed as if it were obvious. Looks of confusion could be seen on everyone in the room besides Lucaeyrs and yourself.

“To whom, Lord Borros? You owe nothing to House Baratheon.” Your mother all but begged for context on the gory orifice where your eye once was.

“We encountered Aemond while at Storm’s End,” Lucaerys muttered, and Rhaenyra gasped as she began to piece together the events that had transpired while you and your brother were away.

“He took your eye?” The looks of horror on every person’s face turned to one of fury. Daemon in particular appeared ready to cut someone’s head off for mutilating his daughter in such a way.

“Quite the opposite. His badgering of Luke became tiresome so I offered my eye instead of my brother’s.” You smiled proudly, watching the gears turn in your mother’s head. The silence was deafening, until it was broken by Daemon.

“I imagine Aemond’s reaction was quite amusing.” His smile matched your own, and his heart pervaded with pride. Out of your family, he was always the most supportive of your insane actions.

Despite not being present during your early years, the tales of your madness had reached even him. He had pondered how a child of his niece could act in such a way, but when he met you in person on the day of his late wife’s funeral, he immediately knew you were of his blood. For starters, you looked nothing like your brothers, bearing long, flaxen hair and piercing purple eyes. Ever since his marriage to your mother, he made an effort to support you, even when you were clearly in the wrong.

“Indeed it was, dear uncle.” While the both of you knew of your relation, you acted as uncle and niece to deter people from accusing your mother of being a whore.

“He tried his hardest to appear unbothered, but I took one look in his eye and knew he was rattled to his core. It took everything in me not to burst out laughing at his feeble attempts of intimidation.” Daemon was impressed, but Rhaenyra most certainly was not.

“How could you scar yourself for someone like Aemond? Need I remind you of the insults he spewed towards our family the last time we met?!” Your mother was furious at how you permanently disfigured yourself for an enemy without an inkling of wariness.

“I would rather lose eye than let an imbecile like Aemond take one of Luke’s.” Rhaenyra couldn’t tell if she was more proud of the love you bore for your brother, or angry that Aemond even tried to maim one of her children in the first place. She let out a great sigh while slowly shaking her head.

Daemon walked towards you and put his hand on your shoulder, emulating his pride towards you.

“I bet Alicent and those walking burdens she calls children will think twice about crossing this family again.” Your father was never a kind man, but he treated his secret daughter with the utmost respect as he held her in high regard.

“I need a drink,” muttered your mother. She began to ask more questions, but this time in regard to the message you were sent to give to Lord Borros. Your brother did most of the talking as you were off in your own mind, replaying the events that transpired at Storm’s End, a snide smile never leaving your face.

The next few days were uneventful as you were ordered to rest to ensure your eye, or lack thereof, would heal nicely. Your mother instilled a guard at your door night and day, as she was very familiar with the joy you got from disobeying orders.

On the fourth sunrise, she granted you access to the rest of Dragonstone as long as you refrained from training and riding your dragon, the latter bringing about irritation as you loved your dragon dearly.

You entered one of the rooms Daemon often used to study, and found him standing next to a window with a sour look on his face. As you got closer you noticed he was reading a piece of paper, and judging by the dainty handwriting, it was a letter of some sort.

“Dare I ask what you are so deep in thought about? I haven’t seen you this focused in a while.” Your voice was cheery with just a touch of teasing.

He raised his head and your smile wavered at the intense look in his eyes. It was not uncommon for the prince to be angry, but something told you this time was serious.

“We have received a letter from the Greens.”

“And? Did they finally dethrone that halfwit, or do I need to murder someone?” You tried to lighten the mood as you prepared for his next statement.

“Quite the opposite. They modified their terms in a way that is extremely ill-suited. Rhaenyra hasn’t even seen this letter yet, as the raven arrived within the hour.” Daemon was furious, and you could tell he was refraining himself from tearing the thin piece of parchment to shreds by the way his hands shook.

“What did they offer?” You ask carefully, not sure if you want to hear the answer.

“That cunt they call ‘king’ asked for your hand in marriage.”

“But he’s already married, and quite ungrateful for it.” At this point, you were utterly confused and desperate for more information regarding the circumstances.

“Not for him, but for his younger brother Aemond.”

In a few seconds, you were just as mad as he was.

“No fucking way!”

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#my writing #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #house of the dragon x reader #house of the dragon #hotd x reader #hotd

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