#((i have no idea why but every now and then my laptop will not connect to the wifi

[thot-of-khonshu]

Friendship Defined (Joel Miller x f! reader)

Summary: You and Joel have been friends with benefits for months. The blurred lines have you questioning what exactly makes a friend just a friend?

Warnings: 18+. MDNI. Mentions of sex (oral, p in v), mention of periods, fwb! Joel, non outbreak AU, implied age gap, fluff

Word Count:~800

Author’s Note: Thank you to the lovely @swiftiscruff ( @swiftispunk & @joelscruff ) for coming up with this idea.

This one shot is dedicated to all of you.

I’ve been in this fandom for a few years now and as much as I’ve wanted to I still have trouble putting myself out there to make friends in the fandom. I usually just put out my stories and go about my day.

Well I want that to change!

This was such a beautiful idea and such a great reminder of how wonderful fandom can be. To be able to connect with so many talented people is such a gift and I want to try to get to know you guys more. This is my official post to put myself out there - so if anyone wants to come into my asks or DMs or message me on Discord please do!! I wanna be your friend lol!!

To celebrate this momentous weekend of friendship and fandom, I’ve created a Joel one shot all about friendship. With benefits lol. Enjoy!!

Joel would always introduce you as his friend. 

Friend being a blanket term but it did seem to fit into your large, intricate clusterfuck of whatever you were. 

Sure, in the literal sense you were friends. Ever since you met Joel through his little brother Tommy, a group of you would go out every Friday to the same bar for a beer and darts. 

Then when Tommy met Maria and everyone else in your group started to couple up, you had more time to spend together. 

It started off with friendly dart competitions that lasted a bit too long. Shots that would start to last until closing time. A shared Uber to one house because “it’ll save money”. 

Cut to Joel eating you out on your kitchen counter. And getting fucked in the shower that next morning. And then suddenly several times a week you’re trying to plan strategic ways on how to exit at different times so it didn’t seem suspicious. It didn’t matter, though. Tommy knew and would take the moment Joel left to fuck with him about it.

So if everyone else knew, why didn’t either of you know what this was? You didn’t want to bring it up because the idea of him getting freaked out and ending things made your chest tight.

You were so in your head about this arrangement that one night after leaving Joel’s house after watching and the Fast and the Furious and then having the ride of your life on his dick afterwards, you came home and immediately opened your laptop to do some soul and site searching. 

Is this still technically a friendship at least according to Merriam-Webster terms? 

friendship

noun. friend· ship ˈfren(d)-ˌship 

1: the state of being friends

….Google search number two: 

friend

noun. ˈfrend 

plural friends

1: one attached to another by affection or esteem

There are several other definitions for the word friend. 

2: One who is not hostile. 

Joel was never hostile with you. He was adorably patient when you took too long to decide what you wanted when you went out to dinner. He never hesitated to say sure when you wanted to try what was on his plate. 

The hardest he’s ever pressed onto you was when your ex boyfriend showed up at the bar one night. Once he made a beeline to talk to you, Joel’s massive hand snaked around your waist to pull you into him so he could know any talk with you tonight was off limits. You were off limits. 

The idea of Joel being so possessive made you so wet that you blew him in the alley that night. 

3:  one that favors or promotes something (such as a charity)

It takes you back to one of the first times you had slept with him. You were sprawled across his bed as he peeled your leggings from your body. You spread open for him as he pushed your thong aside to fit his thick finger into your hole. 

He curved his finger into you and came closer, feeling his breath on your clit.

Instinctively you blurted out, “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.”

Joel looked up at you with a serious expression.

“None of my other exes really liked to do this.”

Without hesitation, Joel settled between your thighs again.

“Well then I guess I'm going to be your new favorite.” And with that, he slid his finger back inside you, this time with more intent. You let out a moan as he teased your clit with his finger, reminding you of why he was indeed your favorite.

4: a favored companion

You think about the late nights picking up french fries at McDonalds when you convince Joel out of the house past his bedtime on Saturday nights. You remember the nights you had your period and he still wanted you to come over so he could cook you dinner; your cramps dulling as he soothed you on the couch. 

You think of how nice it is to just be with him. Laying naked and vulnerable, hearing things he hasn’t even told Tommy. 

You go back to Google. 

“What is the definition of a romantic relationship?” you type, the clacking of your keys sounding louder than ever. 

Before you can press enter, your phone rings loudly and startles you. It’s Joel. You pick up. 

“Hey. Just checkin’ in.” He says. “You left kinda quick so I wanted to make sure you’re okay.” 

“Yeah.” You feel your heart swell inside your chest. You can’t stop grinning. “I’m perfectly fine.” 

“Oh…” You can see the crease form in his forehead when saying that. “You didn’t have to go or nothin’, I just didn’t know if you were sick.” 

“You’re my best friend.” You tell him, unaffected at how random that must seem for Joel to hear. “You know that, right?” 

But instead of being suspicious, Joel's voice softens. You’ve only heard this voice in passing, with Sarah on the other end.

“Yeah, I know. You’re my best friend too.”

You didn't realize how much that simple affirmation meant to you until you heard it.

There was a pause on the other end, a moment of shared unspoken understanding, a thick air of tension and want, and then you both spoke at once.

"Would you like to come back over?"

"Hey, I was just about to ask if I could come back over," you blurted out, suddenly feeling a little bold. “Maybe spend the night?”

The two of you laughed together; you closed your eyes and envisioned the crinkle in his eyes. His soft brown eyes are on you as he shakes his head in disbelief. What the hell are you still doing at home?

“I wouldn’t want anything more.”

That’s what friends are for, right?

#ppcugiftexchange2024 #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal character fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #joel miller x f!reader #Joel miller #joel miller x y/n #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller smut #the last of us #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us smut #pedro pascal fic #pedro pascal smut #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal fanfic #joel tlou

[starcchild]

((I feel like I'd have an easier time mixing oil and water together than I am trying to reconnect my laptop to the wifi fdshgkfdj

#ground control (ooc) #((i have no idea why but every now and then my laptop will not connect to the wifi #but the wifi is working just fine because I'm connected on my phone #but honestly it's probably better anyway because i don't think i could write even if it was working sdjgjshfh #I've been lightheaded all day yeehaw #but also i wanna do things here so I'll probably try some writing on mobile and see how that goes))

[little-diable]

The Test of Time - Tommy Shelby (smut)

This is an idea I have been playing with for a while. It is very dear to me, so I hope it'll also be to you! Please like and reblog if you enjoyed reading this, your comments keep us writers motivated! Enjoy my loves. xxx

Summary: When Professor Shelby meets his new student, he's instantly fascinated by her, not understanding why he feels this connected to her. But the second their hands touch, both feel themselves thrown back in time, meeting centuries ago. It seems like love will always stand the test of time.

Warnings: 18+, smut, piv, lots of fluff, mentions some war time stuff and blood, small breeding kink, professor x reader relationship, age gap

Pairing: Soldier!Tommy x nurse!fem!reader / Professor!Tommy x student!fem!reader (3.7k words)

4th of August 1916, Northern France

The air was sticky, his hands were muddy, dry, and heavy. He had to blink more often than his eyes liked, worsening the headache he had been plagued by for months. A shaky exhale left him, momentarily squeezing his eyes shut to try and keep calm. There was no way out, he was stuck, below the ground, and if there was one thing he couldn’t do, it was panicking – at least not if he wanted to stay alive. He couldn’t risk being shot for going against a command, for being frightened like a boy.

Voices echoed through the tunnel, ringing in his ears like another bomb going off in the distance. They had to work fast. They had to work precisely, otherwise they’d eventually be buried by the dark soil, swallowing them whole as the enemy won the battle. 

“Shelby!” A raspy voice ripped him out of his panicked state, he was shoved, forced to move faster, to keep on digging even though his hands were bleeding and the blisters kept growing. He had to keep digging, had to keep digging, had to keep digging. Before the darkness would swallow him whole. 

February 2024, Birmingham 

The sound of his shoes meeting the ground echoed through the empty hallway, eyes set on his black iPhone. It was too fucking early for his liking, silently cursing his faculty for forcing him to hold these early morning classes. Not once had he met a motivated student who wanted to talk about the First World War with him at 8 am, and as much as Tommy disliked the students he found himself surrounded by, he couldn’t blame them for being tired.

If he could, he’d occupy all afternoon classes, wanting to discuss his research topics with those who were actually interested in modern warfare, strategies, politics, and so on. And yet he knew the chance was slim, forced to back down and make room for those who taught the mandatory classes. 

With a sigh leaving him, Tommy stepped into the room he taught in every Tuesday morning, putting down his bag and shrugging out of his coat before he lifted his gaze. He was still on his own, wondering when the handful of students would pour into the room, probably seconds before class started. 

Tommy plopped down on the uncomfortable chair, he placed his laptop down – hoping that he could at least catch up with the morning news while still being engulfed in silence. He tried to focus on the words, tried to cling to the information he was fed, though without any luck, interrupted by the sickly sweet “Morning!” echoing through the room. 

His eyes found an unfamiliar pair, not used to being greeted this enthusiastically in the morning. It took him a second to reply, eyebrows furrowed as he studied the woman. She must have been young, and yet he instantly found himself drawn to her gorgeous features, the soft hair he wanted to feel beneath his fingertips. 

“(Y/n), right?” She had emailed him about a month ago, warning the professor that she’d have to miss the first two weeks of his course due to some family trouble. Back then he hadn’t cared about her missing out on it, it was on her to catch up with his teaching anyways, but now he couldn’t help but wonder how he had managed to miss out on having her around for even just a second. 

“That’s me! Sorry again for my absence, Professor Shelby.” He shot her a small smile, not daring to speak up as his throat grew tighter. What the fuck was going on with him? Tommy felt as if he was drowning, as if the cold ocean was soaking through his black clothes, sticking to him to add more weight to his frame. He didn’t know her, knew only her name, and yet he felt strangely connected to her. 

He needed to get a grip, needed to redirect his focus before he’d forget his surroundings and the information he was supposed to pass on to his students.

……

“Professor Shelby?” (Y/n)’s voice echoed through his office, making a small smile tug on his lips as his eyes found hers. She stepped into the room, carefully closing the door behind herself before she walked up to him. Wordlessly he pointed towards the chair placed close to his table, piercing blue eyes watching her sit down.

“I have to say, I’m impressed, (y/n). You’re the first to ever score 100 on this essay.” The smile that grew on her lips left Tommy choking on his air, forcing his eyes away from her face. It had been a selfish move to invite all students to his office hour, telling them that he’d like to give them each some verbal feedback. But deep down Tommy didn’t give a single fuck about his students, at least not about the others, having eyes only for her. 

“I wanted to leave a good impression, especially after missing out on so much.” He was forced to look at her again, shooting her another smile as he reached the essay out for her to take. His heart started racing the second her fingers touched his, vision growing blurry, unable to notice that she was going through the same confusing sensations. 

“Help! We need help!” The screams echoed through the tent, ringing in her ears as she watched the soldiers move closer. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the soldier whose face was covered in blood and mud, forcing her to run towards them. 

“Place him down over there, quick!” Panic was flushing through her. No matter how many soldiers she had helped before, no matter how many lives she had saved, (y/n) couldn’t help but fear these moments when she held their lives in her hands. She needed to work quickly, and couldn’t wait for the other nurses to return from their visitations, there was no time to lose. “I need you to hold him down.” 

Her eyes met a pair of piercing blue ones, momentarily robbing her of any air left in her lungs. She had to redirect her focus, bloody fingers trying to clean the soldier’s cheeks as the handsome man held him down. No words were spoken between them, she needed to concentrate, needed to stop the soldier’s bleeding. Feeling the other man near did something to her, something unfamiliar she hadn’t ever felt before. 

“Here, I need you to bite down on this.” She pushed a wooden piece between the guy’s teeth as she reached for her tweezers. A deep inhale of air was sucked into her lungs. Even though it wasn’t the first time she was about to pull a bullet from somebody’s skin, (y/n) couldn’t help but feel nervous. Before she could even try to move, she felt the handsome man’s hand on her knee, softly squeezing the flesh to try and wordlessly support her. She could do it, and could help the hurt soldier, especially with the support of the man who was sitting close to her. 

“Alright, this will hurt.”

“Uhm,” Tommy had to clear his throat, blinking a few times before his vision began to clear up. (Y/n) was still sitting close to him, wearing the same confused expression as Tommy. Both stared at one another for a few moments, wordlessly, before she grasped the essay. Her eyes flickered down to the paper, trying to recollect her thoughts. 

“Thank you again for this, I think it’s best if I leave now.” He didn’t get a chance to reply, could only watch her disappear before he could even try to speak up. Tommy’s heart was still racing, mind not understanding what had just happened.

Had this been some trick of his brain, something he had read about in a book or seen in a movie? And yet it didn’t explain to him why the woman had looked just like (y/n), and why (y/n) had been just as dazed as he had been. 

It took Tommy a while to move, shaking his head as he drowned the last sips of his now cold coffee. He needed to get out of his office, needed to grab a few pints with some friends, anything to distract himself from what had just happened, and from (y/n). 

……

“Here, let me.” She watched him light his match, stepping closer to help her light her cigarette. Both blew out the blue smoke, watching it dance in the warm August breeze. Tommy was covered in soil, hands and face dirty, just like his hair, and yet neither of them seemed to care, wanting to feel one another close.

It had been days since she had helped his fellow soldier, making it through the night and all the following ones, left to survive with a big scar gracing his cheek. Ever since that day, Tommy and (y/n) had searched for one another, needing to learn more about the one they couldn’t stop thinking of. 

“Do you miss home, Tommy?” (Y/n)’s whispers rang in his ears, loud enough to distract him from his surroundings, the shots going off in the distance, the calls, and cries. He was sure that no matter where he’d be, no matter who he’d be surrounded by, if (y/n) was close, he’d always find himself focused on her. 

“Always do.” A hum left her at his reply, unconsciously moving closer to him, breath getting stuck in her lungs as his arm found its way around her waist. Their eyes met, his piercingly blue and full of pain and sorrow, hers filled with questions, longings, and confusion. She watched his gaze flicker down to her lips, taking another drag of his cigarette before he dipped his head down. 

(Y/n) didn’t dare move, silently praying that he’d kiss her, that he wouldn’t pull away, wrapped in darkness’s comforting veil. But before he could move, they heard the calls growing louder, forcing all soldiers to return to their positions. Their eyes met once again as he stubbed his cigarette out, pressed a kiss to her cheek, and disappeared.

(Y/n) woke with a gasp, hands pressed to the warm mattress she had been sleeping on for the past hours. Her heart was pounding, her mind racing, still focused on the dream she had just been forced through. Ever since she had experienced that strange moment in Professor Shelby’s office, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking of him, of what her mind had pushed her through – what had felt like a memory but couldn’t be one. And now she was dreaming of him, her professor, and yet he wasn’t a professor, at least not in her dream.

She needed to talk to him, or at least touch him again to figure out of it had been a trick of her brain or something that would happen again. He had looked just as confused, dazed even, unsure what had happened the second their hands had touched. Perhaps she could speak to him after class, or show up at his office, whatever it took to be close to him again. 

……

“Professor? Do you have a moment for me?” He had disappeared too quickly after class for (y/n) to even try to catch up with him, forcing her to wait a few hours before she could turn up at his office. She watched him take off his round glasses, leaning back in his chair as a soft “Of Course” left him. 

For a few moments, they were engulfed in silence, eyes wandering over one another’s features, wondering how to express what they were plagued by. But even though (y/n) tried her hardest to speak up, she couldn’t, throat too tight, mouth too dry. Professor Shelby broke their silence as he cleared his throat, rising to his feet to slowly move towards (y/n). 

He kept his distance and leaned back against his desk, and yet she felt him close. Though not close enough, feeling herself pulled towards him like a puzzle searching for its last missing piece. With a sigh breaking through him, he reached his hand out for (y/n) to take, watching the hesitation tugging on her features. 

“It’s alright, I don’t understand it myself, but I guess it’s on us to figure this out. Whatever it is.” Her teeth ran along her lower lip as (y/n) stepped towards him, letting go of one last exhale before she carefully grasped his hand. 

“Look at me, (y/n). I’ve got you, I’m alive.” His voice rang in her ears, watching the tears drip down her cheeks as she stared up at him. She clung to his hand, cursing this very war for pushing these unfamiliar emotions through her. God, she had counted the hours, had lost hope, sure that Tommy was no longer alive. And yet here he was, alive, breathing, not even bleeding. 

She hastily took a step away, eyes wide, lips parted. He had his eyes focused on his hand, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Neither of them dared to speak up, not understanding what was happening, why these things that felt like memories were pushed through their brains. Only slowly did the professor dare to lift his gaze, studying her panicked features.

“What is happening? What is that?” (Y/n) choked on her words, torn between confusion and the pain she felt deep inside of her. It felt as if she was grieving something or rather someone. A pain she was so unfamiliar with, she couldn’t even understand what it was trying to tell her, what she was plagued by. 

“I don’t know, (y/n).” He spoke her name all too softly, sounding just like it had in her head moments ago. With wide eyes she kept studying him, needing to feel what had happened again, still not believing that this was something but a trick of her brain. All he did was watch her, eyes following her every move, even as she came to a halt in front of him, standing far closer than moments ago, he didn’t dare move. If there was one thing Tommy wanted to avoid, it was scaring her. 

“Can I try something?” Their eyes held contact as (y/n) murmured the words, waiting for his spoken consent before she moved. A quiet “Yes” left the professor, wondering what she was about to do, not expecting to feel her soft lips meeting his.

“You have to be quiet, love.” His raspy voice left her buzzing with excitement. Tommy had her pressed against a car, swallowed by darkness. Their lips met carefully at first, with her arms slung around his neck, and his hands placed on her waist. Neither of them could hold back, deepening the kiss within seconds as they hoped that no other soldiers, nurses, or commanders would find them. 

“Don’t stop, please.” He had taken over the kiss, forcing her down on his desk to stand between her thighs. Both were torn between the pictures their minds were painting and the feeling of one another’s hands exploring their bodies. Whatever it was that had pushed them together, they didn’t want to break the spell, needed to keep close. 

“Will you let me have a taste? Ever since I saw you for the first time I wanted to get my mouth between those pretty thighs of yours.” Her eyes were wide, lips parted to try and suck some air into her aching lungs. (Y/n) could only nod her head, forgetting how to speak, how to express the emotions she so desperately wanted to explain to him.

With their eyes holding contact, Tommy undid her trousers, pulling them down her legs before he pushed her damp panties to the side. The groan that clawed through him at the sight of her bare cunt left her walls clenching around nothing, needing to feel his fingers, his mouth on her. But the second he brushed two fingers through her slit, collecting drops of arousal, she found herself stuck in another memory. 

“Oh god, oh god. Right there.” Her eyes rolled back into her head, pressed against the mattress of the bed she hadn’t been lying on for years. It had been hours since they had returned from France, not daring to leave one another’s side once, hours they had spent hiding away from those who had waited on them for years, only focused on exploring their bodies without needing to worry about curious bystanders. His tongue brushed along her folds, moaning at her taste as his arms tightened their grip on her thighs. 

“I guess you’ve always tasted this sweet.” His words drew tears to her eyes, overcome by a wave of unfamiliar emotions, set on drowning her. Tommy kept moving his fingers as his tongue explored the spots she needed him to touch, choking on his name. She needed to hold onto him, needed to bury her fingers in his skin, but her fingers couldn’t move, could only cling to the edge of his table. “My pretty girl, fuck, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” 

“What a sight for sore eyes, I’m a fucking lucky bastard.” Tommy’s raspy voice filled their shared bedroom. He leaned back in his chair, chest bare, legs stretched out. Smoke left his nostrils, eyes set on her naked frame. She walked closer with a smirk on her lips, enjoying the way he marvelled at her, how he watched her every move. “I don’t deserve you, my pretty wife.”

His wife? Them, Married? Fuck, if these flashes were truly memories of their past life, she couldn’t help but thank whoever had pushed them together once again. Another shot at this life with Tommy by her side, another shot at this life with a man she had loved in other centuries. Love that would always stand the test of time. 

“I need to be inside of you, will you let me fuck you?” (Y/n) pulled Tommy in for a kiss, groaning into his mouth as she felt his covered bulge rubbing against her sensitive cunt. Their kiss was all tongue and teeth, growing more heated by the second, while Tommy’s impatient fingers freed his cock. He parted from her to roll a condom down his cock, and yet their eyes never broke eye contact. “Last chance to stop this, I need you to tell me you want this too.” 

“Oh fuck, of course I want this, Tommy. Fuck me, fuck me like you’ve always fucked me.” Her glassy eyes met his, both were clearly overcome by the emotions they still needed to adjust to. He pushed into her slowly, fingers interlaced with hers to hold her close. There was no need to adjust, it seemed like their bodies remembered one another the same way their minds did. 

“Forever mine, I will never let you go.” Tommy rasped his words into the darkness as he fucked her into their mattress. He couldn’t help but admire her, needing to take in every inch of (y/n), silently hoping that tonight he’d get to fuck another baby into her. Her moans left him smirking, fingers rubbing her pulsing bundle in sync with his thrusts, needing to push her over the edge any moment now. 

She didn’t allow herself to wonder what their life together had been like, and how many children they have had together – at least not at that very moment. All (y/n) could concentrate on was the feeling of Tommy fucking her ruthlessly, cock forcing her walls apart with every thrust. 

With her forehead pushed against his shoulder, (y/n) moaned his name, already close to letting go. Both were shaken up by what kept on happening to them whenever they touched one another in another place, bringing up memories that felt like they were straight out of a movie. It was unfamiliar and confusing, and yet it was anything but scary, no, it left them filled with excitement, needing to learn more about one another and the life they had once shared. 

“It’s alright, love, cum for me, cum on my cock.” Tommy’s gritty voice left her choking on her gasps, letting go with a moan. He kept on snapping his hips, enjoying the way she clenched around him, how she trembled from her intense orgasm. All because of him. With his thoughts set on (y/n), he came, letting go with a groan. 

For a few moments, neither of them parted from one another, holding on before he slowly pulled away. Neither of them spoke as they redressed, caught in their thoughts. Only as Tommy pulled her in for another kiss did (y/n) allow another smile to tug on her lips. 

“If you’ll allow it, I want to love you in this lifetime too, hold you close like we were destined to be.” With tears once again welling up in her eyes, (y/n) pulled him in for a breathless kiss. 

Tommy had his eyes set on her sleeping figure, hand stroking her hair. His thoughts were torn between the memories of the tunnel, of the darkness he hadn’t been able to escape from for long. But it had all been worth it, because of her, because of the woman he had married, the woman who was the mother of his children. And if there was one thing Tommy was wishing for, it was getting the chance to love her in all upcoming lifetimes too.

#Tommy Shelby smut #Tommy Shelby imagine #Tommy Shelby x reader #Peaky Blinders imagine

[minkkumaz]

I'VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE, TEACH ME?

the basic idea of romeo and juliet's balcony scene is the feeling of loving someone you aren't supposed to love. so why is idol kim seungmin knocking on your second - story window? why does he keep coming to you even though he knows it's forbidden?

PAIRING kim seungmin x fem!reader WC 1.7k TAGS forbidden love trope. friends to lovers. fluff. angst if you squint. intense kissing. cussing. OMI NOTE my first work here <3 i really enjoyed writing this but it's definitely not proofread aha.

the tragedy of romeo and juliet, a play written by william shakespeare. there’s a famous scene within the sonnet, where juliet sits atop the balcony that connects to her bedroom; where ultimately she ponders as to why must her one true love, romeo, be apart of her rival family. they’re forbidden to be together, yet their love for one another is so immense.

it was almost as if you were living some parts of the story when you found out kim seungmin was a well - known idol. you felt like the two of you were destined to be together, like it was written in the stars. but it wasn’t going to work out, you knew that.

you heard him calling behind you that night he got recognized by two girls. you were internally grateful that they didn’t even notice you because of how blinded they were by him. the pavement was damp with nightly mist, and the sound of your heavy footsteps ultimately drowning out his voice.

as soon as you arrived home, you kicked off your shoes at the door and ignored your parents’ questions such as, “where have you been, y/n? your curfew ended ten minutes ago.”

you never entered your bedroom with such a heavy heart. pulling out your laptop and violently typing up the name kim seungmin, only to be met with millions of search results.

kinfo.com: kim seungmin is one of the eight members of south korean boy group stray kids, under the company jyp, leader in entertainment.

straykidsupdates.com: has everyone seen seungmin in the most recent comeback? he’s totally cute and definitely carried that s-class pre chorus! instagram.com/realstraykids: stray kids (스트레이 키즈) official instagram

you closed your laptop before falling back into the pillows on your bed and letting out a heavy sigh. heartbroken was an understatement, you were so upset. if he had told you earlier you wouldn’t have let yourself fall in love with him.

the day you met seungmin was a run in at a small cafe you were wanting to try out (which now made so much more sense considering it was across the street from the jyp building). he wasn’t paying attention to where he was looking, causing him to bump into you and make you drop your food. you were not looking for any payment whatsoever, but he was insistent.

before you knew it, he was paying for your food and sitting down in front of you to make small talk and apologize. 

the conversation you had with him went on until the sun barely peaked over the horizon. it was starting to get dark outside and the cafe cashier was getting very sick of the two of you. with full stomachs and happy grins, he walked you home.

afterwards, you met almost every week for months just to talk and hang out. you grew to love the person he was, and the feeling was most definitely mutual. despite this, he never bothered to share his work life and you never bothered to look him up on google.

now, you sat extremely frustrated and crying. your pillows grew a wet patch from your tears. how could you forget him? the blankets you snuggled with did an adequate job at comforting you, though you knew seungmin was the best at that.

barely an hour passed before there was a quiet knock at your window. at first you thought it was the wind, but your suspicions were proved wrong when it knocked a little harder and less infrequent.

you got up from you bed and trudged to open your curtains, being met with a very familiar, puppy - dog - like boy. your eyes went wide.

“what the fuck? seungmin what are you doing at my window?” you whisper shout, feeling the cool air blow through your bedroom as you opened the window.

“you weren’t answering your phone, and you never let me explain.” seungmin panted a little, lodging himself between two thick tree branches.

“it’s unsafe to be climbing this tree! it’s been here longer than i’ve been alive. what happened to the front door?” you pulled him into your bedroom, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“we both know you’ve broken curfew three times this past week, your parents would never let me inside to talk to you.” he sighed, sitting on your windowsill.

“jeez, seungmin. you’re such an idiot…” you mumble with defeat.

“listen, i’m so sorry i haven’t told you about being a whole idol thing. i was going to, trust me, i just never got around to it.” “way to go for an explanation. you know we can’t do this min.” “why do you think i never told you? so i could lose the one person that actually liked me for the person i am, rather than the things i could provide?” he admit.

“i don’t think i can mentally date a kpop idol, seungmin. i really really like you but, theres so many complications.” you turn your back to him so he can’t get too close of a look at your puffy face.

suddenly his hand interlocked with yours, pulling you back a little.

“y/n, come out with me. let me show you that we can work. that this is worth it.” 

you couldn’t bring yourself to fully look at him, scared that his cute pouty face would convince you. “i can’t sneak out seungmin… my parents would kill me.” “then let them kill you, don’t give up on us, please. just this one night for me to show you how dear you are to me.” he lifts your chin up with his hand, frowning at the tear marks on your face. 

“but i’ve never done this before, will you teach me?” you sniff sadly.

“i won’t let you get caught. just follow my lead okay?” seungmin let go of your face and went to stuff pillows under your blankets, making a somewhat believable body. whilst doing so, you slipped on a different pair of shoes quickly.

he made sure to click off your lights before leading you towards the window. it wasn’t too bad of a climb down, but you were nervous nonetheless. 

“hold onto my hand, i’ll tell you where to step.” he gently held onto you so you could safely get down with him. as soon as your shoes hit the grass, a sense of euphoria overcomes you. there was so much excitement about disobeying the strict rules your parents laid on you, but you couldn’t hide the underlying worry.

“see? and that was the hard part.” he smiles at you, still hand and hand.

seungmin takes you to a parked car a few houses down from your own. the top was pulled down and there was an extremely prominent bouquet of lilies in the passenger seat. when it came into view, you squeezed his hand and grinned.

“how’d you know i liked lilies?” you replaced yourself with the flowers, sitting down comfortably with them in your lap.

“i didn’t, but i’m glad i made the right choice.”

the houses of your neighborhood passed by in a blur, all of them merging together as the car sped up. the breeze was cold, but you didn’t seem to mind. there was a feeling of warmth you felt when you were with seungmin, and this wasn’t any different.

there was a comfortable silence between you guys. neither of you bothered to say anything, basking in the presence of one another.

when he pulled up to the parking lot of a nearby park, you finally spoke.

“you took me to a park in the middle of the night to prove how much you want to be with me?” you ask.

“here, you’ll see.” seungmin took off his seatbelt and crawled into the back seat, motioning you to join him. 

you abide, leaning over the center console towards him, still being careful not to ruin anything. as you plop yourself next to him, he pulls you to snuggle up against his chest. you could hear his heart beating a thousand miles per minute, but you could argue that yours was beating faster.

“look up.” he points towards the sky and your gaze follows.

stars. they dazzled, lightening the velvety night sky. they vary in size and brightness, forming intricate patterns that make you dizzy. 

“it’s beautiful, seungmin.” you look over at his face, illuminated by the moonlight above. his features look much more perfect when you’re close.

“we’re all so similar to stars, y/n.” he started, rubbing circles into one of your hands, “there are so many that shine brightly in the sky, but you’re the only one i really care about.”

“gosh seungmin, you’re such a flirt.” you laugh, “but you’re an idol, you were trained to be charming.”

“i’m serious, y/n. you’re right in the sense that dating as an idol is really fucking hard. but my love for you is so real. shouldn’t that overpower it? nobody but my friends and the company have to know.”

you move your head away from his chest to look at him,”you love me?”

“of course i love you, y/n. i would be a fool not to.” he lifts you closer to him so you’re straddling his lap. when you move your hands up to cover your blushing face, he stops you. “you’re so pretty.” he whispers. “we’ll figure out everything i promise. i just need to be with you.”

“then be with me.” you affirmed, taking a small step closer to his face.

the distance between you and seungmin narrows slowly, and you can smell the sweet scent of his cologne, making you even more aware of his presence.

there are butterflies swarming in your stomach, convincing you that none of this is real. but as soon as his lips connected with yours, you were absolutely sure it was.

for the first few seconds, it was sweet. but the overwhelming feeling of so much love quickly turned into desperation. 

something that he’s been waiting for in all the months of knowing you finally was his. the kiss lasted for what seemed like forever, evident by the redder your lips became.

it wasn’t until you were interrupted by a buzzing that shook the car seat. a mere string of saliva connected the two of your bruised lips. you looked around cluelessly before your phone, before seeing recognizable caller id.

“fuck, my dad’s calling me.”

© 2023 minkkumaz, all rights reserved support your writers by reblogging + giving feedback! it is greatly encouraged and appreciated. thank you! → why feedback + reblogging is so important. ~ (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡ if you'd like, donate to minkkumaz !

#⋆｡˚ my works #kim seungmin x reader #kim seungmin x you #kim seungmin x y/n #seungmin x reader #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #skz fluff #stray kids fluff #skz angst #stray kids angst #skz imagines #stray kids imagines #skz scenarios #stray kids scenarios #kim seungmin #stray kids fanfic #skz fanfic #kpop fanfic #kpop x reader #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff #kpop angst

[feyhunter78]

Chapter Five - You find Miguel's sister-in-law on Instagram, and Miguel asks you for help with his phone. Ch 6

You trail your fingers over the hand shaped bruises on your thighs, gently, not wanting to press into skin and further irritate the broken blood vessels, as you scroll through your phone. The bathwater around you is still warm, lavender scented bubbles covering the surface, a glass of wine on the flat edge of the tub.

You’ve been trying to find something, anything on Miguel’s family, and finally you’ve done it. An Instagram page pops up, @MinaQMorris, a stunning woman with long wavy red hair and dazzling hazel eyes. The first picture that comes up has her in an elegant, slinky black gown, her arm wrapped around the biceps of a taller man with tan skin and dark eyes, the caption reads: Another successful charity event with my love @GabrielOHara, make sure to sign up for our blood drive next month! Link in my bio!

It’s clear he’s Miguel’s brother, the resemblance is uncanny. Sure, Gabriel is a little skinner, and not as tall as Miguel, but they have the same smile, the same piercing brown eyes.

You shiver at the idea of a blood drive, you hate giving blood, the needles, the sight of it leaving your body, it’s painful and always makes you anxious.

You go to Mina’s tagged photos, finding Miguel’s Instagram quite easily. He has six photos, and it looks like either she or Gabriel forced him to post them. You laugh, it’s so like Miguel, you swear he’s technologically inept, he’s always asking you for help with his phone or his laptop. The only technology he does understand is in the morgue, and you wonder why he finds the morgue equipment so easy but his cell phone confusing.

A notification pops up at the top of your screen, and your eyes flicker up.

Miguel: Y/N, can you help me with my phone tomorrow?

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as they say. You laugh and shoot back a quick response before continuing to stalk Miguel’s page.

Y/N: Sure, what’s wrong with it?

Miguel: Not sure, the sound stopped working.

You roll your eyes. He probably forgot to update the software again.

Y/N: I’ll look at it in the morning.

Miguel sends back a thank you, then the conversation falls silent, and you put your phone on the counter, closing your eyes and relaxing in the warm water.

The next day, you find Miguel waiting outside your office, phone in hand.

He has the latest phone, a sleek but clearly protective dark blue case on it. The lockscreen is a landscape with a gothic-looking manor in the background, and five or six people standing in the foreground with their backs to the camera. You never pegged him as a dark academia guy, but everyone has their thing.

“Okay, let me see it.” You say, taking a seat at your desk. Your office is cozy, covered with plants and brightly colored decorations, you're surrounded by death all day, you figured you might as well celebrate life in your own office.

He opens it and unlocks it before handing it to you and taking a seat in the plush rolling chair. Smiling up at you is Miguel, Gabriel, and Mina, they’re all dressed in dark colors, their outfits ostentatious and clearly expensive, glasses of crimson wine in their hands.

“Did you guys take this on Halloween?” You ask, motioning to the photo.

“Yeah, it’s Mina’s birthday, so her family throws a huge party every year.”

“That’s cool, now okay, did you check for updates?” You ask, going into the settings.

“Yes, and I made sure it was fully charged.” Miguel says, looking like a kicked puppy, as he pulls a rolling chair next to you.

You scroll through his settings, until you come to audio. It’s connected to his earbuds.

“Found the issue, it’s still in Bluetooth mode.” You tell him, swiftly disconnecting it and turning to hand the phone back to Miguel.

A woman’s voice comes through the speakers, and you all but throw Miguel’s phone at him. “Fuck, Miguel, oh baby, please, I need your big fat cock inside me—”

He scrambles to turn down the volume. “Shit, I—that was just a friend of mine, she—”

You hold up a hand, wanting to crawl out of your skin from embarrassment and strangely…jealousy? For a brief second you wanted to be that woman, be begging Miguel to fuck you, to feel him deep inside you, his chest pressed to yours, his lips against your ear whispering sinfully things that make your toes curl. “No, no, no need, what you do in your free time is none of my business.”

Miguel is stiff, curled inward, seemingly just as embarrassed as you. “No, no, y/n, I mean it, she’s nobody.”

You laugh, not at him, to break the tension, but the sound falls flat, and you wave your hand dismissively. “Miguel, seriously, it’s no big deal. Yeah, I’d be a little embarrassed if I knew my boyfriend’s coworker heard me moaning about how much I wanted him but, really, it’s fine, it was an accident.”

There’s a shift in him, his eyes darken for a fleeting moment, and he leans closer, his phone face down on your desk. He towers over you even while you’re both sitting, and your breath hitches in your throat.

“You moan like that for him?” His words are so quiet you barely hear them.

“What?” You blink at him, stunned, frozen.

Miguel’s voice is still quiet, a slight purr to it that sends goosebumps scattering across your skin. “Lo dudo. ¿Cómo podrías hacerlo cuando te deja tan necesitada? No princesa, solo me cantas así.” Trsl: I doubt it. How could you when he leaves you so needy? No princess, you only sing like that for me.

“I don’t speak Spanish.” Is all you can manage to say, a throbbing starting in your core at the way he watches you, the curl of his tongue around the accented words.

He blinks at you, slowly, like a cat, then pulls back. “You shouldn’t send him voice messages like that, it’s not safe, what happened here is a prime example of that.”

You nod, dumbfounded.

“Thanks for your help.” Miguel says suddenly, standing and leaving your office, seeming completely unfazed.

You can’t help but catch the way he pulls his lab coat closed as he leaves, and you catch a quick glimpse of budging fabric that makes you swallow hard.

How the hell does that fit into anybody? Fuck, who cares, I’ll let him make it fit, he can rearrange my fucking guts if he wants.

You hear Miguel choke, then start coughing as he walks away, his footsteps growing fainter and fainter.

I know Miguel is good with tech, he's scheming don't yell at me in the comments

TL: @obi-mom-kenobi, @poutysprouty, @oharasfilipinawife, @laysmt, @cicithemess, @unabashedcroissanttreefan, @lynxslokley, @thedevax

#meg's writing #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel ohara x reader #vampire!miguel #vamp!miguel #vampire!au #miguel o'hara x you #morgue miguel #miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel ohara x y/n #miguel ohara x you #vamp!au

[wlfhrdlover]

Hello again ! Can you do Ajax x reader again ? when the reader have a teddy bear and he found out and she a little bit ashamed because she doesn’t want him to judge her. Please

hello! I love your ideas btw <3

MR. FLUFFY

Ajax Petropolus x gn!reader

summary: when you tried so hard to hide your teddy bear but your boyfriend found it and didn't minded it at all.

WARNINGS! none

— Where is he?- you panicked while tossing the blankets and pillows around, Ajax was coming to spend the night in your dorm, taking a chance that your roommate were out.

The thing is, Mr. Fluffy, the teddy bear that you had since 5 years old, you always loved plushies and when you went to Jericho you needed to close your eyes every time you passed by a Toy Store, because you know that if your eyes landed in a plushie you would buy it.

It wasn't something bad liking it, but after your last boyfriend and old friends laughed at it, you immediately tried to stop. You tried to hide Mr. Fluffy but you couldn't even sleep without him in your nightstand or hugging it close to your chest.

When you started dating Ajax, you always hided the teddy bear somewhere until he walked back to his dorm, you didn't wanted him to go away or make fun of you because of your childish manners.

Not that Ajax would even care about it, he was so in love with you that was kinda impossible for him to break up with you because of a simple plushie, but you didn't wanted to risk it, Ajax was way too important for you and you can't lose him.

Your heart stopped when you heard a knock at your door, you looked around and hoped that wherever that bear was, he stayed there and didn't even thought about coming out while Ajax was here.

Quickly throwing things back to place, you opened the door.

— Hey my love, you okay?- he chuckled and fixed your hair.

— Definitely, I was trying to find something- you shrugged and let him in.

— Yeah, what?- he asked smiling and you nervously laughed.

— Nothing really interesting, can you pick a movie while I shower?- you asked and he nodded taking off his jacket, you walked in the bathroom.

Ajax turned on your laptop and took off his shoes, when he sat down on your bed he saw something between your blanket.

A teddy bear, the red bow tie crooked, he chuckled softly and fixed it, he connected the pieces and figured out that you were trying to hide it from him.

Ajax decided to not embarrass you, hiding the teddy bear under the bed and picking a movie while he waited for you.

The next day, you were studying in your room when someone knocked, you made your way to the door knowing that it was Ajax.

He had a cute and kinda large box on his hands and was smiling when you opened the door.

— Hey love, can I come in?- he asked and you nodded, letting him in.

Then, you turned around and both of you stared at the same thing, Mr. Fluffy. The teddy bear staring back, he was almost laughing at your face.

— I can explain!- you quickly said and took the teddy bear, hiding it behind your back, your heart raced even more when Ajax chuckled- I'm sorry! I know it's childish, I'll donate him some day! Please don't break up with me- you panicked and tears started to prick on the corner of your eyes.

Now, Ajax panicked, his eyes widened and he quickly made his way to you.

— Oh no love, I wasn't going to break up with you, why you think that?- he asked.

— I thought you would judge me for having a teddy bear- you whispered and he smiled.

— It's adorable really, I would never break up with you because of a teddy bear, everyone had one at least one time, I mean, my mommas still keep my old toys at our house and sometimes it's creepy but comforting- you both laughed and he wiped the tear that rolled on your cheek- Don't worry about it my love, I couldn't break up with you because of something that makes you look even more lovable than you already was- he said and you relaxed- But I'm kinda upset that you never told me about it, because I would definitely show off my abilities in those carnivals we went, I would so try to win the biggest plushie for you- he said and you laughed.

— Jax, you literally missed all the balls in that clown's mouth thing- you said and he pouted.

— It was really far okay, not my fault- he joked and hugged you- Right! Look what I got for you!- he jumped and took the box.

You put Mr. Fluffy down near to your pillows again, opening the box your eyes sparkled at the thing inside of it.

— Oh my God! It's so cute!- you jumped and took a big snake plushie out of the box, it definitely reminded you of his snakes.

Ajax just admired the light on your face when you saw the plushie, taking notes to buy you more just to see your smile every time you open the box.

— Wait... oh! You... oh my God, you found Mr. Fluffy yesterday?- you widened your eyes and Ajax laughed.

— He was between your blanket, I thought that you didn't wanted me to know, so I pushed him under your bed and acted like I didn't even saw it- he said and you smacked his arm.

— Jax!- you exclaimed and he laughed more.

— Sorry my love, so... can I meet Mr. Fluffy?- he teased and you just hit him with a pillow, turning to admire the snake again, he smiled at the sight.

God, he was so in love with you.

#ajax petropolus #ajax petropolus x reader #ajax petropolus fluff #wednesday #fluff #georgie farmer fluff #georgie farmer x reader #georgie farmer

[sinofthesloth]

𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕊𝕞𝕠𝕜𝕖

“This is was just a game to me, and you were just the gasoline.” 

Cw: Angst. (I’m bad at gauging how heavy it is so just read with that in mind.) 

Synopsis: You thought they liked you back. How stupid can you truly be?

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ 𝙁𝙩. 𝘼𝙯𝙪𝙡, 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄𝙙𝙞𝙖 ♥ 

.*•.¸♡ ä̤z̤̈ṳ̈l̤̈ ä̤s̤̈ḧ̤ë̤n̤̈g̤̈r̤̈ö̤ẗ̤ẗ̤ö̤ ♡¸.•*.

“Are you really that blind?”

Azul had a future plan and refused to let anything get in the way of that. You just weren’t something he saw himself needing

You had confessed to him in the privacy of the VIP room. Floyd and Jade were thankfully keeping their nose out of Azul’s business for once. The confession had you picking at your shirt as you stared into his grey eyes. 

The first hint that he didn’t share the feelings should have been the fact he wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying. He’d ask you to repeat yourself multiple times as he searched for something in his desk. 

The next should have been sighs he kept pushing out of his throat. You told yourself they were from his inability to find what he was looking for. 

The third and final nail in the coffin was when he finally looked into your eyes. They held boredom. He was bored while you were confessing your feelings.

Maybe he was just having a bad day?

“Are you really that blind? I am busy and you keep talking. And what makes you think I’d like someone like you? You bring nothing to the table. And you clearly can’t read a room. Why would I want anything to do with you?”

Maybe Ace and Deuce shouldn’t have been the two you asked for romantic advice.

.*•.¸♡ r̤̈ö̤ö̤k̤̈ ḧ̤ṳ̈n̤̈ẗ̤ ♡¸.•*.

“Mon ami means my friend, and you, mon démon bruyant are nothing more.”

Rook found beauty in everything, but that doesn’t mean he loved them.

He called you french names of endearment. You knew that. He called everyone a name of endearment. You just didn’t know what word meant.

French is called the language of love because how intricate and delicate it can sound. Every word sounds like a lullaby if spoken soft enough. 

He’d call you “démon bruyant”, a name you had no way of knowing the meaning of. Well, you do now. Loud fiend. Not friend. Fiend. 

He saw you as nothing more than a loud extra. Someone who didn’t fall into the background only because they were louder than everyone around them.

You had planned to ask Vil if he had any idea of a good way to confess, but Rook beat you to it. 

He stopped you before you made your way to the Pomefiore housewarden. His hand laid on your chest to physically stop you. The same hand traveled up to your chin before you locked eyes. He seemed to be glaring down at you as your face heated.  

“Mon ami means my friend, and you, mon démon bruyant are nothing more. So I suggest you remember your place fiend. Don’t think about wasting Roi de Poison time.” 

He pulled his hand away and fixed your hair before smiling and walking away. 

French is such a heart breaking language.

.*•.¸♡ ï̤d̤̈ï̤ä̤ s̤̈ḧ̤r̤̈ö̤ṳ̈d̤̈ ♡¸.•*.

“Dating them would be like grinding the first levels of a game when trying to get ready for its final boss. Pointless and a waste of time.”

Falling for the schools biggest gaming nerd wasn’t as hard, His brother talked none stop about him and how amazing he was once you looked past his anti-social behaviors. 

You learned about his favorite shows and games. Ortho even talked Idia into meeting you in person. You thought were must have been a connection.

He invited you to his dorm room and the two of you would watch shows and complain about their endings, or you’d watch him game. You once asked if you could try a level, and he helped make an entire account for you to use. 

Both you and Ortho explained that you don’t have any way of playing it outside of coming to his dorm to play and he bought you a complete computer set up as well as a laptop. Just so the two of you could enjoy a game that you just learned about. 

So yeah, you fell, and you fell far. Hitting the floor pretty hard.

You overheard Ortho talking to Idia about how you had asked him if Idia liked you, or if there was a good way of asking Idia out. He blew up due to the information. Ranting about how he would never fall in love with someone like you. How he was only your friend because Ortho was the one to invite you over. He refused to let his little brother lose a friend because of him.

“Ortho, you don’t understand. Dating them would be like grinding the first levels of a game when trying to get ready for its final boss. Pointless and a waste of time.”

You continued to visit to boys. Acting any different would make Ortho worry, and you don’t think you can handle anymore of Idia faux concern.

#angst #twst #twst wonderland #Rook hunt #azul ashengrotto #idia shroud #x reader #idia x reader #Rook x reader #Azul x reader #azul twisted wonderland #rook twisted wonderland #idia twisted wonderland #idia angst #rook angst #azul angst

[chronicbeans]

Wally Darling with a Restoration Project Reader (part 3)

It's been a few weeks, now... You feel like something is wrong...

TW: Mentions of Hacking, Scopophobia/Eye Imagery

🗞️ Daniel has been having more and more mail sent his way. The time you all spend in Finn's house, restoring Welcome Home merchandise and media, is getting longer and longer. Your mother has been getting more and more snippy about it all.

🗞️ You grab an old book titled "Happy Birthday, Barnaby!" Opening it up reveals how it's Barnaby's birthday and Wally, Julie, and Sally are all planning to throw a surprise party for him. What you have found with almost every single item that has Wally in it is that he is, most of the time, looking at you. Well, the person looking at the material. Even on the page where everyone is telling Barnaby happy birthday. The rest of the neighbors are all looking at Barnaby, smiling and clapping as he blows out some birthday candles. Wally, however, is looking at you. His body is turned to face Barnaby, but his head is turned towards you, his eyes locked onto you.

🗞️ You put the book down, asking the rest of the group "Wally seems rather odd, huh? He's like... my favorite, but he is very eerie. Do you have any theories as to why he stares at us?" Amy makes a face of concentration, before saying "Well, Wally is meant to make a connection with the children watching the show. It is probably because they want to emphasize that connection, or make it stronger through eye contact." She then clasps her hands together, continuing "I really wish they did that with Julie! She is so cute!" "HOLY-! WHAT?!"

🗞️ Everyone looks over to Finn, who has been looking at the Welcome Home Restoration Project blog on his laptop. His eyes grow wide as he says "Y'all, I think someone has hacked us or something! Look! I found this link beneath the Wally character file on the neighborhood page! It leads to... this..."

🗞️ He turns the laptop around, showing you all a dark page. After a few moments, an image fades in of Wally, sketched in red, facing one of Home's windows. Home's large eye shakes, with red seemingly leaking from it. Wally's kneeling down, his left arm outstretched.

🗞️ You can't help but watch and think. Why is Wally kneeling like that? Why is Home watching Wally so intently? Is Wally inside or outside of Home? Why is it so dark? You ask Finn "Was there anything else odd on our blog?" Finn nods "A bunch of out of place letters."

🗞️ Daniel looks around, before saying "I'll check it out. Maybe this could be the work of whoever is sending us this stuff? The letters could mean something. Amy, you continue working on restoring the art. (Y/N), you can manage the guestbook. We can all work together to try to figure out what this all means."

🗞️ Amy tilts her head, before asking "Should we all like... I don't know... pick a set of characters to research? I feel like it would be difficult for any of us to remember so much about every character when we are learning about them through little dribbles of content. We might get confused and mix them up with one another." Daniel thinks about it, before looking over to you. "What do you think about that idea? I don't want to just say yes to it. This is all very interesting, so I don't know if focusing on a couple characters will make some of us feel left out..."

🗞️ You find yourself immediately responding. It is almost as if it were an instinctual reaction. "I will focus on Wally, Home, and Barnaby." Daniel's eyes widen a bit at how blunt and quickly you responded to his question. He slowly nods "Alright... I'll focus on Frank, Howdy, and Eddie..." Amy decides to focus on Julie, Sally, and Poppy. Finn shrugs, saying that he will just stick with the blog, and that any remaining characters you all find out about will fall onto him.

🗞️ You take some of the restored media with you when you go home. It is all about Wally, Home, and/or Barnaby. Your mother seems to have already gone to bed by the time you get to the house.

🗞️ Quietly stepping up the stairs, you enter your room. It's a bit of a mess, due to how you spend all your free time at Finn's house these days. You keep forgetting to clean it. Placing the pile of papers and books onto your desk, you get a text from Daniel. It simply reads, in all capitals, "GO TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD PAGE ON YOUR PHONE."

🗞️ You quickly do so, the unspoken rule between the group being that texts in all capitals conveys an extreme seriousness that must not be ignored. In cases like these, it is the equivalent of STAT.

🗞️ You go to the neighborhood page on the blog. You are shocked to find that every link is messed up, almost as if they were moved upwards. The image of Home, as well, has been moved to reveal a dark void either behind or beneath the red house. Within that void is a small, white spiral.

🗞️ You don't know why, but you feel a chill looking at it. You can't look away, either. It's kind of like it has infected your brain, causing your mind to spiral, as well. Thoughts and questions fill it to the brim. It is so hard to do so, but after a few minutes, you manage to break yourself away from the void, and go to bed.

#Welcome Home #welcome home arg #wally darling #wally darling x reader

[russellsppttemplates]

Stomp your foot (Charles Leclerc)

Y/N is trying her best to get Ferrari where they deserve to be, and despite some disagreements and bad strategies, one that is unknowingly working for her is making a certain driver fall for her

Note: english is not my first language. It was requested through a comment from a career mention on New around here and I thought about picking it up. Also, are you happy about this as a stand alone? Do you want a part 2...? Update: part 2 can be read in Dance with me

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can! (I'm posting twice today because my sleep has been all over the place and I might as well take advantage of it)

Tw: Ferrari's season, curse words

Since you could remember, the answer to 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' had been 'I want to be the person that sits in front of the screens and makes the drivers win with their tips' and later, once you had gotten the hang of the word, 'I want to be a race strategist'. You studied engineering in university and always applied to every summer job that was related to F1, wether it was just volunteering in the paddock or, in later years when as your knowledge grew, some teams, like Ferrari, had offered the opportunity for you to be in the factory with the engineers that stayed back there during the races so you could experience some of the thrill and what it was like. "So, Y/N", Tom said as he sat next to you as you admired the screens and all the information in there, "You've been my desk buddy for 5 races now, and I still don't know how you got interested in this whole thing", he finished. When you arrived, Tom as the person they had told you to follow as he was available to explain things to you as the race happened without troubling too much and so far he had been amazing at all the things he had taught you and all the questions he had answered, no matter how stupid they sounded in your head. "My family would watch the Grand Prix together after lunch on Sunday and I used to borrow my cousin's laptop and draw graphs on the screen and pretend they were stats from the race, and I'd give guesses to the screen and get really happy when they would make the same call I did", you commented earning a chuckle from Tom, "who knows, maybe one day you'll sit there with then", Tom smiled as he watched the pitwall appear on the screen as the team got all in their respective places to begin the race. Grabbing your notepad, you waited for the decisions to be made by the team before questioning Tom about why they had done it that way and what they hoped the car would achieve with every change they made. When you finished your degree, Tom had told you about a spot in the engineering team at Ferrari and you submitted your CV, knowing that you would have a handful of other CVs competing with yours, but still feeling confident enough about yourself. Still, you couldn't help the squeal that left your lips when you got a call from the head of the engineering team saying you had been the one to get the spot. That was two years ago, and you had made it to the team that travelled to races at the beggining of this season.

"Y/N, could you get here, please? There's an issue with Carlos' DRS, we've checked and it's not mechanic, the whole system functions, but if you press the button on the wheel it doesn't open", Anthony, one of the mechanics said. You hopped off of the cabinet you had been sitting in and grabbed your laptop, "Have you checked the hydraulic system too? The other day it was Charles' car that was doing that", you forwarded as they nodded, "That's fine too, we've tested it", prompting you to connect the car cable to your laptop to see what it was about. After opening and closing a few tabs and checking some of the car parts, you finally found what seemed to be the problem, "look here, let me just adjust that", you changed the settings before you called back, "Anthony, press the DRS button for me again, please" you asked as you say the part open and then close like it was supposed to, "Thanks, Y/N", the mechanic smiled back before you smiled back and headed to where you were, filling some paperwork about the change you had done and the problem you had encountered for future reference. You were about to take it to one of your superiors when Xavier, Charles' race engineer and a big support since you had arrived in the team, "Y/N, the woman of the hour", the spaniard said as you looked at him, your eyebrows creasing at his statement, "I'm just going to bring this back to Mattia so he can archive them", you tried to justify before he said, "you can leave them there, there are going to be a few more alterations so you're really saving us time, and allow me to talk to you about this", Xavier smiled as you set the folder down, "you really are scaring me, just so you know, I can only hope you don't relish on people's bad being", earning a chuckle. "I don't, don't worry. I was talking with the team and Mattia, and we think that you are ready to try the pit wall for the strategist place" he said non chalantly like he wasn't making your dream come true. Like the little Y/N inside you wasn't ecstatic right now. "We thought that starting this weekend would be good, you'll get used to it all during free practice and qualifying, and since Charles is taking penalties for the engine change anyway, we're thinking that Friday and Saturday are good for you to dip your toes in. And since there's a lot to do on that race it will be interesting to see what we can come up with when we have you there", he smiled as he patted your back, "Thank you so much for the opportunitiy", you managed to squeak out before Xavier turned around and you did a little celebratory dance.

Arriving in the garage on race day, you felt confident about the day until the weather seemed to be playing tricks on you, "they say it's going to be better by the time the race starts", someone said as they saw your less than amused expression as you looked at the grey sky. During your lunch break, Carlos and Charles came up to you, "Y/N, Xavi was just telling me and Charles how you're the new strategist for us, and that you really helped yesterday with my finish", Carlos began as they sat in the table next to you, "Oh, it's really a team effort, and maybe it's just my beginners luck, and you guys are very good drivers, so it wasn't too hard that you finished where you finished", you said honestly. "Oh, ever so modest Y/N", Charles said, "you've been a key part of our team, I'm very happy to know that you're reaching your full potential", the monégasque finished and as you were about to thank them both, the drivers were called for the parade, bidding you goodbye.

The race had been going pretty well, Charles managing to gain two spots on the grid and Carlos was doing a good job in maintaining his position, "should we get Carlos in? I think it would be a good time for that, he seems to have the pace and Max's tyres are looking a bit worse for wear, he's going to need to change soon", Mattia said, "if we could get the advance now he could race for a podium for sure, and maybe even P1 if we can get a fast pit stop too", you agreed as everyone nodded their head, the intent being sent to Carlos over the radio. As you heard the car beside you, you turned on your seat to see the mechanics, flashing them a thumbs up after they had done an incredible job on that pit stop. A bit further into the race, Xavi saw that Charles had a possibility to gain a few more positions and since you seemed to be up for it, he discussed his plan with you, "from this here I think it would be good enough, he has the pace", you reasoned as Xavi turned on his radio, "Charles, you have Alonso and Ocon in front of you, and we think you should try and pass them, the car looks good and the breaks too so when you feel like you can go through...!", Xavi said as you both waited for him, slightly holding your breath as he passed each car. With Carlos on the podium and Charles gaining 10 positions from where he started, the team were happy with the results, some of the developments they had done over the weekend bringing the car forward in its competitiveness, and as the guys got their media duties over, you came back from the bathroom and joined the rest of the team, "here's the rookie. C'mon Xavier, how did she do today?", Carlos asked as he poked your arm, "really good today, she helped a lot, and I think the boss was impressed too", Xavier winked at you as Charles joined, "I hear congratulations are in order, I have a new strategist on my side", Charles beamed as he drank some water, "here's to an amazing season", he high-fived you as he spoke. And little did he know how much of a season it was going to be.

Sunday at Silverstone had been all over the place. You had been officially been promoted to strategist and Mattia had assigned you to Xavi so you could both look at Charles' race closely and, despite being happy that Carlos got his first F1 win, you were disappointed. Disappointed in yourself, your efforts and the team, you celebrated with Carlos for a bit before retiring to the engineers room in the hospitality, and Tom, who had been at the race that weekend, pulled a chair next to him, "I was about to leave, do you want to be alone?", he asked, "I feel like shit and I don't want to spread it around, so do it at your own risk", you stated. Hugging you from your shoulders, Tom squeezed your body in his embrace, "you did amazing out there, don't ever doubt it. And, don't tell them I said that, but you can stomp your foot harder next time, you know what you're doing and they're just failing to see it", Tom said before he left. You were alone in a room full of desks and chairs, screens with the race data on them mocking you and the ideas you forwarded that hadn't been heard or considered when you heard the door open, "Sorry, I just needed a little time alone, I'll be right out", you said as you looked up to see who it was. Charles Leclerc, who in your mind thought would be the last person to want to see you, "I'll be out", you said as you grabbed your closed notebook. "Stay", Charles said, "only if you want to though, but if you want to stay, you can", he saved it quickly, looking at you. You knew you looked broken, but obviously he took it even harder. Sitting next to you in a spinning chair, Charles switched the monitor off, "Xavi told me about what you wanted to do, it's a shame they didn't listen", Charles tried to navigate around you and the orders the pitwall had given him, always knowing how to win and loose in a team sport, "today was hard, in many ways, but we'll come back stronger, I know it. You'll come back stronger", you said and before you knew it your hand had travelled to his, squeezing his fingers in yours as you looked at his beautiful eyes, "I don't care how I'm going to do it, Charles, but next weekend I'm getting you a podium", you looked at him in hopes of bringing some of his spirit back, your words having an understandable result given the circumstances.

The day after Silverstone, everyone was at Maranello for meetings and media duties, and as you passed through the drivers when you went to get coffee, they both waved as usual and Carlos noticed how Charles' stare took a few seconds longer than it used to, "are you fond of your new strategist, Charles Leclerc?", he asked his team mate as he watched how the monégasque driver's eyes followed you as long as the clear windows allowed, "what? Y/N? She's really nice, I've always liked her, and so do you", he tried playing it cool and Carlos could only laugh at his attempt. "Really? You want me to believe it? Just like that, hm?", he teased and Charles gave up on his act, "Well, she's always been around, and she's very beautiful, and smart and kind and... yeah, I like her", Charles tried to put it, "I don't really know what this is but yeah, maybe it's just a silly crush", he mumbled the last part before heading back to the front of the camera to resume the video they were there to film, Carlos smiling knowingly that it wasn't a silly crush in the slightest.

Everything had been going well until Carlos car started releasing smoke, his panicked "No" ringing through the pitwall until they figured out what had happened, ending up with a DNF. Everyone turned to Charles as he seemed to hold his position very well, he had done no mistakes that could cost him the place drop and the strategies you had come up with with Xavier working brilliantly, "You cannot imagine what I'm doing with the pedals", Charles said through the radio and a quick look at the data showed that there may be something going on with the car but, unlike Carlos', Charles' car seemed to be able to handle the last three laps. Taking a breath in, you jotted your thoughts down on the notebook and showed them to Xavi as he transmitted them back to Charles. "Carlos is out which sucks, but I'll be damned if that red car is not the first one to cross that checkered flag", you mumbled to yourself, "one day, we're going to have a peaceful race, one day", you finished as you closed your eyes briefly before looking back t the data, Xavier and the rest not daring to tell you anything as they saw your focused face. "And P1!", Xavier's voice could be heard from space, you thought, as you turned and gave him a hug before Charles confessed how he was scared he was going to loose everything so close to the end, "See? This is what you get when you do as I say!", you screamed out of enthusiasm, forgetting that your finger was still opening the channel to Charles' radio, everyone else hissing at your voice volume. But you really didn't care, the adrenaline on your body not allowing you to do so, "I'm sorry Charles, I hope your eardrum is still intact after this! Amazing drive, well done! There were no flaws", you said after Xavier gestured you to, "again, sorry for the scream!".

You were in a phonecall with your mother when the drivers arrived back for the podium celebrations and when she was done congratulating you and the team you looked at one of the TVs already showing Lewis on the podium, making you run there so you could see Charles receive his P1 trophy, clapping enthusiastically until he noticed you, wetting your head with a good amount of the bottles' content.

You had been helping around the debrief when Charles joined back at the garage, "Y/N! Congratulations to you too!", he said as he neared you, hugging you while he lifted your body off the floor, "you were incredible too Charles! Seemless, absolutely seemless, we were just there backing you up, hopefully it's forward from here on!", you squealed as he finally put you down.

To say that you had fallen hard for the monégasque would be a simple truth. Who wouldn't, right? Especially with the time you spent together, wether it was at the factory, in the race weekends or the dinners the team arranged so everyone could be together outside of work environment. But, at the end, you were a race strategists trying to progress in your career and risking an unrequited confession that could affect your job and workplace was not something you were about to let on, no matter how giddy his contagious smile made you feel. "Loosen up Y/N, we're going to dinner tonight, the team booked a whole restaurant so you better dress your best because tonight, were celebrating". While Charles left, you stayed behind to work with some of the mechanics and engineers around Carlos' car, noticing already how some bits could be fixed now to prevent further damage until it could be handled properly back at the factory.

Arriving at the restaurant, you looked around before you found someone to bring you to the room where the team would have dinner, Charles and Carlos the first people by the door, "I'm not the last one, am I?", you said as you greeted them, "I was so focused back at the garage that I had to get ready quickly to be here on time", you said as you noticed that some people were missing, "Xavi is still getting ready I'm sure, he takes a lot of time", Carlos joked as Charles chuckled, turning slightly as he grabbed you a drink from the bar section, "this is really nice, here", he offered with a smile, "Thank you, to many more races with you and Carlos on the podium", you said as the three of you toasted, your eyes never leaving Charles' as you drank the liquid. You took your jacket off given the difference of temperatures in the room compared to the outside, "You have something in here, let me get it", Charles said trying to swat it away before realising it was on your skin, "Oh, I think it's the product they use for the stickers, it's better with a napkin", Charles said as he grabbed the napkin from the counter as he silently asked for permission before his paper covered hand cleaned the product out of your skin, "Thanks, Charles! I swear I showered before coming here", you chuckled, looking at the place the ink had stayed in your arm, "I'm sure you did, you smell really nice", the driver replied with a beautiful smile on his face, cheeks pink at his admission as you were saved by Carlos, "since I can't celebrate a race finish today, we celebrate the good strategy because it was on point this afternoon, thanks to Y/N over here, cheers!", he said as he toasted your glass with his once again.

"But everyone else who put on the hard tyre is having trouble and some have even come back to change it, I don't think this is a good idea, and he said he was okay with the medium", you said as you looked at the graphs on the screen in front of you and the notes you had taken about the teams that started struggling as soon as they changed into that tyre compound. And it was the last thing you wanted to hear when the rest of the team decided to still go with it, confident that they could change the results around. Huffing as you looked at the pit stop, you never wanted to be wrong like that exact moment, and since you were someone who liked to be right, it said something, but still accepting your place in the hierarchy. As Charles' car got back to the race, it was clear the pace was decreasing and since it had been consistent through the weekend, you had to bite your tongue as to not say something you might regret.

The look on Charles' face was terrible, and it made everything hurt inside you. He was doing so well that weekend up until the tyre decision and, when he looked at you in the pitwall, you shivered at his empty stare at you. You had been spending even more time together, especially during that weekend and the previous night you had even stayed behind in the hotel restaurant just the two of you as you talked about everything and anything.

The debrief was hard, questions being thrown around as everyone kept their interventions clean and polite, but anyone around could sense the tension in the room, and Carlos noticed how even Charles tapped his fingers on the table incessantly when you were speaking, his admission on how your voice helped calm him down seemingly gone.

After you referred some of the data you had gathered to the rest of the team, you were dismissed from the room as you were needed elsewhere and the race engineers wanted to talk to the drivers. "It's just that it makes no sense why you did it, but now we have the break and we can figure out a few more things after gettinb some rest", Charles said, "knowing Y/N, she's probably writing stuff at her laptop already", Xavi said as he scratched the back of his head, "she was right you know?", he said and Charles and Carlos looked at him, frowning at their race engineers, "she was the only one to say that you should keep the same compound, and at the time it didn't seem like the best idea, but in hindsight it's always clearer", he tempted before excusing himself.

You were sitting in one of the rooms when the door opened, revealing a very tired Charles, "Hey, may I come in?", he inquired with the best smile he could have put out there, "If you're coming in to punch me, can I tell you first how I bruise really easily? And how I'm taking this pretty hard too?", you tried to bring some humour to the situation, knowing that throwing a fit or crying wouldn't actually get it solved right now. Charles chuckled as he closed the door behind him, sitting in one of the chairs next to you, "So, tough day at the office today?", he began, trying to get you out of the bad mood, "yeah, and I'm sure you're even worse. Thank goodness we're going on summer break because I would be ruined if we had a race next weekend", you let out, eyes closed as you took a breather, "going anywhere special?", Charles asked as you looked back at him, "I'm planning on staying a few days in Ibiza, my friend is going to join me there later for a weekend too and then I'm back at the factory. You?", you asked him as you closed the notebook, "I'm doing Italy with some friends and Ibiza with my family too", he said before someone knocked on the door, saying they were doing to start tidying things, "you should come and spend a day with us", Charles smiled as he got up with you, winking cutely at you before making his way out of the room.

Part 2

#charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc fic #charles leclerc fluff #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic

[avengerscompound]

The Interview - Chapter 15

The Interview - A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Rating:  E

Warnings: none

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Melody Danes

Word Count: 1844

Summary:  Melody Danes gets the break of a lifetime when as a lowly intern, she’s assigned to write a profile piece on Captain America.  Steve Rogers is a hard man not to fall for and as she and Melody get closer and Melody’s career takes off, jealousy leads to sabotage, and the potential to bring her whole world crashing down.

A/N: My laptop broke last week and updates will be very sporadic until I get it back.  Sorry about that.

Chapter 15

Melody tapped her pen on the desk in front of her as she waited for everything to be set up properly.  The website was launching this week and they wanted to do it with a big name.  So she had pulled the strings she didn’t want to pull to get one.  They had their idea for their light, silly interview segments, and they were starting with one of the biggest names there were; Tony Stark.

It had been a long time since she met the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist at the party where Steve had first confessed he was interested in her.  Back then she was just the woman interviewing Captain America, and while all Steve’s friends had been more than friendly, she was just a journalist back then, and the small amount she had spoken to anyone other than Steve, Bucky, or Sam, they had been on guard and performing for her.

Since then, Steve hadn’t invited her around to socialize with the rest of his friends.  Of course, she knew Bucky and Sam well, but the rest not so much.  On occasion, she might see one of them in the hall or the lobby when she slept over, but no other social occasions had brought them together.  Not that she particularly expected there to be, but it did mean that to get Tony she had gone through his PR people, dropping names in a way that made her feel a little dirty.  She hoped that this and the Spider-Man interview coming up would entice more celebrities to say yes.  She had other famous names she’d interviewed and created connections with thanks to the DB, but with this new site, it was hard for the bigger names to want to take the risk of being first.

She was grateful that Tony agreed to do it, but she worried that it was going to flop and not only would no one else agree to do any of these interviews, but Tony Stark would end up looking at her as the person who had publicly humiliated him, which would, in turn, would make things awkward with her and Steve.

She scribbled down a note to herself about trying to find a way to make Steve feel particularly cherished.  She didn’t want him to ever think she was with him because of who he knew.

As she was writing the huge double doors at the end of the tiny studio opened and Norah Winters came marching into the room like a woman on a mission.  She pulled up by the desk and flipped her blonde hair behind her head.  “Heard you used some nepotism to pull Tony Stark,” she said. “You realize this is why Jameson chose you for this job, don’t you?  You’re not a real journalist, you just sleep with people to get exclusives.”

Melody closed her notebook and blinked up at her.  “Thank you for your valuable input, Norah.  You are indeed a fantastic investigative journalist.  I’ll nominate you for a Pulitzer.  Woman running a fluff website pulled strings to get good guests.  News at seven.”

She rolled her eyes and went to take the notebook off the table.  Melody grabbed it before she could and tucked it into her pocket.  “You’re seriously happy with Jameson just using you like this?”

“Norah, I really don’t know what your problem is,” Melody said.  “I know you love to count the hits on your articles, but I also know you’re a real journalist.  A sleazy one, sure, but you do investigate things.  I’m not.  I never have been.  I write fluff pieces and now I produce silly online content to appeal to people who don’t read the news.  Every YouTuber on the planet calls in favors from their friends.  I don’t know what coming in here trying to call me out on that means anything to you.”

Norah rolled her eyes.  “We used to be a serious paper.”

“That’s not true,” Melody snarked.  “You were a tabloid at best.  I think what you’re annoyed about is you’re not the one getting all the attention anymore.  Go start a gossip blog if it bothers you that much.  Make up some stuff.”

“I don’t make things up,” she snapped.

“Oh no… you bend the truth to fit your narrative.  There’s a reason the Avengers don’t agree to interviews with you.”

“The Avengers are …”

“Oh yes?  What are we, dear?  I’d love to hear it.”

Both Norah and Melody whipped around to see Tony Stark enter the room.  He was with a small entourage of his own people as well as one of the interns and Bobbi.

“Mister Stark,” Melody said, getting up and coming over to him, holding out her hand to greet him.

“Ms Danes,” he said, taking her hand.  Rather than shake it though, he drew her in close and kissed her cheek.  “You look as ravishing as when I last saw you.”

“I really hope that’s not true,” Melody said.  “I was aiming at ravishing last time.  Now I’m going for professional.”

Tony laughed and turned his attention back to Norah.  “You were saying, Ms Winters?”

“I was saying that I have better places to be.  Good to see you, Mister Stark,” she said with a nod, quickly hurrying out of the room.

Tony laughed.  “She normally has much more fight than that,” he said.

Melody laughed and shook her head.  “I think she’s jealous I got the promotion,” she said and gestured for Tony to sit.  “Thank you so much for agreeing to do this for me, Tony.”

“Not a problem.  I have to admit, I was excited to get a chance to see you again.  I know you and Cap are getting serious and I’m getting a little offended he’s been keeping you away from me,” he said.  “So what’s the premise?  I’m eating things while I answer questions?”

“We have some recipes that were featured in Magazines from the year you were born and you and Bobbi will try them together.  Some are a little suspect, but we made sure there’s nothing there on your no-go list,” Melody explained.  “The questions are light.  It’s just supposed to be silly and fun.  You can answer truthfully or go for the joke, whatever you want.”

“As long as no one hands me anything, it’ll be fine,” he said.  “Bobbi and I will have a great time.  I know how disgusting 70s food can be.”

“That’s good,” Melody said.  “You won’t be disappointed.”

Tony laughed hard and got comfortable in his chair while Bobbi took the opposite him.  She ran through her intro easily.  Melody wasn’t surprised, Bobbi was so excited about this job she’d been practicing her lines constantly at home.  Sometimes Melody had heard her repeating them over and over in the shower.

When she was done explaining the premise and introducing Tony, Melody brought over the first dish, putting it on the desk beside them, so that Bobbi could slide it into view of the camera.

“And what is this delightful-looking ring of green jello?” Tony asked.

“This is a Guacamole mold,” Bobbi said, raising her eyebrow.

“Good lord, what did Mexican cuisine ever do to you?” Tony teased as he pushed the plate back and forth, making the ring giggle around the green leaf salad that it surrounded.

“I think it might be illegal for me to eat this,” Bobbi joked.

She cut them each a slice and put it on a cracker and the two toasted each other before taking a bite.  “Wow, that’s rank,” Tony said, covering his mouth as he spoke.  Bobbi broke down into laughter as she tried to swallow the food in her mouth.

“See I knew there would be jello, but I was not expecting avocado,” Tony said as he swallowed.

“Does it bring back childhood memories?” Bobbi asked.

Tony laughed and shook his head.  “I was pretty young during the era of putting everything in gelatin, but I also think that was more of a middle-class thing.  I mostly remember fondue and oysters Kilpatrick from the one or two parties I got to go to when I was just a little kid.”

Melody put another dish on the desk and took the guacamole ring away.  Bobbi moved it in front of her.

“Jesus Christ, what is that?” Tony cursed as he looked at the gelatin ‘salad’ filled with pimento and shredded red cabbage.  “It looks like a brain.”

“Well from the looks of it we’re sticking to the middle-class party food,” Bobbi answered.  “This is Rosy Perfection Salad.”

Tony started laughing.  “Oh yes, complete perfection.”

The interview continued with them sampling foods such as; Salmon crisp crumble, a dish resembling a cottage pie using salmon instead of lamb and potato chips instead of mash; Creamed Liver Loaf, a dish that sat somewhere on the chart between meatloaf and pate and was made with livers and wrapped in bacon; Celebration Basket, a basket made of baked meringue filled with fruit that both agreed was pretty tasty; Celebration Sandwich, a large multi-layered sandwich, cut to look like a cake and covered in cream cheese and sliced olives; and one more ‘salad’ that consisted of puréed corned beef in gelatin.  Tony and Bobbi spoke easily like two old friends, and Tony opened up about his childhood, and what it was like becoming Iron Man all those years ago.  His openness was completely unexpected, and Melody was impressed with how at ease Bobbi made Tony feel.

When it was all finished Tony stood and offered Bobbi his hand.  “That was so much fun,” he said.  “Thank you.”

“No thank you,” she said.  “This was my first time doing anything like that, I think my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I was so nervous at the start.”

“Oh you were great,” Tony said.  “You’re a complete natural.”

He turned to Melody and offered her his hand too.  Melody shook it with a smile.  “Thanks, Tony.  I owe you one.”

“It was nothing, really,” he said.  “Though I do need to go eat something to wash the taste of Post McCarthyism out of my mouth.”

Melody snorted. “I am sure we have soda or coffee around here somewhere,” she said.

He waved her away. “It’s fine.  I’ll stop at Burger King on the way out.  But you two should come around to the tower for dinner sometime.  It’s about time the team met Cap and Freezer Burns’ new Bae.  Is bae the word everyone is using now?”

“It is not,” Bobbi said.  “And did you just call him freezer burn?”

Tony smirked and raised an eyebrow at her.  “If the cryogenic unit fits… So shall we say Friday?  The Tower?  Seven-thirty?”

“Sounds good,” Melody said laughing.  “We’ll see you then.”

They watched Tony leave with his entourage and Bobbi turned to Melody.  “Well, that’s going to be interesting.”

“Don’t worry,” Melody said.  “It’ll be just like meeting his parents.”

Bobbi laughed and nudged her.  “Wow, that makes it way better.  Thanks for that.”

// NEXT

#marvel #avengers #steve rogers #captain america #steve rogers fanfic #captain america fanfic #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers x ofc #ofc #original character fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #smut #the interview #avengerscompound

[linuxpropaganda]

Extremely Quick and Dirty Distro Chooser for Complete Beginners

You are a person who might be interested in using Linux, but there’s literally thousands of distros out there and you have no idea where to start. Luckily for you, I am a weirdo who likes to test-drive Linux distros for fun. I have not tested literally every distro out there, but I have tried a fair number (35 according to my notes), and I think I have a decent shortlist of distros for people who haven’t used Linux before.

Note that this is: a) not an Objective List of the Best Linux Distros Out There; and b) not really an objective list at all.  These are just the ones that I’ve tested and that I think would be good for people new to Linux.

My recommendations are as follows:

If your computer is a more than a few years old or underpowered/slow, I would recommend MX Linux or SpiralLinux.

If your computer has an NVIDIA GPU, I would recommend Pop!_OS.

Everyone else, I would recommend Linux Mint or potentially MX Linux.

Honorable mentions: Manjaro, Nobara, AV Linux ,Trisquel

I would NOT recommend Ubuntu or any of its variants, Linux Lite, or Fedora at this time.

My reasoning for each of these is below the cut, if you’re interested. If not, then that’s the post, have a great day!

All of my recommended distros are mainly or fully GUI-controllable (no messing around in the command line unless you want to, or for a few specific things), have a full complement of the software you need pre-installed, and a software center for anything else you might want. They’re also very stable and customizable, albeit some of them require more fiddling than others to get things the way you want.

Linux Mint is probably the best all-arounder for new Linux users at the current moment. It’s what I use as my daily driver on my main laptop, and with very few exceptions (mainly caused by having an NVIDIA GPU and/or trying to run ancient finicky software), I’m able to do everything I want and need to do on it without a lot of drama. If you don’t want Linux to be your hobby and you just need a computer that works, Linux Mint is currently your best bet. Use the standard Cinnamon edition if your computer is fairly new and/or beefy, or try the MATE or XFCE editions if it’s a little older.

Pop!_OS is another one that shows up on “good for beginners” lists. It’s based off of Ubuntu, the same as Linux Mint, and it’s got a lot of similar features going for it. I haven’t tested this one as extensively as I have some of the others on this list, so I can’t speak on it as in-depth, but I would 100% recommend it if your computer has an NVIDIA GPU. NVIDIA and Linux do not tend to play nicely together, and Pop!_OS has built-in NVIDIA support. Had I known what a pain it would be getting my GPU to work, I likely would have started with Pop.

MX Linux is another good all-arounder, though it doesn’t tend to be recommended for beginners, and I’m not sure why.    It has a very friendly tour that shows you the various features of the OS, and a huge suite of tools so you can manage everything from the GUI. It bills itself as a “midweight” distro, but personally have found it to be much faster on my older laptop than many so-called “lightweight” distros, so it’s a good choice for older hardware. It can be set up to run off of a USB thumb drive with persistence, and I believe there are still programs for managing dial-up connections and old mp3 players/iPods in the repositories as well, if you were to need those. Use the main XFCE edition if you’re installing it on an older computer.

SpiralLinux is the kind of extremely small distro that probably shouldn’t be on this type of list, except it’s “Literally Just Debian But More User-Friendly” so that makes it perfect. The main reason it’s on here is because I am using it right now to write this post on my 12-year-old Dell, and it’s running like a charm. SpiralLinux is the fastest distro I have used on this laptop, except for Trisquel (more on that one later). If you have an older Windows computer that you want to breathe new life into, SpiralLinux is a good choice. Use the XFCE, MATE, or LXQT editions for old hardware.

Honorable mentions: people who know Linux will notice that all of the distros above are based off of Debian and/or Ubuntu. Do I have something against Fedora, Arch, etc? Nope. I just think the Debian/Ubuntu lineage has a real knack for making beginner-friendly distros, which is the focus of this post. That said, Manjaro is also said to be fairly beginner-friendly, though I haven’t tested it extensively, and Nobara might be a good place to start for a Fedora-based distro. Nobara is a little more niche than I would usually recommend, but it is really nice and pretty user-friendly.

If you do a lot of video or audio work, AV Linux may be worth a look. It’s based off of MX Linux, and has the same features, but it also has a lot of audio and video tools built in, and uses a different kernel.

Trisquel also makes the honorable mention list for being incredibly fast and having an interesting premise. Trisquel and all of the software in its repositories are 100% open-source. Normally I wouldn’t recommend this kind of niche distro for newer users, but it is based off of Debian so it’s pretty stable, and it runs surprisingly fast on my old Dell laptop. It’s also a fun crash-course in open-source software and what it can do. I would not necessarily recommend it as a daily driver, but if you want to get started in the Linux and FLOSS worlds and have an old laptop, you could do a lot worse than Trisquel.

What I DON’T recommend:

Ubuntu has historically been considered THE user-friendly Linux distro, and also one of the most popular. I don’t recommend it (or any of its official variants: Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc) because of some really poor decisions and doubling-down on those decisions by Canonical, the company that develops Ubuntu. As you’re currently reading this on Tumblr, I doubt I have to tell you why the company in charge making decisions their users hate and then refusing to budge on them is a bad time. That said, it’s not a terrible OS in and of itself. If you really don’t like any of the distros listed above, or can’t get them to work, you could give Ubuntu a shot...but personally, I wouldn’t, when there are so many other options.

I am anti-recommending Linux Lite, even though it often gets touted as a good “lightweight” beginner-friendly distro. In my experience, it’s very slow compared to something like MX or Spiral, and it’s faithful to its Ubuntu base to a fault. Also the app store is terrible. I think the Debian-based “light” distros are almost always better than the Ubuntu ones. If you feel like you absolutely NEED an Ubuntu-based “light” distro, consider Bodhi Linux as an alternative. It’s still pretty slow, but it has some clever features (the app center is browser-based so it’s much faster) and lacks some of the anti-features that Linux Lite has.

Fedora is my final anti-recommendation, less because of the OS itself and again, because of the organization behind it--in this case, IBM. IBM has been pulling some Typical Corporate Fuckery by closing off their source code to the public. Needless to say, this is...bad. Again, assuming that Tumblr users aren’t big fans of Corporate Fuckery, I would advise people to steer clear of Fedora for now. If you want or need a RHEL distro, I would consider AlmaLinux instead.

So that’s it for my recommendations. If none of these are to your liking, then check out DistroWatch. It has thousands of different Linux distros and a few other OSes listed. If you use Ventoy, you can easily test-drive many different live versions of distros without a lot of fuss...but that’s another post ;) Have a great day!

#linux #gnu/linux #getting started with linux

[drgngutz]

Cybernetic Soulmate - I

BEN Drowned x Reader: Part 1

Soulmate AU – Implied Feminine Reader

Note: BEN is my favorite creepypasta, and lowkey I never see enough of him in the fandom. SO, I’m taking it upon myself to give this a try. Can’t promise it’ll be finished, but I’m having fun with it right now. If you’d rather read this on a website, ima post it on quotev and wattpad soon. Right now i’m vibin here. If you don’t like scary shit, this one might not be for u but we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for reading :) 

Description: Having the name Benjamin Lawman inscribed on your wrist until the age of 11, you had to live the rest of your life as one of the unlucky few who woke up one day with their soulmate mark crossed off. Devastated didn’t properly express the feeling of emptiness at the loss of connection between someone you had grown so close to. Ten long years have passed since then, but a new name has shown up just underneath the butchered one: BEN drowned. Soon enough you’ll figure out your old soulmate is now more demon than he is man. 

Masterlist

Benjamin Lawman 

BEN Drowned

The pads of your fingers swiped over the newly printed name on your wrist in absent-mindedness as you scrolled through page after page on the internet, causing subtle goosebumps to rise up on your skin as the bold letters brandished a light tingling with the friction. Old memories bumped around in your brain of producing the same feeling when the name you used to have was touched. 

It wasn’t feasible. It wasn’t something that had ever happened unless a soulmate had clinically died and been resuscitated within minutes. But over the span of ten years? Impossible. 

So why was this name here now? And why on earth was it different?

Returning to the old articles- the ones that you hadn’t looked at in years- yielded no results. 

‘Benjamin Lawman, aged 12, has been missing since around 6p.m. yesterday. Reports have mentioned he was wearing…”

‘It has been just over a month since the young boy, Benjamin Lawman, has gone missing. If you have seen anything in relation to his case…’

‘Benjamin Lawman declared deceased. “The search has gone on too long.” - Officer Hubris states…’

Hours and hours of looking at the same stupid newspaper clippings, public records, and news outlets was doing nothing besides digging up old memories that you didn’t want to relive. The times where Ben would talk to you, laugh with you, when you would play made up games with each other through the connection you both had created over a short time. He was always showing you his games on the console he had been gifted for his tenth birthday; you could still see the hazy image of a little boy with blonde hair swinging a sword at all kinds of different monsters, with Ben reciting each one of them as if he had memorized every detail of the game. You had talked to each other through the connection every day, and then he was just… gone. 

Exhausting your emotional and logical thinking, you ran your fingers through your hair before dragging your fingers down over your face to rid yourself of the stiffness. Glancing at the darkened letters on your wrist, you sighed in exasperation. Flopping the limb down onto your lap like a ragdoll, you traced the letters once more. It tingled again; that was the only grounding factor telling you that you weren’t dreaming all of this up. But, what kind of a name was BEN Drowned?

You swallowed thickly at the implication of both names showing up like that, how one replaced the other, and then opened up a new tab on your laptop. 

Immediately searching the name led you to a page on 4chan. Clicking on the site led to a very in depth and lengthy story, accompanied by multiple videos of a fucked up version of Ben’s favorite game, which took you about two whole hours to complete and understand. 

“...It already has proven to me that Ben can access my account/password and manipulate my computer, and like I said I have no idea to what extent it can do this, but know that it will do anything to break free. He is desperate. I’m going to do something, something rash that may not work. But, if it can keep everyone safe from him, I’m willing to try it. I’m going to make sure he stays in that fucking cartridge, so just forget about me, please…” 

It’s nearly dark out at this point, and your head is stuck spinning in place like a globe as you try to swallow the massive amount of information that you’ve been presented with. And still, none of it makes sense. But, really, did any of this? The newly branded name on your wrist certainly made no sense. Was it so odd that maybe there was something going on with this man, Jadusable, as well? And somehow it was all lining up together that this…thing shows up, and then its name shows up on your wrist just below where your old soulmate's name was crossed off, further implying that your soulmate was whatever BEN Drowned is. 

“Oh god. I need to go lay down.” 

Benjamin Lawman 

BEN Drowned

After the day that the name had appeared, you had been doing more research than you had ever bothered to do during your schooling. Each and every piece always led to the same two destinations; a declared dead little boy and a 4chan page that no longer had any active comments or replies from its author. 

You had since resorted to using the connection to try and make a breakthrough. 

The first time was difficult for you. Something that had laid dormant for so long felt… wrong. To try and open it again meant the possibility of connecting with someone who you’d assumed was gone forever. Now what? What if he answered? What if he didn’t answer? What if it wasn’t him?

It took a lot of thinking, and a lot more courage, to open up that connection again. 

Hands shaking, you clasped them together and closed your eyes, brows furrowing in concentration as you felt the familiar sensation flip like a switch in your brain. Clenching your teeth, you felt your eyes water beneath your eyelids as you let yourself fall away from your own consciousness for a moment, the familiarity nearly making you pull out of the sensation in discomfort. But, you pursued. You had never gotten this far, not after he disappeared. 

It was dark. That was the only way to explain it. Pitch black, with no source of light or sound to be observed. You dug a little deeper, trying to find the point of communication again… Only to be stopped. Confused, you tried to move forward again, only to be pushed back again. You tried over and over, poking and prodding at the connection, but to no avail. It was like something was specifically keeping you out; as if Ben didn’t want you to make a connection. 

You came back to your own consciousness with a start, eyes flashing open and feeling breathless as the connection dwindled and then faded away without your focus to keep it going. But, it was there. You had never been able to enter our connection like that before. Now, there was at least something.

It continued like this for the rest of the week; you trying to make a connection happen while something forced you away. But, you weren’t about to give up anytime soon. You were just as stubborn as Ben could be, pushing and pushing to no avail. You felt insane to be reaching out to somebody that was dead, somebody that wasn’t alive anymore, but you refused to give in. 

Then finally, it worked. 

You had gotten better at it the more you had practiced, gotten used to the familiar feeling that was at first melancholic; this time, you entered without bothering to close your eyes. Apparently, he had his guard down. 

A box shaped view, bordered in complete darkness. The light that peered in did nothing to illuminate the surrounding area; the light was coming from a window. Your window. You recognized it as the one in your living room that overlooked the couch opposite of the TV. And there you were, sitting straight, a focused look on your face as you stared at the wall, as you had done time and time again over the past few weeks. You watched yourself flick your eyes up to the TV in astonishment–

You were slammed out of the connection so hard that it sprouted a headache at the front of your forehead, and you flung your hand upwards in order to cater to the sudden feeling. Debilitated, you groaned tearfully before you could open your eyes again, blinking away the sting and glancing up at the TV. 

Stop trying.

The words were written in white, in a small text box at the bottom of the screen. You were only able to read it once before they disappeared as quickly as you had seen them. 

“What… What the fuck?” 

Benjamin Lawman 

BEN Drowned

He’s been watching her for a while now, observing, debating, keeping her annoying attempts at contacting him at bay; she was relentless in that particular field. 

Soulmates had always existed on this earth, apparently. And, although the fragmented memories of the soul he had ‘borrowed’ managed to save them from being imprisoned again via this aggravating connection, he wanted nothing to do with her. 

He was called many names; demon, ghost, vengeful spirit, poltergeist, cybernetic entity – Something born from a mixture of code and the aftermath of an abominable act – so they were not entirely wrong, but they were never right, either. Regardless, they were right about one thing. He had no room for care, or sympathy, or love. Not anymore. It was not programmed, not a part of his ideals. 

That was what he assumed, until the annoying little prick that he chose to resuscitate from that watery grave started to rekindle the connection he had before, when he was alive. The little bits of his host that still existed within him now crawled and zapped within the numbers, disagreeing with how he was treating the girl. He assumed this was some form of rebellion from the kid, and it was affecting them a lot worse than he understood. 

They weren’t supposed to feel the way he was toward this human, he wasn’t capable of having emotion at all. It wasn’t possible. And yet, here he was, watching her from the screen of the television that they had been trapped in ever since Ben’s last ditch effort at escape; it had worked, they were out of the cartridge, but they were missing pieces. That made the effort useless. 

Perhaps he should’ve chosen a better host for ascension. 

Benjamin Lawman 

BEN Drowned

WHAM!

You jolted awake at the loudness of the sound, feeling it reverberate through the ground and walls with the force of it. Sitting upright, you stayed still as a statue and listened closely, in the case that you had dreamt the sound. 

“Shit.” A voice whispered harshly against the silence, raspy and low. 

“We- We gotta make this quick. Hurry up,” Foot steps followed the higher pitched voice heading down the hallway. 

Swiftly, you ripped the covers off and dove for the closet, being as silent as possible as you settled below the hanging clothes and behind a hamper of dirty ones, trying to ease your breath and keep calm. Soon after, the two men barge into the bedroom and begin scouring your drawers. 

Addicts, you assumed. That was the likely situation, given your shitty location and even shittier apartment, they frequented the area and often ended up breaking into places that they figured were either abandoned or no one was home. A few of her neighbors had some close calls, while a few others were not so lucky. Flashes of ambulances and white sheets came to your mind, and you pushed them away, instead listening to the two of them argue in some kind of whacked-out dispute. 

“There’s no money, no jewelry; where the fuck is it all?” The first one started, slamming the drawer so loud the whole cabinet stuttered against the wall. 

“M-Maybe we got the wrong number,” The other replied, dumping something onto the floor, “is it the wrong apartment?” 

“If it is, we’re fucked. C’mon,” The two pairs of footsteps went further down the hall toward the kitchen, and you sighed gratefully. 

Hearing them rummage through the kitchen drawers now, you felt your heart beating in your veins as you slowly opened up the closet door and peered around. The room was empty, and you could hear them starting another argument about something else. Now was the time to move before they could come back and check the closet; there was no point in waiting like a sitting duck. 

Just as you were starting to silently make your way down the hallway and towards the front door, in the process realizing that they had burst the damn thing open in order to get inside, you heard the shuffle of footsteps in the kitchen begin to grow closer. Your blood ran cold, mind running wildly at the possibility of what would happen if they saw you. 

Wordlessly, you bolted to the living room, relying completely on instinct as you locked your eyes onto the black screen of the TV. You hesitated a second, debating if hiding somewhere would be a better option, but a quick glance around the room told you there wouldn’t be a place for you to do so. They were getting closer, the scuffing of their boots on the tile spurred you forward. 

“I am so fucking crazy for this…” You whispered, eyes flickering all over the screen as you gripped its edge in a vice. Fuck it.

“If you’re in there,” You took a deep breath, faltering out of fear, “I need help. Please, some men broke into my house and–” 

“Did you hear that?” You nearly stopped breathing from how close they were now. 

“Yeah, came from that room, there.” Hurried, heavy steps started toward the rooms entrance. 

“Shit.” You turned and gazed desperately at the screen, no response. 

“God damn you,” Frustrated, you began to scream and bang at its dark surface with your fists, “Fucking answer me!” 

“The hell’s wrong with you?” The two men had finally made it into the room, just staring at you as your slammed your fists repeatedly against the TV. One of them, a smaller, scruffy looking man, looked confused and concerned. The other, much taller and larger, looked pissed off. 

“What does that matter?” The bigger one began to advance, and right before he pushed you to the floor, you saw the screen light up. Hissing at the sting of the impact, you glanced behind the man towards the now lit-up screen.

Fine.

“Tell us where you’re keeping all of your shit. Now.” His harsh tone made you flinch, feeling spit hit your face as he loomed over you.

“I-I… I don’t have anything. I swear… I don’t have–” You stuttered, but couldn’t complete the sentence in time. 

SMACK!

The burning of your cheek registered before you realized what had happened, feeling tears fall down your face at the shock of the pain. You heard something clicking against itself, the harsh noise berating your ears and making you look back at him before freezing in place. 

“Don’t fucking lie to me. You’re hiding something, I know you are. Hand it over!” You’re left staring down the barrel of a hand gun as he shouts at you, and if you weren’t crying before, you definitely are now. 

“Hey… Hey Jim.” The soft voice of the other man interrupts the exchange, and the angry man, Jim, nearly blows a fuse. 

“Something’s wrong, man.” 

“What the hell are you on about now, Mike?” With a rage in his eyes, he turned around, the gun turned safely away from your face. Before he could say anything else, however, he stilled. 

You peered up at the screen, where they were both looking, as you trembled at the prospect of being shot. 

You shouldn’t have done that. 

“What the hell? This some kinda game?” 

You wish it was.

“Jim, lets go.” Mike practically begs his friend, inching towards the door. 

“There’s somebody else here. They’re probably watchin’ us, right now.” His voice trembles at the thought. 

“Don’t be such a pussy,” Jim spits, angry at the idea; “I’m talking to you too, creep! Come out and show yourself instead of hiding behind a fucking screen.” 

If you say so. 

There’s a moment where the screen goes dark, before another message pops up on screen. 

Close your eyes.

You obey the message without a word, clenching them as tight as you possibly can. Then, you hear the front door slam shut, despite it being broken off of it’s hinges before. 

“What the fuck was–” Jim’s words are cut off by his own strangled screams. Something drops to the ground with a clatter, shortly followed by Mike’s shrill screams that fade as he moves towards the front of the apartment. He begins to plead for something to open as something begins to snap and pop in the living room. You flinch at each noise, nearly sobbing as the man’s screams from in front of you are reduced to garbled grunts and groans, before he goes silent with one final crunch. 

Mike’s murmured ‘no, no, no’ can be heard from he hallway as he slams rhythmically against something over and over. The words are chased by his own screams that echo one final time before it’s swiftly cut short, only to be replaced by a deafening silence that leaves your heart beat thrumming in your ears. Ragged breaths help to filter out the lack of sound as you stay glued in place, not daring to open your eyes. 

A moment passes, then another; What feels like a few minutes go by before you hear anything else. 

“You can open them now.” Your eyes snap open at the almost robotic tone that instinctively feels familiar. 

A quick sweep around the room showed that there was nobody there; in fact, there was no sign that they had ever been there in the first place. The only thing that was different was the TV, which was still lit up, the same words that were spoken to you depicted in white letters in the textbox. 

You can open them now.

The screen dropped to black, and then lit up again. 

All done. You’re welcome. 

The screen went dark for the final time that night, and all that was left was the silence. 

Next Part

#bendrowned #xreader #creepypasta #fanfic #ben drowned x reader #ben drowned #x reader

[drabblesandimagines]

Honey

Rei x (afab) reader Buddy Daddies

Your line of work was non-conventional, of course, but it paid the bills nicely and there were worse things to be doing. You’d got into it completely by chance through a connection made at your old job. You worked at one of the seediest bars that side of town – which was saying something – but an ex-boyfriend had helped you get it and other work was hard to come by. It was a slow night, so slow you’d already cleaned the bar three times by the time there was a patron. He looked out of place to the usual clientele that would fill the bar over the weekend - tall, brunette, wearing glasses and dressed entirely in black. He asked for a whisky on the rocks and sat at the bar stool, it squeaking slightly under his weight. You nodded, poured the drink and then went to start your usual patter in the hopes of picking up a tip when he held up a hand, silencing you.

“No need.” He slid a few notes across the bar, far more than what that pour of liquor was worth. “For my drink, and for listening to what I’m about to say.”

Well, that certainly piqued your interest, though you knew you would’ve felt uneasy about it if Riku wasn’t in your eyeline – the tall, steroid-powered bouncer by the door would’ve been over like a shot if you gave him a wave.

“Go on, then.”

His name was Kyu. He was looking for some information about a certain regular you had on Saturday nights. He said it was a business issue, but you could read between the lines. He wanted to know if he had a regular drink, seat, who his company was… And, if you were able to supply that information, there’d be more money in it for you.

You didn’t have to think too hard – the pay here was awful, your boss saying your wage was subsidised enough by the generous tips the weekend crowd threw in. You were at least 95% sure it wasn’t a real functioning bar, just a money laundering scheme. The job market had been difficult and you couldn’t bear the thought of moving back to the countryside with your parents. You were scraping by, making ends meet and the idea of extra money to cover the bills that month would be nice.

He'd asked you to load all the information on a USB stick he provided – your crappy laptop barely hanging on to life, but it made it through creating the document at least – and he gave you the address off where to drop it off. Yadorigi Café. He greeted you like any other customer and you slid the stick over to him, before he retrieved an envelope of money and bid you good day. Easiest money you ever made.

Which is why the next month, when the bar had been busted by the cops and your place of employment made a crime scene, you found yourself back at that counter, pleading.

“Is there anything else I can do?”

“Nope,” he shrugs, cleaning a glass methodically. “Sorry.”

You groan, dumping the last copies of your CV on the counter - fed up of handing them out in every bar, café and shop you’d come across on the way here.

 “I can’t get work anywhere. Surprisingly, people don’t trust you if your employment history is blank, or if you put down your last place of employment as one that made national news.”

“It was a one-time thing…” He begins but, thankfully, as if by divine intervention, the café phone rings. You sulked into the coffee that Kyu had given you – another one-time thing he’d stressed –and tried not to eavesdrop on the conversation. “Now?” A pause. “It’s a pretty inconvenient time for me.” A sigh. “Fine. I’ll be with you in half an hour.” He hangs up and rubs the bridge of his nose.

“You gotta go – I need to close for a while.” The bell rings over a door as a group of women come in, sheltering from the rain.

“My apologies, ladies…” Kyu starts but you interrupt.

“Come on in out of the rain, please.” You smile, gesturing to one of the empty booths. Kyu gives you an incredulous look.

“I can watch the place while you’re gone. I’m barista trained,” you whispered, stabbing your finger at the part on your CV.

“I’m not going to hire you,” he scoffed.

“I’m not asking you to. Please. Just give me a cut of the profits in the time you’re gone, huh? Like, tiny, just of whatever they buy.” He stares at you in disbelief. “Please, I’m desperate.”

Kyu looks at the ladies now getting settled in the booth – it would be hard to get them out now and, as much as this is a cover gig for him, he does have a reputation to uphold.

“Fine. Gimme your ID.”

“My ID?” You raise an eyebrow.

“You think I’m going to leave my establishment to a total stranger? I need collateral.”

You dug your purse out of your backpack and retrieved the card, handing it over. He didn’t even scrutinise it for long, slipping it in his apron pocket and turning to the occupied booth.

“Ladies, I’m afraid I have to go out to deal with a personal errand. But don’t worry”, he yanked you forward by your arm, “Honey’s here to take care of you.”

Honey?

--

That had been a couple of months ago. Kyu had sent you away after he’d returned, delighted to see the place was not ransacked or razed to the ground, before sending you away with some cash that should get you through another week if you were careful. Those ladies you’d served and apparently charmed with your service, however, turned out to be part of a lunch club and recommended the establishment to all of their friends. It became hard for Kyu to keep up with dealing with the informants and assassins that popped in through the day, and serve the groups of people now filling up his booths on the regular. It was then that he’d called you – you’d stuck a CV in one the drawers, just as a reminder, as you were heating up the last cup of flavourless noodles from the back of the cupboard, asking if you were interested in working there… Under a false name, of course.

You were good at identifying those who had genuine café interests and those who were there for other purposes. Kyu didn’t let you deal with the initial conversation, but, as time went on, he did begin to trust you enough to allow you to take the information off informants and hand over payment when he wasn’t around.

For the past month or so, there’s been a dark-haired man taking up space at the counter. He’d come in one late morning near the start of your employment, alongside a blonde man when you were cleaning the booth tables. They’d seemed a little suspicious of your presence, but Kyu had offered them reassurance. Kazuki and Rei - you’d learned a little later on. Kazuki was there on his own sometimes, but Rei had started coming in on his own – sometimes with a book, sometimes with a game on his phone as he slipped on some orange concoction Kyu had shown you how to make, before he’d entertain you in any sort of conversation. It turned out you shared a love of video games. You’d used your most recent batch of tips (old ladies are generous to a sweet young lady, it seems) to invest in a second-hand console and were excited for recommendations. He’d even brought in some games for you to borrow…

It's on another rainy afternoon when Rei enters to find the stool at the counter already occupied by Hiro, one of Kyu’s newest recruits and he scowls. This isn’t the first time he’s been unable to sit at the counter when he’s visited. Kyu didn’t seem impressed by Hiro’s work and didn’t seem to have offered him anything since, but he’d started coming in for drinks and you could hardly kick him out in front of legitimate customers.

Rei gives you a small smile as he heads, slowly, to a booth near the front. You smile back and start preparing his usual drink without a word.

“Honey,” Hiro drawls, using the name Kyu had bestowed on you months ago, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh,” you reply, a little annoyed at his persistence. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” He smirks, spreading his arms across the counter. “A pretty thing like you? Who keeps your bed warm at night?”

“I have an excellent electric blanket, actually.”

“Oh, you’ll break my heart with all this talk.”

“Ah, well, you’ll get over it.” You reply, dryly, stepping out from behind the counter to deliver Rei’s drink to the booth. You can’t help but notice his phone is lying face down on the table, and his fists are clenched as you approach.

“You okay?” You raise an eyebrow as you place the drink down – he looks unusually tense.

“Is he bothering you?” He asks, in a low voice.

“Hiro? Er…” He is, a little, if you were being honest, but he’s harmless enough. “No, he’s fine.” From the scowl that remains on Rei’s face you know he doesn’t believe you.

“Hey, did you see they’re releasing a second edition of Morio Kart over the winter? Looks fun!”

“Mm.” He nods, “it does.” But his eyes are still trained on Hiro at the counter. Despite there being three stools up there, Hiro has placed himself right in the middle, spreading his legs wide enough so no-one would dare sit besides him. Rei’s not an idiot, he knows he’s done it deliberately.

“Well, let me know if you need anything else, okay?” You smile warmly, squeezing his arm briefly before turning back to the counter – wary of leaving it unattended too long.

“Good, you’re back! I was getting lonely.” Hiro quips.

“You, lonely? Impossible.”

“See, that’s what I like so much about you, Honey. You’re so witty.” You can see why Kyu hasn’t given him any work since – he’s incredibly dense.

“Can I get you something else to drink?” You hint. His glass has been empty for a little while now and he’s shown no sign of moving on. You know he’s not waiting for Kyu, either. He’d been here when he first arrived behind he headed out on a “stock run”.

“Hm”, he pulls out his wallet. “One more, then.”

--

You watch, a little reluctantly, as the last group of ladies of the lunch rush bid you farewell – leaving a generous tip – and head out the door. They’d at least given you an excuse to get a break from Hiro’s terrible pick-up lines every so often. He’d made sure to sip his drink incredibly slowly – there’s still half a glass left in front of him.

Suddenly, Hiro gets to his feet and you let out a breath you’d been holding - he’s finally leaving. He strides to the door and instead of opening it as you’d expected, he flips over the open side to closed, and twists the lock on the door.

“Er, what are you doing?” You asked, perplexed.

“Giving us some much-needed private time, Honey,” he smirks, returning to his place the counter. “Come sit beside me, hm?” His hand pats the stool besides him.

“Look, I’ve told you already – I’m not interested in you like that...” Your stomach sinks. You’d have to volley yourself over the counter to get to the front door and your athletic prowess is non-existent. “And you can’t just lock the door either and shut the place down – you’ll get me in trouble with Kyu if he comes back and finds it like that.” You know Hiro wants to be on Kyu’s good side, so maybe that’ll be incentive enough? Kick some sense into his dumb head?

“Oh, you’re not interested?” He lets out a dry laugh. “Well, I can be pretty convincing when I need to be…”

It all happens so fast. Rei is suddenly behind Hiro and wraps his hand around the back of his neck, before smashing his face against the counter. There’s a loud crunch as his nose breaks against the hard surface. He’d been so quiet this entire time you’d forgotten that Rei had still been in the first booth, sitting slightly behind the divider. Silent, unassuming Rei, who apparently had more strength in that slender body than one would expect.

“What the…?” Hiro mumbles, obviously dazed, blood trickling down his nose. “Who the hell are you?”

“Her boyfriend.” Rei grunts, picking him up by the scruff of the neck and hauling him over to the door with minimal effort. He twists the lock with one hand before opening up and shoving Hiro out into the street. The man groans but doesn’t attempt to get up. Rei shuts the door, not locking it – Hiro would be an idiot to come back in and take a swing - and walks over to the counter opposite you, a concerned look on his face.

“Are you okay?” Your heart is thudding in your chest at what transpired over the last few moments. You know you should definitely be more concerned of what Hiro thought was going to happen, but there’s only one thing on your mind in that second.

“My boyfriend?”

Rei’s face flushes red. “It… It came out before I knew what I was saying. I couldn’t stand the way he was all over you.”

“Boyfriend?” Your brain is stuck in a loop.

“I mean, I know I’m not, that we’re not…” His face is growing redder by the second. “I should go.”

He turns to leave but you lunge forward, grabbing hold of his sleeve and pulling him with a strength you didn’t know you possessed back to the counter.  

“Please don’t.” He looks confused at that for a moment, before settling his arms down on the surface. “What I mean is… I like you too.”

An adorable smile creeps across his face. It’s most likely the adrenaline, you decide, but to hell with it. You lean forward, grab hold of his shirt and yank him into a kiss. It’s messy, heated, and tinged with a citrus taste when the bell over the door rings and you pull apart like deers caught in the headlights. Kyu’s in the doorway, a knowing look on his face.

“Well, I was gonna ask why Hiro’s sat in the bins with a bleeding nose and crying, but this might explain it.”

-- Check out my masterlist.

#ghostdogwrites #buddy daddies x you #buddy daddies fanfic #suwa rei x reader #rei x reader #rei suwa x you #rei suwa x reader #requests open #buddy daddies

[lily-blue]

13 reasons why | reason no.13: the coffee shop is kid-friendly

☆ characters: potter!joshua & single-mom!you (Seori - ‘94 liner) ☆ genre: coffee shop au, single parent au, slice of life, angst, fluff ☆ warnings: distorted views on single parenthood ☆ summary: after you become a single mom, you think relationships are off the table; too bad your daughter doesn’t agree with you ☆ words: 21k ☆ a/n: this story also has a uniform header on my laptop; i will update this post with the correct header once i put my hands on said laptop (i also didn't have the time to proofread the chapter beyond the first scene, but i promised to put this out in april, so here we are... i will get to beta-reading when i get to it, please bear with the quality for now) ☆ taglist: @dat-town​​

➼ chapter index

When you had been younger - a tad too wild and carefree for someone who had been in her high school senior year in South Korea -, you had thought that being told that your partner had cheated on you was the worst way a relationship could end. However, in your early twenties, you had come to realise that your ideas and beliefs had been unrealistic and sheltered because of your late grandmother’s efforts to give you the same childhood she had failed to give to your father, and that real life was more unfair than you could have ever comprehended. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been forced to leave a loving relationship five months pregnant.

It had been a little over seven years since your break-up with Inwoo, and you did a fabulous job at keeping your daughter’s biological father’s identity a secret. The only people who knew about Haeun’s connection to the prestigious In family were your ex-boyfriend, his mother and your best friend, Seola, who was bound by an NDA just like you in order to ensure neither of you got greedy and tried to harm the chaebols’ reputation. As if you had ever done anything to hurt the man who had made you believe you could have had your own Cinderella story. As if money and power could have ever been more important to you than emotional security and happiness.

But then again, Inwoo’s mother might have thought differently of you. After all, you had agreed to receive monthly child support from a bank account that couldn’t have been linked to her and her son in exchange for your silence. You might have been naive back then, but you had already known that just you and your grandmother wouldn’t have been able to provide the best life for your child.

As you looked at your adorable, six-and-a-half-year-old daughter who was shifting her body weight from one leg to the other in front of you, you tried not to think of your conversation with her homeroom teacher, Haeun’s endless questions about your family’s weird structure since they had learned about family and friends in school or how much she resembled her father. You might not have had childish delusions anymore about Inwoo finding his way back to you, but you also couldn’t have just forgotten the gentleness in his eyes and the happiness he had radiated each and every time he had been talking about marrying you and your growing family. He would have been an amazing father, and you could only hope that you were a good enough mother as well. It surely couldn’t have made you a horrible mom that you couldn’t find a babysitter for your little one last minute. What mattered was that you were trying your best.

Goodness, you sure hoped these inconvenient occasions and your lack of resources wouldn’t cause your daughter a childhood trauma. People these days were talking about those a lot and as a single parent who cared too much, the possibility made you unhealthily self-conscious. If only you had been more hard-working, more ambitious when you had been younger. You should have listened to your teachers and your grandmother and applied for university like everyone else in your high school.

You shook your head and took a step closer to the counter as the person in front of the barista got her order. One more couple to go and it would be finally your turn to purchase your usual cinnamon roll frappuccino.

‘Mom! See! See! See!’ Your daughter exclaimed when her eyes fell on the delicious cakes behind the glass display, her height only allowing her to marvel at the products on the lowest metal shelf. 

Initially, your plan had been to leave her with your neighbour for those six long hours you would be away from home, but Min was still a university student and he had exams to study for, which would have been significantly more difficult with a six-and-a-half-year-old whose curiosity was seemingly endless. Your conscience hadn’t allowed you to ask for such a huge favour, as you didn’t want to undermine his studies. With your tiring part-time jobs, you knew exactly how important that piece of paper was in your society. And he would have had a hard time saying no if you had insisted.

It was the light tug on your pants that pulled you back to the present; your daughter was quick to address the barista behind the counter even though she could barely reach it on her tiptoes. Her swinging pigtails were flying back and forth as she tried to keep her balance and ask for a frog-shaped cookie.

‘That’s a pretty big cookie. Are you sure you can eat the whole thing?’ The barista played along while you were trying to figure out which dessert had caught Haeun’s attention, since you couldn’t see any cookies on the lowest shelf. Hm, maybe she was talking about the extra large cupcake cake that consisted of six individual cupcakes and formed a cartoon-style frog. According to the card in front of it, it was for two people and could be ordered for special occasions in advance in various shapes and sizes. 

You made a mental note to ask the barista about this offer the next time you came to Coffee Carat, because you thought Haeun would have enjoyed a cake like this for her birthday in August, which was in a bit over three months.

‘I’m a big girl,’ she insisted, some of her words slurred together due to the emphasis she tried to put on just how old she was. It made your lips curl upwards; you ruffled her bangs before you looked at the barista. Luckily, he seemed more amused than annoyed by your daughter’s behaviour.

‘Come here, big girl,’ you crouched down to pick the little girl up, so she could see the other dessert options as well. Then, you pointed at the single cupcake on the uppest shelf, the one that depicted a similarly styled cartoon frog’s face. ‘What about this one? This looks just as cute, doesn’t it?’ You negotiated, unbothered by other people’s opinion of your relationship with your daughter. Deep in your heart you knew you weren’t spoiling her just because you cared and constantly encouraged her to communicate about her likes and dislikes openly.

Was what you were doing controversial in your country? More or less, especially amongst the older generation. However, Haeun was your daughter (and your daughter alone) and you tried to raise her in a way you believed was the best for her in the long run. 

‘I think…’ the little girl started, then stopped abruptly like she always did when there was a big decision waiting for her to make. You watched her as she jutted her lower lip out with the most serious facial expression a six-and-a-half-year-old could make. ‘Yes, I like this one,’ Haeun said before she asked you to put her down.

Not wasting a second more - just because you disregarded the judgemental mumbles and soft snorts didn’t mean you didn’t know some of the customers behind you were rather inpatient -, you gave your order to the smiley barista and fished your wallet out of your backpack so you could pay. You actually had a separate bank card in it with all the child support money on for expenses related to Haeun, but you always used your hard-earned salary when it came to such tiny treats. Her grandmother’s fortune was only for emergencies and bigger investments, not to mention that university tuitions got more and more expensive these days. You should have stayed mindful of her savings even if your best friend liked to remind you of Inwoo’s wealth. You couldn’t guarantee and you shouldn’t have expected your daughter to snatch one of those fancy scholarships that covered students’ rent and living expenses as well.

‘Miss,’ the barista called out for you between two forced coughs, indicating that it wasn’t the first or second time he had tried to gain your attention. A bit sheepish, you looked him in the eye, silently asking him to repeat his words again. ‘Here is your change.’

‘Oh! Thank you,’ you mumbled under your nose, cursing yourself mentally for letting your thoughts wander in front of so many people. However, you simply couldn’t have helped it. Ever since Haeun’s homeroom teacher had mentioned to you the English summer camp for the kids, you were constantly thinking about money. What you should have prioritised, where you should have drawn the line when it came to your daughter’s wishes, whether you should have touched the money you were saving for her future or just cut into your own savings.

‘Of course. Here is the little one’s cupcake. The frappuccino will be ready in a minute,’ the barista informed you with a kind smile and gave you a small paper bag with the shop’s logo on it. 

You stepped aside to give room for the next customer.

To kill some time, you fixed your daughter’s messy clothes and pigtails, then let her distract you with her endless tales about her elementary school days because she was only in first grade when most kids were still very excited to learn new things about the world.

Haeun was in the middle of an unnecessarily detailed story about a classmate who always sat on the benches during PE class and never spoke to anyone when your phone started to ring and the voices in your head reminded you that you couldn’t afford to not take it. You hadn’t sent in your application for tens of thousands of jobs in the past eight months to ignore a call - a potential first or second round interview.

‘One cinnamon roll frappuccino to go,’ the barista recited your order the very next second, both delaying your response to the caller and giving you a chance to ask for a tiny favour. So you quickly stepped closer to the counter and reached out for your drink.

‘Thank you. Could you please keep an eye on my daughter for a couple of minutes. She is a smart kid and knows not to go anywhere without me. It’s really just making sure people don’t try to give her anything they shouldn’t or talk her into going anywhere with them,’ you asked under one breath, hoping that your lengthy ramble didn’t annoy the guy too much. You might have been a customer, but he wasn’t obligated to cater to your wishes to this extent.

Still, he took one quick look at your buzzing phone, then at your daughter and nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world.

‘Don’t worry about her. I will keep her company while you take that call,’ someone on your left said and you couldn’t have snapped your head in her direction quicker.

The woman who was speaking to you couldn’t have been that much older than you if she had been older in the first place. Her dark brown hair grazed her shoulders in soft waves while her clothes were on the more messy side: an oversized tee and a khaki overall. At first glance, she looked approachable and kind; however, you didn’t know her and you were wary of leaving Haeun in her care (even though, technically, you didn’t know the barista, either).

‘I’m sorry. That must have sounded so creepy, let me rephrase it,’ the woman spoke up again, and by this time your grip on your phone was so tight as if a part of you believed you could hold onto the person on the other side by crashing the device.

You gulped, visibly impatient, but gave her a chance to explain herself. 

‘My name is Hoyeon and I’m the wife of the owner. I was just about to go over to Freefall for some biscuits, but then I overheard your conversation and couldn’t not think that I have more time to spear than Seungkwan,’ she said, her smile more understanding than anything despite the way you sneaked a glance at the barista to double-check her claim.

As soon as the boy nodded, you bit into your lower lip and crouched down next to Haeun, to check whether she would have been comfortable with staying with Hoyeon.

‘I need to take this call, sugar. Can you be a good girl for me and stay with Hoyeon-ssi?’ You asked her, waiting for a nod or any sign that could have indicated that she wanted to stay with you instead, in which case she should have stayed super still and quiet until the end of your conversation unlike last time when you had accidentally written down the wrong time for an interview because she had been excited to show you the rainbow on the wall.

‘Long call?’ Your daughter asked with a tiny little pout on her lips, giving you the motherly urge to pinch her baby face; you did not resist.

‘Yes, a long call,’ you said; your voice was apologetic and so were your eyes, although your phone stopped ringing a moment later, the possibility of another missed opportunity stressing you out.

‘Okay,’ Haeun agreed to stay behind, sneakily eyeing your backpack where you had shoved the paper bag and with that, the frog cupcake into right after you had paid. Her request made you smile even before she opened her mouth. ‘Can I eat the cake now?’ She asked, tilting her head to the right like her aunt Seola always did when she wanted to get or do something you disapproved of. These two were spending too much time together it seemed.

‘You can,’ you gave in easily, the backpack already halfway off your shoulder. ‘But you need to promise me to not leave the coffee shop, okay? Not even with Hoyeon-ssi,’ you made her promise, using the unbreakable seal: your pinkies.

‘Promise,’ Haeun gave you her word, too, which eased your worries somewhat, reassuring you that you weren’t making the wrong decision despite how ridiculous that was. If someone wanted to harm a six-and-a-half-year-old, it hardly mattered whether the little one was cooperative.

Letting out a sigh, you quickly walked out of the shop and pulled up your call history to open the last caller’s details. You counted to three, five, ten to calm yourself a little, then tapped on the green icon. The person on the other side picked it up for the third ring.

‘Good morning. My name is Jin Jaehyuk from Wrap It Up,’ the man introduced himself in a pleasant voice, asking you whether he was talking to one of the candidates for their driver position, which you eagerly confirmed.

Before seeing their ad on Seola’s windshield a week ago, you had never considered applying for a driver job; however, the salary was almost twice as much as you were currently making and that alone made up for the possible shortcomings that company could have. The cleaner job you currently had pushed those bars really low if you wanted to be honest. At this point, you would have taken anything that didn’t drain you dry by the end of every damn shift.

The conversation with the HR representative was overall pleasant. He asked you about your work experience, how frequently you drove, whether you had your own car and if so, what type so he could find the most suitable company car for you in case you got hired. And lastly, of course, he wanted to know the reason why you had considered their position. Before you realised, you were already talking for twenty minutes, completely disregarding the buzzing of the street and the customers leaving and entering the coffee shop.

Hopeful about a second round interview, you slid your phone into your pocket, then went back to Coffee Carat, just for your soft smile to be stolen by the most terrifying sight that could have greeted you: your daughter sitting on the lap of a man you had never met before. You didn’t think, not really, when you ran up to them and tore the little girl out of his hands.

‘Who are you? And who gave you the permission to touc—’

‘Mooooom,’ Haeun put her tiny hands in your mouth, successfully blocking your accusations with her fingers. Confused and frustrated, you furrowed your brows and looked down at your daughter, visibly asking for an explanation, which she delivered after a huff. ‘Jisoo oppa is Hoyeon unnie’s friend. We were watching Encanto and you ruined the best part,’ she whined like you were the real bad guy in her story instead of the stranger who was caging her with his arms mere seconds prior.

You adjusted your position - shifted her weight in your arms so you could hold her with only one arm - and took her hands out of your mouth. 

‘Kim Haeun, I told you not to be friendly with strangers,’ you scolded her a tad too loudly - something you would have definitely regretted later at night when you were on your own in your bed, thinking back on the day’s happenings, but at that moment, with your heart pounding in your chest, you simply couldn’t. Seeing her with a man your age had scared you, especially because it had been you who had left her alone, so if someone had happened to her, you would have had no one else to blame but yourself.

‘But he is not,’ your daughter insisted. ‘He is Hoyeon unnie’s friend. He’s also Seungkwan oppa’s friend. And he knows the oppa who made the frog cake, the bake,’ she counted all the people she was talking about on her tiny fingers, shoving her three fingers into your face at the end of her monologue.

You pressed your lips together to avoid an accidental scream and took a deep breath through your nose instead. This was when the stranger walked up to you and cleared his throat to gain your attention.

‘I’m sorry for scaring you. My name is Hong Jisoo and I’m close friends with the employees and the shop owner, so when Hoyeon had to go to the toilet, I offered to entertain the little lady since I’m still waiting for my coffee,’ he explained, shooting a reassuring smile towards your daughter that made you feel weird. Not necessarily because he looked like a creep, but because Haeun was suddenly on her best behaviour, beaming at the guy. ‘I can assure you that we were introduced to each other before she sat on my lap. She didn’t break any rules, right, princess?’

‘Haeun is a good girl,’ she puffed her chest out proudly while she tilted her head towards the stranger, Jisoo, who rewarded her with a pat on the head.

As you were watching the scene, you wondered whether this was your female lead moment in real life: a single mom whose daughter basically claimed a random handsome stranger as her oppa in the middle of a lovely coffee shop. You swore, one of the more talented screenplay writers could have built a very nice drama around it.

Except, Hong Jisoo was undeniably taken if the blonde girl who kissed his lips in front of Haeun was anything to go by.

‘Baby, can we go now? You know I need a new bikini for our vacation with the guys,’ she said, pulling on the guy’s arm like even a moment more in your company would have been a waste of her time.

You almost failed to swallow down your chuckle when you heard your daughter scoff at the newcomer. Almost.

‘It’s time for us to go, too,’ you exclaimed politely to draw the girlfriend’s attention away from Haeun and pulled the little girl more into your embrace to block her line of vision. You hadn’t been born yesterday. You knew that Haeun would have given this young woman the stinky eye for clinging onto her new friend if you had let her. She definitely spent too much time with her auntie. ‘I apologise for my reaction. Thank you for looking after her.’

‘It was my pleasure, no worries,’ Jisoo reassured you before one of the baristas called for his name and he walked up to the counter with his girlfriend hot on his heels.

Soon after getting his hands on his order, he was dragged out of the building. And you tried not to think too much into how it was only May, which was way too early for a vacation in your dictionary. It only made you feel poor because it just meant you had never been to any countries before where the weather was warm enough for a bikini so early into the year.

Since Haeun insisted on saying goodbye to all of her new friends, it took you a bit longer to leave the shop, but you did so with a bunch of free cupcakes (the baker assistant had messed up the frosting on a full tray of desserts in the morning and the baker, whose name you learned was Mingyu, was unwilling to put them behind the class display anyway) and a ‘See you later, princess!’ that you didn’t know what to do with. 

Had your daughter just been adopted by all the employees of Coffee Carat? It felt surreal, but then again, Haeun spent an awful lot of time with Seola these days, so you shouldn’t have been too surprised. That woman was a minx. Of course, she had taught your daughter how to wrap the whole world around her fingers.

You made a mental note to pay more attention to whom she interacted with in the future. She was still too young to pick up on malicious intentions. And while that day the two of you were lucky, there wasn’t any guarantee that next time you would be too.

You weren’t a homewrecker. The concept alone made you feel disgust and fury because even though you had never been cheated on, you could resonate with the grief one felt when their significant other was taken away from them. Still, when your daughter kept nagging you that she wanted to go back to Coffee Carat to visit her Jisoo oppa and Hoyeon unnie, you could only stand your ground for about a week.

You wished you had been half as stubborn as the little one. Then, maybe you wouldn’t have sounded like a broken record when you asked about Jisoo from the baristas for the nth time in such a short period of time like a sasaeng.

‘Oppa!’ You heard your daughter scream from the top of her lungs the moment the man set foot in the coffee shop and you had half a mind to hit your forehead against the table and run, but you stayed seated. At least, Haeun didn’t run to him without asking for your permission. She was just waving at him furiously with her pink crayon still in her hand.

In that nanosecond when it felt like everyone was looking at you and Jisoo’s eyes were yet to find the source of the scream, you came up with a semi-well-thought-out masterplan to put an end to your daughter delusions, but all the excuses and explanation were thrown out the window when the man smiled at the two of you. He said something to the grumpy barista behind the counter, then walked up to you like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Yeah, you definitely had to have a conversation with him and Haeun about this situation before your daughter got too attached to him or rumours got back to his girlfriend about you looking for Jisoo at every chance you got.

‘In that an elephant?’ The man asked your daughter, who immediately sensed the green light and started to talk about her drawing in much more detail than it would have been necessary. She even took her time to mention the baby elephant’s family and how she was attending the elephant school with her friends. She had a natural talent for storytelling and she lived off of the undivided attention Jisoo was giving her with his random questions.

The moment your brain aided you with the mental image of Haeun doing the same with her real dad, you knew it was time for you to put an end to their fun. It was too much, the way their casual conversation was messing with your head, making you see things that had never happened. (And would have never happened despite Inwoo’s love for his unborn child.)

You pinched into your lower arm hard under the table and reached out for Haeun’s hand to remind her of your presence. Her big doe eyes, when he snapped her head in your direction, were adorable. She looked almost surprised that you were also listening to her story.

‘Sugar, can mom speak with oppa, too, for a second?’ You asked, inwardly cringing at the title, because the man was not your brother, your close friend or your lover. However, Haeun liked to refer to him as her oppa, so it made things easier. You would apologise for your rude behaviour later, right after you apologised for your daughter’s obsession with him.

‘Okay,’ Haeun agreed with a small nod as she turned back to her drawing and returned her focus to the elephant school. She hummed along with the radio like she knew the song they were playing even though you rarely let her listen to this type of music and poked her tongue out in concentration. These were clear signs that she wasn’t interested in whatever you had to say to her new friend.

‘Would you mind if I picked up your order with you? I could also use some more caffeine,’ you asked, hoping that he could read between the lines and realise that you wanted to be out of earshot from your daughter while you were talking. You wanted both of you to be able to speak your mind about how you thought you should have handled the issue with Haeun. You didn’t wish to hear his fake words regarding his bond with your daughter, but you also hated the idea of breaking the little girl’s heart when she had been so excited about meeting this man again.

‘Sure, you can even use my discount card,’ he offered with a small laugh while you stood up and pushed your now-empty chair closer to the table, so it wouldn’t be in the way for other customers in your absence.

It would have been a lie to say that the offer wasn’t tempting. You liked coupons and things in general that helped you save money, but it felt like a boundary you shouldn’t have crossed. He had already put up with a lot when it came to you and your tiny family and you barely knew more than a handful of things about him: his name, his relationship status, the fact that he and his girlfriend would go on a vacation in the near future and that he had a lot of friends who worked in this particular coffee shop.

Jisoo must have come to the same conclusion during your short walk, too, because as soon as you stood in the line, he turned towards you and said: 

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t think I caught your name last time.’

The bluntness of his statement made you laugh without meaning to, so you needed a couple of seconds to get back in your more serious mood, the one that you hadn’t possessed before you had turned into a mother. Six years in, and you still struggled to change between these two personas naturally. If anything, your effort must have looked comically forced because of how quickly your facial expression turned from carefree to firm.

Cursing yourself inwardly and simultaneously acting like you hadn’t noticed the surprise on Jisoo’s face, you straightened your back and told him your name. Your introduction was curt; you didn’t share any unnecessary information with the smiley man, that made you sound like you would have rather jumped in front of a bus than befriend him, which obviously wasn’t true. You would have never risked leaving your baby girl behind. You were her only family.

‘It’s very nice to meet you,’ Jisoo reached his hand out for a handshake that - because of your obvious confusion - served as a nice conversation starter: something that your introduction had clearly failed to be.

Impressed by how effortlessly he connected seemingly unrelated topics to each other, you let him tell you about his upbringing (apparently, he had been born in the United States), when he had come to South Korea and how he had met the guys (he had been minding his own business at a club in his second year in uni when Jeonghan had splashed ice-cold water at his face for allegedly stealing the barstool on his right from a cute girl who had been totally into him) and many other things you wouldn’t have considered sharing with a stranger. Anyhow, he clearly wasn’t of the same opinion, and you didn’t know how to make him stop without coming off as an ungrateful jackass.

‘And now Seungcheol is already married, and I’m pretty sure Jeonghan will ask Yoohyeon to marry him this year…’ he trailed off my the end of the end of his monologue with something akin to longing in his voice, although you couldn’t have been a hundred percent sure. It also wasn’t your place to be curious. Whether he had wanted the same commitment with his girl or not, whether it had ever caused fights between the two of them…

No, it wasn’t your business, you absolutely, utterly, wholly refused to make it yours.

However, Jisoo didn’t give you much of a choice; there were two more customers between you and the counter.

‘I’m happy for them. Actually, I’m happy for everyone. Would you believe it if I told you that two and a half years ago all thirteen of us were singles?’ He asked with a low chuckle before he dove into yet another story you had never asked about: how it had all started with Cheol, Hoyeon and this coffee shop.

‘Actually, what I wanted to talk about is related to Hoyeon-ssi,’ you cut him off at the first chance you got even though your daughter’s fascination with him wasn’t as related to the woman as you made it sound. It was a rather desperate attempt at taking control over the conversation without wasting the time you had in relative private. ‘You see, Haeun-ah has this misconception that everyone in this coffee shop - but especially you - is her new best friend, and I think we should find a way to break it down to her that it’s not how life works.’

‘Why not?’ Jisoo asked without a moment of hesitation, confusing you enough to make you stumble over your own words.

You furrowed your brows and pursed your lips as you were looking at him.

‘What do you mean why not?’ You asked once you found your voice again, letting him pull you towards the counter by your elbow gently in the meantime. Too fixed on waiting for his answer, you barely registered the movement.

‘Why doesn’t life work like that? I’m pretty sure everyone’s best friend was a stranger at one point,’ the man said and you furrowed your brows even more. Sure, what he was saying was on point, but that wasn’t what you had meant at all. What you had wanted to say was that your daughter should have been told that grown men and women didn’t form meaningful friendships with random children who weren’t related to them.

‘Yeah, I mean, it’s not like I can argue with that or want to argue with that to begin with, but the possibility of any of you staying in my daughter’s life is pretty unlikely, and I also don’t want her to want to come here too frequently to play with you when it’s your workplace,’ you said, proud of how coherent your reasons fell from your lips.

There was no way Jisoo could have misunderstood you again. At least, that was what you had thought until he opened his mouth and pointed it out that:

‘This shop isn’t my workplace.’

‘O-okay. It’s still not the point,’ you retorted, a bit more irritated than you would have liked to be, since you were not only in public but only a few metres from your daughter whom you didn’t want to show a bad example. Still, your urge to shake some sense into this man was growing exponentially. ‘Haeun-ah was trying to convince me for a week to bring her back here so she could play with you guys and I have a hard time saying no to her when she is so determined. I need your help to make her understand she is making you guys uncomfortable.’

‘Well, I can only speak for myself, but she doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. Mingyu was also happy to meet her and Seungkwan’s girlfriend was complaining the other day that she couldn’t meet her…’ he trailed off by the end of his sentence as though he wasn’t sure he should have kept going. You couldn’t put your fingers on the hesitation in his eyes until he took a breath and continued. ‘Isn’t it that she makes you feel uncomfortable?’

You didn’t know what to say to that. Because the possibility hadn’t even occurred to you until the accusation more or less intentionally hit you in the face. Was your daughter’s behaviour affecting you more negatively than anyone else? Could it have been that you made everything a bigger deal than it was because you were embarrassed by how freely she showed her liking for others while you tried to close yourself off from new people to not get hurt again?

‘Hey…’ Jisoo’s unexpectedly soft voice pulled you out of your head, and he offered you an apologetic smile as soon as your eyes refocused on him. ‘I didn’t mean to sound rude. It’s just that… you worry too much. Your daughter is adorable and she didn’t do anything wrong. She is free to come hang out with us in the shop on less busy days. To hang out with me,’ he reassured you while he also took you by the elbow again, leading you up to the counter. Oh! He was surprisingly good at keeping tabs on his surroundings. You hadn’t even realised it was finally your turn to order, too stunned by his opinion about the issue you had clearly blown out of proportion.

‘Hi guys! What can I get for you?’ One of the female baristas asked at the same time Jisoo tried to ease the kinks in your shoulders with a light-hearted comment.

‘Who knows? She might get bored of us in a month or two. Adults aren’t as exciting as they should with all that money and freedom,’ he joked, bumping his upper hand into yours with an easy-going smile.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding.

‘I…’

He was right. It might have taken your daughter two years to grow out of her Cinnamonroll and Kuromi obsession, it might have taken her half a year to not request chocolate cake for dessert every time she had had the chance, but she had indeed moved on with time. If you were lucky, she would get over this place sooner than her lost teddy bear she had cried over for three weeks last year.

‘It’s just the usual for me, Yeseo. And some…’ Jisoo turned towards you. ‘What would you like to drink?’ 

‘Me? I…’ The shock on your face shouldn’t have been as visible as it was, but you couldn’t help it. You just hoped neither Jisoo nor the girl behind the counter had enough nunchi to read you like an open book and question your sanity. Like seriously, why were you so damn speechless just because he wanted to order for you and seemingly didn’t mind hanging out with your daughter to protect her childlike innocence.

The bar was seriously low with you, wasn’t it?

You quickly cleared your throat and straightened your already straight back.

‘I’ll have a caramel latte, thank you,’ you chose, one hundred percent intending to pay for your own drink when your phone started to ring in your pocket out of the blue. Sure, you had a couple of ongoing applications still, but they were either too old to hear back from them or too new.

Afraid that it might have been your best friend who was, for some reason once again, in trouble, you fished the device out of your jeans and looked at the screen with a throbbing knot in your throat. It was a number you had never seen before.

You looked at Jisoo then the barista, not sure how much you owned for the latte and when you should have told the girl that you wanted a sandwich and an animal-themed cupcake, too.

‘I think you should take it. Might be important,’ Jisoo pointed at your phone, his smile soft just like his eyes. If your head hadn’t been full of to-dos, worries and usual single mom stuff already, you might have had to actively remind yourself that he was taken.

Why was he so nice to you?

‘I’ll be back in a second,’ you promised at the end because you soon came to the conclusion that asking him to order for Haeun and you some food, too, would have been too complicated with the little time you had before the other person gave up on contacting you. You would just buy them after the call. ‘Thanks.’

Taking a few steps towards the double doors, you remained inside the coffee shop this time; however, you made sure you weren’t in the way to any of the staff members and customers and that the buzzing of the business wasn’t too loud around you, so you wouldn’t misheard any important piece of information.

The call barely took two minutes; the man on the other side of the line got down to business as soon as you introduced yourself and he double-checked your identity. It turned out, there were three group job interviews happening in an hour at their company building, which two people had cancelled at the last minute. HR decided to contact those candidates who had almost made it into the second round and gave them a chance to charm them in person. You were one of the lucky ones in case you could make it in time.

Their location was thirty minutes plus minus five from Coffee Carat. There was no way you would have turned down such an opportunity even if you believed you were at a disadvantage compared to the majority of the interviewees.

It was when you put your phone away and turned around that you suddenly remembered that you should have calculated a detour into your route when you had agreed to the interview. After all, Haeun was sitting by your table, colouring with Jisoo while munching on a piece of cake that shouldn’t have been in front of her to begin with.

You rushed up to the duo like a madwoman.

‘Haeun-ah. We need to go,’ you rushed her, crouching down next to her chair to be more at eye level with her. It usually helped with conceiving her to do something she might not have liked because she felt like you were taking her seriously. Like she was a big girl who could understand certain things babies couldn’t.

This time; however, this trick didn’t seem to work. The cheesecake in front of her was too distracting, and so was Jisoo’s presence who had gotten a blank paper and some crayons in the meantime.

‘No! We can stay until dinner. Mom, you promised,’ she objected, holding onto the light pink crayon so firmly, her tiny little knuckles turned white.

You bit into your cheek from the inside to not scold her for making it hard for you when you didn’t have that much time to spare. It was your own decision to raise her the way you were raising her: allowing her to have an opinion and when safe, the freedom of choice. Still, it would have been nice if she had just gone along with your wish without the need to give her an explanation why you wanted to have a new job. She obviously wasn’t ready for any topic at that maturity level - even if you hadn’t gone into too much detail.

You wished you had more people to rely on when it came to these matters. Sure, you would have never regretted becoming a single mom, but for the love of God, you did miss Inwoo on days like this one.

‘I can stay with her for an hour or two. And I’m pretty sure the guys could also keep an eye on her in case something came up, which is highly unlikely,’ Jisoo offered. He lifted his hand to his mouth and lowered his voice as he whispered-shouted as if he was sharing a big secret with both you and your daughter. ‘I’m my own boss.’

‘Thank you, but I really shoul—,’

‘Yey! Please, mom, please! I want to stay with Jisoo oppa,’ Haeun exclaimed, totally hyped due to the idea as she was jumping up and down on the chair with her upper body. One glance at her happy smile was enough for you to realise that forbidding her to stay and taking her to your best friend after the man had already agreed to play with her would have been disastrous. In the best case scenario, she would have cried her eyes out while you carried her in your arms.

In the worst, you would have been the bad guy for at least an entire week and received the attitude a little longer. You wished Jisoo had discussed this with you in advance now that he made it clear that he didn’t intend to pop the little girl’s pink bubble as you had suggested slash requested a few minutes prior.  

It was hard to be grateful when you were also rightfully frustrated.

But dealing with these two was future-you’s problem. Present-you had an interview to attend to.

So you took the nth deep breath in less than five minutes and stood up from the ground. Then, you leaned down to kiss the top of your daughter’s head as a goodbye while making her promise to be on her best behaviour. 

‘Here!’ Jisoo pushed a paper cup into your free hand when you were about to walk up to your laptop and turn it off so it wouldn’t have unnecessarily died on you while you were away. ‘I heard you double checking the time for the interview and asked Yeseo to put your latte in a paper cup instead,’ he explained, pointing at the side of the container with a pleased smile on his face. ‘I also wrote down my kakao ID, so you could add me and check on Haeun in case you’re worried or something.’

It was the most thoughtful thing a stranger had ever done to you; it was something none of your family members had done to you since your grandmother’s passing and that alone… It blew out the flickering flames of your anger.

Your voice was quiet but genuinely grateful when you thanked him. You packed your bag and left.

You didn’t contact Jisoo until you got to the location, but his reassurance and those photos he sent you with your daughter, both of them cheering on you with their fists raised for a lively “hwaiting”, took tons off your chest as you were sitting in the waiting room with ten other people.

You might not have been the most talkative or most well-dressed person at the interview, but you really believed that you did an amazing job at charming the HR representatives. And it was all thanks to Jisoo and his willingness to act as your temporary safety-net.

Walking out of the company building, you knew you couldn’t refer to him as a stranger any longer. He also deserved some compensation for his help. You just had to figure out what to do for him to pay off some of the imaginary debt.

Although the thought to buy Jisoo a cake for basically babysitting your daughter for free had crossed your mind, you had quickly come to the conclusion on your way back to the coffee shop that paying for sweets at his friend’s business might have been a better option. This way the money would have gone to someone he knew. Literal perfection.

Your almost childlike excitement was apparent in the way you entered Coffee Carat around two and a half hours after leaving your daughter with Jisoo. Your steps were lighter and your smile a tad wider than they usually were until your gaze fell on the empty table Haeun should have sat by and you recognised her pitched voice coming from a different one.

‘Take back! Take back! Take back!’ She screamed at a man you had never met before while both Jisoo and another unfamiliar person watched her hit the blond man’s upper hand once, twice, three times in less than ten seconds.

Your eyes grew wide in horror as you rushed up to the table, pulling the little girl away from the understandably annoyed stranger.

‘Kim Haeun!’ You raised your voice on purpose, to make her realise that she was in trouble for screaming and fighting someone so aggressively when you had raised her better. If this man had done anything wrong, she should have stayed away from him and asked for help from someone she knew she could trust.

Which reminded you of…

‘I’m so sorry for my daughter’s behaviour…’ you bowed your head at the blond man first and foremost, then turned towards Jisoo who was sitting across from him, undoubtedly enjoying himself. At least, he had been clearly doing so until your eyes met and the smile fell from his lips. ‘Can you tell me what’s going on?’

‘The bad man said bad things about Jisoo oppa,’ your daughter claimed, her pitched voice making it obvious that she felt upset about whatever this man had told her about her new best friend.

‘Sugar, please let them explain themselves first,’ you asked her, hoping that the nickname you always used to make her feel special helped soothe her nerves a little and if not, at least she realised you weren’t as angry with her as you had been when you had arrived. You still didn’t support violence, but you could also acknowledge that sometimes it was hard to contain one’s feelings, especially when it came to standing up for people they liked.

‘Sawry,’ she mumbled into the crook of your neck, suddenly a bit shy even though you could feel her head moving a little as though she was trying to steal glances at the three people at the table without you noticing.

She was definitely spending too much time with her aunt.

‘Hello. I’m Haeun’s mother. Can I ask who you are and what did you say that upset my daughter so much? You see, she isn’t usually a violent child, so I’m a little surprised, that’s all,’ you tried to be as polite as possible while also demanding an explanation. If you did, you did not intend to sound like one of those entitled parents who believed their children could do no wrong, but on the other hand, you had this inner urge to take Haeun-ah’s side until she was proven guilty.

‘I’m Jeonghan, Joshua’s best friend. I was just asking him about his relationship since Cheol is already out and I want a free vacation. Nothing upsetting, really,’ the blond man informed you, his smug smile making him sound that much less sincere. If you wanted to be honest, you had a hard time believing that he was telling the truth, but it was also true that you didn’t understand everything that had left his mouth.

‘Who is Joshua?’ You asked, although what you really wanted to know was: why would his relationship have upset your daughter?

‘Your babysitter?’ The man threw the question at you instead of answering before he snapped his head in Jisoo’s direction like he wanted the other to come forward and confess.

You also wished he had spoken up without further nagging and explained what was going on. Was this man his best friend? If so, how were the two of them related to the quiet, blonde woman and how his relationship could have given this man a free vacation?

No answer should have come with as many more questions as Jeonghan’s explanation did.

‘Yeah… That’s me. Jisoo is my Korean name, but most people call me Joshua actually. It’s my American name, I’m sorry,’ he cleared up the misunderstanding before he introduced his friends to you, bringing up stories he had already shared with you, so you could link their faces to their names and personalities more easily.

It didn’t help a lot, but you didn’t bother to enlighten him, because you were afraid to break his flow. At least, he was willing to answer all of your questions, which was a moderately good sign.

‘The bad man said oppa’s a ship acid, but it’s a lie! He has to take it and say sorry!’ Haeun chirped in in the middle of Jisoo - or Joshua, as most people apparently knew him around here - introducing Yoohyeon-ssi to you. The woman who was his friend’s girlfriend; the very same woman who would soon be asked to marry the blonde man if you had recalled the most recent story you had heard about these two.

Turning your head towards your daughter, you furrowed your brows. She looked so upset, like genuinely upset by Jeonghan’s comment on Jisoo that you didn’t have the heart to ask her to repeat what she had heard nor could you inquire whether she knew what acid meant in the first place.

‘Wrong,’ Jeonghan tsked, narrowing his eyes at your little girl like he was seriously trying to challenge her to call him a liar one more time. ‘I said he’s a relationship addict, because he is. This girl - whose name I don’t even bother to memorise anymore - is his third girlfriend this year,’ he claimed, and when your eyes met and you showed no judgement or bewilderment, he used one of his hands to give emphasis to his reasoning. ‘We aren’t even halfway through this year!’

As you were shifting your gaze from Jeonghan to Jisoo, then to the blonde woman who was hovering over her laptop, fingers quick as lightning on the keyboard, the only thing you could think about was: well, that made a lot more sense than “ship acid”, didn’t it?

‘Jeonghan, please,’ Jisoo’s firm scolding fell from his lips the same moment Haeun started to yell from the top of her lungs:

‘Take it! Take it! You big liar!’

You had never wished more that the ground would split in two and swallow you at whole. Because while you understood that what your daughter wanted to say was “take it back”, you were pretty sure the majority of those who were giving you the judgemental stare and stinky eyes thought that Haeun-ah was already unhinged, at the tender age of six.

You hated only a few things less than misunderstandings.

‘Sugar, please stop picking fights,’ you warned the little lady, slowly putting her down on the floor so the unexpected change in height could calm her down a little. ‘Screaming at people and hitting them are also bad,’ you reminded her as soon as you crouched down at her level, simultaneously squeezing her little hand to make sure she knew you weren’t angry at her. She had every right to be upset. You would have never invalidated her feelings.

(Your parents had talked down to you while you had been still living with them too many times to even consider giving the same treatment to your own child.)

‘He says sorry, too,’ she demanded with a pout, having enough shame in her to stare at her feet instead of looking up at you, which made you a tad conflicted, because you would have liked to see her eyes. It always made it easier to read her - a skill quite handy when one had to raise a child.

You took a deep breath through your nose and tilted her head upwards with your index finger under her chin.

‘Okay. Let’s act like we are big girls and apologise first, hm?’ You said, phrasing it like a question to let her make the right decision consciously, so the next time anything like this happened, she would remember what to do. Guiding her through these experiences always worked better than forcing her to do the right thing.

It took her a few seconds, but eventually, Haeun nodded and turned towards the blond man with her entire body. Her tiny arms were pressed against her sides as she bent her back in a 90-degree angle, over-emphasising her politeness. You bit into your lower lip to not scold her for overdoing it on purpose.

‘Haeun is sorry,’ she said, then straightened her back and looked up at Jeonghan expectantly. 

It made Jisoo crack up and even the quiet lady let out a muffled chuckle while she kept her eyes on the screen. 

You weren’t exactly counting the seconds, but you knew the silence had stretched too long when your daughter started to get fidgety and one of the baristas, whose name you hadn’t learnt yet, came up to your table with some snacks and five glasses of cold beverages: orange juice for your daughter and coffees for all four of you.

‘Jeonghan,’ the blonde girl said with a tired sigh. ‘Apologise to Haeun.’

‘Why? Everyone knows I’m right,’ the man huffed, mumbling something under his nose about Jisoo’s new girlfriend and how it was a waste of money to buy her a new bikini because there was no way they would have lasted that long. ‘Also, I’m not sorry at all. It would only teach her the wrong lessons,’ he claimed, his smug smirk ridiculously potent as he let his gaze fall on your daughter, then looked up at you to add: ‘We wouldn’t want that, would we now?’

Too shocked to even part your lips or let out a scoff, it didn’t surprise you that you weren’t the first one to react. What did take you aback, though, was the elegance the blonde woman handled the situation with. You would have never been able to keep your facial expressions that neutral or your voice so stable while you told your significant other that they were less mature than a six-year-old child.

‘If you’re so keen on teaching the right life lessons to people, I have one for you, too,’ the woman said before she put her hand on the top of her laptop’s screen and turned her head in her boyfriend’s direction, completely unbothered. If it could have, your jaw would have fallen on the ground because of how badass she sounded; like she knew she had the upper hand and wasn’t afraid to make it clear to everyone. ‘Making bets on your best friends’ relationships is seriously messed up. I’ve already told you this, haven’t I?’

‘Yeah, but…’

‘But it’s a tradition and everybody does it anyway,’ she cut Jeonghan off by finishing the sentence for him in the same manner like she was talking about their next grocery shopping. You crouched down behind Haeun-ah and pulled her small body against your chest, not sure if you were allowed to leave. It was a very weird situation; it made you feel out of place and as a mom, that was something you really hated.  

Your eyes were pleading when you looked up at Jisoo; however, he was busy with the drama that was unfolding in front of you, so he clearly didn’t get the memo. You held onto your little girl more firmly and leaned close to her ear so you could tell her that you were about to leave.

Except…

Yoohyeon turned off her laptop and reached out to your daughter to ruffle her hair with a soft smile. She looked beautiful. So calm and approachable, you had this silly urge to go to her for advice even though she was practically a stranger.

‘Hey, big girl! I’m sorry this rude ahjussi upset you, but don’t worry. I’ll make sure he will sit long enough in the corner to learn his lesson,’ she reassured Haeun that Jeonghan would be punished, which seemed to satisfy the little lady considering the firm nod she gave to the woman.

‘What do you mean by that?’ Jeonghan asked in a slightly pitched voice, but his girlfriend wasn’t having it anymore. She just put her laptop into her laptop bag in a leisurely way.

‘I’ll take the subway to my publisher’s office,’ she stated, nodding towards Jisoo at first, then in your direction. What Jeonghan got was a pat on the shoulder and a cold yet somehow still affectionate: ‘Call me when you’ve grown up. I’m ordering chicken for dinner.’

With that, she was out the door like she had never been there.

‘I think it’s time for us to go, too,’ you jumped on the opportunity before any of the men could have broken out of their stupor and taken their anger out on you. Well… more like Jeonghan, since you seriously doubted Jisoo had any reason to be angry with you, but who knew? Bro codex and such things did exist and they were close friends.

You were acquaintances at best and the most fun people to spend time with according to your daughter. 

‘But mom… my juice!’ Haeun pouted; however, this time you decided to put your feet down and use your physical advantage as it should have been in tough situations: you lifted her off the ground and looked around in search of her papers and crayons.

‘Where are your drawings, sugar?’ You whisper-asked while scanning the area around where your previous table had been to no avail. Which was both comforting because it meant your stuff hadn’t been left behind unsupervised, but also frustrating because those pieces of papers clearly weren’t on the new table, either.

‘In my princess folder,’ she informed you like there was no other place those drawings could have been and you sighed, because you as far as you were concerned, you hadn’t brought any folders with you that morning and even if you had done, she didn’t own a princess one to begin with. ‘It’s behind Jisoo oppa,’ Haeun gave you another direction, most likely sensing just how lost you were still.

You furrowed your brows and shifted your gaze to Jisoo, who was already looking at you like a deer caught in the headlights.

‘I’m sorry, but could you give me her stuff? We’re going home,’ the words fell from your lips kindly, secretly hoping that if you spoke quietly enough, you could have stayed under his best friend’s radar. You genuinely didn’t want to fight - not in public, not with a grown ass man who was acting like a child and especially not with the friend of someone you were already indebted to. If you had done that, you would have set yourself up for a disaster for sure, and only stupid people did that.

With Haeun in your arms, you couldn’t have afforded to be stupid anymore.

‘Oh? Yeah, sure. Sorry, it’s no problem,’ Jisoo exclaimed a bit clumsily, quickly turning his back to you so he could fish the folder and all the crayons out of his own bag.

You snatched them both out of his hands with a quick ‘Thank you.’

On your way towards the front door, you could feel your daughter peeking out from behind your shoulder, watching the two men, but you didn’t care. You marched towards the street with all your might and didn’t stop until the nearest subway station.

You just knew Seola would have laughed at you if she had seen you bolting from the scene.

It was Jisoo who sent you the first personal message to you via kakao, and you were so taken aback by how unrelated it was to anything you had ever talked about, you had half a mind to ask your daughter whether she had said anything funny about you to the man. After all, why else would he have sent you a One Piece meme in the middle of a boring Wednesday. A Zoro one on top of everything. Were you too basic?

Maybe. But even so, he shouldn’t have known. So you asked him whether he had messaged the wrong person and from there, the rest was history.

You didn’t text daily, but he asked you about your job hunting frequently (even went as far as sending you job advertisements that didn’t require more than a high school diploma), how Haeun-ah was doing at school and your opinion on cute date ideas that he found nice and also doable but his male friends made fun of. Overall, it didn’t take longer than three weeks and you started to refer to him as a friend in your head.

Still, how you had ended up at a pub with a very drunk Jisoo at 11PM on a Friday night when your daughter was having a sleepover at her aunt’s place was beyond you. On the other hand, when you gave it a serious thought, you had indeed seen his best friend making fun of his relationship a few weeks prior, so was it really that surprising that he had reached out to you when his girlfriend dumped him? You didn’t think so.

‘Yes, she looked sexy in the red one, but is it really worth breaking up over?’ He threw the first ridiculous question at you as soon as you arrived and took a seat next to him at the main bar.

You called over the bartender and asked for a juice and a glass of iced water.

‘Jisoo…’ you called out to him, peeling his fingers off his half-finished beer. ‘It might sound like I’m taking Jeonghan’s side, but I really don’t think she broke up with you because of the bikini,’ you tried to comfort him, although you were unsure whether your words were doing the job or only upsetted him more.

So far, he looked more confused and lost than anything. 

‘But she said so! She got mad at me when I gave her the black one. She said I’m a possessive pig and she can’t take my conservative ideas anymore,’ he croaked, making a weak attempt at getting his beer back, but you were faster.

The tears in his eyes and on his cheeks made your heart hurt. Especially because it had been you who had insisted that his ex-girlfriend would be happy to get either of the bikinis he had chosen for her as the thought mattered more than the gift itself. You still didn’t believe that the girl’s reasons for dumping Jisoo were more than cheap excuses, but you did feel partly responsible and that sucked.

‘If she thought that way of you, that just means she wasn’t the right one for you,’ you said, the words one hundred percent true and yet… You weren’t sure they were as comforting as you had intended them to be. Even to your ears, they sounded a tad too cliche to convey just how worried you were about him.

The bitter chuckle that left Jisoo’s throat only proved it further that he didn’t believe you. And why would he have? One and a half months ago you hadn’t known about each other’s existence.

So you were grateful when the bartender served you your drinks. It gave you an opportunity to divert the topic without sounding too insensitive.

‘Here,’ you put the glass of water into Jisoo’s hand, slowly brushing a few strands out of his forehead without realising how intimate it could have seemed to people who didn’t know you and the way you comforted people ever since you had become a mom. ‘Do you think you can finish the whole glass for me?’

The moment your eyes met, the unintended implication behind your words hit you like a bullet train, and your cheeks decided to throw you under the bus: both sides dressed in a dark shade of ruby red. Naturally, it was you who broke eye contact first.

‘I must have messed up pretty bad,’ Jisoo came to the conclusion a couple of heartbeats later, drawing your attention back to him, both of your eyes fixed on the glass in his hands he was playing with. You wished you had known what to say, but it was difficult, because you didn’t know what made him say that. The dates he had organised (at least, the ones he had told you about) had sounded both cute and fun. You would have loved going on any of them if you had wanted to be honest. Not to mention that he had taken his girlfriend on a date around three or four times a week, which was more frequent than the average as far as you could tell. ‘She couldn’t even stay with me until the group vacation and we’ll leave in two days.’

You frowned, genuinely bewildered that Jisoo would have preferred getting dumped after the vacation like that wouldn’t have meant he was being used.

You took a sip from your juice and reached out to his hand to lift his own glass in front of his lips. He needed to sober up real quick before his intoxicated brain could have convinced him that he should have contacted the girl to ask her to join them for the trip or something. Nah, not under your watch.

‘Why would you want to be with someone who clearly isn’t in love with you?’ You inquired, slowly turning towards him with your entire body.

You let your eyes loiter over his bent figure, his puffy eyes and the dried snot above his lips and on the back of his hand. He looked worn down and his wrinkled clothes didn’t help much with his overall appearance. Should you have called one of his friends to pick him up? Was it really okay for you to see him like this?

‘Is this why you’re not with your baby daddy anymore?’ His question came out of nowhere, hitting you in the guts without any kind of warning. His bluntness rendered you speechless while your knuckles turned white around your drink.

The indirect mention of Inwoo made you wish you had ordered something stronger, because this wasn’t a topic you were ready to share with Jisoo or anyone who hadn’t known about your history already, especially when the other party wasn’t a hundred percent conscious. It might have been easier if you could have said that you had stopped loving each other at one point, but that hadn’t been the case. For the two of you, love had simply not been enough.

You stalled, taking another sip from your drink, contemplating whether you should have stayed silent, called for the bill and left or answered his question honestly. 

In the end, you decided to lead by example and be the bigger person (like how you raised your kid).

‘No. We were still in love when we parted ways.’

Jisoo snapped his head in your direction at a speed that should have made his head dizzy and gave you a look that you couldn’t quite decipher. Though, his eyes did make you feel like you were from a different planet.

‘Then why would you do that? You have a child together!’ He exclaimed, obviously upset about the part of the truth you had revealed. ‘Haeun alone should have been enough to stay together, but you’re saying you were still in love?’

Listening to his accusation - because it felt like an accusation to you - you clenched and unclenched your jaw, trying your best to keep your cool; however, it was difficult. Because he not only acted like you had failed your daughter, like you were selfish for not fighting for your relationship harder, but he was calling you out on all of these at a public place, raising his voice in frustration as though he had any business getting upset.

‘Stop that,’ you retorted, spatting each word into Jisoo’s pale face. ‘You don’t get to judge us when you know nothing about our situation,’ you started, taking a drawn out breath before you kept going: ‘Do you really believe Haeun wasn’t enough for us? Inwoo couldn’t wait to see her. He wanted to give us the best life, and he would have if the circumstances allowed it, so think twice before you say anything like that ever again,’ you warned him, lifting your left hand in front of his face to cut him off before he could have thought of adding anything else to your conversation.

For the first time in a while, the silence was suffocating in Jisoo’s company, but you did your best to shut it out and concentrate on the cold drink in your hands. He was drunk, and while it shouldn’t have been a passable excuse, it helped you not hold grudges against him for being so insensitive. Love and relationships were clearly sensitive topics for the both of you.

‘I’m sorry. I crossed a line,’ the man spoke up once he emptied his glass as if he had been afraid to draw your attention at himself before he had at least done this much for you. Which was ridiculous, but also a tad bit cute.

‘Yeah, you did,’ you agreed in a heartbeat, refusing to play it down just how wrong he had been when he had judged you and your ex. ‘But now you know better, so I forgive you,’ you added, sending a small albeit genuine smile in his direction, which he reciprocated with only a couple of seconds of delay.

You made Jisoo drink a second glass of water after that, and you spent the following half an hour in relative silence before he sobered up enough to be able to walk in a straight line with minor assistance from your side. You used his card to pay for his bill, then led him outside where your taxi was already waiting for you, not letting go of his elbow until you were both sitting comfortably in the backseat.

It didn’t take a minute and his head fell on your shoulder. His snoring was quiet but audible due to how close he was to you. You also couldn’t ignore the shiver his warm breath sent down your spine whenever it fanned over your neck.

‘Miss, we have arrived,’ the old taxi driver informed you, politely asking you if you needed any additional help with your company, but you declined the help for two reasons. 1) It was Jisoo’s place, not yours, so you weren’t sure you were allowed to make that decision. 2) He had been sober enough to get in the car without much trouble, so you hoped he wouldn’t have collapsed on you on your way to his flat.

‘Thank you. I’ll pay by card,’ you said and used your own card to pay for the ride after you shook Jisoo awake. You got out of the vehicle first, but you held the door for him and even helped him with his balance when his feet touched the pavement.

The thought that you should have asked the old man to wait for you crossed your mind only after you got inside the building, so it was clearly too late to rush out and make him stay an extra ten minutes or so. Agrr. You would need to call for another car once you made sure Jisoo got in bed just fine (and had some painkillers and a glass of water on his bedside table for the following morning).

‘I’m heavy,’ the words were mumbled against your shoulder when in the elevator, Jisoo lost his balance for a sheer moment and bumped his forehead into the crook of your neck.

He was such a mess, but you still decided to take a small part of his body weight on you for the remaining distance as you helped him straighten up and let him swing his arm over your shoulder. He was heavy, but lucky for him, you were used to carrying a stubborn and sleepy six-year-old in your arms on a daily basis, so you could manage.

‘Jisoo…’ you tried to gain his flickering attention when you stopped in front of his unit. ‘We need your keys or your code,’ you reminded him and turned your head deliberately when he reached out to the panel, because even though it wouldn’t have hurt anyone if you had known his code, you didn’t want to disrespect him by taking advantage of him when he was clearly in a vulnerable state. 

Once inside, you made him sit on the cushion attached to the shoe rack, a built-in mirror and the hanger with his jackets, then helped him untie his shoes that he had previously tried to get rid of with his heels and toes. So lazy.

‘Where is your bedroom?’ You asked after a deep breath, looking around in the flat with your hands on your hips. It had a really neat interior, which genuinely surprised you, because Jisoo didn’t always come off as someone organised to you, but if you wanted to be honest, you weren’t even sure whether he lived alone, so what did you know?

‘There,’ he pointed towards the hallway on your right, and you deemed his direction helpful enough to wrap your hands around one of his arms and pull him after you.

As it soon became obvious, the flat was a lot bigger than you had initially assumed - now it made more sense why there were only three front doors on the floor when your apartment complex had twice as many -, but you still managed to find his room on second try, right after you peeked into a room full of boxes and unpainted ceramic.

‘You know…’ Jisoo started as soon as you helped him sit on the edge of his king sized bed and modestly turned your back to him so he could get out of his worn clothes. You let our a soft hum to indicate that you were listening. ‘You and Haeun should come to the group trip with us,’ he said, turning your entire body tense and hot with his claim.

The fact was, you knew Haeun would have liked to go on a vacation with her new besties and would have also loved to see the sea, since she rarely got the opportunity. On the other hand, you couldn’t stop thinking about Jeonghan’s claim which started to sound more and more true to you: Jisoo was a relationship addict. And while you weren’t so self-assured to believe he suddenly wanted to, he had been just dumped.

What was the guarantee that you and your daughter wouldn’t have been the replacement.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ you answered honestly, trying not to empathise with the man’s disappointment when a small hum was torn from his throat. Obviously, you didn’t mean to hurt his feelings even more, especially that day, but you were a mom, and you had to put your daughter’s emotional wellbeing first.

You didn’t want her to realise at one point during the trip, or later in life, that she wasn’t the first choice, especially to someone she clearly held dear to her little heart.

‘I’m grateful for the thought, though,’ you made an attempt at lessening the blow, but it could have easily been too late considering how quiet Jisoo became.

To ease some of the tension, you decided to leave his room and look for the kitchen, so you could bring him some cold water and painkillers before you left.

At the end, neither your consideration, nor his gratitude made your goodbyes less awkward. Even though you tried. You both honestly tried.

It might not have been the most healthy way of dealing with the issue, but the two of you never brought up the vacation after that - you didn’t ask him to send slash show you pics of the trip with his friends and he didn’t elaborate on how he had felt or how much fun he had had while being surrounded by a bunch of couples. Would you have liked to know if Jisoo was mentally alright? Yes. You cared about him more than you let him in on. However, you were determined to not bring it up even though the number of texts you sent to each other sky-rocketed after you had taken care of his drunk ass.

If you wanted to be honest, you were surprised that despite the outrageous comments he had made and the discomfort here and there throughout that night hadn’t gotten in the way of your slowly forming friendship. But then again… You weren’t the only one who had gotten closer to the man. Your daughter was very much the same if not worse. After all, unlike you, Haeun formed bonds with a lot of Jisoo’s friends, including the blond man with whom she picked a fight every damn time they met.

Were the two of you invited to taste-test the new recipes Mingyu had come up with? Jeonghan made a comment on your daughter’s pigtails and how she would become a pig if she ate a piece more, which ended up in a screaming contest. Were you spending your free Saturday in the coffee shop with Jisoo and Haeun, who were exchanging their drawings every ten minutes to create something pretty together while having fun? Jeonghan criticised Jisoo’s drawing skills and your daughter just couldn’t let it slide. It was insane, and you didn’t blame Yoohyeon for sitting at a separate table in the corner with her laptop whenever it got out of control. You wished you could have done that, too. 

Anyhow, apart from these extreme interactions, you couldn’t deny how much you enjoyed spending time with some of the guys and their girlfriends. You even went on a girls night out with Hoyeon, Seola, Sooryeon, Eunseo, Miri and Zhixiao two weeks after their holiday since they wanted to get to know you and your best friend, “the girl who let Joshua down gently before he could have talked her into getting together with her” to quote from word to word. You thought it was a little rude of them, but Hoyeon was also part of the gang that made bets on their friends’ relationships, so it could have been worse.

‘You don’t want to come anymore?’ Jisoo’s unsure question dragged you back to reality, your unfocused gaze falling on him before you brushed aside the memories that were occupying your mind. ‘We could take a rain check on the studio tour if you rather went home. It was a long day.’

‘Hm?’ Your eyes widened a tad as you were trying to comprehend what he was referring to. A long day… You did have an unusually productive day that Saturday, but nothing you couldn’t handle with two or three cups of green tea or coffee and some sugary goods. ‘No, it’s fine. I already promised Haeun-ah and I’m not that tired anyway.’

Jisoo gave you a onceover, but refrained from making another comment. Instead, he lifted his left hand with your daughter’s princess backpack in it and his right hand, too, the little girl was holding onto while sipping on her orange juice.

‘We’re good to go then,’ he exclaimed, shaking his hips left and right with a big smile when your daughter did the same, making your heart do a silly little flip due to the adorable sight.

You scolded yourself mentally.

‘Okay, just give me a sec,’ you asked, quickly looking around, then checking your bag to be sure you had everything on you: your id card, phone, charger, powerbank, house keys and of course, your wallet, too. ‘Let’s go!’

On your way to the front doors, you bid your goodbye to everyone who had a shift that day, then followed Jisoo to his car. Since he didn’t have a car seat especially for Haeun, you told him that you would sit in the back with her in your lap, and thanked him when he took your stuff out of your hand, so he could put it along with your daughter’s princess backpack on the passenger’s seat, where they were easier to access.

‘Vroom, vroom,’ Haeun exclaimed happily, mimicking Jisoo turning the steering wheel from the middle of the backseat since it was rare she had the chance to ride a car. You didn’t have one; you used public transportation whenever you weren’t in a rush, which you tried not to be in. You weren’t a big fan of spending extra money on cabs when it wasn’t an emergency.

‘Are you excited, princess?’ At the first red light, Jisoo started a conversation, making you wonder whether he was this good with kids in general or it was only Haeun whom he treated so well. You also wondered whether he was an only child. Did he have any relatives close to your daughter’s age? Would it have been weird to ask so out of the blue?

You pressed your lips together and decided to file it for another time. You didn’t want to cut their conversation about pottery short with your sudden interest in Jisoo’s personal life.

‘I want to make a dinosaur. And a helicopter,’ Haeun exclaimed zealously, her exaggerated hand gestures coming alarmingly close to your face, although you didn’t budge. You simply squeezed her sides gently with your hands, to remind her where she was, pressing your lips to the top of her head to show affection.

‘You can make a dinosaur mug, hm? Dinosaur figures are too fragile, sugar,’ you informed her in a small voice as you brushed a stray mop of hair behind her ear, fixing her messy hair a little without redoing her braids.

‘Fridge-aisle? What is that?’ Haeun asked with big, curious eyes. To show you that she really wanted to learn something new that day, she shifted in your lap and turned towards you as much as she could, tilting her head just a tad to the left. ‘Is it like ice-cream?’

Her guess made you smile widely. She might have been pretty far from the truth this time, but it wasn’t the most hilarious one she had ever made. That title went to her drawing of flaming mangos (flamingos) when her class had to illustrate a story that their kindergarten teacher had read them in school. You had it framed in your living room, next to her four-year-old birthday picture.

‘No, it’s not. Fragile means it’s easy to break,’ you corrected her, which made her pout for a couple of seconds like she was trying to picture a fragile dinosaur figure in her head.

When she succeeded, she acknowledged your explanation with a nod and a loud: ‘Okay!’

During the rest of the ride, you joined in on their discussion about the best dinosaurs, but let them decide which art styles and eating utensils they preferred and whether they wanted to make matching sets or individual items. It was a surprisingly adult conversation, and you were grateful to Jisoo for not only taking your daughter seriously, but also taking her opinion into account.

A tiny, insignificant voice in your head reminded you that he was treating her the way you wanted to raise her from the get-go, but you quickly shook your head to get the idea out of it just how compatible your approaches were.

‘Get ready for the last turn, princess. We’re about to park the car,’ Jisoo informed the little girl, and you could see him checking on her through the mirror to make sure her arms were in position for the manoeuvre. The whole scene tugged on your heartstrings.

As soon as you got the green light from Jisoo, the two of you got out of the car: you went to grab your bags and your daughter sprinted to the man, who was waiting for her close to the entrance with his hand held out.

‘So… this is my potter studio,’ he let both of you inside the building with his name on it, the keys dingling in his hand as he pointed at one part of the interior after the other.

It was a nice shop, not at all overwhelming despite the professional equipment, pre-made, unpainted ceramic designs, number of paints and brushes one could have chosen from and all that jazz. In fact, at first glance, this place was a lot more organised than the room you had seen at his home.

‘You can both make the plates and mugs yourself or just pick them out from those selves and paint them,’ he explained kindly at the end of the VIP tour that apparently included places regular customers couldn’t see for themselves, such as the room where he baked the clay and his own office with a mini fridge full of fruit juices, soda and snacks.

‘Make, make! I want to make mugs and plates,’ your daughter insisted, jumping up and down excitedly while holding onto Jisoo’s hand. If it had been any other person, except for Seola, you would have felt uncomfortable watching her acting so loud and borderline obnoxious, but at some point, it seemed, you subconsciously accepted the fact that the man didn’t mind her overly-friendly behaviour.

You didn’t notice that a soft smile had made an appearance on your face while you had been watching their adorable duo until Jisoo looked at you from above his shoulder and caught you red handed. You gulped, resisting the urge to bite into your cheek from the inside out of embarrassment.

‘It might take a while,’ he mouthed the words, and it took you a couple of seconds to realise he was talking about the plates and mugs Haeun-ah was insistent on making from scratch. You furrowed your brows, not sure what he meant by it until he specified: ‘Days.’

“Days” meant multiple sessions, which you had to at least try to avoid to ease your heart a little, even though you were aware: now that Haeun knew she had the opportunity to design everything herself, it was almost impossible to talk her out of it.

‘Sugar…’ you walked next to her, tapping her shoulder to gain her attention before you sat on your heels by her side. ‘Making plates and mugs takes a lot of time. You won’t be able to paint on them tonight,’ you started, giving her time to process small parts of the information first instead of overwhelming her with too many details at once.

You pressed your lips together lightly when Jisoo crouched down to her level as well as if he was a part of the conversation despite remaining sile—

‘You will need to wait two or three days, because the plates need to dry first,’ he explained with a patient smile on his face, caressing your daughter’s chubby cheek like she was his or something. What took you aback the most in the unusual sight was Haeun-ah enjoying the gesture so much from someone other than you or your best friend when you had seen her swat away the hand of her aunt Seola’s parents, her warm-hearted homeroom teacher and the neighbourhood ahjumma, too, although the old lady had even offered her some sour candies - her then favourites. ‘Do you think you can wait that much?’

Haeun did that thing when she puckered her lips deep in thought for a couple of seconds, then she nodded firmly, visibly determined to act like how she thought big girls would.

‘I can,’ she exclaimed, and you pressed your lips together, swallowing back objections that you knew rooted in your own insecurities. You didn’t want to impose on Jisoo’s kindness, you didn’t want to rely on someone too much. You didn’t want to get too comfortable around him - or anyone, really - just to realise later in time that he was only a temporary part of your life.

You didn’t notice you lost focus for a second until your daughter pulled on your arm to get your attention.

‘Mom! Can I? Can I? I can,’ she pleaded, making you steal a quick glance at Jisoo who was watching your interaction with twinkles in his eyes. He looked so soft at that moment, just watching your daughter trying to persuade you to bring her back to the studio multiple times, so she could have plates she made from scratch (or well… of clay, but that wasn’t the point).

‘Is it really okay? I can only bring her here after school or on weekends when I’m off work,’ you reminded him, because while you had already submitted your resignation letter, you had to keep working for the cleaning company a month longer.

‘You can always welcome here after opening hours. Don’t worry about that,’ he reassured you, and a part of you wanted to tell him to take it back: that he shouldn’t have thrown these kinds of promises around like confetti, but wouldn’t that have been weird? If you had gotten so offensive when he was nothing but kind to you and Haeun-ah?

‘Thanks,’ you ended up saying like any normal person without abandonment issues would have done so, then gave in to his nagging and chose a mug for yourself, one from the shelves that was already pre-made and was waiting for someone to paint on it.

Your anxiety didn’t disappear immediately; however, every time you took a glance at your daughter happily swinging her legs back and forth on the chair Jisoo had made her sit, giggling at the weird shapes her mugs and plates took because of her inexperience with clay and pottery eased your nerves a little. At the end, you felt you made the best decision for the little one, and that was all that mattered.

It had been a while since you had let yourself get immersed in something fun and relaxing; as a single mother, your focus had to be on Haeun-ah 24/7 even though the older she grew, the less time she spent with you due to her studies and her slowly growing friend groups and responsibilities. She might have only been six, but your society was obsessed with grades and special talents, thus you encouraged her to hone her skills and pursue her interests regardless of how silly they appeared to be from an adult’s point of view - no matter how worried you were that you put too much on her plate whenever you agreed to sign her up for extra classes.

So the fact that you didn’t notice three hours going by while you were decorating your mug was both shocking and understandable. You had used to draw sketches of people and random interior designs when you had been in high school, hovering over your notebook for hours without a care for the world. You could hyperfixate on the smallest, most insignificant details when you had time. It was just… usually you didn’t have that luxury, at least, not anymore.

‘Woah! I didn’t know you were so good at painting!’ Jisoo’s surprisingly quiet voice pulled you back to the present, the warm drinks in his hands filling the air with the unmistakably sweet scent of chocolate and cinnamon. ‘I made us some hot cocoa and spiced it up with a little bit of rum to fit the occasion,’ he informed you before he nudged you with his feet and urged you to take one of the mugs out of his hands.

‘Oh? So you were serious about the celebration?’ You asked a bit taken aback, but very much touched by the sentiment. Seola had already brought you a cake the day before when she had heard about the job offer you had been more than eager to accept, but Jisoo’s hot cocoa was just as appreciated if not more. After all, he didn’t have any best friend obligations to fulfil - if not some made-up bestie duties to your daughter who still hadn’t given up on claiming the man.

For some reason, the possibility of the latter made you laugh for the first time Jisoo had come into your life. Just putting him in the same group as Haeun’s playmates made you crack up. How absurd it was, really.

‘What’s so funny?’ Jisoo asked with a small smile in the corner of his mouth, his lips painted in a light shade of glossy brown from the hot cocoa. You took a sip from your own drink, then let it warm your numb fingers as you kept the porcelain mug in your hands on your lap.

‘I’m just happy, that’s all,’ you opted for a half-truth, slowly looking around in the interior of the studio. ‘Where is Haeun?’

‘There.’

You snapped your head in Jisoo’s way just to follow the direction his finger was pointing at. Immediately, your eyes landed on a pile of blankets in one corner of the couch near the counter where Jisoo kept the cash register and some documents that helped him identify which half-finished or finished product belonged to which customer.

‘She fell asleep while I put away her mugs. She wanted to make some matching plates, too, but by the time I prepared everything for her, she was out on the chair,’ he explained, your brain easily filling out the holes: him carrying her to the couch, which was undoubtedly the most comfortable-looking furniture in his studio, covering her with blankets and cleaning up after her at the professional table with the pedals and all.

You turned back towards him and shot a grateful smile at him, completely at loss of words. He hadn’t had to, but he had taken care of your daughter on your behalf anyway just so you could have painted in peace. That was something… something Inwoo would have done for you in many of your dreams when you had still held onto the picture of your happy family. Something that a significant other would have done, cherishing Haeun and you equally as if you had always been his.

‘Do you think she would feel left out if we celebrated without her? I made some hot cocoa for her, too - without the rum, of course -, but I didn’t have the heart to wake her,’ Jisoo inquired, and you just shook your head.

‘We can always celebrate with her another time. Let her sleep,’ you decided and lifted your mug for a toast despite how ridiculous it looked. ‘I will buy us samgyeopsal from my first salary. How about that?’ You asked, clinking your mug to his like you had just made a vow, then took a big sip from the drink.

The hot cocoa tasted sweet on your tongue, the rum burning your throat briefly yet pleasantly once the lingering mix of chocolate and cinnamon started to fade. It was perfectly made, and you couldn’t have helped but tease him whether he had taken a bartender course in the past to charm girls.

‘So what if I did?’ He asked back, playful. ‘Is it working?’

‘Isn’t that something you should know better?’ Your chuckle filled the room, the mug slowly yet steadily getting empty in your hand. It wasn’t that hot anymore, but it still brought warmth to you as you clung onto the porcelain.

‘It’s a secret, but…’ he leaned closer to you as though he was really about to spill the beans about something no one knew about. Instinctively, you leaned closer to him as well to meet him halfway, eager to hear the juicy details. ‘I’m not that good at reading the signs.’

You furrowed your brows and pulled away, so you could take a better look at Jisoo’s face. You weren’t sure just how serious he could be until your eyes finally met; then, staring at him with your lips partially ajar, you failed to contain your amusement.

He was serious.

‘Silly,’ you said as you got rid of the tears brimming in the corners of your eyes with the back of your hand. ‘That’s not a secret. Everyone knows that,’ you corrected him and acting on the sudden urge, you reached out with your empty hand and took his jaw between your fingers. The way you fondled his chin with your thumb was gentle, like you were trying to make up for your straightforward words with affection.

Unconsciously, a part of you might have wanted to do just that. Gentle touches, encouraging words, warm smiles, mutual vulnerability out in the open. Throughout the rest of the night, you shared stories with Jisoo that helped him feel less like a failure just because the rest of his friend group was more forward in life (from a conservative point of view), even the youngest ones like Chan and Seungkwan. At a weak moment, you even told him about Inwoo and his wife who had an adorable little boy together as far as you were concerned. You were happy for him, and for some odd reason, Jisoo called you strong for sounding so sincere.

‘I always feel bitter when I see my exes with other people. Especially when they are happy,’ Jisoo confessed and you hugged him to show your support, to show him that you didn’t think he was a bad person for being hurt and acting on those bitter feelings from time to time.

‘It’s okay to be hurt,’ you mumbled against his chest, patting his shoulder blade rhythmically to emphasise how much you meant every word.

The two of you stayed like that for a while, in each other’s embrace, then finished your fifth or sixth mugs of hot cocoa while sharing less emotionally loaded and more lighthearted stories with each other. It was a celebration after all.

A night that you knew would be hard to forget or ignore in the near future yet couldn’t regret anyway.

Days started to feel longer towards the second part of your notice period, although you knew that scientifically nothing had changed; each one of them consisted of twenty-four hours out of which you usually slept six or seven thanks to your daughter having an early curfew. Thus, you shouldn’t have felt as drained as you were when you showed up at Coffee Carat with Haeun on your next free Saturday. On the contrary, your body should have been overflowing with energy since your daughter had been nice enough to let you sleep in instead of asking you to prepare her breakfast first thing in the morning or demanding your attention simply because she had no one to play with.

So why were you dragging your feet one after the other like even something as mundane as walking took a lot out of you?

Maybe because your current manager was a real pain in the ass who took it upon himself to teach you one last lesson before your departure.

‘Mom! There, there!’ Haeun pointed at a random table close to the huge coffee bean sticker, where Jisoo and his friends were munching on sweet treats and talking about something that clearly divided the group. Unlike most of the time when Jeonghan was present, his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen.

‘Calm down, sugar. Let’s order something first, okay?’ You squeezed her hand gently to help her focus on you, giving time for the guys to notice your arrival and also for your daughter to take a few breathers. The last thing you wanted was Haeun to pounce at them when they were clearly having a heated conversation. That would have done nothing good.

‘Oh…’ The pout that appeared on your daughter’s face was momentarily because as soon as her eyes landed on the chocolate balls dragon behind the glass display her chin quite literally dropped on the floor, her excited squeal filling the interior. ‘Mingyu oppa did it! He really did it! See?’ She pointed at the fun-looking dessert, rambling about how she had drawn a whole magical zoo for the baker during one of your last minute job interviews and how this dessert’s name was Yong-yong.

‘Hello there, little one. What can I get for you today?’ Seokmin asked with his trademark smile that did not waver, not even a little bit, when Haeun-ah started to tell him about her drawings and excitement to taste the most delicious-looking dragon princess she had ever seen. Was her statement a little alarming? Absolutely. But you supposed, she was old enough to tell non-existing animals from an actual cake, so it wasn’t like she wanted to eat a pet or a good old friend from her fairytale books.

‘I’ll have an iced cappuccino and please, some apple juice for Haeun,’ you added, immensely grateful that instead of jumping on the opportunity to turn his back on the two of you, the barista entertained your daughter with questions like which fantasy animal she would have liked to see in the coffee shop next time and whether princess Yong-yong was big enough in her opinion.

It took some time and some overly detailed answers from your overhyped chipmunk, but eventually you got your tray with your orders and were able to look for empty chairs in the customer area. Since you couldn’t be sure that the boys had come to an agreement or were still talking about something passionately, you would have preferred to have your own table near them, but of course, as soon as Haeun-ah’s eyes landed on Jisoo’s open arms, so couldn’t stay still. She ran to him like he was her world.

You followed her slowly with slightly burning cheeks and greeted the others with a small smile, not sure whether it was okay if you took one of the empty chairs or you should have found a table to put your tray on.

‘Why are you just standing there? If you wanted to sit next to Joshua, you should have been faster, like the little gremlin,’ Jeonghan said with that shiteating grin on his face he somehow didn’t seem to know how to contain unless his girlfriend was giving him the silent treatment. Then, he was quick to be on his best behaviour. ‘Come on! Sit,’ he pulled an empty chair out for you across from Jisoo and your daughter at the same moment the little one pointed her tiny finger at the blond man and screamed:

‘Bad word!’ 

From the top of her lungs.

‘Sugar, we’ve already talked about screaming at people,’ you reminded her, not scolding her for what she had said, but rather for how she had said it.

‘You don’t even know what gremlin means,’ Jeonghan challenged Haeun, once again making you want to contact Yoohyeon to collect her man, although that would have been childish and you seriously should have been able to handle their bickering. It wasn’t that much different from fights on the playground.

‘You said so it’s bad. I’m Haeun. Kim Haeun,’ she explained her logic, making everyone else around the table chuckle and laugh at her reasoning.

‘Jeonghan. I’ve already told you, stop bullying her,’ Jisoo warned his best friend, earning a big smile from your daughter who sneakily darted her tongue out at Jeonghan when she thought no one was watching. Well, you obviously had your eyes on her and so had the blond man who mimicked the gesture without any hesitation.

Children.

‘Oppa!’ Haeun spoke up a moment after the momentary peace had settled as she pulled a chocolate ball off the almond-and-chocolate-coated pepero stick that served as the dragon’s spine. Jisoo let out a hum to make her aware he was listening. ‘There will be a car day in school next Friday. Everyone’s mom and dad will come and tell stories about their job,’ she chatted, swinging her legs back and forth while sitting on Jisoo’s lap.

‘A Career Day? Sounds fun. Are you excited?’ Their conversation kept going on like none of you others had been sitting by the same table, but you didn’t mind it that much anymore, not since the night Jisoo had shown you his pottery studio (Haeun’s mugs and plates were already painted, so you were one meet-up from taking everything home). 

‘Yeah, so fun. But mom’s not coming,’ she said flatly, chewing on a chocolate ball in one minute and offering another one to Jisoo in another.

Your cheeks were burning, for a different reason this time: guilt. It wasn’t like you didn’t care about the Career Day at her school. In fact, you had been just as excited about it as she had been when she had first mentioned it to you, but unfortunately, your manager had refused to let you take off that day as part of the lesson he tried to teach you. You swallowed back a disappointed sigh and took a sip from your drink. It couldn’t have been helped.

‘Mom must be really sorry that she can’t make it, princess,’ Jisoo brushed a mop of hair out of Haeun’s face, then accepted a second chocolate ball from your daughter before he pointed at you and nudged the little girl’s shoulder.

Apparently this was the encouragement your daughter needed to share her snack with you, too. You accepted the dessert with a grateful smile that was dedicated more to Jisoo than her even if you would have never said that out loud. Especially not while you were sitting at the same table with Yoon Jeonghan.

You could already hear the guys whispering about how none of them would have thought that Joshua was such a dad(dy) material until you two had come into their lives. You had never been so grateful that Haeun still had a limited vocabulary and was as innocent as one could be at her age. Why would any of them have thought it was a good idea to joke about daddies around a little girl with no father figure in her life was seriously beyond you.

‘Oppa!’ Haeun exclaimed between two bites, letting Jisoo make her drink some of her apple juice as well before she blurted out with the biggest due eyes: ‘Will you come to the car day like other dads do?’ 

The tension that followed could have been cut with a butter knife.

You didn’t realise you were sweating or that you started to breath heavily after her question; you honestly didn’t even notice the worried looks everyone at the table was giving you until Jeonghan put his hand on your shoulder and you snapped. You got up from the chair like it was burning you and excused yourself hastily before you rushed towards the double doors. There was no way your daughter was asking Jisoo to show up at the school Career Day like other fathers did. Your brain was making things up.

You needed some fresh air.

Later, when you would think back at this incident, you might have thought you were a little bit of a drama queen and unreasonable - since you stormed out of the building, leaving your daughter behind albeit in good hands -, but at that moment your focus was solely on getting as far away from the situation as possible. You had to think and you couldn’t do that in front of so many of Jisoo’s friends and your daughter who was literally beaming at Jisoo, hoping for an affirmative answer. When had you given her the impression that he was her father? When the hell had you made her believe that Jisoo could…

Why did she feel the need to have a second parent? And why hadn’t you realised that she had started to think more into her “friendship” with Jisoo than what it was? Did she want to have a dad so much? Had anyone made her feel like she had to have a dad to fit into your society?

You groaned, stressed. You had to go back and explain to her that she couldn’t have just claimed someone as her dad just because other children in her class had both a mother and a father. Maybe, it was time for you to tell her about her biological dad. God. You were so not ready for THE talk. It was decades too soon.

Centuries.

Okay, most likely just a couple of years, but still. You were a little out of it.

You flinched when someone touched your shoulder out of the blue. No warning. No soothing words. Nada.

Or maybe you just weren’t listening.

‘Hey, are you okay? What happened?’ Jisoo’s worried voice reached you through the fog, his caring attitude overwhelming all of a sudden. He shouldn’t have come after you, it wasn’t like it was his duty to check on you. The only person he might have had some responsibilities towards was your daughter and even that was a stretch in your mind on your darkest days.

You took a step further from him to distance yourself from his… him. However, Jisoo either didn’t catch on to your distress or genuinely believed that his closeness was that one thing you needed to get back to normal because the next thing you knew he was caressing your back with gentle strokes: up and down, up and down.

‘Talk to me,’ he coaxed you, which would have made your heart flutter in any other situation, but only added to your anxiety at that moment. He was doing it again: acting like Haeun and you were a package deal, like you were supposed to matter to him the same way Haeun did just because he had let your daughter claim him as her best friend. And the worst thing was that you just knew your ever so curious daughter could have been watching.

Jisoo was playing into her fantasy of a complete family, and you wanted to scream. 

‘You can tell me. We can work it out,’ Jisoo tried to reassure you when all you got was your heavy breathing and even heavier silence.

You looked up at him with angry tears in your eyes and brushed his hand off you.

‘Give me a fucking minute,’ you snapped at him.

The shocked look in his chocolate brown eyes that slowly morphed into hurt filled you with guilt. You shouldn’t have said it like that. You should have had more patience with both him and this whole career day topic. It couldn’t have been healthy: the way you reacted to Haeun asking him to show up in school for her like other fathers did.

‘She… she wants you to be her dad,’ you croaked out eventually, when you mustered up the courage to look up at Jisoo and he was still there, waiting for you to come around patiently like you hadn’t just screamed his head off for caring about you.

You crouched down, too unstable to stand even a moment longer. You wished the street had been a little wider, so Jisoo’s friend could have placed some smaller tables in front of the shop, too, not just inside. You also wished that there were less people giving you the side eye when you leaned your back against Coffee Carat’s wall. Their judging didn’t help at all. 

Albeit with a visible distance between the two of you, Jisoo sat on the dirty street at an arm’s length from you and leaned against the shop in a similar way you did. You swallowed down the knot in your throat.

‘She just wants someone to be there for her, too. She didn’t say she wants me to be her dad,’ he corrected you, and before you could have opened your mouth and object, he let out a soft huff and cut you off by adding. ‘Look. I know you think I’m a relationship addict who can’t go a day without being with someone, but… I’m not playing with your daughter’s feelings, or with yours for that matter. It felt nice when she asked me to come since you can’t make it, but I will say no if that’s where your boundaries lie.’

You sucked in your lower lip and observed his face. He looked sincere; he sounded sincere. And a part of you was tempted to ask him to prove to you how much his words were really worth by rejecting your daughter. However, the thought of deliberately sabotaging your baby tugged on your insides in an awful way. You were awful - a selfish mother who was about to steal some of the wonders from her own child’s life because of her fears and insecurities. 

But weren’t you allowed to feel how you were feeling? Did you have to put Haeun-ah first all the time to be perceived as a good parent?

‘I just…’ you tapped the sensitive skin under your eyes with your thenar and looked upwards to prevent the unwanted tears. You were a mess in public already, the idea of sinking even lower wasn’t a pleasant one. ‘I don’t want her to think that our family isn’t a good family without a dad.’

There it was, out in the open. Goodness, you could already hear the lecturing in your head how every good family, every healthy family needed both a father and a mother. How it was natural that your daughter was seeking a second parental figure, because that was how things should have been from the get-go. Your parents had made sure these words had been burnt into your very existence before you mutually cut ties with each other. Sometimes you wished, wishing hard enough could have made this universal truth untrue.

You pressed your palms against your ears and let your chin fall on your pulled up kneecaps. Just because you knew it was coming didn’t mean you had to like the scolding.

‘I don’t think you have to worry about that,’ Jisoo started, his voice having a tentative edge to it with a good reason. It was a sensitive topic, and you appreciated that he handled it like one. ‘On the other hand, I wouldn’t call your family small though. Sure, you’re a single mom, but whenever Haeun talks about her family, she talks about her aunt Seola, too. Three people is pretty normal sized to me,’ he shot an encouraging smile in your way, and those unsaid words he might have been too afraid to say out loud after your breakdown were obvious. Haeun had him, too, now, whether you labelled him as a dad, an uncle or an oppa - whether you liked it or not.

You looked up to the sky and took a deep breath. You couldn’t decide whether it would have been appropriate to laugh aloud at that moment, but you did it anyway. Your reality started to resemble a 50-episode-long tv drama and you just couldn’t keep up with the daily updates. 

‘God. How is this real? We’re practically strangers,’ you groaned, unsure if you really had the right to put so much responsibility on Jisoo’s shoulders when he had no obligations towards you and your daughter.

He had shown up in your life so out of the blue, so randomly, what had made him so different from anybody else in Seoul?

‘In that… I will take full offence. I thought we were closer than that. After all, I know about the baby daddy despite the NDA,’ he leaned a little closer to you, so he was able to push you gently by your upper arm. That, once again, made you giggle. He was right, you didn’t share so much about your past with just anyone, but still. A part of you couldn’t let go of the idea that he didn’t have any ties to you - not like how your parents had had before they had given up on you. Not like how Inwoo had had before he had had to walk out of your life.

What was the guarantee that someone who wasn’t bound to your family by blood and didn’t share a decade of friendship with you would stick with your duo through thick and thin when none of the aforementioned people had done? People who should have stood by you in spite of the obstacles life threw your way.

‘I’m sorry, I…’ you closed your eyes and shook your head before you buried your face in your hands. You felt so many things in that moment it couldn’t have been healthy. ‘My thoughts aren’t making too much sense right now. I’m just…’

‘You’re afraid Haeun will lose another father figure if I cross that line and show up at the Career Day in her school,’ he finished the sentence on your behalf when words failed you. Your lips trembled when you sneaked a glance at him.

Jisoo wasn’t looking at you. He was looking at his hands on his lap.

‘I’m so sorry,’ you choked on your apology, feeling those unshed tears - you had tried to hold back so desperately - running down your rose-tinted cheeks.

‘It’s okay,’ he said, but you shook your head. ‘No, it really is. You don’t have to apologise for wanting to protect her from future disappointments. Nor should you feel sorry for shielding yourself from potential heartbreak. I understand,’ he reached out, searching for any kind of rejection in your eyes before he touched your head and ruffled your hair.

The sudden change in your conversation reminded you of the night when you had picked him up at that bar, right after he had been dumped by his then girlfriend. Looking in Jisoo’s eyes, you didn’t doubt, not even for a second, that he truly understood a part of your biggest fears and insecurities.

You might have been two sides of the same coin, but that didn’t take away from how, in your core, you were the same: people with an unhealthy perception of relationships.

Funny how it took you almost seven years and a man who had willingly become your little girl’s friend to realise it for the first time in your life: albeit loving your baby girl with your whole heart, you weren’t exactly fine.

You weren’t okay. You weren’t mentally fine.

You might not have seeked professional help for your mental problems immediately as it was hard to convince yourself that you had the spare money for such expenses, but you started to pay more attention to your emotional needs after a long and heavy conversation with your best friend while Haeun was at school. It wasn’t easy. Some days you felt extremely selfish for wanting to have any kind of relationship with Jisoo without including your daughter. Some days you got anxious as soon as Haeun found other people to talk to and let the two of you be. Regardless, you didn’t try to shut him out anymore. Instead, you let yourself feel - both the good and the bad.

You believed that it was a baby step in the right direction when after a long afternoon out with your daughter’s closest friends from school, you allowed Haeun-ah to invite her aunt Seola and Jisoo oppa over for a movie night on her birthday. The three of you easily agreed to let the birthday girl choose what you would watch - even if she had the tendency to re-watch the same two movies for months when she liked them - and in exchange, she let you order the food like you would have gone for anything else but her favourite that day. No one was too surprised when you ended up watching Encanto, during which you weren’t supposed to fall asleep - yet you did.

And that was how your innocent movie night turned into an impromptu sleepover without you noticing. Not that the second part should have shocked you that much. You had been so drained from all the excitement of the afternoon that you failed to wake up for Jisoo carrying you from the couch to your own bed despite the struggles he must have gone through. You weren’t overweight per se, but you wouldn’t have called sixty kilograms light, either.

After all, personally, you couldn’t carry six kilos of groceries home from the neighbourhood market without risking muscle pain.

In the morning, you woke up with a start for a loud crash that reminded you of part-time jobs at 3AM and sleep-deprived kitchen shenanigans with a newborn baby. Your heart was beating like crazy, and your body got tense on automatic as you sat up in your bed, self-destructively uncoordinated. It was a miracle you hadn’t fallen off the furniture, considering how close you were to its edge.

‘What th…’ you mumbled under your nose, trying to decipher your surroundings and rubbing the remnants of sleep out of your eyes. Once the fog cleared up in your mind, you were able to recall Mirabel’s first encounter with her uncle, Bruno; you would remember your daughter singing along with her favourite characters; you could feel the phantom weight of your best friend’s head on your shoulder, but none made you wiser about the rest of the night.

Or the noises that were coming from the kitchen.

To get your answers for the latter, you needed to get out of bed.

Suppressing a yawn solely because you were too used to concealing your tiredness at home, you stretched your body and grabbed your cosy, light-brown cardigan from your chair, so you would have felt more comfortable in your skin so early into the day. If you had had the time, you would have preferred to wash your face, brush your hair and teeth, too, before presenting yourself to whoever was making a mess in your kitchen; however, as soon as you recognised your daughter’s panicky voice, you knew you couldn’t be vain. Haeun-ah clearly needed you, whether you were freshly washed or not.

‘It’s okay, princess. Nothing bad happened, we can clean it up and redo it. We still have so much time,’ Jisoo’s gentle voice reached your ears before you reached the kitchen, your steps slowly coming to a halt before you could have made yourself visible. You didn’t have to be a genius to realise they were making something for breakfast for you, hence your presence would have ruined their surprise.

‘He’s good with her. Aaand, he is handsome,’ your best friend whispered into your ear, her light-hearted giggles managing to relax your tense shoulders despite how eye roll-worthy and unnecessary her observation was. You knew Jisoo was amazing with Haeun; you should also have been blind to not see how appealing he looked.

You let out a resigned sigh.

‘Neither of us is ready for a relationship, and you know it.’ You were pretty sure that you had complained about Jisoo’s unhealthy need to be in a relationship and your own fears of losing him frequently enough during your girly chit-chats for Seola to not forget it. But last night was the first time she had met him, so you could understand her reaction. If you hadn’t been a single mother with responsibilities, you would have also been tempted to turn a blind eye to your mental problems in order to pursue a relationship with him.

However, a relationship with you didn’t mean only two people anymore. It would have been the three of you for the rest of your lives, and you had to protect Haeun-ah from developing abandonment issues. You couldn’t jump into a relationship until you weren’t ready.

‘Well, it doesn’t have to happen now. Duh,’ Seola argued, successfully shutting you up before she nudged you with her elbow, encouraging you to eavesdrop on the conversation that was playing out in the kitchen.

And so you leaned your forehead against the wall and listened to Jisoo as he was drying up your daughter’s crocodile tears, promising her to help her re-decorate your pancakes once he cleaned up the broken pieces on the floor. It was lovely: the man’s endless patience with the little girl and seemingly endless energy when it came to matching her vibe.

You got so immersed in their interaction that you had almost forgotten to sneak back into your bedroom where you fake-slept, so Haeun and Seola could wake you up. Luckily, you had a best friend who not only reminded you of their surprise, but also teased the hell out of you because of that wide smile that had formed on your lips without meaning to.

You were happy. You might have been still afraid to admit it out loud, but one look at your face told it all - at least, according to Seola. You could picture a life in which you woke up to these two making a mess in your kitchen with the best intention in their hearts, and not only that. You wanted to live that life so desperately it was unreal.

Except, with enough determination and constant effort on all three of your parts, you might have been able to become a family one day. If Jisoo had still wanted to give it a try: to family vacations, to movie nights, to you and him, to the long run. You would have said yes.

A thousand times yes.

➼ extra topping

EXTRA TOPPING: WHIPPED (FOR YOU) CREAM

characters: baker!mingyu & food critic!you (Sooyoung - ‘97 liner) genre: coffee shop au, pregnancy au, fluff requested by: this lovely anon date of release: second half of May or early June

#seventeen scenarios #caratwritersclub #jisoo x reader #joshua x reader #jisoo x you #joshua x you #hong jisoo #joshua #ssbyme #seventeen series #coffee shop au #single parent au #single mom au

[bidisasterevankinard]

pyjamas for the soft prompts <3

I don`t know how it happened, but here 1784 words👉👈

Thank you for the prompt dear, I hope you will love it 💜💜💜💜💜

We are family (let`s buy pajamas to prove it)

A week. Eddie tried to find the perfect way to ask Buck to marry him for a week. It should be something cute and romantic, but also something only for them.Big romantic gestures are amazing, but Eddie feels like he needs it to be something quiet and domestic.  

So while Buck has a shift without him, he searches for the best idea on the Internet. But the last two hours gave him nothing except anxiety.

“Dad!” Chris` scream near his ear scares him, and he almost drops his laptop. Chris smiles at it. “I called you five times. What are you doing?” the boy sits near him and tries to look at his screen.

His son looks at him and Eddie sees what people mean when they say he has Eddie`s expressive face and sassiness. Chris looks at him like he's an idiot and he is tired of him.

“I - i`m looking for ideas for a surprise for Buck, bud,” Chris' face changes to confused.

“But there are no holidays soon. Why do you need such a special surprise that you missed five times I called you to ask if you want tea or not?” his son talks with him like he's a child, and Eddie feels worse than before. But maybe Chris will help him. Eddie wants it to be domestic, and Chris should be a part of it.

“I`m preparing a surprise for Buck because I want to ask him to marry me,” Eddie sees how Chris` mouth opens wild and starts to regret his choice to buy a ring before this talk. And maybe he should have prepared Chris better. “But If you have problems with it…,” Eddie doesn't have time to end it because his son hugs him tight.

“I want it, dad. God, I`ve been waiting years for you two to get together and I actually couldn't wait for your wedding anymore. I was this close,” he shows Eddie almost connected forefinger and thumb, “to buy a ring for Buck myself and ask him. Or find adoption papers and make him sign it,” Chris laughs and Eddie joins him. But Eddie feels like his son actually could do it. 

“So, you support me,” it means a world to Eddie. Chris and Buck two half of his heart and the way they create their own connection always make Eddie melt into a puddle of love to them. 

“Yes dad. I want you to be happy. I want Buck to be happy. We are family and I really want it to be official too. And I want a wedding. Maddie and Chim`s wedding was cool. I liked it.”

Eddie laughs at it.

“Well, I hope our wedding with Buck you will like more. Especially because you are going to be my best man,” another tight hug surprises Eddie again, but he is always ready to accept affection from his teenage son. God knows Chris is “too cool” for affection now and Eddie cherishes every moment he can take.

“Thank you, dad,” Chris pulls away from him. “Ok, I think I have an idea. I saw it when I was looking for a present for Buck`s birthday,” boy opens the site of the shop. “We can buy those two pajamas for Buck and ask him to marry you and adopt me tomorrow,” Chris shows him two pajamas. One with “best husband ever” on it, and the other one with “ Best. Dad. Ever!”  

“We can pick it up at the store in the morning, buy a takeaway breakfast at Buck's favorite cafe and ask Buck after breakfast. What do you think?” Chris looks at him and Eddie looks back with a huge smile. His son created the perfect proposal.

“I think you just made a perfect idea which I tried to find for hours. Let's buy pajamas now,” they do it and go to make tea and watch something on TV. 

Chris sits a little closer to him on the couch than usual, and Eddie enjoys a quiet family evening, but can't resist contacting the missing person. He takes a selfie of him and Chris and sends it to Buck.

Miss you tonight :( 

We are going to buy takeout from your favorite cafe in the morning <3

Buck doesn't answer and Eddie thinks he is on a call. Half an hour later Chris starts to fall asleep so they both go to beds.

Miss you two too :( 

Sorry for not answering soon

We were at big fire till 2am  

Can`t wait for breakfast with my family <3

Eddie sees the answer in the morning and smiles brightly. Buck is going to be home soon and Eddie and Chris will ask him to become their family officially.

Eddie and Chris take pajamas and buy breakfast. When they come back they can see Buck`s jeep and both smiles bright.

“We are home,” they both say after entering the house. They go to the living room and leave their present on the coffee table. Eddie then takes their breakfast to the kitchen and comes back to see how Buck comes from the bedroom in sweatpants and a T-shirt with a sleepy smile and a little bit wet hair with curls already forming. Eddie thinks he looks so beautiful.

“Hey you two,” Buck runs his hand through Chris's curls to which the teenager lets out an offended scream and the men laugh. He kisses Eddie next. “Missed you two so much,” he says, hugging Eddie around the waist tight, and Eddie copies his action.

“We missed you, too,” Eddie says and kisses Buck`s birthmark. Chris makes gagging noises in the background. “Yes, we know you hate how affectionate we are, young man, go wash your hands and let's eat.”

Chris just goes to the bathroom leaving them together. Buck and Eddie still hold each other and don't want to let go. They spend a minute like that and then Buck breaks the silence.

“What have you two bought?” he nods to the coffee table.

“We will show you after breakfast. Now let`s go. I'm starving,” Eddie takes Buck by the hand and leads him to the kitchen.

The breakfast is wonderful. They talk and joke. When breakfast is done and Eddie cleaned the kitchen he decides it`s the time.

“Ok, we have presents for you, so let's go open them.”

They go to the living room and Chris and Buck sit on the couch while Eddie in front of them on the coffee table.

“Did I forget about any holiday?” Buck asks with a smile, but Eddie can see little nervousness in his eyes. 

Eddie puts his hand on Buck`s knee and smiles at his boyfriend, “No, you didn't forget anything. Chris and I just wanted to ask you something and bought you little presents.” 

Buck nods at his words. 

Chris takes one box and gives it to Buck with a smile. Buck opens it and freezes for a second then he carefully runs his finger over the letters on the T-shirt and turns to Chris then to Eddie. He shifts his gaze between the two of them and the T-shirt for a minute, but then turns his body so that he can see them both.

“Is- is that what I think it is?” Buck says quietly, with so much hope in his voice and Eddie can see tears in his eyes. Eddie just nods, but not saying anything. It's Chris` question.

“Yes, Buck. You have been my dad for many years. You make me and dad happy. You are our family and I want you to be my dad officially,” Chris smiles tricky. “Evan Buckley, will you adopt me?” 

Eddie makes a laugh at the way his son asked it, but then he feels tears in his eyes when Buck hugs their son tight and repeats “yes” in his hair. Buck pulls back and smiles at the two of them.

“Yes, Chris. I will adopt you,” Buck says to Chris, but then turns to Eddie and Eddie can see so much love in his eyes. “Thank you. You two make me happy too. I really love our little family.”

“You don't have to thank us for this. And we love you too, Buck,” Eddie says and passes him the next box. “I have a present, too.” 

Buck opens it and now he is really crying. He looks at Eddie, but Eddie is already on his knee and a box with a ring in his hand. He smiles at Buck.

“Evan Buck Buckley, you make me the happiest man every day. You came to my life and made it brighter and easier. You saw me struggling and came in to help me. You let me do the same for you. You`re my partner in everything, my best friend and love of my life. I love everything about you. Even the things you hate. I love the way you love Chris. We have been a family longer than we both know and now I want it to be official. Will you marry me?” 

Eddie barely can end his question when he feels Buck kisses him.

“Yes. Eddie, yes,” Buck pulls away from his lips for a second, but then kisses him again. “I love you two so much,” Buck cries and hugs Eddie`s shoulders. Eddie hugs him tight too. 

Eddie pulls away and takes Buck with him. They sit on the couch and Eddie puts the ring on Buck`s finger.

“Perfect,” Eddie says with a smile and kisses Buck`s finger.

Next day Eddie comes to the bedroom from the shower and stops for a second. Buck has new pajamas.

“Is that the way you ask about taking my last name?” Eddie approaches the bed with a big smile forming on his lips reading “So I'm stealing his last name” on Buck's T-shirt again and again.

“Yes. I figured it's the way we do it in our family,” Buck smiles. “I want to be just Mr. Diaz, not Buckley-Diaz, if you are ok with it.” 

“I am. I want it too,” Eddie can't wait to make him Evan Diaz. Partly because of the Buckleys and his opinion about them, but partly because imagining Buck calls himself Mr. Diaz and other people do it, well, it makes Eddie feel fire in his body. He can't wait to see Diaz on Buck`s uniform. 

“Can I kiss you future Mr. Diaz?” Eddie makes an emphasis in the last part and sees fire in Buck`s eyes. 

It looks like he is not the only one who loves it so much. Good thing Chris is on a sleepover.

#buddie fic #promts #buddie #eddie diaz #evan buckley #911 fox #evan buck buckley #911 on fox #911 #911 abc #my fics

[cevans-is-classic]

Say hello to Javi, Reece, and Ari!

In celebration of my amazing friend @coulsons-fullmetal-cellist birthday you're presented with: The Producer

A bit ago we started spinning ideas for a collaboration and slipped Javi and his family here into her For The Love Of Horror : Dieter X Horror loving!Reader series

My Masterlists

More Pedro?

Sometimes when he needs to feel like he’s connected to his film — he’ll stay after filming and watch a movie. 

It keeps him calm. 

Helps him remember his love for cinema and story telling. 

Most nights it’s obscure movies he’s never seen or movies he’s been meaning to watch but never has. The good day on set meant he watched a Nicolas Cage movie. 

Which laid to him hauled up in the producer’s office, feet propped up on the desk and his laptop playing City of Angels. 

(It’s not his favorite movie — he likes the movies where it feels like he’s the character.)

He’d gone into the zone, watching the screen with rapt attention. 

The story drew him in until he sank into the story and latched on to the characters.

Every film. 

Every character. 

It made him feel warm, safe, dragging him into a world where Nicolas Cage is the hero and he, Javi, gets to admire him. 

He’ll blame that exact reason he didn’t hear anyone approaching.

“Are you okay?” The voice startled him — a screaming yelp jerking him backwards. He tilts too far backwards and tips over his chair. His hand flies out to catch the desk, but another hand grabs his instead. It keeps him from hitting the ground, but now he’s stuck in a half sitting position. 

Embarrassment flooded his cheeks and all he could do was mumble beneath his breath. 

“I’m too old for sudden surprises.” He stuttered with a shake of his head. 

“Javi, idiota,” He repeated and again until the stranger touched his shoulder. 

“Now are you okay?” Javi looks up. 

He recognizes the person, but he’s not sure where. The dark purple hair looked familiar, at least. 

“You’re one of the new writers.” He squinted his eyes. 

They nodded. “I needed to finish up the edits. You know,” a finger pointed right at him, “Why did you let them tear apart your script? I’ve read your work — you’re incredible.” 

Javi’s cheeks flushed. “I was told it didn’t have enough flare. They did rewrites without me — you like my work?” 

“Oh, my God yes. Your movie Gabriela was devastatingly beautiful. I wanted to reach in and wrap Hector and Gabriela together.” They knocked their head sideways, “Sorry I forgot.” 

Javi waved his hand, “No, no, it’s okay. That’s why I made the movie — to process that grief.” 

“Oh. Oh! When you collaborated with Ari Astar? I never expected a thriller out of you, but it was — the dynamic!” They waved their hands.

A smile was curling the edge of his lips. “Thank you.” 

“When I got asked to help do rewrites for Javier Gutierrez? I had ‘What’s It About’ read before I even reached the airport.” The next grin aimed at him lit up the blue of their eyes and Javi went swimming. 

And that’s how Javi met Reece.

Many things in his life felt like mistakes. His homes, his cars, anything that was considered his — none of it truly his. 

Everything he’d ever owned — All of it paid by blood money.

Everything except his writing, Nicolas Cage and Reece Gamaro. 

It didn’t surprise him when he started seeking them out. Writer’s meeting, craft services, sitting on the sides during filming. Anywhere they were Javi wanted to be there as well, listen to them talk and laugh at half thought stories. 

Javi knew he loved Reece late one June night with tequila shots and Reece crawling into his lap. Falling deeper between kissing, touching, wrapping his arms around them and falling asleep. 

The two of them felt like a plot coming together — a storyline making a journey. 

Their love for story telling matched his own. Ideas swirling around their head and rolling past their lips with brimming smiles and excited ramblings. The two of them didn’t match everything. Reece had opinions on some of his — collection, and Javi had his own on their choice of reading.

The shared love of movies drew them even closer. They could sit together on the couch with blankets and lights turned down low. They’d trade commentaries and facts they had buried inside their minds. Javi told them everything he knew about 1970s art-house films and Reece could tell him more about books that became movies than anyone he knew.  

Movies are also where they stumbled upon the first discourse of their relationship.

“I’m sorry — did you say Lost Boys is thinly plotted? That it’s only good enough as a summer movie?”

“You’re going to look at me and tell me you’ve Never watched Pulp Fiction?” 

Javi wanted to watch movies with Reece for the rest of his life.

The first kiss was soft, sleepy, pressed into each other’s lips over warm cookies and Starbursts. 

When They came out to him, nervous, fingers curling into their shirt, voice shaky as they talked.

“Uh, yeah, I’m nonbinary, uh, trans.” Reece had whispered. 

Javi felt his stomach twist with worry. “I’m sorry — I didn’t even think to ask-”

“It’s okay. I wanted to feel comfortable at first then. Well, we kissed and-” Reece half smiled, “I was worried about coming out. I didn’t know what id do if you, uh, changed your mind.” 

“Pronouns?” They cried into the hug and asked him to watch a movie.

He felt like a teenager holding their hand as they rest against his shoulder. 

Javi knew he was in love the first night they met up after filming. The first time he saw them around friends, laugh tossing their head back and hips swinging to music. 

Javi felt light burn beneath their skin. He wants to touch that light, feel that light, watch it burn brighter and brighter. He needed more of them.

His excuse to see them more was to offer a collaboration.

“You want to make a movie with me?” Reece touched his chest. 

Javi nodded. “I believe we have common ground for creativity?”

Reece’s fingers traced his jaw. “You want to make a movie?” They moved closer to him. Their nose brushing his cheek, “With me?” 

Kissing Reece felt like his skin had caught fire and brought him to life. He’d watched the movie magic kiss experience his entire existence and craved that passion. 

Wesley and Buttercup. 

Sally and Michael. 

Celine and Jesse. 

He wants to keep kissing them until he runs out of breath. He can’t stop kissing them as his fingers slide their shirt off their shoulders and feel the smooth skin beneath his lips.

Javi wants to taste them for the rest of his life. 

Feeling them around him for the first time? Knowing how it is to have them in his arms, in his heart, in his life? It’s all he’s ever wanted and more — he’d do anything to keep it. 

They moved in together when they started working on their movie.

It made sense. 

Reece was over every day, anyway. 

It made the most sense to Javi who hated it when they left at night. Knowing he’d have to watch them climbed into their car and drive away? 

The move went by in a blink. One moment Javi is asking Reece if they‌ have a desk and the next said desk is sitting in the guest room.

His heart burns with happiness. 

Reece had the flu the first time they said I love you. His thigh burning beneath their cheeks, fingers running their hair. They shivered with every breath and groaned anytime they moved. 

He almost missed it at first. 

Then it sinks in. 

“I love you.” There had been tears in Reece’s eyes, and Javi cleaned them with his thumbs. He’d smiled at their wobbling lip before saying it back. 

He did. Javi loved Reece. They were his everything. 

One year turned to two, then three, and suddenly Reece was sitting on a hospital bed with a bag held to their lips. A nurse stood in front of them with a pink testing strip and Javi’s heart had exited the building. 

His life with Reece changed with a shoulder shrug and a flat, “Told you — you’re pregnant.”  

Reece threw up a lot, dropping the bag with panic and didn’t seem to stop panicking for eight and half months. 

Their first ultrasound on Reece’s face went white as they hissed at him, “I can’t find the baby?” 

He’d pointed it out before the technician came back, but Reece kept shaking their head, “I can’t find the baby.” 

The first time the baby moved Reece woke up in a panic and almost pushed him out of the bed. 

“I’m going to be a horrible parent.” They wrinkled their nose at the Mommy and Me video. 

“I think you’ll be amazing.” He’d kissed their temple.

Reece had sighed, “At least we can make it funny.” 

They threatened to burn Javi alive when he tried to take away their deviled eggs, once. 

“You get heartburn and stomach aches.” 

“They’ll never find your body, Gutierrez.”

September twenty-first at three in the afternoon, a nurse handed Javi his heart and soul. A baby girl weighing six lbs and three ounces at nineteen inches long. 

Her hair was a shocking dark mess on her head and she was beautiful. 

Javi experienced raw, unfiltered happiness that night. 

Javi also experienced a genuine fear that night. 

Everything was fine at first. Reece was smiling at the squirming pink baby, eyes unfocused and hand trying to touch her hair. He’d leaned down to kiss his partner when a nurse started pushing him away. The baby taken from his arms with a rushed apology as Javi asked what was happening.

They’d ushered him out of the room and left waiting in the hall, l watching his life slip away from his eyes. 

Someone found him later that night and directed him to the nursery spent hours staring at his daughter. Javi barely hearing the doctor explain to him about the mass they found and the prognosis they’d feared would come from it.

At four in the morning, he was sitting in the hospital room, Reece fast asleep in the bed as he held their daughter to his chest and hummed down at her. 

“That’s your Noma,” He whispered as Reece slept. “They’re super smart, talented and kind, but don’t let them bake any sweets.” Their baby squinted up at him. 

He’d kisses her nose, “No matter what Noma says — M. Knight Shyamalan movies have twists at the end. 

Ariana Valeria Zona Gutierrez went home a month later in her Noma’s arms. 

Ariana Valeria Zona took her first shit in the arms of her Noma arms at the and was placed in her father’s arms.

Nicolas Cage became her Godfather and with the promise to always protect her.

She said her first word in Spanish and frowned when Reece didn’t respond. 

“My skills range as far as understanding it, kid.” They’d joked.

Her first day of daycare ended with tears (Javi) and promises everything will be okay (Reece at Javi)

At two years old, their little girl loved turtles and was waddling with a pet rock in one hand and a plastic spider in the other. At two years old, Ariana was the happiest little girl in the world.

Javi knew what happiness is.

It’s the family he built with the love of his life. It’s the movies he makes, the times he spends with his best friend Nicolas cage and the smile on his daughter’s face.

When he and Reece got asked to help with the new Power Puff Girls movie,he thought Reece was going to pass out from excitement. They’d wasted not a second to pick up their daughter and swing her with cheering laughter. 

(He isn’t sure if Ari knew what was happening or sensed her Noma’s happiness. He imagined both.)

Reece talked him into setting up an on set daycare for the kids, to keep Ari close as they both worked. It helped to know who was watching her during the busiest time of the lives. 

When he met the assembling cast and crew, he felt good about what came next. He loved sinking his teeth into a movie and forming a family with those around him. 

Javi knew everything was going to go exactly the way he’d always wished. 

Then he met Dieter Bravo.

#pedro pascal #javi gutierrez #dieter bravo #javier gutierrez #javi gutierrez x OG character