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bellofthemeadow · 7 months

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Harrington!reader, Steve’s little sister. Popular, a cheerleader, first time senior and Chrissy’s best friend. But she has a secret that only her best friend knows. She’s had a crush on Eddie Munson since middle school. She’s afraid to tell him, thinking there’s no way he’d be into her. Until one day in the cafeteria, Jason Carver calls Eddie a freak. She confronts him, and punches him in the face, breaking or spraining her hand/wrist. Guess her little secret is out, and she may never be popular again.

OF COURSE MY DEAR ANON! I am so sorry it took forever to address this request! I have just started my final year of Uni, and with four seminars and graduate applications, I have not had any time to write consistently! But this idea was too enticing to pass up, so thank you very much for sharing it! For those waiting on other fics, I am slowly but surely getting back into the groove of writing more consistently so it should all come out sooner rather than later (hopefully) and I always welcome more fics or one shot ideas! Thank you to y'all for bearing with me, I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU SO SO MUCH ❤️❤️❤️

No warnings excpet for some violence (against Jason Carver so thats fine I think) and some heavy make out session

Word Count: 5.3K

Masterlist

Hit Me Baby One More Time

You had gotten your first taste of popularity on your very first day of middle school, a couple of years ago. That entire week leading up to it had been filled with fear and stress about what people would think of you. Overwhelmed, you had spent the last few days of your summer agonizing over your outfit choice, turning your daily fashion show into a reluctant performance for your big brother, Steve. Despite his huffs and puffs, he had reassured you that everything would go smoothly, but you couldn't help to worry. Eventually, you ended up settling on a cute white dress that reached just above your knees, paired with a soft baby pink cardigan. You had hoped it would be enough to get some of the right kind of attention that Steve always talked about.

In hindsight, you realized that you might have been a tad dramatic as when lunchtime had rolled around, a group of girls had approached you, giggling with excitement. "Are you Steve Harrington's sister?" they had asked-whispered with bright envious eyes. You slowly nodded, and with elated giggles, they ushered you over to their table, where the popular crowd was hanging out. It turned out your brother had quite the reputation, and while you knew he was popular, you hadn't fully grasped the extent to which the name Harrington would impact your social life. For you, Steve was just the idiot older brother who used Farah Fawcet's hairspray to keep his dumb hair in place – But to everyone else, it seemed that Steve was a pretty big deal. So, you were, it seemed, a legacy, and the rest, as they say, was history. And that very day, you also ended up meeting your future best friend, Chrissy Cunningham, who you would grow to love with all your heart.

Five years had come and gone, and now, you were finally well-established into your senior year, ready to graduate in the spring. And while it was true that your older brother might have facilitated your initial entry into the realm of popularity, you had since etched out a distinctive name for yourself. As your brother moved on to new chapters in his life (namely an underpaid job at family video), your own journey through high school took a markedly different path. In fact, your popularity had continued to ascend, like a rising star in the night sky.

Though the Harrington name may have laid the foundation, you had meticulously built upon it, brick by brick. You had cultivated your own unique persona, and it had become a force to be reckoned with in the hallways of your school. No longer living in the shadow of your brother's glory days, you had emerged as a charismatic figure in your own right.

You had become The Harrington sibling who truly counted, especially after the dramatic showdown between Steve and Billy Hargrove during his own senior year. In the aftermath of that clash, your brother's social standing had taken a considerable hit, with much of his social credit being seized by the mullet-wearing bad-boy. The Harrington name, which had once been associated with Steve's swagger, now conjured images of a radiant, saccharine smile, cheerleading outfits, and a personality as pinky-sweet as bubblegum.

While Chrissy indisputably reigned as the queen of Hawkins High, some believed it was only because you had no desire to claim that throne—a belief rooted in truth as you had no interest of being the queen of anything, especially Hawkins High as beyond Chrissy, you harboured little affection for the other members of the popular clique. Whether it was Jason Carver and his cronies or the remainder of the cheer squad, you couldn't help but find them increasingly vapid.

Nestled at the popular table right in the heart of the bustling cafeteria, always donning Hawkins’ green cheer outfit, a nagging sensation of inauthenticity always clung to you. Hitching deep into your soul, making you feel like the fraud you’ve always believed yourself to be as although your elevated social status had smoothed your journey through high school, ensuring a constant stream of party invitations, a steadfast companion, and even a few favors from teachers who were drawn to your preppy smile and sunny disposition, it all felt like a facade, far removed from your true self.

You’ve always known how deep inside, there were facets of who you really were that you couldn't openly share with anyone but Chrissy. She alone knew of your profound love for fantasy and science fiction novels. Nothing brought you more joy than retreating home to dive headlong into the mystical realms crafted by H.P. Lovecraft or to lose yourself once more in the pages of your well-worn copy of "Frankenstein." Yet, these passions remained concealed beneath the veneer you projected: the princess of Hawkins High, painted in shades of pink, sweet, and deceptively perfect.

The idea of letting those hidden, nerdy passions of yours see the light of day felt like a risky bet, one that could potentially leave you feeling incredibly alone at Hawkins High. The thought of losing friends and having nowhere to sit during lunch was a constant source of worry. You had faith in Chrissy's unwavering support, regardless of your social standing, but you couldn't bear the idea of burdening her. She was just so kind, always forgiving even to those who didn't deserve it, and you didn't want to be the one responsible for pulling her down.

As a result, the decision to keep these aspects of your identity hidden weighed heavily on your heart. It felt like an unspoken loneliness, a sacrifice you were making to preserve the fragile balance of the life you'd carefully constructed in high school. Hawkins High had its own intricate ecosystem, and you were very much a part of it. Your place within that system was delicate, and you couldn't afford to disrupt it, fearing that it might set off a chain reaction that could destabilize everything. You had no intention of being the one to upset the frail high school biome of Hawkins High.

Now, however, your situation was far from ideal as you found yourself sandwiched between Carly and Tina during lunch, and today, they were even more exasperating than usual. There seemed to be some sort of fallout from Tina's last party, something involving a boy, and now the two girls communicated exclusively through snarky remarks, making the tension rise with every snip from either girl. A brewing headache was beginning to claw at your temples as you were waiting for the explosion to erupt sooner rather than later.

What was happening in front of you wasn’t any better as you were given a front-row seat to the somewhat uncomfortable sight of Jason Carver deeply engrossed in a passionate kiss with Chrissy. She appeared to be on the brink of embarrassment, her attempts to gently push Jason away carried out with shy reluctance. "Jason, please," she implored, her manicured hand finding its way to his chest, a plea in her eyes. "Not in front of everyone..."

In response, Jason merely rolled his eyes dismissively. "Come on, baby," he insisted, his voice low and unconcerned. "No one's even paying attention to us."

You couldn't help but scowl, unhappiness etching your delicate features as you watched the uncomfortable display unfold before you. Finally, you couldn't take it any longer. You cleared your throat and loudly exclaimed, "Hey, Chrissy?" All eyes turned to you, and you continued, "Do you think we could slip away from lunch a bit early to go over the routine we've been practicing for the upcoming game? I really want to make sure I've got it down perfectly before tonight's match."

Chrissy's sigh of relief was almost audible, and you could sense her gratitude. In contrast, Jason huffed unhappily, clearly irritated by the interruption. He muttered something about leaving you girls to your conversation before he got up and headed to chat with one of his buddies at the far end of the table.

You and Chrissy shared a quick, wordless girl-to-girl conversation. All the words you needed were conveyed through a bombastic side-eye from you and a subtle nod of your head toward Jason. Chrissy responded with a playful roll of her eyes and a slight shake of her shoulder, silently agreeing with your sentiment.

As your eyes shifted away from Chrissy, they unexpectedly locked onto the deep brown ones of Eddie Munson. Two distinct emotions surged from deep within you. One was a rush of excitement as the warmth of your crush enveloped you, causing your face to flush as red as a ripe apple under his gaze. But in an instant, that crush felt almost crushing when you realized that it wasn't you that Eddie was looking at, but rather Chrissy's high ponytail that had captured his attention.

Eddie and Chrissy. Chrissy and Eddie. ChrissyandEddie. It was an undeniable fact that the guy you had the most enormous crush on happened to be utterly smitten with your best friend. It felt almost tragically comical, if you were being honest with yourself. Throughout high school, countless guys had mustered the courage to ask you out, but you had dismissed them all without a second thought. Football jocks, band nerds, potheads, music fanatics – none of them could hold a candle to Eddie Munson in your eyes.From the very moment you first crossed paths with Eddie during your freshman year, your heart had been irreversibly, completely, and utterly captivated by the charismatic and outspoken boy. You were utterly unprepared for it, not like you were out there seeking Cupid's arrow to pierce your heart. You had simply been an unsuspecting victim of one of its whims, but the exquisite pain that followed was worth it. At least, you hoped so.

Thanks to Eddie's recurring attempts at redoing his senior year and your placement in advanced classes, your worlds intersected more than once. One particularly unforgettable encounter unfolded in Mrs. Allen's math class, where the teacher had a peculiar notion that pairing the class's worst student (Eddie) with its best (you) would somehow work magic. You were left a bit shy and entirely tongue-tied in his presence, but Eddie had an uncanny talent for leaning in close and delivering a barrage of side-splitting, utterly inappropriate observations about Mrs. Allen that left you snorting with laughter. For a glorious three months, Eddie was your math partner in crime, and during that time, you dared to believe that something more could evolve from your interactions. If only you could string together coherent sentences without tripping over your words.

However, as fate would have it, the teacher eventually grew tired of her seating arrangement, deciding it was high time to shake things up. This twist in your high school narrative resulted in you and Eddie being separated, an alteration you weren't particularly thrilled about. The new arrangement effectively put a damper on your burgeoning connection.

It was in the midst of this seating shuffle that Eddie tossed a rather loaded question your way, catching you off guard. "Your friend Chrissy," he began, as you felt yourself shrink under his gaze. "Is she still with that Carver douche?" Your gaze faltered as you met his, a nod escaping your lips as a wave of disappointment surged within you. Inwardly grappling with the sting of unspoken heartache, you found yourself clutching the hem of your cheer skirt almost desperately. Without another word, you retreated to your newly assigned seat, a sense of melancholy lingering like a shadow and bitter disappointment coating your tongue.

Even now, your gaze would involuntarily flicker to Eddie whenever you found yourself in the same room. Often, he'd be engrossed in conversations with his bandmates or his D&D group, leaving you on the outside looking in. It was a conflicting sensation, feeling his presence so near yet so far away. If only you could gather the nerve to strike up a conversation with him, but you hesitated. After all, you were the popular girl, the one who played by the rules, and good girls weren't supposed to mix with people like Eddie, no matter how much you desperately longed for it. Perhaps during math class today, you thought, you might find a plausible excuse to approach him. Maybe something as simple as asking about the homework or...

"And what the hell do you think you're staring at, Freak!?" The sudden hush that swept over the cafeteria was palpable as every head turned toward Jason, who had abandoned your table and was now striding purposefully toward the one where Eddie and his friends were seated. A chill coursed through your veins, causing your face to pale. You couldn't tear your eyes away from the unfolding drama as Eddie rose from his seat. While he appeared outwardly confident, the telltale clenching and unclenching of his hand betrayed the nervousness bubbling beneath the surface. It was clear to you that what he was displaying might just be a facade of bravado.

"Did you dribble that orange ball a few too many times, Carver?" Eddie sarcastically chimed in. His words hung in the air, an open challenge that seemed to stoke the flames of Jason's anger. In a fit of rage, Jason lunged forward, grabbing Eddie by the front of his well-worn jeans jacket. The cafeteria held its breath, anticipation hanging heavy in.

A gasp escaped your lips, a sharp, involuntary intake of breath as the dramatic confrontation unfolded before your eyes. Abruptly, you shot up from your seat, causing Chrissy to turn around in surprise. She sent you an uncertain look as you started to stride toward the two boys. It was as if you were possessed by a force stronger than yourself, you couldn’t let whatever was happening continue – you had to do something!

"Don't try to bullshit me, freak!" Jason's voice reverberated through the cafeteria, anger and scorn dripping from his words. "I saw you looking at Chrissy. You think you can just lay your eyes on her, you freak? She isn't yours; you're nothing but trailer trash! Don't you ever dare to look at her again, alright? Or I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget!" Jason was so close to Eddie's face that his spittle sprayed across the other boy's features. He shoved Eddie backward, and it was at that moment, as you were making your way between the mass of students that had clustered around Jason and Eddie that you felt a surge of red-hot anger like nothing you had ever felt before.

"Do I make myself clear, freak?" Jason continued, his voice dripping with malice. "Or do I need to send my boys to deal with you and your pathetic group of losers?" Eddie looked incensed, but he cowered under Jason's menacing threat.

"I...wasn't...looking," Eddie enunciated each word through gritted teeth, avoiding Jason's eyes. Jason burst into fake laughter, glancing around at the onlookers.

"Does the freak have a crush?" he taunted, his voice cruel and derisive. "That's hilarious. You honestly think you'd have a chance with Chrissy? Be realistic, freak. What is it now, twice repeating your senior year?" Eddie's face turned a deep shade of pink, shame washing over him as Jason's taunts struck at his insecurities. His shoulders sagged with each insult, and he struggled to maintain his composure.

"Everyone knows anyway that the only way a freak like you could ever get close to a girl is when you and your little cult of Satan practice some sacrifices," Jason continued, his words laced with venom. "I'm even surprised they let people like you in here. Everyone knows what kind of trash your dad was, it ain't surprising that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree…”

You pushed your way through the crowd, determination propelling you forward. Without a second thought, you strode purposefully toward the back of Jason. Eddie's surprised gaze locked onto you as you confidently approached them.

You extended your arm and lightly tapped Jason on the shoulder, effectively cutting off his rant mid-sentence. The abruptness of your action prompted Jason to whirl around to face you, his typically handsome features now contorted into a repulsive mask of anger. It was a stark contrast to the carefully cultivated "cool-guy" image he often projected. But deep down, you knew this enraged countenance was his true face, hidden behind the facade. In fight or flight mode, you recalled your brother Steve's advice about fighting, which you had stored away in your memory, "Sis," Steve's voice echoed in your mind, "when you throw a punch, put your entire body behind it."

And that's precisely what you did. With every ounce of your body weight, you thrust your fist forward directly into Jason's face. The cafeteria was filled with a sharp crack, echoing through the room, followed by a collective gasp from everyone present. An eerie silence descended upon the cafeteria.

Jason lay sprawled on the floor, a violent stream of blood gushing from his nose, while you clutched your hand close to your chest. Tears welled up at the corners of your eyes. No one had ever warned you that hitting someone would hurt like an absolute nightmare! It ] wasn’t like that in the movies!

Your gaze landed on Eddie, and you noticed a peculiar expression take over the young metalhead’s face – His brown gaze held something unfamiliar, a look you had never seen throughout the time you had been admiring him from afar. I was as though he were seeing you – like he was attempting to decipher the mechanics of your very being. It caught you off guard, this intensity in his stare, and you couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.

“YOU BITCH! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!” Jason roared from his sprawled position on the ground.

Reluctantly tearing your gaze away from Eddie, you redirected it toward the fallen boy who cut a rather pathetic figure at your feet. Curling your lip in disdain, you adopted your most haughty tone and huffed, "You, Jason Carver, are the problem here!"

Jason, still sprawled on the floor with a nosebleed, glared up at you, his anger palpable, "You little—"

Before he could finish his sentence, you cut him off with a stern gesture. "Save it, Jason. You had this coming."

A stunned silence blanketed the cafeteria, every eye fixed on the unfolding confrontation. It was as if time had frozen, and the entire room held its breath in rapt attention as Hawkins' princess unleashed her verbal assault on the school's reigning king.

In that moment, you felt like you had the entire cafeteria in a chokehold, and you were determined not to let this opportunity slip away, not after what Jason had put Eddie through. Gathering your resolve, you continued, your voice dripping with disdain, "Do you honestly believe you can bully and belittle people just because they don't conform to your narrow definition of 'normal'? Well, I've had enough of your toxic attitude! You, my dear Jason, are the most insufferable idiot I've ever had the displeasure of encountering in my entire life! And I am done catering to whatever you and your dumb friends say!”

Jason struggled to get up, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. Turning back to Jason, you crossed your arms and delivered your final message with authority. "Consider this a warning, Jason. Mess with Eddie or anyone else again, and you'll have me to answer to."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Principal Higgins' thunderous voice pierced through the otherwise eerily silent cafeteria. In an instant, your confidence evaporated, leaving you feeling pale and exposed. You were caught off guard, unable to process what to do or say.

Before you could even react, a familiar, warm hand firmly grabbed yours, yanking you along as they sprinted in the opposite direction, forcefully pushing people out of the way. It was a grip you knew well, and you didn't hesitate to follow Eddie as he practically dragged you toward the exit of the cafeteria.

The scene you left behind was nothing short of chaotic. The entire school stood in a collective stupor, mouths agape in disbelief. Jason Carver, his face an alarming shade of red, appeared on the brink of an aneurysm as he struggled to regain his composure. Principal Higgins, in his authoritative fury, barked orders at the bewildered students, demanding answers and an immediate end to the commotion.

As you reached the exit and the clamor of the cafeteria began to fade, you couldn't help but let out a giggle of exhilaration. Eddie continued to lead you, now behind the school building and into the dense woods that bordered the campus. The farther you ventured into the secluded forest, the more you appreciated the sudden escape from the madness. Eventually, Eddie brought you to a worn-out picnic table, the wood weathered by years of exposure to the elements. Eddie finally managed to catch his breath. He exhaled heavily and asked, "What the hell... hfff... was that?!"

You leaned against the picnic table, still catching your own breath, and grinned at Eddie. "That, Eddie, was me finally giving Jason Carver a taste of his own medicine. That douchebag had it coming!"

Eddie let out a loud surprised laugh while still trying to catch his breath, his eyes still wide from the unexpected turn of events. "Well, I've gotta say, sweetheart, that was quite the show back there. You really let him have it, you got a mean hook princess." A warm flush of pride swept over you as you soaked in Eddie's praises. How long had you waited to hear him say something like that—to acknowledge you and gaze at you as if you were the most wonderful girl in the world? It was a feeling you had been yearning for so long, and if you were to die right now, you would die happy!

Eddie's warm, chocolate-coloured gaze landed on you, and it felt as though it softly swept over every inch of your being. He spoke, his voice filled with curiosity, "I don't think anyone was expecting Hawkins' princess to come to the defence of the 'freak.' You know they won't let you forget this, right? Why would you risk all that for little old me, Harrington?"

You let out a sigh, the weight of his inquisitive gaze pressing on you. As you closed your eyes briefly, you grappled with the emotions that had been swirling within you since the first time you had laid eyes on Eddie. A small smile crept onto your lips as you slowly opened your eyes, fixing them on the boy of your dreams. "You're worth it, Munson."

Eddie drew in a sharp breath, taking three steps closer to you. His large, warm hands, bearing tiny scars from playing the guitar, gently swept across your cheeks as he gazed intently into your eyes. "Do you mean that, Harrington? Because there's no going back if I kiss you right now—it's you and me, the princess and the 'freak.' You won’t climb back from that fall.”

You glanced at your right hand, the knuckles scraped and the skin raw, with a slight swelling on your wrist. "I think it's a little too late for that anyway," you sheepishly admitted. Eddie smiled warmly, his eyes filled with admiration, before gently taking your hand in his two larger ones. He slowly brought your bruised knuckles to his mouth, planting a soft kiss on each of them, causing your breath to hitch.

"Who knew that the princess of Hawkins High was Indiana’s future boxing champion," Eddie softly joked, his voice laced with affection. "I just feel bad for this pretty, soft hand – all bruised and battered to protect me, like the prettiest knight in pink armor coming to my rescue." You couldn't help but swoon at his words as Eddie continued to softly kiss your hand, his gaze slowly lifting to meet yours, his eyes filled with… Love? Tenderness? A girl could dream.

A warm smile curved across Eddie's lips, and he leaned in, capturing your mouth with his in a searing kiss. As you both savored each other, Eddie's hand slowly wrapped around the base of your neck, holding you close to him. As you were trying not to faint from the sheer pleasure this moment was bringing you, a flash of remembrance rushed through you, snapping you back from your trance and causing you to break the kiss and catch your breath. You whispered softly against Eddie's lips, "What about Chrissy?"

Eddie nuzzled your face with his nose, his lips brushing lightly against your skin. "What about her?" he retorted playfully. "I mean... I thought... I thought you had a thing for her," you admitted meekly.

Eddie smirked against your cheek. "If I did, I wouldn't be kissing you right now, right?" His voice held a teasing edge as he continued to shower your neck with tender kisses.

You closed your eyes, feeling a mix of contradicting emotions – wanting to keep going to feel more of him, wishing him to stop playing with your heart because you weren’t sure you could take it anymore. "I mean it, Eddie... I don't want to be your second choice."

Eddie stopped his ministrations and returned to your face, holding your gaze with his. "You were always my first choice, Eddie," you confessed, tears gathering at the corner of your eyes. "And I don't think I could handle being your backup plan."

Eddie's whispers were tender as he wiped away the tears that had begun to roll down your cheeks. "Nononono, sweetheart. Don't cry, please," he implored softly. "You were always my first choice." His words held a reassuring sincerity that began to soothe your racing heart. But you wouldn’t be so easily swayed, as much as you loathed Jason Carver, you had witnessed first hand how Eddie seemed enraptured with Chrissy.

You huffed in disbelief, but Eddie insisted, urging you to meet his gaze. "No, it's true. Hey, look at me," he gently encouraged. "I never thought I would ever have a chance with a girl like you. You know, you're like my dream girl, right?" You gave him an uncertain look, still wrestling with your doubts. "You always stare at Chrissy, though. And you did ask me if she was still with Jason, remember?"

Eddie released your cheeks and took a step back, embarrassment tinging his cheeks as he used a piece of his shaggy hair to shield himself from you. "I wasn't looking at Chrissy. You're always with Chrissy, so I was looking at you," he admitted, his voice tinged with shyness. "And I only asked you that because I panicked. I was going to ask you out, but the guys had been teasing me for weeks, telling me I was too much of a coward to do it. I guess they were right because I chickened out."

As Eddie continued, his embarrassment grew, and he took another step back. He held the piece of hair in front of his face, as if to hide himself from you. "I've actually had a crush on you since last year," he confessed, his words shocking you.

"Are you joking?!" you blurted out, astonished.

He shook his head, his warm brown eyes holding your gaze. "Not at all, princess," he began with a soft smile. "It was last year. You were on your way back from cheer practice, and you were in a hurry, holding a huge backpack. It happened so fast that you didn't even realize a book had fallen out."

His eyes sparkled as he continued, his tone becoming more animated. "I saw it lying there, and curiosity got the best of me – I picked it up, and to my surprise, it was a copy of 'The Hobbit.’” He grinned as if sharing a secret. "I was planning to return it to you, honestly, but then, when I opened it, I saw that there was a bunch of notes in the margins." Eddie started grinning even more as he continued “All there in the margins, notes, thoughts, musings. It was like reading your mind with every turn of the page. Your insights, your emotions, your laughter, and even your frustrations were all there in the margins. I knew I had stumbled upon the most precious treasure in the universe – it was a private window into you."

Your breath hitched at his words, and as Eddie spoke, you felt a warmth spreading through you, "It felt like we were close," Eddie continued, his gaze never leaving yours. "I couldn't put the book down. It was like having a conversation with you, even when you weren't around. I realized how much we had in common, how you saw the world, and it fascinated me.”

The thought that Eddie had held onto that copy of 'The Hobbit,' with your notes and thoughts, all this time was both surprising and heartwarming. Damn, he was perfect.

"Fuck, I sound so creepy," Eddie confessed, breaking your reverie. He scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.

But you weren’t creeped out, far from it. For the first time in your life, you felt completely understood by someone – inside and out. "No, Eddie," you whispered softly, your heart swelling with love. "You don't sound creepy at all. You sound... perfect." A sweet cocky grin got etched on Eddie’s lips “Perfect, eh?”

Getting overwhelmed by his stare, you tried to play it cool and diverted his question by teasingly asking, "So you’ve had a big fat crush on me for a while, right?"

Eddie chuckled, taking a step closer to you, his gaze locked on yours. "Don't get too high and mighty, princess," he said with a warm smile, his voice laced with adoration. "From the looks of it, you've got a pretty big crush on little old me too…"

Your heart skipped a beat at his words, and you let out a soft giggle, feeling a delightful warmth in the pit of your stomach. "I can neither confirm nor deny that," you replied in a sing-song voice, your eyes never leaving his.

Eddie's smile deepened, his gaze filled with affection. With a tender touch, he placed his hands on your waist, and before you knew it, he had spun you around. You couldn't help but let out a joyful squeak as you twirled together in a sweet, romantic dance. As he gently lowered you back to the ground, his strong arms remained securely wrapped around your back, pulling you close.

In that intimate moment, it felt as though the world had faded away, leaving just the two of you entwined in each other's embrace. Your breaths synchronized, and you lost yourselves in each other's eyes, the unspoken promise of a beautiful future passing between you.

"Hey, Eddie," you whispered, your voice barely above a breath but filled with affection and longing.

Eddie's gaze softened even more, his eyes filled with tenderness as he held you close. "Yeah, princess?"

With a radiant smile, you leaned in closer to him, your heart singing with love. "I've got a big fat crush on you too."

A soft, contented sigh escaped Eddie's lips, and he held you even tighter as if he never wanted to let you go. "Good." And without another word, he pressed his lips to yours in a bruising kiss. Nothing ever tasted sweeter.

“You gonna be alright sitting with the freaks now?” “As long as I sit with you Eddie, I could not care less.”

The fallen princess and the freak," you thought contentedly, "that has the ringing of a love story for the ages.” And all it took was that punch you threw at Jason Carver's face for you and Eddie to find your way to each other.

#eddie x y/n #eddie x fem!reader #eddie x you #eddie x reader #eddie munson #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fandom #stranger things #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader #chrissy cunningham #jason carver

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felice-jaganshi · 2 months

Text

His Pet

Alastor X OC

Chapter 7

Lucifer looked irritated, “Charlie called me. Said she was afraid you were being abusive to one of her guests.”

Alastor tilted his head, “did she now? And you came to… what? Deal with it? How quaint.” He stepped aside so Zariah was visible, her collar and chain still on her and in his hand. “She's right there. Feel free to ask her if she's being treated poorly. I encourage it!”

Lucifer saw the chain and his eyes went red, he approached Zariah quickly, who actually took a step back.

“L- Lord Lucifer! It's an honor to finally meet you.” She was a bit nervous, she'd always dreamed of meeting him when she was alive! “My friends and I on earth were all big fans of you. Thanks for the free will.” She was still smiling despite her nerves.

He nodded, eyes going normal as his rage over the chain was thrown off by the surprise of her statement. “Oh, uh. Wasn't expecting that. Definitely not as the first thing said to me. Uh, the honor is mine I guess. You're… you're not a sinner, are you?” He could sense her angelic power, just like he could sense Vaggie's when he first met her.

Zariah shook her head, “no, I'm an angel. Fallen angel. Adam cut off my wings and kicked me out himself.” Lucifer looked at the collar and followed the chain back to Alastor's hand, where he fiddled with it.

He glared at Alastor in disgust, “I see you made a soul deal… how did he trick you into that?”

“Oh, no, it was my idea. And I'm quite happy with it.” She sounded less nervous now, seeing he was a rather approachable person, and not a haughty noble like she'd been worried. It was also nice to see him worried about her.

“Genuinely? You really wanna be with this freak? What kinda deal did you make, I'm sure I can break you out of it. I got the best lawyers in all of hell on my side!” He grinned at her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Yes, I really want to be with him. I'm truly happy with this. The outburst earlier was a misunderstanding. We've talked it out, and everything is fine. It is good to know everyone here cares about me so much though, so thank you sir.” She made sure he understood how grateful he was, even giving a bow at the waist. “If it will reassure you, I can promise that if a day ever comes where I wish to be free, I won't hesitate to reach out.” Alastor's eye twitched at her words, but Lucifer did relax.

“Don't hand that number out either, okay? It's my personal one rather than my work line.”

“Alright… if you're certain you don't want me to break your contract, and you aren't being abused or mistreated…” He handed her a card, “here's my number anyway. Put it in your phone, speed dial preferred. So when you need me, I'll be just a button away.” She accepted the card and typed the number in while he watched, sending a small “hi” text so he could save her number too.

She nodded, and away he left.

Alastor shut and locked the door behind him, then walked back to Zariah, “well, that was unpleasant.” He then reached back out to pet her head, and she leaned into his touch with a purr, just like every time before. It was a wonderful reassurance for him. He hadn't fucked up an irreparable ammount. “You weren't serious about reaching out to him, were you?”

“Hm? Oh no, I'd never regret this! But it'd be good to have his number for other emergencies. Even if he hates you, he doesn't hate me, so I can use that to our advantage. It'll be one of those ‘long game’ trump cards.”

Alastor looked proud at her smart thinking. “My my, what an intelligent little fox I have. I do adore your brilliant mind, my pet.” He pulled back his hand, and made the chain disappear for now. “Alright, let's go for that walk now. I have a friend I'd like you to meet.” He offered her the crook of his arm. Her ears perked up and she accepted it, cuddling into him for a second before pulling back a respectful amount. He couldn't help the fond fluttering feeling in his chest from her adorable antics. Nor could he resist the suspicion he felt immediately after. He used his shadow to bring them just outside the front door of the hotel before beginning their walk. He wanted to avoid the rest of the rabble of the hotel until he'd been able to consult with Rosie about this strange situation. She looked around excitedly, everyone crossing the street to avoid them, several demon's whispering to themselves about them.

“Are you enjoying the sights, my dear?” He asked, noticing her wide eyed gaze looking everywhere like an excited cat.

She nodded, “yeah! I haven't actually been this far from the hotel yet. I don't feel safe going alone. Especially since when I get overwhelmed I zone out, like you've seen before when I get too many story ideas. And that's not safe to do here like it was in heaven…”

He hummed, “Sounds like I need to take my pet out on regular walks then, would that sound nice?”

She gasped and grinned, “I'd love that! My partner, when I was alive, would joke about ‘taking me on walkies’ when I had bad depression days. So I'd like that alot!”

“Oh? You had a partner when alive? I thought you said before no one had ever called you ‘darling’?” He raised an eyebrow, curious about this discrepancy.

She nodded, “both are true, they never called me that. They were a platonic life partner. We were together for over a decade! I died before her though, and I haven't been dead long enough for her to be dead herself yet. She'll probably be sad to see I'm not in heaven, but I know she'll be fine without me. She was always the more put together of us.”

They made their way into cannibal town, and she was in awe over all the colors. “Wow… this place is so nice!” People didn't avoid them here like the rest of hell, some tipping their hats or waving, and Alastor waved back, enjoying the attention. She decided to be polite and do the same when she caught anyone's eyes. Before long, they approached Rosie's parlor.

Rosie herself was just finishing up an appointment as they entered. She gasped and smiled, “Alastor! Oh so good to see ya again!”

“Rosie, darling, you look lovely as always!” The two hugged and Zariah smiled, glad to see Alastor with a real friend. Then Rosie looked her over, “Oh? Another young lady, Al? And this one's even younger than the last! Welcome to my parlor dearie, just call me Auntie Rosie.” She offered a hand.

Zariah shook it, “I'm Zariah, it's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Wow, you're the prettiest woman I've met in hell yet!” She sounded genuinely in awe of her, and Rosie couldn't help but laugh.

“Oh my, what an absolute doll you are! Alastor, can I keep her for myself?” She teased.

Rosie's eyes went wide, “Alastor, really? This is quite a surprise from you. Go get comfortable in my tea parlor, I'll be right there. You know the way, just let me reschedule my next appointment.” She understood this was serious if he was calling in a favor.

He chuckled, “oh no, my friend, this one's already mine. But I do need your… input on our situation. If you have the time? As a favor for a friend?” He gave her a soft smile, with a cute ear tilt. He knew he was asking her to do for free what she normally charged souls for. He knew it was rude, but he was desperate, and counted on their close bond to smooth things over.

#alastor x oc #alastor's pet #hazbin hotel #ace alastor #alastor #alastor x reader #aroace alastor #platonic alastor x reader #hazbin hotel rosie #lucifer morningstar

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elvendria · 11 months

Text

Clean (formerly Love is a Battlefield)

AU Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Part Three

(i was planning out the story and realised the name no longer suited, so here we are)

Summary:

You return to Hawkins after a few years in the middle of the night during the summer with your 4-year-old sister in tow, thinking the two of you could fly under the radar and settle in at Forest Hills Trailer Park. You thought you could get by without bumping into your old enemy, Eddie Munson, the town freak.

But you weren't always enemies, in fact, there was a time when you two were closer than anything.

Eddie dreams of making it big, you just dream of making it out of here alive.

\\enemies - lovers//

((Warning I'm not from the US, so bare with me when it comes to states and such))

tw: smut 18+ oral (m receiving) 18+ MINORS DNI or I will be busting kneecaps, E.D, physical abuse, child abuse, runaways, the reader Joyce's ex-step-niece, Will and Johnathan's cousin, Joyce is Queen, Wayne is King, slow burn, gambling addictions, the reader is 20 and Eddie is 21, Chrissy is the villain but we stan Grace. Reader has a small scar on her lower torso. underage drinking, allusions to smut, no details of smut for obvious reasons, eventual smut in upcoming chapters,

Word Count: 5226K

part one part two part three part four

Days turned into weeks, and soon it was the middle of July, and still even then, his touch lingered on your lips. It was as soft as you'd remembered. He still tasted like mountain dew and toothpaste, only now with the added taste of cigarettes.

It made your chest lurch at the memory.

Are you sure?

Those words echoed in your mind late at night, the way his eyes widened, red-rimmed from being told the news. The feel of his hands on yours, both of you centimetres from crossing the line of no return.

-flashback to sophomore year-

You'd just been told you were moving across the country, and your heart currently resided in your feet. You were 16 but you were convinced your life was over. Everyone you knew, everyone you loved, was here. Your home was Hawkins, and despite your wishes to leave, you never wanted to leave like this.

You wanted to leave with your best friend, the guy you'd been crushing on since you met him. Eddie Munson, your guy, is the only person who saw you for you. Who knew you better than you knw yourself. And now you were expected to leave him behind with the promise that you'd fucking write every week.

And that's how you ended up sitting on his bed and staring at his posters, your hands wringing together in your lap. He was silent on the other side of the room, processing your words..

"So this is it." You could tell he was doing his best to maintain composure and to be strong for you, which was fruitless because you were already a mess. You just needed your best friend to hold you and hug you and tell you it would be okay.

"I guess that deal we made in freshman year is null and void now." You tried to lighten the mood, but it was near impossible, because your predicament hung like a heavy cloud in the room, threatening to open and rain down on everyone beneath it.

It took him a while to remember the deal, or at least he let on that it took him a while. The truth was that it was all he ever thought about. He plagued him late at night, and whenever he saw you smile. Hell, it was on a loop in his mind whenever he saw you in general, he just didn't think it was something you'd remembered making.

It had been your first high school party, Eddie had snuck you both in the spring of your freshman year, and you'd gotten quite drunk. Jason Carver had tried to kiss you but your fist had given him the message, and so he stopped. Besides that, the party was uneventful. Eddie stayed sober to make sure you'd get home okay, but he told you it was because he didn't like any of the alcohol there.

"Promise me we'll be each other's firsts, okay?" You had murmured out, stumbling into his arms. He knew you were gonna be killed if you went home this way, he wasn't blind to your bruises.

"Firsts? First what?" He didn't register it until moments later, too focused on how pretty you looked in the moonlight. Like something, someone, from a fairy tale. You were gorgeous, effortlessly so. He didn't know why you didn't see it. "Oh... sure, I mean it's not like I'm gonna find anyone else."

You continued to mumble as he led you back to the trailer park. He so badly wanted to kiss you at this moment, the stars the only witnesses, but he wasn't a creep, and he wasn't going to try something if he felt you wouldn't remember or worse, didn't want it.

Now fast forward a year later, and he's sitting, staring at you like you'd just told him you knew about his best-kept secret. "You... You remember? You were so drunk, I thought-"

"No matter how much I drank that night, I don't think I'd ever forget asking you to... well you know." You didn't want to carry on saying it, afraid that if you do he'll laugh, tell you that you're crazy or stupid. You were so caught up in feeling this way, in being in your own head, that you didn't realise he'd moved closer to you until suddenly his hands were on yours, his body between your knees.

"What... What if it wasn't null and void. What if we still did it? Only if you want to of course..." He wanted to tell her how beautiful you were. You'd known each other since they were kids, and in his eyes, you'd only gotten more beautiful with each passing second. Every moment with you was a moment he used to study the colours in your eyes, counting the small freckles on your arms. He knew you better than you knew yourself. He knew what you were capable of, of all your potential.

He'd always known you were more than Hawkins, more than the parents that would drag you down and squash your dreams in a heartbeat. He'd always known that if your heart ever broke, he'd replace it with his own in a second. He'd always known it was yours, ever since he'd seen you that first time.

You didn't know what to say. Your eyes were trained on his, and his eyes burned with something... unrecognisable. Something that made you feel warm. All it took was a nod of your head, and slowly he moved you onto the bed, ridding you both of your clothes.

His lips ghosted over your own, taking your breath in heavy pants, his arms steady by your head

And then he spoke those words. The ones that haunted you still. Those three small words would run through your mind late at night.

"Are you sure?"

You sometimes wondered what your life would be like if you changed your mind. If you told him you weren't sure. But late at night, when your mind won't turn off, all you can picture is his alabaster skin, his hands on you, holding you, cradling you, caring for you. The feel of his lips on yours. He tasted the same, it almost made you mad. Your skin still tingled from where he touched you, just like it had before. It almost made you scream.

Almost.

All these things, the small details that should irritate you, instead warmed you. Knowing he had changed in appearance only, something about that made you feel... some way as you stocked the shelves at work. But you couldn't, he was dating that overly preppy girl who would come around all the time. He was taken, spoken for, and in love with a girl who looked nothing like you. Pushing your thoughts and feelings aside, you gathered up your things as your shift ended.

You were due to collect your car from the garage of Waynes' friend. You hadn't spoken with him, but Wayne promised he was a good guy, best in Hawkins. And you trusted Wayne. He'd told you it was just a ten-minute walk from your job, which you were grateful for. As much as you'd come to like Simon, there were only so many times you could listen to him complain about the kids who delayed him in the mornings.

Stepping off the bus, you let out a long sigh, tired from the long day. All you were looking forward to was getting home so you could curl up on the couch with Willow, watching a film you let her pick out from Family Video. The guy from behind the counter was familiar, but you just couldn't place him.

Trudging along the street, feet barely lifting off the ground, you were sure Wayne had gotten it wrong and in fact, the garage was ten miles, not ten minutes.

As you walked you made a mental note of what you had to do once you got your car back. Laundry was top of the list, the downside of getting a trailer so soon and on such short notice is that you had no washer or dryer, leaving you to rely solely on the laundromat in town.

Trekking into town had been a nuisance, especially lugging the clothes to and from the laundromat. You were thinking of investing in a washboard and going all 1800s, but you knew that you wouldn't be able to keep up with the mountain of washing, or the pain it would cause your arms. Thankfully Wayne said you could start using his after mentioning that idea to him, so you didn't have to worry about it anymore after this load.

The garage was a rusty building, looking like it would collapse with one good gust of wind. But Wayne said that the guy working on your car was the best, although when you stepped inside you began questioning his judgement for the first time in your life.

Your car sat in the middle of the room, with no mechanic in sight. Loud banging could be heard, drilling and hammering, metal clanking off metal echoed and bounced around the room. You looked around and felt slightly exposed, worried the guy servicing the car would be a creep.

Due to the heat, you had opted for an off-the-shoulders top crop top and shorts, and if Greg's comments were anything to go by, you were showing a lot of skin.

"I'm uh... I'm here to pick up my car?" Your voice was meek, tiny and quiet as you attempted to call out, although thankfully someone heard you because you could hear footsteps coming towards you.

"Yeah, no problem, which one is i- Oh, it's you." He stood there, white muscle shirt clinging to his body and suddenly you forgot how to breathe. You weren't sure how you hadn't noticed it before, but despite his slender frame, he was actually pretty buff. Combined with sweat from working in the heat all day, every crease and dip and curve became all that more defined. You felt your mouth go dry as your core goes wet.

What were you supposed to do, he was standing there looking like someone out of a Playgirl magazine. a sweaty oily rag tossed over his shoulder and a grease smudge on his cheek.

His dark hair was a mess of loose curls, only made worse by his hand running through them, fussing with it and pushing it back. The majority of it was tied back in a bun, but there were a few stray pieces that framed his face, now sticking to it.

You stared at him for a few seconds without speaking, your mind blank. You were at a loss for words, which was very rare when it came to him. Most of the time you were cursing him from a height, or calling him every name under the sun before Willow even woke up in the morning. Just as you expected though, it didn't take long for you to find it again.

"Wait, you're looking after my car?" You were slightly annoyed, you had hoped to never run into him again if possible. You were also annoyed with Wayne, knowing without a doubt he had set this up. Had Eddie asked him too? Had Eddie done something to your car so you'd have to go to him? Okay, that may have been a stretch, but it couldn't be ruled out.

He looked at the ground, shuffling his shoes on the concrete and twisting his rings. You could feel his smirk before you could see it. That same damn smirk that used to make you weak in the knees. Turns out that some things never change. He crossed his arms over his chest, turning his head up to look at you like he was some kind of winner in this situation. Like he knew something you didn't. "This is the car I was assigned, why, is that a problem?" He looked down at your shoes and back up at you, eyes raking across your body and taking slightly longer to stare at your chest. Back in Nevada, you would have slapped a boy for doing that, but with Eddie, you felt... alright about it? You mimicked his stance, arms crossed under your chest, unknowingly pushing them up more.

"Shouldn't be, as long as you actually work on it and don't, you know, throw yourself at it with no warning." You glared daggers into him, letting him know exactly what you thought of his actions a few weeks ago. You would never admit you liked it. No, you would go to the grave with that secret.

You watched as his face fell, his hand coming up to rub the back of his neck as he looked... almost ashamed. Strangely, it made your heart sink. Did he regret it? Did he hate it? Did he hate that it was you? Maybe he thought it was going to feel different, maybe it wasn't the same for him as it was for you.

You couldn't take this anymore, you could feel tears brimming your eyes for some stupid reason and just needed to leave. You shouldn't care, he clearly didn't. "Look, just tell me how much I owe you and I'll be on my way." You didn't know why you were upset, you had filled your quota of tears over him in the months that followed after your last letter.

The letter where you told him to call you. That you had something you needed to tell him and that it didn't feel right to put it in a letter.

The letter he never responded to. The letter he never heeded. The letter that was the last time you spoke to him. You were terrified, going through a truly horrific time in your life and needing the man you loved, only for him to blank you.

"You, you don't owe me anything. It's um... it's on the house." He looked down at you with soft eyes. It hurt, the way he looked at you like an injured dove, pitying you.

"No, no I'm not taking your handouts, I'm paying for the service." You fumbled for your wallet in your bookbag, searching for it and getting irritated when you couldn't find it.

"Hey no, look I'm ser-" He began to try and get you to stop, trying to get your hands from your bag.

"So am I Eddie, I'm not going to be in debt to you." You pulled out the wallet finally, pushing a few dollar bills into his chest.

"Take the money, Eddie." You slammed it into his chest again and again, positively seething at his refusal. "I'm serious take the-"

He'd had enough. Clearly, words weren't getting through to you so he did the only thing he could think of. Grabbing your hands as they connected to his chest, he held your wrists, pinning you to a wall with the hands above your head, the cash falling from your fingers.

"Jesus Christ, do you ever shut up.'' His voice was dark, his forehead creased and his brows drawn together. He looked mad, annoyed almost, but not in a way you'd seen before. And you'd seen Eddie mad before.

You wrestled against his hold, not as hard as you could have. Secretly you didn't want to leave, you didn't want him to let go.

"Nice to see you're still as feisty as ever. At least that hasn't changed." He leaned in, speaking so close to you that his breath fanned your face. "God, I want to kiss you so bad right now." His eyes were fixed on your now trembling lips.

You don't know what came over you, you felt your eyes widen, breath catching in your throat, and suddenly... you got a hand free.

You should have pushed him, you should have stood your ground. But you didn't. Instead, you grabbed the back of his neck, pulling his lips to yours in a heated moment of passion.

A surprised noise came from him, his hands dropping your own before recognition overcame him, and he was back in the moment, drowning in you. God what a way to die. But before he moved in further, he pulled back away and looked at you, the three words hanging in the air.

Are you sure?

Your delicate fingers latched into his hair before you had a chance to register it all, a hunger burning inside of you that had lay dormant for four years. A hunger that was only satiated by his lips on yours, his tongue exploring your mouth as a soft moan left you.

"You taste better than before, how the fuck do you taste better than before?" He spoke with an almost disbelief. You weren't sure what he meant, but then again you kind of did. Eddie used to taste like toothpaste and the knockoff cola Wayne would buy from the dollar store, but now... now he tasted of weed and cigarettes. The mint and cola were still there, buried in the back, but overall it was all him, it was all. Undeniably, unbelievably him.

He hummed against your lips, swiping his tongue along your lower one. "Mm, is that chapstick? Tastes nice." He swiftly devoured you again, and before you knew it, you're hands were on his waist, tugging his white shirt out of his jeans.

"Someone's hasty, at least buy a guy dinner first." He spoke mockingly, teasingly, as his lips devoured your own.

"Now who's the one who can't shut up?" As you said that, you felt his hand sneak up to your throat, holding you back to the wall in a show of desperation, eyes boring into yours. He didn't say a word, just letting you sink into the sticky pools of his eyes, allowing you to get stuck forever.

"You better watch that fucking mouth of yours." His voice held a mocking seriousness but was dark enough to make you inhale sharply.

In this moment, right now, you weren't in a mechanics shop, hell you weren't even in Hawkins. You were somewhere else entirely, some universe where nothing had ever happened. A world where your needy kisses, your flustered movements along his body held no deeper meaning.

Dipping his head, he kissed along a piece of your neck that makes your knees buckle beneath you. His hands found your elbows, holding you up and caging you in. You could feel his teeth grazing your skin, soft sounds spilling from you, your voice full of eagerness. You were a mess, a puddle in his hands.

You couldn't take it anymore. Once you found your feet, you pulled him off of you, a look of shock and worry appearing on his face. That was quickly wiped off when you pushed him back against your car, his hands splayed behind him on the door as you dropped to your knees.

You didn't know why you hadn't stopped yet, you were like a woman possessed. You knew you shouldn't do this, that this time of your life was meant to stay in the past, and you shouldn't fall back into old routines of pining for him. And yet all you wanted was to feel him. Feel his pulsing skin in your hands, feel each tremor and twitch and curve of his body against yours.

You looked up at him with serious yet comforting eyes. "Do you want this?" All he had to do was say the word, and she'd get up and walk away.

God she really didn't want him to say the word.

"Wha- what are you talking abou-" You cut him off as you put your hand on his denim-clad thigh. You were nervous. You'd never been with anyone apart from him. Things had gotten in the way. You knew he'd been with others, hell you saw girls leave his trailer just two days ago, and you had to admit it hurt like hell to see them.

"Do. You. Want. This." You spoke matter of factly, eyes wide and stern. Your heart felt like it was beating 100 miles a minute, your palms sweaty and your stomach in knots. You wanted this so bad, but you didn't know what it would mean if you went through with it. You pushed that thought to the back of your mind, your eagerness to feel him winning you over.

"Ye-Yes... I want this... I want you..." He spoke quietly, under his breath so you wouldn't hear the last part. "I've wanted you."

You nodded your head, looking back at his jeans where you saw the fabric strain a little. Hooking your fingers into his belt loops, you popped the button before pulling them down, his boxers following suit. Before you had a chance to react, his large leaking cock made a soft thump against his stomach.

Big didn't begin to describe it. Sure you'd felt it last time, but you never really had a chance to see it, nerves overcoming the both of you to the point that you just wanted it done and over with. Now, however, you wanted to savour it, you wanted to take your time.

He was thick too, he had to have grown because there was no way that it would have fit before. You must have been staring for a while because you heard a dark chuckle come from above you, his hand coming down to stroke your cheek, gripping your chin.

"What are you looking at?" His thumb brushed your bottom lip, fiddling with it. "Go on, you can tell me. Used to be able to tell me anything."

You took a breath, reaching a tentative hand out to touch his skin. "You... I'm looking at you..." You were truly speechless, unable to say much, your mouth watering at the sight of him. Gently, you went to touch his cock. You had his permission, you knew he wanted this just as much as you did, and soon that mind-fogging monster returned to cloud your judgement.

He groaned out as you wrapped your hand around him, his tip a fiery red as it presented to you. You stroked his shaft, soft and tenderly, eyes fixed on it. You got the same feeling as when you'd run the mile in high school, desperately thirsty.

Slowly, you slide just the tip of your tongue up the underside of his shaft, so light he can barely feel it - it's mostly just the sensation of your breath. You can sense his cock twitching, and feel it pulse in your hand.

Once you reach the head, you slide your lips over it ... just the head ... sucking it in, swirling your tongue around it. you can hear his breath catch as you suck a little harder.

"Shit babygirl, fuck..." His breath was heavy, chest heaving as he looked down at you, the way you rotated your hand along his shaft, suckling away at his head. "S'good, S'so good."

You were in a haze, you don't know what came over you, but you liked seeing him this way. Wanting you, needing you, calling you that name. You moaned as you heard it, feeling the vibrations in your hand as you took him in a bit more.

You tapped his cock on your tongue a few times, before placing sloppy wet kisses along the sides of him, moving lower and lower to his base. As you got to the bottom, you looked up at him with innocent, angelic, doe eyes, and sucked his balls into your mouth as you pumped his shaft.

"Holy shit... fuck yo-you're going to kill me, gonna drain my soul right out of my fucking balls baby." He was ashamed to admit how close he was. The feel of your warm wet mouth combined with the lingering taste of you was sending him into overdrive. "Fuck... come on, be a good girl and suck my cock for me."

You said nothing, you just tenderly licked his balls while warming them up with your mouth. You looked up and saw him, the way his body was tensing, the muscles in his hips contracting slightly as he bit his bottom lip, indicating to you that he was desperate not to cum yet.

You grinned, before removing your mouth from his balls and without a second's warning, you shoved his length deep into your mouth. You had returned to his cock, sucking like a slut in heat. You wished you could deepthroat him, but the burn in the back of your mouth where you'd managed to get him to was almost too much.

"Shit shit shit... fuck I love your mouth, never had one like it, baby." He was almost jealous. No scratch that, he was insanely jealous. There was no way you'd gotten this good at sucking someone off without any practice. No way. He pushed that image aside though, choosing to live in the moment.

As you bobbed your head, hollowing your cheeks around him, you almost dared him to cum, begged even. You wanted to know how it tasted, wanted to feel that sweet nectar running down your throat. Your eyes said as much, a pleasing look as tears stung the corners of them.

"S'good for me, oh...fuck...I'm gonna come soon, gonna cum down all in your mouth aren't I?"

Your pace and intensity grew with each movement up and down his shaft, making loud slurping and sucking sounds with your mouth, and tongue running along his underside. His cock was throbbing, you could feel it shaking in your mouth. You could see it now, the white-hot cum filling up your mouth, dribbling from your lips.

No sooner had you thought that than your cheeks were filled with him, the salty taste of him enveloping your senses. As you stared up at him, his eyes full of curiosity as if pondering your next move, you swallowed it all, licking your lips to clean up any that spilt.

You could tell he wasn't expecting that, because his mouth hung open a little as he caught his breath, chest heaving up and down as he tried to recover. "Jesus Christ, I didn't think you were gonna-" He was fastening up his jeans when he heard the click-clacking of a familiar pair of heels.

You however weren't familiar with the sound, yet you threw yourself together as fast as possible. The last thing you wanted was rumours spreading and having attention drawn to you. You grabbed a piece of blue tissue paper, cleaning off your spit just in time for whoever it was to come in.

"Hiya baby!"

Baby? Who the fuck was calling him baby? Turning around to face the person, your heart stopped. Standing before you was none other than Chrissy Cunningham. She'd been a star athlete when you were in middle school and from the looks of things that hadn't changed. You shot Eddie a look of confusion as she sauntered in, jacket draped over her arm.

"Oh... Chris, I didn't think you'd show up at my job." He wished she'd get the message that a casual fuck doesn't mean they're together. She was waltzing in here and ruining his chance of happiness.

"Oh course I'd show up here, can't miss seeing my hunky man in action." She hadn't even bothered to notice the other person in the room, she was always so used to having them try to talk to her first that when no one but Eddie spoke to her, she simply assumed they didn't exist. Although that was hard to do when those idiotic nonexistent people made noises like coughing. Or breathing.

You had cleared your throat, an apparent side effect of having given a taken man a blowjob, when the redheaded devil shot you daggers. Sweet, sickly daggers that pierced your skin with smiles. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, and you are?"

It hurt almost. Almost. Chrissy had made your life hell when you were in school together, something you didn't like to talk about given that she was not one but two grades below you. You remember when you got your period, having bled through your white jeans, and she tauntingly called you Bloody Mary until you left.

That was the same day Eddie had given you his prised jacket to cover yourself till you got home. The same jacket that he never took back. The same jacket that you gave to Willow that's way too big for her.

And now here she was, calling Eddie her man and acting like she didn't remember you. It stung, it made you feel belittled, and irrelevant. You felt invalidated by her response.

"I'm just here to get my car." As you spoke, you could feel the once passionate bond between you and Eddie splinter like glass before cracking into fragments. He must have felt it too, because he turned to look at her, taking her by the elbow to guide her from the garage.

"Look Chrissy I really don't have time to feed into this right now, I have work to do." He spoke with her quietly, when they reached the entrance, and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, she kissed him.

And he kissed her back.

You felt your gut sink to the floor as you watched them exchange goodbyes as she left. You don't know why you felt this way, you knew he was sleeping around, you just didn't know he was also in a committed relationship. One thing you did know for certain, was you weren't about to be another one of his side pieces for him to call up in the middle of the night looking for a piece of ass.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't expecting her to be here. She normally never stops by." He walked over to the table, grabbing your keys to hand them to you. "So, next time you really need to let me go do-"

"There won't be a next time." You snatched your keys, fiddling with the lock on your car. You could sense him, the way his body stiffened at your words.

"What do you mean? bunny she means nothing!" He held out his hands in defence but it was useless, you saw the way she looked at him, how in love she was. You even saw with your own two eyes. If it meant nothing, he wouldn't have kissed back.

"I mean, there won't be a next time because this was a mistake, and from now on I think we should only see each other when I'm getting Willow from Wayne in the evenings." Finally finding the key, you get the door open. You slide in and turn it on, the sweet sound of the engine filling your ears.

"And stop calling me Bunny, you lost that privilege when you never called me." Before he had a moment to register your words, you were gone, your body drained of all its energy, sucked dry from you as if he was some sort of... energy vampire or something. Overall you had to put this down as one of the worst days of your life.

And you still didn't get to do the laundry.

part one part two part three

@vintagehellfire @1paire2vans @introvertedmouse

@ms1oftheboys @ashlynnkennedy @poisonedluv @302rocks @micheledawn1975 @corrodedcoffincumslut @f-cklife @chloe-6123 @hellfirexwhore @caseyqdilla @alyisdead @winchester-angel @sunflowerabyss @badluckgirl @blackb4ts @tlclick73 @eddiemunsonsgf2

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fandomgamersimp · 11 days

Text

I kinda have to ramble a little skdjfksdjf.

SPOILERS FOR THE NEWLY RELEASED CHAPTERS OF ID 2

Okay, I like ID, I've fell in love with Cas' character, I've come to liking Gabe a lot too. Also, I want to point out that despite still arguing (guessing they really wanna drive the whole "jealousy" thing home), they seem to work together a lot more, knowing how much MC cares- which I appreciate and enjoy watching.

But like, PB had room to explore some hard-hitting concerns with being a vampire- maybe even letting us into what it was like for Cas and Gabe when they were human too, letting us get to know them way better and polish them as characters.

Because, am I the only one who wonders what happened to everything that may be human to MC? Didn't they have a dream college to go to? What if they wanted to explore the world or just simply go overseas? What if their mom decides that it's time to move out? The lines deal destroyed all of that kinda, also I doubt your coven would let you leave anyway. MC pretty much has been chained to the town forever, I feel like that's something worth giving us at least a chapter or two about - or just explore it throughout the whole story.

I have some thoughts on how morality plays a role in the whole biting/hunting thing too, because that lowkey felt lackluster in ID 1 - and what, you're gonna tell me no vampire had any thoughts or feelings about being a predator now? Hunting someone that could be someone else's family and friends? Or just feeding off of them in general? I just feel like we haven't properly explored the mental side of things, but I know there's a chapter about hunting, so I'm gonna stay (mostly) quiet. I know vampires may have mixed emotions to what being human is to them like Cas- but PB isn't giving me much to work with.

Not to mention, they've showed that they lack writers tbh. I didn't personally liked the dinner scene in ch.4 for example- I know hunger is a big part of the story at the moment, but I kinda hoped for seeing MC's mom interacting with Cas and Gabe more. Showing me what she thinks about them, what they would talk about. Those two are clearly very important people to MC, I kinda wanted to see at least a proper scene with her getting to know them and hinting at a relationship being built, it's clear as day that those are your kid's romantic interests- and she's a good mom overall, I think she'd like to meet those mysterious little freaks your child constantly hangs around with.

And, I don't know if you remember, but in book 1, there was a scene after the hospital fiasco where MC was wondering who bit who between LIs, and they made a whole deal about it. But then in book 2 if you go see those silver brands, they just kinda drop on you that Cas got punished once for messing up while Gabe was still a human.

So doesn't that indicate that Cas turned Gabe? And they just glazed over that?

I'm gonna end it with the fact that I'm kinda irritated with the fact that we could - but don't as of now- get an MC that would simply go "wait, hold up... I think I'm polyam", with the Gabe and Cas situation. I agree that there should absolutely be choice for people, but I personally did agree in book 1 to be with both of them- I think even if you choose just one person, there's still an option to be with them both in a way, and flirt with both? And they don't establish any rules (as in who's okay with what to make sure nobody is hurt and uncomfortable, and suffers in silence for the sake of others), they don't talk, nothing. Again, I fully get that the transformation is a huge deal and has to take the first seat, that's obvious, but... not even a little convo? 4 chapters in? I think it would be really cool to have them explore this side, along with having the possibility of MC discovering they might be a polyamorous person. And they just focus on "the other being jealous" which, I feel like, makes my MC look like he's just a dickhead - or at least incredibly inconsiderate- it's like "My two first loves" all over again.

Or at least it feels like "being a vampire" takes the spotlight, controling yourself is the main course and concerns, not to mention all those pesky human feelings and concerns are thrown into the garbage. I'm trying to stop myself from being overly judgemental, because I'd like to finish the book first, but I don't know.

You PB fuckers are lucky you made Cas so damn likable.

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smolwritingchick · 3 months

Text

The Bangtan Gal Chapter 79- Meeting Shawn Mendes

Chapter Summary: BTS film for Running Man again. Jennie goes back to America for interviews with Buzzfeed and iHeartRadio. She supports and joins Angelina for the BBMAs and finally meets her celeb crush, Shawn Mendes.

Words: 14,000+

Author's Note: New Jennie Ship! Jen and Shawn Mendes (Shawnnie) Pretty cute. In case you need reminding, this is still a Jungkook x Jennie (OC) story lol.

You know how artists have some people they always collab with? These two are going to collab often. And when she releases her solo work, he'll have a feature. I see people always anticipating them working together and ranking their favorite songs.

-----

After coming back from Prom Weekend, Jen goes to catch up with Amber at her place. Jen was happy to be a part of her next vlog for her YouTube channel and went with her to work out at the gym.

The female member of Bangtan took off her jacket to reveal her sports bra and defining muscles on her upper body.

“Wow, look at my mom. Those abs are getting defined!” Amber did a close up of her stomach, making Jen laugh. Setting the camera down to film them stretch, she asked, “You excited about the Billboard Awards?”

“Oh yeah! I am so stoked! Despite some of the negative feedback that I’ve been hit with, I just hope that I can put in a good word for BTS as I try to promote us as a group and support Angelina. I love to network so I'm sure I can do my best to talk about K-Pop,"

“Right, I saw that. Ugh, keep ignoring it like you usually do. It's so rude of these so-called supporters of BTS to question why you’re going and not the rest of the group. It’s like they hate the things you do that have nothing to do with the group. You're going to support your friend. Angelina is always asking for you to join her. It's so nice of Big Hit to allow you to,"

“Yeah, I'm so grateful. I won't take it for granted. It'd be dope if BTS could attend the Billboard Awards together. A Korean group at that show? That'd be huge! I hope we can accomplish that one day...to be able to go home and be standing with my boys as we perform and do our thing...what a dream. I hope we can do more in America. I miss performing at home,"

“Speak it into existence! I can just see you now, looking all cute and dolled up for Billboard. BTS at the show would be a huge deal. Never say never. What are you wearing?”

“Angelina and I are going to color coordinate. I’ll be wearing white while she will be wearing black. She doesn’t like going alone to award shows since she’ll get bored easily. But if a friend, like me, was with her, she’d have a better time.”

"Aw, cute. Do you think you’re going to meet you know who?” Amber teased as Jen's mind went to the man she knew she was talking about.

A nervous chuckle escaped her. “Ah...I hope I meet Shawn.”

Jennie just hoped she does not freeze when she was face to face with that man. Someone she admires and wants to work with. If she was freaking out about him noticing her online, she doesn’t know what she is going to do when she sees him on the pink carpet. She must keep her composure.

After stretching, Amber began to play on her phone until Jen took it away.

“Woman, get off your phone. Time to work.” she placed it down and walked over to the punching bag after wrapping her hands in tape.

“Can’t I just look at my messages?” Amber whined

“Nope. Let’s work.”

She sighed. “Fine Mom.”

A laugh escaped Jen as she waited for Amber to hold the punching bag for her.

“I love using this. It makes me release so much stress.” Jen pounded her fist against her palm a few times and began to strike the bag.

“Think of this thing as something that stole your smarties,” Amber suggested.

Out of nowhere, Jen kicked the punching bag hard and Amber dramatically fell to the floor. Gasping and placing her hands against her mouth, Jen rushed down to help her.

"Crap! Are you okay!?”

But then she heard her laugh and watched her get up with ease. “The look on your face was priceless. I’m fine.”

“I hate when you do that.” she playfully punched her shoulder. After her session of kicks and punches, Jen held the bag for her while Amber began punching it. “How’s Jack Jack?"

"Adorable and goofy as ever. We need to set up a playdate with Tony.”

“Tony would love Jack Jack. He is so friendly with everyone. I think he’s starting to get closer to V.”

“Uh oh. V is taking over now. You know how he gets when it comes to animals and babies. How is his drama going?”

“He is so happy and making a lot of friends. A social butterfly. To see him work so hard and do well in his scenes makes me a proud sister. I’ve been helping him a lot on his script and he seems to be feeling more comfortable with himself.”

"As he should! Wow, and can you believe that next year you are going to graduate high school?”

That caused Jen to exhale. She was right. She is graduating next year.

“Are you planning on taking the college exam?” Amber’s question interrupted her thoughts as they went to use the dumbbells on the floor.

“I really want to. I want to go to college. But I don’t want to go to college online, I want to physically be there. But as a K-Pop idol and all, I am not going to be able to juggle that and school...I'm kinda frustrated.”

“What are you going to do? You think you want to take a hiatus from the group to go to school?”

“I don’t know.” Jen groaned and fell back on the floor. "I’ve been thinking of going into business. I’ve been starting to get very interested in that. I don’t want to just depend on music. I want to do more things. But if I take a hiatus from the group, I know a lot of backlash is going to happen with some of these fans. But if I don’t do this, I feel like I will regret it. I'm torn,"

"Hey, don’t even worry about those fans. You need to do what is best for you. If you want to continue your education, do it. You will find a way to make this work. You still have time,"

“Yeah...you’re right. I still have time to think about it. I think I should talk to my parents. And then Bang PD. But enough about that, let’s talk about Civil War! My baby Captain America! Ahhh, I cannot wait for that movie!”

------

The cast of Running Man arrived at their next destination for their 7 vs 300 episode. The cast pondered why there were so many boxes around and was told about their fourth mission.

‘We have special guests for this mission’

Soon after, a van pulled up, and out came BTS themselves which was a huge surprise for the cast.

“Welcome, BTS! Nice to see you! It’s so unexpected!” the cast happily greeted.

“I didn’t know that BTS would be here,” Jae-suk said.

“OH~!” Gary shouted when he saw Jennie and Jungkook. He pointed at them and that got Song Jihyo’s attention.

“YOU!” Song Jihyo shouted. She glanced at Gary and began freaking out with him, amusing everyone. “We have some unfinished business with these two!”

Jennie and Jungkook glanced at each other and laughed as they recapped how the Monday Couple could not stop the Golden Duo. But they were determined to change that today. After the members performed some of the choreography for Fire, the cast applauded them.

“I loved when Rap Monster acted like this in the end.” Jaesuk made the same facial expression and moved his hands the way Rapmon did. After seeing Rapmon doing it again, he responded, “That’s it. It looks nice. I should learn the moves.”

Soon after that, one by one the members of BTS showed off their different gestures for fire. V was up first which hyped up the cast members.

“Do I do it like this?” Gary tried to do the same moves.

“Jongkook, show us the old version of that dance.” Jaesuk requested.

“Why?” Jongkook asked.

“You know the old version.”

“Why should I?”

“Come on!” he replied as the rest of the cast tried to get him to dance.

Going along with it, Haha and Gary joined him in performing their own little routine which made everyone laugh.

“Oh my goodness.” Jennie giggled, covering her mouth.

“1! 2! 3!” the three men shouted and did their ending pose.

“So, what should we do with BTS?” Jaesuk asked

‘The fourth mission is to move 300 boxes with BTS. There are 300 boxes of ramen. You should use the handcart that has your team’s initials on it to move as many boxes as possible to your team’s truck. Those who move more boxes will win. If you win, we will donate the boxes you carried in your name. So please do your best.’

Both teams gathered around, preparing while one member from each team had their cart prepared.

“Okay,” Jen spoke up, making the members look at her. “Strategy. Put as many boxes on the cart. Speed is everything. Jimin,”

“Yes, Ennie?” he asked.

“Try to hop on someone’s back to try to distract them. I’d say go big. Perhaps Kwangsoo or Jongkook. Maybe even Haha. You have the clinging grip of a koala bear. It’ll be difficult to yank you off due to your strong grip.”

“Right,” he nodded.

“Fellas, are we ready?!” she announced loudly.

“Yes, ma’am!” they shouted.

“Are you ready to get down!?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Are you ready to win!?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“One, two, three, BANGTAN!” they all shout, throwing their hands up in the air.

Jennie leaned forward, behind the line, anticipating to run. If all goes to plan, they’ll get the boxes in no time.

‘Will the members with a lot of experience win? Or will young BTS win?’

Once the whistle blew, everyone began dashing forward to one of the five spots of boxes.

“Suga where the heck did this speed come from!?” Jennie exclaimed as she watched him dash over to the boxes. “Never mind, run! Keep running!”

They all scattered around while Suga picked up some boxes before the handcart arrived. He was the first to place a ramen box on the truck. Jennie grabbed two boxes and began dashing towards the truck, evading the chaos around her. Jimin, Rapmon and J-hope were placing as many boxes on the cart as possible.

While J-Hope ran the cart over to their truck, he panted, “This is heavier than I thought!”

Kwangsoo popped out of nowhere. “Ahhhh! Stop it!” J-Hope yelled.

Suga, V and Jimin tried to get him away and Jimin remembered what Jennie had said and decided to hug Kwangsoo from behind along with V, pushing him away from everyone.

“No!” Kwangsoo exclaimed.

J-Hope's screams and yells kept making Jennie laugh as she ran over to their cart and unloaded the boxes on the truck with him. But then Sukjin began to try to take their cart away. Jin stopped him and started moving him away but Sukjin still had a grip on the cart and it began to move away from the truck.

“Seokjin, no!” J-Hope whined.

“Jin! The cart!” Jen shouted. “The cart!”

She ran back to him and managed to help him push Sukjin away. He ran away while she and the oldest member pushed the cart back to J-Hope so they could continue loading the boxes on the truck. Later, she met up with Jungkook to help attack Running Man’s cart, taking boxes out of it.

“Hey!” Haha tried to stop them with Jaesuk.

He managed to grab onto Jungkook but Jen succeeded in stopping Jaesuk from moving the cart even further. That is until Gary came by to hold a strong grip on Jennie.

“Keep getting the boxes! We have the Golden Duo!” Gary shouted to his teammates while Song Jihyo held onto Jungkook as they laughed.

Suddenly, Jennie tickled Gary which made him loosen his grip and she escaped his hold. She ran straight after Song Jihyo to pull her off of Jungkook. Jaesuk accidentally pushed the cart into BTS’ truck, so the members began to grab all the boxes. Jaesuk did the same thing, unaware that it wasn’t Running Man’s truck.

“Thank you, Jaesuk!” Suga spoke.

“What? It’s not our truck?” Jaesuk asked, bewildered.

‘Thanks to Jaesuk, BTS is winning by 14 points.’

“Let’s ambush them,” Jen suggested to Suga as Jongkook and Gary were carrying a large load of boxes to put on their truck.

They ran straight up to them to smack the boxes out of their hands.

“Jongkook!” Kwangsoo yelled while Jimin locked his arms and legs around him.

“Good job, Chim! Keep it up! I’ll bake you cupcakes, tonight!” Jen praised, running past them to grab more boxes.

“Just keep holding him.” Jongkook walked past them while Jimin jumped on top of Kwangsoo, making it harder for him to move.

As the game went on, everyone was out of breath from running as they continued to race all over the place for the boxes. Following Jongkook throwing another box of ramen into his truck, he turned his attention to BTS.

“I can’t stand it anymore. That’s it.” Jongkook marched right over to Suga and Jungkook.

“Oh hell no! Goodbye!” Jennie scurried away from him when she witnessed him grabbing onto her bandmates.

She was just inches away from getting grabbed by him and she was not having it.

“Got you!” Song Jihyo grabbed her before she could get far.

“No! No! Come on! I’ll pay you in cookies!”

Gary joined Song Jihyo, holding Jen hostage while Jongkook held down Suga and Jungkook. Jungkook's shirt began to rise as they all started laughing. It looked like this was the end of the road for these members.

“Jongkook, help me!” Kwangsoo walked over to him with Jimin still on his back.

Jongkook grabbed the back of Jimin’s shirt and pulled him off effortlessly, taking down three boys on his own. During this, Jen was now on the floor, lying on her stomach with Song Jihyo lying on top of her while Gary monitored her to make sure she didn’t escape.

“This is not faaaaaaaair~!” Jennie yelled, defeated.

“What’s happening here?” Jin kneeled before Jungkook, puzzled.

“I want to get out.” Jungkook laughed.

But then Jin got grabbed by Jongkook too and he began to panic, exclaiming, “Please, let me go! Please, let me go!”

Jin tried to pull away but to no avail as only three members of BTS were free and had the final verdict.

“Somebody get the Monday couple off of meeeeeee~!” Jennie yelled. “For the love of smarties! Somebody! Anybody! Hello!? Help!”

At the end of the game, Gary had managed to steal a box from Jin placed it on the truck, and congratulated each other on doing a great job.

‘The 7 vs 300 Boxes game is over’

Both teams stood next to each other, waiting for the results.

‘Let me announce the result. It’s 157 boxes to 143 boxes. BTS won.’ It was announced as bright cheers came from them.

They jumped up and down to celebrate while high fiving each other. Now

the members of Running Man would have to pay for another 300 boxes of ramen to donate. When the announcer told them it was 5,000 dollars for 250 boxes, the cast did a double take which made Jennie look bewildered with the rest of BTS.

“Oh boy,” Jennie murmured.

“Really?” the cast stared in disbelief.

“Did you just say 5,000 dollars?” Sukjin asked

Someone will pay for 200 boxes, 50, 30 and 15. The members were chosen to give them a card at random. So for a random donation segment, the members handed each Running Man cast member a card to figure out what they would pay. Haha opened his card and will only be paying 50 boxes. Gary had a dance card and was spared so he danced around, celebrating with Rapmon who was the one who gave him the card. Song Jihyo’s fate got her 15 boxes. Jongkook got zero boxes and he celebrated with Jungkook and hugged him.

For the final three, it was between 200, 30, and 5 boxes. They were offered to dance around and switched cards three times. Unfortunately for Kwangsoo, who had the 200 card first and switched it, got the card again when switching for the third time. Kwangsoo got water thrown at him and danced for the 5,000 dollars he’ll have to spend on the 200 boxes while everyone laughed.

“Congrats Kwangsoo! You’re the unluckiest person.” Jaesuk said as he stood there, accepting his fate.

“Thank you for your hard work. Thank you all.” the members clapped and bowed at the cast.

“I hope to see you and Jungkook back on the show for another couple’s episode.” Song Jihyo smiled.

“Absolutely. We’re ready. Just let us know and we will attend.” Jen confirmed.

------

Back at the dorm, Jen decided to make a strawberry shortcake because she was bored. She had already finished packing and looked over her schedule for when she touched down in the States.

“Can I have one?”

A bright voice interrupted her thoughts as she looked up to see Hobi smiling kindly. She noticed he was referring to the fresh strawberries she had just cleaned.

“Yeah, knock yourself out.” she grabbed one and fed him. His smile got brighter as he savored the sweet fruit. “Is it good?”

“Very delicious. What are you making?”

“Ah, I would call this bored baking. I'm working on a strawberry shortcake,”

He placed a soothing hand on her back and rubbed it. “You a little nervous about the show?”

“I think I’m more nervous about making sure I put in a good word for BTS. You know I love to network,"

“Munchkin, you’ll do just fine. And make sure you enjoy yourself there. Don't overwork yourself to network. Still, have fun with Angelina. Come on, I'll help you."

“Thanks. You can start by cutting the strawberries and then adding sugar.” she pointed to the materials while handling baking biscuits.

What she planned on doing was making it look like biscuits with layers of strawberries and frosting. As they baked together, she began to notice that whenever she glanced over at Hobi, he’d look like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“...are you eating more strawberries?”

“No?” he replied with a mouthful in his mouth.

“J-Hope!” she scolded and tried to hit him but he jumped away. After pulling themselves together, she said, “All right, let’s put on some music while we do this. You can just grab my phone and press shuffle.”

“What’s the password?”

“Jungkook’s birthday.”

“Awwwww. I see that you two have each other as your lock screens and now your passwords are each other's birthdays. Did you know that Jungkook’s notification tone for you is a bell?”

“Oh yeah, from the anime? It’s so cute. Remember when one of y'all almost leaked our relationship on V-Live? Thankfully Kookie’s smart thinking saved us all,” she playfully scolded.

------

It happened a few days ago with Jungkook, Yoongi, and Hobi eating lunch together. During the live, Jen had messaged Jungkook in response to his question on whether she could pick up some banana milk while she was out. His phone sounded like a loud bell once she texted him and he looked down, smiling brightly.

“Goodness, you’re whipped.” Yoongi blurted out.

“He is maturing a lot because of Jennie,” Hobi added with a chuckle.

But they had almost forgotten that they were still on the air as Jungkook blushed, “Jennie is my best friend and has helped me a lot with this comeback. She’s the best and I couldn’t think of any other best friend.”

------

“My gosh, I’m just thankful it wasn’t anything worse,” Jen mentioned.

“Sorry, sorry. We’ll be more careful,” he replied and pressed shuffle as My Own Worst Enemy by Lit came on.

“Ooh! I was just working on this song on my guitar!” she started throwing her head around, dancing around.

Hobi laughed and joined her, dancing around the kitchen.

“My car is in the front yard and I’m sleeping with my clothes on~!” she sang. “Came in through the window last night and you’re gone! Gone~!”

“How many rock songs do you have on your phone?” he asked.

“A lot! So many! I have a lot to study from. It’s so fascinating how complex you can make the chords. Soon I want to try playing some of the hardest chords when I increase my skill. But let’s get back to work. I like to make my biscuits from scratch. So, as you can see the dough is fine. Now we just need to cut them into small circles.”

She rolled the dough out and handed him one of the circular cutters as they both made several circles. Then, they sprayed two pans and placed the dough on them. Hobi opened the preheated oven and put it in so it could bake.

“Awesome, thanks for helping!” she high fived him. “We’ll continue after I wash my hair real quick. Just please keep an eye on that. It should be done before I finish.”

“No problem, munchkin.”

She went to wash her hair and then went to blow dry it in her room but as soon as she turned the dryer on, a big mess of flour popped out, causing her to scream.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” she yelled, making Hobi yelp. “WHO PUT FLOUR IN MY DRYER?!”

After ten minutes passed, Hobi saw Namjoon walking into the kitchen to grab water. But from the look on his face, the leader had a mischievous smirk on his face.

“No way, man. It was you? She is going to pulverize you.” Hobi chuckled.

“Not if she doesn’t find out~.” Namjoon smiled innocently.

“Well I just did and I hope you watch your damn back because I am going to make sure what you get is ten times worse,” Jen responded, causing him to turn around in fear.

“Nini, hey, how are you?” he laughed nervously as he saw that she had managed to clean up her face and hair so that there was no more flour.

“Don’t talk to me. I’ll deal with you when you least expect it. Let’s continue finishing this shortcake.” she resumed with Hobi after creating 14 shortcakes for everyone.

“Thanks for the treat.” Hobi kissed her temple.

“Guys! I baked!” she announced. As soon as she said the word baked, they ran to the kitchen, shoving each other away to try to be the first to get a taste. “Whoa, relax. I made plenty so you all can have one.”

Later that evening, Hobi and Jen hung out in her room for another edition of putting makeup on Smartie. Setting up the camera and finishing up their strawberry shortcake, Jen called the program, ‘Lets Put MakeUp On Smartie Featuring J-Hope~’

“Hey, hey! What is up ARMY!? Jennie is back with another episode of Let’s Put Makeup On Smartie! And with us today is my hope, your hope, J-Hope!”

“Hi!” Hobi beamed and danced in his seat in excitement.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the previous videos of the guys doing my makeup. What do you have planned for me, today?”

“I’ve been thinking of what you’d look like as a vampire. So to prepare, I bought fangs, blood, and some other materials.”

Jen gulped loudly which caused Hobi to cackle and clap his hands. "Oh God...help me.“ she murmured.

"It’s going to be fine. Trust me. I made sure to learn what to do. I won’t mess up your face. I got this handled, Jennie.”

“Mm-hm,” she replied. “But before we start, I have a big announcement to make.”

“Oh yes! Can’t wait for this!”

“So, as you know, for a while now the idea of Jungkook and I creating a Twitch Channel has been up in the air. Well, I want to confirm that our Twitch Channel is coming and it is called The Golden Duo! You can sign up for free and make sure you’re subscribed to us. And good news, our first stream will be during BTS Festa this year!”

“Wooooo!” Hobi cheered with Jennie. “Make sure you let us play too!”

“We will! The first game we will be playing is The Impossible Game. We have so many games we have listed to play. A bunch of online games and console games. And more to come. This channel’s streaming times will vary due to our schedules but best believe we will stream at least once a month. No doubt about that. Jungkook and I are very excited about this. You are going to see just how intense our friendship can be when gaming. And for a warning, there will be rage quitting and you’ll see a side of us you haven’t before.”

Fans were extremely excited about the news, commenting:

‘JENKOOK SHIPPERS ARE GETTING FED!’

‘YES!’

‘FINALLY!’

‘OMG YASSS, THANK YOU!’

‘Please play Overwatch!’

‘Can you play The Sims?’

“We’ll play those games. Don’t worry. Now any donations we get for the stream, we are donating to charity. We are not keeping the money. We plan to split the money equally and give it to the charity of our choice. I will be donating to domestic violence survivors. I am very passionate about that subject. Jungkook is still figuring out where he wants to donate. Okay, now without further ado, let’s do this!”

Letting him get right to it, he put her primer on her face and then the foundation.

“Army, Jennie baked today. I helped her out. We made strawberry shortcake.” he said and went to work on her eyes by using black and purple.

“I thought it turned out pretty well, how about you?”

“I want more. But you’re leaving soon. So, next time when you get back to Seoul.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m glad you liked it. Oh, Army, you guys are wild for your choice of what you want me to do for our upcoming Festa.” she brought up and paused as he focused on placing black lipstick on her.

He put the two fangs on her teeth and went to focus on putting blood around her mouth to go with the look.

“If some of you aren’t aware, Big Hit put up a poll a few weeks ago for you guys to choose.” Jen continued. “I'm doing something with Jimin and Jungkook too but also will be dancing solo. So for my solo, you had to choose between a cute concept, a sexy concept, or a badass one. And since somehow, someway you guys like me being sexy, you chose the sexy concept and now I am going to be performing Sunmi’s Full Moon. Oh my gosh. Wow. I’m not ready. I can’t believe this. I was striving for the badass concept. But it’ll be fun.”

“We are currently making preparations for it now,” Hobi added. “We are eager to show you in June. And...done!”

Jen checked her face in the mirror. “Oh...oh! Whoa! I look demonic!" she chuckled and checked out her eyes. “I like it. I like how slightly messy it looks. This is good, J-Hope!”

“I knew you would like it! Aren’t you glad I didn’t mess up with face?”

“Very. All right, well thanks for watching us, today. Stay tuned for the next member of Bangtan to do my makeup. Who do you think is next? Find out soon!”

“Bye Army!” Hobi waved.

After they turned the live off, Jen took selfies with him, tweeting, ‘I wonder if I should be a vampire for Halloween. Thanks for the makeup! I look great! #Jen’

------

The next morning, Jen pondered about how the guys would look great for their airport style but she’d just wear something simple and comfortable. She was already tired as it is and looking at her hoodie and jeans with a messy bun, she did not feel like wearing some top-notch outfit for an airport. And knowing the fans loved airport pictures, she decided to tweet about it to not get their hopes up.

‘I know how much you guys like airport pics. But my outfit isn’t going to be all that like usual. Sorry to disappoint you guys...again! Haha. #Jen’

Looking at some of the replies made her smile:

‘You could wear a trash bag and we’d still think you’re beautiful’

‘Doesn’t matter! Still taking photos of your cute self! Stay comfortable!’

‘It’s OK queen. We still gonna see you when you arrive home.’

When she arrived back in America, a big yawn escaped her and her stomach leaped with joy to find that she was finally home. Carrying her bag along with her manager Diana and some security guards walking with her, Jen walked off the plane. But little did she know, a large turnout of fans, fansites, and paparazzi were waiting for her. And when they saw her walk out, cameras began to flash and the pandemonium rose, causing Jen to look up in astonishment.

“Oh my God, she’s coming! She’s coming! I hear screaming!” A fan squealed while recording and began screaming with everyone else once she saw her.

“No fucking way.” a curse escaped Jennie, making her fans laugh as she took off her sunglasses. “Who sent y’all? Y’all not here for me. I know y’all not here for me.” she said in disbelief while the cheers and laughter got louder.

“Dispatch is here. They’re going to want you to stand and pose.” she was advised and followed suit as loud clicks of cameras and flashing lights appeared in her view.

The screams were high pitched as she tried to get a good look at all the fans here to see her.

“Hi, Jennie! Hiiiii~!”

“I love you!”

“Jen! Jennie! My friend loves you so much!”

“YASSSS GIRL! WORK! MISS BANGTAN!” a fan screamed, making her chuckle.

After the photos, she began to walk with Diana and security while others were rushing away to get a better view of her. Security did a good job keeping fans away from being too close to her.

“Jennie, I’m proud of you.” she heard a fan say while recording her.

She turned to make eye contact with her for a few seconds and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Jennie, welcome back!” someone else spoke

“Thanks, good to be back home!“

“How was the flight?”

“Not too bad, actually.”

Jen turned to see a guy smiling shyly and waving right next to her outside the airport.

“Hey! Thanks for coming to see me. How long did you wait?“ she asked.

"Hours. Worth it to see you in person. Here, this is for you. My cousin makes earrings and wanted you to have this.” he gave her a small gift bag

“Oh wow, thank you! I can’t wait to wear it.” she beamed.

On Twitter ARMY was freaking out and trended #WelcomeHomeJennie worldwide:

'Our beautiful Miss Bangtan has arrived safely in America! #WelcomeHomeJennie’

'Ah she is so cute! Looking like an adorable hamster in that hoodie'

'My baby is back in the US!’

'Our girl has arrived!’

'Jen is back! I repeat! Jen is back! Back in America!’

‘SHE LOOKED AT ME! OMG SHE SMILED AND LOOKED AT ME!’

'Of course, she’s decked out in Nike, what a cutie!’

As soon as she went to her hotel room, she ate and rested before it was time to go straight to interviews. This was going to be a busy day, starting with radio to help talk about BTS’ new album and hoping that K-Pop can be more recognized in America just like PSY did years ago. Then it was time for her interview with iHeartRadio.

Smiling for the camera, iHeartRadio took a photo of her and tweeted, ‘K-Pop’s own Miss Bangtan of BTS is here with us!’

Getting comfortable with the interviewer, they began filming as she listened to the interviewer greet the fans and give background on K-Pop and BTS.

“Here on iHeartRadio, we have the one and only Miss Bangtan, Jennie of BTS! How are you doing?”

“The adrenaline is pumping!” she replied with a big smile. “I’m so happy to be home for a little bit.”

"I'm glad! We’re going to have some fun today, with various questions. We even asked ARMY to submit some questions for you. Are you ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

‘First time you knew you loved playing the guitar?’

“After listening to rock music. I’d say that Linkin Park's One Step Closer was one of the many songs that influenced me to play the guitar more. When I practiced that song, I fell in love with it and I told myself that this was what I wanted to do. They are so amazing at what they do with their music. And I’m not going to lie, I really enjoy the heavy stuff with the guitar, too. How intense it is. It just makes me emotional because you can just hear how passionate the music is. I am a proud black girl who loves rock."

'Artist you want to collab with?’

"I have so many! Chase Atlantic has been on my radar. I would love to collab with a rock band, to be honest. Even if it’s just playing the guitar. I’d love to perform some rock songs. It's not every day you see a black female rock out. But we’re out here in this world. I honestly do not care which rock band it is, I will be grateful for whatever opportunity comes. Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers, so many amazing bands! Right now I am studying different rock songs and learning them on my guitar. I want to learn different styles and techniques. It’s pretty fun.”

'What song are you studying right now?’

“Wake Up by Rage Against The Machine. It’s heavy and I enjoy the instrumental. I can’t explain it but ugh I love it. A funny moment happened a few days ago, so I was playing my music really loud and the guys got so concerned by the intense vocals. The guitar solo is still messing me up a bit, so I’m still practicing. Maybe one day I should release my covers for the songs I’m studying.”

'You think you could ever do acting?’

“My sister is the actress. But if an opportunity comes up and I need to prepare for an audition, she’s my go-to person. I thought about it on occasion but it isn't quite on my radar, right now. But it would be so fun to do one day. I'd love to try to be in some action movie or something. It’s nice to branch out and try new things.”

'What are some nicknames people called you?’

"Oh gosh, well Rapmon calls me Nini. I also get called Munchkin, Smartie, and Ennie.”

'Okay, we gotta know, are you still keen on wanting to work with Nike?’

"YES! HELL YES! I am still patiently waiting! I know they’re watching me. I am here, Nike! Come on, please! I will bring you so many sales. I am so passionate about your product! Hit me up!”

'Any tattoos in the future?’

"Yes, I have something in mind. You’ll see.”

'What is your ideal date?’

A bright smile came across her lips as the interviewer raved over how big her smile had gotten. Truth was, she was thinking about Jungkook.

“Ah...well, I love mini-dates. Like the simple things are more than enough. Even if it’s just walking and looking at the sunset or stars while I'm in my significant other's arms. Eating smarties and snacks with them.” she got a little giddy and her face began to warm up as she thought about her boyfriend. “I guess I’m a little bit of a hopeless romantic.”

'What about your solo work?’

“BTS’ work.” she corrected, smoothly moving the conversation her way. “Everything is going great with our work. Our album is doing so well, please stream and buy our album. It’s called The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever. The album with the colorful hot air balloon. You can’t miss it. I also helped create track four. Autumn Leaves. Give it a listen. We’re proud of it.”

“Well, that is all the time we have for today. We are going to see you at the Billboard Awards, right?”

“Yes, you are! I’ll be supporting my girl, Angelina. I am so stoked to be a part of it again. Thanks for having me!”

With Buzzfeed, Jen was filmed to be a part of their Thirst Tweets segment. Sitting down comfortably on the floor, she got handed the LOL bucket and prepared for her cue to start speaking.

“Hey! It’s your girl Jennie from BTS and today I shall be reading some thirst tweets!” she announced. “Disclaimer, I am fully aware of how thirsty you fans are. Remember that I do have a Tumblr and I see everything. I can tell that this is going to be very interesting so let’s get to it.”

Grabbing the LOL bucket, she dug in and pulled out a slip of paper. Reading it in her head, she started to chuckle.

“Whoa. Okay. This reads...”

'I hope Jen gets eaten out every night since she deserves it.’

She looked directly at the camera with a soft laugh. “I've been told I taste pretty nice," she teased before bursting out in laughter. "Was that appropriate for this interview? ARMY is going to freak when they watch this,"

'Imagine getting a lap dance from Jennie. I'd bust so quick!’

“Hm...you know I never gave someone a lap dance before. I should start practicing. Who wants to be my first?”

'I just can’t stop thinking about Jennie’s ass. I want to smack it and eat-’

She couldn’t finish as she started laughing again, covering her mouth.

’...I want to smack it and eat her booty like groceries.’

“Y’know I get this a lot actually,” she admitted. “It’s okay to stare, though. Look but don’t touch. It's pretty funny to see all the memes about my ass. And the reaction photos you guys put up when you react to photos of me are top tier. It's funny as hell,"

'Jen could blow my back out with a strap on if she wanted to.’

“Ah...” she let out a sigh. “Thank you for the offer. I don’t know my own strength so I don’t think you’d want me blowing your back out.”

'I watched a compilation of Jen’s sexiest moments. I want to fuck her so bad’

“You want to have sex with me, too? Get in line,” she replied. "It's so interesting to read how desired I am from people. I've seen some shit. It is crazy,"

'BTS’ Jennie is a fine piece of ass. I want to bite her booty and give her a butt massage’

“A butt massage? Interesting...”

'Jennie sitting on my face is a nice concept. I would also love to eat smarties all over her naked body.’

She chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “You want me to sit on your face? It takes a special person for that," she giggled. "Ah, but I wouldn’t want you to get suffocated. And you want to eat smarties on me? I don’t think so. Let’s eat smarties from the wrapper, not on my body.”

'A concept: sucking Jen’s toes’

That made her widen her eyes, "Why is everyone talking about my feet these days? Did I miss something? Was it something I wore?” she asked, genuinely confused

'I’d pay so much money to drink Jen’s bath water’

She looked up at the camera and the caption, ’#Jennie.exe has stopped working’ appeared on the screen, causing the staff to laugh in the background.

“That’s...not sanitary.”

After finishing the tweets, she said, "Well, that’s all the thirst tweets for now. That was eventful. I wouldn’t mind doing this again. I’m Jennie from BTS and I will see on you the flip side. Stream BTS and other K-Pop groups! Our album. Right here.” she presented their latest album in front of the camera. “Track four. I helped produce it. All the songs are good. It’s lit.” she cheered as they signed off.

Meanwhile, a Shawn Mendes fan tweeted him about Jennie later on that day, ‘Shawn! Did you know that the girl with the guitar is going to the Billboard Awards!? She really wants to meet you!’

Replying to the fan, Shawn tweeted, ‘Yes, I do! I’m happy that she is going to be there. I hope I can see her.’

For the last segment of Buzzfeed, some lucky fans of Jennie were brought into the studio and asked to stand in a room alone, one by one.

The question was simple. Why do you admire Jennie?

And while the fans spoke highly of her, Jen was watching in the background, planning to surprise them.

“My big cousin got me into K-Pop a few years ago,” a little black girl cutely said. “When I saw Jennie, I told my parents, she looks like me! I hope I can dance just like her! She’s so pretty!”

Jen placed her hands over her heart as she watched her speak. This was why she loved what she did. Representation matters.

“Can you perform some of BTS’ choreography?” the little girl was asked and performed like Jennie for the Fire MV.

"Wow~! You dance so well!" Jennie praised, walking into the view.

The girl began jumping up and down excitedly, "Jennie~!"

"Hi~! You were amazing! I'm so happy to meet you!" she kneeled and opened up her arms as she watched her run over to hug her.

The way the girl cutely ran up to her made the staff 'aw' as they watched the wholesome moment. The little girl bounced in her arms excitedly, hugging tightly. Standing up, Jennie held the girl in her arms, smiling brightly at her once she pulled away.

"You are just the cutest!" Jen beamed.

"Thank you! I love you so much! I want to be a dancer just like you! Thank you for being so cool!"

"Aw...I love you, too!" Jen got hugged again by her as her heart soared.

Once the little girl left, Jennie giggled. "She is sooooo cute! Oh my gosh. Now I want kids. Ugh, I want a mini me when I get married,"

--------

“That’s my girl, right there!” a male fan enthused when it was his turn to speak.

“Yeah! Like I love how she sticks to her roots and doesn’t change who she is in another country.” his guy friend added. “Jennie, thank you for representing us. And did I mention that she is so beautiful? Like wow. Photos don't do her justice!"

“Aw...that’s how you feel?” she walked out.

“OHHHHHHHHHHHH~!” the first guy yelled and backed up, causing her to laugh.

“Oh shit!” the second guy fell to the floor. “No way!”

“Yes, way! What’s up!?” she giggled and helped him up.

She got a kick out of when fans stumbled when they saw her.

“This is not real,” the second guy embraced her and then watched his friend hug her next.

"Damn, you smell good!" he blurted out, making her laugh again.

-------

“She’s SO cute. Like an adorable hamster.” another fan said.

“Yeah! And the cute thing she does with her nose. Sooo adorable. Her in the Fire music video was a rude awakening that Miss Bangtan is here to stay. We’re just so proud of her and-” the second fan squealed when she saw Jennie standing there, amused.

“Hey, I am a human being.” Jen teased, watching the girls squeal and jump around.

“Oh my God~!” they shouted before hugging her.

---------

“It’s nice to see someone that looks like me in a genre that is Asian dominated. She has remained strong in that industry and there were lots of high expectations for her debut. She exceeded them.” another black girl proudly said. “I just auditioned for a few K-Pop companies because of her. I was moved to see someone like her break barriers. Her passion is undeniable. Jennie, thank for you being an inspiration to us black women in K-Pop.”

“You are very welcome~! I’m looking forward to your debut one day.” Jen’s voice was heard, making the girl freeze. Once she skipped out, a scream escaped the girl’s lips and she kneeled down, covering her head.

"No way! Hi!" the girl stood up and embraced her.

"Hi! How are you?"

"I'm shaking! Oh my God, I cannot believe you're in front of me, right now!"

"Believe it! Thank you for your sweet words. That is so amazing that you were able to audition for some companies! When do you hear back from your auditions?"

"In a few weeks!"

"I hope you get accepted! I'd love to watch your journey,"

---------

“Her relatable personality is what gets me. I love that she is not afraid to speak her mind. She also replies a lot to her fans. I think that Jennie is the most accessible BTS member. She’s like the most active BTS member on social media and I love that. You have a nice chance of getting a reply or like from her. She never forgets her fans. She sets a very good example of what it means to appreciate fans,” another male fan mentioned.

Cartwheeling into the room, Jen landed on her feet and posed, “Hi! Surprise!”

“Whoa! Hi! Hello!” he stammered and embraced her. “You smell good!”

“Haha! Thank you!"

-----

“This girl can get down! My daughters got me into K-Pop and when they showed me BTS and explained what a bias is, I knew Miss Jennifer would be mine. Watching a black girl thrive and make a name for herself in another country, proud of her dark skin, beautiful as ever, I get emotional about it.” an older female fan said.

“Yeah, we record our mom turning up to Jennie’s verses in BTS’ songs. It’s hilarious.” her oldest daughter added. “Jennie made me love Nike. Like the girl makes the product look good. Nike, what are you waiting for!? Call her up!”

“Yeah, and I got into smarties because of her. She should really be in a Smartie commercial.” the youngest daughter mentioned.

“Those are amazing ideas! I hope I can achieve them!” Jen happily said, walking out.

“Oh my goodness,” the mother laughed, looking amazed while her daughters jumped excitedly.

“Hi! It’s very nice to meet you! Thank you for supporting me, BTS, and K-Pop as a whole,” Jen beamed and hugged them.

“Oh my God, you’re touching me.” the youngest squealed. “Thank you for being you, Jennie!”

“It’s people like you who got me here today. So thank YOU for supporting me and the rest of BTS. ARMY is the best.” Jennie smiled.

--------

"Are you serious right now?” a loud irritated sigh escaped Angelina’s lips while Jen walked inside the hotel she was sharing with her. “What is the issue? It is not that big of a deal. Who cares what these stupid fans say? I love you and I’m tired of keeping things quiet. You know what, I’m done talking to you. Talk to me when you realize your stupidity.” she hung up and tossed her phone on the bed.

“Hey,” Jen spoke up, making Angelina look her way.

“Hey...”

“So, what was that about?” she set her bag down.

“Namjoon’s annoying ass.”

“What happened?”

“I’m really tempted to break up with him, right now. Like I am so done with this.”

Jennie was used to this type of behavior from her and remained calm, “Slow down. What do you mean by that?”

“We had a disagreement. And I’m just becoming so fed up about all this.”

“Fed up about what?”

“I just want our relationship to be public. But he doesn’t want it public. He wants us to remain private. And when I asked why he was all about my safety and bullshit. I wasn’t even listening, I was just so mad. Like nobody gonna touch me. I’m no thin-skinned person, I can handle the hate, I can just ignore it, easily. I just feel like the man is ashamed of dating me and that’s why he doesn’t want to go public.”

Jen frowned. Angelina had a bad habit of attempting to make drastic decisions when things went south and when she was emotional.

One time when she was working on a song with an artist, she was fed up with her rap not going as planned and wanted to give up on it until Jen talked her out of it. And thankfully she did because that collab with The Weeknd will be performed at the Billboard Awards and is still high up on the charts. Now, what if she gave up on it? Then what? Angelina still thanks her to this day for snapping her out of it.

“I understand both sides to this," Jennie spoke. "I understand that here in America, it probably isn’t that much of a big deal. Everyone loves their celeb couples here, always wanting the details. But with the K-Pop fanbase, it’s much worse. Possessive fans, people having a harder time with accepting relationships, it’s scary. I get that here in America it is like that too but I've seen some scary shit in Seoul. Like you remember that whole mess with Kai and Krystal? And then Baekhyun and Taeyeon. Namjoon means well. He is just trying to think logically about it. I think he is planning on a way to announce your relationship but for now, he just wants to remain private. You see, you, you are impatient.”

“And what about it?”

She chuckled, “You want things to go your way and you don’t think sometimes before you make a decision. Namjoon plans and thinks carefully. He knows what he’s doing. I bet he’s even going to make a song for you, too. Ang, I feel like your relationship will be public but just not now. I know him. He is not embarrassed to date you. Trust him. Okay?”

Angelina sighed. “Yeah...I guess.”

"Good. Call back and apologize. That was mean to hang up on him,"

"Fine~," Angelina whined and called him back to talk things out.

After she got off the phone, Jen spoke, “How was your dress rehearsal? Sorry, I couldn’t make it. All these interviews they want me in.”

“I am so happy that things are coming together. It's a huge honor to perform with The Weeknd. Like damn, what was I thinking trying to give up on the collab when my rap wasn’t working?”

“Yeah, what were you thinking? You were out of your mind when you told me that.”

Angelina laughed. “Yeah, yeah, well, again, thanks for being there for me and giving me that pep talk. I do need to lighten up. Oh and for our seats, I’m sitting with The Weeknd. You’ll be next to me. And guess who is sitting behind you~?”

“Who?”

“Shawn Mendes~!”

Jen widened her eyes. “No way!”

“Yes, way! And he’s pretty eager to meet you~! Jungkook about to lose his girlfriend~!” she teased.

“No~! He’s not,”

“Shawnnie is the new ship name for you guys. It’s so cute!”

“Oh my goodness.”

"It is adorable. The mystery American girl in K-Pop with the guitar has charmed Canada's talented and handsome Shawn Mendes. Prepare yourself, sis. People are going to be looking for any sort of interaction between y'all,"

"First I need to make sure I don't pass out if I see this man,"

"Nah what you need to do is make sure Jungkook doesn't take the next flight over here," Angelina laughed.

"Stop~! It's going to be fine!"

------

The next day was finally the big day for Billboard. Jen was excited as her stylist, Janae came in with a few other stylists to prepare Angelina and her for the day. Both of them were in robes, vibing to one of Angelina’s playlists. They just finished eating breakfast and were now getting their makeup done.

After she put on her dress, Jennie checked herself out in the mirror. The white dress had a V neck, exposing the middle of her chest, and had a thigh high slit. She also wore the earrings that the fan gave her.

"Okay! Talk to me nice!“ Jen hyped Angelina up who spun around, modeling in her dress as she filmed her. "Work!”

Jennie then took a photo and then sent a photo to Jungkook.

Jen: Miss u!! You like it?

With Jungkook, who was at dance practice, took a break to see the message. He instantly almost dropped his phone, making Jimin notice and laugh.

“Jungkookie, you’ve been staring at the screen, motionless for the past five minutes. What are you looking at?” Jimin asked, peeking at his screen to see Jennie’s dress. He ended up laughing harder. “She’s so cute.”

JK: [image.jpg]

JK: AGHGAGHAJFAHHBWIFA.

JK: WOW!! I'm so proud to call you mine

She laughed at the image of him on the floor looking like he fainted dramatically.

Later, she browsed Twitter and found a tweet from Shawn Mendes, 'On my way to the Billboard Awards. I wonder where the girl with the guitar is. BTS_twt'

She smiled and playfully responded, 'I’m around. :) Come find me #Jen’

"GIRL! Come find me!?" Angelina laughed as she read the tweet.

"I was just trying to act cool!"

"All cool for Shawn? You are going to freeze. You freeze and stutter with everybody else,"

"Hush!"

Once they got in the van to make their way over to the show, Angelina took out her phone to film a Snapchat video with Jennie. “Billboard Awards here we comeeeee~!"

The anticipation heightened once they arrived, seeing fans waiting for the next celeb to walk out of their vehicle

“You ready?” Jennie asked with a smile.

“As long as you’re with me, I’m ready for anything.” Angelina held her hand.

Once the door opened, Angelina and Jennie walked out hand in hand as screams and flash photography were heard. The two friends glanced at each other with a smile and walked to the magenta carpet, waving at fans who were shouting their names. Photographers shouted their names so they could look their way and get a good shot. Jen hasn’t been at this show since the Amity days and it was nice to be back.

ARMY found tweets from curious fans who had no idea who Jennie was or BTS when the broadcast announced that Jen and Angelina had arrived, giving background on both of them.

'The girl in the white dress is cute af! Wow, is she single?’

'She is looking like a snack! Both her and Angelina are!’

'All that melanin!’

'Wait isn’t that the baby from Amity!? She looks so good!’

It was crazy how all her faves were just walking around the carpet right in front of her. So many people she wanted to speak to and meet. It was going to be an interesting day.

E! started their interview with them first.

“We are here with Angelina and a member of the Korean Pop Group, BTS, Jennie. Welcome ladies! How are you doing today?”

“I’m feeling less nervous now that my best friend is here with me.” Angelina gratefully said. “She’s holding me down.”

“Aw. I’m really happy to be here and support her. I am so excited to see her and The Weeknd perform. She deserves this. She’s worked so hard for this moment.” Jennie added.

“And the crazy thing is, he wasn’t even planning on performing today but then asked me to perform this song with him instead of him performing one of his solo songs. I was so shooked.”

“You two are definitely friendship goals. Angelina, anything to say about what to expect from your performance tonight?” the interviewer asked.

“Expect to let Angelina show you how it’s done on the stage. No doubt about that.”

“Angelina, we hear that you are working on your next album. Any word on when it will be released?”

“When you least expect it.” she teased.

“Any boyfriends? Are any of you seeing somebody?“

“Actually, yes.” Angelina proudly said, catching Jen off guard.

Was she about to leak her relationship on national TV?

Angelina smiled softly, “He’s a great man and he makes me very happy.”

“Who is the lucky guy?”

"That’s classified for now.”

"And what about you Jennie? Any man in your life?”

“Right now, I’m not looking for a man.” She responded with a smile, proud to be locked down with Jungkook who made her happy.

After some more interviews, Jen spotted her fansites around and approached them.

“No way, what are you guys doing here?” she laughed as they happily greeted her and told them they came to see her. “Wow, thank you! Hey, you got the braids I suggested. They look cute.” she pointed out to one of her fansites.

A few months ago she spotted her at the airport and she asked Jennie about changing her hair to a different color.

“I’m glad you suggested the green box braids. They’re cute, I love it.” the fansite grinned.

“Good.” she turned to another fansite, “You. You’re the one who told me about that test. Did you pass?”

“Yes, I did! I got a B minus. Thankfully I got the extra credit questions right.”

“I knew you would! You make me so proud!”

As crazy as it may sound, Jen had decided to get closer to some of her fansites, especially the American ones, having a close bond with them.

When she saw the fansite that had been with her since the Amity Days, Jennie's eyes lit up, “I’m glad you’re here! I was hoping you’d come!”

“Wouldn’t miss it! You look so pretty! I'm happy you remember me!"

“Of course! And thank you! I just want to thank you all for your dedication and hard work. You guys really didn’t need to do this but the fact that you are all here to support me means so much. Want to take a selfie with one of your phones? If you’re comfortable with it.”

They all happily agreed, some choosing to block their faces with a mask if they didn't want to reveal who they were and Jen let Diana take the photo. Then she took individual selfies with each of them. She loved her fansites dearly.

“Diana, can you make sure they get fed today? They’re probably hungry from staying out all this time just to see me and take photos.” she requested. "My treat. And make sure they're hydrated,"

“You got it.” Diana got right to it.

Angelina and Jennie did some individual interviews but remained close to each other.

“Here we are with Jennie of BTS! It’s been years since you attended the Billboard Awards. How does it feel to be back?”

“This is crazy. Although I’m not performing or anything, just being here to support my best friend is more than enough. I would say that I’m not nervous like I was when I was a kid with Amity.”

“Do you think that one day you’ll perform at the Billboard Awards?”

“That’d be cool. I’d like to if that’s possible. Whenever it’s featuring in a song or hey what if BTS could perform? I hope Billboard considers that, having a Korean act perform on their show. We make such great music. Please check out our album!"

“What did it feel like to get on that plane, without BTS to be here alone?”

“Weird. Like wow, my boys aren’t with me. I gotta do this by myself now. I like it although I do miss my boys. I know they’re watching so, hey guys!” she greeted them in Korean.

"Is there anyone, in particular, you’re looking forward to seeing?”

“Well...” she giggled nervously. “Shawn Mendes.”

"Have you seen the name people are calling you? Shawnnie. It's so cute,"

"Yeah, it is pretty cute. I wasn't expecting this big of a reaction from our fanbases. I'm so flattered. He is just so amazing and I hope today is the day I can finally meet him. I admire his work so much,"

"Aw. Is a collab between you two in the future?"

"If he wants to work with me, I would be so down. Fingers crossed! I'd love to work with him! Ah...he's a pretty amazing guy," she couldn't stop the big smile from appearing on her face.

-----

Shawn Mendes had been on the magenta carpet for a while, doing interviews and taking photos. His eyes lit up when the same interviewer who had talked with Jennie said that they recently interviewed the girl with the guitar.

"You did?" a big smile began to appear on his handsome features. "She's here? Oh man...my day just got better,"

"Yeah, she spoke very highly of you. What do you think of the girl with the guitar?"

"She's a pretty amazing girl. Her voice and the way she plays the guitar...blown away,"

"She told us she'd love to collab with you,"

"I want to collab with her, too," he immediately said, happy with her statement.

----

Jennie had a young male interview her as he introduced her to the camera. But once she looked directly at him, smiling charmingly, he began to stutter.

“So, Jennie y-you, I mean...I’m sorry,” he laughed nervously, trying to remember the question he was going to ask.

It looked like he was thrown off by her smile for a brief moment and got lost in her charm.

'Cute,’ she thought, amused.

“It’s okay,” she giggled.

“Sorry, this is my first time interviewing.”

“I’m glad I get to have the honor of you interviewing me for the first time. Let’s talk about how exciting the Billboard Awards are,” she tried to calm his nerves as they briefly talked about what they were looking forward to.

Once he felt at ease, he began to ask her his questions, “You did a cover for Stitches a while back. How did it feel for Shawn to acknowledge that?”

“I remember running all over the place when I found out. Someone that I admire as a performer watching my craft. Surreal. I can’t wait to meet him!”

“Do people notice you easily in South Korea?”

“Oh definitely. It’s so obvious to notice me. If it’s not my melanin, it’s my hair. So, people are quick to want to get autographs. I’m always happy to see the fans.”

“I have to say, an African American woman like you representing black women in an Asian country is very impressive. Are you aware of the supporters you have?”

“Yeah! It’s very overwhelming for sure. Words can’t explain how much of a blessing this is.”

“And lastly, can you speak some Korean to the viewers?”

She nodded and looked at the camera, deciding to give a message to the fans and BTS, “Thank you for always supporting me. Your Bangtan Girl is doing well and is happy. I ate today, don’t worry. No, I am not dehydrated. Please look forward to Angelina’s performance. I love you! Fighting!”

“I have no idea what you said but it sounded great.” he chuckled with her as she translated her statement.

She even taught him a few basic words before the interview was over which helped him relax even more.

After their interview, he went on to put out a few tweets about her:

'I just interviewed BTS’ Jennie and just wow...her smile left me speechless. Her beauty made me stutter a bit,'

'I was surprised at how relaxed she is. This was my first time interviewing her and when I saw videos of her performing, I thought she was as hyper as she is on stage.’

'But here she has a calming demeanor. She is so chill. A very mellow and soothing person. Thank you, Jennie.’

------

As Shawn was being interviewed by E!, his eyes occasionally wandered around the area to see if he could spot Jennie. And when he did he began to get distracted while answering questions.

"Ah, I'm sorry, could you excuse me for a moment? I found her," he smiled kindly.

-----

Walking around with Angelina, taking photos, Jennie is nudged by her.

“Don’t look now but a certain someone is watching you~!” Angelina whispered.

“Who?” Jen whispered back.

“You know who.” she teased. Her statement made Jen widen her eyes and she attempted to take a peek but Angelina stopped her. “Girl, don’t make it obvious. But he staring at ya. Oh shit. He’s...walking over here. Oh my gosh, he’s walking over here.”

“What!?” Jen panicked, grabbing onto her. “What should I do?!"

“Be calm. Be calm. Go say hi. I’ll be over there.”

“You’re leaving?!” she asked in a high voice.

Patting Jen’s back with a giggle, Angelina began to walk away, “You got this.”

'Oh my God...' Jen thought.

Jennie’s heart continued to race as she didn’t know what to expect. Her celeb crush was strolling right where she was. She needed to control her nerves. She didn't even know what to say yet.

“Excuse me,” a gentle hand grabbed hers, making her stomach flip. “Girl with the guitar?”

Turning around, she looked up to meet his eyes. His smile made him look even more handsome up close as he looked pleased to see her.

When she found her voice, she broke out into a smile, “It looks like you found me.”

“Looks like I did. It’s nice to finally meet you. Wow.“ he moved to hug her as she eagerly wrapped her arms around him.

‘Oh my God, his hugs! Lord have mercy, he’s so cute.’ she squealed to herself.

Pulling away he asked, "What’s your name?”

“My name is Jennie. To be honest, I was trying to act all confident in front of you but in reality, I was nervous to meet you.”

He chuckled nervously, “You’re telling me, I had butterflies when making my way over to you. Your cover for my song, I was blown away by your performance. I really love your voice.”

“Aw really? I love your voice, too.” she felt her face heat up, “I’d love to make music with you.”

“Yeah, I’d love that too,"

She continued to have butterflies in her stomach as she talked with him and it finally set in that she was in the presence of one of her favorite artists. He was so pleasant and friendly towards her as they got to know each other.

Their interaction began to go viral because cameras were taking photos, recording them, and live tweeting about the interaction. Fans were freaking out at how they looked at each other and when Shawn reached out immediately for a hug.

“The North America leg of my tour starts in July. Would you like to come by during one of the shows?” he asked.

“Yes!” Jen’s eyes lit up. “I’ll double check my schedule and discuss it with Big Hit. If I can make it, I will definitely come. I may have some free time around the September 10th show. I will keep you posted.”

“Awesome! I'd love it if we'd be able to sing together at the show. Maybe we can sing I Know What You Did Last Summer."

"For real!? You want me to sing that with you? I'll do Camila Cabello justice!"

"I know you will. It'll be fun. And when I write some new music maybe we can record a song or two together. Or like a remix of one of my songs. I really want to sing with you,"

Her heart soared at how eager he was to sing with her. She was thrilled her voice was able to touch him to be this excited about collaborating.

"Sounds like a plan! When BTS has their next tour, you should definitely come if you can.”

“I'd like that. So, you sing in Korean?”

“Uh huh. There are some English words in there, though. And we sing in Japanese when we create Japanese songs.”

“Wow, that sounds intense. Is it difficult for you?”

“Very. The most challenging for me is singing in Japanese. I’m still not quite familiar with that language but I’m trying my best to connect with our Japanese fans the best way I can. I'm still learning here and there with the language.”

"You're incredible,"

She giggled and covered her mouth. "Thank you,"

"I'll see you at the show. Can't wait to see you again soon," he pulled her in for another hug and walked away, leaving her face flushed.

Angelina laughed as she walked back over to Jennie and began to tease her in a high voice, "It's going to be OK, I was trying to act all cool! And yet Miss Walker froze and started giggling like a cute fangirl. I am so done with you. You folded faster than I anticipated,"

"Shut it!"

"So how'd it feel to be hugged by your celeb crush not once but twice? You two are trending on Twitter as we speak,"

"I am so happy,"

"Yeah, you keep cheesing. It's adorable,"

-------

Outside where all the production trucks were, Angelina and Jennie met up with Layla who wore a shirtless pink blazer and pink pants.

“Ooh! I see you. Look at you, exposing skin. We are SO back! This is a look~” Angelina complimented and hugged her

“I had to pop out. You two look so goooood!” Layla cheered. “Let’s take some pictures.”

Jen happily wrapped her arms around Layla, pressing her cheek against hers as they grinned goofily for the camera but in the background was Angelina photobombing with a meme face expression. Then they took some cute photos.

Jen posted the photos, 'I’m happy we got to see you! Looking forward to your solo music. Let’s leave the past behind,’

The photo went viral as soon as it was posted with Amity trending. Fans replied:

‘Three out of five! Come on, I hope the last two can make amends!’

‘Why are you still friends with her?’

'They look so fake’

'Three queens!‘

'I’m not crying! You are!’

'JENLA STANS RISE!’

'Awww I’m so happy they reunited and showed love to each other’

'Finally! Now we need Hailey and Trinity’

'I hope Hailey and Trinity can work things out with these three’

'I still don’t forgive her’

'This is the content I like to see. Positivity and uplifting each other’

‘People out here thinking Layla is some kind of demon. She apologized and they all made up. Let’s hope Hailey and Trinity can do the same and we can get an Amity reunion’

'THERE! Now STFU about them all hating each other’

'CHOKE HATERS!’

'Hailey, Trinity WYA? Apologize and get back together!’

'I prefer it to just be the three of them. No need for Hailey and Trinity’

'I don’t know how to feel about this. I just hope they’re all on good terms’

'I wonder what Hailey and Trinity think of this’

'Is anyone going to talk about Angelina in the background tho? LOL’

While Jen was backstage, Rihanna approached her as she stopped walking.

"You!" Rihanna called out, causing Jennie to turn around in surprise. "You are a bad bitch!" she praised and brought up how she watched Jennie's dance cover of the GTA Remix of Bitch Better Have My Money. She even told her that she looked beautiful and had been watching her do her thing in BTS, seeing great things for her in the future.

'No fucking way I just met Rihanna and she's praising me! What the hell!? Ahhhhhh!' Jennie began freaking out in her head as she kept thanking her for the praises and began to fangirl over how much she adored her.

Jennie was starstruck and managed to bring up how she had been one of her inspirations and hoped to be versatile in music like her. She even impressed Rihanna by speaking in Korean. The artist gave Jennie some words of wisdom while continuing to praise her for making a name for herself in Korea.

The two took a few photos together and Jen posted them, making fans freak out, 'I met Rihanna! Ahhhh! She called me a bad bitch! Life is amazing! #Jen'

Jen even met DNCE and raved about her love for the guitar, building a big connection with them. Pete Wentz had approached her first and asked her about her guitar passions, since he recognized her from some Fall Out Boy covers she had posted. She even told him she would love to collaborate with Fall Out Boy and to check out BTS.

Fans quickly noticed that a few celebs had started following Jennie and BTS on social media,

'GUYS! Jennie is being followed by CELEBS! LOOK AT THIS! Fall Out Boy just followed her!’

'RIHANNA FOLLOWED JENNIE! RIHANNA IS FOLLOWING MORE K-POP IDOLS! G-DRAGON, TAEYANG, CL AND NOW JENNIE! OMG! DO YOU KNOW HOW BIG THAT IS!?'

'Rihanna recently liked a video of Jennie and J-Hope dancing to one of her songs, too!'

Jennie even met Justin Bieber and spoke on behalf of Jungkook of his admiration for him and that he covered a few of his songs. Justin personally asked for the links, promising to give them a listen.

And once she ran into Shawn Mendes again, she finally took photos with him while Angelina took a few candids of them speaking and hugging.

Posting them on Twitter, Jen tweeted, 'Your girl met Shawn Mendes~! #Fangirling #HeCuteAF'

Fans trended #JennieMetShawn and #Shawnnie while tweeting,

'WE STAN’

'Jennie is NETWORKING NETWORKING! She's meeting everybody'

'COLLAB’

'Oh my God!’

'Lol he cute af, girl SAME'

'Biggest ship ever! This is so cute! I loved the anticipation of them finally meeting! This was worth the wait!'

'Somebody play Kid in Love by Shawn Mendes because this is adorable omg'

'LOOK AT HOW HE IS LOOKING AT HER! Kid In Love by Shawn Mendes!'

'A dream come true! I am so happy for her’

'BTS and Shawn fans, how we feeling?’

'SOBBING’

'YASSSSS’

'Wait isn’t this the BTS girl? OMG’

'Yooooooo’

'Legends!’

'My favs finally met!’

'I SHIP!’

'Look at how cheesy her smile is. She is so happy. Awwww’

'You deserve this!’

When they walked into the venue, as soon as BTS fans spotted Jennie walking, loud cheers were heard and she turned around to see them waving at her. She waved back and went to follow Angelina to where they’d be seated.

Throughout the show, fansites recorded Jen’s reactions, including her eating smarties during the show and frowning when she ran out of them. Then when she kept chewing her many pieces of gum like a cow fans thought it was hilarious and kind of cute.

Shawn and Jennie even exchanged snacks during the event, as their fans continued to ship them. She was even kind enough to offer him smarties before she ran out which fans pointed out.

Fans made sure to get a good view of Jennie watching in admiration to Shawn Mendes performing Stitches and singing along. Once it was time for Angelina to perform with The Weeknd, who had won many awards that night, Jen was the first one to stand up and dance, hyping them up as their performance moved the entire crowd. Angelina had walked out on stage with a purpose, as she rapped aggressively while The Weeknd was next to her.

Being nervous was an understatement for her. It was a big moment but when she locked eyes with Jennie who was cheering her on in the crowd, it completely made her feel at ease.

Jennie was like her remedy. Angelina would always call her, even if their time zones were different. Call her for things such as calming her down when she’s nervous, feeling hopeless, having issues, and wanting a second ear to listen to her craft. No matter what, Jen always encouraged her to communicate no matter the time it was in Korea. And to see her best friend here to support her, meant everything.

After the performance, Jen made her way backstage, rushing towards Angelina who had tears of joy in her eyes.

“You were amazing! I am SO proud of you!” Jen squealed and embraced her.

Unable to hold it in, Angelina began to cry, fortunate about the performance as The Weeknd joined in the group hug.

“You did so well! You killed it out there. We had fun out there, didn’t we?” he cheered.

“Hell yeah.” Angelina pulled away. “Thank you so much for this opportunity. That was so fun, man. Like damn, we really did that!”

As the staff backstage was all congratulating them, they wanted Angelina and The Weeknd to take a photo to post on Billboard’s social media.

Fans tweet:

‘Angelina is that bitch!’

‘RAW! Just RAW! The Weeknd and Angelina killed it’

‘Angelina did what she had to do!’

‘The fact that The Weeknd wasn’t even planning on performing tonight and decided to perform with Angelina! LOVE!’

‘This was FIRE!’

Later, Jennie even met Fifth Harmony and bonded with them quickly as they talked about their music. She praised their work and hoped for more success for them. She found herself vibing with Normani and Camila the most. She took tons of photos with the group and planned to keep in touch with all of them.

When the girls left, Camila Cabello stayed behind to speak to her further.

“Hey, I know this may be a bit abrupt but I wanted to ask you, you were the first to leave Amity, right?”

“Yeah! It was hard to make that decision but sometimes you just gotta spread your wings and go somewhere you think is better for you.” Jen responded. “It may be a tough decision but you need to do what is best for your life and you need to be happy. So, if you have music that you want to share with the world or a vision and where you are is not doing that for you, perhaps it’s time to go another route. That’s what I thought of when I left Amity. It sucks about what happened. I hope one day we can all be friends again and not be on bad terms but I do not regret leaving. It was the best decision for me.”

Camila nodded and smiled softly. “Thank you. I’ll remember that.”

“Are you...getting ideas?”

Camila hesitated. “I know we just met and all but you understand how I feel. I just want to explore my individuality as an artist. I love this group. But I feel like I can do so much more without being held back.”

Jennie nodded and held her hands while giving her a bright smile. “All of you are so talented in that group. And whenever you all want to do solo stuff, I hope it's just as successful as what you have achieved so far in the group. And you have me as your new friend. I'll support you,"

"You're really sweet, thank you. I'll support you, too. You said you're in a K-Pop group, now?"

"Yes. Korean pop. The group is called BTS. There are 7 guys and 1 chick, yours truly,"

“Wow, there’s a lot of you. It must be tough yet empowering being the only girl in the group, right?”

“It has its challenges but it is very rewarding.”

“Have you thought of doing some solo work in the future?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of stuff in my documents. The guys got stuff cooking too but we're still united and will remain a group. The stuff I have been working on I am not quite ready to release yet. I want to touch up on the songs as well. One day the world will hear it. Maybe in a few years. For now, I’d like to continue focusing on the group’s activities. The company I'm in now gives us more creative freedom than when I was in SongStress,”

----------

When Angelina and Jen made their way back to the hotel, they relaxed in bed, eating snacks.

“Just an FYI, Shawn was totally staring at you throughout the entire show.” Angelina giggled.

“Don’t play.” Jennie playfully kicked her.

“He was! He kept smiling and everything. I bet he likes you. He’s going to be disappointed when he finds out you’re taken~ haha,”

“I doubt that. He's just very happy to meet me,” she chuckled.

"You'd be surprised the guys that be watching you. I mean think of Jungkook and how long he's been watching you and pinning for you,"

Jen smiled as she thought of how things came about with her and Jungkook. "Touche,"

“Okay, so I wanted to wait until after the show to tell you this...” Angelina’s tone changed into a more joyful one.

“What happened?”

“So, you know the XXL Magazine, right? How they have their freshman class? Well...I’m going to be the only female in this year’s class!“

Jen’s eyes widened. “What!? Oh my gosh! That’s friggin huge!” she yelled in excitement and pulled her in for a hug as they both started freaking out.

“Ahhhh! Thank you!”

“When did you find out?!”

“A few days ago! I was on cloud nine! I cried when they told me. Things are really coming up for me. I can’t believe this. I’m really doing it. I am doing the things I wanted to do. Songstress couldn’t give that to me. But I persevered and now I’m doing my own thing.”

“As you should! What will you be doing there?”

“I’m supposed to be recording freestyles, cyphers, solo and group interviews. I am so excited.”

“Lit! I cannot wait to check it out!”

“You have K-Con coming up, right? I was wondering if you wanted to watch me film for the magazine. I’m really nervous about it. But with you there, I can feel a little more at ease. Ugh, I’m sorry. I always ask you to accompany me to all these events.”

“No, no, it’s fine, I’m glad you want me around to watch your success! You watch my success! We’re best friends. Of course, I’m going to be there and watch you grow. If Big Hit can let me attend, I will attend,"

“Thanks. It’s just that you just make me feel more confident and give me a sense of security. Like I have someone with me besides my manager and team that I can trust fully and can help me no matter what. I have my other friends in the industry but you are my number one. When I was on that stage tonight, when I saw you, my nervousness went away. You’ve always been there for me. So, I wanted to say thank you for the tenth thousandth time. I'll work on not getting so nervous when you're not there. But for now, in this moment, thank you for being here,"

Jen laughed. “You’re very welcome for the tenth thousandth time. If I’m free, I’ll tag along.”

“I love you,” Angelina gave her a big kiss on the cheek and another tight hug.

“I love you, too!”

“So, have you told your parents you’re dating Jungkook?” she pulled away.

Jen exhaled. “No. They don’t know yet. Jungkook is eager to see them when we travel for K-Con. He wants to tell them about us. He’s been trying to bring it up for a while and last time we finally had a conversation about it after I couldn’t think of another way to get out of it.”

She thought about the conversation.

-----

“Since we’ll be back in America for K-Con, let’s give your family a visit. It’ll be great to tell them about us,” Jungkook happily smiled.

Jennie hesitated. Truth be told, she’s been trying to avoid this conversation. He’s been bringing it up for a while now. And lately, he seemed even more persistent as the event was approaching rather quickly.

“Let’s...wait a little longer,” she murmured with an apologetic smile.

Normally when she said that, Jungkook would leave it be. But this time, he didn’t want to.

“Jennie, you’ve been avoiding this conversation for a while. Every time I mention it you freeze and act weird. What is the problem?” he spoke up with a frown. “Are you...”

“Never.” she cut him off, knowing what he was about to say.

She shook her head and let out a breath. Maybe it was time to let him know her feelings. She should be open about this and communicate.

“Tell me,” he softly added, placing his large, warm hand on hers.

“I’m nervous about it,” she admitted, looking down. “My dad is totally fine. I know he’ll happily accept you. He loves you and the rest of Bangtan. But my mom...she’s...not that open-minded and is one of those family members who would rather have me date within my race. And I can just see the disappointment now. I don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want you to deal with that.”

Jungkook’s eyes softened as he listened to her vent.

“It sucks. You make me so happy. And I love being in this relationship with you. But I don’t want any negativity from my mom and her views. I don’t want that to interfere with what we have. I don’t want to have an argument with her about you. I know I'm going to just get angry and lash out at her for not being happy for me that I found someone who sees me for me. I just wished she'd stop looking at color and just look at the personality of the person,"

Lifting up her chin, he smiled in reassurance. “It’s okay. We can make it work. I will do whatever I can to be accepted by your mom. So, she can support us. Trust me. Things are going to be fine. I promise.”

-------

Jennie exhaled sharply at the memory while telling Angelina everything.

“I am freaking out, Angelina. I just...I don’t want to deal with my mom on this,"

“Hey. Trust in him. If he says he got you covered and things will be all right, trust him. I bet he’s had this all planned out on telling your parents that you’re dating. And I hope that ya mama can stop being so closed minded. It is 2016. Get with the program.”

“You’re telling me,” Jen chuckled. "But yeah, you're right. I will trust in Jungkook. He always knows how to make things right. I can do this with him,"

------

The next afternoon, Jennie got ready for the day and finished baking, getting teased by Angelina about it.

"And you baked for him!? Girl...good luck when you go back to Seoul," Angelina laughed out loud.

"Shut up! I'm trying to be nice and leave a good impression!"

"Girl, you already made a good impression when you covered Stitches. Shawn is already smitten with you. Poor Jungkook," she teased.

"What!? Jungkook knows I bake for everybody! I baked for him and Bangtan before I left!"

"Uh huh,"

Jennie proceeded to get filmed for a Bangtan Bomb as the camera followed her to find Shawn's hotel room.

“I am on my way to surprise Shawn Mendes!” she cheered. “I baked him cupcakes and before I leave I want to give them to him. I hope he likes them. I’m super nervous,”

Knocking on the door, it took a moment for him to open up, dressed for the day. When he took a look at her, his eyes lit up.

“Jennie!”

“Hey! I wanted to stop by and say hi! And to give you these. I baked these for you.”

She walked inside his room after he let her in and presented him with Harry Potter themed cupcakes.

“Oh wow! These are for me? Thank you so much! And it’s Harry Potter!” he said with excitement.

He was so going to enjoy these on the road.

"Yeah! I remember you loving Harry Potter. I gotta take the test to see which house I'm in. You're Gryffindor, right?"

"Correct! I bet you'd be Gryffindor with me since you're so extraordinary,"

Feeling her face flush at the compliment, she giggled. "Thank you. I'll keep you posted on my results when I take the test. I hope the cupcakes taste good. I know your schedule is busy, I won’t keep you long but I hope we can see each other again, real soon,”

“Yeah! We’ll definitely keep in touch. Let’s take another photo before you go.” He suggested

“Yeah! Sure!”

Their interactions with each other were talked about immediately and even made K-Pop articles.

‘Sparkling Friendship between BTS’ Jennie and Shawn Mendes’

It talked about the two meeting at the award show and his recent Instagram post of his photo with her and the cupcakes as the caption said, 'I am so happy I finally got to meet you. Your warm, positive energy is infectious. One of the sweetest, and kindest interactions I had. Thank you, Jennie. Can't wait to sing with you. See u soon.'

Fans commented:

'WE STAN!’

'Awwwww’

‘Jennie has won at life’

‘She must be on cloud nine! Not only did she meet him but the girl was bold enough to bake for the man. Girlfriend material!’

‘Get you a girl that bakes for you!’

'I love how she bakes for everybody she meets. Bangtan is so lucky to eat her baking 24/7'

‘Now date!’

‘Collab!’

‘Thank you for being so kind to our Miss Bangtan. This means so much to her. I’m glad you two met!’

After hanging with Shawn, Jen and Angelina went to get a quick workout at the hotel gym.

"I'm telling you! Jungkook is going to freak when he finds out about you baking for the man," Angelina laughed

"I bake for everyone!" Jennie countered. "We've been over this,"

"I wonder how jealous he's gonna be,"

"Shut it! He'll be fine...hopefully...aw man, he's probably losing it, right now," she groaned.

"Oh yeah," Angelina giggled.

After their workout, they hear a voice say "Excuse me,"

Turning around, Jennie looked surprised. “Oh my gosh, hi!”

“Hi! It’s nice that I finally found you!” Halsey grinned, with a box in her hands.

“Me!? Hi! Oh my gosh, you’re Halsey! Hi! I-I love Badlands!”

“You said hi like three times,” Angelina laughed, making Halsey laugh too before she greeted Angelina whom she already knew.

“It’s okay, I’m nervous too. Thanks for listening to my music. I’ve been wanting to say hello to you since the show but I had to leave before I could find you. How are you?”

“I’m great! The show was so much fun. I hope that I can attend next year too and with BTS,"

"Yeah! I'd love to meet the boys!"

"I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you. I would hug you but I’m sweaty,”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m about to leave and I know you’re about to go back to Korea but I wanted to give you this. It’s a big case of smarties. I did my research and saw that this is your favorite snack so I wanted to give you this,” she presented the box to her.

“Oh no, more smarties. You’ve done it now, Halsey,” Angelina teased.

“What!? Oh my gosh, thank you! Wow! I am so eating these on the plane,” Jen said excitedly.

“You're welcome! I hope you enjoy them! I’m doing the rest of my Badlands tour in America and if you’re free, stop by!”

“If I can make it, I will! And I’ll bake something for you. I baked something for Shawn earlier,”

“I saw! It looks great, I would love to try your baking. You want to take a picture?"

“Yeah! Let’s!”

#jungkook x oc #bts 8th member #bangtan boys #bts additional member #the bangtan gal #bts #bts fanfic #bts fluff #bts fanfiction #jungkook fanfic #kpop fanfiction #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #bts scenarios #bts imagine

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i-bring-crack · 8 months

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So back to chapter 42 when I was first reading this I thought the whole "you must face big challenges ahead" was quite dumb because from that point on he gets way too overpowered (still is, im not gonna invalidate that) and at no point is there a moment where he looses something true of value because he gets it back with the rewind.

But at the same time... its true? like all he said was true, just on a smaller scale than what we expected. Reading it first time or just reading it at that point you expect that Jinwoo is going to loose his friends, his family, and seek for path of revenge that will ultimatly make him stronger than before. But thats not the case of what H-goon (and maybe Dubu?) intended to show here.

"You will have to kill a lot more people" Refers to him having to kill Kim Chul and Hwang Dong Soo, especially Kim Chul, so that he can have stronger shadows.

"Make sacrifices... and even abandon your friends and family." Refers to Jinwoo leaving his family for 27 years in order to fight the Monarchs.

This is also technically true but executed poorly, cuz again, I needed to watch this for the nth to finally click with me, so this is likely to fade withing the minds of most viewers-- but Jinwoo trying to fight the monarchs thinking he could beat them all up, and mainly seeking out revenge against the Frost Monarch, was what got him killed. What was expected of him though is to stay dead, or for him to face up against death seeing as he was looking to take his authority considering his necromancer class.

Of course we instead got a peaceful resolution to it all. The people he killed came back and Jinwoo never got to suffer any guilt about it. The people he loved that died came back, Jinah even got magically cured of her ptsd despite it being a big hold on him at the time. his mother and father are together, happy and not worried about their son at all. He abandoned his parents but only temporarely, but then came back and kept staying with them until the events of SL:R. And he did die, but he doesnt stay dead, he didnt even have to fight death. Ashborn just quickly gave him a choice, showed some lore and bam, now this man can never die!

In the end those words were true, we just had too much high expectations for it (and thats justified, Season 1, especially up to the red gate arc, had given a lot of expectations in the first place.)

But i think this line here is also an indicator of what will go down too. In the story Jinwoo gets giften a lot of freaking luck, and has to deal with it in the end yes, (fight the monarchs and the outer gods, loose humanity etc.) but it is still way too much luck, until the end he is the most powerful being in the universe and nothing can top him for it.

He gets away with whatever he wants, and thats... not how life works? or at least not the storytelling we were seeing in the first few chapters because he was fighting tooth and nail to gather all of that, he was almost loosing his life fighting rasaka, cerberus, the lizards and that spider. He needed help from Juhee winning against Taeshik (a manhwa addition), or help from the system's status recovery (again manhwa only) and help to win against baruka in the red gate arc.

Then we see he becomes so strong he doesnt even need himself in the battlefield at times, his shadows can take over the work, but he is still the strongest one out there, as seen in the double dungeon or against Thomas or even with Antares.

He gets so lucky(plot armor geee) that all the struggles we thought we were going to see just fade away and now we know he will always win.

Had the sacrifices been large, or heck at least permanent, had we seen Jinwoo struggle against loosing his humanity or seeing him in pain after having to leave his family, the result would have felt a bit more profound. Had his sacrifices been more severe or had Jinwoo decided on becoming even stronger than before for the sake of rewinding time then... I mean the quality of the writting wouldnt have been peak but it would certainly make us feel more attached to the characters and the story as a whole. Then again time-traveling always feels like a bad knot even among the most extraordinary stories because it just means that whatever world the reader was invested in was worthless. Ther can be ways to get hooked int oa time traveling story but, thaths mostly when time traveling plays a huge role inside the story and isnt revealed at the very freaking end.

Solo Leveling Ragnarok thankfully doesn't just discard it away either, unlike the ending of SL where it tries to keep the status quo of keeping the earth the same way it was before the gates, Suho does none of that and instead actively tries to tell everyone about the past as much as he can. His ideology isnt about "ignorance is a bliss" but rather that a persons feats must be shared, their kindness must be known even when they themselves didn't want it or care about being known.

Ps, im not saying the sequel is better also, but its definetly improving upon whats already being built while at the same time feeling like something you can read without knowing about the first SL. Its got its pros and cons but its also doing a good job keeping the audience of SL engaged considering... well considering its Solo Leveling, a show whose height exploted due to the artwork and not the story itself.

#I will have to read dungeon reset then wont I?#solo leveling #manhwa #sung jin woo #SL rando thoughts #Solo leveling ragnarok #and minor spoilers??#sung suho #sung su ho

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armpirate · 1 month

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Kalla | Choi San || Chapter 2

MASTERLIST Previous || Next

Pairings: CEO!San x fem!reader

Genre: smut, angst, fluff, strangers to lovers.

Warnings: dom!San, sub!reader, voyeourism, use of sex toys, bondage, dirty talk, BDSM, exhibitionism, rough sex.

Summary: She was surprised by how fast her life went from the perfect fairytale to the destructive mess it had turned into. Dealing with a cheater ex boyfriend, having to move out to a different place because the house she lived in belonged to that man she once dreamed of spending the rest of her life with, while continuously being underappreciated at work... It was as if life was telling her to stop dreaming big, to go back to her small town, Bibury, and help her parents run the small farm her family had owned for decades.

At least until she received a call from her friend.

A sudden vacancy as an assistant showed up on one of her friend's system, having her being encouraged to take that big step and apply for it. She had no hopes for it. Mainly because she didn't have any experience on the field, and she didn't comply with most of the requirements that were added on the offer -and which most of them sounded ridiculous and exaggerated for the position, making her wonder who was the freak who needed so many guidelines in order to hire someone to pick up the phone and schedule events.

Although that hotel she'd be working on was much more than anything she could've come up with.

Choi San wasn't someone easy to deal with. After his previous assistant presented his resignation letter on his desk, he felt forced to start the whole selection process again -after merely two months.

Sure that he was being way too strict, enough to find that anyone who applied for the position wasn't enough, he asked one of his friends to be in charge of the interviews and the selection of the most adequate candidate.

Little did he know Wooyoung would hire the imperfectly perfect candidate for him, sure that she'd help him in many ways other than just in dealing with the responsibilities of his position.

A new challenge will come their way as soon as she steps inside the hotel.

Y/n will have to learn how to mold onto him and deal with all his small habits and requirements, and San will find himself trying to open up and let out all those same things that turned him into the person he was.

The more she digs in Kalla and all of its secrets and exciting corners, the deeper she'll dive into San's heart and soul... Although, maybe, she won't be able to take it.

Kalla opens its doors to you, sharing the vast amount of filthy and erotic plans it offers, and that you can join with a partner... Or maybe just by yourself.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

Chapter duration: 16 minutes

Liz: Will you go?

Rosie: Of course she will

Joanne: Unless she wants us to drag her there

Y/n rolled at the on going conversation about her, which she ironically ignored as she saw it grow on the notifications that popped on her screen, and that she only checked because her phone didn't stop buzzing.

Joane: It's a good chance

Rosie: A good chance?

Rosie: She should be thanking whatever planets got aligned today to be offered that opportunity.

She should've seen it coming when she first sent the screenshot of the email to Lizzie, before calling her out for sending out her resume even though she explicitly asked her not to do it.

Joanne: Did she mute the chat?

She didn't, but her friend had just given her an idea she didn't think about. A few taps on her screen, and the notification didn't show up at the bar and didn't make her phone make a single sound.

Despite what her friends thought, she was able to recognize the big opportunity that was offered in front of her. It was the first thought that crossed her mind when she received the confirmation email from Lizzie's company, making her aware that she was still part of a process she didn't know she was involved in. And she wasn't able to control her stomach from turning upside down when, thirty minutes later, she received another email from another company, Kalla hotel, inviting her to one short interview to get to know her.

"Your interview will take place at 4 pm. In case you didn't assist, we will believe you aren't interested in the job position anymore and your application will be erased, along with all the information we gathered from you through your resume and LinkedIn".

Excitement was slowly being replaced by a jumping into the void sensation, something that didn't let her breathe properly as she reread the email for a third time. She thought all of that was too good to be true. Even if she showed up there, she probably would end up looking ridiculous the second the interviewer tried to engage in a conversation with her in Korean -she'd certainly kill Lizzie after that. She had gone through enough humiliation in the past month, she didn't need that interview to top the cake. Because it was obvious they wouldn't pick her among all the other candidates. And, suddenly, a new scary feeling ran through her from head to toe. What if she ended up being picked and had to change her life?

She remembered how difficult it was for her to move all the way from her hometown to London to study. The uncertainty, the stress... everything was way too fresh for her, even if it had been eight years since then.

It was better if she didn't go and stayed in her lane.

But if she went and gave it a chance...

No.

—Y/n —she heard Ava's annoying voice approaching her.

Maybe it was just her personal bias, but she swore hearing her speak was only comparable to hearing nails scratching a blackboard. It almost made her whole body squirm in disgust.

—You aren't busy, right?

Her boss had sent her a research task, to find out the most common tendencies in fashion for the year, she also had to check the social media from one of the companies they worked for, not to mention she also had to prepare the documents for the meeting that would take place the next day with one of the clients... But no, she wasn't busy at all.

—Why? —she limited herself to ask, forcing a small smile.

She hated Ava with passion. And it wasn't really a type of hate that came out of the relationship they could have, which was non-existent; but a hate that was forced upon her through her actions. Ever since she stepped inside the office, supposedly to replace her because she was hired for a different job, there was a silent war going on. Although maybe it wasn't since the very beginning, when Ava still thought she was too good for the job Y/n was going to do from then and on -and that belonged to her before. It actually started when she was forced to come back, realizing she closed doors and deals before the new one was settled. After coming back, there were two people doing the same task -and clearly, that couldn't happen.

For months, she had gone through Ava's judging glares and malicious ambiguous comments. And she thought it'd be better if she passed on the promotion to give it to her, making it clear she wasn't attempting to take her place and actually respected her experience in that company -and the field. She was wrong though, it only went worse from there. She was already excluded from some gatherings among the small group of friends in the company, but it was more evident as time went by. And, if she was invited, Ava always found a way to leave it clear she wasn't welcomed -last time, by being invited and then acting like she wasn't part of the plan. It wasn't like she cared about it, she had good friends to spend quality time with; but it also went worse in the workplace, purposely excluding her from decisions that were taken as a team.

She thought freeing her way would help the situation, but it only made her ego bigger, having her looking down at Y/n at the tiniest difference in positions.

—Can you do some scrubbing? The team received a lot of feedback from all the surveys that we did, and we need the results.

—Sure. Send me the file and I'll work on it once I'm done with the tendencies.

—I need the scrubbing by the end of this week.

Y/n lifted her eyes, enraged by the ironic smile that hinted how much she enjoyed adding so much pressure on her.

As much as she would have loved to say no, she knew she couldn't. She depended on the production she did to be considered for the next promotion -either in that office or in one of the offices spread all over Europe.

—I'll do what I can —she finally nodded.

—Good.

Not even a thank you. Y/n wanted to pretend to be surprised, but she was way too used to it.

The file showed up shortly after in her email, with nothing else other than the predetermined message that Google wrote down whenever a file was shared among users. But she still shrugged it off. Y/n ignored feeling dehumanized, convincing herself she was just exaggerating the situation and taking things out of proportion.

She didn't care about it. She was already used to it. And by the time she had been working there, she had learnt to put her brain to rest when those thoughts started invading most parts of her mind.

Work was always the best way to move on from them.

At least until later that morning, when not even work was able to put her thoughts in a second place.

She was inside the small closet, where all the cleaning products were in case there was an emergency -which her coffee rushed to make after lunch all over her table. Although her body froze on the spot when she heard a voice approaching. Y/n wasn't exactly shy, but she hated those uncomfortable moments, where you had to fake a smile after you encountered someone you weren't really in a mood to see. And her boss was the last person she needed to see that day.

—It's been a busy week, but thankfully we managed to pile up all the necessary information —Adelaide stopped talking for a few seconds—. Of course, mister Banks.

Y/n recognized that name, he was one of the most important customers working with the agency. And, because of that, she worked harder on any task related to his project, looking for a visibility that could open her a door in case she decided to leave Youth for good.

—I'm glad you liked all the information we gathered, and the way it was presented. I'm really lucky with the team I have.

And just like that, her boss kicked all her effort away.

If there was any door possibly open, Adelaide slammed it in front of her face without giving it a second thought. She had done most of the work, she implanted creative ideas that even her boss praised and encouraged, and she dealt with the way it'd be presented to appeal to the design of the customer's company. Only for it all to be reduced to teamwork. A team work that never existed.

—Oh yes, Ava will lead the presentation with your partners. She's really excited to take over such a big chance.

Something broke inside of her. Her throat closed, almost as if someone was holding it in a tight grip under her skin, making it difficult for her to even breathe. She wasn't aware when she started crying, but she heard the dry sound of one of the teardrops falling over the fabric of her sneakers, rushing her to move the reverse of her hand over her cheeks and eyes to clean them up.

It was so unfair, so annoying... it made her feel so worthless. She was the one who should be presenting her work, not someone else.

She held onto the strip of her bag, looking at the building ahead of her nervously, feeling like it was taller than it was as she suddenly became smaller.

She had been thinking about the interview all day, she had been trying to fight whether to attend or not. After what happened in the archive -or better, after what she heard-, all of her will to work flew out of the window. She couldn't find any reason why to do it, and she for sure could find no motivation either. The constant questions wondering what was the point of working hard, or what would be her future in Youth were eating her alive. Or what would happen if they didn't renew her contract, or took longer than she wanted to to be promoted. She was unable to focus on her work, bombarded by her own thoughts .

Thinking about it, she didn't even finish the scrubbing that needed to be done, and that made Ava's tongue clicking sound echo in the office.

All of her questions, all of her doubts, all the reasons that left her pain aside were right in front of her, inside the tall hotel she never thought she'd step in.

She checked herself out on the clean glass that gave a clear reflection of her full body, twisting her mouth as she tried to settle the collar of her white blouse, only to have it back to the way it was before she touched it.

The reception had high walls and a long and big black counter right in the middle, with four people behind it. Her eyes lowered to her phone, checking the location again to be sure of what was the place she needed to ask four.

—Good afternoon. How may I help you? —the tall blonde woman, with both of her hands crossed over her lower belly, asked with a huge smile.

—I'm looking for meeting room number four? I don't really know if it's right. I have a job interview...

Bella, or the name she assumed she had by the white green tag hung over her dark blue blazer, gave her a comforting smile, instantly nodding.

—There have been people coming and going the past two days —she tried to reassure her—. I'll take you there. If you may follow me.

Y/n didn't know if that relaxed her a bit, or if that made her even more nervous. But she still found a way to follow the receptionist through the reception, getting into a long and wide corridor that had big translucid walls of glass every few meters, where she wasn't able to see the inside but the shape of the people that were inside of those rooms.

—You said a lot of people have been coming and going... —Y/n mentioned— What was the vibe when they left?

—The vibe? —Bella frowned, momentarily looking back at her— I guess there was a bit of everything: some were upset, others relieved, others angry... I don't really know much, but seems like the recruiter is pretty exigent.

Y/n nodded, gulping thick as she realized she was doomed whatever she said in that interview.

Probably, most of the people that left were more prepared than her. Or, at least, knew something that she didn't: the language of the country she'd work at and what was the exact position Liz applied to.

—Good luck —the blonde girl whispered as she stopped by one of the doors towards the end of the corridor, knocking at the door before leaving.

—One second —a male voice screamed from inside. After a few seconds, when she was able to hear her own breathing, he spoke again—. Come in.

Y/n pressed her lips tight, holding the silver door knob and pushing it down to get the door to open. The small room kept the same decorations and colors as the rest of the hotel, fully white with some features on the furniture in blue. The only thing that escaped the main colors were the black laptop and the man in front of it.

—Take a sit, please —he invited her.

She moved to the desk shyly, taking small steps until she reached one of the chairs to sit on it.

The man didn't seem much older than her, she'd bet he was just two or three years older. His black hair wasn't too long -enough to pick up the top on a tiny ponytail, but too short to get all of it in it-, and styled in a way that his bangs didn't move a single millimeter to his face to interrupt what he was looking at in the computer. He also wasn't as formal as she thought he'd be. Instead of the regular suit, he was wearing a blue cardigan, with nothing underneath, that allowed her to see just a glimpse of his chest.

—Y/n, right? —he interrupted, finally looking at her— You're ten minutes early.

—Am I?

She slapped herself mentally at that answer. She should've nodded and backed up the reason, giving an answer that could relate to an aptitude applicable to the position. It was already too late to change it.

—Uh-hum —he nodded—. I'm Jung Wooyoung, by the way. And I'll be leading the interview.

—Nice to meet you —she dedicated him a small smile.

He smiled back, slightly bowing at her response before he completely turned his attention on her.

—It'll be quite simple and fast —Wooyoung introduced—. You'll tell me a bit about yourself, I'll ask you some questions regarding the position, we'll also do a short practical case and we'll finish with your questions if you have any. Is that right?

—Yeah.

—Okay, start.

As she tried to think where to start exactly, she saw him getting comfortable on his chair, placing his back against the backrest. In that moment she regretted being such a conformist for the past two months while she struggled with anxiety, instead of looking for other jobs that could've given her the experience in job interviews she needed for that -or, at least, a refresher of what it was like.

—I'm currently working in a Marketing agency, as you could check in my resume. I've been working there for almost a year, doing tasks that are related to team assistance. And I also finished the Associate Degree in Business Administration four years ago.

—Why do you think you're a good candidate?

—I'm organized, I know how to work well under pressure, and I'm really passionate. I also know how to use all the resources at hand to be as efficient as possible. And I'm a fast learner. I get things easily to put them into practice fast.

—What are your strengths and your weaknesses?

— Strengths? —her eyes moved up, trying to find an answer— I'm patient, and I really mean it -I've been holding back a lot in my current position —Wooyoung giggled at that mumbled comment—. I'm also optimistic. It doesn't matter how hard the situation is, or how stressful, I always work hard to see the positive side to be able to focus on finding a solution and the proper organization. About the weaknesses...

She could've gone to the typical "I'm a perfectionist", which wasn't exactly a lie, but she didn't see it as a weakness either. Since when doing your job as good as you could was something negative?

—I'm too empathetic —she finally answered—. I guess my emotions lead my actions most of the time.

As much as she wanted to hate Ava for her attitudes, Y/n had always tried to find the reason why, getting to understand why she'd feel threatened by the new person, to the point of justifying some of her actions.

The corners of Wooyoung's eyes squinted as his smile widened at her response, nodding before he continued:

—Honestly, those three are traits you'd need to work with San —he joked—. Especially patience.

Y/n understood that he wasn't the one she'd work for.

—Do you know what's Kalla? —he felt forced to ask— Did you ever hear about it, or found information about it online?

—I know it's a hotel in Seoul after looking it up.

After looking it up, or after doing two plus two with the information Lizzie gave out as she insisted she take the interview.

—But do you know what type of hotel?

—You mean luxurious, familiar...? That type?

—Before we go on, I'm forced to tell you the nature of the hotel —he sat straight back again—. It's a love hotel.

She could feel how the muscles in her face were fighting not to open her mouth wide at that introduction.

—Kalla is a hotel that opened four years ago, and that has been consistently receiving visitors from all over the world. But also, Kalla is a line of intimate products that sells worldwide, and that has a tight connection with manufacturers in the United Kingdom. That's why English is non-negotiable. You'll assist the owner of the company, by doing the secretary work you probably know about, but you'll also do work as a communication point for partners, suppliers, clients, and you could also be required to assist the Marketing team every once in a while.

—I see —she nodded.

Considering the type of hotel it was, Y/n could just imagine the type of intimate products Wooyoung was referring to. And, all of a sudden, the position wasn't as attractive to the point of her being nervous over not getting it.

—Leaving that clear, I think we could start with the practical case. Let's say you're in charge of organizing an event in the hotel, but as a supplier, I didn't comply with the arrangements we agreed on.

As Wooyoung started to speak, Y/n paralyzed. Of course he was going to test her Korean, at the same time he tried to test her resolution skills. To avoid the uncomfortable silence that was starting to build up under his insisting gaze, Y/n finally spoke:

—I... I don't speak Korean.

Although she understood some expressions, and was proud at how she managed to understand more words than she initially expected.

—What? Your resume says...

—My friend probably added that part —she interrupted him.

Wooyoung's disappointed expression got her ready for the words that would come out of his mouth shortly after.

—I really liked your profile, but I don't think you adapt to the necessities of the position. Youdon't speak Korean, and we also need someone who has over four years of experience in a similar position, doing similar tasks.

—Four years of experience? —she cut him off, opening her eyes wide— I mean, I'd have those four years of experience if recruiters didn't keep saying they want freshly graduated people to have a decade of experience —she scoffed, trying to think through what she was saying.

—Well, it's not exactly a requirement I added, but the CEO. He wants someone that could quickly adapt to the position.

—Tell the CEO to burst his own bubble. Does he think he won't have to give some adaptation period to a person with experience? Maybe in his fairyland he won't, but in real life working fields are different, software varies from one business to another. He'd still need that person to get used to a lot of different things. Ialso don't speak Korean, so what? The translator exists. And I speak English in my current job, and it isn't like it kept my boss from degrading me. I'm a fast learner, I'm a hard worker. If you miss on it, it's your loss.

She wasn't quite sure if those last words were actually aimed at Wooyoung or at Adelaide.

She knew there was no possible way to save herself after that, she knew she was wrong in the majority of things she was saying, but she was in too deep to eat each one of those words. She couldn't backtrack after she started vomiting nonsense.

A sigh announced she was back to her senses.

—Sorry to have wasted your time.

Before Wooyoung could even speak, Y/n was already picking up all of her things and walking to the door to close it behind her.

He giggled, taking his phone out to send:

"I think I've finally found the perfect candidate for you".

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sgcairo · 11 months

Note

Need Headcanons for Ivan! (l'm Childfree until it’s my baby lvan.)

Ohoho boy, I am so glad you asked because Ivan has been living in my head for a while now. And by a while I mean months, he's just a little grumpy guy that I love goofing around with.

For context (and those who are new here), Ivan is one of my many clone descendants (Danya's "cousin" by Irnes) and actually should appear soon in Telegraph, if I have my chapters straight... If you've ever wanted a grumpier and more angry wet cat energy version of Danya, you've come to the right place! He also happens to be a (future) general under Capitano, he's pretty good with the blade but not good enough to be a Harbinger (yet)!

So here we go, onto the Ivan headcanons!

-Ivan is surprisingly physically affectionate. He's not exactly cuddly, but if he likes you, he will find you, and he will stand by you awkwardly until you give him attention. As a child, he had the habit of hugging Irnes' leg and clinging to him like a little koala, which translated into bone-crushing hugs in his older years. While he's much more hesitant to dish those out, Danya is always there with an excited smile and open arms, which Ivan will never admit to enjoying hugs from his overexcited cousin. Never. You'd have to kill him.

-Baby Ivan was very quiet. Quiet to the point that Irnes freaked out and thought he was dead on several occasions, only to find that Ivan was just staring at him sleepily. The only time he cried was for the basics, otherwise Ivan was deathly silent, other than the happy giggles when Capitano would tickle him or Irnes would bring out the many accursed "toys" the segments made for Ivan. Those things definitely weren't baby safe, but hey, Ivan lived. Despite the many close calls, the segments were very proud of their work, to the point that Prime himself had to tell Irnes to get them to shut up.

-Child Ivan was also quiet, but not afraid to speak his mind. In fact, his speech was quite eloquent, even more formal than Danya's at the time, and that big brain of his could sustain conversation with Pierro, of all people. His ideas and opinions were definitely a lot more mature than they should've been at the ripe age of seven, but the Harbingers found it amusing that a seven year old had such strong and developed opinions on the "stupid experiments" Dottore was conducting- and the fact that he was proposing methods that might've been a bit fantastical, but definitely thought out.

-Ivan is generally cold to everyone, but Dottore- he hates Dottore with a burning passion. He loves his father, but Dottore presses all his buttons the wrong ways, and Ivan's quite sour about his abandonment of Danya, even if it's technically all in the past.

-Since Danya almost never gets angry, Ivan tends to be angry for him. The two don't usually come as a package deal, but when Ivan hears about a recruit being rude to Danya, or a foreign emissary overstepping and crossing the line, he'll put them in their place accordingly, and be in a bad mood for a while. That usually means he hacks up some training dummies, but he's been known to have a temper when Aurelio in particular is involved, especially after the accident with Danya's near death in Fontaine (that Aurelio was responsible for).

-Ivan also takes his role as the defender of his family quite seriously. He has two younger siblings, both which he adores, and he ensures that the court isn't making remarks about his father with force. In fact, part of the reason he's in the Snezhnayan military in the first place was his desire to protect his family, and keep them off the streets when times got rough. While yes, that did mean that he entered training at the age of thirteen, and fought on the battlefield for the first time at fourteen, the thought of ensuring his family's safety kept him going, and ultimately motivated him to climb the ranks.

-He's very close with Capitano and (begrudgingly) Tartaglia. Since he's a part of the infantry, and a general, he tends to follow Capitano more, but Tartaglia will show up to demand that they spar regularly, which Ivan has learned to reject. He's not eager to get blood on his freshly pressed uniform, please and thank you, and besides, he's got better things to do. Things like talk to Capitano about troop movements, and follow his senior around like a shadow. In fact, many of the Harbingers have taken to calling him "Capitano's lapdog", much to his disgruntlement, since it's rare to find Ivan without Capitano being nearby.

-Furthermore, on Capitano and Ivan's history: Ivan was originally promoted because he survived his first battle, and in an interesting manner. Ivan's panic at having a gun in his face manifested a vision, one that sliced all the surrounding enemies to ribbons in a mere second. It's not that visions are exactly rare in the Snezhnayan military, but seeing such a young boy, carrying one and looking grim like death itslef as he stood as the only surviving member of his platoon... Capitano's protective instincts kicked in more than he cares to admit, and he took the boy under his wing. He knows greatness when he sees it, and he wasn't exactly wrong.

-Capitano definitely pats his shoulder or back as a signal for Ivan to back down. Yes, Danya teases him for it. Ivan is conflicted.

-Ivan always stayed by Irnes as a child. Unlike Danya, he never really cared to explore the outside world, instead more than comfortable to sit in his father's lap and look at all the machinations and genius inventions that he designed. At one point, Ivan wanted to build ruin machines too, so he could be just like Irnes. He looked up to his father (and still does) more than he cares to admit, and holds him in high regard.

-Irnes was definitely a more gentle parent, especially with Ivan. The other two, he had to be a bit more firm with, but Ivan... He was always a cautious kid, and more often than not, he would come back to Irnes anyways after his "adventures" outside Dottore's lab. Ivan wasn't much of a talker, instead preferring to be more physical with his gestures, but he would always tell Irnes that he loved him whenever he thought about it, which made his dear old dad quite happy.

-Ivan has... mixed feelings when it comes to the Tsaritsa. He worships her, as she is his archon, and respects her power, but he's never been as close with her as Danya has. A part of him is jealous at how close his cousin is with Her Majesty, especially given how Irnes was also close with her, but another part of him knows better than to desire these things from his queen. The few times they have interacted on a less professional basis, she has always looked at him sadly, as if she knows something he doesn't.

Anyways, that's just a little peek at my thoughts regarding Ivan! Hopefully that made sense, because that's a lot of information to cram into one post...

#il dottore #dottore #il dottore's clones #genshin oc #genshin impact headcanons #fatui harbingers #fatui headcanons #genshin impact #ivan #irnes #capitano #danya #anastasiy #just me throwing a bunch of angry cat energy on this poor boy #i love him so much

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gardensprout · 2 years

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Random RWRB Post

!Collectors Edition Spoilers!

ITS SO FREAKING PRETTY!!!

First off, the illustrations?? Phenomenal. I’m literally in love. Also, the fact that the whole “History, huh?” quote is on it is making me l o s e my minddddddd

Okay, actual talk about the chapter. W E D D I N G ! The second I saw that I was dying; losing my actual braincells. And the fact that they BOTH had rings and were being so suspicious about it!! I love. They are so cute.

Also, them being all domestic and shit and being able to see each other’s families more often and it’s just ajfdlkfjlkdjf And little Henry trying to cook for his fiancé boyfriend and the starting scene where he’s making a big deal over a freaking quiche. I love him so much.

Also THE FREAKING JUNORA KISS!! IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT! And of course Alex is an oblivious idiot about it XD

I also absolutely love that they talk about having PTSD and how getting those emails leaked actually had lasting effects on their lives. Because, like, that’s traumatic. Actually. And I’m glad the chapter made it realistic that no, it wasn’t a good memory, despite what came of it.

Overall, love this chapter. I was expecting it to be a Henry POV of one of the scenes we already know about, but I love that it’s a “what are they doing now?” instead. And, obviously, so happy they’re getting married.

#red white and royal blue #rwrb #alexander claremont diaz #prince henry of wales #henry fox mountchristen windsor #rwrb collector’s edition #casey mcquiston

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vintagehellfire · 1 year

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The Prowler | Eddie Munson x Reader

❦ 1/8 ☙ tw: unhealthy coping mechanisms, smut, abuse, broken families, 18+, minors DNI ❧ When reader moves to Hawkins from a small town in France after having been kicked out to live with their extended family, they lean on unhealthy coping skills. Rumours spread quickly and soon they are known as the town harlot, sleeping around to deal with their unfortunate circumstances.The Prowler, Eddie Munson, always around in some capacity, doesn't bat an eye at what people are saying, after all, he is the devil incarnate himself....[Based on Iron Maiden's self titled album]

Chapter One: The Prowler

“They’ll charge you a fiver for the main course, but you might even get some for free!” The roar of laughter drowned your thoughts, pressure filling your ears as you tried to ignore the sea of teenagers pointing their fingers at nobody else but you.

❦

The muddy boot connected with your trailer door, a sepulchral thunk echoing through the room amidst the rhythmic plunks of the pouring rain against the tin roof. It couldn’t be anybody but the Prowler. You’d spotted his head of hair in the halls of the hellhole that was known as Hawkins High. As much as you loather to admit it, he was quite the attractive character, but you couldn’t allow yourself those thoughts or feelings, no, it was best not to have them.

❦

The cruel smoke wafted from the cigarette that hung between their lips, a sigh of ecstasy, a moment of relief. Their « fix » having just left, leaving them in a ratty shirt, panties bunched on the floor of the trailer, and the ashtray on the floor. To say that the sex was anything but atrocious would have been a lie, but it was a coping strategy and one that was hard to give up. Sure cigarettes took the edge off, but they didn’t make you feel wanted and warm the way a body might, and that’s exactly the way in which (y/n) coped. Cigarettes, booze, and sex. In these moments of deep frustration, (y/n) ran a hand through their shock of dyed hair as they exhaled the poison, silently wishing the cancer sticks they smoked were menthols instead.

Not even a month passed and rumours of (y/n)’s afterschool activities were flying, and accusations were thrown left and right. Of course, only half of them were true. What was this cunning yet elusive figure from hell doing in such a dump as Hawkins? To be honest, there wasn’t an answer to be given, not even one that could have used to try to justify this choice to themselves. They might as well have tossed a dart at a map with their eyes closed, but they didn’t. It was actually more like extended family that did. After (y/n)’s ridiculously haute classe parents kicked them out to go abroad and live with their impoverished uncle, they didn’t really have much of a choice, however; there was a charm to the quietude the town provided in comparison to the rowdy home. Even despite proving to be a rumour mill, there was rare peace that settled upon the town which provided a becoming charm.

Fucking bastard, (Y/N) internally hissed before pushing themselves off of the creaky bed. Coincidentally, that same thought blew through the head of someone a few doors down from their trailer.

“Fucking bastard ,” Eddie gritted through his teeth as he tried to bandage the cut on his forearm, cooly dangling a cigarette from his lips. He worked away at bandaging himself up, the sting of the antiseptic solution burning his fresh wound. The poor man hadn’t had much luck, not just with his grades, but with being considered anything close to remotely human. Eddie “The Freak” Munson they all called him and just about anyone sane knew that he didn’t deserve it, but he was, of course, a metalhead, a Dungeon Master, in the middle of the oh-so-incredible “Satanic Panic”. Naming his club Hellfire sure didn’t feel like the smartest of moves at the moment. If he were honest with himself, it was huge reasoning for the big red target on his chest, and no, not just the snarling demon that adorned his old shirt.

After bandaging himself up, Eddie threw himself onto the bed, finishing up his cigarette and exhaling out the cancerous cloud, the very same that surrounded (y/n) in their trailer a few doors down.

Hawkins High, the hellhole, the place where all souls go to die… The place where after nights of debauchery rumours would spread like a wildfire in a drought. To say the stories and tall tales of (y/n)’s extracurricular didn’t get around was a lie, after all, it was of their own volition that they decided to bed the popular kid but this wasn’t to be expected. The rumours started as soon as they had stepped foot through the door. Some were gracious such as being a freak like that Munson kid, others were downright cruel, the most nefarious being that you were a harlot. To say that was definitely over the line, and it wasn’t like (y/n) solicited sex or anything, but being such a cherry bomb, it made it easy to get what they wanted and when they wanted it. How were they supposed to know that it would end in that prick spreading false accusations of solicitation? (Y/n) found themselves grinding their teeth together. If living in a small town in France had taught them anything, is that being an eyesore, a femme presenting person, who didn’t fit in in the least, put a target on their back, and it looked like it did about the same thing in Hawkins, Indiana. Well, all except for one person.

Eddie Munson, The Prowler, caught (y/n)’s attention on day one. Sharp canines, addictive smile, stupid fucking I don’t give a shit attitude, yeah, just their type, but this is what they aimed to avoid A person they were genuinely interested in? What could possibly go fucking wrong? They didn’t send (y/n) to Hawkins to fall in love with some metal head, Hawkins was supposed to be a punishment and not the place they found true love. Love, what even the fuck was love but an emotion that brought weakness? (Y/n) shook their head before sticking their headphones in and turning up their music as loud as the walkman would allow them to. Love was a weakness, there was more comfort in a fleeting moment than in an emotion that wields the power to rip the happiness from your heart and leave a black hole in its place, sucking all light into it.

When was this god-forsaken day to be over?

❦

The tangled bodies, the sweat, and the moans filled the tiny trailer.

“Fuck yeah baby, oh yes, yes, yes!” The man groaned out as (y/n) lay mostly still. It was almost a nightly ritual at this point. The man, or woman, would buy the booze, (y/n) would take them back to theirs, offer the smokes, and then put on their dominatrix act, but that didn’t always last long. Men liked to take control, tug and yank at their hair, liked to assert dominance over “the whore”. That’s what they were right? Nothing but a cheap whore for a night of fun. Sometimes men would throw in a fiver because they genuinely believed that’s what the agreement was, other times there wasn’t even so much as a goodbye. The nicest person by far had been a man who was clearly trying to have his first time but backed out after (y/n) talked him out of it.

“What are you doing fucking a nobody for the first time? Don’t you want it to be with someone you love?”

“ I don’t know that anybody would love me.”

“ That’s bullshit, look at you. You didn’t try to pay me, you treated me like a human, bought me flowers, whole nine yards, for what? A lay?” They scoffed. “Come on, I’m not gonna take your virginity, but I’ll let you hang out and have a drink.” The man nodded and thus began a night of philosophical conversation and literary analysis.

“Okay sweetheart, I’m done here.” The prick (y/n) took home declared, pulling out, tossing the condom into a corner of the room, and shimmying his pants back on. “Maybe we can do this again sometime, huh?” He offered them a tenner before throwing it at them like a cheap whore when he realised they weren’t taking it.

“I’m not a prostitute.” They called after him as he was leaving and with the clank of the door they let out a “ bitch.” Under their breath. Pulling themselves off the bed, (y/n) decided to light one up and make themselves a coffee before picking up their guitar and flinging themselves onto the worn couch.

Two doors down, Eddie had gotten up from the comfort of his bed and was grabbing his head, pacing back and forth, oblivious to the scandalous acts that had just taken place next door. He couldn’t place his finger on what exactly his Dungeons and Dragons campaign was missing, but it was something rather significant. No, no, they went through the Vecna storyline, he made it nearly impossible for the kids to get themselves out of that one, but they managed. A damsel in distress? To classic. Eddie wanted to scream. He had never had this much trouble in his goddamn life when it came to coming up with ideas for his campaign. A sigh left his lips as he ran a hand through the lion's mane that was his hair. Time to light up I guess , he thought to himself before pulling out a cigarette from behind his ear and marching to the trailer door. He ripped it open in frustration and plopped himself down on the first step, pulling the lighter from his pocket at the same time.

If he didn’t make this the best damn campaign, he’d be fucked. The pupils held him in high regard with expectations that blew through the roof. After all, it was Eddie, the theatrical and dramatic freak. He couldn’t revisit Vecna, could he bring back Kas? He shook his head and scrapped the idea quickly, taking a hit from his cigarette. As soon as the smoke hit his lungs he felt the buzz of nicotine and the gears started turning. He’d have the kids leave the clutches of Vecna’s realm, maybe face a few monsters, and he’d have to introduce a new threat, and interdimensional threat possibly. New monsters, new threats. Transition the kids to a new region? After Vecna wreaked Havoc, he had to introduce new characters, not like he had a choice. Once your character was dead, they were dead… well, Eddie could have included the option to have them unconscious for one to six turns… God, if death-saving rolls were a thing… He cursed at himself and tried to think, wishing he had pulled out his notebook. Could be interesting to force em to go through Bloodstone pass or even the Bloodstone Mines. There was a highly anticipated chapter coming up down the line and so it would give all the more meat to the storyline or he could introduce the forgotten realms, and involve more magic as opposed to total war.

His thoughts were interrupted by the delightful sound of a guitar playing in the background. Snapping his head towards the sound, he wondered how come he’d never heard this before, and he wondered just how sorrowful the person behind the playing must be.

(Y/N) strummed the gloomy chords, letting the heavy emotions fill the air with tension. Of course, making use of the Locrian mode was essential to them, especially since they played doom, haunting the ears of those who bothered to listen. The harrowing tale of their past sorrows, their current misfortunes, and the dark twisted tales of the occult filled what would otherwise be silence. They closed their eyes and lost themselves in the music they were writing, oblivious to the outside world. Music had become a sort of escapism ever since their parents had decided that they weren’t meeting their standards and (y/n) was good . They didn’t leave room for a single doubt on that front. Even those who would diminish them, their accomplishments and their peculiar choices were forced to admit they had a natural talent. It was as if it was an extension of themselves and it never went unnoticed.

(Y/n) played well into the night and eventually tired themselves out completely, having nearly shot their sorrowful voice. Gently, almost lovingly, they placed their guitar in the corner by the bed and tossed any soiled clothing to the ground before turning the light off and crawling under the warm sheets, the smell of sex lingering evermore.

It was lucky for (y/n) that despite waking up late the following day, it was no matter seeing as it was a Saturday. The birds chirping, the sound of those stupid fucking neighbours flowing into the trailer, but no sun beaming through the windows. With a groan, (y/n) pulled themselves up, rubbing their eyes and smearing whatever liner was leftover from the previous night before swinging their legs over the side of their bed and padding over to the kitchen to brew themselves a coffee. They liked their coffee strong and slightly bitter, without sugar or milk, and certainly without the sound of their neighbours having a row. As their coffee brewed, they reached into their cabinet for a mug before slamming the door shut in annoyance. Do they not shut the fuck up?! It wasn’t like the fighting was new, it had been going on for quite some time and if it hadn’t become a daily part of (y/n)’s routine, they didn’t know what had. Usually, the fight would die down by the afternoon, the husband would start his Chevy Citation II, rev the engine and speed off. Sometimes he came back at 4 am, other times he’d leave for days. Rinse and repeat.

Eddie nearly tore his hair out every time the neighbours would argue, he would regularly drown them out with music or his own playing. Sometimes he too would leave, but today was different. They had started fighting as soon as he had talked himself up to leaving his trailer to go talk to (y/n). He had seen them around school, in the music rooms, alone in the lunch room, and he knew their car as soon as it pulled into the trailer park but one thing he hadn’t seen up until last night was (y/n) singing. He found their voice soothing yet haunting, the memory of sitting in the night, smoking, and listening following him to the dawn and compelled him to try to approach. He knew of their reputation but that didn’t matter, hell, even he had a reputation as some kind of cult leader due to his little school club. Hellfire wasn’t satanic, it was far from it. It was just a group of teenagers indulging in a tabletop roleplaying game. Truth be told, it was a fantastic creative outlet for everyone involved and it had brought the gang much closer together, but that didn’t matter to anyone else.

As soon as he heard the screeching of tires and the engine of the Chevy roar, he decided he would make his way over to (y/n)’s trailer. He threw on his Hellfire shirt, and his tattered jeans, before jogging over.

(Y/n) heard a knock on their trailer door and rolled their eyes, could they get a fucking moment of peace? Absolutely not apparently. They grabbed their mug, knuckled turning white, and unintentionally stomped over to the trailer door, ripping it open just before another knock landed. They didn’t give a shit that they were still in a t-shirt and underwear, they didn’t care that their hair was matted or that the remnants of their makeup were smudged across their eyes.

“What do you want?” (Y/n) hissed before being able to process who exactly was standing in front of them.

“My apologies,” The Prowler spoke, eyes wide as saucers, “I didn’t mean to bother you, I can uh…” He turned his head to look back at his trailer. (Y/n)’s eyes flicked over to where he was looking before a grim expression crossed their face. How he knew they lived here was obvious, but didn’t make it any less strange for (y/n). “Listen, I’ll get out of your hair, but I wanted to let you know that I heard you last night,” and with that, the grim expression turned to anger, (y/n) thinking he’d heard them hooking up, “and you sounded really good, I just- yeah.” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck.

“Excuse me?” (y/n) asked in shock. “Get the fuck away from me, you fucking Prowler.” They growled, baring their teeth, and body began to shake. The intensity of the venom in their voice shook Eddie to the core. Nobody had ever called him a Prowler, that was certainly a new name to add to the books. Eyes wide, he started stuttering, unsure of what (y/n) thought he was referring to, imagining that their wires got crossed somewhere.

“No no no!” He tried to backtrack quickly. “Your voice, your singing,” he tried quickly, bringing (y/n)’s anger down a few notches, They stared intently at Eddie, letting out a huff while pursing their lips in thought. So it wasn’t what they had initially thought. The white-hot anger began to subside and they fought the urge to snap back a nasty retort.

“Thanks.” The reply was curt, almost bitter but the venom softened up and the anger subsided. “Is that all you want?” (Y/n) asked, wondering when this waking nightmare would be over.

“I- well,” Eddie rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his usual cocky demeanor fading quickly when around (y/n). He didn’t understand why they had this effect on him, but they did, “you’re new to Hawkins right?” He asked, earning a slow nod from the other, eyes squinting slightly and jaw tightening. “Look, I- I’ve seen how people have treated you, I’ve heard the rumours.” He bit his lip and looked away, fearing he’d be subject to (y/n)’s anger once again. Their demeanor, however, softened a bit. Maybe they should be giving a chance to The Prowler despite that he may have heard about their x-rated activities. “If you need someone, a friend, a shoulder to lean on, just… My trailers right over there.” He pointed his thumb behind him.

(Y/n) couldn’t help but take a better look at Eddie, the curly head of hair, the wide yet soft brown eyes, the crow's feet by his eyes, they could see this becoming dangerous, but was it more dangerous than sleeping around without care? Probably not. They sighed.

“I’ve been a dick.” They state before gently looking away and adding, “I appreciate the gesture, I know you probably think I can’t take care of myself, but I can.” They say, running a hand through their hair, thoughts racing. It would be easier to be a dick, and push Eddie away, but what if… no. No, they wouldn’t allow themselves the luxury.

“It’s not that I don’t think you can, it’s just that we’re freaks, you know? And us freaks, we have each other.” Eddie conceded, he wanted to include those who were cast out, to be there, give them a space to be themselves, and (y/n) was no exception. “Anyway, I came here to tell you that I love your voice, you’ve got a good one for the doom-like songs you're writing.” With that, Eddie turned back and started walking back home.

❦

Over the next few weeks, (y/n) avoided Eddie. He was too kind, and all they could think of was how he would probably be a golden retriever boyfriend. He tried to invite (y/n) to lunch, or even offer them a ride home from time to time. He’d somehow always be around and that made their blood boil and so they decided that it was time to push him away in any way that they could, which so happened to be inviting someone back to their trailer to fuck the desire out.

It was a Tuesday and (y/n) was having a drink at The Hideout, unbeknownst to them, Corroded Coffin, Eddie’s band, was playing. A groan left their lips and they ordered another round, trying to forget about the dashing smile and soft gaze that the metal head shot their way. They needed to get him out of their head and they thought that maybe if they filled their bed with someone else, it would do the trick. Luckily, or rather, unluckily, a tall and handsome man slid into the seat next to (y/n).

“Hey, sugar,” He purred causing them to gag, “can I buy you a drink?” (y/n) looked him up and down, he was built, but his get-up left much to be desired. A tight white t-shirt and blue jeans, nothing special, and yet it would do. His green eyes were piercing and his sandy blonde hair flopped in front of them. He needs a haircut.

“Depends what you’re offering.” (Y/n) retorted with a little wink before taking a swig of their beer. This is fucking exhausting. What they didn’t realise from this interaction is that Eddie was watching them. To say he didn’t have a soft spot for (y/n) would be a lie, though he tried to justify it by telling himself it’s just physical attraction the more he learned about them, the more drawn to them he became, and it was pretty easy given they were neighbors. He’d often poke his head out the window to see them feeding the birds, watering the little garden they had planted, petting the dogs, and playing with them, and he’d even seen them take in a stray cat. That’s not even touching on their haunting voice.

He was so distracted that he barely registered Jeff talking to him until he snapped his fingers in front of Eddie’s face. Only then did he tear his eyes from the sight he was fixated on - the man dragging (y/n) out by the hand.

“Dude, let’s go, we’re on in a minute.” With his eyes glued to the door, Eddie nodded slowly. When he managed to tear his eyes from the door he made his way to his guitar and picked it up violently before setting everything up, making sure all his pedals were where they belonged on the pedal board and that nothing was loose. He took one look at the guys, then trailed them back to the door, grip tightening on the neck of his guitar.

“Hey everyone, we’re Corroded Coffin, hope you enjoy.” And with that, he let the first chord ring out before throwing himself into a violent performance. To say the guys had seen something like this come from Eddie would be a lie. They hadn’t seen this much rage and passion in a long time. It had to be one of their best sets to date.

❦

“Are you enjoying yourself, sugar?” The man inquired as he went down on (y/n) and all they could do in response was moan. What else were they supposed to do? The man was going at them like a fucking dog licking peanut butter off a spoon. Has he ever even eaten someone out before? “Mmm yeah let me hear you moan baby.” He hummed. God, he spoke way too much.

“Just fuck me already.” They breathed out through half-gritted teeth, waiting for this hell to be over, why they expected any one-night stand to go well was beyond them.

“So fucking needy… Mmm, I like that.” The stranger growled. “You don’t mind if I don’t use a condom right?” With that, (y/n) shot up. “It just feels be-” The man got cut off and pushed away by (y/n)’s foot connecting to his shoulder.

“Get out.” Disbelief was plastered to his face. He went to protest but was promptly and swiftly cut off. “I don’t want your excuses, get up, get dressed, and get out, now! ” they roared before getting up and pulling their panties back on. The man did as instructed while cursing.

“Don’t need to be such a frigid ass bitch. Can’t believe people say you’re an easy lay.” With that, rage flooded (y/n) and they picked up the man’s belongings and swiftly opened the window, throwing them into the mud.

“Get the fuck out, get out of my sight, and so help me god, if you call me a frigid ass bitch again…” They started to shove the man towards the door. “I will cut your fucking dick off. Don’t come back.” And with that pointed threat, they shoved him out the door and slammed it in his face. (Y/n) locked the door before pressing their back to it and sighing, reaching around for a t-shirt before sinking down to the ground. They heard the man cursing as he picked up his clothes and walked off. The relief flooded them slowly but was almost immediately replaced with a feeling of guilt and regret. They felt dirty. For the first time since sleeping around, they felt dirty .

A knock came at their trailer door soon after – or so it seemed – honestly, (y/n) had lost track of time, dipping in and out of full consciousness. They had picked up a cigarette at some point and had started to smoke yet there was no recollection of it at all. Slowly, they got up and peeled the door open only to find Eddie in front and a dumbfounded look on his face.

“What the fuck? ” Eddie let out, eyes softening as he saw you. “Are you okay? He just spat something about you being frigid” Anger overtook him, he had somehow become protective of (y/n) despite the fact that they were avoiding him like the plague. He avoided mentioning that the thick-headed jock spat something or the other about fucking the town freak right after.

“Wha-” (y/n) began but couldn’t put two and two together. In fact, they didn’t understand why the man who was at their door just a couple of weeks ago and hadn’t been there since was so worried., “Eddie… I- Come in.” They tried before moving over to let the man through.

“What did he do? Did he hurt you, (y/n)?” That was the first time he’d used your name and it struck a chord. (Y/n)’s eyes almost softened up, almost , tears brimming their eyes and threatening to spill over. They took a minute, blood roaring through their ears like a river, it was similar to when you’d put a conch shell to your ear, and the pressure in their head was becoming too much.

“I’m… I’m tired.” They broke down, the river of tears spilling over and flowing down their cheeks. “He- No, no, I’m not okay.” And with that Eddie took them into his strong arms, tangling a hand in their hair and the other around their waist. (Y/n) stiffened with shock before gently relaxing into The Prowler, Eddie Munson, the man who seemed to be everywhere they went. He smelled of tobacco, oud, and something a little woodsy, and (y/n) could safely say it was addicting and it scared them how much it made them feel at home with this man.

“It’s okay…” Eddie muttered into (y/n)’s hair. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.” He just hoped that you couldn’t feel his heart hammering in his chest. This was the closest he’d been to you and he was so afraid to fuck it up.

#eddie x y/n #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #angst #enemies to friends to enemies to lovesr #enemies to lovers #well. kind of.#reader insert #french reader #moved to hawkins #strained relationships #slowburn #1986 #stranger things #eddie munson is alive #he's a cinnamon roll #reader is a hardass #nb reader

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lycorogue · 2 years

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Another “Deleted” Scene: Chat Noir’s Feelings for Ladybug

Hello again. Yes, I am still working on my aged-up Miraculous Ladybug smut. Yes, it’s still 98% flirting, dirty thoughts, making-out, and fluff. Making the other 2% angst! the actual sex/smut part...

As I’m working on that first draft, I realized a chapter I wrote (or, rather, the conclusion of a chapter) just doesn’t work anymore. So, to the cutting room floor it goes. Buuuuut, I do like it enough to not let it vanish into the dark depths of my external hard drive, never to be seen again. So, you fine folks luck out with yet another deleted scene! (maybe I’ll actually finish this story at some point)

Set-up: Chat Noir is tired of Marinette (now both 19yo) acting like he’s not attractive or “sexy” enough to win over Ladybug. So, he decided to demonstrate his new flirting techniques on her. Problem is: they worked. Before she realized what she was doing, Marinette was swooning. This thoroughly freaked them both out and Chat Noir sprinted home before anything more happens.

Shenanigans ensue as Marinette deals with the fact that she IS very much sexually attracted to Chat Noir (who is already one of her besties), Adrien deals with the fact that he found Marinette getting turned on by him a big turn-on itself, and both deal with the complications of “lying” to their potential partner as MariChat attempts to date (Marinette fears Chat Noir will feel tricked if he ever discovers she’s Ladybug after LB has turned him down for the past 6 years; Adrien feels like he’s deceiving Marinette into dating one of her close friends since she doesn’t realize CN is Adrien Agreste).

I’ve figured out a new work-around so they aren’t actually deceiving the other (too much), but that’s why this bit has to go. Originally, this would be after the two have dated (and had make-out sessions) for a couple of weeks, and the guilt is overwhelming Marinette. She needs to know where Chat Noir’s head is at before they can go any further. She did not expect his answer.

“Chat Noir?”

“Hmm?” He shifted closer to her and gently hummed. His eyes were half-lidded, and focused on her lips despite himself.

“Do-?” Her voice hitched. “Do you-?” Her voice caught again.

Nudging ever closer, he prayed she wanted to know if he wanted to kiss her. He desperately needed an excuse to do so.

“Do I what?” His voice was low; soft; whispered.

“Are you still in love with Ladybug?”

Chat Noir jumped back, spine rigid and eyes wide. His costume's cat ears were spiked straight up, and so was his belt-tail.

“Wh-what? Why-? Why would you-?” He knew the answer. She needed to find out where he stood. She needed to know if she was just a distraction or consolation prize. She deserved to know if that's all she was to him. She deserved to not be either of those things.

He softened, and took Marinette's hand. “It's different. We're different, you and me. What this is-”

“So you are still in love with her.” Marinette softly nodded, but she also pulled her hand away. She started picking at her nails, and her eyes weren't directed at anything. She was lost in her own mind.

“It's not quite like that.”

“No. No, I knew you were in love with her going into this. I knew you were in love with her for years. Feelings like that, they don't just-” She looked up at him, but her gaze was through him. Her face dropped in some realization he couldn't follow. “-fade away.” She shifted so more of her back was towards him than her front, and she scanned her bedroom wall over her computer monitor.

“It's a bit more complicated than that. Please.” He caught her chin with his index finger and gently turned her head back to him. “Could you hear me out?”

She nodded. It was so subtle, if he didn't feel his own finger shift, he might not have caught the head bob.

“Ladybug's ability to cleanse akumas and restore any damage done during an attack – along with other things I don't think I'm at liberty to talk about – makes her the most important hero for Paris. I may be her partner, but I get how much more important she is compared to me. I'm fine with that. Kept me a while, but I am.”

“Chat Noir, I-?” She shook her head, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

He held up a hand to stay her question. “Because of all of that, I'd do anything to protect Ladybug. Anything at all. I'd do it to help protect Paris and its citizens. I'd do it to protect the Miraculous. Most importantly, I think I'd just do it to protect her. I care for her deeply, and I can't imagine my life without her. I'd do anything in my power to make sure I don't know a day without her in it. I-” This was more painful than he realized when he had started. His throat physically hurt as he spoke the next words. “I need you to understand all of that.”

Marinette's eyes were glossed over with tears threatening to spill, and it broke Chat Noir's heart. She forced a sad little smile. “Yeah. I thought as much. I should have known how much you loved her.”

“I do. I do love her. More than I can comprehend.”

Another sad nod from Marinette, and she started to fold into herself.

“I don't think I'm in love with her anymore though.” Chat Noir leaned forward to try to catch Marinette's reaction.

He needn't bother. She whipped her head around instantly, and stared at him. “But- but you just-?”

“I know it's not fair to you, Marinette. None of this is. I know that we could never have the relationship you deserve. I know you'll always have to worry about me whenever there's an attack. I know you'll always fear what I'd do to protect Ladybug. I know I'm asking you to be alright with the possibility of me not being able to make it back to you, but I also need you to know what you might be agreeing to.”

“I don't understand.”

Chat Noir slid off the chaise lounge, and knelt in front of Marinette, her hands gently cradled in his own. “Marinette, there's always been something about you. Something that's sparked something inside me. Something that's been there since day one, but something I couldn't really understand. Something I misread.

“There's an excitement that fills me whenever I catch just a glimpse of you. An urge to call out to you, to speak to you, to see you smile every chance I can. A craving to know what it would feel like to touch you, feel your skin against mine, even if it's just from holding hands.”

Marinette swallowed hard, and her face pinked. Chat Noir could feel his own face warm up.

“You always seem to know how to make me smile, Marinette. You accept all the different facets of me, even the ones you don't know I've shown you yet. When I'm around you, I can be the closest definition I could come up with for who I truly am. You're the thought that puts me to sleep at night, and the one that wakes me in the morning.”

“Chat Noir-” She breathed his name, and he nearly died on the spot.

He climbed back onto the chaise. His thigh brushed against hers. His body dangerously close to hers. The backs of his fingers grazed her neck as his thumb stroked her jawline. His lips tantalizingly close to kissing her ear as he whispered.

“You're the one I want, Marinette. You're the one I'm in love with.”

Thank you for the read. 💖

If you liked that little sampling, and want to see other scenes that just missed the cut (or, rather... had to be cut) for this story, you can check them out here:

Another Scene for the Cutting Room Floor: Accidental Reveal

Another “Deleted” Scene? Adrien Realizing His Feelings For Marinette

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containatrocity · 1 year

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THE HARLEQUIN: HEX HALCYON SIF-SIDON

The torturous rage that's performed on this stage, As I gaze at myself playing this role, It makes me feel whole- When I'm in full control I'm no longer a doll that you own ! ! !

"I'm Hex Halcyon Sif-Sidon- You'd do well not to forget the whole thing, 'cause I'm gonna be a big deal, someday, got it? But I guess you can just call me Hex, Most folk do. I'm 24 years old and I'm a bona-fide circus freak- but I guess, these days, with my tourin' opportunities on hold- I'm fillin' slots as a Police Dispatcher. I arrived in town in with my traveling troupe Seven years ago, and I still live with the surviving members in an abandoned house on the edge of town. I'm not sure how I feel about the Commune, because far be it from the clown to judge anybody else- My greatest vice is my inability to mind my own business, and the fact I'm a hellish gossip."

Name: Hex Halcyon Sif-Sidon

Aliases: Hex, Sif, Baby, B Гиена (v Giyena) [The Hyena], Bubbles the Clown

Age: 24 (October 11th)

Sexuality/Gender: Pansexual Genderfluid (She/They)

Personality: A horrendous busybody, Hex is the most extroverted member of the Menagerie post their being trapped within Huntsville, constantly getting themselves involved in the lives and business of others, often uninvited. Peppy and vibrant, they can often come off as 'too much' for the unprepared, and has been since her arrival nearly eight years ago. They don't seem troubled by their new lot in life beyond a lingering sense of wanderlust, and her tendency to make new friends quickly has done her well, despite the fact her reputation as a nosy gossip is well-known.

Occupation: Former Circus Act, Presently working at the local police station as a dispatcher.

Affiliations: The Marvelous Menagerie Traveling Circus, The Huntsville Police, Arkadeon Sidon- their husband, and the Menagerie's present ringmaster, 39 years old.

Scent Profile: Sweet, like sugar and fresh cotton sheets, Like lanolin for violin bows and honey candies made by hand in the kitchen- like sweet flowers for bees they rear and the harsh copper of blood.

Aesthetic: Canvas strips from tents torn into bandages, rubbing alcohol biting into split knuckles and ignored bloodied lips. A painted on grin in white and blue paint hiding a frown beneath, everybody loves a clown- and you've been a fool for some time. Bees sting but once and then they die but they follow the will of a Queen. It is femininity made dagger sharp and deadly- Fear my sting, fear my sting, please do not hurt me.

You've ruined me and everything that used to seem Pleasant to me Is now a broken mockery- Nostalgic lost reality. But now it seems within these dreams the power all belongs to me!

CHAPTER ONE: LIFE IN HUNTSVILLE POST ARRIVAL

Hex has adjusted alarmingly well, all things considered, they miss the glamour of touring and performing that they saw in their teens, but there is a comfort in routine, and her fondness for the bees she keeps, and those who live within her strange little family of circus freaks tends to keep her on the straight and narrow. While their tendency to spread rumors and gossip hasn't earned them many favors, it's also not garnered many detractors in their life, most finding her more than enjoyable to be around given their plucky personality and eagerness to participate in anything she's invited to. She's the public facing presence for the Menagerie, a bright eyed, plucky young thing who garnered her fame in the cirque with her work as a clown and a tightrope walker. She tends to wilt, in the presence of her husband, though if asked about this, she'll quickly change the subject to something else, choosing to think about anything else aside from the man who heads her circus, and the fact their numbers are far smaller than they had been, that faithful night their traveling troupe rolled through the town of Huntsville. They remain close to Mercy, another freak in their circus who headed the sideshow, largely defaulting to his judgement of others when they're together- And with notable friction between Mercy, Arkadeon, and herself, the people of the Menagerie are a frayed tightrope bound to snap someday- Hex simply hopes that they're not the one to cause the break.

#h.bio #huntsvilleintro #h.threads #h.headcanons #h.musings #h.aesthetic #Fear My Sting;

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black-quartz-sphinx-judge-my-vow · 1 year

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The Sandman Audio Book Chapter #16 Lost Hearts

And then she woke up.

What a powerful episode, and what hard work done to earn that line. “I suppose there are worse endings.” There truly are, Rose could have died! But beyond that despite being cheated out of an entire life Unity did get to wake up, and find her family, and be around people who cared for her at the very end. Plus she got to save one of those people. How sweet.

Gilbert going to save save rose!!!! I die! “I don’t think I can save her, but I can hope and pray.” RIP Fiddler’s Green. A beautiful display of love him teller her to sleep under his trees. I hope we get more of Gilbert, but I really liked this beautiful location appearing in the Dreaming.

I also like that the Raven was like “okay I’m in.” And went with Gilbert to help.

Morpheus got some good play in this episode. The VA really got to play around with his regret for what he has to do. Last episode I wasn’t so much mad with Morpheus as I was with Neil, but he clearly regrets fucking up and losing an entire planet once. So him killing Rose is duty, and we get it. Everyone in the scene gets it, no one really tries to stop him…

Except Unity Kinkaid!

May I just say, what a ass pull. Is there any foreshadowing at all that Unity was supposed to be the vortex? Did the witches say something about it, did Desire in his castle? I can’t think of anything. Which is not to say I hate it, I like Unity saving Rose, being young in her dream, and saving the day. It was a bit anticlimactic. “Ah…wut happen!”

“You died, everything is saved.”

“Dope.”

I love her just saying. “This is a dream, it doesn’t have to make sense.” So true.

I’m sure when I read this issue in a few minutes it’ll be visually satisfying, but the audio of the moment was a little weak, and this is a review of the audio book. At least put a little music in there.

Rose her mother and her brother move into a house. She decides to write her own happy ending to her story rather than wallow in the strife of the universe, I love that… we’ll see how long that lasts. Rose doesn’t know she’s a comic book character. Gwen Stacy has been dead for like forty years and still hasn’t found any rest.

We also get to hear Dream’s philosophy on himself and his family. Which is that they serve humanity. Eh, we’ll see.

We get this insight because he too thinks Unity being the vortex came out of nowhere and he accuses desire of being the person who raped sleeping Unity, and that Rose is their blood. The melodrama is in full swing now!

Ken and Barbie split. The spider ladies buy the house from Hal who moves out west. Probably good for the drag queen to escape Florida while the gettings good. At least he found someone!

Barbie goes weird? Read as: Barbie will return in the future.

Random Thoughts:

I just want to say how good the voice acting is in this ep. Especially the exchanges between Gilbert and Dream. It’s a tense exchange and everyone is great.

Rose’s mom was born in England, raised in Seattle, lives in Boston, has a Jersey accent. A woman of the world.

Rose is friends with the freaking girl from the dinner, I want to die. As if that chapter wasn’t traumatic enough, now we get to see how it’s traumatized the loved ones of the event as well. What fun. That is my favorite chapter of the story so far, and I’ve really been wanting some kind of closure to it. Hoping that this is a hint of some kind of healing.

My big swing for the fences prediction:

Desire mentions a lost sibling, and an abandoned domain. Rose is now revealed to be on the endless family tree. I suspect she becomes an endless at some point and becomes the ruler of that real. Discipline? Duty? Diaries?

Only time will tell.

In the end great, touching chapter. Well worth the anguish I felt over the last one. In the end our lives change just as much as our dreams. These pains and nightmares are out of our control, but we can choose how we deal with the pains, and how we decide to think about our stories. And if we’re lucky we get to wake up from them, even if it’s only long enough to make a single connection.

#the sandman

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bigskydreaming · 3 years

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Okay, so you know “Justice League meets Batman’s kids, who they’d previously been unaware existed” AUs?

So picture that.....but this time, instead of them just having no knowledge of any of these other Gotham vigilantes at all....the Batkids all migrate to various cities as they get older and become known as their protectors - Dick in Bludhaven, Tim in San Francisco, Cass in Hong Kong, etc....

Meaning they’re all established figures, the Justice League are aware of them as solo local heroes who stick to their cities and so they just don’t interact with them much if at all, or else some are members of team lineups but are particularly vague about their histories or life outside of the team’s adventures....

So the big reveal isn’t that they become aware of all these other Gotham vigilantes all at once....its that some big conflict or whatever requires a huge team up of all available heroes, and in the aftermath, they figure out that like.....despite being known as solo heroes who work alone or loners outside of their team settings, 80% of these heroes all not only seem to already know each other, they seem to be related.

And so naturally they all turn to Batman, who has profiles on every known hero and they thus figure had researched these individuals too and just never mentioned this little detail, and they’re like, “Did you know about this?”

And then Nightwing turns to him too, arms crossed and is like, “Yeah Dad, did you know about this?”

And the infamous Red Hood is all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never met any of these people before in my life. Lives? Whatever.”

And then Red Robin moodily grates out “I have no siblings.” Since he’s nursing a grudge since Dick and Jason broke into his apartment the night before and replaced all his custom Red Robin gear with Darkwing Duck merchandise and his vengeance will be swift and also totally disproportionate because things escalate quickly in this family, that’s true in every universe.

Cass meanwhile has deftly skewered Jason’s lie by walking over to him and brazenly patting down the man with many many guns with no fear whatsoever. He squawks and futilely attempts to bat her hands away as she riffles through his many pockets, but he doesn’t seem shocked, just annoyed. Eventually, she pulls away and triumphantly reveals a box of Hello Kitty themed band-aids.

“So these are yours then? Just for you?” Black Bat asks smugly. Red Hood squints at the box.

“What the fuck? How long have those been in my jacket? Why are those in my jacket? Did you freaking plant them in my jacket just on the offchance you could at some point in the distant future use them at my expense?”

Black Bat frowns, puzzled. “Yes?”

“Oh come on, Dead Hood,” Spoiler says with an exaggerated toss of her head meant to convey she’s rolling her eyes beneath her own mask. She skips her way across the room to Black Bat and then drapes herself languidly all over the smaller woman. Who in turn doesn’t so much as twitch beneath the sudden added mass as Spoiler holds out her hand towards the box of band-aids.

“One please. I have a boo-boo,” she says with easy familiarity straight into the intimidating cowl of Black Bat. Only then does she deign to finish her train of thought with Red Hood.

“I mean seriously, are you saying you don’t have potential blackmail set-ups, pre-rigged releases of incriminating material, and a random assortment of traps, pratfalls and mortifying scenarios in place for the express purpose of being able to humiliate any and all of your siblings at any given moment, without any need for additional prep time?”

“Is this true, Little Wing?” Nightwing whirls on the larger Red Hood with a faux-scandalized gasp. The founder and leader of the Titans, formerly the Teen Titans, renowned for his stratagems and calm competence when directing squads of supers in the heat of battle while he keeps pace with nothing more than naturally acquired acrobatics and a utility belt that apparently uses the same technology as Wonder Woman’s invisible jet....now appears to be....staggering with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead, moaning about how he felt....faint?

What is happening right now, several dozen superheroes want to know. Is this a drill? Are they supposed to be checking for signs of a mental ambush from undetected psychic saboteurs? Did they all hit their heads at the exact same time and are now experiencing some kind of shared mass concussion?

Look, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen on the Watchtower.

“Have I failed you so utterly?” The veteran child hero bemoans with a dramatic twirl - that when contrasted with his stern demeanor of a mere ten minutes ago - makes the fears of telepathic infiltration seem less paranoia and more....concerningly probable. “Did you learn nothing from me? Did you learn nothing from B?”

He stops and jabs a finger up at the sky. “Quick, everyone! What is the very first rule of Living While Batty?”

As if by rote, over a half a dozen voices chime in from all over the room, causing various heroes to jump. Spooked by yet more and more vigilantes joining in some kind of mass recitation like they and they alone have some kind of clue what the hell is going on and everyone else just hadn’t been invited to the party. Which is just rude, honestly. Nobody likes feeling like they weren’t invited to the party. Not even superheroes.

“If you’re not going to bother preparing for every possible contingency and at least six impossible ones, you might as well just stay in bed.”

Even the Red Hood joins in the Illuminati chant or Cub Scout pledge or demonic ritual or whatever the fuck that just was, though his slumped and exasperated posture gives away every hint of sulkiness his headgear otherwise would have kept safely hidden. He’s surprisingly more...expressive, than most who’d only known of him by reputation had expected him to be. The day continues to yield surprises.

“Of fucking course I do,” he growls out, snatching the box from Black Bat. She doesn’t even fight to hold onto it, just lets it go with a knowing smirk. “I wasn’t surprised by the idea of it, I was just surprised she bothered with such a weak effort. Like yeah whatever, actually those could be mine. I use those all the time at home. So what?”

He aggressively yanks one of the band-aids out of the box, fumbles with the peel-off strips with one hand and he roughly rolls up the sleeve of his jacket with the other. Then just slaps it on his forearm and raises said appendage high, showing it off this way and that. “See?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Signal drawls from the other side of the room, nodding his head approvingly. “Totally convincing. Nice job walking that one back, you really showed them.”

Red Hood’s head snaps in his direction with ominous intent. “Watch it, Day-Glo.”

Signal just snorts.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna take constructive criticism on my name and costume from a dude who’s spent the last several years calling himself Red HOOD while running around in a freaking HELMET.”

“Its not meant to be literal, you fucking pedant.”

“So wait, its not literally a helmet? Huh, does it at least protect your head literally, or just like...symbolically? Like if Bane were to clock you across the head, would your concussion just be a metaphor? What’s the treatment protocol for a metaphorical concussion? Fluids, bedrest and a philosophical prescription of two chapters of Chicken Soup for the Soul as needed?”

“Laugh it up, KC and the Sunshine Band,” Red Hood bats back. “You just got yourself disinvited from Thursday night’s poker game.”

Signal just grins and folds his arms over his chest cockily. “Please. You’ve been looking for an excuse to ban me for weeks, cuz you know until you can prove I’m using my ghost vision to cheat, you can’t actually bring suit against me for it in Family Court.”

“That, and also Family Court isn’t a real thing, you toddler. Stop validating Wing-a-ding-ding’s obsession with Shitty TV Nostalgia and just call it that thing where Oracle traps us all in a room until we settle our latest fight without anyone getting stabbed.”

“Yeah, but like, say that five times fast,” Spoiler pipes up. “Its just not practical. Family Court’s way easier.”

“Says the one who’s not even in our fucking family.”

“And yet I grace you all with my sublime presence anyway,” she blows a kiss at him, beatifically unbothered. “You’re welcome.”

The Red Hood scoffs and rounds on his heel, zeroing in on Batwoman in the far corner.

“Hey Auntie B, my siblings are all dead to me and I just helped stop an alien invasion so I deserve nice things like a fun Saturday night. Can you get me into Dad’s fundraiser so I can crash it? He won’t put me back on the list until I promise not to bring any C-4 with me and I won’t promise not to bring any C-4 because he should just trust me that I won’t when I say I’m not gonna and he won’t trust me that I won’t until I admit I shouldn’t have brought any to that sting last month where three tiny little yachts blew up through barely any fault of my own, and I’m just not gonna do that ever because I have convictions and I feel I shouldn’t have to be punished for that. Y’know?”

Batwoman blinks at him. “Kid, I’m not gonna lie to you. You’re my nephew and I love you, but I stopped listening three seconds into all that.”

“Ugh, fine. Can you help me crash Dad’s event tonight so I can teach him a lesson about why he should just trust me not to make a scene so I don’t have to always make a scene to make a point.”

“Tempting as you make that sound,” she says wryly, “I have a strict policy for dealing with you lot and your......everything. I only worry about tolerating one of you at a time, and there’s seven of you, and seven days in the week. You each get your own. You know perfectly well its Robin’s day today. You get me on Tuesday, just like always.”

“Auntie B, we’re not like other families, are we?” Red Robin’s delivery is sarcastically childish and his question clearly rhetorical. Most of his attention is fixated on whatever it is he’s doing with his wrist-mounted computer.

“No sweetie, we’re all severely fucked in the head and a little bit too comfortable with that.”

“Just checking. Oh hey, Hood, I just emailed you a patch for the hole in your firewall I exploited when replacing all my shit using your accounts just now.”

“You did what?”

“Used your accounts to pay to replace all my stuff that you fucked with last night?” Red Robin says slowly. “Did you not realize that I’ve been sticking within ten feet of you for the past five minutes just so I could clone your devices and do all that while BB and Spoiler kept you distracted? I gotta say, bro, I feel like that’s on you then.”

Red Hood swivels his helmeted head in the direction of the aforementioned two. Black Bat waves. Spoiler shoots him an utterly unrepentant thumbs up.

“You’d side with your ex over me? That’s what its come to?”

“My only allegiance is to chaos,” Spoiler says brightly. Black Bat shrugs.

“Plus he bribes better.”

“Hateful,” Red Hood points at Black Bat, moving on to level the same finger at Spoiler, who curtsies in acknowledgment: “Hateful-er.”

Then the finger rounds the bases to aim judgmentally at Red Robin. “Hateful-est. And that was all Nightwing’s idea anyway, not mine.”

“Oh, I assumed as much,” he says casually. “Your idea of a prank tends to have more of a Carrie vibe. Or be a literal literary reenactment.”

“Its called an homage, 4chan.”

“Whatever, plagiarist. And anyway, I couldn’t go after ‘Wing for payback on this one. He used an Immunity card. If you didn’t want me getting back at you, you should have used one too."

Red Hood looms aggressively. Red Robin ignores willfully. Round and round they go. Superheroes who can survive excessive G-Forces are getting dizzy just watching them have a largely motionless stand-off. That shouldn’t be how that works, but whatever. All the most infamously reclusive and isolated heroes in all hero-dom are apparently part of the same one big reclusive and isolated family of fucked up weirdos and they’re all officially bonkers. Nothing makes sense anymore. Reality broke. Try another stall.

“Okay, but see, in order to have an Immunity card, I would have to participate in one of you losers’ stupid Immunity challenges,” the Red Hood drags out with exaggerated patience. “And I’m just not going to do that, on account of those all being fucking stupid. You see the problem there?”

Red Robin just shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. You can have principles or you can have an Immunity card. You can’t have both.”

Meanwhile, on another side of....the same room.....look, its like, an octagonal room, probably. It has a lot of sides. Robin fends off questions from an aggrieved looking Superboy.

“You never told me you had a bajillion brothers and sisters!”

“Yes but I never said I didn’t either.”

Superboy rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, so I should just assume everyone I meet has a bajillion secret brothers and sisters?”

“Well clearly it would have worked out in your favor in this instance if you had, now wouldn’t it?”

“Assuming of course that you can trust what has been said or implied here today and I am actually related to any of those numbskulls. Which I am not actually admitting to,” Robin tacks on hastily.

Superboy eyes him dubiously. “You joined in the same creepy chant all the others did and then got super self-conscious and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Which uh. I did.”

“First off, your interpretation of body language is abyssmal. I do not get self-conscious,” Robin says with a delivery that probably could have benefited from being a little less self-conscious. “And second....that proves nothing. I guessed what they were going to say.”

“Word for word,” Superboy says super-skeptically.

“I’m very good at guessing things. You know this.”

“Okay. Guess how much I believe you right now then.”

Robin glares and folds his arms grumpily across his chest.

“And what was that anyway? Was that like....you guys’ family motto or something like that?”

“Oh no,” Spoiler pipes up. “That’s much shorter.”

Superboy balks at that. “Wait, you guys actually have one of those for real?”

“Yup,” Steph says, counting out the words with her fingers. “He who laughs last....probably works for the Joker. So tranq him just to be safe. See? Only sixteen words. The first rule of Living While Batty is way longer, and what we said was just the abridged version. You should hear the original, before Black Bat put her foot down and refused to memorize it unless sizable edits were made.”

Superboy hovers between her and Robin now, both in mid-air and on the verge of taking Spoiler’s words as an invitation to hear just that. A low growl arises from Robin’s direction.

“Must you?” He asks the older vigilante, with a most put upon expression.

She looks at him pityingly. “Do you actually need me to answer that? Like, we’ve met, right? Hi, I’m Spoiler.”

“Wait, so Robin said that I just never specifically asked him if he had a bajillion brothers and sisters, and that’s why he didn’t tell me, so that means he wouldn’t have just lied and there’s not some code of secrecy that flat out forbids telling other people stuff, right?” Superboy realizes excitedly.

“Yes, excellent direction. Go on,” Spoiler says, steepling her fingers. Robin buries his face in the palm of one hand.

“Soooo, what other stuff could you tell me about Robin’s super top secret family that I wouldn’t think to ask about but that he would tell me about if I knew what questions to ask?”

She claps once, lightly but with emphasis. “Well done. You’ve passed the first barrier. Untold secrets await you behind just a few more.”

“I’ll get you for this,” Robin vows calmly. She waves a hand at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you do it before January 1st, remember? You’ve promised retribution like ten times already this year and those don’t roll over, y’know. Rules are rules.”

“Enough!” Thunders a voice then, from the front of the room. Well one of the fronts anyway. Like sides, it has a lot of them, but this is the one where Batman’s standing. All eyes snap to him. Which is kinda just what eyes do when Batman says stuff like that. Its like his superpower, except he doesn’t actually have superpowers, which is what makes it scary. But where the snapping of the eyes (directional) is usually followed by Batman saying something else besides just “hey look at me,” here he pauses in the wake of his own call to attention’s waning reverberations. Uncharacteristically silent.

Not that, y’know, he’s normally Mr. Talkity Talk, but usually his silences feel like he has the words to fill them, he’s just withholding them. This though, this feels more like he doesn’t have any words at all. And he’s as confused by it as any of them, and most everyone else is confused by Batman being confused, and its this whole trickle down economy of confusion and its wrecking havoc on the value of the golden silence standard.

Of course, not everyone present is rendered spellbound with confusion.

“C’mon B,” Nightwing cajoles, leaning forward and practically radiating delight. “I think you know what you have to do now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Its not likely to come around again.”

Red Hood snickers beneath his helmet and chimes in. “Yeah Pops, go ahead. You do this and you’ll actually have my respect for a whole twenty four hours. No, wait. Sixteen. No! Eight. Yeah, eight. Still a good deal.”

“Carpe diem, B,” Red Robin grins, leaning back as if to enjoy the show.

“Hey! Infringe on my trademark one more time, dude,” Signal throws a faux-glare at the former. Red Robin just quirks an eyebrow.

“And what, you’ll start saying Yum every time you eat a burger? Oh no. I’m hoist by my own petard.”

Signal flips him off with a grin and then redirects his attention back to Batman. “Yeah seriously though B, you kinda gotta do it now. Because if you don’t do it, then you’ll forever be the guy who didn’t do it, and you don’t want to be that guy, do you?”

“Yeah you really don’t want to be that guy,” Spoiler shouts out. “Nobody likes that guy. He’s the worst.”

“Do it, do it,” Black Bat starts chanting beside her, steadily picking up speed and volume. Several others start joining in. Even Robin appears to be slightly anticipatory, albeit trying very hard to hide it.

Batman sighs, and somehow everyone manages to hear it. Stills. Waits for....something? Nobody but them seems to have any clue what, but the air is thick and heavy with portentiousness. Something is about to happen, and all most of the heroes present could say for sure is it was something they never would have in a million years seen coming.

Finally, Batman straightens with the resigned air of a man about to have oh so many regrets. He crosses his arms, shakes his head, and in an absolute deadpan monotone, says:

“You are awful children. You know you’re killing me. You’re killing your father.”

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keanureevesisbae · 3 years

Text

But professor… - c.4

Summary: Penny is going to see her professor for the first time again after they kissed.

Professor!Walter Marshall x Penny Townsend (Asian ofc)

Wordcount: 5.1k

Warnings: Thunderstorms (?)

Masterlist // But professor… masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

The next day it’s time for my criminology class, the first one I’ll have after our kiss. I haven’t spoken to Walter since the kiss, because a) it was literally yesterday and b) after I told him I was going to bed, I actually went to bed and fell asleep.

To make matters even worse, our meeting isn’t even gonna be in a private setting.

It’s in lecture hall setting.

Despite me falling asleep not long after I arrived home, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Since I was hungry, I decided to have some late night snacks, but I am incapable of eating normally, because I totally spilled some sauce on Walter’s sweater.

In other words: I had a little early morning laundry moment.

With Walter’s sweater neatly folded in my backpack, I take a deep breath for some encouragement, as I walk into the lecture hall. There are already around ten other students in their seats and Walter sits on the edge of his table, as he reads through his notes. He looks up, but his expression barely changes. Emphasis on barely. There is a slight shift in his eyes, but it’s hardly noticeable if you don’t know him that well. ‘Morning, miss Townsend.’

Like nothing ever happened between us.

‘Good morning, sir,’ I say, before walking up to my assigned seat. I should not let out a sigh of relief, but I still do. I tell myself I shouldn’t be this nervous, however it’s an impossible task. My leg moves up and down in a restless pace and my jaw is painfully clenched.

I try my best, but it is out of question to focus on the entire class. Thankfully, Walter must’ve noticed that my brain is everywhere but in this class, because he doesn’t call out my name once. For the first time in forever I don’t have any questions about the assignment, so when a few other students hang around after class, I manage to sneak passed them and make my way to the library.

My brain really is malfunctioning, because I keep staring at my screen, unable to do anything slightly productive. I look into my backpack, to see Walter’s sweater. About an hour has passed and maybe… Maybe I could bring it to him now?

I grab my phone and decide to just send him a text. I can take the first step after yesterday, right? I’m a big girl.

Me: Can I come over to your office now?

I don’t get an answer straight away, which is only fueling up the doubt that has been brewing inside my heart. Not quite the big girl after all.

What if he thought this was a mistake? Oh shit, the kiss was terrible, he hated it and I should therefore never ever kiss again!

My breathing stops when I see his answer.

Walter: Of course, princess 💕

I swallow hard. This is a good sign, right? The heart emoji and the nickname that led me to internally screaming all night indicate he didn’t think the kiss was terrible, what we did wasn’t a mistake and that we should totally kiss again.

Right?

The hallways are empty, as a lot of people are already back at their dorms due to the bad weather that is forecasted for later today. Normally, I would do the same, but I think I lingered around campus, so I had a chance of talking to Walter. I walk towards his office and knock on his door. I hear a deep and annoyed: ‘Come in’ and I take it as my cue to open the door.

‘Hello,’ I say, ‘you sure I can come in?’

He looks up from his desk and smiles. Small crowfeet appearing near the corners of his eyes, a tiny bit of evidence that he is genuinely happy to see me. ‘Of course Penny,’ he says, standing up from his seat. He walks towards the corner of his office, lifting some stuff up, to reveal a chair. He places it on the other side of his desk. ‘Please, take a seat,’ he says, holding out his hand.

All of this trouble for me? ‘I wasn’t planning on staying long.’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he says, waiting for me to take place on the chair and I quickly do so. When he sits on his own chair again, he asks: ‘How are you?’

That’s such a sweet and darling question of him. ‘I’m okay. I just came by to give you your sweater back.’ I pull it out of my bag and say: ‘Thank you for lending it to me.’

He nods. ‘Of course.’

‘I washed it,’ I add, ‘since I kinda dropped some hot sauce on it. I hope you like my laundry detergent.’

I hand it over the table to him and he presses his nose against the fabric. ‘It smells great, thanks.’

I smile at him, since I can’t really stop it. He is so different around me, then he is when he’s a professor. There is no annoyance, no boredom. Only adoration if I’m correct. It feels good to be on the receiving end of it. ‘That was all actually. For once I don’t have questions.’

‘I see,’ Walter says. ‘You got a lot of work to do?’

I shake my head. ‘No, not really. Just your class.’

He chuckles. ‘I’m sorry about that.’

‘Don’t worry about it. Anyways, I should go. I have a few things I have to pick up from the grocery store anyway. Forgot some things yesterday,’ I say.

Walter nods. ‘Of course.’ While I said I should go, I can’t seem to stand up. Walter tilts his head and asks: ‘What’s wrong, princess?’

‘Nothing,’ I whisper.

‘Is it… The kiss?’ he carefully asks. ‘Because if it is, I have to apologize. I was crossing multiple lines with that.’

I shake my head. ‘No, Walter, don’t worry about it. I enjoyed it. It’s just… It was my first kiss.’

His eyes enlarge, nearly rolling out of his sockets. The surprised emotion is one I haven’t seen with him in real life. I actually thought nothing could startle him. ‘Your first kiss?’ he repeats. A few seconds pass by slowly as he runs his fingers through his disheveled curls. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

I shrug again. ‘I don’t know. It didn’t seem relevant.’

He sighs. ‘I’m so sorry, princess.’

‘There is nothing to worry about. If it makes you feel any better, I’m glad this was my first kiss.’

He leans back in his seat. ‘Penelope Townsend,’ he says, with a slight smile on his lips. ‘You’re quite something.’

Oh shit, he uses my full name. That… That can’t be good, right? Panic is taking over and I quickly say: ‘I really have to go.’ I grab my backpack and shoot out of his little office space, not even waiting for him to say something.

My brain is fried.

On autopilot, I managed to find my way to the grocery store, where I buy more instant noodles. I don’t know why, but I even grab some hair products for Walter. It’s getting ridiculous that I’m actually going to buy this, but on the other hand, he told me I could help him out with those slightly dry locks of his.

I spend little to no time in my dorm, because I am unable to stop thinking about Walter. I shouldn’t have left like that, I think to myself. He now must think I don’t like him, when in reality: I like him a lot.

As I am pacing through the room, nearly ripping out my hair out of pure frustration, I hear the rain against the window. It’s mild, especially if you compare it to the forecasted weather. I check my weather app and realize that with this type thunderstorm, I really don’t want to be alone here.

Without even thinking about the pros and cons of this plan, I pack some stuff I need and when I walk outside, the bus to his place is thankfully already there. The clouds are turning a darker shade of grey, as I’m hopelessly walking around the block after I got off the bus. My sense of direction is severely lacking and it takes me awhile before I even see his building.

It starts to pour and I turn into a shivering mess. By the time I’m at his door and knocked on it, I realize that I should’ve called.

This, Penelope Townsend, was a very poorly thought out plan. This is terribly rude and there is no turning back now. Oh no, what if he thinks that—

‘Hey,’ Walter says when he opens the door and smiles as he notices it’s me. ‘What are you doing here, princess?’

He doesn’t seem mad, that is a good sign. ‘I am terribly sorry, Walter, I really shouldn’t be here. I don’t know why I’m here even. Okay, I do know, because I don’t want to be alone with this weather, but I should’ve at least called you. I mean, you probably aren’t even in the mood to deal with me, which is totally understandable. I’m so sorry, please forget this ever happened and I’ll just go.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ he says, holding my wrist tightly in his large hand, not allowing me to leave. ‘Come in.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m very sure. They say it’s gonna be shitty weather anyway and I’d hate if you had to go back. Besides, you’re soaking wet.’

‘You really sure I’m not bothering you?’ I ask, as he gently pulls me inside, still unsure whether or not I’m welcome.

‘Positive.’ He helps me out of my coat and tells me I can change in the bathroom. He grabs some of his own clothing and hands it to me. ‘Now, I’m gonna tidy up in here a bit,’ he says, ‘because I left some crime scene pictures around.’

I smile as I grab the clothing. ‘I should’ve called,’ I try to sort of apologize again, but he is having none of it.

‘Nonsense,’ he says, ‘you don’t have to call. You are always welcome here.’ He places his hand on my cheek, before pressing a soft kiss on my forehead. ‘Besides, I’m glad you’re here. I kinda missed you.’

I let out a chuckle. ‘Walter, I’m sorry I left your office. I was freaking out.’

‘I know,’ he says. Of course he knew. ‘It’s okay, Penny.’

‘It is?’

He nods. ‘Now get changed, you’re freezing.’

✎ ✎ ✎

After I changed into some of his clothing and hung my own clothes over the heater, I walk back into the living room, only to see him preparing some dinner in the kitchen.

That is such a domestic move.

‘Thank you for letting me stay here,’ I say, causing him to look over his shoulder. ‘I’m not great with this kind of weather.’

‘Figured,’ he chuckles. ‘You’re afraid?’

‘No,’ I answer, as I walk up to the counter. ‘Absolutely not.’ Almost on cue, a loud bang of thunder fills the room, causing me to yelp. ‘Okay, maybe a little.’

Walter starts to laugh. When I’m within arm reach of him, he lifts me up on the counter like I weigh nothing to him. ‘Sit still and be pretty, okay?’

I frown. ‘How am I supposed to be pretty?’

‘By being yourself,’ he says, ‘and smile at me from time to time. Seems doable, right?’

‘I can try,’ I say, a smile already appearing on my face. ‘What are you making?’

‘Some pasta,’ he answers. ‘You like that?’

‘I do,’ I say, pushing my glasses better on my nose. ‘I really do. Especially when someone else makes it. Don’t you have that, when someone else makes the food, it automatically tastes better?’

He shakes his head. ‘No, I don’t.’

Leave it to him to be an exception. ‘Why not?’

‘I like making my own food,’ he says.

‘Hm.’ I lean my head back against the cupboard. ‘I really can’t cook well,’ I admit. ‘My mom was always the one that would make my meals back home. I’m a disaster in the kitchen, hence the reason I live on ramen, which I can easily screw up as well.’

Walter smiles, placing one hand on my leg, as he holds a wooden spoon to stir the sauce. ‘Here, taste this,’ he says, grabbing a string of pasta and blows on it so it can cool off a bit. He brings it to my lips and it’s such an automatic move to place my hand on his wrist.

‘It’s good,’ I say.

‘I’ll grab a plate for you. How about you get comfortable on the couch?’

I jump off the counter and walk towards the living room area. His couch looks kinda dull, in a beige tint that reminds me of my grandma’s wardrobe, but don’t be fooled: it’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever sat on. I grab a blanket and place it over my lap.

Walter joins me, handing me the plate with pasta and sits next to me. It only takes a second, before I flinch as the thunder is now accompanied by lighting. ‘You’re so easily scared,’ he snickers. Without me doing it on purpose, I scoot closer to him. I know he cannot psychically protect me against it, but not being alone with weather like this, is a relief itself. ‘Careful, princess,’ he says, ‘it’s hot.’

As we eat in silence, I keep thinking about what I can say to him. ‘I brought some hair stuff with me,’ I say. ‘Bought some today.’

‘For me?’

I nod. ‘For you,’ I confirm. ‘Maybe you want to use it.’

‘Or you use it on me,’ he says. ‘I have no idea what I’m doing anyway.’

As I finish the pasta (which was delicious), he takes the plate from my hands and places it on the coffee table next to his own empty plate. ‘Come here,’ he says, pulling me closer in his warm and protective arms.

I wonder whether or not it’s odd that I’m this comfortable with him this soon. I usually have a warm up period of at least a few weeks when I meet new people. When I worked in a cafe back in Japan during my gap year, it took me a month before I wasn’t painfully shy with some of my coworkers.

But with Walter, I am still shy and sometimes a bit awkward, but it doesn’t feel unpleasant. It’s like he understands and is patient with me.

I place my legs over his and hold his hand in both of mine. My fingers trace over his knuckles, where I notice some slight scarring. ‘How did you get this one?’

‘Bar fight,’ he says, ‘before I joined the academy.’

‘You were that type of guy?’

Walter doesn’t say anything and when I look up, I see he is not even looking at me. He is staring at the window. ‘Yeah, something like that. In case you wondered: he kinda asked for it.’

There is so much I want to ask him. What he was like when he grew up. What he thought of the academy. Interesting cases he solved.

However, a loud bang brutally interrupts my thoughts. At the exact same time, the lights shut off. My breathing stops. Oh no, a power cut? I’m so glad I’m not in my dorm alone. I might’ve called Walter crying, ask him to risk his life so he could pick me up.

Good thing I’m already here.

‘Great,’ he mumbles, turning on the flashlight on his phone. ‘There isn’t much I can do,’ he says, ‘except wait for it to come back. You want me to light some candles?’

I hate the dark this much, that I quickly say” ‘Please.’

He stands up, but I hold on tightly to his hand. ‘What’s wrong, princess?’

‘Can I walk with you?’

‘Of course.’ His fingers lace through mine and together we walk around his loft, looking for the candles and a lighter. We scatter them around the apartment and it gives a soft and warm ambiance, one that is slightly misplaced here in his loft. I can unclench my jaw from the painful grip and Walter pulls me back on the couch.

‘Did you feel awkward?’ I ask him. ‘In class today?’

He shakes his head. ‘But I know you did.’

I purse my lips together, as I feel completely caught. ‘Was I that obvious?’

‘Not to others, but to me you were.’

‘I’m sorry.’

He shakes his head. ‘Don’t apologize for that. I just wished I knew what I could do for you to feel less awkward about it.’

I shrug. ‘I don’t know. Never thought my first… Whatever we have, would have to be in secret.’

He sighs, clearly agreeing with me. ‘I wish I could show you off,’ he says. ‘Wish I could tell Fitzgerald to stop ogling you.’

‘He doesn’t do that,’ I say.

Walter scoffs. ‘He totally does. It’s not even subtle anymore.’

I place my head against his chest, melting in his arms. I close my eyes, as I enjoy being engulfed in the warmness and protectiveness of his embrace.

No one has ever held me like this before.

‘Walter, why me?’

‘What?’ he asks.

‘Why are you even paying attention to me? I’m such a nobody.’

‘You’re not a nobody,’ Walter retorts. ‘I like you, Penny. You have an ethereal beauty, combined with an adorable and kind nature. It’s so rare to meet someone like you. I see that there is so much potential in you, no matter what you choose later on in life. It’s just that you don’t know it yet, which is such a shame really. Besides, princess, I’m not risking my job for simply anyone.’

As much as him being my professor should turn me away from it all, should make me walk towards the door and not associate myself with him anymore, I don’t feel that way. Part of me wants to hide my smile, but I can’t. ‘I kinda like you too.’

‘Just kinda?’ he asks, pretending to be offended. ‘What can I do to change that?’

I smile. ‘Kiss me again.’

He doesn’t answer, simply leaning towards me to press his soft lips on mine. One of hands squeezes my thigh, as I wrap my arms around his neck. It feels so good to kiss him. ‘Can’t believe yesterday was your first kiss,’ he whispers against my lips. ‘You’re quite talented, princess.’

‘I just follow your lead. I think that says more about your kissing skills than mine.’

‘Knew you were an excellent student.’

✎ ✎ ✎

The lights aren’t restored by the time I grow more and more tired. It’s Walter actually that tells me to go to bed. When I’m tucked away underneath the blankets in just his thick sweater, he sits on the edge of the bed. ‘I want you to be honest,’ he says in a stern voice. ‘Do you want me to sleep here or on the couch?’

It’s a sweet thing of him to ask, especially since it did cross my mind a few times. I grab his hand, my thumb caressing his knuckles. ‘I don’t know,’ I whisper.

‘Why are you hesitating?’

‘Because… I don’t want you to think I’m a prude or anything.’

He smiles. ‘Princess, I can sleep on the couch. Don’t worry.’

I blink my eyes a few times, slightly nervous. ‘You don’t mind?’

‘Of course not. Just call for me when you need me, okay?’

‘Okay.’

He gives me a quick and loving kiss on my lips. Checking with me one last time, he carefully makes his way back to the living room. While I can hear him making himself comfortable on the couch, I roll around the bed. There is an inability of mine to fall asleep, something I barely encounter. There is this annoying, but also terrifying ticking like sound against the window and I can’t wrap my mind around it what exactly makes that noise.

The thunder and lightening are dominating the skies and my state of mind.

‘Walter?’ I finally ask him, after rolling around, being all ears and incapable of falling asleep for at least an hour. It takes only a few seconds before he walks into the bedroom. His hair is disheveled and he looks like a sleepy owl in a cartoon. It’s adorable, a word I never expected to use to describe him.

‘What’s wrong, princess?’ he asks me.

‘What is that noise?’

‘Just the water and a branch. It usually taps against the window from time to time.’

‘Oh, okay,’ I whisper. ‘Sorry to wake you.’

‘Don’t be,’ he says. He leans against the doorframe. Despite it being dark, I can still see the contours of his large body. ‘You seem wide awake.’

‘I am,’ I admit. ‘It’s just that I can’t sleep. There is too much noise here I don’t know.’

‘Want me to join you?’

I nod, only to realize he might not be able to see it. ‘Please.’

He walks over to the bed and gets in underneath the covers. I can already feel his warm body heat closer to mine and I hold my breath. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Walter chuckles. ‘It’s just me.’

I can’t stop being “ridiculous”. I mean, I am completely overstepping all sorts of boundaries. I mean, I’m in my professors loft. The same professor who I kissed. Whose clothes I’m wearing.

Who I’m severely falling for.

Walter holds out his arm and I turn to my side, nuzzling against his warm frame. He only wears a simple shirt and a pair of boxers. ‘Why are you shivering?’

‘I’m a little scared.’

‘Why?’

‘It’s just all those new sounds and a different bed,’ I mumble. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You have nothing to worry about,’ he says. I place my chin on his chest. As my eyes get used the dark, I can sort of see more of his face. I don’t have my glasses on, so it stay slightly blurry. ‘Nothing is gonna happen to you now, princess,’ he continues to say. ‘Not when I’m here.’

I smile. ‘I know,’ I say. ‘It’s just all so new to me.’

‘Yet you adapt perfectly fine.’

I bite my bottom lip. ‘Really?’

‘Really.’ He places his hand on my cheek and leans a bit forward, planting a soft kiss on my lips. It’s not my plan to deepen the kiss, but when someone’s lips taste this good, of course I don’t mind deepening it. His teeth slowly sink into my bottom lip, careful not to hurt me.

When he lets go of me, his hot breath tickles my already sensitive lips. Walter presses a kiss on my nose and whispers: ‘Go to sleep, princess. You seem tired.’

‘I am,’ I chuckle. ‘Quite the detective you are.’

✎ ✎ ✎

The next morning when I wake up, I’m still engulfed in Walter’s arms. He looks so innocent and vulnerable when he sleeps. His hand has slipped underneath my shirt, his warm palm on my back. For a second, my mind wanders to a time where it’s more than this. More than just a hand on my bare back.

It’s about him seeing me naked, him touching me and whispering sweet nothings in my ears.

It doesn’t take long for Walter to wake up as well and he smiles when he sees I’m already up. ‘I don’t mind waking up like this,’ he admits. ‘Seeing your beautiful face first thing in the morning is a lovely surprise.’

Don’t blush, Penny. Don’t you dare blush.

‘Give me a kiss, princess,’ he says.

‘I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,’ I mumble.

‘Doesn’t matter to me.’ He leans in to give me a gentle peck on my lips, followed by a few more. I giggle against him, as his fingers softly—and probably unintentionally—tickle my sides. ‘I’ll go see if the power is back on,’ he says. ‘Want something to eat?’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘Doesn’t really matter what.’

Walter kisses me one more time, before he gets up out of bed. It doesn’t take long before I slip out of the bed as well, putting on some socks and sweatpants.

This morning is the prime example of how a domestic couple behaves. I always envied my parents, for being able to find the love of their lives, living according to a certain routine with one another. I remember sitting at the dinner table, watching them dancing in the kitchen as mom would make dinner. I remember sitting in the backseat, hearing my parents sing along with the radio.

They have always been outgoing people, in complete contrast to me. Mom always comforted me telling me that one day I would find my soulmate. Dad always told me that the so called soulmate had to be approved by him.

I wonder what would happen if they found out I met Walter. It’s way too early to think about that, but my brain isn’t stopping this thought process. Especially when Walter lifts me up the counter. When he presses mindless kisses on my forehead. When he lets me use some of the products on his hair. He smiles when I massage his scalp as I’m washing his hair over the stink and use the conditioner on his dry hair.

It’s great to see Walter with his guard a bit down. Allowing me to see who he is hiding when he’s teaching and maybe when he was at work as a detective as well. His touches are soft, are kind and not once is he overstepping. He carefully reads me and my body language.

But at one point, I realize that it’s time for me to go back. My mom used to say to leave a party when it’s still fun, instead of waiting for the awkward moment where you are practically forced to leave after you overstayed.

With his curls nice dried and less frizzy, he drives me back towards the train station and the parking lot and the station itself are almost vacant. People are probably still hiding inside their houses, not wanting to deal with the aftermath of the storm yet.

‘I hate that I have to drop you off here,’ he admits. ‘You have to walk for a while. Wait, I have an idea, you call me as you walk towards your dorm. I’ll leave here when I know you’re safe and sound in your room, okay?’

‘You really don’t have to do that,’ I chuckle. ‘I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.’

‘I know that,’ he says, ‘but I care a little too much about you. I don’t want anything to happen, okay?’

It’s nice to be taken care of like this. I could get used to this. ‘Okay,’ I say, before I give him a kiss. ‘I’ll miss you.’

‘I’ll miss you too, princess.’ He pulls out his phone and says: ‘I’ll call you in a second.’

A second truly is a second, because my phone rings when I close the door. ‘Really?’ I ask him as I pick up the phone, still being able to see him.

‘Yes, really.’

I wave at him, as I walk towards the dormitory building, which is about a ten minute walk. ‘You have a cute walk,’ he says, when I’m out of sight for him. ‘There’s almost a little skip in it.’

‘Way to make me more self conscious than I already was.’

‘Ah, princess,’ he says, ‘don’t be like that. You have nothing to be self conscious about. You’re beautiful, you’re cute and you are the sweetest thing alive.’

‘Don’t say stuff like that. I’m blushing.’

I can hear his chuckles from the other side of the line. ‘Where are you now?’

‘I can see the dorms already. You really want me to call you until I’m in my room?’

‘Yes.’

I can’t argue with that determination. While I simply chat to him about the damage done by the storm, I see Fitzgerald near the entrance. Great, I really can’t use this now.

‘There she is,’ he says, when I open the door and walk passed him to get inside.

‘Is that who I think it is?’ Walter asks me.

‘Yes.’

‘He does that often?’

Correct me if I’m wrong, but he sounds kinda possessive. ‘Sometimes.’

‘Sugar plum,’ Fitzgerald says as he follows me inside. ‘I have a question for you.’

‘I’m on the phone,’ I tell him, hoping it’s enough for him to get lost. ‘Can’t really wait.’

It seems like he didn’t pick up on the underlying no in my answer. ‘Where have you been?’ Fitzgerald asks me.

My mouth grows dry. Does he know? Have Walter and I not been subtle enough? Oh my gosh, Fitzgerald totally knows. Do not start hyperventilate, stay calm, Penny. ‘Ask him if he’s stalking you,’ I hear Walter’s soft tone in my ear.

That seems doable. ‘You stalking me?’

He must be surprised that those words roll out of my mouth. I mean, I didn’t expect them from me either. ‘No, just wondering. Saw you getting on a bus after class.’

‘He really is stalking you,’ Walter says in my ear.

‘Sounds like you’re stalking me after all.’ Oh my goodness, Penny! What on earth is happening? I don’t know if I was supposed to repeat that.

Fitzgerald is flabbergasted to say the least and he actually walks away. Did I just do that? ‘He’s gone,’ I whisper.

‘That’s my girl,’ Walter chuckles. ‘Proud of you, princess. Asshole really doesn’t take no for an answer. I am tempted to fail him for my class.’

I start to laugh, as I make my way to my dorm. ‘You don’t have to do that.’

‘I hate his guts.’

‘Don’t use the word hate,’ I scold him. ‘Instead, use the word despise.’

‘Not with him, I won’t.’

I quickly walk up the stairs and let out a deep sigh when I’m back in my own dorm. ‘I arrived safe and sound in my room,’ I tell him. ‘Thank you for letting me stay over at your place. I really don’t do well in thunderstorms.’

‘Of course,’ he says, and I can almost hear the grin in his voice. ‘Can’t have you alone during a power cut. Also, it’s quite nice not to be alone.’

A certain vulnerability I was not expecting from him, let alone over the phone. ‘It sure was,’ I agree.

‘I’ll call you later,’ he tells me.

‘Alright, of course.’

‘Take care, princess.’

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