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dpr-stay · 10 months

Text

Through the years | D.K

Doh Kyungsoo x f1driver!Reader

Warnings: Swears, a lot of crack

WC: 9.1k (ik, kill me now)

Howdy Cowpeople! This one is... hefty. This wasn’t supposed to be as long as it was but when I get in a groove... I think I made it obvious but I just wanted it to be over L O L. This one is pretty niche, but hopefully it can be enjoyed by both sides as it is a driver!reader.

(I didn't edit this, whoops)

2015

“Can you explain this picture?” The reporter asks, hovering in front of you with a phone in hand. The crappy quality is amplified as they have zoomed into the point where the picture is unrecognizable. You squint your eyes to see it and can’t make out quite what they’re trying to show.

“Sorry, w-what is that?” You ask, drawing back and squinting your eyes, resisting the urge to close them from exhaustion. Whoever decided it would be a good idea to do interviews after nearly 100 continuous laps in some barely held together race car with no break was a sadist. No other explanation.

“Oh! It’s a picture of you in a car with a guy.” The reporter said eagerly and shoved the phone your way. You briefly looked at the camera, an unimpressed look on your face, before turning back to the phone and squinting again.

You paused for a minute and drew back, your face still scrunched up, and exhaled.

“Nahhhhhh.” The drew out word left your mouth.

The reporter’s head tilted and they frowned.

“But it is! It’s you in Seoul after the Japanese Grand Prix!” He continued, looking very determined. You plastered a confused expression on your face.

“I’ve never been to Seoul before.” His face dropped and he turned back to his phone, as though trying to rationalize what he was hearing.

“Have you just taken a picture of… two random people in a car? To me it honestly doesn’t even look like anything cause it’s so zoomed in but to each their own.” You finished your words with a shrug.

“No, my source told me that that was 100% you! They said they saw you get in the car at the airport.” He continued on, undeterred by your flat disregard.

“I hate to say it, your contact’s wrong. I’ve never even set foot in the country.” You shrugged before turning to your PR manager who was gesturing for you to leave, with rather forceful movements. That was to clue you in that you were in trouble. With her personally or with the boss man, you didn’t know.

“Lovely to see you again, though.” You smiled and held your hand over. The interviewer tentatively took it and you exchanged good-byes before you turned around and left to go onto more interviews. The glance you exchanged with your PR manager told you that you were lucky you had not been caught out on your multiple lies and you heaved a sigh of relief to yourself.

Being the only female driver in a heavily male dominated sport was incredibly stressful. Add to that the eyes of reporters trying to find you doing anything remotely weird to spin it into a scandal and you had a lot of things to worry about. Especially since you had just started a relationship with a highly coveted Kpop singer which you were determined to keep under wraps.

You both had a bet running with each other. The first person to reveal the relationship would lose. There was no consequence but your pride, something which both of you had a bit too much of.

And so, a game was born. It simultaneously made you more careful of revealing your relationship while also making it a fun game.

This also meant that you had to start constantly lying to reporters to get out of tricky situations. Surely nothing bad could ever come from this.

2016:

“How does it feel to be a key contender for the championship?” Asked a reporter, directing it to, of course, Lewis Hamilton, who was sat beside Daniel in a panel of drivers. You were sat on the other side of Daniel, the small desk in front of you reaching for miles on either side.

As Lewis gave the carbon copy response that he had given to every interviewer so far, Daniel leaned over to whisper in your ear.

“I’m surprised they haven’t called him out on that yet.” He then reached for his plastic water bottle and took a sip. You considered this for a second before leaning to his side and answered, not turning your face from the crowd of reporters.

“I’m surprised they haven’t called you out on your disgusting trim.” He jolted forward at this unprompted attack on his hair and the choking sound he emanated drew attention from all in the room, all watching him with curious eyes as he tried to regain his breath.

“You alright mate?” Lewis asked, one of his eyebrows arching.

“Y-yeah I’m fine.” Daniel replied, waving his hand, eager to have attention off of his spluttering. It took a while but eventually all the cameras were aimed back at Lewis, so Daniel took the opportunity to elbow you hard in the side, your reaction being to topple off your chair dramatically. Usually one for the dramatics, you’re not sure you’ve ever seen Daniel want the cameras off him so much.

Hidden behind a small desk, you could only hear the questioning tones calling out your name and see Daniel’s slightly panicked face urging you to get up and back on your chair. With one single hand, you reached for the desk and slowly pulled yourself up.

You released a deep breath as you hauled yourself into your seat and turned to face the crowd of reporters who were looking at you. With a grand hand gesture, you motioned for them to continue with their interviews and turned slightly to Daniel with a smile. He shot you back an exasperated glance before your name was called from the crowd of reporters. You looked towards the reporter and he began speaking.

“So, as you’re the only female on the grid I feel the need to ask, if you could date any of the drivers, who would it be?” The eager face he had contrasted with your entirely unimpressed face. You could hear Daniel begin to start speaking and you could feel the defensive energy emanating from the rest of the drivers on the panel, but before any of them could interrupt with scathing criticism about the misogyny that permeated the question, you replied to the reporter.

“Literally none of them, I’d rather die.” Your response was met with general silence before Daniel started laughing as usual.

“Really? You wouldn’t fancy any of them?” The reporter asked, almost in disbelief.

“No!” You said almost equally in disbelief.

“I’m fine with what I have at home!” You added on after a second.

“Are you saying you’re in a relationship???” The reporter was on the edge of his seat, others shoving their microphones and cameras trying to get a good shot. You dramatically pondered that for a second before replying.

“I wouldn’t say that, I just have other things at home.” You said that and then leaned back, shrugged, and didn’t say anything else into the mic even at the reporters continual uproar as they took in the implications of that statement.

You, luckily, were able to avoid the increasingly weird questions by just not answering and smiling. You weren’t as lucky to miss the smirks thrown your way by the other drivers.

2017:

“It doesn’t count!” You said in disbelief, aiming it at the microphone of your phone.

“Mmm I’d say it counts.” Kyungsoo replied back teasingly, his voice echoing into your AirPods.

“You can’t go back on your word!! You said it was fine last year!” You were sitting at a table in your company's hospitality, having a conversation with Kyungsoo on the phone, blissfully unaware of the interviews going on outside the building which had a clear view into the small area.

“Yeah but it’s been two years, one of us has to call it quits soon.” Your face contorted before Kyungsoo quickly amended his statement.

“The bet! The bet! Sorry, that came out the wrong way.”

You just shook your head, a small smile growing on your lips.

“You bastard, you had me a little worried.” He scoffed in response. He had been speaking quietly into the phone as he was hiding in a closet in the SM building, taking a break from practice to talk to you. A true charmer.

“As if.” He replied shortly, a loud scuffling heard on his side.

“One second.” He said, as a banging sound came through into your headphones.

“Come on Hyung! Get off the phone and come back before someone else finds you!” Kai’s voice could be heard through the door. A pause before the banging started again.

“Also tell her I said hello!” You giggled at the younger man’s words and Kyungsoo’s sigh in response.

“I’ll call you after the race, do your best, I love you.” Kyungsoo muttered into his phone before shouting back to Kai something about respect and to shut up. It just made you laugh more.

“I love you too, practice well and I’ll call you soon.” You finally said in response after the yelling died down.

“Bye.” He said before quickly tacking on another “love you” and then he hung up.

After he hung up you just stared at your screen for a second with a smile you would 100% not call radiant on your face. It was quickly wiped off when your PR manager popped up out of nowhere and started talking about interviews, causing you to switch to English as you stood up and followed him.

However, the interview still captured your little moment and the conversation preluding it. You knew this because, when you went back to your phone after the race, Baekhyun had sent you a picture of your smile through the tinted glass with a smirking emoji as well as a picture of Kyungsoo on the floor in the closet in the dark talking to you on the phone, not to mention the hounding you got at the next press conference.

2018:

You knew it was risky to do a live in your own apartment, especially since you were in a completely different country than where you were claiming you were.

But your PR team wanted you to do it, and you couldn’t exactly tell them no, even if you were currently lying to them about your circumstances. You were a bit worried that something unexplainable might happen like the South Korean national anthem suddenly blaring but what you weren’t worried about was the person who you were living with coming back and interrupting your live.

Kyungsoo was at practice and, while you were ok with him skipping it to talk to you on the phone, you didn’t want him to skip it now, as you had been promised a few days without any interruption if he went to every practice. So he was at practice and you were fulfilling all your expected PR duties for the next couple of days, which included the live.

Regardless of your hesitations, you set up your phone on your coffee table facing the entrance to your home and sat on the couch before turning on the live. Immediately people joined, flooding the chat and making your phone vibrate.

“Uhhh hello everyone.” You awkwardly greeted as you tried to think of things to say. Kyungsoo would be fantastic at this, you couldn’t help but think, always having to do live’s with his members.

“How’s everyone’s days been?” You settled on and watched the responses roll into the chat. You noticed a few drivers had joined your live and even a few of the boys from F2 and F3 were watching, which you thought was pretty nice of them considering it was mainly you rambling for around 30 minutes.

Your manager wanted you to do an hour minimum for the live and the time seemed to stretch for years, you continuously making small talk and occasionally replying to comments. You even snuck in a few jokes for the other drivers before, around the 55 minute mark, a sound came from your end.

You furrowed your eyebrows as you wondered where the noise was coming from, looking around the apartment. Quickly standing up, you looked around the apartment, making a lighthearted joke about ghosts as you nervously tried to find the origin of the sound.

You realised that sound was the wrong key being put in the lock as soon as you registered the sound of the correct key being put in.

As Kyungsoo opened the door, you made the biggest leap you think you have ever made. It would’ve had to have been around 4 meters surely. Somehow you had leapt onto the coffee table, knocking your phone down. Kyungsoo was staring at you weirdly as you violently gestured at him to shush. He raised an eyebrow.

“Are you ok?” He asked, his deep voice sounding as lovely as ever. You took a second, contemplating your options in this circumstance before coming to a logical conclusion.

You started to scream.

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!!” Kyungsoo’s face shifted to one of confusion as yours was full of desperation.

“YOU CRAZY PSYCHO! GET OUT!!” You continued to yell in perfect English, a contrast from his peaceful question, and gestured for Kyungsoo to close the door, which he did, albeit very confused.

As soon as he closed the door, you maneuvered yourself so that you weren’t facing him and quickly picked up your phone from underneath you.

“Oh my god, what just happened.” You said, showing the camera your roof. You picked up the phone and started fidgeting with it.

“‘Are you ok?’ Yeah I’m fine, I just gotta figure out how to change the locks. I’ll uh.. I’ll get back to you guys. See you later.” You said absentmindedly, as you ended the live.

You paused for a second, sat back on your heels, and sighed, staring up at the roof. The sound of footfalls reached your ears and you didn’t react when Kyungsoo placed a hand on your shoulder.

“I’m not losing this bet.” You mumbled, staring at the ground. An incredulous laugh left him at that as he reached his hand further and brought your face to look at him. A smile that there was no other way to describe but goofy was spread across his face.

“You’re still thinking of that?” He asked and you nodded.

“I take our bet very seriously.” You said before he slightly shook his head, gave you a kiss on the forehead, and moved towards the kitchen.

You picked yourself up and moved to the dining table as he started work in the kitchen. And, as he made a delicious dinner that you both enjoyed, you started to field off your PR team asking who was in your house and ignoring the comments wondering why the guy was speaking Korean in the middle of England.

2019:

It was approximately ten minutes before you had to be in the car and ready to go, and you were half-way there. You had your fireproofs and race suit on and you were being herded towards your car by a crowd of engineers. Strategies and specifics were being directed at you and you could only nod and act as though you were absorbing what they were saying.

Even after four years on the job some people felt they just couldn’t rely on you. Honestly, they should just let you do your thing, you knew what you were doing.

No! God, ever since Kyungsoo had joined the military you’d been irritable and quick to anger on the track. Your poor engineers were trying their best to get through to you, likely because they wanted to keep their jobs, but you’d been incredibly closed off since after you got back from the honeymoon.

Oh yeah, you got married. During a break and right before Kyungsoo was scheduled to start his enlistment, you got married down in a small courthouse with only a few people from either side. You had your family, a few close friends, and a few drivers while Kyungsoo had his family, a few close friends, and the whole of EXO.

It was very emotional and intimate, but that was how you’d describe your relationship so you were very happy with it. You were also extremely happy with the week get-away in the middle of nowhere in New Zealand that followed after, a week of people not recognising both you, farmers markets, and sheep. Lot’s of sheep.

But ever since he’d flown off to do his duty to his country (and shaved his head, no one should look that good with a shaved head) and you’d flown to your next race, you’d been incredibly… angry.

You didn’t know if it had to do with not seeing Kyungsoo for the better part of two years or having that split immediately after the wedding, but what you did know was that it was affecting your racing so you had to snap out of it.

Being dragged back to the present you quickly hopped in the car and performed all of your checks on the steering wheel and adjusted things while people flitted around outside the car, adjusting things and making sure the car was in proper state.

After a quick radio check, the call to start up for the formation lap (you were in P11 after a pretty dodgy qualifying) was relayed and all around you could hear car’s engines coming to life. You glanced at your engineers and snapped down your visor at their nod, starting the car.

Before you pressed the throttle something quickly came to mind. You rapidly gestured for one of your engineers to come close to you, incredibly conscious of all the cars revving around you. The poor engineer almost sprinted to you as you started to fiddle with the zip of your racesuit, the gloves you were wearing prohibiting you from unzipping it.

The engineer's face was comically concerned and he slowly reached forwards before you looked up and grabbed his outreached hand. His face immediately went to one of shock as you made his hand grab the zip and unzip the front part of the suit.

Choosing to ignore the cameras capturing this interaction you continued unzipping it till it lay around your collarbones, hoping the cameras don’t catch any of your naked shoulders. The engineer's face then relaxed as he saw the necklace around your neck and he quickly reached in, almost leaning over the car, to move your necklace around your neck till the latch was in front of him.

He cautiously unlatched the necklace before zipping up your race suit. You immediately relaxed as the pressure around your neck was relieved. Before he could retreat back to the crowd of engineers, you grabbed the hand that wasn’t holding your necklace and slapped it appreciatively with your other hand.

He retreated as you powered up the car and started to move it forwards, letting all the cars that needed to go before go before you started to move.

Your team radio started up as you were leaving the pit lane.

“You all had us very confused there.” Your race engineer said as you started your cruise around the track.

“Yeah, sorry I completely forgot about it. But I thought it was better to take it off.” You said, pressing down on the throttle.

“He better not lose that though. I want that back at the end of the race.” You subtly threatened, suddenly thinking of the rings that were attached to the necklace. You hoped that maybe the cameras hadn’t seen your wedding and engagement rings but you knew there was no chance they hadn’t not captured it. Oh well.

“I don’t know if you’ll get it back by the end of the race.” Your engineer said, her tone almost sarcastic.

“What’s that mean?” You asked, letting the car cruise.

“You’ll probably be killed by your PR team first.” She said bluntly. So bluntly it made you laugh.

“I’ve got a race to focus on.” You reminded her, leaving out the part that you had a race to think of an excuse as to why you have two rings attached to a necklace around your neck.

And you did think of an excuse, wearing the necklace proudly during post-race interviews and saying it was a family heirloom that had been passed on to you by your grandma whenever you were questioned about it.

The moment still went viral though, people questioning the relationship between you and the engineer. It went viral enough to that you had to suffer through teasing by Daniel and his accomplice Max Verstappen (you didn’t know how the kid knew you were married but you suspected it had something to do with an annoying Australian) not to mention the shit being talked in the EXO group chat you were in.

I mean seriously, all of those guys are millionaires, does Chen have nothing else to do with his time than bully the wife of his bandmate?

2020: (sorry Alex)

Somehow you got signed to RedBull on a year contract. Not to say you weren’t grateful for the opportunity but you were definitely a bit confused. But anyway, you let bygones be bygones and now you had a 22 year-old dutch nuisance under your wing.

He was a great kid but god, was he traumatized. You were convinced he’d never seen a healthy family dynamic, so you were more than happy to let him see how you and Kyungsoo functioned. Or at least how you functioned when he was not in the military.

You kind of felt like a life coach for the kid, telling him when he was being taken advantage of or when he should continue with something. You’d been woken up plenty of times in the middle of the night by him drunkenly whining into the phone about wanting to go “home”, something neither of you commented on when he woke up on your couch the next day.

So, safe to say, you’d practically adopted a child without the permission of your husband.

This extended to on the track as well, you’d gotten into a few mild disagreements with Jos Verstappen after his cruel comments which often involved you looking at him angrily and him shit-talking you in interviews about you being a woman. You’d often have to refrain from saying that you’d always be more of a man than him, but alas, you didn’t want to get kicked from your seat.

You knew that Max was extremely appreciative of your dynamic, even commenting on it a few times during interviews, saying that he was very happy to have you as a teammate. After that interview you almost felt like you and his lover, Daniel, were able to give him some sort of an idea of what a normal family relationship should look like.

This sentiment was definitely reinforced when a loud knocking on your Monaco apartment door happened in the early afternoon. It was a weekend with no race, so you were soaking in relaxation. You were having a nice bubble bath after having read for the whole morning, so you were hesitant to hop out of the bath.

The knocking persisted however, and with a sigh, you got out of the bath and wrapped a bathrobe around you before loudly yelling you’d be a minute. You tugged on some sweats which weren’t yours and put your hair in a towel before eventually making your way to the door.

You might’ve taken more than a minute, but it didn’t matter when you opened the door and were greeted with the image of Max Verstappen on his knees, face pressed into the expensive hallway carpet. What a sight to see, the prodigy and most highly anticipated driver of his time, lying face-first on the floor.

“What the fuck?” You asked, immediately crouching down to his level after a quick glance to see that none of your neighbors had left their apartments to check on the banging (pretentious, self-concerned people).

You rolled him over, your confusion doubling as you took in the remorseful look etched across the young man's face, almost tripling as you took in the barely concealed tears in his eyes. Your heart ached though and you pulled him up so that he was sitting on his knees.

“I’m so sorry.” He muttered as your face contorted in confusion. What had happened? “Come inside Max.” You said quietly, helping him up from his spot on the floor and leading him inside, locking the door after you both. Leading him to the couch, you left him after putting the throw blanket over his shoulders, and went to make both of you a tea.

You noticed your phone constantly vibrating on your kitchen counter and quickly chucked it on do not disturb, not checking the notifications because you were more concerned with your teary teammate.

After grabbing the teas you made your way to the couch, setting them down on coasters on the coffee table, before sitting on the edge of the ‘L’ piece of the couch, so you were facing Max. You grabbed his hand from his lap where he had been nervously picking at his nail beds.

“What’s wrong Max?” You asked calmly, bringing his hand to your lap to stop him from hurting himself. He looked up at you, a few tears having rolled down his cheeks.

Whatever had happened had fucked him up. You didn’t think it was a fight with his dad, he’d sadly become pretty unresponsive to those. You briefly considered him losing his seat but shook that off, he was doing exceptionally well.

Maybe you’d lost your seat and he was sent to deliver the news. That would make more sense, especially as your phone was blowing up. You hadn’t been performing very well, but you didn’t think they’d drop you from your seat midway through the season, especially during a season as turbulent as this one.

It was the only reason that made sense though, so you prepared yourself for the news that you would be unemployed. Maybe you’d go back to F2 or maybe IndyCar? Or you could just move to South Korea and live there permanently, letting Kyungsoo fulfill his passion for acting and singing while you did a few kart races to occasionally quench your thirst for adrenaline.

That actually didn’t sound too bad, though you’d definitely have to discuss it with Kyungsoo when he got back from enlistment, which meant around 5 months of unemployment. But hey, you had the money and so did Kyungsoo.

Max snapped you from your thoughts of the future by clearing his throat.

“You don’t know?” He asked, curiously glancing up at you. You furrowed your eyebrows.

“No…” You said, conveying your confusion. “Should I?”

“Have you checked your phone recently?” Yep, you were definitely getting fired. You should probably start packing now. Maybe Daniel could get his seat back? You shook your head in response to his quiet question.

“I’ve just been reading all morning.” Max nodded, a small ‘ah’ leaving his mouth as he stared at the floor. He reached for his tea, his hand leaving your lap. You narrowed your eyes at that, following his movements as he sipped, a gasp immediately leaving his throat as he burnt it.

You immediately cussed and sprung up from your couch to grab a glass of cold water, running back to the couch and giving it to Max, watching as he gulped down the glass. When he finished he turned back to you and thanked you, before pausing for a second and bursting into another round of tears. You placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re really freaking me out Max. Can you please tell me what’s wrong?” You asked gently, trying to make him catch your eye.

“Promise you won't hate me?” His small voice asked and you internally crumpled at his vulnerable question. Honestly you never thought you’d end up gentle-parenting a teammate like he was a child of yours, especially since you were only like 5 years older than him, but here you were, caring for him like family.

“Yes, I won’t hate you Max.” You repeated as he finally caught your eye. He took a deep breath before starting to speak.

“I was doing an interview for the press and they started asking questions about other drivers and my relationship to them. They then asked about you and I said that I’m really close to you and etcetera.” Ok, seems pretty normal so far. At least you weren’t getting fired, hopefully.

“And they asked if I see you more as a mother figure or a romantic interest.” He said before quickly turning his eyes away. This confused you before you clued in.

“Oh Max.” You said quietly and he turned back to you. “I’m flattered you feel that way but I am married and I am loyal-”

“No, no, no!” He said, louder than he’d ever spoken in the time since he was on the floor. His cheeks had turned bright red as he looked in your eyes.

“No, I didn’t say that I saw you romantically!” He quickly amended and you breathed a sigh of relief, smiling.

“Ok, that’s good! I didn’t want our friendship to be awkward.” You said, looking at him for a response. He just grimaced and averted his gaze. You gestured for him to go on confusedly and he began speaking again.

“And I said more like a mother-figure.” A statement which made you feel positive things you don’t want to address. “Then I may have accidentally said that, even though I haven’t met him, I see your husband as more of a father-figure as well.” He quickly rushed the last part out and you sat, stunned.

The room went silent while you processed what he told you. Fuuuuckkk. How much trouble were you going to be in? I mean the team knew, but this wasn’t something you could pass off as your grandmother's rings. This was undeniable proof that you had a husband. God press days were going to suck after this unless you could somehow make an excuse.

As time went on he seemed to collapse in on himself, the energy quickly switching to something you didn’t like.

“To be honest I thought you were going to tell me I’d lost my seat.” You said and Max’s head snapped up. “What?” He asked, disbelieving.

“Yeah I know, crazy.” You laughed, dragging out the last word, trying to establish a more relaxed aura in the room.

“No, why haven’t you kicked me out yet?” It was at times like this you really wanted to punch Jos Verstappen in the face. You made an over exaggerated confused face, hoping the fact that that had never gone through your mind was on display in your face.

“Max, why would I do that?” You asked, your voice very quickly becoming soothing.

“Why aren’t you mad at me? You’ve spent years hiding this! You should be yelling at me!” He said, standing up. You tried, in vain, to get him to sit down by gently calling him, but he started pacing.

“I’ve just ruined your chances at revealing this yourself, at ever having another peaceful day in your marriage, and all you can do is make a joke?!” He almost started yelling, clenching his fists. You got fed-up and yelled his name, calling his attention to you.

“You’re in my house as my guest. You will not tell me what to do or how to handle situations. Sit your ass down.” You yelled, your voice incredibly commanding. He followed your instructions and sat smally in front of you.

“Max. It was eventually going to come out. I don’t mind. I’d much rather it come off handedly from you than maliciously leaked by a random instagram page.” You said and he looked up, almost looking close to tears. You frowned before bringing the boy up into a hug. You stayed like that for a few minutes before you had to ask a question.

“You didn’t reveal who he was though, no?” You asked, still in the hug. You felt Max shake his head and you silently fistpumped behind his back. It wasn’t your fault, so it technically didn’t count and you hadn’t lost the bet.

You were right, by the way, press days were soon filled with questions about your mystery husband instead of your racing. But it was fine, you were somehow able to twist it as though you’d made a joke about having a husband and Max took it seriously.

Phew.

2021: (sorry latifi)

“And so today you will be reacting to fan edits of yourselves!” The lady behind the camera finished, prompting you and George to look at eachother. It was early in the season and, even though you’d raced together for a few years, you weren’t exactly close, being that before pre-season meetings, you hadn’t ever talked. At all.

This meant he didn’t know much about your personal life or the whole ‘husband’ thing. Which was fine, you’d tell him in your own time, when you felt your friendship was strong enough. He seemed to be a great kid, though you were determined to not adopt another grown child, especially after the look you got from Kyungsoo when you mentioned the fact you may have ‘accidentally’ had Christmas with Max Verstappen.

But hey, they had finally met during February and it was almost like a Dad saying that his daughter can’t adopt a cat while simultaneously cuddling with the cat. Kyungsoo, against his better judgment, had instantly attached to Max and now you were battling for the position of being his favourite driver. Which you were totally not bitter about (you said your favourite EXO member was Sehun in retaliation and he changed your mind very quickly).

Back to the present, the people behind the camera placed a tablet on the table in front of you. It was open on the photo gallery and you could already see some very flattering videos saved to the device.

“You wanna go first?” You asked, and George nodded before picking up the tablet and scrolling through the photo library. He closed his eyes and landed on one. Loud music immediately began playing from the device, you think ‘London Boy’ by Taylor Swift, and you both watched in varying states of horror as photos and clips of him flashed on the screen.

As the video ended you both accidentally made eye-contact. Now, as an almost 28 year old woman, the simple gesture of looking into your teammate's stricken eyes should not have made burst out laughing as hard as you did. But, god, George’s eyes were expressive. In fairness he also did laugh, though he probably was confused as to why you were laughing so much.

After you caught your breath you could only utter out,

“Your face...” Before peeling back into giggles again. He started laughing again as well before putting the tablet down. In doing so, he accidentally swiped the tablet and the Backstreet Boys started playing, an edit of the 2019 rookies playing as the video.

This chain event caused you to start gasping, the sheer ridiculousness of the videos catching up to you. George only took one look at the tears forming in your eyes before he was also wheezing out harsh breaths from laughing.

It took around 2 minutes for you to look at each other without laughing and, for you both to be able to pick up the tablet without giggling, it took another minute or so. You eventually began scrolling through the tablet, laughing at some and ‘aww’-ing at some of the sad ones.

Eventually a video came up with the background music to ‘Give it to me’ by Sistar, an edit of you that was hot but had you gasping at the lyrics.

“What?” George looked over to you, curious as to why there was another noise that came out of your mouth than laughing or a strained ‘why?’.

“The audacity!” You said, as the music continued playing.

“What..?” George asked, more confused than previously.

“Do you want to know the lyrics they’ve just edited me to?” You asked, looking over at him, your voice pretending to be offended.

“What?” He said, his tone changing again to have a sort of goading lilt.

“Will I even get married before I turn thirty.” You said with an air of finality, turning to glare at the camera, your jaw dramatically hung open. George gasped mockingly.

“How dare they!” He said sarcastically and you nodded eagerly.

“I know right!” You responded beginning a stereotypical mean girl impression. “How dare they!” After that little fiasco, you both kept scrolling and laughing (a notable example of this being when an edit of George crying came up, him pushing your shoulders as you continued to laugh).

Eventually the video was being wrapped up and George was preparing to do a sort of sign off when he paused and turned to you.

“I know we aren’t incredibly close…” He started and you prepared for a multitude of questions. You didn’t know him well enough to predict what he might say, so you went over your predisposed answers to questions in your head.

You knew he wouldn’t ask anything uncomfortable, like about your relationship status, or anything really weird, like how many socks do you wash at once. But that left a gaping probability for mildly-weird or mildly-uncomfortable questions. You hoped he wouldn’t ask that, but you were still prepared to be asked if you threw out your receipts or kept them.

“But I didn’t know you knew Korean. How did you learn?”

Oh. Fuck.

You did not have an answer for that. How the fuck did you not have an answer for that? You definitely should have had an answer for that. Oh wait, you didn’t have an answer because you promised yourself not to tell anyone that you could speak Korean so that you didn’t get that question!

The real, close-friends answer was that Kyungsoo had taught you over a range of years and that you’d taken courses so that you’d be able to talk to his friends and family. However you didn’t have a PR approved answer because you’d never thought that you’d need one. Time to put your problem solving skills to the test.

“Uhhhhh…” You said, staring confusedly at George, aware of the seconds that had passed while you were internally monologuing. You hoped your expression didn’t convey the level of gob-smacked that you felt but you think it did because George’s face contorted to be one of worry.

“If that’s a sensitive topic or something you don’t have to answer!” He quickly said as though he was trying to fix the situation. You’d later learn the George thought before your video that you were kind of ‘fucking terrifying’ (his words) and that he was scared he’d screwed up by asking you this and one of his ‘hero’s’ (his words) wouldn’t ever want to talk to him again.

“Nah, nah. It’s ok.” You waved him off, desperately trying to think of something. Oh! You knew exactly what to say.

“Basically I just have this really good friend who is Korean and I asked him to teach me for fun.” You said simply, before realising that wasn’t good enough considering your reaction.

“I was trying to hide how good I’ve gotten to try and surprise him but I guess it’s ok.” You said, a small smile on your face. George relaxed from his tense state and nodded, a small smile playing onto his lips as well.

“Ah that’s cool. Sorry to spoil the surprise.” You waved him off again and he continued the video’s outro.

Another good save, you really oughta be hired to problem-solve. And by problem-solving you mean lying to the media. And George. Poor George.

2022: (yeah the timelines don’t match, don’t call me out pls)

A loud banging sounded against your hotel door. You groaned, dropping the book onto your chest from where you held it up. Glancing angrily at the door, you rolled out of bed and stomped over to the entrance. You ripped open the door and prepared to start reaming the person on the other side before letting out a high-pitched scream.

You were in Japan for the Suzuka GP. You always didn’t like the Japanese GP because, even though you were incredibly close to Kyungsoo, your schedules never lined up so you could never see him.

That fact really grinded your gears, but it’s what you get when you try to schedule something with SM Entertainment. A decisive ‘No.’ What a great company. To be honest, was Willaims really any better?

No. No they weren’t. That mere fact infuriated you enough to make you scream. However, it wasn’t the reason you were currently screaming. That was because, standing in your doorway in the middle of the team hotel, was Kai.

You hadn’t seen him in a few months, you both had busy schedules, so the man appearing on your doorstep was miraculous. You didn’t think of why he was there, or how he got there. You just threw your arms around him and gave him a hug.

“Oh my god!” You screamed, before immediately regretting it and quickly pulling him into your hotel room before someone came out of their rooms and wondered why he was in front of yours.

“Hi!” He said, laughing as he let himself be pushed into your room despite the fact he could pick you up and throw you.

“What are you doing here?” You asked changing your pulling into a hug, squeezing the younger man as though he was your child. You had a serious problem with that, treating men almost your age as children. But Kai was more of a brother than a child, to be quite frank. That distinction just meant that he really really bugged you.

“I have a concert tomorrow and I thought I might just stop in.” He said, a smile on his face. “Though it is only me, sorry.”

“That’s ok!” You said, still in disbelief one of your closest friends was on your doorstep.

“Does Kyungsoo know?” Kai smirked in response to your question. That was answer enough in itself and you slapped Kai on the shoulder.

“You should’ve told him! He might’ve come.” Kai gasped in mock offense.

“What am I not good enough? Would you really prefer your husband that much?” He continued in mock offense and you dead-panned him. He just laughed in response.

“I did have to tell the company I was coming though, and they asked me to film a TikTok with you.” He quickly rushed out and you groaned, staring at the sky. What was up with all of these people wanting you to do TikTok’s?! You had all of your team's PR people constantly chasing you with a camera and now you had Kai asking for a video.

“Fine.” You ground out and Kai grinned, purposely ignoring your annoyance.

“Fantastic!” He said and quickly whipped out his phone, launching into his plans of what to film. Your only artistic input was that he had to cool it on the filters or else you wouldn’t film.

The video started with the familiar sound of Peaches by Kai and a hand knocking on your hotel door, you opening the door curiously. As the chorus sounded, you recorded Kai dancing in your doorway, incredibly aware of the chance of any of your colleagues walking into the hallway and wondering what the fuck was going on.

The video continued after the chorus, Kai recording you slamming the door in his face with a confused expression. The video then ended with a still image of the both of you doing a heart together with your hands and you let Kai go rampant on the filters, hearts and sparkles flying around on the screen.

When you watched it back, Kai waiting at your side eagerly to see your reaction, you did your best to hide the laughing fit you had in reaction to the monstrosity. You couldn’t quite hide the gasps that were leaving you though and Kai frowned.

“It’s perfect. I love it.” You said, through your giggles and he smiled.

“I know. It’s fantastic.” You only nodded because you couldn’t trust yourself to talk, a small whine escaping through your lips at the struggle of not laughing.

“Do you want to see the caption?” He asked and you violently nodded your head.

“Please.”

“P15 but still P1 EXO-L.” He read out and you just hung your jaw open. “You bastard!” You laughed out.

“I put it in Korean as well.” Your only response was to hit him, hard, while still laughing and shaking your head.

“Should we run it by your PR team before posting?” Kai asked, taking a serious note. You looked to him and sucked in air through your teeth.

“Nahhhh.” You replied and he shrugged, and clicked post.

“I should probably tell Kyungsoo you were here before he finds out through the internet.” You said, reaching for your phone. Kai nodded vehemently.

One phone call later, an angry Kyungsoo and an apologetic Kai later, the TikTok was making its rounds and your phone was blowing up, your poor PR agent about to have a heart attack.

On that delightful note Kai left your hotel room, farewelled with a minute long hug and a well-wish for his concert, and you were left to phone your PR agent who just screamed into the phone for 10 seconds before actually speaking.

Of course, during the press releases for the rest of the season, you talked about how much of an EXO-L you were and how close of a friend you were to Kai. This didn’t come without dating rumours but, due to one poorly angled camera shot of your disgusted face when a reporter suggested dating to your face, that was shut down pretty quickly.

Still no one had shipped you with the other EXO members though, so you weren’t even close to losing the bet. (Though you had been asked which EXO member was your favourite, which you responded to with a smirk.)

2023:

It was a good race, you finishing P4 which was a huge improvement since last season. Your team was on top of the moon as were you, smiling from ear to ear. You were currently in the press area, getting asked questions left and right about the car and your performance.

You were adequately responding to each question, sometimes looking questioningly your PR agent when you weren’t sure how to respond. A loud crash sounded through the area that drew the attention of most in the area as a reporters chair fell to the ground. They had jumped up at something on their phone and, like everyone else in the pen, you were wondering what had them so fired up.

Then their eyes darted up and made eye-contact with you. Your internal monologue quickly changed from questioning to a repeated loop of ‘Oh no. Oh no.’ as they advanced your way, moving like a predator stalks their prey. They thrusted their phone under your nose, the shitty little mic attached to it capturing every breath you took and the many cameras in the area capturing your wide eyes.

The reporter addressed you by name before starting to speak.

“Do you know of a man by the name Doh Kyungsoo?” They asked and your world cracked. What on earth had happened? How did they know? All you knew was that it was time for the one acting class your mum had made you take to try and sway you from racing to come to full effect.

“I think he’s from that band Kai’s in, yeah?” You responded after a second of fake pondering. The reporter's eyes narrowed like a hawk.

“You wouldn’t say you were close? Not close enough to get married perhaps?” The reporter asked, clearly trying to stir the pot. Oh my god, was this a prank? How the fuck did they know? How were you supposed to play this off? Would this jeopardize your career?

“Uhhm no…?” You said, incredulously, fixing them a scandalized stare. They sarcastically nodded.

“Oh really? Then what’s this?” They said and shoved their phone closer to your face till you saw a picture of you and Kyungsoo on your wedding day. How did they get this? Had one of your small circle leaked something?

You tried not to let the bewilderment you felt show on your face.

“I’m sorry? Are you trying to pass this off as real? It’s obviously photoshopped! I’m so tired of people trying to fabricate a story of me dating every person I’ve interacted with!” You finally snapped, letting a few years of pent up tension out in this moment. The reporter only continued to smirk.

“Oh really!” They said and you wanted to punch them and their snooty little face. To try and display this, your face fell into one of contempt.

“Is that why this image was posted to Doh Kyungsoo’s official instagram account with the caption ‘Sorry for making you lie to the press for eight years!’?”

They got you there, dam.

Your jaw dropped open, the corners of your mouth rising at the pure hilarity of this situation.

“Excuse me?” You asked, grabbing the phone off the reporter and tapping back onto the post. They were right, Kyungsoo had posted to his official instagram that exact post. It was a carousel post with pictures taken of when you’d lied to the press about him, from the initial lying about being in Seoul to a picture of your ringed necklace to a picture of you smirking after being asked which EXO member was your favourite.

You couldn’t help but release a laugh, your hand traveling to cover your open mouth. Why did he post this?

Wait.

This meant you won the bet. Your head shot up to stare at a camera.

“I won the bet.” You said quietly. The reporter snatched their phone back and stared at you confused.

“What?” They asked and you whipped your head to them, a large smile spreading across your face.

“I won the bet!” You said eagerly, reaching out to grab their shoulders and rock them back and forth.

“I won the bet!!” You ignored how they shook you off, turning to your PR Agent instead and grabbing them and lifting them up. They hurriedly tapped your back as you lifted them, as though signaling you to drop them, but you ignored that and started spinning them around.

“I actually can’t believe it, oh my god!” You snapped out of it and dropped your PR Agent, immediately running out of the media pen and back to your driver room, pulling your necklace out of your racesuit and pulling your rings off, placing them back on their correct fingers.

You quickly packed everything up, ignoring the ringing of your phone as your team tried to get you to go to more press conferences and briefings, and you got out of there, on the first plane to Seoul you could book.

When you arrived, after a long plane trip filled with excitement and pictures being taken of you, decked out in your team's merchandise as you sat buzzing in your seat, your phone was completely blowing up, messages from everyone in your contact list and more. You turned it off (you’d deal with it later) after calling an uber to your apartment.

You were jittery the whole ride, hoping that, despite the time of night, Kyungsoo was still awake. When you arrived outside your apartment building, you felt all the tension in your body ease, and you looked up to see the light on in your window. You smiled and took your suitcase handle in hand and ventured into the building, greeting the old lady at the desk.

Riding the lift up to your apartment nearly had you pacing and you almost ran down the hallway towards your door, quickly knocking. You felt the reverberations in the floorboards as Kyungsoo walked over to the door and a sense of euphoria filled you at the familiarity.

The door was barely open before you launched yourself at Kyungsoo, his heavenly laughter filled your ears as he caught you. You quickly found yourself in a kiss before pulling back and peppering kisses all over his face, finding his giggles more lovely than his singing.

You both pulled back just to look in eachothers eyes and you smiled simultaneously.

“I love you.” You muttered, the happiness from the day finally catching up to you.

“I love you too.” He whispered, tilting his head before going in for another kiss.

“You know.” He began later that night, when you were just lying in bed cuddling together. You turned your head from its position on his chest to look at him, his eyes remaining on the roof.

“I think I won in the end.” You immediately reared your head back, prepared to object at the sheer wrongness of his answer. He anticipated this though and dropped his hand from where it was combing through your hair to your mouth. He also dropped his head as to make eye contact.

“You stuck by me through everything. Even though you had to lie almost every day and had to listen to millions of rumours about me with other people, you still stayed with me. You learned a whole other language just to know people who knew me. Nothing I will ever say will ever put into perspective how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me. The way you’ve loved me will be comparable to nothing other than how much I’ve loved you.” His heartfelt speech made your head vibrate and a few tears left your eyes at his words, him kissing each one away.

You whined deep in the back of your throat and he released a laugh at your response.

“You could’ve just said ‘I love you’.” You said quietly.

“That’s true too.” He said, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

ahh it's over! dividers from this post btw, it's 11:59 pm let me sleep.

428 notes · View notes

peachenle · 1 year

Text

captain’s log

pairing: park sunghoon x fem!reader

genre: college!au | fratboy!au | sexual themes (minors DNI)

word count: 8.7k

warnings: lots of drinking, profanity, a tiny bit of sexual content, suggestive language, sunghoon biceps, y/n is a serial party-goer, fake frats, lots of semi-unhumorous banter, ft le sserafim bc i needed more characters

༄࿔˚✧ synopsis: “If you’re trying to be subtle about checking me out, it’s really not working.” You were too drunk to care, and met his eyes, “Yeah, yeah you caught me. Life’s more fun without subtlety.”

The captain's log is a form of record-keeping used by sailors to keep track of incidents, such as weather, ship sightings, and any other information about the vessel and her passengers.

CAPTAIN’S LOG ENTRY 11:30 pm please I beg of a crumb of pussy

read the continuation of captain’s log here.

It took you approximately 46 seconds to sober up after the first whoop of the sirens outside the house. Red and blue lights peeked through the cardboard panels that were haphazardly stuck in between the blinds of the windows. From the continuing booming music, the thundering steps of the dance floor, and the bumping bodies, you realized you were one of very few to realize that the party was getting rolled. And you did not want to be caught in the mess of policemen shining flashlights into mascara stained faces.

You dragged your friend Yunjin out from the middle of the dance floor, much to her disappointment as she was swaying with one of the execs in the fraternity, and snuck onto the back porch. You two stumbled into a few couples who also had their fun interrupted by the sirens. Yunjin peeked around the side of the house and groaned, “It’s always the NKT parties that get shut down so early. Heeseung and I were finally dancing!”

Seeing her pouty face, you laughed, “And he’s literally the only reason we keep coming back. Their good music cannot justify the sins that occur in that household.” While NKT had some of the wildest hazing stories, their alumni donated well to your university, so it was easy to overlook.

You and Yunjin were crouched by a bush in the house’s side yard. She whispered, “Liar, you were so into President Jeno before…”

You snickered and responded, “Okay, and I still am, but he never comes to parties anymore. Plus, you did not just call him president.”

She laughed. “That’s who he is!”

The music shut off abruptly and you rolled your eyes after hearing screams from the partygoers. That meant most of the officers were likely already in the house yelling at kids to leave, so you and Yunjin quietly went through the side fence of the house to make it into the street.

Frat row wasn’t too far from your shared dorm with Yunjin, so you two opted to trudge through the neighborhood in your short skirts rather than call a taxi. It wasn’t until your head hit the pillow that you realized you were still very drunk. The you of tomorrow morning would not be happy.

Parties weren’t your thing until Yunjin joined a sorority this year and dragged you to come to a few, and you realized just how fun it was to be the messy one for once. You thought this was her way of trying to lull you into her sisterhood, and whether it actually was or not, you didn’t mind. It was funny to watch the unknowing first year frat pledges hit you with all sorts of philanthropy collab ideas at parties after you lied and introduced yourself as the president or outreach chair of some random sorority.

The next day, a Friday, you woke up with a throbbing migraine and with leftover eyeliner smudged on your pillow. You definitely missed your 10 am tutorial. Much to your surprise, you found Yunjin already awake, typing away at her desk, equipped with a sheet mask. She, too, missed her morning class.

After you returned from a shower, you called out to your roommate, “Wanna hit the dining hall for-” you looked at the clock, showing a valid 12:11pm at this point “-for lunch?”

Yunjin did not bother to look away from her laptop, “Can’t! But can you get me a sandwich or something? I have this killer paper due and I need to finish it before we go out tomorrow.”

You stared at her blankly, not that she would be able to see it, “What do you mean go out? Again?”

She stopped, “Why are you acting surprised?”

“I just assumed you’d want to go out with your sisters or something.”

“You know I prefer you,” she pointed a finger gun at you dramatically, “and you can’t admit that to anyone or else we’d both die. Also, this is a homecoming party of a frat house neither of us have been to yet! I don’t want to miss out.”

You thought about the long week ahead of you as you shoveled food onto your plate. You forgot to ask where Yunjin was planning on taking you, but it mattered less in comparison to the assignments you wanted to get ahead on before the weekend’s festivities took you completely. While you were wrapping up a sandwich and some food for Yunjin, as if on cue, she texted you.

you remember that Heeseung is in the hockey club right? he just invited us to a party at their house tonight … come thru?

“I think you have a problem, another weekend like this and you’re going to have to pay for my liver transplant,” you said to Yunjin when you returned.

She stuck her tongue at you and threw a crop top your way, “Take this as a gift in return for the food! And you’ll be wearing it tonight, thank you very much.”

---

Midterm season was upon you and with the addition of a frat-not-frat sanctioned event courtesy of Yunjin, you needed to get as much work done as possible. You made a deal with yourself that you’d complete at least one of two of your pending report papers, otherwise, no new frat homecoming party tomorrow.

You managed to find a table by the south side windows of the science library, and laid out your necessary notebook and textbook for the treacherous anthropology report you were about to bullshit the hell out of. Two hours into your frantic typing and at least 30 Google tabs later, you realized that one of the sources you wanted to use was locked online, and all the “legal” databases to surpass the paywall didn't have it available. Upon closer inspection, the source’s website indicated that it was available at certain universities, including yours.

You decided to take a break from typing. Your lingering hangover and the eye strain from your laptop screen were begging for a rest. So you cleaned your table and went to find someone to help you find the book you needed.

There was a crowd of 4 boys around the circulation desk, cackling over things unknown to you, and definitely distracting the boy working at the counter. They were exuding mischief, one of them trying to reach over to clack on a computer, and you recognized the one of them, Jake, jumping to sit on top of the counter. You stood in line, scrolling through your phone as you waited to be called to get help.

The areas of the library where the IT and circ desk were not necessarily meant to be quiet places, but you were surprised the group of boys didn’t get scolded considering how they were holding up the line.

A student walked by and shushed the group, interrupting them as they were doing their best to ruffle the boy’s hair over the counter. They scoffed at the passerby, but lowered their voices. You took this as an opportunity to clear your throat, finally grabbing the attention of the circ desk worker. He offered you a sheepish smile and shooed away his friends. The boy was about a head taller than you, sporting a black distressed long sleeve and now haphazardly messy hair.

“Oh, sorry babe - didn’t see you there,” snickered one of the boys. He had sharp features and a confident smirk. The group stepped backward to let you through to the counter.

The boy behind the counter shot the other guy a glare after that comment and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry about my friends; how can I help you?”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes and shoot a glare yourself, choosing to ignore the group. “Seems like you're new here or something. They seem to be excited to visit you.” You glanced pointedly, as two of the guys had their phones out, likely taking a picture of their friend.

The boy extended a hand out to try to cover his exasperated face from their photos.

You continued, holding up your phone to reveal a screenshot from the library website, “Wondering if this book was still available?” The boy squinted and nodded silently, typing away on his computer to look it up.

“Yeah, it is. We have one copy on the 4th floor. Are you familiar with how the books are sorted here?”

“Honestly no, I usually use stuff online, so this would be the first time I check out something from the library.”

The boy smiled in understanding, then glanced between you, his friends - now distracted by a couple girls you recognized from Yunjin’s sorority, and the empty line behind you. “I can help you find it, if you’d like?”

You gave him a small smile, “Yes, that’d be really helpful.”

“Sunghoon, by the way. And you were right, it's technically my first day off of training,” he said as he met you on the other side of the counter, by the elevators. Seeing him up close, there was no point in denying that he was cute, especially with the furrow in his brow he wore due to the thought of his friends. His friend group were still talking to the girls, one of them with an arm shamelessly around one of their waists. Sunghoon looked exhausted, but amused, just looking at them.

You laughed as you introduced yourself too. “Don’t worry, I get it. My roommate ate at my old part-time job every day I was working for the first month. Just try not to let them get you fired,” you advised jokingly.

The conversation between Sunghoon and you flowed smoothly. Over hushed whispers through the library shelves, you learned he transferred to your university that semester, and was studying Kinesiology.

“It’s kind of a jock major, I was surprised,” he muttered as he ran his fingers over the spines of some books, turning his head sideways to read the titles.

You frowned, “Why? You don’t play sports?”

“It’s not that, I just wasn’t expecting to have to take activity classes. It’s like high school P.E. all over again.”

Even though he was matching the library volume, Sunghoon was soft spoken, and he was funny without trying. You explained how you were studying Human Biology with a minor in anthropology, and he picked at your brain about the paper you were writing.

“No, Sunghoon, sociology and anthro are not the same.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Wait really? I took a socio class before and it’s literally what you’re describing.”

“I think you should stick to your kines classes.”

Sunghoon hummed. “We’d probably take some physio classes together, I reckon?” He suggested, realizing the science similarities in your degrees.

“Oh! Yeah, you’re right.” Judging on how well you two were talking even in this short amount of time, you added, “Maybe we can study together or something.”

A pause.

Sunghoon was distracted, squinted behind you at something. You bit your lip to try to ignore the disappointed pang in your chest and your internal facepalm for trying to make a pass at the cute boy from the circ desk. Following his gaze, you realized that he had found the book you two were looking for.

Your mild small talk continued during the walk back to the circ desk, and you exchanged goodbyes after he assisted in checking out the book for you, his group of friends no longer in sight.

“Hope I’ll see you around,” Sunghoon waved.

You spent the rest of the afternoon holed up at your desk in your dorm room, typing, flipping through pages, and blasting audible adderall playlists out loud. And from the corner of your eye, you could see that Yunjin was doing the exact same.

The two of you finished around the same time, and decided to bring food from the dining hall into your dorm to eat while you and a couple of Yunjin’s sisters pregamed for the night. You decided to omit your encounter with a cute boy in the library while you guys were discussing your afternoons.

Yunjin was laughing, “We were literally so crazy, rapid fire typing next to each other while Y/N’s stupid Mario Kart songs were playing.”

Mouth full with pizza, you argued, “Don’t act like that music didn’t help us finish our papers. This could’ve been avoided, but you want to drink at every opportunity possible.”

She mocked your tone, “Don’t act like you don’t feel the same!”

The other girls, Chaewon and Kazuha, giggled at your dynamic, and poured everyone another round of shots.

---

The hockey club was basically a fraternity of its own, Chaewon explained to you as you all arrived, just less exclusive. It was a place for brothers in different frats to have their own camaraderie between each other, and their parties were open to anyone. You could feel the vibrations of the music’s bass in your ribcage.

As you three pushed through the crowd into the kitchen, Yunjin off to find Heeseung, Kazuha pitched in, “I heard one of the players that just graduated agreed to supply all the alc tonight.” You stared at the tubs of jungle juice and the tens of lingering bottles on the back counter. Even the sink was filled with beers and seltzers.

“He must be fucking rich,” Chaewon yelled over the music.

“Mark definitely comes from a wealthy family,” shouted a voice next to you. You turned and realized it was a boy from the library, one of Sunghoon’s friends. He smiled, and leaned in closer to make sure you heard each other, “Library, right?”

You did your best to ignore the two piercing stares behind your head from your girl friends, and nodded. He was dressed in a sailors outfit, white yacht cap and all. You could smell the whiskey from his breath.

“Jay,” he extended a hand to each of your friends and flashed Chaewon the same confident smirk you saw at the library. “Would you all like a drink?”

“Y/N.” You shook his hand and despite the alcohol flowing in your veins, you replied, “I think we know better to not accept drinks from strangers.”

He teasingly frowned, “Hey, we’re on a first name basis; I’d think we’re at least friends now. Right?”

Chaewon gently nudged you with her elbow, sending you a hint. “Surprise us,” she said.

You took a deep breath before downing the cocktail Jay put together, a mix of coke and Hennessey. Mark, whoever he was, really was rich.

Safe to say it was just you and Kazuha left for this part of the night; you didn’t mind when your friends found boys to dance with, there was plenty of alcohol and music for you to have fun yourself. At some point in the night, Chaewon wove herself back through the crowd to find you two, her hair a little displaced and more intoxicated than you last saw her. She brushed it off as “It’s hot in here!” even though you caught a glimpse of her following a boy in a yacht cap. You left the dance floor to find the bathroom, heading to the front of the house where you saw a line of people before.

The music was quieter here, though the front of the house was still crowded with people cheering and laughing, at least you felt like you could hear your own thoughts again.

You cringed seeing the line of people all waiting for the bathroom. Desperately, you looked around a couple hallways for another open bathroom, but all other doors and staircases in the house sectioned off with caution tape. There were too many drinks in your body, you had to go.

“Now it looks like you’re the one new here.”

You turned around to meet eyes with Sunghoon’s neck, he was awfully close. He took a half step back upon seeing your surprised eyes, but gave you a smile.

“I didn’t know you were in the hockey club?”

“I know the guys - a bunch of jocks in my classes, remember?” Sunghoon looked more relaxed. His outfit looked identical to Jay’s, also sporting the yacht hat. You could see that his hair was now styled and less messy than what you had seen in the library earlier. And considering the heat of the house and your own sweat that clung to your forehead, you were surprised to still catch a whiff of his cologne. His white shirt was loosely buttoned, revealing several inches of his chest, his skin smooth. Sunghoon leaned down to whisper, “If you’re trying to be subtle about checking me out, it’s really not working.” He smelled strongly of coconut rum, explaining his boldness.

You were too drunk to care, and looked him right in his eyes, “Yeah, yeah you caught me. Life’s more fun without subtlety.” You grinned, “So what’s with the outfits?”

“The boys wanted to match, Naughty Nautical was their wording,” he shook his head with a smile. He noticed the quirk of your eyebrow, “and no, I’m still not on the team.” Sunghoon motioned to a long strip of poster paper hanging on a wall by a clock near the stairs. He pulled you towards it to get a better look at what was written. “You didn’t see the ship decor?”

---

CAPTAIN’S LOG

10:05 pm - You must refer to each player as Captain or Sailor tonight, or you will be kicked out.

10:06 pm - HOUSE SHOT

10:07 - TEAM SHOT

10:10 - LADIES SHOT HAHA

10:32 - Tri Delt is here!! <3 :)

10:33p who asked -Heeseung BRUH LMAO -jake

10:46 - HOUSE SHOT NUMBER IDK :D

10:52PM - ur gonna regret letting the freshman riki in >:)

10:58 pm - Riki just ate shit on the stairs -JW

11:12 pm - FUCK I MISSED 11:11, but I still wish for pu$$y

11:20pm - LOL Same.

11:23 pm- i a m drunk ..

11:30 pm please I beg of a crumb of puss for my boy Jay please add him on snap here: jjongseong420

You reach over to scribble something on the log too.

12:34 AM - where is the bathroom

Sunghoon laughed and offered a hand for you to take. You were surprised that his fingers intertwined with yours, Am I about to get laid tonight? you drunkenly thought to yourself.

Sunghoon lifted a strip of caution tape for you to duck your head under first, before following suit himself. You let go of his hand to grip the stairs’ side rail and heard him stifle a laugh or two behind you as you stumbled up. The first bathroom you two encountered was unlocked and you quickly shut it as soon as you opened it. You clenched your eyes and paused for a second to convince yourself that you did not just witness your best friend’s naked limbs woven between those of the frat boy she’s been talking about for the past couple of days.

Sunghoon didn’t take the hint and laughed out loud, “Holy shit, was that Heeseung?”

“I think I’ll need another drink after that. Maybe a whole bottle.” Sunghoon kept laughing at that.

After finding an actual available bathroom, you found Sunghoon waiting for you, typing on his phone with one hand, and carrying an unopened bottle of Malibu in the other.

“Ask and you shall receive,” he smiled, raising the bottle when he noticed you stepped out.

Your eyes widened, “Jesus, I didn’t mean I wanted to actually drink a whole bottle.”

“No, stupid,” Sunghoon chuckled. He was certainly more playful when he was drunk. “I was going to share this with you, and offer you to take the rest home.”

You rolled your eyes, but smiled. “Well, at least you chose my favorite.” Your hearing was a bit muffled after making it somewhere where the beats of the songs didn’t ring your eardrums. “This house is nice enough to have a balcony somewhere, right?”

Sunghoon nodded, “Follow me.”

The balcony was accessed through one of the bedrooms down the hall, you stared at the width of Sunghoon’s shoulders as you walked behind him. You didn’t say much as you two sat on the bench outside, overlooking the front yard. There were other patrons loitering outside, a beer pong table set up, and a couple or two making out by the fences. The midnight breeze lightly shook the branches within your reach.

Sunghoon was pretty much a stranger for all you knew, yet you didn’t mind letting him take you through the house. At least he was a very cute stranger, he seemed different from the other boys you’ve met at parties so far. By now, considering you two had been alone for a while, any other boy would probably have tried to stick his tongue in your mouth. And yet, the conversation continued as smoothly as before, or well as smoothly as a pair of intoxicated students could manage. Sunghoon talked about a story or two about some of his friends, and you told him about why you chose to pursue your minor in addition to medicine.

“It’s just fun to get away from the quantitative stuff, and learn more about the human experience,�� you babbled. “I want to apply to this abroad program in Prague, where you spend 2 weeks on an archeology site.”

Sunghoon stared at you, amused, “It’s kind of ironic that you wanna dig up dead bodies, while learning how to treat live ones.”

You bumped his shoulder with yours, and watched as Sunghoon took a couple more swigs right from the bottle before offering it to you, letting his fingers graze yours for a couple seconds too long. You could still feel the rage of the party downstairs, and you found it nice to be away from the center of it.

“So, do you at least play hockey with them? Or is your friendship with the team solely professional and from class?”

Sunghoon smiled, “No, not a hockey person. We’re solely transactional, I do well on our group projects, and they give me free alc.”

You nodded, seemed reasonable to you.

He made a face at how you accepted that so quickly, “But no, yeah, I also help them train. I’m an assistant coach on the side? At the rink downtown?”

“I know our hockey team is mostly composed of skinny boys, which is already unusual… But you?” Your eyes traced down his slim figure, “A coach?”

He poked your forehead, “Hey, I know my way around a puck better than half those guys. But nah, I figure skate. Help kids break into their first set of skates. But with the team, it’s usually to help with movement, speed training.”

“Damn, I didn’t think you could get any hotter,” you blurted out, honestly surprised. Usually you’d feel at least some regret admitting that, but the way Sunghoon’s ears burned red? Priceless.

“It’s not something I really admit; I got teased a bit before I got close to the guys. Had to score a couple goals against those bastards before I got them to admit a triple axel was cooler than any dekes they’ve learned.” He smiled faintly.

“You finished your paper, yeah?” You let him change the subject a couple beats later.

“Yup, that book really helped.” Sunghoon lulled his head around with the faint music, “I was just cruising right after we found it.”

“Hmm, I feel like I deserve a reward for helping you.” You know what, maybe you were a bit wrong about Sunghoon. Maybe it was the alcohol, but he didn’t seem that soft spoken as when you met him earlier that day. You were suddenly aware of how much his leg burned against yours.

“I mean, I can think of some ways,” you slurred, the liquid confidence drawing out each syllable, the words leaving your mouth before you could think of the cringe it would cause you the next morning. Sunghoon was unabashedly staring at your lips and you couldn’t resist yourself from smiling. Maybe he wasn’t so different, but you didn’t mind.

It was he who made the first move, his hand pressing lightly on your thigh as he leaned towards you. You fluttered your eyes shut, fully anticipating his lips against yours, only to open your eyes in confusion a few seconds later after nothing. He was biting his lip to not burst out laughing, his hand now stroking the top of your thigh. “Sorry, I just- it’s fun to tease.”

You squinted your eyes at him, and pulled his hand off your thigh. His eyes widened as you moved to straddle him, the poor bottle of Malibu tipping over to flavor the balcony with coconut. “Try to tease me again and you’ll see.”

Any ounce of his playfulness was erased, one hand rushing to grab your hip and the other reaching for the side of your face. He sealed his lips over yours and you eagerly tangled your fingers in his hair, knocking over his stupid boat captain hat.

You felt his tongue press into your mouth and you let him in, your lips moving messily against his. You let out a groan as his hips grinded underneath you and you felt him smile.

You held onto a shoulder and one of his biceps, feeling it tense as he pushed your ass further down onto him. His other hand moved from your jaw to the front of your neck and you let out a loud whine; this time Sunghoon pulled away with a short chuckle, cocky as hell, whispering, “Be careful. The people under the balcony might hear you.”

“Jeez, Sunghoon, are you an exhibitionist or something?” You teased.

His fingers, now brushing the front of your throat. Under the dim light of the moonlight you could see the swell of Sunghoon’s parted lips. He playfully rolled his eyes and scoffed, but said nothing.

You smirked and continued, “I only want you to hear.” And you swore you felt Sunghoon throb under you.

He picked you up, which seemed easy for him, given his arms, and carried you back into the bedroom - whose ever it was. He reconnected your lips, a hand sliding underneath your skirt as soon as your back hit the sheets of the bed. You pushed him off for a second, your hands clumsily reaching for the buttons of his shirt, eager to feel what was underneath. He watched as you traced your hands up his now bare chest, and you pulled him back in. He pulled the strap of your tank down, exposing more of you as he traced his lips, then his tongue, down your skin. You felt the graze of his teeth and you drew in a sharp breath.

Though you had to help him with the clasp of your bra with a giggle from you and a shut up from him, his tongue moved expertly over your chest. Sunghoon’s other hand pressing into you over your panties, and as he began to tug on them to free you, you couldn’t help but push your hips up to rush him, eager for his touch.

And as you felt his fingers slip inside of you, the door swung open, another busy pair of bodies stumbling towards the bed. And, obviously in the darkness, you screamed, but so did Sunghoon. And so did the other couple. “Wait… Sunghoon?” The guy said, his voice sounding surprised and almost proud?

Surely you couldn’t show your face at the hockey house anymore after this, you thought to yourself as you hurriedly clothed yourself, thankful you were only topless.

It was your first time getting walked in on, and considering what you witnessed earlier that night, at least you and Yunjin had a common story to laugh about tomorrow morn- err afternoon. After pushing out of the bedroom, Sunghoon, however, was still burning red, maybe from the alcohol, but also the embarrassment. You laughed as you poked his cheeks.

“Well, I guess you should be out there with your friends, doing keg stands or something?” You asked.

He chuckled too, thankful you were nonchalant about everything, and leaned down to kiss you again. His lips were gentle this time, and still sweet from the liquor. He held your hand as you headed down the stairs together. Your activities sobered you up so you two headed to the kitchen for more fuel, finding Yunjin and the other girls. After a couple more drinks with your girls, you didn’t even notice that Sunghoon had left your side at some point. Craning your neck over the still plenty of dancing bodies, you frowned, unable to see his tall self.

Yunjin noticed your disappointment, side eyeing the crowd as well. “Who was that guy you came down with?”

“Just met him today, he’s no one I guess.”

---

CAPTAIN’S LOG

1:32a WHO TOOK MY FUCKING LEFT SHOE -yangyang :(

1:40am - I have a small peen -jisung (Delta Rho Pledge Class)

2:02a - LOL YO SUNGHOON VIRGINITY IS NO MORE! VIRGIN

2:20am - ^ NO FUCKIN WAY HOON???

2:33 am - ^ IT WAS ME I TOOK IT LOL -JAKE

WAIT THE SHOE NOT THE VIRGINITY

---

And again, you and Yunjin opted for stumbling through the dark neighborhood back to the dorms instead of calling a cab, the other girls begrudgingly joining you.

Yunjin slurred, “I can’t wait for the morning recap later,” her body landing on her bed with a soft thud.

You giggled at the thought of it too, although you frowned at the memory of Sunghoon leaving you in the middle of the night. It wasn’t wrong of you to be disappointed that he didn't want to continue what you had started, right? You thought of your conversations throughout the night, and even in the morning when you had first met him, wondering if you said something wrong. You grumbled in bed, bothered by how he made you question yourself, even though he knew you for less than a day. Just another night at a party, you convinced yourself, before drifting to sleep.

You woke up nauseous, your instincts kicking you out of bed to run to the toilet. After seemingly endless minutes of gagging and thoughts of regret, you lifted your face out of the toilet to see Yunjin in the doorway, looking at you pointedly.

“Damn, you had fun,” you muttered, letting out a pained giggle after seeing the marks on her neck.

She scoffed, helping you up from the floor to stand behind you in the mirror. “Look at yourself.” While not as dark or as many as hers, you traced a finger where some red bruises were trailing your collar.

After a hot shower and plenty of water, you met up with the other girls at the dining hall for breakfast. Yunjin and Chaewon were obnoxiously laughing, recounting the story about some freshman tumbling down the stairs in a Sailor Moon costume.

Chaewon laughed, and paused to think. “I learned that I might not be into roleplay as much as I thought.”

“No…” You glanced around, looking out for any eavesdroppers.

“He kept the hat on and referred to himself as Captain before he went down on me.”

Yunjin gagged. “My biggest takeaway from last night? I guess, him… the biggest…”

It was your turn to gag.

The other girls continued to pry for more detail, and you got up to get some more water before they could pounce on you for your story. Your headache was pretty much gone at this point, but the nauseous feeling lingered. You spotted a boy with dark hair by the drink station and felt your nausea take a turn.

“Hey,” you gave Jake a small smile. He was in your major, so you had chatted with him a few times in some shared classes. “Was wondering if you knew how that freshman was doing?”

Jake turned and looked at you, and snorted as he tapped on his phone to bring up an image of the poor child, Riki, he told you was his name, tumbling down the stairs in a skirt. “The attention he’s getting from that is distracting him from his concussion.” He tapped again to show a Snapchat story of the boy himself, the tools of a hospital examination room behind him, with the caption i’m ok. “See you at the HYB house tonight? I’ll make sure there's enough Malibu,” he flashed you a vague smile and walked off.

You frowned as you made your way back to your table, eager stares from the girls. “My night was uneventful! My takeaway is that it is far more fun to dance with you guys, than to be off in the corner with some guy,” you stated as you sat down. It was true - hookups weren’t ever on your party itineraries. Kazuha and Chaewon cheered you for that, but you met your best friend’s eyes and knew she was going to spare you just this time.

Jake’s comment bugged you the rest of the meal and continued through the rest of the afternoon, as you tidied your room and finished a bit of schoolwork. Give it up for frat boys to talk about you as soon as you part ways.

Since there was always room for school work to be completed, you decided to squeeze in some time at your usual library spot. As you passed the circulation desk, you half-heartedly snuck a peek to check who was working. For better or for worse, not who you were looking for.

The rest of the afternoon was less eventful, no need for Mario Party music to help you get through the last bits of a paper. Tonight’s pregame squad was larger than last time’s, with the inclusion of Kazuha’s classmate Sunoo and his best friend, the villain of the other night, Riki.

Yunjin groaned, “Are you sure they’ll even let you in?” She gave you a look that screamed, can you believe this kid? And you just laughed because forcing beef with a freshman was not something you were expecting to see from her tonight.

Riki squinted at her, “I know you. And I’m closer to Heeseung-hyung than you think, so you better watch it.”

Yunjin cleared her throat, “Alright, fine, but if they close the door on your face? I’m not gonna turn back.” Riki faked a smile and continued to sip from his solo cup.

The rest of your friends were finishing their makeup, taking shots, and obnoxiously laughing. “You know,” Yunjin pulled you to the side, “You never explained who you were really with last night.”

“You know it’s a peeve of mine to share everything I do with boys.”

“Hey! I’m just wondering if I need to keep an eye out for someone, in a good or a bad way.”

“Park Sunghoon, another kines major and groupie of the hockey team.”

Yunjin nodded slowly, obvious she was wracking her brain through all her social circles to determine what she knew of him. “Newest HYB pledge. Transfer. Ridiculously good looking and a rare attendee of HYB events - he barely rushed but he got a bid because everyone liked him so much anyway.” She paused, “I’ll err on the side of red flag since he’s too incognito in Greek, but he’s hot so just have fun?”

“Not sure if I’m going to try to indulge in that again. Didn’t even know he was in the frat. He seemed… like he thought he was above that mentality.” Yunjin gave you a side-squeeze, and a couple more glugs of her vodka concoction into your cup.

“He sure as hell looks the part though. That’s what makes ‘em fun.”

The HYB house was larger than any frat home you’d stumbled your way into. It included a nice, curved driveway - now crowded with shivering bodies - and a stairway entrance. Several signs, - in the chic-est of spray paint on bedsheet - cursing out your university rival, lined the top floor’s windows. And much to your chagrin, considering the run-in you had today, you saw that Jake was one of the door guys.

Your friends were going over the plan on how to get Riki in, “They’ve been begging Sunoo to rush HYB, so if they come in a pair, surely they couldn’t turn him down,” Kazuha rationalized.

Chaewon was doubtful, “Boy doesn’t know his tolerance, they might see him as a liability.”

“Can’t you just pass the door guy a couple bills and call it a night?”

“Bitch, I’m literally broke. If they say no, I’ll just sneak in from the side.”

“Well, well, well.” Jake looked your group up and down with a smirk. “Now y’all look like a bunch of troublemakers. Wait,” his eyes locked onto Riki, who was (mind you, 6 ft tall) subtly hiding behind Sunoo. “You ladies can go in, but I’m gonna have to ask about the boys.”

Sunoo rolled his eyes, “Look, we brought three girls, surely the ratio will be fine.”

“Hey Sunoo, I’m jus-”

Yunjin pulled you into the house, and hissed “I said I would not look back and I meant it.”

You were astonished by the glory of the inside. The historic style of the outside contrasted with the dark and sleek minimalism of the inside. They had invested in Real Quality strobe lights and a dedicated raised platform for the DJ set. The girls reflected your awe just the same.

HAPPY HOMECOMING was spelled out in much nicer fashion, on poster paper rather than bedsheet, along the second floor ledge.

Due to the nature of the event, the kitchen - just as pristine and sleek as the front of the house - was filled to the brim with bottles and fiending students. Frat boys were behind the island dishing out drinks.

“Heeseung’s not coming?” You asked Yunjin.

She shook her head, “His frat’s having a party at their house too, but this house is far nicer so naturally I chose HYB.” And judging by the line you saw outside and the amount of bodies pressing against you, so did everyone else.

An older looking boy even introduced himself to your group, a sober safety bro as he said, and offered a hit of his vape.

You’d be lying if you said that the possibility of Sunghoon being here (which was at least 90%) didn’t kind of bother you. Even amidst the dance floor, your eyes did an occasional scan of the perimeter. If it was paranoia or hope, you couldn’t tell the difference. You saw your genetics TA, some girls from your dorm suite, and, wait, is that Riki helping out the DJ?

Even Chaewon noticed your scanning and shoved her cup in your face, a universal signal to chill out, and enjoy the night.

It was a good time for a refill. The crowd to get drinks was less packed, but still full enough to block your vision of who was pouring.

You were using your front camera to fix an eyelash before realizing you had made your way to the front. Your vision of your reflection was immediately replaced with the embarassed? expression of Sunghoon as soon as you put your phone down.

“What can I get for you?” He slightly yelled over the music.

“Rum and Coke,” You heard yourself stammer, and hoped it would be mistaken for a drunk stumble.

Sunghoon nodded. “Yes, mommy,” he visibly cringed as you blinked at him. “Ugh, sorry, the pledges have to call the girls that tonight.” He turned around to pour your drink. You, too, turned to look the other way.

If it was any other guy, you’d be laughing, but seeing him again made you feel awkward enough already. The addition of frat pledge hazing was NOT helping.

“Here you go,” Sunghoon passed you the cup. And you stared at the clear liquid inside.

“This isn’t-“

“It’s Malibu,” he said with a smile and turned to help the next person in line.

Your many drinks later helped soothe you to your normal self, enjoying the moment with closed eyes, swaying your body next to your friends’.

At some point you and Yunjin decided to take a break from the dance floor and explore the house. “Some of Heeseung’s bros are banned from this house so they asked for pictures,” she whispered, ungracefully taking pictures of semi-occupied hallways and rooms with flash. You were so embarrassed for her.

She snickered going through the ones she just took. “This photo is so creepy; there’s a guy just sitting in this room alone, like a stalker.” The irony zipped above her head.

You two began to make your way back to the action. The DJ was hyping up the house, the music stopped - getting everyone to chant profanities about your rival school. Yunjin quickly rejoined the crowds, leaving you to stroll in through the kitchen without her.

You watched the back of Sunghoon’s figure as he poured a drink for himself, then raised his cup with the rest of the party in a cheer. He was so good-looking, even from behind.

Your mind reeled, you two hooked up and surely anyone would be willing to continue what… (rather, who) didn’t finish, right? Maybe it was self indulging, maybe it was the alcohol, but you didn’t want to stop your gravitation towards him. It was past 2am, surely you waited long enough.

“Hey again,” you said simply, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Hello, mo- Oh. Hey, Y/N.” He sighed.

You withheld your cringe. “Didn’t know you were a pledge,” you half lied (You knew.. you just learned a few hours prior!).

You were thankful that the people coming into the kitchen for refills were grabbing beers, rather than asking for mixed drinks. Sunghoon’s avoiding eyes told you he felt differently.

“It’s still a new development to me.” He was being so awkward, unlike the ramble-y, giggling Sunghoon you were with less than 24 hours ago.

“Am I speaking to Park Sunghoon, or did I meet someone entirely different last night?” You blurted out.

He offered you a polite smile, “Sorry, I just don’t really know how to go about this.”

Oh god. He was going to give you a rejection speech - a babble about how one night is one night, and how he isn’t interested in anything more. Your heart panged, were you getting desperate? Sure, you met him only yesterday, but getting ghosted already - he barely gave you any time to even recover.

He took your hand to pull you to a quieter side of the room. “Alright, if you’re not interested anymore I get it, I’m an adult, you can be straight up.”

“No! It’s not that,” Sunghoon stared at your sleeve. “It’s just that I wasn’t sure how to act… hooking up with someone at a party isn’t at all my type of thing.”

You resisted to quirk your brow at Sunghoon-the-alleged-not-frat-bro, frat bro. He noticed you were waiting for him to continue.

“And you… seemed like the opposite. I thought that you’d probably just leave me behind, so I decided it best to leave first.”

“I go for the music, the chaos, not the boys,” you shook your head. “But, I was kind of confused that you didn’t want to… continue?”

“Sorry for abruptly leaving, I didn’t really know what to say. Plus we were already walked in on, the guys are like helicopters over pledges - they’ll figure out everything so I - I don’t know - wasn’t sure I wanted to involve you.” He scratched his head, “I wasn’t expecting you’d come try to talk to me again.”

“Wow, Park Sunghoon, woman respecter, protecting me from the frat boy gossip.” You quipped. “You failed by the way, Jake made a comment to me earlier.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned - “It’s because of that stupid captain’s log. You should see the rest of it - Jungwon documented everything I swear.” Sunghoon stopped to look at your blank face, “I’m not giving a good explanation, am I?”

You shrugged.

“Fine. Let me make it up to you.”

You thought to yourself, now am I getting laid?

Sunghoon intertwined his fingers with yours again and you followed behind him this time up the staircase. The HYB stairs were tile, far smoother than your unsteady walk could handle. Sunghoon laughed at you, “If you’re like this walking on land, I wonder how you’d be on figure skates.”

“Are you suggesting you’d want to see me in public and on skates? And not in the haze of a dingy frat party?” You feigned surprise.

Sunghoon snickered, “Hey, our house is the least dingy in all of Greek.” He smiled again, “And yeah, I’d be down to see you without an absurd amount of coconut rum.”

You ignored the sirens going off in your brain about getting more involved with someone unpredictable like him, Yunjin’s just have fun, echoing in your head.

He unlocked a room’s door, revealing a typical single, dark bed sheets matching dark curtains. You noticed a few trophies on a shelf. Sunghoon frantically picked up stray clothes, “Sorry I don’t really, bring people back.” He looked at you as you leaned against the door frame for support, “Wait. You’ve had way more drinks than I have. I think we should just watch a movie? I set up pretty good speakers, my surround sound is elite.”

You snorted, “Woman respecter, certified.” You removed your shoes and climbed into his bed. The soft sheets felt good against your skin, the spinning of the room felt more obvious with your new position. The bed dipped as Sunghoon joined next to you, equipped with his laptop. The sirens in your head went off again as he slid an arm under you, pulling your heavy head against his chest. He still smelled of cologne - a tinge of spilled orange juice and fruity smoke, clinging gently on his shirt. You were more conscious of how you smelled to him, of coconut and pure sweat, most likely. Sunghoon gently rested his head atop yours. Oh god, there was no way he wasn’t breathing you in now.

Sunghoon mumbled, “You okay? Need water?” He was aimlessly scrolling through his front page of Netflix. You shook your head, then laughed pointing out Megamind under his Watch It Again list. He sat up, trying to cover his other recommendations that were all along the line of family movies. “It was for nostalgia, okay!”

You wrestled with his arm, revealing more of his lists. “Monster House I can get behind, but Boss Baby? Really?” He wrestled back, before he closed his laptop, suppressing his own embarrassed laughter with fake seriousness. Sunghoon climbed on top of you, lightly pinning your wrists against his sheets.

“You talk mad shit for someone who told me they listen to Mario Party music unironically.” You gasped.

“I did not tell you that! Plus, I’d rather be caught listening to Mario KART music, than watching a movie about a baby in a suit.”

Judging by Sunghoon’s expression, you knew you won that argument. He continued, “I might have asked around about you.”

You smirked, “Stalker, are we?” Then you realized, how did other people know that about you?

Sunghoon rolled his eyes, and decided against a comeback. He dipped his head to seal his lips over yours. He let go of your wrists, opting to grasp your chin with one of his hands, as his other supported his weight above you. You eagerly moved your lips against his, sighing.

Shamelessly, you mumbled against his mouth, “Couldn’t stop thinking about this.” Your arms wrapped behind his neck, tugging him closer to you.

You felt Sunghoon’s shoulders stiffen, as your lips trailed downwards, eager to trace lines against his jaw again.

“Hey,” he whispered. Your hand followed down the front of his chest, prying at the edge of his collar. “Hey-,” Sunghoon repeated, louder. He let out a soft groan, before you pulled away, satisfied.

“What?” you whispered, exasperated.

“If this is all you want from me, I can’t do that.” He said seriously. “I don’t want to just hook up with you, plus you drank too much.”

You cleared your throat. He was right, though he was just as playful, he seemed quite sober. Sunghoon resumed, “I’d like to just spend time with you, but if you’re seeking something else - no hard feelings.” You saw a gentle pout along his lips. You heard him, but you couldn’t resist placing a kiss against that pout.

“No! I don’t just want to sleep with you…” You looked at him, maybe the sirens going off in your head were just a false alarm. “Just promise you won’t ditch me?”

You felt his neck burn up, if it wasn’t for the room barely being illuminated by his digital clock on the wall, you knew his face would be flushed red. “It’d be hard to leave, considering we’re literally in my room,” he joked. He placed a kiss on the side of your mouth before lying back next to you, his arm sliding back under your head.

You giggled as you watched him quickly scroll past his Netflix recommendations, instead pulling up the anime genre page.

Eventually agreeing on watching Saiki K, Sunghoon’s gentle shaking from his quiet laughter began to lull you to sleep. Your last thoughts before sleep consumed you was how sweaty you felt with Sunghoon’s body heating you up, how you forgot to text Yunjin back about your whereabouts, and how criminal it was for someone to still smell so damn good.

Those thoughts were also the first ones that came to you as morning struck.

Much to your surprise, your head didn’t hurt, probably thanks to the water Sunghoon basically force fed you during the second episode. His arm was still under you, but he was now turned to face you, his other arm lightly draped over your frame - effectively trapping you in his arms.

You weren’t complaining.

Slowly, and quietly, you slid your hand to grab your phone in your back pocket. The most recent text from Yunjin, wear protection xx, with a selfie of her and RIki making kissing faces at the camera. Looks like their beef was relieved, you couldn’t help but to laugh out loud.

Sunghoon dipped his face deeper into your hair and neck, with a soft groan as if to shut you up.

Panic set in. You had to get out of there and shower. It would be an absolute disservice to this gorgeous man to keep allowing him to breathe you in.

You tried to shake him awake, Sunghoon pulled you tighter. You blinked at the intimacy of it all, sure he almost had his fingers inside you the other night but this felt far closer. It was pulling at your heart strings.

“Hoon, wake up, I’m stinky.”

Sunghoon mumbled, “I don’t mind.”

“Gross… I have to get to class.”

“Liar, Yunjin told me you have afternoon classes today.”

“Yunjin?” That woke him up.

He slightly pulled away, “I might have… inquired.”

You couldn’t hold back a satisfied smile. “Wow, I’ve known you for a weekend. This has to be a new record for me.”

Sunghoon brushed a few hairs out of your face. “You know, we actually met at the club fair last month.”

You tilted your head in confusion, “No, there’s no way - I definitely would have remembered you.” It was his turn to grin.

He bit his lip, “Well, it was more like I signed your friend’s petition, but you were at the table too. I was with Jake, you two were going over a lecture. You were too engrossed in genes or whatever, so I guess you didn’t notice.”

You hummed, “That lecture was so bad… Jake and I shared notes that night.” You watched Sunghoon’s now shy expression. “So a month, huh?” Maybe Sunghoon was a green flag.

Sunghoon covered his face with a hand, then teased, “Don’t forget you were all over me last night, practically begging for me.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“No, I think you just can’t remember with all that alcohol you drank.”

You squinted at his smug face, “Shall we call a truce?”

“Only if you let me take you out tonight.”

Tracing a finger along his jaw, you whispered, “That sounds reasonable.”

He grinned, placing a kiss on your cheek before getting up out of bed.

“Alright, I’ll take you home. Lord knows someone needs a shower.”

You pulled him back in bed to try to smother him with a pillow. He escaped quickly, laughing at your attempt and opting to practically pick you up. Sunghoon held your hand, leading you out of the remnants of the HYB house, only letting go for a moment to open the car door for you.

His hand found its way a top your thigh as he drove towards your dorm.

When he parked, you grabbed his phone from the cupholder, holding it out so he could punch in his passcode. Sunghoon grinned as you sent yourself a text.

“I’ll pick you up at 6?” He offered.

You returned his smile with a chaste kiss, “See you then.”

#enhypen fanfic #enhypen scenarios #sunghoon scenarios #sunghoon smut #sunghoon x reader #enhypen x reader #enhypen smut #enhypen fluff #sunghoon fluff #park sunghoon #sunghoon imagines #peachenle fic #based on actual events by me except not park sunghoon unfortunately #4:50 am user peachenle writes a story when she should be asleep #these frats are fake dont come for me #also i know nothing of hockey #fic: cl

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careydraws · 1 year

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Here's a writeup about the process of making this 12x18" poster that's in the booksamillion special edition of TAZ: the Eleventh Hour GN! It looks like there are still some available for preorder!

Long post about how I got from the initial options I sent to my editor to the final below the cut (or unlocked on my patreon here).

We found out pretty late in the life cycle of making the actual book artwork that we were going to get to do a special edition that included a poster, which was nice because it meant I had a good sense of what cool moments in the book we might want to highlight... and what existing art I might be able to use as scaffolding, because these books are on extremely tight deadlines and there was not a separate timeline for painting a whole poster. So when we can avoid doing that, it saves me a lot of time and heart/wristache... but it's not always possible! spoilers: it was not possible this time around.

I started out by sending my editor two options for poster designs: one that would save some work by letting me reuse cover & interior elements that happened to be drawn at a large size, and one that was loosely based on a page with a fun splash panel, but would require total redraw and repaint. As I said in an email,

...Unfortunately, we both agreed that the one that was going to be more work (A) was the cooler choice & would make for a better poster. Also, by this point I was thinking about doing a version of the cover for a lenticular, and I didn't want to double-dip with fun promo materials. So it goes!

The composition was off, since this was based on a comics page with, y'know, dialog and other panels on it. We talked about whether adding some kind of a text treatment might help balance it out, but ultimately,

[narrator: she would later regret this.]

ANYWAY, once I was all-in, it was time to get goin! First, I made a small color thumbnail, then scaled it WAY up for print and took it back to pencils to space out the trio & give everyone a little more room.

Next I inked and flatted it! Flatting is the only time I can really zone out & watch something while I work, it was a nice break.

Then I blocked in big hue shifts for the ground and sky; painted big shadow shapes, and drew in the text; and finally added some details like bounce light and atmospheric perspective blue shifts.

One final touch-up pass with some additional cool tones-- If I were to do this again, I might tone it down a LITTLE bit on the reflections on Magnus's gear… but then again, it looks cool, so I might not.

And there it is!

Next time I do this, I want to try to keep the initial color thumbnail much looser- I got frustrated at the rendering stage because I'd done most of the fun work of thinking about color already, and ended up feeling like I was treading the same ground twice. It's tough to find a balance between enough planning to be ready and not so much that I lose something in the work!

I'm always happy to get process questions over on patreon, it's fun to talk more about this sort of thing!

#thezonecast #taz balance #tazgn #process #taz #long post

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maggiemacabre · 13 days

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SiIvaGunner SmashUp! Behind the scenes and post-mortem

Hello folks and welcome to my new Tumblr blog. I don't know how much I'm going to actually use this thing in the future but I figure if I need it, it's here. As you can probably tell by the title, today's subject will be none other than my most recent "work", the SiIvaGunner SmashUp!

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The idea of a SiIvaGunner take on the concept of "Royal Rumble but full of stupid contestants" was in my head for a while, but the motivation to do it wasn't in place until I found Dead Meat's Horror Royal Rumble in August or September of 2023. The Jerma Rumbles and Vinewrestle were definitely also influences on the idea, but the Horror Royal Rumble was the impetus, and played a part in influencing some creative choices featured in the SmashUp (more on that later).

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After running the idea by the team and the rest of backroom, I picked up WWE 2K23 (which fortuitously was on sale that weekend) and got to work. Going in, I had next to no idea of the ins and outs of pro wrestling, which meant that I had to do a lot of research into things like the wrestlers themselves, moves, terminology, different match types, general historical stuff, how shows are actually presented, etc. This put me in a very, very deep rabbit hole which I have still not crawled out of. I even went to two house shows!

Making the wrestlers was the first step and by far took the longest amount of time out of anything, since this was the first show of its kind on the channel and required the creation of 34 unique wrestlers. Some of them were easier than others (lookin' at you AMUNO), but others such as Ninomae Ina'nis took days to complete due to the amount of detail they required. This also isn't including wrestlers who were made that got cut; some of these exclusions include Bottom G, who was left out because Andrew Tate sucks, Elly from Touhou Project, who was replaced by Sumireko, and Wood Man, who was left out for lore reasons and replaced with 8-Bit Beast in a somewhat 11th hour decision. Maybe next year?

The decision to make Hot Cross Buns and Raft Ride into women also spawned from this period. Hot Cross Buns was made first and was originally meant to show up in the Grand Rumble, but after some time I ended up deciding to move her to her own match, which became a Women's World Champion match because lol. I had to use mods to make the men and women able to fight each other, so theoretically Raft Ride could have been a man, but women are awesome.

Being an egotistical maniac, I also included some references to things I'd worked on in the past. Totino's Stadium, the arena where the match takes place, was first mentioned in the FUMO JAM ad from the DJ Professor K Day stream, and Nu Grandiose City is the city where Woodyana is from in Woodyana Stones: Raider Made of Lost Bark. Also I guess this is why Elvira was included? LOL. Fun fact: The footage of "Totino's Stadium" is actually of Gazprom Arena in Russia.

Since I was involved with the channel's MAGFest panel in 2024, I was able to announce the show months in advance, although I'm not sure how many people actually paid attention at the time. Getting a logo ready between finishing CCC and MAG was a bit tight, but thankfully it was able to be done on time, and on top of that I was able to make the big card poster thing on my own. I actually designed it to be printed, and I proposed making it a sold item, although that idea was rejected. I also came up with the date during this period, choosing the day right before the WWE Hall of Fame show, and while things got a bit close to the wire, it was luckily able to make the date and time without a hitch in the end.

After all the wrestlers were made, it was time to record and edit. I was a bit worried about my laptop overheating while doing so, but I was able to get good quality 60 FPS 1080p footage recorded without any hitches other than some human error on my end. While the controversial ending of the Grand Rumble wasn't what I had in mind, I ended up leaving it as-is for time reasons and also because it felt like a funny troll ending. Which it was! Editing was not quite as smooth since I had to go through all the footage and edit it together into a cohesive product. WWE games don't allow you to cut to entrances during a Royal Rumble, which meant that I had to record and edit those in myself. The method I ended up using resembled the one from the Dead Meat rumble mentioned earlier with cuts to the audience as the buzzer rings, although I'd like to believe I did a better job than they did with their 2024 entrances where they awkwardly cut around shots of the ring. This is also where the fun facts come from, as they are actually covering up the nameplates that show up as an alternative to cutting to the entrances.

After editing was done I got some other team members to do commentary. Thankfully I was able to get someone with wrestling knowledge, which definitely added a dimension of realism and legitimacy to the project. I don't know if I can say who the announcers are because of leaks, but if you haven't figured it out, Randall Shields is a Smash Bros. reference. Also it was the first contribution to SiIvaGunner that had "Randall" made in about half a decade. What a return!

The premiere of the project was electric. Seeing over 1.3K people tune in and get hype over something I made was incredible and made my week, if not month. I did feel a little bad about the reaction when Dream came in (💀), but other than that it was awesome. And don't worry, he won't return.

In the end, I had a lot of fun with the project and it was awesome seeing everything pay off. I want to thank everyone who helped, including the artists who designed the logos and the people who did commentary. It couldn't have come together without help and assistance from everyone, and I hope that this becomes the first in a series of similar videos.

#siivagunner #siivagunner smashup #wrestling #behind the scenes #Youtube

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wildcatfourteen · 18 days

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how do you come up with such interesting composition? your pieces are always so captivating 💗

thank youuuuuuuuuu <33 and the truth is. idk. i am kinda just winging it and making a lot of adjustments as i go.... im not very orderly about it and have my thoughts kinda all over the place. heres some examples under the cut w what process pics i could find

direction process goes >>>

first did a pencil sketch for big shapes. was just placing stuff down. i wanted to make ref sheets for an art trade but didnt want to make a traditional type bc i hate drawing ppl standing full body (bc im bad at it 👍) also i did not have specific outfits in mind and was going more for a reference of the general vibe of the characters, so i just wanted a full body pose + face close up. to avoid having to show specific details. bc i was cheating. was originally going to have multiple text bubbles around for the character facts

did like two sketches digitally. messed around a LOT with placement. the little emote heads came out of me feeling like it was empty and boring on its own and they are fun to draw so why not include them. the multiple text bubbles seemed like a bad idea now so i took them out and just did one text wall.

i actually dont like the text wall now and think breaking it up wouldve been more fun visually but that would've required effort i didnt wanna put in LOL

^ i lost the pencil sketch for this one (i always do a pencil sketch) but it was actually just the two half body drawings at first with none of that shit at the bottom or the close ups until i was like fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk i gotta add smth around to make this look like theres stuff happening..... the idea was to draw the two main characters of the labb novel in some kinda comic format w panels around and i then. kept adding things until it seemed like i was getting somewhere. thats kind of my process for everything TT i think it helps to stay in a workshopping stage for longer if needed to get somewhere but i often get impatient LOL

im putting a stupid note abt this here bc im still annoyed at myself but in this novel, there was a bit about a crossword puzzle related to a murder case and i only thought of it afterwards that it would be kinda cool to put the sugar cubes in like a crossword puzzle formation....... why didnt i do that......

^ and heres some of the process for this one, but i lost a LOT of the steps for this. the beginning was totally different. the character wasnt as pathetic and scared looking at first but then i was like uhhhhh lets draw him that way :)

the first pencil draft was from a different perspective and it was gonna have a mirror composition to it kinda? but i wasn't able to make that look appealing so i deleted it. it still had the curtains tho but then i also included stuff with framed mirrors + other frames around

i decided to instead make the curtains be the focus of the whole piece to not make it so cluttered. character's pose was so different at first it was so bad i dont even wanna remember it. i took out the frames entirely bc i didnt think they added much to the piece in terms of the atmosphere. since like. the more i worked on it w the character's + the goat's expressions the more it gave a 'being hunted' feeling to it and portrait frames dont fit that vibe. which feels funny bc u look at it and thats all u can think abt but i wasnt even gunning for that when starting out. BE FLEXIBLE. TRUST THE PROCESS.

#asks

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asaka-lucy-dr-rc · 1 month

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It was a very fun fan meeting! 🌟

▼I will post a detailed report later, but for now, just some photos and brief impressions ▼

The theater where the fan meeting was held:

Below is a photo taken near the theater where you can clearly see the Tokyo Sky Tree, one of the inspirations for the design of Kanai Tower:

------------------------ There was a display of official goods near the entrance and many fans lined up to take pictures:

The tapestry that will be a bonus for the purchase of the art book that will be released on April 2nd:

------------------------ Plushies!:

------------------------ Life-size panels of the main characters. Lots of fans lined up to take pictures of this, too, but some fans in line behind me said that Yuma looked very small. (Yes, that's right. He's only 150cm tall!)

------------------------

Overall, it is no exaggeration to say that the entire content of this event was a surprise, as there was no prior announcement of what the event would be about, but one of the most sudden announcements was that Kazutaka Kodaka would be signing autographs for those who purchased the official soundtrack at the event's merchandising. I had already bought the OST, but there was an announcement that the version signed by Masafumi Takada would be sold, so I thought I would buy one if there were any left. As it turned out, a lot of people bought the OST, probably because they could get Kodaka's autograph. And of course I bought it too.

I was very nervous to talk to Kodaka directly! but it was a very good experience XD I will make another post about this later.

------------------------

As for my impression of the event, the first thing I'd like to say is that I was very impressed. I felt the fans deeply thanking the developers and voice actors for making or working hard on RAIN CODE, and the developers and voice actors thanking the fans for playing and supporting RAIN CODE. Well, it seems kind of generic when I put it into words… but I think the event clearly showed a high level of passion for RAIN CODE.

What was particularly surprising was that the guest voice actors had probably played the game properly. I expected Katsumi Fukuhara, VA for Yuma, and Sayumi Suzushiro, VA for Shinigami, to have played the game, but I was surprised that even Yui Ishikawa, VA for Halara, and KENN, VA for Desuhiko, were able to discuss the game in detail.

And what is impressive is that they all "mentioned" a sequel. When I say "mentioned", they just said they wanted to do a sequel; unfortunately, there was no announcement that they had decided to do a sequel. But I think mentioning a sequel in front of the fans carries a different weight. Also, not just once or twice, but on various topics, Kodaka hinted at the possibility of various developments in the future. On the other hand, if something is already decided, it would be a good time to announce it at an event like this, so it is a bit sad that no concrete announcement was made, but I was very happy that all the guests showed their motivation to make a sequel.

I took notes on what they talked about and will post a report with some illustrations based on those notes. The event lasted about two hours * twice (day and night), but it was packed with a lot of topics, so it's hard to put it into text properly! But it was a lot of fun, and there are a lot of scenes I want to illustrate, so I'll post them one by one.

#rain code #short report of the fan meeting #long post #It seems a bit ironic to tag this as a long post #even though I have written a short report...

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rachaelswrites · 2 years

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First Premiere

Avengers Cast x ADHD!teen!reader

Word Count: 564

Requested By: Anonymous

another request here! again, avengers cast x adhd!reader. y/n first time of her being at the premiere, and the cast is keeping an eye on her, making sure she doesn’t get too distracted, being there on time, talking so sweet of her when they get to the q&n panel with the fans. avengers cast being really sweet, safely with her, caring etc :)

A/N: Thank you for this second request! I’m having fun writing for adhd!teen!reader so feel free to request more

Tonight was your first premiere and your first Marvel movie. You were so excited you could bounce off of the walls, which is exactly why your team was handing you off to your co-stars to handle you for the night. You didn’t mind it, since you loved all of your cast mates and that made you even more excited.

After getting hair, makeup, and wardrobe done, you took a car to the hotel where Brie was staying. You two got along well and since she saw you as a little sister, she volunteered to take you under her wing for the night.

She met you in the lobby before the two of you were going to arrive at the premiere together.

“Are you excited?” she asked, already knowing the answer. She could practically feel you buzzing in the seat next to her.

“Of course I am! I have never had this much excitement in my life. I think if anything else happened, I might combust. I mean, I still might who knows,” you rambled.

Brie laughed a little before putting her hand on your shoulder, “Just take a deep breath and relax. And, if you do interviews, try to slow down a little bit.”

“But I’m so excited, Brie! I can’t contain it,” you explained.

She laughed at you and realized she wasn’t going to be able to stop you from being excited so she didn’t bother trying anymore, “Just stick with me and don’t wander off. If I lose you, your manager will kill me.”

~~~~~

Once you got to the venue of the premiere, you did the best you could in sticking close to Brie but there were a few times when you were needed for an interview but you were off talking to fans. As long as you were in eyesight of one of your cast mates you were fine.

When you were standing near the barriers separating the fans from the carpet, everyone was heading inside but you didn’t get the memo. Mark had to go off and find you and bring you back to the rest of the cast.

“Sorry I didn’t realize you guys were leaving,” you said as you and him tried to catch up to the rest of the group.

Mark shook his head, “It’s fine Y/n. We were all kind of prepared to watch over you.”

“You know what Sebastian and Anthony threatened to do to me last week?” you asked, changing the subject quickly on accident.

“What?” he asked.

“They threatened to put me on one of those stupid kiddie leash backpacks. Mackie even sent me a link to one asking if I liked it,” you explained, “I’m not that bad am I?”

“Well, you do have a tendency to wander,” Mark replied, earning a slap to the bicep from you.

“You’re supposed to say “no Y/n. They’re being ridiculous’ not agree with them,” you pouted.

“I’m kidding, I'm kidding,” he said, rubbing the spot where you just hit him, “Jeez you hit hard.”

“Oh yeah? You should see me run across this hallway right now. We should race to the theater,” you said, already taking off your shoes so you could run easier.

“No, let's not,” Mark said.

“Too late old man,” you yelled, taking off down the hallway.

Mark sighed, shook his head again and jogged to try and keep up with you.

Taglist

Marvel

#x teen!reader #adhd!reader #marvel fanfiction #marvel #marvel cast #the avengers

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sgkophie · 2 years

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One Papaya For Me Please - Daniel Ricciardo (Part 2)

Read Part 1 HERE.

Pairing: Reader x Daniel Ricciardo , OFC x Daniel Ricciardo

Tag List: Want to join the tag list? Add yourself to my list HERE!

Warnings: smut, language, angst, fluff - we've got it all!

Rating: Mature

Synopsis: After the events last season, Poppy and Daniel agreed to just be friends. As George Russell's race engineer, Poppy wasn't ready to jump into a relationship, especially not with a McLaren driver. But after a lovely weekend in Australia with Daniel's family, the line between friends and lovers begins to blur. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad being more than friends with Daniel?

Word Count: 9300 words [because I have a problem]

AN: Hi Anon - Thanks for requesting! I decided to make this a part two of a Danny "one shot" I did! I loved that couple, and this seemed like a fun idea! Took a little liberty on this request, but I hope you still enjoy it!

We all need some DR3 love after the events of the last month!! <3

Comments always appreciated & enjoy!

Request:

The 2022 season had been phenomenal; George had won his second championship, and as his race engineer, we were becoming an unstoppable team. While I had received countless offers from other teams to leave Mercedes - many offering me senior level engineering positions and raises beyond my wildest dreams, I couldn’t find myself able to leave the team who had given me first race engineering job – or George. George had offered me the position of a lifetime to be his race engineer at the young age of 27, and I knew we had more work to do – more championships to win.

Still, I had come close to leaving Mercedes when McLaren came in with a deal almost too good to pass up – a chance to be their number 3 engineer, to sit at the head panel with Zak during races and observe both cars. Instead of being a dedicated race engineer to one driver, I’d help further develop the McLaren car concept. It would be a dream position, but something stopped me.

More like someone.

After my date with Daniel Ricciardo at the Monaco Grand Prix driver’s dinner, Daniel and I had decided to remain just friends. I could tell that he was disappointed in my decision; Daniel had done his best to be very convincing that night, but my mind was set. The life of an F1 driver’s girlfriend was tough; not something I felt I was cut out for. They were constantly analyzed, constantly evaluated against one another. I didn’t want to throw myself into the mix; being compared against a bunch of beautiful models seemed like a complete dead end to my self-esteem.

So, I told Daniel I wanted to just be his friends – it was a lie, but I knew it was the right thing to do. When McLaren came sniffing around, offering me the job, I couldn’t say yes. The idea of working with Daniel Ricciardo day in and day out was too much for me to bare. When Daniel heard about my offer from McLaren, he begged me to take it.

While Daniel had, once again, been pretty convincing after the 2022 Belgium GP, I declined McLaren’s offer the next day, much to Daniel’s disappointment. Ever since that night, I felt like our friendship had taken a bit of a left turn, which I suppose I should have expected. Daniel and I had now slept together twice – not exactly something you do with someone you want to be just friends with. We were friendly at races and parties, it was impossible not to be with Daniel, but I could feel the unspoken tension between us – the awkwardness.

As the 2023 season had begun, Daniel and I hadn’t spoken much. I suppose it made sense; we had agreed we would be friends, but the reality was, we weren’t really friends before we slept together, so there wasn’t much of a friendship to go back to. We texted occasionally, mostly him reaching out to me, asking how I was doing, but as the races in the 2023 season went on, the texts became less frequent, almost stopping entirely after the third race.

The fifth race of the season was Silverstone, and after a strong showing from Mercedes, George had managed to finish P2, just a fraction behind Charles Leclerc who had managed to squeak out P1. Silverstone was always one of the highlights of the season, especially for George Russell as a British driver. Most of the drivers stayed in the UK that Sunday, and the entire grid went out that night to a party hosted by one of the drivers. This year’s party was hosted by Lando at a club close by.

I was exhausted after the race, and truthfully, I wanted nothing more than to crash in my hotel room with a bottle of red wine and a plethora of cookies – but George and Carmen were having none of that, insisting that I join them at the Silverstone party. After a lot of begging – and more importantly, a ton of champagne – I begrudgingly said yes. Carmen came into my room about an hour before we had to go, another bottle of champagne in hand, and handed me a beautiful red dress, wiggling her eyebrows at me suggestively.

“Wear this,” Carmen demanded, “You’ll be sure to turn heads.” Carmen winked at me as she threw the dress at my shocked face. I didn’t usually wear dresses this revealing to F1 parties, especially not red ones. Unless you worked for Ferrari, red was an unspoken ‘off limits’ color. Still, I tried the dress on and as much as I hated to admit it, I looked fabulous in the red dress.

Fuck it. I hadn’t felt this sexy in a while.

As Carmen and I left the room we were getting ready in, I saw George and Carlos walk out of George’s room. The boys had been drinking beers in George’s room while we got ready in my room which was conveniently across the hall from George’s. As I stepped into the hallway, I saw Carlos’ eyes rake over my body, and I internally smirked a bit. Was this Carmen’s plan?

I knew Carmen had noticed Carlos’ expression, because she wiggled her eyebrows behind me when I turned to her, to which I just rolled my eyes in response. If Carmen thought I was going to sleep with another driver, she was out of her mind. I learned my lesson after Danny Ricciardo – drivers were off limits.

The group of us arrived at the Silverstone party just after 10pm, around the same time many of the other drivers, girlfriends and their friends arrived. Once we got there, Carlos, George, Carmen and I headed straight to the bar, ordering a few more glasses of champagne, before we ventured to a table in the corner, sitting down and chatting about the weekend.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a familiar face – Daniel and Lando had arrived, Luisa trotting shortly behind Lando, happily chatting to another woman that I didn’t recognize. After a few more moments, I saw the girl I didn’t recognize lean her head onto Daniel’s back, giving him a small snuggle, as he ordered drinks for his group at the bar. I knew it was silly how much my heart sank when I saw the woman with Daniel, chatting away to Luisa. I couldn’t expect Daniel to stay single forever. I had my chance, and I turned it down – for good reasons.

Everything within me was hoping that Daniel and Lando wouldn’t see us sitting in the back corner, but as per usual, the universe had other plans. As soon as Daniel and Lando had their drinks, I could see Lando make eye contact with Carlos, who was waving them over. My body immediately stiffened, which Carlos seemed to notice because he put an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze, pulling me closer to him.

“Come on Poppy, just because they work for McLaren, doesn’t mean you have to ignore them,” Carlos teased. Everyone in the paddock was aware of my McLaren job offer – Zak was about as subtle as the “b” in the word when it came to making McLaren’s intentions known.

I just rolled my eyes in response and motioned for him to scoot over. Carlos did so, but left his arm around my shoulders as we moved, making way for the other couples. Daniel immediately saw me and smiled, before letting his smile falter as his eyes move to Carlos’ arm around my shoulder. Carlos and I were just friends, but I could see why this looked incredibly off to Daniel. I’d made a huge deal about not wanting to date a driver, and yet here I was wearing red, all snuggled up with Carlos Sainz at a post-race party.

Still, sitting there watching Daniel with whatever-her-name-was wasn’t fun either.

Daniel slid into the booth first, sitting right next to me. He flashed me his famous Danny Ric smile before getting comfortable in the booth. Daniel and Lando had purchased a few extra bottles of champagne, and without even asking, Daniel was already filling up my glass.

“So, Poppy, you and George look like an absolute firecracker out there,” Lando commented, cooly sipping his champagne as he snuggled in a bit more with Luisa.

“It’s all her, mate,” George responded, giving me a wink and a high five, which I promptly returned across the table. “Dream team!”

“Soon we’ll make Bono and Lewis look like amateurs,” I quipped, earning me a chuckle from Carlos who was still sitting next to me, his arm still draped around my shoulders.

“Your confidence is inspiring. Although after rejecting that offer McLaren gave you, I think we’re all wondering what dirt George had on you.” Daniel said the words with jest in his tone, but I could sense the underlying meaning – the hint at me saying no to the offer.

I could see Daniel’s eyes flicker between me and Carlos for a moment, before he returned his gaze back to his drink. I knew Daniel had said his comment with the goal of getting slightly under my nerves, but today was a good day – and I was going to take the highroad. Which, if I was being honest, wasn’t as satisfactory as taking the petty road, but I figured it was worth a try.

“I feel like I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, papaya just isn’t my color. We can’t all pull it off like you and Lando.”

“I’d say red is your color, cariño,” Carlos butted in, a twinkle in his eye as he looked me up and down in my red dress. I knew I was blushing, as much as I was trying not to. “Feel free to come to Ferrari whenever you want to work with a real champion.”

“Oh, is Charles hiring a new race engineer?” Carlos rolled his eyes and gave my cheeks a light pinch as I said the teasing words, causing the entire group to laugh.

The conversation flowed a bit more, all of us chatting on about the race today before the conversation moved to the golf plans Lando, Carlos and George had tomorrow. As they continued to get more excited discussing their new golf find, Daniel turned to me, pouring me a bit more champagne.

“I’m good Danny,” I said choking, on the champing as it went down. “Any more and I’ll be tempted to start dancing on top of this table.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Danny laughed, still trying to pour a little more champagne into my glass as I pulled it away, sticking my tongue out at him. Daniel leaned down a little closer, whispering, “I like the Poppy who makes bad decisions. She somehow always ends up in my bed.”

Before I could retort something back to Daniel, I saw whatever-her-name-was lean in to say something to Daniel; her face didn’t look amused. Danny went back to chatting with her, turning his back towards me.

I felt a small sense of satisfaction at her jealousy as I turned back to Carlos, George and Carmen, joining in their new conversation.

Toronto GP – Danny POV

Seeing Poppy that night stirred something inside of me. I know we had agreed to be just friends, something I hated all together, but I couldn’t say no to her. I’d rather have her as a friend than not at all. But as I saw her sitting there with Carlos, I let my jealousy get the best of me.

Why was Carlos worthy of her attention? Why had I not been worthy enough?

In truth I didn’t know if they were actually dating. They’d sat together all night, but Carlos hadn’t actually made a move on her besides resting his arm around her shoulder. I knew Carlos was a touchy-feely sort of person, so it was possible they weren’t dating – although why would she be wearing a red dress if she wasn’t interested in Carlos?

My mind was working a million miles a minute; I didn’t even see Lando come up to me, waving his hand in my face, trying to get my attention.

“Mate – you good there?” Lando asked.

I nodded a confirmation, but said nothing, still deep in thought. George was standing next to Lando, a cheeky smile on his face.

“Wow, you’ve got it bad,” I heard George comment. As I looked up towards him, I quirked my eyebrows in question, not entirely sure why he had said that. Lando just laughed.

“You being deep in thought got anything to do with why Alana didn’t come this weekend?” Lando asked. Alana had been the girl I was sort of seeing. It was a casual thing; Luisa had introduced us. But apparently after last weekend in Silverstone, Alana decided I still had a thing for Poppy and called our relationship quits.

Honestly, I was relieved. I’d told her she was wrong, but we both knew I was lying.

“We broke things off.”

“Sorry to hear that, Dan.” George looked at me, as if he was expecting a reason as to why Alana and I had called our relationship quits, but how could I tell him ‘oh it’s because I’m actually sort of in love with your race engineer that I had McLaren try and steal from you?’

“Thanks, yeah it’s fine, it was a casual thing anyway.”

Lando could tell that I didn’t want to continue discussing it so he turned to George, changing the topic of conversation. “So… anything between Carlos and Poppy? I noticed they were a little snuggly last weekend.”

I didn’t know if I wanted to slap Lando or thank him for bringing this up – a little bit of both, if I was being honest. I desperately both wanted and didn’t want to know the answer to Lando’s question.

It really depended on the answer.

“Poppy and Carlos?” George laughed, a look of disbelief in his eyes. “Carlos wishes – not a chance from her, mate. You know Carlos, he’s a snuggly kind of guy and they were both drunk, but she ended coming back to our hotel room and eating pizza until 3am, falling asleep on Carmen and I’s couch. She and Carmen were so drunk, I had to get a late check out and change our leaving time.”

I felt a sudden wave of relief come over me, which I tried not to show on my face. Lando, however, picked up on it as he looked at me questioningly. I just nodded my head slightly behind George, signaling for Lando not to say anything.

“Ah, well bummer for Carlos then,” Lando joked. “You think she’s just not into dating drivers?” I gave Lando a harsh look, silently pleading for him to quit while he was ahead. George knew that Poppy and I had slept together, I mean he’d help set it up, clearly hoping it would turn into something more. When it didn’t, I made sure there was no hard feelings between us; George was incredibly protective of Poppy, and I hadn’t been entirely sure what she had told him.

Fortunately for me, she put the blame on herself, and George and I had resumed our friendship, pretending like I hadn’t slept with his race engineer.

George shifted slightly uncomfortably. Clearly he was remembering situation with Poppy and I last year. “She’s a private person,” was all George managed to say back, before excusing himself from the conversation, claiming that Poppy was demanding he come back for a review of the FP1 set up.

As George walked away, I slapped Lando on the shoulder. “Why so curious about her dating life all of a sudden?” I demanded.

“Why are you sitting here day-dreaming of Poppy instead of fighting for the woman you clearly still have a thing for?” Lando retorted. I hated when people answered questions with questions, but deep down I knew he had a point. I hadn’t really fought for Poppy last year; I was too scared of losing her as a friend.

“She said she wanted to be friends. I’m going to respect that.”

“Did you ask why?” Lando just stared at me blanking, already knowing the answer to his question.

I hadn’t asked why. I was too scared of the answer, too scared of the rejection, of being told I wasn’t good enough. Last year had been tough with the McLaren car, and this year was proving just as bad. I didn’t need another thing going wrong in my life, so I never asked, even though I deeply wanted to know why.

“Look, Dan, it’s none of my business, but if it was me, I’d be trying to figure out why and then attempting to fix it. I saw you guys last year – you looked like a lot more than friends every time you hung out, that’s all I’m saying.” Lando gave me a small smile and patted my shoulder before walking back to the McLaren garage, leaving me standing alone in the paddock.

I started to walk towards the McLaren garage, only to see Poppy, hands full of binders and papers, walking quickly towards the Mercedes garage. I went to call out to her, but before I could, I saw her trip over her untied laces, sending her falling face first onto the concrete. I ran over to her, pulling her up slightly, checking her face for cuts which fortunately there were none.

Poppy quickly bent down to pick up the binders and papers before they blew away. As she regained her posture, she lifted her head and gave me a shy smile and a nod. “Thanks, Dan – wow that could have been bad.” She shoved the binders and various folders into her briefcase.

“Glad you’re alright.” Poppy gave me another smile and quietly thanked me again as we both stared at each other. Why did this feel so awkward?

“You, umm, wanna grab a coffee or you got somewhere to be in a rush?” I asked, motioning to her briefcase stuffed full of papers.

Poppy let out a small huff, but then unexpected nodded her head yes, much to my surprise. “Sure – coffee would be great.”

We walked to the nearest F1 coffee stand and each ordered a coffee, before sitting down at one of the little two top tables.

“How are you feeling about Toronto?” Poppy asked finally.

“You know, the breaks are a little rough still – but the car does feel better this year. I have some hope.” I wanted it to not sound quite as sad and pathetic as it came out, but this was Poppy – I could never hide my feelings from her, and she knew as much as anyone that the car wasn’t very good.

“If anyone can work it out, it’s you.” I could feel my spirit lift a bit as she said the words. Poppy had always been so kind and thoughtful, it’s what drew me to her in the first place. We sat and chatted for another 20 minutes before Poppy said she had to leave. I was already 5 minutes late to a McLaren meeting, but coffee with her had been so lovely I didn’t care.

I didn’t want it to end.

The rest of the race weekend had been fairly uneventful. I managed to get a P7 race position which meant important points for the team. As I got out of the car, I high-fived the various mechanics and Michael before heading to my drivers room before I would be ushered to the media pen. As I looked down at my phone, I saw a text from Poppy come through.

Poppy: Good job out there. Told you if anyone could do it, you could. Xx

I smiled at the text from Poppy, my heart warming at her kind words.

Me: Thanks P. See you tonight?

Poppy: Yes, can’t NOT celebrate a Lewis race win and a double Mercedes podium – think I’d be fired!

As soon as my press duties were completed, I quickly made it back to my hotel and got changed and ready, carefully picking out an outfit for tonight. Michael had made fun of me for being so selective on my outfit, but I knew Poppy was going to be there and I wanted to look good.

“Danny – we’re over here!” I heard a voice yell out as I walked into the club. At the back of the room I spotted Poppy, George, Carmen and Carlos all sitting together again. I bristled a bit at seeing Carlos sitting next to Poppy, but reminded myself that they were just friends – just like Poppy and I were just friends.

At least this time she wasn’t wearing a stupid red dress.

“Congrats George!” I called out, plopping down next to Poppy and giving her thigh a quick squeeze. “Congrats to you, too,” I whispered a little more quietly to her, earning a bright smile from the Mercedes engineer.

“Thanks Dan – you and Lando looked good out there.” George shook my hand as a I sat down and moved the bottle of champagne over, motioning for me to take a glass and have some.

“Yeah the car is feeling better. Looking forward to Australia in two weeks. I think we might be able to place top 10, maybe even top 5.”

The conversation flowed a bit more before everyone moved to the dance floor. Carlos had taken up the opportunity to chat to one to Luisa’s friends who had brought along, so I moved in closer to Poppy, grabbing her hand. “Wanna grab a drink?”

“Sure!”

As we made our way to the bar I ordered Poppy a Chambord, a drink I knew was one of her favorites, and we went back to the booth.

“So, how are things with your family?” Poppy sat a little closer to me so she could hear the answer to her question.

“My parents are doing great as is my sister. They’re really enjoying life in Australia at the moment; it’s hard being away from them and my niece, so I can’t wait to see them next week.”

“I’m sure that’ll be lovely. It was so nice to meet them last year; they’re such lovely people,” Poppy hummed, sipping more of her drink.

I nodded in agreement, not really sure what to say. We’d agreed to be friends, but the more I looked at her, smiling away and chatting about my family, the less I wanted to be friends – the more I wanted to throw her onto the table and make her scream my name over and over again, other people be damned.

But, I didn’t – instead we kept chatting away, discussing what sight seeing she had planned in Australia this year. The conversation stayed casual and after another half hour, the rest of the group had returned, effectively ending my alone time with Poppy.

Still, it felt nice to talk to her and be around her. Maybe I could do this friends thing after all?

Poppy POV – Australia Race

After that evening in Toronto, Daniel and I had been texting more and more. It started out with a ‘hope your flight was okay’ but by that weekend, we had gone back to last year’s frequency, sending hilarious memes and random recipes that we found on the internet. I had missed this part of my friendship with Daniel. He always had something funny to say – always something uplifting. It was refreshing.

Daniel had asked if I wanted to come to Australia a little early, do a little sightseeing with his family. After first I declined because I knew the media would be all over him that week, but after Daniel sent me a hilarious sad face of his mom along with a video message from her begging me to come, I was done for. Sneaky bastard knew how to get me over early. Daniel’s mom was incredibly kind, generous and like her son, an absolute joy to be around. Whoever she ended up being mother-in-law too one day would be a lucky woman.

I arrived in Australia the Saturday before the race weekend, which gave us a few days to explore Melbourne. Danny took me to all his favorite food spots, a few art museums and a couple of lovely hikes. I had offered to get my own hotel, but Daniels’ parents would hear nothing of it. I was surprised when they offered to put me up in their house that they had rented for the week, but they were both insistent. Sometimes his parents joined us on our expeditions, but more often that not, it was just Daniel and I exploring the city together.

I was shocked – and relieved – at how little paparazzi was around. Toto knew I had gone a little early to explore, he’s even encouraged it, but Mercedes didn’t particularly want me plastered across Formula 1 gossip sites with Daniel Ricciardo.

We spent the evenings relaxing with Daniel’s family. George and Carmen arrived on the Monday, and they joined us for the dinner on Tuesday. When we broke out into groups and played charades, Daniel and I teamed up and annihilated the other teams, much to George’s annoyance.

Formula 1 drivers – so sensitive… so competitive, I giggled to myself. Of course I would never tell George that. His competitiveness was the reason I had received a big promotion and raise last year. Still, it made me laugh.

When Wednesday rolled around, I said good-bye to Daniel’s family, promising to join them for an early dinner on Friday if I could get away from the garage. Unfortunately FP1 and 2 had gone horrifically for Mercedes, so I sadly had to cancel, promising to see them in the paddock after the race on Sunday.

Once race day arrived, the paddock was buzzing with Daniel Ricciardo fans. Everywhere I turned was his face on a stick somewhere. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of papaya. As I got ready in my hotel room, I saw my phone light up with a text from Daniel.

Danny Ric: How’s it feel to be surrounded by your favorite color?

I rolled my eyes at his text. He knew I hated that color, always teasing me about it.

Me: McLaren needs a better color – feel like I am drowning in papaya over here.

Danny Ric: There’s worse ways to die. Death by papaya actually sounds pretty good to me. Btw the parents say hey – we missed you on Friday.

Me: Thanks, trust me I’d have rathered be with you guys than in the garage until 2am Saturday morning. I had to kick George out, make him go get some sleep.

Danny Ric: If anyone can get that car back together, it’s you.

I smiled at Daniel’s confidence in me, looking at my phone for a moment before contemplating what to send text.

Me: Thanks… You know it’d be easier to do if I wasn’t surrounded by Daniel Ricciardo faces everywhere.

I attached a photo of one of the faces I’ve seen people holding, Daniel’s eyes cut out so the fan could look through the cardboad cut out of his face.

Danny Ric: I would have thought being surrounded by such a handsome face all day would make it easier.

Me: One Daniel Ricciardo is more than enough…. possibly too much already ;-)

Danny Ric: How your lies hurt me!

Danny Ric: I know you secretly want more Daniel in your life.

If only Daniel knew how true that statement was. As I read that text, I typed out a response and then deleted it, only to type out another one and then delete it.

Me: Well, I can concede to one thing, the world definitely needs more Danny Ric smiles, no doubt about that. Good luck today xx

And with that I put my phone in my bag and made my way downstairs. I saw George standing by his Mercedes, waving to me; Carmen was already in the passenger seat. I hopped into the back seat and pulled out my notes, about to start running through some stats with George.

“So… how was your week with Danny?” Carmen asked. She knew full well I wanted to talk stats, but the look on George’s face said he equally wanted the answer to Carmen’s question.

“Fine.”

“That’s all you’re going to give us?” George asked dryly. I could see him roll his eyes in the rearview mirror.

“I had a nice time. He’s a good friend.” I put the emphasis on friend, hoping George and Carmen would get the point.

They did, but they refused to acknowledge it.

“I don’t understand. He’s clearly interested. What’s stopping you?” Carmen turned around to face me, giving me a small smile.

“Now isn’t the time for a relationship.”

“Oh come on, age 28 isn’t the time for a relationship?” George rolled his eyes at me, chuckling as he continued to drive us to the track.

How exactly was I supposed to tell George ‘oh I don’t want to be a drivers girlfriend because the pressures are too much.’ Carmen was amazing at handling the pressure, and I loved their relationship, but I wasn’t her. I valued my privacy to much, and I was too sacred of losing it.

“I am, in fact, happy being single. I don’t need a boyfriend to be happy.”

“No one said you needed one,” Carmen said a little exasperated. “I’m just confused why you don’t want Daniel.”

“Can we just drop it for now?” I didn’t mean for the words to come out of my mouth so harshly, but I was over this conversation. George and Carmen silently nodded, a little taken aback by my outburst. After a few more moments of silence, I opened my notebook once again and began reviewing some of the car stats with George.

*****

“AND THERE WE HAVE IT. DANIEL RICCIARDO WITH HIS SECOND WIN FOR MCLAREN!”

As I overheard the Sky Sports coverage in the garage, a small smile crept over my face. He’d finally done it, Daniel had managed to win at his home race. George and Lewis had done well, coming in P3 and P4 respectively, behind Daniel and Max. The crowd to meet the three of them as they parked their cars in the podium spots was massive. George finally spotted me in the sea of people, and he ran over, giving me a huge hug before giving Carmen a big kiss.

“Good job, George – so proud of you!” I yelled.

“it’s all your Poppy – all you.”

I smiled at his response. George was great at thanking the entire team; he knew it was a team effort. As the podium celebration came to an end, I saw Daniel doing a shoey with Max and George, the three of them giggling like little school girls up on the podium. After the podium celebration was done, Carmen looped her arms with mine and we walked back to the Mercedes garage.

I took out my phone to send Daniel a text, but I noticed that a text was already on the screen from him.

Danny Ric: Got a shoey in my drivers waiting for you.

Me: Not worried I won’t come steal the McLaren engineering strategy?

Danny Ric: Nothing sexier than a little Formula 1 espionage ;-)

I rolled my eyes at his response, blushing a bit. I knew I should stay in the Mercedes garage, but as I walked back out into the hallway, I heard Toto announce that the team would be able to leave early. We’d all worked so hard all weekend, so the debrief would happen back at the offices on Tuesday.

Me: Fine – but it had better not be from the shoe you wore today!

I grabbed my bag and started walking towards the McLaren hospitality suite. Michael was waiting outside of the suite, a look of mischief in his eyes. He and I walked back to Daniels’ driver’s room, where he opened the door and snuck us inside. With all the commotion going on around us, no one even noticed me walk through the McLaren hospitality suite, which was probably for the best.

“I’ll be right back,” I heard Michael say. Before I could ask him what was going on, he had already left the room, leaving me to sit alone on the papaya colored couch in the room.

After a few more moments, I saw Daniel walk into the room, a huge smile on his face. He ran over to me and gave me a huge hug, picking me up in the air and spinning me around. I squeaked as he picked me up, wrapping my arms around him.

“So proud of you Danny!”

Daniel sat me down and looked me straight in the eyes. His stare was intense, but his smile was still huge. I felt pesky butterflies begin to circle in my stomach. I shouldn’t be feeling this way… we were just friends, I reminded myself.

“Where is the rest of the Daniel Ricciardo crew!? I’m sure everyone wants to celebrate with McLaren’s hero himself,” I teased. Daniel ignored my comment, gently placing his hand on my chin, tipping it up so I could look directly into his eyes.

“I love it when you call me Danny.” His words were a tad slurred, and I could tell he was a little tipsy after celebrating on the podium. I felt butterflies forming in my stomach as he said the words. His eyes were looking straight into mine, and I could see some unspoken words in them.

The moment felt incredibly romantic, so I smiled a bit and backed away out of his grasp, turning to his table and grabbing a glass, pouring myself some champagne from the large champagne bottle.

I decided to change the subject. “So where are we going to celebrate tonight?” Daniel smiled and motioned for me to sit on the couch next to him by patting it aggressively.

I did as he motioned and sat down, turning to look at Daniel as he spoke. “Michael has a club booked. I’ll text you the details.”

I nodded in response, downing my glass of champagne. I went to say something, but I heard my phone going off. It was George.

“Don’t answer it,” Danny said, a little bit of desperation in his voice. I gave Danny a look of annoyance and opened my phone. He knew I had to answer it.

“Hey George!” I could hear a ton of commotion in the background, and could barely make out what George was saying. Still, after a little bit of back and forth, George was telling me he was leaving and asked if I was coming.

“Thanks for the drink, Dan, but I gotta run – my ride is leaving. But I’ll see you tonight, yeah?” I could feel the energy in the room shift, a look of disappoint on Daniel’s face. It’s as if he was building up to say something, but couldn’t get the words to come out of his mouth. Still, a sly smile formed on his lips and he nodded at me, taking the glass from my hand.

“Of course – can’t wait!”

As I turned to leave, Daniel called out to me one more time. “Oh, and Poppy, try and wear something papaya tonight, yeah?” he said with a wink.

“You’re the worst!” I giggled out, checking the McLaren hallway before making a b-line towards the exit.

*****

As I walked into my hotel room, I kicked off my shoes and jumped onto the bed, collapsing from the exhausting day. As my back hit the bed covers, I felt something underneath me. Weird, I thought. The cleaning team had definitely been through my room.

I hopped off the bed and looked down to see what I had landed on. On the bed was a – now squished – shopping bag. The bag was beautiful, with lovely tissue paper coming out of it. Wherever this piece of clothing was from, it was expensive.

"Must be a thank you from George," I mumbled aloud to myself. Before opening it, I sent George a text, reminding him he didn’t need to get me gifts – I was just doing my job as his race engineer.

Me: I don’t need gifts, George… I’m doing my job!

George R: I’m confused...is this you asking for a gift?

Me: Ha ha, very funny… now stop getting me gifts!

I attached a photo of the bag in the text. I could see three dots form on our iMessage thread, then disappear, then form again. As I waited for George’s response, I went to the bathroom and hopped into the shower, letting the warm water sooth my aching body. Just as my shower finished, I heard my phone ding.

George R: Poppy, you are family to me. I love you like a sister, and as my sister, I can sincerely say, I would never get you something from that store. No offense but… gross.

I cocked my eyebrows at that text and then quickly dumped the items out of the bag, curious what was going to be in there. As the items hit the bed, I let out a huge “oooooh”, immediately understanding George’s text.

On the bed lay a beautiful lingerie set from Agent Provocateur in bright orange – papaya to be more specific. Immediately a text from Carmen lit up my phone, and I rolled my eyes. Carmen and George shared literally everything – and while I loved them both, sometimes I hated their relationship.

Carmen: WHO GOT YOU THE LINGERIE? AND HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT BRAND?

As a response I just sent her back a photo of the brightly colored lingerie. Inside the bag was a card, which had fallen out with the bra.

The card read:

Saw this and thought of you.

Figured you wouldn’t have brought something Papaya with you.

Dan xoxo

I re-read the card no less than 10 times. I let my hands feel the lingerie; it was incredibly soft and beautiful. The price of the set was probably more than all of my bras and underwear put together.

Carmen: So much for being just friends ;-)

So much indeed. I knew I should be frustrated with Daniel. I had made it clear that I was only interested in being friends, but as I put the lingerie set on, I felt myself getting less and less mad. It looked and felt incredible on me… and I felt incredible wearing it. It was simple yet elegant.

Bastard knew I’d like this set.

After another hour went by, I threw on the dress that I had brought for tonight and made my way downstairs to where I was meeting George and Carmen. As we hopped into the taxi, Carmen leaned over and whispered, “So are you wearing it under your dress?” She wiggled her eyebrows, causing George to laugh. I was a little horrified that George knew I had received this lingerie from Danny, but decided to ignore the nagging inside of me.

Fuck it, I was wearing 250 pound lingerie, and I looked hot wearing it.

I just gave her a sly smile but said nothing, instead looking down at my phone. The champagne had started to hit, and I was feeling a little bolder.

Me: Wildest thing – someone broke into my room. ;-)

Danny Ric: Oh? Hope they didn’t take anything valuable

Me: Quite the opposite, my thief left me a girft… so inconvenient of him, my suitcase is already quite full.

Danny Ric: Oh yeah? This thief leave you anything good?

Me: I’d say so… although the color was a little off.

As soon as I sent the text we arrived at the Melbourne club. The club promoter shuffled us inside the building and up the stairs to the VIP section that had been rented out for the evening. As soon as we entered, I saw Lando run over to us, giving both me and Carmen a huge hug. Luisa was behind him, shaking her head in slight embarrassment. Clearly the McLaren team had spent the rest of the evening drinking before coming here.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Danny start to move towards us. He had a huge grin on his face and a knowing twinkle in his eyes. I moved towards him and matched his grin, giving him a hug as I approached.

“Danny, surprised you’re still standing,” I quipped, motioning to the drink in his hand. He had to easily be on the second bottle of champagne.

Daniel leaned down, putting his face next to my ear and quickly whispered, “Don’t want to drink too much, sweatshirt, or I might not be able to see that little gift the thief left you later.”

Before I could retort something rude to him about the unlikeliness of that happening, George came over and gave Daniel a big hug, congratulating him on the win and chatting about the few moments they went back and forth for P1.

Carmen and Luisa each grabbed a hand of mine and dragged me to the bar to order drinks.

“Soooo… you going to give Danny a congratulations present later tonight?” Luisa giggled, giving me a knowing look. I looked at Carmen who pretended to not notice my glare as she ordered from the bartender.

“A polite woman never kisses and tells!”

“Aww come on Poppy – you’re no fun!”

I stuck my tongue out at the two of them as I took my drink from the counter and left, walking back towards the group of guys who had found seats at a booth closer to the back. I sat and chatted to Michael, Daniel’s friend, a bit before making my way to the dance floor, grabbing Carmen and Luisa in the process, demanding that they dance with me.

As Carmen and I swayed to the music, I saw Daniel walk over and cut in. “Mind if I have this next dance?” Before I could protest, Carmen gave me a huge smile and ran off the dance floor towards George at a speed that I think matched the Formula 1 cars. Daniel gabbed my hips and we continued to dance together, letting the beat of the music set the pace of our bodies.

As the song “6 Inch Heels” by Beyonce came on, I felt Daniel step closer to me, letting his hands gently roam up and down my waist as we danced. I wanted to pull away, but the feeling of his hands on me was phenomenal. I had missed Daniel’s touched – hell, I had missed everything about him. He was amazing in bed and as we danced closer, our bodies tightly wound together, I began to forget all of those reasons why we shouldn’t be together.

As if Daniel could tell my mind was wondering, he lifted my chin up to face him. “You look so, so beautiful in that dress.”

“What if I told you it’s not even the most expensive thing I’m wearing tonight,” I said in a sultry voice I did not recognize as my own. I could see Daniel’s eyes darken, lust filling his brown eyes as I turned around, letting my back hit his chest as we continued to dance. I could feel his cock starting to get hard behind me, pushing slightly into my ass as we swayed to the music.

Daniel let his lips ghost the shell of my ear as he leaned down, whispering, “Oh really now… sounds like that thief really did leave a nice gift, maybe you should consider thanking them.”

“Well, if I’m lucky, he might drop by my room tonight so I can thank him properly.”

Daniel turned me around to face him once again, his lips still dangerously close to my face as we danced to the music, ignoring everyone around us. It was if the entire room had disappeared, and it was just Danny and I – not a care in the world.

Daniel nodded at my words, as if he was contemplating them. “True, although now I think about it, Poppy, I mean if a thief has access to your room, maybe it’s not to safe for you to be there all alone. Perhaps you should stay at a friends tonight.” I didn’t miss the way he said friends, a hint of mischief and laugher in his voice, as if he was slightly mocking me.

“Well, I would but I think all my friends are a little busy tonight… maybe I should see if Carlos is free?” I said nonchalantly, getting some internal satisfaction as I saw Daniel clench his jaw at the mention of Carlos.

Before I knew it, I was being dragged off of the dance floor and towards the group. Daniel picked up my purse and waved at George and Carmen. “I’m going take this one home!”

Daniel hadn’t even thought of an excuse, too wound up after my comment about Carlos. I wanted to protest, or at least put up a fake protest to put forward the illusion that I had some control over this, but as I turned around, I saw George and Carmen laughing, both giving me four thumbs up between the two of them, clearly enjoying my predicament.

I knew those fools were in on this. How else would Daniel’s assistant have gotten the key to my room?

As soon as Daniel told the taxi driver the address, his lips were on mine. The kiss was hot and passionate, full of lust. Our tongues were both fighting for dominance over the other as Daniel wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me as close to him as possible.

Fortunately the club was a very short distance from the McLaren hotel. Daniel pulled me out of the cab and made quick work of getting us into the elevator. As we stepped inside, I saw a group of VIPs standing there, chatting away. They gave Daniel some compliments on the race, before the elevator door rang for Daniel’s floor. Daniel dragged me to his hotel room and quickly opened the door.

Before I could say anything, he picked me up and threw me on top of the bed, licking his lips as he looked down at me.

“Before this continues, Poppy – I have to ask, are you sure you want to do this?” Daniel moved closer to me, his pupils were now completely blown. His leaned down on top of me and looked into my eyes; the question lingered in the air a little while longer.

“Yes,” I finally breathed out.

“Good because after tonight, I don’t think we can go back to being friends.”

“Fuck it – we were pretty terrible at being friends anyway,” I laughed, earning a chuckle from Daniel as he tore my dress over my shoulders, leaving me in my heals and papaya lingerie set.

Daniel crawled over me and kissed my lips, before trailing his sloppy kisses down my neck and chest, making sure to pay attention to every mole and mark that he saw. I whined a bit as Danny played close attention to each of my breasts, giving them the attention he said they deserved. After a few more moments, Daniel began to make his way down my body to where I wanted him most. He slowly pulled my beautiful lacy underwear off, throwing it to the back of the room. I sighed at the contact when his lips left soft kisses around my core, opening my legs a little bit more and pushing myself down. I heard a chuckle come from Daniel, and I gave me a little pout as he looked up at me, a devious grin and twinkle in his eyes.

“You’re so fucking beautiful. I love everything about your body, all the way down to each of your moles.”

I felt myself blush, not that Daniel could see it, as he dove into my core like a man starved. Daniel’s tongue began to work its way around my clit, never getting quite as close as I wanted him to as he continued to tease and taste me.

It didn’t take Daniel long to get me to my first orgasm. As soon as my orgasm hit me, I began chanting his name, grabbing the sheets with both my hands as the bliss tore through my body. As soon as I could open my eyes, still panting, I saw Daniel looking up at me with his beautiful eyes, saliva running down his chin as he licked his lips, clearly enjoying the taste of my juices.

That should not have turned me on as much as it did.

As Daniel began to crawl up my body, I stopped him and took the opportunity to switch us, causing Daniel to fall onto his back as I sat on top of his thighs.

“Fuck Daniel, I don’t know what it is about this thigh tattoo, but its so damn hot.” Daniel just smirked at my reaction, grabbing my hips with both of his large hands to steady me as I observed his tattoo.

“You want to ride me, baby girl?”

I nodded in response, lifting my hips as he situated himself underneath me. I began to let myself sink onto him, gasping as he began to fill me up. I had forgotten how big he was, and even though he had prepped my body for him, he still felt massive. I let myself revel in the feeling of him for a moment, slowly moving my body back and forth to get some friction on my clit. As if on cue, Daniel brought his hand to my clit and began to rub slow circles over me.

At first the overstimulation made me stop a bit, but as Daniel kept going as a slow pace, I began to feel myself hurdling towards that pleasure I remembered all too well.

“Oh, fuck, Danny – don’t stop.” I continued to bounce up and down, letting my hands steady myself on his chest for extra balance as I could feel myself beginning to reach my second orgasm of the night. Daniel let out a string of grunts and groans, and I could tell that he was getting closer.

“Come with me, baby girl,” he begged – well, pleaded – as he began thrusting up into me as I came down on him, his hand working furiously around my clit.

After a few more moments, I felt my walls begin to flutter around his length. I fell forward as I reached my climax. Daniel thrusted a few more times, before letting out a guttural sound himself, calling out my name as I could begin to feel his cum drip down my legs.

We both panted a bit longer, attempting to catch our breaths. Daniel moved me off of him and laid me down as he got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. He returned from the bathroom with a warm wash cloth and cleaned me up, before throwing it on the floor and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

“That was…” he began, not being able to find the words.

“Yeah…” I agreed.

We both sat there in silence a bit longer, neither of us knowing what to say.

“Glad you liked the lingerie.”

“Bold move – dropping off lingerie at my hotel room.” As I said the words, Daniel pulled me closer into him, draping my spent body over his.

“I meant what I wrote in the note. I saw the set and immediately thought of you. Well, I immediately thought of me pulling it off of you,” he added cheekily.

I giggled at his comment, slapping his chest playfully. We fell back into a comfortable silence for a bit longer. I knew I had to ask the question that was hanging over us, a question I knew we both wanted to avoid. After a few more moments of silence, Daniel flipped me onto my back, his body was now leaning over me. His face was only inches from mine and he gave my lips a gentle peck. I felt his hands rub up and down my waist in soothing motions.

Finally Daniel spoke, bringing forward the question I knew he was going to ask. “Why did you just want to be friends last year?” His words were gentle as he brought one hand up to caress my face, moving some hair out of my face in the process.

“I don’t know, Danny,” I began, but he stopped me with another peck on my lips.

“I can tell you why I didn’t fight for you.” His words took me aback a bit and I paused, looking deeply into his eyes, curious about what he was going to say.

“I didn’t fight because I was scared you would reject me. Scared you would get tired of me and my jokes; scared you would be embarrassed about how I was driving the car.” He said the last part so low, I barely heard him.

As he finished his sentence, I raised my head and pecked his lips, letting a small smile cross my face. “You were worried I’d be embarrassed to be seen with you?” I asked, confusion laced in my voice. Daniel just nodded in response.

As he said the words I felt a pit in my stomach. I had denied Daniel because of my own insecurities, but as listened to how he felt, I felt silly – stupid even. I felt terrible that I had made him feel that way by denying our relationship, never giving him a reason why.

But I knew why I didn’t tell him the reason – because he would have told me I was being ridiculous. That no matter what the journalists, gossip blogs or fans said, he’d always find me to be beautiful. He would have convinced me it was all okay, tearing down the walls I had built up in the process.

I didn’t tell him the reason because I was scared, but as I looked into his eyes, all of those fears began to dissipate.

“I said I wanted to be friends, Danny, because I was scared. Scared of being a F1 drivers girlfriend. Scared that people would think I wasn’t worthy enough to be your girlfriend, or that sleeping with you might get me promotions I wouldn’t otherwise get. Scared of losing my privacy…”

I hated how small my voice was when the words came out of my mouth, but as I looked up at Daniel, I saw a huge grin on his face. “You – F1’s most savage engineer and 2x title holder were scared you weren’t worthy enough?” As the words left Daniel’s mouth, so did a chuckle.

“Babe, fuck anyone who doesn’t think you’re worthy enough. Any promotions you get are backed up my phenomenal results from you and George. You’re incredibly intelligent and beautiful.” Danny leaned down to give me another kiss on the lips.

I giggled a bit at his assertiveness and then looked away, not sure what to say. “So where does this leave us?”

“There hasn’t’ been a day where I haven’t thought about you,” Daniel admitted to me. “I still want to take you out, show you off to the world, tell everyone that I have this amazing girlfriend. But I totally understand your concerns for privacy. So, I’d like to take this slow, do things the right way.”

“Yeah?” I asked, a hint of disbelief in my voice.

Daniel nodded, letting his body rest next to me now. I turned to face him and gave his cheek a kiss, snugging in closer to him. “You drive a hard bargain, Ricciardo; quite the negotiator.” I joked.

“Oh yeah? Well, maybe there is still hope for me to convince you to become my engineer after all.” Before I could protest, I felt his lips on mine again. I knew I was in for a long night.

***********

Tagging you lovely people since you enjoyed Part 1 so much!

@d0ntjudgemy50shades @bluebadger8 @desperate-and-broken

Anything tag list!

@ccloaned @canadian-girl87 @tita010 @idkiwantchocolatee @sava207 @organasith @elixiann @carlito55 @valureads @myescapefromthislife @burntrubber-dirtyair @loverboysainz @cubedkiwi @expcteverything @the-scarletbitch @hungryhungariann @vita-di-moda @ferrariital @chiliwhore @sgkophie-writes

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youre-amazing-say-it · 2 years

Text

You are so Strong

REQUEST: Hi Emma, would you mind writing a piece about fem reader who was sexually assaulted (doesn't have to be written in detail) who comes running to her trailer and all/some of the civil war cast are there (focusing on the male cast members maybe Chris H and Robert) and they comfort her from a panic attack and take her to the hospital and maybe a bit about her talking about the situation a few years later on a panel. I know that this isn’t always in everyone's comfort zone so you don't have to do it x

Warning: Sexual Assault, Crying, talk of domestic abuse, mean reporter

Paring: Robert Downey Jr x reader, Chris Hemsworth x Reader

AN: Thanks for being so Patience with this. it was 3 months ago I was asked to write this. I personally never went through something like this so if it is wrong or too fluffy I'm sorry.

Taglist: @slutfortaylorswiftandzendaya @winter-soldier-vibes

You Hated the Press

Like every other of your co-stars, you always got bored of being asked the same questions repeatedly. As a young female in the industry, you always got questions about your clothing, Love life, and you were so sick of it. Were there some fun press memories? Yes of course but the majority of them are the same old same old.

For example, right now you were in Hall H promoting Civil War. For the first time in Marvel history, they released a behind-the-scenes video before the movie was released. the video consisted of Chris Hemsworth walking around interviewing the cast of Civil War about the movie, and it was shot mockumentary style. Since Chris wasn't in the movie, but he had his own movie being released a week earlier before Civil War, both PR representatives from the respective movie thought it was a great idea to gain press. The video was being played on the screen and the audience was laughing and really enjoying the video. However, you were feeling very uncomfortable because this wasn't a fun day for you. You were trying to hold back the tears in your eyes and were taping your knees to keep your anxiety in check. Robert Downey Jr was sitting next to you and knew why you were anxious. He took your hand and squeezed it, to let you know there he was there for you.

The video ended and there was a round of applause, you Quickly dry the tears off your eyes and started applauding with the rest of your friends. The interviewer saw you do that and looked at you. “Hey Y/N were those happy tears?” she laughed. Robert Downey Jr gave her a look that basically said don't ask her any more questions. But the interview didn't see it that way.

“Describe how it was that day on set. I know you've worked with Chris before in a different film, what was it like working with him on the Marvel set?” she asked again, trying to understand why you were crying. You look towards Robert who gave you a squeeze before turning back towards the reporter.

“It was super fun to have Chris there, but the day wasn't all fun and games. Right before I was interviewed something terrible happened to me and I feel if I stay silent about it does nothing for other victims.” You said into the microphone. “ Just to let those in the audience know I'm going to be talking about sexual assault so if this is too heavy for you go ahead and leave and we'll have something to let you know when you can come back in.”

FLASHBACK

You were sitting in your trailer waiting for a new costume piece to be delivered when you heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” you said, still scrolling through your phone. The door opened and you saw Chris Hemsworth walking in. “hey sweetheart” he said with a big smile on his. “CHRIS” you shouted as you hugged him. The two of you were in a family comedy where you played his daughter so you were very excited to see him again.

“ How are you doing sweetheart, how is Life here on the Marvel set?” he asked as he sat down on the couch in your trailer. “It's super fun and I love it so much. I wish you were doing this movie with us” you said as he gave him a side hug again. “yeah but it doesn't make sense plot-wise thought but I'm excited to see it in theaters” Chris said with a smile on his face.

“So when are you going to interview me,” you asked as you turned to face him. “I'm going to come by After I do Downey’s interview because you have a costume fitting. once that's over I will come and do the interview.” he said. “sounds good.” you said as he stood up and went towards the door.

“Stay out of trouble until then, got it?” you rolled your eyes at him in a playful manner. “Yeah Chris I got it, I'll see you later,” you said as you waved goodbye to him. Just as he Left he held the door open and this man came into your trailer with a black bag. You haven't seen him before but you assumed he was a new member of the costume crew.

“Hi!” you said as you introduced yourself. “I haven't seen you before. is this your first day?”

“Yeah, my name is Cody.” he held out his hand and you shook it. “Nice to meet you, Cody! thanks so much for your help with this movie it wouldn't be possible without you.”

“I appreciate it,” he said as you went to unzip the bag and pull out your suit for the movie. It was light blue, tight, and had belts and hooks to holster the fake weapons. “so this is just one of the possible costumes we have for the fight scene you're filming in a week. We wanted to see it on you and make necessary adjustments before shooting.”

“That makes sense. Just give me one second, I'm going to head to the bathroom to change into it,” you said as you took the suit very carefully to the other side of your trailer. It's not that you didn't trust Cody, he was just a man that you just met and didn't want to get naked in front of him.

“You don't have to I'm perfectly fine if you change in front of me, I've been doing this for a while,” he said as he sat down on the couch. That comment made your stomach turn a little bit. It was weird of him to say that. “Understandable Cody however I just met you. the other customers can tell you this, it took me a while to get comfortable in my undergarments around them.” You quickly took your suit and went into the bathroom. You felt a little uncomfortable with him but you just brushed it off.

Once you came out of the bathroom with your suit on, Cody stood up from the couch. “How does it look?” you asked him and you turned around. Cody smiled at you, “You look hot as hell” he said as he scanned your body with his eyes.

You quickly wrapped your hands around your stomach. “I appreciate that, but don't you think it's a little inappropriate?” you asked as you notice him coming toward you. “I don't think so, I'm a customer and the goal is to make you look good to the audience. So I'm just saying what the audience would say.” it made some sense to you but still made you uncomfy. As he looked more at the suit, you notice a hand graze your butt. “looks like there's some extra fabric here.” he said as he touch the fabric on your butt, pulling it down. you backed away from him quickly.

“Cody, I really don't appreciate you touching me without asking if it was okay. Can you please just take some notes and give them to Jen?” You said looking at him, a little freaked out. “no can do that, she wants me to do the adjustments and put the pins in were needed now.” He then put the pin in where the bunch of fabric was he's made his way over to your front side.

“can I ask you a question?” Cody asked. You nodded your head. “Do you find me attractive?” he said as he slowly tugged on the fabric that was on your breasts. “Can you please stop, this is really wrong,” you said as he felt him move your hair to expose your neck.

“We are two very attractive human beings and you're in a tight suit. Getting me a little hard thinking about what I would do to you in this.” Cody was behind you as he rubbed up and down on your hips. You took this advantage and kicked him with the back of your shoe in his area.

“You BITCH” he yelled and he bent down to recover. You took this opportunity to run out of your trailer towards Downey Village. You remember Chris was there with Downey doing their portion of the interview.

You rushed into the fake lawn set up and bumped into some camera crew. “Hey we are filming here!” you heard someone shout. Tears were streaming down your face that you hadn't noticed before. You pushed everyone out of the way until you saw the God in front of you and hugged him. Chris and Robert were confused as to where you came from, but they heard your sobs as you clung to Chris. Robert made a cut motion to the crew and they turned off the cameras and left the set, sensing there was a big issue.

“Hey, hey Y/N. It's okay, you're safe. Do you want to go inside?” he said as you started to move towards one of the trailers. You shook your head as you held onto him tighter. “Okay, let's sit down then, okay? There we go.” Chris sat on the ground with his legs out, giving you room to cuddle into him as he slowly stroked your back.

The tears were still coming as you felt another hand touch your shoulder. You flinched at the contact before you heard a comforting voice. “Hey sweetheart, it's Robert. Can you open your eyes for me?” You slowly opened them. “There you go, sweetheart.” He then proceeds to do the 5-4-3-2-1 technique with you. (sorry I didn't feel like writing it all out loll)

Once he felt you were calm down, he took your hand and squeezed it. “Do you want some water or something to eat?” he asked quietly. ”water please,” you said. He squeezes your hand again before getting up and going inside his trailer. Chris continue to rub your back and you relaxed a little bit more and more. “Wanna talk about it?” you shook your head. “In a bit, just not know. Still shaken up. I'm sorry for ruining the-”

“Hey, it's okay. You are way more important than some Stupid interview. Anytime you need something you'd come to me okay?” he said as he continues to rub your back. You just nodded your head and leaned into him more. Robert came out with a blanket, a water bottle, and a little piece of candy for you. “I assume you need some cheering up so I got you some stuff.” You took it from his hand. “thank you. I think I can talk about it if that's okay.” They nodded their heads and waited for you to start talking.

As you tell your story, you notice Robert and Chris getting very frustrated. Not at you, but at Cody for what he's done. And also for production for hiring such a man in the first place. Tears were shed on both sides as you finish telling the story. “I'm so proud of you, thank you for sharing. We're so sorry you had to go through that, but know that we are here and we will always have your back.”

“I appreciate it, but honestly I don't know what I am supposed to do now. I don't want Cody to work with me on the set, but it makes me feel like a bad person..” Chris quickly grabs your hand and squeezes it, making you look at him. “you are not a bad person, Cody is. Never feel bad for the person that abuses your trust and boundaries. Understand?”

“I understand Chris, thank you. And thank you to Downey, I love you guys so much.”

END FLASHBACK

“So yeah. it was an eventful day but out of it, I got closer to some cast mates, and it made me a stronger person. There are also so many resources and you guys can check out my social media pages where you can donate to shelters that house domestic abuse and sexual assault victims. There are people out there that need help way more than I do. I was lucky that I'm able to pay for the resources to help me through this but there's so many that can't and so the more we can do for others the better.” You finished saying into the microphone. the audience applauded you for sharing your story. You look to your sides and see your castmates Giving you smiling nods. You knew that they wanted to hug you at that moment but everyone was still trying to be professional and not overwhelm you. RDJ leaned in to give you a side hug which you returned. “Thank you,” you whispered into his ear. “Anything for your munchkin.” He said he gave you a kiss on the top of your head.

You look off stage and you see Chris Hemsworth clapping with the audience. “I'm so proud of you,” you saw him say. You blew him a kiss which he caught in his hands and placed in his heart.