#because clearly she admires Something about what he's doing so he doesn't just dismiss it (dismiss her)

[jicklet]

Elemental (2023)

#elemental #pixar #elemental movie #ember x wade #animationedit #pixaredit #filmedit #elementaledit #v posts things #v watches elemental #almost forgot this one in my drafts oops #writing the alttext captions is fun because I really get to focus on what they're doing #Wade is really Listening to her #because look at his face. he disagrees with what she's saying #but he doesn't just push back or brush her off #he clearly doesn't think there's anything special about what he does but he doesn't make it about him #it's a subtle difference but i like that he doesn't go like Oh pfft that was nothing and anyway don't feel bad about getting angry #because clearly she admires Something about what he's doing so he doesn't just dismiss it (dismiss her) #and what you're worried about hey sometimes I do that too and here's how i've come to think about it #but it's not like he knows he has the answer either so when she's still huffy and in her head he doesn't push back #Ember is so gd relatable god i love her #she's worked herself up and isn't ready to be reasoned with #but you know the next time she loses her temper that comment's going to pop back up #on animation note i'm still not over Wade's hair IT'S SO COOL #in the 3rd to last gif when he tosses his head and there's the extra strong crash #mwah. beautiful

[minthe-lover]

Chapter 231 analysis

So you know I went back cause I was curious... persephone only has two actually spoken lines in this whole chapter. One way when she said yes, and the other was her telling hades to continue talking after Demeter was basically begging hades to stop.

In a chapter that supposed to be about hades and persephone mutual love, persephone has two lines.. 6 words. One is when she's crying clearly scared of her mother, the is saying yes to basically what she may see as the only way to get out of the situation.

Well then lets actually talk about hades whole speech, line by line because I hate myself.

So first off, yeah no this is just shitty story telling. Just because persephone is vaguely blessed by her magic womb powers doesn't mean she is actually a good queen. hey rs maybe actually like.. fucking show us this shit?? like show us persephone actually ruling and helping people.. just do anything to prove and back up this statement.. stop telling us this shit and start showing us.

Plus like.. hades just going up to persephone and saying "your fit to rule and I'm not going to let anyone question that" is just boring... there is so little actual reassurance. plus.. hey.. people are allowed to question their leaders, given this line I'm worried for how they'll treat nymphs who aren't like 100% okay with persephone as queen.

The next part is just more hades being a creep, like yes we get it hades. You saw persephone once and started to get a hard-on, it doesn't actually speak to anything about persephone besides that she's attractive. This is a common theme through the whole speech.

The main points in which hades brings up is how like, persephone is beautiful and make him happy. Again it starts with how him staring at her through a window made him horny.

Another thing is just in this whole thing.. hades is just very dismissive of the serious situations and trauma that persephone had to go through. This next line is about how 'by chance' persephone was drugged and put into his car... that was a serious and incredibly vulnerable situation and all that he has to mention about it.. wasn't how she handled it, or even something smaller and more personal like persephone connection to Cerberus.

it's just how hey you where at my house and where just like nice to me. Also the whole reoccurring this of like hades accepting that 'that's enough' just.. doesn't track. Yeah he was avoiding persephone cause he was in a relationship with another person! and you still immediately offered to have sex with her and went as far as emotionally cheating on minthe!

So like.. town meeting? that makes no sense from what we've seen before, but hey despite them being rulers we see basically jackshit in relation to the goverment and how it works. Again there is just more and more about how like hades like to admire persephone.. nothing about her actual beauty or anything to do with their actual relationship.

It's just weird phrasing.. why doesn't he say "but now I get it be with you every day" why is there such a focus on him just.. seeing persephone. Nothing to do with their emotions or personal connection, it's just so distant and bland. Also like, there is just so much focus on the connection to hades. It's not we can rule together, it's that persephone is now hades queen.. it's not about to their life together.. it's about how persephone has effected hades life.

This next part again is focused on solely on hades, through this whole speech he only really mentions her feels and needs at the beginnning.. when comforting about her being queen. This stuff about his life and how much of a sad boi he is while persephone is in a moment of personal struggle is just.. such a shitty thing to do. He doesn't talk about how he wants to care for and make her happy.. he talks about how good she makes him.

It's a similar thing he pulled during the whole thanatos thing.. where thanatos mentioned his struggled and hades talked about how terrible his abandonment was for him. Hades is just.. really self centered.

Now when I first read this.. I just thought it was very fucked up cause it's just.. weird phrasing. Then I remembered why this is here... so you remember after persephone was fucking RAPED she immediately called hades. Then hades started to talk about how he considered her mother a someone he would be willing to have sex with?

Yeah so like hades made persephone make a 'deal' to have to ask a personal question. which.. it's still so weird how it's phrased. Persephone must answer this question, even ignoring the whole problem with proposing to persephone in an emotionally vulnerable state.. saying that persephone has to answer this question.. it's just fucked up. A proposal should never be some big surprised and confrontation, persephone should never have to answer this question... especially with how she mentioned she wants to go slow.. persephone should be allowed to say no.. or even say she doesn't want to answer it right now.

Also demeter look like a badass and fuck hades-

Hades using the name kore always just.. gave me an ick, though.. I do think that's more with my personal experience with names. Though through a whole speech hades has been incredibly self-centered especially during very vulnerable situation for her.. and he finished with probably the best lines to just sum the whole thing up.

my (focus on persephone relation to him and not to each other) beautiful (focus on persephone beauty above all else). kore (ignore of persephone past discomfort with the name)

will you be my wife.. a focus on him. Most of this stuff by itself would like be fine.. but it's all together and it's the culmination of everything.

#lo critical #anti lore olympus #anti lo #lore olympus critical

[bonesandthebees]

When he tried to show his art to his mother, despite her not exactly shoving it away, it doesn't have the intended effect or reaction. It brings a damper on something to otherwise be very pleasant to share because your tangerines are precious to you. And it's not wrong for him to want to share that part of him with someone he cares about. But now, at this point in the story, he's already done so much, and come so far. He's shared his tangerines and received so many too, and it doesn't hurt as much anymore.

It's a process of healing.

It's such a huge step for him to be so open about his art now, a stark contrast from the starting of the story. I have sooo many theories about why he doesn't draw faces but I really want you to confirm why it is, or if its just a stylised choice.

Is it because he didn't like opening up, or because he had a hard time capturing emotions and things the way he wanted, or if its that he always prefers body language and actions to words and expressions, what is it!! Am I completely off the mark? Help. Curiosity.

It's an exact mirror of Phil who instead aims to capture the essence of people's faces more than anything and the personality that shines through them despite it simply being a facial expression. A way to honour those he cares for, exactly like Tommy aims for but so differently at the same time. Tommy's realisations that even the drawings of him are so clearly meant in admiration is unnerving to him.

And it starts the more deep conversations, wherein so much is finally brought to light. Tommy finally brings up the thought that has been haunting him for so long, that he doesn't think they're allowed to care because they aren't blood related, yet so desperately craving that connection he was so deprived of.

- ❄️

yup I wanted to contrast his past experience with showing his art to his mom compared to the present when he shares it with niki and aimsey. his mom didn't dismiss it, but she didn't give a great reaction either and that kind of thing hurts. it was meant to also explain a bit about why he was so hesitant in the beginning to show other people his art, and how far he's come with showing it to others

the fact that he doesn't draw faces is kind of a mix of several things? first and foremost it was pretty much a stylistic choice on my end because I wanted to give him a unique art style that felt distinctly tommy—something more cartoonish and fun and not as grounded in realism. but there's also a tie between his own struggles with opening up to others and showing his emotions, along with showing how he views the people around him. the different objects he gives them all for heads is a representation of what they are to him in a sense. like wilbur having a book for a head both ties to wilbur's love of reading and writing, but also that he's a source of guidance and knowledge for tommy as his older brother. niki having flowers for her head is both a tie to her being a florist, but also the fact that he feels she brings beauty to everything around her with her kindness and love (like how she gave him a flower at the farmer's market). aimsey having a star for a head both shows how bright and cheery they are, but also how they're kind of a guiding star for their friend group. they focus on how everyone in the group is doing when they're all out together and always make sure to check in on how tommy's doing even with just a look of concern

and tommy not ever drawing a head for himself is a representation of how he doesn't know who he is. he doesn't understand his own emotions regarding everything going on, so he doesn't understand himself and can't figure out what object would represent him

so you weren't off the mark, you were pretty close! it's not a super set in stone thing, but that's the gist of my thoughts on it.

phil is meant to be a major contrast to tommy in that sense. because while tommy doesn't understand his own emotions, he thinks about them a lot. phil is not good at expressing his emotions in words. even if he can act fatherly and patient, he's not the type of person who will willingly explain himself or his actions unless he has no other choice. but you can see how deeply he loves the people around him through his art. it shows in the way he draws the faces of his friends and family, how deeply his love and loyalty runs even if he can't exactly put it into words. it's also kind of a funny game of subversion. phil does his best to capture faces as they are, but no matter how realistic a portrait is, it's not going to be the same thing as the real person. in contrast, tommy doesn't try to capture someone's face, and instead draws the core of their 'soul' in a way. he captures what's beneath the surface, and ends up showing their true essence in a more distinctive way than a realistic portrait could

actually I wanna correct one tiny thing you said at the end. when it comes to the blood relation thing, the conversation between phil and tommy goes

phil thinks he's talking about being blood-related. tommy says "that has nothing to do with it." tommy didn't mean that he thought phil didn't care about him because they weren't blood related. he knew that didn't matter. he just thought that after so much time apart, phil had stopped thinking of him as a son. he thinks that being phil's kid was just a temporary thing that ended when he left, and phil was trying to explain that wasn't the case.

#ask #snowflake anon #honey and tangerines

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝑱𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒀𝒖𝒏𝒉𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒐𝒐𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈) 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅

𝙿𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝙼𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊/𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚏!𝙹𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚈𝚞𝚗𝚑𝚘 × 𝙴𝚡𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 (𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎) × 𝙼𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊/𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚏! 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚆𝚘𝚘𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝚂𝚖𝚞𝚝, 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏, 𝙼𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊 𝙰𝚄, 𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚏 𝙰𝚄

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝙾𝚗 𝚊 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚗, 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚏𝚒𝚊 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛.

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 𝟻.𝟹+𝙺

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝙻𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚐𝚊𝚙 (𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜), 𝚊𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚑𝚘𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚎𝚡𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚓𝚘𝚋, 𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕 (𝚏𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐), 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚍𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚞𝚗𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚡 (𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗) 𝙳𝚘𝚖! 𝚈𝚞𝚗𝚑𝚘, 𝙳𝚘𝚖! 𝚆𝚘𝚘𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚐, 𝚂𝚞𝚋! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝: @yunhofingers @yunhoiseyecandy @galaxteez @multidreams-and-desires @little-precious-baby @brie02 @rvse-miingi @couchpotatoaniki @deja-vux @a-soft-hornytiny @daniblogs164

♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡

"Anything else we can get for our most valued regulars?"

The two men waved their hands dismissively at the friendly and energetic owner of the establishment, thanking her for the drinks that were already provided while assuring her they were perfectly content.

"Well if you shall need anything don't hesitate to ask." She reminded them before walking away to attend the other customers and see that everything in the club was running smoothly.

The two men held up their drinks and clinked them against each other before downing them as if it was mere water. Slumping back into the comfortable french style chaise lounge sofa, the shorter mafioso let out a soft and relaxed exhale of breath.

"Well I'd say the whole operation was an absolute success. Don't you agree Yunho?" He tilted his head towards the more impotent one of them, the male swirling the contents of his newly poured drink around his glass cup.

"Indeed. Well done Wooyoung." He raised his glass towards his friend in acknowledgement before bringing the rim of the cup up to his lips.

The two men briefly scanned the spacious hall, occasionally waving or even winking at the more familiar faces that they had become very much acquainted with, sometimes even on a more intimate level that remained a naughty secret between them. Being admirers of beauty and anything aesthetically appealing, they of course had their gazes on the stage that encompassed the majority of the room. Their eyes never failed to take in the gorgeous dancers that were currently moving their bodies to the music playing in the background, some of them showcasing their more erotic side through spins and turns on some of the poles that were placed at various corners of the stage. That sight was always a welcoming one by all the men who went inside the high class club.

"Damn. Who is that?" Wooyoung pointed in the direction of a certain dancer who had caught his attention.

Following his finger, Yunho widened his eyes when he saw who it was that Wooyoung had spotted. She was indeed very captivating. Her movements were very sensual and completely fluid, it was more than obvious her technique was precise. Even her hair seemed to dance along with her body. She'd effortlessly spin around the metal pole as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her. Although she was placed towards the back, she seemed to dominate the stage alone with her presence. She just exuded charisma and eroticism that no doubt had many of the males growing a little problem in their pants thanks to her, Wooyoung and Yunho being no exception. They became lost in the beautiful and fascinating female, falling her charms as if her dance hypnotized them.

It was Yunho who snapped himself out of it when he took a closer look at her face and felt like something was off.

"How old is she? She looks a little... too young." Despite having been involved in the criminal world for years, having seen and committed many illegal acts, Yunho was not tolerant of anything that involved the exploitation of individuals who were too young for such a life.

Realizing he was right, Wooyoung shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cleared his throat. Calling over one of the male waiters, Yunho had to inquire about her.

"What can you tell me about the pretty face right over there?"

Seeing who he was referring to, the male server chuckled.

"Oh. That's Y/N. She's new here, started a few weeks ago but she's already conquered a lot of admirers as you can tell."

Indeed, as they looked around, most men had their eyes trained on her, no doubt imagining what she'd look like if you removed the lace bustier top and butt hugging leather shorts.

"How old is she?" Yunho got to the point.

Understanding what he meant, the server quickly dismissed his fears.

"I don't know exactly but I know for sure she's very much an adult. I'd say very early 20's, although I get that with that innocent looking baby face many wouldn't believe it. Folks seem to dig that though. Angelic face, sinful body? No wonder men are lusting over her."

Glancing over at their respective friend, the two men shared a small smirk between each other before settling back down to continue admiring the pretty girl.

"If you bosses would like, we could arrange a private show with her for you." The male staff offered but Wooyoung shook his head.

"No no, I don't think that will be necessary."

But he found that his resolve would soon come crumbling down when the young female took notice of their gawking towards her. Although she had never seen them before, she enjoyed the way their eyes were raking her body. She made sure not to break eye contact with them as she performed her next set of moves, which became a lot more sultry and risque in nature. She purposefully bent down or over more so her ass and tits would be the main focus of their staring.

"Fuck. I'd love to bend that ass over my lap." Yunho bit down on his bottom lip as one hand slowly rubbed the top of his thigh when she sent a flirtatious wink his way.

"Then why don't we make it come true?"

Calling for the male staff's attention once more, Wooyoung pulled out a large bill and placed it on the empty tray he was holding.

"I think we're going to take you on that offer, that is if the lady doesn't mind."

The staff couldn't help but snort.

"Trust me, I don't think she would mind one bit."

Ushering them to follow him, the male staff led them through the crowd of people that were gathered at the main showroom and down one of the hallways. Wooyoung and Yunho were surprised when instead of taking them to the upstairs private rooms, their guide instead took them down stairs.

"We don't actually tell most people this but our best and most expensive private rooms are actually down here and not upstairs. We only reserve them for V.I.P guests. And there's a bonus.."

The male staff typed in a code into the keypad that kept the entrance to the room locked and opened it up for them to let themselves in.

"There's absolutely no cameras, no rules, and you don't have to worry about anyone hearing anything." The man slyly told them as he walked off and told them to enjoy themselves.

Looking around, indeed the room was even better than the upper ones they had often rented. Not only was it bigger, it had a full bar for them to enjoy, there were multiple couches and they even mounted a pole in the middle of the room. Lilac curtains were strategically placed around to decorate the room which looked marvelous against the blue LED lights that illuminated several parts of the room so everything inside would be clearly visible. They could even make out a faint scent of lavender and vanilla, no doubt infused with pheromones to further enhance sexual arousal.

"No rules he said.... perfect." Wooyoung grinned as he made himself comfortable on one of the couches.

"Just because there are no cameras doesn't mean you can behave as you like. Remember that she'll probably only be here to dance for us and nothing else." Yunho reminded him.

"Relax old man, you know I would never touch a woman without her consent. Lucky me, I'm still handsome .... and rich." Wooyoung laughed slightly as he pulled out a bundle of money from his pocket causing his friend to roll his eyes.

"And what makes you think that is going to entice the young lady to suck your dick? If anything, she'll prefer someone younger and not some... geezer." He poked fun at his friend who looked at him with an unamused face.

"Look who's talking boomer." He scoffed at him.

Both of the men put an end to their small bantering when the door suddenly opened and in came none other than the very object of their fantasies, her stiletto heels clicking against the marble floor. She eyed them up and down with a curious expression, the corners of her mouth curling up just subtly.

"Hello there beautiful." Wooyoung leaned back and took in her figure.

"Good evening gentlemen." She greeted them as she shifted her weight from leg to the other one, her hands placed on her hips respectively.

"Y/N is it?" Yunho inquired as he tried to keep a little more decorum and tried not to stare too much at her.

"Unless you'd prefer to call me something else." She grinned at them with a smoldering expression.

"I'd love to call you mine." Wooyoung put his thoughts out there for the other two occupants in the room to hear, shocking and embarrassing one while the other seemed delighted to hear him say that.

"Wooyoung! Control yourself." Yunho nudged him with his elbow, warning him not to try anything stupid or foolish.

"And tell me then handsome, just how do you want me?"

Both men whipped their heads at her question, wondering if they heard her right.

"Umm- excuse me?" Yunho wanted her to clarify what she meant.

The young dancer took slow and careful steps closer to them, beginning to round the table that stood in between her and the couch they were seated in.

"On my knees, on all fours, against the wall, or laying down, just tell me what position you want me in." She was completely unafraid as she now carefully sat on the table right in front of them, spreading her legs just a little bit, daring them not to gaze in between them which they both ultimately failed in doing.

She was driving them crazy, making them lose every last bit of self control they had. And the way she'd innocently bat her eyelashes at them was not helping their case, it only served to fuel their growing lust for her even more. Wooyoung was about to speak up, but Yunho of course stopped him.

"No-no honey. We just wanted you to keep us some company." He wanted to slap himself for sounding so old fashioned.

Y/N tilted her head at his explanation.

"Keep you company? You mean like this?"

Not expecting her to get up and suddenly straddle his lap, Yunho's eyes shot wide open when her chest was practically pressing against his face. Y/N gently caressed the hair around his temples, not so subtly grinding herself on his tent that was hardening even further. His friend next to him was equally surprised and jealous that it wasn't his lap that the young lady chose to situate herself on.

"Is this what you wanted?"

When Yunho shifted under her and stammered out an incoherent babble of words, Y/N took hold of his hands and placed them on her hips.

"It's ok baby. You can touch me if you want. I don't mind." She encouraged him with a sweet smile on her face.

"I'm not sure I want to..." As soon as he said that, he regretted his words especially after seeing the disheartened look on Y/N's pretty face.

"Well I know for a fact I do so give her to me if you don't want her."

She let out a squeal when she was suddenly pulled of Yunho's lap and instead perched upon one of Wooyoung's strong and muscular thighs. He couldn't stop smiling as his hands rubbed against the sides of her waist.

"So tell me what's a gorgeous and young lady such as yourself doing in a place like this?" He was genuinely curious as to why someone like her would seek out work as an exotic dancer.

"Well it definitely brings in a lot of money, but I'm not going to deny that I do enjoy the attention and stares of some of the patrons like to give me." She answered, her hand reaching over to loosen up the tie around his neck.

"Oh, so you like being a little exhibitionist?" Wooyoung wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"God yes! But my ex boyfriend wasn't a fan of my occupation, hence why he left." She let out a tiny huff at the information.

"Well if you ask him he's an idiot for that. I know if I had a sexy girl like you, I wouldn't mind showing her off a little. Let others admire her like the goddess she is."

As he said those words to her, Wooyoung's fingers slowly peeled the straps of her top off her shoulders, his tips tracing along the outline of her collarbone. Y/N didn't budge when she felt Wooyoung's lips kiss across her shoulder and the side of her neck, she merely tilted her head to the opposite side so it would give him more access to suckle along her smooth skin. Yunho watched all of this with an aching hard on and clenched fist as he realized it could have been him in Wooyoung's position at that moment.

"Truthfully I don't miss him, he was very controlling anyways, but I gotta say...." She bit down on her lip, a bit unsure about continuing her sentence.

"It's ok baby. You can tell us anything you want." Wooyoung assured her as his teeth tugged at her earlobe.

Sucking in a breath she didn't know she was holding, Y/N spilled her secret out.

"I've just been a lot more horny ever since I started this job and I don't have anyone to fuck me like a slut. God I just want a big, fat cock to tear my pussy apart."

Both men looked at each other and exchanged a few suspicious glances before returning their attention back on the girl on Wooyoung's lap.

"Are you horny right now darling?" He asked her as his hand came to the front of her top and started undoing the buttons that ran through the middle.

"If I say yes, will one of you fuck me?" She turned her head to look at Yunho, not wanting him to feel left out. Her hand even reached over so it could brush along the tent in his pants, which he welcomed graciously and even allowed her to palm his hard on as she pleased.

"Oh honey, if you want, we'll both fuck you." Yunho finally spoke up after a long time of staying silent, scooting his body closer to her.

"Please do." She begged them, eyes looking like a pitiful little pup.

Undoing the last button, Wooyoung peeled the top off her, both men releasing groans when her breasts came into view. They looked so soft and smooth and it took everything in them not to take one in each of their mouths and devour them. Getting off of Wooyoung's thigh so she could sit right in between both men, Y/N took one of their hands and set them right on her mounds.

"Touch me, please. I want your guys' hands all over me."

Each one of the men began to squeeze at her tits, Wooyoung opting for a more rough approach, even pinching at her nipples, while Yunho took his time in massaging her flesh, thumb rubbing circles on her hardened peak. Y/N was already loving the two opposite dynamics both men were giving her, it was exactly what she'd been craving in a long time. She threw her head back when Wooyoung stooped down to take the breast he was currently toying with into his mouth, teeth tugging at her tiny bud. She was releasing heavy breaths as he continued to suck at her tender skin, eyes closing as she began to get lost in the pleasure. She nearly whined when she felt Yunho take his hand off her breast, but it was caught in his mouth since he moved his hand from her chest so it could cup her chin. Tilting it towards him, he began to kiss her hungrily. She gratefully welcomed the intrusion of his tongue in her mouth, letting it slither inside of it, taking complete control of her.

Taking advantage of his friend moving his hand away, Wooyoung moved so he was sitting right in front of her. Y/N pryed her legs open so he could be easily accommodated between her body. He moved his mouth to latch onto her other breast, giving it the special attention its twin had already received. He became a little harsher as he began to plaster marks on the underside of her boob and on the top of them. Each time he sank his canines down onto her skin, Y/N would emit a semi pained whimper that was muffled by Yunho's tongue as it swirled against her own wet muscle. Moving further south, Wooyoung began dragging his tongue down her sternum until it reached her belly button. Coming face to face with her leather shorts, Wooyoung grabbed the sides of the fabric before swiftly pulling it down her legs. Y/N shuddered when a small waft of cool air breezed over her wet heat.

"Fucking hell, what a nice and wet pussy you have little lady." Wooyoung stared in amazing at her shining folds that were inviting him to dive in and feast upon their sweet juices.

Pulling away so he could glimpse down at the lady's intimate place, Yunho moaned deeply when he saw what his friend was looking at.

"Fuck we've barely done anything and you're already this wet for us? You flatter us baby." He chuckled as he went back in to continue their makeout session.

Wooyoung's fingers slid around her folds, teasing her as they grazed over her slit, always stopping before they touched her clit. Y/N was yearning to be touched and she did not appreciate the older man's teasing. Yunho of course noticed since her needy whining was being spilled into his mouth.

"Is that a promise?" Wooyoung challenged.

"Wooyoung stop making her wait and eat her out before I shove you to the ground and I finger her cunt until she's squirting all over your face." He warned in between kisses.

Pulling back with a snarl, Yunho stared menacingly at his friend.

"Fucking eat her pussy or I'll get my men to hold you down and make you watch as I fuck her."

Shrugging off Yunho's threat, Wooyoung latched his mouth onto the young female's mound and started fucking it with his tongue. Y/N couldn't help but gasp as Wooyoung's skillful and experienced tongue swirled and sucked along her folds. He made sure to focus most of his attention on her clit, nibbling down on it while making sure he didn't accidentally grazed his teeth onto them.

"You like the way Wooyoung is eating you out baby?" Yunho asked as his large hands cupped your breasts once more, squishing them together as his thumbs toyed with your nipples.

"Yes! Shit! He's amazing!" She gasped out when he gave her a particularly long suck to thank her for her praises, a cocky grin forming.

"Heard that Woo? The little lady is enjoying it." Yunho gushed as he brought one breast up to place kisses on it.

Wooyoung responded with a moan against her pussy, his hands spreading her legs as far as they could go so he could lap reach every inch of flesh with his tongue. He left no place untouched as he practically smothered his face into her juicy core. Y/N's body started to tremble as she felt herself being thrown over the precipice. Yunho kept holding onto her as she began cumming on Wooyoung's face.

"Fuck- oh shit!" She cursed with scrunched eyes as an intense orgasm took over her senses.

Wooyoung didn't detach his mouth from her core until he made certain that she had released all the juices she possibly could, which ultimately ended up swallowed by him since he could not leave a drop to waste. When Y/N came to her senses, she still felt as if she was in a permanent high.

"I've never came from someone eating my pussy out. That was the first time anyone has made me orgasm from one." She admitted rather shyly.

"That's probably because you've only had amateur assholes perform oral on you honey. I've got years of experience. I know what a girl wants when she's getting her sweet pussy eaten out." Wooyoung boasted as he sat down next to her.

"Well I think it's only fair I show my gratitude to you both right?"

Sliding off the couch, Y/N got on her knees and beckoned the men to stand at each of her sides. Lifting her hands up, she began to palm their clothed cocks. She could only imagine how big they were since they already felt pretty packed even in their confinement. Although it was a little hard doing it with one hand, she managed to unzip both of their pants and slowly dragged them down their thighs until she was blessed by the sight of their mature cocks springing forward, fully erect and waiting for her to touch them. Her mouth was agape as she took one in each hand and began pumping them.

"God you're both so big."

Both men let out small laughs at her reaction.

"What? Never seen cocks like ours before baby?" Wooyoung asked.

"Not in person and I've always wanted to be fucked by sizes like yours."

Her hand continued to stroke their lengths. She even went as far as to spit on both of them so it would be easier to glide her hand along their shaft. Although Yunho was definitely the bigger of the two, packing a monster sized cock, Wooyoung was also pretty endowed and she had no doubt that with his cocky attitude he definitely knew how to use his dick in the best way possible. She couldn't help herself and actually brought both of their tips to her mouth. Her tongue alternated between licking Wooyoung's head before giving attention to Yunho's, both of them hissing when they felt her tongue on them. Y/N did not shy away from even slurping one both of them at the same time, opening her mouth as much as it could to fit their heads inside and sucking them in.

"Oh shit! You're such a dirty little girl." Yunho muttered out as his hand came down to pet the top of her head.

"Tell me are you always such a whore for your other customers?" Wooyoung's tone had a slight hint of jealousy at the thought of someone else getting the special treatment they were getting.

"Hmmm no. None of the other people have ever interested me. You guys are the first that made me wanna get a little naughty." She confessed with an innocent smile before taking each of their balls and giving them a few harsh sucks, coating them generously with her saliva. Although it was more than arousing having their young companion jerk them off simultaneously, even giving their slits a couple licks every now and then, the men knew they wanted a little more. They wanted to corrupt the woman in front of them and make a mess all over her.

"You wanna get even more naughty baby?" Yunho's voice dropped down 2 tones as he began taking his shirt off, Wooyoung following suit.

"Yes." She looked between one of the men and then to the other, nearly drooling when she saw their fit abs come into her view.

Lifting her up, Yunho effortlessly sat her back down on the couch.

"Want us to fuck you?" He continued to ask as he and his friend finished stripping themselves out of their clothes.

"Yes! Please fuck me." She encouraged, beckoning them over as she got on all fours for them.

"Well I don't know about you, but I really wanna see what that pretty mouth of hers does, especially after getting a sneak peak." Stepping over to her face, Wooyoung rubbed the tip of his cock along the top of her lip.

Y/N giggled as she took Wooyoung's length in one of her hands once more, pressing kisses along his head. She was so distracted in playing around and teasing Wooyoung that she didn't notice Yunho had placed himself right behind until she felt his bulge rubbing along her ass cheeks.

"I hope you don't mind sweetheart, but I wasn't expecting to get so lucky to be able to fuck a pretty girl such as yourself tonight so I'm afraid I brought no condoms...."

Y/N gasped when she felt a long finger insert itself into her ass.

"So I'm going to have to settle for fucking this other hole of yours." He circled his finger around her hole to further stretch her out, eventually adding a second finger inside her.

"If that's all right with you of course."

Y/N responded with a moan and pushed her butt further back so his fingers could sink deeper in her.

"I'd say it's more than ok with her. Look at how desperate she looks." Wooyoung lightly giggled, tapping the head of his cock against both of her cheeks.

"Open up."

Following his orders, Y/N allowed him to slip himself into her warm and wet mouth, unable to help but groan when he pushed half of his length in.

"What's wrong baby? Can't fit all of me inside?"

Taking it as a challenge, Y/N hollowed her cheeks even further and pushed herself forward until her nose pressed against his pubic bone. Although she choked slightly when she felt him hit the back of her throat, she was still able to swirl her tongue around him and properly accommodate him.

"For someone so young, you sure do seem to have a lot of experience." Wooyoung pointed out as his hands gently caressed her stuffed cheeks.

"That's cause she's nothing but a whore."

Y/N clenched around nothing as she heard Yunho's degradation, humming against Wooyoung's length as she felt his long fingers collect some of her slick and used it as a makeshift lube to spread around her asshole. Making sure she was all prepped and properly stretched out, Yunho took his sizeable dick and very slowly pushed himself into her ass, wanting to savor how her tightness hugged every inch of him. His head was thrown back when he stuffed her ass full of his cock, nails digging into her cheeks as he held back the urge to ram himself brutally and tear her ass up. When he did not move for a few seconds, Y/N grew impatient and pulled herself off him only to stuff him back inside.

"Don't make our pretty baby wait by being gentle Yunho. Can't you see she's desperate to have you break her apart?" Wooyoung smirked as pulled out of her mouth only to force himself back in, holding her head in place before releasing her. Y/N gagged around his cock, a tiny slick of drool falling out of the corners of her mouth.

"Is that what you want? Want us to be rough with you?"

Yunho got a response in the form of a moan around Wooyoung's dick and a tightening around his own cock .

"Ok shit! Yunho you better start fucking her cause I can't hold back anymore."

Not caring to wait and see if his friend would follow his instructions, Wooyoung gripped the back of Y/N's head and started bucking his hips into her mouth. Garbled noises that were muffled by Wooyoung's intrusion were spilling forth out of her, which were further intensified in range when the male behind her likewise started moving.

"Oh shit! You're so tight, you feel amazing little lady." Yunho praised as he slammed his hips onto her ass, watching it smack against his skin and wiggle every time he pounded back into her.

Y/N whimpered when one of Yunho's hands snaked in between her thighs and began to rub circles around her clit, further boosting the feeling they were giving her. With one of them fucking her face and the other one ramming into her ass, she felt so full and stuffed to the brim and she absolutely loved it.

"You enjoying this honey? Are you enjoying as two older men use you as their fuck toy?" Wooyoung's question was met by a loud vibration of her whimpers around him, his cock twitching at the feeling.

"Of course she's enjoying it. She loves getting used and treated as nothing more than a cum bucket." Yunho groaned in a raspy voice. His fingers which were moving earnestly around her bundle of nerves moved to strike them, making their recipient shudder when more stinging slaps were placed on her mound.

Tears of pleasure were rolling down Y/N's eyes as she was being fucked past her limit by the older and dangerous criminals. Never in her life did she actually believe such men like them would fulfill one of her deepest fantasies, yet here she was, gurgling and swallowing around one huge dick while her ass was getting torn apart by an even bigger cock. Not to mention Yunho was making sure she'd be tipped over the edge again as he worked his fingers on her clit, alternating between rubbing harshly against it before slapping it once more. During one of these hard smacks, she began crying out as her body began spasming and bursting out in pleasure, her juices spilling out of her.

"Oh fuck! She's cumming already." Wooyoung's words were becoming more slurred as he felt his own high fast approaching.

"I know. I'm gonna cum-" Yunho grunted as he plunged himself faster in her, his low and deep moans mixing with Wooyoung's higher pitched ones as both men used their pretty dirty dancer to push themselves over the edge, their relentless pace only helping to elongate the orgasm the girl under them was having.

"Fuck! Fuck!" Pulling out with a hiss, Yunho wrapped his hand around his cock and pumped himself furiously until white spurts of cum were being plastered all over her ass cheeks. He didn't stop until he made sure to paint her butt with all the cum he had to give.

Meanwhile, Wooyoung held her head in place as he fucked his own cum down her throat.

"Swallow it all you dirty whore. I don't want you spilling out a single drop. Got it?" He ordered as he spilled his seed into her mouth, which Y/N promptly swallowed as he said to. She kept eye contact throughout the entire process of having him rut his hips against her face, his mouth agape and blurting out swear after swear as he emptied himself in her mouth.

A popping sound was made when he pulled out of her, saliva plastered all over her lips which were red and swollen after the rough treatment they were put through. Both men slumped down on the couch to catch their breath and collect their senses. Yunho was the first one to gain his energy back and began to look for something to clean up, luckily finding a few hand towels near the mini bar. Coming back over where the other two occupants were, he began wiping off the leftover cum on Y/N's ass.

"You doing ok babe?" Yunho wanted to make sure.

"I'm doing wonderful, thank you." She giggled when Yunho pressed a light slap on her ass at her response.

After making sure to clean up properly, Yunho and Wooyoung gathered their clothes and began dressing themselves again while the exotic dancer simply sat there and watched them, lip poked out in a pensive thought.

"Will I see you guys some other night?"

Yunho and Wooyoung looked back and forth between each other and at her.

"Do you wanna see us again?" Wooyoung asked, his hopes getting up.

Y/N smiled at him.

"Of course I do. Just be sure to bring condoms next time. I'd really love to feel you both destroy my pussy next time."

The men chuckled at her bold words.

"Oh baby, it'll be our pleasure."

♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡♡*:.｡..｡.:*♡

#ateez #ateez scenarios #ateez fluff #ateez imagines #ateez smut #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #ateez yunho #ateez wooyoung #ateez mafia au #mafia!ateez #mafia!au #ateez dilf au #dilf!ateez #ateez yunho scenarios #ateez yunho imagines #ateez yunho smut #ateez yunho fluff #ateez yunho fanfiction #ateez yunho fanfic #ateez wooyoung smut #ateez wooyoung fluff #ateez wooyoung scenarios #ateez wooyoung imagines #ateez wooyoung fanfiction #ateez wooyoung fanfic #jeong yunho #jung wooyoung #jeong yunho smut #jung wooyoung smut

[stormblessed95]

Hi stromblessed95 hope you are doing good! I really like your blog😊.

I am just here to talk though about things that have been on my mind and I couldn't talk anywhere else, hope you don't mind.

Story time

You see I am new to BTS, over the last two years I have heard about them but I am not usually a type of person who is enthusiastic about trying new things so I didn't bother checking them but over last few months I have had a friend who is an army and I somehow started to take notice so we can have something to talk about. And tbh V is the first person that caught my eye, becoz obviously his features are well defined but others well they didn't match my idea of Korean beauty standards that somehow I created in my then. Here comes the frustrating part, I never in my 20 years of life found a male remotely interested in romantic or sexual way, to the point I think I started to question things. Maybe I am pan because looks are not what makes me interested in someone until I get to know them and I like their personality or I am an ace or maybe something else. But what I fell in love in my years are love people share, I love seeing to people being happy together be it romantic or platonic and it makes me happy they have people they can trust and relay on(as a person who doesn't have many, I can understand it's importance). And then enter BTS Jimin, he is enigma to me, in the beginning he didn't even catch my eye but as I got to know BTS, his personality caught my attention first and his androgynous features, everything about him fascinated me and drew me in. Now my friend who introduced me obviously caught on this that I am biased to him and the first thing she assumes is I want to somehow marry him? In the beginning I tried to talk about shipping and know her opinion, and she seems to be against it, that is fine, it is upto to her. But what pissed me off was her justification for that, "you can clearly see they are interested in girls why would you think they are in relationship with any of the boys". And being a person who is still questioning things or someone who can appreciate opposite gender being attractive without the feeling of wanting to be in relationship with them made me angry at her statement. And to be laughed off when I say to her that I am not a hardstan, because, NO them ripping off their shirt of flirting doesn't faze me. It made me sad that people won't understand my admiration for them doesn't stem from their appearance rather from their personality and I just want to be in their company without wanting to be involved with them romantically. That I can love a person of opposite gender without being in love with them.

Sorry for the long rant but now I feel better after talking about it somewhere and the anonymity helped. Hope you have a good day! Happy Hobi day😊

Hi, thanks for feeling comfortable enough to share your thoughts here. Sometimes finding the label that feels best to describe how we feel can be really hard. And when people can be casually dismissive of that, it makes it even harder. Unfortunately your friend seems to fall under the umbrella that a lot of cishet people do where thinking anything that isn't heteronormative is unusual and couldn't be her favs. I'm sorry that she isn't taking your feelings into consideration. Hopefully if you are able to explain it to her more, she is more understanding. In the end, I hope you find comfort in BTS and live life the best you can According to your own truths. Thanks again for sharing with us here. 🥰

[chefdoeuvre]

Under Control

Kelly Severide

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Sister!Reader

Description: Even when you think you have things under control older brothers always worm their way into helping.

Words: 1,595

Requested: yes by @ticklepete; Okay so can you do a Kelly x Sister where y/n is being seriously threatened by someone who she had a run-in with in the past (like an arsonist or former victim, etc) and of course Kelly's overprotective brother side kicks in. Her being the independent woman she is gets a little annoyed but ultimately is thankful. I feel like #46 and #12 would work with this.

Warnings: mention of minor injuries, blood, fluff as per usual.

A/N: I just love Kelly Severide and his overprotective ways. This can be counted as a stand alone or a part two for Rivalry. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

—

There they were again, flowers sent to the firehouse addressed to you. At first, you thought it was sweet how you had a secret admirer. Now after a month and a half of this you were starting to be fed up with it. Of course, you couldn't throw the flowers away they were too pretty for that, clearly, someone had spent a solid chunk of change to get them for you. Obviously, Kelly offered to tell Jay and get him to find out who they were coming from but being the stubborn Severide you are you declined.

The next shift came by in the blink of an eye and this time instead of a large bouquet of fresh flowers you were simply handed an envelope. The envelope didn't have a return address on it only the firehouse's and your name printed on it. You stuffed the envelope into your locker when the announcement system went off signaling a call. The call was a fairly normal rescue. Thankfully, there was a simple solution to saving the victim and it didn't take long to get them to safety.

After heading back to the firehouse you went back to your locker and pulled out the envelope that's been invading your thoughts since you got it. Ripping it open you unfolded the single piece of paper in it and let your eyes scan the words. Reading over them multiple times you felt a pit in your stomach. It was clear to see that they were threats aimed at you. This only confused you, if this wasn't some secret admirer who the hell was this? The words were generic threats you'd expect from a regular old crime show so that's not what scared you. It was the fact that they went through these lengths just to get your attention. Instead of doing what a rational person would do you stuffed the envelope back into your locker and tried to get your mind off of it.

Making your way out of the locker room you bumped face-first into a hard chest. Immediately two arms reached out and grabbed onto your shoulders to steady you. Looking up with wide eyes you're met with the familiar steel blue ones of your brother.

"Hey, you all right?" Kelly asked as he scanned your facial expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine." You nodded quickly.

You tried to sidestep away from him, but his strong arms kept you planted there. Given the fact that he's your brother, he knew you like the back of his hand and he knew what you were like when something was bothering you.

"No, you're not. Talk to me." Kelly urged as you all but looked him in the eyes.

Sighing you shoved his hands off your shoulder and turned on your heel assuring him that you were fine. In truth, you were far from fine but you'd deal with it your own way. Which was being majorly stubborn about it and completely ignoring the fact that you weren't okay. You made your way into the common room and took a seat in between Herrmann and Mouch who were watching an old movie.

Kelly, being the nosy brother he is took it upon himself to check out your locker. Granted he only knew your combination because it was your birthday and as your brother of course he knew you would use that as the passcode for your phone as well. Pulling open your locker the envelope fell out and he quickly pulled it open. Reading the words across the page he suddenly felt the urge to punch someone.

Soon enough, the announcement system went off signaling a call. Apparently, it was a large abandoned warehouse on fire which meant all of Firehouse 51's help was enlisted.

Pulling up to the scene Boden started giving out directions to each unit. Squad was taking the brunt of the work by checking the building along with some of Truck's help. You and Kelly were paired up to go the furthest into the building, biting back a joke about the sibling power duo the two of you were you headed into the burning building. Kelly stood close beside you with a clenched jaw, still angered by the threats aimed at you.

"We're clear on the West wing." Cruz's voice sounded from your walkies.

"Same on the East." Stella agreed.

"All good on the North wing. South?" Casey asked.

You and Kelly were still making your way through the building about to reply when you heard a shrill scream. Looking up in alarm, the two of you shared a glance before setting toward the sound.

Taking the lead you made your way weaving through the crates to where the sound came from. Another high-pitched sound shocked you into place before you started toward the louder noise again.

"I've been waiting for you." A deep, gravelly voice sounded from behind a large crate.

"We have to go, this place isn't gonna last long." Kelly chided looking between you and the wooden crate.

"That doesn't seem to be in my agenda, Lieutenant Severide." The deep voice tutted.

You and Kelly shared a look of confusion. How the hell did this guy know who he was?

"Oh, allow me to introduce myself." The man all but cackled as he stepped out from behind the crate.

In his hands was a familiar-looking bouquet of flowers. He had a devilish smirk planted on his face and dark eyes that made him look demonic.

"It's Charles, but you can call me Chuck." He greeted with a sickly sweet smile and looked dead at you.

Kelly immediately stood to step in front of you and practically growled at the man.

"Cool it, Kell." You shoved your brother aside with a roll of your eyes.

"All right, Charlie was it?" You crossed your arms nonchalantly, "take your flowers and leave or I promise you I'll let the hound at you." You gestured a hand toward your fuming brother.

Of course, you were naturally sassy, but in times of danger, your sass levels would go up by a hundred. Was this the smartest idea to agitate the guy who lit this place up? No, probably not, but your instincts decided otherwise. The man was rendered speechless, to say the least. He was expecting a sobbing woman not a lady who could even out sass Jay Halstead on a good day.

While the man was a blubbering mess Kelly took the initiative to call it into Boden because of course this had to all go down in a burning building. A few moments later you turned on your heel and began dragging Kelly with you.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kelly berated.

"I'd rather get the hell out of dodge before I turn into a crispy treat." You hissed pulling him toward the exit.

Chuck still stood there trying to mutter out a response when he bolted after the two of you. Pushing Kelly ahead of you, you turned around to see Chuck barreling toward you. Grabbing his wrist in a tight grip you all but dragged him out of the building. Just in time the three of you made it out of the building before a huge explosion erupting out of the ceiling.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you caught sight of the Severide sibling's favorite detective and pulled Chuck along with you.

"I think your package was sent to the wrong building." You shoved Chuck forward as Jay pulled the man's arms behind his back and cuffed him.

"Thanks, Y/N." Jay nodded with a smirk adorning his features.

"Anytime, detective." You flashed a quick smile before heading back to your fellow firefighters.

Letting out a breath you didn't know you were holding you ripped your helmet off and dropped it to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kelly placed his hands on your shoulders before pulling you into his arms.

"Oh, come on. That was totally badass." You chuckled.

Kelly stared at you bugged-eyed, tilting his head in confusion.

"Come here, you big teddy bear." You wrapped your arms around Kelly's waist, hugging him tightly.

Locking your hands behind him you pulled back hissing in pain.

"What? What's wrong?" Kelly scanned you for any injuries.

"Damn bouquet had thorns in it. I'm fine though." You scrunched your brows pulling at the thorns embedded in your palm.

"What do you mean you're 'fine'? You're bleeding!" Kelly exclaimed.

"Dude, they're just thorns." You dismissed.

Kelly pushed you toward Gabby and Sylvie wordlessly as you wiped the little bit of blood escaping your hand.

After getting all cleaned up and heading back to the firehouse you went to find Kelly who was hunched over his desk in his bunk room.

"Thank you." You spoke up leaning against the door frame.

Kelly snapped his head toward the sudden voice.

"What?" Kelly asked with a small smirk.

"I said it once, that's it." You crossed your arms with a pout.

Kelly raised his brows and you let out a defeated sigh, "thank you for being my protective brother, even if I don't need you to be." You stepped forward and placed your hands on his shoulders with a small smile.

"It's in the job description." Kelly reached his hand up to ruffle your hair.

"Seriously, how many times do I have to tell you not to touch my hair?" You laughed, pushing his hand away.

"You're gonna be the death of me, I swear." Kelly rolled his eyes playfully.

#request #fanfiction #imagine #one shot #one chicago #one chicago imagine #chicago fire #chicago fire fanfiction #chicago fire imagine #kelly severide imagine #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide x you #kelly severide imagines #kelly severide fanfiction #kelly severide #lieutenant kelly severide

[dragon-kazansky]

Yes, sir! | Niki Lauda

Professor Lauda AU! 👨‍🏫

Gender neutral reader

Dedicated to @lieutenantn and @scuttle-buttle

[Previous chapter] - [Next chapter]

Part 5

Two months have passed already. Between languages and literature, you have had a lot on your plate. It was surprising just how quickly work loads built up on you from your classes.

But the thing that stood out the most was that your silly little crush, well, it hadn't gone away. In fact, it had grown into something more than a little crush.

Professor Niki Lauda was on your mind constantly.

He really wasn't helping either. You had begin to wonder if Katie had been right about him. Lauda would smile at you as you entered his class. He would praise your work whenever he set an assignment. He would help you with pronunciation.

You never saw him praise anyone else like he did you, and you wondered how much he helped everyone else.

Were you really his top student?

It certainly seemed like it.

You hadn't told Michael and Katie about his attention toward you. They would only tease you on the matter.

You couldn't help that you liked him.

Professor Lauda was your favourite professor, but it wasn't just because of his lessons.

The weekend was approaching. You had a test to do for Lauda before you had the weekend to yourself. You were planning to go into town and see what's happening over there, enjoy yourself a little.

You entered the classroom and sat down in your usual spot. Lauda smiled at you briefly as you sat down. You smiled back.

As usual with your classes with him, you sit and you listen. You listen intensely. You take notes. Professor Lauda hands out some paperwork that may help.

"Study over the weekend, you will have a test next week when you come back," he informs you all.

You sighed softly. Maybe you could still go out this weekend and study later. You would definitely study hard. Professor Barnes hasn't assigned anything for over the weekend, so you would only have to focus on this class.

"Class dismissed."

Students got up and made their way out. You hung back to make a few final notes while Professor Lauda organised his desk. He had noticed you hadn't left just yet, but didn't say anything.

It was only when you rose from your seat and grabbed your bad when he spoke up.

"Good work today."

You stop and look up at him.

"Thank you. I've been studying all the work you gave us."

He nods.

"You should be proud of your progress these past couple of months."

"I am. I have a good teacher." A sexy one too.

He gives a little chuckle.

"Danke. Off you go, enjoy your weekend."

"You too, sir."

He watches you go. He did this sometimes, talk to you after class. Mostly it was just praising you for your work. He just wanted a few extra moments with you.

He would then scold himself for allowing it to happen.

If you had any idea how he was feeling, you would drop off this course so fast. Heck, he would probably lose his job too.

He sighs and grabs his things.

He would settle for being your Professor until you graduated.

You meet up with Michael and Katie. They wave as you approach them, smiling happily.

"Plans for the weekend?" Michael asks.

"I am hoping I can go into town before I sit and study for my test next week," you say, walking in perfect sync with each other.

"Good! There's a car rally in town, want to go see it?"

"A car rally?"

"Yeah. Basically a small race through town, plus we can look at some old classic cars that people bring to show off," Katie explains, going through her playlist on her phone.

"Sounds good to me."

"Great, I'll come get you in the morning, we can head out early and see the race," Michael smiles.

You agree and split ways with them as you leave the university.

You decide to get some studying in before bed, but not an all nighter. You wanted to be awake for the rally tomorrow.

You wake early. You get dressed and meet Michael outside. Katie is waiting in the car.

He parks as close to the event as he can and you all climb out. Michael knows his way around easily, so he knows exactly where to take you for the best view. Up on a hilltop near the closed road where you would get to see the cars drive by and around the corner.

You all sit down.

"This looks amazing," you say.

"Can't believe you have lived here all this time and never come to this," Michael shakes his head at you.

"I suppose it never interested me before."

"Yeah, before Professor Lauda," Katie chimes in.

You glare at her, but it didn't have much impact on her. She just chuckled.

"Oh yeah, he likes racing. He's probably here," Michael hums softly.

"He is," Katie says.

You look at her with a surprised look upon your face. She grins as she nods further down the hill. You turn and spot a familiar head of curls in view.

"Oh look, you're right," Michael chuckles.

You nibble at your bottom lip.

Of course he would be here. He likes cars. He likes racing. This is probably the best he could do right now. You assumed he would prefer the big races like Formula 1.

You can't seem to look away from him.

Katie and Michael share a look. They know you all too well.

An announcement too distant to hear clearly from where you where declares the start if the race.

You suddenly have lost interest in the event. Your Professor is here and he looks really good...

As he turns his head to look up the road, you get a glimpse of his side profile.

Oh, to run your fingers through his hair, to kiss those lips, to be close to him.

Katie gives you a nudge.

"Stop ogling your Professor. The cars are coming our way!"

You look up and see the vehicles whiz around the corner. For a rally it was quite good. A dozen cars flew by, zooming around the corner. This was just the first lot.

Your eyes, however, trial back your Professor, only you find those dark eyes of his gazing back.

He's caught you.

You stare. It's all you can do.

You can just about make out his lips twitching into a smile, but he turns back around before you can actually see it properly.

Katie smiles at you.

"If you wanted to ditch us and go say hello, you can," she tells you.

"No, I'm good."

She doesn't believe you, but she doesn't push the matter any more either.

You tear your gaze away from him, no matter how much you just wanted to admire him. You came for the race, so you'll watch it.

Niki, however, was grinning to himself as his eyes watched the track.

You looked good sitting up on the hill behind him. Much more natural and relaxed as opposed to when in class.

He was surprised to see you here. There was a joy blooming in knowing you may share an interest with him.

He needed to stop thinking about you, but his could he?

Maybe, just maybe, he could get a chance to talk to you. Outside of the classroom. Somewhere no one knows his is your Professor.

He just wants to talk to you. So he believed.

@lieutenantn @scuttle-buttle @rumblelibrary @zemosimp05 @hb8301 @celtic-witch-bitch @somethingthatsaysbubbles @lorna-d-m @anteroom-of-death @belle82devart @vverliebt @alltimebandsexual666 @charistory @mischief-siriusly-managed @thatoneartgalsstuff @mssennimatilda @hannahbal-the-fannibal @apparrio

#niki lauda au #niki lauda x reader #au #professor au #daniel brühl x reader #Daniel Brühl AU

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

Pride and Prejudice 1940: "When Pretty Girls T-E-A-S-E-D Men Into Marriage"

Made during the Great Depression, this classic black and white film is loosely based on Austen's novel and is set in what is likely the 1830s rather than the Regency Era (late 18th century to early 19th century). It is an escapist piece which capitalizes on nostalgia for a simpler time by transporting its viewers to a chocolate-box vision of the past, while paying homage to Austen's social satire by delivering plenty of laughs along the way.

Overall Thoughts on the Film:

The first time I watched this movie, I was confused because the plot as well as the setting was revised significantly (the events after Darcy's first proposal are changed to hasten the happy ending; Darcy's letter and Elizabeth's visit to Pemberley are not included in this movie). This changing of plot points makes the 2005 movie a much more faithful adaptation in comparison with this version, in spite of the creative liberties both take with the novel.

Production Design:

The movie is a typical example of Golden Age Hollywood productions, with beautiful actresses and melodramatic flourishes added to increase the drama. Some of the lines are delivered very quickly, in keeping with the comedic style of the time.

The music: definitely not historically accurate. A lot of sentimental, "ye olde timey" string arrangements that emphasize emotions or fast-paced waltz music for balls/parties.

The 1830s costumes are beautiful; it seems as if no expense (or quantity of fabric) was spared in making them. The bonnets are way taller and have more decorations than typical 1830s bonnets. Some of the patterns/fabric choices are very 1930s, and the costumes are exaggerated in such as way as to make the wearers look like fancy turkeys.

Hair and Makeup: very 1930s, with finger/sausage curls, plucked eyebrows, lipstick/lip makeup, and long lashes.

The sets: the dollhouse-like interiors are lavishly gilded and made to look as opulent as possible. Outdoors scenes are lush, with lots of flowers and bushes; the garden in which the second proposal takes place is gorgeous. The set design transports the viewer into an idyllic vision of the bucolic English countryside.

The Lead Actors:

With the exception of Laurence Olivier, the majority of the actors are American, since this is a Hollywood production. Many of the characters in the film's imaginary vision of pastoral Britain speak American or make clumsy attempts to imitate British English.

Greer Garson: while she is definitely too old for the part, she perfectly conveys Elizabeth's intelligence, outspokenness, and sarcasm. Her facial expressions are killer as well; with the arch of an eyebrow along with a snarky side eye, she captivates us all. All in all, Garson effectively shows off Elizabeth's impertinence through her nonverbal acting (this reminds me strongly of Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth Bennet).

Laurence Olivier: he effectively conveys Darcy's pride while hinting at his deeper feelings beneath the surface (I can see why Colin Firth spoke so highly of Olivier's portrayal of Darcy). Most importantly, the film emphasizes Darcy's intelligence; he is certainly Elizabeth's intellectual equal. While this portrayal of Darcy is very accurate to the book, Darcy's pride does go away pretty quickly (he and Elizabeth form a tentative friendship early on) and his social awkwardness isn't immediately obvious thanks to his charm. Also the unflattering hairstyle with the greasy hair and painted on sideburns makes me sad.

Key Scenes:

Opening scene: The title card appeals directly to the audience's nostalgia for a sentimental, romanticized past: “It happened in OLD ENGLAND (this was actually capitalized), in the village of Meryton…” The Bennet women are at a fabric shop, where they gossip with aunt Phillips about the rich people moving into Netherfield Park.

The carriage race: this scene, which isn’t in the original novel, represents the rivalry between the Bennets and Lucases. The mothers both want their daughters to be the first to snag the rich bachelors.

The first ball: There is a historical anachronism as the music is a waltz by Strauss, who became popular in late 19th century, specifically the Gilded Age; far too early for the Regency Era or 1830s England. Other changes from the original novel include Elizabeth meeting Wickham before Darcy; other events from Aunt Phillips’ ball (which isn’t included in this movie) and Wickham and Darcy’s confrontation are included in this scene.

Elizabeth’s impression of Darcy at the ball: she puts on airs and mocks his casual dismissal of her as tolerable (definitely a parallel with the 1995 version, where Jennifer Ehle does the same, but privately with Jane).

Great comedic change: Darcy introduces himself to Elizabeth after calling her tolerable and asks if she will dance with him (this originally takes place at Mr. Lucas' ball). Right after rejecting Darcy, she instantly agrees to dance with Wickham; in a humorous moment, Darcy evacuates to a corner of the room to sulk while seeing Wickham dance with Elizabeth.

The “Accomplished woman” scene: the dialogue lifted directly from the book for the most part. Darcy, in a departure from his trademark seriousness, shows off his playful side when reacting to Caroline Bingley's "turn about the room." I particularly like this added repartee from Elizabeth Bennet to Darcy, which is clever but also foreshadows her prejudice: “If my departure is any punishment, you are quite right. My character reading is not too brilliant.”

Elizabeth can't stand Mr. Collins: After twirling about his monocle, he pronounces that: “It might interest you to know my taste was formed by lady Catherine de Bourgh.” The best part of this scene is when Elizabeth plucks a wrong note on her harp when Collins gets really annoying.

The Netherfield ball (which is now a garden party):

Elizabeth running away from Mr. Collins: She looks rather ridiculous, almost like an overdressed turkey, in a white dress with puffy sleeves as she runs away from an overeager Collins. Then she hides in the bushes while Darcy helps her to hide, telling Collins he doesn't know where she is. It's fun but most likely not something a proper lady and gentleman would do (two people of the opposite gender out alone, shock!).

The archery scene: Darcy attempts to teach Elizabeth how to shoot a bow and arrow, even though he doesn’t hit the bullseye. She goes on to impress him by perfectly hitting the bullseye every time; Darcy learns his lesson: "Next time I talk to a young lady about archery I won't be so patronizing." Caroline Bingley, very passive aggressive as usual, shows up for her archery lesson right after and it's absolutely perfect.

Mr. Collins attempts to introduce himself to Mr. Darcy: Laurence Olivier captures Darcy so perfectly in this scene (really set the precedent for Colin Firth). When Mr. Collins starts talking (inviting Elizabeth to dance with him) Darcy tries to keep himself well-composed but has a pained expression on his face as if he’s about to pass out. Olivier masters the way Darcy can look so miserable but also disgusted and proud at the same time.

Mr. Collin's proposal to Elizabeth: I like the added touch of Mrs. Bennet pulling Elizabeth back by her skirt when she tries to run out of the room. The dialogue is taken directly from the book, and the scene is made even funnier when Collins holds on to Elizabeth's hand desperately and doesn’t let her get away. My only quibble is that Elizabeth isn’t indignant enough when Mr. Collins doesn't take no for an answer.

Elizabeth and Darcy at Rosings: I like that Olivier subtly indicates that Darcy is clearly affected upon seeing Elizabeth at Rosing, hinting at deeper feelings beneath the surface. I also like how the scriptwriter emphasizes that Darcy indirectly praises Elizabeth and enjoys their conversations, while she remains convinced that he hates her. Sadly, the original dialogue of the piano scene is not included, which is unfortunate as it allows Darcy to reveal his introvert tendencies, calling into question Elizabeth's assertion that he is unpardonably proud.

First proposal: The famous opening lines are mutilated with awkward punctuation: “It’s no use. I’ve struggled in vain. I must tell you how much I admire and love you." While the rest of the dialogue matches up closely with what happens in Austen's novel, both of the actors aren’t emotional enough; instead Elizabeth cries very daintily, and Darcy remains serene, which conflicts with the book's description of both of them being very angry and defensive at each other.

THE SCRIPT:

The first half of the film up to Darcy's first proposal follows the events of the original book closely, though certain blocks of dialogue are moved elsewhere and other events such as Mrs. Phillips' party are skipped over. The most significant changes, besides updating the setting to the 1830s, are made to the second half of the book to squeeze the key events of the story into the movie before delivering the inevitable happy ending.

Brilliant Quotes:

Mr. Bennet's reaction to Mrs. Bennet's despair over the situation of their 5 unmarried daughters: “Perhaps we should have drowned some of them at birth.”

Darcy insists Elizabeth cannot tempt him: “Ugh. Provincial young lady with a lively wit. And there’s that mother of hers.”

Darcy is an arrogant snob: “I’m in no humor tonight to give consequence to the middle classes at play.” (Technically the Bennets are part of the gentry; they just are less wealthy than Darcy).

Elizabeth's reaction to Darcy pronouncing her to be tolerable at best: “What a charming man!”

Elizabeth rebuffs Darcy's offer to dance after overhearing his insult: “I am afraid that the honor of standing up with you is more than I can bear, Mr Darcy.”

Elizabeth favors Wickham after witnessing the bad blood between him and Darcy: “Without knowing anything about it I am on your side.”

Mrs. Bennet's comment after she sends Jane to Netherfield under stormy skies: “There isn’t anything like wet weather for engagements. Your dear father and I became engaged in a thunderstorm.”

Mr. Bennet's reaction to Jane's fever: “Jane must have all the credit for having caught the cold…we’re hoping Elizabeth will catch a cold and stay long enough to get engaged to Mr. Darcy. And if a good snowstorm could be arranged we’d send Kitty over!”

The sisters' description of Mr. Collins: “Oh heavens! what a pudding face.”

Caroline Bingley at the Netherfield garden party: “Entertaining the rustics is not as difficult as I feared. Any simple childish game seems to amuse them excessively.”

Darcy reassuring Elizabeth after helping her escape Mr. Collins: “If the dragon returns St. George will know how to deal with it.”

Darcy learns his lesson after Elizabeth beats him at archery: “The next time I talk to a young lady about archery I won’t be so patronizing.”

Elizabeth comments about a curtain: “Oh that’s pretty. It’s a pity you didn’t make it bigger. You could have put it around Mr. Collins when he becomes a bore.”

Elizabeth on Kitty and Lydia: “2 daughters out of 5, that represents 40% of the noise.”

Elizabeth sees Lady Catherine for the first time: “So that’s the great lady Catherine. Now I see where he learned his manners.”

Lady Catherine's attitude towards philanthropy: “You must learn to draw a firm line between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor.”

Darcy takes Elizabeth's advice: “I’ve thought a great deal about what you said at Netherfield, about laughing more...but it only makes me feel worse."

Elizabeth and Darcy have a conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam: “He likes the landscape well enough, but the natives, the natives, what boors, what savages … Isn’t that what you think, Mr. Darcy?” With a smile: “It evidently amuses you to think so, Miss Bennet."

CHANGES FROM THE BOOK:

The first half of the film up to Darcy's first proposal follow the events of the original book closely, though certain blocks of dialogue are moved elsewhere and other events such as Mrs. Phillips' party are skipped over. The most significant changes, besides updating the setting to the 1830s, are made to the second half of the book to squeeze the key events of the story into the movie before delivering the inevitable happy ending.

With the exception of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, the portrayals of the characters are (generally) true to the book.

As I said earlier, the film neglects any sort of historical accuracy when setting the story in romanticized "Old England," where genteel people pass simple lives that revolve around dresses, tea parties, social gossip, and marriages. A lot of Austen adaptations present an idealized vision of Regency life, where people are dressed immaculately, flawlessly adhere to "chivalry," and find love in the ballroom. This contributes to the misconception that Austen's novels are shallow chick-lit books with flat characters who live for lavish parties and hot men, instead of stories of unique, complicated women who happen to be well-off but aspire towards love, respect, or independence instead of being content to make economically advantageous marriages. Austen's novels are character novels and she doesn't waste time writing about dresses or tea parties; balls, while exciting, are just another part of daily life for her characters rather than some Extremely Big Special Once In a Blue Moon Event.

Austen's multifaceted view on marriage turns into a game of matchmaking. She recognizes it as necessary for women to survive in the patriarchy, since they cannot provide for themselves unless they marry well, but at the same time, presents marriage as a means for freedom if it is a loving partnership between two people that respect each other. In contrast, marriage is a game of manipulating the partners into wanting to marry (ex. Lady Catherine and Darcy's trickery). Also, it seems to be a given that Elizabeth will marry for love, unlike in the book where it is uncertain whether she will achieve this.

Kitty and Lydia's antics are viewed much more sympathetically as those of young people having fun; in the book, their behavior harms the family's social reputation, reducing the chances the Bennet daughters have of making good marriages.

Louisa Hurst, Georgiana Darcy, and Aunt and Uncle Gardiner are not in the movie.

Wickham is introduced much earlier than in the book; he is friends with Lydia from the very beginning. Interestingly, he doesn't begin to trash-talk Darcy until Bingley leaves; in the book he does so much earlier, before the Netherfield ball.

Darcy is more considerate towards Elizabeth at the Netherfield party (ex. rescuing her from Collins), until he overhears Mrs. Bennet scheming to get the daughters married. Elizabeth forms a tentative friendship with him until finding out that he separated Jane from Bingley.

Jane is more obviously heartbroken over Bingley's departure than in the book, where she keeps her pain to herself. In the movie, she runs away to cry, which is uncharacteristic of her.

Collins is a librarian instead of a clergyman. I dislike this change because some Austen scholars/fans think that Collins being a clergyman is a deliberate choice as part of Austen's social criticism. Collins is representative of how hypocritical the Church is, since he worships Lady Catherine's wealth instead of God, and preaches moral lessons instead of actually using religion to help people. My theory is that the change was made because of the Hays Code, which led to the censorship of movies for "unwholesome" or "indecent" things; the religious criticism could have been offensive.

Elizabeth reacts rather too kindly to Charlotte marrying Collins by showing concern for the loveless marriage. While she does worry about the lack of love in the marriage, initially she is extremely surprised, outright shocked, and confused.

The scene where Darcy tries and fails to talk to Elizabeth (the "charming house" scene in the 2005 movie) just before the proposal is removed.

Darcy's letter is skipped over and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudice of Darcy very quickly, as shown when she tells Jane she regrets rejecting his proposal. This is contrary to the book, where overcoming her prejudice is an emotionally exhausting and slow process that continues all the way up until the second proposal.

The Pemberley visit is removed; instead, Elizabeth returns home to the news that Lydia has eloped. Visiting Pemberley is very important as part of Elizabeth's re-evaluation of Darcy's character and provides an opportunity for Darcy to show Elizabeth that he has changed for her. The visit is key in increasing Elizabeth's love for Darcy, and removing it means that the characters have less personal growth (also wouldn't it have been great for the audience to be treated to another gorgeous estate of "Old England?"). Instead, Darcy visits Longbourn on his own and offers his help in finding Lydia. When the news comes that Wickham accepts very little money in exchange for marrying Lydia, it isn't as shocking as it is in the book because Darcy had already expressed his intentions of helping Elizabeth earlier.

Here's the change that bugs me the most: Lady Catherine becomes good; though she is a busybody, her main priority is Darcy's happiness. Her confrontation of Elizabeth is a scheme hatched between her and Darcy as a test to be certain of Elizabeth's love. This does not make sense on so many levels: first, Darcy insists that "disguise of every sort is my abhorrence," so why would he resort to trickery, however well-intentioned, to find out if Elizabeth still loves him? Second, Lady Catherine is a social snob and objects to Elizabeth's low connections; also she has an arranged marriage planned for Darcy. Third, in the book, because Elizabeth likes Pemberley and gets along really well with his sister Georgiana, Darcy would have had some evidence that Elizabeth, in the very least, cared for him. And the added claim that Lady Catherine approves of Elizabeth because she likes rudeness and thinks Darcy needs a humorous wife irritates me further because the marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy is revolutionary since it was made in defiance of societal rules!!! Why, why, why in the name of comedy did they have to do this?!

Darcy kisses Elizabeth (in a stagey and melodramatic way) after she accepts his second proposal. Seems a bit uncharacteristic of him.

All the sisters get married at the end. Happily ever after.

CONCLUSION

This movie certainly was not aiming for faithfulness to Austen's novel; it ignores her detailed portrait of Regency era society and its attitudes and focuses on the "light, bright, and sparkling" aspect of Pride and Prejudice that gives the story its timeless appeal.

All in all, this comedy of manners is definitely a classic thanks to the clever dialogue and jokes within the script, along with some great acting.

@appleinducedsleep @dahlia-coccinea @princesssarisa @colonelfitzwilliams @austengivesmeserotonin

#pride and prejudice 1940 #pride and prejudice #pride and predjudice #jane austen #movies #movie review #laurence olivier #classic movies #we stan p&p 1940

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

Scars That Heal || Eddie Kaspbrak x Reader Series

• Ch. 4: Bust A Move •

TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual assault implications. This very first scene with Beverly involves her and her father, and her fear of him doing something to her. If you'd like to skip I have marked the end of the encounter with this: [●●●] When you see this marker, that means it is over and you can read the rest of the chapter in peace. This chapter will begin with this scene so if you are skipping, proceed to scroll until you see the marker.

A/N: you certainly will not hurt my feelings if you skip the scene. This was a very difficult mindset to get into myself and I struggled a lot emotionally with writing it. But I promise, the rest of the chapter is heartwarming and fun and overall is the foundation of friendships and significant to Y/n's arc, her induction into the Losers Club [including her link to Henry and what "makes her a loser" and the budding relationship between her and Eddie.

WORD COUNT: So big I had to add a word count, 7849. Oof, take some breaks peeps.

×××

    With a terrible sinking feeling and a churning stomach, Beverly walked through her front door. She tightened her grip on the plastic bag she held behind her back, praying her father wasn't around to see what she had bought. As she crept through her apartment, scanning for any signs of life, she absentmindedly heard the words of the children's program echoing throughout the residence.

    "Toilet and bath water travel down the drains and into the sewer." The front closed, not as quietly as Bev had hoped. "The sewer is a fun place to play with all of your friends. Just follow the water into the drains and down into the sewers you go."

     The words of the cheerful program hostess echoed off the walls and went unnoticed by Bev. "When you're with your friends in the sewers, you can be as silly as a clown!"

    She poked her head cautiously into the living room, it was empty.

   "That's right, it's the word of the day."

    Bev walked quickly and briskly down the hall, nearing the safety of the bathroom when the large looming figure of her father appeared. Beverly met his eye, fear settling in her chest as she gulped.

    "Hi, Daddy." Her voice came out in a choked whisper, a side only her father could bring out in her.

    "Hey, Bevvie." His eyes flickered down at her grocery bag and back up at her. "Whatcha got there?"

    Her eyes fluttered down to the concealed box of tampons in the bag, knowing, no, dreading this day. This is what she had feared would happen. Why, she cursed herself. Why the fuck hadn't she just done this in the safety of Y/n's apartment?

    "Just some things,"

    "Like what?" He took the bag from her hands and rifled through.

    He grinned suddenly and his eyes zeroed in on Bev. She felt her whole body stiffen in terror. He knew now. And there was no telling what he would do. Her eyes drifted to the wall behind him, and there they stayed, much too frightened to look him in the eye. His rough and calloused hand touched the side of her face and she fought her instincts to recoil, knowing better.

    He brought her in close, and he closed his eyes. He took a long lingering sniff of her hair and she felt the icy cold grip of fear grasp her heart. Tears pooled in her eyes and his hand fell to her long red hair, and he now held it in his palm. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up, fear prickling her skin and he stroked her red locks with his thumb, possessively.

    "Tell me you're still my little girl."

   Two little words, she told herself. Two little words she had to say and it and he would be on his way. Hopefully.

    "Yes, Daddy."

    "Good."

    His palm returned to the side of her face, and he motioned her away. A flooding sense of relief washed over her and she slipped around him and disappeared into the safety of the bathroom.

    Her palms gripped the sink, and the running faucet almost completely covered the noise of her distraught sobs. Her salty tears that fell from her cheeks landed in the sink and were carried down the pipes along with the rest of the running water. A long and slender pair of silver scissors lay next to her palm on counter. With a shaky hand, she brought the scissors up to her loose hair.

    The hair that he strokes, the hair that he smells, and the same fucking hair that draws every unwanted eye in town, including her own father. Grasping a long lock of hair, she hesitated. Only once. But countless memories flooded her at once. How many times he looked at her, how he looked at her. No. No more.

    She snipped a lock of hair and she smelled the whiff of freedom it brought. The feeling disappeared just as quickly as it had come but and was soon replaced by more spite. Spite and fear.

    "This is what you did," she whispered, cutting another chunk of hair. "This is what you..."

    She grabbed another chunk of hair, eagerly. Desperately.

    "This,"

    Another lock gone.

    "And this,"

    She kept her eyes on the sink, watching wisps of orange hair circle the drain before disappearing. She angrily grasped larger chunks of hair, working feverishly. The hair fell from her head so fast, it began to pile up in the sink. Sobs racked her body and her hand returned to her head and she realized there was no more.

    For the first time she let her herself look at her reflection. There stood a sad and frightened young girl. Beverly ran a hand through her shortened hair, lingering on her scalp as she adjusted to the new feeling. Her once long and gorgeous head of hair was no more, choppy and uneven curls was all that was left. It was short and messy, not unlike hair she'd find on most boys at her school.

    Good.

[●●●]

    Y/n didn't know why she bothered looking in her drawers for clothes, she barely had any in the first place. Decent clothes at least, just about everything she owned was second hand and it was not uncommon that they were torn slightly in places.

    She wondered why the hell she was nervous in the first place. Then her fingers found the familiar nylon of the swimsuit fabric, and she sighed. Right.

    Y/n and Bev had agreed to go swimming with a bunch of boys they barely knew. It wasn't that hard to connect the dots when they mentioned where they were going, it was the quarry after all. But it never quite dawned on her until now, that she was going swimming with several boys she barely knew. Even though Bev would be there, that wasn't exactly a comfort. She never quite had her friend's confidence.

    Despite her home life and all the nasty whispers that floated through town, Beverly didn't let it affect how she saw herself, a quality Y/n admired. The same couldn't quite be said for herself. She could barely afford to go to school at Derry High, her family worked paycheck to paycheck just to send her to school. And she didn't like to talk about it, but Beverly had time and time again lent her money for little things that she couldn't afford herself. In fact, she had a few old jackets and shoes that Beverly had given her.

    The two girls were more than thankful for their friendship, both a perfect fit for one another, like two pieces of a puzzle. Each of them were able and willing to give the other what they could provide, whether it was some borrowed money, or a safe haven away from a leering father, and of course a never ending source of love and support. But of course, occasionally, no matter how hard she fought, the little green monster wormed its way into her mind. It always managed to pluck her most treasured memories with Bev, and stain it with jealousy, rotting it with envy and disgust. It picked at her confidence and fed her venomous lies that completely contorted their friendship.

    Like the only reason people knew about her was because she was friends with Beverly. It was the beautiful Beverly Marsh and ol' What's Her Face. She would occasionally catch herself wishing she could draw attention like that, but she quickly dismissed it. No, she shook her head, ridding herself of the thought, no it's not worth it. She reminded herself of all the horror stories she had heard from Bev, and had witnessed for herself, in the many years of their friendship.

    Sure, she was easily noticed by cute guys at her school, and that was fun and exciting at her age, but she was also noticed by older men. Men like Mr. Keene, and he was only one example in dozens of men all over town. Not to mention her own father. Any time the little green monster returned, it diminished itself in the pity Y/n felt for her best friend. But that didn't mean it wasn't hard for Y/n to hear the many names she had been called. "Filthy little tramp!"

    And not to mention the countless side glances followed by surprise from boys - and girls - that she had in fact been there standing next to Bev the whole time, and they only just noticed her. She was always the sidekick. "So ditch the street rat and we'll go to the movies, you and me."

    Anytime anybody thought she couldn't hear them, they spoke ill of her. Hell, not even then, most people didn't care if she overheard. Usually, they were trying to persuade Bev in one way or another to leave her behind.

   "What is she, your little puppy dog? Just tell her you're sick or somethin' and you're home free,"

   "Look, you're friend seems... nice, but she doesn't fit in with us. Either come alone or don't come at all."

    Of course, Beverly never bought into that crap. Y/n was too important to her, she was Beverly's saving grace after all. And there was no way in hell she would let anyone talk about Y/n that way.

   "Then I guess I'm not coming." She'd reply. "If you really need a date so bad just take the stick up your ass,"

    Y/n smiled at the memory. Oh, how she relished in the shock on their faces. That particular comeback had them running away with giddy laughter as they wove through the halls, the angry trio of boys after them. They found sanctuary in a small hiding spot behind the school where they remained until the trio gave up and went home with slightly deflated egos.

    This was another reason Y/n was ashamed to have these thoughts, Beverly clearly cared for her and would be very upset to know she thought these things of herself.

    As Y/n pulled her worn out jean shorts over her bathing suit, she searched her bed for the t-shirt she had set aside. She slipped it on and as she looked in the slightly cracked mirror she felt a small bud of confidence blooming in her chest.

    Beverly had her back, and she had hers. And she knew if Richie ever made some comment about her, Bev would shut it down if she hadn't first. The bud of confidence spread in her chest as she could feel herself being persuaded.

    That was, until she noticed the tag on the outside of her shirt. She sighed exasperated, and quite frankly, rather exhausted. Y/n hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. If she tried hard enough, she was able to push the memory to the back of her mind and forget, but only for the day. Then of course, if was time for her to go to bed. Then every detail of what she saw, what she felt, was amplified in the silence of her room. She flinched at every creek in the walls, every car that passed by.

    And she didn't dare move her feet out from under her blankets, no matter how hot she felt. Of course, this ended up being one of the reasons it was difficult to fall asleep.

    Y/n counted herself lucky she fell asleep at all. And yet, the thought of being unconscious, completely unguarded and unprepared, where anything could happen - anything could get her - was just as unsettling. She wished Beverly was there with her, but she knew she had to sleep alone eventually.

    Right on cue, she heard the soft rap on wood come from down the hall in the living room. Beverly was here. Casting one last glance at her reflection, and her shirt now fixed, Y/n took a deep breath and made her way to the front door. She made the mistake of glancing at the carpet and the faded red stain and she felt a sudden prick of fear in her heart and the sudden hyper-awareness of her injury. Trying not to give it much thought, she took a deep breath returning her attention to the door, swiftly stepping over the spot on the carpet.

    Her attention focused on undoing the many locks on the door, she failed to notice her friend's new look through the window. It came as quite a surprise to Y/n, having only known Beverly with long hair. She would have brought it up if it wasn't for the look on Beverly's face.

    Her eyes were on the ground and when the door opened, Bev slowly met Y/n's eye. She recognized the look in Bev's eye, a look that screamed 'I really don't want to talk about it right now.' A look she had given to her not too long ago herself. Y/n plastered on a smile and broke the small moment of silence.

    "You ready?"

×××

    Richie Tozier does not hold back when it comes to spitting contests. Himself, Stan, Bill, Ben, and Eddie were standing at the cliffs edge, stripped down to their underwear and Richie was first up to bat. He did not shy away from whatever method he needed to conjure the spitball, no matter the foul noises he made in the process. He reeled back and launched the spitball over the cliff, and the rest of the boys followed suit.

    Eddie flinched when his own mucus landed on the rocks near his feet.

    "Oh, my God, that was terrible. I win." Richie exclaimed.

    Eddie looked at him, dumbfounded. "You won?"

    "Yeah."

    "Did you see my loogie?"

    "That went the farthest!" Richie argued, gesturing where he spit. "It's by distance."

    "Mass. It's always been mass."

    Richie began sputtering in disbelief, but Eddie continued.

    "Who cares how far it goes? It matters how cool it looks, like it's green or it's white or juicy and fat."

    Ben cringed, and he met eyes with Bill who gave him a look that said 'see what I have to put up with?' He shook his head, shutting down the conversation before it continue further.

    "Who's first?"

    There was a brief moment of silence and the boys looked over the cliff into the emerald waters, contemplating the jump.

    "I'll go!"

    They turned their heads to see Beverly Marsh and Y/n L/n. Beverly had been the one to speak and she dropped her bike to the ground before discarding her dress. Their eyes widened and Beverly smiled.

    "Sissies," she laughed.

    She broke into a light jog, the boys parting like the red sea and she launched herself off the cliff.

    "What the fuck!" Richie exclaimed.

    They looked at the water in which Beverly had disappeared, completely dumbfounded. Suddenly and in perfect sync, they looked to Y/n, almost expecting to see her do something equally surprising but she merely gave them an odd look. She set down her bike and shifted on her feet uncomfortably.

    "What?"

    They all broke out of their gaze, rather obviously, and tried to look anywhere but her, knowing they'd been caught.

    She had to remind herself that she wasn't the only one who would be undressed, and everyone else, besides herself, already was. Taking advantage of their distracted nature, she quickly slipped off her shorts and t-shirt, making sure to slip out of her shoes as well.

    "Come on!" Beverly's voice was distant, but it grabbed everyone's attention.

    Bill was the next to make the jump, followed by Ben. Next was a less than eager Stan, leaving Richie, Eddie and Y/n who had cautiously joined them at the edge. Richie looked between Eddie and Y/n, then back to the water.

    He sighed deeply, taking a step forward and removing his glasses, and tossing them on his pile of clothes.

    "Well, fuck" He took a deep breath and jumped off the cliff, leaving Eddie and Y/n alone.

    They shared an equally nervous look with a few uneasy smiles. Y/n peered over the edge, scanning the water for a safe space to land. As she waited for the moving figures of Richie and Stan swimming away from the landing zone, Eddie couldn't help but look at her. Observing the small crinkle of her brow and how unsure she felt, he felt his own fears vanish. Something inside him wanted to make her feel less nervous, and perhaps that was his own way of deflecting his own fears but he didn't care.

    "I'll go if you go," he offered.

    She looked at him in slight surprise, and a small smile tugged at her lips. Y/n looked between Eddie and the water, shifting weight off of her bad leg. This smile was less forced, and genuine, it was thankful. And Eddie felt a wave of nerves bubbling in his stomach, not at the jump, but the kindness in her eyes, and the way she mentally built herself up.

    She nodded and they both gazed at the lake below, everyone was looking at them now. They had cleared a space and Eddie and Y/n could hear the remarks being made by their friends.

    "On three?" She asked, quirking a brow.

    "On three." He nodded, backing up slightly. "One,"

    Y/n suddenly shook her head, stepping back and spoke at a rapid rate, cutting Eddie off.

    "Fuck, if I wait that long I'll change my mind. Let's go," Without warning, she grabbed his hand and jumped off the cliff, giving him no choice but to jump with her.

    It never even occurred to Eddie that he could have let go of her hand.

    Eddie felt his heart leap into his throat and he was certain time stopped still as he was suspended in air. Perhaps it was the sudden change in view and the fact he was practically pulled off the cliff and how high he was above the water, or maybe it was her hand around his - no, nope. It was the height, definitely the height.

    On their way down he gasped in fear at the rapidly approaching water and he felt her hand leave his as she braced for impact. Eddie tried not to think of the millions of germs in the water, and he could feel the thousands of bubbles grazing his body as he sunk deeper into the water. When he emerged he gasped for air, reminding himself to steady his breathing, less he have an asthma attack. He realized his throat was sore and that he must have screamed the whole way down.

    He looked round at the cheering figures of his friends, whooping and cheering them on. Though he tried not to panic when he counted only five figures above the surface. Just before he could ask where she was, Y/n burst out of the water next to Ben, gasping for air.

    "Holy shit!" She wiped her face with her hand, clearing the drops of water obstructing her vision.

    "Took you long enough," Bev smirked.

    Richie nodded. "Yeah, too bad you guys missed out. We were just about to pack it up and call it a day."

    Eddie rolled his eyes and Y/n sunk further into water, all the way up to her nose.

Y/n concentrated on kicking her legs and her arms moved back and forth under the water keeping herself afloat. The others, specifically Richie and Eddie, had already launched into another debate.

    "Do you have any idea, how filthy this water is. We'll be lucky if we don't contract something, I am serious right now. So forgive me if I am a little hesitant to jump into this cesspool of germs and bacteria. Not to mention the several loogies that are floating around here somewhere, or did you forget already?"

    "Oh sure, now you're worried about loogies, Mr. 'juicy and fat'"

    Bev, who had begun looking around her in confusion and slight concern, spoke up. "Loogies?"

    "Juicy and fat?" Y/n asked disgusted, her face scrunched up, looking questioningly between Richie and Eddie.

    Eddie blinked once, and shook his head. Desperate to change the subject, he diverted his attention back to Richie, pretending Y/n hadn't heard that.

    "Besides, if we weren't careful enough, we could have seriously hurt ourselves jumping from that height. Even if we knew there were no rocks in the water, a fall from from anything higher and we could have died, I'm not doing that shit again. If you want to go swimming, fine by me, but I'm not jumping anymore, I'll just meet you guys down here."

    "Don't be such a drama queen Eds, you jump a million times if it meant you had a pretty hand to hold on the way down and you know it, "

    Y/n looked to Richie, her brows furrowing and she was thankful the water was already concealing her pink cheeks. Eddie, unfortunately did not have the same luxury.

    "Fuck you, Richie,"

    Richie smirked. "Eddie, please, now's not the time for romance."

    Eddie's face scrunched up and he splashed Richie in the face, who had began chuckling at his friends response. Immediately, he retaliated with a splash of his own. Unfortunately, it hit Stan who frowned, and splashed back. It wasn't long before the entire group was involved, save for Y/n who was giggling off to the side where she was free of any water hitting her face.

    "Alright, alright," Stan waved his arms around, signaling for a truce. "Alright!"

    Everyone settled down and the water began to calm.

    "We should-" Stan was briefly interrupted by splash to the face, and he stopped to glare at Richie and sighed, wiping his face. "Chicken, we have enough people, who wants to play?"

    "Me against wheezy first," Richie jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Eddie, who had in fact been wheezing. "I need to defend my title and he made it awfully clear last time he thought he could take me,"

    "I can asshole, I already told you. I had an asthma attack, if I hadn't I would have won and you know it."

    "Wanna prove it?"

    "Oh, it is so on, dickhead. Same circumstances, same partners, Stan come on!"

    Already regretting his decision to bring it up, Stan fell in line with the others as they entered shallow waters. Bill lifted Richie on his shoulders, and Stan lifted Eddie. Beverly had swam over to join Y/n and the two girls watched the chicken fight with great amusement.

    Y/n almost didn't notice the quiet figure of Ben, who had joined them off to the side. He had been neglecting to speak, but she recognized the longing look of wanting to fit in. She smiled, and swam over to join him. He seemed surprised she had joined him, but he returned the smile, albeit a bit nervously.

    "How's your stomach, Ben?"

    "Huh?" Ben gave Y/n a funny look, but before she count point out his stomach injury, it seemed to click "Oh! Oh, yeah, uh, it's feeling better, thank you. What about you? H-How's your leg?"

    "Better, thank you."

    A genuine smile tugged at her lips, feeling herself relax at the company of the boy. Y/n had barely known him, but she was intuitive enough to know that he was timid and kind. And though she was enjoying the new company of the other boys, it was nice to have a more relaxed presence. Though there was Stan, but Y/n had yet to get to know him.

    Their attention was pulled back to the chicken fight when they heard a sharp yelp and felt the water shift around them. And there sitting atop Stan's shoulders, waving his arms triumphantly was Eddie, whooping and hollering.

    A smirk grew on Y/n's face at this. It only grew wider when Richie emerged.

    "Foul!" Richie exclaimed, pointing at Eddie and shifting effortlessly into another persona. "Aaaaand Kaspbrak is outta the game!"

    "What? What the hell are you talking about?" Eddie asked, waving his arms slightly.

    "You pushed me, that's a foul."

    "That's the whole premise of the game! Of course I pushed you!"

    "You know what I mean, dillhole, you shoved my shoulders! That's a foul!"

    "No, that's allowed. The attackers get to use any means necessary to knock the opposer down, that's stated very clearly in the rules!"

    "Show me this rule book Eds, cause it's sounds an awful lot like you're making this shit up just because you can't win without playing dirty!"

    "Or maybe you just can't stand the fact that I beat you! I'm the one with the title now, aren't I?"

    "Oh, is that so-?"

    Ben, who had been growing uncomfortable from the heated argument, spoke up nervously. At least he tried to, but Y/n was the only one who heard him so she cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention. Ben seemed relieved.

    "Why don't we just do new teams?"

    "G-good idea," Bill spoke up, and he looked around the small group. "W-who wants t-to go next?"

    "Oh, I want to play!" Bev smiled walking against the water into the shallower parts of the water, but she stopped briefly, looking over her shoulder. "Ben, do you want to be my partner?"

    Ben tried to hide his blush, and he shyly nodded his head. "Uh, sure, yeah."

    Ben joined her, but she began looking around. "Alright, who's opposing?"

    Beverly caught Y/n's eye, and gestured hopefully over. Y/n smiled nervously and shook her head, her lips pressed into a firm line, and Bev shrugged.

    "Alright then, Richie, why don't you play us, if you're clearly an expert."

    "Gee, I would but my shoulders are killing me, I think I'm out for the season,"

    "Grow up, asshole, just go." Said Eddie, who had dismounted Stan's shoulders.

    "Well, since you asked so nicely," Richie said. "Bill, you're up."

    "W-why don't we let someone else g-go?"

    "Why? S'the matter with you?"

    Bill shrugged. "N-nothing. Just thought I'd l-let someone else go."

    Richie gave him an odd look but shrugged it off. "Fine,"

    Richie then spotted a Y/n, at least who he assumed was Y/n - he didn't have his glasses after all - who was hiding in the water, despite how shallow it was. It finally clicked that she had barely said a word since, well, since she and Bev showed up, he realized. She seemed different, she held herself differently than how she was in class. In class, she usually was able to keep up with his quick wit. He never told her this, but he enjoyed her company. He pegged her as someone who was quick witted and didn't take shit from anyone, and he admired that.

    But now she was quiet and reserved. Hell, she must be sitting on her ass right right now just to stay under the water. Richie didn't understand this. Now facing her, he dug his hand in the water and splashed her face, ripping her out of her thoughts, and she looked at him startled.

    She had to wipe away the fresh water droplets running down her face, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

    "What the hell?"

    "Come on, I need a partner and Denbrough bailed. You're up."

    She scoffed, slinking deeper into the water.

    "Come on, whatya', chicken?" He quipped, quirking an eyebrow.

    If he knew anything about this girl, she wasn't one to shy away went it came to making a comeback. Sure enough, she rolled her eyes and raised her head ever so slightly so her lips were above the water.

    "No, I'm not, that's why I'm not playing." She said snidely.

    He smiled triumphantly to himself, considering it a win he was able to get her to speak more than three words.

    "Come on, toots, it'll be fine. We'd make a great team!" He exaggerated a dopey grin and gestured for her to join him.

    Richie may have been blind as a bat, but he could tell she was considering it. She looked around at everyone, who was watching the exchange expectantly. Y/n didn't know if it was everyone's stares or the fact the fact she was genuinely tempted but she gave in and made her way over to him.

    Richie, who still wasn't completely sure is she was moving or not, gave her a cheeky wink, and pushed his luck even further. "I'll let you be on top,"

    Richie expected a comeback or a even a scoff from her, not a pair of hands roughly shoving him into the water by his shoulders. Naturally he figured, one of his friends had done this, tired of his antics and found a unique way to shut him up, but then he felt a pair of legs take a seat on his shoulders and he knew it was Y/n.

    Once he was sure she was secure he rose up out of the water, gasping for air when he reached the surface. The others, cheered her on, welcoming her to the fun.

     She nearly tipped over as he readjusted in the sand, but she grabbed onto his hair by his scalp and he winced.

    "Ah, watch it! I am quite fond of my scalp, you know,"

    "As long as you watch that trashmouth of yours Tozier, one more comment like that and I'll drown you," she peered over his head, giving him a light but slightly teasing glare.

    Nevertheless, she loosened her grip and he blinked a few times, his scalp tingling. "Duly noted,"

    Nobody seemed to hear the small chuckle that escaped Eddie who had been watching, quite impressed with her ability to shut the boy up. He'd have to ask her how she does it.

    "Alright, come on, we gonna play or what?" Bev asked, despite the grin that worked its way onto her face.

    She too was happy to see her friend coming out of her shell, she could tell she had been nervous and Richie proved to be a big help, much to her surprise.

    "It's on, we have got this in the bag!" Richie bragged, getting into position across from Ben.

    Richie cast a glance up to his partner and smiled cheekily, batting his eyelashes. "Right babe?"

    Immediately she whacked his head with her hand and he winced once more. "What did I just tell you?"

    "Alright, alright! Jeez," He tightened his arms around her legs, securing her in place and he took a step forward towards their opponents. "But do keep in mind, we are on the same team, you want to hit the other players"

    He missed the eye roll she gave, but nevertheless she smirked, shaking out her arms, getting ready for the match.

    Bill, who usually announced the beginning of a round, did just that. With one simple word, the girls locked in on one another, theirs hands interlaced and they each pushed with all their might.

    There were several close calls, on both teams, but they always persevered. Unexpectedly, Richie took a few steps back, and Ben, confused by his tactic, stepped forward after them. Though both of them moved slowly, their speed affected against the water, and Y/n nearly tipped over, but her balance was regained when Richie leaned forward and ran forward against the water, tipping Y/n forward and giving her more momentum.

    Catching Bev off guard she was able to prove successful in her efforts to push her over. Beverly came tumbling off of Ben's shoulders, and almost kicked the poor boy in the face on the way down. Richie and Y/n cheered victoriously, and even Ben cracked a smile at their unexpected move.

    Eddie, who had found himself rooting for them, despite his previous grudge against his old opponent, whooped and hollered at their win. Bill and Stan cheered as well, and Beverly broke the surface, a big smile on her face.

    Y/n had already forgotten her nerves and felt a swelling sense of comradery and a growing respect for her partner.

    "Alright, ready to put this to the ultimate test?" Richie asked, addressing his partner and the rest of the group. "New champs, versus old champs,"

    Y/n smiled, looking to Eddie and Stan hopefully, now completely invested in the fun. Eddie felt a swell of confidence and gave in, Stan joining him.

    "Fine, but no playing dirty," Eddie mocked, looking at Richie.

    Richie smirked. "No promises,"

    Eddie, who now struggled to climb onto Stan's shoulders, scoffed.

    Eventually, everyone was situated and Eddie suddenly felt a small flurry of butterflies in his stomach that he briefly mistook for nausea. But he realized that it was in fact butterflies when he saw Y/n opposite him. They were brought closer by their respective partners who stepped forward, preparing for the match. She glared playfully at him, a small smirk on her lips and she outstretched her arms ready to fight. He hadn't realized the match had begun until he was forced to scramble for balance on Stan's shoulders when she went for his arms.

    Their hands interlaced for the second time that day and now he was certain his racing heart was caused by this. Nevertheless, he pushed those feelings aside, reminding himself he wanted to beat Richie again, but the motivation to do so was weaker this time. Though he didn't let this shake his competitiveness so he matched her strength and the two laughed and grunted as they both tried desperately to push one another down.

     Each of them found the other to be a surprising match for themselves. They would often find themselves going for the same opportunities only for the other to be prepared for it. Everyone was now completely invested in the match, everyone cheering them on though they didn't quite know which team they were rooting for.

    Eventually, Stan and Richie had had the same idea and moved in closer in an attempt to push the limits. Both Richie and Stan were beginning to lose interest in who would win, eager to give their arms and legs a break. When they both moved in closer, hoping one of their partners would take advantage of the distance and strike, but once again the pair had the same idea. They leaned into the momentum, each giving one last push and much to everyone's surprise, they both fell on their backs, crashing against the water and earning a small sting from the contact.

    Y/n sunk into the water, slower and slower and she felt her back lightly hit the sand. She felt something graze her ankle, her bad ankle, and before she could stop herself her eyelids ripped open. She flinched in the water, pulling her leg away and she had to blink several times just to adjust to seeing underwater, her heart pounding in fear. But much to her relief, right where her ankle had been, she saw a piece of plastic poking out of the sand, swaying back and forth.

    She would have breathed a sigh of relief but she saved her breath and returned to the surface. She had already lost a small puff of air when she had inadvertently yelped at the contact the plastic had made with her foot.

    Her small panic seemed to have gone unnoticed by the group and everyone had begun milling about, getting lost in their own conversations.

    Y/n looked around at her new friends, and she felt a warmth grow in her chest. By now, she had joined them in deeper waters, once again slinking back into the water but this time it wasn't from fear of judgement but staying cool in the warm June sun. Everyone was lost in their own conversations but she knew she was just apart of this group as everyone else was. As she looked around at all the smiling faces, she relaxed.

    An unexpected laugh escaped her as she saw Eddie holding Richie under the surface and she swam over in their direction. Richie popped up for air and slapped the boy away, though he still wore a goofy grin. Eddie, unlike Richie, was unaware of her approach, a fact Richie declined to give away.

    Y/n was now just behind him, a sly grin on her face and Stan, who had noticed her intentions, called out Eddie making him turn around.

    Sure enough, he whirled around, his face half a foot away from Y/n and she splashed the unsuspecting Kaspbrak boy in the face. On instinct, he whirled back around, only for Richie to do the same and he desperately wiped his face.

    "What the hell is happening!" It came out in shriek that amused everyone in the group.

    Richie and Y/n both let out a chortle of laughter, and soon even Stan had joined in. Though he didn't know whether or not it was from the excitement he felt or the fact the trick he had fallen for that twice in a row, Eddie began to feel the effects of his friends contagious laughter ripple through himself. He shook his head, hoping the smirk he was fighting would be shaken off as well but no matter his efforts, is was glued on his face.

    Though something in Stan compelled him to get back at Richie - who was enjoying all too much the fact he now had help in teasing Eddie - that he decided to splash Richie without warning. Perhaps it was because he wanted to catch Richie off guard, like Richie had done to him earlier. No matter the reason, Stan enjoyed doing it anyway. Richie retaliated and and yet another water war had begun.

    Y/n wore a smile as bright and warm as the sun above her as she looked around at her new friends, more than grateful she had fallen down the steps and met these boys. Y/n chuckled at their antics, grabbing Eddie's attention. He hadn't realized he had been staring until she turned to meet his eye. His first instinct was to pretend he hadn't been looking but instead he broke eye contact briefly and chuckled weakly and he smiled at her.

    Y/n didn't seem to mind, and she smiled back and her shoulders moved slightly as she chuckled.

    "It's okay," His pulse quickened, scared she was speaking of his staring. "I won't splash you anymore,"

    He chuckled and nodded slightly, words failing him. He directed his attention to Richie and Stan and her gaze followed. They were both struggling to submerge the other under the water, past them, Bill and Beverly watched equally amused.

    Y/n yelped when she felt a small nip on her foot and she quickly retracted her leg. Oh, come on! She swam backwards, eyes scanning the water though it proved to be useless. The others joined her side, worried expressions on their faces.

    "W-what happened?"

    "What's wrong?"

    Eddie, who looked particularly worried and rather startled, knowing he would regret going swimming one way or another, began scanning the water backing up.

    "What! What is it?"

    "I think something bit me!"

    Everyone began shifting around the water and Ben, with a burst of bravery, disappeared under the water and began searching.

    Y/n was curious as to why these kids heard about something lurking in the water and biting and somehow thinking it was worth exploring, but a part of her was curious too. Bill soon joined the boy underwater and Y/n had almost begun to grow worried when Bill popped back up, pointing where Y/n had been.

    "It's a turtle!"

×××

    Not long after they kids found the turtle lurking at the bottom of the quarry, their skin began to prune and their limbs grew tired from swimming.

    The boys, who had come prepared with Bill's boombox and Eddie's towels, the kids had dried off. The boys had all found a spot on the rocks and after much persuasion, Beverly had convinced Y/n to sunbathe with her.

    Her confidence from earlier had waned, but at the time, the boys were far too distracted fighting over the radio channels and what they wanted it on.

    Tuning out the guys, Y/n allowed herself the distraction Beverly provided with small talk. The two had been laughing about the day's events and Y/n had even begun to drift off. She hadn't realized how tired she was until she had lied down. After all, she had only gotten roughly three hours sleep the prior night and her limbs had grown exhausted from swimming all day, her leg especially.

    Unaware of how much time had passed, Y/n stirred awake when she realized the lyrics of Young MC's Bust A Move had slipped into her subconscious.

   "These here's a jam for all the fellas, Tryin' to do what those ladies tell us,"

    Stan, Richie, Ben and Bill look on in disbelief at the two beautiful girls sunbathing before them. How did this happen, they wondered.

   "Get shot down cause ya overzealous, Play hard to get females get jealous,"

    Eddie, who had yet to find a seat, stood frozen next to the guys. He blinked several times, trying desperately to look anywhere but their direction, Y/n especially, though he couldn't help but steal a few glances. An act he felt ashamed of.

   "Okay smarty, go to a party, Girls are scantily clad and showin' body"

    Y/n felt a yawn escape her and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand out of habit, her eyelids fluttering open. She had to squint, her eyes readjusting to the light and her stomach did a small flip when she felt several pairs of eyes in her direction.

    Timidly, she turned her head slightly to see the boys all staring at them. She felt her skin flush and she was sure she had turned pink, but the boys seemed even more mortified and they looked away, pretending not to have been staring at them.

    Beverly's attention was drawn by the noise of several throats clearing, and she was aware of how silent it had been. She tilted her head and made eye contact with Y/n, giving her a knowing look from behind her sunglasses accompanied by a small smirk.

    Y/n sat up, her bad leg stretched out and she pulled her other leg close to her chest, while Beverly had rolled on to her stomach. Richie began digging though Ben's stuff, holding a fake microphone to his face.

    "News flash, Ben," he was now speaking in his posh reporter persona. "School's out for summa!"

    "Oh, that?" Ben asked, looking at the evidence he had collected from the library. "That's not school stuff."

    Richie pulled out a postcard of Derry, a picture of the standpipe on the back. "Who sent you this?"

    Before he could read what was written on the other side, Ben had snatched it back. "No one. Give it..."

    Richie didn't think much of it, his attention fell to the blue folder sticking out of Ben's backpack and he eagerly pulled the folder out.

    He opened it up, Stan and Eddie peeking over his shoulder to take a look.

    "What's with the history project?" Eddie asked, curiously.

    "Oh," Ben shrugged looking around at the group who was now listening intently. "When I first moved her, I didn't have anyone to hang out with,"

    As Ben spoke, Richie handed the folder to Bill who had shown interest.

    "so I just started spending time in the library."

    "You went to the library?" Asked Richie, his face scrunched up in confusion. "On purpose."

    Y/n scoffed. "Don't listen to him Ben, he's just insecure that he can't read above a fourth grade level."

    She sent Richie and smirk and a wink, knowing full well of his intellectual capabilities. Something she had picked up in the year spent in class with him. He was in fact a very bright kid, despite his poor manners and his inability to not speak out of turn. Richie just rolled his eyes.

    "Well, I wanna see." Beverly got up from her spot on her towel and took a seat next to Bill.

    Stan had caught a glimpse of the scratchy handwriting on the old photograph Bill and Bev were looking at.

    "What's the Black Spot?" He asked.

     "The Black Spot was a nightclub that burned down years ago by that racist cult."

    "The what?"

    "Don't you watch Geraldo?"

    Y/n chuckled at the utter disbelief and surprise on Eddie's face and Richie met her eye, joining in. He was just about to give him more grief when the pair heard Bill begin speak.

    "Y-y-your hair..." He had been talking to Beverly, but Y/n couldn't help but listen in, curious herself to why her friend had cut it.

    Before he could finish, Ben jumped in and Beverly peered over to meet his eye. He smiled warmly at her.

    "Your... Your hair is beautiful, Beverly."

    Her face had been neutral throughout the entire exchange but she smiled politely at the boy, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

    "Oh, right. Thanks."

    No one but Y/n seemed to notice the awkward looks exchanged between Ben and Bill, and her lips pressed into a firm line, feeling awkward having witnessed this herself.

    Richie, whose attention was still on the folder that was now going unread by Bill, gestured for it.

    "Here, pass it."

    Bill complied, folding it up and passed it back to Richie. Y/n used her hands to shift herself up onto her feet, walked over and took a seat across from Eddie, facing everyone in the group. Richie was now shifting through the folder, Stan leaning over his shoulder for a look.

    "Why is it all murders and missing kids?" Richie asked, passing the folder to Stan.

    Y/n, who had shifted off her bad leg, readjusting so she was leaning on her arms and her legs outstretched in front of her, was now listening intently to Ben.

    "Derry's not like any town I've ever been in before. They did a study once, and it turns out, people die or disappear six times the national average."

    Everyone had been listening, and the group all fell silent for a brief moment, a quiet shock falling over them. Bev was first to break the silence.

    "You read that?"

    Ben shifted on the rocks, ever so slightly, and nodded. "And that's just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse."

    Y/n's eyes had fallen from Ben to the ground, where they trailed over to he bandaged ankle and she gulped.

    "I've got more stuff if you wanna see it." Ben offered.

    Eddie's gaze, which had been worriedly fixed on Y/n and the frowned etched on her face, was torn away to the others, shaking his head 'no' and hoping they didn't say yes.

    They did.

+++

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#it #it 2017 #it 2019 #it rewrite #it 2017 rewrite #chapter four #chapter four bust a move #bust a move #eddie kaspbrak #eddie kaspbrak 2017 #eddie kaspbrak x reader #jack grazer #jack dylan grazer #eddie kaspbrak 2019 #james ranson #pj ransone #beverly marsh #bev marsh #sophia lillis #richie tozier imagine #finn wolfhard #ben hanscom #jeremy ray taylor #jeremy taylor #stan uris imagine #stanley uris #wyatt oleff #bill denbrough #william denbrough #jaeden lieberher

[jd-loves-everyone]

Chapter 1: Lee Minho

At the age of 12, the school's yearly talent contest was probably the less exciting thing about my life, unlike what most of my peers thought. Not that it was boring but, considering I didn't have anything I practiced and/or was confident enough in to show off, I just felt slightly bad for all the dreams crushed at that damned event.

I could practically smell the sweat and tears (thankfully not literally) that would be spilled on the raised wooden stage as me and my friend, Maia, entered the auditorium.

Maia, my friend since the beginning of that year (not quite my BEST friend yet, but maybe ONE of them), with what I thought was an unmatched talent for musical theatre, was sat beside me.

She was supposed to be behind those giant puke green curtains, getting ready to take the award home. But because of a twisted ankle, she was unable to (something she cried about for at least a week, unlike what I would've done).

Even in that moment I couldn't understand why she'd want to even come see the contest, considering it would only hurt her more. But I didn't question it, and instead continued to make meaningless conversation with her about our day, as parents and children began to fill the space.

The show began shortly after the (way too long) speech from the principal about how we should all enjoy the show and have fun and all that.

I somewhat space after the disappointment that was the first girl, I feel some pity for her, being the first one to perform must not be easy. I did want to comment with Maia on it but she seemed to be in her own dimension, as I could also see the thoughts going through her head at 100 miles per hour, so I zoned out.

I remember seeing a boy with an exceptionally beautiful voice, which both me and Maia nodded along to and clapped extra hard for (even if when had been politely clapping for every participant, we gave it a LITTLE more effort that time), and I can recall little less.

There apparently were a lot more students participating that year, because the show to drag on forever and move slower than a snail, which quickly got pretty boring. I returned my attention to the brightly lit stage when seeing Maia sit a little straighter in her stair out of the corner of my eye in anticipation.

The contestant announced was "Lee Minho, the Dancing Gem."

'That's a bit much.' Was what I was planning to comment to Maia, before I saw the look of admiration in her eyes and the bittersweet up turn of her lips.

"You know him?" I asked instead. Her whole demeanor changed as she energetically turned to me.

"Do I know him? Who doesn't?! He's the most talented dancer in the district, I can guarantee you. My teacher watched him dance at a competition once and said that he had the potential to win at least a few national awards at just 13. That has to count for something." She declared passionately, waving her arms about.

I hummed a quiet (and unsure) 'we'll see', before turning towards the stage once more as the spotlights focused on the centre as the thick curtains parted slightly to let the next competitor through.

Upon first glance, there was nothing too special about his appearance. He was of average height, with somewhat broad shoulders covered by a white shirt, long legs dressed in ripped blue jeans and sneakers on his feet. That plus the usual straight black hair in the usual hairstyle really didn't make him stand out much. But god, was his face enough to make him stand out.

The best way to describe it was, pretty. He was just too pretty to be real.

He had double-lidded cat like eyes, a sharp and thin nose and a not too sharp nor too soft jawline. The most curious thing about his appearance was what I like to call a 'cat smile', a smile where the corners of the lips turned upwards while the rest remained in a straight line. It all just seemed to work. I could already imagine my mother saying something like 'Either puberty came earlier for him or he's gonna be a model when it does' and at that moment, I couldn't agree more with the imaginative comment.

'The beauty of simplicity' is as close as I could get to making justice to his features.

"You seem very focused now compared to earlier." Maia commented cheekily, making me blush. I couldn't even formulate an answer (to the clear jab at my ego), too caught up in wondering about truthfulness of it. Did he catch my attention more than the others? Obviously yes (not that they could really compare to him). Do I find him undeniably attractive? Hell yes. 'Oh god. I think I just got my first crush.'

I momentarily pushed those troublesome thoughts aside, instead focusing on the performance. And thank god I did, I soon realized I would've hated to miss even a second of the stunning act.

The way he moved was captivating in its own way. It looked natural, almost effortless, but it was also easy to tell that a lot of strict planning was involved, every move was flawless and not a centimeter out of place.

It was mesmerizing to watch, the charisma radiated from him in waves from the beginning all the way to the end of the performance.

When it ended, I became aware of the flabbergasted expression I had on my face, jaw slack and eyes wide in awe. It was too much for my young brain to fully comprehend. And maybe it was my, still recovering, brain playing tricks on me, but I swore he locked eyes with me as he bowed respectfully, throwing one of those cat-like smiles in my direction before exiting the stage. Probably didn't happen.

Well, if I THOUGHT I had a crush just by looking at him, I was sure of it after seeing him dance. That and I had just discovered my new passion.

"Dude, my teacher was right. He is SO much better in person." Maia commented lightly, turning my way. She was only met with my wide eyes and flushed cheeks as I realized...

"I have a crush on Lee Minho... And I really wanna learn how to dance." Maia blinked owlishly at my declaration, before bursting out into laughter.

"Oh, you got it bad huh. Well, maybe you can talk to him after the show." She said teasingly, holding back from letting her lips spread out into a wide cheshire grin.

"Oh please. I'd just be bothering him." My blush darkened, mentally dismissing the idea immediately. Like he'd care about what I had to say.

"Come on, why not? I'm sure he'd appreciate it." Maia said, genuinely this time, as I looked at her doubtfully.

The show was over in no time, as I pondered about whether or not I should actually go and talk to my new found crush, as Maia pestered me to do so.

The awards were given out, Minho winning first place (which came as a surprise to no one), the other awards going to people who frankly weren't that great but it wasn't like the whole selection was anything extraordinary. They were the best of the worst you could say, mediocre at best. But who am I to judge, they were just kids, but I guess my standard rose a little too high after Minho's breathtaking and heart-shatteringly captivating performance.

I eventually relented, getting up and stomping with a newfound determination to the main school hall where everyone had gathered after the show, looking around.

The hall was filled to the brim with parents and students alike, chatting lively and congratulating each other (some simply for participating).

It was hard to make out anyone's face clearly in the ocean of people, but nonetheless I tried my best to look for the star of the night, despite the nerves and anxiety sizzling in my gut.

I finally caught a glimpse of him as he was leaving the hall towards the outside of the building, probably hoping to not be bothered as he probably had already been bombarded by questions and praises all night. I stood there, in a slight moment of hesitation. 'Maybe he went outside because he wanted space, I really shouldn't bother him.'

I, mentally, shook that thought out of my head, if I wanted to talk to him it had to be now or I'd never do it.

I began walking toward the door leading outside, pulling it open with probably more strength than necessary.

As I stepped outside, I saw the boy of the night, sitting on the stone stepped right outside the door, looking up at the tall buildings surrounding the school.

Upon hearing the door slam closed, Minho turned in my direction to see who had just stepped outside, a stern but subtle furrow in his eyebrows.

"Hey can I bother you for a few minutes?" I spoke with surprising confidence, that even I didn't expect.

Due to his seemingly annoyed facial expression, I thought the answer might've been a no, but his eyes widened as he carefully took in my features, what looked like recognition flashing through his eyes. It was hard to tell what it was exactly because of his calm, maybe even cold, expression. I might've missed the changes if I wasn't paying close attention to his face (which got harder and harder as I looked at how his eyes seemed to spark like stars. Which was honestly, unfairly distracting.

"You don't bother." He finally spoke, patting the stone next to him, for me to sit.

"We'll see about that in a few minutes." I said jokingly as I sat next to him. From the corner of my eye, I could see a slight, microscopical upturn in his lips. A break in his mask, perhaps.

"I... I know you've either heard this too many times already, or if not it's gonna sound really weird but... I-I... Just wanted to say that..." I tried my best to get the words out, but it got nearly impossible as I felt his curious eye on the side of my down turned face.

"You know what? Forget it. It's not even that--"

"Important? I think it is, if this hard to get it out. Come on, don't leave me hanging now." He cut me off with a light chuckle, a gentle and encouraging smile on his lips when I turned towards his voice at the interruption.

"Well... It's kind of silly but... I just wanted to say that... I sort of, fell in love with dancing because of you. Watching you perform really, ignited something in me. And I think I really just meant to say thank you for giving me something to be passionate about." As I finished I started rubbing my arms, it seemed like that temperature had dropped a few degrees. Or maybe it was just the contrast of the chilly night air with my blushing cheeks.

At his silence, I slowly lifted my head to gage his reaction. I found shock written all over his face, the last crack on his emotionless mask making it shatter completely. I also found that the expression he wore was absolutely adorable, making me unintentionally let out a small giggle, which seemed to make him snap out of whatever trance he had been under. It also seemed to ease the tense atmosphere that had built up around us due to his previous lack of reaction and my own nerves.

He looked as if he was holding back a smile of his own, but it broke through his facade as  he turned towards the buildings once again, their lights reflecting in his eyes.

"You were wrong you know? No one has ever said that to me before and it's not weird at all either. It's actually really touching. I never thought I had that effect on other people, I just thought all of them felt a sort of enjoyment at watching me. I never imagined I could move someone's emotions like that." He admitted chuckling, his eyes seeming to hold a new, beautiful shine to them.

"Well, now you know." I said awkwardly, fiddling with my sleeves. His stare was just a bit too intense for me to handle, making my blush darken (if possible).

"If you're serious about dancing, maybe you should join the dance club. I'm part of it, so I could help you out if you need it."

"Oh no, I don't know if that'd be a good idea. I would just be slowing you down." I said, furiously shaking my head in denial.

"It's no problem at all! I'm actually thinking of becoming a dance teacher when I grow up so, helping YOU helps ME." He smiled cutely.

'Why are you so damn cute?!'

"If it really isn't a problem, I guess I could try at least one class. Just to see if I like it. But I don't promise that I will!" I gave in after looking into his pleading eyes and (adorable) pouty lips. The contrast between his expression at that moment and at the beginning of our conversation was almost enough to give me whiplash. I preferred this expression much more.

We continued to talk for what seemed like an hour, though I couldn't be sure.

I did, in fact, join the school's dance club and stayed in it all the way up to high school (which wasn't covered by our school so we had to move, luckily we went to the same one, something I very anxious about).

In the dance club, I realized that it was a good idea for Minho to become a dance teacher. Under his guidance, I quickly got used to my new hobby, which soon turned into passion. He made everything seem easy and simple, and moved in a way that highlighted the precision of his moves.

I didn't think he could improve his dancing anymore, but he proved me wrong, as it had become usual, by continuing to win various awards which only got bigger and bigger.

As my love for dancing grew, so did my crush on him, as I got to see more of his 4D personality, and met his 3 adorable cats: Soon-ie, Doong-ie and Dori. I was even there when he got Dori, so I was pretty attached to the cat. (To all of them, as they were just absolutely adorable).

I've also experienced his slight... change in personality. How he became flirtier, how his compliments became bolder and how he became touchier. I tried not to think much of it, but I couldn't help but be hopeful, as those compliments weren't directed at everyone.

It only served to fuel this hope further when Hyunjin, a younger (and very handsome) dancer joined our highschool's dance club, since then we only seemed to get closer.

The moment I realised that my feelings for Minho were more than a meaningless childhood crush was actually a chain of events, not exactly one moment. Sometime after Hyunjin had joined the dance club.

It was time to go home after a long afternoon of practice, most other students had already left, bit me, Hyunjin, Minho and a few others had stayed behind to slowly pack up and tidy up the room. I was picking up my duffel bag, ready to head out, when Hyunjin called out to me. I walked over to where he, Minho and a couple other guys were gathered.

The others looked as if they were up to no good, which had me kind of curious, but I didn't dwell on it and instead turned to the one who had called me over. He also seemed odd, fiddling with his fingers nervously, his cheeks pink from something other than exertion.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked, hoping to snap the boy out of his little bubble. Seeing him like this wasn't usual, and was pretty entertaining to watch, but I didn't that snapping him out of it was the better option.

"H-Hey! Uh, well, I--" Deep breath.

"I was gonna ask you if you'd, maybe, want to go have coffee with me? Today, perhaps?" He managed after calming down, looking ready to be rejected. (Apparently. Would anyone actually reject him? No. So why was he so scared that I would?)

"O-Oh, I mean, yeah, I'd love to." I immediately felt a pang of guilt in my chest. 'What about Maia?' I thought. 'But it doesn't need to be a date, I could just try to tell him how awesome she is.' I thought, slightly bitterly, I did want a date with Hyunjin, but as my (best)friend, Maia was a priority. (Just spending time with him wouldn't hurt either).

As I accepted, Hyunjin got a small, shy smile on his face, his blush getting even darker. The boys around him laughed, patting his back. I caught a glimpse of Minho's face, his eyes were wide, jaw slack in disbelief. I brushed it off.

"Should we get going? It might get late--" I started, before being interrupted by Minho.

"Actually, she can't go today. She needs to... Help me with my cat! Yeah! I need some help with Dori!" It was clear he had made it up, but considering it was extremely out of character for him, it must have been important so I relented.

"Sorry Hyunjin, I'm gonna go with Minho. Raincheck to another day?"

Hyunjin nodded, somewhat sadly, as Minho basically dragged me out of the room by the arm as I tried to wave everyone goodbye.

Once we were out of the building, we settled into a comfortable walking pace towards the bus stop, as I texted Chan saying that he didn't need to pick me up today.

The bus ride was mostly silent (which was unusual), save for the small talk each of us tried to make. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but not exactly wanted either.

As we were walking down his street, nearing his house, I decided to finally ask the question that had been bugging me.

"Do you REALLY need my help with Dori? I mean, I know she likes me better, but it's still manageable right?" I said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

He looked as if he'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

"She doesn't like you THAT much. But I'll admit, that wasn't my actual intention." He said sheepishly. I was finally able to put 2 and 2 together, even if it was highly unlikely.

"Wait. Were you jealous?" The question made him hesitate as he was unlocking the door to his house.

"Uh, I... You know. Uh, you know what, I don't even REALLY know why I did it anyway." He sounded sincere enough, so despite my curiosity, I dropped the subject as he seemed genuinely torn.

"Welcome. My parents won't be home until later, so we're alone for now." He walked in, taking off his jacket as I put down my duffle bag, already heading towards the living, where the cats would most likely be.

As I approached the room, I could already hear them scratching at the door and meowing loudly. I opened the door, petting Soon-ie and Doong-ie as I passed them, heading towards the window on the far end of the room, Dori's favorite spot because of the heat the sun provided when it hit.

And there she was, laying in the last remains of the already setting sun. And with no signs of injury or anything to be worried about whatsoever.

"So, what exactly was wrong with her?" I turned to Minho as he entered with a teasing look, already anticipating his answer.

"I told you already, didn't I? I lied. Not sure why though." He walked to where Dori was sat, reaching to stroke her head, making her purr in delight, as the others also got closer to their owner at the chance to get petted. In response, Minho sat down next to the newest kitten, as Soon-ie and Doong-ie tried to climb onto his lap at the same time. This made him giggle, trying his best to satisfy every one of his "children".

It was like the world froze or slowed down in that moment.

The best was to describe the way Minho looked at that moment would be angelic, but even that wouldn't cover it.

His dark hair shone in the sun, looking too soft to resist, his dark eyes gazed fondly at his pets as a beautiful, peaceful and joyful smile broke out across his face. The sun framed the scene perfectly, making look picturesque, and suddenly I wished I had my camera with me at that moment to truly capture it in all its beauty.

I realized that the difference between our first meeting and then, was humongous, in the best way possible. He had become so open to me and so... Lively and relaxed. I loved the change.

That was the moment when I realized that my crush for Lee Minho was not going away anytime soon and that it wasn't just a silly childhood crush that would disappear in 2 weeks to a month. It was there, in my heart, to stay.

"You gonna just stand there looking weird? I know you love looking at my face but..." He directed that heavenly smile toward me as he spoke.

On that day, not only did I realize the extent of my feelings for Minho, he also realized the nature of his feelings for me.

#Lee Minho #skz #stray kids x reader #skz minho #lee know #minho #to all the boys i've loved before #stray kids #skz x reader #skz x you #to all the boys #fanfic #kpop #kpop x reader

[do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them]

Til the End of the Night / Ch13: In which the getting-to-the-castle plan doesn't go as... uh... planned

Previous / Masterpost / Next

Summary: No one is a morning person and Roman has regrets.

Warnings: injury/getting knocked out

AO3

Roman didn’t sleep that night nearly as much as he should have, a mixture of excitement and worry keeping him restless- they were so close! He hadn’t seen the witch in a while, which was good.  More gloating was not what he needed just now.  When the first bit of sunlight finally appeared, he decided he wasn’t going to get any more sleep than he already had.  He rose and hurried to the mirror, wanting to be ready as soon as the others could talk again.

In the little makeshift campsite, Logan woke up first, and turned to his bag to get ready for the day.  He blinked when he opened it- that wasn’t how he remembered organizing his things last night… Oh well, he’d been tired.  After putting everything back the way he liked it and making himself look a bit less like he’d slept on the ground at the edge of a forest, he glanced at the sunrise, realized how early it still was and pulled out some of his tools.  He’d had an idea last night while falling asleep, and it was the perfect project to pass the time until he could… slightly more reasonably expect the others to get up.

When he finished the final touches, a little under an hour later, he decided it was time to wake them.  That turned out to be a more difficult task than he expected.  Virgil seemed to be already awake, just reluctant to move- hopefully he’d been woken by the noise of Logan moving around, and not unable to sleep all night.  He complained a fair bit, but Logan reminded him that the sooner he got up, the sooner they could retrieve Roman and go home.  Strangely enough, it was a lot harder to get Patton moving.  He was usually all energy when he woke up, but when Logan went and nudged him, he whined and pulled his cloak up over his head with a pout.  He refused to move until Logan tried to pull the ‘blanket’ off him.  Then he sat up quickly, pulling it back around himself and nearly hissing.

“...You have been spending too much time with Virgil.”

Patton blinked, processing what he’d just done, and laughed at himself.  “Sorry, Lo! I guess I’m just a bit tired, still. Maybe I can take a catnap later.”  He gestured vaguely at the cloak, just in case Logan had forgotten what his outfit looked like overnight.

Logan sighed.  It was too early for puns.  “I doubt it, unfortunately.  We’re most likely going to be walking all day if we intend to reach the castle.” Patton slumped a little at the thought. Logan didn’t think much of it, as he’d already turned around again, opening his bag.  “Virgil?”

“Hm?”  Virgil was not awake enough for words yet.

“I have something for you.”  He held out a necklace- a round glass pendant with designs etched into it, hanging from a chain.  Virgil took it carefully and looked up at him.

“Uh… thanks?”

“It’s not just a piece of jewelry,” Logan explained a bit impatiently.  “It will… well, assuming I made it correctly, it should allow you to become invisible if you channel your magic into it.”

“Oh.”  He slipped it over his head, tucking the pendant under his layers of robes, and gave Logan a quick smile.  “Thanks.” It would probably be best to hold off on figuring out how to use it until he wasn’t half asleep.  He wouldn’t want to accidentally break it… or blow himself up.

While Virgil went to help Patton get himself together, Logan re-closed the clasp on his bag and walked to the edge of the trees. Hopefully in the light of day, he’d get a better look at what lay ahead.

Roman watched with growing impatience as his friends slowly, so painfully slowly, got up and prepared to set out.  At this rate there wouldn’t be time for them to call him again, not if they wanted to get anywhere before it got dark again.

“Hurry up,” he told the mirror under his breath, despite knowing they couldn’t hear him any more than he could hear them.  “I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

The door creaked behind him.  He spun around, eyes wide, dismissing the image with a panicked gesture.

“Rude!  Just because you’re keeping me prisoner doesn’t mean you can barge in without knocking!”

The Dragon Witch walked toward him slowly, shaking her head.  “A rescue party, really?  You know there’s no one in this kingdom who can even hope to defeat me… especially with you out of the way.”

So much for the element of surprise.  “Don’t underestimate them,” he said defensively, with much more confidence than he felt.  “They’re… stronger than they look.”

She tapped the mirror to turn it back on and laughed. “Oh, yes, I’m very intimidated.  My dear, overly-optimistic Prince, did you really think this was going to work?”

Roman merely gave her a defiant glare.  It was too early in the morning, and he’d had too little sleep, to think of good comebacks.  Especially when he was very aware he’d just ruined his entire plan out of impatience.

“No fun this morning, I see,” she hummed.  “Oh well, I’ll get plenty of entertainment from… taking care of this little issue.  Say, you must be awfully bored in here, too- why don’t you turn that mirror back on and watch?”  

The witch waved a hand and re-activated it, and when Roman tried to turn it off again out of spite, he found himself unable to.  He turned back to face her, nails digging into his palms as he resisted the urge to attack her.  It was a tempting idea, but he knew she’d just freeze him in place again.

“You will be defeated, witch,” he shouted after her as she walked out.  “Just wait!”

She only laughed, locking the door behind her.

Logan looked over the horizon.  Let’s see, they needed to go that way- in fact, he could see the castle in the distance.  He could also see the fields which lay between it and them- deceptively peaceful-looking, but apparently fraught with danger in actuality- in which they would probably have difficulty not losing Patton every time he saw a butterfly.

Speaking of whom, he was finally up and moving.  He and Virgil came up to join Logan, standing on either side of him.  Patton hummed and leaned his head against the taller side’s shoulder, admiring the last of the sunrise.  Logan decided not to say anything about that on the grounds that he was clearly still tired.

“There’s a path over there,” he began to explain, since he didn’t trust them to have actually been listening last night, “which would take us directly to the castle.  However, I think we should stay off it as much as possible since, if you recall, Roman advised us as to the danger of-”

A shadow fell over the group.

“Get down!”

Before Logan could actually process what Virgil was yelling about, all three of them were on the ground and there was a sound like a small explosion.  He raised his head cautiously.  A massive dragon- the witch?- was hovering above them.  What little remained of Virgil’s attempt at a shield was dissolving away in front of him, and both Virgil and Patton appeared to be unconscious. They must have been knocked out before the shield could expand enough to cover anything more than the center of the group, where Logan was standing, he thought, feeling oddly calm about the whole situation.  He looked up and began to reach for his bag, although he had no idea what he could possibly do.  As it turned out, it didn’t matter.

The dragon huffed, seeming amused, then came down a little closer and flicked his head almost gently with a huge claw.  Logan crumpled instantly, and the Dragon Witch scooped him up along with the other two. So much for that rescue attempt.  Although…

She took a closer look at the humans in her grasp.  Maybe at least one of these “heroes” would prove more interesting than she’d thought.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #my post #my writing #til the end of the night

[cinaminho]

Raven dressed in black | Mark L.

╰ Genre: Fluff,, a lil Angst???

╰ Pairing: Mark Lee x Reader ft. Dream

╰ Warnings: I fucked up the request

Request:I was wondering if you could do a mark imagine from nct where he’s like the bad boy of the town along with the dreamies and you come to town and he grows this big crush on you and finally talks to you after he protects you from these guys trying to hit on you? Bad boy mark would be 🤤

// this is short because I have other things to write, also sorry I forgot that you wanted Mark to protect you from some guys WITH the Dreamies I put him protecting you FROM the Dreamies, they're not making passes at you they're however picking on you.//

. .

Moving into the city of ___ , you were excited to be near more of your family , making new friends, the town was a sight to see as well. Your home was beautiful and not too far from this cafe your relatives had told you about before you moved here you honestly just wanted to try out the food maybe make a few friends as stated before that was one of your goals . You wasted no time in unpacking, not properly setting things up, but unpacking before heading out to the themed cafe you were told so much about, you bundled up nicley grabbing your much needed pre winter outer wear then dashing towards the door and out into the cold bitten streets of your new hometown.

There was so much to see as you looked all around admiring the town house buildings, greeting everyone else who graced the side walks as well, you stuffed your hands deep into your pockets nothing but quietness around you since you were focused on remembering the directions that were instructed to you on how to get to the cafe, you were so focused that as you stared down at your shiney brown combat boots you didn't notice that the sharp corner you turned was occupied with people, you let out a quiet umph from the impact of a clear body part. You Shook your head shortly shutting yours before opening them and being met with a group of boys, five to be exact and neither looked happy, one had Charcoal black hair, another with orange, there was one with Dark Brown, followed by a pink haired fellow, the last one was a blonde who looked the nicest out of them all.

You gulped the words were caught in your throat your eyes were glewed to the boy towering skigg over you in front if you. The charcoal haired didn't look happy that you came in contact with his back.

"I believe the proper way to ask someone to move is by saying excuse me, not bumping into them." A sarcastic smirk Graced his lips.

You scrunched your brows together . "That was an accident , I'm sorry, but maybe you shouldn't just crowd the sidewalk with your friends, Mr. uhh " you looked for any sort of identification , there low and behold it was attached to his Jacket , "Jeno." You shrugged.

The boys behind him ooh'd at your boldness, yoy weren't the type to take bull from anyone and These guys were not going to be any different. The evident pissed off Expression that the male now identified as Jeno, was murderous.

"Amazed at your flip tongue and your obvious oblivious mind, you clearly don't know who you're talking to." He spoke through gritted teeth as he stepped closer invading more of your space.

"I do actually, it's a guy who doesn't know his own name otherwise it wouldn't be sewed to your jacket." You smuggly spoke your tone was innocent as can be, though.

You could feel a dangerous tension building between you two. His glare was beyond cold and yours matched his. Soon before it could escalate two of the others stepped in front of him. It was the Cotton candy pink haired guy along with the blonde.

"Now hold on you think you can just talk to him any sort of way?"

"Shut it Chenle, I think that's enough Jeno she's not even worth a second of your energy."

You scoffed amused at his attempt to defuse the situation. "And you are?"

The boy wore an arrogant smirk "Jaemin."

"C'mon let's go nobody wants to stand here all day leave the dull nube alone, we'll catch her a different day." The tanned skinned boy said.

"What Haechan Said." Jaemin agreed.

You crossed your arms letting out a heavy sigh already over this entire ordeal. "Look I'm just trying to get to a cafe."

"Are you now?" Jeno sneared sarcastically.

"Yeah she is now let her through."

Your mouth open but soon closed as an unidentified male spoke up and you had no idea where his voice came from. You looked confused as you peaked over the taller male's shoulders trying to see who said that.

"Mark why the hell did you have to ruin the fun?" Chenle whined, so the guy's name was Mark? Apparently and soon his silhouette appeared, he was a bit shorter than the rest, behind him was a more innocent looking young man, all together making seven boys present.

"Move out of her face." An strawberry blond haired boy said before pushing Jeno back away from you with slight force, "and watch your mouth Chenle." Mark added.

The three boys who were once surrounding you moved back, so these guys could put them in their places? Interesting.

"Mark she-"

"I don't care, girls are never a target." He dismissed Jeno quickly. The Boy you clearly knew as Mark now didn't break eye contact with you though his statement was directed to Jeno. He wore black windbreaker hoodie over an all black turtle neck, black dress pants, and slighlty beat up Black and white vans, his Raven hair brought the entire look together along with his sharp yet handsome facial structure. He was expressionless, being honest he looked the most intimidating as of now , he clearly knew these boys.

"Who are you?" You asked observing the blank faced male who you felt was staring into your soul he took a moment before replying.

"I'm Mark Lee." He simply answered. You nodded slowly.

"I'm guessing this is your possy?" You proclaimed gesturing to the six boys behind him. He looked back at them before looking back to you with a small side ways smirk.

"Something like that."

"I'm Renjun, actually." The Strawberry blonde corrected you just gave him a slight nod before turning your attention back to Mark.

"So what're you like the bad boys in town?" With each question your face grew more amused with the responds you got.

Mark contemplated. "You could say that." Mark's eyes deepened into yours though you didn't think they could, you barely broke the contact yourself. He stepped closer to you making you revision the personal space invasion that Jeno had previously issued you.

"But I'm the worst." His voice was low enough for only you to hear. You wanted challenge his statement.

"How so?"

Mark rolled his eyes annoyed by all the questions. "Look I just did you a favor by stopping my friends from harassing you so do me a favor and stop asking questions, yes?" He sassily replied, you were taken aback by his sudden snap.

You simply held your hands up in surrender. "okay I'll be going then." Mark simply moved Aside and gestured for you to step past.

"Move Aside boys." Renjun spoke pushing the others back who mumbled disappointed that their fun was ruined.

"Thank you, Mark." You said softly in which Mark gave a temporary smile.

You soon began walk through the small sea of boys you could feel their Fury gazes on you but you didn't care.

"Wait a sec, what's your name?" Mark suddenly spoke, you turned around swiftly, "Y/n." You replied.

Mark Looked as if he was contemplating something but no one knew what and after a few moments he looked at you.

"Well Y/n, to assure you that no one else will bother you on your walk, how 'bout I walk you the rest of the way." He insisted. After his proposal was Heard a chorus of childish whines and groans were heard from the others except Renjun who Smirked.

You were speechless at his sudden suggestion but then you thought about it, you did say you wanted to make friends so maybe he could be one, bad boy and all.

"I don't see why not." You shrugged smiling before turning back to begin walking again. As you walked you heard a series of agitated comments.

"Mark You can't be serious!"

"You're leaving us for her?"

"What you've taken a liking to this nube?"

"That's enough, Renjun, take them back to the dorms." Mark spoke making the boys more whiney. You laughed to yourself quietly. Soon Mark caught up to you. You looked over at him.

"What made you change your mind?"

Mark cleared his throat rolling his shoulders back a bit. "Well it's like My friends said, I may have taking a liking to you, consider yourself lucky."

You cackled at his statement. "Oh yeah, I'm so lucky to be chosen by the mysterious Raven haired bad boy, Mark Lee. He's taken a liking to me after what? Fifteen- Twenty minutes." You snarkily replied.

Mark looked at you nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes exactly." He confirmed as if you were serious though clearly sarcastic.

"Oh.." Was all you said.

"As a matter of fact this can count as our first date, I'll go in with you and buy us some cocoa or something." He declared.

"Don't I get say in this?" You laughed.

Mark sighed defeated. "Fine, would you like this to be our first date?" His tone a bit rude.

"No." You quickly answered barely letting him get his words through. Mark's lips formed an O shape it look like he didn't know how to take the rejection, or what he thought was rejection.

"I'd count this as us getting to know each other as friends and that'll determine if we'll ever have a first date. Deal?"

Mark Playfully glared. "I don't do negotiations, it's really my way or no way."

"Well not this time Mr. Lee."

Mark was clearly Reluctant to agree and it took a good minute before he nodded. "Alright but don't expect me to ever agree to your terms again in future."

"Right because that'd take away your bad boy aura." You chuckled.

Once again Mark looked as if was the most obvious thing in the world. "Yea exactly."

You instantly stopped laughing, yeah this would be an interesting Friendship that may or may not develope into a relationship in the future.

-

-

I apologize for royaly screwing up Anon's request I was tired when I wrote this, please forgive me ❤.

#nct scenarios #nct mark #mark lee #nct #nct 127 #nct u #nct imagines #nct reactions #mark lee x reader #kpop #kpop fanfiction #kpop scenerios #nct soft hours #nct au

[fazzlepn]

Vld s6 reflection

Ahhhhh I need to rant about Voltron season 6 because.... good god. There were some big negatives to this season, but some really wonderful parts to this season as well.

Negatives (let's get this out of the way):

1. Lotor's arc: I felt really sad about what they did with Lotor. Sure, he was a bit of a funny and questionable character, and there was always something that didn't seem right with him, even in his "redemption arc", but I felt that what the writers did with his character was too extreme and cliché.

Firstly, I thought it was fine for him to have a past (harnessing the quintessence from the Alteans) and for it to be revealed, but to just simply put him into a box of a "simple, one-note, evil character" after that, was too simplistic.

If I could rewrite his arc, his past would have been revealed as it was, planting the seeds of doubt in Allura and the palladins, but the truth is that Lotor doesn't actually have this gigantic scheme of him betraying and using Allura to be the ruler of the universe (it was so cliché, I rolled my eyes). Instead, he is now genuinely working towards the betterment of Alteans and peace, and he honest-to-god tries to set things right and explain to Allura why he did what he did to those Alteans in the past, before he maybe dies in some tragic way, so it kind of redeems him as a character who ultimately had good intentions, but his past actions do not go unpunished. Allura's feelings for Lotor aren't made invalid and "foolish" like they were in the actual episode, but they are really now just star-crossed lovers who could have had a good future together, if not for Lotor's past actions. Because I truly believe that he liked/loved Allura, and the feel was mutual. Life isn't as simple as good and evil. People are shades of grey. No one is a 100% evil or good. It would be a good lesson to children that even if you think you're ultimately working for the greater good, DON'T harm anyone or do bad along the way.

2. Lance's Character

Sigh... Lance, Lance, Lance. I can't decide if the writers love him, or hate him. For the past few seasons, and especially this season, he has been written as a love-sick, obsessed, and air-headed character who can't do anything right, when he in the past, has had moments of intelligence, leadership, and times where he really questioned his self-worth. He is a well-rounded character with SO MUCH potential, who is ultimately wasted on jokes and gags of him being jealous, being silly, and not reading the atmosphere. There were a few good moments of him thinking about how he genuinely felt about Allura, taking leadership in directing the palladins at aome points in their fights, and comforting Allura in the end. But good lord, the Lance arc better come soon or I'm honestly just going to dismiss his character because clearly, Lance is nothing more than a comic-relief/Allura-piner at this point.

3. Allurance (NOTE, please read before you assume I dislike the ship!)

At this point, it does hint at Allurance alot, and I would be fine with that, IF Allura and Lance had ANY chemistry at all. Sure, they get along, laugh and support each other. But clearly, through the previous seasons till now, it has always been strongly one-sided. Allura has always seen Lance as the comic relief guy who likes to flirt with her, who is silly and can't take things seriously. She actively frowns and shows annoyance whenever he flirts with her in the past, and dismisses his ramblings and hints of his affection towards her in the new season even. (Did you see what her face was like when the mice told her what Lance said about liking her?) It honestly just hurts at this point, because she clearly has no interest in him. Now, it would be a different thing if her view of him changes in the future, and she begins to see him as not just a silly paladin, who she can just dismiss, but as an equal and someone she admires, and can see herself with. Then, I could see it happening realistically. But if this is the route that the writers want to take, it devolves into clichés and typical story of how the "loser" gets the girl garbage.

Phew, that was tiring. Now onto the positives (because yes, there actually were some!!):

1. The animation

Stelllar. Absolutely beautiful. I actually cried. Backgrounds were beautiful and the animation was slick and, they really didn't skim on this season, when it came to important parts of the plot. The idea of the teleduv to elimate the tears in time-space at the end was a wonderful but moving send-off to the best character in the series (the lion castle), while I loved the idea of those creatures that were able to pass through the quintessence field, and were essentially living planets. Gorgeous and creative ideas all around.

2. Backstory and the Fight between Kuron and Keith

One of the most intense, beautiful, and down-right emotional parts of the entire show. I'm going to be very honest. In the previous seasons, while I liked the bond between Keith and Shiro, I was never really SO INVESTED in it. But this whole scene, especially with the back story of Keith and Shiro at the Garrison, and those two lines, of Keith pleading for Shiro to come back, I was made an emotional wreck, and I am so invested now in their bond, and their relationship. This entire scene, added with the astral plane Shiro scenes, physically punched me into understanding how much they love each other, and what Shiro means to Keith, and vice versa.

3. Keith's backstory

Gooood Lord. First off, Kroalia and her Texan husband. Best couple, no one can beat them. Time to throw in the towel, guys. In a few minutes, it summed up the tragedy what was Keith's childhood, and how everything culminated into what became of his family. How no one had malicious intent (well, except the galra), and how sometimes, we have to make difficult choices in order to protect those we love. The fact that 2 years have passed, was a bit weird in my opinion, because it was a fact that was simply narrated by Keith, and yet, his relationship with his mother didn't show any change. The paladins didn't note his extended absence, so it was a tad but confusing. But... maybe there was a point to it?

3. Hunk, Pidge, and Coran

These are the true stars of the show. Never causing trouble (haha, notwithstanding anything harmless, and just for fun) and being the brains behind all of Voltron's plans. They're the best and I really do admire how smart and adaptable they all are. I loved the science banter between Hunk and Pidge, the poking fun of Lotor and Allura. The Monsters and Mana episode, with Pidge's character helps Hunk's character avenge his village. And Coran's attachment to the castle was another brief but interesting plot point. He literally spends the most time with it, so, it is natural for him to have developed such an attachment to it. Also, he as the villain in the Dnd episode was hilarious and actually caught me off guard!

#vld s6 spoilers #vld s6 #voltron season 6 #voltron season 6 spoilers #im trting to tag as many spoiler tags as possible #voltron spoilers #my opinion #feel free to apeak your mind

[justfangirlfeels]

I'm gonna preface this with a big PLEASE 'cause it's a long-sounding request, but: Parent AU "You asked me to the store with you and your child, and now my distant relative we met thinks I'm married with a baby" with Adrinette (relative maybe Marinette's grandmother since we know she's never around and doesn't know much of what goes on with her granddaughter). Thaaaanks! ^_^

Ask and you shall receive. I’ve written an equally long one-shot here, so strap yourself in and hopefully, you’ll enjoy it :)

Adrien was one of those people that loved to spend time with his friends at any given opportunity, whether it was recreational or helping them with a task of some kind. Perhaps it was because I loved having friends, or maybe it because he hated to be alone. Either way, when his long time Collége friend Marinette called him up and asked if he could lend her a hand shopping that morning, he didn’t think twice about it.He had the day off, which was rare in itself considering all he ever seemed to do was photo shoots or moonlighting as Chat Noir, so the idea of spending some time with one of his closest friends (and by extension, also the newest member of his family of friends) was just what he needed to enjoy such an occasion.Which is what had brought him to the farmer’s market, strolling down the walk with Marinette in toe, a bounce in her step to entertain the ten-month-old girl harnessed to her body. “I really appreciate you doing this Adrien,” she told him, for the sixth time since they had met up ten minutes before, “I know there had to be things you would rather be doing, but Alya was busy, and I still haven’t fully grasped how to do the ‘buying groceries with a child strapped to my chest’ thing yet.”Adrien chuckled and brushed his hand dismissively; “Don’t worry about it. There’s nothing I’d rather do than spend time with two of my favorite gals.”Marinette gave him a knowing look. “You can just say you wanted to spend time with Doodle. I won’t be offended.”The aforementioned “Doodle” was curled into her harness, rubbing her face with her small fist in a motion that reminded the blond of the way Plagg washed his face with his paw-nubs.Adrien gave a chuckle. “Okay, yeah. I’ll admit it; I’ve missed the cutest member of the squad.” He gently ruffled the baby’s sparse hair, causing her eyes to dart to the man touching her, a sleepy smile ghosting the little face.Doodle, or Aimee as her birth certificate properly named her, was probably the best person that Adrien had ever met. And that was saying something considering he knew both Ladybug and Marinette, whom the daughter strikingly resembled.The dark hair matched down to the hue, and their smiles were nearly identical (even if Aimee’s didn’t have many teeth yet). The only thing that wasn’t the spitting image of her mother, was the dark green eyes she had gotten from her father. Not that he knew that. Then again, Adrien had thought to himself many times before, there was a lot Aimee’s father didn’t seem to know. Like how much Marinette had cried after telling him that it was okay that he didn’t want their relationship to continue, that it was for the best.Like the nervous expression she had worn when she had to tell her friends that she was pregnant, and that the father didn’t want to remain involved.The late night phone calls to Alya, freaking out and wondering if she could do this alone, only to be reminded that she wasn’t alone; that her friends and family would be there for her every step of the way.

Adrien knew about those things though, and he admired Marinette for taking those moments in stride and coming back with something as precious as life.It was in the moments, while he watched Marinette laugh and talk animatedly about her daughter, that Adrien realized just how much he loved the girl beside him. He knew a part of him always had, but whatever semi-platonic feeling he had felt in school was nothing compared to the calming feeling that enveloped him whenever she was near. And, in a life as crazy as Adrien’s, a little bit of calm changed everything.

“Marinette!” a female voice spoke, startling Adrien from his thoughts. The dark-haired woman looked around until her eyes fell on a old familiar face.“Grandma!” Marinette all but skipped to her grandmother, taking in the hug as gently as possible as to not make a Doodle-sandwich. “I didn’t know you were coming. What brings you to Paris?”“I wanted to see my Great-Grandbaby. And, ah, here she is.”As the older woman interacted with the little lump in the harness, Adrien stood a respectable distance from the family. Not that he felt awkward, per say, but he had only seen Marinette’s Grandmother at parties, and never had been formally introduced. Plus, he didn’t want to stand in the way of family bonding, considering that he knew how important it was.He didn’t stand alone long though, before Marinette verbally pulled him into the conversation.“I can’t remember; did you two ever meet?”“Not formally,” Adrien replied, walking forward and extending a hand, “but I’m glad to finally introduce myself. I’m Adrien.” The woman nodded, shaking Adrien’s hand.“Ah yes. I’ve heard so much about you. You’re the only that gave my Marinetta the lucky charm that she carries with her.”Even though knowledge that his gift was currently in her purse wasn’t a secret, Marinette still managed to have her cheeks dusted in pink. Adrien told himself to tease her about it later.“Yes, Ma’am. For her fourteenth birthday. I can still remember the long nights that I spend making it. It was almost thrown against the wall a couple times. I have since sworn to leave crafting to the professionals, like Mari.” The blush deepened, causing a roguish-Chat-like smile to curl Adrien’s lips. I loved when a simple comment managed to get his twenty-one year old friend to revert into her fourteen year old self. It was adorable and amusing at the same time.“Oh, please. Call me Gina,” the woman gently scolded, before turning to Marinette. “Unfortunately, I must run. I have some errands to run for your parents. You’ll be over for lunch, will you?” Marinette nodded, and Gina clapped her hands together.“Excellent! I will meet you there.”She started to leave, but turned to say something over her shoulder.“Bring Adrien along. I want to get to know the man that took my little fairy’s heart.”Stunned, Adrien stood there dumbly, watching the misinformed Gina continue to weave though the Saturday morning crowd.Apparently, Marinette was just as surprised because she didn’t say anything until the sounds of Gina’s motorbike was starting to drift from earshot.“I’m so sorry about that, Adrien. Grandma Gina often gets her stories and faces confused.”“You trying to tell me that you, didn’t tell her about me?” he asked, looking with her with a teasing smirk. Thanks to an incident involving a live broadcast back in collége, Adrien knew she had had a crush on him. It was one of his favorite things to tease her about, even if it was something he was currently guilty of himself.The blush turned a red (a color he had always felt suited her) and she gave an awkward laugh.“I mean, yeah. I did. But not like that. I swear, I’ll get it all sorted out at lunch.”Adrien gave a little pout; “Is that your way of uninviting me?”“Ah, well. You can come, of course, but you don’t have to. I mean, i don’t want to make it awkward, or make it seem like a date. Well, of course it’s not a date because my parents will be there. But-“ Her nervous rambling was interrupted by Aimee’s light crying; clearly, she realizes that she was no longer the center of attention. “It looks like little Doodle is ready to get going,” Adrien pointed out, “We should continue our shopping before we have to shatter your Grandma’s hopes of meeting your new boyfriend.”Marinette agreed, but as they walked, Adrien thought about how to make Gina’s words a self-fulling prophecy.