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hoodharlow · 3 years

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Callin’ Out My Name

AN: Thank you to @nowherebound and @wastelandcth for giving me and hyping me up for this. Ily both.

Reminder this is NOT part of the quarantine AU, this is before Cal and Claudia dated :)

Requested: Kinda by Gemma and Candy 💕💕💕

Warnings: smut 😏😏😏 brief awkward Cal and Claudia over cuties that are dumb and don't become official

Word Count: 3.5k words

Their Target outing wasn’t planned. Calum had seen on Claudia’s snapchat that she was still in town and that she didn’t go to Rosarito with her friends for spring break. So he worked up the courage to ask her what fabric softener she used. A phone call later, consisting mostly of her laughing at how he pronounced ‘Suavitel’, they jokingly agreed to meet in an hour at the Target that’s half way between his house and her place in Long Beach.

Calum smiled to himself seeing her emerge out of her car in his grey Santa Cruz hoodie. He had let her borrow it when they went to Roscoe’s and she got cold. She joked about how it was now hers and that he's never going to get it back. He didn't mind that. For all he cared she could take all his clothes. He also didn't mind that she sent him a few pictures in just his clothes.

Claudia grabbed a shopping cart and followed Calum around. They stopped by the grocery aisle first and filled up on some snacks the guys needed for tomorrow. They were going to reshoot the music video for their song ‘Who Do You Love.’since the editor lost the original video.

The song received mixed reviews. Some people praised The Chainsmokers for working with 5SOS because they’re pretty much an unproblematic group. But people wondered why 5SOS would work with The Chainsmokers since they don’t have the best track record. Even Claudia was surprised the guys worked with them, but she did like the song, especially Calum’s solo.

After getting Michael’s vegan cheese crackers, they went to the cleaning aisle. Calum grabbed some puppy trash bags for Duke. They went a little further down and reached the detergent and fabric softener. Claudia posed like Will Smith showing off Jada in front of the Suavitel.

“Tada!” She said happily.

“You’re such a dork.” Calum teased. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of her.

Claudia smiled at him and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She got down to the bottom shelf and dove inside the shelf. The vanilla scented fabric softener was all the way inside the shelf. She used to use the blue one, but recently in the past year it got super waterdown so she just switched to the vanilla one. Her mom uses the yellow one, but she never got the vibe for it.

Calum was answering a message and when he looked down to Claudia, all he saw was her ass. Her leggings were thin around her ass, making her cheeky panties visible through them. He cleared his throat and tried looking away, but he couldn’t. Him and his left hand were going to have fun when he goes to bed tonight.

She set the gallon-sized bottle in the cart. “Where to next?” She asked him.

“Office supplies?”

“Oh my god, yes. I need pens.” She nodded enthusiastically.

She stood on the railing of the bottom basket as Calum pulled the cart. She squealed when he would do a sharp turn, almost knocking her out of the cart.

Calum went to where the journals were while Claudia was getting her pens. When she went back to find him, she saw the good paper she used in stock. She grabbed three packs and followed Calum to the line.

While she waited in line, she realized that she only had a ten dollar bill. She had left her card and other cash in her purse at him.

“I’ll be right back. I’m gonna put these back.” Claudia told Calum.

“Why?” He asked, confused. He saw how her face lit up when she was holding her school supplies.

“I only have ten bucks. The pens themselves cost fifteen.” She explained.

“I can buy them for you.”

“Oh my god, no. I can get them later.”

“It’s fine,” he said, taking her pants and paper. He placed them on the conveyor belt with his groceries.

“Okay let me just venmo you then.” She said, pulling out her phone from her hoodie.

“Claudia, they’re just pens and paper.”

“No, they're the uni-ball 207 Retractable Gel Pen 8-pack and 5-Star college ruled binder paper, Cal.” She explained to him as if that was going to make a difference to him.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said, taking her phone and putting it back in her pocket.

He paid and they were on their way back to their cars. He noticed how she smiled to herself. He placed the things in the back of his car and went back to his side. They both stood awkwardly not wanting their outing to end.

Claudia stood on her tippy toes and kissed Calum. It took him a second to realize what she was doing, but when he did. He deepened the kiss. He pushed her back against her car and held on to her waist. She moaned into his mouth wanting more of him.

A siren blared behind them, making them jump.

“Take it home kids.” the security guard said before rolling away in their gold cart.

Calum and Claudia giggled.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Calum asked.

“Yeah, I may or may not have made a chocoflan.” Claudia said, wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re the best, you know that right?”

“I’ve been told.”

She got on her tippy toes once more to kiss him, but this time it was a quick peck. After agreeing that he was going to pick her up at seven, she got in her car and drove home.

It felt weird that she was the only one home. Her housemates had gone back home to see their families. Claudia was going to go to Rosarito with her brother and their friend group, but at the last minute she cancelled. Paco was going to go, and she wanted to avoid drama. She knew that after a few cantaritos she was going to say something that she wouldn’t say if she were sober.

She knew she wasn’t going to miss much. Since they were high school seniors they would go down to Rosarito to party and hang out. One of her friend’s parents owned a beach house so they didn’t worry about going to bars or clubs. They would all just drink there or hang out at the beach.

She was kinda happy to be home. It gave her a chance to hang out with Calum before he left for New York.

She still couldn’t believe he bought her pens and paper. And the good brands at that. She didn’t even use them when she was on campus because she knew if she let someone borrow her pens, she’s not going to get them back. So she always carries the BIC ones in her backpack.

When she got to her room she took off his hoodie and her bralette. She opened up the pen back and sat on her desk chair. She fixed the lighting around her desk, making sure it got her good side. She pulled out her phone and angled herself so Calum got a good shot of her breasts. She used one of the pens to hide her nipple, since the other was covered by her hair. She took a few with other pens and sent them to him, thanking him for the pens and paper.

She threw her phone and herself into her bed and squealed into her pillow. She knew she was being bold, but she didn’t care. She was just giving him a taste of what he'd be getting if they were an official couple.

Claudia propped herself against her pillows and let her mind wonder. She played with her breasts a little, squeezing them, gently pulling her nipples. After she teased herself a bit, her hands wandered down her body until they reached her panties. She slipped them off and rubbed herself.

She imagined Calum was the one touching her. Her mind went back to Valentine’s Day when Calum spent the night. Her fingers imitated the way Calum took her. It felt good, but her fingers couldn’t compare to his.

She immediately moaned out for him as she got closer to climax. She pulled her fingers out and reached for her vibrator. She set it to the lowest setting and slid her fingers inside once more. She whimpered and cried his name when she came. She increased the speed and rubbed it all over her. her moans and whimpers got louder.

Once her high faded, she turned off her vibrator and went to sleep.

***

Calum's leg bounced and the tea he drank was not calming him down. He was in the middle of getting himself off when he got Claudia's messages and accidental phone call. The only thing on his mind were her moans and whimpers. That was a lie, he ended up writing a few lines for a song that has been in his mind. So along with her moans and whimpers, the words 'I hear you callin' out my name, I love the sound, I love the taste,' were stuck in his head.

Nonetheless, he couldn't look her in the eye when he picked her up. Nor engage in the small talk. It also didn't help that she wore a sundress with a slit, giving him a good view of her new tattoo. Well he couldn't really decipher it, but he knew she got a new tattoo. The few times he was lucky enough to be in between her thighs, he never saw a tattoo in that area.

"Is this for me?" She asked, breaking the silence. She pointed at the matcha latte he had also bought.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Thanks." she smiled at him.

Claudia took the drink and sipped it. She sighed and pulled out her phone. She played Tetris, annoyed with Calum. She didn't get it. Yesterday was great and now he was avoiding her. He didn't even mention her pictures. It made her feel slightly embarrassed. Did she cross the line? Did she seem desperate to him? Was she doing too much? Those were questions she needed to be answered, or she was going to go into a downward spiral where she would end up embarrassing herself.

Calum parked next to Michael's car and got out. He opened the back and grabbed the bags from yesterday. Claudia followed him with a box of White Claws. Everyone shared a look seeing the couple that's not a couple but is a couple showing up together. More because they didn't know Calum was bringing Claudia.

KayKay pulled Claudia into a hug and guided her to the couch. They made small talk while the guys got ready.

Claudia watched as the makeup artist flirted with Calum. She felt slightly uncomfortable so she walked out to the bathroom.

Calum followed her through the mirror and frowned.

"I'm gonna need you to take off your shirt so I can get your neck and chest." the make-up artist told him.

He knew that tone and it took everything in him not to roll his eyes. One thing he hated was when people acted unprofessional. It's like they all thought that all bands hooked up with everyone with legs.

He huffed and took off his t-shirt.

"Fuck, Claudia got you good." KayKay teased.

Calum flipped her off, making her laugh. He knew she wasn't wrong. Their little makeout session last night got hot and heavy. He did even notice until he woke up. Luckily with seeing all of his hickies, the makeup artist stopped their flirting and did their job.

Calum got out to use the bathroom. Outside the bathroom he heard Alex and Drew talking.

"If she showed up with him then maybe they are a thing." Alex reasoned.

"I asked Luke and he said they're not dating." Drew argued back.

"But they can still be a thing."

"Whatever."

Calum heard their steps fade away. He got out of the stall and washed his hands. He went back to the dressing room and frowned when he found Drew talking to Claudia. He walked over to them and pushed himself in between them.

"Hi," Claudia smiled at him. She pushed herself onto him and intertwined their fingers together. "Can we go to your car? I think I left my portable charger there."

"Yeah." He nodded.

He patted Drew's shoulder as they walked past him. He whispered into Ashton's ear that they'll be back in time for him to record. It earned them a chuckle and condom from Ashton.

Calum watched Claudia climb in the backseat, making him confused. She didn't put anything in the backseat. So he followed suit.

"Thanks for butting in back there." Claudia said quietly.

"You're welcome. I overheard him and Alex talk while I was taking a piss. I had to."

"You'd think he'd remember his ex's little cousin."

"What?"

"Yeah. He briefly dated my cousin Vanessa back in 2016. She was going to be in the Closer music video and everything. But she dumped him."

"Shit."

"I know. It's also one of the reasons why I don't like them." She giggled.

Claudia felt Calum's eyes on her so she not so subtly stretched her legs, showing off her tattoo and the lack of panties.

"When did you get your tattoo?" He asked.

"Oh, this?" She answered, feigning innocence. She opened the slit more and jutted her hips to him, so she basically straddled his leg. "A few days after Valentine's Day."

"May I?"

"Go for it."

Calum traced her tattoo with his index finger. It was a simple tattoo of the sun and moon with arrows and stars vertically aligned. But on her it was breathtaking.

Claudia sat on his thigh and wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him into a kiss. They kissed slowly as if Calum wasn't supposed to be out on set in twenty minutes. She pushed him back into the door and motioned him to take off his shirt.

Calum hesitated. This not where he wanted them to have sex for the first time. It was going to be her first time and he didn't want her to think back to this time and cringe.

"We're not having sex." He said, gently pushing her away.

"Okay." Claudia scoffed.

She laughed nervously. She adjusted the strap of her dress. She climbed off his lap, frustrated. She felt rejected. She wasn't planning on having sex with him and the fact that he thought of it and pushed her away, made her feel embarrassed.

"I'm going back to the dressing room." she said. She got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"Wait, Claudia." Calum called after her, but the director called him and the rest.

He just hoped that he didn't fuck up his chance with her.

***

"We're going." Ashton yelled to Calum.

After filming the music video, the guys, KayKay and Claudia all went back to Calum's house for a barbecue. Calum knew he fucked up when Claudia asked Ashton to ride with him while she went with KayKay. The whole time they avoided each other until now where it was just the two of them and Duke.

When Calum came back he found Claudia in the kitchen washing dishes.

"I can wash them." He said getting her attention.

"It's fine, I just have a few left." She said, not turning back to him.

Calum grabbed a towel and dried the dishes. Five minutes later they finished.

"I'm going to order an Uber." She said softly.

"I can give you a ride home."

"Why did you say that we weren't going to have sex?" She asked him, ignoring his offer. "I felt so humiliated."

"I didn't want your first time in the back seat of my car."

"Well it's not your place to decide. It's mine. For the record I was just gonna give you a blowjob." Claudia stomped away to the living room to get her portable charger.

Calum followed her, frowning. "I kinda have a say where I have sex too. You're not fucking yourself. Well last night you were, but in the car—"

"How did you know what I was doing last night?"

"You buttdailed me."

"Oh god,"

Claudia squatted down, embarrassed, and covered her face. She cried. She couldn't do anything right with Calum. For once she wants her almost sex encounters with him not end with her crying. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her. She buried her face into his chest as she cried.

"If it makes you feel better, it was pretty hot. Especially after seeing those pictures." he said, not sure how to stop her from crying.

Claudia stopped crying. She pulled away and looked at him. "Really?"

"Honest. That's why I was so nervous when I picked you up."

"That's nice to hear." She said quietly, earning a chuckle from him.

Calum laid down and pulled Claudia next to him. They laid together in silence, enjoying each other's presence. She wedged her leg between his and draped her arm over his tummy. He gently rubbed her thigh, slowly inching his hand to where she wanted him. He slid his hand back to her knee. He did it once more, but this time she pushed his hand higher up.

"Please," Claudia begged. She opened up legs, giving him enough room to do what he wanted.

Calum picked her up and carried her to the couch. He sat down and pulled her to his lap. He spread their legs so his hand could have better access to her. He groaned, feeling how ready she was for him.

"Forgot you weren't wearing panties." he said.

"I was going to wear a lace teddy, but this dress was backless." she explained.

"I'm not complaining."

Calum kissed her shoulder, pushing down the thin straps down her shoulders. He did the same to the other and toyed with her breasts through her dress. His pants tightened, hearing her moan. He continued touching her, making her whine whenever he briefly touched her core.

"All day, I thought about slipping my fingers in you whilst you sat on my lap." Calum whispered. His hand once more made its way up to her core. "No one would notice my fingers—"

Claudia gasped feeling his ring and middle finger inside of her.

"Inside of you."

She clung to the blue and gold sleeve of his jacket. After they filmed the music video, they left in their clothes. Claudia didn't mind. To her he looked like a prince.

Calum pressed his thumb to her clit and sped up his fingers. Claudia whined and placed her head on his shoulder. But he gently held her up by her neck.

"Eyes on me, pretty girl." He said.

“Shit—Calum!” She whimpered.

She gripped his hand as she came. Once her high faded, Calum let go and let her lean into him. He slipped his fingers out of her and licked them clean, moaning at how delicious she tasted.

After a few minutes, Claudia got off his lap and got down on the floor to her knees. She took advantage that Calum was spread out and situated herself in between his legs. She tied her hair into a bun and leaned forward. She tugged his shirt, so he could take a hint.

He shedded off his jacket and shirt. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"I know."

Claudia pushed down the top part of her dress, exposing her breasts to him. She leaned forward and tugged his belt open. She popped the buttons of his pants, pulling them down along with his boxers. She licked her hand before slowly jerking him off. She kissed his tip and slipped him as far she could take him.

Her eyes never left Calum’s as she took him deeper in her mouth. He cursed loudly, encouraging her to keep going. His stomach began to contract, letting Claudia know that he was close. Slowly, she pulled him out of her mouth until only his tip rested on her tongue. She widened her eyes, making her look more innocent as she stroked him. She took him back in her mouth, bobbing her head, just as he began to come. When finished, she sat back on her knees and closed her eyes. She felt Calum’s hand on her cheek. His thumb slowly ran over her bottom lip.

"You know, you're the only one who makes me cum. Especially when you use that ungodly mouth of yours." He panted.

His eyes widened, he had come to a realization. He pulled up his pants and quickly went to his piano. He opened his journal and jotted down 'you're the only one who makes me, every time we' on the page where he wrote a few lines yesterday. At the top of the page he wrote 'WILDFLOWER' in capital letters and underlined the word three times as a way for him to remember that's the title.

He looked back at Claudia and found her sleeping covered in his jacket. He smiled to himself. People find their muses, but he found his wildflower.

Taglist: @suchalonelysunflower @f-mu @another-lonely-heart @sunshinebabycal-deactivated2021 @calumscalm @karajaynetoday @cherryxwildflower @myloverboyash @idontneedanyone @findingliam-o @5-secondsofcolor @mulletcal @sexgodashton @fckingpernico @2fangirl4u @calpops

Special Guest: @nowherebound @wastelandcth

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yuzukult · 3 years

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from home 04 || jjk & reader

title: from home pairing: jungkook x reader genre: richkid!jk, baker!reader, fakedating!au, fluff, angst, e2l, smut in future chapters word count: 7.4k prompt: jungkook is the youngest of five boys, the last in line to truly inherit any his parents’ money. but what if his mom suddenly cuts him off due to his current poor behavior and he’s forced to learn how it feels like to be part of the working class? a/n: so so so thankful that from home 01 has reached over 400 notes! this is a huge milestone for me so thank you all that reblogged, liked, and replied to my chapters because it means so much to me! so grateful for all of your support because i never thought any of my fics would get any attention! honestly, not my best chapter, but i have plans for from home 05 that are more exciting to write lol please let me know if you’re interested in being tagged! but also let me know if you want to be removed! taglist: @scalubera @strugglingartistno16-2 @taestannie @teresaisla @drumsofheaven @vampgguk @christiandosworld @madjammil @jungkookieyoongs @bananagguknim @shuttheelleup ← previous chapter || next chapter →

You’d never invite him over to your apartment without the company of Hoseok. So why did you ask him to come over and just him?

Jungkook is anxious. Other than the fact that you've requested for his company on a Friday night, he hasn't really spoken to you alone ever since that weekend at his parents' estate. You weren't avoiding him, at least that's what he speculates, but there wasn't much 'alone time' and he was starting to feel insecure about how you felt about your relationship.

Rephrase. Fake relationship, he means.

The brisk, heavy wind smacks his face when he steps out of his apartment, ready to be on route to your house with the address you sent over just minutes ago. Cheeks flushing crimson, he pulls his denim coat with sherpa lining closer, suddening wishing that Hyungjin was still driving him on days like this, oh how lucky Old Jungkook was.

15 minutes is what the GPS on his phone says, grateful that his mother hasn't cut off his line with the money because he honestly wouldn't have known what to do if he didn't have it. What did people use back then when they needed to go somewhere they've never been to before? He'd have to google that later. His hands are occupied, looking for warmth in his pockets.

His fingers are curled frozen by the time he reaches the front of your apartment, face pale with only the tint in his nose and cheeks. There's something swirling in his gut—whether it's gas or he's just plain nervous, he's not exactly sure, but he knows that this is the first time he's ever been to your apartment and it's not the same feeling he gets when he's at his one night stands.

Once you receive his text, the buzzer goes off, allowing him to enter into the hallway of your apartment building and how different it is compared to his is astonishing. Other than the fact that the wallpaper was tearing off and the carpets look like it's been years since someone last vacuumed it, the lights were dim, giving off a spooky aura despite Halloween being a month ago.

"Apartment 344," He reiterates to himself from your message, following the instructions underneath that had been oddly specific. "Don't go into elevator car six. Six breaks down after floor two, and five is missing a button for floor three, so only car eight works without a chance of you being stuck in it. There's a smell, so you'll just have to hold your breath."

Weird. So Elevator Eight then?

When he finally reaches your floor, he nearly faints when he walks out. It smelled like a combination of pee and weed with a sprinkle of air freshener which wasn't much help.

344. The black printed numbers are inscribed in the gold plaque that isn't real gold because it's peeling and the surface underneath it is brown. When you come to the door after he knocks, he can't help but gush at the sight of you.

Oversized hoodie and shorts with your hair tied in a low bun, strands that fall out effortlessly and frame your no-makeup face, his heart almost jerks out of his chest. It's not fair that someone so mean can be so pretty.

"Hey," You say, breathless. "Come in. I'm in the middle of cooking up dinner. Have you ever had a home cooked meal?"

He furrows his brows. "Uh, the chefs usually put something together at the estate."

"Is it even called home-cooked if you call your house an estate?"

"Well—" You wave him off, stepping aside for him to enter. "Welcome to my humble abode."

Your apartment is you in a version of a place. Outside entering in, he thinks it's intimidating and tends to throw people off, with the impression that it's not somewhere you'd want to be at. Yet your home itself— he finds that the confined space between where the TV sits on the shelf, books residing in the cubes beneath, across from where a grey love-seat couch is placed is a resemblance of serenity. The kitchen is relatively small, even smaller than his current studio apartment, but everything about it here feels cosy. "It's nice," He hums in content, slipping off his jacket to hang on the coat rack nearby. "I never thought your place would be so... comfortable."

"What'd you think it was going to be? A white void?" Well, you're not wrong, but he fears you so he figured it was best to not respond to that. "So... what are you cooking?"

"Couple things, actually. I even cooked some rice. What did you usually eat when you were living at home— I mean, the estate?" Leading him into the kitchen, which didn't really need much guidance with the short square footage of the apartment, he still can't believe that this place is your own. "American food? Italian? Just generally European? Our chef is from England, and studied somewhere in France. Not much Korean, if I'm being honest."

"Then... is it even home cooked? Take a seat."

He sits at the little round table centered in the middle of the kitchen, a couple recipe books stacked to the side, just enough room for the two of you to work with. "I guess not. You never answered my question, what did you make?"

"Mm... Kimchi Jjigae, bulgogi, and some stir fried veggies. I even baked something for dessert."

Something about this view of you working over the stove, plating the food and side dishes onto the table that makes it feel so domestic. He likes you like this—clear faced without trying so hard, despite thinking how beautiful you looked during the charity event, this felt refreshing.

"Alright," You cheer, handing him a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks. "Let's dig in."

"Can I ask you something?" You're in the midst of putting some beef into his serving before looking up. "What is it?"

"Why... Are you being so nice to me? I haven't heard a jab since I got here. And why did you invite me over? Not even Hoseok joining in, just us two. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were trying to avoid me ever since you got to see what it was like to be in my family but then you asked me to come over. I’m a little confused."

Chewing on your bottom lip, your shoulders slouch as you drop your body back against the seat. "Honestly?" He nods. "I've been putting you in a weird spot. I don't like you because you have money, look down on other people who don't have those opportunities, and to be fair, you're very ignorant to this life stuff. You almost bought something from the Supreme drop until Hoseok stole your phone away from you." Fiddling with the kimchi sitting in it's plate, you poke at it with your chopsticks. "You took me back to your family house but it wasn't a house. You called it an estate then you proceeded to show me that you have no real relationship with your brothers. I get why you'd come to those events drunk, and I felt bad."

He scoffs. "So you pitied me."

"Well— no, I just... I just wanted you to know the feeling of home. What home really feels like, and how it's a place you find yourself wanting to come back to. I'm trying somewhat to show it through food—" You gesture the meal that you spent hours on. "—and possibly other ways. I'm not pitying you, I just don't think it's fair."

Jungkook's face softens. "You... don't think it's fair for me. You've always said things aren't fair for you, how I get all these things and I'm provided with so many advantages and now... you're siding with the rich?"

"No, not siding with the rich. Siding with you, Jeon Jungkook. Or, Kookie, whatever your sister-in-law calls you." He can’t help but laugh, as embarrassing as the nickname is to him because he’s too elated that you see him in a different light now. Maybe Hoseok was right. Learning a thing or two from you would be beneficial for him, if anything.

“Here— have some more of this,” You say before hauling a load of veggies into his bowl and he can only smile at the gesture.

“So,” Jungkook begins, finishing washing the last dish in the sink. Truth be told, he offered because you so kindly prepared a delicious dinner for him, but he needed guidance on how to actually do the chore. “What’s the dessert?”

It’s cute— the way you squirt the bottle of dish soap into the sponge in his hands, teaching him how to properly clean after himself. He feels like a baby being taught how to do the basic life tasks, low-key wishing that he could just ask Hana or Nayeon to do it instead— but it’s you beside him, telling him he needs to thoroughly scrub in order to get the tough grease stains out. He’d say, “how can you tell if it’s still greasy?” and despite you rolling your eyes and responding back, “by touching it?” something about tonight feels different than when you do it at the grocery store.

“Cinnamon rolls!” There’s a sparkle in your eye, exuberant about getting a target to fixate on. “I can pop it back in the oven for a couple minutes to get it all warm again.”

He agrees, wiping his hand off on a rag hanging by the sink, watching as you eagerly pop two buns on a tray, slipping it into the pre-heated oven. “I want you to try the things I bake from scratch... since you’re kind of investing in me.”

“It’s an exchange, more like I’m paying you.”

You grumble, rubbing your face in your hands. “No, no, no, don’t just give me money, Jungkook. If anything includes you putting cash of any form into my palms, it means you’re investing in me because you believe in me.”

Jungkook frowns. “But I do believe in you. Why do I have to keep saying that? You have the characteristics of a trustworthy person. Why else would I have asked you to be my girlfriend?”

“Pretend girlfriend,” you rectify, pointing in his direction, “... you chose me to be your pretend girlfriend. Even so, what if I’m a bad baker?”

A chortle escapes from Jungkook’s lips, shaking his head in disbelief. “OK, ok. Keep baking me goods. If in the end, I think you’re a horrible baker, I won’t ‘invest’ in your business, but I’ll invest in you instead. You keep the money. Do whatever you please with it, even if it means opening a really bad bakery. You’re helping me out here by fake dating me. My father has already personally called me on four occasions, asking when we’re visiting again.”

There it sits. The cinnamon bun. Or roll. Whichever it is— but there you are, directly leaning against the table across from him, eyes watching him attentively. Thoughts start running in his mind like; what if it actually tastes horrific like the possibility you mentioned? What would he do then? You both had already gone as far as meeting his family, he’s too deep in.

“Stop thinking and just eat.” You say discernibly, impatient with his indecisiveness. Using the fork you provided, he pierces through the the pastry and the cut is buttery smooth, requiring no effort. When he brings it to his mouth, the moment it touches the tip of his tongue, it practically melts, dissolving in contact with his saliva, awakening up his taste buds. It’s sweet, the cinnamon with the brown sugar and butter, yet not overwhelming enough to turn it away because something about it just brings life into you again.

His mouth parts open, gaping in awe. “Oh my god,” he mutters with his cheeks full of the pastry, “W-what, oh my god. Did you drug me or something? Because there’s no way it tastes that good.”

“No— but then I made a home-made yeast dough where I added some more ingredients to transform it into an enriched dough, and that contributes to it’s soft interior with a more fragile crumb. Then the filling, I brushed on butter after rolling the dough out to a rectangle—“

“I-I don’t need the details,” Jungkook stutters with a nervous laugh but you were going to go off for hours if he hadn’t stopped you. “I think if all the things you make taste just as good as this, I’m impressed. You’ve sold me. But... I have to ask, why a bakery? I looked up what it means to be someone in your field with your degree and people go off to do product development, maybe research in processed foods— this isn’t necessarily close to being a baker. I honestly don’t know why my father asked you to take part of the restaurant chain he’s planning on building.”

“Oh,” Pursing up your lips you tap your fingers against the wooden table, heaving out a sigh. “I’m surprised you did some research.”

“Well, you taught me to do some extensive exploration before I invest in something.” He shoots back.

“I wanted to go to culinary school, simple as that. I told you, I love Guy Fieri and wouldn’t it be crazy if he went to my bakery and put me on his show?” Jungkook is keeping this in his back pocket for future teasing, but you seem so dazed when you talk about your dreams that he has to refrain himself. “But I couldn’t just go to culinary school, no, my parents would kill me. So, I chose something as close as possible and so here I am. I should get into product development, maybe I can be part of something that could be preserved and easily accessible to help feed third world countries but— I don’t know how long I’d be able to sit in a lab for. I want to make people happy, see them walk through the front doors and hear the bell ring along with their footsteps, see their faces lit up when they eat what I made.”

There’s a lot of things he can point out in your expression when you talk about your dreams, them being how your eyes become the pools of chocolate cupcakes, swirling dark and sweet, and how your lips look so pillowy pink like a fluffy buttercream frosting. Within your voice, there’s so much certainty that holds it, credence along with each syllable you sing, words rising like the yeast in bread. Wholeheartedly, he wants to back you up on your aspirations, solely from the way you’ve sold them but at the same time, he feels this green-eyed envious being within him that wishes he had something to be equally as passionate about.

Money can only be ardor for so long, an inanimate object that can eventually lose its meaning if the world goes to shreds. It’s value will be there when emphasized but what if it didn’t exist? What did Jungkook like?

It’s a constant battle he finds himself placed in, especially when he absentmindedly scans the groceries for the customers, reiterating the same phrases every couple minutes with a new total tailing behind it. His uniform fits too well these days, stability making a name-tag on the chest pocket of his apron, and he’s not sure what to make of it.

He has an ivy league degree in international business, but what does he do with it? Currently, he’s asking customers how their day was, what the end price of their shopping run is, and hoping the rest of their day is well. Four years grinding hard at a prestigious university and for what?

He used to look down on people like you and Hoseok, with a belief that their placement in the supermarket was a controllable decision on their part, but visually seeing and hearing the other employees speak about their struggles of the inability to access higher education or finding difficulty in providing for their families so they throw away their dreams for a daily life in the deli section— he wants more because he’s able to, and he doesn’t want it given to him.

Yet, Jungkook still doesn’t have a dream. And according to you, he doesn’t have a home either.

Obviously, Jungkook has been through many flings. He's even said so himself and the women who have stirred up scandals on media outlets are evidence of it but never in your life did you think that you'd find yourself in this position, blankly staring at a girl weeping in front of you as you're in the midst of restocking laundry detergent onto one of the shelves in the middle of an aisle.

"He's supposed to love me," She bawls, eyes swollen from her crying previously. The girl is barely a couple inches shorter than you with long, straight black hair that stretches down to her lower back, waist so small you could wrap your hands around her. "Jungkook told me that I was the only girl for him and nobody else. So who are you? What'd you do? What's so great about you?"

"Uh, beats me," Rubbing the back of your neck in consternation, you're not sure what to do. There's about a handful of these supermarkets in Seoul alone, so how did she even find which one you worked at? "Um... Have you talked to him about this?"

"N-N-No," The pretty girl stutters, lips quivering. "I went to the estate and they kicked me out, said he doesn't live there anymore but I think they're lying to me."

"Jungkook doesn't live there anymore." You confirm, typing something into your price gun. "He moved out into the city."

"H-He did?" She retorts, eyes glimmering in hope. "That means they didn't lie to me just to kick me to the curb. He really moved out, he's not living there anymore?" You nod, glancing up at the girl who is supposedly Jungkook's ex-girlfriend or in his eyes, one late night affair. She really fits his ideal type—one that you've accidentally discovered when you came across an article of his on one of those gossip magazines... that you googled. Nonetheless, you learn that he's into girls like her—skinny, long straight hair, feminine with a soft, high-pitched voice. Nothing wrong with those things, you just observed that none of those things are you.

"Maeri?" Why does that name sound familiar?

Jungkook rushes his way down the aisle to stand by your side, gaze immediately glued onto you. "Hey, you alright? Did she say or do anything to you?"

"No," You respond, blinking rapidly at his sudden action. There's a girl who's crying her eyes out right in front of him and yet he's asking if you were okay? "But she claims to be your current girlfriend or ex—whatever it was, I don't remember. Kind of your problem and somehow I'm roped into this."

"And you picked her? Even though she speaks to you like that?" Maeri whimpers, nose pink and lips swelling. "She doesn't even treat you the way that I do. I can't understand why you would just drop us and pick her!"

"Maeri," He says, voice soft and gentle, completely different from what you're used to. Jungkook leans over, hand flatly pressed against her mid-back, rubbing soothingly to calm her nerves. "You're also my dad's assistant. It would've never worked out. He would've found out what we were up to and be completely against it." So that's why the name sounded so familiar, Jungkook's dad requested him to make an appointment with him through his assistant, Maeri.

... Question is, why would he do something so risky and get involved with his dad's personal assistant?

"B-B-But..."

"Listen," You quickly interject, dropping the price gun onto the car where the array of laundry detergent bottles sit. "This feels like a private conversation. You can finish this after you talk with her, I'll just find something else to do."

"Wait—" But before Jungkook could even grab you, Maeri already has her grasp tightened around his wrists, pulling him in close. "Jungkook, don't go. Talk to me, please?" He sighs when he sees you don't even glance back.

It's a bit infuriating, you think, to hear some girl complain about how you're not worthy enough for a guy that you'd previously thought wasn't even good enough for you. You were somewhat decently looking, right? Or so, that's what you thought.

"You good?" Hoseok interrupts your thoughts, brows furrowed in confusion. "Seem kinda lost there."

You hum, resuming back to stacking up the apples in the produce section because Jungkook was doing your task instead due to the incident. Truth be told, you hated here in produce, because since you first stepped foot into this section, six old women had already tried starting small talk. But anything to get out of that conversation between him and Maeri. "Well, I just saw Kim Maeri over there with boogers dripping from her nose because Jeon Jungkook suddenly has new arm candy."

Rolling your eyes, you threaten to throw the apple in your hand at him. "Not arm candy. Girlfriend."

"Ohhhh," Hoseok teases, hands slipping into the front pocket of his apron. "Not arm candy but rather girlfriend. Not so fake anymore? So, who confessed first? You or our clueless Kook?"

"Hoseok, not in the mood. I just dealt with some weird girl crying over a guy I'm not even really dating, weeping on for twenty minutes about how I'm not good enough for him."

"Why? Are you sad because you think it's somewhat true?"

Your glare nearly kills him. "No, but it's not easy to hear. I mean—he's this guy who doesn't even know what to prioritize in his spendings, can't even properly do his laundry without dying some of his whites, and he doesn't know how to clean after himself. And yet she thinks he's too good for me?" Scoffing in disbelief, you slam an apple onto the pile and Hoseok grimaces, hand on your wrist. "Please don't bruise the apples."

You sigh and he lets go of his grip. "Sorry. But am I that mean?"

"No, no, don't say it like that, of course you're not. Sure, you sound sorta insensitive sometimes but you mean well. Or else Jungkook and I wouldn't willingly spend time with you, right?"

"I'm your timesheet approver and Jungkook is using me to get back at his parents. I don't know about that."

Hoseok rolls his eyes, handing you the apples from the inventory cart as you continue to organize them onto each other. "If that's the case, I wouldn't actually help you out when we're not at work. You don't have enough authority here for me to kiss your ass my way up for a promotion here. And Jungkook— although, true, yes, he's asking that from you but he wouldn't just willingly see you or try to spend time with you outside of work. Stop being so insecure because some pretty girl came by."

"Uh, Hey." Jungkook appears out of thin air, startling both you and Hoseok. "I... restocked the detergent like you asked. I can take over this if you'd like, I know you don't really like working in the produce section because the grandmas like to start conversations up with you."

A smile tugs on the edges of Hoseok's lips, suggestively eyeing you before stepping back. "I'm gonna go find myself elsewhere..." Then he jolts before you can get a word in.

"I'm good," Turning back to the pyramid of fruits, you're content with how it looks so far yet Jungkook doesn't seem to share the same pleasant expression. "I'm almost done anyways."

"She's not... we've never dated," He says, swallowing his nerves. In all honesty, he's unsure why he feels the need to justify his relationship with her and elaborate the story behind it, but he gives into the urges nonetheless. "Just a fling. We slept with each other a couple times because I liked the rush it gave me, knowing that if my dad knew I slept with his favorite assistant of all time, I'd be done for."

Silent and brushing your hands off from the debris, you avoid chiming into his story. Was he telling this to you because you’re his supervisor or because of the weird relationship that’s going on between the two of you? “Uh, it’s fine. It happens. Wasn’t necessarily your fault, it was unavoidable. At least that over with, right?”

Jungkook scratches the back of his head quietly, the ponytail on his head bouncing slightly. “About that... there’s an event this weekend.” After brushing over the details, you don’t say much, striving to finish the pyramid of apples, Jungkook assisting by taking over Hoseok’s spot. “I have a question.”

“What’s up?” You don’t shift your attention away from the red fruit.

He clears his throat. “Are you and Hoseok a thing?” Letting out an airy laugh, your eyes finally meet his. “Of course not. He’s just a very involved and caring friend. Nothing more, and he isn’t really my type. Plus, I’m sure he’s not over Hyeri.”

Jungkook nods, pulling his lips into a straight line because he’s trying to hold back a smile. You and Hoseok were not a thing, which meant that there was one thing less he didn’t have to worry about.

Maeri found you through the instruction of Mr. Jeon; he said that his wife had mentioned your current employment at two of her chains and this was her second attempt after wailing over at the coffee shop, hoping that the second location was a charm. Meeting Jungkook there was really a coincidence, in all fairness, because apparently Mr. Jeon didn’t say anything about Jungkook being there—his main target had been you.

“He wants you to come with me to another event... but it requires some travel.” Jungkook told you, feeling a bit guilty because you had just spent a weekend at his parents estate barely a couple days ago. This means begging your supervisor at the supermarket and the café to let you call off for the next week. Hopefully in the end it’s all worth it...

When Jungkook says travel, this is not what you thought it was going to be.

“We can either take the private plane there with my family or ride the train.” You don’t hesitate to pick the latter option, evading the potential family argument that would blossom in seconds if you were to be stuck in a cabin full of the Jeons.

You don’t recognize the awkward position you put Jungkook in until you’re standing on the platform, waiting for your train’s arrival with a duffle bag in hand, body hidden underneath a heavy winter coat. “Oh. Have you ever rode on the train before?” He shakes his head ‘no’ and you frown. Maybe you should’ve taken the plane there, Jungkook would’ve been more comfortable. And as if he read your thoughts, he nudges you with his elbows, hands dug into the pockets of his jacket. “Since you’re popping my train cherry, take it easy on me, will you?’

He’s perhaps a little funny, but you’re not going to cave into that.

Busan— is what your ticket says, from Seoul to Busan. Honestly, you had never been in Busan before but you recall Jungkook saying that it was his birthplace and he’d be more than happy to guide you through the nooks and cranny of the largest port city in South Korea.

Once you reach the city, it’s completely different from Seoul. The buildings are condensed, there’s so many markets yet at the same time, there’s just as many people there are in Seoul. Hyungjin is holding a sign that says, “Jeon Jungkook,” written on it in bold letters, bowing when he sees your fake-boyfriend, just as eager as Jungkook. “I’m glad they asked you to pick me up again.”

“Well, I requested it, Mr. Jeon.”

“Oh please, I’m sure you didn’t. You hated having to drive me home whenever I was partying.”

Hyungjin shakes his head with a grin plastered on his face. “I did, perhaps. However you are a new man now with a very intelligent woman by your side, so I can almost guarantee that you’ve changed. Much more likable, Mr. Jeon. Please, let me take you to your hotel.”

You nearly have a nosebleed just from the view from your room.

The sea is beautiful, despite the grey clouds that hover the water from the colder weather but the charm could never be hidden. Apparently, the hotel that Jungkook’s parents had booked for the two of you was a 5-star hotel, spas, pools, restaurants and everything included and some that you can see from your balcony.

“Holy shit, Jungkook, is there where you grew up?”

“No, not in a hotel.” He laughs, watching as you move around the room like a little kid to see every trinket the hotel had to offer. “My grandparents’ house is just down the road, and I’m sure they want to meet you. We can do some stuff beforehand and meet them for a late lunch with the rest of the family. How’s that sound?”

Jungkook is your tour guide for the day— taking you to the market where they sell merchandise with idols faces on it, snacks, and so on. He takes you to see the Gamcheon Culture Village, a place where homes are condensed that are splatters of the rainbow and filled with painted murals. It’s a sight for sore eyes, and everything is just a bit more enjoyable with a tall little kid standing by your side.

He takes you to the Haeundae Beach, where a story he tells is a place he recalls biking with brothers when he lived there during the summers. Once they were a bit older and found interest in girls, he stopped going since the only thing he looked forward to was spending time with his siblings there.

When you meet his grandparents at their humble home, his brothers are already there with his parents, paying their respects and doing their ‘routine’ to visit them at least once a month, apparently. You assumed the family would have neglected their grandparents with the presence of wealth, but it was nice to see that his parents still kept their roots.

“This is Jungkook’s girlfriend?” His grandma says in a mixture awe and disbelief, glancing back at his mother and you. “I’m so glad, he hasn’t been here to visit me in a long time. Did you convince him?”

You shake your head in response, bending down to sit across from her. “No, he asked if I’d like to come.”

“He wants to introduce his pretty girlfriend to his grandparents, of course! Why else?”

From the corner, Jungkook can see Jongseok twitching in annoyance at the attention you were gaining from their grandparents, complimenting while pinching your cheeks, pleased with who Jungkook had ended up with. “Smart and beautiful, will you wed her soon or else someone else sweeps her off her feet?”

“I’ll try,” Jungkook says with uncertainty, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “It’s really up to her though.”

“Then make it so that she can’t say no!” His grandfather chimes in.

Lunch had been nice with his family; it had been a lot tamer than the conversations at the dinner table in the Jeon’s. For one, it seemed like if anyone had anything bad to say, they refrained themselves from doing so in respect for their frail grandparents.

Back at the hotel, you stand with your arms rested against the rail of the balcony, your hair blows with the wind, strands getting into your face as you attempt to push them away, only for Jungkook to lean in, gently brushing them out your way. He’s close— so close that you can feel his breathing against your cheek and you don’t realize you’ve been holding your breath when you exhale after he steps back. “There,” he grins, proud of his work, “looks good.” Was he talking about how he completed the task well or that you looked good?

“It’s... really nice here, Jungkook.” If it weren’t for this arrangement, you never would’ve found the time or money to come here unexpectedly, especially with how much money you were trying to save to open up the bakery. Enjoying the finer things in life proved burdensome since one of the things on the list of adulting was knowing what your priorities were. “I don’t think I would’ve gotten the chance to explore Busan if it weren’t for you.”

“You... you should take a break every now and then,” Jungkook suggests, leaning beside you. Everything about the sea at night is striking; the gusts of wind from the waves, the lights at the pool from the hotel, the sky, sparkling with stars from above that causes a glimmer in your eyes, swirls of mocha full of wonder and excitement. “You overwork yourself to death. You’re completely burnt out. Yet at the same time you keep making time for Hoseok and I when what you really need is a spa night.”

“It’s... it’s not that easy,” You frown. “I just have so much to do.”

“I told you, let me take care of you. If I can prove to my family that I’m capable, I get the money back. I can pay you for all the things you’ve done for me, all the things you’ve taught me, everything. You need to enjoy your life before you’re old and wrinkly because by then, you won’t have the energy to do the things you want to anymore.”

“Jungkook—“

“No, let me teach you something this time around. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I think I know everything now, I just... with chilling and relaxing, I think you should let me take it from here.”

“I just—“ Cupping your cheeks in his hands, he forces you to face him, pressing them together for your lips to purse up. “No arguments. No disagreeing with me, no more of that. I need you to listen to me for once and not tell me what to do.”

Assertive Jungkook is an inconsistent version of him that’s usually feeble in comparison to you. But something about Busan’s air and water gives him the confidence he needs to stand up to you for once, and it makes your heart skip a beat. You nod in compliance, caving into what he demands. His eyes shift, trailing from the bridge of your nose to the tip, oh how he wants to give it a peck, but once they reach your lips, he realizes that’s what he really wants.

He swallows, releasing some pressure off of his hands as you survey his distinct expression. “Jungkook, are you—” hastily, he pulls your jaw toward him, lips crashing into yours and it’s more than he expects. He swore in a not dramatic way that it felt like there were fireworks being set off behind him.

Noticing what he’d done, he quickly lets go, hands dropping at his side. “I’m sorry, I just, I couldn’t help myself but I know I said boundaries—”

Hands flying up, your thumb brushes against the soft flesh of his cheeks, hopping onto the tip of your toes, reaching up to meet as much of his height as you could, eyes hooded with your breath fanning his lips. Fingers slipping to the back of his neck, you tug him down, gingerly pushing your lips against his.

It’s gentle— the kind of kiss that Jungkook isn’t familiar with when he comes across his flings, but the way you ease your way into his parted lips and how your tongue brushes against his, it makes him feel hazy, drunk on your scent. His hands find purchase on your waist, tugging your hips to rest on his as your fingers run through his luscious hair. The length is something you’ve grown to love, a huge step from forcing him to tie it back because it hadn’t been ‘professional’ enough. And here you are, making out with your trainee on the balcony of your shared hotel room. He lets you lead the kiss momentarily before you break away, foreheads against each other, you’re both panting with tinted cheeks. “Don’t hold yourself back, please,” you beg in a whisper, completely intoxicated by everything radiating off him.

Reaching down your thighs, he puts those muscles to use when he grabs onto them, wrapping your legs around his frame as you yelp, arms immediately hugging around his shoulders. He slides the balcony door shut with his feet, dropping you onto the bed, falling along in unison.

There’s a smile upon his lips, a genuine one filled with admiration. Just when he’s leaning closer to you for a second round, there’s a knock on the door. Jungkook groans, dropping his face into the crook of your neck as laughter erupts from your chest. “Go get the door.”

“Whoever it is, they just ruined this moment.” He grunts, untangling your legs from his waist to open the door.

Jongseok is leaned up against the door frame, eying his younger brother suggestively. “What were you doing?”

“None of your business,” Jungkook hisses in return. He doesn’t need to say it though because Jongseok knew from his sibling’s disheveled locks, swollen lips, flushed cheeks and labored breathing. Jongseok wasn’t going to look, but he could already tell that Jungkook was supporting a boner in those sweatpants.

“Hm,” Jongseok hums, narrowing his gaze. “Alright then. Stopped by to tell you that mother wants us to have dinner with family tonight in about 30 minutes. Should be enough time for you to finish, right? How long does 3 pumps take?”

“Get out!” He responds through his gritted teeth, slamming the door on him.

Quickly standing up, you brush your clothes off and fix your hair in the mirror. “We should get ready to head out, I don’t want your mom to wait on us.”

“You sure? I mean we don’t have to go—“

“I still need to impress your parents too, right?” Hand pressed against his chest, he calms down at your touch and nods in conformity. “Alright then.”

When the two of you return from the trip, you don’t mention anything about the kiss and what it would’ve led to. Fearing that you’d back out from the agreement, Jungkook doesn’t bring it up either, despite having so many questions running through his head, discovering that there’s a small chance that he’s fallen for you.

Hoseok throws something in Jungkook’s direction, a confused expression on his face when he catches in his hands yet his body doesn’t move from the couch. “What’s this for?” He asks, opening his cupped hands to see a shiny gold key.

“That’s my apartment key,” Hoseok responds calmly, shuffling through some letters that sit on his counter. “For whenever you want to come over.”

In the past month, he found himself gravitating toward not just you, but Hoseok as well, a friendship blooming from being acquaintances. Reminiscing to a time where they would only say ‘hi’ in passing, mostly for politeness because their parents had worked together before, there had never been a real bond between the two of them. And ever since he started working at the market, their friendship had escalated to hanging out with each other on the weekends or any available free-time they had.

Jungkook has friends now.

Real friends, he notes. Ones he never thought he had, ones he had only ever dreamed of, and ones that he didn’t have to bribe for them to become. He admits that whatever he has with you is a bit rocky and unknown, but after having that home-cooked dinner with you that night, he feels like you’re opening up to him.

An action from you that he rightfully earned, he likes to repeat to himself, because he can’t believe he’s able to obtain relationships with people that didn’t include money.

“You’re giving this to me? You trust me with it?”

“Well, yeah,” Hoseok nets his brows in confusion, making his way to sit beside the other male on the couch, switching his PlayStation 5 on, handing Jungkook a controller as he stares dumbfoundedly. “You come here almost every weekend, or well, recently almost every other day since I got the PS5. You’re a bro now, we’re not just some dudes that acknowledge each other at parties anymore.”

Jungkook feels like he’s soaring. His feet are hovering in the air, and his heart feels light. If this is what it feels like to have a friend who cares and enjoys spending time with, he doesn’t need to get high and wasted to obtain that feeling anymore.

“Mom, I’m not really in the mood to come back so soon.” You sigh, fingers raking through your drenched locks. It’s supposed to be a relaxing Friday night in; Jungkook bringing the pizza with wings and Hoseok grabbing the beers from the supermarket when he finishes his shift tonight. Figuring that you had some time, you’d give yourself a relaxing shower, knowing damn well you were going to need some peace and quiet temporarily with two rowdy boys coming later.

“Please,” She begs, attempting to raise her voice in a baby-ing manner. “Your sister said she was coming tomorrow morning. I would love to get the family back together. And you said so yourself last week, you’re free this weekend!” You’re starting to regret calling your mom with life updates.

The door swings open, the sight of Jungkook hauling in bags and a box in his hand. “Jeon, you can put it on the coffee table,” Pointing in the living room, he nods as you trail behind him. “You can move the books off the table and put it by the TV.”

“Jeon?” Your mom reiterates, suddenly intrigued by whomever you were at your apartment with. “Who is Jeon?” Ignoring her, you press the phone against your shoulder and cheek, freeing your hands in attempt to help Jungkook clear out the table. “Oh, Jungkook, can you close the door? It’s cold for some reason.”

“Jungkook?” She gasps the name into the phone, squealing afterwards. “You have a boyfriend and you didn’t tell me?”

“What?” You reply sharply, Jungkook coming back from your request, brows knitted in confusion. “Who’s on the phone?” He mouths, you retort, “my mom” back faintly.

“I heard you calling some guy named Jungkook. It’s just him in your apartment alone, isn’t it? You wouldn’t have some guy with you unless he’s your boyfriend, right? Oh my god, I thought you were going to be alone forever—” She yammers on, not even taking a second to breathe. “You know what? Bring him tomorrow. Don’t say no, I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer. I’m letting your dad and siblings know. Goodnight, dear! Sleep well! Tell Jungkook I said hi!” And with that, she hangs up.

Throwing your phone on the couch, you grumble, hands rubbing your face. “I’m assuming she thinks I’m your boyfriend?”

“Yeah,” you exhale, plummeting your body onto the couch. “As much as I don’t want to do this, she’s going to attack me nonstop if I don’t bring you. Are you free tomorrow? Would you... like to meet my family? If not— it’s totally fine, I mean we’re not even really dating anyways and—“

“Of course,” He grins, settling down beside you. “This doesn’t have to just apply to my parents, you know. I am your boyfriend, not just you being my girlfriend.”

In all honesty, he finds this as an opening. Ever since your trip to Busan, he couldn’t help but see you differently out of the blue. He admits, maybe right now isn’t necessarily the best time for him to start a relationship, especially one where a business deal is involved, but he can’t help it. Something about you, since that night, he saw you underneath those lights and you’re not the same mean supervisor that he thought you’d been.

And don’t even get him started on the way you kiss.

#jeon jungkook #jungkook #jungkook smut #bts #bts smut #jungkook x reader #gyukultfics

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koushisbabie · 3 years

Text

nights w kenma

Feeling a bit domestic for Kenma so here’s a drabble that no one asked for

Pairing: Kenma x gender neutral!reader

Warnings: Sexual nature SUGGESTED but there’s literally no nsfw stuff

(gif is not mine)

Soft rain falls on the windowpane, a gentle accompaniment to the stereo playing in the background. Whatever it is that’s playing is catchy and while I water the various indoor plants littering the room, I cannot help but murmur in tune with the song.

Tonight, is not unlike most nights. While study is important, it is also important to take frequent breaks to do what makes you happy – that’s what my friends had told me. Kenma had agreed somewhat nonchalantly to the statement, knowing full well that I would decide to do whatever I wanted regardless of what our friends would advise us, anyway. I chuckle at the memory, almost overwatering a particularly small cactus. Muttering an apology to the little plant I put away the plastic watering can and call for our most recent addition to the family, a tiny white kitten.

‘There you are!’ I kneel to her level, brushing my fingers in her soft fur and scratching underneath her chin as she butts her head into my hand. ‘Are you hungry?’

There is no response aside from very loud kitten purring.

‘Or should we play?’

A ribbon sits in a haphazard pile on the kotatsu, left from the night before. I dangle it in front of the kitten, vaguely away of the footsteps entering the room behind me.

‘Have you thought of a name yet?’

I turn to reply and am met with Kenma’s smile. ‘No, have you?’

‘Not a clue.’

‘I suppose you don’t know what you want for dinner either?’ I ask. ‘You barely remembered to eat lunch.’

‘I would have remembered if someone didn’t convince me to take an early afternoon nap with them,’ Kenma says pointedly. ‘Sorry for keeping you up last night.’

I avoid his eyes, recalling the previous night’s events. ‘It was worth staying up for.’

Laughter lit up his expression as a blush creeps over my skin. He kneels down next to me in grey sweatpants and a dark red hoodie, looking cozier than ever. ‘We should really give her a name soon.’ He says.

‘What about yuki?’ I ask. ‘Because she’s got white fur, like snow.’

Kenma gestures for the ribbon, I give it to him, our fingers brush against each other softly. His hands are warm and inviting and get those thoughts out of your head, YN.

‘Not a bad idea,’ he says. He dangles the ribbon for the kitten, watching with a tug at his lips. ‘What about Kumo?’

‘Cloud?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That’s cute, too,’ I say. ‘She is fluffy, like a cloud.’

‘I don’t think that’s how clouds work,’ Kenma laughs. ‘But you’re not wrong, she is fluffy.’

‘She jumps so damn high,’ I remark. ‘Be careful of her claws – kittens have actual razors attached to their paws.’

‘She got me while I was napping the other day,’ Kenma drags the ribbon back and forth over the grey carpet. ‘I have a scratch on my foot that’s like three inches long. It hurt like hell.’

‘Oh no, did you disinfect it?’

‘I just went back to sleep,’ Kenma replies with a shrug.

‘Of course, you did,’ I laugh.

He continues to drag the ribbon, alternating with lines and circles and yanking it into the air, just out of the kitten’s reach. She jumps and twists in vain attempts to capture her prey, a wild beast in the middle of our living room, completely unaware of Kenma and I watching her hunt. I look to Kenma and see his growing smile and the complete fondness for the kitten in his eyes. The warmth of the scene is enough to make my eyes water, and I realize that this is the kind of moment people write poetry about; a moment that I would very much like to snapshot and live in forever.

‘I love you.’

‘Huh?’

The words pull me out of my zone, and I’m staring at him with widened eyes.

Kenma turns his head a fraction to look at me, a tiny smile on his lips.

‘I said, I love you.’

‘It never fails to surprise me when you say that,’ I breathe.

Kenma frowns, jerking the ribbon over the kitten, watching it follow the bait across the floor. ‘I’ve been saying it for years,’ he replies. ‘Aren’t you going to say it back?’

‘You idiot,’ I laugh. ‘Of course! I love you, too.’

‘More than Kumo?’

‘Okay let’s not push it, tiger,’ I roll my eyes playfully. 'What do you want for dinner?’

Kenma shrugs, continuing to play with the kitten. She jumps up and clamps her tiny jaws around the ribbon, pulling it and his arm down. ‘Let’s order takeout.’

‘And play a game together?’

‘You really do love me,’ Kenma nudges my arm. His eyes sparkle an unusually bright gold, a warmth emanating from him that I didn’t notice before. He stands and holds out a hand to me, his other hand carrying the tiny kitten. ‘C’mon then, pretty girl. Our cat child needs feeding, too, help me?’

Yes, this is not unlike most nights, but I wouldn’t dream of living any other life than this.

masterlist

#kenma #kenma kozume #kenma x reader #kenma x yn #kenma x you #haikyuu drabble #haikyuu!!#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu one shot #domestic haikyuu #haikyuu reader insert

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morkleemelon · 4 years

Text

Jet Lag✈️

1) you and Mark are both idols and you're on video call from different countries and you miss each other. You surprise Mark secretly visiting Korea and you then surprise him in his room and you guys cuddle and stuff ^~^

@smolninja thank you for your request! I hope it’s everything you wanted! I’m sorry for the delay, I had so many issues with Tumblr and accidentally deleted it when I was like 70% done it was so sad. Nonetheless, I really liked writing it! Enjoy :)

Warnings: mild swearing

Word Count: 3k

Genre: Fluff, slight angst

Fem Idol!reader x Mark Lee

The set up: you’re in a 7 member kpop group called Girl Trouble and you’ve just finished the first concert of your Japanese tour. We’re pretending corona doesn’t exist :) The general public does not know that you are dating Mark Lee

-----

You feel the van come to a stop as flashing lights bloom from outside the tinted windows, waking you from your much needed sleep.

“We’re at the hotel y/n,” your bandmate, Yeeun, informs, fixing her hair in her phone camera to make sure she was ready to be photographed.

The excited cheers coming from the street bring you out of your sleepy stupor and you stretch your arms above you in a big yawn.

“How do I look?” you ask Nayoo, your best friend in the group who’s sitting next to you, touching up her concealer.

“Perfect as always y/n, duh,” she replied, playfully winking as she put her stuff away.

“Ok I’m opening the door!” you warn as you grab the handle and take a deep breath, putting on your best smile.

Swinging the door open, you’re met with an uproar of fans calling out your name and a storm of camera flashes eager to capture your latest look. It was your group’s first time in Japan so the fans were especially excited to finally have the chance to see you.

*Click click click click*

You stepped out of the car as gracefully as you could, smile never faltering as you showed off your pearly white teeth and prize-winning dimples. Brushing your hair back slightly as you walk, you tease your new gold earrings as a subtle endorsement to the brand. Your members following suit, you wave to the crowd and make your way to the entrance, nodding at a few fansites you recognized.

- - -

Throwing yourself onto the bed, your freshly showered hair promptly soaks through the comforter but you couldn’t care less.

“Ugh...,” you sighed, melting into the plush goodness of the hotel mattress, “I’m so goddamn tired.”

If only he were here with you...

“Oh!” you gasp, head shooting up from your now wet pillow, “I promised I’d call!”. You rolled off the bed and scrambled to find your phone in your bag, suddenly wide awake.

“You’re calling loverrr boyyyy?” Nayoo teased, dragging out the letters because she knew how much you hated it.

“Stopppp!” you whined, throwing your soggy pillow at her and trying to hide the growing blush on your cheeks.

Frantically unlocking your phone, you scroll through your contacts to find your boyfriend, heart racing with anticipation. It’s been a few weeks since you’ve seen Mark and you know it’ll be a few more until you have the chance. You promised each other to call whenever you could, but with NCT dream having a new comeback and Girl Trouble was starting to be really popular, there was only so much you could do. On top of that, it was stressful trying to keep your relationship a secret with all of the prying eyes around you and Mark’s intense fan base. Nevertheless, you’ve been going strong for about 8 months now you know that everything, every struggle, is worth it because of how much you truly love him.

Calling: Baby💕💋🦁...

You don’t bother to fix your makeup-less face and frizzy hair because you know that he’ll say you’re beautiful.

You smile at the thought of him as the FaceTime chimes ring.

*whoom*

“Marky!” you whisper cry, heart racing with excitement as you see his face for the first time in days.

“Baby!” Mark squeals back in the same tone, losing himself to giggles as you both giddily recover from the excitement of getting to see each other. You can hear the sound of voices mocking him in the background and Chenle’s piercing scream cuts through the audio.

“How have you been, baby?” you ask adoringly, ignoring the dreamies and look longingly at the boy in round glasses and his favorite grey hoodie.

“Shut up guys! I’m trying to talk to y/n!” he yells back at them, met with only more mocking and screaming. Sighing and giving up, he turns back to the camera, “Ah you know, I’ve been alright. We’ve been pretty busy with practice. I’m actually at practice right now if you can’t tell”. He pans the camera to the other members of dream who are clearly only taking a break because Mark made them stop for this phone call.

Guilt grips at you as you realize how you were probably inconveniencing them. After all, it was getting late and they all have to stay even later now because of you.

“Oh... if now’s not a good time we can always try tomorrow,” you offer, smiling slightly but not enough to hide your disappointment and guilt.

“Aw baby I’m sorry,” Mark soothes, “don’t worry about us I didn’t mean it like that. I missed you so much and these guys can spare a few minutes it’s fine”.

“I wish you were here, Mark. Or I was there,” you whisper, lying down on your bed once again. Placing your phone in front of you, it’s almost, almost, as if he were there lying with you.

Mark wears a pensive expression as he looks down, using his free hand to fiddle with his hoodie strings.

“Yeah. Me too”.

His voice is strained as he thinks about the nights you’ve snuck out together and the secret dates you shared. He misses the way you feel in his arms and the way your soft hair felt when it tickled him awake in the morning. He misses your terrible dad jokes and your night cooking. It was really frustrating how you were both so young and so in love, but everything else in life had to get in the way. Mark really missed you.

You reach out instinctively to stroke his hair but instead of comforting the boy you loved, your hands are met with only the cold surface of your screen.

The two of you talked for a few more minutes, trying to make the most of the time before he had to go. You could tell by the way his voice strained that he was really exhausted.

When he finally hung up, you couldn’t shake the empty feeling off; not being next to him, being able to touch him, to comfort him, to be with him was the worst feeling in the world.

And before you could stop yourself, warm tears began to fall as your shoulders shook with your heartbroken sobs. Video calls were supposed to make you miss each other less, not more. You loved him so much that you’d miss him even if he was right there with you. Being apart was devastating.

“Oh, honey…,” Nayoo coos, crawling into your bed to give you a much needed hug, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Let it out”.

Wrapping your arms around your best friend, you let the tears fall onto your already soaked pillow and spilling out the feelings you’ve kept buried inside for so long.

“I just miss him so much,” you gasp, squeezing your fists around the fabric of Nayoo’s sweatshirt.

“Oh I know y/n, I know,” she comforted, “remember back when we were trainees and you just started dating Mark? And I was always there to distract Manager Kim when you snuck out to meet him?”.

You let out a small laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood. Nayoo was truly a good friend and she always had your back. You were really lucky to have her in your life.

“I do, Nayoo. I never thanked you enough for that”

“You know I love you. I’d do it again now if you wanted to sneak out and meet him. Actually I bet you could pull it off since our next show isn’t for another 4 days”

“Wait…”

Both of you sat up at the same time, looking at each other with wide eyes.

------

“I can’t believe we’re doing this”

“Shush! We already bought the tickets there’s no backing out now”

“What if someone notices me?”

“They won’t. Look at you”

You looked in the mirror of the lobby bathroom you were hiding in. You were dressed in plain, unbranded clothes, your hair tucked in a low, messy bun. The majority of your face was covered by a mask and a baseball hat, making you look nearly unidentifiable to anyone looking.

“I guess,” you sighed, still nervous, “let’s just go over the plan again”.

“Alright sheesh,” Nayoo groaned, “as if I am not a wizard of distracting our manager. You’ll get into the Uber we just called and go to Japan Airport. Your flight is at 2:30am and you’ll arrive in Korea at about 4:00am. Then you’ll go to Mark’s dorm and make out with him yadda yadda-”.

You punched her in the arm.

“Okay! Did I lie though? Anyways, you’ll be on your return flight the next day at the same time so you better savor your time. MY job is to tell Manager Kim that you are having lady problems and you can’t make it to practice today. He hates when we talk about periods so this is fool proof seriously. Plus we know that you will do fine on stage without one day of practice”.

“Okay…,” you chewed your lip nervously, half dreading the thought of being caught and half thrilled at the thought of being in Mark’s arms in a few hours. Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you looked at the notification.

*your Uber driver Ayako is here! Look for license plate A29&Q on a black Honda Pilot*

Hugging Nayoo goodbye, you rush out of the hotel and into the cab, adjusting your cap and mask to make sure it covers your face.

Each second that passed, you became more excited about seeing your boyfriend and less nervous about the consequences.

Mark, I’m here for you. I’m coming, just wait a little bit longer.

Your hands itched to call him and tell him what you were doing but you knew that he was catching up on some much needed sleep by now.

When you arrived at the Japan Airport, you thanked the driver and walked briskly through the airport. You had nothing except a small backpack and your plane ticket so getting through security was quick. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people there at 2 in the morning so you began to relax.

Successfully making it through security, you finally board the plane and claim your seat at the very back.

Looking out the window to the dark, starry skies, the lights of the airplane wings illuminate the drops of rain that began to fall.

-----

You jolt awake as the plane lands at the South Korea Airport with a rumbling thud. Your hands dart to your face to make sure your mask and hat are still there, sighing in relief when they remain unmoved.

Grabbing your bag, you walk down the aisle of the half-empty plane, each step bringing you closer to Mark.

Rushing out of the airport, your steps gain traction as you feel your heart racing in excitement at the thought of seeing your boyfriend so soon. The cold night air greets you familiarly as you call the nearest cab over. Telling the driver the address of Mark’s dorm building, you watch as the streetlights pass by and you near the boy you’ve been dying to see for weeks.

At last, you arrive at the steps of the apartment complex. Thanking the driver, you rush into the building and attack the elevator button going up. Your breathing is shallow with excitement knowing that he’s there right now. He’s there and you’re going to be with him.

Every second in the elevator feels like hours and you kick yourself for not taking the stairs. The floors seem like they’re all a mile away from the last and you tap your foot impatiently on the carpeted floor.

8...9...10

*Ding*

You speed out of the elevator and find your way expertly to the infamous 10th floor dorm room. Feeling around the crevices of the carpet floor for the spare key, you feel a slight twinge of nerves because you’re technically breaking into their home. But, as soon as you enter the familiar room, any guilt you have washes away and the only thing you can feel is the rapid beating of your heart filled with love and anticipation.

Making your way silently through the dark common room, you stop at the oh-so-familiar door. When your hand touches the cold metal of the doorknob, you swear that the beating of your heart was loud enough to wake the entire building.

Taking a deep breath, you open the door and you see him. Your breath hitches at your throat and you fight back the urge to cry right then and there. Mark was lying on his bed, snuggled under the covers with his arms and legs wrapped around a pillow like he always does when he sleeps. His soft breathing was rhythmic and calming, the warm scent of his room inviting you in.

Without wasting another second away from him, you drop your bag on the messy floor and walk up to his bed. Carefully, you pull at the pillow in his embrace and replace it with your own body. Mark shifts slightly and you freeze, not wanting to wake him up from his rare sleep. His eyes remain closed and his arms instinctively tighten around you. You can see through the darkness that his eyebrows furrow slightly and his lips part, and you wonder if he knew you were there.

“Finally,” you thought to yourself, reaching up slowly to caress his hair, “we’re finally together”. It didn’t feel real. You couldn’t believe that you were finally here in his arms. His body was so warm and felt like home to you.

You can feel Mark’s fingers autonomously rub circles into your back. As if his body realized what was happening, Mark’s eyes opened slowly and he peered into your face, blinking slowly to process this new information.

“I’m here, Mark,” you whisper as softly as you can.

Without any hesitation, Mark leans forward and presses a deep kiss onto your lips, conveying ten thousand words with his actions that could only be interpreted as “I missed you so much”.

You kiss him back, fingers gripping onto his shirt with raw emotion in an “I missed you too”. You breathe in deeply, not wanting to forsake any aspect of him, taking in all of his scent and drinking it all like a flower with no water.

He pulls away with a sigh and presses his forehead against yours. Mumbling incoherent words, you notice that he seems to have fallen back asleep.

Your own eyelids feel heavy and they flutter closed as you succumb to the warm welcome of sleep, your heart whole with love.

-----

Dull beams of sun fell slanted through the curtains as you drifted awake the next morning. You felt a hand playing with your hair and you opened your eyes slowly, temporarily forgetting what you had done the night before. Memories flooded back and your attention narrowed in at the smiling boy in front of you.

“You’re really here,” Mark whispered, “how are you here?”.

“It’s a long story,” you whispered back, voice still hoarse from sleep.

He pulled you in closer to his chest and you gladly snuggled into his warm body, nuzzling at his favorite hoodie, the one you got him for Christmas.

“I thought it was all a dream when I saw you last night,” he admitted.

“Stay with me today?,” you ask, worried that your time together would be short. If he had to go to practice, you could hardly see him at all and you’d go back to missing him a thousand miles away.

“I’m not going anywhere today,” Mark replies, kissing the top of your head, “my wishes have finally come true and you magically appeared in my bed. I’d be an idiot to leave”.

You giggled at his words, working your fingers to draw shapes into his back.

You start to tell him what happened after you called him the night before and how devastated you were when you weren’t with him. Mark’s arms tightened around you as you told him you cried when you saw how tired he was and you weren’t there to cheer him up. You told him about how you put on a disguise and snuck around Manager Kim who thought you were dying right now. His body shook with laughter at the crazy night you had and you both agreed that this was the wildest thing you had ever done.

“How long are you gonna stay here?”

“My flight back to Japan is at 2:30am tomorrow morning. What time is it now?”

Mark shifts to unlock his phone on the nightstand.

“It’s 10:49am”

You sighed and buried your face deeper into his chest, trying to get impossibly closer to the love of your life and make the most of your hard-earned time together.

“Let’s do everything today,” you heard him say.

“What do you mean?” you ask, tilting your chin up to look at him, pressing a small his to his jaw.

“Let’s just do everything we always wanted to do. Let’s get ramen from the convenience store together and then go on a walk at the park. Let’s get matching sweaters from the mall and then full sugar boba tea. You’ll drink half of mine and I’ll let you because I’m a good boyfriend”. Mark giggles at his imagination and peppers kisses across your face.

You laugh at the ticklish sensation and your heart swells with love for the Canadian boy.

Your whole body tingled, the feel of his body around yours and his lips on yours sending your head spinning. Rubbing your nose adoringly against his in an eskimo kiss, you vow that you would be strong for him from now on. You might be apart for work a lot, but the love you share is inseparable and undeniable. Nothing could ever come between you. You were his and he was yours.

“Let’s do it, Everything”

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numberonephantompizza1 · 3 years

Text

Poppy Fanfic: “Ask Her”

For context: This is a fanfic I wrote in order to join the Poppy Milk dev team and show off my writing skills. Since the callout at the time said we’d need to write a lot of sidequests, I wanted to ask the question of what a Poppy-centered side-quest would be like. I got the idea that it would be from an Asker’s perspective, and everything sort of came naturally after that. Even though I’m on the dev team right now, it’s not canon to Omega Timeline: Poppy’s Story and even has some inaccuracies that contradict canon. With that said, please feel free to read the story below the cut.

---

You noticed something very different inside your room when you woke up. The lights were off and the sun hadn’t yet risen, but there was a certain… aura, coming from your door. You were filled with a certain trepidation, but… you approached it. It was hard to see in the light, but it looked… grey.

Swallowing the lump in your throat, you stepped through...

...and found about the last person you would’ve expected. The spitting image of Frisk - CORE!Frisk, that was, looking up at you, in the middle of a white void.

“Wh- You’re real?!” you asked, dumbfounded.

“Of course I’m real. Have you been taking all this multiverse stuff for granted? Everything is real somewhere,” Core answered, simply.

“I… I don’t… and you, me…” you panted, starting to feel a small panic attack coming on.

“Focus,” Core snapped their fingers, grounding you back in reality. Okay, this was happening now.

“Let’s get down to business. Simply: you don’t like me. And I don’t like you. But we BOTH like Poppy. Poppy, my dear, sweet angel… has unfortunately recently come to the realization that Askers ALSO exist in the multiverse. And now she wants to do a ‘meet n’ greet’ with one of her fans. Trust me, I TRIED to talk her out of it, but she can be darn persuasive when she wants to be. And as you’re now realizing, that’s where you come in.

“I wanna make you a deal. You play along with whatever Poppy wants until she gets bored of this. If you’re on your best behavior - and that means, don’t give her anything bad, don’t tell her anything you KNOW she shouldn’t know, don’t use any magic, and be a general good influence - if you play nice, in exchange, I will allow you to hang out with ANY resident of the Omega Timeline.

“Want to spend a day full of wacky hijinks with a Papyrus, or even an Underswap Sans? Consider it done. Want to know how Deltarune Chapter 2 plays out ahead of time? I know a Susie with your name on it. Whatever you want, so long as you play by the rules, and don’t ask for anyone obviously ridiculous. So… do we have ourselves a deal?”

You contemplated that offer, and everything that was happening, trying to suppress your inner urge to geek out for just a few moments. The Omega Timeline, Poppy, and all the AU’s you could think of and more were real. And you just got an invitation to visit them.

“Yeah, of course!” you nodded excitedly, though your enthusiasm only seemed to make Core more anxious.

“Don’t make me regret this…” Core sighed, as the whiteness seemed to melt away into a cozy-looking house with wooden floors and lime walls, where you were standing directly outside of a white door. Core seemed to have disappeared.

Technically, there was nothing stopping you from exploring. So you did just that. You walked up to a shelf with some family photos. One was a photo of Poppy, Core, Dusted and Rust all together, in some meadow, looking happy. At least, you assumed Dusted and Rust were happy, they didn’t show up well on camera. There was another photo of Poppy alone, looking somewhat younger than she did on the blog, seated on a chair in a photo that looked far more staged. She held an actual poppy flower in her hand and smiled brightly.

You opened the cabinet doors, curious of what knick-knacks you might find in there. Some crayons, a few random glass cups, some art by 3-year-old Poppy that was so poorly done its meaning was hard to decipher, and a locked box. You reached for the box--

“Getting a bit sidetracked, aren’t we?”

You jolted up, and faced Core behind you. Even though they were child-sized, they crossed their arms with the poise and authority of a stern parent. You laughed anxiously. “Ahahaha… ahaha… ha……..”

“...Strike one.” Core said, and vanished. The meaning of that was all-too clear. Deciding not to dilly dally any longer, you went to the room you suspected to be Poppy’s, and knocked.

“Just a sec!” Poppy said, and opened the door. She looked up at you, and gasped. “Wow, Granpa really did come through…!” She twirled excitedly. “You must be my adoring fan, aren’t you?” she asked.

You stared down at the girl in stunned silence.

“To be honest, I kinda figured you’d be some gray guy with sunglasses, but that’s kinda silly in hindsight. How you doin’?” She asked that last line in a mock accent as you continued to stare.

“Baby,” you said.

“What?”

“Nothing,” you quickly tried to change the subject. “Yeah, it’s… y’know, it’s great to be here…” You clasped your hands together, biting your lip. You were in an Undertale AU, faced with the AU granddaughter of another AU character. You still weren’t entirely over that. Was this fever dream? Fandom heaven, or fandom hell?

“I know! Once I heard you guys weren’t from the Omega Timeline, I realized I hadn’t met even ONE of my fans… even if you guys are super annoying some of the time.”

“Uhhh, yeah…” you wondered if you should apologize on behalf of the askers who put Poppy in the hospital that one time. Then again, it seemed kind of awkward, and it might have been best not to bring that up while Core was watching, which was always. Looking down at the cutesy girl, it was almost tempting to pull her into a hug, but you managed to keep your composure.

“I wanted to do something a little more special than just some sorta interview, though, because you ask me questions all the time anyways,” Poppy said. “Granpa said you’ve never been to the Omega Timeline before, so I wanna give you the big tour!” Poppy went to the door. “I’m gonna be outside when you’re ready!” She left the room.

Seeing the empty room in front of you, you were tempted to snoop again, but you’d learned your lesson after last time. You headed straight out after Poppy.

You couldn’t help but gasp in awe of the serenity of the great outdoors as you were beckoned to it. You’d been outside before, obviously, but everything just looked so… nice. The blue sky, the grassy grounds, the ornate buildings… you’ve seen this place in pixel art and a couple drawings before, but seeing it with your own eyes was another story. And the next thing for you to nearly faint at was seeing the Undertale characters running around, Sanses, Undynes, Frisks, even goat moms.

Poppy smiled. “...It’s nice, isn’t it? I KNEW taking you on a tour was a good idea.” She smirked. “Now remember, just because this is a meet-up doesn’t mean it’s free, and there WILL be a fee at the end of our ride.”

“...Uh… I left my wallet at home,” you said, patting your pockets, “And I don’t have any, uh... ‘G,’ I think. Unless the G stands for ‘Gratitude,’ amiright?” you did finger guns.

“G stands for Gold,” Poppy corrected you bluntly, unamused. She returned to her chipper attitude just as quickly, though. “Now, let me show you around!” She led you down the street.

Walking with her, seeing so many versions of your favorite characters in the flesh, walking around… well, the temptation to talk to SOME of them was irresistible, Core be damned. You did resolve not to go too far off-track, but you shared some words with the folks you passed by, Poppy thankfully stopping each time you did. You met two Frisks - one boy, one ambiguous - an Underswap Undyne, a human version of Toriel, and surprisingly, a version of Princess Peach.

You and Poppy approached an elegant fountain, stood upon proudly by a statue of a mustachio’d CORE!Frisk. “This is the Timeline Plaza! It’s sort of the local park, where people meet up to do... stuff. Just hang out. Make a picnic. Play ball. All that good park-y stuff, y’know? And there’s stores in all directions, so it’s pretty good.” She proudly showed off her home to you, with a smile.

You talked to more on the way to the next place. An Inverted Fate Papyrus. A weird Ralsei who said his name was “Noyno.” An Asgore wearing a hoodie, who you assumed was swapped with Sans. (Poppy did scold you a little bit for this, telling you that just because someone has a hoodie you shouldn’t assume they’re swapped. You apologized.)

“This is Grillby’s! One of them, anyways. The nearest one to my house. It’s pretty good if you want an OK burger. Sanses love the place, though. It’s… kind of unhealthy. And a little gross.” Poppy said. “Especially when they just drink… raw… ketchup.”

“Can’t handle a little ketchup?” you smiled mischievously. “We drink it by the gallon back in my universe,” you lied.

“...I really hope you’re joking,” Poppy said, alarmed.

“Am I?” you smiled brighter.

“...W-well, we’re not going in there, so you can FORGET about drinking that much ketchup!” Poppy said, afraid of the sheer power of your ketchup-drinking.

You and Poppy moved onto the next spot. You met an Underswap Alphys who seemed to be trapped in a red-and-gold palette. You met a robot dressed as a circus ringmaster, who claimed to be a Chara. You met a Dummy dressed in a Frisk shirt. (You didn’t assume it was swapped with Frisk this time, which turned out to be a mistake, because it was.) Poppy stared at you awkwardly now, wondering why you were talking to all these random strangers. Finally, you and Poppy reached your next destination.

“The theater! Where we show off all the greatest hits! Including MY movie, which, not to brag, but it’s--”

Except, you’d been distracted by a hyperdeath Asriel, and were ignoring Poppy for the moment.

“...” Poppy spoke up. “That’s what I don’t get about you.”

“Huh?” that seemed to wake you up, and you looked at her.

“Everytime it’s always, ‘have you met Underswap Sans,’ or ‘have you met JangoTale Frisk,’ or some other weird thing. You always ask that. But… they’re just people. Why do you always assume I know some random Sans or Frisk or someone?”

“I…” you were a bit taken aback. “...I don’t… we don’t assume you know them, they’re just… they’re just important.”

“Important?” She asked. “...I-I mean, yeah, EVERYONE’s important, but, I don’t really get what you mean…”

“They’re all--” You paused, trying to collect your thoughts, think of everything you knew from the blog, and tried to actually talk to her. “...They’re like friends to me. Kinda.”

“...You guys are friends with them? I thought you were stuck in your world…” she frowned.

“No, it’s like-- I’m not ‘friends’ with Underswap Frisk, or-- or Storyshift Frisk, or Shifty or whatever, I’m just friends with… Frisk.”

...Poppy stared at you like you just said the ground was turning to jelly, or something equally bafflingly inane. “...I… think you’re confused. Look, sometimes newcomers struggle with this. Your Frisk isn’t the only Frisk--”

“I know! It’s… You don’t get it. This world, these worlds are so special and creative, and they mean a lot to me. I know we can be really edgy, and I know we ask weird questions about Dusted and Rust, but that’s all because… because...” you paused.

Poppy looked, seeming upset about hearing her siblings mentioned in the context of ‘edgy’ questions, not seeing what you were seeing. Core, standing behind her, holding up a hand signal.

The number two.

You were getting carried away. You overstepped.

“...Um… I’m sorry.” You pulled her into a hug as Core vanished. “There’s really no reason for us to ask those questions. We can just be dumb sometimes.”

“...” She hugged back. “Yeah, it’s okay. I knew you guys were super weird and dumb before I convinced Granpa to let you in here, so I guess I should’ve seen this coming,” Poppy smiled, regaining her confidence as you did your best to not be offended at being called weird and dumb.

“Okay! I think I have just one last stop in mind to cap this tour off on a high note! Literally, hehehe…” She giggled mischievously. This time, you didn’t stop to talk to others, following her directly as you approached a peak overlooking the town. For yet another time, and probably the last, you couldn’t help but ogle at the town’s beauty. “Pretty good, right?” She sat down.

“Ha… with all the climbing, I was worried we’d fall down a mountain,” you joked. Poppy seemed to roll her eyes, as you sat beside her. “...I guess I get how you can call this place home. I mean, once I stop nerding out, anyways. You don’t see stuff like this in my… reality.”

“Just gallons and gallons of ketchup, huh?” she commented. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah.”

And you two just stared into the distance for a while. ...She wasn’t just a character. She was a human being.

...Or, technically just a ‘being,’ scratch the human part. Still, you felt a bit desensitized to all this. And so did she. You related in that way.

“I can’t say you exactly passed with flying colors, but you fulfilled your end of the agreement well enough.”

Without any warning, you were back in a white void with CORE!Frisk, just like before. You almost forgot about the deal you made, what with all the time you spent with Poppy. You stood.

“Uh… yeah. So, my reward…” you drifted off, remembering the offer Core gave you. The chance to meet just about any AU character of your imagining… or at least, any that would be peaceful enough to be in the Omega Timeline. Which still left a WIDE variety of options…

Who did you want to see? What mattered most to you?

...

Thinking deeply… you told Core their name.

“...Oh. Really? Well, I guess it makes sense for you that you’d want to see them,” Core remarked. “I can’t guarantee they’ll give you what you’re looking for, but a deal’s a deal. Let’s head off.”

You and Core went somewhere else.

---

And that’s all she wrote! If you read this far, thank you. Working on the game since then has been fun, and I think you’ll like what we have in store. Until then, ciao.

#undertale #omega timeline #poppy's story

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Lost Tomb Lewks, Part 2

(Masterpost) (More Canary Frivolity)

Warning: mild spoilers for both seasons of The Lost Tomb Reboot

Look 6: Wu Xie busts out the clean & preppy look for a visit to his Second Uncle. He’s just a rich boy from a rich family, spare him his life...

I really appreciate what the camera operator is doing for us here but I don’t feel like these jeans entirely do Wu Xie’s ass justice. Unfortunately, not every show can bespoke-tailor Zhu Yilong’s trousers onto him as if they were made of paint.

This look features a cream-colored sweater with cable knit detailing down the front and ribbed raglan sleeves. Underneath he’s got a collared blue shirt with the collar tucked or buttoned down inside the sweater. Tight black jeans and pristine white kicks round out the look.

This outfit says, very relatably, “I am one person with my friends and another with my family.” One thing I like about this show is how it engages with the difficulty of balancing family obligations and one’s own life path. Wu Xie is pretty successful at being true to himself, his uncles, his friends, and the Wu legacy all at the same time, but he has to push back against a lot of demands in order to achieve that.

Look 7: Uncle Wu Erbai gets to show off his fashion sense in this introductory scene, as well, wearing a shirt with a band collar and a double-breasted grey suit. His glasses are a combination of gold-color metal and brown plastic rims. Overall his looks says he’s a trendy, but not flashy, rich guy in later middle age.

Look 8: Bad guy Xue is an asshole, but he wears a couple of pretty good outfits. This one features a clever twist on a tangzhuang jacket. The shape and frog fastenings of this jacket are like a normal tangzhuang, but the lapels and collar are cut like a western style suit jacket - but tailored to be worn up, not folded back like a western lapel. This creates an interesting neckline detail, in which the notch and open vee show off the clean cut of the standing shirt collar underneath.

(more after the cut)

Look 9 is a good one for having a classic jump scare while exploring. The main part of this outfit is a practical olive green coat that we’ll be seeing more of. It’s got a good face-framing popped collar.

It’s hard to see, but this outfit has a dark brown shirt with with a lighter-colored pocket on the front. The clothing in this show is full of interesting details, but the camera doesn’t consistently pause to examine them, being more interested in story, mood, and character development. Stupid camera.

This look includes adorable driving gloves with a nice pierced-dot pattern.

This is a good look for being wet, and admiring your wet boyfriend platonic life partner true love sworn brother soul mate adventure buddy fuck buddy lover friend.

This episode introduces Zhang QiLing and his first hoodie, but it’s so dark throughout his initial scenes that there’s not much to say about it except 1. it’s a hoodie 2. with a beautiful man inside it. We’ll look more closely at his hoodies later in the series.

Look 10: Fortunately the show wastes no time unwrapping QiLing’s torso, and pouring buckets of water on him so that Wu Xie we can admire his bod, which is entirely worthy of admiration. OP has put these lightning gifs in slow motion for the good of any flashing-sensitive brains out there. And for no other reason.

This is a good look for....uh...this is a good look.

Look 11 appears out of context at different points in the show, when Wu Xie sits at his tasteful table and writes in his tasteful deckle-edge journal with his tasteful fountain pen. The show does a great job giving each character a distinctive and consistent style. Wu Xie’s is always subtle except for his monstrous first look, with an emphasis on soft textural elements & a narrow range of earth tones. That go well with blood.

This look features a soft marled cardigan over a thin sweater that looks like lambswool or cashmere. Something that can handle a very fine gauge machine knit, is soft, and throws back a nice glow when the light hits it. It has a tiny horizontal stripe. This sweater pairing is either grey, brown, yellow, or green; the scene lighting is warm and has a yellow cast, so it’s hard to say how much of the color is actually inherent in the clothing.

Look at his lovely translucent ear.

Wu Xie is wearing this look to write in his own Grave Robber’s Note, or his diary, at any rate. If he wants to have someone to pass it along to, he’d better get busy, literally.

This is a good look for contemplating your obligations to the future of your family, and wondering if now is a good time to talk about polyamory with your two favorite Xiao’s.

#the lost tomb reboot #reunion: the sound of the providence #重启之极海听雷 #dmbj #wu xie #lost tomb lewks #menswear #canary3d-original #fashion

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coffeestainsandcashmere · 4 years

Note

Happy late birthday! :D In my rereading of dark and bright I was imagining how would be the conversation between Draco and Theo about Hermione's birthday, like "And then Draco you will give her the cards." "But...." "No buts. For the love of all the founders Draco. You just have to give her the cards!" And now I've been laughing for 5 minutes

My hand slipped and 1.2k words fell out: (for those wondering where this fits, it mirrors Chapter Six of ‘Dark and Bright’, but can be read as a stand-alone).

“Draco…” Theo mused, looking up slowly at his boyfriend across their shared bedroom in the dungeons.

Nodding off on his own four-poster after a particularly gruelling Saturday quidditch practice, Draco scowled, and then lifted an eyebrow when he caught the look on Theo’s face. “What?” he asked flatly. “That tone of voice always means you’re plotting something. What are you scheming this time?”

“You know it’s Gr-Granger’s birthday next weekend?”

Draco blinked, clearly taken by surprise. “It is?” That meant she was older than both of them, and Draco was the baby of the lot. His scowl deepened.

“Mmm,” Theo hummed, sitting up from where he’d also been reclining like a Roman on his bed, and he swung his long, slim legs down so that his black socks met the green, woven rug beside the bed. “Scrivenshaft’s is still open on Sundays, right?”

With a cavernous sigh, Draco nodded, and the very next day, the two boys had made the walk into Hogsmeade in the rain and were perusing the - admittedly limited - selection of magical birthday cards in the poky little shop.

Theo shoved one under Draco’s nose and he instantly recoiled, lip curling in his trademark sneer, as a cloud of sickly-sweet rose scent billowed up into the air. Draco sneezed. “No,” he spluttered, reeling away. “Merlin, that’s strong.”

Theo just laughed and put it pack in the display before barking a loud laugh. “This one,” he said, and drew out a one bearing a cauldron and a copy of Advanced Potion Making. “It’s perfect.”

He turned to show his boyfriend, but paused when he caught sight of Draco trailing his fingers over the front of one card in particular, and his shoulders dropped. A soft, fond smile crept over Theo’s face and he chuckled, stepping close to Draco and kissing his cheek.

“Also perfect,” he whispered, and Draco flushed predictably. “Don’t get cocky - I meant the c-card!” he added with a grin, dancing out of reach of a smack on the arm from Draco a second later.

The morning of Granger’s birthday dawned grey and really fucking miserable, but that wasn’t exactly unusual for autumn in the Highlands. “There she is,” Theo said under his breath as they sat at the Slytherin table ahead of the morning rush. He jutted his chin at the Gryffindor table. “Fuck me…” he hissed. “Is it just me or does she look even better in muggle clothing than she does in that blouse?” His eyes lingered on the way her jeans hugged the curves of her hips and arse in particular. ‘That blouse’ was one that was half a size too small, and did incredibly distracting things to her chest when she leaned forwards in Potions.

“That blouse is bloody perfect,” Draco replied through clenched teeth, staring doggedly into the depths of his stupendously strong coffee. Somehow he’d managed to evaporate off two thirds of the water from a normal mug to turn it into a sludgy approximation of an espresso, with enough strength to give a centaur a heart attack.

Without looking around, Hermione took her seat alone at the nearly empty table facing them, settling herself with deliberate care, rolling up the sleeves of her hoodie before pouring herself a coffee.

“I could watch her all day,” Theo half sighed, chin sinking into his hand, elbow propped on the table.

“You said you were going to watch me all day,” Draco pouted.

With a laugh, Theo picked up a grape and wiggled it in front of Draco’s still-pouting lips. “And I will, darling. Most attentively. You know what the sight of you in that qu-quidditch kit does to me - or perhaps you’d like to find out right now?” he asked, reaching coyly for Draco’s pale hand and pretending to move it towards his crotch. If he’d succeeded in that without Draco yanking his hand back, Draco would probably have found him at least halfway interested; mostly from seeing Hermione’s perfect arse, but being seated next to Draco in his quidditch gear was not helping matters either.

Draco rolled his eyes but ruined it by laughing suddenly, his icy facade fracturing for just a moment, and Theo chalked it up as a victory.

He’d been so absorbed in watching Draco’s face change like the landscape when the sun comes out, that they almost missed Granger leaving. Theo dug Draco in the ribs. “Now’s your chance. Remember that you look bloody spectacular at the moment, but try not to be too cold…”

Draco’s white eyebrows pinched into a scowl.

“No, no, no,” Theo laughed. “Stop that. Go and give her the cards. Right now.”

“But…” Draco began, his already frayed courage faltering.

“No buts,” Theo said fiercely. “Oh for the love of all the founders Draco. You have to give her the cards! Don’t you get it? It has to be you. Or she’ll think I roped you into it, and that you don’t care.”

With an indistinct growl, Draco left, and Theo watched him, unaware that he was nearly biting his lower lip hard enough to draw blood until he almost tasted it on his tongue.

He watched with a leaden stomach as Draco artlessly yelled Granger’s name across the entrance hall, then stuck his hand out, proffering the cards to her like they were a dirty handkerchief she’d just accidentally dropped.

“Oh Merlin, Drake,” Theo groaned, dropping his head to his hands and running his fingers through his raucous curls. “Please don’t fuck this up. Where’s all that pureblood class and poise now for fuck’s sake…?”

To his surprise, however, Draco appeared not to fuck anything up too severely, and Hermione even shot Theo a warm look over Draco’s shoulder. He grinned at her, ignoring the nervous, acrid flutter of doxy wings in his stomach, and prayed to all the Founders that Hermione wouldn’t think them insincere.

Draco turned and fled almost the very moment she had the cards in her hand, looking so pale Theo thought he might pass out, but Hermione’s eyes were on his delectable backside, so Theo allowed himself the luxury of a smirk. When Draco took his seat beside him, he let out a long breath and cursed something colourful involving Salazar’s underthings that Theo hadn’t wanted to think about, and downed the rest of his coffee.

There was no point in hiding their interest in her reaction, and when she looked up from reading the cards, the soft, delighted, almost tearful expression on her face made Theo’s stomach swoop like he’d pulled off a Wronski Feint. It was a wonder he didn’t lose his breakfast entirely.

Her lips articulated the words ‘thank you’, and Theo inclined his head, too pleased for anything else. Draco had frozen beside him, looking like he’d swallowed a flobberworm, and he clutched his long fingers tightly for a moment.

“That wasn’t so bad?” Theo asked as a great whoop from the stairs made them look back to find Ginny Weasley and half the Gryffindor team piling in around poor Hermione until all that as visible of her was a few corkscrews of hair sticking up out of the pile of red and gold. Theo ached suddenly to be able to touch her like that, but he schooled himself to patience.

“She asked me if they were howlers,” Draco said flatly, and Theo nearly spat his tea across the table as relieved laughter burbled up inside him.

___

If you enjoyed, please reblog and share! I’m new to the fandom on here and appreciate all the help I can get!

___

writing masterlist | Ao3

#dramioneo #draco malfoy x theodore nott #draco malfoy x theodore nott x hermione granger #draco x hermione #draco x hermione x theo #theodore nott x hermione granger #all that's best of dark and bright #dark and bright #draco malfoy #hermione granger #theodore nott

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riverleyk · 3 years

Text

RECOVERED: Lost Mafia Kids files.

Mafia kids: 12 signatures as been my passion project all the way back since high school... like... 6 or 5 years ago? Oh my god... I'm getting old. This dates back to 2018.

CHAPTER 1

My high school years will be memories that I look over with more and more horror as I get older. At the time, I wasn’t afraid and I was too naive to realize the real danger I was in. However, I will never regret what I did. I was only trying to help.

It started with my dad losing his job. My family depended on him financially, my mom never worked too much, my brother, Kevin, was too young to even work, and even if I was old enough to work at the time, I didn’t want to and I felt as though I was allowed not to. Pretty selfish, right? But the minimum wage I could have gotten wouldn’t have helped in this situation; my family used to be rich, but once my dad was fired, we lost all the money and the benefits that came along with it. I assume it’s because my father liked to show off and so we were living above our means.

We moved to the slums of the big city, it was the most dangerous place in the area, but the cheapest. We stopped buying nice things like we used to, now we lived on bare essentials. Kevin took this hard, but I tried to adapt. I went to a new school too. It was the only school in the ghetto closest to our house, but it was infamous for being filled with child delinquents. Not only that, but it was infamously known as the worst school out there, in the poorest neighborhood.

I was so foolish… I really expected to be accepted there. In my old school, I was a bit bullied but I had a large group of friends, and we all got a long great! I was a really social and friendly person, so I wasn’t worried about going and making new friends in this hostile environment, but I was so, so, SO stupid!

From the second I walked in, I was stunned by how diverse it was there, there were few white people, and most of the kids there were racial minorities. I stuck out like a sore thumb… I went to school wearing my favorite rainbow pastel dress, I had even curled my hair and showered before my first day of school! I smelled of flowers and I was so cute looking. That however… That was my first mistake!

The others kids looked dirty… I don’t want to sound mean but they did! Their shirts were covered with stains. They seemed tired and unkempt. It was really a shocking contrast to the private school I went to before, but I tried not to judge. I acted super friendly and nice to everybody I saw. I introduced myself and I did a curtsy, I was so prim and proper!

“Hello there! My name’s Safara Grace, I’m new to this school. How are you?” Is what I’d say, but people seemed to hate me even more.

But not only that… I was white… Pure white. No, I don’t think you understand just how pale my skin is, it looks like I’ve never been outside before. Why? Because I’m an albino! Yes, my skin is pale, my eyes are purple and my hair is bleach white. Every time people see me, they look stunned and ask if I’m faking it. I’ve been dealing with this my whole life. I was born this way. Albinos are so rare, so the best way I can make you understand what my life is like on a daily basis is to make you imagine something…

So imagine you’re a kid… A black kid...going to school, but everybody there is white. They've never seen a black kid before and you are the only black kid around.

Imagine the bullying or the weird stares… Yeah! That’s my life all the time! Except I have no refuge with other albino people like the black kid does, I just have me! Being such a rare trait, I don’t even know another who looks like me… Oh and also, my skin is very irritable to sun light, so I walk around with a parasol all the time.

But anyways, I made no friends. For the first time ever, I was unable to make friends! I was heart broken and confused. I became very lonely. I hated this school so much… Everybody was so different… They hated me because I looked rich and I was so freakishly white. I told myself that the racism against me for being white was justified. I mean, white people were very racist in the past… But I soon stopped when I realized the few other white kids in the school weren’t getting bullied at all! Well… Except for one… I noticed this boy who always did group projects and sat alone at lunch like I did... He never spoke and nobody ever dared talk about him. I started hanging out with him, and I soon learned why…

CHAPTER 2

Yeah, that boy was creepy. He was tall, bone thin skinny, and he had extremely messy dark brown hair, tipped with gold. He was sort of attractive in the “I look almost dead inside but I’m super hot” kind of way. He wore a blue dress shirt with a grey hoodie on top. He was…strange.

He looked so tired with black bags hung under his eyes. His skin was gray and bruised all over. He had this depressing aura that lingered around him. To any normal person, just staring at him would send off red flags and make you stay away. To me though, a desperate and lonely teenage girl, he was perfect.

I quickly understood why everybody stopped bullying me when I started hanging out with him; they pitied me! They used to call me names and shove me into walls, but they stopped when I met him.

One day, a popular girl told me she would be my friend if I stopped hanging out with him. “Uh… why? I’m sorry but this sounds like a trap.” I replied to her, rolling my eyes.

“I know this looks cheap but I’m not kidding…”, she paused, “that guy is NUTS. He’s too weird for such an innocent li'l girl like you. Look, I promise to be nicer and I’ll tell everybody in school that you’re cool, but seriously…not him…hang out with anybody except him…”

“Why? Why is he so crazy to you?” I was so insulted by her pleas.

“Because he’s…he’s… I don’t know what’s wrong with him!”, she yelled at me. “The guy’s a fucking creeper and he’s unstable! Not only that, but rumors around school say that he’s addicted to the worst kinds of drugs, but nobody is even sure of that. Others say he’s mental, but it doesn’t matter what his problem is, he’s gonna rip you apart, Safari!”

“My name is Safara…”, I said in a dead pan tone. All I could do was walk away.

I think I did the right thing in that moment… That girl was a bitch to me. She spread lies around the school about my father and how he lost his job for cheating on my mom. Everybody believed it only because she was popular. I hated her and I wasn’t going to take her advice.

But, no matter how I spin it… She was absolutely right. Bonding with that guy was harder than I thought… More often than not, I felt uncomfortable around him. Getting him to speak was hard enough, he would ignore me and stay silent but when he did talk, it was…

IT WAS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND HIM! He spoke like an emotionless robot! His tone of voice was this constant bored and tired tone, yet sometimes he’d say a joke or act sarcastic, but it wouldn’t make any sense because he sounded exactly the same as his normal tone!

It took me a whole month to get him to talk to me. I felt bad for pestering him around… I’d force my way into working with him during group projects in class, I’d eat with him at lunch, and I'd hang out with him in the library.

I remember the first time I got him to talk to me. I had opened up my sketch book and tried showing him my clothing designs. He looked at them blankly. He seemed uninterested at most of the drawings.

"They're pretty good.", he said in an uncaring tone.

"Oh...you...like them? For real?" I couldn't help but smile anyway.

“Yeah.” He replied simply. “You’re good.”

"Oh, thank you..." I pointed to my favorite ones. "You see how my dresses are colorful? Well, I do that just cause these days all the clothes are boring and black. I like making my stuff stand out, but I also like pastel colors too."

I assumed he didn't care because he sounded bored. Also he's was a boy. Boys don't like fashion like girls do.

He tilted his head slightly, "Yeah..I can see that.”. He sounded just as lifeless as ever.

I was surprised by this interaction, but after this he seemed to open up to me. He spoke to me about the things his liked; those being science and history, but he still didn’t talk much.

It was funny, because after a while I got used to him. I was able to read his sarcasm from his honesty even if the tone of his voice didn’t give any clues… I was so used to his weirdness that I stopped questioning him about all the bruises he had on his body. Heck, I even forgot that I didn’t know his name!

But luckily, one day he told me it out of the blue. We were in class working on a english oral presentation and we were both writing our parts and then he suddenly looked at me, straight in the eyes and said:

“Dimitrius Atkins.”

“What?”, I replied, not even bothering to look back at him.

“That’s my name. I know your name.” He replied. “But you don’t know mine… a-and that’s not fair.”

“Oh… You’re right! I sort of forgot about asking you after a while.”, I said, surprised. “Dimitrius… That’s an uncommon name..” “Please call me Dimitri though.” He corrected me with a monotone expression. “I don’t like Dimitrius.”

“Oh… why don’t you?”

“It sounds too serious. I’m a goofy guy. It’s not very fitting.”, he said seriously. How ironic.

I just giggled and went back to work.

From then on, we sort of became friends. The more he spoke, the more concern grew in me. He wasn’t crazy like everybody said he was, but there was something wrong with him.

He showed up to school with blood stains on his sleeves and scars all over him sometimes. I can’t forget the time he showed up to class late… He limped over to his desk, bruises all over his hands and he had a black eye. That was my wake up call. After that, I started noticing more.

I guess the first thing was his sarcasm. I assumed it was sarcasm.

“Hey Dimitri, what’s up!?”, I’d say excitedly.

“No… He’s not here right now.”, he’d reply.

Or other nonsensical replies.

“Hey Dimitri, for the project, do you want me to write the introduction or should I do the conclusion?”

“No, Safara, the world won’t have a conclusion.”, he said blankly.

“Dimitri, I mean the project!”, I exclaimed. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.” He said looking away from me.

These sort of situations would come out of nowhere. Like I said, I thought it was him being sarcastic or making jokes, but the more we talked, the more I realized: he wasn’t joking. He was giving me these nonsense answers because he thought they were appropriate but it just made no sense…

I asked my mother, a psychologist, about it. I told her everything about him.

“Oh Safara… Your friend sounds like he’s mentally ill.”, she answered with concern in her eyes.

“You sure? I know he’s weird but…”

“Safara, this sounds serious. Maybe you should invite him over someday… I would love to talk to him.”

“Ok mom, I will.” I told her.

CHAPTER 3

The day after, I went to school with a mission. I was going to invite Dimitri to my house! I was so anxious about it that my legs were fidgeting all day.

I saw him sitting at his usual spot, alone in the library, reading a book about robotics like he always did. His hair was combed that day, he looked good for once! Well, looking good for him is pretty easy. He just has to look like he wasn't beat up 10 minutes ago and had washed his hair in the past 20 years.

I walked over to him, and Dimitri greeted me!

“Hey there, angel girl.”, he quietly said. He sounded tired.

I was caught off guard. Was he complimenting me? I sat down next to him.

“Hey there. So…do you want to go out?”, I said jokingly. I wanted to see him get flustered. I was pretty disappointed when he just nodded and continued reading. I think I may have spotted his cheeks get a little flushed, however.

“No, I mean, do you want to eat dinner with my family this weekend?”

“No.” He said dryly.

“Oh… Do you want to hang out this weekend?” I tried again.

“Sure.”

“At my house?”

“No.”

“Then where do you want to hang out?”, I snapped at him impatiently. I was shushed by the librarian.

“At the park.”, he whispered back.

“Oh. Cool.” I was a bit surprised. I didn’t know there was a park near by. “See ya there then.”

“Bye.” He waved at me and very obviously forced a smile. “Dimitri... I’m not leaving.” I laughed quietly but the librarian heard it. He promptly kicked me out of the library.

I got up and walked out.

“Bye again.”, he said while waving at me. This time his smile seemed more genuine, which hurt me a lot.

I muttered curse words under my breath and walked out embarrassed. My mission was a failure, but I was going to meet him at the park that Friday after school, so I felt proud either way.

Friday night finally came. The wait was unbearable. We met outside of the school. He gave a look, but it was more like a blank stare. He gave me a signal to walk over to him. Once I was close to him, he said carefully,

“Watch out for people who follow us. The park is safe but the path there is dangerous.”

I was unsure of how to reply so I just nodded. He put up his hood and lead the way. I followed him, walking by his side, trying not to get my parasol in the way. I tried to make small talk, but he stayed mostly quiet.

He asked me about my family, so I told him why I moved here.

“That’s too bad.”. He sounded careless, like he didn’t mean it. “This place is a bad place to live in.”

“I… Yeah…”. I agreed with him but I felt bad doing so, knowing that he lived here.

Looking around me, I saw trash all over the streets. People weren’t dressed as well as they used to be back in my previous neighborhood. People looked tired or overworked. There were hobos all over the place. Not to mention the buildings looked old and worn down.

“This place is so different from where I used to live.”, I told him.

“This is what poverty looks like.”, he said bluntly, “everybody here is suffering.”

“I know…”. I was hurt just seeing it all. I felt so sad for these people. “I want to help them.”

“Don’t.”

“W-why not?”. I stammered over my words, shocked by his apathy.

“They just take and take. They will never get out of this.”. He looked at me blankly. “Nobody gets out of poverty once they fall into it.”

“But… what about me?!”, I said, insulted.

“Start getting a job. Save up.”. He looked around behind his shoulder. “You can dream too.”

I stopped talking to him until we reached the park. I didn’t like him being so mean but what he said had truth to it.

The park was surprisingly isolated. It was full of trees and trash littered the ground. It was peaceful and it looked like a forest with hiking trails.

“You like to walk?”, he asked emotionlessly.

“Yes, and I love nature too.”, I said smiling, pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the park. “There’s a lot of trash here but it’s still nice to have a forest in the middle of the city.”

“That’s good.”, he replied, “nobody likes to come here…”

“Oh? Why not? It’s so pretty!”

“Um… well.”, he started, “there was once a big mafia that was running this part of the city. They committed many crimes. This park used to be popular for kids in the summer, but then they realized that the mafia was burying their victims here…. A police investigation was launched and they dug up over 22 bodies…”

“Oh my god…”, I whispered.

“Exactly.” He nodded. “People weren’t allowed in during the investigation…but once it was over, people didn’t want to come back in here. I’ve only ever seen one other guy here.” “They are afraid… and for good reason.”

“And nobody wants to buy this land cause it’s “haunted” apparently.” He forces a small laugh like it’s funny. “I’ve been here a lot and I haven’t seen anything here.”

“Well… heh… I can’t say I’m exactly too thrilled to take a stroll in here now.” I joked even though it was half true.

He didn’t reply. He just started walking. We walked in silence for a bit. It was making me feel really uncomfortable. I started looking around the forest. We could still hear the cars whooshing past us, as the streets were just behind the tree line, but as we walked further and further away, the sound faded.

I felt at peace, listening to the rustle of the wind in the leaves and the birds in the trees.

As a city girl, I don’t go to forest that often. My closest experience to animals are the bird feeders in my back yard and the squirrels. This walk was giving me nostalgic memories of the times I went camping.

I turns to look at what was to my left and I jumped a bit, seeing Dimitri besides me was startling as he was so quiet I forgot he was there. Though now, I was staring at him…. subtly! So he wouldn’t notice… I spotted a couple of bruises on his hands, neck and a faded scar on his cheek. Now that I was up close to him, I could see there was a lot more signs of injuries on him then I had previously thought.

“Hey Dimitri…”, I mumbled to him timidly.

He almost robotically turned to look at me. “Yeah?”

“Sorry for asking this… It might be personal. Why do you have a lot of bruises on your skin?”, I asked him. Instantly regretting the invasive question, I stammered out another sentence. “It’s nosey of me, I know, but it’s a hard detail to miss. It’s concerning…”

He went back to looking in front of him. He didn’t reply for a solid minute. The silence and wait was unbearable.

“I just get into a lot of fights.” He answered simply.

“But how?” My interest was peaked.

“Well you know… it’s a bad neighborhood. Gangs are everywhere.” He turned to look at me. “You better be careful.”

The words lingered in my head, sending a chill down my spine. The way he said it, cold and uncaringly, sent implications that were not spoken. Was he…threatening to attack me? Or was he warning me of other people doing so? He creeped me out.

“T-thanks… I will.”

Finally we reached a small river that ran along through the city and this park. We stopped and Dimitri told me a story about how a kid drowned in it. He’s not a very cheerful guy but I tried to ignore it…

We sat along the edge of the river. There were ducks passing by. Dimitri pulled a whole loaf of bread out of his back pack and handed me a few slices.

“Do you always carry around bread in your bag?” I laughed.

“Yep.” He said throwing a piece of bread into the water.

I laughed even harder. “So you do this often?”

“Yep.”

A pack of ducks were gathered around us now, fighting over the pieces of bread we were tossing into the water. We fed the ducks together while chatting. Eventually the topic of family came up.

“Well… I have a little brother. He’s a little brat. What about you?”, I asked.

“I’m a single child.”, he said, concentrated on the ducks.

“Aw, that must be lonely, isn’t it?”

“It is… But not because of my lack of siblings.”, he answered robotically.

“Oh how so?” I was probing for more information.

“Well I don’t have a father… Um… no. I do have a dad, he’s just not around much at all. And my mom? I avoid her.” He said hesitantly.

“Why is your dad gone? Why do you avoid your mom?”, I asked, concerned for him.

He forced a smile and looked at me. “No. Everything is fine.”

“Dimitri…” I gave him my “I know you’re lying to me” face and his smile faded away back to his neutral expression.

“My mom isn’t a nice woman… And my dad is in prison.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” I felt bad for pushing him to say it.

But a thought clicked in my head. He came to school everyday with bruises and cuts and he admitted that his mother wasn’t “nice”. Was this abuse?

“D-Dimitri… does your mom hurt?” I questioned.

“No.” He said simply.

“But you-”

“No.” he said a bit louder. “She doesn’t like me. But she doesn’t not like me either.” He said calmly. “Now stop asking me crappy questions.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s ok. I forgive you.”

We finished the bread and the ducks looked satisfied. They swam off and we walked off. He chatted a little back to the streets. I offered Dimitri the dinner invitation again and he accepted. We scheduled it, and I went home.

CHAPTER 4

It was the big day! Dimitri was gonna come over, we were going to hang out, eat dinner and somehow I’d persuade him to talk to my mom so she could figure out what was wrong with him.

I know I sound weird, trying to stalk him and get him diagnosed by my mom, but I obsessively want to help people and sometimes I take it too far. This is one of those times.

Dimitri showed up at our door. He was wearing a blue dress shirt and his hair was combed but still messy. He had a black eye and a bloody nose. He didn’t seemed fazed by it at all.

My brother heared the knocking first, unknowing of what our guest would look like. To his surprise, he was met by a disheveled young man at our door, standing like nothing was the matter. All he could do was stare.

Dimitri was so shy he didn’t say anything, just bleeding out of his nose. The blood was dripping down his face and leaking down his neck. He had just been seriously punched in the face, but my brother was too choked up and confused to know what to do.

“What the fuck happened to you!?”, Kevin yelled in disgust.

“I um..” He stammered. “I was mugged before coming here…”

Kevin just gave him a look of astonishment and ran into the kitchen to call for our mother.

Dimitri just let himself in. At that point I had heard the commotion and promptly came down the stairs. I froze up, seeing Dimitri bleeding like that.

“Hi Safara!” He waved cheerfully to me.

My mother came rushing in and bombarded the boy with questions, giving him a towel for his nose and a wet rag for his eye.

Dimitri seemed oddly perky. Usually, he was emotionless, making him come across as bored or slightly annoyed with everything. However, now he seemed to have a hint of happiness in his demeanor. I won’t ever complain about Dimitri being actually happy for once, but it was so different from his normal self that it weirded me out.

My mother, brother and I gave him a lot of attention while trying to help his wounds heal. He just sat there and gave us a small smile. He was giggling randomly from time to time. He seemed to be really enjoying himself even thought nothing much was happening.

“So what happened to you, eh?” Kevin asked.

“Oh... I was walking over here from my house. I was taking the back roads to avoid the traffic.” He started to explain.

“Back roads? Traffic? You were walking! How could there be traffic?” Kevin interrupted.

“I don’t like the big streets with too many cars…” He snarled. “Anyways… I passed by an alley way when a sketchy little girl jumped in front of me. She said something about me needing to go somewhere with her to meet somebody and to learn “about the past.” But I didn’t want to be late so I “kindly explained” to her that I needed to be somewhere and she got “upset” with me. Then, she punched me in the face and walked off.”

“That’s… odd.” I interjected. “Are you ok though?”

“Well I’m here aren’t I?” He smiles brightly.

I was just more unnerved. This was too out of character for him… But I tried to ignore it.

Dimitri was popular with my family. My dad and him made jokes together. My brother and him ran off to play video games. (By the way, he sucks at gaming. I would haven’t guessed he’d be terrible…)

My mother approached me.

“Safara, you said he was off, but he doesn’t seem like it now.”

“I know but he’s never acted like this before. He’s usually cold and apathetic to everything.” I turned to face her. “He’s like emotionless all the time and the other kids at school say he’s crazy and talks to himself. I don’t get it! He’s the complete opposite to how he asks at school.”

My mother just stared at me for a moment. “Have you noticed that he was giggling at nothing earlier?”

“Yes?”

“He’s high.” She said with a really serious tone.

“WHAT?” I gasped.

“QUIET! It’s only a guess… But I’ve seen this behavior before. He doesn’t have any redness in the eyes, though… So I don’t know what it is that he’s on. Oh, but there's also other factors. Maybe at school, he’s just really depressed and outside of school he feels more free to open up?” She hypothesized.

“That can’t be it. When we went to the park, he was acting the same.” I argued.

“Well then.” She rolled her eyes. “We should let him get comfortable and then we can get our improv therapy session, but only if he cooperates.”

The night went on. Dimitri's enthusiasm diminished so much so during the night that he was back to his emotionless self when dinner came around. He was so quiet that my family ignored him for the whole supper. He was extremely shy. I tried to talk to him but he would only nod his head in response to anything.

After dinner, he and I went up to my room. I gave him a “grand tour” which mainly consisted of me showing him my stuff and him just listening. He was barely talking. I felt bad.

“Dimitri… are you ok?”

He just nodded meekly.

“It’s ok if you aren’t. Do you want to go home?” I asked him, sitting down on my bed.

Dimitri sat down next to me. I started getting nervous and my heart was beating fast. He was so close to me I could feel his body heat radiating.

“No… I like it here a lot. Your new house is very lovely, Safara.” He answered quietly.

My heart started pumping faster. I was my shot to convince him to talk to my mother. I had to ask him!

“So Dimitri…”

“Yes!?” He interrupted me suddenly.

“My mom is a psychologist and I know you have some problems… I was wondering if maybe you could talk to her and she could help you, like a therapy session. You wanna try it?”

He just blankly stared at me. His face was draining of blood and he was losing color.

“Yeah… but she won’t talk to you about it, right?”

“Oh no! That would be breaking the confidentiality rules! She won’t tell me anything. Even if I asked her, she’s very serious about her job.”

“Uh… ok. But not now…” He hesitated.

“Oh that's alright.” I leaned over to put my head on his shoulder.

I felt him shutter from the touch but he didn’t move away from it. He posed his head on mine and we sat like this for a while. It was peaceful and warm. I closed my eyes and held his hand. His palms were sweaty and he was trembling a bit.

“Do you mind?” I asked.

“No.” He answered.

“Good.” I held his hand tightly.

“I d-didn’t think this was a date.” He stammered.

“It’s not…”

“Then why are you doi- holdi- uh… UMM-”

“Sorry.” I back away and let go. “I’m just a huggy person. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m just…” he shivers a bit. “Not used to getting touched affectionately.”

“Oh Dimitri.” I giggled. “I don’t really consider this affection, I just think of hugs as casual things friends do.”

“Oh ok.” He replied.

We watched a little bit of TV, not saying much. After the episode ended, He got up and walked out. I thought he was going to the bathroom and he’d come back quickly but he never did.

After 20 minutes, I left the room and looked around.

Kevin was in the kitchen, sneaking cookies out of my parents’ secret spot for them.

“Hey bro, where’s Dimi?” I asked him, taking a cookie for myself.

“He’shh- wiff mom.” He said, mouth utterly stuffed with cookies.

“Thanks.” I put the cookies away and I went back to my room to wait for him.

I think Dimitri stayed there for 2 hours. I was watching the TV for a ridiculously long time. When he did come back, he looked drained.

“Sorry about that. I was expecting a little chat but I couldn’t shut myself up so I started ranting for a while.” He explained.

“Oh it’s ok. It is therapy.” I excused him.

He smiled and hugged me. I was taken aback but I held him tightly. I could feel his body. He was so frail and skinny under those clothes. It was calming for that half a second we that were close.

Then he left.

I felt so lonely with him gone.

But then I realized…

“SHIT! WE SHOULD HAVE GIVEN HIM A RIDE HOME!”

CHAPTER 5

Nothing changed much at school. Dimitri was his typical robot self. There is one thing that was very welcomed though… Dimitri seemed to be forcing himself to act more. He would talk with more hand gestures and smiles (but his smiles were very awkward looking because he was forcing them).

Dimitri also became really friendly with my family. He would come over once a week after his first session with my mother. She really liked talking to him.

Neither Dimitri or my mother told me what they would talk about, but I knew it was serious. She would walk around with her note book after the sessions and often times, she’d be the one to invite him over.

One day, I knew something was up. She sat me down to talk about him.

“Safara, what has he told you about his life?” She asked me with a sternness in her voice.

“Not much…” Then I repeated all that he told me.

“I see. He is trying to hide it…” She flipped through her notes. “I can’t tell you much, with out his consent, but Dimitri allowed me to tell you this yesterday.”

“Oh…” I could feel that what she was about to say really important.

She looked me dead in the eyes and straightened her glasses. “He’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 15 years old.”

A wave of shock zipped through my body. I was speechless.

“He has vivid hallucinations. Safara, that’s why he acts emotionless.” She told me.

“But what about when he comes here and acts all… alive?” I asked, completely baffled.

“That I don’t know.” She sighed. “But Safara, I want you to be extremely careful with him.”

“I am!”

“No… just…” She smiles at me. “Please keep being nice to him. You mean a lot to him.”

I blushed and nodded.

“That’s all I’m allowed to say. You should try to talk to him about his issues. He trusts you to keep these a secret, however. You got that, right?”

“Yes mother, I understand.” I got up to leave.

“Wait! I forgot to mention something.”

I sat back down.

“Would you mind if Dimitri lived with us?” She asked me.

My eyes widened. “You aren’t serious, are you?”

“I am. He has a bad home life, and I know that one of the only ways he can get better is by having a better family, so I asked him if could move in with us. It will be temporary, like maybe a few months or so.” She explained, justifying her decision. “I’ve already spoken to your father about this and he agrees. Dimitri wouldn’t be that huge of an addition to the family, we’d just need more food and that’s it.”

“Oh I don’t mind but don’t adopt him, ok? It would be weird to have a brother that looks so different from us.” I joked.

“Oh but that's what adoption is all about, sweetie! And he isn’t that different from us. I mean you are the most different of us all.” She touched my hair and poked my cheek, giggling the whole time.

This gesture really annoyed me. “...Thanks mom. But also, I just don’t want another brother. Kevin is enough of a brat as it is.”

“Dimitri’s a sweet young man” She said as she was getting up. “Anyways, I’m going to tell Kevin the news.”

I went back up to my room and I could hear my li'l bro wailing down stairs. He cried, “BUT THAT’S TOO MANY PEEEEOPLE!”. I snickered to myself.

CHAPTER 6

Dimitri came up to me at school the next day. He asked me if my mom told me the stuff and about the “news”.

“Oh. I’m so happy to be moving in with you.” He forced a smile but still sounded monotone.

“Me too! We’d get to hang out all the time!” I hugged him from excitement.

Dimitri grabbed me and spun around with me in his arms. He gently put me down. I looked up at him, confused but I saw a genuine smile on his face and my heart melted.

Dimitri being HAPPY is the cutest thing ever.

“Sorry. I’m just so excited.” He shook my hand for some reason. “I’ve just always wanted to leave home.”

“Oh… why?” I asked with concern.

“Well uh… Never mind!” He suddenly laughed awkwardly. “But yeah I’ll tell you in private. By the way, I’m sleeping in your basement.

“I’m really happy for you though.” I held his hand as we walked off to class. I didn’t care if the other students were watching. Dimitri seemingly lost his enthusiasm and got really quiet after that.

CHAPTER 7

Moving Dimitri into our basement wasn’t that hard and it didn’t take long. All he had was trash bags full of his clothes, a box that was full to the brim, labelled “parts”, and a mattress he used as a bed. All we did was put his stuff down and he organized it by himself.

Two hours later, he went up to my room. “Want a room tour, Saf?”

“Sure!” I went down the stairs alongside him.

His bed was just a mattress on the floor with a pillow and blanket. There was a desk that was particularly lacking the normal desk-clutter, and a simple wooden chair. My parents emptied out a shelf and he put his clothes there. There were no doors on the shelf so I could see his shirts, pants, and (Oh my gosh!) boxers! (Is it pervert to stare at a guy’s underpants??? It made me super uncomfortable to see those!)

Dimitri’s box of parts was untouched in the corner. All in all, the room was pretty small but it still had looked like he barely filled it. I walked over to his box and pointed at it.

“Need help unpacking this?” I asked.

“Oh!” He stared. “No. Don’t touch that, it’s fragile.”

“Ok, sorry.” I said. “So how do you like your new crib?”

“Super cool. I never really cared for the decorations, as long as it’s warm and I can eat and sleep, I’ll be fine.”

“Neat. So what now?” I asked.

He scratched his chin and looked up. “I don’t know. Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure! I just got a new horror movie from the store. I think it’s a slasher flick of something. I got it for my brother but he was too scared to watch it. I’m not a fan of those movies but I liked to get scared every once in a while. What do ya' say?”

He just went flush red and became really quiet. “Oh uh…” He scratched the back of his head. “Um… Ok.”

“What? You don’t like horror?” I asked, seeing how uncomfortable he was.

“N- I do like that. Let’s watch it.” His smile was meant to reassure me but it was so obvious it was forced.

So we went to my room to watch the movie. I really embarrassed with how much I yelped at each jump scare. Oh, and how I needed to cover my eyes during the violent scenes! Though, Dimitri barely had reaction. He was blushing from ear to ear and biting his lower lip. He would flinch during the fight scenes but, yeah. That was it. I thought he would be judging me for being a wimp! But half way through he got up and left, so I finished without him.

A hour later, I went downstairs to his room. I knocked on the door and he yelled. “It’s unlocked.” I walked in to see him fiddling around with metallic parts and tools. I approached cautiously.

“What are you doing?” I questioned, tilting my head to the side.

“Tinkering.” He replied expressionlessly.

I watched him open up the box to pull a toy robot he was going to disassemble. He leaned over to take a screw driver and started to remove pieces from the toy.

I leaned over to get a closer look. “Why are you breaking it?”

“I’m not breaking it.” He replied calmly. “I’m taking it apart… and rebuilding it.”

“Oh, why?”

“Well, it helps me understand how it’s made and the techniques they used.”

“Oh that sounds neat. You like making robots?” I asked him, overly interested in what he was doing.

I sat down next to him. He just looked at me and said nothing. I think he was confused but yet again, he had no emotion. Just his regular expressionless glare. His eyes felt like they were piercing deep into my soul… those glass-like, grayish-blue eyes. They creeped me out.

“Tell me about your robots, Dimitrius.” I muttered. “I’m curious…”

He raised an eye brow for a second but then went back to tinkering.

“So I like making stuff with my hands… Though, I have a whole system for it.” he paused and looked at me again. “You don’t mind me rambling?”

“Oh, Dimitri...you barely talk. I like your voice! Go ahead.” I encouraged him to go on.

“So uh…” he forced a smile. It was so cute. “I like making my own custom robots for tournaments and stuff, but I’m not that good at making my own parts, so I take them from other bots that I buy.”

I listened, completely fascinated in it. His voice was monotone and boring but he sounded calm. As he went on, there was a hint of happiness with him being able to talk about his passion.

“I take them apart then I rebuild them.” He continued. “...W-with out instruction manuals. The point is to know the purpose of all the parts, where they go, and how they work. I repeat breaking them down and building them back up again until I know the bots perfectly.”

“Is it time consuming?” I tilted my head and picked up one of his tools.

“It is but it depends on how complex the model is. Though, once I understand the bot perfectly, I can take its pieces and use them to make my own bot… or if I like the robot, I mod them to make them more efficient or stronger. Whatever I feel like doing to it, basically.” He took the piece from my hand. “This is a screw driver….”

“Oh my god! You think I didn’t know what a screw driver was!” I laughed at him but I stopped when I saw that he looked nervous.

“Sorry, Dimitri. I like what you do with the robots. It’s really cool.”

“Thank you…” He replied timidly.

Suddenly the door opened, and someone appeared from the newly escaping light. Dad. He sternly yelled, “SAFARA! IT’S BED TIME.”

I called back to him, "I'M COMING, ONE SECOND!". I gave Dimitri a hug.

“Good night, Dimi!”, I said as I was running up the stairs.

Dimitri just stares at dad, mouth agape. His cheeks were the reddest I've ever seen. “Y-you too, angel…” He stammered and muttered.

SIDE CHAPTER 1

-MONSTERS-

A woman paced around the room and stopped in front of a mirror hung up on the wall, putting on a pearl necklace. She grabbed a comb and brushed over the bangs of her long, silky, brown hair. She was very tall and slim. Like a stick, she adorned barely any curves. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she smiled. She was all dressed up in all of her best clothes.

A man walked into her room. He was smiling. Wearing a suit with a green tie, matching with the color of his eyes. He was giving a piggy back ride to his son, a cute little boy with short blond hair.

The woman walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Are you two ready to go to church?”, she asked with her sing song voice.

“Of course.”, the man replied with a wink and smile. “How’s his outfit?”

The lady examined her son’s clothing then she nodded.

“Yes, it’s good.” She walked out. “Come along now! We don’t want to be late for our lord.”

Behind her back, the man rolled his eyes and put his son down. Once on the ground, the toddler stumbled toward the front door.

The car ride over to the church was pretty uneventful. The little boy wasn’t listening to his parents bickering in the front, he was fascinated by the trees rolling by, yet the clouds being seemingly suspended and frozen in the sky. He held out his hands and tried to grab the birds, freely flying across the beautiful blue sky.

Once inside the church, the little boy held his mother’s hand and followed her. The outside of the church was colossal and grand. It towered over the little boy. A statue stood over the entrance. It was of winged humans saving Earth's people from certain doom while the rest had already met their demise. They all wore faces filled with utter terror, as they were burning and being eaten by horrifying monsters. Each time the boy saw this statue, he’d start to cry and his parents would scold him for it. This time would be different! He put on his brave face and stared down the statue as he walked in, but he held back the tears. His mother and father didn’t notice.

Once inside, he thought he was going to have an easier time, but he had forgotten that inside there were monsters here too. Big paintings of the monsters were hung on the walls. Luckily, they were much less scary than the statue.

They sat down and listened to a man in a robe speak. The boy was so bored that he fell asleep, lying his head down on his father’s lap. Each time they needed to stand or sing songs, his mother would elbow him really hard in the shoulder to wake him up. It always happened like this. He’s come home with bruise on his shoulder and it didn’t matter where he sat, his parents forced him to sit in the middle of them so that they could watch his behavior better. He was used to it by now, but sometimes he’d cry on the way back home. He wasn’t allowed to cry at church, people would stare.

He was ecstatic it when they sang the songs, though. He loved to sing. He'd yell out the lyrics of the hymns as loud as he could so he could drown out all the other voices. It was the point of the game for him.

Eventually, his mother took his hand and walked up to the display area. He was confused, they only let people walk up there to get the bread and wine. He wasn’t allowed to go up there because he didn’t have his First Holy Communion yet…

She picked up him in her arms. He was heavy since he wasn’t exactly her little baby anymore, but she could still manage. While in her arms, he stared back at the crowd. Everybody was staring at him and her. He felt a pressure build up in his chest and he wanted to run but he couldn’t. She was holding on too tightly.

He stared up at the wall that was behind the crowd, it had a massive painting of a winged human with a shiny circle around their head. They were impaling a red monster with big horns and a tail. It was like the statue but, much more scary and gruesome!

He felt tears welling up in his eyes and he squirmed to get away. Suddenly, his mom lowered him and submerged his head under water. The few seconds he spent under there felt like an hour, but he was soon pulled out.

He coughed violently for a while after. The pastor gave him a speech he could barely hear or focus on.

The car ride home was terrible. He was so scared of the monsters and confused by the water. He sobbed quietly, trying not to bother his parents who were still bickering to each other.

CHAPTER 8

Dimitri became accustomed to living with us after 3 weeks of residing here. However, he was really weird about being seen with me outside of the house. I took the bus to school but he’d still walk there. When he did take the bus, he would avoid me like the plague and get off at completely random stops.

It was obvious that he was paranoid. Constantly looking over his shoulder, keeping a distance from people when he could, and when he had to be around people, he had his hood up and ignored everyone. Being invisible was his goal. I hated it.

He was hiding something from me.

Thursday night, after school. Dimitri went to the basement and I went to my room. I was finishing up my homework when I got stumped by a math problem. I went down to see him, hoping he could help me out.

I slowly crept down the stairs to his room. I caught him at his desk working on robots and wearing glasses. I rarely ever see him wear them, but I really liked them. It made him look so sophisticated and intelligent. He was already really smart, but it made him look the part too.

He looked up at me as I got closer.

“What’s up, angel girl?” He asked.

I giggled. “Oh, why do you keep calling me that?”

“Because you are an angel.” He smiled.

My heart melted. Usually, he was so robotic in his actions and speech but it was so cute to see him smile with out forcing it.

I pulled up a chair and sat next to him. I asked him for help with the homework and he effortlessly solved it, and then taught me the process step-by-step. He was much more help than the teacher was. After we solved that one, we just kept going through all of the other questions I didn't get.

After that was done, I didn’t want to leave him just yet. I liked his company.

“Hey Dimitri… Thank you.” I hugged him.

He didn’t say anything, he just gave me a small smile and nodded. He put his arms around me and I felt his heart beating fast in his chest. I let go of him after a few seconds.

“I was wondering though…” I began to explain to him that I thought weird to be so paranoid out in public and I was wondering why he acted that way.

He was visibly nervous, he started tapping his fingers on the desk and darting his eyes around.

“I can’t tell you… It’s better if people don’t see us hanging out in public… I tried to get you to avoid me at school but you didn’t get the message so I gave up.”

“But why?” I asked, confused as ever.

“You’ll throw me out of the house if you knew- He paused. ...You’d hate me…Oh, Safara.. I’m so sorry.” He was expressionless but hints of remorse were seeping in.

“Dimitri… You can tell me anything. I won’t ever hate you.” I put my hand on his shoulder.

He sighed. “Safara. I’m targeted. I’m dangerous. Being around me might make you targeted too. I don’t want you to be hurt, so I try to avoid you and others in public.”

“I-I'm not following. Can you explain more?"

He bowed his head in shame. “I’m the son of Tony Drey. Remember the story I told you at the park? It was about him.”

I gasped. “You’re father was a mob boss?!”

He nodded. “Yeah… He did terrible things… He’s infamous throughout this entire city. His claim to fame was being elected to office as representative of this district of the city. He was passing laws that corrupt the governmental system. He was a well known anarchist and his plan was to dismantle all government. Though, he did much, much, more before that.

He did pretty much everything. Prostitution, drug dealing, robbery, scamming, and yes… he murdered people. He didn't do it himself, though… At least I don’t think he did.

It’s complicated. Basically, he was the leader of his own gang, but it was well organized, so calling it a gang would be an insult. It was a full blown mafia and criminal organization. Everything was run by him and he had loyal followers.

Then he was caught… Put on trial and sent to jail. That's when a woman came out saying that they were seduced by him and had his kids. My mother was devastated but whatever, fuck her.” He said the last part with hatred staining his words.

“Anyways, he was imprisoned and put on death row. He’s still there. He has to serve his 20 year term before he does.” He continued on. “And you’d think my troubles and there but they don’t. That fucker and I look the same!”

I pulled out my phone and quickly googled Tony Drey and I found his mug shot. What stunned me the most is that Dimitri was completely right. They were very similar, but there were some obvious differences too. Tony had green eyes, opposed to Dimitri’s blue, with dark black hair that was beginning to turn white, Dimitri’s was brown. Their haircuts were different, Dimitri’s was longer and a lot messier. Not to mention his dad had stubble and, well, Dimitri was lacking there.

“Yeah… He sure does look like you. Family resemblance…” ////*********************/////

“Exactly. But yeah my looks cause a lot of problems… You see, his followers want me to take his place because that his “official” son would be the heir to the throne and It pisses me off. I don’t want to be that. I want to be a police officer to put sickos like him

in prison where they belong. But not only do I have weirdos forcing me to give them orders, but I also have other people trying to kidnap me for ransom, and some who just want to kill me. So ya know the bruises and cuts on my body when you see me at school?”

I nodded weakly.

“That’s them starting fights with him and I need to protect myself. I fight back. That’s why I can’t have anybody hand out with me ever. But…” He avoided eye contact with me. “It’s so lonely isolating yourself from every one… I longed for somebody to confide in and you came to me. I wanted you to go but I wanted you there with me. It was a guilty pleasure to have you around.” He blushed a little. “I really appreciated our little chats, but I was so shy I could barely talk to you… and now I’m living with you. It’s a dream come true to have a friend like you with me Safara.”

“Oh Dimitri… That’s so sweet.” I was so touched. I was smiling and blushing hard.

“But yeah… I couldn’t bare to see my angel get hurt. You can’t be with t school or in public. I think people are watching me… And once they find out we’re friends they’ll try to hut you so they can hurt me. People are cruel, Safara, they’d attack you even if you are innocent.”

“But Dimitri, you can’t just let them rule over your life like this. You should call the police and get on the witness protection program!”

“You think I haven’t tried that? The cops in this city don’t care. This district is so corrupt, nobody cares about anything you do. That’s how my dad got into power, that’s why the crime rate is so high here.” He rolled his eyes.

“What if I helped?” I shot up the idea suddenly.

“And how would you do that?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Dimitri, what if I could fight along side you? You can’t fight them alone. They’ll over power you someday.” I held his hand in mine and squeezed it. “You said you didn’t want me to get hurt, well, I don’t want you to get hurt or killed either. I want to protect you…”

He was speechless for a moment. He was touched by it obviously because his whole face turned red and he didn’t look at me in the eyes for the rest of the conversation.

“I can’t let you fight for me… If you get hurt, it’s my fault. But… I like the idea.”

“You could train me how to fight! I took karate classes as a kid and self defense!” I pleaded with him.

“I can’t teach you but I can bring you to the guy who taught me… But Safara, this is serious. You sure about it? It’s painful and it will take a lot of time for you to get good.” He explained with a dead pan tone.

“I want to be there for you Dimitri.”

I sealed myself to him in that moment and from then on, we were stuck together.

I was his and he was mine. I was naive. I saw a troubled young man who’d lived a hard life and I just wanted to save him. He called me his angel, and I felt the burden of living up to that title. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I wasn’t ready but I didn’t care. I was there to help. That’s what I thought I was doing.

Little did I know then, but the time Dimitrius and I would spend together would be the worst years of my life because from that day forward, I was brought into his suffering and I would not drown and suffocate in it until out mission was over.

That was the day I became an honorary mafia kid.

SIDE CHAPTER 2

-CRYING-

His mother stopped giving him attention. He’d come home to the sound of weeping or sobbing. At first he didn’t understand. He thought that once people reached adulthood, they stopped crying. He was hoping that would the case for him at least.

He knocked on on his mother’s bed room door. She ignored him, the crying just got louder, so he let himself in.

“Mommy, why are sad?” He whined as he walked over to her.

She was hunched over on the bed, pulling out her hair. She turned to look at him. Her face was so ugly when she cried. Tears staining her pillow and her face showing all the pain she feels inside. The little took a few steps back, frightened by his own mother’s appearance. Gestured to him to come closer. He hesitated but he did so. He sat next to her on the bed and he hugged and caressed his dirty blond hair.

“Dimitrius… Sometimes adults get sad too. Everybody has a different way of coping with sadness.” She explained.

“What’s coping?” He asked.

“Everybody is different and everybody needs to take of themselves.” She brushed off his question. “Mommy needs alone time, dearest.” She kisses him on the forehead.

He got off the bed. “So you want me to leave you alone?”

“Yes dear… I’ll come out and tell you when I feel better, ok?”

“Oh… Ok mommy!” He said as left the room, closing the door behind.

He waited for her to get better.

She never did.

CHAPTER 9

Dimitri Brought me to see one of his dad’s followers. The man was a huge muscular black guy named “Mufa” but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t his real name because he greeted Dimitrius by called him “Damien” instead. Also, he told me that I wasn’t allowed my real name on the streets. I had difficulty coming up with a new name for myself but Dimitrius comforted me and said it was ok for me to take time to think it over. I eventually settled with “Sophia”.

The first time was just basic training for fighting. It was pretty fun. On the way home after it, Dimitri was acting all nervous.

“Hey, um, are you sure about this? You really wanna go back to training?” He asked.

“Yes! Let’s go back twice a week, ok?” I set up our routine and Dimitri just nodded.

That’s what we did together from then on. School, hanging out and training with Mufa. It was so difficult for a while. My body ached but Dimitri was so supportive and he cheered me on. He was always there watching me from the side lines.

One day, we were walking to the candy store after the training when suddenly, a man hit Dimitri in the back with an empty bottle of wine. I jumped when I heard the hard “THUD” and Dimitri’s sharp gasp. It was happening! My first fight. Dimitri coughed and turned around. It was the bottle brothers.

Mufa had mentioned that the bottle brothers were two men from the opposing gang. They used bottles of wine as their weapons, they duel wielded them, using them as basic melee weapon.

The man swung at Dimitri again but this time, he took a step back and got out of the way. I was shaking, distancing myself from them. They ganged up on him. I was so helpless, watching them battering Dimitri.

He got a chance to grab the bottle out of one of their hands and he smashed it on the other brother’s head. I screamed as the bottle shattered in half. He fell to the floor, blood pooling all over with shards of glass all over the ground. This brutality shocked the brother and he froze watching his partner fall to the ground: that was his fatal mistake. Dimitri spun around with the broken bottle griped firmly in his hand and stabbed him in the stomach with the sharp broken part of the bottle.

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I ran off and headed towards the park. Once there, I stopped to take a second to breath. Suddenly, my face was in the dirty. It happened so fast I couldn’t even scream.

“OHMYGODSAFARAAREYOUOK?” Dimitri spoke so fast in panic as he grabbed me by the waist and picked me up.

I was violent yanked off the the ground and held tenderly in his arms. He was trembling as he wiped the dirt off of my face.

I was stunned. I opened my eyes and I could see him, but it was blurry. It took me a few seconds for his anxious face to come into focus.

He swallowed some of his anxiety and held me tighter. “Are you ok? I d-didn’t mean to run into you.”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded slowly. The motion of my head bopping like that made me dizzy.

“Y-you started running after I was done with those guys.” He said.

“No. I’m ok.” I tried talking but it came out raspy and quiet. “I was just scared.”

He nodded and lifted me up. He threw me up into the air and I fell on my back into his arms.

He forced a reassuring smile. “I dealt with them. Let’s go home.”

He walks out of the park carrying me around bridal style. I was really confused by this but my head to much for me to question it.

As we walked home, people stared at us. They gave us weird looks. I glared back at them. Dimitri was doing something nice and people were staring at him like he was kidnapping me. I looked up at his face. He had no emotion on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was noticing it too and didn’t care or if he was oblivious.

I put my arm around his shoulders and hugged him for the rest of the walk.

“Dimitrius…”

“Don’t call me that.” He glared down at me.

“Sorry. My mom once told me you have schizophrenia.” I said.

“Oh? What else did she say?”

“You were diagnosed with it when you were 15.” I curled up to him. “That’s all I know.”

“Oh. Well what about it?” He sounded almost offended, but with him, any tone he has in his voice is best to be left ignored. He always sounds like a robot or a chronically annoyed mumbling teen age boy.

“You hallucinate. Mom said that… Do you hear voices?”

“Um.. Not exactly. Sometimes what people say to me gets mixed up, I mean, they’ll say something and I’ll hear the words out of orders.” He explained.

“What’s it like being schizophrenic?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve had it for such a long time that I’ve gotten used to it.” He replied.

“Oh but what do you hallucinate?”

“Well I can’t tell you that.” He forced a small laugh. It was cute. “You’d think I’m crazy.”

“I’m curious though and I won’t judge you.” I reassured him.

He gave me a cautious look, like he was unsure. I gave him puppy dog eyes and that convinced him. He stoped walked and pointed at a group of men.

“Well, right there, there are 3 demons talking to each other.” He said.

“Demons? There 3 guys.”

“They are all black and shadowy. They have arrow shaped tails and big horns. Their eyes and mouths are like light poking through the darkness.” He described as he continued walking.

“So… You seem demons.”

“Yep. Every stranger is a demon to me.”

“Was I a demon when we met?” I asked, kneading my fingers in his hoodie.

“Yes.” He looked down at me. “But you turned into an angel as we got to know each other.”

“Wait what? I’m an angel?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Well aren’t you?” He said with concern.

“I’m a human, Dimitri.”

“B-but you have wings and a halo, you’re so beautiful and shiny… you’re an angel.”

My heart fell into my stomach but I also felt the butterflies fly around in there too. I didn’t know if Dimitri think this about me would be dangerous or if I should be flattered.

“Do you really see me like this?” I asked trying not to sound nervous.

“Yeah. All the time.”

“Hey Dimitri, do you know that your hallucinations aren’t real, right?”

He glared at me. No filter, no held back emotions, he looked actually angry. For real.

“You can walk.” He said and dropped me at on the ground.

I fell down right on my butt. He stepped aside and walked away. It really hurt but seeing him leave me hurt more. I jumped up and I was about to yell at him but I stoped. I lowered my fist.

I remember what my mother said to me. To be careful with him.

Schizophrenics can be really dangerous if you don’t treat them right…

I cocked my head to the side and grinned. Just trying to push it aside. I walked up to him.

“I wonder what it’s like to see how you see the world… It must be interesting.” I said cheerfully, but I was trying not to punch him with all my might.

He looked up. “I could show you, but it’s a little risky.”

I snapped out of my anger and stared at him in confusion. “Wait… How?”

“I did it once before, but if we do it, you need to follow my instructions very carefully.”

“what do we have to do to achieve it?”

“Well, it’s like a ritual… It helped you see inside of the other person’s head. You drink some water in a dark room and the person who want to share their mind has to describe everything to the other person.” He paused for a second and stared at me. “It relies on imagination.”

“Oh… so it’s not actually going into somebody’s mind?” He smirked “No that’s scientifically impossible, but this ritual is as close to it as it gets. Do you want to try it?”

“Sure, why not?” I shrugged.

“Ok! I’m gonna run off to the store and buy some candles. Go home with out me, ok?” He said as he ran off.

“Dimitri! Wait!” I called out to him but he was already gone.

#behind the scene concept #schizophrenic disorder #mafia kids #mafiakids #dimitriatkins #conceptdesign #riverleyk #comic #original character #writers on tumblr #writing process #writing #story ideas #stories #narrative #short story

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secret-time-is-here · 4 years

Text

Double stitched - Rewrite

Finally did the rewrite :D

A lot of Double stitched is out of date and no longer canon in Dreamswap, so I’ve been wanting to fix it for a while... and now I will :)

Probably A LOT of the series will need some rewriting, better working with Ink, Dream, Blue, Nightmare- all the characters... And Underverse Error espically... because well, I didn’t really get to work too well with the canon of his character at the time-keep in mind I wrote this two years ago and finished the series a year ago-so After a while of thinking I started working on it and I’m super exicted to share it! :)

(For those that don’t remember, this is a little Errorcest, just a random idea of if UnderVerse Error got stuck in DreamSwap, and somehow I made it gay. I chose not to question it myself and just rewrite the story.)

FIXED DOUBLE STITCHED SO THE DREAMSWAP CHARACTERS ARE HUMAN LIKE THEY ARE IN ONEBIZZAREKIA’S CANON

Also, for once, I did do the glitching, and from now on will be trying to pre-write chapter so I can make it more accurate and go over mistakes, as well as do the glitching to make it a little more Error. There is a difference between DS!Error’s and UV!Error’s glitching though, but only slight, just enough so you can tell without me saying it.

Chapter 1

Previous(The original series) - First(Here) - Next

Groaning, the glitched skeleton woke up, body sore from fighting, bones creaking in protest, wanting more rest. Where was he? Last his buzzing mind could remember he was fighting Ink, then the stupid squid teleported him away from the near destruction of the Au they were in. He couldn’t have been teleported far… but his surroundings said otherwise.

Sitting up and looking around, he was in the Anti Void, but it didn’t feel like it. What was that damned place Core brought survivors to-wasn’t that place supposed to look like the Anti Void? This new place felt foreign, his magic somewhere in it, but different elements. More basic, not his destructive magic that came with his title as a god.

How far away was he teleported? The Anti Void was vast, but there’s no way he made it back to where he first entered, way back to when he was only a pathetic Geno variant.

Searching the space, he felt two more presences of magic, one that was near identical to the Cross he knew and another that felt like a toned-down version of Nightmare, the same amount of magic as that little insolent guardian Dream.

Why would Cross, much less someone with the same magic presence as Nightmare, be in the Anti Void?

Quickly, the destroyer opened serval windows, checking on the AUs, confirming if they were all still the same. They weren’t.

A large, near castle-like building with a “JR” logo plastered on its front sign, was in place of Nightmare’s mansion, a god-like human version of Dream judging by the crown, and a pretty normal-looking human Ink talking and possibly looking over the paper’s in the room he checked on.

When did Dream get so tall? Or get wings? His outfit was totally different too. The crown still sat perched on his skull, but he had the tunic he used to wear, just a different color-a plain brown, with a yellow flaming jacket over it. The cuffs and hood of which were fluffy. An odd trinket sat just under the fold of his collar too, what looked like an ovular spiked sun with a red jewel resting in the middle. He was also wearing basic pants and tied shoes, completely different from the normal boots and battle gear that the destroyer was used to seeing. His skin was almond, eyes blood shot with yellow-pupils a darker yellow to stand out, and hair dark blonde. Looking neat and kept, parted off to the side of his head.

Even Ink was different, dull colors instead of the vibrant ones the artist usually had. Dull grays, dirty browns and bronze colored his outfit. The only thing still vibrant about him being the being his colorful expression of boredom and the shiny “JR” pin on his paintless peanut brown scarf. It was weird. A simple black t-shirt, plain brown jacket with dark gray cuffs and hood, coin gray shorts, boring lace-up ankle shoes. Honestly, the only thing that looked the same was the paint stain on his cheek.

Inks skin was reddish golden, darker freckles peaking out from underneath the paint stain and across his face. His eyes were still mismatched, one green and the other orange. His bright blonde hair was shaved on the sides and swooped over to the right, showing off the double gold piercings in his ears. Ash gray tattoos peaked out from underneath his shorts, curling and crawling down his calves with long bold designs. His paint brush had changed as well, barely noticeable from a distance, a long thin pole with a small long tuff of hair at the end, the “JR” pin hanging on as an accessory by some decorated strings.

The different Ink seemed to get fed up with the god-Dream and left the room, flipping the bird and showing off brown fingerless gloves as well.

“MaybE THIs Ink and I cOuLd gET aLOnG...” He chuckled, before moving his attention to the next window he had opened, surprisingly not far from the god-Dream.

Some version of Blueberry was there static and glitching, small white blocks littering his left eye. Just like Dream and Ink, his outfit was different too and he was also human. Instead of a tattered and worn bandana, he wore a long blue scarf, a long-sleeved half blue half spiked white sweater, plain pants, and blue boots. His skin was a pale vanilla, and eyes a light blue, matching well with his light fawn brown hair. Was he stalking the god-Dream?! Jeez, this was definitely not his multiverse.

Abruptly, not minutes after Ink left, Blue got out of his hiding spot and strutted into Dream’s office, the look on the Guardian’s face was priceless. Man, now he wants to see the little baby grandpa in his multiverse have an actually pissed face.

Deciding that the expression was too much, he scouted for any other’s he could recognize, swiftly finding a human Cross and another human that looked like a purple version of the Dream he knew. At least this Cross looked a little less dorky, and less complicated outfit. That ridiculously big hood was gone, and he wore a simple black long sleeved shirt instead of a turtle neck, his scarf still wrapped around his neck but split off into two ends. Instead of X’s being extra accessories, they were actually in the design of the shirt and shorts, the shoes still owning a cross on each, the color changed to a pitch black. Still not a color in sight except the red scar that adorned his cheek and the single red eye that showed Chara was still very active in this world, the other eye grey.

His skin was quite literally white, as pale and plain as the AntiVoid. His hair was white as well, although a little duller, like a drop of grey mixed in with pure white paint. His hair was styled to meet together at the top, he couldn’t help but laugh at the fact it looked like a trimmed bush. Much like the Ink he had seen earlier, this Cross had piercings, a single black circle on the bottom of each earlobe.

“Nightmare!” This multiverse’s Cross yelled to the purple Dream, who innocently poked his head out of what was probably his room, “Did you put dye in my toothpaste?!” The destroyer just had to turn the window around to see- yep, purple-tinted teeth. At least this Nightmare seemed to be somewhat evil.

He couldn’t help but laugh, all the same, he was so… short. A crown similar to Dream’s sat snug on his head parting his bangs and the rest of his hair, but instead of curving in, at the middle sat a plate with a waxing crescent engraved into it. His skin was nearly the same color as the Dream he had seen before, just a tad darker, light purple eyes beaming through the shade of his untidy and mess bangs. This Nightmare also wore a tunic similar to the God-Dreams, but instead of a plain brown, he wore one that was black lined with white that was short-sleeved, and a torn-up purple scarf hung off his shoulders with a waxing crescent pin holding it together. Purple boots decorated his feet in contrast to slippers covered in tarry goo. They were completely different people at least from physical appearance. He had no clue about their personality yet.

Finally, he searched for one person specifically, where was this multiverse’s version of himself? Was he out giddily destroying AUs? Taking souls to add to his collection? Not even close, just being wimpy and knitting together some doll while sitting in a random OuterTale timeline.

Their outfit was terribly plain too, not that he was incredibly good at fashion, but he does have eyelights. Simple short sleeve hoodie, plain boring short scarf, boring red shirt, simple gloves, dark shorts, and high laced boots. His skin was dark like his own bones, this versions dark brown hair pulled back and braided into long dreadlocks.

Changing the window to a portal, he jumped out of the weird Anti Void and landed nearby the other, startling the skeleton some.

“WhO-O...?” They tried to start but was swiftly cut off.

“I gOt sOmE quEsTIOns, buddy.” His glitching voice explained, getting straight to the point, “I dOn’T knOw wHaT muLTIvERsE I’m In, oR hOw ThE HeLl I gOT HeRE.” He continued, noticing that there was another difference, their eyes. This multiverse’s Error not sharing the red back-drop, his left eye yellow, and the right red. Curved red rimmed glasses sitting just in front of them. The tear stains there but altered incredibly, a near electric blue flowing down his cheeks like cracks in glass “BuT I dO knOw THaT yOu’RE an aLTERnaTE vERsIOn Of mE and I nEEd answERs.”

The other Error stared at him, confused, they seemed to both have the glitching and error messages at least.

“Okay…? I guEss? Sit dOwn and I’ll tRy-Ry and hElp yOu, u-uh, OthER… mE?”

“NO fIGhT? JEEz, THIs muLTIvERsE Is wImpy and wEIRd.” The destroyer commented, sitting down a yard or so away from the other, haphephobia making it difficult to sit any closer.

“BEfORE any quEstiOns, wE shOuld pRObably gEt this namE thing sOrtEd, uh-” His alternate spoke, voice not nearly as glitchy as his. Suddenly, the other Error snapped his fingers, “YOu glitch mORE than mE! WE can call yOu Glitch- and I guEss I can gO by…” The other skeleton looked down at his hands, “...StRings.”

“ALrIghT, STrINGs, wHaT’s GOInG On In THIs muLTIvERsE? SO faR, DREam sOmEHOw gOT wInGs, Ink and I cOuLd acTuaLLy GeT aLOnG fOR OncE, BluE Is a sTaLkER and GLiTChy, NiGHTmaRE isn’t cOvEREd In TaR, CROss acTuaLLy sHOws EmOTIOns, and yOu jusT sEEm LIkE a wImpy LEss amazInG vERsIOn Of mE. And EvEryOnE’s Human.”

Strings gave him a confused look, especially on the part of them being humans, mixed with a glare for the comment.

“Can yOu Explain hOw yOuR multivERsE is?” The other Error asked through gritted yellow teeth, another shared trait.

“SuRE? Ink’s an emOTIOnLEss ass, DREam’s a usELEss prOTEcTOR wITH a babyfacE-but sTILL can be an ass and GeT In my way, BluE Is a dETERmInEd paIn In THe ass, NIgHTmaRE’s a smaRT ass, CROss Is aLsO an emOTIOnLEss ass, and Of cOuRsE, I’m awEsOmE and back tO dEsTROyInG AUs afTeR THaT squId bROkE OuR sTupId TRucE.” Glitch said simply, leaning back against the rocks and staring up into space, “In summaRy, EvERyOnE’s an assHoLE THaT GeT’s In my way, buT THe dRama Is beTtER THan UndERNovELa sO I can’T cOmpLaIn tOO much. Plus, wE’RE aLL skELETOns, wHITE bOnEs, ExcEpT fOR mE, and NIGHTmaRE I guEss.”

Strings hummed in reply, not fully happy with the explanation, mainly because of the destroying AUs part, but not wanting to fight at the moment. Leisurely, he started to get back to work on the doll he had started to work on before Glitch randomly appeared.

The destroyer looked over to the other at the sound of needles clicking fast, sitting back up as he watched Strings proficiently and easily knit away at the doll. His hands moving quickly, looping around and pulling more string from his eyes on occasion, method well-practiced.

“HeH,” Glitch let a chuckle escape, “nO maTTeR tHe muLTIvERsE, I can aT LEasT cOunT On OTHeR mE’s knOwInG hOw To knIT.”

“And hERe I thOught I was wimpy and lEss amazing, mR.EgO cOmplEx.” Strings joked sarcastically, smirking all the while. Slightly slowing his pace down to talk easier, he asked: “YOu knit tOO? DEspitE bEing an all-mighty dEstrOyER oR whatEvER?”

“Of cOuRsE I dO! BEsT pasT TImE, asIdE fROm UndERNOvELLa.” He smiled slightly, not used to doing it so carefree, only ever really smiling at the chaotic destruction of an AU.

Time went on like that, just them talking. Finding their few differences but mostly sharing their commonalities. It felt like hours had passed by in the blink of an eye when in reality, they hadn’t been talking for that long. Their conversation was abruptly stopped when a portal opened behind them, two figures running out of it.

“Night? CROss? What are yOu guys dOing hErE?” Strings asked, standing up and running over to his friends, Glitch watching awkwardly from a distance.

“You’ve been gone for hours!” Cross shouted, nearly lurching at strings before stopping himself. Strings, understanding what he was going for, slowly eased into hugging him, “We were worried… if Dream found you...”

“PlEasE, guys, I’m the OnE that busts yOu twO Out. I’m finE.” Strings assured.

Glitch, feeling left out, decided to walk over and get introductions out of the way.

“HEaRTfElt REunIOn, whaTevER, I’m kInda sTuck heRE and fROm a dIffEREnT muLTIvERsE, sO yEaH.” Glitch swiftly interrupted, standing somewhat near the group of housemates or whatever they were. Strings didn’t mention specifically what they were to him.

“SoRRy, GlItch. Night, CROss, this is Glitch- An ErROr fROm a diffEREnt multivERsE.” Strings gestured, not surprised when his counterpart didn’t accept the handshake from Nightmare and instead moved away from it. “Glitch, this is my NightmarE and CROss, my bEst fRiEnds, tEammatEs, annOying hOusEmatEs...”

“Rude.” Cross spoke up, but a small smile appeared with the comment, Strings rolling his eye lights to the stars, Glitch only nodding in acceptance.

“So… uh,” Nightmare tried to converse, “How different is your multiverse?”

Dreamswap, concept and outfits, all belongs to @onebizarrekai

Ink belongs to @comyet

Error belongs to @loverofpiggies

Cross & underverse belong to @jakei95

Blue belongs to the community

Nightmare and Dream belong to the community

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thebladeblaster · 3 years

Text

Digimon Tamer ZERO

(Vanguard x Digimon crossover. I am still having a hard time writing so I thought I would post this that has been in my notes for like months. I didn’t really know how interested people would be in this fic idea so here’s a concept chapter like the one I made for Bonds Beyond Dimensions.)

Concept Chapter The Digimon Phenomenon part 1

A few days after the Link Joker incident...

Inside of Card Capital a familiar light purple haired girl sat behind the counter reading a book. She wore a white dress shirt and a red apron. A little black and white cat slept soundly on the counter. There wasn’t quite as many customers in as usual. The girl lifted up her book revealing her blue eyes as she heard someone walk over. It was a blond teen with grey eyes and a white and red hoodie.

“Slow day huh?”, the blond teen questioned putting his elbows on the counter and leaning in.

The girl sighed in response.

“Well, business has gotten a bit slower lately because of the release of that new digital pet line, Digimon. Many kids have been playing those rather than playing card games.”, the girl replied before sighing again.

“While, that is a bit sad I have a feeling that’s not the thing really bothering you.”, the blond surmised which caused the girl to sigh again.

“Well, I guess there’s no point in trying to hide it from you’ll just keep asking until I tell you, Miwa.”, the girl replied sighing again.

“That’s what friends are for so what’s really wrong, Misaki?”, Miwa asked.

Misaki’s gaze seemed to linger over to the door as she started speaking.

“It’s Aichi.”, Misaki answered.

“I thought so he has seemed a bit distant lately...”, Miwa trailed off.

“I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of everything that happened with Link Joker. He was fine at first but well three days ago he started acting a bit weird. He seems to be a bit spacey, he’s been avoiding cardfights and...even us.”, Misaki elaborated.

“Maybe he just needs some space. To be fair this isn’t the first time he’s been a bit moody.”, Miwa assured.

“The last times he was like this were after he found out about Kai joining Link Joker and...before...”, Misaki trailed off looking down with a bit of a nervous sweat.

The two suddenly turned there heads to the door as it slid open and gasped in surprise.

A man with green hair and grey eyes wearing glasses walked backwards in holding a cardboard box that seemed packed to the point it was close to bursting.

“Look who I found!”, the man said.

Saying that they almost expected Kai to walk in after him. However instead they saw there was another person helping the green haired man with the box. It was a blue haired teen with blue eyes. He was wearing a white jacket with a black trim and a light purple under. He also wore blue jeans and black shoes.

“Aichi?”, Misaki questioned genuinely shocked to see him.

Aichi looked over towards Misaki and Miwa.

“Oh h-hey.”, he greeted a bit awkwardly.

“That box looks pretty heavy. Have you been working out a bit?”, Miwa questioned.

“Not really Shin’s is carrying most of it.”, Aichi replied.

“I think you might be selling yourself short here.”, Shin replied as they noticed the way the box was tipped.

Shin who was walking backwards and holding it in the front had the box tilted downwards. While Aichi in the back had the box tilted upwards.

“I didn’t notice it felt so light I thought you were carrying most of the weight.”, Aichi replied with a bashful chuckle sweat dropping.

The two set the box down on the table as Shin sighed tiredly.

“Thank god I ran into you I don’t think I could have carried it alone.”, Shin thanked.

“Aichi um...”, Misaki trailed off as Aichi returned his attention to her flinching a bit.

“I uh...”, Aichi trailed off as the two shared a bit of a awkward silence.

Aichi sweated nervously as he turned his gaze over to the box.

“So, what is in the box anyway?”, Aichi asked changing the subject.

Miwa sweat dropped looking at Aichi a bit worriedly.

“Something must have happened.”, Miwa thought.

The three looked down at the box as Shin opened the it revealing a bunch of differently colored square objects with a little screen.

“You know...I think I’ve seen these things around before...Aren’t they called Digimon? Emi told me it was getting rather popular at her school.”, Aichi said.

“Yep! I was thinking since this new Digimon thing has been getting so popular this would be the perfect time to capitalize on it. Though it’s a bit different from our usual products Digimon is a game not to mention I heard they may make a card game soon.”, Shin said as he held up one pointing to the device.

“You see these are Digimon V Pets. This model is called ZERO. Digimon is short for digital monsters. Their a bit similar to tomagatchi in the way you raise a digital pet and that pet is your partner Digimon. With these you can evolve them and battle with your friends. It can even allow you to battle online.”, Shin explained.

“Oh cool, they sell Digimon here now!”, A kid said as a few walked up.

“See we have more customers already.”, Shin said as he looked towards Misaki.

“Oh...uh...”, Misaki trailed off as she looked towards Aichi then the group of kids before going to work.

Aichi, Shin, and Miwa looked on as Misaki served the kids. Aichi was bit caught off guard as Shin placed something in his hand.

“What?”, Aichi questioned looking down as he it was a blue V-pet.

“I was thinking it might be nice to give you a little digital pet of your own. Think of it as thanks for helping me out.”, Shin explained.

“You don’t need to do that. Besides I don’t even know how to work this thing.”, Aichi replied sweat dropping.

“Then, I’ll show you!”, Shin offered.

Miwa smiled as Shin showed Aichi how to work the device.

“He can tell too can’t he?”, Miwa thought.

“So, this is the Digimon, Choromon?”, Aichi questioned.

“Yeah, right now it’s at its baby stage. After that there’s in training, rookie, champion, ultimate, and mega. There’s countless Digimon who start out as a Choromon it could become almost anything depending on how you raise it. You could say it holds infinite potential.”, Shin explained.

Aichi looked at the little unassuming little pixel blob Digimon.

Shin pulled out a folded peace of paper which revealed what looked like over 100 branching possibles.

“T-this is a bit much...”, Aichi said as he and Miwa sweat dropped looking at the paper.

“Well, it can be made a lot easier if you know which Digimon your looking to obtain. The final forms are on the right side of the page. On this ultimate guide I gave it even has a profile on the Digimon to make the choice easier.”, Shin explained as he placed it on the table for him to look over.

Aichi sat down at the table as he started to read over some of the descriptions before he stopped on one.

“You seem interested in that one. Well, it is a knight after all like your Gold Paladins.”, Shin said.

“Yeah. I think I’ll go for this one.”, Aichi replied as he pointed at it.

He read over the steps required to achieve the Digimon a few times before just taking a picture with his phone.

“That definitely will make it a lot easier than remembering all that stuff.”, Miwa said.

Then Aichi’s phone rang.

“Oh it’s Emi...wait I forgot I’m supposed to help her with her homework today! Uh thanks Shin! Bye guys! See you later!”, Aichi said with a bit of urgency as he remembered how mad Emi was the last time he forgot to help her.

“See ya bud! You should stop by more so Misaki doesn’t look so mopey.”, Miwa said as he waved goodbye.

Aichi waved goodbye as he rushed out of the store.

“Mopey huh?”, Misaki said as Miwa jumped turning to her looking at him menacingly.

Later...

“I’m here.”, Aichi said as he walked into Emi’s room.

Inside the room sat a girl with orange hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink shirt and a skirt.

“Aichi you forgot.”, Emi said pouting.

“I’m sorry I ran into Shin and he needed my help. It just kinda slipped my mind.”, Aichi apologized.

“Oh, the shop manager. Wait...did you talk to Misaki?”, Emi asked.

Aichi raised his eyebrow at the question as he sat down next to his sister.

“No. Why?”, Aichi questioned.

“Ah...it’s nothing anyway...”, Emi trailed off as she noticed Aichi’s V pet.

“Oh, Shin gave this to me for helping him out.”, Aichi explained as he pulled out the V pet.

“So, does that mean Card Capital are going to sell Digimon now too?”, Emi asked.

“Yeah, Shin had a whole box of these. The moment we brought it out a bunch of kids already lined up to buy them.”, Aichi replied.

“Maybe, I’ll go buy one when I get my allowance.”, Emi replied.

Later...

After finishing up helping out his sister Aichi went to his room and sat down in his chair. He placed the V pet over on the desk before pulling out a deck box. He took out the cards and laid them out looking over each one of them carefully. He narrowed his eyes as they landed on one card in particular into a bit of glare. The card art depicted a white cybernetic dragon with red glowing lines. The dragon had a black visor and menacing jagged red glowing eyes. It had gold spikes on its back. It’s name was Star-Vader, Imaginary Plane Dragon.

Aichi put down the card and had a relived sigh. Aichi put the cards back into the deck box.

“Good thing there isn’t any more of these. If I avoid cardfighting I will have some time to think of some way to get rid of it. I don’t know how though since simply beating it isn’t enough.”, Aichi thought.

“That’s the point. You can’t get rid of Link Joker. We will return and destroy this world.”, a distorted voice said.

“I’ll find a way!”, Aichi thought as he then turned his attention over to the V pet it seemed his Digimon was had pooped a bit.

“That’s what they all said before we took everything they held dear.”, the distorted voice replied.

Aichi grabbed the device and cleaned up after the Digimon.

“Well, at least this Digimon will be a good distraction until I can think of a plan.”, Aichi thought.

“Oh, ho so you want to ignore me? You know if you ignore your problems for too long you never know they may consume you. Oh wait...that’s already happening. I wonder how long you intend to avoid your friends. You know those fools will eventually get fed up and try to find out what’s going on with you whether you like it or not. Who knows if you’ll even still be yourself by then...”, the distorted voice said.

Aichi said nothing but the voice could tell it was frustrating him. It it had a form it would have a shit eating grin.

“Well, you can play the silent game all you want. I can’t wait to see when you inevitably explode.”, the distorted voice said.

“Okay...So, the Digimon is alright now I should at least wait till it’s grown up a bit more before leaving primary village. Especially since all the encounters seem completely random though the chances are low for all I know I could run into a mega. Apparently, the best way to level them is through battling other people’s Digimon or wild Digimon.”, Aichi thought as he continued to take care of the baby Digimon and ignoring the voice.

Two weeks later...

Four teens were walking around to the city as they talked.

“Ah! No!!! Sukamon again!”, a teen with spiky black hair and brown eyes cried holding a purple V pet.

“That’s what happens when you keep forgetting to clean up after your Digimon.”, a teen with brown hair and brown eyes said.

They both had blue blazers and pants.

“Maybe this is a sign Izaki maybe me and Sukamon are connected by destiny!”, the black haired teen replied.

“Morikawa, so your saying your destined partner is a poop monster?”, Izaki questioned.

“I’m saying maybe it’s actually the strongest and that’s why it has chosen me! Maybe this is the Digimon that will allow me to defeat The Blaster!”, Morikawa replied.

“The Blaster?”, Miwa questioned wearing a blue blazer like the others but with a red hoodie underneath.

“Have you not heard of him Miwa? Some people say very soon he’ll be the number 1 tamer. They suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started beating a lot of upper tier tamers. Their partner is Knightmon last time I heard, but for all we know it could have became a mega by now.”, Izaki explained.

Miwa’s eyes widened as he heard the name of The Blaster’s partner.

“Is something wrong?”, Izaki questioned.

“It’s nothing.”, Miwa said with coy smile.

“Ah! Do you know who The Blaster is Miwa?”, Izaki questioned.

“Maybe.”, Miwa replied coyly.

“Is it you?!”, Morikawa asked gazing at the blond fiercely.

“No no see.”, Miwa said as he revealed a yellow V pet and showed them his partner.

“Woah, you have a ultimate Miwa?! It looks pretty cool.”, Izaki gasped.

“This is Groundramon and yeah he’s pretty cool.”, Miwa replied.

“What!? How did you get one of those?!”, Morikawa questioned.

“I read the guide you should try it sometime.”, Miwa replied.

“There’s a guide!?”, Morikawa gasped.

Miwa and Izaki sweat dropped.

“You didn’t know that?”, Izaki asked.

“No!”, Morikawa replied with comedic tears.

“What about your partner Izaki?”, Miwa asked.

“Oh, mines Tyrannomon.”, Izaki answered as he held up a green V pet.

“What about you Kai? Are you gonna get a Digimon?”, Miwa asked the fourth member of their group who had been silent up till now.

Kai had spiky brown hair and green eyes. He also wore a blue blazer like the others.

“Hmph...I’m not interested in a pet.”, Kai replied looking away.

“Well, you know Kai there’s something I didn’t mention Aichi has a Digimon.”, Miwa replied with a smile.

Kai then turned his attention to Miwa at the mention of the blue haired teen.

“Oh, really I didn’t think he’d be that interested.”, Izaki said.

#cardfight vanguard #digimon #aichi sendou #misaki tokura #miwa taishi #shin nitta #kai toshiki #morikawa katsumi #yuta izaki #emi sendou #groundramon #Tyrannomon #imaginary plane dragon #link joker #my crappy writing

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fancyfade · 4 years

Photo

Batfam Height - core members and batfam height - everyone else by Fade31415

This has been in my WIPs for months, but I’m finally done! Technically I’m not sure if everyone here is “officially” batfam, since I view Renee as more of an independent agent but I’ve heard her be listed as Batfam and I wanted to draw her. so :P

okay so this is going to be a super long post, so the decisions for why I drew who with what is just going to double as an image description, since I’m not sure it makes sense to write [image: barbara gordon wearing her armored new 52 batgirl costume end image] and then follow it with “I decided to draw the Batgirl version of babs in her new 52 costume because I liked it better because of the armoring.

anyway: everyone’s heights and outfit decisions under the cut!

Alfred Pennyworth: (first Alfred is present day, balding and 65, second Alfred is when he just met Bruce, with a full head of black hair). Alfred is 6'0" like it says he is on his wiki page. He’s got his regular butler outfit, which seems to be a suit with those two hanging down things on the back? IDK what its called.

Cassandra Cain/Batgirl: Cass is 5'5" like it says she is in the back of Batgirl: To the Death. I combined her Batgirl and Orphan suit because I love the lightly armored aesthetic on Orphan, but I also prefer her as Batgirl. Her civilian outfit is just an outfit she wears in I think the start of Batgirl: To the Death? A crop top and black pants basically.

Bruce Wayne/Batman: Bruce is 5'7" which is NOT canon, but I put him a little short in my headcanon. This isn't for any real reason but last time I drew him not tall I got a whiny fanboy complaining he wasn't physically intimidating enough, so I'm specifically not changing it because of that I still do try to draw him with like... actual muscles so he can do stuff, because he's a very physical character. His outfits are just batman outfit and then the regular suit he wears all the time. Nothing exciting there.

Dick Grayson/ Nightwing/ Agent 37: Dick is 5'10" like it says he is on the wiki. He's got his nightwing rebirth costume for the superhero version, which is mostly all black with slight blue accents and fairly skin tight, cuz that costume was just beautiful, though I did add a little bit of armoring like he has in teh animated movies for practicality. Then he has his Grayson outfit for his 'civilian' clothes (even though it's not really civilian clothes I like how it looks). Khaki pants a gray T shirt and some pouches for spy stuff. He’s also got his escrimas in both forms, cuz signature weapon.

Barbara Gordon/Oracle/ Batgirl: Babs is 5'11" like it says she is in the back of Batgirl: To the Death. Even though she never got magicured in my headcanon, I drew her new 52 batgirl outfit because i like the armored aesthetic better. Her civlian clothing is just the skirt and black turtleneck she wears in BTAS. Her Oracle outfits are a tanktop (so we can see her buff arms) and then my favorite outfit she wore in the comics (jeans and a leather jacket). She has buffer arms and thinner legs as Oracle, because she is using her arms way more than her legs.

Damian Wayne/Robin: I drew Damian once at 10 years old, when he just started being Robin, and then at 13, like he is in the present. I chose his Batman and Robin (2011) costume over the 2009 one, because i liked how it looked better, and Robin: Son of Batman costume over Rebirth because Robin Son of Batman is my FAVORITE costume for him. both costumes have a red tunic and black pants, the batman and robin 2011 one has a yellow cape and black hood but the son of batman one has a black cape with gold trim. He's 4'6" at 10 years old and 4'11" at 13. His civilian clothing is a simple suit at 10 and the yellow sweatervest he wears in Robin Son of Batman #6 at 13.

Onyx Adams: Onyx is 5'9" like her wiki entry says. Her civilian outfit is the monk outfit (a long loose orange robe). Her superhero outfit is what she seems to fight in, which is just a crop top and black pants.

Kate Kane/ Batwoman: Kate is 5'11" like her wiki entry says, and I let her be a little broader around the shoulders and hips after seeing a broader Batwoman drawing I really liked. She's wearing her rebirth costume, mostly black with a red bat symbol and red trim, and got her rebirth short hair on her civilian outfit. her civilian outfit is black pants, a black vest, and a button up white no sleeve shirt.

Stephanie Brown/Batgirl: Stephanie Brown is 5'5" like her wiki entry says. I can't remember why I put her in her Batgirl costume instead of her Spoiler costume (maybe because I haven't drawn her as Batgirl before?) Either way, her Batgirl costume is black with purple trim. her civilian outfit is jeans, a purple shirt, and a leather jacket, which I think I saw her wearing in one of her batgirl issues but it’s been a while.

Tim Drake/ Red Robin: He is 5′6″ like his wiki entry says, though that might have been referencing when he was younger because it also listed his weight as 125 pounds. But I figured some guys are allowed to be short :P he has his first red robin costume (black pants, red tunic, cowl that covers his face except for his mouth and chin like batman’s) and his civilian outfit is just jeans and a white button up shirt.

Duke Thomas/Signal: I couldn't find Duke's height on the wiki so I guessed and put him at 5'9". He’s a little lean cuz he’s 16 and still growing. his superhero outfit is his bright yellow and black signal outfit with the motorcycle helmet with bat ears. His civilian clothing is an outfit he wore in Robin War (jeans, red shoes, a red hoodie).

Jean-Paul Valley/Azrael: Jean-Paul is 6'2" like his wiki entry says. In Batman: the Sword of Azrael, he seemed to be drawn leaner before becoming Azrael and buffer afterwards, so maybe his Azrael training/programming gave him guns? IDK that's why I drew both a thin version and a buff version in the civilian clothes, which are a white T shirt, leather jacket, and jeans.

Azrael outfit only gets the buff version though. I combined the 90s outfit and his new 52 outfit because... I'm gonna be real I LOVE his 90s outfit, even though it is very 90s. But I also had a hard time drawing it in my style, which is why I borrowed some from new 52. so he’s got golden boots like in new 52, but otherwise red, mostly skintight outfit, a golden chestplate, large shoulderpads and large gauntlets, like in the 90s. with his cool wrist sword. obviously.

Jason Todd/ Red Hood: I was actually conflicted as to whether include Jason because my all time favorite appearance for him (after his intro, when he whacks batman on the stomach with a tire iron) is the Red Hood movie, where he is decidedly not batfam and rather an enemy. But lots of people count him as Batfam and he’s an ally in the current continuity, so I drew him. Jason is 6'0" like his wiki entry says. He's just got an outfit inspired by his under the red hood movie outfit - black cargo pants, brown leather jacket. his civilian clothing has a grey T shirt and his red hood outfit has a black chestpiece with a red bat symbol and a red face covering helmet.

Helena Bertinelli/Huntress/Matron: Helena is 5'11" like her wiki entry says. She’s got her dark purple hooded Rebirth costume, and her tiny crossbow. I drew her as she appears in Grayson for the "civilian" version (black shirt with a white cross on it, reddish pants), to match the Agent 37 Dick on the other chart.

Renee Montoya/ the Question: Renee is 5'8" like her wiki entry says. She was very inspired by how Cully Hamner draws him in Pipelines, because I love Cully Hamner's art (reffed her outfits here: link). her civilian outfit is a white crop top and blue work out pants, and her question outfit is a leather jacket, black t shirt, fedora, and jeans. she’s holding a nunchaku in both.

Renee is a member I'm not sure "counts" as Batfam, because i view her more as an independent agent, but I've heard some people count her in it and I wanted to draw her anyway

Luke Fox/ Batwing: Luke Fox is 5'10" cuz i messed up and made him 1 inch too short (his wiki entry says 5'11"). He's got the blue polo he wears in Batman: Bad Blood in his civilian clothes, even though I consider comics Luke to be more "canon", but I couldn't think of what to draw him in from Comics luke's civlian outfits His batwing outfit is comics luke's batwing outfit as well -- all black and armored, covering every inch of his body, with the blue bat symbol and shiny blue eyes.

David Zavimbe/ Batwing: I like Luke, but David will always be the Batwing of my heart :P David is 5'8". It didn't say his height on the wiki so I had to guess, and I guess I let him not be super tall because there are already a ton of tall people in the Batfam. His civilian outfit is the uniform he wears in his day job (police officer), kind of green almost army looking clothes, and a black hat, and his batwing outfit is his first batwing outfit from the comics -- dark grey armor, domino-esque mask that has giant wing motifs coming from it, etc.

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smolkooks · 4 years

Text

just a little - j. jungkook

pairing: dancer!jeon jungkook x dancer!y/n

word count: 4.1k

soulmate au, college au, dancers au, mild enemies to lovers au

warnings: none, just fluff :)

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine, Lucy, don’t even worry about it,” You said into the phone, before hanging up and falling onto your bed tiredly.

You started to strip out of the fancy, pretty dark blue dress you’d gotten yourself dressed in, and then began wiping off the eyeshadow you’d spent so long doing. Your best friend Lucy had just cancelled on you—to go out with her soulmate—and even though you knew that it was okay, and you’d told her as much, it still hurt just a bit.

You’d gotten just a tiny bit excited to go to that party with her, but…

Just a tiny bit.

But you were fine.

***

At the sight of the lovesick couple a few steps down from you down the chip aisle, kissing right in front of the rack that held your favourite potato chips, you sighed and quickly turned away, feeling incredibly awkward.

Based on the golden, glowing symbols on their wrists, you concluded that they were soulmates.

Upon realising that you’d been lying on the bed for more than an hour, thinking about nothing in particular and just wallowing in self-pity, you decided to actually put on some clothes—a grey hoodie and sweatpants, throwing your hair into a loose bun—and went to the supermarket to treat yourself to some chips.

It was said that soulmates meant everything.

You had always been told about how life-changing finding yours would be, and how deeply in love you would be with them.

Usually it would be the adults who would tell it to the children, and you found it rather ironic, because what they said sounded more like what a child would say—as if it had come from the fairytale they had read the night before.

Soulmates. The idea made you want to scoff.

You had never met yours. You might never meet them, and you really didn’t care.

Perhaps you were just meant to be alone, contrary to the moon-shaped marking on your wrist that you’d been born with—not that you minded. Life had been just fine for you so far, anyway.

The moon-shaped marking was just something everyone had. Maybe it would never glow, and you were fine with that.

You are fine with that, you assured yourself, shaking your head, pointedly trying to keep your eyes off of the in-love couple, as you attempted to examine the rest of the aisle for other options, from a distance.

It was said that the universe would decide when the moon-shaped marking started to glow gold—the final reveal sign. A gold glow meant that it was the right time; from the stories you’d heard, the universe alwaysmanaged to find a way to make the gold appear at just the rightmoment to reveal your soulmate. It usually wasn’t right after meeting—somehow, it only glowed when the time was right.

You heaved another sigh, turning away from your favourite chip aisle, having decided to sacrifice your chips for just one day, seeing as the couple had not left.

It had been a good five minutes, and they were still kissing. Didn’t it get boring, to do that for so long, in a grocery store, no less?

As you grabbed some other brand of chips from the clearance shelf (not as good as what you’d wanted, but it wasn’t worth interrupting that couple, regardless of how delicious they were) and headed to the checkouts.

Instinctively you headed to the self-checkouts, wanting to avoid as much social interaction as possible, particularly at this late—almost morning—hour of the night.

When you reached to grab your chips, the moon on your hand seemed to be taunting you—and you wanted nothing more than to scrub it off, even if you knew that you physically couldn’t.

The frustration suddenly built up—from what, you weren’t sure. You blamed it on the fact that you hadn’t been able to get your favourite chips, even though deep inside you knew it was more than that.

“Stupid,” You muttered, slamming the moon mark—and your wrist—against the check-out screen, harder than you’d intended, ending up squatted on the floor, clutching your wrist.

You were lucky that you had chosen the self-checkouts, otherwise that would have been far more embarrassing than it already was.

When you got home and switched on the lights to your quiet apartment, your very small, but neatly organised kitchen came into view, and even as you sat yourself down on top of the kitchen bench, ripping into the bag of chips (not your favourite, but sufficient), you couldn’t help the feeling that overcame you.

No matter how much you tried to deny it.

Loneliness.

***

You knew you looked pitiful when you walked into your class that morning.

It was a small one—this class only consisted of your dance troupe. You studied dance because you loved it, and your troupe was probably the only thing you liked about studying.

Even though you rarely spoke of it to anybody, you were a pretty great dancer. You even dared to say it was the only thing you were good at.

Contemporary was your favourite—and you also loved designing the costumes you and your troupe (consisting of the people in your class) would wear. It was a mixture of boys and girls, and you genuinely enjoyed dancing.

You were even top of your class. Front and centre—again, it was the only thing you liked doing.

“You look pitiful,” Lucy said to you, and you only shoved her shoulder playfully, taking your seat next to her, “What did you even do?”

“I stayed up,” You answered, rubbing at your eyes as you took out your books, slamming them onto the desk, “Eating chips. Ran into a couple at the supermarket though. They were blocking my favourite chip flavour, and I had to get the discount ones instead.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“How was your date with your—,”

Before you could get the words out, the professor knocked on your desk and told you sternly to pay attention. Effectively silencing the both of you.

Lucy shot you an apologetic look, but you just shrugged, before leaning your head on your hand, and staring glumly at the whiteboard your teacher was writing on.

You usually liked theory. If you weren’t running on two hours of sleep, and a bag of potato chips.

Right now, you couldn’t help but close your eyes—and then you were out. Your teacher didn’t even bother to wake you up.

It was after class was over that you realised how much of a mistake that was—because you’d missed out on all of the information about the boy’s school that was joining your class for the next two weeks—and the boys’ troupe that they would be bringing with them.

***

It was on Sunday evening when you received a text from Lucy telling you to remember to wear the formal uniform to class tomorrow, instead of just free dress like you all usually did.

You wondered why, but didn’t question it. The teachers called abrupt formal assemblies all the time, as bothersome as it was, and the students had learnt to deal with it over time. You swore that it was just a way to get the students to suffer in the uncomfortable formal blouses and ties.

It was when you walked into class that you realised this was no assembly.

The entire class was dressed in their formal white shirts and blue-silver ties, and at the front of the class stood a row of boys in the fanciest uniforms you’d ever seen—far more expensive-looking than even the most expensive clothes you owned.

“Y/N,” Your teacher announced sharply, “You’re late.”

“Apologies,” You responded, “Miss. I wasn’t aware that we had—,”

“If you hadn’t fallen asleep in the previous class, Miss Y/L/N, then you would have been aware,” The teacher cut in, gesturing to your seat next to Lucy, “Sit down.”

Your cheeks burned as you made your way to your seat, dropping your dance bag onto your desk with a heavy ‘click’, sinking into your chair as you surveyed the group of boys that were stood at the front of the room.

There was seven of them, and you had to admit that each one was incredibly beautiful. All seven of them.

But there was one of them that was snickering at you—the one standing to the very right. Subtly, you flipped him off, and he only raised his eyebrows at you, mouthing the words, Nice tie, at you.

Resisting the urge to hiss, you just forced yourself to sink further into your chair, before realising that you had forgotten to tighten your tie before you’d left—and you slid further into your seat, hoping to just melt into the floor.

Your teacher’s words became a blur in your head.

“Y/N! Are you paying any attention?” The teacher said, frowning, catching your attention immediately, “Get out of your seat to go change, we’re pairing up for warm-ups today!”

“Sorry, miss, I just—,”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately,” The teacher said, shaking her head, “You’re top of the class, please act like it—I would be far more satisfied with you if you showed up to class on time. You’ve been showing up late very often lately, Y/N. Is anything the matter?’

“Nothing,” You said glumly, struggling to meet your teacher’s eyes. You hated it when you disappointed her. She was your role model, and you’d tried your best to show up on time this time—you knew it was your third time late in a row, but it was because you’d been finding it harder and harder to sleep lately…consumed in thoughts.

“Good,” The teacher said, although she didn’t look all to convinced, “Please, show the boys what you’re capable of, okay? They’re from practically fanciest school in the country, you wouldn’t want to sell yourself short, would you?”

At those words, the image of the snickering, insufferable boy immediately appeared in your mind, and you clenched your fist, immediately determined to prove that you were top of the class for a reason.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

***

The choreography that your teacher started you all on was pretty simple. You picked it up after two run throughs, but the insufferable, snickering boy did it in one.

“So, how’s the dance going?” He said with a boyish grin, as he uncapped his water bottle and took a big gulp, running a hand through his dark brown hair, “Y/N.”

“Don’t start.” You said, gritting your teeth.

“I didn’t even say anything yet,” He said, raising his eyebrows, leaning in a tiny bit closer, “Are you thisangry all of the time?”

“Only when you’re around,” You snapped back, taking a big gulp from your own water bottle.

“Oh, no need to be so mean, Y/N,” He noted, the corner of his lip curling into a smirk, “You’re a good dancer.”

He didn’t even have to say the words, the look in his eyes was challenge—answer—enough: But I’m better than you.

That only made the determination and anger in you burn more. You were better. You would be better, even if you weren’t. You would show him.

“Jungkook!”

The both of you turned to the direction of the voice, and approaching was one of the boys from the fancy school.

“Stop messing with her,” The other boy frowned.

So Jungkookwas the name of the insufferable, snickering boy who wouldn’t stop mocking you.

“Taehyung, you’re no fun,” Jungkook responded, giving his friend a playful shove, “I’m not messing with her, just making conversation.”

You bit down on your lip hard, to bite back the snarky remark that would have been considered rude to most ears—and you didn’t need to make a bad first impression on allof the boys…you wondered if maybe you already had.

“I’m Tae,” The other boy said, sticking out a hand, shooting Jungkook a pointed glare, “You’re Y/N, right?”

“Yeah,” You said, with a half-smile, ignoring Jungkook’s stare burning into the back of your head, “Nice to meet you.”

“I heard you’re the leader of the troupe here, huh?”

“I guess, kind of,” You said, “But I show up late more times than I can count on my fingers.”

“Can’t you count in your head?” Jungkook called out with a half-snicker.

“Shut up,” You said, rolling your eyes—despite your annoyance, you couldn’t help the slight—only tiny—bit of amusement that slipped into your voice, and you knew that Jungkook noticed it.

“So you dolike me,” He said, raising his brows.

And just like that, the amusement was gone.

“No.” You said sharply, giving Taehyung an apologetic smile, at having cut your conversation short, before you marched off to the other side of the room, where the rest of your class—and Lucy, your best friend—was sitting down, resting.

Over the next several few days, your constant bickering with Jungkook only got worse. Each trying to best the other—you beat him as many times as he beat you, but he was particularly good at hip hop. There was only one other boy in his troupe better than him at hip hop, who was Hoseok. Hoseok contributed in a lot of the choreography, too, and he was a happy face, one that you had grown familiar with and quite enjoyed the company of.

He was very clever, and his choreo was admittedly incredible.

You learned later that the purpose of this combined class was to make some sort of dance together, as a combined troupe—just as an experiment. It was all in good fun, but there would be a performance scheduled for you all, in three weeks’ time.

Which was enough for you to learn the choreo and get it to a decent level—you just had to make sure that you learnt it far better than Jungkook.

But with both of you trying to best each other, it really wasn’t easy. Particularly when you two were clearly so balanced.

The entire class could tell—they became so accustomed to your bickering and constant arguing over who was the better dancer that Lucy claimed she had started to unconsciously block it out whenever the two of you would start shooting insults at each other.

Nobody seemed to be able to tell if it was genuine annoyance between the two of you, or if it was just playful, but Taehyung seemed convinced that the two of you argued in class but ran off to make out afterwards—where he got that idea from, you had no idea, but you’d made sure to give him a good smack over the head when he’d told you that the whole class agreed with him.

“As if I would ever do that,” You’d scoffed at him, picking up your things to head over to the change rooms after a particularly tiring training session, “He’s not worth the time, Tae. He’s just irritating.”

“I don’t know, he’s not so bad,” Hoseok butted in, having overheard your conversation, “I would think that the two of you were in love, too, if I hadn’t known that you dislike him.”

Groaning you said, “It doesn’t matter, anyway. We’re not soulmates or anything.”

“You never know.” Taehyung said, with an eyebrow wiggle, and you smacked him over the head again for that comment.

***

Heading to your favourite chip aisle, you were prepared to finally buy your favourite chip flavour, but when you reached the shelf, and at last, looked up from your phone, you collided into a familiar face.

“Y/N!” He exclaimed, getting up with a groan, “I didn’t expect to see youhere!”

You grumbled, “Yeah, no, I didn’t expect to see you here either, Jungkook.”

You stood up, and he stood up, and the both of you reached for the same packet of chips. Your favourite flavour.

The last bag of your favourite flavour.

There was no way he was going to take it from you—you jumped, snatching it from the shelf—just as he did, too, and both of you just fell over, tripping over each other into a pile of tangled limbs.

You ended up on top of him, panting heavily as you tried to wrestle the chips from his grasp, “Jungkook, let go.”

“They’re mine,” He responded, attempting to free himself from under you, but you pinned him down.

“Give the chips back, Jungkook,” You demanded, using your knee to hold his wrist in place.

He grinned, “Never, Y/N. Let go of me and my chips. I’m just trying to get out of here in one piece.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve resisted eating junk food just to eat that one bag of—,”

“And you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to buy these, too!” Jungkook exclaimed, incredulous, “That’s not an argument. We’re both dancers, we both have diets, and we’ve both been waiting for a long time to have these.”

He just lay there for a second that seemed to last longer than just a second, and he scanned your face intently.

Your face flushed at his gaze, and you pressed your knee down on his wrist harder to quell your blush, just a little bit, pinning his other wrist down with your hand so that he couldn’t wriggle away with that bag of chips, “Just give me the chips,” You sighed, exasperated, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Y/N, you’re the one who has me pinned on the ground of a grocery store just for a bag of chips—,”

“Shut up and give them to me—,”

“Fine! I’ll give them to you.”

Your face brightened in surprise, “Wait, what, really, that easily—?”

“If you share them with me,” He finished, grinning at the shock that outlined your features, “Come to my apartment and we’ll split them very evenly. Don’t worry, I won’t cheat.”

“Fine,” You said, after thinking it over, and then you started getting off of him, and the moment you were on your feet again, off of him, he rubbed at his wrists. You noted that he still didn’t let go of that bag of chips.

“Damn, you have an iron grip, Y/N,” He said, hissing a bit, “How did you even hold me down? I was genuinely trying to get up, you know.”

“Sorry,” You said sheepishly, smiling in a slightly embarrassed way, “It’s just the result of years of training.”

He studied you for a split-second, and you swore you saw him blush just a tiny bit, before quickly getting up from the floor and taking your hand—dragging you to the checkouts.

You almost hissed at the contact, not because it was bad—not at all.

You almost hissed because it was nice.

Just a tiny bit.

***

“I don’t know, this apartment seems far too old to be yours,” You commented, as he pushed open the door.

“What were you expecting? I’m a scholarship child, not a rich kid, not even close,” He said with a chuckle, directing you inside, kicking away some dirty laundry in the process—his school uniform, chucked on the floor, right next to the TV.

“Did you get in with dance?”

“Yeah. I was kind of good at it, and then I met Hoseok in middle school and he basically taught me, I didn’t have the money to go to lessons. And then it was through dance that I met the other boys,” Jungkook began explaining easily, as he took out two Ziploc bags, “Here, see, one for you, one for me.”

You leaned over the kitchen counter to watch him carefully. It wasn’t to be close to him or anything—no, obviously not—it was just to make sure that he didn’t cheat. It was just that.

You assured yourself it wasn’t because of how nice it’d felt when he’d held your hand. No, no way. He was your competition; he was your—

Opening his kitchen drawer, he started rifling around, and pulled out a sharpie, labelling the bags, ‘Y/N’, and ‘JK’.

He opened the chip packet, and the both of you sighed in satisfaction at the smell that puffed out. Immediately, he began carefully distributing the chips until the two bags were relatively even.

“There,” He lifted your bag from the counter and passed it to you, “See? Fair, right?”

He was right. He hadn’t cheated, and the smile that he gave you was too genuine to not be real, right?

You wondered why he was being nice. Not that he’d ever been mean, but…the two of you had always had some sort of competitive air between you. What with the both of you being terrifyingly competitive people—and also the fact that neither of you wanted the other to harm your reputations (or rather, egos).

Suddenly, Jungkook didn’t feel like competition anymore. Not with how carefully he’d split the chips, not with the smile he was giving you now, not with how—

Not with how hard your heart was pounding when he met your eyes.

It’s nothing, you assured yourself. It’s nothing, nothing, nothing.

And then he set the bags down, pulled out his phone and said, “Y/N, do you want to dance with me? Let’s do some practice, how about that?”

“W-what?” You broke out of your trance, giving him a confused look, “Why?”

“I mean, we’re both here, right? And I’m going to drive you home, anyway,” He said, shrugging, “Might as well make the most of this time. Do you need to get back anytime soon? Have plans?”

“Not really,” You responded, biting your lip, “But—,” Jungkook was your competition. Not your friend. Right? You definitely didn’t likehim, right?

“C’mon,” He said, pleadingly, “Just once? I just want to dance with you and not argue, for once, as much as I love your sass.”

At that, you blushed a little, and then said, “Okay. Only once, though. And then you’re taking me home.”

He looked as happy as a puppy then, when you agreed.

He put on a song you didn’t recognise, but it had a steady, even beat that the two of you were easily able to choreograph something to, and then you started running it—you hadn’t been this close to him before, and it made you feel strange.

Well, other than just two hours ago, when you’d pinned him to the supermarket floor for taking your chips, but—

You broke out of your thoughts when he took your hand, and met your eyes—just a part of the choreography just a part of the choreography just a part of the choreography

But your heart was taking none of it. It was racing faster than you had when you jumped to grab those damn chips from Jungkook.

No, that thought wasn’t helping, either. It only made it race faster, and that was the last thing you needed now—you definitely didn’t need that thought lingering in your brain right now, not when Jungkook was looking at you like that—

“Stop looking at me like that,” You demanded, but it came out soft, far softer than you’d intended, and you cursed internally at the effect he had on you, just because of the proximity.

“Like what?”

No, no, that wasn’t helping—his eyes held such intensity as he looked at you, twirling you like you’d choreographed, but you hadn’t planned for your heart to be racing this fast, for your breathing to be this quick…

“Like that,” You breathed, the words barely making their way out of your throat, almost getting stuck halfway.

He smiled, and you bit your lip, holding back the words—you’d only ramble, and then that would ruin the moment, but…

“Don’t be so nervous, Y/N,” He said, softly, gently, spinning you back around.

When he raised your arm above your head to dip you, your sleeve slipped up, only to reveal the moon on your wrist—glowing bright gold.

Not even a second later, the moon marking on his wrist lit up, as well—and suddenly, everything clicked.

Everything else stopped—except for the two of you, as you gazed at each other, the room illuminated in the gentle golden glow of your moons.

“Jungkook,” You murmured, still breathless, lost in his eyes—gold from reflecting the light emitting off your wrists

And then your lips met—and then you were kissing, and it felt so incredibly differentto anything you’d ever felt before.

It was soft—and yet so filled with passion, at the same time. Something you hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

So incredibly different—not just a little bit.

Not just a little bit.

(my first fanfic! hope you all enjoyed <3)

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