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#maybe they just do some chaotic gay shit
alchemistc · 4 months
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an: I was cleaning out my drafts and ran into this nearly-finished piece of two disasters having their first kiss. Enjoy.
the way you feel when you kiss him for the first time like fire within your bones like your soul has returned to the water like every part of you that came from a dead star is alive again
Here’s the thing. So. Like.
He’s kissing Eddie Munson, tongue and everything, hands digging into his crazy fucking hair, face twisted sideways because they’d been sitting there next to each other, close enough that their hips were touching, and Eddie was gesturing with both hands thrown wide, so that every once in a while his hand smacked Steve’s chest on accident and he murmured a quick apology before going back to his story, and Steve fucking loved listening to him rant and rave about whatever he had a bug up his ass about on any given day, he loved it so much and it seemed like the thing to do when you loved something about someone so much it made your chest tight and your head a little fuzzy.
Steve twists his head and slots his tongue over Eddie’s lips and Eddie makes a noise that Steve feels down to his fucking toes and he nips, just a bit, swallows up Eddie’s gasp and curls his fingers around his neck and licks into his mouth.
First kisses are usually either tentative or chaotic, and this one is sloppy as all get out but it’s not – it’s good. It’s so fucking good Steve thinks he could happily fucking die right this second and he wouldn’t even be mad about it. Eddie’s teeth slide along Steve’s lower lip when he sucks said lower lip into his mouth and Steve hums and blows a breath out through his nose and fleetingly imagines their entire lives expanding out before them – tables that for another day when he’s done more than make out with Eddie in the woods behind his house.
Eddie pulls back, and Steve chases, a bit, blinks his eyes back open with a pout. “You. What. You?”
It’s – Steve’s done this whole song and dance with half the girls in his age group in Hawkins, rarely ever felt this buzzing under his skin. The desperate urge to claw his way into Eddie’s chest is burning him. That’s…not the usual reaction he gets when he kisses someone.
“What the hell, Harrington? What the fuck?”
And like… okay. So. He’s had crushes before. He’s been in fucking love before and he fucking knows what it feels like and he knows what it means when someone looks at you that way that Eddie looks at him and.
“Fuck, uh… Shit, sorry man. Yeah. Should have, uh…whoops?”
“Whoops?”
Eddie’s on his feet then, his limbs akimbo as he throws his arms out, gesturing vaguely in Steve’s direction, looking at Steve like he’s grown like, three extra heads. Which. Okay so maybe he could have done better at like, explaining what the fuck he was doing but Eddie was so fucking hot when he got really in the zone with some rant or other and Steve’s been like, waiting for him.
“You can’t just go around kissing people, man!”
“I thought you were gay!” Steve says, like that explains a damn fucking thing, and Eddie whirls on him, wild eyed, like Steve’s just shouted some tightly kept secret to the world and… yeah. Alright. Fair.
“I thought you were the straightest fucking dude in America, Steve, what the fuck?”
“Oh,” Steve says, because that, yeah. That tracks. Okay. So. Yeah, he can work with this. 
He runs a jittery hand through his air, glances up at Eddie through a few strands that cut loose from the hairspray. “Yeah uh, so I guess like, no? Chicks are like, great but then here you are being so fucking adorable I wanna like, put you in my fucking pocket to keep you safe and like, take you out on a date and, I don’t know, suck your cock or something. Which is.” 
He’s rambling now, doesn’t know what to do with his hands. 
“Okay so like I guess I didn’t really think about the ramifications of this before I fucking went for it but I have been thinking about your lips on my lips for way longer than I have been acknowledging to myself and you weren’t fucking doing anything about it and I just thought I could. Do something about it. So um…no. Not. Not straight.” 
Steve imagines, for a moment, Hawkins High jocks fading out of the shadows to beat the shit out of him, bible thumping mothers intent on letting him know his sins will destroy the country and land him straight in hell, his own father telling him he won’t have a fag for a son. Feels really fucking shitty about it for about thirty seconds and then remembers he’s saved the world at least four times and internally tells them all to go fuck themselves. 
“Hey, is there a word for that? Liking both? Do you – fuck, is there like, a handbook? Do you even know? Did – but then you’re – I mean I definitely for sure got the feeling you and Robin have more in common than just being really great at saving the world, also you for sure kissed me back and – holy shit Robin’s gonna be pissed you found out before she did.”
Eddie stares at him in abject horror for about thirty seconds, but it’s not – it’s not judgy, at least, it’s more like Steve looks at Robin when she word vomits. “Jesus H Christ did you just speed run gay panic?” Which – Robin has explained that before and if Eddie knows about it then he probably also is not…not gay.
“I don’t think I’m strictly gay!” Steve says, his voice a little higher than he’d like but Eddie is pacing now, which. Not conducive to more kissing, and it’s literally all Steve wants to be doing right now. “It might not even be dudes in general, I haven’t gotten any further than you!”
“What the fuck, Harrington?” And pacing be damned, Steve hops up and cages Eddie in again, leans forward for a kiss because he’s not, like, saying no, he’s just confused because he didn’t think Steve was into it and kissing will definitely help him figure it out. Only he rolls his head back, away from Steve’s, shoulders and neck rolling back. The rest of him stays, though, and Steve slots his hands on Eddie’s narrow waist and stares at him. 
“I’m like, super into you, Eddie, and unless I’m suddenly really fucking bad at reading signals you’re also into me.”
Eddie leans forward, rolls his forehead against Steve’s. It’s nice. Not as nice as the kissing had been but…yeah, he’s cool with this. Eddie huffs out a breath of laughter, a self-deprecating little chortle that Steve recognizes and wants to dash away. “I’ve been trying really hard not to throw those signals. Just. Just so you know.”
“You’re really bad at it,” Steve tells him, fingers digging a bit into his side now, his left hand sliding towards Eddie’s back, and he doesn’t really think about it when he exerts a bit of force to drag Eddie a little closer. “To be like, fully clear here. I’m not… I haven’t been misreading, correct?”
“Fuck,” Eddie says, those wide dark eyes holding Steve’s. “This is insane. People don’t just wake up one day and go ‘hey I’m actually totally attracted to my own gender and I have literally zero bad feelings about that’ – people kill themselves about it.”
“Nearly died enough times to know I don’t care for it,” Steve tells him, and he really, really wants to fucking kiss him again but probably Eddie needs a second. “Listen, do you like me or not, because if not I am seriously overstepping right now and I don’t actually want to make this weird.”
“This is so fucking weird, man,” Eddie says but then he’s curling his fingers into the end of Steve’s shirt and fisting it there before Steve has a chance to draw back and respect his boundaries, like he’s holding himself back from more but not quite ready to let go. Steve follows his lead. “Did Robin say something?”
“Robin has been literally zero help,” Steve admits, because she really has been fucking useless and cagey and completely unwilling to give him any idea if this whole thing is reciprocated or just a fully fucking unrequited crush. “I am actually pretty emotionally intelligent, so I figured…” God he’s giving Steve that look. Again. “Vibes were there.”
“Vibes.” Eddie says, like he wants to bash his brains in. “You… you just threw all caution to the wind on fucking vibes.”
“Vibes are a thing!”
Eddie curls the hand not already fisting in Steve’s shirt around his waist, his long fingers catching at the stripe of skin exposed by the pull of his shirt. Every thought in Steve’s head feels like it’s centered right there, where he can feel Eddie’s rings warm against his skin.
Steve is like, 97.3 percent certain at this point that he hasn’t just ruined a decently important friendship, and he really, really does want to return to that zenith of his tongue in Eddie’s mouth, so he rolls his head again, nosing at Eddie’s cheek, reaching for his jaw.
Eddie shoves him back – slowly, regretfully almost. 
“Give me a fucking second, Harrington.”
“Sure. Yeah.” 
Even as Eddie goes back to pacing Steve feels good about this. Eddie Munson is probably a lot more accepting of things than most of the assholes in Hawkins but he has yet to tell Steve to go fuck himself and he seems more…overwhelmed than anything else. Surprised. He had just admitted he thought Steve didn’t go for that thing. Had he thought about it, beyond a passing ‘Steve the Hair Harrington digs the ladies’?
Jesus. He’s so fucking embarrassing. Even in his own goddamn brain.
Eddie whirls on him, opens his mouth. Shuts it and takes a few pointed steps further away from Steve. Steve very much hates that, but – time. Space. He can manage that. He takes the opportunity to enjoy the pull of Eddie’s jeans over his ass. 
Holy shit, Steve thinks to himself as he ogles the other man, holy shit he’s so very much not straight and it’s taking every ounce of willpower to give Eddie his fucking second. 
“You’re a fucking psycho,” Eddie says, and it’s probably aimed at Steve even though he still hasn’t actually turned back to look at him again. “You fully understand that what you just did screams absolute lunatic, right?”
“The – which part, exactly?”
“Steve, what if I wasn’t gay?”
It’s – kind of a sad question, if he’s being honest, because he’s suspected he likes dudes for maybe two weeks, even if it’s been nagging at him for literal months now, but he’s been that shitty kid who called people queer like it was the dirtiest word in the book, and he’s well aware at this point how fucking scary it is for anyone who is the least bit not ‘normal’ by societies standards. Especially if it’s actually true.
“I mean, I assume you’d probably give me a lot of shit and I would spend a good month too mortified to look at you before you let me off the hook?” But that question gets a little closer to the heart of it, the one thing Steve’s still a little worried about. “But…you are?”
“How the fuck did you even know?”
“The vibes!” He wiggles his fingers at that, widens his eyes like that will help Eddie understand. “And, you know. The general feeling every time you look at me like you’re half a second from eating me alive.”
“I do not!” Eddie says, a little scandalized, a little like he’s been caught out. 
“You totally do. You have…very expressive eyes.” This is new. Just balls to the wall flaying honesty, right off the bat, no hiding behind a slick smile and a clever little wink. What even is flirting, Steve thinks. In for a penny, in for a pound. “I fully thought you were gonna bend me over a table at Gary’s party last weekend.”
“Jesus fuck,” Eddie says, only he’s still not denying it, and he’s turning those same round shining eyes on Steve and – yeah. That is not a platonic fucking look. “I’m gonna take, like, three steps towards you right now. Can you. Not fucking attack me when I get there?”
“Yeah. Sure. Totally.” Robin and Nancy once ganged up on him to tell him he was basically a golden retriever in human form, and he feels every inch one as Eddie takes long, measured steps towards him. If he had a tail he’d be wagging it so fucking hard his ass would be wiggling. 
“Full disclosure,” Eddie tells him at a step and a half in. “I was actually thinking about getting on my knees and sucking you off until your soul left your body, at Gary’s party, last weekend.” Steve bites his lip, doesn’t say a word, ignores the heat thrumming in his veins. “Don’t you dare kiss me right now, Harrington,” he says, and there’s an edge to his voice that is very fucking interesting and Steve would like to explore more.
“Yep. Hands and lips to myself. Gotcha.”
“I also had a massive panic attack about it like five minutes later because you’re the best person I know and I will be fully, absolutely destroyed if I lose you, so. Before I set myself adrift here, are you sure you have a single fucking clue what you’re getting yourself into?”
“See, that’s the thing!” Steve points, just as Eddie takes another step, so his finger ends up right in Eddie’s face and he’s eyeing it like he might just pop it into his mouth. In for a penny… “You got really mad at me when you thought I was avoiding you, and I very much, totally was because I have like, two age appropriate friends and figuring out one of them might be the love of my life threw me for a fucking loop.” Too soon, way too fucking soon, he was supposed to like, at least get Eddie in his bed before he admitted that. “So. I’ve already had that crisis and I know I lied and told you it was nothing but that’s. What that was.”
The look shifts. Eddie’s eyes were already wide, so his expression doesn’t change all that much, but his eyes get a little glassy and the dimple in his cheek twitches. 
“Whoops,” Steve repeats and Eddie gathers up the hand Steve still has between them, guiding the arm down towards Steve’s side, lacing their fingers up together as he gets close enough Steve can feel his breath on his cheek.
“You’re an actual lunatic,” Eddie tells him, but he’s leaning in close, now, curling a hand around Steve’s neck. “Whoops, he says,” and Eddie shakes his head fondly, close enough that the tip of his nose swipes across Steve’s with the movement. “How long?”
“We’re still not kissing, right?” Steve asks, just to clarify, and Eddie smiles, shakes his head. “Yep. Still good with that. Sure. How long what?”
“Don’t play dumb, princess.”
“I mean – are you asking about me? Are you asking about me knowing about you? Are you asking about attraction, or feelings, or…”
“Sure,” Eddie says, and Steve supposes he walked himself into that. He’s still – Steve could count individual lashes dashed across Eddie’s eyelids, he’s so close. 
“Yeah. Alright. Me? Been trying to sort it out for a while, I think, since Vecna. For sure? Two weeks ago, when you made me come watch your campaign finale, or whatever.” Eddie’s eyes gleam with interest, and Steve can see him searching for a specific moment, but it hadn’t been a specific moment, it had been an amalgamation of the last seven months of his life, and watching Eddie in his element, threading together a sweeping close to a tale he’s been working on for a full year, seeing the kids delighted faces, thinking about all the shit they’d been through and all the terrible things they’ve seen, it had all clicked into place. “You? I didn’t know, know. Just. Robin’s always saying there are signs, if you look for them. I hoped. I was looking for them.” 
Had to talk himself into and out of reading into signs multiple times, honestly. 
“I had some very confusing boners before I understood them, so I can’t really pinpoint that one, but a while,” and Eddie’s lips curl up, which is nice. It’s one of his favorite things to do, making Eddie smile like that. “The… I liked you from the start, is the thing, so there isn’t just a single moment but… you remember that night we got up on the roof of the van and got way too fucking high?”
“You couldn’t find the Big Dipper,” Eddie recalls fondly. 
“Yeah, well, you were right there next to me, being all freakishly smart about constellations and looking at me and when you told me about your mom I wanted to just – tear the whole fucking world apart for you. So.”
“So,” Eddie says, and his voice has gone whisper soft and his breath is fanning across Steve’s face and his eyes are big and brown and soft at the edges.
“We’re still doing the no kissing part, right?”
Eddie hums. Tilts his head to the side just a bit, and his nose stripes across Steve’s cheek. “I could probably be persuaded otherwise.”
It’s – he’s –
“If I admit the panic might be coming on now, will you change your mind?”
“Absolutely.”
“Cool. I’m very chill about this.”
“Steve,” he says, and his voice is so fucking soft, and his fingers are skittering up the side of Steve’s arm. 
“Freaking out a little bit. Don’t – you can stay here, though.”
“I’ll stay here as long as you need.”
“While we’re here, you could – I mean I know I said I clocked you pretty easily but if you wanted, I would definitely be okay hearing about – how. How that happened.”
Eddie’s eyes flit up, hold Steve’s. “You lying about anxiety to get me to tell you my dirty secrets?”
“I’m not that smart,” Steve tells him, and Eddie’s smile tilts up at the corners.
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kerokerokook · 8 months
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the rebound girl: chapter two
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pairing: nerd pro-gamer jeongguk x reader
word count: 25.5k wtf
warnings for this chapter: oc just goes for it, jeongguk is hot as usual, lots of kissing, finally some smut, first time, virgin jk!, subby jk! with dom! reader at first but that changes, oral (m. receiving), oral fixation, fingering, jeongguk does the lower stomach trick from tiktok (iykyk), he's a little shit but it's okay.
other tags: lots of overthinking, oc goes back and forth a whole bunch (she's confused and hurt ok), jeongguk is a giant MF green flag (obvi), vmin and 2yeon being chaotically gay ofc, some brief physics mentioned, a bit of angst, oc has been hurt in her teen years.
a/n: sorry this took 9 million years but ya girl just got into her masters program!! hopefully, i can update this once/twice a month? maybe even more but, that's the plan!
enjoy :)
<3 mal
original post
*:・゚✧*:・゚✧
The first day of school hit you in the face like a speeding fourteen-wheel truck. 
Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration because you’ve known the date since the beginning of summer break but time flew by so quickly that you couldn’t believe September was starting and another school year was too. 
Soon, you’ll graduate and get a job and move on from all of the shit you’ve gone through to become a whole adult. It’s terrifying yet exciting all at once. 
Fortunately, you picked out your outfit last night: baggy blue jeans, a white cropped tank top and an oversized black corduroy button up shirt. It’s simple and comfy which you always prefer for school outfits. Simple gold jewelry sits on your neck and in your ears and you keep your hair back with a clear claw clip. You keep your makeup light, being that you’ll be back home in a few hours where you’ll just slip back into your pajamas and do nothing for the rest of the day.
While packing your things, you make sure to tuck Jeongguk’s t-shirt that you’ve washed and his umbrella into your backpack, then give Snowball her last few pets for the day while checking her food and water bowl. 
“I’ll be back in a few hours cutie,” you coo, scratching underneath her chin. Her head tilts up, a content smile on her cute face, eyes shut while pushing into your touch.
Adopting Snowball sort of just happened. You were lonely last Winter break after a guy you met in your Economic Growth Seminar had moved on and your mom was talking about how your neighbor’s cat just had a litter of kittens. Thankfully, your landlord was okay with pets and boom, there was a little fluff ball making your day better little by little. After a long day, there was nothing you liked doing more than stroking her soft fur and listening to music or throwing a movie on while she purrs right next to you. She’s a great comfort to you and your friends love her too.
Tearfully, you rip yourself away from your little baby and step outside of your comfortable apartment. The hallway is empty at this time. Your building has mostly college students and a few bachelors and bachelorettes here and there so it’s surprising that no one else is walking out at the same time as you. But that’s fine. No polite greetings necessary. You put your headphones in, play some music and begin your trek to school. 
Living one subway ride away from university is a privilege. It never takes you that long to get to class and it’s easy to get back home. It’s the best thing about living here. 
Plus in the springtime, the blossoms decorate the streets with little pink petals and it’s a sight to see. 
On the way down the subway steps, you check your schedule once more just to be sure of your class load today. You have a 9am lecture, then an 11:30am lecture and then a discussion at 1:45 but those only start the second week of school every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, you have classes from 8am-3pm which sounds like ass now that you think about it. 
Fuck, were you drunk when you selected these courses? 
You shake your head. Whatever, not like there’s much you can do now, right? At least you’ll be busy so less time to mess around. 
Your walk down the steps continues and you shove your phone into your jean pocket as you rush over to make the train before your first class, taking out your metro-card.
After dodging some lethargic businessmen and starstruck tourists, you manage to reach the train with a few seconds to spare. There’s a towards the back so you quickly walk over and grab the handle when there’s a vibration against your ass. 
Confused, you pull your phone out. It’s probably a tiktok sent to you by Jeongyeon of a cat with a funny filter on or something but the screen shows the message icon and you use FaceID to unlock your phone to see who the sender was.
It’s a text from Jeongguk. 
jeon jeongguk
hey
do you want to give me the stuff outside the engineering building?
maybe around 1? 
by stuff i mean my shirt and umbrella
You smile to yourself. The fact that he felt the need to explain what he meant by stuff is unbelievably adorable to you. 
me 
sure, i’ll be there :) 
You almost wonder what Jeongguk’s schedule is like but you stop yourself quickly. You tried to not to think too much about him on Sunday when you got back. It was enough that his sweet smelling shirt was on your body and you still had the lingering imprint of his hug on your skin but now that you know he  goes to the same school, you’ll become more interested and you can’t. Jeongguk isn’t going to be the next boy to occupy your mind. 
This year is going to be different. You won’t be the rebound girl anymore, you won’t sleep with guys from your school, and you won’t give in. 
After everything that went down with Wooshik, it’s just better for you to distance yourself from this stupid label of rebound girl. It’s done nothing but hurt you and worsen your relationship with the people in your department. First year you were hanging out and eating with them and now all you have are Nayeon and Jeongyeon. Not that you don’t like them but you just hate what being the rebound girl has done to your college life.
Your mother used to say your college years are your prime years to be young and stupid and learn about life. 
But college is nothing special to you. The classes are harder, people are smarter, meaner, better, and all you can do is push yourself to do the best that you can. Sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it isn’t. Your friends are great and you’ve made some good memories, but so far, college isn’t that coming-of-age life lesson that your mother always talked about. 
You’re not particularly upset about it. You just wished you could do more. Live your life without eyes all over you and whispers at every mistake. 
As the train lets you off at your spot, you make sure to triple check your schedule for the day so you know where you’re going after your first class. 
9am is your Macroeconomics lecture in the Economics building which is fine. Your professor is nice and the class seems interesting enough that you know you’ll do well. Mostly test based which won’t be a problem because economics is your thing. You’ve been studying it diligently for three years now so you can confidently say that. 
But 11:30 is your worst nightmare: physics. 
This is all your fault. Nayeon told you to get all of your general education requirements out of the way quickly your first and second year so that you wouldn’t have to worry about them later but you didn’t listen. 
Look, science is simply not your thing. High school courses were hell on earth thanks to your asshole of a Chemistry teacher. You managed to gaslight yourself into thinking math was easy enough as long as you studied like a mad person and got those requirements out of the way but science is hell on earth for you. Your university requires one life science and two physical sciences. Life science was an easy choice: zoology. You got to learn about cute animals and watch videos about them. First semester of your first year was easy. 
Then you decided to take Geology for physical science during your second semester. It sounded easy but memorizing all of those different rock formations was starting to wear you out from the inside. Somehow you managed a B. And after that, it was either meteorology, astronomy, or some form of physics since every other course required you to be enrolled in the Physical Sciences department or have some prerequisite that you didn’t want to take. None of the options sounded appealing to you so you put it off until now. Then, when the realization hit that you had only one more year after this to make up for all of those credits, you decided astronomy might be the best choice after reading some professor reviews. 
Only for you to sleep through registration and wake up in a frenzy to find the class completely full. 
Yeah, you almost started crying.
So physics it was and, how wonderful, the only class available was with an unlikeable teacher that has a horrible rating. Amazing. 
Panic floods your system as you walk into the large lecture hall. You aim for a seat in the middle, take out your supplies, and start diligently listening. Your professor is a stout, sad, little man who is trying to improve his professor score online so thankfully, he says he’s going to be more lenient when it comes to tests but demands that homework be turned in on time otherwise points will be deducted. Fair enough. You could do that. 
But then he starts going into course material. 
Energy; alright. 
Motion; cool. 
Thermodynamics; okay.
Optics; excuse me?
Electromagnetism; sound the alarms. 
This class is going to kill you. Even if it’s Physics 1 and your class is filled with mostly underclassmen, you know you won’t grasp the concepts easily with all of your other classes weighing down on your head. There’s so much to do and so little time to do it all. 
“.. previous students of mine have so graciously offered tutoring hours so if any of you are confused, I highly recommend meeting up with them and going over concepts. They have taken my tests before so they know what to expect. It is the best way to ensure you do well.”
Most of the students behind you have gone to sleep or started scrolling through their phones but you have a lightbulb moment. 
Perfect, okay. All you have to do is check the list of tutors online and schedule appointments with them. Shouldn’t be that bad.  Another thing to be strict about. 
This is just what you wanted: a tight enough schedule to keep you too busy to think about anything else.
Once class is over, you pack all of your things and check your phone once more. Jeongguk said he’d be outside the engineering building which is close to the physical sciences building. The time reads 12:50pm so you have some time to make your way outside. 
So far, the first day has ended and it’s gone pretty well. You’ll go back home, create a strict study table on your Notion, rent all of your books and then relax for the rest of the day. Then the rest of this week should be smooth sailing as you get into the groove with your new professors. Nayeon and Jeongyeon are going to meet you at your place for home-cooked dinner this Friday( a little first week back tradition) which you’re excited for.  You should look up some recipes and make sure Nayeon stays out of your kitchen so she won’t blow anything up. That girl is incapable of not making a disaster in the kitchen. 
You sigh through your nose, studying the sights you see on campus. Various students walking in small triplets or duos. The occasional lone wolf with headphones on to block out the world. Some clubs are putting up posters or setting up tables to grab first years as they explore campus. The path that is currently running outside the STEM buildings break off into various courtyards and cafes where students of all departments come to chill or cut through to go to their other classes. 
It’s about to be a great scenic walk just until you run into Wooshik and his buddies as they’re exiting a café with drinks in their hands. 
Kill me now. 
You pause like a deer in headlights when you make eye contact with him, stopping midway so your lips can part as your entire body goes stuff. 
Now, more than anything, you really wish you were walking with someone. 
“Hey,” Wooshik forces out, crossing his arms over his chest. His polo shirt is open enough to show a random cluster of dark hickeys from the middle of his throat to the beginning of his chest. Real subtle. 
Before seeing that, you were thinking about apologizing but now, not so much. 
“Hi,” your tone is short. You can feel eyes dance over your body, the swell of your breasts and the sliver of skin revealed between your crop top and pants from one of his creepy pals behind him and you have half a mind to kick him in the balls. 
Wooshik’s eyes bounce back and he juts his face forward like he’s waiting for you to say something to him but you keep your lips perfectly sealed. If he wants an apology, he can wait until he’s dead. His other friends exchange weird looks at the lack of conversation going on between you two, probably wondering if this standoff is going to linger forever. 
It makes you wonder what Wooshik told them. 
Guys love having their ego fluffed. If they get rejected by a girl, they’ll tell their best friends that she was an ugly slut or they’ll flip the story to say that they rejected her to save face. The last thing they want their friends to know is that a girl rejected them. It dims their coolness. However, you really don’t give a fuck about Wooshik looking cool in front of his boys. If anything, you revel in the cutting deflation he’ll feel when you tell them the truth. 
“Did you get the wine out of your shirt?” You ask innocently. “I should’ve aimed it more towards your face and less towards your clothes.” Shrugging, a satisfied smile grows on your lips. 
Wooshik’s ears turn red. “I–” he cuts eye contact as his friends snicker behind him. You watch in satisfaction as his expression changes from surprised to annoyed to angry. “You know what, fuck you. You ruined my shirt. I had to take that hot waitress back to my place instead of a hotel so I didn’t reek of wine.”  
You scoff immediately. “Damn and I was trying to do her a favor. But congrats, looks like you got your tiny dick wet for two minutes.” You start to clap. One of his friends chokes back a splutter of laughter at the jab. 
Wooshik wasn’t anything amazing but you sort of expected that. Most of your hookups are satisfactory. They get the job done and they give up. As stupid as it sounds, you’ve always gone above and beyond to pleasure someone. There’s something amazing about making your partner feel good but most men see sex in a selfish lens. 
For most guys, sex means sticking their dick in and sloshing it around a few times until they feel good. Boom, sex over. 
Now, if they want to make you feel good, it still won’t be about you. Orgasms are like points. They don’t get off on your pleasure but more on the fact that they’re so amazing at sex that you experienced pleasure. Another way to fluff their egos. 
For once, you’d wish for a guy to actually care about you and your pleasure in an unselfish way, the same way you do for them. 
Wooshik stumbles for a moment but he jumps back quickly to get you too. Especially with all of his boys watching. 
“You didn’t seem to complain about it at first. What, changed your mind because I didn’t want you anymore?” 
Oh, please. A plastic vibrator has done more for you than he ever will. 
You laugh sardonically. “No, I just felt bad for you.” You say it wholeheartedly and it's the most truthful you’ve ever been with him. 
His friends then burst into giggles and snickers, shoving him around when he fails to retort, left dumbfounded by the sheer audacity of you but you don’t care. You don’t get to see the look on Wooshik’s face but you don’t care. The laughter is your cue to leave him. 
 That chapter of your life is over now and you won’t ever have to deal with him again. The last man you’ll let trample all over you the minute you show them some sympathy. 
All you can hope is that the pesky nickname that’s been poisoning you since your first year college can fade away into obscurity forever and ever. 
Then, you can just be you. No label, no nickname, no reputation. Just a regular college senior. 
The walk to the engineering building is lighter now. You feel like one of the falling petals gently flying through the sky from the branch down to the ground. A new journey begins and you can’t wait for it. 
After another minute of walking, you reach the engineering building. Painted a soft brown with tons of posters and clubs waiting to talk to students. You dodge all of them to head inside where Jeongguk is waiting by a random classroom. You navigate through the crowd until you finally locate a  mop of gorgeous dark hair and bright clear eyes. 
He’s facing his phone screen, one leg crossed over the other, but you’re still mesmerized by him. Beauty is in simplicity but with a face like that, Jeongguk could wear a burlap sack and make it work. But currently, he’s dressed in baggy gray cargos and a dark blue long-sleeve shirt with some brand name logo on it. The urge to sigh like a satisfied cartoon character is intense. 
You hate and love it at the same time. How on earth can he look so boyfriend without trying? 
“Hey, Jeongguk,” you call softly, taking short strides towards him, hoping that your hair looks good and not like a frizzy mess from the wind. 
His head pops up, glimmering eyes like two black pools of water gazing back at you. Then a soft grin forms on his lips, skin creasing, dimpling, and cute. 
“Hey.” Jeongguk tucks his phone into his pants pocket. His perfume wafts over to you the moment he moves, welcoming you like a warm hug after a long day. 
You want to bury your nose in it and never forget the smell. 
“Sorry, I got caught up with something on the way here. Were you waiting for a while?”
“Nah, I’ve been here for like two minutes. Did you bring it?” He adjusts his bag for a moment. 
“Yep.” You hand him the shirt, neatly folded and smelling of your fabric softener, along with the umbrella tied. “All clean.” A cute smile grows on his face as he gently takes the items and puts it in his bag, humming excitedly under his breath which makes your entire body warm. “Listen, are you off for the rest of the day?” 
“Yeah, I have all morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. You?”  
“Same and it just so happens that I needed a walking buddy to the subway station.”  You take the first step towards the exit when he agrees with a short chuckle and a nod. Your apartment building is one stop away while Jeongguk is about four stops away so you won’t get to talk much but the sentiment is what matters. 
Plus, all you really want is to be close to him and his family again. There was a real bond going on when you were young and now you’ve been handed a golden chance to reignite that spark. 
Fresh air fills your lungs while your ears pick up on the sounds of fading conversations, the smell of food and new school supplies greets your nose. You have yet to reach the economics building, where more people know you, so people here aren’t staring just yet. They’re preoccupied with their own lives and you want to appreciate it for a little longer. 
“By the way, thanks for Saturday. I’m sure dealing with five drunk weirdos must’ve been annoying,” you add. 
You barely remember the words coming out of your mouth. It was a slew of garbled song lyrics, high thoughts and giggles and that’s the best you can do. There’s no way Jeongguk was walking out of the night sane.  
He huffs out a laugh and then shakes his hair out of his eyes in a very attractive manner. “It was… well, it was something, I’ll tell you that much. But you don’t have to apologize. I don’t mind.” Then Jeongguk looks at you with his chin tilted down, lids low, almost glazed over like he’s checking you out but his gaze just dances over the features of your face. 
You get incredibly shy with him staring at you like that. 
Let’s hope you aren’t turning tomato red right now. 
“Jimin and Tae go out a lot so I’m used to making sure they don’t, like, die.” 
Jeongguk is like Jeongyeon in that sense. Always taking care of people and making sure they are safe in bed before worrying about themselves. Sometimes, she forgets that she’s allowed to have fun and let loose too and you don’t want Jeongguk to fall into the same mindset. Being the caretaker all the time can be draining. 
“I mean, it’s your birthday and the rest of us were getting fucked up. Usually, it’s the other way around.” 
Your 20th was nothing short of a hot mess. Nayeon snuck in bottles she got her older brother to buy and you tried to take a shot from every single type he brought. Whiskey, vodka, soju, sake, and beer. Safe to say, that was a rookie mistake that ended up hunched over a toilet bowl  for almost an hour. Nayeon held your hair while Jeongyeon ordered just enough carbs and hangover soup to make it all better. 
But it was a memory you hold dear to you because it was one of the last moments you felt like it was okay for you to be a stupid teenager and make a mistake.
Jeongguk didn’t get that moment and you want him to because that sloppy behavior won’t be cute when he’s in his late 20s or early 30s. 
“I didn’t want to,” he shrugs simply. “Drinking is sorta fun but I don’t love it and I never let myself get super drunk.” You want to ask why but Jeongguk continues speaking. “But we had cake and barbecue before coming to the club and my parents sent a care package, so it was a good birthday. Taking care of you guys didn’t ruin everything.” 
You relent a little. Perceptions of fun are different after all and maybe, for Jeongguk, he got exactly what he wanted so he isn’t complaining. The residual guilt fades slowly inside of you.
“As long as you enjoyed your birthday,” you sigh, a wave of something sentimental coming over you causes your heels to raise up so you can be tall enough to ruffle his fluffy perfect hair. The same boy who only dressed in Pokémon shirts is now legal, old enough to do whatever he wants, and you’re starting to feel a little soft about it. “Can’t believe you’re twenty!” You squeal. “You’re all grown up!” 
Jeongguk cringes, turning away from your constant pinches and prods and whining as a few eyes drift towards the two of you. His ears get the tiniest bit red but he doesn’t scold you so you continue teasing him. 
“Remember when you used to hand draw all of my birthday cards with little cartoons and you and Eunchae would come with my mom and I to look at all of the cakes at the store?”
The filmstrip of memories is painfully nostalgic. That one nice cake store a few streets away from your apartment building that made the best cakes. If you close your eyes, you can smell the sugary air as you walk in, a tinkling bell on the door to let the owners know someone was there, and the various cakes put in the display case. You always got the fudgiest chocolate cake with bright red strawberries on top. Your mom could only afford the small size but that was fine. You just wanted a cake. 
Jeongguk would come with you and press his face to the glass in complete awe. Sometimes, the three of you would pretend like you were rich people who got to buy big cakes whenever they pleased and you’d pick the biggest sizes of your favorite flavors. 
You always got chocolate, Jeongguk got some sort of fruit while Eunchae would get red velvet and you would dream of the day when you had enough money to indulge yourself on a whim. . 
Then, when Jeongguk’s mom opened up her bakery, she began making your birthday cakes so the three of you sort of got your wish but those were free. Made with love and compassion until you moved too far to feel it. 
“You still remember all of that?” He asks. The stone pathway turns. A signal that the economics building is getting closer by the second. 
Trying not to think about it, you answer him. “Of course, why wouldn’t I?” You’ve always had impeccable memory but you treasured every second of your childhood. 
Because your later teens, in Seoul and away from all that you knew, were terrible. 
“I barely remembered what I ate yesterday,” Jeongguk laughs, staring over at you. “That’s pretty impressive.” 
“You think so?” You turn to look at him when you feel his eyes linger for longer than usual. His stare isn’t piercing but it leaves a viable imprint on your skin like a thick layer of lotion. “What?” You get self-conscious. Is there something in your hair? Did a bird shit on you without you noticing? 
“I like your hair,” Jeongguk says after a moment, pointing to the clear clip holding all of your hair up. 
A few of the shorter strands come out from the tight hold with time, framing your face, while the rest remain bunched up with a large claw clip. It’s such an effortless look. This morning you were too lazy to fully style your hair with a hair dryer and a brush after spending too much time on it for your sham date with Wooshik. It’s starting to get a little greasy so you plan to wash it tomorrow but this is your go-to dirty hair look. 
“Oh, thanks.” A goofy grin nearly breaks out onto your face but you stop it halfway. “I like your earrings.” You want to return Jeongguk’s compliment with one of your own. Your pointer finger runs through the three thick hoops like a wind chime, causing Jeongguk’s shoulder to rise up thanks to the ticklish sensation, getting shy. “How on earth did your mom allow all of these piercings?” 
Mrs. Jeon lost her shit when a 14-year-old you greeted her with a second hole in your ears when she was coming home from the grocery store.  An upperclassman offered to pierce everyone’s ears using the nurses supplies in exchange for cigarettes or candy from a nearby convenience store. Since she was your guardian for the day while your mom was out for a certification exam, she felt irresponsible but you assured her that your mom was okay with it. 
Well, she had no idea at the time but you knew she’d get over it at some point. It was a second ear piercing, not like you got a tattoo on your forehead. 
“These were all presents, actually.” Your fingers brush the back of his palm as you get closer to the economics building at the end of the road, a little before the sidewalk down the main road begins, as your dread multiplies. “I learned that from you. Convinced mom and dad that my good grades warranted some award and they had no choice but to say yes.”
A dangerously familiar feeling mixed with pride courses through your veins like the newest drug. Jeongguk says he doesn’t remember much but he manages to reach in and pull out a sickly sweet memory from your childhood that has your insides turning into mush. You almost want to wrap your arms around your stomach to get it to stop flipping so much. 
You didn’t ask for much as a kid. Growing up you knew that money was tight so expensive things like the best console or brand name clothes were simply out of the question. But you liked to barter with your mom for more simple things. A good grade for ice cream or a day at the beach or a trip to the bookstore to buy a manga edition you’ve been waiting to read. 
It wasn’t all the time but when you felt like you wanted to celebrate yourself. You earned it after all. 
Then you got a little older and you wanted to become like the cool older girls you went to school with. So you dropped ice cream for piercings, nail polish, and CDs from all of the new idol groups that were popular at the time. Your mom was frugal of course, most of your stuff was cheap from the local dollar store or second hand markets, but she loved to treat you. She wished she could spoil you one day, buy you everything you could lay your eyes on, however the universe didn’t allow her to do that. 
She still can’t but that’s okay. You’re glad you didn’t grow up a spoiled brat. That you learned humility and patience and empathy because it’s those traits that set you apart from most of your classmates. 
“I taught you well.” Fingers itching to flick his chin, you hold back. You don’t want to make him uncomfortable with all of the touching. 
Jeongguk hums. “Got these and these,” he turns his head to the other side to show you almost five studs in his ear, “after my class rank and CSAT score came out.”  
“Didn’t that hurt?” 
You do your best to keep your eyes either on the ground or on Jeongguk as the almighty building comes into view. Despite the heavy beating in your chest, your inner turmoil shouldn’t be obvious. 
Jeongguk doesn’t need to know about your problems. Those are yours and yours alone. 
“Yeah but it wasn’t unbearable. I swear, Eunchae almost passed out when she got her doubles. She hates needles.” 
You laugh. “I remember. Your sister was freaking out when we were all getting our vaccines because she literally slithered down onto the floor the moment she saw the thing.” 
Jeongguk hums. There’s a small break in the conversation as the two of you pass by a huge yet short wave crowd of people who are either rushing to the cafeteria or to their next class but even through all of that, you can feel eyes all over the two of your backs. Especially yours. 
Your department members linger by the vending machines and smoking areas in little judgmental pods,  whispering about you amongst themselves. 
You can predict what they’re saying. 
There she goes again, latching onto another guy after Wooshik dumped her poor pathetic ass. 
Will she ever learn? 
Poor thing. He probably doesn’t know that he’s dealing with the campus whore. 
That word. That one word, repeats in your mind. Whore, whore, whore. That’s all you’ll ever be to them. 
Fear sets in. What will they say about Jeongguk? Will he get teased? Will he find out about your reputation and want nothing to do with you afterwards? No, the last thing you want is for him to get tangled in all of this. He shouldn’t have to deal with all of this. Know about all of the things people whisper about you when they think you aren’t listening.
At some point, he’ll find out. No matter how hard you try to hide it, push it down, pretend everything is okay, Jeongguk will come to know what everyone thinks of you and all of the nasty vitriol they throw your way. 
And when he does, you’re going to have to learn to let go of whatever you two have right now and whatever builds in your heart until all you have left to cling to Jeongguk are the sweet memories of your life in Busan. 
Because that’s how it goes for you. 
*:・゚✧*:・゚✧
Jeongguk stumbles into his apartment and throws his backpack onto his gaming chair, quickly calculating the amount of free time he has right now. 
 He has a group match in about two hours for League of Legends and he plans on canceling on them since he had to wake up early today. Jeongguk’s sleep schedule was fucked up all summer and suddenly, waking up at 6am instead of going to bed around then was quite literally torture. 
There’s no guilt when Jeongguk texts them. He doesn’t owe his teammates anything, not like he’s joined a real league anyways. He has other priorities. 
Now that he’s a student again, his sleep schedule sort of matters. His mother would cry learning about the absolute buffoonery he was committing over summer session with his new league he met online. Playing various games until the sun was peeking through his blinds and then ordering breakfast from McDonald’s while entering another battle. Usually that would entice him but all he feels is exhaustion. 
Most of it is from lugging his heavy ass backpack around all day in the sun. Some of it is still from this weekend. There’s a reason Jeongguk isn’t an avid partier. 
Quickly, he throws whatever pre-packaged dish he bought into the microwave and changes out of his school clothes into some sweatpants and a different shirt. All part of his usual after school routine. Then he carefully takes the steaming plate out once it’s done and sets it on the counter to cool before going to the bathroom to wash his hands. 
As he walks through his hall, something presses into the soles of his feet. It’s soft but flexible and round with a hard plastic bit strung onto it that digs into his skin.
“Ouch!” He stops midway, moving his foot and staring at the mystery item. Jeongguk’s eyebrows furrow at first. 
It looks like one of Taehyung’s many charm bracelets that he buys from those street vendors in Hongdae with the cute little charms around colored string. Jeongguk has one from him ( a black string with a baby pink bunny charm that he wears every now and then). The idiot probably dropped it while singing karaoke or doing his Scarface impersonation to make Jimin laugh. Jeongguk takes his phone out to text the guy but he realizes that Taehyung hasn’t been to his apartment in a few days. 
The only other person that has been here was… you. 
He bends down to look at the bracelet. Were you wearing one that night? Your bracelets didn't look like this. They were metal, not string. Jeongguk bends at the knees and picks it up. The string is elastic and stretchy but loose enough to fit around his wrist if needed. 
Oh, it’s a hair tie. 
You must’ve dropped it when you slept over. Jeongguk turns the thing around to see the charm. The elastic itself is plain black but the charm seems to be some Sanrio character that he recognizes but cannot remember the name of.
Hello Kitty? No, he knows her and she doesn’t look like this. 
Cinnamoroll? No, that’s a puppy. This is some weird purple looking thing. 
My Melody? Maybe. 
Fuck, he doesn’t have time to worry about this. Jeongguk shoves the damn thing in his pocket, makes a mental reminder to text you about it after eating lunch, and goes to quickly wash his hands. His fingers push the door open to his bathroom. Clean white tiles, the scent diffuser smelling of white musk, and his TMNT towel drying on the rack. 
Jeongguk looks up at himself in the mirror. His eyes are sunken in and a little swollen from the lack of sleep. His stomach rumbles as he lathers his hands in his fresh cotton hand soap. 
But all he can think about is you on that night. 
Saturday Night. 
The night felt never-ending. 
Jeongguk was doing his best to get everyone in a car ride home safely after song after song on the dance floor but he was getting a little overwhelmed with all that was thrown onto him in the span of a few short minutes when Nayeon decided she wanted to go home.
Laughing, tripping, complaining about vomiting, a smell coming from some random spot that’s making someone nauseous, Jeongguk felt like a parent trying to get their kids together. His phone was glued to his hands to call cabs and type in addresses while making sure the five of you didn’t wander off into the unknown without his supervision. 
Thankfully, one of your friends managed to usher the other into a cab and Jimin was able to shove a whiny Taehyung into the one Jeongguk had ordered so now all he had left was you. 
Drunk you was something else. Stuck onto him like a second layer, arms twined tightly around his waist, mumbling about something random while stumbling over every step. Jeongguk had half a mind to just pick you up and walk to where the guy had parked but he didn’t want to make your nausea even worse by swinging you around.  
“Wait! Jeongguk, I can’t find my phone, we have to go back,” you whined, tugging on his arm with one hand. “I-I can’t–hiccup–I can’t live without my-my phone!”
You were clutching your phone in your other hand. 
He sighed. “You’re holding it,” motioning to the device pressed into your fingers. “Come on, the cab is parked there.” The yellow thing looked like something descending from the heavens while the driver finished the last of his cigarette and belched loud enough for Jeongguk to hear. 
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Are you really sure?”
“Yes.” 
“Okay, I trust you.” You mumbles, hugging him close like he was a large pillow. 
The next few minutes passed by a bit quicker as you let Jeongguk help you into the car and started on your way back to his apartment since you and your friends were incapable of remembering your address. 
He leaned against the tough upholstery as the car began moving. Muscles tight and tired. Jeongguk felt the rivulets of sweat dripping down on his neck which he quickly wiped off and onto his pants, something he usually doesn't do but he’s at the state of not really giving a fuck about clothes he’s going to wash anyways. His body bobbles with a shaky turn and somehow, your limp body ends up pressed into his side, head leaning on his chest while a muffled groan leaves your painted lips.
“Ah s-sorry,” you slurred, attempting to sit up by placing a hand on Jeongguk’s mid-thigh. “I forgot to put on my belt.”  Your perfume flowed to him, a soft clean scent, maybe a bit sucrose when mixed with the scent of your shampoo. 
“Oh, the belt is finicky on that side, ma’am.” The driver informs. He meets both of your eyes in the rearview mirror. “It’s okay. Lean on your boyfriend for the rest of the drive. Should only take a few more minutes!” 
Jeongguk opens his mouth to correct but you interrupt him with a giggle. His head switches to you, mouth covered, skin dimpling. “Boyfriend.” You repeat. 
The driver plays along, most likely very confused, just like Jeongguk. “You two make a lovely couple.”
That next statement makes you giggle a little more. Jeongguk wants to know what is so funny about this cab driver assuming the two of you are dating. Do you find the hypothetical to be so insanely outrageous that it’s hilarious?  Should he even bother asking or should he let it go to save himself the pain from hearing your brazenly honest answer?
Jeongguk chooses to ignore it. He knows another turn is coming up so he raises his left arm and nudges you closer to rest on him comfortably. That same arm circles around your shoulders and the top of your head tickles the bottom of Jeongguk’s nose. You’re warm and comforting after a long night, bringing up a slew of feelings he’s been pushing down for years at this point. 
Still mumbling to yourself, you become distracted with the jewelry on Jeongguk’s hand so you don’t hear the questions that the cab driver throws your way. 
“How long have you two been dating?” He asks, turning down the late night radio station playing old hits. 
Jeongguk just goes along with it. “It’s-uh-very recent, sir.” A four hour relationship to be exact. “But I’ve known her since we were kids.” 
“How cute! My wife and I only dated for a few months before I proposed, you know,” he proclaims proudly, shoulders broadening. Jeongguk nods and fakes a grin in hopes that the conversation ends here. 
Jeongguk wants to laugh. Marriage? 
He’s never even been in a relationship before. He’s barely gone past kissing someone for longer than two minutes. With the way things are going, Jeongguk will probably live his life exactly like Steve Carell in the movie The 40-year-old Virgin only there’s no way he’ll get a happy ending. 
The cab driver laughs to himself when he sees the look on Jeongguk's face before turning the music back up. You’ve successfully knocked out on Jeongguk’s chest so you miss the faint redness creeping up his neck and to his ears but it’s not something he wants you to see either. His brain zeros in on his own pathetic state of affairs. 
He’s always prided himself on his emotional maturity for someone so young but romantically? Horrendous. 
Jeongguk has always stood behind the belief that he simply isn’t meant to be in a relationship with anyone. Sometimes he can be too shy, too closed off, and people don’t gravitate towards people like that. They want someone who can be openly affectionate after a few conversations and Jeongguk simply isn’t the type. The only reason why he has friends like Taehyung and Jimin is because they made an effort to get to know him at his pace. It’s the same with you, who was older and a girl but you still made the effort to invite Jeongguk to watch Barbie movies or search for coins to get the cheapest candy at the convenience store. People usually don’t care after he brushes them off a few times but you did, Taehyung and Jimin did, and Jeongguk gets all fuzzy inside. 
Would he ever find someone like you three again? Would he ever be so lucky? Probably not. 
He looks over at your face smushed against his chest, playing with the zipper of his jacket. You’re so pretty, always have been, always will be, like a rare flower. Even after all of this time, he’s so taken aback by how effortlessly beautiful you are; on the outside and the inside. The way your hair falls delicately over your face, cheeks puffed, lips puckered; the way your shirt gives you an angelic look and your necklace lies perfectly in the middle of your collarbones. 
It’s enticing. Jeongguk can’t take his eyes off of you. He never could. 
Fuck, this random reunion might do more harm than good if Jeongguk doesn’t learn to control himself. This isn’t the time to reawaken old feelings that he pushed down for a good reason. 
Once the cab stops in front of his apartment building, Jeongguk pays him and then helps you out of the car. Body limp and slippery like slinky. 
“No, I forgot how to walk,” you mumbled, leaning against one of the pillars outside the building to keep yourself up straight. “Can’t I just sleep here? It’s comfortable.”
“That’s a concrete pillar.” Jeongguk runs a hand through his slightly dampened hair. “Come on, there’s an elevator and I don’t live too high up. You’ll sleep better on my bed.” 
A pout grows stronger on your face, a few streaks of something black collecting in the corner of your eyes and your lipstick is smeared a little but Jeongguk still finds you so put together and exquisite. Still like that rare flower on top of a mountain peak; beautiful yet impossible to reach. 
“Fine.” You peel yourself off the pillar. “But if you’re lying to me, I’m gonna pinch those cute little cheeks right off your face.” Squishing his flesh momentarily before dropping your hands, Jeongguk blinks a few times in shock. 
Focus, Jeon. She needs to rest. 
Getting you inside is easier than he thought. The promise of the elevator and a warm bed with some water turned you much more docile. But you’re still enamored by his rings which you slip on and off his fingers as the elevator beeps. Then, Jeongguk slips off your shoes and tells you to wait by the kitchen counter while he rifles through his things, handing you a shirt and directing you to the bathroom.
A loud sigh escapes his lips once he’s all alone. Jeongguk has about ten seconds to change himself. He’s been in these tight jeans that squeeze his legs like anything. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone so hard in the gym over the summer. Now most of his old clothes don’t fit him as well as they used to. 
Quickly, he throws on his pajamas just as you emerge from the bathroom and hum a random song from tonight. 
Then, he helps you into bed, groaning out at the soreness in his muscles from all of the lifting he’s been doing today.  You don’t fight back too much, clearly worn out, so you sink into the soft padding easily like a little kitten. He throws the blankets over you, does a quick check to see if you’re okay, and then gets into his own makeshift bed made out of a thin mattress and a set of sheets. 
It’s not nearly as comfortable as his own bed and his back might be mad at him tomorrow but it’ll do for now. 
Just as Jeongguk is beginning to fall into deep sleep, he hears you rusting around, mumbling under your breath about something. Your hands push yourself up on your elbows. For a second, he thinks you’re going to throw up so he gets up quickly and makes his way to his kitchen to grab a plastic bag. 
But you start speaking louder. 
“I can’t believe you, Seojoon.” Your hair sticks out from every corner as you flop back down, lips bloated and pouty, slapping around the comforter and pointing to no one. “I hate you.” Jeongguk’s eyebrow raises, pausing in the middle of his kitchen to decipher what on earth you are talking about.
Clearly, you’re having a nightmare. Jeongguk takes quiet steps back to his spot on the floor in order to avoid that one squeaky 
“You cheated on me with Somin, didn’t you? You bastard. You told me you loved me,” whining, your body twists around. “Why else would I let you fuck me?” 
Jeongguk reels his brain back to stop the curious sympathy right there. He doesn’t want to prod further into this bad dream involving a fight with an ex of some sort. It’s none of his business and clearly this wasn’t meant for him to hear. All he does care about is if you’re going to vomit or not. 
He calls your name. “Are you okay?” Jeongguk whispers. 
You don’t respond. Instead, your face twists in discomfort as you continue to mumble into his mattress and writhe around. 
Jeongguk grows increasingly worried. He doesn’t want you to choke or anything of the sort while he’s deep in REM. Slowly, he gets down on his knees to get a closer look at you tossing and turning.  
“It hurts so much.” 
Jeongguk gently places a hand on your arm, saying your name softly so you don’t wake up. “Hey, you okay? Do you want water?” You twist away from his touch at first. “It’s me, it’s me, it’s Jeongguk,” reminding you as your lids barely part. He thinks you register him, that maybe you’re somewhat awake right now as you begin to curl forward. 
But then your hands clasp Jeongguk’s arms tightly, restricting his every move. 
“You’re going to leave me, aren’t you?” Your voice slurs, the tip of your nose meeting the fabric of his shirt, fingers digging into the flesh hard enough to leave indents. 
Nothing but confusion clouds Jeongguk’s brain. What are you talking about? 
“You told me you loved me. What? Don’t you want me anymore?”  
Tightening around him, you bury your face into his neck again. Your arms begin to raise, wrap around his shoulders to bring your body closer to his rigid frame. Jeongguk feels wetness from your eyes begin to drip onto his skin, dampening his shirt.
“Just do it then. Just leave me. No one ever sticks around anyways. Guys always leave me the moment something new comes along. Every single one,” you enunciate, vibrating into him, crying softly. “You don’t even care about how much you hurt me. No one cares.” 
Jeongguk is paralyzed under your hold as your tears start to roll down. Your sobs are loud and erratic and painful, as if all of this hurt has building until you eventually couldn’t hold onto it anymore. That it took alcohol and a long night to wedge it out of you. 
It’s contradictory; holding him tight and telling him to leave you.
But he doesn’t push you away and he doesn't let go. Jeongguk lets you grip onto him for safety because he’s terrified that removing his touch could break you even further. 
 He doesn’t know what is happening in your dream to make you behave like this, he doesn’t know what made the previous glee that used to make your eyes bright fade away after all of those years passed. He wants to ask but he doesn't know how. 
All Jeongguk does know is that you were different. Not in a good or bad way but you were simply different.  The happy go lucky little girl grew into a hardened adult. When he looked into your eyes tonight, he saw traces of all of this hurt woven alongside other emotions. Like a heavy blanket that only pushes you further and further deeper into a more melancholic way of being. 
And as he helps you back into bed once your tears stop falling, rubs some cooling Vicks rub on your forehead and pulls the cover close, his brain turns into an echo chamber until he tires himself to sleep. 
No one ever sticks around anyways. 
*:・゚✧*:・゚✧
A week has passed and while you thought you could gain control of your physics plight, it seems like the universe has some different plans. 
The tutor that you selected, a second year girl who is majoring in electrical engineering, has been a total flake. You exchanged numbers with her on Thursday during Week 1 and she fed you all of these sweet words about wanting to become friends and teaching in a friendly, kind way which immediately softened you. The last thing you wanted was for some dickhead to call you stupid because you didn’t understand the concept the first time. 
She said she’d meet you at the library that Saturday at 3pm to come up with a schedule and she never showed. So you rescheduled to Sunday, then Monday, then Tuesday and now you just feel like an idiot. 
There’s always some excuse. Either she slept in or she’s not feeling well or her roommate needs her but you’re losing your damn mind right now. 
“You’re not paying her, right?” Jeongyeon asks, rummaging through Nayeon’s bag for something. “Maybe she’s a scammer?” 
You give her a dull look. “She doesn’t get paid by me. I think the university does or she’s earning credits, I don’t know. But I’m fucked for the big quiz we have next week.” 
It’s only Week 2 but the material is daunting and frankly put, you’ll shit your pants the day of the actual quiz and whatever date the final is. This is all so unfamiliar to you and, unlike other subjects, you struggle to find that area where the content becomes interesting. All you feel is terror. 
Nayeon, ever the optimist, tries to lift your spirit. 
“Girl, that shit is next week. Do yourself a favor, find a new tutor, study a whole bunch and then ace the quiz. There’s no point in waiting for this random girl to start caring. It’s your grade after all.” 
“Yeah but I just don’t want someone that’s going to be an asshole when I get things wrong.” 
People love to dumb you down, especially those in your own department. Obviously your promiscuity directly correlates to your intelligence. Girls can only be slutty or smart, right? There exists no gray area. But you know yourself. Even if science and math aren’t your thing, you’re a smart person. You got into a top performing university without any fancy prep classes or coaches and you are consistently pulling good grades each semester. That speaks more about you and your capabilities than anything else. 
“I’ve heard this one guy is pretty good. He’s a teacher’s assistant pursuing his masters degree here.” Nayeon takes her phone out to look him up. “My friend was in his Chemistry group sessions and he was apparently super helpful and kind. I think he does physics too. Let me ask her.” 
You perk up. It would be perfect if you could land a tutoring session with this TA instead of your missing student tutor. Even if it’s a group setting
“Let me know what your friend says.” You look away from the two in front of you for a split second as your attention was cut by your phone vibrating on the table. Flipping it over you see a text from your flakey tutor herself. 
Reading it over, you roll your eyes heavily. Another lame excuse about her skipping out on your tutoring session because she scheduled a meeting with her professor at the exact same time by accident. You ignore it and plan to respond with a passive aggressive rejection to end all of this bullshit. Out of the corner of your eye, you see Jeongyeon and Nayeon try to discreetly take their edibles before digging into the food you all ordered. 
Steaming plates of rice, kimchi, stir-fry and meats along with a few fried foods makes your stomach grumble. You flip your phone back over and grab your chopsticks, changing the subject quickly. 
“What are you guys doing after this?” You ask. The edibles are going to last a while and considering a weed high has different stages, there’s no way these two are going to be eating the entire time. Munchies aren’t that strong. 
Jeongyeon wiggles her eyebrows suggestively to her girlfriend, cheeks full like a chipmunk, and Nayeon turns beet red. Enough context for you to figure it out, breaking into a fit of giggles. 
“Ohhh, I see.” 
Good for them. If only you were getting laid too. Lately, your vibrator has been your best friend late at night when your mind wanders. 
With thirteen settings, it’s safe to say you won’t be getting bored for a while. 
However, you’ve never done it while being high. You’d want to do it with someone you’re comfortable with, maybe a consistent trustworthy hookup and only if consent is 100% enthusiastic, but you can only imagine how heightened the senses feel. 
Getting lost in thought, you cross one of your legs over the other, thinking about the haziness parting as you ride them slow but deep. Your hands will grip their shoulders, nails digging into the tight flesh as the drag of their length is delicious inside of you. Moaning out loud at how full you feel, watching the sharp bone of his jaw unhinge with pleasure, thick silver earrings brushing your skin, dark hair between your fingers as you increase the pace and drive the two of  you to the tipping point. 
It sounds… so satisfying. 
Fuck, okay, you need to get some control over yourself. It must be the week before your period or something because your mind has been cooking up these scenarios that demand attention. 
And most of the time it involves some familiar looking yet faceless character giving you the best dick you’ve ever gotten. It’s really messing with you. 
How the fuck are you going to be Miss Celibacy if your ass can’t go a week without sex? 
You stab your chopsticks into a large chunk of tofu and stare at the red sauce over the surface before shoving it into your mouth in hopes of distracting you when an angry recognizable voice flutters past your table. 
“..and this bitch has the nerve to look me dead in the eye and go, ‘well, you just lost yourself a customer,’ as if any of us give a shit. Like ma’am I get paid minimum wage to make watery coffee and reheat cardboard sandwiches regardless of your purchase, please leave me alone and die.” 
Turning your head, you see tufts of blonde and shiny boots combined with the soft smell of peaches: Jimin. 
And right next to him is none other than Jeon Jeongguk who is chuckling at Jimin’s whiny Karen tone to describe his awful customer. His cheeks creasing, eyes getting shinier and cute. 
You can feel your body thrum with excitement. 
“Hey guys!” Nayeon waves, setting down her utensils. They turn to look at her, then Jeongyeon and then at you, bowing while greeting. Your shoulders cave in when you feel Jeongguk’s stare on your face. “Do you wanna eat lunch with us?”
“Hell yeah. Is the menu today good?” Jimin asks.  
Jeongyeon, with a mouth full of food, nods excitedly which is perfect. Jeongguk and Jimin laugh, motioning to the lunch line quickly so you save the table and go back to eating your lunches. Your brain demands another curious glance at Jeongguk’s retreating figure. 
What? He looks really fucking sexy from the back. 
Ever since the first day of school,  you agreed to ride the subway back with Jeongguk on the days you end class at the same time and you've come to the conclusion that he is quite literally the hottest guy on the entire planet. Hotter than any other guy you’ve wasted your time with. 
He has the most boyish features but his body is perfectly crafted. Wide shoulders, defined thighs and arms, a super sculpted back, but not overly burly where he looks fake. Like an exquisite marble statue from the Hellenistic period. 
Yes, yes, you know it’s sort of weird considering the fact that you’ve  watched grow up from a cute kid to an emo pre-teen and now jumping to the absolute meal he is now but it’s just some simple attraction. 
One that rears its ugly head whenever Jeongguk laughs or smiles or pushes his hair out of his face or tongues his cheek or does literally anything. 
There are a million reasons why this could’ve happened. From all the time spent together from the subway rides to morning coffee and dinner one night (with all of your friends but it still counts) or you’re thinking this silly little attraction might be a combination of a lack of dick, PMS and pure loneliness. Either way, it isn’t anything major. 
Finding a way to ignore it is the next step.
Nayeon nudges you. “Remind me again, how exactly are you two childhood friends?” Her cheeks puffed with food.  
“Oh, I lived in Busan until high school and he was my neighbor. I would always hang out with him and his two sisters.” You explain, taking another bite of soft sticky rice. 
“Older sisters?”
You shake your head. “One older and one younger.” Wondering why this is relevant. 
But then, Nayeon and Jeongyeon make eye contact, eyebrows raising like they do when they know something you don’t. Meanwhile, you’re just sitting there like an idiot, waiting for context with your chopsticks held halfway up to your mouth. 
“Green flag. Bright green fucking flag.” Jeongyeon whistles. 
“Huh?”  Your chopsticks barely prod your lip without your mouth opening. Did the edibles pull out some secret stoner knowledge that you aren’t aware of? 
Jeongyeon decides to explain it to you. “According to the girlies on tiktok, men with older sisters are usually green flags. Something about learning gentleness and patience and respecting women from an early age or whatever. I don’t get you heteros so it went past my head.” 
You’re puzzled at first. These men all have mothers, they came from a woman who nursed them and cared for them until now, why is having an older sister so different?
But then it hits you. 
The way Jeongguk treats you is so different from the way most guys treat you. There’s no domineering masculinity coming from him in heavy waves trying to overpower you. It’s softer. He’s so approachable and gentle. He never touches you unless you’re okay with it, he’s always polite and kind and sweet. He never makes you feel stupid or inadequate, doesn’t talk over you, nothing of the sort. 
And while it’s the barest of minimum, Jeongguk makes you feel safe. 
Even Jeongyeon and Nayeon, who are often not comfortable around straight men, found him to be a delight. That has to mean something. 
“I…I never thought about it,” your voice goes a little husky. Tucking a stray piece of hair out of your face as your cheeks get a little warm. “He’s just a good guy, you know.  Jihyo, his sister, always kept him in check. I guess, it’s a good thing.” 
Kids lead by example. Growing up in an environment where the adults around you were treating women poorly or pushing people around will appear in relationships. But Jeongguk was the opposite. 
“It is. Think about it,” Nayeon leans in, “after all of those duds you’ve been with, he’s just what you’re looking for.” 
The way your heartbeat accelerates is not a good sign. 
Your chin pulls back, like you’re leaning away from the possibility. “What? I’m not gonna date him, Nayeon,” you groan under your breath. 
“Why not?” She whines, slamming her fists onto the table, then laughing slightly at the indents left on his skin. 
“Because he has no interest in dating right now,” you grumble, remembering his words from his birthday. 
Even if you did try to pursue it, there’s a high chance Jeongguk might only see you as his older sister’s friend. Which is how it should be! It’s best that you let this silly little crush die like a lonely star and maintain your promise of making this year all about you. Your bullet vibrator is going to have to help you whenever you get the urge but besides that, no sex, no dates, no boys, nothing of the sort. 
“Did he tell you that?” Jeongyeon asks, eyes glazing over. The weed must be hitting pretty hard. You’re surprised they can keep up with this conversation. 
Then again, they’re probably used to it. 
You nod. “At the club.” Snorting, your eyes briefly flick to the other side of the cafeteria where a certain someone sits. “Juri offered him her number and he said he wasn’t going to go out with her.”
That seems to wake the brunette up. “Fuck, really? I wish I saw that,” she pouts, leaning on the blonde curled up next to her. Cute. 
“Well, he didn’t say no since you two started fucking hazing him the moment you saw him,” you scold. “But he told me he was going to reject her if/when he saw her in person.” 
“Hey! You were the one who directed us to shoo away any man that came up to you that night.” Nayeon defends. “We were just listening to instructions when we came over to stop you two.” 
Jeongyeon joins in. “Yeah, and he looked like your usual type so we assumed we should pull you away. How were we supposed to know the super hot guy you were talking to was a friend?” 
You open your mouth to quip back when you feel a presence behind you, casting a shadow on your back. The lingering smell of cologne and food dance in the air. A wave of despair crashes inside of your stomach and you really wish a black hole would open up right under to sweep you away from this hellscape. 
“What are you guys talking about?” 
Taehyung Jimin split to sit on the bench between Nayeon and Jeongyeon’s bench and yours. It's a square shaped table with four benches on each side, so enough space for two people per bench. The two couples share a bench while you and Jeongguk get your own, although he still sits closer to you on his own bench. 
“U-uh–” Jeongyeon stutters, looking at you with wide eyes for help. 
“Oh, just some guy,” you fake a laugh, flicking some hair out of your face and turning to food so you can shovel it in your face like a starved person. 
Taehyung laughs a little. “Just some guy? Jeongyeon was saying that he’s super hot and your type.” He’s being cheeky, like he always is, but this time, you can’t engage in a back and forth with him. 
Because the hot sweet guy you were talking about is sitting right next to you. 
Your brain urges you to take a peek. Jeongguk is dressed like he usually is; a pair of baggy cargo pants and a light gray sweatshirt, and he always looks attractive. The fall wind is allowing you to smell the scent of his flowery shampoo in combination with his usual perfume and it’s such an addictive scent that you never want to forget. 
But you can’t think about that. You should be thinking of a lie. 
“I’ve always wondered if you had a boyfriend,” Jimin asks, resting his chin on his palm. A sly smirk forms on his lips, just as cheeky as his own boyfriend’s. “I asked Jeongguk and he said he didn’t know.” 
Fuck. You look at him now, hair swishing with your movements. The boy is eating without a care and shrugs in response. “You never mentioned one.” 
Yeah, because there isn’t one. You’ve never had a boyfriend in your life. 
Sweat beads your palms. There has to be some guy that you can just drop in here for the sake of the conversation. Some random guy out in this cafeteria that is insignificant enough to never cross paths with you again so you can nip this conversation right in the bud. 
You scan the place. There are a few guys you’ve already hooked up with so that’s a no. Some groups of first-years and that’s also a no (you’re not trying to catch a case here). 
For fucks’ sake, are the only hot guys at this school Jimin, Taehyung and Jeongguk? 
“Uh–”
Nayeon swoops in like a guardian angel. “We were talking about the Physics and Chem tutor. I don’t know if you guys have had him but, Kim Namjoon?” 
Right, the tutor Nayeon’s friend went to. The really nice one. 
She sends you a hidden wink from her end of the table and you respond with a quick finger heart. Bless her soul. 
“Joon? Oh, he is so hot.” Jimin, to your surprise, bounces at the chance to thirst over this supposed sexy tutor that you’ve never seen before. His eyes roll back at the sheer thought of him, leaning closer to gossip.  “He was our tutors for Physics 2 last semester and wow.” He shakes his head, marveled at such a man. “He could top me and then never speak to me again and I’d be okay with that.”
Now you’re curious about this Kim Namjoon. Just how hot is he? 
Taehyung jumps in. “I agree, however, “he holds a single finger up, “I would also like to add Kim Seokjin, the bio tutor.” His eyes roll back dramatically. “Dream threesome. Foursome if you want babe,” he nudges the blonde who blushes in agreement.  
Then the entire table breaks out into giggles and with a little coaxing, Nayeon and Jeongyeon reveal their ideal threesomes which you already know the answers to (Han Sohee and Irene from Red Velvet) since they share the same girl crushes. Then you answer begrudgingly which are the two male leads from Business Proposal because, obviously. However, the person next to you is rather quiet. You lightly nudge his side with your elbow to check in with him. 
“You okay?” You’re asking just in case Jeongguk isn’t comfortable with sex talk. 
But he nods. “Sorry, I’m still listening. Just really hungry. All I had for breakfast was a protein shake.” Jeongguk inhales the glazed stir-fry chicken on his plate, a dot of sauce landing on the corner of his lip and, oh my, do you want to wipe it off for him because he is so cute with his bready baby cheeks all puffed with food.
“Come on,” you pretend to scold. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Jeongguk’s mom would weep if she heard about him skipping. 
He waves it off but you can see his ears get a little red. “Yeah, yeah, I know but I slept through my alarms so I was in a rush this morning. Almost pulled a Taehyung and crashed into the wall while trying to run out.” 
You laugh at the image. Taehyung can be a bit of a klutz. At the club on Jeongguk’s birthday, he almost crashed into an entire table because he was dizzy from doing tiktok dances all night. Your head throws back slightly, eyes fluttering shut, and when you open them again, Jeongguk’s eyes are on you. 
They feel explorative, searching every inch of your face like he doesn’t want to forget a single inch, lips quirked up in a half smile but it’s Jeongguk’s eyes that really take you aback. His eyes have never looked at you like that before. 
As if something is swimming deep in those pools of glimmery chocolate brown; something warm and sweet in there. 
“Sorry,” he blushes, turning his eyes away from your face and back onto his food. Your heart stops for a moment, looking down at his pillowy soft lips. They’re right there, moisturized and pink. All you really have to do is lean in. 
And with the way Jeongguk looks at you, you really fucking want to. 
He’s so beautiful. So pretty and sweet and kind and unlike any other guy you’ve ever wanted. The urge to go for him is almost primal that you can barely hold yourself back. 
Your friends are like little angels in your head, goading you on to just do it. Just kiss him and take him and then drop it. Satiate that part of you that needs sex, that needs to fucked just right, and then move on. It would be different than usual because Jeongguk is different from the previous men so you wouldn’t get hurt. 
Although… 
He’s Jihyo’s little brother, the boy who needed to hold your hand when crossing the street, the kid always on his skateboard or his nose buried in a manga. Would it tarnish everything that you find familiar to just go for it? Would years of a perfectly healthy happy friendship go right down the drain? 
But Jeongguk is an adult, only one year younger than you. There isn’t anything wrong. 
Ideally, you could just lean in and–
“Jeongguk, what was the name of the blue penguin in the Backyardigans? I really need to know like now,” Taehyung urges, breaking your train of thought immediately. 
You fly back as if the contact singes you, curling into yourself and placing a single hand on the surface of the table to catch your breath. You completely forgot about the whole conversation going on around you when you stared into Jeongguk’s pretty deep eyes. 
It’s clear as day to you. With the man he’s become, it’s obvious that you are definitely into Jeon Jeongguk. 
“Huh?” He rasps, slightly out of it too. “Oh-uh, Pablo. He’s the one that sings International Super Spy.” 
“Pablo! I knew it.” Taehyung snaps his fingers loudly. “How do you still remember that?”
Jeongguk awkwardly forces out a laugh. “We watched a few episodes together this summer, remember?” 
“Right. Pretty sure I was blazed out of my mind, though.” 
Jimin nudges him. “Babe, when are you not blazed out of your mind?”
“When I’m with you, baby boy,” he coos.  
The boy next to you groans out loud. “Ugh, you two are so nasty.” His voice is muffled by food but he still gets his point across. You bite back a giggle at the disgust on his face. 
“Jeongguk, you can’t be mean to us. It’s homophobic.” Jimin points a chopstick in his direction but Jeongguk simply shrugs and continues eating without a care. 
Jeongyeon pipes up. “I agree. That applies to you too, Queen of the Straights.” 
The direct hit has pulled you out of your internal panic, reminding you to contribute to the conversation like friends usually do. Your eyes dull a little. “Yes ma’am.”  Faking a soldier’s salute to make everyone laugh. 
You’re glad that everyone else seems oblivious to what just happened because you know that had the two of you been alone, the situation would be entirely different. 
And you don’t know if that outcome would be any better than this one. 
*:・゚✧*:・゚✧
On Friday, classes get canceled. 
Thankfully, it’s nothing bad. All of the buildings are getting fumigated to keep out any infestations that might’ve crawled in over the summer since someone thought they saw a cockroach in the Arts building so all the professors decide to post the lecture information online or have virtual class if necessary. 
You had no complaints with this change. Attend class in your pajamas, in your bed, and have the option to fall asleep without getting caught? Sounds perfect. 
Although, no in person class means you don’t get to speak to your Physics professor to complain about your flakey tutor and find a new one which you were banking on completing before you had your huge quiz next week. So, once your final lecture ends, you begin to worry about how the hell you’re going to resolve that problem. 
Sure, you could easily self-review with the resources online but you’ve always learned more theoretical concepts with someone explaining it to you in person so you could ask questions immediately. 
You shut your laptop off and place it on top of the long coffee table you use as a desk. An open notebook with notes sits on your right, pen clicked off, highlighters placed neatly in your pencil case, and the silence of your studio apartment almost starts ringing in your ears. 
Who do you know that can tutor you for physics? 
Nayeon sent you the email address for the Namjoon person whom everyone is vouching for. You asked this morning  if he had any space in his tutoring session but he responded saying that he does but he isn’t having a session today and he’s happy to answer any questions over email or through a video call individually. 
You genuinely consider that option until you look up at the decor in your room that Namjoon has no chance of missing during the video call. 
Now, you wouldn’t call yourself a strange person, if anything you are a well-adjusted member of society,  but the pieces chosen to hang up in your studio apartment would raise some eyebrows. From the poster of Bibble from Barbie saying Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss to the concerning amount of Sanrio plushies you’ve collected over the years to all of the cat beds and toys thrown around the place and the impressive array of diffusers in every corner, your apartment is an amalgamation of you. 
And you don’t know if this Namjoon guy is going to take one look at the place and peg you down as a fucking weirdo or not. You want to make a good impression on him. 
So, you wrack your brain for a different option to help you just before your quiz next week. 
Someone. Anyone. 
Your worst bet is to walk over to the nearest cram school and ask someone there but those are all high school students and you’d die of embarrassment. 
Then you remember, Jeongguk took Physics last semester. Maybe he can help. 
Quickly, you pat around your duvet for your phone. It’s lying screen down a few inches away from Snowball’s sleeping body. Carefully, you grab the device, scroll through your contacts and call him with fiery hope coursing through you thickly.
“Hello?” His voice drips from the speakers like flowing water and you want to drown in it. 
“Hey, are you done with online classes?” You ask, on your back and knees to your chest in a very suggestive position. 
“Uh almost,” Jeongguk trails off. “Why? What’s up?”
You hold back a goofy smile at his distracted tone. “You know how you said you took physics last semester?” He hums in response. “Do you think you could explain a few concepts to me? I have this big ass quiz soon and I don’t wanna bomb it.” 
You wait. The pessimist in you expects a rejection, a flat out ‘I’d rather die than waste my time explaining physics concepts to a 21-year-old,’ but the optimist is waiting with a bouquet of roses on the other side. 
This is Jeongguk we’re talking about. Sweet, sweet, lovely Jeongguk. Not that dickhead that sits in the back of lecture and watches hentai on his phone. 
“Oh. I’m not the best teacher.”
Both the optimist and pessimist in your head are waiting on the balls of their feet. That wasn’t the answer you were expecting but it's an answer you aren’t hurt by! 
“That’s okay! I just need someone to go over it with me. As long as you aren’t mean, I won’t complain.” You want to appeal to Jeongguk in a way that’ll get the guy to bend a little and what other way to a man’s heart than food? “I’ll repay you with dinner,” you sing-song.  
There’s a brief pause, like he’s considering the option while noises mumble in the background. “What’s the menu?” Jeongguk asks. 
God, he’s so cute. Your cheeks are raised so high, they might as well curl into your eyes. 
“I live near a great fried chicken place.” Works out perfectly because you’ve been craving something fried for a while now. Must be your period. 
Jeongguk barely waits a second. “Sold. Text me the time and your address.”
You cut the call after bidding each other goodbye. A giddy squeal almost bubbles out of your lips until you realize that you have about two hours until Jeongguk is in your apartment for the first time ever. 
Alone. No friends. No family. 
Just you and this super hot guy. 
No interruptions. Complete privacy. 
You launch out of bed so fast that you wake up Snowball from her slumber. Quickly, you shower and you take your time to scrub your body with lilac body wash and shave. Usually Friday is your pamper day so this isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Then you wash your greasy hair to rid yourself of the conditioning hair mask you slathered on this morning. After your shower, you walk around your studio with your fluffy bathrobe and microfiber towel on to find the perfect outfit. 
It has to be comfortable but cute. Even though Jeongguk is just tutoring you and there is a high chance that this meeting will only be platonic, you still want to look your best. 
Rummaging through your dresser drawers and closet, your eyes immediately fall to your collection of baby-doll lingerie sets in various colors. An expensive purchase, but you’ve always enjoyed dressing up every now and then. Your fingers dance across the itchy lace, thinking about which one Jeongguk would like? Lilac? Baby pink? Maybe the nude one with the intricate designs on the cups? Or how about the blood red and black one that looks like it came straight out of a BDSM film? 
Nah, that’s too much. You go for yoga pants, a plain t-shirt and a quarter-zip with your university’s logo on it. Then selecting a lacy pair of underwear and no bra. You hate wearing one at home anyways. 
The clothes lay spread out on your bed as you begin your post shower process of lotion, deodorant, a soft scented body spray and then your clothes. Then, you dry your hair and then begin cleaning up the little clutter you have over the place. You’re a neat person, which others find shocking, so there isn’t much to do. You dry some dishes on the rack, reset your bedsheets, light up a candle, empty the litter box, and eat a mediocre salad as you wait for the clock to strike 5pm. 
Time moves at a microscopic pace, probably because you’re staring at the moving hands in hopes that you’ll blink at the pretty boy will be standing at your doorstep. You should focus on something else in the meantime. So you take out your physics notebook and begin reviewing. 
Next week’s quiz will be on a little under ½  of the energy chapter covered so far. You’ve been paying attention, taking diligent notes, and doing pretty good on the homework but the topics still freak you out.  
It’s a STEM thing. You haven’t taken one since your first year so you’re rusty and the material seems extra intimidating. Unlike Jeongguk, Jimin and Taehyung, you don’t study this on a daily basis. 
But there’s nothing you won’t be able to conquer without working. 
About halfway through your revision is when the buzz of your home intercom rings, shocking you out of your thoughts. Slowly, you get up, dusting the invisible particles off your clothes and going over to the machine to let Jeongguk in. There’s a short waiting game, lasting about two minutes, as he probably comes up from the lobby and reaches your door before knocking. 
You’re putting a kettle of water to boil as the sound resonates and you rush over to open the door with a bright smile on your lips. 
“Hey,” you breathe out, taking in the sights before you. 
As always, Jeongguk looks perfect in a gray long-sleeve t-shirt and black sweats. Like the comfy soft boyfriend of your dreams. His hair is a little damp at the ends but it waves a little past his eyebrow as it grows and his backpack straps pull his shirt wide to show off his broad shoulders. 
Fucking hell, you think. You want to eat him up and ruin him. 
Swallowing shakily, you step aside as he grins. “Hi.” Jeongguk’s voice is low, like usual, but a little buttery and less hoarse. Almost sexy. 
Basically, it’s doing things to you. 
Carefully, you lead him inside where Jeongguk takes his shoes off and stares at the place with those big eyes of his. You wonder what goes through that pretty head of his as he stares at the various stuffed animals and the wall art. But, instead, he lands on the Kirby shaped cat-bed at the base of your bed holding Snowball’s half-asleep body. 
“You have a cat?” He asks. 
“Oh, I forgot to tell you.” You walk in front of the thing, squatting down in front of the entrance to hold a hand out for the ball of fluff to sniff. Snowball headbutts you immediately. “You didn’t inherit your dad’s allergy, did you?” 
That would crush you. As much as you like dogs, you’re a cat person at heart or a Snowball person at heart. 
Jeongguk shakes his head no. Then he comes to the same spot you are and gets on his knees on the opposite side of you, watching with curious doe eyes. Slowly, Jeongguk extends his hand out, thinking Snowball needs time to get used to him like some cats do, but no. She’s friendly and extroverted, getting out of the bed to welcome Jeongguk with an excited soft-tone trill.
It’s heartwarming watching her melt into his touch, purring and climbing into Jeongguk’s lap the more he pets her on all of her favorite spots. 
“You’ve been accepted,” you muse, crossing your arms over your stomach in hopes that by pushing on it, that buttery, gooey, sugary feeling will go away. 
“Yay,” Jeongguk cheers cutely. “What’s her name?” 
“Snowball.” 
“Snowball!” He coos. “You are the cutest ever!” Jeongguk leans down to tell her, slight aegyo in his tone. The rounded tip of his nose brushes the top of her small head
No, you are, is what zings through your mind but don’t tell Snowball you thought that.  
Since your knees start screaming at you to get up, you leave Jeongguk and Snowball to go check on the kettle which is at its very end of boiling the water. You get up on your tiptoes to pull out two white mugs and before grabbing your go-to peach green tea packets, you ask Jeongguk. 
“Tea or coffee?” 
Jeongguk looks up from Snowball curled on his lap, the body of a bright grin on his lips. “Coffee please.” When you nod, he goes back to petting the white feline without another care. 
His adorable politeness removes any nerves you had or any prior sheepishness from the way your studio apartment looks. Small and decorated with all of your interests. The only people that have ever been here are your mother, Jeongyeon and Nayeon. Hookups were always at their place or a hotel so it’s a little odd to see Jeongguk seated on your floor. 
But at the same time, it’s Jeongguk on your floor so you aren’t that worried. 
Pouring the mugs with steaming hot water, you grab a packet of instant coffee while your tea bag steeps and you make Jeongguk his coffee. In the meantime, he’s seated by your coffee table/desk, shrugging his backpack off while Snowball sits beside Jeongguk diligently. Like she’s protecting him from whatever she thinks is going to attack him. 
“I like your place,” Jeongguk says, shocking you for a moment. “It’s very,” he trails off. “Very you.” 
You give him a dulled look over your shoulder. “What do you mean by that?”
“You know, it’s got all of your favorite things.” His chin gestures to the Sanrio stuffed animals, the various figurines from all of your favorite animes, the vintage posters, the bunny paraphernalia, all of your favorite things, like Jeongguk said. 
You turn, pressing the small of your back to the cold counter behind you. “Your place is nice too,” you add for the sake of returning the compliment, although it is true. 
Jeongguk shakes his head. “Yeah but, my landlord is a gaping asshole and hates the idea of posters and paintings since he’s scared it’ll fuck up the wall. It’s nice but it feels dead,” he gives your apartment one more look, “but yours has some personality, you know? I’m kinda jealous.” 
His smile is genuine, sweet and kind. You find yourself melting from the sheer sight of it but you hold yourself back. Don’t want to look too whipped.  
Exhaling with some laughter, you start bringing the mugs over along with some biscuits since it’s tea time. “The first apartment we had when we moved here was like that. The landlord didn’t even let my mom change the curtains even though the ones that came with the place had stains all over it.” Jeongguk grimaces at the thought. “But Mrs. Jeong from our Busan apartment was so nice.” 
What a sweet woman. She would often come down whenever she heard one of them had a cold or if there was a birthday and she was never harsh when your mother’s checks bounced or if she needed an extra day because she hadn’t gotten paid yet. She was the reason you thought all landlords had some semblance of empathy but no. 
“We lived there for about fifteen years. It sucked having to leave.” 
“Oh my god, I didn’t know you moved out!” You gasp, shifting yourself to face him completely. “Is your current place closer to the bakery?”
“No, it’s actually farther but it’s closer to the center of Busan so public transport is good. Plus, noona got a car so it’s not too bad.” 
You sigh. Fuck, you miss Busan so much. Even hearing the slight satoori in Jeongguk’s voice does wonders for your nostalgia as yours only peeks out when you’re angry thanks to teasing from all of the Seoul elitists. 
The beach, the food, the fresh air, the streets, you miss all of it. Such a simple time. You’ve always dreamed of settling there once you’ve figured your life out. It was your end goal. 
“I wanna hear more but let’s get physics out of the way first,” you tap your notebook twice and Jeongguk moves to his backpack to take some items out to start the tutoring session. 
And, to no one’s shock, Jeongguk is actually a really great tutor. 
He’s patient with you and doesn’t mind giving you constant encouragement when you get a bit insecure halfway through a word problem. On concepts you’re unsure about, Jeongguk explains them in the simplest way possible without getting haughty. No outbursts if you make the same mistake two times in a row, he never once calls you stupid or says you’re wasting his time. Jeongguk gently coaches you until you try to solve some problems on your own from the textbook without his help and he checks them afterwards, telling you what you did right and wrong.   
Quite literally, this is all that you wanted. 
Someone to answer your questions, explain a few concepts, and walk you through a couple of examples without questioning your smarts as a whole. 
It’s nice. You feel safe and even better, you feel actually prepared for the quiz which is the opposite of how you felt this morning. You aren’t even worried about it at all. 
After clearing through the sample quiz and practice problems easily in a matter of about 2 ½ hours, you two are all done tutoring. Which means freedom for the rest of the night. 
Quickly, you connect your laptop to the small TV mounted on the wall and put on Love Island since neither of you have watched it. Jeongguk is rather curious about it since Jimin and Taehyung won’t stop talking about it,  so you decide to jump into the newest season with him while leaning against your bed and pulling up the menu for the fried chicken place.
“I’m getting honey garlic,” you tell him when you hand him your phone.  
“Then, I’ll do the spicy cheese one.” He leans closer instead of taking the device and you really wish he didn’t because your body reacts to the proximity with goosebumps erupting all over you like you’re a teenager again. 
Your eyes flick up to his side profile, which is literally perfect. His jaw is strong, well cut, defined and his skin is the color of fresh milk tea. You can see little imperfections on his skin like old acne scars, the slightly chapped surface of his lips, and all of his shiny earrings. You love the way he looks and how Jeongguk has grown into his features.  The urge to trace his jawline with your tongue is insane, almost caustic inside of you. It’s impossible to push down. You sort of dressed up for this tutoring date, throwing on a pair of your favorite panties, lathering yourself in the softest lotion; you took all of the right steps and you’re hungry for a certain ending even though there’s a high chance it won’t happen at all. The horny side of you is begging for you to shoot your shot. 
But you stop. Not yet. Not right now. 
While Jeongguk picks out drinks, appetizers and the dessert he wants,  you rush to the bathroom for a second. In the mirror, you take notice of your reddened cheeks and parted lips and the messy wisps of hair sticking out. You quickly tie it back into a loose braid and then splash some water on your face. 
Reel it back, bitch.  
While in the bathroom, you call out. “Hey Jeongguk? Could you get my wallet? It’s on top of my dresser, the one next to my closet.” Might as well pay now so you can get the chicken faster. 
“Okay!” He responds. 
The noise your stomach makes is loud and painful. The salad you had did nothing to satiate your cravings so the thought of chicken, perfectly fried to a crisp and covered in garlicky sweet sauce has you practically salivating. Especially since you’ve been eating so healthily as of late. It’s nice to treat yourself to some fast food.
Afterwards, you trudge back on over to the coffee table and plop down silently while Jeongguk puts in your card information. Meanwhile, you remember to feed Snowball for dinner and give her some much needed attention by bringing her to sit with the two of you so she can be pet and loved. 
Jeongguk’s warmth emanates from his shoulder that is inches away from you while the Love Island intro song plays at the start of every new season. Half-heartedly, you watch the corny antics as each contestant introduces themselves with the main host speaking over and you think about how much internal anguish you’re feeling at the moment. 
An object prods into your forearm. You look down to see the rounded edge of your credit card. “I paid,” Jeongguk tells you. You don’t respond verbally, taking the plastic and shoving it into the slot of your card wallet. 
“Thanks,” you mumble. You bring your knees up to your chest and rest your chin on top of them, hoping to get into the various shirtless tattooed guys on your television screen. It’s an easy task. Shows like Love Island don’t ask too much of you but you can get into it enough where other thoughts begin to fade. 
You check your phone to see that the chicken should be delivered in about 10 minutes. Then you can have food and TV to reward you for all of your hard work. 
The beginning is awkward as each person picks their couple purely based on looks and their name. You cringe when a guy comes in and no one steps up to match with him so he has to randomly choose a girl who was either too shy to step up to say she thinks he’s cute or not at all interested in him. It sounds like such an awkward place to be in and you’d hate to be on either side of the situation. 
Jeongguk, on the other hand, isn’t a reality TV kind of guy. So he has a million questions and comments throughout the 57 minute episode. 
“I don’t get it. They just shove 10 hot people in a house and they have to like each other?” 
“Fuck, that’s how you’re supposed to say Leicester?” 
“That one guy looks like such a fuck boy. Why would you ever get a chest tattoo of an eagle?” 
“What happens if you don’t like anyone you match with? Can you just leave?” You shrug in response. This is your first time watching this show too.  “I’d leave so fast if I was on this show. None of these people would interest me.”
“Me too,” you respond, playing with the frayed edge of an old receipt sticking out of one of the wallet pockets. “I’d get the ick so fast and then hop on the first plane back home.” 
Jeongguk’s bantering turns the simple binge into something more. You start laughing, indulging his every whim, making fun of the guys trying too hard to flirt and seem suave and it’s really fun. You manage to barely remember the way you felt when you came out of the bathroom. 
Is this how it should always be? Platonically hanging out? 
Was it a good thing that you stopped yourself before your desires took over your logic?
You don’t know. You don’t want to either. You just want to sit back and enjoy the rest of this lovely day off. 
After another few minutes of watching the show, you feel Jeongguk’s eyes on you. Wide, glittery, washing over every inch of your skin like he’s trying to commit your features to memory. You raise an eyebrow in question. For a moment, he doesn’t do anything, just stares at you, and then he points to your phone screen where a notification from the delivery app shows. 
The food is here. 
Quickly, you go down, slipping some slides on your feet and shoving your hands in the pockets of your sweater. The delivery person hands you the plastic bag with steaming boxes and you thank them before trundling back upstairs. The smell that wafts to you is mouth-wateringly delicious. 
This. This is your treat after a grueling two weeks of school. 
You bring it up for you and Jeongguk to dig into. The chicken is fresh and delicious and in combination with Jeongguk’s commentary, you start to really enjoy yourself. Especially as all your sex related thoughts begin to push to the back of your brain and the night gets more fun yet relaxing. The food is good and the drinks are refreshing. 
Afterwards, you crack open a bag of  kit kats to share with him to cap off the meal with something sweet since none of the desserts at the restaurant sounded appealing to either of you. 
Love Island is addictive. Your friends were right about it. Two episodes later and the two of you are curious about who is the new islander coming and how they are going to shake things up. 
The TV is on the wall mounted across your bed and coffee table. For the sake of your backs, you move Jeongguk to the bed and take some pillows to lean against so your backs aren’t completely sore by the next morning. 
Although, you do wish your back was sore for another reason but let’s not get into that just yet. 
Since you don’t have a lot of pillows, you share your main one, meaning you’re a lot closer to Jeongguk than you originally planned. To the point where your arms are pressed against each other and your legs are brushing. It makes you nervous to be this close. His perfume is a strong elixir, heady and comforting, pushing you to lean in and bury your face into the delectable skin of his neck. Even his neck, wow. The skin is so smooth, there’s a mole right in the middle of it. You want to sink your teeth into the flesh and use your lips and tongue to paint it all sorts of beautiful colors. 
Sweat begins to form on your hairline. You get nervous with Jeongguk sitting so close to you, hands itching to do something. First they play around with the single star pendant on your necklace, then at a loose thread on your comforter, and then you decide to redo your hair. 
The braid has become a straggly mess with you leaned against things so you pull your hair tie off and begin to undo your braid. At the very least, it is something for your hands to do, keep them occupied and away. 
From Jeongguk that is. You don’t want to obstruct his view or break his attention. 
Pushing off from the pillow, suddenly something happens on screen that makes your head turn abruptly  to see who said what and your hair wacks Jeongguk right in the eye. 
“Shit,” he hisses, clutching his face, curling inwards. 
You begin to panic, turning in on your knees to get closer to him. 
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I was trying to tie my hair and then something happened on screen so I–” you stop midway, no need for an explanation. Instead, check to see if your hair scratches him in the cornea or not.
Jeongguk’s legs, that were once crossed, are now spread wide without your body taking up the space next to him on your bed. Without a second thought, you cross over the one closest to you and end up in between his two long legs. One hand on his shoulder to grab his attention. 
“Are you okay?” You ask worriedly, trying to search his gaze but Jeongguk’s eyes are turned down. “Jeongguk?” 
Muffled, he speaks up. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.” Jeongguk drops his hands onto his thighs before blinking a few times and you see a telltale tear pool from his big doe eyes, dripping down the slope of his cheek. 
A huge wave of guilt crashes inside of you. 
You made Jeongguk cry. 
Not intentionally but still. He’s crying. 
“Aw,” you cup his cheeks, searching his irises for anything like you’re a licensed ophthalmologist or something, wiping the stray tear with your thumb.“I’m really sorry. Do you need eye drops or anything?” You sit down on your feet, leaning closer to see him. “I can go check in my medicine box if I have any left from Spring.”
He doesn’t respond. 
 Jeongguk freezes immediately with you between his legs. As if all of his blood stops flowing through his veins and he’s turned to stone by Medusa. He glances at every corner of your face, at the strands of hair framing it, like he’s never seen you before. His jaw unhinges and the tip of his pink tongue is just barely visible. 
You don’t even notice how close you get. So worried about the possibility of your hair scratching his cornea that you forget that your knees are brushing against his crotch. Nor do you think about how your face is near, you’re literally staring down like you’re about to kiss him despite dreaming about being in this position all day. 
The only thing echoing in your mind is: Is Jeongguk okay? 
Not another thought. 
“I–” he stops, lips parted, “I’m okay, really.” 
Jeongguk’s palm gently pushes your hands off of his cheeks and he shifts in his spot. 
He’s practically shielding himself for you. His legs are pushed up to his chest now. Jeongguk looks like an animal that’s getting scolded for spilling food everywhere and you cannot understand why on earth he’d be making a face like that. 
“Is something wrong?” You ask. Jeongguk covers his face but you can see his ears starting to turn red. 
You inch closer to him and gently wrap your fingers around his wrist. You’re so close you can smell the gentle perfume he’s sprayed on his neck and the inviting scent of his hair serum. But he’s wriggling around like a fish out of water and it’s scaring you. 
His hands move down, ripping his wrist out of your grip to cover up his crotch and you see a glimpse of the obvious bulge poking from his sweatpants. 
Oh. 
You recoil, muscles tightening as your brain moves a mile a minute. Something Jeongguk must sense from you because he starts explaining way faster than you thought he would. 
“I’m sorry! This is–I can leave if you’d like–” 
“It’s okay, Jeongguk,” you mumble. Your voice is soft. 
It’s okay. It’s more than okay. 
It’s better than okay. 
Jeongguk continues to panic, deaf to your obvious nonchalance about him popping a boner right after you almost blinded him. “I don’t–It just sort of happened-and-and I wasn’t like–thinking a-about you or doing anything–it just,” he pauses midway, sighs to catch his breath, stops nervously stuttering,  and then turns to get up which makes you a little nervous. “I’ll go to the bathroom and get rid of it–”
In a flash, your hand wraps around his wrist to stop him from moving. 
“It’s okay,” you repeat. “I’m not grossed out.” Literally, you are the complete opposite of that but barely you mull it over one last time before speaking up again. “I could fix it, if you’d like.” Just before your conscience could stop you.
This is it. This is your chance to have him. Just once, satiate that need, and then you can go back to normal. 
The universe practically handed you this opportunity on a golden platter so you should take it. Given that Jeongguk is down too. 
His eyes go adorably wide. “W-what?” Jeongguk stutters. 
“I could help you deal with it.”  You say once more. 
At least your voice is clear and sure. On the inside, you’re just a giant piece of adrenaline. 
Jeongguk relaxes some more, gulping, and you watch his Adam’s apple bob. His shoulders broaden like he’s trying to seem confident but you can tell that he’s nervous as fuck too. 
“Why would you do that?” 
Oh, you pretty thing. You have no idea, do you?
“I don’t mind,” you shrug. Feeling bold, the hand that rests on his shoulder squeezes the mass indulgently and Jeongguk feels exquisite. You want to rip all of these clothes off of his body. “You helped me with physics so,” trailing off, as if it’s the only logical solution to this problem. 
To you, it feels like it is. Trade an A on a quiz for an orgasm. 
Plus, you finally get to rid yourself of this intense sexual tension building inside of you. A combination of your hormones and your loneliness all cooked up to make a touch-starved mess at the tiniest thing. Being with Jeongguk could be just what you need to get your focus back on yourself. He’s gorgeous, inside and out, so there’s no intense guilt to bubble from letting some douchebag grow an even bigger ego by sleeping with you. 
Jeongguk is still apprehensive. “You… you know you don’t-like-owe it to me to fix this, right? Just because I got hard doesn’t mean it’s your job to do something for me.” 
You’re taken aback. 
Most guys wouldn’t have even protested. Your mouth would be on his dick and the minute they come, you’d be all alone. They’re the types to view sex in a very individualistic manner. 
A dopey smile makes its way to your lips. “I know. This isn’t a really transactional thing.” You cup his cheek with one hand this time and trace the deep scar there absentmindedly. “I actually want to do this.” 
If Jeongguk were to hear the insane things your brain produces, you wonder if he’d run for the hills or be flattered. Definitely the former. 
“Okay but um,” he avoids your eyes, looking off to the side and you sort of love Jeongguk like this. It’s so different from his nonchalant easygoing behavior.  “I’ve never,” he searches for the words, changes his mind halfway through, and finds another path. “No one has ever like-oh god this is embarrassing–”
You decide to save him. “No one’s ever given you a blowjob?” 
He nods behind his hands that rose to cover his reddening face during his reveal. God, he’s adorable. 
“Really?”
“Is that such a surprise?”
“Yeah, I mean, you’re hot.” You say truthfully. His change of expression does wonders for your confidence. So much so that you decide to bite the bullet and run a hand through his hair affectionately. “How far have you gone?”
The strands are silky smooth, flowing through your fingers like water, and Jeongguk’s eyes flutter shut at the sensation as he mumbles out a response. 
“I kissed someone but only a few times. I got dragged to a high school party and played spin the bottle but nothing more than that.” 
This is new for you. Almost every guy you’ve ever been with is experienced or way more experienced than you. From the guy in high school who took your virginity all the way to Wooshik. And they varied from vanilla guys to those who are super into the dom/sub spiel. You’ve never been the experienced one and it feels different. 
Like you’re corrupting him, forcibly taking away something precious. Like Mrs. Robinson on the prowl for someone younger whom she can use to her advantage. 
And even though that isn’t the case with you and Jeongguk, you want this to be different than your first time. If anything, you want him to feel safe and wanted and to let him know that, at any point, if he wants to stop then it will stop. Just like there’s no obligation for you to make him feel good, there is no obligation for him to return the favor. 
“Then let’s start with that and then we can move on if you’re comfortable. Or we don’t have to do anything and we can just forget about it. Whatever you want.” 
You won’t do anything unless he wants you to. As much as you want to touch him, as much as you need sex, you’re totally fine with taking things at his pace. 
And if he rejects this entire thing and opts to fix his situation in the bathroom, that’s okay too. 
Jeongguk presses the back of his head against the wall in thought, giving you an amazing view of his jawline, until he shyly speaks. “Okay.” 
“Okay?” You want to be sure, hiding the fact that you are utterly elated on the inside.  Jeongguk just turns more red as he avoids your eyes peering into him. 
“You–we can start. I-if that’s what you want.” 
You exhale through your nose. “Oh, you have no idea how much I want to.” 
Before he can question you, you lean down and gently connect your lips with his. 
There’s a moment where it feels foreign, where your body becomes covered with goosebumps at the sheer adrenaline coursing through you and the way your brain freaks out at the change. This is happening, you’re finally doing this, but you take a second to just press and feel. Be in the moment and stop trying to control everything, then you’re fine. 
It’s easy because Jeongguk’s lips are pillowy soft. 
Starting off with a quick peck, you split for a second, nose brushing, and then you kiss Jeongguk again. This time it’s much stronger. Any lack of confidence melts when your lips move languidly against Jeongguk. He’s responsive to your every movement, feeling the inside of your mouth with his own, while his hands rest appropriately on your hips. His lip balm is rose flavored and delectable. Jeongguk is a good kisser. 
The noises fill the quiet apartment as you move closer and cup his jaw on one side while your other hand goes back to his silky soft hair to move your lips cohesively. You adjust yourself so that instead of kneeling between his legs, you’re straddling his thick muscular thighs and they feel exquisite against you, pulling a soft sigh from your lips. 
Jeongguk must feel your exhale, gaining some bravado to take the lead when he kisses you, setting the pace as his own hands begin to move from their comfortable spot on your hips. Part of you really wants to push them down to your ass to feel those big sexy hands grab a handful but you want to wait to see what he does.
He kisses you a little wet but wanton, igniting a deep burning flame inside of you. It’s bright, hot, and you can’t pull yourself away from him the more your lips collide, suckle, and slot. 
Jeongguk’s hands begin tracing up your back with a feather-light touch, and your lips part at the feeling when he unexpectedly inches his tongue into your mouth. 
Looks like he wasn’t lying when he said he’s kissed before. 
Crackles of pleasure bubble in you. Kissing can turn you on, if the guy is good at what he does, and Jeongguk is doing just that. That throbbing sensation takes over and you find yourself clenching around nothing, dreaming of having something just fill you just how you like. His tongue tangles with yours. The kiss starts to get much sloppier, something you didn’t realize you were craving until now, and you rise up on your knees while gently tugging on his hair in a flash of atypical roughness on your end. 
Your mind refuses to process that this is Jihyo’s little brother who is kissing you silly. Right now, he’s Jeongguk. 
Jeongguk with the gorgeous eyes and the gorgeous body who got hard the moment you inched closer. 
You decide to grind down on him, especially when the curve of his bulge becomes more prominent against your ass, and Jeongguk muffles a noise into your mouth. The fabric of your underwear drags across your neglected clit, pulling another sigh out of you. It’s a small jolt of pleasure and you can feel yourself dampen even more. From the action and from the way Jeongguk sounds. 
Another moan comes from Jeongguk when you grind against him again and again, whiny yet soft. It’s doing something to you. His hands squeeze your hips and then one drifts to the back of your thigh. 
Pulling away to catch your breath, you press your forehead against his. There’s a thin layer of sweat building on your skin but your arms loop comfortably around Jeongguk’s neck, tugging his body forwards. His eyes glimmer at you, with kiss-bruised lips and the beginnings of his pearly white bunny teeth peeking out from between. You resist the urge to dive down again, instead wanting to appreciate the absolute view you have right now. 
Your fingers tangle in a lock of his soft black hair. “You’re so gorgeous,” you whisper, taking in his forehead, his jawline, his perfect nose, and every single one of his moles. 
Jeongguk, who is already blushed and heavily breathing, gets even more shy at your compliment, looking away from you to avoid your teasing smile. Which just makes you want to shower him in more praise just to see how embarrassed he can get. 
“So pretty, so handsome,” your finger traces his jaw before going down to his unblemished neck where the skin looks so soft but the area is taut and beautiful. You want to see how he’d look with hickeys. “I want to mark you,” you point to the middle of the right side of his neck, “right here.” 
Jeongguk’s eyebrows raise to his hairlines. “You want to give me a hickey?” He says incredulously. You nod. 
“I want you to remember this.”
Usually, you aren’t the possessive type but you think about Juri, walking through campus and finding Jeongguk, someone that she’s expressed interest in, like this. Covered in marks you left, reeling after the pleasure you gave him. You know the chance is unlikely and if Jeongguk were to run into her, you doubt he’d tell her any bit of what you two had done but it’s the principle of it all. 
That she can be a misogynistic pick-me/not-like-the-other girl all she wants, you still pull better than she ever will. 
Maybe then, she’ll keep your name out of her damn mouth. 
Jeongguk exhales quietly, holding some weight. “Do you actually think I’ll forget this?” 
You smirk. “Dunno, but I can’t let a pretty little thing like you get away, can I? Especially with all of those other girls who love to stare.”
It happens often whenever you two would be walking from class or on public transport and people would stare at Jeongguk. Not that you’d blame them. With a face like that, Jeongguk could debut as an idol and win the hearts of millions, he could act or model even, but then you become more aware of the fact that someone even better could scoop him up at any time and you wouldn’t stand a chance against them. 
“I won’t,” he starts, shaking his head with eyes so honest and truthful that you almost collapse in his hold. “I won’t go away and I won’t forget, okay?” Jeongguk pleads with you, holding your body still with two exact hands on your hips. 
You swear your stomach feels a group of butterflies flapping about, along with unicorns and rainbows and glitter and all of that silly shit when Jeongguk says that. The hand in his hair cups his cheek, thumb tracing his cheekbone. 
“You won’t?” 
“Never,” Jeongguk presses firmly. “And,” he hesitates for a moment, “and I’m not looking at anyone else right now, either. There’s just you.” 
There’s just you. 
The sentence sounds like a confession. Like he’s being honest while you were just being horny and possessive. You feel your act drop, whatever front you were putting up, it drops, and you don’t know what to say at first. 
The truth? You aren’t thinking about anyone else either. You don’t want to. You want Jeongguk. There’s only Jeongguk right now. 
Had this been with any other person, you wouldn’t feel comfortable being honest with them. You wouldn’t trust them not to use that against you but you know Jeongguk and you trust Jeongguk more than anything. 
“I… I’m not looking at anyone either,” you manage to mumble out. Now you’re the one who is all red and shy. 
And watching Jeongguk’s expression change when you said that… priceless. 
He stares at you like you hung all of the stars in the sky, that you push the sun up in the sky every morning, like the dew droplets on the blades of grass, like it was just you. 
It’s perfect yet so much at the same time. You want to say more but you don’t know what else you could say so you meet his gaze, then dip down to his lips, and he nods so you lean in to kiss him again. 
He makes a noise of surprise, immediately licking fiercely into your mouth to meet the movements of your lips. Slowly, Jeongguk pulls away from the wall and begins moving down to lay against the bed, holding himself up with a forearm on the soft material and strengthening his hold on you so you wouldn’t slip off from him. 
You feel Jeongguk grin against your lips at your eagerness but he maintains the energy. Arching your back a little, mostly for show, you reach back and push one of Jeongguk’s hands further down to your ass. He’s been so careful and gentle with you so far and, as nice as it is, you want more. His eyebrows furrow against you, curling his palm over the tangible curve before giving your ass a tentative squeeze and pulling a muffled moan from you. 
So Jeongguk does it again. Does it with more vigor, digging his fingers into the flesh of your cheek and grinding his hips upwards. Gets you throbbing insufferably and so wet. 
“Jeongguk,” you gasp into his mouth, meeting the movement of his hips with your own. The bulge in his pants becomes really prominent as you break the kiss, moving down his strong jawline to his perfect neck. 
Whatever perfume he uses, the smell is strong now, filling your olfactory senses with sweet powdery softness. Your lips search for that spot you ache to mark, digging your teeth into the gentle flesh and soothing  the area over with your tongue. 
The noise he makes…
Jeongguk whimpered when you were sucking and biting on his skin. 
It took so much willpower for you to not rip his damn top off when that sound reached your ears. You were so wet and throbbing in your pants, desperate for some form of touch besides your soaked underwear against your clit. If you could, you’d cover his entire body with hickeys, paint his neck all sorts of beautiful colors if it were socially acceptable for someone to be walking around like that and not have everyone’s immediate thought be that he got jumped or something. 
But you practice restraint and suck on the hot skin, kissing, and doing your best to keep yourself under control even if your wetness was starting to become bothersome. Jeongguk’s hands on your ass don’t help with that either. 
The hold helps you feel the shape of his fingers which are pretty long and thick. You’ve seen them writing, typing, gripping onto the pole in the subway so the veins and tendons pop out and you’ve reached a conclusion that you need to feel them inside of you. Pumping deep and slow. Since the digits are longer than yours, they would reach that damned spot inside, turn you into a shaking, coming, mess. You crave that. 
Even before Wooshik, these dry spells weren’t uncommon. You know that it’s just your monthly horror revving up the hormones that’s making you want some dick like water in a desert but still. 
A girl has her needs. Especially when said girl is constantly hanging around a hot guy. 
Once you pull away from his neck after creating a total of three hickeys, you sit up. All of the kissing and petting and grinding has made you all sweaty so you quickly pull off your quarter-zip hoodie, leaving the plain t-shirt you have on underneath with no bra. 
Jeongguk’s eyes fall to the way your breasts lift and fall with the movement, jiggling into place as you throw the piece of clothing somewhere. The change in temperature has your nipples straining against the thin material and you can tell his attention has shifted. 
With a cocked brow, you smirk. “Want my shirt off?” You ask, slowly twisting the hem around a single finger. 
“Yeah.” 
His hands give your ass another appreciative squeeze. One that nearly has you dropping the control but you rebuild quickly. 
“Take this off then.” You place a hand down on the base of his stomach. Jeongguk’s shirt is thin so you can feel his stomach through the fabric. You need it off asap. 
Jeongguk’s lips part. You think he’s going to deny at first. Maybe he isn’t comfortable showing you his body yet. That’s okay; you don’t mind. Whatever he’s comfortable with, right? 
But in a split second, he grips the gray fabric and sits up slightly to peel it off of his body and gives you a view of what he has underneath. 
Which is just exquisite. 
Jeongguk treats his body like it’s a work of art. When he isn’t gaming or studying, he’s in the gym and he has one of the strictest meal plans you ever see. Allowing himself one cheat meal out of the week and then sticking to his rice, steamed veggie and lean meats for the rest of the days. And that dedication shows in the way his body looks. 
While still being thin and put together, his stomach is defined with steel-cut abs and his obliques are enviable along with sturdy shoulders, firm chest and deliciously bulky arms. 
You’ve never really cared about the body of whoever you were sleeping with. Muscles are nice and hot but they aren’t a necessity. Honestly, having a handsome/pretty face can get a guy farther than a six pack but now you might be changing your mind on that stance. Because Jeongguk has a pretty face and a six pack. 
Or is that a twelve pack? You didn’t really count. 
A single finger starts at Jeongguk’s sternum, tracing down his body to the waistband of his sweats, taking your time to appreciate every patch of skin and flesh. You inch backwards so you are sitting more on his thighs than his lap where his bulge is firmly straining against his pants. Looking all inviting. Your thighs clench together to relieve yourself from the lack of attention.
But before you can wrap your hands around him, Jeongguk’s fingers close around your wrist to stop you. 
“You said if I took my shirt off, you would too,” he reminds you. His tone is low, barely teetering into a domineering one. Brings a rush of arousal to your pussy and you immediately bite the inside of your cheek. 
Jeongguk ordering you around is… really hot. 
“Eager.” 
The plain t-shirt is rather unflattering on the outside so you do away with it quickly, feeling the mass of your breasts lift and bounce back down while adjusting to the temperature change. Your nipples are hard and goosebumps cover your upper body. 
But that’s mainly caused by the way Jeongguk’s eyes practically ravish you. 
You wonder if he’s more of an ass guy or a boob guy. Because his grip has stayed on the plump curve of your backside but his tongue swipes over his bottom lip while staring at your tits like he’s at the Louvre and he has two seconds to take a glance at the Mona Lisa. 
  There’s a sense of vulnerability to have him look at you like this. Like you’re something perfect when all everyone else, including yourself, does is point out your faults. 
It’s too much. You need to make a move, get his eyes off of you, so your hand goes back to the waistline of his pants where his boxer band flashes quickly. Calvin Klein, black in color to match the color of his sweatpants. 
“Can I?” You ask, looking down at the heavy print showing through the material and your mouth waters. 
Jeongguk nods immediately. “Please.” 
Carefully, you peel back the first layer of clothing. The tight elastic pressure around his waist is enough to slowly peel back Jeongguk’s boxers, exposing the beginning of his ilium but then he raises his hips some more until his sweatpants are pushed a little past the beginning of his quad muscles. You desperately want to see the sinew on his legs because you’ve been feeling them flex and move against you this entire time and they are just to your expectations. His skin is soft, a little tanned, thin hairs barely visible on his thighs from the hallowed light. 
“What do you want? My hand or my mouth?” 
You said a blowjob but whatever he wants, you will do. 
His eyes darken with lust. “Y-your hand, first,” Jeongguk stutters, shaking some hair off his sweaty forehead.  You try not to smile excitedly at the word first. 
“Okay.” 
After pressing one more kiss on his perfect nose, your palm cups his bulge. Against the material, you can see somewhat of a defined shape. It’s thick, impressive looking, and your wetness is soaking through your pants, effectively ruining the pair but that’s the least of your concerns. You fight the urge to grind into something, relieve some of the throbbing pressure from your core, clenching around nothing in hopes that it will fix. 
Jeongguk says your name carefully, checking to see if you’re still okay with continuing and your attention is back on him. You give him a wry smile in response and then work on slowly tugging his boxers off of his hips to free his cock. 
You gasp when his length slaps against his bare stomach, incapable of holding it in. 
 He’s big and thick; bigger and thicker than any guy you’ve ever been with. Jeongguk’s dick is pretty. Two veins trailing up the sides and pulsating with blood, the tip peeking with a small droplet of pearly white pre-cum. 
“Fuck,” you curse, reaching a hand forward to barely wrap around him. Your fingers manage to encompass the whole circumference but you can only accredit that to your long digits. Otherwise he would be too girthy. 
Jeongguk’s eyes flutter shut when you pump his length once. His jawline strains sexily as little puffs of air escape his lips. He looks so good when he’s pleased. As if he was made to only look like that. The emotion sits perfectly on his pretty features. 
A bead of pearly white fluid seeps from the stop, collecting slightly over the flesh-toned head. You lick your lips. “I don’t think you’ll fit in my mouth.” 
“W-what?” He stammers. 
“You’re too big, baby,” you purr, panicking momentarily about the pet name. “Shit,” swearing under your breath when you feel him twitch. Then, you let a fat drop of spit fall from your mouth and onto the head to aid your hand gliding up and down. “My throat will definitely be sore tomorrow.” 
Not that you’re complaining. 
The boy beneath you flushes. “I–” his breathing quickening when your hand works over him expertly, barely a moan. “You–um–you don’t have to,” Jeongguk offers. 
You coo, reaching forward to boop Jeongguk’s cute little nose with your free hand, still slowly jerking his cock with the other, giving the fat length a nice squeeze at the base. “But I want to,” forcing a pout and watching his gaze turn heady with euphoria. “Don’t you want me to use my mouth? To suck you off nice and properly?” 
This is new for you. You are usually rather submissive in bed and you’ve always liked it that way. If anything, you sought after guys who were more dominant because it was an immediate turn-on for you but now that you’ve made Jeongguk all pliant and soft, you can’t stop. He just looks so perfect. His eyes clench shut, creases appearing at the sides when your hands squeeze his length teasingly on the upstroke, legs going more rigid. 
Jeongguk doesn’t respond at first so you lean down, holding yourself up with one hand splayed on the mattress, right next to his head, and increase the pace of your hand. You pay special attention to the tip and the spot right under where he’s sensitive, rubbing a thumb over the area to collect more precum on the way down his cock. Jeongguk sputters out a soft noise, gritting his teeth tightly. 
“You have to tell me what you want, Jeongguk,” you muse. The tips of your noses graze, your breasts meeting his hot skin. Jeongguk’s hands, which switched to curling into the fabric of your duvet, go to your thighs to squeeze them. At that point, you decide to only stimulate the head of his cock with the pad of your thumb, rubbing teasingly tight circles while Jeongguk leaks all over, rivulets of creamy white decorating his length.  “My hands? Or my mouth? What do you want me to do?”
Jeongguk goes crazy.  His back arches off the mattress along with a high whine emitting from his swollen lips. He looks so overwhelmed with red cheeks and his hands gripping onto your body like it’s a lifeline. 
“Y-your mouth! I want your mouth, please,” he whines once more, digging his nails into your thighs, surely leaving indents. You smile, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips before descending down his taut body. 
Jeongguk is a work of art after all and you need time to appreciate him. 
Your hands stop their tortuous movement, leaving Jeongguk’s cock to hold yourself up while inching down. You kiss down the right side of his neck. The skin is salty from sweat but you don’t mind. You kiss all the marks you left, the mole on his chest, the beginning of his abs (you pay special attention to this area), licking up a stripe to feel the ridges of his body before you end up on your knees in between his legs. 
While you were kissing him, Jeongguk kicked his sweatpants off his legs, allowing you to capture a full glimpse of his meaty thighs. His skin is flawless and soft looking and you bookmark the thought of leaving red lines atop his thighs while riding him like a fucking stallion for later. 
His length deliciously twitches again from the brief lack of touch. You eye it for a split second, mouth watering, before taking the head between your lips. He throws his head back in satisfaction. 
Jeongguk tastes good. A mix of skin, salt, but he isn’t bitter; soft, pliable skin meets the plush membrane in your mouth. You moan out while your tongue circles the head, awarding you with a fresh spurt of pre-cum. 
Giving head isn’t everyone’s favorite (totally understandable) but it’s definitely yours. You don’t know why, maybe you have an oral fixation that you don’t know about, but it always makes you wet and desperate for more. Especially when the guy you’re blowing has hot moans like Jeongguk does. 
“Fuck,” he drawls out, while your tongue moves over him. He wraps a hand around the back of your hair gently, barely pushing you down to take more of him into your mouth. 
Ideally, you’d punish Jeongguk for that. If you were continuing this dominatrix stint you have going on then he shouldn’t be pushing you and trying to choke you but you drop the whole act. 
Because he feels so good. 
Your wetness is trickling down the swell of your ass as more of your mouth stretches to accommodate his length. The back of his head is about to reach the back of your throat when you wrap a hand around to pump what you can’t reach. It’ll be impossible to take him all in one go. You need to warm up first. Fat rivulets of spit trail down to his base and collect there to ease your ministrations. 
“So good,” Jeongguk praises, tangling his fingers in your hair while the wet sucking noises filter through your apartment. “You’re s-so good at this.” 
Jeongguk’s low voice isn’t helping you. Another pathetically whiny noise is muffled by his big dick going back into your mouth, swallowing around the tip as you take a little more than before. 
Swirling your mouth, using the inside of your cheek, the side of your tongue and the puckered membrane of your lips in conjunction with your nimble hands, jacking his thick cock and feeling the skin get hotter, wetter, with every second that passes by. 
He’s probably big enough to make you squirt. Though, you are the type to squirt easily, but guys around his size tend to hit the g-spot head on, to turn you into a shaking, coming, moaning mess in their arms. The thought really gets you going, imagining yourself sinking down on him like a Queen perched on her throne and spilling all over his thighs with a loud noise. 
Would he like it? Would he want to see you do it again? 
Fuck, you need a little bit of friction here. The combination of sucking him off, Jeongguk’s breathy whiny noises, and the deranged thoughts in your brain make your pussy so needy, demanding attention. 
You think about reaching back and rubbing yourself, just for a second, but your brain is too transfixed on Jeongguk. 
“P-please don’t stop-p,” he begs, “Please–Ah, yes.” Sounding like he’s about to cry. 
Your wrist flicks up during your motions while you pay special attention to the head. Jeongguk twitches some more and judging by how hard he grips your hair, he must be close. 
So you make sure your tongue stimulates all of the areas that make Jeongguk quiver in your hold. Your back arches, suckling at the skin. 
“Can I,” he interrupts himself with a moan, hands shaking, “Can I cum in your mouth?” He asks politely. 
You pull off with a breathy sigh, moving your hand to respond. “Please.” You want to taste more of him, until he’s filling your throat up completely. 
Sinking back down, you take in as much of him as you can, deep-throating his cock to the best of your abilities. It’s wet, the noises are filthy, salacious, but you don’t really care that much. Jeongguk’s cock twitches again as he spurts into your mouth, awarding you with his release as he whines throughout. 
And like a good girl, you swallow every last drop, refusing to let even a tiny drop of it go to waste. 
Jeongguk pants. His fingers slip out of your ratty hair and his hand slap over his forehead while he collects himself. His thighs shake with the aftershocks of his orgasm, sweat collected at the enticing dip of his collarbones, making his skin look like it’s speckled with diamonds. While you sit up slowly and wipe the back of your mouth, tucking his slowly softening length back into his boxers with a soft pat. 
For a few seconds, he doesn’t say anything to you. All Jeongguk does is try to catch his breath, probably slow his heart rate a bit. 
In that short period of time, your brain speeds at 100 miles per second. Did Jeongguk like it? Did Jeongguk hate it? Will he let you do it again? Oh my god, do you want to do it again and again and again. Is he uncomfortable around you now? What next? 
Your thighs are folded under you, watching Jeongguk’s stomach tense and flex as he leans on his elbows to look at you. 
His lips are adorable pouty and the hickeys look really pretty on his skin. You want so much more from him but you’re too afraid to vocalize it. You don’t want to stop. You don’t want to wake up and force this memory out of your brain. Jeongguk is so pretty and perfect and so easy to want. 
“C’mere,” he says softly, exhaling quickly with a stupid grin. Unsure if he meant his lap or right next to him, you shuffle closer until Jeongguk pats the space next to his body and you move accordingly. Hands an knees on the bed like a slinking cat. 
The air, which was once zinging with tension, has simmered down a little. Jeongguk’s arm stretches out for you to lean your head on his bicep. Up close, his eyes sparkle more than the stars in the night sky as Jeongguk pushes all of the loose strands of hair out of your sweaty face. 
“You were really good,” he repeats. “Thank you for that.” 
It feels weird to be thanked for sucking dick so you shake your head. “No need to thank me.” And because it doesn’t hurt to be truthful, you open your mouth once more. “I really wanted to.” 
Jeongguk’s expression warms; his smile gets wider and his cheeks get rounder. His thumb traces the curve of your jaw, dancing over your features like he’s trying to commit them to memory again.
“So can I return the favor?” 
Your heart leaps to your throat. You were sure Jeongguk was under the impression that this was a simple blowie, the end. Nothing else and nothing more. Even though you wanted more, you were ready to leave this romp at that but he proves you wrong once again. 
You raise an eyebrow. “You want to?” 
Most guys don’t. Most guys give up the second they cum without even offering.
But Jeongguk fucking smirks when he noticed your shocked expression. “I really want to,” he copies you. 
Fuck, you think. You put on a nice pair of underwear thinking that this would happen and then the entire tutoring session you were gaslighting yourself into thinking that nothing would ever happen and now here you are. 
There’s no doubt in your mind that you want this. Your panties are soaked and your core is aching to be touched. You need it so bad that you might never forgive yourself for turning this down.  
“Okay.” 
“Okay?” Jeongguk repeats. 
“Touch me. Please Jeongguk,” you plead with him, placing a soft hand on his warm chest. The breath is just about to escape you when he leans in to kiss you with his supple lips. 
You almost cringe. You must taste like him and you’re sure that there’s still some moisture collected in the corner of your mouth but Jeongguk doesn’t care. He licks hotly into your mouth, taking control during the kiss which surprises you completely. 
Gone is the shy whimpering boy who begged you not to stop. Jeongguk’s fingers squeeze your hips then pull one of your legs over his thighs so that you get even closer to him and your center is more exposed. That same hand travels upwards to your tits and cups the mass, and it’s your turn to shake in his hold. 
He’s starting off perfectly, like he knows what moves drive you crazy just by looking at you. 
You sigh softly when your lips break and he begins kissing down your neck. Unlike you, Jeongguk doesn’t leave any marks. Instead, he’s strategic about creating a clean line from your mouth, smooching along your jaw, then the side of your neck, to the middle of your collarbones before meeting your boobs. Jeongguk hauls you up the bed a little so he’s facing your chest instead, bringing your body closer with a splayed hand on your back. 
“Jeongguk,” you try, unsure as to why you’re calling him out. Jeongguk pays you no attention, transfixed by your naked breasts. He expels something inaudible under his breath and then takes one of your nipples into his mouth while tweaking the other, causing your body to go rigid. 
His lips wrap around the bud, sucking and circling his tongue over it while his other hand tweaks and pulls at the other. Like his tongue, his finger moves in time to turn you into a pile of mush. You grind onto nothing, wishing it was his thigh instead because you need friction from how wet and needy you’ve become in the span of like 20 minutes. 
Moaning out at the feeling of him slowly stimulating you, Jeongguk switches to the other one until your nipples are left shiny, wet, and puffy from his lips and tongue. 
He picks up fast, it seems. While kissing down your stomach, he asks you, “What do you want me to do?” Just like you did. 
“Anything,” you respond. You don’t care what he does, you just want him to do something. 
Jeongguk shakes his head. “Gotta give me a real answer,” he pulls up a little closer to your face, cupping your swollen bottom lip thanks to all of his work. “Tell me.”
“I,” you start. In all honesty, you wouldn’t mind anything from him. But you feel the length of his fingers, thick and perfect, and you remember your pressing desire of having them inside of you. “I want your fingers,” deciding on that. 
He grins softly at how cute you become when you’re overwhelmed. Jeongguk doesn’t wait around any longer, fingers going to the waistline of your yoga pants and tugging them down slowly. They’re tight, sticking to you like a second skin, so they snag along the meat of your thighs. Jeongguk doesn’t seem to mind as the fabric bunches up into a little ring and you kick it off to a random spot on your floor. 
Cold air meets your soaked underwear, making you cringe at the feeling, totally unaware of the way Jeongguk gapes at the flimsy little thing hugging your hips. He gently traces the band over your pelvis, almost like he’s hesitation. 
You open your mouth, ready to check in to see if Jeongguk still wants to do this for you or not, but before you can, his fingers dip into your panties to feel just how wet you are from him. 
His expression morphs beautifully. “You’re…” he’s speechless at first. Jeongguk’s finger trails up and down your center, barely grazing your sensitive clit. 
A whimper escapes you. His touch is feather light and barely enough yet so much all at once. 
“Fuck,” he groans, hiding his face into crook of your neck, soaking up all of your arousal while his ears and neck get bright red. You’d be embarrassed by the rushing gush coating you even more if Jeongguk’s thumb hadn’t stopped at your clit to draw tight, short, slow circles. 
Such a gentle pace, way less intense than the bullet vibrator you’ve been using, and the pressure builds gradually. One of your hands wind in his hair and the other grips his bicep, openly feeling him up. 
“Fucking soaked,” Jeongguk grits, moving his thumb a little faster. 
Your eyes shut. “Oh J–” interrupted by a shaky noise spilling from your mouth. Jeongguk takes that as a good sign, deciding to torture you even further by moving his lips back to your stiffened nipples and using his tongue to suck and lick at them as if you aren’t already sensitive. 
“You’re pretty too, noona,” Jeongguk says, looking at you this time. Slowly, your eyes peel open to find his big brown irises glimmering at you. “I think you’re beautiful. Always have.” 
You blush immediately. You don’t know why this feels so intensely intimate, like a pan that’s gotten too hot. Is it Jeongguk’s tone, the fact that he’s so close, the way he looks at you to make sure you know and understand him? What is it that has you so stupefied by such a simple comment? 
Boys have called you pretty before, called you much worse too, but you should be used to it. Over the years you’ve started to develop a thick skin but this one gets to you. 
That flutter of butterflies comes back, dancing from the tip of your toes all the way to your head. Jeongguk has seen you grow, from a kid to a pre-teen and now an adult. 
And he still finds you beautiful. Even after every embarrassing phase. 
You begin to smile, cupping his cheeks and leaning down to press a short kiss to his lips, then the corner of his lips, his cheek and his nose, because he deserves it and he’s cute. 
“Thanks,” you mean it, even if the sweet moment cut all of the flourishing beginnings of an orgasm from you and Jeongguk’s fingers halted, out of your underwear and holding your hip instead. 
Jeongguk mirrors your expression. Then he looks down at where his hand is and back up at you, nervously tonguing his cheek. “Can I move now?” 
You nod your head yes quickly after he asks. 
“And…” Jeongguk still looks awkward. You go back to cupping his soft cheeks. “Tell me if I’m doing okay?”
You want to melt in his grip. “Of course, Guk.” Thumb swiping over his cheekbone affectionately. 
Jeongguk takes that as the greenlight and slips his fingers back into your underwear. His gaze is on you, studying your features when his thumb goes back to your clit while his middle finger teases around your opening. You clench, desperate for something to slip inside of you, lifting your hips up in hope that Jeongguk would take the hint and put his fingers inside but he continues collecting your arousal to get his digits wet enough. 
“Jeongguk,” you call tightly, digging your nails into the meat of his shoulders. He hums in response. “I need more.” 
His thumb decides to go faster at your demand but not fast enough and his middle finger still traces your opening instead of slipping inside. 
“More?” He repeats, lilting his voice teasingly. 
Shithead. 
“Yes, more.”  You want to whine, kick your legs even. 
He can feel how wet you’ve gotten, does he not know how much you want this? 
“You want my fingers?” 
“Yes,” you grumble but it sweetens at the end because his thumb starts moving faster over your clit and you feel the waves of pleasure swirling in your stomach, turning into a half-moan. 
Jeongguk angles his hand a little differently and, gently, pushes his middle finger inside you. He groans at the feeling of you. “So tight,” breathing out against your skin. 
You react immediately, throwing your head back. There’s a slight pinch but it's not even the slightest bit painful. The intrusion is welcomed; although small, you need it. Jeongguk’s finger is nice and long and he pistons it out of you with so much care while hitting just the spot. 
“Fuck, right there,” you moan out, turning your face into the soft material of your sheets, eyes rolling back.
Jeongguk slips another finger in and he stops teasing your throbbing bundle of nerves to focus fully on moving his digits, curving them upwards to your walls as you release a symphony of noises. Finding that soft spongy part inside of you and massaging it. 
“F-faster please, please, go faster,” begging him out of the fear that he’ll tease you just like he was doing before. 
But Jeongguk plays fair and fingers you even faster, upping the ante even more by removing his free hand and pressing down on your lower stomach, right before your pelvis. 
And you lose it. 
The pressure from his hand on top, plus the way his fingers are moving, just becomes too much. The  gradual pressure starts accelerating and accelerating until it drops like a rollercoaster and you feel a burst of tingling pleasure rush through your veins and all over your body. 
“I’m cumming!” Crying out, tears pooling inside your eyes streaming down your cheeks as your legs shake with the crashing waves of your orgasm. 
Different than when you do it. As good as your vibrator is, something about it has yet to make you orgasm like this. Heavy, powerful, almost numbing. Waves crash inside you, again and again, cresting at the peak and slowly simmering out into a soft current and then nothing at all. 
Your breath comes out in heavy pants, limbs feeling like jelly, slowly opening your eyes to find Jeongguk staring back at you in bewilderment. His lips are parted but his cheeks aren’t red with embarrassment. If anything, he looks like the complete opposite of that. 
Like he could watch you do that again and again. Something you would gladly agree with. 
Jeongguk takes his fingers out from your underwear, glistening with your arousal, and before you can offer him a napkin, he slips his digits into his mouth and cleans them off. You really begin to question if this man is a virgin or secretly a sex god waiting to be discovered. He’s way better than you were when you were inexperienced. Does he watch a lot of porn?
Or do Taehyung and Jimin just talk about sex around him too much? Must be that. 
“Mmh,” his fingers come out with a soft pop noise, “You taste amazing.” Jeongguk’s clean hand brushes some hair out of your face as he smiles. You lean into his touch like a purring kitten, curling into his chest because your entire body feels weak. 
“You okay?” Jeongguk asks, closing his arms around you. 
Nodding into his chest, “Yeah. Felt really good.” You want to say more but there’s no energy for you to do so. 
“Did it? You looked really hot when,” trailing off, you know what he means, and you press a kiss to his chest. “Kinda want to see it again.” 
That takes your attention. 
Removing the fact that you haven’t been touched in a bit, two orgasms from Jeongguk might put your legs out of commission and that was just with his fingers. You can’t imagine what it would be like with more of him, especially as he learns more about how to pleasure you and gets better. Your poor vibrator might be out of a job. 
“I would love to, but you definitely wore me out.” Pulling your face away, you look up at his perfectly crafted face. “Can we try that another time?” 
Another time, you get giddy even before he agrees. After getting addicted to Jeongguk’s touch, you don’t want to entertain the idea of this being a one time thing. 
“Of course.” And neither does he. 
Jeongguk kisses the top of your head gently, rubbing soothing circles on your back. You tangle your legs with his, inhaling his scent and doing your best not to fall asleep. 
It feels sticky and wet between your legs. You should change and you should get ready for bed. Jeongguk probably wants to go back to his house, right? He probably doesn’t want to stick around your place after what just happened. 
But you think about it and that’s the farthest thing you want. 
Being in his arms, you feel safe and protected, like you drifted off to another dimension where nothing bad has ever happened and you were still the girl you were when you left Busan. Happy and lively. 
You don’t want him to leave you. You don’t want this to be another shitty hookup or one-time thing that makes both of you blush and walk-away. You just want Jeongguk to be in your life. 
So you hold on tight, avoiding his eyes when you ask: “Do you want to stay here with me tonight?”
Please, please, you beg internally. You’ll make breakfast, there’s a pack of toothbrushes under your sink, anything. Just stay. 
And thankfully, Jeongguk responds without wasting another second of your time, putting you at ease once again.  
“Please.”
a/n: okay yes, that was a lot but more smut will come and more angst will follow!
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blubushie · 2 months
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Are there some things you dislike about fans' interpretation of the other mercs?
Yeah uh. This is long so it's under the cut. Whole TF2 fandom boutta be like 2Fort on my arse.
I hate how people make Medic "evil". He's fun and goofy and likes doing experiments and he'll betray the people paying him for the sake of his long-time coworkers who he's mates with. He's not evil, he's not manipulative, outsmarting the LITERAL DEVIL doesn't make you a bad person. There is literally nothing in canon to point to Medic being evil except MAYBE stealing a bloke's spine (coulda been dark humour for all we know) and turning a criminal into a sentient pumpkin, which is something that Engie HELPED HIM DO but no one goes around calling him evil. Medic is chaotic good or chaotic neutral, he is not evil.
The amount of people who are downright racist about Demo, or the amount of people who reduce his addiction to the butt of a joke. There's a lot of shit that I notice. They act like Demo isn't fiercely loyal—look at his relationship to his mum). They act like he's lazy because he's an alcoholic—HE HAS 3 JOBS AND WANTS MORE, HE WASN'T LAZY IN THE COMICS HE WAS DEPRESSED BECAUSE HE LOST ALL HIS MATES. On the other end of the coin, you have people insisting that Demo's alcoholism isn't as bad as it actually is, as if substance abuse is a fucking moral failing and they can't have their blorbo be a bad person by just letting him be the alcoholic he's shown to be in canon.
As an intersex man: do not get me fucking started on the amount of intersex+NB headcanons I've seen of Pyro. People need to realise that like the rest of the human population, most intersex people are cis, that gender is not equivalent to sex, and that EVERY intersex character being non-binary promotes a harmful stereotype. Actually I'll be honest—I side-eye EVERY intersex Pyro headcanon what's made by a perisex person. Most the time they give off massive virtue signal vibes and I really don't like how the second you can't clearly determine someone's gender people immediately go "ah, intersex" like we're all visually androgynous. I also don't like how the person MOST OTHERED ON THE TEAM is always given the intersex headcanon. It doesn't make me feel represented, it makes me feel like everyone already seems me as an other and that's all I'll ever be.
People who act like the pronoun police and insist Pyro's pronouns are they/them. Canonically Pyro is always and consistently referred to as he/him except when he's being dehumanised by his own team and called it. It's cool if you headcanon Pyro as using they/them, just remember it ISN'T CANON and you shouldn't be getting on people's arse about non-canon pronouns. What are you a cop?
On a similar vein, the amount of people who infantilise Pyro. Pyro was literally the CEO OF A COMPANY who was responsible for RECORD PROFITS OF THAT COMPANY. Pyro is an adult. People assume that because Pyro hallucinates or enjoys "childish" things that it means Pyro's a child. Please be fucking normal about mental illness, my god.
People who make Scout transfem for the sole purpose of shipping Scout with Pauling, worse even if they outright make it so that Scout transitioned SPECIFICALLY to hook up with Pauling. You realise that you're enforcing TERF "all transfems are predatory and transition just to get chicks/transfem lesbians are just straight men" rhetoric right? Please tell me you're aware. People who make Scout transfem for reasons beside this (ie you just like transfem Scout) and still hook her up with Pauling for fun, I love you and this post is not about you. <3
People who ignore Medic's likely bisexuality in favour of writing him as a strictly gay male. Bi erasure is fucking real lads. If you have the view that Demo was talking out his arse and didn't actually shag Medic's wife cuz he's not even married, cool ok. I'm talking about the people who insist Medic's wife was his beard.
People who act like the ship police with Pauling's sexuality when her being a lesbian was something mentioned in one tweet on Twitter by Jay, not approved by Valve, and never referenced in the source material (outside of MAYBE how she stared at Zhanna while she was fighting robots, but that facial expression could also be interpreted as impressed or "so horrified she can't look away". Especially when she outright agreed to go on a second date with Scout in Expiration Date. If you headcanon her as a lesbian, cool! Just don't enforce it on other people and give them flak for shipping her with non-women characters. This applies to people aggressively enforcing Medic's sexuality as well. What are you a cop?
How the character people trans the most is the white skinny twink, white skinny otter, or white wolf. Why not Demo? Trans people of colour exist too. I can count the trans Demo headcanons I've seen on one hand. Why not Heavy? Why not Heavy? You know fat trans people exist too right?
My family is southern and half the time people don't know what the fuck goes on down south. Tell me you've never been to a cookout without telling me you've never been to a cookout. They either write him as too northern/coasty and only enforce the "stereotype" southern aspects of him, or they write him as racist/homophobic/transphobic/etc because he's southern. Luckily the latter gets a LOT of pushback on Tumblr so I haven't seen it much, but it's more prevalent on Twitter and fanfic sites.
People conveniently ignoring how Heavy's father was killed and his family was imprisoned by the USSR so they can call him a communist. Lol what. I get that you hate capitalism but you realise there's more options than just capitalism vs communism vs socialism right? That you can hate/dislike communism without also being a capitalist? Heavy would not support communism after what the USSR did to his family in the name of communism because his father was a counter-revolutionary. Also people ignoring WHY Heavy's father was killed, and how his father having different politics got his whole family, including innocent children chucked to a GULAG IN SIBERIA where they were starved and constantly abused by the guards, and how even after their escape the government continued to hunt them with the intent of killing them. He would not be a communist. He probably sees a hammer and sickle in his fucken nightmares.
Spy being evil and an arsehole. You know his schtick is the suave gentleman right? He's cool but he also has to be cringefail. And arsehole is a far cry from a gentleman.
People making Soldier a bigot. Har har I know it's funny to joke about the bloke obsessed with America being a bigot, but do you honestly think he cares enough? He's xenophobic at worst. Everyone is assumed to be American and his best mate is a black Scottish cyclops. Half the time I'm convinced you people want Soldier to be a bigot so you can write bigoted shit and not cop shit cuz it's coming out of his mouth.
Carrying on from prev, the amount of people I've seen use the time setting as an excuse to be bigoted towards the characters. This is ESPECIALLY prevalent where it seems like every story-focussed fic of Demo has a scene where someone is being racist to him and he Heroically Sticks Up For Himself or someone else sticks up for him to show How Much They Don't Care About Being Seen With A Black Man (usually it's Soldier, sometimes it's Sniper). You realise everyone knows racism is bad, right? That that's really not necessary? It wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't in EVERY FIC but it's like the author always needs to proudly claim themselves Not Racist while writing REALLY RACIST SHIT directed at the ONE CONFIRMABLE MAN OF COLOUR on the team just so they can yell "RACISM BAD but here's me jumping at the opportunity to call a man of colour a racial slur".
Well, reckon that about covers her...
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spacedykez · 1 year
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violence? WOOO!! lifesteal.
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so, you heard about a silly little server called lifesteal. maybe u wanna try watching it. well what if i told u that we here at lifestealblr have put together a helpful guide to help you succumb to the poisons start watching the server?? join us we are very normal
so! lifesteal! first, a summary. lifesteal is a server where when u die, you lose a heart off your permanent health bar. when you kill another player you gain a heart. heres a list to sum it up:
dying loses you a heart
killing someone else gains you a heart
losing all your hearts = dead and gone from the series, unless youre revived
you can revive dead players through gay sex crafting a special item
you can withdraw hearts from your healthbar and give them to other players
still have questions? heres a better explanation. ok moving on
lifesteal smp has FOUR seperate seasons so far!! the players are the same, give or take a few people. so, where to start?
first, you don't need to watch the seasons in order. you don't need to know anything about previous seasons to watch lifesteal. start with whatever season you want!! that being said, i'd advise starting on season three or season four (the current season) as they are the most popular.
anyways, if you want to just start watching: here is the link to the playlist containing every lifesteal video on youtube, seasons 1-4 here is the link to the playlist containing every season 3 lifesteal video here is the link to the playlist containing every season 4 lifesteal video
[thank you to @a4g and @aroaceacacia for creating and maintaining the lifesteal s1-4 & lifesteal s3 and the lifesteal s4 playlists, respectively]
HOWEVER
if you'd like to start out slow, pick one lifestealer and start watching them!! honestly, the best way to get into it is just to find a guy (or ten) that you like watching and watch their videos!
a note- i am tagging the user who created each propaganda post so that if people change their urls, you will still be able to find the post. theyre definitely NOT the lifestealers themselves lol. also, some of these are not finished! however this has been sitting in my drafts for six months and i need to post it for my own mental health
i should make this a google docs actually. might do that sometime if i get motivation. but anyways, without further ado:
looking for redstone? mrcube (@tater-noodle)
want to feed the adhd? no rlly if u want adhd fuel watch ashswag (@cherubium)*
ever wanted to see capitalist technoblade? reddoons (@bearandhoney-com)
do you want a new cringefail streamer? itzsubz (@rendogdomesticated)
what about a paranoid escape master? rekrap (@vanivanvanilla)
loyalty and storylines to get invested in? leowook (@totallynotrico)
everyone's favorite special little guy? planetlord (@getwoold)
want gay people or pranks? then go watch branzy (@pacificseaotter)
the server's best PVPer? clownpierce [NEEDED] (NOT TAKEN)
1/3 of a whole idiot on a permanent YouTube grind? baconwaffles (@aroaceacacia)
local bird man done with everyone's shit? parrot (@getwoold)
the local funky hand guy? roshambo (@techno-in-a-boat)
background character incarnate? poafa (@simply-scrolling)
the special little guy who can and will kill you? spepticle (@cogmented)
quirky smiley guy who'll kill you? princezam (@vanivanvanilla)
incomprehensible violence! mapicc! (@cogmented)
sillay liddol guy? Creechur™️? pangi [NEEDED] (NOT TAKEN)
DRAGON GUYY!!! vortexdragon. (@vanivanvanilla)
lifesteal's local polar bear? woogie (@tater-noodle)
stuborrn, endearing guy who likes a challenge? jaron (@aroaceacacia)
cringefail foxboy streamer? vitalasy (@rendogdomesticated)
the walking pride flag guy? spoke (@a4g)
"annoying little brother" but endearing? mcclutch!! (@simply-scrolling)
chaotic rascal who loves doing events? midmystic!! (@xxswagcorexx)
awesome visuals and serious storylines? terrain!! (@cherubium)
*my girlfriend's favorite lifestealer and approved by multiple friends of mine with adhd. i really do recommend him just in general.
also, please do go check out the blog of everyone who helped me with this, they're all amazing!!!
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edai-crplpnk · 7 months
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Some Team 7 + Team 10 chara sheets!
I did more chara sheets for my modern AU. (I did Team 8 + Sand Sibs here!) They don't appear much in the fics I already wrote, I don't know if they will in the future (maybe some plan for Naruto & Jiraiya fic one day?) but I have headcanons for them!
1 - The Girlfriends
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Additional facts!
Sakura:
She's been best friend with Naruto since childhood and was quite scared to come out to him as a teen, not so much because she thought he'd reject her entirely but more because she was scared it would change their dynamics if they weren't boy friends anymore. Naruto was very excited about the whole thing, and supported her plenty in her transition.
She's training to be a surgeon and met Ino in med school.
In Seeing Stars, she is roommate with Lee and Tenten, but she'll move in with Ino later, and Gaara will take her place (well, more like he'll take Lee's bed room and there is one free now but-)
This is my "everyone is gay, everyone is disabled" AU and she is the token abled chara for now, but that might change if I get inspired. Not fully set on that.
Ino:
She's known she was a lesbian (although maybe not in this word) since very young. Also, at the time, Shikamaru and Chouji were perceived as such too, so that made them a trio.
She graduates to be a physical therapist around the year of Seeing Stars. She trained a lot on Sakura (lovingly) and Lee (more brutally).
Her endometriosis is somewhat managed by progesterone but she still has some flare-ups from time to time.
2 - The Boyfriends
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Chouji:
They are Brazilian through their mother and Japanese through Chouza.
They struggled a bit figuring out their gender and tried presenting more masculine earlier in their transition, cutting their hair short and all that, but really didn't like it and, after some distress and talking it through with Ino and Shikamaru, let themself own that they were, really, a femboy. He is cool with masculine words (like being Shikamaru's boyfriend).
They considered stopping T after a while but liked how it felt for the most part, and it also helped manage PCOS symptoms.
He is rather sensory-seeking and loves being able to play around with textures, colours and sparkles.
He manages chronic pain with compressive clothes, knee braces and crutches.
Shikamaru:
Identified as a boy for about forever, and was very uncomfortable with being perceived as a lesbian with Chouji as a teen (which Chouji didn't really mind on his end), in a good part because of dysphoria, but also because he's never been into girls? (Dating Chouji has been a lot of confusion until they both figured themselves out, but it did feel right, somehow. Now he knows why.)
It might not have happened yet by the time of Seeing Stars because this shit takes time, but he is eventually getting phalloplasty and a cool tattoo sleeve on his left arm afterwards to hide the graft site.
Between his fatigue and Chouij's pain, they are a very cuddly pair and spending a lot of time in each other's presence at home. It's not always easy to go out and do things whatever they may be, but they make sure that the time they spend home together feels significant and not just routine.
3 - The Not Boyfriends
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Naruto:
After some chaotic and pretty traumatic time in the foster care system as a baby and young child, he was taken in by Jiraiya, a relative of Kushina. He still lives with him as an adult, though they have a more roommate-y relationship than father/son.
He has struggled a lot with school the whole time, and it got worse after being separated from Sasuke (see below) and Sakura (because he failed and had to repeat some years along the way). He didn't graduate from high school in the end.
He does restaurant delivery by bike for a living, which provides him with both a lot of time spent working the hyperactivity out, and social contact with all the cooks in the neighbourhood (who all love him and have adopted him like a stray cat.)
He is very good friend with Kiba. They met in group therapy but Kiba is not great at that so they mostly meet to smoke together.
He is bi but probably too obsessed with Sasuke and the faith he have they'll be together again to really put himself out there for anyone.
Sasuke:
He and Naruto were close (and eventually sort of dating) as children and teens, but they got into a fireworks accident together where they both lost an arm (and Sasuke some hearing). Fugaku moved him to private schooling after the events, and they haven't reconnected since then.
He has sort of convinced himself he is straight, not even out of complicated feelings for his sexuality, but really just to be able to think he isn't and has never been into Naruto, because he resents him a lot for the accident and doesn't want to come to term with forgiveness or even just admitting he is still important to him.
He's tried using a prosthetic arm for years after his injury, but never quite found one he managed to work with. He also has important phantom pain that plays into that.
For now, he's joined the police like Fugaku. Let's all hope he'll get himself together eventually.
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Note
*materializes into existence*
Hey there :D
I haven't sent an ask in... I don't remember. This is very long.
Calling this the QPP Fae AU.
(cw/tw: mention of death & dead parent, implied/referenced mistreatment & alienation, possible grief and denial, disappearance/missing person, not being believed, abandonment issues, fear of being alone, fear of vulnerability & trusting others, massive anxiety mention, hunters, mention of questioning ones humanity)
Spooky Gays in a qpp. One is a human, the other is some fae creature in disguise. Not the ones ya think.
Fae Virgil not wanting to deal with most humans can they're really mean and weird and why did one of them just down chemicals for a media challenge, huh??
Human Remus being his feral, chaotic self & Virgil genuinely believing he's a fellow fae. No human does that shit, you have no shame, sir, and don't give a shit about human rules, ain't no way you're a human. Remus is very much not like his peers at all, but he loves himself for it. The weirder he is, the better. He rather be alienated from those strict jerks.
It's not like he wants genuine connection, haha, shut up
Remus tells Virgil that actually he's human, but he thinks being mistaken for fae is the best thing ever. Virgil does not believe him for a while before just accepting his human is just a massive feral weirdo.
Virgil and Remus end up in a qpp/partnership. They slowly show trust and vulnerability to each other & find out things about one another. Like Remus' fear of being alone or his abandonment issues that may or may not being related to his missing twin brother who's being missing for almost six months by now. Or like Virgil's massive anxiety bc of unfair shit from other fae & meanie humans/human hunters. Also his fear of trusting others bc he's so used to be betrayed and hurt. They help each other out w/ their things.
And maybe h/c qpp turns into a mystery and thriller as they search for Remus' missing brother, Roman, who disappeared right after a trip into the woods and hasn't been seen since. Remus believes he's still alive somewhere but no one believes him. The townsfolk held a memorial/funeral that Remus refused to attend bc "he's still alive, what are you doing, we have to find him, idiots". Virgil is the only one who kinda believes him bc lots of ppl disappear into the woods and end up in the fae world, it happens a lot, so maybe he's there? So, Virgil uses his fae connections to help look for him & he and Remus look in Roman's fave spots in the woods. As this happens, Remus tells stories of when the twins were younger and they'd go camping w/ each other & how they'd play pretend a lot & when they played make believe Re chose to be a Duke & Ro chose to be a Prince & their mom Rhea would pretend with them sometimes and pretend to be this epic Dragon-Witch or some badass queen. And yus, Rhea is named after the actual mother of Romulus and Remus from the myth.
On this goes, and they find Roman. Not how you'd think. Maybe he'd be dead, maybe he'd be in the fae world. It's neither, kinda. They discover that Roman is, in fact, fae himself and is a changeling with a human form. Which raises so many questions of how the fuck that happened, does that mean Re and Roman aren't actually biological twins, but he's still his brother right, you're still my twin brother, how did he figure that out, he's more human than Remus is, how in the hell? Ya see, all those questions are put off bc Remus found his lost brother and hugs him so tight that he could break him if he wanted. The twins hug each other tightly and Virgil watches fondly in support from the background.
Turns out, Roman started questioning his humanity and discovered he may be fae, so he staged a 'mysterious disappearance' and ran off to figure himself out. He discovered himself, who he really is, what he really is, and he has missed Remus so so much. Remus is like "you asshole why did you tell me they said you were dead pls never leave again I missed you you bastard" and yep, more brother hugs for these two. Virgil and Roman meet, and Ro of course teases Re over having a partner in the most sibling way possible and everything turns out okay! The most likely to be fae isn't fae, and the other "normal" ppl are actually fae and Remus has everyone he cares about again (excluding his Mom cause she's dead but eh).
Anyway, Roman made friends with a fae Logan and Patton & made rivals with a witch/sorceress transfemme Janus. Remus is the only full-on, not magical, human in this entire group. Which is the funniest shit ever.
Oh yeah, and Rhea was a single Mom when she was alive. Best Mom Award, fr. Took the twins camping & indulged them in their interests (to a healthy degree). One of the few who ever supported Remus for being himself.
So, a qpp Dukexiety idea that leads into a mystery about fae, brothers, and transfemme witches. About family and most Dukexiety being dorks together as they go on this journey.
Hope ya enjoy!
Heyo! :}D That literally sounds S O fucking cool I L O V E L O V E L O V E E V E R Y T H I N G about this oml!!! There's S O much I already adore it's got Mystery, Fantasy aspects, The Spooky Gays adventuring and being absolute dorks and trusting to each other, Hilarious concepts (Forever cackling at both the fact that Ree is chaotic and unhinged as shit to the point where Vee doesn't even believe him when he says he's human at first and that the poor Emo Fae's QPP is literally the only non magical person in the group don't worry the C H A O S makes up for it Bud XD) The perfect amount of A N G S T and F L U F F ratio, Wholesome Creativitwins moments (Rhea is forever a Queen for raising such wonderful sons <3) Twists, and just ahhhh I desperately N E E D this <3!!!
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itsyagurlchip · 19 days
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can I get a goofy reader insert w/ gregory as the older sibling
٠ ˚ ※ ๋࣭ ᯓ⚝ ⋆ .˚✰Radically Chaotic!٠ ˚ ※ ๋࣭ ᯓ⚝ ⋆.˚✰
✰⋆⁺warning: Gregory(!) crack(!) a lil older sibling angst(!)
✰⋆⁺ i know who you are *insert gay dog*naw but fr- I apologize that it took so long for this to come out :(( and ur not online as much, BUT I LOVE U SM ❤️🫵🏾I know it was supposed to be goofy- but i had to get some tears in(I knew it was u bc ur the only one who uses goofy like that @thealphagirl)
✰⋆⁺ You are a 14 year old older sibling. Life just couldn't get harder for you!!!-? Wait- WHY DOES HIS TRACKER SAY THE PIZZA PLEX?
"DUDE! WHY THE HELL DID YOU THINK IT WAS OK TO BE HERE???" I harshly whispered, my breath heaving in the tight hiding spot we were in.
"I DONT KNOW!? I JUST WANTED TO SEE SOME COOL STUFF" Gregory responded, trying to use that damn Journey Kidz ass watch. I don't even know where that came from, Mom hasn't bought anything like that in months.
"AH YES, BECAUSE THE COOLEST THING IN THE WORLD IS GETTING CHASED BY A GROWN AS WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE SHE NEEDS 3 YEARS OF SLEEP!" I sarcastically retorted as my voice raised a pitch. We were so in trouble, it's bad enough that I got my tablet away. Now the door is up for grabs.
"THAT 'WOMAN' WILL GET US IF YOU DONT SHUT UP"
"MAKE ME, YOU LIL-" His hand slapped against my mouth just as aggressive stomping flooded both of our ears. My heart dropped to my ass. Forget the door! I won't even have a bedroom to myself if we go to jail!
This is a big ass place, no telling how much it costs. Trespassing gets sued for, and knowing Gregory, he probably broke some expensive-!
oh no...
"Gregory?..." I slowly turned to him, "How much have you broken?"
I'm pretty sure I could hear that loudass daycare music (despite us being closer to the front) from how quiet it became.
*sigh* "We need to get out of here so no one can recognize our faces- I am NOT gonna do community service for your dumbass decisions." I hissed out as I slightly gripped my hair. I had to take another long exhale at the absurdity of the situation, my eyes couldn't even stay open as I did so. The buffoonery, the stress, the-
I hear sniffling from my right and I quickly spun around just in time to see my little brother put on a tough face, not before he angrily wiped away some tears with the bittest of snot from his nose.
I sigh once more, with my eyes tearing up as well. I pull him close into a hug, his head leaning close to my chest. I wonder if he can hear how hard my hard is beating...
"Look buddy... Sorry if I sounded so harsh- or if I worded something wrong". A tear fell from my eye. "I just wish you had told me where you were- or, or...I just wanted you to be okay. I'm older than you, I have to protect you." I looked into Gregory's eyes as I wiped some of the tear tracks away.
"Not only that, and I had to admit it but- you're my number one best friend. I don't want to know what it's like to lose you." My voice cracked a I continued on. I held Gg tight, hoping that we weren't crying too loud.
...
Well that was a shit show! You know, crying isn't as bad as it seems to be. Because I would rather be ANYWHERE ELSE than here right now!
You know, at home, in a nice warmish bed. A non hostile environment. No Self aware machines. Especially ones that chase you, AROUND A FUCKING MALL!!
Me and Gregory were booking it- A raccoon-looking animatronic was chasing us.
'What she needed to chase was a color scheme' I thought to myself. 'And maybe a whole new maw- that shit looks like those furry masks on yt shorts.
Turns out, the only robot that wasn't trying to maul our faces off is good ole Freddicson Fazbearington. But, as if the universe is our 3rd grade enemy, Freddy runs like a goddamn iphone battery.
I could only hope that we made it our here, no fees, no community service, or even trouble on our hands. I couldn't even hop for that- the damn things were trying to kill us!
If wishing wasnt doing anything, me and my little brother will. We'll make it home safe, no scratches, no suspicion. Nothing will be damaged, no one will be harmed.
But the security was breached, leaving a radically chaotic fire in its wake by the start of the morning.
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(๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و tags: @kittykittyanon @radicallxser @oleander-nin @towomatos @thealphagirl @ziipzeepzop-eez @amorvincitomnia-14 @spongejuice . if you would like to be added, check my blog.
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istherewifiinhell · 2 months
Text
weee grabbing from joelle cause do love question time
a) three ships
shrugs good naturedly of its tf mode time
meg.ops. please see preemptiment texts on the matter rip each other apart gay styles and hold that man who is a gun
sound.rod (still a bad name sorry) that shit was crazy. like its funny ppl can say like ohh chaotic one serious one ship but im pointing at the guy with no face and serious affect and im pointing and saying. dramatic hater. little bitch (aff). pointing at the one who blasts fire at his friends and gets blasted with like x10 more fire. and im saying. preemiment diplomatic leader of his generation. and then they fist bump and play 80s jams and save the world its the most romantic shit ive every seen in my life
hmm. hmm. yeah okay im gotta say meg.star just to SAYYY. i dont think ppl get how funny this one is. no shut up with ur wah wah angst. this is fun for them. otherwise theyd leave. maybe probably. its like loony toons tom and jerry shit ship. bd.sm isnt fixing them cause what their doing is so much funnier.
HONOURABLE menchy to arm hot shot and his 50 war time homosocial bonds boyfriends. everyone who sees that guy is like. Oh i GOTTA have some weird thing with him. but his dipshit can do attutitude cockiness and true unbreakable friendship. hes irresitiable. guy is probably the highest ranking any tf every got to be (combined army commander) and they still wont make him shotimus prime. stupid.
b) first ever ship
this is one of those memory tricks id need to ask an older brother but they dont fucking know that. uhhhhh?? gigolas? or smth? probably some shit like that watching a movie and being like. damn. cool. first fics read was probably some clamp shit.
c) last song
[blasts the dsnine theme] NAHH uhhh what was the last song in knights tale. some queen shit prob? prob some queen shit?
d) last movie
SEE ABOVE
e) currently reading
justtttt finished light in gaza soooo? i have another book downloaded what is it. essays for free palestine. both from haymarket books.
f) currently watching
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[ID: TF whirl, same as my icon, flat expression]. END
guess. (actuallly its. whatever comes after this one. NOT THE final one yet. soon.)
g) currently consuming
bo'uh'le uh wah-er (bottle of water. 1L metal bottle babyyyy)
h) currently craving
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. dinner and then bed?
tagging: whoever didnt get GOT yet. idk. doooo question time i love reading words.
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natalynsie · 10 months
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Noah is Not Pathetic (Noco Oneshot)
[Before reading, please keep in mind I post all of my Noco oneshots on ao3 as a series. I recommend reading the first part of the series, Boyfriend, first, but it isn't required. Boyfriend provides more context for what will happen in this and if you do plan on reading Boyfriend it includes spoilers. You obviously don't have to and it will be understandable. Every part of this series can be read as a one-shot.]
“Dude, Adam, you suck at this,” Caleb laughed.
“Yeah, that’s because I’m not a nerd, and I don’t play video games,” Adam sputtered. “I actually have a life outside of my basement.”
“I doubt that,” Noah responded.
Family reunions were always chaotic. Even though Caleb and Adam were Noah’s favorite cousins, they definitely brought a good bit of chaos themselves. Cody being locked out of his house dragged Noah more into the chaos. Noah had been interrogated three times about whether or not he and Cody were dating.
And yeah. Maybe there were some gay occurrences earlier that afternoon. Maybe he kissed Cody just to see what it was like. Maybe Adam and Caleb walked in. Maybe he had to convince them that he and Cody weren’t dating and it totally wasn’t weird and to please not tell anyone else.
And maybe Noah had a not-so-small crush on Cody.
But it was fine.
And they weren’t dating.
And romance was still stupid.
Even though his thoughts were all over the place, Noah was definitely winning most of the rounds. Bayonetta for the win.
He should’ve expected Cody to be a loyal Kirby player. Cody was taking a good amount of losses, but he was always close to winning. Unfortunately, Caleb and Noah were just better.
And Noah had absolutely no idea what Adam was doing. He assumed he was just button mashing and praying, but he always died way before the end of the games.
“Have you ever even played Smash before?” Noah asked.
“Yeah, like twice!” Adam defended. “You guys are just serious nerds.”
“Don’t group me in with Noah and Cody,” Caleb said. “They’re like a thousand times more nerdy than me. I just play video games with my friends once in a while.”
“Yeah, you guys live in your basements. I refuse to believe otherwise.”
Cody giggled. “Look man, I don’t play Smash much, but you’re so horrible it’s hard to believe.”
“Adam, you haven’t won a single game,” Caleb stated. “I’ve been keeping track. I won 17, Noah won 12, Cody won 7, and you won 0. It’s getting kinda pathetic.”
Adam rolled his eyes. “Like I care. Cody hasn’t won a game since like, eight games ago.”
“I’m getting tired,” Cody complained. “I still wanna play but I’m tired.”
“It’s only 9:15,” Caleb stated.
“I didn’t sleep good the past few nights, leave me alone.”
Just after he said that, Noah felt a weight drop on his side.
Cody was resting against him.
Noah’s heart skipped a beat.
He started to fumble with the controller.
Keep it together, he scolded himself. It’s not even a big deal.
“Hah!” Caleb exclaimed. He had killed Noah while he was off guard.
Adam continued to smash buttons. Noah guessed he didn’t even realize he was dead.
“I was distracted!” Noah responded.
“By what?” Caleb snorted.
“...I dunno.”
So, Noah lost a game. Nothing new.
So he lost seven games. He was entitled to his bad moments.
He didn’t win any other game. Maybe he was a little sidetracked.
“Dude, what happened?” Caleb asked. He had become the sole winner, besides a few of Cody’s wins.
“I’m getting tired too,” Noah lied. He would not let anyone know the reason he was failing left and right was because Cody was just leaning against him. That’s pathetic. Romance is pathetic. Noah was not pathetic.
“You look fine to me,” Adam said, glancing at Noah. He had died- again, so he didn’t need to look at the screen. Noah darted his eyes at Adam, and then back at the screen. He had seen a hint of a smile on Adam's face- that stupid little shit had the wrong idea again.
Noah wanted to jump off a cliff.
Because Adam actually had the right idea.
Yeah, Cody wasn’t his boyfriend, that was wrong. But Adam knew that Noah at least liked Cody. At this point, who didn’t know? Izzy, Gwen, and Owen knew before Noah did, Eva knew, his sister Ava knew, pretty much half of Noah’s suspected it by now, and there were probably more that Noah just hadn’t picked up on yet.
Noah sighed as Caleb won yet again. “I think I’m done for the night.” He placed his controller down, and stood up, beginning to walk away from the TV. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”
“‘Kay,” Cody responded.
Noah entered the bathroom and washed his hands. He stared in the mirror for a second before closing his eyes.
This is pathetic, Noah thought. He really spent his entire life mocking romance, just to set himself up for failure. Little eight-year-old Noah really believed this wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass. He really thought he would be immune to it. It was kind of embarrassing.
When the rest of his family found out, he would never hear the end of it.
Noah washed his hands again and exited the bathroom.
“I think I’m gonna head out,” Cody said, standing up. “It’s almost ten, my parents should be home by now.”
“In the dark?” Caleb asked.
“Yeah. How else am I gonna get home?”
“Aren’t your parents gonna come pick you up?” Adam questioned.
“They don’t even know I’m not home. They never check their phones after work- I learned that the hard way. I’ll be fine, it really isn’t that far of a walk.”
“No way,” Noah said. “We’ll drive you home.”
“You sure?” Cody asked.
“Dude, it is ten o’clock at night!” Adam exclaimed. “You are not walking home in the dark. Absolutely not.”
“I don’t wanna be a problem.”
“It is not a problem. You getting kidnapped is a problem.”
“Yeah,” Noah agreed. “My parents won’t mind. Let’s go.”
The group ran up the stairs and into the kitchen where the adults were talking, a good few of them drinking.
“Mom, Cody needs a ride home,” Noah informed.
“Oh, okay. Where are his parents?” Noah’s mother, Barbara, asked.
“They don’t check their phones,” Cody responded. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologize hun,” Barbara assured. “Come on kids. Adam, Caleb, do you want to come?”
“Yeah!” Adam exclaimed.
“Why not?” Caleb replied.
“Okay, let’s go.”
The kids followed Barbara to her car. Noah sat in the front seat and everyone else got in the backseat. There was bickering about who would take the middle seat before Barbara told Adam to get in the middle because ‘Caleb’s too big and Cody is our guest’. Reluctantly, Adam did what he was told.
“Where do you live, hun?” Barbara asked.
Cody recited his address and the group headed out.
The car ride was pretty mellow, just consisting of a few last jokes. Noah found himself smiling almost the entire car ride.
When Cody was dropped off, Noah sighed, letting his smile fall. As Adam moved seats, Barbara smiled.
“I never see you smile that much,” Barbara stated. “What was that all about?”
“Oh for god’s sake,” Noah complained. “Can I just have a friend in peace?”
“Noah we all know something’s up,” Adam said, thankfully not bringing up the ‘incident’.
“You aren’t slick,” Caleb added.
“Ughhh,” Noah groaned as they began to drive off. “I hate all of you.”
“You love us,” Adam smiled.
“So my little baby has finally given in to the force of love.” Barbara wiped away a fake tear. “I knew the day would come.”
“Woah, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” Noah said. “Am I really that obvious?”
“Baby, I know you like the back of my hand. And yes, you are obvious.”
“Well, that makes eight people that I know know.”
“Who else knows?” Adam asked.
“Izzy, Owen, Gwen, Eva, and Ava.”
“You told Ava before us? I’m offended.”
“She was persistent. Nobody figuring it out was intentional. Except sort-of Owen but he already knew? Whatever.”
Caleb and Adam smiled at each other. “Well, hopefully by the next get-together he’s there as your boyfriend,” Adam grinned.
“Shut your mouths!”
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34saveme34 · 1 month
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HEADCANONS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
considering you didn't specify, I might just talk about my mainies! That being. way too much 34, more than a sane person should think about them, then some Mario, Meggy and Saiko, though not a lot, I'm really living up to my username oops
first of all, even though I'm not like, a shipper of mar34 (like what I stated before about ages being Weird and the fact that only PV managed to break my aroace Mario hcs and nobody else) I really like thinking of them in the Sun-Earth-Moon way
Sun Mario, Earth 4 and Moon 3
Sun Mario because he's the center of it all in the end, the world we know here wouldn't exist without him, just like if the Sun dies, we lose the world as we know it. Although he isn't exactly a leader in that way I think it still fits him well enough
I went on hard about Earth 4 and Moon 3 before but the way they connect that way- but the way how Moon and Earth are built of similar material, the same way how these 2 idiots are a lot more similar than they realise, even if the looks can be deceiving
also how neither would be the same without the other but especially 3
the way how our Moon even came to existence has angst potentials with the 2 just- ough
also the moon phases feeling like 3's stupid emotions in a way
like the tides, their relationship isn't exactly the most calm thing either
So you uh. see what I mean? Paragraphs for a headcanon
anyways, a short one, I like 4 just Saying Things, like he won't say super insane stuff but he'll say kinda gay things and other stuff without fully thinking about it. It doesn't happen all the time but it does when he panicks or doesn't think about it.
I also really like both 4 and 3 being not only self centered, but also cringe. That's pretty much canon. Even their classic versions were both cringe- the self centered part I don't remember right now. But genuinely, this is why I think it's funny when people hate them for being cringe, which, okay, whatever, but for BECOMING cringe, when they've always been. And I think they do worse things. In that one episode, I think it was the SMG4 are you okay? where they were playing dolls? I think they would do that more regularly than we're shown. It would definitely get chaotic and kinda gay honestly. Not because of the playing part but because they'd many times just make their dolls kiss or some shit like that and then like immediately stop
3 also has the vibe of like- If it sucks hit da bricks, except there's too many exceptions that stops him in that, maybe even too much to consider it fully- like money, when he's in a tight, perhaps trapped situation- or sometimes when it's about 4. He isn't always super lenient with him but in the end he always helps when 4 asks and he's not proud of himself for it. 4 has similar feelings in that regard, although he's a tinge bit more willing to help 3 when he needs to, referring to inspection for example where he only questioned 3 once really
bi 4 and pan 3 (with male pref) a classic but a classic for a good reason. Cuz it fits
I think they can. both wear heels but 4 never really finds the occasion to wear them and 3 just prefers platforms most of the time. Though neither would wear actually high heels, 3 doesn't even like thinking about it, 4 does but he's like, scared of it. 3 catching him watch videos of people people walking in high heels with an upset expression
that reminds me, 4's emotions. He expresses short term stuff really well. Cries easily. An emotional man in general. But if he gets like, Big Trauma moments, man bottles up. He might cry about it for like the first few days but it kinda stops helping him so just. doesn't bother. He hides it well, maybe a bit too well. Forcing himself to rest when he needs to, probably with ASMR in his ears so he has something to focus on instead of, Idk, the time when his biggest flaw almost got him and his guardian partner killed! It helps in the moment so that he can sleep. He will have nightmares sometimes but doesn't like to mention it to the others. On especially bad days though, he stays in bed a lot longer. But he never really lets it go too far, considering a certain person dressed in purple will bust his door down with his usual coffee, questioning if he's doing good in a not so nice tone. While it's comforting that 3 cares, it's not fun to be flipped out of bed by him so on days like that he reminds himself to get out or 3 will make him fly.
On that regard, 3 likes to usually check the secret cam in 4's room at times like these. As in each time something out of the ordinary happens. 4 thinks it's the cosmic link, which is only the weaker part of the equation. Like yes, 3 gets a feeling but like, 4 is sad a lot over the dumbest of things and the link isn't good at showing if it's the Chronic Sad coming out or if it's 4 crying at a random Dharmann video.
3 is, by nature, a really touchy person. However, the way his life went, he doesn't show it a lot. He gets really touchy with 4 because he's the first person he actually go comfortable with. He starts to mind it less from the crew in general though, BUT it takes a long time for him to admit that to them directly. They OBVIOUSLY know at that point.
Honestly, 3 in general has a hard time admitting things, sometimes even to himself ("me and 4 hugged in the igloo" HUGGED???? HUGGGED???? HUGGED???? sure BUDDY) and somehow only manages to confess things at his breaking points. Telling 4 how much he cares while drowning in goop, straight up calling himself 4's friend while dangling to his death, reaching his breaking point about his cafe not doing well ONLY in Trash Friends, you'll note he doesn't mention to anyone that he isn't doing well until then. I think he actually partly started writing in his notebook to try and admit things to himself. Besides obviously the emotional value of putting down your feelings on paper, I think it did help him. But not enough. At least he didn't need to be dangling at a cliff to admit that his cafe is not doing well. I also think he has a very similar relationship with his romantic feelings which I'm pretty sure he's aware of at this point.
my biggest hc is probably the love-hate at first sight, especially on 3's side. Like destined rivals in love or whatever. They don't actually realise it though. 4 gradually realises it over Perfect, and slowly gets comfortable to the idea but then catches himself- like genuinely I think he only calls 3 rizzless or insults him in that regard whenever he has the chance, especially with his thoughts in the Elevator ep, is BECAUSE he thinks 3 is hot and I think if someone asked him if he thinks 3 is hot, he would not give you a straight answer, in both ways. He would start bringing up excuses and sound really stupid. However if it's 3 asking 4 just rolls his eyes, reminds himself that 3 may but hot but he doesn't want to inflate his ego further.
They both have self worth issues tho. canon
3 has a problem with committing to things. Not just as in not doing them but doing them so actively it feels unhealthy and then never doing it ever again. For this reason, his streaming schedule is also really bad, catching him streaming is hard. Also gets the same way about spying on 4, which we've seen him do 2 times at this point.
I will only say this in short and will not elaborate so I don't have to put a community label on this thing. Power bottom 4
both 3 and 4 are rizzless, but 4 is way worse. Bad at flirting when he does it on purpose. The closest he comes to flirting is flustering 3 by being a bit too sincere about how important 3 is to him
4 really really likes to consider 3 his partner. Not even in the romantic manner but just like, his right hand man. Also the reason I think he made 3 his cohost in the News ep. Also why 3 is somehow the first person he will ask for help when something happens.
4 has sensitive skin in general. These 2 will cuddle and 3 can just. smell the typical sensitive neutral shower gel smell on 4 after he showers. Perhaps grows attached to it because him. He hates that about himself, thinking he's softie little bitch for doing that. Takes a long time tellling 4 and he wouldn't even have done if it wasn't for 4 asking what's up and even than, 3 is really rude about the way he tells him, calls 4 stupid and the smell of him meaningless. Which hurts 4 to hear but he would know better at that point. Would definitely immediately tease him about it and get decked.
4 is very careful when it comes to 3 but still fucks up. He goes from barely thinking about what he's saying to I Have To Google How To Apologise To Not Fuck This Up. But when he gets it right, he's careful, he's gentle, he figures out the right things to say to get to 3. Later on would probably play mindgames with him to get him to say how he feels if he's really refusing.
They're both night owls. Another reason why leading the cafe is hard for 3. Always looking groggy and lowkey pissed, people are usually more polite for this reason in the mornings when he has costumers, nobody wanting to piss 3 off too much, considering they're in a place with a fuck ton of explosives.
3 is the type of the wiki surf, he likes to read about random stuff. Has some seemingly useless knowledge which others get surprised at when they get to know.
neither really likes horror movies, however 4 is more likely to choose one for a movie night with 3 in hopes that they can be close and intimate but then they're just both scared and there's nothing intimate about it, they're both losers. They would also often argue about what movie to watch, wasting a lot of time with it as well.
3 is a theatre kid. canon. Also gets pissy about shittily made movies. Comments on technical things mercilessly. 4 likes to listen to him rant though.
4 is stupid in the kind of oblivious way. not about everything. basically canon. example for the first: him asking where he is when he's at the obstacle course with 3 in Forced Hold Hands, 3 doesn't. 4 is slow to catch onto things. However he will immediately notice when 3 is being soft. And teases him, obviously. Not in the "I want to humilliate him" way but in the "Aww he cares about me and I'm happy about it but I can't be mature about it because I have my own demons to fight"
4 bad posture. should be canon. we should be hearing him whine about back pain. then getting called old for it.
3 getting pain in his legs from moving around too much in the cafe. Like. it's a LOT more active and also something you need to standing up, while caring for memes and being a streamer isn't.
both 3 and 4 are ambiverts where they like to talk to people and being social but once their social battery runs out it becomes Pretty Hard. 4 gets more uninterested and silent while 3 just leaves like a brooding lone wolf.
Anyways, I should probably talk about other characters as well, huh?
Mario, he's.... so........... I love his "many" intellence 0 wisdom. Or at least very little. He's the type to scream and cheer when the DVD logo hits the corner perfectly. He has a bit of a shipper brain.......... he def also played dolls with 4 before. His wavering mental state which can easily change by circumstances + his will and determination basically endless make him great opponent.
hates cardio. canon
therapy Mario..... not even just 3 or 4 but literally the whole gang. If it appeared more, I think he would often be the guy to listen to his friends' concerns and fears.
great sense of smell and hearing but it can easily be overwritten by desires. For example, his desire of tasty tasty spaghetti eating making him not notice he ate trash in Trash Friends. Only doesn't bring up the igloo incident to others because the last time he brought it up off screen it didn't end well. He can also be nice sometimes, as a treat.
uuuuh Meggy! I like the idea of her being sort of the Prepared friend, as I wrote her in Sever the Ties. She just has Things when you need them, especially if it has to do with sports or kitchen accidents. She is very similar to 3 in that if something turns into a competition, they both have their common sense overwritten. 4 is also like this. Meggy is realy the only one who doesn't cause this, the other 2 do it all the time. She definitely has anger issues and isn't the best in general with handling such intense emotions. She's a lot more chill about love because she's mostly good with relationships. She will get nervous about dates and stuff, and becoming way too serious about which might scare away people who don't get her. Her determination in general can be a turn off for a lot of people (then there's.... certain people..... who admire her for it.... man I sure wonder who I'm talking about)
anyways, another random- Saiko. aro, sorry I just. I can't see her any other way. Loves her friends but just can't get down with love at all.
Not really the best with her emotions. Although not as bad as 3, she can still get rather aggressive. She's also the person in the crew who would complain in a restaurant. Probably doesn't have the best hearing considering the fact that not only is she in a band but it also isn't the calmest of music that they're playing. She also sometimes still misses having a chaotic life. I'm sad it hadn't been brought up since her last major appearance
can't really think of anything else right now, my mind became rather empty after all my rambling about 34 oops-
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vineofroses · 5 months
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tagged by @callivich which im thankful for because im always ready to talk gallavich
What’s a fic you’ve read multiple times? Teenagers Scare the Living Shit Out of Me by Mellow_Yellow. I love this fic -- it's a great mystery, ian and mickey's relationship is very sweet but realistic. and i looooove mickey's uncle ronnie. also SPOILER but i do blame this fic for ruining tony for me lol. every time i see Tony on the show now im always side eyeing him haha.
What’s an idea you’d love to create if you had the time/inspiration? Probably a post-canon fic about Ian finding his way back to doing what he loves. I love EMT!Ian an dit makes me so sad that he didnt get to end the show that way. i'd want the fic to properly explore the barriers he runs into in becoming an EMT again as an ex-con. and i'd want it to explore ian and mickey's dynamic when it comes to ian's bipolar disorder now. seasons 4 and 5 are so good but they were obviously so tumultuous for both of them but i feel like seasons 10 and 11 they don't really ever talk about those seasons and how they've grown in that specific area. i think that would tie nicely into ian working to become an EMT again.
What’s something you’ve discovered since entering this fandom? A new trope you love? A different analysis of the show? Something else? I don't want to be super negative here but I will say when i first started dipping my toes into the shameless fandom i noticed a lot of hate for ian -- in fics and youtube comments, mostly. it confused me a lot because gallavich is such a popular ship that it made no sense to me how people could hate 1/2 of that ship. so any time i saw that level of hate directed toward ian, my love for ian kept growing until i have now become a staunch defender lol. but i have also come to realize that i think a lot of that came from people's intense love for Mickey and for Noel. and i know people held a lot of anger while the show was airing when Noel left the show. i can see how watching ian in seasons 6-8 move on without mickey would be frustrating. i really don't agree with any of that, but knowing where a lot of it comes from makes it easier to understand. (also noting that people could just be ableist dickheads, too, and to those people i say fuck you.) sorry if this question was supposed to be a positive one but that's my answer.
What’s an underrated trope or concept you’d like to see more of? maybe fics where we see mickey doing his research on bipolar disorder. he walks into the gallagher kitchen with so many bottles and vitamins and is spouting off drug facts like he's being tested on his knowledge. like, i just want to see him doing research for his boyfriend!
What’s your favourite season? And has this changed after multiple rewatches of the show? Arrghhh this is almost impossible to answer. I think overall that seasons 4 and 5 have the strongest writing. I would probably place season 4 slightly ahead of 5 purely for the rushed and chaotic ending of 5. Season 4 just hits so hard. But in terms of specifically Ian's story, i love season 6 and parts of season 7.
What’s a plot hole you wish had been answered or resolved? It's not exactly a plot hole but I kinda wish they brought Clayton back in some way, especially in the later seasons. (ok also this isn't gallavich related but wtf was that moment in season 6 when tony returned just to tell ian he was gay??? we never him again after that?? lol)
What scene or moment do you feel isn’t discussed enough? the scene in the military prison where ian's listening to his entire family talk about his mental state like he isn't sitting right there. my god that scene breaks me. ian's silence speaks so loudly. it makes so much sense why he runs away with monica shortly after. i kinda also wish someone explained to the gallaghers how hurtful it is for them to keep comparing ian to monica, that just because they're both bipolar it does not mean he's gonna do the same shit as her. i so wish there was way more understanding on their part, and to stop throwing that in his face.
What do you think is next for Ian and Mickey post-finale? I want them to continue settling into their life and finding out their comforts. maybe finding somewhere else to live. i looove ian but i wasn't fan of the way he signed for that apartment without speaking to mickey so i'd like to think they find somewhere they can both truly call home. and that ian can find his way back to healing and helping people.
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gothsugarbunnidisco · 2 months
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gerbert fic rec list
alright, kitty’s third fic rec list time! requested by @meowmeowcat759506 just after i had thought of doing one of these for gerbert, which is really fun! love you (platonic) clay <3
♡ = a favorite of kitty’s
1. On My Own: sad angsty pre and post break up gerbert
make sure to read all tags! very bwaaahhh and ough!! one shot. 642 words.
♡ 2. Well, We Kiss Like Painted Tigers: Written for a kiss meme prompt: "Bert/Gerard, smeared makeup."
trigger warning for mentions of drugs, alcohol, and addiction! god, i adore this one. one shot. 829 words.
♡ 3. Extent of My Sin: “And I don’t want to think too much about what we should and shouldn’t do.” Originally written June 2005.
trigger warning for drugs and sex! i love this one’s vibe, and it uses nine inch nails lyrics, which is cool! one shot. 2,067 words.
4. Clumsy Heart: The summer Bert and Gerard got together, Gerard was busy falling apart.
contains sex, drugs/alcohol/cigarettes. surprised me by not having a sad ending! has a fun sort of chaotic summer romance vibe to it. gerbert fics actually written in 2000s type time hit different. one shot. 2,266 words.
♡ 5. the confrontation: Bert confronts Gerard and calls him out on, basically, everything.
HOLY SHIT lmao. fighting (verbal and physical), cigarettes and alcohol, minor discussion of body image, f slur, minor nsfw. background past frerard. basically, post-break-up gerbert fight featuring an amalgamation of prorev theories, openly bisexual bert, sad little puppy unrequited love frankie iero, and deeply closeted gay gerard. daily dose of drama for someone who doesn’t leave her house (me). one shot. 7,938 words.
6. your love is my drug: Bert loves mornings like this. Waking up with his boyfriend kissing him sweetly then maybe later, they'll make those awesome waffles or maybe they'll have morning sex or whatever. He fucking loves this.
fluff. contains sexual content and background frikey. really cute!! one shot. 2,004 words.
♡ 7. Blush: Gerard lives in black and white. He’s fine with it. But when he meets Frank, everything changes.
soulmate au, but with a theme of “people can make their own choices about their soulmates.” starts out as frerard, but gerbert is endgame! has sad parts but a very happy ending. featuring background petekey, ashlee simpson (who i adore) and a baby! trigger warning for character death and some sexual content. multi chapter. 9,181 words.
8. Just Ask: Bert has plenty he wants, but doesn't want to ask.
costume party! warnings for sexual content and alcohol, and also for teh fact tha they wear cop costumes, lol. one shot. 4,517 words.
9. Parents’ Weekend: Gerard loves the guy, he really does. Really. But sometimes Bert, bless his heart, just gets things...Wrong. Despite his wonderful intentions.
very cute short thing about bert being nervous to meet gerard’s parents after they’ve been dating for a while. no warnings except swearing, but my blog url currently has a curse word in it, so anyone reading this is probably fine with that, haha! one shot. 483 words.
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beanghostprincess · 3 months
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HiyorixKuina anon again!
I was thinking about Kuina more than average and I came up with this concuction.
So you often see that in many Modern AUs you have Perona and Zoro being Mihawk's adoptive children, and while I like this what if Kuina 2as also his adoptive daughter???
Imagine, you have Zoro being an orphan from a young age so he gets taken in by his relatives. But then something horrible happens (could be Kuina's mom dying or Koushiro kills her since everybody seems to agree he is murder coded) so Kuina and Zoro are taken away by CPS and are assigned to Mihawk, who had already adopted Perona. (I hc that Moria would be her bio dad, and he lost custidy due to his experiments on corpses and other stuff)
What we get is a sit-com like dinamic of middle aged single parent swordsman with 3 kids: one is goth, one is insane, one is bith and they are all gay.
I think that Kuina would really like Mihawk since he would teach her and not discriminate (as far as we know) and he would also reconize that Kuina is a better pupil than Zoro, which would add another layer to their rivarly and relationship.
Plus Perona and Kuina being vastly different older sister who are the two opposing extemes on the lesbian spectrum but still come togheter for each other when they need it and to annoy their dumb little brother would be so funny to me. I think Kuina would protect Perona from bullies and general pricks and they would both do wierd shit togheter like mutilate their Barbies to scare people.
I think Kuina would really get along with Zoro's friends siblings, obviously Ace and maybe also Sabo since they both reject the bigoted values that some people impose, but I think she would like Nojiko as well. The two of them both know the horrors of the real world so I think they would use some of the darkest humor ever with each other. And all of them would obviously keep talking about their siblings, that can't be avoided.
I also think Kuina might be Sanji's rival too. After all he treats women vastly different from men (even if its with benevolent intentions) and Kuina woukd interprete thus as Sanji thinking women are weak. So its Zoro and Kuina coming togheter against their shared rival: swirly eyebrowed dumb cook. But ironically Kuina would be fond of the dumb cook's boyfriend, after all Usopp is also a very underrated genious who defyes people's expectation to prove himself as strong and worthy.
Bonus headcanon: Yamace and Hiyoku double dates. Wlw and mlm solidariety at its finest.
HEY BESTIE!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAA I love all of this. It's awesome. I just know Kuina and Perona would be complete opposites but would love and protect each other a lot. Like, they're weird in their own ways. People don't like Perona because she's all dark and creepy and with a very princess-like personality and people don't like Kuina much because she doesn't fall in the standard men have for women and swordsmen. So they fit together perfectly even though they're different. And they'd take care of Zoro and also make fun of him 24/7. This is great. Also, Mihawk be adopting children every fucking where. I don't know if I should be sorry for him or not. At least his family is cool. Perona is his princess <3 Kuina is his fav pupil!! And Zoro is Zoro. He's just Zoro.
This is basically the situation:
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(He does care btw, he's just shitty when it comes to feelings and Zoro isn't as cute as his girls)
And yes, Kuina would definitely not stand Sanji but love Usopp. I agree completely. Their views don't match at all but well, Sanji can live with it (he can't. He's crying).
AND YAMACE AND HIYOKU DOUBLE DATES!!!!!!!! CUTE!!!!!!!!! It'd be a bit chaotic, honestly. Both couples have such a different energy 😭😭 Ace might seem a bit more relaxed but the second Yamato goes insane about something, he probably does too if he likes it. So I can definitely imagine Kuina like "I wanted this to be an actual date,, I am sorry, I should've thought about this better-" and Hiyori would just laugh softly at Yamace's shenanigans because she's having the time of her life.
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rpmemesbyarat · 1 year
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RP MEMES FROM REDDIT 5/4/2023 -5/11/2023
“Guess I'll suck some dicks now.” “I’m not gay anymore, I guess?” “There are no rules.” “Dem thighs!” “I mean, look at it. It's rather artistic.” “Would you like to walk out of here with your pride intact? Or be dragged out kicking and screaming?” “The fucking boot got me.” “It’s crazy how many people don’t realize that 95% of these videos are scripted.” “Breaking someone's heart is the worst thing you can legally do to someone.” “I rinse my dong off after I pee, found out that this is apparently odd?” “I like to get the bathroom hot and steamy before I take a shit.” "What questions, when asked by a potential date, are red flags for you?" “I’m guarded, introverted and naturally suspicious. It can take a while before my walls come down.” “I’m married to my art.” “I think it's what the kids call "the ick".” “I don’t need you.” “I respectfully request that you don’t put worms in your urethra.” “Better to caution on the safe side.” “I have definitely left some radioactive turds.” “Would an ass count as a nuclear weapon?” “They even have a spot to store your baby!” “Maybe don't make this about you.” “Just say you won’t be able to attend due to other commitments.” “Everything I learned about art, music and physics, I learned from Looney Tunes.” “Always bring a spare change of clothes.” “You just know some porn studio out there will pay big bucks to film this” “What a weird kink” “Someone hire these kids immediately” “When in heat, female lions can demand for sex upwards of 20-30 times a day, so much so that when the male inevitably gets tired, they start biting them on the balls to keep them going again.” “I hope you don’t think you've got your looks to fall back on” “That guy is getting shorter every day” “I would not want to fight this guy.” “What fucking pathetic excuses for human beings” “I’ve never seen something so chaotic and fun at the same time.” “What is this hellish place?!?!” “I feel like this is a safety hazard.” “Well why is your penis anywhere near that cake!?” “Eat your own nose!!!” “On the bright side, I probably would finally be able to eat three meals a day whilst in prison.” “I'm looking forward to when a little elephant will stroll out. “ “I KNEW there was a cat involved. I could feel it, I just didn't know where.” “If you weren't an arms merchant or corporate raider then you did lose the cold war.” “Round up to help the poor? Leave a tip? Do you love this shit? Are you high right now? Do you ever get nervous? Are you single?” “Where is this money actually going?” “You have a very nice butthole. Respectfully.” “This sounds like the setup for a really crappy porno.” “Just because you don’t believe in a law doesn’t mean it doesn’t pertain to you.”
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starmeadowsystem · 10 months
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Hi, we're the Starmeadow System! We're an autistic transfem system who kinda just exists and also draws things sometimes.
About us (individually)
Stella (she/they/kit): Kittygirl host. Shows up the most often. Loud and outspoken about a lot of things. Makes up the most things and kisses the most girls. Wants to do more things for her headmates.
Apple (she/her): The red panda gremlin who manages to be a bigger lesbian than Stella (when adjusting for the resource gap). She also has a sister in our partner system.
Pizza (they/them): Fictive from Chicory: A Colorful Tale. They are very silly and cute. Very pettable as well.
Cupcake (she/her): Really cute dog. Also one of Stella's several exes.
Ezekiel (he/they/ze): Green bird who lurks and says "computer" sometimes. Has the voice of a 90s text to speech program.
Volo (he/him): Fictive from Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Memelord who announces his presence with his theme. Approves his source's Near MB post we think.
Artemis (she/her): Fictive from Deltafauna, a series we tried to develop once. Acts and speaks in a very deadpan fashion.
Crystal (she/ice): Pretty glaceon with a southern accent. One of Stella's kids somehow.
Amethyst (she/her): Fictive from Steven Universe. Lurks. Says things sometimes.
Technoblade (he/him): A mix between his "real life" and "dream SMP (my behated)" self. Also kind of a memelord. Claims to get along with Volo well.
Rich (he/him): Factive of a guy we worked for once until we got laid off. Hasn't shown up in a while. Don't know what he was about tbh.
Nomi (she/her): Fictive from Dogs in Space. Just as chaotic as her source, and is also probably very very gay. Pettable.
V1 (he/him): Fictive from Ultrakill. Very violent. Claims he's a gopro. Even more enthusiastic about killing transphobes and cops than most of the system.
Sox (he/him): Fictive from Lightyear. Acts as a therapist who remains unaffiliated with the psychiactric system. Very pettable.
Doris (she/her): System member who briefly showed up based on the person-sized dinosuar plushie we have. Kissable.
Bluey (she/they): Fictive from Bluey. Small, adorable dog child. I (stella) would kill for her. And do the dishes for her too.
Rocket Raccoon (he/him): Fictive from Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm a little gremlin who likes shooting shit. Hope you understand.
Fandoms
Listed in alphabetical order. Non-exhaustive.
Animal Crossing
Beastieball
Bluey
Breaking Bad
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling
Celeste
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Deltarune
Dogworld (2021)
Grapple Dog
Hollow Knight
The Hunger Games
Kirby
The Legend of Zelda
Pix and Bit
Pokemon
Preeny Has To Repeat 6th Grade
Rain World
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Cat Tales
Super Mario Bros.
Squid Game
If you notice there's a pattern: yes, we're furry gamers lmao especially Stella
Shit we do
We post things, reblog furry women and Very Fun Political Things Going On, and sometimes maybe work on some projects.
Stella's the main person who manages things about "Pure of Heart" characters on tumblr, and posts about it when she feels like it. She has also made a 100(DEC36)-point moral scale for evaluating fictional characters. Discussion around this is encouraged.
Independently of that, kit's also planning Souls of the Broken Warrens, an adult interactive comment-driven dark fantasy quest about genocide, cute rabbits, and love and companionship in the darkest of times.
Pix and Bit Save the Galaxy is a fanfic I sometimes write for on AO3. It's about a couple trans lesbians fighting one of their dads and his army for the fate of the Galaxy. You know, normal shenanigans n shit.
These plans are about as liquid and malleable as life itself, of course, so uh. Yeah.
Cool people you should also follow
@rougewitchfox - Our partner system. Very very pretty and cute and kissable. Minors aren't allowed on her account. She's also agreed to proofread for Souls of the Broken Warrens so that Stella doesn't accidentally end up harming marginalized people, given the sensitive nature of the game's subject matter.
@autisticsupervillain - cool guy who happens to often talk about Magnificent Bastards, Complete Monsters, and pitting fictional characters in fights to the death and seeing who wins with better logic than Death Battle. We consider him a good friend of ours.
@imsobadatnicknames2 - Interesting fella who runs Brave Little Mouse, a cyoa with Mausritter rules. Has a Ko-Fi. I cant buy him one rn though :(
Anyway that's it we think, have fun dealing with us lol
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transpunkhell · 2 years
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fuck it just posting my jargyle fic here
i dont have Ao3 so bear with me okay :,) also didnt realize how long this ended up sorry
fluff, confessions, little bit of a j*ncy breakup scene, being gay, LOTS of bong rips and endless weed ;)
--
Jonathan sat on the side of his bed. The moonlight cast a blue hue into his room, lighting his bedside in a melancholy manner. His face rested in his hands, slightly clammy from overthinking and the anxieties that followed. He should have been relieved, he thought to himself, but all he could do was repeat the scene over and over again in his head.
He had wanted to break up with Nancy. College was something he wanted to pursue, and he began to realize after the move to California that a long-distance relationship wouldn't work anymore. He just wasn't expecting Nancy to dump him first. 
Except, he wasn't really being dumped, Jonathan rationalized to himself.
"It's not you, Jonathan, it's...girls. I think I'm more into girls. I'm sorry."
Those words looped endlessly in his mind.
It's not like he was disappointed. Again, he was sort of relieved that he didn't have to be the one to do it. It's just that the more he thought about why he fell out of love with Nancy, the more he struggled to understand exactly what his feelings were.
Jonathan dragged his hands down his face and groaned. He really didn't know how to sort his thoughts on this, and it fucking sucked. He didn't need this right now. He needed something else. He needed-
A familiar honking could be heard from outside.  Immediately Jonathan perked up, donned his overshirt, and ran outside. He probably should've been quieter, considering it was almost 2 in the morning, but the persistent honks had probably woken up the entire street at that point.
Argyle continued to smash the horn even as Jonathan was sprinting towards the ever-so-familiar vehicle. He only stopped once his friend had hopped in and shut the door.
"Why do you have the van dude? Aren't you off right now?" Jonathan asked, a little out of breath from that sprint. It was somewhat normal for Argyle to show up at the house at night, but it wasn't normal at all for him to be so rowdy about it when everyone else was asleep. He was a bit of a klutz, sure, but he didn't usually go out of his way to be annoying. Maybe it was urgent, Jonathan mused to himself, though he sort of wished this could've waited until the morning. 
"I forgot to turn in the keys," Argyle replied, playing with the keychains dangling from the ignition. "Plus, since you're kind of going through some shit right now, I brought you a surprise..."
Argyle reached toward the middle seats, but he seemed to struggle a little. Miffed, he cursed to himself under his breath, unbuckled his seatbelt, then twisted over to reach deeper toward the floor of the van to pull out a brand-new bong and grinder.
Jonathan was too surprised to speak, but Argyle continued. "So uh, I was gonna save this for your birthday, but I think you kinda need it now, so I'm driving us to my favorite place so we can take rips 'till the sun comes up. That cool?"
Jonathan put his hand to his forehead and smiled. "You're my best friend, man," he said. "The best."
--
Jonathan choked on milky-white smoke, struggling to breathe normally after taking such a big rip. He handed the bong to Argyle, who took it like he was impatient for it. He reached over to grab the lighter from Jonathan as well, and went to town. The brief moments of the lighter in action remained their only immediate light source, allowing them to see the smoke rise up the bong's neck for mere milliseconds. He held the hit in for a bit, then let it all out in a chaotic coughing fit. Trying to recover still even after passing the bong back to Jonathan, he laid down to look at the stars.
They both rested on top of the van. Argyle had parked on the shoulder of a cliffside road overlooking all of Lenora Hills. The houses, all nestled in the valley, were scarcely lit to vaguely match the starlit sky above them. It was a mildly-pretty sight as is, but it was a gorgeous scene for a couple of stoners. 
Unfortunately for Jonathan, his mind could only race. The quiet gave him too much room to think about what had happened earlier, and the high only seemed to make the thoughts more intense.
Nancy coming out to him changed something, something in the way he thought about himself. The conversation repeated itself in his mind. 
"How did you know?"
"...Know that I'm into girls?" 
"Y-yeah."
It was insightful, learning how Nancy found out about herself. During the conversation, Jonathan focused mainly on Nancy's feelings and what she had to say. Even if they weren't together, he still loved her as a close friend and confidante. Understanding her and being there for her was important to him, more important than anything else in that moment. 
But it was the way she described it, falling in love while queer. It was hard to recognize it at first, she said, but once she did, she knew she couldn't deny it. Wanting to spend all of your time with that one person, feeling butterflies when they touch you or hang a little too close for "just friends," thinking about what it would be like to tell them that you like them, and wondering the odds on them liking you back-
"Dude, are you even listening?"
Jonathan snapped out of it and looked at his friend, who was sitting back upright. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I was a little lost in thought." 
"Spill it, man," Argyle punched him playfully. "Whatcha got?"
Jonathan put his hand through his hair and moved it down to nervously push on the back of his neck. He couldn't even figure out his feelings while sober, so now his words came out scrambled and disorganized.
"I think, uh, Nancy breaking up with me was good for me and all," he started. "I mean, um, I don't know. It was a good reason. Not that there really needs to be a, uh, reason, especially since I was gonna break up with her anyways. I don't know."
Jonathan lost his train of thought, but it's not like it mattered; he wasn't really saying much of anything, and he probably lost Argyle's attention way before. He took a few seconds to compose his thoughts.
"I think I've got a lot of new feelings to sort out," he sighed.
Argyle got that. He pat Jonathan on the back, causing his heart to flutter. His hand felt familiar, in a way that comforted him like a hug. 
"Like...what?" Argyle asked, his stoner drawl more obvious than usual. His presence brought Jonathan's entire anxious being to a gradual rest. He knew he was safe to speak his mind here, so he took a breath and went on. 
"I've been kind of looking into how I feel about other people. Romantically." 
He paused to check if Argyle was still listening, maybe hoping that he wasn't. He was. In fact, their eyes met in a way that convinced Jonathan that he was getting Argyle's full attention. The bong rips were catching up to him—to both of them, really. Both of their tolerances had gone up from smoking pretty much every day, but the hits from the bong had permeated their bloodstreams in a way that the joints they shared in the past just couldn't compare to. It made Jonathan's next choice of words feel a little more emotionally weighted than he had wanted.
"I'm realizing I might not be so, uh, straight, either." Jonathan sighed and twiddled his thumbs. It should have felt good to confide in his best friend like this; he already knew Argyle was supportive of everything, especially being queer, but his anxiety sunk its fangs into him.
Worry physically manifested in his stomach, shooting toward his body's extremities and forcing the palms of his hands to sweat. His skin itched in anticipation of what Argyle would say next. He worried he was admitting this too openly, that he might've accidentally implied something bad, or even-
"Brooooo." Argyle interrupted his racing thoughts. A sweet smile appeared on his face as he continued. "I was literally thinking the exact same thing."
Jonathan straightened up. The haze in his brain made it hard for him to comprehend it entirely, but the butterflies he felt nearly made him vomit now. 
"Like uh, being gay and stuff," Argyle continued. "Maybe not gay, but like...bisexual or something. I think I definitely like dudes and dudettes all the same, man...but maybe I like dudes just a li'l more."
Jonathan's mind tried to pull back instances where Argyle seemed interested in other guys. He couldn't come up with anything. Not that he needed to, of course, as Argyle's feelings were often an enigma to him, but he couldn't help but try and look for the hints. Any moments of potential yearning, specific discussions, whatever, were being sorted in his mind at light speed.
"How did you find out?" Jonathan asked without thinking. Immediate regret.
"Trust me man, you don't wanna know," Argyle coughed, having just taken another hit.
"Not true," Jonathan countered. "You're my best friend, dude. I'm really grateful for everything you do for me. I'll do the same for you."
Argyle ran his fingers through his long hair, trying to get his words together. In a moment that felt almost out of character to Jonathan, he saw worry on his best friend's face. He reassured Argyle by wrapping his arm around him. Argyle leaned in, resting his head on Jonathan's shoulder. 
The physical contact felt exciting. That moment felt like it could have lasted forever. Argyle was warm, a nice contrast to the nighttime chill, and it only made him want to hold him closer. For a while, even. Jonathan mused ideas of them holding each other in ways they hadn't before, and he found himself yearning for it all.
Fuck, he thought to himself.
The realization hit Jonathan like a truck. His conversation with Nancy popped up in his mind again, as if the thought itself was hammering the nails in the coffin of his heterosexuality. He had a crush on his best friend, and he was crushing hard. Putting those words to his feelings brought a wave of dread over him.
Jonathan tried to reach back in his memories to when this crush started. Maybe it was the time they spent on the road, with the endless stretches of brown and gray in the landscape giving way to loneliness. He reached earlier to when they started smoking together, or when he first met Argyle at Surfer Boy Pizza. He remembered the beating of his heart, the shakiness of his breath, the thoughts that flooded his mind every single time they were together.
He recognized how obvious it was the whole time now, and cursed himself for the new Byers pattern of falling in love with your best friend. He ran through feelings of guilt over whether he was crushing while he and Nancy were still a thing. Was it even rational to feel guilty over this, even after they broke up? Jonathan's anxiety fell into a catastrophic spiral, enhanced by the circular thinking of a heady high.
Argyle cut through Jonathan's thoughts again, but this time it stopped him in his tracks entirely.
"It was kind of you, man."
Three seconds of silence passed as Jonathan tried to pull himself together.
"Wh-what?" he uttered, absolutely dumbfounded. His grip on Argyle tightened a little. 
"Yeah man, I think you're really neat. More than neat, even. Magical." Argyle held the bong close, almost like a stuffed animal. "Like, when we smoke, I want to feel that kinda vibe forever, man."
Jonathan forgot about his breathing. He thought, Did Argyle just say he likes me? Did he just call me...magical? 
He chuckled awkwardly. He instinctually dropped his head to hide his blushing cheeks, but it wasn't like Argyle could really see it in the dark.
Argyle moved away from Jonathan. He anchored his hand in his hair, body language stiffening with visible anxiety. "That's probably, totally a weird thing to say, I know. Sorry dude."
Jonathan's head shot back up, and he responded immediately. "It's not, man. I swear. I mean..."
The high clouded his better judgement, and all he could focus on was the realization that he liked his best friend. He really liked Argyle. He didn't know what he wanted, or what was appropriate to do, but it didn't seem to matter. His impulses decided to take the plunge.
"I think you're kind of..." Jonathan hesitated. "...magical, too."
Argyle's eyes widened. Jonathan could really see his face light up this time, even in the dark, and it made his heart swell with joyful affection.
"You mean that?" Argyle asked.
"I really do."
Jonathan placed a hand on Argyle's thigh. A jolt of excitement—and maybe a little bit of panic—shot through his body. He was a little bolder now than what he was used to, but he didn't care anymore.
"Are we, like, gay for each other?" Argyle blurted. 
They both laughed it off. To Jonathan, it felt like a dream with how easy this was actually going. He thought he was being so awkward right now, but it was with his best friend, so none of that mattered. All that he needed right now was to keep Argyle close.
Argyle placed the bong down and rested his head on Jonathan's lap. The extended physical contact was thrilling now. He brought his hands down to gently comb through Argyle's long hair.
"Hold my hands, man," Argyle mumbled. "I just gotta see if it feels right."
"Okay, man!" Jonathan giggled and intertwined his fingers with Argyle's. His hands were big and cozy, warming up Jonathan's cold palms immediately.
Argyle chuckled to himself, and spoke up again. "Yeaaaahhh," he squeezed Jonathan's hands. "This totally feels right."
Jonathan couldn't get his grin off his face, even if he tried. As they remained close, he took in the ambience of Lenora Hills early in the morning. The first birdsong of the day echoed through the trees. Gentle winds moved past the couple and pushed their hair over their faces. A few more houses in the valley had begun to flick their lights on. The sound of his own breathing, almost in sync with Argyle's, brought a slow rhythm to the moment. 
Finally, at the cliffside, with his newfound love, his mind was at peace. 
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