#the studio apartment scene is fucking hilarious

[kingofbodyrolls]

Yoongi fic recs 2024 🥳

In honor of Yoongi’s birthday, I want to share my ultimate favorite Yoongi stories, that I’ve read this past year (2023-2024) 💜 I want to thank each and every writer on this list for creating such wonderful stories and art - you are truly amazing ✨ All the fics on this list hold a dear place in my heart 🥹 🥳

❗Most of these fics are smutty as hell or contains dark themes, so minors dni.❗ 

If you read anything on this list and you like it, please leave a comment to the writer or reblog the fic, it might seem like a tiny gesture, but it really means a lot for writers and I can guarantee it will put a smile on their faces💜 Let’s share and give lots of love!

Looking for more to read? Check ‘The Library’ or last years recs 🙂

[index] → jan | feb (jhs) | mar (💜) | apr | may | jun | jul | aug | sep (jjk)(knj) | oct (pjm) | nov | dec (kth)(ksj) |

Emoji meaning → angst = 🌩️, smut = 🥵, fluff = 🥰, comedy = 😂, yandere = 😈, thriller/dark = 👻, fantasy = 🪄. 

⭐Illicit Favors @yoongiofmine // myg x f.reader // producer!yoongi, virgin!reader, f2l // 🥰🥵🌩️

📝 When your editor tells you to re-write the chapters of your book because the sex scenes are weak, suggesting you write them from experience, what do you do when you lack any kind of sexual experiences in general? You go to your friend and ask him for help with it.

🗨️ Matchmaker Namjoon!! The premise is funny and leads to slight awkwardness, but it’s so good. I love the reader and Yoongi’s friendship in this. I was left speechless after reading it, I can’t recommend this enough 🙂

⭐Tricks of the Trade @stutterfly // myg x f.reader // body swap!au, soulmates!au, idiots to lovers, frenemies to lovers // 🥰😂🥵

📝 The convenience store across the street from your apartment carries your favorite energy drink. That’s why you frequent it. It’s definitely not because you have a big fat crush on the owner you’ve been flirting with for the better part of a year. Of course your brand of flirting can also be misconstrued as bickering. When a strange man wanders into the store, he thinks you need a little nudge to embrace the strings connecting you. Next thing you know you’re waking up in a body that definitely doesn’t belong to you. You can’t decide if it’s the best or worst thing that’s ever happened to you.

🗨️ This is utterly perfection! It is so funny and hilarious - but it is also insanely smutty! It’s really interesting with body swapping, what they learn about each other, lol. I read this on a day where I was feeling down, and it honestly made my day! 💜Also, now I kinda wanna watch ‘She’s the Man’ 😂

⭐Backtrack @mapofthesea // myg x pjm x reader // producers!yoonmin, assistant!reader, bi!yoongi // 🥵🥰

📝 There’s no telling just how long you’d been stuck in the windowless studio, and you’re just about ready to walk out and forfeit your paycheck for the week, until your bosses strike up an interesting bargain.

🗨️ Holy fuck 🥵 I feel like I need to take a very long shower now 🫣🫣🫣 this is probably one of the dirtiest fics I’ve read. It’s so good 🤤

⭐Workaholic @hobiwonder [10K] // myg x f.reader // “‘strangers” to lovers (I don’t want to spoil!) // 🥵😂🥰

📝 Yoongi needs to relax and Hoseok has many tricks up his sleeve to make him. None of them Yoongi thought included hiring a hooker to pay him a visit one stormy night. 

🗨️ Wow okay, this was so freaking great! Like, what??? Incredible! A masterpiece! I really really loved it 🥺 everything was so fucking good, their chemistry, the tense build up ugh, so fucking good! 💯 ✨

⭐What the Moon Saw + Stolen Tides @violetsiren90 // myg x f.reader // non-idol!au, f2l // 🥵🥰🌩️

📝 In the words of the great Stevie Nicks, "Time makes you bolder, even children get older, and I'm getting older too."

🗨️ This is just so fucking beautiful. Everything. About. It. Period. 😭 It is emotional, it is young love, and it is tender and loving - like, Yoongi is just so sweet. Their timing sucks, but thankfully Violet wrote a beautiful drabble to give the couple a lovely ending! 💜 Truly, please go read it, it is so good I was crying and felt so good after, it’s sweet – OKAY I’M SOFT I know.

⭐Oh, darling! [series; completed] @yoongiofmine // myg x f.reader // university!au, non idol au, professor!yoongi, student!reader // 🥰🌩️🥵

📝 Starting your second semester at one of South Korea’s most prestigious universities should be stressful enough. Between juggling classes, good grades and a social life, your plate was full. Hoping to spice up your academic career, you thought it was a good idea to enroll as an assistant for your literature professor, whom you’ve held a very secret and very forbidden crush on for the past several months. What will happen now that you’re forced to work closely together? And what if your crush isn’t as one sided as you thought? 

🗨️ Holy fucking shit 🥵🫣😳 This is just one of my favorites series, EVER 💜 This is in my top 10, no questions! ✨

⭐Mami @kithtaehyung // myg x f.reader, knj x f.reader, jhs x f.reader // roommates!au, battle rap!au // 🥵

📝 You somehow have a conversation with Yoongi, and you tell your roommate about a date date.

🗨️ So, so good 🥵 really looking forward to more of this series 🥵 🫣

⭐Damn the Charcuterie Board @bratkook // myg x f.reader x pjm // bestfriends!au, threesome // 🥵

📝 This doesn’t have a summary, so here goes mine; reader has has a sling of unfulfilling sexual times, and in the company of her best friends, she thinks about a video she watched recently. Could they give her what she needed?

🗨️ This has been on my reading list for so freaking long! 🥹 And now I finally got to read it, and damn, it is one of the best, filthiest fics out there. So, so good! 💯🥵

⭐Cotton Candy Computer (1) [series; discontinued] @softyoongiionly // myg x f.reader // hacker!au // 🥵🌩️

📝 Min Yoongi is the top hacker in the world. He has put away countless other cyber criminals all whilst evading detection by virtually everyone he has ever crossed paths with, including the government. The diabolical super hacker that came close to tracking him down is now serving a 10 year prison sentence, all thanks to Yoongi’s handiwork. So what happens when the sentence is shortened unexpectedly? What happens when the biggest threat to public safety is roaming the streets again, determined to get revenge on the man who put him away? What happens when the worlds most infamous hacker just so happens to manage your local Mikrokosmic Electronics? A terabyte of trouble.

🗨️ Shit this was incredibly good!!!! Why isn’t it finished? 😭 I don’t usually read unfinished or discontinued series, but the summary really had me and I just had to read it – and now I’m hooked and I want more of this sexy hot hacker Yoongi! 😭 The story was also just so well written and the chemistry between reader and oc was so fucking perfect, and don’t get me started on the smut, like ugh 🥵 Gosh, I’m so sad there aren’t more parts to it (like the author planned four parts). But it’s so so good, and the cliffhanger isn’t horrible (in terms of wanting to read the next chapter). It can definitely be read as a one shot, I just really, really wished there was more, because, fuck, it was perfect! 💯💜✨

⭐Three Tangerines [series; ongoing] @kithtaehyung // myg x f.reader // fuckboy!yoongi, brother’s best friend!au, age gap!au // 🌩️🥵

📝 Throughout high school, you sometimes caught glimpses of your brother’s older friends: some of them were sweet, some of them were smart. but the one closest to him? that guy was a total f*ckboy from day one. after a foray of horrid relationships spanning years - ending with one that broke up with you for an alarming reason - you needed advice on what the hell you were doing wrong… and this wasn’t a conversation for anyone sweet or smart.

🗨️ I will keep screaming about Ryen and 3tan, yes. And if you have not read it yet, please take 3-7 days off from work or school to do so 😂

⭐Sinful Lust [completed series] @oddinary4bts [71.9K]  // myg x f.reader x jjk // slice of life!au, bisexual boyfriend!yoongi // 🥵🌩️🌩️🌩️

📝 in an attempt to spice up your bedroom life with your boyfriend Min Yoongi, you suggest bringing another man into the action. Yoongi seems reluctant at first, but when you mention his friend Jeon Jungkook, he can’t deny his attraction. All that’s left to do is to convince Jungkook into participating...

🗨️ this one is special to me (as is everything Ella writes honestly). This one is very controversial because of the cheating aspect in it, but it feels so real and it’s very well handled! I love it! It’s very angsty too, made me cry multiple times– I was just so invested in it! I’m really trying not to spoil too much (I already have lol). Just, read it okay??? ✨

⭐F*ck Christmas  @sailoryooons [23.4K] // myg x f.reader // f2l // 🥰🥵

📝 Making hating Christmas your entire personality was never the plan. Then again, it seems bad things only ever happen around Christmas - like discovering your fiancé cheating on you, forcing you to move back to your sleepy hometown. But Min Yoongi happens to love Christmas, and if there is one thing your very stubborn childhood crush is going to do, it’s try to reignite your Christmas spirit. Even if he has to force-feed it to you with gingerbread cookies and too-sweet eggnog. 

🗨️ Gosh, I remember reading this sometime last year and it was perfection - it still is! ✨ It’s so so so fucking good. If you haven’t read it, please do so 🥹 it’s also one of the best Christmasy fics 💜

⭐Eargasm + Eargasm II @lavishedinjimin [9.5K + 14K]  // myg x f.reader // phonesex!au, sexhotline!au // 🥵

📝 the idea of having your first ever orgasm by talking to a hot, random stranger through your phone scares the living hell out of you, but maybe it won’t be as bad as you think.

🗨️ holy fuck, FUCK. this is insane 🥵🥵🥵

⭐Less of Them [ongoing series] @casuallyimagining [9.9K]  // myg x f.reader // established relationship, arranged marriage!au, star-crossed lovers // 🥵🌩️🥰🪄

📝 as the daughter of one of the oldest families in the kingdom, when the king decides that it's you he wishes to marry, you're forced to make a decision and fulfill your duty, leaving behind everything you've ever known--and the only man you've ever loved.

🗨️ PLEASE, PLEASE— FUCKING PLEASE. If you have not read this one yet. Please do it now 😭🥺 It made me cry in the best way possible! The world building, the characters, their love for each other shines to fucking bright and then– [spoiler] READ IT yelling with hands frantically moving above my head

⭐Things that Grow @violetsiren90 [0.9k]  // myg x f.reader // established relationship, idol!au // 🥰🌩️

📝 the idea of having your first ever orgasm by talking to a hot, random stranger through your phone scares the living hell out of you, but maybe it won’t be as bad as you think.

🗨️ it is so fucking beautiful, I can’t even begin to articulate… fuck. I know it’s very short, but dammit I love it. Every single freaking word in this is PERFECTION.

⭐Hard Liquor @chateautae [8k]  // myg x f.reader x jjk // business!au, age!au, executive boss!yoongi x employee!reader // 🥵

📝 your dull evening at a bar becomes hopeful when your mysterious, handsome boss min yoongi shows you the ropes on everything alcohol, but shows you much more when he ends up buried deep inside you.

🗨️ it was SO FUCKING INCREDIBLE like I don’t even know where to begin??? The smut??? That has left me in utter need of Holy Water, because DAMN 🥵 The writing, flow of the story was also just 💯✨

This is my little corner with my own fics— I don’t write that much (I prefer to read), but it would mean a lot to me if you checked out my work or read it. You don’t have to, it’s up to you of course 🥰

⭐Friendcation [110.5k] // myg x f. reader // roadtrip!au/camping!au, f2bfwb2l, mechanic!Yoongi // 🥵🥰😂

📝going camping with your best friends seemed like a brilliant idea when you initially made the plans. But when you harbor secret feelings for one of them, what will become of you being close confined for three months? Trouble, that’s what.

🗨️ you might laugh, but this is very special to me because it’s the first long fic I wrote and I wrote it because I missed my sister and brother-in-law (they were going on a roadtrip across Europe, lol).

⭐Learn to Love Again [19.4k ] // myg x f. reader // hybrid!au (shapeshifter!yoongi), s2l, slice of life!au // 🌩️👻🥵🥰

📝people always leave. They become beautiful stars shining bright in the night sky. When life hands you lemons, you’ve been told to make lemonade, but that is hard when your soul and heart is breaking apart. When you rescue a tiny cat and meet a handsome stranger in the cafe, you finally feel yourself healing – but when they too leave, how are you going to learn to love again?

🗨️ this one is quite sad, but I really adore it. I wrote it when I was very depressed, so it’s very heavy in that department 🥲

And as a something little extra, here’s a few fics that I haven’t had the time to read yet, but damn I’m buzzing to get to read them:

Those Eyes Chico [ongoing series] @kookslastbutton

Burden @casuallyimagining

Pour some sugar on me @yoonia

Turbulence [AO3] by orphan_account

Only Yesterday [completed series] @borathae

Happy birthday to our Lotus flowers, YOONGI!!!! 🥳💜✨

#happy birthday yoongi!!! #yoongi #yoongi fic #bts yoongi #min yoongi #yoongi smut #min yoongi smut #yoongi x reader #bts fic recs #yoongi x you #bangtan #bangtan smut #bangtan fanfic #bangtan x reader #bangtan fic #bts fic #bts smut #bts #bts fanfic #bts imagine #bts x reader #bts x you #min yoongi fanfiction #min yoongi x reader #min yoongi fanfic #myg x reader #myg fic #myg smut #myg #myg angst

[ct-multifandom]

AI3 predictions + headcanons

Aitsf and AINI spoilers ofc

Date will come back looking like Falco wearing a Vochlocho with the Greg Chun voice in it

It is revealed that Horadori Institute’s sole sperm donor was So Sejima

I scared myself with this one, this sounds like something that would actually 100% happen

Meaning Iris and Mizuki would be bio half-sisters

So gets murdered finally

And the detectives are like uh oh, we have no leads, the killer could’ve literally been anyone ever

Date and Hitomi actually spend time together and reconnect fr and it’s good

Iris’s next somnium is Among Us themed

She witnesses something important, but her somnium hides it under a puzzle where we have to do tasks and correctly identify the impostor that symbolizes what actually happened. The AI ball is crewmate-shaped like Shovelforge Aiba

We’ll be able to play as Marco/Maruko

If the effects of somnium make Aiba more silly instead of logical and Tama more nervous instead of confident, maybe they make Marco loud and expressive while they’re usually shy and quiet in eye form

Aiba returns to Date and Mizuki gets a new partner

We learn significantly more Adorabbit lore (is it a cartoon or something, or is it like a fucked up parody of Sanrio characters?)

There is a character named Adorat that Bibi likes

They put Shoma on some sort of hormone therapy

He starts working for Pewter

Maybe gets a scholarship/grant from ABIS so he can go to uni for robotics. This way he can get the education without debt and then support Mame when she gets out so she can get back on track and have the ability to find something better than Sunfish Pocket.

Go go Boss blackmailing Riichi to help the Enda-Dois as a parallel to her blackmailing So to save Iris

Unlike Pewter, Amame actually stays in prison for a while, but not a super long time

We meet Mrs. Doi as an NPC and she’s comically normal

We will psync with Moma (hopefully they’ll dial down on his A-Set obsession)

Omg imagine psyncing with Ritsuko the secretary

Naix starts revering Tokiko like a deity

The game starts with Tokiko speaking directly to you, the player, as a sort of narrator figure

The characters call on Lien to pick locks again but his role is very minor like that of Moma in AINI

Bigger Hitomi role please

We get to go to Boss and Bibi’s home as was apparently planned for this game at some point

Screw it, throw in Ryuki’s place too. He probably lives in a fuckin mansion

Mizuki inherited two companies from Ren yet she lives in Date’s studio apartment. Sure, she secretly loves him and wouldn’t actually want to move out, but what does she do with the money she must be making? Donate a ton of it? Saving and investing?

Minor subplot where Date and Tama end up working together for some horrible, terrifying reason

Aiba’s interest in bugs and fish becomes relevant to the case

Another iteration of that hilarious highway scene where all the psyncers are driving to the same destination in their own ridiculous vehicles instead of everyone just going in the limo. Or would it be funnier if they were all in one car? How about both in one game.

In AI1 they said there were six psyncers at ABIS. We’ve met Date, Ryuki, and Bibi, plus Mizuki, so there must be at least three other psyncers and AI balls we haven’t met yet.

The game title will obviously be full of puns so what if AI3 (AI san) is about the first psyncer and AI ball? I’m not thinking a prequel, but it could explain the origins of ABIS and be related to the first case solved using psyncing.

It’d be neat if the main character is a more senior detective, like maybe a Jane Marple type figure. It would be cool to see an old protagonist since the end of VLR

Idk what Marco/Maruko’s gender settings are supposed to be since Marco is a masculine name and Maruko is feminine, but I hope we get a male AI-ball in general

What tacky vehicles would the new character(s) ride? A convertible? Badass futuristic motorcycle?

The English title will have the number 3 represent the letter E and “AI” somewhere in it. Perhaps they will use <3 to reference ai as in love

Polyamorous relationship between three people to represent “ai 3”

Man imagine AI4… knowing that one of the ways to say 4 sounds like “death” and is considered super unlucky in Japanese, they’d go crazy stuffing the title with double meanings

Canon wlw representation please,,, there aren’t enough gay women in the Uchiverse

Mentally undoing the Michael Bubleification of Ryuki’s solo in The Song, pure homophobia

(Feel free to add on)

#long post #aitsf #aini #nirvana initiative #nirvanai #ai the somnium files #ai: the somnium files #ai nirvana initiative #aitsf spoilers #ai spoilers #aini spoilers #nirvana initiative spoilers #kaname date #mizuki date #ryuki kuruto #kuruto ryuki #bibi kuranushi #mizuki kuranushi #ai3

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

What's your thoughts/opinions on each saw movie?

Oh no, this is a dangerous question to ask me because I cant shut up about Saw. If this ends up super long, I am so so sorry.

So the first one - amazing, fantastic, one of the best ever. I absolutely love this movie. I've seen it a bunch of times, can probably quote a good amount of it and it's easily one of my favourite movies. Leigh Whannel (screenwriter) and James Wan (director) really do a great job of showing characters that are well written and intriguing to watch. Same with the story itself. Also Adam makes me absolutely insane in this movie. Not only does he have hilarious lines, but also if I think too much about the tragedy that is him, I will scream. I absolutely love this movie so damn much!

The second one - imo also pretty good. It's not as great as the first one, but the story is still interesting to watch and I like the traps. Especially the needle pit! (Fun fact: they had to use over 100k needles for it to make it look full and I saw this behind the scenes video where it turned out that still wasn't enough and they added extra padding to make it look fuller). I like the return of Amanda and the twist. Though John saying "Your son's in a safe place" and him being in a safe makes me laugh. It's so silly.

The third one is like simultaneously great and not great. I love the Amanda/Lynn/John stuff but Jeff is a frustrating character to watch. Though Saw III does have some great traps too. The freezer one and especially the rack (the one where the character gets his limbs twisted one by one). It's not my favourite Saw but I do quite like it. Also Lynn and Amanda would've hate fucked if they had survived. Also also the third one has several deleted scenes and, if you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend it. They're all on youtube and they're so good. I wish they didn't cut all of them out. The one with Amanda and Adam makes me scream!

Saw IV honestly kind of makes me laugh. Mainly some of the transitions. I've watched it twice with a friend and we laugh so much at the mirror transition from the trap to the police station. It looks so ridiculous. Saw IV overall is not that great imo, but I still enjoy it. Character-wise and story-wise it's a bit more forgettable though. It's not the worst Saw, but it's kind of in the middle for me.

Saw V is uh, not very good. I love the concept of it and the idea that they all could've escaped (it was quite predictable and not a good twist but whatever). I do think it wasn't executed that well though. I think if the characters were better and maybe the link between them was better, it could've worked. But imo Saw V is one of the weakest of the franchise. Also the first time I watched Strahm and Hoffman do anything, I straight up couldn't tell them apart. I wish they would've done at least something to make them look different because following that plot wasn't easy. But the ending is still pretty cool, I'll give it that.

Saw VI my beloved. I love this movie. I'd say it's more or less on the same level as Saw II. I love the traps and the idea of the whole thing being commentary about American health care. The shotgun carousel? One of the best traps in the franchise. At this point the non-trap plot is a bit ridiculous and Hoffman is like the most obvious jigsaw ever and it's kinda baffling how no one seems to know its him despite how obvious he makes it. But still, overall a great movie and I love it so much!

Saw VII/Saw 3D on the other hand is bad. Originally the idea of Saw 3D was supposed to be split into two different movies. But Saw VI didn't do as well as the studio wanted so they made the filmmakers put it into one movie instead of two. And I feel like it kinda shows. The plot is a bit all over the place at times and I also don't like the way this movie looks. Something about the colours look so off. The traps are okay. There's some cool ones, though why did the dudes wife had to die? She was innocent in the whole thing.

Anyway, it's cool to have Lawrence back but Saw 3D is not great. Also the therapy group plot is kinda funny to me.

Jigsaw... hate this movie. Worst movie in the franchise to me. It sucks so much. The traps are, as always, fine. But the plot? The twist that it's all before the first one? Stupid. Bullshit. I hate it. I also am an avid Logan hater. I'm an even bigger hater for whoever wrote "John didn't think I should die because of an honest mistake". Putting that person in a Saw trap. Because like what franchise did they watch? When has John Kramer ever done anything like that? Logan should be dead.

Even besides my Logan hate, this movie just isn't good. The characters aren't particularly memorable. I don't think the look of it works at all. It's all so yellow. None of it really works in my opinion. I don't like this movie at all. Fuck Jigsaw (2017), all my homies hate Jigsaw (2017).

Now Spiral I think is better than Jigsaw and is okay in general. I'd put it in the middle when it comes to all the movies. I know some people dislike it, but I think it's fine overall. The traps are pretty cool and I dont mind the change in voice/design of the copycat killer. The twist was very predictable honestly and I can't say the characters were like super well written. But the movie was alright imo. Love that they said acab as they should.

Saw X isn't out yet, but I'm so excited for it! The trailer came out really recently and augh I can't wait. It looks really cool!!!!! I already want to talk about it for hours

#i have like a billion Saw thoughts at any given moment #ty for asking!!!!! #saw

[tribow]

So I watched Legend of DUO

This is the epitome of "This sucks I love it."

EVERYTHING about the Legend of DUO sucks. The writing, animation, voice acting, sound design, and...okay the art is pretty good and the music is actually nice. The music is so nice that it's hilarious when juxtaposed against the quality of the rest of the production.

Seriously, you can barely call this "animation" it's practically video editing most of the time. So many re-used artwork, NOT SHOTS, artwork in many scenes. Each episode is only about 5 minutes long and there's only 12 of them so it's a very quick watch. You would think the shorter run-time would help give animators more time, but to be honest I don't think there were many animators working on this show anyway.

I tried to look into the production for some answers, but I couldn't find much of anything. The studio, Mobanimation, seems to be defunct. Searching for them is hard since there's a minecraft animation youtube channel with the same name. Their website is gone. Apparently they merged with Radix at one point, but that doesn't really lead to any answers either.

Fact of the matter is, this anime both looks and sounds pretty bad. The only thing saving this anime is the artwork and the writing. Mind you, not because they are particularly good.

The plot falls apart so fast the moment you think too long about ANYTHING in the story. Everything about it is so ridiculous from a logistical stand point, but that doesn't matter! This dramatic story doesn't exist to be a compelling narrative!

NO!

This is for the homoerotic ANGSTY yaoi tension between two vampires! This exists to pit two pretty white vampire boys against each other in drama and love. "How could you betray me?" "It's all your fault!" "You blame yourself." "Why did you save my life?" And who's this sultry hunk of a vampire hunter man? "Only I will be the one to kill him". Oh just FUCK already!

....so....I'm not the target audience for this at all. I'm not one for angsty romance. Never cared much for pretty vampires. You would think this would harm my enjoyment of this, but the writing is just so unapologetic about what it is. It tries to be so dramatic and it's just so fucking funny. Pairing this with how the animation looks a bad motion comic and the line deliveries can get awkward makes this a winner for some of the most unintentionally funny anime I have ever seen.

The run-time of this series is just a little over an hour. It's a quick watch. If you need something dumb to watch I would HIGHLY recommend watching Legend of DUO. It's on youtube in wonderful 480p (The low quality makes it better). I'm genuinely glad I watched this. Thank you Legend of DUO staff.

#anime #review #Legend of DUO #watched this like a speedrun

[actualbird]

Oh god!

I really love the poly headcanons they are so sweet.... (or don't but that's part of it and i think the tot boys+MC deserve all the love the world has to give).

But, liking it or not, our 4 beloved boys are kinda complicated (that's what makes them perfect). Plus I never thought about how people get in poly relationships. So i was thinking, how do you think they all get into a polyrelationship together?

(I really have no idea of how that would happen)

hi, two anons!! im glad you guys liked my nxx team polycule stuff!! i'll answer these in one go, my "headcanon" (in quotes because i think this kinda turned into a character analysis/minific of sorts HAHA) being what first anon asked, How They Get Together.

heads up, wc of this is 1.9k words long so buckle up for a bit of a read jfsjdfkjbf

because first anon, youre right!!! the boys are stupendously complicated which i love so so much but canon has also shown us clearly that each of the boys' quirks and habits and tendencies causes a lot of (mostly played for laughs) friction. the bickering, the backhanded insults, the "im the best one here" preening contests. theyre all SOOOO RIDICULOUS and it is hilarious but yep! the boys r complex!! and that means this beautiful ship, imo, has a lot of phases to get to the actual romantic relationship bit.

how they get together, in my opinion, starts because of mc.

not in the sense that she matchmakes them all, but like.

phase 1 of the nxx team polycule is this:

through being in love with her (which we all know the boys 100% are), each of the boys come to terms with their own flaws and weaknesses. it's very apparent to me in all the story thus far that these boys are flawed as hell, it's very compelling but even more compelling to me is how all of them also do intense mental gymnastics to Not Confront Those Flaws. like, marius is a dickbag always teasing and toeing the line of insincerity, vyn is a controlling mf who always tries to sway situations to his benefit, artem is so repressed to the point that he has genuine trouble with emotions, luke is a self sacrificial bastard and also a huge hypocrite about how no, actually, hes the only one that should be hiding his pain and being dishonest, no dishonesty from other people!! in the beginning of the story, all the boys have their flaws and seem to have just kinda...not addressed how those flaws are harming them and the people around them.

and then mc rolls around and they all fall in love with her. and she sees those flaws and she doesnt let them slide. she challenges the boys in her own ways to see another side of the situation, to acknowledge what theyre doing. she doesnt want to get rid of flaws, thats impossible and also not cool. she just has this beautiful hope for like, all of humanity, that goodness can prevail with the right work. so when she sees her beloved nxx boys, she believes that for them as well.

which leads to phase 2 of the nxx team polycule:

the boys, more aware of themselves, become more aware of each other.

they werent Unaware of the others of course. it's just that they didnt like...truly connect on a personal level just yet. they saw the other teammembers with their emotional armor and flaws and saw a wall that wasnt worth looking past.

but after mc makes them realize that hey, flaws arent the end of the world actually, it's alright and the person behind them may just be worth it, the boys like. end up understanding the others. A LOT OF THIS BIT IS UNINTENTIONAL, ON THEIR PARTS KJDSBFS. like they stumble into understanding each other by accident, they didnt plan it, but over the course of nxx investigations, it's inevitable that they end up seeing the depths of the others. i delve into this a little bit in my fanfic "filler eps of the lost gold" where the boys are just going thru their actions and then trip over another boy's fears or desires and through that, gain a deeper understanding mutually.

and with understanding, sometimes, comes trust.

phase 3 of the nxx team polycule goes like this:

everybody in this team, whether they like it or not, whether they know it or not, has a heart that wants to give love so desperately.

marius lives in a world full of snakes so he cant have his heart on his sleeve for his own protection. vyn wants to be seen as perfect and the heart is inherently messy so he holds it back. artem for a very very long time was focused on work and success and achievement that he neglected his heart. and luke has been giving love all his life in a sense but in a way thats hidden.

all these tendencies that are brought upon their life circumstances results in this: they want to love honestly but they havent been able to do this

until mc. and all of them want to push back whatever fears or patterns their life has instilled in them because they see her and see somebody so unwaveringly good that all their hearts begin giving love to her to make her happy and to make themselves happy as well.

but heres the thing. the boys dont just see mc. by this point, they have connected and understood and come to trust each other as well, and the consequence of that is that They Can See Each Other Now Too, Truly.

and heres the thing. all of the boys are unwaveringly good as well.

one by one, each of the boys realize that what they feel for the other boys in the team starts to...change. yeah theyre all friends, they pick on each other a lot of the time, but the bedrock of the relationship is solid and strong now. but when marius is with luke, marius sees a light inside of luke so bright that he seems unaware that he gives off. when artem is with vyn, artem sees a goodness inside of vyn that hesitates to make itself obvious and known because vyn is scared of getting hurt thanks to it. all of them see the other and their goodness and, unbidden, their hearts want to give love to each other as well.

and because theyre all a bit stupid in their own way theyre like, huh, weird! wonder why this feeling is so familiar! and yet i cant seem to name it...and then they all independently compare these feeling with the feelings they have for mc, a feeling they do know the name of, and theyre like.

WAIT.

THESE FEELINGS ARE...VERY BASICALLY EXACTLY WHAT I FEEL FOR MC.

which only means one thing: theyve fallen in love with everybody else

marius: //goes to his studio to Think and sees that a bunch of his recent art actually had little crumbs of these feelings already, etched into the brushstrokes and scenes. has an emotional crisis about it

vyn: //records a 1 hour long entry in his audio diary to examine and gain control of his feelings but by the end of the hour all he knows is that he wants to hold these people and be held by them

artem: //quite literally just bluescreens, artem.exe has stopped working, sits at his study and slowly, slowly, thunks his head down onto his desk, valiantly trying to ignore the fast pulse of his heart

luke: //manically vents about it to peanut who, by virtue of being a bird, doesnt get it. just keeps talking at peanut to get a grasp of it all and then lies down on the floor, overwhelmed

mc, sitting in her apartment watching some netflix: ...why do i inexplicably feel as if something very, very important has just happened?

phase 4 of the nxx team polycule is basically:

pining: extreme difficulty level

because pining is already hard when ur pining for one person. what more for an additional 3 more people. and those additional 3 more people are pining back.

and all these boys are SOOOO OBVIOUS with their romantic feelings, in their own special way. the way they show their affection to mc starts to bleed into their interactions with the others and everybody can CLEARLY SEE WHAT IS GOING ON, LOL, but also all the boys are too chickenshit to confront it, because if they confront it, what will even happen??? being in love with each other, all of them, thats going to be such a complicated fucking relationship, holy shit. it's 2030, yeah, being a polyamorous group relationship isnt completely unheard of, but sue them, theyre scared.

but mc (who i forgot to mention already knows of the boys' romantic feelings for her, shes just hasnt made a move yet on any of them because SHES IN LOVE WITH ALL OF THEM AS WELL and shes been trying to figure out how the hell to make that work, she cant bear to choose just one of them, she'd be heartbroken over leaving the rest of them behind) sees that the nxx investigation team is now all pining for each other FULLY and she kinda wants to laugh when she realizes whats going on because like, what are the chances? that this would happen? that they all found each other and their feelings fell into just the right place for nobody to be left behind?

theyre all scared, she can tell. and she is as well, she wont lie.

but shes always had a belief that goodness can prevail with the right work.

and love is one of the greatest goods out there.

phase 5 of the nxx team polycule:

It's Time For Communication, Baby!!!!!

the exact scenes of how this happens is a bit vague to me. it could go two ways: mc going to each of the boys independently to talk about feelings, hers about everybodys and his about everybodys as well. OR they have a fucking meeting about it all together and artem literally schedules it in his google calendar, or something.

either way, they like, actually talk about this. starts casual, maybe over a chill date, maybe over dinner at a nice restaurant, maybe over a walk in the park as the sun is starting to set. but where ever it happens, the end result is the same: a heart is laid out bare and it is taken in gentle, grateful hands.

marius: OKAY, NOW THAT THE FEELINGS ARE OUT OF THE WAY, CAN I PLEASE KISS ONE OR ALL OF YOU, PLEASE, IVE BEEN WANTING TO KISS U GUYS FOR FOREVER

vyn, laughing fondly: has anybody ever told you patience is a virtue? we quite literally just talked it all out.

marius: //needy whining noises

artem, embarrassed: ive...never kissed anybody before

luke, embarrassed but trying to play it Cool: ....same here

mc: kissing is great, you two will love it!

marius: awesome, awesome, so is ANYBODY going to give me a go ahead or WHAT????

phase 6 of the nxx team polycule:

i dont want to say it's happily ever after, once they all get together. thats not really realistic.

they all have their quirks and tendencies and habits. and those will inevitable clash against each other. theyll have their arguments, theyll get upset, theyll sulk and be angry, sometimes. but also...

theyll see each other smile and feel like their love shining so brightly. theyll reach out for another's hand and be held in such a way that makes them think that their heart is in a safe place. theyll love each other and theyll put in the work to continue loving each other. because goodness will prevail.

and they all see each other as the most good people in the world.

so whatever happens, theyll get through it together.

#tears of themis #vyn richter #marius von hagen #tears of themis rosa #artem wing

[4dtk]

your bf headcanon are so cute!! i love that jaehyun one!! can i request a johnny bf headcanon please? i’m ready for the feels 🥰

enjoy anon, i'm glad you like the hc's!! <3

johnny as a bf

always leaves hoodies for you to wear. it doesn’t matter whether you like them, he’ll do it because he knows that you’ll indulge him sometimes and wear it. if it gets a little hot he understands, but it’s just a nice surprise sometimes when he does it in the morning and come back to you wearing his hoodies.

give the man what he wants. sit in front of a fan or the AC if you're feeling hot because it makes him so happy to see you drowning in his hoodies

buys hoodies with you in mind. will they like this? is it a colour that they like? are some of the questions johnny will ask when he’s buying new hoodies (even though he has soooo many. too many)

riding on that head canon, he sometimes buys subtle couple outfits, like black + brown looks, looks that complement each other in terms of colour y’know? not so much of the cheesy and weird one-liners.

takes a lot of inspiration from pinterest r/s pics and he saves them up to match with you secretly (he’d ask what you’re wearing and would immediately open up pinterest to see what he can find)

he would also get something dumb like THIS:

(to be fair these shirts are so fucking hilarious. i want to get them with my s/o if i could. anyone wants to pair with me? 😄)

he gets it because it’s funny and it literally doesn’t make sense. it cracks him up much just thinking about it. he convinces you to get it and wears it out allllll the time. nct dream and wayv who doesn’t see them so often is so goddamn confused when he turns up to ot23 schedules

they have to ask the 127 members what goes on and johnny happily does the job by showing them a picture of your photoshopped faces on the shop’s website

this isn’t something canon known of johnny, but i feel like his liking to tattoos inspired him to learn a bit of stick and poke as a side hobby, more like the colourful ones that he has

when he’s confident about his skill by practicing on fake skin and sketching out little drawings, he asks whether he can do his first one on you. if you reject it, he understands it completely, but would like you to be beside him when he tries it on himself.

but if you don’t mind a possible mistake (“he’ll try not to fuck up!” he says), he tries to do his first stick and poke on you and is so excited about it!!! nonetheless, johnny manages to do up some flashes to allow you to choose what you really wanna get on your skin

i can lowkey see him getting into using a tattoo gun next time though, when he has more time and a studio for cleanliness and such. (someone draw this. pls.)

adores inside jokes between the two of you. he sometimes can be a menace when he makes a joke only you understand and you’re the only two laughing among the members and that sight makes him laugh even more.

he likes the exclusive thing between the two of you, something only you would know. ofc if the members ask him to tone it down then he would, but until then, his sole purpose in life is to make you laugh lolol

he discusses the jokes with you sometimes which turn into chatter, and he always finds that you guys end up at weird conversation topics which started out as an inside joke. it’s funny

has so many playlists for you. i will die on this hill. the man loves creating playlists and i can definitely see him making a lot of playlists for specific moments with you that he loves.

has collaborative playlists too so you can add songs together to enjoy either apart or together

would love to recreate the cheesy scenes in movies. especially in the comfort of your room where maybe you’d pretend to turn a corner and bump into him and reenact the first time he falls in love with you. it’s very cute and he bookmarks the scene whenever he sees any of those in the movies he watches

also takes lines from movies and says it back to you just to watch you cringe

johnny loves it when you break character bc then you’d be engaging in banter like “what the hell am i supposed to say? i forgot my line-“ “[insert cheesy movie line here]” “that wad NOT what you showed me stop lying to me” and it’s all in good fun, the way the scene just breaks down and you end up cuddling or sum shit lol

the only person he’ll let touch his camera. that shit is expensive and he knows that you’re one to handle it carefully and is aware of his obsessed with photography.

would love to teach you all about photography, about apertures and the ISO and composition of the photos. no matter what pictures you take, he always, always gives encouraging feedback and maybe little suggestions that could improve the picture

and when you finally get the shot you want (even if it’s not to his taste)? he’s so proud of you!!!

would want to learn about your style of photography if you’re a photographer yourself - it’s an outlet for him to learn and exchange tips and tricks and he’s very interested to learn from you

always hints at coffee. whether you’re grocery shopping or head into a store at the airport, he’s always jerking his head towards the coffee section and you have to roll your eyes.

likewise, if you don’t know much about coffee, he’s happy to teach you, but in a sense, he’s more serious, pulling up with a powerpoint slide and all to teach you about the different places in the world where coffee beans come from.

takes his coffee very seriously, so he’s particular about what kind of beans you purchase for him.

shoots you a disgusted expression jokingly when you say you only drink starbucks. he laughs after, telling you that you could drink whatever you wanted, although he wants to convert you so bad

random r/s head canons: very animated when he talks to you sometimes, bc it makes you smile and if you react in a similar way it’d make him even happier

gives the best hugs, period, you love it so much

steals the blanket from you all the time, it’s annoying. you’re freezing your ass off and he knows he hogs the blanket which he apologises for in the morning

fusses over you like crazy when you fall sick, it’s endearing of him but sometimes he doesn’t let you rest and just bombards you with endless questions of are you ok???? are you comfortable??? do you need more tylenol??

you have to shove him away from getting all in your face bc you don’t want your germs to contaminate him lol

high key likes when you show a bit of dominance unexpectedly. to put him in his place with either force or your words. it turns him on ngl

has some... very questionable pet names for you sometimes. honeybun? sweetcheeks? where the hell is he even getting all these names? google is his best friend

he literally has a checklist of names that he calls out to you to observe your reaction. it's long, idk why the list is that long

loves to listen to you talk. the little lilts in your voice or the impression you do of you co-workers are so adorable and he has to squish your cheeks and attack you with kisses after just to remind you of how adorbs you are

fav cuddling position is him on top of you. as much as he loves to hold you, there’s a small part of him that LOVES to rest on your chest. he can look up at you and admire your lovesick smile.

random adventures fill up his heart too. basically stuff he does in his JCC videos, but maybe inclined to a couple’s activity that you can try out. it’s a big thing in the relationship and it’s also the source of countless inside jokes bc the two of you experience so many things together.

this whole thing was so indulgent i love this man so much

#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct smut #nct angst #nct x reader #nct soft hours #nct headcanons #nct drabbles #nct 127 #nct 127 headcanons #nct 127 x reader #nct 127 x you #nct 127 smut #nct 127 angst #nct 127 fluff #nct 127 imagines #nct 127 scenarios #seo youngho #johnny fluff #johnny x reader #johnny imagines #johnny scenarios #nct johnny #nct sticker #johnny suh #nct johnny x reader #nct johnny suh #nct johnny imagines

[lila-rae]

NWH Thoughts (with Spoilers)

I’ve had this in my drafts and finally remembered to post it. It’s super long so you’ve been warned

I know we knew this going in but I really liked that it just immediately picked up with the daily bugle announcement. Even just having the sound under the studio logos brought you right back into the moment from the end of FFH. Of course we had to get one smug shot of Mysterio’s face (seriously would be on sight if you know any of this was real).

The swinging scenes were really well done and I know it was such a hardship for TZ to have to be stuck to each other for all those days of filming 😂. That first scene in his apartment though is still probably the most chaotic and hilarious and I just want to watch it on repeat. Happy not knowing how to handle a break up, May just trying to get him out, PJ making the most suggestive noises in their moments of panic. Shirtless Peter. May being a mood when seeing their compromising position and still going to introduce herself to MJ. Peter bouncing around to close all the windows while focusing on happy and May even though he has much bigger problems. 10/10.

I love that his legal troubles weren’t drawn out. May and MJ being on the same sunshine protector squad was amazing. Getting confirmation that MJ is Michelle Jones-Watson and he giving zero fucks when being interrogated while also driving looks. I am in love. And sweet sweet Ned. Bless him. Then Daredevil showing up at the kitchen table and catching a brick. It’s fine he’s just a really good lawyer *screams*

Happy lives like a NBA rookie who just got money and I’m here for it. And of course he lives on LI. Dum-E!!!! The whole Peter MJ face time conversation is adorable and Z’s line delivery was on point. I love playful sarcastic MJ. Honestly would watch a whole movie of them just interacting with each other.

Darnell 100% was the best part of that exterior school scene. I just love him. Still not sure how I feel about blonde flash but I do love that in a few weeks tops he’s been able to write and publish a whole ass book detailing his “best friendom” with Spider-Man.

The teachers at Midtown are always hilarious and I am so sad they cut the rest of the school scene out and we only got a minute of them. I want more of Mr. Dell and Mr. Harrington fawning all over Peter (that case though 😂) while the gym teacher hates him cause he’s team mysterio.

Rooftop PJ!! Need I say more… Also Ned being the oblivious third wheel the whole movie had me dying. He really said “okay you’ve got a girl now, what does that have to do with me?”

Them not realizing they didn’t get in to college with all those small ass envelopes… really? I know it’s been a decade since I had to do college admissions but pretty sure small envelopes are universal for rejection. Also having watched so many acceptance videos more than likely it would have been an email. So weird choice.

And now we get my least favorite part of every Spider-Man movie… Peter being a fucking idiot. He’s so smart. Like canonically he’s one of the smartest people in the world but his lack of common sense drives me up the wall. How hard would it be to just listen to Dr. Strange telling you to stop talking. Tell everyone you love your Spider-Man again and leave it alone. Better yet just ask for Everyone to forget Mysterio and everything he’s ever said. And boom done. Strange is me also when realizing he didn’t even attempt any other solution first. Like I love Peter but he’s so dumb it hurts.

The bridge fight with Doc Ock was immaculate and Peter playing with his tentacles once he gained control was probably the most comic Peter Parker we’ve ever seen him. But the real winner was protective Peter coming out ready to kill when he says “I should have killed your little girlfriend” Yeah he flipped a switch. Also MIT lady ready to read Otto the riot act also hilarious.

The jump scares in the basement scene, is that the horror moments they kept teasing cause… ok. Peter now recognizing he should ask his friends for assistance when needing to catch villains. If only you had thought to brainstorm with them before breaking the multiverse.(MJ agrees) And again Ned’s just happy to be there. Peter trying to get paint out of his suit and then deciding to just turn it inside out. But leaves it in the water and in the next breath he says he needs to go. No way your suit is dry at all but ok.

I’m so glad they didn’t keep Jamie Foxx blue. Ned and MJ were very unhelpful on video chat but I loved that he wanted them there. Peter “fixing” power lines with web. Friend I don’t think it works that way.

More protective Peter (my favorite Peter) when he gets that call from May. Only to get Norman in the kitchen stealing donuts. I love May but please let him be a kid and stop saying fixing these villains is his job. They’re grown ass men in need of therapy and he’s 17. You do it if you care so much.

Strange was right. I do not care argue with a wall. Their deaths don’t matter and they needed to just go home. Even after everything at the end the only real redeemable one feels like Doc. But I do applaud MJ for standing between Peter while running and Dr. Strange. Yes girl protect your man even if he is known for making very hasty decisions he clearly hasn’t thought through.

Still confused why exactly astral projection didn’t work on Peter but we did get “you know what’s better than magic… math” which is just so Peter but more hilarious since we know how Tom feels about “maths”.

The villains being in disbelief that Peter could pull MJ 😂 And her once again being the captain of the Peter Protection Squad while threatening them.

And moving to Happy’s apartment is when it all went to shit. And I just wanted to pull my hair out and yell at Peter for trusting them without any sort of insurance policy. Like leave them in the cages. Take them one by one. I don’t care but a whole apartment full of known villains is just disaster waiting to happen. And it did. Love the visualization of his spider sense and that’s the last nice thing I’ll say about that.

I can’t believe they fucking killed off May. May??? Are you fucking kidding me. He’s 17 barely and now he’s on his own. Did we just forget he’s a minor. That was fucking stupid and I stand by this stance. We did get her quoting the actual correct SM quote from the comics so I guess that’s something. And Marissa and Tom acted their asses off but I was just still so angry they killed her.

The aftermath of him in front of those LED billboard broke me. I was in the theatre crying with him. He just looked so broken (and fuck all the people who get a hard on for this version of Peter. And act like he hasn’t been through enough. This was enough right here and then it gets worse.) 😡

Ok so I’ll admit I wasn’t initially a fan of T and A being in the movie but Ned conjuring a portal and being Andrew in was so great to see with a crowd. Also MJ throwing bread is a mood. Ned’s Lola also a mood when she started ranting about the webs being shot. Tobey just causally walking through the portal like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Another mood.

We’re back on the rooftop and their hugging and I’m back to crying. They weren’t lying when they said this movie was emotional. Holy crap the way he breaks down while they’re holding him then grabs them either tighter until he senses something is off and then jumps up and moves MJ behind him. He’s so over everything and these assholes are still like no just fix them. No Peter be selfish and say fuck off.

I did love the lab scene. Andrew watch PJ and seeing the obvious love between them and getting dad missing Gwen (his MJ). Hearing Tobey also has a girl named MJ. Ned learning about the Spider-Man best friend to villain pipeline. Peter having no clue about that conversation but Ned vowing to never try to kill him confusing the hell out of Peter but making T and A proud. Everyone freaking out over Tobey’s organic webs, (as they should organic webbing has always been gross to me). Later the boys not letting it go and Peter asking if it comes out of anywhere else. Bless.

The final fight was absolute chaos cause they don’t know how to work in a team besides Peter. “I don’t want to brag but I will” yes Peter. And Andrew assuming the Avengers were a band 😂. Also Andrew just radiating golden retriever energy. His “I love you guys” he is the definition of just happy to be here.

Ned not knowing how to close the portals 🤦🏾‍♀️ MJ being so supportive and trying to coach him through it. I really liked that we got a lot of MJ/Ned interactions this movie. They’re hilarious together. He never gets it to close but he does bring back Stephen who is definitely impressed with Ned.

You know what’s not hilarious though MJ falling and the green goblin clipping Peter mid air. But Andrew gets to redeem himself for not catching Gwen. And we get a nice safe landing for our girl who is very confused why this grown man is about to cry just from catching her.

And now we get Dark Peter, the hottest Peter Parker has ever been probably. Cause watching him go feral and beat the absolute shit out of the Goblin was amazing and gave me something I never knew I needed. I really just wanted him to end him but you know moral high ground Tobey had to come and ruin the fun (kidding, not really)

And now the moment that ripped out my heart, part 1. Watching Peter tell the MJ and Ned they’re going to forget them. Ned and his long hand shake. And then Z gave the most heart breaking performance as she said goodbye. “I really hate magic” “I love you” “I love” “just wait and tell me when you see me again”… (cue mental breakdown). They awwed while watching the trailer. There was nothing Aww about that kiss. It was fucking heart breaking. And I just want them back together. It’s okay though he’s totally going to keep his PROMISE and tell her how he feels when he goes in the coffee shop. But wait he sees a bandaid and decided to fuck it and just keep quiet. WTF. She has a small scrape. Boy if you don’t tell her how you feel. She had that look on her face like she was putting together pieces. She’s going to figure it out and then ream your ass out and you deserve it.

Peter Parker meets Cherry…yeah that’s all I have to say about that. (Apparently the beanie exists solely because they shot that in November and his hair was too long.)

And we get lonely PP in his one room apartment with mementos from his former life. He made a new suit. (Why so shiny Peter?) And that’s how it ends. Tom Z and Jacob were going to fight because y’all kept saying it was a satisfying ending and that was the biggest load of bullshit you’ve ever said.

#spiderman nwh spoilers #nwh spoilers #spiderman spoilers

[poodlejoonas]

Dad!BC AU - the moms

So wow-ihateithere and I (because for some reason Tumblr won’t let me directly @ you) have been tossing out so many amazing ideas for the BC dad AU lately that we’ve thought of pretty much every scenario under the sun. One idea I’d like to throw in here is the group that is the moms who make up their own personal wolfpack. Since they’ll be brought in as stand-alone characters soon, it would be better to have a basic introduction for each and how they know/interact with each other.

(Under the read-more for length)

Joel - Emilia (”Millie”) Hokka - The absolute baddest bitch you will meet on this planet. She's a 5′1″ sweetheart, but if you lay a single finger on her kid, her husband, her BC brothers and sisters, or any of her nieces and nephews, she will become the human embodiment of that one line from “Wolfpack.” You know the one. She’s gone viral before for Joel needing to hold her back from fighting the mom of a kid who’s bullying Enkka at school, and literally watching this tiny woman become a human hurricane at the drop of a hat was enough for this kid to immediately leave him alone. From then on, kids at school know not to come after Viktor Hokka because his mom doesn’t play around. Why would she? After all, she dedicated 18 months of her life to trying to become a mom, and anyone who dares to come after her baby needs a running start to get away from her.

Sometimes even Joel has to hold her back from doing something she probably should regret but wouldn’t if it involved her family. He knows better than to cross a line with her. Then there are other times when they work together to be the shadiest power couple on earth, like when Aleksi’s ex-girlfriend Laila slanders him in the media for talking about taking custody of their son from her. If Joel comes home pissed about something, she’s the first one to jump on board with whatever plan he has to get his point across. She would totally have a stan account on Instagram dedicated to her called “milliehokkasupremacy”. And Joel loves his wife so much that he would eat every bit of this shit up. When she tells someone off, he writes down what she says and turns it into the lyrics of Blind Channel’s next single.

In short, Millie Hokka is 100 percent That Bitch™.

Bonus bit because this idea made me laugh: (in the comments section of a post slandering BC) @milliehokka: Bitch you better take this shit down before I puncture your fucking tires @joelhokka: She's my better half ❤️

Joonas - Kirsten Porko - Kirsten’s one of the quiet BC moms, and a hell of a lot more tame than Millie. But she has her shining moments every now and then, like when she was wondering why Millie took Joel with her knowing that she could’ve easily beaten that bully’s mom’s ass without him. She has the patience of a saint, being married to Joonas and raising two (soon to be three) kids with him. But she adores every minute of their chaotic little family. Since Sohvi was the first of the BC kids, the guys were quick to show up in support of her and Joonas. She was also pretty lonely until the others started dating their wives, and she was more than happy to have more friends to bond with.

She does the most to mother the rest of the kids when they need it. They love to come to their house because Kirsten will have a fresh pan of cookies ready for them. They also like hanging out with Joonas, but Kirsten is a fun aunt on her own. She’s typically the first to show up when one of the other moms tosses out a cry for help in taking care of their kids, especially when they’re newborns and the guys are away on tour. Kirsten’s total aesthetic is the absolute opposite of Joonas’s: she’s bubbly and wears nothing but pastel dresses and soft fabrics. A lot of people wonder what a “nice girl” like her is doing with a punk rocker like Joonas, until you see them interact and know that they’re crazy in love with each other and their kids. She’s the unassuming type, but she loves pranks as much as her husband and kids; she’ll play along whenever there’s a really good one and sometimes she can totally outdo them.

Niko - Jenna Moilanen - Jenna is Millie’s co-conspirator and partner-in-crime. If Millie needs someone to back her up and Joel’s trying to talk her out of whatever she’s thinking about doing, Jenna is the first to show up on the scene. She’s very much Niko’s type - she has just as many tattoos as him, several piercings, and hair that changes color depending on her mood. She’s naturally a blonde but you almost never see her as one. A lot of people tend to pass judgement on her abilities as a mom based on her appearance, but both of her and Niko’s kids adore her (especially their daughter Lahja) and they grow up happy with their loving parents. She’s a fantastic cook and works as a head chef at a five-star steakhouse, and she’s always willing to come home and cook for her family as well. She and Millie are the two shortest of the group, and it’s hilarious because they are both absolute spitfires.

Jenna has the best intuition when it comes to deciding who is trustworthy and who isn’t. There’s no “leader” in the group, but most of the others trust Jenna when someone gives her a bad feeling. She would be the one to raise the alarm on Laila years before she and Aleksi ever break up, and Laila would find the absolute worst way to end up on Jenna’s shit list. In her time with the group, Laila does nothing to help take care of the rest of the kids or try to fit in with the group. One day, when Leevi cries because he needs something, Jenna spots an annoyed expression out of the corner of her eye coming from Laila. It takes an intervention from God to stop Jenna from ripping her apart on the scene. The most important thing to note about Jenna: she calls her closest friends “bitch” affectionately. The moment it stops being affectionate, there’s no turning back.

Olli - Kaarina Matela - The quietest and calmest of the BC moms. She perfectly matches her husband’s energies, which is why they parent their daughters so well. She was definitely more calm than him on the day they learned they were having twins, and still is to this day. When he was panicking about their pregnancy scare, she was still managing to stay collected somehow (but just as relieved as he was). She’s very much like a suburban soccer mom type, but far from being a Karen because she’s aggressively kind to everyone around her, including hardworking people. And Olli just adores her so much, sometimes he doubts if he even deserves her. She’s always the first to remind him that there’s no one else she would rather be with.

Kaarina is the arts and crafts kind of aunt. During the summer, she likes to have the kids come over for day camp style hangout sessions where they mix in time outside with craft activities. She’s the reason why Olli’s stage outfits have been so cool lately, because she’s got a perfect eye for colors and is super skilled at hand-stitching patches. If the kids need anything repaired, they’ll know to go to Aunt Rina first because she’ll either make it as good as new, or turn it into some sick artwork. All the moms get along but she and Kirsten vibe together the best. They get together and plan the summer activities for the kids, which involve Rina planning the crafts and Kirsten baking for, and with, them.

Tommi - Marja Lalli - Marja is unique in her position as a BC mom because she joined the group when her son Miikka from a previous relationship was already almost 4. For a brief time, she was worried about herself and Miikka feeling left out of the group dynamic that was already there, but they were so quick to invite her in as one of them. A lot of it had to do with her being friends with Jenna since elementary school, and Jenna knew that the sisterhood would be more than happy to accept her. She and Niko help set her up with Tommi because they both know he would love her and accept Miikka as his own. She’s chill and reserved, but she’s still a ton of fun to be around. Along with Kaarina and Kirsten, she’s one of the level-headed moms and is typically the voice of reason for a lot of things (especially when it comes to trying to contain Millie and Jenna’s tempers).

The rest of the moms were thrilled when she told them she was pregnant with Anna, but constantly concerned and fretting over her when she was on occasional bed rest. If Tommi couldn’t be with her, it was one of them coming over to help take care of her and Miikka. Marja’s health showed the caring side of the sisterhood of the BC moms, how they are willing to take care of each other in sickness as well as celebrating the good times and defending each other from drama. Even months after Anna is born, they still come over from time to time to see if there’s any way they can help.

Aleksi - Laila Pekkanen (later on, marries Hanna Kaunisvesi) - So this one is a bit complicated. For about three years, Aleksi was in a high-profile relationship with Laila Pekkanen, a producer who worked with him on a solo single before joining BC. They meet again a couple years later and begin a relationship that last for about three years. But it was far from loving, as they were just in general not good for each other. A few weeks after their break-up, Laila calls Aleksi while he’s in the studio to break the news to him that she’s pregnant, which sends Aleksi into total emotional turmoil because he thought they were being careful. Of all the guys, he’s the most careful with avoiding this kind of thing, but it was her who missed one too many days of her birth control. They’re barely on speaking terms, but they agree to try to stay cordial until Aleksi can take full custody of the child himself. She admits to having no maternal instinct and wants nothing to do with the baby.

Here’s where it gets messy. Aleksi finally decides to break his silence on the matter and announces via Instagram that he will be a father and raise his son on his own. He does his best to tell his side of the story without dragging Laila down. But she takes it personally and goes on the radio to try to attack Aleksi, feeling like she’s being treated like a villain and a bad person for giving up her child. She feels like she’s being “exposed” in thinking that Aleksi publicly acknowledging their son’s existence would ruin her career, because she’d been trying everything possible to cover it up. It becomes a major feud between her and her team, and Aleksi and the BC team, but more industry people can back him up as a stand-up guy than they can come to her defense. She nearly ends up having Noah prematurely, and yet Aleksi still shows up in support, more so for their son than for her. When Noah is born months later, she refuses to hold him and immediately cuts off all contact with Aleksi. 

Aleksi raises Noah alone and learns to support his son when he’s later diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Noah is semi-verbal and partially communicates with sign language. He uses sign in situations when he meets a stranger, and Aleksi respects his intuition when someone makes him uncomfortable. Noah has separation anxiety from losing his mom at a young age, so Aleksi refuses to date for years because he doesn’t want to bring a revolving door of strangers around him. But then he meets Hanna, who makes an almost instant connection with him. He’s hesitant to make a decision about a long-term relationship with her until he sees how well she works with Noah. She’s one of the first people he opens up to - mostly because of her experience as a child psychologist - but the moment that seals the deal is when Noah calls her “mom” for the first time (in sign to his cousins). Fans and people he works with can’t help but notice that Aleksi is so much happier with Hanna than Laila. And as much as he would like to have a baby with her, he’s happy having Noah and wants to invest his energy into ensuring his happiness. But Hanna understands, because she’s an angel and only wants the best for her family.

#blind channel #dad!blind channel #no idea what else to tag this as lol #this is a lot more fun than making them all reader inserts #i love writing reader inserts but it'll be nice to see them interacting with each other

[astharoshebarvon]

How to NOT be friends, a guidebook by Vampire Knight and garbage Inuyasha sequel

The less said about VK the better. Even now when I recall those instances I get so angry.

All I’ll say is that only Takuma and Seiren cared about Kaname and Kaname and Yuuki’s relationship. They are the only two friends of Kaname Kuran.

Period.

Rest everyone can choke.

They all wanted them to separate / break apart and I can’t believe these gross characters got their wish. I really don’t give a damn about any of these vile characters. I really hate all of them!

As for Yuuki’s friends, I don’t understand why didn’t that dumb bint sayori had a threesome with zero and aidou since both of these assholes cared more about zero than kaname/yuuki.

Now, let’s come to the most shameless series ever, forget the name it’s so notorious everyone knows about it.

The series which turned once a  proud, iconic, pretty much asexual manga/anime character into a vile pedophile; a lame, cringey TL/josei smut male lead whose only redeeming point is he is good looking.

Well, with the sequel’s animation even that is debatable. He looks downright weird at times. Even in manga art he looks dumb.

Everyone knew he and Kagura felt something for each other. Can’t believe they are now saying with their whole fucking chest that this man was a pedophile from the start. Because if they weren’t guradian/ward, then he is pedophile.

Sesshoumaru, dear, once one of my favourite characters, how pathetic are you that you had to steal every fucking thing from your younger brother.

This is coming from someone who has read and enjoyed some very good Sess/Inu fanfics, and who is a hardcore Inukag, asexual Sesshoumaru fan.

No, seriously, if you have to steal everything from your half  brother and father, then maybe you aren’t that great after all. Maybe you can follow in your father’s footsteps and die too. And, please, take your horrid child bride and mary sue oc children with you too.

First, his oh so girl boss type, BAD BAMF mom who was for past two decades NOT WIFE of Inu no Taishou.

Oh, but suddenly she is. There was a time she was the MATE of Great Dog Demon.

God, these people are hilarious!

This much jealousy? Seriously?

The official fanbook came out years ago, the author could have easily wrote Izayoi as the second wife, she didn’t. Izayoi was written as GDD’s wife, not fucking second!

The studio’s hate boner for Inukag and everyone related to Inuyasha is unreal.

Now, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Kohaku, Kaede, even Kagome’s own fucking family; why are they licking the pedophile’s/ racist’s boots?

Why the hell do these people care about those awful, annoying mary sue OC’S females instead of Inukag’s child?

Are you for real? Get the hell out of here!

Did they forget Sango wanted to kill the braindead child bride in the og for Miroku? Miroku training the OC lookalike of his wife??? Kirara with the annoying OC’S?

What the hell? It’s much easier to come out and say We hate Inuyasha, Inukag so much that it’s unreal!!

Inu no Taishou loved his second son and his wife, Izayoi. They were his priority and it was obvious as hell if you read the manga that his pedo son wasn't his on his mind at all. Did he knew he was going to turn into a bitch in future? Maybe. His friends do not give a single fuck about Sesshoumaru. They don't even like him. But all of a sudden they are worshipping him and his gross kids?

Inuyasha and Kagome would have throttled Totosai for hurting their child. Like seriously, shut the hell up!!! I hate this sequel so much! 

They stole Tree of Ages, Inuyasha’s friends, all of them, and put that obsessed girl inside their tree! 

sessros is nothing but the terrible trope of an obsessed fangirl ending up with a good looking guy. Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking it’s anything else but that.

That shit is loathed like anything everywhere. It was just made grosser with the clear cut pedophila, that’s all it is.

Can’t believe there was actually that scene in sequel, saw the gif floating around of a 14 year old rubbing her stomach. God, it’s truly vile stuff. It’s vomit inducing.

Then again this shit should be expected from this homophobic author. I can’t believe people actually believed that hogosha bull this author, VA spouted. Are these people not happy with pedophilia in their anime, they have to drag words meaning guardians, parents into this horseshit too?

These people did green lit that drama cd too, people will say this is what the author intended in her manga too.

Sequel is based on original manga, that means Sess had feelings for a child of 6/7 and look at that, the child had feelings for him too.

Imagine being homophobic like hell in your mangas and glorifying wife husbandry and pedophilia in the anime of your works.

The stupid manga drawn by another author is lame as hell too. Are they secret brother in law/ sister in law shipper too like IY anime people who tried so hard to tell everyone ros is like Kagome. She is not. 

Wow, just wow.

Also, why hate on Miroku for Koharu chapters in your manga when Sess did so much worse.

It’s funny though the author drew ros as she is supposed to be, not like Kagome. Because ros has never been and will never be like kagome. Not to mention that cover art is mediocre as hell.

Mary Sue 2 looks so much like Sango that its not even funny. Did Sess fuck Sango? Is that why Miroku was close to his wife’s illegitimate daughter?

Sess lookalike in Rinne, Kain and Sango lookalike, whatever her name is are shown to be together. Is ms2 their love child? Ros does not exist in it.

As far as I am concerned Sesshoumaru, his dumb child bride and his kids, they can all die.

This studio can try as hard it can to insult Inuyasha and Inukag but at the end of the day this show is riding on Inuyasha’s coat tails.

Sesshoumaru or any of his so called cringey, pedo het fanfic family will always be referred to as characters from Inuyasha.

Because they are nothing on their own.

I am shocked that they actually have the fucking audacity to say the child bride was 18.

Lol !!!

Is ros a hobbit? Is that it? And how come hisui was 2 during the birth scene. That ain't a 7 year old .

God, this man is a pedo and ros was pregnant at 14 at best. In no world is she 18.

Retconning everything will not make the pedo look good. 

Saying ros was 18 has the same vibes as Loki killed his mom, Steve was always a homewrecker.

And, how can I forget, Anakin died for nothing, his story meant nothing, his torture meant nothing. Because everything suddenly became about the OC mary sue and her boner for the kyle rov.

Anakin wasn’t the chosen one.

My goodness! Just stop!

The ridiculousness of these shows/movies is just unbelievable.

It’s ironic that all of these shitty stories have spit out absolutely horrid het relationships which are nothing but a very big self insert for the female het shippers.

All I know is that these people are not friends and never will be. If this is how friends are supposed to be then it would be better if no one had any friends at all.

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

“I’m in love,” Piper tells her when she shows up for another fitting. “Have you seen the new Beyonce video?”

“I heard the song.” Annabeth says, “isn’t that enough?”

“God, your whole play-acting thing is too far if you’re pretending to not like Beyonce.”

“I never said that.” Annabeth holds up her hands, “I like the song. But I did not see the video.”

“Well, when you see it, you’ll be in love too, but I will fight you.”

Piper could be scrappy in a fight. But Annabeth had been a champion fencer in high school.

“Kidding!” Piper says at her look. “There’s plenty of them to go around.” She didn’t even start to drape fabric over Annabeth, pushing her onto a muslin covered couch, and then pulling the video on the TV. She didn’t have one of those voice control devices. Because she was friends with Leo, and he was pretty firm on them being evil. “But I do call dibs on the main guy. The CALVES. The thighs. He’s unreal.”

“That good?” Piper went all ways, though as of late she gravitated towards women more often than not, so this was some high praise indeed. 

“Unreal, I am telling you. Like, the hand of God came down and sculpted him personally out of marble.”

Already in her recent watch history, the thumbnail of the video greets them, the song title splashed across the TV screen, weaving between  a very, very familiar set of legs. 

Like, intimately familiar. 

In something of detached horror, she watches the camera pan up, lovingly lingering on every inch of bare skin, following the muscles of his calves (which were unreal) to his knees then his thighs (which Annabeth had spent almost too much time between now), up his torso and his chest (which she knew made for an excellent pillow) to Percy’s face, set in a firm, hard stare. 

And that fucking blue lipstick again. 

She can’t even focus on Beyonce herself, too distracted by the way her hand traces the length of Percy’s outstretched thigh held in perfect arabesque as she gracefully drapes herself over him, crooning softly into his ear.

Annabeth should do that next time. That’s her spot, after all. 

Tearing her eyes away from the screen even as Piper watches, enraptured, she slips out her phone, sending a quick, furious text. 

annabeth: BEYONCE???????

A minute, then he responds. 

percy: oh lol i didn’t realize that came out today 😁

percy: what’d you think?

annabeth: i think im going to kill you later

“Just look at him,” Piper says, pausing on Percy’s form, his arms outstretched, fingers placed delicately around a bar. “I mean--look at him!”

“Yeah,” she chuckles, maybe a little uneasy. “He’s alright I guess.”

Incredulous, Piper swivels her head. “Alright? Alright? Do you need your eyes checked?”

She just shrugs. 

Why is she being so weird about this? It’s just Piper. She’s trained to find symmetry and beauty in bodies. They’ve happily shared crushes and fixations plenty of times before, so why is Annabeth being so weird about Percy? It’s not like they’re… you know… dating or anything. Just hooking up a bit. 

Piper squints at her, then shrugs herself. “Fine. I don’t have time to get an answer out of you anyway. Come on.”

“Speaking of time,” Annabeth says, following Piper back into the kitchen studio, “I have to head out by 6:30.”

“Oh yeah?” Piper’s head is buried in her belt box, searching for the perfect accent. “What for?”

“I’ve got a show to catch.”

“Kind of early,” she says, pulling out something thin and silver. “Don’t you usually meet Thalia at the ass crack of midnight?”

“Well I kind of want to eat first.”

“Okay.” She cinches the belt around her waist, tight. “Then you’re going to have to help me with this skirt.”

***

Hands aching from hours of macrame, Annabeth walks up to the box office window at the Koch Theater at 7:46, having a handful of second thoughts. 

Old, uppity white couples keep shooting her some particularly intense passive aggressive glares, some of them even venturing into actually aggressive territory, which usually wouldn’t even register on her very short list of things to care about, except that she is feeling woefully out of place. The lady in front of her has ten pounds of diamonds hanging off of each old, wrinkly ear, and the best Annabeth could do was fish out her least-ripped pair of jeans, pairing it with one of her nicer black shirts, the sleeves long enough to cover most of her tattoos. The macrame kept her longer than she had meant, so she didn’t have time to change before dinner, but fuck it, right?

She did also take out most of her face jewelry on the way. But she left the nose stud, obviously. And the tongue piercing. And the industrial, because Percy really likes those, so she doesn’t feel that bad about it. And he hadn’t even told her about this until after she had already given herself the half-undercut, so it’s not like she could do anything about that either.

“Can I help you?” At least this box office worker isn’t giving her the stink-eye. 

“I’m here to pick up a ticket? Should be under ‘Jackson.’” He’d offered to leave it under her name, but this was safer. She doesn’t think her mom is a big ballet person, but she isn’t about to risk it, either.

She slides the ticket towards Annabeth beneath the glass plane. “Enjoy the show,” she says, with a quirk of her mouth that is surprisingly sincere for someone in customer service. 

She’s pretty sure she’d enjoy the show more if she weren’t panicking thinking about getting dirt on their fancy carpets. Her boots are clean, of course, and she doesn’t really care, but she doesn’t want to, like, embarrass Percy or whatever. She’d asked him if she should dress up, but he’d assured her otherwise. “No one’s going to care, I promise,” he’d told her the night before, her lounging in his bed while he did some pushups. “And if anyone says something, let me know and we can kick their ass after the show together.”

“Great. Guess I don’t have to break out the Chanel, then.”

He’d paused, frowned, then huffed a laugh, shaking his head. Like the idea of Annabeth wearing Chanel was hilarious. Like what she’s wearing tonight really is the best that she can do.

Self-consciousness isn’t really a feeling that Annabeth has anymore. She’s spent so many years chafing against expectations, shucking them off when she inevitably failed to meet them, desperate for a place, a crowd where she could just be. In her scene, she doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, and when Percy is out with her, he doesn’t need any convincing. He likes her. He likes her a lot, she thinks. He likes her enough to let himself be dragged out to every shitty dive bar and shittier rock show in New York City, laughing and cheering and holding her close the whole time. He likes her enough to cart her to his apartment at 4 AM, inevitably waking Nico up from his undead slumber, and leave her with nothing but a glass of water and a kiss on the forehead. And she likes him, too--a lot. Annabeth likes Percy enough to ditch her band t-shirts for a night and track mud on the carpet of the Koch Theater and willingly sit through a performance of fucking Swan goddamn Lake of all things, and it’s only a little scary how much she is willing to do for him after only a few months of fucking him. Because this really isn’t her scene, not anymore. 

The weight of everyone’s stares bears down on her, threatening to crush her beneath them, a feeling she was so sure she’d left behind. 

At least Percy had been thoughtful enough to get her a ticket out of the way in the back of one of the balcony sections. It’s a bit of a hike, but the audience members aren’t dressed quite as nicely as the ones downstairs, and she feels like she can breathe a little easier.

She pulls out her phone, checking her text messages on instinct. There’s a selfie from Percy in his stage makeup (and she’s not going to lie… he looks fucking pretty), with his standard accompanying three blue heart emojis. She can’t help it, her heart skips a beat and she can’t help but smile, even as she rolls her eyes. She’s just about to send him something appropriately sarcastic when another text notification slides in. It’s from her father. 

Hi Annabeth… I was talking to a friend in Boston who said he's looking for a new 

prospective in his architecture firm. Passed your information along. 

Love you, dear

She swipes it away. Deletes the whole text conversation, for good measure. 

Forget about him. This night is about Percy.

A few minutes later, so engrossed in Percy’s program bio (it’s about all she can focus on right now), she doesn’t even notice everyone around her leaning forward in breathless anticipation, until the warm, honey-like sound of the oboe draws her head up. 

Roughly two minutes in, she’s really wishing she had attempted the synopsis. The extent of her knowledge of Swan Lake is a few half-remembered orchestra rehearsals in her teens and reading the Wikipedia article on that Natalie Portman movie a few months ago, and she definitely doesn’t recall there being anything about any Men-in-Tights looking motherfuckers prancing around. They’re sort of bobbing, back and forth, elegantly stepping from one side of the stage to another. Even from back here, she can see the delicate, precise placement of their hands, fingers curved just so, moving through space as though they aren’t bound by the laws of physics.

The fingers, she remembers. She could never get the hang of the fingers. Her old ballet teacher had given up on them after a week, and that had been the beginning of the end for that particular extracurricular. 

Now her fingers tap on her jeans, impatient, far faster than the easy going music on stage. She’s just about to give in to the millennial instinct and pull out her phone, maybe play a round of sudoku, when the dancers motion as one to the back corner, and Percy comes stepping out. His hair is perfectly slicked back, gelled down, any hint of curl beaten into submission, and his smile is small, but white, gleaming against the tanned brown of his skin. She can’t help but smile back, like he could somehow see her. Finally, she thinks, relaxing a little more into her seat. Something to watch.

On his off days, her off days, any day when she would spent the night at his (always at his, never at hers) and wake up wrapped in his comforter and the smell of seawater, she would take the blanket with her and steal into his living room, curl up on his couch with her feet tucked under her legs, and watch him dance. She’s seen him drill these sequences over, and over, and over again, counting furious sequences of sixes and eights beneath his breath in duet with the thuds of his feet on his floor. Most times he would notice her and shoot her a grin, granting her permission to observe the artist at work. Sometimes, though, he would be so caught up in his body, the shifting of his feet and the music in his head, that it was like he couldn’t see her at all. Seemingly alone, he would dance, uninhibited, and she would be struck by a feeling that she usually reserves for specific monuments. Watching Percy dance in his apartment, in his brown tights and black tank top, lost in his own world, is like looking at pictures of the Gateway Arch, or the Hoover Dam, or the Parthenon.

She searches for that feeling now, leaning forward in her seat, eyes hungrily raving his form, but she just doesn’t see it. It’s… honestly, it’s a little boring. She won’t lie. He had warned her it would be something of a slow start, but this isn’t exactly an ADHD friendly medium, and she is losing her patience, just a bit. He’s so reserved, like he’s holding something close to his chest, impersonal as he takes the hands of the female dancers and lets them twirl around him. 

Personally, Annabeth thinks that he looks kind of lost. Maybe he’s just nervous--it’s a big role and he’s a young guy. But he had seemed fine when he’d kissed her goodbye just after lunch. 

The court jester is killing it though. Feeling just the slightest bit guilty, she lets her eyes drift over to him, deciding to watch him for a while instead.

On some level, she does appreciate the skill on display here. Percy can raise his back leg in a perfect ninety degree angle that would make her architecture professors sweat. The girls drift back and forth across the stage on the tips of their toes, weightless and ethereal. It’s mesmerizing, and she lets herself be mesmerized.

Time must slip away from her, because she blinks and all of a sudden the stage has gone from sunny yellow to cool blue, the crowds of dancers having vanished. He is alone on stage. Percy kneels in a deep lunge that makes her thighs ache just looking at him (and for… other reasons), his arms and his attention pointed to the wings, with a… Annabeth squints. When the hell did he get a crossbow?

But everything is swept to the sides when the White Swan tiptoes her way on stage, impossibly graceful, and all of a sudden, Annabeth gets it. 

It feels a little cliche to say, but the way that woman moves on the floor really does remind her of those old, vintage jewelry boxes, suspended in animation, moved by some otherworldly force. It’s amazing. It’s a little terrifying. Sublime is the word that comes to mind as Annabeth watches her. Her arms move with fluidity, perfect curves, her fingers trailing behind her like wings. 

And Percy is just as mesmerized as Annabeth is. As the audience is. 

A few things hit her, in rapid succession. First, that Percy is, actually, a really good actor. His reticence before--he’d been playing a character. He’d been playing aloof and reserved and unmoored, because Percy--Siegfried--whatever--has been waiting his whole life for something to fulfill him, until this singular moment, the moment he laid eyes on this beautiful creature. Second, that she doesn’t need words to understand what’s going on. It’s all there, in every look and gesture and step, as the two characters circle each other, slowly but irrevocably falling in love. And third, that she recognizes the look on his face. It’s the look that Percy gives her when she has been talking for too long and he can’t get a word in edgewise, or when she screams along to the god awful underground bands, three beers in and missing every single fuck she’d ever had, or when she wakes up after him to Percy’s arms around her waist, her hair in his mouth and her head resting against his collarbone. She recognizes it, because that’s the look that Siegfried has for Odette. Because that’s the look that Percy has for Annabeth. Because he loves her.

And fourth, that that doesn’t make her as happy as she wishes it would. 

There’s a cold pit in her stomach for the rest of the show, a turning screw that twists in deeper, minute by minute, with every turn of the dancers. She wastes the next hour trying to puzzle this out, not even pretending to watch the drama unfolding on stage, because it makes no goddamn sense. (Her situation, not the ballet--she managed to skim the synopsis during intermission, her foot tapping incessantly against the blessedly empty seat in front of her.) Things are great between them. It’s been a heady, intoxicating four months, full of bubbles and butterflies, sweet, soft mornings, and some really, really phenomenal sex. This should make her happy. This should put her over the fucking moon, and she cannot, for the life of her, figure out why it doesn’t.

The prima ballerina comes back out as the Black Swan, just as poised and precise as her counterpart, but she’s a great actress as well, because there is something undeniably different about her. Her arms move like rubber, like joints are just an afterthought, wrapping themselves around Percy’s neck and shoulders. She misdirects his attention, drawing his eyes to her wrists, her clavicle, the curve of a leg or the point of her toe. Seducing him. Tricking him. 

Like Annabeth. 

Because try as she might to run from it, Annabeth isn’t who she says she is. She wants so desperately to be this fuck-the-rules, fight-the-power, punk rock princess that she took every part of her that didn’t fit that image and tried to rip it out of her, bloody and struggling. Her trust fund, her two (two!) Harvard degrees, her enriched childhood and her bright and shining future; she took it all out back and shot it, and prayed that would be the end of it. She’s a phony, just like that goddamn Black Swan. Percy is in love with a phony. 

Her sweet, wonderful, devastatingly kind and handsome Percy--she tricked him and made him fall in love with a mishmash of archetypes and aesthetics, distracting him with nose piercings and ripped t-shirts and ugly, deafening noise. 

She’s not surprised that she’s crying when the curtain falls. She’d never known that Siegfried and Odette both died at the end. 

When the cast reunites for curtain call, Percy is given a standing ovation, and Annabeth enthusiastically joins in, wiping the tears from her eyes, smearing her makeup. 

She doesn’t wait for him at the stage door, but sits on the steps of the theater, plucking at her sleeves, aching for a drink and wishing she had had the presence of mind to wear something a little nicer. Percy finds her there almost an hour after the show ended. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

In the dark of night, illuminated only by streetlamps, she can’t read his face--but she can read exhaustion, in every part of his body. “I was waiting for you by the stage door.”

Something in her stomach goes cold. “I… wasn’t sure if I was allowed,” she offers, weakly. 

He smiles, a light in the dark. “Of course you’re allowed,” he says, offering her a hand. “Shall we?”

She knows what will happen next. She’ll take his hand, and they’ll walk to the subway together, fingers intertwined. They’ll get on the 1 train headed north, and Percy will let her rest her head against him, tilting his head back against the window, eyes closed, almost asleep. The doorman will nod at them as they walk up to Nico’s apartment, barely batting an eye at his sweats and her ripped jeans, the two of them sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of impeccably dressed rich New Yorkers. Nico will wave at them distractedly from his office, gulping down his sixth coffee of the night, and they’ll tiptoe into his room, falling asleep in each other’s arms with little more than a good night kiss. 

Which, of course, is exactly what does end up happening.

Almost. 

Annabeth crawls on top of him in his bed, kissing him soft and senseless. She doesn’t know where he’s getting this energy from, but she is not complaining as he slips up inside of her, the two of them rocking each other gently to orgasm, their foreheads pressed together. Shuddering as he comes, he captures her mouth in another kiss, pouring every ounce of love he has in him into her.

A waste, honestly. 

But as far as goodbye sex, it’s pretty damn great. 

She needs to end this, before either of them get hurt. It’s the least of what he deserves, after all. To put yourself out there, to offer yourself up like that, that might be the bravest thing Annabeth’s ever heard of, and surely, Annabeth can find the courage to do what needs to be done.

#whomp whomp!! #ballet au #pjo fic #my fic #percabeth #the rivalry ends here #darkmagyk #perseannabeth

[underthestarlitsky]

I would love to hear your thoughts on YJS3

sure! fair warning, though, I'm a ranty person by nature so this might end up being a bit long. sorry in advance ♡

anyway! things I liked:

the humor: s3 was pretty funny lmao, theres that whole collection of outta pocket scenes from throughout the season that I find hilarious each time + the humor was a little more dirty which is nice bc the audience has also grown up from the kids they might've been when they watched it on CN

dickbabs!: I'm not a huge fan of dickbabs, I prefer dickkory (no hate to dickbabs stans btw I just vibe more with dickkory) but this dynamic between the two of them was so sweet and well-balanced I couldnt help but squeal everytime they were on-screen

Clark and Conner getting along: them calling each other brothers was so CUTE I canttt

FORAGER: an absolute legend 10/10 freaking love him

That Episode With The Hallucination: mmmmmmm I miss wally. SO MUCH. and the og 6 I was Super Mad about the first timeskip so it was nice to see them all together again🥰

yeah that's about it for things I liked lmao. now time for the Much Longer list of Things I Hated:

HALO: young justice the bar was so fucking low how are you still successfully doing the limbo what the fuck. you take a muslim immigrant in what is VERY CLEARLY a hijab and 1. infantilize her to an exceptionally uncomfortable degree (I KNOW SHE WAS THE MOTHERBOX, I DONT CARE) to the point where she resembles a five-year-old with every sentence she speaks or action she takes 2. you made a visibly muslim girl claim that she's actually no longer muslim, she's just wearing the hijab as some kind of security blanket???? I'm sorry??? what the fuck were you aiming for here exactly 3. why did you have to name her violet harper. what. 4. really?? the immediate romance with brion? What the shit was up with that...you make her Muslim in some aspects like victor not seeing her hair when she brushes it but her LITERALLY making out with brion like I'm sorry what the fuck are you doing??? you had one muslim character and you fucked up so bad holy shit...like...it could've been simple as hell, man, but no...Big Yikes.

M'gann: I've said this before but I really feel like once they introduced artemis m'gann immediately became a side character whose only job is to be villainised again and again even though it doesn't really vibe with her character. Secret teams?? Lying to Conner??? This isn't s3 but that whole thing with their breakup in s2...what the shit are they doing to M'gann, man. I loved her so much in s1, she's literally trying her best after having gone through so much and it's never fully explored...like we get half explanations every season but we're never shown half the shit that we were given for artemis. And by making her the Uncool Girlfriend at points it just looks like they're trying make her easy to hate like what the fuck. no. stop it

The Plot: too overcomplicated, too many characters. It's only season three, why are you introducing Apokolips already. Why are there so many characters?? what's with all the subplots yall were switching location cards every five minutes. And it's so convoluted...like...what was going on with Beast Boy and the monkey-god-doom-patrol-exposition stuff? I can't even remember if there were two granny goodnesses or just the one. All of those meta kids left over from the last season are a cute cast but like...I was so bored??? we know you can do well-written self-contained storylines a la s1, so hop to it, yeah?

THE ANIMATION: ok ok ok so. season 1 and two (one especially) had a very distinct feeling to them and that feeling was very late-2000s Cartoon Network Action Show - the base model for the males and females is the same (like Ben 10 Alien Force) the colors were not dynamic (stayed the same no matter the lighting, lots of cel shading, and generally were realistically colored in the sense that suspension of disbelief was not entirely necessary) CHEEKBONES, gritty textures and purple skies (Batman the Brave and the Bold). overall theres a certain Tone to the earlier seasons that spoke a lot to the animation capabilities of the studios at the time, as well as the general feel of the show. however, season three was a MAJOR downgrade in terms of animation. they made it both simpler and more complicated - they started using their DCAMU animation style which while it does give muscles to the women, adds too many unneeded shadows and a strange stiffness and dullness to every character. There are now extra lines and uncessesary shadows on the face of every character, and their eyes and facial features are almost identical. There's also less highlights, and the hairstyles are way too overcomplicated now to be appealing (see mgann and dick) - the hair is unspeakably dull and and the skin tones and hair colors are painful on the eyes. This isn't even taking into account the shitty backgrounds they've started using (AHEM AHEM ARTEMIS'S KITCHEN) because while the earlier seasons may have had unappealing, mostly empty settings, the characters still fit in to the scene, unlike now.

the lack of sisterhood????: apparently, only artemis goes to see zatanna for her Dr. Fate appointments. Apparently, M'gann barely talks to Artemis after the very tragic apparent death of Wally. the two of them, dare I say even the THREE of them, should be close as hell considering they spent their early years super-heroing together on a team full of boys. M'gann LITERALLY called Artemis her sister in the SAME EPISODE she was introduced, and neither of them had any real girlfriends other than each other at this point. M'gann who fell apart so hard Artemis died in her head that she almost killed them all in her grief. Like. You're telling me, you're SHOWING me that these two aren't each other's support system? Where is the sisterhood, bitch????

Lastly: the costume design. I understand that they're constrained by the need to make it simple enough to animate, but COME ON. if you're going to borrow Diana's DCAMU/JL: War costume, at least keep the metal silver. What the fuck is that green-gold. And Tigress? god DAMN that mask is ugly. Cassie looks like she robbed a goddamn supermarket discount clothing aisle for her outfit. Why is bart's outfit Like That it's so ugly it makes me want to cry. @ young justice costume designers Please Rethink Your Decisions

that's about all I can think of right now. it got REALLY negative whoops, but theres just so much I didn't like about this season :/ hopefully the next one will better ;-;

#thanks for the ask! #dc #dawn rants #young justice #mgann morzz #artemis crock #violet harper #opinions

[cloudshapedpatch]

Alyadrien + "I can't believe we are doing this"

hello anon! thank you so much for this prompt, i love alyadrien! 💚🌸✨

Late Night Escapades

If there was one sure way to cheer up a chipper, it was raisin bread. And no, not just because Kronk said so, but Alya had found the best way to make someone’s day was to cook for them. So cinnamon-raisin bread in hand, she stood outside Adrien’s apartment building, hidden by the shadows.

As usual, at exactly midnight, Chat Noir jumped out a third story window to Alya’s side, already reaching for the foil-wrapped treat.

“Hey now, not even a greeting?”

“Nope. Only food.”

“You’re ridiculous. Hurry up, the bread’ll get cold.”

Chat slung her over his shoulder (much to her dismay) and leapt away from the scene.

“Wow, I sure do like the view from behind. It certainly isn’t nicer than seeing where we’re going.” Alya mumbled, knowing well he could hear her just fine.

“Well, okay then!”

The last thing Alya expected was for him to toss her in the air like pizza dough. A small scream forced its way from her lungs as she twirled in the air, almost letting go of the bread. And then she was in his arms, the way one would carry a bride.

“I hate you.” She rasped as soon as she caught her breath. The smug look on his face was all the answer she needed.

Soon enough he stopped on a slanted rooftop and set her down, letting her get settled before he transformed lest she fall.

“I will never get used to that.” Alya said with a grin while the magic light faded and left plain Adrien in its absence.

“Then get over it! What’s in the foil?”

“Really? Not even a ‘please’?”

Adrien pouted and made a grabby gesture. “Gimme.”

Alya laughed and unwrapped the bread, giving a pre-sliced piece to him. He promptly shoved it in his mouth eagerly.

“Pig.”

“I owe you one.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!”

Adrien quietly laughed, the shoulder-shaking kind that made everyone else laugh too.

“Great weather we’re having.”

Alya scoffed. “That the best you can do?”

“If you can do so much better, than be my guest!”

“How… how was work today?”

“Terrible. You’re an awful conversationalist.”

“Oh, surely Mister Model Man didn’t have any issues at all, did he?” Alya leaned back on her palms, having finished her slice of bread and placed the rest of the loaf beside her.

He sighed, and Alya knew instantly it was going to be one of those nights. “Well, been kind of distracted lately. You know how it is.”

“Do I ever.”

An awkward silence fell over them. Pleading with herself to please, say something didn’t help, so she just sat next to him, looking at the lights, and honestly, feeling quite pitiful.

“Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if Nino and Marinette had finished their date that day?”

The question slapped Alya across the face. “What?”

“That day at the zoo, the first year I went to school. I don’t know if you knew this, but I was hiding in the bushes, talking to Nino through an earpiece trying to give him pointers.”

“No way. I was doing the same for Marinette!”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was. That’s hilarious. Crazy the way things turned out.”

“Yeah.”

Alya took his silence to think about his question. Would things have been different? Possibly, but there was no way to know for sure.

“Sometimes,” she started, trying to find the right words to say, “Sometimes I think about what it would have been like if Nino and Marinette had gotten together. What would have changed. What would have stayed the same. You think we would have still been friends?”

“Of course. Nino dating you didn’t take away from our friendship, and you and Mariette stayed friends. I think it wouldn’t have affected us.”

Yes. When Nino was hers. Another silence fell over them, but this time, it almost caused her physical pain. They were not ending the night off like this. They needed a happy ending, even just a small one.

“Let’s go do something stupid.”

Adrien choked a little over his bread. “Like what?”

“I dunno. Go spraypaint an abandoned building or something.”

“Sure.”

“Wait really? That’s it? Mister Hero doesn’t have anything to say?”

“Nah. I played the good guy for far too many years. A little vandalism won’t hurt.”

He stood and called for his transformation, holding his hand out for her to take. The glint in his too-green eyes hinted at something that Alya couldn’t name.

“Alright, antihero. Let’s get to it.” Her smile didn’t fade even as he hoisted her onto his back and jumped off the roof, waiting until the last second to extend his staff.

This is what she lived for. Nights out with Adrien, the wind carrying away all her worries.

After the spray paint was retrieved (half-used art supplies always littered the alley behind Alix’s art studio) and the location chosen, Alya was ready.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Don’t get cold feet now, kitten. C’mon, lift me up. I’ve got a great idea.”

Once he had secured his arms around her knees, she started to paint. She called out colors and he tossed them up to her, helping her create her masterpiece.

“There. Be honest, am I the next Van Gogh?”

“I’m thinking more like Picasso.”

The art was awful. A poorly drawn Hawkmoth with comically thick eyebrows mutely shouted at them as they took a step back.

“Oh, the longer I look, the worse it gets.”

Alya laughed, shoving the black paint can into his hands. “Here, go add something.”

He spoke aloud as he sprayed the words to the right of the picture. “Fuck. You. Hawk. Daddy.”

A large swell of pride filled her chest, thinking of all his accomplishments and tribulations. The reveal and defeat of Hawkmoth took a lot of courage. “Nice play on words.”

“You're the only person who would get the joke.”

“It’s our public inside joke.”

“I love it!”

Chat picked her up in a hug and spun her around, eliciting the first real laugh Alya had in a while. And when he joined in her glee, a small but prominent tingle went up her spine, rousing the hairs on the back of her neck.

She would ignore that for now. What mattered at the moment was her precious time spent with Adrien, and the vain hope that she’d get to hear him laugh again soon.

#a hint of angst i’m sorry it just happened #but mostly fluff! #alyadrien #that was very sexy of you anon #ask n answer #my writing #ml #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #not baseball #chat noir #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #cat noir #writing prompt

[oftenderweapons]

Girls’ Night — a girlfriends’ tale

Characters: OCs (Vixen, Princess, Lace), small Namjoon intromission

Wordcount: 12.2k

Genre: slice of life with discussion of BDSM themes, conversation

Rating: suggested 18+

Hello doves! As I announced the other day, I have been working on extra pieces that I really loved as a concept. This one — I must admit — is especially dear to me since it covers topics that I consider extremely important. This fic discusses mature themes. Please minors, do not read or interact.

Quick recap: (read Jimin’s Love Talk if you want to know the whole background for this story) Princess — Jimin’s girlfriend — has ventured into the world of BDSM after Jimin expressed his interest in being dominated and spanked. A few days after her first brief session with Jimin, two old acquaintances come to her help: Vixen — Namjoon’s girlfriend and Princess’ high school classmate — and Lace, Vixen’s best friend, Princess’ university flatmate but also Taehyung’s latest crush. (Tae and Lace met through Vixen at Taehyung’s housewarming party). The girls meet for dinner at Princess’ apartment and after some confessions and girl talk, they explore the most important rules and procedures a person should know before dominating their partner in a basic impact play scenario, with special contributions of a trained domme and an experienced brat. 

The piece is written with the girls as characters described through the POV of an external narrator. If you want to get to know the characters a bit better, you can find their headcanons here (Vixen — Princess — Lace).

On a lexical note: throughout the text I’ve used the word “dom” both as in short of the verb and of the noun. Even though the feminine form is usually “domme”, I’ve considered it gender neutral, as a short term for both “dominator” and “dominatrix”. 

On an ethical note: I wanted to raise awareness on how a safe, sane and consensual domination works. These days there’s an increasing number of BDSM pieces coming out, and very few of them mention the level of emotional connection that is necessary in these circumstances. Most of them focus on the scene, without showing how pre-session negotiations, aftercare and post-session feedback work. I wanted this piece to be educational and I wanted to show the “background work” on how I plan each BDSM-themed piece before I write it. Though I’ve done a lot of research on handbooks, websites and forums, I am NOT a BDSM educator, so I would recommend reading more in-depth manuals in case you ever decided to venture in this world, and possibly speak with an expert first.

On to trigger warnings: swearing, consumption of alcohol, obviously there is in-depth discussion of NSFW and BDSM themes with focus on impact play. Discussion of hard limits, negotiations, SSC (safe, sane, consensual), safewords, aftercare, bruising, cutting/puncturing (connected with cane and cat-o-nine-tales whipping), marking, pain kink, punishment, drop (both for subs and doms), anatomy of impact play (where to hit, how to hit), sex toys (spanking, face slapping, paddle, riding crop, slapper, strap, whip, flogger, cane). That should be all. In terms of angst, there is some insecurity, jealousy, and slightly traumatic past experiences. Lace recalls one time she “dropped”, Vixen recalls a series of quite intense scenes. There are mentions of Vixen’s second relationship (toxic relationship with a man who called her out for her sex drive, kinkshamed her and forced her into becoming exclusively vanilla). Both Princess and Vixen mention abandoning some friends since they couldn’t trust them close to their boyfriends, or not respecting their privacy. Lace mentions traumas that lead her to learn domination. She also explains her insecurities about possibly dating Taehyung.

Word count: lengthy. 12.2k words. Reading is not necessary but recommended since a lot of pieces stem directly from this one. 

Here is my masterlist!

Enjoy 💖

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EDIT: You can find part two here

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Lace came through with the loud stomps of the heels of her boots, the bag on her shoulder swaying heavily. It looked like she was ready to enter Cat Woman mode, wearing a cropped leather jacket rimmed with a thick black-fur neck. Her wondrous thighs were clad in tight, high-waisted jeans, her black leather knee boots completing the look. She impeccably wore her part.

As she neared the door, she checked her watch, noticing that she was a couple minutes early.

Five minutes later, always fashionably late, arrived Vixen, her hair falling perfectly around her pretty face, her lips tinged with a deep wine red, her doe eyes as inquisitive and wide as usual. It was exactly the girl she had met two years before on the other side of the counter of her shop, it looked like she hadn't aged a week.

"Hello!" She greeted her friend.

"Hi there! Look at you, you look like the best girlie in the world." Lace hollered back.

"Because I am." Vixen replied, basking in the attention and the praises.

"That self esteem is thriving! Freshly fucked and ready to misbehave?"

"Unfortunately not freshly enough, but you know me, I'm always ready to misbehave." Vixen winked before making her way to the entrance of the building, pressing the buzz for Princess' apartment.

"Isn't your big boy attending to his duties?" Lace asked, curious about the whole situation. She had personally met Namjoon and had seen the two of them together. They looked like the it-couple and she would gladly bet big money on the pair. Plus she knew about Vixen's collection and Namjoon's taste in terms of lingerie and negligees: in her honest opinion that's a solid base for a lasting union.

"He's attending, yes, but I don't want to vex him with my continuous cravings."

"Baby, not all of us are like that slut-shaming bastard of your ex. Stop thinking that needing to get laid more than once a week is a shame."

Princess voice sounded from the intercom. "Hi! It's floor 16 number 41!"

"Thank you!" Vixen replied before pushing the door open.

Lace slapped her hand and held the door as Vixen walked through. The other followed. "It's just that… He's been busy, plus he keeps saying he likes to come back early so we can have dinner together, he's always rushing from the studio to the dorms to his apartment. He looks like he'll get drunk on motion sickness before the tour even starts."

Lace stared at her feet as you both stood in the lift. How could she start something serious with Taehyung if they were going on tour? By the time she would get used to him he would be travelling on the other side of the world.

"So he stays at the dorms?" Lace fixed her bag on her shoulder.

"Often, yes. He stays at the apartment when I'm around, but he prefers the dorms when he's by himself or working."

The lift dinged and you exited, heading down the hallway "Thirty-eight, forty, there!" Lace chirped, noticing the open door.

There stood Princess, hair in a ponytail, wearing a fashionable white turtleneck and a thigh knee-length skirt. She looked classy and smart, just like she had appeared during previous meetings.

"Hello girls!" She waved at the pair, gesturing at them to come in.

"Hi there!" said Lace, "long time no see."

"We don’t see each other in ages and then two times in less than a month." Princess replied while hugging her. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if we reacquainted?”

Vixen nodded with a cute smile. "It would. I must say it was a surprise to meet you at the party with Jimin." Vixen took off her shoes as Princess offered her a pair of slippers.

"It seems like fate brought us back together." Princess replied.

“Indeed.” She commented, thinking about how they would get even closer if she gave in to the preternatural connection with Taehyung. Lace tugged at her boots, fighting with them a little before finally removing them, lost in her thoughts. She clumsily tried to avoid Vixen’s stare. She knew the girl would spot her secret in a second. Not now, she told herself. With the slippers on, Lace still looked like Catwoman from the ankles up, but her feet were clad with a pair of pink panther slippers that gave the outfit a hilarious twist.

"Let's move to the kitchen," Princess said, leading the way. "The apartment is small, sorry."

"Don't worry sweetie, with a view like this I would gladly live in a shoebox." Vixen commented, looking out of the window. "Plus you live pretty high up."

"It was accidental. I just needed something close to my office."

"What did you end up doing?" Lace asked as she looked at the prints on the wall.

"I work for a fashion magazine. Usually I do model casting and a little bit of everything about organising photoshoots." Princess replied.

"That sounds great!" Lace exclaimed, grinning.

Princess clumsily opened a bottle of wine, but fortunately no damage resulted. "What about you?"

"I'm a shop assistant in a lingerie shop." Lace replied.

"Don't diminish yourself like that." Vixen said, looking away from the window. "She works at the La Perla boutique in Gangnam, plus she has her own studio where she creates customised orders." The woman patted her friend on the shoulder. "She's amazing."

Princess lit up. "So you managed to make part of your dream come true!"

"A small part. I'm still far from having my own shop." Lace exhaled.

"But she's getting there." Vixen added with a positive note.

"I ordered in a little bit of everything." Princess said, taking the food out of the oven. "I didn't trust my cooking skills knowing this one." She pointed at Vixen. "I've heard you're almost a chef."

"I just took lessons." She shrugged. "I just really like everything that feels like home."

Sniffing at the air, Vixen sparked up, getting cozy at the smell of bulgogi. "This smells very nice."

"A little bird told me it's your favourite." Princess winked.

"Do I know that little bird?"

"He knows you very well." Princess said, admiring how the polished, elegant woman-girl turned completely smitten.

"I'll make sure to thank him."

Lace snickered. "Do you need help?" She offered, while Princess laid out a bunch of smaller plates and bowls with side dishes. "I got some dumplings, pancakes and our baby's favourite: braised potatoes."

Vixen clapped enthusiastically.

Dinner proceeded calmly, all the partakers digging in quietly, chitchatting between one serving and another, catching up on the various mishaps that had happened during those years apart.

"So you studied in Europe, right?" Princess asked Vixen.

"I spent almost two years between France and England, yes." She replied politely, sipping her wine composedly as if she hadn't devoured her serving of potatoes like a very smug wolf.

"Cool. But you came back here." Princess continued.

"Yes, I missed home. And I missed jajangmyeon." Vixen grinned. "Food in general. I like my life here. Living in Europe to me felt like being continuously on the sidetrack of something. Catching up with the culture is seriously a challenge, especially when you're in the art world."

"Right, you're an interior designer." Princess reminded herself.

"Exactly."

"I've heard you met Namjoon because of that."

Vixen smiled. "Yeah, well… The usual. We met at a gallery, I had a meeting with the artist and he accidentally participated. The artist and the director of the gallery accompanied us through the exhibition and at the end he asked if I wanted to grab a coffee. At the beginning I thought it strange that he hadn't booked a private visit, but he said that because of a last minute plan he had begged the director to book him in anytime. Since I'm friends with the director and I have strict privacy agreements at the firm, the curator thought it was a good idea."

"Who would have thought, uh?" Lace chirped in, laying her chopsticks on her empty bowl.

"Y'all, soju?" Princess asked, now that they were all done with the food.

While Vixen nodded, Lace held back. "I think I'll take just a sip. It gets me bloated."

The table was clean, the small cups for soju laying on the table as Princess shook the bottle and poured it according to tradition.

"Cheers to your taken asses and my single one." Offered Lace, the three of them laughing and downing the liquid. Princess drank it without even blinking, Lace taking it in a small measured way while Vixen downed it and scrunched her nose, shutting her eyes tight and shaking her head as she processed the burn.

"You're still a doll." Princess commented.

"And you're still otherworldly cool." Vixen replied, smirking. "You were the most bad ass girl of the class. I had lots of respect for you, but I was so scared of approaching you."

"You were so tiny and shy." Princess gushed. "You were everyone's crush but you were so smart. And a bit strange. It felt wrong to even think of you like that."

Vixen shook her head, "It feels strange to bring up those memories. After university and being abroad it feels like another life."

"Because many things changed in the meantime." Lace argued. "I've known you since you started working, two years ago."

"I spent half of my first paycheck at your shop."

"You did. And I asked you for coffee because I liked your sense of fashion."

"I thought you wanted to date me." Vixen laughed.

"Well, when you're done snuggling your big bear, you know you can come to me." Lace winked.

"My bear is pretty big so it might take me a while to be done with that." Vixen joked. "Plus I'm pretty happy. I haven't been this happy since I was nineteen. I'm content. Satisfied. Taken care of. Loved. I'm thriving." She closed her eyes and shrugged, smiling.

"My bad." Lace patted her own shoulder in support. "What about you and Jimin?"

"Oh, we met during a photoshoot. I assisted in his shoot and when he was done he asked to see the pictures that would feature on the magazine. That's when he asked me out for dinner." Princess said, her eyes shining as she remembered the event.

Lace noticed the two women staring at her. "Well time for my story… Me and my dildo met at the store, he was cute, I was needy and I invited him to my bed. That's how we first met and we've been happy ever since." Lace told emotionally. The other two burst out laughing, Vixen holding her belly while Princess leaned on the table.

"Oh goodness." The smaller one said.

"I think it's time we face our main topic. Would you like to start?." Lace asked Princess.

"Okay. I'll be very direct." Princess warned.

"Don't worry, we're all grown ups here. You're safe, darling." Vixen stretched her arm out to caress her forearm. "And we're pretty open minded, trust me."

"Okay. Basically, Jimin would like me to get a bit more rough in the bedroom. Namely, we tried spankings the other week. He sort of power-bottomed? Like he gave me instructions on how to do it."

Lace nodded.

"I am worried about how to handle this. I want to do it, but I don't know how to do it right. I don't want to hurt him." Princess said with a frown. “And I’m a little worried I liked it so much.”

Lace’s lips formed a small conspiratorial smile. “At the beginning there’s always a little bit of fear. And a bit of… Shame.”

“Yes.” Princess confirmed. “But it’s not something that bothers me. Like, it’s there but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it will persist. When I think about what we did… Well, I’m almost proud.”

Lace smirked and nodded. “That’s good. What would you like to work on? Is it just impact play — you called it "spanking" — or is it also domination on a broader sense?"

"Well… Wait, I took notes." Princess looked around, walking towards her bedroom and coming back with a small notebook and the guide.

"It's the book!" Lace exclaimed.

"The book." Vixen wiggled her eyebrows knowingly.

"You, vixen." Lace smirked. "Namjoon is right calling you that."

"You have no idea." The other replied. "Now, let's see."

"I'll return you the book." Princess reassured her.

"You can keep it for another bit. You'll need it again with Jimin."

"We have our own copy, don't worry." Princess replied, with a quick smirk. "Well, I think I can dom pretty fine — as I read the book I realised I already have some of those behaviours. However there are some practices I might have to learn in person."

"Normally we teach how to dom through subbing: what you experienced the first time with Jimin was subliminally subbing." Lace took the reins and explained. "It is one of the most sophisticated forms of domming — being a power bottom — and the fact that he did that should suggest you that A — he's a very skilled sub, or B — he's generically a very smart person with good manipulative skills."

Princess listened to the explanation quite raptured. "Personally, I don't know how far he's gone with his exes but I would say he has taken the lead before and he's quite used to speak up and order me around a little, so his behaviour might come from that."

Lace nodded. "I would recommend that you talk to him and try to design a specific plan for the two of you. As I hinted before I have taken lessons on BDSM practices in a club here in the city. I have received almost two years of training and I have taken part as an assistant to a teacher for another two years, that's why I might sound academic and serious. You can stop me whenever you feel uncomfortable or when you need to ask a question." That's when Lace shifted. Her whole position changed: her back got straighter and her hands splayed on the table, somehow squaring her position.

"Okay." Princess confirmed.

"You know that during university I took that course on acrobatic yoga?" Lace asked.

Princess frowned. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, it wasn't exactly acrobatic yoga." Lace shrugged and raised her eyebrows. "At the beginning I did do some acrobatic yoga lessons but then one of the students introduced me to this BDSM course and I left yoga for… yeah, you know." Lace laughed.

Vixen listened quietly, observing Princess' reaction.

"Would you consider taking lessons from an expert?" Lace asked.

Princess shrugged. "I think that the book was very good on general analysis. Personally, I've never considered meeting an expert mostly because I wouldn't know where to look for one. Plus, I've only had a week to think about this."

Vixen looked at Lace. "I'll be very blunt here, darling. I think that the best thing to do would be discussing the whole book thing with Jimin. Have pre-session negotiations. Discuss stuff. Find out what you want to explore and go there together."

Lace raised an eyebrow. "However, it is perfectly okay if you want to practice by yourself. Being a good dominant means that you can convey control and safety through your stance and behaviour. That requires practice."

Vixen nodded before adding, "It's okay if you want to take some steps by yourself before bringing him into the equation."

"Okay, so I reckon you have quite some knowledge on the theme. Maybe you could teach me something?" Princess asked Lace, a bit shy but fully determined.

Lace smirked. "That's why I came prepared. However, I must remind you I have been a co-trainer, and that doesn't mean I am a teacher, therefore I can only cover the basic stuff, which for now will suffice."

Vixen's eyes burned expectantly.

"Our girl here might help you see stuff through a submissive's eyes, right?" Lace questioned.

Vixen nodded and smiled, reassuring Princess by placing a hand on top of hers.

"Okay. Let's talk about general principles. BDSM is an acronym for Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism. But I guess you read this in the book." Lace presented.

Princess nodded.

"The golden rule is SSC: Safe, Sane, Consensual. Use protection and make sure that you're both tested and clean if you go without a condom or dental dams. Also, keep your toys clean. Do not start anything if your judgement is clouded — by alcohol, drugs or violent, instinctual emotions. Make sure that both you and your partner want the same things. Explain what is going to happen and negotiate before each session — at least for the first few times. This is also the right moment to talk about safe words."

"Me and Jimin covered these already." Princess noted.  

“Then you’re already halfway there. The biggest part of training is making people always aware of all the steps that could possibly go wrong and make sure that you’re prepared for the worst case scenario.”

Vixen nodded. “As a sub, it is important to feel safe. An anxious sub is a sub who can hardly feel pleasure, and that invalidates the experience as a whole. We only do it for pleasure.”

Princess listened carefully and thought about it a little. “How… How does it feel…To be a sub? I mean, I’ve sort of subbed with Jimin but… Yeah.”

“Well, I’m leaning-sub. That means I rarely dom, and when I do I’m a power bottom — that thing that Jimin did when he gave you instructions on how to dominate him. Being a sub has a lot to do with feeling cherished and taken care of. Some of us are not comfortable with power and responsibilities. Some of us simply like to be told what to do and please. I like doing what Joon tells me to do and do it perfectly the way he wants it to be done, because I know he will praise me and reward me. I know that he loves me regardless of me doing what he wants, but it pleases me immensely to use my submission to show him how far my trust and love for him go. I feel safe when I'm in his hands. And I like punishment, it helps me deal with guilt. When I make a mistake, I always torture myself with guilt and self-hate, but punishment makes me feel like I've made a mistake and I've paid for it. The point is not the punishment, but rather the forgiveness and the sense of atonement afterwards." Vixen spoke with a composed attitude, however her eyes wandered around nervously, as if trying to avoid meeting the others’ gazes.

"In that case the dominant is supposed to be attentive in terms of how far the submissive pushes themself. A sub looking for forgiveness is a sub willing to go further than normal, which means that they might inadvertently reach their breaking point — which shall never happen." Lace highlighted.

"The golden rule is to always leave hungry. There is a fine line between satiety and nausea. The moment you overstep and reach nausea is the moment your sub might hurt themself." Vixen said, tight lipped.

Princess nodded. "I'm glad we can have this conversation. It's not something I can quite talk about with my friends since the whole situation with the boys is pretty delicate. I had to close some of those friendships to keep Jimin safe. I realised I couldn't trust some of those people and I'm glad I realised before it was too late."

Vixen’s leg started bouncing. “Same with Joon. I don’t have that many friends in the city, mostly because of the time abroad and the fact that all of the friends I had by now are married and/or with kids. I couldn’t trust many of them, but you —” she said, gesturing towards Lace, “and when I introduced you to Namjoon I told him you were one of the most discreet people in the world, because you value your privacy and other people’s privacy because of your, uhm, lessons.”

“It feels good to have someone to share this burden with. I’m pretty scared of the tour.” Vixen looked down. The poised young woman seemed to crumble, giving space to an insecure little creature. “We’ve been dating since last November, but our relationship hasn’t really begun until late February. To be honest I’m terrified.”

Both Lace and Princess reached out for her.

“I’m scared.”

“Have you told him?”

“Yes, he knows.” Vixen sparked up for a minute. “We talk a lot. He always asks me how I feel about things. Lately I’ve been spending all my time away from work with him. It’s been… maybe three days since I last went back to my apartment. And in the last month or so I’ve slept alone maybe three or four nights. I don’t know what I’ll do when he’s away.” Vixen’s eyes welled up with tears before she smiled classily and recomposed herself. “But that’s not relevant.”

“It is, baby.” Princess rubbed her shoulder. “You have my number. You can reach out to me anytime.”

“I’ll be there too, you know. I know I’m not your Big Bear, but I can cook and I’m an excellent vintage movie marathon partner.” Lace rubbed the other shoulder, catching the few tears that had fallen. This was a further confirmation that Namjoon was the right man for Vixen: he had reached out to Lace a few weeks after they had been introduced, asking her if it was cool if he asked her updates on Vixen during the tour, mostly because he knew she would put up her strong, charming face in front of him, but secretly she would be worrying over his absence. That brought them close; it felt good to create this safety net for Vixen and it felt even better to know her in the hands of a man worthy of her, attentive despite his busy schedule and strong work ethic.

“Thank you, girls. That’s really sweet of you.”

“You’re the one who made this possible,” said Princess, gesturing to the three of them sitting at the table together. “I owe you. And I reckon this is a good time to make amends for not making friends with you in high school.” Princess laughed. “We’ll all need each other. We could have a group chat with Jin’s girlfriend too. Plus Jimin mentioned Yoongi is seeing someone.”

“Yes, Namjoon mentioned too. I’ve heard she’s a lawyer. He’s got this insanely huge crush on her.” Vixen giggled. “I haven’t met her yet but I’ve heard they were supposed to go out tonight.”

“Maybe we’ll see her at the next gathering.” Princess wondered. “I must admit I’m curious.”

“I am too.”

Lace felt a bit out of the conversation. “Me and Taehyung have been texting.”

Vixen blinked and turned to her. “What?” She had this face that read perfect confusion. “How long? And you’ve never told me? I mean, I gave him your number but I didn’t—”

“It’s because I haven’t been really taking him into consideration until recently.” Lace replied. “Normally I would reply to him with small texts, just to avoid sounding rude.”

“You mean to tell me you have Taehyung wrapped around your little finger — Kim Heartthrob Taehyung — and you weren’t even interested? Have you been doing drugs too?” Vixen looked outraged. “Fucking insane.” She shook her head.

“You know me. I value my privacy. Do you know how fucking un-private it is to potentially date that man? What if they find out about my extracurriculars?” Lace pointed out.

Vixen exhaled and formed a tight-lipped smile.

“Don’t give me the disappointed mom look.” Lace replied. “Plus I’m the same age as you, you have no right to turn judgemental.”

“Of course.” Vixen nodded. “Your safety first, love.”

“It’s just that I want to, but I can barely imagine how fucked up that could be.”

Princess breathed out. “Jimin and I have been extremely private about us and me being so close to the press means I am risking so much.” Princess opened her arms wide. “But it would take a catastrophe to take him away from me.”

“Give him a chance. Tell him about everything outright and let him choose. He’ll take his chance. Don’t choose for him.” Vixen pointed out. “That’s how I did with Joon. We talked and clearly said ‘this is what I need and what I can give, can you comply? Are you okay with it?’ It’s a bit of a bet, but I think the prospect of gain outweighs the actual risk of it.”

Lace nodded. “And then there’s the tour.”

Vixen and Princess nodded. Vixen tried to keep her insecurity and jealousy at bait. All those girls drooling over him, all those female staff members travelling with him. She propped her elbows on the table and pressed her forehead against her palms, her lovely hair falling forward.

Princess, sitting beside her, rubbed her back. “What if you just give him one date. Tell him your situation both about your, uhm— hobby and your emotional state. I’m sure he will understand. His emotional intelligence is impressive.” Princess stated, nodding, her hand still rubbing Vixen’s spine.

“He’s the kind of man I would gladly be a sucker for.” Lace explained. “I knew I was a dom since I was eighteen, but Jesus, I know I would sub for him.” Vixen seemed to awaken at that comment. “I’ve seen his stages. He is insane.” Lace bit her lip. “But I need time to trust him. And it would feel useless to get cosy with him only to have him leave for the tour.”

“Just tell him.” Vixen encouraged her. “He will surely work with you on a compromise.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. Are you okay?” Lace checked in on Vixen.

“Yup. Just a sudden jealousy rush.”

Lace frowned. “He would never. Don’t worry about that.” Lace cocked her head to the side. “He worships the ground you step on.”

“Girls throw thems—”

“He throws himself at you.” Lace remarked. “Plus he loves you. You love him. That’s all that matters. He gave you the passcode to his house, basically made you move in, what else do you need? I bet he’d gladly handcuff himself to you if you asked kindly enough.” Lace joked.

“Scratch that ‘kindly enough’. He’d cuff himself to you without you even asking.” Princess remarked.

“Can we move back to the BDSM introductory lessons?” Vixen asked, shaking her head, but with a tiny smile on her face.

Lace saw that was a good sign. Princess smiled beside her. “Okay, I’ll go with my request. I know I told you I wanted to get to know more of impact play and if we could focus on that...”

“Yes, I get where you’re headed. Let’s get it. But we’ll need a clean table for this.” Lace explained.

“Let’s do this.” Princess stood up from the table, beginning to clean up everything. It took the girls only a couple minutes to get rid of dirty dishes, empty boxes, the glasses and the soju. Even the fruit basket the guests had bought was moved on the kitchen counter.

“Do you have any sanitizer, perhaps?” Lace asked.

“Isn’t it better if we move to the sofa?” Suggested Vixen. “Use the coffee table?”

Princess shrugged. “Same to me.”

Lace nodded convincedly. “Let’s prep the coffee table. Sorry for the main table.”

Princess shrugged. “Needed to clean it anyways.”

A few minutes later the girls were all sitting around the coffee table, Lace’s bag placed at her side while Vixen occupied her other side, Princess sitting in front of them.

“Let’s do an impact play in depth analysis. What you need is one — a dom, two — a sub, three — optional, — supplies.” Lace listed. “Let’s go a bit at a time. First, the dom. A dom must be sober, lucid. No alcohol, drugs, and most importantly, no impulsive, instinctual emotions. If you’re furious, don’t go there. Violent emotions can cloud your judgement. Don’t let those lead you. Of course you might be angry or aroused, but that must not take the lead. If your anger makes you want to give them fifty spanks, but normally your sub can take twenty, you can negotiate maybe twenty-five. Be judicious, never hungry.”

“Good.” Said Princess, focusing on every single one of Lace’s words.

“Once you’re sure you’re in a coherent, calm mindset, you should negotiate with your sub. Remember: safe, sane, consensual. Safe, in this case, involves that your supplies are clean and cannot hurt your sub, both in terms of cleanliness and state of use. Check for loose threads, scratches on leather that could possibly host bacteria or dirt, splinters in case of wooden devices, porous surfaces. We’ll talk about this more accurately in the supplies section. Sane means to check your mindset and your sub’s mindset. Same rules as before: no alcohol, drugs, violent emotions.”

Vixen made eye contact with Lace, silently requesting permission to speak. “Small note on that, may I?”

Lace nodded.

“Your sub might come to you while being emotionally unstable. They might need you for comfort or atonement. Make sure to heal that emotionally before dealing with it sexually. It means to discuss what caused the upset state of mind in order to identify the real entity of the problem, correct the perception of it and negotiate the atonement.”

“Excellent point.” Replied Lace.

Vixen smiled cutely.

“Can I have an example?” Asked Princess with a frown.

“Of course. Let’s say I fucked up at work, I booked the wrong artwork and the artwork they wanted is no longer available. I manage to find an alternative but I somehow feel like I let down my client. I go home and I am scolding myself because I didn’t deliver what was asked of me. My dom may spot my disappointment or may recognise self-punishment. Also, I might explicitly tell my dom I am not feeling well due to a sense of guilt. This leads to my dom asking me why I am upset or why I am punishing myself. I — along other perfectionists like Jimin — tend to overestimate my mistakes, making them a bigger deal than what they actually are. My dom corrects my perspective through objective analysis, underlines my successful abilities in dealing with the issue and suggests potential improvements on those things I didn’t manage to solve. Perfectionists have a strict inner judge that scolds them and punishes them. Therefore their psych is divided into victim and punisher. This fracture obviously causes discomfort. The dom’s goal is to heal this fracture, especially since the perfectionist’s “punisher” side — so to say — is very strict and usually overestimates the damage and subsequently overestimates the punishment. After correcting the perception of the mistake, the dom gives an appropriate price for atonement.”

“So the goal is to stop the guilt trip mechanism?” Princess asked.

“Yes.” Vixen confirmed. “But this is just one kind of spanking. There are other cases. It can be educational or simply sexual. Educational is when the dom corrects the sub’s behaviour because they violated a rule or an order. In that case it’s mostly dom-initiated—”

“Unless the sub willingly misbehaved to earn a punishment.” Lace added.

“That sounds Jimin.” Princess commented, rubbing her forehead.

Vixen smiled widely.

“That’s not funny, you brat!” Lace scolded her.

“When you find your sub willingly misbehaving, you should talk to them very clearly. Usually they do it to attract attention. Ignoring them might hurt them or bring them to further misbehaviour, which can turn dangerous. I normally recommend conversation.” Lace explained. “Pay attention to them and ask why they broke the rule, what they were trying to get out of it. You can give them the punishment they were asking for — for example if your sub disobeyed because it earns them spanks and they like spanks, you can either give them spanks or punish them with something that they really don’t like, for example edging.”

Princess nodded. “That’s interesting, thank you.”

“Any remark, Vixen?”

She shrugged. “No, I don’t think so.”

“What about sexual spanks?” Princess questioned.

“Those can be incorporated into foreplay. Some people are simply aroused by pain.” Vixen shrugged. “It puts the sub into a vulnerable position, and it underlines a power imbalance. It makes the sub feel smaller, powerless — or almost so — and sometimes humiliated.” Vixen explained.

“Exactly. I would add that it stimulates the circulation of blood to the pelvis region, which means that skin is more sensitive, arousal increases and the whole perception intensifies. It builds trust and sometimes, according to personal history of each sub, it can send them back to childhood memories, mimicking the power imbalance between child and adult who disciplined them. It has strong disciplinary and educational value, back to the punishment scene.”

“Oh, about punishment!” Vixen exclaimed. “We forgot the most important part of it all. But it refers to all sorts of spanking, to be true. Negotiation. Once you have identified the fault, tell your sub how many hits there will be, how you will deliver them and with which instrument, which position they will have to assume. Repeat safewords. Make sure that they agree fully to every detail of the spanking. If they do not agree to some parts, ask to find a compromise, a middle ground between your and their needs. Once you have the green light, you can talk your sub through the whole experience as the scene actually develops. Once you are done with the scene, say a code phrase that means that the scene has finished.”

“Okay, me and Jimin did this stuff our first time trying this.” Princess confirmed.

“Wonderful. Was it a positive experience? Did you have any uncertainties, questions?”

“It was a very positive experience, both in mine and his opinion. We talked it out the morning after, since I preferred to have some time to elaborate my personal feelings about the scene”

“That’s okay. As a dom you can experience mixed feelings, especially after a first scene, with activities that are usually misjudged by society”. Lace explained, gently patting Princess’ hand on top of the table.

“I think that Jimin’s positive reaction and guidance helped me feeling positive about the whole scene. He was truly supportive through all of it.” Princess smiled softly.

“That’s a good partner. Both for life and for play”. Lace smiled herself, glad that Princess’ first experience went well.

“There were very deep emotions of care and support and love during the whole scene. A kind of affection and vulnerability I had never experienced with anyone else. I hope I can go there again with him, but next time I want to be more reliable and secure and experienced. I thought that a general introduction, especially about supplies, could help me, since Jimin was interested in that.”

“Okay, let’s just finish the general intro. We were saying safe, sane and consensual. Safe means toys, safewords and aftercare supplies. Sane means both parties know what they’re doing, the dom is aware of the sub’s mental space. Consensual means negotiation about number of blows, technique, position and eventually toys. Make sure that your sub always knows about the motive of the spanking. The natural response, especially to pain, is ‘why’. Make sure they know. Eventually, remind them. Once more remind them of safewords and the final sentence.”

“Do not ever stop unless they safeword.” Vixen said. “If they repeatedly tell you to stop, remind them they have their safewords if they want to. As a sub I’ve said both ‘stop’ and ‘why’ at least a hundred time during a spanking. ‘Stop’ and similar are pretty recurrent. Just say ‘You know your safeword, love’. If they really need them, they will use them, trust me. Just remind them all the time. You could maybe need to slow down, make sure that they aren’t panicking and they do actually remember their words.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Lace confirmed before turning to Vixen. “Have you been studying?” She joked.

“I’ve been reading lately.” Vixen confirmed, with a very happy smile on her face.

Lace mirrored her expression. She knew Vixen had been pushed into quitting BDSM activities by her ex boyfriend. Knowing that she was finally back to something she liked, something she was comfortable with made her happy. “I’m glad you’re back on track, sweetie.”

“Thank you.” Vixen closed the small exchange with Lace.

“Once a scene is closed, your sub might have different responses. They might ask to be left alone. In that case, make sure that healing supplies are ready for their self care. Remind them to check for abrasions. If the skin is damaged on a surface level — that means it is not only bruised, but also broken — you will need disinfectant and probably band aids.” Lace explained.

“But that happens rarely, right?” Vixen asked.

“With average spanking, that is quite rare. Normally you need specific instruments specifically meant to cause abrasions.”

“Like canes and spiked toys?”

“Yes, but not only those. I’ve seen pretty heavy damage caused by an apparently regular flogger.” Lace commented, shuddering at the memory.

Vixen blinked, a bit shocked. “Okay, back to aftercare.”

“Yeah,” said Princess, exhaling and looking away.

“So, unless your sub wants you to leave, you stay around. Provide for them. Rub lotion first. Some subs store specific lotion for this kind of stuff. To ease the burn, the sting, or lessen the bruises.”

Vixen interrupted. “I must say, most of us like the bruises and the reminder-sting, so they don’t really do much about it. Still, it depends on how far you’ve gone and how the sub feels. Usually, my favourites are a cold cloth, lotion and if I went particularly far maybe a painkiller. Normally herbal lotion and muscle relaxant are an excellent solution. They’re softer and safer, especially since you never know how a sub might react to medicines. As usual, make sure that whatever you use on them is safe. Let them prepare their usual medication. Make sure you have plenty of time to ascertain that they are emotionally stable. Do not leave them alone unless they request so, and tendentially it is good etiquette to stay in proximity, in case they change their mind.”

“Thank you so much for all the head ups.” Princess said, true gratitude shining all over her face. “I feel more comfortable knowing that we followed those lines during the first time too. It’s not something absurd. Youjust really need to use your common sense.”

Vixen nodded. “Being smart sure helps, but it’s not everything. You can only truly learn it by making it a routine.”

“You mean practice?” Princess questioned.

Lace nodded. “Yes. Once you actually start practicing, you’ll immediately find out your forte and potential weaknesses. Be comfortable with those: you can ask us or look it up on the guide, or on BDSM blogs. I can send you reliable sources, if need be. I would say you can reach out to my dungeon, it is a safe and discreet environment, but I fully understand your position, and I get that you might prefer to have a private approach to this. You can eventually book personal appointments with an expert. Those normally include non-disclosure agreements and Jimin could be protected from the public eye, as far as it can go.” Lace explained. “We have had many, many clients who have requested so. It would be perfectly normal.”

Princess thought about it and nodded. “I’ll discuss it with Jimin.”

“Perfect. As you can see the key to this is communication.”

“Indeed.” Confirmed Princess.

“Now, let’s get down to the actual business.” Lace opened the bag but left all the contents inside. “Impact play can happen on different parts of the body. Vixen?” Lace called.

Vixen stood up gingerly.

“Tie your hair, doll.” Lace reminded her.

The woman fished a ribbon from her pocket and did a soft ponytail.

“Good. I’ll show you.” Lace fished out a long, silky bag from her weekender; untying the ribbon, she pushed her hand in and extracted a long stick. A cane, Princess corrected herself.

Lace didn’t pay much attention. Its purpose was that of a pointing stick at that moment. “Number one, the derrière.” Vixen turned and Lace let the wooden instrument hover over the girl’s ass. “You know what to do to hit here?”

“Find the tailbone and place your non-dominant hand over it to protect it. Alternate sides, rub between a spank and another. Hit the lower region, far from the nerves up high. Where the flesh swells, that’s where I can hit. Also the back of the thighs.”

“Excellent. That’s all.” Lace congratulated. “Other spots are the back of the legs, more precisely the back of the knees and the calves. However, knees are delicate, so you can only deliver delicate blows with a restricted selection of toys. I would not recommend it. The back of the calves also offer a limited selection of toys, but it is slightly safer to go there. Still, the surface is limited and the knees and ankles are close. The risk of missing your target is high. Since you’re a beginner I would not go there.”

Princess nodded. “What kind of toys can I use?”

“We’ll cover that later. For now let’s just run through anatomy.” Lace answered calmly. “Are you good, Vixen?”

“Yup.” The other replied.

“Perfect. Turn to your side profile.” Lace asked and Vixen quickly provided.

Lace pressed the cane in a line connecting the peaks of each of Vixen’s glutes. “From here—” she moved all the way down to her mid thighs “— to here it’s good. The peak to the midthigh.”

“Great. Got it.” Princess replied. “There are other places? Like…?”

“Would you like to talk?” Lace asked Vixen. “You're the expert.”

“May I?” She asked.

“Of course, sweetie. You’re the expert in this.”

Princess raised an eyebrow at the comment, but still she stayed focused. To say she was intrigued was a big understatement.

Vixen’s sweet voice began speaking. “Other than the backside, as we’ve just mentioned, there are other spots that can be involved in impact play. While the back of the thighs and the butt can stand harsher beatings with almost all toys intended for impact play, other areas are more sensitive, more delicate or consist in a smaller expanse of skin, therefore they shall be treated differently. Both the palms and the back of the hands, just like the soles of the feet can be involved, especially when matched with instruments with a smaller surface of beating, like a slapper, a riding crop and a cane — for example. They shall be treated lightly, since they have lots of nerve endings, bones and tendons exposed.”

“What’s a leather strap?” Princess asked.

Lace lifted a finger as a sign to wait, before digging her other hand in her bag and extracting a small device, of maybe twentyish centimetres of length and five or six of width; she placed it on the table to let Princess observe it. “Handle and slappers.” She pointed. “Very noisy, actually pretty innocuous. The leather bits slap against each other and create a single impact that sounds like a double.”

“It sounds scary, though.” Vixen noted. It always made her blood curl in her veins, the heavy smack turning into a torturous feel as the hit didn’t match the noise. Fear worked, but the sensation didn’t. It was not something she liked, usually.

Lace nodded. “I haven’t used it much. Usually people like the cane on the back of the hands. Because of old school punishments.” Lace explained.

“Right. Thanks.” Princess nodded.

Vixen waited for a sign before moving on. Once she had both women’s attention, she proceeded. ”Thighs are generally all good, if they’re fleshy and plump enough. Make sure that you don’t go too hard when hitting close to private parts. While a vulva can handle a fair bit, the penis is generally more delicate in the structure. Thighs can handle all toys, just like the ass. Paddles, slappers, straps, riding crops, whips and canes. For private parts I recommend the riding crop.” Vixen smiled politely.

Princess interrupted. “The strap is that kind of… like?” She gestured a long and thin rectangle with her hands, looking for words.

“It looks like a belt bent in two, with a handle. Maybe I have it…” She rummaged in her bag. “No. Sorry. I think I left it at home.”

Princess waved her hands. “Don’t worry, that’s okay, I think I visualised it pretty well.” She smiled. “There’s more?” Princess said, marvelled as Vixen began talking again.

“Well, yes. Oh, first a small warning — before I forget. You must absolutely stay away from the belly and the stomach. Same for the lower back.” Vixen showed the various spots on her body with precise gestures of her hands. “Too many vulnerable organs left unprotected there.” She took a small pause and then moved on.

“Some people can handle hits on their shoulders and upper back, where the internal organs are protected by the ribcage and other bone structures; however I would talk with a professional about that kind of scene since you need to flawlessly master advanced equipment — people tendentially use whips and similar, or the strap.” Vixen stopped for a second, looking at Lace as if asking whether she had anything more to ask. Lace shook her head, inviting the other woman to proceed.

“Now, about delicate parts: some people like being slapped in the face, but then again, that must be clearly stated in the negotiations. I’d say you should only use hands, but maybe I’m projecting.”

“In four years, I’ve only used and seen other use hands. Also, riding crops, but usually that’s just to direct head movements or to pat the face, rather than slapping it.”

Vixen nodded. “Great. About interesting stuff, nipples can be gently stimulated with small, very delicate pats. Riding crops are excellent for this use. Also slappers. Maybe canes in some cases.” — Lace did a so-and-so motion with her head. Vixen continued, — “Some people can go very hard on nipples and technically — just like with the butt — women who have bigger breasts can stand more intense stimulation”.

“Oh, that yes. You can use, as usual, riding crops, but also paddles, straps and whips — if you’re experienced.” Lace added.

Princess nodded with an interested expression. She could mention that to Jimin. Imagining him with a riding crop, standing at the side of the bed, rubbing the leather bit against her nipples before whipping them harshly had her losing focus for a second, taking in a big breath and biting her lip.

Vixen grinned. She could practically read the other woman’s thoughts. “For women with smaller breasts and men, I would say to stay on the more gentle side for the first few sessions and eventually — once you know each other and once you know your sub’s pain threshold — you can get more heavy-handed, so to say. As I said before female private parts can handle pretty harsh whippings, especially since arousal tends to make the labia plumper and therefore protect the skin better. Still, you should start slow and work your way up. Male crotch area is a lot more delicate, however the shaft can take a medium-intense whipping. I recommend riding crops and small leather straps.”

Lace raised her eyebrows at Vixen with a proud grin. “Nothing to add. This should be all.”

“Wow.” Princess was a bit excited. If Jimin had looked that good with a few spanks, she could only imagine what he would do once she got more experienced and learned what actually drove him crazy.

“That’s a lot of stuff, I know.” Lace reassured her.

“I’m actually excited. Like, it sounds very interesting. There’s a lot of trust and knowing each other. I really like that. I think it brings the partners very close.”

Vixen nodded. “It does.”

Princess bit her lip. “I don’t want to pry but… Do you do all of that?” She looked at Vixen with a slight blush.

The woman giggled. “Not anymore, no.” She took a meditative pause, like she was reminiscing something. It felt strange that a girl so young could feel so old every now and then. That dark cloud that obscured Vixen’s doll-like traits disappeared, leaving only a fond grin in tow. “Now I do the bits I like best.” She grinned.

Lace looked at her with a bit of worry before smiling again.

“Before we actually start with tools I need to make sure that you know all you need about aftercare and drops.” Lace said seriously.

“Yes, please.” Princess said. “May I recap what we said about aftercare?”

“Yes, sure.” Lace invited her.

“Prepare the stuff before. Check for abrasions: if there are, then disinfectant and band aids. Next cold cloth, lotion and eventually painskiller. Use medicines that my sub takes regularly. Make sure that they’re okay emotionally. If they want me to leave, I do, but I stay close.”

“Amazing. Quick learner.” Lace cheered.

“Those were also in the book.” Princess commented, diminishing her feat. “Plus I did it already. Sort of.”

“I’ve seen people take weeks to put all of that together. You did a good job, stop doubting yourself.” Lace corrected her. God, these two insecure creatures would be the death of her.

“Aftercare is not only physical, but mostly emotional. If your sub wants you close, cuddle them. Jimin looks like the type to want cuddles and reassurance afterwards. Make sure you give plenty. Would you like to explain the drop Vixen?”

“Yes, of course.” Vixen intervened before addressing Princess. “I always like to talk about this subject because it can affect anyone, without any need to get involved in BDSM. ًWhen experiencing an orgasm, our bodies produce an incredible quantity of hormones that make us literally ecstatic. What happens sometimes, especially after long or intense scenes is that our bodies get high on these hormones, experiencing a sense of withdrawal once the rush is over. Such withdrawal, so to say, can cause pretty intense sadness that can lead to numbness, indifference, or even hate and depressive or aggressive behaviours. A good way to slow down this sadness is providing the body with other hormones that usually calm us and relax us. Cuddles and sugars usually are a good way to help the body produce oxytocin — commonly named ‘the hormone of happiness’. It’s the same hormone that spikes when mothers are breastfeeding their babies.” Vixen smiled fondly.

“This is incredible.” Princess said, completely amused. “So cuddles heal both the sub and the dom, I assume.”

“I think so, yes. Usually I’m the cuddler while Joon is the cuddlee during aftercare. Both subs and doms can experience the drop since both suffer the shift in hormones. It’s really about mutual care. Usually though, there are people who suffer more.” Vixen commented.

Lace spoke shyly. “Once I went so hard on a sub that I felt awful with myself after the scene was done.” Lace said. The silence felt heavy, like in some part of her mind Lace was still seeing that scene. “Usually the dom is expected to give the sub water, sweets and a cozy blanket — water for the body fluids, sweets for rebalancing the sugars after an intense effort and the blanket for emotional safety. I remember that one time the sub used the aftercare kit on me. It took me almost an hour to get back on a neutral state of mind.” It was Lace’s turn to be comforted. As Vixen rubbed her friend’s back, Princess spoke.

“So I might experience guilt and sadness afterwards and that’s normal?”

As Lace was still thinking, Vixen spoke up. “It happens, though usually, if your partner reassures you and supports you properly, you should be able to deal with it together with quite some ease. I myself have shouted slurs at my dom in the past during punishment, but that is because pain or anger make you do that. I may have sent him into a drop once, and since that time I always make sure that I praise and cuddle my dom once the scene is over. It’s important that you remind yourself that what is said during an intense scene is due to the sub’s sensations in that moment, therefore you shouldn’t give it much importance. Still, once you have your post-session chat you have every right to say ‘that hurt me, please don’t do that again’. It’s etiquette.” Vixen said with a serious note.

Princess nodded. “So cuddles, water, sweets and a good comfort blanket.”

“Normally, yes.” Vixen replied. “Sometimes shower or bath together, wash your partner clean or have them wash you. For some people physical cleanliness is also spiritual cleanliness. It eases the mind from whatever ‘dirty thing’ you’ve done during the scene. The rest is really what you would normally do during self-care, but with your sub. Facemask? Junk food? Lotion? Massage? Tea? Whatever you like as long as you do it with affection.”

Princess nodded. “This is really helpful. I just need to do anything that Jimin likes, and do it with him.”

“Yes, if he wants you close — which I assume he does, knowing the two of you.” Vixen smiled.

Lace added her own contribution. “If possible, remember to schedule a post-session chat. Whenever it feels comfortable. Normally you wait until all parties have fully recovered before saying ‘let’s talk about it together’, but some subs are already okay talking about it during aftercare. Just make sure that you know how your sub felt about the stuff that you did together, and that you tell them how you felt yourself. This is not one-sided. Power imbalance is limited to the scene: once you’re done, You’re equal again — that’s why a final sentence is necessary. It breaks the power imbalance and repristinates equality. All parties are equally entitled to support and communication.” Lace said, making sure that Princess grasped the concept. That’s where most couples went wrong: communicating.

“Thank you girls.” Princess said gently. “Thank you for the insights, and for your personal experiences.”

“You’re welcome.” Lace said heartily before grinning. “Now, let’s discuss supplies.”

Vixen cheered with a small ‘yes’ at which Lace replied murmuring ‘painslut’, chuckling playfully.

“Let’s start with these.” Lace showed her hands, letting the sleeves of her shirt fall a little, exposing her wrists. “These are your main instruments.” She showed the palms, then the backs. “You can use them everywhere. You can use your whole palm, flat, for a sting and cupped for a thud.”

“What’s that?” Princess asked.

“Vixen.” Lace called.

“A sting is when it prickles and bites, a thud is when it reverberates and goes deeper. You go with a quick, fleeting swat when you go for a sting—the palm must be flat and there must be a bit of wrist game. To deliver a thud, you should let your hand cup slightly and hit hard, keeping your hand pressed where you hit. It’s a matter of angle and speed.” Vixen replied readily, as if she were being asked what is two and two.

Princess grinned and nodded. “I see. Jimin mentioned something about it, but I don’t remember clearly. Which one hurts the most?” Princess asked Vixen.

“Well, it depends. It’s a different kind of pain and it depends on one’s sensitivity. Personally I prefer thuds, because usually it’s the muscle taking most of the impact, in case of traditional, over-the-knee butt spankings. Stings make my eyes water a little, because it hits a smaller area of skin with more pressure. But it really depends on what your sub feels.”

“It is all in the way it is delivered.” Lace stated.

Vixen bit her lip, nodding, and moved on.

“Hands can be also used to slap the face, as we said,— that should be especially clarified during negotiation — but also nipples and genitalia. Also, thighs, calves, hands and feet — though in some cases they might be too mild. Always remember that it is good manners to try the toys on yourself first, especially if it’s a toy you’ve never used before. Get familiar with its weight and density and grip, so you know how it affects you before affecting your sub. Make sure to start slow and eventually intensify, always asking your sub if they’re okay in the first place. Be careful with your sub’s pain threshold: since you don’t have direct perception of how much you’re hurting them, try to increase force and pattern a bit at a time.” Lace explained.

Princess felt sure about the directions. Common sense and the guide told her the same things, which reassured her about the fact that she would remember all the complicated passages. Sure, it would be easier to have an actual practical exercise.

But for now she would make do.

“You ready for the next?”

“Yes.” Vixen replied.

Lace tutted. “The question was not meant for you, menace.” She said, reprimanding a grinning Vixen.

Princess cackled. “Sure.”

Lace picked up another object from her bag. “Here we have a paddle. It can have different shapes and textures. Some contain small indentations, or even spikes. The main features are the handle.” She showed the part. “And a flat surface, used to hit the sub. In terms of tenacity and resistance, mine has a hardwood interior covered in a leather exterior. Oh, and it’s branded.” She showed a red leather heart sewn onto the black leather cover. “It leaves a mark.” Lace smiled cutely. “Best used on wide, fleshy surfaces. Questions?”

Princess shook her head. “Oh, yeah. How much is it?”

Lace twisted the object in her hands. “A good one is around thirty five thousand won or so. If you want something that lasts and that is actually covered in true leather, the price might be higher. I could recommend a shop that sells excellent gear.”

“Thank you. Also, you said it comes in different shapes.”

“Yes. A dom in my dungeon has a pretty extravagant one in a cherry shape.”

“With a double sting?” Vixen asks, eyes almost glittering.

“Yup.”

“Amazing. I had spotted it once but I never bought it. Maybe I’ll have it commissioned.” She mused.

“Joon would?” Lace asked, eyebrows raised.

Vixen shrugged. “I just need to be good — or bad — enough.”

“See, darling, this is a brat.” Lace addressed Princess, pointing at the other girl in the room. “Their anatomy is five percent manners, five percent playfulness and ninety percent utterly smart evil.”

Vixen smiled before cocking her head to the side prettily. “Yes, that’s me.”

Princess bit her lip and smiled. Vixen was a lot more interesting than she thought. All those cute manners and polished looks could not entirely shade the dark magnetism of her eyes. She would pay good money to see what ruckus she could cause with Namjoon in the bedroom. And it would be even more interesting to see what poised, calm Lace could do to teach her how to behave.

Lace put her paddle down before fishing something else from inside her bag. “For tonight let’s cover only the basics. I’ll keep more lowkey devices for another time. Or maybe I could show you what I have and you ask me about what looks interesting to you.”

Princess nodded. “That would be lovely. Plus I’m sure you’ll have to get back to Joon since he’ll want to see you before they leave tomorrow.” Princess asked Vixen.

“I don’t know if I’ll see him— oh, that one looks lovely!” She said, looking at a riding crop from Lace’s collection and distracting herself with it. “Yeah, I told him he should stay at the dorms and rest. His week has been hectic with all the briefings for the press conferences and tv shows.” Vixen explained as she picked up the crop, studying the red, heart-shaped bit.

“Yeah, I figure. Jimin and I are meeting for an early breakfast tomorrow, before they leave.” Princess explained.

Vixen’s fleeting gaze moved away. She seemed visibly unsettled. Still, her mood changed once more as she collected Lace’s paddle from the coffee table, the other woman not even noticing one of her devices had attracted Vixen’s attention.

Vixen rolled it in her palm a couple times, shifting it to feel the weight distribution and the texture.

Princess looked at how she studied the object, carefully taking in every detail. Vixen’s perfectionism showed in that exact moment, in the undisturbed, slow way she felt every ridge and stitch with her fingers. If she could think of an adjective it was ‘thorough’, in the first place. ‘Sensual’ in the second.

Raising an eyebrow and biting her lip, Vixen opened her free hand, lifted the paddle and delivered a heavy thwack.

A shiver ran down Princess’s spine. She could almost feel how Jimin would moan after a smack like that.

Lace turned around, looking at Vixen. “Like it?”

Vixen simply nodded with a wicked smile. “Do you know what wood it is?”

“Not sure, possibly birch or cherry tree. Soft wood but very elastic.” Lace sat upright as she was done taking out all of her collection.

“And the leather is splinter-proof.” Vixen commented.

Lace hummed in confirmation. “See anything interesting, Princess?”

Princess creased her brow. “What about the riding crop?”

Vixen smiled mischievously as Lace wrapped her palm around the handle, lifting the object. “Here. This is a personal riding crop. It has been commissioned specifically for me. It’s my favourite and somehow my brand.” She smiled fondly as she studied it. “However, I would say one should never grow fond of a vulnerable thing such as a riding crop. They break fairly easily. Anyway — the general traits of a riding crop are the shaft, the handle and the tip. In terms of length, I normally recommend minimum sixty centimeters, to increase flexibility and impact strength. The shaft should be elastic, but not too much or it loses impact strength and a submissive usually doesn’t want the whoosh without the smash.”

Vixen giggled at her side.

“What is that?” Princess asked, frowning.

Opening her palm, Lace calculated the distance and whipped the leather bit hard against the soft flesh at the base of the thumb. Princess clearly recognised the sound of air whistling before she hit her skin with a thin clap. “That’s what I meant.”

Princess nodded with eager eyes, keeping an amused silence.

“Fiberglass is a good material for beginners. If you’re buying one in person — which I recommend for the first time — make sure that it can make a forty-five degree angle when you bend the tip towards the handle. A forty to fifty degrees with a fair amount of resistance means it’s flexible enough, just make sure that it’s not too close to the breaking point. The handle is normally made of leather or very good rubber to improve the grip. Some cheap riding crops — also, the ones not intended for BDSM purposes — come with a strap to slip your wrist into. I recommend you don’t use the strap or that you remove it completely because first, you shouldn’t need it and second, you should avoid everything that keeps you from interrupting the scene and comforting your sub as quickly as possible. Sometimes even a couple seconds can be very important when it comes to subdrop. Remember this at all time, in all scenes. Remove everything that could keep you from helping your sub.”

“Okay. But if my riding crop falls?”

Lace smiled darkly. “Trust me dear, you’ll hold on to that as if it were the sceptre of England.” Princess laughed. “And if it falls, it’s usually a sign of poor mastering of your tools. Train yourself. You can use a dense pillow to learn the variety of strokes that a crop can deliver. It can be used for sensation play, simply rubbing your sub’s skin, caressing it, spending some time to arouse them before the whipping starts—”

Vixen purred at that.

Princess thought of Jimin biting his plump lips, eyelids fluttering at the gentle touch of the leather tickling his body.

“Are you with me?” Lace called for Princess’ attention, an amused grin on her face. Lace almost wanted to congratulate her for staying focused for so long.

“Yeah, just — thinking.”

Lace exhaled and wore a grin on her face. “I get that. Let me just finish this and we can take a pause. The tip is the important part of the crop. Mine has a fancy, heart-shaped tip, however, the best standard ones have triangular or rectangular tips that are a couple fingers wide on the very tip and restrict around the head of the stick.”

“Sounds nice.” Princess said.

“It is.” Vixen mused. “As Lace said, riding crops aren’t excessively difficult to use, if one has the patience to learn the basics and take some time to experiment. They can offer plenty of freedom to the dom in terms of use since they can be incredibly harsh, but also extremely light and gentle. You can use them on most spanking areas: breasts and nipples, feet, thighs, ass, shoulders and genitals, both male and female. Also the face, if you’re being light-handed enough.”

“Jesus, you’re wicked.” Lace snickered.

Vixen shrugged. “Says you.”

Princess looked at the exchange quite amused. “Okay. I think I got it. Oh, isn’t that a flogger?”

“Yes, it is. But that is for your sophomore lessons. For now, let’s stick to the beginner deals.” Lace said, slowing down Princess’ enthusiasm.

“Oh.” The other answered, taken aback.

“The bigger the toy, the more difficult it is to use it. Floggers, also called multi-tailed whips, are unpredictable because the whips are really flexible, usually made of leather, and very light. You must have excellent wrist flexibility and great spatial awareness. Once you can use your crop with your eyes closed, then you can consider learning the basics of flogging.”

“Okay. I assume canes and that fancy thing over there are off-limit too.” Princess noticed.

“Isn’t that a cat-o-nine-tales?” Vixen said, wide eyed. “It’s been years since I last saw one. Since my training.” Vixen shivered. “He had silver studs on the tips.”

“Did he ever use it on you?” Lace asked, very serious.

“Once. I didn’t speak to him for a week afterwards.” Vixen said, gaze empty. “I’ve never seen one like that in my life, though. Are those flowers?”

“Yes.They have a silver bead in the middle with some petals around it. The effect is very unusual, or so I’ve been told.” Lace answered with a chuckle. “It was a gift from one of my students. Lovely girl. Kinkier than hell.” Lace smiled and took the toy. “See. Those are meant to hurt. Mark or scar even, in some cases.” She showed the appendage to Princess.

“I don’t like that.” She replied with tiny hesitance.

“The cane is also a vicious one.” Lace suggested.

“The first time I safeworded was with a cane.” Vixen said with a meditative smile. “It hurts like hell. Normally I can take around forty to fifty spanks. I couldn’t handle ten with a cane.”

“I don’t think I like that either. My favourite so far are the paddle and the riding crop. I think Jimin likes the paddle, or at least the idea of it. The riding crop is… for personal reasons.”

“Excellent choice.” Lace grabbed a glass of water and drank, easing her mouth and throat after all the talking. “A riding crop can really gratify a dom at their first experience. You can study it, if you want to.” Lace encouraged Princess to hold the toy and look at it from up close.

Princess thanked her before lifting the crop from the table. “It’s very light.”

“Indeed. It’s a lot lighter than a paddle, that’s why it’s a personal favourite to most female doms. Plus it can be used to praise and to punish, making it a tool of great versatility.”

Princess studied the handle, with a thick leather band wrapped around the stick to grant a good grip. Lace, previously standing, bent down behind Princess. “The leather has been treated so to reduce any slipping.” She corrected Princess’ grip around the handle, placing her hand wrapped tight around it and fixing her thumb. “Like this.” Next, she placed the tip on the flat of the opposite hand. “Always make sure that there are no loose stitches here. Make sure that the spot where the tip meets the stick isn’t rough or hard or juts out in a way that could cut the skin.” She fingered the spot, tracing it. “Also remember to check the flexibility, see?” Lace made Princess’ fingers wrap around that spot, making her push it towards the butt of the handle. The sensation was extremely elastic, with a bit of give still, but far more resistance. “That is good elasticity for a versatile crop. Try it on your forearm.” She suggested, pushing Princess’ shirt upwards.

A bit hesitant, Princess lifted her dominant arm up. Lace corrected her stance, repositioning her elbow. “You only need to do a slight rotation of your forearm for now. Keep your elbow still and smack your forearm down, like you were arm wrestling but with more snap.”

Princess nodded, her eyes closing before she let her arm snap. First she heard the ‘whoosh’ of the stick cut through the air, and then the snapping sound, like a dry cracking.

“Good one. Did it hurt?”

Princess tutted. “Not too bad. The bite was pleasing.”

The sound awakened Vixen from her trance. She had been staring at the paddle for a few minutes, thinking.

“Try using it feather-light now. Like it was a make-up brush on your skin.” Lace placed the tip of the crop on Princess skin with the lightest pressure, the touch so soft that the tip didn’t even bend a little to accommodate the skin. It was simply lingering, grazing.

“I really like it. I think I’d love to own one.” Princess said enthusiastically. “Would you come with me if I go buy one?” She looked up to her friend.

“Yes, sure. You have my number, we can arrange someday this week, or whenever you like it.” Lace smiled genuinely. Her cheeks puffed up in round apples.

“I think you should check on Vixen.” She whispered.

The girl was being too quiet. It meant she was thinking. Overthinking, if Lace knew her friend well.

“Are you okay?” Lace moved towards Vixen, looking at her vacant stare, her skittish mood and the insecure nibbling on her lower lip.

“Yeah, I was just thinking...” Vixen replied, still unfocused from her surroundings. “I don’t know if Princess is okay with this. It’s her home, after all.”

“What is it?” Asked the other one, immediately alarmed.

“Would it be awkward if we tried a small simulation? Not a scene, just an exercise. For practice.” Vixen proposed. “If you’re all okay with it.”

Lace studied Vixen’s expression. “What about Namjoon?”

“I could ask him. I think he’s awake, I’ll text him. Ask him if it’s okay with him. This is nothing sexual. It’s just for learning purposes.” Vixen shrugged.

A part of Princess’ brain was already seeing it happen, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. “If it’s not too much of a bother, I think it would be really helpful to me if you and Lace tried. I don’t think I want to do it myself, but I’d like to watch.” She admitted.

“Are you in the right mindset to do this, sweetie?” Lace asked. “You’ve been on mood swings the whole night. Are you sure?” Lace asked, seriously concerned.

“Yes, I’m sure. Trust me,” Vixen said, reassuring her friend with a kind smile. “I just need to ask Joon.”

Lace thought about it. Doing such a thing with Vixen of course could be extremely helpful to Princess, showing her how a scene worked, however Vixen’s mood swings suggested that she was looking for reassurance, that she was hoping someone would literally spank her negative thoughts out of her. She probably wanted Namjoon instead of Lace, but maybe this mechanism of simulation and education was what she needed to rein in her insecurities. Vixen was a smart woman, extremely aware of her emotions and the mechanisms to handle them. Lace decided. “Okay. Call him.”

“Let me grab my purse, then.” Vixen stood up and reached for her phone at the dining table. “Thank you”, she said to Lace before unlocking her phone and finding Namjoon’s number on her shortcuts.

“Put it on speaker.” Lace told her.

The three women waited expectantly as the ringing echoed through the small room — Lace with cold ice settling in her veins, Princess with ebullient anticipation and curiosity, Vixen with a certain emptiness in her gaze, her free hand toying with the small pendant laying between her collarbones while she rubbed the flat of her upper chest.

The ringing stopped, followed by a couple seconds of silence.

“Hello?”

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

Part two here

#bts blog #the Girlfriends #introducing the girlfriends #bangtan sonyeondan #bts fic #Bts smut #bangtan smut #Introducing vixen #introducing princess #Introducing lace #namjoon x reader #namjoon x vixen #jimin x reader #Jimin x princess #taehyung x reader #taehyung x lace #bts fanfiction

[bound-up-feelings]

Sacha Baron Cohen x fem reader

Absolutely  Infatuated 

Requested: Nope

Warnings: Some fluffy goodness for all you S.B.C lovers :)

(Hey so this my long ass fic (1850 words), enjoy and please leave feedback so I know if I done fucked something up. Thank you and enjoy!)

You had been dreading this day for as long as you could remember. Well that being far back as a week ago. You had been informed by your agent that Conan wanted you and Sacha both to come onto the show to talk about your latest film. Don't get me wrong you had no problem talking about your new film, in fact you were so eager to tell everyone about it. It was just the fact that over the time of knowing Sacha and working so close to him, you developed feelings for him. And being in his presence was enough to make you blush and get nervous.

So, skip to the day you were in the studio and was standing on unstable feet. You were leaning against the wall and the only thing you could focus on was the sound of your beating heart. As it pounded in your ears you started to zone out. This had never happened before, at least not as bad as this. You hang your head taking quick breaths and trying to manage your breath, practically failing. Suddenly out of the blue you feel a hand on your shoulder. It was a large hand and you knew it was a man by the shoes that were in front of you. Then it hit you like a truck, Sacha was in front of you. Somehow you seemed to be able to memorize what he was wearing just by his shoes, you were definitely infatuated with him. Not a word was spoken. He knew you were nervous, had no idea what the reason was but he just knew. It was gonna be hard to pull you from this state. An idea hits him and he put his hand under your chin. Tilting your head up to look at him, he looks at you with the most serious face "Vhat haz you zo upzet?" Somehow even though at this moment, he made you smile. He wasn't aiming for a big laugh or giggle, he was looking for the smile he hoped to see everyday. On and off set. "Zhat iz zhe zmile i vas looking for!" He says with a big smile on his face. You shake your head and lean back up "I know I'm a big bummer I'm just nervous..." he gives a reassuring smile and squeezes your shoulder a bit. "Its gonna be ok, just imagine everyone naked! Just don't go to crazy when looking at me, yeah?" He says raising his eyebrow for a second. You shake your head and take deep breaths. “Aright we have some very special guests here for you today. In their new funny, hilarious, all around crazy new film “Never Again" where two high-school rivals reunite at a class reunion. Only to have some very interesting life changing and possibly romantic things happen to them over the course of the movie. Sacha Baron Cohen and Y/n L/n!” Conan says as he stands. You both walk out smiling and go to shake Conan’s hand. After doing that you both sit down and start to talk. “Alright before I talk about the movie I would just like to say, Sacha you look amazing and y/n you look stunning as always!" You say thank you and so does Sacha, then Conan starts "So this movie is based on rivals coming back to there home town and reuniting in a way that they weren’t prepared for. I mean from that alone just sounds great, and on top of that, the trailer is hilarious. Uh let's show it real quick." He says right before the trailer starts. It was funny, many hilarious and serious moments pass the screen and the audience laughs and a couple of people laugh out loud. The trailer ends. "Like I said hilarious. Is there anything you can tell us about the film at all?" Sacha looks right at you and gives you a unsure look "I'm sorry Conan but we are sworn to secrecy. But, I can say that the time we spent, and by we I mean the cast and crew, we spent a lot of time and put a lot of our selves into our characters and the film just to make this as funny as we could. We all worked very hard to accomplish this, I mean all except Sacha, he didn't do much." You say trying to keep a straight face, but when Sacha looks at you and gives you a face of fake hurt, you start to chuckle. The audience laughs and so does Conan "No I'm just kidding, he did alright." You smile and Conan laughs as he continues with his questions. Luckily they were all very fun and not as hard as you thought they were. That was until Conan had to ask a question that you hoped he wouldn't "So beside all the hilarious moments and embarrassing stuff, id like to talk about one certain scene. In this scene you both have a moment together, one that I would call quite romantic in a way? Can you tell us a bit about that?" You duck your head, screwing your eyes shut hoping that the ground would just swallow you up right about now. Sacha starts to laugh a bit at both the question and your reaction. "Well Conan it is as good as it can be with rivals having hated each other for so long. The fact that we had in mind, that 'Oh these characters hate each other we have to hate each other but also have to want the other person.' ��There's not much I can really say except that I am happy with the way it turned out." "Well said. How about you y/n?" "I've never liked talking about scenes that involve any kind of romance or romantic vibe to it. But I would have to agree with Sacha that we actually did kind of talk about how the character would act in this situation. Me and him both talked about how we would act if we were personally in this scenario. We both agreed that the characters have hate but also have always had feelings for the other but had that 'I love you but I hate that I love you'  feel to it. I also agree that I am happy the way this turned out." "That is amazing. Truly it is but, ever since the trailer came out people have been saying things. Let me read a comment here real quick and to be honest it my favorite out of all of them. 'Is it just me or is it, the way Y/n and Sacha look at each other gives me the feeling something extra is happening there?'  Another one says 'They are soooo pinning for each other, you can see it, You CANNOT change my mind.' I mean everyone is freaking out because of this scene. It has loads of people going crazy over this movie. But be honest here you two. Is something 'extra' happening here?" You shake your head "No not at all,-' You point at the both of you "-Me and Sacha are just friends." After you say that, in the corner of your eye you can see the look of hurt? in Sacha's eyes. It really shocked you, did he feel for you like you feel for him, No! Of course he didn't, he could literally have any woman he wants why would he want you. Conan makes a joke about how Sacha reacted. Sacha just laughs it off and makes a joke right back and that seems to get everyone's attention away from that conversation.

As the night starts to come to a halt the show was over and now it was time to go back to your hotels. You both road in the same vehicle and the car was silent. Silent to the point you hear the other person breathing. The tension in the air was enough to make Sacha sigh out loudly "The show was interesting to say the least." "Yeah it was pretty interesting." He nods his head and goes to say something but stops himself. Then he says it "When you said we were just friends, is that all we are?" You look at him. No words are spoken, You search for something to say but everything that comes to mind sounds stupid. "If it is then that’s fi-" "No! I mean- we are friends but I'm not sure.." "Not sure that we're friends?" "Yeah, I'm not sure if we're friends. Can I say something that's gonna sound crazy?" He nods his head, taking a deep breath you muster up all the courage you have. "Ever since I met you on set, I've had a crush on you. Then after months of working with you and getting to know you I just, I started to develop feeling for you and to be honest I don't know how to feel cause this has never happened to me before and it's so conf-" As you were about to finish your little rant you feel hands on the sides of your face and a pair of warm lips on yours. At first your confused, not knowing what to do. But then it hits you Sacha is kissing you. He pulls away and see's the surprised look on your face. "I'm sorry, I just thought that it was a good momen-" This time you cut him off. Your lips melt together as you move in a rhythm that you both easily pick up. You can taste the mint he had been chewing on and the smell of his cologne was intoxicating. Even the way he held your face in his hands. He felt that if he let go of you in this moment, the feeling he’s having, he'd never get ahold of it again. He could feel your hand on his shoulder and the other holding the back of his head, slightly pulling at the hair there. He groaned aloud when he felt you pull slightly at the base of his head. When the need for air became greater then the need to kiss, you break apart. Breathing heavily while looking into each others eyes. A smile breaks onto both of your faces. He slides his hand down and to the small of your back "Do you, want to accompany me up to my hotel room?" He says looking hopefully into your eyes. Smiling even wider now you breath out a yes and go into peck his lips again. He closes his eyes and rest his head against your as he runs his hand up and down your back in a loving, comforting way. "I have one request from you?" You look at him with a questioning look "Have breakfast with me in the morning?" You chuckle "I would absolutely love to do that." He smile and the car finally stops in front of his hotel. He grabs your hand and leads you out of the car after he thanks the driver. You both head inside. Silently you thank whatever gods that where watching over you through that whole thing for giving you the one thing you hoped for.

(Hello again so I hope you liked it please leave a like and give me some feedback so I know what I messed up. Thank you and have an amazing day!)

#sacha baron cohen x reader #sacha baron cohen imagines #sacha baron cohen

[cadiacore]

Fluff A-Z | a.g.

A/N; so i know this came out of fucking no where but im in a really fluffy mood and im listening to mrs. grande herself so I decided to make this as a cute little thing it is lol might make a headcannon but who knows lmaooo. The gif is mine x

Pairing; Ariana Grande x Reader

Warning(s); pure fluff and a bit of angst if you squint.

Word Count; 1.5k+

——

A - I feel like she is an ass girl. If you two were dating then she would most likely have her hand on your ass half of the time. Maybe it’s a comfort thing or she just really likes to touch it and show PDA. 

B - She would love to bake pastries, cakes, cookies and etc. with you since that’s you two’s way of bonding and having fun together. You two would love to throw flour at each other, chase each other and make a mess of the kitchen. It would just be an overall fun time.

C - cuddles! Cuddles for daysssss. I feel like once she is home from the studio or tour, she would climb in your lap and just smother you with cuddles. Or it could go the other way around, you get home from work and you just want to be close to her, so you just crawl into her lap and you instantly feel safe in her arms. 

D - Dancing around the apartment would be another favorite past times for the two of you. It would lead to a lot of laughs and goofing off with the upbeat songs but when a slow song comes on, you two would just hold each other and sway to the beat with many kisses to follow. 

E - I think you two would love to experience new things together, like food, activities, roller coasters, etc. Trying new foods would be hilarious because you both would countdown when to both take a bite and then it would be disgusting. You two’s faces would be so funny and cute and that would be part of the fun because y’all just love doing anything together. 

F - It would take a lot for you and Ariana to fight about something. Very rarely y’all would fight but when you do it’s big and a lot of crying would happen but in the end you two would forgive each other and talk it out normally. After that would lead to snuggles and movie night.

G - Ariana and you love to give each other gifts even though it’s not a holiday or anything specific. Ariana would most likely shower you with diamonds and cute dresses as you would get her flowers and make cute diy things. I feel like she loves homemade things more than she does material, but she always wants to go out and buy you anything sparkly and shiny. You two are also grateful for each other whenever the other receives a gift.

H - Honesty is a big thing for Ariana and you. You two love having deep and honest conversations with each other at 1 a.m. Those are the times were y’all just need to get things off your chest and how you’re both feeling. This would be therapeutic for both of you and it would strengthen your bond even more.

I - You are the main inspiration for her music and that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes you happy hearing all the lovey dovey songs about you and it inspires you to make things that remind you of her. It always makes her smile when she sees you painting/writing/drawing something that is related to her. It gives her a stomach full of butterflies.

J - Ariana gets jealous and will hold it in until she is able to talk to you about it in a safe space and not around a lot of people. You would do the same since you don’t like causing a scene in front of strangers. It wouldn’t be over anything small usually but if someone was being too close to you or her then y’all would step in and pull each other close. In the end you two would kiss it better and continue on with your day/evening/night.

K - Kissing Ari in your eyes is like heaven. She has the softest lips and is a very good kisser. She blushes every time you two kiss and you think it’s the cutest thing ever when she does. You more and likely blush too but you think it’s cuter on her than yourself.

L - Ariana was shy at first about confessing her love for you but she sucked it up one day and told you how she loved everything about you and that she has always felt that way towards you. She continues on and mentions the first time you two went to Disneyland together and how she knew she had fallen in love with you on that day.

M - She’s all for marriage and so are you! You two love the thought of spending the rest of your lives together and adopting cute little babies. Maybe here soon, one of you will propose!

N - You both love giving each other cute nicknames and your nickname in her phone is “wifey” with a kissy face emoji along with a ring and her nickname in your phone is “babygirl” followed with a heart eye emoji. She loves coming up with new and cute pet names to call you and you love them to no end. Gives you butterflies.

O - When the two of you are on cloud nine, everyone can tell. Ariana tends to look at you like you are the best thing that has ever stepped on this earth and she tends to kiss you more often when she is. Her mom always teases her when she won’t leave you alone with kisses but she just can’t help herself when she’s around you.

P - You both love PDA. You two are always showing some kind of affection whether it be holding hands, kissing, and snuggling/leaning against each other while shopping. You two do it all the time and you don’t care about what anyone thinks of you and Ariana. 

Q - Ariana’s quirks are that she loves talking in an Italian accent at the most random times just to make you laugh. She likes to lay out a warm towel for you before you get out of the shower. She doesn’t want you to be cold when you come out of the shower. Which you find very cute and adorable.

R - Ariana LOVES to be romantic. So at any chance she can get she will lay roses out from your dining room table leading to the bedroom and having candles light up the room and well we all know where that goes to lol she also loves to spoil you on Valentine’s day because she thinks you deserve it but it’s always valentine’s day in the grande household.

S - She is super supportive of you and as you are with her. You two make sure that the other is okay and when something bad or traumatic happens, you two are always there for each other, no matter what place or what time. 

T - Usually you both love a routine but sometimes you both want to try out new things as said in letter E. You love trying new scary roller coasters and holding onto each other as you go through the ride. When it’s done, both of you want to instantly get back on. The thrill of the ride is so much fun for the both of you two.

U - Ariana can be very understanding at some points and then other times you would have to explain why you’re upset or the way you’re feeling. Usually when you do explain it she is understanding and helps comfort you on whatever the situation is. 

V - She values her relationship with you so much that she puts you high on her priority list. If something is wrong, she will do everything in her power to make it right again. She loves seeing you smile so she will always try to make you happy and you are her number 1 besides her family but you understand that because well...family. 

W - She loves when you cook a nice dinner for her for when she comes home from tour. She loves how you put so much effort and time into it just for her and you. Sometimes you make a big feast for all your friends and family and thats another cute thing she loves about you.

X - xoxo As previously discussed in C, she loves cuddles and loves showing you love in any form she can. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks of the two of you and she makes that very clear to others who might give you two a dirty glare or look. She’ll kiss you right in front of them just to piss them off or make them uncomfortable.

Y - When she yearns for you while you’re at work is when she gets one of your sweaters or your pillow, and just holds onto it until you get home. She’ll send you sweet messages on how she misses you while she is on tour and can’t be beside you every night but you make sure to face time her everyday so she doesn’t get too sad while she’s away.

Z - She will go many great lengths for you and your relationship and so do you. You both love each other dearly and would do anything for another. Ari is the type to put everything into a relationship once she knows it’s serious and that she loves the person so she would literally do anything for the person she loves, no matter what it is. 

#ariana grande #ariana grande fluff #ariana grande x reader #ariana grande butera #ariana grande aesthetic #a to z fluff #music #ariana grande edit #Bee Writes #wlw #tried to make it semi gender neutral

[forasecondtherewedwon]

2020 overview: writing edition

Tagged by the one and only @i-lovethatforme!!!

Tagging: oh god, I never know who’s done tag games. Please, please, please start your year off right by reflecting on your accomplishments! If you want to play, I tag you!

1. List of works published this year

For the Spideychelle fandom:

One-shots: Slow Mover | The Stripping Point | our love is a bagel | Romance Novelish | Overheard at the Bugle | find light

Multi-chapter fics: The Achilles Kneel | Boyfri(endgame) | For Now, We May Remain Silent | That Floaty Feeling | Wavetide

Spideychelle Week 2020: Spin Again if Not in the Lead | Beyond a Seasonable Doubt | Spiderskin | WIN A DATE WITH SPIDER-MAN! | Parker and Recreation | 21st Century Friction | Track to the Future

Song fics: it’s time tonight (for flight or fight) | and you know the sex is fire | you got my future in your hands | and in your dreams (you’ll see us falling) | tell me the thoughts that surround you | it’s you (that I hold onto) | the distance between us (is half of this city) | wait ‘til you’re announced | your heart is the only place that I call home | this is the good stuff | no hold to hold on you | tout a changé depuis hier | one little touch (and love’s knocked me out) | love reflecting | when I get to you | heads or tails and fairy tales | out here the good girls die

Thotumn: In Over His Headboard | The Man in the Spoon | Unhallowed Arts

Holiday fics: With Zero Power | Schwarzenegger Holiday | Do You Tree What I Tree?

For The Queen’s Gambit:

Queen Takes | Winners’ Drive | Mate in Three | Again? | Kentucky Calling | It Doesn’t All Go | Hand-Me-Down Words | Absolute Penn | All Hope and No Pawns | Strategies for the Advanced Player | Copenhagen Revisited | The Fun | Shaibel’s

Miscellaneous:

Scuffed Souls (for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

All the Belles and Whistles (for Bridgerton)

2. Work you are most proud of (and why)

Easy! For Now, We May Remain Silent is the longest, most involved fic I’ve ever written. 178k over 8 months, inching line-by-line through my copy of Pride and Prejudice to hit every moment of plot and character development as I translated everything for the MCU. A ton of work, but extremely rewarding. It was a project that brought me so much joy.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why)

Ouch lol Terrible question. I think you have to be proud of everything you write, if only for the fact of putting in the effort to create it.

4. A favourite excerpt of your writing

Because my Pride and Prejudice AU is in my head now (and always), this, from the studio scene in For Now, We May Remain Silent:

Here are her paintbrushes, disorganized and held in the loose grip of big, old coffee cans. The brushes rattle when Peter runs his finger over their handles, the faded red bristles spinning. A thick, flat brush with discoloured yellow bristles might be his favourite. Glancing over his shoulder, he furtively strokes the uneven hairs with his thumb. They all have this well-used quality that makes his chest clench confusingly. Michelle’s been living a whole life with these in her hand, he thinks, and I don’t know anything about it.

5. Share or describe a favourite review you received

This is now a post about For Now, We May Remain Silent with minor acknowledgement of everything else I wrote this year because the best answer to this one is: every comment on the final chapter of that fic. Those are my feel-good comments and I treasure them. Not only were the people who read it so kind in their reviews, it also meant SO much that they’d read that massive fic and had enough thoughtfulness and stamina left at the end to say something nice to me about it. That one’s always going to be a journey that a bunch of us took together, and I have the comments to prove it! It’s so special to me!

6. A time when writing was really, really hard

February.

7. A scene of characters you wrote that surprised you

LOL There are classier answers to this, but I wrote Peter, MJ, and Brad gettin’ it on in my second-ever threesome fic, Unhallowed Arts! Did not think I’d ever be going down that road again, and it went fine!

8. How did you grow as a writer this year

I learned a lot about my work ethic and the difference between writing for passion and writing for expectation.

9. How do you hope to grow next year

By writing whatever the fuck I want. Jumping fandoms. Letting my stories get messier and fighting the easy option of a neat ending.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc. etc.)

I’m having a “what can I say about @spiderman-homecomeme?” moment that feels very Mean Girls, but instead of discussing her Japanese car commercials in a tone of bitter jealousy, all the good things I could say just make me want to cry. G has really been here for me this year and it feels like we’ve known each other a long, long time. She’s encouraging and patient and hilarious and lets me get away with the WORST euphemisms. I really admire her talent and warmth.

11. Anything from real life show up in your writing this year

Oooh! In find light, I wrote a happy ending that didn’t involve characters staying together, but recognizing that it was better for them to be apart. I write a lot of romance—so much romance!—but most of what I write is not reflective of my actual experience of love. This fic is, and that made it one of my favourites to write.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers

I wrote this in a post not too long ago, but lower your word count goals! I no longer sit down and tell myself I need to write 500 or 1000 words. I just go for 12. Such a small number of words is far less daunting to build upon. Write 12, then 12, then another 12! You’ll get to 100 words and beyond with so much less pressure.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year

I plan nothing, just fall from one thing into the next, so my single goal at the moment is to finish my Bridgerton fic, All the Belles and Whistles!

14. If you could recommend only one work from yourself published this year

Um, excuse me, all of them. I really was going to pick one, but I honestly love everything I write. That’s why I’m still writing.

15. End of Year word count

It’s somewhere between 510k-520k.

#about me #tag game #my writing #For Now We May Remain Silent