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namelessbutters-doodles · 7 months

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Beauty And The Beast 18+ Mdni

Ace Frehley x ?????

Summary:

Ace ran fast as he could into the forest clearing narrowly avoiding the thorns along his way and nearly tripping onto gravel. He didn't let out a single breath, not one at all.

Not even stopping to just relax, because if he stopped or even looked back.

The Monster will be there.

⚠️Warnings: scene negotiated before hand, werewolf sex, Slapping, blood, Wet Dream, Predator/prey kink, degradation, etc. Ask to tag!

Ace ran fast as he could into the forest clearing narrowly avoiding the thorns along his way and nearly tripping onto gravel. He didn't let out a single breath, not one at all.

Not even stopping to just relax, because if he stopped or even looked back. The Monster will be there, Standing with it's might. Glowing white eyes staring directly into your soul, as if your it's next meal.

Claws that are just long and sharp to cut into the skin freely, that will let blood gush out everywhere. Guts will be hanging outside from the body or dropped onto the ground, slowly making the person suffer a painful death.

Teeth that Ferociously can instantly kill once they've make contact, biting into the skin. Tearing it apart piece by piece, going deeper into bone.

Shattering it.

A Bite or Even a Nip from the monster, can turn you into one of them. Erasing Your Humanity, Forever.

It Terrified Ace, He didn't want to get killed nor turned into one of them. He Would lose out on soo many things in life, especially with the ones he loved and cherished. Miss out on the nightclubs, going out with different people every night, going to the movies with friends and doi-

Awoooooooo-

Howling is heard, not close but very far away. Giving Ace clear sign that the monster is not near and thus he has time. He Spots a nearby bush and dove into it, Shielding himself. At Last, Ace thought. Finally having the moment to regain energy and figure out on what to do.

But Yet it also, in a weird way.

Excite Him.

Maybe he was Freaky or Different, he Secretly craved it. Craved What?

Craved the feeling of being taken by the monstrous being, Manhandled. Being Scratched or bitten, but more likely to be destroyed. To be Taken, Used and Destroyed like a whore.

Filled to the brim till he's swollen with it's very essence until he can't take it, unable to walk or moved. Scratched to the point where blood flows from him letting it fall from his body, possibly leaving marks on him. Being bitten in places where it shouldn't feel good yet it does.

The saliva being smeared on the skin, the claws running down the back, The very thought of being spread far wide letting the beast defiled him, The tongue going licking him, the fur rubbing against him, the gigantic girthy appendage Stretching ruining his insides, Being Marked.

All of it would be Intoxicating.

One wrong move it could instantly kill him. It should make him afraid yet instead made him aroused, just by thinking about it right now leaves a pooling Sensation in Ace.

His Cock becoming hard in his tight pants.

''I shouldn't even be thinking about this.'' Ace Mumbled, Rubbing his face wiping sweat away, Laying down on the ground. Peaking out his head from time to time, checking if there's anything there. The coast is clear, for now.

His breathing albeit stressful became normal, While laying down. He stared up at the sky, Dark clouds everywhere. The full moon radiating it's haunting presence as a reminder what's out there.

A Beast hunting down it's prey, And that prey is Ace.

Ace stares at the moon, wondering how could a normal celestial thing that lights up the night could transform a human with force. It's fascinating but painful to think about.

The ground he lay upon was dirty and hard but it was most comfortable enough for his back, the dirt got on his jacket. Which he'll probably clean, once he get's out of the forest and into a safe place.

He lays his head against a pile of leaves nearby, Maybe he get a chance to even sleep. Sleep....

In a place and a time like this who would, Ace Would.

After All, He was a Risk Taker. If there was a opportunity for ace to risk anything, He'll take it.

He survive far worse things than this.

So What if he just takes a little nap? Snoozing all by his lonesome while there's danger about and the risk of dying is higher than ever.

It could be the best nap in the world.

Ace gets in a comfortable position, Letting his eyes fall.

''I'm Safe, surrounded by bushes and trees. So, therefore nothing will happen~.'' Ace Said Confidently, Chuckling.

''If I hear anything, I can just run.'' He thought, After all he was faster than the monster itself it seems.

Running into the forest far away where the monster can't catch a scent of him and where no can hear anything if you scream or cry loud enough to hear.

After a few seconds, He Fell asleep. Instantly Snoring without a care in a world.

So nothing could possibly go wrong, Right?

Right~?

Right?

XxXxXxX

Ace dreamt of many things when he slumbered, Usually it was always the same thing every time. Drinking alcohol till his stomach couldn't take it or actually bathing in it inside a actual beer bottle.

or being the star of his own band, making his own songs. Catching what it was like before he became famous alongside his friends.

But this dream, he's dreaming right now.

Was different.

Maybe it was from the adrenaline or the situation he was in, However this was entirely new for him.

Ace was floating in complete darkness, Naked as day.

Just Floating, Nothing else.

There was no stars nor clouds or everything just total darkness.

''Could this be sleep paralysis?'' Ace thought, That thought literally come out of his head hovering above him.

He watched it float as well as his other thoughts began to come out.

''Groovy.'' Ace said, It was amazing to him. He wondered what else he can do here.

He conjured up a few things like a root beer float cause why not, A saber tooth tiger which ended up talking to him about aliens which he giggled at.

Conjuring up peter for no reason at all, only for dream peter to end up slow dancing with him and give him a peck on the cheek then disappearing into a thin air.

And he managed to make up a whole song which ended up being good, Hopefully by the time he awaken he'll remember it.

He conjured up many more things after, eventually growing bored.

It was stale after that, just him floating once again with nothing else.

it was like that for few minutes, then he got a idea, a brilliant (awful) idea.

Deep in thought, focusing hard. He manages to come up with something.

With the power of mind and body he brings out....

Hands!

Not just a hand, Multiple of hands that look so translucent you can see thru them.

They're out and they speed over to him Suddenly.

The hands began going over Ace's body, touching and prodding into places that shouldn't be touched.

They went all over the place, massaging and kneading his ass. Pinching and squeezing his nipples, Leaving soft touches behind his ears.

Sliding up and down his back, digging into his sides.

Petting and combing there fingers through his hair, He was in a daze.

The Hands were giving him such a weird sensation and he loved it, it was almost like the real thing. Unbelievable.

As Ace fell into the deep sensation more, the Hands went further and so did Ace's thoughts.

His Thoughts became even nastier and dirtier, when the thoughts even the words came out they dripped with fluids.

Fluids that were milky white and floating around ace.

The something happened.

The Hands started to prod Ace's hole, trailing around his rim.

Ace drunk with power and lust, handed control over to them. Which was probably bad in hindsight, but he didn't care. He wanted to see how far it'll go.

And it goes.

The Fingers went inside touching his fleshy walls, rummaging around, Stretching him. a few of the others went inside his mouth, he sucked on them like they were candy. His tongue swirling around them.

The Main one going straight to his cock, Immediately starting to stroke it.

The touches were making Ace drunk, It felt so fucking good. A little too good.

The Main hand stroked Ace's cock faster, Making him moan.

The other fingers inside him, Became one with each other forming a cock thus thrusting in and out.

Ace buck his hips and arched, Sucking on the fingers more.

''Fuck yes! So good!'' He Cried, Enjoying what was happening.

Ace moaned and whimpered, Almost reaching his climax as the Hand stroke him to completion. Feeling the cock pulsate inside him, the sensation grew and grew.

His cock Leaking precum.

Everything went faster, The Touching, the cock, The fingers. Ace cried out.

It Was too Much.

In The Blink of a eye, Ace came.

His Cock spurting out, Once he came.

The hands disappeared Leaving Ace alone with his high.

''That was sooo fucking Amazing!'' He exclaimed, It was outstanding. if he knew he could do that with his dreams then he would be excited to sleep more.

All smiley and now glowing, Ace was in heaven.

That was the best dream, he had.

While Ace was recovering in his dream, it started to feel all wobbly but he didn't mind.

Till he felt something on his cheek, He touched it.

It was saliva.

it felt real, a little too real.

Does that Mea- Oh No.

He awakens and what he's see is horrifying.

Glowing white eyes staring directly at him, Above him. Hovering.

Drooling and salivating dripping on him, He Couldn't move.

Growling and grinning at him like he was dinner.

It was....

THE WEREWOLF!

''Found You.''

XxXxXxX

Clothing was scattered or torn across the forest floor. Screaming, Whimpering even Moaning can be heard from miles away.

Slick sounds could also be heard if listened closely.

The Werewolf plunged himself deeper into Ace, slamming there hips into Ace's Hole. The Appendage rummaging ace's insides, hitting places that shouldn't be reached.

The Werewolf cock bulging from within ace's stomach.

They Yanked Ace up and down each time roughly by his legs, using him like he's a toy. Certainly Leaving bruises.

Ace couldn't do anything but whimpered and moan every time that cock hit his core. Couldn't grip on or touch anything due to being fucked standing up, letting fluids fly everywhere. All he could do was squirm as he was used.

''Please, Pleas-.'' He Whimpered, not knowing what he was asking for. His Mind almost consumed by the Indescribable Pleasure that was being done to him, Pleasures that a monster shouldn't being doing to a human like him.

Pleasures that he shouldn't enjoy, yet he is.

The Werewolf watched each time, as they used ace. Eyeing him directly and even leaving little kisses on his body. They were trying to be kind to Ace at the start but that went out the window once ace kicked and tried to run away thus angering the monster.

Spit was only used and the stretching was done by Monstrous hands, making Ace's hole open enough to take him. It stung badly enough once the head of it went in as Ace let out blood-curling scream that caused the werewolf to stop completely and check on ace.

Ace was Trembling and breathing heavily, nails clutching on to the dirt, Squeezing his eyes shut tightly. The being checked him making sure he was okay and there was no blood. Ace noticed.

''I-I'm f-fine, do-Holy shit!'' Ace Hissed, curling in on himself a little. The werewolf was worried for him.

''Certus es, nos ca- .''

''No, I can take it!'' He Yelled.

''Certus es?''

''Yes, I can. After all, You'll take care of me right~?'' Ace sung.

The werewolf smirked, his giant hand caressing ace delicately. Ace leaned into it passionately staring into those white eyes, like he was safe and almost as if he knew the Monster would never hurt him.

He kissed the werewolf, feeling the fur against his lips. some of it going into his mouth causing him to spit it out. they both laugh.

they stared at each other.

''Vis?''

Ace nods, waiting for it.

''Licuit ergo.'' They growled.

And That where it leaves them now.

Sweat running down and dripping off of Ace's body as well as other fluids, His cock spurting out everywhere even on him each time he orgasm. The Werewolf using the cum to write some obscenities' on him also feeding it to him.

They dipped there whole finger into the pool of cum below holding ace with one hand. They completely stopped the madness, making ace shake. Legs were completely numb at this point, he let his head fall into the Werewolf's fur.

The fur was comfy making ace warmer than ever during this heated evening. Ace rubs into the fur more and more till eventually he started to sniff it.

Once he sniffed, it made him completely lose his mind. The musky smell, the sweat, the fur itching at his face.

He groaned, Catching the attention of the werewolf.

''What's wrong, Slut?'' The wolf asked, grabbing and turning Ace's head around to face him. Ace's eyes were almost glazed over, his Hair all over the place frazzled, Breathing Heavily. Ace mumbles.

''Speak up Whore.''

''It's feels.....so....'' He trails off for a while, He's completely lost to the pleasure. The wolf slaps him, Instantly getting him out of the trance for a while.

''Feels so what?''

''Goooood~'' Ace cooed, drooling.

''Your enjoying this?'' The Wolf Smirked, Letting out a laugh sounding like a hyena. ''I Can't believe it! You a mere Human, Enjoying this! You Must be a freak where your from, You fuck!'' He cackled.

Ace blushed, Knowing the monster was correct. He was indeed a freak, a freak currently getting raw dogged and getting off on it.

The Monster cackled on for a minute which seemed like a longtime, which annoyed Ace.

So he decided to do the one thing that would possibly get him killed and that would be...

Spiting the monster in the face!

The Monster Looked down sending a death glare to him, Ace was fucked.

The Monster took Ace off his cock, Placing him onto the ground. They Crouched and lean in by Ace's ear, Whispering to him. He gently strokes Ace's hair.

The Monster whispered kindly to ace for a while, they lean away waiting for ace to confirm or deny somethin. They scritch Ace's chin.

For a Moment or two, Ace finally Answered.

He Nods and Says something Only the wolf could understand.

The Wolf looks into Ace's eyes and his Body language searching for anything that will indicate something or anything. when sniffs the air or doesn't scent anything bad, The Wolf leans his forehead against Ace's.

Nodding In a Agreement of sort.

It's all peaceful and quiet for a while...

Till The wolf grabs ace by the hair roughly and drags Him thru the cum and dirt.

''What are you doing!!?! Stop!!'' Ace screamed, in pain from the wolf gripping his hair, Almost feeling like it could be ripped at any second.

The Wolf ignores and keeps walking.

''WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!?!!'' Ace Yelled.

''You'll Know soon, sweetheart. You'll know soon.'' The Wolf laughed Hauntingly.

XxXxXxX

Hours Passed, The Wolf dragged ace to a nearby cabin. Where a big oak tree was and recontinued the fucking.

The Wolf Bumbled Ace Once again, only this time not stopping at all. Ace cried as it got rougher and hotter, at this point he's been milked dry. His cock is completely dried.

He hold on to the tree as much as he could, hugging it harder each time the wolf ram against his prostate. The Wolf Growled and Grunted, They came but it wasn't enough for them to be satisfied.

Ace's ass is raw from harsh hits, legs hurts so bad he want's to fall to the ground but can't.

Nips and Bites all over him, little bits of blood seeping out.

His Throat hurts from the screaming.

One More thing, and he'll be gone.

They kept on slamming and slamming, till they felt something.

Ace felt it too, but once he glanced back.

It was too late.

AWOOOOOOOOOOO! The wolf Howled.

The Werewolf's Knot snapped, Swelling. Locking them together.

Ace overwhelmed with fervor, Screamed only to be muffled by the wolf's hand. The wolf accidentally scratched Ace's back.

He was flooded with the wolf's seed, His stomach completely filled. The Wolf pushed more till he couldn't, Ace slid away from the wolf's cock.

He Landed on the ground, as cum sprayed on to him covering him.

The Wolf breathed heavily finally satisfied.

Before Anything could happen,

Ace passed out.

''Aaaaaace~''

Something was calling ace.

''Aaaace.''

Too tired and exhausted, Ace didn't Budge.

''please wake up.'' they said.

Ace didn't until....

''ACE!!!!!'' They yelled, stirring him up.

Opening his eyes, he see's the wolf now turned back to normal. His Companion, Best friend, Lover.

Peter.

Who looked at him with worry and concern.

''OH MY GOD, YOUR OK!'' Peter said, Grabbing ace and hugging him closely.

''Of course, I'm o-''

''I thought i seriously hurt you, You wouldn't wake up! I was Terrified, Acey!'' Peter almost teared up.

''Hey Hey.'' Ace goes, Rubbing Peter's back. ''It's ok, you would never hurt me.''

''But but the way, you acted and looked. i thought for sur-''

''Petey, Look at me.''

Peter looks at him.

''If I was hurt or scared, i wouldn't have done this with you in the first place. Right?''

''Yeah.''

''And if i felt something was wrong or didn't feel right, i would of said the safeword. Yes?''

''Yeah.''

''You made me feel safe during it, not once I felt the need to stop. You were very attentive to me. You doubled check to make sure i wanted it and that made me very happy. I Knew right then and there, Everything will be ok.''

''You were a Monster, but to me you were Human.''

Peter Smiled warmley, He nuzzled ace.

''Peter, You were phenomenal and a spectacular lover.''

''aww ace.'' He hugged him tightly once more.

''Also a hell of beast!''

''Ace...''

''My Big Beast~''

''Ace...Stop.'' Peter Blushed.

''What? Can i compliment this big ol pupper!'' He pets Peter head, peter leans into enjoying it. Ace compliments peter more and more, peter legs starts to shake from the affection Ace was giving to him.

It was so sweet.

After the compliments, ace leans into peter. Falling into his chest, snuggling up to him.

''You did so well Ace.''

''You too peter, You too.''

They lay together on the wooden bed, one tired and the other in thought.

Peter thought about the days before this, When ace came to him in the middle of shopping proposing a idea for a scene like this. Peter was hesitant and told him about the dangers of it but Ace told him he could handle it. When they got back home, Peter thought about it carefully.

After 5 days of thinking and the full moon cycle coming, Peter agreed which excited ace. They Both planned the scene out, Ace picked his safe word. What to do and not to do, where the place should be and how should it start.

Ace picked out his outfit for the occasion which peter chuckled at, Knowing it was most likely going to be torn.

They gotten everything planned and figured out, By the time the full moon came. It was time.

He was shocked at how much Ace took and how the scene went, a lil too well. Which made him worry at some points, Ace would reassure him that everything's fine.

When Ace spat in his face, He almost lost it. Anger was beginning to rise but he pushed it down and whispered to him instead to vent his dislike about that. Ace understood and apologized for it, in which calmed peter down a little. He then revealed to him what he was going to do to him since he did that to prepare them both.

When ace gave that confirmation, He took it.

It was exhilarating yet frightening at the same time.

''what are you thinking about?'' Ace asked, His voice hoarse from all the screaming he did. Taking peter away from his thoughts.

''Oh nothing. Nothing at all~.''

''Really?''

''Well, i was thinking about you~'' Peter cooed.

Ace Hummed Happily.

''And How you need a bath, cause Man you stink!''

''Hey! all of this was from you!'' Ace playfully hit's peter.

''Yeah it was.'' Peter goes closer and kisses ace.

Time moves slowly as the two of them just enjoy there time together, Peter covered them both with a blanket.

it's was beautiful.

till...

''I Need to pee.''

''Then go.''

''I can't, my legs are fucking numb and my ass hurts.''

Peter snorted.

He then got up, picked up ace slowly. ''My Pleasure, My Beauty.''

''Beauty? I would call you the beauty instead~.''

''Aren't i the beast?''

''Oh Yeah, but who cares Kitty~.

''You Could say, We're Beauty And The Beast.''

________________

Comments and Reblogs are appreciated~

Been thinking about writing this, so here it is!

Also On A03!

Enjoy ^^

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klutzyroses · 2 years

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Hello there sunshine! May I request the ikevamp suitors reacting to mc who knows cpr? Like one day somebody is drowning so mc saves them but has to do cpr? How would they feel about it?

Hello to you dear! Enjoy!

IkeVamp HCs: Reader doing CPR

How do they react to their s/o doing cpr on someone else?

Suitors: Napoleon, Theo, Mozart, Charles

Napoleon

...

He takes in a deep, deeeeep breath and lets it go.

He is trying to be reasonable. He is trying not be jealous. He really is.

But he can't help the burning feeling inside him when he thinks back on it.

At the time, he was completely blown away by how brave she was to dive into the Seine to rescue that man from drowning. He didn't even mind that she had to breath life back into the unconscious individual.

All he knew at that time is that his nunuche is a heroine, so it didn't bother him to see her lean over the man to give him the...well, kiss of life.

But it's only later when he thinks about it that he realizes that it kind of bugs him. Not enough to keep him awake at night, but enough to irk him for quite a bit. He doesn't bring it up to her because he knows it's silly.

She didn't do anything wrong, he knows that and he isn't mad at her, but Y/N will soon notice that he is giving her a lot of kisses, not just in the morning. He will kiss her until she can't be kissed anymore, just as a way to reassure himself that she is his.

Theo

He is...actually kind of incensed.

He might not be very chatty for a bit. He knows he is being stupid. He knows he is being unfair when he takes it out on his lover...he just can't help it.

His hondje shouldn't be leaning over someone else. She shouldn't be leaping headfirst into the water and she most certainly should not have those soft lips of hers pressed against another man's!

Of course he knows that's not really what happened. Part of him is not as concerned with the kiss of life as he was with the fact she had jumped into the water so recklessly. What if she had gotten hurt? What if the man had been too heavy for her to pull out of the water? What if she had gotten dragged down with him?

All those worries, combined with watching her perform on him, almost overwhelmed the younger Van Gogh in many ways, the main one being the fear to lose her.

He may not express those fears even when he gets her alone, he just holds her tight and refuses to let go as he pecks her over and over.

He honestly is more worried about her being hurt than the CPR.

Mozart

He wouldn't want to admit he is jealous but...

He is kind of boiling inside. The musician might treat his love a bit coldly for a bit.

Is it fair? Of course not, she was only saving someone's life, she wasn't actually kissing him. He knows that...but he doesn't really care.

Mozart is a jealous man. So obviously it didn't really matter that it wasn't an act of lust or otherwise, the envy couldn't help but fester and burn within his chest as he recalled the beautiful Y/N leaning her face over another man's, let alone letting her lips touch another's.

He knows he isn't being fair when he somewhat takes it out on her, a fact made even more clear when she starts giving him the cold shoulder because of it.

He will come around and make it up to her, in all honesty, but he will hog her completely to himself to help him ride out this ugly feeling.

Charles

If he could rip his own eyes out, he would.

It honestly didn't matter much to him that she needed to save the man's life, that hideous, fierce jealousy twisted and writhed in his stomach when he sees those lovely lips come in contact with the stranger's.

He knows very well that she isn't actually doing anything wrong. He knows she is helping someone in need and for that he is proud of her but...

He can't get the image of his beautiful Y/N planting her mouth against someone else's, without hesitation or a second thought. He hoped Faust had some kind of elixir to erase his memory because the scene just plays and plays in his head over and over.

He doesnt antagonize Y/N over it of course, but he does want more affection as a result. His lady should expect to be lavished with kisses all over, especially her lips. He wants to wipe that man off as much as possible until he is the only one on her.

🌸

#ikemen vampire #ikevamp napoleon #ikevamp theo #ikevamp charles #ikemen vampire headcanons #ikevamp headcanons #ikevamp mozart

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hjellacott · 8 months

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Aladdin was a great story to begin with. A poor orphan who goes from zero to hero with the help of a funny, wicked, crazy genie, a stubborn and hot-headed but kind and sweet and compassionate princess WITH A FUCKING TIGER FOR A PET, a chubby, silly sultan, and a baddie who's at times simply histerical, with a parrot and all. Who wouldn't LOVE Aladdin? It was my favourite film since babyhood. I couldn't decide what I loved more, the animals, the landscapes, the catchy songs, the badass princess, the sweet and handsome Aladdin (and his awesome pants), or the blue, funny genie (Robbie Williams I'll always love you).

I loved the remake as well, which for me was interesting because I traditionally hate (and fear) remakes. But this one had interesting changes that kept the essence and everything I originally loved while offering a "how about we do this...?" that was quite fantastic. It was as if they'd taken the originally story, respected it, kept its essence, and then thought "you could've included this and not change the essence but enrichen it but I suppose it would've been too long for a cartoon film, how about we include it?" I mean the scene of the local dances? with the typical Arabian parties? my god that was awesome. And the idea of the princess being more badass and stronger and with political ambitions was actually fitting. The remake only took what was already there to begin with and pushed it to the next level.

And then take Snow White. Take Rapunzel. Cinderella. Beauty and the Beast. These stories are uninteresting in this day and age, and educate girls to be something we no longer feel like being, they're not empowering precisely. But we allow them, and read them to our children, and put the movies because 1) It's just cartoons, 2) they teach our children the world we used to live in, 3) they teach about European folklore and mythology 4) they teach about classic literature authors, 5) they allow us to show our children something they can judge for themselves as they grow and learn from, thinking for themselves instead of us planting our ideas and adult lenses on them and ruining the magic and fun for them.

What we don't do, or at least we SHOULDN'T do is try to transform them into modern, female-empowerment badass princess stories that they're not, with human remakes that look and feel far more real, and that attempt to erase history, clean the original story (only to ruin the little that was worthwhile of them) and shame anybody who enjoyed the original for some reason (like the magic, the songs, the pretty dresses or the funny dwarfs). The result will always suck, and it only gives the message of "if you look at children's stories with adult lenses and therefore find them horrible and problematic but you liked them as a child or read them to your children, them you're a racist, sexist asshole and you suck, here's our improved version".

#snow white #aladdin #disney #remakes #disney remakes #movies #film #cinderella #beauty and the beast #the seven dwarves #rapunzel

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sononames · 11 months

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Booth shouldn't have been a nice guy.

Why? He is the child of an abusive alcoholic father and a mother who abandoned him, who hid his feelings behind a cool jock persona, who then becomes a ambivalent sniper for goodness sake! He would have much more significant trauma that a mere gambling addiction. Jared is who Booth should have been, and I believe the writer’s knew it. They gave us Jared as a wink wink nudge nudge consolation prize.

By shoehorning Booth into a ‘nice guy’, they gloss over so much of what would have made the relationship between Booth and Brennan ultimately untenable. For starters, the whole ‘love at first sight’ thing between them should have been confronted head on: Booth lusted after Brennan not only because she was beautiful but also because she was what he thought he didn’t deserve. His insecurities about their relationship should have been much deeper than his occasional gambling relapse. I will accept his patience with her as her bringing out the best in him — for a time. The more emotionally assured she became, the more he would have felt threatened by her.

That is in part why I found it disappointing that it was Brennan who first refused a relationship with Booth. After writing their story and erasing it, I could have easily seen her ready to embrace a second chance. Then BOOTH would have panicked. His military service would have not been sad sack, broken heart redemptive journey, but a self destructive, dysfunctional attempt to get some distance from a relationship HE couldn't trust would work. He of course would have fallen for Hannah, just as he falls back on his gambling, and likely stayed with her, despite protestations, precisely because she doesn’t demand he make the commitment his parents did not make to him. Brennan, fiercely loyal as an abandoned child herself, might have forgiven him as a friend for his betrayal (she did not believe in monogamy after all) but never trust him again as her lover. (We still get the "Doctor in the Photo" scene of them in the car, but it's him begging for her to give him a second chance and she refusing). They would have remained partners, but with the possibility of romance firmly off the table. And none of this "she will never love again nonsense." She would most certainly have, after all the growth she had experienced. and with Sweet and Gordon Gordon's help. Sully could have sailed in (I always felt he was given short shrift) but they could have written someone else for her. (Perhaps a less stereotypical Latinx?)

So all this to say that Booth and Brennan did not make sense but the actors were so good at playing off each other that they made the improbability work.

#booth x bones #booth and brennan #brennan and booth #bonestv #bones fox #temperance brennan #seeley booth

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andorerso · 2 years

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I’m sorry but I don’t know how are we supposed to keep shipping rebelcaptain now that cassian will have his soulmate and true love in andor. okay jyn had hadder but it was not the same at all and I think that the series will make rebelcaptain look so weak :(

hey anon, to be perfectly honest, I contemplated not answering this because I don't wanna feed the drama, and after this, I probably won't talk about it again (because I don't want to) but I honestly disagree with you on several points. I'm gonna explain why.

firstly, nowhere does it say that Bix is his soulmate/true love, but even if she is, I find those terms to be very.... exclusionary. there's no reason Jyn can't also be his soulmate. whatever happened to Bix, whether she's dead or they simply broke up for good, she's clearly not in Cassian's life anymore by the time he meets Jyn. now it's hard to judge this without really knowing what happened between them, but by the time the events of Rogue One transpire, it's been roughly five years, and I would certainly hope that he's moved on. by that, I mean that I hope he's found closure and accepted what happened. it's easier if it was just a separation they both decided on, but let's be real, I personally think she's very likely dead. and if she is, as tragic and cruel as that is for both of them, Cassian can't love a ghost the rest of his life. he doesn't deserve to be alone the rest of his life (which is admittedly pretty short lmao, but let's imagine for a second that he lives and gets with Jyn eventually). he doesn't have to forget her, but he can absolutely open his heart to find love again. this is all only an issue if you imagine that people can only have one soulmate in their lives which is imo a very romanticized notion. we compare and measure love like it's some sort of competition, but it shouldn't be. I personally think that what he felt for Jyn was (or at least could have been, had they lived) just as strong as whatever he felt for Bix. they didn't know each other for long, but they obviously had a very strong connection from the start. you can't deny that. it's all there in the movie, as well as confirmed by both Diego and Felicity, so it's as canon as it can get. and it's actually kind of beautiful that he gets to find such a connection again, that he gets to experience that again.

another thing to mention is that it looks like Cassian in Andor and prior to Andor is a very different Cassian than what we see in Rogue One. they all said this, we all saw the spoilers. this is his character journey to become who he is in Rogue One. why that's important imo is because people change, they grow, they evolve, and sometimes with that change, people who used to work well together no longer work well anymore. you can kinda see this with Han/Qi'ra imo, they're just different people by the time they meet again, and it doesn't work anymore. so I guess what I mean, it's possible that the Cassian he used to be was good with Bix, but the Cassian he later becomes fits better with Jyn. this is pure speculation, and maybe I'll be proven wrong, we can't know until we see the show, but it's something to consider. when you change so much, the things you need and the type of partner you want can also change. and honestly, how many times do people end up with their first loves in real life anyway? sure, it can happen, but it’s not the common thing.

secondly, I don't think it makes Rebelcaptain look weak. for all of the reasons I already mentioned, but also because we all saw the movie. we all saw the way they looked at each other and danced around each other. Cassian watching her take down the troopers, the "welcome home" moment, the elevator moment, the beach scene, and so many others... they're all still the same. why should we look at it any differently just because we now know Cassian had a serious relationship once? it provides context, but it doesn't doesn't erase or change anything about his current relationship with Jyn. he was absolutely enamored with her, and literally no one can convince me otherwise because I saw what I saw with my own two eyes.

and thirdly, Cassian could go on and say that Bix was the only person he could ever love and he'll never be able to look at anyone else again, and I'd still ship Rebelcaptain. I wouldn't be happy about it ofc because that's dumb, and yeah, I'd be pissed as hell, but Disney can pry this ship from my cold dead hands. (but I obviously don't think they're gonna have Cassian say smg like that because why would they?) canon doesn't really stop me, I mean hell, Rebelcaptain was never quite canon to begin with and they're both dead. that never stopped any of us from imagining them alive and happy and in love. we still shipped it. I have ships who only interact a couple of times and hate each other, and I still ship them. shipping is not about canon to me, it's about the chemistry and the potential I see between two (or more) characters. sure, it can be really nice when canon validates that, but at the end of the day I'm gonna keep shipping what I like. canon is often a lot about your own personal interpretations, you gotta read between the lines and decide what you think about what's being presented to you. in many ways, canon is what you make it to be. so I don't think this should stop any of us from shipping them if we still love them. hell, if anything, ship them harder! tell canon to fuck itself if you don't like what it's doing. ultimately, it's all we can really do anyway.

#canon is just as fictional as anything you imagine #headcanon your way out of it if you need to #canon is overrated #rebelcaptain #cassian x bix #andor #anonymous #replies

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redkyrii · 5 months

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History of Cheat!-related Advent Calendar pages [Part 2/3]

2016 spoils us with a second Cheat feature on December 14th, 2016.

Yet another animated short. Little Timmy is fed up with his embarrassingly lousy performance in Cheat! In a bid to finally see some success, he takes to the library, studying day-and-night with a written guide on how to cheat effectively. The kid strides up to the next Cheat! game with newfound confidence, and his studies immediately pay off; even Spectre's sharp eyes fail to read him as he's clearing the table. In the end, he proudly galumphs away with every chip. This one is... very ugly. The concept is fun and all, but it's a big eyesore, especially considering how relatively nice the other feature of this year looked. That stupid goddamn Fernypoo face really should've stayed in Lucky Coin.

The prizes for this day are Spectres Eyes Contacts and How to be a Cheat! Champion.

Those contacts are one badass wearable, lemme tell ya.

Our next entry is a whopping three years later on December 18th, 2019.

This is also an animated short, but half of the archive for this specific year is broken for no reason, so this screencap I dug up is all I have to work off of. Looking at this still, I'm not sure I want to see it in action. That art is *rough*. This short seems to star the Lucky Coin trio: Brucey, Fernypoo and... ... Who is that? Is that supposed to be Capara? Maybe??? Because that is NOT her. Why is she yellow??? That is one of the most obvious, gaudy, impossible-to-miss oversights possible. Another beautiful red kyrii erased from history... Also, Brucey has no reason to be drawn with gross little fingies here. Put those away. I know they're probably just sitting by a fireplace, but with the way this scene is composed, it looks like they're just burning shit in the middle of the room, watching the flames flicker with morbid satisfaction.

The Prizes for this day are Angry Capara Toy and Princess Fernypoo Gown.

OK, so Capara suddenly going bottle blonde isn't meant to be a redesign, because this toy of her is quite literally just a red kyrii. Honestly astonishing. The dress is a high-quality wearable, but to this day, they never did release a tiara to go with it.

Since this year is full of two-parters, we will be combining December 1st & 2nd, 2020.

Another animated short! There's a lotta these. Brucey and his unnamed xweetok girlfriend are enjoying a stroll together in the crisp winter air. After being reminded that the holidays are swiftly approaching, they each rush to the shops to get their last-minute gifts for each other. Brucey wants to get his unnamed xweetok girlfriend a comb for her hair but he doesn't have the funds for it, so he's forced to trade in his pocket watch (that he's famously always had). Unnamed xweetok girlfriend wants to get Brucey a new chain for his pocket watch but she doesn't have the funds for it, so she trades in her hair (the shopkeeper was just a freak like that, I guess). They reunite to discover their gifts for each other have been rendered useless by their sacrifices, and they thankfully just have a good laugh. It's just an ordinary spoof of The Gift of the Magi, but it's still really weird to me. Brucey B? In a stable, lasting romantic relationship??? Terrible characterization, gargantuan oversight. But seriously, I feel like this one shouldn't have been about Brucey at all. He's too rich and established as a character to be obligatorily shoved into a role like this. You could've replaced him with Hubert or some shit, and the story would remain the same. Also, this xweetok character practically isn't canon, because she is never shown or mentioned again.

Of the four prizes you get for these two parts, the only tangentially related item you recieve is Brucey B Watchchain.

Again, when I think of Brucey B, I think of his famous pocket watch that he's totally always had. All the other three are about the Xweetok; really cements the sentiment that they only included him here to fill in a blank.

#neopets #neotag #little timmy tuskaninny #spectre #brucey b #princess fernypoo #capara the kyrii #cheaters tag #infodump

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hymnoire · 6 months

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The feeling of their fingertips brushing keeps on running inside her head. It happened by accident, the type of accidents that linger in time and in mind, the type of accidents one wants to keep on happening. The same hold on a pen, the same hold on a doorhandle, their fingers interconnecting and their eyes meeting in silence. Gaya couldn't possibly shake these memories off her skin, if she truly wanted to. It is just a hand on a hand... Nothing strong enough to disturb the Kang girl's head one could think. On the contrary, it might be the only thing capable of missing mess with her this way. She. Sookhee. It has been months now that Sookhee has been employed by the heiress to take down the pawns of the eneny, one by one. The enemy : the Minister of Justice, Gaya's very own father. On their hunting wall and out of their collaboration, many heads have fallen in Seoul's high society under Sookhee's bullets. Gaya's plan isn't only to kill her father no but to build her path, her throne, the one she will sit on to replace, erase his name with hers. The stage takes place on four arcs : first, to draw the map of every single connection the man has, especially the ones he keeps behind the scenes, away from the eyes of the government. Second, to build her own network, bigger, stronger. Third, to take the man down with her very own hand, for revenge. And four, the end, the crown on her head. Her heels echo down the floor as walks around the glass table, she places down more documents, ones she has collected for the next stage, studying, both of the palms of her hands resting down the surface as her back is bent. The current location? In the ShangriLa hotel in HongKong where their current target is back from a business trip. The man resides at the other side of the city, his assassination is planned for in exactly forty eight hours as Gaya and Sookhee already identified the perfect window in his schedule. Li Mengyao is the name, a man owning real estate he uses as cover, secretly an associate to her father with whom she crossed paths months ago for the Kangs annual charity spring gala. A man she is planning to use the death of - not only to make a satement but as a clever way of taking a precious element out of her father's cards.

for @redemptioninterlude

The rule is simple : for her and Sookhee to book two different rooms in two different hotels however close enough for them to meet whenever they need to. Due to Gaya's connections, her and her friends privacy was fully respected, nobody knew about their presence heer. There is a knock against the door as she raises from the table. It is her. Gaya does know Sookhee landed a little after her. Join me for our first night in the city - texted Gaya a couple hours ago. There is anticipation, dancing under Gaya's skin, a light shiver at the thought of seeing her again yet a pinch of nervosity as well. The heiress does not understand the emotions that travel inside of her. Is it .. attraction? For a woman. The heiress questions herself in almost a candid way, only coming to the conclusion she must push down as much as she can these disturbing thoughts she shouldn't be having. As usual, she is in her suit pants, ones that are large and floating around her slender figure, her white blouse made of silk tucked in. Finally, she opens the door, revealing Sookhee's presence, which brings a natural smile on Gaya's lips. "You're here." Gaya says on her usual deep voice. To hell being profesionnal with the eyes she lands on Sookhee. She is beautiful, Gaya always thinks to herself, the type of beauties she gets caught by. Elegant, natural, strong, intense. "I wasn't sure you would come after your flight since it's a litttle late already, you know? But hm, I'm just... Yeah, I'm happy you did. Come in." The heiress then says, inviting Sookhee inside, closing the door of her suite behind their backs, obviously nervous yet overly charmed to see her, trying to relax, running her fingers through her hair. The table displays the documents Gaya was checking on before her arrival. "Ah yeah it's nothing new, I was just organizing what we already got for the next stage. Since our window to get Li is only in 48 hours, we gotta keep ourselves busy, right?" Speaks Gaya informing Sookhee on the ongoing work. "Was the flight alright?" The heiress questions, now walking around as she reaches the kitchen area of the suite to get two glasses and something to drink. "Oh right- Guess what we got for welcome pack russian roulette?" Started Gaya with a scoff. It is a game she usually plays alone yet started playing with Sookhee due to their many missions together. It is a given that the heiress can request anything from the hotel room, her word is their command - and so, instead, she simply writes down for the hotel to surprise her with their best selection. "Tons and tons. Even more food than in Shanghai, like I'm coming with my five children. No seriously, look-" Says Gaya, pointing at everything they have prepared for her. "Mmm I did cheat on one little thing though, I requested a specific bottle. I know you really liked this one the other night so..." Gaya says with a discreet smile, grabbing the bottle and some of the boxes of whatever candies she could find in her pile of food to bring them over to the table for them to share while working. "What about you, got anything new for me?" Gaya questions then, opening the bottle already.

#龍 : 𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐲𝐚. / the heiress.#龍 : 𝐤𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐚𝐲𝐚. / interactions.#Hehehehe Hi <3

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sayaka19fan · 1 year

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Marvin's line 🍌🐠

Some time ago, @blak-rabbit drew my attention to the differences between the first and second English translation of the manga, so I decided to share one of the points we have discussed.

Back when Viz's Pulp Manga Magazine was funtional Yuji Oniki was the translator for Banana Fish (up to volume 7). After 2004 Matt Thorn and Carl Gustav Horn took over the job and they did the translation once again from the beginning.

A comparison of one frame from volume 1 will show that both the translations and the anime adaptation might have aimed to make the characters queer, bending the original text to this narrative.

In the original scene, Gregory has just scolded Marvin for failing to behave like an adult in front of a boy, that is, for being easily provoked by Ash when Marvin says:

いいや... ガキだからってかんべんからねえ...

"No... Just because he's a brat doesn't mean it's excusable...

ちくしょう

Damn it!

ヤロウいつも人をコケにしやがって!

You jerk are always making a fool out of me!

いつかあいつの細っこい首ねじ折ってやる.

Someday I'm gonna break that thin little neck of his."

(Translation is mine)

Now, let's give a look at the translations.

Yuji Oniki's translation (left to right):

Between the two I prefer this one, though it isn't without flaws:

1. "With my bare hands" Is just a pointless addiction.

2. It's true that Marvin says "people"「人」 there, but before that sentence there are two swear words that are omitted: "chikushou" and "yarou", Marvin isn't explaining something to Gregory, he is angry at being taken lightly by Ash, even though he says "people", he's talking about himself.

Now, let's see Matt Thorn and Carl Gustav Horn's translation (right to left):

Let's open another can of worms!

1. Yarou / ヤロウ / 野郎 is a typical shounen manga swear to address male characters, it cannot be read as an equivalent of "effeminate" or the likes. How it seems to have become a "queer"'s neck?

2. Hosokkoi/ 細っこい isn't just a descriptive term. Ash's neck being thin means that it is delicate and beautiful, not just weak. Even in his anger Marvin can't help appreciating Ash's beauty, so it makes no sense for the translator to add the word "worthless". Why? Why?

3. As this translation erases the part about Marvin being ridiculed by Ash's behaviour, the readers don't get how personal this is to Marvin. Here it seems that Marvin just generally dislikes how Ash plays innocent like a kid. This is not what Ash has done in that scene. Ash was looking down on Marvin, talking to him as if he was his master's son. "Good job giving me a lift here, no need to accompany me back" is how you speak to your employees. Ash was reminding Marvin that now he is above him.

Finally, let's look at the anime:

このガキちくしょう！

This would actually translate into "That brat, damn it!"

Like in many other occasions the script is shortened, and it is usually flavourless when they are not Ash's or Eiji’s lines.

The animators decided to make Marvin swear. They kept "chikushou" and "gaki"(kid/brat) but got rid of "yarou". In the manga Marvin calls Ash "brat" as a reaction to Gregory's words, but since Gregory and the other bodyguard aren't in the anime scene this line sounds weird there. The point in Marvin's line was that they shouldn't treat him like a kid, because Ash is actually a "yarou" (bastard/ jerk). Talking to himself, Marvin wouldn't ever call Ash a brat with a dismissive tone, this wouldn't convey his anger well. Plus, erasing "yarou", the animators avoided defining Ash as "male".

Thanks to NegtvaNetie_1935 for his inputs as well!

#banana fish #bananafish #banana fish meta #banana fish manga #banana fish anime #translation problems #Marvin Crosby

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thekatebridgerton · 2 years

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Random opinion: other then a couple things I think a lot of things that the Bridgeton tv show changed from screen to book has been good. I think a lot of the aspects of the books generally wouldn’t work in a 2022-onwards setting.

I understand how you would think that way Anon. And your opinion is valid.

But I'd like to offer two differing perspectives on who has the responsibility for the message that a show or book carries to the consumer:

If you put the responsibility on the showrunners. Who rightfully get to pick and chose which scenes go and which don't wouldn't it have been better, more convenient and overall less disruptive for viewers to pick a regency series of books that were more modern and DIDN'T have those problematic elements that are difficult to adapt.

It would have definitely been a better choice to adapt something that was written more recently, the Bridgerton books were written in the early 2000's and Julia Quinn was a lot younger then (I think she was in her early thirties). I was a pre teen at the time.

In my opinion if you need to re-write the major storylines of an entire book to make it fit the narrative you are trying to tell. Then you should reconsider the book you're adapting in its entirety. Else it just comes out as a retelling and not an adaptation. And I mean, retellings aren't inherently wrong, viewers do love to see the same characters in different settings a million times. Beauty and The Beast has a lot of retellings, I love every one of them, Sherlock Holmes also does, Romeo and Juliet is famous for them. But I'd like to point out, Bridgerton showrunners. If you're producing a retelling, please don't call it an adaptation. It's disrespectful to the consumers of the original work who probably expected to see Pride and Prejudice but got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies instead.

The issue still remains that they had to practically rewrite 80% of The Viscount Who Loved me. I know I joke about it, and call Bridgerton regency fantasy romance fanfiction. But even fanfiction is called by it's name. Why not just write an original regency story that fits the parameters of what is and isn't acceptable to show in media during 2022 onwards instead of creating something they find themselves having to either justify themselves or apologize to book readers for.

I know you loved the show, and it IS a very good show, I love it too. But please understand, that I love the show as an original creation that just borrowed the characters names of Julia Quinn's story. As an original work, the writers room did hit it out of the park. I love the inclusiveness, the drama, the music and lack of racial discrimination.

But as an adaptation. I mourn for the loss of old expectations.

My second perspective is from the point of view of the consumer:

Why wouldn't certain aspects of the book work in a 2022 onwards setting dear reader? When the product in question is meant to be a branch of historical fiction. Not set in 2022.

If we put the responsibility of picking and choosing which scenes go and which scenes don't in the hands of the consumer and not the creator. Wouldn't this just mean that the consumer is admitting that they don't understand that things in a different era were in fact different?

Because if that's the case it also means that the consumer is shying away from the tough discussions on why things used to be different. And doesn't like the fact that racism, xenophobia, homophobia, gender discrimination used to in fact exist in the past and affect people.

Dear reader, do you really advocate for erasing history just for our children to not have to answer the critical thinking questions on why, the bad things that have happened in the past shouldn't be allowed to happen in the present or future?

I mean I applaud this line of discussion when it comes to media set in the current century, when by all means, the narrative should be reflecting the fact that by now we do know better than to go around discriminating people nilly willy and treating them like garbage for something they can't control.

But in historical fiction. There is a line. Exactly because in different time periods, people didn't know better. And those who did were a minority who made history.

Does the consumer want to pretend that during the entire course of history people did know better? is that the kind of suspension of disbelief they want the creator to bring to life?

Well certainly, fiction doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, but in this case I'd like to direct you to the genres of fantasy and science fiction, where the rules that govern what happened in the character's version of history are a lot more flexible.

When people say that they don't like that this and that happened, and it's a element of something happening in a work of historical fiction, I want to ask them if they don't like it because it makes them uncomfortable or because it simply isn't their cup of tea?. If it's the first, I invite them to ponder why it makes them uncomfortable, and if it's the second, I like to tell them that there are other couples they can ship and other shows they can watch that may suit their taste better.

Trying to erase history or pretend that we can understand how people thought in that time period with the knowledge and modern privilege we have right now, is something we like to do a lot as a society and frankly I find it problematic.

lets give a practical example: In the early 2000's famous pop star Britney Spears was put under a conservatorship, her fans didn't advocate for her freedom then because they didn't know any better. When social change progressed to a point that her fans did see that how she was being treated was wrong, they campaigned hard for her rights and she is now moderately free.

Dear reader if you were currently writing a historical fiction set in the early 2000's based on the struggles of Britney Spears. Would you shy away from the uncomfortable implications?, or would you simply write your fictional story in such a way that people could understand and empathize with her better?.

this line of discussion does give us something to think about doesn't it?

and that's the tea

#historical romance #julia quinn #bridgerton

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puritates · 6 months

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“it will be okay. i promise."

(o!Ciel!)

This wasn't supposed to happen, not like this. The day had been wonderful, passing easily and full to the brim with Elizabeth's warm laughter. She'd waited nearly a month for this week's end, when she could spend it all with her fiancé at this manor. It had been lovely. Then night fell, and the usual beasties that visited the Phantomhive Manor began to creep in.

Footsteps of men too sure of themselves quickly turned into the sound of dull thuds of bodies hitting the floor. The butler was efficient, as always. It might have been his curiosity that allowed one rat to scamper too far—wanting to see just what would happen if someone got too close to where they shouldn't. What would young Elizabeth do if her life was in danger?

The intruder didn't even have time to feel it, let alone process the speed at which Lizzie woke up, caught sight of him, and the cold steel of her sword stabbed between his ribs. It was over in a fraction of a heartbeat. And that allowed the cold feeling of horror to creep in as she was left standing in a nightdress with a man's corpse still stuck on her blade. She screamed.

Mey-Rin was the first to arrive at the room before bolting out to inform her already-approaching master. The scene wasn't anything new for the Pahntomhive household. But it was new to Elizabeth.

Bizzare dolls were one thing. They were moving corpses. Unholy abominations of reanimated flesh. This... was a person. A human. She'd never killed a human before. Elizabeth was a murderer. She couldn't bring herself to look away from the dead man's glassy eyes.

Lizzie didn't flinch at Ciel's voice. She just kept staring at the man. His hand rested gently over her own but her white-knuckled grip on her sword didn't budge. It was like she'd turned into a statue.

But she was always weak to Ciel. His thumb brushing against the icy skin of her wrist finally made her break the staring contest she'd been trapped in, flicking over to meet beautiful sapphire blue.

"I killed him." As if he couldn't see her sword sticking him like a pig. "I didn't... mean to. But he was in my room and I didn't recognize him and--" Mother taught me not to hesitate.

The manor would swallow him up, erase him, and no one would find his body. At dawn, it would be like this man never existed. Because the Phantomhives didn't allow loose ends. Though it seemed like the guilt might be sticking in her heart for a while yet.

#ominasapphirus #— A LETTER; ≺ INBOX ≻

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bababaka · 7 months

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Welcome back. To part 2, things i don't like and would change in red queen :)

Part 1 is here

The topic is: the pairings.

Imma just ripp the band aid off.

Shade and Farley

Evangeline and Elane

Cal and Kilorn

Mare and Maven

Now to explaining things.

First let's start with the cannon ones.

Shade. My boy Shade. To be quite honest. I did not want him with Farley. But it is mostly because we don't know much about them, which makes sense. Since we are seeing things through Mare and she is very self centered. But meh. Idk. Don't have a strong opinion of them.

Now. Evangeline and Elane. I could make another part about how Evangeline was shaping to be my fav characterer but the author just botched her(from the beginning mind you!). Uh. So unfair my love. Look. My only complain about these two is: it got a bit anoying. At first, everytime Evangeline metioned Elane i just got so hyped. Then, as things progressed i was hoping Evangeline would stop talking about this woman. Dear god. Like it got too much and it wasn't anything too relevant. Yes. We know you love her, Evangeline. Stop it. It just felt like this relationship was Evangeline's whole characterer with a daddy and mommy issues sprinkled there. And Elane was barely a character, we got to know SO LITTLE about her. Look. I can delve more into this later, when talking about how evangeline had so much potential but it never got to see the light of the page.

Now to the juicy pairings!!!

Cal and Kilorn

Maven and Mare

Lets start from the beginning.

Mare shoudn't have had those 3 boys lusting after her. She is so annoying.

Kilorn and Mare should've gone in any of those ways

Sibling kinda relationship. All the way. Always. They ALWAYS treat the other as a sibling!

Ooor, maybe, it could be "i love you, but not in this way. And i wish i did". As their romantic relatioship progress with the Calore, they go to each other more and more. After confort. And as they are held by the other, a single thought comes to their mind. "I wish it was you."

Tbh this seems like a soulmates au kinda prompt. A great one. A sad oneshot. Hmmm. Beautiful.

Mare and Maven.

With those two, i want something sickening, sordid, visceous. They are so obssessed with each other. Even though they shouldn't be.

Mare is the propaganda girl of the red army (or whatever, i don't remember the name in english), her ideals, her goals, all of it is a threath to Maven's. And vice versa. And yet...

They are bad for each other and yet.

Maven's feelings for Mare couldn't be erased by his mother.

Mare's was something that grew on her. First as love for that boy she used to know and then as hatred for the monster she later meets.

But this, the monster inside him, the emptyness of it all, just called to her. Made something horrendus, crawling, red inferno, disgusting and viscous like blood.

The anger she felt. The monster inside her had his name. And the beast inside him had hers.

Have no doubt, these two are toxic as hell. They hurt each other.

They are violent. They are loving. They are crazy. They are in love. They are obssessed.

I don't know if those two would fit in the same books as the others, because their tone is pretty dark. But maybe in amidst the series, (perphaps the third book?) they'd get a sole book narrated only by them.

the thing is, Maven is already on dark side. Mare just has to surrender herself to it.

But at the end, she would kill him. It matters not if she is dark or in love with Maven. She is loyal to her cause.

It would be such a wonderful scene. It maybe could be narrated by Maven.

"At the end, as the air leaves him, his vision was only Mare, droplets of tears falling into him, that he could not feel anymore. All he felt was her hands. Calloused.

It felt like a lovers embrace. Lulling him to sleep."

I don't know. But something along those lines. And aaaaah, me would cry and weep and moan and kakfkdnckdnd this would be a gem.

And then we would have our babyboy Kilorn and Cal.

Kilorn is a true red. And yes i did worded it in a bad way. I mean it in "he has no powers" and "he is part of the opressed".

I think Kilorn would help Cal understand, truly, how the reds suffer. How they are abused and scorned just for being considered lesser than. How afraid they are. How being powerless in this world can be daunting and make you feel hopeless in a cruel world where silvers consider and act as gods. And with their powers, they might as well be to the reds.

"'Do you think of yourself as a god, Tiberias?'

The question startles Cal at same time it enrages him. Of course not! But before he can say another word, Kilorn turns his attention to the people in front of him. Confused. Scared. Woeful. Mournful.

"I only see a scared boy. A flawed person. Who bleeds. Who yearns and dream. We are not that different."

Everything Cal did was for Mare. Kinda cute. But not really. I'd like if he truly changed his views. Saw how HIS people suffered. All through Kilorn's pov and doubts and fears.

Also Kilorn is a man of the sea. Of the nature. He would bring the taste of freedom to Cal. And that could be such a good paralel to Evangeline. While she had a taste of what could be and didn't want go back, wouldn't go back. Cal saw what could be, free. Without weight, expectations. And even then, he just couldn't let go of his past. Of his father. Of his legacy.

"It is everything i have left."

Maybe, they could even have a cute little scene in the sea learning how to fish. And getting over Cal's fear of the "ocean".

Cal would show to Kilorn that not all Silvers are bad. He is good right?? Thats gotta count for something!

He would try to assuage Kilorn's hatred for the silvers. For a while, it would work.

At the end, when Cal makes a tough choice, Kilorn is there, trying to stop him.

"Show me! You told me not all silvers are bad, then show me. Don't do it, Cal. Please."

Or to be a little more fitting to Kilorn he just storms out.

"He should've known. All damn Silvers are the same.

Breath in, breath out.

He doesn't look at Cal's face. Nor Mare's, Shade's or Farley's. He just storms out of the room.

He doen't know where he is going. That doesn't stop him.

Breath in, breath out.

He keeps going. And going. And going. And going.

BREATH IN, BREATH- DAMN IT!

He shouts to the heavens. All the rage and pain.

And heartbreak.

Damn it all. Why is his chest hurting so much?

Damn you, Cal.

He only noticed he is in the florest when he see the grass beneath him getting soaked by his tears."

Tbh, i actually want them to have a happy ending.

Cal and Mare? I think they would have a relationship much like Mare had with Farley. We are fighting together. You are dating someone i care for. That's it. Maybe could've delved a bit more, like "yaaaay bffs" but nah, dont think so. Tbh, i just don't wanna think about them. But yeah. Maybe friends. But not too close.

Next topic: how i hate how strong Mare is and how my baby Evangeline was wronged.

And it is here :)

#red queen #series: rewriting stuff #mare x maven #kilorn x Cal #evangeline x elane #shade x Farley #mare barrow #maven calore #cal calore

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enbyzutara · 3 years

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I was thinking about something: The Agni Kai scene (Lightning scene/Sacrifice scene). And I know... There's already so many essays (metas) and analyses about this scene, because we can have so many interpretations about Zuko's sacrifice and Zuko & Katara dynamic. And I'm actually not here to write a whole new and long essay about this, I just wanna talk about something that I've noticed.

Many people say: “Oh, but Zuko would've sacrificed himself for anyone from the gAnng” And I completely agree with this, Zuko is a kind and selfless person, he would, in fact, do this for anyone, but he didn't... And “Oh, this scene isn't a romantic scene” and even though I personally disagree with this, I won't try to convince anyone that “Wow Zuko did this because he was in love with her” because honestly? Nor do I think that at that moment in the narrative Zuko was helplessly in love with Katara and he did that because he romantically loved her and blablabla... What I want to say is that, you can view this scene as a non-romantic one, as you can view this scene as a romantic one, but one thing, that all of us should agree is that, what Zuko did for her, for Katara, sacrificing himself for her, was a gesture of love.

“Wait a minute... but didn't you just say 3 lines ago that this scene can be viewed as a non-romantic one?”Yes. But the love that I'm referring to here, is a love between friends, between people who care for each other, so that's why I said this scene can be read as a non-romantic scene AND/OR a romantic scene. Because even though you don't view Zutara in a romantic perspective, you cannot deny that Zuko did consider Katara as his friend, and that he holds her as one of his dear people. So you can still view the sacrifice scene as a platonic scene, and there’s nothing wrong with that, because even if you view this scene as a platonic scene, Zuko's sacrifice continues to be a gesture of love.

And it's not only me who thinks sacrifice is a gesture of love.

[An Avatar Comic Panel: Hakoda, Katara's father is looking at his daughter, and he's kinda smiling, and he's saying to Katara: “So you know that the right kind of love -- the kind that's real, that sacrifices -- that kind of love doesn't blind you. It actually helps you see.”]

Yeah... I didn't think I needed to say this, but: Canonically, sacrifice is viewed as a gesture of love. And Hakoda's quote can be read as romantic or not, but the meaning that sacrifice is a gesture of love, continues nonetheless.

And OMG. Look at this:

“the kind (of love) that's real, that sacrifices.”

“that kind of love doesn't blind you. It actually helps you see.”

Anyways...

And not only this is canon, look at this:

[A picture from the book “Legacy of the Fire Nation”, which is a Canon material, and the important quote that we gonna use from this image is: “At peace, you grew up. And then, your heart burned brightest when you protected Katara”.]

So... omg... Canonically, when Zuko jumped in front of a lightning bolt for Katara, his heart burned brightest. OMGG. And it's okay if you don't view this as a romantic thing, you can still think of this again as a platonic thing, but again: this quote proves, that the Sacrifice Scene, is a gesture of love, and this gesture of love in question, made Zuko's heart burn.

(And there's nothing wrong as well to view this as a romantic quote, since this quote in question can parallel with another quote in the show, which is a quote that is canonically romantic: “Love is brightest in the dark”.)

So, in conclusion:

Sacrifice is canonically viewed as a gesture of love & Zuko's heart canonically burned brightest when he protected (sacrificed himself for) Katara.

Again, you can view all of this as a platonic thing, that's your opinion, but please, just don't try to erase the meaning of this act & scene just because you're an anti-ZK or something like this. And there is no problem at all to view all of this as a romantic thing, so I truly don't understand why people fight Zutara Shippers when they say that the Agni Kai scene is a romantic one. Like… yikes, the lightning scene can be viewed as a romantic scene (please… It's literally a slow motion scene, and we get sad ass violins, a zoom in on Zuko’s desperate face and a zoom in on Katara’s horrified face watching Zuko sacrifices himself for her, and then the first perspectives that we have after this scene is that both of them are trying to reach out for each other… yeah..). So please stop being annoying and let people enjoy things.

#zutara #zutara meta #zutara essay #pls I LOVE THEM SM #nah bc zk is just so beautiful to me #like for me this scene and the meaning of this scene for both characters arcs is just so beautiful #zuko did love katara and thats why he jumped in front of a lightning for her #i Don't think he did this bc he was helplessly in love #he did just because katara is a special person for him #as zuko is a special person for katara #platonic or not #romantic or not #this scene is beautiful and it shouldn't be erased #the agni kai #agni kai #lightning scene

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jeongjaebae · 3 years

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You look hideous on me

❥ Bad boy Sunwoo x reader, 15.6k | AO3 ❥ Soulmates AU, college AU, fluff, some humour ❥ Warnings: mentions of bruises, swearing, references to mature subjects, a... pretty suggestive scene towards the end

❥ Is he a bad boy because he's bad at everything...? You had simply rolled your eyes when he'd zoomed by on his skateboard, trying to show off. You'd found it hilarious when he ended up falling face first into a fruit stand. But it's not so funny anymore when the bruises start to show up on your body right after.

"Hey, Juyeon, do you think it could be this guy?" You nudge your friend, turning your laptop screen so he could see from where he sat on the floor beside your bed. "That guy right there—Sangyeon. Do you see that bruise on his upper arm?"

When you roll up your sleeve to show him, there's a similar splash of blue on your arm that gives you a pang of hope that you'd finally found the one. You almost prayed to the OTP gods to please let this Sangyeon guy be your soulmate because he was good looking and broad and—if he were actually your soulmate, one look at his handsome face might just erase all the hate you'd been harbouring all these years.

Hatred towards your soulmate.

"It does look similar," Juyeon says slowly before leaning towards the laptop screen until his face is almost touching it. "It looks like he also has one on his collar though; do you have that one as well?"

You heave a sigh. "No."

It's another day that yields no results on the soulmate front, which shouldn't be surprising at this point, but it's a growing frustration that the continuous stream of bruises on your body left no clue as to where your soulmate could be.

Boxing has never been an interest of yours but ever since the bruises started appearing, Juyeon had suggested that your soulmate might be a boxer. It had been a joke at first but seeing as the bruises never stopped as you waited year after year to find this soulmate, your last resort was to try and look for them anywhere you could. It led you to watch boxing matches quite regularly, but the boxers' bruising patterns never quite matched yours, and the timing of your bruises didn't quite match theirs.

Soulmate—the one person in the world that shared your bruises, whose body displayed all the blues and purples of your pain like watercolour on a canvas. The concept sounded beautiful, and sometimes you could indeed see the beauty in Juyeon and Hyunjae's shared glances as congruent spots bloomed across their skin simultaneously. You saw it in the way every mark told a story, how each one was a reminder that there is someone to share your pain and that they are never too far away.

But as nice as the idea of a soulmate sounded in theory, you didn't know how to feel about the fact that your soulmate was out there getting their body battered. Were they playing a sport that involved frequent injuries? Were they actually a boxer or maybe even a stunt actor? Were they super clumsy? Or were they just—you definitely did not want to imagine the other scenarios that could possibly lead to such frequent bruising, especially when certain locations of the bruises shared a little too much about this annoying soulmate's actions.

The point was, you didn't understand how someone who was constantly getting their body bruised like that would possibly be compatible with you, an innocent student just trying to graduate from college and get a job. Though at this rate you might as well become a professional makeup artist with the amount of makeup you were wearing on a daily basis just to cover all the bruises. All that just made you more determined to find this hell of a soulmate and maybe give them a punch of your own.

"Hang in there," Juyeon says gently, pulling you out of your thoughts. "You'll find them soon."

"What did I miss?" Hyunjae comes into you room with his face entirely blocked by the bags of snacks he was carrying in his arms. He settles in between you and Juyeon, perched comfortably on the edge of your bed as he starts munching on chips. "No progress again today?"

"I thought that it might be this Sangyeon guy." You point at the screen where the boxer is walking by after a match that he won. It really would've been a good day to have him as a soulmate. "But now I'm even angrier at my soulmate for not being him."

"Oh, he's hot," Hyunjae nods. "But why, did you fantasize about having him as your soulmate or something?"

"Shut up. Not all of us are lucky enough to have hot soulmates, you know."

"Yes, please don't remind us that you once liked my hot soulmate." Hyunjae puts an arm around Juyeon possessively and you have to resist the urge to smack him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"But wait. Is that a new bruise?" He manages to poke your cheek before you swat his hand away and give him a glare.

It's your right cheek today instead of the usual left, but the timing isn't unusual for the bruises to start showing up. You sigh again, grabbing your phone to check in the camera, and just as he pointed out, the hints of blue-green hues are starting to make their way across your skin.

"It's okay," he says nonchalantly, "look on the bright side, at least it's not at a weird location."

"Um." You did not want to discuss weird locations. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know. Like your neck or stomach. Or thighs." Hyunjae pauses for a second as a teasing expression slowly spreads across his face. "Though I guess if they were on your thighs you wouldn't exactly be telling us about them or showing us."

"Hyunjae!" Juyeon elbows him for you. At least one of the soulmate duo has some sense.

You don't say anything in response as you grab another chip, pretending as if your privacy—or was it your soulmate's?—hadn't just been violated by your supposed best friend. You did not want to be picturing your soulmate doing questionable things with other people.

"Wait... don't tell me you've actually gotten them there before. Y/N!"

You push him off the bed.

The morning flies by in a rush of insistent knocks on your door by the soulmate duo, running around your room to pack your bag for class, and then completely forgetting about putting on your safety net of a cake face to potentially cover up the evidence of your soulmate's injuries. Maybe that should've been your warning sign to skip class entirely today, but the soulmate duo reassures you that everything would be just fine. Hyunjae states that the chance of your soulmate getting beat up at this early morning hour was low, and on the other hand, Juyeon says you look perfectly gorgeous without makeup.

While you appreciate their efforts, you know they don't quite understand your reasoning for covering up the marks you get. You've seen the way they wear their bruises proudly, as a sign that their soulmate exists and as a statement of that bond just like a promise ring. That's naturally what happens when they've known each other since elementary school, where a fall on the playground resulted in a matching bruise on a classmate.

One day, if you ever find your soulmate, you wished to be able to boldly show off each and every mark too. But for now, you hated even the thought of possibly wearing your soulmate's ugly black eye like it's a fashion statement.

Campus is calm and quiet so early in the morning, a nice change from the bustle of crowds you usually see on the way to your afternoon classes. Clubs are just beginning to set up their tents for the club fair, including the pop-up farmer's market that comes to your school every month. In the distance, you could already see the bushels of various fresh fruits and vegetables set up on the stands, and there's a small bakery section at the very end filled with what looked like pastries and coffee shop drinks.

"Are we too late to even stop for coffee?" you groan, already imagining the suffering you'd be doing in lecture when the professor's monotone voice lulls you to sleep.

"Unfortunately." Juyeon gives a wry smile.

Hyunjae shakes his head at you. "You should've slept earlier."

"I had so much work to do for tutoring," you whine. "Anyways, coffee run after class please. Hyunjae, you owe me."

But just before you could hear his snarky retort, there's a roar of wheels against the sidewalk followed by a loud gust of wind.

Only a few inches away from you, so close that you could smell his cologne as he winks at you with a smirk on his face. A skateboarder, his dark hoodie and beanie blurring together as he zooms by. It nearly makes you fall despite how he didn't actually bump into you.

"What the—"

"You okay?" Juyeon grasps you just in time.

"Yeah, thanks." You quickly get back on your feet and subconsciously brush the shoulder that the skateboarder nearly touched. "But wow, how rude. You're not the only one who's late, asshole."

"Look at the way he's showing off now," Hyunjae snorts and when you follow his gaze, you could see the skateboarder continuing to weave his way through the students on the sidewalk, occasionally doing those jump tricks off the curb. The rumble of wheels on concrete fades as he gets farther away, but you don't miss the way he makes a few other students nearly fall as they scrambled to move out of his way.

"Must think he's so cool—" you start. And then stop. Because right then, karma literally manifests and catches up to said skateboarder faster than the blink of an eye. Maybe there was a rock on the sidewalk or some sort of ledge in between the cracks because the next thing you know, the guy is sent flying off the skateboard. It makes him tumble quite a distance, and what's absolutely hilarious is the way he lands. Right in the fruit stand that the farmer's market had set up.

Face first, straight into a bushel of apples.

"Ouch, that's got to hurt," Hyunjae says. It only takes one glance at him for the two of you to burst out laughing.

"Is he a bad boy because... he's bad at everything?" you say amidst the giggles.

"But did you see the look on his face?" Hyunjae holds onto your shoulder as he doubles over in laughter, only coming up when there are tears at the corners of his eyes. "Oh wait, only the apples could've seen that!"

The skateboarder slowly gets up as the people at the farmer's market gather to watch, their expressions equally divided between sympathy and amusement. You don't feel bad about laughing at all. Besides, this was totally karma for giving you and everyone else such a scare on the skateboard earlier. Especially that wink at you; who does he think he is?

Juyeon shakes his head. "Well, it's a terrible day to be his soulmate. Imagine waking up to that giant bruise on your face."

"It's probably a terrible day to be his soulmate every day," Hyunjae cackles again.

The fall of the skater boy causes the three of you to be late, though it was worth it. By the time you finally make it to class, the professor was already droning on about something on the next assignment, so you sneak in quietly and sit at the back while he's not looking.

"Maybe going to morning classes isn't such a bad idea when you can see stuff like this happen," Hyunjae whispers as he settles into his seat. The grin is still there, with teeth and all which was a rare occurrence.

"Are you suddenly awake now?" you whisper back.

He pulls out a notebook and writes the date, giving you a thumbs up enthusiastically. "Awake and ready to take on the day." It's not the correct date but you don't bother telling him.

When he turns to you again, he freezes. There's a look of confusion on his face that tells you he might've realized that the date he wrote was wrong or that he might've forgotten something important. But it soon turns into realization and then horror in under a second as he simply stares at you.

"What is it?"

Hyunjae's expression changes again and this time his lips curl into a mischievous smirk that could only mean he's up to no good.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. It's just that," he leans over to whisper in your ear, "you happen to be developing a nasty bruise right on your face."

Maybe you die a little inside.

Suddenly the idea of falling face first into a bushel of apples doesn't sound so funny anymore.

Hyunjae teases you about your supposed soulmate for the rest of the day. It's not surprising, really—he still teases you about your former crush on his soulmate after all, even though it's been years since freshman year of high school. And although you assure him that there's no way the skater boy is your soulmate, that it had to be a coincidence, you could still see the curl of his lip whenever he looks your way.

You're sure he would've dragged you over to wherever this rude skater boy was, determined to put an end to this mystery while getting a new reason to tease you. But he didn't have to. Because when you go back to the farmer's market tent after class for some fresh coffee and baked goods, the rude skater boy is there.

Only this time, he's not on a skateboard, nor is he falling into the fruit stands. This time, he's working there.

A blue vest covers his black hoodie with an obnoxious looking name tag that says "Sunwoo" when you get close enough to read it. There's a collection of colourful stickers on his cheek that conceal an area matching the one you'd smeared with emergency makeup on your own face, and his beanie is pulled low as if trying to cover as much of his face as possible.

A coincidence, you tell yourself. Besides, your actual soulmate had also given you bruises on the upper arm and lower shin yesterday, and you're sure this skater boy wouldn't have those.

"Y/N, where are you going?" Hyunjae singsongs like he's enjoying your misery. "Weren't we going to get coffee?"

"Um, let's go visit Younghoon instead?"

But he comes up to your group before you could effectively escape.

"Hey. Welcome to," the skater boy pauses, glancing back at the sign, "the farmer's market. Can I help you with anything?"

"Holy shit, he's actually working here," Hyunjae whispers to you so loudly that you're sure this Sunwoo guy could hear what he said. "How did that happen?"

The rude skateboarder scowls at the three of you, looking very disinterested. "They wanted someone hot to be the new face of their organization. Obviously."

"Couldn't have been a very nice face with that giant bruise on it," you whisper back to Hyunjae, just as loudly.

Although that's what you say, you can't help but notice that it was actually quite a nice face—plump lips, big eyes, and a sharp jawline that could cut someone. He was good-looking and he definitely knew it, perhaps a little too well because who brags about that to complete strangers? Why were all the good-looking ones like this?

"Ah, that's where I remember you guys from." The skater boy nods in Hyunjae's direction, "Definitely couldn't forget the pretty boy."

"Juyeon, are you hearing this?" You sigh, crossing your arms. "Can we g—"

"Oh, he's matched?" The Sunwoo guy raises a brow and then glances at Juyeon. Looks him up and down. "To quite the looker too, wow. Guess it's true what they say about hot people having hot soulmates."

"Bet your soulmate can't look too nice with all the bruises they get," you retort.

The skater boy sighs. "You really got to witness that moment, huh." He picks up a few of the fruits on the counter and sorts them in the baskets on the shelf. "Damn, really should've taken the motorcycle instead. But you see, I'm actually not that terrible at skateboarding. It only happened because I got so distracted by your beauty," he nods your way. "I guess you could say... I fell for you." And then there's the wink that you definitely saw coming—it's already his second wink at you and you've only been in his presence for a total of a minute.

"Are you kidding me? You nearly ran me over on your skateboard and you have the audacity to say stuff like this?"

You raise your hand jokingly as if to punch him, but then Juyeon's holding you back and shaking his head. "Hitting him won't do you any good, Y/N. Just in case he's... you know."

"Nah, we don't have to worry about that because there's no way he's my soulmate."

"Soulmate?" Sunwoo asks, eyes bouncing between you and the two others.

Hyunjae nudges you lightly, lips curling in amusement. "We're only stopping you from inflicting visible damage, but there are always other options. For example, bruises on legs are much easier to hide."

"Hmm, you're right. A kick should do it—"

Of course you weren't actually going to kick him. But even before you could finish your sentence, the rude skater boy is already turning his body away, dodging you while holding his hands out to protect himself.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I was just kidding," he pleads, running back behind the pop-up tent for protection. "But please don't; I just got a bruise there."

Juyeon tilts his head, brows furrowing. "Hey, Y/N. Maybe you're right that he's not your soulmate after all, since he has bruises that you don't have."

Yeah, thank goodness, you wanted to say. But you could only stare back at your friend in silence. Time seems to slow down.

Because when you lift your pantleg the slightest, it reveals the new bruise that you had noticed this morning. The same splash of aqua on your lower shin that has now deepened in colour and covers a little more area than before.

"Oh."

You feel like you're going to throw up.

In front of you, Sunwoo looks like he's about to faint.

Most people may not be lucky enough to have a nice meet-cute with their soulmate, but it felt like yours was more of a meet-ugly... literally.

No one talks about it this time, which you're very thankful for. But instead of the jokes and teasing that you expected to hear, there's a very obvious silence about anything to do with soulmates, as if Hyunjae and Juyeon were walking on eggshells when it came to the topic. It makes the whole situation feel too real when you were just trying to avoid thinking about it, and so, maybe the awkwardness wasn't better than their teasing after all.

Heading to the tutoring center after a study session with the soulmate duo has you walking by an area you don't normally pass by, and even from afar you could see just who hung out here. Their table stood out against the grassy fields and students scattered around, a monochromatic speck of dark hoodies and leather jackets amongst a sea of colour. You don't look too closely at the faces around the table, but it fit Sunwoo's image so well that it would've been a little surprising if he wasn't there.

And sure enough, he is there. You notice the girl sitting beside him first, so obviously flirting with the way she bends over as she laughs at something he says, her long hair falling over his shoulder. The way she clings to his arm and presses her whole body against him, and the way she hits him cutely. It's almost funny how she manages to get him right on the bruise on his arm, one that only you knew about. And only you could see the way he holds back a wince. But in the next moment, he looks up and suddenly his eyes are meeting yours.

Sunwoo blinks a couple of times before a knowing smirk appears on his lips. For a moment, he smiles back at the girl beside him; there's a twinkle in his eyes as if he's purposely turning up the charm, an abrupt change from the indifference that you'd seen just seconds earlier. She beams, nodding enthusiastically at everything he says. But to your surprise, she soon leaves their table looking the slightest bit disappointed.

And then he leaves the table to catch up to you.

"Hey, soulmate," he says. The smile on his face looks the same as when he smiled at her with the artificial sparkle in his eyes and all, and you want to hurl at how fake it is. Then there's how gross the word 'soulmate' sounds coming out of his mouth like it's just a joke to him, like he's rubbing this terrible situation in your face and laughing about it.

Typical fuckboy behaviour.

You speed up your steps a bit to shake him off. "Bye."

"Hey, wait up!"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" you ask, still refusing to look at him or slow down your steps. "Like, with one of your girlfriends?"

"Aw, are you jealous? Don't worry, I'd rather be hanging out with you, soulmate."

You don't react to that, letting the silence fill the air between the two of you as he matches your quick stride without missing a beat. It feels strange to be walking beside him, like there are more eyes trained on you today as they pass by, more turning of heads.

"So how've you been? I haven't seen you around in a while."

"I was doing well until now," you say dully.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" he teases.

"In your dreams."

"I do hope you'd visit me in my dreams tonight, soulmate."

"So are you just going to keep following me?" you finally turn to ask when you're halfway across campus and he's showing no signs of leaving.

Sunwoo shakes his head. "Nah, I'm going that way too."

"If you say so."

The conversation, if you could even call it that, continues the same way the whole time he's by your side and it reminds you why it was so difficult to talk to him in the first place. The brief curiosity you had after your last meeting with him quickly fade, replacing itself with the original anger and annoyance you had towards him instead.

He tells you about some party happening this weekend (you tell him to take one of his girlfriends), then he invites you to go for a spin on his motorcycle (you tell him you don't trust him, especially not after that skateboard fall), and finally he asks for your number (you say it's the number of the local animal shelter because they take strays, not you).

The most you give him is your name, so that he might stop calling you by the S-word that you've come to hate so much. Though now you're not so sure if the S-word is soulmate, Sunwoo, or skater boy.

And then you finally arrive at your destination.

"Waitwaitwait." Sunwoo's eyes widen with realization once your steps finally stop, nearly walking right into the door of the tutoring center. Unfortunately, he stops in time. He looks at the sign on the door and blinks multiple times. "This is where you're going?"

It takes all your effort to hold back your laugh. "Yeah. Didn't you say you were going this way too?"

"Um. Right, yeah. Let's go."

To your surprise, he actually enters the room first.

"Hey," Jacob—the head tutor and administrator—greets as the two of you enter. He turns to Sunwoo, "Are you here to get tutored?"

"Um, I guess?"

"Alright." Jacob goes to grab the clipboard with the list of the tutors. "I'll see who's available today."

Sunwoo's eyes widen a considerable amount. "Wait, can't I be paired with Y/N?"

"Y/N is already paired with—"

"Hey, Y/N." As if on cue, Younghoon shows up. He takes a seat in his usual spot as if Sunwoo hadn't been standing right there, then sets a coffee cup on your desk. "I made you your favourite today."

"Aw, thanks Younghoon." You pop the lid off to take a look, and just as you expected, the usual heart design is floating at the top. "Wow, as pretty as always."

Sunwoo scoffs. "Younghoon? Why the fuck are you here?"

"Well look who it is." Younghoon glances at him up and down. Smiles a bit. "I told you about this long ago, but you just said it was for losers."

"When did I say that?" Sunwoo mutters under his breath, the frown on his face growing. "But how do you even know Y/N?"

"We were paired for a project in bio last term," you answer, finally sitting down beside Younghoon.

"Oh, was it the project?" There's a teasing smile on Younghoon's lips when he looks at you. "Didn't we meet at the coffee shop when you spilled your drink all over me?"

"I—wait that was you?" you ask, the embarrassment threatening to show on your cheeks at any moment. While you do recall having spilled a drink on a cute barista the first time at that new cafe on campus, you never made the connection that that cute barista had been him. "And you still remember that?"

Younghoon chuckles. "How could I forget? It's not every day when a customer spills a drink on the barista."

"Ugh, don't remind me; that was so embarrassing."

Sunwoo visibly stiffens. The frown on his face deepens with every second that goes by, turning into a permanent scowl as you continue to chat away with Younghoon while ignoring him. It makes for such an unbearably funny sight that you have to bite down on your lip several times to stop from bursting into laughs, and Younghoon wasn't doing much better.

"Yeah... so anyway, I'll be your tutor today," Jacob says brightly, pulling Sunwoo away from where he'd planted himself at your desk. Part of you felt guilty because Jacob probably has no idea what he was getting himself into, but one look at the betrayed expression on Sunwoo's face says it's all worth it.

The session goes well but the highlight was definitely seeing the skater boy's fuming expression every time you look at him.

"You should've called me!" Hyunjae pouts, waving around his phone in your face. "I would've walked right out of that group meeting and run across campus just to see the look on his face."

"You can come with me today," you joke. "Maybe he'll show up."

Getting the soulmate duo caught up on the latest skater boy story had Hyunjae laughing so hard within your first few sentences that the three of you get kicked out of the library—not that it was the first time something like that has happened. So you'd relocated to the courtyard and then told them about the way Sunwoo fumed at Younghoon and then scowled at you for a whole hour after getting ambushed by that tutoring session.

Talking about him makes you realize that maybe you didn't hate him. He'd become somewhat akin to the popular boys back in high school; someone who always annoyed the girls and never did their work. Someone you'd never fall for, of course, but someone who made life a little more interesting. Besides, he was just playing around, and you never saw him as a soulmate anyway.

Juyeon wiggles his eyebrows. "Was he jealous of Younghoon or something?"

"Nah, he's just mad he didn't get a chance to make me fall for him like everyone else does," you mutter. "He's just playing."

"Wait, look here." Hyunjae suddenly reaches over to gently cups your chin, turning your face towards him and then proceeds to observe closely at various angles. "Y/N... I think your boy has gotten himself into another altercation."

It's nothing new, but there's still a sinking feeling in your heart. You had been beginning to think that maybe you had some kind of positive influence on Sunwoo since no significant bruises had appeared after meeting him. That maybe simply knowing who and where his soulmate is would make him back off from the reckless behaviour a bit, for your sake.

But as the beginnings of purples appear on your face and knuckles with no signs of stopping, it seemed like all that had just been wishful thinking. Why did you have so much faith in him in the first place? Why did you think that meeting your soulmate would be so impactful on both of your lives?

In the end, he's still the same person that he's always been. Maybe you'd just have to consider it as his payback for being roped into a tutoring session.

You heave a sigh. "Okay, I guess I'll get going now since I need to look presentable and all. Jacob would freak out if I showed up like this."

"If skater boy goes today, try not to kill him, okay?" Juyeon gives you a sad smile and ruffles your hair.

"I see no reason not to," you groan. Then point at your own face, "How can people like him when he goes around looking like this?"

"Hey Y/N, we're only trying to save your own image here." Hyunjae glances at you up and down, pressing his lips together as he shakes his head. "Bruises or not, I don't think you can afford to be any uglier."

"And this is why I hate you." Getting up, you quickly sling your bag over your shoulder. Juyeon gets a soft pat on the head while you make sure to give Hyunjae the hardest flick you can muster. "Bye loser."

"Shut up; you love me."

What surprises you first when you get to the tutoring center is the worried look on Jacob's face. His eyes flicker to you the moment you step into the room, and then every few seconds as he organizes the files on his desk.

"What?" you finally ask. "Is there something on my face?"

An ironic question because yes, there are bruises are your face today. Though you made sure they were covered nicely with the emergency makeup you always carry with you.

"No." He hesitates only for a moment before walking over to you. "Y/N, that guy from last time..."

"Sunwoo?"

"Yeah him," Jacob nods slowly. "Um, if he's bothering you or anything like that. Just let me know? We can get him kicked out or banned from here."

You nearly choke on your own spit. "Is that what it looked like?"

"Well, he spent the entire session looking like he wanted to murder you—or maybe it was directed at Younghoon; I'm not sure—so um, yeah."

"Nah, Jake. He's—" my soulmate, you were about to say. But something about acknowledging it makes your stomach twist. "He's just someone I know. Who probably needs better grades." You shoot him a quick smile. "Thank you for worrying about me though."

You half expected Sunwoo to not show up since he got baited into the last session after all, but for some reason, you find yourself constantly glancing over at the door. And for some reason, he does show up.

There's a relaxed smirk on his face this time—a complete change from the startled then bitter looks of the last time. Though not much of his face is visible underneath a baseball cap and the hood of yet another black hoodie over it.

And then you realize why.

There are splotches of colour around his eye and trailing down his cheek until his jaw; the same ones that you worked so hard to cover up just minutes earlier. There are a few small bandages around his fingers, and his knuckles are red with fresh wounds.

"Hey soulmate." Sunwoo casually sets his bag down on your desk and grabs a nearby chair, setting it down right beside yours. "How've you been? Where's my hug?"

"Not in this nation," you say dryly. You open your notes slowly, refusing to look at him despite the way he peers at you.

"Oh? Then which?"

"Your imagination."

Sunwoo laughs loudly as if you'd just said the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "You're funny, soulmate. If you keep this up, I'll be falling for you in no time."

"No thanks."

"Y/N, is Younghoon coming today?" Jacob holds up the clipboard, checking off the list of students in the room.

"Um, I'm not sure—"

"He's not coming," Sunwoo answers for you. Then adds quietly, "You're stuck with me, soulmate."

You ignore the last part. "Did Younghoon tell you that?" Their interaction had been quite strange last time but you're sure they knew each other somehow. The way they talked made them sound like friends, though rivals could also be a fitting description.

An easy shrug. "He didn't have to."

"What does that mean?"

"Younghoon won't be coming anymore."

"Did you say something to Younghoon to make him stop coming here?"

The corner of his lip twitches the slightest.

"What, did you threaten him or something?"

"What makes you think I had something to do with him not showing up?" Sunwoo says innocently. He leans back in his seat and there's a faint smirk on his face that makes him look satisfied, contradicting his words. "The last I checked, he seemed to have gotten good enough grades to not need to study with you anymore."

There's something about the lack of a text from Younghoon paired with Sunwoo's relaxed demeanour that doesn't sit right with you. As much as you wanted to believe him, the fresh bruises on his face and hands told of a more complicated story.

You sigh, finally turning to the rude skater boy. "Alright, fine. Why are you here?"

"To see you, soulmate," he drawls lazily. You really hope that Jacob doesn't hear any of this conversation because you would be quite mortified.

"So do you think your grades don't need the help?"

Sunwoo smiles a little. "Okay, I know I'm hot and all but that doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"You think you're hot with all those bruises?" Standing up so suddenly earns you a concerned glance from Jacob. "You know what? Come with me." You take Sunwoo's hand and pull him out of the classroom with you, not once looking back at him.

It's empty in the stairwell when you finally stop and turn to him. Dropping his hand immediately.

"You're cute when you're angry, you know?"

"Just stop."

"I'm only telling the truth," he shrugs.

"Then tell me, how did you get all these?" Your fingers ghost over the patches of deep blues on his face and he flinches. Looks away. "Did you... get into another fight? Perhaps with Younghoon?"

His gaze snaps to your face.

"Why?"

Sunwoo groans, leaning back against the wall behind him. "That fucker is totally into you."

"So?"

"You're my soulmate," he says bluntly, frowning back at you.

"So? What, are you jealous or something?"

"What if I am? What then?"

"I don't buy that," you scoff, crossing your arms. "You've clearly never cared about me at all."

His eyes flash. "What do you mean?"

"Have you even once thought that your actions might affect your soulmate as well? I've always had to wear layers of clothing and makeup to cover up these hideous patches just to look like a normal person. Seriously, how can you think that a fight would solve anything?"

Sunwoo is silent now, gaze back to the ground where he kicks around some dust.

You sigh, turning to leave. "But if you do care, then maybe try getting your life together first. You aren't going to be anyone's soulmate at the rate of which you've been getting those bruises all your life."

More than a week has passed since that incident with Sunwoo, and you hadn't seen him around at all—not in person nor in the form of bruises. It was as if the words you'd spoken to him had completely vanished him from your life, just as you had wanted. But even though he'd been out of sight, he hasn't been off your mind for a moment because of your growing sense of guilt. You'd spent so much time building up these angry feelings towards your soulmate that it became hard to see from other perspectives, and maybe things were not as straightforward as you thought. Maybe he didn't deserve the harsh words you'd thrown at him, and he didn't deserve to have such negative energy coming from someone who barely even knows him.

Because before being soulmates, you guys were merely strangers.

You spot him the moment he walks in the lecture hall. Face half covered by his hood and bag casually slung over one shoulder, he walks in nonchalantly a minute before the lecture is supposed to start. It isn't until he's at the front of the lecture hall that the chatter in the room dies down, getting noticeably quieter. The way his eyes scan the crowd slowly makes you shrink into your seat a little, and you keep your head low just in case. But it's no use.

The hush in the room turns into whispers echoing off the walls when he slowly walks up the steps, but he doesn't seem to pay them any attention when his gaze is fixed on you. A casual stare, without intensity. Somehow, it still makes your stomach twist.

And just as you'd been dreading but expecting, he stops right in front of you and sits in the seat beside you.

"What are you doing?" you hiss at him in a low a voice as you could muster.

He gives you a confused frown. "I'm coming to class?"

In the background, your name was already being thrown around amidst the whispers just like that day he walked beside you across campus. You could only imagine what the rumours about you would look like—would you be known as Sunwoo's new fling? Someone that others would be jealous of? A new tally on his body count?

You sigh and rephrase the question. "Why are you sitting here?"

"It was an empty seat."

"Are you even enrolled in this class? I've never seen you here before."

He raises an eyebrow. "Oh, so were you looking for me?"

You roll your eyes, ignoring the urge to facepalm. The feelings of guilt you'd had earlier completely disappear with his reminder of why you'd snapped at him in the first place. What was the point of talking to him when every response was either a joke or straight up flirty? "Yeah, you wish you were that important."

"I figured it'd be easier for you to see me here instead of looking for me at the tutoring center."

"I—hey! I was not looking for you."

Sunwoo doesn't reply but a small smile appears on his face, the first genuine smile that you've seen from him in the couple of weeks since you've known about his existence. There's none of the fake charm and rough persona that he tried to project before; all of a sudden the harsh lines and black and whites of his image blur and soften, melting into an image of a soulmate that almost makes you forget to breathe for a second.

Maybe he was too distracting for his next words are so soft that they have you second guessing if you heard correctly.

"Y/N, I'm just kidding. I've actually decided to stop skipping class from now on. I'm going to get my shit together and do better."

"What?"

There's a playful twinkle in his eye. "I'm going to be so perfect after this that you will have no choice but to fall for me."

Soon class starts and Sunwoo doesn't say anything to you for the rest of the lecture, diligently taking notes in his messy scrawl across pages. Sometimes you can feel his eyes on you, glancing over briefly from beneath the edge of his hood and turning away just before you could ever catch him staring.

You're not sure if he would've said something to you after lecture ends, but you don't give him the chance to as you quickly leave to meet your friends at the library.

Though when you get to the library, Hyunjae and Juyeon are among those people who turn and gawk at you as you enter.

"Are the rumors true? Did he actually show up to class and even sit beside you?" Hyunjae whispers with the excitement in his voice and eyes filling to the brim. "Did he say anything?"

Oh. So that's what it was about.

Juyeon's eyes gleam with just as much anticipation, leaning forward to hear everything you'd say. "Is he even in your major? I've never heard you mention him before."

You sigh. "Yeah."

"To all of the above?" Hyunjae's jaw drops. "Details, Y/N. Give us the details."

Turns out it was Eric, a loud guy in your class, who told his friend Changmin, who then told Hyunjae about it. With pictures too! Not that they were good quality photos, but even from the pixelated images you could tell that sitting beside Sunwoo slouching in his hoodie with the hood up makes you look much uglier in comparison. Great, not only is he making you look hideous with the bruises, but now he's also making you look ugly just by being beside you.

At this rate, Eric and Changmin have probably told everyone about today's events, but it didn't really matter to you since sooner or later they'll all find out about you guys being matched anyway.

"So." Hyunjae furrows his brows, a puzzled look ghosting across his face after hearing about all the events that had happened between you and the rude skater boy. Which wasn't much, really, despite how the shifting of his face through all these different micro-expressions may have suggested. "He's really trying for this, huh?"

"What do you mean?" you counter. "That's exactly what fuckboys do. Duh?"

But your sarcastic remark is not met with one of Hyunjae's usual joking responses. In fact, he doesn't say anything at all and there's a brief pause as the soulmate duo exchange a look, making you very aware that you're the third wheel. For once, you can't tell what they're thinking. What was the big deal about the story you told? Surely, they couldn't be thinking that the skater boy was genuinely interested in you, because that's simply ridiculous.

Hyunjae waves dismissively and then his usual, easy smile is back on his lips. "You're right. Never mind. So," he leans in super close until you could count the number of eyelashes he has—which are very long and make you all the more envious—and then peers into your eyes, "are his tactics working?"

"Are you kidding me?" You push his face away and finally open the textbook sitting on the table. The one that you were supposed to be studying from this past hour. "I refuse to be swayed by a fuckboy. Even if he is my soulmate."

"Sometimes even fuckboys catch feelings," Juyeon says, shrugging before turning to his notes.

If you'd thought Sunwoo's tactics would've just ended with him actually attending class and sitting beside you in it, you were entirely wrong. Somehow your days quickly become filled with his teasing 'hey soulmate' at every turn from where he waits outside your dorm to walk to you to class, to when he monopolizes your time at the tutoring center. It's a mystery how he even figured out which dorm you lived in—Juyeon had shrugged innocently while Hyunjae had simply laughed and said that Sunwoo follows you around like how you followed Juyeon around all those years ago.

You're definitely glad the soulmate duo stay away whenever he's around though; picturing Hyunjae pretending to vomit was all too easy when he wrinkles his nose and pulls Juyeon away every time he spots you with Sunwoo.

"I got you your favourite today," Sunwoo announces as soon as he walks into the tutoring center. There's an air of confidence today despite the way he looks the same as usual in his black hoodie with the hood up. His loud footsteps make Jacob look up alarmingly, though you suspected that the head tutor has gotten used to your annoying student by now. "Just for you, soulmate."

Then he sets down the coffee cup on your desk. A familiar gesture, though just not from him.

"What?" Sunwoo says when notices how you're just staring at the cup in front of you. "It's your favourite latte or whatever." And when you still don't answer, he continues, "You're looking at it as if I poisoned it or something."

You look up. "Did you?"

"Oh please. The worst I could've done is spit in it."

You could only stare at him.

"Hey, spit isn't even that bad—it would just be the same as kissing me, you know." He settles down in his seat beside you and leans back, crossing his arms. "Which you'll be doing eventually anyways."

"How are you so sure about that?" you ask dryly.

"Because you're going to fall for me," he says with certainty, a pleased look on his face. "Very soon."

When you turn your attention back to the cup, the first thing you do is pop off the lid. A habit now, from when you used to check what Younghoon had drawn each time he brought you a drink he made. Though the unexpected leaf floating at the top today makes you realize that he'd mostly been drawing hearts for the past while.

Sunwoo snorts at the frown on your face. "Well obviously I'm not going to let him send you hearts in your drinks anymore. You'd think that with all the hearts you've gotten, you might've noticed his big fat crush on you by now."

"I thought he drew those in everyone's drinks," you mutter, quickly putting the lid back on the cup and filing that information away for another time. "But is that why you decided to get me this?"

"Hey, can't a guy do something nice for you?" He switches to perching on the desk beside you, swinging his legs back and forth. "But I mean. This way you won't need to see him ever again."

You shoot him a glare and he just cackles.

Similar small gestures continue throughout the term. It's as if he took an entire crash course on how to be a gentleman, or the closest he'd ever come to being one anyways. But while his actions say one thing, his lips say another as he constantly throws around the 'have you fallen for me yet,' even upgrading the 'where's my hug?' to 'where's my kiss?'

And the worst part is, you find yourself letting him do all this. You let him take your hand, let him swing your arms as you walk across campus like a typical campus couple. You let him pull you in for the briefest of hugs in front of your residence building before parting ways. You let him send you the good morning and good night texts, even if you don't reply most of the time.

You let him because you knew there should be no risk of falling for him.

"Are you cold?" Sunwoo asks when walks you back to your dorm after class one night.

It's already dark outside and for once you're grateful to have a walking buddy even if he wasn't your first or second choice. Though your first and second options have been ditching you more frequently—even the study sessions in the library with them became few and sparse when Sunwoo happened to be in your major while they were not.

"Nope," you respond, more out of habit than anything. It's a lie; the cool breeze seems to blow right through your clothes with every step, and for once you can't make fun of Sunwoo's fashion since that beanie would at least be keeping him warm.

He laughs. You shoot him a glare.

But in the next moment, he's taking your ice-cold hand between his warm ones. Warming your hand with his breath a little before he laces your fingers with his, and then placing them both in his pocket.

"If you wanted me to hold your hand, you could've just said so," he breaks into a grin, the usual teasing sparkle in his eyes as he gives your hand a squeeze, "soulmate."

"Hey—I did not!"

It might be because your view is obstructed by the wind induced tears, but for a second there seems to be something in his eyes that's a little softer than usual; a slip of brightness between the cracks of the walls he's always had up. If it were from anyone else, you might've said it was a look of fondness.

"Anyway," you quickly change the subject a few moments later, glad to have already arrived at steps of your residence building. "This is me."

Sunwoo nods and pulls your hands out of his pocket but doesn't let go. He shifts slightly so that he's on the step below the one you're standing on, spinning you around so that you're face to face.

It's then when you notice that he's quite tall. Maybe you never realized since you've always been hanging out with the soulmate duo, but now that he's in front of you, the step puts you that much closer to his face. Close enough for you to see his round eyes, his plump lips, and his beautiful sun-kissed skin, no longer hidden under the prominent colours of bruises and swelling.

It's supposed to be annoying—wasn't this was practically the same as Hyunjae always being up in your face, trying to annoy you? You're supposed to push him away, roll your eyes, laugh it off.

But for some reason, you can't. His gaze seems to pin you to the spot, making you unable to do anything except stare at the way his fluffy hair lands near his eyes. It makes you forget everything except for the way he swallows, the way he wets his lips before pressing them together. None of this makes it feel like he's the popular boy at school annoying you anymore.

"You're beautiful," Sunwoo says quietly, breaking the silence. "Can I... have a kiss?"

It's something he always says but this time, it doesn't come out sounding like a joke.

The kiss—it was really meant for his cheek. Something compels you to close the mere centimeters between you, an act that is done all too easily when his face is right there. But as your eyelids flutter shut just as the warmth of his skin was all but against your lips, he moves. Shifts ever so slightly so that the heat of his cheek is actually the heat of his lips. On yours.

You quickly jump back, not giving yourself a chance to find out if they're as supple as they look.

"H-hey!" is all you manage to get out.

The playful smile is back when he gives your hand a squeeze before finally letting go. "Just a little teaser of what we could be doing."

Without another word, he gives you a bit of a wave and leaps down the stairs. Leaving you standing there, wondering if your shivers are because of the wind and if the slight flush on his cheeks was from the cold.

Sk8ter boi: u up?

You: if this is some kind of booty call then no

You: call one of ur other girls lol

Sk8ter boi: you're the only one for me

Sk8ter boi: soulmateeee <3

Sk8ter boi: come out for a while?

You leave him on read, even putting your phone away and turning off the light. Closing your eyes. But it soon becomes apparent that there's no hope for sleep to come with there's a small nagging in your stomach. It compels you to throw on a jacket and get out of your dorm, the same kind feeling that compelled you to actually kiss him the other day on these very steps.

Though you don't count it as a kiss. It was definitely more like a brush of lips—hardly even touching for longer than a millisecond. Besides, he'd totally tricked you.

He's waiting on the steps in his usual getup, kicking around a rock aimlessly, and it takes you a second to recognize his backside without the hood on.

"Sunwoo, it's so late. What are you doing here?"

He meets your eyes with an easy smile. "Just wanted to see you."

"At this hour?"

"Every hour is missing Y/N hours," he teases, and you come very close to pretending to barf. "How are you? Are you cold?"

"I am not falling for that again." You glance him up and down warily.

"I wanted to show you something." Sunwoo shrugs, taking a few steps down and then beckoning you over. You don't even reach the bottom of the stairs before you realize your hand is back in his.

The 'something' that the skater boy wanted to show you turns out to be an old building on campus, one you've never had class in but one that you've walked through many times during your time here.

"Um, what's so special about this?"

Sunwoo's smile seems to grow at your question, and he simply points up instead of answering. Following his finger leads you to a ladder at the side of the building, going up to the roof. He gently tugs you, and soon enough the two of you are standing at the base of the ladder.

"The roof? You want to go up there?"

He probably catches your wide-eyed stare. "Aw, is Y/N a bit of a scaredy cat?"

"No!"

"Then go ahead," he says, gesturing towards the ladder.

"I just don't know why this is what you called me out for." You give him a glare and finally put a hand on the cool metal. "But if I fall and die, I hope the marks make you so ugly that no one else will like you ever again."

Sunwoo barks a laugh at that. "Don't worry. I'll catch you if you fall." He pauses briefly then adds in a quieter voice, "And I don't need anyone else to like me."

The climb up isn't too bad since the building isn't particularly high, and you don't get a chance to look down. Though your hands still grip each rung of the ladder as tightly as possible.

You had expected a nice view once you reached the top just based on how Sunwoo wanted to come here, but it really wasn't impressive. All you could see were the fields and trees on campus, though there's a gentle breeze in the air that makes it seem a little more thrilling.

"Come sit." He settles down on sort of platform, gazing at you with a sparkle in his eyes.

You can hear the quiet hum of electricity so surely this roof was supposed to be for building maintenance or something? And surely, being here is already breaking some sort of rule on campus? But tonight, maybe you decide to trust him.

"It's not so bad up here, right?" The wind ruffles his hair, and you suddenly realize that you've barely ever seen him without some sort of hat or hood on. He's never shown the world more than just a sliver of his face and you don't understand why because his hair is beautiful. His curls look so soft under the moonlight, and it makes you wonder how they would feel between your fingers. If they're as soft as they look.

"How did you even find out about this place?"

"There was a ladder, so I climbed it," he laughs. "Then I started coming up here whenever I needed to think. It's quite peaceful."

"Can't say there's much of a view though."

Sunwoo gasps dramatically, looking at you with wide eyes. "What? No, the view is amazing. Come here, I'll show you." He waves you over and then leans back until he's lying down, staring up at the sky.

You follow suit and make sure to leave a small distance between the two of you. But instead of your head meeting the rough surface of the platform like you expected, it lands on the softness that's Sunwoo's arm instead. He moves, pulling you in until you're settled in the crook of his shoulder.

"Look, it's the big dipper." With his free hand, he points to the sky just towards your left. "And there's Aries," he points to a patch of sky just above you, "and there's Capricorn."

Looking at the sky where he points reveals nothing except for the dots of light from airplanes in the distance and wisps of cloud. The moon seemed to be the only celestial body in the sky that you could see.

"Um. I'm not sure if you need your eyes checked, but there's actually nothing there," you say, giving up on the lack of a view and turning to him instead.

"Wow, couldn't you have just agreed?" He whines, lips forming a pout. "This is fake star gazing; I point at something that's not there, and you say you see it too. And then we marvel at its beauty."

"Why would you marvel at something that you can't see?"

"Hmm. Maybe you're right." Sunwoo suddenly turns to face you. "Why look at the sky when I could be staring at you?"

"Okay, stop."

"You want to play a game?"

"Yeah? And where is this going?" You definitely did not trust him with this.

"Let's do twenty questions. We'll take turns asking and if you can't answer something, then hmm," he pauses. Hums as he thinks. "Then you owe me a kiss."

"Sure. That's easy."

His eyes widen, "You want to kiss me that bad?"

"No! I meant the questions," you say dully. "And what if you can't answer something?"

"Then I'll give you a kiss, of course," he singsongs. "Hmm, have you ever had liked anyone? Other than me, obviously."

"Who says I like you? But yes, I have," you say bluntly, sputtering with disbelief at why he would start with this. "Why, have you not?"

"Well, yeah. But nothing too serious because I knew it wouldn't work out. Everyone's only interested in finding their soulmates in this world." The last part comes out sounding bitter.

"Yeah, I get it. I had a crush on Juyeon when I first met him, but it was—quite obvious that that wasn't going to work out."

"Juyeon? The pretty boy's soulmate?" he asks with sudden interest.

"Um. Please don't go beat him up?"

Sunwoo simply cackles at your words.

"Seriously, please don't. Hyunjae would kill you, you know."

"You don't think I could take on both of them?"

"Sunwoo!"

"I'm just joking with you," he laughs. "Don't worry. I'm not going to get into any more fights, Y/N. You are going to live bruise-free for the rest of your life."

"I didn't mean—"

"Well, unless you want me to mark you up sometime."

"S-Sunwoo!"

"Alright, next question. Have you ever looked for me?"

"Yeah," you admit. "It was not a fun time."

His eyes are unreadable for the most part when you tell him about the boxing matches, the interest in stunt acting. The days the patches of colour on your skin acted like little puzzle pieces, hints to where your soulmate could be.

It's only after you tell him that you start to think maybe you shouldn't have. Maybe he thinks the whole soulmates thing is stupid. Maybe he thinks you're stupid for believing in it.

"You thought I could've been a boxer?" he chuckles. "That's cute."

You roll your eyes at him. "Well, who thought you'd be some kid getting into fights all the time for no reason."

"So were you disappointed when you met me?"

You open your mouth with a sarcastic reply ready at the tip of your tongue but for some reason it doesn't seem appropriate to say anymore. His voice was still light and casual, but there's a dreading feeling in your heart with the fear that the conversation is really going to go down the slippery slope that you both have been dancing around. One that you both may never come back from.

"Don't worry," he says when the silence stretches a little too long, "you can tell me the truth, you know."

"I guess you already know the answer to that based on what I said to you that time in the stairwell." You focus on the curve of his lips instead of meeting his gaze. "I was disappointed that you turned out to be a popular fuckboy on the verge of failing out of school."

"Hey—give me some credit. I haven't hooked up with anyone since meeting you," he says hotly. "And I'm not on the verge of failing out of school. The popular part is correct though."

"Wow, congrats. You get a gold star for that." The sarcasm drips out of your voice, but he doesn't show any signs of acknowledging it as he laughs. "But Sunwoo, I'm not disappointed. I was surprised and in denial at first, and let's be real, the first few times we met went quite terribly. I don't know, I guess I was too harsh to judge you like that right away."

This time it's his turn to stay silent.

"Wait, that wasn't even supposed to be my turn!" You give him a push.

"Oh, oops." There's a bit of a smile on his face but his wall of indifference was still up. "Okay, you can ask me anything."

You take a deep breath. "Do you even believe in soulmates?"

"Oh," he says slowly, frowning. "No one's ever asked me this before. But to be honest, not really. Or at least I didn't before." Sunwoo pauses and you think that's it for his answer, but to your surprise, he continues. "I guess it's because my parents aren't soulmates, so I thought it was whatever at first, that it didn't matter. But when things started getting bad between them, I kind of just gave up on the idea of love completely."

"Oh."

It wasn't unheard of to spend a lifetime without meeting your soulmate, and marriage between non-soulmate pairs wasn't exactly rare either. It just wasn't something that you'd really thought about, seeing as the people in your life had all found their perfect matches.

He tells you about the happiness of his childhood, the way the concept of soulmates wasn't even introduced to him until he started school. How his parents got strange looks when people noticed their marks didn't match, how he became determined to forget about the whole soulmates thing. He tells you about lashing out at the world, watching love fall apart and then grow together in different ways, hating how the world made the whole soulmates thing seem inevitable. Hating the fact that he had one, and then refusing to believe he did.

"I still think that this whole soulmate thing is bullshit though, in general. People should be allowed to love whoever they want to, and besides, love can bloom anywhere. It shouldn't be just limited to soulmates," he states, brows furrowing. "But the bruises sure are annoying as fuck; I'm sorry I never realized that you'd be suffering through the consequences of my actions."

There's a stillness that lingers in the air as you quickly turn to blink away the tears that were threatening to spill out. This reveal of a more vulnerable side of him has you stunned, not knowing what to say or how to react when he's never let you see this side of him before. It makes the seed of guilt grow: the guilt that you blindly judged him and hated him for a lifetime, that you probably still would if you hadn't had the chance to meet him and get to know him like this.

But now that the first step has been taken down this path, there was no going back. There was something that you had to ask.

You turn back to him. "Does finding your soulmate change anything?"

He seems to hold his breath as he thinks. Face impassive. "I don't know, Y/N. Does it? Do you want it to?"

Thoughts fly at a thousand miles per hour through your mind, each possible answer threatening to throw you off the edge of the cliff you were cautiously teetering on. You'd known that this was going to be a conversation that your undefined relationship would never recover from, but you were not ready for it to hit you like this.

So you grab him and then your lips are meeting his.

He makes a sputtering sound from the back of his throat, definitely not expecting your bold move. But he quickly goes to kiss you back a moment later. You pull away.

"Have you fallen for me yet?" Sunwoo whispers after catching his breath. The casual line he keeps throwing around no longer seems so casual now. As he searches your eyes for an answer, you could see how full blown his pupils are and how dark his gaze has become as it gradually trails down to your lips. Dark with a sparkle from the reflection of the moon, just like the starless sky.

"And what if I have?" you repeat his words from the time in the stairwell. It no longer sounds like a taunt. "What then?"

He doesn't answer but then his mouth slowly curves into a smile.

And then he's kissing you.

His mouth is hot and his lips are everything you imagined with how soft and supple they are, fitting so well against yours. He pulls you closer until there's no space between you, until you can feel his breath hitch, until you find out that his hair really is as soft as it looked. Beneath the smell of his cologne is a faint sweetness that's so distinctly him that it's like you're breathing in Sunwoo Sunwoo Sunwoo. And—you didn't know that it could feel like this. You didn't know that kissing someone could be so overwhelming that it makes the world spin and makes your heart feel like it would jump out of your chest. You didn't know his every touch would feel like electricity running through your veins, that the muffled moans he makes would be so addicting.

It was exhilarating. It was scary. Maybe this is what it's like to be with a soulmate. Maybe this is what it's like to be in love.

In love.

Wait—

You break the kiss and pull away from him. Gasping to catch your breath as everything rushes to you all at once.

Sunwoo gives you a bit of a questioning look before the wall of indifference is sliding back into place. There's a gentle smile, not the kind he showed the world but not the ones he'd secretly shown you either. It doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"We should probably get going," he murmurs, sitting up and reaching for your hand. "It's late and you have morning class."

It's only when you're back in your dorm that you realize neither of you answered each other's last questions.

Sunwoo doesn't text you.

He doesn't read your texts either, for that matter; the couple of short messages you sent remain unread and unopened for the next few days. For once, your phone is awfully silent, and it makes you wonder if this is what it felt like to be ghosted by him. If this is what it felt like to be anyone other than his soulmate.

It's like he disappeared from your life as quickly as he'd entered it.

Maybe he finally decided that he's had enough, that he's lost interest in you. And maybe it was a good thing because you didn't know how things could possibly proceed after last night. How could you possibly pretend like there was nothing between you after everything that's happened? How could you possibly endure seeing his flirty facade when you now know he's so much more than that?

There's only silence in replace of the comforting presence to walk to you class, and an empty seat next to you in your shared lecture. The stares and whispers are back this time, and even Eric sends you a questioning glance to which you respond with a shrug.

Jacob gives you worried looks throughout your time at the tutoring center when Sunwoo doesn't show up, though he never outright asks. Which you're grateful for, because you're not quite sure how it would feel to acknowledge the problem that's been eating away at you.

Because when you think about it, you hadn't even realized just how much of your life Sunwoo had taken up—all of your waking moments had consisted of him trying to worm his way into your heart. How he was constantly being up in your face, throwing around cheesy lines and the ever so casual 'soulmate'. There were the small gestures like getting you coffee, walking you up to your door, heck, even the fake stargazing. Holding your hand, warming it up. Lips fitting so well against yours. The genuine smiles he'd shown you, different from the fake ones he'd plaster on for the rest of the world. And then there was the seemingly daily check-in of have you fallen for me yet?

And—oh.

You'd fallen for him.

He did it. He won. He got you to fall for him just as he wanted, just like he'd joked about every day.

And your heart sinks at the realization.

"Okay, spill." Juyeon sits you down at cafeteria after class with a platter of fries in front of you. Comfort food, he'd said, shooing away Hyunjae's hand when he tried to steal one. "What's been bothering you?"

You heave a sigh and then begin with the last time you saw Sunwoo on the rooftop. A night that had started with breaking the rules and mediocre views, ending with deep talks and kissing. You had to admit that it'd been romantic at some point, but had it been a date? Had anything between you two been... anything?

"So you guys kissed?" Hyunjae's eyes fill to the brim with excitement as he leans towards you. "Like, with tongue and all?"

"Okay, ew. Just because you're comfortable sharing things about your sex life does not mean I am." You push his face away just as Juyeon turns into a mess of coughs.

"Sex life?" Hyunjae repeats, entirely ignoring the way his soulmate is now sporting a furious blush. "Who said anything about sex life? Are you saying you had s—"

"Shut up," you quickly cover his mouth for your own sake. And Sunwoo's. And Juyeon's. "That is so not the point of this conversation."

Juyeon clears his throat. "So he hasn't contacted you at all since that night?"

"He has not," you sigh, reluctantly letting go of Hyunjae. "Guess he ghosted like the typical fuckboy? I shouldn't have expected anything from him."

"But it doesn't sound like he's afraid of commitment though," Juyeon says slowly, deep in thought. "He's made the effort to start going to classes and to get to know you."

"Doesn't he do that with everyone he flirts with?" you mutter under your breath.

"But he hasn't," Hyunjae crosses his arms, "flirted with anyone else since meeting you."

"That's a lie; I totally saw him—"

"He's afraid of being rejected by you," Juyeon finally says.

"Wait, what?"

Juyeon nods and even Hyunjae is staring at him with confusion.

"Okay, what do you know that I don't?" Hyunjae blinks at his soulmate, peering at him intensely.

"It was just something Eric said," Juyeon shrugs. "He was mostly making fun of Sunwoo for how much he's changed since meeting you," he nods your way, "but he also said that Sunwoo thought he wouldn't be good enough. Like he was afraid you'd never see him as a soulmate."

"Since when did you become so wise?" Hyunjae says, patting Juyeon on the head. Then his jaw drops when the words sink in. "Wait, you're only telling Y/N this now?"

"Only because Y/N still doesn't believe that lover boy's feelings are genuine," Juyeon huffs, crossing his arms. "The universe was supposed to straighten itself without my interference."

"So much for being confident that I would fall for him."

"But," Hyunjae says deliberately, "didn't you?"

"No—" you start, and then stop.

As if he could see exactly what you had been ruminating about for the past few days, Hyunjae's jaw drops even lower than the previous time. "Oh my god."

"Okay, fine!" you confess only because he already saw right through you. "But it's not a good thing."

"You had no qualms with falling for someone who's not your soulmate but now you're worried about falling for your actual soulmate?" Hyunjae raises an eyebrow and then cocks his head over at Juyeon.

"Ugh, you're never going to let me live, are you?" You stifle a groan from where your face is buried in your hands. It's not usually embarrassing whenever Hyunjae teases you about your former crush on Juyeon, but this comparison makes your cheeks immediately heat up. Maybe because there is some truth to it. "I'm sorry that Juyeon is too hot for you?"

Juyeon laughs while Hyunjae glares at you.

"Not the point," Hyunjae gives a dismissing wave. "It should be easy, Y/N. It should be like falling into place with someone, not falling off a cliff like how you're making it sound."

"It's scary though. With someone who's not your soulmate, you might not care as much because maybe it won't work out anyway. But with your soulmate, this is like the one chance of your lifetime."

"You're right, but you have one who genuinely cares for you. What's the danger in that?" Juyeon asks.

"The danger is that he doesn't even believe in soulmates." You finally take a fry, already cold by now but comforting, nonetheless. And then you think back to that night on the rooftop. What he'd said about soulmates, then what he'd asked you.

I don't know, Y/N. Does it? Do you want it to?

A question you hadn't answered.

"Just make it clear to him how you feel," Juyeon continues when you don't say anything else.

"Easier said than done," you whine. "It's like he completely disappeared. No one knows where he is and he's not answering my texts either."

"Oh that's easy." Hyunjae's lip quirks up, holding your gaze as if distracting you from when he goes to steal a fry. "All you have to do is go talk to Younghoon, and then Sunwoo will suddenly appear to beat him up again."

You don't know whether to laugh or cry at that comment. "Um. I was going to tell you to shut up, but you know what, that's actually hilarious. I'll accept it."

"Why, thank you." Hyunjae smiles. Stuffs the fry in his mouth. "But anyways, don't worry too much about it. Lover boy will be back in no time. Especially when every hour is missing Y/N hours."

"Remind me to never tell you anything ever again," you say, reaching to stuff a handful of fries in his mouth to shut him up. "But I don't even know if that's a good thing though. Him... coming back."

"Why not? Be in love with your soulmate freely, Y/N," Hyunjae gestures dramatically as he chews. "You didn't go through all those years of ugliness for nothing."

"I think I'll go talk to Younghoon and see if he knows anything." You put the platter of fries in front of Juyeon, "Thank you for your help, bestie." Then turn to Hyunjae and knock him on the head, "And just so you know, I still hate you."

"It's okay to admit it, you know. That you loveme."

"Keep us updated, okay?" Juyeon pokes you gently. "Let us know if we can help with anything."

"Yeah, let us know if you need us to beat him up for you. Well, if you don't mind having some extra bruises for a while," Hyunjae says, waving his fists arounds.

"Thanks, but it won't be necessary."

Heading to the cafe has you shivering at the cold wind against your skin; the sun had disappeared with the clouds quickly moving in, darkening the sky with the incoming storm. If Juyeon were right that Sunwoo wasn't ghosting you, then there would have to be another reason for disappearing so suddenly. An unsettling feeling that makes your stomach clench.

Luckily for you, the cafe seems emptier than usual when you head over. Younghoon's there chatting with a co-worker—Kevin, if you could read his nametag properly—and he turns to the door at the sound of the bell.

"Oh, hey Y/N!"

"Hey, Younghoon."

Kevin whispers something to him and then gives you a quick smile before going into the backroom, leaving the two of you alone.

"I'm glad you stopped by, actually. I wanted to apologize for um..." he trails off, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Causing you all that trouble. Not knowing about you and Sunwoo."

"Don't worry about it; you already texted me about this." You wave a hand at him dismissingly. "And besides, the important thing is that you're okay. I would've beat up Sunwoo myself if you weren't."

That makes him laugh, though the usual twinkle in his eye isn't there. "We can still be friends, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course." Then you pause, not knowing how to approach the subject. "Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to ask you. Do you know where Sunwoo is?"

Younghoon hesitates. "There were some... people looking for him a while ago. He said he was going out of town to deal with them, but that's about all he told me."

"Some people?"

"He didn't want them to find him here." Younghoon bites his lip. You could tell that he clearly knows more but you're suddenly unsure of whether you wanted to find out at this point. "Y/N, it's probably best if you don't know."

"Oh."

But who would be looking for Sunwoo? Just what kind of people were he involved with? The way Younghoon spoke about it sounded like there would be danger involved; that Sunwoo was being chased by a gang or thugs. That there would be fights, weapons, and maybe even car chases, just like in the movies.

It just confirmed the sad fact that you knew nothing about him. You were completely clueless when it came to what kind of person he was, what his hobbies were, who his friends were. And yet, he knew all those things about you. He knew your schedule, your favourite coffee order, how you met your best friends. In the couple of months that you've known him, he already knew you inside and out.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Younghoon asks, gaze instantly softening at what must be quite a sad looking frown on your face. You barely manage to shrug in response. "Sunwoo might act like an asshole sometimes, but he's not a bad guy. I don't know what he's said to you, but he really does care about you."

"Thanks, Younghoon."

"I'll keep you updated if I hear from him."

When the silence of your room greets you, this time you're scrubbing off the makeup to look for clues. The marks that you once dreaded now became your hope because at least then you'd have some sort of sign. A tiny splash of blue as proof of his existence, a patch of purple to know that he's somewhere close by, that maybe the connection you had with him wasn't a fabrication of your imagination but rather something tangible.

Because maybe you did miss his presence. Because maybe you didn't hate it as much as you once thought you did, and maybe you actually never hated it at all. Maybe you've gotten used to it and maybe the way your heart soars and the way it sinks is the very definition of what it means to be soulmates.

There were no marks. A good sign, you supposed, if this meant he hadn't been getting into fights while he was gone. But something about seeing the clean slate of your skin makes you miss the familiar sight of marks, as if they were a piece of his presence you carried around.

It's already hard to believe you'd once hated them so much.

When your phone finally vibrates, you almost think you're imagining it. That it has to be some figment of your mind that you were projecting too hard.

Sk8ter boi: open the door soulmateeee <3

But when you open the door, he's there. It doesn't even matter how he knew which unit you lived in or how he made it past the front door of the building or why he decided to come. It doesn't matter that he's dripping water onto your floor from his soaked clothes, or that he drops his helmet and jacket by the door.

"Sunwoo?"

"Sorry for taking so long," he says softly as he closes the door behind him. There's a glimpse of a smile but it doesn't match the turmoil in his eyes. "You can see my handsome face all you want now."

"Are you okay? Where did you go?"

"Let's just say there was some unfinished business with some people I knew."

"Did you..." you trail off, not knowing how to ask what was on your mind or whether if you should be prying at all.

He shakes his head and some water droplet fall from his soaked hair. "I'm not going back to that kind of life, Y/N. Had to cut off ties with some people, that's all. Everything's done now. I'm all yours."

You let out a breath of relief that you didn't even realize you'd been holding.

Strands of his hair curl at the ends, and water droplets fall. Then you notice that the white tee he has on is see-through with how soaked it is, and the way it clings onto his body leaves little to imagination.

You slowly force your gaze away. "Oh."

"Were you looking for me?"

"I—yeah," you admit. The sight of him in front of you, alive and well, was enough to wipe away all of the snarky responses you once had in mind and make you finally decide to be real with him. To finally confront your feelings. "Yeah, I was worried about you. I was afraid you'd gotten into an accident or some sort of fight and—"

He shakes his head again, showing you both sides of his arms. Turning his head and pointing at his cheeks. "Not a scratch. See? I know how to resolve things peacefully. I promised you that there would be no more marks, Y/N."

"But Sunwoo, do you mean that? I was afraid you'd left because of what happened that night. That you decided you were done with—this," you gesture vaguely. "Sunwoo... are you just playing with me?"

"What? No." His eyes fill with confusion, and he finally crosses the room. "Y/N, is that what you thought? Is that what it seemed like?" Then he's right in front of you, gently brushing away a tear that you hadn't even realized was on your cheek. "Hey, I'm sorry for taking off like this. I wasn't trying to ghost you, I was just... afraid. Afraid of what you'd say if you answered that last question because I wasn't ready to be rejected by my own soulmate." He takes your hands in his and gives you a sad smile. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt, but now, I've come to terms with it. And it's okay because I promised you that I'd get my shit together and I'm going to make it happen."

Then you're burying your face in his chest, arms pulling him closer despite the wet clothing, despite how you thought you hated him all your life. Because somehow, hating him first makes you like him even more now. And somehow, wanting to get rid of him at first makes you want to cling to him tighter now, to hold him closer and let this moment erase your guilt of ever pushing away someone who now seems to fit so well against you.

"You know, you were right to be mad at me for never thinking about you or about how my actions would affect you and the people around me. I hadn't really cared about anything in the world and didn't think about possibly meeting my soulmate in this lifetime. And even after we met, I didn't think anything would change. You were right that I was only interested in fooling around with you—only at first though." He pulls back just slightly, and you could see the honesty in his eyes, steady, unwavering. "But things did change. I usually don't give a shit about people's feelings or opinions, but for some reason, I care about yours. And I find myself wanting to get to know you, to be good enough for you. To not screw up one of the biggest chances in my life."

He caresses your cheek so delicately as if afraid this moment could shatter with a touch too strong.

"Wanting to love you and be loved by you."

If you'd been treading carefully around him before, now you find yourself drowning. Drowning in the warmth of his body against the coolness of his clothes, drowning in the sincerity in his words, in the hope that had begun to bloom in your heart so fast that it aches and yearns.

"Sunwoo, I should've told you that night."

There's a brief flash of fear in his eyes that's quickly replaced with a glimmer of hope that mirrors yours.

"Because I would've told you that I do want this to change everything. I want you to believe that soulmates can exist, and love can be real, and that the possibilities are endless if you're willing to experience it all. And that I do want you, as a soulmate."

He lets out the shaky breath he was holding. "Have you fallen for me?"

And this time when he asks, you're not afraid to answer.

"Yeah, Sunwoo. I have."

Then waves crash and surround you as his lips meet yours, dragging you into the depths and you're sinking, sinking, deeper and deeper. His mouth is hot as he kisses you hungrily, pulling you infinitesimally closer as hands get tangled in your hair and in his tee. Sunwoo's breath hitches when you press your palms against the bare skin under his shirt and there's heat sparking from everywhere you touch like a live wire. His every touch feels like air, a lifeline always keeping you alive and wanting, craving for more as you drown in his body.

He comes up for air first, pulling back the slightest, breathing hard.

"Sunwoo, you're freezing," you whisper.

"Then warm me up."

This time his lips veer from yours, creating a blaze of fire on your skin as they trail to your jaw, your ear, and down your neck that makes your breaths quicken. His shirt comes off with some effort and the bit that was left to your imagination turns into reality when your fingers trace his sun-kissed skin, following each line of his abs, each dip and curve until he's stifling a moan against your neck.

When there's a pause, his pupils are full blown, cheeks flushed as he searches your eyes. Searching for an answer for not only what would happen next, but for an answer about what would happen to the two of you. What you were and what you would become.

And then Sunwoo's kissing you again. Clothes are flung, teeth clack, and then he's pulling you with him until there are silky sheets and the heat of his body against you. Soft moans that you'd gotten a taste of that night now fill your ears as lips and hands are everywhere. His mouth trails down every inch of your body as if learning your every memory, your every bruise that had left you wondering over the years. Erasing then rewriting the stories through splashes of pink hues that darken into the blues and purples of watercolour on a blank canvas.

When the sun peaking through the curtains wakes you up in the morning, there's a disorientation in your head as if a fever dream that only lingers at the edges of your memory. The first glance at your body makes your heart sink as you realize you're covered in marks yet again, but then the memories flood back so fast that it takes a moment to catch your breath.

Sunwoo.

It's hard not to stare when he's right there. His long eyelashes, his high cheekbones, the way his lips curve into a small smirk as if knowing you're staring.

"Oh."

"Oh?" he mumbles, giving you a teasing look. He reaches over and pulls you even closer, until all you can see are those beautiful eyes. "Are you surprised I'm here?"

"No, but I was just afraid you... left."

He softens instantly into the brilliant smile that you'd seen only a few times so far. "Hey, I would never do that to you, soulmate. I was serious about what I said last night."

You nod, not trusting your own voice just yet. There's a tenderness in his eyes and fondness in his hands as his caresses your cheek, a softness that feels like warm sunlight trickling between the cracks. And when he kisses you this time, it feels like a first kiss. Whereas the night before was rough edges and stormy seas, this time it's filled with the innocence of a first love, the sweetness of a summer's day. His lips are gentle but what you notice most is the small smile that lingers on them like he can't contain his happiness.

This time the bruises that you see on your body aren't a sight that annoys you. They're not a sign that your soulmate is out there being reckless or fooling around; these are marks that your soulmate made directly on your skin. This time they're a reminder of what happened last night, not only a sign that he exists, but also a sign of how much he wants this too.

This time just before you head out, you're about to reach for your makeup bag before ultimately deciding against it. Because this time, you don't need to question who your soulmate was, where they were, or where the marks were coming from. It definitely feels different when you look over at Sunwoo and see the matching pale pink mark peeking out from the edge of his collar.

Maybe now, you can finally wear the bruises proudly.

The matching marks are the first thing that the soulmate duo stare at when you and Sunwoo walk into the cafe. You could see the way their eyes bounce back and forth between the two of you; Hyunjae giving you a very mischievous grin while Juyeon beams as if he were the matchmaker himself. Maybe he was, in a way; maybe the universe would've straightened itself out without his interference like he'd said, but he certainly helped.

There's a fifth seat saved for Younghoon, but it remains empty as you heard that he's been busy with the soulmate that he had found only recently. It's ironic that that fight with Sunwoo had been the solution for finding his soulmate all along—the bruises on his face had also showed up on a classmate of his. You were just happy that he's met someone he could finally channel all his love towards.

"Oh hey, pretty boy," Sunwoo nods towards Hyunjae when the two of you join them at the table, then turns to Juyeon, "and Y/N's ex-crush."

You elbow him lightly. "Please. Not you too."

The three of them laugh and for a second it feels so natural. You're glad to have brought them together even if their source of entertainment was from teasing you.

When Hyunjae looks at Juyeon, there's a particular look they exchange. A glance that said neither of them has ever doubted that your relationship with Sunwoo would work out, that they know all too well what the soulmate bond feels like and perhaps how its pull is inevitable.

You see it in the way Younghoon glows when he walks in with his soulmate later—Minji, he said her name was. The affection in his gaze when he looks at her, the way her eyes twinkle when smiles back at him. There's no denying their bond when it's all so different from how he looked at you before.

And you see it in all of Sunwoo's soft smiles and the crinkle of his nose and the way his eyes curve. The smiles you once thought were rare are now all you can see when no longer hidden beneath a facade. Maybe he's right that soulmates don't actually exist, and that love can bloom anywhere at any time. Maybe it's the choice to believe in it that makes the love for that person stronger than anything else. But on the way home when you see him subtly look at the marks on his skin with such fondness in his eyes, you knew that it didn't matter.

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nessaxc · 3 years

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You've Already Got Me || Oikawa Tooru

You become jealous when you see your friend, Oikawa cracking jokes with a girl at the volleyball court. Upset, you storm back to your house and when Oikawa comes over to your place, he finds you curled up in your bed. When he finds out what's bothering you, he has a good idea of what could cheer you up.

~ Words: 6k

~ NSFW 18+

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You were on your way to visit Oikawa one night when you saw something that made your stomach twist in knots. You stopped dead in your tracks when you heard him cracking jokes and laughing with a girl on the volleyball court. A frown was quick to mar your features as you watched from a far distance. You didn't know why you bothered watching the way the young woman's dimples peeked through at the corners of her mouth or the way his grin widened as he made her giggle.

Whatever the next thing he said must have been the funniest joke ever told because she was laughing so much that she was nearly breathless, and she reached over to throw her hand down on his shoulder as she did. That was it.

Your heart throbbed heavily in your chest upon the sight and you lingered for a moment too long before you walked off, eyes still focused on them even as you left the scene until they were completely out of sight. You quickly found yourself running back home so you could suffer in silence about what you just witnessed, wanting nothing more than to crawl up under the comfort of your blanket and hide there until this feeling went away.

You two were just friends, he wasn't even yours, so you didn't have a right to be envious of the girl he was merely conversing with, but it still hurt, a lot more than you wish it did. As you made your way to your house, your feet didn't stop its rapid movements even for a second, you were too concentrated on hiding from the rest of the world so no one could see you like this, all crumpled up and frail.

When you made it to the safe cradle of your bed, you scrambled on it until you reached for the blanket and flung it over your entire body. You heaved a deep sigh, blinking away the tears that threatened to come pouring out but you wouldn't allow them because you didn't want to feel more pathetic than you already did. You rolled on your side, trying to erase the image of them together in your mind but to no avail, they still kept popping up every time you attempted to distract yourself with any other thoughts. You didn't think that Oikawa, the one you had been yearning for as long as you could remember, would ever want you when he could likely have any girl he wanted. That idea made you think up every single one of your insecurities and the next thing you knew, you were making a list of all the things you didn't like about yourself.

You hugged the blanket closer to yourself, wanting nothing more than to nap the day away so you wouldn't have to think about this for a second longer. You remained there on the bed, completely restless, and shifted around in an attempt to find a comfortable position but that didn't seem to work out so well. You whined in defeat and that was when there was a loud tap on your door.

You pulled the blanket off enough so that it only reached under your chin before you called out, "Come in!"

The door opened instantly at that and then came in Oikawa, a wide smile on his face as he peeked his head in to look at you, but you didn't return it, instead you faced the wall and uttered a quiet, "Hey."

"Hey right back to you," he replied with a low chuckle. "You don't mind if I just left myself in right?" he asked, but by the time he did, he was already inside of your room.

"Sure, you're here already," you mumbled under your breath and continued to gaze at the wall in front of you, not even glancing his way.

"Okay," he drawled, chuckling and finding this uncomfortable situation to be humorous nonetheless. He perched himself at the end of your bed, his body near your feet. "What did I do this time?" he questioned, a smug smirk turning the corners of his mouth.

"I was about to take a nap but obviously you're here and rudely interrupted that," you said matter-of-factly, and he snorted, leaning forward and his hand reached to grab your chin, pulling it forward so that your eyes met his.

"Why the sass?" he asked as he quirked an eyebrow. "You on the rag or something? You don't have to hide that from me," he laughed as his crinkled eyes locked on yours, and it made your heart thump loudly in your chest, making you forget for a second why you were so upset in the first place. You merely shook your head, wondering how long it would be until he figured it out. He was clever, and he always knew when something was bothering you and what exactly it was without you even having to say it. You two were just that close, and that was one of the many reasons why you didn't want to admit what was wrong.

"I don't really want to talk about it," you muttered, and he allowed your chin to drop, his fingers slipping away and returning to his side.

"C'mon, don't leave me in the dark here, Y/N, you know I don't really like it here, not unless you're there," he teased, poking at your shoulder to see how you would react and you merely looked down at the bed sheets just to avoid his stare.

"I said I don't want to talk about it," you repeated in a murmur, eyes drifting shut for a moment and then that image you were trying to desperately push away, returned yet again.

"Didn't see you today, I thought that was kind of strange," he shrugged before he reached his hand out to stroke the curve of your shoulder, fingers pressing against the skin, and it made heat spread across your cheeks almost immediately in response, wishing that the simplest of touches coming from him didn't have such an effect on you.

"Didn't feel like coming over I guess," you told him before you uttered a long sigh.

"Well you're gonna have to talk to me, sooner or later, because I'm not going anywhere, so don't even try to kick me out," he said with a shrug of his shoulders and he pressed his chin to the length of your arm, looking down at your face with a wide smile stretched across his.

"I just saw something today that made me feel really pathetic, okay? Happy now?" you blurted out, hoping he would drop it but knowing full well that he wouldn't, especially after hearing that. He lifted his head up from your arm, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"What are you not telling me?" he asked, eyes narrowed as he pulled your chin back to him again so that you would look him in the eye when you spoke. "You can tell me anything you know that," he promised, a chuckle spilling from his lips because he found this situation to be amusing. "And if you don't speak up, we'll be here all day, until I figure it out, of course."

"I just feel like I'm not all that great," you admitted without giving it much thought, your mouth moving before your brain could catch up, "there's nothing special about me, and when I saw you talking to that girl-"

He cut you off the second he heard the last word, and then he was able to piece it all together why you were behaving this way. "Wait, are you jealous?" he questioned, bursting out in laughter.

"What? I-"

"You're jealous," he interrupted you again and chuckled loudly like it was the funniest thing. He quickly added, "Of that girl, huh? The one I was talking to earlier, which I'm assuming you saw," he continued laughing after he finished.

You were not very fond of being teased, especially about something like this, that involved your insecurities but he never took anything seriously so you shouldn't be surprised. "She's really pretty, and she probably likes you," you said meekly, finding it difficult to hold anything back now that he knew.

"Don't have an interest in her, not even a little. Y/N, you don't have to compete with anyone, or get all misty on me about how you think I'm going to propose to her," he jested, still snickering about it, and then he crawled over to the left side of your bed so he was in your sights which made your heart catch in your throat that he was this close, that if he just moved an inch his body would be against yours.

"But are you sure? She seemed to be really enjoying your company, and you clearly enjoy hers," you replied as he scooted closer to you, his eyes never leaving yours which made it a little difficult to speak but you still managed. You stared back, finding it all too easy to get lost in those deep, piercing eyes of his.

"She's just an acquaintance, nothing more," he told you, smirk widening as he noticed the look of relief spread across your features and the small smile that joined it. "I only got eyes for you, babe, no one else, and you're seriously another level of stupid if you didn't know that already," he taunted, and your eyes fixated on him, your heart speeding up at such a frantic pace you were almost sure he could hear it being this close.

"Oh," you paused for a long moment before you added in a bashful tone, "you really feel that way?"

"Yes, I got a thing for girls who are stupid like you," he teased in a playful tone so you knew he was joking but you still felt really stupid just like he said. He liked you, he really did, it was real, you had nothing to worry about. What a relief that was. "You're beautiful, and so much more fun. You don't ever have to compete with another person on this earth when you're that cute," he said and pressed his finger against the tip of your nose, accentuating his point by the way your nose scrunched up immediately at the gesture which made him laugh. "And just for the sake of being cheesy, you take my breath away," he added with a smug smile.

"Tooru," you breathed, unable to find the right words or any words in general besides his name. There was a short silence between you two after the laughing ceased, which made you feel like your heart was going to beat right out of your chest, skin prickling with the anticipation of what was going to happen next.

"Why don't I show you exactly what I mean huh?" he suggested. You were all for that.

You kissed him then, before he was able to make the first move. Your hand reached behind his head and your fingers tightened in his hair to press his lips firmly against yours. A faint noise escaped the back of your throat that sounded rather pleased, and just like that you were lost in the moment. Love and desire and the desperate need you had for him overtook you and he gently grasped the back of your neck in order to take control of the kiss. It was oh-so reassuring of any concerns that you had left about what he felt for you.

Holding each other close, you both continued to kiss each other deeply. You matched his passion just as strongly and even fought with him for dominance at one point, catching his bottom lip ever so slightly between your teeth. The mixture of pleasure and that little bit of pain was enough to cause him to nearly lose all sense of control, and he let out a deep groan as he laid you back further on the bed, breaking the kiss then.

"Why do you have to be so fucking cute?" he said with a low chuckle as he made his way on top of your body, the heat of his pressed against your own, making you shudder at the much needed contact. Surely this must be part of a dream. You let yourself sink back into it only to be pulled out again when his lips sought and found yours.

His tongue explored the shape of your lips, seeking entry. You relaxed your mouth, shivering as his questing tongue slid in and met the tip of his. The kiss burned against your lips, banishing all thoughts of a dream. You returned it, intensifying the pressure, nipping at the tip of his tongue. Your hand slipped to the back of his head, winding your fingers into the silk of his hair, holding his lips fiercely against yours.

He parted from your lips only to say, "You're the prettiest girl, you know that? You fucking drive me crazy."

Your lips captured his lower lip and drew it between your teeth. You nibbled it gently and then released it to whisper a simple, "Thank you."

His laugh thundered through his chest before his lips claimed yours once more, harder this time, clamping down to steal the very breath from your lungs. You dug your fingers into his thick hair, pulling his mouth down even harder, making the soft skin of your lips tingle and redden. His tongue thrust deep into your mouth and yours was quick to meet his, licking him back, tasting him, savoring him.

He groaned deep in his chest, and the sound sent chills down your spine. You responded in kind, tiny moans escaping your throat with every breath, urging him on, building his heat even higher, as well as yours.

"I need to feel you, I can't take it," he said, both hands holding the hem of your shirt, awaiting for you to nod your head to grant him permission which you quickly did when he didn't proceed further, and he tossed it over your head so that your silky black bra came into view. He took a moment to ogle the way the bra clung to your skin before he unclasped it from behind, setting your skin free and revealing your breasts to him completely. You felt exposed but you found that you quickly didn't mind with the way he was looking at you.

"Fuck, these are my favorite boobs by far, they're so perky," he said almost breathlessly, which instantly brought a smile on your face, a soft laugh spilling through your lips. He slipped his shirt off next, tossing it to the side, and he emitted a low groan when your hard nipples pressed against the skin of his chest.

He slid his hand down to cup your breast, his strong fingers were gentle on your nipple and then firmer, stroking and squeezing, pulling as you arched up against him with soft noises of approval.

"Your body is perfect, you're perfect, fuck," he praised as his hand moved to stroke your chest, curling his fingers to allow his nails to gently scrape a trail downward, teasing the nerves and making your nipples rise hard and aching. He found one and pinched it between his fingers, sending little shocks of pleasure coursing through your body. He teased and turned it almost to the point of pain, but backing off to squeeze gently and then abandon it to explore the soft, delicate curves of your breasts. He briefly slid them back down to rid you of your rucked up skirt, nearly ripping it off of you in his impatience. Then he hooked his fingers under the waistband of your panties only to bring them down with your skirt, tugging them both off in one motion. He gave himself a moment to drink in the sight of you, how your flesh was already glistening and slick just for him, only for him, and the look of pure, unadulterated lust in his face suggested that it took everything in him not to take you right then and there.

"No one compares to you, so don't you forget it," he whispered hoarsely, and you nodded your head, still speechless and surprised that your jealousy led to this, looks like it was good for something. You were so desperate to explore tonight with him because of how powerful and dominating he was in his arousal.

"Tooru, you sure know how to make a girl blush," you told him in a soft murmur, your cheeks heating up and it spread across your whole face.

He kissed you hard, teeth scraping your lips, nose bumping into yours with the intensity and impatience of it, a strand of his hair sweeping across your sensitive skin. He shifted until he was leaning over you, pinning you, demanding that you finish what you had started.

His mouth trailed down your neck, kissing, licking, biting gently and just to the point of pain. You arched back, giving him access, moaning as his mouth fastened on the tender skin at the base of your throat. He nipped and sucked hard, torturing your flesh with his teeth, leaving light bruises that would mark you as his.

"The things you fucking do to me," he drawled, trailing off before he continued, "there's not a thing I wouldn't do for you, fuck, I'd do anything just to keep you here with me like this."

You were feeling particularly bold at his words so you reached your hand out, fingernails scrapping teasingly across his nipple and then began a slow and tortuous journey downward. His stomach was tight with sheaths of muscles yet smooth to your questing fingers. It rippled beneath your hand, pleasantly responding to your touch. You traced the muscles, appreciating their definition, and he purred at your ministrations, encouraging you.

"I just fucking love how flushed your body looks right now, makes you look even cuter," he murmured, his gruff voice making sparks go off in your veins. You could listen to him talk all day.

He continued the tiny kisses and licks and paused to suck at your burning skin. He was rock hard in his pants yet whisper soft with you, a living oxymoron and it was driving you mad. He was slow with you, only because he wanted to take the time to appreciate your body. You expected to be taken again and again, only to have him continue to tease you with his mouth. Your nipples were so hard they were painful by the time he finally reached and claimed one between his lips.

"You taste so fucking good, we have got so much lost time to make up for," he chuckled against your skin, and it vibrated around your nipple, making you arch up in response. He sucked softly at first and then harder, scraping the engorged flesh with sharp white teeth. You pressed up against him, urging him to continue, your voice in a whisper and raw with whimpers of desire.

Your arms slid around him, pressing and pulling, stroking the skin at his back before sliding your hands down his sides, caressing and marveling at his beautiful body. You slipped your hand down between where your bodies joined to pop the button to his pants open and then tugged the zipper down. You shoved his pants down along with his boxers as far as they could go, but thankfully he kicked them off for you as his mouth created such a searing suction around your nipple. You loved touching him, loved touching his smooth muscles covered by warm skin that felt silken under your fingers. You reveled in the hair on his chest, the delicacy of his back and the curve at the base of his spine that separated flaring upward and rounding into perfection. When you skimmed your fingernails along the line of his ass he tensed and his teeth pinched your nipple more firmly, both of you shivering with the sensation.

"Shit," he pulled away momentarily to curse under his ragged breath, "you drive me mad, Y/N, you're the only one for me, you got that? Only you," he admitted, and you nodded your head frantically, making him smile widely because of the mere effect he had on you. He shifted his attentions to your other nipple, gifting it with the same slow, loving affection as he had the first one. You wanted to pull his mouth away and haul him up until he was in position so that you could arch up and take him within. You ached for him, feeling hollow and empty, your inner walls clenching, needing, only to be tortured by tongue and lips that were in no hurry to abandon you.

His hands held you, turning you easily so that he had access, caressing and teasing, skimming your burning skin as low as your waist only to maddeningly stop and slide upward again. His palms felt soft against your skin as he stroked first firmly and then almost to a tickle before grasping you and lifting you to turn you for better access to your breast. He continued to suckle one while his entire hand encompassed the other, the way his long fingers toyed with the delicate mound sent a hot wave of electricity straight down to your core.

Your breath came and went in a soft moan that never quite stopped. You were beyond speech. You wished that it didn't have to take an interaction with another girl and your jealousy to lead to this, but it all worked out in the end and you weren't one to complain when his mouth was watering at the mere sight of you before him. Your moans rose in volume when his lips abandoned your nipple to slide downward over your rib cage then to the narrows of your waist.

"You look even more beautiful when you're wrecked baby, who knew," he whispered to you in a coo. His face was upraised to you, hair hanging in tangles that moved with him, pulling forth even more sensation from your skin.

"You're such a tease," you replied with a soft giggle shortly after the words came out, and it drew one from him right after. He bent his head down to place a soft kiss to your navel, his hot breath covering the skin there. You slid your fingers deep into his hair, tugging gently which certainly caught his attention. "Please take me, Tooru, I need you."

He chuckled, the rumble of it quaking against your body. "Oh believe me, I will, but you've got to be patient," he told you with a smirk stretched across his face, "I'm not sure you believe you're as beautiful as I say you are, so allow me to continue demonstrating," he crooned, and you looked back at him with a weak smile. He was right, and if you both waited, it would make tonight last longer and that was exactly what you knew you wanted deep down despite your need to be filled in that empty space between your legs.

"Okay," you breathed out softly in answer.

His lips descended again and you could feel his smug smile against your skin. He licked and sucked at the skin of your stomach, his hand moving down your thigh and sliding it below to find the tender place behind your knee. You bent your leg to give him better access and he slowly drew his fingers upward, tracing the muscles along the inside of your thigh. He brushed his hand there slowly before he descended your other leg. You whimpered in protest as his fingers passed the center of you without more than a feather-light touch against the hot flesh there.

He squeezed the inside of your thigh, pulling at the flesh, marveling at the way your leg moved instinctively to give him more room. His lips trailed down over your stomach to pause at the softness there. He could feel the hard abdominal muscles tensing, but they were padded by delicate skin. He rested his head on your stomach for a moment to appreciate the way it went taut, and then his lips to your skin started the fire anew.

You could barely reach him as he slid further down your body. You twined your fingers into his hair and let the strands run through your fingers. His hair splayed out over your skin, moving like silk when he turned his head, it was warm and soft and sent delicious tingles throughout your every nerve. The brown locks caught the blue of the night outside and reflected it back, shimmering across his whole body. The breeze coming from your window soothed your hot skin, slipping over your hard nipples like a silken kiss.

He looked up at you, his brown eyes darkened with lust. You gazed at him, caught in the moment, there was no one else in the world but you two. The wind howled outside, but here there was only heat and lust and pleasure. He held your gaze for a moment longer, continuing to drink in the sight of you, half hidden in shadow, bathed in moonlight. He wanted to remember the way you looked forever.

"More," you whispered, "make me yours."

The corners of his eyes crinkled with amusement. His voice was hoarse, yet that playful tone still remained. "You already are, and you always will be. That's a promise I intend on keeping," he assured with a deep purr.

You smiled softly at that, cheeks flushing even more so after hearing the promise in his voice and seeing the smile on his face. He kissed your stomach again and then started to slide lower. He was pinning one leg beneath him, but the other, the one he had been squeezing, bent and pushed your hips upward, begging him for what you hoped was to come. He stopped to nuzzle the velvet-soft line underneath your stomach before he traveled further down. Eagerly, he bent down until his lips met your sex. He sucked the flesh and laved it with his tongue, moving and exploring around to appreciate your flavor, pressing his chin into you as he tasted the hot skin.

Slowly, tortuously, he moved even lower, pausing when he came to the center of you. You were open, moist, begging for his attention. He bent down further and kissed you reverently; inhaling the intoxicating scent you exuded. It surrounded him, swirling in a dance to delight the senses. He lifted a little so that he could see you, waiting for him. Your sex sparkled with tiny beads of moisture that caught the moonlight, and he wanted nothing more in that moment than to dive right in.

"You've got such a pretty pussy baby, just like I knew you would," he said with a hum, "fuck, how is it possible to be this irresistible," he murmured more to himself than to you.

When his tongue touched you and then slid over the swollen nub in one sudden motion, you arched up crying out with need, giving yourself up to pleasure and every single brush of his talented tongue. He felt your muscles ripple beneath his hands, and he continued to pepper kisses along the moist skin. His chin and nose pressed against you as the softness of his lips teased you. He licked tentatively, exploring, feeling out what you liked and where you were the most sensitive. He glided his tongue around with maddening slowness, completely unhurried and allowing himself to become familiar with your taste.

Your back arched up higher while he mapped you, and your fingers grasped reflexively at his hair, nails digging into his scalp as you attempted to bring him closer even though he was a close as could be. When he learned what he needed to know, he delved into you, thrusting deeply with his tongue. He prodded and licked and nipped so gently that you shuddered and pressed upward, demanding more, firmer, deeper. He gave it to you. He licked with long strokes, stripes of his saliva drizzling down to your entrance.

You cried out and felt him smile against you, lips curling from all the sounds that endlessly spilled from your lips. He looked up at you, moisture beads twinkling on his lips, dark eyes black with feral lust. He held your eyes for a long moment, committing your expression and responding smile to memory. He knew that you wouldn't ever look as beautiful as you did now.

He slid his hand up the inside of your thigh, his fingers brushing against your opening gently, teasingly. When he had gathered enough of your juices, he slipped a finger into you and then another as you moaned out his name, opening yourself for him. He went deep, stretching the tender tissue and scissoring them around to coat your wetness all over his fingers. He pushed and pushed, sending ripples of pleasure up your abdomen. Then he stopped and went in quest of his prize.

He found it knuckle-deep on the top surface, a fragile sponge of nerve endings. When he curled his fingers, you cried out, yanking his hair painfully tight in your passion. He fought against the pull, gluing his lips to yours, licking hard and fast as he worked on you. You gave one lunge upward and climaxed with a moan of his name, gasping as the pleasure swirled around you and then concentrated on the center of your being. As you relaxed he eased up to touches and kisses that didn't over stimulate. You took great sobbing breaths and reached down to pet the hair you had pulled.

"Fuck, I need you, I need you, I need you," he breathed out, his tone like gravel, and it almost sounded like he was confessing his love for you, but maybe it was just your imagination or what you thought you heard.

In an instant he moved back down, kissing softly before rubbing with the tip of his tongue. He licked and tickled and slid well moistened fingers into you to bring back the heat, teasing you for only a couple of moments, making sure you were nice and ready for him. When your fingers started to tug at his hair again, he moved upward, sliding his body along yours, pinning you with his superior weight.

"I'm going to make you feel so good, baby, exactly how you deserve it," he told you around an indrawn hiss. He kissed you and you leaned into it, your tongue meeting his, flicking the moisture from his lips. You tasted yourself, slick and soft and salty. The warmth of your own aroma filling the room. His hair spilled across your face, cocooning you into a kiss that drew the very breath from your lungs. When your breath was sobbing in your throat he released you and moved back down your body, his erection trailing fire as it traced along the line of your belly down lower.

"Please give it to me, Tooru, please, I need it," you begged, your voice completely and utterly breathless.

"Oh I'm going to give it to you alright," he purred low in his throat. You lifted up and he positioned himself. He held himself and stroked upwards, pulling the foreskin back and running the sensitive head along the wet, soft bloom of you, rolling your clit around in slow, circles before he slipped downwards and pressed at your opening. You thrust upward, seeking to capture him. He teased you once, twice, and then thrust forward as you pushed against him.

Thick and long, he slid deep into you, grunting with pleasure as your hot inner walls clenched around him immediately. It was almost enough to drive him over the edge, but he paused, and regained control. He took a deep breath and thrust hard into you after he gave himself a moment. You felt spread and stretched because of his size, but you absolutely loved the sting as he sunk into your slick passage. Spurred on even more, you lifted one leg slightly to give him better access.

He moved slightly and put a strong hand under your thigh, helping to hold your leg up. It sent his cock into you at a better angle, allowing him to hit that sweet spot inside of you. The burst of pleasure you felt was like an electric shock. You started pushing down, wiggling your hips to press into him harder. He obliged you, sliding deep into you only to withdraw almost completely and then rolled forward again. You rose to meet him, surging forward like the tide, surrounding him, completely relentless in your pace.

"Fuck, you're squeezing me so tight, I can't fucking get enough of it," he hissed out, breath growing more ragged by the second. You pushed upward as he thrust, withdrawing as he pulled out. You found his rhythm and matched it, mimicking him as close as possible. Your muscles gripped him tighter, refusing to ever let him go as you both rolled together. As your passion rose higher he accompanied you.

It was a dance and he both led and followed. He thrust and churned, within you, his lips scorching over the flesh on your chest and breasts, alternately sucking and gasping as he found and gave pleasure. He twisted more, lifting your leg higher and rammed himself deeper into you, searing your inner walls with demanding movements of his hips. Your motions grew more desperate, more ragged as you both neared climax. He shut his eyes tight, doing his best to hold on even as his body threatened to tip over the edge.

As you felt your orgasm approaching, he changed to rhythmic thrusting that rocked you with a steady beat. There was nothing in the universe but the two of you and the stars that looked down unmoved by your heated desire. Your eyes dilated with lust, and you were blind to everything except both of your pleasure. You were faintly aware that he was there whispering sweet nothings in your ears as he slammed his hips into you harder, faster, it was everything you needed. You reached your orgasm first, arching so high and hard that you lifted him up, your inner walls clenching and milking him, your pleasure sending him crashing into his own climax.

He cursed low and deep, his words rumbling in his chest as he rammed forward again and again, filling you. He froze, shivers chasing each other up and down his spine as his body pumped into you. The aftershocks made him jerk inside you, bringing forth soft moans of completion and pleasure. He was completely spent as you were. His muscles had gone slack with satiation and he rolled to the opposite side of you as he stared at you with heavily lidded eyes, panting hard as he laid a hand over his chest. You laid there for a long moment, attempting to get your breathing under control and just soaking up what just occurred before you finally turned to look at him with a weak smile on your face.

"Feeling better now?" he asked, still out of breath, a long smirk playing on his lips.

"Mhmm," you told him and rested your head on his bare chest. He stroked your hair with his hand, toying with the strands as he let out a sigh of contentment. One of his arms securely wrapped around your waist, and your legs were tangled together, the slight chill in the air was no match for your shared body heat. You made a pleased little noise as you nuzzled closer to the warmth of his chest.

"You don't need to worry about a thing, Y/N, you've already got me," he reassured with a small chuckle. "I didn't know you could be so cute when you were jealous though, it's a good look for you," he teased, and you let out a puff, feeling your cheeks light up with embarrassment.

"That wasn't cute, stop it, meanie," you moved back slightly to nudge him in the chest with your elbow, and he laughed at that. You leaned in to press a soft, chaste kiss on his lips, silently thanking him for tonight. You reached out to grab his hand and he took yours in an instant, entwining your fingers together in a tight lock. He lifted your hand up to place a quick kiss upon it before he dropped it back down.

"Thank you," you whispered as you looked up at him with a soft smile.

"I should be the one thanking you for that orgasm, and for letting me fuck you, you felt fucking amazing," he said with a low, possessive growl as he yanked you closer, making you emit a loud giggle from the affectionate gesture.

You didn't have anything to worry about, like he said, he was yours, and now you couldn't even remember why you were jealous in the first place as you snuggled up to him and fell asleep listening to the sound of his steady heartbeat.

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