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sicjimin · 3 years

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A.N : just 11,000+ words of Yoongi being sick (i'm sorry baby). gonna make this a series if anyone is interested 🤪 and i'm sorry for everyone that not into mpreg ....... i just. had this in my mind and i need to let it out.

TW : emeto, graphic description of vomiting, mpreg

Yoongi truly was trying his best to hold it. To hold back from his food coming right up and ignore how bad his stomach-churning. He bites his inner cheeks. It feels like someone had put his gastric on a rollercoaster. Turning and swirling mercilessly.

"Hyung?", Jungkook voices snapped him out of his misery.

" Huh?"

"Are you okay? You look pale. and you're sweating bunch" Yoongi blinks.

Yoongi gulps down the faint taste of his lunch that want to make a reappearance. He could feel his stomach drop. His heartbeat was faster than usual in fear that if he ate, he's surely going to vomit. He can almost smell the bile burning at the back of his throat, begging for entrance. But he didn't want to throw up, because if he did, it will his second time today. The first one was right after he woke up, scrambling through the tangled blanket and throwing everything he ate for dinner up. Getting a furrowed brows from Seokjin the moment he opened the bathroom door with bloodshot eyes and sniffles, "You're sick, Yoongichi?".

It took him a lot to convince Seokjin to let him go with him to work like always. Promising that it won't get worse and that maybe he just ate something bad. But it seems like his promise bites him in the ass.

The other boy is staring at him, concern clear in the crease between his brows. "Hyung"

Yoongi blinks again. "Yea yea. I'm fine".

Jungkook doesn't seem convinced. "Are... are you sure?", The younger asks again.

Yoongi nods slowly, taking deep breaths to calm himself. "Yeah", he exhales, " Do you know where Seokjin-hyung is?", he suddenly says, desperate to distract himself from the feeling churning inside him.

"He was with hobi-hyung earlier", Jungkook says, " i think they will come back here soon"

Yoongi nods again. He really hopes so. He needs his boyfriend's presence. He's not sure if he could stay here anymore longer. Yoongi lay his head back against the cool meeting table, "wake me up if Jin-hyung comes", he mumbles to Jungkook.

" You sure you're okay hyung?" Jungkook asked.

Yoongi smiles, trying so hard to reassure the other boy. "I'm fine Kookie", he assured him once more.

" Okay," Jungkook replied, " If you say so." The younger smiled sweetly before going off to talk about something again with Tae and Jimin.

Yoongi didn't know how long he has dozed off. He's slipping in and out of consciousness as he just feels way worse than earlier. Nausea has become so overwhelming, it makes him dizzy. He's not sure if he could go to the bathroom without fainting. So instead, he keeps his eyes shut, waiting to fall asleep again.

"Yoongichi, hey", A familiar voice, followed by a cool touch tucking his hair back snapped Yoongi back to reality.

He opens his eyes blearily to see a blurry figure standing over him.

"Hyung", Yoongi says through his gritted teeth. He couldn't open his mouth wide, or else it's not words that gonna come out. He can already feel tears welling up behind his eyes.

Seokjin crouches beside him, and reaches out his hand towards Yoongi's forehead.

"What happened?", Seokjin asks, concern clearly written all over his face.

But Yoongi could barely focus. He's just too damn nauseous.

"I dont feel well," Yoongi started before stopping, taking a deep breath to try and regain some control over his own breathing, "Feel like i'm going to pu—"

A sudden rush of nausea hit him like a truck.

"Fuck", he cursed under his breath, pressing his fist on his lips. The sour taste on his tongue made his head spin.

" Are you going to be sick?", Seokjin said worriedly. His hand rests on Yoongi's shoulder. Trying to help ground him.

Yoongi don't want to nods, afraid that the slightest movement will make him puke all over this place. "I need a bathroom", he breathes out.

Suddenly, Seokjin was right in front of him, blocking Yoongi's sight.

"Okay, Okay", he says softly, " I'll take you there", he then took Yoongi's arm in his hand.

The younger felt the blood rushing to his head as his body shuddered violently the moment he stand up. He can't help but gag over his palm. The acid taste of his own stomach revolted into his mouth. The thought of throwing up brought chills to the older boy's spine. "Come on, only a few steps, okay?", Seokjin spoke.

Yoongi nodded weakly. He didn't want to throw up in the hall or meeting room. Not with all the eyes that ready to look at him.

Walks to the bathroom feel like walking through a few kilometers trip. But somehow they make it.

Once the door closes, Yoongi immediately rushes to the toilet. Seokjin trailed behind him, circling his arms against Yoongi's midsection to prevent him dived down to the bowl as his body lurch.

Yoongi squeezes his eyes shut when he feels liquid climbing up to his throat, resulting in a gurgling sound that is followed by a rush of brown liquid. It splashing against the clear water.

The sound echoes inside the bathroom walls. Yoongi gasps, coughing lightly as a result of the unpleasant texture that was making its way down to his throat. Yoongi couldn't wait any further.

He vomits. Harder than he expected. Seokjin winces when he could feel Yoongi's stomach jerked against his forearm.

" Yoongichi, you're doing great. Just let it out", he says softly, rubbing his chest gently with one hand.

Yoongi tries to swallow, but it didn't work.

The blonde-haired boy could feel his throat getting tighter with every retch. It seems like his body was so eager to let out everything as a liquid after liquid keep pouring out of his lips. He could see the toilet already half-filled with his stomach.

He feels lightheaded. His vision starts to blur and he can feel sweat dripping all over his body. He pants for air when his stomach gave him a break. His hand shakily flushes the toilet.

"Are you done baby?", Seokjin whispered to him, brushing his hair away from his sweat-damp forehead.

Yoongi shakes his head no, weakly, still panting from the aftermath of vomiting. " Still queasy", he croaked out.

Seokjin looks into Yoongi's eyes with worry, his gaze softening as Yoongi's breathing evened itself out a bit. "Do you want to go to the doctor?", The older asks.

Again Yoongi shakes his head no before he groans and turning himself back facing the toilet. Opening his mouth as a gag immediately erupted as he heaved the last few mouthfuls of what he had in.

Seokjin quickly grabbed hold of Yoongi, rubbing circles on his back comfortingly.

Eventually, the fit passed.

It felt awful.

" Hyung .. let's go home", Yoongi pants, "i really don't feel well"

Yoongi stood unsteadily. His legs felt unstable underneath him. He wanted nothing more than to fall down to his knees and cry because he feels so sick. His mouth taste bland and bitter, his stomach feels like it's on knot and he feels incredibly weak and exhausted and-

"Okay baby, let's go home", Seokjin says, sliding his arms on the younger waist because he's sure that the latter will fall off if he didn't do that. and Yoongi just did the same, grabs onto the elder's arms tightly. Holding onto them as if he would slip through if his grasp was loosened.

Yoongi ended up throwing up again in the car, even though that would look more like puking up bile and water since he barely eats anything.

" I think we really need to go to the doctor, Yoongichi", Seokjin states as he massages Yoongi's nape that drenched in cold sweats as he busy heaving his guts out into the bag. Only managed to let out a trickle of yellow liquid.

"No .. i just want to sleep hyung", Yoongi replies in between his shaky breaths.

Seokjin sighs softly, "But you're so sick baby, you've been throwing up all day", he tells the younger firmly. He knew Yoongi wouldn't have agreed to go to the doctor anyway.

"Please..." the younger begged quietly, "I am tired".

The elder looks into Yoongi's eyes, seeing the tiredness and fatigue, and decides to finally give Yoongi the chance to rest for a bit. " Okay", Seokjin sighs, pulling the younger closer to his chest, "Let's rest up for the day. If you didn't get any better tomorrow then we will go to the hospital, okay?"

"Thank you", Yoongi mutters, letting himself relax. It felt good to be cuddled close to Seokjin. It calmed him down a little.

After they parked in the driveway, Seokjin carried Yoongi to their shared bedroom. Carefully laying down Yoongi on the bed, Seokjin pulls the duvet up over Yoongi before sitting next to him.

" You up for some soup?", he asks.

Yoongi shakes his head no, closing his eyes again while snuggling himself closer to Seokjin.

Seokjin sighed. Of course Yoongi wasn't up for it. "Porridge?", he tried.

Yoongi shook his head again, burrowing himself deeper under the blanket.

"Crackers?"

Still no response.

Seokjin sighed. Looks down at Yoongi curled on his side. "Sleep then, we'll talk about it after your stomach settles," he told him before leaning down and pecking the younger boy on the forehead, "Love you, hyung"

"That's it Yoongi, we're going to the hospital and i don't want to argue", Seokjin said sternly.

Yoongi just closed his eyes, humming in response as he trying to catch his breath. He could feel Seokjin's wiping his wet lips from saliva and cleaning his palm from vomit he couldn't hold back earlier. Its still 5 AM, and just like yesterday, Yoongi woke up like he was on the boat that was currently in the middle of a storm, his stomach going up and down, tossing and turning until his sleepy daze decided he need to run to the bathroom or he will make Seokjin clear their sheets, of course, he opted for the first option. But apparently, his stomach couldn't hold hack for long—that it had to make him puked before he managed to reach the toilet, spilling the porridge he managed to get down last night down to his palm and a trickle of it on the floor.

So now, Yoongi is being forced to sit on the passenger seat of Seokjin's car, trying to fight the nausea and the dizziness that kept attacking him from within, trying not to let it overwhelm him. He is already pale, his skin has become quite pallid.

Seokjin's crooked fingers brushing through his clenched fist, rubbing it softly to offers some comfort.

"Few minutes again, are you doing fine?", Seokjin asks, glancing his way for a good second. Yoongi shifts on his seat, "Do you think i will die hyung?"

Seokjin almost slammed the break. "What the fuck Yoongi, you can't just say that"

Yoongi let out an airy laugh, grin plastered on his face, "Ohhh you love me so bad"

"I just don't want to search for another boyfriend. It's tiring", Seokjin shrugs, his fingers tapping on the steering wheels, " Or maybe, i could ask Namjoon to had me back. I heard he hasn't put eyes on anyone after being with me", Seokjin adds nonchalantly, gaining a slap from Yoongi, complete with a pinch on his arms that makes him yelps.

"Fuck off you're not going anywhere", Yoongi mumbles, leaning his head back on the window as his lips are still in a form of pout.

"Stop pouting or i will have to kiss you"

"Kiss your steering wheel"

---

"Hey, we have your prescription here", the nurse smiled. Her short blond hair swaying from side to side when she walks.

Seokjin nods his head in approval.

The nurse gives Yoongi his prescription bag. Yoongi takes it reluctantly. Still stunned with the convo they just had with the doctor.

" I think you went to the wrong doctor, Yoongi-ssi and Seokjin-ssi", the doctor states, gaining a confused frown from them both. The mid-age man chuckles, "I would recommend you to the ob-gyn. That's where are you supposed to get checked on, even though i could give you a brief explanation and some temporary medication for your symptoms now"

"Uhm, i'm sorry sir, i think i'm not following you?", Seokjin opened his mouth, voicing for Yoongi's confusion too.

The doctor chuckles again, " Yoongi-ssi, there's no disease nor sickness in your body. If it's any 'something', that's your baby", the doctor explains slowly, the smile hasn't left his face.

Yoongi blinks multiple times in realization, " Oh."

The two boys stare at each other blankly.

A pregnant pause followed.

" What?" Yoongi says.

" What?", Seokjin replied. "You mean-"

"Yes, Yoongi-ssi here is 5 weeks along. Congratulations for both of you"

#bts sickfic #bts emeto #tw emeto #tw vomit #sick!yoongi #caretaker!seokjin #and again another mpreg fic

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p-artsypants · 3 years

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I’ll Handle This (13)

In Which There’s Cheese

Ao3 | FF.net

Trigger or Squick warning: Man has done some messed up stuff in the pursuit of perfect cheese. And what is cheese but moldy, rotten milk? This chapter contains some very foul and nasty descriptions of actual cheese that people eat. So if eating rotting food makes you uncomfortable, best skip to the end of this chapter.

(Spoiler: Plagg gives Lila really gross cheese. She eats it, and has to run out of the room to vomit.)

“—so the best way to level up is to get a skill up to 100, and then legendary it back down to 15, so then you can use the skill perks on another ability that’s harder to level up. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m on level 106 and trying to fill up all my skill trees by using smithing, speech, enchanting, lock picking, and blocking.”

Day three of Lila’s torment, and there was presumably no end in sight.

Had she known from the beginning that Adrien Agreste was this big of a nerd and completely socially inept, she wouldn’t have talked to him at all.

Funny how people looked less attractive the more annoying they got.

And she had tried. She had sincerely tried to get him to shut up. She told him, “I’m sorry Adrien, I’m just not that interested in this video game.”

“Well, you’ve just never played it before! You should come over this weekend—no, actually, I think we should go to your place. When you aren’t grounded anymore. Your mom seemed to really like me!”

Of course she did. Her mother likes anyone who’s a ‘good influence’ on her precious baby. And nothing like Paris’ golden boy to fill that bubble.

Her mom probably preferred that Adrien was so naïve and oblivious.

The bell rang for lunch, and Lila was up and out of her seat without another word. She was tired of the games. Skyrim, Magic: The Gathering, and trying to salvage a friendship with the dumb blond. But Adrien usually ate lunch at home or with Marinette, at least he had been, so lunch was her time to recharge! She’d take her place in the throne room that was the cafeteria and have everyone’s attention. With an hour of that, she could certainly put up with whatever Adrien had to tell her the next half of the day.

In the cafeteria, most seats were taken. The two open seats were at a table with Alya, Nino, and Marinette. Of course Lila wasn’t thrilled with Marinette, but she’d leave eventually, and someone else would hear her tales and come to sit with them.

“Hey guys! Do you mind if I sit with you?” Lila smiled, all friendly-like.

“Not at all, Lila, take a seat!” Alya welcomed.

Marinette and Nino kept their poker faces as she sat down.

“So Alya, I had this amazing idea for an article for the Ladyblog, and I bet I could get some quotes from Ladybug for it too.”

“Or really?” Alya squealed. “That would be amazing! So what’s the idea?”

“Basically—“

“WHO WANTS SOME CHEESE?!” Plagg sang as he took his spot in the last remaining seat, right next to Lila.

She wanted to die.

“Cheese?” Said Nino, intrigued.

“Yeah! I have been dying to give you guys a cheese tasting, and wouldn’t you know it? All my best buds are all together! So it’s perfect!”

Lila cautiously relaxed. Cheese tastings were just as fancy as wine tastings. Maybe this would be a break and a peek into Adrien’s refinement. She could handle this.

“Okay, so for you three,” Plagg gestured to Nino, Alya, and Marinette, “I have some more...beginner cheeses. They’re still extremely tasty, but more mild for a less refined palette.”

“You calling me unrefined?” Nino glared.

“I see what you eat. And yes.”

“Touché.”

“And for you, Lila, you mentioned that two weeks ago, you had dinner with Wolfgang Puck himself. I assumed you could handle more advanced cheeses.”

Advanced cheeses? “Oh, well, yes of course. I’ve done a few cheese tastings before. Maybe not with the same quality of cheeses as you have...”

“Then this will be a walk in the park.” He unzipped the lunchbox he had brought with him, and handed out three orange cubes to the ‘beginners’. “Alright, so first, we have a whiskey cheddar. Whiskey is fermented in oak barrels that can only be used once. So they’re sold to beer, coffee, and cheese makers. The cheese is stored in the barrels and the remnants of the whiskey seep in and give it almost a spicy flavor.”

They all took a bite, chewing thoughtfully, humming in content.

“Oh wow, I think I can taste the whiskey! That’s really good!”

“I’d put this on crackers and eat a whole box! This is really good!”

“I’m not a huge fan of cheddar,” stated Marinette, “but maybe I just haven’t been trying the right stuff, because this is awesome!”

“I’m glad you like it!” Plagg beamed. “And for Lila,” he opened a container and a smell emanated immediately. It smelled like rotten armpit. “This is finely aged Limburger, aged to three months. It’s imperative that you take in the scent of the cheese first, before eating it. Don’t waft it, just breathe it in.”

Lila took the offered container, sparing it a withering glance before she inhaled.

If her face could have melted off, it would have.

“It…smells like rotten feet.”

“Ah yes, Brevibacterium linens. This is a smear-washed cheese that gets a fresh coating of bacteria that prevents mold and helps the maturing process. As a food connoisseur, you’re getting the peak time of maturity. I usually let it mature longer than this still, so it gets really runny, like camembert~…” At the very name, Plagg moaned in a way that was inappropriate for young ears. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, I got swept away in the moment. Oh right! Limburger, you eat it with your nose. Take another whiff!”

“I’m good.”

“Another whiff I say!”

Lila inhaled, and her whole body shuddered.

“Perfect. Now you can eat it.”

She popped the sample in her mouth, and swallowed quickly, shuddering the whole time.

“Good?”

“Hmm mmm…”

“Oh! I forgot to mention, the bacteria that that cheese is smeared with is the same that grows on your feet, that’s what makes the cheese stink!”

Lila made a face of disgust and turned a little green.

“Great! Round two!” He placed little samples in front of the other three first. “Okay, so this is a little more advanced. This is scamorza, which is much like Mozzarella, but it has a distinct smokey flavor. I think it tastes kind of like wood fired pizza.”

“It does!” Nino cried, savoring each little nibble. “Oh my god this is so good!”

Alya took a bit of tomato out of her sandwich and ate that with the cheese. “Oh, that is just like wood fired pizza. I’d love to try this warm! You have to get more of this!”

Plagg grinned. “And you, Marinette?”

Marinette was still chewing, and just nodded with closed eyes and a contented sigh.

“Awesome! I personally think scamorza is too mild, but it’s still very good. So for Lila I have another advanced taste.” He took out another sealed container and popped the lid. The smell wasn’t as brutal as the Limburger, but it was still potent. “This is Casu Marzu, a Sardinian delicacy. So it should sound familiar to you, since you’re from Italy and all. It’s made from sheep’s milk. Oh! And it’s illegal, so this sample is from a ‘friend’ who will not be named.”

Lila held the container a little away from her face and peered at it with hesitation. Her lip curled up in disgust, before she gave Plagg an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Adrien. It looks like this cheese has gone bad.” And she pushed the container back towards him.

He looked in it. “It looks fine to me. They’re alive. That’s a good thing.”

“Adrien, those are maggots.”

“Cheese fly maggots, to be exact,” he corrected. “They’re introduced to the cheese to help break down the fat in the milk.” He pushed the container back in front of her. “I mean, it’s not any more gross than escargot, or caviar, or grasshopper, or tequila worms, you know?”

She looked back at the worms, her lip trembling. “This is a delicacy?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t bring bad cheese in for a laugh.” He took out a spoon and scooped out a little cheese, worms and all, and spread it on a piece of flatbread. Then he ate it. “Ohhh that’s good!”

“I…” She cast one more look at the container and confessed, “I’m sorry Adrien. I just can’t do it. It’s too gross for me.”

“Oh,” said Plagg, with genuine sadness in his voice. “Okay I guess...anyone else want to try?”

Marinette, who was always looking for a chance to show up Lila, offered up, “I’ll give it a try.”

Plagg’s eyes widened with glee. “You will?!”

“Sure. Even if it’s gross, I can say I tried it. Not everyday you get to eat illegal cheese. And you ate some, afterall.”

“Yes! I promise it’ll be worth it! You just have to thoroughly chew it to kill the maggots.”

Marinette scrunched up her nose. “Can I...kind of eat around the worms?”

“You can try.”

So to Marinette’s credit, she did eat some of the cheese, though it was picked through, and she scraped what she could off with a knife. Then she spread a little on a larger piece of bread, more bread than cheese obviously, then chewed her sample thoroughly.

“Well?” Asked Plagg, bouncing in his seat. “I think it’s kind of like Camembert and Gorgonzola had a baby. A rotten, decaying baby.”

“Mmm hmmm.” Marinette nodded, her lips shut tight. Once she swallowed, she downed a huge swig of her water, swishing around in her mouth first.

“That bad, huh?” Asked Alya.

“No no, it actually tasted really really good. And I couldn’t feel the worms or anything. I just couldn’t get over the idea that they were there. You know?”

“It’s scary!” Plagg assured. “I know it freaked me out when I was a kid, but if it wasn’t worth it, they wouldn’t make it!”

“You’re wicked brave, Marinette.” Nino patted her on the back.

She chuckled. “Alright. Do you have any more samples so I can cleanse my palette?”

“Oh yep! Last round!” He set out three more samples. “So this is Cantal. It’s from Cantal, France, obviously. And it’s often thought of as a dessert cheese, as it’s got a sort of spicy sweet taste, or like hazelnuts. Oh, and you’ll want to eat it with these apple slices. This is a young wheel, only two months old.”

Contented hums filled the air as the three munched on the sweet, buttery, fruity delight.

Plagg felt extremely pleased that he convinced Adrien’s friends to eat cheese. And he was especially proud of Marinette for eating the best, most amazing cheese of all time. If casu marzu wasn’t an absolute pain to get ahold of, and if it were more portable, he’d demand Adrien to get him that instead of Camembert.

But, as it was, they had to go with more convenient cheeses.

“I think I’m all cheesed out...” said Lila.

“Dude, you only actually had one sample. You can’t bow out now!”

At this point, especially after the maggots, a small crowd had assembled around the table to observe the tasting. And if anyone would cave under peer pressure, it was Lila.

“Well, I suppose I could try one more...”

“Perfect! Because this last sample is really special!” He placed the little white flecked square in front of her. “This is my take on pepper jack cheese.”

“Wait, you made this?” She asked.

“Yep! I figured that if I love eating cheese so much, I should make my own!”

“So what’s it made of?” Lila asked, hesitant.

“You have to guess! I want to see if you can guess the milk and the pepper. It’s part cow milk, obviously, but I wanted a different flavor that you don’t get with most semi hard cheeses.”

“And there’s no bugs in it?”

Plagg laughed. “Nope, no bugs!”

Feeling a bit better, Lila brought the sample up to her mouth. The smell was subtle, a little spicy, a little milky. Not at all like the last two.

She bit the sample in half, and chewed thoughtfully. “It’s...kind of sweet...but the spice is...” she blinked a few times, her face turning red and eyes watering. “It’s hot. It’s really hot!” She ate the other half, and then regretted it. “Ugh! I shouldn’t have done that!” She swallowed and downed her little carton of milk, but the heat wouldn’t leave. It kept getting worse and worse!

“What did you put in there?! What was that?!”

Plagg looked confused. “It’s really that spicy?”

“My mouth hurts!! It hurts to talk!”

“All it is is Carolina Reaper and Breast Milk.”

Lila was up and out like a bolt, running to the bathroom to hurl.

Marinette likewise, had to leave the room, as her uproarious laughing at Lila’s suffering would have looked really bad.

—

(If you were looking for the cheese free section of the chapter, this is it!)

Lila didn’t return to class immediately. In fact, it was two periods later when she finally returned. Her face was flushed and her eyes bloodshot, and she had a wet spot on her shirt. Before everyone settled in, she claimed Adrien’s old seat, right up front.

“Sorry,” she croaked, her voice hoarse after retching so much. “Vomiting usually exacerbates my tinnitus. I hope you don’t mind if I sit up front, Adrien.”

Nino answered, “oh dude, you can have my spot. That way you and Adrien can still sit together!”

Lila’s eyes widened slightly in horror, but before she could protest, Alya slid into the spare seat. She was unfortunately not in on the plan, and was picking up all the blatant body language Plagg was ignoring. “I think Lila needs a little girl time, after her rough lunchtime experience.”

Marinette silently scooted over into Alya’s spot, so that Plagg could sit right behind Lila. It wasn’t ideal, but it would work. Nino gave them both a silent thumbs up and took the open spot in the back of the room.

Lila let out a sigh of relief.

“You okay, girl?” Alya asked.

“Yeah.” She said shortly. Lila was done with the day. She would have gone home if she thought her mom would believe the cheese story, but as it was, she was already in hot water. She just needed to make it through the last two periods, and she’d be okay. Maybe she could convince her mom that she was sick and stay home tomorrow? I would be worth a try. She just needed some time away from Adrien. He was much too much.

As if reading her mind, Plagg leaned forward in his seat and spoke softly to her. “So I wanted to tell you about Stalhrim. It’s a material they added in the DLC, and you can learn how to craft with it, but it’s triggered by a quest. The first time I played the game, the person who was supposed to give the quest was killed by a lurker. Hold on, let me backup, so there are these huge monoliths call Standing Stones, and they all give you special abilities, like the Steed Stone let’s you carry things and the Apprentice Stone lets you learn magic quicker—“

As he talked, Lila’s fingers curled into the surface of the desk. His words didn’t even make any sense anymore, it was just this droning sound that wouldn’t stop.

“So in the DLC, the stones are totally different, right? And there’s this bad dude named Miraack and he’s also a Dragonborn. You remember what a Dragonborn is, right? Except this one is bad and he’s brainwashing the people on the island of Solstheim. Oh right, the whole DLC takes place on a separate island—“

The whole two weeks had been a camel. And each little rant or pushed boundary Adrien forced was another piece of straw piling up. Just then, it was like that fragile spine snapped, and something in Lila went from ‘playing the long game’ to ‘MURDER’.

“SHUT UP!” Lila screamed, pounding her fists on the table. “OH MY GOD JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!” She stood and whirled around to glare at him. “Adrien, you are the single most obnoxious person I have ever met! You just don’t know when to shut up! Are you dense? Are you retarded? How can you not see that I literally cannot give a flying eff about anything you say?! I was trying to be your friend because I thought it would be an easy way to fame. Then I felt sorry for you because of how awkward you are. Now? It’s not worth it. It’s not worth pretending to think you’re interesting when you aren’t. It’s not worth trying to ease back and deal with everyone wondering what happened. Everyone in class would wonder why we weren’t talking anymore, and I’d have to come up with more lies to get away from you, and I just don’t want to deal with that! You’re not worth it, okay? You are so selfish and annoying! Is this why your dad kept you home schooled all your life? Because he needs to lock you right back up! You are a menace!” She swung back around for a moment to gather her belongings. “I can’t even be in the same room as you anymore. I’m so done with you and your stupid rants about stupid video games! And what kind of weirdo is that obsessed with cheese?! You ate maggots for Christ sake! You’re disgusting! If you weren’t attractive, I bet your father would have regretted having you, if he hasn’t already!” She moved to the door quickly. “I’m asking to change classes, effective immediately. I suggest everyone run while you still can!” Then she caught Marinette’s eye. “Listen, I dislike you almost as much as him, but you don’t want him, Marinette. He’s an absolute freak. Look at him! He’s wearing that stupid ramen themed sweat suit! You know what? Forget it! I’m out!” And she left, slamming the door behind her.

No one had the nerve to speak after she left. It was just too big of a can of worms, no one wanted to open it.

The silence was broken by a high pitched whine, followed by a sob.

Though Marinette knew it was Plagg faking it, the sight of tears on Adrien’s face made her heart hurt.

“Oh Adrien...”

“You still like me, right Marinette?” He blubbered.

She hugged him. “Of course, Adrien. I love you.”

That seemed to be the words to break the spell and the classmates descended on him like vultures.

“You’re not annoying, Adrien!” Someone protested.

“You’re the coolest!”

“I love talking video games with you!”

“That cheese testing was really fun!”

“Who cares if you struggle with social cues? We all do! You do better than most, even for being homeschooled!”

“Lila admitted she was in the friendship for fame, her opinion doesn’t matter!”

Marinette whispered in his ear. “Nicely done, but I was not expecting that blow up.”

“Thanks, I was hoping she’d crack soon. That was just as violent as I had expected of her.”

“You okay? Those look like genuine tears.”

Plagg wiped his face as the rest of the class started to back off. “I’m okay,” he whispered. “Just hurts to hear someone be so cruel to my kitten.”

He glanced at the ring, hoping to see the final pad gone, and the one minute wait to switch back initiated.

But alas, no. The third pad was still there.

Lila wasn’t finished yet.

#miraculous ladybug #I'll handle this #fanfiction #adrien and plagg #plagg #adrien agreste #adrienette #ml #chat noir

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perfectlymarilynmonroe · 4 years

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Marilyn Monroe + Diet & Food

Throughout the majority of her life, she maintained a consistent, healthy diet. Like all of us, she indulged in some sweets and took breaks from her diet, but she knew the demands of being a star. She was consistent in her controlled diet and was able to stick to it when necessary.

She was never finicky about food, she later said that made it easy on her foster parents when she was a little girl, she could eat whatever anyone put in front of her. However, as she aged, if the food resembled too much of an animal, a chicken, or fish, she refused to eat it.

As a model, she ate raw hamburgers, peanut butter, hot dogs, chili, crackers. In 1948 she told her boyfriend, Fred Karger, “I have grapefruit and coffee for breakfast, and cottage cheese for lunch. Some days I get by with just a little over a dollar a day for food.”

In the 50s, a typical day started with some kind of juice — orange or grapefruit — eggs, followed by no lunch, or a light two tablespoons of cottage cheese lunch, and some kind of lean meat for dinners like steak, lamb, or liver. She drank milk, water to stay hydrated, and treated herself with drinks like Coca-Cola or champagne/sherry.

In 1952, she told Pageant magazine, “My biggest single concern used to be getting enough to eat,” when she was just starting out, and later she had to watch what she ate.

According to Pageant, for breakfast she drank a cup of milk and whipped up two raw eggs into it with a fork. She ate nothing for lunch, and for dinner she’d pick up a steak, lamb or liver, which she broiled with raw carrots. For a snack, she loved hot fudge sundaes, "I'm sure that I couldn't allow myself this indulgence were it not that my normal diet is composed almost totally of protein foods,” she said.

On first date with Joe DiMaggio, she ate anchovies on pimento, spaghetti al dente, and scallopini of veal.

In 1953, she said that due to having to maintain her figure, it caused her to turn “anemic since all this happened — I have to drink raw liver juice and stir uncooked eggs into my milk. And I eat steak for breakfast every morning.”

While filming River of No Return in Canada, she loved to eat lobster.

During the time she was married to Joe DiMaggio, she tried her hand at his favorite Italian dishes and steak. During an interview, she admitted, “I’m learning, a little slow...” at cooking his steak. In Korea, she ate cheese sandwiches and cakes the troops brought for her.

In 1955, after she left Hollywood and began a new life in New York, she went off of her diet for a bit. She ate delicious foods like tomatoes, stewed corn, string beans, red cabbage with apple, winter squash, and her favorite late-night snack, scrambled eggs with anchovies and capers. When it was freezing she’d warm up with a bowl of chili.

That same year, when she was about to cook for the Strasberg family she broke down in tears, “I can’t cook it if it looks like a chicken. The poor thing was alive, and they killed it, it had a mother. I can’t cook it unless it’s cut up into pieces…”

While married to Arthur Miller, she continued to relinquish her diet. She loved cooking for him and his two children, making her own noodles and different Jewish delicacies. A typical breakfast was three poached eggs, toast, a Bloody Mary, for lunch was salami and cheese sandwiches. Her weight gain during those years, 1956-end 1960, coincided with her pregnancies that tragically ended in miscarriages.

In the late 50s, early 60s, she suffered from gastrointestinal problems which affected her diet. She suffered from stomach ailments and from violent vomiting episodes. After her gallbladder surgery, in 1961, some of the pain was alleviated, and she went on a restrictive diet. She ate a lot of proteins, veggies, and as few carbohydrates as possible. Her weight loss, due to the surgery, inspired her to maintain that lost weight.

During that time, a typical day started with, again, a juice, some toast or egg yolks, a light lunch, and fettucini leon or a steak for dinner. Her last breakfast, on August 4th, was grapefruit juice. That day she didn’t eat much.

In 1962, she told George Barris: “I love food as long as it has flavor. It’s flavorless food I can’t stand. I usually have a steak and a green salad for my dinner, also for breakfast when I’m really hungry. I keep away from pastries—I used to love them, and ice cream, too. I skip all desserts unless it’s fruit. I just don’t like the taste of pastries. as a kid I did, but now I hate it—and as for candy, I can take it or leave it, usually leave it. But I love champagne—just give me champagne and good food, and I’m in heaven and love. That’s what makes the world go round.”

Her favorite foods were steak and greens, spaghetti, eggs/egg whites, caviar, and her guilty pleasure good was hot dogs! For drinks, she loved Coca-Cola and 1953 Dom Perignon. She hated olives.

“I believe your body should make your clothes look good - instead of using clothes to make the body conform to what is considered fashionable at the moment, distorted or not.” – Marilyn Monroe to Movieland Magazine in 1952.

#marilyn monroe #vintage #1950s #food #diet #old hollywood #celebs #icons

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vickyvicarious · 4 years

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Eliot sweet talking Nana into sharing her secret family recipes so he can get more vegetables into both Hardison and Parker.

I was just going to write a short headcanon post about this but then the first line popped into my mind along with a line about Eliot utilizing his retrieval skills, and then next thing I knew this was a fic. First in this fandom so go easy on me.

(AO3 link.)

The carrot cake was the final straw.

Eliot knew his partners had terrible diets, okay? It was impossible for anyone to miss that, the way Hardison would just fill up any empty space in any fridge with orange soda, or Parker would get more cereal than was physically possible to store in the cupboard until there was at least one box permanently sitting on the table. He was well aware, and he’d been taking steps for a while to deal with matters.

He bought Hardison a fridge of his own - a mini fridge - and just poured out any soda he found anywhere else. He impressed upon Parker that just this shelf was for cereal and solemnly swore to her that he would never let it get beyond half-empty before filling it again. In the meantime, he filled the rest of his kitchen with actual ingredients, and always had a bowl of fruit out so they would have something healthy as an easy-to-grab snack. He didn’t put anything Parker liked hidden on a high shelf, because she’d find that fun; just small decoy portions while he kept most of his chocolate inside an old Wheat Thins box at the back of the cracker shelf. Speaking of chips, if he opened the bag of a good brand, then Hardison would gravitate toward it once he’d finished his Cheetos instead of going out to buy more, so that was just a matter of letting him buy one bag and then watching the level and timing when to get the other stuff out.

They both ate meat well enough, though Hardison liked to put in requests for absolutely sacrilegious misuses of various cuts; when Eliot humored him and actually destroyed his fish or brisket or whatever else as requested, he actually did seem to enjoy it, which was... very wrong, and disappointing, but at least the food was still going in his body. Parker quite liked some types of pasta now, and she seemed to enjoy when he put effort into plating things up nicely, but she was still a work in progress on any actual mealtime like a family (or a date. Not that Eliot hadn’t had to eat on the run plenty of times before, but - he’d had to. You don’t walk in to a table set for multiple healthy, delicious, innovative courses he’d been cooking for hours and then just grab bites as you wander around the room! He’d had wine out! Norah Jones playing softly in the background! No candles because he wasn’t an idiot, but it was clearly a romantic meal! What the hell kind of untrained toddler behaviour-).

Breakfast was easy, since they both liked eggs and there were a lot of ways to go from there. Breakfast potatoes were a hit too, and bacon, and they’d even eat oatmeal if he smothered it in sugar so that was something. For lunch, Hardison at least appreciated a good sandwich. Granted, usually only a stolen one because he didn’t like to make any kind of food at all that didn’t come out of a plastic package with microwave instructions on the side (and that had been an argument for the ages, the microwave one. Frankly most things could be heated better on a pan or in an oven, and those that were meant for the microwave were usually mass-produced garbage Hardison really didn’t need in his diet, but he disagreed vehemently and in the end that was one battle Eliot had definitively lost), but once Eliot caught on, he just started making double whatever he ate. Parker scoffed at the idea of lunch, for some reason, claiming that a granola bar or a brownie would get her through till dinner, but if he packed a lunchbox to look interesting and then gave it to her, she’d usually eat it. He just stocked up on bento boxes and made various kinds of colorful and/or childish looking foods and they came back mostly empty so that was good enough.

(Hardison claimed to have gotten jealous about it. Eliot was pretty certain he was making fun of him, so obviously he said he’d be caught dead before packing a lunch for him. He was a grown man and could do it himself.

“She’s a grown woman!” he complained, pointing at Parker, who was sitting perched on the back of an armchair nibbling away at her kraken bento - black noodle limbs, gyoza face, and grabbing a little egg scuba diver. “Sh-she should have to - this is discrimination!”

“Stay away from my octopus,” she squinted menacingly. When Hardison just glared mulishly back, she hugged the food closer to her chest. “It’s not for you, this is my little dead man.”

She popped the egg into her mouth and chewed, never breaking eye contact.

He turned back to Eliot to complain some more, but apparently that was only an attempt to fake her out, because he tried to grab the gyoza barehanded and she screeched, flinging her chopsticks at his face before fleeing across the room. Noodles got everywhere, Hardison had two little round bruises on his cheek the next morning, and somehow Eliot wound up packing everyone lunches every morning after that, and putting notes on them to label who each one went to.

He did not put sappy notes instead the boxes. He wasn’t their parent, okay. The notes inside the lunch were only ever reminders they needed for the con, like Parker’s character’s peanut allergy and how she needed to have the attack exactly two minutes after the mark joined her at the break table, or for Hardison to lock Lucille II behind him because even if he could track down someone who took off in her, he really shouldn’t have to again.)

Anyway, Eliot had something of a system down at this point. It wasn’t perfect, but it was workable for the most part. The one exception was vegetables, which they both hated. He’d tried to hide them several times, but they often picked them out or he just couldn’t stand to puree broccoli into a little garnish/dip just because his girlfriend and boyfriend were both giant babies about actually eating them whole. He had to eat the food too, and he enjoyed himself some veggies like any sane person would. They ate the ones hidden in their lunches almost half of the time, and sometimes other varieties, so he tried not to focus on that too much. Baby steps, he thought. First regular meals at all, then vegetables later.

But the carrot cake.

That was just too much.

It was cake. It was covered in cream cheese frosting. Carrot cake wasn’t anything but decadent, at least not the way Eliot made it for Hardison’s birthday. It was sweet, had just the right texture from the roasted pecans, the perfect hint of cinnamon and ginger. Not a complicated dish by any means, but pretty well near perfect, in Eliot’s no goddamn need to be humble opinion.

Hardison scrunched up his nose.

“Oh,” he said, not accepting the large slice Eliot tried to give him. “Eliot, I’m hoping this is a joke and you have my Red Velvet in the fridge?”

Parker let him hand her the plate, ate a bite, spat it out, then just started eating straight frosting off all the sides.

Eliot could feel his hands twitching. He very carefully set down the knife.

“What’s wrong with my cake?” he asked. Gave them the benefit of the doubt, and tried a bite: delicious.

“I mean... it’s a carrot cake,” Hardison said delicately, as though Eliot had made some kind of mistake and he felt a little bad pointing it out to him.

“So?”

“Carrot, Eliot.”

“Cake, HARDISON.”

“I like the frosting,” Parker interjected, and Eliot glanced over to her. She’d moved on from her own plate and was just scraping fingerfuls of frosting directly off the top of the cake. His cake. His cake for Hardison’s birthday, his beautiful cake -

“Babe, we love you but you gotta know vegetables don’t have any place in a dessert, that’s just wrong. C’mon, you really didn’t make me something else? Really?”

“THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!” Eliot bellowed and stormed out of the apartment. He took the cake with him.

He brought it to Sophie and Nate, since they were in town and they weren’t insane like some people he knew.

“People you’ve, uh, chosen to dedicate the rest of your life to,” Nate pointed out around a mouthful. “I mean, you knew what they were like.”

“Oh, hush, Nate, don’t you get it? They’ve hurt Eliot’s feelings,” Sophie explained. She ate another bite, hummed approvingly, then waved her fork around to emphasize her words: “For Eliot, food is life. He wants them to lead long and healthy lives, he wants to live with them and show his love for them and keep them safe, and they just rejected that. It’s not all about the vegetables, y’know?”

Eliot was never sure whether he loved Sophie best or least of all.

“It’s definitely all about the vegetables,” he said, crossing his arms. The pair of them exchanged a look and then smiled at him warmly, like he’d just done something cute.

“Fine! Forget it,” he snarled, pushing himself roughly to his feet.

Behind him, Nate grunted the distinctive grunt of someone receiving a pointy elbow to the side, then cleared his throat.

“Okay, okay - wait! Wait, all right, I might have one idea.” When he turned back, Nate was rubbing thoughtfully at his chin. “You’ve tried featuring the veggies, right, and hiding them. I’m sure you’ve lectured them both to death about why they should be eating more vegetables, but that’s not going to work on them, is it, because there’s no connection there. Ad novitam is only going to get you so far, you need the, the personal touch, a little ad misericordiam if you will.”

“I am not telling them it makes me sad when they don’t eat their greens,” Eliot said firmly.

“But it does,” Sophie said lightly. She met his glare with a soft smile, and popped another bite of cake into her mouth.

“N- Well, no, obviously, but you’ve got to think it through, Eliot. Step away from the situation. How can you imbue the food itself with emotion? Not for you -” Nate spoke a little louder as Eliot started to answer, “you’re not our mark here. What kind of food, with vegetables, is going make them feel an emotional connection?”

Eliot subsided, frowning down at his own plate. That... was actually a pretty good point.

“Hm, my favorite is still that little restaurant in Paris, with the exquisite quiche. But, I suppose hard-scrambled eggs are a bit of a guilty pleasure,” Sophie mused. “Mum was never any good at cooking.”

“You too?” Nate turned to her. “Yeah, my dad could set water on fire. I remember eating from my meal plan at college - the cafeteria, mind you - thinking how good the food was in comparison.”

The solution clicked into place. (Of course it did, they’d practically hand-fed it to him.)

Eliot stood up and grabbed his coat.

“Oh, are you leaving, Eliot?” Sophie asked.

“Yeah,” he said, and turned back to smirk at them. “I’m gonna go steal Hardison’s childhood.”

Once upon a time, Eliot had been a retrieval specialist. You name it, he got it back. Sometimes it was actually a they or even a them, on occasion. He’d committed arson for a pair of scissors, had gathered up a scatted set of Fabergé eggs from seven different countries and two different mafias, had traveled more than once through airport security with a live frog in his pants. The business was a strange one, but he’d been the best at it. And in the years since he left, his life hadn’t exactly gotten less weird; Leverage saw to that.

Breaking into an old woman’s home and stealing a book of recipes would be easier than taking candy from a baby. Of course, Hardison made sure to keep his Nana safe, and from everything he’d heard she could certainly take care of herself, but still it wouldn’t be any great challenge for Eliot to just break in and take what he wanted. He could do it and leave without her ever knowing he’d even been there.

He rang the doorbell, and gave her his best smile when it swung open.

“Hello ma’am, I’m Eliot. Can I come in?”

(This was Hardison’s Nana, he’d never do wrong by her like that. Anyway, it wouldn’t even work. For this he needed her direct input.)

Nana was a short, soft-looking woman. Her hair was pushed back with a purple headband, and she wore loose comfortable pants and a clearly old t-shirt covered in child-sized paint handprints. She exuded a sort of maternal air that had Eliot relaxing into the visit almost despite himself. They’d only ever spoken on the phone, and he’d admittedly felt a little awkward about his plan due to that detail alone. He knew Hardison would love for them to meet her, but it just hadn’t happened yet - honestly, Eliot had been reluctant before, worried that she would find him wanting, and he’d always been relieved that no plans had crystallized into anything solid.

Certainly, despite welcoming him in and getting them all set up on the couch with home-made lemonades, it was clear she felt suspicious. A few minutes in, she dropped the small talk altogether to pin Eliot with a steely glare.

“I’m fairly certain Alec wanted to be here when we met so he could brag some more about how hot his partners are,” she said, making Eliot flush. “And I’m just as certain nothing has happened to him, or it wouldn’t be you here to tell me, so that just leaves me confused.”

She raised an eyebrow, letting him take his time responding.

He looked down at his lap. Ran a hand through his hair, feeling... not less confident that he’d get those recipes by the end of this visit, but certainly more bashful about it.

“Uh. Yes ma’am,” he said. Quickly corrected himself, remembering her insistence over the phone, “uh, Nana. See, he doesn’t actually... know I’m here...”

“I’d guessed as much,” she said wryly.

“Right. Um, I actually wanted to ask you something. There’s something I want to do for him - well, for them - but I need your help to do it right.”

She stared him down a moment longer. Then her eyes widened, and she sat back in her seat with a little gasp, hand over her heart.

“Oh, Eliot,” she said warmly, leaning forward again to grab his hand and hold it between hers, “Oh, sweet boy, of course he’ll say yes. You should hear the way he talks about you, Alec’s been head over heels for years. I may not have met Parker personally, but I’m sure she will too. You don’t have anything to worry about, trust me on that.”

“What?” he croaked. “I... w-what?”

His voice broke in his throat. He wanted to yank away but he felt frozen in place. He didn’t understand how she’d - okay, no, he could easily see how she would draw the wrong conclusions from this situation, but they were the wrong conclusions! He’d never even considered marriage since Aimee, let alone proposing to Parker and Hardison. It wasn’t like a three-way marriage was even legal, and even if it were he would never. It was too much - not too much commitment, he’d already promised the rest of his life to them both, but still too much, somehow. He’d never dare.

“I know Alec doesn’t think too much of the institution in general,” Nana said, waving a dismissive hand, “but if you do he’ll understand that. He might not need it but he won’t say no if you ask, hon. I can promise you that.”

Eliot meant to deny the very idea. Instead what came out of his mouth was a shaky:

“...Are you sure?”

Hardison’s Nana - his Nana too, she insisted, even after Eliot finally managed to clear up the misunderstanding - was truly a gem of a woman. He could see so much of who Hardison had turned out to be in her kindness, her cleverness, her sense of humor. She’d broken out the picture albums for him, and had even kindly let him keep one photo of a gaptoothed little Alec in a horrible bowl cut, grinning proudly and brandishing a blue ribbon next to his science project. To Eliot’s complete lack of surprise, he’d won every year with zero competition from his peers.

(He told her that he wanted the picture to make fun of Hardison with. It was true, but she still just patted him on the shoulder and told him to keep it. Didn’t say a word when he tucked it into his wallet with unnecessary care.)

They talked for a long time. She gave him a journal to copy directly from her personal recipe book, a lovely clothbound thing spattered with grease and burnt at one edge, smelling of spices and old paper; clearly well used. She told him it was passed down from her mother, who’d put in lots of her mother’s recipes. Eliot took notes as she talked him through every one. He had a good memory but he didn’t want to miss a thing, and her recipes as written were bare bones. He could cook a delicious meal from them easily enough, but it wouldn’t have her heart in it, not like what he wanted to make.

Just talking could only do so much, and eventually they found themselves in the kitchen, demonstrating techniques and favored spice blends. It was nice, just in and of itself. Eliot rarely got to talk shop with other cooks, and it had been a long time since he’d eaten anything home-made by someone else. Nana never went to school for this stuff, but clearly her long years of experience carried their own weight, because she knew what she was talking about.

It was late in the night by the time Eliot left her house, feeling himself flush to his ears as she kissed him on the cheek before waving until he’d driven away. And this after wrapping him up in a tight, warm hug just inside the front door.

“Alec’s done well for himself,” she said, and winked. “Now, next time I want you to bring that young lady of yours as well, you hear me? Make that a promise.”

“I will,” he said.

It was nearly three AM by the time he got home. Parker crashed out of the dark the second he stepped inside, clinging to him as he caught her midair.

“You made Hardison sad on his birthday,” she told him sternly, and headbutted him hard on the temple. As he winced, she pressed her nose down against his shoulder and took a long sniff. “You smell like lemons.”

“You made me sad on Hardison’s birthday,” Eliot sighed. “I mean, mad.”

“Doesn’t matter, you made him sad so I’m not sorry,” she said, and snuggled close.

Eliot carried her through the apartment, avoiding bumping into any furniture through the ease of experience, and into the bedroom. Hardison was sprawled across the mattress, fast asleep with a frown.

Setting Parker down, Eliot got undressed and climbed into the bed. He scooted behind Hardison, leaning up on an elbow to swipe a gentle thumb over the furrow between his brows. It came back, so he wiped at it again, and kissed Alec’s shoulder when he huffed a little and his face relaxed. Eliot kissed him one more time, then lay down behind him with an arm draped over his side.

Rather than going around the bed to the free space on Hardison’s other side, Parker crammed herself onto the mattress right behind Eliot, pushing him further into Hardison and determinedly spooning him.

He craned his neck up to look at her in the dark. She met his gaze solemnly and squeezed tighter, slipping a leg between his.

Eliot fell asleep warm, entangled in the two loves of his life.

He woke stinking hot, still entangled but a lot less happy about it. This happened every time he slept in the middle; he didn’t know why he kept letting it happen. Every single time he’d wake abruptly, heart thrumming in an instinctive alert to something wrong... Only to realize that something was just Parker drooling on his ear, or Hardison’s morning breath in his face, and (every time) both their limbs all wrapped up around him and each other in a very sweet, sweaty, and constricting mess.

The first few times he’d suffered through it, unwilling to wake them. Still basking in the fact that he was here, that he got to be a part of this. But Hardison slept like the dead, and Parker had the ability to wake up and go back to sleep pretty much indefinitely, so Eliot had no compunctions about shoving them aside anymore. He also knew that the other two were night owls who would happily sleep in to eight or even ten if left undisturbed. Eliot woke habitually at five regardless of how late he’d been up, maybe six at the latest; morning snuggles just really weren’t practical.

He wriggled free, clambering over Parker and catching her when the bed dipped and she nearly fell to the floor. Her eyes shot open, clocked him, then dropped shut as she went right back to sleep. He left them there and went to go take a shower, then wandered into the kitchen, grabbing up his new cookbook from his jacket pocket on the way.

Eliot was operating on only a couple hours of sleep; Nana didn’t exactly live next door, and he was frankly lucky he’d got out the cake relatively early in the afternoon, to be able to catch her awake at all. It wasn’t like he’d ruined Hardison’s whole birthday, just that last part they’d set aside for the three of them. They had already hung out with Nate and Sophie in the morning, and Hardison had a long phone call with Nana even before that. Parker had even given Hardison her present: a little statuette originally from a museum in Delhi if Eliot wasn’t mistaken. It was some god or something, but bore a striking resemblance to an Ewok, a detail she’d correctly guessed Hardison would love. He’d been planning on giving his present after the cake, at which point they were going to, on Hardison’s specific request, have a very normal and boring date at home. There had been a lot of jobs lately, so that must have tied into his desire for domesticity - that and ‘birthday rights’ to force them to watch all his nerd movies and lose at various video games.

They hadn’t planned anything for today either, so it wasn’t like those plans couldn’t still happen... And in fact yesterday hadn’t even been Hardison’s real birthday, just the replacement day they’d agreed to celebrate on when a con ran through the actual day. But in the cold light of day he felt a lot more stupid about taking a vegetable-related risk on Hardison’s cake, and then reacting stupidly when they didn’t like it. To be fair, he hadn’t considered it a risk at all, hadn’t even been thinking of his ongoing quest to feed them better so much as the fact that carrot cakes were good and he knew Hardison liked cream cheese frosting - but still. Sophie may have hit the nail on the head, but it was still a stupid and immature nail to let get in the way like he’d done.

He had to at least try to make it up to him.

Accordingly, the breakfast casserole Eliot put together was about as far removed from a healthy meal as any non-dessert in Nana’s cookbook. A baked blueberry French toast creation with lots of sugar, it actually was more of a dessert than anything else. It also took hours in the fridge, but that was alright; not the first time Eliot getting up so much earlier came in handy.

He took the time that it spent in the fridge to clean the apartment. He got out his gift to Hardison, swept and mopped and watered all the plants. Did some laundry, meditated a bit. Pretty much just puttered around for hours, steadily feeling worse and worse about his outburst the day before. Parker had been accepting if not forgiving, and didn’t need an explanation; Hardison might not feel the same. Eliot didn’t expect him to; he was the one clearly in the wrong. He really couldn’t regret the outcome of meeting Nana and getting her recipes, but it should have been on any other day.

He managed to time the casserole just to when the other two got up; just as Eliot pulled it from the oven, Parker wandered into the room.

“Ooh!” she said, and approached with a clear intent to stick her fingers directly into the hot food. Eliot intercepted her with a glare and a whap with his oven-mitt. She retaliated with a vicious pinch to the back of his hand and grabbed a blueberry off the top, tossing it into her mouth and wincing as she burnt herself chewing it.

“Quit that, it’s Hardison’s,” he told her.

“Hardison!” Parker yelled in what appeared to be terror, because of course she would. “I need your help right now!”

He came tumbling into the room, still only half-dressed and clumsily wielding Parker’s taser at the couch. When he saw only the two of them calmly watching him, he attempted to hide it behind his back.

“Oh hey, what’s up everyone,” he said nonchalantly. “Breakfast? Awesome. Smells like something Nana used to make.”

Parker went over and kissed him as she stole the taser out of his hand. She held it up in front of his face.

“Mine,” she scolded.

“Hey, I was ready to defend your life,” Hardison said, mock-offended. “What, you want me to run into an ambush empty-handed? Come on, baby, look who you’re talking to.”

“If you’d let Eliot teach you MMA like me then -”

“Then what, you’d use it as an excuse to choke me out again? I know what you’re after, I recognize that look in your eyes -”

“Hey, come’n eat.” Eliot put two full plates of breakfast casserole down on the island. He braced himself, ready for Hardison to keep giving him the silent treatment or outright call him out on his behavior.

It didn’t happen.

“Morning Eliot,” he said as he came over to grab a stool. He leaned across the island; when Eliot was too surprised to meet him halfway, he rolled his eyes and reached out a hand to grab his face and pull it close enough for a quick kiss. Then he plopped down into his seat, inhaling deeply at his food. “Oh man, this smells exactly like Nana’s Blueberry Thing, I loved that as a kid. How’d you know?”

Eliot slowly sank down from his tiptoes. His stomach hurt a little from being yanked up against the edge of the island, his lips still felt the impression of Hardison’s. He... really didn’t understand.

“Uh, Nana said you liked it best,” he replied a little too woodenly. Neither of his partners seemed to notice.

“You been talkin’ to her without me?” Hardison asked, before taking a bite and moaning. It wasn’t a sex moan - Eliot knew what those sounded like - but it was damn near. “Did you turn into her? What the hell, this is it, this is the Blueberry Thing!”

Parker was at her own plate the moment Eliot said Nana; she was always fascinated by any mention of the woman, and would probably taze him for meeting her first. Right now, she was digging into her own plate, eyes closed.

Eliot cut himself a serving too and sat down to eat with them. He felt tentative, somehow, embarrassed.

“Yeah,” he grunted. “Went to talk to her last night. Got some recipes.”

The food was good. Sweet, warm, filling; clearly a comfort meal. He dug in.

When he looked up, Parker and Hardison were both staring at him. She opened her mouth, paused, and then fell silent with a glance to Hardison. He was staring at Eliot, mouth open.

“What the hell, hon?”

Eliot clenched his jaw. He knew what he should say. He’d spent all morning prepping himself to say it.

“...You never opened my present,” he said instead.

Hardison squinted at him.

“Yeah, I wasn’t gonna without you there,” he said pointedly.

“Right, well, here,” Eliot said and shoved it his direction before going back to his food. He could feel them staring at him but didn’t lift his head, kept shoveling bite after bite into his mouth as he heard Hardison final tearing at the wrapping paper, grumbling incoherently to himself.

A moment later, the angry mumbles got louder when he opened the first box to reveal the second one.

By the time Hardison got down to the final layer, a small paper booklet six boxes in, Parker was snickering rudely and his muttering was about half swear-words. Eliot still didn’t look up, kept waiting until Hardison actually read the gift.

(He’d thought it would be funny, obviously. He’d thought it would be hilarious, to watch Hardison getting more and more irritated by the wrapping paper. And he knew the gift itself wasn’t anything much, but Eliot usually prided himself on being good at getting people things they didn’t know they wanted, or didn’t think they’d ever get. He knew it was childish and kind of stupid right from the jump, but money didn’t really mean too much to Hardison, and he was confident he’d love this.

After his behavior last night, he wasn’t so sure anymore. Immaturity took on a different tone right now.)

“‘Eliot Tickets,’“ he heard Hardison read off slowly, then - “no.”

He glanced up sharply, but it’d been a sound of delight. Hardison’s eyes were wide and he was flipping through the pages rapidly with an ever-widening grin.

“No nerd jokes for twenty-four hours, back massage, favorite food, favorite sex, get-out-of-scolding free, dessert for dinner, oh my god Comic-Con?! Get to play with your hair, get to pick your cover, computer lessons, videogames, sleeping in, what kind of goldmine is this -”

Parker leaned over his shoulder as he kept going, pointing out her favorites as they worked their way quickly through the rest of the little booklet. It wasn’t horrendously long, but long enough: one ticket for every year. Twenty-eight in all.

Twenty-nine, including the piece of paper Eliot had slipped in front of the last page at seven-thirty this morning, before carefully re-wrapping every box.

“‘One I’m sorry,’” Parker read out loud. She met Eliot’s eyes as she asked, “Are you gonna use it?”

Hardison hummed thoughtfully, then picked it up to reveal the last page.

“No, I’mma save this for just the right time,” he said, waving it in the air. He looked Eliot in the eye and smirked meaningfully. “You messed up, man, you didn’t put an expiration date on any of these.”

“Dammit,” Eliot grumbled, like he’d just realized.

(It hadn’t been a mistake.)

“Don’t need that right now anyway,” Hardison continued, tucking it back into the middle of the book. “This, on the other hand - this one I’m cashing in now.”

Eliot took the little piece of paper Hardison ripped free. He sighed.

“Really?”

“Hell yes, now get in here - and no complaining, them’s the rules you made your own self. You too, Parker, c’mere.”

Eliot stood up and rounded the island, halting with a sigh just before reaching Hardison, who stood to meet him. He ripped the coupon in half.

“All right, here goes.”

Tucking the pieces into his pocket, Eliot stepped forward into Hardison’s outstretched arms, tucking himself in close and hugging him back tightly. A moment later, he felt Parker collide with them both, one arm over his shoulders and a leg around his hips. He sighed again, this time into Hardison’s shoulder, and let himself sway when they did, a gentle rock back and forth.

He closed his eyes when they started to sting.

“Sorry,” he mumbled into Hardison’s shoulder after a long minute. “Shouldn’ta left.”

“That does not count, Eliot,” Hardison told him firmly, and didn’t let go. “I did not use my coupon, I still got my coupon, you aren’t getting out of anythin’ with that you hear me?”

Parker snickered behind him.

“Not getting out of anything at all,” she said, and squeezed tighter. “We’ve got you trapped.”

(The next time he fed them vegetables, it was a Nana recipe and Hardison ate without complaint. Parker ate because she wanted to know what it felt like to be a little Hardison, and proclaimed the experience ‘like one of my harnesses’ which was obviously a very positive review.

The next time he fed them vegetables and it wasn’t a Nana recipe, they exchanged a look and then each ate exactly half of their servings. The rest they snuck back onto Eliot’s plate one bite at a time like he wouldn’t notice. He let them get away with it and looked down at everyone’s empty plates afterward with a weird content feeling relaxing his shoulders.

The next time he saw Nana, her words on Hardison’s bragging proved embarrassingly correct. She and Parker got along like a house on fire, and if left alone too long would probably cause a house on fire, and Hardison just watched them with a giant grin like he didn’t see the danger. Nana asked Eliot if he’d considered what they talked about last time right in front of them both, proving beyond all doubt that she shared Hardison’s love of driving him goddamn crazy for fun.

The next carrot cake he made was for Sophie and Nate. He refused to call it a thank you, but she did and also asked him to make that little French quiche she’d talked about like she honestly expected “it had spinach, I think, something green anyway, it was very light, and some kind of unexpected spice too?” would be enough to go on. Nate was no help whatsoever.)

#leverage fic #leverage ff #leverage ot3 #hardison/parker/eliot #thiefsome #my fic #anonymous #replies #aah they are hard to write much as i love them

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trillian-anders · 4 years

Text

sourdough

pairing: chef!bucky x plus!reader

warnings: fluff, domesticity

word count: 1542

description: chef!au; exploring new and old hobbies during quarantine

just a taste masterlist

“What are you doing?” It wasn’t uncommon to have comfortable and long lasting silences in the apartment. That’s, realistically, the only way you were going to be able to be in close quarters for so long. The New York quarantine had been going on for about six weeks now, and while both of you were going a little stir crazy, you’d found things around your NYC loft to keep yourselves busy. Bucky, just five minutes ago started pulling things from the pantry, flour, and a weck jar, the kitchen scale.

“I’m gonna make a sourdough starter.” He left his phone open on the kitchen bench, scrolling through the instructions that must have been on the screen. A dark rye flour, his favorite unbleached bread flour, and warm water. “That’s all it is.” He said, “And well… time.”

You’d been working from home, part time, as Tony put almost all projects on hold in order to focus his direction into making masks and other medical supplies. Your job mainly consisted of scheduling drop offs and ordering the base supplies needed to produce them. In the other hours of the day you’d started on a new novel.

“Maybe you should write a crime story.” Bucky offered, the two of you wrapped in a blanket on the couch watching Forensic Files half asleep. You hummed, snuggling further into his chest, drifting off,

“Maybe.”

The next day you lay out exactly what you wanted to happen and when it was going to happen, a chapter by chapter outline which is something you’d never done before and the writing flowed so easily for the first three chapters it almost seemed surreal. You were surprised how easy it was to start the story, but now halfway through it was difficult to maneuver all the different pieces.

You watched him measure flour, spooning it into the jar placed on the kitchen scale. “Baking is more of a science,” He said, “It’s harder to eyeball it.” He measured the unbleached flour and the dark rye flour, before temping water and mixing the three together and placing the loose lid on top. It took five minutes, tops. Then he sat back down on the couch, hand on your thigh, going back to watching Outlander.

“That’s it?” You asked, looking at the jar left on the counter. He nods,

“Yeah, that’s it.” With a rinse and repeat for seven days. A five minute small task of letting natural yeasts ferment the dough, it smelled tangy and a little sour. “That’s how it should smell.” He said.

You looked at him skeptically, but trusted that he knew what he was doing. He fed the starter every day, and on day eight he decided to make bread.

You were working at the kitchen bench, sipping your second coffee of the day when he brought out more flour, water, salt, and the very expensive and well used dutch oven he’d brought over when you decided to quarantine together.

He’d made something last night and left it covered in a dish towel on the counter. “Leavening.” He called it, “It uses the starter and some more flour to act as the yeast in the bread.” He dissolved salt in water and mixed in the leavening, adding flour until it started sticking together and began folding it in the bowl.

“Do you need me to move?” You asked, trying to ignore the urge to bite his bare shoulder. He’d tumbled out of bed and immediately started making this bread, clad only in his briefs. That was a distraction enough, let alone now the muscles in his arms working as he worked the dough, using his fingers to fold and turn, before covering it back up with the cloth.

“No, you’re good.” A minty kiss to your lips, “Did you have breakfast yet?” You smiled,

“Do you mean lunch?” His eyes met the clock above the stove.

“Oh, well do you want lunch?” A grin.

He continued the process for a couple hours, folding the dough over a few times and then letting it prove.

You were taking a break, watching Brooklyn-99 reruns and snacking on pretzels when a timer went off and he got back up from the couch, shaping the dough into a round shaped loaf, covering it back with the dish cloth and sitting back beside you on the couch. This was a long process apparently, but Bucky was patient.

It was something you admire about him, he was willing to put in the work if that meant he was going to create something better. Even if sometimes it wasn’t. There were projects that failed, recipes that didn’t work out or were sometimes off. The trial and error of trying to create something new.

It wasn’t until late, that he popped the dough into the dutch oven and started baking it. The two of you snacked late because, “I’m going to make dinner.” But he wanted to use the bread. The bread baked for about an hour and came out crusty and brown. “You hear that?” The scratch of the knife against the crust. Roasted crushed tomatoes, olive oil, some herbs and pancetta, you ate it open face at the kitchen bench on the bread he had griddled on the flat top pan he’d also brought with him.

“This,” You moaned, “Is so fucking good.” He nods, the crunch of the bread so satisfying.

“It really is.”

He continued to feed the starter, every day, without fail. Practicing with different recipes, crepes, pretzels, pizza crust, crackers, pancakes, muffins.

“Here,” He would say, “Try this.” Something else new and experimental. He made whatever he could with that sourdough, apple fritters and an attempt at pie crust that didn’t really work out. You hated to say it, but you were getting sick of sourdough. Everything tasted similar, and you’d been feeling so gassy and began feeling a little uncomfortable from the amount of bread products you’d been consuming.

But Bucky seemed to be so fixated on it, proud of what he was making with his new baby starter that he took care of and cultivated it daily. You just didn’t know how to tell him. He seemed so excited every time he presented you with something new.

“Baby this is incredible.” He was scrolling through the open word document on your screen.

“Yeah?” You felt pretty proud of it so far, you liked how it was turning out, and while you hadn’t gone through to edit any of your writing, you were happy for the feedback. You leaned over his back, scratching softly on his sides as he scrolled through the last chapter. His hand found yours, turning in his seat to bring you to stand between his legs.

“It's really good baby.” A kiss. “I’m so proud of you for actually working on this.” Another kiss.

“Thank you.” Kisses moving down to your neck and shoulder. He hums,

“What do you want for dinner?” He asked, face buried into your neck. You sigh, running your fingers through his hair. You just had to come out with it or else risk more dough that would further bloat you and make you need a carb nap.

“Anything that isn’t sourdough.” He grins against your neck and laughs. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it anymore and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but could we just have salad or something?”

He squeezes your hips, pressing his lips back to yours one more time, grinning, “Okay baby.”

taglist // @93generation @technicallykawaiisoul @bookish-shristi @saturnki @jennmurawski13 @geeksareunique @the-soulofdevil @tinmunky @gifsbysimplysonia @alwaysbenhardysgirl @beck-alicious

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #chef!bucky #plus!reader #sebastian stan #the falcon and the winter soldier

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wizardwomenwisdom · 4 years

Note

Jj finds out the reader has an eating disorder?

hi anon! this one was tough, because i had to avoid uber triggering myself in the process ope. but that also means that, to anyone reading this, there is a trigger warning in effect for eating disorders. also for sexual harassment (minor but still important to point out). cw as well for teen drinking and partying. i’m on mobile so I can’t apply the cut i’m really really sorry. if you enjoy this, please send me requests!!! i’ve been really focusing on songs as it relates to obx characters so yeah love to see it.

also i do want to address that a lot of this has to do with external motivators. this is super based off of my experiences, and anon did add an ask to address money and such in it, so i really wanted to focus on external issues. i know that everyone’s experiences with disordered eating are different, and that external motivation without more serious intervention isn’t necessarily the healthiest or most effective way to handle it. eating disorders also don’t necessarily result from outside pressure, but again, anon asked for something addressing wealth and that’s definitely something many of my wealthier friends have found built upon their disorders. this topic is a hard one to address, so please know that my intent in writing this was not to try to generalize experiences or fully represent all forms of eating disorders. if you or a friend is struggling from an eating disorder please seak help.

*****

The first time someone mentioned your weight was at the country club. You’d just gotten done with a swim, and were going into the locker room. You passed the boys’ on the way, just as an older boy you didn’t know walked out.

“Hey, fatass,” He said. He smacked your ass and kept walking, like he did it all the time.

You ran to the girls’ locker room and hid in the shower. And you cried.

You were twelve.

*****

The second time someone mentioned your weight was after a family dinner. Your aunt was in town to visit, and so you all had to be on your best behavior.

You were loading the dishes in the dishwasher when you heard her from the next room over.

“Did Y/N quite running? Because it sure looks like it.”

You’d torn your achilles during track, and so you’d only taken a break. Suddenly you regretted getting seconds even though it made your mom so happy.

But you couldn’t lash out, not in front of your aunt, so you cried in your room for an hour.

You were 14.

*****

The tipping point, though, came at the end of sophomore year. You liked Liam Whatever-his-name-was and everyone said he liked you, so you invited him to your sister’s graduation party.

Your timing was definitely stupid: lunchtime, in the biggest lunch period. And he sat with all of the untouchables.

But you strolled up there in your sundress and handed him the invite with a big smile on your face, like that would make things better.

He didn’t return the sentiment.

“Fuck, Thunder-Thighs. Is this from you or your hot ass sister?”

“Me?”

He laughed, so cold and mean, and he handed back the invite.

“Give it to someone who wants it, Chipmunk.”

You were sixteen. And the world felt like it was crashing down.

*****

“Y/A, are you almost ready?” Your friend Lizzy whined from downstairs.

“Almost!” You knew what she was probably wearing: high-waisted jeans and some funky-cute bralette that cost way too much money. You’d wear the same thing, but you haven’t run in a month and you don’t want to.

So instead, at the last minute, you pull your shorts just a bit higher and put on a sheer long sleeve button up. At least it looked cute and cool, and you could pretend you were Cher from Clueless.

When you walked down the stairs, Lizzy got it. “Oh my god Cher,” She said in her best Ty impression.

“You like it? It’s vintage.” You stepped off the stairs and did a little twirl.

“Perfect.” Lizzy grinned. “Now, do you wanna stop for dinner on the way or—“

“I ate,” You lied.

“Really?”

You’d regret it tomorrow (and probably tonight, when you tried to sleep), but beer meant calories. It wasn’t like you had a problem, you just made the choice to balance it out. It was healthy. At least, that’s what you always told yourself.

“Yeah. My dad bought microwave mac and cheese for my brothers so I stole a couple.”

Lizzy nodded. “Well, watch those things. My mom always says they got straight to your hips.”

“True that.”

Lizzy hooked an arm around your waist and smiled. “So, how excited are you to see JJ tonight?”

*****

To say you and JJ were an item wouldn’t be entirely incorrect. He worked on Lizzy’s yacht for a few summers, and you used to take over for him when her family decided to take long day trips. He was cute, and clever, and things slowly progressed to casual making out.

Now, standing at the party, he kept looking at your lips while you waited for John B. to fish a Natty Light out of the cooler for you.

“Way to be subtle, Maybank,” You hissed.

“You’re the one who wants to be subtle, Y/L/N.”

You didn’t answer him, and instead just took your drink. “Who’s the big spender behind the strawberry lemonade flavor?”

“That would be Kie,” Pope told you, putting an arm around your shoulder.

“So, what’re you thinking of ‘Columbine’ so far?” You asked.

“Really dark, man. Jesus.”

“Um, duh? And don’t you want to be a coroner?”

“Yeah, but...” He shuddered, and you laughed.

“Why don’t you tell me about it while I chug the shit out of this thing?”

The two of you walked down the beach, talking about Pope’s current read while you downed your beer in one go.

*****

About an hour later, you were on your second and already swaying. Pope left you to talk to a tourist, and so you were looking for JJ. When you found him, he was doing stupid shit to wingman Kie and bobbing slightly to the music that the tourists brought.

“Hey babe,” You said, wrapping your arms around him from behind.

“Babe?”

“Shit, subtlety. Right.” You let go off him, and moved around so that you faced him.

“Are you already shit faced?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He glanced at Kie, who nodded. Then, he took your arm and pulled you away. “How much have you had?” He whispered, getting in close to your face.

“Only two beers.”

“When’d you eat last?”

“I had some crackers for lunch,” You said.

He stepped back, and let go of your arm. “Wait, what?”

“Well, I wasn’t gonna, but my sister left them out and they looked good—“

“You haven’t eaten since lunch?”

“No?”

“Why the fuck not? Don’t you k—you guys get whatever you want to eat no problem?” You didn’t like when he called you a kook, so he never did. But he still tended to group you in, which hurt.

“I was saving up so I could drink tonight.”

“Saving up?”

“Calories? You know alcohol is super high in calories and—“

“Fuck, what?”

“You probably don’t get it. I mean, I’ve seen you throw back a burger in three bites. But like—“

He grabbed your face, and you stopped talking. “Y/N, you don’t need to fucking cut meals. Fuck. That’s not healthy.”

“It’s not like I have an eating disorder. I don’t starve myself.”

“Just because you aren’t starving yourself doesn’t mean it’s okay. You can’t just force yourself to skip meals, Y/N.”

“You used to skip meals on Lizzy’s boat.”

“Because I’m fucking poor. But you... Fuck. It’s not healthy.”

“JJ...”

“You’re the most beautiful girl I know, you know that? You’re beautiful. And you’re gonna stop drinking and get into John B’s fucking van and we’re gonna go get burgers.” He ran one hand through your hair, and rested it on your shoulder. “And then, we’re gonna get you some real help, okay?”

“You’re cute when you’re worried.”

“I hope you don’t get to get used to it.”

You smiled. You realized that no one’d called you beautiful in years, besides your own mother. And so you nodded. If JJ Maybank thought you were beautiful, maybe you were. Maybe you could get better.

#obx #obx jj #obx netflix #outer banks netflix #outer banks #jj maybank #jj outer banks #tw: eating habits #tw: eating problems #tw: eating mention #tw: sex mention

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markleesthighs · 4 years

Text

Mea Bella | Chapter 2

Pairings: Reader x Jaehyun, Reader x ??? Genre: NCT royalty!au, angst, fluff, subtle flirting Warnings: flashbacks, forbidden love, smutty Words: 2.5k

Chapter 2 - One More Day

You were hanging laundry up to dry on clothespins when you saw Jaehyun and his advisors and planners with him in the garden, picking out what flowers to use for the decorations. When they caught your eye, you curtsied and allowed them to continue. However, you felt Jaehyun's eyes lingering upon you, gazing at your features and beauty. Jaehyun was so distracted that he almost fell into the fountain.

"Prince Jaehyun, please look where you are going," said his royal advisor, Taeyong.

"R-right, thank you."

You smiled as you walked back into the castle to finish cleaning before helping the needs of Jaehyun. You cleaned and organized his room, closet, and office and eventually met up with Jaehyun around noon. You went to serve them lunch, and they were discussing the guest list.

"The Lees, Suhs, Moons, Kims, Wongs, and Parks have RSVPed so far."

"Fantastic. Hopefully, everyone else will as well."

"Prince, I am required by law to invite princess-"

"Yes, I know, and I am fully aware that she and her family have RSVPed."

"Now that everything is in order, you still have a tasting of the food and outfit fittings left for the Prince Jaehyun."

"Thank you for your kindest services, now let's eat."

When you walked away, you wanted to know who the lucky princess is. You hoped some of the other maids in the kitchen had heard anything. From what you heard, they said that she was a flirt and slept with wealthy men to reach the top, which is how she became a prospect for Jaehyun. You felt sick by this and hoped that Jaehyun wouldn't fall for her, but he might have to marry her.

Jaehyun finished his lunch but still had to taste the food for the midnight ball. You walked out to see him sitting by himself, awaiting food with a list and quill in his hand. He notices you walking in and smiled at your presence. You walked over to him, and he immediately gave you a quick peck on the lips.

"Is this the first course I'm tasting?"

You laughed while blushing.

"Because this tastes REALLY sweet."

He pulled you in for another kiss that was longer than the first one, but you pulled away in fear that someone would see.

"I'll go get your actual course."

"Come back quick before I perish from loneliness."

"Don't be so dramatic."

You brought out some hors d 'oeuvres such as deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, and pate. Jaehyun ate and checked off or crossed out the foods he wanted for the ball. But he had been talking about 10-15 minutes with each hors d'oeuvre, and you still had more food for him to taste.

"y/n, tell me what you think of this"

"b-but Jaehyun, it's caviar, you should be tasting these things."

"Yeah, but I need another outside opinion, you know?"

"I don't know…"

"Do it for me?"

"Fine…"

Jaehyun put some caviar on a cracker and fed it to you. You swear it was the best thing you have ever tasted in your life, and you wanted more of it.

"Jaehyun…This is really good, and it's creamy and salty. I like it."

"Do you know what's also creamy and salty?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Here, try the smoked salmon with cream cheese."

Jaehyun fed it to you again, and you smiled back as you tasted the smokey fish and cream cheese touch your tastebuds. It was a perfect combination of food.

"Hey you got a little cream cheese on your face, let me get it for you."

Jaehyun licked his thumb and rubbed it against the spot on your cheek where the cream cheese was, and you felt your face turning red.

"I-is it gone?"

"Nope. I missed a spot."

"Whe-"

Jaehyun pecked your lips, which made you throw your head into his lap out of embarrassment. Jaehyun caressed your hair and attempted to calm you down while smiling at your shy figure.

"Ahem."

You and Jaehyun turned to see his mother staring at you and Jaehyun intently to intimidate you.

"I understand that both of you are close friends, but you must not act this way at the ball, we have guests and a reputation to uphold. Jaehyun, your father would not be too pleased to see you like this infant of your potential wives. If you both continue to fool around, then you won't be matching this year, understand?"

"Yes, mother, I understand, I'll continue tasting now."

"y/n?"

"Yes?"

"Can you please go to the fitting room, to kill two birds with one stone so that Jaehyun can focus and that you can get fitted for your dress."

"Of course, enjoy the rest of your afternoon."

You bowed to both of them and walked up to the seamstress' room where they took your measurements and fitted you for the dress. They also took notes on what hair and makeup you'll be doing to accommodate the dress as well. You noticed a suit that looked similar to the fabric the seamstress was working on.

"Is that Jaehyun's suit?"

"Yes ma'am, would you like to peak?"

"If I may?"

"Of course."

She pulled to mannequin out from behind the divider, and you saw a beautiful royal blue suit with black detailing, symbolizing the colors of the kingdom, meaning confidence, wisdom, intelligence, and strength. You felt the soft fabric and saw on Jaehyun's suit a sash with all of his badges from the military and inherited ones from his ancestors. Each badge was perfectly polished and shined brightly in the light. You admired Jaehyun, and he had accomplished so much for an (almost) 18-year old. However, one badge caught your eye; it was an amber gemstone in the center of what appeared to be a flower or a daisy. That badge was a badge you gave to Jaehyun for helping him pick flowers with you, it was a cute badge at the time, but now you look back and realize it was a badge Jaehyun never took off. The seamstress noticed you were staring at the badge for a long time and decided to give some input.

"Ever since Jaehyun was young, he refused to take off that badge. It was very special to him. I also heard that he never took it off in battle too, whenever it was becoming rusty or old he constantly wanted it polished and fixed right away, it was very sweet. When I asked him about it, he said someone very special gave it to him, and it motivates him that he can do anything as long as he has his heart set on it."

You smiled and have never felt warm and fuzzy about something in your life. But it only made it bittersweet when you realized that Jaehyun was going to be courting people wearing your badge. You said your goodbyes and thanks to the seamstress and continued your daily routine. Preparing bread and food for dinner, cleaning and dusting several parts of the castle, and having to assist Jaehyun when he needed it. You were helping Jaehyun with selecting flowers, and he asked for your opinion.

"y/n, roses or lilies?"

"roses, they look more elegant and fitting for the ball."

"hm, good choice."

Later that night, it was dinner time, and you were helping serve dinner as usual, due to this, you were always exposed to the daily conversations at the dinner table.

"Did you see if your suit fits?"

"It does mother."

"How about the food is everything suitable, presented perfectly, and tastes lavish?"

"Of course."

"Have you looked at the list of princesses attending tomorrow evening?"

"…no.."

"Jung Jaehyun! I told you look at that weeks ago! You must have done some research in the library!"

"My darling, leave him alone, I didn't even research you because there was no need once I spoke with you."

"Can you stop being so irrational right now! I just want what's best for our son!"

"He will choose what is best, I've taught him to have a good heart."

"Have you heard of the rumors of some of these princesses? If my son marries, please excuse my language, but a whore, I won't be able to breathe."

"Mother, will you please relax, there's nothing to worry about."

While Jaehyun's mother looked in distress, she saw you fill her glass with more water, and she turned to you and began to speak.

"Ah, y/n, since you are attending, can you please make sure that Jaehyun stays clear of the troublesome princesses? I trust you because you know as women, we know how vicious we can be."

"Of course, my queen, I will try my best."

Great, picking Jaehyun's future wife while you are secretly dating, doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. You turned to Jaehyun, giving him a small smile before returning to bring out dessert, raspberry tarts.

After dinner, you helped clean up when you saw Jaehyun waiting so you could help him with his nighttime routine of bathing, getting dressed, and going to bed. You walked up to his room to see him sitting against his window, still looking out into the starts.

"I'm not ready, y/n."

"I don't think anyone is ever ready."

"It's a big moment in my life. I don't think I'll be able to do it, especially when you are going to be there."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

"But it's not okay!"

"…"

"I- I love you, y/n! to have you watch me go off with another girl is just wrong! I-I don't want to hurt you!"

"Jae, it's fine, we both knew this day would come eventually….trust me, I'll be okay."

"Are you sure, my daisy?"

"Of course, I will always love you, no matter how many times you could break my heart."

"I promise I will find some way for us to be together, and I promise I will have a dance with you at the ball."

Jaehyun kissed your hand as you bitterly smiled, and you went to go prepare his bath filled with rose petals and lavender. The aromatics in his bathroom were warm and florescent. Jaehyun noticed how monotone your face was while filling his bath, so he came behind you, only in a robe hugging you from behind.

"Join me."

"W-wh-"

"Please, it might the last time we have this chance together."

"B-but Jae I'm just a maid I'm not supposed to- let alone see you naked."

Jaehyun looked at you with puppy-like eyes begging you to take a bath with him, and you couldn't resist.

"Fine, but you are getting in first."

Jaehyun smiled as you turned around because you were too shy to see Jaehyun naked, your mind would go lewd places. Jaehyun laughed as you heard him, slowly dip into the bath. You started to strip your clothes and tie up your hair with a black ribbon so your hair would not get wet. You hesitated to turn around once you removed all of your clothes, but Jaehyun encouraged you to turn around. You turned around slowly looking at the floor, but you could sense the smile forming on Jaehyun's face. He reached out a hand for you to join him, but you were still looking at the floor when you walked to the edge of the bathtub. You looked at Jaehyun's loving gaze as you slowly dipped into the bath, now only looking at the candles around you trying to avoid looking at Jaehyun and his body. Your back met Jaehyun's chest, and you felt Jaehyun pull his head down into your neck. His hands started to rub your arms and legs lightly, massaging them. You felt your cheeks blush, and your whole body feeling hot.

"J-Jae-"

"Shh, let me love you, my daisy."

Jaehyun started to kiss your neck softly, and his hands moved all over your body, making you become breathless under his touch. You turned your head to meet his eyes, kissing him delicately while the bright candles and warm water hug both of you. It was as if time stopped, and you turned your whole body to straddle Jaehyun deepening every kiss. Jaehyun wrapped his arms around you hugging your waist tight, wanting you to be closer to his body.

"God, you are so beautiful," Jaehyun moaned.

You felt his member get harder against your thigh begging to enter inside you, and you felt hungrier for Jaehyun. You looked at Jaehyun's eyes filled with lust, pleading for you. Jaehyun whispered in your ear.

"I'm going to put it in, okay? Relax, you'll be okay love,"

With that, he entered inside you, kissing you every second of the way and whispering words of encouragement to keep you relaxed. You felt the pain and pleasure scratching Jaehyun's shoulders, moaning loudly like music to his ears. Tears streamed from your eyes from the pain, and Jaehyun lifted your head from his neck and wiped them away, kissing your neck.

"Is it okay for me to move?"

"M-maybe one more- ah- second- mmh-"

"Of course, take all the time you need."

You took about 2 minutes before you told him that it was okay for him to move, and he began moving at a slow pace, for you and him. Jaehyun eventually picked up the pace while kissing you and caressing your entire body, splashing water, petals, and moans scattering all over the bathroom. It eventually led to Jaehyun, making you both reach your climaxes at the same time. You both panted, taking deep breaths to relax your breathing. You straddled off of Jaehyun, sitting in between his legs, and you laid against his chest, fiddling with his fingers.

"Are you alright, my little Daisy?"

"Yes, Jae, I love you so much."

"I love you too, y/n."

Jaehyun got up from the bath and carried you out, knowing that your body would be a little sore, and you would not be able to walk. He wrapped you in a towel and laid you down on his bed, letting you dry off and relax.

"Wait, Jae, I'll clean- the bathroom- ah-"

"No, no, no, you've cleaned up after me several times, let me."

"But-"

"Please rest, for once, let me take care of you now."

So, you laid on the plush bed as Jaehyun started to clean up the bath, throwing the petals out the window and draining the tub and cleaning the floor with a cloth. Once he finished, he kissed your forehead to wake you up from your small nap. You smiled, looking at Jaehyun, who smiled back and left to get your nightwear from your room. He removed the towel and helped you get dressed. He also prepared clean clothes for you the next day when you woke up. You could barely walk, so you stayed with Jaehyun for the night. Jaehyun changed out of his robe and into his pajamas, cuddling up next to you, kissing your neck.

"Goodnight, my daisy."

Follow me for updates and to follow the series! also, dm me your thoughts I would love to know 🥺

~ n ✧*:･ﾟ

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teenitinygod · 4 years

Note

Hey, so I feel bad for asking for this request because I know it is really dark, but at the same time you’re my favorite writer and your words really bring me comfort in dark times. Could you please write a Chuuya or Dazai (u can pick) about their girlfriend having an eating disorder who is obsessed with working out and how they would comfort them or something when they find out a lot of fluff maybe idk idk idk thank u sorry if it’s too much

i was having a shitty day and i saw this and started crying- I’m so happy that you love my writing and that it does that for you! <3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dazai Osamu

Dazai, being the observant person he was, picked up on it before you got together. He noticed how you rarely ate but he figured it was just because you weren’t hungry or just simply was a picky eater. When he took you out you didn’t eat big meals or sometimes you didn’t eat at all.

The more time he spent with you, the more things he observed about you, how you were always working out, you barely ate, and after meals you sprinted to the bathroom. It wasn’t till he stayed over for the first time when he decided to address it.

Having puked your meal up in the toilet, you sat on the floor of your bathroom, tears pricking your eyes as you caught your breath. A soft knock came to the door before it opened. You panicked, flushing the toilet quickly before wiping your mouth. Dazai came in with a smile, sitting on the floor beside you, pulling you into a hug.

You laid limp in his arms, in shock that he wasn’t disgusted by your actions. The hug felt like one of understanding as he pressed his face into your neck. Overwhelmed, a sob leaves your throat as you wrap your arms around him.

“I know you’ll be fine,” he whispered and your cries grew louder. He pulled away to press a kiss on your lips, quickly helping you up and directing you to your bedroom. You followed him, laying in your bed as instructed.

You watched as he left and came back with tea and some crackers, placing them on your bedside. “Let’s start with keeping this down, alright belladonna?” He said, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You smiled taking the teacup into your hands, sipping the hot liquid slowly. “when did you know?” You break the silence.

“I’ve always had some idea,” He said, sitting on the end of the bed, placing a hand on your leg. You looked down in shame, you didn’t like the idea of bothering him with this. “hey, you’re not a burden. We can work through this together,” He said, climbing into your bed and laying down beside you.

You placed your cup on your nightstand, scooting closer to Dazai, allowing him to wrap his arms around you. Closing your eyes, you relished the feeling of him being near you, swiftly falling into a deep sleep.

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

Chuuya Nakahara

It took Chuuya directly seeing your actions for him to realize. He assumed you liked being fit when you spent most of your free time working out. He had invited you over for dinner, wanting to treat you to a nice meal and one of his favorite wines. You almost looked intimidated by the meal in front of you.

Chuuya was nearly offended by the way you forked your meal around with a nervous look on your face. Truth be told, you had thrown up your lunch and you didn’t feel like throwing up this meal he had cooked but he looked so proud of what he made.

It wasn’t till you excused yourself to go to the bathroom that he was concerned. You had been taking a while so he made his way to where you were and pressed his ear against the bathroom door. The sound of a choked cry and a retch made him force the door open, knocking off its hinges.

You scrambled to make yourself look composed, wiping the tears from your face and sitting back from the toilet. Chuuya gave you an annoyed look, “If my cooking was that bad you could’ve just told me,” You wanted to die in that moment, now you had to explain that it wasn’t his cooking, it was you. So you did and the look on his face gave you shivers.

You both sat on his couch, you gave a weak laugh after the explanation, the heavy feeling in the air being a bit too uncomfortable for your liking. You pulled your knees to your chest, eyes scanning his apartment. Chuuya grabbed your hand, eyes not meeting yours, “How can I help?”

Your eyes widened, a weak smile forming on your face as tears stained your cheeks. He pulls you to lay your head in his lap, playing in your hair as he lets his back rest on the couch. “I think you’re beautiful, so kind, truly stunning,” He whispers.

His soft touch beckoning you into sleep. When you succumb to the urge, he picks you up, placing you on his bed. He lays behind you, pressing his face into your hair and wrapping his arms around your body. Drifting off to sleep himself.

#bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs x reader #bungou stray dogs imagines #bsd #bsd x reader #bsd imagines #bsd headcanons #dazai osamu #dazai #dazai x reader #dazai osamu x reader #chuuya x reader #chuuya #chuuya nakahara #chuuya nakahara x reader

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jj-lynn21 · 3 years

Note

it’s Roman and reader 3rd anniversary coming up and reader wants to do something really romantic like go dancing. If course he’s against this, but comes around to the idea. So there having a good time, dancing to slow songs and that’s when Roman decides he wants to propose.

I am not big on marriage myself so that is why I was thinking Roman and Princess would just love and trust the other not to stray even without a piece of paper. But maybe a situation as you described just feels a certain way to Roman and he thinks just maybe they should get married. This is about two years from now since it is the third anniversary of when they moved into together. They have a kid. Roman is a bit more mature. Peter and Letha are already married in this Alternate reality. They have six pups/kids.

Roman and Princess: The Third Anniversary

You are gathering up toys in the playroom Roman built for the children last year. The huge, elegant dining room with full bar was cut in half by a new wall with a door between both rooms. This cut his bar in half, but there was still enough room for the oak table and chairs for 20. Tiny Furniture for children and a few comfy spots for adults were added. A bathroom just for children was put in the playroom. Cherry wood toy chests and shelves were filled with every toy a child could possibly want.

Roman still bought more when his little one expressed interest in anything. His angel got everything just like you did. There was plenty of room for Peter and Letha’s “hounds from Hell” as Roman and Peter called his kids lovingly. This was a safe area for the children to play.

Roman came home at his usual time. Not a minute late tonight. He brought dinner from your favorite restaurant like he told you he would on the phone earlier. He checks on the little one sound asleep before changing into sweatpants and a tank.

“How’s my Princess tonight?” He kisses your lips softly before moving down your jaw line to the sweet spot on your neck. Then moves back to nibble your ear. “Did you get to eat today or drink something vital?” He noticed you were pale.

“I didn’t get the chance really.” You moaned slightly. “But we played all day. I read a little to relax when the little boss napped.” You turned to put your arms around him. “I cleaned up the playroom.”

“You never have to do that Princess.” Roman wrapped around you putting your head to his chest. “We have people for that. You have been taking care of the little one all day. How about you let me baby you for a while?” He swayed.

He led you to the table of takeout food. “It all looks delicious.” You sat down as Roman was pouring you a large wine glass of the good red stuff. You take a few sips and your color starts to come back.”I should have had some of this hour ago.”

“You need to take care of you a little more, Princess.” Roman sipped his drink. “I will come home at lunch from now on to take a turn playing so you can eat and drink something.”

“You don’t have to do that Roman.” Your eyes farrowed not wanting to change up the baby’s routine or bother Roman.

“I think I need to because I never get to see our child.” He took a large bite of rare steak. “And I think you could use a little midday break. I could do that, or we get a Nanny.”

“No Roman.” You pouted. “I don’t want someone else raising our child.”

“Then it is settled.” Roman sipped his drink. “I come home at lunch.”

You ate slowly. Drank all he poured you and he poured you more. “Do you know what Saturday is, Roman?”

He teases you. “Um Grocery day? Perhaps a birthday for someone?”

Your lips purse. Brows knit together. “No, you should know it is our...”

“anniversary.” He says the same time you do.

Roman chuckles. “I was just teasing you. Of course, I remember Princess. What would you like to do?”

“Dancing.” You suggested. “Can we go dancing? A night or a few hours at least for just you and me? Damn that sounds awful for a Mother to say. So selfish.”

“You are not selfish, Princess.” Roman assured you.” He thought about your proposal for a moment. “I was waiting for you to be ready. I’m not sure about the dancing part but I will find a nice place to take you for the evening. Peter and Letha can watch our little one. The kids love playing together.”

You sighed a little disappointed but put on a smile for Roman. Wherever he took you would be fabulous. “They do have the most experience with kids and the kids do love spending time together. Just keep your mind open to the thought of dancing?”

“I will think about it.” You both finish dinner. Then head to the bedroom for some quiet sex so you don’t wake the young one.

On the morning of your anniversary, you woke seeing your toddler and Roman Reading a a story book quietly. Roman smiles when he sees you looking. “Happy Anniversary. I’ll get your coffee.” He took the little one on his hip. They brought you back breakfast in bed with your coffee.

The little one crawled beside you. “I made toast.”

“Is that so?” You took a bite of toast first. “Good job.”

Roman sat on the other side of the child already in his suit sipping his coffee. “I have to go into work for just a few hours before I give you your big surprise. He winked getting up. “You two have a great day.”

After breakfast you took your two-year-old with their book down to the playroom. You put on a warm robe to read and play. The maid cleaned up the remains of breakfast, cleaned the rest of the bedroom and worked her way downstairs. She never touched the playroom until Roman, Princess and their little one were in bed for the night. The fruit bowl was full on the kitchen counter when you and your toddler ventured to the kitchen for lunch. After lunch you put your hyper two-year-old down for a nap. This is when you finally got to shower.

Roman calls you as you are putting on some light daytime makeup. You picked up right away. “How is your day going sweetheart?”

“It is going good.” You have the phone on speaker as you continue your routine. “How is yours going?”

“I will be home soon to swoop you away.” He had his last client for the day on hold on purpose as he talked to you. “Wear my favorite dress. The longer more sophisticated one. Peter, Letha and their pack should be there shortly.”

“I’ll be ready.” You brighten your look a little and bring out the crimson lip stain that stays on no matter how much Roman kisses you. “Well, I don’t think anyone is ever really ready for that many kids to visit but I am ready for you.”

“You better be.” He was grinning wide.

His words. His tone. It gave you chills. The kind of chills you felt to your core. Roman’s seductive low voice was good for that. You finished getting ready just as the child woke toddling into your room as you slipped on your dress.

“Momma, pretty.”

You smiled at the child. “Thank you, baby. Are you ready to play with your cousins? They should be here soon.”

“Ya ya ya.” The young one spun around happily.

The doorbell rang and the child dragged you down the stairs as the maid was announcing Peter and his pack. Letha and Peter hugged you as the little ones ran into the playroom to destroy it.

“Go keep an eye on them.” Letha patted Peter’s shoulder. Peter did as she told him. “You don’t worry about a thing. Peter and I can handle one more. We have a system. “

Roman came in the door with a single rose to present to you. He had changed from the suit he left in to a sleek all black suit. A black satin dress shirt with matching tie under his jacket. “Happy Anniversary, Baby Girl.” He kissed your cheek. “Hey, Letha. Thanks for coming over.”

“No problem.” Letha smiled. “You two have a nice time. Excuse me. I should make sure they ain’t all climbing Peter all at once.”

She disappeared into the playroom. Laughter could be heard as Peter chased the children around the room. This put your mind at ease before you left with your love.

“Where are we going tonight?”

“You will just have to wait to see.”

He drove a little way out of town. He pulled into Club Class. The sign was golden light. White lights lined the walkway. Two muscular men stood at the entrance.

“This is very exclusive.” Roman escorted you. “Godfrey.” He told the guardians of the door. They nodded opening the door for you to enter.

You were a little surprised to see couples dance to a live Orquestra. Only five other couples. Two more sitting at what seemed to be sold gold tables with chairs to match.

The Maitre'd took you to your table. “Your Armand de Brignac Brut Rose Champagne will be out shortly. Then your 4-course prefix meal will start.” He leaves you and Roman.

“Oh, Roman.” You reached for his hand. “This is perfect.”

“Not yet, but it will.” Roman said slyly.

Caviar and crackers came out with you champagne. You nibbled a little and sipped a glass of perfectly chilled champagne. A chilled caprese salad came out next. When you were finished with that course Roman surprised you by standing and offering you his hand.

“shall we dance?” He bowed to you.

You rose taking him up on his offer. He glided you across the floor like a pro. You were pleasantly surprised. He spun you out and back into him. It made your head spin. “I thought you couldn’t dance?”

“I never said that.” He smiled. “I said I didn’t like to dance. Olivia made me take lessons when I was in grade school. It was extremely embarrassing and felt very wrong. It feels right with you.” He murmurs as he looked into your eyes with love. He was satisfied that he had given you what you really wanted tonight.

You ate the next two courses as he fawned over you. He told you how lucky he was to have you. How beauty you truly were. Everything you always liked to hear come from his mouth. The more he looked into your eyes and saw sincere love the more an urge came over him. The urge to finally proposes. He knew right then he would not wait much longer before he made you legally his.

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kindabigbear · 3 years

Text

Eastern European Pilgrimage – Slovakia & Budapest, Hungary

We woke up early again this morning to head out for Budapest, Hungary. Our first stop for the day was for mass. We drove to this small town called Gaj where the Kosciot Narodzenia was located. It was a cute little church. They had one bathroom and apparently it had no toilet paper. Luckily, mom and I had bought some travel kind to bring with us. It looked like there were redoing the grounds around the church and maybe fixing up the church itself. After mass, we traveled farther down the road to Orawka to the Parish St John the Baptist. It was an incredibly old church made of wood that had amazing paintings all over it. It also had a number of graves outside. A couple of them looked like they were from WWI or II and were probably pilots. There was a little building next door that had bathrooms. They also had the cutest cat wandering around. He was so friendly and cute. We got back in the bus and headed south. At the border to Slovakia, we stopped to use a bathroom but they ended up not being open. It was kind of disappointing. Plus, I think Sebastian needed to take his break. We continued on though and eventually stopped at Donovaly. It was a ski area and had food places, bathrooms, apartments and hotels. We had lunch and did a little souvenir shopping. I think we should have had lunch with Father Robert as he had pizza and we had some weird stuff with LaVern and her husband. Slovakia is a pretty country. I enjoyed looking at the scenery as we drove along. There was what looked like a ruined castle of sorts on a hill and a freeway that was either being built or was abandoned.

We arrived in Budapest toward evening. Before we even went to the hotel, we went to dinner. It was an interesting place…… you go through one door and then leave out another. We ate out on a terrace like area which was good since it was really hot. The bathrooms were downstairs though. The food here was the worst. A very dry looking piece of tuna on some kind of rice stuff. I had a roll and ate some of my crackers and jerky when we got to the hotel later. I’ve been google-mapping like crazy trying to find the name of it but I can’t even find a place that even looks familiar. On to the hotel. It was called the Continental Hotel Budapest. We were on the sixth floor which was maybe two from the roof. Nice little room.

The next morning, we met up with everyone and our guide for the day in the lobby. We walked down the street to the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park. It has a huge weeping willow tree sculpture commemorating the Hungarian Jews who died in the Holocaust. Their names are inscribed on the leaves of it and it’s called the Emanuel Tree. It was pretty impressive looking. Next to this was the Dohany Street Synagogue and the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives. We continued down the road and through the Varoshaza Park and to Elizabeth Square where they have a Ferris wheel called the Budapest Eye. Here we turned off onto a small side street and walked down to St Stephen’s Basilica. It was very pretty. Old European churches like this are always pretty. We had a little time to look at a souvenir shop outside before we had to get on the bus to go to our next place. The shop had bathrooms too. We went over to the City Market where we could find something for lunch. There was a Burger King across the street so mom and I went there. Nice and quick. Meeting up with everyone again, we got on the bus and headed out of Budapest to the north. Our next stop was in the town of Esztergom. It was right on the Danube and the border of Slovakia. We were having mass at the Basilica of Esztergom. It was on a hill overlooking the river. Very pretty views and a nice area where you could look off from. Mass was in this side area. There was a picture in there that looked like a demented goat or something. It was really creepy looking. We drove back to Budapest and had dinner at this place that looked like a wine cellar. They had a big barrel full of corks in it in the entrance. After dinner, Sebastian drove us back to the hotel.

Day two sort of. We had a city tour of sorts. We went out to the Millennium Monument in Heroes Square and by the Museum of Fine Arts and the Kunsthalle. It was also near the Budapest Zoo and Vajdahunyad Castle. There was a little lake that had peddle boats that you could rent. We drove by the Shoes on the Danube Bank which was a memorial for people killed by fascist during WWII. We also went by Hungarian Parliament building. Very impressive looking and even better at night with the lights all lit up. After this, a number of us went off on our own while the rest went on a tour of the Parliament building. Mom and I got lunch at KFC and did a bit of shopping. Then we took a taxi back to the hotel. For dinner tonight, we went across the river to a restaurant called Borkatakomba. The inside was like a wine cellar with huge barrels you could sit in and have dinner. We sat at a long table. There was another section of long tables behind us and on either side. I think one group was from the UK and another from China maybe. At the end of the tables was a little stage area where some people were playing instruments. That was also where a couple of them danced and stuff. It was entertaining. The food wasn’t that bad either.

Today I stayed at the hotel while everyone went off to the top of Gellert Hill. There was a Citadella there and you could see Fisherman’s Bastion. I ended up seeing most of this later when mom and I went on a hop on hop off bus tour of sorts. We were supposed to have the whole day to ourselves but the leader had planned too many things for the time we had. I think. So much happened I might be mixing up the things we did each day. Anyway. Last full day, we took a hop on hop off bus out to the zoo. Well kind of. We went the wrong way but got there eventually. I adore zoos. I try to go to one everywhere I go. The giraffes were cute and I love the tiger. He was sleeping. The lion was laying on his back. Just a big cat. We went as far as the polar bears and then went back down to do some shopping. Mom was trying to find the same place she had gone to with the other ladies but we couldn’t find it. We went back to the hotel and started packing. Our last dinner was a river cruise and folk music show. They had a menu that you could pick what you wanted. It was nice. It was fun. We went up and down the Danube a couple times and ate and listened to people sing and play. Then we went back to the hotel to sleep for a couple hours before we had to get up again and head to the airport.

For being three in the morning, the airport was pretty packed. We flew to Amsterdam where we had barely enough time to go through security and get to our next gate before they were loading. I didn’t get to use the bathroom so I used the one on the plane before we took off. We went through customs in Portland which was weird. Then we called the hotel bus to come get us. When we got to the hotel, I changed into shorts. It was so hot. We got back home by around five. My cat was happy to see me.

#travel

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animeniacss · 4 years

Text

6 Years - Hoseok x Reader - Chapter 4 - The Dance Recital

Synopsis: 6 years. That’s all it can take to take another look at someone and see that they have completely changed. You were once an eager 20-year-old, with your dreams all in view, and Jung Hoseok at your side to view them with you. However, after a break up the end of your junior year of college, everything seemed different. Now, you’re a recently divorced single mother of two, and your life is nowhere near what you thought it would be. However, after reuniting with Jung Hoseok, you may just be able to capture a little bit of that exciting youth you once knew so long ago.

Feat. BTS Members, Nayeon (TWICE), and Yuna (itzy)

Genre: Romance, SingleMother!AU, Past Relationship, Drama, Some Depictions of Violence/Domestic Abuse

Length: approx. 5k words

Chapter 4 - The Dance Recital

It had been some time since you had alone time with Hoseok, about a week. The two of you had mostly seen each other at the dance studio and he kept his promise of stopping by once in a while when he was near your house. Those visits were pretty brief, he would sit with the girls and play for a bit, which gave you some time to fold laundry or get dinner ready. You felt bad as if sometimes he would work as a babysitter, but Hoseok assured you every time that it was no big deal.

Today was another one of those days. Hoseok had stopped by after finishing up at the dance studio with one of his hip hop classes. When you let him in, he saw Min Ja was standing in front of the TV in her white and pink recital outfit. She was practicing for the recital, which was less than a week at this point. Hyo Bin was sitting beside her, a graham cracker in her mouth as her sister kept restarting her routine.

“Hyo Bin, you have to watch carefully.” Min Ja said. “Because when you do your recital when you’re big, you’ll have to do the same thing.” Hyo Bin kind of babbled out a response, and despite only some words being comprehended by the average human ear, Min Ja seemed to understand perfectly. “Yeah, it’s really hard. But it’s okay.”

“Looks whose here.” You hummed, stepped into the living room with Hoseok following right behind. Min Ja looked over and saw him, a wide toothy-grin forming on her face.

“Mr. Hobi!” She gasped, hurrying over to him and squeezing his leg with all the force she had in her little body. Hyo Bin used the floor to stand herself up, before padding her little legs over towards him as well.

“Well hello there, girls.” He patted Min Ja’s head. “I hope I didn’t interrupt your practicing, Min Ja.”

“You did.” She said, and Hoseok chuckled a bit. “But it’s okay. Do you wanna see me practice?! Mommy said I’m doing super good!” You saw Hoseok catch your gaze, and he smiled a bit at you.

“Of course, I do.” He said as his eyes fell back to the little girl. She squealed, hurrying back to her spot. Hoseok followed, offering his hand to Hyo Bin. She responded by lifting her hands up to him. “Oh, okay.” He said, scooping her up without a fight. She lifted up her graham cracker as he followed Min Ja into the living room.

“Look.” She said. “Yummy, yummy~.” She giggled.

“Ooh, Yummy, yummy.” He repeated, making Hyo Bin giggle. When you all entered the living room, Min Ja hurried to your phone, which had ended the song. Hoseok noticed this and lifted your phone up as Min Ja took the position.

“You have to be the music man!” Min Ja said. Hoseok nodded.

“Alright.” He said happily. “Ready? Get into position.” He said. Min Ja nodded, and once she was in position, Hoseok started the music. You walked past them and into the kitchen, where you were setting up lunch. You weren’t too sure what you were going to make at first, and kind of decided last minute that some sandwiches would work best. From the kitchen, you could hear Hoseok giving gasps and cheers of encouragement for Min Ja’s performance. It felt natural, and hearing someone else’s interactions with your daughters always made you feel at ease. As you put together three sandwiches, cutting one of them in half to split between your girls, you heard footsteps heading towards the kitchen.

“Mommy, I’m hungry!” Min Ja called.

“I’m just finishing with lunch.” You said to her. “Wash your hands and come in here.” You heard Min Ja hurry back to the living room to alert everyone else. You got up and walked into the living room, picking up Hyo Bin and taking her to the sink with Min Ja. The three of you washed your hands, and when you returned back to the kitchen, you saw Hoseok standing by the counter. “Do you want to stay for lunch?” you asked curiously.

“Ah, I think I’m just going to head home.” He said. “I’m pretty tired, I just happened to be in the neighborhood today that’s all.” He sighed. “These recital practices are a lot more stressful than the thought; all the kids are on edge and it’s starting to hit me too…”

“Your group is going to do great.” You assured him as you passed by. Taking one of the sandwiches, you put it in a little baggie and handed it to him. “Here. Take it for the road.” Hoseok took it and quickly examined the food in the bag. “Don’t worry, I remember your favorite kind.” You teased, and you saw the corners of Hoseok’s lips poke up in a smile.

“Thank you.” He said. “I probably won’t be able to stop by much until after the recital is over.” He admitted. You nodded, and Hoseok turned to the girls. “Be good for Mom, okay, guys?” he asked. The girls looked up. Min Ja was already taking a bite of her sandwich, and Hyo Bin was lifting her up to her mouth, the sandwich much too big for her tiny mouth. Min Ja waved to him, and Hyo Bin wasn’t far behind in copying her. “Make sure you practice, Min Ja.”

“Okay, Mr. Hobi.” She said after swallowing the bite. You walked Hoseok to the door.

“I’ll see you at the recital.” You said happily. “I really look forward to it.”

“Me too.” He said happily. You waved him off, wishing him a safe trip home before closing the door behind you and locking it. As you headed back into the kitchen, you really couldn’t wait for the recital to get here.

“Mommy, will Mr. Hobi come back soon?” Min Ja asked curiously. You took a seat at the table and finally began to eat your sandwich as well.

“Soon.” You assured. “When he has time, he’ll come to see us.” You nodded. “Now, eat your lunch before we go down for a nap.” Min Ja nodded and ate.

----

On the day of the recital, you were sitting in the living room with Min Ja in your lap and Hyo Bin sitting by your side. You were pulling her hair into a tight bun, with a piece of braided hair wrapped around it. She was fidgeting, most likely due to nerves, so you had to keep calming her down so she would sit still.

“Is Daddy coming?” she asked curiously.

“Yes.” You said.

“And Uncle Tae?”

“He’s going to try his hardest. But I’m going to record it in case he misses it.”

“You’re going to record it?!” Min Ja gasped. As you finished with her hair, she turned to look at you with frantic eyes. “No, no Mommy!”

“Honey you’re going to do okay.” You assured, kissing her forehead. “Daddy and I are so excited to see you because you’ve been practicing so hard. Okay?” Min Ja pouted, and you tried to comfort her with a tight hug. Min Ja’s arms wrapped around your neck and squeezed. “Mmmm, ready to go?” Min Ja nodded. Gathering all of your stuff, you sent a text to Weong-Bin, reminding him to be on his way to the recital, before heading out with the girls.

The auditorium that the recital was held in was rented out for the day by Jimin for about two hours, which was enough time to get through all the different group's performances. The auditorium was a decent size, allowing for about 200 friends and family to come in and see the performance. It was filling up with people now, and children were gathering in the back to prepare with their groups. Jimin was there now, fixing his jacket as he turned to see Hoseok talking with a few other dance instructors. He was looking over the schedule for the performances, and his hip hop group was fourth to go. As he stepped away from his friends, he saw his group of dancers practicing together nearby. He made his way over to give them a pep talk.

You walked into the auditorium with your girls in your grip as you squeezed past people to get inside. Once you got inside, you scanned the area to see if you noticed Weong-Bin or your step-brother, or any other recognizable face. With none in sight, you huffed and checked your messages. Weong-Bin was on his way, but there was no message from Taehyung yet. As you searched for a collection of seats, you heard a voice.

“Hey.” Looking up you saw Jimin approaching. He was smiling. “You look lost.”

“Just waiting for my wonderful ex-husband.” You hummed, sarcasm in your voice. “I was waiting before dropping Min Ja off to you.” Jimin smiled down at Min Ja, who was gripping your hand and nuzzling into your skirt. “She’s nervous…” you said simply.

“Aww, Min Ja.” He squatted down to her level. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. Why don’t we go backstage and practice, hm?” Min Ja glanced up at you, and you offered her a kind smile. Giving a nod, she took Jimin’s hand following him backstage. With that settled, you managed to find seats and sat down with Hyo Bin on your lap, setting your purse and coat down on the chairs beside you to ensure nobody would take them until the others arrived.

It wasn’t long before you heard a voice at your side.

“You’re really wearing that?” Glancing up, you saw Weong-Bin. He was wearing a white button-up and slacks as if he had just gotten off work. He ran a hand through his hair as you stood up.

“Wearing what?” You asked curiously as you watched Hyo Bin reach out and eagerly greet her father. He took her into his arms and kissed her hello before turning his attention back to you. You ran a hand along the sides of your black skirt in an attempt to smooth it out. That, along with a white blouse that had the sleeves cut out and some leggings, you felt it was appropriate.

“This.” He pointed to your button-up shirt. “A kid’s recital with tons of people and you think a skirt that short is appropriate?” You felt your face heat up, and you suddenly got anxious about your appearance. Weong-Bin rolled his eyes, before sitting down with Hyo Bin still in his arms. “Anyway, is your brother coming?”

“….Yeah, he’s supposed to be coming right after work.” You mumbled, sitting down right beside him, smoothing your skirt out in the process. You checked your phone, and still no response from Taehyung. He must be driving over here. His new job must be taking up a lot of time for him. You thought to yourself as you put your phone away. Your eyes fell to the stage, where you saw Jimin passing over multiple times, checking the lighting, talking with those in charge of the music, and just looking generally panicked. It was a shame; you’d much rather be talking with him instead of sitting here right now. Your eyes fell to Weong-Bin, who was playing with Hyo Bin and complimenting her dress, which she tried telling him about in her toddler vocabulary.

Footsteps were heard approaching you a few minutes later, and you looked towards them, assuming it was your step-brother finally arriving. However, when you looked up, instead you saw Hoseok. He was dressed in a nice little white button-up with a bow tie and dress pants. When you caught his gaze, a smile formed on his face as he hurried to you. You didn’t realize how quickly you stood up until you heard your chair skid back a bit from how forcefully you threw yourself up from the chair. Turning towards it, you fixed the chair before looking back at Hoseok.

“Hey.” He said with a smile.

“Hey~.” You quickly embraced him in a hug. “You look adorable in that bowtie.” You teased. Hoseok chuckled, a bit of pink dusting his cheeks.

“Aww thanks.” He said happily. “You look good too.” He motioned to your little business casual attire. Hearing that made you immediately think back to the skirt, and you smoothed it out a bit.

“It’s not to short, is it?” you asked softly, biting your lip. Hoseok raised his eyebrow.

“No? Where would you get an idea like that?” As if on cue, Hoseok saw Weong-Bin stand up with Hyo Bin in his grasp. Hoseok saw him stand behind you, and his question kind of felt answered. “Oh…hello, Weong-Bin.”

“Been a while, Hoseok.” He said. “How are you?”

“Fine.” He said, a kind smile on his face regardless of how he felt about the guy. The two knew each other in college, and were…friendly? Kind of. Hoseok tried to be nice, but Weong-Bin didn’t want to be bothered. “Nice of you to come.” Weong-Bin frowned at that statement.

“Min Ja hasn’t stopped talking about it for weeks.” He pointed out. You looked between the two men and sensed a bit of tension between them. You couldn’t really blame them; they were after all two people you used to be in relationships with. As the tension grew, you put a hand on Hoseok’s shoulder.

“Are your kids ready for the performance?” you asked, giving a small smile in hopes of diverting his attention. Hoseok looked at you and smiled back.

“Yeah they’re practicing right now. I should probably get back to them soon.”

“Yeah, you probably should.” Weong-Bin hissed. You looked at him in embarrassment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” you asked him. You sighed, looking at Hoseok. When he looked at you, he saw the embarrassment on your face. Your eyes were cast down for a moment. Hoseok tilted his head and smiled down at you reassuringly. When you glanced up at him, seeing his kind smile making you feel better.

“I’ll come by and see you again before my performance, okay?” He said.

“Okay.” You said happily, waving him off. He glanced back at Weong-Bin and offered another kind smile to him.

“I’ll see you later.” He said. “I hope you look forward to the show.” Weong-Bin simply nodded and waved Hoseok off. When he was far enough away, you turned back to Weong-Bin.

“Are you insane? Why are you being so rude?!” You asked. Weong-Bin sighed, turning back to Hyo Bin, who was still in his arms and looking around at the other sources of noise and chatter from others who were around. “You’re unbelievable.” Just as the two of you began to bicker, you, fortunately, heard a voice to pull you out of it.

“HEY!” Looking over you saw Taehyung, your 25-year-old stepbrother rushing towards you. He was wearing a white tee-shirt with a red plaid Gucci sweater and pair of jeans. He was running a hand through his curly black hair, a wide smile on his face, as he approached you. Without missing a beat, he hugged you tightly. “Sorry, I’m so late. Traffic was a nightmare. Did it start yet?”

“Does it look like it?” Weong-Bin asked, glancing over to the empty stage, and people mingling in the isles. Taehyung’s boxy smile dropped into a frown as you pulled away from the hug.

“Hello Weong-Bin.” He said. Weong-Bin glanced down at Hyo Bin. When she saw Taehyung standing beside you, her eyes lit up.

“Woooah, Uncle Tae!” She cooed, grinning. Your brother’s boxy smile returned as he reached out to take Hyo Bin into his arms.

“Hello, my little princess!” He cooed, kissing her cheek. “Are you excited to see Min Ja dance for us?”

“Yeah!” Hyo Bin cheered. You smiled as you saw how happy Hyo Bin has become as she had Taehyung had a mini conversation. Your attention was grabbed by Weong-Bin out of the blue when he gripped your hand.

“Taehyung, watch Hyo Bin.” Taehyung glanced up at him, only to see you being dragged out of the room with him. “We need to talk.”

“Weong-Bin.” You tried to call his name, but he wouldn’t respond. He took you out of the room, into the hallway, and down one of the corridors, to a section of the building that wasn’t rented out for the recital. It was an empty hallway. When he finally slowed down, he dropped your hand out of his gripped and you stopped. “What on earth are you doing?”

“What the hell are you doing talking to Jung Hoseok?” he asked, bitter anger dripping off of his lips as he spoke. It intimidated you a bit, but you stepped back from him and crossed your arms.

“What do you mean?” You asked. “He and I ran into each other earlier this month. We hung out a few times.”

“Min Ja told me it was a date.” He hissed. You felt your cheeks heat up at the mentioning of that word…date. “Was it? Was that who came over the time you were cooking when I came over?”

“That’s none of your business.” You said simply.

“I’m taking that as a yes.” He huffed, rolling his eyes.

“Look, why do you even care? What about Sooyeon? Do you really think she’ll be happy that you’re meddling into your ex-wife’s business?” Weong-Bin’s intimidating demeanor faltered just slightly, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “…What?”

“Sooyeon and I didn’t work out.” He said simply. “She thought I spent to much time worrying about you, and I thought she was fooling around with other guys. It didn’t work out.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but she’s right. You shouldn’t be getting into my business.”

“You’re the mother and guardian of my daughters, don’t I have a right to be curious?”

“Do you have such little faith in me?”

“Should I?”

“You’re unbelievable.” You quickly turned on your heel to make you way back to the auditorium. However, Weong-Bin quickly grabbed your wrist and turned you back to him. “Weong-Bin-.” You scoffed, turning back to face him. When you did, you saw his face get uncomfortably close to yours.

“I also broke up with her because…well…you’re right. I shouldn’t be so much in your business.” You felt your heart begin to race, and as badly as you wanted to look to the floor, to the ceiling, to the wall, anywhere except directly at him, you were unable to pull away. “I want us to be a family again…” As soon as those words hit your ears, you felt your body go rigid, and you were unable to move. The shock is sent through your body, it felt as if you were in a bad dream, and it would just be moments until you woke up in a cold sweat to your alarm, and the sound of your girls shouting for your attention. However, that moment never came, and every second that you were realizing this was cold, hard reality, you wanted to curl up into a ball and escape this agony eating away at you.

“….What?” You choked out. Weong-Bin finally pulled back a bit.

“You heard me. I made my mistakes and I’m sorry. I want us to….try and work it.” You were silent for a moment, trying to process what was going on. After a second too long of thinking about it, you frowned.

“No…” you said. He blinked, shocked as your answer.

“No?” he hissed. You saw the anger in his eyes and you shivered, but you tried to keep your level head.

“I…I don’t know why you’re doing this, I-.”

“I know, and I’m sorry but-.” He stepped towards you, his hands cupping your cheeks gently. You flinched a bit despite his gentle touch. As his big, soft hands sat on your cheeks, one his thumbs gently gliding across your skin, you felt like you were 22 again. Recently married, thrilled out of your mind, and hopelessly in love. The good memories began flooding back, all from his gentle touch that you haven’t felt in so long. A part of you wanted to believe him, a part of you just wanted to go back to having a stable family, a normal life for your girls where they didn’t have to go between two different homes, two different sets of rules and two different lives every couple of days for the rest of their lives.

Weong-Bin noticed your face soften a little bit, and he smiled at the sight. “I’ve come to realize how wrong I was for the way I treated you. I want to be better for the girls…for you…for us….” When you didn’t respond, he dropped his hands from your cheeks. “I know this is sudden.”

“You think?”

“But don’t I deserve an answer?” More silence on your part. Now, he was starting to get frustrated. “You really hurt me when you had your step-brother serve me those divorce papers.” You looked up at him, a frown forming on your face as you felt your throat close up. You were trying…god, where you trying to keep yourself from tears. Your eyes were burning. Forcing yourself to gulp, you shook your head.

“I…I hurt you?” You hissed, your vision beginning to cloud. You quickly wiped your eyes. You could see Weong-Bin was furious, but you didn’t care. “I didn’t want to file for divorce, but you left me no choice! I was miserable, I-.” You took a deep breath, trying to keep you calm when you remembered that you were not home. “I can’t do this here. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I don’t care what you say to me…I can’t…. I can’t do it.”

“Oh, but you’ll go back to that flake Hoseok? Yeah, okay.” You took a deep breath, shaking your head.

“I cannot believe this, on a night that Min Ja has been waiting for almost two months, you do this! You’re so selfish sometimes.” Weong-Bin glared at you when you insulted him like that, but you were to busy mentally gearing yourself up to care. “Do not sit by me in there. I don’t even want to look at you.” Turning on your heel, you quickly walked down the hallway and straight back to Taehyung and Hyo Bin. Your mind was racing.

What on earth was he thinking?! What is he saying?! After all he’s done, he thinks he can just ask and I’ll forget everything that’s happened? No, I can’t… He’s such a jerk off… As you thought, as every sentence raced through your mind, you felt your vision blur with tears. Your heart was pounding in your ears, and you felt like if you stopped moving, you would kneel over and vomit onto the floor. As you saw the door to the auditorium approaching, you noticed through blurry eyes that Jimin was by the front door. He was talking to a mother who had a daughter in the same class as Min Ja, as well as a daughter in the older ballet division. Jimin turned to you and called out your name to greet you as you got closer. However, you walked right past him, and he turned in your direction.

“Hey!” He called, watching your head into the crowd of people who were starting to find their seats. The recital was starting in five minutes, and he had to go backstage. When you hurried to your seat, you saw Taehyung in his seat. Hyo Bin was sitting in his lap, and he was looking up, talking to someone who you couldn’t see. From the way his head was positioned, you could tell that this individual was standing. Taehyung was talking, laughing, overall smiling. As you got closer, trying to shakily excuse yourself through many people who were shuffling into their seats, you saw that Hoseok was there. He was grinning, clapping his hands together in a fit of laughter as he listened to whatever Taehyung was saying. Both boys looked up when they saw you approached. You had a vague idea of what you looked like when you approached, but you knew it probably wasn’t very appealing when Taehyung stood right up out of his seat. Both boys had a worried expression on their faces, and Taehyung gently passed Hyo Bin to Hoseok, who took her into his arms.

“Woah…what happened?” he asked. Without responding, you quickly wrapped your arms around his neck, squeezing him as you buried your head in his shoulder. He gently placed his hands on your back, resting his chin on your neck. “Hey…” he said gently. “What happened? Was it Weong-Bin?” He glanced up, seeing Weong-Bin walk into the auditorium. He did not come towards the seats, however. Instead, he kept himself up against the wall, crossing his arms. “Let’s sit down…” he said gently, motioning towards the seats. You nodded, wiping your eyes.

“Okay.” You said gently. Glancing up, you saw Hoseok and Hyo Bin both looking in your direction. As you took a step towards him, Hyo Bin reached out to you. She could sense your decrease in mood, and worry was etched on her face.

“What’s wrong, Mama?” She mumbled as you took her into your arms. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, honey…” you said, wiping your eyes a bit as you kissed her hair. “Let’s sit down and watch Min Ja, okay?” Hyo Bin nuzzled into your neck, and you glanced at Hoseok.

“Are you alright?” he asked worryingly.

“Yeah, I just…” you took a deep breath. “It’s not important right now. What’s important is this recital.” When you saw he wasn’t convinced, you tried to be playful and poke his chest. It didn’t work too well. “Good luck, Hobi…” you said happily. Knowing that he was not going to get anything out of you, he nodded.

“I’ll find you after it’s over.” He said. Just as he was about to leave, Jimin hurried over and patted his shoulder.

“Five minutes, let’s go.” He said. Glancing at you, he saw you still looked a bit distressed. “You alright?”

“Yeah.” You assured. “Don’t worry about me. You guys have more important things going on.” Jimin was hesitant, but you gave a reassuring nod. Jimin nodded as he led Hoseok off. Taehyung offered them a support cheer for luck.

“Fighting, Jimin, Hobi-Hyung!” He shouted, waving happily, receiving waves from them as they hurried backstage. As you settled beside Taehyung, your daughter on your lap. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do I need to talk to that idiot for you?”

“No, Tae.” You said. “Tonight, if for Min Ja. Not him. He just doesn’t understand that.”

“Oh, I know. Remember when he tried to make my college graduation party all about him?” He smiled as he finally heard a chuckle leave your lips. “Guys a total narcissist. Nothing ever made me happier than when I got to serve him those divorce papers.”

“I know.” You said, patting his shoulder as a smile formed on his lips. Just then, the lights dimmed, and lights flooded the stage as Jimin walked towards the microphone. You heard Taehyung cheer his friend. The two of them went to high school together, and have been best friends for years, so when Jimin heard Taehyung’s obnoxious cheer, he couldn’t help but turn his head from the microphone to laugh a bit. When he turned back, he began to speak.

“Welcome everyone to our first recital as the newly formed Dance Canvas Studio.” A roar of applause was heard from the crowd. “We’ve worked really hard, and we look forward to sharing what we have prepared for the past two months with you all.” Jimin added a bit of a speech about how he came to own the studio, recalled the success the studio had before him, as well as what he hoped they could expand the studio to become in the future. “With all of that out of the way… the fun begins.” A light chuckle escaped his lips. “Our first group is our beginning ballet class, which I mainly instruct. They will be doing a dance to Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, from The Nutcracker. One of our older ballet dancers, Hye Su, will be leading them. Enjoy.” The claps arose again, and you saw mothers from all areas pulling out their phones and video cameras. You did the same, and Hyo Bin tried to reach for it a few times, but you had to stop her. Taehyung quickly took her from your lap and put him in hers. She began to whine a bit at the sudden switch, but Taehyung kissed her hair and gently tried to soothe her.

You watched Hye Su walk out onto the stage, holding the hand of one of the girls. The line of little four-year-old ballet dancers came onto the stage, and you saw Min Ja right on the end. When she caught your eye, you quickly waved to her before positioning the camera. It took a moment, but the music started, and the performance began.

Once the performance was over, you lowered your phone to clap for the girls. Min Ja did just as wonderful as you expected, and you saw her beaming from her spot-on stage as the group bowed. She must have been so excited because even when the girls began to exit the stage with Hye Su, Min Ja continued to bow and curtsey on the stage. Amused giggles were heard from the audience, and you felt your cheeks go red.

“Oh Lord…” you sighed, covering your face as Taehyung began to laugh beside you. Min Ja was eventually led off the stage by another little girl, who took her hand and finally got her off of the stage. As Jimin came to introduce the next stage of ballet dancers, you turned your head to see the status of Weong-Bin.

He caught your gaze just as he was exiting the auditorium, hands in his pockets.

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